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CHAPTER 1:
THE BINDING BOND AND THE SHADOWS OF USJ
Rain poured over the city of Musutafu, washing down the concrete facades and into the iron storm drains below.
Izuku Midoriya tightened his grip on the yellow strap of his backpack. His fingers were numb. He could still hear the words spoken behind the school building.
“If you want to be a hero so bad, pray for a Quirk in your next life and take a swan dive off the roof.”
Then came the rooftop. The wind rustling All Might’s golden hair. And that cold, crushing voice:
“You cannot become a hero without a power, kid. Be realistic.”
Izuku quickened his pace, tears blending invisibly with the rain. “Mom...” he whispered, his lips trembling. “I have to get to Mom. She’s... making dinner.”
But as he turned the corner onto his street, he was greeted by the flashing red and blue lights of emergency vehicles. Police tape blocked the entrance to his apartment complex.
“Poor Inko-san... They said it was an accidental gas line explosion from a villain clash nearby...”
“Didn’t she have a son? Where is the boy?”
Izuku’s yellow bag slipped from his fingers, splashing into the muddy puddle beneath him. He saw the corner of a yellow blanket on the stretcher, beneath which a lock of dark green hair was visible. He didn’t scream. He didn’t cry.
The soft, gentle child inside him died in that exact second. A vast, pitch-black void opened up within his mind.
‘Why?’ his mind asked, cold and hollow. ‘Why are they allowed to be strong? Why is All Might a hero? Why did Mom die? If I had possessed every detail of All Might’s true form, his three-hour limit, and the rotten foundation of this city...’
In that moment, an invisible fracture occurred in the fabric of reality. A freezing warmth settled deep in Izuku’s chest. It was no Quirk. It was the Witch Factor of Greed, anchoring itself to the absolute void of a shattered soul.
Izuku slowly raised his head toward the storm. The warm light in his green eyes was gone, replaced by a cold, calculating, and insatiable darkness that sought to claim ownership over every variable in existence.
“Nothing...” Izuku whispered, his voice locking into a permanent, unbreakable rule. “Nothing will ever be taken from me again. I will possess every variable. Every lie. Every secret.”
9 MONTHS LATER — KANAKUBA UNDERGROUND SAFEHOUSE
Only one month remained until the UA Entrance Exams. For the past nine months, Izuku Midoriya was officially registered as a "deceased or missing Quirkless child." The tertiary function of his Authority—Perceptual Blindspot—ensured that the police investigation effortlessly glossed over his survival.
Inside the dimly lit safehouse, Izuku sat behind a metal desk, his face concealed behind a sleek, black mechanical mask. Standing across from him was the hulking figure of Re-Destro (Rikiya Yotsubashi), leader of the Meta Liberation Army.
“You called me here, ‘Architect’,” Re-Destro rumbled, veins bulging on his forehead. “As the leader of the Liberation Army, I do not negotiate with masked children.”
“I did not bring you here to negotiate, Yotsubashi-san,” Izuku replied, his voice smooth and synthesized through the mask. “I have mapped your ideology, your grand vision, and your overwhelming need for a savior. I possess your weakness.”
Izuku stood up without making a sound. As he lightly grazed his gloved hand across the edge of the desk near Re-Destro, the Secondary Function of his Authority reacted to Re-Destro’s psychological vulnerability, generating an intangible, conceptual pressure around the room.
“I offer you a pact,” Izuku said calmly. “You will surrender the strategic command of your army to my design. In return, your followers will experience an unprecedented elevation in their Liberation capacities. But mark my words: This agreement binds us both. If you attempt to betray the intent of this bond...”
Izuku leaned closer, his masked gaze locking onto Re-Destro.
“...the very Stress you store will implode your heart from within.”
Izuku did not bother explaining the precise mechanics of the Authority. He simply laid out the condition. Re-Destro, misinterpreting the phenomenon as an esoteric, high-level Quirk contract, felt a chill run down his spine. The sheer weight of Izuku's presence felt like an absolute law rather than a threat.
Re-Destro slowly extended his hand and shook Izuku's. The moment their hands met, Izuku's Primary Function instantaneously archived Re-Destro's physical data, while the conceptual bond of the Secondary Function was sealed.
10TH MONTH — UNFORESEEN SIMULATION JOINT (USJ)
Utilizing the intelligence network of the Meta Liberation Army and his own perceptual masking, Izuku stood in the high shadows of the USJ observation platform.
Below, the central plaza tore open as purple mist expanded, unleashing dozens of low-tier villains alongside a pale, hand-covered youth (Tomura Shigaraki) and a grotesque, hulking beast (Nomu).
Izuku watched the chaos unfold through cold, analytical eyes.
‘The League of Villains...’ Izuku noted, observing their movements from afar. ‘Crude, erratic, and driven by childish impulses. Disposable pawns. And down there... Bakugo and the rest of 1-A are trapped.’
Re-Destro stepped up behind him in the shadows. “Shall we intervene, Architect? I can deploy a squad to crush these amateurs.”
“No,” Izuku answered smoothly. “Let them tear each other apart. The League is merely an unplanned catalyst. All Might will arrive shortly, and in his desperation to defeat that biological monstrosity, he will burn through the final embers of his three-hour limit that I witnessed ten months ago.”
Izuku turned his back on the plaza, paying no mind to the explosions echoing from Bakugo’s palms below.
“Our preparations are complete, Yotsubashi. Soon, we will stage the grand performance. The day I make physical contact with All Might and remove this mask, society will realize their Symbol of Peace was nothing more than a hollow lie.”