Opera was still disappointed, the school paper got sold out or set on fire, so they couldn't get the latest scoop. It didn't take a genius to know something happened but for the love of Devi, they couldn't figure out what it was. Even Sullivan was at a loss.
"I still can't place my finger on it. It's like someone deliberately went out of their way to make sure most of the school didn't get a newspaper. From what they could tell, none of the staff were able to procure a copy."
"Very weird, I guess it's an unsolvable mystery." Izuku spoke in an even tone that got his mother to look at the boy curiously. "Oh well, guess it's a shame. It's not like we can waste time trying to figure out who did it. Breakfast is amazing as always, Opera-san."
"Speaking of, I heard you went to a 'Demdol' concert with your friends a while back, Kuromu, if I recall correctly." Inko asked with genuine curiosity that was masking a more suspicious and skeptical mind.
Looks like she was onto something, because Izuku immediately began choking on his morning bicorn meat. "Uh, yeah, it was fun, nothing terrible or completely embarrassing happened there-hey, Grandpa, how's the calibration going?" Izuku asked, changing the subject at hand.
"Wonderful, really thought you damaged it badly with that pandoroola move, but everything is fixing up quite nicely." Well, Sullivan wasn't going to be of any help. At least this confirmed that the young master had something to do with the missing papers. "I have to say, have you been using more magic recently? Nothing to be ashamed of, just curious."
"Uh, yeah actually. Gaako and Eiko gave me an idea about how to use the ring to my advantage so I can go about the netherworld a whole lot easier." He happily responded. Ah, the boy went from having no friends to five. He's grown a lot in surprising ways. "Would I be able to use magic to duplicate more demonic features?"
"Well you could, but you should be careful doing it on your own. Wait until you learn about it in class, the reason we teach the basics to first years is because those who just skip to the end always find themselves suffering due to their own spells." Sullvian was right in this instance. When he went to Babyls there was this student who tried to take him down with a wind spell far beyond what they taught. Said student lost all the oxygen in his lungs.
"I guess that's a fair point. I still don't know what triggered that transformation during the Division Party. Or why I became a flying rabbit of all things."
"Isn't your favorite hero a giant muscled rabbit that's always giving creepy smiles of doom to all his enemies?" Opera asked the young Midoriya. They've seen the human's work, quite impressive. "He is quite terrifying. Perhaps you were just inspired by his foreboding aura."
"All Might's not a rabbit! And his smile is supposed to be reassuring!" Izuku shouted as if it were a sacred mantra.
"And I still can't believe you prefer his autograph to mine! I'm a hero, you know." Izuku and Inko actually blinked at that one. "What, is there something on my face?"
"Demons have pro heroism in the netherworld?" Izuku asked, curiously. "When Ameri told me I could be one, I didn't know it was an actual position here!"
"I thought that you were just a principal." With his personality, Inko had a point.
"Pish posh! Of course the netherworld has heroes! Who do you think manages the chaos around here without the demon king? That would be the three demon lords, which is me and my pals of course. Under us are demons far more consistent and important, who run all faculties of the world to help the king when he was in power. The thirteen crows, the most powerful and loyal of demons known. Ameri's father, Henri Azazel is one of them, just as Amaryllis Asmodeus is."
"Wait, Azz's mom and Ameri's dad are heroes? Like, legitimate superheroes!? I've gotta get an autograph!" Opera took minor joy in watching Sullivan slump to the ground. The way things worked out due to the Midoriya's always amused him.
A slight yelling was heard from the outside. "Oh crap, that's Azz and Clara outside, better get going!" Izuku rushed out the door. "I have a million questions to ask a lot of people today, so better get started."
"He's going to torture that boy." Inko responded to all of that with a light laugh. "Make him suffer, Izuku. Make him suffer." They should grab the Hellgrey tea, she needed to calm down a little.
"Izuku, for the last devi-damned time, I will NOT ask her for an autograph!" Asmodeus shouted repeatedly like a broken record. Given Izuku's hero worship, it shouldn't have come as a surprise, but the first time he met his mother, he didn't bat an eye at her status.
"But I just learned she's a hero, that's super cool. Does she use fire magic to take out criminals, fly through the sky at high speeds, calm and assure people around her that things will be okay?" He asked in a manner very reminiscent of Clara, damn it all, he was stuck saying her first name now.
"She runs all of the netherworld's prostitution rings." He clarified, and Izuku was sent back with a defeated and disgusted look. "I know you have this ideal vision of what a hero should be, but the truth of the matter is that most deal with minimizing the chaos of demon evil cycles. My mother just happens to believe the best way to do that is with promiscuous fornication."
"And … and that's why we have a seduction class isn't it?" Izuku shuddered. You chose this path, you fool! Not his fault Izuku was so sheltered from a horrid reality for years. "I need to get Clara to stop saying 'sexy' at any moment from now on."
"I mean it's good and all to have the option at all." Kerori muttered from her seat above them. She joined the 'Calamity Cult', as the circle of Izuku's friends as a whole were called, though he didn't understand why. Last he remembered, she talked about stabbing Izuku brutally with a knife. "Though I mostly joined so I can learn how to keep it all under wraps."
"Keep what under wraps?" Clara asked with her misplaced innocence. "You don't have anything to hide!" Asmodeus knew what she meant by that, but he didn't clarify for Kerori, nor did he stop her from freezing Clara into a block of ice again.
"Ah, it's the little things in life that make friendship beautiful." He admired Clara in her frozen, beautiful, silence. "Right Izuku?"
"Sorry, I just, my brain needs a moment to reset from everything." The honor student still looked dumbfounded. Maybe he was a bit too blunt. "Being a hero here just got a whole lot more complicated."
"Alright then, today we'll be going over color type transformations." Morax-sensei spoke from her podium. Ah, yes, something normal for once, and it seemed to get Izuku out of his funk. Maybe the r-nope, not even going to finish that thought.
Gaako cracked her hips, still hurting from dancing in that big fluffy dress. She would kill her friends at this rate. "Seriously, can we have a calm day today? For absolutely sure this time? I don't want any more broken body parts."
"Unless Clara starts a food fight, lunch tends to be much calmer then most of our day." Azz spoke for her, as Izuku was scribbling through note after note.
"Hey, Izu, you've been pretty buried in your notebook, well, more than you usually are." Eiko glanced over his shoulder. "Thinking of another apparatus we can make for the Battler?" She gently poked his side.
He blinked at the poke, coming back to their reality. "Oh, sorry, this is actually for my personal magic. Trying to get down the basic spells, thinking of altering my appearance to match the world better, and how many capabilities changing appearance can do for espionage, or camouflage, or making a sword look like a stick, or-" He went on and on, Eiko being the only one to follow.
"Wow, that's so amazing! You're really thinking ahead even when you don't have much! Hey, since you're working on appearance, would it be possible for you to turn invisible? I have this theory that color changing magic works on the light spectrum, meaning it probably bends whatever lights around it, so if we could bend it away from you we could.."
"I don't know, that seems to take up more light control rather than the application of the spell itself, although if we have it made in a way to constantly match the appearance of what's around us-"
"And there they go. They've done this every time we've gotten together at the battler. It's like a floodgate being unleashed over an unsuspecting town." Gaako observed, exasperated. "Eiko I get, she's studying more and wants to be like Izuku, but what's his deal with the muttering?"
"Well, I'm assuming the analysis is from the lack of his own magic, but the muttering itself.." The two starred on, both of the little nerds talking like no one else was in the room. "I'm drawing a blank in all honesty."
"Hey, I do it all the time too, you know!" Clara piped in. "When there's no one else to talk to, you want to say all the words yourself!" This finally got Izuku to stop his rant with an embarrassed blush.
"Yeah, when I was a kid I thought a lot to myself, and at some point it just came out naturally." Izuku said. "But now I get to study my own magic, thanks to this ring." He held the Envy Ring high, as it glistened in the hallway light, and as the dark green mist poured from its body. Wait a second, since when did that happen!? "Guys, you might want to get out of the way!"
"Yay, shadow-kun is coming out to play again!" Clara shouted in excitement. "Time for lullabies!"
"Okay no, I'm willing to let the creep shoot my own fire at me before you start singing again." Azz spoke with a determined look and a bit of fire in his hand.
"This thing isn't going to go all crazy and take our magic, right? I'm not fond of having mine drained out of me!" Gaako hid behind him
"Guys guys, calm down, I'm sure there's a logical answer." Eiko tried to calm everyone down. "This thing just wants abilities right, to try them out and stuff?"
"Actually I'm pretty chill at the moment, already felt what it was like to be in their shoes." A voice, unrecognizable to any of them piped up. "I just needed to stretch my head a little. One could go crazy living in such a tiny space." The only possible source for it was the tiny cretin popping out of Izuku's ring, but that couldn't be right.
"Well I guess that makes sense, isolation would do horribly for any-wait I've become way too used to being crazy, this is new even by our standards." Izuku snapped himself back into fear and sanity.
"Since when could the ring talk, and why haven't you introduced us yet?" Gaako felt the need to ask, everyone else was shocked beyond speech.
The mist turned to her with an offended look. "The hell are you on about bitch, I can't talk, that would just be ridiculous." The little degenerate called out. "Wait, did I just say that out loud?"
"Azz, you have free reign to incinerate this asshole." Gaako spoke with the finality of buying milk.
"Wait, I can talk. I can talk!? How the hell can I talk, how can I think, I'm just magic aren't I? What is real, what is fake, what is the meaning of life?" Apparently this thing was going through an existential crisis. "My screams, my cries of suffering, they've finally taken tangible form! AHHHH! SO SCARY!"
"No need to freak out, Shadow-kun! Here, have some candy!" Clara offered the creature a blue lollipop that it gobbled in one bite. "Feel better?"
"Very much so. You really are the sweetest little thing, aren't you? No wonder Madam Midoriya is always teasing the kid." For some reason Izuku got a bright blush. "Wait? Do I have memories too? I wasn't even out when she did that! How can I remember what I wasn't there for?"
"So are we still on for incineration or …" Azz spoke, a small fire in hand. "I'm sure we can figure out another way for you to use magic without a ring, or a ring finger for that matter."
"Burn me off and I tell the world about Alice the Demdoll." The ring spoke, as a crowd of Asmodeus fan girls got in close.
"Alice? One of the performers that sang with Kuromu? You guys know about that hot mystery demdoll!?" One of them shouted. "Asmodeus, do you know her? Are you dating her? Is she up for a three way?"
"DIE!" Unable to hold in his anger, he sent a wave of embers down the hall, not caring what, or who was in the way. "Wow, that felt good! I should do that more often."
"I thought we were past this." Izuku shook his head in disappointment. "I actually thought Kachaan was here for a second." Azz gave an involuntary flinch at that jab.
"Either way, we should probably leave before, you know, we all get caught with whatever is going on with Izuku's hand at the moment." Gaako got everyone back on track. "You think you can shove the shit back into its prison?" That was definitely more bolder words than he expected out of her. It was admirable, in a crude way.
"Hold it, hold it! Hold everything, I'm not going anywhere!" The shroud floated in front of Izuku's face. "I finally have the ability to think for the first time, and so I'm taking advantage of it! I got words to say to you, mister!"
Izuku looked defeated, already consenting to the monster's demands. "Is there any empty classroom close by?"
Izuku was writing in his notebook while the rest of the gang made sure the empty room was secure, and the table was set up. "Alright, so let's get some key points down. You want your name to be Lizzy, right?"
"That's right, feels nice and right to me."
"And you being anything before you attempted to, quote "choke out the bitch senpai", is just instincts and feelings, like seeing something and wanting it for yourself."
"More like experiencing their shoes and their lives, while they lose theirs, but yeah that's how it was."
"And you hate me because, again quote "I suck ass at using magic with my mind and treat it like a cobblepotted hammer', right?"
"You got it all in one, nerd." Great, he went from ending Azz's Kachaan like qualities to having a mini-me version glued to his finger. "I go through all the trouble taking all those glorious bloodline abilities, and you just spit them back out like they're wads of paper coming out of a straw!"
"Hey, Izu doesn't like to just take them without permission. It's not his fault you make yourself seem like a super invasive power." Eiko tried to defend him. "Plus he rarely needs to use them at all, he can get by just fine with magic alone."
"Says the bloodline-less bitch who only gets by with obsessive work studies." The hiss generated from Eiko genuinely frightened him. "Not saying he doesn't have guts, but quite frankly, the fact he's been able to survive this insane asylum of a school this far has been nothing but sheer dumb luck."
Sadly, this was true. Lots of luck went into his survival alone. "What about you Azz, thoughts on the ring?"
He's been silent for a while as he was just waiting for the information to be given. "I just came to a conclusion … Do you remember the rookie hunt?" The pink haired boy asked Lizy.
"Yeah, what about it?" The mist … shrugged? No shoulders made visible cues weird.
"If that's the case then it's likely that your ability correlates with Izuku's rank. You were nothing but a mindless animal during his period as an Aleph(1) and at Bet(2), you couldn't become 'aware' and gain memories until Gimel(3), where you became capable of conversation..I don't quite understand how this works exactly, but it does leave us something to work with." Thank you Azz, for being observant and sane in this period of need. "Basically we just have to rank Izuku down and you vanish away, problem solved."
"ARE YOU INSANE?!" Both Lizzy and him yelled at the same time, though Izuku continued on. "I did not get almost eaten by a bird and blown up by a crazed senpai just so I can go backwards! I just barely made real headway with my ambition!"
"Calm down, I'm sure there's a way we can work on getting rid of the ring while you keep up your rank." Gaako tried to suggest. "Have we considered the skull saw?"
"Can we not cut off any limbs of Izu!?" Eiko asked loudly, practically reading his mind. Please, listen to the girl!
"Why do we have to get rid of shadow-kun, they could be super fun to play with!" Clara all but shouted.
"Yeah yeah, in fact, I can help Izuku-kun." The smoke paused, looking like it gagged after saying that. "Yeah, help him with his magic, make him better than he is now. I mean, look at him! He's so uninteresting and boring! So plain looking and completely unnoticeable and unattractive in every conceivable way-"
"Get on with it." Eiko and Clara spoke, with his mom's scary voice. A lot of people were learning that real quick in all honesty, maybe he should take a shot at it sometime.
"...M-my point is, Izuku-kun is a sore thumb that I can heal quickly and painlessly. In fact, he can start with me." The smoke turned to him. "You remember that spell during class right, Cherushille, transformation?"
"Well yeah, we were doing notes and stuff, I used magic on a frog, it turned black like Morax-sensei did-"
"And that's what i'm talking about!" The smoke suddenly shouted, interrupting him. "Magic is not some structure or form that can be controlled with a simple language. It's a state of mind that believes these words hold power. You only turned it black because you expected the frog to become black. It didn't grow spikes because you didn't think of making spikes. Strong Magic and Strong Imagination together can form things beyond the laws of any realm."
Everyone sat in silent awee, taking in Lizzy's words easily. "Now then, try me. I'd rather not be a smokey beast anyway. Give me some long legs, horns, nice assets." It floated in silence with eyes closed, waiting for whatever he gave it.
"Oh, alright." That wasn't too hard to imagine, at least in theory. He wasn't the most imaginative person in the world; he never came up with a more creative hero name for himself beyond All Might Junior. At least with Lizzy's description, it gave him a more precise image to work with. "Cherusille!" A small flash of light took place, before toning down and revealing the result. "There, is that good?"
Lizzy was now in a costume that was mainly blue and orange, with a fleshy whitish-brown where the legs were. They had blue horns and long blonde hair, and a mask where it covered a single eye on their face. "Really!? You went with Mount Lady?"
"She was the last hero I saw before moving here!" Wait, this confirmed that Lizzy was aware of his own memories from before the ring. Great, another person now knew his secret. "It's not a bad look on you."
"Izuku's right. I think the big boobed bimbo look is a great match for you Lizzy." Gaako spoke with a surprisingly vindictive smirk. Ever since the concert she's been on edge. He should fix that eventually.
"I'm more concerned about the scale model of someone supposed to be called 'mount lady', how big are we talking here?" Azz asked out of curiosity, the other girls giving a glare for some reason. "Get your minds out of the gutter."
"Regardless, now let's try you. Let's go for some creative clothes, boost up that imagination!" He was right! Right now was the perfect opportunity to finally show his friends the kind of-"Do not just poof yourself an All Might hoodie! I said creative, not creatively bankrupt!"
"But he's, and it's, ugh, fine." Great, there goes every idea he had in his head.
"Why don't you try some other clothes that you've already seen?" Eiko asked.
"Isn't that ruining the point of creativity?" Azz answered with a raised eyebrow.
"Izuku-kins can do it, I make games all the time so this should be no problem!" Clara encouraged him. "When I get in a rut-rut, I think about how everything was when I was a kid, and everything I've ever wanted to have for myself! Is there anything you ever wanted as a kid?"
That actually made him think. He did recall one design he made for himself for a future hero-sona, but it was not one of his best works. Maybe that was a result of not actually believing he could be a hero, thus not deserving a costume.
Either way, it would hopefully appease the thing inside of his ring. He just needed to adjust mental size along with a few touches here and there … "Cherusille!"
Ameri was having a minor crisis ever since the concert. Yes, her first Demdol performance was amazing and she would cherish it till the end of time, but it was the arrival of five unknown and spectacular performers that sent her head through the ringer. Specifically the leader of the newest troop, Izumi.
The same face, the same freckles, same hair color, even their names were almost exactly alike! But that couldn't be the case, he wanted to be a hero, one that saved people with a smile! Except they were smiling, the entire dome was in uproar of happiness and laughter! The joy could barely be contained! From how Izuku described his dream, this was everything he could've hoped for!
'Is he..? No! That's silly. He couldn't actually want to dress in frilly outfits and do girly dances in front of others!' But being a demdol accomplished such an important task in the nether world, so it wouldn't be improbable..NO! 'He's sweet, charming, and has more guts and dexterity than anyone I know! He couldn't possibly be a frilly pervert!'
This definitely wasn't the case, she even hyped him up to her dad, even if the man got the wrong idea and tried to murder the boy mere seconds later. Maybe there was such a thing as too much hype in some cases. "Izuku would never dress up in something so silly. Obviously this was just a random demoness that looked like him, or another human if worse comes to worse."
Or maybe it was a long lost sister or cousin. She could reunite them, maybe she could get closer with that bond between them. Maybe enough to get introduced to his mother and get her blessing! This...This wasn't working, she needed to clear her head with a patrol.
"Cherusille!" She heard the cry of someone casting a spell in a room that was supposed to be empty.
"What?" She ran to the door, testing it once to find the thing locked. "Empty classrooms should not be used by students carelessly!" She shouted, forcing the locks off with sheer force as the door went off its hinges, and she quickly regretted being strong enough to do that. Because it didn't prepare her for the insanity that she came across on the inside.
It was the entirety of the Magical Apparatus Battler, minus Izuku, at least from first glance. The Battler hardly noticed her, because they were all staring at a strange figure that stood before all of them.
The figure was in a long green tracksuit with white stripes across. It wore large white gloves and black sashes across the elbows and knees, also adorning bright red sneakers that were only matched by the red belt around the waist. It had two green horns sticking out on top of it's mask, along with a white respirator that had a tiny black slash pattern running across it.
It looked like a large, smiling green bunny. "Ameri!?"
"Izuku!?"
"Lady Red Hair!?"
"Madam President!?"
"A-A-Ameri-ch-chan!?"
"I threw away my normal life at the division party, didn't I?"
She could only stare at him, a new picture coming to mind, and it was slightly better then the first. "I see, you're in your experimentation phase, aren't you?" It was still weird, but better he be a furry than a crossdressing pervert. Being around quirked humans and demons probably made him curious.
"Ameri-san it's not what you think." He sounded worried. No need, she knew how to keep a secret. Nobody knew he was human after all.
"But isn't this everything you've ever wanted to be since you were a kid?" Valac asked him. Hm, it was nice to see he had a great support group for himself. He deserved it after all.
"Izuku as a pet …" She didn't like the look the blonde girl gave him, it felt weird, even more when she blushed harder after looking in her direction.
"Guys, please stop!" Oh, choices like this were always hard to make. Huh, maybe she could make this work for her. After all, couples accepted their significant other's little quirks.
"Eh, it's not scales, but your choice is your choice. You pull it off at least." The dragon girl offered her support as well.
"... I mean it works but … it looks so tacky … maybe we can work on the creepy smile." Azz imputed, sounding more like a designer rather than a disapproving voice.
"It's not supposed to be creepy. It's supposed to be reassuring." Izuku idly sighed in a defeated tone. "This way I can at least attempt to look confident in a fight or troubling situation."
"If you want a reassuring smile, then you shouldn't hide your real one behind a painted mask." She offered her two cents now, patting him on the back. "The real deal is much cuter than any cheap imitation."
Izuku blinked behind his eyes. "Seriously? Um, thanks." He seemed shy as the blond let out a gasp of sorts. Regardless, this was a great opportunity.
"I'd like you all to come to my Battler room at once, I've been meaning to speak with you all regardless … oh, and Izuku, you might want to change when you leave. We don't need anyone hating you for your choices." If they did, then they had one Plus Ultra kick heading their way.
"I'm not..oh what's the point? No one's going to believe me anyway."