The King of Heroes: Null/Virtue

The Past

"What a mess," Izuku grumbled, taking a hot springs bath with Himiko, Uraraka, Ibara, Eri, Fuwa, and Haneywama. None of them had any towels or clothes on, which was awkward at first, but this world was pretty used to bare skin. Izuku being the only guy did help. "Been a month and they still won't cast their lot?"

The Misshapen nation of Orox, which bordered the Infestation Zone, still hadn't given a consensus on the ceasefire agreement. Unfortunately, it seemed like they would end up being the tipping vote, and they were not keen on the idea of a ceasefire.

"Maybe not," Haneyama countered. "There's been a lot more instability in Orox lately. Talk of an actual cohesive government forming. They want all the hands they can get for a coup of some kind, and they apparently have big plans to get the Misshapen out of their economic slump."

"How trustworthy is that intel?"

Haneyama shrugged. "90 percent? Pretty decent source. He's a spiritual man. Apparently very respected by the masses. Someone tried to recruit him and he turned them down flat. But he was happy to pass along the intel."

"Still, they have to actually make a ruling for anything to get done," Izuku grumbled. "We got 100,000 people back, but that still leaves 2.4 million. We're letting them remain prisoners as we bicker." He groaned and leaned back into the springs.

"Well... wouldn't it be better at this point to just get rid of them?" Himiko asked. "They did say they wanted us dead."

"Committing genocide in return is no better."

"It is if the alternative is everyone getting wiped out."

"They speak, they reason. Therefore, they can be reasoned with eventually."

"Eventually?"

"All species struggle to reason with each other. How many wars have the Faded or Terran or Misshapen had with the Onyx in our long history?"

Himiko shrugged. "It just means we have to work harder to enforce peace."

Izuku shook his head. "That's a dangerous line of thought."

"Why? We're the strongest species, shouldn't we be doing the most to protect others?"

"Yes, but you said 'enforce.' Implies we're forcing our will on others."

"Don't we force our will on criminals? What's the difference?"

Izuku had to constantly remind himself that these were teens. They weren't dumb, but they didn't completely understand the way the world worked. "We have to be careful not to take things like that too far, otherwise we end up as oppressors, not protectors." He'd also forgotten that Himiko was a genuine Onyx. Force was in her nature.

"Whatever the case, we want a ceasefire," Izuku insisted. "If we don't get one, then the Lords have to go in there and clean up, otherwise Tragedy will realize he can get away with whatever he wants. And I doubt that all of the Lords would survive a battle on that scale."

"I thought you said you could take him alone?" Eri pointed out.

"I could, but he'd call in every heavy hitter in the Infestation Zone. And Lords have died to monsters before. And of course there's all the deaths that would result from a full occupation of the Zone. And assuming that Tragedy isn't enough of a sore loser to execute the remaining prisoners. And-"

"Okay... You're starting to bum us out," Fuwa teased.

Izuku chuckled. "Sorry. I just wanna make sure we find the path of minimum losses."

"So, are you excited for your date?" Uraraka said, changing the subject.

"Ugh... I'm too busy to care about dating."