A glowing blue butterfly drifted through an empty void, and from it came a familiar feminine voice: "Trickster, your journey is not yet finished. Meet me at the scrapyard by the ocean. An urgent matter awaits you."
Izuku descended the final step onto Dagobah Beach. The tides in the area, combined with people's lack of care for it had caused piles of scrap to accumulate around the once-beautiful beach. It was the closest thing the boy knew of to the "scrapyard on the ocean" that Lavenza had described. He glanced around the stone path he found himself on, but saw no sign of the Velvet Room Attendant.
As he prepared to move further into the towers of rubbish, a loud clattering caught his attention. It was probably nothing, though the teen didn't like the idea of ignoring a potential danger. Creeping round a corner, the boy's eyes widened at what he saw.
Sliding through the scraps, a red eyed, green blob snarled. Occasionally, part of its body formed an appendage to inspect a particulary shiny piece of metal. Izuku recognised this creature, a Slime. It's presence here had to be related to what Lavenza needed to talk about, after all, a shadow within the real world certainly wasn't normal.
As the boy contemplated his next action, the monster turned its head, crimson eyes locking onto emerald ones. With extreme speed, the creature dashed forward, attempting to latch onto the teen.
It was only Izuku's countless hours of facing creatures identical to this that allowed him to leap into the air, flipping over the beast's wild charge. It's liquid body crashed into a broken car, though it quickly recovered. Instinct was the only thing that caused the teenager's hand to reach towards his face, nothing should have happened, his powers shouldn't have been able to take effect in this world.
And yet, the Slime's next charge was interrupted by a torrent of blue flame, forming into a tall humanoid. Its red and black Victorian attire led up to a black face, illuminated by glowing red eyes and teeth. An extremely long top hat rested on the man's head, from underneath it came long red and black horns. The most noticeable of his features was the dark blue wings extending from the man's lower back. A deep chuckle echoed from his unmoving mouth, the noise the only warning the Slime got of the incoming attack.
With a single slash of his arm, the figure cut the shadow in half, the action seemingly effortless to the great thief. With a flap of his wings, the figure turned towards his other self, bowing deeply: "It is a great pleasure to see you again monsieur. It seems there is much to discuss."
After a moment to process what was happening, the smaller of the pair spoke: "Arséne! How are you here?"
"An excellent question, one I am not quite sure the answer of. Lady Lavenza is sure to have an answ-" The persona was cutoff by a growl from behind, turning around, the two former vigilantes witnessed four more slimes crawl out from the scraps.
Izuku glanced towards the creatures, then looked down at himself, his normal clothes replaced by the ones that he felt far more comfortable in. The long black coat hung over his grey shirt, which was rather reminiscent of Arséne's. Red gloves covered his hands, through which he grasped the white and black mask upon his face.
Before the shadows before him could react, one's body was blown to pieces as a gunshot rang out, the teen's face spreading out into a maniacal grin that many would never imagine appearing on him. The trickster's legs carried him with unmatched speed towards the next shadow, a dagger from within his coat sinking into the creature, annihilating it.
Lavenza watch on from the top of a scrap pile, the monsters clearly weren't particularly strong, a good sign, though she doubted it would stay that way. Oh well, her Trickster was having fun at least. The last slime fell to an explosion of darkness from underneath it, leaving Izuku by himself within the sand.
He was rather startled by a sudden flash of light that appeared out of nowhere, but recovered when he saw the source: "Lady Lavenza!" The boy bowed deeply to the girl, though he was forced to look up by the girl's giggling.
"No need to be so formal Trickster, we have little time as is. The events that have transpired over the last 24 hours have been rather strange. As you have seen. Accompany me to the Velvet room, my master knows more than I." The girl gestured to her side, where a glowing blue door materialised, the inside far different from the place they currently found themselves.
The hissing of steam filled a rather modest office, the boiling water was poured into two cups on either side of a desk. A small paw reached into one of the drawers within the wooden table, retrieving two tea bags, and placing them within the cups. As he continued preparing his favourite drink, he finally spoke to the figure in front of him: "What do you make of all this Aizawa?"
"It's a diversion. The fucker making these things wants us to think their wild, throw us of his scent." The chimera understood his vice-principal's reasoning, and his anger, considering what the first monster Aizawa had discovered was doing. After that creature was dealt with, they had discovered two more, though this time they were fighting each other.
"A reasonable assessment, they do seem to prioritise people more than themselves. Currently, I believe we don't have enough information to draw any clear connections."
"Then let me interrogate that- what did you call it?" The tired man had a clear anger in his eyes, Nezu was aware of a rather personal case relating to the crime the creature had committed, but know was not the time for rash decisions.
"An Incubus, its appearance resembles many interpretations of the monsters in mythology. In fact, all of these creatures seem to come from some form of fiction or history." The principal sipped his tea in thought, before coming to a decision: "Interrogating it won't do anything, it's been unresponsive for 5 hours. I'll put a report on the hero network. We'll be informed of any clearly inhuman creatures committing crimes. You should get back to your class."
"Oh did I not tell you, I expelled them all." The black haired man said in a completely serious voice. A loud sigh emanated from the animal.
"Of course you did."
Igor looked up from the cards he was inspecting, watching as Izuku and Lavenza entered his domain: "Trickster, welcome back. As you can see, the Velvet Room is currently under renovation."
Izuku looked around the destroyed velvet room, a terrified look upon his face: "What the hell happened here? Why's the prison gone? Was is the Demiurge? Cause I thought I killed him and-" The boy began to mumble incoherently as he inspected the world around him.
"Worry not young Trickster." Igor interrupted the teen's worrying spiral: "The destruction of the prison is perfectly normal, it simply shows how your heart is changing. You no longer feel in-prisoned, so this world no longer shows such a thing. No, the real thing to be worried about is that." The man pointed towards the shifting black spots within the cloud of blue. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. That means it is connected to all the realms it exists between. What you see there is the sea of souls, the black is an absence of souls."
"So, your saying that souls are being dragged from here and into my world." The teenager hummed in thought, before continuing: "Which is causing personas to work there, and is forming into shadows."
"Indeed, a sort of bridge has been formed between Earth and the sea of souls, one I suspect cannot be removed. My most major concern is what or who has caused this. I have been reading fate-" he gestured to the cards: "And have determined the cause. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of souls have awakened to a persona at once. Of course, such a thing is not possible. Leading me to the last piece of the puzzle you must know: a single person in your world has awakened, and their power, their quirk, has granted them multiple souls. This foe may be the greatest of any you have faced before, I suggest you proceed with great caution. And remember, the Velvet room's services will always be available to you."
"For real!" Ryujji's voice shouted through the group call.
"That is most concerning." A calm voice, that of one Makoto Nijjima, added.
Izuku sat on a broken washing machine, having just finished explaining everything to his thieves. They had rather mixed reactions to the news, but Izuku still hadn't gotten their opinions on what he had been considering ever since his talk with Igor. "Guys, I want your opinion on something. You know that I've always wanted to be a hero and well..."
"With this you could be one!" An exited voice rang out in reply, Izuku had expected that response, Haru was always supportive of his dream.
"Hell yeah dude! You go for it!" "Indeed, there is no greater art than helping people." "Shut up Inari! Nobody cares about your art!"
Izuku smiled as his friends continued to talk, he should have known they would be supportive of him. However, he was too focused on his friends to notice the abnormally thin man who had watched him since he faced the Slimes.
Toshinori Yagi glanced down at his phone, the alert about strange monsters appearing throughout Japan was displayed upon the screen. Just this morning he had witnessed a boy fight against said creatures, though what worried him was how the teenager seemed to recognise the monsters he had killed. A ding sounded in his ears as the lift to the top floor of UA high opened, presenting the door to the principals office.
The door swung open on its own, revealing the principal, along with the underground pro hero, Eraserhead, also known as Shōta Aizawa. The tired man looked towards the door, a disapproving expression on his face: "I thought you said a pro was coming."
Nezu responded before Yagi got the chance: "Indeed, Aizawa, meet Toshinori Yagi, more commonly know as the symbol of peace, All Might."
After a lengthy explanation of his current form, Yagi moved to the real reason he was here: "I witnessed a teenager fighting some of the creatures from your report, he dispatched them rather easily, but there was something strange about it. He seemed to recognise the monsters, like he knew what they were. After that a child with some kind of teleportation quirk showed up. She talked to him, than made a portal to somewhere. They went through then came back out 15 or so minutes later. I looked through some records and found the teenager, he's Izuku Midoriya. I couldn't get anything on the girl."
Nezu pulled a laptop from inside his desk, opening it and typing for a few seconds: "Izuku Midoriya. 15 years old. He was on probation for one year for assault. Though he's been cleared of all charges. Wait... Toshinori you said he fought those creatures?"
"Yes. He summoned a figure that fought with him. His clothes changed, he conjured weapons and he seemed to have some physical enhancements." As Toshinori finished, Nezu turned the screen so he and Aizawa could see. Upon it were medical records, the most obvious of them being the one that seemed to contradict Yagi's previous statement.
"He's quirkless. At least he was. Furthermore, nothing on the quirk registry matches those abilities. That leaves two possibilities." Nezu sipped his drink again before continuing: "The boy awakened his quirk at an unusual age and told no one. Or something or perhaps someone caused him to gain power."
"You can't possibly mean that man!" Toshinori shouted in alarm, his side flaring with pain at the memory.
"Not necessarily Yagi, but it is a possibility. I suppose an explanation is required for you Aizawa." The principal nodded towards the thin form of the number one hero, who began another lengthy explanation.
Izuku stared up at the building he had not been inside in a year, the school where he had been tormented for years: Aldera Junior High. The people within this school certainly weren't the nicest to him when they found out he was quirkless, he didn't imagine they would appreciate his probation, even if his record was clean.
Okay, maybe that was an understatement. The moment he had entered the room the entire group of students were looking at him. Some were staring with anger, while others seemed afraid of him. It remained him of his first day of Shujin, except this time he knew there was no one on his side.
He moved to his seat, ignoring the stares of the other students, he had gotten quite good at that recently. The teacher entered the room, beginning the lesson, though not without sending a glare Izuku's way.
...
...
...
Oh God he was bored. As it turned out, his time in Shujin had put him ahead of the curriculum, Niijima had taught him a lot. He supposed he'd just have to wait.
For the second day in a row, Izuku stepped down onto Dagobah. He had been able to avoid the person he knew would be rather irate at his return, though he doubted he could keep that up until the entrance exams.
He walked through some of the towering piles of rubbish, he knew he would have to train if he was to pass the entrance exams, especially now that Lavenza had informed him Arséne was the only persona who currently crossed over from his time in the metaverse, meaning he'd have to re-obtain his per personas.
He was about to figure out the best place to begin, however he was interrupted by the clearing of someone's throat. He turned around to see a man, dressed in black with a white scarf around his neck, staring at him. Aizawa spoke in a fatigued yet intimidating voice: "Izuku Midoriya. What do you know about the monsters appearing in Japan?"
A single thought occurred to the boy as he stared at the pro in front of him. Said thought was mumbled in a voice filled with irritation: "Shit."