CHAPTER 25
-THE MONARCH-
Katsuo coughed violently as he slowly regained consciousness, spewing blood onto the concrete beneath him. He wiped the red from his chin and slowly got back up his feet using the nearby piles of rubble as a support for his aching body. As he attempted to get his bearings and figure out just what the hell happened, the system continued to blare out an unmissable warning in front of him.
[WARNING: USER HEALTH HAS REACHED THE CRITICAL THRESHOLD. ALL STATS HAVE BEEN DECREASED BY 50%. SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY.]
As if Katsuo didn't know that he needed a hospital already. He took a minute to catch his breath and allow the pain to easy a little before making his way over to the ledge of the concrete tower he had landed on earlier. Fortunately, such a lucky construct provided a good bird's eye view of the situation. Apparently, the Inferno Engine's meltdown explosion caused a severe shockwave, one so large and so strong that it destroyed the building's structural integrity and caused a massive cave in. This caused the plaza and surrounding area to collapse in on the Engine Room, creating quite the sight to behold.
Across the great expanse of the former Engine Room, piles of rubble from the ceiling created a rough terrain, with only a few areas remaining mostly clear. Katsuo found most of his classmates in this area. There was also a cascading waterfall across the room, most likely having been created when the flood scenario was compromised by the explosion. A fiery wreckage was also spilling out into the Engine Room, no doubt having come from the fire city. Of course, this wreckage wasn't the only fire in the room.
Even if Mickey hadn't blown through all of the delicate machinery on his way to kill Katsuo, the resulting explosion from the Inferno Engine made sure that nothing was left still functional, allowing for a massive fires to spread across the terrain. Fortunately, it didn't seem like any innocent people had gotten caught in anything dangerous. Looking over to his left, Katsuo was able to spot a group of his fellow students climbing over the mountains of rubble to help anybody they could find. Katsuo was about to jump down and assist in the rescue efforts when a pair of voices suddenly activated his instincts.
As soon as he heard the unknown voices, Katsuo's body threw itself to the ground to hide, causing him to release groans of pain that fortunately went unnoticed. Peering over the ledge, Katsuo spotted a pair of villains, each one looking like they came straight out of a comic book. Then again, most people nowadays looked like they came out of a comic book.
"What the hell is happening? This isn't going according to my plan at all! And that damn All Might wasn't even here like he was supposed to be! It's not fair!"
The blue haired man scratched at his neck obsessively, a bad habit that was slowly tearing away at his already horrible skin. Judging from his words and his creepy appearance compared to the others, Katsuo figured that this was Shigaraki, the "mastermind" behind this whole operation. If that were true, then the floating cloud of black fog next to him was most likely Kurogiri, who's name had also been thrown around from time to time. Mostly just talking about how much better of a leader he was compared to Shigaraki.
"Young master, please control yourself. With the worsening situation, paired with that boy that ran off earlier, I'm sure the UA teachers are on their way. If so, we must escape quickly."
"Damn it Kurogiri, if you weren't my only way out of this dump, I'd grab you by the neck and kill you myself."
'Holy crap, talk about a hostile work environment! Guess I'm not the only one with a grudge against my boss.'
"If the UA teachers come now, it'll definitely be game over, so I'd better make this whole trip worthwhile... Oh yeah! I'll kill these kids, and then release the-"
"Young master, please reconsider."
Shigaraki had already turned away from Kurogiri, instead setting his eyes on his pray. Under the waterfall across the room, a lake of sorts had begun forming in a rather large divot, where a certain frog girl had been knocked unconscious by the fall, making her the perfect target for Shigaraki's quirk. Seeing this, Katsuo immediately jumped into action, launching off the cliff with all of his remaining strength in order to stop Shigaraki in his tracks. Just before he could reach the startled villain, Katsuo was suddenly encased in a shroud of black smoke, flying out of it on the other side of the clearing.
Kurogiri had just barely managed to save Shigaraki from Katsuo's surprise attack.
'Damn, could've reached him if I had my full strength.'
"Oh? So one of you brats had managed to survive? I wonder if you're the one who caused this whole mess in the first place. If so, then I definitely want to kill you!"
Somehow, Katsuo had only just now realized that Shigaraki was covered in hands, each one gripping onto him like a vice. And though most of his face was covered by these hands, Katsuo could still clearly see the malicious glee in Shigaraki's eyes when he talked about killing people. It was disgusting, and made Katsuo want to punch him. Hard.
'I don't know what this guy can do, and my stats are only going to get worse and worse the longer this goes. I need to finish this quickly and carefully.'
If Kurogiri was going to teleport Katsuo away when he got close, then the only way to deal damage was to move faster than Kurogiri could see, or even think. And so, Katsuo pulled his mana into the center of his chest before focusing on pulling it down to his legs. He felt the mana travel through his bloodstream, strengthening his muscles for a one-time use attack.
'Muscle Strengthening: 100%!'
Katsuo shot off the ground at lightning quick speed, breaking the sound barrier as he rapidly cleared the large distance between him and his target. Shigaraki's deranged smile never slipped, blissfully unaware that anything was wrong. And so was Katsuo, because before he knew it, he was bouncing off the ground and crashing into a pile of rubble across the clearing. He coughed violently, nearly hacking up a lung as he pushed the blood-soaked concrete off of him. His vision was blurry, but he was able to make out a hulking figure near where he had just been.
Even in this broken, hazy state of mind, Katsuo was able to make out the distinct shape of a bird beak, or at least something similar to one attached to the person's face. Or at least, he thought it was a person. As the figure began walking towards him, sending tremors through the ground with every step, Katsuo was finally able to figure out the reason why this thing looked so familiar. After all, a group of them beat him to death a year ago. And now, Katsuo knew who to blame for his death, because Shigaraki had called a Nomu to kill him again.
Katsuo glanced from the intimidating figure above him to Shigaraki, who had taken a seat on a fallen support column and was now scratching at his neck even faster, apparently getting off to the idea that Katsuo was about to be turned into paste. Everything about the current situation disgusted him. Shigaraki's maniacal laughter, the Nomu's blank expression, the look of fear and hopelessness on his classmate's faces, and the fact that there were no heroes left to save them. Not even Katsuo could now.
'This is so... Pathetic. A hero? Me? I should have known... A flawed human like me could never be a her-'
"KATSUO!"
Katsuo was brought out of his depression by a shrill voice echoing across the battlefield, rattling around Katsuo's ears like marbles in a jar. The voice was filled to the brim with fear, and yet it was also filled with a weird kind of strength or determination. Looking towards the source, Katsuo spotted Midoriya, standing atop the rubble and yelling like a doofus. A cool-ish doofus.
"DON'T GIVE UP KATSUO! I BELIEVE IN YOU! REMEMBER WHAT YOU TOLD ME!"
Katsuo, initially confused by Midoriya's actions, suddenly realized what he was talking about. The very first day they had met, when Katsuo had saved Midoriya from the sludge villain, he said a few words that apparently affected him more than Katsuo thought.
"You can be a hero too, kid. Like me! I'm gonna be the strongest hero in the world, just you watch!"
'Damn it, Mido, who died and made you the coolest guy in the room?'
Katsuo looked back at the Nomu, who was raising its fists into the air in preparation for slamming into Katsuo. However, Katsuo wasn't gonna let this shit slide anymore. When the Nomu attempted to slam its fists into Katsuo's torso, he quickly formed a shield out of his remaining mana, absorbing the force of the impact and holding the Nomu's fists back. However, this mana was different. Because every night, Katsuo had been studying his mana's capabilities extensively, using the scenarios to level up his mana stat and gain more control over it. And now, it was time to pick the fruits of his labor.
Using all of his focus, Katsuo trapped the slam's kinetic energy in his mana threads before pushing it back outward, tensing his muscles and yelling;
"DIE!"
To everyone else, there was a loud BOOM, and the Nomu suddenly disappeared, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake as it flew through the sky and into an entirely other area of the Engine Room. However, Shigaraki knew what happened. Or at least some of what happened. And he was pissed.
"You... You bastard! You-You cheated! YOU FUCKING CHEATED! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DIE YOU BASTARD!"
Katsuo turned his steely gaze toward the whiny "villain" in front of him, piercing straight into the very depths of his soul. Katsuo didn't say a word, all he needed to do was look at him and Shigaraki instantly understood. If Katsuo had his way, Shigaraki would be buried waist deep in the wall right now, but that simply wasn't feasible, so Katsuo instead went for a downwards kick instead. He aimed right for Shigaraki's head, only to stop halfway and jump just outside of the Nomu's range as it returned to its master's side.
Katsuo jumped back to a safe distance, eyeing the Nomu up and down and judging its strength. Unfortunately, Katsuo had to admit that it was a tough opponent, even with the strength he had accumulated over the last year or so. The only way to get to Shigaraki was to go through the Nomu, but with all of his classmates around, Katsuo would have to lead the Nomu somewhere else. Seeing this as the only option, Katsuo looked for the closest person to him, who just so happened to be Sero hiding behind a rock.
"Sero."
"Y-yes Katsuo?"
"I need you to do me a favor. Grab our classmates and lead them south. There should be a door leading into a hallway. If I remember correctly, there's a fire escape down that hallway that leads to the outside. Make sure to bring Aizawa with you."
"Y-yeah, all right. Good luck dude!"
With that, Sero began making his way behind the rocks, careful to make sure that the villains didn't notice what he was doing. After Katsuo was sure his classmates were safe, he shot out his mana thread as a web and captured the Nomu, spinning it around like an Olympic athlete before throwing it into a wall far away from Shigaraki and his goon, following after it. If Katsuo was right, Shigaraki wouldn't be able to handle this and would chase after him, wanting to see Katsuo die gruesomely. What a predictable fellow.
Once Katsuo was back on the ground, the Nomu broke free of its restraints and charged Katsuo, lining him up for a sucker punch to the face. Katsuo dashed forward, slipping under the Nomu's fist and uppercutting it right in the jaw. There was a sickening crunch, followed the Nomu swinging its other fist at Katsuo, seemingly ignoring the pain. And right before Katsuo's eyes, the beast's broken jaw suddenly repaired itself, ready to jump back into the fight immediately.
"Oh shit!"
Katsuo ducked under another punch and quickly jumped backwards, caught off guard by the enemy's sudden regeneration capabilities. This creature had now displayed multiple combat-based quirks, or at least quirks that would be useful in a fight, but how? Were Katsuo and the Nomu somehow related to each other? Unfortunately, now was not the time for such pointless questions right now, as Katuso was forced to take the full brunt of an attack to his arms, pushing him back a significant distance. His arms were now broken and bleeding, having sustained too much damage for Katsuo to keep up with.
And it wasn't just his arms, either. Katsuo's clothes had been ripped to shreds by the debris, leaving him exposed to even more danger as the only protective layer he had was now gone. The bottoms of his shoes had also burned away after sliding around so much, leaving Katsuo's bear feet to take the full brunt of the friction caused by his momentum against the ground. The Nomu leapt forward once again, clipping Katsuo's ribs as he just barely managed to dodge a death blow, being sent flying into a mountain of debris sitting against the far wall. Katsuo prepared to dodge again when a sudden message appeared in front of him, blocking his vision of the Nomu.
He had jumped anyway, barely avoiding yet another death blow as the wall behind him shattered, the Nomu's creepy eyes following his every move. Katsuo glanced at the message, reading it in confusion in a single second as he continued to bounce around the field.
[MILESTONE ACHIEVED: TAKE 100,000 TOTAL POINTS OF DAMAGE WIHTOUT DYING. CALCULATING MILESTONE REWARD NOW...]
[ERROR. A BUG HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE SYSTEM. INVESTIGATING.]
[WARNING: AN EXTERNAL PRESENCE HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE SYSTEM. ERROR ERROR ERROR]
Katsuo could barely keep up with the sudden influx of messages, having to split his brainpower between running and dodging and reading the messages. However, with every dodge he successfully achieved, he slowed down just a little more, even as the Nomu seemed to be speeding up.
[ATTENTION: FOREIGN ENTITY HAS BEEN EXPELLED FROM THE SYSTEM. ASSESSING DAMAGE...]
[NO PERMANENT DAMAGE HAS BEEN CAUSED. ERROR: A QUEST WAS NOT GIVEN TO THE USER AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME. PROVIDING QUEST NOW.]
New Quest: The USJ Incident
Type: Main
Difficulty: C
Win Conditions: Locate the villains tampering with the Engine Room below USJ Plaza and stop them from destroying the facility.
Reward: ?
Katsuo looked at the system, sparing just enough thinking power to find a sense of anger in the fact that all of this chaos could have been avoided if he had this message earlier. However, the combination of his increasing exhaustion and lack of focus gave the Nomu just the right opportunity to get a perfect punch into Katsuo's stomach, sending him right back into the wall like a cycle. But when Katsuo attempted to get up, his body didn't respond, simply wiping a trail of blood onto the wall as he slid down to the floor.
'Wh-What the hell? My body-'
Katsuo shifted his gaze down to his stomach, only to realize it was no longer there. What once was filled with organs and bones was now a clean hole straight through the middle of his body, pouring blood everywhere. The Nomu, for all its lack of intelligence, seemed to know that Katsuo was done for, so it quickly approached him for the finisher. But even now, the system didn't quit. It continued to spew out messages, even if Katsuo was only barely paying any attention to them now.
[ERROR: USER HAS ALREADY COMPLETED THIS QUEST. CALCULATING REWARDS... ERROR. THE USER HAS SUSTAINED HEAVY DAMAGE DUE TO THE SYSTEM'S NEGLIGENCE. ATTEMPTING TO FIX ERROR.]
[ERROR: THE PROBLEM IS OUTSIDE OF THE SYSTEM'S PERMISSION. REQUESTING ASSISTANCE FROM [REDACTED].]
Katsuo looked at the message in confusion, his dying brain wondering who [REDACTED] was and why something as powerful as the system was requesting help from them. But before he could even begin to answer these questions for himself, the entire world seemed to darken around him. The edges of his vision darked significantly more, and Katsuo thought he could see a faint blue hue on the outskirts of said darkness. He had been keeping an eye on the approaching Nomu, but it was now stopped in its tracks, blankly staring at Katsuo. Or at least, where it thought Katsuo was.
Nothing in the area was moving, and with the whole "darkening vision" thing, Katsuo figured that only one thing could be happening: the system had stopped time.
[ALL EXTERNAL VARIABLES HAVE BEEN HALTED FOR THE DURATION OF THE ERROR'S PERSISTENCE. REQUESTING ASSISTANCE FROM [REDACTED].]
[ASSISTANCE RECIEVED. THE USER HAS NOT ONLY COMPLETED A MAIN QUEST, BUT ALSO DONE SO WITHOUT ANY PRIOR HELP. THEY HAVE ALSO CONTINUED TO FIGHT UNDER POOR CONDITIONS AGAINST A MUCH STRONGER FOE. WITH ALL OF THIS IN MIND, THE REWARD FOR QUEST COMPLETION WILL BE GIVEN.]
Quest Finished
Title: The USJ Incident
Type: Changed to [SPECIAL]
Due to special circumstances, the user will receive 1.5x experience from the quest, as well as a special reward.
[THE USER HAS EARNED A JOB CHANGE QUEST.]
[WARNING: PLAUSABILITY THRESHOLD IS APPROACHING.]
[THE QUEST HAS BEEN DEEMED UNESSECCARY FOR PROVING THE USER'S STRENGTH. THE JOB CHANGE WILL NOW TAKE PLACE.]
[Good luck, Katsuo.]
Shigaraki, who was closely followed by his servant Kurogiri, was finally getting close to where Katsuo and the Nomu had landed. He was anxious to see Katsuo's blood painting the ground red, but also disappointed that he wouldn't be able to see the act as it was happening. However, as Shigaraki climbed the last hill, he was giddy with glee. A hole had been punched through Katsuo's stomach, leaving him sitting against the wall while the Nomu began approaching him to finally finish him off once and for all. Shigaraki knew he should have just kept quiet and enjoyed the show, but he couldn't help himself.
"NOMU! MAKE IT BRUTAL!"
The Nomu adhered to its master's orders, raising its fists in preparation to grind Katsuo into paste, but something was wrong. It almost felt like everything had stopped for a moment. And... Katsuo looked different. Before Shigaraki could process what just happened, Katsuo bellowed in pain, releasing a purple shockwave from his body that sent the Nomu flying scarily close to where Shigaraki was at. The blast was so powerful that it thoroughly decimated the wall behind Katsuo, sending chunks of concrete crashing down on top of him. The resulting impact of the shards hitting the ground kicked up a large amount of dust, clouding Shigaraki's vision of his prey.
Despite the fatal amount of sharp rocks that just fell directly on top of Katsuo, he screams of pain were still echoing throughout the facility, sending a chill down even Shigaraki's spine as the Nomu suddenly came charging out of its crater and into the dust cloud. When the yelling stopped, Shigaraki thought it was over. And then his heart dropped.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
A crazed laughter suddenly began bellowing out of the dust cloud, followed by the Nomu sliding backwards out of it, having destroyed its arms from blocking something. But surely it couldn't have been Katsuo, right? He was nearly dead even before the rocks fell on him, so what? Suddenly, the cloud dust split like the red sea, and out came a flash of black and blue as a blur suddenly shot in front of Shigaraki. It was hard to tell, but the monster in front of him almost definitely looked like Katsuo. In that moment, Shigaraki could almost feel Katsuo piercing his neck, even if that hadn't happened yet.
Katsuo was ready to grab Shigaraki and slam him into the ground, his glowing pink hand only inches away from grabbing his neck as a sudden black mist enveloped the area. While it had all happened so fast only 7 minutes ago, this time Katsuo could tell exactly what was happening. His vision had become so much stronger than before that he could watch Shigaraki get pulled into the mist before disappearing, along with the black cloud. He could also make out the sound of a voice saying:
"Until next time, child."
Katsuo squeezed his arms together tightly in an attempt to grab Shigaraki, but he wasn't quick enough due to the 50% decrease in power from his injuries. Speaking of, what happened to his injuries? When Katsuo looked at his body, it was different from before. His UA clothes had been replaced by a veil of shadows, covering his body like a protective armor. His hands had seemed to become a hub for the overflowing mana in Katsuo's body, glowing pink with little whisps of mana coming out of them. The entire world seemed to also change as well. Sounds and sights were so much clearer than before, even back when Katsuo wasn't dying.
And yet, his body was completely fine. The injuries he had accumulated were gone, having been completely healed by a strange regenerative power he seemed to have acquired during his transformation. However, he knew better than anyone that this form wasn't going to last long. He could feel his strength slowly returning back to normal, so he had to finish this fight before he couldn't move anymore.
And so, even as the system was trying to tell him something, he jumped back into the fight, landing a mean kick to the top of the Nomu's head and sending it crashing into the ground. Somehow, the knowledge of how to manipulate his mana even more efficiently was also added into the mix, and so while using the overflowing mana in his body, Katsuo created a complex shape: an incredibly sharp and well balanced knife, perfectly suited to Katsuo's size and strength. With it, he slashed at the Nomu's escaping form, catching it across the chest as it dodged backwards.
Ordinarily, Katsuo would have been antsy about using a sharp weapon on a person, villain or not, but he knew from the future that the Nomu weren't human, even if he didn't really know how they were made. Katsuo shot his mana out in all directions from his back, sending them flying right into the Nomu's body and pulling it closer. He punch it across the jaw once again before repeatedly laying into it, not letting the regeneration catch up. Fortunately, it seemed the Nomu didn't have a good quirk when it came to the topic of regeneration, as soon it seemed to stop completely.
Katsuo about to punch it again, but stopped when he heard its wheezing breaths, its lungs having taken a lot of damage from Katsuo's onslaught. In fact, Katsuo's mana threads were the only thing keeping the Nomu standing, so he gently set it down on the ground before climbing on top of it.
"Rest well."
Katsuo raised his hands in the air, just like the Nomu, and brought his knife down on top of it, piercing the brain and killing it instantly. He waited for a moment to see if it would heal, but it didn't. Katsuo had just killed a Nomu. Seeing that the fight was finally over, he suddenly flopped backwards onto the ground, breathing a sigh of relief. Judging by how long it had been with no noise, Katsuo figured that Shigaraki and his assistant had left the USJ, fleeing from Katsuo's overwhelming power.
"Heh, serves them right. Hm?"
Katsuo perked his head as a sudden thought crossed his mind. Now that he had a moment to think, he seemed to remember a message coming in from the system. Now that he had all the time in the world, he summoned the system window again and read the message.
[ATTENTION: THE USER HAS UNLOCKED A MAJOR MILESTONE IN THEIR GROWTH. PLEASE REFER TO THE NEW FUNCTION IN THE SYSTEM WINDOW.]
Following the message's instructions, Katsuo exited out of the message and went back to the main home screen, only to discover that the home screen had been completely revamped. There were now several buttons lining the screen, each one having an icon associated. For example, the store button had a shopping basket, and the weapons tab had a sword and shield on it. However, a new button had been placed in the center of the screen, at the heart of the system. It was simply titled "Monarch".
With curiosity propelling his every movement, Katsuo clicked on the button and was promptly greeted with a welcoming message before gaining access to the actual function.
[CONGRADULATIONS ON GAINING ACCESS TO THE FINAL PIECE OF THE [HERO SYSTEM]. IN THIS NEW SYSTEM, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO LEVEL UP YOUR STATUS AS A "MONARCH". DUE TO YOUR ACTIONS AND THE WAY YOU HAVE HANDLED THE PREVIOUS MAIN QUEST, YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE TITLE "MONARCH OF SHADOWS". AS A PART OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THIS TITLE, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO RESSURECT ANY CREATURE WITHIN 24 HOURS OF ITS DEATH CYCLE. GOOD LUCK, MONARCH.]
As soon as Katsuo finishes reading, the welcome screen suddenly disappears unprompted, as it were waiting to show him all the cool new toys he could play with. There were several tabs to choose from on this list, but Katsuo wasn't interested in that. He quickly found the "Soldiers" tab and clicked on it, reading the instructions thoroughly. He had no clue why, but the idea of leading an army of warriors made his heart dance with glee. After ensuring that he understood everything properly, Katsuo glanced at the Nomu. It was still lying in the floor, deader than dead.
It seemed like the perfect target for Katsuo's new ability. He stood up, faced the Nomu, and thought about what he was doing.
'I guess when I resurrect this thing, it'll be completely obedient? I hope so. It would be embarrassing for my own soldier to immediately kill me.'
Katsuo closed his eyes and stuck his hand out over the Nomu, drawing his focus onto a single word, just as the system told him. He could feel his mana swirling around inside, but it felt different. Instead of it being a swirling mass of purple energy, it was darker, with a blue hue around it. A shadow.
"ARISE".
The shadowy energy suddenly exploded out of Katsuo's chest, circling his arm as it made its way down to his hand and shooting into the Nomu. Katsuo could feel this strange energy pulling on something inside the creature, drawing it out for Katsuo to use. However, a very confusing sight emerged from the monster. Katsuo was expecting to see the hulking figure of the Nomu standing before him, but a slender figure stood above the Nomu's corpse instead.
It looked a normal man, but its body was completely black, holding the same bluish hue outlining him that Katsuo's shadow energy did. The features of his face could kind of be seen, but the only definitive features were his eyes. They were glowing completely blue, with not even a bit of white in there like a normal person. Even with the lack of facial features, Katsuo could still see a familiar look on his face. One of anger and sadness. In voice was deep and echoing, speaking through his sorrow.
"My name is Akira Ryuko, and I am a cursed existence."
Before Katsuo could ask what he meant, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his chest. The shadow man disappeared into thin air, and the shadows on Katsuo's skin were melting away. The overflowing mana in Katsuo's body practically flood out with the shadows, leaving Katuso back in his normal form and toppling over onto the ground. It seemed that the special form had finally run out, leaving Katsuo in a state of complete exhaustion. Katsuo's muscles no longer had the energy, nor the capability of moving around anymore, and the sudden bout of exhaustion quickly reached his brain.
I mean, at least Katsuo's injuries were still healed. As his eyes began rapidly closing against his will, Katsuo could make out multiple figures standing atop the giant walls of the Engine Room, looking down on him from where they were standing in the plaza. Only All Might's iconic form gave a hint as to who they were.
'I guess Iida pulled through... After all...'
Seeing that everythign was going to be okay now, Katsuo let himself drift into the shadows of slumber, leaving all of the work to his future self as the teachers of UA quickly made their way down to the smiling wannabe hero.
-SEVERAL DAYS LATER-
The only sound Katsuo woke up to was the steady breathing of his teacher sitting in the chair next to his bed. Which was strange, considering Katsuo assumed he was waking up at home. Katsuo immediately shot up at his half-asleep brain attempted to connect the dots, only to quickly realize that he wasn't in his bedroom, but a hospital room. Looking around, it seemed Katsuo had been sleeping soundly without the need for any machinery. He had a blood bag attached to his left arm, but that was it. He really got lucky this time. Too lucky. He couldn't let something like that happen ever again.
Just as he was about to disconnect the bag and get out of bed, Aizawa suddenly spoke, jump scaring the unexpecting Katuso.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You lost a lot blood."
However, turning towards the chair sitting by the window, he saw Midnight instead.
"Over here, genius."
Katsuo looked across the room at Aizawa, who was sitting on the edge of his bed. He looked way worse than Katsuo did, his entire face being wrapped in bandages and his arm in a sling. Too bad he didn't have a system to heal him up while being on the brink of death.
"Recovery Girl stopped by to heal us, but one look at you and she already knew you didn't need healing. You almost died, and yet here you are, perfectly fine. Despite that, you've been asleep for several days now. Lazy bastard."
Katsuo could tell Aizawa was teasing. Midnight had woken up from the two's conversation, expressing her joy that Katsuo was awake and probably flaunting her breasts around too. However, Katsuo himself couldn't help but examine Aizawa's heavy injuries and feel... Guilty. Of course, as wise as he was, Aizawa noticed.
"You shouldn't feel guilty for not getting there in time Katsuo. Not only did you defend me and your classmates, but you also risked your life to save theirs. I have a feeling that wasn't out of some kind of arrogance, too. And besides, my injuries are temporary."
Katsuo breathed a sigh of relief as a doctor came in, telling Aizawa it was time for physical therapy. Aizawa told Katsuo to get some rest and left, with Midnight following close behind saying she had papers to grade. And just like that, Katsuo was alone once again. However, this worked in his favor. After all, he still had to examine the new toys he got from his title change. He summoned the system and promptly navigated to the Monarch System before examining each function and making a mental list of them.
Authority: The "aura" that Katsuo releases continually. It has the passive effect of making allies feel assured and stronger while making enemies feel in an intense fear in his presence. However, enemies with a higher level than Katsuo will be able to feel his aura but will not be negatively affected by it. This ability comes with two skills: Monarch's Appraisal to judge an enemy's level, and Monarch's Authority, which can forcefully stop an enemy in their tracks for a limited time using fear.
Sovereign's Domain: This tab allows Katsuo to expand the pocket dimension hidden in his shadow. This space can be used to store items or even people if he wants to. While the space starts out small, it can be grown using the energy of his shadow soldiers, meaning the larger his army, the larger is domain. This pocket dimension can be pulled out into the real word as well, trapping anything inside of it for a short duration. In this space, Katsuo cannot be defeated, no matter how much damage he takes. However, this skill costs an outrageous amount of mana and will be out of use for a long time.
Monarch Form: Katsuo's transformation that occurred during his fight with the Nomu. Due to being summoned for the first time, Katsuo's Monarch Form was unsustainable, clearing his mana reserves within minutes. The system has sense restricted this form, meaning Katsuo will have to unlock different stages depending on how large his mana reserves are. The form is also temporary, and requires a cool-down time of a week before another usage.
Shadow Army: Katsuo now possesses the ability to extract the "shadow" of a dead creature, as long as the corpse has been dead for less than 24 hours. The current amount of shadows is limited to one right now. However, the number of available shadows will increase by two each time Katsuo gains ten levels. The shadows will also grow in strength as Katsuo does.
Katsuo contemplated the last function: Shadow Army. He hadn't thought about it before, but where the hell had that shadow gone after Katsuo collapsed? And if Katsuo resurrected a Nomu, why did a person come out?
"What was his name again? Akira?"
"You called, kid?"
"AH, JESUS!"
Katsuo nearly jumped out of his bed, not expecting for Akira to suddenly appear beside him in an empty room.
"Where the hell did you come from, dude?!"
"I'm not completely sure, but judging by the angle from which I appeared and my new look, I assume your shadow."
Akira, with one arm cross over his chest, used the other to point at Katsuo's shadow on the curtain behind him. Due to the rising morning sun, his shadow was slightly below eye level. Katsuo turned his gaze back towards the shadow, Akira, and saw the man looking right back at him. Katsuo wanted to ask who he was, but Akira beat him to it.
"Who are you? How did you pull me out of that... thing?"
"My name is Katsuo, Hiroki Katsuo, and I'm a student at UA. To be honest, I'm still wrapping my head around everything myself."
Katsuo briefly considered keeping his secrets to himself, but if the two of them were going to be partners for the rest of his life, then he might as well just tell him everything. And so he did. Katsuo spilled the beans on everything. He talked about the future, his death, his return, everything. It was only when he had caught up to the whole "Monarch of Shadows" thing that Akira seemed to put everything together.
"So you have a system that not only brought you back in time, but can also raise the dead as an army of shadows? You're one strange guy, kid."
"Speaking of, I was fully expecting a mindless Nomu to come out of the ground. Not... You. What the hell were you doing in there? And how were you in there?"
"That... Is a tough story to tell. I'm not sure I can-"
Akira cut himself off before finishing the sentence. Katsuo could clearly tell that whatever happened to him was horrible, but he could also see the guilt from not telling Katsuo about it after Katsuo told him everything.
'So he's a cool guy, huh?'
"It's okay, Akira. If you can't tell me now, then I guess I'll just wait for when you can. If I want to be a hero, I need to be more aware of how other people feel. So I'll just wait until you can give me the full story, alright?"
Akira looked up from the ground and at Katsuo, examining his smiling face for any kind of deceit. And yet, he found none. And when he realized that the young boy in front of him was completely sincere, a small smile could be made out from his lacking facial expressions. Katsuo appreciated that a lot.
-ONE WEEK LATER-
The suspicious nature of Katsuo's seemingly regenerative body was baffling to doctors, even if it wasn't unheard of. To make sure no other complications arose, Katsuo was kept around the hospital for a few days. His classmates visited every day, worried that they might find him suddenly bleeding out, but that never happened. Katsuo made sure to praise Sero for his decisiveness under duress, which Sero seemed to be a little too proud of. Midoriya was of course crying when he found out Katsuo was okay, practically drowning the room with his tears.
Between physical and mental checkups, visits from his classmates and mother, and Aizawa's constant badgering about how to be better at not getting himself hurt, Katsuo was learning more and more about how the Monarch System worked alongside Akira. He had to admit, it was nice to finally have someone to talk to about his situation. After getting to know him, Katsuo realized Akira was actually kind of a jokester, resembling Katsuo a lot in that manner. Once Akira realized he was free from that monster forever, his spirit seemed to lighten a lot, leading to a lot of funny interactions between the two.
Katsuo also learned from his classmates about the aftermath of the incident. Apparently, as Iida was explaining the situation to the staff at UA, a group of dock workers suddenly busted into the room, talking about a purple-eyed hero saving them from a monster. Katsuo blushed at being called a hero. The leftover villains were swiftly rounded up and brought to prison, with the Nomu's corpse being sent to be examined by doctors and scientists. The police came to ask Katsuo questions about what happened, who gave a summary of the events and perfectly described the two villains that managed to escape.
Once all of that was said and done however, it was time for Katuso to finally leave the hospital. He had received a text from his mother that she was preparing fried potatoes for his arrival back home, so he quickly got dressed in some clothes she had brought him previously and checked out of the hospital. The setting morning sun once again graced the city with its orange glow, signaling the end of the new day for Katsuo and his new friend, who was now living in his shadow.
"So boss, where to now?"
"We need to get home immediately so I can eat those fried potatoes. Let's get moving!"
Just as Katsuo was about to jump up to the top of a nearby building, a woman's frightened cries for help suddenly grabbed his attention. Using mana sense, Katsuo found a woman being attacked by a man in an alleyway. Strangely enough, he wasn't using a weapon or anything, just attempting to grab her for some reason. Katsuo smiled before cracking his knuckles, antsy to beat someone up.
He stood at the edge of the alley before activating Monarch's Authority to stop the man in his tracks. But it didn't work. Confused, Katsuo attempted to measure the man's level, only for a glitched out screen of text to appear where the man's appraisal should have been.
"The hell? Why are none of my powers working? I'm not that weak right?"
"I don't think that's the problem, boss. You see that?"
The man seemed to suddenly lost interest, letting the woman go as she ran away screaming. It was right to be scared of the situation, but something about her reaction wasn't quite right. She didn't even beg for help, just ran away frightened. Then, the man turned towards Katsuo, whose heart suddenly dropped into his stomach at the sight.
"Is that... No way, it can't be. Is that a-"
"ZOMBIE?!"
-END OF SEASON ONE-