Chapter 59 - Second Quirk

Days passed, and UA's sports festival was coming closer and closer.

Inside a dark, decrepit room, with bloodstains and bits of flesh scattered all over the floor and walls, a young boy with blond hair stood in front of a humanoid monster with four arms, long legs, an exposed brain, and grayish-blue skin.

Yuga breathed in and out deeply. His eyes were unwavering and focused. He wore a black shirt and fitting black pants, with scratch marks and blood oozing out of his wounds. He ignored the pain and regulated his breath, a small mistake is all it would take for him to die, causing his mind to turn sharper and more acute.

His previously slim and pathetic body has turned more robust and muscular. His veins bulged and his legs tensed up as blood pumped through his entire body. His sharp blue eyes stared fixedly at the Nomu in front of him, the belt around his waist shining with a dim blue light.

'Thanks to Hidden Order, my body has rapidly grown and I could already use my Quirk as if it was something I was innately born with. Their progress on researching All for One is deeper than I thought, allowing me, a Quirkless person, to fully adapt to Navel Laser.' Yuga's eyes shone as he felt his calm mind bubble with slight excitement.

A grin slowly appeared on his face as the threat of death caused him to forcefully grow. With the rope being so thin, Yuga has experienced a qualitative change in the weeks that have passed ever since he underwent the trials to become All for One's successor.

As the Nomu growled like a wild beast, its four arms flared out and its nails extended out like sharp knives. They shone with a metallic luster under the dim light of the dark room, and their eyes stared at Yuga with intense killing intent.

Yuga hastily pointed his body at the Nomu and shot out a powerful boom from his laser.

The Nomu responded by moving to the side in an attempt to dodge the attack, but the beam quickly stopped and another fired in a split second. The humanoid monster relied on its beast-like instincts and crossed its long, knife-like claws to form a barrier of nails.

The beam of light collided with the Nomu's nails, and easily pierced through it as they melted in the beam's high heat, but that gave enough time for the Nomu to sacrifice two of its arms and roll to the ground to avoid the dangerous beam.

It lets out a painful hiss and stared at Yuga with baleful eyes. Its charred stumps spewed off steam, and the flesh underneath squirmed with vitality. Slowly, its arms grew back from nothing as its claws extended out once more with a metallic luster.

"Ra!" It cried out and lunged itself forward. The only way it could attack was with its powerful body and sharp claws, and through sheer luck, found the correct answer to Yuga's Quirk. If it kept fighting from a distance, then Yuga would quickly gain the upper hand and dominate the fight for life and death.

Yuga also knew this weakness of his, but he remained calm and astute. His foundation in combat has deepened a lot with the series of life-threatening situations he has gone through, and with his mind enhanced by Hidden Order, it would take a lot for his mind to be shaken.

He swiftly ducked down to the ground, and the Nomu passed by him in the air. Then, with a twist of his upper torso, he pointed his navel at the Nomu flying through the air and muttered under his breath with gritted teeth, "Navel Saber!"

A beam of light flashed through the air and pierced through the ceiling. In one swift motion, the Nomu was split in half as the smell of burnt flesh spread through the filthy and dark room.

Yuga fell down to the ground with a thud as he lost his balance. He rubbed his butt and clutched his stomach which ached in pain, but he was as cool as a cucumber inwardly and could ignore this level of pain with ease. But, he was Yuga Aoyama, and Yuga was a person who shouldn't be able to handle this level of pain easily, he still had to act according to what others perceived him as and slowly flesh out his character to suit his needs.

All for One watched the live feed through a monitor and muttered one word, "Good."

That single word made Kurogiri who was watching from the sides widen his eyes in surprised for a bit. He could feel that his master was happy and satisfied with Yuga's recent display.

'This kid, to think he'd grow so fast.' Kurogiri nodded his head and thought of the same as All for One. 'He's unlike Shigaraki-sama. He has the willpower to go through hardships, train extensively, can face life and death with an unrelenting spirit, and the indomitable will to grow.'

'He has the charisma and character suited to become All for One's successor. If nothing goes wrong, then with enough time…' Kurogiri's yellow eyes flickered. 'He'll definitely become All for One's second successor.'

Yuga closed his eyes on the ground and breathed in deeply. The pain he felt in his stomach receded like the tides of a wave, and his furrowed brows eased up.

Kurogiri walked up to Yuga with slow and steady steps. The sound of his footsteps echoed in the silent room, and he stood in front of Yuga with his calm yellow eyes, "Follow me, Aoyama-san."

"Mmm," Yuga grunted and slowly stood up. His body still bled profusely from his numerous wounds, but he has 'grown' enough that he could handle this level of pain without incurring suspicion.

A ghastly purple portal slowly opened up beside them, and Yuga stood up with a low grunt. He squinted his eyes for a bit, and promptly walked through the portal with Kurogiri.

Whoosh.

As the air around the two whooshed loudly with the bend in space-time's departure, an old man around his 60s walked in from a nearby door. He had a bald head and wore a strange pair of goggles, and also had a comical bushy mustache.

"You're here again, Yuga-kun." The doctor wore a kind smile and nodded at Kurogiri from the side.

"Heh, it's quite funny, really. I've seen you personally more this past month than the experience I have with that Shigaraki kid in his all his time as All for One's successor." The doctor laughed and shook his head with a whimsical smile. "Well, I respect All for One's decision before, but this time, I will respect it even more if you were to become his successor."

Doctor Kyudai didn't stint on his praises and expressed his appreciation for Yuga's determination and efforts. He has seen just how much Yuga has gone through this past month after treating him many times a week.

The way he first walked into his personal private lab covered in blood, with wounds and an almost broken limb, he was surprised to learn that this was the boy who wanted to become the new successor of All for One.

While he didn't officially say it, Doctor Kyudai can see through Yuga's words and learn the truth. And frankly speaking, Doctor Kyudai finds Yuga a truly worthy successor of All for One.

The only real gripe he had before was his weak body and was innately Quirkless, but as if the continuous trials and encounters with the scythe of Death caused some sort of change within his body. In less than a month, Yuga has almost fully accommodated Navel Laser and could use it with a lot less pain compared to before. He doesn't even need to wear his belt anymore!

This was something that shocked Doctor Kyudai. He can be said to be one of the most knowledgeable person on Earth right now regarding the mysteries of Quirks, and a person like Yuga, a Quirkless who has managed to nearly fully accommodate his Quirk without having to undergo artificial enhancements like his Nomu, was something he had witnessed for the first time ever in his long life.

His eyes flashed with joy and pointed at the nearby table beside him. "You really are a unique specimen, Yuga-kun. All the data I have gathered from you is really special."

The doctor laughed while Yuga sat on the table with a grunt.

Doctor Kyudai grabbed a syringe from a nearby drawer and filled it with a strange green liquid. He spurt out some of it to make sure the syringe had no air and walked up to Yuga with a slight grin.

Yuga, having already experienced this numerous times before, stretched out his hand and watched as Kyudai calmly insert the syringe into his veins.

With a light press, the green liquid entered his bloodstream and Yuga squinted his eyes for a bit before the sudden jolt of pain disappeared. Instead, a warm sensation spread throughout his entire body like a stream of spring water, and his wounds started to heal like magic.

"With this, your body would have theoretically fully adapted to your Navel Laser by tomorrow, which would not only be a miracle but something outright groundbreaking for my research." Doctor Kyudai chuckled with a joyful grin. He patted Yuga on the back and said, "Kid, you better not die on me because I would really grieve your death, and cry more tears than what your parents could cry."

Kurogiri, who was watching from the side, suddenly felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out.

He saw that there was a message from an unknown source, and after checking that it was safe, carefully clicked on it only to see an encrypted message. He squinted his eyes and swiftly deciphered it, and when he did, he lets out a surprised gasp, "Hmm?"

Doctor Kyudai and Yuga noticed his surprised reaction, and the doctor asked with a questioning gaze, "What is it?"

Kurogiri's entire body trembled for a moment before it calmed down. He took a deep breath and stretched out his hand so that Doctor Kyudai can grab his phone, "Look."

Doctor Kyudai's curiosity was piqued and he approached Kurogiri with raised eyebrows. He cautiously grabbed the phone and soon saw the encrypted message, but with his high intellect, he swiftly decoded the message, and just like Kurogiri earlier, he was shook.

"What?!" He shouted in surprise and looked up and down from his phone and at Yuga.

Yuga noticed Doctor Kyudai's weird gaze on him, and he felt that something big, either good or bad, would soon happen to him. So, with his mind colliding countless thoughts, he asked with a curious voice, "What is it?"

"This…" Doctor Kyudai mumbled with a trembling voice. He took a deep breath and walked up toward Yuga, and stared at him right in the eye, "I don't know if this would be a good thing or a bad thing for you, but tomorrow…"

"Tomorrow, you'll be given a second Quirk."

…

Ryuji was inside his house, watching TV and munching on some chips. As he did so, within his mind, he sat on a golden throne inside a large palace created for giants, and stared at a floating screen in front of him that showed the face of a doctor wearing strange goggles and a bushy mustache.

"A second Quirk?" Ryuji muttered with an ecstatic grin. "Finally!"

His eyes shone in delight as he felt that things were finally progressing. He already has All for One's DNA but lacked actual data on the man's Quirk itself and Doctor Kyudai's experiments with the countless arrangements All for One has made to protect his data from others.

Because of this, the only way Ryuji could push forward Hidden Order's hivemind of researchers' progress was to first-hand data, and what better way than Yuga Aoyama!

And now, like a fish latching onto the bait and hook, All for One has been entrapped within Ryuji's scheme and would soon reveal the thing Ryuji desperately needed to acquire more power for himself.

"Tomorrow…" He muttered with a resolute gaze. "Tomorrow, I'll need to make this operation a success!"

AN: This chapter has 2057 words.

You better not wet yourself by the end of this Arc because boy howdy did I write one of the most confusing endings possible for Arc 2. Fuck, Ryuji's gonna be a huge menace in Arc 3 and I literally had to do some galaxy brain rewrite to the entire outline of the plot just so that our little pride-flag-eyed cunt can breathe and not just die when Ryuji blinks his eye. I'm telling you, you'll understand just how stupid I was in the next couple of chapters by giving this psychopath godlike power.

(June 15, 2023 - 567th day of writing)