Shadow Monarch Hero: Viridian (SMH: Deku rewrite)

The Ends Justify The Means

Takashi Arata, from all angles, appeared to be nothing more than an athletic middle-aged Asian man with a faltering hairline. He spent his younger years enveloped in the chaos of Gates. When they first appeared, he was ten years old. His parents fled from providence to providence seeking safety for their young boy. But in the end, destiny chose them all as important players.

The first A-Rank to ever break from its cage was in Japan, an Oni-Type... named Diablo. And its stomping ground was just a few miles from Takashi and his family.

The sudden surge of Mana caused a great deal to Awaken, including the entire Arata family. But while Takashi was stuck at E-Rank, his parents became some of the first A-Rank humans. They were critical in the fight against Diablo, but upon his beheading, Diablo released a poisonous gas.

All Awakened Humans who it struck began to decay, the poison feeding off their Mana. Because of his status as an E-Rank, Takashi survived the poison over decades, eventually leading to it and his Awakened status canceling out each other, making him little more than a normal human.

His parents, before succumbing to the poison, went on to help found the Hero Safety Commission, which led to a new and still on-going Golden Age for Japan in the midst of the crisis. Heroes like All Might began to appear, and alongside thousands of others, directed by the Commission, they quelled the chaos.

Takashi, after his parents' deaths, went on to contribute to the Commission in their stead as one of the top brass. His mathematics were unparalleled and he was responsible for creating many of the modern day Gate-Predictive Equations. They weren't perfect, as seen by the Gate Break by the Fujiya hospital, but it was estimated that the equations had saved the lives of tens of millions across the world as other countries adopted it. And countries were spared hundreds of billions in clean-up and repair costs. He was regarded as a Hero...

So it broke Izuku's heart to see him sitting at the table, alongside all the other cultists listed on the piece of paper Momo's parents had given her.

The table, which was too long for its own good, sat in a dining room so ornate that it could've funded a small country if its decorations were auctioned off. At the table were a dozen men and women, with most being on the young side, and only two at the end of their life cycles. They were the heads of the cult.

"You hear about the South Korean Heroes? Those two are finally getting married."

"Don't beat around the bush, Takashi." One of the elderly women rasped, ignoring the comment. "This decision needs to be made. Moving forwards? Or giving up?"

Izuku and Momo listened from inside the room, their Stealth completely cloaking them from visual and magical detection. This house wasn't nearly as locked-down as Momo's parents' was.

"We can't make that decision yet... not until the Shadows reveal themselves to us. To disband now, whilst both lie in play, would be stupid. But we can't move forwards either. Our path to that power is lost..." He sighed. "Forgive me, I need a glass of wine..." He went to stand, but before he could, a bottle of chardonnay floated before his face.

"Don't bother standing," Izuku said, using Dominator's Touch to hand the bottle off.

Both him and his partner were wearing their Shadow Duo disguises, their faces completely hidden.

The other eleven men and women instinctively went to stand, but Momo waved her hands and they all became locked to their seats by her own Dominator's Touch. She went around, one-by-one, tying them to their chairs using coils of shadowy rope that even Izuku doubted he could break.

Takashi, to his credit, didn't look surprised at all. As if he'd known all along they were coming tonight.

"His words did sound a little forced... was he just putting on an act? Waiting for us to show up?"