Chương 2363: 105
Chapter 105: Eidolon
A/N: And here we go! I'll keep it short: Hope you all enjoy it!
Monika Kaniyashiki — otherwise known to her friends and colleagues simply as 'Kaniko' by her own insistence — was wondering just how in the world she had gotten herself intertwined in the midst of a technically nationwide vigilante conspiracy group.
She thought that maybe it had all begun to spiral out of control when she took that case up in Osaka. After all, her life and all the cases she had taken on from that point on had only gotten crazier and crazier.
And now here she was, driving around in an old pickup truck through the ruins of Chiba in search of a trio of third year students that had evaded all sense being hunted for nearly two weeks. And all due to the whims of a sixteen year old kid that she was supposed to be bossing around.
Not that she really felt the need of doing so, anyways.
Her only saving grace may have been the fact that Traveler was sitting beside her in the passenger seat, ready to bail her out at a moment's notice if someone like Moonfish or Muscular popped out of some dumpster or sewer grate.
"We've been out here for how long?" Traveler asked. "At this point we'll miss Midoriya's mark. And even worse: my wife and daughter are still waiting for me at home!"
"It's literally thirty till midnight," Kaniko said, turning a questioning gaze at her companion.
"What?" Traveler shrugged. "They always wait for me to say goodnight!"
Kaniko shrugged. "Yeah, yeah. Just so we— Son of a—!"
A cloud of smoke interrupted from the middle of the road, causing Kaniko to swerve and crash into the side of a building.
"Shoot!" Traveler yelled as he gestured his arm over at Kaniko. "Quick! Grab my ha— ahhhh!" That was all he had to say before the car door was ripped over, a giant and writhing tentacle pulling him out into the streets.
"Well shit," Kaniko muttered, pulling her gun out from her holster.
A thump on the roof of the car followed not long after, a shadowy figure kneeled down in the midst of smoke.
"Oh! Hey!" The figure — a girl, based on the voice — exclaimed as her face pressed against the glass. "I vaguely recognize you! Why is that?!"
The smoke cleared, revealing the entirety of the girl before her. Kaniko subsequently let out a sigh in relief, lowering her pistol to her side. "Thank the heavens."
Hado pressed a finger to her chin, tilting her head as she stared through the windshield. "Hmm… you lowered your gun. Guess you aren't here to fight?"
Togata leaned into view, his eyes widening in realization as he viewed the driver of the vehicle. "Oh! Kaniko-san!"
Togata made his way around the side, prying open the truck door with his enhanced strength and moving to tend to the Kaniko's injuries.
"I apologize for the indiscriminate attack," Togata apologized. "We wouldn't have survived for so long without such tactics. Tamaki insisted so."
Off to the side Amajiki was gradually releasing Traveler from his grasp, rubbing the back of his head as he did so. "I'm sorry for the trouble."
"So, what brings you here?" Togata asked as she pulled Kaniko out from her seat, his smile never leaving his face. "Wouldn't happen to be searching for me, hmm?
Kaniko huffed out a breath of air. "Well…"
He landed before the gates of U.A. High School, cutting off his newfound levitation with a thought. With the flick of the wrist the gates opened, reinforced steel and highly specialized architecture parting way for his arrival.
The late night atmosphere left the campus near-still as a graveyard, the myriad refugees and citizens of Japan sound asleep. The few exceptions around he picked up with his ears, shouts and cries echoing in his head from hundreds of feet away.
"What the fuck do you mean he went out by himself!?"
"I mean that I let him go out to fight All For One without all of you."
"You rat bastard!"
"Oh? A rat, am I? Are you sure about that?"
"This isn't the time for games, Principal Nezu!"
"Please, principal Nezu. Where is my son? You promised that you'd protect him!"
"And I have sworn to that on my life, Miss Midoriya. You can trust me on that."
"How exactly are you planning on doing that by permitting Izuku to fight somebody who could annihilate all of us in this room in under a minute?"
"Yeah. Miss Kaniko said that he had a plan. What… exactly does that entail?"
Bingo. There he was. Mirio Togata. Wielder of One For All. The Target.
"Aren't you being a bit of a psycho by letting a sixteen year old kid fight a human-sized kaiju by himself?"
"Hmm… Technically we're all the same age as 'Zuku, you know? So honestly all of us going wouldn't be all too different—"
"Not now Mei, please…"
He took a breath, coursing the energy in his legs before launching off. His legs carried him across campus in a mere moment, his body colliding with the doors to the principal's office and slamming them open with a loud crash.
"Shit!"
"The hell—"
"My—"
Wha—"
"Izuku—!"
His eyes honed in on his target.
Togata's eyes widened in realization. "Oh."
Power burst forth from Togata's body, black tendrils whipping out from his arms as glowing golden armor surrounded his form.
"There you are."
"Stand back!" Togata screamed. "He's—"
He dashed forward, body colliding with Togata's form in a burst of speed. Arms wrapped around Togata, the two falling out the window and to the ground.
And as the others ran to the window and looked down, the only thing they saw were the two figures on the ground disappearing in a burst of smoke.
Izuku took in a wonderfully deep breath as he settled himself in Togata's mindscape. The metaphysical air traveled in and out of his lungs, brushing away the shroud that had taken hold of his mind.
Izuku let out a sigh of relief, the palpable trembling of his limbs declining as the moments of calm passed by and seeped in. The miasma that had been clouding his mind finally began to recede, the reins of corruption spreading out of himself and into the depths.
Izuku allowed himself to lie on the ground, closing his eyes as he took in the effervescent hum of the mind's void. "Dang, that's refreshing. I mean, I can actually think clearly again!"
"Wouldn't have been so much of a problem if you had just followed the plan that you made," Taylor's voice muttered beside him.
"I panicked, alright?"
Taylor scoffed. "That's how you're planning to plead your case?"
"It's not like I wanted to spend any longer than I needed to inside of All For One's head," Izuku muttered, wiping his face in the process. "It just felt wrong, you know? I mean, you have to understand what it's like. You had QA in your head too while you were fighting your very own golden boy. The whole merging-minds-with-a-higher-power and whatnot isn't something meant for the average mind."
Taylor hummed in thought. "Alright, Izuku. I'll give you that one." A slight muffled sound could be heard as Taylor sat herself up. "But to be fair your bailing out turned out to be for moot, considering the fact that you were running around like a crazed, semi-cognizant and berserk individual out for blood."
Izuku opened his mouth to retort, but slowly closed it as he thought through Taylor's words. "Yeah. Alright. I'll give you that. Probably didn't give out a good impression to the others, huh?"
"Mmhmm. Definitely not." Taylor sighed. "You just going to sit here?"
"I want to take the time to make sure I'm all recovered," Izuku explained. "I mean, I probably shouldn't confront Togata if all I'll do is walk in there and devolve the situation into a mishmash. And besides, you're channeling all that newfound power into something manageable, yeah? I'll wait for you to be done with that."
"We'd already be done if you had just waited, weird cerebral merge or not. And don't say that you couldn't handle it. I spent the better part of an hour in that state. You were semi-controlled for what? Two to three minutes?"
"Okay, but I'm just saying that—"
"There you are, you bastard!"
Izuku opened his eyes at the interruption and elevated his head, only for his gaze to fall right in line with the one and only Nana Shimura, her eyes pressed into a hard glare and fist up and ready to brawl.
"You know, I have to wonder why every time it's just only you," Izuku began, lying his head back down as he covered his eyes with his arm. "I mean, there are other vestiges in here too. Is it just because you're the most recent one bar All Might, since he's still alive? Or is it just because you have a more personal stake in the ins and outs of my plans?"
"Stop acting all high and mighty, scum!" Shimura exclaimed. "I'm warning you now, Izuku Midoriya; leave now or prepare to face the consequences."
Izuku groaned, but nonetheless didn't move himself from his spot. "Look. This is just one whole big misunderstanding. Promise."
"Misunderstanding? Misunderstanding?! You had the look of murder in your eyes just a little while ago!" Shimura argued. "The message that you were sending couldn't have been any clearer!"
"Okay, but—"
"You don't need to act all coy with me! I can feel All For One coursing through your very veins! And now that you have it, the world's just replaced one tyrant with another! But if you think you can just waltz in here and swipe away One For All then you have another thing comin—"
Izuku groaned, pressing his fingers against his nose. With the flick of a wrist, the backdrop suddenly changed. The purple-black abyss morphed and shifted into a much more comfortable looking lounge area.
And in its midst, sitting quite calmly but now with a shocked look on his face, was Mirio Togata.
"Togata!" Shimura yelled out towards her ward. "Run! The others and I will deal with this! He's vulnerable to us while in here! You just need to focus on getting away from him"
"No, Miss Shimura! I won't run from this fight!" Togata exclaimed, pointing a finger at Izuku. "I need to learn what's up with Midoriya! All For One must have done something to him!"
"Son of a—" Izuku sighed. He raised up one of his palms and pointed it towards Togata. With the turn of his wrist, Togata began to rise in the air against his own accord.
"Wha—?"
"Shit!" Shimura yelled. "Togata, use—!"
Togata zoomed through the air, his forehead colliding straight into Izuku's open palm, fingers constricting around the undefended face.
But Togata wasn't going to take his defeat lying down. He was going to do all he could to escape.
Black tendrils shot out from his arms, but they were burned away by glowing flames. The hard light weaponry was deflected by a wired gridiron mesh of metal. Any sense of fatigue was warded off by adrenaline boosters, and the mere force of Togata's punches were offset by inertial dampeners.
"It's no use, Togata -senpai," Izuku said.
Shimura began to run forward. "Togata!"
Togata screamed, an explosion of light and a cacophony of energies intertwining between the himself and lights and sounds cascaded into a vicious vividescent green, to—
"There; done." The lights instantly receded, retreating into nothingness in a mere moment.
Izuku let go of Togata, the boy landing on his feet as Izuku crossed his arms around his head. "Good riddance to you."
"Wha…?" Togata moved his arms around his body, searching himself for anything that had changed with himself. Much to his surprise, he found none. "I feel fine?"
"I would hope so," Izuku said, remaining completely carefree of the situation around him.
Shimura growled. "Like hell I'll believe that!" She moved, feet pushing her off the ground with her fists outstretched towards Izuku.
Izuku flinched at the movement, his now defenseless body shying away on the ground. But thankfully for him, the upcoming salvo of attacks were barred from reaching him by Taylor and her own barrage of countering fists.
"Hiding behind this creature, are you?' Shimura questioned.
"Hey!" Taylor shot back. "What is that supposed to mean?!"
"It means that you're following the path of a greater evil!" Shimura retorted, pushing forward with her fists.
"No, wait! "Togata shouted out, causing the two to stop with their feud.
"I'm fine!" Togata said, a smile on his face. "In fact, I feel even better than before! I feel swell! There's all this energy coursing through my vei—!"
As Togata raised up one of his hands in the air, a sudden electrical stream shot in the air. An almost perfect mimicked manifestation of a bolt of lighting striking into the air from the ground rather than the alternative.
Togata blinked, lowering his arm to his face to stare at his palm. "Is this the third's quirk, or…?"
Shimura unconsciously backed away from Taylor, eyes widened in surprise. "None of us have electrokinesis…"
Togata rubbed his chin in thought. "Aha!" He pointed one of his fingers up in realization. "Let's try thhiiisssss!"
Togata moved forward in a blur. "Super speed!"
Particles of glowing red light shot out of his eyes. "Laser vision!"
Togata's tongue shot out of his mouth, extending and moving akin to a tentacle. "Prehensile tongue!" Togata shivered. "Not doing that again."
Shimura slowly turned her gaze towards Izuku. "You gave him All For One."
Izuku finally lifted himself off the ground, dusting himself off before responding. "I did, yes."
"But… why?"
Izuku shrugged. "Well, I don't want it, for one. Way too much responsibility. I'm fine with bugs, thank you very much. Lots of utility and combat potential just with that."
"Yeah… I've definitely noticed" Togata muttered, eyes looking down at the ground. "I'm guessing that you have a reason number two?
"I do!" Izuku cheered. "Thing is, I'd rather not have to worry about all of the specifics of something so overly-complicated. My life would get all clogged up with things I don't feel I'm up to par with dealing with."
Togata tilted his head. "You mean to say that you don't think you're worthy?"
"Uh uh uh uh uh!" Izuku shot out before Togata could continue. "Don't start with that. Besides, I have another reason for giving you All For One. Specifically, giving it to the wielder of One For All."
Shimura crossed her arms, finally shuffling her way towards her ward and stepping slightly in front of him as she did so. "And how so?"
Izuku nodded. "Well, I'll put it out simply. This way, any hints of All For One — and I mean the man himself, not the quirk — can be kept under lock and key under the watch of all the vestiges. In the case that he rises up again — which I admit I think is a fairly improbable occurrence with how thorough I'm being; but hey, you never know — you guys can keep him in check. You can trap him in the mindscape of One For All, with all of you watching him. I mean, all together you all should be strong enough."
Shimura narrowed her eyes. "You'd make that assumption for the whole of us?"
Izuku shrugged. "Well, if you aren't… Well, you could always try trapping All For One by planting the entirety of the quirk in some lobster?"
"And what? Togata would then eat the lobster?"
Izuku's expression brightened. "That'd be a great idea! … Wait… Would that technically be cannibalism?"
Shimura opened her mouth to speak.
"Nevermind," Izuku interjected, waving his arm to cut Shimura off. "Togata."
"Yes!" Togata cheered, straightening himself out as he looked to Izuku.
Izuku nodded. "I say donate a few of the quirks stored in your new quirk to some of the quirkless individuals out there. It'll help their social situation, trust me on that."
"Huhmm!" Togata cheered. "Rather thoughtful of you! I'll probably have to sort through all these quirks first though…"
Shimura rolled her eyes, letting out a scoff. "Why the hell didn't you start with that?! What was with all that aggression from a while ago? All that bloodlust? Was that really all necessary?"
"Ehhh…" Izuku scratched his head. "That's not something that you really need to worry about."
"No need to worry about?!" Shimura screamed.
"I wasn't in the right mindset exactly when I was dealing with All For One, alright?" Izuku huffed. "I just wanted to get the thing over with, you know? I mean, a problem that has been following me since the start of the school year finally ended tonight! I thought, 'can't I be a bit carefree for once?' And so what? It sort of got out of control because of my willingness for everything to end. Can you blame me?
Shimura blinked. "...That doesn't explain shit!"
"Whoa, whoa," Togata soothed, placing a hand on Shimura's shoulder. "No need to get so pent up, Miss Shimura! Izuku's a good guy! Him giving up All For One rather than keeping it to himself and becoming another tyrant proves that!"
"If you really want to know," Izuku began, pointing his thumb behind him, "it was mostly just a weird feedback loop regarding QA over there messing with my senses a little bit."
The overly bright and shining light that signified QA's presence shone in the simulated sky behind them. But before Izuku could continue, a grating, reverberating sound shook the entire landscape.
"Ow ow ow! What did I say about talking while we're in here?!" Izuku shook his head. Then, he focused his gaze back onto Shimura and Togata, a broad smile filling his face. "So, any questions?"
A/N: The fight from the last chapter is up in Cicada! As for the ending, we're nearly there!
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