Disclaimer: Don't own either series of works.
Despite the minor feelings of guilt it invoked, Izuku did not end up really socializing that much with anyone else that evening. The lounge was eminently comfortable and he caught himself dozing off several times before deciding that a few quick rations and an early rest would help him better than pushing himself through the night while still somewhat recovering.
His room, he found, was as comparatively opulent as the common area had been. A full size bed large enough for two of himself took up a corner, and there was a generous desk with attached micro-cogitator that would not have looked out of place in the office of a naval officer, or lesser patrician back on Iax. As was his custom he spent an hour or so typing up reports on his fellow group mates, small informal affairs that mostly consisted at the moment of their names, prior associations, and general thoughts on their attitudes and demeanor. He noted to himself as he shut the cogitator down that the longest one so far was Uraraka's. Friendly, forgiving, and possessed of an unwavering spirit, he found his mind concentrating on her.
Izuku had had little time for women growing up, and women had had little time for him. He had been a comparative runt until his twelfth year, when he had thrown himself into the hellish training regimen that was required to even be selected as an aspirant, and once he had started training there was no time for distractions. Even so, he had not failed to realize that every woman in his group could be considered quite attractive, with the relative possible exception of Jirou given the circumstances. That said, there was something about Uraraka. She glowed with faith and courage. Perhaps it was due to her being a member of the Sororitas, bolstered by the fact he had not seen any of the others in the heat of combat, where the true soul of both men and women was tried and tested.
He shook his head, banishing the matter from his thoughts. It was unseemly and insulting to reduce any of his fellows to their gender and appearance, as if such things mattered compared to the fact they all served the Imperium to the best of their abilities. He stripped and washed himself - and wasn't that an absolute indulgence, a personal washroom all to himself - and slipped into the bed, allowing himself a moment of luxuriation at the quality of the sheets and comforter before falling asleep.
The next day saw him rise at dawn, as the first meager rays of Musutafu's star entered the viewing window of his quarters. He rose and dressed in simple fatigues, heading down to the kitchenette for a hearty breakfast before his morning exercise.
He was not the first one down, to his mild surprise. Satou and Kendou were sat munching through a large shared plate of oven-fried bread topped with a variety of condiments. Tsuyu was in the middle of frying something that smelled sweet and hearty, and Aoyama and Sero were finishing up a plate of some sort of sausage. As he entered, Sero and Kendou both gave a small wave, drawing the other's attentions to him.
"Heya Izuku. Another early riser?" Sero spoke, swallowing his mouthful of sausage.
"Not surprised. Astartes must train harder than we do, if anything you might expect him up earlier." Kendou sidled to the side to allow him a place to sit, which he took gratefully.
"Normally I would be, but I suppose I'm still recovering from the battle-exam. You all get up at the same time, despite your different regiments?"
Satou gave a small shrug, the movement oddly gentle for such a mountain of a man. "Some things always same. Like curfew and rise time."
"Not always the same. Kriegers are up two hours earlier than anyone else and always the last ones on watch too." Tsuyu had finished her cooking, depositing a group-sized plate of a hash-mix down that the rest dived into with gusto. Izuku took a hearty portion and a few of the sausages as well.
"Sure, but kriegers are…kriegers." Kendou countered, then gave an apologetic look at Izuku. "Ah, the Death Corps of Krieg, is who we mean. They're...intense."
"Damn good chaps to have alongside you though." Aoyama spoke up, dabbing his face with a napkin as he gingerly reached for the last of the sausages, deftly out-maneuvering Sero's hasty attempt to spear it.
"If you can stop them from demanding you fix bayonets and charge in after them. Absolutely crazy." Sero scowled slightly at Aoyama's victory in the sausage skirmish, but took an extra heaping of the hash instead. "And that's not going into how they all look the same."
"The same? Don't all guardsmen have the same uniform?" Izuku asked between bites of his breakfast.
"Yes and no. Everyone within a regiment is supposed to wear the same uniform, but different regiments can be vastly different. Look at lieutenant Aoyama and me for instance," Kendou spoke up again."Praetorians and Elysians have completely different looks, but me and Sero would look similar in field kit, amount of armor aside. I've never met a Valhallan or a Tanith before though so I can't speak for them."
Satou shrugged, and Tsuyu didn't even look up from her single minded consumption.
"Normally have much thicker coat. Is hot here though!"
"Tanith wears what we need. Darker green though for parade."
Sero nodded sagely as they spoke. "Back to the point, kriegers all wear the exact same brown fatigues, black coat, and bloody gasmask. Even their officers. It's eerie."
Izuku hummed in acknowledgement. "But I've heard they're deathly loyal, right?"
"Oh absolutely. I've never seen a krieg line break. Ever. I don't think they know what retreat means ."
"That's the problem sometimes. My old CO used to tell stories about krieg detachments threatening us for pulling back, even though our specialty is high impact low presence strikes." Kendou supplied.
"I've seen it happen. Krieger commissars aren't there for morale. They're there to stop the kriegers from being too much for others to deal with." Tsuyu spoke again, her plate nearly empty already.
That was an interesting fact if true, Izuku thought. Wanting to keep the budding camaraderie going, he spoke again.
"I'm planning on conducting some exercises before we report to our primary instructor for the day. Are you interested in joining me?"
They all smiled.
"Getting to conduct morning PT with someone in training to become an angel of death? Sign me the feth up."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world old chap."
"I'm in."
"I'm honored, Izuku."
"Of course, friend!"
"What... are you, Midoriya?"
Aoyama was kneeling on the ground, wheezing heavily. Kendou and Tsuyu were standing, but nearly doubled over, gulping in air greedily. Satou was both laughing and clutching his side at the same time, each boisterous guffaw sounding distinctly pained.
"What...that all you guys got? Come on...we can keep going…"
Sero was at least fully standing, though his long steady breathes betrayed his fatigue as well as he looked over his fellows. Izuku himself had worked up a good sweat, but paused and suddenly held his hands up in apology.
"Ah! I'm terribly sorry. I got carried away in my desire to make up for the days in the medicae…"
Tsuyu managed to stand straight at length, more through effort than recovery it seemed.
"As long as that wasn't normal even for you, I can accept that."
Sero let out another laugh, having moved over to help Aoyama stand up.
"Looks like we all needed the PT, eh? Think what our COs would say if they saw us wheezing like this."
Izuku had a brief memory of Training-Master Mnemoch and shivered. The assembled guardsmen let out a few chuckles at the statement as well, working together to get each other up and able to stand fully.
"Everyone able to at least walk, maybe light jog? We should get back and freshen up. Midoriya, you don't mind if we break off do you? You look a lot less uh, winded."
He shook his head at the Kasrkin. "I'll be fine. Get a bit more to eat perhaps, restock your energy. I'll see you back in the commons."
They each nodded and set back off at a very light jog, Sero barking some sort of cadence to get them in rhythm. Izuku smiled at the sight, happy that at least a small section of his group was so easily able to work together. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, taking a long deep breath as he set off at a walking pace behind them. They had by his reckoning another hour or so before the group as a whole was supposed to report in. Upon reaching the dorms, he indulged in another quick shower and headed back down to the commons, this time spotting Ojiro and Jirou.
The two techpriests were examining the meal area with undisguised interest, touching and prodding at various components. They turned as one when he entered, giving him a polite nod each.
"Midoriya. Did you just wake?"
"Ah, no. I was out with the guardsmen doing some exercise. I've been up a while."
Ojiro nodded, grabbing some of the still-warm hash and shoveling it up to his hooded face. Izuku watched in undisguised curiosity, only for Jirou to give a short burst of static drawing his attention.
"Do you often watch others eat, Midoriya?"
"No! I'm sorry. I just wasn't sure if…" He blushed at the sudden awkwardness, "...I apologize, Ojiro."
He waved it off. "No need for that. I can understand the intention. The fact I even eat at all is perhaps an oddity, though one the transmechanic here shares."
Jirou gave another burst of static, this one sounding distinctly embarrassed. "I have not yet been granted the benediction of replacing that level of flesh yet, no."
"It is not as problematic as it seems, Jirou. It helps facilitate morale with others. Eating is a human need, if a flesh-bound one."
Jirou gave a slow nod, and carefully began eating as well. Izuku politely did not stare at their faces as they did so. After a moment, he became aware of a very faint low hum in the air. It hadn't been there earlier, and the more he listened the more localized it seemed. It did not have the threatening whine of a plasma weapon, nor the heavy strum of an antigrav engine. It sounded almost harmonic.
"Are you two...communicating with each other?"
They both started slightly, sharing a look before Jirou answered.
"We are, in fact. Noospheric communication. Was that a guess?"
"No. I heard a very faint hum that wasn't here earlier and didn't sound like an engine or a weapon, so I thought perhaps it was you two."
She looked faintly impressed. "Your ears are certainly superior to the standard organic model. Noospheric communication can sometimes involve audible emissions, though it is very rare to meet someone who is not of the Mechanicus who can hear it."
"It is likely a result of his training with the Astartes. They are superior to humans in all ways, after all." Ojiro spoke up, both techpriests examining him now.
"That would be logical. Theory has merit."
Izuku gave a small nervous laugh. "Well, I'm still just a human though…"
"An extraordinary specimen however. Take pride, Midoriya. Your flesh, while still weak, is not as compromised and fallible as the average man."
"Thank you, I think. I'm jealous though."
Jirou nodded, a touch smugly. "Of course you are. Augmentation is naturally superior."
"That isn't what I meant. It's that you two can always be in touch with each other. You're never alone, or cut off. You can always have someone there to compare ideas or tactics with. I think that's incredible."
That seemed to catch them off guard, and a small silence descended. Izuku heard the hum again and allowed them their silent speech. Finally, Ojiro broke the silence, his voice strangely soft.
"Thank you for your words. We take such things for granted, gifted by the Omnissiah as we are, and few outsiders care to query or consider the marvel that He grants us."
Jirou said nothing but simply nodded her agreement, her mechadendrites waving softly.
Izuku's chrono gave a soft chime and he stood.
"That's the reminder I set. We should be reporting in soon. Do you know if everyone else is awake?"
"I saw the xenos wander past shortly before you arrived, and the naval officer after that."
"The hiver group was also active in the commons area, noisily so."
"That leaves the two psykers, the novitiate, the commissar and the rogue trader unaccounted for. Shall we utilize the vox?"
Izuku paused, then nodded. One of Jirou's cranial mechadendrites extended out, far longer than Izuku would have thought it capable of, and connected to a small vox.
"Midoriya wishes to inform you all that the time to report in is quickly approaching. Head to the commons area if you are not already on your way to the assigned instruction area."
Her voice echoed faintly from the other vox-stations in the building, and Izuku caught the sound of two sets of running feet.
"Oh throne, how shameful. To have almost slept in on the first day!"
That was Momo, who rounded the corner in a slightly simpler outfit than she'd worn the previous evening. Uraraka jogged down the stairs shortly after, beaming as she hurried over and scarfed down a portion of the communal meal.
"You aren't late yet, Lady Yaoyorozu. I had my chrono alert me 20 minutes beforehand so that I could gather everyone if need be."
She waved a hand in polite dismissal. "Please, Izuku. There's no need for formality. I've had enough of that from my childhood."
"As you wish, Momo. Ochako, it's good to see you up as well."
"I was finishing morning prayers when I heard the vox. Good timing. We should get going!"
"We should. Everyone else is either awake and about, or we must simply trust they will not shame us. I for one am interested in seeing what the day will bring" Momo spoke up, having somehow managed to eat both daintily and quickly, as she stood. Izuku nodded in agreement, already on his way to the door.
They encountered Kirishima and the other hivers on the way, as well as Todoroki and the guard contingent. As they arrived at the large door labeled 1-A and filed in, Izuku noticed the psykers and xenos were already present, silently staring at each other. Iida was also already present, gritting his teeth slightly as he looked between the two groups. He spotted the assembled others and gave a short sigh of relief.
"Midoriya! Uraraka! And others. It is good to see you all prompt."
"Likewise, Tenya."
Izuku looked around the room everyone had entered. It was set up similar to a classroom from his youth, chairs and desks arrayed in even distances all directed towards a central podium, with both a datascreen and a physical board behind it. It seemed that the 'instruction' part of U.A was being taken seriously, if a touch oddly. Everyone took a desk, Izuku noting that the arrangement ended up surprisingly egalitarian. He had expected that everyone would clump together with those familiar or similar. Taking his own seat, he found himself to the left of Sero, in front of Shinsou and behind Kendou.
There was an air of confused expectation as they awaited their instructor. It was obvious that everyone had been expecting something more military in nature, and even more obvious that Kirishima, Ashido and the other hive-raised had never seen an arrangement like this in their lives.
"I'm not sure how my squaddies would react if I told them my big secret re-assignment was sitting in a schola-room." Sero piped up, a general murmur of agreement spreading.
"Though reassuring in nature, I find myself surprised as well. Perhaps it is for being taught from the tactica?" Iida responded.
"Half of us could probably recite it verbatim by this point, or have something better to fall back on."
"...some sort of Inquisitorial tactica?"
"A guide to fight monsters, as it were." That was the soft, raspy voice of Shinsou from behind Izuku. Sero raised a finger and then slowly pointed it at the astropath.
"Thaaaat makes a lot of sense thinking on it."
"It's obvious we are not here to learn how to fight as soldiers. The alternative to all this would be to throw us at whatever assignments we are given blind and expect us to somehow survive and complete it, which is madness." Momo huffed from her position behind Shinsou.
The door slammed open.
"You'd be surprised at what other little fire and fury types do with their peons, you know."
The female figure that walked in was perhaps the most disturbing thing Izuku had ever seen. It was not hideous however, if anything it was the exact opposite. Long pale limbs attached to a statuesque body and delicate carved features, with pointed ears and a vile, smug smirk on its face, jet black hair done up in a long constrained ponytail kept together with a long spike of bone. It was like looking at a doll someone had made and crafted all too perfectly, the movements inhumanly smooth and calculated, the features so perfectly aligned as to elicit feelings of revulsion. What little clothing it wore on its chest served only to remain modest, large holes exposing more flesh, its leggings similarly littered with exposed sections, thigh high heels and wicked looking spikes along the arm guards completing the ensemble.
Izuku even knew what it was.
"Aeldari." The word was uttered not only by him but by Momo and Sero as well. Sero had likely fought them before perhaps, and Momo may well have met one given her birthright.
The smirk shattered, replaced by bared teeth in a rictus sneer.
"Drukhari , mon'keigh, and I will warn you only once to remember the difference."
The xenos woman took a pose behind the podium, leering down at the gritted teeth and blank faces of the group.
"Why ever the faces, darlings? Class is in session! Shouldn't you all be so happy to be alive and present? You're all such wonderful little new toys, I'm sure." The smile vanished, a terrifying apathy replacing it through the insistent aura of sadism never went away. "Not that I care. I'm here to put you all through your paces to make sure you're actually worthy of being here. I don't care if you survived and passed the first test."
The smile returned. "You will refer to me as Midnight, because my actual name is both an honor you do not deserve and would be mangled by your attempt anyways. And before any of you start with the same tired rhetoric exhorting my painful and violent death, take a moment to actually use the sorry excuses for brains you possess and consider why I, a 'filthy xenos', am allowed not only to be present but to teach you."
There was a long pause, and at length Momo spoke up.
"Because you are sanctioned, and because you have something of value to teach us."
Midnight gave a small coo at her.
"Very good, both the incredibly obvious answer and one that actually took some thinking. Perhaps you won't disappoint me entirely."
A serrated whip appeared in her hand and she cracked it a few times.
"Now! Out to training yard four. We're going to do some field drills as you mon'keigh call them. Normally a different…'teacher' would be here, but he was delayed. Lucky you, yes?"
Based on the expression adorning the others as they trudged out, Izuku thought that was an incredibly inaccurate way to describe the situation.
Training yard four was set up into a series of various physical examinations, Izuku observed as they arrived. He spotted a variety of them, long jump, a track for sprints, what appeared to be some sort of bizarre obstacle course. There was also a firing range with a variety of weaponry and target distances, and finally a circular sparring pit.
"Listen once and listen carefully. You will each test yourself at these various stations. I will review your results and make a judgement on each. I promise you all I shall judge fairly...for mon'keigh results at least."
Midnight gave another irritatingly perfect sneer.
"The last test will be a spar against myself. Don't worry, you're not supposed to beat me or any such impossible thing. Simply a test to see how long you last."
He spotted a few looking nervous at that, particularly those like Koda and Jirou, who seemed less aligned towards purely martial abilities. Midnight's sneer grew wider.
"Oh yes and by the way, the person who I deem to have the lowest score will be removed from the task force, and I shall lay claim to them...personally."
That brought a round of squawking righteous anger from the group.
"You can't do that!"
"Who gives you the authority-"
"We passed that exam! We've earned the right to-"
"Silence."
The word was spoken with such sudden vitriolic hate that everyone stilled.
"What gives me the right ? Who gives me the authority ? I am part of Nezu's little band for all that you mewling pathetic pieces of mon'keigh garbage might wish otherwise. I act with his authority, as does every other instructor at this entire facility. Any one of us can deem you unfit to be here at a moment's whim. Do not test me ."
The whip was back, lashing the air beside her. Her face was contorted in a hateful grimace, a disturbing mix of alien perfection and utter revulsion.
"The battle exam means nothing . Any whimpering fool can hide in the skirts of his betters to survive. Any child can pick up one of your toy guns and kill with it. You are acolytes of your oh so vaunted Inquisition now. You will face sights that break and shatter the minds of those far and away your betters, and you will be expected to succeed against them. Do you understand, you mewling infants?"
There was utter silence for a moment, and then realization, understanding, and shame at having to be reminded by a xenos of these facts filled the faces of 1-A. After a few moments, Izuku could take it no longer and stood straight, facing the Drukhari head on.
"Your words are harsh, but fair. If you would test us, then throw whatever you wish at us. You will not find me, or anyone else here wanting. I am sure of that."
She strode forward, matching his height and stuck a long wickedly sharp nailed finger under his chin. He carefully did not shudder at the feeling of this twisted xenos touching him.
"Are you sure? Are you positive you can afford such faith?"
He held firm.
"I am."
"Verrry good. I may just one day come to give you a single iota of respect."
She turned to the rest of the group, a cruel smirk firmly back in place.
"New rule. If any of the rest of you fail, he is the one I shall claim for my own, and you can all forever know that the fault lay with yourselves for failing his belief in you."
He grit his teeth and met the eyes of every last one of them. To their credit, none looked away, grim determination suffusing them as he swept his gaze over them. He understood at heart that this was merely a fervent and admirable desire to not fail a fellow human in the face of a xenos, not any actual loyalty to him in particular, but he could not stop the slight smile on his face all the same.
"Get to it! Alphabetical order, starting at the long jump!"
The training lasted an entire afternoon, each member of the class obviously putting as much as they could into it. Kendou scored highest for the long jump, nearly clearing the entire thing in an astounding display of acrobatics. Satou took the lead on the grip test and Tsuyu and Fumik tied for scaling the obstacle course, Fumik's strange avian biology giving him an edge but Tsuyu's own apparent regimental training allowing her to keep up.
Kirishima won the sprint, followed shortly by Mina. No one truly excelled at the odd side jump, though Kendou showed surprising dexterity at the task. Izuku himself outlasted the rest at the endurance run, though both Ojiro and Jirou were admirably second and third, their augmented physiology assisting them.
Kaminari and Shinsou were both separately tested at psychic potential a fair distance away from everyone else for safety, Denki incinerating a training dummy with projected lightning while Shinsou's test produced nothing of observable effect, but met Midnight's apparent standard all the same.
Sero, Uraraka, Mina and Fumik seemed determined to outdo each other on the firing range. Sero handily outshone the rest with both autogun and lasgun, but Mina took the lead at marksmanship with a lasrifle. Fumik was using some strange primitive slug rifle that he seemed very familiar with, and while he could not match Mina's shot output, he beat her at pure accuracy to her slight chagrin. Uraraka meanwhile was handling a flamer with unerring grace and aplomb, though Satou of all people was the unmatched champion at handling other types of heavy weaponry. Only Izuku managed anything of note with the selection of bolt weaponry available, though everyone took up every type of weapon at least once to test themselves with.
At length, the time came for the 'endurance duels' with Midnight.
Todoroki was up first, displaying an elegant classic sabre-style that managed roughly a minute and twenty seconds against Midnight. The initial wave of disheartened whispers were silenced by her announcement that that was 'passable', followed by a stinging criticism of the 'bland and formulaic' nature of the naval scion's form, which he bore with a quiet stoicism, stalking out of the ring and giving Izuku a glare as if daring him to complain at his effort. Izuku merely shook his head and tried to give a smile, though the other man seemed to ignore it.
Kirishima and Shoji were next, both utilizing a savage wild style that played to their strengths - Kirishima used a two handed grip on his chainsword while Shoji held four chainblades, two in reverse grip. Kirishima managed to the minute mark through a surprising skill at parrying, and Shoji managed similar through the extra utility his arms afforded. Izuku noted that the faint advice Midnight had deigned to give the abhuman about his embracing of his mutation seemed to bolster the large silent man.
Most of the rest used fairly standard imperial forms or wild desperate swings and were taken out within thirty seconds, though none were met with the dreaded 'fail' announcement and merely were berated with admonitions against unthinking adherence to a style. Uraraka finally was up, holding a chainsword in a one handed style, and managed one minute thirty, mostly by being willing to take small scrapes to allow herself solid blade clashes as Midnight parried each and every swing.
"Not the worst strategy for you mon'keigh if you have the armor for it, I suppose. Pass. At least you showed creativity."
That had been the highest praise Midnight had given anyone, and Izuku laid a reassuring hand on Uraraka's shoulder as she bandaged herself.
"Oh! Izuku. I'm sorry I couldn't-"
"You lasted the longest of anyone so far, Ochako. I could not ask for more. If anything, I should apologize for forcing you all to perform past your limits for my own sake."
"Don't! Don't say that. As if any of us are going to let that...that xenos filth have her way." Uraraka looked murderous.
"Like I said. I have faith in you. In all of you."
She made the sign of the aquila, which he copied.
"Then I can do nothing but also have faith."
Momo was up, and after her only Izuku would be left. She took to the pit with a thin rapier and slid into an oddly fragile looking stance. Midnight looked highly amused.
"Oh my, what's this? Have you been a naughty little mon'keigh and learned something from a xenos? Of course, perhaps your teacher was the naughty one here. Who would imagine a corsair would deign to teach their style to a mon'keigh? Your father must be very influential. I'm not sure whether to praise you for the boldness or bury you for the audacity, little girl."
Momo said nothing, narrowing her eyes, and Midnight rolled her own in response.
"Oh very well, be boring. Let's see if you can match the dance, mon'keigh."
The two leapt at each other in a way Izuku could only describe as a dance, Momo's thin blade flashing to deflect and catch the hooked daggers that her opponent favored. Their movements sped up slowly until, with a start, he realized two entire minutes had passed. Midnight seemed to have realized it too, for her eyes narrowed.
"Enough playing. Try and keep up."
There was a blur, and Momo was on the ground, both daggers poised directly at her throat as the other woman sat on her chest, legs pinning her to the ground. After far too long a moment for his own liking, Midnight stood, whirling her daggers into their sheaths.
"I'm not sure if I should be impressed you managed this long or insulted you dared try and even emulate that style at all. I'll settle on giving you a pass. I'd be careful who you show that too though. Not all my sisters or cousins will take so cavalierly to you using it."
Momo stood with a low growl.
"I'll be sure to remember that, instructor ."
"Be sure that you do. Now…"
Her eyes turned to him, gleaming in a cruel joy.
"The final piece, as it were. Come come. Time to test your own words, boy."
Sero, Kirishima and Kendou - the closest to him - each reached out to clap his back, the others giving nods of encouragement as he stepped forward, his hand gripping the sword he'd found that was closest to One For All in weight - he dared not use the sacred blade for a mere test.
"Ah ah ah. Put that away. Let's see how you fight as a man hmm?"
"Oi oi, you let us all have a weapon!" That was Mina, loud as ever.
"And I'm deciding that he can fight me as purely as a mon'keigh can. I'm sure he can manage, can't you sir knightslayer?"
She let out a soft mocking laugh, eyes filled with a cruel joy he was coming to hate. It was obvious she was toying with him, reveling in the acts of malice and whimsical tyranny she was imposing on him and the rest. The same calm feeling from the battle exam settled over him. If this was her terms, than so be it. An Astartes faced and overcame all obstacles encountered in battle, and so would he. He stepped into the ring, raising his gauntleted fists in the basic stance of the style Mnemoch had drilled into him and his fellow cohorts.
"Well! Facing me without fear, that earns you a few points certainly. Now, let's see how you manage…"
She struck without warning, his hands barely able to move to deflect the daggers coming at his hips and neck as he took a step back, trying to maneuver to her side. She countered with her own deft positioning, the same dagger continuing to seek his throat as the other flipped in her hand for an upward strike at his chest. This time he had to cross his arms together to blunt the blow, the carapace armor on his gauntlets letting off a brief shriek as the blades slid across it. Again he took a step back, trying to find a moment of respite.
She wasn't giving it to him though, and in the furor of the battle he realized she wasn't holding back nearly as much as she had been with everyone else. He knew of course that she must have been doing so - there was no way any of them at this moment in time could face one of the dreaded eldar in single combat and even hope to survive, but against him she was moving at the same pace she had been towards the end of Momo's fight - but right off the bat.
"Stop thinking so much!" A second uppercut strike nearly carved his face in twain before he ducked to the side by instinct.
"Come on!" His first attempt at a counter with a straight jab to where her kidneys would be on a human was caught by her knee rising to meet it and continuing past to land right in his stomach, forcing a grunt from him as he pushed her away in a sudden surge of instinctive movement. He hissed as one of her spiked arm guards stabbed into his arm near the elbow joint. She disengaged and stared at him, whirling the daggers around again. When she spoke it was a sibilant hiss, pitched only for him to hear.
"I was looking forward to breaking you after this, you know." She dove forward again, feinting a double stab before kneeing him again in the exact same spot. "But now I think I'll just cut you down right here and now in front of all of them, watch their faces fill with despair as I toy with you to your death. You'll be a good lesson for them. The price of hubris." She followed up with an overhand slash at his shoulder with one dagger as the other made to pincer him from the side at his own kidney, forcing him to make a choice of where to be hit with no chance of escape.
White hot fury filled him, and he seized it and channeled it into his legs, diving forward in a tackle that forced her to abort her own strikes and twist to the side as he tumbled and whirled back up, charging back into her space.
"Oh, did that strike a nerve? Did I upset the little asta-"
Her right hand was scything almost lazily forward towards his lung, and it was at that moment he struck, his left arm whipping out to grab her by the wrist. Her own hubris had finally cost her, her momentum nowhere near as fast as it had been, her mocking speech slowing her just enough for him to take advantage. She had just enough time to to turn her eyes from his hand around hers to meet his own glare when his right fist shot forward like a bolter round straight into her jaw.
The blow was enough to send her sprawling onto her back due to the awkward stance he'd forced her into. She sprung back up, and for a brief second he thought he had actually caused her to try and murder him before she took a deep breathe and began to laugh, wildly and madly.
"You see that, mon'keigh? He's not all words after all!"
She kept cackling even as Izuku kept his hands up, the stab wound on his arm aching but unwilling to let it slow him down just in case. She sheathed her knives and raised her hands.
"No no, you most certainly pass. Only a minute, but you actually landed a full hit and even knocked me down. That's more than anyone else did. I really may just come to respect you, Midoriya-mon'keigh."
She gestured for him to join the others and gave another smile, this one the softest she'd shown yet, which was still not saying much.
"Well done, I suppose. You all rendered a pass. Oh, and I wasn't actually going to claim the lowest ranker. Nezu would have my head if I did that! But it certainly motivated you all, hrm?"
She gestured airily back at the looming structure of the facility and their 'classroom'.
"Anyone who needs it go see the medicae than head back to your training room. You'll have the distinct pleasure of meeting another of your instructors. And don't worry. You'll be seeing me again. I teach dueling and critical observation lessons, and sometimes I deign to teach a little bit about my lovely cousins. Go on, go on. You'll do yourselves no good trying to bore a hole in me with your glares."
With their spirits greatly raised, the assembled 1-A began making their way back, most everyone crowding around Izuku as he made his way over to them.
"Throne on Terra that was amazing Izuku!"
"I honestly thought she was going to murder you there at the end. Not that we'd have let it happen without a fight."
"Fething right, kasrkin. After that sort of badass? You definitely proved you aren't just talk Midoriya."
"I told you guys my bro was manly!"
Izuku allowed the words of praise to wash over him, his spirits bolstered knowing that he had not only been victorious, but that once again he'd managed to help his teammates forge more bonds with each other. Midnight's words rang in his mind. They would be facing terrors and evil, the worst the enemies of mankind could muster. They could not falter, quail, or break. And he would be by their sides every step of the way. He swore it.