Author's Note: Hey, everyone! How's it going? Hope you're doing great. Just stopping by to let you know that if we hit 300k [views/followers] or 300 Power Stones, I'll drop 2 to 3 chapters back-to-back. If I see a lot of support, I'll try to keep a steady schedule of multiple chapters a week. Don't forget to leave your reviews and share the story. Hope you all have an awesome day!
Let's get back to it!
"Shit!" All Might roared, slamming a brutal fist against the bunker wall. The concrete cracked completely under the impact, sending a small cloud of dust raining down onto the metallic floor.
No one else in the room dared to utter a single word. The scientists and the Hero Public Safety Commission officials were utterly terrified, struck dumb by pure shock. In less than ten minutes, that monster occupying an infected body had laid bare the darkest secrets of the leaders in attendance, exposing them without an ounce of mercy. But to Nezu, that wasn't even the most important matter right now.
The hyper-intelligent rat stood motionless on the control console, his mind racing with the superior intellect destiny had granted him. His brain worked at a thousand miles per hour, breaking down and analyzing every single key phrase the creature had dropped before being smashed to pieces by Toshinori's fists. He was afraid. A genuine, primal fear he had never felt in his entire life—not even back when he was locked in human experimentation cages.
Nezu took a deep breath, adjusting the collar of his tiny suit as his fur slowly began to settle, though the tension on his face remained intact. He looked around the room at the terrified, furious people surrounding him, all waiting for him to provide a logical answer.
"Gentlemen... please, maintain your composure," Nezu spoke, his voice sounding uncannily calm but heavy with a crushing seriousness. "If we allow ourselves to panic, we will have already lost this war before the first deployment even begins."
With a puff of smoke, All Might deflated back into his emaciated form. He sat heavily in a chair and wiped blood from his mouth, his eyes locked onto the UA principal.
"Nezu... that miserable bastard mentioned Nana," Toshinori whispered, grit teeth. "And he knew about the boy... about Izuku. He said he'd kill him in three seconds. He's no ordinary villain. How the hell does he know all that?"
"That is precisely what we must analyze with a cool head," Nezu replied, pacing back and forth across the console. "Deconstruct his words. He said he was once a meteor. He spoke of the purity of 'worlds,' plural. He mentioned watching humanity be born, fall, and repeat itself in an eternal cycle. A longevity Quirk doesn't grant you memories from before Earth even existed, Toshinori. Nor does it allow you to instantaneously transfer your consciousness from one mutated body to another miles away."
The Commission President, who was just starting to regain her color after being confronted by the Lich, slammed her hand on the table in frustration.
"It has to be a psychological or biological data-transmission Quirk!" she exclaimed, scrambling for a scientific explanation that fit into government manuals. "Maybe a remnant of All For One, or an extreme mutation from the Yokohama radiation. We cannot just assume what that monstrosity says is true!"
Nezu stopped dead in his tracks and glanced at her sideways, his somber expression instantly silencing the woman.
"A Quirk? Don't be naive, Madam President. Quirks alter human physiology; they modify cells, thermal energy, or gravity. But what we felt in this room... that pressure that nearly collapsed our lungs before he even spoke... that was no Quirk. We captured three bodies in Yokohama. Three completely different biological profiles. Yet, the subject accessed them, used them as puppets, and mutated them at will just to mock us."
Nezu brought a paw to his snout, falling silent for a few seconds as he stared at the monitors, which now showed nothing but static and the remnants of flesh scattered across the cells.
"He said it himself at the end: 'How do you plan to kill someone who neither lives nor dies?' He mentioned being the unceasing wheel. Chaos. The first and the last." Nezu lowered his paw and locked eyes with All Might and the scientists. "We are searching for biological explanations because that is the only thing this world has known since superpowers appeared. We lock ourselves into the logic of Quirks because it gives us a sense of security. But... what if we are fundamentally wrong?"
Nezu let the question hang in the air, making the silence in the bunker grow even thicker and more ominous.
"What are you getting at, Nezu?" All Might asked, a horrible sinking feeling gripping his chest.
The rat looked toward the shattered glass, his eyes narrowing.
"What if this isn't a Quirk?... What if what that monster is using is actual magic?"
The room fell into a dead, sepulchral silence, everyone utterly bewildered by the UA principal's words.
However, one of the scientists quickly raised his hand, breaking the tension of the moment.
"Why do you say he connected from miles away? He could be hiding right here in the bunker or around the city, using a high-frequency transmitter to control the mutants."
"It is mathematically impossible for him to be nearby, and you know it," Nezu said flatly, turning to face the man. "Our electromagnetic spectrum and Quirk-factor scanners cover a thirty-mile radius from this underground point. If there were a biological transmission signal or a Quirk user emitting that amount of energy in Yokohama, the system would have flagged it before the first mutant even opened its mouth. There is no frequency trace, no audio delay, no heat signatures. Nothing. Physically speaking, the broadcaster is not in Japan."
Nezu walked back to the control table, typing rapidly on a digital screen.
"Right now, we need to shift gears and investigate a different kind of scenario. Forget about Quirks for a second. If my hypothesis is correct, all of this is directly tied to the nuclear bombs in Yokohama and Jersey City. Those blasts weren't meant to destroy infrastructure; they were meant to infect organic matter. The aura of chaos reported by the United States and the mutations we witnessed here are the key. He isn't trying to wipe us off the map in one blow... he's using mystical radiation to create a mutant army out of thin air. An army he can possess and control from anywhere in the world at will."
The President of the Hero Commission simply let out a heavy sigh as she stood up, straightening her suit before walking toward the exit.
"If you need assistance with government resources, just say the word," she added coldly. Just before crossing the threshold, she paused for a second. "And Nezu..."
The rat turned to look at her with his dark, analytical eyes.
"If you discover anything of actual importance, call me immediately."
With that, she departed, leaving the bunker with the same tense atmosphere she had brought in.
Shortly after, All Might stood up from his chair, a deadly serious look on his face, burning with a determination that hadn't been seen in a long time.
"If we need power to face this thing, I'm going to have to train young Midoriya much harder," he said firmly. Suddenly, his body bulked up violently, returning to his muscular form. The characteristic sparks of One For All began to crackle around him like a shroud, flaring intensely the way they always did when he got serious.
Nezu dismissed him with a slight wave of his paw as All Might strode out of the bunker. Ultimately, only the Prime Minister and the UA principal remained in the massive control room.
"Do you have any hope for them?" the leader asked, grabbing a glass of water from the table and draining it in one gulp to soothe his parched throat.
"If the enemy is what I think it is? A 70% chance with our current heroes," Nezu replied, crossing his front paws. "And if the number one heroes from other nations join the fray, maybe it goes up to 80%. But to be realistic, Prime Minister... we don't even know for certain what we're dealing with. We are flying blind."
The politician nodded slowly in silence, turning his exhausted gaze toward the tactical monitors displaying a world map flashing in red alert.
"Do you think the United States government would lend us Star and Stripe for a while?" the Prime Minister suddenly asked, desperately reaching for humanity's greatest trump card.
"If we contact her directly and explain the magnitude of the threat, she might very well fly over to Japan regardless of what her president says," Nezu said with a sly, small smile.
However, the brilliant rodent was still speaking out of total ignorance, having absolutely no idea that at that exact moment, something very sinister was already beginning to unfold with that very person across the ocean.
Meanwhile, let us check in on someone who hasn't held the spotlight in this story for quite some time...
"WHAT FASCINATING ENERGY!" Dr. Kyudai Garaki shrieked, a maniacal, deranged grin plastered across his face as he typed wildly on his keyboard.
"What is it, Doctor? What is all the racket about?" a deep voice asked, distorted by the various machines and mechanical hoses required to keep him breathing in the dim medical bay.
"Oh, Master! I didn't realize you were awake and present," the old man said, stopping dead in his tracks to offer a slight, submissive bow to the imposing silhouette.
All For One nodded slowly from the shadows of his life-support system, gesturing with his head toward the massive monitors in the underground laboratory.
"What is happening?" All For One inquired with the cold calm that always characterized him.
"Hehehe!" the doctor cackled, a raspy, mad laugh escaping him as he adjusted his thick, circular glasses. "Master, you should personally thank the madman who dropped those nukes in Yokohama and Jersey City. Thanks to the chaos it caused and the medical data leaked from the Hero Commission, I was able to breach their confidential Quirk registries. The government is so busy spending billions to secure the affected zones and cover up the panic that they completely neglected their cyber firewalls!"
Garaki began to laugh even louder and more piercingly, rubbing his hands together with pure scientific greed.
...
All For One merely stared back, his face entirely expressionless. Well, while he technically had no face or eyes, the underworld king's body language made it perfectly clear he understood exactly what the doctor was getting at.
"Which Quirk in particular caught your eye, Doctor?" All For One asked, maintaining his composure while—for obvious reasons—not looking at a single damn thing on the screens since he was completely blind.
Realizing this, the doctor quickly cleared his throat and began to explain the discovered file in lavish detail.
"Master, I found the file of a Quirk incredibly similar to Kai Chisaki's—the leader of the Shie Hassaikai who is currently missing or dead. But this is a thousand times more primal and brutal. Instead of deconstructing and reconstructing the environment with a simple touch like Overhaul, this was a passive Quirk of absolute assimilation. It allowed the user to absorb objects and living beings directly into their own body. The Hero Association discovered it years ago when the user was just a poor child. When his Quirk manifested by accident, he ended up killing his mother by completely fusing with her, and the doctors couldn't reverse the process. The fascinating part, Master, is that this biological fusion made him even larger in size and regenerated all missing parts of his anatomy. He even accidentally fused with the house dog later on, causing him to grow animal features! Essentially, the Quirk instantly kills the victims upon cellular impact to nourish the central host."
"So... with this, I could heal myself completely, couldn't I?" All For One said, a sinister smile dripping with ambition carving its way across the lower half of his ruined face.
"Exactly!" Garaki exclaimed, nodding fervently. "Now, if you plan to fuse with someone to restore your health, I would suggest a youth of this era who possesses a strong Quirk—or simply anyone within the age range of 5 to 30. That is the perfect biological window to prevent any risk of cellular rejection or age-related degradation."
All For One nodded slowly at the medical recommendation, leaning back slightly against his support frame.
"We will send Tomura. I don't believe it's necessary for me to move for this," the king of the underworld decided, calmly adjusting the tubes on his helmet.
"Send his entire group after the target, Master?" Garaki asked, somewhat confused by the deployment of so many resources for a single Quirk user.
"Just give Tomura clear instructions: he is not to touch the target's face or torso with his Decay. We need the core of the body intact," All For One replied with unshakeable calm, turning his sightless face toward the incubators.
"Heh, that group of incompetents... they better not screw this up," the doctor muttered under his breath, returning to type on his console while gazing at the High-End Nomus floating inside the tanks with a smile of pure scientific madness.
The underground room submerged once more into the hum of machinery. However, after a few minutes of thick silence, All For One dropped a question that froze the room solid.
"Tell me, Doctor... What if I fuse directly with Shigaraki once we transfer the copy of All For One to him?"
Dr. Garaki stopped typing instantly. He froze completely, processing the sheer brutality of the concept, before slowly turning around to look at his master with wide, bugged-out eyes.
"If you do that... you would be an absolute monster in terms of power. Something that would shatter any known scale," the doctor stated with absolute certainty, a growing fascination creeping into his voice.
All For One's shit-eating grin widened, highly pleased with the answer, and he nodded to the old man.
"Then that is what we shall do. We will proceed with the original plan, except... give Tomura the absolute best of the best during his modification surgery. Make sure to push that body to its absolute limit; I will personally handle adapting to it and taking what is mine later on."
"Understood, Master. I will not fail you," the doctor declared, his fingers flying across the keyboard once more to immediately initiate the plan to locate and abduct the wielder of the organic assimilation Quirk.
End of Chapter 16.