Chapter 32 - Battle of New York XVI

The first thing that jumped into Mirio's mind was the moment he was shot with the quirk-erasure bullet…

It was one of the most memorable moments of his life…

It was how this all began…

Not because he lost his quirk, but because he maneuvered his body perfectly to protect Eri from any harm…

Mirio truly felt like a hero at that moment more than ever before…

He had previously failed Eri, so saving her, even just once, was something that thrilled Mirio's heart greatly…

However, it was at that moment that he noticed a discrepancy in his memory…

A discrepancy in something fundamental to his origin as a hero – a discrepancy in time…

As he noticed the discrepancy, it was magnified until Mirio's memories of the event branched down two very distinct tunnels…

The tunnels curled around each other, but never intersected at any point along their individual journeys…

At the very least, Mirio knew the tunnels were not harmful to him…

The tunnels were a visual representation of his mind and memories…

Mirio could subconsciously tell that each tunnel represented two very distinct versions of his life…

It was a bit confusing at first, but when he considered that Eri's quirk basically fast-forwarded his quirk, then everything made sense…

Eri fast-forwarded his future quirk into his current body, granting him not just a boost in his quirk, but also memories and improvements of his future self – The Future Lemillion!

Thinking about that, then it was only expected that at the moment Eri fast-forwarded his quirk, he had basically entered a divergent timeline, which led to two versions of his memories…

In one version, everything progressed as if Eri had never fast-forwarded his quirk, and in another version was his current experiences, and the memories he was forging in real-time…

Everything about his personality changes since arriving in the new Universe suddenly made sense…

Mirio spent a couple of seconds just observing the tunnels, pondering the secrets they both held…

One tunnel would show him the memories and techniques that came along with his future quirk, while the other tunnel would show him exactly what happened when he entered a new Universe...

The choice was baffling…

Mirio was offered the choice to investigate a way home, or grow his strength to possibly survive the energy build-up of the Tesseract that was set to explode, claiming his life in reality…

"It doesn't matter…" A voice suddenly whispered in Mirio's ears, and he spun to confront whatever had invaded his mindspace…

But, alas, it was as he expected – it was Mirio, an older version…

A wiser version…

And most of all, Mirio could tell that this older version of himself was also more sinister…

"Me?" Mirio questioned, genuinely confused "From the future?"

"I prefer No-Million…" No-Million smiled shallowly, somehow appearing more mentally twisted than All For One who had no face to begin with…

"You're broken…" Mirio observed, sensing the hopelessness radiating off his sinister counterpart "I would never become like you…"

No-Million didn't respond to Mirio's childish comments, instead, he just points a finger at the endpoint of both tunnels…

"Let me show you how it always ends…" No-Million mentioned, and the next moment, Mirio felt his mind gravitating towards the endpoint of the tunnels…

Mirio fought the attraction, but he was a guest in his own mind…

No hero would want to know how it all ends, and Mirio was no different – he wanted to live his life in the here and now, but No-Million seemed determined to not give Mirio a choice…

An instant later, Mirio was on a battlefield, the largest he had ever witnessed…

From horizon to horizon was filled with nothing but corpses, destruction, and burning toxic fumes…

But the battle, whatever battle it was, still raged on…

At least, until…

A pulse of energy cascaded throughout the world… its origin was unknown, but everyone on the battlefield could feel it…

It was a fundamental type of energy, and that energy was saying 'Cease to exist'…

"This was when it happened…" No-Million mentioned, forcing Mirio to look at the scene with the eyes of a Hawk…

Slowly, everyone on the battlefield lost their ability to use their quirks…

A couple of seconds later, everyone started to turn into dust…

That was when Mirio caught a glimpse of himself, his future self, cradling Nejire in his arms as she also faded into dust…

The pain he felt from that memory was intense…

Mirio knelt and gasped for air, but he couldn't breathe…

His heart refused to beat, but Mirio wasn't dying…

But his heart was dying as Nejire disappeared from existence…

All over the world, everyone was slowly reduced to dust, but for some reason, Mirio found himself immune to the non-existence afflicting everyone around him…

"I was one of the dozens left on Earth…" No-Million explained, a hint of emotion shown for the first time "Though, I didn't know that at the time, I thought I was alone…"

Mirio continued to watch, sensing that there was more to see…

Suddenly, the loud boom of displaced air echoed across the battlefield, and the next moment, Deku was kneeling next to Future Mirio…

The green lightning that signified Deku was using One For All pulsed around his body, fighting against whatever energy was slowly turning his right arm in dust…

"You can resist it?" Future Mirio shouted, dragging the dust that was once Nejire towards Deku, hoping for some kind of miracle…

Mirio and No-Million both looked away, not willing to witness themselves in such a desperate light…

It hurt even more for No-Million because he had lived it – these were his memories and Mirio's future…

In the memory, Deku shook his head "I am expending all the energy One For All has stored for countless generations to resist whatever is happening. I will soon disappear as well, but before that…"

Deku bit into his finger, and extended a single drop of blood towards Future Mirio…

The blood shone like a piece of physical rainbow…

"What does it matter now?!" Future Mirio yelled, hoping he would disappear like Nejire "My quirk won't be able to fix this even with a boost from One For All!"

Deku gritted his teeth and grabbed Mirio's hand "But there is a chance… as long as there is hope, I trust that you can figure out a way to bring us back…"

The drop of blood containing One For All dropped onto one of the many wounds that loitered Future Mirio's body, and the power was transferred to another generation once more…

The Generation of Lemillion; though, One For All no longer had the energy accumulation of previous generations…

It had fundamentally changed to a different quirk entirely…

"Listen…" Deku whispered as his body slowly faded into dust "I used all the power of One For All to survive this long, and that means that it's essentially an empty quirk right now… you have to grow it again, and even if it takes generations, I know you'll find the answer!"

With Deku's final words, the world was still, with only Future Mirio to occupy it…

"Did you find the answer?" Mirio asked No-Million, already knowing the answer in his heart…

No-Million smirked evilly and pointed at Mirio "You are the answer…"

"Me?" Mirio questioned, startled by the revelation…

"I forgot what it meant to be a hero after countless years searching, but you have reminded me of what it feels like…" No-Million admitted, the evilness of his aura disappearing for the first time, becoming the aura of the great hero he once was…

Mirio sensed this No-Million was being genuine for the first time since they met…

No-Million showed Mirio his hands, holding bright, colorful lights trapped within a ball of white energy…

The ball of colorful lights gave Mirio the same feeling he felt when his quirk received a boost, allowing him to save the earlier child…

"All Above One – formerly known as One For All, but over the years of my journey, the quirk mutated to what it is today… when Deku gave me an empty One For All, I spent years trying to grow it without any success…

Eventually, I realized it only grew with strong emotions, and the strongest emotions I had at the time were anger and hate…

However, when this quirk grew to adequate strength as if to spite me, the quirk mutated and become something I could not access… In order to grow the quirk, I had to indulge in my hatred, and that led to evil acts…

I was walking around with all this anger trapped inside my heart, and in the end, it consumed me entirely… without Nejire to guide me, I became something worse than the villains I used to fight…

All Above One is an accumulation type quirk like its predecessor that transfers different from All For One… this quirk is sentient, and jumps from body to body based on the heroism inside your heart…

You can say that All Above One works with your mentality… it makes you as powerful as you need to be for any given situation, always providing just enough strength for a way to victory…

The moment you broke through all my self-doubts and hatred, the quirk recognized your heroism and awakened… it is currently very weak and only boosts your original quirk, but that's because it's empty…"

"Empty?" Mirio questioned, also detecting that the quirk was not yet at its full potential…

No-Million nodded and gestured to the dim lights of the quirk "All For One stored energy, and All Above One has the ability to store whatever ability it comes in contact with… these lights are basically empty slots… so, the first four abilities you come in contact with will basically become your quirks, permanently, of course…"

Noticing the faint smirk on No-Millions face, Mirio knew that wasn't all, but there was no time to inquire for more information…

Even now, trapped inside his mind, Mirio could feel the strain of interacting with tesseract energy from the outside world…

Being in his mindspace had saved him from enduring the pain ravaging his body, but there was a limit to how much Mirio's mind could block…

Without any more explanations or trickery, No-Million tossed the white Ball of energy into Mirio's chest, granting him full control of the quirk known as All Above One…

The Legacy of Deku…

The hope of UA…

The hope of the entire My Hero Academia future…

And the next generation Symbol of Peace…

"Good luck, Lemillion…" No-Million whispered, and Mirio felt a thug that pulled him from the deep recesses of his mind…