Death

by tmb1112

Death is a Quirk that can only kill. A perfect Quirk for a villain, but what if the boy who manifested that power just wanted to be a hero? Enrolling in U.A. might not be enough when all your Quirk can do is kill people. Follow Zach Sazaki from his first day in Class A on a story that spans years, as he learns to be a hero, finds out more about his Quirk, and too much to summarize!

144. Chapter 144

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 144:

"Only 106 people made it through?" an eighteen year old girl called out towards the officials speaking to the applicants who had made it through the first round of the licensing exam.

Zach looked ahead towards that third year girl who he recognized along with a couple of the others around her. She was a tall redhead girl with red eyes who he had taken his first two targets of that first round from. That looks like, the uniform for Ashita no Hero Koukou. He recognized it because it was one of the places he had considered applying to, and when he had checked it out he had seen a couple of pictures on their website with students wearing the same jackets that the five students he was looking towards had on over their costumes in between the rounds. Is it cold in here? Now that I think about it, it's chilly. What's the next test going to be? Outside of these walls they're already setting up.

One of the officials was explaining how it made sense that less than the maximum number of applicants made it to the next round. A lot of the to-be-heroes had finished earlier so they did not see what had happened, but Zach was not yet in the anteroom when the first announcement about it had been made. I wish I could have watched the end. It sounded interesting. Zach glanced over at five people who had come in on their own at the end of the round with more injuries than the rest of them had and looking more exhausted than anyone. Zach thought about what he had heard when he was heading towards this room with Siri, about how half the sections in the room were becoming dead zones that the remaining contestants were not allowed to stay in. The zones were probably chosen at random to make everyone move, push more interactions and quicken the end of the round.

Outside of the anteroom, many of the heroes in the bleachers were still talking about the final battle that had gone down in the wetlands. The grass plains and hills that were covered in a torrential downpour had been the final location that all the remaining applicants had been pushed to when the field continued being narrowed down. Then that zone had become a moshpit of over a hundred people still remaining who escaped other zones all at once and made it over. Many of the people who had waited that long had not gotten any take-downs yet as they had been hiding the whole time to be able to only focus on people who were more exhausted than they were. There were also some who just needed one or two more hits, but who were tired, and yet some of them were in more of a fighting mind-set already and better prepared for action when it came.

Uraraka was leaning back in her seat with a bead of sweat on the side of her face as she looked down at that zone directly in front of her which was unrecognizable compared to when the first round started. "That was, intense," Uraraka said, glancing to Midoriya and then back up to Todoroki. She was half-mentioning that it looked more difficult than their own exam had been, though she quickly looked back to Midoriya as facing Todoroki made her remember that he had failed their exam the first time when they took it together. Oops.

"The difficulty at the end of the test was meant to teach a lesson to the ones who thought they were getting ahead by waiting longer, and the ones who weren't fast enough to defeat more enemies sooner or got too injured with their first ones and got slower…" Midoriya was nodding to himself while muttering that under his breath, yet his mutters were carrying around him for his two classmates and his teachers on his left to hear.

All Might glanced to his right and gained a small smile at the habit of his successor that Midoriya had never managed to quit. Then he looked back towards the waiting room across the facility from them just off the wall over near the opposite wall though also a bit to All Might's left. Opposite from that room and to All Might's right fifty meters or so, a large wall had risen up from the normal height of the outer wall that surrounded the testing site. He kept glancing towards that wall which had big walls on the sides of it too leading all the way back over the stands to the far-back outer walls of the facility building itself instead of just the testing grounds. What is inside there, I wonder?

Feels like they're going to drop the walls suddenly again. The explanation is going too slowly and they're not trying to make it feel like we're rushed, Zach looked ahead towards the officials then glanced around quicker at the applicants still around him. They would make it a bit more of a rush if they weren't going to "surprise" us. Lots of the others are just getting relaxed as it feels like we're going to get another explanation this time. If it's similar to Class A's test, then this is a rescue portion. It has to be too; there's no way they would pass people without a rescue test. I'll probably lose points for even showing a scary face to the actors. They're going to be watching me most carefully too looking for any mistake. If they have the ability to take off points for mistakes, I can't just go off making a ton of mistakes to check on everyone else. I have to take this seriously or they'll fail me. I only saw about half of the people here in action though.

Zach's eyes shifted over to a couple of people who he had seen from a distance near the start of the first round. They looked younger than most of the other applicants, yet he remembered seeing them from the rock pillar using attacks that the others all crowded in the same area could not stand up against. Each of them took out way more people than they needed to. There were probably some other hero hopefuls in that middle group, but even if they could have passed other ways, they were too confident. There's always someone stronger. Maybe those three could learn that here. Rescue training though, doesn't give me much of an opportunity to go kick the shit out of them. Hopefully they don't get killed 'cause I missed my chance.

His eyes then shifted over towards a girl who was younger than him and all on her own just like he was. Aiha, he started over towards the girl whose classmates were all defeated before Zach had come to help her defend herself against a bigger group. As he was walking that way, he spotted out the corner of his eyes Siri standing with two of his classmates who he also remembered seeing earlier in the previous round. Then he spotted some young students from Shiketsu, though he only saw four of the group of six he had run into at the start of the first round. They didn't all manage to make it after all. Those two did though, Ivo and Mizahi I think their names were. They're good. So were all the U.A.'s after all, Zach saw that unlike the Shiketsu team of six, all six of the U.A. first years were there in the waiting area. He did not actually turn that way fully to look at them, though he did see Zeira looking his way with some of her classmates who turned as he was walking across the area.

The ground started to shake and Zach froze a few meters from Aiha still. He looked around just like everyone else at the walls that were suddenly falling around them. The whole building? The people in the bleachers are feeling it, so it's meant to signify something big- There! Zach's eyes shot over to the large wall that had risen on one side of the battleground and enclosed a section of the building behind it. The whole facility kept shaking, and instructions were still being called out and mostly being ignored by one of the applicants whose focus shot everywhere else but those officials over the next few seconds. …Chances are it's just a coincidence. I was at everything, did everything, of course this is a possibility. Sure there were possibilities of ones I had nothing to do with, but they're not trying to catch me doing something weird here. Either way, change it all up. Don't pretend like you don't notice though.

The earthquake was violent, and in the urban area and the surrounding slums, the warehouse area with the industrial complex, and even the forest there was a lot of noise coming from collapsing buildings and falling trees. Rock slides started over at the mountain zone and cracks opened in parts of the ground all over the facility floor. There was another crack much louder than most of the others though, and everyone looked towards the wall that they stared at in surprise as it had appeared out of nowhere from the last time they were out there. It seemed like the crack had just appeared as a result of the tremors, but above it projected on that wall appeared a timer that had 5:00 indicating there was not much time at all, for whatever was happening.

"The dam is cracked! It's going to break soon, very soon!" The judge who had been calmly speaking to them until a few seconds ago shouted that, and when they added 'very soon' they clicked a button that had the timer on the wall start to go down.

"Help me!"

"AHHH!"

"Heroes!"

A lot was happening at once. Most everyone who had made it to the second round could figure it out quickly though. As one young first year girl called out in panic about there being civilians in the testing site caught up in the test, an older girl from a different school who had been to four of these tests before shouted, "They're Hucs! They work at the Help Us Company as actors who simulate victims of disaster scenarios. We have to treat them like we would actual citizens though, and the danger is real!"

"I know what this is!" Another girl called out. The red-eyed and red-haired third year from Ashita High shouted for the others to hear. She started running just as a couple who were quick to adapt did. Areana was cut off before she could shout more about it, as the head judge's voice came out of the speakers.

"The wall on the building's north side is acting as a dam that truly has a lot of water on the other side. This is more than a simulation, and in this test there is the possibility of you all failing if the time limit comes and the dam breaks, and the heroes on the sidelines have to step in."

Midoriya and Uraraka spun to the left as one of the teachers near them stood up. Cementoss had been notified earlier about his role, though he had been asked not to mention anything about it so that no leaks would come out to the students. So even Present Mic, All Might, and Midnight who had arrived with him all looked at Cementoss in surprise. He turned and gave them a small and apologetic smile for not saying anything, then he looked back forward and started walking down to the edge of the bleachers to get ready to help if the need arose for him to step in.

Areana just waited until the judge's voice finished, then she continued shouting at the others around her, "It's supposed to be Qingxiao! This flood scenario is just like it."

"We have to start building a barrier between the city and the dam…"

"Let's evacuate all the civilians in the urban area to higher levels in the buildings…"

"Only use the buildings that are still structurally sound…"

"Focus evacuation efforts on the people closest to the dam first and-"

Areana stopped when she was getting close to the first area where they had seen HUCs from farther away. She turned her head and looked back, and she called out to the large group of aspiring heroes who had followed her, "Anyone with a Quirk that can build needs to get to work on a barrier for after the dam breaks! Five minutes isn't enough time to evacuate everyone, so we need measures to slow-"

Zach kept running forward after staying just behind the red-haired girl for the first sprint there. "No, we need anyone who can build or create strong foundations to get over to that wall right now," Zach countered. He spun to the redhead who turned and stared at him in surprise for saying something against her plans, as they were short for time and to counter her plans would only cause disarray. There were dozens of other applicants right behind the two who now felt conflicted and did not know who they should listen to or even if they should listen to either of them at all since they seemed to be about to start arguing at a pivotal moment like this. The HUCs were still shouting around them, and only a few students and groups had broken off already from the group if they had specific Quirks they knew how to use in the best ways or without any help. Some more were thinking about going out on their own like that now or with some classmates too from what they were seeing.

"We need the people with the fastest Quirks and the ones who can build up foundations to get to the dam and try to prevent it from falling at all. If the ones who can build can't get there fast enough then the fast ones pick them up and carry them if you can. This should only be a few people though as we need everyone else to focus on evacuation completely out of the city right now. There's no telling if even the buildings we think are structurally sound can stay standing if the flood does come-"

"There's no way we can stop the actual flood," one of the younger students in front of Zach started. "The timer's there for a reason, because they're telling us that it's going to break in that time."

"Maybe they don't expect us to stop it that way," another started arguing back at the young boy who began with that. He looked to Zach Sazaki who he felt he should probably listen to, then looked past him and towards that cracking wall and the timer ticking down on it. He spoke faster at the sight of the timer again, "But just because they don't think that's how we are going to, we could prevent the second disaster from happening in the first place-"

"There doesn't need to be a second disaster in the first place," Areana snapped, speaking fast at Lifebringer and then pointing over at an empty area between the city and the wall. "If we build up barriers around the town then even if they're not strong enough in the time we make them, they will redirect the water flow for a little and at least give us more time to evacuate-"

"We have no idea how much water they put behind that dam," Zach started, looking into the girl's red eyes and speaking in a calm voice without a very rushed tone in it like all the others had. "As soon as that dam breaks, we have to be ready for nothing to be able to stop the water-"

"That's not how they did it in Qingxiao!" One of Areana's classmates called out.

Areana glared into Zach's eyes too and she said in a lower voice, "This is the way the Army of Death reacted to the flood. It worked for them-"

"A lot of people still died in Qingxiao," Zach countered. He said it and his eyes flashed a dark look that had Areana freezing with her mouth closed and her eyes locked deep into Zach's. "I'm not saying they did a bad job, but they were simply reacting to an emergency situation. We have hindsight. We can look back at what they did that day and say exactly what would have been the best decisions that they failed to make, and there are decisions that could have been made better that day." The way he said it made everyone in front of him believe that he had already thought about those better decisions that could have been made. Zach continued on though with his voice starting to speed up as they were nearing four minutes, the mark he had decided they needed to move by when he started trying to convince them. "Are we okay with just dodging a giant disaster like what happened in Qingxiao, or can we avoid there even being a secondary incident in the first place?"

"He's right!" Ivo shouted, the young Shiketsu freshman running forward as he wanted to stop anyone else from continuing an argument here.

"I can make a sticky substance that hardens after I fire it!"

"Come with me!" Another girl shouted at the first who she did not know. She flapped a pair of huge white feathery wings off of her back and flew towards her fellow applicant. The other girl reached her hands up and grabbed the flying one's hands to be lifted up and flown into the north of the facility.

A lot of people looked up as they started flying over their heads, but more started running forward as the timer on the dam they looked back towards had dropped below four minutes. "You go too!" Zach shouted, looking to his right and over at a guy whose eyes widened at Lifebringer's command. Zach did not explain why, nor did he need to for the young man who could create large steel protrusions out of his arms that he could then remove.

"My Quirk can hold the wall together! I can't get there in time to set-"

"I'll take you!"

"I'm coming too!"

"We need the majority of people to scatter on evacuations!"

"We need to establish an infirmary and safe zone for the people we rescue!" An eight foot tall boy called out, looking towards Zach as he announced it.

"Over in the swamp area," one of Areana's classmates ran up to her and started saying. "It's the farthest from the dam-"

"No," Zach disagreed, shaking his head with a turn of his head back to that student. The boy spun to him and rose his eyebrows high in confusion though only a bit of annoyance as he was waiting to hear why first. "If we can't stop the water it will keep going all the way over there since the swamp is low elevated. We need to bring everyone to the mountain zone. It's closer to the dam, but it looks the least affected by the earthquake, it's highest in elevation, and should the dam break the flood won't reach up there. Plus, the swamp area is where the fake villains are most likely going to appear."

"'Fake villains?!' But this is a rescue scenario-"

"If it's based on Qingxiao, maybe there won't be-"

"No he's right! There will be fake villains. They appear in these tests to make the situation into even more of a worst-case scenario!"

"And anyone notice that Endeavor's not up in the bleachers anymore?"

"Oh shit- you don't think-"

"You three," Zach snapped, spinning and looking at three people behind him on his right who were in the middle of talking about the faux villains. "That way," Zach pointed to a road towards one edge of the city. "There's an unstable building tilting towards one there are HUCs in, either stabilize it or destroy it and save those people."

"Why should-"

"You have a strengthening and hardening composite Quirk that can break away any of the loose debris falling out of the building while he Re-Positions it, and it's going to fall within thirty seconds, so go."

"Ivo," Railie was running just behind a freshman at Shiketsu even though she was a sophomore herself. She and the British exchange student Gregory from her own class were behind Ivo and Mizahi who were both freshmen at their school. The younger boy with glasses looked back at his senpai who was staring past him towards the spiky-haired teen in all black. "Should we really be following his suggestions? Lifebringer's a killer. When he faced us he looked at us like… and even though you say he did that to test our reactions, that means he was just messing around. He was doing his own thing for his own reasons."

"Maybe the first round," Ivo agreed quietly, though he turned forward himself and stared more intensely over at Lifebringer's back again. "But he watched us all prepare to fight him, and he probably saw us use our Quirks too. Then he ran off to do it some more probably." Railie's eyes started growing wider, and a couple others who were not even in their group but who had seen Lifebringer in the first round turned to look at the younger boy in realization as well. "If anything, we might have just thought that he wasn't taking it seriously, because he was already focused on this round. Maybe he wanted to know all the Quirks of the people who he thought were going to pass, so that in a rescue scenario where actual lives are on the line…"

Zeira was running forward in a group that was getting smaller every second. More people were breaking off to go save civilians they saw, or splitting off in smaller groups to go look for more in different directions. A lot of the HUCs were giving away their positions by yelling, and Zach had called at two people with sensory Quirks to stop for a second and give them exact locations of everyone in the general vicinity. When they had stopped for that brief moment before even more people split away, Zeira's classmates had grouped up and mostly ran off in one direction. She had stayed though with only Ubo, and while they were running forward her eyes shifting to her left and to the Shiketsu boy in the same year as her who she knew from a joint training session their classes had in their second terms back in the fall. Zeira's right side still hurt, a lot, and yet after what Ivo said her gaze locked onto Lifebringer's back again with all the frustration from before gone from her eyes.

He was planning ahead. Was that it? He thought we'd make it to the next round so he, he wanted to see what we could do and how he could use our Quirks in a- that's! He would have had to be sure that we would make it, that he would make it, and what the test would be, to even begin planning out a solution for what the… Unless he's just, coming up with it on the fly? But then why is everyone following- even when there was a different plan- Zeira shook her head and she spun to the right as she heard a shout in that direction. The girl with large stag horns slowed so that she could turn and run that way, but before she could she heard Lifebringer call out a specific name and hesitated. The person whose name was called out did not, listening to the older teen who sounded like he knew exactly what he was doing and who she knew had much more experience than her.

Zeira started running again as she was lagging behind Ubo and the other dozen people still running with Lifebringer through the urban area searching for "survivors" of the earthquake. Two more people on the left side part of the Shiketsu group split off to run down a road to the left where a sensory-type staying close to Lifebringer had said there was a injured HUC. The sensory-type had been asked to stay up close to Lifebringer, and though the younger boy was the one giving out the statuses and exact locations of the enemies, Lifebringer was telling specific people when to run off without hesitating like he knew they were the best person for saving that specific civilian.

Can't hesitate even once. The ones who saw me last round are mostly following what I say without argument. I tried to show them how I outmatched them. Zach darted his eyes to the side for a second but snapped them back forward before the sensory-type Quirk guy, Jushi, could see him looking his way. Enough of them trusted me already, and others like Siri and Aiha I got to trust me in the previous round. Others may have been slower to do anything I said, if there weren't so many others following me without looking like they doubt me at all. Probably couldn't have gotten any help if I didn't have those few who just agreed with me right away. I always needed people like that, like Darling and Exodus. The early times when I had to fight without them I noticed the difference in how much argument there was, how much unnecessary talk on the comms, even after establishing as a real army getting all my soldiers to do what I said was never easy. When people trust you though, things go smoother. Less convincing necessary. And with no time for argument, even the ones who want to say something or come up with other plans don't waste the time, because the fact that they made it to this second round alone means they know not to do that.

"I knew it!" one of the guys shouted who had made it to the dam quickly thanks to another applicant's Quirk. He stopped setting his long steel poles up against the dam, and the girl with the sticky Quirk that hardened after she placed it also jumped back and stepped away from the dam that just cracked in ten more places. The cracks came at the same time as the ground shook again. It was not a bad shake, but it signified an aftershock that made the dam crack more while also toppling a building back in the urban area that the other applicants had to scatter away from along with the HUCs they had with them.

"They're not going to let us prevent the dam from actually breaking," the girl with long white wings tucked onto her back started. "We should move back and at least make a barrier."

"It has to be far enough from the wall too, because anything too close will get destroyed by the water when it's rushing out at its fastest."

"No."

The group of seven who were gathered around the dam looked over towards a fifteen year old student in a brown and orange costume. He had an orange cape behind his back, and a pair of orange gloves on that he rose up and aimed to his side at a building in the industrial complex area. "It's empty, right?" He called out.

A boy ran out of the building and jumped up, then jumped up again on the platform that appeared below his right foot, and then on the one under his left. Sirio Amakuza jumped up to the rooftop that his classmate was standing on and nodded his head as talking would be hard considering how much he was panting. His classmate pointed his gloves at the other building that Siri had just searched to make sure it was empty of any fake civilians who might be pretending to be unconscious inside so as not to respond to his shouts from outside it. "Careful Anzari," Siri said softly. He panted again and then added, "Hit the wall, and they might break it just to keep, the original plan-"

"I'm being careful," Anzari replied, right before he slashed his hands up, and to the sides, then back inwards. "Sticky girl," Anzari called out, and his fellow applicant started raising her head just like the others around them to watch as a huge, cleanly cut, chunk of building started rising up in the air. Anzari pushed the building right up next to the dam wall, then he very slowly inched it to the dam while pulling the bottom farther out away from it so it was more like the building was leaning against it.

"What will sticking it do?" The 'sticky' girl called out at Anzari, hesitating instead of just letting the girl with white wings pick her up and fly her up the wall.

"If they make an aftershock to justify more cracks," Siri replied down, while continuously stepping up on clear platforms that appeared beneath his feet. He used his Quirk Air-Step to run around and get closer to the other kid he was replying to and finished, "Then we don't want it getting dislodged. With all the water pressure pushing outwards, if we can counter it with enough force on this side then even with more cracks the wall shouldn't just fall apart."

The other student nodded fast in understanding at the explanation then spun to the girl who wanted to fly her up faster now that they had hesitated for a few seconds. The timer was ticking down more than halfway done above their repairs, and the group was still not feeling too confident that their efforts were going to hold.

Over in the urban area, Aiha ran over towards a building that had fallen down in the initial earthquake and that a couple of other applicants were gathered at trying to stabilize. "There's someone in there," one of the older girls told Aiha as the first year ran over. "We have to widen the hole."

"Help me! AH!"

"We're coming!"

"Here," Aiha ran past the other two applicants and up to the small opening between a couple of steel bars in the rubble on the edge of the building's foundation. Aiha did not know how the HUC got in there to make for this difficult rescue, but she used her Quirk Contortion and slipped through the cracks in a few seconds before crouching right in front of an old woman down on the floor who looked up at her in a scared way. "It's gong to be alright," Aiha reached out a hand and smiled at the woman.

"NO! The dam is going to break and we're trapped! It's going to flood the city and we're all going to die!"

"You're going to be fine," Aiha assured, and she got down on one knee while louder creaking sounds came from her back. "A hero right behind me is going to get us out, then we're going to evacuate to higher ground. I promise," Aiha reached farther forward, and she held the older woman's hand still smiling at her. Then she motioned back when some light came through the widened hole into the area, and the older woman smiled and nodded at the girl and at the two behind her who called in for them to come out now as it was safe to do so.

Outside of the building and down a block, another small aftershock had shaken loose a building that was in the middle of being stabilized by some young to-be heroes. It was not a good time for it to happen either, as two students were leading some HUCs through that area in the direction of the mountain zone which put them right in the path of where that building was going to fall.

"Stay back!" Reimi yelled, running forward and getting between a couple of the fake victims and the falling building.

Hono ran in front of his fellow U.A. students who were with him, and he pointed his hands up with openings at the ends of his connected fingers on each hands. "Black Wall!" Hono called out, and he fired two lines of black tape from each arm that the ends of stuck into the side of the falling building. He brought his hands down to the ground after the end of his Hard-Stick Quirk connected, and when he broke off the tape from his hands it immediately hardened though staying sticky. It was not loose or moving anymore though, staying in the straight line, taut and strong and holding up part of the building. Hono rose his arms and fired again though, and again, and again, and he moved down the road firing black lines from his arms and stabilizing the building more and more so it would stop falling.

"Follow me!" Eko called out to the civilians behind him who had turned to look at the building and start shouting. The pale-faced but tall bulky teen smiled at the HUCs and waved his arm in front of him, "We have to get moving in case the dam breaks!"

"Above you!" Reimi called out, then she spun to the left and shouted, "Oribia!"

One of the HUCs who was shouted at looked up to see something falling out one of the windows that had already been cracked and lost all its glass. The cabinet looked to have slid down the slanted floor and came out the window, and it was falling towards the actor whose eyes actually widened nervously for a moment. He never had to dive out of the way though, as Oribia flew over his head with her right and left legs bulked up to three times their normal size. That muscular bulge started to decrease in her legs though, but she did not need to transport too much to her arms. Instead of smashing the cabinet to pieces that still would have rained down on the HUCs and her classmates, Oribia gripped the cabinet around the sides and dug her fingers of her more muscular arms into it to get a better grasp. Her legs never lost all of their muscle mass, and she came down from thirty feet up holding the cabinet above her so she would not hit anyone with it even as she skid to a stop on the road.

Oribia placed the cabinet down and then looked around at her classmates and the HUCs. Hono lowered his arms and let out a deep breath, then he turned and said that the building was stabilized in case others came through that area after they had gone. "Only two minutes left until the dam breaks! That's still plenty of time to get you all to safety! Follow us!"

Reimi took up the rear of the group as they started off towards the mountain zone again. As they ran out of the zone, her eyes shifted the other way back deeper into the city region of the testing facility. I hope you guys are doing well too.

Ubo was sticking with a small group that still felt like it was the original one, or the main group that had just gotten smaller the more other people had split off. Even though there were other groups just as large or even larger at this point that had broken off at the same time, which Ubo realized, the fact that Lifebringer was there and still saying things just as assuredly as he did when there were fifty people around them made him feel like he was in that most important group. His eyes shifted over towards his only classmate still in that group with him though, as Zeira spun around and started across the road all of a sudden.

Zach and another five people with him were on the outskirts of the urban zone closest to the swamp area. He had gone to one side of the street with two others, and the two U.A. students and one other who had been the sensory-type who told them where the last of the HUCs were was also with them. As Zeira turned and started towards Zach, the older boy told Ubo that he was going to get the HUC they saved over to the mountain zone before the timer ran out. There was no time to argue as the time was running low, and Ubo just nodded at his fellow applicant.

Zach was looking towards the swamp area from one side of the group of three he had gone to this side of the road with. The other two were getting the injured civilian out of the rubble and precarious situation, but the man they started pulling out bat their hands away and yelled at them. "Abted! Musaeada!" Zach spun and looked back, and the man who was looking back and forth at the young heroes had a paranoid and terrified look on his face. He had fake blood on one arm so he was 'hurting' himself more with each swing of it, and the two boys speaking Japanese to him could not calm him down as much as they were smiling and trying to get him to relax so they could help.

What will you do in a situation like this? The man with dark tan skin and a long white furry tail sticking out the back of his clothes was thinking even as he continued to shout at the younger men in front of him. His eyes turned to Lifebringer who had turned to face him and was now walking over his way. In a chaotic scenario like this you could come across an immigrant who doesn't know the language or what you're saying. Or you could have been called to a foreign country where you don't know how to speak to the people. What do you do then?

I get around it by knowing enough of every language to be able to respond, Zach replied at what he assumed the man hiding his smug expression was thinking. "La bas," Zach lowered down to his left knee in front of the man whose eyes opened up wide at the Arabic spoken to him. The other two on Zach's left turned his way, and Zeira stopped behind him and stared down at the back of his head. "You're going to be alright," Zach said to the man in Arabic. "Don't move around that arm too much. We need to get you somewhere safe. It's alright." Zach held out his left hand, and he smiled at the man while doing a much better job at hiding his own smug expression so that to the guy who reached out and took it, it felt like Lifebringer was really just being the perfect hero.

"Get him to the mountain zone," Zach said to the boys on his left. "He should be the last one, but we'll look around here a little more," Zach added after standing up and motioning for the guy he had helped to go with them.

"You got it."

"Nice save," the other added, smiling at the older teen who had known the language which let them avoid coming up with a way to communicate their intentions quickly and non-verbally.

"Come on," Zach said, turning to Zeira and looking past at Ubo too. "Let's go towards the swamp area. Not many people went that direction before."

That's where he said the fake villains would be most likely to appear, Ubo thought. Is that why we just hit this side of the city? Was he planning on ending the run around it over here from the start- of course he was, he was the one leading and he mentioned it! Ubo turned from Lifebringer to his classmate who ran ahead of him right up to Zach's side.

Zeira's voice was low and she spoke fast with a confused look covering her face, "Why are you doing this?" Zach kept jogging forward though he glanced to the left and across the facility to the timer about to reach a minute left. In only a few minutes they had run through the entire city and even saved a couple of HUCs of their own after he split everyone else off who had come with him. Zach's head turned the other way to the girl on his right with a light brown face and tall antlers who looked as frustrated as she was confused. Her question was not specific enough nor did she think he understood it by that way he just looked at her, but the shorter and younger girl looked at her hero in his eyes and mustered the courage to continue, "Why are you leading- it could give away that you were-"

"As easy as it is for everyone to fail this test," Zach started, cutting off Zeira before she could say something that he did not want to hear. He knew what she was asking too and was able to answer her without hearing her reasons for asking, so he continued, "It is just as easy we all pass it."

"Use the marked paths!" Areana called down to the HUCs and the other hero applicants who were bringing the injured to the infirmary they had established. "You guys! Help with that man with the leg," she pointed down the rocky slope towards a man who could not walk and was holding the shoulders of two teenagers who had their arms around his back. There was a steep section of the rock face on the side they were on though, and to go around it to get to a better area to climb would take too long when there were better and more efficient options to use.

"Still a lot of people haven't been evacuated here yet!"

"Make sure we have everyone's locations before the dam breaks!"

"We checked every zone. They're all accounted for."

"Here, let me wrap that wound for you…"

"Ivo! Move faster!"

"Let me help you out with that…"

"Short on time…"

"Do they have the dam blocked up or not?"

"Act as if it isn't, and keep getting everyone secured!"

Zach continued to run with Zeira towards the edge of the swamp zone as he mentioned how easy it would be for everyone to pass. He glanced towards the mountain zone after looking to the timer, when he was shifting his attention back to the girl on his right side. "No one is wasting time. There were people who really wanted to stop me from becoming a hero, it was their most important reason for coming, and yet those people aren't doing anything this round. And why? Because this isn't the first round where you can focus on other things if you're strong enough that you don't need to just care about the exam." Zach did not pause, but Zeira thought about the way he had fought her and her friends and figured that he had one of those ulterior reasons as well during the first round. That made what he was saying sound all the more honest and legitimate though considering she had seen what he was describing.

"If anyone had countered me just for the sake of going against me, they would have been putting the civilians at risk. I thought maybe a few people would go against the plan or get in the way, but right now the plan's working." Zach looked into Zeira's brown eyes and continued quickly as he knew something was coming, "I suggested rescue efforts in this way because I think they'll work out and I know that I have more experience than anyone else so I should be the one taking charge."

"The redhead's plan was good too though," Zeira argued quickly right back, as she could hear the rushing tone in his voice and did not know if she would ever get to have another conversation with Lifebringer if she did not speak her mind now. "And doing things this way will have people so close to the dam wall when the timer hits zero that it'll be more dangerous-"

"You're right," Zach said. He cut her off and continued while she looked at him with her eyebrows lifted wondering how if he already knew about that he was going to counter it. Zach did not counter it though, and Zeira's eyes grew wide as he continued, "It is more dangerous, and the heroes who would step in if we mess up probably won't even be able to help in time if one of the group at the dam does get hit by the flood." He said it in a calm voice, even though to Zeira it sounded like he just admitted that his plan could very well cause one of the other applicants to be killed in a minute. "I have to stick by my decision though, because if I doubt it, then people start doubting me and hesitating to make choices based on what I said. We'd move slower as a whole and risk messing up when we didn't need to, with people thinking about other plans instead of just working specific roles with the group."

Zach turned his head more and came to a stop. He looked into Zeira's eyes, though Ubo was behind them and staring at him with his eyes huge too as he could hear their conversation from how close behind them he was. Zach stared Zeira in the eyes and finished strongly, "If someone does get really hurt then that'd be on me, but I chose this way because I felt it was the safest and least likely for anyone to get hurt. If someone does it'll be my fault, but if I didn't say anything and a worse plan got other people hurt then it would have also been my fault as I had the experience to make better plans." Leadership's not something you choose because you want it. It's an obligation at this point. No one would want to be a leader if they knew what it really is. Leadership's just a constant string of choices that you will always consider as bad ones afterwards because you never know how the other choice would have turned out badly. Yet you always know what wouldn't have happened wrong had you picked it, the things that did go wrong because of the choice you did make, and you'll always wonder if that other choice you didn't make would have had fewer bad consequences.

And the lives of the innocents, Zach's inner voice got even darker much farther back in his mind than the thoughts flying through it in a single second at the forefront. In the background of his own thoughts, he continued to himself, Matter more than the lives of those fighting to protect the innocents. That's wrong in this situation, because they're heroes and not soldiers. But heroes put their lives on the line too and have to be willing to put themselves in dangerous situations too. They're just kids though. I can't accept that. What if I am wrong? What if I get those children killed with my choices that so many of them trusted in? Don't let that doubt show on your face. Radiate confidence and they will be confident in my plan. It's the only way once the decision's been made. "Got it?" Zach asked, only a second after what he just finished to Zeira. It was only a brief hesitation before the question, but the question itself spoke leagues to the girl who had to wonder herself with a thousand thoughts why he was asking her that like it was something she needed to know.

I'm a U.A. student. The best of the best. I'll have more experience than other heroes one day! What he's saying, is something that I'll need to know- He's trying to teach me! That's why he actually said it instead of just focusing on the test?! But he said we couldn't focus on other things in this second exam! He said that people aren't going to focus on their own petty motives during this, while he's still trying to, to make better heroes? To help us?! What-

BOOOOM!

Under a minute left. Get us in the moment when there should be the most chaos. Zach's head was blurring to the side as he spun with the sound of the explosion before Ubo and Zeira had even started turning yet, only having flinched at the loud blast. They'll probably have some hidden HUCs start shouting for heroes. Not hidden, but ones they add in now since hopefully every HUC has already been evacuated or is already over there. The dam is holding steady, but there's going to be an aftershock. Because of the efforts to jam the dam though, they're probably going to break it themselves if they can make their way across the facility. Zach's entire body shrouded in darkness while the other two near him were turning, which made both start turning back to Lifebringer again with wider eyes at the sight of that black flare.

"Get to high ground just in case," Zach's deep voice lagged behind him, as the black blur shot across the floor towards the flying rubble coming down from the new hole in the wall surrounding the test area. The rubble dropped to the floor and silhouettes showed through the dust and smoke into the hole where over two dozen figures started running forward or marching in for the man in the middle of the group.

A couple of hero applicants on the edge of the swamp area closer to the mountain zone prepared themselves as they looked towards that hole in the wall. They had heard the rumor of where the faux villains would be appearing, and though they were staying in the highest elevated level of the zone they were staying in the swamp just in case those villains did appear before the flood. They had already been backing up actually before the hole broke, but now they were conflicted over whether or not to start running forward to fight or to go back to the group and plan a counterattack. They thought about going and getting some people to go protect the dam from the villains in case it did not break at all, or to split up the group protecting the infirmary/ evac point to come help them out. After two seconds though, they decided they definitely needed to back off first at the sight of the man walking forward among a group of his sidekicks.

The hero looked the same as he always did, wearing the same costume and everything. His large number of sidekicks were dressed in more villain-like attire than Best Jeanist was, but all of them still had nicely combed hair and looked like fashion models even in villainous clothing. The group who were about to back off to go get help though, suddenly found themselves running the opposite direction towards the villains at the sound of a shout from just outside of that group.

"H-Help me!" None of the five of them knew where the old man had come from, but he was on the floor at the edge of a river between two marshy banks. The ground was squishy and wet around most of the area, and there had not been many innocents caught up in the earthquake over here. Yet this was a scenario they might run into as well though, and one the hero licensing test prepared for them. Someone they needed to rescue, being somewhere unexpected, and being there at the worst possible time that meant they were going to get taken hostage by the villains or just attacked which meant the heroes who saw him had to rush in immediately.

"MWhahaha!" Best Jeanist's sidekick Flemming ran forward in a black costume with flaming red highlights on his arms and legs. The man with combed silver hair parted to the right with a flip out in front rose his arms up while laughing like a madman. He was one of the three farthest forward of Best Jeanist's sidekicks who had been employed to take part in this hero exam. His laughter cut off before he could start shouting the villainous things he had prepared though.

Flemming froze, just as the other two on his sides stopped, and the other young applicants running towards them all skid to stops to at the voice that yelled out from the darkness. "Keep evacuating!" Zach's eyes were red and stared straight forward past all the sidekicks and into Best Jeanist's eyes. His body shot over the swamp area with no part of him touching the floor, his whole mass appearing in a blur of blackness that pushed forward at his front where his face was still outlined even in the darkness. Behind him the darkness pulled off like flames with a wind flaring behind him propelling him forward faster. That black wind turned the green ground black below him, and a tree he got too close to while speeding across the zone turned brown and withered in an instant.

Zach intentionally got closer to the tree than he needed to, forced some extra Death out of his right side into it, and he saw a large portion of the enemies he was charging at look away for a moment back at that tree. He was already closer to them though, and when they looked, he sped up. The flare out of his back intensified and his red eyes flared while his face lost definition and just became a completely black mass. Black arms broke off of the dark mass with long sharp claws on them that he curved forward while also swinging those arms out to either side. He slammed black legs down on the ground and pushed his feet down, leaned his body forward, and then he swung his arms forward and down at his enemies. As he swung them down, his dark arms extended out and flared so much crazier.

"Get back!" Best Jeanist shouted, pulling his right hand in towards himself which yanked his three farthest-forward sidekicks backwards. The fibers of their clothes tugged back towards Best Jeanist and the darkness that slammed down in front of them did not hit anyone. Flemming stumbled backwards but stayed on his feet unlike one of his other two comrades, then he spun his head right and left just like the others as the black arms that hit the ground did not stop extending out at them. After the arms hit the ground, the darkness exploded outwards to either side of the group of villains that just busted into the area. Best Jeanist snapped his head to either side quicker than any of his sidekicks, then he snapped his head up too as he saw the tops of the black flames on his sides start curving inwards. "Highwind and Icarus, get-" Best Jeanist stopped giving the orders to his sidekicks who could fly, as the darkness on their sides extended thin black lines up above their heads like wires that connected with the opposite side only leaving holes between the wires too small for anyone to make it through.

In the matter of three seconds, Zach had black walls surrounding his enemies from the front of their group all the way back to the sides of the hole in the wall. There was a black roof over their heads that got thicker and closed up the holes that were not created to intentionally make a net. It was only created that way at first to have the quickest way of trapping them by the smallest amount of Death while also being enough to keep anyone from flying or jumping out. It closed in afterwards leaving a veil of darkness surrounding the fake villains that was not very thick and looked like something any of them could break through.

None of them tried busting out immediately though. They all thought about what Best Jeanist had told them before they started, when they were warned about the one applicant they all knew was there already. Best Jeanist himself darted his eyes around from just above his collar, a bead of sweat on the side of his face as he checked out the cage they were trapped in after only a moment of being villains. The way he acted in the first round made me think he would not react so strongly. Stopping us from even starting the exam's villain portion, it was effective but…

Zach continued to hold his arms out in front of him and to the right and left. He forced Death from his hands, and the veil around his actual body started to slide away. It slid to cover his arms and then down his arms to only surround his hands that the darkness continued to pour out of. Once it was off his face, Zach turned his head to the right and to the old man sitting on the ground not too far from him.

The HUC staring at Zach blinked a couple of times, then he spun back into the darkness in the direction of the villains he had just been facing towards. As he snapped back to what was going on, his lips curled down into a frown and the old actor looked through the thin darkness at the silhouettes on the other side of the flames who were still very visible despite the barrier. He had a minor burn (or the make-up to make it look like he had a burn) on his right arm, and he had not been moving away when Best Jeanist came in. The applicants were doing too well, the man thought frustratedly, as he had planned on making this more interesting. The older man looked through the veil for Best Jeanist who he tried to meet the gaze of.

"It's going to be alright," Zach assured the man to his right. He looked at the guy, his face back to normal and with a smile on it to give the man some more assurance. His voice was not dark and scratchy like it was when he shouted at the other applicants to continue evacuation. Most of those applicants were still staring over at him, but one of them remembered what they were doing and shouted at the others so none of them would lose points. Most started running off for the mountain zone, just as Ubo shouted at Zeira that they should do from where they had been watching across the swamp zone with shocked expressions. A couple started running towards Lifebringer though, seeing that his arms were occupied with holding off those faux villains and that the man they had initially been running back for still needed an evacuation.

The older man did not look towards those other applicants coming towards him. He had over ten seconds until they would be there, and he kept his gaze looking through the darkness while sitting where he was with an uncertain look on his face that was also scared. "You're going to be fine," Zach added, looking at the old man closer and making the man turn to him so he could look into his eyes. "You need to get over to the other heroes who will evacuate you." The older man's eyes started to widen while Zach continued to just smile at him in the same friendly way, and say, "There should be no reason that you cannot get up and run on your own, as you do not look to be in shock and only have a minor wound on your arm."

Best Jeanist can't pull him back towards them with his fibers as long as Death is in the way. He knows he can't as much as he might want to, but the old man himself wants it to happen. Zach's tone stayed almost exactly as it was, so much so that the old man could not tell if he should take off points because the shivers might be his own fault for his preconceptions, as Zach added, "There would be no reason for you to get any closer to the villains trying to attack you." He's not a villain. He's just an actor. This is a test. "The other heroes want to help you, so get up and evacuate with them over to higher ground. I can hold the villains back here while you get to safety. It's going to be okay. I can ask the other heroes to carry you away if you really can't stand," Zach added at the end, as the other two running up behind him were almost there and the old man was still sitting.

"We've come to rescue you!"

"Do you need help standing?!"

"It won't be necessary," the older man said, and he started up to his feet using both hands to push on the ground. Zach noticed and turned his head back to the darkness in front of him, pretending he did not notice that the actor forgot about his fake arm wound there for a moment. The old man stepped between the two other young hero applicants who were saying all the right things and telling him to follow them to higher ground in case of the impending flood.

The old HUC glanced back towards Lifebringer as he was being led away though. Should I deduct points? He wondered. I feel like the boy was being sarcastic with me, even though his tone was no sarcastic. Lifebringer, was calling me out. He knew what I had hoped would happen and that I was still thinking about doing, intentionally attempting to hinder his efforts… which could even have made me out to be a villain in that situation if there are lives on the line? Would Lifebringer have even attacked me should I have gotten in the way more- treated me like a villain?! Killed me?! The panting old man calmed himself and replied affirmatively to one of the boys who had just asked if he was alright. No, no he was just doing what was right in the situation. It's just- I haven't, in all my years in this job, seen an applicant like Lifebringer before. The old man lowered his gaze to the floor for a second and muttered under his breath, "He doesn't belong here, taking a test like this with his level of experience and power. It's, idiotic."

Are any of you going to try and break free? You're too afraid because you all know the specifics of my Quirk. That even just parts of your Quirks that touch this Death could be too dangerous to you. Some of you, I'm sure, want to test to see if I would drop it so as not to risk hurting villains too badly in case they don't know better, but none of you wants to take that risk. None of you wants to test what I would do there if it means you could get brain damage or be killed. Who would take the risk for a test like this? Which of you cares enough about it to try? Which of you really thinks that just by getting past that wall, you will have escaped me?

Even if we do get through this…

He's just standing there on the other side of the wall. Firing a constant flow of Death like it's not even bothering him…

How much of that power does he have?

Can he just keep using it forever? We watched their fights in the first round, and I thought he was conserving his strength by barely using his Quirk but…

Even if he does run out of Death, I don't think I could beat him in regular combat. Even with me Quirk! Fighting him while he's using Death is…

Best Jeanist looked over his shoulder back at the hole in the wall they had busted in through. Going around to a different entry point would be cheating. It's necessary to test all the applicants, but this is a test in itself. There are some who are likely upset over the way we are being handled, stopping them from showing their stuff. Those show-offs are holding back though. None of them are interfering with Lifebringer… This cage, is not something I have ever seen Death use. Yet, the Quirk is very similar to Death's. I noticed the first time that Death's was very similar to Lifebringer's. Lifebringer himself says he thinks they are similar, but the actual level of power is so high for him too that I want to say they are the same. But maybe anyone who trains Death for a long time becomes able to control it in such a way. Best Jeanist let out a sigh behind his blue collar and he hummed to himself which had his sidekicks looking in at him wondering what they were supposed to do.

Our main priority here was testing Lifebringer, Best Jeanist thought while looking through the darkness straight ahead of him. I wanted to focus on all the applicants, but the reason I specifically was asked for the only test occurring today was to judge Lifebringer. The way he saved the injured civilian was perfect, taking off his darkness before speaking to him, smiling and speaking calmly and clearly. His entrance could be considered too harsh and that it could have scared the man, however the alternative to using his Quirk to arrive that fast was allowing the HUC to be taken hostage, or at least risking it. He arrived as fast as possible and prevented us from creating the terrible situation that would have then been needed to be fixed. He stopped us before we even started. Lifebringer did not return the darkness to his body either after the man was led off, and he is looking straight at me as if daring me to try attacking him through his Death. It would be most efficient to just knock us all unconscious right now, and I know that he could do so in a safe way but yet he doesn't. He is leaving it up to me whether or not to deny his, mercy? What is he doing? This is supposed to be an examination that you take seriously. Do not hold back against the third ranked hero and… Yet, even holding back he has held me back. Very, very impressive.

Best Jeanist might take points off. They might be supposed to try and make me fail. Considering how I denied Nikko's request for a press conference, I could see him trying to get them to stop me. Or maybe they just really want to stop me from being a hero. Maybe I just assume that's what they want. He looks like he might remove points though for not finishing up here. After all, if I knock them all out and capture them that way I could go back to helping everyone else. Zach considered it for a moment, and then he turned and looked across the room as he heard a loud buzzer. He stared across the entire facility to the wall opposite him, and after a few seconds he smiled and turned back to the villains he caught and did not need to knock out.

Two sixteen year old boys stopped where they were farthest down on the mountain zone with the HUC they had evacuated. The other students around them and higher up in the area all looked towards the dam too. The HUCs all gathered around looked to the dam, the faux villains stared through the darkness across the room as best they could, and everyone in the stands watched it too. A group of twelve applicants now gathered at the dam all held themselves back with nervous looks as they stared at the dam, or at least at the mass of barricades put up and stuck together in front of the dam. An aftershock hit them and the facility shook, the group mostly stumbled around though a few were better off if they were up in the air.

Some new cracks branched off of the older ones on the dam wall. They spread across the dam, and water trickled through the cracks before coming out in larger streams in a few places.

"The pressure's weak!"

"Toss a board!" the girl with white wings shouted down, and the other girl with the sticky Quirk who she was holding up reached her hands down and caught the wooden board tossed up to her.

Siri dropped to the ground and picked up a piece of debris too, then he Air-Stepped up in the air. He maneuvered around some huge steel bars leaning diagonally up against the dam to points where they were firmly attached by a cement-like substance spread around the end of it. Then he turned left and called the other two over to him as he pressed his debris against another crack where the water was squeezing out faster. His classmate Anzari lifted up some debris he cut up with his hands too, and the extra cracks that were made were being covered up and sealed as quickly as they had just formed. The dam did not break in the immediate aftermath of the aftershock, because the group had put enough counter-pressure on their side of the wall that even with the dam being weakened the water on the other side could not just push the wall outwards.

Everyone let their breaths out at difference paces. Many of the students were still waiting twenty or thirty seconds later for it to break as they watched their comrades working hard to close up the new cracks. All of them let out relieved breaths though when the group backed away from the wall again, though those twelve students themselves stayed nervous longer as they stared hesitantly at the wall they fortified to see if it would hold.

Then there was an odd silence that filled the room. It had only been around six minutes since the start of this second part of the exam, and for some reason it felt like it should still be going on. The ones who set up the exam intended for it to last much longer too. Yet, in just that amount of time, all the HUCs had been evacuated. Not only were they evacuated, but now if the dam was still forced down the water would never reach the HUCs anyway and would just create more irreparable damage to the "city" instead. The villains had been stopped too, before anyone could see what they were going to do during the test or how they would make it more difficult for the applicants.

Zach started panting as he looked through the darkness and at Best Jeanist. He curled his fingers in a couple of times while the darkness spread down his hands to cover only his fingers. The darkness spread out in front of him stayed at its same level, but the black veil on his own body getting even thinner to only cover his palms made it look to the third ranked hero that Sazaki was running low. It did not matter though, as the judge for the exam got on the speakers to announce the apparent end to the test.

Yes Best Jeanist, I'm totally exhausted. I'm just hiding it well, Zach held his breath to stop himself from panting anymore, and he turned away while dropping the black barrier he had surrounded those villains in. Like you had never seen me panting, like it was just a trick of the translucent wall you had to look through.

He doesn't want me to see that he's tired. He's acting like that took nothing out of him, Best Jeanist watched Lifebringer carefully, and when the boy looked back with a small grin and not panting anymore his suspicions were confirmed. He made no facial expression to show what he was thinking, but the way Zach saw Best Jeanist look at his mouth in the moments after he turned let him know that the attention had gone there which alone was enough for his own confirmation. Why wouldn't he want me thinking he was tired though? Does he want me to think that he's so much stronger than he really is? Or does he just want to show confidence now? Always be confident and not show his weakness. The same way he acts on television, talking about his weakness in a past tense like he's stronger than ever and can take anything.

Analyze me all you want, Zach thought at Best Jeanist, while making a more smug look form on his face as he started mentioning how he stopped them. But every action I make, every word out of my mouth, you shouldn't trust any of it. I don't know why I pretended to be tired there just to mess with you, to make you think I think in a certain way so far off from my actual thoughts maybe? But why? Who knows? I don't want you figuring any of it out, and one of the top heroes might be able to. So get befuddled. And convince yourself that you're right about me. And in the end, you'll be as lost as everyone else.

---

Zach held a small laminated piece of plastic in his right hand and flipped it over to check the back. He turned it back front-ways and looked at the picture of himself on it, smiling with spiky black hair and a much happier expression than had been on his old provisional hero license. "Try not to lose this one," the official who just handed it to Zach said. Zach looked up at the woman with short white hair who gave him a somewhat harsh look as a warning.

He smirked at her though and replied, "Oh I will." His voice was low so only she would hear it, his voice ominous and foreboding with the words he just said. Her eyes bulged and she stared at him in shock for a moment, then the right corner of Zach's lips curled up more and he added, "In a few months, when I get a real license." He laughed and turned from the woman who frowned more at him for the joke which actually sounded like one as much as she had completely believed something horrible only a few seconds before.

Smartass, the woman thought, before turning and heading off to one of the other applicants who had passed the exam.

Zach walked back across the facility floor that was covered in over a hundred applicants all of whom passed the exam if they had made it to the second round. There were also some applicants who failed the first one who were back to congratulate their classmates along with some teachers down there with their students too. As Zach walked through the area he spotted Aiha over on his left talking to her classmates who were all congratulating her and looking excited despite her being the only one to have a shiny new license. Aiha turned her head to the side and looked back as Zach was walking by ten meters off, and Zach gave her a nod which she replied with a brighter smile and a nod back at him.

As Zach looked back straight forward, he could see out the corner of his eyes Aiha's friends who had seen him help her start talking to her in even more excited ways about how Lifebringer nodded her way. Over to Zach's right he saw the Shiketsu group talking to two of their teachers who had come along to the exam. There were a few students there who Zach did not recognize who must have gotten out elsewhere during the first round, but he also saw Rucco and Obara who were part of the group of six he ran into at the start of the exam but did not pass like their classmates. His eyes shifted over the second years Gregory and Railie, and he looked closer at the two freshmen who passed, Ivo and Mizahi. The two looked proud of themselves and Zach kept a small smile on his face as he turned his gaze away from them, It was early in the round, but they didn't let the anxiety of running into me first stop them from succeeding. Definitely the right move passing them up.

Zach slowed down and then stopped while facing the girl whose antlers were long enough that she was almost his height with them considered. Without the antlers she was over a head shorter than him, her tight black costume pressed close to her skin showed off some curves but also showed how small she was, yet the girl with light brown fur around her appendages and rough lighter brown skin around the rest of her was the person Zach felt most impressed by throughout the exam. He kept his expression serious as she came up towards him, and he nodded at the girl who stopped a few feet before him and looked up into his eyes. "Nice job," Zach said, referring to her license that she was holding down in her left fist.

"Yeah, thanks," she replied. She almost said 'you too' but it felt too strange, like it was obvious that he was going to get his anyway so there was no reason to even say it. Zeira Eleinie hesitated for a moment, then she lowered her brown eyes for a brief second before snapping them up to look into Lifebringer's. "Why didn't you finish us off? I don't, feel like I deserve this." She curled her left hand tighter around the license she was holding. All she could think about since she had seen that she had passed, was the sight of Lifebringer holding off Best Jeanist and all the fake villains they were supposed to be fighting to prove they deserved their hero licenses. She saw him standing there talking down to them after kicking their asses, and she could feel his leg digging under her ribs on her right side where there was already a huge bruise formed.

"Well I felt like you did," Zach replied, and Zeira's eyes widened as she continued to stare into his. "So that's why," he said simply. "And between me and the hero officials who passed you, I feel like you're the least qualified to say that you don't deserve this." He lifted a grin at the girl who stared at him in even more surprise hearing that, as it made a lot of sense to her that if they all thought she deserved it, if Lifebringer thought that she deserved it, who was she to say that she didn't? "The license alone doesn't mean much though," Zach added to the girl who re-steadied her expression before him. "It's what you do with it. Go out there and be a hero. Show me what you've really got, Lifesaver." Zach looked past the girl as he was saying it, seeing some people he wanted to go talk to. He reached his right hand out though and patted it down on her right shoulder as he walked by that side, making the girl who was staring forward in shock flinch at the feeling.

Zach gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze on his second pat as he walked by, then he lowered his arm down to his side and walked away without looking back at the girl who spun and stared at his back. Zeira watched him start away, then she turned herself the direction Zach just looked where her fellow classmates were all faced away from her. They were facing towards the people who Zach just looked towards, the three teachers talking to their students who looked Lifebringer's way and stared into their own former student's eyes.

It was the first time he had looked their way, the first time they had met each other's gazes at least. Zach looked at Cementoss and Present Mic, and he gave his old teachers a nod with a small smile on his face. His eyes shifted to Midnight who was staring at him in just as much surprise as the other two. Each of them wanted to say things to Sazaki, but he just nodded their direction and then kept walking away towards the people he was actually going to talk to before leaving.

Lifesaver, Zeira watched as her friends looked back towards who their teachers were staring at. Zach had already looked back forward though, and Zeira started over to her classmates while ripping her eyes off of Zach's back. She had to look back towards him again, her eyes darting over and her head turning a bit as it was too hard not to look his way. Lifesaver. He called me- no one's ever called me it yet but he, the first person to… Zeira's light brown cheeks got red and her pursed lips curled up into a smile she tried to suppress so much but couldn't even when her classmates turned to her. Oribia mentioned the excited and happy smile tugging at Zeira's face and asked her what she was talking about with Lifebringer who she knew her friend had gone to talk to. Zeira wouldn't say, but her teachers also looked to her and saw how emphatic she was about whatever it was they were just discussing.

He beat the crap out of you, Present Mic thought with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. Thought maybe that'd make you less of a fan. Not the other way around.

None of them seem particularly upset over what Lifebringer did, as much as they are aching over it, Cementoss pondered while his eyes examined over the six students of the two first year classes who now joined the rest of their classmates in having hero licenses. I may even need to have Recovery Girl see to them when we return to campus. His hits were brutal, and he looked so angry while he fought. Sazaki, looked so powerful and intimidating, and yet…

I don't think I've seen Zeira look this elated before, Midnight smiled and she shifted her gaze back to Zach's back after watching her student for a couple seconds. Zeira had lifted her license up in front of her and was staring down at it in a completely different way than Midnight saw her looking at it when she first received it. The conflicted look and even disdainful expression was completely wiped away. Instead she just looked excited, happy, and especially proud of the piece of plastic she was holding. Midnight stared over at Zach after seeing that look on Zeira's face, and Midnight's cheeks turned redder than Zeira's did as she was heading over towards them. Whatever your plans, whatever you've done, you're still a fantastic young hero. You inspired her! You make me- I love that!

Zach stepped up in front of the three people he saw waiting for him. He smiled at Uraraka and Midoriya and then looked right to All Might who he nodded at once before glancing around them for someone else. He looked back to his two former classmates and asked, "Todoroki?"

Uraraka frowned and looked away for a moment. Midoriya's lips lowered into more of a frown too, the things he wanted to talk about getting pushed away at the disappointed look on Zach's face. "He already left," Midoriya replied. Zach thought about the look he saw in Todoroki's eyes even from across the room on the stone pillar when they had met each other's gaze.

"Give him time," Uraraka began quickly, and Zach looked at the girl who smiled hopefully up at him. "He'll come around. He's just, still really…"

"Yeah," Zach said, telling her she didn't need to finish that sentence with just one word. "I hope so."

"Sazaki," All Might began, and Zach looked to his old teacher again. All Might had sucked-in cheeks, he was scrawny, much scrawnier than either of the two taller teenage boys with him. Midoriya and Zach had very similar body sizes, which they could see for the first time as they stood right in front of each other with their shoulders equal length apart. Zach was an inch taller than his old friend which Midoriya just realized now, with his black spikes and Midoriya's curly green hair both rising about the same amount over their heads to still show off that difference. Midoriya was wearing a tighter green sweatshirt than Zach's baggy black one that did not show off his form as much, but no one there thought Zach had much fat beneath his clothes. All Might's clothes were even more loose-fitting though, like his body was too scrawny for normal men's clothing and so he did not fit into them well. He looked at his old student and after a second he lifted a small smile and said, "It is good to see you again."

"You too All Might," Zach replied. "I'm sorry for denying your visits back in prison," Zach continued, surprising the former top hero who was not expecting him to suddenly bring that up. "But I wasn't seeing anyone. I hope you understand."

"Y-Yes, I do," All Might responded, trying to assure the boy who apparently felt the need to apologize for that. The apology confused All Might though and made him wonder if the things he had determined because Sazaki would not see him should be reconsidered. He had wanted to talk to Zach before he got released so he could make sure of his plans, and since he had not been given that chance he had decided not to trust him. And yet when they came face to face he found it too hard to not smile at the boy who he really was happy to see again, especially looking so… well. "I just, wanted to know your plans for once you were released," All Might said, to see if Zach would tell him now so he could judge if he thought it was truth as he planned to do the day he had gone to visit.

"Well," Zach started, and he lifted up his new provisional hero license. "This was step one. Next is school, and then becoming a full-time hero. Then…" Zach hummed and he looked to the side for a second as if pondering what would come after. He shrugged though and just looked back at All Might with a small smile, "I'm sure I'll figure it out as I go."

That wasn't very convincing at all, Midoriya thought, and his face covered in confusion at the way Zach did it in almost a joking way. Is he saying that he's hiding his plans? Or does he just not expect us to believe it anyway so he's not even trying?

"Anyway, congrats," Uraraka said, seeing how the two on her left were reacting and trying to keep the mood right. Zach looked back at the short girl with brown hair who gave him an encouraging look even though she did not believe what he just said either. "You did really, really well out there."

"Haha, thanks," Zach scratched the back of his head with his left hand. "Wasn't all that hard."

"You took charge in that second round," Midoriya added. Zach looked his old friend back in his dark green eyes and nodded, and Midoriya continued, "You led everyone in a great plan." Zach smiled at the praise, but then Midoriya continued, "It wasn't like you to take charge like that. To take a leadership position."

"I told you I went to war," Zach started in response. All Might had heard about this from Midoriya already, but he stared at Zach with wider eyes as the black-haired boy continued, "I started off as just another soldier, but I had more experience than most and I got moved up to be an officer quickly. And then when my commanding officer was killed, I took command to keep us together." Zach paused for a moment and he shook his head to regain the smile on his face that had dipped down right there. "What I'm saying is, I have a lot more leadership experience now than I did back then. I thought I knew the best way that we could stop the flood and pass the test, so…" Zach looked around and then back at Midoriya with a look saying 'see how it worked out?'

Young Midoriya is very certain that he is Death. I also believe it to be true, and yet why would he talk about leading an army if he is really trying to convince that he isn't… Unless he wants us to think like- Ahhh, All Might had to sigh internally as no matter what he was thinking, it always came down to not being able to trust anything Sazaki was saying. It all just seemed like ploys to have them feel and think certain ways, as he could not forget the way the boy looked at him back during the two weeks after Kaminari had betrayed them. He couldn't forget what Zach had shouted about lying every moment to make everyone in the world think a certain way, and how he had been one of those people to be convinced of how broken he was.

Most people did not know about Zach lying about his actions and expressions for that whole time. The majority of people believed that he had actually been broken like they saw and that was what led him to do the Lifebringer Incident. It was too hard to explain, and All Might had not been able to say it at that press conference that Zach had been acting like he was broken only to then have to tell the same people that despite him acting, he had still done things that only someone who was broken would have. There were things about that night that All Might wanted to talk to Sazaki about, but not around other people and not in this place.

"Anyway," Zach started. "I've still got a lot I need to do today," he said. Zach pocketed his new hero license and then stretched an arm up over his head that he grabbed by the elbow and leaned back and forth while stretching. "I'm glad you guys came out to see me, though I wish Todoroki had stayed a little longer. I really need to talk to him. Jirou too," Zach added in a lower voice after while dropping his arms back to his sides. "But right now I've got a couple meetings I have to get to."

"'Meetings?'" Uraraka asked in surprise, and confusion with her eyebrows risen high up.

"With schools," Zach replied at her look. "Not much time until the term starts. I still have a lot of work I need to do, though I crushed those entrance exams I took the last two days."

"So you're really, going back to high school?" Midoriya asked, hesitating midway through the sentence as he did not know if he should finish it.

"It's what I said I'd do," Zach replied. He looked into Midoriya's eyes while saying it, and the hidden sentence below what he just said was 'The more truths I tell, the more I hope you can believe me.' Midoriya nodded back at Zach after it and he did not know if he was just nodding at what Zach said or what he assumed that look meant. "Anyway, I do have to go," Zach said. He looked back to All Might and gave him a small respectful smile just as he had given his other former teachers before. "It was good to see you again, All Might." His head turned back to the other two and his smile got less serious as he just started to turn, "See you guys later, yeah?"

"Yeah," Uraraka replied quickly, leaning forward as she said it but then pulling back as although there was more she wanted to talk about, the way they just said goodbye meant that she would have time to talk to him about those things at a later date.

Midoriya nodded at Zach too and his old friend finished turning away. Then Midoriya looked to his side at All Might who was staring at Zach walking away with much wider eyes at the difference in the ways he said farewell to them. The way he was spoken to made it seem like Zach was saying goodbye with no set date of a time the two of them might ever see each other and be able to speak again. Like their meeting was something that would not happen often, and it felt that way especially because of the different way in which he said 'see you later' to his friends.

I will not be his teacher anymore, and it is not like I am his friend who he will be seeing even as they all continue to go to U.A. All Might watched Sazaki walk away towards an exit, on his way to go continue his plans, whatever they may be. Does he not want to see me anymore, to prevent me from figuring out his plans? Except he is fine with Midoriya… I suppose, there is no reason that we would be seeing each other again after this. "I want to be a hero!" All Might heard a child's voice yelling that in his head and it made his chest ache. Is that really, still your goal? I do not think so. You have more in mind. You cannot help yourself. You never were able to, just let go…

Titanium, I wish I could look after your son. I would find it hard to face Shigaraki Tomura again, knowing he's my master's relative. Yet it is even worse knowing that I actually had the chance to save Sazaki, only to have failed so many times. Now, I do not know if he is still within my reach. It may be up to my successor, All Might's eyes shifted back to Midoriya and he looked into his eyes since Midoriya was already looking at him. Young Midoriya, this may be your most trying challenge yet. I wish I could help you, help him. I just don't know if I can anymore.

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A/N Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed, and leave a review telling me what you think down below!

WomanSlayer chapter 143 . Mar 8

I'd go gay for Zach. Just saying. I'm just a little sad this chapter didn't have Zach doing a lot of "boom bam swiggity swine, this house is mine" action.

Lolol XD Zach is so hot right now. If you mean by that other part there wasn't a lot of Zach just taking down every other participant, I can't lie, I considered having him take out all his opponents. It just didn't feel to me like how Zach would do it though so I didn't, (as much as it would've been epic). Thanks for the review!

Todorokiii chapter 1 . Mar 9

I suffered everyday without your update. And I was so happy when you updated it. Now, let me tell you, Oh my freaking gosh! Love how Zach keeps forgetting that he is Zach Sazaki and his trust issues is worse than I thought. Like before he teamed up with Siri, Zach already planned that he would beat Siri up if he betrays him. I also love Zeira and Zach's battle, not suprised that he was able to break her quirk. I do hope they would have another encounter at some point. I love how Zach is chill like a boss in the exams even Midoriya thinks of him as a final boss and couldn't believe he is actually this smart, tactical, that he could make decisions without hesitation, predict his enemies movements also good at fighting without using his quirk. I just wanna tell him. "Boi, because he was a commander of an army." Lastly, Zach needs a break, he has several internal injuries for crying out loud, can the assassins time out? He needs to be protected, huhu. Now, all that needs to happen is Zach to pass his exam, find a school where he study, AFO happens, Kaminari showing up, some other villains to appear, ofc the AoT too. I miss them. A shocking revelation that Zach is Death and that he once again fooled the whole Japan. The contents of Momo's letter. Nikko's plans. All Might dying... Please dont. And wow, this review is so long. Now, goodluck with your thesis.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the chapter! Showed a lot of Zach's thoughts in these last couple chapters, though even in his thoughts you noticed he's still having some troubles with the "truth." Zach mentions his leadership here at the end to Midoriya... not that they ever believe him when he's talking. Zach's passed his exam, now it's time for the next step which you've got right: finding a school. Where's Zach going to go? Lots left to go over, and we'll see over the next chapters how it goes...

Guesssst chapter 143 . Mar 8

I did enjoy this very much. I've binged the story in a week and I'm so glad you update at the pace you do, and I have a healthy respect towards you as an author that you do that. I like the Death Rain and I can't wait to see how Zach with all his combat experience meets his new obstacles. MOOOOAAARRR pls

Awesome that you've read it so fast. The pace is tough but I like getting them out as quick as I can, as long as I can keep the quality up too. Zach's got new moves he's showing off, couple new ones this chapter too. Here is some MOAR, and my spring break just started so I'll be getting a few moar of these chapters out soon as I can! Thanks for the review!