Chapter 4: Midnight Training and Morning Doubts
POV: Nova Asahi
The Phantom was born on a Tuesday night in early October, when the first autumn chill bit through Nova's black hoodie as he crouched on a fire escape overlooking Musutafu's red-light district.
Three months of nightly patrols had transformed him from desperate amateur to something approaching competent. His stats reflected the change—strength and agility climbing steadily through combat application, endurance building through long nights of running across rooftops and through alleyways. The system rewarded practical experience more generously than pure training, each confrontation with petty criminals yielding both Hero Points and incremental improvements to his physical capabilities.
[NOVA ASAHI - LEVEL 6] [STR: 18 | AGI: 22 | END: 16 | INT: 10 | WIS: 10 | LUK: 10] [Hero Points: 485] [EXP: 2,800/6,000]
Four hundred and eighty-five points. Still frustratingly short of the two thousand needed for a Standard Roll, but close enough to taste possibility. Each night brought him incrementally closer to actual power, to quirks that might let him survive in a world where his classmates could level buildings.
The surgical mask covering the lower half of his face had become his trademark—anonymous enough to avoid identification, distinctive enough that witnesses remembered "the Quirkless vigilante who moves like smoke." Local news had picked up the story two weeks ago, spinning theories about his "mysterious abilities" that made Nova grin behind his makeshift cowl.
"If they only knew that my mysterious ability is eighteen points of agility and basic parkour."
Below him, three men cornered a woman outside a hostess bar, their voices carrying the ugly confidence of predators who'd found isolated prey. Nova's enhanced hearing—a side effect of training all his senses during weeks of stealth work—caught fragments of their conversation that made his stomach clench.
"Come on, beautiful. Just a few drinks. We'll make sure you get home safe."
"I already said no. Please, just leave me alone."
"Don't be like that. We're being nice."
The woman pressed against the bar's brick wall, clutching her purse like a shield. She was young, probably a hostess ending her shift, caught between the predators and the empty street. No heroes in sight—this district was too seedy for their attention, too small-scale for official intervention.
Perfect hunting ground for the Phantom.
Nova dropped from the fire escape with practiced silence, his improved agility letting him land in a crouch that absorbed impact without sound. Three months of nightly practice had taught him how to move through shadows, how to use urban geometry to his advantage, how to strike fast and disappear faster.
He ghosted closer through the narrow alley, keeping to pools of darkness between streetlights. The men were drunk, overconfident, completely focused on their victim. They never saw him coming.
"Hey."
Nova's voice cut through their harassment like a blade. All three spun toward the sound, squinting into shadows that concealed his approach.
"Who the hell—"
The largest man's question died as Nova stepped into the light. Black hoodie, dark jeans, surgical mask hiding his features—he looked like exactly what he was: a vigilante operating outside legal boundaries.
"The lady said no. Walk away."
"Listen, kid." The leader's voice carried the particular aggression of a drunk man trying to reassert dominance. "This isn't your business. Why don't you run along before you get hurt?"
"Last warning." Nova's stance shifted subtly, weight balanced on the balls of his feet. "Walk away, or I make you walk away."
They chose poorly.
The leader swung first—a clumsy haymaker telegraphed by alcohol and arrogance. Nova's enhanced agility let him slip the punch by millimeters, the man's fist cutting empty air where his face had been. His counter-attack was precise and brutal: an elbow to the solar plexus that folded the attacker in half, followed by a knee that dropped him to the pavement.
"Twenty-two agility points make everything look effortless. They can't even track my movements properly."
The second man rushed forward with a wordless snarl. Nova sidestepped, used the attacker's momentum against him, and introduced his face to the brick wall with a satisfying crunch of cartilage.
The third man took one look at his companions writhing on the ground and sprinted into the night.
"Smart choice," Nova muttered, then turned to the woman who'd pressed herself flat against the wall during the brief violence.
"You okay? Do you need an ambulance or—"
"You're him." Her voice trembled with something between fear and awe. "The Phantom. I've heard about you on the news."
"Phantom. I like that better than 'mysterious Quirkless vigilante.'"
"Just someone who thinks three-on-one isn't fair odds." Nova kept his voice gentle, non-threatening. "Can I call someone for you? Walk you to a taxi?"
She shook her head, still staring at him like he was something that had stepped out of a comic book. "I can get home. Thank you. Really, thank you so much."
[Crime Prevented: Assault (Attempted)]
[Hero Points Earned: +15]
[Phantom Reputation: +10]
[New Milestone: 500 Total Hero Points Reached!]
[Reward: Daily Free Roll Unlocked!]
[One Standard Roll now available daily at no Hero Point cost!]
Nova blinked at the cascade of notifications, heart racing at the implications. A free roll every day meant steady progression toward useful abilities, accumulating power without depleting his painstakingly gathered points.
"Finally. Finally, some actual progress."
But first, he needed to disappear before police sirens brought unwanted attention. The Phantom melted back into the shadows, leaving only two groaning criminals and a woman with a story that would become another thread in Musutafu's growing urban legend.
Nova's apartment felt smaller when he returned, walls pressing close as adrenaline faded into exhaustion. He stripped off the Phantom's gear—hoodie, mask, dark jeans that wouldn't show bloodstains—and became Nova Asahi again. Fourteen-year-old student. Lonely orphan with parents overseas. Just another face in the crowd.
The dichotomy was becoming easier to manage, but it still felt like wearing two different skins.
His laptop waited on the narrow desk, screen saver cycling through images of a life he'd never lived—vacation photos from a fictional childhood, graduation pictures from schools he'd never attended. The system's thoroughness in creating his cover identity was both impressive and unsettling.
But tonight, Nova opened a different folder. One hidden behind multiple passwords and encrypted with paranoia born from three months of living an impossible lie.
CANON TIMELINE NOTES.docx
The document contained everything he could remember from his obsessive consumption of My Hero Academia media—manga, anime, movies, spin-offs, fan theories. Event dates, character development arcs, villain attack schedules, hero rankings, death tolls from major incidents.
Nova's cursor hovered over a section labeled "USJ INCIDENT - APRIL" and his stomach clenched with familiar anxiety.
League of Villains infiltrates UA's training facility. Aizawa nearly dies fighting multiple villains and Nomu. Students scattered across facility zones, several nearly killed. All Might forced to use remnants of his power, hastening his decline.
The words felt like prophecy and curse combined. He could prevent it—warn Principal Nezu, tip off All Might, provide specific intelligence about Kurogiri's warp gate capabilities. But every change rippled outward in unpredictable ways.
Save Aizawa by warning about USJ, but maybe All Might dies instead because he arrives unprepared for different circumstances. Prevent the attack entirely, but then Iida never learns humility from failure, Todoroki never bonds with classmates through shared trauma, Midoriya never develops his combat instincts...
The butterfly effect was a mathematical certainty disguised as moral philosophy. Every intervention created new problems, every solution generated unforeseen consequences.
Nova scrolled to another section: "NIGHTEYE DEATH - OCTOBER (YEAR 2)"
Sir Nighteye killed during Overhaul raid. Sees his own death with Foresight, chooses to save Midoriya instead of himself. Dies believing he changed fate by inspiring All Might's successor.
His hands trembled as he read his own notes about the man who would die saving others. Nighteye was brilliant, dedicated, worthy of life. Nova could save him with foreknowledge of the raid's details, with specific intelligence about Overhaul's capabilities.
But Nighteye's death motivated changes in hero society, inspired reforms that saved countless lives later. His sacrifice became a cornerstone of Midoriya's development as a hero, taught him that being Symbol of Peace meant accepting loss while never surrendering hope.
"How many people is one life worth? How do you calculate the value of inspiration against the weight of a grave?"
Nova closed the laptop before the math could break his resolve entirely. These weren't equations to solve—they were real people whose fates he held in his borrowed hands.
But there was a middle path. There had to be.
Instead of preventing disasters, he could strengthen the people who would face them. Guide Midoriya toward earlier physical training, help Todoroki heal his family trauma faster, support Yaoyorozu's confidence so she'd be more effective in combat situations.
Butterfly effects were inevitable, but they didn't have to be catastrophic. Small nudges could create positive changes without shattering the timeline entirely.
"Make them stronger, more prepared, more united. When the disasters come—and they will come—they'll be ready."
The decision felt like stepping off a cliff, trusting that the landing would be softer than the fall. But it was the only path that preserved both his sanity and his conscience.
Nova activated the system's daily free roll for the first time, heart pounding as the gacha animation began to spin. Colors blurred across his vision—common rarity glow, nothing spectacular, but his first genuine quirk after months of grinding.
[DAILY FREE ROLL COMPLETE!]
[ENHANCED REFLEXES (COMMON) OBTAINED!]
[Description: Increases reaction time by 25%. User can respond to threats 0.3 seconds faster than baseline human capability.]
[MP Cost: Passive ability, no activation required]
[Note: This Quirk synergizes well with high Agility builds!]
Nova felt the change immediately—a subtle shift in his perception of time, sounds becoming clearer, peripheral vision sharpening. It was like adjusting the refresh rate on a monitor, everything running smoother and more responsive.
"It's real. It's actually real."
For three months, the system had been numbers on a screen, promises of power that felt more like delusion than reality. But Enhanced Reflexes hummed in his nervous system like electricity, tangible proof that this impossible situation operated by rules he could understand and exploit.
Twenty-five percent faster reactions combined with twenty-two points of agility. The Phantom was about to become significantly more dangerous.
Nova grinned at his reflection in the dark window, already planning tomorrow night's patrol route. Five hundred Hero Points down, fifteen hundred to go for his first Premium Roll. At this rate, he'd have multiple quirks before winter ended.
UA's entrance exam was still seven months away, but for the first time since awakening in this borrowed body, Nova felt like he might actually survive to take it.
"Enhanced Reflexes today. What tomorrow? What next week?"
The future stretched ahead like an unwritten story, full of danger and possibility in equal measure. Nova Asahi, the boy who didn't exist, would rewrite the tale of heroes one saved life at a time.
Starting with his own.
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