A higher realm...
"He just keeps taking over Earth and he keeps getting more powerful each time!" A frustrated voice half yelled. "Every time we repeat the scenario he almost never wavers from that choice!"
"I still feel he's been wavering slightly. He may not remember the repetitions but they do appear to be having an effect on him." A much calmer voice said. "Let's try the scenario once more. Hopefully he'll change enough for us to leave this realm to him."
One more cycle later...
"He waged war on heaven and then sacrificed himself for Flonne this time." The calmer of the two voices said.
"Then his new Prinny form exploded because it couldn't contain his innate power." The other voice said with more than a hint of irritation in it. "His soul is too powerful for that level of punishment. Any demon form he takes wouldn't let the punishment stick."
"There is another option since he's technically half human." The calm voice said. "He could be reborn as a human. Not on this adjacent realm but another one. One where the extraordinary has become more... ordinary."
"Another human realm hmm?" The other voice said. "What of his memories?"
"This is more to increase the kindness of his soul, memories can only do so much because of his demonic heritage." The calm voice suggested.
"You would do this? To our own son?" The angrier voice said.
"If it means allowing him to grow into what the realms need? Yes." The first voice said. "You've seen his potential. His overwhelming power. He needs to have a heart to go along with it."
"One cycle in this other human realm. One and only one." The angrier voice said. "With some modifications that I'd been negotiating with the Celestial realm for the Netherworld."
"What of Flonne and Etna?" the calm voice wondered.
"They can rule in his stead as the changes to the netherworld take place." The angrier voice said. "It should be fine. I can still keep an eye on them if needed."
The Netherworld...
"We will find him." Flonne said with certainty in her voice.
"If you say so." Etna said with a shrug.
Another Earth...
"Congratulations Mrs. Midoriya, it's a boy!" A doctor told an exhausted woman as he handed her the newborn baby. "With a full head of hair no less."
It could have been the painkillers she was on, but she could have sworn some of her son's hair looked more like horns. "Hello Izuku." She said softly. "It's nice to meet you."
Her child didn't say much. He was a baby after all.
A few months later...
"How did he...?" Mrs Midoriya said as somehow her son's favorite blanket was now torn in half and was acting as a makeshift scarf.
Small things made her think her son had manifested a quirk early on. She'd brought it up on each check up but the doctors didn't see what she did.
A toy hammer that shook the room when he banged it into the floor.
A somewhat rare book that enabled her son to talk at a young age, but only while holding it.
A cardboard tube that didn't dent even when he banged it really hard against anything.
These were just some of the things she'd seen her son do while his father was away at work.
It made her worried, but also made her quite proud as well.
A few years later...
"Ha ha ha!" Izuku said as he shot his dart gun at the toy target his mother had gotten him.
It only took his mother a moment to realize that despite the large number of shots, her son hadn't needed to reload the toy.
"That's another for the list." She said to herself.
Just then the target disappeared into motes of light.
Her son stared at the gun than at the missing target. "What's level up mean?" He asked her.
"Deep breaths." Inko said to herself. "Deep breaths. It means we're going to have to look at stuff a little more closely honey."
Izuku nodded. He felt... better? More clear-headed? Something.
A while later...
Inko Midoriya was convinced her son had a quirk despite what the doctors said. Whatever it was, it was something more than they'd seen before. So she did her research and learned that the best analysis quirk known belonged to the Principal of UA High himself, Nezu.
Thankfully, he read her letter.
"So he has affinities for things that make him stronger?" Nezu said. "Things like mittens, books, toy guns and the like?"
"That's why I'm glad you provided those so you can see that I'm not trying to fake anything." Inko said as she shrugged slightly at her still awestruck son.
"So, mass produced items have minimal affects but rarer items are stronger?" Nezu asked.
"It seems that way. He's smarter holding a rare pre-quirk era book than he is holding his schoolbooks."
Nezu nodded. He'd prepared for this with two nearly identical foam swords that had plastic cores.
"Okay, Izuku. I want you to take this first sword and hit this cinder-block until that thing your mother told me about happens." Nezu said as he handed the young boy the first sword.
Izuku nodded and then got into an amateur stance and began hitting the cinder-block with overhead swings.
After 5 swings of the sword, the cinder-block dissolved into golden motes of light.
"Interesting." Nezu said. "Now do the same to the next block with the other sword."
Izuku nodded again and did the same with the 2nd sword and block. It only took 2 swings.
"What's the difference?" Inko asked.
"One of those swords was autographed by me." Nezu said with a grin. "I don't do a lot of autographs."
"You made the item rarer." Inko said with a laugh. "So... do you believe me?"
"I do." Nezu said. "What does this gift of your son's do to living objects?"
"We haven't tested that." Inko said sternly. "Don't ask him to."
"What about an apple?" Nezu asked.
"Can I do the thing?" Izuku asked, pointedly ignoring the idea of killing anything.
"Go ahead." Inko said, happy for the distraction.
Izuku nodded and pulled a scarf out of...somewhere. Once he put it on, the scarf flapped ominously in a nonexistent breeze.
Nezu looked at it for a moment before sighing. "This is going to take some thought." He admitted.
A week and a half later...
"Gloves, Axes, Staffs, Spears, Guns, Books, Bows and Swords." Nezu summarized as he used a pointer at a dry erase board. "These are the items we've been able to identify that you can use to 'Attack' things. Honestly this looks a lot like old fashioned video game mechanics. On top of that due to our experimenting we've managed to unlock a few different attacks you just 'know' how to do."
"Blade Rush and Hurricane Slash were the easiest." Izuku said with a nod. "I can only do so many a day though. I have a limited reserve I can pull from for all of them."
"We'll put that under Skill points or maybe Magic Points." Nezu said. "It would be easier if we could see stats or a tutorial or something."
"Tutorial?" Izuku asked just before something popped up in front of his face.
Nezu sighed. He really should have said that out loud earlier.
Two months later...
"Interesting." Nezu said. "Stealing hand huh?"
"Yeah. It showed up this morning. I can take items or sometimes stats." Izuku said. "I took some defense from the garbage can by the bus stop this morning!"
Nezu's eyes started sparkling. "Izuku you and I are going to abuse the hell out of this!"
"Swear Jar!" Izuku said holding up glass jar he'd pulled from his inventory.
Nezu sighed before fishing in his pockets for a coin or two. "This is what I get for getting excited."
"That and if you don't pay I'll tell my mom!" Izuku said with a nod as he rattled the jar a little.
Time goes by...
Stat Theft was an ultimate hack for Izuku. The chances of success and the range of it both increased as he continued to use it. He was able to use it on multiple objects each day, and their stats reset themselves daily. The increases weren't as high as a natural level up, but they stacked up when he could do it multiple times on a daily basis.
Per Nezu he was supposed to focus on HP, MP, Def and Res.
His nickname lately was Tiny Tank.
Things had gotten much better for both Midoriyas since Nezu had taken Izuku under his paw. Inko was working as the Principal's Personal Assistant and Izuku was being schooled by both during the day.
Schoolwork was a lot easier when the textbooks themselves made you smart enough to understand the very things you were studying.
Izuku got stronger, but he still felt like he was missing something. Sometimes he got the urge to snap orders, but there wasn't anyone around to follow them.
Nezu almost laughed when Izuku explained it.
"You want minions huh?" Nezu asked. "Or should I say sidekicks?"
Inko sighed. "How about friends?" She offered.
"Semantics." Nezu said with a shrug. "How about a pet?"
"Like a kitty?" Izuku said with adorably wide eyes.
A few days later...
"How did you turn a cat into a cat-girl?" Nezu asked Izuku with a sigh.
"I have no idea." Izuku told him honestly. "I told her she was my minion and then like all of my MP and some of my HP flowed into her."
Said cat-girl tried walking through a window only to bounce off of it. She rubbed her nose before trying the action again.
"Next time try increasing intelligence a little. In the meantime, give her some glasses. That should help if she operates on some of the same mechanics as you."
Izuku nodded and pulled out a pair of X-ray specs for his new minion to wear.
Things were just getting stranger for the 'Quirkless' child.
TBC...
Just finished a couple of run-throughs of Disgaea D1 Complete starting in Etna mode. Etna mode was a wee bit harder than the regular story-line till I stat farmed enough Armsmasters and Statisticians.