In the halls of Tokyo's best hospital, two very special men, who looked as ordinary as anyone else, were having a very important discussion.
"Toshi, this isn't just a Gate. It's an invasion force, and it's going to wipe out all life if we don't stop it." Tsukauchi pleaded with his old friend, "The current Higher Beings on Earth will do their best to deal with it, but we need all the backup we can get. This army that Razar is leading is what we were supposed to be-"
All Might held up his hand and rubbed his temples, "I know… You keep forgetting that I too used to be a host."
"We've got Ashborn on our side, so the more we fight, the more ground we should gain but… some of the army could escape and each one of them is on par with an S-Rank. And this is just one Ruler, we don't even know what the Monarchs will be doing while this is all going down."
"They may just wait around."
Tsukauchi shook his head in confusion, "And why the hell would they do that?!"
"Excuse me, Sir," One of the nearby nurses asked, "This is a hospital, please be mindful of those around you."
Tsukauchi nodded, his face slightly red as he turned back to All Might and whispered, "And why the hell would they do that?"
"David told me that they found some sort of bastion in Antarctica, you said you saw it too when escaping with Ryukyu."
"And?"
"Why build a defensive structure when their plan is to wipe out all life? Because it's not a bastion, it's a palace for when he's done with his conquest."
Tsukauchi was silent for a second before asking, "You think the Monarchs promised him this planet?"
"Maybe…"
"There's no way they would keep that deal."
All Might shrugged, "In exchange for wiping out one of the most adaptive and intelligent species in the universe? They just might allow him to keep the planet after it's lifeless."
"Damn…"
"How long until he attacks?"
"Minimum… five days. He's still pulling forces from the Gap Between Dimensions, that should give us some time to arrange a preemptive strike."
"It's not wise to put her in a medically induced coma," Ryukyu stated, standing on the right side of Nejire's bed, Miruko, Momo, and Izuku on the other side.
"Why?"
"She'd still feel the pain."
"Then how come she hasn't woken from the pain yet?"
Ryukyu sighed, "This is all magic to me… literally. Hell, Yaoyorozu's got a god of intelligence streaming directly into her consciousness, and even she's struggling to understand the nuances of Baran's flames. But… as I understand it, anything artificial will be completely ineffective, no matter what it is. The only thing that can temporarily relieve the pain is natural sleep. Passing out from the pain apparently counts as natural sleep." She looked down sadly at Nejire, who seemed to be lying peacefully in bed. It would've been a nice sight had there not been burns covering sixty-five percent of her body.
So far, nothing the doctors had done worked. They brought in the strongest healers they had and tried every last medical option to begin healing the burns. It was all ineffective.
"The wounds will heal within time," Correnic went on, "And as an S-Rank, infections are not something she needs to worry about."
"The real trouble… will be her mental state. She'll be in incredible pain. Possibly for weeks." Ryukyu gave Izuku and the two girls a concerned glance.
"She wouldn't kill herself," Izuku assured.
Ryukyu shook her head, "You can't be certain of that. Pain does insane things to people, especially long inescapable pain. At least stick a Shadow on her that can fly and overpower her if necessary."
Izuku reluctantly nodded and placed Ifrit in her Shadow just as the door opened and Tsukauchi stepped in, "Alright, I've got the details worked out with All Might, so I suppose I should let you all in on the story." He took a seat heavily, clearly exhausted. Pulra was keeping him awake and alert, but his mind was certainly frayed. After all, he hadn't had any rest for a whole week straight.
"Six days ago, myself and Ryukyu thought we were meeting the next Ruler in Antarctica. Well the portal opened, all of our forces began pouring out. Correnic's, Aeic's, Pulra's, it didn't matter what Ruler they belonged to, they all began attacking."
Ryukyu interjected, "The leading theory is that Razar got ahold of some sort of artifact from the Monarchs and used it to take complete mental control over the armies gradually. Best we can guess, this has been happening for over five-hundred millenia."
"You didn't notice?!" Miruko asked, frustration residing in her eyes, both for the Monarchs and for the Rulers who didn't see their schemes.
"It was… like a sleeper agent brainwashing," Tsukauchi explained, "We didn't notice it because it really hadn't happened yet. They were still themselves." He sighed, shaking his head, doing his best to separate his own thoughts from Pulra's. "Anyways, we fought them off for days before we managed to escape. Razar didn't even try to attack us."
"We were so caught up in the attack that we didn't even realize we were Gating straight into a war-zone. Our intention was only to warn you and ask for your help."
Izuku held up one of his hands, "Okay hold on, who is Razar? Why is he betraying the Rulers?"
"The Holiest Fragment of Brilliant Light, Razar is-"
"You're kidding…" Miruko exclaimed, "The god with the title of "Holiest" is the one who screws everyone over?"
"Razar… takes power from his host instead of the other way around. He and in turn, his host, gets stronger from the extremity of their morality. Either they're incredibly pure of heart, or they're pretty disgusting people. It's usually easier to find people who have "sinned" so he tends to pick dirtbags as hosts, making him crazy strong." Tsukauchi undid his tie a little, "We all got our names and titles from the Absolute Being, so maybe he intended for this all along. He might've thought it would be a bit of ironic fun… for him."
"You said his power is based on his host… who did he take?"
Tsukauchi looked up at Ryukyu with surprise, "You didn't tell them yet?" She shook her head, "It's Endeavor."
The doctors forced everyone from Nejire's room, they didn't listen to anything regarding the incurable burns, so there Izuku sat, alone, watching the news. He could've been sitting with Momo and Miruko, or even Tsukauchi and Ryukyu, but he asked to be alone.
"The world is still reeling from the sudden and unprovoked attack on I-Island. According to sources, several Gates opened up around the Island, releasing Demon-Type Villains as well as five other Villains that were classified as Bosses. World leaders and top scientists are currently asking themselves the question of how these Gates appeared and broke so quickly." She paused for a moment, "Among the dead are over two-thousand civilians, three-hundred scientists, and… most devastating of all… Siddharth Bachchan, the leader of the independent nation and one of the strongest Heroes in the world."
Izuku shook his head, cursing their luck. Upon waking, Miruko told him of how the Monarchs appeared out of nowhere, practically obliterating the bar and Siddharth. For whatever reason, she was taken alive, but upon returning to the bar, it was easy to see that Siddharth wasn't going to make it.
Izuku tuned out the news for a moment, sitting in abject silence. He thought he had made progress in killing Quaresha, but in exchange, Siddharth was dead, Razar was now their enemy, gathering forces at the south pole, and worst of all, Nejire was permanently scarred for life, physically and probably mentally once she woke up.
"In other news, contact with the scientists living in Antarctica has been lost and several rescue missions are being planned to…"
Izuku tuned her out again as Beru's voice echoed in his head, "My Liege… I believe the smartest course of action is to not wait… we should leave now, take our Lady and the other two with us. The longer we wait… the more powerful Razar's forces shall become."
Taking a deep shuddering breath, Izuku shook his head, "No… no way in hell I'm leaving right now. I'm not going anywhere until I'm sure Nejire is okay."
"...My Liege," Igris interrupted, "We have all come to care for her as you do… but… as the doctors told us, it will be weeks before she is… "okay." The only way you can help her now, is to ensure that there is a world to enjoy once she recovers."
"Don't you think I know that?! I can't do anything physically for her! But do you really think it's a good idea to let her wake up and have none of us here for her?!" Izuku screamed mentally, his sad expression on the outside not betraying for a moment how loud he was being on the inside.
The Shadows recoiled at their King's misplaced anger, all but one, likely the oldest Shadow there, based on his living form.
Glaedr's gravely and rumbling voice still both the hearts of the Shadows and of Izuku, "My Liege. You should not leave her at a time like this." He paused, "We will obey any command you tell us. You do not have to leave this place. If you so desire, we will charge the enemy alone."
"...I appreciate the sentiment but… could you win?"
Glaedr went silent, telling Izuku everything he needed to know.
"So," Miruko began, turning her head to the seat next to her, "What happens now?"
Yaoyorozu shrugged, "We wait for All Might or one of the other Rulers to tell us something abou-"
"No… I meant about us."
"Us?"
"You, me, and Izuku."
"Ah," Yaoyorozu nodded, sipping on the hot chocolate she collected from the cafe a few floors below them. While she hadn't been there for the reunion between Izuku and the Rabbit Hero, her boyfriend told her everything. After a moment of awkward tension between them, Yaoyorozu asked, "Why do you love him?"
"Are you… trying to gauge how much I love him? If it's-"
"I'm curious… legitimately."
Miruko let out a hard breath through her nostrils, "He kinda asked me the same question. Why I cared so much." She focused her bright red eyes against the wall, "Throughout my life… it's always been who I could save, what more I could do. I didn't hate that part of course. I never disliked being able to rush into action and save someone, I was never scared of putting my life on the line, still not scared. But… every now and again, I'd get that craving. To be picked up by someone caring and strong… to be safe. It's stupid… and shallow as hell, but I just wanted to be the damsel in distress. I wanted to be saved by a knight in shining armor. I wanted to feel completely safe. He was the only person I've ever felt that way with. I thought my reasons ran deeper than that but…"
Yaoyorozu sat in silence, absorbing the information. She took one last sip before saying, "I don't think that's shallow at all. Maybe a little old-fashioned," She joked with a smile, "But not stupid or shallow. It's just your needs. No one can say that's wrong."
"Then what about-"
"Izuku cares for you, you care for him, and I care for Izuku. I also don't dislike you. There's no conflicting overlap." She patted Miruko's leg with her free hand, "We'll give it a try. I see no reason why we can't all get along."
"Seriously?" Miruko asked, her ears flopping forwards hopefully, "You're willing to try a polyamorous relationship?"
"Don't expect me to start drooling all over you too, but yeah."
"Thank you."
Yaoyorozu nodded, "I know that if you got to him first, then I would be destroyed to be shut out of a relationship with him."
"Sooo…" Miruko trailed off, "Have you two slept together yet?"
Yaoyorozu turned bright red, but answered calmly nonetheless, "We've been sleeping in the same bed for a couple of months now… it was bound to happen sooner or later."
"So you did?!" Miruko asked, an excited smile on her face, "I didn't take you for the type to have sex before you got married."
"W-What? Where'd you get that-"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The shrill scream filled the hospital as glass shattered and the girls hopped to their feet, sprinting towards Nejire's room.
The doctor's hadn't expected her to wake so suddenly. With a metaphorical river of morphine in her veins, they thought her waking would be slow and methodical. In fact, they hadn't expected her to wake at all. The anesthesiologist assured them she would stay under till she was safe to be fully woken up.
As it turned out, Ryukyu had it wrong. Nejire couldn't be put into a medically induced coma because she would still feel the pain and be tortured while being unable to move, but because Baran's curse on her would burn through the medicine within only a few minutes.
Before the doctor could even realize her eyes were open, he was beset by one of the loudest, most pain filled screams he'd ever heard.
"OH GOD! WHAT DID YOU-"
"It's okay! You're in a hospital!" His own shouts were overshadowed by Nejire's screams of pain, so he turned to the nurse, "Up the morphine!" Just as Nejire went to scratch at her burns, which would've only done more damage, the doctor leapt forwards, grabbing at her wrists, "You need to calm down! We're gonna put you back un-"
A spiral of yellow energy slammed into the man's chest and sent him flying backwards, through the blinds and the glass wall separating the room from the hallways.
Waking up with intense pain covering your entire body, not sure how you got like that, was a surefire way to make someone panic.
The nurse slammed her fingers down on the regulator for the morphine, turning it up several levels, but nothing changed as Nejire yelled in agony tears pouring down her face. It was insane. Not even the worst of burns would hurt this badly. It ate away at her mind and then…
"It's okay… You're safe." A cold numbness spread through her body as Izuku's hand cupped her cheek.
She barked out a sob as she felt relief flow through her body, not enough to entirely eliminate the pain, but at that moment, it was heaven. She reached down gingerly and pulled his other close to her chest.
Outside the room, where Yaoyorozu was crouched over the doctor, healing the wounds created by the glass, Ryukyu looked on with confusion, "I didn't think anything could temper the pain."
Correnic spoke up, "You have to imagine, the burns are created by heat, so something cold would help her… What's colder than the touch of death?"
