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"All For One, that bastard."
Standing amidst the ruins engulfed in flames, Konata Izumi's expression looked grim. If she hadn't reacted quickly just now, Bakugo Katsuki would've been seriously injured, if not dead. Although she had the invincible survival ability under her Miku Hatsune state, that only applied to herself. Protecting Bakugo while keeping herself safe at the same time? Impossible.
She still couldn't understand why the League of Villains wanted to capture Bakugo Katsuki. But thinking about it now, perhaps they were using him as bait—to lure All Might into their trap.
If All Might were to witness Bakugo dying helplessly right before his eyes, that would be a devastating blow to him. Considering Shigaraki Tomura's twisted personality and his inexplicable hatred toward All Might, Konata found that possibility highly likely.
After all, Shigaraki often ranted about how All Might foolishly thought he could save everyone. Given his deep resentment toward the Symbol of Peace, setting up such a scene to make All Might realize he couldn't protect everyone wasn't out of character for him.
"A trap aimed entirely at All Might, huh? Then All For One will probably move personally next. There's no way those League members could harm him."
Standing amidst the burning wreckage, Konata fell into thought. The flames and falling debris couldn't hurt her; in her Miku Hatsune state, she shared the life force of a million people—practically unkillable. If an ordinary person were here, they wouldn't last a second, but for her, those severe injuries felt like nothing more than a faint burn somewhere on her body. Not worth worrying about.
"All For One should already know about this ability of mine. I exposed it when I fought that muscle guy earlier. So is that why he dared to blow me up so confidently? Still, he probably doesn't know about my second quirk… or my fourth form. Ah well, that transformation's useless in this world anyway. No point thinking about it."
Glancing around without finding a decent spot, Konata simply sat directly atop the burning debris.
"If this trap was made for All Might, then he'll definitely find a way to lure him to the chosen battleground. Considering his personality…"
At that thought, Konata's expression shifted slightly.
And just then, All Might's enraged voice echoed again.
"SMASH!"
A storm-like gust swept through the area, scattering the blazing flames completely.
"Konata, stay right there! Don't move—I'll be there right away!"
All Might spotted the girl sitting amid the fire. After a brief moment of shock, as if realizing something, he shouted toward her. From his position, he could clearly see a warp gate opening silently behind her.
"Hmm…"
Thinking for a moment, Konata waved toward the onrushing All Might—then let herself fall backward into the portal.
Though things hadn't gone exactly as planned, that was fine. Leaving early wasn't a problem. Either way, All For One had to go down. If he did this much, it'd save her the trouble of hunting him down herself. Leaving such a terrifying being in this world? She couldn't rest easy.
With her second quirk, she might not even need All Might's help to take him down.
With that thought in mind, she vanished before All Might's eyes once again.
8:30 PM, Kamino Ward.
Stepping out of the warp gate, Konata immediately scolded the League members who surrounded her.
"If I hadn't stayed behind to cover your escape, you'd all be in handcuffs by now! Seriously, who sells out their teammates like that? Don't hide, I'm talking about you, Kurogiri! Your bar's completely gone—don't you feel even a little bad? And you, Shigaraki Tomura, you totally did this on purpose! What, you think I've got nine lives or something? And you, Toga Twice—you forgot who treats you best in this League! Who betrays their comrades that cleanly?!"
Even though she was surrounded, Konata's voice and attitude somehow pressed them all down.
"Looks like you've already made your choice."
Shigaraki's voice trembled with irritation as he glared at her.
"That was a grand gift I prepared especially for All Might, and you ruined it again."
"So what if I did? You gonna hit me? Go on, hit me!"
Puffing out her chest proudly, Konata said, "Just so you know, my dad's your teacher."
Shigaraki Tomura: "…"
"All right, Shigaraki Tomura. Pointless arguments will get us nowhere."
A deep, low voice echoed as a man wearing an iron mask stepped out of the building.
The moment Konata saw him, her eyes lit up. Without hesitation, she ran out from the crowd, pointed at Shigaraki, and complained loudly like a tattling child.
"He bullied me, All For One!"
"…So can someone explain why this suddenly turned into a family drama?"
Completely ignoring the whining girl, All For One turned his gaze toward Shigaraki.
"I'm glad to see how much you've grown since the beginning. But it's still not enough. If you want to defeat All Might, this level isn't nearly sufficient. You may have shaken the public's faith in heroes—but as long as All Might stands, that faith will never collapse."
His tone deepened.
"For this final step, let me help you."
To Shigaraki, his teacher—the man before him—was the most important person in his life.
From the earliest incidents to the Hosu event and now this training camp, nothing would have been possible without his help.
All three operations had been initiated by Shigaraki himself. But while this forest training camp could be considered a success in shaking public faith, it was also a failure. His mistake began the moment he targeted Bakugo Katsuki.
Even though Dabi had detected the tracker on Bakugo in time, they had already returned to the bar. In other words, their location was exposed from the start. So Shigaraki abandoned his original plans and set a new one—an ambush for All Might.
He'd given Konata a choice, and since she hadn't taken it, he couldn't be blamed for abandoning her.
Though his teacher thought he had done well, to Shigaraki it was a total failure. In the end, he still needed his teacher to clean up his mess.
"Well then," said the masked man, turning toward the girl who now stood quietly, head lowered, gazing at her palm. His voice carried a peculiar tone.
"Shall we have our own little talk now… my 'daughter'?"
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This place was a remote corner of Kamino Ward; nobody expected All For One to be hiding here. It was both his lair and a Nomu factory. Because hardly anyone came here normally, even after this whole group had stood in front of the place for a long time, no one noticed anything unusual. Konata Izumi looked up at the night sky where the moon was nearly invisible, then glanced at the League members beside her.
"Don't we need to hide the deal from them?" she asked.
"No need." He spoke like one might about his child. "As their teacher, I must give him every lesson." The man—All For One—spoke in a low, solemn voice.
"He can overturn this hero world. I believe in him. So will you join us? With your powers you'd be a huge help. You two seem to get along well — why insist on being those ridiculous heroes?" The man spread his hands, a trace of disdain in his tone.
"Do you know the meaning of heroes? Do you know the foundation of their existence? This world is warped. It needs correction." He went on, voice grave. "Heroes exist to oppose evil, yes, but the foundation of heroes is people like you. When beings like you disappear from society, that will be the day the hero profession retires."
"This world is warped; it needs a king to right it. You are falling behind the tide of time—in other words, your heart has aged, so you are not the king. Shigaraki Tomura is the king I've chosen, the dark emperor of the underworld." Imitating the man, she shrugged and smiled as if it meant nothing.
"From another perspective, what you're doing could be justice. Maybe one day the justice-bringing Ultraman will die—of course you probably don't know what Ultraman is. Still, one day I'll cut down that old bastard who loves handing out bentos." She snorted.
"So you choose to help us then?" All For One patiently asked, though he'd been interrupted. His face showed no expression — then again, he wore an iron mask so his face wasn't easy to read.
"I think you misunderstand." The girl sighed suddenly.
"To be honest, this training-camp thing was supposedly a hellish trial, but it was my last bit of free time. You ruined my final break and expect me to help you?" She sounded exasperated.
All For One looked puzzled at her words. "Last vacation?"
"Honestly, I'm a selfish person. I did all sorts of things for myself, only to find they turned into a big joke. I spun a bunch of clumsy lies and in the end I couldn't even make them hate me properly." She lifted her hand and looked at her palm, smiling ruefully.
"I hate farewells. I'd rather walk away quietly. As for Shigaraki and the others—even if I hurt them before, whatever. All For One, aren't you going to say the terms of the deal?" Konata raised her head and stared straight at the tall man in the suit.
At that moment All For One's subordinates noticed something odd about her. Under the dim streetlamp, Konata's right hand suddenly became insubstantial, as if something that should not belong in this world was being expelled. It was between transparent and semi-transparent, eerily strange.
"All right. The deal is simple. I want you to stay at Shigaraki Tomura's side, fully support him, help him grow." All For One's voice remained low, as if he hadn't noticed the change in her.
"But from what I see, you don't seem prepared to accept that deal."
"A deal? If this is a deal and I've given so much, what do I get in return? I won't accept an unfair trade. Let's make a trade we can both accept." Konata's gaze flicked toward Shigaraki. She stuck one finger up seriously in front of her.
"You want Shigaraki to grow into a king? To become a king you must be willing to give things up—for example, your dependence. Heavy lies the crown; kings must be forged by the sword. How about this: Let me kill you, then Shigaraki will kill me and avenge you. That way, spiritually and mentally, he'll become a proper king."
"Are you, as his 'daughter,' proposing to parricide?" Shigaraki interrupted, halting the murmurs among the League.
"You must understand: back in Hosu City, if I hadn't spared you, you wouldn't be alive now." Shigaraki's tone was sharp.
"Did you really think that? If I'd wanted then, I could have perished with you. I held back because I had ties. And thanks to that, I now possess a second quirk." Konata didn't bother to hide the fading of her right hand into nothingness as it spread up her arm; she cocked her head and spoke quietly, fixing the man with an odd stare.
"So please, just be good and let me kill you, okay? Anyway, Shigaraki Tomura will kill me to avenge you later. All you need to do is—"
A sudden surge of wind swallowed her unfinished words. Smoke and dust obscured her form, and for the first time All For One's voice turned serious.
"Kurogiri, take everyone and get out of here."
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"You villains, seriously. How about reading 'Proper Etiquette for Villains' a thousand times before trying again? You never even let me finish talking."
From within the rising dust, the girl's exasperated voice drifted out.
"Honestly, cheap old man, you sure you don't wanna rethink this? Pain's the fastest way for someone to grow. In Shigaraki's heart, you're the most important person to him. If you die by my hand, he'll rage-boost like a shonen protagonist—might even hit Super Saiyan 4 on the spot."
"Useless," All For One muttered, lifting his hand again. The air trembled as it expanded unnaturally, muscles swelling like steel cables. Air Burst. Springlike Limbs. Instant Power x4. Arm Strength x3. His voice rumbled low. The one called All For One could steal quirks at will and wield them simultaneously.
Though he barely survived his battle with All Might years ago, losing most of his collected quirks, he was still a monster among men. Besides All Might, not a single hero alive could stand against him. Even if the rest of the top ten joined forces, he was confident he'd crush them all in one blow.
Yet when the girl tilted her head and spoke, an unfamiliar chill crept up his spine—a feeling he hadn't known in decades. Fear. He was the one who should inspire terror, and yet, before this girl, he felt it himself. His previous attacks could have blasted even All Might away, yet she stood there unscathed.
The shockwaves had already sent the League of Villains flying, slamming into the ground under the sheer force of the impact.
When the dust finally cleared, what lay before them was devastation incarnate. The ground was shattered like glass, cracks spreading in all directions. Buildings were reduced to rubble. Amidst the chaos stood the girl, completely unhurt—though her right arm was now almost fully transparent, light passing through it like glass.
"All right… what's your second quirk?" All For One asked, eyes fixed on that fading arm.
"It's a perfect fit for me," she replied easily, hands in her pockets. "Might not be useful for you villains, but for me, it's tailor-made."
"My first quirk is Fantasy. The second—Reality. When I use the latter, until my life completely burns out, I can freely use every ability I've ever imagined. Like this."
As she waved her hand, the ground shuddered. In an instant, the lights across Kamino Ward went dark. Lightning arced around her, crackling with impossible energy. The earth groaned beneath their feet as if something monstrous was clawing its way up from below.
"Turning fantasy into reality, and reality into fantasy… sounds fun, right?"
"You're insane," All For One snapped. "Even if you kill me like this, you'll vanish from this world too!"
"Does it matter?" she smiled, tilting her head playfully. "For their sake—and for our little 'deal'—please, die here tonight."
"Kurogiri! Open a warp and get them out!"
Without hesitation, All For One lunged toward her. He knew this fight was beyond anyone else's reach. If she truly intended to keep the League here, he could maybe save two or three at best. He should've been grateful her target was only him.
Could such an absurdly powerful quirk really exist in this world? Or was it too strong—so strong it refused to coexist with reality itself, her body fading because it simply shouldn't exist?
He had planned everything: the Nomu, the traps, even Shigaraki's movements—all arranged to lure All Might here and kill him. For once, everything was proceeding perfectly.
But plans never keep up with change. The one variable he trusted most—his so-called daughter—had become the error that unraveled it all.
For the first time, All For One felt lost.
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