I do not own BNHA or D&D
Japan - Tokyo - HPSC Office
Izuku pointed his staff at the remaining Undead forces attempting to push through the broken doorway as the blue fire and silver powder swirled around him. However any intimidation was useless against those Undead as he was attacked by a much faster Zombie, one with razor sharp claws and eyes like burning coals. He ducked just in time to avoid the fast and feral Zombie, a little more difficult to avoid than the sluggish and clumsy ones.
'Angry fast Zombie? I can take that.'
'That is a Ghoul, a slightly larger threat but one that can be dealt with quite easily. Avoid it's claws however, they carry a poison to inflict temporary paralysis.'
'Terrifying. I'll keep that in mind.'
The Ghoul tried to wildly flail it's claws at Izuku but he countered by slamming his staff into it's chest, causing a spark of blue flame to flash as it was knocked back. He gave a flick of his hand and threw the dying blue flames from the Undead remains at the Ghoul before slamming his staff into the creature once more, hearing a gross sounding crunch as a result.
The monster, not being very intelligent, tried to grab the staff but it's hands burst into blue flames once it did. Izuku ended the monster with an Agonising Blast through it's chest, yet he had no time to celebrate that small victory as more Undead remained and were pushing their way further through the doors. An armoured Wight forcibly kicking a Skeleton out of the way as Ghouls crawled over their allies' burned remains and a security guard shambled in but his head had been replaced by a weird jittering empty skull, puppeteering the body.
Izuku ducked as Ghouls tried to claw at him, rolling past the sword swing of the Wight and jabbing his staff into the skull parasite thing which was quickly destroyed. The Ghouls coordinated a dual attack, charging at different angles so he dropped to down low as they dived at him, double kicking one into the other and just slipping away from a dark metal blade slicing into him.
He cast Ray of Frost on the leg of the Wight, the thin blue beam of light freezing it to the ground. Izuku then ran back to the Ghouls, one of which had attacked a bodyguard and paralysed him completely with a claw attack to the chest, the others bodyguards were focussed on the other weaker Undead slipping through or the other Ghoul to assist. Izuku smacked it's head like a baseball before it could injure them any more, knocking it down before firing a Agonising Blast into it's head, destroying the monster.
He got just a second to relax before the Wight was upon him again after freeing itself, the needle-like teeth of the creature gnashing while it tried to absorb his life force. Izuku shoved it back before it could and dodged as the remaining Ghoul was launched past him and into the Wight, the Ghoul being sliced in half by the dark metal blade leaving the pale creature angered and stained with blackened blood.
Izuku quickly used Control flames to coat his weapon again before charging back at the Wight. Blade and flaming staff colliding over and over as his dexterous attacks were slowly getting the better of the monster, all the while the remaining security fended off the comparatively weaker Skeletons and Zombies that continued to slip past and shamble into the building.
Keigo had decided that the elevator would have taken too long and decided to just fly up the stairs, although flying inside was pretty inconvenient it wasn't like he had much of a choice when an entire graveyard is pounding at the front door. He flew past some of the security guards but didn't bother asking them anything, assuming the doors had been breached.
Once he burst into the entrance hall he was met with the sight of a dozen or so piles of still burning ashes, security attacking walking skeletons and Warlock shooting one of his usual green beam things into the chest of a pale "Zombie" wearing some kind of armour. Keigo immediately launched a few feathers at top speed to knock the thing's weapon out of it's hand, Warlock wasted no time finishing it off before throwing something to him. It was a fancy looking glass flask of water.
"Cover your feathers with it! Trust me!" Warlock shouted before having to dodge as a security guard with his head replaced by a weird looking skull lunged after him.
Keigo, not wanting to argue with one of the only guys who has managed to put these monsters down, doused as many of his feathers as possible with the water and felt no real difference in them. However, as he flew by, launching feathers at some monsters and slashing others with feather blades, he noticed them take much more damage and collapse into a burning pile that he was sure to keep his feathers away from.
"A little help?!" Warlock suddenly called out.
Looking back to Warlock he saw a swarm of those weird shaped skulls without a person's body this time, they were almost spider-like with 8 segmented legs ending in sharp points. It looked like the large number of them were getting to be too much for him and he went to fly over before everything suddenly turned completely dark.
Then he blinked and all he saw was the sky in all directions for miles, the feeling of constantly falling overtook him yet he wasn't falling any closer to any kind of ground. Just when he couldn't be any more confused he saw what looked like a woman in the clouds. Well, more like a woman made out of the clouds. Like a contained haze, part mirage part fog, blocking out the horizon like an oncoming storm and just as big. This "woman" cloud moved it's head and looked at him, giving a curious look like she was examining him before smiling.
Keigo blinked again, only to see Warlock being attacked by the skulls, though confused he still dashed to assist. As he flew however, the wind suddenly increased significantly around him and seemed to coalesce around his feather blade, then with a single slash the swirling wind had been released from the blade, twisting and swirling until a razor-like blast of wind launched from the blade. This "wind blade" sliced unnaturally clean through a few of the skulls leaving Keigo speechless at the thing he thought he just did, even though he knew he had no control over the wind whatsoever. What the hell was happening?
Warlock shot a beam of blue light out of his finger at one skull, making it freeze solid before he swung his staff like a golf club, launching the spider skull into a walking skeleton destroying both. He and Keigo were quick to destroy the rest of the skulls but Keigo was still a little out of it, still unable to know what caused that wind blast or how to recreate it.
As Warlock kicked the last skull away he turned to him, "Air blades? I didn't know you could do that. That's so cool!"
"Yeah, me neither."
It seemed the monstrous forces were being pushed back and Warlock ran to the broken door to continue the assault in front of the building. Keigo was quick to join, knowing he would be more useful when able to freely move through the air.
Izuku ran outside with his staff at the ready, finding the remaining Undead forces standing back like they had been ordered to stand at attention. He quickly tried to take a head count of the remaining enemy but the odd, hunched or deformed bodies made that difficult. Just as Hawks had ran out a figure appeared, hovering in the air above the monstrous army.
"It seems it was you who has freed my undying slaves. Such insolence." The floating robed man spoke, a face shrouded in shadow much like his own. He looked to Hawks "We thought you could be troublesome for us." he then gazed at Izuku "But I must admit, I had not even dreamed you would be present. But who am I to question fate, I am sure you shall both fit right in with those skeletal servants of mine."
While the Cultist monologued, Izuku launched an Eldritch Blast at him and Hawks flew at his top speed, attempting to slash at the man. Although just as blade and blast were about to connect the Cultist spoke a single word and a shimmering field of dark energy formed around him, the blast had dissipated and the feather blade had harmlessly bounced off his body.
"I agree, let us skip the pleasantries." The Cultist spoke in ancient tongue and spun shadow in his hands, forming a sabre of shadows and slashing at Hawks who blocked with his holy water coated feather blade, causing sparks of magical energy to light up the dim streets outside the government building.
As the Cultist did this the remaining Undead forces began their assault on Izuku, he took a deep breath and used two uses of Healing Light on himself, releasing a subtle glow of celestial energy from the healing wounds. He pointed his staff at the approaching forces as a holy light began glowing at the end of it, Izuku took aim and began to launch multiple Sacred Flame cantrips at the Undead masses.
Though they resembled flames the holy blasts gave off no heat as the bolts of divine energy burned the weaker charging forces while Hawks continued an airborne battle, sending what few feathers he could spare to assist and still keeping enough speed to keep the Cultist's attention on him. Though, the stronger and larger forces were only getting closer with the weaker Skeletons and Zombies falling.
Suddenly, barrelling out from the Undead forces was what looked like a large spider-like monstrosity made of multiple skeletons with the top half of a skeletal human body where the spider face would be, like a spider centaur. The "abdomen" of this monster was housing a few of the spider-skull things that had overwhelmed him earlier, the sound of clattering bones only got louder as it approached, the hollow eye sockets of pure white bone stared at him without eyes.
Izuku blocked as it collided with him, the sickle-like claws it had for hands being held back by his staff while it's jaw, split in half to look like mandibles, continuously jittered and clacked together. He struggled to hold back the monster until a powerful blow had knocked it away from him, causing cracking noises as it reset the position of the bones holding the beast together.
Izuku looked behind him to see Boruda the security guard, suit covered in blackened Zombie blood and cracking the knuckles on his stone fists, the golem of a man said nothing back and gestured his head to the remaining Undead still closing in. The skeletal beast charged at the rock man in revenge, colliding with a powerful impact but the bone blades could not scratch through his stone skin. Boruda then grabbed the skeletal torso at either side and bent over backwards, suplexing the monster into the concrete with the sounds of cracking bone and shattering cement echoing all around.
"Right, you can take that one." Izuku said to no response from Boruda. He left the two giants to brawl and started running into the fray, chanting in celestial the whole time, the heat building around him with each syllable and the tips of his staff streaked with a bright flame before spinning his staff to create a perfect circle of fire and with a final word collapsed the ring into a small bead of red hot flames.
[Flaming Sphere]
The bead expanded rapidly into a ball of raging inferno, charging faster than Izuku could run and colliding with the Undead forces, causing Ghouls, Zombies and Skeletons to burn rapidly, disintegrating into ash as the blue flames flickered through the careening sphere of scorching orange flames.
Feather met shadow again and again as the bright sparks continued to grow weaker, not from the shadow weapon dissipating but from the water on Keigo's feather evaporating over time. The cultist spoke words but did not sound human as he pulled out a bottle of something, Keigo tried to knock it out of his hand and in doing so shattered the bottle with one of his feathers but that didn't stop the cultist.
He continued to chant as the spilled liquid quickly flew towards him, being absorbed by the cultist through his skin. The cultist showed newfound vigour as if he was suddenly free from the pain his few wounds had already caused him, though the old wounds did not heal over. With a rictus grin he slashed with a blade of shadow once again, though this time it had slipped past the feather.
The feeling and pain of being deeply cut rang clear in Keigo's mind, but looking down there was no open wound or even a rip on his costume. Though in pain, Keigo looked past the cultist to see Warlock and Boruda making their way through the other zombies with the remaining security providing whatever backup they could. He gave a smirk to the cultist, "Look at that, looks like even an army like that can't help with an idiot like you in charge."
The cultist gave no attention to the insult and instead floated backwards speaking in tongues once again as five bolts of dark energy formed from the darkness of his blade, with a gesture they all launched in his direction. Keigo dashed backwards only to see them following him and matching his speed, he launched feathers at them but they swerved and dodged, coming closer and closer.
Keigo braced for impact, but as he did visions of that cloud woman overtook his vision once again and he found himself making a whistling sound without control over his own mouth. The wind picked up dramatically once again and surrounded Keigo, as it did what looked like his red feathers were mixed in with the torrent of wind but they were almost spectral, being able to see through them.
The black bolts of energy collided with the "wind shield", or whatever that was, and dissipated harmlessly. The wind continued and surrounded his feather blade once more, he looked at it with confusion but somehow knew that whatever was causing whatever was happening clearly wanted him to win. He swung at the cultist, who looked even more confused than he did.
The wind warped once more and fired another wind blade, and did so again with the next slash, and the next one. The wind blasts and feather blade coated in swirling winds were growing to be more than the cultist was expecting. He was losing ground quickly as the newly powered up blade collided with his own but would leave him open for the wind attack, slashing his body with razor sharp wind.
"Impossible! The Undying King is the only one who can grant such powers!" The cultist shouted in disbelief, "How!? How is this possible!?"
"I've got no idea." Keigo smirked, "Looks like that "God" of yours isn't anything special." He continued to slash at the cultist, delivering more and more tiny cuts from either wing or wind. The cultist however, grew agitated spitting more of those inhuman words again and vanishing in a cloud of dark smoke. Keigo launched his feathers out to scan for him but that wasn't necessary as he could be seen just above the monstrous army.
Izuku slid under the legs of another Skeleton, tripping it with his staff on the way out and planting it in the ground as he ran toward a much larger Skeleton, about 10ft tall. He jumped from his staff like a spring board and charged an Agonising Blast in his hand before punching the jaw of the giant as hard as possible, releasing the raw magical energy at the same time. The large empty skull burst into bone fragments as the remaining bones collapsed into a pile, quickly igniting in blue flames.
"I've always wanted to do that!" Izuku cheered, barely dodging the claws of another Ghoul. He collected the flames from the burning bones and wrapped his hands in the blue fire. He dealt a burning uppercut to the feral Undead and blocked another claw strike with his coat before shooting the fire in it's face, running back to grab the staff and finish it off with another Agonising Blast, removing the monster's head with a blast of red and green magic.
"It seems even a false prophet is able to withstand the King's strongest forces! You may have the bird fooled but your false gift shall crumble under the Undying King's almighty wrath!" The Cultist shouted in rage above the remaining Undead, ravaged by numerous small cuts and slowly bleeding.
"What are you even talking about?" Izuku questioned, genuinely confused about what he was rambling about.
"Enough chicanery!" The Cultist threw his shadow blade, Izuku tried to block with his staff but the blade made of magic energy simply shifted it's form to strike anyway, the blade passing completely through him and giving the feeling like he had been deeply stabbed in the chest with no real wound.
'What even was that!? Psychic damage!?'
'You are correct.'
'I was kidding! Why is that a thing!?'
As Izuku continued to rant in his head, Hawks arrived and slashed at the Cultist once more but he threw up another shimmering shield of dark energy to bounce the blade off his body. With that distraction in play Izuku had remembered the Flaming Sphere was still active, he quickly dragged it over through the Undead with his thoughts before pointing to it with his staff, swinging it like a baseball bat and launching the ball of raging inferno into the air using Control Flames.
"Hawks! Dodge!" He shouted, which Hawks very quickly did upon noticing the attack as the last few seconds of the spell were used up and the ball of scorching flames exploded on contact with the Cultist, leaving him heavily injured and lightly on fire.
"That is it! You have truly infuriated me!" The Cultist shouted, speaking that inhuman language once more and laughing maniacally as a shimmering field of multicoloured magic coated him. He pulled out a scroll and cackled, "I'll destroy you both with this! This shall be the end for you, False Prophet!"
Izuku pointed his staff at the Cultist before disappearing from his sight in a puff of smoke, the Cultist's eyes went wide as he looked around, only to see Izuku at the last second right above him. The air seemed to cool around him and his mouth steamed with every word of the spell, He waved his staff and launched a blue beam of light at the Cultist's mouth, covering it in a layer of ice from a Ray of Frost.
He continued to fall as he landed on the Cultist, grabbing hold of his robe as he tried and failed to shake Izuku off, desperately clawing at the ice around his mouth to speak the words on the scroll. "You know, I was wondering when you'd finally stop talking." Izuku said before the air chilled again only much more so than before, it felt as if the icy air was about to freeze his lips shut as the Celestial words came from his mouth, mist clouding around his face like he was speaking in a snowstorm.
[Transmuted Thunderwave - Ice]
With an ear popping explosion the freezing blast encompassed the Cultist, freezing all but his head in a block of magical ice and causing him to fall from the sky with Izuku still holding on. The block of ice landed and Hawks flew down next to him, Izuku quickly used Detect Magic and could see that, although the man was wreathed in magical energy, he was not Undead. With the Cultist unconscious the Undead around them had stopped moving, they were seemingly idle and awaiting commands.
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief until he saw Hawks raising his sword, "Wait! Wait! Wait! He's not Undead, you can't kill him!" Izuku shouted, holding his staff in the way of the sword.
Just before Hawks could say something a thin blast of green energy shot past the both of them and directly into the frozen body of the Cultist. Once it hit, the ice began to quickly crack but didn't melt, instead it started to turn into a grey dust. Just as quickly the Cultist's body also cracked, rapidly turning into a fine grey dust, in a simple matter of seconds the Cultist had died right before them while unconscious. Even if it was a Cultist, this person was still a living being and didn't deserve to die so cruelly.
Izuku turned around in anger to face whoever did that only to see another Cultist, long light brown hair poked through the hood but the face was mostly hidden. They stood on the ground a few meters behind them.
With Detect Magic still up Izuku could see the Magic that was surrounding this Cultist was far greater than his own, and their equipment gave off a much stronger aura than any of Izuku's. Not only that but their body was brimming with Necromancy magic. Whoever this person was, they were much stronger than him and the first Cultist.
Hawks immediately charged at full speed, "Don't!" Izuku yelled but it was seemingly far too late.
"STOP." The Cultist spoke calmly but with a fearsome echo, Hawks had been frozen in place completely, unable to move but completely aware of his surroundings. With Detect Magic Izuku saw the bindings of Enchantment magic holding him in place.
They continued to walk over to Izuku but he knew that if he tried to fight with both of his strong spells already spent while also injured he would not survive. However, the Cultist continued walking past Izuku and only stopped at the pile of equipment left by the dead Cultist. They knelt down and picked up the dark robe, dusting the previous owner off of it and burning it to ash.
"Only fools dream to deny fate." They spoke normally while still facing away, a female voice that seemed devoid of life. "You have no hope of stopping the future that has been arranged. What was wanted is ours so you should consider this a warning, soon Mankind shall see it's last dawn."
"No." Izuku spoke up, though he knew conflict would surely lead to death, "The Undying King will be stopped. The same goes for you and all his other minions too. We Heroes will defeat you." Even when death smiled in his face, Izuku would remain determined. He would save the world no matter how powerful his enemy is, he made a deal and planned to keep his word.
The Cultist faced Izuku and stared at him, though her dark brown eyes were not full of hate or malice but pity and sadness. Her skin was a very pale white but not decaying, almost looking at peak health. "Heroes...All you Heroes are deceived if you believe you can face him. A pitiful sight." They continued to stare before turning and continuing to walk away, "Though, there is no point in speeding up the inevitable. I believe we shall meet another day, Warlock of Light. When those bitter dark winds howl about you once more." They faced away from him and with a few unknown words of ancient tongue the space around her warped and rippled as she vanished without a trace, leaving the space she stood to ripple like water.
Izuku took this brief moment of respite to pray for those that died here, praying for those lost of both sides of the fight.
Keigo continued to struggle, unable to move his body or even his feathers until the effect stopped suddenly, dropping him to the floor unexpectedly. He quickly turned to face the new cultist but they had since vanished and Warlock sighed in relief. He rushed to the Vigilante's side, looking down to the dust covered equipment left behind by the first cultist post disintegration.
"What happened? Where did they go?" He asked Warlock, the trench coat wearing man simply looked to the space in front of him where the air seemed to ripple like water.
"We are so underprepared." He said looking down, he looked focussed like he was deep in thought, "Someone that strong...How do we even prepare to face that, let alone the Lich." His look of anxiety quickly washed away, "You're right, we couldn't have known, but now we do. We need to work overtime to even stand a chance."
Was he talking to himself? "Warlock!" Keigo said louder to get the man's attention.
"What? Sorry, I was thinking about something. Yes, the other one left. Gone. Poofed on out of space right over there." He explained, snapping out of his daze.
Keigo was confused, wasn't half of that cult's whole mission about killing Warlock? "They just left?"
"Yep, she cryptically told me we would meet again and burned the first guy's cloak. Actually, wait a second!" Warlock explained before his eyes turned white and he stared at a pair of boots and a dagger left in the pile of dust, next to a paper scroll that was apparently going to be used to kill the both of them. "Amazing...I wonder what they can do."
"Care to explain?" Keigo asked, genuinely confused as to what he was doing looking at a dead mans shoes.
Warlock turned around to explain but his expression of excitement shifted to one of curiosity again as he stared at Keigo's chest, "That wasn't there before..." he mumbled.
"Excuse me?" he asked, more concerned now.
"Were you cut with that guy's shadow blade?" Warlock suddenly asked, continuing to examine his body.
"Yes, what does that have to do with-"
Warlock pulled something from his coat, a small glass vial the size of a shot glass, "Drink this, I'll have to explain everything in a minute with the President and Nezu. We think that's the best idea." He said, cutting off Keigo before devolving into incoherent mumbles and picking up the dead cultist's stuff.
Though sceptical, Keigo drank the red liquid from the glass, the taste of a sweet fruity medicine quickly spreading over his tongue before he swallowed it. A warmth slowly spread over his body and the feeling of a deep stab wound faded away alongside any cuts sealing up like a week's worth of healing occurred in seconds. In his ever present confusion Keigo flew back next to Warlock who was approaching the HPSC building.
Suddenly exiting the building however was the President herself alongside Nezu and several bodyguards. She looked around the battlefield of idle monsters before locking eyes with Warlock. "I would like an explanation as to what happened here and why a graveyard worth of corpses broke down my doors and killed 2 of my guards." She spoke with anger hidden under a calm forged by years of her work.
"Don't look at me. Apparently they didn't even know I was here." Warlock casually explained, entirely different to his earlier politeness and mystery, no longer paying attention and dumping the equipment on the floor unceremoniously. "Nobody bother me for about 3 minutes. Hawks will explain everything." He said rummaging in his pockets.
The President gave Keigo a look that could kill, wordlessly demanding an explanation.
Izuku pulled the Book of Shadows out of his own shadow and opened to a random page to find the instructions to cast Identify through a ritual. He grabbed a stick of chalk out of his pocket and began to draw a circle around the items left by the Cultist, they had some latent magic energy in them so he was too eager to find out what they were. He began to draw more and more details around this circle, wheels of runes, Celestial script and symbols of Divination magic. The circle grew larger as he continued to add to it, becoming a few meters wide while constantly muttering Celestial, reading directly from his shadow book.
After the final line was drawn the chalk began to transform into a white light outward from that final point, slowly the chalk was consumed and transformed into a pulsing, glowing white circle of runic inscriptions, some wheels of symbols slowly rotating like a conveyer belt. With a few more words the white light grew from being pretty unstable to a smooth and steady energy.
Izuku kept his attention on the circle to keep it from vanishing while looking over to Hawks with Detect Magic and saw he still had that small lingering pure magic smudge in his body. "Hawks! I need you to stand in the middle of this circle."
Hawks turned around, noticing the circle for the first time, the President also turned and looked with curiosity. "You know what, sure. Why not? Enough weird things have happened today already." He walked into the circle and stood next to the boots, dagger and scroll. "Now what?"
"Stay there and don't move for...Let's say 7 minutes."
The President spoke up "I hope there is a reason for all of this."
"Oh please, let him continue. I find this all too entertaining." Nezu spoke up, taking a drink of tea before handing the cup to one of the bodyguards.
Izuku smiled at that, continuing the chanting of Celestial as different rings of runes floated up and spun around Hawks. The symbols continued to float and spin as Izuku's eyes changed to a pale white, continuing to chant in Celestial, a sight which was slightly uncomforting to everyone. Everyone except Nezu, who was watching with great interest and amusement.
After exactly 7 minutes of this the circles of white light all shattered and flew directly into Izuku's body, he shook his head as his eyes returned to normal. The information on these items filling his mind alongside confirmation that there was a tiny bit of pure magic in Hawks' soul. "Oh, that felt so weird." He stood up and the President approached.
"Now then, I would appreciate being told exactly what that was." She said, irritation very clearly growing in her voice.
"In due time all things shall be revealed, Madam President." he answered before picking up the boots and approaching Nezu. "Mr Nezu, I understand that you are the smartest person here."
"I would not argue against that." He agreed cheerfully.
"Please put these boots on and tap the heels together." Izuku instructed, "If you do that then I can tell every one of you everything in full honesty."
Nezu looked at him like he was sceptical but gave in, "Alright, I see no reason not to." Nezu slipped off the brightly coloured sneakers he was wearing and put on the boots that were much too large for him. However as he did the boots shifted in size and shape to accommodate, becoming a perfect fit. The President, Hawks and Nezu all watched with varying degrees of confusion and scepticism.
Nezu clicked the boots together, they watched as the boots released a slight hum and dull glow before it faded, then Nezu began to ever so slowly drift upwards. Nezu, despite having no Quirk to do so, had begun to levitate. It seemed he quickly began to understand the fundamentals of what was happening as he stopped himself a few feet off the ground, unexplainably floating in mid-air.
Izuku walked over and waved his hand above and below Nezu like a magician mid performance, "No strings attached above. Nothing lifting up from below. Now Mr Nezu how would you explain what is happening right now? Without any outside influence, how would you say you are floating right now?"
Nezu chuckled to himself, "I can't say I know how but I can say I have always enjoyed magic tricks."
Izuku stood away from Nezu, "How about another," He lifted his sleeves and stood too far way away to touch Nezu. "Nothing up my sleeves, no movement of the hands, no words from my mouth. Mr Nezu could you please tap the boots together once again."
Nezu did so while Izuku did nothing to influence the outcome. With a click of the heels the boots hummed and glowed again and Nezu began to safely drift downwards until he touched the ground without any damage to Nezu.
"Ta-da!" Izuku shouted before bowing like a stage magician after a performance. Nezu was the only one applauding as the President just stared and Hawks stood, no longer confused but just accepting of the weirdness around him. "Oh, by the way, that knife drinks blood so nobody cut yourself with it." He quickly added, pointing to the frankly evil looking blade still laying near Hawk's feet. Hawks took a few cautious steps away from it.
"Mr Warlock!" The President said sternly, "Please explain yourself."
"Alright, magic is real." Izuku nonchalantly revealed.
"...What?"
"Magic. Is. Real." Izuku put unnecessary emphasis of each word.
"I...Excuse me?"
"Magic. Real. Those boots? Magic! That knife? Magic! Me? Magic!" Izuku explained before pointing to Hawks, "Hawks? Surprisingly a little bit magic."
"Alright, that's enough! Guards!" The President shouted, the bodyguards standing at attention.
"Stop!" Hawks shouted, standing in front of Izuku, "He's telling the truth." The President stared at him but he continued, "During that fight something happened and I was able to briefly have control over the wind. I know that sounds impossible but I think that, as ridiculous and illogical as it sounds, some kinda "Magic" or whatever it was, caused that."
As the President continued to stare, Nezu stepped in front of Izuku as well, using the boots to float to shoulder level. "If you have an explanation for this that I, the most intelligent being on the planet, do not. I would love to hear it, Madam President. As it stands, it would seem that we simply overlooked the theory that Warlock may be supernatural in nature."
Izuku smiled at the President, "There is so much that you don't know. However there is someone who can show you everything." Nezu and Hawks turned to face him, "We do need a ride there though...I don't know how to drive."
The President sighed deeply, holding the bridge of her nose and looking down for a moment too long before looking to one of the bodyguards, "Get the Limo."
That one bodyguard ran off as the President looked around at the idle standing Undead. "How do I get these "Things" off of my property."
"Well nobody is controlling them so...I guess just," Izuku walked up to an idle Skeleton and poked it's skull with his staff, it immediately collapsing and turning to dust. He gave a brief prayer to the souls of those turned Undead before turning back to the others. "Do that."
The President ordered her bodyguards to destroy the remaining idle Undead with Boruda doing the most work as a black limo pulled up on the street, followed by several armoured black cars. She looked to Izuku who used Mask of Many Faces to change his suit to one of the bodyguard's suits, mostly doing so prolong his appearance as Warlock and not a teenager. "Very well, Warlock. Where is this person who will explain everything?"
Tokyo - Kotodama district
"This is a library." The President said, looking at the place the limo had stopped in front of.
"Very observant, were going inside." Izuku replied, jumping from the Limo and changing his appearance to his regular Warlock outfit. Hawks exited with Nezu, the principal floating next to and holding on to his shoulder, getting good use out of those magic levitation boots. Hawks simply looked exhausted, reasonably so as it was incredibly late in the night but also because he was having to take in all the magic stuff for the first time. Nezu was actually taking it surprisingly well for someone so intelligent, maybe he was just excited to learn new things.
The President exited while still circled by bodyguards and still giving Izuku a look of seriousness and scepticism, probably because Izuku had since given up trying to seem more mysterious than he really was. Being mysterious and hard to understand was Couatl's job.
Izuku tested the door and it was locked, he knocked a few times and waited awkwardly for a few moments. After what felt like far too long the door had opened by itself and Izuku walked in, seeing Sylvar at his desk simply reading from a book. The Elf wearing his Librarian outfit, the formal grey suit and sunset tie. Izuku turned around to face the rest, "Come on in, don't be shy. Take a seat and pick out anything you wish, just as long as you have a library card."
Hawks, Nezu and The President walked in cautiously but the door immediately slammed shut after her, leaving the bodyguards outside. "Alright, "Warlock" why have you come so late. Or perhaps I should say so early considering the time." Sylvar spoke, purposefully not using Izuku's name to conceal his identity.
Izuku ran up to the desk "I told them all Magic was real and," he pointed to the President "She doesn't believe me," he pointed to Hawks "He needs examining because I have no idea what's up with him," then he pointed to Nezu, "And he...I'm not sure actually, I think he's just tagging along." Izuku rummaged in his pocket and pulled out the scroll "Also I have a gift, a scroll that I have identified as Fireball but can't read at all."
Sylvar looked to the guests then to the scroll, standing up and waving his hands, muttering a spell before throwing a small wooden chest on the floor which rapidly grew to a decent sized chest, he walked to and opened it, placing the scroll inside before the chest shrunk back into the small version. Sylvar then spoke a few words and tapped Izuku on the head with his cane, teleporting the both of them with a ripple in space to directly in front of the President.
Izuku shivered "Teleporting always feels weird."
The President stood with importance and power even without her bodyguards, "My men can and will break down that door if you do not explain yourself this instant."
Sylvar chuckled, tapping his staff on the floor, "What door?" The President turned to see the door missing from where it once was. "Now, young lady, I know who you are and you should know this. Magic is real and all around you, every single thing has some magic in it. Just take a good look around you, an old man erases the door to his house and teleports across the room and yet you refuse to believe that something supernatural is happening. "That it must be a Quirk!" you think. Well Quirks are in fact magic. You see, long ago-"
"Enough! I refuse to be a part of this joke any longer!" The President shouted.
"Please refrain from interrupting me." Sylvar calmly said, waving his hand as the words he spoke seemed to create visible magic energy around his mouth, "May I make a [Suggestion]? Remain quiet, listen and remember everything I say." The magic quickly faded from his mouth and the President's demeanour shifted, no longer angry but listening intently."
"Long ago, when the Earth was younger and Humans were just beginning to learn to write. A grand kingdom in an alternate world had lost hundreds of thousands of lives and so turned to taking occupants from other planets, forming gateways to and from their own magic filled universes with this one and many more. Over the millennia creatures would stumble in and out of these first gates and many others created afterwards, creating tales of magic, wonder and mystical adventures. However, a great tragedy befell that grand magic universe and all of magic itself was very briefly erased, destroying these gateways and leaving Humans in the magicless word they find themselves in. For many years magic had only existed on this planet in brief, dying sparks but never grew to a brilliant flame. But 200 years ago a rift in space caused a wave of powerful pure magic to flow over the Universe, leaving remnants of magic to cause the first glowing child. This magic would create a new subspecies of Human that had innate magic abilities built into their very DNA, a Quirk."
The President snapped out of her daze and looked down in a mixture of emotions, completely silent. Sylvar tapped his staff on the floor and the doors appeared once more, "If you wish to leave, you may. But remember that this war against evil goes far deeper than Heroes and Villains. Far, far deeper than you can imagine." The President said nothing, and walked out, the doors closing behind her.
"Woah. You broke her brain. I didn't even get to ask my favour." Izuku said, pulling the Vampire Knife from his coat, "By the way, we got this evil bloodsucking knife from a cultist who I think was also a wizard."
Sylvar looked at it before shrugging, "Well, I don't have any use for it. You can keep it." He turned to face Hawks and Nezu, "Now then, something was wrong with you? What is it, a curse? A disease?"
Hawks began explaining everything that happened to him during his fight with the Undead and the Cultist, how he had visons of a place of infinite sky and a woman made of clouds. How he was absolutely performing some kind of magic somehow without realising it, being unable to recreate it on command.
'Do you have any ideas about this?' Izuku asked Couatl.
'The location he has described resembles that of the Elemental Plane of Air. Though, despite the name, the Plane is not entirely air, fragments of elemental fire, earth and water oft combine within and scatter throughout the Plane. It is thought that an expanse of naught but sky is uncommon at the very least but is understood as the likeliest location.'
'So could this cloud lady be a Goddess or something?"
'The knowledge on Deities outside of The Upper Planes is limited. It is possible, though it is equally possible this being possesses no Godly powers.'
"Sylvar, do you have any books about Deities in the Elemental Planes? We have a theory going on here." Izuku asked. In response Sylvar tapped on the floor with his cane and a row of books close by began to move like a conveyor belt until it stopped and a silvery spectral hand grabbed a single book bound in a high quality leather and runic language on the cover. Sylvar's Mage Hand placed the book on a table that had morphed itself out of the floor.
"It is not that specific, but this encyclopaedia of Deities in general should work for you." Sylvar called out before turning his attention back to Hawks.
Keigo was still not entirely sure about what was happening, but had long since given up on attempting to make sense of it. As illogical and childish as it sounded, he was speaking to a wizard in a magical library. He watched as Warlock obtained a book from moving wooden shelves and was reading at a table that built itself out of the floor. Nezu was sitting next to him like everything that was happening was completely normal.
"So, young man, this being, be it a Deity or another creature of high magical prowess, has chosen to imbue you with a spark of magic within your soul. It seems your affinity for flight caught the attention of a powerful being of the skies and wished to assist you." This wizard, Sylvar he think he heard Warlock say, explained.
Keigo looked back at Warlock again before responding to the Wizard, "So, what's his deal? Is he a "Wizard" like you? Is my "magic" like his?"
"No, he's a Warlock, he made a deal with a powerful being in exchange for power. You're not like him, it's more like the powers that be chose to give you a little nudge in the direction of learning magic. If anything, your magic is closer to mine, one that must be studied, practiced and learned." The wizard explained.
"So...I'm a Wizard?"
"Not quite. You are a warrior, a master of martial combat who is skilled in all manner of weapons. You are a fighter, plain and simple, but you are a magical fighter. Scholars of the arcane would call ones like you an Eldritch Knight."
Keigo deeply sighed, "It's...Definitely a lot to take in. Learning magic exists and that I have some kind of wind magic now."
"You get used to it!" Warlock shouted from across the room.
Sylvar hummed in thought for a moment before tapping his staff on the floor once again, waving his hands and creating a staircase out of the floorboards and bookshelves that extended outward into a portion of the building that was physically impossible for it to exist. "I might have something for you to help focus that fragment of magic inside of you, follow me."
He, followed up the stairs and into a room that looked like a grand museum, numerous immaculate weapons and armours being held in glass cases. Sylvar knocked on one of the cases and presumably cast a magic spell that unlocked the case, pulling a pristine silver blade out which seemed to be in absolute perfect condition, handing it to Keigo.
As he held the sword it felt incredibly light in his grip, unnaturally so, like his own feather blades. Upon closer inspection of the blade and sheath he found it was actually an old tachi design and not a more modern katana like he had initially believed due to the similarities. The blade moved swiftly in his hands like it was lighter than the air he slashed through and after a practice swing it produced a sound like the whistling wind.
"That blade was something of a project I made with a swordsmith I once knew, to make a blade that surpassed the fabled Kusanagi no Tsurugi." He chuckled to himself, "We failed, but what we did make was still quite the blade. We called it the Arashi Masamune."
Keigo's curiosity got the better of him, when feeling the magical energy flow within the weapon he couldn't help but feel a little excited, "Alright then Wizard, where can I test this thing out."
Izuku flipped through page after page of the book of various Deities, trying to find ones that focus around air or the wind. Though the book was written in an unknown script it had magically changed so that Izuku could read from it and when Nezu joined him he was also able to read from it.
The two had made very little in terms of progress, "My goodness, there certainly are a lot of Deities, it seems we skimmed past ones from the ancient Egyptian and Greek pantheons. Do you think this would mean that all of Humanities religious pantheons are likely to coexist?" Nezu asked, seemingly very excited to be reading about pantheons he had never heard of before.
"I'm pretty sure all a God needs to exist is enough people believing them to exist." Izuku explained, flipping to the next page.
'Grotesquely oversimplified yet not inaccurate.'
"Yes I know it's oversimplified, I don't want to recite a lecture's worth of information every time I explain anything magical." Izuku complained.
Nezu lightly chuckled, "I can only imagine that you are arguing with that being you made a deal with for your powers. I cannot say I'm not curious about it, I am simply thrilled to begin learning new things again."
Izuku laughed, "If anyone could learn everything about magic it would be you." He flipped to another page, "Say, could I ask about that favour again?"
"Why, absolutely Mr Warlock. After everything you have introduced to me today I can say with utmost certainty that I am in debt to you."
"Well if that's the case, then-" Izuku began before noticing the page in front of him, "Oh, wait never mind! This looks promising."
This page in this book of Gods and Goddesses showed several illustrations of a woman made of clouds or air, alongside a holy symbol of a cloud on a blue flag. "Akadi, The Queen of Air. A Goddess of wind, speed and flying creatures. Well Hawks definitely fits the requirements. Ah, it says here that she wasn't a true Goddess and was a Primordial of the Air, Primordials being an elemental species that once tried to compete with the Gods for dominance. After this was found out she left the Plane of Air and has since chosen to reside in a plane called Sky Home. A place made purely out of elemental air in the Elemental Chaos, an infinite Plane made of pure elemental, positive and negative energy."
"Well then," Nezu said before taking a dramatic sip of tea, "It would seem we have found exactly who we were looking for."
"...Have you just been carrying that the whole time?"
Keigo calmly held the Masamune, trying to attune himself with the blade, focussing his mind on the image of the wind flowing around the sword, holding his hand out to enhance his focus and to physically pull the magic he needed to him, holding it where he wanted it to be. With a quick breath he slashed once more with the blade coated in a raging gale.
[Wind Blade]
The metal blade sliced smoothly through a wooden dummy and the wind shot out from the blade, forming that recognisable razor blast of wind which flew to another target, slicing the second target clean in half.
"Alright, I think I finally got it." Keigo said, sheathing the Masamune on his hip. "I guess I'm going to have to keep practicing to see if I can make any other spells happen."
Sylvar gave a gentle applause, "And even in less than an hour, I'm impressed. However, you must remember, these spells are not just inserted into your brain. Unlike others magic users, you must make the effort to learn every minute aspect of the spells. What you have learned is a Cantrip, the simplest category of spells that can be used as many times as is wished."
Keigo nodded, trying to take in everything he had learned about magic and commit it to memory. "I think I should be going, I'll need to inform the President of everything that happened here."
"Very well, I shall see the three of you off." Sylvar said, tapping his walking stick on the ground again and making a staircase in the wall, leading down into the first main area he arrived in with Nezu and Warlock. Warlock had since removed his hat again, revealing the green haired man's face once again, however the hat was now being worn by Nezu, whose face was clouded by shadows like Warlock's normally would have been.
"Oh, your back. I was getting bored. By the way we found out about that Cloud Lady. Akadi, The Queen of Air who's technically not a Goddess but that's neither here nor there." Warlock said pointing to the open book which was picked up by a silver, ghostly hand controlled by Sylvar.
"Ah, I see. Well this is certainly interesting, she must have found you quite the amusing Human to have found an interest in you. I shall put some research into this." Sylvar commented.
Nezu handed Warlock back his hat, which he put on in an overly dramatic fashion to once more hide his face. Warlock ran up to Hawks, "Ooh, nice sword. Say, if you're going back to the President could you ask that favour for me?"
"Sure, what is it."
"I would like my own official Hero Licence and I want to be mentioned during this years Hero Billboard Chart event."
The first thing was not much of a surprise, it was one of the original offers made to convince Warlock to begin with, however the second request made Keigo let out a short laugh. Seeing as Warlock was able to make the people of Japan and even Heroes feel much safer from the UKF, he personally would have given him a spot in the top 10. "Sure thing, I'll see what I can do."
"I shall put forward an appeal for this, I must admit I find it quite amusing." Nezu added.
Keigo gave a quick goodbye before flying at full speed back to the HPSC building, what he was expecting was some solemn faces due to the deaths of a few guards. What he was not expecting was people frantically running back and forth and shouting orders around. He quickly located the President who, already previously looking stressed, looked to be in a state of pure distress.
"Madam President! What's going on!?" He asked, thinking something terrible had happened.
"Vital information has gone completely missing from both physical records and digital records!" She revealed.
"What information?" Depending on the information a leak could prove to be very bad for the HPSC.
The President took a deep breath and attempted to calm herself, "Have you ever heard the name, All for One?"
Izuku adjusted his coat after Hawks vanished from the scene, "Well, I should get going too. Still gotta sleep even with all this magic in me."
Sylvar held up his hand to stop him, "Not so fast, you aren't the only one with presents." He placed a tiny chest on the floor that was different to the one from earlier. With a few words and hand movements it grew to the size of a regular chest, he opened it and pulled out a pair of gloves that were identical to Izuku's current gloves. "These are Gloves of Sparking, snap your fingers and you create sparks to form fires using Control Flames."
Izuku put them on and gave a few snaps, creating brief sparks like a broken lighter. "I mean, it's cool but Hawks got a whole freaking sword."
"Keep giving me sass like that and I'll start charging you for these." Sylvar joked before reaching back into the chest for the next item, removing a similarly ornate staff to Izuku's own, however it was made out of a lighter coloured wood with sun shaped engravings. "I call this Day Break, a staff that can either damage your target with a regular bludgeoning hit or a flash of radiant magic. If you want to make a light in the dark then just lift it and say "Light"." as he said that the tip of the staff lit up like a torch, if it were dark it would probably aluminate around him pretty well.
"Oh and there is one more thing this staff can do, if you point at your target," He used his walking stick to clear the area and make a little wooden dummy in the centre. "Then simply say the command phrase, "Carpe Diem"." A tiny mote of light shot from the staff and stuck to the dummy before rapidly expanding and exploding into a pillar of bright light, searing the surroundings with holy radiant light. "Though this is only single use. It will recharge upon a new dawn rising, when day breaks so to speak." He chuckled to himself.
Izuku took the staff, and twirled it around, the ends lighting up with a shimmer of radiant energy before he pointed it upwards and dropped it into his sleeve, storing it in his magic coat. "I would like to apologise. Please keep making me cool stuff." Izuku feigned seriousness before giggling like a child, sliding the staff out of his other sleeve and spinning it again. "Seriously though, this is very cool. Thank you."
Sylvar smiled as Izuku continued to mess with the new staff, "Well I am glad you like it. Maybe this will teach you not to sass a Wizard."
"No promises." Izuku said, throwing the staff into the air and catching it in his pocket making it disappear once again.
Nezu, who was still completely enthralled by all the magic happening around him tapped Izuku on the shoulder, floating in the air to be at eye level. "Well, I believe we should discuss that favour now. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Oh right, I knew I was forgetting something." Izuku said, gently smacking his forehead. "Well, Mr. Nezu, as the owner and principal of the greatest Hero school in Japan and probably the world. I would like to request a position in your school."
Nezu hummed in agreement, "Very well. However, like all students, you will have to take an exam."
Izuku was about to cheer but stopped himself upon noticing exactly what Nezu said, "Wait, student! How did you-!? Ah, I mean, surely you're joking, Mr Nezu."
Nezu simply laughed to himself, "No matter how well you hide your appearance Mr Warlock, I am an educator who has watched thousands of young men and women become proud Heroes. Every single one had something in common, that burning flame of youth that would one day light up all of Japan with hope. It is hard not to see that in you." He explained before taking a dramatic sip of tea, "Now, despite this, I do have something of an offer for you."
Izuku grew rightfully curious, "What did you have in mind?"
"How would you like a temporary job at UA?" Nezu asked calmly with a kind smile, as if he had not just dropped a metaphorical bombshell onto Izuku.
"What!?"
...
...
...
Somewhere in Japan
Deep, deep down, far below a lively society lay a labyrinth of cold steel tunnels, an unseen base that housed not only the most gruesome of human experiments but the greatest of evils the world had ever known. Lurking deeper still in this wretched headquarters wreathed in evil was the one that for well over a century had terrorised not only Japan but the whole world and still is the cause of horror stories to this day.
Tall and imposing, the very aura exuded by All for One would be enough to terrify most into grovelling before him. Though injured from his last battle years ago, his respirator mask would hide these scars from the one who had chosen to intrude upon his humble abode. Even with every security system armed and activated, the single intruder had arrived right before him, without an ounce of fear in his being.
This man shuffled the deck of cards in his hands, though he could not see it perfectly due to his missing eyes, he could still tell that the cards were being shuffled expertly, cutting cards like a magician. He placed them onto his shoulder, sliding them down his robe into his hand. "Well, All for One, I believe this is quite the opportunity for you." He shot the cards in an arc from one hand to the other, "The Undying King has the power to restore your body to it's prime. By his divine word, our organisation would like to propose a partnership with you."
The prospect of his regained youth was a promising way to get his attention, "And, what shall you wish for in return." All for One's voice being warped and booming from his mask.
The robed man chuckled "Well, I can't say it was hard to miss those little experiments you sent to attack me when I so rudely intruded. We would like to suggest a trade of sorts. The knowledge and means to create these creatures in exchange for a body truly fit for the Demon Lord."
All for One could tell there was no lie being told by this cultist and a body in his own prime was quite tempting. Though with a new body he would not have a need for this cult in his perfect world. Yes, destroying them afterwards would be the best course of action. "Very well. I accept these terms of our partnership."
"The Undying King welcomes you with open arms." The man said before throwing the cards all around him, vanishing completely alongside the cards.
Beneath his intimidating, dark mask, All for One smiled.
Thank you so much for reading! Leave a review if you like! Feel free to make anything based on this work if you want, as long as you let me know about it so I can enjoy it with you!
Yeah baby! More magic items! You have no idea how much mileage Nezu will be getting out of those boots. Oh and how much everyone else is going to be using their new weapons too.
Speaking of Nezu, I really liked the idea of him just being almost childishly excited upon learning magic exists. Like, imagine you are the smartest being, bored and knowing everything and suddenly it's revealed you only know a fraction of a fraction of what the world really is. He has gone from being bored but mostly satisfied to being constantly entertained and thrilled to learn in a snap.
Oh, also Hawks, I've been wanting to give this man some kind of magic since I brought him into this story. I was really tied between Eldritch Knight Fighter or Paladin, because damn if that man isn't charismatic, but settled on Fighter. Given how much experience he already has I would place his level at about 7 or 9 but I ain't giving him all those spells that easily. He's gotta learn them himself. Unlike a certain warlock who won't be named. (By the way Wind Slash is just Green Flame Blade but with slashing damage instead of fire, don't tell nobody.)
I hope the few people who actually know D&D stuff don't mind that I put a few homebrew items and monsters in here. I do like the skeletal drider and spider skull ideas I had though.
Anyway, I'll get around to making a stat sheet for Izuku one day I swear and maybe I'll even have a real schedule.
