C16: A Bit Of Rewind

Dashing across the flocks of festival enjoyers for the tens of minutes proved futile for Izuku's plan of escaping from this festive place. Eyeing for any thing out of place or interesting enough to check, Izuku ran and ran. Time went on and he had come to a very unlikable understanding.

" A loop of space, possibly time ."

Izuku muttered after seating back inside the tavern, his posture hunched foward. Any directions he had picked all ended up at the same tavern countless times, leading to him looking deeper into the building. Mortar and brick were its base, colorful exterior paint was its skin. The masked customers came and went, exiting and entering with a certain charm of an easy-going and joyous atmosphere. Outside, the sky was turning dark and the festival answered with its bright lamps scattered around the area, illuminating the ground with their varied colors. The music had been amped up both in beats and intensity with dancing all around the place as companion.

Izuku was sitting all alone in a corner, his brain trying to think up with something, anything as the matter of fact. He had spent the entire evening in this place to brainstorm but had failed spetacularly.

" A cup of juice for you, young man."

" Thanks."

The Fool sent regular drinks and food to keep Izuku sane in this place. With various dishes from diifferent worlds ( he knew nothing of the ingredients or how they had even got here and processed without rallising an eye), Izuku quickly gave in to hunger after a few hours of continious searching. They were fine and the accompanying drinks kept him refreshed.

He was waiting for a target, some guest who was a little too faraway from others. He spotted his prey, a man in a Hawaiian shirt with sunglasses on top of his pedigree hair, waxed significantly. The man got out of the tavern, his steps wobbling and dragging him unstably to a secluded corner. He was going out for a pe, not noticing the tailing Izuku. As the man was unbuttoning his jeans, Izuku approached forcefully, knocked the man out with a modwrately hard punch to the head before dragging the man away, his pants almost fell off in the process.

Around half an hour, the man woke up after Izuku's experiments on the mask and his belongings. The result returned normal to Izuku's dismay. White mask made from cloth, flimsy. Normal cotton for clothing, no expensive jewellery or identifier. That left Izuku with direct intergoration. His opportunity came.

" Who are you!? Why did you attack me!?"

Bam!

A side punch to the cheek twisting the man'a head to one side, his eyes wide opened due to the sudden pain. He was starting to be afraid of the whole circumstance. He was just enjoying the festival together with his family when a stranger kidnapped him and was keeping watch on him. He remembered being clean with all debt repaid and had lbeen living with humility and respect toward others.

" Where is this place?"

" Th...It is the Salmhailt Festival! "

The name rang empty inside Izuku's memory, but something might have a connection. It was from his dear friend's explanation. Oh how eager she had been to forced him to remember the nitty gritty.

" Fragment of passed realities blend together..."

He muttered to himself ans began thinking about the next step for a long period of time, leaving the man's anxious for his life. The imaginary clock inside the man's mind was ticking down slowly, yea, but would end up leaving him stranded on this island for the night.

" Oh hey, I must return now or else the ferry will leave. I will forget everything so please spare me!!!

" I apologize dor hurting you sir but a criminal, whose appearance is similar to you, has been on this island. I am a part of the guards working to ensure safety and order. "

" Do not worry, and can you release me?"

" Yes, yes... Here you go. I apologise for my mistake which ruined your holiday."

" Well, that's fine. The previous question, Jack Ingof. Yours?"

" Iz... Iso. Mine is Iso."

" Strange name you have there, friend, but have no fear, I will not report you for anything. I know how dangerous the criminal is."

" Yeah sure..."

Izuku decided to hide now as he sensed someone coming toward bis location. After releasing the mam man back into the festival, he quickly ran up a tent then silently moved around on top of tauted ropes stretching across the sky. As soon as he got away, a group of people in dark millitaristic clothing arrived, their eyes began to surveil the surrounding environment to look for the reported suspect.

Returning to the tavern, the waiter gave him a dish of fried seafood and a cup of tonic, its herbal smell only recognizable to him. After getting his meal, Izuku decided to run around once more to look for anomalious events. The muaic outside had been dialed up even more, maybe to push back against the tiredness of all-day festive atmosphere. Singing regardless of ages, sex and tone rang out beneath his acrobatics, Izuku was feeling a strange emotion in his chest, a demand for him to express himself through a song that come from the depth of his heart. His vocal cord was about to sing when he quickly landed and distanced himself from the music, his hands covering his ears.

Rolling away at an empty plot of land, he felt his mind becoming clearer.

" Mental influence? Here, but why? "

Why indeed as the very premise of a festival was to sing and dance, to spend time with loved ones, to ...

The source!, Izuku exclaimed, trying to fight back something burrowing its way into his perception and memory. He had already developed a protocol for such event. Well, calling it a protocol or procedure was a bit misleading as the only bullet point in it was to destroy the source as soon as possible. If failed, say goodbye.

Plugging his ears with the two pieces of the white mask inside his pocket, Izuku took a moment to breath before heading back the direction he had run away from.

His step hurried along the web of ropes covering the sky, his eyes akin to that of hawk preying for their target. There, his brain said seeing a band playing, speakers blasting their musics. He had two parhs to choose from. To disable the singing men or to destroy the electical system. Clutching the stolen knife from one of the stand when the owner was not looking, Izuku threw it toward the lead singer's head.

" Both! Need to destroy both, or else..."

The screaming took another second to unravel after the body of the man on the stage fell down with a thump, his head stucked witth a knife lodged deep into the skull. Izuku paid no mind, the dead man was simply a conjured being or else he would not have such power or quirk since he would have been captured and charged with unfair practice and illegal quirk usage.

Trailing behind someone who was dressed in black uniform with a hat, Izuku believed he had found the guarding force of the festival. As time passed, the sound of crashing waves entered his ears. An island, he thoight as he hid himself among the seaside rocks.

Security around the sole power source on this island must be tight, and in tandem with a need for security to manage the crowd, what better location to put beside the guard camp. And with the rising chaos requiring manpower, the number of personnel would be lowered. The scene of running man and women out of the barracks to ensure safety of the festival goers with their boots hitting resoundly on the sandy dirt. Izuku used that opportunity to sneak in right at the end as the final man exited, his head sweating due to worry as the air was cool now.

" Who are yo... Arghhh!"

A sucker punch to the face of the woman operating the gate. Not letting his prey escape, Izuku quickly swiped the women's feet, disorientating her. He caught the falling woman's face with a rising fist. Then he quickly grappled her nevk.

" Hanma style: Reverse Grip."

The woman, whose airways were quickly restricted by Izuku's arms, was knocked unconscious. The inside was only fill with a few people but Izuku wanted to quickly get the job done. After dragging the woman into an obscure corner hidden behind a barrack, Izuku silently checked the largest building.

To hold a power source large enough for the whole island, a large space was what he believed to be true. Or else a series of smaller batteries and henerators would be required which would be expensive to set up and remove, at risk of chain failures and at the very most, too much to repair at the same time.

Finding the largesst buildijg mere storage for material and objects, Izuku was disappointed but was able to quickly pick himself up and began searching for useful items. Knives, filer, screwdrivers, metal plates and coils of ropes. At the end, he managed to salvage a few knives, a usable screwdriver, a hammer, the one used in DIY projects, two wrenches, a plier electrical wire. He exited the large buildings, 5 minutes had passed and the chaos had not been stopped as the noise had even reached this place.

Izuku quickly searched across the camp, finally getting to large generators filling the soace inside the fifth place he checked. He entered, quickly finding the fuse box before wrapping the electrical wire around the fuse. He stepped aside and then yanked hard. The metal casing groaned and the fuse flew right toward one generator, crashing into the protective casing and broke into thousands of pieces. The light dimmed, Izuku squinted his eyes annoyingly before striding towars the closest generator. In in his right hand were the screwdriver, he slidded down the side, unscrewing the bolts of a grid before using the hammer to pound anything he believes to be responsible for running the thing. He hammered the coil, the rotating mechanism and the resistors, capacitors and solonoids. The plier on the left hand was suwd to cut the wires. Getting outside the first generators, he found that two minutes had passed. Looking at the ten generators, he decided to do one good clear attempt. Running outside and bringing back cans of fuel from the storage buildingc Izuku poured the stenching liquid all over the place. He then used the two wrenches a a makeshift lighter, his arms bulging and pushing the pair together. Sparks began to fly and ignite, the liquid fuel started as a kindle began to grow and explode into a large fire. He escaped from that roaring building to the scene of a few personels checking the fire hazzard.

They were suprised to see someone setting ablazed the power source but their professionalism helped them pulled out their weapons a second later, approaching the figure. With their pistols pointing at the suspicious man, the captain stepped forward, his grey eyes lingered on the shadowy figure.

Izuku decided to start the fight with a knife throw to one of the more less guarded enemy. His speed on par with the knife allowed him to attack with little intervals. One down, nine to go. Izuku thought as he plunged a knife in a reverse grip into the eye of a nearby enemy, her red hair flew up and covered his vision. He quickly shifted his head leftward, a bullet grazed passed his cheek. A line of blood started flowing as soon as Izuku snapped to another target. As the previous girl fell and screamed with pain, bullets flew toward him from the sides.

" Gun, take it!"

He thought as his leg crounched down, his slithering fingers snatched a gun from its holster. Firing blindly toward one direction, Izuku quickly closed the distance between him and a burly man. A kick from under sent his arms high up, allowijg Izuku to stab into the legs. 2 strikes before the man attempted to catch him in his grip. Izuku used the man's leg as a pillar to boost from, dodging a hail of bullet at the spot.

" Gotcha!!!"

Izuku's legs were caught by a crawling man, his presence hidden by the chaos of the fight.

" NOW!"

Everyone fired toward his spot, the bullets ready to maim his torso. He knew his life was worth somethinf, so he waited. As the bullets encrounching closer and closer to his direct proximity, they slowed down, no, the entire world slowed down. Izuku began feeling difficulty in breathing as the air turn stiffer and stiffer.

" What a bad boy you are. A punishment is warranted!"

The otherwordly voice sounded and he felt his body churned inward, his presence dissipating immediately. The bullet missed their targets in the surprise of the shooters, their eyes turning around and their faces drained of any colors. They all believed they had encountered a ghost.

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" Stay here"

Izuku was left alone in an eternally dark space, no light, no information to be gathered through his senses. As the void started to nibble on his body, Izuku felt true fear for the first time in his lives. A true primal fear for his life, his self. He willed his self to move somewhere but responses came back. But he knew he had to continue to do this act of desperation, his instincts told him so. Before long, all of what remained in his mind was getting away from this forever darkness.

He kept on thinking of raising or moving forward, his speed and direction remained a single droplet in his dwindling sea of conscciousness.

He did not notice that something scarlet was beginning to cover his body, trying its best to ease his burden. He began his journey of solitude and selfless being.

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Dust

Stars

Black

Holes

Eat

Space

Time

Wait

Something

R...Red

Passing

...

CHANGE!

Help!

Give!

Repay!

The only Boltzmann brain to form after eternity had passed in the dead world. Without any phenomenons to sustain itself, the red comet spurred up a being whose self had been splitted among every quanta of space and time. It was dying out in the closest sense, its body and mind scattered among the vastness of void. It recognized how short-lived its presence would be, so it repaid the favor to the scarlet comet. It gave out a chance to reform to another instance of it, then the same happen. Before long, countless minds appeared in the darkness, their outreached psychic tentacles tainted the directionless void with meaning and will. A hole of existence was ripped apart accordingly to the destination of the comet, bypassing any time and space barrier. Guidance did it gave through little push and pull throughout the journey.

Soon, the comet passed through the hole, never to be seen again. Despite losing their original purposes, the hivemind had grown enough to find more objectives for itself. It began to curl inward at speed faster than light, space and time crumbled under the tension on them. A singularity was formed, then, a new universe followed. All thanks to a small scarlet comet.

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Moments of clarity were often drenched in red, his vision bleary despit the monotonous backdrop of black and red flowing against one another. He believed he never stopped but he was lo....

Do Not Lost Yourself!

He screamed as he felt himself returning to the oppressive yet peaceful silence. Then, something brushed passed him, sending shivers up his imaginary spine. The regaining of touch should have elated him, yet now it only drew out more horror to his senses.

Pushing and pulling, his mind almost snapped under the presence of something lurking around. Yet he began to trust this being as his speed increased gradually with the touching of the being akin to tentacles wrapping around a voyage ship. Soon, warmth started to envelop him and before he knew it, he was lying on a bed, red lightning dancing around his paralyzed body covered in hospital gown.

" System!"

[ Now upgrading, please wait !!!"]

Izuku resigned his body to time, slowly getting the sensories derived before. Then, he see a black mass in front of him.

Whoosh!

It quickly approached him, floating above his chest area before melting into his being. The senses came back quicker, in minutes was he able to move around in patient's wear .

[ Ting! Hosting Body, please check for upgrades made to the System]

Izuku lifted his right hand up and willed ofr the System to appear. Aside from the more streamlined design of the overall System, he was surprised to find two new additions to his skill sets.

[Aura Manipulation ( Grand ): What limits you are body and imagination]

[ Lost (LV.None): What remained of meaningless, can fool anyone's sense.]

Aura, a power he had read from the many pre-Quirk novels about Murim and Martial Arts. A life force, often displayed with a red film covering the body, the thickness could change depend on the user's practice and skill. He knew how powerful such a boost could be with practice, so he began willing this burning sensation in his heart and stomach regions to reinforce his toes.

Gradually, he could feel the wriggling becomming stronger and stronger before he must stopped as the muscles were about to tear themsleves apart due to internal forcees and frictions between the muscle fibers. He imagined how powerful the added strength from Aura Manipulation could become, but lamented about how the lack of time had only allowed him to use the skill if the opponent had been captured and their movements restricted. Or maybe useful for breaking through terrain or still barriers, he thought as he got up.

Running sound outside the room following a large thump faraway entered his ears. He quickly run to the door and open it.Someone collided straight into the door as if in a cartoon. Izuku immediately got up and pushed the door opened to find a collapsed Ectoplasm. The man's dalr blue suit with white lines were too noticable along the grey tiles so Izuku dragged the man inside and threw him somewhere discreet. He then set off toward the direction of the loud thumping, his legs gradually infused with Aura to speed up along the corridors.

Not before long, he arrived in front of the locked Gamma Gym, in front of him a wall of reinforced concrete. He was sure something was happening in there bu to get through require him to test his limit. He did not hesitate before imparting Aura in large volume into his left arm.

" Ten seconds should be enough.... Now!"

He threw the left fist squarely onto the concrete, the blow exploded the obstacle into a large enough hole to enter and see what was happening inside. He saw the familiar bestial form of his mate and a menacing robot with holes, ripped mechanical thrusters and melting casing. All of them were inside a dimmed space. He immediately jumped through and set himself between the two of them. He decided to used the second specialty: Lost.

His right hand raised up, the only functional one after his left one broke and bruised to get in by punching a big hole. He was being drained of something quickly and he paid his attention to the entire process, not recognizing his hair turning to white with streaks of black as his eyes trailed the mechanical behemoth in front of him.

He believed the System was hidings something profound after the skill simplistic description. What was "anyone", could he control what his sight and logic tell him were questions he did not need to ask as his very soul told him the answer, his answer. The robot began turning around, its body rotating and snapping to random position in space as he felt his strength leaving his body. Just a little bit more, a bit more, Izuku muttered as the robot began to slow down with its movement. Soon, it stopped and Izuku decided to slumber onto the ground right there and then. He passed out in the same arena his friend was, now she had returned to her human form. He did not last long enough to see a worrying old lady approaching the pair. Checking his friend's condition was the last thing his mind remebered before relenting itself to exhaustion.