Chapter 180 - Anarchy 2/2

It wasn't until the ground beneath his feet suddenly heated up that All for One realized what was happening.

A geyser of lava erupted between his legs, both blasting and melting the concrete at the same time.

"Swap !"

There was barely time for All for One to switch places with the rubble of a destroyed wall further down the street.

Something squeezed his legs. He looked down.

Water tentacles were wrapping around his ankles.

He looked sharply up at Shoto.

The teenager's hands flashed so fast they were a blur, stringing together a series of odd gestures and positions.

All for One read his lips :

"Suiro no Jutsu"

A watery prison made of falling rain and stagnant puddles shut in on All for One.

All for One opened his mouth in shock, a 'Swap' at the edge of his tongue, whereas Shoto flicked his wrist.

Immediately, gallons upon gallons of water flowed into All for One's mouth and throat, painfully stuffing his stomach and bloating his lungs until they were on fire.

No matter how hard All for One looked at the boy, the water prison wouldn't disappear.

Could it be that he was immune to Aizawa's Quirk ? Or...

His mind flashed back to the summer camp and how the air around the boy had blurred at times, looking even illusory.

The boy had killed Bubigawara first - maybe because he knew better than anyone else what kind of threat he posed.

All for One, torrential amounts of water rushing into his mouth, raised his hand and shifted his full attention to Shoto.

The water squeezed his arm, forcing his hand down, yet All for One, jaw clenched, fought the pressure and kept raising his hand.

The more it rained, the larger his water prison grew, the drops fueling the bubble to titanic proportions.

Hundreds of gallons of water pressed painfully on his bones to break him.

All for One, muscles stiffened, fought until his hand was finally leveled to the boy.

If it truly was him, All for One was about to throw away all his plans.

Or maybe the doctor would be able to rebuild him from shattered bones and scattered flesh.

All for One clenched his fist.

Shoto, standing on the roof, widened his red eyes.

He exploded in a spray of blood and guts.

All for One waited, breathless, his eyes darting left and right as Shoto's bloody remains rained down on the street below.

The boy wasn't dead, of course. Too cunning to be fooled like that. He must have been hiding-

The water prison collapsed on itself, releasing All for One.

All for One, dripping, stared in amazement at the water trickling through his fingers.

What the-

An agonizing wail tore through the silence.

All for One looked up in time to see Endeavor coming out of an alleyway across the street from him. He ran towards the puddle of blood at the foot of the building where his son had been standing.

He threw himself into the red pool, right in the middle of the shredded flesh and scattered skull.

Blood dripped from the edge of the roof and down the front of the building.

Endeavor, kneeling in the wreckage of his son, looked completely mad as he brought back to his chest remains in armfuls.

All for One watched, stunned.

Certainly the child who could create Quirks could not die like this... ?

All of a sudden the storm subsided.

The thunder stopped rumbling, the rain stopped falling.

The clouds dispersed, driven away by the rising sun.

Something shone at the edge of his vision.

All for One turned his head.

There was nothing but an upside down street. Civilians were fleeing, looking over their shoulders as if believing he couldn't see them.

Endeavor's screams grew inhuman, turning into the moans of a wounded animal.

Crawling through his son's blood, his cries of pain reached hysterical levels. All for One turned his attention back to him.

He felt neither pity nor sympathy for the boy.

They had been two adversaries who did everything they could to outwit the other one.

He remembered when he'd lost his own brother, though the circumstances had been different.

Unlike Endeavor, All for One had never really been able to grieve because his brother had still been alive when he'd lost him.

Grieving for someone who was still alive was a strange and difficult process.

Still, All for One empathized with Endeavor.

He breathed deeply and looked at the rising sun high in the sky.

The clouds glowed pink and gold.

All for One, though still a little bewildered, decided to enjoy the moment.

He now owned Aizawa's Quirk - a Quirk he'd coveted for years - and the only being who could have posed the tiniest amount of trouble for him was now dead.

For sure the doctor could restore his body. Or maybe, with enough genetic material, he could even make a Nomu out of him.

A Nomu would be nice. They would finally be able to try and solve the mystery of the boy's Quirk.

All for One, in a merciful mood, decided to let Endeavor cry his heart out before being suddenly overcome by hatred and he tried futilely to kill him.

All Might's Quirk was next in line-

Something shimmered to his left.

All for One looked that way.

There was nothing there but the hole in the building the boy had shot him through.

All for One watched the ruins in silence.

He probably went through one or two misfortunate civilians on his way there, obliterating them before they got the time to realize what was happening to them.

His eyes roamed over the path of destruction he carved in the road.

Howls, shrilling and abrupt, could be heard at almost regular intervals throughout the city. To think he had brought out Nomus... he had expected the child to be a serious problem and thus foresaw an unexpected need for a distraction.

What a disappointment.

"Kurogiri"

The air behind him stirred.

Kurogiri appeared silently. He waited for his next orders.

The first sunbeams flooded the ragged street where they stood. They hit Endeavor at an angle, lighting both his back and shoulders.

Endeavor would come and find him, of course.

And then-

A warning rang in All for One's mind.

He watched Endeavor whimper in pain, puzzled, wondering what had drawn his attention.

"Master ?", Kurogiri asked.

All for One did not answer.

His eyes went from Endeavor and the heap of shreded flesh he had gathered to the half-destroyed buildings around them.

The sun was lighting up the street now and the shadows-

All for One's mind went blank.

This was it.

Neither Endeavor nor All for One nor anything else in this street had a shadow.

As soon as All for One realized it, the reality in which he found himself in shattered.

Cracks spread across his surroundings as if they were shattering mirrors.

Everything burst in a spray of shimmering splinters.

All for One blinked and suddenly the sky was stormy, the wind icy from the rain, and the world darkened from lack of sunlight.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the street.

Hundreds of wires were wrapped around All for One's body, tearing his clothes, digging deep in his skin, shredding his flesh.

Taped to his forehead, jaw, throat, heart, lungs, kidneys, elbows, hands, knees, and ankles were sheets of beige parchment bearing ominous ink symbols.

All for One heard only one word.

"Katon"

*

A/N : If you want to read ahead of schedule, go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG