156: Opportunity? (5)

Chapter 156: Opportunity? (5)

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The 'Main Character Slayer' isn't the only thing that Neji gained from Izuku's death. There was also his new gravity quirk.

“The Way of the Hollow King”

That was the name of the set of techniques that Neji made with his new gravity quirk. Truly, receiving that quirk has been a real lucky event since, without it, Mirio was pretty much invincible against Neji.

Against normal opponents, coating Neji’s fist with gravitational force didn't boost the attack power at all, it just pulled someone towards the incoming fists, that's all. But against a quirk like Permeation, this was the perfect counter, since Mirio was still affected by Gravity in his Permeated form.

That's exactly why Neji made this technique set.

Running forward, as Mirio ducked to dodge the attack, Neji swiftly shifted the coat of gravitational energy to his feet and slammed it down on Mirio’s head, making the boy stumble to the side with a groan.

‘This isn’t working.’

But Neji couldn’t find himself to celebrate. He was doing damage, true, but Mirio’s regenerative ability was healing… everything.

He was planning on killing Mirio first, and then stealing One for All from his dead body. But he realised two problems with that.

Although, as Neji believed, it should be possible to steal quirk from a dead body, at least after feeding it a health potion, it wasn’t a solid assumption for Mirio who was receiving the world’s direct support now.

The second problem was Nejire. Neji could see Nejire standing with his other girls, along with many others from UA, far from where this battle was taking place. Neji could guess what Nejire's reaction would be, seeing him kill her friend. Neji didn't have a good feeling about it.

He was certain she wouldn't turn on him, in any case, but that didn't mean their relationship would stay the same… He would rather not spend a week fixing that problem, as time was valuable right now.

So he somehow had to force Mirio to allow him to take One for All, without killing him. For that… he had a plan in his mind.

The cliche threatening of villains.

""What are you going to do, Mirio?"" Neji asked, flying over to Mirio and hitting him on the chin, causing the teen to get flung in the air as Neji followed. ""Would you escape? Or do you still plan to stock more kinetic energy, in a mere hope to stand against me!?""

Mirio's eyes widened at his words. Of course, Neji could tell what Mirio was trying. Though it's more accurate to say he guessed it, and that assumption was proven right by his expression.

Mirio was already healed, his shattered chin reconstructing itself. That healing gave him quite a bit of hope, Neji could see.

""Heh, you're planning to drag this? How long can your healing go on? How long before we destroy the remaining buildings in UA by this fight?"" Neji chuckled, kicking him in the chest, floating forward and grabbing the collar of his costume and punching him in the face. ""How long can your healing keep up before your stamina runs out? How long, before you're forced to fight me head-on, with your Permeation unable to neutralise my attacks and your regeneration unable to heal you anymore?"" 

Truthfully, all this was a bluff. Neji had a time limit of his own in this fused form, a limit of One Hour. He was sure Mirio would be able to keep healing for that long, at least. Around 10 minutes had already passed, meaning Neji needed to back his bluff with action. If not… this won't work.

""You should answer when I ask a question!"" Neji punched again, this time Mirio's body flung down on a building where people were watching the battle. 

Mirio drowned into the ground, avoiding hurting any of the scared civilians. But Neji didn't avoid them, he jumped down, full power ahead, and dropped amongst them with a massive shockwave.

The civilians were flung all around, yelling and shouting in fear, but nobody died.

Mirio jumped out of the ground next, trying to punch Neji only for Neji to avoid it, albeit barely since Mirio was quite a bit faster when he was repelled out of the ground.

"Don't bring civilians in this!" Mirio yelled, trying to punch Neji again who laughed like a classic villain.

""Oh no, what if I do? Will our hero boy get enraged and kill me?"" He scoffed. ""Guess what, you are yet to hit me once."”

Mirio growled, unable to hit the dodging Neji.

""Also, why shouldn't I bring civilians in this?"" Neji shrugged his shoulders, jumping back a few steps. If Mirio was assuming that Neji was All for One, then he would use that misunderstanding as an opportunity. ""From what I can see, I will be able to defeat you sooner or later and steal your quirk then. But it's a pain in the ass to fight a slippery bastard like you. So I would rather hurt the civilians, forcing you to surrender earlier.” 

Mirio’s eyes widened and he released his black whip to catch Neji, who slapped them away with a mana coated hand.

Neji chuckled and said, “Calm down and let's make a deal. You let me take your quirks right now, and I don't prolong this battle, leaving you, All Might and others in this place alone, alive and safe.""

In truth, even though Neji could punch Mirio, he couldn't actually touch him. Without being able to touch him, he won't be able to take his quirk, even if he managed to defeat Mirio before his Fusion ended, where he will be put in an disadvantage. So he wanted to force Mirio to give out One for All by himself, by making him misunderstand.

Mirio stopped on his spot, breathing slightly heavily as he glared at Mirio. "That won't happen!"

""Oh, really?"" 

Neji raised a hand towards one of the fleeing students, as the student stopped midway, levitating in the air by Neji’s telekinesis. Neji softly waved his finger just as the student cried, his arm twisted and bone coming out. 

Mirio yelled, trying to punch Neji again who dodged.

""Heh, I just broke his hand, I didn't kill him. Try to punch me again and I will do it, along with many other poor kids."" Neji grinned. ""Didn't you hear what All Might called me? 'All for One'. I am sure you know who that is, and you should realise I don't shy away from killing civilians. Do you really want to keep dragging this out? Making me kill countless upon countless civilians just because you hope that Fa Jin would give you enough speed and power to hurt me? What a Hero you are, Lemillion.""

Mirio's expression struggled as he seemed to talk with someone in his mind.

—

'What is the right thing to do?' Mirio questioned himself.

The answers came from within the Vestige World, from the previous holders of One for All. Mirio met them when Neji was trying to steal One for All a few minutes ago, and he knew they were trustworthy.

'Mirio… don't give in to his words. He wants you to give up One for All. It's… as much as I hate to say it, it's better for you to flee from here, even if some civilians die. Because right now, only some might die, but if you give up One for All, everyone in the world would be in danger.'

It was the first One for All user who replied, his voice sad and grim.

Then, a feminine voice flowed out.

'Mirio, sometimes we need to sacrifice our Heroic wills for a greater future. There are merely a few hundred people in this place. It's sad and unfortunate for them to die and for you unable to stop it…but…if All for One gets his hands on OFA, then many many more than a mere 100 would die.' It was Nana Shimura's voice that tried to calm Mirio's raging mind.

'A Mere hundred…?' Mirio asked back, his eyes wide. 'Senior… I didn't expect to hear something like that from you.'

Mirio clenched his jaws, even as Nana tried to apologise. 

Mirio watched, as Neji got bored of waiting and twisted the leg of a fleeing girl, one of Mieio’s classmates actually.

Growling, his mind getting hotter by each second, Mirio cancelled out the voices in his mind and cancelled his permeation as sighed and raised his hands in the air.

"I… surrender."

He watched, as Neji's bored smile grew to a wicked grin.

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