Legend of steel

by Mikatsuki Augus

Dying sucks, there is no other way to describe it. Being reborn in a messed up world where most beings can kill you with a sneeze is even worse, perhaps. Well, at least I can build those Gundams now...

11. black man hunt

So, here we go again. no, as usual I'm not dead, but there were some technical issues so to speak. Toska hasn't had a spare second in the last few months and I couldn't find a beta reader who could correct the errors in the last few chapters I wrote, so I haven't posted anything anymore. In the end, I decided to just publish and upload the corrected version later, so unfortunately, keep in mind that there will be errors with pronouns and probably some grammatical errors as well. I apologize in advance for that.

I may upload up to chapter 14 in the next few weeks, which old man has been done translating for a while now, so thank him for that!

Also, I'll probably start posting on QQ soon, under the same name, after I've fixed the first few chapters of this fic to remove things like 'Prana', or where I swapped Gaia with Alaya.

I don't think there's anything else to add for now, other than inviting you to my discord server. since I can't link it here, I invite you to look for it and enter, it's called 'Mikatsuki Workshop'...seriously, I tried hard to make it cute, but it's really sadly empty! please give it some life XD

that said, happy reading and see you next time.

---

In a dilapidated bar, Shigaraki Tomura falls to the ground with a thud, making choking sounds and coughing up the viscous liquid that went down his throat during his emergency escape.

Kurogiri lands unconscious, courtesy of Vlad King, a few meters away.

"AGgghhhh-?!" he makes a choking sound and gasps as the burns on the back of his body become noticeable.

"What happened, Shigaraki Tomura?"

"Defeat...needles!" growls the criminal, trying to stand up. Because of the second-degree burns all over his back, his body is shaking enough to make it difficult to even move "The noumu were overwhelmed in an instant...my subordinates were useless...there were no kids at the camp...aghh...not even the Anti-All Might worked...the information for the raid was all wrong sensei!"

Hearing the wounded disciple's outburst, the black man emitted a contemplative murmur, not at all troubled by his anger or the pitiful state in which he returned. He was more interested in knowing how the attack had gone.

"No, they were not" All for one 'reassures' him "We were too rash and optimistic. With all the attacks Kurogane has suffered in recent weeks, it is obvious that they had taken extra precautions to ensure the safety of the students. Also, we may have underestimated the rumors about him..."

"...by the way, where are the noumu?" asks the 'doctor' inserting himself into the conversation "I had sent a smaller noumu with an emergency warp to get you out in case things went wrong, but they should be at the lab by now."

"They are all dead," Shigaraki replies scornfully, managing to sit up.

"What!"

"They all died with just a few shots," he growls, "That bastard overloaded and blew up even the Noumu we had prepared for All Might...grrrr..."

"Mnnh. After all, he wouldn't be able to keep up with that clown if he can't do at least that, I suppose," she says after a few contemplative moments.

"Tch, after all the time and resources we used for those Nomu...you damn kid! How much longer are you going to make fun of me?!"

Yes, Kyydai Garaki could not help but hate with every fiber of his being Kurogane Jack. He had been ridiculed throughout his career after studying and theorizing about the quirk singularity until he came back with a new identity, while the boy leading Celestial Being had been so successful that the nations of the world competed to grab him. The envy he felt at the difference there was in their treatment and achievement despite the fact that they were both considered rejects by society could not help but eat him up from the depths of his being.

To add insult to injury, getting his hands on some of his equipment to speed up the creation of the Noumu by years was bloody difficult, as well as a serious blow to his pride.

He didn't want to admit or acknowledge that maybe he could have done a lot more if he had kept trying, no matter what, then maybe he could have made it too.

That thought only fervently fed the black puddle in his soul filled to the brim with envy and resentment.

"Calm down doctor, we would have other opportunities to take care of him" All for one admonishes him, stopping the grinding of his teeth "For now let's take care of young Tomura's injuries, then we will start planning the next move"

He then received a detailed account from both he and Kurogiri once awake, recounting in detail the failed raid from both perspectives.

"An attack during a retreat aimed at teaching kids how best to use their quirks," says Nezu, flipping through the news on the orographic display in the center of the room so that the UA teachers and I could see the various articles. One of the many technological renovations that occurred at the school during my time here "I must admit with great shame that our predictions were far too optimistic about the scope of the threats."

I could not help but snort upon hearing the principal as he scrolled through photos of the place where the clash took place yesterday. The Internet went crazy because of the Villain League's attack on UA, both because no one had ever attacked a school in that way during the past fifty years and because of the amount of death with me involved. As always, opinions were very divided on the matter, but no one could really accuse me of anything since I did not personally kill anyone except a convicted murderer with a kill on sight notice. All the 'victims' were villain league thugs who killed each other.

The school will be closed for the next three days. I had already been questioned by the police, handing over video and audio copies of the contact between the enemies and me, while Aizawa and Vlad have not yet returned.

Why at a faculty meeting despite being a student? Because I have my hands in a lot of ongoing projects and I was the league's main target, so he felt it was appropriate for me to be aware of the next steps, since I will surely have some kind of role in his plans.

"Of course, then you'll tell me that you had no idea something like this would happen," I snort upon hearing his words, "Just out of curiosity though: how much of what happened was within your expectations?"

Present Mic, Midnight and Snipe, the only others present at the time, look at me with complicated expressions.

"Kurogane-kun, as embarrassing as it is to admit, even if we had anticipated an attack, we could hardly have imagined the scope-"

"No, actually everything fell well within the forecast, although I didn't expect them to have created things like those Noumu," Nezu admits, interrupting Nemuri as he windowed the news, causing teachers to freeze.

"OI oi oi, are you telling me that you knew almost for sure that the students would be attacked during the retreat, but you still sent them to the camp?!" cries Yamada in shock, clearly not expecting such a revelation.

"That's exactly right," Nezu confirms without getting too upset, "Kurogane doesn't consider it a problem to be targeted, but I take threats to UA and my students very seriously. As soon as I found out that there were leaks in this school I started to investigate and follow leads to find out who was selling information regarding our programs, but since there were several suspects I got the suspects to different locations to find out who said what. The instant the alarm went off at the camp the team of underground heroes I had sent to guard the informant went into action, but unfortunately he self-destructed before we could extract any useful information. Sure enough, his count took steps to prevent us from getting to either of them, since the corpse was mutilated to the point that even an autopsy was inconclusive."

Another round of shock for the teachers, who could hardly believe their ears.

"H-how did you think that was a good idea dean! What if something had happened to our students?!" the cowboy asks rather indignantly, not expecting Nezu to come up with such a plan.

"Kurogane was there precisely to avoid that scenario," Nezu replied as if there was nothing wrong with his decisions "It did not take long to realize that the villan league was not specifically looking for UA students but him. It was only after I put the word out that Kurogane would participate in the retreat that rumors began to emerge about a group gathering members for an attack."

"Organized crime...? But hadn't it been almost completely eradicated from All Might? No, even if it was, it was still too big a gamble to use the retreat as an excuse to target this group," Midnight commented frowning.

"Not closing a loophole will make it more and more difficult to do so later. Waiting further would have allowed the man behind this assault to expand his influence among student discontent, only making it more dangerous for everyone else to spend their time here" the dean's words make sense, but it does not detract from the fact that for the majority such a tactic seems overly brutal, especially after how it turned out "That said, their target was not all the students, only Kurogane. The rest was just a bonus to discredit UA and fuel discontent against the society after HPSC showed its true colors. But if he had failed, then the only ones who could have done anything against this group would have been All Might or Scathach. Finding out what kind of resources they have at their disposal will help us deal with them later; therefore, we could not miss that opportunity."

Pragmatism at its best. That's exactly what I would have done, and it's the reason I'm not angry at Nezu, just irritated that he wasn't informed sooner. N9nto do anything despite having enough firepower on his hands to guarantee with absolute certainty to the safety of the students, as well as the elimination of any threat, would have been beyond stupid world, especially given that they made it very clear that it would not end with that one attack.

Cold? Maybe. But then again, I consciously focused on developing my armor when I could have used those resources on the regenerative cradle to recreate All Might's organs. With the class card thing years later it turned out to be the right choice, but when I started working on the Might Tower the only thing I had in mind was to ensure that his health would not degenerate any more than it already had after his second battle against All for one, and he would arrive at the third confrontation stronger than his canonical counterpart was but still forced to retire, to make his recovery smoother and avoid unnecessary complications.

I have nothing against him, but after finally restoring a semblance of peace and balance in the world, All Might did not handle it well, making people practically dependent on his symbol for everything and fostering the development of the system currently being used by the HPSC, which subsequently led to civil war in the canon.

I would not have allowed something like that to happen here. With All Might out of the way and the chaos that would have run rampant everywhere, people would have been more inclined to listen to reasonable individuals with workable solutions. If not out of trust, then out of fear.

People had to get their feet back on the ground before they reached space, once the potential of quirks would be properly exploited rather than left to rot by outdated rules and laws already in the year they came into effect. I will merely point them in the right direction to ensure the development of society and science with the help of quirks, rather than making them mere instruments of entertainment for a useless mass of sheep. All the preparation in the past years has been for this very purpose.

And now Nezu has served me the opportunity I was waiting for on a silver platter, much sooner than I had hoped.

So All for One and All Might will fall two years early.

Even if the symbol of evil and its disciple die, just to make sure they don't escape and create problems later.

With All Might I would apologize later, as well as put it right once and for all once the dust had settled.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Hearing that Nezu had done everything to ensure the safety of other students with minimal risk, the three teachings was at least somewhat relieved, although they still did not approve of his actions.

The discussion continued by reflecting on what precautions to put in place to avoid a repetition of these events, how to modify the school's defenses, what countermeasures to employ in case of an invasion, and so on.

Nothing particularly interesting or important at the moment.

"So why did you ask me to come with you?" asked Nezu, that same afternoon after the meeting was over "I thought the Celestial Being base was off-limits to anyone other than authorized personnel."

We are currently going to the Celestial Being conference room.

With all the funds I have had in the past few months through all the activities that Miyu, Veda and I are involved in with the help of some development teams, I have built a large base used for scientific research in various fields, the development of weapons and armor, the creation of the support items that my company sells, and also as a kind of hospital when volunteers undergo new treatments if I have approval (which has started to happen more and more often). I demolished the old practice field behind the house and expanded the area after I bought the land.

The layout includes:

The conference room: the main room for holding meetings among Celestial Being members and any visitors.

Living area: used as the main area of operations and downtime. This includes a small attached kitchen area, a round table capable of projecting holograms, a seating area, and a bookcase.

Workshops: next to the common area, a section that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments and measurements can be carried out. For now there are only three active ones, mine, Miyu's, and one for Scathach in case he wants to kill time and build something.

Lounge

Kitchen: joined to the lounge area, used for cooking and food preparation, equipped with an oven, refrigerator and stove, stocked with food and utensils, and a place to eat when there are more guests.

Foyer: the main entrance to the Complex on the ground floor

About fifty generic bedrooms that it is possible to inhabit for Celestial Being members who request it.

Offices: again, there are several and they are used for their intended purpose.

Bathrooms: there are several and are shared for personal hygiene activities, containing essential appliances, including three sinks equipped with mirrors and a paper towel dispenser (although private rooms have both bath and shower room enough for two or three people)

Three onsen: one divided by gender, one mixed for Celestial Being members and the other private for me and the girls.

Gymnasium: a section next to the outdoor area that houses gymnastic equipment for exercise

Shooting range: overlooking the lake next to the Compound, a specialized room designed for skill, training or target practice, no matter if with weapons or magic.

Natatorium: The complex contains an Olympic-size swimming pool.

Projection room: a room with a cinema-style screen in which films are shown.

Hangar: a large area, used to house vehicles.

Deposit

Underground access tunnels: passageways for emergency evacuation.

These were the areas shown on the large plan as a military base.

Of course, there were also secret areas that only Miyu and I knew about.

The reason? Veda.

Veda is a powerful super artificial intelligence (ASI) construct based on real development technologies of quantum processing. It is interconnected in all Celestial Being computers, including the Gundams. The Gundams themselves have an operating system interconnected with Veda for support in tactical adaptation and combat. The artificial intelligence system regularly searches for threats or dangers to Japan, mainly against me, Miyu and the Emiya/Einzbern family if necessary.

I had limited myself to that for the time being, until I can move more freely. The only time I used it to decide what interventions to do was during my internship with All Might. We were on patrol, but since I was 'networked' as far as he knew, I simply received real-time information about ongoing problems. That's why during in a week we solved hundreds of cases, where in many of them the authorities had their hands tied for a long time, or had gone unsolved, for one reason or another.

Again thanks to Veda, I brought HPSC to its knees in one week.

At first it was contained in a physical memory that I had installed next to Jarvis. After it had been handed over to me by Shizuku it took me a few years to figure out how to make it work, but with Miyu's help I was able to create a structure to take full advantage of its immense computational capacity.

He is currently connected to the network and is always monitoring the whole of Japan, but from time to time he learns new tricks on his own, such as Hacking. He has become so good at it that he can hack into the government server, extract huge amounts of information, and get out before anyone can notice his presence.

He even helped reconstruct most of Aeolia's damaged data, which helped in the development of the GN drive and other unfinished projects.

Its network systems are not unlike modern Internet LAN systems, but on more complex scales. Although Veda is technically a network system composed of many terminals of different sizes and importance, it has several large main terminals that are important to the network.

I know that he is self-aware and perfectly capable of making his own decisions without following a predefined pattern, but for some reason he refuses to converse directly with me or Miyu, no matter how much I have tried to interact with him, even though he seems quite comfortable carrying out my requests.

This was the case until yesterday.

At the end of the battle he spoke to me...sort of. I got a message written by Veda with information pertaining to the Villan League. Apparently a large number of people have broken into a building that appears to be abandoned, almost all of them matching the profiles of the league members they have attached to the retreat. After running checks on the building's owner, taking advantage of cameras, smartphones, computers and more, Veda discovered that there is a speakeasy at that address.

Normally it would not matter, but one frequenter caught Veda's attention, Kagero Okuta, or better known in the business as Giran. He is a grade C villan, an information broker often in business with them. He introduced all the members of his circle to Shigaraki Tomura.

The bar is located in Kamino. Veda found Shigaraki Tomura's location, and is currently looking for the one where All for one is recovering, but should be finished soon.

"We're here," I inform him, ignoring his initial question "I see almost everyone is here, I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

I open the door to the meeting room and enter, holding it open even for Nezu, who curiously observes the scene before him as he walks.

There are several people at the table who are very familiar to both of us.

First on the left side of the table is a woman with chin-length blond hair, which she wears pulled back with a headband, a long fringe on the right side of her face, covering her eyes. She has thin, yellow, inward-facing eyes with slit pupils and particularly sharp teeth. She wears a dark red qipao with a light green flake covering around the shoulders, which appears to be cut only on the left side, with yellow claw patterns on the bottom and smaller ones around the neck. He wears knee-high boots and a strap around his exposed thigh. She wears long, almost sleeve-like white gloves that almost reach her shoulders, with higher tabs on the outer sides, exposing her hands from the wrist. She wears a matching green headband with four large pale purple claws attached, covering the right side of her face, and a series of small black dragon wings protrude from the back of her head, with a series of golden spiked cartilage piercings decorating her left ear.

Next is a dark-skinned woman of average height. She has narrow red eyes with long, defined lashes and straight, white hair that reaches her thighs with bangs starting to the left of her face. Although she is slender and curvy in build, she also sports a slender, athletic and well-defined build, especially in her arms and legs. She has long white rabbit ears pointing upward above her head, along with a small round white tail, giving her an overall resemblance to an albino rabbit.

Her costume consists of a white sleeveless leotard with dark purple trim around the shoulders and waist, a large yellow crescent design on the chest, and a single thick metal plate wrapped around her belly. She wears thigh-high purple boots to complete the leotard, with more plating around the heel and toe areas, making her feet look like those of a rabbit. She also has a pair of thick white gloves on her hands with long cuffs, with small triangular protrusions around the edges.

Immediately following is an extremely short elderly man with heavy wrinkles and thin build. He has a fair complexion and brown eyes. His hair is gray and spiky, styled short with a few bangs hanging forward and a trimmed beard. His hero costume consists of a full-body monochrome suit, a yellow cape, a belt with the letter "G" on it, very thick yellow gloves and boots, and a dark domino mask resembling two diamonds.

There are other empty seats, but the other three people are still on the right side of the table.

The first is a tall, thin man with an unnaturally long, flexible neck, as shown on several occasions, and dark eyes with heavy lashes that seem to tilt slightly inward. He has rather long blond hair that he wears combed drastically to the left, covering his left eye. His hero costume consists of a pair of jeans, a denim vest with two large chest pockets, and a denim shirt with a very high collar that covers his face to just below his nose. He wears two belts, one around his collar and one around his waist, and short dark brown boots with thick shafts and gray soles.

The second is a lean, muscular man, shorter than most of his tall heroic peers. He has gray hair shaped into three sharp points covering the right side of his face and dark gray eyes, and he wears a mask on the lower part of his face, covering his nose and mouth. He adapts the appearance of a traditional ninja. He wears a blue mask covering his mouth, tied behind his head with a red thread. He sports a red shinobi shozoku under a blue robe. His arms are covered by a thin, dark cloth that is tucked into the white sleeves of his forearm. There are red straps attached to his belt and robe that extend outward. She has a golden mask attached to her shoulder and sports a distinctive red scarf with a white patch attached to the front. She completes her costume with blue socks and yellow zori sandals.

The third, on the other hand, square facial features and short, dark blue, spiky hair. A different feature is that he possesses arrow-shaped eyebrows and has a slightly longer face than his younger brother. He has engine exhausts from his elbows that protrude from his body because of his Quirk, and he wears full white armor except for the helmet that is resting on the table in front of him.

"Ryukyu, Mirko, Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, Ingenium and...oya? It's been a long time since I've seen you, Gran Torino," the chatter stops at the voice of the UA dean "You've called some very famous individuals here. Is there something big going on that I should know about?"

The innocent question breaks the surprise, causing me to barely suppress a snort. He understands perfectly what is going on.

"Dean Nezu, it's been a long time," greets Edgeshot politely.

"Yes, seeing these familiar faces gathered here brings back some old jeans," says Best Jeanist, probably remembering his time in school.

If I remember correctly, some of them are about the same age and attended UA at the same time, although not all of them were in the same year or section.

"Oi gaki! Why the hell did you make me wait 20 damn minutes here for no damn reason!"

"Two people are still missing if you must know," I inform her impassively.

"Hah?!"

"Calm down, Rumi," Ryukyu sighs as she sees the veins contracting on her friend's forehead, "she will explain to us why she is calling shortly, there is no need to make all this fuss."

"Yare yare, this view is quite nostalgic actually," agrees Nezu, ignoring the pun (?) of hero number 4 and the chatter of the two women in the room.

"Kurogane-kun, how have you been since the attack? I heard things got pretty dangerous in the forest," Tensei asks a little upset, seeing my appearance.

In retrospect, I haven't seen him in person for a year or two, so I suppose his concern is justified, even though I didn't hurt myself? After all, I have several scars now. He probably didn't see the sports festival this year, but even if he didn't I was wearing armor almost the whole time, he still wouldn't have had a chance to see my prosthesis.

"As nice as it may be and all, what am I doing here? I've been retired for years now," Gran Torino asks while eating one of the torayaki on the plate in front of him.

"Who is the old man?" asks the rabbit woman, grumpy as ever.

"I AM HERE-" everyone looks at the door hearing the loud man from the hallway as he enters the meeting room "-late with a friend?"

He finishes All Might with a question, also entering in costume and Detective Tsulauchi under his arm, who seemed to have passed through a tornado, judging by the fact that he looked like he was about to faint or vomit, depending on who you ask.

"Oh? Looks like things are serious if that empty head is here too," he observes with a pronounced frown on Gran Torino's face.

"EEEP?! S-Sensei?!" stutters All Might frightenedly, seeing how the old man frowns at him "W-what's w-what's w-doing q-here?"

"Keh, the brat dragged me here with a robot without giving me a damn explanation! Like he did with the others apparently!" he snorts, before his frown became more calculating "Rather, what the hell are you doing?"

That question in particular expressed everyone's thoughts, because as soon as he saw his old teacher the peace symbol had cowered behind me in a pathetic attempt to use me as a shield in case of a beating. The fact that he was shaking like a leaf doesn't really help his unseemly display.

"...Sit down, there are several things to discuss," I say, shrugging off All Might, to go sit at my seat at the head of the table.

"So what exactly are we doing here?" asks Tsukauchi, putting our clothes back on after the turbulent last-minute trip, sitting next to Nezu while All Might takes a seat on the other side of the table.

"I will inform you of the raid against the villan league to be held tomorrow night," I reply, confusing many of those present.

"Wait a minute kid, although we will definitely hunt them down because of what happened last night in the forest, we can't just start searching randomly. In addition to the low probability of returning some leads, we will only cause panic among civilians," Edgeshot replied, "Besides there are many things to prepare before we raid."

Even as she said this, I could see her frustration, reflected in the others present as well, because her objection made uncomfortable sense. Even Mirko, who would usually jump on any shadow of a fight winced and stood with her arms crossed on the bed, extremely irritated by it. One cannot organize a raid without information about the target, which I have, however.

"I doubt he would have called us here without even a lead to follow," Nezu reassures him, before looking at me amused, "What did you find out about them?"

"The location of their base, the Noumu factory, identity and location of the Leader, the accomplice who probably helps him damage, an approximate number of members, their informant and supplier."

With the bomb dropped everyone was stunned, undecided whether to believe me or not, as the UA principal put a paw over his muzzle to try to hold back the laughter that was trying to force its way out of his mouth. The twisted vindictive desire was literally burning in his eyes.

"W-wait a second! The attack happened not even 12 hours ago! How did you find this information?!" asks Tsukauchi completely lost.

"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to," I admonish him impassively, making more than a few people uncomfortable.

"Did you...did you do anything illegal to get this information?" asks Best Jeanist cautiously, causing me to shrug.

"Well, I'm in a legal gray area due to lack of laws regarding the means used, so technically no. Even if someone tries to challenge the legitimacy of my information in a possible lawsuit, as I said before, the lack of proper laws regarding some of my creations does not fall under a specific crime, so we'll be fine either way and they won't be able to reject the evidence in court," I had obviously checked the possible charges before starting this conversation.

The only detective in the room stares at me, blatantly using his quirk to try to figure out whether or not I was lying, and I let him. It works exactly like a lie detector, more or less, and helps him pick up blood pressure, heartbeat, breathing rate, epidermal conductivity during a conversation. Then according to the sensations it feels it can determine whether what the interlocutor is saying is true or false. Creating or placing gadgets that interfere with his perception is extremely easy if you know how to do it, especially if you can prepare in advance and decide on the meeting place. Even more so if beyond that you have had years to study its mechanisms, unbeknownst to its user.

If I wanted to, he couldn't tell that I was lying even if I didn't even try to hide it.

However, I don't care either way. Given the poor quality of AIs in Japan, there are not many laws protecting or concerning them besides copyright and military use. Nothing comes close to the level of Veda, so no one can tell me anything about prior use, especially if no one finds out about its existence.

The pro heroes look at me rather seriously, thinking carefully about what to do and the possible repercussions their next decisions might have on their careers and agencies.

"So what exactly did you find out?"

All except Mirko, who now has a rather fierce grin on his face.

"Several things. But before we discuss the details those who want to pull out get out of this room. I will not judge him under any circumstances, regardless of the final decision," I observe one by one those present, who are seriously considering this "Some of the information I will give here will surely never be made public; therefore, better not to know if anyone asks questions after this ordeal is over."

"That sounds like fun, I'm in," obviously Rumi didn't make too much of it. Her philosophy of life is to always live every moment to the fullest; therefore, this is just another Thursday for her.

"I...remain," Jeanist says after a moment, "You have helped many people to this day, even before I met you. If someone targets you despite the good you have done with your creations, then I would be a bad jeanist if I turned my back on you now."

"After such an attack on a school, we cannot rule out the possibility that they might do it again for other reasons," Ryuko replied harshly, decidedly angry about what happened at the retreat "Children should not have to live with the fear that it might happen so soon; therefore, it is better to eliminate them immediately if there is a chance to do so."

"If you're not doing this for revenge, then you have my support...although it matters little if what you say is true" agreed Tensei "If this group has no qualms about organizing attacks of this magnitude against a single person, then they must be stopped as soon as possible. It could...could have even been Tenya in that forest" the last part was a whisper, but no one said anything when they thought about what would happen if their younger brother was involved in such a thing.

In another life and time, his fear would have become a reality in two years. But since my presence has caused more waves than I initially thought, with any luck the Class 1-A of the future will not have to deal with this crap.

Kamihara observes those present and nods.

"It would be irresponsible of me to do nothing with such a dangerous group on the loose, especially if we can stop them right away," agrees the ninja with the others.

"I've always thought so, but I can't help but be happy that I have a really great helper," All Might said, as his smile faded and the anger became more and more evident "It sure looks like I can finally settle some unfinished business, once and for all this time."

I blinked as I heard him, while everyone else shifted uncomfortably as they saw the ever-smiling expression of hero No. 1 crumple into something they had never seen. Pure and seemingly cold anger that was looking for the smallest spark to explode violently.

Gran Torino sighs upon seeing it.

"Looks like I'll have to go out and stretch my legs too, huh," murmured Sorahiko, decidedly not amused, in fact almost distressed judging by how hard his expression was "There's only one man capable of making that face, but if he's still alive..."

"It is," he replies firmly, "No one with an ounce of humanity could have thought that creating those monstrosities was in any way or form acceptable. They practically have his signature."

"...It seems you already know about it so," I conclude, connecting the pieces.

All Might stopped by to pick up Tsukauchi since I asked him to, while the detective had asked to take over the case given my high profile and the ties I have with his friend, just to make sure that third parties did not contaminate the evidence in any way, as they have done several times before when I was involved (although I always unmasked the culprits in the end). Surely he would have known that after such an attack, Toshinori would not remain on the sidelines; therefore, he must have shown them footage and depositions, which caused their delay.

Gran Torino, on the other hand, knowing him, must have connected the presence of the assembled heroes and the state of mind of his student to the only person someone as good as he could hate so viscerally, to the point of wanting to kill him so fervently with his own hands.

Tension had skyrocketed seeing the peace symbol make that scary face, so Mirko, a little calmer than she is used to being, asked the only question that perhaps really matters.

"So...who and what exactly are we dealing with?" she asks, a little more serious and controlled, almost out of character.

"I almost wish I didn't know," murmurs the detective, who has been ignored.

"His name is Shigaraki-no, at this point there is no point in giving you his name, the world knows him as 'All for one.' He is a villan who has virtually controlled almost all organized crime in Asia for the last 150 years or so," I reply to Mirko, "All Might thought they killed him years ago, but he has actually been in hiding until now, preparing for who knows what."

The discomfort of those present only increased when 'All Might' and 'kill' were put in the same sentence.

"Was it...is it really that dangerous?" asked Tensei, rather upset "Why are we only hearing about it now in this case?"

"Dangerous doesn't even come close to describing him," snorts Gran Torino contemptuously with a grim look, "He works in the shadows. He takes sick pleasure in pulling the strings behind everything that goes on around him, while everyone is unaware of it. He is extremely shrewd and careful, as well as a manipulator like few we have seen so far. Thanks to that and the fact that he can steal or grant quirks, he has also made himself a huge number of followers scattered almost everywhere."

The reaction was instantaneous.

"Stealing quirk?!"

"Is such a thing even possible!"

"As much as I don't like to admit it, the danger is very real," says Nezu, impassive in the face of Jeanist and Edgeshot's horrified questions "One of the reasons the government as a whole has always tried to bury it, leaving out the fact that All for One allowed it, was to avoid general panic. I don't need to say what kind of mess would happen if such news were in the public domain, do I?"

Everyone winces at the thought.

If it became known that such a villan, with connections just about everywhere, was still around after all this time, the people's trust in the government would crumble, because he surely has connections even in high places that help to conceal his existence (even without The unrest caused by my ongoing battle with the HPSC). If it has connections in the government, then also in its affiliated agencies, both secret and regular. People would no longer know who to trust, doubt and distrust would take hold in the population. They will want assurances that no one can give with certainty, and this will lead to protests, which will inevitably turn violent and explode badly at the slightest hint of aggression from police and heroes, regardless of whether they are corrupt or not, no matter who casts the first stone.

The 'villans' will increase their activities because of ever-increasing unrest, and the 'heroes,' with confidence in them undermined will begin to be less efficient. Most will collapse rather quickly under pressure and retreat because of their incompetence, making it more difficult for those left behind to do their jobs because of the great disparity between the numbers on the two sides. Civilians at that point will start arming themselves to defend themselves, causing more accidents due to lack of proper training and dubious equipment, which will make the work of the pros more difficult, who will in turn be forced to stop both villans and random armed idiots.

At that point the protests will escalate and become increasingly violent, until the citizens begin to repudiate the government itself, which will be forced to do something to maintain order, even to issue martial law in the worst case scenario.

It will be at that point that a real civil war will begin, which because of all the disorder everywhere All for one will be able to direct from the comfort of his armchair, through his subordinates.

It is a similar scenario to the one used in the canon given its modus operandi, as well as the most likely under the present circumstances. And this is completely excluding the intervention of foreign forces in either side and the subsequent consequences.

One look was enough for me to realize that more or less everyone has similar thoughts in their heads.

"...how can you be certain that he is behind the attack on the AU?" asks Ryukyu, definitely upset by the recent findings.

"Because of the Noumu," I reply, before anyone else can say anything about it "I had to make a couple of calls to have the Noumu remains delivered to the celestial being's labs, but in each of the corpses at least five or six different DNAs from other people were found in addition to that of the main body. Simply moving the Plus Alpha gene does not guarantee the development of a quirk, and studying the corpses more closely found signs of several dozen surgical treatments, genetic tampering, and cycles of unregistered, banned or experimental drugs."

Everyone's disgust is practically palpable now.

"This violates human rights," says Tsukauchi nauseatedly, stating the obvious.

"That's not even the worst part," I 'reassure' him, much to his horror.

"Anything else?!"

"Yes, and that's perhaps the most troubling part of all the crap I've found," I admit with a grimace, rather irritated actually "The procedures used on the Noumu are obviously under development and still need serious work to be used to create bio-engineered soldiers en masse, since they couldn't make it of that make without outside help."

"What outside help are we talking about?" asks All Might with a stony look.

"The second prototype of the regenerative cradle," I reply and feel the temperature drop to the point of shivering as the peace symbol's expression turns even darker than it already was "I tried to distribute them to hospitals in Musutafu that I could keep track of more easily, but somehow he still must have managed to get data and specifications to create his copies. Not to the level of mine, but considering what they were created for..."

"I knew it was medical equipment that mechanically replicates regeneration like Recovery Girl's quirk without its drawbacks, but is there more?" asks Ryukyu rather upset.

Not that I could blame him. The poor old woman was literally dancing full of joy at the prospect of finally being able to retire without having to worry about the possible problems caused by her absence, since my machines are more effective than her quirk.

"Cloning"

"Hah?"

The confused sound emitted by Mirko perfectly reflects the expressions of the unconscious onlookers.

"The cradle is not limited to healing wounds. The technology can do much more, so I continued to develop it as much as I could with the data I had," he explained without going into too much detail. "The procedure to create synthetic tissue is not complete; therefore, it cannot create a living being from scratch. With the right materials though? Creating individual organs, limbs, modifying and repairing a damaged body is very feasible. From the results of analysis, what they did not do with drug treatments and surgeries they completed with a regeneration cadle, but of mine none turns out to be missing or used to carry out this type of operation, otherwise my AIs would have discovered it immediately, corroborating my hypothesis about someone stealing my designs."

Once again, no one knew what to say about my inventions. Except Gran Torino.

"Kek, you've created a really annoying thing with your electronic gizmos, you brat," snorts the old man.

"Well, the goal of that project was to heal wounds and, in the future, with enough data and resources, solve the problem of transplants by creating healthy organs from the recipient's DNA," I reply annoyed at his statement, since quirk mutations not only alter the entire human body, but also the diseases contracted at times, making it much more difficult to find appropriate treatments. More than 100,000 mutations have been recorded in the past decade alone, one for every 1,200 or so inhabitants, just for the regular seasonal flu. Not to mention the difficulties in finding compatible organ donors. In addition to all the factors that are normally needed for a transplant, the mutations caused in the body by quirks must also be taken into account, so often a donor with similar quirks must be found, making it even more complex and problematic. "Honestly, between quirks and today's technology if only people applied themselves a little bit they could do this and more. They probably would have made it a century in advance at the very least, and instead I have to do most if not all of the work..."

Everyone looks at me with strange expressions, but I ignored them.

"Well, it's a shame. A medical project like this is really a blessing for the medical field given all the difficulties that the quirks have brought, but its purpose has been distorted to create organic weapons using humans as a base," summarizes Nezu, decidedly not amused by how All for one has distorted my project for its own purposes. "Also, from what you said, it is possible that thanks to one or more regeneration cadle All for one still has an ever-increasing number of Noumu at its disposal, with the right resources. Wanting to attack before he has an actual army of bio-engineered humans makes the most sense, even if we don't know how many they currently have functioning or how long it takes to create one."

Everyone's expression becomes harder.

"Yes, about that- "

"You brought me here so that I could use my contacts to get operations approved and get you to participate without too much trouble, didn't you?" that of Nezu was not a question at all, but he didn't even wait for an answer "Sure, I suppose I owe you at least that much for using you as bait last night."

"Wait a minute dean, what do you mean you used him as bait!" asks Ryukyu horrified.

"If All for one is really that dangerous, we can't take him with us! He doesn't even have a provisional license!" challenges Ingenium immediately.

Mirko seemed confused by the sudden revelation, but everyone else was looking at him with much disapproval.

"It means exactly what I meant. I had investigated ahead of time about the chances of that moment actually happening; therefore, when I was certain it would happen I sent him to clean up," the chimera explains to the interdicted vouivre, before looking at Tensei "Considering that he can steal quirks and now surely expects retaliation for the actions of his...disciple, or master project, if he gave that human his real last name, do you really think he won't be prepared to defend himself?"

"Nezu, Kurogane-shonen not."

"Mn? 'Not' what, All Might? Is he not going to participate? Is he not ready? Can't he do it?" the principal taunted him, finding what he was about to say absurd, sure having anticipated his protest "You've already failed twice, what assurance do you have that it won't happen again if you fight him alone?"

"..."

The low blow silenced my guardian rather abruptly.

"It seems that you do not have a clear understanding of the current situation, so let me illustrate it for you: you are about to fight an opponent who has at his disposal an unknown number of quirks and capabilities, an equally unknown number of allies and noumu, with unknown capabilities, who is playing at home and surely expects retaliation from us soon. As if that didn't already make him a formidable enemy, while we don't have a shred of information about him, All for One knows everything about you. Quirks, habits, special moves, general abilities, what equipment you use, aides, strategies and weaknesses. As icing on the cake, I'm willing to bet that he has placed his hidden base in plain sight, so as to put an additional handicap on you by giving you a large number of civilians or hostages to defend during combat, which he will use against you in any way he can." the more details Nezu added to his description, the more physically impressed those present seemed by his words.

Except for two. Rumi was just annoyed at not being able to romp freely in the scenario described, while Gran Torino, albeit reluctantly, was actually balancing conscience and rationality.

"...Do you think the boy will give us an advantage?" asks the retired old man, with obviously mixed feelings in his eyes.

"Sensei?! You can't be serious!"

The old man didn't look at it, and I think I have a vague idea why.

He and Nana had brought an underage All Might to fight All for One before, with the disastrous result that followed. Despite how rude he is, the old man is not heartless, so surely he felt guilty for letting All Might see his teacher's death. Perhaps he does even now. Precisely because he knows what All for One is capable of, perhaps he does not look at him when he is seriously considering having me come too. It certainly brings back unpleasant memories in his mind for both of us.

"Why do you think bringing the brat is a good idea?" asks Mirko finally, deciding to be the voice of reason for once.

"Surprise effect. The world only knows what Kurogane-kun has decided to show of his creations. Strength, agility and endurance high enough to compete with a serious All Might, plus flight and some equipment with limiters to avoid unnecessary lethal force," explains Nezu calm and rational as always, more or less "He has nothing he can steal to use against him and no one knows exactly the maximum capabilities of the Astrea F2, the weapons he has available, the equipment he can use. No one even knows how much or what other armor he has available with their capabilities. Like All for one, he's unpredictable, a wild card we can't do without, not in this situation."

None of those present could argue with that logic. Nor was there anything to discuss to begin with. Yet, they are still hesitant in my involvement.

"Even so..." All Might clenched his fists, wanting to retort, without really finding anything to do so. Nothing that could convince me or Nezu to reconsider the initial idea.

"All Might, I understand your fear. Even I would not want to involve one of my students in something so dangerous," says the chimera, sympathizing with hero No. 1, who, however, did not take it well.

"Then why are you doing it?" he almost shouts in frustration, slamming a fist on the table, which resists, though it squeaks a bit "He's still a student, he shouldn't be involved in such things!"

"He is already involved. All for one is after him, whether you like it or not; therefore, they will inevitably clash in the future, you should know that very well. Isn't that why you went to America years ago?" he replies with a sigh, rubbing his muzzle because of all the mess this situation has turned out to be "Can you tell me, with absolute certainty, that this time you will be able to capture or kill him? Last time you almost died and the doctors saved you by the skin of your teeth, but you were left debilitated and your power partially crippled. With the consequences that confrontation had on both of you, All for one will also have suffered debilitated injuries, if your description from the events are any indication, but you must realize that you cannot fail this time. If you die, the next one on the list will be Kurogane-kun, that will not change and he will have to face it in far worse situations if he does not die tomorrow as well. We have one chance that gives us more leeway than we normally would have, and we don't know when or if such a chance will ever happen again. Kurogane-kun has inflicted far worse wounds than the man anticipated; we must not give him time to regroup. We must finish him off now."

Those who did not know look at the chimera with horror and shock, thinking of the implications. To the fact that the symbol of peace had fought him several times, losing the first time and barely surviving the next, despite his unattainable power for the people of this society, which ended in a draw, if you can call it that, that left him debilitated.

The fact that All for One was still alive and apparently ready for a war. If it hasn't done so before, now it has certainly put into perspective well what kind of enemy we are preparing to face.

Nezu's words only swayed the peace symbol more, who still did not want to consent to my involvement, despite all the reasons expressed. It doesn't help the doubt that was creeping into his gaze, because now, unlike last time, he is technically the legal guardian of two minors he has to take care of (although because of his job he is absent most of the time), making him acutely aware of what will happen if he fails, leaving him divided on what to do.

Seeing that he could not make a decision I sighed, ironically annoyed at how much he cared for me. I'm...happy, I guess, that he cares so much about me? Yes. In my previous life my biological mother was a piece of shit that the world could have really done without, while my father as much as he cared about me and my siblings, because of his job he was constantly on the road for as long as I can remember and that always made us quite distant, which only got worse over time. I was practically raised by my paternal grandparents, but they had to move because of my grandfather's health problems to another region, leaving my siblings to me, who had just come of age, although because of all the mess that happened during the divorce between my biological parents and the abuse they suffered growing up from that waste of oxygen that brought us into the world, to say that we were practically strangers living under the same roof is an understatement.

It was...disorienting, having a normal family when I was reborn into this. Losing it made me feel like I might fall apart at a random moment without warning, but All Might, with its clumsy ways, had held me together. Miyu, Illya and Kuro had begun to heal the cracks I had been carrying around for years.

In some ways, Yagi Toshinori is going through the same thing. He was born to a quirk marriage as Shoto, barely having any contact with his biological parents since they were too busy with their own affairs to worry about their son, until it turned out that he inherited nothing from his biological parents, being abandoned as soon as he was diagnosed for fear that he would somehow taint their growing fame. They were murdered a few days later by a rival group within their own company, which ended up crumbling and collapsing like the twin towers.

He was officially adopted by his aunt, but that happiness was short-lived since she was killed in an urban fight he had near their home, growing up for most of his childhood alone until he met Nana, who played the mentor/mother figure for him. After losing her, he devoted himself to the fight for which he had been trained for over half his life, and once he thought it was over, he had found a strange dysfunctional family in the form of two teenagers who to call abnormal does not even begin to describe me or Miyu. Now his 'family' is in danger again, and he is forced to choose between being a hero or a...guardian? Father? Godfather? And choose to involve me to ensure the success of the mission, or leave me out and risk death to keep me safe.

I could understand it perfectly. I had done the same thing with Miyu during the battles with Archer, Saber, and Berseker.

And it makes me feel lousy because of the plan I had for the society to retire. Honestly, All Might deserves a lot better than someone like me, but the humans of this era needed stability, not the fragile, fake peace that HPSC had set up to control everything from the shadows.

Although I am not sure he will forgive me in the end, he will probably be satisfied that the society will continue even though he is no longer there, since that was his biggest fear as soon as he received the injury.

"All right, All Might," I sigh, seeing the indecision that was tearing him up inside. All Might shifts his gaze to me "Honestly, when you didn't find the body I had started preparing for the possibility that he was still alive, creating weapons with the specific intent of killing him and anyone who helped him."

"Shonen...?" he looks at me troubled feeling that I was already preparing for war before it even came, making me snort.

"Don't look at me like that, we both know I don't stop thinking about problems until I solve them. This one was simply more troublesome than others and needed specific attention," I snort with a shrug, "What do you think the arsenal I developed over the past few years was for?"

Once again, no one liked my words.

"You knew he was still alive and didn't say anything until now?" asks Tsukauchi a little skeptically.

"I suspected it, so did Nezu," I corrected him, since it is true, but because of the supernatural forces at play I did not have mathematical certainty; therefore, I avoided investigating to avoid a confirmation at the time when Tsukauchi would ask this question "It wouldn't have changed anything anyway to inform you of my suspicions earlier. Even if we had investigated years ago, we could not have done anything because All Might had yet to recover and the costume to support him after his injuries was not ready. I hadn't even completed the first version of Astrea, so I couldn't even hunt him down on my own even if I wanted to. It would have just been another unnecessary distraction in an already chaotic and complicated time at Might Tower."

These were my honest thoughts on the subject. Although All might's time limit was higher than the current one, due to the loss of two organs and most of his muscle mass he barely had one-third of his original strength. The odds of victory in the event of a confrontation were too low to be comfortable, especially since Gigantomachia was still hidden and even its power level is unknown if it was subject to modification.

I have little doubt that he will also show up this time, especially after yesterday.

All might rub his forehead, letting out a sigh as he leans against the back of the chair.

"You're always years ahead of everyone, huh?" he asks rhetorically resigned as soon as the fact that I would not move from my position.

"I'm young, not stupid. You should know better by now," I snort in amusement.

Even the other heroes, despite mixed thoughts about my involvement, did not protest or try to persuade me to back down.

"Well, now that the opening discussion is over, how about we think about the strategy to implement? After all, we don't have much time," Nezu says, clapping his hands (paws?) "What exactly were you planning, Kurogane-kun?"

My lips twisted into a sinister and rather sadistic smile upon seeing the cheerful madness of the chimera, making those present shudder.

Evening came quickly, almost too much for my liking. After sharing the information I had found about the facilities, the approximate numbers I expected them to have at a minimum in the vicinity, Nezu and I put ideas and contingency plans on the table in case everything went to hell, how to evacuate civilians and so on. The others present gave their opinions, suggestions, and considerations on what to do, but left the planning to me and the principal. After that, Nezu made a few calls to make the operation official and hand me the provisional license he thought I would need. Instead, Tsukauchi had organized the police force to coordinate with the helpers for evacuation, establish a perimeter, and cage each captured league member.

Unfortunately, I did not have time to see the girls, so I wrote a message to Miyu, which I knew she would report or show to Ilya and Kuro, describing what had happened and what I would be busy with, as well as apologizing that I had no way to go see them in person or call them after seeing several dozen missed calls and messages.

I had already decided to use the Astrea F2 and also activate the other armors to provide support to my comrades with the F1, Saldalsuud, Pluton and Command core (which had been repaired in the meantime). Veda armed them and put them in position to attack as soon as the time came.

"Is everyone in position?" asks Tsukauchi from his seat.

I close the Astrea helmet as I get out of the van that had brought me and my team members to our location.

Analyzing the patterns used by the All for One and what I knew about him, I decided to discard any surprise effect and attack directly. I'm sure he would have foreseen it anyway, so we might as well skip the part where the initial plan falls apart and where we would have had to regroup. It would have just been a waste of time that would have given him a chance to regroup.

There are two places to attack, the bar and the factory five kilometers away. I deployed in addition to my armor a hundred mass-produced RGM-89D Jegans to help the sidekicks evacuate civilians within a kilometer radius of the targets. Also taking the field for the occasion was Nezu, who surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) turned out to be a very skilled magus. I don't know how it works with chimeras, but apparently he is exempt from the norm, being able to use both a quirk and magic, although his prana reserves are low compared to the average phantom beast. Not that it hinders him in any way. Apparently he has been subjected to various experiments by both scientists and wizards before, which is the reason he can apparently do it (although he passes off his abilities as double quirk for those who are unaware of the supernatural), and he is damn good at what he does, as his High specs work very well with his specialization.

He created several multilayered bounded fields in both zones, all with a binding vow, essentially a contract created through runecraft that an individual can make with himself (if made with another person it is called a Geis). The act of abiding by the rules and restrictions agreed upon in these contracts can result in greater power or the achievement of a goal. The greater the self-imposed disadvantage, the greater the power gained from the constraint.

The first bounded field completely isolates the two buildings within the veil. No one can enter or leave, interact with the other side, no matter if the means are magical or mundane. Due to the fact that we do not know what they are doing inside the veil, we cannot spy on them, interact with them, plan a surprise attack, or know in advance what to expect, Nezu was able to successfully isolate any quirk (or spell, if he has any in his arsenal) that could have used All for One to observe the outside of the veil or tamper with it. We weren't 100% sure, but this only seemed to strengthen it somewhat.

Above the first, there is a second, larger veil that covers the entire evacuated area, to make it more powerful and prevent All for One from escaping it was made so that he, only he, could not leave the area of effect in any way, indirect or otherwise (so not even by trying to possess Tomura in the worst case scenario, if while preparing the raid he implanted his quirk). It is useless to even list the amount of things that can go wrong with that one guarantee on our side, but at least Nezu is sure that he will not be able to get out of there even by trying to jump to another dimension.

The third, which is as important as or perhaps more important than the second, is the one that retains GN particles in the area of clashes. Why? All for one he has practically lost face, literally and figuratively; therefore, he has to use different quirks to compensate for the loss of sight and smell. He will definitely use things like radio waves, echo localization, infrared, vibration perception and the like. The GN particles discharged by the Astrea f2 (and other Gundams) can cause electromagnetic interference, thus blocking a considerable amount of quirk and technology used for sensing and communications, which will inevitably mess up the perception of All for one and, if we are lucky, even the responsiveness of the noumu since they have to be exposed to electromagnetic pulses to activate and function and should be blocked by my technology.

Pr this operation I had to distribute specially created communication devices to all present to avoid such interference.

However, for this operation we have orders to kill on sight in the case of All for one and the Noumu. Capture or kill for Shigaraki Tomura and Kurogiri depending on the situation, and anyone cooperating with them capture preferably alive or neutralize if the situation becomes too difficult to handle.

"Through Kurogane's investigation, we have discovered that there are several hideouts: one building is used to manufacture noumu while the other is used to recruit regular members, with possibly probable underground passageways connecting the two to an underground base where experiments to prepare noumu take place. The main group with All Might will converge there to capture the alleged villan league leader and his right-hand man, along with any other members or collaborators present, while the group led by Hagane attacks the second building and cuts off possible escape routes. We know that Shigaraki Tomura is injured and his teacher debilitated, but remain on guard, we do not know what will await us once we are inside," Tsukauchi warns us, summarizing our strategy, "Ours is a mission based on speed! Don't let anyone escape, capture them, and then we begin the invasion to the underground factory!"

I got up from my seat and got out of the van. Looking around, the riot squad was already in place, along with Ryukyu, Mirko and...Tora?

"Why is he here?" I ask confusedly to the regulars, observing the big man in the skirt.

"They joined at the last, but Nezu approved since the extra help with evacuation was handy with the vastness of the area," the dragon-woman briefly explains "Tora came here as support at the insistence of the pussycats."

"At the mountain retreat I was no help to anyone, I have to make up for it somehow," Tora adds with a frown.

There was not much to say on the subject and I still would not have dismissed Nezu's idea. Telepathy to handle allied and crowd forces, a search quirk to identify threats, and extra drones/ground shields to defend civilians from stray attacks is a good combination to have on hand. Tora is probably just here to make it easier for the police to contain captured targets since there is no shortage of firepower on this side.

"Okay," I say simply advancing until I am near the building, "everyone is ready I suppose?"

"Yes," the blonde confirmed, shifting her gaze to the 'abandoned' building.

Ryukyu grows larger as his skin begins to become more jagged, taking on a crimson-tinged red hue that looks throughout like the scales of a dragon, while the softer parts of his body have a coloration similar to his skin. Her dress widens as she reaches a height of fifteen feet, leaving an open space on her back where her wings and tail sprout, elongating as if she has not used them for some time. Its nails are replaced by claws, its face elongates and teeth become fangs, and its hair recedes in favor of four horns stretched backward.

At full transformation, the vouvrie looks nothing like her mha counterpart, complicit in the fact that she is not human with a quirk but a human/dragon hybrid.

Having finished observing the transformation, I scan the facility finding about 20 tanks with life forms identified as incubated noumu or something like that. They are submerged in a pool of liquid with divariate tubes each; so, maybe they are still developing, but there is no sign of All for one. Maybe it is in a basement? After all, I doubt he didn't hear us coming with his quirks, even without knowing what we were up to. I wonder, what are the odds that he is here, even if the circumstances are different than those that saw him appear the first time? Is there a chance that he is at the bar this time instead?

The GN drive hums slightly more than normal as a large amount of particles pass through the power lines. A greenish-white flame bursts from my hands and engulfs my weapon, so I swing the Prototype buster sword downward to limit unnecessary damage to the surrounding area (although I was sure it wouldn't do much good once the boss takes the field), releasing a GN burst, which rips through and tears apart the building, leaving only the half-melted side ends, which eventually collapse under their own weight.

Or at least that's how it should have been.

Halfway through, the GN burst collides with...something, which forcefully scatters it, generating a very violent, messy shockwave that practically explodes the building, sending debris flying everywhere.

Ryukyu, who had moved behind me to protect everyone else from any debris or a possible counterattack thins her gaze and begins to growl.

An air whistle was the only signal I needed. I immediately deployed the bit-staves in just a second, positioning them in the shape of a shield floating in midair, tilted vertically. A very powerful air cannon collides with the force field. The air blast does not get past my barrier and is forcefully dispersed, effectively deflected upward to limit damage and prevent it from hitting the dragon crouched protectively in front of the police.

After a few seconds, an eerie hush falls over the place, as a strong pressure invades the area, as if gravity had suddenly increased numerous times. The only sound besides the humming of my bits are footsteps coming from the darkness, although I could see through them without any problems, while that nagging sensation that rooted others in place increases exponentially with each step, making it difficult for them to even breathe. The only ones who seemed to remain alert besides me without trouble breathing were Ryukyu and Mirko, although they were breaking out in a cold sweat from the presence radiating mischief.

He wears a black suit and a dark blue, skull-like gas mask with angled tubes at the top, a large collar-like life support system around his neck with additional tubes connecting at the front and back to help him breathe.

"Aah, sorry so much kid, but your entrance so conspicuous caught me off guard and I reacted on instinct" a familiar voice, calm but not condescending as I would have expected, speaks as the moon shines down on it, showing it to the others as well "Honestly I was a little worried when you arrived at this particular spot. I knew All Might would come looking for my head since I tried to kill his student after his mentor, but it hasn't even been twenty-four hours. How did you find me?"

"Meh, it wasn't difficult actually. It only took me a couple of hours to find the bar after the attack. It took me so long to get here just to comply with an unnecessarily verbose protocol," I reply with a shrug "Honestly, if I didn't know your methods, I would have thought that you voluntarily put the brat in an easy-to-find place to teach him a lesson, perhaps fueling his anger with your 'fall' or something. In fact, I could just see you enacting a touching mentor scene of sacrificing yourself for the student only to mock All Might and remind him of your first meeting."

"Oh?" a streak of sadistic amusement and some trace of interest "Yes, indeed it was one of many ways I could have gotten on his nerves. However, you are wrong about one thing: I put my student in a place I thought was safe. But evidently that was not enough to hide him from you, my compliments, really."

This time he seemed sincere, although I didn't particularly care.

"As I said, it wasn't particularly difficult. By now everyone has smartphones, the Internet, or something connected to a network that I can hack. Like a high-end monitor on voice call," I smiled under my helmet at the shrug that made his right thumb twitch "But don't take it too hard. The world is a digital book now. Even without that, I would have found you anyway and seen you here tonight anyway, especially after what you stole from me."

"Heh, in my defense, the speed at which you develop your technology is almost a cheat in itself," he comments lazily as if it were more of a curious hiccup instead of a serious problem. "In retrospect, perhaps I should have paid more attention in things like this, although I have always found quirks more interesting and unpredictable. Their potential made me a little too distracted by other potential problems. A note for the future I guess."

"I think so. To you, as to the rest of the world," I concurred. A single pulse of the Alaya-Vijnana and I was already swinging my weapon with another GN burst, aiming immediately for a kill.

He extends his arm, which swells for another cannon prepared with dozens of quirks stolen by who-knows-who, an unknown amount of time ago.

A couple of minutes earlier, Shigaraki Tomura was furiously watching television, listening to the news that every news channel did nothing but repeat in every way or form, with dozens of different viewpoints. The gist of it, however, remains that.

They tried to kill All MIght's helper and student, but failed miserably.

Opinions on that boy were extremely divergent. On one side were those who considered him a threat to society and the status quo in general, undermining the 'peace' that those most deluded by the system seriously believe they have; while on the other side were those who considered him the change the world needed.

There were a slew of divided groups either hating or hailing him, with various theses and antitheses about him, from the most fanatical on both sides to the most moderate, but what bumps Shigaraki Tomura's nervous system the most is that there is not a single shred of information about the Villan League. Literally no one is talking about them, news and social have only mentioned their failed attack to start a discussion about the most controversial teenager of the last century.

The remote control disintegrates in his hand when he accidentally squeezes the sting triggering his quirk.

Kurogiri sighs.

"That was the last remote control we had," the modified human's annoyed comment was ignored by all present, considering the low morale of all present.

Giran was drowning his annoyance in alcohol, ignoring the pupil of his most profitable 'client,' restless as few times he had been in his life. With the failed attack, the attention of one of the most dangerous people in the world was turned in their direction, and he absolutely did not like his chances of survival now.

Twice and Dabi had been missing for some time, with any attempts to contact them proving fruitless. Rumors put the blame on Kurogane Jack, like many other disappearances that had occurred in the past twenty-four hours, so without a way to confirm which rumors were true and which were put out by many of his competitors he was forced to take them at face value. He doesn't know whether this is a good thing or not, since if it were true, with all the missing clients there would be a decent chance that Jack is really after him.

He downs another glass with a gulp, not wanting to think about the consequences.

The other two occupants of the room did not fare much better. They had come to join, but with the air in the air they were seriously reconsidering their choices, especially since Shigaraki was more busy railing against news reports about the phenomenon of the moment to be a leader and interview possible members.

Someone knocks on the door.

If they had paid more attention, they would have noticed the lack of external sounds and how strange that particular one was.

"Hey there, we are from Pizzala of Kamino."

Everyone looks at the door.

"Who the fuck ordered a pizza?" asks Tomura irritatedly.

"SMASH!"

To the decidedly much horror of those present, the concrete wall is smashed through as if it were ordinary paper mache by All MIght.

And he is not smiling.

"Kurogiri!"

"Guhh?!"

Before his guardian could do anything, a red thread pierces him, causing him to fall like a puppet, but he does not touch the ground. Other threads invest the room and attach themselves to the clothes of the villans present, freezing them in place.

"What's going on! I couldn't see him! Did he kill him?!" cries the trans woman, who still had to discuss her entry into the league with the chief, in horror.

"Ninpo: awl style," informs Edgeshot casually, "I've been fiddling with his insides a bit; so, he's going to be sleeping for a while since he's the most dangerous one here."

The red 'thread' exits Kurogiri's body and returns to its normal state, revealing the ninja-themed hero who, thanks to his quirk, had flattened out to become thin enough to twist to become the size of a string.

"Really?! We've been here not even an hour and we're already about to be arrested?!" the 'magician' shouts in disbelief, trying to touch the wires to activate his quirk.

A yellow and white spot, however, hits him hard enough in the head to knock him unconscious.

"You'd better take it easy, for your own sake," Gran Torino interrupted him, "It seems that this time you have bitten off more than you could bear Kagero Okuta, Hikiishiki Kenji, Sako Atsuhiro, Shigaraki Tomura. You have made it so big that the government has given us orders to kill whenever we deem it necessary."

To ensure a certain 'order' on both sides of the spectrum, there were unwritten rules that heroes and villans abide by to avoid too much unwanted bloodshed on both sides. Attacking schools where there are minors, hospitals, holidays such as Christmas or New Year's Day are usually targets or days to be avoided so that a manhunt would not have to be started, in return the government would turn a blind eye to certain operations of criminal groups such as drug dealing and the like as long as it did not stir up too much scandal or too much collateral damage.

It was a hush-hush agreement in effect since the end of World War III, made with large groups like the Yakuza and the like, a little bit from all nations with the dark side of the world. The reason? Too many powers at play. Before, the government had many more resources than the criminal groups since well, it was one nation against a few hundred individuals at most. Now, however, guns and bullets (in most cases) are no longer enough (except for a certain few). Any day now a quirk could arise that would completely destroy the balance of the world, as happened just with All for One long ago.

A necessary evil to avoid nightmare scenarios in uncertain times.

That is why even in war there are rules, they serve to distinguish humans (or any sentient being) from ordinary beasts.

The sudden change of weight in the balance can be disastrous for either side, and this would have led to increasingly violent and bloody clashes that would have inevitably led back to full-scale war. To avoid this, the government and criminal groups (which had not been eliminated during All MIght's hunt for Afo) were trying to maintain a balance. No one wanted to return to the dark ages or times of war, the most recent had shown that perhaps the fourth would be the last before returning to the Stone Age, and that was more than enough reason for even people on the most opposite sides of the spectrum to agree.

Then the Villan League, under the direction of a revived All for One returns to destroy that delicate balance again.

Of course, no one was going to sit idly by once this happened.

But for All Might everything was much simpler.

Despite the fact that he was the symbol of peace and had worked hard all his life in the achievement of his goal, despite the fact that he was hailed by all as a symbol of justice and virtue, despite the fact that he was the purest and noblest individual who could really call himself a hero for all intents and purposes, a role model that almost everyone wanted to follow or emulate, this time he wanted to and would be selfish.

This time he was not interested in political issues or balance.

He is only here tonight for one reason: he wants blood.

All for one attacked his godson. He doesn't need another reason to want to kill him again.

"Shigaraki Tomura, where is All for One?" the icy question from the peace symbol, who barely restrains his killer instinct, makes everyone present swallow uncomfortably.

"No one came to save you, huh?"

In Shigaraki Tomura's eyes, however, the silhouette in All MIght's black costume is replaced by a more familiar one in a black suit.

"It must have been hard, Shimura Tneko-kun," the adult's voice, full of compassion and sorrow. It sounded more sincere to the boy's ears than the 'good' adults who had left him to die in that alley with a pathetic apology "A hero will see him, they'll take care of it...they'll have all said so and pretended not to see you. But I mean, how did the world get like this?" she wonders ruefully, extending her hand toward him "It's certainly not your fault, don't worry. I'm here."

Although they were the words of the person he detested most, spoken by the individual in front of him that day, they rang true.

"Don't tease me...it can't end like this..." he mutters, his voice dripping with anger, as his red eyes stare hatefully at the individual he detests most who once again does not dignify him with a glance.

"Where is he?" asks All Might again, completely uninterested in whatever problems his nemesis' student had with him.

"Go away, get lost..."

"Shigaraki!"

"I...hate you!"

Frustration-filled screams culminate when varied pools of black water suddenly appear in the building, from which familiar figures with exposed brains begin to emerge.

"Noumu?! Where did they come from?!" gasps Best Jeanist, using the threads of his costume to bind those present.

"Edgeshot is Kurogiri?!"

The ninja observes, but shakes his head.

"No, he's still unconscious, it's not his doing!" denies the ninja moving to disable more Nounu, who keep appearing.

"Inginium-!"

Whatever Jeanist was about to say died in his throat when he turned his head to look outside. There, too, several dozen Noumu came out of nowhere in the same way and were attacking her police. The turbo hero and a dozen RGM-89D Jegan D Type that Jack had sent as additional support were protecting them.

Each of them is armed with a: a 60 mm vulcan pod in the left side of the head; three hand grenades are stored in the grid mounted on the left side of the waist; Beam Saber in the right side of the belt; Bazooka or a beam rifle depending on which unit you look at; a standard defensive shield with a pair of small twin missile launchers integrated.

Not the best Jack could create, but for mass-produced units they were good enough to slaughter noumu easily enough without taking too much damage or loss. The problem was that the more they killed, the more they got out, as if they could clone themselves indefinitely.

The only saving grace in that, is that although the police weapons were useless against low-medium level Noumu, the Jegans could fight more freely without civilians to protect around them.

Gran Torino crashes into a low-level gray Noumu, breaking its spine, during the colleague's brief moment of distraction.

"Don't get distracted young!"

"I'm sorry sir!" becoming focused again, Jeanist moves more wires and blocks the noumu that do not stop appearing, allowing the retiree to kill a dozen of them in a few moves in a matter of seconds.

"Toshinori, but this-!"

All might shakes off the noumu and faster than anyone could react, disappears in a black and white blur, knocking out all the noumu in the building.

Only for other black pools to bring out more.

"Shigaraki shouldn't have a warp, and they came too fast to be a coincidence..." agreed the peace symbol, giving a grim look at the boy with his face covered by a hand, still bound in place.

"Bleack!?"

And then suddenly, the same thick black water is spewed by the villan league members present.

"Damn, he's taking them away!" reacting quickly Gran torino, All might and Edgeshot tried to pull them away, but by then it was already too late, the warp had dragged them away, freeing them from the bonds that were blocking them.

"Sorry, they got away from me!" says mortified Jeanist.

"It's not your fault, we couldn't catch them either," the old classmate reassures him as he jumps off the bar counter to avoid yet another noumu popped out of the black water. It turns into a wire in midair and pierces his head "It wasn't Kurogiri's portals, but someone else who moved them somewhere else!"

"Oklaoma Smash!"

The upper part of the building is blown up by All Might's attack, which wipes out the Noumu and also the pools of water in the building.

Toshinori sweeps away the remaining dust and looks at his friend on the street.

"Tsukauchi, what's the situation on the other side?!"

"No luck, I can't get a hold of anyone!" the detective shouts back in the midst of that frenzy "Something probably went wrong, if All for one is not here, then-"

"-is located at the factory," concludes hero No. 1.

"We're on our own here, you go, All might!" Jeanist reassures him, taking to the streets to take down the noumu still appearing.

"We'll join you as soon as we finish here!" agrees Edgeshotb8tting into the fray.

"All right, then I'm going!" And with that he launches himself in the direction of the second veil. Or at least, that was the intention "GUH?!"

A blackish blur that was flying at great speed crashes into him, sending him flying in the opposite direction.

"Toshinori!" Gran Torino, who was about to run after him, attacked the figure, which evaded his kick faster than the old man expected and struck him in the stomach, piercing him through and through "Bruaak!?"

The figure is humanoid, like other high-end noumu has completely black skin, with musculature but not overly bulky. His head is covered by a kind of hood that and a high collar, leaving the front of his brain exposed with the usual red, bloodshot eyes set on it. From its back, wings of fire apparently allow it to fly.

"Sensei?!" calls All Might in horror, seeing the old mentor dangling from the Noumu's arm, who then drops him as if nothing had happened and returns to focusing his attention on him.

"Yo-u. Strong"