Chapter 193: New Order
—
Leonard Davidson was the president of the Public Safety Commission. All his life, his wish was to make the world a better place, but he had a terribly unsuitable quirk for that field. His quirk, «Management», allowed him to manage official stuff, with a few minor details.
But, luckily, he realised at a young age that even with this quirk, he would be able to make the world better. If he worked hard. If he became a part of the PSC.
That he did, and he even surpassed that dream to become the president of the HQ.
Some would say he was the most powerful man in the world, even though he might lack a destructive quirk.
Those 'some' would be wrong.
"Fuck." David cursed aloud, glaring at the TV screen that skipped between multiple terrible scenes happening around the world.
Multiple young men, all with white hair and blue eyes, were rampaging around the world, his multiple bodies killing both villains and heroes alike, and even stealing the quirks of any strong individual.
David was all confused, frustrated.
Who the hell was this kid? Where did he come from?
It was a rhetorical question because David already knew who he was, from the files that rested on David's desk. This boy was Neji Hado, the child and future heir of most of the Hado corporations, and a 1st-year student in UA-High. Which just made things more confusing.
Why was a UA student doing all this? And how was he doing it? From where did he get such quirks?
This same kid had destroyed the Meta Liberation Army in Japan, therefore lifting the network jam from Japan. There, he was contacted by the Heroes, namely All Might, who let him know about the kid in detail.
According to All Might, that kid was actually All-for-One, but David had immediately discarded that idea. It just wouldn't make sense for All-for-One to do all that. He wasn't a destroyer, he was someone who wanted to rule in the silence, from the shadows.
Upon pointing out some differences, even All Might seemed sceptical about his opinion.
"Then is that…. No, no way, young Neji would never do such a thing. He isn't that type!"
That's what the former strongest man had said, sounding desperate.
However, David stood by his belief and declared the young man with his former hero name- Shatterstar, the current most dangerous villain.
Nawab was killed by Shatterstar, and even her quirks were stolen. A satellite caught a glimpse of the battle before getting destroyed by the new villain. Shatterstar was dominating Nawab entirely, enough for David to believe that Nawab was dead. To confirm that, Neji was seen using many of Nawab's quirks in the past hours.
This means, the new villain was dangerous beyond anything the world has seen since he not only had Nawab's quirks, he was stronger than her even before that.
Meaning…
Shatterstar must be erased from the history of earth for society to survive.
That made sense, it surely did, but David couldn't agree with Cathleen, also known as Star and Stripes, to just rush at the boy.
"But why?!" The strongest woman in the world yelled, slamming the door open and stomping inside. "Why aren't you permitting me?! Why must I hold back?! He is killing dozens every hour, thousands every day! He needs to be stopped now!"
David turned off the monitors, not wanting to see the unbearable sight anymore, and looked at Star with a sympathetic gaze.
She was a hero at heart, this must be more painful to her than to him.
"Yes, I know he must be stopped," he said as he sighed. "But we have far more situations at hand."
"Situation more dangerous than this? Cut the crap!" Cathleen slammed the table, glaring at him. "It doesn't make sense!"
David wished he could say that too.
But it made absolute sense since the world was just about to engage in nuclear warfare.
That's the reason why he hadn't formed a team full of super Superheroes and sent them after Shatterstar. Because even if they stop the mad villain, it would all be meaningless if the world ends the next day.
"You think Kim is just bluffing?"
"No. I don't. But we can take care of him after we take down Sha-"
"That wouldn't work."
"..."
"You have to go and destroy Korea now."
This time, it was Cathleen's time to protest.
"But-"
"Even if you stop the boy, what'd you do if we engage in nuclear warfare? There will be nobody else to save in a destroyed world, and all the people you saved earlier in your life will all be for nought!"
"..."
"Cathleen," David put a hand on her shoulder. "This is for the best."
"..."
David walked away, ignoring the strongest woman in the world even as her fingers twitched in frustration.
Stopping at the door,
"Cath."
David looked at her.
"Before you leave, keep in mind to set a Safe Rule."
—★—
Big Red Dot, Singapore's No.1 Hero. Peak-Tier 6.
Quirk, Tidal Bore, Level 7; it allows him to produce a large and powerful blast of water from his mouth.
Salaam, Egypt's No.1 Hero. Peak-Tier 6.
Quirk, Papyrus, Level 8; it allows him to turn his body paper-thin, allowing him to slip through narrow spaces and ride the wind.
Flect Turn, one of the Top 10 supervillains in the world. Low-Tier 7.
Quirk, Reflect, Level 9; it allows him to reflect any attack and its effect back at its user. He can also store the attack to use later, rather than just reflecting it immediately. This Quirk isn't well suited for enduring several powerful attacks and will wear out in prolonged battles.
These three were big people Neji knew from his previous life.
So they were the ones he hunted first using his Bees.
As it's been around 12 hours since Neji started his onslaught, the world was more chaotic than ever, but at least they called him Shatterstar now instead of All-for-One. At one point, he didn't mind the name since it helped avoid some awkward conversation between his previous allies, but now he would rather be known by his own name than someone else's.
This world was to end very soon, anyway.
Not by the Gods, no. They wouldn't even get the chance because of the people of this world. They were about to start a nuclear war, Neji learned from his «Future Sight».
…Neji was seriously considering chiming in all this, to start a devastating and unnaturally powerful thunderstorm that'd match these nukes, killing thousands, millions even, to just be his exp bags.
After all, since they were all dying anyway, they should at least turn into valuable experience points that'd help Neji save the world!
That seemed like a good excuse to tell the girls, after a bit of tweaking.
Neji himself could care less about the world and its people. Nothing mattered anymore.
Rather, he waited in the air, in the sky of the United Korea, as he started to notice black dots in the sky, coming towards him and taking the shape of fighter jets.
Focusing his «Eyes of the Lord - Level 43», he could see Star-and-Stripes in the far, riding those jets.
It seemed America tried its best to not nuke North Korea. Kim-Jong-Un was supposed to Nuke America today, in around 12 or so hours. America didn't want that, as that'd be the start of a worldwide Nuclear war, however, America couldn't just Nuke Korea either, as that'd start the war either way. So they sent Star-and-Stripes here, someone far surpassing the power of a nuke.
However, Neji couldn't let her destroy Korea, not before the launch of the first nuke, anyway. And since he had to hunt Cath anyway, he decided to do it now, to kill two birds with one stone.
The fighter jets closed distance soon, and in a few seconds, a frowning Star-and-Stripes was facing Neji, standing atop one of the six fighter jets that strangely managed to float in one spot.
The blonde woman crossed her arms and looked at him.
[Cathleen Bate - Main Character - Peak Tier 8]
As expected, she was the new main character.
"Surprised to see you here, boy." Star said in a thick American accent, sounding what Neji would assume a female All Might to sound.
Neji didn't like the comparison. He liked his Symbol of Peace male.
"Coincidence, isn't it?" Neji said, his arms crossed. "I was taking a stroll and thought, hey, why don't I visit the Korean peninsula for a minute?"
The strongest woman didn't seem to share his sense of humour as she stared at her with an icy gaze, silent.
"I have seen your clips, the things you have been doing all over the world, stealing quirks and killing people." She said after a minute. "You are here for my quirk, aren't you?"
She was smart for someone with that terrible hairstyle. But then again, it wasn't exactly hard to guess.
Anyway, now, he just needed to wait until she used her power because he needed to take… some precautions.
—
Star stared at the boy-monster's eyes for a long long minute, waiting for him to make a move but the villain didn't do so.
What was he waiting for? Looking for an opening? Would he really do that with the number of powers he had?
Star was honestly sceptical if she could win against him or not, he was that strong, then why was he holding back?
Not expecting any answer, Cath shook her head and instead looked at him in the eye, remembering his name as she opened her mouth.
"Not gonna not waste my time asking how you learned about my location, fuck that. Rather-" she paused, taking in a breath and declaring to the world, "Rule: Neji Hado will die the moment he flinches."
Silence.
There was a long silence as Neji stood still in his spot.
"You underestimated me, boy." The lady said. "Look at you, trying your best to not move, and even stopping your breathing."
"Actually, no." Neji shrugged his shoulders. "I was just thinking of what Rule to set on you."
Cath froze in her spot. "...What?" He had just shrugged, and even spoke.
Logically speaking he should be dead by now, but he was quite clearly breathing quite carelessly.
Slowly, the space twisted for a moment before a veil of obvious illusion fell from his face, showing his hair floating in the air, his blue that had turned red, along with an octagram appearing over the pupils.
…What? Did he use some sort of illusion quirk to hide his eyes? Red eyes coupled with that floating hair… that-
It couldn't be!
She clenched her fist, realising the lack of strength that shouldn't be possible with her Strength Rule. This… this madman, he had stolen Erasure Head's quirk!
This was bad. She needed to do something.
"Everyone, open fire!"
She yelled at her teammates, the pilots of the jets, expecting them to execute her orders like always, but… there was no such response.
"Sorry, that wouldn't work." The villain said, making Star freeze for a second.
Did he… did he somehow kill her teammates?
[Cath, we are fine, we just… can't control the jets, but we are doing fine! What's wrong, why aren't you attacking?]
Star's sighed in extreme relief as the villain smirked.
"My quirk, Tech-Jack allows me to take over any technology upon touch or 10 metres in my radius. That radius is only further increased by my electricity manipulation which allows me to connect with electric devices from quite a bit far." He said. "Your jets were under my control for a while now. Anyway, let's stop with the generic villain power monologue."
"..." Cath stayed silent, frowning.
This really was bad. She could barely stand on top of the jet without her quirk's help, and he wasn't giving her any chance by looking away. If he only blinked, she might get a second to set a rule to block the Erasure quirk… but it seemed he didn't have Erasure Head's dry eye weakness.
He hadn't even blinked once, it seemed.
…Luckily, she had set a rule before starting today's journey that'd make her quirk go on a rampage within anyone who dared steal it, destroying his body and other quirks inside his body. Meaning this boy, even if he killed her and stole her quirk, it would only bring him to his demise-
"Rule," the boy suddenly said, making Cath's eyes widen as his red eyes shone brighter, specifically the octagram, while a surge of white energy swirled around him. "Any and all rules Cathleen Bate has set before would be removed this instant."
Star-and-Stripes couldn't even feel as her Safe Rule was destroyed, watching as the boy smirked for a slight instant… before he raised a finger at her skull and fired a purple beam of plasma at her.
Her world turned blank.
—★—
Eyes of the Lord finally had the power to copy powers, abilities. Though sadly, it's temporary and it doesn't show up as another quirk in the Quirk Page.
On the other hand, Reality Manipulation was a strong power, but Cath's quirk, New Order wasn't a full reality manipulation power.
It was a handicapped one.
Unfortunately, even after levelling up the Quirk a few times, it didn't become a full-on reality rewriting power. Though at least, the number of rules he could set increased and the effects of the rules strengthened furthermore.
Furthermore, his Quirk Copy-Paste tactic seemed to have a 'limit' as well. At one point, the quirks' level-up became too very slow once it reached Level 50. In fact, after the last 12-or-so-hours' continuous Copy-Paste, he had barely reached Level 51 in 4 quirks, while all the other quirks had reached Level-50. So he stopped levelling up the other quirks, all of them, and instead gave each of his 75 clones a copy of New Order, using them to all just focus on this quirk alone, his goal being taking it above Level-100 before the emergence of Gods.
He was hoping it would finally evolve after reaching Level-100, or at least something similar.
As for Star-and-Stripes' teammates, they didn't have good quirks, so he just killed them and didn't consider taking their quirks.
Either way, Neji put the tasks happening on Earth in the back of his mind, ignoring the Nuclear war that had started earlier because of America using their Star to try to wipe Korea out, and instead focused on the main body.
Inside the Tower- no, the Arcane Plane, as he named it now, Neji looked at his girls as he pointed at the Loli beside him.
"In short, with this Loli's help, I am about to give you all Mana, the source of magic, and then she will teach you all Magic and stuff. Though the process of creating a Mana Core within you all wouldn't be as swift as when you became my Avatar."
In other words, it would be painful.
Very very very painful.
Neji looked at his girls as they glanced at each other and a look of resolution appeared in their gazes.
Neji knew that look, the burning desire to grow stronger, made him smile.
"If you have decided…" he smiled at the Vampire. "Let's begin."
His harem, he was going to make them God Eaters.
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