[Quest]

[Unique Quest: Repel the Attackers.]

Quest Completion Requirements:

- Completely defeat the enemies/defeat enough to force them to retreat

Rewards:

1. Evolve one Shadow of your choice

2. +50 Stat Points

3. Increase the Potency of one Skill of your Choice (Effects Vary)


Izuku gave the special Quest a quick once over as he and the human forces began quickly arranging their units.

"Tanks in front! Damage dealers take the middle! Mages and Rangers get in back!" The S-Rank from earlier in the day began effortlessly guiding the nearly eight-thousand Heroes into their strategic formations.

As he did that, Izuku gave his own commands to the three-thousand Shadows, "Beru, you're with me."

"Where else would I be my Great King?"

"Igris, you're in charge of the Shadow forces. Protect the humans as best as possible. Myself and Beru are going to do our best to thin their ranged fighters. You do the same whenever possible."

"As you command," Igris answered briefly before hopping into action and arranging the Soldiers.

The Angels were still a good fifteen minutes away, which meant, "We've got fifteen minutes to tear through as many of them as possible," Izuku said to Beru, resting his war axe on his shoulder, "So feel free to run wild."

Beru's body shrunk down, becoming skinnier as his speed went from insane to completely god-like, "It would be my pleasure."

[Skill: Quicksilver has activated.]

Izuku, carrying a battle axe that looked too large to carry, much less run with, shot off the ground like a rocket, kicking up enough white powder to make it look like it was snowing. Beru swiftly followed after, flying alongside his Liege rather than running.

The ground blurred past the two so fast that within thirty seconds, they had cleared the distance to the enemy. A double sonic boom emitted from them as they kicked it up to eleven mere moments from the white cloud of Angels that were blotting out the sun.

Izuku pushed off the ground, shooting up several hundred feet at a diagonal angle within the span of a millisecond. The front of the swarm tracked him with their helmeted faces as Izuku flew for their Mages. But they could do nothing as he gave a huge horizontal swing of the Shadow Axe.

The Angels' bodies gave next to no resistance as Izuku cleaved through thirty of them without slowing in the slightest. The Cleave Skill was definitely working.

Before gravity could take hold of him again, he reached out with Ruler's Authority, dragging one of the four-winged Angels to him. The one thing he lost from the Dragon God armor was the power of flight, so he either had to drop back to the ground and leap back up, or use these guys as stepping stools. Izuku obviously chose the latter.

The Angel Izuku pulled over could do nothing as he planted his foot on its chest and pushed off, swinging his axe as he went, bisecting the Ruler's minion at the waist. He hung in the air for a few sparse moments and during that time, he did his best to examine every variation of Angel there.

The Mages, like the ones Izuku saw in Ashborn's memories, wore simple, pure-white robes and carried gleaming books with perfectly blank pages. Accompanying each of the Mages were two Angels holding long and twisting spears. Their faces were hidden behind sharp, crown-like helmets and their bodies were decorated with lightweight, plating armor.

Ahead of those two classes was the real meat of the Army. At the very front of the army, there were at least twenty-thousand Angels large enough to pick up a car with one hand, but they weren't holding cars, they were holding maces the height of a stop sign. Between them, the Mages, and the spear-wielders, most of the thirty-thousand units that Beru had spotted were accounted for. The final Angels, which were sprinkled throughout the cloud with surprising sparsity, were rather similar to the Mages in appearance. They wore only robes, but carried nothing in their hands, instead choosing to clasp them together in prayer. Izuku figured it wasn't as simple as actual praying.

Done with his observations, Izuku reached out with Ruler's Authority, manipulating the surrounding Angels to lurch towards him, forming a circle around him. He spun 360 degrees, his weapon doing the rest of the work as it cleanly cut through the bunch.

[You have Leveled-Up!]

Izuku once more began falling, but just in time, Beru zipped by, his erratic movements making it impossible for anything to target him. He caught Izuku's foot with his hand and gave it a shove, lifting his Liege back up.

Now at the top of the swarm, Izuku had plenty of "footholds" to use and use them he did. Running along the backs of his enemies, Izuku cut through entire swathes of them, clearing the sky bit by bit. They attempted to lunge at him with their spears, or launch blades of light, but he either let it scrap harmlessly against his armor, or batted them aside with ease. They weren't stopping him.

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

Within just ten minutes, Izuku had already swept through a good seven-hundred of them and Beru took down a good eight-hundred, his flight and speed making him far more effective in this environment. By now, even the Mages and Rangers down in the Shadow and Human army were helping, finally in range. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough.

The attacks from the Shadows were doing decent damage and Firnen's Wind Blades cut through whole squads with abandon, but on the human's side, things were not going as efficiently.

Their arrows, regardless of their make, regular arrows, magical, or energy arrows, were swatted aside by the giant Angels. And even if they did reach their target, the wound only scratched the surface. Magic did little more, the curse wielders being the only ones who could effectively target the Angels. Their dark magic was effective against the holy attribute of the Ruler's forces, and still, it wasn't enough to fell them quickly.

Out of the handful of S-Ranks present, only five had ranged capabilities, while the rest were stuck waiting anxiously for the swarm to hit them.

Liu was the one human there that Izuku felt like he could reliably trust to help him out if need be. Though the two longswords he swung looked like they were for close range, the fiery blasts that emerged from each swing proved otherwise, battering the frontline Angels. His National-Rank status allowed him to kill a couple squads, but it was like trying to make a giant bleed out from paper cuts, it simply did not make a difference.

As Izuku once more neared his attack force, he attempted to kick it up a notch. The Army had only been shaved down to about twenty-eight thousand and they were bearing down on the humans forces as they lowered themselves down to the ground, preparing to use their overwhelming size, strength, and numbers to completely crush the opposition.

[Skill: Domain of the Monarch has activated.]

"Arise!"

[259 Angel Wizards Captain Grade have evolved into 259 Seraph Sorcerers Commander Grade.]

[518 Angel Lancers Captain Grade have evolved into 518 Seraph Knights Commander Grade.]

[1053 Angel Warriors Captain Grade have evolved into 1053 Seraph Berserkers Commander Grade.]

Just as Izuku yelled that command, all hell broke loose.

The front line of the Angel Army collided with the front line of the Human and Shadow Armies. The maces of the Warriors slammed down onto the shields of the tanks, denting them inwards or crushing them completely as they began surrounding the eight-thousand, weak humans. Blood began spraying as the frontline collapsed inward and more tanks attempted to fill the space. Quickly damage dealers began peeking out between the gaps and jamming their swords or spears into the white armor of the Angels. The success of these attacks varied greatly.

The Shadow Army, quite obviously, fared heaps better. Because of the chaotic mess of first contact, they were split off from the Human Army, a clear tactic by the Angels to clear out the weaker ones first.

As they waded through the hordes of Angels, Igris leading them, the Shadows cut down the winged Knights by the dozens. Blades and magic flashed through the air as the immortal Summons showed off their prowess. The more they killed, the stronger they became, with hundreds upon hundreds joining their ranks at any given time. The true strength of the Shadow Army was finally being put on full display. But not all was well.

Izuku scowled as dozens of humans were instantly felled by the might of the Angels and more continued to fall. He noticed many of the Angels flying overhead to cut off the rear of the army and was about to jump after them, but Igris beat him to it.

Leaping through the air, he slashed his sword at the Angels, over a dozen of them falling out of the sky at once. Every couple of swings, like Izuku's axe, managed to reach farther than it should've been able to, but not in the same way.


[Item: Caladbolg.]

Item Class: National

Item Type: Greatsword

+1200 Attack

Ability: Sonic Slash: Every four times this blade is swung, it will conjure three spinning disks that will seek out and kill up to five enemies each.


The blade, made in the same style as Izuku's axe, obsidian black material with glowing green accents, was another of the Seraph Makers' works. After Igris lost his Genesis Blade to Lucifer, Izuku decided that he needed something specially made from the new Shadow blacksmiths.

Several of the Shadows followed after Igris as they made a perimeter around the humans, holding back the Angels and lifting some of the pressure from the tanks. Unfortunately, it was far harder to stop the Angels from flying over the frontlines and landing in the center of the human forces, swinging their maces with abandon at the far less durable Heroes.

"Striker! Give us some room!"

The massive Titan emerged from Izuku's Shadow, body tackling literally thousands of the clumped up Angels by just falling on them. He had been kept hidden in order to make sure that when he did come out, the Angels weren't too spread out to avoid him.

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

With a good deal of the Angels occupied by his Shadows, Izuku jumped into the center of the human group, tossing his axe into his Inventory in order to use his gauntlets. The range of the axe was simply too big to be using it near friendlies.

Thick and impossibly sharp claws emerged from Izuku's fingertips as he began racing through the forces, slitting throats or entirely cutting the enemies in half. He picked up the pace as a squad of the Angels landed near a particular Agency.

Mina, Bakugo, and Kaminari were thrown off balance as one of the Angels slammed his mace on the ground, sending a shockwave to stumble them all. Todoroki attempted to create a shield of ice to hide them, but another Angel easily smashed through it and raised his other mace.

Bakugo was about to shoot an explosion in defense, but before anyone could take any action, Izuku blurred past, decapitating five of the surrounding Angels. He took a moment to breath, exchanging a quick glance with Bakugo.

This had been the first time they had seen each other since Igris had completely destroyed Bakugo in combat. The explosive teen had done his best to avoid Izuku at all costs and Izuku didn't much mind that. He knew that Bakugo was coming along on this mission, but he didn't take any time out of his day to approach him.

Thanks to their enhanced perception abilities, milliseconds stretched into seconds as their eyes refused to break contact. The emotions swirling between them were hard to describe, tension, respect, distaste, shame, and gratefulness. Both held negative and positive thoughts of one another, but they weren't the kind to be expressed to the other, especially not in an environment like this.

Izuku continued on his way, his eyes sporadically flitting about as they locked onto enemies left and right, "Come on… come on! Almost!"

Izuku almost completely stopped attacking, allowing Kojin, who was closest, to defend him as he looked around. But he wasn't just standing there to observe the battle, he was targeting as many Angels as possible.

"Now!"

[Skill: Shadow Pulse has activated. For the next eight minutes, all targeted enemies will have their Stats decrease by 90%]

[Kojin is using Skill: Call of the King.]

As the Angels felt a majority of their strength leave their body, ten-thousand Death Knights rose from the ground, turning the tide back to an even stream instead of overwhelming rapids. If all the Arch Liches were used, Izuku could've had sixty-thousand Death Knights right off the bat, but those Arch Liches were spread across the other three groups.

Since the Death Knights Summoned by Kojin or the other Liches couldn't regenerate, Izuku had waited until he could target every Angel with Shadow Pulse before deploying them.

"Eight minutes. If each Death Knight can kill… two or three, then the rest of the Shadows can mop up. With Shadow Pulse it should be possible for even the rest of the Heroes to-"

[Angel Clerics are using Skill: Cleansing Light. Will cleanse all targeted allies of Debuffs. 60 seconds to activation.]

"ALL SHADOWS! Target the Clerics!" Izuku abandoned the humans and snatched his axe back out of the Inventory, leaping back into the sky as he looked around for the Angels with clasped hands. Just about every flying Shadow followed after, allowing the Death Knights and other ground-based Shadows to protect the humans.

"I remember seeing only about a hundred of them. It shouldn't be an issue to actually kill them, but finding them…" Izuku cut the first one in half, leaping off falling bodies to find the next. "If I focus… I might be able to sense those with weaker Mana!" He swung in a wide arc around him, clearing plenty of space for him to stretch out his Sense Stat. It was hard to focus while swinging, so instead, Izuku clenched his fists tight, forming a sphere of energy using Ruler's Authority.

"There!" Almost immediately, ninety-something points of light appeared in Izuku's minds, spatially identifying the Clerics. "I can't clear them on my own in time so…"

[Skill: Sensory Sharing has been activated. Skill has targeted all Shadows.]

All at once, the Shadows began looking through Izuku's eyes, spotting what he did. It allowed them to jump into action, cutting down the number of Clerics by thirty with still forty seconds on the clock.

"Keep going!" He mentally shouted, reaching out to crush three of the Angels with the pressure of his telekinesis alone.

Beru finally extricated himself from the dogpile of Angels covering him and rocketed over, zig-zagging in the swarm, bouncing between Clerics like a pinball.

"Fifty left… Forty…"

[Twenty seconds to activation.]

Igris slashed into the air, sending a dozen of the spinning disks from his sword into the cloud, each targeting a separate Cleric.

"Twenty… fifteen… ten…"

Tusk abandoned his defensive duties and detonated a huge fire blast midair, seaing five.

[Five seconds left.]

"Two… One!" Izuku pushed off the ground with all his might. His outstretched claws looking to tear the head off the last one. All too quickly he realized that he wouldn't make it in time.

But Beru would, "KIIIEEEEK!" The strongest Shadow slammed into the Cleric with so much force that its entire body was turned into sludge, just barely saving them from the cleansing effect.

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as his momentum continued carrying him up and away, "Alright! We've got seven minutes left on the Debuff, kick their asses!"


"Arise!"

[3156 Angel Wizards Captain Grade have evolved into 3156 Seraph Sorcerers Commander Grade.]

[6505 Angel Lancers Captain Grade have evolved into 6505 Seraph Knights Commander Grade.]

[9251 Angel Warriors Captain Grade have evolved into 9251 Seraph Berserkers Commander Grade.]

[100 Angel Clerics Captain Grade have evolved into 100 Seraph Priests Commander Grade.]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

With just under ten-thousand units left, the Angels began retreating. The Shadow Pulse was a few minutes from ending, but even if they returned as they were, they stood no chance. Izuku now had more Seraphs than they did Angels. Going back in would be a suicide attack, so, they retreated, Izuku watching them go until they were completely gone from his Sense range.


[Unique Quest: Repel the Attackers has been completed]

[You can receive the following Rewards:]

Rewards:

1. Evolve one Shadow of your choice

2. +50 Stat Points

3. Increase the Potency of one Skill of your Choice (Effects Vary)


They had won and Izuku's Mana was barely depleted. But not all was well. One thousand humans were dead and several hundred more in critical condition. Thankfully, the Seraph Priests were one of the most potent healers Izuku had, anyone still alive would recover. But seeing that many bodies was hard for anyone, so Izuku turned away, walking a decent distance to allow the other to grieve and to go over his Quest Rewards.

"Accept Reward Two."

As always, the bonus Stats went into Intelligence and thanks to the twelve Levels he gained during the fight, the Stat nearly eclipsed eight-hundred.


Izuku Midoriya:

Level: 184

Strength: 508

Vitality: 430

Agility: 486

Intelligence: 799

Sense: 449

[Mana: 393631/393631]

[HP: 144853/144853]

[Shadows able to be extracted: 85151]

[Shadows able to be saved: 32716 /77923]


"Thirty-two thousand… I'll have to spread them to some of the other points to make them s- Oh shit the other points!"

"This is Izuku, we've repelled the Angels. About ten thousand of them are left. We… also have around one-thousand casualties."

"This is Tsukauchi. Ours ran just a minute ago as well. We couldn't kill any. They kept the perfect distance in order to keep us busy without losing anyone."

Yaoyorozu and Ryukyu reported the same.

"I've got enough Shadows now, we should just send everyone else home."

"Sorry," Ryukyu said, "But we can't. Your Shadows don't generate the same energy we need for our plan."

"And you're certain we need "them" for this?"

"Izuku, you know how important that aspect of the mission is. This is our only chance."

He nodded, "I know… I just wanted to make sure there was no other way."

"If there is one, I don't know it. For now, your Shadows will just have to do their best to keep everyone safe."

"Understood. Izuku out." He sighed and shook his head, removing the visual aspect of his armor and feeling more comfortable. "Accept Reward Three and enhance Skill… Infinite Strength."

[Skill: Infinite Strength has merged with Skill: Gauntlet Barrage to create Passive Skill: Power of a God. Strength Stat's power will constantly be boosted by 300%]

Izuku squinted, worried that he'd lost the ability to throw the rapid punches that could destroy even Monarchs. But when punching at the air, he found his fist moved so much faster than before that it created a miniature sonic boom. "Okay… don't have to worry about that I guess." He then began looking around the Shadows gathered near him, "Though I do have one more thing to debate." His eyes landed on his most loyal servant, "Well… maybe not."

"Accept Reward One and evolve Igris."

Darkness cocooned around the knight as he bowed his head, grateful to receive the gift. His Mana shot through the atmosphere as his bright blue eyes began shining through the darkness. As the cocoon began to shrink it fitted to his body, forming his new body.

He grew larger and bulkier, becoming nearly twice as tall as Izuku. The armor was extremely ornate and rather familiar, likely because Izuku had seen it once before. It was the armor Izuku had seen in Ashborn's memories, the same armor that decorated the Shadow Monarch.

[Shadow Knight Igris General Grade has evolved into Shadow Knight King Igris Marshal Grade.]


Shadows: Total count: 32716 (77923)

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

2991 Maker Seraphs - Commander

10304 Seraph Berserkers - Commander

7023 Seraph Knights - Commander

3415 Seraph Sorcerers - Commander

100 Seraph Priests - Commander

10 Soul Kings - Commander

8 Prime Draconians - Commander

Masamune (Seraph Maker) - 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

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

Igris (Knight King) - Marshal

Beru (High-End Nomu) - Marshal


Thanks for reading! Sorry this one took a while to get out, I've kinda been addicted to VR and Terraria lately lol. I also wanted to thank everyone for helping me reach a total of 500k views between FFN AO3 and Wattpad, it means a lot to hit such a crazy number! I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and continues to enjoy!