Apotheosis

CH.27: THE GAP BETWEEN US

Toshinori in his gaunt form watched the heroes take care of the villain fairly easily from a safe distance. The sole reason those pros were having such an easy time was the fact that they had a troop of Titan robots backing them up. Allmight had even watched one of the machines dive protectively in front of a group of civilians to shield them from a hail of bullets and shrapnel before he could even transform and intervene. The hero just quietly walked away keeping his trench coat and hat on so no one would recognize him. As he made his way through the crowds he pulled out his phone to continue reading the online articles.

Teenage Genius Ushers In a New Technological Age

Titans, the Mechanical Peace Keeping Force

Izuku Midoriya Sets New Standard for Professional Heroes

These were some of the headlines of the articles that have been circulating lately. After it was revealed that the disgraced pro heroes that Midoriya exposed were the ones paying to have slanderous articles written about him, new more progressive journalists, who kept an open mind and non-biased agenda were writing articles about honest opinions of the boy. There were still some negative things written, but all the positive things he accomplished were out weighing them in the eyes of the public.

With the way things have been going lately it almost seemed like the city didn't even need the symbol of peace anymore. Crime was decreasing, villains were being rounded up in droves, and robots were daily patrolling the streets keeping civilians safe and assisting heroes at every turn. It looks like some good came from young Midoriya's scheming and plotting after all.

No matter how much his old teacher tried to convince him he still didn't see young Midoriya as evil. A villain yes, but he didn't think that made the boy inherently evil in his book. He had discussed it with his successor Mirio and they both came to the same conclusion that Izuku was just looking for the one thing that he had been denied his whole life, purpose and meaning. As someone who was once in the boy's shoes Toshinori could understand what it was like. It was true that he had forgotten, but lately the more he looked at Midoriya the more of his past quirkless self he saw in him. It always hurt to wake up every morning in a world where the majority were born with something that made them unique. To have nothing that made him stand out or special, to wonder if he was born a mistake or a cruel joke from the universe. To feel like he didn't fit in.

Part of Toshinori almost didn't want to stop Midoriya, because in some ways the boy was right. However he knew it was only a matter of time before Izuku crossed a line and he did when he took those hero's quirks. He couldn't allow that vile quirk All for One to exist yet again in any shape or form or in anyone's possessions no matter who it was. Not after everything he did to finally put that man behind bars. He owed it to his master and all the previous vessels of One for All to put a stop to it. If that meant going all out to defeat Izuku Midoriya then so be it. He would just have to make it up to him some way when this was all over.

THE ISLAND

"And here they come", Izuku waved his gauntlet and created three portals in front of him. From each came one of the three members of his Knights of Balance. Todoroki, Uraraka, and Iida. The three former U.A students came each carrying a couple bags and suitcases. Not only did they have to leave their school, but part of the agreement was that they had to live here at Midoriya's new fortress while they trained until they were ready. Shoto's dad Enji was furious that his son dropped out of U.A. He told Shoto that as his masterpiece it was his duty to become the number one hero since he had his quirk stolen. Of course the dual quirk wielder told his father to blow it out his ass and that he'd be the hero he wanted to be and not what his father thinks he made him for before handing him his legalized emancipation papers.