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 twenty-two: Ungrateful Undead
The fifteen-hundred someodd hero academy students at Takoba National Stadium were caught by surprise when, before the prelims of the Provisional License Exams could even start, the League of Villains not only launched an attack, but said attack sealed off all ability the students had to flee, also the villains had brought in a horde of monsters that all looked to be some manner of undead.
There was even two of those big black skeleton warrior monsters, hanging at the back with Dabi, the leader of the League of Villains, and some villain who looked like an oni and wore samurai armor and had a kanabo. There were also loads of villains, mostly Twice clones, in the audience to keep the pro hero teachers there occupied and unable to step in to help the students.
"Shit!" Bakugo swore after he landed from using his Explosion quirk to fly straight up to see the back of the undead procession, "That burnt chicken nugget motherfucker that led the losers who took IcyHot from the summer break training camp is here, and he's got some demon ogre samurai jerk and an army of undead looking monsters, including two big black skeleton warrior monsters!"
The other U.A. hero course students all looked freaked out. "I also saw the horde coming for us and the other hero academy students," Bakugo went on, "Mostly animated human skeletons, all of them for some odd reason carrying melee weapons and some have shields. But I did see a number of shambling animated human corpses that could be one thing and one thing only."
"Y-You mean zombies, Bakugo," Jiro said, drawing an affirmative nod out of Bakugo.
"Curse those foul villains," Ibara scowled, "Using some manner of unholy quirk to desecrate the dead in such a fashion. This if nothing else the villains have done crosses the line."
Ainz allowed everyone to think that the monsters coming towards them were created by the use of some manner of necromancy quirk. In reality all of the skeletons and zombies were pop monsters from Nazarick, spawning there naturally. Not only would using so many pop monsters here be of zero cost to the Sorcerer King, but he specifically got pop monsters at a low enough level to, while still having the students fight, wouldn't be an immediate threat to lives if the students were smart.
Only the two Death Knights weren't made in Nazarick or the first New World; Ainz made them from a pair of quirked thugs that tried to rob a Mr. Suzuki owned store that Ainz just so happened to be at when the attempted crime tried to occur. Both of the quirked thugs, a woman and her young adult nephew, had valuable quirks that Ainz planned to make full use of for his later plans.
As the army of (low level) undead got close, Ainz said, "Shinso, do you have any means of fighting monsters like that?"
"I wouldn't wanna try the ones that look like zombies," Shinso replied, "But the training that I have had with Aizawa-sensei so far ought to let me deal with the ones that look like skeletons. But by no means to I wanna tackle one of the two big black skeleton warrior monsters."
"Do you have the means to vanquish the simple skeletons if need be?" Ainz asked.
Pulling out a quality hunting knife, Shinso said, "Aizawa-sensei supplied me with this, but I'm highly doubting a knife can hurt a monster that is literally only bones." Putting his knife away, Shinso went on, "If I had a blunt weapon such as an expandable baton, then I could easily bash in the skulls of a couple of those skeletons at least."
Turning to Yaoyorozu, Ainz said, "Yaoyorozu-san, can you use your quirk to create an expandable baton for Shinso to use?"
Yaoyorozu nodded in the affirmative, holding her right arm out and her left hand under the forearm of her right arm. An expandable baton fell out of a glowing aura on the bottom of Yaoyorozu's right forearm and into the waiting left hand. She then tossed it to Shinso. "It's made of Tungsten, so it ought to be strong," remarked the very plump girl as she saw Shinso expand his new weapon.
"Yaomomo, you ought to conserve yourself to help fight off the monsters made via the power of some unholy quirk," Ashido advised.
Yaoyorozu, patting her very considerable belly, said with a hint of dryness to her expression and tone, "I have plenty of fuel in the tank for my quirk. The weapon I made for Shinso had hardly put a scratch in it."
Bakugo turned to look at Ainz. "Deku, you're the only one here who can take out those big ass black skeleton warrior monsters. Think you can smoke them?"
Holding his staff up a bit, Ainz said, "I see no reason why I can't. But the villain who led the attack that kidnapped Todoroki is there, as is some fellow you described as a demon ogre who's wearing samurai armor. Things will probably end up taking me a bit more time than if it were just the two big black skeleton warrior monsters." Ainz was continuing leaving the second New Worlders in the dark about the fact that the Death Knights are called Death Knights, for various reasons.
Looking to his peers in Class 1-A, Ainz said, "Iida-san, Yaoyorozu-san, you two are our class's rep and vice rep respectively. Can you help to rally our peers to fight off the monsters coming for us?"
"Hey, I can totally kick ass as a leader, Deku!" Bakugo barked, looking offended he had been skipped as a potential option.
"Leaders are more effective when hanging back and directing," Ainz pointed out, "If you were leading our peers, you wouldn't exactly have the freedom to go fight the monsters."
Scowling, Bakugo said, "...Fine." It didn't surprise the Sorcerer King that Bakugo wanted to fight some of the undead pop monsters that were charging in.
Turning to look at Class 1-B, Ainz asked, "Class 1-B, your class's class rep and class vice rep ought to lead your group through this attack!"
"That would be Kendo and Shoda respectively," Juzo remarked, with Itsuka and Nirengeki nodding in confirmation. "What about you, Midoriya?" Juzo asked.
Pointing in the direction the horde of undead looking monsters was coming from, Ainz said, "There's two big black skeleton warrior monsters, the leader of the villains who kidnapped Todoroki from the summer break training camp, and a demon ogre looking man in samurai armor. I need to go deal with at least the big black skeleton warrior monsters." Ainz then flew up and flew off over the horde of undead to go right for the shogun's field office.
As the U.A. first year hero course students saw Ainz fly off, Sato said, "Hey, is Midoriya going to be alright? I mean, those big black skeleton warrior monsters are very strong and frightening, and there's also the villain leader who kidnapped Todoroki, plus some demon ogre samurai looking guy working with the villains."
"Relax, Sweet Tooth," Bakugo said, "Deku, as much as it annoys me to admit it, is hella tough. He'll smoke those guys no problem." The horde of undead looking monsters had gotten within range of the hero academy students so that said students who have the means of attacking at a distance would be able to shoot the monsters down, focusing mainly on the ones that look like zombies. As the tankier students prepared to intercept the monsters that looked like skeletons, Bakugo had one thought go through his mind.
"You had better not fuck up, Deku."
...
Aizawa, as he, Hizashi, Sekijiro, Ryo, Nemuri, and Ms. Joke fought against the villains attacking them, had no idea what was going on. Forget the fact that the quirks of Aizawa himself plus Nemuri and Ms. Joke aren't working right now for some odd reason. The villains not only have sufficient forces to keep the people in the audience from leaping in to help the students who were trapped, but said students are being rushed by a force of monsters that only could have been made via the use of the most unholy of quirks.
And how in blazes were the villains able to amass so large a force of quirk-forged monsters? Aizawa had it from All Might that with the villain identified as All For One now dead, the League of Villains ought to be effectively destitute. Did Dabi forge an alliance with another party to continue the blasphemous work All Might's greatest nemesis of all time had been cooking up? Considering the fact two of the quirk-forged monsters brought along are a pair of those big black skeleton warrior monsters, Aizawa was leaning towards an affirmative answer.
But he couldn't afford to think of that now. The team of villains confronting him and the others, led by Spinner who was confirmed to be Dabi's right hand man, were effectively keeping all six of the pro hero teachers occupied. Making things worse is how Aizawa, Nemuri, and Ms. Joke can't use their respective quirks for some odd reason; their quirks here and now would have been invaluable in helping to incapacitate the villains, allowing them to either help the others on the audience who are fighting villains or leap into the arena to help the students.
Aizawa's heart still ached over how Mineta had been killed. He prayed that no other hero academy students would be killed. If that wish was granted and Aizawa knew it, then he could die happy.
Over at the shogun's field office, Dabi stood next to where Sasuke Sengoku sat. "From what I'm seeing, the horde sent to confront the baby heroes has a slight numbers advantage," Dabi said, "But the horde doesn't look to be made of too many quality monsters."
"Our lord is testing things, Sir Dabi," Sasuke said, "Depending on the results here today, our lord will make adjustments to his plans. He wants a good idea on what power the heroes plan to bring to the table when their whelps are old enough to join."
Arching a wry eyebrow, Dabi remarked, "Yeah, there tends to not be a lot of field data available on what the baby heroes can do, aside from some of the toddlers at U.A. Day Care. A baby hero could potentially throw things off kilter and screw us over if we're trying to fight the grown ups."
As Sasuke nodded in agreement, he and his camp was confronted when the pro hero Gang Orca, one of the current Top Tenners and a hero helping to run the Provisional License Exams, came in and pointed at them. "You villains go too far here!" Gang Orca shouted, "I'll be taking all of you down and bringing you into custody!"
Dabi gave an indifferent look at Gang Orca before turning to look at Sasuke and said, "You wanna let one of the Black Paladins behind us take care of him, or do you wanna do it?"
Sasuke, without saying a word or even getting up from his seat, picked up his kanabo one handed with his right hand, held it to his left, then swung it to the right to strike Gang Orca. The single move hit Gang Orca's head with enough force to rip it clear off of his neck, sending it flying away and tumbling for a bit before Gang Orca's headless body, blood gushing from where the head used to be, fell to its knees before falling over onto the ground on its left side.
As Sasuke sat his kanabo back down, Dabi actually smirked and chuckled in amusement. "Dude, that was pretty brutal," Dabi said, snickering a bit.
As the oni samurai arched a curious eyebrow at Dabi being amused by how he slew Gang Orca, balls of fire and bolts of lightning rained down at the Death Knights, destroying both of them. As Dabi jumped a bit in surprise, Ainz called out, "You villains had picked a bad time to come in and make a mess of things!" Dabi and Sasuke looked up and saw Ainz flying in place, looking down at the both of them with clear unamusement.
"H-Hey, you're one of the kids at U.A. Day Care in the same class as Endeavor's baby boy," Dabi said, "How were you able take out the Black Paladins behind me no problem?"
"Sir Dabi," Sasuke began as he stood up from his seat, "If this one here was able to accomplish that without issue, then you with all due respect do not stand a chance. I shall confront him, buy you time to escape. Your fellows here with us helping us with the attack will be gathered and pulled back when we have to get out of here after our siege here is done."
Scowling in annoyance as well as a bit of alarm over the power he just saw one of Todoroki's classmates display, Dabi said, "Fine."
Sasuke while Ainz landed held an item in front of his mouth. "I need a portal at my location," the oni samurai muttered, "Dabi is being pulled out." A swirling portal appeared behind Dabi, and an arm wearing a long sleeve of orange with thin yellow stripes reached through to grab Dabi and pull him away from the battlefield and to safety.
After the portal vanished, Sasuke readied his kanabo to confront Ainz. "You are pretty strong, to have slain two Black Paladins as easily as the average person can swat a fly," Sasuke said, "I would be hearing your name, young man!"
Holding his arms out at his sides, Ainz said, "I am Izuku Midoriya, otherwise known as the Sorcerer Hero Deku!"
Sasuke smirked in amusement. "I am Sasuke Sengoku, the loyal samurai retainer in service to the greatest lord anyone could ever have the honor of being in service to! Let's see how much sport one such as you can provide!" Sasuke then proceeded to ready his kanabo before charging right at the Sorcerer Hero, eager to do battle with him.
The hero academy students were able to deal with the horde of undead looking monsters fairly well. None of the monsters that looked like zombies got close as they were struck down by ranged quirk attacks, and the frontline fighting students focused on the skeletons. Some students even got the idea to salvage the shields and melee weapons some of the skeletons had to help with evening the odds against the nightmarish horde.
Undoubtedly forged by the most unholy of quirks.
Itsuka, as she led her peers in Class 1-B against part of the horde that the League of Villains had sicced on the hero academy students, saw items glowing with the power of the Poltergeist quirk that her classmate Reiko Yanagi has, and flying right at the heads of the monsters that look like zombies, scoring loads of headshots that downed the undead looking monsters. It was thanks to Reiko that by this point, only a handful of the zombie-looking quirk-forged monsters remained.
"Alright, Yanagi!" Juzo cheered as he saw his classmate's handiwork, "Way to come in clutch!"
"Her quirk must have gotten stronger through the training we did at the summer break training camp," Jurota remarked as he while in his beast form slugged a skeleton away, "That all looked like Yanagi's quirk was controlling more weight than what the average person weighs."
Shihai scoffed in bitter annoyance. "Just focus on fighting the skeleton monsters." Jurota took note of his classmate expressing annoyance over Yanagi being in the limelight for a moment.
As the Class 1-B students fought, a skeleton armed with a simple curved sword was coming up from behind Itsuka in her blind spot, but Shinso cast a length of capture weapon at the skeleton to pull it back towards him, then he struck it in the head with his expandable baton that was conjured for him by Yaoyorozu. "You almost got slashed by a skeleton's sword, Kendo!" Shinso yelled as he jumped back to avoid another skeleton while pulling his capture weapon back to him, "You need to watch your back!"
"Thanks for the save, Shinso," Itsuka remarked, and would have gone on but a large and powerful gust of wind blew at the horde of quirk-forged monsters. The class rep of U.A.'s Class 1-B looked up as she saw a boy wearing a distinctive hat laughing as he cast his powerful wind quirk at all of the monsters charging in at hero academy students.
Unfortunately, the wind boy's wild and uncontrolled use of his powerful wind quirk, while it did take out some of the monsters, just tossed the rest of them around. Some of them landed right near other hero academy students, also some hero academy students were also picked up by the winds and dropped in front of some monsters. This saw several hero academy students from an all-girls hero academy get killed by the monsters, with a girl named Saiko Inteli having her jugular torn out by the maw of one of the zombie looking monsters. The monster that had killed Saiko appeared to be female.
"Someone tell that wind bastard to stop fighting so wild!" Bakugo barked, "His recklessness just got several students killed!" Bakugo, having seen Saiko's neck become a snack for one of the zombie looking monsters, jumped up with his Explosion quirk, took aim, and fired a concentrated beam of explosion that pierced Saiko's head. "Can't risk any of us being turned," Bakugo said as he landed back down from where he flew up to.
The female zombie looking monster was struck in the head by an item controlled by Reiko's quirk, wrecking the head bad enough to kill the monster. Bakugo was planning on having words with the wind quirk boy after this attack was over. The explosive teen had seen this brand of horror out of the villains multiple times before already, and it actually scared him to his core. Making things even worse is when he sees anyone slain by the horrors that the villains are now pushing.
It made Bakugo acquire a growing (albeit grudging) respect for Izuku Midoriya, as he can not only confront the big black skeleton warrior monsters without any fear, but also smoke them as if they were nothing.
...
"Dragon Lightning!"
*KERZAP*
"Gaahh!'
Ainz pushed Sasuke Sengoku back by blasting him with a Dragon Lightning. Sasuke stumbled backwards a bit, but then took a step forward. However, he fell to one knee, using his kanabo as a prop to keep himself up. "You... you are indeed very strong, Deku!" Sasuke called out through the pain, "To think that a mere whelp can pose a threat to one as great as I!"
Ainz, who was floating in the air with Fly, looked down at where the oni samurai was kneeling. "My temper towards ones of villainous ilk such as yourself has its limits," Ainz said, "You had better pray that none of your monsters and minions had killed any innocents here today, like how you had killed a good pro hero!" Ainz then raised a hand back as he prepared to cast a Fireball at Sasuke.
Seeing this, Sasuke braced himself for the attack, and was thrown away by the force of the Fireball blasting into him. "Gaahh!" Sasuke cried out as he was struck by the Fireball, being flung back into a flat hunk of rubble. Sasuke, due to how he was thrown into that, was able to get onto his feet as he was basically in a standing position. But he panted hard with exhaustion and pain.
Sasuke was able to stand while wielding his kanabo with his right hand, but the oni samurai looked like he wouldn't be able to fight anymore for now. It was as Sasuke stood there that a small little blue sphere of flame with a white core floated up to him. "Sir Sasuke," the will-o-wisp said, "All of the zombies have been vanquished, and less than ten percent of the skeletons remain. The forces that confronted the students did manage to kill a few, but at this point our forces aren't gonna win."
Ainz perked up when he heard that some of the hero academy students were killed. He hoped that at minimum none of them were from U.A. As for Sasuke, he replied, "Is Shoto Todoroki among the dead?"
"No, only female students from an all girls hero academy were killed," said the will-o-wisp, "Most of them were killed because a boy's powerful wind quirk blew them to our forces or some of our forces to them. And our men in the audience keeping the heroes there from interfering haven't been able to kill any of the heroes."
"Then the day is lost for us," Sasuke remarked. Looking to Ainz, Sasuke called out, "You and your hero ilk are far stronger than I had given you all credit for, Deku! The day is yours, I will admit to that! But this isn't the end, I assure you!" Sasuke then used the item he had to call up the gate for Dabi earlier to call up a Gate for himself. Similarly, Gates opened to pull out all of the villains that were keeping the pro hero teachers busy.
Sasuke and his non-fodder forces were pulled back, and when the last of the skeletons were all vanquished, the attack on the Provisional License Exams at Takoba National Stadium had come to an end. Ainz, as he turned around, flew off to where the hero academy students were left to fight the army of (low level) undead pop monsters from Nazarick.
Now was time to reap rewards and cultivate even more renown.
It was ruled by the Hero Public Safety Commission that a vast majority of the hero academy students that fought the quirk-forged monsters that the League of Villains brought in to attack the exams would be given passes on the exams and receive their provisional hero licences. The most notable student to pass was Izuku Midoriya, as he vanquished two of the big black skeleton warrior monsters and defeated the oni samurai looking villain managing the attack.
Aizawa, after he, Nemuri, and Ms. Joke all saw that their respective quirks were now working again, tore into the boy with the powerful wind quirk for his recklessness in fighting the monsters that the League of Villains had brought to the attack. Said reckless got twelve students from an all girls hero academy killed because he couldn't contain his power properly.
Making Aizawa even more pissed is the fact the boy with the powerful wind quirk was one of the students who got a provisional licence. To the boy's credit, he was horrified to learn that his efforts got several allies killed; he honestly didn't know there were other students in the way of his attack on the monsters that the League of Villains had brought to the attack they had launched on the Provisional License Exams.
At a minimum, Aizawa was glad none of the students from U.A. were killed; that relieved him as he didn't want to experience the feelings he had when Mineta was killed. What's more is that all of them got their provisional hero licences; the nineteen students of Class 1-A and twenty students of Class 1-B now had some legal means to help pro heroes fight villains. Shinso had also gotten his provisional hero licence, which meant that he was going to be transferred to Class 1-A immediately.
But what really caught the attention of the heroes were details picked up from conflicts against the oni samurai; the big black skeleton warrior monsters were called Black Paladins, and this attack was a second bid on part of the League of Villains to capture Shoto Todoroki, the son of Endeavor who is Japan's number two hero.
It would appear that Dabi, the successor of the late All For One, has a grudge against the Flame Hero which knows no bounds.
...
"Your acting today was impeccable, Sasuke Sengoku," Ainz said as he, using an illusion spell to appear as his skeletal self, sat in his throne in the throne room of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Kneeling before the Sorcerer King were many of Nazarick's most notable NPCs. "It had done very considerable work to progress my interests in conquering the second New World," Ainz went on, "I am certain that your creator and my old friend, Kurama Kyubi, would be proud of you."
"Your words of praise are more than I deserve, Lord Ainz," Sasuke said as the oni samurai bowed his head to the leader of the exalted forty-one.
"Lord Ainz," Demiurge spoke up, "Firstly, please forgive me for speaking out of turn, I was just curious about something."
Turning to look at Demiurge, Ainz said, "If there is something about my dealings that have you confused, there is no need to hesitate to ask for clarification, Demiurge."
Demiurge nodded his head once in thanks. "My lord, I got it that the Death Knights in the second New World are being referred to as Black Paladins," Demiurge began, "I was simply wondering why you changed the name of their species."
"I didn't," Ainz replied, "My bit to refer to the Death Knights as Black Paladins in the second New World is a bid to mislead the humans there. I have learned that there are powers in the second New World that work in conjunction with a target's true name. If the humans learn that the Death Knights are actually called Death Knights, then they will be subjected to those powers. Hence why I felt that a bit of misdirection was necessary to protect the lower parts of my army's rank and file."
Albedo nodded once in understanding. "I was curious about why Black Paladins was being used as an alias for the Death Knights. I suppose Shalltear's theory she came up with turned out to be true."
"I'm smarter than you think I am!" Shalltear declared to Albedo.
Ainz made a mental note of Demiurge and Albedo failing to understand (without being told first) why the Death Knights are being called Black Paladins in the second New World, but Shalltear getting it right with her first theory. It told the Sorcerer King that his followers can in fact learn and get better. "Speaking of misdirection," Ainz went on, "I had also led the humans of the second New World to think that the attack I had launched was a bid on part of the League of Villains to once more try to take the son of Endeavor."
"I still can't believe Sasuke had to act like he was subservient to a human," Aura remarked, "Acting like he took orders from that fellow named Dabi."
"It was all for Lord Ainz's plans, little one," Cocytus said, "You would question his insight?" Aura briskly shook her head, showing that she would never question the Supreme Beings. The denizens of Nazarick all cheered for the glory their lord had been able to attain, as he was now one step closer to his goal of adding a second world to his list of conquests. There was by no means going to be any stopping Ainz Ooal Gown.
...
Ainz, after dropping the illusion spell so he appeared as Izuku again, portaled back into Izuku's dorm room at U.A., assured that the measures he had set up ensured no one would know what goes on in there. Ainz walked over to the desk in his dorm room, picked up the provisional hero licence that bore the face and name of Izuku Midoriya. "Helping you achieve the dream you deserved will help me achieve my goals," Ainz muttered to himself as he looked at the provisional licence.
He put it into a wallet and put the wallet in his pants before exiting his dorm room. When he got down to the main area of the Class 1-A dorm building, he saw that a party was being set up by his peers, which now included Shinso who was talking to Tenya and Todoroki. "Sorry that I was out of it for a bit," Ainz said, "I got really tired."
"Considering the fact you took out two of what we know now are called Black Paladins," Tenya began, "As well as fight their demon ogre samurai leader into submission, I can't blame you for being tired, Midoriya."
"There's gonna be some sort of opening ceremony for the new portion of the school year tomorrow," Todoroki said, "Aizawa grumbled a bit about how he has to take us, saying something about Kan-sensei reporting his skipping of the opening ceremony to Principal Nezu."
"Can you blame Aizawa-sensei?" Shinso asked, "Considering what we're going to have to deal with as pro heroes, what we have to deal with now due to the League of Villains, we don't exactly have the time for luxuries such as wasting time on trivial things." It would appear that working so much with Aizawa has made Shinso develop some of Aizawa's ideals.
Either way, Class 1-A was going to that assembly tomorrow. Ainz was looking forward to it.
END, CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the attack on the Provisional License Exams go on and conclude, but it was mainly something Ainz did to boost his reputation; he's done similar things before, so this shouldn't come as a surprise. And now a good number of hero academy students, including all of the ones from U.A. who were at the exams, got their provisional licences. This includes Ainz, and it brings the Sorcerer King one step closer to his goals.
Ainz also makes use of clever misdirection to help further cover his tracks; Japanese hero society now erroneously believes that Death Knights are called Black Paladins, and everyone thinks that the attack on Takoba National Stadium was done because Dabi wanted to try and kidnap Todoroki again due to his beef with Endeavor. Ainz also returns the quirks he took from Aizawa, Nemuri, and Ms. Joke so they wouldn't get in the way.
Anyway, the next chapter will see Ainz get some answers on the mystery to him that is One For All.