Decay

Decay (崩壊) is the Quirk used by Tomura Shigaraki. It is the result of a rare mutation that no one was aware of before it manifested, much like Eri's Rewind.

Description
Decay allows Tomura to destroy anything his hands touch, making it crumble to dust.

Whether the target is organic or not, Decay will work without fail. As such, this Quirk is extremely lethal against living beings, having their flesh rot away if hit by it. The speed of the disintegration has varied from slow to almost immediate, eventually spreading through their whole body if a victim doesn't amputate the decaying body part (Shota Aizawa was able to avoid this by erasing Decay before it could cause further damage to his flesh).

It is also possible for the effect of Decay to spread beyond what the user has touched, creating a domino chain of disintegrated victims. Tomura has had this ability ever since Decay first manifested on him, being strong enough to destroy an entire household, but due to his jumbled up memories of the event, he seemingly forgot about or mentally repressed this specific ability until halfway through the Meta Liberation Army Arc, where flashes of his past started reminding him of what happened. At this early point of Tomura's life, Decay's disintegration process was far weaker as it reduced affected targets down to chunks instead of dust.

Weaknesses
Because the Quirk requires Tomura to touch a solid object in order to be activated, it is possible to counter Decay through Quirks that allow for the manipulation of fluids or particles, which Tomura cannot properly touch with his fingers.

In addition, this Quirk is not effective if the user is wearing a pair of gloves.

Usage
Decay first manifested on five-year-old Tenko as he played with his dog, Mon. Tenko felt a shock through his left arm moments before getting physically punished by his father. While embracing Mon, Decay's effects materialized for the first time, resulting in Tenko accidentally killing his dog and then, later, his sister. Eventually, Tenko, who was resentful about his family and in a manic state, destroyed the rest of them as well as their household with his newfound Quirk.

All For One took advantage of this event in order to recruit Tenko (now Tomura) as his pupil and eventual successor when the latter was left alone and confused after the death of his family. With the help of his doctor and assistant, All For One was able to salvage the hands of the family members Tomura killed, using them as a sort of tool to help Tomura deal with his loss while simultaneously increasing his feelings of rage and hatred, which All For One believed was necessary for his plan to raise Tomura and his Quirk's strength.

As Tomura's memories of killing his own family were repressed by his subconscious, he became unaware of some aspects of his Quirk, unconsciously holding himself back from causing more destruction than he was actually capable of. As his past started sorting itself through his mind due to damage caused to his family's hands, Tomura started relearning and showcasing how truly powerful Decay is while battling against the Meta Liberation Army.

Decay is Tomura's main method of combat. By nature, this Quirk forces Tomura to always engage his opponent in close quarters, though he often requires only to make contact with his enemy in order to kill or heavily injure them. Tomura seems to have improved his Quirk ever since its first appearance at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, as Decay's disintegrating speed has become noticeably faster in subsequent usages.

Tomura is often careful with his hands when touching objects he doesn't want to destroy, letting at least one of his fingers free from use while holding things. He employs a similar method when holding people hostage, threatening to disintegrate them if they don't comply or cooperate with him. If Tomura gets angered or frustrated, he is likely to drop his carefulness.

Through vigorous training via several weeks of combat against Gigantomachia, Tomura has greatly improved the strength of his Quirk. Decay works almost instantaneously now rather than taking several seconds before a target crumbles to dust and continues to evolve under high-stress environments. Even with his left hand partially destroyed, Tomura was able to decay part of Re-Destro's hand using only two fingers, albeit the process was much slower and weaker compared to when he uses all five fingers. By the end of his fight with Re-Destro, Tomura grew yet again, and his Decay is now strong enough to reduce nearly half a city to dust.

Trivia

 * Decay is very similar to Overhaul in practice, but there are some key differences:
 * While both abilities are capable of destruction, only Overhaul has access to reconstruction, giving it more natural versatility.
 * Decay's effects can spread to anything connected to a target. Overhaul's effects are limited to the target only.
 * Against a human opponent, Decay's effects will keep spreading throughout their body with no way of stopping it save for mutilation of the affected area. Overhaul's effects happen instantly, and can be contained within a specific bodypart.
 * Decay requires all five fingers to be in contact with the target to activate; over time, this is has evolved to being active with fewer fingers, but at a slower and weaker effect. Overhaul, on the other hand, can be activated at full effectiveness with a single finger.

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Decay