Apotheosis

CHAPTER 38: WIZARDRY

'How could this happen?' He had the strongest quirk in existence. No one could compare to his power. Any quirk was his for the taking. He had no equal. All those who dared to challenge his rule fell before him. Even the six who came after his foolish little brother were no match.

'How?' Yet this man. This titan of a man. He threw everything at him. Every single quirk at his disposal. The eighth user of his opposite was somehow matching him. Not just matching, over whelming him. Even injured and bleeding this man kept going stronger than ever.

'How?' He couldn't even try and take the quirk. Every attempt was met with a violent crushing blow to his body.

'How?' Finally having enough he charged up and fired his biggest attack yet. The very same one he used to destroy the blonde man's predecessor. The man powered through it. The sight was so impossible he almost didn't believe his eyes.

'How!?' Next thing he knew he was grabbed by the wrist so hard it turned every bone in it to gravel. He was then thrown to the ground with enough force to leave an impression of his body. As he tried to get up he was met with a fist to the chest that knocked him back into the ground. Then another that made his lungs collapse if the agony was anything to go by.

'HOW!?' Over and over the hulking man who wielded One for All drove his mighty fist into his face. Each time he did his vision would get blurrier and each punch caused him to see flashes of different people delivering the blow. First that Shimura woman whose grandson that he recently took under his wing, then that bald man who had the black whip quirk, the rest of the users followed. The last of which was his own brother bashing his face in with his scrawny fist.

'HOW!?' It wasn't his own mind asking that anymore. It was as if his quirk was screaming that repeatedly. Who the question was directed at, he had no idea.

'HOW!? HOW!? HOW!? HOW!? HOW!? HOW!? HOW!? HOW!? HOWISTHISHAPPENING!?'

At this point all he could do was hold his least damaged hand up, body shaking in fear and pain, in a futile attempt to stop this man. Like a helpless child trying pathetically to defend himself from bullies. He didn't think it would end like this. Sure he planned for his possible defeat, but he always held the confidence that he would still come out of this fight on top.

The last thing he ever saw was his own reflection in the blonde man's eyes. Only it wasn't himself. It was a teenager with dark green messy hair, emerald eyes wide in terror, bloody face, and a mangled broken body. His raised hand was covered by a gold plated gauntlet, with five glowing stones attached.

As the man's fist crashed one more time into his skull, his vision went permantly dark.

All for One suddenly woke from his dream, or more accurately nightmare. He started coughing and wheezing almost uncontrollably. Even with the life support machines keeping him alive he still found the sheer act of breathing a hassle. Sometimes he thought it would be best to just let go and finally die, but no he couldn't do that. He'd stay alive as long as possible just to spite Allmight and all of hero society.

"My apologies." The faceless man finally got his cough under control, noticing the turrets trained on him. "I've been having some...bad dreams lately." He smirked to the guards he knew were watching through the security cameras. "I'm sure you can understand." Calming his racing heart, his mind wondered back to that dream. He remembered that moment. When it seemed he was defeated, the only thing he could think of to do was to taunt Allmight about Nana Shimura. It worked like a charm. The hero's anger got the better of him and he dropped his guard, giving All for One the opportunity to blow a hole through his midsection and then launch his own body as far away as possible. Even while blinded he was able to make his way back to the doctor.