Itsuki returned to Overhaul in a flash. Now that Eri was gone, he could finally focus and fight Overhaul with all his strength.
He jumped back up, gliding with his wings toward where Overhaul stood. Debris cluttered the air, making it almost impossible to breathe. Spikes jutted out everywhere, and the room was constantly contracting and expanding as if the entire base itself was alive.
Overhaul stood there. Half of his face was covered, but the pissed expression was obvious. He was clearly not in a good mood.
Itsuki decided it was best to take this seriously.
He grabbed his shoulder and, with one effortless movement, ripped his arm out. His bones creaked and wailed in protest, muscles tearing apart like cheddar cheese, tendons ripping and snapping—all in a single brutal motion. Itsuki clenched his teeth and applied Reverse Cursed Technique. In an instant, his arm rebuilt itself.
No longer was there blood dripping from his shoulder—just a fully functioning arm.
Itsuki then began applying Reverse Cursed Technique to his—
CRASH
Numerous spikes shot toward him. Itsuki dodged instantly, skidding across the floor as he focused Reverse Cursed Technique into the severed arm.
It twisted and reshaped itself.
The Sword of Extermination.
(A/N: I had thoughts of making it from his wings but I'm pretty sure the Sword of Extermination comes from Mahoraga's arms so… yeah.)
Overhaul glared at him for a moment. He was never one to talk much, but when he did it was usually something unpleasant.
He removed the glove from his other hand.
Suddenly the room began to disassemble itself. The ground, ceiling, and walls all started rushing toward Overhaul at alarming speeds. Itsuki stood there, constantly moving, sword in hand, as chunks of rock and debris whipped through the room like deadly projectiles.
"You've got some skill," Overhaul said coldly. "Making sure Eri wasn't in the fight. Probably better so you don't get killed by her."
He smirked.
"But it's fine. She won't need to do that… because I'll make sure to do it myself."
He pressed his hand forward.
ZOOM
Two spikes shot toward Itsuki at blinding speed.
Itsuki lifted his sword and slashed them just in time. The sudden increase in speed caught him off guard.
Overhaul lifted another hand, this one covered in rubble and rocks. Then another one formed the same way. They didn't look attached to his hands.
They were bonded to them.
They were his hands.
Itsuki grunted as the barrage continued. He skipped onto one foot and slashed an incoming spike.
Then he noticed something.
Overhaul's barrage slowed—for just a split second.
That was enough.
Itsuki appeared right in front of him.
Overhaul's face flashed with surprise. Itsuki swung his blade—
But suddenly his footing shifted.
He was two meters away.
He tried again.
And again.
But every time he attacked, his strikes never connected.
'He's changing the ground beneath himself so I can't reach him,' Itsuki analyzed. 'By shifting the ground he keeps altering my range so I always miss.'
Itsuki's eyes narrowed.
'Then I just need to move faster than he can change it.'
CLICK
The wheel spun once.
BOOM
Itsuki appeared directly in front of him again, fist already moving.
Overhaul shifted the ground.
Itsuki didn't stop.
BANG
His punch connected cleanly with Overhaul's face.
Half of the plague mask shattered instantly.
Overhaul's expression twisted with rage.
He slammed his hand into the ground.
The entire base began shifting violently. Walls warped, pillars bent, and structures collapsed inward. In the distance, muffled screams could be heard as parts of the hideout were crushed.
This wasn't strategy anymore.
This was rage.
The kind of power that could kill hundreds simply because someone was angry.
"Stop! W-What do you think you're doing?!" Itsuki shouted.
He had never been a hero, he had never been someone who went out of his way to protect people.
But even he knew there was a line.
Killing wasn't something to be taken lightly.
It wasn't the act itself that disgusted him, war had taught him that sometimes death was unavoidable.
What he hated was the reason.
Taking a life out of necessity was one thing.
Taking lives out of anger was another.
To kill simply because you were powerful enough to do so… because your rage made you believe other people's lives were disposable.
That was something Itsuki despised.
It reminded him too much of war, men in power making careless decisions while others paid the price, people dying over petty conflicts that meant nothing to them.
"Keep quiet, child," Overhaul snapped. "I just need to kill you. Your existence is an obstruction to my goals."
Itsuki clenched his teeth.
Hundreds could die just because this man was angry.
"You're sick in the head, Overhaul," Itsuki muttered.
"I think… you deserve death."
"Oh I'm anything but sick," Overhaul sneered. "This is the consequence of your actions."
His eyes narrowed.
"You think I don't know about you? You're not sneaky, kid."
"Going around, poking your nose into business that isn't yours. I'm impressed you managed to track us down. How you figured everything out is beyond me."
"You've stopped one of my earlier operations, it was most fustrating as that was one my more favourable vantage points. Granted, they were only prototypes made using that girl Eri, but they still got me far enough to begin developing the quirk-destroying bullets."
"I was told that a kid, blonde hair, green eyes, and four wings had stopped an operation, I was tempted to kill you but I resisted, after all it was just a prototype."
He laughed.
"You found out about this three… maybe four years ago? And I'm guessing you saw the bullets again while coming here. I can't be sure."
Itsuki simply clenched his fist.
"Overall, you had no reason to get involved," Overhaul continued. "This was never your business."
"You might have even lived to see your twenties if you had just reported it to the police."
He laughed again.
"But no… a kid like you wanted to play hero and investigate it yourself."
"Well look at the consequences."
Itsuki's face twisted with anger.
"Well," Overhaul said calmly, "I haven't sold these yet but…"
BOOM
A bullet pierced Itsuki's body.
It slammed into his stomach.
"But… how…" Itsuki coughed, blood spilling from his mouth.
Overhaul smiled.
"It stings a little, doesn't it? But soon those pretty wings of yours will disappear."
"Gone forever."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Itsuki replied quietly.
CLICK
His wings remained.
CLICK
Overhaul's eyes widened.
"You might be right," Itsuki said calmly as he took a step forward.
CLICK
"This might have nothing to do with me."
CLICK
"But your existence…"
Itsuki raised his hands, interlocking his fingers into a circular shape.
"…belongs to me."
"Domain Expansion."
"Samsara's End."
***
Learning a Domain Expansion was something Itsuki had always thought of as the final trial to complete his power.
It had taken him years upon years. Years spent thinking of how to create the domain itself, the hand signs needed to activate it, and what form it should take. In the end he settled on the Samsara Wheel—the endless cycle of rebirth.
And as the name suggested, Samsara's End.
It represented the conclusion of that endless cycle.
A Samsara wheel didn't have an end.
But he did.
It symbolized the pinnacle of strength—where his adaptations finally stopped. The absolute endpoint of evolution.
His Domain could only be activated for three seconds.
And yet Itsuki had discovered that three seconds were more than enough.
Three seconds of invincibility.
Overhaul was taken aback.
The broken base that had surrounded him moments ago was gone. In its place was something else entirely, as if he had been transported into another world.
Soft green grass stretched endlessly beneath his feet, the sky above was a vast clear blue, strange and mythological creatures wandered across the land.
A massive three-headed boar thundered across the plains, its hooves shaking the ground. Behind it waddled a grotesque horned pig standing upright like a man, its belly hanging low as it laughed with a guttural sound.
A bird with the head of a serpent glided through the sky, its wings stretching across the clouds as its long snake-neck twisted through the air.
Further away, enormous elephant-like beasts with flaming manes walked slowly across golden rivers.
A white tiger with six eyes sat calmly atop a stone cliff, watching silently.
Across the field stood towering wheels of golden light, resembling the Dharmachakra, half buried in the earth as if they had been turning since the beginning of time.
Six enormous gates floated in the distance.
Each one represented a realm.
One burned with endless fire.
One was filled with wailing shadows.
One resembled the world of beasts.
Another held the shape of countless wandering spirits.
One appeared as a peaceful human realm.
And the final one shone with divine light.
Between these realms, three humans were chained together, kneeling on the grass in silent submission, their heads lowered as though awaiting judgment.
The wind carried distant whispers.
Chants.
Prayers.
The sound of something ancient watching.
"What is this—" Overhaul began, but he was interrupted.
A thunderous voice echoed through the sky.
"JUDGMENT."
Overhaul looked up.
Tenrin Itsuki floated high above him.
Behind him hung a massive wheel.
It did not spin.
At least… Overhaul never saw it spin.
Because the moment he looked up—
He was already dead.
Itsuki pointed his Sword of Extermination downward.
A blinding light enveloped Overhaul's body.
For a moment his form flickered.
Then it vanished.
Not sand.
Not ash.
Not dust.
Nothing.
It was as if his existence had simply been deleted.
SHATTER SHATTER
The Domain collapsed instantly.
"Damn… I only kept it up for two seconds and I'm already wasted," Itsuki groaned.
He looked down at where Overhaul had stood.
Overhaul's eyes were still open.
His body… well, if he had one anymore… hadn't processed that he was dead yet.
Only his head remained.
No shoulders. No arms. No torso. Just a head resting on the cracked ground.
"I'll need to work on that," Itsuki muttered.
"If I ever hit the full three-second timer I'm basically toast."
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"I also need to work on creating an open domain. Right now even a rock hitting it from outside could break it."
Itsuki glanced around the ruined base.
"Well… I should probably get someone who's already dead beside him."
"Maybe if the police investigate they'll think Overhaul fought his entire organization and died when some random kid showed up."
Itsuki sighed.
He began walking through the rubble. The entire place had been reduced to shattered stone and twisted metal.
After about three minutes, he finally found someone.
Hujo.
"Jackpot."
He carried Hujo's body back to where Overhaul's head rested.
Then, using the Sword of Extermination, he cracked several crystal-like fragments from Hujo's body and shoved them into Overhaul's mouth.
He scattered a few smaller shards across the ground to make the scene look more believable.
His cursed energy was beginning to burn out, so he quickly stopped applying Reverse Cursed Technique to the Sword of Extermination.
The blade dissolved.
Itsuki exhaled slowly before gliding his way outside toward Eri.
She stood exactly where he had left her.
Her small hands clutched the phone tightly.
Her eyes were fixed on the collapsed building in front of her.
Dried tears and fresh ones still streaked her face.
'Damn… I kind of feel bad all of a sudden,' Itsuki thought.
'I mean, this was for the best… but it must've been terrifying watching all that.'
Eri shifted her feet as she noticed him descending from the sky.
Shock appeared on her face.
Then joy.
"Mister! Mister! You did it!" she shouted.
A wide smile spread across her face as she ran forward and jumped onto him.
"Yeah… he's gone," Itsuki said.
"But it wasn't me who did it."
"Huh? Then who did it?" Eri asked, confused.
'I'm about to hand her over to the police,' Itsuki thought.
'If she tells them anything and I get questioned, our stories have to match.'
'Explaining that I fought a supervillain with a dangerous quirk is already a hassle. She'll probably talk about the abuse and everything that happened.'
'And if I admit I erased his entire body… that might become a problem.'
'Self-defense might work, but better not risk it.'
"Oh basically," Itsuki said, lowering his tone to something a five-year-old could understand, "everyone teamed up after I was super awesome in there and beat him up for me. It was really cool."
"Oh… okay," Eri said quietly.
Her smile faded slightly.
'Huh… did I say something wrong?'
"Well," Itsuki said, holding out his hand, "want to hold my hand? I'd like to get you somewhere safe."
"N-No!" Eri quickly shook her head.
"I'll just hurt you again like I do to everyone!"
Itsuki shrugged.
He picked her up anyway and lifted off the ground, his wings spreading wide.
"W-Wait wait wait!" Eri panicked.
A yellow glow appeared around her as her horn began to grow.
"I don't want to hurt you!"
"No," Itsuki said calmly.
"You could never hurt me."
"Because I know you don't want to."
"So don't worry."
"It'll be fine."
Eri's eyes slowly brightened.
The yellow glow faded.
Her horn stopped growing.
She relaxed in his arms.
As Itsuki carried her through the sky, his thoughts drifted back to Overhaul's final words.
It had never been his business to get involved.
The moment he had heard those names in that alley with Shinso, he could have simply reported everything to the police.
He wasn't a government agent anymore.
He wasn't responsible for justice.
"I started this life the same way I ended my old one…" Itsuki muttered quietly.
"Still acting like I'm some kind of agent."
He looked down at Eri.
The bandages that covered her wounds.
The years of suffering she had endured.
And now she was liberated.
A small smile appeared on his face.
It didn't matter that he had spent years chasing this lead.
It didn't matter how many times he had been attacked.
It didn't matter how dangerous this fight had been.
To see Eri safe.
To save a hopeless girl from a hopeless life.
That was something he would do again.
And again.
And again.
****
A/N: Hey guys, at the end of chapter, I kind of wanted to convey that Itsuki is a good person, but he knows when to do the hard shit. I feel like the heroic mentality is sort of misunderstood in mha, this is my take on an anti-hero.
A real hero would've probably used some talk-no jutsu. "Overhaul it's not too late to turn back" or something.
For his domain, I was thinking that 1 second takes ⅓, 2 seconds ⅔ and you get the pattern.
Also I heard ONE person talk about a p@treon. And it got me thinking, you know.
Also if you are wondering p@treon is censored, I saw a lot of people do it and I'm a trend-hopper so I'm going to do it as well.
I don't really think much in the story for it to be worth your money imo. I outline like 20 chapters at a time at best. For this I think it was 15. If I do start a patreon it'll be something like 20 chapters ahead since I think that's worth your money
Patreon:
Yes
No