Reviews:
Archangel Xireon Chaos God: Oh they'll hear the song alright, but it won't be her singing it...
MajinTree: This is gonna come in a little later but no harm in spilling a little of what's planned. Spider will be taking a quirk from AFO that used to belong to someone very important.
DarkRain4Eternity: It's one of my fav's too, something about it is just really powerful.
Warpixie:
Voldemort: *Shows up with his death eaters* You are already doomed.
Spider: *Smiles* Durnehviir! It's dinner time.
:~
General Note: Sorry this took so long, it's been super hectic at work since I changed roles so now I have like no free time :(
Early the next morning before UA officially even opened its gates for the student body, Spider wandered the halls heading towards a specific room she knew a certain too enthusiastic blonde hero would be situated since the teachers took it in turns to be the one to unlock the school. Luckily today was his.
She slid the door to the door to the teachers lounge open and stepped inside surprising All Might who was sat with his back to her at his desk though his head was turned to the side in order to look at who entered. He wasn't in his muscle form and so was very much just a tall lanky man with droopy hair.
"Oh young PoisonBlood, I didn't expect to see you until later today. What's wrong?" He asked, his voice sounding drained of life and the man before her looked visibly subdued by whatever plagued him.
"I'm here about what you said to Izuku." Spider answered, her own voice giving away no hint of emotion.
"Ah." All Might looked down unable to meet the Dragonborn's eyes. "He wasn't supposed to tell anyone."
"I convinced him it would be in his best interests." She replied cryptically.
Long seconds ticked away until All Might realised Spider wanted him to speak. "I thought he should know... he would have to fight that man one day and be the one to put a stop to-" He was cut off by the sound of stomping foot steps as Spider closed the distance, anger permeating the air around her.
When she was finally inches away from him Spider grabbed the back of his chair and spun it around to face her rather than the desk. "I don't care about some two century old bogeyman waiting for both of you to fight him, I care that you told Izuku you would be effectively committing suicide in his stead and didn't stop him from rushing home a distraught mess while he cried tears self hatred because he thought not being strong enough to help you was his fault." Her voice hadn't risen at all yet each word struck the man like a death knell. "Did you really think I would just let that go?"
"I'm sorry." much like his successor was, All Might too was now on the verge of tears, his eyes watering. "I'm sorry I put that on him, it was too much and I failed to help him when he needed me." His head fell into his hands at the thought of the boy he cared for hurting like he was. And was his fault. He had a bad habit of talking before thinking it through.
Spider backed away a step and looked down at the mess she'd made. "Quiet. Your apologies are wasted on me." She didn't speak harshly though the message was clear when he raised his head to finally look at her again. Eyes as sharp as steel, posture as proud as a lion, her face read nothing but dead set determination. "Consider All for One officially my problem to deal with. And if you get yourself killed I will drag your soul back into the corpse if I have to because you are not leaving that boy unless it is old age that claims you."
"You can't." All Might's head hung lower, barely holding back his tears now. "Eight generations of One For All holders have tried but he has killed every single one, I can't ask you to put yourself in such danger."
The Dovahkiin smiled. A cruel twist of her lips that held about as much warmth as a frost atronach. "Have I ever told you why I chose to come to UA?" She watched as the man jerked his head up and tilted to side questioningly, asking the question before words could be spoken. "I'm here for Izuku, if there is something he needs he will have it, if there is something in his way and he can't overcome the obstacle then I will remove it. I have no problem tearing your phantom menace limb from limb if necessary."
"I TOLD YOU NO!" All Might's voice thundered with barely restrained emotion as he shot out of his seat and grabbed the Dovahkiin by her shoulders, a mixture of fear and desperation written plainly across his face. "You don't understand, he's killed-"
"So have I." Spider's cold appendages pried Toshinori's hands from her shoulders with a slow yet haunting touch. "Sometimes it takes doing something ugly to protect what we love."
All Might could do no more than stare for the moment. Although she was a child no older than his successor, her words held conviction and... dare he say experience? "Why? You... you are attached to young Midoriya, that much is obvious but I can't understand the reason why. From everything he's told me you only met on that hospital roof after the sludge villain so, why?"
Spider's eyes grew distant and her smile dropped. "He..."
Forest green scales fading into black.
Gleeful laughter.
A smile full of teeth.
So full of life.
The Dragonborn shook her head lightly to clear the intrusive thoughts. "He reminded me of a saying in my country." She squared her shoulders and made sure she looked the symbol of peace dead in his piercing blue eyes. "'Even when the whole world tells you to give up, to just lay down and die. Plant your blade in the dirt and stand your ground, even if you stand alone.'" She looked away. "A soul like that is worth far more than you will ever know."
Turning on her heel Spider swiftly exited the room uncaring about the sputters and calls for her to wait, to oblivion with him. There was work to do.
Thankfully it was almost the end of term meaning soon Spider had three weeks of free time to hunt. Sure it would be easier to simply send Lucien or perhaps Durnehviir despite the attention it would bring but it had been a while since she'd properly looked for someone so elusive as to be thought dead and has hidden from the public for all these years. She almost licked her lips at the thought of finally driving the ni-joor into a corner, weak and pleading for his-
"YOU!" Spider's thoughts were shattered by a loud female voice she almost recognised. "You were the winner of the sports festival, I need you to assist with my babies!" Having turned to actually see the other student sprinting towards her Spider took in the pink dreadlocks and several pieces of equipment/clothing befitting an inventor of some kind rather than the school uniform.
"You were on Izuku's team, correct?" Spider asked rather than run from this obviously crazy lady. 'But she does look like the best kind of crazy.'
"Who? Is that the bird guy?" Pink hair inquired, already having grabbed the Dragonborn's hand and leading her towards the support department. It brought an amused smile to Spider's features that she was literally being dragged into something insane again.
"I apologise, I meant Midoriya. I'm still adjusting to certain cultural differences here." Spider clarified. 'Though it's not like he's corrected me since we first met so he must not mind, I could always check his thoughts... no that would be rude, Nami gave me a lecture on that kind of privacy I'd rather not repeat.'
"Oh Midoriya! He's great, so rare to find someone who really understands my babies' worth." The girl said happily as they turned down another corridor.
"He does like to look for the best in everything he sees." The Dovahkiin's smile grew fond at the thought of her friend. "I didn't catch your name back at the sports festival."
"I'm Mei Hatsume, rising star in the support department." Speaking of the support department... Both of them went through a large door similar to the one leading into class 1A and inside there were rows of workbenches littered with half finished projects and materials ready to be used to make something brilliant. No one else was here aside from them and it would likely remain that way for some time.
"Spider PoisonBlood, but please call me by my first name." Spider responded as they came to a halt by what she assumed to be Hatsume's work station.
"Same here, it's way shorter. Here put this on!" A thin black yet sturdy looking vest was shoved into the Dragonborn's arms, it had a few pockets filled with what appeared to be blankets. It had little yellow zig zags going over it with the same being true for the blankets which were neatly folded so as not to take up much space.
Complying with the feisty inventor Spider loosened her tie and removed her jacket, draping both on the back of Mei's chair then slipped into the vest. It was comfortable and the added weight of the blankets were evenly distributed so as not to throw the wearer off balance even slightly. Mei had asked her to stand in what Spider assumed to be a testing area, it was rectangular with thick glass on all sides and a solid steel door was closed behind her when she entered.
"Just hold still and try not to die!" Mei's voice called out through the speakers somewhere in the room. Mei herself was practically glued to the glass to get as close of a look as possible at what would happen next.
Inside the testing area were two dummies laying flat on the ground with one off to the left standing up, in the middle of Spider and the dummies was a small-ish device that was slowly whirring to life. A series of things happened in quick succession after that observation.
The front of the vest Spider was wearing exploded launching two of the blankets she'd seen on the inside pockets, these two immediately covered the mannequins in the room while the machine geared up for another second to release a major electrical charge spreading large arcs of electricity through the room. Spider for her part was a little surprised by this turn of events and checked the inside of the vest again, sure enough four blankets were still available on the inside pockets so the two that fired must have been sewn into the front.
The machine continued to generate a charge for another few seconds before it wound down, eventually the whirring of gears stopped and the door behind Spider burst open when Mei rushed past the Dovahkiin to remove the blankets from the dummies, excitement dancing in the girl's eyes like fire.
She only got worse when she saw there wasn't a scratch on them before jumped up to Spider to look over the vest with uncontrolled glee. "How did it feel? Was there any blowback? Did you feel anything underneath the vest?" Mei asked in rapid succession.
"It felt very well balanced, the blow back would be manageable with practice, no the attack didn't penetrate the vest." Spider answered them in order quickly removing the vest at Mei's frantic gestures, words apparently being too much for her at this stage. 'It must be something for Kaminari, I remember he's had problems with using his quirk around his friends and opponents at the same time.' Spider thought as she again followed the young inventor. "Is there a way for it to differentiate between civilians and villains? Wouldn't want to protect the wrong people."
"Not yet, that comes later when it's finalised but right now I'm just so happy it didn't blow up! When I put it on the crash dummies they ended up either melted or in pieces." Mei answered as she set the vest aside on her work station with a few notes she'd taken after watching the test. "Ready for baby number two?"
'This is going to be a fun day.' Spider thought to herself with another small amused smile while Mei shoved a pair of bulky gloves at her, they looked similar to Izuku's but with some metal things around the wrist, possibly to direct wind pressure that was wasted in an attack but it was just a guess since right now they were clearly no where near the finished product.
She was right. It was a fun day for her inside the support department, more students filed in within an hour and almost all of them were eager for an invincible test dummy for their projects. It was cutting it close to the start of class when Spider tried to extract herself from the support department's grasp but... well they offered her something she couldn't refuse. Even after all the wealth she'd raised Spider was a sucker for anyone that offered her money for an easy job.
A quick spell made an illusion of herself sat at her desk in class 1A while the real her was having fun being able to test different support items meant for her classmates and others in the hero course. It's not like they were paying her an amazing amount of money for this service, just enough to buy lunch from the cafeteria but it quickly added up. In the end Spider ended up with just over ten thousand yen.
There was a brief scare for the class when the teacher 'Power Loader' came in and asked why Spider was here instead of in class so she made up a little white lie. Spider told him that she was in class, this version of her was a clone that his class had asked for in order to help with a few of their projects, who was she to say no? Good thing he bought it because she really didn't feel like getting detention. Then again it's not like she ever went to it except that one time to see what she would be doing, it was just sitting silently in a class while Aizawa slept so who could say if it's an illusion instead of Spider herself in the room?
Still it's not like it isn't annoying to have to make the illusion almost every day just for the school's benefit. So when the support students were finally done with her Spider quietly pocketed the money and retrieved her uniform which looked a little dirty after one of Mei's 'babies' blew up at her work station, and left them to their own devices heading to her class.
It didn't take long to reach and when she thought about the time it seemed like it was half way through homeroom. A dark purplish blue ball blazed to life in her left hand before a brief boom rendered the Dovahkiin invisible as she approached the door, stealthily opening it and entering the room Spider was greeted by the entirety of her class stood around her desk staring at the illusion she'd made which was looking through them to the front of the class then to a piece of paper on her desk and writing gibberish notes.
Aizawa himself was sat on a chair he'd taken from someone else's desk and staring at the illusionary version of the Dragonborn as if it would eventually snap out of whatever daze it was in while everyone else was a few feet back doing much the same. No one talked though, maybe the teacher had told them not to.
A deep sigh escaped her from the doorway and she released both spells causing the illusion to vanish and for her to be visible once again. Everyone turned to her with questioning gazes though it was only Aizawa who stood and made his way over to her, taking in the ruffled appearance of her uniform and disappointed expression.
"Guess I've been caught. What gave it away?" She asked genuinely curious since he'd never figured it out before now.
"Once you teleported in Midoriya tried to talk to you for five minutes before he thought something was wrong and asked me for help." Aizawa sounded so unimpressed with this turn of events. "I had Mineta throw one his balls at you and it went straight through."
Spider leaned to the side to look past her teacher and to her tenant who to be fair had the decency to look sheepish that he was the reason she got caught. "Seriously? The one time I'm not here?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to." He said back quietly.
"You have nothing be sorry for." Aizawa told him. "Tell me, what was so important that you decided my class had to wait?"
"I was kidnapped." Spider told him without a hint of humour.
"... I doubt it." Came an equally humourless response.
"By the support department." Spider finished and saw Aizawa think for a second, likely due to previous experience.
"That makes slightly more sense, why couldn't you get back before class started?" He asked.
"When I tried they offered me money. I couldn't say no." She told him as if it was the most deathly serious matter they had ever discussed.
"Hey aren't you rich though?" Kaminari's voice rose from the group followed by murmurs of agreement.
Spider crossed her arms and took a defensive stance. "I'll do almost anything if I'm paid for it."
Instantly Midoriya burst out of the crowded students to get to his desk and pick up one of his hero notebooks and flipping to a specific section and hurriedly scribbling down what she'd said making her fight back a laugh.
"So we could just pay you to lose an exercise and you would do it?" Kirishima asked cautiously.
"Red, I would voluntarily make it look like Koda beat me in a straight fight if you paid me to." Spider replied giving a little wave to the large boy who shyly looked away. Everyone started talking amongst themselves at this new information.
"That's enough!" Aizawa shouted over them. "Since you decided you had better things to do rather than come to class you'll be making up for it by training with a few of your classmates after school."
"That's sounds less like a punishment and more like something I was going to do anyway." Spider replied allowing a little sass to creep into her voice.
Aizawa narrowed his eyes. "I'm giving you a way out here. Don't push me."
"You're right, I'm sorry. Thank you for the opportunity." Her hands flew up in surrender as she slipped past him to sit at her desk. "Did I miss anything?"
Everyone returned to their own seats and Aizawa took his place at the front of the class. "Because I have to repeat myself I'll do it as quickly as possible. Summer training camp, pass the final exams in order to go, don't screw up."
"If only everyone was as straight forward as you." Spider let her head fall into her hands as she sighed dreamily getting a few snorts but nothing more since everyone was more scared of Aizawa's glare at the moment.
"... Kaminari, Sero." The two teens straightened when Aizawa called on them, fear flaring in their aura. "Every other lesson, you have my permission to throw something at Spider. Just to make sure she's actually there."
"Excuse me?" Spider asked incredulously even as she was side glanced by her blonde and raven haired classmates.
"You heard me, now get to your seat we're behind schedule."
As soon as his back was turned The Dovahkiin glared at Kaminari and Sero who were giving her wolfish grins. Her response was to hold up a ball of flames and crush it before a fire alarm could sound. They seemed to get the message when they high tailed it back to their respective desks.
The day was over pretty quickly with nothing major happening except Spider being invited for a study session at Yaoyorozu's residence after school (and their training session). She politely declined in favour of her usual method of taking tests that always net her first place, put an illusion spell on it. It's only cheating if you get caught after all.
Spider did have to amend her schedule however as after school for the next week up until the exams she spent about two hours helping her friends with training, they even managed to get permission to use one of the urban battle centres again.
As discussed before the internships it was mostly the girls but somehow Midoriya and Kaminari wormed their way into the group. But rather than all of them getting trained together Spider was able to keep them separate in order to work on what would best improve them as individuals.
It wouldn't have been possible without conjuring her draemora from oblivion but luckily that wasn't an issue as they oversaw the training when she was busy with someone else, that meant for Momo it was the speed at which she created objects, Ashido focused on accuracy and the strength of her acid attacks. Hagakure was tasked with silencing her footsteps and improving her hand to hand combat, Uraraka had something similar where she had to keep several large objects raised in the air while fighting an opponent (this caused her to be sick... a lot).
Asui honed her agility by dodging objects being hurled at her while climbing buildings and counter attacking by catching some projectiles with her tongue and throwing them back.
Midoriya was tasked with attacking several conjured opponents with varying levels of One for All, each had a different tolerance and if he hit one too hard it would die or another too lightly then he would be blasted back knocking the teen on his ass.
The last two were tricky, Kaminari's weakness was his lack of control when he unleashed his quirk and the fact it short circuits his brain when overused. To improve this Spider switched between showing him how she cast the chain lightening spell hoping his quirk would allow a similar attack, and having him release his electricity all at once to build up his tolerance or shorten the cooldown when his brain stops working.
Jiro however might have been the toughest, the obvious hand to hand training was fine as she took it up easily enough but the question was how to improve the girl's quirk. She was able to use her earphones to create vibrations from her heartbeat powerful enough to blow weaker opponents away and listen to conversations through walls or estimate how many people are in a building so what else could it do?
In the end it was a vicious idea that struck her. Spider recommended Jiro use her earphone jacks to puncture the bodies of the people she was fighting in different places as she kept their hands busy, kind of as a last resort if the speakers weren't working in a fight. Since they were strong enough to pierce concrete there was no question it would do the same with flesh, and though it took a little time in order to adjust her combat style, Jiro was now essentially able to fight with two extra limbs making her at least three times as dangerous. But Spider suspected the teen would hesitate in wounding an actual person with this style more than she did with the draemora.
More often than not it was frustrating for them but her classmates persevered like always and were able to improve drastically. Obviously the Dragonborn had them doing more than these specific exercises but they were the focus and dare she say it worked out better than expected.
Yaoyorozu could make up to medium sized objects in half the time it used to take, Kaminari could throw his quirk in a single direction though the cone was still pretty wide, Midoriya controlled his quirk better and could switch between gradients easier, even keeping it up for longer.
Asui could scale a four story building in less then six seconds and neatly dodge several projectiles, Hagakure was practically a certified ninja at this point, Ashido could throw several globs of acid with greater precision and higher concentration than before.
Finally Uraraka had a higher tolerance for her quirk's negative effect after overusing it and her combat skills only improved from sparring with the draemora as well as Spider herself.
It was more than anyone could reasonably expect after only a week of training especially since it was only two hours after school, but it's not like Spider used any alteration magic to make the experience easier for their bodies to learn or anything and even if she did, I personally invite you to try and prove it. She's just a great teacher and that's all there is to it.
Spider may have also done a little reconnaissance for the final exam. It's not as if the teachers ever noticed an invisible presence hanging around the back of the meeting room eavesdropping on their precious plans for the students but leaving before they got to her, it's not like they had a chance anyway. And that is what lead her to be stood in front of her classmates that she had been training with, holding sheets of paper in her right hand and gesturing loosely with her left.
"In short, through means that may or may not have been entirely legal, I know who each of you will be facing in your exam." She told them bluntly.
Momo looked uncomfortable. "Is that really okay? I'm sure if the teachers wanted us to know they would have told us themselves."
"True, or this could simply be another part of the exam. Gathering intel is vital to hero work after all." Midoriya added his thoughts.
Spider smiled warmly. "Exactly. Now for the important part." She looked to the right where Ashido and Kaminari were helpfully stood next to each other. "You two are fucked."
"Hold up." Kaminari raised his hands in the 'go back for a second' gesture. "I thought we were fighting robots like in the entrance exam, that's what class 1B said."
"Yeah, and we have two of the best combat quirks in class!" Ashido exclaimed.
Spider sighed. "Oh darling you have no idea what you're in for." She approached them both and placed a hand on their shoulders, Ashido's left and Kaminari's right. "You're against Principle Nezu in the final exam."
As one everyone's jaws hit the floor, including those who weren't even against the chimera.
"WE'RE FIGHTING AGAINST THE TEACHERS!" Came the booming chorus from her classmates as if they'd rehearsed it beforehand.
"Yes." Spider told them simply before turning to Midoriya. "On a related note, you're double fucked. But I'll get to that later." Izuku made a confused squeak however the Dragonborn couldn't focus on how adorable it was because right now she had to stop the pinkette and blonde idiots from collapsing in a puddle of despair since she was the only thing keeping them standing.
"We're doomed." Kaminari's voice rings out hollowly.
"We're not gonna get to go to camp." Ashido bemoaned.
Momo, Uraraka and Jiro were quick to come to their sides and offer comfort, including but not limited to telling them that they'll send them pictures at least which Spider is pretty sure just made it worse.
'Maybe if they stop whining I could tell them I have a plan.'
'It will never be allowed.' A doubtful voice echoed in the Dovahkiin's head.
'It will if they drink it before the exam starts.'
Finally when the two prospected failures looked to be on the verge of tears Spider graced them with her idea.
"Alright that's enough fretting. Do you want to hear how you can win or not?" She asked and the response was immediate. Both Ashido and Kaminari leapt to life with hope renewed in their eyes where before they'd looked like they were grieving the loss of something precious. They were all but beggi- no, actually that's exactly what they were doing.
"Please, please, please please, please tell us!"
"I'll do anything! Even clean your room for a month!"
"Make it the entire complex and you have a deal." Spider remarked under her breath before smiling to the two and quieting them down with a simple gesture. Reaching inside her inventory the Dovahkiin pulled out two seemingly mundane red potion bottles before handing them to her friends. They were paler than the usual red health potions and didn't have a label either. "These are a little concoction that have many an adventurer get out of a tough spot."
"What are they, if I may ask?" Momo inquired.
"In short, they increase the intellect of any creature after consumption." Spider explained
"Whoa really!" Ashido and Kaminari exclaimed before giving each other a High five.
"We'll take ten!" The pinkette shouted.
"No, a hundred." The blonde corrected.
"You'll have no such thing!" Momo decreed. "Not only is it unfair to the rest of our classmates who have worked hard to get where they are, it would be outright cheating in the written portion of the exam."
That killed their buzz. Until Spider revived it.
"How so?" She asked the raven haired student. Without giving her an actual chance to respond Spider continued. "There are o rules specifically stating that you can't use one of my potions to help secure a higher place in either exam, nor should there be since quirks make the entire system unfair to begin with. No one starts at the same baseline but intelligence quirks make the distance a hundred times worse for those of average or below IQ, why should finding a way to cover their weaknesses be seen as something to punish?"
"But these tests are meant to be as fair as possible, some may have an advantage due to their quirk but that doesn't mean artificially improving their intelligence should be allowed because they won't have actually learned anything." Momo argues back.
"I disagree, just because their intellect is increased by the potion it doesn't magically give them all knowledge in the universe. They will know exactly as much as they did before drinking it but their brains will be able to put that knowledge to better use and better remember things they may have otherwise forgot, that's all. For example, if there's a particular Mathematics problem they didn't study how to solve then this potion won't make a difference."
"That- that's better but still unfair to everyone else."
"We could argue about what is fair and what isn't until you're old and grey but the point of these tests isn't to measure your progress in academics." Spider warned. "Aizawa made it clear on the first day that UA was supposed to prepare each of you for a life in heroics and that life almost never fair, you have to seek out any advantage and seize it before it's gone for good."
Momo seemed conflicted, on the one hand it was clear she saw the valid argument being made against her but... "I just can't accept it. My morals won't allow me to."
"Then you will fall behind." Spider told her and the girl looked like she'd been struck. "The world isn't filled with people that adhere to your moral code, your enemies are more likely to win because they will have an advantage you weren't willing to accept. It's a simple fact Yaoyorozu. Those who don't adapt, die."
"... I'm sorry. But I just-" Momo felt a hand on her shoulder, firm yet comforting. She looked up into dark emerald eyes that held understanding if a little disappointment.
"I'm not asking you to, but please don't judge someone else for taking something to cover a weakness you simply don't have." Spider spoke softly yet her voice was just as firm as her grip and she didn't let go until Momo nodded with slight reluctance. "Good, now for you." The Dragonborn looked right at the greenette who was suspiciously quiet during the entire discussion.
"Wha!? Me?" Midoriya pointed to himself comically and it was only then the Spider realised why he hadn't contributed to either argument. He looked like he was being going through the internal crisis of a lifetime while Uraraka calmed him down.
"You're exam is going to be even harder than theirs." She nodded towards Ashido and Kaminari who were enraptured by the small bottles they were given.
"How can you get any harder than Principle Nezu? It's not like..." Jiro slowly seemed to come to the realisation that there was in fact one person harder to beat than the smartest creature alive. "... no way."
"Who is it? Is it Mr Aizawa? I really hope not, he's really fast and skilled in mid to close range combat, along with his quirk and capture weapon I'm not sure I'd be able to-"
"It's All Might."
"ALL MIGHT!" Izuku really was about to have a heart attack until a calm spell overtook his being and stilled his frantic nerves.
"Again, I have a plan. Only this time it actually is cheating." Spider told him honestly.
Kaminari was the first to pipe up. "Do it dude, if it's it's the Symbol of Peace there's basically no choice."
Ashido seconded. "Whatever it takes, I'll see you at camp." As if she was the one that was about to go through with whatever the Dovahkiin had in mind.
Still looking a little frazzled Midoriya looked from the ground to his friend. "What do I have to do?"
Spider smiled. "You? Nothing, I on the other hand will be waiting for him after school and bust his kneecaps with a hammer." She proceeded to pull said hammer out of thin air, daedric make of course.
"NO!" They all screamed.
"... fine, new plan."
Training with her classmates wasn't all the Dovahkiin did with her week. This was the first weekend she could visit her wards in oblivion and although it was hardly 5 days in the mortal world to the children it was like she was gone for months. And they used that time to improve.
A tenth birthday had come and gone for Ichiru and Shiko and the early signs of maturity were being written on their bodies already, like an artist making the first swipe of the brush across a blank canvass.
Shiko had taken to Stain's training better than her brother, moving quickly through the shadows and handling her blade moderately well, there was still work to be done but any back alley criminal would be outmatched without question. Lucien and her other teachers would be to thank for her growing skills too of course but the quick bouts of intense strikes followed by fluid dodging was a style unique to the hero killer, one she was copying albeit sloppily. For now.
Her traversal classes were said to be going rather well too, even managing to keep up with the imps as they fly over obstacles she has to climb and slide under in order to move forward.
Ichiru on the other hand was behind on training with a blade, as Spider suspected the boy's strengths lay more in academia and surprisingly hiding in plain sight. He looked just like another child on the street, average enough to pass right by you without leaving an impression if it wasn't for his eyes, those deep blue orbs grasping for knowledge.
He excelled in alchemy under the tutelage of the less than favourable alchemists trapped in cold harbour. He could make a poison that would make a normal person's intestines turn into green mush. He just needed more practice in adding the right amount of ingredients so as not to needlessly waste his supply.
Soon. They would be ready soon.
Moving on. The written exams spanned over three days and was yet another thing Spider definitely didn't cheat on.
Lastly was the physical portion of the final exams which had everyone outside one of the outlying buildings in their hero costumes in front of their teachers.
Aizawa was at the front and was the first to speak. "Okay, it's time for the last test. Remember it is possible to fail... even before you've started."
"Huh!" Came the collective response.
"Over the last few weeks we've been monitoring your performance in your heroics classes and found a few of you to be barely scraping by with the help of your classmates." Aizawa's cool gaze swept over the class gaining the nervous tension he wanted. Mostly anyway. "So that's why we've decided now was as good of a time as any to show you that if you don't keep taking this seriously, we will replace you. Mineta, go back to the main campus."
"WHAT!" The purple ball-haired boy screeched. Tears pouring comically from his eyes that combined with his hero costume (which lets be honest has a big metal diaper) made him look like a crying baby.
"You've shown the least potential of all your classmates, Ectoplasm will escort you back." Aizawa's voice held little remorse for the dream he'd just crushed, usually the Dragonborn would have cared a little more but... it's Mineta.
With that little drama swiftly being carted away by the pro-hero / mathematics teacher, the class were thrown yet another curveball but not really reveal when out from behind the teachers stepped one Hitoshi Shinso dressed in the UA P.E uniform and something that looked similar to Midoriya's mouth guard but more like half a gas mask.
"Hey." Was all he said to them before stepping in line with the rest.
"Why are all the teachers here?" Jiro asked no one in particular in an attempt to make it seem like, A: she had no idea what was actually going on. Good thinking. And B: Return just a little bit of normalcy to the group.
"I believe some of you have gathered information and have some idea of what you'll be facing today." Aizawa looked like he was about to continue but was interrupted by Kaminari.
"We're fighting those big ol robots!" He looked happy, like actually believed it. Damn these kids are good.
"Fireworks, smores, here we come summer camp!" Ashido joined the revelry.
A muffled voice came from the inside of Aizawa's capture weapon and something shuffled within its folds. "This years test." It said before the small figure of the principle popped out before them. "Will be completely different for various reasons!"
"Principle Nezu!" A few students cried but most were holding back laughs at the way Ashido and Kaminari had all the colour drained from them.
"You're changing things?" Momo asked allowing a little panic into her voice.
"Yes!" Nezu replied as he climbed down from Aizawa's shoulders with a little help from 13. "The tests now have a new focus, there will be hero work of course but also teamwork and combat between actual people so you will all be working in pairs and your opponents will be one of our esteemed UA teachers, isn't that fabulous!?" He certainly looked excited about it while almost everyone else blanched at the thought."
Aizawa stepped in again. "Additionally your partners and opponents have already been chosen, they were determined at my discretion based on fighting style, grades and interpersonal relationships, first Yaoyorozu and Todoroki are a team against me." He had another of those creepy smiles that show he's entertained by this. "And Midoriya with Bakugo." Both teens looked like they'd been given shock therapy when they'd heard that.
Spider leaned over to catch Bakugo's attention and once she had it she discreetly made a very threatening gesture involving a conjured dagger sliding across her throat as she looked to him pointedly and smirked at the gulp he tried to hide.
"You two will be up against..." Aizawa paused while a streak of blue, red and yellow landed in front of the two teens.
"I AM HERE!" He declared. "TO FIGHT!"
"We're up against All Might?" Bakugo balked as the blonde hero towered over the students in question.
"You're going to have to work together boys, if you want to win." All Might told them.
Spider took that as the challenge it was. "Not necessarily, they could still beat you by working separately."
"Don't even start PoisonBlood." Aizawa barked. He knew using her last name without the title annoyed her.
The Dovahkiin bristled but let it go for now. Nezu announced the rest of the teams and explained that in order to win the exam they would have to put some hand cuffs on their teachers or flee the combat stage, only one of them is required to escape for it to count, additionally the teachers would be wearing special weights on their limbs that will slow them down and drain their stamina more as the match continues. That was when Ashido said it would be similar to the combat training they've been doing.
Present Mic added his voice to the mix. "It's gonna be much different than that combat training ya'll went through earlier, after all you're up against people waaaaaay better than you." He crossed his arms in what he probably presumed was a cool kids pose. Unfortunately the man had decided it was best to leave Sebastian back in the teacher's lounge, where he would hmmph gruffly to anyone that peeked in hoping to catch one of the pro's for some reason or another.
"Would you mind repeating that?" Spider stepped forward. "And before you do I'd like to remind you I can send you to the edge of Saturn if I so wished, then we'll see how useful your little screech quirk is in space." She sounded like she was giving a power point presentation on the dangers of fucking with her.
"Woah little listener I didn't mean it like that." Present Mic looked nervous now and leaned towards Aizawa. "Can I back out of the test we have for her?"
"No you already agreed to it. Spider stop threatening the idiot." Came his dry response causing Present Mic to visibly deflate.
Quickly cutting off more questions Aizawa told them they could either strategize while the other matches go on or get to the combat area ready to start. They would be going through one pair at a time until everyone was through, then it would the the odd one out's turn.
Kirishima and Sato failed. Ojiro and Iida passed. Yaoyorozu and Todoroki passed. Uraraka and Aoyama passed (with a takedown of 13 that was hilarious to watch). Ashido and Kaminari, despite the extra training and sneaky potion move, lost to principle Nezu, though after seeing why Spider could hardly blame them when the rat practically trapped them in a metal cage until the time limit expired. But they were so, so damn close. Jiro and Koda passed thanks to swarming Present Mic with bugs.
"Wow Koda, harsh move." Midoriya along with everyone else in the room looked a little sick at the sight.
"Karma." Was all Spider said in response.
Hagakure and Shoji passed and Snipe narrowly avoided a sexual harassment incident. Hitoshi and Sero passed too managing to take out Midnight long enough to escape. Midoriya and Bakugo passed... barely. Bakugo didn't fight with the green haired teen at all during the test, as a matter of fact he didn't say a damn word to him. Midoriya was able to escape the number one hero while his teammate distracted him with a two second fight and a long talk about being a hero. It was smart actually, to use the man's stupid speeches against him.
Now it was her turn. Inside the same battle centre Midoriya and Bakugo had their match Spider walked through an untouched section of the urban terrain. In front of her on the ground was an 'X' written in tape, just beyond it were most of her teachers including All Might, Nezu, Aizawa, Midnight, Ectoplasm, Cementoss and Present Mic.
The principle was the first to speak when the Dragonborn came to a stop. "Welcome!" He started brightly. "To the test you will surely fail!"
"Careful now." Spider told him, her voice sultry despite the slight distortion of it being heard through her daedric armour. "The last person to so openly challenge me lost more than just his life."
The little rodent didn't seem put off even a little. "I'm told you will do almost anything for payment." Nezu said as he pulled out a thousand yen note. "So I will give you this if you do not teleport yourself anywhere until the examination is over and stand on that spot."
"Deal." Spider's response was instant as she teleported the money into her hand and stuffed it into her inventory. The moment she stepped onto the ominous 'X' an announcement stated the start of her exam while four metal walls sprang from beneath the concrete locking her inside. This was followed by a second set of thicker metal walls and finally it was covered in layer after layer of cement. A prison most anyone would find impossible to escape. A single small hole was the only way for air to get in and Midnight swiftly blasted her quirk's gas inside followed by Present Mic screaming to disorient the prisoner and help the gas flow.
"twenty inches of quirk enhanced tungsten followed by sixty inches of quirk enhanced steel and a few layers of cement to be safe." The principle explained. "I was a little stuck as to how to get and keep you inside however once Aizawa told me of your inability to say no to a job it was simple, Midnight and Present Mic are just icing on the cake to reduce your strength." The rodent seemed pleased with himself. "I doubted the need to get you depower yourself as without your destruction based power escaping is quite simply impossible, even with your strength it will take at least an hour to get free."
"Is that it?" Ectoplasm asked.
"After the sports festival I doubt it, she's full of surprises." Aizawa replied warily remembering how strong she was back on the first day when he ticked her off.
Rather than listening to the banal conversation Spider looked around her, it was near pitch black but she could see just fine, especially the pink gas filling up her little room from the small hole after an unpleasant scream from her English teacher. And yes she called it a room because to think of it as a prison was laughable when she had several ways to force her way out.
There was a practical reason for busting through the opposite side, that being when Spider punched her way out of the room she didn't quite want the resulting blast to hurt her teachers, can't have them using that as an excuse now can we.
Honestly it seemed like most of them were frozen in surprise while two or three actually managed to get into a combat stance as the Dovahkiin once again stepped up to the faculty, crossing her arms in silent challenge.
"I'll give you an opportunity to leave, if you choose to stay then you had better be ready to break." There was no malice underlying her tone, it was simply stating a fact.
"Even if you got out of Nezu's trap you're pretty cocky to think you can take all of us when we aren't even wearing those weights anymore." Present Mic snapped out of his stupor.
Spider opted to draw her daedric sword instead of respond and begin her approach since she was less than fifteen feet away. The first attack came from Present Mic, a deafening scream meant to take her down, the vibrations causing the concrete beneath her to shake violently and his fellow heroes to step away from him.
Green energy enveloped Spider's free hand and Present Mic was cut off when her open palm slowly turned into a fist and his airway became less than operational. His hands went his throat as if to fight off the force preventing him from taking another breath. Midnight and All Might were suddenly at either side of the Dragonborn, the former grabbing her outstretched hand while the other released her quirk to try and put a stop to the attack.
Severing the spell Spider watched impassively as Present Mic dropped to his knees choking on the ability to breath again. Her attention was currently on the symbol of peace grabbing her arm as if she were somehow delicate but he still wanted to be firm... a grave mistake. Not wanting him to succumb to the gas Midnight was producing she did what was reasonable. "FUS!" Her thuum blasted both All Might as well as the building behind him away leaving him to try and get up several blocks away.
By this point pink sparkling gas had surrounded her and Midnight was looking just a little too pleased with her work as her other teachers prepared their own attacks. Moving with great speed Spider almost appeared to blur when she got behind the gas producing hero and aimed a cruel kick to her inner knee bringing Midnight down. Spider had her blade to the heroine's throat before anyone could even think of a counter. She leaned down to whisper in Midnight's ear. "If this were a real fight, you'd be dead so it's probably best if you just leave." Flipping the sword Spider tapped Midnight's throat twice with the flat of the blade to make her point and shoved her aside making the hero skid on the hard concrete floor.
Ectoplasm had taken the chance to create thirty copies to trap her while Aizawa moved in from behind as they all converged on the Dragonborn. Once again her free hand burst to life with energy, this time a blazing fire engulfed her like a cloak of flames hot enough to incinerate the clones and get her homeroom teacher to jump away before they took him down with them. Looking around she couldn't see Midnight, Aizawa must have taken her out of harms way.
Present Mic seemed to be back in the game as another enhanced scream was directed at her making the flames billow and flicker but held out in the end as the only way they would be extinguished is if Spider did so herself. Keeping the menacing fire swirling around her she looked like an honest to the divines demon straight from the underworld ready to rip their souls from their bodies. Her wicked armour glinting darkly amidst the heat of the fire. Once again her hand glowed green only this time Present Mic was picked up entirely and slung over the high outer wall of the battle centre behind her like he was nothing. (Don't worry though, it might have looked bad but a quick spell made sure he landed without taking damage.)
"I have twenty five minutes to take you down, this is your last chance to run." It was hard to recognise the inhuman growl that could hardly be considered as a voice belonging to their student. It was difficult to remember this was just an exam, that this was still the pupil who made smart ass remarks in class and grew passionate about her classmates when their skills were called into question. How could they see the student willing to throw herself into the line of fire for any one of her classmates when the thing in front of them was nothing short of a monster.
Maybe then, it was forgivable that they took this fight more seriously than they had with the other students. Because the longer they looked into the bottomless eyes of that demonic helm as hellfire rippled and distorted their view, the heavier her aura of malice grew. It was like she was making them actually fight for their lives.
"Very well." Spider said cutting off her flaming cloak and suddenly launching her sword to the right pinning Aizawa into the wall the building he was skulking by. He was kept in place by his capture scarf so he quickly shrugged it off leaving it to dangle uselessly as he ran for cover as a glowing ball of green exploded where he had just been seconds earlier. Unlike Todoroki he managed to escape the blast radius.
'One problem at a time, he'll wait until he sees an opening.' Spider thought as she looked to Ectoplasm who had created a huge version of himself (well the top half without any arms but whatever) that peaked over the tops of even the five story buildings around them (minus the one Spider destroyed of course). She smirked at the hulking clone that glared with narrowed eyes.
"Lucien." Spider whispered and at her side the ghostly assassin shimmered into existence. "Find the rodent and put these on him, he's been too quiet." She said handing him a pair of handcuffs she'd pulled from seemingly nowhere.
"Yes mistress." Lucien wasted no time in fading away leaving those who had never seen him before to stare.
Looking to the side the Dragonborn became aware of another player that had kept unreasonably quiet, Cementoss had been collecting a huge mass of concrete and upon seeing he'd been noticed unleashed it in a huge wave of cement that clearly aimed to drown her. A single blast of blizzard spell put a stop to that particular attempt as the attack as well as the attacker became encased in ice
In the commotion she had failed to see Ectoplasm move his giant clone closer so that it could bare down upon her. "GOVEY NI LAAS!" (Remove fake life). Instantly it melted into goop at her words alone. It was time to deal with this nuisance.
Target in sight Spider stalked towards Ectoplasm who in turn walked towards her probably thinking he would be able to best her in hand to hand. 'How optimistic... why is his aura changing?' The question was answered in the form of a shadow growing bigger on the ground in front of her, looking up there was barely time to see the deadly fist shooting towards her at Mach speed.
All Might's blow was met with the Dragonborn's raised forearm. The shockwave of the attack blew all the heroes except them away and destroyed most of the surrounding buildings. A crater had formed around them as Spider kept her arm raised and her eyes level with the symbol of peace who looked like he wanted to kill her.
Another malicious smirk plastered itself on her face, not that anyone could see it. All Might followed up with a series of blows that each created subsequent shockwaves causing more and more damage to the battle centre yet not a scratch could be seen on the Dovahkiin. Finally she caught both his fists in her hands getting him to stop and struggle.
"You should take this more seriously young PoisonBlood"
Releasing him Spider stepped backwards so that All Might stumbled at the sudden loss of the support he'd been pushing against. "You want me to take this seriously?" She asked, her voice was playful at first until she pressed a hand into the pro hero's chest and paralysing him in a flash of green energy, only then did she whisper dangerously low in his ear. "You never want to see me take someone seriously, least of all you." Easily she placed the cuffs she'd been given onto All Might before shoving him aside and leaving him in the crater he'd made.
Following her senses Spider found the still frozen Cementoss and did the same to him, now there were only two teachers remaining with fifteen minutes left. It looked like Midnight had taken her advise and got the hell out of dodge as only Ectoplasm and Aizawa remained in the battle centre. Lucien must have taken care of Nezu already as his aura was with the other students and few teachers watching the match in the observation room outside of the combat area.
A wave of her hand coated in purplish flames fixed the issue of Aizawa hiding in the shadows thinking she hadn't seen him as well as Ectoplasm attempting to try and set up an ambush half way across the fake city.
"I though we paid you not to do that, what's the matter did you get scared we'd run out the clock?" Aizawa's voice was steady but she could see the nervous energy in his usually muted aura.
"You paid me not to teleport myself anywhere while we did this test. I can send you two wherever I wish." Spider informed him as more purplish flames danced around her hand as her daedric blade returned to her. "You should really be more careful with the wording."
"Then why didn't you just teleport us out of the battle centre? Why let us fight you?" Ectoplasm asked this time gaining an uncomfortable chuckle from his student.
Spider's shoulders shook a little as she tried to rein in the laugh. "It's like I said after the combat training. I like to play with my food." Aizawa went in for a leaping kick only to be swatted aside sending him crashing through a window in one of the less destroyed houses.
Ectoplasm had taken those precious seconds to shout to the heavens "LIVING ARMADA!" Which created a hoard of clones around him, ready and waiting to be unleashed on their opponent whilst said target continued to laugh like this was still just one big joke.
"You people just love to call out you special little moves." Spider mocked easily as the clones and Ectoplasm himself tensed in their combat stances. "Let's give it a try, shall we? OBLIVION GATE!" Stabbing her sword into the concrete Spider summoned more purple flames around herself but rather than disappearing with them they spread out behind her a good several meters back, rising higher and wider until a stone arch in the shape of the oblivion symbol formed from the Dragonborn's flames.
It was as tall as a fifteen story building and the portal between the stone arch glowed a sickly blue colour.
Since they were outside of the area All Might had decimated with his attacks, many buildings were still standing and only seemed to add to that sinking feeling they were trapped in here with a monster. Shapes soon started to emerge from the towering structure, behind Spider marched rows upon rows of high level draemora lords, their armour glinting just as wickedly as her own in the supernatural light. But it didn't end with them, great booming footfalls that came from creatures taller than than the gate itself as they stooped low in order to pass through the narrow gap.
Two daedric titans Stain had only glimpsed when he first awoke in Oblivion had stepped through the gate. They had no differences from their brethren, fifty feet tall, sharp yet crooked wings sprang from it's draconic body as the thing lumbered towards one of the towers. It's head was similar to that of the daedric helmet only without eyes, the mouth able to open wide and show an array of teeth ready to tear a meal to shreds, and huge horns only adding to it's impressive height. That was to say nothing of the thick arms and muscled hands ending in deadly claws, or of the creature's powerful tail extending at least a quarter of it's height, sweeping behind it to keep balance.
They were enough to make even the most stalwart of heroes drop to their knees and close their eyes until the end came, usually under clawed feet.
"Tear them apart." Spider ordered with her hand outstretched towards the clones.
With a mighty round of bellows and roars that ripped through the battle centre and shattered any remaining glass that was somehow undamaged from the earlier bouts, the small army of demons charged towards their quarry. Over a hundred of them rushing past the Dovahkiin with war cries in their throats and such an overwhelming bloodlust it made any who watched weak at the knees, just thinking about how it must feel for her teachers was pure bliss for Spider's sadistic side, but then there was a small voice over the speakers barely audible over the noise of battle telling her to stop.
With a single metallic snap every draemora she'd summoned to this realm was banished in the blink of an eye leaving a paralysed Ectoplasm to drop to the ground in relief as several blades inches away from tearing into his flesh vanished from existence.
"Better luck next time darling" Another snap of her fingers was all it took to end the exam as when Ectoplasm looked down a set of cuffs were clasped around his pole-like ankles. Aizawa too was similarly restrained as hed managed to pick himself up and make his way over. "Shall we go now?"
"We'll walk." Aizawa grumbled so the Dovahkiin shrugged then swiftly disappeared in her usual haze of purple fire.
"Do you think Amajiki would still have a crush if he knew she could do something like that?" Ectoplasm's flanging voice sounded oddly conspiratory when gossiping.
Aizawa groaned at the question "I don't care, right now we have a bigger problem." He pinched the bridge of his nose in thought. "Six pro heroes including the current number one just got our asses handed to us by a single student and apparently she wasn't taking it seriously to begin with. That's not even considering whatever the hell those things were back there."
Ectoplasm hummed the affirmative. "My therapist is going to just love me this week."
Aizawa's head suddenly shot to his colleague. "Now there's an idea."
*After the dorms are set up, Durnehviir is just chilling in the sun next to the building.*
Spider: He's my emotional support Dragon.
Midnight: ...Bullshit! You don't have emotions!