All Good Things

Toshinori Yagi POV

The weight of it all bore down on me when I felt a part of me, one I never truly knew I had, bend and snap.

The ninth has lost, it spoke with a clear ring to it, almost resembling metal bending and snapping, and I knew that I was the last bastion between All For One and the world.

Then the weight of monster in a suit, that weighed far more than his size would suggest, crashed into me, and I realised that for all I have been beaten down, I was a quirkless boy in a small village, I had never experienced anything likes this, not even in our last fight.

It was less of a punch than it was a force of nature, one that I couldn't even begin to dream to stop.

But here, like so often in my youth when I was pushed down, I stood up again.

Except this time the force that tried to hold me down wasn't the foot of a child with a quirk, but the arm of the most feared villain in existence, one that pushed me down with enough force to generate whirlwinds, one that contained enough energy that the houses around me lit on fire, and there was no pyrokinetic quirk involved with that.

But neither could keep me down, neither could keep me chained. Whether it was petty children or monsters that tried to hold me down, didn't matter, because I got back on my legs, in pain, yes, but I got back up.

And with One For All roaring in my veins, I punched, and the monster that seemed so unbeatable just seconds ago, the one that had sent this world into chaos again and again, lost in a clash of wills. Of power.

And whatever power was holding him suspended in the air, whatever life he ruined to fly around, was unable to hold him against the might of One For All, the beating heart of heroes, the wills, power and hope of the greatest champions of the quirked age.

He flew far, across the field of destruction and death he had brought to this city, and he didn't stop there, houses falling like paper before a storm.

I pushed power into my legs, and the world around me blurred as I burst forward, not bothering to restrain myself to levels of power that won't ruin the surrounding city, ripping it apart with the winds I left in my wake, and the tremors that shook the city when I pushed off the ground.

And then I was on him, punching, throwing and ripping.

Because it was the only thing I could do, and as I looked away from the destruction below me, I had to tell myself that this was the only way.

Some blood had to be spilled for the greater good.

So even as the fires around me burst into existance from the friction of air being pushed away from me, and then subsequently snuffed out by the air being pushed away from me, I kept ripping and tearing.

And I had to keep doing it, until it is done.

So I pushed my fists down again, pushing with all I had, and I watched the monsters arm contort to angles they were not meant to bend to, even as he tried to stop me, signaled by eldritch lightning , but I didn't see the grimace I was expecting.

On the face of the monster was a smile, even as his white hair was colored red, and a bulge traveled through his arm, at speeds far surpassing what I could react to, but I saw it from a mile away.

It didn't stop something from pushing my feet from the ground.

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Goda Tatsuo POV

Holy shit.

Whoever this villain was, he could fight All Might. Maybe not on equal levels, but he was close.

And the villain didn't let anything done to him even phase him, even as his arms and legs bent ways they were not meant to bend, and then snapped themselves back in seconds, he didn't even grimace.

But what the hell was his quirk?

And who was he, and how did he make All Might fight like this? Like a rabid beast, ripping and tearing.

And there was not a damn thing anyone could do about it, as the shock waves from the attacks were almost sending the news helicopters circling the fight down into the ground.

I saw one poor hero, Antares, try to help, and she was brought down in a second.

She is a local to the city, and I have been following her exploits, waiting for a chance to strike, for some time, and there was nothing even she could do, as she was surrounded by a cloud of something, that she then dropped out of a second later with all the grace of a three legged-donkey.

She was able to take down Mechanica without a scratch, and she wasn't worth a second glance to the villain.

And so here I was, with pragmatism and sadism clashing inside myself.

Sadism won, and instead of running away from the two titans, like I knew I should, I ran towards the beaten blond, and I grew larger and more dangerous as I walked.

Something that had never happened before, and I knew that I would regret this, but I pushed on. Towards the destruction.

By the time I reached the prone form of Antares, I had grown claws strong enough to tear through steel like paper.

But I wouldn't be using them, as I gathered fire inside of me, fire about to burst out of me and wash over the hero.

"Lovely spectacle, no?" asked a voice in a thousand voices, and I lost control of the gathering fire inside of me, as my neck, now more serpentine then human, snapped around to snap at the one that dared to disturb the dra- and I froze.

Shadow Queen, a mad quirk thief, one that was not stopped before she got out of hand.

"'Es." I answered, my voice now barely able to form the voices to speak as a human would, but I knew she wanted my to speak to her, tell her a lie, even as she knew the thruth.

"So then, Fafnir, what do you think you are doing to the fragile one?"

For a second she looked at me, really looked, and every part of me that thought of attacking her died a cold death, as her eyes flashed with unknowable knowledge.

"Are you going to burn her away, like you burnt away Rei?"

How did she know?

"Did you truly fear her that much?"

No. No no no no no. I never feared her, but I knew she would leave me, leave like everyone else did, just because I made one bad decision. Just because I made one mistake.

I couldn't let her leave. I couldn't lose her like I lost everyone else, and now she rests inside me forever.

"No, you did." The madwoman answered my thoughts, "you did fear her that much. But you didn't burn her away, no, you never cared much for 'if I can't have her, no one can', no, you made her yours forever."

"But it was just a lie."

I lunged, the rage burning inside me washing away any fear, as my serpentine form contained enough power to bring her down.

It had to.

Shadows rose to meet the flames, and the flames flickered and died, and with it I lost the rage and power inside of me, replaced with a bone deep cold, as another shadow danced around her.

A serpentine shadow, to be precise.

"Watch this, Fafnir," said the madwoman, as she gestured to the surrounding destruction, "and remember it. It shall be the last thing you will ever witness, so be grateful it is the greatness of All For One you die seeing."

"Die watching the fall of One For All."

And I was left watching the destruction around me, body locked in place and slowly drowing in blood, as All Might flew into the air with speeds I would have been unable to see if not for the impact to a helicopter that allowed him to get down again.

I miss you Rei, and I am so sorry.

The words felt as hollow in my mind as her flesh felt to devour, and I was left with the memory of crushed bone slowly being dragged down my throat as the blood filled my lungs.