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 thirteen: Building up for things to come
Tartarus, the premier prison in Japan for holding quirked villains, is one of the finest prisons of its kind in the world, tying for the best in the world with a prison located in Michigan in the United States, a prison going by the name Helheim. Basically, if a quirked villain can't be sentenced to a stay in Helhiem, then they go to Tartarus instead. Tartarus even has a reputation for receiving a few prisoners from foreign countries.
But all that Tartarus has was nothing in the face of the power of Ainz Ooal Gown. Force wasn't even necessary, using guile and subterfuge, Ainz's loyal NPC Demiurge not only was able to whisk away Stain the Hero Killer who by then was thrown into Tartarus, but also collect another Tartarus inmate Ainz learned of when his NPCs gathered info on the place, a prisoner that piqued Ainz's interests. As far as the second New Worlders knew, Stain and the second prisoner were simply transferred to another villains prison, most likely the aforementioned Helheim.
Demiurge's ways were flawless, and never failed to impress the Sorcerer King.
Within due time, Stain and the second inmate from Tartarus, a woman with purplish hair, were brought before Ainz, using an illusion spell to appear as his skeletal self but wearing his attire from after Baharuth's war with Gazef's kingdom. Ainz hated the land Gazef gave his life for so much because of how overall incompetent the leadership was, he not only doesn't remember its name at the moment but didn't care about it. He was sure that name was written down somewhere, though.
But that's besides the point. Ainz sat at his desk in his office at the Shie Hassaikai compound that he invaded and took over with Sebas's assistance. To the right of Ainz stood Albedo who was holding a Katana in a scabbard, and behind Stain and the female inmate from Tartarus stood Demiurge. Gesturing to the two Tartarus prisoners that he called for, Ainz said, "Chizome Akaguro. Kaina Tsutsumi. I'm glad to see that two persons of repute such as yourselves were able to be fetched from Tartarus."
Stain gave a curious look at Ainz, knowing full well that he had to be careful with every move he made here. "If it is not too much to ask, may I ask why it is that you had your man right behind me bring both me and the lady next to me before you here?" Stain inquired.
"Because I believe that you could do so much more for your personal quest if you were to enter my employ, Mr. Akaguro," Ainz replied, "Or would you prefer that I address you as Stain, as that's the name I often heard attributed to you?"
"Either one is fine so long as I know you're addressing me," Stain said.
Ainz turned to look at the woman next to Stain. "And you," Ainz said to the woman, "Ms. Tsutsumi. I got it that you were a former pro hero who went by the hero alias Lady Nagant, but you went villain after killing a high ranking member of the Hero Public Safety Commission. It's how you ended up in Tartarus. Are you okay with me addressing you as Ms. Tsutsumi, or would you prefer that I address you as Lady Nagant?"
"Nagant is fine," replied the now identified Kaina Tsutsumi, otherwise known as Nagant, "It's less syllables, so saying it over other options saves time."
"Hmm, a time saver," Ainz said, "I like that." To Stain and Nagant, Ainz said, "Here is the deal. I want the both of you to swear loyalty to me and become my subordinates. Not only would your strengths and skills help my forces here, but your respective ideologies appeal to me to an extent, and I have reason to believe that I can help you both out."
Stain narrowed his gaze a bit. "...You said already you wanted me to work for you, and that you can help me with my grim duty to cut down those unjustly bearing the title of pro hero. But you say that you can also help this Nagant lady next to me?"
Ainz nodded once in the affirmative. "I got the full details her history. The long story made short is that she hates the HPSC with every fiber of her being. You ought to as well Stain, given that they are the legal body responsible for not just letting so many people falsely bear the pro hero title, but for also allowing hero society here in Japan to get as bad as it is."
"You... do you hate them as well?" Nagant asked, a bit surprised that the obvious boss here actually sided with her against the HPSC.
"I learned about their ways," Ainz said, "How they determine who is and is not allowed to be a pro hero. I'm especially mad that their petty standards bar a good number of persons with the skill and talent to become excellent pro heroes. Persons I'm sure even Stain would agree can be worthy of holding the title of pro hero."
Stain had a look of piqued interest enter his careful yet appraising eyes. "It doesn't surprise me that the persons spreading the cancer on society that is fake pro heroes would work to prevent the administration of the treatment to bring things back up to the standard of health that is required. They want to keep society sick so as to profit off of it as long as possible."
The Sorcerer King nodded in agreement with the Hero Killer. "Yes. I do agree that the HPSC needs to go. Aside from the complaints that you and Nagant have with them, they're in all honesty in my way. Hence why I figured you two would be willing to hear me out."
"What would you have us do?" Nagant asked.
"For the time being, the two of you will need to keep a low profile," Ainz said, "After all, you two DID both just escape from one of the two most secure villains prisons in the world. But I will be putting the both of you to work for me, and it'll be work you will respectively revel in doing."
"You would have me kill fake pro heroes," Stain remarked, "Which I was already doing."
"And you'd have me kill members of the HPSC," Nagant said.
"You two would kill who I say and when," Ainz replied, "But since your respective prey are all going to be persons you'd respectively be naturally interested in killing anyway, I fail to see how either of you would object."
The two villains were both weighing their options for a few moments before either of them spoke up. "...Very well, I do owe you both for getting me out and for giving me the chance to continue my work," Stain said.
"If I can put a bullet in the head of even one more of those big wig bastards that head up the HPSC, then I can die happy," Nagant replied.
"Excellent," Ainz said, "Oh, I was able to recover outfits the two of you wore. And Stain, I was also able to recover all of your equipment save for your katana. Albedo." At that cue, Albedo stepped forward and handed Ainz the katana she was holding. It was a plain and unassuming looking blade, but it was durable and well made, forged to be serviceable as a weapon. It was a katana from the first New World, and it was in perfect condition.
Ainz held the katana out to Stain. "This is a replacement katana that I was able to acquire for you. I hope to hear that its first use in your ownership is involvement in taking down a pro hero unworthy to even be in the profession."
Stain took the katana from Ainz, pulled it from the scabbard a bit. It was only by five centimeters, but that was all Stain needed to see to know he had just been handed a quality blade. Granted, he had no idea it's literally not of his world and the highest quality non-magical weapons can be at, but all Stain cared about was how he was wanting to give this new blade of his here its first drink of blood of a fake pro hero.
The Hero Killer put the katana fully back into its scabbard. "Oh, this blade will get drunk on the blood of fakes, rest assured."
Ainz let out an amused chuckle. "I'm glad to hear it." The Sorcerer King was able to get Stain and Nagant to swear loyalty to him, and after that he granted them residency at the Shie Hassaikai compound, adding them to the roster of elite members of the Shie Hassaikai. Ainz was looking forward to the day he'd put them to work for him.
Later, Ainz was using a Mirror of Remote Viewing linked to a sensory organ he conjured so he could spy on a meeting All Might was having with multiple pro heroes. He was alerted to the meeting by a Shadow Demon he had hide in All Might's shadow to spy on him for him and let him know if the Symbol of Peace was up to anything that would warrant his immediate attention, and Ainz would totally agree that this was a valid time to spy on All Might.
The man's meeting was a secret meeting, and many of the pro heroes meeting with All Might were highly ranked, most of them in the Top Ten with him. Ainz was spying on them from his office in the Shie Hassaikai compound, and only Albedo and Demiurge were in there with him, having various precautions taken to ensure that no one could eavesdrop or otherwise spy on them. The humans in the second New World working for Ainz didn't need to know what he was up to.
"So this is about those big black skeleton warrior monsters that showed up in Hosu," Endeavor began, "Killed those Nomu things, and left."
All Might nodded in confirmation. "It's the second time they've shown up, the first being back during an incident at a Junior High that two boys in the same class as your son Shoto went to."
"Well now All Might," said a short old male pro hero in a yellow and white costume and he wore a black domino mask, "What all do we have on them?"
"I was getting to that, Torino," All Might replied, "The first is that they are monsters I would say are comparable to the Nomus. But they differ in the sense that whereas the Nomus are mindless beasts, the big black skeleton warrior monsters possess a degree of intelligence and sentience, at least enough to not only take knowing pleasure in killing, but assess who would be the most fun for them to kill."
Endeavor looked grim. "When those three who showed up in Hosu appeared, they only attacked the Nomus, completely ignoring me and the other heroes. When the Nomus were all killed, the big black skeleton warrior monsters all... simply left. They didn't even try killing any humans."
"Obviously they don't consider humans as worthy sport," replied a pro hero dressed like a salaryman, also he wore glasses and had green hair with a yellow streak in it. Both Demiurge and Albedo found amusement in the idea of Death Knights deciding that humans are unworthy sport, if the snickering Ainz heard from the both of them was any indication.
"How can they be defeated?" asked a pro hero Ainz was able to identify as Yoroi Musha, one of the heroes in the current Top Ten on the Hero Billboard Charts JP.
"I was able to take down one," All Might said, "But I flew in from a blind spot and took it by surprise with a Detroit Smash. I might have had more trouble if I came at it head on, but I get the feeling that I still would have won that contest."
"So those big black skeleton warrior monsters CAN be defeated," said a female pro hero who Ainz didn't recognize, "We just need to smash them up real good!"
A pro hero who Ainz recognized as Kamui Woods turned to look at the female pro hero. She was as tall and buff as All Might, had long blonde hair in eight strands like the two All Might had sticking up, and even her outfit screamed United States, similar to the vibe All Might gave off. Also, despite her speaking fluent Japanese, her accent denoted that she wasn't from Japan. "I'm sorry," began Kamui Woods, "But who are you again?"
"She's Cathleen Bates," replied the short old male pro hero identified earlier as Torino, "She's the pro hero Star and Stripe, and the number one pro hero in the United States. She owes All Might a great deal, so he asked if she could come to Japan to help to deal with the big black skeleton warrior monsters that have shown up." Hearing that a foreign country's top pro hero was called in piqued Ainz's interest, and made him wonder what kind of quirk she had.
Smirking in amusement, the now identified Cathleen said, "I'd like to see any of those big black skeleton warrior monsters try to take any of us down! We'll put them all back in the graves they had come from!"
"Considering that only All Might has been reported to have defeated one," said a pro hero Ainz was able to identify as Crust, another Top Tenner, "We're going to have to be very careful, especially if we encounter more than one at a time." Turning to look at All Might, Crust said, "Three were at Hosu, but how many were at the Junior High? I think you said only one was there?"
"I only defeated one at the school," Ainz replied, "There were a total of six there."
"Six of those monsters at a Junior High?!" Yoroi Musha said, "And you only defeated one?! What about the other five?"
All Might was about to speak up, but Endeavor cut him off. "My son Shoto told me that the boy who placed first in the U.A. Sports Festival first year division had vanquished the other five alone."
All Might nodded in confirmation. "Indeed, one of the boys in U.A.'s first year hero course was able to best five of those monsters alone. I bet he would have taken out all six if I hadn't come in and took out the last one."
"I'd of suggested calling him in to help us," said Kamui Woods, "But even with his impressive record, he's still a lad. It would be terrible of us as adults and pro heroes to essentially draft a child to help us fight monsters."
The pro heroes all agreed that the task of dealing with the big black skeleton warrior monsters would be handled by the pro heroes and the pro heroes alone. Most of the pro heroes left the room, with some going in a group led by Cathleen to try and hunt the big black skeleton warrior monsters down and take them out. The only ones left in the room were All Might, Torino, and the salaryman hero who checked to make sure the room was secure.
He had no idea of the sensory organ, undetectable to humans, linked to the Mirror of Remote Viewing that Ainz was using.
After he confirmed that things were secure (as far as he knew), the salaryman hero sat down and spoke with All Might and Torino. "The appearance of two different kinds of monsters," began the salaryman hero, "And both kinds boasting great power. Are you certain that he has returned?"
"Considering that multiple persons found dead have also been found to be quirkless despite being on record as having quirks," All Might began, "I have no doubt in my mind that All For One actually survived the last fight he and I had with one another." Ainz was a bit panicked when he heard All Might bring up dead persons found quirkless, making him wish he had properly disposed of all of the homeless persons he took quirks from and killed from the get go.
But he felt relieved when All Might pinned the blame for it on someone called All For One. Ainz also was curious as to who this All For One person was, and why All Might thinks he's responsible for what Ainz himself had done. "The Nomus and the big black skeleton warrior monsters could only be the work of All For One," All Might went on, "But why both kinds fought one another is beyond me if they're both creations of All For One."
"Maybe he wanted to field test them to see which ones are more useful to him," said the salaryman hero in a dry and bemused tone, "And stop with the use of the less useful kind of monster."
"So if those monsters really are All For One's horrific excuse for a Junior High science fare project," began Torino, "And that bastard really HAS returned, how do we stop him, much less find him?"
"We're going to have to let him make the first move, I'm afraid," All Might replied, "We still have too little information about him."
"It was at least gotten from one of the fodder force villains captured during the attack on the USJ that their organization is called the League of Villains," said the salaryman hero, "And that group had a Nomu. We can start our investigation from there." All Might and the two heroes with him went over a few more points before they broke the meeting, all of them needing to leave. But all of the info they discussed would help out the heroes.
It was going to help out Ainz Ooal Gown.
After the Mirror of Remote Viewing stopped showing anything as Ainz willed the linked Sensory Organ to dissipate, Ainz leaned back in his seat. "Well now, it would appear that the heroes of this world are starting to get active towards my efforts here," Ainz said.
"They dared to attribute the Death Knights you created to a mere human, Lord Ainz!" Albedo snarled, "They must be slaughtered for their blasphemy against your name!"
"No, Albedo," Ainz said, "It's actually to our benefit that they attribute the presence of the Death Knights to someone of their world. The longer they go without knowing about us, the better. But they did mention a few things during their meeting that have me curious, mainly this 'League of Villains' organization that is responsible for the Nomus."
"I suggest that we find a way to infiltrate the League of Villains and learn more about them, Lord Ainz," Demiurge said, "Mainly where their base of operations exists."
"I was thinking the same thing," Ainz replied, "But we can't go in right away after learning about them. We need to gauge their level of threat before we can move. There's still so little we know in terms of the ways of this second New World. Our spy will have to play the long game."
"And what of the cockroaches who are deluding themselves into thinking they actually have a shot against the Death Knights?" Albedo said.
A dangerous gleam entered Ainz's eyes. "...They want to find a Death Knight or two, ehh? Very well, I shall grant them their wish. But they will be paying dearly to learn that they ought to have been a bit more careful in choosing what they had wished for. Especially that foreign pro hero who looks like a female All Might."
Aside from Endeavor and Best Jeanist, the heroes who left the meeting with Cathleen followed her as they searched for any signs of where the big black skeleton warrior monsters could have gone off to, going with her well into the night. "So were looking for giant warriors who look like some manner of undead monsters," Crust began, "And we came here to the docks because..."
"A contact that I have at the docks saw an armored fellow who looked like an animated corpse wander into a warehouse," Yoroi Musha said, "The armored fellow looked too naturally undead looking to merely be a human in a costume, and we're nowhere close to Halloween."
Kamui Woods gulped nervously. "You... you don't think it was an actual zombie, do you?"
Shrugging, the pro hero Wash said, "Well we have monsters looking like giant skeletons, don't we? Why should a monster resembling a zombie be any surprise to us at this point?"
Cathleen scoffed bitterly. "Whoever is behind those monsters of undead appearance ought to be smashed right into the grou-"
"Miss Bates, hold," Yoroi Musha said, holding an arm out in front of the American pro hero. Yoroi Musha quietly pointed to something ahead of them at one of the warehouses. To the surprise of the pro heroes (and mild horror of some such as Kamui Woods), a zombie wearing what looked like low ranking warrior armor was seen wandering out of a side door of the warehouse.
When the heroes saw a second such zombie wander out, Kamui Woods used his quirk to shoot spikes of wood at them, each spike about as long as a hand brush and as thick as a paper towel tube with no paper towels left on it. Each spike pierced a zombie's head, dropping them to the cold ground unceremoniously. When the two zombies dropped dead, Cathleen gestured for all of the pro heroes with her to follow her, but stopped the pro hero Hawks who also left the meeting with her.
"You need to go bring in help," Cathleen said, "Bring in as many big names as you can find and as quickly as possible. All Might told me your flight speed is unmatched." Hawks nodded in agreement with the order before turning around and flying off. As for the other pro heroes, they followed the American pro hero into the warehouse they saw the two armored zombies shamble out of.
They had no idea of the horrors within that awaited them.
...
The heroes who went into the warehouse were quiet and careful, keeping alert for anymore of those armored zombies as well as if any of the big black skeleton warrior monsters would be there. "Can I just say that I should have gone with Hawks to bring back up here?" Kamui Woods said.
"There is no need to have so yellow a belly, Kamui Woods," Yoroi Musha admonished gently.
"Actually, I can't blame him," Wash said, "A creepy warehouse we saw undead loo-"
*SLAM*
The heroes turned when they heard the door they walked through slam shut, closing off their route of leaving. "Feh," Cathleen scoffed, "The villain behind these horrors is obviously trying to scare us."
"Well I just pissed myself," Crust admitted, "So I say that the villains have at least partly succeeded in scaring us! But I won't let my soiled underwear, wafting with the acidic plume of my urine, stop me from doing my duty as a pro he-"
*KERSHUNK*
"ARRRRRRUUUUUGGGGHHHH!"
The other heroes all turned when they heard Kamui Woods bellow out painfully, and saw to their horror that the wavy blade of one of the big black skeleton warrior monsters was bursting out from his chest, Kamui Woods having been impaled from behind in the back. He was then lifted away on the sword, like a chunk of meat on a stick, as the big black skeleton warrior monster welding the sword lifted its blade away and roared at the heroes.
"One of those monsters got Kamui Woods!" Yoroi Musha exclaimed, right before the remaining heroes all charged in. But as they charged, they heard the stomping of feet heading towards them, and saw that enough of the big black skeleton warrior monsters to equal them one to one (if the one who got Kamui Woods was counted) charging at them. With those skeleton warriors were enough armored zombies to outnumber the pro heroes (if Kamui Woods was counted) two to one.
The monster with Kamui Woods impaled on its swords swung its blade to fling Kamui Woods off of it, him flying away by a dozen meters. The monster who flung him away then ran over to jab its sword into the doomed pro hero's chest, as if doing so was fun. The remaining pro heroes had to focus on the undead before them, but they vowed to not let the villain behind this horror get away with whatever it was that they were up to.
Cathleen punched at the ribcage of the big black skeleton warrior monster closest to her, saying, "Big black skeleton warrior monster," while her fist was making physical contact with her target. After falling away, Cathleen said, "The big black skeleton warrior monster will be unable to move." To Cathleen's surprise, whatever it was that she was hoping to have work didn't work, as the big black skeleton warrior monster she punched just roared and charged at her.
"My quirk isn't working on the big black skeleton warrior monsters!" Cathleen called out, "I'm going to have to-"
*KERSHUNK*
"AIIIIIEEEEEEE!"
"One of the monsters got Wash!" Yoroi Musha cried out as one of the big black skeleton warrior monsters impaled Wash through the chest with its sword. As for Yoroi Musha and Crust, they were surrounded by the armored zombies, Crust keeping up an energy shield of some kind while Yoroi Musha slashed at the zombies with his fine sword.
Cathleen, getting angry now at whatever villain was behind all of this, punched at the shield being used by the big black skeleton warrior monster before her, saying, "Shield," as she made contact. Cathleen then said, "The shield is too heavy to lift!" To Cathleen's shock, the big black skeleton warrior monster before her had no trouble lifting the shield around.
Cathleen was then smacked away by the monster before her, surprising her more than anything else. She was boosting her strength up with her power, enough so that she could have easily stood her ground. How come it wasn't working? Where was her strength? The number one American hero had no idea what was happening, but knew that things had to end.
A quick glace at how the remaining Japanese pro heroes with her were doing told Cathleen in terms as grim as possible that things were going to end here one way or another.
...
Ainz when his alarm system he had set up at the warehouse told him the group of heroes from the meeting he spied on took the bait had cast Time Stop and teleported over where the heroes were at. He used Detect Quirk on Cathleen to see just how good she really was. To his surprise, not only was she level sixty-five with one quirk and a quirk capacity of four, but the one quirk she did have, called New Order, gave the user (low scale) reality rewriting powers.
Ainz had never before seen a quirk so powerful, with so much potential. Naturally, he used Harvest Quirk to take it, Duplicate Quirk to copy it (sacrificing a synthetic quirk he took from one of the Hosu Nomus) then cast Perfect Unknowable to be undetectable before he moved out of the way and dropped the Time Stop to watch the heroes die to his Death Knights and all of their Squire Zombie followers.
Within short time, Cathleen and all of the pro heroes with her fell to the undead. Cathleen was the last to die, and Ainz saw the look of horror on her face when she saw Kamui Woods rise as a Squire Zombie albeit wearing his hero outfit rather than any armor. The same applied to all of the other pro heroes, Cathleen included, as they were killed by Death Knights in a way that left their bodies in tact enough to be useful.
Ainz was able to collect the quirks of all of the undead heroes via Harvest Quirk just fine, then he made a Gate to send the Death Knights and Squire Zombies back to where he kept them. But he left behind the undead pro heroes for their still living fellows to find. The Sorcerer King, wanting All Might to continue thinking that the undead looking monsters were the brainchild of this All For One fellow, took out a note that said 'Stay off my back heroes, signed AFO' (he had Albedo write it for his plan here), folded it up, tucked it into the collar of zombie Kamui Woods's shirt, then left via Gate.
Ainz when he was back in his office at the Shie Hassaikai compound had Albedo pick up his Mirror of Remote Viewing. "Albedo, Demiurge," Ainz said, "We're going back to Nazarick. There we will go over everything we've gotten out of things here tonight."
"I am feeling a yearning to return to the Great Tomb, Lord Ainz," Demiurge said, "As well as discuss how to go about bringing down this 'League of Villains' organization that dares to get in the way of your glorious conquest of this second New World." Ainz was looking forward to it as well, although depending on what the League of Villains could potentially offer him, he may instead just make it his second foothold in the second New World like how the Shie Hassaikai is his first.
END, CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Author's notes;
This chapter opens up with Ainz getting Stain and Nagant out of Tartarus and getting them to swear their loyalty to him. It helps that both have goals that Ainz to a degree is aligned with. Ainz then spies on a meeting All Might has with a number of pro heroes, most of them highly ranked and one is Cathleen Bates from the United States.
Ainz then is able to bait the group Cathleen is leading into going into a trap where they all end up being killed by Death Knights backed by Squire Zombies. Ainz also takes their quirks, including New Order from Cathleen. He takes the Death Knights and Squire Zombies away but leaves the dead pro heroes who all rose as undead, leaving a note with zombie Kamui Woods to further make All Might think his theory that All For One is responsible is sound.
The next chapter will see the fallout from this. Later.