Chapter 51 : Exegol Part 2
Now let's go back in time for a few minutes, shall we?
"Tomura, please. The drinks." All For One commanded. He wanted to speak to Izuku, alone. Tomura almost said something but Sensei raised his hand. He was commanding a servant after all. Not a son.
Tomura must have felt that, as he closed his mouth and rose up. He had to obey quietly. He went to the kitchen, silently, leaving a fidgeting Izuku with an immortal, almost all-powerful villain.
When he arrived at the Kitchen, Tomura chuckled when he saw many post-its on it. All of them had Kurogiri's writings and mentioned various things on All For One's tastes. Food tastes. Alcohol taste. One example was "Whisky is an alcohol who looks important but isn't." Another said "Don't use avocado, All For One dislikes it."
The undead butler probably got away with them because he knew All For One couldn't see anything. As a result, paper was the best way to communicate sneakily around him.
Tomura had been in this house only once, the first time he met All For One. He never forgot it. It had a feeling inside it. It was homely and warm. The furniture exuded this feeling of luxury that could be only bought with money… But more importantly time.
Then, Tomura noticed one note, written in red, on the fridge. His name was on it. Curious, Tomura took it and read it.
"All For One has the kid your friend search in the basement. He hopes for Izuku to be his heir. Be careful."
Tomura was aware on some level that Kurogiri was a special kind of Noumu. For starters, he could speak and had a personality. However, the leader of the LoV knew he couldn't act directly against his master's order. This writing was probably the best kind of rebellion he could do against All For One.
Tomura gulped, while he took the drinks. He had a feeling about this. Learning Sensei had multiple heirs… The fact that most of his teammates were spies for various persons… Him wanting to fail at the USJ.
It suddenly painted a different world. Kurogiri said All For One would reinstate him as the Heir but wrote the opposite. It meant All For One ordered him to say something like that. Tomura felt his knees becoming weak.
He wasn't a Bishop after all. He was only a pawn and the King made him think he could become a Queen.
Tomura slapped himself back to his senses. If Loony was there, she would have smacked him with her hammer.
Let's recap, what he knew while he was bringing back the sodas:
-Kurogiri's words couldn't be trusted. This included the "AfO didn't harm his family".
-The whole thing might be part of AfO's plan.
-AfO most likely didn't consider him as valuable. He wouldn't be surprised if he learned he was adopted for shit and giggles.
It meant Izuku was in danger.
Tomura pulled out his phone and sent a text from it. He used a burner phone as Giran and Twice taught him to do. It was a simple message : "B" to Loony.
Thankfully, All For One was a better teacher than he thought. He taught his fake pupil to always have a contingency plan… Even for this occasion.
—--
Loony pulled her phone and saw the text. She looked at the team and pulled some of her black disks.
"Ok, guys. I am gonna lay it out nicely for ya. We know y'all are spies."
This made the whole members of the LoV stare at each other, shocked by Loony's words. The "we" hinted Tomura also knew this.
"However, Tomura doesn't care. Hell, in fact, he trusts you will be doing the right thing. Soooo…"
Toga, Dabi, Twice and Spinner were tense and in fact, ready to jump, fight or everything at once.
"Who wants to fuck up the biggest baddest crime ring in Japan?"
Spinner smiled and raised thumb up.
"Count me in. For those who want, I also have an extraction plan and a place to hide."
Spinner was better at spying than most people thought he was. Everyone thought he was only a dumb teen, over his head in this League of Vigilantes. In reality, he had been probing Kurogiri, Tomura and Giran when he came to drink sometimes. He confirmed what Re-Destro hoped:
Everyone was fucking unaware the MLA still existed and the Radical faction wasn't open to anyone outside of them.
He heard about this Doctor Garaki but Spinner doubted one scientist could do much damage.
—--
"ATCHAOUM" Garaki sneezed so hard he almost fell off his chair.
"Something happened, Sensei?" Overhaul said, as he was busy as a madman, reworking his second adoptive father's latest noumus. Hell, they were using the corpse of a certain Hisashi Midoriya as the basis for a little gift for All For One.
"I think someone just thought something very wrong. By the way, Sunday we have a huge meeting to attend. We are going to see some of my other friends and sponsors… Except these ones, unlike All For One, believe fully in my project. They are led by a nice guy, Geten. A bit power crazy but over all, a believer."
Both of his students nodded, while working on the best power combination to take down All For One.
Truly, nothing could bring two people closer than making plans for a bloody vengeance, Garaki thought as he observed them getting closer thanks to the project.
—--
"Dabi, Toga, Twice? What about you? Are you spying for the old fucker or…"
"We… Aren't. In fact we are working against him." Toga said before Dabi could say anything. He glared at his teammate and sighed.
"We can't say who our real boss as otherwise… Kaboom." Dabi lied but in their world it is a believable lie.
"Ok. Just wanted to know that. Now, we have to go to Exegol, mates!" Loony said… Before jumping on each of their shoulder to pat their head.
"Remember. After all the fight we had? We are a pack. We don't leave anyone behind. Whatever you struggle against, we are here."
Everyone felt a bit heartwarmed by the cartoon rabbit.
Now it was time to move to …
"FLASH NEWS : GODZILLA AND A GIANT JUST DESTROYED PART OF THE EXEGOL WARD! EVERYONE SHOULD EVACUATE TO A SAFE PLACE AS FAST AS THEY CAN!"
"... The fuck?"
No one asked if Tomura was inside this clusterfuck. They knew his luck.
—--
"I love Tomura as much as whisky!"
All For One didn't know, but by saying that he alienated Tomura to himself. The blue haired young man decided that, in fact, it was time to leave his mentor and fuck as much as possible his operations.
However, doing it rashly, like an idiotic manchild brainwashed by hate was a bad idea. Something he could thank Izuku, Loony, Nejire and the others: by going outside, Tomura had grown. Learned how to deal with shit going FUBAR.
Learned to wait before striking back.
Tomura went down in the basement, where he found a chained Monoma who was scared witless as he was wondering when All For One was going to be tired of their games together. Not to mention that being alone in a basement wasn't something nice for his psyche. That and losing his quirk, of course.
So, when he saw Tomura who, despite being less crunchy than from the beginning of the year, still looked villainous, Monoma took a spoon he had been sharpening behind his back and…
"Calm down. I am with Izuku." Tomura said. Monoma wasn't bad but Tomura lived with Himiko. She was way better than him at the whole "Hiding knife" than Monoma could hope to be, "And I am going to free you."
"Why?" Monoma asked, suspicious it was another of All For One's mind game.
"... All For One compared me to Whisky."
"Isn't that the alcohol he considered as just barely second grade?"
"Yes. Yes it is." Tomura said somberly, before decaying the jail, and Monoma's chains, "Do you still have a quirk or something? Can you run?"
"Respectively no and yes." Monoma said somberly. Since his defeat against Izuku, he never skipped leg day. He also didn't have much to do in his cells besides self-training and preparing himself mentally for a death game.
"Good, because we are going to…"
"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOONK!"
Both were interrupted suddenly by the King of Monster suddenly materializing in their reality.
"Oh shit." Both said at the same time. Monoma wisely decided that considering Godzilla, according to the sound, was in the neighborhood, Tomura was his best opportunity to survive. Besides, it was that or staying here.
Both began to run to the exit.
—--
"Now, let's see who shall I summon next…" All For One said with a smile, noticing his unmoving Exodia, just standing over a gravely wounded Godzilla who was trying to gather energy to either kickstart his healing factor or to shoot the one who was responsible for his death.
All For One used a quirk he bought for "Quality of Life": Book summoning. It allowed him to summon any books he had already read in his hand. Simple, useful and he missed using it since he didn't have eyes for a long time.
"HOW, WHAT?!" Izuku's brain kinda short circuited seeing the giant monster just undoing his plan in an instant.
"I am basically a huge nerd, Izuku. I had 200 years and a crime empire to accumulate stuff and things to satiate me." All For One said, while humming quietly, before smiling upon finding a card, "Now, let's try out the limit of your quirk Izuku. When you test out your quirk, you should seek how far you can go."
"I was a late bloomer and it could have killed me." Izuku said with bitterness, understanding that part of his strength most likely came from…
All For One opened his mouth and quickly closed it.
"Shit. That's a good reason. I should have killed Inko and this Sako before stealing you there." Hindsight was a bitch but no one was perfect. Even he had issues.
Then All For One made everyone stare in an amazed form of horror at his latest summoning.
As the skies darkened and the ground trembled, a rift in the fabric of reality tore open before everyone. From within the depths of the void, a colossal figure emerged, its form imposing and otherworldly. It was Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger, an eldritch titan whose hunger knew no bounds.
Ulamog's massive, tentacled body stretched out, dwarfing everything in its vicinity. Its eyes, filled with an insatiable hunger, glowed with a sinister light that sent chills down everyone's spines. The air grew heavy with a malevolent energy as Ulamog's presence permeated the area.
With each step, the ground shook and cracked beneath its weight. The sheer magnitude of Ulamog's presence caused a primal fear to grip anyone watching the news' hearts, and feel their very existence threatened by its overwhelming power.
"Oh. Shit." Izuku said, understandingly panicked as his grandpa basically summoned two elder gods in one ward, "HOW THE FUCK DID YOU SOLVE THE ENERGY COST ISSUE?!"
All For One stared at Izuku, understandably confused.
"The what?"
The difference between Izuku and All For One was simple : All For One was a grown adult who used his quirk(s) on a daily basis. His energy, as a result, had 200 years to grow strong. This was why he seemingly summoned Exodia effortlessly.
However, everyone has their limit.
All For One's nose suddenly bled and the man… Shut down for a second, on his knees.
Izuku's old weakness was now All For One's too: Endgame had a cost in energy. The stronger the card, the more taxating it was to summon it. Summoning them permanently or closer to their "real" counterpart also added on the cost.
The Quirk Thief went above anything reasonable and summoned past his limits…
As quickly as he appeared, Ulamog began to dissolve in the air, though not before lashing out for an instant.
This lashing out caused an earthquake, 6 on the Richter's scale. A deep and ominous rumbling echoed through the air, as if the very earth itself was groaning in distress. It was a seism, a powerful seismic event measuring 6 on the Richter scale, signifying a significant and potentially damaging tremor.
As the vibrations intensified, buildings swayed and foundations cracked, their structural integrity tested against the force of nature. The trembling ground seemed to swallow our footsteps, making each movement uncertain and unsteady.
The energy unleashed by the seism reverberated through the air, causing objects to tremble and clatter in a cacophony of disarray.
"Izuku, the fuck is going on?!" Tomura said, with Monoma on his trails.
"All For One used my quirk to summon fucking gods in our reality! I think it kind of short-circuited him, though."
Izuku said, slowly getting back on his feets…
Tomura didn't miss a beat. All For One was down, even if it was briefly. It was the golden opportunity to dispose of the fucker before everything went bad.
With a speed most people didn't expect from him, Tomura passed in a flash next to Izuku to grab All For One's face and decay him. He only avoided murders against heroes after all.
Then, he was stopped by a 6 of Spade thrown by Izuku, who threw Tomura besides Izuku, to the young man's initial confusion. Then, Tomura understood why Izuku did that and was texting for help.
All For One was a huge asshole and a pain to deal with because he was someone with a working brain, a lot of money and competent minions.
As a result, and since All Might almost killed him that way, he had now a "If my brain shut down" emergency plan.
As a result, from several portals coming from various variants of Johnny, came several High-End Noumus.
The first one materialized with a ground-shaking thud, its massive armored form sending shockwaves through the earth. The air grew heavy with an oppressive aura as its red eyes glowed with an insatiable hunger for destruction.
The second one erupted into being with a fiery explosion, flames licking at its molten body. Its mere presence set the surroundings ablaze, scorching the earth and turning the air into a searing inferno. The crackling heat distorted the very fabric of reality, casting an eerie glow upon its surroundings.
The third one slithered forth from the rift, a serpentine shadow coiled with deadly grace. Whirling winds spiraled around its form, tearing through the landscape and unsettling everything in their path. The air seemed to bend and twist under its influence, causing an unsettling disarray.
The last materialized stealthily, emerging silently from the depths of darkness. Its presence cast a chilling pall over the surroundings as inky tendrils of shadow snaked and writhed around its ethereal form. The very light seemed to be swallowed by its presence, leaving an aura of palpable darkness in its wake.
"Oh fuck me. That can't be worse." Monoma said, tempting fate.
Fate answered with a cordial fuck you, as several basic noumus also spawned and the monsters all screeched together.
—--
"...Can you repeat that to me, Shouto?"
"Yes, I am in Excel because Izuku needed back-up. However we are quite in a mess. Apparently, Izuku is fighting a guy with white hair and… I think red eyes?"
Endeavor was already bursting out of his agency, his flame burning away the concrete, melting it nearby several of his co-workers who were suddenly very scared for a few reasons.
One, molten concrete is a good reason by itself to be scared.
Second, Endeavor panicking is a very good reason to be already running away in the opposite direction.
"Please tell me he isn't using Izuku's quirk!"
"... I shouldn't tell you about the…" BOOOOOOOM
A deafening explosion stopped Shouto mid-sentence, as Exodia blasted away Godzilla and a good part of Kamino Ward.
Endeavor stared at his phone, before letting the panic and fear for his son overwhelm his reason.
He lost one son already. He wasn't going to lose another one even if he had to die.
"SHOUTOOOOOOOOOO!"
"I am fine, dad." Shouto was smart after all and chose to quickly move away from where he was. As a result, the blast passed far from him, but he tasted in the air the absurd power deployed.
"So, as I was saying… Yes. Yes, he used Izuku's quirk. Is it bad?"
"Shouto, listen to me carefully : RUN THE FUCK AWAY. DON'T TRY TO BATTLE THIS VILLAIN. I AM COMING AS FAST AS I CAN."
Shouto knew the situation was serious because Endeavor made sure Shouto could battle villains up to A-Rank. To tell him he straight up had no chance to win meant it was hopeless as hell.
Then came Umalog and his seism.
—--
All Might was waking up with a good cup of coffee when suddenly his phone rang.
"Oh hello Endea…"
"ALL FOR ONE IS IN KAMINO'S WARD, SUMMONED GODZILLA AND WHAT IS APPARENTLY TWO FUCKING GODS. IZUKU IS THERE AND MY SON TOO!"
All Might also bursted out of the window. In fact, at the moment the name All For One was dropped, he already buffed up before exploding the window to go faster.
"I AM COMING AS FAST AS I CAN!"
—--
"Endeavor?" Compress was wondering why the man was calling outside of their regular schedule, as he was currently with Inko to see the doctor in preparation for the baby.
"YOUR FUCKING SON FOUND ALL FOR ONE. KAMINO WARD, YOU CAN'T MISS IT."
Compress paling out was a signal for Inko.
"Go. Now."
Compress also broke throught the window, in front of a doctor wondering what the fuck was going on.
—--
"GENTLE, HOW FAST CAN YOU GET TO KAMINO?" Compress yelled as he was preparing a bike to get there as fast as he could
"Already on my way, boss." Gentle said, bouncing from platform to another platform. Thanks to Nedzu funding them now, he had boots allowing him to accelerate in the air. He was angry, though, as he was on a date with La Brava.
Whoever interrupted it was going to regret it. Even if it was Godzilla itself.
"Be careful, All For One is there. His presence is confirmed."
"Don't worry Boss, I know better than to fight a hopeless fight." Gentle said, chucking lightly.
—--
After Exegol Crisis
UA's Medical Ward.
La Brava was waiting for the surgery to end with dread in her chest. Why? Why did Gentle had to do something that… That… So himself…
The little adult woman began to cry alone, as her man was fighting against death in surgery.
Then the light indicating the surgery was undergoing shut down.
The doctor went out, accompanied by Recovery Girl, before speaking.
"Miss Manami? The operation ended. We need to speak about his condition."
Manami's heart missed a beat, waiting for the rest.
—--
Back on Tomura, Izuku and Monoma, currently surrounded by various enemies classified at the minimum A-Rank.
Izuku swallowed his fear. For now, All For One was down. They couldn't finish him and they needed to escape. Seriously, it was at times like that he missed Katsuki.
"SHOUTO! WE NEED AN ESCAPE ROAD!"
Izuku yelled, to the surprise of his friends. The noumus began to move and Tomura did to. The first two noumus met his open palm on their face. He knew better than most their weaknesses. Destroying the head. Some might say the exposed brain is a dead give away. However, after the first batch, Garaki managed to make their exposed brain something non-vital. The real brain was somewhere in the space between the nose and the eyes.
Decaying their faces didn't bring any pleasure to Tomura who was ready to fight for his cousin.
"I have also called reinforcement!"
Izuku, finally having his thoughts catching up to the situation didn't ask if Tomura was on their side. Considering he freed Monoma and tried to kill All For One, it meant either he was playing a 5D chess to be the new mastermind of crime in Japan or the situation went FUBAR and he was trying to survive with them.
Considering the situation, Izuku hoped for the second option. Meanwhile he checked his card options… Yep. Except for the other final solution card, Izuku didn't have more things punching in Godzilla's weight class. He could use it, but he wasn't sure he had the energy to actually maintain it long enough for it to matter.
Hence why he was only summoning cards like Death Arms, Present Mic and a few heroes to defend all of them while Shouto did his thing.
"On the signal, run throught the opening!" Izuku yelled, as Monoma did his best to avoid some of the monsters rushing them. Fortunately, the four High-End seemed dedicated to protecting All For One and didn't move toward them.
"What opening?!"
Shouto, meanwhile, was adjusting his stance while heating and freezing in rapid succession his arms.
"Just as Father and Katsuki said. Seek smaller, not bigger. Concentrate the power and unleash it to destroy what needs to be destroyed."
Shouto felt the air warping around him when he aimed his arms at the giant wave of enemies which threatened to kill his friends.
"Thermodynamic Canon."
No emotion in his voice. Pure destruction only as reality felt violated for the fourth time in only five minutes. Heat and frost in rapid, powerful succession creating a blast not unlike a laser which emanated from the white and red haired boy.
The Noumus didn't have the time to register the attack that some of them died instantaneously from such a rift in temperature.
Some but not all.
After all, Emilia and Garaki had the data on the Triceps Corporation Raid and they knew how Muscular died the first time. Of course they thought of beginning to upgrade the Noumus against such an attack, mainly by making their body more resistant against temperature variation.
Still, Tomura and Izuku pulled Monoma by the neck and the three of them began to run as if Hell was after them.
Considering the Noumus following them, it was probably a close second thought.
Then All For One opened his eyes again, after that the High End protected him from the blast. Ok. He was right to have kept a copy of "Regeneration" unknown to Garaki. That way, his regenerative quirk was now healing him up to his rejuvenated state.
Still, Izuku's quirk was indeed more powerful than he initially thought. Cost, right? When he thought about it, it was logic after all.
He wanted that quirk. Now he was whole. With that quirk, thought? He could theoretically summon a space marine in a controlled environnement, kill him and loot his body, geneseed and armor!
With it, he could summon a monster from Dark Souls and eat their Soul, to improve himself.
With it, All For One could become an actual Demon Lord, not just someone emulating a Demon Lord.
He never understood why people thought his dream of being one was cringe or idiotic. When someone managed to be a Hero because it was his childhood dream, it is wholesome but if you are a villain and manage to be the best at it because it was your childhood dream, it was cringe?!
FUCK THAT. HE HAD THE POWER TO LIVE HIS DREAM. HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE HAPPY.
"IZUKU! GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!" Seikyo was done playing.
So, he did the only thing he could do before his copy of Endgame ran out.
All For One pulled several cards. So, Izuku probably did something like burning some mana cards or things like that to summon Godzilla and still being able to run.
However, even with burning some, All For One knew it was a goddamn bad idea to try to summon something like a Phyrexian creature.
No, what he needed now was to trap his future victims.
"I SUMMON… THEE!"
Let's try a combination of cards!
The kids suddenly almost felt the ground shaking.
"Fuck, another earthquake?!"
Shouto was running besides them and shook his head.
"There is no giant monster besides the dying Godzilla. I doubt it is… Is it me of the air feel… Cold?"
Monoma and Izuku looked at each other when Shouto said that. Shouto, who had excellent frost resistance, was feeling cold. They felt cold too.
Conclusion: the cold was unnatural.
"LET'S PLAY HIDE AN SEEK, KIDS!"
All For One yelled, as the ground morphed around them and suddenly, they were not in devastated alleys anymore.
They were in a place not unlike All For One's house, except the wall and the ground were made in stone. The furniture felt old and sinister. The only light piercing the darkness was from weak and barely alight candles.
It was a goddamn haunted castle.
None of them knew any other details, though…..
—--
Haunted Mansion and Castle Sengir from MTG but combined with Castle of Illusion for YGO.
After all, what kind of Demon King didn't have a goddamn flying castle of doom?
Now in his Throne Room, on his… Well, throne, All For One sat, resting.
He was out of breath and energy after that last stunt but damn if he wasn't feeling alive right now!
Meanwhile, the Noumus stared at him, waiting for orders. Oh right. They were undeads after all.
"Kill the intruders, except the green haired one. You are authorized to wound him, as long as his life isn't threatened! The Hunt… Is OPEN!"
Exegol Part 2 : Rise of the Demon King.