Chapter 52 : Exegol Part 3
Three young men were currently running for their lives in the haunted castle. One of them was technically an emitter but who needed materials to use his quirk and he was almost out of it… Again. Note to self : Ask Mei for an interdimensional storage of cards.
Another teen was Monoma, who was currently quirkless and didn't appreciate the irony of speaking about weak quirks before ending up with no quirk at all.
Finally, Tomura, the eldest, was wondering how long they were going to have to run before his crew got there and they managed their extraction plan.
"Tomura, I swear to All-Might that if I get out of this alive, I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!" Izuku said, passively angry at his friend, "ATTACKING THE USJ WAS A DICK MOVE!"
"IT WAS AN ORDER FROM SENSEI! ALSO I DID EVERYTHING I COULD TO MAKE IT NON LETHAL!"
"Personally, I liked it. It was a fun new experience. But you are sure you are the Boss?" He said, cocking his head on a slight angle as he ran. "One of my theories was that it was one of Aizawa's dead teammates who was turned into a minion by the evil bad guy behind everything." Shouto sighed before using his fire to eject a Noumu afar from him.
—--
Meanwhile, in the mountains.
"Need a tissue, Kurogiri?" Purifier asked as he pulled one of his pockets and gave it to the Noumu who just sneezed. They had to hike to join Gigantomachia, as AfO made it near impossible to find without knowing where he was.
"I would greatly appreciate it, thank you." Kurogiri said with a smile under his dark mist. It was always nice to help one of the polite ones.
—--
"No, I am not some kind of undead guy!" Tomura growled.
"No, he is just my goddamn cousin. The one everyone thought to be dead." Izuku said angrily again, while Tomura looked a bit sheepish. Shouto made a happy gesture, as his face still had some issues with emotions.
"Wait, you know about that?" Monoma asked, curious about the whole thing despite himself.
"All For One told me before I summoned Godzilla. Mom is going to hug you to death but the worst is probably going to be Hana." Izuku said.
The sentence nonetheless made Tomura miss the turn and he proceeded to faceplant into the wall, hard enough to make spider web cracks in it.
Todoroki said something about a time for dramatic exposure, accompanied by Monoma who found the situation a bit hilarious and after the time in AfO's basement, he kind of needed to laugh. Even if the situation was technically speaking a deadly one.
Still, while Shouto was busy making layers of ice to slow down the Noumus currently infesting the castle.
"... Guys, we have more pressing issues than Midoriya's crazy family tree."
"More than the evil grandpa?" Izuku said as he panted a bit and Tomura was trying to comprehend the bombshell that hit him. That and the wall as he rubbed his nose.
"Related to him. Look at the window." The blonde pointed out of the larger than life castle windows.
At that moment, all teens could have a clear view of the city underneath with, with Godzilla still groaning in pain way down. Despite the name of his attack, Exodia didn't obliterate the king of monsters, only grievously hurt him.
"... Fantastic. We are in a fucking giant evil flying castle." Monoma said while massaging his temples, "And I guess no rescue is coming."
"Actually, I called Endeavor before coming. Should be here soon." Todoroki said, which… Well… That actually reassured Monoma a lot. Endeavor might be scary but you could always rely on him, just expect a few burns.
"Also, my crew is coming. One of them is a short range warper. Combined with another team member we have, they can probably reach us." Tomura said before grabbing Izuku. "Also. The fuck. Hana?"
"Alive. She had a quirk that allowed her to survive." Izuku said with a devilish smile. "But Hey. I am not sure how much back-up we will get."
—--
At the HPSC HQ
President's office.
"Stain, Nagant, Hawks? New urgent mission for you." The head of the Commission stated.
"I am working with you, woman. Not for you."
"We localized All For One."
"... Address please." The man almost held out his hand like he was gonna be handed papers. It was a close thing.
Hinata chuckled as she gave them the address while wondering how the situation would go. She hoped the bastard would be dealt with once and for all.
—--
All For One, on his throne, continued to rest a bit. Slowly, his strength was getting back. The five minutes of quirk use were already passed but the effect lingered on. Seriously, he was going to have his grandson explain how the fuck his quirk worked as it was confusing.
Then, the Demon Lord stretched his legs. It was time to take a walk and find the kids in his castle.
"Ready or not… Here I come." The demon king grinned.
—--
Rather than around like idiots in a place like a maze, Izuku and the others decided to rest a bit in a room. Thankfully, it was a room full of comics so probably not guarded very much.
All of them heard All For One speaking. It chilled them to the bones as they knew how powerful that monster was. Yes, he wasn't even close to his real power but it scared them even more. What if he was truly healed?
Then, Tomura jumped on Izuku, his palm open, ready to decay something.
The young man with his reflex, quickly rolled away before seeing Tomura trying to grab something coming from the shadow. Oh fuck it was the shadow noumu.
"Go Tomura!" Izuku yips with joy.
Then the High End used his improved strength to kick Tomura powerfully in the rib, making him crash against a library full of comics "The Boys". He might have decayed some by mistake.
Todoroki quickly joined the battle by carefully using his fire to light the room. The less shadow there was, the weaker their opponent would be right.
Izuku, having recuperated a bit, quickly checked what card he had before finding something old but reliable.
His tarot deck.
Suddenly, the Noumu with no shadow to improve his strength or create form, was against a bulky powerful King, wearing all four symbols, sign Izuku fusionned the four to create one heavy summon.
Tomura, under his second shock of the day, was getting back up. Thankfully, he was the one with the most battle training of all four of them. He was used to pain and he was more than happy to dish it right back out.
As a result, Tomura exhaled all the air he had in his chest before rushing against the Noumu. Between the King and Tomura, the High End suddenly had a big issue in defending from all the different attacks, especially as Tomura kept using open palm techniques to decay him down bit by bit.
"MOUREZ!" The monster against nature's law said, betraying some french origins. Some spike seemed to grow from him, but suddenly, the monster felt fire scorch his open mouth. Most likely because Shouto had also joined the battle and always the opportunist, his current theory does the Shadow High End digest fire?
Apparently, it was a bit too spicy for them, as the monster was quickly screaming in pain from the third degree burns in its mouth and Shouto wavered for a second, if he really had it in him to kill a being who could speak and feel things.
Tomura cut right past the questions by grabbing the Noumu's head and activating his quirk at full force. Quickly, the screaming stopped because without a head, it's kind of hard to make the world know your pain and suffering.
All four of them breathed heavily against that quick surprise battle… Before all deciding they needed to run. They didn't know if the High End had some kind of telepathy but they didn't want to stay and discover if it was the case.
So they ran again, and hoped their luck would hold out.
Sadly for them, as Tomura would put it afterwards, they rolled a 1 on stealth.
Meaning they entered a huge circular room, with All For One calmly waiting for them inside it. He was also accompanied by a lot of his abominations and some of them, the "weaker" seemed to have some bony protuberances making them look like some kind of undead warrior.
"... Slow and steady win the race, boys. I don't need to find you by chasing you. I just need to make you run into my trap." All For One calmly said before stretching a bit, and looking at the teens in a battle stance, "So… How do you kids want it to play? Me coming to you? You coming at me? All of us in a giant melee?"
You could hear a hairpin drop on the ground before All For One smiled with his toothed grin.
"Nah, I am just going to watch the noumus tear you to pieces!"
"THEN HOW ABOUT FIGHTING SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!"
All For One kind of wondered who said that before his Danger Sense triggered like a gunshot to the brain. He barely had the time to raise a protective barrier before an extremely powerful ray of fire and heat melted the roof into an orange magma and probably part of the ground underneath him as well.
From the hole came a determined man and a very angry dad.
"...Don't worry. I will take up from there." Endeavor said, all of his flames already blaring up for the upcoming fight. "An extraction team is coming. They are half a click South from here. Go." He ordered the group.
The Noumus, including the High Ends, jumped like a black sea forming a tsunami to engulf the teens and Endeavor at once.
Endeavor seemed to grumble something along the lines of "pathetic" and began punching the air at full speed. Each punch sent a giant fist of fire which ejected the Noumus further ahead of them, giving them some time as the tidal wave of blackened flesh met a wall of fire.
"Oh sweet. You. Before I dispose of you, I need to know. Did you fuck up my operations on purpose or it was collateral damage?" All For One said, absolutely not threatened by the #2. After all, he was far from his father's actual power. Hell, according to his reports, the man barely had any mental health left.
"It was intentional." Enji said, knowing that as long as All For One's attention was on them, the more time it took for the backup to arrive. "I wanted to be the best hero in the world and what better way to do that than slay the demon king? Also, you are kind of an asshole." The flame hero explained with a shrug as he let loose a new wave of fire.
This made All For One chuckle at the futility.
"Endeavor…" Shouto said, before his father gave him a meek smile.
"Kids. What part of Run you don't understand?" He said, before grabbing all of them and powerfully throwing them at an exit in the room. The armored High-End tried to stop the group but suddenly, Endeavor was in front of him, having used his flame to force his body into a jet stream moving at speeds faster than before. There, the armored Noumu barely had the time to dodge the up close and personal Hell Spider. Behind him, Endeavor could hear the sound of the teens running.
With an appeased smile, Endeavor created a wall of fire, refusing to exchange one last stare with his son. He was too afraid of what his eyes looked like. After all, when Endeavor grabbed them to throw them into safety, Shouto automatically adopted a defensive stance, as if fearing his father's hands.
Scratch as if. He feared him.
"... Congratulations, you finally saved one of your sons… Except you didn't, Endeavor." All For One said, frankly annoyed by the situation and the eerie calm Endeavor displayed. Oh well, all he had to do was break him mentally. "What did you hope for? That saving him would make him forgive you? That at the end of the day, you would go back to your home and everyone would be waiting for you with a smile?"
Endeavor calmly walked in front of Death incarnate, just as All For One was beginning to summon new quirks to deal with him. If he was right, he was seeing a salamander mutation, probably a few fire resistance quirk and his arms were dangerously looking like giant crab pincers that could destroy steel.
"That would have been nice." Endeavor admitted. It was a dream he had a few times in the last week. Him, coming back to his house. Rei was there with a smile. Nao would pout at him. Fuyumi would hug him. Touya was by his side as his apprentice hero and Shouto was an intern with them.
It was a good dream. It made reality even harsher when he woke up.
"But we both know you don't have anything left waiting for you to go back home." All For One said with a malicious stare and a devilish smile. "I mean, did you look at your son's face? He wasn't happy to see you. He was shocked. How fucking badly did you do to fuck up to this extent?"
"Very bad" Endeavor continued to say, as each of All For One's words cut deep into him and suddenly, an idea emerged. Deep memories he would have preferred to leave buried but… Maybe… Maybe just this time… He could just… let go.
"Admit it, Endeavor, you would have been happier as a monster, not a hero! So, before you die, learn this. You will die, in an unmarked grave, no one crying for you. I am only half hesitating about making your wife a consort of mine." All For One said before seeing Endeavor finally clenching his fist before opening his palm. "... Wait, did I really succeed in breaking you only by talking? I haven't done that in years! God did I miss it!" A ghost of a true smile is displayed on the demon lord's face.
"You are probably right, All For One. I have nothing left waiting for me, no one will cry for me either…" Endeavor said, closing his eyes for an instant before doing one of the few things he promised himself to never do.
The Noumus all jumped on Endeavor to rip him to pieces.
Suddenly, All For One's Danger Sense triggered a second time and this time, his instinct made him teleport the Armored Noumu in front of him.
The following instant, everything went blue.
A blue and powerful fire that was burning everything around them. In the center of it was a now almost naked Endeavor as his body emitted a flame he couldn't contain. Not that he was trying actually. The flame burned his body and as a result grew in intensity tenfold, resulting in the most excruciating pain he has felt in years and a fast destruction of his own body.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" All For One yelled in panic and Endeavor nodded with no care in the world.
"Probably!" He shouts with glee "But you do have to be at least a little mad to be a hero!" The #2 said with a smile as his skin was melting clearly from his body, unable to withstand the heat. "MEET MY FATHER'S TECHNIQUES!"
"YOU DUMBASS, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE IF YOU CONTINUE!"
"Well, see, you would have a point if… Well, I actually gave a single fuck about that." Endeavor said, stunning All For One. "I have nothing to live for anymore, yet everything to die for and someone I am willing to kill with all of my heart." Endeavor said as he manipulated the fire around him to intensify it even harder, making all the Noumus who didn't run away from him fast enough melt. "You are right about one thing over all, I feel great as a monster!" The manic grin on his face only proved that point as more and more blue flames dripped from the man's body.
Suddenly, All For One realized that sometimes, breaking people was not a good idea. Sure, most of the time, they became a catatonic mess and it was fun to hurt them even after they thought they had become numb. But he didn't expect Endeavor to just go fuck it and decides to pull up a Vegeta! "Feel the power I keep caged inside of me! I dont have the control over it like my normal techniques! So run away from me if you can! This ugly beast of a quirk fueled by the unbridled Rage I feel!"
Now the real question was, how ready to die was Endeavor? Also, since when that fucker had blue fire? Why was he remembering this color? Oh fuck. He said his Father's techniques. Nedzu didn't have a fire quirk. "From deep within, far beneath skin! Down to my core! I must confess that I have always wanted to do this!" The hero's speech travels past the roar of the flames as they grow increasingly louder.
Oh fuck, Oh Fuck OH FUCK!!.
"Ashen King Technique. Naraka!" Endeavor said with an actual demoniac smile as suddenly the heat somehow intensified even further. This time, the fire was wholefully uncontrolled as it bursted off of him in every direction, going from blue to white in mere moments. There was no trace left of Endeavor's careful control of his quirk as the flames blocked him from view. He was just letting it run freely, finally consuming the power of his blood as all the things he craved for were left behind.
He didn't have the ability to run anymore as he was exerting all of his quirk's might but each of his steps were making the stone turn into lava around him. The white flames scratching into the walls leaving molten rock and iron, at the same time blue flames are carried into and down the halls scorching everything in their path as they slowly cooled, becoming darker as they move from white to cyan to blue to indigo and lastly back to its origin as red flame that jumps to anything flammable just trying to reach farther and consume. Truly it's something that can't be controlled.
The truth was that Endeavor knew all along his potential as an Ember. Hell, his dad knew it before he was even born and was constantly pushing him to use his fire so one day, Endeavor would reach his level and become ascended too.
And like Shouto after him, he refused to his quirk at full power to never be his dad. He didn't need his dad's fire to be a hero. The irony made him chuckle, now that he saw it for what it truly was.
He was full of regret, as he felt his skin melting and exposing his flesh. However, his most important regret was probably that he would have liked a family hug before dying. Oh well. Rei was alive and with his resources, would most likely find Touya. Shouto would become an awesome hero on his own.
"WE ARE GOING TO BURN, ALL FOR ONE. MOST LIKELY IN HELL. DON'T WORRY, IT'S JUST A WARM UP!"
A part of Endeavor also wondered. Is this what Touya actually felt like, on the mountain top? Alone, in flames of his own undoing?
Second regret. He couldn't apologize to Touya anymore, he will just have to make this count.
—--
All For One was scared enough to actually almost shit on himself. He had felt that only a few times in his life.
When he learned that Yoichi ran away. When his first wife threatened to cut his ball with a knife and she was in the position to do it. When All-Might punched him in the face. When he tried, in a really dumb attempt, to solo the Ashen King before discovering you couldn't steal the quirk of a Living Quirk considering they didn't have any biological part.
All For One was still wondering how in the living fuck the Ashen King reproduced.
Still, as a result, All For One, as his meat shield bravely endured the heat for him, was now summoning his "summon little object" quirk to bring one of his Anti-Ashen King counterplans. One of them was Gigantomachia, who actually had some quirk allowing him to punch fire. It was just in case the Living Fire was still alive. Using a Kaiju seemed like a good idea at the time.
"WHAT'S WRONG ALL FOR ONE, SCARED? DON'T WORRY, IT WON'T BE LONG!" Endeavor said before his hand grabbed the armored noumus, making him melt. It didn't even have the time to smell the burning of flesh because the heat was too intense and All For One was seeing Endeavor's burning skull rising to meet his eyes.
All For One decided he was right to keep his "Anti Living Fire" measures. One of them… Was this strange bullet, made of ever changing ice. Seriously, he still wondering how the fuck Garaki managed to do that one, but even he understood the good doctor when he said that making a quirk bullet was incredibly hard and not something he could reproduce at will.
This bullet was going to be Endeavor's silver bullet.
"SCARED OF FIRE, LITTLE DEMON KING ?" Endeavor howled, letting everything go as he pushed forward, and was actually accumulating heat inside his body. Fuck it. He would blow up everything in a perfect circle. Let's see how All For One was going to handle a supernova heat. He had fire resistance quirks, not immunity, considering his face.
"Final Ashen King Technique: END OF NIRVANA!" Endeavor screamed, ready to use the last technique his father actually taught him. A technique the Ashen King could use whenever he wanted because he would regenerate afterward. However, for a mortal man like himself, it was going to spell his end.
But that way, everyone would be safe.
"No. You will die alone in this act." All For One said, before activating a homing quirk and an accelerating quirk. With a flick of his finger, incredibly strong for what it was, the ice bullet hit Endeavor in his chest, near his now visible beating heart.
"What the…"
Endeavor barely had time to say anything else, before the ice quickly began to cover him, branching out from his heart and using his veins as lay lines to spread. As soon as he saw that, Endeavor tried to intensify his quirk to melt the ice but strangely… All it did was increase further the speed at which ice spread over his body.
"... I don't know how he did that one, but Garaki found a quirk that can turn heat into ice and made it into a bullet. That's what I shot you with." All For One said, trying to get back his breathing. Hard, because Endeavor kind of burned a lot of oxygen.
Desperate, Endeavor tried to at least roar one last time to hit All for One but the Ice covered his angry and furious face before.
All For One… Actually fell on his knee, surprised and tired by the stressful situation.
"Ok. Not going to lie, this one was way closer than I would have liked and I actually was fucking lucky. The Doctor made a bullet specifically to kill your dad if he came back." All For One admitted only to a barely conscious Endeavor as he froze over, frost encasing his form. "Seriously. You were this close to killing me. One more second and… Oh god. I am going to throw up. Way too close man. I need to make you pay." All For One said, before glaring furiously at Enji. "So I am going to turn your son into a fucking noumu and make him execute his family. I am that angry, Enji. So now, die full of regret, knowing that doing your best didn't do jack shit!"
All For One then walked away, as Enji was fighting desperately to stay conscious in his ice chrysalid tomb.
Then… Endeavor lost the fight as his flames went out for the last time, seeing All For One walking away to destroy everything in his wake, because as always…
Endeavor failed.
—--
Garaki's lab.
"NOOOOO! FUCKING DAMMIT. ENDEAVOR, YOU WERE THIS CLOSE TO KILL HIM!" Chisaki bellowed out, while Emilia stared at Garaki, curious.
"Sensei? I thought you said the Ashen King was your god. Why did you create a bullet for him?" she said with a slight down pour in her voice.
"Because he actually ordered me to. Now, all I need to do is simple, my dear Emilia." Garaki said with an elderly smile full of warmth.
"What now?" Chisaki asked, wondering what this man of science would say.
"I need to believe my God is right."
Both of his students didn't know what he was talking about but… Somehow, they hoped for the same thing.
Somewhere, a god listened and smiled.
Exegol part 3 : Endeavor's End.