Hello again,

This is the author again. Not great at these so I'll cut to the chase.

My site is one chapter ahead and will soon be 2 chapters with the update coming up shortly.

Give it a shot if you wanna get ahead!

masters : -aditya99111. : vercel : .app

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The festival's attendance was at an all time high after all the attention the freshman class had garnered after the incident at the UA DSA. So many of the country's heroes were all lining up to take a gander at the lineup and what they would be able to look forward to in recruiting these teenagers in a few years time. So many stalls and vendors were at capacity and doing all they could to manage their lines as quickly as possible. One van parked near the main building entrance had some very good traffic and had also managed to bring people in by the short line it managed to maintain.

Out of the kitchen of this vintage van came the aromas of bread, garlic, spices, herbs and other such mouth watering scents. The menu advertised five varieties of hand tossed pizza with a reasonable pricing for each option. Margarita, Chicken and onion, olives and basil, mushroom and pork, sliced sausage with peppers, and sliced summer vegetables. The pizzas were all about the size of the plate it was served on to let people have their mobility around the event while enjoying their meal.

"Are you sure that they'll be okay? It seems rather intense for a school event, doesn't it?"

From a phone propped up on the counter with a tea towel under it was a live video feed of Inko in her living room. Still moving around and commanding their kitchen with ease was Haru. He was donned in jeans and a black tee shirt with a blue apron with leather straps. It never failed to impress her how he was such a capable chef all by himself.

"Inko, you worry too much. I wouldn't have trained them to be ready if I thought this was going to be too much for them."

Order after order kept flying out the ovens while people were all asking for their orders one after another. Even his memory was beyond what she thought was possible. Guessing that years in this business must have made him quite used to the chaotic method of operating.

"What I think you should do is wait and watch. You'll see what these kids can do will make everybody else bite their dust."

He gave Inko a wink and made the woman feel like a teenager again with the little flirty gesture.

"Well, I'll leave you to it then. If anything were to happen; please, let me know as soon as you can."

"I will, I will. Just don't overthink things while I'm gone. Anyways, I gotta go; I love you, Inko."

A simple goodbye that made the mother blush slightly.

"I love you, too."

The call ended and the phone was returned to his pocket without him breaking his work flow. With the day progressing as it did, he tapped the concealed earpiece tucked into his ear canal and spoke under his breath right when the call connected.

"Where are we at?"

"Everything is set as instructed. The convoy will be here on schedule and the roads have been secured. We will alert you directly if there are any sort of changes or deviations. Was there anything else you needed from us, sir?"

"No, just get it done."

The call was disconnected with another tap and left Haru some time to just cook for the public ready to see a show happen.

Approximately One Hundred and Thirty Kilometers East

The uniformed agent returned to his work with the remarkably large team of operatives all moving heavy equipment and other such machinery inside the deep underground space they were working out of. Above the crew were beams and temporary reinforcements keeping the earth and rock above them secured in place. The finishing touches were being added as operatives were propped up in lifts to apply the mining charges to the structure far above.

Another call was made as the team lead had to do a few last minute inspections to make sure that things were going as planned. No room for error for anybody in any way, shape, or form.

UA Academy Sports Festival Main Arena

Opening Mic was making the introduction for the first year students and driving up the energy as the many freshmen pouring out were welcomed like gladiators to the colosseum. All of it was so much and it made Izuku a bit nervous to be the center of so much attention. Mina was already in the zone and had her focus already up in preparation for the actual events ahead of them all. Bakugou was always narrowed in and just ignored the rabble all around him.

"So many people here, watching us! To think such a large and expansive stadium is just another link off of UA training."

Iida was always the ever studious hero. Nearby; Kaminari tapped Katsuki's shoulder and tried to get his take on things.

"Geez, such an intense feeling! I'm kinda feeling a bit smaller; what about you?"

"Pfft, it's stage fright. Just ignore it."

The announcer then moved to give the other classes their grand entrance and just listed them off as they filled the center field. It was a bit of a sore spot for them to be given such a normal introduction when I-A had been the class that got the fanfare. In one of the classes was a student with rather wild and shaggy hair that looked to be missing about five weeks worth of sleep. His eyes were sharp and had their sights set on the class of 1-A.

"Now then!"

A crack of a leather cat tail made every student look towards the rather explicitly dressed heroine that looked like the product of some closet perverts wet dream. Stocking belt with thighs peeking out that went up to the corset that had what looked to be a lack of a brazier. Looking closer; it was easy to see that what had first looked to be her being shirtless was just a skin colored leotard. This hero was truly pushing the boundaries of what constituted indecent exposure.

"Oho, looks like they got Midnight for their event!"

"Gotta say, she really does work that whole eighteen and up image she's got."

As much of a topic of discussion she was amongst the male heroes; there was no doubt to her ability as a top class hero. UA was anything but lacking in their selection process.

"Is this even okay? I mean, we're still just freshmen. Wouldn't this be a bit inappropriate?"

One student that voiced his concern was unexpectedly a male student. A black feathered head of a hawk sat upon the boy's shoulder as he rubbed his chin in deep thought.

"Quiet! My tenure is totally on the level! Now then; player rep, Bakugou Katsuki! You're up!"

It mattered little to the blonde if he was the one supposed to make the dumb speech to start this off. He just put one foot in front of the other as he approached the stage with indifference. Midoriya was a bit surprised but had no reason to doubt that he could have been at the top of the entrance exams. A few students from the other classes just gave Katsuki a flippant attitude as he turned to make his introduction.

"Teacher…"

Izuku took a moment to see that Bakugou was about to do something brash and it was going to put him at the center of everybody's reticles. In the past; Katsuki had always been the one to be at the center of a fight, so if he was relatively the same since back then…

"I'm gonna beat all of you and be number one."

Yup, just like him to do something like that. The rest of the student competitors were cursing and cussing him out as he just sneered at them and swiped his thumb across his neck. They all were dead weight in his eyes and he wanted them to know it. His return to his class had him notice that Izuku and Mina were looking at him with a certain intensity.

They had a moment of synchronicity that communicated only one thing to them all. Win or get out. Despite the venom and vitriol he was getting from the other classes; Midnight paid it no attention and begam moving the event forward to the first activity.

"Now, onto the next activity!"

There was no time wasted as a holographic monitor appeared out of thin air behind the heroine and displayed the next planned event.

"For this year's preliminaries; our illustrious staff have decided for the freshmen year…"

A dramatic reveal of the event as music and lights followed Midnight's lead in making the reveal much more intense.

"Obstacle Race!"

By no means was it a complicated event to understand. The rules were simple; they had four kilometers to get past the obstacles set for them, and only those who were able to claim the first few spaces were going to move onto the next event. A gate that was the starting line opened up to let the students know that the countdown had begun for the start of the race. All of them were ready to pounce in a second's notice as the lights above the gate lit up one at a time.

This would take every ounce of determination he possessed if he was to keep ahead of the others. After everything he went through; after all the work and sacrifice others had committed to help him get this far, he was for damn certain he was going to make these other kids work for what he was about to take a hold of. Now it was just the green light that was left unlit. A blaring alarm signaled the start of the mad footrace towards victory.

In a matter of moments, the first sort of challenge arose when the exit suddenly became too crowded for anybody to try and squeeze past one another. Almost everybody was caught in a trap of their own making; almost everyone.

One Week Ago

All three teenagers had finished up their first thirty minutes they had with Haru that day for training. There was a notable improvement and even their teacher had acknowledged that their ability to react had improved since the start of their training. They couldn't say for certain if there even was a noticeable change to them as the balls were still making contact and still hurt like a mother.

He could see in the young teenagers that they were feeling a bit disillusioned by this whole training exercise. If it took some evidence for them to see what it was that they were unable to see; then maybe a bit of foul play could get them to pick up on what they were capable of. Mina was about to reach for the door when a sudden sensation made her split to the left and avoid the rubber ball that had whiffed through the air where she had been standing.

It didn't end there as Bakugou felt that same impulse and leapt out from the sitting position on the floor. It clipped his shorts as the racquetball ricocheted off the floor and had almost nailed Izuku in the eye before he ducked and caught himself on his hands and feet. To say they were all taken aback by the low handed shot by Haru was a bit of an understatement.

"What the hell! Are you trying to kill us?!"

"Haru-san, why did you do that?!"

Out of their panic they all surrounded the grinning man and began to bombard him with their confusion over the unwarranted action. His right hand went up and produced a snap that made the others rub their ears in pain. They weren't deaf, but it still made their ears ring a little after the fact.

"None of you were paying attention, yet you got out of the way. Why is that, I wonder?"

Some few moments after being stunned by Haru's snap; they saw that there was something that had just happened that they had been unable to do before all this. Haru took the moment while he had all three of their attention to explain farther.

"This isn't just about being able to dodge attacks or something similar to that."

The ball rolling away was plucked off the floor and tossed into the air and caught as Haru broke it down for the students.

"Things like accidents and natural disasters are things you can't 'detect' like you can when somebody is about to stab or hit you. It doesn't mean that something like that won't try and slow you down."

With his racquet; he began to bounce the ball off the floor and dribble it while the trio were listening in on his lesson.

"Getting your bodies to adjust and realize that something is about to happen usually takes time and effort that weren't available to us for this to be painless. So shock therapy was a little necessary to get you all attuned to your senses."

It was still a little foggy for them to understand completely. They understood that this was all a way to get them to physically adjust to utilize their senses; but it still was unclear how it was they improved.

"Every little bit of information you take in isn't just sight, sound, and touch that you can pick up on. Subtle things that go unnoticed everyday are often the things that make the difference in a fight."

Haru grasped the ball as it bounced up and gripped the round piece of tough rubber before tossing it to Mina. She caught it without issue and just looked down into her hands at the piece of sports equipment.

"A one degree change of temperature. The subtle creak of a wooden floor. The smell of something you can't even notice. All of these can help you react to whatever is about to happen that caused those subtle changes."

He looked to Mina as she still held the rubber ball he tossed in her direction.

"You were the only one looking away. So when you heard this-"

His shoe hit the floor and made a sound that caused all of them to slightly jump. They didn't know why it was, especially Bakugou; who was rather upset with being set off by a simple footstep.

"-making the sound of my shoe right before I take a shot, you got out of the way."

It was finally clicking for the rest of them as Haru looked to Izuku and Katsuki to explain what caused them to react the way they did.

"You two know the sounds of how the ball bounces when it's going in one direction or the other. It won't be something you can point out with exact accuracy, but it's there after days of dodging these suckers."

So it was this that Haru was trying to get them to learn. To utilize a level of sensitivity to better move and react to whatever may try and do them harm; living or nonliving. Their teacher gave them all a smirk that made him look like some sort of hustler who won a king's fortune on a bet.

"Remember this, at least. Only experience can help you master this sort of elevated function; though against others who aren't even aware of something like this…"

Present Time

The exit was getting more and more choked up as more students were trying to muscle their way out of the arena from behind. They hollered and yelled for those up ahead to keep moving without avail as the tunnel was just one big traffic jam for everyone. Some hadn't noticed a few figures from above them go right over and out of the tunnel. From above them, it was clear these students were quick on the draw and were able to avoid getting sandwiched and clear themselves over the crowd.

Once out of the tunnel; those who could see Mina, Bakugou, and Izuku make a break for it as nobody was ahead of them. Mina had used her acid to form an elastic piece of slime she utilized as a slingshot to leap over the crowd. A neat trick she learned out of desperation about halfway through her nightmarish training regiment. Needing a way to take sharper turns and controlling her speed led her to experiment and realize that this sort of material was something she could use.

Bakugou simply jettisoned over the crowd with Izuku leaping and jumping off the walls while propelling himself forward. The overcrowding was something they realized was about to happen and instinctively they moved to avoid it. Everybody left behind hadn't the instinct to sense something that wasn't some sort of attack or danger. Someone who had managed to stay ahead of the crowd was gritting his teeth out of frustration before launching himself out of the tunnel with his quirk.

Ice had frozen a good amount of the leading students to the floor and left the crowd even more choked up in the tunnel. Todoroki got the impression that if he didn't start taking these guy's seriously; he would regret being left in the dust out of arrogance of his own abilities. He cursed his complacency as he had ample time to get a head start had he not thought about using the tunnel to his advantage.

"... Well… Oh! Uh, Wel-welcome to the UA Sports Festival Live Broadcast! I'm one of your hosts; Present Mic! Here I have my fellow hero…"

Pointing the mic to Aizawa, Present Mic was left hanging as Aizawa was still rather stunned by what he just saw.

"... Eraser Head! This year is turning out to be one hell of a scorcher, so let us be your guides through this once in a lifetime celebration!"

Eraser Head was truly surprised to see such reaction times and use of judgment to clear the obstacles from first year students. Heroes who were already licensed still didn't have that level of aptitude that these kids had as they were now well in the lead. There was no way these kids had this sort of aptitude during any of the exercises or fights before now. That man who had trained him back in the day truly was something to reckon with if he was the one responsible for making these kids into such competent combatants.

Back in the tunnel, the rest of class 1-A were rather annoyed themselves and got serious in getting past such a simple non-challenge such as this. They all leapt into action and used their quirks as they told off Todoroki as he skated away on his ice floor. The race was now in full swing as more and more students were able to escape the tunnel. In comparison to those who had some sort of mobility assisting quirk; student's like Ochaco or Masaki were dependent on their own physical stamina to get past the other contestants in this race of speed. Not quite being a quirk for mobility; the purple haired student had somehow got a group of students to carry him as he sat upon their raised hands.

"Ha, you think because you're so special that you can ignore someone like me?! Take thi-"

Mineta was sent flying off to the side with a robot that had popped out of nowhere. A robotic fist laid out the boy like a plastic bottle before scanning the rest of the students for another target. Returning from the entrance exams were the machines that had acted as pseudo villains. More and more machines flooded the course and forced the students into confronting them.

"The first of many obstacles for the freshmen of UA Academy! Please welcome… The Robo Inferno!"

Izuku, Mina, and Bakugou were cut off by some of the larger robots; despite their head start from the other students. Right behind them was Todoroki, who had been tailing them for some time before they were forced to take a moment to assess the threat looming over them. Many of those left further back were startled in facing off against so many of those machines that had been a passing grade had any student taken down just one of them.

"How does the school find the funding for these things?"

Little did Momo know that things were far past the level of expectation she had on the present challenge. It was something Todoroki had combated in the entrance exam with relative ease and it was no different to him now that there were more of these machines. He was barely intimidated by the towering mechs as he reached down to throw one of his larger attacks to immobilize all the machines at once. He didn't have patience for such minor distractions since somebody he held a lifetime of contempt against was here to judge his performance at this sports festival.

"Can't let that shitty old man have another thing to hold over me…"

One large wave of ice that Bakugou, Mina, and Izuku barely managed to dodge encased the machines in a thick layer of frost covering their chassis. The rest of the students behind thought of this as a way through and attempted to follow Todoroki as he was about to pass in between the mechs. What stopped Todoroki was the stomp of one of the mechs he had thought he froze solid, stopping him dead in his tracks.

To his shock and everybody elses; the machines were being thawed out and were already setting their sights on those in close proximity. The massive machines headed Todoroki off and were all trying to keep the students from passing them. Katsuki had dodged a robotic fist that had tried to make a grab for him and was up in the air to land an explosive payload on the robot's head. With one precise blast that enveloped the machine's head in black smoke; it was almost guaranteed that the machine would start to go down in a heap of broken parts then and there.

While in midair, the teenager could only watch as a cable of some kind shot out from the mech's claw and was about to collide with him when he was suddenly hit with something wet and sticky. He was yanked down to the earth and managed to catch himself by using his explosions to slow his descent after whatever had pulled him down released itself. When he touched down; Mina had her hands out with Izuku next to her with a look of relief on his face. Mina had taken mercy on the blonde and had yanked him out of the way from whatever it was that was about to make a grab for him.

"Aaaah! Get off of me!"

"Help me! Get me outta here!"

The screaming from behind made everybody up front turn and watch as the mechs that were almost a pushover from the entrance exams were now far more durable and were starting to capture those unfortunate enough to be hit by the cable that shot out from the machines. These machines were tanking more damage and had the function of what looked to be a launchable metal cable that had an attachment like a ball of sorts sitting at the tip of it. When the attachment got close enough to it's target; it would capture it's target in multiple cables launched from the attachment.

A good amount of students were finding out the hard way that once you were caught in the grip of one of these cables; there was little you could do to get out of it. All of these students were hanging off the sides of the mechs trying to break out of their bindings with no success.

"As student's of UA Academy; one thing we covet from our graduates is the ability to adapt to any sort of confrontation! This year we have had the opportunity to do something truly spectacular!"

Present Mic did what he needed to do to make up for the lack of enthusiasm from his co-host. Aizawa wasn't heartless enough to leave the hero entertainer on his own for the entire event, so he elected to explain the context to these new machines the students were facing off against.

"These mechs have been provided with upgrades after analyzing the quirks of the students during the entrance exams. The students who had a higher score during the exam were considered most when these upgrades were applied so as to not create a redundant and predictable challenge."

"You heard it here, folks! Let's see what these heroes in training have in store against something like this!"

The audience was eating it up and were going nuts to see such an exciting development for the struggling UA students. Down on the ground it was a very different story. It was a bit of a shocking revelation for the students to hear that these robots were upgraded to combat their quirks. Little by little the spirit of the students trying to get past the machines was breaking ever so slowly.

Thinking it was just gonna be another laughably easy challenge; Todoroki was becoming increasingly frustrated with how much trouble he was having during an event he wanted to get by easily with his one quirk to show up somebody that he wanted to prove wrong. To use his other side would completely defeat the purpose of all the effort he's made so far. He tried once more to disable the machines by using his ice as weapons rather than freezing the machines themselves.

Pillars of jagged ice launched themselves out of the earth and towards the mechs with a violent and powerful force behind them. When the steam cleared; the machines were still advancing at a reasonable pace with only a few dents to show for all his effort. Off to the side were the three previous leaders of the obstacle race before the appearance of these resilient robotic opponents.

Over and over, Bakugou kept trying to hit different vulnerable spots he previously used on the unupgraded machines from the entrance exam with little success. These things were somehow armored and protected where there were obvious vulnerabilities before. Their necks, joints, and other critical areas were all armored and durable enough to withstand any attack for a significant amount of time.

Mina was trying out her most effective attacks and failing to do anything more than lifting the color off the outer plating of the machines. Her mobility was keeping her out of harm's way well enough while she was unable to get past the machines blocking her way.

Last but not least was Izuku. His efforts to try and slip past the unexpectedly dextrous mechs were all fruitless as there were countermeasures to combat more mobile quirk users installed into the machines. The cables launching themselves at him were retractable and reusable after the sensors detected a failed capture. The heat being produced by the robots dissuaded any form of melee combat without range or protection to protect him. The machine's speed was something that Izuku hadn't expected from such unwieldy looking robots. They would counter and block off escape routes when he thought he had a window of opportunity for.

As time went on; the students were starting to think that even making it past the first event was something anybody here could manage.

UA Sports Festival Vendor Area

Outside the entrance of the main arena sat a food truck that was just an oversized Volkswagen van with a serving area sticking out the side of it. The sign hanging from the side of the bar area was flipped to closed and kept people well enough away as it's owner was looking at his laptop with a live feed of the sports event. Without directly observing this man for a significant amount of time; it was easy to assume he was just trying to get a good look at the sport events. It was a bit more complicated than it seemed on the surface.

"... Give them another ten minutes. After that, just move them out of the way."

"Yes sir."

In Haru's ear was the earpiece he used to communicate to all of his men as he was dutifully monitoring everything of importance that day. The mechs were all performing as expected and had kept every single student from passing the first area successfully. His eyes and ears were where they needed to be as he watched those competing for the world's attention struggle to fight and surpass insurmountable odds.

Ten Minutes Later

Out of nowhere, the robots began to stop their rampaging and suddenly started removing themselves from the obstacle course. A look of sheer confusion was on every student's face while the machines that were making it impossible to advance were suddenly moving out of their way. Those still bound up and trapped by the mechs were brought along with no consideration of their desire to continue.

"Oho, what's this! It seems as though the students who are still up and kicking have reached the time limit and arte now allowed to proceed to the next event! Let's give them a round of applause, ladies and gentlemen!"

The crowd went wild as the whole fight had been nothing short of pure chaos that made it impossible to look away. Seeing the students fight and struggle to then succeed in continuing to obtain their goals was satisfying to see. Though the students that were all still participating in the race were anything but excited to see what was up ahead. Those who were left behind were addressed by Performing Mic with another announcement given to him by a PA.

"It seems as though those captured and dragged off the obstacle course by the robots have been disqualified from the rest of the event! Better luck next year!"

A rather merciless way to eliminate the competition. Up ahead in the course were those who were still in the race with a fire in their stomach after surviving such a hellish event. The standards that UA was operating at were on a whole different level than what they could have expected on any level. Almost every single student there was struggling to catch their breath after squeaking by with the most amount of effort they could have mustered to get by. Every student that made it to the next event stopped to catch their breath and get their bearings before they even thought about looking at the next challenge.

On the surface it looked innocent enough; after considering the complete insanity they just went through. There were a number of rock formations that acted like platforms across the dark chasm separating the competitors from the rest of the course. Nobody wanted to take the first shot at seeing if it was either a simple platformer challenge or something far more sinister.

Back at the arena; the heroes witnessing all of this were rather speechless to see such spartan-like challenges being applied to the students of the academy that forced them to participate in. The class of 1-A had survived and it set the precedence even higher for those seeking to recruit any student from that class in particular.

While the heroes coming to seek out talent for their agencies were doing what they did best; the student who took the plunge to test the waters was Asui Tsuyu. Somewhere in that statement is a pun of sorts.

Her attempt to get across was going rather well with nothing irregular or unexpected throwing her off just yet. It was enough of a motivator for the next student to go for it.

"Looks like it's time for me to make my debut!"

A girl sporting dreads and a fanciful amount of equipment approached the divide with a confidence that was rather odd after what had just happened with the machines. Her hair was a bright shade of salmon pink with irises that looked like crosshairs observing anything and everything worth note.

It was obvious to everybody that this was somebody from the support department. To see somebody that was from one of the less combat associated departments make it past the mechanical melee earlier was not something to take lightly. Her obsession in her equipment was something to see as she used her gear to cross the massive expanse while ranting about her 'babies' being her key to success.

The amount of people taking the plunge and using the many cables attaching the rock formations to one another increased as it looked to be nothing more than a platforming challenge. Todoroki and a few others used their quirks to speed across the expanse at an impressive speed only possible for people like them and them alone. Izuku had his quirk to help him speed up his bear crawl across the cables hanging from one rock formation to the next. Mina was able to use her stretchy slime to not only help launch herself with a decent amount of speed; from one pillar to the next, she kept using her stretchy slime to swing from one place to the next.

Katsuki just flew above and was narrowing the gap between him and Todoroki. There was little interaction for the two students just trying to edge out the other contestant with speed alone. Neither wanted to give the other an ounce of opportunity to race ahead and take the lead. Iida had laid witness to such intense competitive spirit and felt like he had been left behind a little. He didn't waste another moment pondering as there was his brother to consider. There was no way in hell he would let his brother down by not trying his very best.

When the leaders of the race reached the halfway point of the chasm; the true challenge of the course revealed itself. It was a subtle sensation of vibration from the rock formations that caught everybody's attention. Mina returned to the tom and Izuku found a platform to set his feet on while the rumbling just kept increasing in intensity. Todoroki and Bakugou were even stopping and pausing in response to the sudden change. This went on for about half a minute when the vibrations died down and stopped altogether. Seconds turned into a minute before the student's felt it was safe enough to move again. Exactly what was expected of the students.

All the platforms rumbled violently as a random selection of rock formations suddenly shifted their heights in an explosively unexpected way. Some platforms went up and others went down in elevation without consideration as to who was still on top of said platforms. The cables still attaching the rock formations were durable enough to simply stretch and slack whenever appropriate to accommodate the changing distance from each and every foothold.

"Seriously?! What is going on this year?"

"Are they crazy? How the hell did they manage this?"

"No way this is something students are supposed to pass…"

Heroes back at the main arena were further baffled by the sudden shift in difficulty presented to the competing UA students. Although it was impressive to see such a promising group of future heroes overcome the first obstacle; it was ridiculous to expect a freshman class to overcome such an insane amount of challenges that were close to being impossible to overcome in a single obstacle course.

The student's faced with the challenge of trying to get through the obstacle were not as concerned with the level of challenge as they were trying to get through it. With every shift and stop of every platform came a loss of control of their footing. These jarring movements were actually launching student's into the air and causing them to tumble off to the side and fall into the precipice.

Up ahead; Katsuki elected to simply fly over the hectic elevation changes that each platform below elected to take part in. Todoroki was right behind him in terms of placing in the race. Such a chaotic exercise such as this was to simulate the actual environment of real disasters with the unexpected and extremely unstable conditions that disasters tended to invite. Results were rather slow in producing capable heroes in training who were able to overcome the exercises. No student was immune to the draining effect that each challenge had on all the contestants.

Ahead of the group was Bakugou and Todoroki; they both were scuffed and beaten to hell and back as they faced off against the third and final exercise reserved for them. It was labeled as a minefield for everyone spectating while those participating knew better than to trust such a blatant understatement like this.

"It seems as though the de facto leaders have come upon the final challenge! The mines placed in this field aren't lethal; although these contestants have been given enough reason to think otherwise! Is their caution warranted, I wonder!"

"It obviously is…"

Aizawa was a bit of a dry straight man to Opening Mic's hamish performance. It didn't detract from the inquiry they posed to the audience as the weathered students were eyeballing the next challenge with a very suspicious eye on every bit of terrain. So much of this exercise screamed suspicious to them with how simple everything seemed to be at first glance.

From behind them was the sound of the crowd making their way to the next challenge. They both were losing their time advantage with every moment they wasted standing around just guessing what could be ahead rather than actually figuring out what was next. Bakugou took the leap of faith and took off above the field of explosive mines when the unpleasant surprise revealed itself the moment he entered the airspace above the minefield.

Both sides of the minefield produced these odd turrets that started firing these baseball sized projectiles right at Katsuki as he sailed above the ground. Some of these balls found their mark and caused the teen to fall to the ground and be launched back by a mine. His body had been well adjusted to explosions and left him relatively functional after the fact.

"Fuck! Goddamn, what the hell?! Are you serious?!"

The turrets were now visible from both sides of the minefield. Twenty turrets total with ten on each side ready to pelt anything that moved into their kill zone. Todoroki was fortunate enough to see that the damage these turrets were capable of was nothing to laugh at. Bakugou was a good twenty meters above the ground when the turrets began to fire at him. It was a bit of a cheap maneuver for Todoroki to make; but his options were running low and he was burning on fumes at this point.

His quirk was active and he was just about to fire off a frozen wave of ice when all the turrets suddenly locked onto the ice user. It didn't take a genius to realize that had he used his quirk just then to disable the turrets then the turrets would have unloaded on the boy with an endless volley of non-lethal projectiles. Not painless; non-lethal.

He tried to gauge the distance and the turrets were aimed right at him every time he tested the range of their sensors. He could have committed to just freezing everything to clear the path for what would have been an easy victory ahead of his other classmates. From what he saw from Katsuki's attempt was that these projectiles were by no means slow or inaccurate. Bakugou actually did manage to dodge a few of the shots aimed to take him out; it still wasn't enough to get him past the obstacle itself.

Neither boy could figure out a safe enough path through the minefield that was guarded by turrets ready to take down whoever was stupid enough to wander in. More and more well weathered students were approaching and pausing at the sight of Katsuki and Todoroki looking intently at the area ahead with an immense amount of focus. Their curiosity was satisfied when another student took one step into the designated minefield and was knocked out with a single shot from one of the turrets hitting him in the head.

The entirety of the remaining contestants were left stuck while the audience back at the arena were sitting in anticipation of what was about to happen next. These past two events had been a truly elevating experience in contrast to past UA Sports Festivals in the past. There was usually a certain break in hesitation that would trigger the solution for those to act and just charge into the skirmish with wild abandon.

Like a gunshot out of nowhere, one student began to fire up their quirk and drew the attention of the turrets as they got ready to make a suicide run across the field of mines. Clearing out of the way revealed Izuku who had charged his quirk to seven percent was narrowed in and ready to just make a break for it. There was nothing going through his head than the goal right past this last obstacle. He attuned himself to the sensations that were running rampant in his head.

His skin felt like it was on fire as the pain of being knocked around was being amplified. Both ears were ringing with a painfully loud noise that refused to go away. His sight was fading in and out as he tried to keep the goal right in front of him. A mad dash was all he could go for as he took off for the end of the race.

What truly left the crowd speechless was the sight of Izuku completing the course as he did in his trance of pure focus. So many projectiles tried to catch him midair as he was the most obvious target for them to take out. In a way that not even Izuku thought he was capable of; the teen had maneuvered himself through the barrage and exited the obstacle in a moment of absolute brilliance that nobody spectating as an audience member could have understood. Those who were unfamiliar with pushing their physical limits couldn't grasp how impossible a task Izuku had just accomplished based on instinct alone.

Behind him was the rest of the freshmen year taking advantage of the turrets being distracted by Izuku's speed. The turrets were all frozen solid in one last attack by Todoroki as he and Bakugou were giving their all in one last burst of willpower to finish the race. It was all just a competition between them as the real winner of the whole event had been already declared.

"The winner is Midoriya Izuku! May his name be that of significance this year!"

A celebration of legendary proportions for Izuku resonated throughout the nation as everyone who laid witness to this rather intense year of the sports festival were given a show that had blown every year previous out of the water and into outer space. His victory over the UA Sports Festival was something nobody would ever forget for years to come.

The public praise was so overwhelming and different from what he had experienced for years of his life. It was so different in comparison to the rejection and ridicule he had to muscle through previously. As he looked around and was about to take it in; his eyes rolled back into his head and with the rest of him, he fell towards the floor as his body completely burned out and went limp after having to endure so much stress.

Before he could land in a heap against the floor and injure himself further; he was caught by a familiar friend from the past that kept Izuku from hurting himself further than necessary. Todoroki was certain he was ahead of Katsuki by the smallest of margins when the blonde suddenly pulled ahead out of nowhere to catch Izuku as the green haired boy was falling to the floor. It mattered little at that moment as Izuku was declared the winner of the UA obstacle course for the freshman year.