My Epithet is… BARRIER!

The original plan was to do Bounty Hunter Izuku with Sundial as his Epithet, but I'm struggling on how to really implement that Epithet in a cohesive story. Instead, I had to pick two of the other Epithets that I was planning on using. I feel an inquisitive and creative mind that can make the most of a limited power like Izuku would have. I'm going to go ahead and do it so that this is at two specific parts of the timeline, the quirk test and the Sports Festival finals. Two things. Look up Indus Tarbela, slim him down slightly, and you have the general build of Izuku. Likewise, this is really just an excuse for me to show what I believe the fullest potential of Indus' Epithet is. I'm going to say this though, Izuku is not going to really act like Indus. He will be polite to the people he feels deserves it, but I'm purposefully placing him with people who are drawing out his competitive and defensive behavior.

Go back to my chapter called "A Working Man" because I am still working on the rules I established there. Izuku is an Epithet User this time. I do not own My Hero Academia, and I definitely do not own Epithet Erased. I do own a set of fingers and a brain that are straight up demanding that I demand that you go watch Epithet Erased on JelloApocalypse's YouTube Channel or VRV.

Chapter Start

"You all are here, but it took all of you over 10 minutes. You need to get better at that," a scruffy man who looked more like a homeless man than a teacher. He certainly didn't smell that great either with his scarf having a foul odor wafting from it. He stared down at a group of students all dressed in the school's gym uniform. Several students look disgruntled by their teacher's attitude towards them. A tall, green-haired boy with his gym suit straining to hold his muscles in raised his hand. He stood over 6 feet tall.

"Uh, Mr. Aizawa, we all got here before the ten minutes was up. It's only been about 8 and a half minutes," he said. The movement of his arm caused the sleeves of his uniform to strain to the enjoyment of his female classmates.

"Do not talk back to me, Midoriya or you will be expelled," Aizawa growled.

"You don't actually have the authority to do so, but go off I guess," Midoriya said, pulling out a notebook.

"You say that, but here at UA, we are given free reign to teach our classes how we see fit," Aizawa said. "And I was not impressed by some of your showings during the Entrance Exam, you must prove yourself to me to see if you are worthy of staying in the hero course. We'll be doing a series of tests that you are all familiar with from middle school. Bakugo, you scored the most points in the Entrance Exam, you'll demonstrate for us." He tossed a ball to a smug looking blond boy with red eyes.

"Mr. Aizawa, I got the most points during the exam," Izuku pointed out.

"I'm talking about villain points. If you couldn't figure that out, then you shouldn't be in the hero course. Keep this up, and I will replace you with another student from a different class," Aizawa demanded. Izuku just shrugged, though it can be seen that he was flipping off Aizawa behind his back, causing several of the other students to snicker. Notably, an orange haired girl and a pink girl were struggling to hold in their laughs, while several students looked apprehensive or disgusted by the conversation. One of the tallest boys looked like he really wanted to say something but seemed to only be able to wave his arms around in very stiff moments.

"You can do whatever you want, including using your quirk, as long as you stay in the circle," Aizawa grunted. Bakugo smirked smugly before he wound his arm back. As he swung his arm, Izuku subtly formed an invisible barrier in front of the class.

"Die!" Bakugo screamed, igniting an explosion from the palm of his hand. The ball was launched in the air and quickly disappeared from view. Thankfully, the barrier muffled the sound so any students with sensitive hearing were safe.

"Here at UA, we will be pushing to your limits, so you must be willing to go Plus Ultra," Aizawa said, showing the class his phone. On it, it showed that the ball was launched 705.2 meters.

"Woah, over 700 meters," a red haired boy shouted.

"We get to use our quirks. This will be so much fun," a pink-haired girl with bright pink skin exclaimed.

"Fun. You think you are here to have a good time and hang out," Aizawa said, glaring at the entire class. "Just for that, whoever gets last place in this quirk assessment test will be expelled." Silence followed this exclamation. Some of the students shifted uneasily, while others were confident in their ability.

"This isn't fair! We worked really hard to get here," a brown-haired girl with round cheeks shouted.

"Life isn't fair. That's why we have natural disasters like earthquakes, robberies, and forest fires. Each of you will be redoing the eight physical tests with your quirks. As I said, the last place will be expelled," Aizawa said. "We will start with the 50 meter dash."

50 Meter Dash

Izuku stood at the ready next to Bakugo who was growling at him.

"Get ready to fucking die, Deku!" Bakugo snarled. He purposefully angled his palms towards the much more muscular boy.

"Keep telling yourself that, Bakugo," Izuku grunted. He tensed his legs as the robot began the countdown.

"Begin!"

"Die!" Bakugo shouted, letting loose large explosions from his palms. It created a large smokescreen that hid Izuku from view. "Take that, you quirkless fuck!" Bakugo screamed. His words caused several of his classmates to look apprehensive. It only took a few seconds, but Bakugo blasted through the finish line.

"Bakugo Katsuki, 4.13 seconds." The robot announced.

"Take that, Deku!" Bakugo screamed to the smoke that was left behind him.

"You really need new material," Izuku mumbled, clapping his hands. As he did this, the smoke suddenly dispersed, revealing Izuku standing across the line completely fine. "Afterall, you tried to sabotage a fellow student for nothing."

"Midoriya Izuku, 3.57 seconds." The robot backed up Izuku's words.

"How the fuck did you beat me? How did you cheat? You're a quirkless nobody!" Bakugo screeched. Izuku stared blankly at the boy while several of the other students were ready to intervene. Notably, Aizawa made no such move to do so.

"And that is what your problem is. It's always about quirks with you, and after several years of the same thing, it's actually always about your quirk and how better it is than everyone else's," Izuku rolled his eyes. "If you actually paid attention, you would know that I am Inscribed. Not that I need my Epithet to defeat you." This proclamation caused several students to look interested in him, while Aizawa was scoffing at the drama.

"If you are done causing issues, Midoriya, please move out of the way," Aizawa stated. Izuku rolled his eyes, but he moved out of the way, dragging an unwilling Bakugo with him.

Grip Strength

Izuku stood in front of the grip machine. He clapped his hands once again. Matching his movements, two green constructs in the shape of half pipes formed around the grip bar which began to groan slightly.

"Midoriya Izuku, 700 kg," the machine called out to the amazement of the class.

Izuku Midoriya

BARRIER - He can make Barriers - taken to a new level!

Stamina - 7

Proficiency - 5

Creativity - 9

He just beat the previous student who got a score of 540 kg. The only other students who got close were a tall, spiky-haired blackette who created a hydraulic clamp for a score of 500 kg, and the orange-haired girl who enlarged her hands for a score of 550 kg.

Standing Long Jump

Izuku stood confidently at the edge of the sandpit. At the signal, he jumped into the air where a green platform formed under him. He landed on it, and it propelled him clear over the sand pit. Then he kept going and going before he just stopped and floated in place a few hundred . He hopped off the Barrier to register his score before he flew back.

"Stop showing off," Aizawa grunted at the boy, only receiving a raised brow from Izuku and several disgruntled looks from his students. Following Izuku, several other students managed to clear the sandbox, but none managed to get close to Izuku's score.

Repeated Side Steps

Izuku created two barriers by his feet that limited his movement during this test which allowed him to get the highest number of side steps.

Distance Run

This was an uneventful test. Izuku spent most of it sitting on one of his barriers and gliding around the course on one of his floating barriers. The only students who were faster were the tall spiky-haired girl who created a scooter, and the student with glasses who was blasting around the track. Aizawa eventually stopped the test when he realized that the three students would not stop anytime soon. While everyone else was panting, Izuku and the scooter girl were relatively relaxed.

Seated Toe Touch

This test was relatively simple for Izuku who used his constructs to push him further than most. To the point, his fingertips were about four inches past his feet. The only students who got further were the red haired girl that was called Kendo whose enlarged hands allowed her to stretch much farther than any other student, and a multi-armed guy who seemed to create several arms to get even further.

Sit ups

Aside from using his Epithet to create clamps for his feet, there was not much use for this test. However, Izuku's muscles weren't for show, and he quickly showed how fit he was by continuing to sit up long after the other students.

Ball Throw

Izuku stood in the circle figuring out the best way to throw the ball.

"Hurry it up, Midoriya. We don't have all day, and you definitely won't have time in the real world," Aizawa grunted.

"In case you have forgotten, Mr. Aizawa, we are in a school. We aren't expected to be fully fledged heroes like you. Most of us haven't really trained our quirks for combat unless we decided to completely break the law like Bakugo did," Izuku shot back. His words got many of the students to look at Bakugo with distrust. The ball he was holding in his left hand was encased in a sphere. In his other hand, a bat appeared. "You haven't offered any constructive criticism, you have barely spoken to us unless it is to demean us, and you have yet to provide us with any reason for us to listen to you. It's hard to take you seriously when you can't even remember your job, so why don't you check your privilege!" Izuku finished his mini-rant by tossing the ball and slamming it with his bat. The ball launched off the bat, and it got about 400 meters before it started to fall. At this point, Izuku clapped his hands together. "Transform!" The barrier around the ball changed to be a glider with a basket holding the ball. It took almost two minutes before the ball hit the ground.

"Took long enough," Aizawa grunted, showing his phone to the class.

"Over 2 kilometers!" Half of the class shouted.

"Can anyone else beat that?" A frog-like girl asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to try!" A muscular boy with brown hair and large lips spoke.

"Deku!" Bakugo screamed, blasting towards the boy. His explosions pushed back and burned several of the other students who were resting after finishing their tests. "How dare you look down on me. First, you hide your quirk from me, and then you beat my score!" He screamed this, but his explosions suddenly were cut off. This didn't stop him from trying to strike Izuku. At least that was the case before a scarf wrapped around Bakugo's arms, halting him in the air.

"Stop struggling. You are giving me dry eyes," Aizawa grunted.

"What is this thing made of?" Bakugo snarled as he tried to break free.

"Is there a reason that you tried to attack me as well, Eraserhead?" Izuku asked. A barrier blocks the half of the scarf that was trying to tie up Izuku.

"I was trying to stop someone from getting to an unnecessary fight," Aizawa grumbled, retracting his scarf from Izuku, but still staring at him with his quirk activated.

"You know that those don't work on me right. I have an Epithet, not a quirk," Izuku said, raising an eyebrow.

"I just wanted to make certain you weren't lying. What is your Epithet?" Aizawa asked.

"I'm not telling you what my Epithet is. Do you know anything about the Inscribed population?" Izuku asked indignantly.

"No. You are so few and far between that we never actually had an Inscribed make it into UA," Aizawa retorted.

"This is something that you should know as a hero because you will seriously offend the entire Inscribed community," Izuku spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "Principle Nezu contacted me earlier this week because I am the first Inscribed in the hero course, so I have been helping him adjust the curriculum for the more unique quirks that being an inscribed holds. He's been watching this entire time."

"Wha-" Aizawa started suddenly, dropping the now shellshocked Bakugo.

"Indeed!" A hatch opened up at the feet of Izuku, before an anthropomorphic something jumped out wearing a suit. He quickly climbed on Izuku's shoulder and took out a thermos and tea cup. He handed the thermos to Izuku and held the teacup up to Izuku who happily filled it. "Am I a dog, a bear, or a mouse? Who knows, but most importantly, I'm the principal!" He punctuated his sentence by slurping his tea quite loudly.

"And as principal, I've been quite disappointed with how you are running your classroom. I've let you have as much freedom in your classroom because you created results. However, looking at the long term effects of the students who have been in your class versus those who have not, the results you had were only in the short term. Students who you passed were paranoid, burnt out, and in some cases, cynical which is not the type of heroes we are training." Nezu informed the startled teacher cheerfully, but with an edge to his voice. He took a sip of his tea, before he stared down his employee.

"It is also telling that there were always only a few standout students from each of your classes, while the rest either struggled or failed. It is telling that we have had a steep decrease in students working together or coming to the teachers for help from your classes. While independence is great and some competition is good, there comes many times in life when working together is necessary," he continued to the stunned class. "However, it is your treatment of young Midoriya here that you crossed the line. Not only have you been completely rude and unprofessional to your students who you forced to avoid a mandatory meeting, you have also been messing with the student's scores. Don't think that I haven't been aware of what you have been doing," Nezu continued without pause.

"What is he talking about?" Kendo asked, stepping in front of the class.

"He had already decided the final placement for all the students by the time the long distance run was over," Nezu said, pointing to a robot who was carrying over a large TV. On it, there were the various names of the students with a number placed next to it.

"Why is Midoriya last place?" A blond boy with lightning accents asked. "For that matter, why is Bakugo third? He was one of the first people to tap out of the sit ups and long distance run. Not to mention, he couldn't even touch his toes."

"It's something that I noticed when I reviewed all of Aizawa's past classes. He has a nasty, though well hidden, habit of skewing scores for his favorite students," Nezu said, pulling out a remote. He pressed a few buttons and the screen changed. The names of the students suddenly rapidly changed. "Now these scores do not include the ball throw since you all have not completed that. However, take these scores as a way to improve yourself because you are just learning how to be a hero."

"I'm tenth!" Bakugo shouted, stomping over to the screen. "And how is Deku first!"

"Ah, before I forget. Bakugo Katsuki, I have been reviewing your files and test results, and I've found you lacking. Your school has been modifying your files to make you seem more like an ideal hero. I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt before you tried to assault young Midoriya here. Please pack your things, you will be expelled from the hero course."

"What!" Bakugo screeched to the confusion of his classmates.

"Yes. Now, before you do anything, and we will be talking to your parents about this, keep in mind your next actions will determine if you stay in this school and become a hero at all," Nezu said. His words silenced any response the bomberanian would have.

"Isn't that going too far? He has-," Aizawa finally spoke up.

"If your next word is potential, then you will be fired without a chance to keep your job as both a teacher and a pro hero, because you seem to forget where we are and what your job is. We are here to train students to be heroes who respect and save others, not thugs who just want to use their quirk to bully the weak. After all, it's only logical," Nezu snapped. "As for Mr. Bakugo, I will be talking to your parents. Whether or not you get a second chance to be a hero will be their decision, but if you step out of line, you can definitely say goodbye to ever being a hero." With his peace said, Nezu hopped off of Izuku's shoulder.

"Now, Snipe is on his way to lead you to the lunch room. I had decided to postpone today's usual Entrance Ceremony because I knew that Aizawa would skip out on it again," Nezu said, getting a scoff from the hobo. "He calls it illogical, but I believe it is more illogical for the teacher to dismiss the chance for his students to connect with the other classes and where they will learn important information about alarms, facilities, and other rules that are not publicly available."

"So in other words, Mr. Aizawa was sabotaging our education," a thunderbolt-styled haired boy stated.

"In layman's terms, yes, Mr. Kaminari. But he created results that the school board and the HPSC liked, so he was given free reign," Nezu explained. "It was only recently that we were able to get the evidence needed to overturn the mistake that I made when I hired him. When he first started working here, he was far less willing to expel students and was much kinder, but as time went on he started to become much more harsh. Last year, he really did expel a class from the hero program for a day for no real reason. It was this inciting incident that brought his actions to my attention."

"I offer my deepest apologies for the oversight that happened while Aizawa was your teacher. We already have a new teacher to take over for you. However, they will not be here for the next few days. In the meantime, I do believe that Snipe is here, so please follow him, while I take care of Aizawa and Bakugo," Nezu calmly said, pointing to a cowboy-like hero.

Time Skip: Festival - Tournament

"It has been a long day, but now it is time for the event you are waiting for!" Present Mic's voice shouted, getting great cheers from the stadium. "It is time for the tournament, and finishing the first round off, we have quite a treat. I have been given permission to share this information. From Class 1-A, we have the student who has yet to be touched once during this entire day. It's the man whose epithet is Barrier! Give it up for Izuku Midoriya!" The muscular green-haired boy confidently walked out into the field to the monstrously loud cheering of the crowd.

"Against him, we have the dark horse of the sports festival! He represents the General Education students, but I have absolutely no idea how he got here. From class 1-C, it is Shinso Hitoshi!" A skinny, purple-haired boy with pronounced eyebrows walked smugly onto the field.

"Let us have a good match," Izuku said, holding his hand out for a hand shake. Shinso scoffed before he slapped his opponent's hand away.

"Don't act so arrogant," Shinso growled out before he turned his back on his opponent. Izuku frowned at his opponent before he shook his head.

"I want a good clean match. If I see things going too far, I will stop the match and you will be disqualified. If I have to knock you out, you will be having a serious talk with the principal," Midnight, the referee warned. Her warning got shivers from the purple boy. "Having said that, begin!" Her piece said she jumped out of the ring.

"You must be feeling pretty great having such a powerful Epithet. I bet people were just lining up to praise you," the boy taunted.

"You really don't know anything about Inscribed people do you?" Izuku asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know much, but I don't need to. You've already fallen under my quirk. So walk off the stage and give me my win," Shinso arrogantly stated. Izuku just looked at him with a bewildered face. "Go on."

"Are you serious?" Izuku asked, taking several steps towards the smaller boy.

"Why are you not following my orders?" Shinso asked, suddenly fearful.

"You really didn't listen to anything that Present Mic said. I'll let you in on one thing that is unique to Mundies and Inscribed. We all have a passive ability that is always on. It can be anything, but it usually is developed around something we value. In my case, I highly value my mental abilities, and my epithet is Barrier. I cannot be affected by any mental attack because I have a natural shield against it," Izuku stated before taking a second look at his opponent.

"However, I know that my Epithet cannot solve every problem, so I worked on my body too. Looking at you, I doubt you can even throw a punch," Izuku taunted.

"Shut up you arrogant bastard!" Shinso screamed. He punched Izuku in the stomach as hard as he could. "Augh!" He screamed, holding his hand in pain.

"You know, I was going to give a big Reason you Suck Speech after seeing how you acted around my classmates and others, but you're not worth it," Izuku seriously stated before picking Shinso up by the scruff of his gym uniform who had gone catatonic. "Instead I'll just tell you this, the world is a lot bigger than you think. However, I would recommend taking a good look in the mirror because I do not see a hero hopeful. All I see when I look at you is a brat who will whine when baby doesn't get his bottle." Saying this, Izuku casually dropped Shinso out of the ring.

"And Shinso is out of bounds!" Midnight shouted after she processed what happened.

"After that interesting bout…" Mic started unsure before he picked up his volume. "Izuku Midoriya is the winner!" This was met with lackluster applause. "Don't lose your heads. Principal Nezu has just informed me that we will have a special treat. Due to the very quick matches of our past two students, Midoriya's match will be pushed forward to his next opponent. So will Shouto Todoroki please come to the field?"

"I should have expected this," Izuku grunted, taking a seat on the ground.

"Hah, I may have lost, but I'm going to enjoy watching Todoroki take you out," Shinso smirked.

"You know, if you were up here, you would get destroyed. I only had to use my passive ability to beat you. I wouldn't be acting so smug seeing as you have done literally nothing to actually show that you should join the hero program. All your success is built on sabotaging other students and not your own merit," Izuku stated. "You can argue that the exams were rigged against you, but I have an invisible girl, Ojiro, and I saw a student who can make shields out of his breath. None of those are super offensive quirks, and they all made it through out of the literal thousands of students who tried. Think about that before you start throwing a pity party because all of us in the hero program are just trying to accomplish our dreams. Whether you join us is up to you, but after today's showing I don't think we will be seeing you." Izuku's speech only got a scoff from the boy as he waddled out of the arena. On his way out, Shinso made certain to shoulder bump the approaching two-toned boy who didn't even flinch or spare a glance.

"Coming to face his challenger, we have the boy with a personality as cold as his quirk. He beat his previous opponent with a giant iceberg. Let's see how he does against the untouchable student!" Present Mic's commentary got the crowds seriously cheering.

"Alright!" Izuku shouted, jumping into the air. "Todoroki, I hope you are planning on fighting with everything you got because I'm not going to hold back."

"Did my old man put you up to this?" Todoroki growled out, getting a deadpan look from Izuku. "I don't need his flames to beat you, and I will show everyone that I don't need anything other than my mother's ice."

"I mean, go off I guess, but your entire thoughts on quirks are wrong," Izuku grunted. "I may be an Inscribed, but I did like to research quirks when I thought I was just a Mundie. Quirks are never an exact copy when they are passed down. Even quirks that seem to run in the family have different forms. Mutation quirks of specific animals will be based on different species of the animal throughout the family."

"Stop your pointless rambling," Todoroki demanded.

"I could, but nah. Especially since it does have a point. You see, every quirk is different. While you have aspects of your parent's quirks, you don't have their quirks. Your father has a fire quirk, and from what I gathered, your mother has an ice quirk. You, however, have an ice and fire quirk," Izuku continued to mutter, causing the air to grow colder.

"Shut up," Todoroki yelled. The breath from his body was visible.

"No. I'm trying to say that you have a complete misunderstanding of your quirk, and that causes mistakes. I've seen heroes make mistakes many times that cost people. Holding back or using too much force," Izuku lectured too quietly for anyone other than Midnight and Shoto to hear. "Your father actually is really good at using the correct amount of force, but you don't. It's always an overwhelming amount of force with your quirk. That will not always work."

"Shut up! I don't care what my old man said to you. I'm going to win without using his flames!" Shoto shouted.

"Dude, keep your hate boner to yourself. I already have enough to deal with Bakugo," Izuku retorted. Midnight was trying really hard not to laugh at his response.

"I do not have a hate boner," Todoroki snarled.

"I'm standing right here, and I can see it is a pretty hateful boner," Izuku commented. His commentary got a laugh out of Midnight who finally called for the boy's attention.

"Okay, you two. Like I just told Midoriya earlier, keep this at the level of a spar. You are on national television, so give these people something to watch. If we feel like it needs to be stopped, either I or Cementoss will step in. Are you both ready?" Midnight asked.

"Yes," Izuku said, firmly. He had taken a tensed stance with his palms spread out in front of him.

"Hn," Todoroki nodded.

"Good. You may begin!" Midnight shouted.

"You don't stand a chance," Todoroki stated, stamping his right foot onto the ground. A massive iceberg formed from it with the resulting mist clouding the view of the arena. He exited out of his combat stance. "I told him. I wouldn't need to use his power." As soon as he said those words, he was met with two shoes slamming into his head.

"You should think again!" Izuku called out as he kicked off his opponent. Todoroki was sent flying to the edge of the ring, but he managed to catch himself with a wall of ice. "You'll have to try harder with your half-assed attacks if you want to beat me!" Izuku shouted, walking slowly to the recovering boy. Todoroki's breath was visible as his chest heaved up and down.

"Here's an idea. Barrier!" Izuku shouted. Green, skin-tight armor formed around the entire right side of Todoroki's body, sans his head. "You should still be able to move."

"You are an idiot," Todoroki said, stomping his foot down. There was a pause, and then another.

"That armor is skin tight. I made it with the idea of preventing anything from getting to the skin. Consequently, this stops quirks like yours or a certain pomeranian from using your quirks," Izuku explained silently, so only Todoroki could hear. "It might not be obvious, but your quirk requires exposure to oxygen for you to use because it is a release of energy from your body that makes the ice, and your fire if you weren't so petty." As Izuku calmly explained this, he strolled up to the shocked boy. "However, I'll be sporting. If you use your fire, I'll release my barrier. If you don't, I'll just push you out of the ring."

"I'll never use his fire!" Todoroki screamed, before jumping towards Izuku with his fist pulled back. Izuku just sighed before he caught the sloppy attack.

"I told you before that you don't have your father's fire!" He exclaimed, landing a massive right hook on the dual-haired boy's face. The blow sent the fool stumbling back to the edge of the ring, but he felt a pull from his right arm before he could fall out. "I'm going to give you one last chance to use your fire."

"I'll never use his fire!" Todoroki screamed.

"Then quit being a hero because you sure don't want to be one!" Izuku's voice silenced the entire arena. "A hero is someone who gives it their all to show the world that they are safe! They put others above any petty grudges that they have. Everyone of our classmates has given their one hundred percent in this competition. However, you haven't done more than 50%, and it's not going to be enough. The world is full of terrifying forces, Mundie, Inscribed and Quirked. You'll only be a liability if you don't. So are you going to pull your head out of your ass and be the hero you should be, or are you going to spit on everyone here out of spite because all I see is a pretender."

"I will be a hero!" Todoroki proclaimed, the entire left side of his body releasing a massive amount of flames.

"Good!" Izuku matched with a wide grin. He dismissed the barriers around Todoroki. "Now let's see how well your fire is against my Barriers!" Izuku started to rush forward.

"Come!" Todoroki let loose a massive blast of fire towards Izuku. Izuku didn't even pause in his approach as a domed barrier deflected the fire away. It started to fly towards the crowd before a barrier blocked them from going any further than the ring.

"You'll have to try harder than that!" Izuku proclaimed, appearing low to the floor near the center of Todoroki's chest. "You have a massive blind spot when you attack like that!" He punctuated his statement by laying a powerful haymaker right in the center of his foe's stomach. Todoroki stumbled back towards the edge but stopped himself with an ice barrier. The two-colored boy breathed heavily as he tried to focus. "I'm not giving you a chance! Secret technique, Unbarrier!" Izuku shouted, following up his attack with a kick to the chest. A shattering sound could be heard as the ice behind Todoroki fell apart at the slightest touch of his back. It looked like Todoroki was going to fall out of the ring, but before he let out another burst of flames that launched him towards the center of the ring.

"Oof!" Todoroki grunted, as he landed awkwardly on his right side.

"On your left!" Izuku shouted, stamping his foot down. On the ground, a hollow half-cylinder formed that fell towards Todoroki. The two-colored boy tried to roll out of the way but before the cylinder was too large. Before the boy could do anything, the top and bottom of the cylinder closed, blocking him in.

"Stand back!" Todoroki called out, as his breath became visible.

"I would really not recommend that!" Izuku shouted, but it was too late. The barrier did not move as it was filled to the brim with ice. Only a few blasts of snow managed to escape the barrier. "Midnight call the match! I don't think he can breathe!" Izuku demanded, as he scrambled to disperse the barrier. A prison of ice with an unconscious Todoroki frozen solid in it was revealed to the crowd.

"The winner is Izuku Midoriya!" Midnight shouted, pressing a button on the bottom of her whip right as Izuku's fist met the ice. She started running towards the two boys. A crack formed where the fist hit.

"Shouto!" A loud male voice screamed. A flaming male followed the voice as he touched down next to Izuku. "I can safely melt the ice. Let me save my son!" He demanded as he held a flaming fist above the frozen boy. Steam started to form as the ice rapidly melted.

"Good, because that fight took a lot more stamina than I thought," Izuku grunted as he fell backwards onto his butt. "It took so many barriers to direct those attacks."

"Well, you certainly put on a show," Endeavor begrudgingly as he retracted his now flame-free hand from his son. Izuku could barely make out a peaceful Todoroki being loaded up onto a stretcher by the medic bots. "I should also be thanking you for helping my son finally use his fire." Endeavor subtly motioned for Izuku to follow him as he walked after his son.

"What was up with that anyway?" Izuku asked. He stumbled after the number 2 hero. Izuku flinched as he saw the man's posture take on a defensive posture.

"I am not a good father," Endeavor finally admitted as they exited the stadium. "I've been pursuing the number 1 hero title for decades, but I have not been successful. When Shoto got his quirk, I saw his potential to be a better hero than I ever would have been. However, my ambition blinded me, and I pushed and pushed him harder than I ever should. As a result, my family fractured and my wife had a mental breakdown because of my actions. It's how he got his scar." The words were spoken in a whisper, but they echoed throughout the hallway.

"So that is why he doesn't use his fire?" Izuku asked.

"Not entirely," the man grunted. "He completely blames me for the scenario, and despite my best efforts, he refused to use it out of spite. At this point, I could care less if he actually becomes the next top hero. I just want him to use his full power so he survives. I've already lost one son to my own hubris, and it's why I pushed him so hard when he told me he wanted to be a hero. So once again, I want to thank you for helping my son."

"I"m happy I could help," Izuku said after several moments of silence. "But I think you should really talk to your son about all that you said. He needs help, and whether that help is from you or somebody you trust is up to you. I helped Todoroki out today, and I'll be his friend if he wants me to. However, I am not here to fix his problems." Having said his piece, Izuku left the hallway to go prepare for his next match.

Chapter End

Epithet User Izuku has confidence, and because he made his Epithet strong (though it was not properly acknowledged as such during his time before UA since Japan is quirk obsessed), he is not afraid to speak his mind or point out injustices or stupidity. It's what he has had to put up with for years in Aldera. For the life of me, I could not really get any of the character interactions down unless it was an antagonistic relation in this chapter. I do not know why. I mean, I know I suck when I have to deal with multiple characters interacting, but it just did not work this chapter. Instead, I chose to focus on combat. Let me tell you this, there is a reason that Green Lanterns have the potential to be unstoppable. They still wouldn't be able to defeat Ben 10, but I'm just salty.

Yeah. Still don't like Aizawa. Plus, Izuku had talked to Nezu before this year began and told him about the actual authority that teachers have. As someone who is now a teacher, I really cannot condone the clearly illegal methods that Aizawa employs. Likewise, when Nezu was reading Aizawa the riot act, I listed some very clear consequences for Aizawa's actions with his class. 1-A in the manga and anime are protected by the narrative, but in real life, it would be the opposite. Comradery would be nonexistent because they would fear other students stabbing them in the back to escape Aizawa's "logical" ruses. I am aware of Aizawa's history and the retcons, but that really doesn't change anything. At the end of the day, it's a Freudian Excuse like Bakugo's entire backstory. I actually like Endeavor better than the two because he at least acknowledges his mistakes and tries to be better. It is why I am willing to write Endeavor as a worried father because he does legitimately want the best for Shoto, but he is just a terrible human being with no actual ability to show it outside of being a hardass. He also did not tell the full story to Izuku because Endeavor has tact and is ashamed of his actions. Plus, Shoto is a very biased narrator because he hates Endeavor, he doesn't know the full story (looking at Dabi's full existence), and well, I am admittedly toning down the truth bomb that Izuku experienced a lot. Endeavor is still pretty bad, but because Shoto is not telling the story, Izuku's image of Endeavor is only partly shattered.

Izuku's understanding of a Barrier is basically anything solid that can be used to block movement which can technically be anything. Thus, Izuku is able to create, shape, and move different barriers with his understanding that the Barriers that he makes are physical constructs. It leads to a lot of creative methods of use. Plus, he has a natural barrier that prevents negative outside forces from controlling or influencing his mind. It's his passive ability (Thus, Shinsou was completely useless against Izuku because he can't do anything without his quirk. Yeah, don't like him, and the fandom's reaction to a sad boy is ridiculous. It doesn't help that he is so boring and a giant hypocrite. Also, his quirk can be countered with a nudge, how the fudge did his "teammates" not get freed during any point during the competition. Also, how the f*** is that not against the rules! It would be one thing if this happened during the competition, but using your quirk before it has to be against the rules.) I legitimately see Barrier being able to be taken to this level if Indus had higher creativity.

Last thing, for those who are on the bandwagon on the Entrance Exam being extremely biased, let me offer a very brief counter argument as a teacher. A good assessment needs to be gradable, repeatable, and in the case of the heroics course, test for student ability that is necessary to make it in the class. The written portion tests the mental (and ideally, the moral) level. In the case of UA which is the biggest hero school in Japan and has literally thousands of students that need to be tested for the hero course alone while only 36 students get in. Also, UA is most known for producing daylight heroes like All Might, Endeavor (who despite being a horrible person, is good at his job), and most of the Top 10. It makes sense that their test favors physical quirks because that is what UA is known for producing. That is, they will be creating heroes who are going to be fighting overwhelming odds in combat or physically demanding areas like rescue. Plus, every example of hero classes require at least decent physical abilities, so yeah, Shinso doesn't deserve to even be considered from the Entrance Exam. Granted, I do believe that it needs to be updated to provide alternative solutions while still keeping to the main core of the testing. That is true with any assessment. Have specific tasks for students to complete that would benefit students with intelligence quirks or passive quirks. Use the fannon idea of adding shutdown switches, but in various unknown locations on the robots. Both of these ideas can be included in the pamphlet as a way to test student awareness and information gathering techniques. Again, I don't think the test itself is bad. There is a clear method for students to be graded. It is easily replicable. It tests students skills in a high stress area for the high stress job that they are applying for. However, I do believe that it needs to be updated. TLDR, it's good, not great, but it can be improved.