Chapter 30: The Vision and the Venom
The abandoned shipping warehouse in the industrial district of Musutafu smelled of rust and damp concrete.
Shota Aizawa stood in the center of the vast, empty floor, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his dark jumpsuit. His capture scarf hung loosely around his neck. Standing to his left was the towering, rotund form of Fat Gum, his usual cheerful demeanor replaced by a grim, hard-set scowl.
Standing to Aizawa's right was a tall, severe man in a sharp gray suit. Sir Nighteye pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his sharp eyes scanning the shadows.
"You are putting a lot of faith in a criminal, Eraserhead," Nighteye said coldly. "The Commission is in ruins. The public is terrified. And you invited the architect of this chaos to a parley."
"The Commission built their own ruins, Nighteye," Aizawa replied, his voice exhausted. "The Sovereign just turned on the lights. If we want to prevent the country from tearing itself apart, we need to know what his endgame is."
"His endgame is power," Nighteye stated, adjusting his cuffs. "It always is."
The temperature in the warehouse suddenly plummeted.
A few yards in front of the three Underground Heroes, the air warped and tore open. The silvery-blue, starlit void of Sanctuary Phasing spilled light across the dusty concrete.
The Winged Sovereign stepped out. He wore the long black cloak, the violet butterfly-wing patterns pulsing softly. His silver moth-mask reflected the dim moonlight filtering through the skylights. True to his word, he stepped forward alone. The silver portal snapped shut behind him, leaving him entirely surrounded by three of the most capable heroes in Japan.
"You kept your word, Eraserhead," Nocturne's distorted, dual-toned voice echoed through the massive space.
"I told you to come alone," Aizawa said, his hand resting near his scarf. "You actually did it. You realize we could arrest you right now."
"You could try," Nocturne replied calmly. "But you asked me here because you know the system is broken. You want to know if I am here to conquer society, or cure it."
Fat Gum cracked his massive knuckles. "Tearing down the government and hoarding a private army of kids with god-tier Quirks sure sounds like conquering to me, pal."
Sir Nighteye stepped forward, his eyes narrowing. "Words are cheap, Sovereign. Anyone can claim to fight for justice. I prefer to see the truth for myself."
Before Aizawa could stop him, Nighteye lunged forward with blinding speed. He didn't throw a punch. He simply reached out and grabbed the fabric of Nocturne's black cloak, locking his piercing eyes onto the silver mask.
Foresight.
Nighteye's Quirk activated, allowing him to see the future of the person he touched. He expected to see a world in flames. He expected to see the Winged Sovereign ruling over the ashes of Hero Society, a tyrant no different than All For One.
But what Nighteye saw made the breath completely vanish from his lungs.
He didn't see a conquered world. He saw a massive, sprawling network of shadows. He saw an organization that moved with terrifying, absolute precision. He saw the Swarm infiltrating corrupt corporations, dismantling villainous syndicates in the dead of night, and shielding the innocent before the Pro Heroes even arrived.
But the most terrifying part of the vision was their loyalty. This organization was bound by no laws, controlled by no government, and influenced by no politicians. They were a force of pure, uncompromising justice, answering to absolutely no one... except the Sovereign. They were untouchable. They were a shadow immune to corruption.
Nighteye gasped, stumbling backward and releasing the cloak. He clutched his chest, his eyes wide with a mixture of profound awe and absolute terror.
"What did you see?" Aizawa demanded, stepping between them.
"He... he isn't going to destroy the world," Nighteye breathed, staring at Nocturne as if looking at a ghost. "He is going to replace us. All of us. An army in the dark... completely outside the law."
Nocturne tilted his head. "The law is a shield for the corrupt, Nighteye. I am building a sword."
CRASH!
The heavy steel doors of the warehouse were violently blown off their hinges.
The blast echoed like thunder, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and rusted metal. Nocturne and the Underground Heroes instantly spun toward the entrance.
Through the smoke, a hulking, terrifying figure stepped into the warehouse. He wore the plague doctor mask of the Shie Hassaikai Yakuza. Rappa. He cracked his knuckles, the air popping around his massive fists.
"Well, well!" Rappa roared, a manic grin hidden beneath his beak. "Overhaul said we'd find some big targets here! I call the fat one!"
Behind Rappa, a dozen heavily armed Yakuza thugs flooded the warehouse. But these weren't standard street punks. They moved with military precision, and they all carried sleek, high-tech assault rifles.
"Yakuza?!" Fat Gum yelled, his body expanding defensively. "They haven't shown their faces in this ward in years!"
"The underworld is shifting," Nocturne warned, raising his hand, preparing to summon the Aegis Pulse or Crimson Arsenal.
Up in the rafters, entirely unnoticed by the heroes below, a Yakuza sniper wearing a plague mask leveled a specialized rifle. He wasn't aiming at Fat Gum or Aizawa. Overhaul had given him a very specific target. The sniper placed the crosshairs directly over the Winged Sovereign's chest and pulled the trigger.
BANG.
The gunshot rang out over the chaos.
Nocturne's Emotion Sight flared a microsecond too late. He twisted his body, but the bullet—a prototype containing the crimson, Quirk-erasing serum—tore through the fabric of his cloak and buried itself deeply into his left shoulder.
Nocturne grunted, stumbling backward.
"Sovereign!" Aizawa yelled, his capture scarf whipping out to grab the sniper in the rafters, yanking the Yakuza thug down to the concrete with a bone-shattering crunch.
Rei reached up to his shoulder, expecting to heal the wound instantly with Akio's Eternal Vitality. But the moment his fingers touched the blood, a horrific, agonizing cold flooded his veins.
The crimson liquid from the bullet sank into his bloodstream. It didn't just cause physical pain; it violently attacked his DNA.
The violet, cosmic butterfly wings on his cloak violently sputtered and died, plunging him into darkness. The hum of the Aegis Pulse vanished. The golden warmth of Prismatic Flight evaporated.
Rei dropped to one knee, clutching his shoulder. For the first time since he had arrived in this world, the Swarm in his chest was completely, utterly silent. The Quirks were gone.
"My power..." Rei choked out, his eyes wide behind his silver mask.
Fat Gum intercepted a massive punch from Rappa, the kinetic force sinking harmlessly into his fat. "What did they hit him with?!"
"Suppressing fire!" one of the Yakuza thugs yelled.
"They didn't come to kill us," Nighteye realized, his sharp eyes connecting the sniper, the targeted shot on the Sovereign, and the sudden loss of Nocturne's terrifying aura. "They came to execute his power. They have a weapon that destroys Quirks!"
Aizawa's blood ran cold. A weapon that destroyed Quirks permanently? If that hit the streets, Hero Society wouldn't just crumble; it would be exterminated.
"Fat Gum, cover him!" Aizawa roared, his eyes flashing red as he erased the Quirks of three approaching Yakuza thugs, dropping them with his scarf.
Fat Gum threw his massive body backward, shielding the kneeling Sovereign from a hail of bullets. "We gotta get you out of here, kid!"
Rei gritted his teeth, the agonizing cold of the prototype bullet spreading through his shoulder. He was completely powerless. But he was not alone.
Rei reached into his pocket with his good hand and pulled out a small, encrypted beacon. He pressed the button.
"I don't need to fight," Rei rasped, looking up at the terrified Underground Heroes as the Yakuza closed in. "I just need to open the door."
High above the warehouse, the sky tore open. The Vanguard had been summoned. And they were going to slaughter the men who shot their King.