Chapter 24
A couple of new developments
(The beginning of this chapter takes place immediately after Chapter 20, and the middle takes place around the middle of the first month)
As the world starts to go to hell, society will start to crumble.
Endeavour was panting on the floor of a random room in the building he had run into, the creature he had tried to fight was standing over him with its two giant arms raised above it, as it was about to bring them down on the hero.
"Hey Endeavour, did you need help?" a voice from somebody else spoke up into his earpiece, but with a grunt, he silenced the earpiece and turned onto his back to look up at the creature that was bearing down on him.
And as he looked up at the creature, he took in its full appearance; it was covered in what looked like leathery scales, but the part where its arms met its body appeared to made out of some kind of liquid, and where face would be, was just a giant gaping hole, and it appeared to have legs made out of some kind of thin and weak material.
He then noticed the various bodies that had been skewn around the room, he noticed both hero's and civilians alike, all laying devoid of life and missing various portions of their bodies.
A second later, the creature started to bring its fists down onto Endeavour, but he quickly rolled out of the way as the fists collided with the floor, and as they connected, they obliterated the wall and floor situated around the area he had just been in.
He then looked out of the hole as the creature started to turn around to continue its attacks on him, and he saw that there were a multitude of civilians just standing and watching in horror at the other bodies that the creature had left outside in its trek towards the building.
"You killed so many people" Endeavour spat as he wiped blood from his mouth and shakily stood up to face the creature.
But it did not respond, all it did was jitter towards him in an oddly rhythmic fashion.
Endeavour clenched his fists as the beast started to get closer, "It was cocky of me to rush into to take you on" he said with a slight smirk.
But he then scowled, "But you 'things' are doing the bidding of a mad woman" he exclaimed.
And at this statement, the creature stopped jittering towards him, and fearfully tilted its body (it didn't really have a head), as if it was afraid of what Endeavour was about to say.
"So, even you things are afraid of that 'woman'" he muttered as he properly stood up and bared his fists at the creature.
The creature then repositioned itself, and started to jitter at a much faster pace to Endeavour, "And now you know that I know who she is, you have to kill me" he replied as he also started to run towards the creature.
And as they started to get close, the creature released a horrifying sound from the orifice located on it's body, "NFIWVIBLF" the sound it spoke was an unintelligible collection of letters, but it did shake Endeavour to the core as he heard it.
"Guess I'll have to take you out first" he said as his flames started to appear around his fist, but as he started to throw it towards the creature, it instead threw it's right fist straight into the pro hero's gut, sending him skidding back along along the floor.
"BLEGH" Endeavour exclaimed as he held his chest with his left hand, "I didn't even see that attack coming" he then stated as the creature started to approach him again, "I need to be faster".
But then a different idea popped into his head as the creature got close to him again, and he clenched his fist that was covered in flames, and as he threw said fist towards the creature again, he allowed himself one thought, ("I will never atone for everything that I have done, but I will not let anyone else suffer").
And as he thought this, the flame covering his fist turned a bright white colour, and at the same time his fist rocketed forward, straight through the creature.
Endeavour was sent flying towards another wall by his own attack, but he quickly managed to get a grip on what had happened and he managed to stop himself from actually crashing through the wall.
He then came to a stop as he slid down the wall and turned to prepare himself for whatever the creature could do, but as he turned around all he saw that remained of the creature was a charred mess.
Endeavour then fell to the floor as he looked at the damage he had managed to cause to the creature, "What was that?" he muttered through laboured breathing as he looked from the remains of the creature and to his hand.
He saw that his flames had turned back to their normal colour, and he left in a state of awe, ("Something else is going on!") he thought as he continued to breath labouredly.
And as the other heroes started to carefully enter the building, he sighed and looked at the remains of the poor people that had lost their lives, "And there is no going back" he then muttered.
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Atonement
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In a small restaurant located somewhere in the Shikoku region
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Yosetsu sat at a bench, quickly consuming a large bowl of rice as he appeared to be looking cautiously around himself.
("The report said that anybody who wasn't from this town who entered it would start to lose control of their body and start to spasm, I must be immune to it, but it still begs the question") he thought as he quickly consumed the rest of his food.
He then left quickly paid for the food, and after noticing certain looks from a couple of passer-by's, he focused on what appeared to be the central area of the town, "Maybe I can get an idea of what is going on if I go there" he muttered as he started to walk towards it.
"I wish I'd have someone given to me as a partner, it kinda sucks that they sent me in on my own" he then muttered as he readjusted the hooded jacket he had obtained to remain less conspicuous in the area.
And as he walked, he started to notice that as he walked in front of each residence and/or shop, that they would start to close their doors and shut their windows.
("Definitely something to do with the middle of this bloody town") he thought as he continued, ("And these bastards know what is going on, but they're too afraid, makes me wonder what the hell is going to happen").
And his question was answered almost immediately when he saw that three men had exited the centre of the town and had started to walk towards him.
"Shit" Yosetsu muttered as he saw the trio walking towards him.
The three men all walked to surround Yosetsu, but the he quickly jumped back and held his hands up in a passive manner to the men.
"Hey, I am not here to fight you!" he yelled to the men, but it appeared that they didn't even hear him, or they had chosen to ignore him.
But he could start to hear them all muttering something, "We don't need you heroes here, as long as we don't defy, the queen will keep us safe" the men all said as if it was a motto or something.
Yosetsu grabbed one of the metallic logs he had been carrying and held it in a similar fashion to holding a knife at the men.
"I'm not here to hurt you bastards, but if this queen person is who I think it is, then I can't risk anything" he exclaimed as he kept his eyes on the men.
"Leave boy" the centre man then said as he looked at Yosetsu with an intimidating expression.
"You shouldn't be here" the man to the left then added.
And the man to Yosetsu's right, then spoke, "We have peace".
But Yosetsu just narrowed his face at each of them as he slowly crouched down and put his hand to the floor, "You realise that this 'queen' is evil, right?" he questioned as maintained his sight on the men.
"Most of the people here are quirkless" the centre man then said with a hint of regret, "They came here to live away from the society that puts so much emphasis on having a quirk".
He then continued, "The queen created and maintains this space so that they can all have peace".
And the man to Yosetsu's left finished the statement, "We are the only ones who have any skill with our quirks, but we do not wish to have to fight you" he said.
Yosetsu nodded at the statement, but he did start to sweat slightly at the fact that something was off about what they had just said.
"So what, you live here for free?" he asked.
But all three of the men shook their heads at his question, "The queen demands a great sacrifice for our continued stay here" they all said.
"What sacrifice?!" Yosetsu yelled as his hand on the ground glowed for a second, and then he started to stand back up.
The men on his left and right looked down in shame, but the centre one continued to stare with a steely conviction, "Any of those born with quirks are to be given to the queen" he said in a deep and low tone.
And this statement made Yosetsu freeze up and glare at each of the men, "And you're fine with telling me this" he started to mutter as he also looked down at the ground, "After all, I am a hero, and I couldn't let that continue".
But the three men all straightened their torso's and glared at him again, "We are more than enough to take out a rookie hero like you, and we'll just throw your corpse out to those hero's on our outskirts" they all stated as their glaring became even more intense.
"And you don't think that they would question it?" Yosetsu muttered as he looked up at each of them.
"The heroes know that if anybody not from here will usually go crazy if they come here, we'll just say you had a delayed reaction, and that we were forced to stop you" the man in the centre exclaimed with a twisted conviction.
But instead of retorting to their latest statement, Yosetsu just smirked at all of them, "Thanks for the admission of guilt" he said as he pulled an electronic device out his pocket, "I can't believe you fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book".
But the men each started to crack their knuckles, and tense their shoulders, "And who says that you are getting out of here with that recording" the one on the left said.
But Yosetsu just smirked and started to walk away, "And who's going to stop me!" he said with a sombre look on his face as fully turned his back to them.
"Little shit" they all yelled as they went to chase after him, but instead of their legs moving at all, their torso's just flopped about as they tried to move.
"What the hell did you do?" they all screamed, and Yosetsu just gave them an indifferent glance as he walked away.
"You bastards sold out children to a mad woman" he exclaimed as he walked.
"You're lucky all I did was fuse your legs to the ground, and remove their ability to move" he yelled, "Because if I didn't have a conscience, like you guys, then I would have made it so that the whole of each of your bodies were fused to the ground, and who knows what that would've done to you".
He then started to walk out of the town as he looked down at the device he had used to record the men, and gritted his teeth, "That woman, she's a monster, and she turns others into the same thing".
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At a Pro hero's office located somewhere in Kyoto
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Ibara was sitting alongside a group of sidekicks in the office of a local hero, and it appeared that the hero was giving them information regarding a certain topic.
"We have had reports of people going missing around the same time every night, and even though we know the times, we don't have any idea of where it will happen, it will just be a random spot in the city" the woman in a large tiger themed outfit explained as she pointed to random dots located on the map of the city.
"And not only that" another random hero in an outfit reminiscent of a scuba diver said, "But it civil unrest is starting to become a major problem" they stated as they opened the window to show various parts of the city had massive spiral towers of darkness jutting out at random spots, "Especially in regards to those, and the things that re starting to come out of them".
As Ibara listened to the rest of the information that was given out, she could feel a presence emanating from each of the spirals that she could see through the window, ("Since I've been here, those despicable things have been emitting that ungodly presence the entire time") she thought.
And after the meeting was done, she was assigned to work with another two female heroes in the south part of the city where the fewest of the spirals were located, "Vine, Black Widow, Blocker, you three will have to make sure that nobody goes near the three spirals in your designated section of the city, it would be advisable that you split up and take one each, but be careful not to interact with them" the tiger themed woman said to them as she sent them off.
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It took a small amount of time, but the three of them managed to get to the southern part of the city, and after splitting up, Ibara was tasked with managing the spiral to the west of the area.
She was looking up at the spiral as she arrived at it, and unfortunately for her, there was a crowd of people located not too far from it and facing towards it.
"What the hell is that thing?" a random lady shouted at her.
"Shouldn't there be more of you heroes here to protect us from this?!" an older man then exclaimed.
"It's scaring me" a young boy whimpered as he looked up at it while holding onto his parents.
Ibara just looked on in confusion at the amount of people that were there, "Please, vacate the area" she said in a serene tone.
But as she hoped for them to do what she said, or even to respond, she noticed something was off about all of the people as she looked closer at them.
She saw that they all had blank eyes, and as she listened more to their responses, she realised that they were all repeating the same lines over and over again.
"Ma'am why are you here?" she said as she looked to an older woman.
"My grandson is in there!" the woman replied, "My grandson is in there!", "My grandson is in there!".
Ibara listened, slightly horrified as all of the people continued to repeat their own distinct sentence over and over again, while just looking on in blank, lifeless eyes.
She then held her hand to the communicator in her ear as she tried to contact the agency that had dispatched her, but she was met with a static buzzing.
"This does not bode well" she said with fear in her voice as she heard the noise, and then she tuned the frequency to just the two heroes that were in the south part of the city, but instead of getting a response, or even the same static buzzing, she was instead greeted by an unknown voice.
"Ibara Shiozaki, your allies are dead, what will you do" the voice gravely stated with a hint of despair behind it.
Ibara heard the voice, and she sighed as she looked to all of the people that were stuck on loop in front of her.
And a tear or two dropped from her eyes as she shakily held her hand to the communicator again, "You demonic creatures, I will make you repent for what you have done" she said.
"Just try it" the voice responded, and then the communicator went silent.
Ibara let her hand fall to her side as she looked off into the distance, "The closest was three blocks away, I have to stop that hellish individual" she muttered.
But before she left the area, she quickly ripped off a large section of her 'hair' and threw it at the area between the spiral and the mindless people, "Crown of thorns" she exclaimed as she held her hand (which had glowed green for a second) at the piece of her 'hair' that she had thrown.
And the piece of 'hair' started to twist and extend as it first surrounded the entirety of the spiral, and then the circle started to grow up, and with every metre it grew, a multitude of thorns came jutting out of various spots.
After a minute or two the entire spire had been cut off, and for Ibara, it at least ensured that it would take a while for anybody to actually get through to it.
She then held her hands together in silent solace to the people that were unmoving and just continuing say the same things over and over again, "I am so sorry" she said as she then ran off in the direction of the closest other spiral.
"Something wicked is brewing, the light is beginning to falter" she exclaimed as she ran.
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Somewhere along the Ou Mountain Range
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Jurota was thrown through a large amount of trees as he came to a stop against a rocky wall.
"Gyaah" he said as he coughed up blood and looked to the direction he had been thrown from.
"Activate your ability, you human swine" a voice then echoed throughout the area Jurota was in.
"I am afraid you misunderstand why I am holding back" Jurota spluttered as he wiped his mouth and stood up.
He then clenched his fists as he looked off into the distance, "I am giving you a chance to turn yourself in, because if you don't, I can't help what happens next" he said with a dark gleam in his eyes as he pulled off his wrecked goggles.
"Do you seriously think that I would give up" the voice said as the trees started to part as a hulking entity of pure muscle came trudging out of the woods.
"Then you must be seriously mistaken!" the giant entity expressed as it looked down at Jurota.
But the young man didn't falter as he continued to eye the beast, "Then know, that what I do now is not out of malice, but out of necessity" he stated as he clenched his fists.
His body then started to grow at an extreme rate, and within a couple of seconds his body had grown massively in size, his hair became extremely thick, and his fangs were all sharpened and extremely long.
The entity then looked at what the young man had turned into with intrigue, "And this is what I am supposed to be afraid of" it stated as it looked up and down at Jurota's new beast form, "Because I've seen better".
But Jurota didn't respond to this, he just breathed heavily and kept the pure black eyes of his new form focused on the entity.
And it looked like the entity was about to say something else, but before it could utter another word, Jurota shot forward at it, "GRAAAAAAAH" he bellowed as he shouldered barged straight into the creature, sending it falling backwards onto the ground.
The creature ploughed into the earth, and after a couple of seconds it came to a stop against the large mound of dirt that had been dug up as it slid on the ground.
"Something has changed" the creature remarked as it shakily stood up to face Jurota, but he had disappeared.
"Where have you gone?" the creature questioned as it quickly darted its eyes looking around for him, "What are you?".
And as if to respond, a gigantic furry fist backhanded the creature back onto the ground, "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" Jurota yelled into the creature's face as he looked down at it with an intense ferocity.
"I see now…" the creature said as it tried to stand up again, but with another fist thrown down from Jurota, it became imbedded into the ground.
"You tried to warn me, and yet I chose not to listen" the creature started to say as Jurota roared and started to pummel it and rip at it with his monstrous fists and claws, "And now I'm going to pay for brining an uncontrollable beast upon myself".
And after another minute or two, the creature had been reduced to a bloody mess, but it appeared that Jurota, or the beast he had turned into was just continuing to attack it's bloody and torn corpse.
("I need to stop, it is done, no more destruction") Jurota's inner mind thought as he tried to regain control of his body, and after about ten minutes, his beastly form started to shrink down, and Jurota collapsed onto his back on the forest floor.
"I need to learn to control it before the others get back, otherwise all I will be is a detriment to them" he muttered as he looked up at the black starry sky.
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Around the end of the first month
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Twice looked at the various containers that were in the building that Kurogiri had led him and Shigaraki into, "Quite ominous, Really cool" he stated as he looked around.
Kurogiri and Shigaraki both paid him no mind as they walked through the building, with Kurogiri at the head.
"All for One knew that if a certain event occurred, it would cause a multitude of other events to occur, each worse than the last" Kurogiri stated as they neared a door at the back of the building.
"And what, he couldn't have told us this any sooner" Shigaraki muttered.
"The master had implanted me with how to react to such a situation, but only after a certain set of events had happened in a particular order" Kurogiri then replied.
"That seems oddly specific, sounds like an idiotic plan" Twice exclaimed as he popped up beside them.
"Who cares!" Shigaraki stated as he looked to Kurogiri, "But why the hell are we here?".
And Kurogiri opened the door in response to them, and in the room behind it, was a small tube like container, and a single computer.
"I don't know exactly, all I know is that I had to bring you here" he said.
"So master, expected me to just follow you here?" Shigaraki questioned as he looked to the the tube and the computer, literally the only things in the room.
But Kurogiri didn't respond to this question, instead he just walked over to the computer, and while it started up, Shigaraki walked over to it, while Twice just looked at the tube, "What the hell is this, probably important" he exclaimed as he eyed it.
The computer then blinked into life, and after a second of buffering, a video recording of All for One started to play, "Tomura Shigaraki, my successor" he said, but before the message could continue, Kurogiri quickly paused it.
"What the hell Kurogiri" Shigaraki said, "I thought that I was here to obtain a message from master".
And all Kurogiri did was just stare blankly at him for a moment, but after the moment had passed, he started to talk.
"Shigaraki, before I play this video, I need to know how you would answer a certain question" Kurogiri stated in an almost monotone and unemotional voice.
Shigaraki raised an eyebrow at him, but then shrugged, "Whatever, if it's from the master, then ask the question" he casually responded.
Kurogiri remained motionless for another moment, but then he asked the question, "If the world were to end within a month's time, would you prefer to be the one to do it?".
"What kinda question is that?" Shigaraki exclaimed as he looked to Kurogiri, but all the other man did was just look at him emotionlessly.
"Yo, I think that all can do is respond to the correct response" Twice then exclaimed as he walked up to them, "Or he could be losing it".
Shigaraki gave him a glare, and then looked to Kurogiri, "Alright, you want an answer to the question, then here it is, I would end it myself, but before that, I would take out whoever was going to do it first" he said in a resigned, but serious manner.
Kurogiri 'blinked' a couple of times at this response, and then he pressed play on the video, "Correct answer".
Shigaraki slightly grinned at being right, and then he looked to the computer screen, and both he and Twice watched as the video started to play.
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Somewhere in Tokyo
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Dabi scoffed at the burnt corpse of the weak hero he had just dealt with as he stayed in the dark of the night.
"You heroes are getting so caught up about whatever is going on out there, and I just find it hilarious that so many of you are dying" he said with a smirk as he pulled up his hood and walked through the city.
"Maybe I should go and find Shigaraki, he's probably doing something more enjoyable than dealing with the basic wannabe hero" he muttered.
And as he said this, a small dog like creature came bounding out of the shadows, but Dabi just lit the creature up, and after a second, all that remained was a burnt and alien looking corpse.
"But then again, these things are pretty weird as well" he remarked as he kicked the corpse and then went on his way, "Maybe there are stronger ones that will put much more of a fight though".
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Toga grinned as she continuously stabbed her knife into the neck of the human-like creature that appeared to be entirely yellow, and had four eyes on each side of its face.
"You bleed differently, but I don't like your blood, it's nasty" she said sadistically as she continuously cut through what looked like tendons and veins in the creatures neck.
"#^#%^&T" the creature exclaimed with an almost pleading look in its eyes, but Toga just continued to stab at it, and after another minute, the creature was lifeless, and Toga was flicking the white blood off of her knife.
"How does your blood taste so bad" she remarked as she walked off, "I've tasted better blood before".
"Oooh, I wonder how Izuku is doing" she said with a sadistic grin as she started to skip off into the distance, "Maybe I could've had more fun with Shigaraki though, maybe I will find him later".
"But first" she said as she saw a couple of basic heroes running around trying to save civilians, "I want to have something a bit tastier".
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Spinner was pinned up against the wall by a man dressed like a cheetah, and the man was seething with anger.
"You're from the League of Villains, why the hell are you here?" the man questioned.
"Something is going to happen in a month's time, I came to warn you bastards" Spinner spat out.
But the hero just scoffed at him and restrained him to a wall, "As if I would believe anything a villain like you would say, if you haven't been paying attention, everything has gone to hell, and nobody has the time to deal with you criminal scum" the hero said.
And Spinner glared at him, "I might be a villain, but I at least know that hero should be concerned about civilians" he expressed as he glared at the hero.
"Shut up trash" the hero responded.
"I would've listened to our friend, if I was you" a voice said from behind a wall, and both Spinner and the hero turned to see the wall suddenly disappear.
Both Magne and Compress came running through the hole in the wall, and as Magne slammed the hero's head into the ground, Compress went about freeing Spinner.
"Why are you guys here?" he questioned, and Compress looked to the hero, who was being owned by Magne.
"We got a message from Kurogiri" he said as he held up his phone to Spinner.
And as Spinner read the message, he gulped, "And what about the others?" he cautiously questioned as Magne came over from having dealt with the hero.
"We have to go find them!" she said as she crossed her arms and smirked.
Spinner sighed in response to this, "I tried to get to the heroes, but they continually tried to restrain me, guess I've got no other choice but to go along with Shigaraki's plan" he defeatedly expressed as the three of them walked through the newly created hole in the wall and into the night to search for their allies.
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In a graveyard somewhere, in the dead of the night
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Kijo looked on with what could be described as ecstatic glee at the multitude of corpses that she had piled up in one specific spot in the graveyard.
"Those pathetic creatures that should be allying with me are running amok, I think it's time I obtained an army that actually listened to me" she expressed as she looked down to the small hooded figure beside her.
"Now my daughter" she said as she removed Eri's hood to show the young girl had two black horns on her head, and her eyes were pure black, "Let's have a test run".
And Eri simply nodded as she walked over to the pile of corpses, "Should I pick a specific one?" she asked without any emotion present in her voice.
"Maybe go with one of the one's that look like they've only just been buried" Kijo said with a wink.
Eri gave her a small smile and another nod, and after a moment of searching, she came upon a body that looked like it had only been buried recently.
"This worked before, is there a specific reason for doing this mother?" the young girl asked as she stared down at the corpse.
"It has been a month since you made that man tell me what he knew, but all you did was make it so that he told me the last things present in his mind before he died" Kijo said as she walked up to and kneeled beside Eri.
"But now, since your ability only works on the living, I want to see if you can create me an army" she then said as she put a hand on Eri's shoulder, "An army that will help your mother to create a new world order".
The young girl looked up at her 'mother', and with a somewhat creepy looking smile, she put her hand onto the corpse, and as Eri's horns both started to glow and the body started to writhe, Kijo knew that the endgame was coming.
"A month remains, and then I will accomplish my goal, you self-serving bastards" Kijo muttered as she watched her 'daughter' start to bring a random human, who had long been dead, back to life.
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So sorry for being gone for so long, but I'm back with another chapter for this story, and if anybody has any questions about the story, you might just need to wait and see how future events turn out.
Also I have a reason for already jumping forward to the end of the first month already, as the major events will be happening from here on out.
The next chapter will probably show up towards the middle of July as I have a couple of commitments that I wasn't able to plan for, but by that time, this and my other two stories will probably have had another update.
Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome,
And that's all,
Peace Out.