Asmodeus really, really hated these two bastards. It was fortunate for him that being frustrated was basically his second nature by this point, his time trying to understand Izuku and hanging around Clara really helped him build up tolerance.
"Surprised so few showed up." Ichiro calmly observed, drinking tea from a branch.
"Must have been fighting some other Misfit Monster, if these two are anything to go by." Niro agreed, eating a cracker from the same branch.
"How come they aren't attacking you damn it!?" Sabro shouted as he used a hammer on the head of a Ganeshan Elephant.
"Easy, we told them all you were saying all that crap. Animals are pretty narrow minded, though you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Niro sipped his tea like the smug bastard he was.
"Some grade A morons who, even with all our master's lessons, still can't take on something like this. Must really suck to be you, am I right?" Ichiro agreed. "Not like I should've expected much, you stuck being the pansy of some pathetic little shrimp that's probably dead in some ditch by this point."
And that was the straw on the six humped camels back. "Sabro, get in front of the morons, I'm going to do the thing." He spoke with a tone of finality.
"Figured as much." Sabro used their latest weapon to launch himself up to the two brothers, sitting down.
"Wow, abandoning your ally? Pathetic."
"Nope, I'm just getting out of the burn zone." Sabro clarified from them. "Are you sure about this? Sensei said to wait for the right time.."
"I can't think of any better time to relieve a little stress." Asmodeus closed his eyes and focused on it, the spot in his spine, connecting the blackness of one's heart with the fear of one's wings. Let it grow, expand, all of the built up energy flood through every bone, every vessel, every nerve ending.
Energy like black mist pouring out, barely contained in a vessel such as himself. Alice opened their eyes, feral glee filling them at all of these horrid creatures. "So uncouth … let us make you beautiful, shall we?"
"What the.." The two annoyances complained, they were irrelevant at the moment. They were ugly, but the problem before him needed to be fixed more than before.
The elephant rushed, Alice simply raised his hand as the beast was burned in a white blaze, its skull becoming nothing but ash. "Fire is as beautiful as my pure white robes … truly, Deku is such a wonderful friend." He would have to thank the boy later, embrace him with his queen in warmth never ending.
The bird squawked. How pitiful, its feathers ruffled from all that effort. It should lie in peace … or pieces. With a savage grin Alice swept his hand, the bird decapitated and its wound cauterized by a wave of fire that moved with the swiftness of lightning, cutting through a large portion of trees behind the beast, yet never creating a forest fire.
"Is he...Is he dancing?!" Niro shrieked from the corner, like the rats they were. "How can someone in their Wicked Phase look so graceful?!"
"How the hell did he even trigger his Wicked Phase?!" Ichiro yelled alongside his brother, both nuisances cowering away from his art, too weak, too pathetic to truly understand the beauty of the flame. Too weak to survive in his world
"Thou's 'master' taught us how to enter the Wicked Phase at will, power boost and destructive force just fit us perfectly." Ah yes, the metal one understood. He would have to make this next bit of destruction absolutely breathtaking!
"Ah, how does the kitty feel?" Alice asked, noticing the backing tiger. "Don't you want to become beautiful like your comrades?" He sent white ambers onto the beat's fur, the overgrown cat shrieking as its fur slowly singed its skin little by little. "Just being around my flames in this state is enough to induce second degree burns. You don't want to know what I'll do to induce a third degree. The pain constantly haunts your every waking moment as you wander about your life with scars that'll never heal."
Yes, he'll follow Deku's lead. He'll burn the whole world down, leaving nothing left but ash, leaving an entire netherworld ripe for them to mold how they see fit. A world all for them to enjoy. A world where nobody could hurt them, a world where his king could never be harmed again.
And now the kitty was trying to run away. That wouldn't do. Alice jumped, a single spark moving him in front of the beast, which coughed from the sheer heat from his movements cooking it from the inside out. With a simple ring of fire, he now had his next wheel within a few minutes.
"Now then, I believe there were some pieces of trash that needed to be dealt with?" He glanced at the brothers. "For insulting my dear friend and his ideals, calling him weak enough to not follow into a land of utter chaos. Let me lead you into the utter beauty of Calamity!" He moved, planning on whipping this filth from the land.
The metal one stood in front of Alice's path, taking a deep breath. "Izuku!"
Asmodeus stopped in mid air, painting. "... Thanks … I'm fine now."
"I mean seriously, I really thought Gaako would have been the key phrase. Is thou sure the m/m rumors are merely rumors?" And here he thought he emptied out his Evil Cycle back there.
"Yes, I'm certain! You don't understand how friendship works, and I admit, that's my fault." Asmodeus sighed. "Is it really that hard to comprehend how much I care for him without delving into that? For Devi's sake, I almost killed him on the first day we met. That would just be fucked up."
"I mean we almost killed our master when we first met, now we serve him until the end of time." Niro spoke out. Alright, maybe he really needed to reconsider life choices.
"Alright, but if thy rival isn't thou's life partner, then what is thou's drive? What do you want? What is your ambition, Asmodeus?"
"What do I want?" He asked Sabro. "To be the best friend to one of the few decent demons in this world! To see to it that Izuku sees his ambition through, to be his right hand! The Spear of the Demon King!"
Sabro grinned. "Thou really need to get thou's priorities in order. How will you become a spear and an equal?"
Ameri watched the entire festival take place, all the students running rampant, and most importantly …. "And that's five thousand to one on Izuku Midoriya winning the Harvest Festival, thank you for your patronage." The gambling ring is now taking place inside the observation tent.
"What the, what the hell is this?" As the Student Council President, it was her job to watch over the students, especially those that were injured over the course of the festival. She expected to see a lot, but a betting pool in the middle of the jungle was surprisingly not one of them.
"Now, Ms President, we're not actively harming or destroying anything. Just gambling on which students make it to the top, lose, live, and die." Andro spoke with a smile. "Me and Schneider need all the money we can get if we want out of our debt." He smiled.
She noticed the lion student, conversing with others. A topic on her mind. "Why is he even here?"
"There a rule saying he can't be?" Andro was smirking underneath that mask, she could tell. "I got eliminated, but nothing in the rules says he can't relay information back to me, and vice versa. We're trying to keep track of who's left in our class competing. Someone's targeting the Misfits specifically."
That sent bristles down her spine. "Who's the perpetrator?" She asked, if this demon was purposely attacking Misfits, Izzy could be in danger.
"Orobas, a student with Trauma magic known as the number two of everything in this school."
"... Someone with magic … specifically based around traumatic events … is potentially going after Izzy … with the most mental issues concerning his time before Babyls." Ameri's eyes were twitching. "I'LL SAVE YOU IZZY-KUN!" She had to start running now!
The student council, her trusted companions, betrayed her trust as they proceeded to dogpile her. "No Madam President! You can't interact with the festival! Only observe from a distance and keep an eye on the spectator lounge!" Smokey spoke, locking onto her arm. "You'll be more likely to get him eliminated faster like this, and from what I recall, that's the last thing he would ever want."
"You couldn't even warn him about how hard it is to get the Legendary Leaf!" Grave frimley reminded here. Yes, when she understood the steps necessary for that in her first year, she mentally went insane for a bit.
"... Very well …" She pouted. "Well, anything else you care to share, Andro?" She asked with a firm tone at the sweating student.
"Well, since it's your Izzy you're so concerned about." Her glare made him drop the tone quicker. "Rumors say he's got this partner named Ocho, but nobody's seen a face."
She paused, racking her brain. "Andro." She spoke seriously. "I personally checked the names of all First Years for a potential entry into the Student Council." So far only two and a half have entered this year. "There is no student with that name in the First Year records."
"Wait, if that's the case, then is Orobas getting outside help? No, nobody has seen who he's talking to." Andro looked pretty worried. "He has been seen talking to himself too. Then again he's also a part of a cult, so maybe being crazy is just a necessity to join one."
"This just gets more concerning." She'd have to bring this matter to the teachers. Hopefully they could sort this mess before anyone got seriously injured. "Thank you for informing me." She looked up at the betting chart. "Why does Izzy only have one bet on him?"
"That one's mine. Izuku doing something crazy is always a good bet for me to make." Andro spoke in what sounded like admiration. "He won Royal One when it seemed impossible, so I thought, why not?" Well at least the man knew who to bet on. Either way, she had a job to do.
Lizzy floated as Izuku walked. "Really thought we were in the clear. Six spike walls, that's a number of hell. Suddenly, blam! There's the seventh." She was really glad nothing could actually stab her.
"Of course, leave it to the Netherworld to have it's own temple of doom right in the backyard of a school." Izuku rolled his eyes. He was way too used to this. "You'd think that Dark Parade would've taught me to handle this better. Why are there so many snake pits?"
"Yeah, too bad getting the Legendary Leaf's a necessity for you by this point if you want your whole team to rank up." She rolled her one eye. "After all, somebody just handed whatever points you gained after that R and R session with sweet Clara. So you're finally dating her?"
"What, no! You saw what happened inside of that place, don't you go and start rumors just like the others thought it was." He growled.
"Right, right, Mr. Celebrity over here, never going to date." She pulled out a big X sign.
"I don't see you talking about your love life." Izuku muttered.
"I'm sentient magic, the closest I've ever been to being aroused was your grandpa."
"Oh..ah, I, I can't, you're sick you know that? You're really, truly, sick."
"Well I mean Kalego was pretty hot, but your moms got him on lock."
"And that's the end of this conversation!" Ah, this kid embarrassment was basically her own personal soap opera. "It's not like I wouldn't have given Clara help if she just asked. She just wanted to show off what she learned, and it is a competition."
"And that attitude is going to keep slowing you down, little dummy." He was still keeping that heroic heart front and center. "You do know the reason why the school holds the Harvest Festival, right? The jungle represents the netherworld itself. You have to learn how to survive, and the best way to do that is on your own."
"Then why did we train in pairs instead of individually?" He countered. "Being alone is literally the worst way to live, it's just lonely despair as you stew in your own negative thoughts. Being around others is better, even if it's you."
"Oh, is this, acceptance! You finally see the glory and happiness of little old me." She poofed up a Marylin Monroe type dress and blushed. "I get it, you like having friends, and I don't blame you for taking whatever companionship you find after that dick Bakugou. Just, don't let it get in your way. The last thing we need is for you to sacrifice everything you've earned for just one person."
"I don't sacrifice everything … except maybe my sense of smell." He covered up his nose. "Devi what IS that?" He asked. She couldn't blame him, it was even affecting her, and she didn't have a nose.
"Just stay calm. This could be predatory musk for all we know." She hid herself in his hair. "Make sure to keep your eyes ahee..." A face filled with nothing but shadows stared deeply into their eyes. "...eeEAD-WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?"
"It's a little person tied up in vines that smells really bad!" Looks like the kid kept up his observance.
"GYOOOOO." It shouted out at the pair.
"And they can only say one word, lovely." She noticed the figure tied up in the air. "Huh, looks like he fell into one of the traps. Gripping weed, really tricky stuff." She headed herself behind his back. No need to reveal herself to anymore people. "Well, we should get goin…"
"You alright?" And her master body was already moving on it's on again, trying to pry the weeds from the hooded figure. "I think I heard about you. Mouthless Nafra, right?"
"You didn't even conci … whatever!" She flew into the ring, hopefully this would just blow over and the smell would dissipate after a few hours.
Picero groaned at the noises of construction around him. This … was horrible! He thought with the training of life and death over, he'd finally be able to sleep. But NOPE, Goemon brought in lost souls until they were infested with noise, Gaako made screaming noises and construction sounds daily, and now they were going to war!
"Ughh, I'm never going to get back those hours of sleep. Plus Ultra sucks." Nonetheless, Picero finished the final touches on the magma tunnel. Now all it needed was a few people to step across the field and it would trigger the lava lake trap, making it nigh impossible for any land assault.
"Good work Picero, the construction goes well." Gaako spoke with a cackle.
"Was the throne room really necessary?" The woman even provided her own metal spikes. Where was she getting them from?
"Yes, how else will those foolish enough to invade know of my Queenly Stature?" She was really getting into this. He was pretty sure this was a Wicked Phase, if not an Evil Cycle on the verge of triggering. "Now make sure the bridge over the lava lake can be completely destroyed by the pulling of a single axe, and we'll be good."
"Why?"
"For when all of the beasts crossover, nearly making it to the end, we'll cut the rope and drop them all in, burning them and destroying hope!" She cackled. Yeah, he wasn't going to be wasting allies, Goemon wouldn't let him sleep. "I won't be a fool like my father! I won't let some pudgy carpenter jump over me and pull the axe out while I'm standing on the bridge! I have brains here, Lord Koopa! I'll succeed where you failed!"
"... What kind of messed up family did you even have?" Picero felt the need to ask.
"The falcons have agreed to join our cause, for the will of the kind and noble queen who rules this forest." The wolf told the clothed birdman, who honored their ways.
"Very well. We have been informed they have several traps awaiting us. Their arial support is crucial to our victory, and we will have our victory." Their brother in arms bowed to them. "Gentlemen, it has been an honor getting to know you and your ways. I have learned many things. How to gaze from a distance. How to hide in a tree. How to properly cuddle a lady without looking like a creep."
"And you have shown us just how many layers a lady can hold within. Such beauty would've been lost to all without your guidance." They all bowed.
"Rest assure brothers, there will be plenty of beauty to admire, that I can guarantee." The mice had an important mission to fulfill tomorrow. They shall enter the sacred sanctum that many have come to call a bathhouse.
"The queen's message has been delivered to the sweet smelling one. She shall arrive at our call soon." Spoke the bear.
"Excellent, tell the troops to treat them with respect when they arrive, the Queen may yet view them as allies." The beasts nodded. "And to all who perish, may you find your mates in the afterlife." Truly, the kindest of generals they could ever find.
