Chapter 280: A death wish.

--Wednesday, July 8, 2172

After cutting and charring the Quirk Thief several times while All Might pounded him with everything he had, Kai couldn't help but frown in exasperation. The guy, though strong, was comparable to the male Drider, so for Kai, who was much stronger, handling him was easy. The problem was that he was a damn cockroach; no matter what he did, even using Royal Silence to prevent him from using his Quirks, he somehow managed to survive and reform.

[Master, Mrs. Yoshiko's situation is deteriorating. She's agitated and panicking.]

At that moment, Kai heard Sage's solemn voice reporting in his mind, which made him glance at the helicopter recording him in the distance behind him. Determined to go all out, Kai quickly performed some mental calculations and ordered his trusted assistant.

[Get the helicopter and drones out of here.]

[Immediately.]

Sage replied instantly as her wings changed color at high speed like a kaleidoscope, forcibly taking control of the helicopter and drones. At the same time, Kai sent a message to the communicator All Might had.

[I have to go. I'm going to deliver the final blow. Send him skyward when I give the signal.]

[Understood.]

All Might quickly replied while unleashing a storm of blows on AFO, internally surprised by how resilient he was. In their previous battle, although he was very strong and full of Quirks, he didn't have so many survival measures. It seemed that being on the brink of death had traumatized him quite a bit, and he had gathered who knows how many Quirks just to stay alive.

For his part, Kai, realizing the helicopter could no longer see him, quickly jumped several meters into the air and extended his right hand forward. At that moment, enormous amounts of energy congregated in it, creating a sphere of pure destruction. Simultaneously, Kai sent a message to All Might in a serious tone.

[Now!]

Upon hearing Kai, All Might moved at his top speed to appear beneath AFO, who looked somewhat dazed and out of it but still conscious. Without a word, All Might unleashed a brutal uppercut that created an ascending tornado, sending AFO right in front of Kai in mere instants.

Surprisingly silently, the Symbol of Evil shrunk into a ball in the air, then deformed into a strange ball of meat full of unpleasant protrusions, which made Kai frown. But still, not wanting to waste any more time, he quickly announced aloud while pointing at the meatball with his outstretched hand.

"Big Bang Attack!!"

With Kai's announcement, the energy sphere shot towards the meatball at supersonic speed, consuming it almost instantly and unleashing a brutal explosion that vaporized nearly everything. On the ground, All Might watched with a solemn expression as a colossal mushroom cloud formed while the shockwave violently tossed his hair.

(Kai-boy is truly terrifying… Would I be able to stop him if he strayed from the path…? No, even in my prime, would I really be capable of defeating him…?)

While the Symbol of Peace pondered deeply, Kai let out a sigh of relief as he felt the Quirk Thief's 'voice' finally disappear completely. He quickly conjured a Magnetic Force card in his hand. Amidst the aftermath of his second most powerful attack, Kai raised the card in his hand and announced aloud.

"[Magnetic Force] On! [Yoshiko]!"

………

"What do you want…"

On the deck of a huge cruise ship, Mrs. Yoshiko could be seen inside an electric plasma barrier alongside a massive, dark purple-furred panther and her husband. Toshiaki-san was sitting on the ground, completely exhausted, with blood dripping from several wounds on his body, struggling to get up.

"Not much. Just come along obediently. We have some questions to ask and a troublesome person to lure out; that's all. Once everything is settled, I assure you you'll be free to go quietly."

A calm, ordinary-looking young man dressed in jeans and an oversized t-shirt commented in a playful voice while curiously observing the enormous panther. Mrs. Yoshiko fell silent and looked up at the sky with a dark expression. They had already tried everything, even escaping, but it was all useless. That young man seemed to have an almost supernatural control over time.

If they tried to escape, with a simple snap of his fingers, they would return to their original position. If they attacked him, he would snap his fingers and their attacks would miss, or if they managed to inflict a small scratch, it would disappear as if it never happened. The same happened with the men accompanying him, who had already 'died' at least dozens of times.

In the end, all they achieved was getting injured and exhausted, with most of the cruise ship's guards dead or captured, while the other side remained intact. Even the deck didn't have a single scratch. All damage to it would disappear with a simple snap of the young man's fingers.

"Don't overthink it; just cooperate. Nothing is worth more than your life and your family's life, right?"

Seeing Mrs. Yoshiko silent, the young man commented in a calm voice while taking a step towards them. Mrs. Yoshiko looked at the relaxed young man and deactivated the Accomplice's barrier, then commented with a calm, professional smile, the same that adorned her face every day at the Saito mansion.

"That's true. Nothing is more important than family."

"That makes things easier. Let's leave this place. On the way, I want you to explain to me what that panther really is."

The young man commented with a smile full of satisfaction and smugness, raised his hand, and snapped his fingers. This caused the entire ship to revert to how it was before they arrived, except for Mrs. Yoshiko and himself. Even the speedboat had returned to the sea with the men inside.

With everything ready, the young man extended his hand toward Mrs. Yoshiko, but at that instant, several knives and swords shot towards him. The young man snapped his fingers, causing the weapons to stop midair. As his expression darkened, he commented in a cold voice.

"Stupid old woman, if you want to die so badly, then I'll do you the favor."

The young man prepared to snap his fingers again, but at that moment, he noticed a calm and slightly mocking smile on the face of the old woman he was sent to capture, which triggered all his danger alarms. Almost instinctively, the young man slightly turned his head to look over his shoulder, where he saw a man in black armor with a sword in his hand about to cut him.

Shocked, the young man tried to snap his fingers, but to his horror, his fingers wouldn't move, and he soon started to feel himself falling. With an expression contorted in pure terror, the young man looked down, allowing him to see his legs separating from his body along with his arms. At that instant, a distorted voice resonated from behind.

"You really must have a death wish to attack one of mine."

The young man, about to hit the ground as nothing but a limbless torso, looked at the armored man and showed a smile full of madness, soon shouting aloud.

"Saito Kai!!! I was waiting for you!!!"

As he screamed, the young man became suspended in the air and soon started to return to his original position as if it were a movie playing in reverse. But at that moment, Kai scoffed and commented with utter contempt.

"You overestimate yourself. Royal Silence."

Along with his voice, a brutal pressure enveloped the young man, who couldn't help but show an expression of disbelief as his body stopped, then fell to the ground. His Quirk had somehow been forcibly deactivated. On the ground, gushing enormous amounts of blood, the young man looked at Kai with disbelief and asked, filled with terror.

"How…?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

Kai replied casually and used his electric aura and Conqueror's Haki to knock the young man unconscious. While Sage flew over to capture him, Kai appeared in front of the couple and placed his hand on Toshiaki-san's shoulder, asking while looking at Mrs. Yoshiko.

"Are you both alright?"

"Thanks to your timely intervention."

Mrs. Yoshiko bowed respectfully and thanked him in a professional tone. Toshiaki-san, feeling his body healing at a great speed, commented in a calm and cordial voice.

"It was a bit hectic, but we are perfectly fine. It's just that my old bones aren't what they used to be."

"That's a relief. I apologize for this. As you could see, someone is after me. From now on, I will improve everyone's security to prevent something like this from happening again."

Kai commented in a calm voice while finishing healing Toshiaki-san. Mrs. Yoshiko looked around, where the young man who attacked them had already disappeared and all the others were unconscious, and commented calmly.

"Don't worry, Master Kai. You have no need to apologize. The fault isn't yours; it lies with those 'villains'."

"Thank you." Kai thanked and slightly inclined his head toward Mrs. Yoshiko, who smiled softly and asked while looking at the unconscious people.

"What do we do now, Master Kai? The commotion was quite significant."

Kai was about to respond when suddenly the Secrets Keeper appeared in his hand, so he quickly looked at Mrs. Yoshiko's hand, where he could indeed see a gladius sword with intricate Aura Script patterns inscribed on it. That sight brought a small smile to Kai's face, hidden by his helmet, as he commented while looking at Mrs. Yoshiko.

"Nothing. You will just fall asleep like everyone else here and say you know nothing, which is probably what everyone present will say. However, make sure to maintain physical contact. That way, the defenses of the Secrets Keeper and others will protect both of you and allow you to avoid direct lie-detecting Quirks and the like. Although, try not to speak much. Indirect and imprecise methods could still detect falsehood in your words without triggering the defenses."

"I understand, Master Kai." Mrs. Yoshiko commented seriously with a slight bow. Toshiaki-san got up from the ground with Kai's help and commented with a smile.

"We'll do just that. Thank you very much for the help, young Saito."

"No thanks needed. I'll keep an eye on you, and a security delegation will be waiting for you at the port."

Kai commented in a calm tone, then blurred from the spot, disappearing completely. At that moment, Toshiaki-san turned to look at his wife and commented with a somewhat stiff smile.

"Young Saito is quite frightening…"

"Master Kai is a very protective and responsible person. He would never harm us."

Mrs. Yoshiko commented calmly while stretching her hand toward her husband, who took it with a defeated smile and walked with her to the chairs where they were before everything happened. They sat down and closed their eyes, holding hands.

…

Moving at high speed over the water, Kai soon arrived where the unconscious companions of the young man who attacked Mrs. Yoshiko were. Upon arrival, Kai jumped onto the speedboat and landed softly on it while ordering in a calm tone.

"Capture them all, Sage."

"Immediately, master."

The beautiful fairy materialized out of thin air and began touching the unconscious men while Kai looked at the sky, holding the Secrets Keeper in his hand, reflecting deeply.

"Is this the Quirk Thief's people…? It doesn't seem to be the case. Given the activation of the Secrets Keeper, it's highly likely someone else set this up. But how was the attack synchronized as well? Only All Might knew about my involvement, and the others only found out at the last moment who they were attacking… Could it be that All Might sold me out?"

While murmuring to himself, dark lightning began to surround Kai, but this soon calmed down. Kai shook his head and watched as cells appeared to isolate the men while he got lost in his thoughts.

"No, I watched him closely, and he didn't do anything strange. It must be something else… Somehow they managed to synchronize without activating the Secrets Keeper or raising suspicions from Sage or the other counter-espionage systems… I guess I'll have to extract everything I can from these guys to get some clues."

Kai let out a small sigh and shook his head again, then kicked the now-empty speedboat, destroying it completely as he rose into the air. After rising several meters into the air, Kai conjured a Magnetic Force card, but just as he was about to activate it, a marker suddenly reappeared in his mind, making him open his eyes in disbelief.

"The Quirk Thief?"

"It's the Quirk Thief, master. He somehow reappeared 5 kilometers from where he supposedly died." Sage soon reported with a serious expression, which prompted Kai to order, filled with surprise.

"Sage, find a nearby travel point! That damn cockroach refuses to die!"

"The closest travel point is with the Pussycats, master!" Sage promptly informed. So, Kai raised the card into the air and announced aloud.

"[Magnetic Force] On! [Chatora]!"

***

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