A violent gust of wind went through as I ducked under another large-scale attack. The blow was enough to dispell plenty of my heads to cause a sharp spike on my migraine. But despite it all, I kept up with my speed as me and my heads continued on with our taunts. "Too slow!" "What?" "Old age catching up to ya?!" "All that metal looks heavy!" "Ya sure ya ain't a rust bucket?!"
All For One responded with a low growl, the colours running along the tubes of his body changing as he swiped out another attack. This time, it was large claws of wind in one hand and bolts of lighting in the other. The first one I avoided like the others but I had to sacrifice more heads to block the second attack.
Even with my headache, I wasn't stupid enough not to notice the obvious. All For One is cycling through his quirks for some reason or another, probably instability, probably the limits of his weakened body, and is using those augmentations as a clutch.
That means that whatever liquid is inside those tubes is most likely either quirks in liquid form or a concoction that aids his body's health.
An obvious weakness but it was frustrating when I tried hitting them earlier and he either dodges my attacks or uses a defensive quirk to protect them. Infuriating.
I flipped through the air as spikes flew past me. I turned to him when I felt a telekinetic hold take over my body and pulled me back. My eyes felt like they were burning as I released a strong, condensed beam at him along with whatever few heads remained.
I felt the hold on me weaken as he when on the defensive to take on my attack. The short relief was enough for me to break free and continued flying as I replenished the amount of heads around me. "That's it?!" "You gotta do better than that!" "You shouldn't hold people so roughly, idiot!" "That counts as molestation!" "KYAAAAA! A PERVERT!"
On one hand, I can't help but grin a bit when I saw the veins bulging on his temples. But on the other hand, I had to start flying a bit faster because he seemed to have gotten a second wind and started fervently chasing me with genuine fury burning within his eyes. The air rippled as some burst of force burst through my heads like a baseball bat through soft fruits. Then there were multiple beams of light that fell onto the stragglers of my heads. Because of how similar it was to Danmaku, my instincts kicked in and avoided perfectly.
Well, it should be fine. Just a little more and I'll be at that place.
I kept flying as fast as I could with barely any heads left and noticed that I haven't been attacked yet despite the clear anger he displayed. I turned my head to look back to make sure he was still following behind me and saw the last specks of dark mist disappear.
My eyes widened as I turned back to my front and immediately rolled in the air, narrowly avoiding a beam of light. As I done so, I saw a it was raining more beams of light and plasma bombs. Their explosion veering me off-course With their heat and momentum.
The attack lasted for about twelve seconds before it ended. By then, I already lost all of my extra heads in the vicinity, an absolutely killer headache and migraine, alongside some burns and other small yet multitude of injuries.
I know that it's basically a scratch because I'll heal from it in due time, but it still hurt. A lot.
It really doesn't help that I barely feel functional with how much my head hurts. My energy reserves are... Still have plenty to work with.
I look up just in time to see that All for One using another quirk to enlarge himself, his augmentations not shifting at his new size making it look like he's forcefully and uncomfortably stuff all his flesh inside the metal. He is now three times the size he was before, his new height is intimidating, is probably what he's thinking to himself judging by the way he's grinning. So I decided to force myself to make another batch of heads just as his arm was beginning to glow.
As soon as my head was off my neck, clouds at the ready to create, my vision blurred for a fraction of a second before I felt a harsh squeeze from all over.
'My head... my main head is in the palm of his hands.' I realised, a chill went up my spine even as we're separated. 'Not good...'
"Got you." Is the muffled sound of what I heard from the nearby gaps of his finger. "All this time, all these years, I can finally get some answers." He squeezed harder, making me grunt in pain as the pressure wasn't doing any wonders for my headaches.
'By the sounds of it, he's gonna start a dialogue so it should at least buy time for my body to do something.'
"And we can't have that now, can we?" He said calmly. Before I had the time to register the mind-reading quirk, all of a sudden there was pain. The newly made heads are gone, exacerbating my migraine. I felt my body taken down from the air, crashing roughly on the streets below and shortly afterwards, I felt all four of my limbs being impaled repeatedly, the muffled panic screams of the civilians barely reaching my ears. "There. Now where were we?"
'It hurts. But I'll recover from this.' I thought through laboured breaths and wincing. 'Still hurts a lot though...'
"And there would be plenty more where that came from." He intoned. "Unless of course, you are willing to cooperate."
'...Fine...' I really hate mind-readers. Ugh. I can practically feel the self-gratification dripping off of him.
"Good boy." His chuckles grew dark before a bolt of electricity hit me, sending crackling pain to my head. "A little taste of what happens if you disobey." My heads hurts. My ears are ringing. I don't even know if my eyes are blurry or not from that. "Now then, years ago, when I visited your village to liberate them of their ignorant ways-" Steal quirks, you mean. "--and educate them of the world, you all banded together and attacked me unprovoked-" Unprovoked? UNPROVOKED?! "-in order to drive me away. I admit, you all gave me a good fight. One where you all made use of your quirks to the fullest in such creative ways. How your quirks would blend in together so well has always been a subject in my mind. It was one of the very few where I have actually lost." The holders of One for All would beg to differ.
"However, I haven't had the faintest clue immediately afterwards, but as I eventually figured out, it was from that moment on my powers have taken a turn for the worse." I inwardly snickered at that. "As a resident of that wretched place-"
'...You'll pay for saying that.' Another shock went through my head. This time I couldn't hold back and emptied my stomach. Whilst still inside his hands. I was shocked again for that but nothing came out this time. Only dry heaving and coughing.
"-Do you understand your position now? Good. As I was saying, as a resident of that wretched place, of a small isolated community, then surely you must know of the people there and what secrets their powers hold." He squeezed tighter, causing the vomit to spread. "After my encounter in that place, my quirk was never the same. As each day passes by, it became harder and harder to control my quirk and the quirks of those that I have stockpiled. It became rowdy... Inconsistent... Inefficient... Rebellious." He growled out that last word. "All the work I've put into mastering all those wonderful abilities, decades of effort all went down the drain."
There was no shock this time. Instead, I was hit with a sonic burst that rattled my skull and ruptured my eardrums. Despite my current disability and injury, he used a different kind of quirk to send his words directly inside my head, along with their emotional attachments.
"And do you know the worst of it all? My body began to degrade. My muscles atrophied, my form withered away faster than naturally possible. If it wasn't with the help of quirks, then I wouldn't have lasted as long as I have. But then, as if mocking me, the quirks I've painstakingly collected began to unravel themselves to the point where they can no longer be used." He gave me another sonic burst, and this time, I whimpered as I vividly felt one of my eyes pop. "BE QUIET WHILE I TALK!" He snarled. "YOU! YOU OF ALL PEOPLE DESERVE ALL OF THIS! AFTER WHAT YOU'VE! AFTER WHAT THEY'VE DONE! AND WHAT I'VE SUFFERED!" There was a pregnant pause, as if he was to catch himself and I felt him take a deep breath.
"Another change to note." He said in a much calmer voice. "My mind, too, has been altered. Not to the point of being a savage beast, no. But I feel that it is only a matter of time before then." He dramatically sighed in indignation. "I find myself making more rash decisions. Being more easily angered, chasing avenues I knew that wouldn't pay out. My own memories became a labyrinth of ever-shifting walls and floors." A cackle of electricity came fort once again, the popped eye leaving a hole for the voltages easy access to my brain. "My memories..." He said calmly. "That, now that is unforgivable." He whispered into my thoughts. "Do you understand now? Whatever it is that they did, you must know. I know you do, I've spent resources scouring the perfect quirks to make sure of it. You village has already shown tangents in your capabilities, like that light show for instance... So here's what going to happen. You are going to undo whatever it is that was done to me, then maybe, just maybe, I'll consider giving you a faster end. Hm? What's your answer?"
~~~~~~~
"Everything has already been set up, where is he?" Said feminine voice inside a white space suit design using what appears to be a puffy jacket instead of an actual suit, a black helmet with white eyes, and a pair of yellow boots. "You don't think he..." She let her words hang in the air, the implications clear to everyone.
"I'll go." Said All Might. "I never agreed to let him use himself as a bait to begin with. No one should have to face the monster alone."
"...Very well." Said Nedzu over the Comms link. "Do be careful. And whatever it is, remember the plan. We only have a single shot so we have to make it count."
"I know. I'm off!" Amd with that he leaped into the distance.
High in the air, All Might strained his and ears just as he always have. In mere seconds he already searched through multiple blocks and saved civilians in records time. Eventually, he made it to the location where Kizuki was veered off-course and found his headless body bleeding and impaled. Standing over him is his archenemisis, All For One, with his bigger size and seeming monologuing to his clasped hands. Faintly, he could even see blood dripping from the bottom.
In that second, the scene before him overlapped with death of his mentor, alongside with vague memories of fire and a shrine. Without thinking, his body moved as he screamed.
~~~~~~
'About time backup arrived.' I thought as I felt the vibration. There are very few people with the capacity to be this loud, so I suppose I should help out and give them an opening. After all, this head is as good as useless. 'What a bad day to wear a perfectly good ribbon.'
"What?" I heard his confused voice in my mind as my head heated up and exploded before everything went dark.