(Since Across the Spider-Verse was so damn good, have a cover story on art related to it.
Props to the artist, I couldn't find their name anywhere)
Cover story: Izuku and Himiko cosplaying their favourite characters from the animated Spider-Man movies.
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The sun had risen on a new day and a group of teens sat on top of their assigned hospital beds to have a peaceful conversation about the events that transpired last night.
"My phone... it stopped working." Todoroki sighed, slamming his phone on his bed. "Now all of those wonderful pictures are gone." He cried into his pillow, confusing everyone.
"What pictures?" Midoriya wondered, trying to console his friend.
"None of your business," Shouto replied, scaring his friend.
"Okay... Anyway, how did none of us pick up on that helicopter above us?" Izuku questioned his peers, gaining a shrug from them.
"We were focused on Stain so our Haki wouldn't pick up on a Helicopter that posed zero threat. Plus they were really high up." Yūsutasu answered, giving his junior a concrete answer.
"You have a good point. Personally, I feel like us being recorded was a good thing." Draw joined in, eating a bagel he bought a few minutes prior.
"It's good and bad. The positives are that we got credit for taking down one of the most dangerous criminals in Japan, while the negatives are that the League of Villains were able to cash in on the situation and possibly grow in strength." Todoroki explained, sipping his water.
"Grow? Stain was one of their best guys, how could they grow?" Yūsutasu questioned his junior, confused why he said that.
"Stains ideals, they were things that many people could relate to. That means the League will seem like a family of misfits who bond over Stains ideals, it's pretty easy to understand when you think about it." Shouto told his senior, gaining a nod from the redhead.
"That makes sense." Kodomo agreed, finally understanding his junior's point. "I mean I understand his logic, I just think the way he's going about it is wrong," Yūsutasu admitted, gaining a look from everyone in the room.
"That isn't something you're meant to openly admit to." Todoroki sighed, shaking his head.
"Yeah, plus no one has the right to say whether we can be heroes or not. His whole "faker" argument had some depth to it, but it was flawed. Killing off heroes who did good deeds due to their selfish nature has a worse effect on society. If we're being honest, the heroes have only been able to keep the villains on the run because of their numbers. Once the hero society loses its numbers, the villains will put them on the back foot like before." Draw chimed in, piquing Midoriya's interest.
"What do you mean like before?" Izuku asked, curious to know how the villains originally had the power.
"Well I don't know that much about it, but I do remember overhearing my sister and father talking about it. Until five years ago, criminals used to run the world while the heroes used to be on the back foot, trying to take them down at every turn. All I know is that All Might and other top heroes dealt with it and everything was kept a secret. They even kept the fact the villains ran the world for nearly a century under wraps." Draw explained, confusing everyone there.
"If it was five years ago, that must've been when All Might defeated All for one. That would mean All for one must've been controlling the world if his defeat meant that the villains had to go into hiding and go on defence." Midoriya mumbled to himself while his peers tried to theorise amongst themselves.
"If it were five years ago it would've been around the time chainsaw massacre was around, which means he must've been- Hey where are you going, you shouldn't be moving around?!" Todoroki reminded his friend, trying to stop the blue-haired boy.
"Let go Todoroki, I need to go," Ilda demanded, giving Shouto a cold glare.
"I can't let you go, you'll only damage yourself more," Shouto replied, not moving an inch.
Assessing the situation, Yūsutasu sighed and got up, placing his hand on Shouto's shoulder. "Let him go, I'm pretty sure whatever he wants to do is important." He told his junior.
"Fine." Todoroki scoffed, removing his hand from Ilda's side, and allowing the injured boy to go.
"Thank you Yūsutasu." Ilda bowed before leaving the room.
"I think we pissed him off a little with the Stain thing." Draw mentioned, earning a shrug from his future peer.
"People are gonna have different opinions no matter the situation, that's how life is." Yūsutasu sighed, sitting on his bed. "To be honest, I'm glad we didn't get any punishments for fighting with four people without hero licenses. The old man would've killed me if Mr Doggie had punished us." He spoke, remembering back to the conversation the police department had with them all.
"If my father lost his hero license, I would've celebrated." Todoroki pessimistically spat.
Whilst the three boys continued to talk amongst each other, Izuku checked his group chat, looking at the text messages his friends had sent him. "Guys, who's Overhaul?" Midoriya asked them, stopping their ongoing conversation.
"No clue." Todoroki shrugged.
"Yeah same, I don't know who that is." Sleeves said, shaking his head.
"I've heard of him, but I don't think he's anything too big," Kodomo replied, looking at his junior.
"Well he tried to meet the Heavenly Demon last night, but he was stopped by two of my friends and Deku." Izuku notified them.
"That means Ho was there too," Yūsutasu smirked, picturing his introverted friend fighting a bunch of goons.
"Why were they trying to meet? The Heavenly Demon doesn't do meetings with low-level criminals." Todoroki wondered, intrigued to know why the two criminals were trying to meet.
"Well, Kacchan and Eijiro said he had quirk erasing bullets. Deku was able to grab one whilst the goons escaped." Izuku informed them.
"Mhm, maybe he isn't a low-level criminal after all." Yūsutasu thought out loud, opening his phone to learn more about 'Overhaul'.
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In a tall building in Tokyo, one man and his protégés sat in silence, thinking about the events that took place the night prior. "Sorry, we let him escape." A red hair boy apologised, looking at his new mentor.
"People make mistakes all the time, don't worry about it." The calm man smiled, brightening the teens' mood. "We were able to stop a dangerous trade and recover one of their destructive bullets, in my eyes that's a win." Deku continued, easing the tension in the room.
"You say that but we all had one true goal." The tall dark-haired teen sighed, gripping the scabbard of his sword.
"And we weren't able to achieve it, so what? Our duty as heroes is to save lives, we did that last night, cheer up." Ukuzi told his oldest protégé.
"Yeah, whatever," Mizu said as he rolled his eyes, sinking himself into his seat even more.
"Hey, did you guys hear about the Stain stuff?" Bakugo asked, reading a news article on his phone.
"Yeah, when you went to sleep we stayed up and discussed it. Stain was defeated by Endeavour, Gran Torino, Native and a bunch of interns." Deku responded, slightly ticking off Bakugo.
"Was that a shot at how early I sleep?" Bakugo questioned the hero, getting ready to snap at any moment.
"All I'm saying is, when I was your age, I wasn't sleeping as early as you." Ukuzi chuckled, annoying his student.
"You Izuku loo-"
"Alright that's enough Bakugo, now let's talk about the League of Villains," Ho spoke up, interrupting Bakugo.
"Well, I still think what we spoke about last night was the best conclusion we could come to," Kirishima said, gaining a nod from Ho.
"Mhm I agree, but why don't we get an opinion from the barking dog over here? He's smart when he's not barking." Mizu agreed, looking over at Bakugo, waiting for him to snap again.
"Nice bait, I'm not falling for it," Bakugo smirked, putting down his phone. "Now that I've finished reading the article on Stain and his connection to the League of Inbreds, I've come to the conclusion that they're annoying losers who keep winning despite their consistent loses," Katsuki said, giving his own opinion on the situation, receiving a laugh from Deku.
"It's funny, I said the same thing. They're losers who keep winning, it makes no sense on paper but in reality, it makes a lot of sense." The pro explained, clearing his throat to continue. "It's funny, but concerning. Whoever's controlling their organisation must be a mastermind, not everyone can turn their losses and make them into wins on the spot." Ukuzi continued, praising the League's owner.
"You're right. After the All Might situation, I thought they would disappear, but instead, they used the popularity they gained to recruit Stain. Even with their most recent loss in Stain's defeat, they have used his image and message to rally and inspire many low-level criminals or people who don't agree with the current system." Ho nodded, agreeing with his mentor's words.
"They're a rising threat, they need to be taken out." Deku thought out loud. "What's worse is that they have an army of multiple quirk creatures. Now that I think about it, their way of doing things reminds me of the previous ruler of the underworld." The dark-haired pro hero continued to think out loud, remembering how the previous ruler used to operate.
"Ruler of the Underworld? What? I thought only Heavenly Demon and Sand King were the rulers." Kirishima questioned Deku.
"That's what the government wants you to believe, but up until five years ago, one man used to control the world from the shadows. Every big-name villain was under his control and they served him loyally." Deku revealed, making the two first years intrigued.
"Five years ago... do you mean Toxic Chainsaw? There's no way a meathead like him could rule the underworld." Bakugo blurted.
"No not him, Toxic Chainsaw is a pebble compared to the man I'm referring to," Deku replied, taking a sip of his water.
"Cut all of the nonsense and just tell these two the true story. You might as well inform them about the whole underworld while you're at it." Ho snapped, getting annoyed at Deku's antics.
Laughing at his student's outburst, Ukuzi got up and rested his hands on Bakugo and Kirishima's shoulders. "Alright you two, what I'm going to tell you will be very top secret, you mus-"
"Just tell them already!" Ho yelled, startling Ukuzi.
"Okay okay, now where should I start." Ukuzi thought as Ho teleported his mentor's chair underneath him. "Ah right, do you boys currently the top three most dangerous places in the world?" The man asked them, getting an immediate response from Bakugo.
"Japan, Africa and America." The blonde swiftly answered.
"Good, and do you know why?"
"Yeah, it's because of the criminals who occupy the lands. In Japan, we have the Heavenly Demon, Sand King and many other rising criminals like Overhaul and the League of Villains. In Africa, the whole continent is being terrorised by the Forest Goddess Gale. Lastly, America has Wolfram who's the most inactive but has a tight grip over America's criminals." Bakugo replied, gaining a smile from Deku.
"Bingo. Now what if I told you, all of the people you just listed used to work for one man and were his loyal servants." The pro smirked, earning a surprised look from his two students.
"There's no way the ruthless Gale would work under someone. From what I've heard, she's too cold-blooded and doesn't trust anyone at all." Kirishima blurted.
"Yeah, Wolfram too. Unless there was a large amount of money involved and he was in control, I doubt he would bow to anyone." Bakugo explained, still in complete shock at what he had previously heard.
"Well it's the truth, that's why they can run their empires so flawlessly. They learned from the best criminal to ever exist. Their close connections to him as he tormented the world and played a massive part in why they seem so untouchable to ninety-five percent of the heroes in our current times." He confirmed, getting ready to continue his speech. "Well, now that you've grasped that. How about I write down the timeline of the underworld and let you guys ask questions after?" Deku suggested, pulling out a whiteboard and pen from his seat.
"Yeah, that would be easier," Bakugo replied which was followed up with a nod by Kirishima.
After a few minutes of summarising every important detail about the underworld, Deku presented the whiteboard. "Here now have a read." He smiled.
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A DUMMIES WAY OF UNDERSTANDING THE CRIMINAL UNDERWORLD by Ukuzi Murasaki:
Over one hundred and twenty years ago, there was a man who had the ability to take and give powers. During the first generation of quirk users, he stood above all, running Japan as he saw fit until a rebellion began. For the next few decades, he would terrorise Japan and build an empire here while many vigilantes would risk their lives on a daily basis to defeat him. Out of those many vigilantes, there would always be one who would stand above them all and challenge the 'Ruler' personally. Unfortunately, they would lose and the people would have to wait until another one appeared.
After their third beacon fell, the people would wait many years for their fourth one to arrive, but he would take many years to arrive so during that time the 'Ruler' decided to expand his empire, taking it to America first, which had a very nasty villain at the time. It's said that they clashed and the American fell, which lead to him pledging his alliance to the 'Ruler'. Once that exchange had happened and people found out about America and Japan's biggest criminals formed an alliance, many criminals from around the world began to either challenge the two or pledge their allegiance to them. Those who challenged their power were beaten and taken under their wing and the ones who bowed immediately were granted protection from heroes and the government.
In response to the criminal's actions, every government in the world decided to come together and make the Hero association act, where vigilantes were now classified as heroes. This act also states that every country has the right to request heroes from another country to deal with their criminal issues, making the heroes more mobile. This was the first step in getting the power back from the criminals.
Once all of those acts and alliances were formed, another beacon appeared but was shortly killed after. Not too many years after, another one appeared which surprised people since the one before took very long. Unfortunately, he would perish too, but within months another one appeared and they were incredible. Within a year they took out many smaller portions of the criminal underworld, getting bestowed the name 'Elpis'. For many years she would fly around and turn the tides for the heroes until she died to the 'Ruler' in battle.
After the battle was over, the 'Ruler' would take this time to strengthen his kingdom, getting ready for the next 'beacon of hope'.
Fortunately, that wasn't enough for him as the next generation would produce many of the top heroes you see today. From; All Might, Endeavour, Stars and Stripes, Prince and even me (I was young). But it wasn't completely one-sided. To mirror the heroes, the villains produced, the Heavenly Demon, Sand King, Gale and Wolfram.
Twenty-nine years ago, All Might appeared on the scene and was an unstoppable force. Becoming the world's strongest hero at the age of twenty-four, with Endeavour becoming the number two hero in the world shortly after. Although Endeavour would drop, it wouldn't be a negative thing since it would only showcase how powerful the heroes had become.
After twenty-four years of being broken down by All Might and the new heroes, the 'Ruler' decided to send a simple message to All Might which read, "If you don't come to Yellav Dog in the next twelve hours, twelve thousand citizens will die." Unfortunately, he wouldn't keep to the promise and many more would die even before the heroes arrived.
Once All Might read the message he contacted the government to see if there were any sightings of major criminals in the last twenty-four hours and the answer he got was no. So with that knowledge, All Might told them the situation and was able to round up the best heroes around the world to finally finish the 'Rulers' reign.
Many heroes were rounded up like; Me, Stars and Stripes, Prince, a young Fire Fist, Endeavour, a young hawks, Africa's number one hero: Dust, and the deceased hero Habakiri Enma, whose death they had to be covered up. Many more top-tier heroes were there, but it'll be too long to list them.
When everyone arrived on the island, we were met by a group of low-level thugs who a young FireFist dealt with. After that, it was an all-out war, with both sides taking major hits.
I was able to corner that pesky Demon, but he was saved by his annoying friend Sand King, who beat Miruko. Luckily Sand King didn't kill Mirko, but she heavily damaged her.
Shortly after my battle with Sand King and the blonde Demon started, 'Ruler' had been defeated, forcing them to retreat.
After the battle, the three major villain groups we know today would battle for who's taking the 'Ruler's' position, but in the end, they settled for a three-way split. Japan's criminals would be able to align themselves with other countries' criminals like India and Russia. Wolfram was able to control England and the majority of South America's criminals, and lastly, Gale controlled Africa and parts of Europe.
While on the other hand, the hero society decided to cover up the incident due to the number of casualties that were caused on that night. On that night over one hundred thousand people were killed, which forced the government to cover up the situation.
And that is all you need to know about the criminal world, anything else ask questions.
Deku シ.
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Once the boys were done reading the summary, a major question popped into Bakugo's head. "Okay so if this 'Ruler' guy was so big, how come I've never heard him be spoken about?" He asked his mentor.
"That's because he's been covered up by the government, his whole existence doesn't exist to the public. It wasn't hard to cover him up after he began to control things from the shadows, so that's probably why." Ukuzi replied, getting a nod from his student. "Anything you want to ask Kirishima?" The pro-hero questioned his student, noticing that he was weirdly quiet.
"Sand King. Why aren't they called Sand Queen or Empress?" He asked, throwing everyone off in the room.
"You were thinking so intensely over that?" Ukuzi laughed, making Bakugo and Ho chuckle.
"What? It's a genuine question. Is it because of Dusk?" He continued, making them laugh even more.
"Yes Kirishima, yes," Deku responded, wiping tears away from his eyes.
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In an isolated room in Tokyo, five women sat around a table with cards in their hands, waiting for one of them to make a move.
"Yaoyozoru make a move." The pink girl growled, increasing the atmosphere in the room.
"Mhm... how should I win. Let me think." The dark-haired girl thought out loud, looking at her powerful deck. "I think, I'll do this. Have a plus two, another plus two, another one after that and a plus four. Change the colour to red. Oh by the way, uno," She said, placing all of her cards on the table, leaving them speechless.
"Wha... no THAT'S NOT FAIR!" The dark-skinned woman shouted, slamming the table.
"I told you to limit one card per go, but you said multiple." The light pink-haired girl sighed, dropping her cards on the table.
"Damn it, this was meant to calm me down, not aggravate me even more!" The pro raged, sitting down in her seat with an angry expression.
"Why don't you go see Deku, you usually come back all relaxed after you two 'go out for a drink'," Fuwa mumbled to herself, ticking off Mirko even more.
"You overgrown do-"
"Okay let's calm down guys," Uraraka demanded, getting in between the two animal-like heroes.
"Yeah, whatever," Fuwa murmured while rolling her eyes.
"You should've let that continue, I wanted to see a Dog and Rabbit fight to the death." Momo morbidly stated, scaring Ochaco.
"Imma fix that brain of yours one-day Yaowie, I promise," Ashido said, patting her friend's head.
"Alright, I'm pissed now. Let's go beat up anyone we find." The angered hero stated as she left the room.
"I guess we gotta follow her." Fuwa sighed, following close behind her mentor.
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In a back alley in Yokohama City, three criminals made their way to a mysterious bar, talking amongst themselves as they approached it. "So we all like and look up to Stain. How cool." The masked criminal celebrated, making the blonde girl laugh.
"Yeah, his ideals are perfect and he's so cool." She stated while clasping her hands together.
"I agree, heroes in this society are so two-faced." The tall dark-haired man agreed, pushing open the door to allow them to enter the bar.
Once they entered the bar, they were met by four men and a woman standing there, glaring daggers at them.
"You must be more of the new recruits." A scruffy man blurted, gaining a vigorous nod from the masked man.
"You would be correct, my name is TWICE!" The man announced, expecting a positive response from everyone in the room.
"You gotta tell them more about yourself to get a response." The blonde girl whispered in his ear.
"Right, right. My quirk is double, it allows me to double anything I have the measurements of. My clones can use the person's quirk and my doubles can create more doubles. The drawback is that I don't know if I'm a double or not so I don't double myself, BUT I can be useful by doubling you. Oh also, Stain is my favourite villain!" He revealed, shocking everyone with his decently powerful quirk.
"You sound like a great addition to the team." A voice on a monitor in front of them spoke.
"He is." The scruffy man echoed. "What about you two?" The man pointed at the two other criminals.
"I'll go first." The tall slender man smiled, placing his hand on the girl's shoulder. "My name is Dabi. My quirk is called cremation and it allows me to use blue flames. I'm proficient at using Haki and was inspired by Stain to finally make a move." Dabi stated, intriguing the man on the monitor.
"When you say you're proficient with your Haki usage, how proficient are you?" The voice spoke.
"Let's just say I can coat myself in the rarest type of Haki." He replied, making the voice chuckle.
"Yes... I like this one." He said, clearing his throat once he was done with his small chuckle. "And you girl? Who are you?" He demanded to know.
"My name is Himiko Toga and my quirk is called Transform. By drinking the blood of anybody I can transform into them, taking their voice and appearance. Unfortunately, I can't replicate their quirk, but I make up for it with my fighting abilities. Also, I was trained by Stain." She casually revealed, shocking everyone in the room.
"This batch intrigues me. I can tell we'll make a great upset in the near future."
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In the hospital our local heroes were residing in, one of them was seen staggering through the busy hallways, finding himself in a desolate area in the hospital. "I can sense you behind the door Tenya, come in." A familiar voice stated, shocking the glasses-wearing boy, and forcing him to open the door.
"I'm sorry I didn't enter straight away, it's just that... I don't know if I can face you right now." The boy revealed, slowly inching his way closer to his bedridden brother.
"You should be proud to face me, you took down a bloodthirsty criminal, be proud of yourself." His brother congratulated him, slowly shattering the stoic face Tenya had put on.
"I-I didn't beat him Tensei, I-I lost, I prioritised vengeance over my real duties as a future hero, I brought shame to our family name." Tenya teared up, pouring out all of his feelings on the spot. "Tensei I'm a failure, I'll never be a hero, I'll never be a true hero like you... I'm merely a shadow of you." Tensei's younger brother broke down as tears streamed down his face. "I don't deserve my legs, I wish I could take them off and give them to you, I'm not worthy of them, I can't possibly fill the shoes you left." He continued while his brother began to sit up. "The name Ingenium can only be filled by someone who isn't a complete fool, I can't... I can't be Ingenium, I should've rejected the name when you told me to take it, I'm only tarnishing the reputation you built for the beautiful name." He cried, nearly falling over, but just as he was about to fall, his brother caught him, embracing him tightly.
"For a sixteen-year-old who only started hero school a month or two ago, you have a lot of expectations for yourself Tenya." His brother chuckled, making his little brother cry even more. "I know you have big shoes to fill, but you can't fill them instantly, you must grow into them and then grow out of them. In everyone's eyes, you're a fearless young lad who stood up to and faced one of the most dangerous criminals in Japan alone until backup came. You haven't tarnished my name at all Tenya, you've done it justice." Tensei told his brother, making Tenya choke on his words.
"Tha-Than-Thank you Tensei." He bawled, tightly gripping his older brother. "I promise I'll make you proud in the near future, I won't fall behind my classmates, I'll rise above them and become number one for our family." He continued, making his older brother smile.
"I know you will, you've always gone above and beyond Tenya. Now that's out of the way I need to scold you." Tensei bluntly said, switching topics, which confused Tenya. "The next time you're in a situation like that, grab the injured person and put them somewhere safe. You could've hit them! You need to be more aware of the people around you, and you need to work on your burst." Tensei rambled, making his brother laugh. "But, with all that said, you're still growing and you did look pretty cool in the fight. Like when you used 'CONCASSER' you had me hyped not gonna lie." His brother remembered, shifting tones once again.
"Thanks, Tensei, I got inspiration from one of my classmates." The younger Ilda revealed.
"I'm assuming you got inspiration from Endeavour's son right?" Tensei asked, gaining a nod from his brother. "Yeah, he's pretty cool too, very fast as well," Tensei commented. "But, I can say without a DOUBT that my brother is cooler." Tensei smiled, making his younger brother smile again.
"Thanks, Tensei, I love you," Tenya said, embracing his brother even tighter than before.
"I loved you first little bro."
(CHAPTER OVERRRRRRR. Sorry for the long delay, I have been busy all week, but don't worry I always make time to squeeze out some writing here and there. Anyway, how was the chapter? Did you guys like it or was there too much/too little? Let me know.
Alright, I'm hungry so imma go eat some food, see you guys in the next chapter.)
18/06/2023
06/18/2023
Heavenly Demon (Real name: Donearth) (Active)
Sand King (Real name: Alligator) (Active)
Wolfram (Real Name: Unknown) (Active)
Gale (Real Name: Gale) (Active)
The 'Ruler'/All for one (Real name: Shigaraki...) (Status: Unknown)
Pro Hero; Sand Queen/Dusk (Real name: Dusk Elovia) (Active)
The 'Rulers' first commander (Real name/Villain alias: Unknown) (Deceased)
Habakiri (Real name: Habakiri Enma) (Deceased)