189: The Only Way (2)

Chapter 189: The Only Way (2)

—

AFO had escaped to Russia just a few minutes before the nukes were launched.

However, right after he teleported to Russia via Kurogiri's [Warpgate], he received another piece of news from his spies.

The nukes, all three of them, were stopped midair by one Nawab, who then threatened to send the nukes back to America. 

Without any choice, the President of PSC HQ ordered the nukes to explode mid-air, just outside Japan's borders.

In short, Japan was safe.

Unfortunately, Nawab wasn't dead from the explosion, the PSC confirmed that much via a satellite that was able to look into Japan for a split minute before it was destroyed by a strange attack.

AFO didn't know the details of what the satellite saw, it seems PSC HQ was trying their best to hide it and AFO's spies weren't high ranked enough to breach that security.

But he guessed it must have been Nawab who was pissed by the satellite spying on her and decided to blow it up. Maybe she used a flashy Quirk to do it? That would explain why the HQ was trying to hide it, they didn't want the normal people- and even the other PSC branches to know about that.

Either way, AFO was pleased with this development. He didn't have to see his long-awaited Japan be destroyed.

But now he needed to decide on what to do.

Should he return to Japan immediately? Even though Nawab was there? Or should he stay here in Russia until things calm down?

As he was pondering over his decision, he received another piece of news on his cellphone, news that put a grin on his ugly face.

[Kim Jong-Un the 7th has gone mad, he is nuking PSC's HQ in America. Some other small counties are actually taking his side, but the opposing countries aren't taking this development in a nice way.]

What was this? Did he accumulate some good karma recently for his luck to spike up like this?

This was the start of World-War-IV.

The best opportunity for him to rob strong quirks of this generation, make a strong villain organisation, and take over the world as the Demon King.

As long as there was more death, there was more sunshine for him. This would help him make a stable ruling region!

War provided him with the opportunity to identify and steal a myriad of useful quirks, it's where he thrived the most.

"Bwahahaha!!"

All-for-One snickered, his crackles reaching the depths of hell as he laughed with his shoulders loose, his grin as demonic as ever.

But this also meant he needed to return to Japan right away. If the world starts a Nuclear War now, no country is safe- except for India and Japan. India because that's Nawab's home, and Japan because that's where Nawab is right now. No nuke would be able to enter Japan's borders.

At first, he was planning on waiting at least 12-hours before returning, but now… All-for-One wanted to return immediately!

"But first…"

All-for-One picked up a telephone from his table, hearing the call connect to the only number accessible by this telephone.

["Yo? It hasn't even been half an hour, you're calling me already? We agreed on doing the job tomorrow, though."]

A young lady's voice came from the other side, from the voice she seemed to be a teenager at most.

"Nixon, there has been a change of plans. I would like your help right away and return back to Japan."

["Hu-uh? Return? Ehh, whatever, sure, I am free anyway. Tell that Kurogiri dude to pick me up."]

The call was cut and AFO notified Kurogiri to pick the girl up.

Kiden Nixon, the daughter of AFO's old comrade. After the super villain's death, his daughter picked up the business, though it hasn't been going smoothly. AFO used that opportunity to offer her greatness if she were to join hands with him, and she did. Of course, she did.

It wasn't particularly hard to mess with little girls, after all.

Kiden had the quirk, Temporal Stasis.

Nixon can realign herself into a faster time-stream, shifting herself into a state in which time moves so slowly relative to her perception that it appears to stop, although she continues to operate normally. When she moves to this faster time-stream, seconds to everyone else are minutes, or even hours to her.

That didn't just apply to her, she could affect a small area around her as well.

Meaning, that she could boost Shigaraki's experiment-speed to a great length just enough for it to get completed.

In normal time, there should still be 27 days left. However with this…

It would take the same time as eating a piece of cake.

Soon a blonde girl arrived at the mansion through Kurogiri's portal, stopping in front of AFO and leaning over a chair, looking bored into AFO's eyes.

"Hey," she said. "Ya know it will still be 27-days for me, even if it would just be a few hours for you. It would be so hella boring in there. You better pay me extra for that." the girl shrugged, "And remember, even though going back to Japan, don't forget our previous agreement. When you take over the world, I wanna be its princess."

Chuckling, AFO smiled at her. "That is as I promised, of course. I don't want to lie to my deceased friend's daughter."

The girl smirked at that.

"Yep, you better not."

Then, AFO nodded to Kurogiri to take her to the room where Shigaraki's capsule was. She just had to affect the room with her quirk and everything will proceed smoothly.

As she left, AFO hardly contained a chuckle.

Just before coming here, he had killed Overhaul, that weakling who thought he had the world at his fingertips.

AFO judged that- since Japan was getting destroyed anyway, he needed to take Eri with him. That also meant there was no need to purge the Yakuzas. So he murdered Overhaul and kidnapped Eri here in Russia with him. He also had the best of his best Nomus with him as well, along with Gigantomachia and Dr Garaki.

This just meant that the moment Shigaraki's body would be done, he would be able to steal Eri's quirk right away. Along with the little girl, Kiden Nixon's [Temporal Statis]. 

That's why he found her words funny. "Princess", she said. A dead girl can't be a princess, can she? He was planning to take her quirk from the start, it was too powerful not to take.

With those two quirks, in the incoming few hours, he will be the strongest. After all, he will have the river of time by his side.

In just a few more hours…..

—★—

A few more hours have passed, precisely 3 hours- and Neji was still waiting in AFO's den, watching the clock tick in the wall impatiently.

When he put 173 points in Luck, the future changed immediately. Both the future of when AFO will come and also the future with the Gods. It was pushed back to 20 days, and there were slight changes in the details of the fight too. 

However, 

The end result was still the same.

Neji was frustrated, so frustrated that he wanted to break some things.

So he sent all five of his Bees to farm Experience Points all around Japan and came to All-for-One's den himself, bringing his original body. Now, he was waiting for his punching bag to arrive.

A minute later, the hour-hand of the clock turned as it reached a perfect 12'O-clock.

Right then,

-Vhooum~

A portal bloomed in the middle of the huge room like a purple flower, a flower that separated to allow a tall, slim but well built young man with white hair to walk out, his eyes sharp.

"Ahh, how much I missed this place."

The young man took in a deep breath as if this room gave him nostalgia.

Neji, standing under the shadow of some shelves, recognised that face, even though now it lacked all the wounds and scratches it had before. 

It was Shigaraki. 

However Shigaraki he might be, Neji knew it wasn't "Tomura Shigaraki". 

Rather…

«Toushi Shigaraki - Peak Tier 9»

...It was someone else, someone not so hard to guess.

This scenario was different from the [Future] he saw a few hours ago.

In that future, AFO was supposed to return with Tomura in a capsule. But from the looks of it, Tomura was already conquered and AFO had taken over.

…What happened?

"Everything feels different now that I am seeing things with actual eyes… Haaah, the scent of the world, how much I missed you." AFO- no, Shigaraki chuckled as he said those words, as more people walked out from behind him.

First, it was a short man wearing a doctor's outfit, Dr Garaki. Then the portal expanded to allow a smaller Gigantomachia to walk in, followed by half a dozen Nomus. At last, Kurogiri walked in and the portal closed.

Meanwhile, Neji still wanted to know why the future deviated.

So, he used «Overclock», allowing his perception to enter a slowed-down world, which was further slowed when he used his [Lightning Speed]. In that world where time wasn't moving at all, he activated «High Spec».

[High Spec - Level 10 (max)

Details: Lo and Rejoice! Because your [INT] and [WIS] stats aren't for show anymore!

–You can think INT*10x faster!

–You find [Random Knowledge] in your brain every time you wake up from sleep. 

These pieces of knowledge may as well be- The information on how to make a DIY Sex Toy- To the complete blueprint of a Sci-Fi weapon- To the process of how to cast a Divine-class Magic Spell. 

The significance of the received knowledge depends on your [WIS] stat.

–You are granted with an ability that is known as the necessary-evil, [Eidetic Memory]. You recall anything and everything, even things that you want to forget.

–You are granted unparalleled intelligence, perception, and a rate of comprehension that far surpasses that of any human. [Depends on INT]

–This quirk doesn't just allow you to think "fast", it allows you to think "smart". As in, problems that only a supercomputer can solve, conclusions that can only be achieved after discussing for hours, and the explanation of a situation you lack proper clue to- all these can be done in a matter of seconds.]

A powerful quirk. 

A very powerful one.

There is a saying, "A brawl without brains is a Bull, not a Lion." Neji was a Bull before, he realised that after receiving this Quirk. But now, he was too smart for his own good.

Upon activating the quirk, he immediately realised what had changed the future.

AFO must have gotten his hands on some Time Manipulation quirks. But that was a no brainer, he could guess that much even without «High Specs». With this quirk turned on, however, he could picture multiple scenarios in his head. And within them, the most believable one was a scenario that had to do things with Eri.

Certainly, gazing into Shigaraki's [Quirk Page], Neji saw two time related quirks.

[Rewind - Level 3]

[Temporal Statis - Level 8]

That confirmed things, then. Neji returned to the normal time again, just as Shigaraki turned to Kurogiri.

"Did you dispose of the two little girls' dead bodies?" Shigaraki asked, possibly talking about Eri and someone else that Neji wasn't aware of.

"I did, master. Their brain dead bodies were thrown into a volcano, not even their ashes remain now."

"Good." Shigaraki nodded, a small smirk on his face. "Ahhh. This feels good, very good. I want to try out my power against someone. I can barely control myself from looking for Nawab to beat some sense into her… But no, not yet. Hey, Kurogiri, send me to America. I am gonna go and wreck Star and Stripes."

Kurogiri nodded once again, even as Dr Garaki and Gigantomachia tried to say something to him.

"As you wish, master-"

-Clank!

Kurogiri couldn't finish his words just as the metallic collar around his neck flattened by the influence of an outer force, making the purple mist around him vanish, as a charred skinned Japanese man came out from below it, falling face first, dead for real now.

[You have killed a Tier-3 person!]

[You have received 4,000 experience points!]

Neji walked out of the shadows, twisted his hand, and controlled a telekinetic force to throw Kurogiri to one corner of the room.

Shigaraki froze on his spot.

"...It's you, Neji Hado." After a short silence, Shigaraki grinned mischievously. "Ahh, and here I was looking for a punching bag."

—

He stared at the boy who didn't say anything, allowing him to continue.

"I heard you and Hisashi fought? I was surprised, but couldn't care less honestly. I was more busy escaping the nukes, you see. Did you even know that you were about to die by being nuked?" He laughed. "Of course, you didn't, you poor child. Did you steal Hisashi's quirk? Do you feel powerful now?"

"You talk a lot." The boy said, his voice unusually grim.

But Shigaraki didn't care for that.

"I do, of course I do. You see, when you reach my level of power, you try to fight entertainment in everything. Such as our coming face to face, for example." Shigaraki chuckled. "Do you feel the adrenaline? The feeling of danger and the sweet hope of winning?"

"I frankly don't."

Shigaraki chuckled at that. Look at that moody response. Kids these days.

"Aww, poor you. Why do you sound so down though?"

"Don't mind that, I just happened to see an ugly future."

"Future? What do you mean by-"

Shigaraki couldn't finish his words as the boy disappeared from his spot, his speed faster than anything.

He was so fast that even Shigaraki's [Temporal Stasis] couldn't keep track.

A second later, Gigantomatchia's head fell to the floor, making Shigaraki turn to horror to find the mini giant's headless body starting to fall as well, the smooth cut on his neck glistening under dim light.

"Aahhh–!!"

Then he heard Dr Garaki's yell from behind him, turning to find the small man cut into three pieces, laid on the floor.

"How the hell–!!!"

That quirk. Shigaraki knew what that quirk was.

Nawab's quirk.

Why did Nawab give this brat her quirk?!

Unless…

The boy kept moving, fast enough that he hadn't even seen him yet, as one by the one, the High-End Nomus dropped to the floor.

All dead.

'No, no, no way!' AFO couldn't believe his eyes. 'That's impossible!'

Impossible, he said.

"Aa–?!"

But wasn't suddenly discovering an arm coming out from within his own chest, grabbing his heart in its hand, impossible as well?

"H-h-how…"

'How'- was the last words he spoke before he fell face first, into his own puddle of blood.

"Poor bastard."

Neji shook his head, pouring a bottle of water over his arm as he looked down on AFO's dead body with dry eyes.

[You have reached level 499!]

He just levelled up again, just about to touch the 500-mark. That was quick, very much so, but it was understandable since all five of his Bees have been farming exp for hours now. 

"This is a decent pace. But not fast enough. I should create some more Bees and leave for the Tower immediately."

He didn't have time to waste. None at all. He needed to go inside the Tower asap, but he also must complete some things he needed to complete here. Luckily, he had his solution for that- in the form of Bees.

The most important job for his Bees now was to use «Rewind» to bring back Monoma's body to steal the quirk, «Copy», and also hunt down the strongest power of this world...

Star-and-Stripe's Quirk- «New Order»

The quirk that would allow him to manipulate reality.

**

**

**

[°] Image in this chapte