Well, I'm back.

As for why I've been gone so long, depression and anxiety are two massive fucking bitches that I want to drop a steamroller on.

My Konosuba story will be updated next, but the next chapter of MNIS will definitely not take as long as this hiatus, for obvious reasons…..

The Berserk one-shot I've been trying to write will be put on the back burner until I finish a reread of the series. I've rewritten it a ridiculous number of times, but something about it always feels off. Maybe it's just my perfectionist nature kicking in, but I just don't feel satisfied with any draft I write. I'm going to try to reread the series and see if that helps figure out what feels so off about my drafts.

Instead, the two one-shots that I'll release soon after I update my Konosuba story will be a lengthy "Dad for One" one-shot that I originally was writing to just to get a grip on All for One as a character, or at least my version of him. A bit of forewarning, it will be a bit more on the…..disturbing side. While the idea of All for One being a great dad is cute and enjoyable, I even have some of those kinds of stories bookmarked, it really doesn't fit his character. Instead, I'll be going for a bit more of a take that better fits what we know about All for One and who I interpret him to be as a character. The other one-shot will be a very short Jojo Part 5 one-shot focusing on Giorno and his toxic relationship with his mother.

This current arc as of right now will only have 1 more chapter, and then we will be moving on to my first semi-original arc. I welcome speculation if you guys have any.

On to the chapter.


Shigaraki bowed his head to the older villain. He was careful to not lower it any further than necessary though. He didn't want to appear weak after all.

"Thank you for agreeing to this meeting, Overhaul."

One of the people at Overhaul's side, some man with arrow-shaped hair, snapped at him.

"It's Lord Overhaul to you, sc-"

Overhaul held up his hand silencing the man instantly.

After a few moments of silence, Shigaraki ended his bow and finally took his first good look at Overhaul.

The Yakuza boss was honestly rather plain looking at first glance. His clothes were rather average and seemed more like something a flamboyant businessman would wear than anything else. His height was also unnotable, with the same going for his body. With the exception of his gloves and mask, he was quite unimpressive.

When Shigaraki's gaze made its way up to Overhaul's eyes though, he had to force his body to show no signs of fear.

His eyes were so…...blank. They looked so….dead.

Shigaraki had seen many corpses in his life. Hell, considering the amount of time he spent around and All for One, it was practically an everyday occurrence. It was natural for those eyes to be on a corpse, and he had learned to get over it.

Despite his desensitization to lifeless eyes, it was unnerving to see them on a living person. It was like he was looking at a long-dead shell of a human pretending to still be alive. They were so utterly uncanny and unnerving to look at.

But he still refused to avert his gaze.

Averting his gaze would be a sign of weakness, it would show that he was scared of Overhaul. That kind of weakness would be unacceptable to display in the slightest considering the monster this man was. If he let his cool facade crack, it was likely that Overhaul would refuse his alliance and kill him.

He could not back down no matter what.

The two men stared at each other in silence for several minutes, waiting patiently for the other to avert their gaze and show weakness. Neither was willing to back down before the other.

After several more minutes had passed, Overhaul closed his lifeless eyes.

Internally, Shigaraki cackled.

It looked like he was already scoring points. Now, he just had to pick the right dialogue option to convince him into an alliance.

Overhaul, with his eyes still closed, finally spoke.

"The pleasure is all mine, Shigaraki Tomura. After all, how could I refuse the invitation to meet the legendary All for One's apprentice."

Overhaul opened his eyes and tilted his head.

"Before we begin discussing collaboration though, I would like for you to demonstrate your disea- I mean, quirk. For the sake of fairness, I'll demonstrate mine after you."

Shigaraki's eyes narrowed slightly.

"For what reason?"

Shigaraki noticed a few of Overhaul's lieutenants bristle at the disrespect, but Overhaul calmly raised his hand again to silence them.

Overhaul's face was as calm and serene as ever. He didn't seem to care at all about Shigaraki's disrespectful question.

"It is a sign of mutual trust in the criminal underworld. Letting your quirk be known to your opponent is a massive disadvantage, so if both of us show our quirks, we would both be willingly putting ourselves in worse situations."

Overhaul raised his eyebrow.

"I trust that you find my reasoning satisfactory."

Instead of responding directly to the question, Shigaraki simply removed the glove on his right hand.

"Is there anything in this room that you don't care about losing?"

Overhaul glanced over at a guard standing by the exit and pointed to him.

"That one's a spy for a rival criminal organization. I don't particularly care if he dies."

The guard's face blanched and he started to open his mouth to respond.

Shigaraki didn't even give him a chance to let a word out.

Faster than what should've been natural for someone without a speed quirk, Shigaraki flew to the exit and grabbed the guard by the neck.

Within a second the guard turned gray, formed cracks in his skin, and turned to dust.

The room was dead silent.

Shigaraki felt some amount of surprise at just how quickly the man had disintegrated. It usually took at least five seconds to fully disintegrate a man, but that guard had turned to dust in less than one. Was his quirk getting stronger?

Shigaraki straightened up and turned back to Overhaul, putting his glove back on as he did so.

He would deal with that later. Overhaul was the more pressing issue at the moment.

Of course, the aforementioned villain seemed to have no visible reaction to his insane speed or his violent murder. In fact, he looked more bored than anything.

Before he could say anything though, Overhaul removed the glove on his right hand. He set the glove down and then clasped his hands together before looking back at Shigaraki

It was at that moment that Shigaraki was struck with a realization. He didn't know what Overhaul's quirk was.

Shigaraki's mind raced trying to remember what his Sensei's files had said about it, but found that he couldn't recall a single thing about Overhaul's quirk. Did his master send him in here without all the information he needed?

Shigaraki quickly quelled that thought and admonished himself.

No, he must've just forgotten to read something. There's no way Sensei could've made such an obvious mistake.

"Now then, let's not waste any more time."

Shigaraki straightened up, removing all emotion from his face as the Yakuza leaned back in his seat.

"I have to say, I'm quite impressed with you so far. Most people crack under the pressure of facing me within only a few minutes. It's impressive that you've remained so cool and collected."

Wait, was he not going to demonstrate his quirk then? He was moving on as if he hadn't volunteered to show it off just a moment ago.

The young leader cursed to himself.

Of course, it had been a trick! How could he have been stupid enough to believe what this mutual trust bullshit this fucker had been sprouting?! Sensei would be so ashamed of him if he ever found out that he fell for such an obvious trick.

Despite his internal conflict, Shigaraki kept his face in a neutral expression and resisted the urge to start scratching his neck.

"Thank you, sir."

The Yakuza leaned back in his seat.

"What was your organization's goal again?"

Shigaraki took a deep breath to calm himself down before continuing.

"Our current plan is to kill All Might and take over society in the following chaos. We hope to reform it into something better."

Overhaul expression betrayed nothing.

"I see, and your master is really All for One, the legendary villain who could steal the quirks of others?"

Shigaraki nodded.

"Yes, sir. I can bring you to him for a meeting if you desire it."

Overhaul shook his head.

"No, that won't be necessary, or at least not at the moment. All I really need from you is a way to contact him if necessary."

Shigaraki pulled out his phone.

Overhaul cocked his head in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

Shigaraki tapped his phone screen a few more times before responding.

"I have his phone number right here. It's probably the easiest way to contact him."

The Yakuza stared at Shigaraki in stupefied silence for a moment.

"The legendary villain All for One…...has a phone number?"

Shigaraki shrugged.

"Of course, how else do you expect him to communicate with his subordinates."

"..."

For a second, Shigaraki could've sworn that he saw a vein throbbing on Overhaul's head, but it disappeared as soon as he saw it.

"...just give me the damn number."

Shigaraki recited it from his phone and one of Overhaul's lieutenants wrote it down.

Once that was done, the young leader of the League of Villains continued.

"I'm sure you'd like to work out the deal with Sensei rather than me, so I really don't know what's left for us to discuss."

Overhaul's dead eyes narrowed.

"There may be nothing that is still up to discussion, but there is one more thing I'd like for us to do."

Overhaul suddenly held out his ungloved hand.

Shigaraki gazed questioningly at the outstretched hand.

"Um, why are you holding your hand out?"

Overhaul's dead eyes continued to glare at him emotionlessly.

"I believe it's traditional for two new business partners to shake on their new deal, is it not? We'll soon be partners, so I'd like to honor that little tradition."

Shigaraki felt a pit form in his stomach but forced a smile onto his face.

This was almost certainly a trick.

"Yeah, but we don't have to. I need to go anyw-"

The Yakuza narrowed his eyes.

"I insist."

Shigaraki gulped at the sinister tone the Yakuza boss had developed.

Oh shit, he really couldn't get out of this without putting himself in more danger.

He had really screwed up, hadn't he?

"I-If you insist."

Shigaraki reached out and grasped Overhaul's ungloved hand with his gloved one.

Shigaraki heard one of Overhaul's attendants snicker as the Yakuza boss gazed at him.

For the briefest of seconds, Shigaraki swore he saw a hint of a smirk at the edges of Overhaul's mask.

The slightest bit of amusement was in the Yakuza's voice as he spoke.

"Oh, that's right. I haven't demonstrated my quirk to you, have I?"

Shigaraki felt one of Overhaul's fingers brush his exposed wrist.

"How about I give you a small demonstration?"


Izuku opened his eyes wearily.

Ughhh….was it morning alread-

…...why couldn't he feel his body?

Izuku jolted awake, taking in his surroundings in a slight panic. After a moment of looking at the vast dark expanse around him though, he relaxed.

So, he was here again.

Surrounding Izuku was the pitch-black darkness of One for All's dreamscape. Nothing of note was in sight, just like the last time he had been here.

Izuku tried to move his hands, his legs, and his torso but was disappointed to find that he still hadn't developed those in the dreamscape yet. It looked like he still needed to train One for All.

"Hey kiddo, how are you doing?"

Izuku shifted his gaze towards the familiar voice of his grandmother.

Nana looked exactly the same as when he was last here, still wearing her old hero outfit from when she was alive. She looked like the definition of power and nobility, grinning with her cape flapping in the wind behind her like some kind of comic book superhero.

Izuku paused.

Wait, this was a dream. How was there a wind to blow her cape?

Nana's radiant smile morphed into a frown upon seeing him.

"Seriously, you still haven't even mastered 5% yet?"

Nana pouted childishly.

"Damn it! Do you know how awkward it is to have a one-sided conversation?! I just want to talk to you like a normal person!"

Nana stomped her right foot like a toddler who wasn't getting her way and continued whining.

"This so stupid! I hate being here!"

Nana stomped her right foot repeatedly.

"I HATE IT! I HATE IT! I HATE IT! I HATE IT!"

Izuku would've sighed if he had the ability to.

And just like that, every bit of her regal power and nobility was gone.

Izuku suffered for several minutes as his grandmother continued throwing her childish tantrum. He began to wonder why he was even in this dreamscape if Nana was just going to act like a toddler the whole time.

As he watched her though, a nagging feeling of familiarity kept gnawing at the edge of his mind. Seriously, he could swear that he had been in this situation several times before with someone else.

After several minutes of pondering that question without being able to come up with an answer, Nana's tantrum calmed and she turned back to him.

Her cheeks flushed a dark shade of red when she saw him staring at her.

"Sorry about that, I forgot you were here…...why are you here again?"

Once again, Izuku wished he had the ability to sigh.

After a few moments of thinking, realization crossed his grandmother's face and she turned back to him.

"Oh yeah, I had something to tell you."

Nana's gaze suddenly shifted to a disapproving glare.

"You're going about using One for All wrong. You need to stop trying to force it across your body."

Izuku felt confusion fill him.

What?

Nana caught onto his confusion and elaborated.

"Your use of One for All has been very...uncomfortable to say the least. It's trying to act upon your desires, but attempting to force it into moving across your body like you've been doing to just strains it."

Izuku stared at her blankly.

What the fuck was she talking about?

Nana rubbed her head as if she was trying to soothe a headache.

"Why is this so hard to explain?"

Nana closed her eyes for a second in deep thought, before looking back up at Izuku.

"Ok, so you know how you've been trying to force One for All around your whole body to fill it all at once with its power. Blink once for yes and twice for no."

Izuku blinked once.

"Well, you need to stop doing that. One for All tries to duplicate what it's user imagines it doing with its power. The problem is that you're imagining nothing that helps it understand your desires. You're just trying to force it into spreading with no real instruction, which straight-up won't work. Are you still following me?"

Izuku blinked once.

Nana nodded.

"Good. What you need is a metaphor for the quirk to understand. It has to be something that won't cause One for All strain to perform, but will also accomplish the goal of evenly spreading it evenly throughout your body, thus enhancing everything at once."

Nana grinned.

"Which is why I have this!"

Out of nowhere, a lightswitch suddenly appeared in Nana's hand.

Where the fuck did she get that?

Nana seemed to sense his confusion.

"This is literally a dream world Izuku. I can conjure basically anything I want in here."

Nana held up the lightswitch.

"Let's get back on topic though. For a moment, close your eyes and imagine that flicking the switch is how you open different parts of your body to One for All, which will be analogous to an electrical current for the purpose of this example."

Izuku didn't understand how this was going to help, but closed his eyes and focused on the image of the switch.

"What you've been doing up to this point is flicking a light switch on and off in different parts of your body, only allowing the current to flow in that one part. This puts all of the power in your body in that one switch, straining both you and the switch. Meanwhile what you've been trying to do recently is turning on only one switch and then trying to force One for All to spread without turning any more on. One for All just stays in the same place because there's nowhere else for the current to go, accomplishing nothing."

Nana gave him a second to process her words before continuing.

"What you need to do is imagine flicking every single switch in your body at once. You can't expect the current to spread when there's nowhere else for it to go, thus you need to give it a path that it can follow through your whole body. That metaphor will help One for All fulfill what you've been trying to do for weeks. You'll find it far less strenuous and it'll be easier for the quirk to understand your thought process."

Nana was quiet for a moment.

"Do you think you can do this?"

Izuku opened his eyes and quickly blinked them once.

Nana let out a relieved sigh.

"Good, because it took me all day to think up a good metaphor."

Nana gave him a smile.

"Well, that's all I really needed to talk to you about. I guess I'll check in with how it's working next time you fall asleep."

Izuku memorized the metaphor in his head.

So that was the secret of covering his entire body with One for All? It felt...underwhelming honestly. Not just the secret itself, but the fact that he had just been...handed the answer. It felt cheap like he wasn't truly putting in the work to figure out his quirk like the other users had been forced to do.

He would've let out a sigh if he could.

It wasn't like he could just discard the information now though. He had spent too much time working on this to waste even another second more than necessary to improve himself. He guessed that he would just have to work with Nana's advice, regardless of how hollow the victory felt.

With that thought, Izuku let out an internal sigh and waited to wake up.

…...and waited.

…...and waited.

…...and waited some more.

Nana and him stared at each other awkwardly.

"...we have to actually wait for you to get up, so we're going to be here for at least a few more minutes."

Nana tapped her foot and held her chin in a thoughtful look.

"Is there anything else I need to tell you?"

Nana looked down and was quiet for a few moments.

Suddenly, she looked back up at him.

"Would you mind varying up your porn a bit more?"

Izuku's face would've blanched if he still had one.

Wait, was she implying that she saw literally everything he did? Including when he-

"I'm not really a fan of the vanilla shit you watch. It's honestly kind of boring."

…..

Izuku suddenly wished that he could die.

Nana didn't seem to notice his despair and continued on.

"I'm more into things like BDSM and overall rough sex. Vanilla stuff just doesn't do anything for me."

Izuku screamed for death internally.

"Can you change up the kind of people you watch as well? I know that you're into muscles and people who are much larger than you, but I'm more into people like my husband, short and thin. Maybe it's a power thing?"

Izuku prayed that he would wake up soon so he wouldn't have to continue listening to this. The last thing he had ever wanted to learn about was his grandmother's fetishes.

Nana's expression suddenly scrunched up.

"Now that I think about it, I wonder what the other vestiges would want to watch when they awaken. Ejiki and Joshua probably won't care, Volpe and Jason will probably be too busy wallowing in self-pity to even notice, and I'm not really sure when it comes to Daigoro and Yamato. I guess I'll just ask them when they wake up."

Izuku felt his soul die a bit more.

Great, now complete strangers would get to watch him whenever he had a date with rosy palms.

As Nana opened her mouth to continue, her form distorted for a moment before stabilizing back to normal.

Nana grimaced.

"Crap, we're out of time. You're waking up."

Nana looked back up at Izuku and gave him a small smirk.

"Good luck Izuku-"

Izuku felt his consciousness begin to be pulled away as everything went dark.

"-And next time, I hope we can talk for real."


Nighteye raised his eyebrow.

"You've already figured out how to spread your power out?"

Izuku nodded his head.

"Yeah, or at least, I think I do."

Nighteye rolled his eyes.

"And how exactly was this apparent difficulty solved over the course of one night?"

"I learned about my grandmother's fetishes."

"...excuse me, what?"

Izuku's face flushed a dark red color.

"It's a long story. I'll explain it to you when I have the time. Right now though, I want to see if I can get this technique to work."

Nighteye leaned against the wall behind him, gesturing for him to continue.

"Well don't let me stop you, go ahead and demonstrate to me that you're not as horrible of a successor as I think you are."

Izuku winced at Nighteye's comment but closed his eyes nonetheless.

Ok, he could do this. All he had to do was follow Nana's instructions.

First, he connected to One for All. As usual, the 200-year-old maelstrom of stockpiled power pulsed in his chest. Though now that he thought about it, the pulse felt almost like…..a question. It was almost as if it was asking him what he wanted it to do. Hadn't Nana referred to One for All as if it was a sentient being? What were the limits to its sentience? Was it's intelligence similar to that of a normal human being, or was it something far more primitive? Just how aware was it of the world around it? There were so many interesting ideas that suddenly filled his mind that he needed to write do-

Izuku pushed those thoughts from his mind and focused back on connecting to his power.

He could do that later. He needed to wipe that disapproving look off Nighteye's face first.

Izuku lowered the level of the power, pushing it down to a manageable five percent, before suddenly imagining a light switch in the center of his body. Focusing on the image, he imagined flicking it and was surprised to feel One for All immediately fill his core. After taking a moment to calm his excitement over this new development, he envisioned a second light switch on his left arm. Just as he did before, he imagined flicking it. To his utter delight, the same amount of power that flowed through his core flowed through his arm.

Izuku gave a small cheer internally.

Holy shit it was actually working! Take that Nighteye!

Izuku continued the process of imagining light switches on different parts of his body and flicking them for the next few minutes. Once he was finally one, he opened his eyes and was delighted to see the trademark green glow of One for All covering his entire body.

It felt so unreal! One for All was spread evenly throughout his body, being everywhere at once! He wouldn't need to waste time re-channeling his power from one part of his body to another part now! This would save him so much time in combat!

Izuku didn't even wait for Nighteye to speak, simply dashing across the room to test out his new technique. Within the blink of an eye, he reached the other end of the room.

The young teen marveled at his own speed.

He felt so much faster now! He didn't need to rechannel his power from leg to the other anymore, so he could just focus on running!

Izuku suddenly noticed the dust particles his movement had kicked up were seemingly falling in slow motion. Confused, Izuku snatched one of them with his gauntlet-covered hand, the appendage seemingly moving at normal speed.

Izuku's eyes widened and turned around towards Nighteye, watching as the man seemed to be moving slightly slower than usual.

No, it wasn't that everything was going slower, it was just that he was perceiving the world around him faster. (1)

Izuku suddenly descended to an internalized analysis.

Was he processing information faster because One for All was now channeling energy through his mind? Did this enhancement of the speed he could process information have a limit? Could he eventually become so fast that time itself would almost seem to have stopped? Would it negatively affect his mind when the strain of using One for All kicked i-

It was at that moment that Izuku noticed that he wasn't feeling any strain from using his quirk, causing him to devolve into more analysis.

So this form really did reduce stain, just as Nana had claimed. How did it do that? Was it because every part of him was enhanced now, ensuring that there were no longer any non-enhanced body parts that received forces they couldn't handle? How long could he keep up this form? Would he be able to keep this up as long as he wanted?

Izuku wanted to squeal in glee.

There were so many exciting possibilities! He needed to write them down in his notebook immediately after he was finished here!

Izuku glanced back up at Nighteye and realized that he was saying something. Though with the speed he was moving at, it was nearly impossible to understand.

Was it possible for him to just turn off his enhanced ability to process information?

Izuku mulled it over for a moment before an idea struck him. He immediately connected his mind to the power filling his body.

One for All was sentient, right? So maybe if he could convey to it that he didn't want to process information faster, it would listen to hi-

"-1 minute is far too long of a time for an ability to start working."

Izuku blinked, noticing that the world seemed to return to its normal speed.

Huh, so the quirk really did understand his desires. He really needed to test the limits of what he could ask from it in the future.

"Are you listening to me?"

Izuku gave Nighteye a sheepish smile.

"Sorry sir, it seems that I was moving so fast that I couldn't understand you very well at all. Can you repeat yourself?"

Nighteye narrowed his gaze.

"That's a pretty big weakness. What if someone is calling for help and you can't understand-"

Izuku dashed back in front of Nighteye, temporarily shocking the man into silence, causing Izuku to gain the smallest hint of a smirk.

"Already taken care of! As you can see, my senses are back at their normal speed, but my body is still powered up."

Nighteye took a moment to collect himself, before responding in his trademark neutral tone.

"That still took far too long to do. You need to be able to activate it within a single second or it will be utterly useless for hero work."

Izuku frowned.

Would it kill him to give even a small compliment?

Nighteye pointed at him.

"I want you to practice this until Noon. Get it down to five seconds or less by then or you can forget me helping you for the remainder of your internship."

Izuku grimaced at the thought of reducing his transformation time so much within only a few hours but nodded anyway.

Nighteye continued on, acting like he had not even done anything to respond.

"After that, I want you to go on patrol with Mirio. I'd say about three hours of that would be adequate."

Izuku recoiled slightly in surprise.

"Patrol? As in hero patrol? Don't I need a Provisional Licens-"

Nighteye waved off his question before he even finished saying it.

"As long as the mentor gives permission, an intern using their quirk publically is perfectly legal. Otherwise, what would be the point of these internships in the first place?"

Izuku shifted nervously.

"I don't know, doesn't it seem like a bad idea to jump straight into real-life patrols so soon?"

Nighteye shrugged.

"Experience is a better teacher than I could ever be. Either way, I'm sure you can handle it."

Nighteye turned to leave, but paused and turned back to Izuku.

"Oh, I forgot. I was going to give you a second chance today."

Izuku stared at him blankly.

"A second chance at what?"

Nighteye gave him a mockingly kind smile.

"Making me laugh obviously. Your attempt yesterday was so pathetic that I wanted to give you another shot. Everyone deserves a second chance after all."

Izuku gave him a deadpan look, not believing a word he had just said.

"You just want to see me fail at this, don't you?"

Nighteye nodded, not even trying to deny it.

Izuku rubbed his hands together.

He wanted to see him fail, huh? Luckily, he had already thought up a new joke for this very situation.

"Ok, so a man walks into a rooftop bar and takes a seat next to this guy and asks him what he's drinking. The man simply responds that it's magical beer."

Nighteye raised his eyebrow.

"Magical what?"

Izuku continued ignoring him.

"The man asks what's so magical about it. The other guys then proceeds to swig some beer, dive off the roof, and fly around the building, before returning to his seat with a triumphant smile. The man is amazed and swipes the beer out of the other guy's hands. He downs it, leaps off the roof —and plummets 15 stories to the ground. And you want to know what the bartender said as he watched the man jump off the roof?"

Nighteye's deadpan expression remained.

"Not really."

Izuku snapped his fingers and pointed at him

"You know, you're a real jerk when you're drunk, Superman."

"..."

"..."

Nighteye cocked his head.

"What the fuck is a Superman?"

It took Izuku a moment to formulate a response.

"Have you ever read a comic book?"

Nighteye looked even more confused now.

"What the fuck is a comic book?"

"..."

Izuku turned around.

"I'm going to start training One for All now."

Nighteye opened his mouth to speak, but Izuku cut him off.

"Please, just leave."

Nighteye, still rather confused, shrugged his shoulders and walked out of the room deciding to look up whatever this 'Superman' was later.


Nana smiled nostalgically as she watched her grandchild repeatedly turned the power of One for All off and on, attempting to get a better grip on its immeasurable power.

This brought back so many memories. It felt like just yesterday she was teaching little Toshi how to do the same thing.

Nana let out a wistful sigh.

If only she and little Toshi could work together one more time. She didn't have much at the moment, but she would give almost anything to enjoy just one more day of hero work alongside her student.

Nana was so deep in her daydream, that she didn't even notice as another presence appeared at her side.

"Are the others awake yet?"

Nana glanced lazily to the fragile-looking man beside her.

"I'm glad to see you're awake too, Ejiki."

The white-haired, thin man beside her rolled his eyes.

"Just answer yes or no Nana."

Nana shook her head.

"Nah, it's just me and you for now. We'll probably have to wait quite a bit longer before the others wake up."

Ejiki considered her response for a moment.

"Has my brother made a move yet?"

Nana's face darkened and she nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah, one of his goons, some guy named Dabi, killed a lot of people just a few days ago. Not as many as Volpe-"

Ejiki cringed upon hearing the name.

"-did back in the day, but still quite a significant amount."

Ejiki was silent for another few seconds as he considered Nana's words.

"What do you think of One for All's new user?"

Nana smirked.

"I think my grandson is doing a great job personally, especially now that he's finally starting to learn how to use it to an adequate degree."

Ejiki raised an eyebrow.

"So our current user's your grandson, huh? I would've thought that little Yagi would avoid your family like the plague after your brutal death."

Nana stared through Yagi's eyes at the mutilated corpse in front of him.

A shiver would've run down her spine if she still had one.

Was that….her?

Nana forced herself out of her memories and back to reality.

"I would've thought so to, but apparently, he decided that this was the best course of action. Hopefully, that means he got over my death."

Ejiki looked doubtful but nodded anyway.

"Whatever you say."

Ejiki seemed to stare into the darkness for a moment before speaking up once again.

"Anything else I need to know about?"

Nana's eyes darkened into a hateful rage.

"Your fuckshit of a brother is using my other grandchild as a successor."

Ejiki whirled around to face her.

"Successor?!"

Nana ignored her fellow vestige and continued her rant.

"It wasn't enough for him to kill me-"

Nana watched through Toshi's eyes as the footage showed her last moments.

She had put up a valiant effort, probably the best out of any previous user, but in the end, she hadn't stood a chance. All for One was simply too powerful for her to beat alone.

All it took was one wrong move for the monster to rip her arm off.

"-my mentor-"

16-year-old Nana Shimura dashed into the closet and did her best to remain silent as she listened to the sound of Yamato and All for One clashing outside.

Nana trembled.

Sensei could do it, right? He always seemed so invincible. There was no way that he could lose, right?

Suddenly the sound of conflict stopped, and the house became dead silent.

She hoped desperately that she would hear the call of her master, that he would tell her to come out, that he was ok.

No such sound ever came.

Nana cried quietly in the closet for hours, too scared to leave it.

"-my friends-"

Nana hyperventilated as she looked at the blood-covered room in front of her.

The young hero distantly noticed her husband vomiting behind her out of sheer disgust, but was unable to say anything.

She shivered and curled up into a ball, closing her eyes due to being unable to look at the room any longer. She whimpered in grief and fear.

Why? Why did this keep happening to her? Why did she accept this accursed quirk?

"-and-"

Nana's voice cracked slightly.

"-my husband."

Nana sobbed in Sorahiko's arms as she stood in front of her husband's tombstone.

There hadn't been enough of him left to bury, so the coffin was empty with the exception of his-

Nana resisted the urge to vomit.

No, she couldn't think about it! She needed to stop thinking about it!

Despite her best efforts, the image of his severed (No don't think about it!) with nothing but a simple note attached to the front of it shot through her mind.

The note, written in black ink had said only one thing.

'Fighting your husband was quite…...stimulating. You picked a great man to father your children. Hopefully, you'll end up being as satisfying to kill as him and all the users who came before you.'

"He had to go and make my family suffer even more."

Nana clenched her fist.

"I want to murder that bastard so bad. I may not have a physical body anymore, but I want to make that bastard pay."

Ejiki snorted.

"I'm sorry to tell you this Nana, but we're dead. We can't do anything but support your grandson and hope for him to miraculously kick the bucket."

Nana grew visibly more agitated.

"Yeah, you're right. It's really all we can do. I still want to do something though!"

Nana slammed her fist into the dark ground of the astral landscape, tears forming in her eyes.

"I feel so helpless! I can't do anything but fucking watch as that evil bastard makes more people suffer!"

Nana let out a scream of frustration.

"Why am I stuck here?! Why am I doomed to just sit here and watch as Toshi and Izuku watch the world go to shit?! Why did I accept this accursed quirk?!"

Tears streamed down her face as she began to sob.

"Why…."

Ejiki averted his gaze, unable to look at her. He stood there in silence, trying to formulate a response.

"If it's any consolation Nana, I do truly apologize that you get trapped in this mess. If I could help you, I truly would."

Ejiki's voice was quiet, barely being audible.

"I want to do nothing more than rid the world of my brother. That bastard has made too many people suffer to ever be redeemed. His death is all I've wanted for the centuries I've spent trapped here. Unfortunately though…"

Ejiki stared out into the darkness of the dreamscape….the prison both of them were doomed to be trapped in until One for All died with a user.

"...that's never going to happen. We're both trapped here and we'll never be able to assist anyone directly. The sooner you accept that the sooner you can focus on helping our current user. We need to leave the work to the living, no matter how painful that is."

The exhausted expression that formed on the seemingly young man's face betrayed just how old he truly was.

"All we can do is wait."

Nana deflated, the anger she had been feeling leaving her at Ejiki's words. Bitterness filled her voice as she finally responded to her senior vestige.

"Yeah, all we can do is wait."


"Come on, hurry up Midoriya! I'm not just going to sit around and wait for you!"

Izuku increased his pace behind Mirio, doing his best to keep up with his energetic supervisor.

"Why not? We have so much time-."

Mirio ignored him and turned the corner, still going far faster than what was reasonable.

He really wasn't going to slow down, was he?

Izuku smirked.

Well fine, two can play that game.

Izuku paused, flicking his imaginary switches over the span of four seconds to activate One for All over his entire body.

Izuku felt a smirk cross his face as he looked at the slightly slowed down world around him.

Running forward as fast as he could, being careful to avoid crashing into anyone, he quickly caught up to Mirio. Just as he was about to deactivate his quirk, however, he suddenly noticed that Mirio looked really good in slightly slower motion. At his current speed, he could watch every last muscle ripple with power in unbelievable detail as the blonde boy ran forward.

Izuku held his chin in his hand.

Maybe he could keep this going a little longer?

The teenager immediately deactivated One for All at that thought. Mirio glanced to his side in surprise, shocked that Izuku had so easily caught up to him while Izuku's face burned in shame.

No, he really shouldn't do that. All Might trusted him to be responsible with One for All, and he shouldn't abuse his power for his own…..gratification. Besides, he felt like kind of a voyeuristic creep watching Mirio at that speed.

Thankfully, Mirio didn't seem to notice his shame and started blabbering in excitement.

"Holy crap! I almost didn't notice you catching up with me! Your quirk is really something else, isn't it?"

Izuku glanced away in embarrassment at the compliment.

"Thanks….."

Luckily for Izuku, Mirio did not have a chance to respond to his mumbled reply, as the two of them slowed down to a stop outside a food stand.

It was a dingy little thing, devoid of customers. There were a few tables and chairs scattered out in front of it to sit on while you were eating. It was honestly an easy to overlook place.

If it wasn't currently being robbed of course.

A man surrounded by a group of other people slammed his fist against the front of the stand.

"Just give us the money old timer, and I won't have to tear your heart out!"

Izuku could see an old man cowering behind the stand, clearly shaking in fear.

"I-I can't pa-pay for this m-month."

The man standing at the front of the group smiled menacingly.

"Well that's not our problem, now is it?"

Mirio groaned beside Izuku.

"Ugh, why does something like this always happen to me? I was just hoping we could grab something to eat before patrol, and of course, we have to walk up to the stand in the middle of a robbery."

Izuku moved into an offensive stance, already powering up One for All.

"You go for the five on the left, I'll go for the-"

"-absolutely nothing."

Izuku paused at Mirio's response and glanced at him questioningly.

"Huh?"

Mirio waved off his confusion.

"I can handle this on my own. I don't want you to interfere unless it's necessary. No matter what Sir thinks, this whole internship is only supposed to be training. Just give me a few minutes to handle this and we can get lunch elsewhere."

Before Izuku could respond, Mirio simply walked forwards to the villain threatening the shop owner.

The villain, hearing his approach, turned to face Mirio with a look of annoyance.

"What do you want, kid? Can't you see we're in the middle of something here?"

Mirio smiled at them as brightly as he could.

"Well sir, I would like to politely request that you stop trying to extort this kind, old man. If you don't stop, I will be forced to beat you into the ground and hand you over to the proper authorities."

The group of thugs gazed at him for a moment in surprise before bursting out into fits of cacophonous laughter.

The man who seemed to be the leader of the group recovered first.

"Look at this kid boys! He thinks he's All Might or something!"

The villain moved closer to Mirio and stared directly into his eyes.

"Look kid, I'm not sure if you can count, but there's seven of us and only one of you. I'm no math genius, but I'm pretty sure that means you're outnumbered."

Mirio maintained his bright smile as he responded.

"So is that a no then?"

The thug laughed.

"Of course it is you little punk."

Mirio shrugged, still refusing to let his smile drop even for a moment.

"Okay, just remember that I warned you!"

Mirio immediately smashed his fist into the underside of the thug's jaw, instantly knocking him unconscious.

The other six thugs froze for a few seconds before the one on the left jumped in and tried to take down Mirio, a blade made out of bone emerging from his arm.

Of course, when he tried to wipe the boy's head though, his blade simply passed through him and he was taken out with another swift punch to the jaw.

The fall of their two comrades sprung the other five villains into action, all of them rushing Mirio at once, to little success.

Izuku watched in stunned awe as Mirio gracefully dueled the villains in front of him.

He was so amazing! He was so inspiring! He was so so-

Izuku's face fell.

-utterly unlike him…..

Izuku watched as Mirio gracefully phased through two of the villains before taking them down in a single movement.

His quirk, it was so…...amazing. It was so…..powerful. It was so…

His mom screeched in pain as he squeezed her hand out of fear.

...so…

Izuku grasped the Slime Villain's eyeball, causing it to screech out of pure pain as it disintegrated.

…so...

Kaachan knocked him off his feet, lashing out in fear.

"Get away from me you villain."

….heroic.

Izuku stared down at the gauntlet covering his hand, suddenly feeling very acutely aware that it was the only thing keeping him from accidentally killing someone.

No quirk was inherently evil. That had been a childish mindset for him to possess in the first place and he was glad that he had gotten rid of it. It had limited his development and made him weaker.

Izuku activated his gauntlet, allowing all his fingers to be free. Hesitantly, he picked up a nearby pebble and watched it disintegrate as he lay all five fingers on it.

Even if no quirk was inherently evil thought, that didn't change the fact that some were far more suited for destruction than others. His quirk was a perfect example of this. It's only real use in average hero work was disintegrating rubble to get to survivors. It was simply too dangerous to even attempt using in most other situations.

Izuku reactivated his gauntlet watching as the metal once again covered his pointer and ring fingers.

That wasn't even mentioning how badly it interacted with One for All. He had figured out a few combination attacks for the two quirks, but the majority of the time, his quirks actively conflicted with each other. 'Decay' forced him to constantly pull his punches and be careful with his gauntlet, so he wouldn't accidentally obliterate the one thing stopping him from being an instinctual high-five away from turning someone to dust. 'Decay' was not a very flexible quirk since its only purpose was to destroy.

Izuku's frown grew deeper.

Mirio's quirk, on the other hand, was far more flexible. It was good at rescue work, spying, and especially combat. Hell, he would go as far as to say that Mirio's quirks were one of the best for combat that he had ever seen. He was already nigh-invincible without One for All, and he would've been unstoppable with it.

Izuku started grinding his teeth.

That wasn't even mentioning the other differences between the two of them. Everything he wished he could be, Mirio was. Mirio was tall and he was short. Mirio's appearance was powerful and inviting while his own was weak and off-putting. Mirio's smile made people feel safe while his own smile made people shiver in fear. Mirio was like a miniature All Might, while the only person his appearance reminded people of was an S-Class villain. Mirio was a much better successor in every way.

Izuku started shifting in place uncomfortably.

So why did All Might trust him with One for All?!

Izuku's emotions became too much to bear and he suddenly started roughly scratching the dry skin on his neck.

Mirio had definitely been a possibility, Nighteye had said it himself. He couldn't imagine any world where someone would logically pick him over Mirio as One for All's ninth holder. He was perfect in every single way.

Flakes of skin littered the ground around him as he scratched harder.

So why wasn't Mirio the one picked?!

Izuku glanced back to the fight and watched as he utterly dominated the one villain remaining.

Hell, it didn't even need to be Mirio! People like Shoto and Uraraka were far better picks! Hell, why not give it to someone more experienced in the hero business! While he didn't know much about Hawks personally, he seemed like a pick just as good as Mirio! There were so many better options!

Izuku ignored the blood that started to ooze from his re-opened scars.

So why him?! What was so special about him?! He couldn't even figure out how to use One for All effectively until today, and even then, he had been all but handed the answer! Did even deserve this quirk?! Did All Might make the right deci-

"Midoriya?"

Izuku glanced up to see Mirio observing him with a look of concern.

With blinding speed, Izuku wiped away the blood on his neck with his gauntlet. He then quickly straightened himself to look as normal as possible.

"Oh uh, hey Mirio. Are you done already?"

Mirio frowned as he noticed the blood dripping from the end of his gauntlet.

"Why are you bleeding?

Izuku smiled nervously.

"Blood, what blood? I'm perfectly fine."

He had really messed up, hadn't he? Of course, his stupid habit had to pop back up at the worst possible time. Mirio must think he was suicidal or something.

Mirio looked very pointedly at his neck, which Izuku just now noticed was still dripping blood.

Izuku sighed.

"I swear, it's not what you think."

Mirio remained silent, continuing to look at him expectantly with a patient expression. Somehow, it felt worse than if he had just been angry.

Izuku averted his eyes, looking down at the ground.

"It's a habit I used to have when I was younger. Whenever I got stressed out or upset, my neck would itch like hell. When I got too bad, I would just scratch and claw at my neck until I felt better. The pain calms me down somewhat and clears up my mind."

Mirio's frown deepened.

"You do know that's not healthy, right?"

Izuku resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"My parents told me the same thing. I thought that I had gotten rid of the habit….but that itch had been popping up very frequently recently. Sometimes I just find myself doing it without even thinking."

Mirio mulled his words over for a moment before responding.

"I'm going to have to tell Sir Nighteye about this. This isn't a healthy thing to do to your body and you need some help if it's bothering you again."

Izuku nodded his head reluctantly, not willing to debate Mirio over how he didn't need help.

Just as he thought this awkward conversation would end, however, Mirio hesitantly continued.

"Are you sure that's all? You don't look so great."

Izuku continued to avoid meeting Mirio's gaze, silently clenching his fists as hard as he could.

"Yes, I'm fine."

Izuku was so caught up in his emotions, that he didn't notice as a small amount of dust fell from the edges of his gauntlet.

"I'm perfectly fine."


Ujiko hummed to himself quietly as he quietly worked on his Nomu's programming.

The mad scientist was in quite a jovial mood. After all, it's not every day that he got to update his grandson's programming.

Ujiko spun around in his chair to admire his works of art.

On the right was MH4, a black, faceless, mid-end Nomu that was nearly the size of VAL-1DUS.

Ujiko felt a small frown drift across his face at the thought of poor VAL-1DUS.

Stupid Shigaraki! How could that monster let his precious VAL-1DUS get captured?! Master was still trying to get him out!

Letting go of his rage for a moment, he turned to the next Nomu, P8N. It's pale greyish-white skin indicated it's status as a low-end Nomu. The only notable thing that distinguished this one from your average low-end was the four eyes staring out from it's exposed brain.

Ujiko barely gave it notice as he moved on to his favorite creation. P8N was barely worth the effort of programming, much less being anything other than cannon fodder.

As his eyes moved to the final Nomu, however, he felt his eyes soften with pride and joy.

This Nomu was notably different from the other two. While it's pale-yellow skin revealed it's status as a low-end Nomu, it's design was far more striking than the other two Nomus in the room. Its mouth was covered by a mask that was quite similar to that of a gas mask and massive wings sprouted out of it's back. What was most interesting, however, was its eyes.

Ujiko rolled his chair over to it and stroked it's leathery skin, smiling as the winged-Nomu's gaze followed his movement.

His grandson's eyes seemed to at least follow everything around him. It was so incredible! No other Nomus eyes moved in the slightest without being ordered, yet little Tsubasa's did so even while in standby mode. Not even his high-end Nomus had gotten to that level yet, here his grandson was breaking every rule he thought he knew about his creations.

Ujiko spun back around in his chair and typed in the finishing touches on his code before pressing the upload button.

He turned around and watched as the 3 Nomus behind him jerked upwards as the code flowed into their mostly non-functional brains.

Ujiko got out of his chair and stretched his short limbs.

Re-programming the Nomu was exhausting, but it was a job that he needed to do. He couldn't pass off this kind of work to his beloved Master after all, or worse Kurogiri.

Ujiko frowned at the thought of his ally.

The truth was that he just didn't really trust Kurogiri. That black mist-covered freak very clearly hated their Master and didn't even try to hide it. Every time the three of them talked, Kurogiri's body language all but screamed how much he wanted to kill Master.

Ujiko's frown turned into a scowl.

Sure Kurogiri was incredibly useful, but surely it would just be simpler to take his quirk and give it to someone more loyal. He could not understand why Master was so happy about keeping the freak around! It was so frustrating!

Ujiko rolled his eyes.

And don't even get him started on Shigaraki! That little brat was so unworthy of being his master's successor! He was so incompetent that he couldn't kill a weakened All Might with the help of a mid-end Nomu, several thugs, and Kurogiri of all people! Kurogiri alone would be a moderate threat to All Might, and yet he still managed to fail somehow!

Ujiko grit his teeth.

The worst part was that Master was planning to give Shigaraki his quirk. What kind of crap was that?! Why couldn't Master see how horrible of an idea that was?! It was like giving a baby a nuclear bomb!

Ujiko trembled in anger for a moment more before he finally took a deep breath to calm down.

But it didn't matter too much. He would convince Master to get rid of both of them soon enough. Master was a reasonable person after all, and it was unreasonable to keep those two around!

Ujiko suddenly started chuckling lightly.

By the time those two were dealt with, he would hopefully find someone who could reverse his master's damage. After all, the quirk singularity basically guaranteed something would emerge eventually.

Ujiko chuckle turned into a demented laugh.

And once that was done…..

Ujiko's insane cackle grew louder.

…..he and Master would rule over this entire world!

"DOWNLOAD COMPLETE. WARNING, NOMUS TSU-8ASA, P8N, AND MH4 HAVE HAD THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMMING SHUT DOWN IN THIS NEW UPDATE: 'MENTAL REPRESSION', 'SHIGARAKI PROTOCOL', AND 'ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE'"

Ujiko whirled around.

"WHAT?!"

The mad doctor quickly slammed his password into his computer as quickly as possible.

As soon as it finally turned on, he quickly scanned down his programming to try and find the issue.

"Come on…..where is it….."

Ujiko's eyes suddenly landed upon a loop function that appeared to be missing a bracket.

"THER-"

Ujiko felt a hand grab the back of his head and lift him into the air.

The mad doctor struggled as he was slowly turned around by the Nomu behind him.

He felt his breathing quicken as locked eyes with his grandson, wires still attached to his brain.

Ujiko chuckled nervously.

"Now TSU-8ASA, you need to put your master down. I know you must be very confused right now, but I promise that this is all just a big misunderstandi-"

Ujiko had no time to react as his grandson slammed his head into the computer behind him, shattering it into pieces and knocking him into unconsciousness.


Toga stared at the table in front of her with apprehension.

Upon the table was a bowl full of what appeared to be blue marbles. They were almost impossibly smooth, shining in the sunlight with an unnatural brightness. Next to the bowl lay a glass of water, which had been placed there rather recently considering the ice within it had not melted. Beside the glass was a small note with one simple sentence on it.

"Please swallow one of these before entering."

Toga frowned as she stated the words to herself out loud.

She glanced at the ajar warehouse door in front of her consideringly.

The marbles were almost certainly a trap. If she swallowed one, she'd almost certainly be at Compress's mercy. That would be especially bad for her if their negotiation went south.

Toga took a step towards the doors.

Maybe she could just-

She paused for a moment and shook her head.

No, he was almost certainly watching her. If she didn't swallow one of these things, there was a good chance he would just leave. With such a bad first impression, Toga doubted the man would agree to another meeting.

Toga looked back down at the bowl of marbles before looking back at the door. She repeated this a few times looking slightly more desperate each time she did.

Toga pulled at the neck of the sailor outfit she was wearing anxiously.

"I'm starting to have second thoughts about this Twice. Maybe we should report back to Shigi or Kuro before we attempt this."

Twice's voice blared to life in the communicator within her ear.

"We can't do this Toga! Shigaraki will be so upset with us when we convince Compress to join the League all on our own!"

It took Toga a moment to decode Twice's contradictory speak.

"He probably will be if we succeed, but…..what if we fail? We're not exactly the most persuasive people and….I don't want Shigi or Kuro to get mad at us."

Twice went silent for a moment.

"That won't happen."

Toga let out a small growl.

"But what if it does?! I'm not exactly the most convincing gal, you know?!"

Twice continued to insist on his point.

"We won't fail!"

Toga started to raise her voice.

"Think about this Twice! I'm not sure we can do this!"

Twice responded almost immediately.

"We can-"

Toga cut him off.

"I don't think we can do this! We're not charismatic like Shigi or Kuro! We're going to fail if we try this!"

Twice's voice sounded incredibly frustrated.

"We're not going to fai-"

Toga finally snapped and screamed into her earpiece.

"SHUT UP TWICE! HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT WE CAN AND CAN'T DO YOU MENTALLY DEFICIENT CLOWN?!"

Twice didn't respond. After Twice was quiet for just a bit too long, Toga finally spoke up once again, feeling that she may have been a bit too harsh.

"Twice?"

"I just want Shigaraki to be proud of me."

Toga felt some amount of surprise at Twice's words.

"Wha-"

"I just want Shigaraki to be proud of me."

Toga felt a small bit of guilt fill her.

"Look Twice-"

Twice cut her off.

"All my life I haven't been able to do anything right. I've done nothing but fail, and fail, and fail again. Do you know why I became a villain Toga?"

Twice didn't give her a chance to respond.

"It's because I'm a failure. Everything I've ever done has ended in me failing. I've failed my parents, society, and even myself. I let myself get consumed in my own despair and desperation for a friend, and because of that...I don't even know if I'm the real me."

"Twice…"

Toga was ignored as Twice continued ranting.

"When you wake up in the morning, you can wake up assured that you're the only you. When I wake up, I don't have that luxury. There might still be clones of me out there, or I may even just be a clone myself. I'm so afraid that one day I'm going to get myself hurt and turn to a puddle of goo on the ground, or I'll walk outside and find another version of myself staring back at me. I'm not special, there could be several of me out there besides myself."

Twice's voice started to crack.

"You're sure the only you is you, I'm never sure that the only me is me."

Toga spoke up.

"Twice-"

Twice once again cut her off.

"Which is why I can't fail him."

Toga hesitated before responding.

"Fail who?"

Twice's voice seemed to tremble as he talked.

"Shigaraki."

Twice's voice suddenly sounded so full of admiration.

"He makes me feel like I'm actually special. He's there for Dabi, you, and I all the time and treats me so kindly despite how much of a failure I am. He goes out of his way to make me feel better and help me when I can't help myself."

Twice sounded so much happier all of the sudden.

"When I'm around him, it makes me feel like I don't care if the only me is me anymore because I'm the only me that matters to him."

"...that's pretty gay Twice"

Twice sputtered.

"No, I didn't mean it like that! I uh-"

Toga snickered.

"Relax, I'm just messing with you. Besides, I wouldn't blame you even if you did feel that way. Shigaraki is a pretty phenomenal guy. He makes me want to become him every time he's around. So…..I guess I understand where you're coming from."

The two were awkwardly silent for a few moments.

"I'm sorry for being a jerk Twice. I got a bit madder at you then I should have."

Twice's voice crackled to life over the earpiece.

"I'm sorry too."

Twice hesitated for a moment before continuing.

"You know, if you really don't think we can do this, we can just go back and inform Shigaraki."

Toga had a knowing smile on her face as she put the marble in her mouth and used the water to wash it down. She shivered slightly as it slowly and painfully went down her throat.

"What did you say? I was focused on swallowing one of the marbles."

"..."

Toga let a small smile cross her face and moved her hand to her communicator.

"Well this conversation has been fun, but I need to go ahead and meet this guy. See you afterward if I'm not dead!"

"Toga w-"

Toga tapped on the communicator in her ear. After standing in a place for a moment and taking a deep breath, Toga let a nightmarish slasher smile cross her face, as she pushed open the abandoned warehouse door.

The first thing she noticed as she walked in was just how empty the warehouse was. With the exception of several piles of rubble and some miscellaneous magic trick supplies, it was completely devoid of life, or at least, it appeared to be. Mr. Compress himself was nowhere to be seen.

Toga smiled ferally.

Oh, so he wanted to play this game, huh?

Toga let herself slink into the shadows quietly, disappearing almost entirely from view.

She had heard that this Compress guy was something of a showboat, but seriously, she couldn't believe that finding him would be the first test. There was almost no way that this test could be stacked even more in her favor!

Toga dashed through the warehouse with almost inaudible footsteps. She took care to make sure that she was never visible from any specific angle for more than a few seconds.

After only a few minutes, Toga found one pile of rubble that was different from the others. While every other pile was covered in a line of dust, clearly having been untouched for some time, this one lacked the fine layer of it that the others had.

Toga looked at the pile with her toothy slasher smile.

"Found you!"

Toga whipped out her knife and threw it at a nearby pile of rubble. As it flew through the air, however, a figure emerged from beneath the rubble and quickly avoided her attack.

Toga blinked.

Wow, that outfit was…..interesting.

The man had on a bright yellow overcoat, that was overall just unappealing to look at. A top hat rested on his head, looking horrendously tacky with the feather sticking out the side. His mask was white with an interesting black design covering it. To top off his awful fashion sense, he held a white cane that made him look like something out of a two-hundred-year-old movie.

The man tilted his head.

"Nice job figuring out the trick. Though I do have to ask, how did you figure me out?"

Toga smirked.

"You're a magician, right? The trick with most magic is just misdirection, so you probably weren't going to be in the most obvious place."

Mr. Compress nodded, holding the bottom of his mask thoughtfully.

"That is true, but how did you know the exact pile I was hiding under?"

Toga gave him a small shrug.

"I guessed."

Compress stared at her for a minute.

"..."

Toga walked up to him and poked his mask.

"Are you okay?"

Compress remained silent for a moment more before turning around and walking towards a corner of the warehouse.

Toga froze in fear.

Crap did she mess up?

To her relief, all Compress did was pick up a blue marble hidden in the corner, which looked identical to the one she had eaten earlier, and turned back around to face her.

"Well, are we going?"

Toga felt confusion at his statement.

"Going where?"

Toga got the feeling the Compress was rolling his eyes under his mask.

"To meet your leader of course! You're not the Shigaraki Tomura I've heard so much about and I would very much like to know the commander of my new organization."

It was Toga's turn to be stupefied.

"...what?"

Toga got the distinct impression that Compress was rolling his eyes once again.

"I was already planning to join the League. Dabi, Shigaraki, and Kurogiri are some of the most infamous of all S-class villains, they would likely kill me if I refused. I just wanted to mess around with the person who came to recruit me. I'm through with my fun, so I'd like to go ahead and get going before night time."

Toga's stupefied look slowly morphed into a horrifying smile. Before Compress even realized it she jumped at him.

The larger villain took a step back.

"Wh-"

Toga wrapped her arms around him, and with unnatural strength for a girl of her size, she lifted him into the air with a bone-crushing hug.

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!"

Compress let out a wheeze.

"I...can't….breathe…"

Toga dropped the man to the ground before dancing around maniacally.

She'd actually done it! She had actually recruited a member without anyone but Twice's help! Shigaraki would be so proud of her and Twice!

Toga let out a squee of happiness and her eyes seemed to sparkle.

Maybe she would even get some of his blood for doing a good job! She couldn't wait to taste more of it if that was the case!

Her smirk reached seemingly impossible proportions as she thought back to the small taste of Shigaraki's blood back when he had to calm her after a nightmare. It had been so tasty.

She let out a small squeal as a thought came to her.

Maybe she could even get some of the Izuku boy's blood as a reward too when they inevitably captured him if she played her cards right.

That's it! She was asking for Shigaraki's blood and permission to take some from that Izuku boy as soon as they got back! She deserved a true reward!

Compress stared at the insane girl dancing around in front of him.

"...please let her be an exception and not the rule."


Hisashi surveyed himself once again to make sure he was fully prepared.

First, he drifted his hand over the dose of Trigger he always kept hidden away for emergencies. He doubted that he would need it, but it was always good to have a back-up plan.

Next, Hisashi messed around with his mask, making sure it fully covered everything but his mouth. His fire breath was his most important weapon after all, and he couldn't afford to limit himself no matter how much easier it would make hiding his identity.

Thirdly, Hisashi took a quick breath in and let out a small plume of fire. His quirk appeared to be working fine, with nothing being out of the ordinary.

Finally, the pyromancer lifted the small dart gun strapped to his side and inspected it for any damage. He frowned as he took a look at the small object, still feeling uncomfortable with his boss's idea.

The gun was loaded with a single experimental dart that would force miniature explosives into the victim that would execute them under specific conditions such as disobeying orders or the death of their handlers. It was designed by his boss to force captured villains to listen to his boss's commands without the lengthy and messy process of…...reconditioning. If it worked well enough, then they would be able to simply incorporate villains into their organization upon capture with minimal effort. It was very time-efficient and ensured that they could put captured threats to use immediately.

Hisashi carefully holstered the gun, still frowning in discomfort.

Still, he wasn't quite as comfortable with this as he would've liked to admit. Capturing villains wasn't normally his job. It was one of the aspects of his career that he preferred to not think about, even if he had done it before. Was it really right of him to steal another man's free will-

Hisashi grunted and shook his head, banishing the thought from his head.

No, Stain had lost the right to choose what he wanted when he started murdering random heroes just trying to do their jobs. He had taken far more from others than their free will by killing them, so what was so wrong with taking something from him? He was a sociopath that needed to be stopped-

Hisashi took a deep breath and finally left his room.

And he was the person who needed to do it.

"Are you going somewhere oh sweet husband of mine?"

Hisashi froze as he heard his wife's voice. Slowly he turned to his left in order to face her, a slightly anxious expression on his face.

The fire-breather let out a nervous chuckle.

"Hey honey, how are you doing?"

Inko rolled her eyes.

"Cut the crap Hisashi, where are you going and who are you killing this time?"

Hisashi played around with his thumbs, doing his best to avoid meeting Inko's eyes.

"Nowhere and nobody?"

Inko's death glare caused him to wilt under her gaze.

"I, uh-"

Inko let out a small sigh and put her hand comfortingly on her husband's shoulder.

"Hisashi, I just want to make sure you're going to be alright. You're always disappearing off to go do something for Jaldabaoth, and I just want to know what you're doing. I'm your wife, it's natural that I'm going to get worried about you."

Hisashi felt shame fill his body.

"I'm sorry."

Inko let out another exasperated sigh.

"I don't want an apology Hisashi, I just want you to tell me these things. It's worrying when you randomly disappear for the night on your boss's orders. If even a little bit, knowing where and what you're doing calms me down. I don't need all the details, just a where and what."

Inko gave him a smile that seemed to light up the hallway they were in.

"You're my husband Hisashi, and even if I can't make sure you're safe, I want to make sure that I at least know what you're doing."

Inko's smile grew slightly darker for a moment.

"Besides, if you die, I need to know who I have to kill."

The two of them were silent for a moment before they both burst out into a fit of giggles.

Hisashi wrapped his arm around his wife and pulled her into a hug, which she quickly reciprocated. The two of them stood in silence, content with just holding onto one another.

"I'm sorry for trying to avoid telling you anything. That was kind of a dick move on my part. I'll try and tell you where I'm going from now on."

Inko nuzzled her head against her husband's chest.

"It's fine, honey. Besides, you can make it up to me after you're done tonight."

Hisashi gave her a quizzical look.

"What do you mean?"

Inko smiled up at him.

"I want another child."

"..."

"..."

After spending several seconds trying to process Inko's words, Hisashi finally responded.

"Aren't we a bit old to-"

"Hisashi, please refrain from acting like quirks that enhance fertility don't exist. Besides, we're not that old yet. Your own mother had you at 45."

Hisashi hesitated.

"I don't know…"

Inko shrugged.

"Now is the perfect time. There's no one around to interrupt us! Really the only thing we have to worry about is Izuku coming home early."

Hisashi waved off her concern.

"Nah, I already set my phone to instantly alert me when his tracking device comes within 100 feet of the house."

Hisashi's face blanched.

"..."

"..."

"...did you install a tracking device in our son?"

Hisashi glanced down at his watch.

"Oh look at the time, I need to get going!"

"Wait no, we're not finished-"

Hisashi jumped out a nearby open window without saying another word.

Inko stared at the place where her husband had just been standing.

"...I love that man."


TSU-8ASA did not understand anything.

It screamed in confusion as it flapped wildly about the city it had found itself in.

Panic was the only thing the Nomu felt. It didn't think thoughts, it just felt emotions. All it knew was that it was confused, scared, and had no idea what to do.

TSU-8ASA watched as his two brethren beneath him screamed their frustrated confusion, slamming their fists into everything around them. The small Nomu tried to respond to calm them but found that he could not due to the thing that was covering its mouth. TSU-8ASA picked at it in frustration.

It felt rage at the thing covering its mouth. It wanted to scream like it's brethren, but this thing prevented it. Why was this attached to him?

TSU-8ASA growled in frustration before flying down to the ground and perching down on a light pole near his two brethren.

They both turned to look at him, screaming shrill sounds of sorrow and confusion.

TSU-8ASA looked down sadly.

He had been attempting to find help for almost an hour, but no matter what he did, everyone either ran away or tried to attack him. It didn't help that these two were destroying everything around them in their confusion, causing even more people to run away from him as soon as they saw him. His brethren also kept attracting people with various quirks who attacked them with relentless fervor. He had stayed out of the fighting but…

Tsubasa looked at the blood covering his brethren's fists.

…...it was obvious that they weren't avoiding anything.

TSU-8ASA once again tried to communicate with his brethren, waving his wings and arms around wildly. Much to his frustration, however, his two brothers didn't seem to understand anything he was trying to communicate.

Frustrated, TSU-8ASA spread out his wings and prepared to take off.

It was only then that he noticed that the people attacking his brethren had all disappeared.

Faster than TSU-8ASAcould process, a blur flew by his four-eyed brethren, causing his brother to collapse.

TSU-8ASA narrowed his eyes to get a better look and felt fear grip his entire body.

Sticking out of his four-eyed brethren's exposed brain was a sharp red object of some kind. Blood seeped out from the wound, gushing out faster than TSU-8ASA thought possible.

TSU-8ASA screeched within his mask and flew into the air, just before the same blur slashed through the air right where he'd been.

The small Nomu turned in mid-air and flew as fast as he could away.

As he dashed away, however, he took a second to glance back when he heard the unmistakable sound of something cutting through flesh.

Standing over the body of his other brother was a man with massive red wings, far bigger than his own. In his hands, he held two red objects TSU-8ASA recognized as the things that had been embedded in his four-eyed brethren's brain. It appeared as if the man's wings were made of them.

TSU-8ASA let out a muffled, mournful screech for his brethren, an action he immediately regretted when the man with massive wings turned to look at him.

Thinking fast, the Nomu swooped into a nearby alleyway, out of sight of the man. As he turned the corner though, he heard the unmistakable sound of wingbeats approaching even faster than he expected.

With no time to think, TSU-8ASA slammed himself into a nearby open garbage bin. Holding desperately onto his instinctive wish to live, TSU-8ASA went still and hoped against hope that the man wouldn't find him.

The small Nomu did not move a muscle as he heard the sound of wingbeats move right past his bin, nearly knocking it over from the sheer force behind the wingbeats, before completely disappearing moments later.

After waiting for what felt like hours, but was likely only minutes, TSU-8ASA slowly crawled out of the garbage bin, tensed up to jump back in at the slightest sound. After he was completely out though, the Nomu felt a small amount of relief fill him.

He was finally safe.

A foot smashed into TSU-8ASA back, knocking him instantly to the ground.

The Nomu didn't even have the time to let out a muffled screech before he was completely restrained against the ground. TSU-8ASA struggled for a moment against the figure on top of him, but froze when he felt something sharp press against his exposed brain.

The small Nomu heard the man behind him speak.

"Stop moving."

TSU-8ASA did not understand the man's words but nonetheless tried to relax his body in hopes that this man wouldn't eliminate him. He felt the sharp object begin to press down harder and shivered in anticipation of death.

Suddenly though, he heard a small static noise before the tip of the sharp object was pulled slightly back. TSU-8ASA let out a noise of relief but did not let his guard down completely.

The man behind him mumbled quietly.

"Are you sure boss?...I'm just kind of bu-...Eyes, what do those have to with anything?...Yes, I'll check his eyes."

The man shifted his weight on top of his back and the young Nomu finally got a good look at him.

Half of his face was partially covered with some kind of dark-colored mask, with the lower half being completely exposed. Longer than average black hair flowed behind his head and he held some sort of sword in his right hand. Smoke poured out of his mouth, and somehow just his mere appearance unsettled the Nomu immensely.

The man let out a small grunt.

"Huh, his eyes really are different from that other one. They almost look normal."

TSU-8ASA heard a bit more static and noticed that the man seemed to be listening to something. He kept his eyes on the man, watching him intently with fear and caution.

The Nomu felt the man's scent finally hit his nose and froze.

That scent….he recognized it. There was something naggingly familiar about it…. Had he smelled this man before?

A smaller TSU-8ASA glanced uncertainty at a green-haired kid eating all alone at another lunch table.

He looked so lonely….maybe he should do something?

TSU-8ASA got as far as standing up from the table before he second-guessed himself and sat back down.

He couldn't do it. He was just too afraid of him.

TSU-8ASA shivered.

He just couldn't sit next to him after what he did to Katsu-

TSU-8ASA came back to reality from his brief memory with a small amount of panic.

What was that? Who was that kid? Why did this man remind him so much of him?

The Nomu began to squirm frantically. Confusion and panic running rampant through his whole body.

Fortunately for TSU-8ASA, his wings happened to smack the man above him's face by accident.

The man cursed as he stumbled backwards, yelling something about wings, giving the Nomu just enough time to leap into the air and fly frantically away.

TSU-8ASA flew out of sight as quickly as he could, refusing to look back. He had to escape! He had to run away! He had to go back home!

The Nomu paused mentally.

But…..where was home?

The Nomu perched himself on a nearby building, feeling confident that he had flown far enough away to be safe, or at least, as safe as he could be.

Adrenaline finally wearing off, TSU-8ASA curled up on the building, letting his emotions flow through him for the first time.

What was he supposed to do?! He had nowhere left to go! He couldn't go back to the lab! That doctor made him feel uneasy and every fiber of his being felt alarmed at his presence!

TSU-8ASA clutched onto the cement that made up the building's roof hard enough to crack it.

But he had nowhere else to go either! He didn't remember anything, he was completely lost-

TSU-8ASA clawed at the mask covering his mouth, struggling in vain to peel it off.

-and he still had this stupid mask on!

TSU-8ASA collapsed to the ground, his exhaustion from the day's events finally catching up to him.

What was he going to do? It wasn't like he had a lead or somethin-

TSU-8ASA bolted up.

Wait a moment, he did have a lead!

TSU-8ASA sniffed the air, some of the man's scent still drifting on his body.

That man had smelt familiar. There was something about him that felt like it was jogging his memory. It hadn't been exactly the same, but it had been familiar. But who-

TSU-8ASA's eyes widened.

That kid in his memory! That had to be it! That man must have smelt like that child!

TSU-8ASA felt vigor fill him as a new sensation of determination filled his body.

This was his first real clue! If he could just find this kid, maybe he could figure out who and what he was!

TSU-8ASA took off into the sky once again, feeling up to the task of flight once again. This time, however, he paid attention to his sense of smell, hoping to catch the briefest hint of a smell similar to that man.

He would find that kid and force out of him everything he knew.

TSU-8ASA felt the wind blast into his face as he accelerated forwards.

After he figured that out, maybe he would finally know where home was.


"Not here."

Tenya dashed to check the next alleyway, once again finding nothing.

"Not here either."

Tenya continued this process down the entire street, hoping to catch a glance of the infamous hero killer.

The young teen cursed in frustration as he checked his fortieth alleyway, only to find nothing once again.

Damn it all! Why had that distress message been so vague?!

Tenya felt the phone in his pocket ringing and grimaced. He paused in place for a moment and quickly silenced his phone. As he glanced at the number he felt no surprise that the caller was Manual.

Tenya felt a small amount of guilt fill him.

Manual must be so worried about him. Maybe he shouldn't have just left without saying anything as soon as he heard that distress call mentioning the Hero Killer being in the downtown area. He should probably go back to help him with the Nom-

Tenya took a moment to calm himself and quelled his thoughts of reluctance.

No, this was his fight. It was his brother that Stain had so methodically injured and he needed to be the one to make him pay.

Tenya dashed to the next alley, once again finding nothing.

His brother had been a hero that helped others! He put his life on the line every day and was the kindest person Tenya had ever met!

The next alleyway was as empty as the last.

His brother didn't deserve to have his career struck down so early in life! He didn't deserve to have to live the rest of his life with prosthetic limbs because of some insane serial killer's twisted crusade! He didn't deserve to have his life ruined!

Once again, he found the next alley devoid of life.

His brother didn't deserve any of that, and he would be damned if he let Stain get away with it!

His eyes caught the briefest glint of a red scarf as he started to glance down the next alley.

Tenya powered up his leg engines to the maximum power they could reach without triggering Recipro Burst.

He had found him.

Tenya burst down the alley as fast as he could going straight for a powerful kick from behind.

The air itself seemed to scream around him from the sheer speed of the kick. The wind blew into his face harder than it ever had before. The sheer power behind the blow would be a death sentence.

Or it would have been if it had landed.

Tenya's foot slammed into the side of the building the Hero Killer had been standing by. Cracks spread out from where his foot had smashed against the building, cascading outwards like a spider's web. Dust particles were kicked up into the air from the point of impact, some of them floating into the young teen's eyes.

Tenya cursed and closed his eyes reflexively.

Shit! Where did that bastard g-

Tenya felt something quickly slice his chest before his whole body suddenly locked up and he fell backward onto the ground.

The teen struggled on the ground, trying to get his body to move even a little bit. His efforts, however, proved fruitless.

Tenya nonetheless continued to struggle.

He couldn't fail here! Not after he had put everything on the line for this! He could be expelled, blacklisted, or even arrested for doing this! He couldn't afford to let himself fail his brother by losing so pathetically. He couldn't lose here-

A blade pressed against his throat and Tenya stilled, suddenly realizing just how bad of a position he was in.

Slowly, the young teen opened his still burning eyes to take a look at the serial killer looming over him.

What he saw killed his motivation to keep struggling more than any amount of fear ever could.

The noseless man stared back at him, seemingly relaxed and disinterested. He looked like he really didn't care that he had been milliseconds away from death. If anything, he looked almost bored.

"Was that supposed to do something?"

At the sight of just how relaxed Stain was, Tenya deflated.

He had thought that maybe he could keep fighting, that maybe he could still win this. He had just messed up the entrance and he thought that he would have plenty more opportunities to end the Hero Killer.

Tenya kept staring at the seemingly bored serial killer feeling his motivation to fight disappear more and more.

That was until he saw how relaxed the killer was. He wasn't even worth worrying about anymore. He was little more than a trapped rat being surveyed by the cat that had caught it.

He had already lost.

Stain studied his face in a disinterested manner.

"You're really just a kid. I wasn't so sure a moment ago, but it's pretty clear now. It's not like it makes much a difference anyways."

Tenya closed his eyes, bracing himself for the feeling of the blade slitting his throat, but no such feeling ever came. Instead, he felt the blade disappear from his neck and opened his eyes to see the killer sheathing his own sword. He turned around, seemingly about to walk away as if nothing had happened.

Tenya felt shock for a moment before it quickly turned to anger.

Was he really just going to leave as if nothing happened? Did that monster really just not care enough to end what he started?

Tenya's struggle to get back up was renewed once again by his anger.

Was he so pathetic that he wasn't even worth killing?

Through barely moving teeth, Tenya screamed out after the killer.

"Come back here you bastard!"

Stain paused and let out a sigh before turning around to look at him with disinterest.

"I prefer not to murder children, especially one who is as heroic as you, but I will change my policy on that if you keep annoying me."

Tenya ignored his words, and through gritted teeth, continued.

"Come back here and fight me! We're not through yet!"

Stain sighed.

"Yes, we are. He's already dead if you haven't been paying attention."

Tenya continued to struggle on the ground.

"What are you talking about?!"

The Hero Killer pointed to Tenya's right.

"That fake hero right there."

Tenya turned his head to the right and felt his blood run cold.

Only a few feet away from him sat a dead body that sat limply against the wall. The spandex that made up the hero's costume was soaked in blood and his head sat in his lap, frozen in an expression of fear and pain. Based on the various stab wounds covering his body, it was rather evident that he had not died quickly.

Tenya stared at the dead hero, unable to hide just how shocked he was. The teen started trembling in fear.

Suddenly, it hit Tenya just how recklessly he had been acting. He had thought that he had been a match for Stain, that he could kill him and avenge his brother. He had truly believed that he could beat this man who had killed so many heroes. He had recklessly rushed in to kill him, thinking he could end it quickly and accept the consequence for his actions like the protagonist of some terribly written revenge story.

The image of the head's dead eyes staring back at him felt like it was etched into his very soul.

Except, this wasn't a crappy revenge tale. This was real life, and he had just rushed in to try and kill a man that had murdered several heroes like it was nothing. He was idiotic to think that he even had a chance of winning. He had been outmatched from the start.

While he was going through this realization though, Stain seemed to notice his shock.

"Wait, did you rush in to fight me without even knowing he was there? I assumed that was why you charged in so recklessly. Am I wrong?"

Still in shock, Tenya was unable to reply.

Stain slowly unsheathed the blade on his back.

"I was, wasn't I? You really charged in just to kill me."

Stain walked up to him slowly, each footstep he took echoing through the alleyway.

"So why did you charge in, fake hero?"

Another step echoed through the alleyway.

"Did you want the glory of killing the big bad Hero Killer?"

The serial killer licked his blade slowly.

"Did you want to kickstart your career by taking out a major villain?"

Stain was looming over him at this point, the blade in his hand shining in the moonlight.

"Or did you just want the reward money to live out the rest of your days mooching off of society?"

The Hero Killer held the blade against his neck.

"Come on little hero, answer my question."

Tenya shivered at the mad look in the killer's eyes.

What had he been thinking? He didn't stand a chance in hell of beating this guy. This had been a horrible idea.

Stain applied more pressure on the blade, growling in anger.

"Answer me you coward! Face your death with dignity!"

He was going to die. This man in front of him was going to kill him. He was going to die all alone in some back alley because he acted without thinking.

Tenya felt tears stream down his eyes.

There was so much left that he hadn't done. There were so many things he regretted. There was just too much that he wanted to say.

Tenya thought back to Izuku, to how worried he had been for his safety.

He had been horrible to him. His friend had just wanted to help him, but he had treated him coldly and rushed to his death. Would he blame himself for not doing enough? Would he resent him for being so mind-numbingly idiotic? Would he rush in against Stain to avenge him?

Tenya thought drifted to his teacher and how he had promised him to stay safe.

Would he shrug it off, having surely seen several other hopeful young heroes die by accident over the years due to mistakes like his? Would he mourn him and feel regret for not trying to stop him from interning with Manual? Would he suck in his emotions and pretend not to feel anything, wanting to stay strong in the face of adversity?

Finally, Tenya's thoughts drifted to that of his brother, intensifying the stream of tears that rolled down his face.

Would he hate him for doing something so dumb in his name? Would he resent him for disgracing what the name 'Ingenium' stood for? Would he be so distraught that he would be unable to live with himself?

Tenya let out a small sob.

Would he be proud of him if he saw how he had acted?

Stain rolled his eyes and raised his blade.

"Fine, if you're too much of a coward to face death with dignity, then I'll go ahead and end you now."

Suddenly, Tenya's grief turned to rage, unable to stand the sheer lack of humanity that the man above him possessed.

"I did it for revenge!"

Stain paused.

"Huh?"

Tenya screamed at the man above him, tears streaming down his face.

"You humiliated my brother, leaving him barely alive and crippled in some random back alley! You destroyed his life and ruined his dreams! I couldn't stand the fact that people were still letting you run free!"

Stain sighed.

"I see, so you are just a fak-"

Tenya continued to scream, interrupting the man's words.

"And you want to know something?! it was a stupid fucking idea! I'm not prepared for this! I'm not All Might or Hawks or Endeavor, I'm just some kid rushing to a fight he was unprepared for!"

Stain rolled his eyes.

"That much is obvi-"

Tenya couldn't stop himself, every emotion he felt being let out in one long rant.

"I treated people who cared about me like shit! I adopted my brother's name as my own and then disgraced it! I'm a waste of space that doesn't deserve to live!"

Stain opened his mouth to talk, but once again Tenya cut him off.

"But no matter how bad I am, you're a million times worse!"

Stain snorted at his remark.

"I'm worse than you?! Please, little faker, come up with a more believable lie. I'm making the world better after all, by ridding it of fake heroes like you."

Tenya balked at his response.

"You think you're helping people?! Are you insane?! How does killing heroes just trying to save people help anyone?! How does preventing them from doing their job and wasting their time save people?! How does killing him-"

Tenya glanced over at the dead hero lying only a few feet from him.

"-and preventing him from assisting in taking down the Nomus that are currently attacking the city help anyone?!"

Stain snarled.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Tenya shut his eyes, continuing to pour his heart out to the serial killer looming over him.

"You want to know what I think?! I think that deep down you know you're not helping people! I think that deep down you know that all your doing is hurting the society you claim to be helping! I think that deep down you know that you're nothing more than a delusional serial killer who wants to believe that he's making a difference in the world!"

Stain eyes seemed to flash red in the moonlight, his face contorting in anger.

"What would you know about any of this, pretender? You're just a foolish child who's body is going to become the stepping stone for my better world!"

He raised his blade in the air.

Tenya, feeling that death was near, tearfully screeched his last words.

"Go ahead and do it! Kill me and see just how little it proves! No matter what you do, you're nothing more than the delusional man who hurt my brother!"

Stain swung the blade downward, causing Tenya to close his eyes and wait for the feeling of it slicing through him.

Except that feeling never came.

Instead, he heard something whistle through the air, before the sound of something colliding with metal vibrated through the alley.

Slowly Tenya opened his eyes, allowing him to see that Stain was looking at something next to him, blade seemingly frozen in mid-air.

Tenya followed his gaze the best he could with his locked up body.

The teenager would've cocked his head if he still had the ability to.

Was that a dart?


Hisashi lowered the dart gun that had held his one shot of ending this painlessly.

He grimaced and angrily mumbled to himself.

"Fuck my life."

The Hero Killer turned to him with a maniacal grin, seemingly having forgotten about the immobile figure lying beneath him. He let out an insane laugh, apparently happy to be in his presence

"I see that a true hero has returned to face me."

Stain slowly licked something off his blade.

"Maybe this time you will actually best me."

Hisashi ignored the maniac and shifted his gaze to the person paralyzed beneath Stain's boot.

He would need to get whoever that was away from Stain as quickly as possible. As long as they were here, he likely couldn't use his quirk to its fullest potential without severely injuring them.

Hisashi holstered the gun and slowly let his left hand drift over the dose of Trigger he had hidden away for emergencies.

Should he-

Hisashi could do nothing but watch as Stain cut out chunks of the hero's legs.

Hisashi could do nothing but watch as Stain bent and broke the engine pieces that made up Ingenium's quirk.

Hisashi could do nothing but watch as Stain moved on to Ingenium's arms…...

Hisashi, in one quick motion, unsheathed the blade on his back and took a defensive stance.

Hisashi's face shined with determination underneath his mask.

Like hell would he use Trigger at a time like this! This motherfucker had humiliated him and Ingenium, a hero who was doing nothing but trying to help someone he thought was in danger!

Hisashi let his murderous intent fill the air, the sheer malice of which caused Stain to shiver and jump away from the hostage beneath his feet.

He would beat this piece of shit fair and fucking square or he would die trying!

Hisashi let the smallest of smiles creep onto his face.

Besides, as long as Jaldabaoth kept his promise, he would be able to make this maniac suffer even more than Ingenium.

Hisashi let his gaze shift briefly to the person who Stain had just been standing on top of and felt surprise fill his body.

Tenya Iida, the little brother of the hero he had failed and one of his son's best friends lay paralyzed on the ground, ignoring him to glare hatefully at Stain.

You had to be fucking kidding him.

Hisashi groaned.

Damn the universe and its evil sense of irony.


(1) To be able to even understand what is happening while moving at speeds faster than sound, which he canonically moves at with 100% Full Cowling, Izuku would need to perceive time far faster than an average human. Otherwise, his brain would straight up be unable to process what he's even doing. Thus, it's my personal headcanon that Izuku and other speedsters in the MHA world like Hawks and Iida have at least some degree of control over how they process time (similar to the explanation most commonly used for Wally West). This would enable them to process their surroundings at the insane speeds they reach in canon without an issue while still being able to hear others while moving at said speeds. I would also like to point out that an idea like this has already been brought up in canon as well since it is directly stated to be a part of the quirk "Overclock" in Vigilantes. If anyone has a more reasonable explanation I'll be glad to hear it and may change the scene if I find the explanation more satisfactory.

Since there are no canon names for the first 6 One for All Users, with the exception of Daigoro, I made up names and short descriptions/histories for each of them (I like worldbuilding if you couldn't tell). They may come into play later, but for now, they all won't be too important. In order of when they got One for All we have:

1. Ejiki (All for One's little brother) - "Ejiki" roughly translates to "prey" / "victim" in Japanese, which reflects how All for One saw him.

2. Volpe (2nd user of One for Al, one of the two blacked-out figures) - "Volpe" translates into "fox" in Italian. Foxes are animals associated with thievery and trickery, which is how he was able to receive One for All despite All for One's watchful eye on his brother.

3. Jason (3rd user of One for All, one of the two blacked-out figures) - Jason is a name that comes from the Greek word for "healer". This reflects the main power at his disposal which he used to survive the longest against All for One, making it to a moderately old age before dying to his nemesis.

4. Joshua (4th user of One for All, the blonde user with a scar) - "Joshua" is a name associated with salvation, due to him being one of the primary forces in helping society recover following its collapse.

5. Daigoro (5th user of One for All, the "funky" bald user with Black Whip.)- This is simply his canon name.

6. Yamato (6th user of One for All, The user with dark hair) - "Yamato" is a name that has to do with serenity and calm, due to him being the One for All user who had the most serene and calm existence, only meeting All for One once at the end of his life. It also reflects his quiet and calm personality.

If anyone wants to comment on me giving each of them a name that reflects their situations, Nana, Toshinari, and Izuku literally have seven, eight, and nine in their Japanese names.

As for my chapter question of the day, what is everyone's anime/manga, comic, game, movie, and TV show of the decade? For me personally, the list looks like this:

Anime- "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (Sort of cheating, but I love this series.)" (Honorable mentions: Hunter x Hunter & Mob Psycho 100)

Comic- "Vision" by John Galati.

Game- "Bloodborne" (Honorable Mentions: Skyrim, Witcher 3, Mass Effect 2, God of War PS4, Dark Souls series, and The Last of Us)

Movie- "The Lighthouse" (Honorable Mentions: Mad Max-Fury Road and Parasite)

Tv Show- "Bojack Horseman" (Honorable Mention: Breaking Bad)

This next question is just more of a recommendation one. I'm looking for a new anime to watch and there are 3 I'm considering. I've been meaning to watch them all for a while, but I just haven't had the time until now. Should I watch One Piece, , or Demon Slayer?

I would die of happiness if I ever got a TvTropes page.

Thank you for reading once again everyone! I will do my best to get out Chapter Twenty-One: A Dragon, a Knight, an Idealist, and a Trap as soon as possible. After that, the semi-original arc that I've titled "Trapped Together" will begin. I hope everyone is staying safe, you know with the quarantine going on and everything, and that everyone has a nice day!