Chapter Text
Kyudai Garaki was known by many pseudonyms in his long life. Right now he was wearing the mask of the kind and renowned medical practitioner, Doctor Daruma Ujiko. As part of his duties, he was discussing treatments and diagnosis along with some budget concerns with a few other hospitals of Jaku General Hospital.
Sure he’d rather be working on his beloved Noumu’s or perhaps observing the progress the Tomura has made against Gigantomachia. He was still on the fence regarding that young man’s success but if All for One had faith in him, then so shall he. Sadly this business with the other doctors was necessary to keep his cover, which was by far his most useful one as it allowed him access to several Quirks to collect and experiment with to his heart’s content.
One could very well say it was a good life he led, and he’d agree. And soon once his master and old friend escapes from Tartarus it would be all the better. But as he was musing his thoughts the door to the meeting room was suddenly kicked down, frightening them all from the loud bang.
In walked a tall man with a slim muscular build dressed in a black long-sleeve jacket over a white shirt with cargo pants along with a long green scarf around his neck covering his mouth. Combat boots stomp as he marches inside. His skin was heavily tanned from overexposure under the sun, his hair combed back and bleached white glaring with piercing red eyes.
A black straight bow was in his hands along with a strange purple crystal-like arrow, drawing it and pointing at them, causing most of the doctors including himself to start worrying.
“W-who are you?” one of the doctors asks, “How did you get past security?!”
“Everyone, out.” the archer demanded with the arrow trained at Garaki, causing him to start sweating, “Except him.”
“You’re crazy! We’re not leaving-!” the same doctor argued before screaming in pain as the archer fired the arrow, striking him in the shoulder and making him collapse on his chair as he started convulsing. The arrow dissipated into purple dust as the doctor’s skin started to turn purple.
“He’s poisoned. Nothing beyond your abilities to fix.” the archer glared at the remaining doctors in the room, “Leave and save him.”
“I… believe that is wise.” Kyudai Garaki hesitantly said. The Doctor Daruma Ujiko he was playing as now would be concerned over such matters, and as much as he dislikes the idea, if they get away they can call Heroes to stop whoever this madman was.
“Well, we are alone now as you desired.” Kyudai gulped and tried to hide his nervousness as the archer grabbed him by the collar of his lab coat, picked him up and slammed him against the wall, “I’m cooperating! W-what is it you want with me? I’m just a doctor!”
“We both know you’re not…” the archer growled with hate-filled red eyes that for a second reminded him almost of Tomura’s, “Let’s have a nice, long talk Doctor Garaki. About the Noumus you have below us.”
***
“Johny… Johny, no…” Kyudai collapsed to his knees in front of the corpse of the Noumu, burning away in blue flames, “How could you…?”
“I could never understand you.” The archer grits his teeth as he glares at the doctor after he grabbed and pocketed a thumb drive he inserted into the main computers of the underground lab, “You willing experiment on your own grandchildren, Tsubasa , turned him into a Noumu to be thrown away like a disposable tool. And you mourn the death of that thing more than you did him…”
“How… How could you possibly know?” Kyudai asked as he shook with fear while the archer’s arm glowed with a green circuit-like pattern, a red crystal blade manifesting in crackling crimson energy.
In a flash he pulls Kyudai up and stabs it right into his chest, causing him to cough out blood as he was then shoved and pinned to the wall with the blade. In an instant, he feels his Life Force Quirk suddenly switch off, and decades of extended life suddenly caught up with him.
His flesh shrivelled up in an instant, his skin drooping and turning to a weaving husk of a man. As long as the sword was in his chest, he was going to die of old age. He tried reaching for the blade to pull it out but his shrivelled arms were too weak.
“I never got this chance last time.” the archer whispers hatefully into Kyudai’s ears as he drives the blade deeper, twisting it painfully, “You know if we all look back, you’re the source of it, aren't you? The ideas you gave All for One, giving him your Longevity, saving his life, the Noumus… You were just thrown into Tartarus and I was content with it, but this? This is more satisfying.”
“W-who… are you…?” he croaks out as he starts to die from both the wounds and his accelerated ageing, “How do you know… all this…”
“...Let’s just say I’m a nameless archer who got his second chance.” the man said with a cold glare, turning his back to Kyudais as green circuits glowed across both arms and in the air surrounding him a dozen orange crystal arrows manifested, taking aim before launching themselves everywhere.
At the Near High-Ends still in their tubes gestating. At the hundreds of Quirks, he had accumulated and duplicated painstakingly across the years. The computers and hard drives contain all his research. His life’s work literally goes up in flames.
“Why…?” Kyudai could only mutter as he grew too weak to speak anymore, the nameless archer ignoring and leaving him to his fiery fate.
Later when the Heroes, police and even firefighters arrive, they find the charred corpse of Doctor Kyudai Garaki, also known as Doctor Daruma Ujiko, in an underground lab filled with the corpse of Noumus which he never had the chance to activate. Hours after their arrival, it would become widespread news that he was involved with the League of Villains thanks to various media corporations getting an anonymous leak containing his research logs, revealing his true identity and heinous acts to the world.
But the one responsible for this chaos was never found, a nameless archer who stormed into a hospital and injured many people from security guards to even doctors in his pursuit, vanishing without a trace.
***
He was supposed to be dead.
He was battling an arms dealer’s organisation somewhere in the Middle East, having lured them into a deal in the middle of an abandoned town. Sadly his ambush was detected and he was forced to fight up close and personal.
He remembers a collapsing building as he battled the last of his targets, rubble collapsing from above. And then waking up here…
Ten years ago… He was somehow transported to ten years ago…
It was no hallucination or dying dream, he knew that. He felt pain, he felt the warmth of blood as he killed, and none of the Quirks he had traced and projected detected any form of manipulation via Quirk. It was real, despite the impossibility of it all.
If this was somehow a second chance, despite his suspicion of it all, he would take advantage of it all. From the calendar, it was just days before that event. The Paranormal Liberation War… That meant he could still stop it!
Doctor Garaki had been easy to track with his public persona as the Head Doctor of Jaku General Hospital.
The doctor lived a long life in Tartarus, a place he could not reach unless he had a death wish and thus there was no point in killing. But when he stabbed that madman and let him die as he should have decades ago, it was possibly the most satisfying kill he ever made. One of the key sources of all the tragedy in his time was eliminated, and soon the rest will follow.
He grabs the radio from his hip and tunes it to the signal he lifted from Doctor Garaki’s computers. Gigantomachia’s frequency.
“Trace… On…” he whispers as the familiar green circuits manifest around his neck while clearing his throat, speaking in a voice that Gigantomachia couldn’t ignore.
“Machia…” he spoke in All for One’s voice, “It’s time to wake up.”
In the distance, the mountains shook and the earth launched up as a giant creature emerged. One of the strongest, most devastating and loyal minions of All for One that killed thousands as it trudged past dozens of cities in the Paranormal Liberation War.
He raises a hand with green circuits coursing through it, arcs of energy crackling across his skin as a black-purple Crystalised Quirk forms in his hands, knocking it back on his bow as he takes aim from miles away.
"My body is the essence of Quirks…” he chants while drawing back the arrow to its fullest, energy overloading the Crystalised Quirk as the crystals start to crack from the strain.
A forced Quirk Evolution one would call it, shattering its limits to such an extent that if a human body attempted to mimic it would lead to being broken beyond repair. The logical extreme of ‘Plus Ultra’ so to speak. But there wasn’t a human body doing this, just the crystallisation of the Quirk itself…
“Fracti Ultra: Decay…”
***
“Hehe, I’m all beat up… This is pretty bad…” Himiko Toga whispers to herself as she drags her broken body through an alleyway, leaning on the walls as she tries to find a safe spot to recuperate.
“I don’t want to kill for the sake of some big guy on top…” she muttered in a delirious state while dragging herself away, “But Tomura… He’ll destroy everything I don’t like…”
The thoughts filled her with hope and glee before they were dashed by a cold voice coming from in front of her.
“No. He won’t.”
Looking up she sees a tanned man with white hair in a long black cloak and a green scarf covering his lower face with only red eyes visible. Before she could react he dashed forward.
Perhaps if she was in a better state she could dodge, but she wasn’t. And Himiko hears the familiar sound of a blade piercing flesh as her heart is shredded. Coughing out blood on the man’s coat he gently kneels down with her in his arms. It was oddly warm and soft, yet firm.
This was the end she realised… There wasn’t any way to get out of this like just now with those MLA losers. She couldn’t even move a muscle or lift a hand as everything started to go dark. It was… cold…
“Don’t worry.” her killer spoke in a surprisingly soft voice, “You won’t go alone.”
…It was weird. He was her killer and yet she couldn’t help but feel safe in his arms as she stared at his face… His familiar face… Where had she seen them before? Those eyes of his… remind her of…
A flash of a familiar blood-covered green-haired boy flashed through her mind before she was slowly consumed by darkness. As it did, she felt a pair of lips peck her forehead, strong yet kind hands parting her hair to the side as she looked up into her killer’s red eyes.
“There was never anything wrong with you.” he tells her what she had always wanted to hear as a kid, with no sense of deception in his voice, “Don’t listen to anyone who says otherwise.”
“...Izuku?” she whispered softly before passing on in his arms.
It was the only kindness he could show her. Left unchecked during the war she claimed tens of dozens of lives from replicating Twice’s Quirk. Behind all that however was a girl who cursed the world for treating her the way she was simply from how she was born. In a way, he can empathise with that.
He could empathise with some of the League for their hatred towards society. But that doesn’t mean he can spare them, or tolerate their actions. It had to be done. This was the only path.
The nameless archer softly puts her down and closes her eyes, making it look like she is simply resting. Compress was dead, sniped from the back on a vantage point where the MLA would likely think it was one of them that did the deed. He then killed Dabi along with Geten in their clash, with witnesses likely thinking it was a mutual kill from the explosive force generated when extreme heat met extreme cold.
It won’t hold for long if one looks too closely, but it’ll buy him time until this battle is over. As he heard footsteps running closer, he knew it would be soon.
“Toga… TOGA!” He stood up and turned to find Jin Bubaigawara, also known as Twice, weakly approaching looking injured as he held a handkerchief, “No way… No way…”
Jin muttered with disbelief as he dashed forward, not even paying attention to the nameless archer who stepped aside to give him room, “Is… Is she still breathing OF COURSE NOT … She’s covered in blood, IT’S YOUR BLOOD DUMBASS … I need to clean it off… It’s your handkerchief, see?! GIVE IT UP, SHE’S DEAD! ”
“No, she’s not.” the nameless archer lied through his teeth, “She’s sleeping. But only I can wake her up.”
Jin turns, “You… You did this OF COURSE HE DIDN’T! ”
It was a sad sight, seeing a man as broken as Jin Bubaigawara breaking down by the seams. But he needed Jin to be in this state, it makes it easier for what comes next in his plans to happen. A Quirk was fully projected in his palm hidden behind his back. The man needed to suffer a bit longer before he could finally find peace…
“And if you want to save her, you need to fight.” In a flash, he touches Jin in the chest with Forced Quirk Activation, “Fight and kill the MLA, and you’ll save your friends. Your home. That’s what the League is to you right?”
“My friends…” Jin gasps in pain as he chokes on air, “My… home…”
He roars in agony as his Quirk explodes into haywire, forcibly activated and pushed to its limits into a sight that killed hundreds in his Paranormal Liberation War. The ultimate expression of his inner self the same way Unlimited Quirks was to him.
The Sad Man’s Parade.
***
It was hell. Plain and simple.
He had barely escaped the epicentre of Sad Man’s Parade, now he watches as a mass of broken men swarms and trample over the zealous soldiers of the MLA.
Taking on the whole MLA himself would be inefficient and impractical, so he had to resort to this. Forcing Jin to awaken his Sad Man’s Parade and pointing him at the MLA… Mentally breaking a man just to use him like this…
It would be a lie to say he hasn’t done anything similar before. He did many villainous things, after all, all to ‘save the most lives’. But this time he knew this kind of pain would stop hundreds more in the near future.
He left a crystalised shard of Forced Quirk Activation in Jin. It won’t stop until his heart gives out from all the strain, killing him. Spinner came next but it was already being handled. Without other members of the League he was being taken care of by the MLA swarming him. Twice was too far away and likely the deed would be done before the Parade reaches him. It was not painless from what he’s able to see with his eyes enhanced with Zoom.
The bow was drawn subconsciously but he loosened his draw. When your enemies are doing your job for you, what reason was there to intervene? Instead he looks away from the gruesome sight as Spinner was killed by the MLA under Trumpet’s command.
Afterwards, there will be only one person left in the League, Tomura Shigaraki.
The grandson of Nana Shimura, All Might’s master. There was no saving him, if he was allowed to live he would just cause as much destruction as he could before his life was ended.
He closes his eyes and sighs. It was a role shoved unto him by All for One, moulded and morphed into simply a tool to be used to obtain One for All, into a proper successor to be used. Like the nameless archer, he was a tool with a single purpose. But the difference was that he chose this life for himself, Tenko didn’t have any choice.
And thus he had to die because a monster robbed him of the life he could have led before he was even born. Perhaps if the universe was kind, he could reincarnate into a better life after his death. But then again if such phenomena truly existed, it wouldn’t apply to people like either of them.
In the distance, buildings collapsed into dust and he knew what it meant. Tomura’s Quirk Awakening to its full potential, casting off the mental chains that held him down for so long, taking along with it many of the MLA soldiers.
Everyone will gather in a circle, both the Parade and surviving MLA soldiers. With both Tomura not yet with a Noumu-like physiology thanks to the Doctor, and the MLA surviving leaders Re-Destro, Trumpet and Skeptic at their weakest.
It was an opportunity of a lifetime, to end the pain of millions before it can begin. As the survivors make a mad dash to their respective leaders it would give him time to charge up that kind of attack.
Green circuits course through his body as one arm held his bow, the other crackling with orange energy.
"My body is the essence of Quirks…”
A quartet of Crystalised Quirks manifest in his hands, all of them sharing the same shade of orange as he knocked them all at the same time.
"Forgetting my Dreams,
Knowing only Regret,"
It was impractical to use in direct combat, taking too long to charge which would allow his enemies to interrupt. It was also dangerous to use and just charging had the veins in his arm burst. He had to divert one Projection slot to use Regeneration to keep himself alive.
The energy drain was also insane, so it should only ever be used from long range where foes cannot detect him, and to end fights before they can begin or he’ll be caught in a weakened state. This was the perfect scenario for his attack.
At this range, hundreds will die. Hundreds and hundreds. All the MLA soldiers were doing was following the orders of people they were raised to obey. When they went underground the surviving MLA members would indoctrinate their children from birth to follow their ideology, this makes up a core of their forces. The rest that made up the MLA were recruits, people tired of being restrained and drawn in by the promise of freedom the MLA offered.
He had taken many lives in his years, but this would be the first time he killed so many in a single attack. But he had no choice… This was his only path…
“Fracti Ultra… Howitzer Barrage!”
Four arrows of Crystalised Explosion supercharged beyond their limit were launched. They were copies of Katsuki Bakugou’s Quirk, the Great God of Explosions: Dynamight, at his prime. Each Crystalised Quirk could only be between either a quarter of half their full potential, and even Fracti Ultra cannot change that as they’re partial manifestations of the actual Quirk. But with four at the same time undergoing Fracti Ultra? It would rival his once best friend’s full power.
He grits his teeth in pain as his arm bursting at the seams was repairing itself with Regeneration. Every bone shattered and every muscle and tendon torn, but he would be fine given some time, albeit exhausted.
He watches the arrow sail through the afternoon sky like orange fireworks before they land in the centre of the zone of destruction Tomura Shigaraki created, looking away at the last moment as bright light covers the area. Then came the heat and shockwaves, shattering the remaining nearby buildings.
When he turned back that was what he saw… four smoking craters each the size of a large buildings were left. Those not caught in the explosion suffered the devastating consequences, stumbling half-dead as the world fell apart around them. Bodies burnt, shredded by debris or blown into chunks scatter the area near the epicentre of the explosion. The truly lucky few, maybe a few dozen, that were too injured to slow to make the mad dash to Re-Destro and Tomura could only struggle to comprehend what happened.
It was a true hell.
But the survivors won’t be fortunate for long. There can be no survivors to perpetuate the MLA, to carry their ideology and rise again in future. After he has time for a breather he will hunt them all down, unwilling to show any mercy.
Because that was his role in this world.
***
“My god…” Sorahiko Torino, the retired Pro Hero known as Gran Torino, muttered as he gazed at the scene before him. They had received an anonymous tip about the League of Villains fighting another group of Villains in Deika City, and the whole task force the police created to hunt them down went to investigate only to come across this scene.
It was like a repeat of Kamino, only somehow worse. The entire city was showing signs of battle with no building left unscathed. On the way they had also seen corpses but the most alarming ones were those that belonged to the League of Villains.
Compress who died from being shot in the back, Spinner who was found beaten to death, only half of Dabi’s corpse was found the rest blown away, Twice from some kind of heart failure, and Himiko Toga who was the strangest case. She was covered in grievous wounds but it was determined a stab to the heart claimed her, yet she died lying down with eyes closed and an almost peaceful look on her face.
It got worse the closer they got to the epicentre of this warzone. The largest affected area had to be the area around Deika’s central tower which looked like a scene out of hell itself with scorched corpses lying outside the craters. It was like a couple bombs had gone off.
Many corpses were found burnt and shredded from the explosives, filling the air with the smell of burning flesh and the taste of metal. One of the more inexperienced cops suddenly gagged at the scent and sight of a burnt corpse, dashing away to empty their stomachs. Sorahiko couldn’t blame him, especially with the sheer number of them they were surrounded by. It was like the whole city population was killed.
Even the veteran Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi couldn’t help but be in shock at the carnage.
“What in god’s name happened here?” he whispers to himself, “This… it… It looks like…”
“Hell.” Sorahiko muttered, “If I had to picture hell, this must be what it looks like.”
“...It’s an apt description.” Naomasa said as he stared ahead at the craters and bodies, “...Contact for reinforcements. We need to catalogue all these bodies and contain media responses. This much death and destruction after All Might retires will surely send people into a panic.”
Before they could do anything, however, an officer rushes to them with a phone in their hand.
“Sir! Sir!” they pant before slowing down and holding out the phone, “We… got a call. He claims to be the one who sent the tip, sir! And… the one responsible for this. He wants to talk with Gran Torino.”
Sorahiko immediately was concerned but accepted the phone anyway, picking up the call.
“...Hello?” he asked after a tense pause.
“Gran Torino…” a voice hidden by a modulator spoke, “How have you been?”
“Do I know you?” Sorahiko asked cautiously, “You have me at a disadvantage…”
“Heh, I suppose not.” the voice sounded amused at something , “I have no name.”
“Alright, Mister No Name.” Sorahiko snarks, “So I was told you were responsible for these deaths? An entire city?”
“I can only claim a good portion.” the voice said, “You can try but you won’t find any survivors. I made sure of that.”
Sorahiko bites his tongue to stop himself from calling this man a psychopath, “So the other half’s the League if I got that right?”
“You can say that.” No Name says, “If it helps, they weren’t innocent. If you investigate you’ll find that this city was populated by a terrorist group. The MLA.”
“You think I’ll buy that? An entire city made of Villains?” Sorahiko asked as he glanced around at the burnt corpses.
“Believe what you want. Make your own conclusions.” No Name scoffed, “I’m only calling for one reason…”
“To brag?” Sorahiko guessed, “Proud of your handiwork, I suppose? It’s not every day a Villain racks a body count like this.”
“Proud? Quite the opposite.” bitterness was audible even through the voice modulator, “...I’m calling to save you all some time. He was at the center of my attack so there won’t be much left of him, but Tomura Shigaraki… No, Tenko Shimura is dead.”
Sorahiko paused at that. From all the corpses of the League, he had already expected it, but his heart still ached at the mention of Nana’s grandson. And hearing he was dead…
“How did you-?!” Sorahiko was about to ask how he knew that name, not many should know of Tenko Shimura.
“You don’t need to know. Feel free to check if you want, but I figured I should save you the grief.” No Name said, “...He wouldn’t have changed. This was the end of the path he walked. Goodbye, Gran Torino. Take care of yourself.”
No Name hung up before Sorahiko could respond, cursing as he stared at the hung-up call on the phone.
News of this would spread like wildfire once it was discovered. The massacre, the bloodshed, the chaos and death… An entire city turned into a wreck, a small portion of it completely wiped from the surface of the earth with the combination of Decay and Explosions. Any records from still functioning cameras would capture the image of a lone archer doing the deed, and soon this No Name wouldn’t be nameless.
The Butcher of Deika City was the name the media decided on. The name for possibly one of the worst mass murderers in Japan.