Chapter 168: This has been a great life!

In the middle of the Saito mansion’s garden, Nemuri was biting her nails, full of worry, pacing back and forth because for some reason, with every second that passed since Eva’s arrival, a terrifying premonition began to fill her—a feeling that equally affected her entire family, who were in a situation similar to hers.

Although everyone was trying to remain calm and trust in Kai—and they hadn’t even heard Eva’s story yet, so they really knew nothing—the minutes passed, and the worry only grew, leaving them teetering on the edge of the table. They were waiting for the one who could offer even a thread of tranquility in their situation. At that moment, an unmistakable entrance echoed throughout the property.

“I’m here!!”

In the middle of the night, the symbol of peace, the undisputed number one, landed while announcing his arrival with his trademark phrase. At that moment, he could see eight women of world-class beauty, along with a tall, muscular man, whose faces wore expressions of obvious concern, while various drones patrolled throughout the property.

“All Might! How good that you arrived!” Upon seeing the symbol of peace, Nemuri greeted him hastily, then quickly added with urgency—without giving the mythical hero a chance to speak.

“It’s possible that Kai is in danger!! We need your help!!”

“What?!!”

Upon hearing the urgent shout from his fellow teacher, All Might couldn’t help but exclaim in disbelief, then ask—with apprehension—the only possibility that came to mind that could endanger someone of Saito Kai’s caliber. A monster comparable to himself in his prime.

“Did Kai-shonen decide to face All For One on his own?!!”

“Kai went off to investigate some very powerful spiders!!! But now he is unreachable, and he sent someone for rescue from that place—but now he is completely disconnected and not coming back! We fear that something might have happened to him! We must go help him!! My heart tells me he is in danger!!!”

Even with the mark on her face, Keiko—who seemed as if she wanted to run away, her nerves in a frenzy and on the verge of an attack—exclaimed in a loud, hoarse voice, which left All Might dumbfounded. Although he didn’t fully understand the situation, knowing it could be truly critical, he put all doubts aside and quickly asked the important question.

“Where should I go?”

“Take this!” At that moment, Keiko created with her quirk what appeared to be a pair of black glasses, then handed them to All Might, adding with visible fear.

“It’s a communication interface, and it has several other functions; it tells you where you should go and all the information we have!”

Upon receiving the glasses, All Might quickly put them on. Immediately, various images appeared before his eyes, but the most important was a small map in the lower right corner of his field of vision, next to what appeared to be a column of light in the distance—which he quickly interpreted as his destination. Surprised for a moment, he quickly recomposed himself and crouched to gain momentum as he spoke.

“Understood, I’ll try to get there as quickly as possible!”

Immediately after speaking, All Might gave a powerful leap, shooting out at high speed through the air toward the distant column of light. He propelled himself by kicking the air—a little trick he had copied from Kai, one that took him longer to master than he cared to admit—but just then, somehow, he managed to hear Midnight’s voice with incredible clarity.

[All Might, this is Midnight speaking. As you head to the last known location we have of Kai, I will give you a brief summary of the situation. On the first day of the internships, the Pussycats were summoned for a rescue mission on a deserted island where communication had been lost with a scientific team.

[Although sadly only one survivor was found, Kai managed to identify the perpetrators—a group of 5 spiders with colossal power. According to his own words, each one of those 5 spiders was comparable to your current power, which made him incredibly cautious to the point that he did not dare report everything. He only provided vague information, fearing that the authorities might be involved.

[But a few hours ago, Kai managed to pinpoint where the spiders were headed, so he decided to investigate it himself. Yet for some strange reason, he sent a woman and her son from that location using one of his abilities, and now he has not returned nor sent any sign of life since—so we fear that something may have happened to him.]

“Why did he do something so reckless?!”

Shaken by the new information, All Might couldn’t help but reply in utter astonishment—even though he wasn’t entirely sure how the glasses worked. Fortunately, another female voice quickly responded, which he immediately recognized as Mandalay’s.

[Because Kai feared that something was amiss—sending 5 such powerful spiders to mere scientists was very strange, especially since no one except him could have detected them—he assumed that things were happening behind the scenes, and against a power like that, countermeasures are needed. That’s why he first wanted to investigate on his own!]

In the mansion’s main hall, the entire family was standing, unable to sit down as the sinister premonition grew ever stronger. They watched holographic screens that showed All Might speeding toward Kai’s last known location. Then, All Might’s voice resonated in the room.

[Well, it doesn’t make sense to focus on that now; more importantly, what information did the woman bring?]

At All Might’s question, Ryuko quickly began recounting everything they had heard, since Eva was busy taking a bath—a fact that drew a grave expression on the number one hero’s face. After nearly 15 minutes, he managed to reach the column of light shown on his glasses, which brought a bitter smile to his face, for in moments like these it was clear to everyone just how much he had weakened.

But the bitterest part was that no matter where he looked, all he could see was an apparently endless expanse of water, faintly illuminated by the waning moon—a sight that lent the calm sea an eerie, almost ghostly aura. It was at that moment that All Might began to hear a series of roars accompanied by screams filled with despair.

[[[KAI???!!!!]]]

“What is happening?!!”

In the middle of the Saito mansion’s main hall, everyone present watched in fear as ten impressive panthers of different colors materialized out of nowhere, then roared to the sky in unison. At that moment, they began to turn ghostly as fatigue overwhelmed them, filling them with utter despair, as no matter how they looked at the situation, it seemed like a farewell of their loyal Accomplices.

Similarly, Salem—who until moments ago had been sleeping peacefully alongside Tama on one of the armchairs—was startled awake by a sudden sensation of fatigue. This allowed him to see his Accomplice disappearing into nothingness. In that instant, he leapt and ran toward the garden, growing to his maximum size as he did so, and began to roar with all his might before dashing throughout the property in search of his master.

…

…

…

With a fluid movement he had practiced hundreds of thousands of times, Kai stepped forward and to his left, narrowly dodging a spider’s leg—over a meter in length—by mere millimeters. In the same movement, he delivered an upward slash with his sword that cleanly severed the spider’s leg, causing it to squeal in pain.

Ignoring the annoying squeal, Kai, as if he were in his gym practicing like every day, slowly turned his body so that he was facing just to the side of the spider’s head. In what seemed like the same motion, he brought his sword down and cut off the spider’s head in one swift stroke, abruptly silencing its squeal.

While the headless spider fell to the ground, Kai shifted his waist to his left. Even with his attempt, he was too slow for a wooden root that burst from the burned and shattered ground, managing to pierce the outer part of his lower stomach. Yet, as if he couldn’t feel it, Kai moved his right foot backward and then twisted his entire body—tearing his own flesh in the process.

At the same time, Kai raised his sword and then brought it down with exquisite precision, managing to cut a roughly 60-centimeter spider in half that seemed intent on biting him. At that moment, more roots emerged from the ground to attack his head and chest. With an expression completely devoid of emotion, Kai moved his right foot backward, then shifted his entire body to create a distance that completely separated him from the attacks.

Without any intention of stopping, Kai quickly spun and delivered an upward slash to his left, killing another spider. Then, he turned his head to one side and, just an instant later, a beam of orange energy streaked right past where his head was—snatching away part of his ear. At the same time, two other beams struck his left shoulder and his stomach, leaving enormous burned holes in his body.

Without changing his expression, Kai moved his left foot back and to the side, then turned, which allowed him to dodge the attack of a new spider while ending up with his back to it—at that moment, the spider let out a screech of pain from having been hit by three energy blasts, then collapsed to the ground, dead, as Kai lunged forward to slash another spider.

While executing the movements he had practiced millions of times in an almost systematic fashion, Kai continued killing spiders one by one—even though the process inflicted many more wounds. Along with the extreme fatigue he was enduring, his mind became clouded, to the point that his body began moving purely on instinct, while all the memories of his new life started flashing through his mind.

As he relived every moment of the 14 years of life he could remember, a smile couldn’t help but settle on his lips. His mind replayed every birthday, every lunch, every movie, and every silly conversation he had with his parents and with his non-blood family—finally reaching the moments with his girlfriends, revisiting the girls’ confessions, the foolish things he did, and ultimately, how lucky he was.

(Although there remain some regrets, definitely…)

“This has been a great life!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!”

...

Kneeling on the ground, feeling completely defeated and hopeless, Sage let out a muffled scream to the sky, filled with pain and despair. After all, her master—who had been fighting with a huge smile on his face—had been struck down and was beginning to be slowly devoured by the spiders, and she could no longer do anything to stop it.

For the first time in her short life, she felt the emotion known as true despair. But at that moment, she suddenly heard him shout with force, followed by a nearly insane yet incredibly powerful laugh, which made her cry even harder as she cursed the sky—her beloved master had accepted his death.

But unknown to everyone, deep within Kai’s “voice”, a small figure in the lotus position—normally shrouded in a thick aura, but now barely, if at all, visible as a faint silhouette—suddenly began to move gently. At that moment, a soft smile started forming on its face.

Little by little, the smile on the figure’s face grew progressively larger until it finally burst into uncontrollable laughter—so much so that its lotus posture broke, and it began clutching its stomach and rolling, as if it had been told the funniest joke in the world, though it emitted no sound. At that moment, the faint aura surrounding the figure began to bubble violently.

In the midst of her inconsolable crying, Sage repeatedly felt droplets fall on her face, soon followed by more until they transformed into a heavy rain. This caused her to lift her gaze to the sky, where she realized that the once completely clear heavens were now entirely covered by ominous black clouds that seemed to be exchanging mighty bolts of lightning. A powerful rain of thick droplets poured down.

At the same time, her master’s powerful laughter—which hadn’t ceased for a single moment—seemed to make the air tremble in an ominous way, while incredibly thick jets of jet-black lightning extended in every direction with no apparent end. This made her look at her master with deep apprehension.

Filled with shock, Sage saw her master in a terrible state—lying on his back, his eyes unfocused, missing one arm and both legs, with several of his bones visible. But the strangest part wasn’t that—it was that all the spiders around him had fallen unconscious to the ground, while he laughed as if he’d been told the funniest joke in the world.

With her heart breaking at the sight of her master’s miserable state, Sage flew toward him slowly. At that very moment, the lightning bolts that the clouds seemed to be exchanging began to fall upon the island, creating an apocalyptic electric downpour that seemed to cover the entire island. At the same time, the shores of the island—previously surrounded by a calm, unperturbed sea—began to be battered by colossal waves, growing larger and more powerful with each passing moment.

But perhaps even stranger than that scene was the fact that, although the rain of lightning seemed to cover every inch of the island, it appeared to be consciously avoiding her master and her. This left them as the only untouched elements in a place filled with blood, death, and fire—as enormous blazes erupted in all directions.

“Master!!!!”

But soon, her master’s luck seemed to run out. A great lightning bolt—perhaps the largest of them all—suddenly struck him, releasing a blinding flash that made Sage scream in terror. Yet, as if the surprises weren’t over, as the flash diminished, Sage could feel her master’s energy recharging in a manner very similar to how Inverse Flow worked.

Despite her disbelief, Sage didn’t hesitate for a single second and quickly flew with all her strength toward her Master, simultaneously conjuring the Magnetic Force card—which she activated the moment she reached his side, her heart filled with infinite hope.

“[Magnetic Force] on!! [Home]!!!!!!”

***

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