-CRUNCH
-CRACK
-SNAP
A teenage boy dashed through leaves, bushes and practically any other plant life that came his way as he showed no signs of stopping.
He swatted away low tree branches, kept his head low to avoid anything getting in his eyes and kept his knees high as he ran to avoid anything catching his feet.
It wasn't long until he raised his head slightly, changing course as he leapt off the ground, grabbing onto a large tree branch.
His ascension was sloppy but impressive considering the size of his frail body. After a minute, he was successful in reaching the peak, looking out at the forest before him.
"Shit..."
He mumbled.
He stared, crestfallen, at the seemingly endless forest that stretched out further than the eye could see. But if one looked closely, they'd be able to catch a glimpse of a tall hill, a mansion sitting on top.
'This place... It's just all a small globe.'
What he was seeing should have been impossible considering he started this run two or more hours ago, running in a strict straight line, only to arrive back where he started.
Exhausted, the green-eyed boy descended from the tree, soon arriving back on the ground.
Finding a small clearing in the middle of the cacophony of plant life, he took a seat, leaned up against a tree.
He took a moment to catch his breath, the soft soil beneath his buttocks and the gentle breeze helping him recover.
He stared at the vibrant nature before him, noticing something.
'This is close to where my pups buried Isagi's hoodie. Good. It would have been inconvenient to be seen with it considering all the blood.'
He continued looking around. The sunlight peeking through the leaves, the different types of plants with different colours, shapes and sizes, moulding together to create a mesmerising scenery.
'It almost makes one forget that none of it is real.'
This thought repeated in Rin's mind like a broken record. It wasn't until he took a deep breath that he rose to his feet.
'Well, I've finished this run quicker than I anticipated.'
Something that surprised even him. Sure, he knew himself to be quite the fast one who never tired out easily, but he never thought he could run for hours on end.
But he knew it was most likely due to a substantial boost in stamina he gained after overexerting himself beyond the gate.
He could only wonder how long it would take him to fully sprint that distance.
'I might as well put this time to use.'
Thinking this, Rin closed his eyes as he focused. And it wasn't long until...
'Go to my hand.'
-FUAA
Rin stared at the blue flame with sparking black highlights dancing on his hand.
'This is Cursed Energy.'
He thought, dubbing it the name he thought appropriate.
Even after using it to escape and bring himself back from beyond the gate, he still didn't know much about his Quirk.
'It's fucking confusing is what it is.'
Therefore, he chose to approach it step by step.
'First of all, this is my Cursed Energy. I know it's comprised of Negative emotions. I also know that its primary function is one thing. Fuel. For this...'
Placing both hands together, watching the flame spread between them, Rin mimicked a shape with his hands.
"Divine Dogs."
-HOWL
-GROWL
Rising from his shadows, a pair of black and white pups appeared beside him.
'I see.'
Rin, not having paid attention the first time, witnessed how they were summoned, intrigued as he watched his shadow liquify, returning to normal after they appeared.
It wasn't until a familiar bark rang out that he was snapped out of his trance, prompting him to turn to his two pups.
And as he stared at them, for once, he smiled as he bent down, petting each of them.
"Thanks for getting me out of that nightmare, guys."
Though not knowing each other for long, they shared a deeper bond that made the pups bark joyfully at this affection.
'My CE fuels...this. "This" being this ability that stems from the Eight Handled Wheel.'
The Wheel consisted of 8 balls, one ring and a centre. His Divine Dogs were summoned upon him focusing his CE onto the ball residing at the top of the wheel. What he knew as the first one.
'Because it's fuel, naturally, it runs out. I'm almost certain that's what the weakness I was feeling right before I was able to return. If I'm not careful, something like that could happen again and I don't know how lucky I am to escape unscathed twice.'
Taking a moment to think, he clicked his fingers.
'I'll probably have to give this a name too. How about Cursed Practice? Not bad. Cursed Power? No, too lazy. Cursed Technique? Eh, it'll do.'
Turning back to his hand, he continued.
'But despite the primary function of my Cursed Energy being to fuel my Cursed Technique, it doesn't mean it's its only capability.'
'This can be a second function of it. Strengthening.'
He remembered the power he held when he first summoned his CE.
Even now, he felt the power that made him feel as though he could snap steel.
Therefore, eager, Rin locked eyes with the closest tree as he snapped into a stance until...
-BANG!!!
Rin buried his fist into the body of the tree, putting all his weight behind it.
The entire tree shook violently as dozens of leaves began to rain down onto him.
Birds flew in fear, all while he took a step back while whistling and shaking his hand, staring at the crater formed in the tree.
'Jeez...That's the punch I was packing?'
He thought, continuing to stare. He couldn't help but notice the slight incisions in the crater, as if there were a bunch of debris between his fist and the tree during impact.
But as he looked back at his burning fist and took a closer look, he could see the small sparks and snaps occurring within the CE.
'Interesting... let's see what else this can do.'
***
Rin, sitting, back against the tree, breathed heavily as his sweat dripped onto the ground.
'Alright...'
Rin wiped the sweat from his chin as he grabbed a nearby stick, stabbing it into the dirt as he began to draw something.
'From what I can see, there are three aspects to my Cursed Energy that determine its performance.'
He raised his stick as he took a moment to stare at the water tank attached to a hose.
'Using this analogy I thought of, the mouth of the hose that releases the water would act like the first aspect of my CE. Output: How much CE I can release at once.'
'This first aspect of my cursed energy seems to be impressive. I mean, sure, I don't have anything to compare it to, but from what I can tell, it's phenomenal.'
'After all, I was able to do "That".'
'But here lies the problem…'
Rin turned his head as he stared at the tank attached to the hose.
'The second aspect of my CE, the water tank. Or what I've dubbed, my CE Pool: How much CE I hold in my body.'
'This aspect of my CE, in short…'
Rin sighed as he paused.
'Is shit. So so so shit.'
His point here was further proven as he paused to take a deep breath, still somewhat exhausted from before.
And it wasn't because he was out of stamina. No, in that short testing phase, he'd reduced his CE Pool to such a level that it prompted him to be so tired.
'It's like the same thing that happened before I could cross the gates again. Because my output is so high, it causes my CE Pool to be consumed at a frightening rate. I'm nothing more than a glass cannon.'
Finally, he buried his stick in the hose between the mouth and the tank which connected the two.
'Then there's the main hose. The path where the water travels from the tank to the mouth. But it isn't necessarily the path it takes that's important here, but rather how well it transitions. Thus, the third aspect, CE Manipulation.'
'Arguably just as bad as my CE Pool, but that isn't what I'm focused on. The reason I suspect my control and manipulation to be so horrendous is because the CE in my body is extremely wild.'
He'd noticed this tenfold when under the nightmare of the marionettes. But the effects were the same regularly, granted not as bad.
His conclusion that his CE Pool is bad was based on the performance he showed during his short testing phase and even past experiences where he was prone to quickly getting tired.
Despite that, the CE in his body felt…potent. Too potent.
So much so that it proved hard to control. He couldn't quite grasp it and sometimes felt like it was meaningless to even try. Like wrestling with a raging tsunami.
'There's something missing here. I'm not fully grasping this all.'
He took a moment as he pressed the stick to his forehead, brainstorming.
'Shit…this is all so confusing. Why couldn't this crap come with an instruction manual?'
Rin complained, rising to his feet as he dragged his foot over his drawing, returning it to regular dirt.
Tossing his stick he sighed as he prepared to leave.
'Oh, I haven't unsummoned White and Black yet. Where…'
Rin turned his head as he witnessed both his Divine pups slouched on the ground, each of them digging into a dead rabbit as they raised their heads, ears curiously perked upon Rin meeting their gaze.
Rin stared with a raised eyebrow.
"Despite this world being fake, there are still real animals running around, huh? Just what kind of Quirk made this place?"
With just a thought, his Divine Dogs disappeared back into his shadow as he turned to leave.
"Maybe that's a good thing. I've had the thought of building my body since this frail one just won't do. For that, I'll need heaps of protein, especially with Renji's stingy meal times."
***
Quirknull.
Rin didn't know where it originated, but there was a theory that suggested that with each generation of Quirk users, their Quirks grew stronger than the last.
With time, there would come a period where Quirks became too powerful and uncontrollable, leading to what some thought to be the human's own demise.
However, just as Quirks were a sudden mutation amongst man, so is the Quirknull.
Human bodies have seemingly already foreseen this, evolving so that they could prevent their own extinction.
'But at the end of the day, it's just baseless assumptions.'
Rin thought, walking up the grassy hill where the mansion lay with his hands in his pockets.
This theory, or rather story, was told to him by Ms Ino a few times. She had a way of teasing one's mind with her words.
Considering he was something of a bookworm, focusing his studies on biology and human anatomy to try and help further research on the Quirknull, he would often ask questions about it, and it was almost always the story he was met with upon doing so.
He understood why, after all, no one knew much of the Quirknull, but knowing what he knew now, he could only chuckle at his naive self.
'The Quirknull probably isn't a real thing. After all, they thought I was Quirkless. Turns out I was just a late bloomer. They couldn't have been more wrong since between my CE and CT I could be considered to have two Quirks in one.'
With this, he finally made it to the top of the hill, seeing the outside of the mansion empty.
Even the usual long blonde-haired man was nowhere to be seen.
'He must have gone back inside. As for what he knows…Well, I know he hasn't told anyone, otherwise I most likely wouldn't be here. But…I will deal with it.'
Rin turned, breathing in a breath of fresh air as his eyes focused.
Ever since that day, he hadn't once faced the gate like this, only peering from it at the corner of his eyes.
But now, he looked down on it as he steeled his gut.
Despite his heart thumping just from looking at it for too long and despite his knees feeling so weak he felt like he'd drop at any minute, he continued.
'That's right…I will deal with it…all of it.'
"You look like Oliver."
These words have been ringing through his mind ever since he heard them.
'Oliver watched whatever was behind that gate for years. It drove him mad. It drove him to his demise. But I refuse. I refuse to end up like he did.'
He spoke in his mind as he raised his hand.
'Are you watching, Ollie? I hope you are. It will be me. Rin Zenin who will take your place, and it will be Rin Zenin who…'
With his middle finger and thumb connecting, his eyes wide like a focused predator, his lips moved unknowingly as he finished.
"…Who will do what you couldn't."
-CLICK
-FUA!!!
In that moment, Rin's CE burst out from him as he closed his eyes. Like a wave, it washed over the clearing stretching out as it burst forth like an unencumbered tsunami…toward the gate.
It continued with no sign of stopping until…
-WHOOSH
The wave of CE dissipated just before it reached the gate.
Back on the hill, Rin dropped to his knees as he heaved desperately for any bit of oxygen he could get.
Despite that, he raised his head, a satisfied expression on his face.
"704,284 blades of grass…the wind is travelling North East…828 bugs of different kinds in that vicinity approximately 2 seconds ago…I saw it all."
This was it.
The sheer magnitude of his CE Output. His Manipulation was bad?
Then he simply made the decision to take the hose out of the equation and let the water burst out from the tank unhindered.
And just as he could sense his CE in his own body, he could do so in the same way as it interacted with the rest of the world.
'This…is Cursed Energy Echo…Thank you, Ollie.'
Rising to his feet, Rin breathed in as he lowered his head.
'Sorry, Isagi. I can't mourn you just yet. But I won't let you down. I'll do this. I'll escape. After all, I have something Ollie doesn't.'
Upon raising his head, Rin depicted a slight tug on the corner of his lips as he stared at the gate with his bright emerald eyes.
It was a smile so faint, yet there. A smile that made it seem as though…
As though he didn't even know it was on him.
'I have this Limitless Potential.'
'So just watch me…just a little more. I'll need it…because tomorrow…'
Rin turned his back to the gate as he walked to the mansion.
'Because I go back. Tomorrow morning!'