Chapter 23

"My arms are killing me." Izuku winced as he tried to take off his jersey. He could feel his muscles ache every time they contracted and relaxed.

"You're not used to the recoil," Void explained as she floated to his side. "Once you get enough practice, and maybe build some muscle, you won't feel as much pain,"

"How much training do you think I'll need?" He wondered, somehow he felt it would take months or even years to make progress.

"Maybe a few days, a few weeks at most." The Herrscher answered.

"What?" Izuku gaped. "Are you for real?"

"If you were a human it would take far longer. Either you'd need stigma or a quirk to be able to handle the Honkai easily or some type of weapon, otherwise well…you wouldn't be standing here. Lucky for you…you have me." Void gestured to herself. "The human body breaks itself and rebuilds itself constantly, and with my power, I can help speed up the process."

"You're making me stronger." Izuku realized. Then it dawned on him. "Does this also help you with your goal of taking me over?"

"In the long run, yes, but it ensures you can survive for the time being," The Herrscher told him. "Considering how dangerous your world is, I thought it apt," Void explained.

"Dangerous? What do you mean dangerous?" Izuku wondered. "Yeah Japan has some crime but we have some of the best heroes in the world,"

"I suppose you wouldn't notice it considering you've never been to others." The Herrscher realized. "In my world, the major threat to humans is the Honkai, but even then the Honkai isn't as widespread as your quirks."

"It's powerful and dangerous but it's also somewhat scarce. Scarce enough that you can have a small handful of organizations dedicated to fighting across various parts of the world." The Herrscher noted. "Unless there is a Herrscher or a high-level beast involved, very rarely will you see a massive Honkai attack."

"Really? I always assumed given your nature, your world was more dangerous than mine." Izuku mused.

"It is. The difference in power is still there, but let's put it this way. Compared to your world where 20% of the population is quirkless vs 80% who have random superpowers, my world has less than 0.0001% of people with powers and everyone else is essentially quirkless." The Herrscher explained.

"That's….wow." Izuku wondered. The world was almost quirkless. It was something he could barely fathom. Sure he heard stories about their old world, the pre-quirk era, but they sounded almost like their own fantasy setting, like how one would compare the era of Piracy, the Dark Ages, and the Wild West. Real but hard to imagine.

"Yeah." The Herrscher agreed. "You should count yourself lucky. Against a basic Honkai Beast like that, I'm sure most people would have died. You managed to knock it down." She complimented.

"I had you backing me," Izuku admitted. "It took me quite a while to knock it down, but in the end, I only really staggered it once before you killed it instantly."

"At least you know your place," Void smirked, "But don't worry, I'm sure you'll reach a point where you can kill them with a single swing of your bat." She explained, and hopefully, she can convince him to take out some of that frustration on others.

"You love violence way too much," Izuku argued.

"And you dislike it way too much," Void retorted. "Now go and get clean up, I doubt you'd want your mom to catch you with beast blood on you." She told him.

"Hey David, it's been a while, how are things" All Might smiled at his old pal on the video screen.

"Doing fine Toshi," David answered. "Is everything alright?" He questioned as he eyed All Might carefully.

"Eh, not really, injury's still a pain but I'm making do with it." All Might answered as he rolled his shoulder. "Nothing to lose sleep over."

"If you need a checkup you're welcome to stop by I-island, my lab is open anytime. I'm sure Melissa would be happy to hear if you are coming." David added.

"I'll keep that in mind." All Might told him. "So tell me, what did you discover about the Dagoba Beach incident?"

"I'm afraid, not much," David admitted. "We've been trying to treat the 'corruption' the Honkai did to the people but we haven't made much progress." He explained.

"The 'Honkai'?" All Might wondered.

"It's what we've been calling the 'radiation'," David explained. He furrowed his brows as began fidgeting with his fingers. "I don't know how to tell you this but the way we came across that name….it's a…it's not normal," David stammered.

All Might raised a brow at this. Now what did that mean?

"The people that were infected. They…they weren't exactly themselves. Quite a few of them turned ghostly pale, with white hair, white skin, and glowing gold eyes. They began thrashing around, attacking anyone who approached, their words nothing more than incoherent babbling."

"Not everyone was in that state, but I don't know if that's a good thing or not." David sigh. "Those who weren't at that stage…who was threading close to it. They began to hear things. At least that's what they told us." David shuddered as he remembered one of their patients.

The young man was shivering as his glowing neon veins pulsed. "SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" He screamed at the doctors. "STOP TALKING! STOP!"He pleaded.

"Who's talking to you? Tell us." The Doctors tried to reason with him.

"Before…he….went over the edge…he told us…it was the Honkai talking. It was the Honkai that had infected him." David lamented. "And it was the Honkai that was in him."

"So the Honkai is the radiation or the source?" All Might wondered as he clenched his desk. It was bad enough that this thing tormented their physical bodies but it also seemingly tormented their minds as well. This was even more worrisome.

"Hard to say, most patients seem to agree, its what's in them…and well…trying to say it otherwise does not illicit the best responses," David said grimly.

"Do you think the Herrscher might be the source?" All Might questioned.

"There is a possibility, of course, she can also be another victim for all we know so we can't tell unless we manage to capture her," David noted.

"That's easier said than done." All Might grumbled. "She's a teleporter who acts randomly and can fly." He added.

"We might have an answer for that." David perked up. "Melissa has been working on analyzing the Honkai. She's currently developing a tracker that can detect it. Hopefully, we can use it to find the Herrscher and get some answers." David explained.

"The Herrscher just got a lucky shot." One lady commented. Izuku grimaced at her words as he stared at the screen. After a long day of training, he and the Herrscher had settled down to have dinner, cup ramen and watch TV. At least that had been the plan, until they saw a talk show going on with the Herrscher's picture being featured.

"Really? They call that luck." Void scoffed. It seems like this was an attempt by the media to try and boost morale. "They should consider themselves lucky they are alive." She grumbled.

"Eh, you know how it is. No one wants to admit they are scared." Izuku told her. "A lot of times people will always try to smile and laugh to hide their fears. You know, like All Might."

"Well, if they don't stop insulting my strength, I'll just have to remind them of my power." The Herrscher responded. "Only this time I'll make sure they suffer a worse humiliation."

"Please don't kill them." Izuku pleaded. The Herrscher huffed as they continued to look at the program. It was not a reassuring sound but at the very least, for the time being, he didn't have to worry about getting any more blood on his hands.

"I won't. They are beneath me." The Herrscher assured him.

Izuku heard her but he didn't believe her. He knew another such individual who always put others beneath them yet still managed to get to pissed off. It also didn't reassure him when he saw the next person to come on the show, Burnin, one of the side kicks of Endeavor.

"So, Burning, is there any word and what Endeavor's thoughts are on the Herrscher?" The hostess questioned.

"Ha, oh please, the Herrscher's not a problem, not for Endeavor anyway. Yeah, she's powerful and dangerous but what villain isn't? She's just another run-of-the-mill villain." Burns laughed.

"So, what about Endeavor setting up a temporary agency in Musutafu? Is there any comment on that?" The hostess pressed.

"Eh, we've been meaning to expand for a while, and with the sudden rise in crime, it seems like now might be the time to do so. We need to ensure we do all that's possible to handle those villains that have been flocking to the area." Burnin explained.

"I see… that is true. The crime rate has skyrocketed recently, sad as it may be, but hopefully now that' Endeavor's here things will start to ease up." The hostess finished.

"Run of the mill….that's funny." Void laughed. "I'm a Herald of Humanity's Destruction, a Ruler of Ruin, that hot head doesn't even know how many ways I can end her miserable life." The Herrscher listed. "In fact…I just had an idea." The Herrscher smiled as she watched the screen.

Izuku felt wary, he could feel the tug and pull of the Herrscher's powers. She was doing something with them, something big but he didn't know exactly what it was. "Void what are you?"

"Shhh…I'm not gonna kill her…yet." The Herrscher told him as she stared at the screen. A portal then appeared, not within his living room, but on the set of the show, right above Burnin.

"Herrscher." Izuku gasped. The next thing he knew a torrent of water came tumbling down on top of the heroine, flooding the studio. Shortly after the brief flash flood, the portal closed and the water stopped. The show was also promptly put on hold as a screen came up reading technical difficulties.

"Like I said…they are beneath me." The Herrscher told him with a smile. "And I didn't kill them…I think so you don't need to worry." She answered. The media would probably have a field day laughing and making fun of the talk show but eh, that wasn't her problem.

"Really…that's why you drenched them."

"Yes…she's beneath me and on fire, logically it's in my best interest to extinguish a fire before it burns me." Void joked.

"Well, you do realize you put a target on your back for the Endeavor Agency, right?" Izuku questioned, wondering if the Herrscher truly knew the consequences of what she had just done. He knew she was powerful, but Endeavor was no pushover.

"You say that as if I'm not the target of many hero agencies alike. I am already at the top of the list, I'm sure most heroes want to beat me to solidify themselves as superior to All Might." The Herrscher retorted.

"Still…it's Endeavor. He's number two for a reason." Izuku told her.

"Is it because he's a piece of crap? Because most humans are like that." Void interjected.

"What? No, it's because he is a determined, hardworking, and all-round ruthless hero. While All Might is one of the most approachable and friendliest heroes, Endeavor is a lot more serious and down to business, at least that's how it looks in public." Izuku explained.

"Well, I certainly hope he puts up a good enough fight." The Herrscher admitted. "What's his powers like anyway?" She questioned.

"It's called HellFlame, a fire-based quirk that's very strong," Izuku explained.

"So like fire breathing, fire hair like that lady?" The Herrscher asked.

"No, his entire body is on fire," Izuku explained.

"Oh…" The Herrscher sighed. Izuku could feel a slight disturbance in her being as she seemed to meditate on her thoughts.

"Is there a problem?" Izuku wondered.

"No. Fire users are just…annoying." The Herrscher dismissed. Siegfied and Himeko were outliers, relying on ancient weapons built by far more advanced civilizations while using two additional sources of power to augment their abilities. Endeavor didn't have such power available to him. Then again, she didn't know just what the extent of these quirks was.

"You sure?" Izuku wondered. From the way the Herrscher seemed to drift off, he wondered if she was lying. Maybe she had a fire weakness that the heroes could exploit or maybe it was just a bad match-up. Nevertheless, he'd sincerely hoped they didn't fight Endeavor. As much as he wanted the Herrscher to stop, he did not want to feel himself being incinerated by Endeavor's flames. The lesson from the Acid villain had been quite literally burnt into his mind.

"Melissa's gotten well adjusted, right?" All Might questioned. "I mean…she's happy now, right?"

"Yeah, she's been doing swell." David smiled. "I was worried she'd be depressed being quirkless but she's come a long way. She's proven herself to many of the other engineers and has without a doubt earned herself a spot. I can rest all easy now because of it." David informed.

"I'm glad to hear." All Might told him. "I've actually been planning to work with someone similar." He added as he looked at David. He noticed David looking at him with a perplexed look. "I've met a quirkless boy who wanted to be a hero and I've decided to take him under my wing." All Might explained.

"Really?" David remarked. "Never thought you'd be the kind to take an apprentice."

"He reminded me of myself in more ways than one." All Might explained. "He's got a strong sense of justice and real desire to save people almost to a reckless degree. "

"Yeah…that sounds like you." David chuckled. "Always being headstrong and stubborn about helping people, that's vintage All Might."

"Well jokes aside, he's mentioned wanting to use various gadgets and weapons to help mitigate his lack of a quirk." All Might explained. "He's a good kid but I'm not sure he'll be able to handle the cost and I have very low expectations on the government considering sponsoring him."

"You know it will be hard for even I-island to consider it," David noted. "Although I'm sure it can easily be spun as a decent marketing strategy to convince the board. Quirk or no Quirk, our Support Gear works regardless. Still… are you sure about this?"

"I've seen and heard a lot about the impact that I've left on the world. I've inspired many this boy included." All Might explained. "Yet, if this boy does manage to do the impossible and become recognized as hero despite lacking a quirk, he will do something that I could never do." All Might told him.

"What's that?"

"He can truly prove that anyone can be a hero. That it isn't about the power, it's about the heart and desire." All Might explained. "As harsh as it sounds, many people have now come to see my heroic feats and my status as a privilege granted to me thanks to my immense power and my quirk. While I will never say that I dislike the power I've been granted, it has caused a rather toxic mindset to develop."

"Power is not a privilege, it's a gift to be used for the betterment of others, that's what I've always believed, and my predecessors have likewise also believed, but many don't see it as such. They think power alone makes them entitled to being called a hero, or some other status." All Might elaborated.

"Hmm…you're serious about this." David realized.

"Yeah…I suppose I am." All Might admitted. "If it were possible I'd personally sponsor young Midoriya, but as it stands it's better not to."

"Hmm…I'll see what I can but I make no promises," David told him.

"You don't need to do it right away. He's still young, I just wanted to make sure you know in advance so we can set things in place early." All Might explained.

"Well if he is as good as you say, then I'm sure Melissa will be thrilled to meet him," David told his friend.

"Yes. Hopefully, they can work together in the future as well, just like we did." All Might told him.