SmokyGhoul - There'll be some explanations this chapter :P
Jpx0999 - You didn't get the full thing correctly, I guess :v
Detrametal - At least they are alright... for now xD The second book is going to be wild.
Kurokawa Kazunari - I'm know for that :P
(***)
The SPSC reinforcements arrived quickly, almost at the same time as when the Warlords' forces started emerging from the Exclusion Zones, only to find out that the attack was already over. The attacking forces retreated.
Mankind Liberation Front - a previously unknown supernatural organization - managed to launch a surprise attack on UA, the most prestigious magical school in the country. With forces composed of twelve magisters, and almost a hundred regular soldiers.
It was unheard of. The number of magisters alone was simply staggering. There were less than twenty magisters in the country, half of them busy doing their own stuff. SPSC's discovery that there was a group that could field more magisters than the government, was… unpleasant.
The fact that the attack ended in disaster for the attackers, who suffered heavy casualties in the process, was a blessing.
The final body count for the attackers was established at sixty-four men, including three magisters (Slice, Mummy and Chimera), who died as a result of the attack on the UA Principal.
Following some deliberations (between the UA Principal and the president of the Supernatural Public Safety Commission), the magisters that survived the clash with the Principal were declared S-Rank threats. Magister Overhaul (for reasons not made public) was declared an SS-Rank threat.
The unnamed leader of the Mankind Liberation Front was provisionally graded an SSS-Rank threat, an extremely rare case for a (suspected) human.
The attack ended with the deaths of twenty-seven Candidates that were present in the southern school building when the MLF captured it, with four casualties among the normal students (chalked down to a gas explosion by the Censor). Hatsume Mei's actions in the Artificer workshops resulted in mostly accidental deaths of two students, and injuries of three times as many.
Faculty survived the engagement without casualties, aside from several injuries (Higari Maijima being the one most injured). Black Course Students also suffered no casualties, simply missing the battle itself.
Japan also got a completely new magister - namely, All Might. Who, three days after the attack, was called to the Principal's office.
He expected to have to take a boat to the Principal's tower, but he simply opened the door of his office, intending to leave it, just to see a completely unfamiliar office space on the other side.
And the Demigod of Rats sitting behind the desk.
All Might isn't sure what he expected. Humanoid entity about 1/5 his height, vaguely resembling a rat. White fur. Small, beady eyes. Paws that probably shouldn't let it grab anything (lack of opposable thumbs was a big problem for it, probably).
It's even wearing a waistcoat over a shirt. Huh.
And after looking around for a moment, the office felt more like a parody of one. An image made by someone who saw something, but didn't really understand. Furniture placed seemingly at random, books that almost certainly weren't books, just something to resemble one and put where they should be in.
Both the Principal and his chosen environment could work as a textbook definition of the term uncanny valley to the magister.
"How nice of you to visit me so quickly!" The Demi-Power announces cheerfully. As if he wasn't the one who called him there.
Looks like the Principal can do things akin to what SEZ has going on his own. That was… weird. Rats's domain are rats, it shouldn't give him reality warping capabilities of this magnitude. All Might notes that information down for the future.
"I assume that you've decided to have a serious talk about the attack… and the revelations that the magister of filth told me." All Might replies, heading towards the chair that was clearly waiting for him on the other side of the Principal's desk.
For incomprehensible reasons it was clearly made out of actual books. Huh.
"Among other things, yes." The Principal replies. "Proper introductions are in order: you already know what I am, but most of my names are a bit of a mouthful, aside from Rats. Feel free to refer to me as Nedzu. Consider this to be the sort of name that my friends use."
That's not much more different in terms of meaning to rats, but… yeah, a Demi-Power being monothematic is probably to be expected.
"Do you want me to introduce myself too?" All Might asks dryly.
"By all means, feel free to." Nedzu replies. Seemingly unbothered by it - or All Might's emotional coldness - at all.
If that's what he wants.
"I am…" All Might says. "... All Might."
Nothing happens.
What?
"Don't look at me like this, All Might." Nedzu replies calmly, the magister staring at him in surprise over the table. "I'm… a bit of a unique individual. I know a lot of things. I do things that shouldn't be possible. I even remember your old name."
… this shouldn't be possible. Once again, rules of the world are being broken in front of All Might, and somehow, Midoriya doesn't seem to be involved this time around.
"Answer me this one question." All Might decides to go to the main subject. "Is what Decay said true?" Once again, magister's name exerts no influence in the Rats' inner sanctum. How could that be?
"About the Dawn War?" Nedzu asks back. "About ants rising against elephants? About humans waiting for when the stars are right to rise up once more?"
All Might nods.
"Then the answer is yes, All Might." Nedzu replies. In a heartbeat, the world stops making sense, all of its foundation obliterated with a single word. "The MLF got that part of the story absolutely correct."
"That part of the story?" All Might asks, squinting at the rat.
"Did you really expect…" Nedzu replies calmly. ".. a secret of this magnitude to not be, let's say, complicated? To not have layers upon layers, to not have plottwists, to not have mysteries within mysteries and technically correct interpretations sprinkled all over it?"
That was… probably a good point.
"And how do you know that for certain?" All Might asks. "If there were plenty of evidence for the Dawn War around, people would know. How do you.."
"Why, because I fought in it, of course!" Nedzu announces cheerfully. The magister stares at him in shock. "I'm older and more powerful than you can possibly imagine, All Might. I'm older than recorded history. I saw things that you wouldn't believe, things that you couldn't even imagine. I can even casually converse with you, an awakened magister, while suffering no ill-effects, despite being a Demi-Power. That alone is incredibly rare."
"Guess I'll have to avoid seeing Aiko then." All Might comments.
"Oh, I assure you that she'll feel just fine in your presence." Nedzu surprises him. "Her domain is entirely compatible with what you're emanating. If anything, I think she would get the hang of being convincingly human-like faster if you were around."
All Might has a thousand questions to ask, but Nedzu probably wouldn't answer them all. So… he'll focus on the one he finds most important.
"Which side…" All Might asks. "... were you on?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Nedzu replies. "Against you, in the beginning. But if there is something that you probably already know about me, it is that I enjoy seeing the struggle of the small against the big. That I enjoy seeing the tenacity allowing someone to achieve what was seemingly impossible."
Nedzu sighs. In his beady eyes, there is something dreamy. Something that All Might has trouble reading.
"I fell in love with your species…" Nedzu adds. "... when a human struck down the being you know as the Ancient of Malice."
All Might stares at Nedzu.
Did he just…
Despite all the impossible things he saw during the last month or so, this is just… too much. Too impossible, too incomprehensible, too unthinkable.
How do you slay a Power? How do you slay a being so far out of your league that merely acknowledging its presence near you would have ended your existence? Would have crushed your mind, would have changed your body?
It had to feel like facing a thousand, or a million Dragons of the Desert of Bones, at once. Winning was impossible because fighting was impossible, human unmade before they realized that there was a battle to be fought. .
And Nedzu just…
"That's…" All Might tries to reply.
"... impossible?" Nedzu cuts in. "You know that. I know that. The Powers know that. Everyone knows that. This shouldn't have happened. This shouldn't be possible, not just by the rules of this world but by the rules of existence as a whole. But it happened. Malice ceased to be, his aberrants extinguished in an instant, his magic snuffed out aside from few leftovers. Personally…" Nedzu sighs. "... I think that the few spells he has left aren't actual 'spells'. It's how we, lesser beings, perceive his final scream of an anguished realization of the inevitable end of his eternal existence… and his desire to make humans suffer for it. Even a singular note of said scream is akin to the strongest of magics normally available to us, and carries all of his malice."
All Might's mind refuses to compute what he just heard. He decides to acknowledge the truth of it without thinking deeper about it.
"Is that why Incarnations are so rare?" He asks. Nedzu appears to be rather joyful about his choice of questions.
"Correct!" Nedzu replies. "They were significantly more common before Malice's fall. It made the Powers… cautious, for the lack of a better word. In fact, hearing that Desire made an Incarnation is surprising news to me. Of course, make no mistake here." Nedzu adds. "Malice's case was an exception. Powers are as powerful and beyond our ken as ever. That's precisely the reason why Malice's death made the other Powers so confused."
He can understand that much. To run with the ants analogy - there was a species of ants that you believe you've understood perfectly and deemed them harmless… only for one of them to bite your colleague, and make said colleague drop dead instantly. What would be a human's reaction to that?
You'd be confused. You'd be curious. You'd begin to research the ants again to understand what happened. Seek for potential reasons for it to happen. Did your friend drop dead randomly from an unrelated case? Was it an allergic reaction? Maybe something in the ant's bites is actually poisonous in certain circumstances?
Ants were still ants and humans were still humans. The latter could crush the former easily. But now, humans had a valid reason to be very interested in said ants, at least for some time.
"Am I correct to assume…" All Might asks. "... that the collateral damage of that event was horrible?"
"Malice was struck down by the last human alive." Nedzu confirms his worries. "He ended your entire species in a matter of hours, and typically in a very… Malice-like way. Perhaps he wanted to gloat, perhaps he wanted to end his symphony of pain and degradation on a high note, but he faced the last man personally. What happened then, no one knows. But afterwards, both Malice and the last human were gone from existence… but the world was populated once more, as if the event never happened in the first place."
"How's that possible?" All Might asks. Then, he realizes. "Wait. Is that why there is no tangible evidence for the Dawn War? Because something reset the timeline and made it never happen in the first place?"
"Precisely!" Nedzu replies cheerfully. "It wasn't the Dawn War, it was the Dawn Wars. Plural, not singular. Each one of them ended with this world being reset. Not to factory conditions, mind you. Something happened differently, some rules of magic were altered, some people vanished and others changed. But it's limited to this world and this world only, not affecting the Elsewheres."
Nedzu looks at All Might, as if expecting him to say something. And after less than a few seconds, All Might realizes the truth.
"The ziggurat." He says, Nedzu smiling. "It's leftover from that time."
"Yes, indeed." Nedzu admits. "Judging from the design alone, it might as well predate them all. I know that you've planned to seal the entrance to the Desert of Bones, but I'm going to have to change that plan. We'll have to send an expedition there, because the relics of the Dawn Wars are almost incomprehensibly valuable. Many rules were different back then, and the relics still adhere to the rules of the times when they were made. There is even a possibility of finding things, like still working spellbooks or artifacts, connected to the Powers that are no longer involved in the matters of this world, their names lost to us. Your participation in the expedition will make sure that even if the Dragon returns, he won't stay around for long."
All Might being capable of fighting something like that Greater Aberrant, it was… he needed time to get used to it. He needed time to get used to being something more than magisters were.
But, there was something. Something that was bothering him right now. Something that he wanted to address right now.
"The SPSC knows about it, doesn't it?" He asks.
"Its leadership does know about it, yes." Nedzu confirms it. "So does the leadership of most big and established organizations of the magic world. The major magicorps, like the Harbinger Technologies or Manpower Solutions. The transnational superpowers like Inalco, Corvus Institute or the Erithian Catholic Church. National security agencies, like our Supernatural Public Safety Commission or, for example, the US Government Department of Eschatology." The rat sights. "I regret to inform you that becoming an awakened magister elevated to a league that you never even suspected existed."
It's Midoriya, isn't it? Everything weird in the last month is somehow connected to Midoriya.
"I strongly suggest you do not move too far from UA." Nedzu continues. "Knowing about the Dawn War is one thing, having a relic or two from its era is another thing, and being an awakened human is something completely different. Being an awakened magister goes even beyond that. You can expect a lot of attention from groups that didn't even notice your existence before it."
All Might couldn't help but wonder for how long did Nedzu know that he was this 'awakened human'. The offer of teaching at his school came out of nowhere, and the promises going along with it were rather tempting.
"I'm just going to continue being a teacher?" All Might asks. "After, well, all of that?"
"Not quite." Nedzu replies. "I thought about offering you the seat of a Vice-Principal. Because while I've spent centuries learning about your kind, I must admit that certain things still elude me. Naturally, this seat will come with becoming an acting Principal in all but name, as I tend to be focused on other affairs."
Ah, yes. A gift. All while tying him more to whatever faction Nedzu was running. Oh, well. He had a lot of ideas on how to make UA better, either way.
"Offer accepted." All Might replies. "There is another subject that interests me right now."
"The exact details of what an awakened human can do and what it can't do?" Nedzu asks.
"That too, but right now I'm more curious about Young Midoriya." All Might replies. No, he totally isn't treating that kid as something of a son (Todoroki and Toga are just being themselves). But he has to make sure that Midoriya doesn't kill everyone in the vicinity.
And, probably, himself.
Wait, why is All Might actually worrying about that more than the other category? He isn't getting attached, right?
"Ah yes, a fascinating case, indeed." Nedzu nods. "He is still unconscious, but he will wake up soon. Decay referred to him as 'Blasphemy-That-Walks', and I must say that this name is a rather correct one."
"And why is that?" All Might asks. He doesn't like the implication of the term.
"Because he shouldn't exist, to a degree comparable to his sister." Nedzu replies. "His mother was a human female possessed by the Incarnation of Desire. But his father was almost certainly an awakened human."
Oh. Oh, of course. All Might realizes so many things at once. He heard the more detailed version of what occured in the ziggurat. Midoriya's sudden realization that the Dragon was a 'he', a sign of him forcing his own concepts upon the Greater Aberrant. Midoriya no-selling the sanity and form damage, and then Bakugou (who was closer to him) recovering from his own form damage faster than Todoroki, who worked on the seal at a distance.
Midoriya pulled their forms back to those of humans. And, judging by what he heard about Toga's later strange behavior, he also influenced her while she was recovering from sanity damage, pulling her mind closer to that of a human being. Dealing sanity damage to her, but… in reverse?
What an odd concept, really.
"And that's why he is a blasphemy." Nedzu sighs. "Because awakened humans are anathema to the influence of the Powers. But somehow, Midoriya exists. An undoubtedly awakened human, carrying the influences of not one but two Powers. He, logically speaking, shouldn't exist."
"The second influence…" All Might says slowly. "... it's that of Malice, isn't it?"
Silence. But, eventually, Nedzu speaks.
"Yes." He confirms All Might's worries. "And no, I do not know how that's possible either. Malice is dead and gone, not from this world but also from the Elsewheres, and yet the power that Midoriya used to scare the Dragon of the Desert of Bones and then Decay is undoubtedly his own."
Well, that's just great.
"As for the reason for his fainting, I believe that his mother found him." Nedzu continues. Somehow, it gets worse. "I assume that Desire tried to change him into her demihuman, but the awakened human part of him rejected the change. I do not know what happened then, but I believe that he has become a completely different form of being."
Oh, God. Not this. Izuku Midoriya being a 'completely different form of being' is just an advance warning for headaches to come.
"Different form of being?" All Might asks, almost against himself.
"He is no longer a human being carrying supernatural influences as he used to be." Nedzu replies. "He became something distinctly different. But he isn't a demihuman. He isn't an aberrant, either lesser or greater. He isn't a magister and he isn't a heresiarch. He isn't a Demi-Power. We're clearly running out of terms here."
Midoriya being hard to categorize by the established categories of the world sounded entirely in character to All Might.
"I could feel his influences being altered, his nature being changed on a deeper level and… much more." Nedzu continues. "His charm will not work the same as it did, and his terror aura no longer exists, someone clearly taking offense to its existence. Midoriya, it seems, will have to focus on honing his combat skills. Because honestly, thus far he was mostly being carried by his heritage."
It was hard to disagree with that statement, yeah. Aside from Geten, most victories and successes (in and outside of fights) that Midoriya achieved were thanks to his charm and terror aura.
"Such a delicious enigma, let me tell you that much." Nedzu adds, sounding… dreamy, almost.
"For you a delicious enigma, for me a source of headaches." All Might comments dryly. "Any ideas what to do with him?"
"Naturally, we will protect and nurture him." Nedzu replies. "That's what a school is for, yes-yes? We should also figure out a name to refer to him, the one referring to his… species? Well, for as much as me being a Demigod of Rats is a 'species'. How does playing on his half-divine heritage and calling him the Godling of Desire sounds like?"
"A name like any other, but it sounds logical in that particular set of circumstances." All Might admits. It also sounds like another secret connected to Midoriya. Because if people hear him being referred to with such a term… questions will start.
He isn't touching the yes-yes. Nedzu speaking like a skaven, really? Is that some sort of a joke that All Might doesn't exactly find funny?
He sincerely hopes that Nedzu will be more of a Master Splinter than a skaven Gray Seer. But seeing his track record, he doesn't have a lot of hopes.
"At least the school should get more peaceful now." Nedzu adds. "After a while, that is. Did you notice the whole 'Midoriya Experience' aura, like whatever made Todoroki, Intelli and Yaoyorozu indulge in what humans call a threesome during the Summit?"
Indulge in what?
…
"Oh, you didn't know." Nedzu seems surprised. "Well, nevermind that. People for the last few weeks were clearly much more… open about their desires, more ready to act on them and more likely to successfully satisfy them. The closer we were to the date of the attack and the closer to Midoriya you were, the stronger the effect. I suspect that Kinoko Komori and Hagakure Tooru realizing their long-term dreams of becoming demihumans so easily once they got somewhat close to Midoriya was due to that as well. Frankly speaking, I suspected that a large cosmological event involving Desire in person and connected to Midoriya Izuku was going to occur in UA from that alone."
"How so?" All Might decides to not ask any variant of 'then wtf did you keep all the students in the blast zone'.
"Powers, ultimately, care little for the concept of linear timeline." Nedzu replies. "When they do something big, you can expect the impact of it to go both ways on it. When Malice was about to step into this world, most of Mankind killed each other in many horrible ways even before he arrived, because while it hadn't happened yet, the consequences were already here, amplifying hatreds, sadism and spite to an otherwise impossible degree. Desire finding her son and a 'Godling of Desire' being born as a result was potent enough to amplify desires and wants to anyone in the vicinity. Another proof of how impossible Malice's death was, for it quite literally went against causality and surprised even the entities that should have known the future down to the smallest detail."
It truly did. What exactly happened back then? All Might has more questions that he had a moment ago.
Was it also the reason why Geten suddenly decided to start trying to murder people? Because that was his deep-seated desire that he was subconsciously pushed into pursuing more openly?
"Speaking of…" Nedzu asks. "... have you ever felt bad about never having a son? Because that would explain an awful lot in light of that mechanism."
…
Oh.
(***)
Decay finishes narrating his description of the events.
He is… better, now. Overhaul reacted fast enough to revert the changes to his mind. Because he is certain - from Overhaul's description alone - that he was completely and utterly broken.
That influence Midoriya had was something else.
"How… regretful." Sensei says. He is standing in front of him, a giant of a man, wearing the same black business suit as ever.
It's how you tell dangerous people in the hell that they were all living in. Tattered rags or combat equipment were a norm. When you were wearing clothes like that, it was a statement. A statement that you feared nothing.
Sensei, being the Grand Commander of the Mankind Liberation Front, was certainly someone that feared nothing. More like, he was the person that was feared.
"Not capturing All Might now is going to be a problem, Decay." Sensei says. There is no backlash to the words. Decay is as amazed as ever. "But fear not. It was just an opening move. Yes, we've suffered casualties, and lost our element of surprise. But the war has barely begun."
Decay is relieved.
"From my point of view, it was a series of negative coincidences." He continues. "From someone freeing Existence from its prison, to Midoriya Izuku being there. Speaking of, I'm amazed at his growth. Then again, seeing his heritage, it's probably understandable."
"If I may ask…" Decay decides to speak the words. He almost died to that kid, after all. Died, or, well, worse. "... why are you so interested in him, Sensei?"
"What a funny thing to ask about, Decay." Hisashi Midoriya replies calmly. "What sort of person wouldn't be interested in the well-being of their son?"
They'll have to try again.
END OF BOOK ONE
(***)
Finally, we're there. The end of the book one. What's going to happen next is a timeskip of several months. I can promise a LOT of changes :V Also, don't worry, I'm like 30 chapters with my writing so there'll be no delay in publishing here.
Whether me naming a few large powers of the magical world in a short succession meant that the scale of the second book is going to be bigger or was it just me flaunting the worldbuilding a bit (more progress, yay, can you believe that I'm winging most of it? Heh), time will show.
In the meantime you have a confirmation that Dawn War existed, an unexpected return of Deadbeat Dad Supreme and... well, who can notice something oddly contradictory in MLF's ideology after this chapter? :v