Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, Overlord, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
The Sorcerer Hero: Deku
Chapter nineteen: Nazarick vs. the League of Villains, concluded
Ainz floated in the air, an illusion spell up to show him in his skeletal form. He wore a variant of his orange royal robe that came with a hood comparable to the hood his usual robe had. He also wore the iron gauntlets and the Mask of Jealousy he wore when saving Carne Village. Just to be on the safe side, the Sorcerer King wanted to cover his identity to ensure no one knew what he looked like without being fully covered.
Ainz had been able to zero in on Todoroki's location and, knowing that to be where the League of Villains resided, he zoomed over to deal with the thorn in his side. However, by the time he got there, the villains and Todoroki were warped away by some manner of sludge power, forcing the Sorcerer King to have to try and locate where things had gotten off to.
Luckily for him, there was a rather big burst of power from a ways away. With Fly and Perfect Unknowable, Ainz's travel was swift and secret. Eventually, Ainz reached the sight of the battlefield, and saw it as some heroes present already were backing off from a mysterious figure who radiated enough power to make Ainz think he was a boss enemy.
Luckily for Ainz, All Might flew in and shouted at the figure while identifying him as the villain All For One. The true source of a lot of what had been annoying Ainz in his plans for taking over the second New World, All For One was one of the people Ainz wanted to eliminate, to the point he told some of his loyal NPCs in Nazarick he'll kill All For One personally.
All Might and All For One stood apart from one another at the moment, giving Ainz space to fly on in and check the biggest thorn in his side since coming to the second New World. Ainz held his right hand, covered in the iron gauntlet, up at All For One with the palm facing that most terrible of bad guys that All Might had ever faced in his pro hero career.
"Detect Quirk."
The usual menu popped up, and a lot of what Ainz saw surprised him. He took note of what All For One's real name is, saw his level was at sixty-five, and the numbers for both quirk and quirk capacity weren't really numbers; both values instead read as 'exceeds limit'. When Ainz looked at the list of quirks All For One had, he could see why the quirk and quirk capacity numbers had broken scales.
"Holy crap, look at how many quirks this guy has!" Ainz thought as he had to scroll down through the utterly obscene list of quirks All For One had. It was like opening up a treasure chest back in YGGDRASIL and finding a whole lot of jewels inside. With the magics Ainz had gained, that more or less is exactly what All For One is.
Ainz also noticed that a lot of the quirks were synthetic copies of quirks, including the copy of All For One that the man had. That made Ainz wonder where the real original copy of that quirk was. Regardless, Ainz closed the menu before casting another spell at the frozen in time All For One, a spell that acquired some degree of ironic humor when used on All For One.
"Harvest Quirk."
Another menu popped up to ask Ainz to select what quirks he wanted to take. Luckily for Ainz, he had the option of the button that let him take all of the target's quirks all at once. An option that he took as he pressed the button, watching it as Quirk Jewels came flowing out of All For One and into his inventory, like coins flowing out in a torrent from a slot machine at a casino after one had hit the biggest possible jackpot that they could get.
Ainz after he got the last of the Quirk Jewels held his hand up in front of the head of the frozen in time All For One to cast more magic on the man. "Delay Magic. True Death." The aura of Ainz's powerful insta-death spell glowed on All For One for a moment, before Ainz cast Gate to get out of there. As soon as the Gate behind Ainz had vanished, the Sorcerer King dropped the Time Stop.
When time resumed, All Might saw it as All For One, as if he were a puppet whose strings had been cut, collapse suddenly, stirring not even in the slightest. Ever cautious, the Symbol of Peace went on in and checked his greatest nemesis for a pulse. To All Might's shock, All For One is dead. The most dangerous and powerful villain quirked society had ever known, a man who had bested many past holder of One For All... just... dropped dead.
"All For One is dead!" All Might yelled, his words echoing all across the battlefield.
Panic seized Dabi when he heard the boss had just dropped dead. "Is Mirajane active?!" Dabi more or less yelled.
"Yeah, I'm up," Mirajane replied, "I guess this calls for a retreat?"
"Damn fucking straight it does!" Dabi practically exclaimed with his panic clear in his very words and tone, unleashing a very huge blast of blue flames at the pro heroes that fanned away even Endeavor. With that cover, Mirajane was able to sludge warp herself, as well as Dabi and the rest of the League of Villains away.
When the flames of blue died down, All Might and the other pro heroes saw it that all of All For One's minions, including his professed successor Dabi, had escaped. But All For One himself was dead, and All Might was going to keep an eye on the body until he saw it cremated, just to make absolute sure All For One stayed dead this time.
With that, the Battle of Kamino Ward ended.
The following morning, things began to hit the fan. There was a lot of catastrophic damage in Kamino Ward, but luckily there were zero civilian deaths. And the pro heroes working tirelessly to help get things tidied up and find survivors helped to restore some of the waning faith that the people of Japan had in their pro heroes.
Some, but not all.
All Might supervised the cremation of All For One's body, never once leaving. Only he and persons he trusted saw it as All For One's body was burned to nothing but ash. As such, All Might was able to freely release his form to go back to being Toshinori Yagi to conserve his remaining daily time as the Symbol of Peace. No one outside of All Might's trust saw things, his secret was safe.
The people of Japan were worried that the rest of the League of Villains had escaped, but without their lynchpin and having basically no resources without said lynchpin, the League of Villains ought to be a cinch for the heroes to deal with now. The villains were bound to fall in time, and soon the unquestionable might of Japan's pro heroes, with All Might as their crown jewel, will go on.
...At least as far as they knew, as they had no idea of Ainz Ooal Gown.
There was a brief bit of worry over Ragdoll of the Wild Wild Pussycats as her quirk was reported to not be working following her waking up following her kidnapping, but things were relieved when her quirk started working again. This is because, unbeknownst to everyone, Ainz found Ragdoll's quirk in Quirk Jewel form among the many Quirk Jewels he took from All For One.
Ainz, partly as a favor to Kota and partly to say thanks to Pixie-Bob as he was able to get a copy of Earth Flow, simply gave Ragdoll's quirk back to her, putting the Wild Wild Pussycats back to full power. Ainz also got a Quirk Jewel copy of Mt. Lady's Gigantification quirk, sacrificing one of the many synthetic quirk copies he had a Quirk Jewel of thanks to cleaning out All For One.
Ainz saw Mt. Lady's quirk. It gave him an idea for something to add to an experiment he wanted to conduct in the second New World.
Later, U.A. began to implement the dorm system it had been working on, given that the dorms were all finished. The U.A. teachers had to go from house to house to explain things to the parents, and surprisingly a lot of them agreed thanks to some faith in the pro heroes of Japan being restored in part due to their showing at Kamino Ward and the death of the big bad villain.
Ainz worried Inko would be resistant to the idea of sending Izuku to U.A. full time because of the dangers as of late, and he would have used magic to make her compliant if need be. But to the surprise of the Sorcerer King, Inko consented to Izuku continuing to go to U.A. It helped out a lot that it was pointed out to Inko how utterly amazing her son is, and was ruled more a threat to the villains than they were to him.
Then came the day everyone moved into the doors. "Oh, I got it some of you were contemplating trying to rescue Todoroki from the villains yourselves but listened to reason and decided against it," Aizawa began, "Good on you who decided against being stupid. Because I would have expelled those contemplating the idea if they went through with it, assuming that they had been able to of survived said stupidity."
"WHO TATTLED ON US?!" Bakugo yelled at the top of his lungs. With a bit of humor out of the way, the students of U.A.'s Class 1-A moved into their dorm building.
...
Ainz and his peers had a contest to see who had the coolest dorm room. It was the idea of the girls to throw the contest, and Ainz when he realized nothing more than bragging rights were to be won from it lost what little interest he had. He was a bit disappointed when Sato was given the win due to how he had made a cake which the girls all enjoyed; if the girls could be bought so easily like that, then the dorm room contest wasn't worth winning. At least if you asked Ainz.
After everyone had settled down, the whole school was called to a special assembly that was held to pay respect to Minoru Mineta, who was slain at the summer break training camp. Ainz, Jiro, and Yaoyorozu as the first of Class 1-A to see Mineta dead, were asked to say a few words about their late classmate and peer. Aizawa, knowing that they were going to be asked to speak there ahead of time, had them sit down and write out appropriate speeches to give on Mineta's behalf.
Aizawa was most impressed with Ainz's speech; it still acknowledged Mineta not being good in the beginning, but it used tasteful euphemisms and technically correct wording to make Mineta at the start of U.A. sound a lot better than he was, and still led into how Mineta had become better as time went on at U.A. Ainz's speech ended with him saying that Mineta had shed all that was holding him back, and that Mineta's tragically brief life had ended with Mineta being as true of a hero as anyone that he had ever known.
"Minoru Mineta," Ainz said as he gave his memorial speech, his words heard by all of the students in the auditorium, "I will always remember your name." There were very few dry eyes in the audience as the Sorcerer King gave his memorial speech in honor of the grape haired boy who, unbeknownst to the humans of the second New World, was laid to rest in a place of honor somewhere in the floor of Nazarick that's guarded by Cocytus.
"We got a report on the nomus," Nezu said as he had a staff meeting with a lot of the pro heroes on U.A.'s staff, "As it turns out, they're originally humans, but were mutated and enhanced via dark and terrible experimentation." Nezu placed a stapled together stack of papers on his place at the table that everyone was seated at. "My theory is that the League of Villains took Mineta's remains and used them as a base to make a nomu."
All Might, in his form of Toshinori as his secret was safe with the U.A. staff, growled in bitter anger and frustration. "Curse you, All For One..."
"Scientists are still trying to identify which nomu used to be which human," Nezu said, "And I can't help but shake the feeling that we only got a small pocket of them and not the true source. We may have to brace ourselves in the future for more nomus appearing."
"But the big bad boss of the League of Villains is dead, and his minions are not only on the run but also without resources," Snipe said, "They ought to be fish in a barrel for the heroes of Japan now."
"Snipe is right," said Kayama, "And one of the villains we're chasing is the successor of the man who dropped dead suddenly at Kamino Ward. Heh, I guess facing All Might was so scary for him that the fright of it killed him."
Toshinori, looking grim, replied, "I can't be too sure of that, Midnight. Something about All For One's death at Kamino Ward still has me suspicious."
"There is also how we still can't dismiss the possibility that there is a spy among our number here at U.A.," Hizashi said, "I mean, how else could the villains have known about not just the USJ but also the summer break training camp?"
"And then there's those big black skeleton warrior monsters which we STILL don't have an answer for!" Ryo Inui, the pro hero Hound Dog, said, "I swear, those monsters are able to go toe to toe with the nomus, and not just in power but also in vileness! And the villains we're chasing have the nerve to deny any claim to them when we all know full well there's no other party who would have them!"
Toshinori pondered about the big black skeleton warrior monsters that he knows full well has to be the work of the League of Villains. Only minds as twisted as All For One and his villainous brood he left behind could have come up with such horrors, especially as said horrors not only killed a good few pro heroes, but desecrated their bodies in horrifying, unspeakable ways.
The Symbol of Peace vowed to find what influence All For One had left behind and end it before it could make more of those undead-looking horrors.
Dabi and the rest of his crew were hiding out in an abandoned manor in the forest somewhere, trying to get themselves back together. Taking a headcount, Dabi saw it was himself as well as Toga, Mirajane, Spinner, Mustard, Magne. Mr. Compress, Twice, Beros, and Rappa. "Well shit, we're in a pickle now," Spinner said dryly.
"Yeah, no foolin'," Mustard said, "We failed to stick it to the heroes. And our big boss died."
Scowling, Dabi said, "We're gonna have to rebuild from scratch. Do lesser tasks to build up funds, maybe even take out smaller gangs and take their goods."
"We may also find sleeping quarters limited," Beros said, "Meaning we may have to share beds if it comes down to it. I volunteer to share a bed with Spinner."
"You know Beros, you've shown signs of wanting to get into Spinner's pants ever since you first joined the League of Villains," Dabi remarked, drawing a surprised look out of Spinner.
Gently shaking her head, Toga said, "I don't think she wants to get into Spinner's pants, I think she wants to have sex with him."
Gently face palming, Dabi said, "That's... what the phrase 'getting into someone's pants' means, you crazy-" Dabi was cut off when he and the others heard some unworldly roaring howls coming from outside, sending shivers down the spines of Dabi and the others. They were on the second floor of the abandoned manor in the forest that they were hiding in, so Dabi looked out the window carefully so as to not be seen.
He was thankful he was being cautious, because he muttered, "Oh fuck," in a worried tone of horror just loud enough for the others to hear, "There's a lot of those big black skeleton warrior monsters outside the manor."
The other members of the League of Villains all instantly gave off worried looks. "Did you just say that there's a lot of them?" Mr. Compress asked.
"How many do you mean when you say a lot?" Spinner asked, the horror growing in his expression.
"...They're looking to be standing side by side in a ring that I would guess surrounds the whole of the manor here," Dabi said grimly. Turning to look at Mirajane, Dabi asked, "Can you warp us out of here to someplace safe, Mirajane?"
"I'm too exhausted right now," Mirajane said, "And even if I wasn't, I would need a specific idea of where to go, and it has to be within a certain range. None of the places that come to mind for me would fit the bill for tha-"
"Hey, someone who isn't a big black skeleton warrior monster is stepping through," Mustard said as he looked out the window, "He looks like a male Orge player character from DQ10, wearing the red samurai armor set from FFE." The others looked out the window and saw that, indeed, someone who matched the description that Mustard gave just now had made his way through and now stood in front of the abandoned manor, the big black skeleton warrior monsters waiting behind him.
Magne gulped nervously. "The big black skeleton warrior monsters... they're waiting patiently while the big red samurai guy stands before them as if he's..." Gulping nervously again, Magne went on, "...As if he's waiting for us to come out." The fact that there were so many of the big black skeleton warrior monsters outside, yet they all were clearly letting the ogre samurai call the shots here, told the League of Villains that even the big black skeleton warrior monsters were nothing compared to the ogre samurai.
The ogre samurai held a small item up to his mouth, the League of Villains couldn't see what it was, but they figured it to be some manner of tiny but powerful megaphone item as the could hear the ogre samurai talk loudly even from where they were hiding. "Attention, League of Villains!" said the ogre samurai, "My name is Sasuke Sengoku! I am the samurai retainer in service to the Supreme Being who has been bothered by your actions! I know you all are in there! The manor is surrounded! Come out now! My lord would be having words with you!"
"The ogre samurai... Sasuke Sengoku is his name apparently..." Mr. Compress began, clearly very nervous, "...It's clear that the big black skeleton warrior monsters all defer to him... and yet Sasuke himself defers to yet another person as he said that 'his lord' wants to talk to us... ?"
"Well shit," Dabi said, "With Mirajane too exhausted and even if she wasn't we have no real places to escape to, I guess we have to go out and see what Sasuke and his scary army wants with us. I think it's for the best if we all come out with our hands up in surrender, let them know we aren't going to try anything stupid." The others all agreed, and followed Dabi out of the abandoned manor, walking out the front door and keeping their hands up.
The gesture apparently confused Sasuke. "Why do you all have your hands up like that?"
Before any of the LoV could speak, the Pleiades combat maid Yuri Alpha stepped out from behind Sasuke, catching the attention of Dabi and the others. "That is a gesture done to show surrender, Sir Sasuke," Yuri explained, "It's clear that they know they have no options, so they are hoping that by showing that they're surrendering, we won't kill them."
"You... brought a pretty maid lady with you?" Toga asked Sasuke, looking confused.
"The lord that Yuri and I both serve had her come with me as an attendant of sorts," Sasuke said, "As well as help convince you lot to play along with what our lord wants. But since you're surrendering according to Yuri, I think playing along here is something you're willing to do."
The League of Villains had no idea what in the hell was going on, but as Yuri pointed out they have no options aside from playing along with what the boss she and Sasuke works for wants. When Dabi said he and the others will see what her and Sasuke's boss wants, Yuri had a Gate made up for the League of Villains to go through. Amazed by the quirk work (none of the LoV had any idea that it was actually magic), Dabi led his crew through to go meet the big boss.
...
Dabi and the others soon found themselves in a large office room. It was Ainz's office room at the Shie Hassaikai compound, not that Dabi or anyone with him (aside from Beros and Rappa) knew. Sitting at the desk was Ainz Ooal Gown, an illusion spell up to show him as his skeletal self wearing the hooded royal orange robe, and he also had on the iron gauntlets and the Mask of Jealousy. Dabi could tell just by looking at Ainz that there was no wonder why Sasuke, who the big black skeleton warrior monsters all defer to, defers to Ainz.
Standing behind Ainz were Albedo and Demiurge, both looking at Dabi and his crew with indifferent looks that still told the villains that they were being appraised. Ainz held up a gauntleted hand, to signal for everyone to be quiet. "Well now, it's about time I was able to speak with you, League of Villains," Ainz said, "I have to admit, your group has been more of a thorn in my side than others who had tried being the same in the past. Although I'm upset with that, the fact you outdid others merits at least a modicum of praise as you have proven to be of a higher level of quality."
"If... I may speak as I'm curious about something," Dabi began. Albedo looked annoyed that Dabi was speaking up, but a gesture from Ainz told her he was going to permit Dabi to speak. "The big black skeleton warrior monsters," Dabi began, "They're your doing, aren't they?"
"Big black skeleton warrior monsters?" Sasuke said as he stood behind the villains with Yuri.
"The guys you had form a ring around the manor to keep my crew and I from leaving," Dabi clarified, "Those are the big black skeleton warrior monsters that I'm talking about."
"Ah, that clears it up," Demiurge said, sounding like he was now understanding the lower lifeforms before him and the others from Nazarick, "Yes, my lord here is indeed the brilliant mind responsible for them. Also, those monsters are called Death Knights."
"Literally no one in Japan knew what they were called, so 'big black skeleton warrior monsters' became the term coined for them," Spinner spoke up, "But yeah, saying Death Knights instead will be a time saver. The name also makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it."
Looking to Ainz, Dabi asked, "What, if I may ask, did the League of Villains get in the way of in terms of your plans?"
Holding out a hand to Dabi in a gesture, Ainz said, "Ultimately, I plan to take over the world. I had started in Japan, hence why the League of Villains got in my way and as soon as it did."
"Taking over the world..." Magne said, "...Dabi said that the late boss man, who we now know is called All For One, never specified what exactly his end goal was although i did get it that he was wanting to at least bring Japan's hero society to its knees." Looking to Ainz, Magne said, "Is... is it even possible to take over the world?"
"Anything is possible for Lord Ainz," Albedo remarked, her indifferent look laced with a hint of sneering as if looking at something unfavorable (Albedo was looking at a human, after all), "Even taking over the world. In fact, this is going to be the second one he's conquered."
Hearing that Ainz had apparently already took over one world surprised Dabi and the rest of the LoV. It would normally seem too outlandish to believe under normal circumstances, but circumstances in Japan right now are anything but normal. "...Heh," Dabi chuckled, "I wouldn't be surprised if you had something to do with the death of the old boss man."
"I killed All For One, yes," Ainz said, "I would, however, like to know why one of your subordinates had killed a hero student during your attack on the training camp."
"I specifically told the guys I took with me into the training camp to not kill any hero students or the pro hero Ragdoll," Dabi clarified, "I figured a dead kid on the six o' clock news would set pro heroes on us faster. But Moonfish had to go and forget what I told him and the others. Your guess is as good as mine as to why Moonfish did what he did."
Ainz nodded once in agreement. "Trying to avoid risky mistakes. A sound call. You have some good leader qualities." Looking to Dabi, Ainz went on, "But you did invade the training camp to kidnap Shoto Todoroki. I got it the goals you had could have been accomplished with the kidnapping of any of the U.A. students at the training camp, but I'd like to hear it from you why you had your heart set on Shoto Todoroki specifically."
"Grabbing the Todoroki brat would have the added benefit of making what I was doing a personal attack on the pro hero Endeavor," Dabi replied, "As I got a personal beef with him. Todoroki just so happens to be the son of Endeavor."
"And what was it you were planning to do before your plans went up in smoke?" Ainz asked.
Dabi gulped nervously. "...We, that being the League and I, were going to hijack broadcasting waves so everyone all over Japan would watch it live as I gave a speech about how society is corrupt due to the way Japan's pro hero society had been allowed to fester, about how with the League of Villains around that no one would be safe. Then, I would have killed Endeavor's son while the whole show was being broadcast live all over the country, both to prove that the League and I were going to act on our words, and to personally wound Endeavor."
The Mask of Jealousy that Ainz wore hid it well when a dangerous gleam entered Ainz's undead eyes. "...All part of the plan to bring down Japan's pro hero society, huh? I can see why you'd want to do that, the way Japan's pro hero society is working right now not only is getting in my way as well but also personally offends me. However, I will say this to you and your subordinates once."
Leaning forward in his seat, Ainz said, "Minoru Mineta has already been laid to rest with honor and respect. It would be in bad taste if another hero student were to follow him, at least so soon. I hope that I'm clear on that point."
"Crystal," Dabi said.
Ainz leaned back in his seat. "Good. Now, I'm still in a merciful mood, to the point that I'm willing to make the League of Villains a party that's subordinate to me." Dabi and the others perked up when they heard Ainz say that. "I'm also wanting to know where your monsters the nomus come from," Ainz went on, "As well as how the process used to make duplicate quirks for the nomus work."
Dabi weighed his options; he realized the guy in front of him had pretty much been the sole party responsible for bringing the LoV to the shape it's in now, and now he's saying he wants to take over the show. He's the one who made what Dabi now knows are called Death Knights, he's the one who killed All For One. And Dabi has no doubt he and his League will be killed if Ainz is told something that he doesn't want to hear.
...But Dabi realized that Ainz, given what all he's done and what all he has under his sway, is a far better deal than All For One was. Hell, Dabi may even be able to use him and the LoV being lackies of Ainz's to his advantage, it would give him a better edge in being able to bring Endeavor down low. And working for a man who could actually take over the world sounded pretty sweet. With all of that in mind, Dabi gave his response.
"...Well Lord Ainz, to answer your questions about the nomus and their duplicated quirks, we're going to have to find an old friend of All For One's."
END, CHAPTER NINETEEN
Author's notes;
This chapter saw Ainz trivialize the Battle of Kamino Ward, the U.A. students move into the dorms, the U.A. teachers discuss the fallout and certain unanswered factors, and Ainz send an envoy to go pick up the League of Villains for him. After receiving Dabi and his crew, Ainz tells them more or less that they'll answer to him now, and Dabi actually seeing benefit in it agrees, even telling his new boss that his old boss's doctor friend had a lot of answers that he wants.
Things will continue in the next chapter to see what else Ainz will be getting. Take care.