A flash of light consumed the room as it was repaired. The boss's body also shattered into particles that spawned like the Milky Way galaxy, eventually forming a key that floated in the air. After this event, the group all fell to their knees, exhausted. Physically, they were fine, but mental exhaustion is a thing for a reason.
'Without OFA, I'm at a pretty big disadvantage,' Nana said as the group lay on the ground resting.
'What's OFA?' asked Izuku.
Nana froze in her exhaustion; she had spoken out loud. What should she do? Tell them about her and all the users' greatest secret, or put this off until later? Finally, she responded, 'I'll tell you guys later.' Izuku, Mordred, and Bob all nodded, but Emiya seemed to be studying her face for a second. Then he went back to watching the area for any other threats.
Nana was the first to stand; she was the least tired of the five of them. Slowly, she made her way over to the floating key, and as she drew close to the key it Sparkled three times before disappearing, and a key-shaped mark appeared on her arm. Emiya, being the most paranoid of the group, quickly got up, walked over, and checked her arm. There was nothing really different about it, other than the mark.
"Do you feel weird at all?" Emiya asked. Nana shook her head. "No, I feel fine. Basically the same as before. That was weird, though." Emiya nodded. "More than likely, we have to gather keys to get into that mansion. And based on the fact that we only ran into enemies now, the new altar might have recently realized our mission to reclaim the body."
Emiya walked toward the exit door and leaned against the wall. It was clear that he was still watching the area, but he was trying to rest too. Realizing that the rest of the group needed to continue to recharge their mental batteries, Nana decided to wake up Leonidas. Slowly, she approached his throne. It looked less like a throne for a king and more like a throne of a warlord, as it was constructed from spears, swords, and shields. Nana arrived before the sleeping king, placed a hand on his shoulder, and gently shook him awake.
"Leonidas, it's time to wake up."
At first, there was no sign of him coming to consciousness. His face was entirely shadowed under his helmet. But after a second, two white pools opened in the darkness. Then, with a dramatic leap, Leonidas landed in the center of the room and struck a dramatic pose. "King of Sparta, Leonidas, reporting for duty!" he shouted. Unknown to everyone, Leah had been waking up in the middle of the night and watching tokusatsu shows like Ultra Man and Kamen Rider. Because of this, he had developed a habit of posing and announcing his attacks. He had also figured out a way to use his quirk to create several transformations for his constructs.
And so he started posing. First was the crane pose, then the snake pose, followed by the lion pose. Then he noticed his conked-out and very tired comrades. "Oh, good heavens! My companions, my friends, what has happened to you?" Mordred responded with a grunt of annoyance. "Could you shut up? I'm trying to get some shut-eye!" she yelled. "Oh, yes, I will be quiet!" he said, looking a little sheepish.
Emiya waved at him from the door and gestured for him to come over. Leonidas obliged, and the two of them began to talk about what was happening and why they were in this strange room. Nana decided that since her companions were resting, she might as well get as much rest as she could. So she laid down next to the group, closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
Meanwhile, in the real world, not a lot of time actually passed. The mental plane ran on a completely different time dilation than the physical world. In fact, it was so different that everything experienced in the mindscape happened at a 10-to-1 ratio. Ten hours in the mindscape equaled one hour in reality.
Aizawa had reported to Nezu that he had lost the new altar. Listening to Aizawa's report, Nezu quickly notified any teachers who could and were willing to track down the Medoriya System. This group included Present Mic, Midnight, Hound Dog, and Snipe. The part-time agency was also notified and responded, saying they would come to help after wrapping up their current mission.
Aizawa didn't stop tracking the new altar after he reported in to Nezu. Currently, he was the closest and most capable of countering whatever new quirk this altar had developed. He quickly figured out that he had been tricked in the store. He didn't believe it was the employee who tricked him. More than likely, the altar had done something that led to the subconscious memory of such an event occurring. As soon as he returned to the building and asked her if she had seen someone leave after he did, she immediately responded that a silver-haired man with a silver mustache had walked out the front door, wearing a Victorian-style outfit that he had just purchased.
Eraser Head had then tracked the alter to a few alleyways that were nearly littered with thugs and criminals, all of whom had clearly been disarmed and knocked unconscious quite handily. Reporting this to Nezu, Eraser Head quickly moved on, continuing to follow the trail of unconscious bodies, hoping to confront this new headache of a Alter.
Nezu, checking the cameras in the area, watched as James Moriarty was assaulted by thugs in the alley. He then observed as Moriarty surgically dispatched his assailants. One of these criminals had the classic 'turn my hands into knives quirk. Another possessed a slight physical enhancement quirk. Finally, the last one had a undesirable mutation quirk, which made them appear very ugly but didn't provide any enhanced qualities. Usually, it only offered things like improved senses or a slight physical enhancement, but it wasn't enough to distinguish them from normal humans.
The thug after this kinda repeated themselves; there were variations in the quirks, but the majority were essentially the same, with slight tweaks. For example, one guy's hands were bats instead of knives, or the mutation quirk guy was made of stone instead of flesh. Given the number of villains in the area, it was clear that serious criminal activity was about to take place. Nezu reported this to the police network, noting that it was unnatural for so many crooks to be present in a civilian area known for shopping. Normally, these areas were heavily patrolled by heroes due to the large number of civilians, who served as an audience.
Don't get it twisted; showing off was one reason these areas were so well-monitored. However, there was another reason: the presence of heroes made civilians feel safer. The fact that there were no heroes in the area except for Eraser Head, combined with the overwhelming number of goons and small-time thugs, made Nezu suspicious.
Anyway, that wasn't Nezu's problem; his student was. Currently, his student was missing. Nezu was also very interested in this new alter based on what he had observed and Eraser Head's reports. This new alter was exceptionally intelligent—perhaps even on par with Nezu himself. Sure, Izuku was smart for a human, but he wasn't as intellectually superior as Nezu. Hopefully, Eraser Head and the rest of the heroes could catch this new threat soon.
== authors note
Yay, chapter 22 is done. I'll be honest I didn't plan for the second half taking place outside of the mindscape part of the chapter, but I think it was important to establish how time works differently in reality than it does in the mind. Also, the 10 to one time difference was kinda just Random but I think it works. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Peace.