Jack was the first to notice. "They are here." He said, looking up from his seat, a chair on the side of the room. Paladin looked up from his own seat, where he was waiting.
"Already?!" Lord Arkin shouted, interrupting his preparations, "Then it's good we haven't done today's summoning yet. I will need everyone at full strength for this coming battle, and I'd rather use assets whose abilities I know than complete unknowns."
"Shouldn't we just use the hammer?" Anubis, the Hound Dog wearing bandages around his arms and legs, asked curiously.
"Not yet." The other man in the room said. Paladin felt a shiver as he looked at him, golden eyes and black hair focusing on Lord Arkin. His black mask trimmed with gold, worn over his mouth and nose, was crossed by a vertical red led, glowing in the dim light of the room. The Overhaul of another world, even if Paladin was sure there was more to it. He hadn't seen the training of the three 'Strong' summons, but he was sure they were strong if the fact both The Beast and Sagawa were defeated so easily was anything to go by. "Sending out the best assets without the full capabilities of the enemy known is the biggest mistake we could make. We must first observe them, using the Demons as a way to assess their strength."
"I see." Arkin nodded, seemingly convinced easily by the argument "Good. Anubis, wake the others and inform them of our current situation. I want them all ready to move out. This will be a good test to see how strong they are, if the enemy can break past the demons. You three," He continued, pointing to Jack, Paladin and the Overhaul, "Follow me."
They went up the Spire, toward the rooms that once hosted the city's defense system. The walls were covered in runes, spell circles and other magical gibberish. Paladin had to admit his knowledge on magic theory was limited, but he understood some of them. One, shattered in half, was supposed to activate a 'Thunder Cannon' that launched sonic waves at the opponents. Another was a 'Lightning Storm Control' that made thunder rain from the sky. All inactive and unreplaceable. Apparently, the elves of Mikona decided that to have a chance of recovering the city in the future they had to dismantle the primary defensive system.
What they hadn't dismantled was the mapping system. In times of peace, it was used to track large concentrations of people, to make sure riots and protests weren't brewing. It was a bit Orwellian, in his opinion, but apparently for the elves it was just normal to run their society as one where everyone let everyone else know their intentions. Probably a byproduct of living for hundreds of years.
Still, in times like this, the system had a different function. Paladin watched Arkin activate it, and the city appeared as a sort of hologram across the round table in the center of the room. Each dot on the map marked a living being in the city, Demons included, and the numbers next to it marked how many creatures were concentrated in a location.
He counted.
Six dots were moving clearly differently from the horde of demons, and it didn't take a genius to realize they were jumping from roof to roof or, in one case, flying slightly above them. "Three Izukus. One of the others is Kaina Tsutsumi, a sniper." Jack provided, probably following them through one of his Ravens, "The other two are… Oh." He smirked, "Hello there, Chimera. I guess that means your apprentice is all alone." Then he frowned, "Don't know the last one. Some flying blonde, looks like someone from West New London… America, I think the name is in most worlds."
"What are they doing?" Arkin wondered, "Revealing themselves so early has to be intentional."
"It is." Izmird said, walking into the room, "They clearly have a plan."
"Ah, Izmird, you are here. What do you think?" Arkin asked, and Paladin felt the dislike from Izmird at the question. He had long since figured out that the man hated the way Arkin depended on others to take every important choice. It was one thing to ask for suggestions, another to literally only use someone's intellect, at least in the Wizard's view.
"I think we should wait and see. We will keep the pads ready and move depending on their actions. For now, the Demons should be enough to deal with this. Four thousand to six is almost insultingly one-sided. There has to be more here."
-x-
"Ready, Canary?" Arsenal's voice asked in the earpiece Canary and everyone else on the team had been given. Wearing one under the headphones was a bit weird, but he'd take it if it meant communicating with everyone else.
He glanced around. Revenant had already vanished, Captain Kamino and Chimera were on stand-by on a nearby roof, and he knew Arsenal was further back, using a bell tower Revenant had pointed out as her hiding spot. Christopher Skyline, who had just showed up apparently out of thin air that morning – even if they all knew he was here for the Director's deal – and declared he was going to face the Demon's horde, which had meant shifting slightly the teams but was ultimately beneficial.
And then here he was, standing on the roof of a large manor facing a one-way street and a large plaza. The fountain in the center was broken and ruined, the statue of a female elf holding a large vase, where the water probably exited once, was now on the ground, shattered most likely in the fall of Mikona and overrun by grass.
Canary sighed, and then started to sing, ignoring the Raven that had landed on a nearby roof despite knowing full well that meant they were being watched. 'Enjoy the show, I suppose.' He thought.
~Radio Nowhere – Bruce Springsteen~
"I was trying to find my way home, but all I heard was a drone…" He begun, singing as loud as possible.
"This is Radio Nowhere. Is there anybody alive out there? This is Radio Nowhere. Is there anybody alive out there?"
He started to feel it, the song leaving his lips and bouncing off. It impacted his companions and bounced back, like a bat's ultrasound, and then it started to impact the Demons. Radio Nowhere had a simple effect: it allowed Izuku to send out his voice, and then have others act like radios, bouncing the sound to the next person over. The sounds eventually also bounced back to him, like the ultrasounds of a bat, but that wasn't the main goal.
It was to tell every Demon in the city to follow the sound back to them.
"… Is there anybody alive out there? Is there anybody alive out there?..." He kept singing, even as shrieks and roars started to explode all around the city. Demons were fundamentally simple creatures, they hunted anything in hopes to kill someone strong to incarnate a more powerful creature. So, all he had to do was call for them, and they would answer. And with Radio Nowhere, he could theoretically call in every creature in the city.
"I just wanna hear some rhythm, I just wanna hear some rhythm…" He sang and, to not be distracted by the sounds and tremors of the enemies rushing toward his position, he put on his headphones, Bruce Springsteen's voice leading him through the song. It wouldn't be so perfect of course. Some Demons would be detached from the larger groups, and the 'receiving' radios only had a three meters radius to transmit the effect too, so any Demon separated from its fellows would inevitably not hear the music properly and fail to attack at first, but over time, even those would be attracted to the upcoming battle.
All Canary had to do was waiting for them to converge, and then he could use The Queen to their full effect. He might have disliked the idea of killing, but he could see why this was more merciful. Those poor people were the same as a Noumu, a dead body forced to continue acting against its will.
He glanced at the Raven, still watching him, and wondered what it would do.
"… Is there anybody alive out there?..."
-x-
Captain Kamino heard Arsenal take the shot as the first demon entered the plaza, charging at Canary, only for his head to explode in a rain of gore. More followed, though, tall, grey, light blue or pale white things that looked like deformed humans. Black veins covered their skins, their eyes fully black orbs that seemed to see far beyond the normal range. Some had bodies covered in dark fur or a grotesque bug-like shell over their bodies. Christopher Skyline was the second to jump into the fray, the flying man slamming into a pair of hulking grey demons, most likely not the stronger kind but fairly close. The actor grabbed each by one leg and started swinging them around like grotesque maces, hitting and hitting the rest of the horde until he was holding two bloody corpses, barely twitching. He crushed both heads with his grip and then moved in.
"Talk about method acting." Chimera commented, standing up, "You know the plan, right?"
Captain nodded. It had been all but drilled in his mind, he wasn't about to forget. Leave the extermination of the Demons to Arsenal, Chimera, Revenant and Skyline, and then Canary once he joined the fray. Cap's job was to be on guard against any non-Demon opponent and then intervene or inform the others. Busy as she was in battle, even Arsenal might miss it, and the others would be deep into the fray.
It felt a bit like he was being sidelined, but in reality it was probably the most important role in the group, since their entire mission was about saving the captured summons.
Izuku moved a hand through his hair as Chimera charged One for All through his body and charged forward, slamming into the first Demon Captain could tell was one of the so-called High-End. Where most demons had pale, grey or blue skin, those were different. The creature was red, a hulking abomination over two meters tall. It wore the remains of an armor, showing the corpse it inhabited once belonged to a knight.
Chimera rushed forward and his claws powered by One for All tore through the metallic helmet, the face below and came out from the other side. The High-End wasn't finished though, snarling even as it died to try and kill him, but Chimera was quicker, bringing his three hand back and then forward, piercing the heart cleanly.
The creature fell, and Chimera howled like a beast toward the night sky.
"One down, about forty to go." Captain muttered, pushing back the disgust. Rationally, he knew they were doing the right thing, but he had never killed anyone. No, it wasn't true, someone had died because of him, even if he never meant to. The image of the Phantom Skull letting go his hand and the haunting words he left him with flashed before Captain Kamino.
'Alas, you can't save everyone, Captain.' The crazed soldier had whispered, before killing himself rather than be saved by a 'Mutant'.
He was right, but Captain Kamino swore he would try. This wasn't his world, and his battle was long over. But if someone needed help, he would be there.
-x-
Revenant checked each trapped room carefully. The plan they had created had merits. The Demons acted like animals, and like animals, they would normally follow the path of least resistance between them and their target. Excepting the flying ones Skyline and Arsenal would deal with, the majority of the walking ones would try to follow the roads toward their target.
But the majority weren't all, and Revenant was acutely aware of that. How many times had he been caught unaware, before he learned that lesson?
That was why, the night before, while examining the plaza, he had studied carefully the layout of the houses around the mansion Canary was standing on for his little concert. Seven minutes of defending the position was enough, but it was a long time against four thousand bloodthirsty monsters.
He attacked, slashing toward the Demon that had tried to climb the wall of the house, leaving itself open for his attack. The creature gurgled, suffocating on his own blood even before Revenant brought up his sword and cleaved its skull in half, putting a quick end to his suffering.
An explosion fired off, and he darted in that direction, to find a roaring demon that had decided to try and enter through one of the doors Revenant had trapped. Of course, the explosion wasn't enough to kill it, by a long margin, but it surprised him enough Revenant could decapitate it.
The creature fell with a thud in the alley, in time for another one to emerge and rush toward him, screeching in rage. Revenant stepped forward, dodged its swipe with the claws, and then brought up one of his daggers, sheathing it into the Demon's heart, the monster falling to the ground.
His first extermination mission since Hosu. Since he had to face the monsters Tomura Shigaraki and Sugoh unleashed on the streets. Revenant and his allies had won there, and he would do everything to make sure the same result came here.
The sound of someone breaking through a wall made him whip around in time to see a larger demon, followed by a brood of about twenty smaller aberrations, crash through the dilapidates house he had hoped would last a whole lot longer. Revenant sighed. Normally, this would be where he retreated and drove the monsters into breaking up in smaller groups, but Canary had to keep going as long as possible, so taking the chance one of them could slip off and stop him was not possible.
He sheathed his dagger and pulled out Mjolnir, hammer in one hand and sword in the other, and rushed forward. The hammer swung upward, and at the last moment he raised the weight as much as possible. The hammer collided with the jaw of the Demon in the lead, and crushed it, along with the skull above. He followed through with the sword, decapitating the demon.
"In the first age, in the first battle, when the shadow first lengthened, one stood…" A deep voice started to say in his head.
"You know I never went through Doom, right?" Revenant asked.
Izzzuku chuckled, still using the same deep, cavernous voice, "Don't interrupt. Ahem… He chose the path, of perpetual torment…"
Revenant sighed and rushed forward, ignoring the rest of the quote and the music that followed. It didn't mash at all with Canary's concert currently going on the roof, but considering his time in the Simulation, he wasn't about to argue against BGM. Especially not when admittedly it fit the moment, if nothing else the rip and tear part.
It also wasn't Angel with a Shotgun, which was another plus.
As he thought that, he stabbed the last minor Demon through the eye, before throwing Mjolnir to a smaller one that had tried to climb a wall nearby. The hammer slammed on the wall, along with the skull it had crushed underneath, before Revenant called it back.
Canary's song stopped for a moment, then started again in an encore. Revenant felt the effect on his body, the echoing of Canary's voice growing stronger, but ignored it, focusing on what had to be done. Three minutes gone, six more to go.
He retreated back in the house, keeping an eye on the situation. Pulling out a flashbang, he quickly tied one so it would explode in case one more of the windows was broken, and in that moment, he heard a crash and a small explosion from the floor above. He put back Mjolnir and the sword and pulled out Samurai's Edge, his gun. The weapon was better to fight in the closed spaces of the mansion. He rushed upstairs, and watched as the form of a creature rushed forward. Covered in a black, chitinous carapace, tall, thin, with a long, whipping tail, and a mouth covered in teeth.
The corridors of Sevastopol were silent and dark. Then he heard it, the sound of the crawling alien, searching, hunting. Close…
The creature lurched forward and Izuku took the shot, ignoring the pain in his hand and watching it screech and bleed corrosive fluids on the walls…
The second set of jaws closed on his face and he felt a last burst of rage and pain as he was dragged alive in the monster's mouth…
For a moment, Revenant bit his lip, taking a step back for the first time in a long while staring at the monster.
He breathed in as the creature turned towards him, ignoring the chill behind his back, as he instinctively raised his gun, taking a shot, and then another. The creature shouted in pain, and the fear subsided a bit. It just looked like a Xenomorph, it wasn't one. Even if in the Multiverse there might have been some – which was a prospect he didn't want to dive into – this one was just a demon that looked similar. It didn't have the elongated head, and when it opened its mouth the tongue lashed out instead of a second set of jaws. It also had a pair of eyes, bug-like black spheres on the front of his head, making it look like a bug.
'Is this one of those High-End Demons you talked about?'
"I think this is one of those Hunt Demons variants. It's more like a Near High-End, I think. Strong, but not as strong. Though they could still rip you apart." Izzzuku replied, and for sure Revenant could tell it was stronger than the other things he had faced so far, dodging shot after shot as it rushed forward, climbing indiscriminately on the walls and roof or crawling on the floor.
Revenant pulled out his sword right on time, as the arm of the monster extended toward him, and brought it up to chop the wrist neatly. Deku's copies of his sword were excellent, even if not as good as Muramasa's own swords. The creature shrieked, black blood splattering all over the ground – and not starting to melt it, thankfully – and Revenant took the chance to dive in with a quick thrust, but the monster saw it coming and used its remaining hand to grasp the blade, surprising the Izuku.
Revenant let go and moved his hand forward.
-x-
"The basic of Axiuluo Quan is extending your Qi and shaping it like a weapon. Everything else comes later, and you don't have the time to learn all that now."
"Of course." Revenant nodded. He was a good learner, but he wasn't going to claim he could learn a martial art in a day, much less a few hours.
It was… somewhat nostalgic to be training like this. While he had been training back in his home world, between UA and his Internship with Miruko, this felt distinctly different. Learning in the setting sun, a medieval town far in the distance… It reminded Revenant of a man that had been one of his closest friends, and whose death he regretted every day.
"Huanli did well in teaching you that already, so I will only repeat those instructions." Itsuka Quanteng replied. He had fought Itsuka Kendo during the Sports Festival, but while they were both martial artists, he could tell with a glance that Quanteng was far superior in any way. The way she moved, the way she looked at him and assessed his strengths and weaknesses, the way she spotted at a glance the problems with the fighting style he had learned. She was a master, and he would give her the respect she deserved.
"I understand." He said. It was tempting to ask for more, but he wasn't going to do that. He would have time afterwards for that.
"Good. Now listen. The core of Axiuluo Quan is tricking your Qi into thinking you are wielding a sword. Shou Quan does something similar, by making it think you have claws, horns, a tail and so on. What you do is focus your Qi, and concentrate on an image. Once that image feels truly real, the Qi will flow through it. And once the Qi flows through a blade that doesn't exist, the Qi adapts to that shape, and the blade of Qi gains all the properties of a real one." She shrugged, "Put another way, you could say you are concentrating so much on something the Qi tries its best to make it real. Right now, don't expect to be able to maintain it for more than an instant, if you can at all. And know there will be a recoil. Only use it if you are sure to hit."
-x-
A blade of Qi surged from Revenant's hand, and he swung, the blade of Qi cutting the carapace… only for the image to simmer out and vanish. For the briefest of moments, he had changed in his mind, even slightly, the shape of the blade, and that proved to be enough to disrupt the flow of Qi.
He gritted his teeth and his other hand fired Samurai's Edge, the shots ringing out and breaking through the cover on the Demon's head and reaching the eyes hidden behind a layer of transparent chitinous shell. When the Demon reared back, he took the chance to slide his sword out of the creature's hand and slam it into his mouth, with a shout and a push, he managed to make it cut through the reinforced skull and the Demon stopped moving, he pulled the sword out.
"You ok?"
Revenant glanced at his twitching arm. The recoil of using Axiuluo Quan at his level, the flow of Qi disrupting and causing strong, painful muscle spasms. He'd have to let the arm cool for a bit before trying again, or as he had been warned the spasms might grow so strong his bones could break. He could see why learning and using it in combat was difficult. 'I need a better image.' He told himself, 'But that can wait. For now, I need to-"
A flying demon broke through the window, one wing torn off by what he assumed had been an attack from Skyline. Without hesitation, he shot it, the projectile hitting the skull and the monster falling limp on the ground. 'Later. Now I need to move.'
He ignored the raven that was perched outside the window, and moved on.
-x-
"Sword and gun, and an electrified hammer." Jack summarized, licking his lips, "Can I call dibs?"
"Focus, Raven." Lord Arkin replied.
Paladin watched Jack sigh and return to his work, "The one with the shield seems to be focusing on guarding the singer. The flying American and Chimera are the strongest it seems."
"What about the sniper?" Gun asked.
"She is using her arm as a gun. It's a Quirk, but I think her aim is genuine. Every time she fires, we lose a Demon."
"This can't be all." Izmird frowned. "More and more Demons are converging on their position. Sooner or later, they will be overwhelmed."
"You sound disappointed." The Overhaul commented.
"I am. Some of those people are me. I expect them to know that taking on this big a horde, without considering our own forces, is an absurd endeavor for six people, no matter how skilled. They might as well just surrender to Lord Arkin." Izmird frowned, "There is something we are missing here."
Paladin nodded, following the movement of the dots through the city. At this point, about three quarters of all the Demons in the lower layers, plus most of the flying ones from the forest layer, were converging there. Strong or not, there was no way they could push through in those conditions.
-x-
"I think you are done." Kaina said, "I can't spot any more stragglers, and frankly if you keep waiting they might overrun your position just by sheer number."
Canary finished singing and nodded. "Alright. Everyone, stay away." He replied. There was a chorus of agreement. He spotted Captain Kamino jump back to the next house over, and Skyline fly down to grab Chimera and take him away. Arsenal was further away, and he expected Revenant to be out of the way already.
He sighed, feeling a chill behind his back, and sang Wings briefly, landing on the broken top of the fountain. Skyline did a last push to keep the demons away until the song started properly, then took off for good.
Because Canary was singing.
~Another One Bites the Dust – Queen~
"Steve walks warily down the street with the brim pulled way down low…" He jumped out of the way of the first Demon attack, without stopping to sing. He dodged and waved multiple attacks, his rhythm staying put. As a Hero, Canary was more than used to 'charging a song'. He just needed to reach the first chorus.
"Are you ready hey, Are you ready for this, Are you hanging on the edge of your seat…" He definitely was. One misstep and he would have to stop entirely and hope Skyline could pull him out. This was a test of experience, though, and Canary had it in spades.
'I'm sorry.' He thought, and then the chorus hit.
"Another One Bites the Dust…" His hand moved forward, and he touched the closest demon.
The creature screamed as it started to dissolve, the body turning into dust… as did the body of the creatures packed right next to it, and those that were in contact with them, a wave of death as one after another, they indeed bit the dust.
-x-
"That's Decay." Revenant noted, as the effect started to spread from one demon to the next, and to the next, a chain reaction caused by their bodies being so tightly packed together they couldn't hope to get out of the way in time.
"Shigaraki's Quirk." Arsenal nodded, the Kaina Tsutsumi keeping her eyes on the plaza, "That's a dangerous one. From what Canary told me, originally Another One Bites the Dust didn't take that shape when he used it. It was a sort of dusting touch that didn't spread. But after the War… well, the image in his head changed appropriately."
Chimera hummed, "I can tell. How many do you think will die?"
"At least two-thirds of them, maybe more. They are packed so tightly it's bound to spread like-" She paused to shoot down one of the flying ones, that had managed to dive around Skyline and was trying to reach Canary. Instead, the shot got it in the head and sent the corpse to slam against a building, "like wildfire." She finished.
"He is still singing." Captain Kamino noted, "But there is no one left around him."
"His power keeps working only so long as he is singing. The moment he stops, the Decay will stop too." Chimera frowned, "And we will have to deal with those." He added, pointing to the nearby roofs. Several larger Demons of various shapes were keeping an eye on them and on Canary, singing alone in the plaza. Arsenal took him and fired at one, but the Demon managed to dodge.
"Hunt and War Demons, the 'High-end' equivalent." She said, "They must have been far enough they saw the effect spread and managed to dive out of the way."
"Twelve." Revenant counted.
Captain Kamino gulped, and then Canary gave the signal. As one, the four on the bell tower moved, while Another One Bites the Dust hit the end and the demons snarled moving to the offensive.
-x-
"How… H-How many…" Arkin managed to mutter, mouth wide open, as he collapsed on a chair.
"We lost a bit less than three thousand. It seems we fell for it hook, line and sinker."
"What do you mean?"
Izmird made to reply, but Jack spoke first. "There is a second group." He said, "Thirteen… no, twelve, one of them just Teleported away. They are breaking through the East Gate."
"Opposite side from the plaza." The Overhaul noted, nodding, "They first dragged as many of our forces as possible to the opposite side, and then culled them. Now they have a difficult, but far more manageable fight. More importantly, they also culled the flying Demons on the higher levels."
"Dammit!" Arkin pulled out a small black medallion, shaped perfectly like an orb, and pulled it closed to his mouth. "All the Demons on the Forest Level, move to the eastern gate!"
The demons' dots started to move, rushing through the southern side of the layer to try and reach the group that was breaking through the gate… and then something changed.
"Seven more, southern gate." Jack said calmly. "They are breaking through and… yes, right in the path of the Demons. They clearly planned this to intercept them."
Arkin slumped, and Paladin noticed the look both the Overhaul and Izmird sent his way. They could tell he was already feeling doomed, despite his first line of defense only having been compromised, and they didn't like it.
Izmird stepped forward. "Prepare the Pads. Get the groups ready. We bring down the first hammer as an opener, and get the second one ready." He said, "Is that alright my Lord?" He asked Lord Arkin. The lord seemed to catch his own hesitation, and realize what that must have looked like. He immediately stood up.
"Y-Yes, of course." He took a deep breath, "While they had this attack ready, I'm sure they can't unleash it often. If they could, they wouldn't need to go through all this trouble." He noted, seeming to regain vigor as the realization hit him. Paladin had to agree, and wondered what they were using. Maybe a Quirk with a long recharging time? Or maybe a technological weapon that had been consumed. "While we still have an anvil, we will get the first hammer ready to strike."
"Marvelous, Lord Arkin." Izmird said, likely biting back a comment in how it was basically what he had said. "Paladin, go organize your group. I believe you will be the first hammer to come down."
Paladin sighed, standing up, knowing full well there was no point in arguing. Arkin was going to latch to anyone that had a plan. And Izmird, for whatever reason, was currently interested in pitting them against the attackers. Was it a test to see how they fared against outside threats? It was possible.
Paladin grabbed his pendant and squeezed it tightly. His orders were to win, and he couldn't go openly against them. But he wasn't going to kill, even if it meant going against orders. He had his own goals in mind.
"By the way, my lord." Izmird asked, "What shall we do with the enemy?"
"Capture the ones you can, kill those you can't. Don't try to hold back in any way." Arkin replied, seemingly having recovered at least a bit, even if he still looked deadly pale, "Our main concern is keeping the Asset and myself safe at all costs. No matter what, do anything you have to in order to protect us."
"Very well, my lord." Izmird replied, and he smiled toward Paladin, who in turn took only a moment to realize why. He had just answered something Izuku had only questioned in his mind.
-x-
The Green Scar pivoted on his foot and kicked the Demon away, sending it flying against a tree whose branches shifted into a spike and crashed its skull. He nodded to Shinji Nishiya, Kamui Woods, and pressed on.
There were around five hundred demons left on the forest layer, and so far the battle was in their favor. While the numbers were obviously stacked against them, the same couldn't be said of the skills. Demons, it turned out, were only strong due to sheer number and ability to keep fighting on what were fatal or debilitating wounds, but only a handful were strong enough to put up a fight individually.
He looked left and right, examining his team members. Nishiya, his own partner, was showing no problem facing and killing the demons, which was reassuring since in the forest he was by far their greatest asset. He had paired Usagi with Ojiro, the two combining the respective martial arts convincingly enough and Ojiro adding a few magic spells of his own, mostly electrocuting demons that moved too close behind Usagi. Fuyumi and Shinomori were having the most trouble, though it was more because the former had to pace herself if she didn't want to run out of water and Shinomori's Danger Sense was only so useful when everyone around was trying to kill you.
'Never thought we'd use a strategy meant to steal corn to try and save someone.' He commented, punching a demon into a tree trunk that promptly bifurcated and then slammed together, tearing the creature apart.
"Why not?" Nana asked, "It's still about trying to get something."
The Green Scar nodded. Their plan, on paper, was fairly simple. Split their forces into three, with one larger than the other two. The first smaller one would have the job of dragging away as many Demons as possible and exterminate them. The second smaller one would serve as a rear guard, first blocking any reinforcement from below and then, hopefully, intervening to help the larger group. The third was the larger group that had the job of stealing the corn, or in this case storm the Spire.
That was on paper of course. While The Green Scar appreciated that so far the plan was going smoothly, thanks to Kiruka teleporting both groups as close as possible to their goals and then Izzzuku and their earpieces allowing them to stay in contact, he couldn't shake the feeling this would change soon. 'Unless whoever is running the show is a total idiot, they have to know we are at a disadvantage. Not only we have to throw a lot of strength at the Demons from the get-go, but this whole plan depends on them being stuck in the Spire. If they aren't…'
"Leave the 'ifs' for later, Nineth." The Second Holder said, "We have a guest."
A larger demon marched forward. Where the forest had been an advantage before, splitting the five-hundred or so enemies into smaller groups, now it was proving to be a hindrance as he had barely an instant to realize the creature was marching forward. Thankfully, Danger Sense picked up the stronger threat and coupled with the Second's warning allowed him to get out of the way in time.
It was clear this one was a different beast. Tall and large, it was covered in black and grey round scales forming an irregular pattern, and wielded a sword, of all things, a large piece of metal it had swung to chop off his head. His eyes were pitch black, but shone with a red undertone as it stepped forward. He was fairly sure he fought a Septarian like this once.
"Ojiro, what's this?!" He called.
"That's a Krodan. It's one of the six types of intelligent War Demons." Ojiro replied, not stopping as he turned to the next enemy and released another lightning bolt from his hand.
"So like an High-End?" He asked.
"Yeah!"
"Fantastic." The Green Scar sighed, "Anything to say? Usually, mid-bosses get at least a sentence to sound memorable. Just don't go for 'Surprise' and an evil grin, I'm told that's already taken by another lizard-man." The lizard roared and rushed forward, swinging his sword, "Nope, alright, instant battle, I can get behind that!" He commented, and kicked upward.
The outfit The Green Scar was wearing had been made based on the design changes he had wanted to make to his Hero Costume. Where before his three-hundred years/thirty minutes journey into Mewnie he had a smiling mask, he now featured a metal mouthguard. And where before he had ordinary gloves and shoes, he now had switched them for metallic ones, the gloves ending with claws he had designed based on the Septarians' and the shoes having a longer, rabbit-like appearance. He used the latter to kick forward, One for All coursing through his body, and the sword snapped in half at the kick hit it. The creature tried to pull back, but he sent forward a Blackwhip to drag him in and then kicked at full strength, even boosting the kick with Fa Jin. "Lucky Smash!" He shouted, the metal kick destroying entirely the Demon's head.
The Green Scar grinned, turning to Usagi with an expecting look.
His great-great-several more greats-granddaughter frowned, then rolled her eyes. "Really?"
"Come on, it's clever."
"It's not, old man! It's a dad joke at best! Just because you used a rabbit foot it doesn't mean it's 'lucky'."
"Eh." He grinned, turning back around as Usagi focused again on the fight, "Her great-great… my wife had the same reaction." The Demon meanwhile had somehow stood back up, even with the head reduced to a bloody mess. "Oh right, you guys are tougher than the normal ones." The Green Scar charged One for All, using Full Cowling at forty percent, "I guess I'll treat it like I was fighting a Septarian warrior."
-x-
"Which group do we send first?" Prowler asked, and Paladin glanced at Izmird.
"First the city. We believe that their goal is to free us all, so they won't use lethal attacks they can't aim carefully. Which means, by sending you in we prevent them from using again any move that might exterminate the remaining Demon."
"If you are right." Prowler pointed out, "If you aren't, they might just dust them all on arrival."
"That's why we are only sending five of them." The Overhaul replied, before Izmird could, "Paladin, Clockwork, Muscular, Mutt and Raven will be used to test the waters."
Paladin frowned. It seemed… odd. Mutt couldn't have recovered completely from the thrashing he had taken just the day before, magic potions or not, so maybe it made sense from Arkin's perspective to send him out like a sacrificial pawn, and the same could be said of Muscular, given he had lost before, but the others? Him and Clockwork were the ones with One for All, and Raven, Jack Midoriya, was one of the few whose ability to travel the Multiverse was active. If he lost them, Arkin would likely be back to square one, with only Kai.
'What are they planning?' He wondered. This reeked of Izmird and the Overhaul having decided for them. He made to ask, but Clockwork shook his head. Clearly, he had the same thoughts, but had decided to not voice them. He wondered if Jack and Sagawa would.
"Come on, come on…" Jack Midoriya, meanwhile, was already stepping on the platform, a large grin on his face, "Three Midoriyas out there, and a beast our dear Mutt can't wait to eat."
"I don't usually quite like dog." The man replied, "But I am starving for some proper food."
Paladin felt his stomach turn. Right, he had forgotten, those two were a cannibalistic serial killer and a hunter of Midoriyas. Of course they weren't questioning it, so long as they could hunt their favorite preys. Paladin sighed, "What do we do if the Sniper shoots to kill?" He asked.
"One of you dies, most likely, unless he can defend himself." Izmird replied, though from the look he sent Paladin it seemed the Wizard was convinced it wouldn't be a problem, "Try to run for cover, is my suggestion."
Paladin sighed and stepped on the pad.
The teleportation platforms were one of the few magic systems in Mikona that still worked. By stepping on them and having a Wizard choose the destination – another platform within the city walls – they would avoid having to trek all the way there.
That was the hammer plan. Send him a surprise strike force by surprise, and smash the enemy against the anvil of the demons.
Except that now they were going to step in a fight Paladin had no idea if they could win. And despite all that, he was still forced to give it his best shot.
He really, really hated magic, sometimes.
The platform lighted up.
(XX)
And so it begins...
There is actually a lot of stuff that I want to talk about when it comes to this story but I never get a chance to.
It's probably not a surprise that I spend a lot of time worldbuilding each universe to make it truly alive, so I figure whenever I have something worth telling, now that the story is hitting its first big climax, I'll bring it up.
So, regarding Demons and High-Ends. To be clear, there is a big distinction between a Demon and a High-End Noumu. The latter, for example, have full regeneration, while as you can see in this chapter only the stronger Demons can survive past being beaten up and never really regenerate.
In-universe, the terms used to describe the stronger Demons in universe are Hunt Demons and War Demons, but I figure that's pretty obvious.
Hunt Demons are essentially on the level of a Near High-End in terms of some abilities, but not all of them. This chapter has two of them, actually. The Redback is based on the DnD Barlgura, a CR 5 monster, and is the one that gets taken out by Chimera. Meanwhile, the one Revenant fights is called a Darkcrawler. As a fun fact, Darkcrawlers' design actually predates me wanting to add Revenant to this story. Originally, the early fight in the Fantasyverse where Izuku fights a bunch of Gnolls and has to deal with the fact most of his new friends are fine with killing enemies was supposed to end with the boss being a Darkcrawler, but I dropped that because I felt it was too easy to make the enemy just a Demon with no stakes on morality. Still, I'm glad I got to bring back the Darkcrawlers for such an interesting role.
Speaking of morality, you might have noticed the teams aren't randomly set up: the two teams that aren't aiming directly for the Spire are made mostly of people that are... ok with the whole extermination of Demons thing. Particularly the DET only has Captain Kamino as someone with such problems. This doesn't mean the larger group has no one willing to do that, but it means that the group includes people that have never killed anything before and would clearly have a harder time doing that.
Demons' death is a bit different from human death: when they die, their soul is sent to whatever pit they crawl out from, after which they just lay there until their memories are purged and they come back in a new body. Or maybe they are destroyed and a fully new Demon forms. Who knows. Either way, it's why the Demon King has a pretty much unending army. The only caveat is that he needs a humanoid body that has freshly died, otherwise the soul won't bond with it. This is believed to be why the Demon King invades the world every so often.
Moving on to Canary's songs: Radio Nowhere is fully new, and is essentially a sonar, except the enemy can ear it spread around. Not that useful, but it works to set up bait like this one. Meanwhile, Another One Bites the Dust is a changed song from canon, as mentioned in-story, because technically that one is already shown in Canary to be different. However, Canary's power comes from visualization, and I figure after Shiggy goes plus chaos he would start to see a dusting song as more akin to his Quirk, thus adding the 'spreads so long as he sings part'. Of course, since Canary almost never uses this song, he can't really pull off such exterminations on the regular. It works well on Noumus though.
There's a reason why Itsuka Quanteng considers him one of the stronger Izukus in the Multiverse.
The title of this chapter is actually based on Dust in the Wind by Kansas, just to emphasize Canary's role.
And it's also a pun. Eh.
The Green Scar has been at war for thirty years, mostly against a genocider princess/queen, and ended said war by shattering her spine. I figure he is ok with a little bit of murder. The Forest team is essentially the rearguard of the team. If you are wondering, the one that noticed the Demons were coming from the southern side was Siren. The little bird seems to be doing reconnaissance, I wonder when she will show up on-page...
Alright, I'm done with my ramble for this week, see you!