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 thirty: They might be giants
Natsuo and Fuyumi, the older siblings of Shoto Todoroki, were visiting their mom Rei at the hospital that she was staying at. "It's great to see you doing so well, mom," Fuyumi said as she and Natsuo talked to their mom, "At least well enough to have visitors."
"It sucks that you can't leave the hospital yet," Natsuo remarked, "Shoto and Fuyumi and I all love you, you know."
Rei gave a small but sincere smile. "Thanks, Natsuo."
"Oh, did you hear that Shoto has a girlfriend now?" Fuyumi asked, "Some girl in his rival homeroom class over at U.A. I think her name is Reiko Yanagi. Natsuo and I both met her. We were both kind of surprised to see Reiko."
"You were surprised because you were under the impression that Shoto was gay," Natsuo said to his sister when he turned his attention to her.
"And what's with you thinking that Shoto preferred fat girls?" Fuyumi shot back, both siblings looking fit to get into an argument with one another.
However, the tension between them melted when Rei suddenly began laughing. "Sorry, but it's been ages since I've seen an argument between siblings," Rei said, "It reminded me of when all of you were still kids." Letting out a sigh as she calmed down from her laughter, Rei said, "So I take it that you two heard about your father becoming the number one hero in Japan?"
Both Natsuo and Fuyumi looked shocked. Rei caught onto this. "Relax, it doesn't bother me all that much," Rei went on, "Hearing about your father, and what success he finds, doesn't bother me as much as what some people may think."
"It still amazes me that you're as forgiving as you are, mom," Natsuo said, "Especially towards dad. You do know, you do remember, what all he's put others through in the past decade. And now he's finally gotten what he's been clamoring for for over the past ten years! Where's the justice in that?"
Rei pointed something out to Natsuo and Fuyumi; a vase of flowers. "Your father sent those to me," Rei said, "They're my favorite kind of flowers, and I told him about them exactly once, many years ago. I'm still a bit nervous to see him face to face, it's why he had them sent to me. But the fact he remembered a detail like that from so long ago..." Looking to her children, Rei said, "Your father can't be all that ba-"
Rei was cut off when a nurse came running into the room, looking panicked. "There's a massive fight going on over in Fukuoka!" the nurse practically exclaimed, "A lot of pro heroes are over there, including Hawks, Majestic, and Endeavor!"
"Well Hawks makes sense, Fukuoka is his turf," Natsuo said, "But Endeavor and Majestic? Plus a bunch of other pro heroes? How many villains are they fighting?"
"Three," the nurse replied, drawing surprised looks out of Natsuo, Fuyumi, and Rei. "Well, technically five showed up," the nurse went on, "Dabi and Spinner were spotted riding on nomus that can fly. But only the three giant villains that Dabi called in are actually fighting the heroes."
"I'm sorry, Fuyumi said, "But did you say three giant villains?"
Fukuoka was turning into a war zone where the present pro heroes, being led by Endeavor, Hawks, and Majestic, were fighting against the trio of giantesses that Dabi had called in. And the pro heroes were on the losing end of the battle. A dozen pro heroes had already been killed, not to mention the catastrophic damage to the cityscape that was being caused, and untold number of other deaths.
And yet the giantesses, Frieren, Usagi, and Nekohime, didn't look the least bit worn out or bothered in any way. News helicopters flew in to film live all of the fighting, careful to keep high out of the range of the fighting. But Usagi shot out a very long tongue, steel hard same as the rest of her, and smacked hard the side of one of the news helicopters, sending it plummeting down to the ground.
Only quick acting from Majestic saved the people inside from dying in a crash, he conjured disks with his quirk and used them to catch and carry the downed helicopter down to the ground safely. "Find cover!" Majestic yelled as soon as the people in the downed helicopter got out, "You're in too much danger if you remain here while the other heroes and I are fighting the giant villain girls!"
The news crew from that helicopter all nodded in understanding as they all ran as fast as their legs could carry them from where the fighting in Fukuoka was going down. Majestic didn't even see the news crew he rescued find cover as he immediately turned back to head over to the fight against the three giantesses, knowing full well that every pro hero that was present had to help fight them.
A group of sidekick level pro heroes tried firing ranged quirk attacks at Frieren, but she conjured a barrier dome that blocked all of the attacks aimed at her, before she fired her concussive rainbow colored light attack from one hand and her laser attack from the other, hitting a lot of the pro heroes who had tried attacking her. Several of those pro heroes were killed in that assault by Frieren.
Usagi held her four arms out at different points, as if she were making the points of a square. She enlarged her fists, encased them in spheres of rainbow colored light energy, then she began to spin like a top, spinning right into several buildings and wrecking them up terribly. The heroes could only pray that there were no civilians in those buildings at the time Usagi decided on being a tornado.
Endeavor was still trying to lead the fighting against Nekohime, the first of the giantesses to have killed any pro heroes in this fight. Endeavor and a few sidekick level pro heroes with fire quirks tried turning the heat up on Nekohime, but the fire did nothing to her. She struck down a few more of the sidekick level pro heroes with her conjured scales she shot, as well as spray more acid at them.
"Are any more heroes coming?!" Endeavor exclaimed, "We're going to need more to help fight off these giant villains!"
"From the looks of it, we're gonna need every hero in Japan!" Hawks cried out, clearly panicking as he sent some of his feathers to catch and carry away some sidekicks who otherwise would have been crushed under rubble falling from a building that Usagi wrecked.
Majestic likewise was able to whisk several sidekicks out of the path of Frieren's attacks. "How in blazes are these girls so strong?! What does this mean for Japan?!"
Over at the Class 1-A dorm building on U.A. grounds, the Class 1-A students all watched what was going on in Fukuoka via live news on the TV in the common room on the ground floor of their dorm building. They were all beyond shocked that the League of Villains had access to a trio of giant villains such as those girls, making even the Black Paladins that Dabi and his brood have access to look tame by comparison.
"You're... you're kidding," Bakugo said, in a rare moment where fear was in his tone and expression. He wasn't as loud as he usually was, the fear and shock had subdued that bit of the explosive teen. "The villain bastards have girls like that," Bakugo went on.
"Some of them have quirks similar to what we and our peers over in Class 1-B have," Tenya went on, "How is that possible...?"
"Everyone, we need to calm down," Ainz said, "I'm certain that the pro heroes will eventually get things under control here."
Gesturing to the TV, Ojiro said, "Do you not see what all those girl giants have done, what they can do, how many quirks each of them have?! How are the heroes supposed to fight against the three of them?! Hell, even just one of those three on their own would be too much!"
As the Class 1-A students were worried, Aizawa came rushing in, looking ready to head out to fight. "Everyone, stay here on school grounds," Aizawa said, "As many of the pro heroes working here that can be spared are being sent out to Fukuoka to help confront the giant villains that appeared, and I'm one of them."
"You're going to be careful, right Aizawa-sensei?" Ashido asked, looking worried.
Letting out a sigh, Aizawa replied, "I can't make any promises, Ashido. But I will try to survive and come back. Kan is coming with me as well, so the students in his homeroom are in the same boat as you." Aizawa then turned around and left without another word.
After Aizawa was gone, Ainz said, "I'm going to head up to my dorm room, try to take my mind off of the troubles that are going on over in Fukuoka."
"Yeah, I need to try to calm down too," Sato said, and after he said that Sato left to try to calm down in his dorm room. A few others went to their dorm rooms as well, including Ainz. But he didn't go to his dorm room to calm down. After stepping inside, closing the door behind him, and setting up any and all necessary security measures to prevent others from intruding or spying, Ainz used magic to disguise himself with the usual illusion before casting Greater Teleportation.
It was time to carry out the next part of this plan.
...
Back over in Fukuoka, the heroes rallying under Endeavor, Hawks, and Majestic were still failing badly against Frieren, Usagi, and Nekohime. Each giantess had by this point killed at least twenty people, not counting any not seen due to potentially being in buildings wrecked during the fighting. Fukuoka was steadily turning into a second Kamino Ward, and the heroes, Hawks especially as this was his home turf, were panicking.
Right as Frieren turned to plop down on a group of heroes with the intent to squash them under her considerable rear end, Dabi's voice called out, "Hold it, girls!" The three giantesses all stopped short and turned to look up at where Dabi and Spinner appeared, riding on their flying nomus. Looking down at Endeavor, Dabi gave the Flame Hero a shit eating grin. "Endeavor!" Dabi called down, "What do you think of half of my bodyguard squad?"
"You've crossed the line, villain!" Endeavor roared out, "Do you know how much damage has been wrought by you?! The number of lives lost?!"
"And the amount of damage done and number of lives lost will only keep going up!" Dabi boasted, "But you can end it now, you know!"
Endeavor looked surprised by what Dabi said. "I can end things now? How?!"
"I want you to admit that you and the other heroes have to surrender," Dabi replied, "To admit that me and the other villains have you beat! Do so, and I'll pull out! Don't do so, and we'll keep going until Fukuoka makes Kamino Ward look like a minor paper cut by comparison! So what will it be?!"
Endeavor looked around, saw all of the damage caused by Dabi loosing his three female giants on Hawks's turf. The Flame Hero also saw at least two news helicopters flying around, getting everything that was happening. Dabi had put Endeavor, had put all heroes in Japan, between a rock and a hard place. No matter what, the heroes of Japan are going to come out of this looking worse than ever before.
...But there was only one choice Endeavor can make that would save as many lives as possible. "Fine! I admit it!" Endeavor barked up at Dabi, "The other heroes and I surrender! You win! Now get your trio of giantesses out of here!"
Smirking in amusement, Dabi called back down, "That's all I needed to hear." Dabi then took out his mysterious communication device and used it to call for a pull out. Giant portals appeared again, only for the giantesses to each go into one; Dabi and Spinner flew into the portal that Nekohime had walked into, although Dabi turned around and said something before actually leaving.
"We'll be back later, Endeavor. Heh heh heh..." With that, Dabi turned and flew into the portal that Nekohime had walked into, then the three portals disappeared. After the portals were gone, the remaining pro heroes were able to catch their breath.
...But Japanese pro hero society not only was dealt a major blow, the villains had also forced them to eat a rather large serving of humble pie. Endeavor could already tell there was going to be hell to pay, not just for him surrendering to the villains, but also for what all damage had gone down during the fight against the trio of giantesses in Fukuoka.
If Japanese pro heroes hadn't have their darkest hour yet, they were certainly having it now.
Later that evening, things were already going down in the news. First of all, the death toll from the attack in Fukuoka got into the triple digits, with no less than one-hundred civilians and twenty pro heroes among the dead. Second, the damages to the buildings, streets, and other such constructed things wrecked during the chaos in Fukuoka was equal to, if not greater, than the cost of what all damage was done during the Battle of Kamino Ward.
Third, and this is arguably a very concerning point, the villains had forced the heroes to admit defeat. Dabi had made Japan's pro heroes look utterly ineffectual and incapable of doing their job when Endeavor surrendered to Dabi on behalf of all of the pro heroes present. Less than forty-eight hours had passed since Endeavor got his wish of becoming Japan's top hero, and he was forced to let mud be thrown into his face.
In a press conference held following the chaos in Fukuoka, where Endeavor plus Hawks, Majestic, and several other pro heroes who survived the chaos in Fukuoka gave statements, Endeavor had to defend his decision as it was literally the only way to prevent further destruction and loss of life. Several other pro heroes who were present in Fukuoka, including both Hawks and Majestic, agreed that Endeavor did the best he could with the (admittedly rather shitty) hand he was dealt.
Then there was the part of the press conference that covered Dabi's three giant villains. "Dabi's right hand man Spinner identified them as Frieren the Magic Collecting Steed, Usagi the Rabbit-Earred Giantess, and Nekohime the Sun-Hunting Feline Beast," Majestic began, "Likening them to World Bosses from a JMMORPG. Dabi had also said that he has a second, similar trio of giant bodyguards at his beck and call, but males as opposed to the females loosed in Fukuoka."
"Is there any idea of their capabilities?" one female reporter asked.
"There is no clue at the moment of their exact capabilities," Hawks replied, "But using the three female giant villains from Fukuoka as a base, we can assume that the male giant villains are at an absolute minimum around the same overall level of power and threat."
"Do any of them have any names that can be pinned to them?" asked a second female reporter.
"Unfortunately, no," Majestic replied, "But we will send word out as soon as we learn anything."
"Endeavor!" the first female reporter said, "What do you have to say about all of this?"
Endeavor inhaled through his nose before exhaling. "...We of the pro hero community in Japan have grown complacent," Endeavor began, "And because of said complacency, the villainous element in our nation has been allowed to grow in size, strength, and level of threat. I assign blame to no one hero in particular, because this travesty is something we all have to bare on our shoulders, all pro heroes are at fault here. We have to do better, we WILL do better, we can't afford not to."
Endeavor's vow actually went on better than expected. At an absolute minimum, it made the crowd of reporters relax their hostile tones towards the heroes. It also inspired the (remaining) pro heroes of Japan to do better. Yes, the heroes of Japan had to do better; with their numbers dropping like flies, combined with villainy growing stronger and gaining more and more horrors, Japan's pro hero community had to shape up if they were to protect the people..
...
A short while later, Hawks was meeting privately in an abandoned alleyway with none other than Dabi himself. "What in blazes happened to the plan of a single high end nomu fighting and causing damage only around an abandoned warehouse on the coast of Fukuoka?!" Hawks said, barely able to keep himself from snapping at Dabi. Hawks was working for the HPSC as a spy to infiltrate the League of Villains to gather intel on them, so he had to be good with and towards Dabi.
"Heh, sorry that the plan was scuttled," Dabi said, "But some tests had to be run. Even I didn't have a say in if the tests should be run or not."
Hawks perked up at that. "You didn't have a say in whether or not the tests should be run?"
"Sorry, I can't say anything not approved," Dabi replied, "But silver lining, the tests provided fruitful results."
Hawks had to keep from scowling; Fukuoka in addition to being his stomping grounds saw so many deaths, most of them civilian deaths. "...A little bit of warning next time would be nice," Hawks said, "Those giant girls scared the living fuck out of me when they all appeared. I swear the fat one at one point had almost killed someone by dropping down so that her butt squished them.
"They scared me too when I got them," Dabi said, "As did the boys." Hawks knew that he had a lot to report to the big wigs at the HPSC, learning a few things about Dabi and his party of half a dozen giant bodyguards. After saying his goodbyes, Hawks took off, leaving Dabi be.
...Shortly after Hawks left, Dabi heard a female voice call out, "So that's your spy within the top echelons of pro hero society." Dabi turned to see Aura come out from hiding behind something while also turning off some magic she was using to make herself invisible.
Nodding once, Dabi said, "Yeah. But I'm not sure I completely trust him. He's closer with the top big wigs of the HPSC than most other pro heroes, even other top tenners like Endeavor."
"Yeah, I think bringing him in to have a chat with Lord Ainz is a good idea," Aura remarked casually.
Dabi arched a wry eyebrow at that. "You sure that the boss man ought to be bothered for that?"
"Trust me, Lord Ainz has ways of making people talk," Aura assured, "He can do it himself, or have that bloodsucker Shalltear do it for him. There's no secret that Lord Ainz can't find out."
Dabi was a bit amused by Aura's boast about Ainz. ...As well as a little worried. "So how will you bring Hawks in for a little chat with Lord Ainz?"
"Well first we need to make sure that Lord Ainz is available for interrogating that hero," Aura began, "Second, we simply do what we do best. You'd be very surprised with what we can pull off."
Dabi was not going to question it, especially as he's seen what Ainz and some of his top followers were able to pull off already. He had been able to sling mud into Endeavor's face thanks to Ainz and what all he had at his gauntlet-ed fingertips. Maybe the big boss can even help him get Endeavor at his (Dabi's) mercy so he can get revenge on him for what all he's done before killing him.
Ainz taking charge has been pretty good so far, all things considered.
Later the following morning, Endeavor walked into his family's home, and was greeted by the sight of his three children Fuyumi, Natsuo, and Shoto, plus a girl with white hair with the bangs covering one of her eyes who the Flame Hero didn't recognize. That girl plus the Todoroki siblings were all eating. "Dad, welcome home!" Fuyumi said, clearly trying to be kind and welcoming to her father as he stepped into the household.
"Not a very good start to having achieved your dream goal, huh?" Natsuo asked dryly in knowing amusement before slurping up some soba.
"Natsuo, I thought that we agreed on not busting dad's chops when he got back," Fuyumi said, her tone admonishing yet gentle.
"In Natsuo's defense, dad leaves a lot to be desired as a person," Shoto said, "Sure, Endeavor the Hero is top in his field, but can the same be said of Enji the Man?"
Letting out a troubled sigh, the Todoroki patriarch said, "I know I've messed up. Not just as a hero, but as a father as well. Everything that has happened as of late has put things into perspective for me, has made me realize that there's more important things out there. I... I need to start trying to be a better person than what I am right now."
"Do, or do not," Natsuo said, "There is no try." Fuyumi gave him a look, but Natsuo gave it right back.
Speaking of looked, Enji turned his attention to the mysterious girl who sat next to Shoto. "So, umm, who's your friend there, Shoto?" Enji asked, trying to take an interest in his youngest son's life.
"This is my girlfriend Reiko," Shoto said as he introduced Reiko to his dad, "She isn't a fat girl like what Natsuo had expected me to bring home as my girlfriend, nor is she a boy like what Fuyumi had expected me to bring home as my boyfriend."
"I said that I'm sorry, Shoto!" Fuyumi said, looking embarrassed.
"You certainly have a colorful family, Shoto," Reiko remarked.
Shoto turned to look at his dad, but saw that the Flame Hero had a stunned look of surprise on his face. One that showed that Enji was caught off guard. "...You okay?" Shoto asked his dad.
Enji was able to settle down, collect his nerves. "...Sorry, but I need to check something." Enji then took off, leaving the Todoroki siblings and Reiko be.
"What was up with dad?" Natsuo asked.
"Well our mom's name is Rei," Fuyumi began, "And she has white hair. Reiko is a lot like that, but with an extra syllable in her name. Maybe seeing that reminded dad of mom?"
"If he does to Reiko what he did to mom I'll kill him," Shoto said, his tone casual and without missing a beat, before he slurpped up some soba.
A few days later at U.A., Class 1-A got a rather surprising announcement. "We're going to be fighting Class 1-B?" some of Ainz's classmates said in unison.
Nodding once, Aizawa explained, "It's a joint training exercise where each round will see a team of four from each class battle one another. With twenty students per class, there's going to be a total of five rounds. The class with the overall highest number of wins will be the overall winner, but in terms of prize there's nothing but bragging rights up for grabs. That hasn't stopped Kan from saying that he's confident his students will beat you all."
A training event where the 1-A and 1-B students will fight one another. That piqued Ainz's interests, especially as Class 1-A winning such an event could be useful to further boosting the reputation of Izuku Midoriya. The event was actually going to be tomorrow, which gave both classes very little advance warning on the subject, and its goal was to teach everyone to work as a team.
Still, it was a battle competition, and Ainz aimed to see his side score a win.
...
The following day, the joint training exercise took place, but it quickly became apparent to both Aizawa and Kan that Class 1-A had Class 1-B beaten by a country mile. Class 1-A had won the first three matches in a row, which already secured Class 1-A as the overall winner of the event. But the other two matches had to be held anyway so that all students could show their stuff. Class 1-A won those matches as well.
Class 1-B was surprised how badly Class 1-A had beaten them, and Aizawa and Kan were likewise surprised by the clean sweep that Aizawa's students made. What no-one else knew was that Ainz had, before any of the matches started, cast Time Stop to get away with applying any and every applicable buff to every Class 1-A student before applying any and every applicable debuff to every Class 1-B student.
To show that there were no hard feelings, a party was hosted in the Class 1-B dorm building. By this point, the buffs and debuffs that Ainz had cast on everyone had worn off, so everyone was back to normal. As everyone mingled, some of the girls were talking with Tsuyu. "Wait, you still haven't been able to ask if your younger siblings are okay?" Jiro asked, looking surprised.
"It's because of the increased security measures U.A. has taken due to the villains introducing their trio of giant villain girls kero," Tsuyu said, "The soonest I can speak with my family is during the upcoming holiday break."
"Oh yeah, Christmas is around the corner," Itsuka said, "Hey, we gotta hold a big ol' Christmas party for our classes here at U.A."
"Only if the party is hosted in our dorm building," Ashido insisted, "You guys are hosting this party, let me and my classmates host the Christmas party." Ainz overheard the talk of a Christmas party hosted at U.A., and he was actually rather interested. A holiday event shared and celebrated with friends... Ainz hasn't experienced that since his days of playing YGGDRASILL, where he and Ulbert and Peroronchino and Touch Me and all of the others had fun doing in game events available only during the holiday season.
Stepping forward, Ainz got the girls' attention. "Sorry, but I couldn't help but pick up on what you girls were talking about with a holiday party hosted here on campus."
"Oh?" Ashido said in wry amusement, "Did we pique your interest, Midoriya?"
"Admittedly, very much so," Ainz replied, "If such an event ended up being held, I'd be among the first wanting to take part. Would there be anything I have to bring?"
"We'll have to work out the finer details first," Jiro said, looking a bit amused that the plan for a Christmas party already had the support of the undisputed strongest of the first year hero course students of U.A., "But I'm sure a lot of others will be interested if they hear you'll be attending."
The rest of the post-joint training exercise party passed without incident, and everyone had a blast. The homeroom teachers were glad to see that their students were all getting along, and Kan was especially happy to see that Monoma had abandoned his bitter rivalry with Class 1-A wholesale by now, doing so as a force of habit developed due to easing up on 1-A in light of the death of Mineta. He was still competitive with them, but he didn't cross the bitter rivalry line ever again.
Things were starting to look up for hero society, it seemed.
"So what all is there about this... Meta Liberation Army that you found out about?"
Later that night, after Ainz went to his dorm room for the evening and set up all of the necessary measures to ensure he wouldn't be disturbed, he put on an illusion spell to disguise himself as his skeletal self in the black academic hooded gown before using Portal to Nazarick to speak with Demiurge and Albedo as he sat at his desk in his office. The Sorcerer King was currently turned to address Demiurge.
"It's an army of humans in the second new world that is composed entirely of humans that have the powers called quirks," Demiurge began, "The numbers they have exceed one-hundred and fifteen thousand. They believe that unrestricted ability to use quirks, which they refer to as 'meta abilities', is a universal right and thus they aim to grant that to all, by any means necessary. The higher ups also have a survival of the fittest type attitude that sees them view people as more valuable the more powerful their quirk is."
"Any idea on their view of the quirkless?" Ainz asked.
"The top echelons of the Meta Liberation Army would see the quirkless all put to death for the crime of not having a quirk," Demiurge replied.
That struck a nerve with Ainz; Izuku Midoriya, to whom Ainz owed everything since his surprise resurrection in the second New World, was quirkless. And yet the Meta Liberation Army would see all persons like Izuku put to death due solely to sheer accident of birth. Ainz was going to have to deal with the Meta Liberation Army anyway, but their quirkist attitude made it a bit personal for the Sorcerer King.
...Well, Ainz still needed to test all six of the giant bodyguards prepped for Dabi.
END, CHAPTER THIRTY
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the conclusion of the chaos in Fukuoka, which ends only because Endeavor had to admit defeat to Dabi. Society is shaken afterwards, especially because the heroes were made to look ineffectual.
Dabi has a secret meeting with Hawks that Aura is privy to, Endeavor sees that Todoroki is dating Reiko, the joint training event is held where Class 1-A is the undisputed winner (thanks to Ainz), plans for a Christmas party are contemplated, and Ainz learns of the Meta Liberation Army, whose quirkist attitude strikes a nerve with him personally.
The Meta Liberation Army will be dealing with the forces of Nazarick later. Take care.