The two Primordials tilted their heads down, staring directly at Izuku and the army behind him. They were standing perfectly still other than that, making no moves.
"What do we do then?" Izuku asked, responding to Bellion's declaration. "The System will stop my… heart…?" He trailed off as the Primordials began moving, but not towards them.
The Cthulhu one lowered his head and the more reptilian one got down onto one knee, placing a clawed hand over its chest. "Ashborn. It has been quite some time."
"Huh?"
"Has the time to act finally come?" The reptilian one asked, a gravelly and deep, yet still feminine voice coming from her.
Izuku squinted, this was probably the second to last thing he expected. "Sorry. But I'm out of the loop here. Ashborn passed on his powers to me. But I don't have his memories."
"Hmm?" The beast leaned forwards, her snout mere inches from Izuku's face and her head filling his entire vision. She sniffed at him, rustling his hair. "My senses do not deceive me. You are Ashborn."
The second beast interjected, his voice was undoubtedly male, "We sense Ashborn inside you. His very essence, not just his power. However, we accept that you have yet to share in his full memories."
"I… I don't understand. The Quest made it sound like I had to kill you both."
"You do, Shadow Monarch. But it does not mean we will fight back."
"They're… just gonna let themselves die?" Izuku shook his head, "Forgive me, but why?"
"It is a part of the pact we made with Ashborn. We shall offer our bodies and our strength to the Shadow Army."
"In exchange for what?" Izuku knew that he'd probably have to extract their Shadows regardless, but he wanted to know what Ashborn promised them before he took on any debts.
"In exchange, we would restore what our parents once maintained. Order. We will end this war and use the Spiritual Essence extracted from the Rulers and Monarchs to wake our parents and-"
"Wait! Monarchs… and Rulers?" The male Primordial nodded, "Why?! Wouldn't they help keep the peace? They're on the side of life aren't they?"
"They are on the side of perfection. They could have ended the war the first time the Monarchs attacked Earth. But because they crave perfection, no matter the tools used to achieve it, they wasted chance after chance and are now stuck in this timeline. If the Monarchs were to die and leave only the Rulers, they would spread their influence outwards, forcefully mastering every race in the universe and turning them into perfect beings. If they found beings they could not perfect… well…"
Izuku shook his head, "This is crazy… Okay… ignoring the fact that the Rulers are into… eugenics… if you're so powerful, why did you never intervene before? End both sides?"
"Because, the pact we formed with Ashborn dictated that once we joined the war efforts, we would become his Shadows, infinitely loyal to him. We had to make sure he was disillusioned with both sides of the war. We needed an intermediary that could lead us to end both sides. If he still held any love for any side, we would become the very things we despised."
Suddenly, the situation dawned on Izuku, "You… want to kill all the Rulers…"
"And the Monarchs."
"I-Is there a way to extract a Ruler from its host… without killing the host?"
"...The body must be killed or the Ruler must leave of their own volition. No other way has ever been discovered."
"Then absolutely not! My girlfriend, my friends! They're Ruler hosts, I refuse to kill them or let you kill them."
The reptile seemed to frown, "The balance of the universe is already upset by the existence of the Rulers and Monarchs, to leave only the Rulers… it would be thrown off more."
"So you're telling me I should kill off two factions, one death and one life, all to trust in a third faction that I know nothing about!"
"The Absolute Being was a genius before he was a fool. Our parents, the Original Ten, were created specifically to manage the universe. The Absolute Being was not yet bored and had no reason to unbalance the universe. They were the perfect beings, which made them boring, so he created Monarchs and Rulers to fight like little children. The Original Ten have no biases, no sides, no goals other than keeping the universe running."
"I… I still can't accept that. Because even if you're one-hundred percent right, I can't kill friends. Even if it meant the balance of the universe."
The reptile's frown tilted up into a smile, "Are you certain you're not the true Ashborn? He was just as unwavering in his goals. He always followed them through… until they broke him and he cast them aside."
"I will not harm my friends, but we do need you. The Monarchs have been taming Primordials." Izuku pursed his lips, "If we kill the Monarchs and the balance difference is obvious, I'll help you find a way to kill the Rulers without killing my friends."
The male chuckled, "In truth, we do not have a choice in the matter, once we become your Shadows, we cannot disobey you. We simply chose to inform you of the ramifications of leaving either side alone. If Ashborn picked you as his successor, then you will make the right choice. We know it."
Izuku didn't like the sound of that, but as the two Primordial rose to their full height, he realized that there was no other way but to worry about that bridge when he crossed it.
"As the Primordial of Balance I, Nemesis, swear my Allegiance to the Shadow Monarch."
"As the Primordial of The Chaos World I, Scion, swear my Allegiance to the Shadow Monarch."
All at once, black, flame-like Shadows began consuming their flesh, transforming them from living flesh, to undead creatures of unfathomable power.
[Nemesis, Primordial of Balance, Primordial Grade.]
[Scion, Primordial of The Chaos World, Primordial Grade.]
"My Liege," They declared in unison, "Death is not the end."
[EMERGENCY Quest has been completed.]
[You can receive the following Rewards.]
1. +200 Stat Points
2. Increase the Potency of one Skill of your Choice (Effects Vary)
3. Evolve one Shadow of your Choice.
"BURN!" Baran shouted, sweeping his arms wide and blanketing the area in white fire.
Mirio turned his body, using his back as a shield for Yaoyorozu. He was enhanced enough to not be burned like Nejire.
Ryukyu leapt forwards, her fingers extending into razor sharp claws, Grantuld's aura flowing through them. She cut through the fire, seeing that where Baran once stood, Barbatos's foot now was. "Shit!" Within the milliseconds between impact, she crossed her arms in front of her body, growing her scaly dragon skin over it just as the Primordial's kick slammed into her body, sending her rocketing into the sky with a shockwave spreading from the impact.
"HAHA!" Baran laughed maniacally, staring at the shrinking Ryukyu as she flew further into the sky, regaining her bearings and taking on her more draconic shape to fly. Her arms were shattered by the punt, but they'd recover soon with her Ruler's help. "Now who's weak?!"
"You!" Mirio drove his fist into Baran's chin, nearly punching off the god's jaw entirely. He was rocked by the blow and stumbled back, slamming against Barbatos's foot.
"Barbatos! Burn this place to the ground!"
Mirio sprinted forwards, his fist reared back to punch Baran's head clean off his shoulders, but before he could, Barbatos's one remaining eye lit up with a bright light and his body followed suit. The sudden and intense heat was enough to throw Mirio back, burning his skin and forcing him to go impermeable to avoid the damage.
But it wasn't a passive heat wave, it was a critical build up of energy. While it melted the surroundings, Baran acted like he didn't have a care in the world. He was the Monarch of White Flames after all.
Mirio realized that the Primordial was about to explode with a nuclear amount of energy. Yaoyorozu was still nearby. With an A-Rank physiology, her body would be erased. Destroyed beyond repair. And Correnic would be forced to find a new host.
"YAOYOROZU!" Mirio shouted, ignoring his own pain as he went permeable once more, digging his feet into the ground and sprinting away from the Primordial, back to her. The heat was getting even worse, despite the fact that Mirio was running away from Barbatos.
Mere moments from the explosion, Mirio jumped forwards, intending to cover Yaoyorozu once more and Ryukyu dove from the sky, intending to use her wings as a shield. They weren't going to reach her before the explosion happened.
And yet, somehow, they both found their target, protecting their fellow host with their bodies. They protected her, even though the explosion never happened. If anything, the heat was fading from the area.
Hesitantly, Mirio and Ryukyu turned around, expecting to see the Primordial looking down at them with hatred. Instead, the Demon's eye was closed, peacefully adrift in sleep as he stood.
"Wha-What?! Barbatos! Burn th-" His voice caught in his throat as he looked up, shocked to see the yellow energy tracing from his beast's head.
Hovering in midair, using her spiraling Quirk, Nejire held one hand out to the Primordial, her attack turned into a sedative. This was the power of Arturk. He couldn't trade blows on a physical level. He couldn't alter reality or create some unbeatable spell. What he could do was calm even the most intense beasts or shield his allies from the most devastating blasts. He had turned Nejire's energy attack into the most powerful support ability in the world, surpassing even Yuri Orlov, the National-Rank whose speciality was barriers.
"No… NO!" Baran conjured a massive blast of heat, throwing it in a fit of rage. It only made it halfway before a bullet tore through the air colliding with the blast and dispersing it.
Yaoyorozu shakily pulled herself to her feet, regaining consciousness just in time to save Nejire from the blast. And she did save her. Arturk was a powerful support and defense Ruler, but the concentration needed to hold down a Primordial was immense. Nejire wouldn't be able to do anything, lest she risk freeing Barbatos.
With the appearance of just one person, the tide had completely changed. Where Baran once stood above the Rulers, wielding the weapon of a Primordial, he was now the weakest Monarch, facing down three powerful Rulers.
"Just like I said," Dabi cackled inside Baran's mind, "You're weak… and now, I get to sit back and watch as they wipe the floor with you."
"No…" He growled.
"What did I tell ya? Kyu's gonna kick your ass. And because you can't make a big enough portal quick enough, you'll have to leave behind your Primordial and let the thing be killed. You should avoid the shame and scorn from the other Monarchs and just let yourself be killed."
"I refuse to die… and I will not run!" The conversation between him and Dabi took mere moments, so when he focused back on reality, Mirio, Ryukyu, and a bullet were just a few feet away from him. Their trajectory was clear. Baran roared out, conjuring a pressure wave that shot back all his attackers as he triggered his Spiritual Body. "I've been stockpiling Spiritual Essence and saved it all for this transformation. I cannot lose here!"
Baran's skin became rough and grey as his body, or rather, Touya's, began deforming as he took on his true form. A demon with red eyes and evil curving horns. He raised his hand once more to attack Nejire, only to have a bullet slam into his hand and direct the blast into the rubble. Baran growled, but pulling back his hand, he realized it wasn't injured and he'd felt no pain. He let a grotesque and evil smile stretch across his face and turned back to the Rulers.
Mirio's fist was once again heading for Baran's chin, but this time, the Monarch's reaction speed was fast enough to raise his own hand to catch it. Mirio activated his Quirk to pass his fist through the block, and still, Baran kept the smile. Suddenly, his jaw unhinged and a white blast of pure energy completely enveloped Mirio's body, the only thing saving him was his Quirk.
The stream of white flames continued past Mirio, heading straight for Yaoyorozu, who slammed her hand onto the ground, erecting a barrier of metal just in time to take the brunt of the blast as she dove to more substantial cover, her shield shattering seconds later.
As Mirio and Yaoyorozu regained their composure, Ryukyu raced at Baran, her claws outstretched.
"How cute," Baran teased, "I have claws too." He met Ryukyu head on, his demonic claws deflecting her first blow as his other hand slashed across her stomach, exposing her innards. Not fatal for a Ruler Host, but quite painful.
As she fell past him, he raised his mouth to the sky and shot off another thick pillar of flames. Yaoyorozu sent bullets raining into it, but they just absorbed the metal. There was no stopping it as it headed for, "NEJIRE!"
The girl pulled her attention away from Barbatos, directing her energy downwards at the incoming blast, her spiral Quirk forming a shield, dispersing the attack around her, leaving her perfectly unharmed. But, it also left Barbatos to awake.
Angered, the Primordial stomped on the ground, creating a shockwave of molten power. It turned the very ground around them in a half mile radius into lava. Yaoyorozu had to leap into the air, caught by Ryukyu just to avoid getting burnt.
Hidden behind his minion, Baran fell to his knees, letting his Spiritual Body fade and turning back to Dabi. In order to handle all three Rulers at once, he had to burn an immense amount of energy, forcing it to last only a minute. But by now, it didn't matter. Barbatos wouldn't let Nejire get the same jump on him and none of the Rulers would be able to easily deal with him.
"It's over, I WIN!" Baran thought as Barbatos began building up that same energy as before. He was going to burn everything in a several mile radius. This time, Nejire couldn't get close enough to link her energy to him and send him back to sleep. Every bullet melted before it could get close and Mirio and Ryukyu were getting just as burned trying to approach the monster.
"GATE!" Ryukyu shouted, moving to create her own portal, but the blasts of fire from both the Primordial and Baran interrupted her every time.
"We won't let you escape! You're going to stay here right with me and burn into nothing!"
Nejire dropped to the ground as quickly as possible, surrounding her friends with a shield of her energy just as the heat exploded outwards from Barbatos. Arturk's barriers were strong, but constructed on such hasty notice against such a massive attack… they were lacking.
The yellow warped and bent, giving into the heat. It was too strong, and it was going to break through any second. Mirio would survive for sure, letting his body fall through the attack, and Ryukyu's enhanced body may survive, but the other two girls wouldn't make it. There was no time for a Gate.
And then, just as suddenly as the energy was burning Nejire's shield away, it stopped.
"I...Impossible." They could hear Baran mutter as Barbatos took a step back, his footstep causing a mini earthquake.
Letting the shield fall, they were shocked to see Barbatos shaking in fear alongside his master.
"Don't worry. We've got it from here." Izuku said, emerging from the Gate behind the Rulers. The Gate that stood taller than most buildings, the Gate that Nemesis and Scion created.
"Woah…" Yaoyorozu couldn't help but exclaim as she gazed up at the giants.
Nemesis's wings were glowing a blinding white, their form filled with the energy absorbed from Barbatos's attack. Orange highlights coursed through her body in place of the purple or blue.
"He's mine." Nemesis growled, taking a step forwards, covering a majority of the distance between her and the frightened Primordial. Then, as Barbatos was frozen in fear, she pounced. Her body, flying through the air, claws outstretched, collided with the inferior Primordial.
Barbatos tried to respond with flames and his own physique, but Nemesis's significantly larger form and more powerful limbs pinned him to the earth. His mouth opened wide, fire gathering inside to blast at Nemesis. The Kaiju-like Primordial countered by shoving her trident-tipped tail through his throat, cutting off the fire as her wings continued to grow brighter. Every feather angled towards Barbatos, reaching critical mass and suddenly releasing, shooting a single concentrated beam of energy into Barbatos's face, melting it into nothingness.
[You have Leveled-Up!]
[You have Leveled-Up!]
[You have Leveled-Up!]
As Nemesis stood, roaring in victory over her kill, Izuku shook his head in disappointment. During the chaos of the two Kaiju fighting, Baran had run, creating a Gate and escaping to the Gap Between Dimensions. He had come to take the lives of three Rulers, and instead left them with the corpse of a third Primordial. Izuku's for the taking.
Thanks for reading! Those on Wattpad and AO3 should be able to see a very nice image of Shadow Nemesis! As always this was commissioned from ukauku17 and I think they did a great job! Nemesis is actually taken from one of my favorite novels ever, Project Nemesis. Which is written by a good friend of mine, Jeremy Robinson. It's probably the only good written Kaiju story I've ever read, so I'd recommend checking it out. I even showed Shadow Nemesis to the author, who thought it was awesome, which was pretty cool! Anyways, thanks for reading! Only two or so chapters left before something very… interesting happens.
