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Universe found- [Code name:- Borderlands] [Powers:- Siren & Guns]
"Hmm... what kind of powers are those?" All Might asked.
"Well, it says here that this world has very advanced types of guns," Nezu explained. "And there are question marks in front of 'Siren.' Perhaps it will be explained within the universe itself."
The scene opens in a dark room, and we see a woman sitting in the middle of the room. The darkness of the room, along with the cloak she was wearing, effectively conceals her face. The only discernible features are her body and the tattoos covering the left side, which emit a faint glow.
"Oh, I like her style," Mina said. "Those tattoos look cool as hell!"
"I wonder who she is, though," Jiro wondered aloud. "I mean, who her counterpart is among us?"
"You. You, who hears me, eons after my time," the woman spoke in a chilling voice. "I have sat these words down, even as my mind fractures under the weight of what I have done. Find my words, and remember their truths in my place."
A shudder rippled through everyone's bodies as they heard that voice. It sounded strangely familiar, yet it carried an eerie emptiness. On the other hand, some of the villains, who had appeared disinterested until now, suddenly paid attention to the screen.
To Izuku, it brought back memories of the day All Might had revealed the truth behind his smile to him and how his voice was steeped in despair. The only difference was that the despair in this mysterious voice weighed even heavier, causing Izuku's own heart to sink.
"This seems like some kind of video diary, perhaps a confession of sorts," Ryukyu remarked. "A confession this woman expects to be discovered billions of years in the future."
"But won't this technology degrade after such a long time?" Melissa questioned. "I mean, whoever finds this might not have the means to decipher, watch, or play it."
"Let's not forget that we're dealing with different worlds here," David reminded his daughter. "They might have more advanced methods for preserving knowledge for future generations."
"True," Melissa agreed, nodding in understanding.
"For I am the one who put the Destroyer in its chains. I am the one who murdered the Eridians." The woman then removed her hood, and as the shadows dissipated from her face, she revealed her stunning beauty with long flowing green hair. With dead eyes, she stared directly at the audience and declared, "I am Izumi and this is not my story, I am just a part of it." [Izumi= Nyriad.]
"Izuku/Midoriya is a girl!!!" Many shouts echoed in the auditorium as they stared at the screen with wide eyes.
"Stop being so noisy!" Aizawa said, glaring at everyone while activating his quirk. "What's there to be shocked about? We've already seen three versions of Midoriya, and one of them was a cultist villain who terrified Shinso. And now you're getting worked up over seeing him as a girl?" he asked with a deadpan expression on his face.
'Oh, that sounds interesting,' All For One thought, feeling like he missed an opportunity to mess with All Might.
"Wow, Izuku-kun as a girl. I'm sure she would bleed wonderfully as well," Himiko said with a gleeful smile.
"Forget about Deku being a girl. Focus on what she said," Bakugo said in an irritated voice. "And those eyes, damn, they're even making me depressed."
Inko couldn't help but agree with Bakugo as her heart broke at the sight of a version of her child looking so broken.
"Nezu, sir, what are 'Eriandans'?" Izuku asked, wondering who exactly his counterpart killed.
"There is no information on 'Eridians' or 'The Destroyer,' just like before," Nezu shook his head. "There are question marks in front of those names."
"I am a Siren," she said, her body's tattoos beginning to glow. "Like the Destroyer, my kind have been called many names. Oracle. Angel. Witch. Rarely are the names used kindly. I used to hate the ones who feared us, believing them ignorant. I think now, after what I have done, I better understand," she said in an emotionless voice.
"Damm, even Yui has more emotions in her voice," Kendo remarked, glancing at the silent girl from her class.
"But what exactly is a Siren 'ribbit'?" Tsu wondered. "The terms used to refer to them seem very different from each other," she said, considering if it might be a discriminatory term, given the next line that Izumi used. Little did she know that Spinner had the same thought in his mind.
"Oh, the entry on Siren has been updated," Nezu said, capturing everyone's attention with this new information. "It says, 'Sirens are individuals who have acquired incredible, mysterious powers and are physically distinguished by elaborate tattoos that cover half of their bodies.'"
"It means those tattoos on her arms aren't just for rebelliousness or anything," Nemuri said with a chuckle.
"I have never known a time without my sisters," she said with a sad, faint, longing smile appearing on her face as we saw the silhouettes of six women. They bore similar tattoos to Izumi's, each glowing in different colors. "Even when one passes and a new Siren receives her markings, she always finds her way to the sisterhood. It seemed the will of the universe that Sirens be together, our lives entwined like an unseen braid."
"Sirens have been hunted for as long as they have existed. Hunted out of fear, out of jealousy, out of misguided greed. The sisterhood was our way of passing down the craft of staying hidden, and staying alive when hiding was no longer an option."
"Looks like these Siren powers are troublesome things to have," Momo said. "And apparently, it's not just Izumi; there are more of them."
"It honestly reminds me of the records from the early days of quirks when quirk users had to band together to avoid getting hurt by the public or captured by the government," Nagant said, reminiscing about the old days when she had access to those historical documents.
"Ah, those were the days," All For One said in a nostalgic tone, eliciting some strange looks from those around him.
"No thread is ever truly cut. It can be tied to another, whether knotted by careful fingers or tangled by chance," Izumi said, her expression turning serious. "Only seven Sirens can exist at any given time that's why every Siren must decide what will happen when their thread reaches its end."
Izuku and All Might's eyes widened as they heard that, and a thought echoed in both of their minds: 'It's like One for All.'
Meanwhile, for others, it started to make sense why Sirens were hunted. It was a mix of both fear of the unknown and greed, and the Sirens isolating themselves from the world only fueled these two emotions further.
'I see, so powers like One for All exist in other worlds as well,' All For One thought. 'I wonder, though, if a power like mine exists as well.'
"To inherit a Siren's gift is also to inherit her curse," she continued, sadness returning to her eyes. "This is the choice of a Siren presented with death - pass on the gift and burden someone worthy, or release it, and burden an unknown soul who has no idea that the entire universe is about to want them dead."
"The other option feels very wrong," All Might said. "It's one thing to train a person to receive your powers, but to force it upon an unsuspecting individual is a really cruel thing to do, especially if the threat is as dangerous as young Izumi says it is," he added, imagining the act of bestowing One for All upon someone without informing them about the risks associated with that power. However, his thoughts briefly drifted to the white-haired man on the other side of the barrier, and he couldn't help but recall that he had done something similar to young Izuku. At that time, he had no idea that All For One, the villain he himself had defeated, was still alive.
"As the Siren sisterhood, we were the keepers of many answers, but our own nature remained elusive. We never knew our origins, nor our purpose. In this way, we are still undeniably mortal."
"A power without a purpose..." Izuku said as he stared at his hand, pondering what would happen to One for All once All For One is finally defeated. Would the power cease to exist, having fulfilled its purpose, or would the responsibility to find a suitable successor fall onto him? "By the way, what does she mean by 'undeniably mortal'?"
"Perhaps she might be referring to Siren powers extending one's lifespan but still keeping them essentially mortal," Nezu theorized while rubbing his chin. "Well, not that we can be sure of it, given our limited understanding of these powers. I also get the sense that she's intentionally using cryptic terms for some reason."
"We once lived side-by-side with the Eridians, a wildly-advanced civilization. Though already the forgetting has begun," she said, her eyes revealing immense guilt.
Izuku gulped as his counterpart revealed that Eridans were indeed intelligent creatures, part of a wildly advanced civilization. This raised questions about why his counterpart might have chosen to kill some of these beings. Meanwhile, Shigaraki's manic laughter, directed at him, became increasingly unbearable to listen to.
At the same time, the inventors in the audience perked up upon hearing the description of the Eridans, their minds racing with thoughts about the kind of advanced technology this civilization might possess.
"There was no fear of one another. Only awe on one side, and a kind of sadness on the other. They never said if they knew their fate before it fell. But they also never said any of us had a choice."
Now, this left everyone in the audience both confused and intensely curious. It was abundantly clear that there was something truly ominous lurking behind those enigmatic words.
"I do not know when the Eridians became aware of The Destroyer. They never spoke of a time before it. But I suspect that they went searching for it, or something like it, and for their curiosity they were rewarded with doom."
"The Eridians were neither gods nor demons," Izumi shook her head. "They were simply a people whose abilities outpaced their needs, so in their curiosity broke down walls that should have stayed up. They were, perhaps, fated to be erased at their own behest, like the forest that grows so that it may burn."
"A civilization that became so advanced that they solved all of their problems. It sounds like a dream scenario, but..." Momo hesitated before continuing.
"But it also sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen," Melissa added, her voice filled with concern. "When a society reaches a point where they have no more challenges or obstacles to overcome, they might start seeking out new frontiers of exploration. Something similar must have happened with these Eridans, and unfortunately, they must have stumbled upon whatever this Destroyer creature is."
"This is where our world is heading as well," Overhaul interjected, his glare directed at everyone. "But all of you are fools and victims of quirks, unable to see the truth."
"What is the Destroyer you ask? It is a mouth with endless appetite. It is hate that never cools. It is the long shadow cast by our universe against the mouldering sun of time. It will never truly be contained. Merely made to wait until its chains slip - or are slipped for it," she explained as the screen displayed a colossal, nightmarish monstrosity of eldritch horror—a grotesque fusion of organic and mechanical elements. Its enormous, tentacled body pulsed with shimmering blue energy, and its central maw was filled with jagged teeth, while a malevolent eye gazed from above.
The people in the audience reacted in various ways as the image of The Destroyer appeared on the screen. Some recoiled in fear, their faces twisted with dread. Others were repulsed by the sight of such a monstrous creature. However, there were those who couldn't help but feel a strange fascination. How could they not? The creature before them was unlike anything they had ever seen, and most of them doubted they would encounter anything like it outside of this place...hopefully.
"The Destroyer. What a practical name for an incomprehensible evil," she said, a chuckle almost escaping her lips. "Surely it has had millions of names more poetic or subtle. But none of the civilizations who coined them survived to pass them on, or anything else for that matter. Only the Destroyer itself knows for sure how long it has been tearing through the universe... eating its own name. After all, The Destroyer is ever hungry. Perhaps that is obvious when regarding a horror that gnaws on the edges of galaxies. But its appetite only grew as it ate the stars, never stopping even to swallow."
Shigaraki couldn't hide his awe as he stared at the screen with childlike excitement. The creature on the screen seemed like some sort of idol to him, something he aspired to become, although he knew it was an aspiration he couldn't reach, at least not on this level. Simultaneously, his hands itched with the desire to walk towards the stage, grab that thing, and attempt to take its power for himself.
"The Eridians needed my power to stop The Destroyer, so when they found me, my sisters tried to fight them off. But I stopped them," she sighed. "I saw what lay behind their open hands. I knew that anyone who would ask for my help was already lost."
"It seems like Izumi isn't too fond of her powers," Shoto observed, casting a glance at her left hand.
"Can you blame her, though, considering all the horrible things people are saying about her and her sisters just because of those powers?" Shinso remarked. "The Eridians should be grateful that she even agreed to help them."
"Eridians asked for my help to seal The Destroyer inside a prison."
A frown crossed Toga's face as she loathed the idea of the Eridians attempting to imprison this Destroyer. In her belief, regardless of who or what they were, everyone should be free to do as they pleased without any restrictions.
She continued, her voice wavering slightly, "The prison known as Pandora is the most incredible cage ever constructed. An unbreakable lock meant to hold an unceasing evil for all eternity. Even for the Eridians, whose reach could pluck stars from across the void, it was the work of centuries."
The screen displayed an Earth-like planet.
"The creation of Pandora took the minds of generations to assemble. It was an impossible task, the scope unthinkable, the cost of failure too great. Still, they worked diligently, even as stars in the sky above them began to wink out."
The audience stared at the screen in awe as they beheld the prison that the Eridans had constructed to contain The Destroyer.
"So... the Eridans built an entire planet to seal the Destroyer... an entire planet..." Izuku said, sounding utterly flabbergasted, and his words echoed the sentiment shared by everyone present.
The accomplishment was so extraordinary that even individuals like All For One and Nezu found themselves speechless at the spectacle before them. How could they not be, considering that building an entire planet was a feat they had never imagined was possible, no matter how advanced the civilization might have been?
"Pandora's upper mantle is made of solid Eridium," she said as the screen displayed a glowing, purple, crystalline material. "It is this shell that was going to hold the Destroyer tightly in its bonds. The pressures and energies at work beneath the surface of the planet are titanic in scale. If the cycle is disrupted in any way, it is entirely possible that the Eridium will force its way to the surface. I fear such a thing might attract the wrong kind of attention."
"This Eridium material is truly amazing if it can even contain something like The Destroyer," Melissa said with fascination in her voice. "I would have loved to analyze it, even if I could just get my hands on a single crystal."
"This is precisely the kind of attention Izumi was warning about," Momo said, causing Melissa to turn her head toward her.
"But why!?" Melissa protested. "I only wanted one crystal, just to study it."
"It often starts with just one," Momo replied. "But let me ask you honestly, what if you discover a highly useful application for Eridium? Wouldn't you want to investigate further? And by repeatedly mining it, you might eventually weaken the Eridium crust containing The Destroyer."
"I see..." Melissa nodded, contemplating Momo's words for a moment. "Thinking about it, I can see the inventor in me getting carried away without realizing the consequences."
"To prevent this, the Eridians created Guardians," Izumi explained. "The Eridians left their mark on countless worlds, but few of their creations are as uncanny as the Guardians. They are quasi-life, a half-truth, driven by instructions they only partially understand. They are hardly the ideal custodians one would choose to guard the leashed terrors of the universe. But in their resolute imperfection, they are least mirror their creators."
"Master, these creatures are like Nomus," Shigaraki remarked as he stared at the screen.
"Hmm... it does seem that way, but I must say their design is rather pleasing to the eyes," All For One commented. "Of course, our Nomus are still in the early stages of development. Perhaps we can aim for something similar in the future."
A sinister smile slowly spread across Shigaraki's face as he envisioned himself wreaking havoc with these improved Nomus by his side.
"The soul of a Guardian is little more than data to be transferred from one shell to another. I have never seen where they reside if not in their physical bodies, and I suspect I never will. A soldier who cannot be killed in their sleep is a dangerous one."
"Since the Guardians are not bound to individual bodies, it is nearly impossible to know how many the Eridians might have made. An uncountable army, hidden below the surfaces of a hundred worlds. We are fortunate that they rarely stay far from their wards."
"Well, it appears that these Guardians are far more advanced than those rather unsightly Nomus of yours," All Might said with a smug grin, which caused All For One to frown in annoyance.
"But still, these Eridans created something truly formidable," Power Loader remarked. "To think that they fashioned an artificial soul... it's no wonder they drew the attention of something as terrifying as The Destroyer."
But then her mouth pursed into a thin line. "Although, I suspect that some Guardians are keener than others. I have seen them acting of their own accord and even heard them speak. What spark do they have that the others lack? Was it freely given, or stolen like the fire of the gods?"
"Yep! This is exactly how those sci-fi horror shows begin, with some robot gaining sentience, and then they attempt to annihilate humanity," Mina said.
"I do not believe the Eridians intended the Guardians to be their heirs. Though they are technological marvels, they were held back from true emergence and kept in the dark to be of greater use. I wonder if they resent their creators for it. Even the sharpest knife is still a simple tool."
"But sometimes, I do wonder," Izumi continued. "The Vaults operate as self-contained prisons. The Guardians have no need to serve as jailkeepers, only as sentinels at the walls. Why, then, bring them so close to consciousness? What purpose has a thinking spear?"
"For all the achievements these Eridians have, they were surely foolish to create creatures that could potentially turn against them," All For One said in a mocking tone. "I also agree with the saying, 'Even the sharpest knife is still a simple tool,' because no matter who or what it is—Guardian, Nomu, or human—they are ultimately pawns that must obey their master and meet their end when they outlive their usefulness." All For One's declaration drew disapproving glances from many, including some among the villains, which he simply ignored.
He also paid no heed to the thin line forming on Shigaraki's face. 'Master wasn't referring to me when he said "pawn," was he? No, of course not. He must have been talking about other NPCs,' Shigaraki thought, trying to reassure himself.
"What will happen, I wonder, when all the Vaults are empty, and all the terrors dead? Will the Guardians still stand their vigil? Will they find a greater purpose? And what is stopping them from finding it now?"
"I have seen the Guardians change their own bodies lengthening their blades or strengthening their armor as they require. I wonder how far they might change themselves, in the absence of their makers."
"Hey, is it just me, or did the Eridians really make these Guardians a bit too overpowered?" Kaminari asked with a strained smile. "I mean, at this point, they seem like a bigger threat to the universe than The Destroyer itself."
"But there must be a reason why the Eridians designed the Guardians this way," Izuku mused while rubbing his chin. "I honestly believe that there's a significant part of this puzzle that we're currently missing."
"While the Eridians were dedicating their efforts to imprisoning the Destroyer, not all shared the desperate optimism of the Eridians. There were some who hoped to appease the Destroyer and save their own souls by attacking the yet-unfinished Pandora."
"Of course, there are idiots who will only try to save their own skin, even when a universal threat is looming," Ryukyu said while rolling her eyes.
"And why should they care?" Geten challenged her statement. "If they could appease that beast, not only would they survive, but they'd also have a cosmic force on their side to conquer the rest of the universe."
"That's an idiotic way of thinking," Ryukyu shot back. "It's utterly foolish to believe that something named 'The Destroyer' would even need a few idiots to do its bidding."
"They were met by another of the Eridians' creations - The Warrior," she explained as the screen displayed a colossal dragon-like beast made of hard rock and lava, with four legs, two arms, a pair of wings, and a long tail.
"Though their coup was obliterated, the Warrior now sleeps in its own Vault, ready to defend it from any who would further trespass against Pandora."
"Now, that's what I call a combat unit!" Shigaraki cheered. "Sensei, I want one!"
"Calm down, Tomura. As much as I would like to have something like that in my arsenal, our technology isn't advanced enough to create a fire-breathing Dragon out of thin air," All For One said. However, a thought crossed his mind, and a sinister smile crept onto his face. 'Maybe combining Endeavor or Dabi's quirk with a dragon hero might yield some interesting results,' he thought.
"Finally, the construction of Pandora was complete, but imprisoning The Destroyer was easier said than done," Izumi said her voice getting grim once more.
hushed silence fell over the entire audience as they collectively realized that something momentous was on the horizon, discerning a subtle shift in Izumi's voice.
"The momentous task of caging the Destroyer was made all the more difficult by its intelligence. It understands the beings it consumes and the cultures it dissolves. To trick such a being required a great sacrifice - a lure. Millions of lives that entered Pandora ahead of its captive, tempting it further inward."
"Oh no..." Izuku muttered, his eyes wide with horror, a sentiment that resonated with nearly everyone in the audience. Of course, there were exceptions, like Shigaraki and Dabi, who remained indifferent to the massacre, not caring about the fate of an alien race due to an alien creature.
"It was here that I killed them," immense guilt and pain could be heard in her voice, but her eyes remained devoid of emotion.
Once again, Inko's heart broke as she saw Izumi on the screen, and she longed to be there, to pull her into a warm embrace, offering whatever comfort she could.
"A billion lives to power a machine. Should it comfort me that they will thrum in its heart forever? Perhaps oblivion would have been kinder. I can only hope they were already dead when I closed the gate behind it."
"Well, well, well, it looks like that hero brat here is capable of causing a lot more harm than even I could," Shigaraki taunted, causing Izuku to flinch slightly.
"Shut the hell up, Handjob," Bakugo yelled. "The nerd and the girl on the screen are two different people. They have nothing in common."
"Yeah, but this device also shows what we could be capable of doing, right? That means given a chance and a choice, he'll do this as well," Shigaraki replied with a sinister grin.
"While I was committing this massacre, there was a single Guardian present there. It stood and watched from above us in that machinal crypt. I feared and perhaps hoped, it would seek to avenge them and strike me down. But it made no motions to save its life-givers as they died. It merely... watched."
"It must have been instructed not to do anything and simply watch as Izumi... carried out her task," Melissa said.
"I also think it was meant to ensure she wouldn't back out from her mission," Nezu suggested. "After all, not everyone possesses the willpower to carry out such a sacrifice."
"Finally, I succeeded in imprisoning The Destroyer, but at the cost of the entire Eridian civilization," she said with a sad self-deprecating smile. "I may be the last to ever learn the Eridian language from one of their own. I have so many questions I should have asked them while I had the chance. Like why the Eridian term for "homeworld" also means 'first landing'."
'An entire civilization was lost in such a short time...' Izuku thought, attempting to empathize with his counterpart. 'Could I even bear to do something like this?' he asked himself, and the answer came quickly. But then his eyes widened as he realized the gravity of what he was watching, making him feel like shit all over again.
"However, just imprisoning The Destroyer wasn't the end of the task. After all, all prisoners must be fed, even the Destroyer. " Izumi explained. "That's why Eridians devised of a feeding slot that calls wayward souls to open it every two hundred years. A cruel surprise for those that open this false vault, but in exchange the small morsel will keep the Destroyer sedate over the eons. In any case, the victims will not be in pain for long."
"Oh, what a splendid way to manipulate people's greed to maintain the prison. It's a clever trick that I've employed quite a few times myself," All For One said with a laugh. "But that's not surprising, as they do say that great minds think alike."
Meanwhile, on the heroes' side, the mood had soured upon hearing the Eridians' plan to maintain the prison. Still, they found themselves in a moral quandary. After all, the Eridians had sacrificed their entire civilization to trap the beast, so luring some greedy individuals to maintain that cage might be seen as fair. Yet, their morals couldn't fully reconcile with it.
"The other problem was the key to this prison," Izumi said. "Eridians knew that the cost of putting the Destroyer in its chains meant there was no one left to throw away the key. All they could do was disguise it. And so it will forever hang in the sky, a small, cold, tidally locked moon, unremarkable even to the dwellers on the surface of the planet."
"Honestly, after witnessing the Eridians build an entire planet, creating a moon for it doesn't seem like such a big deal," Jiro remarked.
"Nevertheless, it was a clever move to conceal the key to the prison directly above Pandora in the form of a moon, especially since having moons is a common occurrence among celestial bodies," Momo praised.
"Still, if there was a permanent solution to end this creature, perhaps Eridans would have found it, but unfortunately even death will not end the Destroyer," Izumi said in a somber voice. "So long as dark and light, true and false, something and nothing continue to meet and annihilate one another, there will be a Destroyer."
"I see, so The Destroyer is an absolute existence that cannot be killed but only contained," Nezu said.
"I think 'cosmic horror' would be a more accurate term for that monstrosity," Aizawa remarked.
The next words that left her mouth held a hint of fear in her voice, "I wonder if it, too, has a reflection that it might meet someday. And though I shudder to think of unceasing hunger, my blood runs cold at the thought of unstoppable creation."
"Wouldn't that essentially be a god?" Ibara asked, looking genuinely confused. "I mean, in some cultures, a god is referred to as a creator, and who else could possess such a terrifying and majestic power of endless creation?"
"But Shiozaki, you can't ignore the fact that this is another universe, and there might indeed be a creature there with the power of unstoppable creation, just like The Destroyer," Nemuri said.
"At last, with Pandora sealed and Destroyer chained within, the greatest of the Eridian's secrets are put to rest. It would be folly for me to think, though, this is the last of them. There are countless other wonders or horrors they hid across the stars before my time. For every Graveward, Traveller, or Timekeeper (Names of some of the Vault Guardians), there are surely a dozen more slumbering in the forgotten Vaults.
(Graveward)
(Traveller)
"Okay, I'm just going to say it, but damn, these Eridians caused a lot of trouble for the people who would come after them," Setsuna said. "Did they really have to leave their monstrous creatures behind like motion-sensored sentry guns?"
"I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing," Izuku offered an explanation. "Consider how advanced these Eridans were. They must have other advanced technology or weapons stored in these vaults. It's better that those things are protected by those monsters rather than falling into the wrong hands."
Then, for the first time since the start of this video diary, Izumi's eyes showed pain, grief, guilt, sorrow, and other such emotions, and that definitely reflected in her voice as she continued, "When my atrocity was complete and I returned home. I found no family to rejoin. The others had fled. Our braid was unraveled, and my sisters scattered to the stars."
"So, her so-called sisters just abandoned her after she went through all of that?" Ochako asked, sounding genuinely enraged. "What kind of family does that to one of their own?"
"Ha! That's just people revealing their true nature," Shigaraki gritted his teeth. "No matter how close you are to someone, they'll often forsake you for their own interests."
"But they left me a parting gift. They told me where to die, and that my thread might never be picked up again. When I have written my last, I will go back to the Eridan world, to the Vault there, I hope it works. This would be a brighter universe without Leech (The name of Izumi's Serien Powers)."
"Damm, they really told her to take her own life, huh?" Dabi smirked. "And to think they're still better than my family."
'Dabi has or had a family?' Hawks raised his brow. 'I should look into his past to see if I can find something on him.'
"But what's even more fascinating is the fact that All Might's successor possesses a power like mine," All for One said, grinning at All Might. "And the way she used that power to cause a massacre, how intriguing."
"Stop spouting nonsense. Young Izumi helped seal that evil creature," All Might countered while glaring at the villain.
"Oh, but that doesn't change the fact that she wiped out an entire civilization, something I couldn't even conceive of doing," All For One replied, taking pleasure in seeing the enraged expression on All Might's face.
"You," she addresses whoever might find this video diary in the future, looking directly into the camera with steeled eyes that still held all those emotions from before.
Some members of the audience were genuinely startled when Izumi addressed them directly.
"You now know all that I know. This was an epitaph, not for myself, but for the world I knew. I have brought ruin to the Sirens, murdered the Eridians, and imprisoned a primordial force of the universe. Perhaps I have earned your haterade or your sympathy. But that is not why I write these words. I have told you the truth, no matter its hard edges."
No matter what, Izuku couldn't bring himself to hate his counterpart. Part of him understood that what she had agreed to do might be one of the most horrifying acts imaginable, but he couldn't ignore that she didn't act out of malice or selfishness. Instead, all she did was help... help secure the future of their universe. He could also see how deeply it had affected her—the lifelessness in her eyes and voice were clear signs of her profound suffering, teetering on the edge...
"Before I put my fractured mind to rest, I must pass one more warning.
You must never find the Seventh."
Then the screen turned black.
"So, thoughts?" Nezu asked.
"I would say it was both intriguing and disheartening at the same time," Momo offered.
"Yeah, learning about Eridians was captivating," Melissa said. "To think that there are such advanced species in the multiverse that can even build entire planets, how amazing is that?"
"But don't forget that those same people also caught the attention of The Destroyer," Aizawa pointed out. "Based on what Midoriya's counterpart said, it looks like they brought this calamity upon themselves."
"Yeah, absolutely a calamity, couldn't have worded it better myself," David added. "And to their credit, Eridians did come up with a solution to stop it, but..."
"The cost was too high," All Might sighed as he shook his head. Then he looked to his side and saw Izuku sitting there silently, staring at his feet with a gloomy look in his eyes. "What's wrong, young Izuku? Is something bothering you?"
"No, it's not-"
"Oh, there's definitely something bothering him, isn't that right, Izuku Midoriya?" All For One grinned as he interrupted Izuku, who was attempting to avoid the topic. "I know you've realized what this video diary was about, and I do too. So why don't you share the truth with them, or I'll reveal it in far more vivid terms."
Izuku glared at the supervillain but eventually sighed, recognizing that it was better to disclose what he had realized to the group rather than have the villain do it. "Well, what we just watched was most likely... a confession... a final confession before my other self..."
Izuku stopped speaking as he couldn't bring himself to say the word, but the realization gradually started to sink in for the others. The atmosphere, particularly on the heroes' side, grew darker by the second, while All For One wore a smile on his face.
"Oh good!" Momo exclaimed as she placed her hand on her mouth. "Now it makes sense... all of it. And the gift her sisters left for her was..."
"Yes, a final resting place... most likely a place that would allow her to seal her powers, which she must have grown to despise after what she had done with them," Izuku said somberly.
"Alright, enough of this depressing shit! Let's move on already!" Bakugo exclaimed, and Nezu wholeheartedly agreed as they moved on to the next universe.
To be continued...
*******
Source: Eridian Writings, Borderlands 3.