Chapter 10 – The Million March (Dungeon Trial)
When the Dungeon opened that morning, Sozo felt it before he saw it—an ache in his ribs, the hum of something growing restless. The hydra inside his chest whispered: "The cage dreams of open skies."
He, Deku, and Bakugo stepped through the gate expecting a small test. The world that greeted them looked like home.
Musutafu stretched around them, but too perfect—streets empty of noise, sky pale as glass. Even the air felt staged. A false city grown from Sozo's thoughts.
Deku looked around, eyes wide. "It… copied everything."
Bakugo kicked a loose can. It clattered once, echoing too long. "Creepy."
Sozo frowned, pulse steady but cautious. "Stay sharp. The Dungeon's never formed something this detailed."
Then the can dissolved. The street shimmered. A rumble rose under their feet.
The city breathed.
---
The First Wave
The buildings cracked open like eggs, and creatures poured out—hundreds, then thousands, scaling upward in seconds. A living flood. Each monster looked half-finished: faces warped, bodies rippling with light.
Deku's sensors flared in Grey Matter form. "Energy count—impossible—one million signatures and climbing!"
Bakugo barked a short, disbelieving laugh. "One million?"
Sozo's eyes narrowed. The hydra mark on his back burned. "The Dungeon's testing us again."
The ground split. From every street and rooftop, monsters surged toward the illusionary civilians that began to appear—spectral figures running, screaming, too real to ignore.
Sozo's jaw tightened. "Rescue scenario."
"Then we do what heroes do," Deku said, voice small but firm.
---
Divide and Protect
They didn't argue. They'd done this dance enough times now to move as one.
Sozo took the front, summoning the ten hydra heads that coiled and flared behind him. Heat shimmered off one side of his body, frost from the other.
"Bakugo, protect the bridges," he ordered. "Deku, guide civilians north!"
Bakugo grinned, hands already sparking. "Finally, something worth blowing up!"
He launched himself skyward, explosions like thunderclaps pushing him faster than flight. Wherever his palms struck, monster clusters scattered.
Deku sprinted into the crowd, shifting between human and Grey Matter as needed—analyzing patterns, shouting directions. He used hacked traffic drones to build luminous barriers, redirecting the flow of civilians.
Sozo walked through chaos like a storm given shape. The hydra heads tore through the horde, flame and frost weaving patterns in the air. The city became a battlefield of red and blue.
But the monsters didn't stop. Every one they destroyed split into two.
"The Dungeon's looping creation," Deku called out. "They're respawning!"
Sozo's mind raced. If it's mirroring my power, then… it's learning from me.
---
The Turning Tide
The streets cracked again. A shadow rose from the heart of the false city—a colossal shape, molten eyes burning through the haze.
"The Queen Beast," Sozo muttered.
It was part-dragon, part-city, its body made of the same streets they stood on. When it moved, buildings shifted like vertebrae.
Bakugo landed beside him, sweat cutting streaks through the dust. "That's new."
"It's me," Sozo admitted quietly. "The Dungeon's reflecting my imbalance."
Deku's voice came through the static, urgent. "Then balance it. Or it'll never stop."
Sozo nodded once. "Cover me."
---
The Balance of Two Fingers
The hydra heads fused into a single massive serpent, coiling over Sozo's shoulders. The Adravium bracelet flared white-hot, light splitting into twin threads—one of fire, one of frost.
Bakugo charged the smaller monsters to draw them off, explosions now disciplined, rhythm perfect. "Don't make me regret trusting this crazy plan!"
Deku, breath short but steady, kept the civilians moving through glowing corridors he shaped out of data. "Almost clear!"
Sozo stepped forward into the Queen Beast's shadow. The creature's roar made the air shake.
He raised his hand, both fingers of the Man-Beast form lit—the first and second. The power gathered like two tides colliding.
"Flame," he whispered. The city's heat bent toward him.
"Frost." The air cracked, white mist spilling from his feet.
"Balance."
He brought his palms together. The energies met, screamed, and then harmonized.
The Queen Beast lunged. Sozo met it with the hydra's breath—half-fire, half-ice—a perfect equilibrium. The blast carved through the city's false sky, slicing the creature in two.
It didn't scream. It sighed, dissolving into light.
And the swarm followed—every monster freezing, then collapsing into dust.
---
The Rescue
For a long moment, nothing moved but the drifting ash. The civilians flickered, fading out one by one.
Then Deku stumbled into view, human again, grinning through exhaustion. "Simulation complete," he gasped. "Civilians… all safe."
Bakugo dropped beside them, scorched and panting. "That… was insane."
Sozo exhaled slowly. "It was necessary."
He looked up at the sky—cracks sealing themselves, blue returning to calm. The Dungeon's heartbeat slowed beneath their feet.
Hydra's voice came faint, almost approving: "You've learned to make peace between destruction and protection. The world notices."
Sozo ignored the chill that ran down his spine.
---
The Quiet After
They walked through the empty city, streets reforming under their steps. The illusion's details softened until only white mist remained.
Deku brushed his hand along a fading wall. "It felt real. Like we were actually out there."
Sozo nodded. "That's the point."
Bakugo gave a rough laugh. "Guess this means I passed, huh?"
"You