Overture

I jerked up in bed, suddenly aware of my surroundings. I looked around, Observing everything I could to get an understanding on where I was. I swiped away the notification confirming my eight hours of sleep.

I let out a sigh of relief as I brought a hand to my face. Even that was something worth noting because I certainly had my mask equipped before I went unconscious. Did Dabi take it off me after we met up?

Well, I guess it didn't matter too much. Vasukak was sitting on the desk next to my bed, so I didn't have to worry about having lost it.

More importantly….

I hopped up out of bed, looking at myself in a full-body mirror. I looked pretty close to how I looked before, but there was a few noticeable differences. The blue―azure for all specifics, thin, scaly tail wrapped around my waist was one of them.

I opened my mouth and ran my tongue over my teeth, seeing that most of them were still the same with my canines looking just a bit sharper.

My fingers felt tougher and the scales on top of them only assisted that line of thinking, on top of that, my fingernails felt more like claws now. Lastly, my hair was beginning to turn an azure color from the base of my roots.

However, all of that was unimportant when compared to my eyes, more specifically my pupils, which now were a white color in contrast their normal black.

More interesting than their appearance though was what I was seeing in the air, mana. It was all around, even without the assistance of Vasukak.

Could Seiryu see mana naturally? If he could, I could only be impressed by the ability. Maybe it was a side-effect of his Quirk?

I guess I'd need to do some more research on him when everything was said and done.

I absentmindedly checked my HP and MP, and upon a confirmation of that, I checked out my new title, giving it a tap.

[Azure Dragon's Vessel]

Obtained by activating Azure Dragon's Ascension for 100 seconds. You've become a proper vessel for the soul of Seiryu and now stand alongside the elites who trained in his art. Train hard to be chosen as the next vessel!

60% increase to the damage of Azure Dragon techniques.

60% increase to the defense of Azure Dragon techniques.

30% decrease to the cost of Azure Dragon techniques.

Status: Azure Dragon's Star [Low]

I clicked my tongue upon reading the description.

I was growing at a pretty quick pace, so I may've been able to completely finish the art in a few months at this rate.

I could also assume that the changes to my body were caused by my status effect, which means I could reverse it by taking the title off.

Having confirmed all of that, I left the room.

Just a hallway's walk away, Danjuro, Manami, and Dabi were all talking to one another. They didn't seem to notice me, so I wanted to give something a try.

I focused on the air all around and carried my voice on it, trying something minor rather than major.

"I see you're all having fun," I hummed, sounding like I was standing besides them despite that not being the case.

Manami yelped while Dabi quickly jumped up and got into a battle stance, blue flames forming in his hands. Gentle jumped a little bit but looked around and seemed to notice there was no threats around.

"Settle down, settle down," I walked out of the hallway, my hands up with a small smile on my face. "I just wanted to give something a try."

"Oh yeah? I wanna see you try and rebuild this house after I burn it down!" Dabi groaned, sighing, and falling back into the seat he was sitting in.

"It'd be rather bad if we burned down her house, so let's not," I shrugged, approaching the trio.

"You outer appearance has…." Gentle's voice drifted off, his observation turning the gears of his mind.

"Changed, yeah, I know," I shrugged, not bothering to give anymore explanation. My tail unfurled, coming up and resting on my shoulder.

Dabi looked at me, opening his mouth before closing it and letting out a sigh.

"Y'know, even if that is some more BS applications of your Quirk, I'm totally expecting more info," Dabi admitted, receiving a soft nod from me.

Manami was silent, looking towards me.

"I… I'm sorry that I dragged you into all of this," She looked down to the ground. "I never should have―"

"Asked," I softly interrupted her. "And that's all you did, ask. I could've walked away but chose to join you. We can't look back, instead, we just have to keep on moving forward."

Manami looked down to her hands, slowly nodding before looking back up at me.

"Okay, yeah, okay," She shook her head. "Do you have the Ultraphone?"

I shook my head, pulling the Primordial Crystal from my Inventory. I tossed it up in the air before softly catching it.

"Some… issues came up and I lost it, but I received the thing that makes the Ultraphone tick from a different location," I nodded. "We'll have to deal with whoever stole the Primordial Crystal―this thing―later, but for now, rebuilding the Ultraphone comes first."

I could see that Manami had questions, but I either answered them or she did because she didn't ask anything. She nodded once, and I could see the gears of her brain chugging along.

"If we already have the… Primordial Crystal, we don't need to worry about any time restraints then," Manami softly nodded, and I received a notification immediately after.

[Quest: "Shaking the Foundation" has been updated!]

[Old Quest Updated!]

Shaking the Foundation!

With a Primordial Crystal obtained, now you must rebuild the Ultraphone in order to send your message out to the world.

[Time Limit: None]

[Completion Reward: 1,000,000 EXP, Increased closeness with Quirkless, Increased closeness with Low-Powered Individuals, Increased closeness with Manami, Increased closeness with Dabi, Increased closeness with Danjuro.]

[Failure Penalty: None.]

I looked over the message and nodded to myself.

"Dabi, Gentle, I may need some help from you two," I looked to them, receiving a massive sigh from Dabi. Gentle laughed charismatically before nodding.

"First thing is…."

-----

Over the week and a half, I focused solely on Manufacturing. The skill leveled up at a fairly slow rate, so even with me focusing on the skill alone it was a slow grind upwards.

I worked on dirt and wood at first, which were fairly replaceable compared to something like metal.

I sent Dabi and Gentle out to get me various items, and after passing specific milestones, I'd upgrade the materials I was using.

The proper materials combined with Manufacturing and the information I'd already amassed about the Ultraphone created an oddly smooth process to rebuilding the unique device. I didn't have to even think about another fight as I worked on each individual part of the device before putting them all together.

And now was the time to finally put it together.

My three allies all sat around and paid attention with varying levels of interest. Manami was definitely the highest while Dabi was the lowest.

The different parts of the Ultraphone―the Primordial Crystal, the metal shaped to look like the device, and the odd wiring―all sat on the ground in front of me.

We were in the surprisingly large room that Manami prepared for the Ultraphone. If I could create the Ultraphone once more, we'd be sending out message today.

My hand came over the cluster of items and I smiled.

"Manufacture," I called out my skill, mostly for the show of it.

There was a flash of light, so bright that I had to shut my eyes. After a moment, the light died down and I opened my eyes to see the Ultraphone back again, and it looked just the same as it once had before.

I picked up the Ultraphone and put it on the stand that Manami set up―which was, remarkably, the same as the stand that was in the tower.

Manami, Dabi, and Danjuro all stood and slowly approached me.

"So it's time? Finally," Dabi chided jokingly.

"It feels like it's been forever since we originally planned to do this. I'm kind of nervous," Manami admitted. "There's no real question over who's gonna do the talking, right?"

Manami looked to Gentle and Dabi for any complaints, and upon receiving none, she turned to me.

"Alright, uh," I could see Manami hesitate on what to call me. We hadn't done much conversing since the mission ended and because of Gentle's presence, she probably didn't know which name to go with.

I'd already thought about it though.

My first name alone, Minoru, was dangerous if it was in the hands of the right people, but I didn't think Gentle was that type of person. He didn't ask for anything and was willing to help us just because Manami asked.

They may've made some sort of deal that I was oblivious to, but their status screens didn't say anything about nervousness, so I doubted that.

Even if he were some sort of super genius, the worst thing he could do was wrap my mother into things, which I'm positive he wouldn't do. He also wouldn't tell the police anything because of the problems he had with Pro-Heroes in his past.

I know I couldn't trust everyone, especially with a secret as important as mine, but I'm pretty sure I could trust Danjuro.

"Either one works for me," I shrugged. Manami scanned me over before slowly nodding.

"Minoru then. You'll do the talking for us, right? You do seem to be the face of our operations," Manami asked me, receiving a small nod from me.

"I'm not a big fan of speeches, but alright, I'll give it a go," I nodded to her. I equipped Vasukak and Ishikori, becoming Seiryu once more.

I took a small breath before waving the three of them out of the room. Danjuro left first with a small nod and bow, then Dabi left with a small fist bump. Manami stayed for a moment, looking up at me.

"Thank you, Minoru. I would be dead without you. This…. Let's hope this makes things better for people like us," Manami smiled, tears welling up in her eyes before she turned and exited the room.

My heart pounded in my chest before a wave of calm rushed over me.

I'd be okay. I'd gotten this far; I could get a little bit farther.

I turned on the Ultraphone and could feel the Primordial Crystal begin working its magic, connecting me to every phone, television, and device in the city.

As I was training Manufacturing, I made sure to keep up to date with any news that came out about Seiryu, the villains captured, and anyone who could've been hurt in the crossfire of everything happening.

Two Pro-Heroes were hurt, with one of them currently being unable to do hero work, over 100 various villains were captured, several civilians were lightly injured, and one single civilian was majorly injured.

All those things were my fault, they were results of my actions, and they wouldn't just disappear.

I started this, and I'd end it too.

I began.