Chapter 11: The Cave of Illusions

Eijiro Kirishima didn't think of himself as a leader.

He never even thought of being one. Too much for him to screw up.

All his life, he was just the guy who tried and failed at everything. Even if his family said that everything was fine, and that failing was just a part of being human, he never felt that way. He felt like he could, should, so something, to make up for the way he was.

So, he enlisted for the JSDF.

Eijiro always hated bullies, and during his middle and high school years, would be the kind of guy who defended those who couldn't defend themselves. He figured that signing up for the Self-Defense Force would allow him to help more people than before.

Then the Musutafu Incident occurred.

It was the first time Eijiro killed. He didn't mean to kill those monsters, but they were attacking civilians, innocents. He had a job to do. But then, he encountered the masked girl.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't shoot her. He let her go, back to the gate. A part of him wondered if he did the right thing, letting an enemy go like that. But then, she saved him and Bakugou back at the Blood Snake Pit last week, which made him wonder: What was her angle?

Was she repaying some debt to him? A life for a life?

Did he make the right call?

He didn't know. He didn't say anything about it to Bakubro, and he was pretending like it never even happened. Shaking his head out of those thoughts, he focused back on the task on hand. He and the others needed to find a way out in case Bakubro's bombs failed.

The four of them continued to walk through the darkness, until –

"Get down!"

As Komori yelled at them again to duck, a giant blue, ethereal face with sharp teeth sprang out from the darkness, making noises that sounded like the cross between a creaking bike and a dying animal. It was big, bigger than any of them, and it was charging towards them.

"What the fuck, what the fuck –?!" Tsuburaba yelled, pulling out his gun.

It floated around the dark, before flying passed the group, and before the meteorologist could shoot it. The second it was gone, the group breathed a sigh of relief, when suddenly another head, a red one which looked like the cross between a fish and a lizard, with a forked tongue, charged at them, making a sound which Eijiro could only describe as "electric."

"What the hell is this shit?!" Kaibara yelled.

As the red lizard face left, a green gorilla-like one, with fangs, charged towards them, followed by an identical one that was orange, and then a blue one, all of them flying towards the four soldiers in a straight line, before suddenly disappearing themselves.

"Okay… the jumpscares are starting to wear off now," Kaibrara said.

"I agree," Tsuburaba replied.

As the four of them stood back up and proceeded through the dark cavern, another giant ethereal head flew towards them. It was green, and somewhat resembled a decaying head, and it used the long hair it had as wings, before landing right next to the group.

"It's just… sitting there," Eijiro deadpanned.

"How tall do you guys think it is?" Komori asked.

"Around four times our height, I think?" Tsuburaba estimated.

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense," Kaibara said. "The other ones that jumpscared us did it super quick, but we had enough time to get some details out of their faces, meaning they had to be small, relatively speaking. If they were as big as this green guy, then it would have been harder for us to see any details due to how fast they were approaching our faces."

"Maybe it's a ghost trick?" Komori said.

"I dunno, remember those ghosts Shield, Kodai and I fought against back at the coral reef?" Kirishima said. "Those could fly, sure, but they couldn't warp our perception like that."

"So, we're dealing with something else?" she asked, walking.

"Maybe? I mean, look at all the amazing things we've seen in just under a month: Angels, medusas, giant animals, ghosts, demi-humans, monsters, there's bound to be some sort of creature we can't fully understand, given the insane amount of variety."

"Hmm, you have a point, shroom," the botanist said, as she looked towards the giant ethereal head. Switching to Latin, she said, "Excuse me, but may I ask, what are you?"

The green ethereal head merely made a wet, squelching sound.

"I think it's ignoring us," Kaibara said.

"HEY, BIG AND GREEN!" Komori shouted at the giant head. "WE'RE TALKING TO YOU! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR US! IT'S RUDE TO IGNORE PEOPLE!"

"Maybe he can't understand us?" Tsuburaba suggested.

"Good call," she said, before turning around. "DO YOU SPEAK COMMON?!"

"Jesus Christ, Komori!" Kaibara groaned. "Yelling louder at it won't make it magically understand us! What you're doing is basically when Americans yell "Do you speak English?" at foreigners."

"Oh, you're right. Whoopsies."

"Uh, guys?" Tsuburaba pointed at the creature. "It's melting."

The four soldiers looked back at the giant green skull-thing, only to see it begin to lose its form, melting down into a bunch of sludge, before simply disappearing.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Welp," Tsuburaba deadpanned. "That just happened."

"I think Kaibara might have been right about the "going insane" thing," Komori said.

"Come on, guys, don't be like that," Eijiro tried to convince the rest of his group. "I mean, remember, it's still a fantasy world, that just might be how things work here."

"I suppose you're right… in any case, we should probably keep going."

The four of them continued to walk through the darkness of the cave in silence, with the only thing visible to them was the green of the walls, as they prayed for a way out.

KRAAAK!

Despite the health risks, Nine enjoyed being able to use his magic.

He wasn't sure why that was. Maybe he enjoyed the sounds of thunder and lightning surrounding his ears like a destructive symphony. Maybe it was the cool breeze from the gusts that flew past him, as they destroyed everything in his past.

But maybe… It was because it made Nine feel powerful.

Yes, that was it. He was powerful, and he wanted to flaunt that power.

Born in some small village out in the sticks, Nine discovered that he was capable of using high-level magic at a young age, up to the sixth level, to be precise. Now, in terms of Level Magic, he was in the middle of the totem pole, but compared to all of the other peasants in the village, he might as well have been a god. And he was worshiped like one.

However, as it turned out, he was just a big fish living in a small pond. When he left to see if he could conquer the outside world, he realized just how weak he truly was. Level Magic wasn't the only magic system out there, and even in his own domain, he was mid. There were even rumors of the old Demon King out in the west capable of using magic of the eleventh level.

He couldn't compete with that, and that made him angry.

To make matters worse, while he was capable of using magic, his body couldn't handle the backlash. He was still human, after all. In order for a human to have such mastery over magic, they would have had to be two hundred years old, at least. He was still in his early thirties.

It was basically an issue of his glass being unable to hold all the wine.

So, his magic would damage his body if he ever went overboard. Sure, he could heal himself, but that was only a temporary solution. He was still weak, and that made his blood boil.

It wasn't fair. He was supposed to be the one who would rule this world, but seeing people like the Todorokis and Shigaraki made him realize just how small he truly was. The best he could do at that point was swear fealty to one of them, and hope they could cure his condition.

But he would never do that. He was too prideful.

Then, a miracle happened.

Hisashi Shigaraki died, killed by Toshinori Yagi. And while his son inherited his father's kingdom, the boy was too busy trying to maintain order and avoiding conflict with the Emperor of Flames and the Elven Queen to see that there was a new power rising in the world.

Garaki and Kurono were the joint leaders of this newfound alliance, one where they managed to grab nearly every single powerful entity on the Occidensian continent for themselves, or at the very least, every entity that wasn't satisfied with the current status-quo.

Their goal? Bring about the end of the world as all knew it.

Nine could see it now. Kai Chisaki would bring about the calamity he attempted so many decades ago, and when the dust settled and those in the way perished, the alliance would split, all would go their separate ways, and fight one another over who inherited their new land.

But there was one small detail in that alliance: For Nine's part, he was promised by Garaki a cure to his condition, an even better body than his current one. So once the alliance ended and everyone was once again at each other's throats, he would have the advantage.

Once the new Demon King was gone, would rule the world.

KRAAAK!

But for now, he would simply enjoy the chaos he was currently causing.

Kurono and Garaki had succeeded in bringing back Chisaki, and had ordered everyone else to prepare for the next phase of the plan. Obviously, it would take a while before Chisaki would plan the next move, so for the moment, Nine would simply relax and unwind…

As the winds he created kept blowing around him over the mountain he was standing on, however, something bugged him. Specifically, something bright was making his eyes squint. Taking a closer look, he saw that something glowing yellow was indeed flying around the storm he was causing. Whatever it was, it had to be strong, to resist his winds like that.

Oh, it was flying towards him. That probably wasn't a good sign.

"Deprehendere magicae…" he muttered, allowing him to sense if whatever was flying towards him had any magic whatsoever, and… OH, WHAT THE FUCK?!

This thing was on par with him in terms of magic, at least.

He had to get out of here, and he had to do it RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

"I spy with my little eye… something green," Komori said.

"Ugh… is it the goddamn ceiling?" Kaibara asked.

"That's right!" the botanist cheered. "Three for three! Great job, shroom!"

"Don't patronize me, Komori."

"Sen, you're the one who said he was getting bored," Tsuburaba said.

"Well, excuse me for being a bit antsy while we're trapped in a cave, full of monsters straight out of deep fried memes!" he shouted. "It was either boredom or insanity!"

"So… you got bored of insanity?"

"Fuck you, Kosei."

Eijiro softly chuckled at their antics. They hadn't had any new bizarre surprises in the last few minutes, so the group had started to breathe a little easier. And some were getting bored.

"Man, how long does it take for Bakugou to rig some explosives?" Tsuburaba asked. "I –"

"WHOA, STOP!"

Eijiro immediately grabbed Tsuburaba from walking any further, while the other two stopped in their tracks by the artificial redhead's yelling, and not a second too soon, because –

FWOOOOOSH!

Straight out from the right intersection of the cave system came… a subway? An entire subway train rushed past them, and as it left, they looked around to see that their surroundings had changed to that of an underground train station.

"Uhh… where exactly are we now?" Komori asked.

"Wait… I recognize those ads," Kaibarai said, as he pointed towards the posters on the walls. "Those are from the subway station I grew up taking! We're in the Tokyo Metro Station!"

"WHAT?!" Tsuburaba shouted. "We're back in Japan?!"

"Wait, this doesn't make any sense!" Komori said. "I thought the gate in Musutafu was the only way people were able to go from one world to another! Did we just get teleported?!"

"How the hell is a cave able to teleport us?!"

Before anyone else could ask any more questions, the same rushing sound flooded their ears, as they saw a second subway car coming from their right, rushing right past them, and then…

Darkness. Pitch black darkness.

"Uhh, Komori?"

"Yes, Kirishima?"

"Do you still have that flashlight on you?"

"Yeah, just give me a second."

The brown-haired botanist turned on her flashlight, only to see that the four of them were still together, and that… They were back in the cave.

"Okay…" Kaibara sighed. "So, we have skeleton arms giving us tickets, invisible wolves, floating rackets and skulls, ghost-face jumpscares, and now, the Tokyo Metro. Sure, why not?"

"Kaibara, you good?" Komori asked.

"Yeah, I've shot past insanity, and now I'm just in depressing acceptance."

"Guys, shh!" Tsuburaba shushged the others. "Do you hear that?"

Getting up silently, the four of them listened in, as they heard a… heartbeat? Following the sound, they saw that just past the tunnel, there was something big, bright, and red… it was… pulsating? Like an actual heart, but it was also… it was growling?

"It sounds like a dragon…" the meteorologist whispered.

"How do you know what a dragon sounds like?" the geologist whispered back.

"Both of you, shut up!" the botanist hissed in a quiet tone. "Kirishima?"

Eijiro merely stood, as he listened to the heartbeat, and stared at the glowing red aura. Sileinty, he pulled out his pistol, and looked back at the others. They had also pulled out their guns, and with Komori's nod of approval, he took the first step.

Then, everything went blue.

"Alright, Bakugou," Awase said over the radio. "We set it up. Now what?"

"Get the fuck as far away from there as you can, I would recommend a good thirty meters, at least," Bakugou said. "Once we're also out of the range, we'll give you the signal."

"Understood," the bandana-wearing mechanic said, as he slowly set up the detonation line from the rock slide out towards the recommended zone Bakugou just gave them.

Elsewhere, Momo gave the orders to everyone else to move the cars and other equipment away from the soon-to-be detonation site as well. It had been a few hours now since the incident that trapped six of her men in a cave, but things were looking better than before.

For one, the weather had calmed down significantly.

And two, they were almost ready to attempt their rescue operation.

Of all the things Eijiro was expecting, it wasn't the blue lighting.

Or the girl who was mining with a pickaxe, and singing herself a happy tune.

"Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho! It's home from work we go!"

Her appearance was… weird, even by fantasy world standards. She looked human, sure, but she had short, bright-green hair, which also held specks of pink, blue, yellow and maybe purple. Even her eyebrows and eyelashes were multi-colored. And as for her eyes, those were even weirder. Her irises were a combination of blue, green and yellow, while her pupils were white.

Her clothes at least looked kinda normal. Knee-high dark boots, underbust corset, some sort of light-colored jumpsuit that seemed to act as both her shirt and pants at the same time, black shirt underneath that, a dark long-sleeved jacket, and some leather gloves.

Eijiro and the rest of the group remained silent as they watched the lady keep swinging her pickaxe at some light blue crystals, which seemed to be responsible for the lighting in here.

As she kept swinging, Tsuburaba decided to be the first to speak up.

Switching to Latin, he cleared his throat, and said, "Um… excuse me?"

"Huh?" The girl looked up to see them, and immediately went into a panic, swinging her pickaxe around wildly. "Ahh! Who are you?! Wait, how'd you even get past my defenses?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Chill! We just got trapped in this cave, we're not gonna hurt you! Look, my name's Tsuburaba, this is our leader Komori, this is my friend Kaibara, and that's Kirishima."

Okay, it stung a little to be called out last, but Eijiro ignored it.

"Oh… okay," she said, as her attitude immediately made a complete one-eighty back to cheerful, as she struck a pose. "My name's Toru Hagakure! Nice to meet you!"

Sensing that this girl might potentially be mentally unstable, Komori decided to take charge. "It's nice to meet you, too. So, uh, what exactly are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just mining for these glanz crystals," she said, pointing to the bright blue glowing gems on the walls. "Their luster and radiance make them really popular in women's jewelry."

"Wonderful, a whole new type of mineral to discover…" Kaibara said in Japanese.

"So, what are you all doing here? You're not here to steal them, are you?!"

"What? No! No, we don't want them!" Komori waved her hands at Hagakure. "We were just trying to make camp at the mouth of the cave when lightning struck the side of the mountain and trapped us in here! We've been searching around this cave looking for an alternate way out."

"Oh, I see… wait, you've been searching for a way out all this time?"

Eijiro decided to add something to the conversation. "Uhh… yeah? Why?"

"Oh, you poor things! You must have been frightened by all my illusions!"

"Wait, what?!" Kaibara shouted. "You mean those skeletons, ghost faces, and the goodman Tokyo Metro weren't real?! You were just making a bunch of goddamn hallucinations?!"

"While I don't know what a "Tokyo Metro" is, the rest do sound like my work. I can personally assure you that there are no actual ghosts or skeletons inhabiting this cave."

"Wait, so all of that was just you?" Eijiro asked. "The wolf howls, the glowing eyes, the bats?"

"No, the bats are very much real," Hagakure said. "We are inside a cave, after all."

"But wait, how'd you make them so… accurate?!" Komori asked. "I mean, some of the stuff we saw felt kinda personal, or played into some of our biggest fears! Heck, while you may not know what a "Tokyo Metro" is, we certainly do! How the heck did you pull that off?!"

"Oh, that would be my Personal Magic," Hagakure said. "I've gotten so good at making illusions nowadays that I can now just send them out subconsciously while also customizing them to scare off any intruders in the most efficient way possible without ever having to see said intruders! Hell, I didn't even know you guys existed until you showed up right here!"

"Yeah, well they kinda goddamn worked," Kaibara hissed. "We were on edge the whole fucking time! If it weren't for the fact that we were trapped in here, we would have bolted for the exit!"

Eijiro mulled over what he heard. This girl was strong enough that creating magic-based illusions was as simple as breathing to her: She didn't even have to think about doing it. And if he understood it right, she was just half-assing it with them. If she decided to go into a combat zone, she could easily scare the enemy to death by showing them their worst nightmares.

"But wait, some of the illusions were solid!" Komori said. "The weird sludge on our boots and the tickets the glowing skeleton hand gave us! I felt them, they were real!"

"Do you still have the ticket on you?" Hagakure asked.

Komori fished into her pocket to grab hers… only to be unable to find it.

"The second the illusion is no longer needed, it fades away. Usually it vanishes away in a cloud of blue smoke, but sometimes I hide the smoke to make the vanishing seem more realistic," Hagakure smiles. "After all, you can't have your enemy figure out they're illusions!"

"Wait, touch?" Tsuburaba asked, his face full of concern. "If you can make us touch something that's not actually there, how is that any different from reality warping? What's stopping you from stabbing someone to death with an illusionary knife?"

"My magic can be disabled by an anti-magic barrier?" she said, her tone making it seem like she was wondering if that was supposed to be a trick question or something.

"Oh," Tusburaba deadpanned. "Well, I didn't know that."

"Who the fuck is this?" Katsuki asked, clearly having missed something.

He had spent the last few hours or so telling the idiots on the other side of the rockslide how to set up the C4 without accidentally killing someone in the process, only to see that the four idiots had come back with some rainbow-haired chick in tow, it was kinda obvious.

"Oh, hey, Bakubro!" Shitty Hair smiled. "This is Hakagure! She's a wizard!"

Okay, it was official: Katsuki did not have the time or patience to open up that can of worms.

"Bakugou, it's Awase," his radio chimed in. "We did the last step as we were told. Now what?"

"Alright, give us fifteen minutes to get out of the blast range, and then blow it to kingdom come," he said, before turning to the others. "Please tell me you found some other part of the cave where we can hole up. Preferably, as far away from the C4 as possible."

"Yeah, we can head back to Hagakure's room full of precious crystals," the redhead said.

"Great, you can fill the rest of us in on the way there," he said, as he looked towards the other brown-haired woman. "Round Cheeks, can ya help me move? Leg's still busted."

"No," she hissed. "Not until you call me by my name. It's Uraraka. U-ra-ra-ka."

Katsuki simply glared at her, before clenching his teeth, and saying, "Uraraka, could you please help me, your teammate with the busted leg, get the fuck out of the blast radius of the C4?"

"Sure thing, Bakugou-kun," she said, giving him a shit-eating grin.

As she helped pick him up so he could limp away to safety, Katsuki looked towards the rainbow-haired lady and asked Shitty Hair, "So, what kind of wizard is she, exactly?"

"Hey, Lieutenant," Awase said. "It's been fifteen minutes.

"I know, Awase," Momo said. "Blow it up."

"Roger that, ma'am," he said, as he pushed down on the detonator's lever.

BOOOOOM!

As the first rays of sunlight came through, everyone celebrated.

Despite it being morning, Momo was ready to go to bed.

They had spent all night setting up the explosives, treating the wounded, and overall trying to avoid any more lightning strikes caused by the storm, but they had done it. They had succeeded in freeing their comrades from the cave, with an extra passenger, to boot.

What followed was a report from the four soldiers that went to investigate deeper into the cave, along with an in-depth interview with Toru Hagakure. They even managed to get Kodai to record Hagakure creating some illusions on camera, as well as a glanz crystal for analysis.

They even managed to get a selfie of Hagakure alongside Aoyama.

After that, Melissa returned, reporting that whoever was responsible for the artificial storm had already left. Once she used the last bit of her power to fully heal the rest of the injured troops, Momo asked the angel to give her a run-down of how Hagakure's magic worked.

That turned out to be a mistake for her sleep schedule.

As it turned out, there were, not one, but four different magic systems in the world of Mundus (yes, they finally learned this planet's name): Elemental, Level, Conduit, and Personal.

Elemental Magic was split into six categories, those of fire, water, earth, air, light and dark. They all had different effects, but what made them consistent was that, provided you had the right amount of mana and an affinity for one of the elements, you could cast them. Apparently, the ruler of the Todoroki Empire was a master of the fire-type magic from that category.

Level Magic was split into eleven levels, with the first being the weakest, with examples being creating water and warming up food, and the eleventh being god tier, with examples such as summoning an army of demons or stopping time itself. For reference, the jackass responsible for last night's thunderstorm was of the sixth level, according to Melissa.

Conduit Magic was new experimental magic that wasn't given a proper category yet, or that required complex rituals or catalysts to work. All magical items also fell under that category, such as rings of power, communication mirrors, and for a more relative example, the pocket dimension bag Momo had on loan from General Kayama for this mission.

Personal Magic was unique magic that only belonged to a single person, bloodline, or species, that wasn't usually taught to outsiders. Hagakure's illusions were a prime example of that, as she was the only person who could do them. Another prime example of that category was Melissa, who could cast certain spells that all angels could because of her heritage.

Momo could already hear Aizawa's expletives in the near future regarding the topic.

Regardless, with both Hagakure's interview and Melissa's crash course in magic done, all that was left to continue heading back to the base. While it was true that everyone worked through the night to rescue their teammates, it was also true that everyone was pretty wired, and Momo figured she could get at least two more hours out in the open road before they had to stop somewhere to actually get some proper sleep.

So, with that, she thanked Hagakure for having the decency to not give her soldiers heart attacks via illusions, and offered her the same deal as Uwabami: She was free to visit the part of the Collibus Hills the JSDF was currently occupying for a friendly visit.

Getting back into the car, she felt herself get overtaken by sleep as Awase drove away from the mountain. They'd be back at the base in five days or less, by her estimate.

As she drifted off into unconsciousness, she thought over all she had seen this past month: Angels, giant mushrooms, demi-humans, monsters, flying fish, ghosts, and magic.

She honestly wondered how she'd report this all to Aizawa.

Deep within his chambers, the Demon King tossed and turned in his bed.

His dreams were constantly occupied by the same figure: Golden hair like that of the sun, blue eyes like those of the sky, beautiful wings and an aura of power. He could watch her figure dance and fly all around his eyes, always within reach, and yet so far away.

Getting up and out of his luxurious sheets, the green-haired demon left his bedchambers, attempting to clear his mind. Music, yes, that always helped him. Quickly entering one of the grand halls, he found his way to the piano, and began playing an old song.

It was one Kurogiri had taught him. The shadow demon had actually taught him a lot of songs from his previous one, Izuku's particular favorite one being one titled "In the Hall of the Mountain King," but he wasn't playing that one tonight. No, his choice was far more… calming.

At least, it should have been. Instead, his melody became far more faster, and far more tragic, as more memories pooled in, from his parents, to his siblings, to Melissa –

"AAAAARRRRGHH!"

SLAM!

The fists of the Demon King slammed into the piano in a fit of rage and anguish, as pieces flew all across the room. In silence, the green-haired demon slid down to the floor, and wept.

Down on that floor, the Demon King reaffirmed his mission, reaffirmed his vow.

He would not lose her. He couldn't lose anyone else ever again.

Izuku Midoriya vowed that Melissa Shield would be his, and his alone.

Author's Note: And like that, the first month of the SREU's mission comes to an end.

A lot to process, huh? Everyone is out there, plotting and scheming, while Momo and her crew have barely scratched the surface. But that's for later. Right now, I have a special treat for myself. It may only be one new person, but they've commented a lot!

Hansledane: Wow, a new customer, and by the looks of it, you're the biggest commentator in a long time! I'm gonna enjoy going through all of this! To start us off, glad to see that you're gonna be sticking around for future chapters. There's a reason for Bakugou having a Monster Manual, trust me. And yeah, I needed a generic unlikable dude to be one of our main antagonists, but not someone completely irredeemable. Hence, Enji Todoroki. But his kids still don't like him, hence the soon-to-be-coming coup. And yeah, he's not the only bad guy, as shown by Demon King Midoriya and Overhaul the Lich. But hey, now you at least know who the fallen angel Midorya was referring to was, and why he wants Melissa. Also, trust me, if you think everything you've seen so far was insane, you ain't seen nothing yet. Also, Kaibara is gonna be one of the least affected people when it comes to the madness of this fantasy world, mostly due to his screwy personality. Speaking of screws loose, yeah, what Aoyama did was a pretty big rookie mistake. But hey, they're all fine, even Kodai, despite the huge violations of science she is witness to. Unfortunately, the Todoroki siblings won't be appearing for another ten chapters, minus a few small cameos. And I know that splitting up is a bad idea, but it's still going to happen, even if they have good intentions.

That's all, as that was the only recent commenter, now for the closing remarks…

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!

That's all for today, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

- Ernalore