THE CURSED GAMER

Chapter 157: Opportunity? (6)

—

Mirio surrendered. Neji's strategy was successful.

Putting his hand on Mirio's head, as the teen was on his knees with his back facing him, Neji activated ⟨Mine⟩.

This went just as he planned. Because, Mirio Togata was known for sacrificing his everything if he could save even a single life.

Neji respected that mindset because that was something he could never do. That didn't matter though, as Mirio grunted, feeling all his quirks getting yanked out, while fighting with the Vestiges to allow Neji what he was doing, Neji couldn't help but smirk.

His right hand was on Mirio's head, his left one was pointing at a kid floating in the air beside him. Mirio wouldn’t try anything, knowing well that this 'villain' wouldn't think twice to fire a beam and kill the student. So he was behaving quite nicely.

Neji could see his girls looking at this sight with shocked and confused expressions, Nejire was on the verge of tears, even. But they still didn't step forward. Neji felt a bit… sad, seeing Momo looking legitimately scared, her face questioning if Neji was really… Neji. That scary conversation he had with her before might be one of the reasons too since he never acted in such a way with her. But Neji didn't find that a problem. She wouldn't do anything stupid here, and all her questions will be answered soon after this finishes anyway.

'Let's get this over with… But first, let's take care of our uninvited guest.'

Neji's gaze moved towards Kimi as their eyes locked, not long after, she hesitantly nodded.

—★—

Lady Nagant was on a mountain hill beside UA High, her sniper rifle ready to be used as she watched the white haired boy's red-aura surrounding hand rest on the blonde haired boy's head through her rifle's scope.

'He's clearly related to All for One… maybe he's that monster's illegitimate child even.' Lady Nagant noted to herself, frowning and watching as she decided what to do.

…Why was she even hesitating? That boy hurt civilians in front of her, and he was clearly the villain here. From what she understood by lip reading their conversation, that kid had a quirk similar to, if not the exact version as, All for One. Currently, the red energy that was coming out of his hand was exactly that, Nagant was sure of it.

Who would have thought her patrol would come to this? UA is located in Musutafu city, where she came using the mist-villain's wrap-gate. There, from trying to see what the commotion was about in UA, she came across this, a bunch of kids fighting amongst themselves.

Nagant watched as the blonde kid groaned, his body shuddering while the silver haired boy smiled.

…The only reason she wasn't pulling the trigger was because… he was a kid. Just a high school boy. Maybe he was being manipulated by All for One? Maybe he's being mind controlled? What if he returns back to himself the moment she fires her bullet?

Watching, as the blonde boy lightly cried in pain, Nagant sighed and shook her head, locking on target on the silver haired kid's head as she was about to fire.

But just then-

"Hasn't it been a while, Kaiana?"

Nagano froze, turning her head to her back as her throat was immediately grabbed by a strong hand, with two silver eyes glaring daggers at her.

"Just who do you think were you targeting?" said the hybrid white tiger, her eyes gleaming. "If something happened to him…"

"Ugh... who are you?" Nagant grunted, her hand returning back to normal because of the lack of oxygen.

"You don't recognise me?" the woman said, frowning and scoffing. "It doesn't matter. Die."

She raised her hand in the air and chopped on her neck. Nagant was somewhat disappointed that the attacker didn't mean 'die' in a literal sense.

How she wished to give up this pathetic life of hers…

—★—

Noting that Kimi had dealt with the problem, Neji smiled.

He told her the location where she should be sent, since Neji had quite a few uses for Lady Nagant, and after sending her there, Kimi returned beside Nejire and Momo, who never even noticed her disappearance. 

It all took her less than a minute.

Neji decided to focus on the main job again.

The moment he focused, he felt it, the Vestiges were forced to give up as both he and Mirio fought against their resistance. It's certainly faster and more efficient when Mirio was on his side since the quirk belonged to him more than those seven ghosts.

Suddenly Neji felt a surge of power in his body, his existence itself, as he felt One for All finally leaving Mirio's body and entering him, instead.

[Minds that do not belong to the Gamer have been detected trying to invade!]

[Gamer's Mind has reacted!]

[The 8 minds within the Quirk, 'One for All', is being eliminated by the Gamer's Mind.]

[The slight consciousness within the Quirk, 'Permeation', is being eliminated by the Gamer's Mind.]

[...Evaluating!...]

[Elimination successful!]

[Ding! The Quirk, One for All, along with the seven quirks stored within it, has been Mined!]

[Would you like to check the details?]

[Y/N]

It was here. The power, the authority, the endless energy running within his body… Neji shivered as he tried to force down his grin from widening any further, pushing the nasty chuckle down his throat. This was it, this was the thing he's been waiting for. This was what just made him rise to the top, jump ranks in the power hierarchy immediately.

Neji pressed no and drew back his hand, feeling somewhat relieved that Mirio simply looked exhausted instead of dying or becoming brain-dead. But a part of him felt... paranoid.

'He is the main character… losing his powers isn't that big of a deal for him. I should kill him.' Neji sighed softly, feeling somewhat guilty as he clenched his fist and coated it with Tremor.

He didn't want to, but he had to.

He raised his hand in the air, even as Mirio looked backwards with horrified eyes… before he stopped because of a yell from the side.

"Neji… stop!" Neji turned, looking at Nejire whose cheeks were wet. "D-don't do it… You already got what you wanted, right? Don't kill him… please!!"

'Uh, fuck.' Neji's lips thinned as he clenched his jaws, falling in deep thought.

He defeated two Main Characters already. If the Will of the World of whatever it was called really was going to boost Mirio's powers further, then…

'I will just steal his quirks again.'

Certainly, the main character's new quirks would need to be strong enough to match the threat that was Neji right now. So his quirks would surely be stronger, in case the world really did help him regain strength.

The moment Neji thought that a quest flashed in front of his eyes.

[An emergency quest has been generated!]

[Quest: Harvesting!

Description: It's an all known fact that Main Characters can rise even from their ashes! Losing power is a small problem for them. Certainly, Mirio Togata will regain his powers, maybe even powers greater than the One for All?

Objective: Let Mirio Togata live

Reward: New powers (A chance to fight a stronger Mirio, with stronger powers that you can plunder!), Tier Potions 2x, Health Potion 3x, Stamina Potion 10x.

Failure: High chance of losing Nejire's trust, and a higher chance for her to enter a state of depression! A new main character will be chosen!]

"..."

Neji cancelled his attack, turning around and walking away.

That failure talking about Neji alone was enough for him to decide what he will do, and the arrival of a new MC after Mirios death was also a no brainer. The rewards were just icing on the top.

Neji left the field and went to Nejire to hug her softly to mutter out a sorry. He turned to Kimi and gestured to her to pick up Momo in her arms before he did the same with Nejire, who had started to cry by then.

"Y-you better have a good d-damn reason for all this!" She hugged him and cried, as he rose in the air, turning to Kimi and telling him the location.

"That mansion I went to a few weeks ago," Neji said, seeing Kimi nod who transformed into her tiger form and kicked away from that place.

Before leaving himself, Neji glanced at the crowd below, looking tired and devastated as they were on their knees. He could see All Might in the far, making sure he was still alive and not in a coma, since the Gamer's Mind did erase a total of nine consciousness. But it seems since there was only a small part of All Might's consciousness in there, he didn't become braindead.

Without wasting another second, Neji kicked the air and flew towards Eusha city.

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