Endeavor, or rather, Razar, sat on a throne made of a marble-like material, unconcerned with the cold white flames burning behind him in the form of a cape. His chin rested on his knuckles as he idly watched the Marshal of his Army, Lucifer, hover over and kneel before him.

"My Liege, Azrael and his forces are finally passing through the last Gate. We are two earth hours away from being prepared for our extermination march."

Razar scoffed, "Serenia was always the slowest Ruler to mobilize, it only makes sense that her useless Marshal is the same." He waved his hand nonchalantly at Lucifer, "Good work, get back to your pos-"

"My Liege!" Sariel, the Seraph and Marshal of Aeic's Army, rushed inside the pristine palace, taking a knee in front of his new master as both Lucifer and Razar glared at him with disdain.

"You dare interrupt our Lord!" Lucifer socked Sariel in the mouth, or at least where he would've had a mouth. "If you survive the upcoming war, I will make sure that you suffer for that misdemeanor."

Sariel nodded, his triangular and inhuman head bobbing. "My apologies… but… our scouts have returned. Human forces are approaching from every direction on their carriers."

"How far away are they?" Lucifer asked, not willing to let his Ruler ask such drivelling questions.

"About one-hundred earth minutes out. They will make landfall as our final forces are beginning to appear."

"Did you sense any Rulers in their midst?"

"Three. Correnic, Grantuld, and Pulra."

"Hmph," Razar smiled, "I will fight off Grantuld. Correnic and Pulra will fall to their own armies… how pleasant."

"T-There is one more thing, my Lord." Sariel kept his head lowered as he said, "Aboard those transports, I also sensed the coming of the Shadow Army. They are nearly nine-thousand strong."

The Ruler nodded, "Good. We'll crush our biggest threats right here and now. Even with the Shadow Monarch, there's no way they can stand against the Holy Army! Especially not when we outnumber those Shadows eleven to one."

"It is as you say, my King," Lucifer declared, kneeling once more, "In a matter of hours, the enemies of the Monarchs will be next to non-existent."


Izuku Midoriya:

Level: 165

Strength: 414

Vitality: 311

Agility: 342

Intelligence: 480

Sense: 310

[Mana: 210362/210362]

[HP: 78051/78051]

[Shadows able to be extracted: 15272]

[Shadows able to be saved: 8882/11479]

Skills:

[Shadow Pulse Lv. Max]

[Quicksilver Lv. Max]

[Infinite Strength Lv. Max]

[Shadow Essence Lv. Max]

[Ruler's Authority Lv. Max]

[Longevity Lv. Max]

[Shadow Extraction Lv. Max]

[Shadow Save Lv. Max]

[Domain of the Monarch Lv. Max]

[Shadow Exchange Lv. Max]

Armor:

Dragon God Armor

[Set Bonus 1: Skill: Dragon Wings.]

[Set Bonus 2: Skill: Draconic Fusion.]

Shadows: Total count: 8882 (10479)

2300 Superhumans - Elite-Knight Grade

881 Shadow Infantry - Elite-Knight

700 Death Knights - Elite-Knight

584 Direwolf Lords - Elite-Knight

433 Greater Elemental Spirits - Elite-Knight

354 Kijin - Elite-Knight

328 Metal Slimes - Elite-Knight

282 Shadow Nomu - Elite-Knight

68 Lava Golems - Elite-Knight

63 Shadow High Orcs - Elite-Knight

49 Angel Archers - Elite-Knight

40 Obsidian Beetles - Elite-Knight

34 Greater Fire Spirits - Elite-Knight

33 Yetis - Elite-Knight

25 Shadow Bears - Elite-Knight

21 Lava Titans - Elite-Knight

15 Ice Golems - Elite-Knight

10 Amphitians - Elite-Knight

6 Ice Foxes - Elite-Knight

Stain (Human) - Elite-Knight

785 Soul Eaters - Captain

672 Arch Demons - Captain

400 Templar Paladins - Captain

154 Shadow Wyverns - Captain

149 Dragon Knights - Captain

100 Arch Liches - Captain

67 Perfected Elemental Spirits - Captain

50 Saints - Captain

45 Oni - Captain

30 Angel Mages - Captain

30 Draconian Cannons - Captain

23 Stone Goliaths - Captain

20 Earth Hydras - Captain

20 Quetzalcoatl - Captain

20 Angel Knights - Captain

20 Fire Serpents - Captain

6 Magicians - Captain

3 Shadow High Orc Bodyguards - Captain

Gipsy Danger (Earthen Behemoth) - Captain

Lucky Seven (Earthen Behemoth) - Captain

Cherno Alpha (Earthen Behemoth) - Captain

Romeo Blue (Earthen Behemoth) - Captain

Crimson Typhoon (Earthen Behemoth) - Captain

Smokey (Ice Bear) - Captain

Slice (Human) - Captain

Twice (Human) - Captain

Chimera (Human) - Captain

Tank (Nomu) - Captain

10 Soul Kings - Commander

8 Prime Draconians - Commander

Hawks (Human) - Commander

Crust (Human) - Commander

Yoroi Musha (Human) - Commander

Fat Gum (Human) - Commander

Best Jeanist (Human) - Commander

Gang Orca (Human) - Commander

Esil (Seraph) - Commander

Zeus (Disaster Oni) - Commander

Poseidon (Disaster Oni) - Commander

Hades (Disaster Oni) - Commander

Ares (Disaster Oni) - Commander

Artemis (Disaster Oni) - Commander

Kojin (Undead King) - Commander

Striker Eureka (True Titan) - Commander

Karkinos (Angelic Wyrm) - Commander

Ifrit (God of Fire/Spirit) - Commander

Pektra (Prime Draconian) - Commander

Fenrir (Direwolf King) - Commander

Igris (Knight) - General

Hyo (Ice Elf) - General

Tusk (High Orc) - General

Siddharth (Human) - General

Aurum (Spirit God of Time) - General

Argentum (Spirit God of Space) - General

Hinata (Holy Being) - General

Tatsuya (Holy Being) - General

Glaedr (Dragon God) - General

Thorn (Dragon God) - General

Firnen (Dragon God) - General

Saphira (Dragon God) - General

Uramoth (Dragon God) - General

Shruikan (Dragon God) - General

Beru (High-End Nomu) - Marshal

Izuku took one last look over his army and his Stats, assessing their battle potential as he ignored the biting cold of Antarctica. He was thankful for the cold protection buff that the mages applied en masse. If the Rulers were right about their plan, then his army would be just enough.

Among the numbers, his eyes spotted the humans he had taken as Shadows. The two-thousand plus who had died on the Island, alongside Siddharth himself. Their evolutions made them quite the threat to just about anyone. Izuku felt back about taking the Shadows of normal, innocent humans, but he needed as many as he could get according to the Rulers' numbers.

"We're fighting a hundred-thousand?" Kiara Touhou asked, a little too excited for her own good.

Izuku nodded his head as he turned to face his Agency. Basically everyone had joined him aboard the aircraft carrier once the world began asking for volunteers, "In a sense. As a united army we will, but as for you guys, well, you'll all be stationed in the third line so you'll be fighting several dozen over time, likely more. Tsukauchi is gonna go over the final briefing in just a few minutes, so it'll be all cleared up soon."

The four hosts, Izuku, Ryukyu, Tsukauchi, and Yaoyorozu, all had their own communication channel and because of their importance, they even had the ability to broadcast to every other Hero there. Tsukauchi took advantage of this as he began speaking to all thirty-five thousand Heroes they had gathered from every corner of the globe. There were estimated to be around one-hundred-thousand Heroes worldwide, but considering the short time frame and the fact that some Heroes needed to remain at home in order to defend against other Gates, the number was impressive. Besides, as Yaoyorozu and Correnic correctly predicted, Razar was drawing so much energy to summon the Ruler army that many of the stronger Gates that the other Rulers set up to automatically deploy, couldn't do so. For the time being, their home countries were relatively safe.

"Tsukauchi to all points, I'm going to give this one final go, so make sure everyone around you is listening!"

Izuku turned around and sent a shout over the ship he was standing at the bow of, "Everyone got that?!" He received no negatives and a few moments later, Tsukauchi began.

"The force we are facing is an army composed of Angel-type Villains, one-hundred thousand strong," Tsukauchi left out the part about it being the Rulers' Armies, after all, most of the world was still ignorant to the existence of Higher Beings, including most of the people currently on their way to said army. "The very weakest members of this army are S-Rank, the strongest far surpass anything even close to National-Rank, so in order to mitigate the casualties you've been assigned a row number."

Yaoyorozu spoke up, "Ashborn, Yaoyorozu, Ryukyu, and Tsukauchi will each take a lead at a cardinal direction of our surrounding formation. National and S-Ranks will be at the front lines with us, whilst all other Ranks will remain near the back of the circle and provide assistance where possible."

"We have solid information that most of the Angels are operating on a very basic Mana sense function. They will pick out those in a crowd that are of equal strength to them and hold their attention until more Angels can arrive to kill the target. This is an effective strategy we've witnessed before on smaller scales in Raids, so it is imperative to kill each and every Villain as quickly as you can." This was, in fact, not something that had been witnessed in a Raid, but something the Rulers were certain of, after all, these were their armies, their right-hand men and women fighting against them. Ryukyu finished off her piece and passed it to Izuku.

"Our one advantage is my Shadow Army. Every single one of my eight-thousand, eight-hundred, and eighty-two Soldiers is S-Rank or far above," In the three days before the fleet reached the South Pole, Izuku did his very best to power level his army on land before Shadow Exchanging to the fleet. Now, there wasn't a single Soldier in his army below Elite-Knight. "They're durable as hell, twice as strong, won't tire, and are immortal so long as I have Mana, so don't get too relaxed around them, but when the going gets tough, let them take a few hits for you." The thought, "Unlike you guys, they'll get back up," Flitted through Izuku's mind as he cringed inwardly. This was the most dangerous Raid in history, there was no way they weren't going to lose people. "If you see a foe approaching you that you know you cannot handle under any circumstances," Izuku paused, this wasn't part of the script. He was about to encourage them to run away and hope another Hero showed up to handle them, but unfortunately, no matter how many times they called this a Raid, it was, without a doubt, a war, "If you cannot handle them under any circumstances, hold out for as long as possible, the Shadows will do their best to help those in need."

"Have y'all never done a motivational, pre-raid speech before?!" Thomas asked on the all frequency channel.

"Hey the all broadcast is only for-"

But Thomas didn't pay attention to Tsukauchi, "Listen up everyone! This is, without a doubt, the most dangerous Raid the world has ever seen! We're outnumbered and outgunned, but even after you heard that, you volunteered your life! You pushed through that fear and set your sights on the most barren continent in the world for your country, your home, and your family! Should we win the day… No! When we win the day, the world will sing our praises for a thousand years!"

Yaoyorozu selected a private channel with Izuku, "When he's not being consumed by the rage of a God, he's pretty good at this Hero stuff."

"In my heart, I know that raw power, pure strength, is the most valuable thing in the world, so let's show these bastards why humanity is worth their weight in gold! From this point onwards, I refuse to let a disaster like Kamish or South Korea ever happen again! From this point on, humanity is standing their ground! Ooh-rah!"

Unlike Izuku, Tsukuachi, Yaoyorozu, or even Ryukyu, who were relatively new Heroes on National-Rank level, Thomas Andre completely dominated the hearts of whoever he spoke to. For years, he had been the strongest protector of humanity and plenty still regarded him as such. So when he shouted Ooh-rah, the thousands onboard the carriers shouted with him, sending humanities determination across the sea and to the army waiting for them.

Thomas then fell quiet as he switched over to the private channel with the four hosts. "Sorry about that. Had to get a little cheesy to pump everyone up. Some of the guys and gals on my ship were shaking in their boots, literally."

"Well, I suppose it wasn't a bad thing. We're only fifteen minutes from landfall after all."

"Were you part of the Marines?" Izuku asked, "That Ooh-rah thing, that's the Marines' battle cry isn't it?"

"I was never part of them. My brother was. Served in Afhgan. Didn't come home." Thomas said nothing more, leaving the channel filled with empty static as the literal army of Heroes prepared to disembark.

Izuku switched off his comms as a Chinese man approached him. His hair was tied back into a long ponytail and two massive sword sheaths hung on the back of his waist. This was Liu Zhigang, one of the three, non-host, officially declared, National-Rank Heroes still alive. Thomas, Liu, and Adrian Brenner were the only pure humans left, if you discounted the fact that they had fragments of the Rulers' power inside them. Thomas was heading up the east side with Yaoyorozu, Adrian was attacking from the west with Tsukauchi, Liu was here with Izuku to hit the South, and Ryukyu was attacking from the north with Sung Jin-Woo, who wasn't a registered National-Rank, but was on their level.

Izuku's father also volunteered to fight. Having been augmented by the Architect, he was ready and willing to fight, but Izuku shot him down and asked Hisashi to stay home and protect Nejire. He also tried to keep Miruko away, but she wasn't having any of it and shot down the mere concept before Izuku could even begin arguing why she should stay behind. He didn't expect it to work in the first place, but it was worth the try.

"You feel it… right?" Liu asked in broken Japanese.

"I've been feeling them for the past hour, but I only just started feeling that." Izuku switched to the all frequency channel, "All points, troops on the arctic shore are gathering energy. Prepare for impact."

Tusk, now a General, and a towering beast standing atop the carrier's deck, raised his Evolution Core to the skies, conjuring a blue barrier that stretched for miles, covering all three ships that were leading the southern attack. On the east side, Hinata did the same thing. Her shield was a blinding white wall that hid the four ships. To the north, Glaedr rose out of the water to his full height, his massive body large enough to cover the three ships that were trailing behind him in a straight formation. In the west, Shruikan began hovering over the water, beating his wings with increasing ferocity and spreading out a tsunami of his cloak that blanketed the carriers.

They were attacking in an inwardly closing formation because there was a legitimate concern that the Angels would attempt to abandon the fight and fly out to the rest of the world, wreaking absolute havok while the Heroes fought off the remaining army. There was still a chance that some of the Angels managed to escape, but this way, there would hopefully be less damage to the rest of the world as the four groups met at the South Pole. At best, it would take them several days to reach said point, at worst, they could be there for weeks.

Because of this, Izuku and Liu wasted no time hopping up onto Firnen, jetting off to the mainland as the Silver Knights, likely belonging originally to Correnic, poured energy into massive cannons. There were three lined up on the very edge of the ice sheet, adjusting their alignment to aim straight at the carriers.

Liu went pale, "Those things are gonna fire at us?!"

Izuku cursed inwardly, "If this is enough Mana to scare him, then how the hell are the others gonna fight?"

"Izuku! Correnic identified them as her own troops," Yaoyorozu confirmed, "She says that in order for them to have built something this strong, they'd have to have been working for the past five days straight."

"Well I guess that's good news, at least these things aren't common. But we'll still have to worry about them the closer we get to the South Pole."

"Hopefully not." Ryukyu interjected, "I'm currently flying my way over to the cannons aimed at my fleet, there's at least a thousand of 'em here. If the same number is at each point, then most, if not all, of Correnic's army has been sent to meet us."

"Four thousand? That seems small compared to an army of one-hundred-thousand. Shouldn't the count of each army be higher?"

"No, Correnic had the smallest army out of all Rulers. This number is correct," Yaoyorozu said as she multitasked, loading specially made ammo into what was essentially a railgun she had constructed on the deck of the ship.

"Her forces are also not oriented for sudden close combat. At least, not now. They've spent all their effort constructing those cannons, so once those are destroyed, those soldiers will be relatively weak compared to the enemies we'll be facing closer to the center." Tsukauchi was silent for a moment, "Sorry Correnic, but we're gonna do our best to kill them all right here and now…"

"...She says it's what she expected. Besides, every Ruler is going to have to suffer the same pain, so this is no time to be weak," Yaoyorozu said, relaying the god's inner thoughts.

Izuku looked back to Liu, "Alright, hang tight!"

The Chinese Hero nodded as Firnen tucked into a dive. They had flown directly above the cannons to avoid being targeted and now they were going to intercept them just as they got a shot off.

There was no sound, no bang, no shockwave, just a silent white globule that spit out of the cannons' barrels. The three projectiles flew through the air in perfect sync, slamming into Tusk's blue shield.

They spread over it like a slime being thrown against a wall. White tendrils snaked out like tentacles, reaching around the shield and going to grab at the Heroes on board. Thankfully, Izuku had left his most trusted Shadow on board.

Igris jumped the several hundred feet between decks, leaping back and forth as he cut up the attacks with his shadowy sword. It wasn't nearly as strong as the Genesis Blade, but now that he was at General Grade, it made no difference to his strength.

Mere moments from splattering on the ground, Firnen's wings shot open, whipping dozens of air blades at the Angels surrounding the cannons, slicing and dicing through them like paper.

Noticing that the next round they were loading into the cannons was nothing like the last, Izuku jumped off Firnen, landing amidst an entire platoon of the Silver Knights. Before they could even realize what was happening, Izuku swung the Corrupted Blade, carving through the twenty or so surrounding him with dark energy.

The ones outside of his circle of influence lifted spears and blades, but Izuku could tell just from looking at them that Ryukyu was right, these things were snipers, not warriors. "I almost feel bad for you guys." They charged him with a silent roar as he raised his hand, "Come Forth!"

Nearly nine-thousand Shadows rose from the ground at the four separate points of attack, their numbers completely overwhelming the Angels, even though they were split into four separate groups.

[You have Leveled-Up!]

Encapsulated in a circle of Arch Demons, Magical Knights that he resurrected from the Demons that attacked I-Island, Izuku was free to further assess the situation. Liu was already leaping between Angels, swinging his swords with abandon. The golden glow surrounding them cutting through several at a time. It looked like he was heading for the far right cannon, so Izuku rose into the air and flew for the middle cannon, while Beru shot off for the left.

Up close, the cannons were far larger than Izuku had expected. They were at least seventy-five feet tall and half as wide as the carriers that the Heroes rode on. From the looks of it, their first shot had been a distraction of sorts. With the tendrils occupying most of the Heroes and Igris, the monsters themselves were free to eat away at the barrier, preparing for the second barrage, which was likely some sort of actual round and not another lovecraftian monster.

Once in the air, Izuku became a quite pronounced target with his dark scaly armor and pure black blades. It was perfect for the few Angels in the horde that were equipped with kinetic rifles.

Izuku's Sense Stat caught it just in time and he reflexively lurched up into the air, the bullet flying just under his stomach. But the Angels didn't stop there and sent bullets to cover practically every single movement option for Izuku.

He managed to dodge a few of them, but when he straightened out in air to avoid a bullet that would've taken his nose off, another slammed into the small of his back. The kinetic force sent him crashing down in front of the cannon as he lost his midair balance.

Izuku groaned as he pushed himself up to his knees, realizing that there were some of the cannon technician Angels looking down at him in shock. "Hi." He slammed his left fist into the ground, creating a rolling shockwave that managed to stumble even some of the hovering Knights. He slashed with his right, cutting through those around him.

[You have Leveled-Up!]

"Arise!"

[250 Blacksmith Angels Captain Grade have evolved into 250 Maker Seraphs Commander Grade.]

"The Northern Attack Force has destroyed their cannons and is making a full landfall!" Ryukyu reported as the northern troops disembarked the carriers.

"Eastern Attack Force has destroyed their cannons, we're still a few minutes away from our invasion!"

Though Ryukyu and Yaoyorozu got rid of the primary threat to their arrival, they still had to deal with the Blacksmith Angels on land. Or the ones that were left at least, as Izuku's Shadows were already doing a number on them across the continent.

[Mana: 200478/212362]

Izuku pulled himself to his feet, determined to not be the last team to destroy his cannons. Liu was already cutting a hole through his and Beru had a literal pile of corpses surrounding him. It was the entire technician staff. From the looks of it, Beru planned on taking the cannon for themselves instead of destroying it.

Looking at his own cannon, Izuku realized that the round was loaded and aiming straight for Tusk. Without any time to think it through, Izuku threw a punch.

[Skill: Infinite Strength has activated.]

[Skill: Gauntlet Barrage has activated.]

The ten blasts of wind buffeted against the cannon barrel, sending its trajectory just a little higher as they pulled the trigger.

This time, there was a bang accompanying the round as it sailed through the air, just barely passing over Tusk's shield and flying several hundred feet past them. It landed on a drifting piece of ice with a near nuclear explosion.

Izuku discarded his sword as the claws on his gauntlet began glowing incandescent with heat. He slashed at the stabilizer leg nearest to him, cutting it in half and causing the massive weapon to begin leaning backwards.

He jumped to the barrel itself, using his immense strength to squeeze it together, closing the entry point. He ducked as a bullet whizzed over his head. Then, leaping up to the command seat, Izuku decapitated the Angel that was attempting to adjust the barrel back down and extracted his Shadow. "Fire the cannon!"

"Yes, my Liege."

As they newly made Seraph Maker tapped on the controls, Liu, Izuku, and most of his Shadows cleared the area, leaving the remaining Angels confused as to why they were retreating. They only understood what was happening once the Seraph Maker pulled the trigger, earning a loud bang as the round detonated halfway through the barrel. The explosion fed back into the cannon, triggering a chain as the ammo cooked and flew all over the place. Some of the exploding rounds even flew into the other cannons, tearing them to bits and cooking their ammo. It was utter chaos for the Angels as they attempted to dodge the hellscape that was emerging from their own weapons.

Izuku simply had to sit back and watch as they self-destructed, earning him plenty of experience, and new corpses for him to add to his collection.

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

Once the fireworks display had ceased, Izuku sent in the rest of his Shadows to pick off the stragglers.

[You have Leveled-Up!]

"It's been a while since I've been able to Level-up this freely, especially since my Daily Quests haven't been showing up since I fought the Architect." Izuku thought to himself as he extracted the remaining Shadows, "And if all goes as planned, the Shadow Army will become far larger… I'm gonna need to work on sorting them out into more squads to handle their numbers."

[741 Blacksmith Angels Captain Grade have evolved into 741 Maker Seraphs Commander Grade.]

"The Southern Attack Force has destroyed their cannons and is moving to disembark from the carriers. All of the Angels have been cleared from our invasion point." Izuku reported as the ships stopped just short of the ice walls.

Tusk's blue barrier had faded and the three tendril monsters had been dealt with by Igris's sword.

Three of Izuku's Perfected Elemental Spirits stepped up to the ledge just in front of the ships, conjuring up bridges of light for the Heroes to walk over. After a few tentative steps, the eight-thousand troops sent to the South stepped off the carriers and onto the icy biome of Antarctica. Even with their cold protection buffs and armor, they couldn't help but instinctively shiver as they looked over the decimated landscape.

Most had yet to see the true extent of Izuku's power, so to see a thousand corpses lying on the ground, with their Shadows standing tall above them, it was breath-taking.

Kiara chuckled, "And you guys were so scared. How the hell can we lose with him on our side?"

But Izuku's expression didn't soften, "We're not done… not even close. The real battle has yet to start."


Izuku Midoriya:

Level: 172

Strength: 421

Vitality: 318

Agility: 349

Intelligence: 487

Sense: 317

[Mana: 215362/215362]

[HP: 81581/81581]

[Shadows able to be extracted: 17963]

[Shadows able to be saved: 9873/13582]


Merry Christmas! Thank you all for the past six months of support! I hope I've done well so far to entertain you all and continue to do so! After all, the Razar War Arc has just begun, so there's plenty more to come soon! Hope everyone enjoys their holiday!