When last we left our Gamer, he was questioning his role as a hero in his own hero exam. Or perhaps it was an exam for his opponents instead? A little bit of both? Who knows what goes on inside a certain polar bear's head half the time. Whatever it is, we should get going and see the results.
Looking down at the fallen Mirko I wince at the damage I did. Granted she asked for it, but this might be a bit much. I pick her up in a bridal style carry and head to the exit. "But before that-" A quick kiss on the shoulder immediately heals the various cuts and scrapes that the bunny hero had sustained. Sadly this sucked up what little stamina she had left so she probably wouldn't be getting back up any time soon.
On arrival, there were already two small robots ready to take Mirko elsewhere on a stretcher. Now, I could just step on through the gate and pass the exam right then and there. But where was the fun in that? "Screw it, I'm already playing the part of the battle maniac villain. Might as well get into character." I won't even pretend that I wasn't enjoying myself.
Not that there was much left for me to fight. Edgeshot had a broken leg, I'm decently sure I broke or at least damaged Ryukyu's ribs, Endeavor was fatigued, moderately damaged, and probably overheating at this point, and Mirko was out of the fight. "Let's see if that 'hero prevails by some miracle' trope happens in real life." Who knows, maybe they'll pull something out of their likely vast collection of experience.
Exactly one minute later
"I surrender!" Edgeshot screamed out from a random pile of rubble, broken leg plain to see.
"...Do I look like an idiot?" This was so obviously a trap that I didn't even bother to let him respond. I simply shot out a Detroit Smash at the suspiciously organized pile of rubble to my right, causing the two hiding heroes to scatter out like a couple of roaches…"Ok, maybe I'm going too deep on this whole villain routine."
"Plan B! Prominence B-uck!" Yeah, no. I had enough of that the last time, and I'd rather nip it in the bud instead of risking getting lit up again by Endeavor's flames. As such, an instant transmission(in his opponent's eyes) into a gut check made short work of the flaming hero. It almost knocked him out cold if my analyze skill is to be believed, but it did stun him for the foreseeable future.
The following chop to the back of Endeavor's neck, however, did turn off the lights, both metaphorically and literally as the hero's flames immediately died out. "...Ok, can I actually surrender though? A hero also knows when he's in too deep and should try to live and fight another day." Edgeshot questioned after seeing his companion get shut down so utterly and efficiently. There wasn't much he could do against this.
"Well, I sure don't!" Ryukyu yelled, aiming for one last charge at me. I didn't even try to dodge the incoming draconic missile. Instead, I just lifted my arm and heard the sound of her snout crack as it came into contact with my hand, forcing the rest of her to come to an abrupt stop. One quick flick of the wrist later and she was smashed down into the ground.
"How about now?" I'll take her groan of pain as a yes...And she wasn't shrinking down so I suppose I'll have to take all three of them over to the exit now. Great. Thank Asobi for super strength.
I mean, sure. You could thank All Might for that too I guess but you're welcome anyway.
"...I didn't expect a response but ok." Sometimes I forgot that I was technically a warlock. Even if my powers are effectively free. The thought both comforted and filled me with dread, on one hand, I apparently had friends in high places. On the other hand, that brought along the possibility of having enemies in high places too. Or in low places for that matter.
'Nope, not thinking about it. No demon invasion here, no chance of that happening at all. Fuck that.' I was having enough trouble planning around possible human mages galavanting around the planet. Human-powered magic was dangerous enough, and if demons, or the gods of this world for that matter, were similar to the ones of the Nasuverse...I wanted to interact with them as little as possible.
"Not to mention the looming threat of All For One. Even as I am now, I'm not sure I could beat someone like that. I'm barely keeping pace with All Might." I muttered, deep in thought. While keeping up with the number one hero in any way shape or form was impressive, it wouldn't guarantee or even suggest I'd win against the man who gave All Might his injury. So many things to prepare for…
But for now, I would have to settle for passing my first semester finals. Thankfully, principal Nezu was waiting for me at the edge of the fake city. Though I wasn't looking forward to finding out why he was giving me his patented manic stare. Things went poorly for those who catch Nezu's interests.
"Excellent work Midoriya-kun, amazingly excellent work! The countermeasures I could build out of this fight's data alone would make it- Forgive me, I've gone far off-topic. I believe it goes without saying, but you've passed. However, there is more to it than just that. Come along, Aizawa-kun has prepared quite the speech for you." ...I didn't like the sound of that. Was it the collateral damage? It was the collateral damage, wasn't it?
Minutes later
"And on top of the several billion yen's worth of collateral damage, you treated your opponents far too flippantly. What do you think would have happened if there were civilians close by? That's not even mentioning the villainous laughter that I could see you holding back the whole time." Aizawa has been scolding me for the past five minutes. I know I kinda deserve this for losing myself in that exam though, so I take it and reflect on my mistakes.
It would seem I still had a ways to go. I knew that already, but to think I could devolve into such a childish mindset over something as simple as a legitimate challenge. And so much for that, sure I got injured, but it was short-lived and my opponents fell in short order. As far as challenges went, this was a mild one at best.
Aizawa sighed deeply. "Like student like teacher, it's so similar to how All Might acts at times it's almost scary. Though nowadays, not many can get this kind of response out of that man." At least I can be secure in the fact that I'm not alone. Though knowing that All Might can get battle crazy against a worthy opponent explains so much about our spars.
"While you passed, we're docking points for all of the previously mentioned reasons. Your position as All Might's successor will place these higher standards upon you, I hope you understand." Fair enough, I honestly should have expected that and would keep it in mind for the future.
"Understood. By the way, how are the others doing?" I was especially worried about Todoroki and Momo. "Ooh, jumbotron!" Let's see, Kirishima-kun and Satou-san lost against Cementoss, expected. Ashido-san and Kaminari-san lost against the principal, also expected. Oh wow, I never thought that part of Tsu-chan's quirk would come in handy! Huh...Mineta-san actually passed."
Who would have thought? Poor Sero though.
The commentary continued in this fashion as each individual fight ended at different times, though from the looks of All Might's match, that was the one to keep an eye on. Momo and Todoroki were doing surprisingly well, focusing on distractions and delaying tactics but...This was All Might they were up against.
"Huh, I didn't know Present Mic was scared of bugs." I take a notebook out of my…'Wait, where did I pull that out from? It wasn't my inventory and I didn't have it anywhere on my costu-You know what, I'm not going to question it.' I decided while taking notes like in my quirkless days. Ignorance was bliss, right?
"Tail and Engine, two fairly simple quirks combined to make something special...Too bad it isn't very photogenic though…" *Snap. I was going to save that picture for later. Who knows when it could come in handy. "Wow." My eyes snapped up to Ochako's match with Aoyama against Thirteen.
"D-did she just bluff Thirteen's black hole ability?!" That would be a tough quirk to avoid even for me! No, that wasn't completely accurate. Ochako has the advantage of Thirteen holding back against her I suppose. She'd probably keep it going up against me until I lost an arm knowing how quickly I regenerate. Still, pulling off that kind of gymnastic maneuver in mid-air while making use of the black hole's suction was nothing short of impressive!
Shoji and Hagakure won because of...Unfortunate circumstances on Snipe's part. Oh well, whatever it takes to win right? As expected, the battle that was dragging on the most was All Might's. That one was either going to end very quickly, or get stalled to the last second by Momo and Todoroki, there was no in-between with that match-up.
Ice walls, sparking chemicals that blinded the symbol of peace, each piece of ice only further reflecting the light. Random bouts of fire to further blind and deal minor damage to All Might. Disorientation, distraction, creativity. Those were the ingredients that allowed the two hero students to survive for so long. Each minute that passed leading them further towards the exit.
Slowly but surely...Up until All Might stopped holding back and began ripping through Todoroki's ice walls like paper, outright ignoring his flames, and using air pressure to send anything Momo created back at her before they could even do anything. Worse yet, some of them misfired and caught the two students instead of their intended target.
This gave All Might an opening, a slight one, but that was all he needed to grab one of his students. And of the two, Momo's long hair made for an excellent target. "Up you go! You did quite well young Yaoyorozu, however, this is where you lose...Hm, where did young Todoroki go? Did he make a break for it while I was distracted dealing with you?" It was a valid strategy...Against any other opponent. All Might though?
*Slam! Yaoyorozu got tossed to the ground and was about to be officially captured by All Might. That was, if it weren't for the sudden cold that set off every alarm bell the veteran hero had. Todoroki had stealthily created a trail of frost from his position only a few meters away from All Might, making sure to keep it out of his line of sight as he did so.
In the end, it was the high-pitched shriek of ice that got the large hero moving, unfortunately for All Might, his weights slowed him down just enough to get caught by the quickly growing point-blank wall of ice that surrounded him.
In no time at all All Might was completely encased in ice, to the point where he couldn't even move a muscle, effectively locking him in place until his body heat could give him enough wiggle room to blow the ice off.
And since the students had been slowly but surely leading their teacher to the exit, they had ample time to reach it before All Might finally broke out. Even though Momo needed some help moving quickly after getting thrown around by All Might. "Wow! They actually won, I just can't believe that All Might fell for such a simple trick." He must have been distracted or lost in thought over what they were planning. Or more likely, he lost himself in the exam and wanted to flex a bit as he was known to do on the job.
Maybe this would serve as a learning experience for All Might as well.
"Oh who am I kidding, nothing short of the end of the world will cut into that man's persona. He pretty much built his career and legacy around it after all. Still, he could learn to tone it down at least a little." Not that I was complaining, now I had something new to try out whenever we sparred again.
"Midoriya-kun, please stop smiling like that. Maniacal laughter and menacing grins are my schtick. That was an excellent villain act you pulled off though. Tell me, would you be interested in a job/alternative hero licensing exam in the near future?" Nezu asked, likely contemplating how he could take part in the time-honored tradition of schools profiting off their students.
"Given the context of what you're asking, I can already guess what role I'd be playing. I'm not against the idea but I'd like to hear more about it before I decide anything. The school already has my phone number so feel free to call me whenever it's convenient and explain it then. Right now I really want to speak to my class about the exams." Whatever the specifics were, I was sure it would be fun. I'd keep it secret though, who knows, maybe his class was going to get the same treatment my exam proctors did in the near future.
"Of course, of course. Go ahead Midoriya-kun, I'm sure your classmates are waiting for you." There was something unsettling about listening to a mouse/dog-sized creature cackling in a half animalistic half-human language. Which is why I decided to speed walk my way towards my classmates. I sensed a shiver coming along, that laugh would probably haunt me for a while.
To nobody's surprise, it was Iida who addressed me first as I entered our classroom. "Midoriya-kun! Wasn't this such a fantastic test for future heroes, Ojiro-kun and I were hard-pressed to outmaneuver Power Loader-sensei but we managed to pull through. How did your test go? We didn't get to see who you were up against before we were taken to our respective opponents." Ah, yes. This again.
'Oh boy, here I go flexing again.' All Might would be proud.
He probably would, though Toshinori prefers physical flexes over verbal ones. With this chapter done, that puts this story at the around the end of season two. And all it took was a measly...1.92 years! Barely any time at all, right? Well, at least it's gotten this far. The next chapter will be for my latest story, until then.