Chapter 94: Eri's Revenge (I)

She placed her hand on the wood and quickly used her quirk as the door soon turned back into a tree.

It was her new power. Unlike before, she could now use her quirk on inorganic objects as well.

Wood would turn back into trees, while metal would turn back into raw ore.

She quickly ran inside, not waiting for anybody to react. The few people in the courtyard were shocked that they were invaded, but soon calmed down when they saw only a little girl.

"Little girl, why don't you back off now before someone gets hurt?" A man asked Eri gently, not caring that she just turned the wood into a tree.

However, before the man could touch her head, she quickly touched his arm and used her quirk.

"Rewind."

The man soon found himself quickly shrinking from a mighty two-meter-tall man into a mere ninety-centimeter boy.

"Hey! What have you done to me?!" A high-pitched scream sounded, replacing the original deep one.

The others who saw what happened didn't dare to look down on the little girl anymore and started rushing forward and using their quirks.

"Leafipulation!"

A man stood at the back and started manipulating the leaf, causing the sharp jagged leaves to rush towards Eri. Unfortunately for her, Eri didn't have a way to defend that. Thus, she just endured the flying leaves ad engaged the two other people who rushed towards her while being careful that the leaves don't cut any critical places like her eyes.

"Aaaargh!" A fat man rushed towards her while swinging down the bat on her. She didn't panic and did a sidestep while kneeing him in the face. She didn't stop there, however. After kneeing him in the face, she did a backflip using the person's knee as a stepping board.

As she backflipped, her leg was once again aimed at his face, essentially kicking him in the face twice consecutively.

Not forgetting the other person who was closing in on her, she immediately ducked his sideways swing with his knife and did a sweep kick with all her might.

The force from the continuous, non-stop flowing actions caused her momentum to grow. The power behind her sweep kick was strong enough to break the guy's ankles, leaving him limping painfully. Placing her hands on both of their heads, she muttered, "Rewind."

Similar to before, both guys shrunk back into their three-year-old body, causing them to lose their quirks and strengths in the process. Like the guy before, she knocked them out before turning her attention to the last guy.

She stared at him for a second before dashing forward. A barrage of leaves made their way to Eri, but it was visible that her wounds were closing as soon as they were formed.

It wasn't that her regeneration was high. She just cycled her quirk continuously around her body, rewinding her body back to the state before being injured.

Once she was a mere five meters away, she instantly disappeared from the man's sight.

"Huh?"

BANG!

Eri's kick connected to the back of his head, and just like any other people who were too dependent on their quirk, he fainted from having a weak body.

Unlike before, she used her quirk on the man's quirk, reverting him to a state before quirks existed, essentially removing his quirk. This is because, unlike the two before, whose quirks are probably weak, the leaf manipulation can be a pretty strong quirk if used correctly. Not wanting his quirk to be misused in society, Eri removed his quirk before heading into the building.

For a large Yakuza group, the number of people guarding the door was minimal. Apart from the previous four, Eri spotted no one else.

Just as she was about to reach the front door, she suddenly stopped and ran back.

Just in time, the front door flew open as a huge man blasted through the door.

He donned a black tank-top with jeans and sneakers, as well as a plague mask that covered his head. He also wore massive gauntlets and knuckledusters on his fists.

Not caring that his opponent was a little girl, his muscle quickly bulged as he pulled his arm back before launching it at an impossible speed towards Eri.

Eri's awakened quirk can be considered one of the most terrifying quirks out there, and coupled with her martial arts, any melee fights would quickly end in her favor as long as she doesn't mess up.

"Rappi! Come and smash!" The huge man yelled out as he missed Eri's figure, and his punch landed on the ground. The force behind it was massive, and a huge crater was formed.

Eri knew that her strength would not be able to do anything to the enormous person, so she gave up using her kicks and instead used her quirk on him.

"Rewind."

He quickly shrunk before he lost his consciousness as well. Eri thought that she had to use more of her quirk to shrink the person down since he was huge. However, she miscalculated and accidentally used too much of her quirk.

Unlike his gigantic physique, he was actually only in his late twenties. Eri accidentally used too much of her quirk, and before she realized it, the man had disappeared.

"Gah!" She exclaimed in shock as she watched him disappear into thin air.

Her mind quickly remembered her father, who had met the same end as the person in front of her.

"ARGHHHH!!!" She screamed as she crouched down and hugged her head in pain. She repeatedly wailed while shaking her head violently from side to side.

"No no no no no no no no no..."

Seeing this, Shido sighed before stepping out of his shadows and hugged her from the back.

"There, there."

Feeling the sudden warmth, she quickly turned around and returned the hug.

"I'm so sorry, Shido!" She wailed as she continuously shook her head from side to side, "I thought I had resolved myself to kill, but I can't!"

"I'm so sorry...but I can't do it, not now!"

Shido didn't say anything and just continued hugging Eri. He thought that he might have gone a little too far. Eri was just an ordinary twelve-year-old girl who grew up in safety after she escaped from torture.

It was a bit harsh of him to just suddenly get her used to kill.

"Do you still want to continue? However, do know that you'll never be able to reach your full potential if you don't go past this stage. I won't force you, and I'll always protect you when I bring you to explore the wide universe." Shido said gently, "So what is your decision?"

Eri hesitated slightly before sniffing up her tears and snot.

Did she want to drag down Shido anymore than she already does?

Does her love for him pale in comparison as compared to the feelings of not wanting to kill?

Most importantly, does she want to be a mere pretty vase that has nothing aside from her looks? Or does she want to be the girl who would support him?

The answers were all evident to her. It was right in front of her all along.

Just as Shido was willing to do anything for Eri, she was the same. Perhaps her father was the only one who held a higher place than Shido in her heart, but he was already dead while Shido was still alive and beside her.

"I don't always want to be protected by you...I don't always want you to stand in front of me and shield me from danger." Eri slowly replied as she got up from her crouching posture and stood up while trembling slightly, "I want to stand beside you and face things together with you. I don't just want to be a trophy to you..."

Was she willing to burn the world for Shido?

Yes.

"...so I'll fight. I'll fight to the very end. I won't kill mindlessly, but if I really do need to..." Eri spoke as a few more Yakuza members came out of the front door and started surrounding the both of them.

But how was she supposed to do that? If she couldn't even do something as simple as taking revenge for herself by removing the man, the gang, and everyone who harmed her in the past?

"...I'll do it."

If she had been stronger in the past, would she need to be tortured for some little experiment?

So she made up her mind. Kill or be killed. The stronger one would always live, while the weakest dies.

What other ways to live, other than to become stronger?

"Who are you, you little brat?! What have you done to our brothers?!" A guy wearing a mask covered the top half of his face angrily asked as he looked at the crater nearby and the four children lying unconscious nearby.

"Why is a little brat in the middle of our compound?! It's not even the police or the heroes!" A man with a horn in his mouth angrily shouted as he observed Shido and Eri in the middle.

Some of the other members had some sort of physical mutation, but the majority looked like normal humans.

Eri ignored all of them and wiped her tears from her face as she heard Shido's ever-calm voice, "That's my girl. Just remember, I'll always support you in whatever you do."

"Thank you, Shido. Now, let me solve my own matters."

"Good." Shido replied as he took a good look at Eri's eyes.

Previously, her eyes only had the determination to kill for Shido. However, it was weak as it was quickly broken by her first kill.

Now, her eyes had regained clarity. She no longer blindly followed Shido's words and advice. She now knew and understood about the world's nature and knew how to live in it properly.

"Oi! Brat! Why are you not replying to us?!" The man with the horn in his mouth screamed, or rather, blasted his sound at Eri.

However, Eri still ignored them and slowly walked towards them.

"Oh? A brat is walking to us now?! F*ck you!" His patience was finally lost as he opened his mouth widely and blasted a soundwave at Eri. However, his soundwave had no particular attribute apart from being loud. Thus, apart from annoying Eri, it did no further damage.

"You're annoying. Rewind."

She quickly dashed forward as she tapped on his head and muttered.

Not even a moment later, the horn in his mouth gradually became smaller as he soon returned back to being a completely normal human.

"Ah?" He was a little confused and tried to use his quirk once more before screaming out loud, "AHHHHH! I can't use my quirk!!"

The others became alert after his scream, but they were too late. Before they could react, Eri had already dashed past half of them and tapped on their heads.

People with tails suddenly couldn't find their tails anymore; people with horns couldn't find their horns; a person with compound eyes suddenly regained an average human's vision.

"Ahhh!" Screams vibrated throughout the courtyard as each of them found out that their quirks were lost. However, those screams didn't last long as Eri went back to each of them and knocked them out.

It wasn't widely known, but humans in the past before the start of the quirk era were much weaker than humans today. Even those without strength augmentation quirks were at least ten percent stronger than people before the quirk era.

It was only through some coincidental trip to an island known as I-island that he found out about it. It was one of their research on quirk's effects on people, and with some sneaking around, Shido managed to find some juicy details.

[A/N: I didn't watch the movie and only knew some general stuff about it, so I'm not going to include the I-Island movie here.]

What Eri was doing was to 'rewind' time on their bodies before the quirk generation. Thus, not only did the Yakuza members lose their quirks, but they also lost that extra bit of strength they gained with their quirks.

It might not seem like much at first, but that bit was enough for Eri, a twelve-year-old little girl, to overpower the grown men. Of course, the men over-relying on their quirks and did not train their bodies also played a part.

After a few minutes of an intense fight, Eri stood in the middle of a bunch of unconscious bodies, all of whom had lost their quirk.

Eri didn't even pant as she repeatedly rewinds her body back to her optimal state.

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