Sir Nighteye clenched his jaw and fists as he stared at Junsei.
"How did you hurt Lemillion?" he demanded. "All your attacks should have passed through him."
He needed to understand. Junsei's abilities are already too diverse and hard to understand, but this might represent an entirely new application of his power. Even if they fell here today, perhaps someone could relay the information to the rest of the hero community, so they could prepare more appropriately against him.
Junsei answered plainly. "He can phase through everything except light. Light still reflects from his body even when his quirk is active. So I trapped intense light inside his head."
Nighteye's eyes widened. Setting Junsei's power aside, his ability to analyze and strategize was far beyond expectations, the reports he read before all showed Junsei as someone with power and poor strategy.
His answer denies the validity of these reports, he was able to deduce the working of Permeation and its weaknesses in a short span of time, and even managed to exploit a weakness no one had ever thought of before, not even Mirio himself.
This alone raised the threat of Junsei in his mind to a whole new level. It also made him feel more concerned about Mirio's state, if what Junsei said is true, then he used heat converted from light to directly hurt Mirio's brain.
Junsei continued calmly.
"I originally believed your quirk was the most annoying here. I realized how mistaken I was early in the fight. You are the most useless hero present."
Nighteye's gaze darkened.
"You can interfere with the future somehow," he said. "The future I see is immutable. Yet you altered it."
Junsei shook his head slightly. "You see the future. But the moment you see it and change your actions, the future also changes."
"That is not how it works," Nighteye replied sharply.
Junsei answered "If a future is known and someone acts to change it, the future changes. If no one tries to change it, then it becomes true."
Anger flared inside Nighteye. He was being lectured about his own ability by the boy who had dismantled his entire operation.
But Junsei had already dismissed him.
Instead, he looked toward Deku, who was still holding Nejire Hado protectively.
"With the distractions gone," Junsei said, "it is your turn."
Deku's eyes widened. Then fury replaced shock.
"Distractions?" he shouted. "That's what all those heroes are to you? They're people! And you hurt them!"
His fists trembled. "How can you do this? Just why?!"
Junsei answered "I see nothing wrong in what I am doing. If they had handed you over earlier, I would not have bothered with them."
Deku gently placed Nejire down before stepping forward.
"Is this because of the Sports Festival?" he asked cautiously. "You want revenge?"
Junsei's gaze hardened slightly. "Your existence is a vile transgression against life. You are the second worst human to exist, second only to All For One. That alone justifies killing you."
He paused briefly.
"But there is more. One For All contains the answer regarding the true nature of quirks."
Nighteye frowned. "What are you talking about?"
Junsei ignored him.
He lowered his stance, preparing to charge.
Deku raised his guard.
Then Junsei turned suddenly toward Nighteye and unleashed a massive explosion, engulfing both Nighteye and Lemillion in fire and smoke.
Deku, who was about to dodge, froze in horror as he realized he was not the target.
His eyes looked where Nighteye stood then back at Junsei and said with rage "Why?"
"So he will not interfere."
Deku lunged forward in rage.
Junsei sidestepped the punch and drove his fist into Deku's stomach. The impact expelled all air from Deku's lungs.
Deku collapsed to his knees, coughing blood.
Junsei looked down at him.
"Alone, without distractions," he said quietly. "You are easy to defeat."
At that moment, a metallic chess piece flew from behind the explosion's smoke.
Junsei caught it effortlessly and glanced sideways.
Nighteye stood there.
His suit was torn and scorched, skin burned from the blast. He breathed heavily, barely standing.
Behind him, Lemillion lay unharmed.
Nighteye had shielded him with his own body.
Junsei noted the details. The explosion should have killed them both.
[That unassuming suit must have possessed additional defensive properties.] Junsei thought
Moments later, Nighteye's strength gave out.
He dropped to his knees.
Deku seized the opportunity.
He surged forward and threw a punch fueled by One For All at full power 100%.
He had decided to bring Junsei down, even if that meant losing his arm completely.
Junsei turned and his hand slapped the incoming punch aside while stepping away from the trajectory.
The redirected strike exploded outward in a shockwave.
The entire Yakuza house behind them was destroyed under the pressure.
Deku's arm snapped under the recoil causing Deku to groan in pain.
Junsei looked down at him and said "I will not fall to that a second time."
Deku stared up at him in horror.
That had been his only chance.
Junsei reached forward and seized Deku by the face.
The moment his hand closed around him, Deku's eyes began glowing blue, the same color as Junsei's.
And his body froze completely.
——————
Izuku Midoriya opened his eyes to a new and different world.
He stood on a barren land that stretched endlessly in every direction. The ground was rocky, dark and lifeless. Above him, the sky was completely blocked by dense black clouds swirling slowly like a suffocating ceiling.
Deku looked down.
His own body was wrapped in similar black clouds, drifting around him like smoke that refused to disperse.
He did not understand where he was or how he had arrived here.
He turned slowly, scanning the empty landscape.
Then a voice reached him.
"So this is the vestige world of One For All."
Deku spun around.
Junsei stood dozens of meters away, calmly observing the environment.
"It resembles the vestige world of All For One," Junsei continued, "with minor differences."
Deku stared at him in alarm.
"What did you do? How did you bring us here?"
Junsei focused on him and said. "Are you in this form because you still lack control of the quirk? Or perhaps you are not fully integrated with it yet."
Before Deku could respond, something moved behind him.
Seven lights rushed forward.
They positioned themselves protectively in front of him.
The lights solidified into figures.
Seven individuals stood between Junsei and Deku.
At their front stood a white-haired man.
Junsei regarded them calmly.
"So AFO's assumption was correct. Yoichi Shigaraki and the remnants of the previous users persist inside the quirk, transferred along the quirk from one holder to the next."
"How did you enter this place?" Yoichi asked. "And what is your purpose? Why are you pursuing the successor of One For All?"
Junsei answered honestly. "I learned it from your brother. He dragged me into the vestige world of his quirk moments before I killed him."
One of the figures, Nana Shimura, spoke next.
"Even if All For One did that, how could you enter here? Only his quirk should allow access to this space."
She narrowed her eyes. "Did you steal it? Or did he give it to you in his final moments?"
Junsei shook his head.
"I destroyed his quirk along with him. But I took all of his memories and experiences. Through them and my own experience, I learned how to force an entry into this place."
He looked around again, examining the strange sky.
"If I had met your successor immediately after I woke up, I would have destroyed you all just as I destroyed AFO."
His gaze returned to them.
"You are equally vile and repulsive."
He paused briefly.
"But I require an answer regarding the connection between life and quirks. And One For All provides the clearest path toward understanding it."
Kudo stepped forward in front of Yoichi and Nana.
"I don't understand a word you're saying," he said harshly. "But we will never allow you to do whatever you're planning."
Junsei's voice remained calm.
"You cannot prevent life from reclaiming what belongs to it."
As he spoke, the black clouds behind him split apart.
Deku and the previous users looked upward as an enormous entity emerged from behind the clouds.
Floating above the horizon was a massive blue planet.
It hovered so close they could clearly see its continents, oceans, and swirling clouds.
Earth.
But its surface was fractured. Black cracks spread across the planet like deep wounds, marring its beauty.
Nana whispered as she stared at the unbelievable sight "Why is Earth here? And why is it… cracked like that?"
Below Junsei, the ground began to crack and blue light leaked from underneath.
From those fissures, glowing plants and flowers began growing rapidly, their stems and leaves shining with an unnatural blue radiance.
The cracks spread quickly across the barren land.
Alarm spread among the previous users.
Yoichi spoke urgently. "Whatever he is doing must be stopped!"
Before anyone could move, Junsei spoke again.
"You cannot resist reclamation."
Behind him, the fractured Earth began glowing intensely.
Pillars of blue light shot downward from its surface toward Junsei.
The lights landed on the vestige world ground right next to Junsei. And when the light faded, massive shapes stood beside Junsei.
Ancient towering creatures loomed over the users of One For All with immense presence.
Hikage said in disbelief. "Are those dinosaurs?"
The other One For All users all stepped back at the fearsome lineup.
After a second of silence, Nana asked "This is not a quirk! It can't be one, right?"
No one answered her. But worry began to seep into their features.
Then the ground between the two sides split apart violently.
Clouds surged upward like a curtain.
Junsei and everything beside him disappeared behind the shifting haze.
——————
Deku's eyes opened. He was back in the real world.
He looked around in confusion.
Beside him stood Fat Gum, now completely thin, clutching his bleeding chest and breathing heavily and looking somewhere.
Deku followed his gaze.
In the distance, dust rose, Deku immediately knew that must be where Junsei is.
"Are you okay?" Fat Gum asked between breaths. "What did he do to you?"
Deku hesitated before answering "I… don't know."