For a second nothing happened.
Then a terrible, bestial howl ripped through the night, chilling my bones and startling my heart.
The earth, the plaza, the whole city shook.
The stars, the sky, the horizon, everything quivered, as if lines were curves and curves were spasming.
My father and All Might stood, legs bent and hands outstretched to keep their balance.
Chakra stabilizing me, I crossed the distance between us in a few quick steps.
- What's that? Where is it coming from?
I turned my head to the west, toward the mountains, their foothills covered in forest.
All for One screamed again, and the whole air vibrated as if it were about to crack under its power.
- GIGANTOMACHIA !
A new roar, hoarser and longer, like a foghorn blown by a storm.
A cloud of dust like a sand tornado swept across the city.
And without warning, a million screams from men, women, and children erupted at once.
Buildings were uprooted and hurled into the air, roofs crumbled and tiles rained down upon the city.
The thing, the beast, the creature, crossed the city in a straight line, destroying everything in its path, howling and sowing chaos like a beast unleashed upon earth.
- GIGANTOMACHIA!
The monster grew more violent, more angry, with each new cry from All for One, snorting and rearing, jumping and falling, its inhuman silhouette barely discernible behind the curtain of dust and sandstone.
- We've got to shut him up !
Endeavor and my father didn't even need to consult each other as they each sped off in their own directions to stop the enemy.
All Might split the air in the direction of All for One, and my father, volcano roaring, ran toward the beast, ready to stop it at any cost.
I knew what logic dictated.
I knew what my reason, insidious and perfidious, would have wanted me to do, to put an end to the chaos that was spreading like an exhalation through the city.
But I've never been the rational type.
So I ran after my father, without a thought for All Might or the millions of other people suffering in Tokyo, chakra crackling on the surface of my skin, ready to sacrifice perhaps my only chance to put an end to All for One, to put an end to the canon, to prevent everything from taking dramatic turns in the future.
The only thing I saw was my father, his red hair, the lava coming out of the cracks and fissures in waves and swirling around him, the way he stroked my hair as he passed me, the way he'd held me in his arms as he mourned Touya's death and prayed, prayed, prayed that I would never leave him-
The monster, like a tank, blew up the last buildings of a residential area and forced its way through the hundred meters of squats and ruined buildings and-
I knew there was a camera, the whole country was glued to its TV, the whole world was about to find out about my power, but-
My father raised his hand, and a sea of lava erupted from the ground, forming a curtain between him and Gigantomachia.
Fuck it.
My chakra exploded on my skin, and the whole world took on a redder hue.
Gigantomachia jumped out of the last building that separated him from the square, a storm in his eyes, rage on his foaming lips of saliva and blood, and fixed his eyes on All for One, whom All Might held by the collar of his suit and above whom stood his fist, almost bathed in light.
I knew from his glassy but determined gaze that he saw nothing but All for One, his master, his owner, the one who needed him.
He didn't think.
He saw neither the lava nor the tiny red-haired human standing between him and his goal, raising a burning tsunami, hands raised to the sky, the top of the waves approaching sixty meters.
The air was stifling, unbreathable, as hot as coal swallowed in a mouthful.
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Gigantomachia tucked his head into his shoulders and accelerated, and I knew that no matter what happened, nothing and no one would stop him from reaching All for One.
Gigantomachia burst through the curtain of lava, his hair burning like matchsticks, his melted skin falling off in chunks, his howl louder than ever.
The tip of his bloody nose pierced the curtain.
My father brought his right hand down, and the tip of the tsunami fell on the quadruped as if it had been splashed.
The beast raced, slamming into the ground, cement blocks breaking off like broken mountains and flying in all directions.
It rumbled and grew, its eight meters becoming ten, twelve, fourteen - whatever it was.
His torn jaw tore through the tsunami, followed by his gleaming skull, from which a river of blood trickled down to his ear, then his thick neck-
The lava surrounding Gigantomachia turned into a titanic hand, smoking and glowing in the darkest night this land has ever known.
As if Hades himself were summoning the power of the underworld, the glowing hand grew and grew and grew, the veins of lava hidden beneath the earth flowing toward it to strengthen it.
The hand continued to grow, encircling the monster's waist and preventing it from taking another step.
Gigantomachia snorted, ochre smoke billowing from its flaming skin.
He screamed, his narrow eyes riveted on my father, and it was a roar of rage and fury.
Endeavor gasped and fell to his knees.
In an instant, I was in front of him.
He screamed.
- Go away !
I could feel the heat radiating from his body, so intense, so violent, that I didn't even dare turn around for fear of seeing him consumed.
Gigantomachia fought like the devil, and the hand of god collapsed, splattering the square and the streets, spilling everywhere like an acid that gnaws and devours without ever being satiated.
Gigantomachia, his eyes fixed on my father - the target to be slaughtered - rushed forward without even seeing me.
- Go away !
There was something desperate in his scream.
My chakra concentrated in my body, in my muscles, drugging my mind, forcing me to forget the pain that made my legs tremble.
I raised my fist back, the air vibrating, cracking as if it were about to break.
I felt him reach for me, weak, frightened, unable to pull me away.
Gigantomachia's crazed gaze met mine.
He flinched half a meter away from me, his eyes reflecting my Sharingan for a second before the pain took over again and he pulled back from the genjutsu.
But that was enough.
Gigantomachia came at me at full speed and my fist hit his face.
A deafening boom erupted in the dark night, as if a bolt of lightning of unprecedented size had struck the earth, destroying everything in its path.
The sound reverberated through the city like a slap, the echo lingering until my ears could no longer hear it.
A gust of wind came up, sweeping across the square like a divine breath.
Against my skin, the monster's was as hard as molten rock, solid but on the verge of being shattered.
Gigantomachia's eyes were at times sharp and at times glassy, my chakra seeping into his nervous system before being brutally cut off by the flood of suffering that assaulted him.
I clenched my jaws and planted my feet firmly on the ground, refusing to give the villain an inch of ground.
Something snapped in my arm.
I felt my muscles sag in spite of myself, my shoulder go limp, my fingers go numb.
Panic overcame me and a howl of rage left my lips as I forced myself to push again and again, black spots dancing in my vision.
And then Gigantomachia's concrete jaw cracked.
The web of cracks spread like powder across its face and into its teeth until the monster, unable to stabilize itself, was pushed backwards.
It flipped several times, rolled in the dust, and crashed into a building that collapsed on top of it.
Then it came to a stop.
All for One shouted.
- Gigantomachia!
My arms were shaking, my whole body was convulsing. My skin was sticky, a mixture of dried sweat and fresh, icy sweat.
My chakra reserves were dangerously low.
I waited for the villain to rise, my eyes glued to his inert form.
But he didn't move.
Backing away slowly, never taking my eyes off the monster, I stepped back toward my father.
My hand met his shoulder and, without looking at him, I cooled him.
I felt his gaze on me and guilt twisted my stomach.
- How long have you been...?
Keeping my eyes on the floor, I replied:
- Since forever
Silence.
Shock. Confusion. Or maybe disappointment.
My eyes traveled up his body, but as soon as I caught the corner of his face, I lowered my head.
- I'm sorry, I said.
He said nothing.
He didn't need to: I hate myself enough for both of us.
- Swap!
All for One appeared in the air, his wild eyes riveted on Gigantomachia, the sleeves of his torn suit flying behind him like a flag in the wind.
He still hadn't regenerated his stump.
- Swap!
In a new leap, he appeared two meters away in the air, closing in on the inert body of his subordinate.
All Might, grim-faced, let him go and walked calmly behind him.
This was the end. We could all feel it.
All for One fell to his knees beside the giant, screaming at his face.
- Gigantomachia, wake up! Gigantomachia!
A section of the ceiling had collapsed on the villain's head, revealing only a closed eye and a half-open mouth with sharp teeth.
A steady stream of blood flowed from his whitish, blistered skin.
- Gigantomachia!
All for One's cries turned into pleas, plaintive echoes.
All Might walked toward him at a slow, determined pace, but in no hurry to finish him off.
- Gigantomachia!
Under my hand, my father's nervous system cooled, followed by his organs, blood, and skin.
Steam rose from his body in waves.
- Gigantomachia!
I found him pathetic, crying at the feet of a corpse, begging to be brought back to life.
Death wasn't a god you could pray to with impunity, and he was even less likely to grant your wishes out of the goodness of his heart.
Death took, and if you were ever unfortunate enough to take something from it, it was before it took more from you.
- Gigantomachia !
Like an executioner about to carry out his sentence, All Might stood behind the weak, trembling figure of All for One, his gigantic body casting a shadow over the villain.
All for One threw himself on the giant's hand, right next to his face, and squeezed his fingers.
I felt the last shreds of his power pass through his voice.
- Gigantomachia !
And as if summoned from the dead, the villain's eyes opened wide, narrowed to two slits, and he swallowed All for One.
*
Author's note :
What ? Is Shoto really going public ?
250 power stones = sunday bonus chapter
If you want to support me/read ahead of schedule, you can do so on my P@treon, Nar_cisseENG
See you in the next update everyone !