Piercing, inhuman screams filled the air as Izuku tore through the sky, cutting down hundreds of the Hiven at once. As it turned out, the wasp-like creatures were far more dangerous than appeared. Their massive, fireable, and regenerating stingers packed enough punch to tear through iron armor and held enough venom to kill a dragon. They would've been a threat to nearly any Hero, but to Izuku and the Shadow army, they were fodder.
Hanging, midair after a jump, several dozen of the Hiven shot their stingers at him with shocking accuracy. He reached out with Ruler's Authority, stopping them midair and sending them flying back with the same sort of accuracy. "I'm getting better at grabbing multiple targets at once," Izuku thought, a smile on his face.
[Enemies defeated: 1,582/100,000]
Izuku landed back on Smokey's back, laughing as the bear looked up at him, almost with sadness, "Right! I forgot!" He placed his hand on Smokey's back, pouring in Mana.
[Mana Requirement for next Evolution of Shadow Soldier: Smokey has been met. Beginning Evolution process.]
The bear was still a relatively low unit in his army, a Captain Grade, so it didn't take much to evolve him.
[Ice Bear Smokey Captain Grade has met the requirements to evolve past his next evolution. As the alpha of his pack, he has evolved into Polar Usurus Commander Grade.]
Smokey roared loud enough to overpower the shrieking of his enemies as his body grew twice as large and ice began forming all over his body. It covered him like an armor, forming a mountain of spiky ice on his back.
"Guess I'm not riding him anymore," Izuku thought, amused as he jumped to the back lines as the Lovecraftian monsters continued to gather closer. "Tusk, Kamish, Thorn! AOE attacks, focus on the center of the swarm!"
"Yes, my Liege!" They shouted in unison.
The Hiven weren't the only things flying through the sky. Floating squid-like monsters with smoking darkness in place of tentacles, demon bats the size of a prop plane with blood-red fangs, worms with pulsating fiery mouths filled with enough teeth to shred Thomas Andre, and more of those giant electric spider creatures Igris killed filled the air.
Tusk targeted himself and his two fellow Shadows as he activated his buffs.
[Tusk is using: Hymn of Combustion, Hymn of Strengthening, Hymn of Giants, and Hymn of Blazing Fire.]
[Kamish is using Skill: Undying Flame.]
[Thorn is using Skill: Elucidator.]
Three separate pillars of fire shot from the Shadow army, burning their trails through the green sky. Though they were all aiming for near the center of the swarm, they made sure to space out their attacks so that when they collided, they did as much damage as possible.
With an explosion to rival many nuclear weapons, the three pillars slammed into their enemies, creating three gigantic fireballs that consumed thousands of the creatures.
[You have Leveled-Up!]
[You have Leveled-Up!]
[You have Leveled-Up!]
"That's what I like to see!"
[Azrael is using Skill: Divine Barrier.]
A golden shield eclipsed the entirety of the Shadow Army as the fire blasts expanded back the way they came. The Soldiers were hidden behind the shield as the monsters on the ground were trapped outside the bubble of safety and burned to a crisp.
[You have Leveled-Up!]
"Level 202, we're making good progress."
[Enemies defeated: 10,268/100,000]
"Arise!" Izuku shouted over the burned battlefield.
[3215 Hiven Elite-Knight Grade have evolved into 3215 Hiven Mantis Captain Grade.]
[734 Sparkers Commander Grade have evolved into 734 Conduits General Grade.]
The spider-like beasts grew even more spikes that crackled with electricity like lightning rods as their wings disappeared and were replaced with dozens of small tesla coils on their backs.
[1642 Dagon Captain Grade have evolved into 1642 Karkinoids Commander Grade.]
The draconic fish people shrunk and had their armors fuse into a tough shell exterior as their claws grew longer. They looked like they were trying to evolve into crabs.
[1274 Scorch Worms Elite-Knight Grade have evolved into 1274 Blaze Diggers Captain Grade.]
[2052 Drainers Captain Grade have evolved into 2052 Phantom Bats Commander Grade.]
[1350 Darkness Benders Commander Grade have evolved into 1350 Shadow Kraken General Grade.]
"My Liege. It seems that the final attack has attracted quite a horde."
Izuku looked off into the distance, a horde thick enough to surpass a hundred-thousand units was flying and stomping in their direction. The planet had heard news of their new invaders and they were not happy about it.
"Fine by me. Means I get to finish the Quest even quicker. Let's get to work."
In the darkness of the Gap Between Dimension, Baran's glowing white flames were the only thing illuminating the gargantuan beast in front of him. It stood as tall as an office building, metal plates made of an otherworldly metal infused into its rough grey demon skin. Its four red eyes shone with such intensity that if a human were standing before it, they would be vaporized on the spot.
Baran felt a rush of pride as he recognized his success. He was the first Higher Being in existence to tame a Primordial.
"Pssh, don't think you're special," Dabi said, amused from inside Baran's head, "You may be the first, but you had to pick out the weakest Primordial child to get that achievement. They're going to spend months forging pacts with the strongest beings they can find, and you're just gonna settle for this little dinky guy!" He cackled as loud as he mentally could.
"For a host to keep their sense of individuality for this long. You humans truly are insufferable." Baran straightened his back as he looked over the Primordial's beautifully sculpted horns and insanely sharp claws. "He may be weak for a Primordial, but he is a Primordial! I am currently the strongest Higher Being in the Universe!"
"Really? Are you that stupid? Just because you can control a creature stronger than you doesn't mean that you're strong." All Primordials and their children, or rather, their children who were also Primordial Grade, stood above Higher Beings. Shortly after the Absolute Being had created the original ten Primordials to run the universe for him, they obtained knowledge of how to absorb energy from their surroundings, quickly pushing them to heights that even the Absolute Being would've feared had they not been his creations. As it turned out, he should've feared them.
During the Rulers' assault on the Absolute Being, the ten Primordials, who had been fostering children and raising the universe, saw the damage that their creator was doing to all of existence. Because of the war between the Monarchs and the Rulers, their weaker children had suffered. So, when the moment presented itself, they assisted the Rulers, using their inherent energy absorption to steal from their master, weakening him enough to be overcome and killed. The Absolute Being discovered this slight in his last moments and cursed the ten, turning the energy they took from him into a sort of poison. They were forced into a hibernation to save their lives. To this day they had still not awoken and relied on their children to manage the universe in their place.
Without the guidance of these ten, their children didn't feel the need to join any side of the war. They were just helping their parents out with their jobs while they were sick, they didn't see the true meaning of the universe. As such, some broke off to form their own families, some went off to rule their own planets and some joined their parents and simply went into hibernation. They just didn't care enough about the war since most Primordial children were far above the strength of the Monarchs or Rulers. Now, they were forced into caring.
"You're still so weak that I bet Kyu would still kick your ass up and down the galactic highway."
Baran smiled, "Really? Well then, I suppose we should put that to the test." He began conjuring a Gate, forcing it wider and wider, "What do you say, Barbatos? Wanna cause some destruction?"
The Demon Primordial gave a low rumble of a growl, shaking the very fabric between dimensions and quickly pushing the Gate large enough for him to walk through. "Let's see the Rulers stop me now!"
"Todoroki… what's wrong?" Ryukyu looked down at the teenager, a single tear of frustration tracing its way down his cheek.
"My Liege… The cube…" Raphael gestured to the golden artifact resting on the kitchen counter. It was standing on one of its tips, perfectly balanced as it spun around, glowing bright white.
"Was it… testing him?"
Ryukyu went over to touch the spinning cube, only to find that it repelled her, like the same sides of two magnets. She looked back to Shoto, "What did-" She was thrown to the floor as a massive earthquake shook the apartment, sending dust raining from the walls
"RAAAAORGH!"
"That wasn't an earthquake."
Thanks for reading. I know it's short, but this is all I could really write for now. I think I want to take some time off from this story. I'm either going to write a bit more for my other fic, The Drift, which is on hiatus currently, or I'm just going to write my own original stuff on my own. Recently, with the stuff going on with Webnovel, that is to say my fic getting copied on that site and me having to deal with it, I ended up having to deal with that fanbase, which is quite toxic on their own. Not to mention the stuff from FFN that I've been deleting to avoid looking at it. I just need a short break from this story as it seems to attract quite a bit of toxicity and that really saps my motivation to finish this story. Some days I just want to delete all my accounts and turn off the internet, but, like I've said before, I know there are people who enjoy this story, so I will finish it, I just don't have that sort of drive right now. It's gotten to the point where I just want to go back to writing my own original stuff and ignore this fic forever. I know I post this on the internet, so I shouldn't have any right to complain, but I'm making this for fun and it really makes me sad to see so many people treating it with such harsh critiques. I'm not trying to make something insanely deep or original, just something fun.
