Chapter 154 : The Wait on Death Island

The journey to the uninhabited volcanic island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was the loneliest journey I had ever taken. I flew alone inside a high-tech stealth jet belonging to the Public Safety Commission, piloted remotely. There was no conversation, no jokes. There was only the hum of the engines and my own heartbeat, which felt too loud in the silence. Outside the window, the endless blue ocean stretched out below me, a blank canvas that would soon be painted with fire and ice.

The island itself, as we approached, looked like a wound on the earth's surface. A blackened volcanic peak, constantly emitting a thin smoke of sulfur. Its beaches were not sand, but black obsidian gravel that glittered under the sun. There were no green trees, only a few petrified logs from past volcanic activity, standing like skeletal fingers grasping at the sky. The air was hot and felt heavy, filled with the smell of sulfur and salt. This was a place forgotten by life. A perfect stage for a battle between two monsters.

The jet landed smoothly on a rocky plateau that had been chosen as the "bait" location. As the door opened, a wave of heat immediately hit my face. I stepped out, carrying only a small backpack with water, emergency rations, and the encrypted communicator from Momo. The jet then took off again without a sound, leaving me completely alone in the middle of nowhere.

I walked to the center of the plateau, a flat and wide old caldera. This was the place. I set up a small tent and lit a small campfire, a show designed to make my presence visible to any satellite or scout. I had to look like a stranded survivor, not a soldier waiting for war.

Then, the wait began.

The first few hours were the hardest. I sat by the campfire, staring at the empty horizon, and my mind became my greatest enemy. I felt the faint vibration of the original Tatsumi's soul, the echo of his memory of Esdeath. I remembered her cold smile as she tortured him, her possessive obsession, but also the strange moments where she showed some kind of twisted affection. I felt his fear, his hatred, and most confusingly, the remnants of the complex bond that had formed between a prisoner and his captor. I had to fight to separate his emotions from my own, to remind myself that I was not him. I was here not as her victim, but as her hunter.

To calm my mind, I meditated. I focused on my dragon's heartbeat, which pulsed with an agitated rhythm in this environment full of geothermal energy. I tried to feel its presence, to speak with it. 'We're about to face an ice storm,' I thought. 'I need your adaptive ability. I need your resistance to cold.' I felt no answer, but I felt the heartbeat become a little more stable, as if it understood and was preparing itself.

On the other side of the island, hidden inside a hot and deep volcanic cave, Endeavor was also waiting. He was impatient. He was the embodiment of fire and action, and this silence tortured him. He paced inside the cave, his flaming body illuminating the obsidian rock walls.

'That kid,' Endeavor thought with a growl. 'This whole operation depends on a kid who acts like an old general. He told me to wait for his signal. To wait!' His pride was wounded at having to follow orders from someone far below him. But he was also not a fool. He had seen Nezu's analysis. He had heard about the power of this Ice Queen. And deep in his arrogant heart, he knew that the kid's crazy plan was the only chance they had. This was his chance. A chance to do what All Might couldn't. A chance to truly become the Number One Hero, not just by rank, but by deed. So, he waited, his burning fire a time bomb ready to explode.

At the U.A. underground command center, the atmosphere was no less tense. Nezu, Aizawa, and All Might stared at dozens of screens displaying data from the island. They saw one small hot spot that was my campfire, and one much larger, pulsing hot spot that was Endeavor. They were the two chess pieces that had been placed.

"Our weather monitoring system around Hokkaido is reporting a drastic drop in temperature and an unnatural cloud formation over Sapporo," a technician reported. "She... she's preparing to move."

Ryukyu, joining them via a screen from her headquarters, gripped the armrests of her chair. She had placed all her trust in Tatsumi. She had approved this plan that could get him killed. She could only watch and hope.

Day turned into night. The wait continued. I had spent my time doing light physical exercises and constantly strengthening my mental defenses. I knew she wouldn't come in a hurry. She would enjoy this hunt. She would make sure I knew she was coming.

And then, I felt it.

It didn't start with a sound or a sight. It started with a feeling. The air around me, which had been hot and dry, suddenly felt cold. Not the cold of a normal night wind. This was an unnatural cold, one that felt like it pierced to the bone, that made my breath freeze in the air.

I stood up and looked to the north. The sky, which had been clear and full of stars, began to be covered by thick black clouds that gathered with an impossible speed. The temperature around me plummeted. Frost began to form on the black volcanic rocks, creating strange patterns that glittered under the moonlight.

I looked toward the ocean. Its surface, which had been calmly rippling, began to freeze. From the horizon, a giant ice road began to form, creeping toward our island like a white highway to apocalypse.

And at the end of that ice road, I saw it. A giant ice pillar emerged from the frozen ocean, lifting a shadowy figure on top of it. Even from a distance of several kilometers, I could feel her aura. A cold, arrogant, and absolute pressure that made All For One's presence feel like a friendly warmth.

She had arrived.

She walked calmly on the ice road she had just created, her white general's gown fluttering in the local blizzard that now surrounded her. She was in no hurry. Every step was filled with the confidence of someone who considered herself a god. She arrived at the shore of our island, and with a single wave of her hand, the entire surrounding volcanic landscape began to be covered in snow and ice. She was turning this fiery hell into her own frozen paradise.

The dragon's heartbeat in my chest pounded so hard it hurt. The echo of the original Tatsumi's soul screamed in terror. But I forced it to be silent. I stood tall in the middle of the caldera, unmoving, letting her see me. Letting the bait be seen by the predator.

She stopped about a hundred meters from me. She looked at me, and I could feel her gaze even from that distance. She tilted her head slightly, a faint, cold smile full of a sense of ownership gracing her lips. She recognized the Incursio energy within me.

Her voice was carried by the freezing wind, sounding as clear in my ears as if she were whispering right beside me. She didn't ask who I was. She didn't ask why I was here. She spoke as if she had just found her long-lost property.

"So," Esdeath said, her calm voice a promise of an endless winter. "This is where you've been hiding all this time, my dear Incursio."