Jpx099 - Indeed, All Might is here :D
Lestat719 - Thank you! :D
TheGreatBubbaJ - Aye :D
Draxsis Felhunter - All Might did, in fact, get a nice push to do it right now... and the effects do not disappoint indeed. RIP MLF.
Detrametal - Funny you've mentioned Decay ;v Anyways, Decay and Overhaul both are... significantly different characters than their canon selves, let me tell you that much. It will all be explained eventually :P
The Dragon - Hopefully it'll continue to be so :D
(***)
Izuku's group didn't get too deep into the Labyrinth. No Shoto with them, and less equipment than they would be comfortable with.
Thankfully, the gunfire on the surface died down… but no one has, clearly, tried to follow them. They didn't even see any of the attackers before disappearing underground.
The Labyrinth is damp, dirty, and all-around nasty. Izuku stopped being surprised by the fact that no one tried to take it over - he wouldn't want to live there either.
The mold, fungi and whatever else lived on the walls of that particular section of the Labyrinth made him desire a hot bath immensely. And he didn't even touch it.
"Well, things really fucked up, didn't they?" Bakugou says loudly.
"Y-yeah, to attack the school, that's…" Toga replies first. "... that's madness, the Principal is a Demi-Power, you don't just…"
"They either don't know about him, and this will end quickly…" Izuku replies. "... or they know about him and figured out a way to deal with him. Which means that things are going to get ugly."
He really doesn't see any alternatives to those two options.
"I think we should stay here for some time, someone will certainly come looking for us, and…" Izuku tries to do his leadership thing, but that's when Uraraka speaks.
"Uhm, what's that?" She says, pointing to the corner of the room they were in.
Something was there.
Said something appeared to be an amalgamation of mold and fungi, a multi-coloured gurgling mass about a meter above the floor that suddenly began to expand rapidly, spreading around a stench most horrible.
"Oh, crap, what now?!" Bakugou groans, taking a few steps back. He probably has bad memories from the Filth Bomb.
A second later the bubble pops up. No explosion, instead something heavy falls to the ground. A humanoid figure, covered in foul-smelling filth.
"Ah, fuck, that was freaking terr…" Decay says, standing up, pausing instantly when his eyes meet the group in front of him. "... what the fuck?"
Midoriya would like to know the answer to that question himself.
"Himichan, Ochako." Izuku says, his eyes meeting Decay's. "I think it's time for you to leave."
"Deku-kun, you shouldn't…" Uraraka wants to say something, but Toga is being the smart one - she grabs the stalker and pulls her out of the room, Decay observing their retreat quietly.
"Deku-kun, huh." Decay then says. "What a cute nickname. And, huh, you letting the girls leave like that before the fight? It's either gentlemanly or sexist, depending on how you see it."
"What happened to you?" Izuku replies, Bakugou slowly and carefully pulling out a pair of knuckles from his pocket and then putting them on, his eyes on the magister. They might have been a little underequipped, but that doesn't mean defenseless.
Of course, against the magister, that… doesn't mean a lot.
"Well, I died." Decay casually shrugs. "Practically pulverized by the team-up of the two teachers that showed up for you in that forest. Unfortunately for them, that activated the ulti of Filth, the Full Rebirth. A single time 'avoid death by reconstructing yourself out of the nearest, sufficiently filthy place' card. I don't have to cast anything, it's more of a passive blessing. Hard to cast a spell which requires you to be dead to work. It probably saved my ass."
So, he got done in by Aizawa and… Aizawa and…
What?
"Oh, noticed it already?" Decay smiles faintly. "Let me tell you the last fucking thing I expected was my enemy pulling out a bullshit card and becoming a magister in the middle of the fight. Speaking off, my primary objective for the day is clearly out of the picture, but would you look at that? My death dropped me right in front of my second objective!"
Of fucking course things would get hairy like this, Izuku thinks.
"Look, I'm going to once again try to play it nice." Decay continues. "You, Midoriya, come with me obediently, and your sidekick lives to see another day. How does that sound?"
"Fuck you." Bakugou replies without a second of hesitation.
Awww.
"Well, you have good friends, that's for sure, Mr. Blasphemy-That-Walks." Decay replies, leaving Izuku to blink in surprise. Was that… was the magister referring to him? Blasphemy-That-Walks? "Guess that I'm going to have to be a bit more pushy and…"
Midoriya discovered what exactly Shoto was talking about with Aiko a day before the UA attack. What was the 'surprise' that they planned for him. It turned out that Demi-Powers could grant certain boons to the members of the extended family of Men, ones connected to their domain.
They were called Blessings by the Initiated. It tended to have a lot of downsides (like getting a Demi-Power involved in your life, even somewhat), but with Aiko being nothing but benevolent towards Izuku, most concerns were eradicated.
Her domain was that of human existence.
Installing on and off switches on his supernatural influence (not to mention several levels of both, to give him more tactical options) was child's play to her.
The reason why he had Ochako and Toga leave was because he wanted them out of the blast zone.
Decay realized that the second Midoriya switched off his charm completely. And this time, it didn't last for a split second.
The inhuman shriek of terror that Decay let out showed Izuku that it was working. While his resistance was superior to that of demihuman, so was his magic sensitivity. And with the influence of this magnitude…
Three seconds later Decay vanished, enveloped by a black smoke, the magister still screaming in abject horror.
A second later, Izuku shut his down his terror aura. That's when things started going horribly downhill.
His plan was perfectly logical - and it worked. Unfortunately, there was one thing that Izuku failed to take into account - simply because he didn't know about it. A minor thing, that wouldn't be important in literally any other set of circumstances, but on that very day and in that very place it was the most important thing imaginable.
Yagi Toshinori told him to never use or learn any magic of Desire - because his mother might have noticed him. Might have singled him out out of billions of humans that lived now, billions that lived in the past and billions that - hopefully - would live in the future.
Playing around with his charm influence - even if it was switching its effects off - wouldn't cause anything wrong to happen on any other day. In (almost) every other place. But today? Less than a minute after the birth of an awakened magister, and - from the perspective of the universe - practically in the same place, too?
Eyes were on UA. And, at that millisecond, one set of them moved elsewhere, having found something vaguely familiar and much more interesting.
The world froze around him. Bits of the black smoke that enveloped Decay stopped moving. Bakugou froze too, his mouth half-open, Kacchan probably in the process of shouting something very not nice about Decay's mother, or some generic victory cry.
As his Attention level hit the highest possible level, Izuku began to see the world as a Heresiarch of Desire would, the influence of the Power warping his perception, making it more akin to its own.
Izuku's every feeling is amplified a hundredfold. The smell of the air, repugnant to the extreme just a second before, now is that one the most exquisite of perfumes couldn't hope to match. The cold air on his skin feels like his lovers' embrace.
Even the shapes of the mold on the walls began to twist, from a random cacophony of disgust to an artistic orchestra of shapes, each of them more lewd or beautiful than the others, the single gaze upon it enough to break most minds with an overbearing desire to gaze upon them until their eventual death of dehydration.
Even Izuku's breaths were that of music, one too beautiful to describe, one that he would forever miss in his life.
A million other pleasures, a million other solutions to the concept of desires assault his senses. Most of them he didn't know existed. Most of them he couldn't even understand, the pleasures made for things other than humans.
How didn't he go insane at the spot? Maybe he did. There was a reason why heresiarchs rarely counted as sane people.
A moment later, the ceiling gets undone. Izuku (recoiling from the changes around him, screaming in horror but also loving every second of it) looks up, into the black abyss above him, his mind desperately struggling to interpret something that simply couldn't be interpreted.
There was nothing there. There was nothing here. None of it was real. The real ceiling was still there. It was just his mind's reaction to being noticed. To the absolute realizing the existence of insignificant - and for a time too short for Izuku to name it, thinking about it. And the insignificant, on some deeper level, realizing it and attempting to interpret the influence surrounding them in a way even remotely recognizable.
A giant figure towering over him, looking into the room like a child does into a dollhouse after pulling the rooftop off to see the dolls in the middle of their little tea party better.
His eyes meet the eyes of Desire.
I found you
Izuku screams as everything around him dissolves into nothingness.
(***)
The next time that Izuku was even remotely conscious was … weird. He felt he was floating in darkness, unable to see, unable to hear, unable to feel - yet, somehow, knowing things. What was going on with him?
Desire was still there. He could feel their omnipresent existence around them, he could feel its [fingers] coiled around him on some deeper level, but… he also didn't feel them. He didn't feel the same crushing weight that he felt earlier.
What was happening?
Did his department of feelings go on a strike, and as a result he couldn't feel it being there, aside from his sixth sense? So he couldn't simply perceive its… whatever the fuck it was? Seriously, how the hell is he still sane?
His mother found him. He could realize so much from remembering the talk with Yagi on their way back from the Summit.
A moment (how long was it really? He can't feel the concept of time, however weird it sounds) later he realizes why he wasn't feeling anything.
He was under the supernatural equivalent of anesthesia. And he realized that when he felt the [fingers] enter his body and attempt to change him. Attempt to reshape him. Attempt to… fix him?
He understood it in an instant.
His mother was changing him into a demihuman. And there was no actual malice in her actions. No malevolence. Hell, from Desire's point of view, she was as benevolent as a god could be.
More desires being fulfilled = good. Less desires being fulfilled = bad. Blue and orange morality at its finest, for Desire cared little about anything else.
Was it illegal? She was beyond the concept of human laws. Was it unhealthy? Desire didn't care, it wasn't her department, and dying slowly was, in a twisted way, another experience to live through. Some people even desired death, after all.
Desire would approve of a pair of lovers coming together and embracing their love as it would of a zoophile getting what they wanted. Desire would approve of a pair of friends going out to drink a beer to chat about old times as it would of a street orphan doing hard drugs to forget about the pain of being alive for a moment.
There was no or when desires were involved. Only getting what you wanted - and enjoying it. Even if briefly. Even if it was illegal or immoral. Even if the aftermath would be horrible.
What Desire was doing right now - changing Izuku to be able to feel and experience more pleasure - was, from her point of view, a gift from her to her son.
She seemed to be understanding their connection enough to do all of that literally the second she noticed his existence, but Izuku wouldn't bet a tattered sock that she perceived the connection in any way similar to how a human mother would see her child. .
He was reminded of a scene from an old TV show he saw. Someone was dying from cancer (if he remembers it correctly). They were given an experimental nanomachine injection that dealt with the issue, but then… then the nanomachines started fixing other 'flaws'.
Ribs having so many weak spots, leaving the crucial internal organs vulnerable? A flaw, add more bones (ignore the pain, it doesn't matter).
Not having a 360 degree eyesight? A flaw, add another pair of eyes on the back of their head.
Desire was driven by similar logic. She saw flaws, she started fixing them, completely disinterested in the side-effects of that process. Or the concept of consent. In her own eyes, she was helping.
Like a child 'helping' fix a bird's nest after a windy day, not realizing that now that it smells of humans, the bird might not return there anymore, leaving their freshly hatched children to die of starvation.
(it might not have work like that irl, but if it did, it would be the summary that Izuku's mind could come upon at that very moment)
Izuku couldn't do anything. To resist the change was an incomprehensible concept - he could as well try to move a planet with his arms. It simply didn't work like that, he couldn't even communicate with his mother. He couldn't tell her that he doesn't want that.
She (it's' probably not 'she' in a conventional sense of the word, but she did give birth to him in some twisted way, and most fertility deities in the past were female, so maybe there was a connection) probably wouldn't understand his refusal, either.
But the [fingers] that enter his body are pushed outside.
Desire radiates [confusion].
(Izuku isn't sure if that's the right word, but the more he thinks about it, the more he is certain of the fact that it's just not quite the meaning but certainly a good approximation)
Desire tries again. Once again, her [fingers] are repelled.
She tries again. Somehow, Izuku knows that the desired target of the change changed, he can feel the [fingers] trying to twist them differently. But, once again, no dice.
This time, Desire pushes [eyes] inside.
It might be their natures somewhat resonating, Izuku somehow feeling a faint feeling telling him what Desire sees.
[Rejection][Ward][Anathema][Ward][Blasphemy][Ward][Impossibility][Ward][Taint][Ward]
Desire pulls her [eyes] out. She radiates [frustration][confusion][worry]. Something wasn't going according to her plan. Something unforeseen was happening to an entity that could foresee everything.
Desire knew the [truth] immediately. Izuku had no idea what it was. What do you think you're doing? The whole thing was so incredibly confusing.
Eh?
Desire radiates [claim][ownership][help][confusion][demand for something].
Izuku for some reason feels like they aren't alone anymore. The rules are rules, you might have given birth to him, but my claim supersedes yours. He doesn't think that Desire radiated those at him, but he feels no more presence. You can't claim what was already claimed.
This time Izuku actually felt the words. What was happening?
[Demand][Exception][Uniqueness][Lack of Precedences][Rules Not Applying]
There is certainly another speaker. The awakened humans are mine. It seems to not enjoy Desire's activity at all. My claim comes first. Izuku can feel the words in a way that he just can't even describe.
[Broken][Half][Uniqueness][Exception][Asleep and Awake][Awake yours][Asleep mine]
He'll be asleep no more. So many words Izuku cannot understand. He has a role to play. So many thoughts Izuku cannot understand. Withdraw your claim.
[Rejection][Offering of Peace][Meeting Midway][Claim][Gift]
[Desire/Power][No Backlash][Desire/Recharge][Others/Permitted/Altered]
[Claim Withdrawn][If]
He will awake fully. I will be able to cast your magic without turning into a demihuman. He will be able to learn and cast magic without suffering from form or sanity damage. Magic of Desire will be stronger than it should. The price for my magic will be paid differently. Your influence on him will be modified. His influence on me will be terminated.
Eh?
Your terms are acceptable, Desire.
Izuku opens his eyes, back in the Labyrinth. Then, he immediately faints.
(***)
Overhaul, despite the overwhelming odds, advances. The wall he erected earlier, he shatters.
Existence is standing there, staring at him in silence. It has clearly dropped at least some of the facade.
Humans shouldn't have faces like this. Three eyes stare at him, their shape not resembling eyes at all, the three of them forming something akin to a vertical… eye?
Spooky.
Overhaul promptly kicks her in the face with his combat boots, Existence pushed backward, their back hitting the tree.
Teeth gnaws at him, inside and outside. A normal human would be devoured already. A normal magister would be injured. Overhaul, stands undaunted.
"Magisters can't solo Demi-Powers." The magister says while slowly walking forward. "That's practically speaking an established rule of reality. Unfortunately for you…" He erects stone spikes from the ground, Existence warping one meter to the right to avoid. "... this rule is going to be overturned today."
Existence can clearly read his attacks. Makes sense, if they are Human Existence. The Demi-Power in front of him can read him like an open book.
The gnawing grows stronger. Overhaul doesn't budge for a millisecond.
"Because when it comes to match-ups…" The magister continues. "... I'm literally your worst enemy."
He learned a lot of spells. In terms of pure combat strength, he is the strongest member of the MLF, aside from their leader.
Most of his spells are connected to the concept of Change. Not just Shaper of Change, too. Today, he might be a master of the Change magic, but he also knows a lot of other spells. For as long as they were somewhat connected in terms of their underlying theme.
The gnawing continues. His nature as a magister pushes back. The 'Denial of Change' spell of the Ancient of Denial pushes back. The 'Refusal to Bend' spell of the Archon of Transfiguration pushes back. The 'Revert Change' spell of the Shaper of Change is on standby, in case something leaked through.
By the standards of magisters, Overhaul is an abomination to learn so many spells, and from domains of three different Powers. Rules were always flexible, and Overhaul was simply that talented.
Besides, he focused on the Shaper of Change before becoming a magister. And then… well, changing the rules a little was entirely in character, wasn't it?
Existence realizes they bit more than they chewed. They warp elsewhere. This time, it's not a tactical-range warp.
Overhaul casts Revert Change at the empty space that used to be Existence. The girl appears there again, confused, before Overhaul punches her in the face, activating the touch-based Change Spell.
Existence is torn into shreds… before it restores itself back to full health.
Overhaul sighs. They were supposed to make the world a tiny bit better today, now he was down to punching little girls in the face. This was really, really distasteful, not to mention sounding oh so very wrong. Especially out of context.
Just, fucking, great.
That's when one of the MLF soldiers he sent away appears out of nowhere, their teeth closing on Overhaul's right hand, tearing it off almost instantly with their razor sharp teeth, before lunging at his throat..
Ghoul, Overhaul decides in a heartbeat. Existence must have managed to overwrite his existence and, probably, past, making him a ghoul in hiding for who knows how long. And probably one that was waiting to take a bite off a magister. Enough to sneak out of the squad and wait in ambush.
Smart. It also implied some terrifying things about how strong the Demi-Power was, even if it wasn't a 'real' ghoul, just a warped facsimile of one.
Unfortunately, this time Existence's action left something to manipulate.
Before the ghoul has the time to tear his throat out, Overhaul casts Revert Change on him. It wasn't a proper process of becoming a ghoul, merely a form of magic, and as a result, it works. The man faints, his ghoulishness replaced with natural human characteristics.
There was a time limit to that spell. Thankfully, the change into a ghoul happened recently, even if it was somewhat retroactive.
He also casts Revert Change on his right hand, restoring it. So many powerful spells in short succession, magister or not he will feel that in the morning.
The Demi-Power's final trump card is spent. It would do better if it timed their attempt to escape with the attack, but it clearly lacked genuine combat experience. And knew next to nothing about Overhaul's abilities.
Denial of Presence. Before Existence has the time to notice him (and through that, read him properly again), another blow to the head throws it back. This time, the Demi-Power falls to the ground.
Before it has the time to raise, Overhaul's leg is pinning its neck to the ground, the look on its face growing way more inhuman and harder to describe.
Overhaul can feel his nature no-selling the sanity damage. Uh-oh, someone's angry.
"In my defense…" He says, while pulling out the item he had prepared for moments like this out of a storage artifact on his neck. It resembles a short spear, but judging from the Demi-Power suddenly struggling thrice as intensely under his boot, she knows it's more than that. "... I tried to find a peaceful resolution. You just left me no choice."
And, to be honest, he has a feeling that the MLF will regret the Demi-Power not dying today.
The spear falls towards its head, coated with enough potent magic to make the hit lethal. It was Overhaul's personal trump card, something that he invested years of research and magic into, something to be used to slay things otherwise out of his league.
A moment before the blow connects, black smoke envelops Overhaul, the spear hitting the concrete floor instead. He can see the MLF soldiers around him, most of them clearly missing, the rest mostly confused. Hatsume, their spy, is there, she clearly didn't get the memo that she could be warped out, but she calms down when she realizes she's with other MLF members.
Warp back? Why the fuck, what a shitty fucking timing, just two seconds more and… Overhaul knew that Decay had some sort of automatic mass recall magic prepared, something that his Sensei casted on him to be used at his leisure, but to use it in such a time, what was…
Decay screams in horror, clawing his eyes in madness, the magister himself rolling on the floor. It's like the wail of a banshee, but probably worse. Overhaul can feel the vocal cords being ripped to shreds as the scream goes down.
Well, looks like he's going to have to cast some additional Revert Changes. And then maybe, just maybe, figure out what the fuck went wrong. Because in his eyes, it was probably everything.
(***)
Uh-oh, mommy's here, but someone gave her a slap on the wrist. Seriously people, she was just wearing Inko's body, this doesn't make her the chad good mom Inko, it's the sort of parental figure that you probably don't want to be close with.
And yes, this chapter probably gave you more questions that answer, oof. Expect some actual answers in the next chapter :D