New Era

~ 1 Month Later ~

Izuku stayed motionless in his seat, his eyes glazed over as he continued on silently kicking himself down for the death of his idol.

Was it possible to save him had he not retreated the moment they retrieved his childhood friend? Was it possible to defeat that giant villain if he broke all of the bones in his body?

The answer kept eluding him. His internal struggle to cope and accept the death of his father figure, idol, and mentor made him depressed beyond all hope.

Katsuki wasn't faring any better. It had been his ass that was captured by the villains during the training camp. If he was just faster than those asshole villains, none of these would've happened. The villains lose some of their members, they lose Ragdoll, and All Might stays alive.

Not murdered by that giant golden statue of a Villain monster displayed in the ruins of the Kamino ward. Hell, calling it a villain would be generous.

A monster is what he called it. A monster that requires the most drastic of measures to put down.

Death.

The rest of the class had metaphorical rainclouds hung over their heads. Their teacher, the number 1 Pro Hero, dead by an unknown Villain who hadn't been known by the entirety of the Japanese government, and if that wasn't enough, news about how their planet grew in a few seconds had them tearing the roots of their hair out.

Was it from there did the monster emerge? Will the governments all over the world cooperate to explore the "New Lands" as they called it, or will they be petty once again as they race each other for resources, and quite possibly cause a conflict due to politics?

None of that even mattered to the heroes-in-training. What they were worried about was their crumbling society, and with the reintroduction of the King of the Underworld, namely: All for One, the deceased All Might's nemesis, Heroes all over the country began diminishing in number.

Anarchy ruled the streets as riots became commonplace. Unauthorized Quirk usage has been steadily increasing by the day as more and more civilians began using their Quirks as a form of self-defense against Villains, and Villains against Heroes on duty or for crimes, petty or not.

The Third Years of most Hero schools were now known as Ghost Classes as most of the students were tasked with assisting in the efforts of order amongst the populace, and U.A.'s Third Years were no exceptions.

Togata Mirio, Nighteye's intern, was one of them and an active assistant in helping the common populace. The law of Vigilantism was brought down due to how much the crime rate spiraled out of control.

If this wasn't a sign of changing times, then what was?

Izuku bobbed his head once after he heard the door creak. From behind it, their homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa strolled in with a bunch of papers.

"Attention," Aizawa called towards the depressed students, their innocence long gone from the harrowing experience of losing All Might, as well as the flak they got from the civilians for, "Not doing their jobs protecting them."

Hearing those statements gave Aizawa a migraine. How much did the common populace rely on Heroes, so much so that it made all of them dependent on the existence of said Heroes? As an Underground Hero, Aizawa held no misconceptions that society was already festering on the inside. Hell, Nezu, probably the smartest being on the planet, predicted that once the Symbol of Peace was gone, this would happen.

The reason why Nezu kept on pressuring All Might to teach in his school to better guide the next generation of Heroes.

"Look, I will not sugarcoat this," Aizawa dropped the stack of papers on the table, catching the attention of every student within the room. "All Might is dead, and society is on the brink of collapse. Villains are rising from every corner of the country, and Vigilantes, some with moral compasses and others without, are helping in the efforts to regain peace within the state."

Every student was listening to their teacher's every word. Their eyes focused on their teacher's visage.

"Heroes are undermanned, which is why the government is gathering support from the Third Years of every Hero School in Japan, as well as contacting foreign support. So far, only America and Europe have agreed to lend aid," Aizawa took the papers on his desk and handed it out towards the students, with each student accepting the paper with silence. "And now, the government is pushing on getting every person with a Hero license, student or not, to aid in the efforts of retaliating against the Villains."

This caused every student inside the room to freeze up. Some in fear, others surprise, and the rest with dread.

"If it were up to me, I'd give the bastards in charge of the government the bird and tell them to fuck themselves," this got every student surprised. Never, in the entirety of their stay in U.A., had they heard their homeroom teacher cussed. If this was a normal situation, Bakugo would've approved. "But sadly, we need all the help we could get. The forms I have given you all are contracts, stating that once you sign them, as well as your guardians, there is no turning back. You may choose to not sign them, and be promptly transferred from the Hero course and into the General course, or you may choose to do so and receive your Provisional Hero License after taking a test in an undisclosed location."

The students silently stared at their forms, each of them having a war within their minds on whether or not to accept.

"The choice is yours," Aizawa stated with a grim reminder that told every student here what the future held if they decided to sign this piece of paper. "We will need an answer tomorrow, please, think this through."

With his piece said, Aizawa left the room, leaving the students to ponder their dilemma.

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Within the lands of Demacia, a giant forest of Petracite loomed over the area. Within this forest, a single blue-skinned man appeared using teleportation technique. After securing the 4th World Rune, only one was left, but he noticed a disturbance in the air. One that is on par with the threat of the world runes.

He focused his gaze West, the feeling of magic being siphoned from their air and into unknown waters.

"This is bad…" the blue-skinned man muttered to himself. Gathering his Arcane power, he made one decision that could jeopardize his mission, but with this feeling of impending doom, he couldn't wait any longer.