Chapter 8: Prelude To The Conquest.
In the dimly lit base of operations for the budding League of Villains, chaos ensued. Controlled chaos, given the existence of the boogeyman watching over them, but chaos nonetheless.
A few moments ago, on what should have been a simple grab'n'go mission, Tomura ended up being completely and utterly disabled by his attacker, and the Nomu, their most precious creature has stopped working.
"Its bullshit Sensei! He was fucking hacking I'm telling you! Speed hacks, admin control. He broke the Nomu, you said it was gonna kill All Might but it didn't even make it past the tutorial level!"
Kurogiri had been simply sitting there in quiet frustration as his ward talks to the greatest Villain in the world like he wasn't capable of ending his life with a hard glance.
"Quiet, Tomura. Describe the attacker. Tell me everything, how it happened and why."
"Fucker was a UA student, most likely first year. Red hair, real pretty boy smile. Was so fast that I could even see him until you pulled me away. He took a scissor blade and sliced off my fucking pinkies and then did whatever the fuck that was to the Nomu and broke it."
"So, with just a scissor blade and unimaginable speed he managed to damage yourself and the Nomu. He knew you were there, and also knew how to disable you in the most efficient way possible..."
"My Lord, perhaps All Might has chosen a successor?"
"It would certainly explain the strength and speed to deal such damage to our prized Nomu. But it doesn't explain the unhealable would on it, but, maybe that is the native Quirk. Oh, what I would do to have such a Quirk."
It seems as though the League of Villains have made a very large calculational error when it comes to profiling their targets.
"But, more importantly, Doctor..."
Pressure, pure pressure, the kind that shakes your soul to the core and brings shivers onto your spine. Just through his angered voice on the screen, all backs straightened and all heads lowered.
"How could he have known about our plan, and come up with the perfect strategy to stop it?"
It simply doesn't make sense to the centuries old Crime Lord. Nobody knew any other details than those integral to the operation, only those in his inner circle would have been capable of stopping it, and he certainly doesn't know any red haired subordinates.
"The plan will continue. Have the Doctor graft new fingers onto your hand, and try solve the issue our Nomu faces. I have utmost faith in you, Tomura. Don't let me down."
The connection cuts off, and a portal opens in front of Tomura. Despite his fervent belief that his Sensei would never hurt him, he can't suppress the goosebumps on his skin.
♧◇♡♤
After being told that All Might didn't have to attend the off campus trip, Toshinori had taken that as express permission to go hog wild on hero mode for the day. While he would be exhausted within his classes, Nezu had said that it would be fine, that they would be safe.
Even with that assurance, the nagging thought in the back of his mind told him that he was making a mistake, that his students were in danger. The invasion hadn't helped his mentality, especially the arm of the Nomu. He had asked for it to be screened covertly from Nezu so as to ensure his suspicions were unfounded, and it was still being screened as of now.
Still though, even with every bad thing that could happen now, he can't help but smile in the thoughts of the future. His successor was born to be a hero, oozing with spirit and drive. The competition though? Fierce. Too fierce, honestly.
While he had his reservations about Reinhard upon hearing of his Quirk, the more he thinks about it the further he delves into a rabbit hole of thought. What kind of Quirk combination could create it? Was it natural? Was he some sort of leftover experiment from All For One's despicable machinations?
He vowed to himself that his mind was simply making the worst of a good situation. He had seen it, the boy held some heroic spirit. Not to the level of Izuku, but spirit that could be tempered, and if his Quirk truly was as he said then it may very well be the next Symbol he finds himself suspicious of.
♧◇♡♤
"Today, you'll be taking a special off campus Heroics class. This time, we're focusing on Rescue. Pack your costumes, we leave in 5."
This is it. Time to see how much worse I made the problem. Problem with the USJ is that its such an open facility, meaning if I try any funny business with Shigaraki then there'll be witnesses to the murder.
Kurogiri, though, is another matter entirely. As long as I simply puncture the brace and drop him then and there, then nobody will be able to confirm whether I incapacitated or killed him, and the League will lose an extremely valuable asset.
Most likely, All For One is going to pull his usual Black Tar shenanigans to pull them out of the facility once the USJ debacle finishes if I take out Kurogiri, and I can only hope that he won't do the same to the Nomu.
By the time I've finished thinking, we've made it to the bus, fully decked out in Costume. Our seats are facing the others, no rows, just fave to face conversation.
"Say, Reinhard, I typically speak my mind." Her voice is interwoven with croaks and ribbits, which I would find cute if it didn't make me feel sorry for her having to deal with that all the time.
"You said your Quirk grants you anything you wish, right? Can't you just wish to be immortal?"
Aizawa, who was barely listening prior, had his eyes snap open in pale faced shock. He had procrastinated on asking his boss about Reinhard, choosing to do it over the weekend but now he's beginning to regret such a thing. What a fucking stupidly powerful Quirk, no wonder he couldn't cancel it.
"Ah, well you'd be surprised to find I already have one, and have used it before."
Eyes further widen upon being told such a thing, both horrified and astonished at the concept of death at such a young age.
"What?" Her voice notably becomes more hesitant at this point, a tad lower.
"Why yes, [Divine Protection of The Phoenix] resurrects me upon death, and I can then Wish for a subsequent version of said power infinitely, or at least I hadn't found a limit yet."
"How the hell do you even find out something like that? How do you test it?!"
♧◇♡♤
"Ah, well, I had encountered a man whose ability allowed him to operate outside the concept of Time, meaning many of my [Divine Protections] were rendered useless. Furthermore, his body itself was outside of Time too, alongside his attacks, making them so damaging that he could kill me by breathing and Stopping the Time of that breath before releasing it. We were essentially in a stalemate. He couldn't kill me fully, I couldn't incapacitate him."
While still mortified by the story and the absurd power of Regulus, each and every student on the bus was enraptured by such a tale, terrified by such an Authority as Regulus' Stillness of An Objects Time.
"So? What happened to him? How come we never heard about this villain? Surely with such a power he would have been mainstream, hell I don't even know if All Might could deal with something like that."
"Ah, well, it was quite a long time ago, and rather quiet. Anyways, his ability had a time limit, if he activated it for any longer than 5 seconds his body would slowly shut down due to stopping the time of his Heart, killing him. I lost count of how many times he killed me, but eventually my good friend Subaru was able to stop him."
"Woah, woah slow down. Who the hell is Subaru? What do you mean lost count?"
"I apologise for confusing you. The conflict was not near any major population areas, and in order to end the fight, a friend of mine, Subaru, powerless but the greatest tactician I had ever known, found a counter, though one that sadly caused the death of said villain."
"Wait! Powerless? You mean a Quirkless guy managed to help you take down this villain? What'd he do?"
Bakugou, who had been listening himself and constantly questioning how he could deal with such a villain was shocked by the idea of a Quirkless, a Deku being able to stop the villain. Though, on the opposite spectrum, Aizawa had been restlessly racking his brain to try find any details in his mind about such a villain attack making several mental notes about it.
"Well, he questioned why we should go for direct attacks and after some evasion and misdirection while playing on the villains pride, he eventually proposed the idea of trapping him in a body of water. So, given that I am capable of breathing underwater, I held him down under a lake with some debris. He drowned to death. The extremely dangerous nature of the villain and the fact that Subaru had assisted meant that it was considered self defense."
"Woah, man. That sounds horrible. I mean, can you really be so happy talking about how you died? Many times over even?"
I must admit, the memories aren't comfortable. While I had been omitting several details so that if they try corroborate a story with the Lie Detector I won't be caught out on it, I wasn't lying about the deaths.
The cutoff for the memories I have of Reinhard is the ending for Arc 5, just before the Pleiades Watchtower expedition, which means that I hold memories of dying several times over to Regulus constantly on the back of my mind.
"It is fine. I have come to terms with such a thing, and owe Subaru my respect many times over. He was a brilliant comrade, and an even better friend."
Maybe I should try and accelerate Bakugou becoming more accepting of the Quirkless and those weaker than him, try and give him a reason to mend the relationship early.
"What happened to Subaru? Did the villain hurt him? What was his name anyway?"
"I must not have mentioned. His name was Regulus Corneas, a despicable man who used his powers to kill in the name of a Witch."
I hesitate for a moment, to make the moment seem much sadder. This is all still not a lie at this point, and while it does pain me to be so earnestly manipulating my friends, I'd like to think it would help in the future. I also just really don't like Bakugou's attitude.
"Subaru was a man of great mental fortitude, but even he had his breaking point. Upon being blamed for the death of someone he held dear and suffering abuse for his powerlessness, he committed suicide."
While they are all saddened by the story given, Izuku seems pale in the face, shaky breaths as he heaves slightly looking out the window, wondering to himself, 'Could that have been me? Would i have been like Subaru? To try so hard to help those in need, just to be shunned?'
The thought was one that would stay with him, further strengthening his determination to be a hero, to ensure there would be no more people like them, the damned.
I smile. Seems the story was a positive influence on them, while also subtly reminding them that I am extremely powerful, so hopefully the school stops questioning me when I seek to help people.
On a side note, the memories of myself and Reinhard are becoming seamless to navigate between, melding slightly. I distinctly remember thinking as though I had lived through Wilhelm's lessons rather than watched them through Reinhard's eyes.
The bus stops shortly after. We've arrived.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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