Three days later, at the outer district of the red-light city,
The outer district or the place widely known for containing vagrants of all ages - was as desolate as ever.
The city almost appeared to have been used as a war zone. With its building broken in multiple places.
The atmosphere around the place was heated, as if a war would start any moment.
At one of the run-down buildings, which was used as a storage room in the past - a girl sat at one corner curled into a ball.
The temperature of the room was frosty, comparable to a freezer room.
"...help..." A whisper left the girl's mouth, who seemed to be 14 or 15 years old.
However, No one was near to hear her please and neither would anyone go out of their way in the outer district. They weren't a stranger to this girl, even rumours of her were spread across this area.
The 'Death mongrel' - a title given to her after the fact every person near her would be found dead frozen the next day.
'...I will kill them.... every last one of them...' Hatred burnt the brightest in her mind, however her body refused to move an inch - almost as if she was frozen solid.
A layer of frost covered her skin and a few strands of her black hair had turned snow white due to the strange energy within her.
"...please...."
No matter what she did, her body just shook slightly in her effort.
'I don't want to die....I haven't....avenged father and mother yet...' The corner of vision was turning into frost blue - not long before she would lose her vision.
From the day she turned 10 and lost her parents to the red- light city's officers, weird things started happening to her body. At the beginning it was only to the point that her body turned colder.
But not even a year later, her body began suffering from frostbite - a torture like never before in her life. She even wondered whether she should have cut off the fingers which turned black and blue.
She was grateful to her past self to have not done so, since it recovered automatically after a month.
In her sleep, her body would release cold energy by itself too.
And now, this power had acted at the worst moment, when she was alone and hungry to the extreme.
"Ugh..." She could feel that she would die soon if this went on any longer.
Her red eyes flickered suddenly hearing the sound of distant footsteps.
"Here...." She did her best to increase her voice and a mist of cold air left her mouth. Even her internals were freezing up slowly now.
Listening to the footsteps getting closer, her breath grew laboured.
The moment she lifted her head, she saw him. A young man with a suit and a strange mask in his hand. He looked back at her with a cold smile.
Two men stood behind Zen with stoic expressions, they were the only useful subordinate he could gather after destroying five high level cartel gangs.
'They really like shooting those magical guns. Thanks to them, my [Forcefield] grew very fast. Leaving that aside, I really like what I see before me now.'
Sensing a gift nearby, Zen Shigaraki followed his senses and he was amazed by the level of gift he found.
'Suffering from the side-effects of her gift? I might have just found a good toy...'
After a pause, Zen Shigaraki walked before the curled up girl. He got an interesting idea and decided to go along with it for his amusement.
"No one came to save you, huh." Zen enjoyed it internally by saying the familiar lines.
Zen felt the pair of red eyes staring at him, he could find the plea and hatred shining within them instantly.
An arc formed on Zen's lips: "It's alright now, I'm here for you. Let me take care of you..."
[All for one]!
His trip to the red-light district was taking an interesting turn.
.....
A day later,
Zen Shigaraki looked at the girl before him with satisfaction.
Her body was covered in blood and blueish cold energy danced across her body. She seemed to be exhilarated and had a dreamy expression.
"So how does it feel to have taken your revenge, Keilene?" Zen laid back in relaxation on the sofa of the room. The blood around the place just made him more comfortable.
Keilene kneeled before Zen immediately, the sword made of ice breaking apart in her hand.
"....please, let me serve you, All for one." Keilene knew that she had taken the hands of the devil, but she didn't regret it.
Instead, her actions wouldn't change even if she went back in time. The man before her had given her the power to do what she wished for years and that was enough reason for her to bow her head.
Without much thought put into it, Zen had decided to use the moniker of All for one, in this world. It would be a name that would struck fear into the hearts of many in the future.
Zen Shigaraki just smiled and spoke: "We still have to take care of the ring leader of this red-light district, he is definitely a djinn, so don't let your guard down."
'And...the hero association has started to track me down too. I killed one of their scouts yesterday. I can't stay here for long.'
Zen didn't possess the strength needed to go against the hero association right now. And he was wary of dying if he was not careful.
Zen sent away Keilene to the next location to take care of the grunts. He stared at her mix of white and black hair as she left.
After experimenting for the past four days, Zen found a way to forcefully awaken people. He could do so by simply forcing a gift into them.
He did the same with Keilene, after stealing her half-awakened gift, he transferred it back to her fully awakened. Her mana stats was above 5 from the start, thanks to her special physique.
He remembered the information of her gift very well, since it was interesting,
- [Ice demon: Absolute authority over ice elements.] [It modified the body to that of [Ice demon physique].] [High-intermediate level] [static]
'I gave a few more gifts to her, so she shouldn't die easily. If she does...that would be a disappointment. I would rather watch her die fighting an interesting opponent.'
Having ravaged through dozens of strong gangs in the past four days, Zen was able to gather 15 useful gifts. Keeping only three of these gifts for himself, which would come to use in battle.
Zen transferred the other 12 gifts to Keilene and two useful pawns he found. They weren't very strong, but a gift was still a gift.
In the hero's career, having a gift and not having one made a big difference. This applied everywhere in the world.
Having the ability to steal and use these said gifts, by stacking them with each other - made Zen a monster. A being this world had never seen before.