Author's Note: Hey guys! Thank you for the support. This chapter is one of the longest I've done, hope you like it! Sorry for not checking the comments, my account got bugged and they aren't opening, but I'll fix it soon. Still, keep those comments and power stones coming, they really keep me motivated!
If we reach 400k views, a mass release is coming, and hitting at least 200 stones a week will keep my motivation through the roof. Thanks for sticking around. Quick question: do you think I should revamp the format of the first chapters?
Let's continue!
"This is grave, sir," said CIA Director Robert Vance, placing a stack of folders filled with satellite reports onto the Oval Office desk. "Over the last few days, multiple nuclear detonations have been detected across different countries—each one larger than the last. And that's not all... the trace elements from the few impact zones we managed to secure and investigate show that everything seems to carry the same aura of chaos. This is bad, Mr. President."
President Thomas Lawson remained in absolute silence. His exhausted eyes stayed glued to a TV screen mounted on the wall, which was broadcasting live feeds from international news networks. The images were devastating: cities swallowed by a thick green fog, melted infrastructure, and thousands of casualties. According to intelligence analysts, these catastrophes shared an identical biological footprint. Every single line of investigation pointed to one conclusion: they were all caused by the same person.
President Lawson clenched his fists on his desk, his jaw aching from the sheer tension. The weight of the entire world seemed to have crashed down on his shoulders in less than seventy-two hours.
"Call in The 10," the President ordered with icy gravity.
Vance nodded rigidly and, without a second thought, rushed out of the office to trigger the global emergency alert and summon the number-one heroes of the world's leading superpowers.
Once alone, the commander-in-chief leaned back heavily in his chair. A bead of cold sweat rolled down his temple as he stared up at the ceiling in complete silence.
"Is this the end of the world?" he thought bitterly, as the faces of his wife and children inevitably flashed through his mind. However, he brushed the thought away immediately, shaking his head sharply to regain his composure. Now was not the time for weakness. With a deep sigh, he sat up straight and began reviewing the tactical reports, bracing himself for the imminent collapse.
And this wasn't just happening in the United States. Across the globe, massive nuclear strikes had begun popping up out of nowhere. To make matters worse, the detonations had triggered the appearance of aberrant lifeforms that were mercilessly attacking citizens. They were mutated creatures—deformed, fused together, and coated in pasty shades of green and gray. Some even manifested grotesque Quirks. Worst of all, these creatures infected healthy humans with a single touch, causing the outbreak to spread exponentially through the streets. Police forces, pro heroes, the military, and anyone available did everything humanly possible to contain the breach—while the true architect of this chaos flew peacefully over the sea.
The perpetrator was completely at ease, floating through the clouds with his hands resting behind his head. He flew over the ocean, knowing full well that there was no turning back now, and that the entire world would likely come down on him in the coming days. Yet, far from worrying him, the idea fascinated him. He preferred a thousand times over to optimize his gifts in a hostile environment. But his magic? Magic was everything to him, and he had been refining and empowering it in incredible ways throughout this journey. With a shit-eating grin plastered across his current host's face, he kept flying in a straight line back toward Japan.
Back in Japanese territory, the Prime Minister held a hand over his mouth, sickened and horrified by the situation. On the other side of a high-security reinforced glass window, several mutant creatures were trapped inside containment cells. Not long ago, these monsters had been ordinary people—citizens he himself had spoken to or shaken hands with at public events. Tragically, they had fallen victim to whatever this radioactive disease was.
There were three mutants in particular. They didn't move much; they just kept their blank, hollow stares fixed on nothingness while their bodies oozed a faint, pulsing green energy. In front of the glass, a team of the country's top scientists worked around the clock, desperate to find an effective cure to reverse the mutation—or at least develop a scientific method to prevent this nightmare before society collapsed entirely.
"Anything new?" asked a clean, white rat, peering over the shoulder of a man who looked far more exhausted than usual.
The Prime Minister only glanced at him out of the corner of his eye before looking back at the observation window. After a few seconds of tense silence, the leader replied, his voice hoarse from pure, accumulated exhaustion.
"Nothing," he said simply, slumping into his chair without breaking eye contact with the glass, as if deep down he were waiting for a miracle to save his country.
For his part, the rodent—Principal Nezu—hopped down from the minister's shoulder and stood right in front of the thick, reinforced glass. He placed a small paw against his muzzle, intently analyzing the mutated subjects as he dove into his own strategic thoughts. Next to Nezu, the man who had previously guided them down to this underground lab suddenly brought a hand to his mouth; he let out a dry cough, spitting a bit of blood onto the floor. The residual toll on his body was undeniable, and his own survival instincts screamed at him to run as far away from this contaminated place as possible. But he simply shook his head, forcing himself to stand his ground.
After another few seconds of heavy silence, the Prime Minister broke the ice with a direct question.
"Any updates on your pupil?" he asked, turning his head to look at the tall, emaciated man standing a bit further back in the shadows: Toshinori Yagi, All Might.
The former Symbol of Peace forced a weary smile that lasted barely a second before shifting into a grimace of subtle pride.
"Yes. In fact, he has made incredible progress over the last few days," All Might replied, never taking his eyes off the parasites and the green energy pulsing inside the containment cells.
"According to security reports, I heard he awakened other gifts... Are they from your predecessors?" the Prime Minister inquired, studying him with curiosity.
All Might glanced at him and gave a slight nod, keeping the secret of One For All as closely guarded as possible.
"Is there anything within them that could help with this?" the leader pressed, desperately grasping at any shred of hope.
"Nothing, and you know that well. You were the one who helped me look into the historical records of those Quirks in the past, weren't you?" All Might replied, his voice carrying a heavy sigh of frustration.
The Prime Minister ran a hand over his face, his expression twisting into a dry, humorless smile.
"Who knows... That Quirk of yours has always brought about miracles in the worst of times. Maybe a new miracle wouldn't hurt right about now," the politician murmured, leaving the thought hanging in the air.
Attempting to break the dense atmosphere of death suffocating the lab, both men began chatting about trivial things regarding UA and the internships, distracting each other from the horror of the end of the world. Meanwhile, the intelligent rat went down to the workstation to directly assist the scientists with the complex biological analyses.
"What if we talk to them?" one of the scientists finally suggested, his eyes glued to the readings on his monitor.
The observation room fell into a dead silence as everyone turned to look at him as if he had lost his mind.
"I mean, we have nothing to lose by trying," the scientist shrugged, defending his point in the absence of any other options.
Before anyone could object, a powerful presence commanded the room. It was the President of the Hero Public Safety Commission. She walked in with firm, calculated steps, her gaze locked onto the aberrations behind the glass. A few people in the room gave her dirty looks and deep glares; after all, some incredibly shady details about the Commission's inner workings and dark secrets had recently leaked. However, because the current crisis was too critical to afford the luxury of removing her or finding a replacement, she remained in charge.
"Do it," she ordered coldly.
The technicians swallowed their complaints and obeyed immediately, activating the intercoms linked to the containment cells.
"One, two, three... testing. Four, five, six," the lead scientist modulated into the microphone.
Hearing the static from the speakers, the mutants snapped their heads toward the source of the noise—or at least attempted to, using what little functional eyeballs remained in their deformed faces.
Over the ocean, as I flew peacefully, I felt through our mystical link that the humans wanted to communicate with one of my spawns. Out of pure curiosity, I focused my mind and took over the visual perspective of one of the mutants. What I saw through its eyes made me think: "What the hell are these humans trying to do?" Though I was heading straight for Japan, I figured a little distraction wouldn't hurt. Without much thought, I transferred a portion of my consciousness into one of the three mutants, though I refrained from making any sudden movements just yet.
To pull this off, I used an excellent spell—the exact same mystical method the original Lich employed to project his mind and possess the consciousness of other beings from a distance. It's a trick that works flawlessly, provided the Lich isn't magically imprisoned, like that time they locked me up in the Candy Kingdom surrounded by sacred runes and the sap of the Gum Elemental's mystical tree. But here, in this world of heroes, there was nothing that could block my projection.
"Can you hear me? Do you possess even a shred of consciousness?" the scientist asked again over the mic. He noticed on his monitor that while two of the mutants merely dragged themselves clumsily toward the speaker, one did not.
The one standing perfectly still was the one I possessed. The Lich listened to the human chatter while mentally mapping out the life signatures surrounding this underground bunker. Though my powers were severely diminished inside this creature—since I lacked my true body and my full mana reserves—the mutant's vocal cords were intact. It could speak, and I definitely wanted to give them a good scare.
"Can you understand us?" the scientist pressed, his voice betraying a thread of nervousness.
The controlled mutant slowly raised its head, locking its milky, sightless eyes directly onto the cell's microphone.
"Yes," it replied flatly.
The Lich's raspy, ancient, and sepulchral voice echoed through the laboratory's audio monitors.
The scientists froze, faces struck with absolute shock, completely petrified and unsure of what the hell to do next. This had been a throwaway experiment, a desperate routine attempt, and it had worked entirely too well. The only one in the room who didn't share the scientists' awe was Nezu. The UA principal's fur stood completely on end, suddenly feeling the horrifying spiritual pressure of standing before a starved lion.
Behind the glass, the mutant took heavy steps until it pressed itself against the reinforced pane. It stared through the window at the blurred silhouettes in the control room; though the creature's eyesight was poor, my magic allowed me to sense the exact location and life energy of every single person in the room.
Swallowing hard, his hands trembling over the console, the scientist spoke again:
"Are you... are you Yuji Kitawa?" he asked, reading the name from the original file of the citizen captured in Yokohama.
The mutant remained silent for a couple of seconds as I attempted a superficial sweep of the body's residual memories. However, the creature's brain was far too fried by mutagenic radiation to retain its former identity. So, I decided to answer with total honesty.
"I do not know who that is," I said simply. The cold tone of my voice flooded the bunker while the scientists, recovering from their initial shock, began frantically logging every word into their digital tablets without breaking their gaze from my vessel.
"Who are you?" demanded the Commission President, snatching the microphone from the scientist with a firm grip, her eyes boring into the glass.
The entire room fell into a graveyard silence. Behind the glass, the Lich decided it was time to make his presence known to these insignificant insects.
"My name... I have had many names..." The raspy, ghostly voice emanating from the mutant turned the room's atmosphere thick and suffocating. The air felt twice as heavy. "I have lived so long that I no longer even remember the first. Though, if you wish to call me something..."
The mutant slowly turned its head, locking its blank eyes squarely onto the President. A shiver ran down the woman's spine, and she broke into a cold sweat under the unyielding gaze of those dead eyes.
"It would be... the Lich," I said, as the monster's eye sockets ignited with a burning, green flame.
Nobody dared to breathe in the lab, until a new, commanding voice broke the ice.
"Are you the one who started all this?" Nezu asked. The UA principal took the microphone from the President, who was visibly shaking as she noticed the abomination's eyes still tracking her.
I took my time responding, keeping my eyes fixed on the woman just to torment her and savor her panic, before finally deigning to answer the rodent's question.
"Yes. Do you have a question?" I asked, looking directly at Nezu. The rat's fur remained completely puffed up, but forcing himself to find his courage, he continued his interrogation.
"Why?" he asked simply.
I fell silent for a few seconds. It was true... why was I doing it? Did I want to save something in the remote beginning? Yes, perhaps in some distant past it had been that way, but now I felt this path had become the exact opposite. Now, all I cared about was absolute power, or simply...
"Boredom," I let slip, looking at the people in the room. Everyone tensed up instantly upon hearing the sheer flippancy with which I defined their tragedies.
"Dropping nuclear bombs is just a matter of boredom to you?" Nezu asked, his voice trembling with pure rage.
"Tch..." I clicked what was left of this body's mutated tongue and averted my gaze toward the ceiling. "You know... I was a meteor once."
I glanced sideways at Nezu, who was watching me with a mixture of confusion and anger.
"There was a time when I believed in the purity within them... or within most of them," I continued, staring into the void, remembering dead eras. "The end is always a new beginning. The world is cleansed so a new human can be born and evolve... a greater perfection. Are you angry because I kill?" I asked with disdain, sparking indignation and fury across the faces of every scientist and officer in the bunker.
"In any case," I added, sweeping my gaze across them. "You want to protect the world from what? From me? Pathetic. I was that meteor once. I saw the beauty of this world... of worlds. I have seen the new man born and fall again. I have seen every damn repetition."
I paused for a moment, letting my words float like a death sentence.
"Everyone in this room..." I added coldly. "Every one of you is a killer. You want to protect the world, but you do not want it to change. Ha... Haha... Hahaha... HAHAHAHA!"
I burst into a fit of laughter through the mutant—a deranged, manic laugh that distorted the audio speakers. In the corners of the control room, a squad of heavily armed guards was already aiming directly at me through the reinforced glass from their tactical positions.
"You cannot see the grand beauty that I see, the power I can encompass. But it is a pity... you are the worst of humanity."
I extended the mutant's deformed arm and pointed a finger through the glass.
"You," I pointed at Nezu. "A rat who lives only for vengeance and spite." I shifted my finger toward the Prime Minister. "You... a man who lives in terror for having ordered the assassinations of various families in the past. A man who cannot sleep at night, terrified that someone might show up at your door for revenge."
Finally, I pointed at the Commission President, who went completely rigid, the color draining from her face.
"And you... you know very well what I know, don't you? All the corpses you hide in your closet."
The President's eyes widened in sheer terror, suffocated by the fear of having her secrets exposed in front of the nation's leaders.
"You are nothing but pawns on my path to my most glorious moment."
I shook my head with mock pity.
"I got a bit sentimental," I admitted with a mocking grin as a spark of green fire flickered in my throat. "You only need to understand one thing. I am chaos. The last and the first. You cannot kill me, so I would prefer you do not waste my time. How do you plan to kill someone who does not live or die?"
Before I could utter another word, the mutant's body exploded into a thousand shards of flesh and green blood. The Number One Hero, All Might, had shattered the reinforced glass with a single punch, obliterating the cell and sweeping the entire area in a violent blast of air pressure.
Without skipping a beat, I immediately took control of the second mutant in the adjacent cell and began laughing through it once more.
"It is true... how could I forget? Toshinori... little one. How is Nana?" I said with a macabre grin.
Upon hearing his master's name, All Might snapped completely. His eyes burned with murderous wrath as he glared at me through the dust and rubble. I raised the new mutant's finger and pointed it directly at him, mimicking the iconic pose that had once defined him at Kamino.
"You're next."
Another explosion of brute force reduced that second vessel to shreds. But before the dust could settle, the third and final mutant stood up calmly, locking its dead eyes onto the hero.
"Prepare Izuku well. You wouldn't want me to kill him in three seconds, would you?" I warned.
All Might visibly tensed, his fists shaking from the strain of holding himself back, while Nezu—desperate for answers before the end—screamed a final question.
"What are you?!" the UA principal demanded, right before the hero destroyed this final body.
"Me?" I exclaimed, throwing the mutant's arms wide as the infected flesh began to savagely mutate and warp under my influence. "I am the ceaseless wheel! The one who will bring this world the reset it so desperately needs!" I shouted, raising my hands like a true madman. "I am your doom!"
All Might's titanic fist connected squarely, killing the last mutant instantly and leaving the lab in a graveyard silence, with no remaining means left to communicate.
As I regained consciousness in my true body back in Honduras, I felt the sudden crash of my mana system. The forced disconnection slammed against my chest, and I ended up coughing up a bit of blood onto the apartment floor. Though, to be completely honest, the pain didn't even register anymore.
"Wow..." I murmured, wiping the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand as I watched this mortal vessel tremble slightly from the echo of All Might's attack. That brute strength was still no joke.
"I need to improve this. I need more power," I whispered to myself.
Casting aside Leonardo's form, I reverted to Eri's base appearance and activated the Rewind Quirk to mend every fiber of my body. With the mystical control I now possessed, I discovered I could replenish my mana much more efficiently by utilizing the Quirk's energy. I managed to directly hook my magic flow into the core of the horn. It was a complex, delicate process, but the fact that the gift was already firmly anchored to my mystical bone structure made the amalgamation incredibly easy. With my other Quirks, the assimilation wasn't nearly as seamless—but in the end, what did it matter? The results were all that counted.
I relaxed slightly in the dim light of the room, feeling my blood run steady again as the fractures vanished completely. I looked out the window into the Central American night, knowing perfectly well that the message had been delivered, and that from this day forward, things in this world were going to get truly ugly.
End of Chapter 15.