Early the next morning, the students from Class A and B, most of which were barely awake, gathered at the main campsite as the cold air washes breezes through. Izuku stood among the teachers, with Eri perched on his shoulders.
They were all expecting the teachers to be the one to address them but were surprised by Izuku speaking, "Thanks for coming. What I'm about to tell you could save your life."
This was the moment most of the class realized that it would be serious. The teachers' expressions were grave.
"I would like to let you know all about magic," Izuku started, the students were listening intently. All but one.
"Magic? Seriously? That sounds stu-" Neito started his snide remark before getting neck-chopped by Itsuka. She turned around the others, raising her fist as if daring anyone to interrupt Izuku.
"Thank you, Itsuka. But if you start knocking people out, it'd defeat the purpose of gathering them here," Izuku joked, trying to alleviate the tense atmosphere.
"I'll just explain to him later, Master. Hunter style," she grinned, causing Izuku to swallow.
Izuku spent the next hour detailing the basics of magic—how spells are cast, the creatures to watch out for, and where to avoid. The class listened intently, the gravity of the conversation settling in.
Meanwhile, Vlad King whispered to Eraserhead, "If someone found out about this...?" Vlad muttered.
"He knows," Eraserhead interrupted, his voice flat. "Better to prepare them now than let them stumble into it blind."
Vlad's frown deepened. "He's painting a target on his back."
"He's already a target," Eraserhead shot back, his gaze steady on Izuku. "At least now, the kids will know how to survive."
"Still...you shouldn't encourage this. What would happen to your students?"
"Things already happened to my students," he glared at the teacher.
"I...I didn't mean it like that, Eraser," Vlad defended himself.
"It's their choice now, Vlad," Eraserhead told him, his eyes staring at his students.
"I'm just worried. If someone found out, we'll be in deep shit."
They turned back to the students. By the time Izuku finished, the students wore a mix of expressions: some looked grave, others uncertain, and a few still burned with defiant energy.
"So that's the secret to your power," Katsuki murmured, his gaze fixed on Izuku.
"It is," he nodded, before turning around, not giving any further details.
"No matter what we face, we'll just have to overcome it!" a silver-haired student, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, hyped himself up.
"That's not what I'm trying to tell you," Izuku interrupted. "Your survival depends on three things: staying away, knowing when to retreat, and having backup you can trust."
"But we can't just run away either! We're supposed to be training as heroes!" pale-skinned young man with spiked hair of a beige color, Honenuki Jūzō, protested.
"I'm with Master on this one," Itsuka told them. "There are just some things out there you only hope they won't notice you."
"That's loser-talk, Kendo!" a young man with short brown hair, Tsuburaba Kōsei, backed Tetsutetsu.
Katsuki's crimson eyes narrowed; his voice growled low. "Keep running your mouth, and you'll lose more than an eye."
"I'm not telling you not to fight," Izuku started. "Bravery isn't recklessness. I barely survived the Lich that took his eye."
Tetsutetsu was about to insist, clenching his fist.
Eijirou was about to say something and hold back his friend before Izuku stepping forward, "Prove it." His gaze swept over the students. "All of you. Fight me together. If you get a hit in, clean or not, I'll trust you to know your limits."
Denki's face paled. "Wait...like all of us? Against you?"
"Hah! Bring it!" Kōsei changed into a fighting stand, not even thinking about it.
"Are we sure this is a good idea? Isn't he, like, the strongest or something?" A blonde girl with horns, Pony Tsunotori, bit her lip, her mind racing with the implications of their plan.
"Yeah, I'm not sure this is a good idea, guys," a young man with a head shaped somewhat like a glue-dispenser with a lappet on top, Bondo Kojirō, agreed.
"I'm sitting this one out," Itsuka announced, stepping back. "Doesn't apply to me anyway."
"Wait, why?" a girl with dark moss green-colored hair asked, Tokage Setsuna asked.
"Werewolf," Itsuka said simply, her words dropping like a bomb.
Her classmates stared at her wide-eyed. They knew she was strong, but not supernaturally strong.
"Now that you mention it, she did keep up with Midoriya during the Sportsfest, didn't she?" Setsuna recalled, and the rest nodded.
Several other students hesitated, joining her. Katsuki, Shoto, and Eijirou stepped out silently, followed by Momo and the rest of Izuku's closest allies.
Tetsutetsu's face burned red. "Oi! Kirishima, what the hell?"
Eijirou's jaw was tight, but he nodded. 'Too crazy for me, man,' he muttered, stepping back with a hand on Tetsutetsu's shoulder.
"Anyone else?" Izuku asked, waiting a minute before nodding and gently letting Eri down. "Okay, then."
"Good luck, Papa!"
"Thanks, Little Snowball," he told her, walking forward, his expression calm.
Before anyone could react, Izuku moved, his speed mocking the laws of physics. The front line crumpled in an instant, the sound of bodies hitting the ground could be heard before anyone could blink. Tetsutetsu hurtled through the air like a ragdoll, Neito slammed into a tree with a resounding crack, and Denki's face hit the dirt hard enough to leave an imprint. Katsuki's sharp intake of breath was the only sound to break the stunned silence.
Those part of Izuku's fellowship expected the outcome. What else would they expect?
The students who had stepped back watched, wide-eyed. Even Itsuka was barely able to follow Izuku's movements.
"He held back right, nyaa~?" Ragdoll whispered.
"He did. They would've been dead otherwise," Eraserhead told them. Izuku didn't even cast a spell nor pull from his Quirk.
"That...could've happened to us?" Katsuki's voice cut off the silence.
Izuku looked at him in the eye, "Yeah. You're lucky they're more cruel than murderous or hungry. As someone puts it, they played with their food."
Katsuki clicked his tongue, his fingers twitching. "How do we win against that?"
"For now, you don't. I'm working on something, but until then...unless you want to hand over your corpse to them to be reanimated, you run."
"Hnnn," he hummed, looking at the rest of the unconscious students.
They waited for ten minutes for them to wake up, but after running out of patience, Eraserhead asked Kota to splash them with water. The boy was apprehensive at first, looking at Izuku's direction. When he gave a nod, he sighed and complied.
"Uwaa!" the student with a manga bubble as a head, Fukidashi Manga, shouted.
"You okay, Fukidashi-san?" Izuku approached him, extending his hand to the young man.
"I'm...okay. Just...dazed," he reached out to Izuku's hand, pulling him up.
"一体何が起こったんだ！？" Pony exclaimed. "Oh, I'm sorry. What happened?" Pony translated, rubbing the back of her head.
"You all got knocked out pretty instantly," this time, Izuku reached out to her, helping her up.
Tetsutetsu sat up, clutching his head. "Damn it...Did we even last a second?" His voice was rough, frustration bubbling under the surface.
Manga shook his head, his bubble-like face dim. "I didn't catch anything. It was just...done."
Most of the students wore mixed expressions, from shaking from fear to clenching their fists in frustration.
"This is why I warned you. I'm much more used to Elsewhere and Magic, in general. I'm pretty strong, even by their standards, but I also didn't even try against you at all. There are others stronger than this who won't hesitate to kill, eat, or defile even your corpses."
"Damn it," he cursed.
"That's why, until you guys are ready, you will follow what I said. If you guys aren't sure, you reach out to a high-ranking hero, or better yet, to me. When I'm unavailable, you can reach out to either Mina or Itsuka. They'll know. Understood?"
The class could only nod their heads, the weight of what they experienced hitting them.
Izuku's voice dropped, a hardened edge to it as he stared down the class. 'What's your answer?'
"Yes, sir!" the classes answered, standing up, their voices firm, but the tension in the air was obvious. The ground seemed to tremble beneath them.
"Alright," Eraserhead said, stepping in to cut the tension. "Now that you know one of society's best-kept secrets, keep it to yourselves. Talking about this openly is a very bad idea."
"Why doesn't the public know about this?" Manga asked.
"It's complicated," Eraserhead answered flatly. "These beings exist in our world, hidden in plain sight. Revealing them would only make everything exponentially worse, and our legal systems are basically useless against them"
"That's insane! Why are they above the law?" Neito's voice cracked, frustration clear.
"Because it's not just a Mage you piss off; it's most of them. And governments and even HPSC won't push them—they can't afford to."
The rest of the students stood silently, letting what they just heard sink in.
Izuku picked up where Eraserhead left off, his tone no less serious "Most of them don't care about our side—most of the time. People like me and Itsuka will step in if creatures or Mages get rowdy. But there's no guarantee we'll make it in time." His eyes flickered briefly to Katsuki's missing eye.
"Anyway, now that Midoriya has said what he needed, you should all go back to your training."
The students started leaving, some of them looking back and discussing among themselves.
Katsuki lingered at the edge of the clearing, his jaw tight as he stared into the distance. His mind churned with everything he'd just learned—magic, the creatures, and the truth about Izuku. It answered questions he'd never asked, yet left him with even more. The weight of it pressed down on him like a boulder, his fist clenching as his thoughts spiraled.
But one thing was for sure: he won't win against those things. At least, not right now. His hand slipped into his pocket, fingers brushing against the business card he'd been carrying. The man's offer loomed in his mind, growing harder to ignore with every passing moment.
Nighttime
Footsteps echoed through the hallway as Eraserhead guided Izuku and the rest towards the remedial class, the muffled sounds of their classmates' test of courage drifting in from the surrounding forest.
"I thought Ochaco and I were exempt?" Izuku questioned the teacher, walking through the hallways of the building.
Eraserhead walking with him clarified, "You're exempt from training, not remedial classes."
"But I passed?" He distinctly remembered what happened, with Nezu even approving his decision.
"The Principal said your decision was correct, you still didn't beat him nor go through the gate," Eraserhead grinned.
Back then, the Principal tricked Izuku that the place was attacked by multiple Nomus. Due to this, he immediately abandoned the exam and came to protect the rest of the class, especially Ochaco, destroying the faux city in the process.
"The fuck was that supposed to—?"
"Oh? Did the next Symbol of Peace fail his Finals exam?" Neito's voice interrupted, followed by a laugh, his arms spread wide open as if waiting for an applause from something.
"Oh, shut up. Like you're one to talk," Minoru quipped.
"What do you mean? It was always expected for me to be here, but the praised to be the next Number 1?! How ludicrous!" he struck a pose.
Izuku decided to ignore the blonde.
"Oh? Don't tell me you're scared of me, Midoriya?"
"Did you hit your head harder than I thought back there, Monoma-kun?" Izuku retorted, not even turning around. "Say that once you can touch me."
"Oh, you're so full of yourself," he sneered.
"I don't have time for this. We're late enough as is," Eraserhead sighed, his voice sounding tired.
They were already in the classroom. The underground hero and the group stepped into the room.
"Welcome, everyone," greeted Vlad King, who was sitting behind a desk. "Take a seat."
Vlad King was a tall, muscular, and athletic-looking man. He had a square jaw, long black hair tied in a spiky ponytail, a thin mustache and beard, and a prominent tooth jutting out from the left side of his mouth.
The students each took a seat.
"But still..." Denki muttered, his voice was low, but the classroom was quiet, so it was easily heard by everyone. "Must be awesome being born with those Powers, huh?"
"I won't deny that. But it does mean I'm somehow connected to people I didn't know about for most of my life," Izuku replied, adjusting his seat.
"Hey...Midoriya..." Minoru piped up. "Is that why the girls are all over you?"
Hanta narrowed his eyes to Minoru, "Oi, Mineta...this again?"
Surprisingly, Izuku wasn't as offended as they thought he would be. Perhaps because unlike the other times, Minoru's expression wasn't filled with malice or envy. "Nah, it's fine. Someone told me it's tied to my Power, but...let's just say I don't trust their word much."
Neito didn't pass up the opportunity of saying, "Oh, so you're basically brainwashing the girls? How unhe-" he stopped, unable to speak because of Minoru's purple ball shutting his mouth.
The rest of the students couldn't help but chuckle at this.
"Dude, imagine getting shut down by Mineta. Oh, wait. You don't have to," Denki whispered, slapping the table, laughing.
"Shut up, Kaminari!" the blonde tried to say, but only a muffle could be heard.
"You deserved it, Monoma," Eijirou told him.
"Now, let's start."
The lesson started and lasted for hours, ending with a break. Meanwhile, Yuga was staring outside the window, gazing upon the vast forest surrounding the facility.
The lessons continued, boring the students almost to sleep. The only reason Izuku wasn't slumped on the desk was due to his magic allowing him to not feel sleepiness unless he wanted to.
It was a quiet night, with the sound of nature filling the background. The moon was shining, and the wind blew, rustling the leaves and the branches. Izuku looked outside, wondering about his daughter. Eri and Kota were supposed to be playing together with Mandalay looking after them.
He was glad that she finally had a friend her age. As much as his friends and classmates kept her entertained, having nobody her age to interact with can't be healthy.
Izuku's clenched his fist under the desk, a sense of unease creeping into his mind. Something felt wrong, though he couldn't place it.
Far away in the forest, a small pair of footsteps pattered across the dirt trail. Eri held tightly onto Kota's hand, her wide eyes darting nervously at the shadows cast by the moonlight. "Are we safe here?" she whispered.
"We'll be fine," Kota reassured her, though his voice wavered.
Back in the classroom, the alarm blared, yanking everyone into action.
"I knew something like this would happen," Neito muttered.
"It seems our guest has finally arrived," Eraserhead's face was neutral, but his tone was harsh.
"Get your stuff. It's time," Vlad King said.
"Midoriya, you are permitted to engage so long as you don't kill them. The rest of you stay where you are."
"Wait, we can't do anything?" Denki asked, standing up.
"Not unless they found us first," Aizawa looked at him straight in the eyes, before looking at Izuku again. "Vice President, I'll leave it to you to call if the others outside can engage, but it'd be your responsibility."
"Understood." He opened the window and jumped out, heading in the direction of the test of courage.
"You heard him, kids. Don't cause trouble," Vlad King told them, taking his leave.
Izuku ran, he ran as much as he could without causing damage, pausing time and resuming it to find the most efficient route.
Then the image of Eri's bright smile flickered in his mind. Her laughter, soft and innocent, echoed in his ears. It clashed violently with fear gripping his heart as darker images crept in—her smile replaced by tears, her tiny body battered and broken. He pushed those thoughts aside, his pace quickening. 'I won't let that happen.'
He was snapped back to reality when he heard the sound of metals clanking along with shouts. He changed directions, tearing through the forest, his focus razor-sharp. Every step thundered against the ground, the sheer force splitting tree roots and leaving craters in the dirt. Branches cracked like gunshots as they whipped past him, and more than a few trees were ripped from the ground, spinning into the air like broken toys. He now barely noticed any of it, his thoughts consumed by the image of Eri's terrified face.
He arrived at the clearing, where he saw five people. Mandalay along with Ragdoll, unconscious and bleeding from their head. Tiger, the fourth member of Wild Wild Pussycats, holding off two other villains. One was a person with a lizard-like appearance, potentially his Quirk, with purple hair. Another was one with quite a wide, muscular build and reddish hair. He looked around. Eri's not there. Kota's not there. 'Where are they?' he panicked.
"A handsome man just arrived!" the redhead grinned, twirling the pillar like a toy baton. "The name's Magne. But for you, you can call me Onee-chan." The voice sang mockery, light and casual, but the cruel glint in those eyes promised anything but playfulness.
"Tiger. Where are Eri and Kota?" he asked, his eyes focused on the hero.
"Eri's with Kota. We told them to retreat to the cottage. The villains are tougher than we thought."
He looked back at his memories. How come he didn't see them? Maybe he ran past them? 'No,' he thought. 'But where are they?!'
"Hey! Don't ignore me!" the redheaded villain shouted, using what seemed to be a large pillar that dragged Izuku closer. "Hey!"
Izuku, mixed with worry and parental rage, shouted, "Shut up!" and let loose a left hook to the villain's gut. Izuku's fist connected with a sickening crunch, the force reverberating like a cannon blast. Magne's body folded in half, eyes bulging as blood sprayed from his mouth, crumpling to the ground with a heavy thud, unmoving, and the clearing fell silent save for the faint rustle of falling leaves. He held back, but anyone else would have gotten a large hole in their torso.
Magne's accomplice's eyes caught Izuku's.
And.
Instantly.
Regretted it.
The lizardman's mind fractured. Izuku was wrong—an anomaly. Every attempt to focus brought pain. Impossible angles burned into his retinas, his brain rejecting existence itself. Survival? Futile.
Geometric impossibilities leaked from Izuku's form. The villain's brain tried to map these non-Euclidean angles, and with each attempt, another section of his neural network collapsed. It wasn't just seeing something beyond comprehension - it was being forcibly rewritten by that incomprehension. Was he looking at a person? A god? Something that consumed categorization itself?
His neural pathways began to revolt. Survival instinct warred against an incomprehensible terror that threatened to consume not just his body, but the very concept of his individual existence.
'Run. RUN. RUN!' his instincts screamed, every nerve ablaze with terror. Then, a sharper voice: 'RUNNING IS FUTILE!' His body jolted, barely stopping himself from slitting his throat. His body started moving on its own, deciding it was better to die than to—
Izuku moved. The villain's blades shattered, the sound like glass caught in a nuclear blast. In one smooth motion, the villain was grabbed by the throat, squeezing hard enough that his feet dangled a few feet above the ground.
"I didn't run into them so I'm asking you." Izuku's voice was calm—terrifyingly so. His expression? Furious. "Where are they?" The words crashed into space itself; a gong struck by a missile.
"I-I don't— I swear—!" His eyes rolled back, tears of blood streaking his face as Izuku's grip tightened.
"Really? I think you do," he said, squeezing harder. The villain's legs flailed in the air, his mouth opening and closing as if trying to say something, but no sound came out.
'-ss! Boss!' X called out.
'What?'
'Please stop! You're killing him,' X pleaded, the lizardman's face had turned blue, his eyes bulging as they began to dim. 'Calm down, Boss. If you didn't find them where they're supposed to be, then they must be somewhere else. Try those areas first.'
Izuku's grip loosened. The villain hit the ground with a thud, but Izuku barely noticed—his heart thundered louder than his rage. He inhaled sharply, forcing down the primal urge to tear everything apart.
"Right. Calm down," he told himself, his voice shaking. In his mind, he listed several places they could be. One was much more likely and isolated than the others. It was then that he heard a little girl shouting, "PAPA!"
The world rippled as Izuku leapt, the laws of space folding in on themselves, dragged along by the sheer force of his motion. Distances collapsed, horizons distorted—reality itself strained to contain him.
A few minutes before this, Kota's heart was beating so fast he thought it would explode. 'Shit. Damn it,' he cursed, his mind racing. "C'mon, keep moving," he said, pulling her arm. They can't go to the cottage, so they can only go to that place.
The rustling of tall grass and the crunching of dead leaves filled the air as they ran, both breathing heavily, their legs burning and lungs aching.
"Okay," she nodded. They went around the bushes and trees.
"You won't make it far. Don't make this harder for yourselves." the grey-haired man called out.
Kota and Eri ran and ran. They finally got to the cliff. He huffed. Eventually, he would rescue them, he hoped. He wasn't stupid enough to think he could beat these guys. He looked at them, behind the grey-haired man is a red-haired woman, a brown-haired guy, and some type of wolf. 'Yeah, no shot,' he thought.
The wolf-man glanced at Nine, then at the woman, his lips curling into a snarl before he grabbed her and leapt off the cliff. What the hell?
"What happened?!"
"They're gone...Would you like me to go after them, Nine?"
Nine grunted, "No. I'll see what's up after we secure the experiment," he said, looking in Eri's direction.
Shivers ran up Kota's spine. "Stay away from her!"
A strange voice reverberated through the air, asking, "Where are they?"
He didn't know who that voice was, but Nine's face twisted in panic, beads of sweat running down his cheek "Shut it, brat. I don't need this right now!"
"Kota, don't," she whispered.
"But," he looked at her. She was scared, tears pooling at the corner of her eyes. She was looking straight ahead, and when he followed her line of sight, he saw the grey-haired man staring straight back at them. Kota couldn't let this go. Kota raised trembling hands, willing his Quirk to respond. A weak splash of water shot out, arcing forward and hitting Nine's face with a pitiful splat.
"Cute," Nine deadpanned. He then raised his hand, light gathering on his arms. It was at this moment, Kota felt he was about to die. The man wasn't messing around. And yet...strangely...just by knowing that he's protecting someone behind him, courage took hold of him.
"BRING IT ON!" Kota shouted, his voice cracking but fierce.
His legs were trembling, his lungs burning, but he stood tall. He wasn't a hero. But right now, he didn't care.
The brown-haired man chuckled before Nine launched his light Quirk. He wasn't afraid. NOT AFRAID. NOT AFRAID!
"PAPA!" Eri shouted on top of her lungs.
Time froze. Then the earth roared.
Light surged toward them, bright enough to sear the air itself. Kota's heart stopped. And then—it didn't reach them. A wall of emerald light erupted between them and the blast, rippling outward like a force of nature.
There he was—Midoriya Izuku, standing tall, his green aura blazing like an unbreakable shield. He looked back, his eyes met hers.
"Eri, Kota," his voice was firm, and the earth shook beneath him. He smiled at them.
"You're late," Kota shouted, his eyes wet.
"Sorry, I'll make up for it."
"It's fine. Just beat the villains," he said.
The grey-haired villain, Nine, was stunned.
Before they could react, BOOM! the brown-haired man got his face bashed against the ground. His jaw and teeth wrecked, and his brain rattled against his skull, the earth shaking.
Dread flooded Nine's system as Midoriya rose to his feet. Izuku's gaze was focused on him.
Nine's hand shot out, a blinding laser ripping through the air. It seared Izuku's clothes—but stopped there. His skin was impenetrable.
Izuku didn't wait for Nine's next move. He was on him in a flash, one backhand to the villain's mask with a sickening crack. Nine staggered, clutching at his face, but Izuku didn't stop.
He grabbed Nine by the throat, lifting him with ease. Nine clawed at the unrelenting grip, gasping for air, his pride and confidence crumbling with every second.
Nine clawed at Izuku's hand, but the grip was unyielding, like steel closing around his windpipe. He gritted his teeth, unable to accept defeat, this humiliation, a second time. He was supposed to stand at the top. A world where the strong thrives and the weak are forced to their knees.
He gathered the biggest storm he could form; cell degradation be damned! Lightning crackled and the smell of ozone filled the air. Hairs standing upright, the clouds darkened, and thunder boomed.
Izuku only looked above, an amused expression on his face.
"In this world, only the strong have the right to rule. And you'll learn your place!" Nine hissed, his voice a desperate rasp.
The beam ripped through the air, a blazing spear of energy that lit the battlefield in a searing, white-hot glow. It slammed into Izuku's chest, exploding with the force of a small sun, blinding Nine as he felt the impact through his body.
As the smoke cleared, what he saw made Nine's heart drop. A shimmering green dome protected the children from the blast while Izuku's clothes were reduced to smoldering scraps, but his body bore not a single blemish.
Eri clutched Kota's sleeve tightly, her knuckles white. The sheer power radiating from her father made the air feel electric, as if the world itself was holding its breath. Kota, trembling with the last remnants of adrenaline, straightened his posture. His fear was ebbing away, replaced by something stronger.
"Cute," he smirked, his glowing green eyes meeting his. The Lightning was nowhere near Thor's attack. Not even the Lich's.
But Nine couldn't give up. Gathering all his will, his hand grabbed Izuku's activating his All for One Quirk. 'Fool,' he thought.
He heard something shattered. His vision darkened. Nine froze, his vision tunneling as an unfamiliar, primal terror clawed at him. It was gone. His Quirk, his power, his means to the top—ripped away.
"Now, if we're done with this...charade, how about this? Who sent you and why?"
"Fuck you," Nine spat.
"Pass. I'll stick to your mom," he mocked. "You're only breathing because they're safe. I don't want to traumatize my daughter, or her friend more than they already are. But if you don't talk, I'll make it, so you'll never breathe again. Half a second to launch you straight to the ocean floor. Choose."
Nine scoffed, but it was a weak sound. "Do your worst," his words wheezed out, the last shreds of his pride barely clinging to him. "If you won't kill me, this...body...will. Nothing left to lose."
Izuku's aura flared, intensifying like an ocean storm. "And if I could fix that?"
Nine's heart stuttered. "Wh-What do you mean?"
Izuku leaned closer, his voice low and filled with a command that shook the air around them. "You have two choices. Swear an Oath to me and serve me for the rest of your days...or I know a few who can make you wish you were dead."
Nine's breath hitched, and for a moment, he fought the pull of that promise, but it was useless. His will crumbled like a dried leaf in a storm. "I... I..."
Izuku's presence grew heavier. The very ground seemed to shake beneath his feet. "Your time's running out, Nine. Make your choice."
"I swear...Master," Nine forced out, the words tasting like ash, his will was crushed under Izuku's relentless weight.
"Say it. Swear an Oath in the name of The Winter King," his voice boomed, his presence alone causing the ground to tremble, the sky darkened.
Nine's body trembled, his pride long since shattered. His heart pounded in his ears as Izuku's words suffocated him. He had no choice. "I...swear...by...the name of...The Winter King...to serve and protect Midoriya Izuku...for the rest of my days," Nine rasped, the words torn from his soul.
For a moment, Nine's body pulsed with strange energy. Mummy and Slice twitched, their unconscious forms reacting to the Oath. Izuku released his grip, and Nine collapsed, his legs giving way under the sudden loss of resistance.
Nine blinked up at him, his eyes wide with disbelief. "What did you do?"
Izuku's tone turned colder, his expression unreadable. "The question isn't what I did, Nine. It's what you've just done. Oaths are Real. You'll answer mine when I call."
Nine felt something inside him shift—an unnatural compulsion flooding his senses, forcing his body and mind to bend to Izuku's will. He wasn't just bound in body. His soul was locked in this new servitude.
"Yes...Winter King...We were after the girl...under the order of All for One."
"Do you know where they are?" Izuku's eyes hardened.
"In Kamino Ward, Winter King. I have the exact address, but I cannot guarantee they'll still be there."
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Follow them to the cottage. Once there, protect the teachers, the students, and those that are mine. If anything happens, you fight until they're safe. Understood?"
"I understand, Winter King," he replied.
"Himi," he called out. And in an instant, she appeared, the form of the wolf-man dissolving like sludge on her feet. The unconscious figure of Slice on her grip.
"Yes, Izu-kun?"
"Escort them back. I'll check the others if they need help," he instructed before turning back to Kota and Eri. "Eri, Kota, follow what this nee-san says, alright?"
"Wait, is this going to be okay?" Kota asked. "I dunno this girl and this guy almost kidnapped your daughter, you know?"
Himiko crouched down and patted Kota in the head, "Don't worry~. Two of you will be safe with me," she smiled, showing off her fangs. "And if that guy tries anything, I'll cut him to pieces."
Kota gulped, seeing her teeth.
"Trust me. I know her," he assured Kota. "Now, go."
Kota and Eri nodded, walking away, with Himiko and Nine's crew behind them.
Izuku sighed. He didn't know what he did or how he practically enslaved the villain. It was just the words he uttered felt right. 'This whole Sorcery bit is gonna drive me crazy one day.' He looked at the forest, seeing fire and explosions, hearing fighting and destruction.
In one leap, he took to the skies.
A glimpse of restrained power. Izuku's holding back—a lot, despite Ochaco's absence. The reality and Arc of Time sigh in relief.
The Winter King, The End, The Abomination, The Sword of Mankind. Nine and Spinner got a glimpse of what those titles meant.
Stay tuned.