The Emperor's Dragon II

Loyal Henchmen

Izuku panted and ran a hand through his hair. He had sparred with Gigantomachia and in addition to adding extra condition to his scales, the intense physical exercise had shown him how much physical fitness he had lost since his father had let him go to make his own decision. No wonder he had been tired just doing a few things. He had to get it back, and so he knew, every time he wasn't busy with trying to determine a path to the future, he'd be exercising.

As he recovered his breath, he approached Yakuni. They'd sparred here because the young man had more space.

"Very impressive, Dragon," the scientist told him.

"It's impressive how unfit I am," Izuku replied.

"Well, that can at least be fixed," Yakuni murmured.

"Yeah, but I'm going to be panting like a bellows until it is," Izuku told him.

Gigantomachia just chuckled. He was as fit as always and enjoyed sparring with him because the harder Izuku fought, the harder Gigantomachia could fight back, and the huge man loved that. He hadn't liked their last few sessions though, as Izuku had made him continually hit him to break his scales. Each time they broke, they got stronger. The huge man appreciated that, but not having to inflict the deliberate pain on Izuku. They were at the point now, where he really had to try to break them... and while that was strong, Izuku wanted them even stronger. But that was a long term project.

"So, how is it going?" Izuku asked, jerking his head towards one of the larger tubes.

"Not too bad. I'm going to try to make both Kendo and Rikiya into High Ends, and see how we go. Even if they fail, I think they will be high class Nomu. And either way, Kendo should be optimised to take out Endeavor and... well, I don't have a target in mind for Rikiya yet."

Izuku nodded at that but didn't feel the need to ask for further information on those ones and what the young scientist wasn't saying was that even if they didn't work as High Ends, then they'd still be optimised. Kendo should be able to take out Endeavor but may need direction from his handler to do it. So either way, Kendo would be useful. "How fast can you make a Nomu anyway?" he asked.

"If you have the quirks?" Yakuni clarified.

"If you have the quirks," Izuku agreed.

"A low level one can be churned out pretty quick," Yakuni told him. "But they aren't very useful since you have to tell them everything."

"So the more intelligent they are, the longer they take?" Izuku surmised.

"Pretty much."

"Time it?" he suggested.

Yakuni frowned at him, obviously wondering why he'd want such information.

"The Nomu aren't as useful as independent followers," Izuku explained. "But they could be very useful as shock troops."

The last bit of the explanation was enough for Yakuni to understand.

In Izuku's research, there was one thing that was clear, no matter how took over a country - a liberator or a dictator - they all had followers, and they all had, at least a bit of military power. If he had no other choice, then the Nomu would serve that purpose for him so he'd be best aware of how fast they could be generated and what they could do.

"I'll take notes," Yakuni told him.

"Good," Izuku breathed out, finally feeling as if he was getting his breath back. "Did you get all the genetic samples from the League?" he asked. He had yet to come up with a new collective name. League of Villains was rather ostentatious and fit what Tomura was trying to do but Izuku hadn't really put much thought into coming up with a different name. In the end, it didn't really matter, but League of Villains wouldn't sound good in the history books. It just made them sound deliberately like the bad guys.