He coughed, spewing up a fountain of blood and watching through teary eyes as it filled in the cracks of the asphalt. Reflected in his own blood and gore, supplemented by the bright neon lights and crackling fire, he saw his own face, covered in soot and grime. His eyes were bloodshot, his body was quivering, and his eyes were haunted.

He was terrified. Slowly, he took his quaking hands and pressed them against his chest, finding the pouring hole and dimly tracing the massive crevice pushed through his obliterated ribs and lung. The viscera clung to his fingers, and he found that he could not look away from his draining lifeforce.

Even though the holes in his stomach and chest were cavernous, he could not feel any pain. Adrenaline, the king hormone of the animal kingdom, suffused his body like heroin for an addict. In the back of his mind, the salaryman knew he was in the worst agony that his simple life had ever experienced. But he was so terrified, so overwhelmed by his deeper carnal flight or fight instinct, that he couldn't feel it. The animalistic part of his brain was in overdrive, all his senses razored down to thin wires as every cell in his body screamed to flee from the greater predator.

It was the terror that a hare felt when a wolf was bearing down on it. Only, exacerbated by his emotional human brain. For a man who hardly knew danger, to suddenly be overwhelmed by such a primal instinctual urge was too much. There was no denying it, no avoiding it; honor be damned, he had to flee.

But how could he? He didn't have legs anymore.

From the knee down, his fancy black slacks were torn to shreds to reveal the bloody stumps made up of fractured femur bone. Seeing the body part that had been with him all his life reduced to nothing like that snapped some important part in his brain, a short-circuit causing his brain to falter ever so slightly. A small smirk crested the corner of his lip. Incredulous, disbelieving, awed, mortified; like watching a car crash from the sidelines.

He was surely going insane. Just a moment ago he was on his way home from work, ready to return and see his kids, rest after a long day. Now, he was in a nightmare. A hellish prison that had to be a dream but he knew wasn't. No sane mind could dream up this.

Ting. Ting.

His smirk fell. The very faint jingle accompanied by soft yet loud footsteps causing his heart to burst into overdrive, the long buried instincts burning even harder. It was the sound of spurs on a boot, walking with a confident leisure behind him, heedless of the world of death and mayhem around them. They commanded attention, and the world answered; the fires dimmed to a dull crackle and the moans of pain and screams for help all but disappeared. All that existed was he and it.

It being the man who ruthlessly ripped his legs clean from his body with nothing but his arm strength. The one who apathetically blew two holes clean through his sternum, and smoothly turned to reduce a terrified woman's head into nothing but a smear on the road. The one who appeared like lightning, smiting down lives like flies, without care or reason.

A villain. That was the first thing that came to mind when he thought of that man. But it had only taken him seconds to throw away that notion. This was no villain. Villain didn't even come close to describing this nightmare of a man, this living antithesis to everything holy and good. No, a villain was too shallow a word, describing nothing but the maliciousness in his heart.

No, it was a monster. A being that crawled straight from the depths of humanity's worst nightmares. A thing that embodied the worst atrocities the vast universe had to offer, all while wearing the deformed face of a man. An honest to god monster, one that preyed on nothing but the suffering of good people, something that brokered horror and revulsion merely by its sheer presence.

A Demon.

Mired by terror and clashing instincts, he craned his head backward to see the awful thing. His throat clenched, and his breaths grew even more strangled and choked. Just looking at him was almost too much. He felt as though he were choking on his fear. How? How could something like this exist?

The man was tall. Far taller than anyone he had ever met in his too short life. He towered at well over six foot, and made him feel like an ant with his very presence. His body was lanky, like an emaciated man who had never had a full meal in his life, his skin pulled taut over his bones and effortlessly showing off every dip and curve of his ribcage, his fingers particularly gaunt like talons. And his skin, oh his skin! It was mottled, an unhealthy white broken up by discolored spots that made him look like he crawled out of some sickening irradiated hole.

Worst of all was his face. With a devilishly pointed chin, a fiendish maw of squared teeth, he may have once been considered human, but now unequivocally terrifying to look at; like some cruel mixture of a goblin and a human. His eyes burned a hot tainted white, bordering on blood-curdling red.

He wore clothing as well, as if mimicking humanity in some cruel and dishonorable way. His pants were a midnight black, billowing out at the bottom freely with cut up ends frayed from decades of use; a buckled gun belt with two massive holsters sat around his thin hips. He wore no shirt, instead his boney chest was girded with bandoliers, and a massive frayed black cape hung around his neck, fanning out behind him like some demented mantle belonging to a king from hell. Long white gloves over his lanky fingers, and a large spaded cowboy hat sat on his skull, covering much of his awful visage with the shade cast by the black leather.

Wrapped tightly around the hat was a white bandana, with strange kanji scrawled across alongside the unforgettable red sun of Japan. The long bandana billowed behind him, the lengthy strands making him look all the more ethereal and unnatural.

For a moment, he stared at the monster. And the monster stared right back, smiling knowingly. It was as if the monster knew exactly what was going through his head. As if he knew him better than he himself did.

The instincts crashed down on him harder. He was going to die. He… he had to do something. He couldn't run, never again anymore, but he couldn't just roll over and die either. With one more harried, rasping breath, he reached inside himself and squinted at the being, determined to fight his fate.

Instantly, his eyeballs heated up, the flesh superheating and turning a molten red as he activated his quirk. The god given power that had been with him since birth. Rapid-fire chemical reactions burst just beneath his eyes, and with all the strength he could muster, he released the burning hot heat straight through his eyes.

The super-heated laser bolts tore from his eyes at supersonic speeds, cutting through the air with a powerful sound. These laser beams could easily burn through the hottest steel, and were more than capable of killing even a monster like this.

But they didn't even come close to landing. With cat-like grace, the monster danced around the bolts with ease, the beams only managing to burn a hole in his scarf-like cape as it billowed behind him in the wake of his dodge. The super-hot eye lasers careened off into the distance, fracturing in the sky and disintegrating into nothing as they missed their target.

He wasn't even given a moment to recover. Without missing a beat, the monster brought up his black cowboy boot and smashed it against the back of his head. There was no hiding the scream of agony he gave as his face was fiercely pressed against the road, the boot holding him against the ground.

He struggled for a moment, desperately trying to fight back, but there was nothing he could do. Without being able to look up, he couldn't use his quirk, and there was no means to overpower the unbelievable strength this monster had.

"Heheh… Men with the power of gods? Now that just ain't right…" He stopped and shivered at the voice. It was a strange sound, despite his appearance the voice was actually rather smooth. Yet there was a dark undertone to every word, a venom there that was only made all the stronger with the methodical emphasis he seemed to put on every word.

"This world is so strange… Where is the bloodshed, the violence, the anger? It's like you all have buried yourselves. Pushing down that temptation for destruction, for that cycle. Even with these strange powers, you're all so… docile."

"Heh… You're just prolonging the inevitable."

He knit his brow in confusion. This monster… what was he talking about? Was he even talking to him still?

"Though, I guess you wouldn't understand that. Eh?" The mans strange voice whispered down to him, freezing him up again. "No, you're just afraid, aren't you? You've never seen such violence… You've never seen what humanity is really like."

The monster gave that chilling chuckle again, his voice rasping slightly with every s he pronounced. "I don't normally cut down small fry, it's not really my style. But I had to get an idea of this world, and these… powers of yours."

"You understand, don't you?" He didn't know what to do. He simply gave a small, imperceptible nod beneath his boot, too scared to do anything else. "Good. Now… I'm waiting for a very special guest. And nobody likes a third wheel. So if you don't mind…"

There was no time to scream. The gunman suddenly increased the pressure, his boot pressing down with so much force that his head instantly split open like a melon. Within a second, his skull was crushed to bits underneath his boot- ending his life instantly.

With that last life extinguished, the monster stepped back, admiring the carnage around him. For most, there was a pleasant sensation to be found in wreaking destruction, of proving strength through carnage. He took no pleasure in it. There was nothing fulfilling in the needless destruction; it was beneath him. No, his sights were set so much higher than mere gratifying violence.

Justice was going to be the strongest. He was going to be God. Killing ants was not the way to become stronger.

But it would pave the way. The murderous gunman knew little of this world, but he was an expert on human nature. This much violence and destruction would attract the strong of this world, like flies to a honeypot. They would come, and he would strike them down. He would feed the cycle, just enough to ascend.

With that in mind, the monster in human skin crossed his arms and stood still. Gently, reverently, he closed his eyes and waited. He could feel them, skirting around the edges of his sight. They were terrified of him, they didn't know what to do. They spoke in hushed whispers, speaking of the horror he had done and would continue to do if he wasn't stopped.

Such strange people. If they wanted him to stop, they should take up the blade and stop him themselves. No, instead they simply shrunk back in mortification, waiting for someone else to solve the issue for them. This world truly was weak. Far removed from the cycle he was so accustomed to.

Justice waited. And the world answered.

With a thunderous boom, something crashed down from the sky, furrowing the road into a crater with the impact. Dust scattered, the wind billowing as a large shape rose from the crater- steaming with strength.

Justice winked an eye open, a smirk curling his mouth as he stared at the newcomer. The man was large, tall, almost an entire foot taller than Justice himself. His body was covered in muscles, his corded arms and legs simply screaming strength. His skin was powerfully toned, beaming with health and vitality, and his blonde hair jutted upwards in a proud stance.

He wore a boisterous red blue and gold costume, the thing flawlessly framing his statue-like body in a way that seemed to radiate courage and heroism.

To put it bluntly, he was the exact antithesis to Justice.

The smirk only widened. A gleeful shiver ran down Justice's mutated spine. As expected, the strong came knocking. Now he only had to seize the hand fate dealt him.

All Might couldn't quite believe it when he landed. He came as soon as he could, effortlessly breaking the sound barrier as he rushed to the scene, but he was still too late. Ruined cars, the street completely wrecked with mayhem, and more dead bodies than he could stomach.

Men and women of nearly all ages laid strewn about. Some laid limply dead on the ground with fist sized holes bored through their body, others seemed split down the middle or torn apart and thrown haphazardly against buildings. Some corpses were stuffed into the wreckage of cars, slowly being cooked by the roaring fires coating the area.

It was one of the worst travesties he had ever bore witness to. And it was made all the worse knowing that he could have prevented this, he should have prevented this. It was the job of a hero to save those in need, but nobody could even help these unfortunate souls.

It was an unnatural abomination of a killing spree. There was no rhyme or reason to the murders. There was no grandstanding as expected of villains, or some greater scheme, this awful villain simply appeared and began slaughtering as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

All Might couldn't smile. Even if he thought he could force one onto his face in this situation, there was no one alive to feel hope from seeing it. What he could do was seethe in rage, his brow deepening hard as he stared at the monster in front of him.

"You… What have you done." All Might ground out, only barely keeping his rage in check. Even still, his voice boomed with the intonation, more than enough to cow any villain.

"You must be All Might. Fitting enough name. You know, they begged for you to come while I killed them. I've never seen anything like it. You must really be something."

He seethed all the harder, disgusted by the man and his snake like voice. "Why. Why would you do this? Can't you see the senseless destruction you've caused?"

Justice glanced around nonchalantly, as if admiring the weather. He gave that breathy laugh and curled his smile even higher, "Why? Tell me, boy, why does a tiger hunt a gazelle? Why does a hawk tear open the neck of the rabbit? ...Its nature. This, all of this," He gestured around with his gaunt hand, "Is nature."

All Might grimaced, the words poison to his ears. Even with all this horror around them, the pale-skinned demon spoke apathetically; devoid of any semblance of human empathy.

"You're insane. You've hurt good people for no reason! They were innocent!"

Justice frowned, the words foreign and unusual. "Innocent? Good?" He tasted the words on his pale tongue, rolling them around like a sour wine. "Heh… You really don't understand, do you?" Justice clicked his teeth and shook his head, "And here I thought you could see the world for how it really is."

"I can see clearly. I see a madman with too much blood on his hands. I see a criminal that needs to be stopped!"

"What you see, All Might, is humanity. Peeled from its shell. I wonder… How much strength will it take to peel this world?"

All Might, frowning and tense with taught muscles ready for anything, was reflected in Justice's glassy white eyes. "I've got strength to spare after all."

"I'm going to put a stop to this. No more killing. You're going to go away for a long time." All Might took an intimidating step forward. The strength he radiated doubled, beating back the cloying darkness as he prepared to take down this menace and end this bloodshed.

Justice ignored his words. Instead he stared at the man, taking him in for the moment. If nothing else, All Might had conviction, as annoyingly naive as it was. It was respectable, but it meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. No, only one thing mattered. It wasn't the content of his character, it wasn't his ideals or values, and it certainly wasn't his opinion on him.

"Tell me, boy. Who is the strongest in this world?"

All Might brow fell even further, shadowing his eyes as the words settled in the thick air. His fists shook at his sides, his barely restrained rage bubbling up to the surface with every grating word that slid through the villain's filthy mouth. But he had an answer to that question, the truth, something that he intended to live up to in this very moment.

"I am. I am the strongest hero in this world! And I'm taking you down!"

Justice's eyes glinted, his smirk turning into a full blown smile that edged his eyes and pushed his face even further into nightmarish unnaturality.

"Good."

They were at a standstill. The demented cowboy wreathed himself in his massive cape, his glowing eyes peering out at All Might. The hero crouched low, his fists tight and rigid. They waited, a gentle wind blowing as their eyes locked onto each other; All Might's vindictively hard, and Justice goading.

Like a bombshell, All Might exploded from the spot. His powerful legs threw him forward at incredible speed as be bared down on the murderous villain. Wind howled past his ears, his piercing blue eyes focused only on his target.

With hyper fast reflexes, Justice acted the moment All Might's leg twitched. He threw his arms upward and to the side, throwing his cape back and revealing the holsters strapped to his hips to the world. His mottled fingers hovered over the sleek handles of his weapons, his stance wide and intimidating.

All Might pulled his fist back when meters separated them, and Justice freed his guns with a shrill metallic whine- inch after inch of blackened steel pulling free with an expert flourish gained from years of use. With a harsh flick of his wrists, Justice pointed his two guns at All Might.

These were no simple revolvers. It only took a glance at the large weapons to strike fear in the heart of lesser men. Unlike any weapon like it, these revolvers had an absurdly elongated barrel. Nearly a foot of blackened steel made up the barrels, the chamber behind them filled with heavy duty bullets designed to bring down even the strongest of the strong.

Justice fired, each gun kicking back as the wind pulsed from the explosions. Two bullets tore free, rapidly spinning toward All Might. He swiftly ducked and weaved through them, sliding straight toward the villain. All Might swung hard, the wind parting for the strength of ten men combined. It was more than enough strength to total a car, and more than enough to put an end to a villain.

The disfigured gunman wasn't even slightly scared. Spinning on his heel, Justice sidestepped past the punch and pirouetted until he was just behind the hero. Forcing himself out of the spin, Justice swung his right hand out, intending to slam All Might across the head with the barrel of his pistol, only to swipe at air when he ducked beneath the blow.

All Might moved quickly, jabbing his fist at him while he recovered. But Justice still acted too fast, his other gun came forth, the barrel impacting his wrist, redirecting the blow and sending it awry while his right came back around, the gun now squarely pointed at the shocked hero's face.

Immediately he took a quick backstep, putting distance between them as the gun kicked again; the bullet roaring forth and being slapped straight out of the air by his impressive strength. But the sheer impact of the bullet still took him off guard, a small leaking cut forming on his hand to his growing worry.

"These bullets hit harder than normal! I can't let him get a direct hit!" He thought quickly.

All Might rushed forward, but Justice had the upper hand now. Shot after shot rang out as All Might struggled to move forward while slapping the bullets away; his body too large to easily dodge them. One came straight for his chest, and he took a long step forward while punching it astray, wincing all the while at the cuts forming. Another came low for his leg, he quickly knocked it away while his other parried another lead bullet that would have punctured his skull.

The chamber of Justice's pistol rolled, the hammer cocking back as his gleeful white eyes locked on All Might. The gun roared with its report, but All Might had an idea now. As soon as the bullet left the long barrel, All Might leaped; his strong legs letting him take air and throw him safely over the bullets trajectory.

Justice widened his eyes and his smile, impressed.

All Might came down hard, his fist striking the spot where Justice just stood and wreaking another crater into the road. The force from the blow quaked the ground, causing Justice to stumble back slightly- unable to retaliate as he tried to regain his footing.

Seizing the opportunity, All Might rushed forward. His fists sailed fast and hard, intending to put as much pressure on the man as he possibly could- to wear him out or to catch him with a blow that would surely put him down for good. Justice danced backward, weaving away from the blows as the two maintained the same distance; he hopped and skipped backwards, the blows always just barely missing him as they soared past his thin stomach or inches away from his shallow eyes.

But his entire body was dedicated to the dodging, and he could not manage to use his guns. A dance ensued, one that could spell death or victory for the two idols of strength. The fires gracefully illuminated their silhouettes as All Might bore down on the crafty and shifty man that seemed to counter him in all the worst possible ways.

Justice made a wrong step, his dodge not putting enough distance between them. All Might immediately recognized the opportunity and didn't dare waste his chance. His fist pulled back fast, the knuckles teeming with built up energy as his sparking blue eyes found the finally perturbed white ones of his sworn enemy. With the speed of a titan, he brought his fist swinging around in a devastating hook.

"Detroit-! Argh!"

But, it was all for naught. Just before his strike could land, Justice played his hand. The pistol came up again, and then it came down hard. The barrel struck All Might directly on his forearm, the blow so powerful that it completely stuffed his Detroit Slam and sent him to his knee.

A feint! There was no misstep! It was a ploy to lure All Might into his trap, and he fell for it hook line and sinker! This was no ordinary villain; no criminal could think so cunningly and act so quickly in the heat of a battle. Though he may not look it, Justice was of man of high intelligence and skill. He had been through thousands of battles and knew the human psyche better than most practiced doctors. Trickery, subterfuge, and violence were his strengths, and he had mastered them all.

All Might stared at his arm in open mouthed shock. Beneath the barrel of steel, he could only watch as his forearm bruised a deep purplish-blue, a massive welt formed up from the damaged arm. The pain was shocking, and had him frozen. It was like somebody had taken an axe to his arm; bringing it down like an executioner straight into his flesh. It was such a jarringly powerful blow that he could not help but crumple to his knees.

Though he appeared frail and weak, Justice was anything but. From that single blow, All Might knew that this man had far more strength than his appearance suggested; more than enough to seriously injure him with a well placed strike.

He feared to admit it, and he feared what it meant… but he would dare to say that he was nearly as strong as his quirk.

Was this his quirk? Super strength just like him? Beneath his gun like this, he certainly couldn't deny the possibility.

All Might growled, the pain so surprising that he lost himself for a moment. "Damn you… You-" All Might's harsh words were silenced, Justice bringing his other gun forward and stuffing his open mouth with the smoking barrel. All Might garbled, his eyes wide as the long barrel sat between his teeth; the heat radiating off of it burning him slightly.

"You disappoint me… All Might. For the strongest, you don't even compare to half the people I've fought. Is this really the best this world has to offer?"

Justice sneered, pressing the barrel against his mouth harder. "Weak. Too gentle. You fought me, but you didn't attack me. That whole time, you were holding back… trying not to kill me. Why on earth would you do that?"

All Might couldn't answer. Even if he could, he wouldn't know what to say. This man spoke in ways that he couldn't understand, as if he were talking beyond him. All he could do was stare up at him defiantly as the gaunt man roved his eyes over the still destroyed city land. At the moment, he was at the mercy of this demented bastard. And it made him sick. He never should have fallen for such a transparent feint. She wouldn't have fallen for that.

"Well... It doesn't matter. Times really have changed, but nature will always stay the same. You'll all see that soon enough. Heroes… Villains? Bad and good? That doesn't matter. It doesn't exist."

"There's only the strong, and the dead."

Keeping his gun lodged in the hero's mouth, Justice brought his other pistol up and roughly tapped the headband wrapped around his cowboy hat. The long lengths of cloth fluttered slightly, and Justice grinned.

"With this band wrapped around my forehead… I will rule this world as god himself."

Justice began to chuckle, then he descended into a fit of laughter. The toxic sound echoing out as he grinned devilishly at the thought. All Might stared up at him in shock, the Villain's goals so strange and peculiar that he was left stunned.

Becoming god? Head band? He didn't know what he was talking about, but he did know that this man was a menace. Not only was he overwhelmingly strong, but his mind was so thoroughly warped that it was not a question of if he would put the world in danger, but when.

All Might couldn't help but draw a comparison to his age old rival, All For One. Even from the little he had spoken to this disfigured man, he knew that there was nothing but pure evil in heart. And he had a strength that could even possibly exceed that of the ageless villain.

His eyes caught the headband. Number one… He didn't really know what it meant, but it had significance. It almost felt like a challenge. A direct challenge to all of the world. Just by wearing it, All Might felt that this Villain was proclaiming for all to see that he was the strongest of the strong. And he was only proving it by taking down the Number One hero.

All Might wasn't ready to give up yet though. The man was coming down from his laughing fit, his eyes glinting with mirth as he once again stared down at the hero. He believed that the hero was done for, that he couldn't fight back.

He didn't know him well enough. He claimed to understand humanity, their nature and instincts. But it was obvious he didn't know the first thing about fighting spirit.

"The name is Justice. Remember that, while you suffer in whatever lay next."

All Might took his chance. Bursting with energy, All Might bit down hard on the barrel and jerked his head to the side. The barrel went awry as the chamber rolled, the bullet flying harmlessly past his head. Justice widened his eyes as All Might surged forward and buried his fist directly in chest- not holding back even an inkling of his strength.

Justice went flying with a strangled grunt, the sheer force of the punch separating the two titans with a clap of air. Justice flew limply for a moment, like a ragdoll, before his eyes flashed wide and he righted himself in midair. His feet hit the ground and he slid backward, the ground furrowing as he came to an abrupt stop.

Justice grimaced before pressing a hand against the slightly torn skin of his chest, glancing at the blood for only a moment before wiping it away on his cape. Despite the no doubt monstrous blow he had taken, Justice didn't even seem slightly perturbed. He merely raised a brow in feigned surprise.

"I had a feeling you wouldn't go down that easy, boy."

All Might slowly stood, panting at his brush with death. He absolutely could not underestimate Justice again. If he wanted to get through this, he would have to end this fight here and now.

However, some part of him kept him rooted to the spot. All Might was no stranger to fear, it was only natural for a person to fear for their life when doing heroic work. But pushing past that fear is what made them a hero, it was what made him a hero and allowed him to do what only the symbol of peace could do. But this was such a pervading sense of anxiety that All Might found himself hesitating for the first time in a long while.

A very small, buried part of himself whispered that he should run away. To recuperate and try his luck another day. But it was almost immediately discarded. If he ran away now then Justice would be free to wreak mayhem at his leisure; there would be no one to stop him. All Might, the strongest beacon of strength and hope, was the only one who could hope to stand a match against the terrifying man. If any other heroes tried, they would surely be killed for their effort.

All Might raised his fist, now brimming with conviction as his bright blue eyes stared down the smirking gunman.

"My name is All Might, the Symbol of Peace, and the Number One Hero! I swear I will take you down, here and now and protect the people of this city!"

Justice's eyes flashed, and met the burning aura the hero exuded with his own toxic one.

"Number One, eh? I'll play along then. Lets see just who stand at the top of this world, All Might! Come at me, hero!"

With a mighty crack, All Might rushed forward one last time. Concussive gunshots sounded out as Justice wasted no time in unloading bullet after bullet to put a stop to the wielder of One For All. His arms rocked up and down with each flash of the muzzle, the sharp pops of light reflecting off the ruined skin of his face.

This time, All Might felt a peculiar energy and strength that he hadn't felt in a long time. Instead of parrying the bullets, he ducked and weaved through them. His senses honed as he saw each bullet coming and torqued his body in various ways to brush past them with only the barest room for error.

"I've never met a hero before, All Might. This'll be the first time I've killed one too."

All Might bared his teeth and pushed through the final volley of rounds, now face to face with Justice. Roaring, All Might brought his fist crashing down while Justice crossed his pistols in front of him. With a loud metallic clang, Justice blocked the heavy blow between his guns, the fist struggling to break through the impressive defense.

For a moment they were locked in a battle of strength. The two battled for dominance, All Might pressed down hard while Justice pushed back with just as much power. But, the strength of many men, all sharing the same conviction and desire for victory, proved too much for Justice. Giving another roar, All Might broke through the guard and blew his arms wide open. Justice frowned as his arms flew out to either side of him, leaving his chest wide open.

Normally, this would be the moment where Justice would be open for a devastating blow. But he was not a normal man.

With the sound of twisting bone and rushing wind, Justice flexed his right arm and suddenly brought it right back down toward the hero as he recovered from the effort of breaking through his guard. By taking total control of the joint and muscles in the arm, it was a simple matter to bring the gun bearing down quickly from such an uncomfortable position, even if it caused a hell of a lot of pain to him.

But All Might acted instantly. His eyes only widened in surprise for one moment before he struck hard and fast.

Now, Justice was shocked. His mouth parting as he stared at his hand. All Might's fist crashed hard into his right arm, a sudden and powerful blow that was launched in a millisecond. The arm immediately crumpled, blood spurting out as the bone was rent to dust and the hand was obliterated into a mess of fractured bone and flesh- the gun in his hand went flying, bouncing away without a usable hand to hold it.

All Might grinned in victory, taking great pleasure in the shock on Justice's face. This instant punch was an imperfect skill taught to him by Gran Torino. At close ranges, he could strike with a devastating punch that struck faster than lightning. He hated to use it simply because it was impossible to hold back how strong he hit, and could seriously end up hurting someone.

But he had no intention of holding back for this monster.

With one ruined arm hanging limply in the air, and his other arm still thrown away by All Might's earlier blow, Justice was at his mercy. All Might immediately threw a hook, his muscles bulging with electric energy as he bared down on the villain with a mighty roar that echoed across the city.

Justice frowned annoyedly at the hero for a moment. Then, his lips curled back upward. Grinning, Justice's eyes flashed completely red.

Schwing

The sound of sliding steel and splattering blood filled the air, and All Might came to an abrupt stop, his fist hovering just in front of Justice's face. All Might coughed in confusion and winced as blood dribbled down his chin. Slowly, cautiously he looked down and marveled at the deep gash sprawled across his torso from shoulder to hip; the shock of the sight and sudden burst of pain making him take a step back.

Looking back up, he gasped in horror at the smirking gunman. Justice stood nonchalantly, his one arm limp at his side, the other settled on his belt. But there, craning out and upward from his back, poking free of his cape, was another arm. It was spindly, long and gangly with the same mottled skin as the rest of his body. The third appendage, with its malformed bones and twisted appearance, clutched a short sword between its fingers that dripped fresh blood. Instantly, he knew what his quirk truly was.

All Might staggered back again before he collapsed to his knees. He could feel the hole rent into his stomach, there was no recovering from it. He couldn't fight anymore. All he could do was let out weak raspy breaths as his dilated eyes stared at the three-armed gunman in horror.

With the sound of crunching bones, the arm slithered back behind him, folding up underneath his long cape. Justice spun his gun twice before holstering it, chuckling all the while with that unforgettable grin.

"Heheh… And with that, I am the Number One."

Justice stepped up to the hero, towering over him with his leering white eyes. All Might grimaced and glared back as hard as his failing body could. He cursed himself as he shivered underneath those eyes, loathing that he could not muster the strength to stand. "D-Damn you…"

For a moment, Justice's hands twitched toward his gun. Fear filled All Might as he realized that Justice fully intended to finish him off. Panic set in, but the hand never settled on the weapon. Instead, the three-armed monster stared down at the hero with a thoughtful expression.

"You're angry, aren't you boy? You hate me. You loathe me." All Might only glared harder at him from those words. Justice chuckled that oily laugh. "Good. This world needs more anger. More bloodshed."

"I should kill you. But, I won't. No… You get to live, All Might." His hand dropped away from his gun, but All Might took no solace in this. That demented gleam in his eyes was too much. "But don't think that this is an act of mercy, boy. No… One day, I'll come knocking again. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe a year from now. Who knows? But I like you, All Might. You'll be my key."

All Might was simply too weak. For the proclaimed 'Number One Hero' he was little more than a road bump in the challenges that Justice had faced. He wasn't nearly enough for him to ascend the top of the world. Killing him here and now would be nothing more than a mercy killing. Instead, he would try something else, something new. He would wait, bide his time. He would let the "Hero" recover from this fight, let him grow stronger, and then one day he would come back and kill the strongest man of this world.

With that, it would finally be enough to ascend to true godhood. Killing the strongest in this world. It was the way the gods had always intended. It was why they brought him here.

"You… You wont get away with what you've done here." All Might ground out, coughing at the burst of pain each word gave him.

"You still don't understand, do you? I'm not running away. I never run away." Justiced grabbed All Might by one of his limp tufts of hair, tugging him, "Remember this, All Might. There is only one 'Number One' in this world. And that's me."

"If you don't like it, then you better come take this head band away from me."

With that, Justice used his grip in the hero's hair to ruthlessly slam his face into the ground. The blow was more than powerful enough to crack the street. All Might blacked out instantly. His body trembled as all the strength finally left him.

Justice was the last one standing. In this world of mayhem that he carved out in the Japanese city, he was the only one who remained to see the distant sun rising over the peculiar skyscrapers. It was a nostalgic feeling.

Justice stared down at the defeated symbol of peace and loosed another wicked chuckle. With a flourish of his cape, Justice turned and began to walk away. His spurs jingled with each step, and his long headband fluttered behind him.

…

It was minutes later that a crowd of heroes arrived, all of them suddenly stricken with horror at the morbid sight in front of them. Instantly, many set to tending to the barely breathing All Might. He would manage to survive this encounter, but he would never be the same- both physically and mentally.

This day would go down in history as the one of the bloodiest acts of villainy since the discovery of quirks. And would pave the way for a surge of violence that would wash across the country, the cycle finally beginning again after years of laying dormant. Despite all this, All Might still remained the Number One hero, and the public slowly grew to forget the event. Some semblance of peace took hold again.

But those who did catch a glimpse the three-armed gunman knew who was truly the strongest in this world.

"It is the strangest geographical event in Japanese and possibly global history. Scientists are left baffled by it, and there is little explanation for it besides the work of a quirk." The reporter rattled off, staring at a sheet of paper in her hands with a frown. "Yesterday night, on the edge of Japan, deep in the wilderness of the countryside near Kamurocho, a mountain rose from the ground. This mountain stretched up past the clouds and devastated the lands around it from its appearance."

"There is little data on this mountain, but researchers believe that it may be taller than Mount Fuji. Even stranger, no one has managed to see the summit of this mountain. Any attempts to reach the summit through helicopter or plane have failed due to sudden technical failures. And the mountain seems to be perpetually surrounded by dense clouds, making satellite imaging all but impossible."

The reporter paused, clearing her throat as she came across a particularly worrying line, "And… All attempts to reach the summit on foot have also met failure. The… The teams sent to the top have lost all contact, and have yet to return."

She set down the papers and gave a grim look to the camera. Her words were broadcast all across the world, the shocking event catching the attention of any and every passerby. The world watched, mystified at something beyond their comprehension.

"No one is certain where this mountain came from, or who is responsible for it… What does this sudden appearance mean? Why did it happen? And… what does it mean for the future of Japan?"