The King of Heroes: Null/Virtue

One Mess Down, Many More To Come

"Well, they're certainly getting more aggressive the deeper we push," Kashiko said, downing an entire pitcher of alcohol in one chug. It was almost comically oversized given her stature, but the thin, white-haired Onyx apparently had some hidden talents, as well as hobbies.

Izuku flipped the bartender a coin. "Keep the change, sorry for the intrusion." He said, waving to the bar's inhabitants, who were watching them all with keen, paranoid eyes.

"Maybe don't call them aggressive right to their faces," Momo replied as Kashiko rushed out of the bar to join her team.

"What're they gonna do? They're a bunch of drunk nobodies against a 350 year old Onyx." Kashiko's take-off was surprisingly steady for the amount of alcohol in her system.

"True, but there's no need to get into bar fights," Koichi lightly replied.

Outside of Koda, Koichi was definitely one of the most mild-mannered Onyx Izuku had ever met. Even someone like Toshinori, known for his calm and composed positivity, was a force to be reckoned with when confronted. His energy was something else.

Koichi, whilst clearly deserving of his high ranking in the Onyx Military, somehow managed to be laid back in even serious situations. It was the first time he'd seen an Onyx try to talk down an opponent weaker than himself of his own accord. Even when Izuku wasn't giving orders to do so, Koichi was overtly respectful of those around him.

"He might be a secret Shifter," Izuku thought, sending it over to Momo alone. "No... I guess not? I'm not seeing anything about it in his future..."

"First of all, didn't you just say you were gonna stop doing that with your Chaos Magic? Secondly, like I said, you're too used to dealing with the more... colorful personalities. People like this do exist; not just in this world, but our past too." Momo replied. "You see the potential for everyone to be good, but you're almost too realistic about the world. You approach cautiously, hopeful, but prepared for disappointment."

"I recognize my inherent paranoia as a flaw, but I'm not sure it's something I'm gonna solve. Nobody's perfect."

Izuku felt a mental nudge from Momo, like a hug. "Give it time. It took me a total of 122 collective years - starting from my life after escaping Project Vishnu - to really truly start making progress."

"I don't know how comforting that is," Izuku replied, his thoughts full of mirth to let Momo know he didn't take it that seriously.

"So how does it rank?" Rumi asked Kashiko as they left the small town of Trey behind.

"Eh... It was at least top 30 in Miro's dominion, but it's like number 500 on all of Estaria." Kashiko answered the question as if it weren't insane to have that much memory dedicated to the beers of Estaria. If it weren't for the long-winded and heartfelt backstory she gave about her father's dream to have the best beer in the world, or her rapid consumption, Izuku wouldn't have entertained the stops. Apparently, she was his taste-tester to judge his beer against everything else.

In the end, it worked out, because not everyone could keep up with Izuku's pace. The frequent breaks for beer allowed everyone to catch their breath, relieve themselves, or have a bite of their rations.

It was the sort of story that, when told, no one believed. One that became a folk legend, or a joke. The fact that an Onyx SpecOps squad stopped at a bar or tavern in every single town or city on the way to dethrone a king was just too silly.

"Hopefully that one doesn't make it into the history books," Izuku thought to himself.

More than anything, of course, was the fact that Miro's army simply could not muster a halfway decent defense, much less a counter-offensive. This was all on top of them getting invaded from the south by the Hunger.