Chapter Text
"You wanna be a hero so bad? I've got a time-saving idea for you. If you think you'll have a quirk in your next life- go take a swan dive off a roof!"
Midoriya snaps his head towards Bakugou in confusion and anger after hearing the statement. The latter producing sparks in his hand as a threat causing Midoriya to shut up.
Bakugou and hia friends leave the classroom is a severely distraught Midoriya standing at his desk, still processing what Bakugou said to him. He soon remembers that his notebook was thrown into the pond outside the school and quickly packs his bag to go retrieve it, the words still spinning in his mind.
He thought, 'Who else other than my mother would care if a quirkless nobody like me died.' While walking away from a slightly run down 4-story building he would describe as hell itself.
With his injuries fresh off the palms of bakugou, instead of going home, he limps over to one of the tallest skyscrapers in the area and slowly climbs to the roof. Staring out towards the city 15 stories up, he marvels at how beautiful Japan is during the time of day, yet he isn't able to fully appreciate the view as the decision he is about to choose weighs heavily on him. Writing a makeshift letter with a page of his soaked and ashy notebook, he tapes the letter onto the backpack he put near the edge of the rooftop. He apologizes towards the sky to his mother about not being strong enough to withstand the bullying and he wishes she'd live a cosier life without him, and he jumps.
Tears stream down his face as he plummets like a ragdoll towards the ground, his arms and legs flailing in the air as the wind blows the tears off of his face.
*Thud*
Midoriya's body hits the ground like a wet noodle, the crowd of civilians scream after seeing a boy no older than 15 lying unconscious on a pool of blood
Beeps of machines, bright white ceiling lights, constant exchanges between doctors, nurses, and patients, a common sight inside a busy hospital. Bursting through the hospital doors are 2 paramedics and a stretcher transporting a green-haired teenager
The entire situation was a blur to Midoriya, he heard people screaming codes of different colours, doctors surrounding him trying to assess the wounds. He was wheeled towards the Emergency Room where he fell in and out of consciousness until everything went dark.
With the patient being unconscious and with no identification or any kind of carry on, it would be close to an hour before any contact with the patient's guardian could be made.
[Midoriya's POV]
"Huh? Where am I? Why is it so dark here? Is this hell?" The boy said while stuck in a dark void, his words echoing back to him.
"No." A man with a voice as smooth as fine aged whiskey replied to him "You are nowhere near hell, come take a seat" he continued
Midoriya turned to face the origins of the voice, he saw a brunette man with a streak of white in his hair wearing a long grey overcoat with dark brown dress pants and black dress shoes sitting under a glowing tree, gesturing to Midoriya to sit beside him.
.
Midoriya obliged to the man as there was nothing else he could do. "Who are you mister?" He asked as he sat down.
"My name is Joachim Nokianvirtanen, but I go by Welt Yang." The man now known as Welt as he stared deep into the abyss
"Hello, Mr Yang. May I ask where are we?" Midoriya asks as he turns towards Welt
"We are nowhere and everywhere, at the beginning, the end, and everything in between, young one. Where and when we are are completely seperate from the timeline you hail from. The tree we are sitting under is called the Imaginary Tree, and it is the base of the entire multiverse, each branch represents a specific path which worlds might exist." Welt explained while he gazed upwards at the branches
Midoriya tilted his head upwards to gawk at the branches that seem to extend outwards infinitely
Welt continued "I don't have much time as the Herrscher of Reason in this universe and as the wielder of the Star of Eden, as a result I have been forced to reside in this space between worlds. Due to the limitations of mortality, I must find a successor to this power as well as this name. The name "Welt" is German for "world", and as the same suggests, the wielder of the name and the powers that come along with it are tasked with the goal to protect the world they reside in. I have seen many brilliant minds capable of wielding this power, but you, Young Midoriya, are capable of much more than just wielding this power, you have the ability to push the power to its limits and to take it far beyond what I can do. That is why I have brought you here, I have chosen you as the successor of the Welt name and the powers stored within."
"A-are you sure you have the r-right person? I-I'm just a quirkless nobo-"
"Just because you're quirkless does not make you a nobody. You have mind comparable to Earth's greatest minds, and some of my greatest companions. During my time, there were no quirks, only Houkai energy, but that's beside the point. I didn't have any kind of powers before obtaining the powers of the Herrscher of Reason, it was passed down to me by my mentor, Welt Joyce, when I was just a young teen like you." Welt retorted
"I-I... this is a lot to take it... I n-need some time... to think a-about this"
"No worries, we have some tkme before your body wakes up from its coma. Do you have any questions you wish to ask me?" Welt said as he smiled and leaned back onto the bark of the huge tree
"W-was there a universe where I was born with a quirk?"
"Plenty. Given the infinite nature of the Imaginary Tree, if you can think of it, it exists somewhere on one of these branches. Oddly enough, most of the universes end up with you and Bakugou having conflict with one another. Sometimes it was a fair fight, others it was a one-sided beating. But don't beat yourself over it, given Bakugou's nature, it was bound to happen." Welt answered it as he pats Midoriya's back
"Oh..."
Minutes pass without a peep out of either one of them. Welt enjoying the silence of the void humming an old tune, and Midoriya thinking through Welt's offer. Welt then perks up "Any progress on my offer?"
"Yeah. I accept. Please train me to utilize your power to it's full potential!" Midoriya enthusiastically says with a burning sense of passion and justice apparent in his eyes
Welt holds out his hand to show a small grey crystal "This is called the Core of Reason. In a sense, you can say it is the soul of reason itself. The core holds the powers and abilities of The Herrscher of Reason. Take it an absorb it into your body." He then summons his cane "This is the Star of Eden, for me it has taken the form of this cane, but it can take many different forms."
"I-if you don't mind me asking... what can a Herrscher of Reason do?" Midoriya asks after receiving the two items.
"Herrscher of Reason has two main abilities, the grants the wielder superhuman memory, and it allows the wielder to recreate anything as long as they thoroughly understood the thing they are recreating. The Star of Eden allows the wielder to manipulate gravity itself to even form blackholes." Welt gives a detailed explaination of the abilities to Midoriya
"T-this feels like a lot... I'm not sure if I'm someone that can handle that..."
"I trust your capabilities Midoriya, I wouldn't have brought you here if I wasn't fully sure of your abilities." After saying that, Welt's lower half starts to fade away "Oh, it seems my physical form is giving up on me. It's all up to you now Young Midoriya, I trust you'll do the right thing..."
"What do you mean your time is up?! There's so much you still haven't explained to me!"
"There isn't much left I can explain to you, the Star of Eden and the Core of Reason are both things that can only be understood through trial and error. But I have been able to store my soul inside the core to guide you. But now, it's time for you to wake up..."
[Outside POV]
The green-headed teenager had just fell unconscious after he was brought into the emergency room, from what the police could gather, the patient's name is Izuku Midoriya, and his Mother Inko Midoriya. Within minutes of the call from the police, Inko rushed into the hospital Midoriya was staying at. She was forced to sit in the waiting for what the doctors had to say about the situation her precious Izuku is in. seconds felt like hours, minutes felt like days, but after an incredibly long 30 minute wait, the doctors finally came out with a report on Midoriya's current status. 'Stable but comatose' is all the doctors could say about it, he could be in a coma for days weeks or even months, with a chance that he never wakes up again.
Months go by with no change in his state, still stable but comatose. Inko visits Izuku every day after work just in case he does wake up suddenly, but with no luck. As days go by, Inko notices somethings changing regarding Midoriya's appearance. His hair starts to darken to more closely resemble the colour of his mother's with a tuft of his hair on the front starting to turn white, bags starting to develop under his eyes, and his chin starting to grow slight facial hair. Until suddenly, the equipment in the room starts to float and beep uncontrollably, the nurse that as in charge of monitoring him quickly made multiple calls to the doctors in the hospital. Within seconds, Midoriya's room was flooded in masked people in white checking vital signs, eye and body movement, and so on, As the doctors were checking what needed to be checked, the nurse contacted his mother, who rushed to the hospital right when she heard the news.
Suddenly Midoriya's eyes shoot open, scaring even the doctors. One of his eyes being bright green, and his other glowing red but then reverting to brown as the floating machines crash into the ground. This is the exact moment Inko bursts into the room and hugs Izuku while sobbing
"M-mom?"
"Izuku baby! I'm so glad you're alright"
"I-I can't breath" Midoriya wheezed out
Inko apologized for squeezing him so tight, but explained that he had been out for almost 4 months, she eventually went out of the room to let the doctors do their tests on him.
Even after what happened, the tests still show that Midoriya was quirkless and showed no signs of gaining a quirk despite what had happened, Midoriya's eyesight had also deteriorated, not majorly so but still required prescription glasses. The doctors in charge decided it was best that he stayed in the hospital for further study.
'I became a Herrscher of Reason, someone with power far greater than anyone can comprehend. Maybe I do have a chance at being a hero after all.' Midoriya pondered as he recalled everything Mr Yang has told him.
A week goes by in the blink of an eye. Through the further study of Midoriya's case, it seems that hasn't awakened a quirk and exhibits no suicidal tendencies. The prescription glasses given to Midoriya has been able to help with his vision and he was deemed stable enough to be dismissed from the hospital.
Midoriya is woken up by his All Might themed alarm clock, which he accidentally breaks after he slaps it across the room. Taking his groggy self to get out of bed, he looks at the calendar on his wall and the date on his phone to see that between now and the UA Entrance Exam, there was only 5 months and a half left to get used to his new powers.
After donning a casual t-shirt and shorts and having breakfast with his mother, he asks his mother if he can go to study for the UA Entrance Exam. His mother reluctantly agreeing but tells him not to work himself too hard and that he call her every hour while he's out to let her know that he's safe. After last time, she has been worried sick about letting Izuku out on the streets by himself. He assured that he will be alright and agreed to the terms as it was crucial for him to understand the his powers.
His first stop: The library.
'Mr. Yang said that the Core of Reason allowed him to recreate anything he has thoroughly understood' was what he was thinking when he walked towards the Technology section of the Library where he found exactly what he was looking for, patents. If he needed to have a thorough understanding of what he wanted to create, then his best bet would be the patents for them. For a creator to get a patent for their creation, they have to directly explain what their creation does, how it functions, and how it is original, so all the functions of the machine would be explained, if he wanted to delve even deeper he could find the blueprints on the internet. So, he spends hours in the same section of the library reading and researching every patent that he deemed would work in a combat setting, weaponry, power generators, holograms, different types of grenades.
'What would the world be like if quirks didn't exist and people focused on technology like this?' Midoriya wondered to himself
'Terrible' replied a familiar voice
'Mr. Yang!? Is this what you meant by your soul being in the core? You scared me half to death'
'Apologies Midoriya, but to answer your question, life would be terrible. During the time I was alive, there were no quirks, only a fair few humans had special abilities. Houkai is a manifestation of the Will of God. The Black Death, the extinction of the dinosaurs, etc. were manifestations of Houkai. In my time, some humans were able to awaken into Herrschers. Herrschers were humans that have merged with Houkai energy, gaining power but also giving in to the will of the Houkai to destroy human civilization. So without quirks, we'd have super powerful reality bending maniacs trying to end civilization.'
'Oh... that doesn't sound good at all... Wait! If you're the Herrscher of Reason, and you passed it down to me, WILL I DESTROY HUMANITY?!'
'Calm down, Midoriya. No, you won't destroy civilization, we are an exception. Most Herrschers succumb to the will of the Houkai and wreck havoc on civilization, but my predecessor Welt Joyce and I have been able to betray its will and protect humanity. With your sense of justice, I think that you too will betray its will. Even so, Houkai energy still exists within this civilization, through quirks. I believe that just like the awakening of Herrschers, the awakening of quirks is tied to the existence of Houkai Energy, but this time, spread out among 80% of the population, instead of concentrated like our Herrscher cores. This means that out abilities stem from the same Will of God, the same desire to end civilization. We see some have succumbed to it like the Herrschers of the past, we see some able to mold it into something beneficial to humanity like we did with our Herrscher core, history is bound repeat itself, it's a law of the universe. War broke out between humanity and the Houkai. I think that war may break out as it did before, but I am not certain. That is why you must prepare to face any challenge, and with the power of our Herrscher core, I think it won't be hard for you. On a different note, I think we've sat in this section of the library for long enough, you should eat something.'
Listening to Welt's suggestion, Midoriya decided to have lunch at a cafe not far from the library, calling his mother to notify her of his whereabouts on the way there.
Izuku Midoriya is enjoying a show he has been catching up on, about some disabled jockey and his Italian friend with balls, all the while eating his favourite katsudon at a window seat. His alone time comes to a halt when he sees a hoard of civilians running in fear in the corner of his eye. Taking his backpack, he placed the needed amount on the table and dashed out of the cafe. Looking to his right he sees a massive monster of green sludge. In the middle of it all, the spikey dirty blond pomeranian struggling to breathe.
"K-KACCHAN"
'Friend of yours?' Welt chimes in
'W-well....'
'I won't pry, but I can sense it, you want to save him, don't you?'
'Yeah, b-but I don't know how to use my powers'
'Then, how would you like a live demonstration?'
'W-what do y-you mean?'
'I meant as in taking control of your body for a short while. I save your friend and you get to see how you should use our powers.'
'I-I guess you c-can'
On the outside, the boy frozen in fear, eyes almost bulging out of his sockets. The boy blinked a few times before his scared demeanor turned into the definition of determination.
The boy started to run towards the scene, but stopped by one of the passing heroes.
"Kid! You can't go near it, the villain's too dangerous!"
'Mr. Yang, don't hurt him he's one of the heroes'
'A hero that's standing on the sidelines doing nothing?'
'Well...'
"If I can't go near it, why aren't any of you heroes doing anything?"
"We can't do anything with our quirks"
"Unbelievable" Welt complained pushing the hero aside and running towards the villain, reddish lightning cracked all around him
"Wha- Kid stop!"
"Oh? What is this? A kid coming to sacrifice himself. How sweet, I don't mind another casualty."
Suddenly, Welt stopped in front of the villain
"Aww, are you having cold feet now?"
"No. Just an idea" Welt retorted with a smirk, eyes starting to glow red.
Welt then extended his right hand, palm facing upwards, a glowing red sphere appears above his palm cracking with black lightning and power. Wind swirled around Welt causing the heroes on the sidelines to shift their stance to stay put.
One word caused the everyone around Welt to shutter with fear.
"Kneel."

At that very moment, the sludge villain forced onto the ground by a sudden shift in gravity, in the process dropping Bakugou out of his grasps. The latter laying on the ground catching his breathe and crawling away, finding it extremely hard due to the pressure. The heroes around also felt the shift as their knees almost give out because of the pressure.
Despite being almost flattened onto the ground, the sludge villain refusing to give up shoots a tentacle towards Welt in hopes of distracting him enough to falter the pressure.
Welt taking a single step to the right avoiding the attempt at an attack.
"Since you attacked first, I could call this attempted assault, which gives me the right to fight back." He looked down at the villain
"Quasi black hole."
Welt turned his wrist so that his palm faced the villain as a black sphere with a diameter of 4 meters appeared between him and the villain, erasing 60% of the sludge in an instant before dispursing.
What remained of the villain saw death itself in the glowing red eyes of Midoriya and was scared shitless, running in the conplete opposite direction of Welt. In the villains panick, overlooking the massice shadow of All Might right in front of him trapping him into a jar.
"Hey kid, do you mind releasing that pressure? It's starting get tough on my knees and back. Hahaha"
In that moment, Welt decides to give back control to Midoriya.
"O-oh! OHMYGODIMSOSORRYALLMIGHTISTALKINGTOMEITSSUCHANHONOUR"
"Hey kiddo, I know the adrenaline is getting to you. Do you think you could calm down and please take away the pressure of your quirk, it's getting quite heavy"
"O-oh yeah, sorry"
'Midoriya, just exhale and think about being light' Welt guided Midoriya
With an exhale through the boy's nose, the pressure in the area instantly lightened, civilians and heroes around him stood back up straight, All Might put his hands to his hips and cracked his back groaning.
"You have a mighty fine quirk there, Kiddo. Have you thought about being a hero?"
"ABSOLUTELY! I'M HOPING TO ATTEND UA! YOU'LL BE TEACHING THERE RIGHT?!..." Midoriya beamed as he continues to trail on and on about UA and being a hero
"That's great kid but try not using your quirk without permission. Sure you saved the kid this time, but if you didn't, you would land yourself in great trouble, and we both wouldn't want that for you. I do have to congratulate you for standing up and saving this kid, you did something great."
"A-a-a-all M-i-i-ight said I did s-something great..."
Midoriya stood as still as a tree after hearing All Might congratulating him on defeating a villain, despite it not technically being him but Welt, with the latter allowing Midoriya to take the praise for it.
All Might realizing that his time is almost up for the day says goodbye to the kid and checks up on Bakugou and leaving him to the care of the other heroes before jumping away.
'So, what did you learn about the power' Welt speaks up breaking Izuku out of his trance
'T-that it's terrifying'
'Indeed, the Star of Eden is nothing to scoff at, but that does not scratch the surface of your full power set. The powers granted by the Core of Reason and the Star of Eden are undeniablly powerful, that is also why I have entrusted it to you. You instantly felt the need to save your friend, that is the essence of being a protector, a hero. The drive that pushes you towards certain doom to save an innocent soul, that is what the name Welt strives for.'