Chapter 85: 1/6 Potential of Eri

"Do you want me to unlock your potential?"

"Eh? What do you mean?" Eri didn't know what exactly he meant by 'unlocking potential', but it sounded like a good thing.

"Hm..." Shido struggled to think of an analogy that would be easy for a twelve-year-old to understand.

"Let's say that everyone's quirk is like water in a bucket. The more you train, the more water is present inside the bucket. Now, however, that is not your full potential. Depending on the type of quirk you have, the potential and development path would vary as well.

If I were to unlock your full potential, it means breaking down the 'bucket' walls in the empty sea, allowing for much more development rather than containing it inside a mere bucket."

Shido paused here to let what he said to sink into Eri's brain. Bang was an old man, and he didn't really use his quirk much, so he left the dojo to get some air.

Seeing that Eri was struggling to understand his analogy, he decided to give an example.

"For example, let's use Katsuki, the explosive boy in my class. His quirk is 'explosion'. Katsuki's quirk allows him to secrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from the palms of his hands and ignite it on command, allowing him to create strong explosions. The more Katsuki sweats, the stronger his explosions become. If Katsuki overuses this power, his forearms will start to ache.

For Katsuki, the more he trains, the more he can use his power without his forearms aching. And at the same time, the more he practices, the more powerful his explosions will be. However, he will forever be limited to that - only his hands, and it forever depends on how much he sweats.

Now, if I were to fully unlock his potential, breaking down the bucket's wall, it would mean that his explosions wouldn't have to be just on his palms. Each and any body part - his feet, his head, his chest, his thighs, his calves - as long as sweat is present on that part of the body, he would also be able to create explosions from that area.

Of course, that would merely be the tip of the iceberg as even I do not know humanity's full potential. Katsuki might not even need sweat to create explosions after I fully unlock his potential. Just the mere thought would be able to ignite a body part and create an explosion. Imagine how strong he would be."

Eri thought about the boy who almost gotten first place, barely losing against the number one hero's quirk.

"Wow! That would be so strong! Can I also be like that?" Eri inquired eagerly.

"You're already stronger than him. He can't win you if he gets into melee range." Shido rubbed her head while Eri just closed her eyes and enjoyed the head pat.

"Don't change the question. So tell me, can I also be like that?"

"Of course. Even though unlocking potential in people is an effortless thing for me to do, what I'm more worried about is your body. A human's muscles just aren't suited to withstand humanity's full potential. That's why their brains would never work 100% at all times, and that is also why when we run, we cannot constantly run forever even if we have the stamina to do so. Their body just wouldn't be able to keep up with their potential." Shido answered thoughtfully.

Eri heard his words and pouted, "Then why even bother telling me that? You just dashed away all my hopes."

Shido smiled, "Don't worry. Although a human's body cannot withstand it when the user uses one hundred percent of humanity's potential, it can still withstand an increase of a few more percentages."

[A/N: In case you don't understand what is happening here, I'm basically saying that although Shido can fully unlock all 100% of potential, the moment they use it, their bodies would explode from having too much power. Of course, if they don't exceed their original ability or do not use any strength at all, then they wouldn't have any problems.]

"Oh? So let's do it!" Eri regained her excitement upon hearing that it was plausible after all. She knew that Shido's strength was way ahead of hers, and although Shido said that he would bring her along wherever he goes, Eri couldn't help but feel inferior, always needing Shido's protection.

She wanted to be strong enough to stand side by side with Shido, strong enough so that Shido wouldn't have to worry about her safety anymore.

Shido warned, "But it would hurt a lot."

"I don't care! Well, actually, I do. But, I'm willing to endure anything to become stronger as long as it's within my moral grounds, and I classify 'enduring pain' to be within my morals. So come, unlock my potential." Eri shook her head and spoke resolutely.

Shido stared at her in the eyes, and seeing that her eyes were full of determination, he eventually gave on and sighed.

"Fine, I'll be beside you when you're going through that."

"Shifurū," Shido muttered as the key in his hands lit up again.

The light soon went away as what appeared to be a halberd in his hands.

"Be ready...three...two..." Shido counted down, but before he reached the number one, he stabbed it inside Eri's body and turned it slightly anticlockwise. He was careful to not turn it too much. Otherwise, Eri's body would not be able to handle the sudden burst in power.

He turned a mere ten degrees. He saw Eri gritting her teeth in pain as a glow of light started to shine from her.

He was about to take out the halberd, but Eri hurriedly prevented him from doing so by grabbing the halberd and not letting it go. He saw Eri nodding her head, and he got the meaning.

Shido sighed once more and continued turning the halberd anticlockwise. Twenty degrees, thirty degrees, forty degrees, fifty degrees, and eventually sixty degrees.

At this point, Eri just completely let go of the halberd as she started screaming her head off.

"ARGH!!!"

Shido hurriedly dispersed the halberd before going towards her and hugged her. The moment Eri felt someone hugging her, she instinctively hugged back, crushing Shido's body within her arms. And as if that wasn't enough, her head leaned forward to his shoulders, and she started biting on it.

Shido could have used a barrier to reduce his own pain, but that would mean Eri would be biting onto something hard. Not wanting to let Eri suffer any further, he chose not to use the barrier and just endured her bite.

After ten minutes of intense screaming, biting, and scratching, Eri finally calmed down and fell asleep in a puddle of sweat.

There were not many visible changes, and apart from her muscles being slightly condensed, the most notable difference was the small swell on her left temple.

"Sigh, you don't need to try so hard to get my affection, you know?" Shido caressed the sleeping girl's head as flames appeared on all his wounds, and within seconds, his body was as good as new.

It was something that he had discovered recently. Due to his overpowering abilities, he had never gotten hit in a battle, much less a scratch. This was why he never knew he had this ability until a few days ago where he received a papercut while sorting out the homework and classwork.

Yes. The first actual wound Shido had gotten was from a paper. Paper was indeed the most powerful enemy that Shido had ever faced, but that was beside the point. As soon as he got any injuries, blue flames would automatically appear on that wound and immediately heal it.

He had never tested out how strong his healing or regeneration quirk was since he wasn't a masochist who would hurt himself. Still, he was confident that as long as it wasn't an amputated limb or direct attack at his head or heart, he would be able to regenerate or heal himself.

He gently rubbed the swollen part on her left temple.

'Is another horn going to pop up?' Shido couldn't help but think to himself as he examined her temple and overall body to ensure that she wasn't harmed in any way.

"What is going on here?!" Bang slammed open the door as he looked worriedly at Eri, who was in the arms of Shido.

"Sh..." Shido shushed the old man and whispered, "Don't wake her up. I unlocked a tiny bit of her potential, and after enduring the pain, she fell asleep due to exhaustion.

"Will she be fine?" Bang wasn't too worried about Shido harming her in any way since he saw her close the both of them were, but he still asked to be sure. He could never be too careful after all.

"Yes. There are no injuries or wounds on Eri, so after some rest, she would wake up naturally."

The old man looked at the figure of Eri sleeping peacefully for a while before eventually sighing.

"I originally wanted to ask you for a spar, but I guess that's impossible for now, huh?"

Shido heard his words and smiled wryly.

But before he could say anything, Bang continued, "For now, bring her home to take a rest. The next time we meet, let's have a spar then."

"Sure." Shido agreed.

He carried Eri on his back and stood up.

Bowing towards Bang and bidding him goodbye, he left the dojo under the watchful eyes of some disciples who were just entering the dojo.

Shido ignored all of them and teleported home.

Reappearing in the familiar bedroom, he laid Eri down on the bed before he went to take a shower.

By the time he finished his shower and lunch, he went back to the bedroom and found Eri awake.

"It seems that you have woke up." Shido stated the obvious.

"Yes." Eri absentmindedly muttered as she looked at her own hands in wonder.

Shido found it weird that she was examining her own body closely. He asked with worry in his voice as his brows furrowed, "Is there anything wrong?"

"No." Eri's short reply came back to him, "Though I feel a little stronger, I don't feel anything different about myself."

"Really?" Shido asked with a mysterious smile on his face. Before going back to the bedroom, he had already checked with Rasiel about Eri's changes, and it had truly surprised him, to say the least.

"What do you know about my changes?" Eri excitedly asked as she moved her face close to Shido's.

"Before we move on to your changes, what do you know about your own quirk?" Shido questioned her before telling her the actual changes. This would allow her to understand more about herself, rather than just memorising the changes like a textbook.

Eri looked dissatisfied at his question but answered nonetheless.

"My quirk is known as 'Rewind', and it allows me to reverse a living individual's body back to a previous state, allowing me to make my target physically younger, heal injuries, and undo bodily modifications.

The source of my quirk is located in the horn of my head. At the same time, the size of the horn dictates the strength of my power.

'Rewind' is an accumulation-type quirk, which means that I have to build up my power over time before I can actually use my quirk.

Because of my quirk, my body was also mutated. My blood also contains a little of my quirk's effect, so depending on the usage of my blood, it can cause some not very nice people to come after me."

At the last part, Eri became a little quieter but still answered.

"Yes. Your quirk can even affect other people's quirks, and that is why they want your blood; to rewind them before the point of the quirk phenomenon. Furthermore, if untrained, you could even have the ability to rewind someone's body to a moment before they even existed, killing them in the process.

That is why I was so adamant about training your quirk whenever your horns have grown too long. I don't want you to lose control of your quirk."

Shido nodded in agreement and replied gravely.

"But bringing a nine-year-old girl to a villain's hideout in the middle of the night to train her quirk, really?" Eri raised her eyebrow as she looked at Shido, who was blushing slightly.

Seeing that Shido didn't say anything, she sighed and continued, "Anyways, I have already answered your question. Now it's time to answer mine. So tell me. What changes were there?"

Eri moved her face even closer, and their noses touched.

Shido wasn't Izuku, who would back away from a girl who was a meter away from him. He just ignored the fact that their noses were touching, and her horn was scratching his left temple and continued.

"Now, I didn't unlock much of your potential; just a mere one-sixth was unlocked. Now, don't be angry." Shido hurriedly said, "Even at one-sixth of your potential unlocked, you have grown to be plenty more powerful. Besides, you're still young. Your body can't handle anything more than that, no matter how much you deny it."

"Okay...but what are my changes?" Eri was a little disappointed that she could be more powerful, but she still wanted to know how much she had grown.

"Well, only one thing has changed from before. I now officially announce," Shido raised his hands dramatically and said, "Rewind is no longer an accumulation quirk. It has become an actual superpower, one that does not have any drawbacks at all!"

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A/N: Writing a story is very much like bullshitting all the way, especially when you just want to fk the canon entirely. Since I'm not following canon much in the second world and only using those major events, there is so much to bullshit about.

Having a day break helped me get my ideas flowing again. Hope you enjoyed this!

If you want to support me or/and want 14+ chapters in advance, link:

https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere