170 Chapter 169
(A/N: This chapter is brought to you by Joshua Barry, another eleventh-hour Hero.)
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[October 17th, 2149]
After a fairly uneventful week, excluding his encounter with Wilnas, Izuku was in the conference room talking with Nezu, the latter revealing, "While I was unable to find any information on the Founding Dragons' origin, I've managed to ascertain the location of their breaches. There are six in total, including the Vermillion Palace. The Jade Palace, belonging to the Lord of Eternal Splendor, was the first breach to appear in the Henan Province of China."
Blinking in surprise, Izuku asked, "Breaches have begun to appear in China...?" before remembering something fairly important, his expression morphing into a frown as he muttered, "Then the breach in New York..."
Confirming Izuku's suspicions, Nezu nodded, revealing, "The US has kept a tight lock on information pertaining to it, but I managed to uncover that its name is the Golden Palace and that its ruler is a colossal Earth Dragon dubbed Galleon."
Sending Izuku a file that automatically opened itself, Nezu explained, "As for the remaining Founders, breaches belonging to the Wind, Water, and Darkness Dragons were found near the Richat structure of Egypt, a giant whirlpool in the center of the Pacific Ocean, and off the coast of Peru in an ancient, undersea ruin that was previously undiscovered as it had been buried beneath more than a hundred meters of sediment."
Skimming the information as Nezu spoke, Izuku's brows perked as he noted, "It says here that the temple atop which the breach appeared is believed to be more than a hundred thousand years old. That predates the Mesopotamians by more than 90,000 years..."
"Which would certainly explain how information on the Founding Dragons was lost," affirmed Nezu, subsequently musing, "Humans have a penchant for obfuscating, rewriting, and outright erasing history. We need only look at the acts of vandalism that occurred during the Quirk Wars to know how difficult it is to preserve relics that contradict the 'narrative' of those vying for power..."
"You're going to make me depressed..." said Izuku, joking but wearing a wry smile as he knew Nezu was right but didn't feel like getting into such a heavy topic.
"Then let us get back to the subject at hand," said Nezu, typing something on his keyboard that caused a video file to begin playing for Izuku. In it, a distinctly eastern dragon with three-clawed forelimbs, branch-like antlers, a man of silvery-white hair, long whiskers, and a serpentine body covered in predominately gold scales could be seen coiling menacingly in the sky over a distinctive jade-and-gold palace. It was difficult to grasp how big it was at a glance, but its body must have been hundreds of meters long with a shadowy, light-filled veil of clouds flowing around its head, framing it like a hagoromo that crackled with golden electricity...
As if he could read Izuku's thoughts, Nezu's voice oozed his amusement as he revealed, "When it first appeared, there was a belief that it might be the Yellow Dragon of the Center, and there is a fair amount of evidence to back it up. More likely, the Five Phase/Four Symbols system derived from this Lord of Eternal Splendor."
"He appears to be a league above Wilnas..." Izuku remarked, unable to imagine how the 50-meter-long Lord of Vermillion could defeat the nearly kilometer-long, vastly more fierce-looking Lu Woh. By appearances alone, the latter gave the impression he was the most powerful, potentially even the leader of the Founding Dragons. And with an Authority that gave him dominion over Light and Lightning...his only weakness was presumably his contemporary who ruled over Darkness...
"Unfortunately, the video cuts before the Chinese government's attempts to subjugate it could begin," remarked Nezu, further explaining, "They are being 'exceedingly' careful to prevent information on their breaches from leaking externally. However, I can confidently speculate the Jade Palace remains unconquered as there is an ever-growing military presence in the area."
"In other words, there's no way I can enter it without first reaching a compromise with the Chinese government or forcing my way inside..." Izuku concluded.
"I'm afraid that's the case for most of the breaches containing intelligent creatures, not just the Founding Dragons," said Nezu, preempting Izuku's query by explaining that the breach that had granted Egypt's No. 1 Hero the status of an Apostle also had an intelligent Boss Monster in its depths. Not Amon himself, but a Sphinx acting as his representative.
"That's where the next interesting tidbit of information stems," explained Nezu. "According to Salaam, the Gods aspire to manifest and protect the world from the coming destruction. But, in order to do that, they need the power of faith. That's why they designate Apostles. It's said that if belief in them can be rekindled, they can manifest and exercise their 'authority' in our world."
"Sounds like trouble..." expressed Izuku. "Though, so long as the Apostles are Heroes, things shouldn't get too out of hand. I'm more concerned with the possibility that a powerful Villain will be appointed as the Apostle of a God of Destruction..."
"Unfortunately, these 'representatives' don't reveal themselves until after the breach has been cleared," explained Nezu, exhaling a sigh as he added, "Those who encounter them will have already experienced the many benefits the breaches provide, so it would be difficult for them to simply refuse the offer of additional power, especially if it grants them the implied backing of a God. After all, with few exceptions, everyone wishes to be the Main Character of their respective stories..."
"In other words, we're going to have a bunch of people running around with late-onset Chuunibyou Syndrome," joked Izuku, the face of Historia appearing in his mind. Said syndrome was fairly common after the advent of Heroes, but things were bound to get even more convoluted when you had a bunch of people 'chosen' by Gods running around with a borderline Messiah complex. He should know...
"I'm already making arrangements with the Commission to have anyone designated as an Apostle drafted as a member of the Special Task Force," revealed Nezu. "Some are bound to oppose the idea, but with the World Heroes Association expanding to include 'Players,' they'll at least need to register and receive a license if they intend to enter breaches. During that process, I hope to have you present to evaluate their Statuses using your Digitalization."
"I have no issues with that," replied Izuku. "But how are we going to get me into another Founding Dragon breach? Wilnas said that seeking them out would improve our circumstances, and I didn't get the impression he was lying."
"Lucky for us, money still makes the world go around," mused Nezu. "It won't be cheap, but I'm currently greasing the palms of several ranking WHA members and politicians to facilitate securing the Founding Dragon breaches in the Pacific and South America. The United States has taken control of them for the time being, so we have a fair amount of leverage I can take advantage of."
"Speaking of the US, what have they done with their FD breach?" asked Izuku. "I can't imagine the citizens of New York remaining silent as they allow a breach to remain open in the city's center."
"Unfortunately for them, they've experienced the same difficulties as Britain," responded Nezu, explaining, "They've sent in several Heroes and deployed a host of current and next-gen weapons technology, but even a thermonuclear warhead was unable to deal any significant damage to the breach's ruler, Galleon. If anything, the blast made her stronger."
Though his brow raised at the mention that Galleon was a female, Izuku stayed on-topic, asking, "Do you think they would be willing to let us try and close it?"
"It's not impossible, but you wouldn't be able to enter the breach alone," answered Nezu, crossing his hands over one another atop his desk as he explained, "They would want to send their people in with you and recover any Artefacts uncovered for research on their end. They would also want to film the intrusion. After that, it's practically guaranteed that a spy or an opportunistic WHA member with an information-selling side hustle would distribute the video to other countries."
"Sounds about right..." muttered Izuku, exhaling a sigh before running the fingers of his right hand through his hair. In response, Nezu remained silent for a few seconds before suggesting, "Perhaps we should conclude this discussion here. I should have positive results for you before Monday. But, before that, I do have a question for you."
"I'm all ears," replied Izuku, prompting Nezu to chuckle before he abruptly became serious and asked, "Are you certain these Founding Dragons are on our side? Supposing they actually existed, there must be a reason they vanished a hundred thousand years ago. The lack of relics from that time suggests the civilizations they helped to establish were utterly destroyed, so while it might be true they wish to prevent the world's destruction, we can't ignore the possibility this is their attempt to reclaim their past power and authority."
"I've considered that possibility," replied Izuku, adopting a wry smile as he added, "But the world needs to be intact for them to rule over it. That being the case, they have no choice but to help us. Whether they attempt to reinstate themselves after the fact doesn't matter. Rather, if it's true the Convergence can't be averted, only stabilized, we'll need powerful people or entities in place to block external forces from spreading their influence into our world..."
"And thus, a new Age of Gods shall begin..." mused Nezu, his beady black eyes appearing to glisten slightly in the low light of his office. Then, after a few parting exchanges, he and Izuku ended the conference, resulting in both reclining in their chairs to replay and dissect the conversation in their minds...
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[Later That Afternoon]
*vzzzzt* *vzzzzt* *vzzzzt*
"Hmmm...?"
Placing his hand on Momo's head to encourage her to keep sucking him off, Izuku extended a tendril of Black Whip to retrieve his new, even more durable cell phone from the nearby nightstand. He had it set up to vibrate only when someone sent him a high-priority or emergency message, but it most commonly went off when the girls collectively wanted his opinion on something or someone like Toru, Toga, or Rumi sent him a nude photo and desired a timely response.
Seeing that the message was from Nezu, Izuku's brows originally perked before furrowing in mild conflict. The former was asking for his consent to begin leaking some of his more 'voyeuristic' photos, first to the members of his fan club and then through private channels on the school's private network. The idea was that if they could passively boost the Bond Levels of his fans and those who found him appealing, they could 'prime' dozens, if not hundreds, of people to join his Party.
'If I wasn't already, I'm about to be the enemy of every boy in school...' thought Izuku, simultaneously approving of Nezu's suggestion, albeit on the condition that none of his nudes were circulated. There were quite a few Quirks and tools that could be used to create nude models of various Pros and celebrities, but there was a difference between someone making nudes of him and him distributing them directly.
Seeing Nezu respond with a curt, 'Of course,' Izuku returned his phone to the nightstand before putting a bit of strength into the hand he was using to guide Momo's ministrations. She immediately adjusted her position and opened her throat in response. As a result, Izuku was able to fit nearly the entirety of his dick into her mouth, a feat Momo had spent the past month working toward as it bothered her to be unable to service him 'thoroughly.' Her resolution had also stimulated Historia's competitive spirit, so while it was a bit 'excessive' in Izuku's opinion, he appreciated that the number of women that could gobble his cock was steadily increasing...
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(A/N: For those that are curious, the Founding Dragons are derived from the Six Dragons of Granblue Fantasy. However, as of this moment, there is no direct overlap between BNHAS and the premise of GBF.)
