'I have had the unique privilege of seeing three eras of heroics. I remember rejoicing when the New Heroes came to Japan after illuminating the Dark Age. I mourned the passing of Hero, and her lover Legion, whom I strongly believe inspired the best in us—Hero was powerful, just, and a firm believer in the law. And I was there when the first hero agency was founded. My experiences have given me the perspective I lacked as a youth. And this perspective is simple: all things change and the old order must give way to new ways. The only question is whether power is given freely or through force.'
—Excerpt from 'Reminiscing on the Final Hour' by Hinata Ononoki.
Hisashi Midoriya is tired of blood and death. Not because he's tired of killing. No, he's ordered enough deaths and fought for his right to live in the abyss long enough that he understands that the weak fall to the strong. No, he's tired because he is no closer to returning his son to his wife.
The massive assault being planned has forced him to the side-lines; a joint attack between the military, heroes and the imperial household. And he isn't allowed to participate. All because Inko commanded that All Might kill All For One. Hisashi, right now, is nothing more than a contingency should All Might fail. A final ditch attempt when all hope is lost.
She doesn't trust him to protect their son and that, more than anything else, leaves him tired. Still, she gave him orders earlier. That's why he's in a League bunker hidden below a military base abandoned in the Dark Age. The earth around it is a noxious gas filled place, toxic and hazardous to humans.
There are many creatures in the abyss more than capable of empowering Hisashi. Whilst he could do that, the more expedient process is simply to open a doorway right in the middle of the base and let the World Walker deal with the rest.
Twenty minutes later, he's wading through a pool of blood, annoyed that the World Walker isn't very good at keeping things clean. He gets a sense of annoyance from the mental construct in the back of his mind. He sighs fondly and retrieves his phone when it rings.
It is Inko. He stares at her name, his fingers hesitating. He forces himself to answer.
"Yes?"
"You need to come here now."
She cuts the call before he can reply.
There is a pile of corpses in the corner being consumed by a creature with a dozen arms flickering between multiple dimensions. He's owed that debt for years now, a short time for a creature existing above and below time.
"I hope you're done because I need to go," he tells the creature.
It... doesn't look up because that implies it has eyes to look with and a head to raise. Rather, it contorts the appendage with the most sensory organs through sixth-dimensional space and down to third-dimensional space to observe Hisashi.
/World Walker, this debt is fulfilled/
The creature slips between a dozen dimensions before finding one that will let it step sideways between this universe and a portal to the deeper levels of the abyss that will exist in the far future. It gives Hisashi a headache watching it depart.
He makes sure to wipe his hands clean before leaving. No reason to literally come home with the blood of his enemies. This is his eighth cell since the war started, and though it may be taxing, Hisashi will never shirk a task Inko gives him.
For her, he will commit genocide if she asks. It may not be healthy, but power and obsessive love aren't a gentle mix. That raw, unfiltered love, like the exploding Sun consuming the Earth it adores, is what kept him going through a hundred different worlds. If she demands the blood of their enemies as atonement for his failings then everyone who has ever wronged them should fear because Hisashi does not know mercy.
He warps to the complex his family has lived in for the better part of twenty years. It is the shabbiest of the homes here, all owned by political defectors and wealthy informants living in Japan at the Emperor's leisure.
His home is just as he remembers it though it feels colder without Izuku's constant presence here. There are no sparks of green lightning flitting between the shadows, only visible in the corner of your eye. It almost seems as though his son never lived here. Yes, his books and memorabilia are visible, but that doesn't really define his son.
His son may appear human on the surface but calling him that is a lie. Hisashi has seen the medical scans from months ago, long before his son fully embraced his powers as shadowking. Even then, his body was a network of crystal lattices and aberrations. Now, though Izuku may not notice it, every shadow is darker around him and he leaves traces of green lightning wherever he goes, a physical marker of his raw presence. If they took another scan there likely wouldn't be anything human beneath his skin.
No matter. It still feels good to be home. His wife is in the kitchen making a cup of something that isn't coffee for once. Strange. She drinks coffee like it's water.
"Hello, Inko."
To your left, the World Walker says, irritated.
He glances to the left. There is a boy that isn't Izuku in his home, six, maybe seven years old, and wearing a cap.
Hisashi blinks because he's pretty sure he doesn't have any bastard children. Of all things he's done, he's never once been unfaithful to Inko. And this kid looks nothing like Inko to be her child.
"Old man," the kid says, not a polite greeting so much as an insulting statement of fact.
He looks to his wife who has a softer expression on her face. It isn't for his benefit.
"This is Kouta Izumi."
He nods, sifting through a dozen different threads of information stored in the back of his brain. Admittedly, he hasn't been keeping up with everyone kidnapped. Other than his son, none of them really matter to him.
"Great, but what does—"
"You look like him," the boy says bluntly. "Like Izuku."
"How exactly do you know my son?"
"Because we were kidnapped together. He told me to ask for Hisashi Atakani."
He decides he isn't sober enough for this but it also makes too much sense. That name, the name he held before marrying Inko, always registers a priority flag. He didn't know Izuku knew that but his son has always been smart.
"Alright," Hisashi decides. "What did my son say?"
"That you'd do right by me."
Hisashi closes his eyes, accepting the responsibility. His son entrusted him with this boy and he doesn't mean to betray Izuku's trust further. Not after how often he has failed Izuku. The greatest failing was simply never watching him grow up.
"I'll go prepare the spare room," he says before heading up.
From every report, Kouta is the child of the deceased Water Hose team, taken in by his aunt Mandalay. Mandalay, who is part of the Wild Wild Pussycats of whom Tiger is dead and the other three have been kidnapped.
Which means the child has no one else. Hisashi would have absolutely no interest in him if not for Izuku. But because his son is who he is, kind and gentle and forgiving, Hisashi will do his best to keep the boy safe.
So, over the next few days when the authorities attempt to extract every ounce of information regarding All For One, Hisashi or Inko is with him at all times. Neither of them gives the kid bullshit platitudes about everything being alright. Given that Inko is a step away from walking towards a battlefield and devastating it, that she can keep be gentle towards Kouta is an accomplishment.
It has the added benefit of letting Hisashi be at home with his wife. They rarely speak except to communicate important information. It hurts but he understands her anger, understands how he is at fault for much of what is happening. The distance between them was made by Hisashi and only Inko can shorten it.
"Are you guys getting divorced?" Kouta asks him bluntly, looking through one of Izuku's notebooks.
Hisashi shrugs. They're in Izuku's room because Kouta has a massive case of hero worship. Large enough that he's taken a crack at many of Izuku's incredibly dry books on philosophy.
"I don't know."
"You're nothing like him. You just look the same."
"I would hope not. He takes after his mother." Hisashi smiles. "He looks up to her, you know. She's strong and brave and fierce."
Excitement sparks across Kouta's features. "He does?"
"He does," Hisashi agrees.
Tonight, is the night this war ends.
Twenty days after the first battle, the heroes and villains will wage the final battle of this war. Kouta is fast asleep, courtesy of the sedative Hisashi laced his drink with. It may not be ethical, but he's committed such terrible acts that making sure a kid sleeps through something traumatic might as well be a good thing.
He and Inko are watching the assault on the news. All Might who battles a villain as tall as a building and a hero team led by Endeavour bogged down by a multitude of villains.
Hisashi knows the moment someone enters his home. There are dozens of security systems in his home and getting past them is a feat.
He looks to his wife. Inko somehow knows as well that someone is in their home. She's looking to Izuku's room.
"Do what you will," she tells him.
"Alright."
He removes the gun from his jacket and ascends the stairs carefully, ready to breathe a gout of flame against any intruder. Kouta's in the spare room and his door hasn't been disturbed. Cautiously, using the door as a shield, he enters Izuku's room.
Inside is a lizard man decked out in light armour. He recognises him as a member of the Vanguard Action Squad and raises his gun, ready to shoot him. Until he notices the body in man's arms.
Momo Yaoyorozu. One of his son's classmates and daughter to the very wealthy and powerful Yaoyorozu family. There are too many possibilities for Hisashi to guess wrong so he chooses not to.
"Explain," Hisashi orders the lizard, gun trained straight on his forehead.
The man sets Yaoyorozu down and takes a step back, hands outstretched to show they are empty.
"Your son told me to bring her here."
Hisashi already knows where this is going. And considering that it is Izuku, he doesn't find it too shocking. Still, he needs confirmation. He flicks the safety of the gun.
"Ten seconds or I have to explain to my wife why there's a dead body."
"If I was to see you, I'm to tell you that your ceiling is his floor," the lizard says, confused. "And that if it was a woman, that Mikumo Atakani would want him to be a hero."
Hisashi sighs, lowering the gun. Both of those are things only he and Inko know. Izuku would die before he revealed secrets like that to his enemies.
"If my son survives, I'll rescind the kill order on you. Until then, if you try to leave, I will hunt you down and kill everything you've ever loved."
"He said both of you would threaten me with that."
Hisashi can't help his smile. It isn't happy or kind or even forgiving. No, it's a smile promising death.
"Good. Because I don't care about his thoughts and feelings. If he doesn't come back unharmed, your death will be slow and painful."
That, of course, is when the ground starts shaking.
"Oh shit," he snarls, knowing what's about to come. "Grab her!"
He runs towards Kouta's room, grabbing the boy before he can fight off the bleariness of the sedative.
"Hisashi," Inko demands, staring at Spinner and Yaoyorozu and the trembling ground. "Explain."
"No time."
He's thankful it's just the five of them. Five is the limit of his power, the maximum number of entities that he can take with him.
He opens a doorway below them and they all fall through. He opens another whilst they scream and they travel through that one as well.
They land in the middle of a darkened room that lights up when Hisashi snaps his fingers.
"We're in Korea," he says before anyone can ask. "It's a safe house."
"What's going on?" Kouta asks blearily.
Hisashi opens a gateway behind Spinner and gestures him away before Kouta sees him. That's not a conversation he wants to deal with.
Thankfully, Spinner is smart enough not to argue.
He snaps his fingers again and the screen on the wall comes to life. On it is the sight of All For One standing in the ruins of a devastated city. On one side is a casualty count that just keeps rising and rising.
"Possibly the total destruction of Japan." Hisashi shrugs. "That or the best fight ever. Even odds, I'd say."
-TDB-
Toshinori Yagi walks through a devastated city.
This is but one of many that have been ruined by his nemesis. Skyscrapers toppled over. Great ravines bisecting cities. Towns sunk beneath the waves. Hospitals and schools shattered by raw power.
It breaks his heart to ignore those who are trapped and calling out for salvation but defeating All For One is more important than a hundred thousand people who will die because he chose to ignore them.
The path to a bright future lays beyond the hurdle that is his nemesis. The villain stands in the middle of what was once a thriving warehouse district and now is nothing more than a ruined crater with founts of magma here and there. There is ash and rubble and death all around them and the villain seems at home in the chaos.
He may be tired from running half the length of Japan. He may be slightly off after destroying two rampaging hurricanes. He may be weary after losing Izuku for so long.
Regardless, he stands to oppose All For One.
This is the last battle. It must be. This is where Toshinori will fulfil Nana Shimura's legacy and those that came before her. Seven generations of torchbearers have culminated in Toshinori Yagi standing here. Now he will end what should never have begun.
"Hello, Toshinori. Have you come to die like the rest?"
Toshinori doesn't bother replying.
The wildfire of One For All, seven generations of power passed down for this one moment, rages within him. He lets that heat fill his body, forces it to perfect every muscle and bone and organ until he is the most Perfect Fighter to exist in this modern era.
In a fraction of a second, he crosses the distance between them. He takes pleasure in seeing his nemesis's surprise right before Toshinori's fist strikes him in the liver.
The villain chokes on his spit before he goes flying, spinning uncontrollably. Toshinori leaps towards him, not willing to let up on the advantage. He fires a blast of tightly controlled air that slams All For One straight down into the ground.
He strikes once then twice then thrice then a dozen times, each air blast stronger and more tightly contained than the last. This is his greatest opportunity to end the fight cleanly.
His enhanced reactions let him see what looks like the air beside his face shattering. Toshinori raises his hands to block the sudden wave of force. It hits like a mountain falling on his arms, heavy in a way that is absurd.
Just as he's managed to deal with that, All For One is rocketing through the air towards him, his arm grotesquely large with stolen quirks.
Toshinori kicks the air to retreat. Then he feels a burst of force hit him in the back, startling him and forcing him back in place.
He has no choice but to meet All For One's blow.
The explosive force from their fists meeting is thunderous. It is raw energy and power that tears through the air. When it meets the crumbled buildings, it shatters them as though they are fragile glass.
For All Might, all he knows is that his fist feels like it is on fire. Bones cracked and knuckles broken after one simple exchange. No matter.
He punches with his other arm. Just before he makes contact, the air beneath his fist shatters and a blast forces his strike to miss.
He has a moment to curse before All For One punches him straight in the chest. The magnitude of the blow is beyond anything he's felt before. It forces out every breath in his lungs and sends him flying to the ground.
The concrete below breaks as Toshinori's body digs deep. For a full ten seconds, he has no control as he is forced through the ground by a single punch.
Eventually, he stops falling. He takes a moment to get his breath back.
Then he hears the rumbling from all around him. He glances up and barely sees the speck that is All For One. The villain waves at Toshinori.
"Oh, shit."
The ground explodes.
The force hits him in every direction, a million blows that can't be blocked. It is like every horrendous blow he has taken in his entire career all at once. His organs jostle from the force, his bones creaking.
Toshinori tenses through the pain. Grits his teeth. Flexes his muscles.
It sends a wavefront of power that neutralises the vibrations for a fraction of a second. That fraction is all he needs to rocket out the ground.
He lands heavily, bruised and battered and bloody. Something in his chest is definitely broken but he can't let that pain show or All For One will take advantage of it.
"Are you warmed up?" his nemesis asks, stretching his arm. "Killing the other team was a fun way to get the blood pumping."
Toshinori spits blood on the ground in response.
All For One chuckles. "I'll be spilling a lot more. Don't go wasting it already."
The air gets heavier suddenly. It makes a high-pitched sound that grates on his ears. All Might sees the way it sharpens and becomes a thousand blades capable of cutting through steel.
The villain raises his bad arm, the one with black veins and a dark presence. Then he clenches his fist.
A thousand air blades come crashing down. They cut through layers of concrete and destroy what remained of the buildings behind them. This is a technique to kill armies, to leave nothing but a million bloody bits and pieces.
It is nothing to All Might.
He roars, remembering Nana's impeccable defiance. He remembers her bravery and compassion as he gathers his power. It is fire and heat and a legacy so heavy that it crushes him some days.
Most days it frees him.
Toshinori flings both fists forward and creates his largest air blast ever. It is a dome a hundred metres long of raw and unfiltered force. It annihilates All For One's attack and races towards the villain.
The villain says something that Toshinori doesn't hear before punching with his good arm. Like glass, the sky shatters. Like always, a wave of force rushes out and meets Toshinori's counter.
The two forces battle, raging against each other. Then they fade. Without continual sustenance, they cannot survive long.
There is no signal that forces them towards each other. Yet, they both know the battle must continue until only one victor remains.
All Might punches cleanly, a blow that All For One deflects easily. The force of it continues onwards for a few kilometres, shattering everything in its way. All For One generates a blade of compressed, rotating winds. All Might catches it between his elbow and knee, not caring for the laws of nature. He's learnt to ignore such trifling concerns.
He headbutts the villain and it feels like hitting a steel pole. When he pulls back, a metallic sheen covers All For One's forehead.
"This strength. This power. How did you regain the power of your prime?"
"That has nothing to do with you!"
AFO chuckles. "Do you think this strength is enough to match me. You drove me back because I didn't take you seriously. I will show you no mercy."
All Might knows all that.
Even at the height of his power, he won only because All For One thought Toshinori defeated and let his guard down. He had stolen a stalemate from the jaws of defeat. Even when they fought, All For One hadn't shown this power to destroy cities with impunity.
He was toying with me.
None of that matters. He is the greatest hero and he will defeat this villain. Not because he thinks himself superior or even an equal, but because there is no one else who can stand on this stage, no one in the world who can even battle AFO.
He alone in the world can possibly close the gap and win.
"I will kill you today," Toshinori says.
All Might has one advantage and only one. All For One is already injured. That left arm of his dangles at his side, only sometimes used, and he has a suspicion the villain is using a quirk to puppet it. He is burnt, notably on his leg and right arm. A deep gash runs the length of his chest, a puncture wound through his shoulder, and there are small scratches across his exposed torso.
This is all that seven of Japan's greatest heroes managed. Together, facing one man, they managed to inflict a few minor injuries that he ignores.
It must be enough. All Might refuses to let their sacrifice go to waste.
Enji, thank you. You paved the way to my victory with each blow. You better be alive.
When their fists meet, the shockwave is like an explosion. A trench a mile long forms at the boundary where two unstoppable forces meet.
The fists meet again and the air screams with the force of it. Once more, their fists meet and the ground trembles beneath the power of physical gods battling.
Toshinori knows why All For One is meeting him fist for fist. This is nothing more than a tactic to demoralise him. There are dozens of quirks he could use. Instead, the villain uses raw strength to meet his strongest blows as if they are nothing.
He fights without hesitation. Every block he makes must be perfect. Every counter or deflection cannot waste an ounce of motion. Every attack must be aimed to kill.
He must be the Perfect Fighter to simply survive.
All Might may not be the strongest or fastest or most experienced. But no matter the enemy, he has always been greater in at least two of those categories.
All For One's grotesque arm punches with enough force that Toshinori is pushed back. More than half his blows are avoided by quick ducks and weaves. And every plan he makes is countered long before he can initiate it.
All Might is the greatest hero, the exemplar of society. He is the most perfect combatant alive today.
The world looks to him when they think of the greatest fighter alive. He may not be a legend of the past, may not be their equal, but he fully deserves to be counted amongst them as a peer. Any battle should be one he wins easily.
And he just doesn't have it.
He slams his hands together reflexively, creating a high-pressure front that annihilates the fine control of All For One's coming wind attack. It leaves him exposed to a straight punch to the liver.
All Might roars and brings his clasped hands down in an overhead blow. It strikes the left arm the villain has rarely used since the battle has started.
Enraged, All For One hits him with a glowing fist. The strike sends Toshinori flying through a dozen buildings and to the other side of the city.
He has maybe half a second to regain his bearings before All For One is above him, roaring in anger. The villain brings down a glowing fist that Toshinori barely manages to twist around.
With the side of his hand, Toshinori strikes the villain in the torso. All For One gasps in pain, his defence broken.
All Might slams a knee in his chest. Once again, he hits steel instead of flesh. Except this time, he feels it yielding to his power. He roars and keeps pushing, keeps drawing on the wildfire of his quirk to enhance his power.
He hears the steel shatter.
Come on, All Might pleads, one fist ready to end this.
Then he's hit by a blast of compressed air. It forces him away. He tumbles roughly, a long trench forming in the wake of his flight.
He lands carefully on the ground. This part of the city hasn't been completely shattered. Perhaps that is why he can hear civilians in the nearby area. He can heart the screams of fear and howls of pain, the terror that grips children, and the horror at seeing this devastation. Throughout the cruelty of All For One's cataclysmic attack across the country, these people had managed to survive.
All Might has brought the battle to them.
I need to—
"Get me away from the civilians," the villain interrupts, rising from the ground.
All For One wipes the blood away from his mouth. Despite all the damage All Might has done, the villain hardly seems to notice it.
"That's how Nana died. Are you going to repeat her mistake?"
All Might knows he can't. There's no one else but Izuku who can possibly match this villain and Izuku just isn't ready. No matter how much power he has, he doesn't have the experience to survive. He may be fast and quick enough to react to All Might at half power, but even Hawks could do that. Hawks is dead.
They meet once more in the middle, fist clashing against fist. Except there is no wave of force this time.
All For One frowns before punching again. Once more, All Might blocks the blow with another. Once more, there is no wave of force.
"Amazing," the villain says. "You would have failed this technique last we fought."
It is a simple technique.
All he has to do is to match All For One's blow perfectly with the exact force and angle to neutralise the blast wave. It takes an incredible amount of precision just to read how much force All For One will use and even greater concentration to equalise it.
This is all he can do to protect the civilians as their battle tears through the city. The worst part is that his nemesis constantly pushes him back, away from the devastation and closer to the civilians. And there's nothing he can do to halt it.
All Might may be stronger physically, but All For One uses his metal strengthening quirk or a quick burst of kinetic amplification to bridge that gap. He may be more technically gifted as a fighter, but All For One gives him no chance to bring that to bear, always using ranged quirks from odd angles.
This is nothing like their last fight. All For One is out for blood. There is no taunting. Just pure and unrelenting combat.
All Might sees the glow around All For One, sees the way the air for miles around shatters. This is an attack meant to destroy what remains of the city and hopefully, All Might as well.
He isn't such a fool as to let an enemy have the time to build-up a devastating blow.
He thinks of Izuku, thinks of his incredible speed. Toshinori may not be lightning given form, but for a moment, he can emulate the pure technique of his successor's movements.
Faster than he's ever moved before, Toshinori closes the distance, a wave of superheated air catching on fire behind him. The friction from the air sets his body alight but the flames are too weak to harm him.
Besides, a flaming fist only makes his blow stronger.
His fist slams across the villain's mask, shattering it. All For One spins through the air, his control of his quirk vanishing.
Toshinori flexes, extinguishing the flames. It's a good technique to use. He just wished he invented it years before and had the time to mix it with his air blasts.
The one victory is short-lived.
All For One is implacable. He never retreats, never hesitates, and his inexorable approach never stops. He stops giving All Might chances and instead simply rains devastation down with his two quirks.
Every block All Might makes is to block no less than three attacks at once. Every counterattack means he must weave through a dozen attacks to reach the villain. And when he blocks a single blow, he blocks enough raw strength to shatter the city a dozen times over.
All For One stops his endless assault, cracking his neck. The man doesn't look tired. No, if anything, he looks like he's just started enjoying this.
"I haven't had a fight this fun in centuries."
Toshinori doesn't respond. He's too occupied with trying to get oxygen in his lungs. He doesn't understand how All For One has enough energy for small talk when it's taking everything Toshinori has just to stay standing. His ribs are broken, knuckles bloody. His right leg is about to collapse and he's had fix his dislocated left shoulder twice.
The villain is ancient and injured. He should be the one failing to breathe. Not Toshinori who is a quarter his age.
Then the villain laughs. It is deep and full and sounds genuinely joyful.
"You don't understand how weak I've become. Honestly, it's shameful that I've let myself go so much. When I was your age, I would have won already." All For One grins. "Battles like this defined my youth. Can you imagine it, Toshinori? We were gods amongst men and I stood above them all."
The villain rises off the ground and floats above Toshinori. He is a summit that so many have tried to scale, a pinnacle that no one has reached in two centuries. Toshinori plans on seeing him fall to the ground.
"Toshinori, I've decided, you are worthy of my brother's quirk. Let me show you my strength."
Toshinori prepares as this will be the one that decides whether there is a chance of victory.
He hears the wind as it picks up and the clouds rumble angrily. He watches as sudden vortexes of swirling wind manifest, cyclones rampaging at the whims of a cruel villain.
The villain raises his bad hand and the winds there swirl faster and faster until they form a massive drill of tightly compressed air and blades of wind in layers spinning counter to each other. It sounds like steel breaking and feels as heavy as the depths of the ocean.
This attack is powerful enough to tear through half the city and annihilate anything in its path. This isn't an attack for anything less than complete and utter annihilation.
Toshinori calls upon the strength of One For All and lets the wildfire within empower him. He forces his body to relax in preparation. This block must be perfect, a single continuous set of motions that are individually perfect and together reach far beyond perfection.
For a moment, he feels a hand on his shoulder and knows it is the spirit of Nana Shimura, here with him as always. He takes heart knowing that she will always watch over him.
All For One launches the attack.
With a roar, All Might leaps towards it. He draws everything he has and punches the drill of compressed air.
It pushes at him, an unyielding force capable of destroying everything behind him. No more deaths will come from this fight. No more civilians will die. That is a promise he intends on keeping. Even if it means dying.
The drill fights against the force of his punch, screeching in rage as it attempts to destroy him. It is the single greatest force All Might has ever tried to push back, the heaviest weight he has ever lifted and the hardest material he's ever felt. But he feels it give way, inch by bloody inch.
He roars, pumping more and more power into his fist. Come on, he thinks, feeling it shift back even more.
"You should pay more attention to your surroundings," All For One whispers, standing right beside him.
All Might's eyes widen in horror. He sees the way his nemesis's fist glows and the air around it shatters. Then the villain raises his arm to punch Toshinori.
Toshinori twists aside as much as he can but the villain is too close to avoid the attack. The blow hits him on the left side where his old injury was. It tears through his defence, ripping through flesh and muscle and organs. Part of him is focused solely on the agonising pain. A greater part is focused on how he's losing the strength to fight against the drill.
All Might grits his teeth. With his left arm, he grabs All For One. He stops fighting the drill and in a single fluid movement, their positions are reversed.
He catches a glimpse of the villain's utter panic.
"FUCK!"
The sky shatters once more as the villain musters an instinctive defence against the attack. It won't be enough. Not against an attack like this.
All Might grins just as the drill hits them.
BOOM.
The explosion is catastrophic.
A thousand blades of wind lash out across the city, cutting through buildings and bridges and people with complete indifference. The shockwave knocks downs anyone who survives the blast and sets off a thousand smaller explosions across the city. The force disintegrates homes and flattens cars, shatters every piece of glass in the city and deafens anyone who managed to survive.
Even with All For One taking the brunt of the blow, it is still the worst pain Toshinori has ever felt. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever hit him this hard.
All Might isn't sure how he survives. His world is unrelenting pain and agony, a blow that exceeds his memory of his last fight against All For One. He rolls to the side, roaring in pain.
He tries to stand but falls back down.
"It's over."
I did it, Nana, he thinks, wheezing. I did it, Enji. Hawks, Aizawa, I wish you could see this. I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough.
It doesn't matter if he can't get up because he will never need to again. This moment is everything he has been working towards, this one victory the culmination of his life. He wishes he could see Izuku again, wishes his successor could see this magnificent act of defiance.
He lays his hand on his wound, feeling the emptiness there. It's a burning void of pain that any regular man would have died to already.
Be strong without me.
At least, with this, Izuku can choose a road to the future without the great villain looming over him. With this one victory, he has given Izuku the greatest gift he can give.
He closes his eyes, ready to rest with a smile on his face.
"Magnificent!"
That voice sends chills down his spine. Whatever tiredness had threatened to overtake him vanishes and his eyes snap open.
As the smoke clears, he gets to see the villain. All For One is covered in his metal skin but even that failed against the last attacks. There are dozens of thick cuts across his body but even then, he stands tall and undaunted.
The metal skin fades away. All For One lays a hand over his shredded chest. To Toshinori's horror, the largest of the wounds stop bleeding.
"This isn't my strongest healing quirk," All For One says, breathing hard for the first time, blood covering his face. "Not even my second strongest—that one's stopping the necrosis from spreading. You see, Toshinori, the ability to keep on fighting is what separates each plateau of strength. There's a hole in your stomach. So what? I've fought without a heart. Get up and prove your worth."
He hates that it is a villain urging him to stand, hates that it is All For One more than anything. But the villain is right. He has no choice but to stand.
So, he does, standing on wobbly feet. His knees shake and his arms weigh heavily, but he forces them into a simple boxing stance.
All For One grins and it is a bloody thing. The villain slides into a stance as well.
Once more, they battle.
With the wound in his side, even throwing a punch feels like doing something impossible. The blows are weak and slow.
All For One ducks beneath the first and sidesteps the second. The villain punches Toshinori in the chest.
It pushes Toshinori back and it boggles his mind that All For One can match him like this. Each blow feels stronger than when they started and the villain had used an assortment of quirks then. Now, it is his natural strength matching blows with Toshinori.
"It's because your defence is gone," the villain says after kicking Toshinori in the face. "I've fought your quirk for over a century. Your defence is based entirely on the reserve of power you have. It weakens the longer a fight continues. You wouldn't notice. You're more powerful than most people in this era. None of them could outlast you."
All Might leaps forward and throws a straight punch. The villain twists around it and grabs his arm, locking him in place. Then his nemesis knees Toshinori in his left side. The side with a hole in it.
The pain is excruciating. It feels like a hot shaft of metal shoved into the hole and left to sit for hours, continually heated. It blinds him and all he sees is white.
He does, however, feel it when the villain flips him over and sends him crashing to the ground.
"It's a shame you can't match me," All For One says, circling around Toshinori's broken body. "You were right to pass it on. It needed another generation to be my equal. You came close but close is not enough on this level."
All Might grits his teeth and forces his body to move. Slowly, he rises to his knees. It takes the remaining reservoir of his strength to stand once more.
"Your successor would have been strong enough one day. It's a shame that he belongs to me now."
All Might isn't stupid enough to believe that or let those words affect him. Psychological attacks are just another part of All For One's arsenal.
The villain raises his damaged arm. A dark sludge appears in the air. All Might is prepared for another attack from this new quirk.
It spits out Izuku who shudders in disgust. Then the boy who is his son in all but blood stands.
"I hate getting lost," Izuku says, devoid of emotion. "Was it necessary to collapse the base on me?"
There is a coldness to Izuku. His determination runs frigid. Though he stands tall and strong, that strength looks distorted and corrupted. Standing beside Toshinori's greatest enemy, he is the dark vision Toshinori fears to the very depths of his soul.
The villain sees that fear and pounces on it.
"He's been a good student of mine. Is there anything you'd like to say, Izuku?"
Izuku looks around, eyes callous and cruel. He stares at the bodies and destruction as though they mean nothing to him.
"You taught me how to be strong and unflinching. You taught me every lesson a child could hope to learn. You're the greatest man I know, sensei."
This is the moment All Might gives up. What point is there in battling when the war has been lost. He feels the fire in his soul fade away.
All For One spreads his arms wide. He clicks his fingers and the collar around Izuku's neck falls away.
"Do you see now what you have wrought, Toshi—"
He is interrupted by the most beautiful sight Toshinori will ever see.
Izuku flows like lightning and strikes All For One in the back. The kick breaks the sound barrier and sends All For One stumbling forward.
For a moment, Izuku towers over the villain. His body glows brightly with power, green lightning surrounding him. The lightning arcs across the ground, a maelstrom of untapped potential. This is his successor in all his glory, wild and unrestrained.
"Thank you for teaching me, Toshinori-sensei."
All For One stands, eyes narrowed.
"Do you think you can face me, my boy? When there are all these civilians around?"
Izuku smiles cruelly and raises his hand.
The darkness deepens and in the depths of his soul, Toshinori feels something hunting him, a monster of epic proportions and unreal laws. It is the end of the universe, a world of anathema laws and creatures that consume joy and hope.
The shadows rise and Toshinori glimpses things that were never meant to be witnessed by mortal eyes. He hears a song that is death and feels the power that would destroy the stars. Whatever light there once was dies. The fires aren't gone but their light means nothing.
All For One tries attacking Izuku.
Toshinori isn't certain what his successor is doing but he trusts the boy more than he trusts the power of One For All. He blocks the villain's blow and feels his bones shatter at the power behind it.
"I'm not going to fight on your terms!"
The tidal wave of darkness engulfs them all, a torrent of power that has seen eternity's end and found the sight disappointing. It is the power of something ancient and eternal, a fundamental constant to the universe.
It is the power of a king.
And as the king commands, the world must obey.
It's like falling through molten diamond and flying in the corners of time, stepping back in time and witnessing the end of the universe. It is impossible and against every natural law.
He lands on something that can approximate to the ground but deep in his soul, he knows it to be the litanies of the unhallowed gods.
Toshinori looks around at this alien universe, unsure of anything he sees. He recognises the darkness. It is the same madness he has seen in Izuku's eyes and the inky foundation of his quirk.
He never once thought that it would be this magnificent. It is terrifying and awe-inspiring. This is his successor's quirk. This raw and unimaginable domain belongs to Izuku and Izuku alone. The universe is lit up by a foundation of green lightning, an impossible cage stretching across the universe.
Looking at Izuku, standing tall and defiant, he couldn't be prouder. This is his successor, someone who will become more powerful than Toshinori will ever imagine.
Izuku Midoriya is lightning and darkness given form, an unknowable king sitting on a throne of endless power.
"I didn't know empathy was a scalpel and kindness a hammer," Izuku says in a voice that reverberates across the world. "And you respond to them just like everyone else."
His nemesis is completely unphased.
-TDB-
All For One has seen the darkness of the abyss a few times before. Sometimes, when he travels through Kurogiri's warp gates, he feels as though creatures older than time are watching him. He has battled people corrupted by this dark realm and seen the consequences of the infection spreading, damned humans with veins of liquid gold and shimmering roots buried deep in the ground that must be burnt away. But he has never set foot in it.
Until today.
"Your arrogance is the reason you're going to die today," Izuku says. "Everything you taught me, I used against you."
All For One listens to the young boy—no, he deserves to be called a man—with only passing interest. He looks around this endless hellscape. There in the sky is a star stuck in its final moments, a sickly thing set to become a supernova that will destroy this star system and then a black hole to consume all that survives. Above them, engulfing the horizon are the rings of a gas giant, and the longer he looks the more he can make out the nightmares skimming across the surface.
It has been a long time since he learnt of this place, a century since he began observing a phenomenon mutating people in remote towns and mad cultists empowered by something alien, and decades since he met Hisashi Midoriya who told him the full truth. He looks to the man's son, so defiant and proud, his eyes burning with untold fears, but never once does Izuku seem broken.
"You rat," All For One says and hides the affection beneath malevolence. "Sleep, now."
There are dozens of quirks he has amassed, most of which are only known to him. A dart shoots from his nail faster than sound and strikes Midoriya in the neck. It is a quirk designed to paralyse and incapacitate those with regenerative power, a constantly mutating sedative that works instantly. The boy would crumple to the ground if not for Toshinori Yagi catching him.
"You're not walking away," Toshinori roars, a petulant child to the end, failing to understand the futility of his defiance.
There are many things Sensei regrets. He regrets the allies he failed to protect, lost to the cruel hand of the law and murderous heroes. He regrets his failings as a brother and wishes some days that he tempered his emotion to meet his sibling halfway. He regrets not caring for Tomura better and not letting Kurogiri raise him fully as a son.
He regrets not finding Izuku earlier.
I wish you had been my son. I wish we had more time, dear boy.
He regrets all these things and lets them pass. None of it will matter. He glances once more at Izuku, cradled in the arms of his nemesis.
This world I entrust to you. You're the greatest student a teacher could ask for. It's going to be hard but I have faith in you.
Knowing that the future he desires is secure, All For One returns to the present.
He removes the remnants of his mask and lets it fall to the ground; a reminder of the weakness forced upon him by his first loss. If he is to fall here, then he will do so as the greatest villain of Japan. His name will be remembered for centuries. This dark world demands theatre and so he will perform to the very end.
All For One chuckles darkly, spreading his arms. His malevolence permeates the very fabric of this plane, filling it with cruel spikes and hard edges of broken time. The ground cracks open and lava spills out, lances of entropy raining down from the sky and even malevolent gods landing to observe this conflict, shifting between dimensions and imposing evil logic upon the laws of this place.
"Perhaps. But I will win no matter the outcome."
He knows in the deepest recesses of his soul that he will fall today. Over two centuries of experience and knowledge crystallise into a single moment of understanding: today will be the final battle he fights.
All For One and One For All will die.
There can be no place for them in the new world he knows Izuku will create. And that is why he is at peace. Toshinori will always cling to his power, always try to shield Izuku from the future. Toshinori will always try to maintain this present.
It is his greatest weakness.
One For All is like fire and the land behind Toshinori is a blazing inferno, representative of the wildfire he still wields. And in that inferno, Sensei can see the ghosts of the past. Seven heroes whom he has killed stand protectively behind Toshinori, torchbearers made manifest to battle him once more.
He sees Nana Shimura, resplendent in her billowing cloak of flame and beautiful in her hatred. He sees his brother, smaller than the rest but just as confident, the wisdom of centuries worn like a fine mantle.
All of them will face him. The legacy his brother built and cultivated, a plan forged centuries ago, will come to fruition in this one battle. The full weight of One For All will clash against All For One.
Yet, no matter how intimidating the sight of the dead returned to life is, he knows they are fundamentally flawed. They are a dying fire, unable to exist without oxygen.
All For One knows he is just as arrogant as his nemesis. His methods and ideals are old, remnants of the past. But he has hope that Izuku will adopt them, mould and adapt them for the future. But even should he discard them in favour of another path, All For One is willing to accept that.
Izuku Midoriya is lightning given form, the greatest natural source of power on Earth and able to exist in the vacuum of space. He is the eternal darkness of this mad place and can never be tamed by any mortal means.
All you can do is place your faith in him and hope for the best.
"He is my successor, not yours." All For One takes a step forward, ready to meet eight holders of One For All, returned to life by the alien logic of this realm.
He is outnumbered. There is no chance of his survival. But, no matter what, he will still win.
The Strongest Man Alive gathers the strength of his most powerful quirks. Steel covers his skin in an impenetrable defence. A cyclone of violent wind circles his left arm. A glowing field that shatters the very fabric of reality surrounds his right arm.
Armed with his weapons of war, he takes a step forward.
"Show me the strength of your resolve, Toshinori."
He looks to the spectre of his brother. We've lived too long, he thinks. All for one person and one for all people. We were such fools.
He sees his brother nod, smiling. They have always known each other better than anyone else. Fitting that they are together at the end, enemies till the end.
Under the auspices of dreaming gods and eternal demons and the ghosts of the past, they fight once more.
The Strongest Man Alive and the Perfect Fighter wage their final war.
Two titans clash beneath a dying star.
-TDB-
Izuku wakes in a single moment, no sense of disorientation. He rolls to the side instinctively. He need not have.
Devastation greets him. The land has been decimated, craters and newly formed valleys as far as the eye can see. Gouges miles long litter the landscape, cooling lava rising from them and entombing the dozens of dread creatures in the grasp. He sees gods sundered by mundane power; their corpses impaled upon lances of entropy. The gas giant's rings are simply gone, destroyed by whatever cataclysm sundered this moon.
He walks forward in a daze.
"All Might," he calls out. "Yagi. Where are you? Toshi, can you hear me?"
There is no answer. At least, not one that he can hear. He trips and lands face first in the ground. Izuku groans.
He hears a whisper and looks up.
There is a ghost of blue fire and it beckons him closer. Izuku recognises him vaguely from a dreamlike memory. This is the first, the man who started it all. Izuku walks through the burning ghost and shudders at the heat that suffuses his body.
There is another behind the first, this one green. He walks through it, heat and warmth filling his soul. There is one of grey fire that stands resolute, joy permeating the flames Izuku absorbs from him.
He walks through four more burning ghosts before coming to the final one, a woman with a burning cape. She smiles and points behind her. Izuku knows her to be Nana Shimura and she is glorious, a brilliant gold flame of power. She is a beacon of power and justice, someone who would fight till the very end.
Izuku nods and walks through the final ghost, feeling his soul settle.
Something grabs his ankle.
He twists, ready to break whatever touches him with One For All. Its power fades at the sight of blonde hair, bloody and matted.
"Izuku," his hero whispers.
Izuku scrambles to his side. His mentor is missing an arm and bleeding heavily. It takes him a moment to notice the gaping hole in his side.
"No, no, no, no, no." Tears fall as he grips All Might's remaining hand. "You can't leave me."
Piercing blue eyes focus on him. His hero, his mentor, his father, grins, strong in a way he can never imagine. "Hold your head… up high a-and smile, my son."
His eyes close. For a moment he thinks Toshinori is gone but they open, burning blue with determination.
All Might lifts his hand. By all rights, he should be dead. And yet, he grips Izuku's trembling shoulders with a strength he shouldn't have.
"You are next," All Might rasps. "Walk forward and you…"
His grip grows lax. Izuku grabs his hand before it can fall.
"You will… meet…"
His eyes close.
"The sun."
He feels the embers of One For All vanish, travelling up Izuku's arm and to his heart. Izuku looks at this man, this colossus who stood above every hero as the symbol of peace. He is massive, the strength of his quirk with him till the very end. This is the hero All Might, not the man Toshinori.
And yet, Izuku knows his time is ended.
His howl is animal grief, raw and unfiltered. The sky breaks as he roars in rage, and shame, and a dozen different emotions he can't name. Green lightning arcs across the ground and the sky as he cries over this man who grins even in death.
And when the emotions have left him hollow and empty and numb, he rises. He looks to the star trapped in its final moments and raises his hand towards it. Instinct guides him as he lets every ounce of his power permeate the abyss.
"Grieve me with me," he snarls and tugs at the bonds of frozen time.
He has never seen a hypernova, never seen this event that outshines the universe for a moment. Its heat and light burn away the universe, empowered by his strength, and carrying a single word left behind in its wake: goodbye.
He stands alone in the dark, the corpse of his teacher at his feet. There is no light left in this universe, nothing but the emptiness in his soul.
I'm so sorry, brother.
What does it matter if he's sorry? Something so mundane as sorry can't bring him back. Toshinori is gone and there is nothing anyone can do.
"You truly did love him."
He glances over his shoulder and sees All For One's kneeling corpse. The cadaver lacks an arm and has a hole in his side, a mirror image of All Might.
"Yes," he says to the corpse for the dead deserve respect. "He believed in me. He was a father to me."
"Did I not teach you as well?" the corpse questions.
Izuku shrugs. "You did but you also took him from me. I hate you. I wish I could have killed you myself. I wish I could have ripped out your heart and broken your spine. For everything you took from me, I would have broken another bone."
The corpse chuckles. "Come closer, young king." Izuku does so, not able to stop his legs. "Was Stormwind a villain?"
He glares at the corpse.
Stain asked this question. A living All For One asked the same question. It isn't a simple answer. It is tied up in centuries of history, a Modern Hero Age built on betrayal and cruelty. To answer without thought is to insult the legacy of One For All, a legacy built on the promise of fratricide.
Were Hero and Hawkmoon not killers as well? Was the heroics industry not started by a government seeking power and control? Was it not that same government that allowed the murder of twenty million to go unpunished?
Was it not the same government that allowed a little girl in a sunflower dress to be called a villain and die?
"No."
He feels numb saying the word but, in his heart, he knows it to be the truth. Stain was a villain for fighting against an unjust society. In another time, he would have been called a revolutionary. In another time, Stain may have been great.
Stormwind freed Europe from true villains. Stormwind defeated seven Warlords. Stormwind died surrounded by those she loved.
"She was a Tyrant who can never be forgiven for the blood she spilt, but she wasn't a villain."
The corpse raises its remaining hand and rests it against its ruined chest. Light suffuses the hand and it tears through the skin and muscle and bone of its torso. The corpse yanks its hand out, gold mist spewing forth instead of blood.
In it rests a heart, still and dead as the corpse holding it. Yet, what meaning does undeath hold in the alien realm?
"I give you my heart. Consume my flesh and grow fat from strength. Give life to this dead heart."
His hands rise unbidden. How can he deny the request of a dead man he respects? He takes the heart, shining bright with power.
A human heart is large, and it takes both hands to hold it fully. This is the heart of a man who walked the earth like a god of destruction, so powerful that he stood undefeated for centuries. There is a strength within, the power to conquer and rule. This is the power of one who reached the pinnacle of strength and found no challengers. It is the bounty of two centuries of power, the tribute of a supplicant to a king.
Izuku eats it.
The corpse falls forward, whatever alien power maintaining the facsimile of life fading away. Izuku looks at it dispassionately.
He returns to All Might and kneels. With one arm beneath the man's knees and the other beneath his broad shoulders, Izuku stands. Green sparks dance across his skin and over All Might.
It is by instinct alone that the dark platform rises. A spear of green lightning forms and shoots away, tearing past the layers of the abyss.
The night sky of the mortal world is shrouded by ash and dust. The stars are bright pinpricks in the night, the moon bathing the world in soft, diffuse light. He hears the helicopters before seeing them, hears the anxious silence of the officers before he looks down.
The world waits, tense and expectant.
He takes one step forward and then another, leaving the corpse of All For One behind. The great villain is dead. The greatest menace Japan ever faced lies alone and forgotten in the rubble of his actions.
Izuku walks past battered heroes, paying them no heed. These are not people he knows and their actions matter little in the face of the greatness that was All Might. He crosses the police barriers. The crowd part, silent as they should be, for in his arms, he carries the Symbol of Peace.
The world may watch his solitary walk, but they do not matter. They never once knew him and now they never will. They will always see All Might and never Toshinori.
He looks to the sky once more and remembers the brilliance of the stars mourning his mentor.
"Goodbye."