Chapter 35: Good Guys and Bad Guys
Melissa's eyes opened. Looking at the light peeking through the curtained window, she could tell that it was late in the morning, almost noon. Izuku would be off to work right now…
Would be. Looking next to her, she could see her beloved laying beside her, his hands wrapped around her arms. He stirred, opening his eyes, and smiled. "Morning. How are you feeling?"
"Better with you here," Melissa answered. "You should be working right now…"
"I've been working myself to the bone ever since you left; I'm just making up for all the lost time," Izuku said. "And besides, I'll return to running the country… in a few more days."
Melissa giggled. "Alright. But let's at least leave the bedroom today."
"Sure, we can have dinner in the dining room tonight," Izuku said. "But for now…"
As the demon embraced the angel, Melissa felt true bliss once more. This is paradise…
"Hey, there you are!" Katsuma smiled, as he walked up to Kota and Eri, before noticing how they looked. "The two of you look pretty haggard. Like you were up all night…"
Technically speaking, Katsuma was correct. Kota had been assigned Eri as a partner for this week's project, and they finally managed to complete it last night.
Said assignment? Transmute an egg.
Apparently, transmutation was one of those magics that, while recommended to have natural talent in, any muggle dumbass with the right wand or grimoire could be capable of pulling off, which, thank God, because Kota had absolutely no talent in it, whatsoever.
Unfortunately, Eri didn't have any talent for it, either.
Sure, the two of them could technically take the easy way out and simply use a basic spell to color their assigned egg like it was Easter, but for some inexplicable reason, Eri had a desire for their egg to surpass all of the other groups'. Sooo… they might have cheated… a little.
"Huh, that's your egg?" Katsuma asked, inspecting it closer. Its white shell had been replaced with green skin, covered in spikes, eyes, a mouth, and it also now came with two legs.
"Yeah, but don't touch it," Eri warned him. "It's a little… unstable."
"Unstable? Wait, did you use… dark magic?" Katsuma whispered.
Oh, shit. Was it that obvious?
Okay, so, yes, Eri might have dragged Kota along in raiding her big brother's personal library of magical books and tomes, and they may have found a spell that was flashy, but also kinda… evil? It was the Demon King's collection, they should have known what they were getting into.
"Shh!" Eri placed a finger to her mouth. "Be. Cool."
"Mr. Izumi, Miss Shigaraki, since the two of you are talking, perhaps you two would like to share your assignment first?" Tamakawa-sensei called them up to the front.
Kota wanted to argue that he wasn't the one talking in class, but he decided to keep his mouth shut. The two of them walked up to the front of the class, presenting their cursed egg on top of its plate, as the egg began to do backflips and talk in a disturbing voice.
"̶̡͂I̶̓ͅ ̸̘͐a̶͚͝m̵̨̌ ̶̆ͅt̵̬̅h̵͚́ë̴̳́ ̶̹͛n̸͖̈u̷̽͜t̶̩͐r̷̯̓i̶̖̇t̴͖͒ỉ̶̭ȯ̷̞u̶̬̐s̵͇͑ ̶̹͘š̴̮h̶̲̄ả̷̻d̶̞̆o̷̼̊w̶̩̔ ̸̰͆t̸̘͛h̴͙̀a̴̠̓t̵̮͂ ̴̻͑l̵̞͆o̶̝͆o̷̢͛m̵̢͗s̶͈͝.̴̑͜.̸̘̑.̵̫̐ ̵͘ͅo̸̙̽v̶͖͝e̷̟̿ŕ̶͓ ̷̘̀y̶͚̓o̷̲͌ṷ̶͂r̵̖̍ ̷͙̈́b̸͍̆ŕ̴͍ḙ̸̽a̴̜͝k̴̻̆f̶̮̈́a̷͔̒s̴̢̀t̶͙̄.̵̰̚"̴͙̓ ̷̦̀
Tamakawa squinted at the egg. "This is unexpectedly… interesting."
While everyone else in the class began to whisper, Kota was sweating bullets, praying to get back to his seat. Please give us an A, please give us an A, please give us an A…
Unfortunately, their cat-like teacher seemed to know what was going on, as he calmly grabbed a pencil from his desk, and then gently poked the side of the egg with the eraser-end.
The moment the eraser brushed up against the egg, its shell began to glow, and its eyes went dark, and it began to scream, "̴͉̈́Ĩ̵͉ ̵̬͛G̸̦̈R̴̥͠O̸̼͗W̴̞̌ ̸̡̐T̶͕͗O̶̼͆Ơ̷͖ ̶̫͠L̶͉̍A̴̭̔Ṛ̸͌G̴̉͜E̶͔͛ ̵̹͝F̷͓͆Ȯ̸̝R̵̩̅ ̴͔̾Ẅ̴̞́H̸̬͑A̴͎̐T̵̥̈ ̶̹̔Ỳ̵̨O̴̲̽Ȗ̷̳ ̷̢̿C̵͓̆A̶͉̓Ḽ̷̋L̴̦͆ ̶̮͗S̴̳͋P̶͕̈́A̷̓͜C̴̟̑E̴̻͗-̷̫͐Ṫ̵̨I̶̬͝M̸̨̔Ê̷̺!̴͔̔!̷̲̓!̵̠̄"̸̗̉
Yeah… that was probably a bad sign.
The egg kept screaming, as the shell exploded into several pieces, revealing a small spiral of darkness at its center, before pulling the eggshells back in, spawning a bunch of different shapes and colors, before pulling those back in, as well, and then…
POOOOOM!
…it exploded, sending green slime all over the classroom.
Eri tried to look innocent. "So… is that a B or…?"
"Detention. Both of you," Tamakawa-sensei simply said.
Fuck.
Mirio Togata breathed in the fresh air around him. He knew that once they entered Daemonium, there was a good chance that he wouldn't have this kind of luxury for a while.
It had been several months now since Yagi had given him One For All, with the mission to end the Demon King bloodline once and for all. And while he may have set out with his friends to do that right away, the actual logistics of getting there were a bit more complicated.
For starters, they were traveling on foot. Sure, they could buy some mounts, or even have Nejire try to perform a teleportation ritual, but Mirio had two reasons to take the long way there: First, training. He knew that, while he was powerful now (especially with One For All boosting his power), there was no way he was as powerful as Izuku Midoriya when he first started.
If the two of them battled when Mirio first received the mythical sword from Toshinori Yagi, he figured he might have been able to get at least a solid, possibly fatal, blow in before getting absolutely destroyed by the Green Demon of the West. Traveling by foot allowed Mirio to have plenty of opportunities to get stronger, either through training or monster-hunting.
While it was true that the world is now a much safer place compared to back when Hisashi Shigaraki was in charge, that didn't mean it was completely safe. Wild beasts, giants, the undead, and monsters of all kinds still roamed the lands, tormenting innocent villagers. Defeating these monsters not only allowed for a safer world, but also helped him get stronger.
Another reason, and frankly, a little bit more selfish, was that, aside from helping those who couldn't help themselves, it was that Mirio was taking his time getting there. While it was true that Mirio needed to get stronger, the Demon King wasn't leaving his castle any time soon, so he figured it would be nice to enjoy the journey, rather than obsess with the destination. And besides, while defeating the Symbol of Evil definitely qualified as a "big picture" thing, it wasn't everything. The little things in life mattered… like stopping to smell the roses.
Or in this case, stopping to smell what might be the last fresh air you ever smell.
"We're almost there," Tamaki, the blond's best friend, said. "After tomorrow, we will officially be in the Demon King's domain. We should arrive at his coastal fortress within a week."
"Great to hear that! Oh, hey, hey! Do you think that the local demons will attack us on sight?" Nejire, the ever-hyper witch, asked. "I wonder if they'll even recognize us…"
"I hope they don't," the elven archer replied. "Crowds make me nervous…"
Mirio couldn't help but chuckle at his friends' interactions. It was exactly these small sorts of moments that he lived for. It was kinda ironic, considering that back when he was a kid, all he wanted to be was a Hero, slaying monsters and saving the world. And now that he got his wish… he realized that being a Hero, a legendary one, wasn't all life was about. Life was about the experiences you share with those you care about, the memories you make along the way.
Which was why Mirio needed to do this.
While he and his friends would be able to travel the world with little to no danger and live their lives in peace, that couldn't be said for everyone. There were countless people out there who weren't able to defend themselves, who couldn't know if today would be their last day, who were unable to follow their dreams, all because of the Scourge of the Howling Coast.
Well, no longer. Mirio had the power, he had the determination; he and his friends would destroy the Demon King, and save the world. Because that is what Heroes do.
All they needed to do now was reach Midoriya's stronghold.
Despite it being only a few decades, Kai Chisaki felt like he was gone for eons.
Time in the Nine Hells was meaningless. It was an eternity of suffering with no end, designed to keep damned souls tormented until the end of this world, and possibly further into the next one.
Kai was fully-aware of what he did to deserve such wretched punishment, but he didn't care. He had devoted his entire existence to creating mountains of broken bodies, and that was what he was going to do. And his newfound allies, the Enlightened Evil, were going to help him.
A newfound alliance created by his trusted aid, Kurono, along with one of his old rivals, Garaki, with dozens of powerful groups and individuals uniting under their banner of pure evil. Truthfully, it was an intriguing concept: Rather than all of them working by themselves in the hopes that they manage to overthrow this world's three biggest superpowers on their own, this alliance would give them more of a fighting chance, to achieve their goals of ultimate darkness.
It was a good thing that several of their members' goals already aligned with his: Flect Turn wished to flood the world, and Kai was perfectly fine with that; no land meant no living land creatures, and exterminating the oceans afterwards was simple enough. Chizome Akaguro, the Great Spirit of Murder only wished to kill, making him the perfect blade. Chitose Kizuki was an anarchist, and Kai was thankful to her for getting his soul out of the Nine Hells.
But all of them were, in the end, expendable. As were the others.
Maguma Iwata and his followers simply wished to prove that they were better than the Todoroki Empire in terms of power. One of their newer members, Geten, and the rest of the surviving Himura Clan, wished for vengeance upon both the Enji Todoroki and Rei Himura. Nine, meanwhile, simply wished to be more powerful than the current Demon King.
Izuku Midoriya… hard to believe that brat was now the Demon King.
While it wasn't that big of a shock to learn that the old Demon Monarchs were both slain by Toshinori Yagi and the rest of his party (they had it coming), what was truly fascinating was seeing their son manage to keep their kingdom from collapsing. Then again, perhaps Kai should have known that there was more to that creature than meets the eye. After all…
…Izuku Midoriya was the one who killed him in the first place.
Kai would make sure that the green-haired demon would suffer for his impudence, but that would have to wait. For now, it was time to talk strategy with the Enlightened Evil.
While his body had improved from how it was before his revival, it was still a mess. Missing skin exposed bone, organs dripping out of various holes, he definitely was no longer like how he was back when he was alive. His body was weak, and it still needed time to grow stronger.
Thankfully, with all these newfound agents, he had plenty of time to spare.
Looking around this table, he could see everyone of importance was already here. With Kurono off to the side acting as a scribe, they were ready to get to the meat of this meeting.
"You have all been growing stronger, I can see that," Kai said. "I have been growing stronger, too. While it may have been difficult, I have been getting used to my new body."
That part was true. However, what he wasn't telling his "comrades" was that, aside from regaining the original two types of magic he was born with, his new lich physiology had granted him several new spells, reaching up to the ninth level. They were all insects to him now.
Perfect when I no longer have any use for them, he thought to himself.
"But the time for training has come to an end," he continued. "Now is the time for planning. Rumor has it that the Todoroki Empire has gone through a power struggle, making them weak. What's more, there are whispers of a new Hero coming to end the young Demon King."
"So, what? We let them take all the glory?" Nine asked.
"Nine…" the lich sighed. "In the wild, the animal that wins the three-way fight is the one that kills the survivor of the other two, after it has been exhausted from winning its last fight."
"We are not beasts," Akaguro hissed. "We are beyond them."
Ah, yes. The bloodlust-filled spirit that believes itself to be above all other creatures. "Not to worry, Great Spirit, there will be plenty of chances to prove your superiority."
"And what exactly are you suggesting?" Flect Turn asked.
"I suggest we start by breaking down their pillars of support," Kai said. "Without his Demon Lords and other subordinates, the Demon King is nothing more than a child on a throne. The Todoroki Empire has just thrown their all-powerful leader into a cell, and his government is now under the control of his daughter and general, both of them from the island of Lesbos. And without all of her fancy toys and protectors, the Queen of the Elves is simply a madwoman."
Geten narrowed his eyes. "You want us to remove their armies."
"Exactly," Kai said. "While I'm sure many of you would find that distasteful, the fact of the matter is that we are outmatched. The only way we can hope to succeed is not by facing off against their forces, but to cripple them and reduce them to nothing more than cornered animals."
"Cornered animals that can still destroy entire continents," Iwata grumbled.
"True, but they'll be alone, while we all have one another. Alone, we couldn't do anything, but now… well… this is why the Enlightened Evil was created in the first place."
Kai knew that Mei Hatsume posed no physical threat, and while Enji Todoroki was formidable, enough of them would be able to kill them. No, the true threat was Midoriya, he was just as dangerous as his father. But luckily, Kai Chisaki knew how to kill him now…
Kota sat in his chair, nervous as hell. It was late in the afternoon, almost evening, after he and Eri had sat through their first detention of the week. Now, sitting in the castle's dining room, the two of them waited for Izuku to arrive for dinner, where he'd learn about their screw-up.
The black-haired teen sighed, "I wish I could disappear."
"Oh! Well –"
"No. We're not doing any more magic," he cut off Eri, before she even had the chance to say anything else. "But seriously, how are we gonna explain this to your brother?"
"Oh, so what?" Eri said. "All we did was use one of the spells in his private library to try and get an easy grade, no big deal. And besides, it was my idea, I'll get the brunt of it."
"Yeah, but I was there, so… guilt by association?"
"Don't worry, I'll just tell him that you tried to stop me, and – Oh! Here he comes!"
The two teenagers immediately tried to play it cool, as Izuku walked into the dining room, with a smile on his face. The green-haired demon looked as calm as he usually did when he sat down, which only placed the Japanese boy and disguised dragon even more on-edge.
Oddly enough, the two of them hadn't really seen Izuku in the past week. They heard around the castle staff that someone important was here, perhaps some governor, but they hadn't seen anyone new, nor had they seen the Demon King. Until tonight, that is.
In all honesty, Kota was hoping that this would last up until their detentions were done with, but it seemed like fate had other plans. Good thing that he and Eri were prepared, then.
Well, as prepared as they could be with only a couple of hours.
"Ahh, what a wonderful day…" Izuku said, picking up his fork.
"Mm-hm!" Eri nodded, as she tried to act calm.
As Kurogiri came and served them their dinner, Kota calmly drank from his chalice, trying his best not to look like he was hiding something. So far, so good. But then…
"Izuku-nii, we got a week's worth of detentions," Eri quickly said.
Kota nearly choked on his drink. What the hell was that?! And what was this "we" shit?! What happened to Eri taking her fair share of responsibility?! This made them sound like equals!
Izuku nodded, as he ate his dinner. "Uh-huh…"
Eri kept babbling, "We went into your private library, even though I know you told me that place was off-limits, we used dark magic to make our egg look cool and get an easy A."
"That's great to hear…" Izuku said, with a smile.
Both teengers looked at one another, then back at the Demon King. He wasn't angry, not even freaking out. He was still wearing that dopey smile and eating his dinner.
"Okaaay…" Eri said, as she decided to do the ultimate test. "Izuku-nii, Kota-kun knocked me up, and the two of us are gonna run away to raise the baby out in the wilderness."
"ERI, WHAT THE FUCK?!" Kota shouted. "Sir, she's making that shit up, please don't kill me –"
"Huh?" Izuku looked up from his dinner. "You said something?"
"Wow, he really is out of it," Eri said. "Big brother, are you alright?"
"Yeah, of course I am, never better!" Izuku said, giving the two of them a weak smile. "I'm just a bit tired from, uhh… governing… that's all… And I'm happy… Like, really happy…"
"Okay, this is starting to get creepy," the disguised dragon said. "What's going on?"
"Not to worry, Eri. He really is just tired. Though, I'm also glad to hear he's happy."
Kota looked over to where this new voice had come from, to see a winged woman in a dress, with wavy, blonde hair and blue eyes. He didn't recognize her, but Eri sure seemed to.
"Melissa!"
Huh, the night sky really is different here…
Mirio had heard stories of how the sky in Daemonium was different from everywhere else in the continent. While the night sky was usually a dark blue sheet sparkling with stars, out here… it was a dark purple, with clouds that never rained covering most, if not, all the stars.
Just another unsettling quirk of this place. Just like how this place seemed to barely have any thriving vegetation, but unlike a normal desert, this place was nothing more than… gray rocks and a few dead trees here and there. Guess tourism isn't big here…
"Guys, stop," Tamaki whispered.
"Hm? What is it?" Nejire asked.
"I hear something. It's loud and fast. It's coming our way."
Mirio looked around to see what was coming towards them. While the sun had indeed set already, there was still enough light to immediately see four dots appearing out of the sky, and getting faster. Judging from where Tamaki was staring, those were the culprits.
Some kind of pack of dragons? No, they don't sound like that. Mirio couldn't get a good look at what that thing was. "Nejire, can you use one of your spells to get a closer look?"
The blue-haired witch nodded, as she quickly whispered a small chant, and then stared right at the four dots, and then gasped. "Uhh, Mirio? You're never gonna believe this…"
Momo had to admit, when Hatsume does something, she does it right.
It had been six days since the SREU set out to rescue Melissa from the clutches of the Demon King, and they had managed to cross more ground in those few days than they had in the last few months. Not only that, but these skyships were amazing, even outside of speed!
While it was truly impressive how fast these magical machines were going, the more impressive thing was how they were built. The seats were quite comfortable, yes, but the magic these things were installed with was something else entirely. Even going at top speeds, the wind resistance wasn't affecting them, almost as if they had invisible windows!
"Awase, how much longer until we reach our destination?" Momo asked.
"Calculating in a couple of factors, such as touching down for the night and keeping our speed at a cruising altitude, we should be able to make it by sunset tomorrow," Awase answered.
"Excellent. Alright, let's slow down for now. We should land for the night…"
"Roger that," Awase said. "Uraraka, radio in to the other squads."
"Sure thing," the astronomer said, as she picked up her walkie-talkie.
As the brown-haired woman signaled the others to start landing, Momo looked down at the landscape below her. This was nothing like the Collibus Hills, the Saltu Jungle, or even the Rupes Desert. The land below them was dull, and seemingly dead.
Aside from a few leafless trees, there seemed to be no signs of life whatsoever. Well, except for that thing that was flying straight towards their skyship… Wait, what?
"Hi there!"
Before she could even figure out what she was looking at, Momo was now staring at her mysterious flying object, which was… a flying blond man. A man armed with a massive greatsword, and dressed in shining armor, a cape flowing behind him.
Naturally, Momo let out a surprised yelp.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Okay, so it might have been more of a scream, but come on! There was a man flying in front of her, and he was armed! Then again, maybe she should have been a bit more calm, because now everyone else was shouting through the radios and reaching for the guns.
"WHO THE HELL IS THAT GUY?!"
"I DON'T KNOW, SHOOT HIM!"
"NO, WE'LL HIT OUR OWN SHIPS!"
Thankfully, before anyone lost control of their respective ships, or worse, shot at one another, the flying guy backed away from the skyship, clearly regretting startling its passengers.
Momo's breathing slowed down as she saw that the flying man was descending down, and not using that massive sword of his to send her and her team crashing down into the earth, but she was a bit confused at the hand signals he was making. "Shoto, do you know what that is?"
"He's telling us to follow him," the red-and-white prince said. "I think it's a trap."
"If it's a trap, we'll blow it sky-high," Bakugou said, over the radio.
Momo nodded, as she gave Awase the signal to land where the blond man was leading them, as the squad followed them down to the ground, where two others were waiting.
Once the engines were turned off, everyone stepped out of the skyships, to get a better look at the strangers. Aside from the blond warrior, there was an elf with dark blue hair, and armed with a bow, along with a human woman, who wore a stereotypical witch outfit, and had a staff.
Adventurers, clearly, Momo thought to herself, before she put on her diplomatic face. "Greetings. I am Momo Yaoyorozu, of the Japanese Self-Defense Force."
All three pairs of eyes seemed to widen at that, as the blond man said, "Hold on, as in Lady Yaoyorozu, the Night-Haired Warrior? Leader of the Arms of Fire? That Yaoyorozu?"
Momo internally sighed at that. "Yes, we are the same."
"Oh, this is amazing! We've heard tales of your adventures for the last few months!" the blond exclaimed, before calming down. "Ahem, I'm Mirio Togata, the newest wielder of One For All!"
"Time out, did you say One For All?!" Shoto asked.
"Uh, yeah, that's right," Togata said.
"I see…" the peppermint-haired royal said. "Clearly we got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you and your companions stay with us? We have more than enough food for all of us."
"Well, that is mighty generous of you," the blond said. "Thank you."
"No, no, no… thank you." As Shoto finished talking, Momo wasn't sure what angle her boyfriend was playing here, but whatever it was, his princely skills were clearly showing.
Kota watched in a bit of morbid curiosity, as he saw Eri go from being concerned about her older brother, to jumping up from her seat at the table, and hugging the blonde stranger.
"I'm sorry, I think I'm missing something here."
"Oh, right, I totally forgot!" the white-haired teen said. "Melissa, this is Kota Izumi, he's my boyfriend. Kota, this is Melissa Shield, my big brother's angelic fiancee!"
"I am not your –" Before Kota could finish saying that he wasn't Eri's boyfriend, something else caught his attention. "Hold up, did you say that she was Midoriya's… angelic fiancee?"
"That's right," Melissa said, as she extended her wings. "I'm an angel."
Kota took another look at Izuku, to see that his clothes were a bit wrinkled. Suddenly, the tiredness and the stupid smile on him made a lot more sense. Wow. The Demon King was fucking an angel. Kota promptly fell back into his chair. "I'm gonna need an explanation…"
Melissa nodded, as she sat down in the chair next to Izuku, and said, "Well, long story short, I was sent to kill him, couldn't do it, fell in love with him, and… yeah, I guess that's it."
"Yeah… I don't think that's enough context for me."
"Perfectly understandable," Midroya said. "I will gladly give you the full story, but first… what was this about you and Eri getting a week's worth of detentions because of dark magic?"
OH, COME ON!
Momo drank the last bit of her canteen, as she looked across from the campfire. Mirio Togata and his companions seemed to be enjoying the food Sato had cooked, given how they were too busy stuffing their mouths to talk, so she supposed that was a positive.
Still, she wondered who exactly these people were. She had heard stories of legendary Heroes (with a capital H) in this world before, but never any about some magical sword. Shoto clearly knew who they were, as evidence of insisting they stay for dinner, so clearly they were big, but how big exactly? The black-haired woman figured now was a good time to ask some questions.
"So… who exactly are you?"
"Well, to put it in the simplest terms, I'm the newest holder of One For All," Togata said, as he showed off his sword. "It was forged centuries ago, and has the ability to give its wielder the Skills of its previous holders, along with granting them the strength of a godling."
"I have to admit, that is quite impressive," Momo said. "However, I am curious as to why I have never heard of you, Togata-san, despite the fact that you have heard of us."
"Ah, well, I'm afraid that, compared to your exploits, my adventures have been on the local level, especially from before I received One For All. But all that will change soon enough!"
"Oh, yeah?" Bakugou raised his eyebrow. "And why's that?"
"We're gonna kill the Demon King!" the blue-haired witch, Hadou-san, exclaimed.
While everyone had varied reactions to that, from choking on their food, shouting what, or even staring blankly, Shoto wore a different expression. "Well, isn't that convenient…?"
"Huh?" The shy archer, Amajiki, looked up from his food. "Why is that?"
"Well, you see, one of our comrades, an angel, was abducted by one of the Demon Lords, and we have reason to believe she is being held captive in the Demon King's castle."
"WHAT?!" Togata shouted. "Does that monster know no boundaries?!"
"We feel the same," the scarred prince said. "Now, by ourselves, we might have a chance of rescuing her, and by yourselves, you might have a chance of killing the Demon King…"
"...but if we work together, we could achieve both our objectives!" Togata finished Shoto's sentence. "Very well! We accept this team-up between us and the Arms of Fire!"
Ah, Momo realized. So, that was Shoto's angle.
Hitoshi Shinso ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
It had been several months ago that Midoriya had summoned him and the other Demon Lords for an urgent meeting. He had peered into that green magical fire he kept in his study, to see that his former assassin-turned girlfriend had been cast out of the realm of the gods.
Naturally, the Demon King sent out his top brass to go looking for his woman, with Hitoshi's job being to inform the regional governors of Melissa Shield, and to keep his ears open about any clue of her whereabouts. But when he arrived in the north, something got his attention.
The locals there told him of a bunch of strangers coming and going from the Badlands, an area within Daemonium that was filled with nothing but toxic swamps and vile wastelands. Now, that was immediately suspicious to Hitoshi, as there was only one reason people would willingly go to such a shithole, and it was so no one would see whatever they were doing.
Deciding to be proactive if this was truly a threat to the crown he served, Hitoshi made his way to the Badlands, plugging his nose for days on end so he wouldn't die from the smell, until eventually, he stumbled across a fortress. A fortress under the watch of hundreds.
Sneaking in wasn't that big of a problem. Aside from the fact that Hitoshi was trained in the art of espionage, he had his magic that would allow him to hypnotize anyone who caught him, including making them "forget" that they ever saw him. However, the bigger problem was what he had discovered tonight within the walls of this fortress. The Enlightened Evil.
A unified front composed of the world's most vicious murderers and deviants, that in itself would be a problem, not only because of who they had recruited, but also due to the current political climate going on. But what made it worse was the de-facto leader of this group.
Kai Chisaki.
This was bad. This was super bad. He had heard of the legend of Chisaki around the castle, the only man that the Demon King ever truly hated, and for good reason. But there was more to that story… Izuku Midoriya, the Symbol of Evil… was afraid of Chisaki. Also for good reason.
If he was seeing things correctly in that meeting, that monster was truly back, and he needed to warn everyone. And fast. Because if Kai Chisaki got his way… all would be lost.
Author's Note: Oh, yeah. It's all coming together.
The whole "egg monster" scene with Kota and Eri was inspired by the Wizard City episode of Adventure Time: Distant Lands, Chisaki's lich design is based on Zombie Shredder's from TMNT 2012. There's a bit more, but I'll move on to the comments now…
Shin: Yeah, any of the traumatized expressions any Konosuba characters make (especially when they're still smiling) is basically what Mei looked like, in my opinion. Unfortunately, you're gonna have to wait for Momo's reaction to Melissa banging the Demon King until the next chapter comes out. Also, I can't provide you with kobolds as of writing this, much less Tucker's. Hope everything else makes up for it!
JesseRoot20: Thank you for the compliment! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
StormPhoenix7567: Yeah, that last cut was pretty genius on my part, but I do have to ask… where's the comma? Because without it, I can't tell if you were using "fucking" as an adjective or a verb, and it's the small stuff like that that'll linger in your head weeks.
GreenBoy9000: Thirty seconds into the song, and I understood what you meant.
valkrus: Fixed it. Also, maybe add some commentary with your callouts next time, eh?
Anyways, back to the regular old shilling…
I'm pretty sure as you all know now, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, /ErnaloreProf is the link.
If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules.
Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!
- Ernalore