Chapter Text
“I refuse to be silenced! You cannot-” Quaresha was immediately silenced by Setsuna, who still had full control of her Soul.
[You have defeated a Monarch!]
[Rewards:]
- 1 Lord-Rank Item from the Shop
- 10 Levels
- Nine’s Soul
- An explanation
“Explanation?” Momo blurted out in confusion.
“Well, I wanted to wait until you proved that you had the animosity to kill a Higher Being,” Raia said, appearing from his custom Gate.
The girls, minus Setsuna, jumped to their feet, ready for another fight. But Izuku jumped in front of Raia. “Woah hold on! He’s… well, I don’t really know if he’s on our side, but he’s not an enemy either.”
“That is a fair description,” Raia acquiesced. “I am the Architect.”
Both Momo and Quaresha’s eyes went wide, and Setsuna briefly allowed her to speak. “You’re supposed to be dead…”
Raia chuckled. “Ah, but I am glad I have lived this long! I never thought I would get to see a Monarch stuck in a mortal’s body! Truly a captivating species!”
“You could’ve helped us out you know,” Izuku remarked.
Raia, continuing to admire the view of a helpless Quaresha, shrugged. “I could have, but then, if Quaresha escaped, she would have known that her attempt to kill me failed, and reported that to her allies.”
“Should we uhh…” Setsuna dragged a finger across her throat.
“No. You can feel her Soul and manipulate it, yes?” Setsuna nodded. “Then for now she might prove useful. You could kill her whenever you wanted, so she’s of no threat, but she could have valuable information.”
“Information on what?” Miruko asked. “What’s going on here?”
Raia looked to Izuku. “Would you like the explanation now? The ‘why’ of the war that has found its way to your planet?”
Izuku looked over to Igris. “Woah, nice upgrade… Uhm, anyways, can you clean up here?”
Igris placed a hand over his chest. “It shall be done, my Liege.”
“My Liege?!” Beru rushed over to him groveling at his feet. “You’re not going to compliment my upgrade?! I am far more efficient than that rusty knight! I don’t hesitate to kill pests!”
Izuku pursed his lips. “By pests… do you mean humans?”
“Of course!”
“Behemoth, you’re looking awesome too,” Izuku remarked.
“I am honored, my Liege.”
“MY KING?!” Beru was practically bawling as Izuku addressed the other Shadows.
Izuku then looked over to Yuri Orlov, who still had his sister inside the barrier box. He’d already been backstabbed by her once, so he wasn’t too confident about letting her out. Kaina translated for Izuku, she was fluent in plenty of languages.“I can trust you to handle this all peacefully?”
Yuri sighed. “I tried to talk her out of all this to begin with. It’s just a waste of time, money, and lives.”
Izuku nodded. “We’ll make sure the world knows that this was all some ploy. And also… since we’re not gonna be fighting each other anymore… Can I get your autograph?” Momo didn’t need to be told anything, already pulling out a notebook for Orlov to sign. Izuku, given the chance, would not miss out on the chance to get the strongest Russian Hero’s signature.
“Can we get a move on?” Raia asked.
Orlov, who’d had enough of angry god-like beings, quickly signed his name for Izuku.
“Now,” Raia began, red energy pouring out from him, latching onto Izuku and the others, “Let’s start at the beginning.”
*******
Izuku found himself floating in a void. The others were around him, aside from Raia, his voice booming above them. Even Quaresha was there.
“Before the universe existed, there were two fundamental forces. Some call them Chaos and Order, others called them Sin and Virtue, and some called them NULL and ABSOLUTE.”
Red and blue lights floated through empty space, occasionally mixing to form purple. “To this day, we have no idea of their level of sentience, or what their motives may be… if they even have any. All we know is that eventually, these two forces created an avatar. The Null Being, and the Absolute Being.”
Two figures formed out of the blue and red. One was a man made of white armor lined with blue energy, and the other was a woman of black armor and red energy.
“The siblings wrestled with each other for such a great span of time that it is comparable to infinity. The Absolute Being created everything, and the Null Being destroyed everything. Eventually, the Absolute Being grew bored of existence, and fell into a deep depression. Without the ability to create something lasting, something that mattered, he felt empty. He knew that, in order to live a full life, he had to kill his sister.” The Absolute Being began to create something, hiding it from his sibling.
“The Absolute Being could not destroy, but creating something that could destroy was a piece of cake. And so, he created the Primordials.” Dust began to coalesce into shapes, like galaxies taking form. “Impossibly powerful beings that controlled fundamental forces. The Null Being, no matter how great her ability to destroy, could not fight back against the odds.” The many Gods attacked the Null Being. Even as she destroyed them, they continued to ram spears made of space, time, gravity, and more through her body.
“After a battle that lasted thousands of years, the Absolute Being was finally alone with his creations.” The Absolute Being knelt next to his sister’s body, gently holding her hand as she vanished into nothingness. “He was left with limitless possibilities.”
Everyone watched in awe as the Big Bang occurred, birthing a seemingly limitless and impossible amount of energy.
“The Primordials, once immense warriors, became relegated to office workers, monitoring the universe’s day-to-day functions.” They watched as life began to bloom and evolve on hundreds of thousands of worlds. “But at some point, societies and species began to grow dull. They no longer fought as they once did.” Utopic empires that spanned galaxies began to rise and fall. “They were no longer evolving, and if they did not continue to, they would die out. They needed more conflict. The universe needed more, so the Absolute Being created the Lords.”
Hundreds of Gods began to spill from the Absolute Beings hands, each different in appearance. “We were all made as avatars of basic aspects. We founded our own people, pursued our own paths, but we eventually came to the same realization as mortals and the Lords formed a pact to cease conflict, and again, cease evolution.”
The Absolute Being looked on in shame at his creations. He began to worry. His creations were flawed. The universe, the Lords. What if he had made a mistake? In destroying his sister, he had only found new hardship.
“And so, he made one last attempt. He created two sets of Gods, eight on each side. They were programmed to only know Chaos or Order, so that they would always fight. They were made to be in conflict, and to drag the universe into that war as well.” Eight beings of light sprung forth, alongside eight beings of darkness. “These are the Rulers of Order, and the Monarchs of Chaos.”
“So… they really are Gods? Does that mean…” Izuku pointed at himself.
“Yes, you are a Monarch… and a Ruler.”
The view zoomed in on the beings of light and dark, focusing in on one of the Rulers.
“His name was Ashborn, the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light. He was different from his brothers and sisters. While the Rulers were obsessed with perfecting life, and the Monarchs were occupied with destroying life, Ashborn found himself enjoying the company of life.” The scene changed to show Ashborn walking alongside beings of many different shapes and sizes, talking with them, relaxing with them, eating with them. Just existing alongside them whenever the Monarchs and Rulers weren’t in combat, which was pretty rare.
They spent most of their days, years, centuries, and beyond, just killing each others’ forces. Ending billions of mortal lives in a single battle.
“After billions of years, with the war growing stale, the Rulers and Monarchs went to speak with their creator, under a temporary truce.” The beings of light and dark knelt before the Absolute Being. “Just as he intended, the universe continued to evolve… and so did his creations. The Rulers and Monarchs began developing their own identities. Even if they would eternally abide by the ideals of Chaos or Order, they would change. As such, when the Absolute Being revealed the truth of their existence, they felt hollow.”
The beings cried, raged, or stared in shock. “To know they were made for their creator’s entertainment, for his own pursuit of perfection, well it drove some of them insane. Even those who saw the truth of the universe, its need to evolve, were heartbroken. They were not the children of the Absolute Being, they were his tools.” A good deal of the beings rose to their feet, charging the Absolute Being, attacking him, just as he’d created the Primordials to kill his own sister.
“Not even his most loyal Ruler, Ashborn, defended him.” The Absolute Being was savagely torn apart, his Soul and body ravaged until there was nothing left. Sitting in the background was Ashborn, looking off into the distance in utter disgust. “Just a few decades earlier, he had fallen for a mortal woman, and her planet was assaulted by the war for Chaos and Order. He lost the only person he loved because of them. And it broke him.” Quaresha, upon hearing that, scowled with jealousy.
Ashborn shot from his knees, beginning to attack both Ruler and Monarch alike. His rage filled the empty void left by his creator. “He was strong, strong enough to nearly kill several Higher Beings. But in the end, he fell. And as he laid there on the ground, his body and Soul fading, he was contacted by a power, one born of the Null Being. The power to nullify Death.”
The being of light that was Ashborn became infected by the Shadows, his body morphing and overtaken by the darkness as he rose once more, tearing off his angelic wings in rejection of the Rulers. “The Shadow Monarch was born. Neither a true Monarch, nor a true Ruler. He was something new.”
The war continued to rage between Monarchs and Rulers. In the absence of their God, they found their own reasons to fight. “The Monarchs, feeling that free will had been stripped from this universe by the Absolute Being, decided to tear it down and build it anew in their own image. The Rulers, believing that the universe could not be replicated, only perfected, began to twist species into their ‘perfect’ forms.” Mortal lives were snuffed out as their bodies were twisted and mangled until they resembled the Lux. Completely emotionless beings, devoid of any personality that made them who they were in the first place.
“Of course, they knew of their brother’s survival, but both Monarchs and Rulers believed his rage was just an outburst, and that he would eventually settle on one side of the conflict. But the Shadow Monarch had other plans.” Ashborn raised entire planets of the dead, fighting both Ruler and Monarch occupations. “He sought a new side. Not Order, not Chaos, but Mortality. He fought for the memory of his Empress, of the friends that were now shadows of their former selves. Neither Monarchs nor Rulers wanted to kill him, however, as they knew he could turn the tides of the war with his newfound power. So they conspired to weaken him together.”
A war unfolded from high up in a planet’s atmosphere. Millions of undead warriors sprung up to fight against four Higher Beings. Two Monarchs, a giant wolf and a demon burning with white flames. “Waruk, the Monarch of Fangs and Baran, the Monarch of White Flames.” The two Rulers, were a woman completely encased in technologically advanced armor, and another woman who had such immense Mana that she seemed to burn the very air around her. “Correnic, the Smartest Fragment of Brilliant Light, and Serenia, the Brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light.” Of course, they were all now familiar with Baran, who had taken Touya Todoroki’s body for himself.
The four beings and their armies cornered Ashborn, slaughtering his forces and backing him against a wall. Weakened and without the strength of his army, he was forced to listen to both sides pitch their ideals to him. He’d already heard them many times.
“Knowing he was defeated, Ashborn told both sides he would think about it and he retreated to a Gap Between Dimensions, where he rested and recovered. But it was also where he schemed, as he never intended to join either side.” Quaresha looked over at Izuku in disbelief, as if he had personally been the one to betray her. “That was when the Higher Beings finally discovered Earth.”
The group watched as several Gates popped into existence around the solar system, depositing hordes of Chaos and Order. It reminded Izuku and Momo of fleets exiting hyperspace from their favorite sci-fi movies. Within no time at all, Earth was a burning hellscape. “Humanity had no Magic, so they were easily turned to ash. But the Rulers saw something in humanity, potential to help turn the tides of the war. Their Souls, their intelligence, all of it was something the universe had yet to see. So, they used an artifact of the Absolute Being… and turned back time.”
Kaina’s entire face went limp. The realization set in. “They created multiple timelines…”
“Which some have faint memories of,” Raia finished.
“It’s… real?” Kaina asked. “I’m not… crazy?”
Raia smiled at her with a kindness Izuku had yet to see from him. “You are perfectly sane. In fact, your feelings are more true than you could possibly imagine. Human Souls are their templates. Your Soul and Izuku Midoriya’s were meant for each other.”
Kaina’s face shifted so fast Izuku couldn’t even tell what she was feeling. Her, Izuku, and even Momo had accepted her story and feelings as true, but receiving confirmation, genuine proof, made it all the more real.
“Does that mean… we were also meant to be?” Momo asked.
Raia’s smile changed to one of mischief rather than kindness. “Actually, your Soul and Midoriya’s should not be compatible, and yet here you are, together. That is something not even I can explain.” He brushed past the topic. “As Earth was destroyed again and again, the Rulers realized that in order for humanity to help turn the tides of war, they needed to be able to survive the coming battles. Without Lumina, no timeline would be safe for them.”
“Lumina?” Now even Izuku was confused.
“It is what you would call Mana or Magic. It is a radioactive element that exists in most of the universe. I believe your Empress just recently learned the truth about it.” They were suddenly inside inner-space, looking at the formation of an element. “There is no such thing as Magic… it’s just physics, but I’ll let her explain that another time.”
“In other words… the Rulers irradiated humanity?” Setsuna chimed in.
“Precisely. With a final reversing of time, the Rulers expended what little energy the artifact had left. They could no longer turn back time. So they injected Lumina, or Mana, into humanity through the Gates. Gates themselves work on a mathematical formula, and have to be calculated and fed energy. With the emergence of Mana on Earth, all other Gates that Higher Beings were creating to invade the planet were disrupted for 30 years, giving humanity time.”
The view shifted from the history that most humans already knew to the Gap Between Dimensions, a place surrounded by both darkness and light in a paradoxical dimension that Izuku could barely comprehend. “During this time, Ashborn reached out to me. He was weak, he was tired, and he wished to his lover again in the embrace of death. So, he wished for me to help him find and guide a new host for his powers.”
Izuku felt immense discomfort as everyone stared meaningfully at him. He became the center of attention, even standing in place of Ashborn himself.
“He also wished for that host to have someone they could rely on, a love that would never die… his Empress.” The gazes then shifted to Momo. “And the rest… is history.”
*******
“Uhhh… what was that?” Orlov asked, watching as the red tendrils retreated into Raia. It had only taken seconds for the entire story to be transmitted into their mortal brains. Of course, Orlov and his sister had been left out.
“You know…” Izuku looked at Raia. “You left a lot of details about yourself out of that story.”
“My story isn’t quite as remarkable,” He responded, a tinge of bitterness in his voice. He looked over to Kaina. “That Apex Skill of yours. It’s named after someone I once knew, Strea. If you ever meet her, or if she ever speaks to you through the Skill… don’t trust her, she’s an ally of the Monarchs.” His eyes fell even further. “She’s pure evil.”
Izuku didn’t feel like that was the whole story, no one did. But he didn’t seem concerned by Kaina having the Skill in the first place.
“So what’s her deal with Izuku?!” Miruko shouted, pointing at Quaresha. Her jealousy was showing.
“Oh that. She’s what you humans would call a stalker. She became obsessed with Ashborn, and believed that spreading death would impress him. Obviously, Ashborn was only disgusted by it.”
Quaresha, seeing and hearing all of this, was despondent. Sure she was a Monarch, an agent of Chaos, but her main goal was to take Ashborn’s hand as his lover. She had never realized he was repulsed by her, because no one had ever been able to make her listen. Now, as a slave of Setsuna, she had no choice but to listen.
“So… you weren’t kidding when you said we’re… in the middle of a war?” Izuku asked hopefully.
“Unfortunately, Earth appears to be the final battle for both the Rulers and the Monarchs.” Raia shook his head. “No matter which side wins. Humanity loses.”
Izuku took a deep breath, trying to process everything. “And… Ashborn… you. You both chose me? Why?”
“That is the question isn’t it?” Raia created a Gate behind him. “I would also like to know the answer one day.”
“Wait, you’re just leaving?!”
“I’ll be in contact. We need to find a way to buy Earth some more time.” He shrugged. “I did not understand the potential of humanity until recently.” He scooped up a piece of Magical metal from one of the destroyed Russian vehicles. “But now I realize what makes you so powerful in a world of Gods and Monsters. If the Absolute Being was still alive, you’d probably be his favorite species. You never stopped moving forwards. And as long as you continue to do so, this planet will survive. Oh, and if any Rulers or Monarchs ask about me, feign ignorance. That’s another thing your species is good at.” He gave Momo one last meaningful look before stepping through the portal and vanishing.
“So… what next?” Miruko asked.
“Uhm… next I should probably tell you that my identity is pretty much an open secret,” Izuku awkwardly told Momo. “Catalina Island was… interesting.”
She sighed, taking off her own mask and enjoying the fresh air. “Thank god. I was kinda getting tired of the whole hidden identity thing.” She walked over to Izuku, embracing him, resting her forehead against his as they gazed into each other’s eyes.
“We need a vacation,” He said, wheezing out a laugh. He looked up to Kaina, worried that she would be awkward about them hugging. Instead, for the first time since meeting her, Izuku felt like she was at peace. Of course, Miruko was averting her gaze, but he still didn’t know her too well.
“How’s it going, Number 7?”
She looked up with a lopsided grin. “You know, I’m probably a higher number now.”
“I’m sure you are,” He said, acknowledging her leg armor. “Thank you, both of you. For helping.”
Both Kaina and Miruko shrugged, “It’s the job, ain’t it?” They looked at each other as the identical sentences left their mouths.
“Okay… this is all very heartwarming…” Orlov said, gently intervening in the conversation, “But what in the actual fuck is going on?”
Momo ignored him, her hands fidgeting as she looked at Izuku. “There’s… something I should tell you as well.”
*******
Catalina Island:
“You sure?” Aizawa asked as the class loaded onto the planes and helicopters set for the mainland.
Brandon nodded. “Without the Mosaics screwing everything up, I can handle myself. Besides, shit hasn’t been easy for the kids the past few days.”
“You’re a kid yourself.”
Brandon shrugged. “Maybe to an old man like you.” His hands were in his pockets like always, his hair messy, his eyes dull. “We’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do. Don’t need a bunch of kids here for that. Knowing Bakugo, he’d probably tear down a building trying to help.”
“I heard that!” Bakugo complained as he passed the fellow blonde by.
“Mmm…” Was all Aizawa said in return, spinning on his heel and walking to join his class.
“Hey, kid!” Brandon called out to Bakugo before he could get out of earshot. “Don’t forget what I said.”
“Urgh… don’t call me a kid!”
Brandon chuckled. “Alright, I’ll stop calling you a kid if you do one thing.”
“What’s that?”
Brandon’s eyes, for a brief moment, had a semblance of light within them. “Make some friends. Some real friends. Any kid knows that the mature thing to do is apologize. If you don’t, you might just end up as a depressed asshole secluded on some random island,” He said with a smirk, turning his back to Bakugo. “See ya around, kid!” He shouted one last time before vanishing into the leafage. For a while, Bakugo just stared after him,
Eventually, he managed to tear his gaze away and hop on the plane with the rest of his class.
While he took to the skies, Brandon wove his way through the foliage, lackadaisical as he did so. “Is there a reason you needed to sneak up on me? This town doesn’t need any peeping toms, ya know.”
Raia emerged from the lush jungle. “I suppose we should talk.”
Brandon raised a single eyebrow. “About what? Skynet?”
“I’m sure that, to humans, that was a witty joke.”
“Depends on who you tell it to, I suppose.”
Raia looked him in the eyes for the first time, his beady red eyes boring into his Soul. “You have no idea what’s inside of you.”
“What? Did one of the Mosaics hide in me? Is it like a chestburster or something?” Brandon winced. “In case you couldn’t tell, my ‘wit’ is just pop-culture references. Can we just forgo the whole mysterious back and forth? In a literal sense, what do you mean?”
“Saysus,” Raia responded, his smile widening. It wasn’t that of a cold machine, but of a lonely man. “It has been so long, my friend.”
“Yeah I still dunno what the fuck you’re talking about.”
*******
Level: 205
Strength: 575(+40) *3
Vitality: 523 (+80) *2
Agility: 577 (+60) *3
Intelligence: 546 *2
Sense: 614 (+120) *2
Available Points: 0
[Mana: 120,531/120,531]
[HP: 60,765/60,765]