"Welcome home."

Izuku's breath caught at Justice's statement. He blinked lamely, mouth opening and closing silently as his mind tried to process the declaration, to recognise exactly what those two words meant.

"We…" he looked around slowly. The storm's wind and rain was still harsh and unforgiving, but the dark clouds above were a familiar source. It wasn't the tears of screaming souls draining down from a higher Circle, not condensation from an illusory cavern dripping overhead. It was rain. Actual, plainly wet, normal, boring rain pouring down on his face. Well, at this point it was rain mixed in with tears of joy and relief. But beyond that, the buildings up the concrete bank to their side were made of, well, concrete. And bricks, wood… Normal building materials, not fire and brimstone moulded into an infernal replica of a city.

"… We made it?" he muttered in disbelief. Speaking the fact aloud seemed to bring the realisation crashing down, "We- we made it!" he stuck his hands up in cheer, "We made it back! WE DID IT! HAHA!" amidst his excitement Hagakure had gotten up, who slapped his hand in the most satisfying high-five of his entire life.

"Heck yeah! Suck it, freaky death water!" she followed up with a taunt back towards the ocean.

"I'll say!" Izuku laughed in relief, "We… Well, now we-" his eyes widened in realisation, "We need to find All Might!"

"Yup." Justice nodded in confirmation, "It's only a matter of time before we start running into issues, so-"

"Wait, issues?" Hagakure interrupted, shaky excitement quickly becoming a nervous startle, "Like- Wait, are gonna fade from existence or something-?!"

"No, no, you're cool." Justice reassured her, hands bobbing up and down slightly to try and calm her down, "You might get tired more quickly than you're used to being here, but you won't start vanishing or anything. But the longer we stay here, the more time Hell's forces have to try and pull you back, and the more likely someone else will notice we're here."

"'Someone'?" Todoroki echoed, trying in vain to drain the excess water out of his clothes that Cerberus' own attempts at getting dry had caused.

"Like who?" Izuku asked.

"Not important right now." Justice assured them, "Just know they don't want us here, and they're very experienced at detecting and removing unwanted elements from the mortal plane."

In a comfortable, shining office of white gilded with magnificent gold, a wondrous being busied himself with constructing his most incredible structure yet-

"Lord Camael, sir!" one of his subordinates stormed through the door uninvited, the rush of air from their entrance knocking down the cards making up his glorious creation. The printed paper scattered across his shining marble-white desk, completely ruining the air of order he so carefully maintained.

"What is wrong with you, Cindy?!" Camael dropped to his hands and knees, silently weeping at the devastating loss of his chapel of playing cards. Could one find a more noble use for items ordinarily used for such vile deeds as gambling, as making a magnificent construct in reverence to their faith? Could one imagine a greater loss than his efforts rendered all for naught, and by the hands of his own department, no less?

"I-It's Ciphalaeon, my Lord-"

"Listen, Cindy." Camael groaned, hand running over his face as he tried to recover from the untold emotional damage caused by what had befallen his creation, trying not to lose his temper with the riff-raff who were only trying their best, "Reports are to be given to Hamaliel. Though I suppose you are new here-"

"I've worked in this office for hundreds of years-"

"- So I believe I can overlook this transgression once. For I am magnanimous." Camael finished kindly.

"It's actually five centuries today…" Cindy muttered something pointlessly.

"Now, run along, give your little reports to Hamaliel. Her office is just down there and to the right." he motioned with his hands, "Shoo…"

"B-but my Lord, I just detected a surge of demonic power! Also, it's to the left."

"What?!" Camael balked, it had always been to the right- Oh, yes, the remodeling. Honestly, I don't see why we needed that. I mean, so the angels needed to flap their wings a little further to deliver reports, who car- wait detected WHAT?!

"Why didn't you say something sooner!" she squawked in response, no doubt belatedly recognising her grievous error, "Give me the details. Concisely."

"R-right!" she quickly made to hand over her findings, "I detected an immense surge in energy near site J1-T. Based on the readings, I believe a number of high-ranking demons may have passed into the mortal Sphere, possibly with mortal souls. One of the readings in particular is… odd."

Camael eyed her suspiciously. He looked for any signs of deceit – an incredibly unlikely possibility, but worth checking to be certain. But no. It appeared she was serious… Camael's lips quirked.

"snrk-" he tried in vain to contain his mirth, "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he slammed the desk uproariously, wheezing in-between laughter, "Site J1-T?! You think high-ranking demons would be THAT obvious?!" he broke into another laughing fit.

"B-But my Lord, these readings are-"

"Most likely a technical error." he wiped a tear from his eye, truly appreciative for such a wondrous laugh to lift his spirits after the chapel's disaster, "These things were fashioned by mere archangels, after all."

"I-I'm not even an archangel, sir-"

"Exactly." he waved off the still-in-shock angel. Poor thing. She must not be used to surveillance going even slightly erroneously, being so new and all… "So why don't you run off, tippity-tap at your computer, and see if you can't find the source of this glitch? We are team players here, after all, and it seems your position is stumbling."

"Y-yes, my Lord…" she did as asked like a good little angel, leaving Camael to collect the scattered cards in peace.

Demons coming out of J1-T… he had to stifle another laugh, Hilarious…

"Extremely dangerous." Justice emphasised.

"Right." Izuku nodded. These unknown forces sound incredibly competent… Why can I hear laughing? "Well, we need to get-" paused, "Well, I guess we need to figure out where we are, first-"

"That's…" Todoroki interrupted, blinking several times as if doubting his own eyes that were fixed on the raised island they'd passed, "That's Tartarus…"

"Huh?" Izuku followed his line of sight. The island was some distance away, the surface difficult to make out. But after focusing on the distance he could tell Todoroki was right, and his eyes widened at what he found.

"Why- oh, I get it…" Hagakure chuckled sardonically, "The passage to Hell is at the depths of Tartarus. Very clever-"

"Hagakure…" Izuku weakly pointed towards the site in question, "Look…"

Tartarus: the most high-security prison in the entirety of Japan, with a security record beaten only by Europe's Purgatorio. An inescapable metal island separated from civilisation by five kilometers of water and a single bridge, 'The Bronze Gate', connecting it to the mainland. Countless security measures ensured that escape was beyond impossible, with a self-destruct for the bridge, surveillance comparable to a modern city compressed into a single building, and guards armed with the latest in anti-personnel weaponry just representing a small handful of the measures deemed acceptable to inform the public. This, the world's closest equivalent to a Circle of Hell…

… Had fallen to ruin.

The island's gargantuan steel walls were crippled with more holes than Swiss cheese, some sections threatening to buckle under their own weight, others already having done so. Some parts of the bridge were completely collapsed, with others hanging limply by their suspension cables. The main building was too distant to make out much of note, but Izuku couldn't help but suspect that was because there wasn't much to note; what could be seen was naught but rubble.

"What on Earth could've happened…"

"Do we know it was Earth?" Todoroki asked.

"What do you-" Izuku realised what he was getting at, turning to Justice in shock.

"As far as I'm aware, 'demolish Japan's moral deadzone' wasn't on Hell's docket, sadly."

"'Moral deadzone'?" Hagakure repeated.

"I had a couple of people come through that found Hell therapeutic after being imprisoned there." Justice shook her head, disdain clear on her face, "That shouldn't be possible."

"… Humans can really suck." Todoroki eloquently summed up.

Izuku looked between the two, glancing back at the ruined prison as he dredged through the hazy memories of human rights violation accusations against the facility. Did they ever go anywhere? I never really paid attention… "I- I guess I never really thought about-"

"Well!" Modeus stretched to his side, "Not that this isn't fascinating, but I'mma head out."

"Oh, yeah!"

"Me too!" and with that, the demons began to just… leave.

"Wait, what-" Izuku tried to interrupt.

"Justice said it herself." Cerberus replied.

"We've got limited time!" another continued.

"I need to get as many books as I can!" Modeus explained.

"I need MAYHEM!" Cerberus cried excitedly.

"Don't worry, I'll stay with you!" one Cerberus added, sticking to Izuku's side. Apparently they could maintain a substantial distance without issue in spite of the unfamiliar realm- Stop, Izuku, focus!

"I-is this ok?!" he asked Justice desperately.

"Yeah, this kinda seems…" Hagakure trailed off.

"Like a not-so-natural disaster forming." Todoroki finished.

"Yeahhhh…" Justice scratched the back of her head, "It's not great, but it's not like I can control them or anything…" she lightly slapped Izuku on the back, "You're up, demon-whisperer."

"Wha- I'm not a-" Izuku spluttered, turning his head to see that the others wouldn't wait for him to finish his protests: Unless he could find a reason to stay, three (two?) demons would set upon the mortal world, and he had the distinct feeling it wouldn't end well.

Ok, ok… Just need to think of a reason they shouldn't leave… Think, Izuku! His brain went into overdrive, pouring over every scrap of information he could draw together: What were their motivations for leaving? Romance books and mayhem. Distil that: Romance literature and entertainment. Problem: Where could he find vast quantities of romantically-inclined literature-

"WAIT!" he quickly cried out, able to draw the attention of leaving parties as he whipped out his phone in a panic, "Modeus, does qu-" he was about to ask if quality of the writing mattered, before remembering what she found to be 'peak' literature, "Never mind, just give me a second…" his phone worked. More than that, it had full bars and was on full charge. Despite this being a version of his phone that had travelled with him to Hell and back, despite him having been completely soaked by the ocean-

You know what, I'll take it. "Here." he handed Modeus the phone after pulling up a familiar site.

"What's this?" she approached the device curiously.

"A collection of writing that could keep you reading for countless lifetimes. A repository of humanity's darkest desires scrawled into text, along with their greatest dreams composed into heart-wrenching prose. You want to see people's depictions of love, romance, and everything in between? Go no further. This is more than what we mere mortals can offer the written word. This is humanity's very essence laid bare." he passed her the holy device.

"… The screen says 'AO3'."

"Exactly. Now Cerberus," he turned to the hound in question, ignoring the gaping look Hagakure sent him, "You said you wanted pancakes, right?"

"""YES!""" the strangeness of all three speaking at the same time was offset by their innocent desire for a sugary treat.

"Have you ever tried crêpes?"

"What're those?"

"They're like pancakes, but thinner, sweeter, and you can choose toppings from a whole bunch of things, like strawberries, cream, chocolate, bananas-"

A Cerberus grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking frantically, "WE NEED THE CRÊPES!"

"CRÊPES!"

"CRÊPES!"

"CRÊPES!" the group looked towards Hagakure, "Sorry. Guess I got carried away."

"I would also like to try these… 'craypse'" Todoroki added with a look of curiosity, "If there's time."

"""THERE'S TIME!""" Cerberus screamed.

"R-right…" Izuku chuckled, "I think there's a mall…" he looked around, went to try and check his phone for a map, remembered Modeus had it, and looked awkwardly to his mortal companions.

"… I don't have a phone." Hagakure waved her hands slightly, blinking invisible and back. Right. No clothes, no pockets.

"I do." Todoroki pulled up a map, "The nearest mall is-"

"We should stop by one that's en route." Izuku quickly interrupted – he was confident there was one near their destination, if not before. He'd just have to keep Cerberus happy until then. Modeus seemed to have figured out how to navigate the site, so she wouldn't be a problem until people found something better to do with their time than write about properties they don't own for months on end with no realistic reward beyond miniscule recognition and engagement from strangers they'd never meet.

She wouldn't be a problem for a while.

"Right." Todoroki prepared to put in a location, "Where are we going?"

"Well…" Izuku fiddled with his hair nervously, "I'm not really sure where All Might spends time day-to-day or anything, so I think we might as well go somewhere that's going to have someone that knows where he is."

"His agency?" Hagakure tilted her head. A good guess, but Izuku still shook his. He hadn't been actively visiting his agency for some time, after all, being an injured solo pro and all. There was only one place Izuku was aware he would visit in any way regularly.

"U.A. Hero School."

Upon deciding their destination, the first issue of what was sure to be many arose: They had a good distance to travel, and no means of transportation. That issue was quickly solved by Todoroki, who turned out to have some manner of contactless payment method on their phone. Izuku had inquired as to why he even had a bank account at his age, but he had simply responded "You don't?"

Once again, Izuku was floored when the device, somehow, actually worked. Not that he was going to complain - they now had a way to travel what would be countless hours of walking, after all, but the whole ordeal reminded him that he really needed to try asking about the rules regarding these things. Like, checking over Modeus' shoulder, it seemed his phone's charge wasn't decreasing. So were the phones permanently charged now? Did they still have data limits? Did it even use the internet anymore? Would phone calls or texts work? Was it dangerous to use undead phones? Was giving Modeus access to the internet a bad ide- yes that was probably a bad idea, but was it a bad idea for more reasons than the obvious?

Sadly, he felt asking these questions on the moderately busy subway would draw one or two raised eyebrows, something they quite explicitly wanted to avoid. Further, asking questions he wanted answers too far more desperately, like how demon duels and soul energy worked, was probably a one-way ticket to the insane asylum; he'd have to wait until they had at least a little more privacy. For now, he simply had to accept the shorter explanation:

It just works.

"This is our stop." Hagakure pointed out, and the small group soon shuffled out of the train and station. Izuku soon found it was now partially his responsibility to keep Modeus walking in the correct direction, glued to his phone as she was.

"Oh, wait a sec." despite Cerberus buzzing in anticipation, Justice insisted on stopping just outside the shopping centre, "As we're going into a more public place, we need to make sure you can't be recognised."

"That makes sense." Izuku nodded. Trying to complete their task undercover would be monumentally difficult if someone recognised a group of dead teenagers. Hagakure was probably safe seeing how literally no one alive had ever seen her, or if her Quirk didn't manifest at birth, hadn't seen her since she was about 4 years old. Izuku doubted anyone would recognise him outside a handful of teachers, classmates, and his mother. But Todoroki was an entirely different matter.

The son of a famous hero, killed in what was, most likely, a recent and nationally-known incident involving an up-and-coming villain group, walking around in a popular shopping area only half an hour or so from U.A.? The word 'discreet' didn't really come to mind. In fact, it was something of a surprise no one recognised them on the practically-deserted train.

"You packed disguises?" Hagakure asked.

"Not exactly." she smiled at the idea, turning to place a hand on Izuku's chest.

"Uhhh-" his flustered expression soon turned into surprise as he felt an odd feeling of warmth flow through her hand, into his chest, and throughout his entire being. After stretching out, the warmth turned to an odd, lonely chill, settling in before suddenly dissipating.

"Ice T, you're up." she turned to Todoroki, repeating the process after Izuku gave a brief nod to the boy in question that it was fine. Probably. "And you, Invisideus."

"Please don't call me that…" Hagakure sighed as the process was repeated, Todoroki giving her a look of solidarity.

"Done, we should be fine."

"But we look the same." Todoroki pointed out.

"Huh? Oh, right." Justice started walking towards the entrance, "That was a basic soul shawl. It doesn't change or hide your physical appearance, but rather blocks people's ability to connect said physical appearance to your metaphysical identity."

""… Eh-?""

"IT'S A PERCEPTION FILTER!" Hagakure squeed in excitement, eyes lighting up as she glanced at herself and Justice, completely contrasting the dumbfounded Izuku and Todoroki.

"Oh!" Izuku hit a fist into his hand in recognition, "Right, that makes sense…"

Todoroki looked between the two of them blankly, "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"It- um, it basically means even though we don't look different, people won't recognise us." Izuku explained, "I think the term came from some old sci-fi show or something…"

"More like it came from a GREAT sci-fi show!" Hagakure corrected him, eyes widening in surprise, "Wait, you haven't- Ok, new goal: I need to grab my box set from home, when we finish this up we are 100% having a Whoathon, and I won't take no for an answer!"

"… Sure." Todoroki shrugged.

"A-all right…" Izuku smiled, "I mean- if I can find some time depending on what I'll be helping with after…"

"Wait, why can we recognise ourselves and each other, though?" Hagakure asked, "Do people present during the shawl's casting see through the illusion? Or does it only-apply-to-living-souls?Oh!What-about-cameras?Does-the-digital-interface-prevent-the-effect-from-transmitting-or-does-the-shawl-trick-that-or-does-it-penetrate-that-to-affect-the-watcher-"

Izuku felt like he was having an out-of-body experience. Was this how people felt watching him when he went off about Quirks? Probably not – these were important questions, after all. He honestly felt embarrassed it took him this long to think of them.

"Demons can effortlessly see through something this basic." Justice replied, "And I added a little workaround for souls I want to see through it, i.e. you three, though you'd probably manage with some difficulty even if I hadn't. As for cameras?" she hummed, "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. Try and avoid them if you can to be safe, but unless a family member is watching the cameras or something, it shouldn't be an issue."

"Even if someone recognises us?" Izuku asked. If a security guard recognised three dead people, he had a feeling that should qualify as 'an issue'.

"What are they gonna do? The second someone manually checks, they won't recognise you. Besides, we won't be here long." at her words, the group reached the entrance to the shopping mall. That logic still felt incomplete – identity-altering Quirks were a thing, surely they had some countermeasures?

… It'll probably be fine. Izuku shook his head, a small amount of relief finding him as he went inside and out of the rain, It's just a brief trip to the mall to get some crêpes. What's the worst that could happen?

Stepping through, Izuku couldn't help but notice the differences between a 'mortal' shopping centre and the demonic food court. Other than the obvious difference in the fragrance of multinational foods swirling through the air being absent, the air here felt cleaner. Izuku could take a breath without smelling a lingering burnt fragrance permeating the very core of the world, without feeling the finest layer of brimstone ash scraping against his lungs. After the absolute nightmare that was Tentatio, he'd just grown accustomed to Hell's various discomforts. Hopefully this brief stint of fresh air wouldn't permanently sour his perception of Limbo and Gluttony, seeing as he was likely to spend a good few lifetimes there at minimum.

That- That's still insane to think about…

But as they continued walking, trying to find a crêpe stall to keep Cerberus pacified to prevent chaos and mayhem befalling the mortal realm because this was his life now apparently, he couldn't help but notice a certain tenseness to the mall's atmosphere. Now make no mistake, Izuku wasn't a particularly outgoing person. Excepting school and attempts to find ongoing Hero battles he could take notes on, his outgoing activities were almost exclusively limited to training at Musatafa beach.

But even he could tell that most groups around him were keeping their conversations subdued. That almost everyone he could see was trying to stay keenly aware of their surroundings, while those that didn't looked simply defeated. For the former, a tenseness possessed their form, as if expecting a disaster to hit at any moment.

No small number seemed to be regarding their own group with a clear suspicion, though none had decided to approach them yet. Hopefully sitting down for a simple sweet snack would allay any fears.

"Hey, there's one." Hagakure pointed towards a stand as they reached the mall's food court, one with a remarkably short line. As a matter of fact, every eatery present had no more than a couple of people queued for food. What's more, the court's perimeter had a number of abandoned food stores which no one had bothered to properly clear away, a mere "OUT OF BUSINESS" sign hung above the store and/or placed on the counter.

I mean… It was a while ago that mom and I came shopping here, but it was packed… Maybe it's a slow hour…? But from their time on the subway, the group had seen that it was early afternoon. Wasn't that one of the most popular times for people going out? But I guess that's on people's days off… Maybe the weather is putting people off? But that wouldn't explain all the closed stores…

"""Crêpes, crêpes, crêpes…""" oblivious to the mortal's concerns, Cerberus was chanting for her treats, excitement barely contained as they joined the queue. Izuku elected to try petting them lightly as their group waited; yes, it felt kind of weird to do while they were in human form, and was rather difficult seeing how they were half a head taller than him, but it still made them happy. He felt that having a happy Cerberus over a 'can't-wait'I'mma-jump-on-the-crêperie-and-destroy-the-stand' Cerberus was worth a little- well, substantial-embarrassment.

"Hello!" in contrast to the gloomy atmosphere of their surroundings, the chef behind the stand greeted their group with a weathered smile and jovial tone, "What'll it be?"

Thankfully, his warm demeanour stayed through Cerberus 'umm'-ing and 'aww'-ing over the multitude of options she could have added to her meal, before giving up and asking for an eldritch monstrosity consisting of every possible topping. Eh, if she doesn't like it can she have mine… which was a far simpler crêpe of strawberries and cream. Boring, perhaps, but in Izuku's opinion you couldn't go wrong with the classics. He ended up setting a trend, with most of their group asking for the same sans Hagakure, who went for a more layered option.

"Those two don't want anything?" the chef asked skeptically, gesturing towards the two Cerberi lacking a meal.

"It's, uh- a, uh, shared sensory ability." Izuku technically didn't lie.

"Fair enough." he thankfully accepted the explanation, "That'll be 15,000 yen."

Hagakure choked on her meal, "S-seriously?"

Todoroki rubbed her back lightly to help stop the coughing, "That's fine." holding up his phone for payment, it turned out it cost an extra 50% for paying through a bank.

I've got limited edition merchandise worth less than that… "S-Sorry about this, Todoroki…"

"Where else could I ever use this?" he asked flatly.

"… Good point." he doubted they accepted electronic mortal bank debit back in Hell.

Absurd cost of their meal aside, at least this meant they could try and find somewhere quiet for a few minutes to ask some burning questions-

'AUTHORISATION FAILED' the payment processor gave a low 'beep' with the message.

"… I should have enough." Todoroki frowned, pressing his phone to the payment machine again. The same result.

"Sometimes the connection can act up." the chef suggested, "If you're eating around here, you can find somewhere to sit and try again in a few minutes."

"T-thank you!" Izuku bowed frantically, before shepherding his group to a relatively secluded table. As they sat down, he realised Modeus was now effectively a non-entity, crêpe in one hand and phone in the other. Maybe he'd be able get through a conversation without turning red for once?

"… It's not the connection." Todoroki's eyes widened in surprise, showing his phone screen to the group as they sat down:

'Suspicious activity has been detected on your account. All payments have been suspended.'

"… Huh." Izuku replied lamely.

"I'm guessing that's bad- damn, this is nice." Justice asked through a bite of her crêpe.

"It means we have to find 15,000 yen in the next five minutes." Todoroki stated like such a thing wasn't borderline impossible.

"What's yen?" A Cerberus asked.

"Japanese money." Justice provided, "That's like 150 bucks, right?"

"114 dollars 7 cents, give or take a few dollars but probably no more than $2 depending on time of day, market trends, etc." Izuku corrected. Upon her surprised look, he elaborated, "I got a lot of merchandise imported. It's good to know the typical exchange rates if you don't want to overpay."

"… Well, they are nice, I guess…" when even the demon barely familiar with the concept of money thought something was overpriced, you knew it was a rip off.

"Hey, wait…"

"What are they doing…" Two Cerberi looked towards the fountain in the centre of the food court.

"They're- Oh, well…" how to explain it, "'Mortals' have this tradition of throwing coins into fountains for luck."

"It actually wasn't introduced into Japan until-"

"I'M ON IT!" Cerberus interrupted Todoroki's explanation, all three of them darting off to try and gather money.

"Wait-!" Izuku tried to call out, but they were already gone, "-There won't… Be nearly enough…"

"Ok, so guessing we'll get maybe a couple of thousand yen tops for that?" Justice asked, to which Izuku muttered an 'optimistically…', "Ok Hero students, pop quiz: Where are the exits?"

""Huh-""

"There's the entrance we came through about 300m east." Todoroki started, the only 'Hero student' able to answer the question promptly, "Additionally, there were side-exits at 150m from us on the north side and 50m on the south. Fire escapes for the food court at my four o'clock and seven o'clock. Skylight presents a possible escape via a raised ice platform if necessary. More exits at unknown positions on the west corridor."

"… I think there's also a fire escape on the first floor. My, uh-" Izuku thought for a moment, "My ten o'clock, I think… But- But are we really-"

"Do you want to explain this situation to the police?" Justice asked.

"It'll probably just be mall security." Hagakure pointed out.

"Oh, so we can be kept in the back room for hours on end. Much better." Izuku could feel the eye roll under her sunglasses.

"Still…" Izuku ended up fidgeting in place.

"I think that giving these-" Todoroki glanced at Justice, "… 'forces' time to catch up and potentially hinder your goal is likely a greater evil than six overpriced crêpes being stolen." he bit into his for the first time, eyes widening in response, "… Even if they are good."

"I- I guess…" Izuku deflated. He'd never stolen anything in his life, except for that one time someone stuck a book in his bag at the comic store as a 'joke'. Even after going back and paying for the book he didn't want with interest, he'd had nightmares for days…

"Hey, so, I know you said it wasn't important…" Hagakure probed, clearly hesitant to broach the topic, "But is there any chance you could tell us about these… 'forces'"

"Sure, I guess we've got a few minutes." Justice took another bite, "So the first one is that Hell will be wanting to reclaim your soul. They won't send the armies of the damned or anything – too visible – but we can expect some powerful demons to show up sooner or later intent on sending you back."

"Right." Izuku sighed – such a pursuer wasn't unexpected, but it was still disappointing. At least legions of the damned crawling out of the ground was unlikely. "Anyone else?"

"Yeah the obvious one is Heaven."

…

…

…

"… Oh." Izuku nodded slowly, "… What?"

"Yeah, folks up there aren't keen on any supernaturals wandering Earth. Double that for demons, triple it for condemned souls, crank it up to 11 for arch-demons like us."

"… Ok." Izuku continued to nod slowly, which he now noticed Hagakure was mimicking, "Anyone else?"

"Well I'm not too familiar, but other religious deities will probably be pissed if you trespass on their territory, of course."

"Of course, of course…" Izuku continued nodding, the motion giving him something to focus on other than his already tenuous understanding of reality slowly crumbling.

"So don't step into any Shinto shrines or anything, we don't want to start a religious war."

"That would be bad." Hagakure squeaked, nodding even more frantically than Izuku while Todoroki nodded calmly at the statement. Was he incredibly adaptable, or dying inside?

"And also…" Justice's eyes narrowed, seemingly lost in thought.

"'Also'…" Todoroki prodded, the three mortals leaning closer by instinct.

"… As you may have guessed by now, Hell's whole hierarchy isn't 100%… stable."

"That's-" Izuku paused. He hadn't really had time to think about it, but looking back it was clear that, if nothing else, Hell's… societal layout sounds like it substantially shifted when Justice did… Whatever she did which cost her eyesight.

I guess that means Hell can change?

"I- I guess…"

"Well, the current ruler has only been in power for a little under three centuries."

"Oh, well, that's barely a single term…" Hagakure's sarcasm proved a helpful reminder that it wasn't Izuku going insane, it was the world. Or worlds.

The fact I even have to clarify is-

"And the previous ruler is still alive, around, and looking for a way to get back on top." she nodded to Izuku, "A power like yours would be worth the risks venturing mortal-side entails."

"… Right." Izuku took a deep breath, "So we need to finish our task quickly, while avoiding Heaven's watch, Hell's primary forces, the territory of miscellaneous religions, and a disgruntled demonic faction seeking to overturn Hell's hierarchy."

"When you put it like that it's so simple." Hagakure slumped over the table. Justice chuckled at the scene.

And here I thought the hard part was over… Izuku shook his head, No, so long as we keep a low profile, we should be fine. We're only half an hour or so from U.A. at worst; just get there, find All Might, return One for All, and we've succeeded-

"Who is it?" Todoroki snapped him out of his thoughts. At a 'hm?' from Justice, he continued, "This former ruler of Hell. Do they have a name?"

"Oh, right." Justice nodded, "Makes sense you'd want to know. Her name's-"

"Lucyyyyyyyyyy~!" a voice echoed through the metallic halls outside an opulent administrative office. Ignoring the eye-twitch-inducing voice, a proper demon dressed in a full suit, topped with a black tiara held between her contrasting white horns and an honourable sigil atop her lapel, continued fastidiously working through piles upon piles of paperwork laid precisely on her immaculate black desk.

The demon let out a light breath, momentary irritation induced by the voice outside quickly remedied with a glance around her office: Carefully cast dark red brimstone walls highlighted by scarletite skirting and fixtures, contrasted against a floor of precisely polished obsidian. Fine bookshelves of Canarian pine filled neatly with countless tomes. Filing cabinets of Gehenna-forged steel organised by date and sub-organised alphabetically (the most effective method by far).

"Lucyyyyyyyyyyyyy~!" Yes, even such an unsettling squeal could not disrupt the organised harmony of this office. A quiet sanctuary within a horrific complex of-

"LUCYYYYYYYY- AH!" the stone doors flew open, an ear-piercing screech betraying the new gouges in her floor as the doors creaked and groaned on their hinges. Thankfully, said hinges held true, the doors hitting their apex and flying back to fling the unwanted 'white'-horned 'demon' and her infernal lab coat back into the hallway. The true ruler of Hell couldn't help but wear a small smirk at the latter fact.

Perhaps she has a concussion… "LUCYYYYYYYYYYY~!" I suppose that was wishful thinking… she sighed while continuing to work through the stack of documents, Perhaps if I refuse to acknowledge her, she'll grow bored without disturbing me…

The demon throwing herself on the desk, scattering all of the precious paperwork that had taken hours upon days to complete and compile around the office, proved a firm negative on that notion.

"… May I be of any assistance, Azazel?" she put on a practised smile with ease.

"Yeah, get a door which isn't so mean…" the petulant wreck moaned.

"Perhaps taking a gentler touch would prove fruitful." she repeated for the thousandth time.

"But that's dull…" the impudent whelp draped herself across the desk, "At least get a different floor… That's, what, the seventh scratch this year?"

"Seventeenth, Azazel." she gritted through a still-perfect smile.

"Right, right. Man I was not expecting #JB0518 to be so much of a hassle…"

"That would be the subject which destroyed approximately 420% of the intended testing facilities, yes?" the number brought a slight smile to the juvenile fool's face.

"Yeah… Good times…" the mad mockery of a scientist looked towards her still-smiling… 'subordinate', "See, this is why I came. You always cheer me up!" the contemptuous clown lightly slapped the cheek of her barely-able-to-hold-a-smile administrator, "Honestly, the experiments have been such a drag, lately…"

"Oh?" for the first time, her smile became less forced, "Then perhaps this would be the ideal time to compile the fruits of your labour and present them accordingly. I'm sure the Thrones would love to hear what you've been up to recently…" preferably in a location they can detain you indefinitely…

"Nah…" she blew a raspberry to emphasise the point, "I know there's still more I can do, but I've hit a dead-end… I need some inspiration…" her eyes lit up, "Maybe some home-baked apple-pie from my favourite girl would-"

"While I do so miss our time together," and the numerous opportunities to end your sorry existence, "I'm afraid we are rather busy sorting through souls…" doing the real work…

"C'mon…" the irritating nitwit started poking her in the cheek, "Just a little break wouldn't hurt you…"

No, but proximity to you certainly might… before she could respond, there was a knock on the now-damaged doors. Against all odds, luck shone on the irritated demon.

"Come in. Ah, Pandemonica." she smiled genuinely as the doors opened, relief flooding through at the distraction, "I trust you have the monthly reports?"

"Why else would I- *yawn* be here…?" she glanced at the infuriating experimenter on the desk, before wisely deciding to keep her eyes focused on her superior as she passed over the documents.

"Ughhhh…" the hyperactive toddler groaned on the desk, "That's boring…"

"Why not return to the laboratory while I run through these?" sadly, the former deviant angel made no such signs to do so, returning to her lollygagging with a pout and leaving no desk space to properly work.

"Soul migration has decreased by 1.3% compared to last quarter." Pandemonica started giving an overview, "The corresponding 1.4% reduction in mortal fatalities suggests afterlife proportions are relatively similar, though there have been reports of new cults forming."

"Have some investigations made into them. It takes surprisingly little for a cult to become a major religion." Never again would she be caught off guard by some half-baked idea made into a religious branch for the sole purpose of allowing 1 man a divorce.

"Already done." Pandemonica was such an attentive worker, if occasionally a reluctant one, "I'll let you know when we have more information. Soul throughput has decreased by 0.2%, which puts the monthly net at 8.5%, marginally below typical-"

"Hold on." she couldn't let that slide, "0.2%… Decrease?" that needed further explanation.

"Here are the-" the documents detailing soul sorting was quickly snatched out of her hands.

0.1% increase in initial processing, 1.8% increase in Judgement's work… Oh, Justice is down 3.5% she let out a small sigh, Well, she has been working rather studiously until now… Maybe she took some time off? A glance at the daily breakdown confirmed that fact: Consistent throughput for most of the month, suddenly stopping completely around thirty hours ago.

Last judgement was… her eyes narrowed at the final soul, Never closed? Why would she- Has she taken a damned recently deceased soul out partying? A louder sigh sounded as she opened her drawer of sinner's souls. As the drawer flew out to connect to the side of her desk, papers rushed through the now-infinite channel a mile a minute, crimson eyes scanning for the correct section.

Here we go. Her hand pulled out the appropriate file from the rushing wave of paperwork, Let's see- her eyes widened at the candidate, A fifteen year old Japanese boy? She'd been expecting some musician or famous actor, maybe even a 'Hero'. Not some high-schooler with a smile brighter than the sun! Hero trainee, strong academic performance, no criminal record, no prosecutable crimes- oh, other than one minor case of 'vigilantism' at 14 which was never taken up… Quirk… she blinked at the section, squinting to make sure her previously perfect vision wasn't spontaneously failing, 'N/A (Birth-15), One for All (15-15)'… What?

While she was by no means the greatest expert on the subject – there was a handful of supernaturals and perhaps one or two mortals who would claim that title before her – she was supremely confident that Quirks didn't just spontaneously appear. Some may not manifest until later in life, or perhaps not make themselves known at all if one was unlucky, but even they would show up on the sinner's record. The only exception to that would be…

Wait… 'One for All'… That couldn't be a coincidence. Closing the sinner's file but keeping it to hand, she closed the drawer in use and calmly walked to her bookshelf as if dealing with nothing out of the ordinary, instructing Pandemonica to collect and organise the files which had been callously spread on the floor. Pulling out the Metanomicon, she flicked through its ceaseless pages to find the Quirk in question.

One for All… Date of manifestation… her eyes widened, Almost 200 years ago?! She quickly scanned through the contents, careful to hide any reaction from her unwanted guest, Accumulation of power over time… Able to be passed down between users… Current abilities include physical enhancement, mimicry of of previous Quirks (see end notes), soul enha- she couldn't help a breath from catching in her throat.

But with that… she struggled to breathe, the revelation's shock colliding with her need to appear perfectly calm and composed, before slowly managing to collect herself.

"… Pandemonica?"

"Hm?" the tired demon placed the sorted papers onto her desk.

"Thank you for the report. At present, we need everyone working at maximum efficacy. So if you would return to your regular work, I shall retrieve Justice and instil upon her the importance of the situation."

"Anything interesting?" the heinous rat asked in a bored tone. Good, she didn't notice anything…

"No, no, it seems Justice has stolen away with a particularly outgoing mortal." she lied naturally and perfectly, beginning to walk calmly but purposefully towards the exit, "I can understand the need for rest, but it is time she got to work-" as she put a hand to the stone doors, freedom to enact her plan and secrecy from that maniac practically within her grasp…

… The doors flew open.

"THREE DECEASED MORTALS HAVE FLED BACK TO THEIR SPHERE!" Judgement stormed into the room, knocking back the demon who had been so. Damned. Close. To leaving, down onto the floor, "AS HAVE CERBERUS, MODEUS, AND-"

"-Justice?" a no-longer-bored voice interrupted. Her feet hitting the floor resounded like death's toll, the sound of paper documents being slowly lifted off the ground serving to cruelly rip away any vestiges of hope, "And I trust one of these mortals was a juvenile with green hair?"

"YOU WERE AWARE THEY WOULD-!?"

"No." she was flicking through the documents, any moment now she'd figure out- I have to stop her!

"Loremaster, it seems my subordinate has 'flown off the handlebar', so to say, allow me to-" her attempt to get up was halted as the sole of a metallic shoe pushed her head back down.

"Awww, I can't remember when you used my name!" her voice was superficially sweet, laced with venom beneath the surface.

I messed up…

"But I can't help but wonder… To consider a unique, two-centuries old Quirk capable of soul amplification 'not interesting'…" she sighed dramatically, "Tell me, Lucifer, are you truly that stupid?" she took the foot off of the formerly hopeful demon, grabbing her harshly by the face and forcing her to look up. The face Lucifer found was not bored, not distracted, not seeking stimulation like an inattentive child.

"Or were you lying to your Master?"

Loremaster's face was soaked in pure, unbridled malice.

A/N:

Hello again! Hope this was a fun read to kick off the next arc and mark the first double-digit chapter of this fic! We've got a brief glimpse of the mortal world, Heaven, and Hell, and our mortal protagonists are taking everything they've learned very well and it's not throwing their understanding of reality into question it's fine.

Also, a lot of people have expressed fear over my ominous ranting about chapter 12 last week (or was it the week before? idk) but don't worry, there was so much depressing stuff to get through it's now looking like it's chapters 12, 13 and part of 14 instead. Probably. It's proving really hard to structure because there's a couple of scenes that basically need to be the opening of a chapter for everything to flow properly, but the content makes that quite awkward to achieve without being overloading. Like, 12 is currently over 10k words long, so I'll probably slice it into 12 and 13, but then 13 is a bit on the short side because of where the new 12 should naturally stop, but I can't include the start of new-14 as a second half because that just doesn't work and it's difficult to throw in another perspective because of the state of revealed knowledge and wow writing is so fun haHA.

In all seriousness though it's not really too bad I don't think. Like you can easily find way more depressing stuff to read, it's just a bit dark relative to the overall tone of the work so I'm really looking forward to having it all finished and done. On the bright side, we're getting close to more MHA characters being introduced 🎉

As always feel free to comment with thoughts, predictions, concrit etc. etc. you know the drill by now, hope everyone has a great weekend and hope to see you next time!