The King of Heroes: Null/Virtue

Number 4

"I knew we couldn't trust these fuckers!" Goto shouted, grabbing the nearest object - a finely crafted chair - and throwing it so hard it disappeared into the atmosphere. "Shoulda wiped out every last religious nutjob, because these things are evil!"

"And yet," Izuku remarked calmly, "Melissa and Mei are alive."

"But the Creation Lord is dead," Goto pointed out. "The Gods never said their names, just the Lordly title. They set this up!"

"You really think Enja and the Virtue Lord conspired to give Shigaraki the Creation Factor?" Momo asked, noticing Setsuna's stare on her the entire time.

The collection of Lords had regrouped at their villas, taking time to digest everything that had happened.

"I don't know!" Goto shouted. "But it's clear that they withheld information! They're operating on their own schemes!"

"Yeah, that's kind of the definition of every living being..." Himiko muttered, unintentionally coming off as a smartass.

"Don't you start with me!" Goto continued to rage. "Metara just lost a Lord! And here I have Draxia practically gaining a third Lord!" He said, glaring at Momo in particular.

"Hey!" Setsuna suddenly stood, getting in front of Himiko and in Goto's face, dragging her eyes off Momo. "How about you watch yourself!"

Himiko, despite the tension, felt safe as Setsuna stood up for her.

"Quiet!" Izuku projected his voice using Magic, forcing it to echo in everyone's ears. As soon as the silence returned, he sighed. "Goto, Melissa, Mei, I'm sorry. I truly am. I screwed up. I should've noticed it wasn't Monoma... Who we still need to find..."

"His Soul was different," Momo pointed out. "Without Chaos Magic, how the hell was anyone supposed to know? I didn't even know you could alter the appearance of a Soul!"

"And you did notice," Melissa said quietly and awkwardly. "You noticed in time to save my life."

That sentence alone kept Goto quiet. Melissa and Mei were going through their own hellish wave of emotions of both losing their power, but also keeping their lives.

"I thought that, after losing the Divine Rapier, Mirrim would be on a heavy backfoot..." Izuku said. "They clearly have more weaponry and Items than we expected, and Avalon is a unique case of two Heroic Items becoming something far more."

"You didn't see any of this in the future?" Setsuna asked, knowing that Goto was still on the verge of throwing a temper tantrum. For the citizens of Xsis, that would be an extinction-level event.

Izuku shook his head. "The Eternal Lord has seemingly devoted most of his attention to blocking events regarding Avalon. I've looked through hundreds of years, but I've never heard of that blade until last night. I still can't find it in the future."

"So... just go get the sword?" Uraraka meekly suggested, feeling very small in the room.

Izuku exchanged glances with the other Lords.

Goto growled like an animal, rage coursing through his bones. "He has leverage now... What if he can destroy the Factor? What if he hides it away forever and no new Creation Lord is born?"

Momo glanced at Izuku, who nodded. "The fact of the matter," he said, "is that we need the Creation Factor for the future of Estaria. Shigaraki knows that. Our only benefit is that he can't attack Metara or anywhere else without the entire continent declaring war on him."

"Should we not declare war now?" Setsuna asked.

Izuku groaned. "It's... there's too many variables."

"What variable is there to consider?!" Mei asked, far more incensed about the loss of her Factor than Melissa.