They were so bad off, there were so many heavy rocks! They couldn't lift a single one, not like his parents could. He was barely lucky enough to get away without a few cuts over his arms and legs. Everyone he was playing with was stuck underground, and there was no telling if anyone would reach them.

"Akuma … are we gonna be okay?" The girl he was playing with, Yelo, spoke with lots of rocks on her leg. There was a bunch of blood too, not good.

"Ye-yeah, yeah, we'll be o-okay! Our moms and dad's will get u-us out!" Akuma shook, nervously but slightly hopeful. "T-they wouldn't j-just leave us…"

"No one's coming." Another boy said from a corner. "Adults are selfish. The first thing my dad ever taught me about everyone was that you can't expect others to help you."

"Th-that's not true! Someone will come! They won't leave us...Akuma, right? Someone will come...right?" Yelo was crying, and he couldn't say anything that would make it stop. His mom always told him if you weren't strong to help yourself, then you'd be left behind.

Suddenly, the rocks started shaking, and everyone huddled together, already knowing that this was probably it. "Guys, I found another spot! Gaako, help me get this last rock off!"

This...this couldn't be real! Was someone actually saving them? Like the heroes in those books his mom told him about?

"I'll protect you guys!" Akuma shouted, grabbing his plastic sword. He knew it was make believe but it was just as good as the real rock above them was removed, showing off-"You won't hurt my pals anymore, Dragon!"

"Okay wow, i'm just gonna start staying with the kids we already helped because after three times i'm out." The dragon spoke and walked away, letting a new taller kid with a green bush walk up to them.

"Are you guys okay? Can you all get out on your own? Do you need me to carry anyone?" The bush asked them all. The mean kid from earlier looked really confused, mouth agape. Akuma decided to speak up.

"She has her leg stuck under rocks, we can't get it out."

"Alright, we'll get it off of her. The rest of you follow Gaako back to the boy with the fluffy pillow cloud. Morax-sensei, help me support her."

"Right." A pile of frogs jumped into the hole, making their way to the girl and pushing off the rock, before carrying her on their backs. "Kalego will be so proud."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Yelo ran to the bush boy, tripping as she fell right into his arms. "No one was coming and I thought every adult was being too stupid and selfish and mean and that I would die alone!"

"It's okay, everything will be fine." The boy patted Yelo's arm with the widest and shiniest smile he's ever seen before. "I am here." And like that he suddenly felt very protected, like a guardian devil watching his back. An explosion occurred outside of the walls. "Sounds close, I thought they were keeping it away?"

"Did you really expect the flaming hot tempered douche and the muscle head to face a dragon and not try to fight it in some dick measuring contest?" The smaller, less scary dragon spoke using the funny words Mom would say sometimes.

"Of course I did, I just expected Balam-sensei to keep them on track." The boy grumbled. "Alright, let's move before it smells us." The bush carried Yelo and held out his hand to him. "Let's get going. You'll see your family again soon."

"A-alright." He grabbed on to it and held it tight, squeezing it every few seconds just to make sure the bush was still there. "Th-thank you." He tried to say without crying.

"You got all of them?" A grumpy guy on a cloud spoke, all the kids with him along with some that he hadn't seen before were all riding it. "My cloud is getting full."

"That's all there was here, but keep scanning. There could be spots we missed." They could see it out of the window. A guy with pink hair was flying around and blasting the dragon with blue fire balls, while a blond guy was throwing some gold and silver spears at the thing. "All that and it's not even scratched?"

"It's pure mana Midoriya, to even have a hope of hurting it you'd need something far beyond just regular violence." White haired lady spoke. "The likes of Kalego, Balam, and Opera should be able to, but the effort it would take doesn't make it viable in this situation."

"It's basically like fighting off a manticore with a flyswatter. There's only so much one can do, especially if they're Dalet(4) or lower." Wow, even at Dalet(4) they couldn't do much, that dragon must be a super tough guy, like the Demon King! The dragon girl 's eyes suddenly got bigger. "What the-Azz, you dumbass, watch where you are flying!"

The bushy haired boy turned, seeing the pink haired guy shoot away a fire ball about to hit their hallway … only to attract the attention of the dragon as it charged up. "AZZ! DODGE!" And a pillar of flames was forged.


Alright, the plan was in motion. She had her gear ready, Garp was gripping his sword really tight, and Andro had some fire on their fingertips. Shax was in position, keeping their eye on the beast. She had her missile launcher ready to go as Caim signaled his distraction. "Go!"

Caim made their move. "Hey, horny bastard!" The beast paused it's rampage. "Yeah you, I've gotta ask! Is your look because your father was a paper mache pond pebble, or because your mother was only known for her massive mammaries!"

Eiko would still, to this day, declare Deku the most intimidating thing she had ever seen. She had never seen Amy be evil, but she felt it would have been a second. The Mountain Blue quietly cracking it's neck with six twitching eyes was a solid third, however. Didn't even roar as it began stomping it's way to the pervert.

"I regret nothing, except not dying in the hands of a lovely lady! That's actually a pretty big one for me!" Well, she would feel bad, but she was taken. She'd give a lovely eulogy at his funeral, which hopefully won't be tomorrow.

"Shax, while he's turning! Steal his sight!" She and Goemon began running up as Andros held his hands out.

"Rafire!" He shouted, a lone fireball shot out and into the sky, followed by a blade of wind. She added her own missiles into the mix as they all combined into a rocketing blade of fire, hitting the beast dead on!

"Yes!" She cheered with the others. This would work! All they had to do was hit and run tactics like this until the beast itself was dead, or at the very least unconscious. After all, they already gave it … a scorch mark. The smoke died down to reveal a small single mark that could easily be wiped off if one tried.

"One-one scratch." Shax's tail trembled. "WE DID ALL THAT WORK FOR ONE SCRATCH!?"

"DUH, WE'RE FIRST YEARS! OUR MAGIC'S NOT MEANT TO BE TRAINED TO ATTACK UNTIL OUR SECOND!" Andros shook his classmate.

"My winds weren't enough!? But-my training! My hours! Father, I have failed you!" Garp slammed his head against the ground.

"Hold me, Lady Eiko! I need your warmth to support me before I perish from this world!" Okay, even in a time of crisis, that deserved a kick to the face.

"Well we still have one tactic in our arsenal." Everyone turned to her for hope. "Run like the wind!" She shouted, making a break for it to avoid the beast. Said thing started chasing them around like a pack of animals. She could even make out Kalego's disappointed look. Izu was right, man had lots of spite.

"Look out!" Andros pushed her out of the way from a giant boulder. She stared up, being held in his arms. "You alright?" His voice was nice and caring and her heart was beating….until it didn't.

"Yeah, I'm fine." That was weird. She briefly considered what Gaako told her about her damsel complex, and the idea of being rescued by a hero was a big turn on for her...Andros didn't really fit the bill for some reason. "Can you put me down? You're kind of a turn off."

"Well screw you too." He dropped her. "Now what, genius?" The entire group turned to him for some reason.

"Alright Jazz, your time for a plan." Shax spoke out.

"Wait, why me?"

"Because you're a Gimel(3), the highest in the group." Caim spoke. Really? Didn't seem like it.

"Hey, I'm Gimel(3) too, you know!" Eiko shouted. "And I worked damn hard to get there!"

"Yeah, and where did that lead us!?" Garp wasn't even bothering with his old man's speech. "Face it, without Izuku, you're just his fan girl imitator without his magic!"

"Wow, no 'thanks for actually thinking of a plan when we were crying for our mommies'. Nice class you got here. Nice class."

"We're named the Misfit Class, not the Nice Class. Have you met Asmodeus?" Okay Shax had a point there.

"Well I don't really have a plan." The group stared at him with hopeful eyes. "No … none of the puppy eyes … don't you dare … fine!" He shouted. "I'll figure something out."

The man sat there, frustrated as the beast roared. "Come on, come on, one and a half offensive, rest support …" He began scratching his head. Wow, this wasn't getting them anywhere.

"Look, I get it! I get that not having anything special on you is frustrating! I get it, Izuku gets it! But we can do this! He's taught me there's nothing truly useless in this world, so, if he can get a bunch of nobodies into Royal One, then that same band of Nobodies can work up a plan right here, right now!" That actually made them more dejected. "Oh come on, it was a compliment!"

"Should you give them a hint?" Asked Azazel, sipping tea.

"I suppose one couldn't hurt …" Kalego turned to them. "Is that necklace really just for show?"

"Necklace …" Jazz turned down and looked at the strange flute around his neck. She was curious why his eyes widened so big before turning to her. "Hey, Eiko right? Do you have a mana storage device, or sound amplifier?"

"I have the parts for something like it, why?"

Jazz then gave a savage grin. "I've got a plan." Wow, he was no hero but his smile gave Challenge to Deku.


Inko felt it was a mistake to come here, seeing all the crying and scared families within the park. There were so many children right now begging to see the parents, parents worried about never seeing their kids again, and it just reminded her of back home, seeing so many disaster reports on the news, and the idea of Izuku being at the very center of one just ached at her.

"The Netherworld isn't safe at all is it?" She muttered, unable to find her baby boy inside of all this chaos.

"No, not really. I guess nowhere is safe. Something like this can happen everyday." Kerori sat with her. "I, Izuku, told me how he wanted to be a hero by saving their hearts. I don't think I understand why he thought being a hero meant making people smile." Kerori looked to Elzabetta, doing her best to cheer any of the children that were by themselves. "It sounds kind of nice now."

"It's.." She's held the story within herself for a decade. She didn't know why it was coming out so suddenly, and not even to one of Izuku's closer friends, but she couldn't hold in any longer. "When Izuku was four, he thought being a hero was the coolest thing ever, and wanted nothing more than to be one. After we learned that he could never use a qu..never have power like everyone else, it devastated him. When he asked me if he still could...I couldn't answer him. It wasn't denial, but it wasn't support either." She fought back the tears as much as she could.

"It's alright Ms Midoriya." Elizabetta patted the woman's back. "He's grown into such a fine man, he's captured the hearts of many and is on his way to helping out others. Back me up Kerori." A beat of silence captured them. Turning, she saw that the girl was gone with nothing but an empty spot. "... Okay so she would totally back me up if she was here."

"D-don't worry about it, Eliza-chan. Just hearing one person support my baby means the world to me." She tried to smile more, but it was hard to. "I-I, did you know I was this close to convincing Papa to unenroll Izuku just yesterday? I would've done the same thing again. I, I just don't know what to do!"

"It's fine, you're a mother looking after your child." Elizabetta hugged the woman. "... Also Izuku is the grandson of one of the most influential men in the Netherworld, he would have been attacked regardless. This way is just the way that keeps him happy."

"Oh … oh your right." The mother realized. In the end, everything that's happened so far to her son has been her fault. She agreed to Sullivan's deal, she agreed to let him keep going to Bablys, and she was blaming her Papa, Opera, her own baby for circumstances that she's already agreed to. She never thought about what Izuku wanted, she STILL wasn't giving him her full support. "I need to tell him. I need to tell Izuku what he needs to hear!"

"Mom, is it possible for me..?"

"Izuku, I'm so sorry!"

Murmurs could be heard from within, many of the demons uneasy and heading out the door. "Where are they going? Those monsters are still out there!" She couldn't help but be agape at the sight before her.

"Let us out, we'll leave the park on our own!" A mother shouted. She wanted to bring her children out through that.

"We can't trust the park if they haven't already done anything yet!" Everyone in the shelter seemed convinced of this, and she couldn't blame them. The fact she wasn't heading out this moment was because she knew she wouldn't last, and she was putting her trust in Kalego and the other teachers to keep her boy safe.

"Everyone, calm down!" A very lovely voice shouted, drawing the attention of everyone to a pink haired idol. "I know it's really dangerous out there. And I know you all are really scared. But think about this rationally!" She shouted with an adorable tilt of the head. "What's more important? Your fear, or my cuteness!?"

"CUTE!" The audience, all ages and roles shouted at once. "Kuromu! Kuromu! Kuromu!" Wow, that girl was so young, but she already got this crowd under control. Very impressive, she could even feel herself wanting to mother the young one.

"Wow, she's lifted the terror from everyone's faces!" Elizabetta joined in on the cheering, and those words struck a chord in Inko as the pop star began her song

'Is this what you want to do, Izuku? Is this your dream?' All the joy, all the smiles in the air, it felt like there was no danger whatsoever. 'Is this what it means to be a hero?'


'Is this what it felt like to be a hero? To be in love? To be like Rin when she used guns against the mob from outer space?' These were the questions Ameri asked herself as she and Opera, using weapons from Clara, attacked the Panther Rat. Only problem was the body kept bouncing them away.

"Spike rubber headrush! Hedgehog dash!" Clara kept rolling atop the creature, bouncing on over and over its head. "Hit the target, win the prize!" The playful girl was surprisingly effective in combat. Maybe she should set more time aside to allow Izzy to talk more about his theories.

"This is getting troublesome. We keep hitting it but it either ignores the attack, dodges, or becomes a bouncy ball." Ameri scoffed at the beast hissing at them.

"Strange that the head is as protected as it is. You'd think if all of the body was so soft it wouldn't need it." Opera noticed.

"Like I said, hit the target, win the prize!" Clara rolled around them before getting out. "That giant rock on its head is like a perfect target!" Of course she'd figure it out before any of them.

"Alright, stand back. I'd rather not damage you with collateral." She spoke, feeling power flow through her. Unlimited and untamed power, inconceivable and invincible to all mortals who dared to even approach her. The weapon in her hand snapped due to it's mere fragility. This was it … the power of love!

"Watch out, Lady Red Hair!" Clara rolled back out again, this time dragging along some kind of rope and tying down the tails. Damn it, she really needs to reprimand that girl later. Too bad most of her focus needed to be on Romantissist.

"I need not watch out … because I am … invincible!" She shouted, blasting back the beast with a simple palm strike. "And I am … strong!" She leaped and with an uppercut, sent the Panther Rat flying into the air.

"I know! You're super cute! That makes you indestructible!" Huh, a fellow Kuromu fan. Maybe they could get along. "I'm the same way! I'm in love too!" Focus on the beast, not on her. You can get her later.

"Now, behold the power. Of love unbound! Of limits that never existed! Of heroism at its finest!" Her very veins filled with energy and darkness, a swirling mass of mana covered her arm, denser than a neutron star as she reached the beast. "The power known as, PLUS! ULTRA!" And with a single punch, her fists went through the beasts' gem, and it's skull, and it's body, and five blocks of territory.

"I guess Izuku really can inspire everyone." Opera deadpanned.

"Yes, truly the finest. Now Clara, give me bandages." Her arm was broken in fifteen different places after all. Still couldn't quite get the hand of Plus Ultra yet. "Why'd you come back at all? We could've handled it."

"Duh, you're my friend, Lady Red Hair! I'm not letting you off on your own to handle all the bad stuff!" That was unexpected. "Izuku-kins tries to do that, but then he gets stressed and scared and starts thinking people hate him. You're like Azz-Azz too, which means I'll be your Izuku-kins! The happy smiler that stops you from being too scary!"


Asmodeus expected there be many ways to die. Old age was his top one, after living a long and prosperous life. Then there was assasination, probably poison due to his strength. Clara was a big reason to die, he's surprised in himself for surviving so many games. Dying because he stopped an attack against someone not related to him by blood? Never expected that in all honesty.

As the pillar of fire much stronger than anything he could normally survive was heading his way, he had many thoughts on his mind. Regrets of things never said and done, sorrow at leaving his family like this, anger at having been dragged into this in the first place. But one precedent overtook his mind that surprised even him. 'At least it's not Midoriya burning.'

Except...he wasn't burning. He didn't feel a single snige of heat that wasn't from his own bloodline. He looked up, gazing at the beast, or more important, staring at what the beast actually hit instead of him. "Sabro!?"

"W-what? Y-ou expecting the Demon K-ing to rescue your whiny ass?" Sabro stood with his wings extended out, burned and full of holes while his tail was made extra crispy. A melted pool of metal was right behind him, indicating that he made a shield that hardly did it's job. "As his future ro-role taker, I feel … I made a good second ch-choice."

"We both know that wasn't going to hit the group and that you have zero respect for me. Why would you bother going out of your way like that?" It was insane, it sounded just...just like Izuku.

"Didn't thou hear the valor in the words of my rival? Who needs a damn reason to do anything in this world? What benefit does it offer me to see thou roasted alive?" Sabro kneeled, looking worse for wear.

"You mean besides not having your wings smoking and your magic drained to nothing?"

"Please, it looked cool as fuck and was totally worth it." The man spoke, and a lot of holes were filled in. "But more importantly, thou should have known Balam-sensei would have blocked that one right? We were just meant to get its attention."

"Obviously, you were just boasting and getting in my way! Don't tell me none of that.." Wait, Sabro actually kept the plan in mind the entire time. "What was with all that bravado, and splashing me with water with your Kelpie!?"

"Thou fire from thou wimpy snake would've done nothing. Thou face a fucking dragon. Fire does little against a dragon. Thou think thou know that since thou courting one."

"Why does everyone automatically assume that?" He muttered. Seriously, it was better than the Midoriya relationship rumors, but not by much.

"Regardless, thou was reckless in their battle. Should have been focused on fighting the mighty beast in its glory without care for surroundings."

"Well Midoriya wouldn't." Asmodeus grumbled in anger.

"Is thou name Izuku Midoirya?" Sabro poked his chest. "Does thou constantly think of ways to defend or deflect attacks? Does thou know he can barge through anything without needing to worry about thyself? Does thou aim to be a hero!?"

"Well obviously I.." What did he want to do? "I can fight this thing and…" What could he do here? Just add more fire to the flames the monster was sprouting? "I.."

"If your ambition is to fight this beast, then that's a different story. I'm the same way. When I came to Bablys, I charged headfirst into any situation that could make me stronger by fighting the strongest foes I came across. Seeing my rival do the same, without needing to waste strength in pointless fights, taught me there are different ways to win. You know I well as I do as long as he saves someone, he'd call it a win." Asmodeus tried turning away, but he couldn't. Sabro….Sabro was right. "Don't mistake your own ambition."

Asmodeus growled, silent as the dragon roared in the background. "I don't know what I want anymore." He spoke, sending up a flame wall. "All I know is that I want everyone I care for to be safe. The rest of the world can burn for all it's worth. Now, let's leave before it gets through that."

"There's the spirit of ambition in a Beta Rival." Deep breaths Asmodeus, he gave you a mental breakthrough you needed. Kill him another day.