Ring of Gluttony & Rank!

"It's time for you to get your ranks," Kalego announced, "so, get in line," at the sound of his words, the students immediately began forming a line.

Meanwhile, Izuku decided to go last in case something absurd happened once again.

'You really know how your luck work's huh," Nana chuckled.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Izuku. I hope to see you around," Kumara said, turning towards Sullivan, "I have some important things to discuss with you if you don't mind."

"Of course not, Kumara," Sullivan said, "Opera, take these lovely ladies to my office. I'll be there in a bit. Izuku-kun, Grandpa has some work to do, so he'll see you later. Bye!"

"Bye! See you back at home!" Izuku said and noticed Ameri approaching him.

"I must also take my leave now," Ameri said. Then she moved a little closer to him and whispered in his ear, "meet me after school tomorrow, I need a favor from you."

Izuku didn't know what Ameri could possibly want from him but he wasn't going to deny her request anyway so he agreed to meet her tomorrow.

Then, as soon as Ameri left, Izuku winced when suddenly a wave of pain surged through his body as he was tackled to the ground.

"Clara, what are you doing? Get off him," Eiko yelled and pulled Clara away from Izuku's body.

And when Clara noticed him wincing in pain, she panicked and started creating medical supplies with her bloodline ability.

"It's ok Clara, I am fine. It's just my body is a little sore," Izuku said.

"Really?" Clara asked with a concerned face.

"Yep, don't worry about me," Izuku said with a reassuring smile.

"Well, now we really know that you were holding back, during our brawl," Alice said with narrowed eyes.

"To be fair, you were doing the same," Izuku argued back.

"Fine," Alice sighed, "but next time we fight, I don't want you to hold back."

"Sure buddy," Izuku agreed with a strained smile as he really wasn't sure if Alice can tank 100% percent punch or not.

After his little conversation with his friends, he started getting flocked up by the other members of the Misfit Class.

"Dude, that was so cool," Shax said.

"Yeah, seriously," Jazz chimed in, "If I had known you were such a badass fighter, I would've put all my chips on you, man."

"Izuku-dono, I would like to spar with you someday. It would be a great opportunity for us to test each other's strengths and improve," Garp said.

"That was really impressive, you almost managed to woo me you know," Elizabetta said with a teasing grin.

Then before Izuku could respond to them their homeroom teacher called them out, "hey brats, stop goofing around. You lot are the only ones left right now."

Truly enough, only the misfit Class and Kalego were left in the gym right now. So without any delay, they all formed a single line in front of an oddly smug-looking three-eyed owl and started receiving rank badges from his stomach pouch.

For now, the class was divided into three ranks.

The first group was comprised of students who had earned the ALEPH (1st) rank, including Caim, Agares, Garp, Elizabetta, Allocer, and Shax.

Next was a group that had earned the BET (2nd) rank, consisting of Crocell, Sabnock, Eiko, and a platinum-haired individual whom Izuku was trying to keep in sight but was struggling to do so.

Then there were Jazz and Clara, the two students who had earned GIMMEL (3rd) rank.

Lastly was Asmodeus Alice, the sole student to receive the DALETH (4th) rank. This rank was also the lowest possible rank required to graduate from Babyls Academy.

And finally, it was Izuku's turn to get himself a rank of his own. So he walked forward and stood in front of the Ranking Owl.

"Hey little guy, don't bite my hand alright," Izuku said but the Owl kept staring at him with an emotionless face.

"Don't bother," Kalego said, "the Ranking Owl hasn't said a single word in the last few centuries, I doubt it is going to change anytime soon."

Izuku nodded and started reaching for the Ranking Owl.

'I hope nothing absurd happens,' Izuku thought and placed his hand in Owl's pocket.

'Izuku,' Nana sighed, 'by now, you should have known better than to challenge your fate.'

'What do-' suddenly the ranking Owl released a loud cry from his mouth and started flying away.

"Stop it! Where the hell are you going? I didn't even get my badge yet," Izuku groaned but then he noticed that everyone staring at him, "guys, I swear I didn't do anything weird with that bird."

"Izu-Kun, what is that?" Clara said pointing at his hand.

"Huh?" that's when he noticed a ring that had appeared on his middle finger.

'T...that's!?' as soon as Sabnock saw that ring he remembered the words written in the scroll of prophecy...

:-:-:-:-:-:

He shall make one and all of his servants.
He shall form blood pacts and heal all demonkind.
He shall descend from a foreign realm

And wear the golden ring of Solomon on his right hand.

:-:-:-:-:-:

'It can't be! Is that the Golden Ring of Solomon in his hand?' Sabnock thought, but then added, 'No, I'm overthinking this. I've never heard of the Ring of Solomon producing that...'

Meanwhile, Izuku was trying to remove it but soon he realized that the ring was stuck in his hand. "Hey, can someone help me with..." Izuku tried to walk toward his classmates but for some reason, they were trying to avoid him, "what s going on?"

"That's because..." Eiko said and pointed at his shoulder.

And that's when Izuku realized that there was a shadowy demon-like thing sitting on his shoulder.

'Nana, am I hallucinating, or is there really something that resembles Tokoyami's dark shadow on my shoulder?' Izuku asked.

'Unfortunately, you are not,' Nana said in a tired voice.

Then out of nowhere, the black smoky thing started screaming in an agonizing voice that shook the entire school.

:-:-:-:-:-:

*A Few minutes ago...*

(Sullivan's Office)

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Sullivan asked with a friendly smile.

"You already know why I'm here right now," Kumara said while maintaining eye contact with the man, "but before that," she looked at Moana, who was standing behind her, "go outside and make sure no one disturbs our conversation."

Moana nodded and spared a single glance at Opera before going outside.

"Is that boy really a human?" Kumara asked.

"Oh! Straight to the point. That's what I like about you," Sullivan said, "and to answer your question, yes, as far as I know, he is human."

"Then can you explain that absurd power of his?" Kuamra asked, "cause am pretty sure that he wasn't using any kind of magic. And as far as I know, humans are not born with bloodline abilities either."

"Again, I don't know how or from where he got that power," Sullivan said, "I even checked the records and didn't find a single case of a powered individual in the overworld for the past 2 centuries."

"Did you try asking him about the powers?" Kumara asked.

"Yes, I did, but he didn't look too comfortable talking about them," Sullivan said, "although, he did say that he will share it with us once he himself is more comfortable with it."

"And you didn't push him for the answers?" Kumara rasied her brow.

"Of course not. The last thing I want is for him to feel cornered in the netherworld," Sullivan said, "but forget about that. I am more interested in knowing your thoughts on him."

Kumara leaned back, idly stroking one of her tails as she thought about the person in question. After a moment, a small smile spread across her face, "If I had to put it into words," she began, "I would say he's charismatic and mysterious," Her tone was filled with a hint of intrigue as if she was privy to some secret that the others weren't.

Sullivan calmly leaned forward, a look of genuine interest on his face, "Please, would you mind elaborating?" he asked in a soft tone. He knew that Nine-Tailed Demons, such as Kumara, were highly respected for their instincts, intuition, and sharp minds in the Netherworld, and he was curious to hear Kumara's thoughts on Izuku.

Kumara looked at Sullivan and let out a small chuckle. "I don't think I need to explain the charisma to you," she said, "his way of conducting himself, the way he interacts and treats those around him, and that reassuring smile of his are simply magnetic," she leaned forward, a hint of excitement in her voice, "just take a look at how many people have been drawn to him, even someone as proud as Asmodeus has become part of his inner circle."

"Yeah he does have that kind of effect on people around him," Sullivan replied with a pleased smile.

Suddenly the excitement vanished and Kumara's brow furrowed as she spoke to Sullivan, "that's what's so confusing," she said, her tails flicking, "I mean, how can someone with so calming aura have such a strong scent of anger, sadness, and longing on them? Not to mention how skillfully he hides all those things and acts like nothing is bothering him."

Then Kumara started tapping her finger on the desk, her thoughts turning to Izuku's abilities, "and let's not forget about his powers," she said, her tails twitching in the background, "during his fight against Ameri, she had the clear advantage in terms of physical strength, but he still managed to corner her and even made her use our bloodline magic. And that final attack was something else. It made me question whether I should even get involved or not."

"But that's not even the half of it," Kumara said, "not only was he able to keep up with her physically, but he was matching her in terms of skill too. And I don't mean to boast, but Ameri has been honing her skills since she was six years old. So how come this human boy, living in a peaceful world without any recorded incidents of powered individuals, knows how to fight so skillfully with his powers?"

"That's why I have concluded that the boy is a walking enigma and as long as my daughter trusts him I won't mind him living in the netherworld," Kumara said regaining her elegant posture, "and the way things are going on right now, we could actually use someone with that kind of power."

"Kumara, let me make this clear once and for all," Sullivan's eyes narrowed as he spoke to Kumara, "I don't want my grandson to be used as a pawn in whatever game you Crowns are playing right now."

"I understand your concerns, Lord Sullivan," Kumara replied calmly, "but please trust me when I say that I have no intention of using your grandson as a pawn in any of the games that the Crowns may or may not be playing," She thought to herself, 'Besides, he is far too unpredictable for anyone to effectively utilize him at this point in time.'

Then out of nowhere, they started hearing an agonizing screech and decided to check out its source before it deafen them all.

:-:-:-:-:-:

"Izuku, make that damm thing stop," Alice said as he covered his ears.

"But how!?" Izuku panicked seeing his classmate rolling on the ground.

"Leave it to me my rival I will make that thing quiet for good," Sabncock said and approached Izuku, and to his credit, the thing did stop screaming but before that the smoke-like thing placed a hand on Sabnock's face causing him to drop on the spot.

"What the hell!?" Izuku panicked even more, "answer me Sabnock are you all right?"

Kalego, who was fed up with the foolishness around him, snuck up on Izuku from behind. Then he tried to grab Izuku's shoulder and said, "Hey, Izuku, let me take a closer look-"

However, in the next instant, Kalego was stunned. It appeared as if his hand had disappeared. But it was just an illusion created by a demon, who warned Kalego not to touch Izuku.

'An illusion? No, it was a threat. I see' Kalego thought and stood in front of Izuku, 'this is an item that needs to be purged,' he raised his arm but before he could bring it down, Izuku's danger sense went off, and he jumped a few meters back.

And before he could ask his teacher what his intention was his grandpa showed up along with Kumara.

"Really, Kalego?" Kumara asked, giving him a stern look, "blowing off your student's arm was the only solution you could come up with to solve this problem?"

"He was going to do what!?" students yelled in unison.

Kalego looked away, avoiding Kumara's gaze. "I thought it was an item that posed a threat to the students and needed to be removed," he explained.

"Nevertheless, your method was unjustified and extreme," Kumara replied, still giving Kalego a stern look, "you are a teacher, and you should be coming up with solutions that don't involve hurting your students."

"Yes, I understand," Kalego sighed, not wanting to continue the argument anymore.

Meanwhile, Sullivan approved his grandson.

"Be careful, Grandpa," Izuku warned, sounding worried, "I don't know what happened, but this thing immediately took out Sabknok."

"Oh, don't worry about me, Izuku-kun," Sullivan reassured him, "grandpa is very strong," and then as soon as he reached Izuku, the black smoky entity tried to attack him.

"Watch out!" Izuku cried out in warning, but to his surprise, Sullivan simply placed one hand on the smoky thing's mouth and muttered, "Here, eat up," and then the smoky demon started to expand, growing larger and larger until it finally went back inside the ring.

"It went back," Izuku said as he curiously examined the ring.

"Izuku-kun, that thing is called the 'Ring of Gluttony'," Sullivan explained, "it is a magic item that helps store the user's magic, but if there is not enough magic stored inside, it would start eating magic indiscriminately."

"Eat magic..." Izuku stared at the ring for a moment and asked, "is it safe to keep it on me?"

"Oh! Absolutely, once it is fed a certain amount of magic, it will be harmless," Sullivan explained, "the poor thing must have been crying from how hungry it was."

"To have so much magic drained from him," Sabnock said as he got up, with Kumara having shared some of her magic with him, "the principal is truly incredible."

"Also, once you wear that ring you won't be able to take it out," Sullivan explained.

'That's oddly convenient,' Nana said.

'Yeah, no doubt about that,' Izuku agreed with her.

"But what should we do about his rank?" Kalego asked.

"You do it," Kumara suggested, "you have the authority to do so right?"

Kalego let out a sigh and said, "Tsk... fine." He brought his hands together and closed his eyes. Suddenly, his hands started to glow and in the next moment, a badge appeared in his hand.

"Izuku Midoriya," Kalego said, "based on your performance in the Familiar Summoning, Flying Race, and Mock Battle, I am bestowing upon you GIMMEL (3rd) rank with the authority as your homeroom teacher and overseer of these exams," he said placed a golden colored badge in Izuku's hand.

"Now let's take a picture to remember this moment," Sullivan said and produced a flying camera, "everyone say, Devil~."

"Devil~," everyone said in unison and clicked the picture.

And thus a long tiring day came to an end, and Izuku finally went home.

:-:-:-:-:-:

(Sullivan's Mansion)

Later that evening, after a long and tiring day at school, Izuku was enjoying a peaceful dinner with his family.

"Opera, can I get another serving, please?" Izuku asked.

Opera nodded and served him another generous portion of food

'Izuku, don't you think it's strange that the amount of food you're eating has tripled in just one week?' Nana asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

Now that you mention it...' Izuku said, as he stared down at his plate and counted his fifth full serving of food for the night, 'my appetite has increased dramatically. I don't think I have ever eaten so much food even in my past life.'

'You think we should be worried about this?' Nana asked.

'I don't know,' Izuku thought for a moment and said, 'maybe we should wait for a few weeks and see if we notice any other changes in my body.'

'You are right, there is no point in jumping to conclusions,' Nana said, 'besides, the food here is really great, compared to what you had to survive on for the past 16 years.'

Izuku then decided to end the conversation there, as he didn't want to spoil the peaceful atmosphere of their dinner by dwelling on the past. Instead, he focused on the present moment and savored each bite of his delicious meal, grateful for the warm and loving family he had around him.

And while Izuku was thinking about his growing appetite, Sullivan was busy in his own thoughts.

'How can someone with so calming aura have such strong scents of anger, sadness, and longing on them?'

His mind kept circling around these words as he observed the young teen in front of him.

'Kumara was right, I can't even tell if something is bothering him or not,' Sullivan thought to himself, 'maybe I should ask him about it.'

"Hey, grandpa," suddenly Izuku spoke breaking his train of thoughts, "today during the Mock Battles I saw a few camera's floating around, so I was wondering if I can get the footage of some battles that happened today. At least the ones in which my classmates participated."

"Well, I can certainly try," Sullivan replied, "but what are you going to do with that," He was curious about Izuku's interest in the footage and wanted to understand his reasoning behind it.

"You see, Grandpa," Izuku explained, "I want to review the footage to gain a better understanding of my classmates' abilities and see how I can improve my own performance as well as help them in case they ever need help with it."

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck and continued, "Also, all the bloodline abilities and magic I saw today were quite fascinating. I was hoping I could get a chance to analyze them."

"Analyze?" Sullivan raised his brow.

"Yeah, it's just a hobby," Izuku said with a slight blush on his face. Then he produced a notebook out of nowhere and gave it to Sullivan who picked it up and started going through the pages of the notebook.

And he was honestly impressed by the notes that were written in this book. For now, most of the notes were just speculations of the abilities of the students but despite that most of them were almost on point.

After that, he went through a few more entries before giving it back to Izuku, "that was quite impressive."

"Really!?" Izuku asked with surprise and excitement in his voice, "you really don't find it creepy or anything?"

"Of course not," Sullivan replied with a smile, "on the contrary they will be more useful once you understand the part that magic plays in their execution along with other demon world stuff."

"Thank you, grandpa!" Izuku replied with a beaming smile.

Then as the dinner continued, they talked about various events that had taken place in the past week. Izuku shared some of his own observations and insights, making the evening a wonderful time for all of them as a family.

"Thank you for the dinner," Izuku said and stood up from his seat, "I think I am going to bed early today," he announced as he stretched his arms and let out a pained groan, "my joints are still a little sore from today's battle."

"Well, in that case," Opera handed him a small vial filled with a green liquid, "apply this to your body before going to sleep," Opera said, "It will ensure that you wake up without any aches or soreness tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Opera, I will make sure to do that," Izuku said, "well then. Goodnight Grandpa, goodnight Opera."

"Goodnight Izuku-kun," Sullivan said, "since you will be starting real classes tomorrow make sure to take good rest tonight."

Izuku nodded and went upstairs to his room.

"Izuku-Sama has gotten used to living here much more quickly than I thought," Opera said, "not to mention all of the things he has done and achieved in such a short span of time."

"It does seem, that Izuku has a talent for attracting troublesome situations to himself," Sullivan chuckled, "However, this is just the first week of school and with him being here, I am certain that we will be witness to many more intriguing events in the future."

to be continued ...

:-:-:-:-:-:

* So this was the end of the first Arc called 'Acclimatization'. Now that Izuku is properly settled in the demon world we will be seeing more of his adventures moving forward.

* Was giving him a rank 3 a little too much? Maybe, but I am trying to make the story a little different than the canon so please bare with me. It also fits the in-universe logic, since he performed quite well in all the exams so yeah...

*Thanks for reading. I appreciate all your comments and feedback.