The battle ended quickly, with All For One thrusting his fist through what was left of All Might's stomach. The whole of Japan watching hoped that the Symbol of Hope had somehow dodged it, utilized some hitherto unknown power to phase the titanic blow through his body and emerge victorious, but no, the viscera coating the villain's fists proved otherwise.

For Midoriya Izuku, witnessing the blow made him feel a phantom pain in his stomach. The greatest wielder of One For All could not defeat his worst enemy. What hope did Izuku have?

The sole suicidal news crew began edging closer to catch All For One's gloating. "-tors always die, Toshinori! Look at Gandalf, Dumbledore, fucking Obi-Wan! They all died! And you know why? Because they took away the main character's agency!"

Toshinori could not answer, as his body went into toxic shock due to the fact that his last kidney was splattered on the ground, but he gurgled as he pawed at All For One's arm, fruitlessly attempting to summon one more blow.

All For One was not finished. "Really, Toshinori, if I hadn't crippled this country's education system then you'd realise the full error of your actions. You never made sure I was dead, you let your mentor's family members fade into the background, and you decide to take on an apprentice? I couldn't think of a more textbook example of what not to do after 'defeating' your fated enemy! Speaking of which, why don't we bring your doom here?"

His tendrils, which had stabbed into All Might's sides much like how a praying mantis would impale its prey, retracted, dripping blood as they did so, and spread out over the devastated battlefield as they searched for their target. With mounting dread, Izuku realized who All For One was searching for. Kurogiri. He turned to run, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he might be able to get away, but a shadowy portal opened underneath his feet.

Izuku fell through the portal, and fell into All For One's waiting hand. It was, Izuku noticed, thankfully not the hand covered in All Might's blood and gore, though he was less thankful that it was trying to choke the air from his lungs. He gasped for air as the vice grip squeezed harder and harder, all the while All Might attempted to keep the tattered remains of his guts inside his body. Izuku kicked fruitlessly against All For One's chest as he resumed monologuing.

"There we are. The little runt you passed my little brother's quirk to. A little on the small side, don't you think? Then again, you do have to sell how weak and pathetic your successor is before giving him your all powerful quirk. Tell me, wannabe hero, do you even realize how your actions have caused all of this?"

On the ground, All Might spat out a mouthful of blood and choked out, "Yo-young Midoriya has the heart of a hero and is not respon-"

All For One waved a finger and one of his tendrils speared All Might through his last lung. All Might began suffocating.

"Truly, is there any way that you are not responsible for this entire series of events? Should you have remained some insignificant speck on society, All Might would never have taught at UA, young Bakugou's kidnapping would have gone off without a hitch, and we would not be in this situation right here."

Black spots began appearing in Izuku's vision, and he tore at All For One's wrist. Instead of reacting, All For One tutted and began taunting him further. "Your mentor is dying beside you, your childhood best friend is in my clutches, and I assure you after this I will slaughter all of the heroes nearby. Is this all you can do?"

Izuku called upon the full power of One For All to knee All For One's arm and escape, but his other hand caught his leg and turned it into pulp.

"Once a failure, always a failure it seems." All For One mused to himself, snapping Izuku's neck.


The denizens of One For All were in a quandary, for their ninth user was rapidly approaching death, and since he hadn't passed on the Quirk yet, their own consciousness' were rapidly approaching an end. As a collective focused on eliminating All For One, dying without finishing this task was unforgivable.

However, as scraps and pieces of what could be ambiguously called the consciousness of the previous holders of One For All, there wasn't really much they could do. They could subconsciously urge the current user towards propagating the Quirk further, or towards seeking out All For One, but urging Izuku Midoriya to live wouldn't do much to fix his broken neck.

They deliberated, spending precious seconds of the ninth holder's rapidly fading life to come to a conclusion, and concluded that they would attempt to prolong their existence by utilising the second holder's quirk. He'd been one of the staunchest thoughts against using it, however when faced with eternal nothingness he'd changed his tune quickly.

Back when the second had been in control, his Quirk had been a simple rewind ability, allowing him to turn back hair growth or get away with not brushing his teeth from time to time. When times were dire, he could even go without sleep for extended periods of time and stay as fresh as he was on day one. However, empowered ninefold, it became a Quirk capable of turning back time.


All For One fixed his tie, and made sure his sleeves weren't too scuffed from the sad child's scrabbling. Perhaps he had monologued a mite too long, but it wasn't as if he was ever in any danger in the first place. He'd torn out what was left of All Might's guts, snapped that pesky youngster's neck, the other one, not Shigaraki, and was now the strongest person in Japan, maybe even the world. What could possibly go wrong no-

Wait a minute, why's the latest protege glowing? Is he floating? What in the fu-

Inches away from death, Izuku's consciousness went soaring back in time.