"Oh, All Might!! So that means what happened on the road back then..."
"That’s right!! Midoriya boy! It happened while I was on my way to the U.A. special admissions exam..."
"But don’t worry now! I’m here, and I’m more prepared than ever!"
The ponytailed girl still looked worried.
"Safety... I understand that, but what on earth is All Might Survival?"
"Good question! Yaoyorozu girl! The rules are simple.
For ten minutes, everyone works together to endure against me... or else!"
All Might tied a blue headband around his head.
"You just have to steal this headband! Don’t worry, I’ll adjust the difficulty perfectly!"
"Oh, fighting All Might..."
"I-I’m Quirkless, but I can use a few tools—ngh!"
I roughly covered Midoriya’s mouth.
"There’s no need to say that in front of the test ‘opponent’ himself."
"Ahem! Hahaha. Thoroughness is also a hero’s quality. Excellent. Tenma boy! Then I’ll be off."
After All Might left, the lizard-like girl clutched her stomach and laughed.
"I never thought I’d see All Might looking so down!"
While everyone except me and Todoroki was grinning and even introducing themselves, Todoroki broke the mood first.
"Even while you’re talking, time is running out. State your Quirks. Mine... I can use ice."
The loud, lanky guy snorted as if he had a complaint with Todoroki.
"Ha! Are you a liar too, like Endeavor? I don’t lie! My Quirk is a fan. I can use wind with tons of spirit!"
At the mention of Endeavor, a chill swept through the waiting room.
"...What did you say?"
"Enough."
I shut down the cold with the heat of [Hell Flame].
"Is posturing supposed to take forever? If you’re going to be a problem, both of you can sit out."
Todoroki’s chill subsided, but the hostility in his eyes only grew stronger.
"I’ll do things my way. I’m not taking orders from someone like Endeavor or Raven."
"Tenma is right. Are you really going to ruin the exam over personal feelings?"
Yaoyorozu’s expression turned serious.
Yoarashi immediately bowed his head and apologized, but Todoroki silently walked out of the waiting room.
Yaoyorozu rushed after him, trying to stop him.
I grabbed her arm.
"Leave him."
"What? If everyone doesn’t cooperate—"
Smart enough in her own way, but she didn’t understand the world.
"If you only aim for one hundred percent, you won’t even get started."
Yaoyorozu’s voice began to waver.
"What do you mean by that?"
"What you need isn’t the ‘best’ answer. It’s the ‘optimal’ one. If you can still achieve your goal, then you have to choose whether to accommodate the ones who won’t cooperate or ignore them. We don’t have time."
"Wow. You’re really obnoxious. But obnoxious people are the most reliable when they’re on your side! I’m in favor."
"I’m worried about Todoroki, but... if Tenma says so, I think it’ll be fine."
Tokage agreed with me, followed by Honenuki, who called it flexible handling, and Yoarashi, who said Todoroki was too cold.
"...Understood. If everyone agrees, then I’ll follow along too."
She kept her expression under control, but the blow to her pride was obvious.
"I’ll explain my Quirk. If I eat someone else’s hair, I can ‘reproduce’ their Quirk."
"That’s great! Weird Quirks must have some common ground. Just don’t do anything strange and make sure you chew it well."
Tokage handed over a strand of hair without much concern, as if she didn’t think it meant anything special.
Yaoyorozu’s hand trembled a little as she offered hers, but she didn’t refuse the request.
I swallowed the hair all at once.
Two entries in the status window stood out sharply.
[Lizard Tail Splitter]
Freely separate the body into up to fifty parts, and
float and control the separated body parts at will.
It really was a Quirk that deserved to be called bizarre.
The less regard someone had for human rights, the more endlessly useful it became.
Perfect for me.
The final Quirk was on a different level entirely.
[Creation]
Based on the knowledge used to understand an object’s structure, anything can be created from fat.
If you have enough time and knowledge.
It was a Quirk that could manipulate the economy at will, produce weapons, or even manufacture new medicine and maybe save someone who would otherwise die today.
And with this, you wanted to become some frontline Hero who could die any day???
I had a reasonable suspicion. There was no way someone with a Quirk like this would sincerely want to be a Hero.
"Yaoyorozu. Do you really want to be a Hero?"
"What do you mean by that at a recommendation exam? I’ve never once doubted my goal of becoming a Hero with my [Creation]."
Her words came out like some noble declaration, and I let out a small, dry laugh.
I didn’t want to admit it, but the thought that came to mind was similar to what I had felt about Overhaul, whom I had killed.
Modern people hadn’t regressed.
They were mentally ill.
No, they were being driven into mental illness.
A society that had successfully carried out a social castration through the Quirk “Luddite Movement” was a disease.
Even someone like me, who had little interest in the world, developed a sense of outrage when people were using guns instead of shovels.
"I’ll show you. Follow me."
Boom
The Gamma training ground looked like the middle of a city under construction.
"Now! Begin!!"
At the shout, a massive iceberg that blocked out the sun crashed down on All Might.
"Hahaha! Nice spirit, Todoroki boy!! But...!"
KRAAANG!!
The ice shattered to pieces from one light punch from All Might.
"He broke it... that easily!?"
Todoroki looked visibly flustered, but he kept attacking. It only kept breaking.
"Everyone—!"
"Tenma, what do we do!?"
Yaoyorozu’s voice was cut off by Midoriya’s shout. The others were looking at me too. Yaoyorozu bit her lip and couldn’t continue.
"Stay as far away as possible. We don’t want you getting caught up in it."
My clone was sliced apart by the white scissors of [Lizard Tail Splitter], moving on its own, and flew toward All Might.
"I’m going to ‘match’ Todoroki."
"Hahaha! Excellent spirit, Tenma boy!"
All Might laughed heartily and took a stance.
The white fragments burned hotter and turned blue.
All Might’s expression hardened, and cold sweat ran down his face.
"W-What is this!!"
"Fwoooosh!!!"
The clone fragments couldn’t withstand the heat and turned themselves into kindling.
With a complete blaze erupting, fire and thick smoke fully obscured All Might.
It was the perfect self-immolation attack, using the overheating side effect of [Hell Flame] and throwing it back at the enemy.
Show me your full power, All Might.
"Y-You used part of your own body as a bomb!?"
"Wow... I hate admitting it, but he’s a total upper-class version of me."
Yaoyorozu looked at me with a face twisted by disgust and fear.
Tokage stared blankly at the flames, completely stunned.
"That fire... it’s just like mine. Don’t get in the way!"
Todoroki kept making ice, unwilling to lose.
The ice vanished without a trace in the heat.
Instead, it only made the steam explosion stronger.
KWAAA!!!
The blaze that had filled the area just moments ago scattered into the sky like tiny embers.
"Tch! That power is enough to make me think of Endeavor. That’s not student-level."
He really wasn’t easy to deal with, just like the rumors said.
A white propeller grew out of my chest, and a mechanical hand emerged from my left shoulder.
"Fan, [Creation]."
I wasn’t used to making things, so I didn’t have many options. But I could make what I needed right now.
"Ghk!"
A tornado-like wind blocked All Might’s shockwave with a headwind. The flames were blown back toward All Might.
Black powder burst out in swarms from the holes in the hand on my shoulder. The wind turned opaque, and a strange smell mixed in with it.
As the original user of [Creation], Yaoyorozu noticed immediately and panicked, covering her ears.
"That smell is...! Everyone, cover your ears!!!"
Seventy percent potassium nitrate, fifteen percent charcoal, ten percent sulfur.
I had made it countless times during the war.
"Black powder."
All Might hurriedly ripped up the ground and raised it like a wall, but the powder had spread in every direction.
I casually tossed a spark the size of a lighter.
"Ignite."
KRAAAANG!!!!!!
"Aaaagh!!!"
The wall All Might had raised turned to ash beneath the overwhelming roar. Dust and dirt blasted in every direction, stabbing at the eyes.
Without stopping, I pressed a hand to the ground.
"Emulsify, [Overhaul]."
The cement floor turned into a swamp.
Then waves began churning in the swamp, quickly swelling into a tsunami large enough to swallow a building, surging toward All Might.
"A-All Might!!!"
"Y-You... are you really a Hero candidate...?"
At the overwhelming sight, Midoriya worried about his opponent, All Might, while even the usually playful Tokage was shaking.
I sensed his presence with [Strong Wings].
"All Might hasn’t gone down."
I gave orders to Yaoyorozu, whose lips were trembling and whose eyes were wet with tears.
"For ‘protection,’ make the hardest material you can."
"U-Understood. Immediately, a tungsten-alloy composite armor plate!"
Startled, Yaoyorozu still quickly created a metal plate.
"But if it’s protection, then it should be for us—"
"Armor, [Overhaul]."
I touched the created plate with [Overhaul]. My other hand touched my own body.
The plate and armor twisted, crushing Yaoyorozu’s expectations. It became an alloy shell that would ‘protect’ me.
I added a [Barrier] and layered more emulsified walls with [Overhaul].
"It’s coming."
Splat!
Despite the wall and barrier, they were torn apart and scattered in every direction by a single charge.
Even after dispersing the impact, I was dragged along like a paper doll.
"Sorry! Tenma boy!! You’re too strong!! Please step out for a moment!!"
All Might’s headband had already turned to ash and vanished.
Even while coughing, he was trying to force me out of bounds.
I summoned a nearby mutant-type Quirk and tried to shove All Might back. He didn’t budge at all.
As I was sent flying, I shouted at the top of my lungs.
Use everything you can.
"What are you doing!!! If you can do something, move!!! Do you think I’m your babysitter!?"
Midoriya answered my shout by cranking the booster of [Gearshift] to the maximum and throwing himself at All Might.
"Ghk... Sorry! All Might!"
"We can’t do this without Tenma!!"
He gritted his teeth and pushed me back in the opposite direction of out of bounds, but it still wasn’t enough.
Just as I shoved Midoriya away and tried to self-destruct with regenerated [Hell Flame], the ground All Might stepped on turned into a swamp, and a frost storm froze his legs.
"...Who are you calling a babysitter?"
"The method is way too cold, but I’ll help anyway!!"
I also tried to headbutt All Might’s face with the sharp horn on my helmet.
"Now."
I heard the sound of something slipping free, just as planned.
"Thud!!"
But with one punch from All Might, my head was cleanly severed at the neck and fell away limply.
"Te-Tenma boy!!!"
All Might’s concern was pointless; the inside of the helmet had been empty from the start.
My body was nothing more than a shell I could use.
My true head had separated from the helmet the moment I went for the headbutt and had been moving secretly on its own.
Wasn’t the goal not to fight, but to steal?
With [Eat]’s white maw, I went for the hair at the back of All Might’s head.
"Te-Tenma boy??"
Even then, All Might reflexively swung a fist at my flying head. If that landed, my head would go flying too.
"Plunk."
A dart struck All Might’s arm. I quickly rolled my eyes and saw Yaoyorozu, her hand trembling as she aimed a tranquilizer gun at him.
Even Tokage’s fragments flew in and blocked All Might’s vision, adding to the interference.
"...Thanks."
Without hesitation, I opened my maw wide.
"Crunch!!"
Even then, All Might managed to pull his head back a little, so I couldn’t get a clean bite, but the rough, dry texture unique to hair definitely passed down my throat.
Thanks for helping me steal One For All.
As I released [Eat] and grinned in victory, a red status window filled with warning signs appeared.
{The ‘will’ of the 8th successor refuses inheritance.}
<The will of the 3rd successor refuses inheritance.>
<The will of the 4th successor refuses inheritance.>
<The will of the 5th successor refuses inheritance.>
(The will of the 1st successor is sad.)
(The will of the 2nd successor is wavering.)
(The will of the 6th successor is hesitating.)
(The will of the 7th successor is shocked.)
+The successors’ opinions are not in agreement.+
+The incomplete will is being offset by the user ‘Tenma’s’ hatred and mental strength.+
+Inheritance of the ‘complete’ One For All has been rejected.+
[!Danger! : The Quirk reproduction will soon be temporarily disabled by the opposing will! It will be replaced by another Quirk, so attach your head immediately!]
"What... ?"
The clones collapsed and scattered into white powder.
Seeing that, I hurriedly sent my head flying back and reattached it to my separated body.
I couldn’t know what was happening, and I couldn’t predict it either.
All I could do was wait.
With what looked like a final congratulatory message, the status window disappeared.
(Your Quirk has been temporarily replaced!)
[Held Quirk]
One For All [Severance]
A red aura gathered in my hand, and my fingers twitched once.
At that moment.
Fragments, floor, wall, skin, me.
Everything began to be cleanly cut apart.
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