Chapter 54: Level 54
[You blinked first! You lose!
Penalty applied: RED!]
Melissa looked around the department store that she had found herself in during the ensuing chaos. The heroes had come out of nowhere faster than the villains had, and All Might was here. Even if it was dangerous, she had to see him. She had to find him and tell him about what that villain had.
Her father's most recent invention, a device that could amplify quirks.
A few things had happened in a moment. The heroes had directed her towards this place and told her to look for someone called Izuku, and just when she had found the green-haired boy, everything had gone sideways and five girls about her age had appeared out of nowhere. Four of them looked just as confused as she was, with one other one grabbing everyone.
Then, the world shook. It was like one of the reactors that kept I-Island afloat had exploded or something. The shaking came to a sudden stop, and Melissa noticed that the heroes outside had fallen.
"Gah!" the purple-haired woman that had looked like she had just crawled out of bed gave a sharp gasp and her entire body glitched for a moment. She slapped a hand over her mouth and fell to her knees, glitching and spasming.
Melissa moved to help her, but stopped when she saw something unusual.
Red. Her normally blond hair was now a vibrant red. Blood? Was she bleeding? Her hand went to her head and she found that her scalp was dry.
"Menu?" The boy, Izuku she assumed, reached down and helped the purple-haired girl up. "Are you okay? What happened."
"One for—" Her voice glitched like a corrupted hologram and she went from kneeling to standing in a single frame. "All for One. He somehow amplified Overhaul's quirk to the point that he could simply change reality." She glitched switching from normal to injured and back again. "I barely managed to get here in time and start a game to prevent you all from being defeated."
"Defeated?" The girl with orange hair asked, her enlarged fists shrinking back down to a more human size. She looked familiar… Oh, she was Itsuka, from the sports festival, and the girl next to her was the official winner, Momo! "What do you mean?"
"Hp goes to zero. Still alive, but unable to fight." Menu shrugged, her form glitching once more before she materialized. "I think he's beaten everyone besides you guys now."
"He has." Izuku grabbed at his curly green hair. "Not just the heroes, but all the villains too. No one besides us can currently do anything."
"So," Momo spoke, her voice calm and tranquil. "What do we do?"
"Umm!" Melissa all but shouted. Her heart was pounding. Was this real? Was everyone else defeated? Reality alteration shouldn't be possible even with quirks. Not even if a quirk was enhanced ten times over. But, so far, nothing made sense right now. "I'm Melissa Shield."
"Oh! You're the girl that sent the message!" The busty blue-haired girl that for some reason had a boob window on her costume floated over to her, a wide smile on her face despite the situation. She grabbed a strand of Melissa's hair and let it fall. "You look cute as a redhead."
"Uhh, thanks, but, look, I'm not sure what's going on with you guys, or why I have red hair, but, I think I know what's making that villain so powerful." She looked at the group of young heroes around her and nodded. "My father was working on a band that would boost the quirk of whoever was using it, and I think that's what All for One is wearing. If you can get me in range, I might be able to disable it." She pulled out a flash drive and looked at them all again. "Please, I know it's asking a lot, but—"
"Don't worry," Izuku extended his hand out to her. "We'll keep you safe Melissa, just tell us what you need."
"A laptop; a powerful one, preferably with signal boosting abilities." She pointed towards the door. "I think that there's a computer store just down the street that can—"
"Here." Momo pulled what looked like one of the most expensive laptops Melissa had ever seen out of a gap in her costume. "It's a +1 with amplified signals. I'm not sure how that applies to a laptop, but it should be able to do what you need it to though."
"Plus… one?" Melissa looked at the laptop before she opened it up and found that it was incredibly fast. But that didn't mean anything. Checking its specs, its specs were literally bullshit that she didn't understand. What kind of a processor is Magic? She thought that Momo's quirk allowed her to make things, how did she make something that had programs pre-installed like this? The exact composition of all those gates was more than what a human can just produce. "Will this actually work?"
"It should," Menu spoke with a firm voice as she pushed up her red glasses. "Momo used a daily ability to create that for you, and it's enhanced by her magic item feat as well. It should be able to run any program that isn't also magical."
"Feat? Magic? What?" Melissa blinked. "What on earth is happening?"
"Long story short is that Menu is a physical representation of my quirk." Izuku placed a hand on Menu's shoulder and looked at Melissa with a kind smile. "And my quirk basically makes life kind of like a video game. Please try to put up with it for a bit."
Sure, why the fuck not! That totally made sense!
"Yeah, uhh, okay."
Still, the laptop was really good at a glance.
"Can I keep this?"
XXXX
It was easy to find All for One.
He just had to follow the sound of monologuing.
And boy could this guy monologue.
"Ahh, All Might, look at you now!"
[Itsuka Kendo: I want to punch him. Hard.
Momo Yaoyorozu: What she said, but with a knife.
Nejire Hado: What she said, but with a full powered blast.
Shoko Todoroki: What they said, but with cold soba.
Sys-admin: Izuku, I think Shoko's hungry!
Itsuka Kendo: I don't think soba is a weapon, Shoko
Shoko Todoroki: Oh… then really hard and frozen soba.]
The scene was one that felt like it belonged in a movie. The villain had won, and he was gloating. And gloating. And gloating. All while the heroes looked on with nothing but grit and determination as they clutched onto the last sliver of hope. And a sliver was what they had.
Izuku had seen what they were up against; the monstrosity that the girls had battled against for weeks in their home was now standing before them, but he was times a thousand. With the slightest gesture, he had beaten every single hero like they were nothing.
And now they were going to fight him.
Forget a sliver of hope, they were going to need a whole damn tree.
[Izuku Midoriya: What's everyone's position?
Itsuka Kendo: Me and Momo are in position.
Momo Yaoyorozu: Things are all clear here.
Nejire Hado: Air support is ready!
Sys-admin: Melissa and I are in position as well. She says just a few more seconds and she'll be able to deactivate it.
Izuku Midoriya: Alright, as soon as it's down we hit him with everything, alright?
Itsuka Kendo: Right!]
Izuku bit his lip and watched the villain with keen eyes, his trusty clipboard gripped tight in his hands. His entire being was shaking about this. What would happen if he died? Would he respawn at the last time they had sex again? That would already be too late to stop this. Would he die over and over again to this man?
How many times would it take to stop him?
More than what Izuku had?
No. There had to be a way. Target the tower first, find Melissa early, make sure that Eraserhead was using his quirk only on All for One.
If they reset he had outs.
Hopefully.
[Sys-admin: Shit! Melissa says that something is interfering with the crown. It might be a quirk or something, but she can't get the signal through.
Izuku Midoriya: Is it a distance thing?
Sys-admin: She says maybe. It'd be easier to tell if she could get within ten or so meters.
Izuku Midoriya: Can you have her set it up so that I only need to press a button to activate it? I might be able to get close enough.
Itsuka Kendo: Are you sure?
Izuku Midoriya: It's my job isn't it? The party leader is supposed to be the one that opens the path for victory right?
Momo Yaoyorozu: If you die again I'll kill you myself.
Shoko Todoroki: Please don't. It's scary when you die.
Izuku Midoriya: I'll be fine.]
Maybe.
Menu appeared beside him, the laptop Momo made in her hands.
[Hot potato start!
You win!]
Izuku watched as Menu's purple hair changed to a pure snow white. She looked good like that. Without a word, she handed him the laptop and then vanished once again.
Things were going to be okay.
Izuku examined the laptop for a moment. The mouse pointer was hovering right over a large execute button that seemed to dominate the screen and was just begging to be pressed.
He stepped out from his cover, holding his clipboard and the laptop in one hand while he kept one hand on the clicker.
"You see," All for One licked his lips still pacing in front of All Might. "I'm going to use this crown, this wonderful device to create a new world. Using Overhaul's quirk combined with a quirk that lets me accomplish one thing perfectly, I'm going to remake this entire world! Everyone will bow down before me, including you. But, what should I have you be? A prisoner? A slave? A dog? I originally thought about making you into my right hand man, completely loyal, but I've decided it would be so much better if you understood just how badly you lost. And so, you will still be you. And you will be powerless. The people will know of your failure. And you will be free to wallow in it."
A telephone pole away and he saw All Might glance at him for a moment.
For just a moment. But that was enough.
All for One saw the glance.
And Izuku tapped the button.
The headband exploded in sparks.
All for One roared in pain as flames engulfed his head. From above, a blast of fire struck him with pinpoint accuracy, followed by the full force of one of Nejire's blasts. Itsuka leapt into the explosion with a complete lack of fear as she slapped both hands into All for One, sending him flying back with enough force to shake the island. Momo secured All Might and retreated, getting him as far away as she could.
"Who the fuck?" All for One's voice sounded like thunder on a clear day. He emerged from the building Itsuka had thrown him into without so much as a scratch on him. "Do you think you are? Huh? This is my victory! And you will not rob me of it!"
The boss battle had begun.
AN: This fic is a mess yo