Soulbound Heroes(rewrite completed)

by shados960

As the climatic battle continued to be waged on the moon to defeat Asura, Maka and Soul traveled inside the kishin’s very soul to try save Crona Gorgon while he planned to make the ultimate sacrifice to atone for all his sins. But due to the will of an unknown force; suddenly find themselves stranded in a strange world filled with heroes and villain’s.

8. Chapter 8: The entrance exam part 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own soul eater, nor do I own my hero academia. Both are respective properties of studio bones.

*VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ THIS!*

AS OF NOVEMBER, FFN HAS AUTOMATICALLY DEACTIVATED ALL FORMS OF NOTIFICATIONS! IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE A MAIL EVERY TIME THE STORIES YOU FOLLOW ARE UPDATED YOU NEED TO GO TO YOUR ACCOUNT SETTINGS AND CLICK ON "YES" IN THE MAIL NOTIFICATION BOX! REMEMBER TO SAVE THE CHANGES! SORRY FOR THE ABRUPT MESSAGE, BUT THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, AS I NOTICED A LOT OF READERS NOT RESPONDING TO MY LAST CHAPTER NOR OLD ONES COMING BACK AFTER THE CHANGE! SO PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AS MUCH AS YOU CAN SO OTHER AUTHOR'S DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE SAME PROBLEM!

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Chapter eight: The entrance exam, part 1

This was it.

After all this time waiting and preparing, they were finally going to be taking the U.A entrance exam today.

It felt almost baffling to believe that nine months had already passed, but guess that tends to happen when you work as hard as they had. Yet right now, the trio were having quite a hectic morning as they scrambled out of their rooms to get ready and take the exam.

Unfortunately for Maka as she stomped up the stairs to Soul's room it looks like there was still going to be issues getting there on time. Dammit all, what was taking Soul so long? He was supposed to be downstairs already. Crona however was busy with a few preparations so she decided to give him some time, but at this rate, she might have to tell him to hurry up too if he didn't come out soon.

They alarm clocks were already set to wake them all up an hour and a half before they had to go, so what was the hold up?

But she already had a good idea what might be the problem…

"I swear to god, if we miss the exam cause Soul slept in or is goofing off, I'm going to tear him a new one." Maka grumbled, as unfortunately it was likely her partner's slacker ways kicked in out of all days.

She bet he spent a good chunk of their hour sitting on his ass reading comics or something along those lines.

Once Maka was upstairs, she marched towards Soul's room and without hesitation starting knocking furiously on her friends door.

"For crying out loud, hurry it up soul! The exams are going to start at 8:40! We're gonna be late if we stay here any longer!" Maka exclaimed with a reprimanding and impatient tone, while repeatedly continuing to knock the white door with the same amount of urgency that was meshed into her voice.

"Alright, alright just calm down already, I'm going as fast as I can. But you can't just rush a guy trying to make sure he's as cool as possible for a big day like today." Soul called back exasperatedly from the other side of the door, as he quickly buttoned up his uniform's shirt while fixing his hair with a comb.

"Give me a break! You had all the time to do that half an hour ago, but you obviously chose to waste it by sleeping in your bed like some lazy bum as usual!" Maka retorted sharply behind the door, yet soul only rolled his eyes at her uptight ranting. Seriously did she think yelling at him was going to make him go any faster either?

"Better than going crazy over this like your doing. The trip to U.A is only thirty minutes tops by train, and the exam starts in hour. We'll still have plenty of time to get there." Soul said while he picked out a black jacket to wear later and went to put his red running sneakers on. "I mean for death's sake, I haven't even had breakfast yet."

"You got all sorts of excuses to use, don't you?" Maka said dryly before clicking her tongue. "Well you're going to have to just swallow it as fast as possible, cause we're leaving the second you come downstairs." Maka warned the death scythe one last time before soul heard her finally walking away from his door and went downstairs, much to his relief.

"Jeez, I get today's important but does she need to be a such a pain in the ass about it?" Soul murmured to himself, after tying his red and white sneakers laces and grabbed his black headband sitting on the nightstand next to his bed and placed it around his head.

"Then again I can't blame her for getting so antsy. Anyone would when you're finally getting some spotlight shone at us after all this time." Soul said with a toothy grin, and put the finishing touches on his outfit. Maybe he was a teeny bit lax getting ready, but who the hell said he wasn't as excited? Especially since they were more than ready for whatever that fancy academy threw at them.

Especially now they've finished Rumi's training from hell. Was it a pain in the ass to go through? Hell yeah, and at times tested the limits of their endurance. But he couldn't deny they've gotten stronger because of it. Sure they were already strong to begin with; but now it was safe to say they've gotten even stronger.

All thanks to a bunny chick being so dedicated to toughen them up…okay more like BRUTALLY dedicated. And that incident in the mall only made it worse.

The Bunny hero was quick to keep her word, and decided if they had the balls to break the rules again, then they could handle going through an extra hour of brutal sparring matches with her. All without breaks or using their powers.

To this day he can still feel the crack his neck, that crazy woman gave her from pummeling him. But at least Maka was too exhausted to laugh at seeing his ass kicked when she was in the same boat as him.

But as crazy as this sounds, it didn't really feel like an actual punishment. Sure, Rumi tried to act pissed off, but he could see behind those eyes what looked like respect? Heck Maka must've seen it too if the grins they sported as they sparred were anything to go by. Guess that stunt really did impress her, he just wished it didn't involve getting an assortment of bruises. Seriously that was anything but cool.

His meister on the other hand, was still quite determined to take up the challenge regardless of how grueling it got. But then again she had some decent motivations for doing so. Not only so she could get stronger to take down any villains before they could endanger her friends, but more importantly, be able to kick the Kishin's ass when they found a way home and finish what they started on the moon.

Though there was no way he was gonna sit on the sidelines while Maka was getting pumped up like this. Even if Rumi's training methods were freakin torture, didn't mean he was gonna get left in the dust. If Maka was going to work this hard, then he needed to become just as strong to back him up like any cool death scythe would for their partner.

While Maka worked on honing her capabilities as a fighter, his training was more or less focused on better improving his usage of his abilities as a death scythe. Cause even if it sucked to admit; if there was one thing soul had been able to agree with Rumi on, it was his lack of proficiency and finesse in using his powers when he was separated from Maka.

Giriko beating him to a bloody pulp was a vivid and harsh reminder of how compared to the older death scythes like the fallen Justin law or ancient weapons like Giriko, he was still a novice. The black blood may provide a whole arsenal of abilities to mesh with his powers, but that stuff can only do so much before he got overwhelmed by a far more experienced and powerful opponent.

All the more reason to get stronger when being forced into a solo rounds so that shit show in the Sloth chapter or Crona cutting off their soul resonance doesn't happen again.

Then he could finally get a proper rematch with Mirko and get some payback for all those humiliating losses he had to go through.

That's why for his training in particular, Rumi seemed to lean on him improving his muscle memory and agility by forcing him to react faster in the midst of fighting either Maka or the heroine herself. Basically learning to improvise at the heat of the moment.

And Soul was more than proud to say it all paid off. The scythe smirked as he raised his right arm and in the blink of an eye summoned three lengthy sickles from his forearm to his shoulder blade. Soul pulled up his arm and once clenching his hand into a fist, dispersed his sickles until they immediately reformed on his forearm and elbow. Lining his lower arm with a long curved blade almost resembling a scimitar.

"Not too shabby." Soul's lips curled upwards into a toothy grin, and instantly dissipated what was one of his newer techniques he'd been working on not too long ago.

It wouldn't be enough to make him match with some of veteran weapons of his rank. At least not yet. But this was still some damn good progress to surpass that moronic pervert maka begrudgingly at times called her father.

Once soul finished getting changed, he zippered up is book bag containing his second set or clothes and started heading downstairs before Maka came back to bite his ear off. Yet as he left his room and travelled down the hallway, Soul stopped as he was about to pass by Crona's room. The scythe stood in the middle of the doorway as it was left open and found the pink haired teenager still inside his room sitting on his bed.

Soul for a moment questioned why Crona was still in his room, but soon noticed the notebook he was scribbling into and put two and two together.

He almost forgot about the little guy's recent hobby. From what he recalled, that therapist had recommended he start making some kind of diary to help him reel in his gloomy mood by recording what was going on in his head.

Personally it sounded a little much to constantly write everything you're thinking, but he wasn't a psychologist so who was he to question a doctor's orders?

But they were on a tight schedule so it was probably time had to cut this short, and knocked on the doorframe.

"Yo Crona," Soul spoke up drawing the tall teen's attention. "Sorry to interrupt, but we gotta get going soon. Otherwise Rumi's probably gonna tear our heads off, if she hears we missed the hero exams." Soul joked with his friend, causing Crona to snap back to reality and looked up to see the albino standing nearby.

"Huh?" Crona blinked before checking the time on the clock placed nearby and flinched once he saw what time it was and scrambled to get ready. "Oh y-your right! I'm so sorry soul, I should've been ready sooner!"

"Hey It's cool dude, we still got almost an hour before we head to U.A." Soul waved off the sword meister's concerns as he scrambled to zipper up his book bag. "But didn't Maka already tell you we gotta start hitting the road?"

Crona paused, and rubbed the back of his neck. "W-Well she told me I could still try making an e-entry for f-five minutes before we left. B-But I was so focused on my j-journal I lost track of time."

"No kidding. You've really gotten into writing in that notebook, huh?" Soul mused, raising his brow in amusement.

Crona looked away meekly and scratched the back of his head. "I guess so. But it's almost soothing to just sit down and write about those times. Like I'm removing some kind of weight, i-if that makes any sense."

"It sorta does. Everyone needs their own way to cope with their problems somehow." Soul replied, or really saying whatever he could to help sort out Crona's thoughts.

Crona lightly shook his head to banish any bleak memories that tried to surface, knowing all too well where following that path leads to. "But what matters is that I-I accept it happened and t-try to move on."

"That's some sound advice. I take it your shrink's been the one to drive that message to you?" Soul asked, and received a slow nod from the pink haired teen.

"It's b-been hard to follow at times but I'm doing t-the best I can. I'm just grateful for how patient I-Iwata has been with me." Crona said softly, as a warm sensation blossomed in his stomach for the understanding and kindness Iwata had offered him in the past sessions with her. "It's -thanks to her that I'm s-stable enough to come with you and Maka to this hero school."

"Yeah, I guess we sorta do. But you shouldn't undersell yourself either Crona. She just guided you to making right steps to make that change happen. The rest was all you." Soul declared casually, as Crona blinked in surprise before the meister calmed his features and let a faint smile form on his lips.

"M-Maybe…maybe you're right. It sounds impossible to believe b-but Maka taught me that i-isn't always the case." Crona mused timidly, yet still retained that tiny smile.

'He's really come a long way huh?' Soul mused as he looked over at the pink haired teen sitting in front of him and how much this therapy gig has made an impact.

Ever since Crona decided to keep having more therapy sessions with Iwata at least three times a week, the changes that do brought to his friend's psyche had been significant to say the least.

Not only was he starting to look happier, but he was starting to develop more confidence in his demeanor that Soul honestly never would've expected out of someone who used to be so melancholic. He could almost call the guy cheery at times-but maybe that was being generous. He wasn't stuttering as much as he did before, and was actually smiling more often. Hell, he even saw him laugh a couple times whenever Maka talked about the misadventures she had with their friends back in death city.

The little dude was really starting to come out of that turtle shell he always used to hide in, now that he was given the opportunity to walk away from that darkness, without anyone like that snake sinking her poison into him. He was still quiet most of the time and that wasn't likely to ever change. But compared to the gloomy and forlorn person he was nearly a year ago, he and Maka very much welcomed these improvements to Crona's scarred soul.

"But what's with the robe? As much as it sucks, we still need to wear these uniforms before the practical part." Soul reminded his pink haired friend, but instead of immediately glancing at the albino, he looked over himself with an mildly unsure expression on his face before looking back at Soul.

"I-I know, but I wanted to try it on, since it's been a long since I've worn it. R-Rumi said I could bring my r-robe given it makes it e-easier to use my blood." The edges of Crona's lips turned downwards as he glanced at himself. "But it feels sort of d-different."

"You look fine to me. It's probably just taking time for you to get used to wearing that thing again." Soul said nonchalantly but when giving the sword meister a good look over, he can see why Crona would feel that way.

At first glance, Crona still appeared somewhat thin. But after managing to gain enough weight to remedy his spindly condition, he was more or less slim, instead of looking like a living stickman. But as his long black robe stuck to his upper body almost like a second skin, it allowed Soul to see how Crona wasn't exactly as lanky as he used to be either.

His frame, once almost appearing to have been made up of only skin and bones was now adorned with slender yet lean musculature. His arms notably no longer appeared as frail sticks strung together, as they were currently lined with wiry muscle fibers that fortified his upper limbs, just like they had for the rest of his body.

It looked like all that hard training had been paying off on his physique more than Crona or even he initially realized. Between finally getting to eat some grub without Ragnarök feeding off all his meals like a nasty tapeworm, and Rumi putting him through the ringer every single day, it had all done plenty to improve his physical health.

Though compared to Maka and himself he wasn't what you'd call perfectly athletic either. At least without the black blood giving him a boost. But when remembering Crona was still recovering from years of malnutrition, it was a miracle itself that his body even managed to healed at all.

"Hahaha! Now that's the best joke I've heard all day!" An obnoxious voice sneered, as none other than ragnarök emerged out of crona's back and grabbed his arm by his bicep and mockingly prodded it. "Different my nonexistent ass! Even after a year of that rabbit trying to fatten his scrawny ass up into something worthwhile, he's still got barely any meat on his bones! Talk about a disappointment."

"Well at least it's better than becoming some musclebound freak of nature like you used to be." Soul retorted with an unamused frown. Recalling the monstrously brutish form the parasite once possessed before Lord Death confiscated all the souls he ate and shrunk him down to the plushie they all know and hate.

"I was a fucking badass back then! Had it not been for you pests and your snobby little school, I'd still be able to crush anyone who got in my way!" Ragnarök snapped before throwing an accusatory finger at his meister. "But now I'm stuck as a shell of my former self, forced to watch you try bulking up this pansy to compensate for downgrading me!"

Crona stared at his noisy weapon for a moment before gently swatting the gremlin's hand away. "Ragnarök if your going to cause trouble, just go away. I already have enough p-pressure getting ready for the exam as it is; I can't afford to deal with anything else at the moment."

The gears in Ragnarök's head fell to a halt hearing this out of the usually meek wimp. Switching his lifeless orbs onto Crona's slightly hardened gaze with what appeared to be shock before he recovered and simply cackled. "Is that some kind of joke? Don't forget you still need me to pass that prissy exam, so I'd watch your mouth you damn punk!"

"This i-isn't the time to be fighting ragnarök! B-Besides if I don't pass the exam, it also means you don't g-get your reward." Crona brought up with a spark of thinly confidence coating his quiet voice, resulting in his merged weapons eyes to vaguely flare with bubbling interest.

"What reward?"

"A-After you fell asleep last night, Maka and I talked about it and they decided we would be getting a big cake to celebrate." Ragnarök's face leaned closer hearing that last part, and Crona sighed before answering. "And as l-long as you leave some for everyone else, t-they'd tolerate you gorging yourself." Crona elaborated further, hoping this could placate his usually unreasonably partner now that the prospect of a treat awaited him.

And in less than a second, the demon sword moved to grab Crona's book bag and outright flung it into crona's arms, as the teen momentarily lost his footing. "Then what the hell are we waiting for!? Get moving already so we can ace that shitty exam!"

Soul eyes widened marginally in surprise upon seeing Ragnarök's tune change so quickly. "Since when have you been this compliant? Don't you throw more of a fuss about this kind of stuff?"

"Oi don't think I've accepted being this brat's slave! That shit ain't happening anytime soon! He just gave me a damn good reason to tolerate taking his orders!" Ragnarök snapped back before plopping his tiny body on Crona's head like a pillow and yanked at once of the teens pink locks like horse reins. "Now mush my puny steed! We have a exam to ace and a fudge cake with my name on it!"

"I-I never said it was going to be fudge…or have your name on it." Crona sweatdropped at his weapon's declarations.

"It better be if you want me to help you beat all those other losers trying to get in!" Ragnarök sharply, yet Crona could only respond with an exasperated sigh at his weapon's antics, but was just relieved he was listening to him in the first place.

Well sorta anyway….

But Crona legitimately doubted he would've ever been able to better cooperate with Ragnarök had it not been for his supposedly sprouting confidence borne from his personal therapy discussions. It was another alien sensation he never imaged to start possessing; since associating that personality trait with a weak willed coward like himself sounded ridiculous.

Then again he never thought courage would be something he'd associate with either. Not until he would meet the brave girl that would change his life forever by teaching him the meaning of that powerful word.

But it wasn't until Iwata met ragnarök during one of their sessions(as in she witnessed his weapon suddenly rupturing out of his upper spine without warning) did she witness the dysfunctional relationship they had with each other. And for lack of a better term…strike a deal with his unruly partner.

---

"So I take it you must be ragnarök?" Iwata asked casually, as she stared directly into the lifeless orbs of the demon sword. All while Crona sat uncomfortably in the therapist office's couch, partially hoping he could make himself smaller and hide from the disaster that was probably going to follow.

"Are serious? Who else do you think your talking to dumbass?" Ragnarök snarked back moving a few inches closer as a an attempt to intimidate the young woman.

"Ragnarök, w-watch your mouth!" Crona squeaked but all he got was the sword pulling his eyelids and mocking the boy.

"Interesting name," Iwata noted, ignoring the rude attitude she was receiving from the merged demon weapon and wrote in her notebook. "If I recall correctly that's a title related in norse mythology for what was deemed the end of the world, as the gods faced their untimely demise. I Crona came up with the name, so did you name yourself that or was itCrona's mother?"

Ragnarök scoffed. "Oh goody you're as much of a nerd as you look. But even if you're some Einstein like some cow I know. But at least you're way hotter than that bitch that's for sure, gheheheheha!" Ragnarök cackled perversely as he subtly peered at Iwata's well endowed chest underneath her formal attire.

"R-Ragnarök stop looking at her that way, i-it's disgusting!" Crona berated and tried to pull his weapon away before Iwata raised a hand to pause him.

"You don't need to worry Crona-san, I'm not mad. I've dealt with people having similar…attitudes as your quirk in my career, so I'm unfazed to be honest." The therapist said calmly, yet still directed a cold glare at the lecherous creature in front of her.

"But I want to know more about why you bully Crona so relentlessly? You both suffered the same abuse from Medusa, so what would be the point to harm him? But the obvious theory is maybe because you wanted to vent your frustrations on the poor lad." Iwata inquired smoothly.

"HAH! Nice try hag but that ain't happening! Don't think I haven't been eavesdropping on your sappy chats with the human weed over there and all that mushy crap to get him talking! You can try to use that silver tongue to soften me up, but I'm not playing your little mind games!" Ragnarök aggressively sneered, as he petulantly crossed his arms in defiance against the psychologist's mind tricks.

"If that's how you want to see it, then alright. Though does that mean you don't want some candy I left there?" Iwata asked, motioning her hand to the bowl of assorted candies laid out on the table in between Crona and her.

"Oh, so think you can keep me from having some treats if I don't go along! Fat chance, dumbass!" Ragnarök snatched the bowl of candy for himself and quickly began dumping its contents into his slobbering maw.

"I must say, you have quite the appetite." Iwata blinked in surprise, as she watched the creature gobble the treats like a vacuum cleaner.

"Well duh! With me being attached *munch* to this spineless idiot all the time, it's one of the only pleasures I have! I mean*crunch* It's not like I can bring a magazine or something inside this guy!" Ragnarök said in between his loud chewing, much to Crona's chagrin as he cringed in disgust by his weapon's voracious appetite.

"That's a fair mindset. A number of people would probably feel that way, when having such limited freedom. But isn't harassing crona all the time a bit much?" Iwata asked with a slightly quirked brow, only to receive a scoff from the munching weapon.

"Bitch please, I'm only teaching him I should be the boss, since the little shit relies on me so damn much!" Ragnarök barked, angrily pointing the now empty bowl at Crona, who did his best not to flinch back. Yet when he was about to speak, the silver haired woman subtly rose a finger up with her other hand.

An action that left Crona momentarily confused before widening his eyes in understanding and with a nod kept quiet.

Out of curiosity, Iwata tilted her head slightly. "Since you're Crona's quirk you are obligated to do a lot for your host. But maybe if you feel unrewarded, maybe Crona should offer an hour of free time if he wants your "help" for the rest of the day?"

"Yeah…yeah he should! I fucking deserve to finally have some actual freedom for once!" Ragnarök exclaimed and threw away the candy bowl. "Otherwise why should I bother slaving away for this punk, if I don't get rewarded for picking up the slack for both of us!" Ragnarök smugly replied, crossing his tiny arms over his small chest thinking he had managed to establish his dominance all over their conversation.

When in actuality, the little blob was being played like a fiddle by the sharp witted woman sitting across from him.

"Well how about you spend your first hour today, telling me about your day to day experience's with Crona? I bet you have a ton of stories to tell me about how awesome you are as his quirk?" Iwata urged the demon sword, who's chest swelled with a flush of pride at the well deserved praise.

Good to know this chick had the brains to know who was worth talking about!

"Glad you're smart enough to realize who you should've been really talking to all this time! Cause trust me, I got way more dirt to tell you on this pint sized shrimp than he could ever have the spine to tell!" Ragnarök grinned eagerly, slithering back to the pink haired boy and lounged over his shoulder to get comfortable. Finally someone who understands why this wimp should be treating him like royalty instead of some glorified tool.

"I bet you do. Now where would you like to start?" Iwata queried as she got her pen ready to write down as much juicy details as she can follow what came out of the demon swords mouth.

---

Overtime by satisfying his weapon's bloated sense of ego without allowing his more boorish or antagonistic tendencies to run loose, Iwata was able to get Ragnarök to speak to her without too much trouble.

But after a week or two of getting Ragnarök to loosen his tongue and speak to her with some food based bribery, taught him how to handle his merged partner and his demanding nature. While it wasn't a pleasant idea, Iwata recommended he give his weapon an hour of free time since his rude personality was most likely tied to the repressed frustration felt over the years when serving Medusa alongside him. It sounded jarring, but he did notice Ragnarök was acting less antagonistic than usual, so maybe there was merit to that suggestion after all.

It was difficult to implement this strategy at first, given how explosive Ragnarök could be when he didn't have his way. But with enough time to let him have his controlled indulgence and learning to better reprimand his weapon when he went too far, it actually began to work.

There were still times when Ragnarök would uncouthly mock him and bully him. That wasn't likely to ever change, no matter who speaks to him. But Crona was glad to see that Ragnarök had been acting less headstrong than he would've usually been whenever he came out.

Not by much sure, but it was still progress. And as he's learned, that usually takes time to happen.

"I-I'll just have to finish my diary later after we get back home from the exam." Crona said and put away his personal journal for later.

"Ugh god you've become such a girl nowadays. But at least what you're writing is better all those depressing horror stories you called 'poetry'." Ragnarök remarked sarcastically with a roll of his ping pong eyes.

"I-I thought you didn't mind them?" Crona replied with a raised brow, recalling during his time in Shibusan the poetry he had taken to writing and showed Ragnarök.

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to actually read that crap? I've seen what reading that does to people! Ain't no way I'm gonna end up wishing I was dead after taking a glimpse of that gloomy garbage!" Ragnarök barked back.

"I-It can't b-be that bad. R-Right Soul?" Crona innocently asked and turned to his friend. But all Soul did was rub the back of his neck and look anywhere but Crona.

"Uh yeah, sure…let's just get going before we're late." Soul swiftly dodged that bullet and started walking out of the room to wait outside.

Crona tilted his head in confusion by soul's avoidance over the matter, but with a shrug refocused on getting the rest of his belongings packed into his book bag. "Okay, j-just give me a minute and I'll change into my uniform as soon as I can."

"No problem. Just try to speed things up before you get Maka screeching at you to get downstairs like some banshee." Soul remarked as he prepared to wait outside.

"I heard that soul!" But paused when hearing that loud voice rang into his ears and released a short sigh.

"Like I said, let's hurry up before Maka gets tired of waiting for us and decides to throw us out of the house. Or more likely me." Soul grumbled the last part to himself, but was still audible enough for Crona to hear.

The sword meister sweatdropped in perplexed worry for his friend, but not wanting to see his friend get in trouble with Maka, quickened the pace.

Once he was finished changing back to his uniform and packing his robe for later, Crona and soul walked downstairs to the living room where Maka stood in the hallway awaiting the two boys.

"About time you guys came here. Now c'mon, we can't keep Izuku waiting any longer for us at the station." Maka told with an impatient tap of her foot.

"Why do I have a bad feeling you're going to keep doing this even after we get into this school?" Soul groaned as he and Crona walked down the stairs.

"Well it's a good thing I'm used to waking you up whenever you try sleeping in on school days." Maka snorted, having plenty of experience dragging Soul out of their apartment whenever they were late for class or when waking up early to catch flights for international missions.

"Not for me it ain't. Or did you forget the time you threw me out of a damn window once?" Soul grunted with a sarcastic tone, causing Crona to raise a curious brow.

"Only after I found you letting yourself get smushed in between Blair's fat breasts like some pervert." Maka growled with evident disgust lining her voice. Remembering all too well, the time she walked into the unbearable sight of an almost complete naked Blair on top of soul getting glomped in his bed.

Needless to say, the ass kicking that followed for making her witness such a scene in the morning was well deserved.

"I keep telling you that wasn't my fault, I literally woke up with her pouncing on me! But when do you ever bother to listen to me in the first place." Soul said with dripping sarcasm, but all he got was a indignant huff from the scythe meister.

"Why would I ever bother listening to your lousy excuses?" Maka stubbornly retorted, causing soul to sigh in defeat at his bullheaded partner.

"God you are so freakin stubborn at times." Soul sighed out, and ran a hand down his face before shuffling his hands into his pants pockets. "But how about you save that temper for when you start using that new gorilla strength? I'm sure you can do some serious damage nowadays to any poor bastard if you get pissed off enough." The albino said back with a sly grin.

Maka's face grew heated but recomposed herself enough to pull her facial muscles into a scowl and glowered the smug albino. "As much as I want to chop the living hell out of you for calling me that, I'm in a good mood today, so I'll pretend I didn't hear anything." Maka irritably said with a heavily twitching brow to further express the boiling anger she was only repressing by a hair's length.

Yet before soul could even release a breath of relief, maka snapped a harsh glared at her weapon one last time. "But next time you compare me to a gorilla again, you aren't going to be so lucky to dodge my fist."

"Yeesh take a chill pill Maka. No way I'm dumb enough to go testing my luck with a chick who sent that heavy ass punching bag flying with a few kicks." Soul remarked, causing the ash blonde's angry attitude to crack as she started blushing almost bashfully.

"Well I uh…" Maka stammered, trying to say something back to her partner now sporting that cocky grin again, but nothing came out right.

Crona nodded in agreement with the death scythe. "Soul has a point Maka, you've become so much stronger as of late. L-Last time you came so close to beating Rumi in t-that spar a week ago."

"She's the badass who stabbed the Kishin. Of course after training day and night, she's going to start being able to take on monsters like Rumi without breaking a sweat." Soul added with pride for his partner's tenacity slipping in his voice. And the fact it was Maka nearly managing to accomplish that feat by herself, made him even more impressed by how cool she's gotten.

The combined praise from her two friends quickly flushed out the remaining anger in Maka's face, as her cheeks lit up with a bright pink blush. But with a shake of her head, she regathered her composure and could only bashfully look away. "I-It's not that big of a deal guys. Even after all this time, I still haven't beaten her even once. At best it's been close draws. And once Rumi starts going all out, I'd be lucky to survive past five or six minutes."

"It still doesn't mean you haven't been improving from all those spars. We've all seen it with our own eyes, so quite acting like it's nothing. It wouldn't hurt to be proud for once." Soul remarked with a toothy smile, knowing it ain't cool to act so humble all the time and undersell her development like that.

"Of course I'm proud of how strong I've gotten, but there's no way I'm going to go around boasting about it like you've been doing lately." Maka scoffed through a pout, but from the lack of anger in her voice didn't seem too bothered by what Soul said.

"Hey it ain't easy trying to reach Rumi's crazy ass standards in improving my powers-you of all people should know that since she put you through probably the worst of it." Soul countered with a mild huff. Of course, he'd be proud as hell about making improvements in his arsenal after the torture he endured. "But at least it came with its pros for both of us."

While they had all managed to hone their capabilities after going through all that brutally intense training and sparring against a physical brick-house like Rumi, Maka may have been the one to benefit the most from it.

Maka was already an impressively athletic EAT class meister compared to the majority of her peers. That combined with her rare madness repelling soul wavelength, her ironclad courage, and finding a badass weapon partner like himself, allowed Maka to earn her place as the third strongest meister in all of Shibusan academy.

The weakest in terms of raw power, admittedly yes-but they eventually found a way to compensate for that weakness. But now Maka may have started making progress on fixing that flaw thanks to all her dedication and effort for the past nine months.

Maka's slim body had now developed a decent amount of athletic muscle mass, that layered every part of her well-toned and lean physique. Allowing for the strength behind every punch and kick she could throw to hit even harder.

And not only was she physically stronger, but she was also even faster as well. Heck if they were still back home, it was all but certain, in her current shape, she'd break her previous record in the Shibusan race tracks. If Soul was to make a comparison, he'd say that Maka had developed the body of a kickboxer of sorts, which was a surprisingly good look on her.

But in retrospect it was probably thanks to…something else, meshing well enough with her more robust physique.

'Even after all this time, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how the hell it was possible.' But no matter how much it racked soul's brain, there was no mistaking what had overtime become a common sight on his meister.

Maka Albarn, had grown honest. to god. curves.

Yes, he was serious.

His meister's chest was no longer the flat washboard like it had always been since the day he met her. Now taking residence in that once vacant area was an actually decent bosom that sat firmly underneath her uniform's shirt.

The image was…surreal as hell, that's for sure.

He just assumed it was some trick in his eyes. But low and behold, as time passed, and what he thought was a figment of his imagination in the school library started getting more noticeable; he had no choice but to accept that he really wasn't seeing things.

Maybe it was inevitable since she was getting older, and the boost of nutrition in the past year, but that didn't make it any easier to accept something as ridiculous as Maka getting a freakin bust of all things.

Heck if somebody had gone up to him back home and said his flat as chalkboard partner was going to one day grow a bust that could rival bombshells like Liz or Tsubaki, he would've laughed his guts out; and say that wouldn't have happened until that laughing sun croaked and went supernova.

Well it look's like the joke was on him, and he just lost a good 100 bucks whenever they got back to their world. God, he was probably never going to hear the end of it from Blackstar, and all that incessant bragging he'd throw 24/7 over his "godly foresight" or some other relentlessly smug nonsense.

But even if it was completely unexpected, it was far from a bad thing to have happened. If anything, Soul could say it felt pretty damn sweet to finally have a meister with a hot bod now.

But as a bonus, Maka seemed to get pretty happy after this happened. It was like someone dumped a bunch of happy pills into her coffee everyday, from the way Maka would be in a such a good mood to not chop anyone even when her buttons were pushed. Hell, she didn't even reprimand him whenever he was slacking off and playing video games!

Those were a good two weeks.

Yet all good things had to come to an end. And eventually things went more or less back to normal. Actually scratch that. Make that a little worse than normal, since she's started pulling a complete 180 and became such a royal pain in the ass about her appearance lately.

If he stared at her for even a second too long, or made the wrong comment about her appearance; that was all that was needed nowadays to end up flying away like a human frisbee. Her chops were already agonizingly strong to begin with, but now that she probably had the strength of a grizzly bear, she may actually start giving him actual brain damage if he pushed her temper too far.

To this day he still blamed her as the main culprit for why he was barely able to pass some of his tests back in Aldera; with his battered brain cells still recovering from her temperamental onslaughts.

The best strategy he had at this point, to avoid being reduced to some drooling vegetable from the devastating blunt force trauma his meister was dishing out to his cranium, was to just to keep his mouth shut whenever it came to her growth spurt. That and pray for any poor bastards on the sidelines that tried hitting on Maka and wound up being turned into a human footballs too.

Maka however pulled him out of his musings when she lightly punched her partner's shoulder. "Oh quit it already. It's going to take a lot more than just a strong punch to win this entrance exam, we both know that."

"Fair enough. You can't really expect to accomplish much unless you have someone as cool as me to tag along with." Soul quipped with confidence, smoothly flowing out of his voice.

Maka rolled her eyes and decided to end this show, pulled the albino by the collar of his jacket, and dragged him to the front door. "Alright mister hotshot you've said your piece. Now if your done let's head for the subway station before we make Izuku wait any longer for us."

"Huh? Hey what about my breakfast!?"

"There's no time to set anything up! We'll just get something quick to eat in a deli on the way there." Maka told her weapon with a light sternness to her tone as she dragged off her weapon.

"I'll hold you to that." Soul said under his breath knowing it be pointless to argue with his bossy partner anymore. "Now can you let go of me already? I can walk on my own just fine."

Maka huffed indigently, but before she could walk towards the door, caught Crona standing still in the hallway staring at the living room with a small frown on his face. "Crona is something the matter?"

Crona snapped out of his thoughts and turned to face maka. "Huh? Oh i-it's nothing…I just wished Rumi was here to s-send us off."

Seeing the subtle sullenness swimming in his features, Maka frowned in silent agreement. She also had hoped Rumi would be here to wish them good luck since she put just as much effort into preparing them for this day as they did. But unfortunately, Rumi had told them last night she was going to be swamped with some important business tomorrow, so all she could do was say "good luck" night and left for her agency at the crack of dawn.

Maka then let go of Soul's sleeve and walked towards Crona. "I wish she was here too, but we both know Rumi's probably busy with her duties as a hero."

"It's still kinda strange she'd miss out on the exam day. You'd think she'd move whatever she had on her schedule aside to send us off or threaten to kick our asses if we failed." Soul mused over last night, still wondering what could've been important enough for Rumi to leave so suddenly.

"She's still one of Japan's best heroes, Soul. That's the equivalent of being a Death Scythe around here. Rumi must've had a situation that needed her attention. It sucks, but a job like that requires you to be very diligent." Maka replied, understanding the responsibility on their guardian's shoulders-even if she acted so carefree and brazen about it.

Crona released a weak yet lighthearted chuckle. "Y-You're probably right. B-But I'm o-only hoping Rumi was joking when she told us to d-destroy the c-competition." The pink haired teen said with a creeping nervousness in his chuckling.

The edge of Maka's lips twitched and let out a long amused sigh. "Of course not silly, that's just a phrase. She's crazy, but she wouldn't be totally nuts to mean that…I think." Maka muttered the last part under her breath, unfortunately reminding herself just how hardcore that woman can be despite her supportive intentions.

"Relax man, She just told us not to hold back. It wouldn't be cool to not pull a hundred percent after all this time preparing to be heroes." Soul said with a confident grin, clearly eager to finally kick some ass with Maka without having someone telling them it's against the law again. " It's probably what everyone back home would've wanted if they were here to see us."

Maka glanced at her weapon and offered a beaming expression before nodding in agreement. "That's just giving me even more motivation to pass." Maka's smile widened as a smile radiating with optimism became adorned on her lips. "Gosh this is going to be fun! Once we put our A-game into today, those exam's are going to be a walk in the park!"

Even if all her friends and teachers were entire dimensions apart, she knew for certain they would've wanted them to put all their effort into passing the entrance exam for this UA academy. And rather than lament on not being back in their world, it was better to use their time and skills to make a difference for the better in these foreign lands.

"Now cmon, we should go before we miss the train!" Maka said and with the same bright energy ran out the door, leaving behind her death scythe and crona to catch up.

"Oh yeah, she's really excited about this," soul remarked with amusement lining his features before he started walking out the door and glanced at crona. "You heard the lady, let's head out."

"R-Right." Crona replied with a nod and started following the albino. Yet just like his companion, he felt the same flowering courage flaring in their soul's after hearing Maka's small speech.

But they've grown used to it. After being around a person who radiated such a powerful sense of courage for so long they've both come to truly understand just how powerful that fearless emotion can be. Otherwise, they would probably have never been able to move past their fears and insecurities to get this far from the people they used to be before meeting Maka.

Time really does fly, huh?

---

Once the trio was ready to leave their home, the trip to the local train station was fairly quick, despite heeding soul's request and taking five minutes to order something to eat for later. But thankfully, much to Maka's relief, they were able to make it just in time as they entered the train station and found Izuku sitting on one of the subway benches amidst the lively crowds of people patiently waiting for the arriving train.

"Hey, Izuku-kun!" Izuku looked up from his phone hearing Maka's voice and smiled as he turned to see her alongside Crona and Soul approach him.

"About time you guys came. I was starting to get worried if you'd be running late." Izuku said as he stood up from his seat and greeted his friends.

Maka released a breath before rubbing the back of her head. "I'm really sorry about that. We had some…hiccups trying to get ready." The ash blonde shot an annoyed pout at the albino weapon next to her before turning her eyes back to Izuku. "I'm just glad we made it. The last thing I would've wanted was making you miss the train because you waited too long for us."

The moss haired teen however waved it off "It's alright Maka-chan, there's still a couple minutes till the train arrives. Besides I practically rushed to get here as well after finishing up my last training session with Toshi-sensei." Izuku replied, now only being worried if he would make it in time before the exam's started.

"Oh really, and how did that go?" Soul asked curiously.

"Well he was very impressed with me after I m-managed to clean up the last parts of the beach earlier today. So I g-guess that's a good start, huh?" Izuku said while timidly scratching the back of his head as his friends stared at him with a surprise filling their expressions.

"No way you actually cleaned the whole beach up this morning? That's incredible Izuku-kun!" Maka exclaimed with a proud smile on her face when remembering the tons of garbage, still left lying around the last time they visited takoba beach a few days ago.

For him to have actually cleared all those piles of trash out in what Maka could guess was less than a few hours was nothing to scoff at. Heck Toshinori probably didn't even expect Izuku to have accomplished that in such little time either. Gosh, she can only imagine how that man must've reacted to seeing the rest of that garbage devoid of the beach shores, thanks to his pupil's efforts.

If only she could've seen it!

Izuku's cheeks became flushed a shade of pink at Maka's praise and nervously averted his gaze. "I-It's n-not that big of a deal. I still h-have a long way to go compared to that, so this is just a s-step in the right direction."

"But i-it's still impressive I-Izuku-san." Crona kindly told the fellow upcoming hero.

Izuku paused for a moment, before glancing back at crona and gave an accepting nod. "T-Thanks Crona-san. It's been really strenuous but..." Izuku paused before allowing his facial muscles to grant him a firmer expression. "But I think I'm all ready to take on whatever the exams throw at me."

"Well somebody sounds more confident than usual. And here I thought you'd be shaking in your boots over today, but you don't seem as anxious as I thought you'd be." Soul remarked with a quirked brow. After all, today was probably one of-if not-the most important days in the guy's whole life.

"Oh t-t-trust me, I'm definitely more than n-nervous," Izuku admitted with a slight stammer, still feeling like his legs were shaking like leaves in the wind but nonetheless, he kept his optimistic smile. "But that's not going to stop me now. I've been waiting my whole life for this day so I shouldn't let myself be afraid now."

"I was just beyond lucky t-to find someone like Toshinori-sensei to help me get strong enough to finally pursue my dream; otherwise I don't think I'd be standing here today." Izuku admitted with a timid tone but beneath it was a firm excitement firmness to his voice, that shined through more confidence than usually seen.

"Eh, I think you would've found a way to be here one way or the other with how stubborn you are for the superhero gig. It's just hard to believe the meek dude we met almost a year ago would start aiming for high places?" Soul replied with honest impressment lining the lax tone in his voice, and for once Maka wholeheartedly agreed with her partner's sentiment.

At first glance, Izuku didn't initially look like he changed much and mostly appeared as the same shy and socially awkward teen, but they knew their friend had still changed considerably from where he first started. It wasn't the most noticeable, but he was carrying a slightly more confident attitude than he used to. Not enough to be too noticeable, but it was still apparent from the way he spoke and moved without stuttering or trying to act like a guy who wanted to just hide from everyone like Crona did at times.

Not to mention it wasn't like he didn't physically reflect the changes to his mindset. It was hard to tell given his concealing uniform, but the trio knew Midoryia was no longer the wimpy hero fanboy they first met all those months ago. His clothing hiding a far more athletic and muscular body they'd steadily seen Izuku's once frail form transform into as a result of his diligent efforts with his mentor.

It was almost like the Izuku from nine months ago and the one standing in front of him were almost two different people. Soul had to admit he was sorta impressed by how much the little guy has changed. Maybe he was a bit of a nerd, but at least he was one that could try living up to his goals.

But if anyone ever tried to ask, if Maka blushed like a fresh tomato whenever she looked at Izuku's currently jacked body while he trained, she'd breathe fire straight at you.

Izuku's cheeks immediately flushed hearing soul's quiet praise yet soon a shaky yet warm smile sprouted on his lips. "T-Thanks soul-san, but in all seriousness, I have to thank you guys too for sticking by my side all this time."

Maka however waved it off. "It was nothing, we just wanted to support you in becoming a real hero. You've put more effort into this than most people could, so don't cut yourself short."

If anyone earned the chance to attend this famous U.A academy it was easily Izuku. All the sweat and tears he poured in these last ten months and everything else he endured before she met him was more than enough proof he could be a great hero.

"But how's your mom taking all this? You must've had to tell at some point about what you're planning to do before coming all the way here. Though I wouldn't be surprised if she was worried sick." Soul brought up with a curious look in his eyes, wondering just how the Midoryia matriarch was handling the fact her son was heading to try his shot at this big shot hero school.

Izuku's smile faltered, and fidgeted with his uniform's sleeve. "Y-You're not w-wrong. She was a whole lot more than just antsy when she learned I intended to go through with U.A. academy. Plus the i-incident that happened in the mall didn't help either. But after a long talk I managed to convince her it be alright. She was still pretty concerned, but she's still proud of me nonetheless."

However in less than a moment Izuku shook his head and his smile regained its full brightness. "And I promised her things are going to be different this time around." Izuku looked down at his right hand and clenched it with optimistic determination. "You won't need to worry about me either once the entrance exam begins. I'm ready for anything now."

Izuku however was nearly sent stumbling when Maka gave a strong yet happy and supportive backslap. "That's good to hear! Everyone knows how hard you've been working these last ten months for today, so there's no doubt in my mind you'll do great!"

Soul's lips shifted into a neutral frown hearing that last part from Maka, a subtle, if not barely noticeable reaction, that was almost unseen by his friends. But soon or later…he was probably going to have to address it with Maka. Yet soon enough, the sound of a fast moving train rushing into the subway caught his attention and the others.

"Oh, looks like the train is here!" Maka cheerfully remarked and started walking to the train as it slowed to a halt and started opening its numerous doors.

"O-Oh right!" Izuku yelped, snapping back to reality and scrambled through the crowds to follow Maka, with soul and Crona following suit and entered the train.

The ride itself would take forty minutes to reach their destination, but thankfully with how early they came, they would still have ten minutes at most before the exams started at 8:40. And with a small chunk of time on their hands, the teens had decided to use the time they had for some lighthearted conversations or readying themselves one last time. The latter of which Maka decided to do in her usual fashion, much to soul's exasperation.

"Are you seriously choosing to study even now?" Soul said incredulously, eyeing Maka as she diligently read her algebra notes and practiced certain equations in the notebook she brought with her.

"And why wouldn't I? There's still a written portion in the exams, so I'm just making sure I memorize what I can." Maka chided while she continued scribbling in her notebook.

"C'mon Maka, the written portion doesn't even mean that much once we ace the practical part, so you're just wasting your time if you ask me." Soul said, striving for confidence and nonchalance in his voice. But he on the other hand was gonna use the rest of the time to just relax and maybe catch some z's.

Maka rolled her eyes without moving her gaze away from her notebook. "That's just another excuse for you to not bother putting any effort in your studies. But maybe that's actually a good thing, since you'll probably flunk the written exam."

"The hell are you talking about? I scored an eighties on half the subjects back in Aldera."

"Only because I forced you to study instead of rotting your brain with more video games. And even then, you had barely decent grades with the other classes!" Maka rebuked quietly with a pout. At least Crona's final grades were somewhat decent. Which was surprising considering Medusa deprived him of any advanced education. But overtime Crona proved shockingly proved to be a fast learner in their study groups once he understood the basics of their subjects.

Guess Crona really did inherit something beneficial from his "mother". But the less comparisons made between that woman and her friend, the better.

"Well getting an eighty as my overall grade is sure as hell a score in my opinion. Not all of us are bookworms who have these ridiculous high as hell standards for school." Soul shot back stubbornly as he slouched in his seat in between Crona and Maka.

"Alright smart guy if that's how you want to think about having barely decent grades be my guest. I know doctor Stein would give you some good reminders why you should work hard instead of sleeping in his lectures." Maka scoffed, but paused as an unsettling yet very likely thought crossed her mind, and promptly narrowed her eyes into sharp daggers at her lax death scythe. "But so god help me Soul, if you even think about trying to cheat, then you'll wish Stein was the one punishing you instead of me."

Soul while trying not to look too fazed by Maka's stern threat, still felt his forehead starting to sweat a bit, knowing exactly what she was capable of. "Alright just chill out. You think I'm that stupid to cheat and risk getting disqualified after all the work I've put into this exam? Didn't raiding my entire freakin room for cheat sheets satisfy you?" Soul crossed his arms in annoyance by his meister's persistence.

"Just making sure…" Maka grumbled with a suspicious glare before resuming her studies. But she better keep an eye on Soul in case he pulled any idiocy at the last minute.

Izuku however watched the scene that was playing out between them with a small sweatdrop forming on the back of his head. "D-Don't tell me soul-san w-w-would actually cheat o-on the entrance exams?!" Izuku whispered in baffled shock.

Crona who sat next to Izuku glanced at the former with a unsure expression. "I-I don't t-think so, but then a-again from what M-Maka-chan told me, he's done it before back in our o-old school."

Izuku gaped at what he heard, partially wondering if it was true or some joke. "Are y-you serious?"

Before Crona could answer, Ragnarök decided to barge into the quiet conversation and erupted his coned shaped head from Crona's chest. "Oh trust me, shark boy would've done it a bunch of other times back in that lame as hell middle school, if it hadn't been for the snitch bitch beating a new concussion into him before he could even try!"

"Huh?!"

"Ragnarök…" Crona softly moaned in exasperation, but unfortunately he couldn't say his partner wasn't exactly wrong. The assortment of throbbing goose heads that adorned Soul's head every time he was caught trying to hide a cheat sheet were proof enough.

"Hey keep that big mouth shut Ragnarök, everyone's starting to stare!" Maka hissed at the loudmouthed demon, as already more than a couple passengers on the train were beginning to stare at them strangely.

"You gotta be shitting me! even when I'm on your side you still nag the crap out of me! Talk about ungrateful!" Ragnarök scoffed petulantly, with a click of his tongue.

"I don't want or need it, when it comes to you. Now unless your going to stop making a scene, scram before I start losing my patience." Maka demanded with a hush yet still scolding tone in her voice.

"Fine, like I'm gonna waste my breath arguing with the likes of you!" Ragnarök spat out resentfully before promptly dissolving back to Crona's bloodstream, as the young swordsman hastily re-buttoned his shirt.

"It never gets easy does it?" Izuku asked with a small sweatdrop forming on the top of his head, as Crona still pushing back his lingering embarrassment nodded.

"No it doesn't, b-but he's a-apart of me so there's not much I can do about it. And," Crona's expression took on a subtle yet regretful look. "I already took his presence for granted once, I shouldn't make the same mistake twice."

Izuku raised a brow at that peculiarly vague response, but from the way Crona described it, sounded like he and his quirk had a rough patch so to speak. It's not surprising given the less than stellar relationship they had to begin with, but Izuku still couldn't help but wonder what could've happened between them in the past.

Crona however shook his head and wiped away the somberness that was starting to settle into his expression and gave a small smile. "B-But it's okay Izuku-san, everything is different from back then. So it's to better to f-focus on the present instead of the past, right?"

Izuku blinked before returning his friends meek smile with one of his own and nodded. "Right!"

Unbeknownst to Crona and Izuku, a certain death scythe silently eavesdropped on their conversation, and eyed the latter with an unreadable expression. Dammit this isn't getting easier to say. He needed to figure out how to bring this up to Maka soon. At least without making himself look like a massive prick.

He didn't want to say it, but somebody here had to. At least so Izuku wouldn't be going into this blind with hope, only to get hammered with reality's cruel hammer. Then again, there was a chance that might happen either way. And when accounting for Maka's volcanic temper and how emotional she could get to the mix, then this would be all but guaranteed to get ugly if he didn't say it right.

However Soul was taken away from his deep thought as he felt the train was starting to slow down. Signaling they had finally reached the upper parts of Musutafu where U.A academy was located.

"About time. Looks like this is our stop." Maka said cheerfully as she started getting up from her seat when the train doors finally opened up and turned her head back to three boys with a mischievous smirk that radiated with excitement. "Well? What are you guys still sitting around for? Hurry up before I beat you slowpokes to U.A!"

Soul released a small breath of air at his partner's antics, before letting his lips curl upwards. "In your dreams Maka," Soul retorted with a challenging smirk of his own. Eh, at least he had a little while longer. The last thing he wanted was to start losing his coolness and turn into some worrywart.

But before he got off the train soul looked over his shoulder and glanced at Izuku and Crona. "Cmon, we should get moving before we give Maka-chan something to brag on about for god knows how long." Soul said with a lax tone, but kept his grin before rushing out of the train cart.

"Huh?! Hang on a m-minute, wai-aaand he's gone." Izuku ended with a faintly exasperated mutter, watching as soul ran out of the train like a roadrunner and up the stairway. However the upcoming hero's face filled with more amusement and glanced at the bemused swordsman. "Well you heard him. Guess we better catch up b-before they leave us in the dust."

"G-Good idea." Crona replied, as the boys wasted no time jogging out of the subway station as fast as their legs could allow them to.

But while Izuku and Crona were busy trying to catch up to their friends amidst the busy subway station, Soul found Maka waiting across the street from the subway entrance and walked up to her.

"A race? Where the heck did that idea pop into your head?" Soul questioned with a curious tone, yet should've expected she'd threw him for a loop again. Wouldn't be the first time.

"Oh lighten up Soul, I thought it be a fun way to get to U.A since we're in a rush. Plus I wanted to see if Rumi's sprint exercises made you guys any faster." Maka replied cheekily.

"Really? And I'm supposed to believe you aren't just trying to show off how fast you've gotten, miss Olympia?" Soul retorted with a nice dose of sarcasm injected into his voice.

"Are you serious? Since when have I ever been that vain?" Maka immediately denied with her arms crossed.

"Does your 'angel phase' ring any bells?" Soul snarked with a grin, eliciting a flushed pout from the pigtailed girl.

"Do you have to bring that up?" Maka complained as that particular memory was brought up. Okay, maybe she got a little out of hand back when Marie told her she had a grigori soul, but who wouldn't be excited to have a type of soul that was one in a million? Besides, she and Soul get to fly as a bonus, so it was a win-win.

"Trust me, dealing with you obsessed like that wasn't any less of a pain in the neck for me either." Soul said like he was talking about the weather, much to Maka's ire as she petulantly stuck her tongue out at the jerk.

"But are sure Izuku is going to be able to catch up with us?" Soul asked with a unreadable expression as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Maka cocked her head in bewilderment. "Why wouldn't he? He's way more athletic than he used to be. Heck maybe we can go to the running tracks and actually have some fun racing each-"

"…That wasn't what I was talking about." Soul retorted neutrally.

"Huh?" Maka raised a brow, her expression colored with bewilderment as soul stared at her with a neutral gaze.

Soul's lips pulled into a grim frown. Well guess there was no better time to say this than now. "Maka…I'm going to be real with you. While I want to say Izuku might take this exam and pass it without a hitch, we can't ignore how the odds still aren't in his favor."

Maka's face froze in utter shock by soul's grim declaration, as wide jade stared into neutral crimson. "Wha-Where the heck is this coming from?! Did you suddenly just forget all the hard work Izuku's been putting for ten months straight?" Maka exclaimed with outrage beginning to seep inside her voice at Soul's sudden doubtful attitude.

"I haven't, so don't think I haven't lost my memory. He's earned my respect for how far he's gone for his dream." Soul's facial muscles scrunched into a grimace. "But no matter how hard he's worked, that might all mean squat when that fancy hero academy finds out he's lacking a certain quality." Soul implied with the same neutral tone, yet the implications was enough to make Maka freeze in place.

Yet soon hot anger began to pour into Maka's veins as her face scrunched up into a sharp glare directed at her weapon. "You can't be serious. Do you really think they won't let him enroll because he doesn't have some superpowers!" Maka exclaimed with more outrage overtaking her tone than before, at the notion her friend would be denied over something so petty as that!

Soul's grimace deepened, remaining unfazed by the fact his meister was looking ready to sock him any minute now. "I don't like it either, but I think you need to remember how this place works. You and I believe the dude has a chance of being a hero, but I doubt everyone else thinks that way. Not when having quirks is practically considered the standard for being one."

Maka momentarily looked away from Soul and glared at the ground while biting her lip in frustration. She wanted more than to yell that her death scythe was dead wrong. That he was talking nonsense and Izuku had nothing to worry about once they took the exams. But as much as she wanted to believe it with all her heart and soul, a stubborn part of her knew there was some unfortunate truth to Soul's words.

Ever since they got stuck here, she and her friends had a better understanding of this world's hero society functioned compared to their less than stellar first day. The most obvious detail of course, was how almost every facet of society revolved around quirks, and how being a hero was seen as the best way to use one's powers in public. It was a career solely designed and existed for people who had superpowers, there was simply no other way around it. And since almost everyone in the world had quirks, it made sense how the idea of a "quirkless" person becoming a hero would be dismissed or seen as a bad joke.

It infuriated her to no end for how these people would have such a narrow minded and borderline prejudiced viewpoint, but as much as she hated it, that was how this hero society worked.

So what was going to happen to Izuku when he did enter U.A's doors? What would be waiting for him once he took that exam?

The image of a despaired Izuku being immediately turned away by U.A's teachers emerged in Maka's mind, but she immediately banished the terrible thought as quickly as it appeared. The ash blonde clenching her hands into hard fists tightly till her knuckles paled and snapped her head back to Soul. "But that doesn't give them right to immediately shut down his chance at U.A after dedicating so much time for this day. He shouldn't lose that opportunity because he isn't like everybody else!"

Soul sighed, as a faint yet notably satisfied smile rooted onto his lips. "Why am I not surprised you'd go ahead and declare something like that. I just hope those poor bastards are ready to deal with you, if they still say no."

"Then they better prepare for me personally coming to have a little talk the principal." Maka declared resolutely with her arms crossed underneath her chest.

"So basically charge in that poor dude's office like a raging rhino, while screaming your head off at the hotshot?" Soul countered as his voice dripped with his usual sarcasm.

"It definitely be a start,"Maka briskly said with a click of her tongue, but once she registered what her weapon had just said, flipped a furious glare to the scythe as a shit eating grin was plastered on his face. "Wait a second, did you just compare me to a rhino!?"

"What? It's not like the comparison isn't too far off these days. Or ever, for that matter." Soul chuckled, but before his livid Maka could start swinging wild punches at him, Crona and Izuku were seen jogging out of the entrance to the subway station.

"Sorry guys! It was harder to move past all those moving crowds than I thought!" Izuku called over, as he silently thanked god it took only two minutes to finally reach their friends.

"T-There were s-so many people. I don't think I can handle going through all those c-crowds often." Crona murmured with minor anxiety in his voice.

Yet soon ragnarök's snouted head popped from his chest once more. "Pfft, what the fuck can you even handle besides bitching all the time?"

"I-I've gotten better…"

"Suuure. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Ragnarök said with dripping sarcasm before seamlessly liquifying back into his meister's bloodstream.

Izuku sweatdropped slightly at the usual antics between crona and his living blood before turning to look at Maka. "Hey Maka-chan are you alright? You look a little flustered?"

Maka realizing she was-and still is blushing-pushed back her peeved emotions and relaxed somewhat. "Oh it's nothing, just a small argument I had. No biggie." The ash blonde waved it off.

"Okay, if you say so," Izuku shrugged before he started jogging down the street heading towards the upper part of the city. "But I guess we better continue that race, right?"

Maka blinked before a cheery and eager expression became adorned on her face. "Are you kidding? I'm just getting warmed up!"

Izuku returned his friends smile with rivaling brightness as all four teens continued to race towards U.A. But soon enough after a few minutes of sprinting, Maka, Soul, Crona and Izuku quickly found themselves right in the front entrance to the prestigious U.A academy.

"Thank goodness we made it in time..." Izuku said between his minor panting as he tried catching his breath. Having finally caught up to Crona as he arrived last compared to his friends, as Maka and Soul were already reached the main entrance barely a minute ago. "Wow you guys are getting fast lately."

"Thanks." Maka muttered, her attention clearly elsewhere, and Izuku couldn't really blame her for being that way.

The ash blonde alongside Soul and Crona, gazed in awe at the large gates and wall that surrounded the impressive structure rooted in the center. The school already seemed full of students who long since attended the school, but with the influx of applicants, the academy was even more lively and bustling than normally.

Maka looked up at the large interconnected twin buildings in awe. So this was it huh? The legendary U.A academy that they've heard so much praise for nearly a year now; the most prestigious hero school in all of Japan. Admittedly it didn't look as extravagant as the Death Weapon Meister academy, but the quartet connected building that must've towered a little over 20 stories tall wasn't anything to scoff at either. She had already seen a couple of pictures showing the famous hero school on the internet a couple times, but to see it in person was something else entirely.

"I-It's so big…I-Is this really where we'll be going everyday if we pass the e-exams?" Crona murmured in awed surprise, and perhaps a little anxiety, still unable to take his eyes of the vaguely U shaped academy.

"Sure looks like it." Soul replied with a lax yet impressed tone as he stared at the grandiose entrance. These guys at U.A sure knew how to present themselves. Maybe the place looked a little bland for his taste's, but the saying never judge a book by its cover, exists for a reason. They're gonna learn how to be actual heroes if they passed, so there's probably gonna be more than just some fancy looking building.

Maka stared for a moment longer before her awe faded and with a beaming smile glanced at her friends. "Well, those exams aren't going to finish themselves if we just stand like a bunch of trees you know? Let's head inside and submit our applications."

Hearing Maka's voice helped to grab Izuku's attention. The upcoming hero even now felt his heart throbbing and lip muscles shaking, while his hands tightly gripped his backpacks straps. He was finally here. After years of waiting and ten months of training he was finally here. But there was no time to get swallowed in nervousness or anxiety. Not with how much everyone had put so much faith in him making it this far.

He was admittedly till be worrying when it was going to kick in. And with how he became so caught up in rushing to get here, he never even got a chance to test it. But hopefully the gift he worked so hard to inherit from his mentor will awaken when the time came.

Thus with single deep inhale and exhale, Izuku reassembled his composure. "Y-Yeah sure. I just can't believe I'm finally here after all this time wishing for this day."

"Move aside, Deku! And the same goes for your little posse." A very familiar voice exclaimed through a low and angry growl.

Izuku's previously racing heart instantly froze like freshly frozen ice, but he didn't even need to turn around to know that Bakugo was walking from right behind him.

"Kacchan-san!" Izuku yelped, taken by surprise by his old bully's appearance.

Maka and soul immediately tensed at the sight of the temperamental blonde, as Crona did his best to prevent himself flinching, yet just like the scythe duo kept a hardened gaze directed at the bully.

"Oi morons, get out of my way or your all dead." Bakugo snarled with enough frigid vitriol coloring his voice and face to make it almost sound like he actually meant it.

"Ever heard of asking like a normal person?" Maka asked with equal parts irritation and sarcasm in her tone, eyeing the jerk with a warning glare.

Bakugo's cold expression flared but died down to an irritated scoff. "Tch, like I give a shit pigtails. I got better things to do than waste a minute of time with a bunch of foreign rejects latching onto Deku like leeches."

Izuku flinched hearing Bakugo say that last part with that much acidity in his tone, but remained mostly composed. Yet unfortunately a glance at Maka confirmed his worst fears, as she looked ready to throw away her patience and let her temper loose. But thankfully before the situation could escalate, Soul took a step forward, and locked eyes with the explosive blonde.

That was a relief. Soul was usually the more coolheaded one among them, so maybe he could settle things down.

"Those are some big words for a guy who got his ass kicked over and over again by a chick." Soul piped up blandly albeit with crisps of smugness lining his laid back tone, as Izuku gaped in panicked horror.

…or maybe not.

Izuku's chest tightened and with beads of sweat forming on his forehead, slowly turned his head to look at Bakugo. His blood freezing in panic as he spotted the blonde's cold expression cracking with a flicker of raw anger for the first time. But much to his astonishment and immediately relief, that anger quickly dampened into a grunting scoff.

"Don't worry, I'll be settling the score with her and the pink twig soon enough." Bakugo warned venomously eyeing a tense Crona and Maka as she continued glaring daggers at him, before pushing past Soul and resuming his lonesome walk. "Just don't get in my way losers, or you'll regret it."

Izuku shook his head to regain enough of his wits, and nervously gave a friendly wave at Bakugo. "Uh m-morning Kacchan-san! Let's both do our best-"

…Only for Bakugo to completely ignore Izuku, as if he wasn't even there in the first place, and continued his silent trek to U.A's main building.

"Ugh, what a jerk." Maka spat out with mild venom in tone and kept glowering the explosive bully until he disappeared into the crowds of students.

She still couldn't believe Bakugo was able to have a shot at this hero school, when all he did beforehand was bully and harass anyone who couldn't fight back. An arrogant jackass like Katsuki who only thought of himself was the last person who should be attending U.A and become a hero. The whole scenario just left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Take it easy Maka, he ain't worth it. Focusing on that prick, today of all days, is just asking for trouble." Soul told his fuming meister and placed a hand on her shoulder. Any other time he wouldn't have minded seeing that punk humbled, but with the exam only ten minutes away, a skirmish between those two just screamed disaster.

Maka flipped her gaze towards Soul and released a frustrated sigh before lightly smacking away his hand. "I know, I know, you don't need to remind me. Just don't expect me to keep my cool if I have to be around that asshole longer than I need to be."

"Well h-he did stop challenging you to those fights a while ago, so m-maybe he won't be so bad today?" Crona pondered quietly, yet Maka's exasperated expression was enough to convey her disagreement with the pink haired swordsman.

"Maybe but I wouldn't bet on it. I just feel sorry for whoever's going to have to deal with his insufferable ego in the exams." Maka retorted dryly, unfortunately expecting that angry punk to cause all sorts of mayhem whenever he got the chance.

But Crona wasn't exactly wrong. For some reason Bakugo had strangely enough, actually stopped challenging her to fights a couple months ago. He still kept sending glares that looked like they could burn holes through her head, but other than that, he settled for brooding and nothing more.

Neither she nor Soul, Crona or even Izuku could understand why he ceased his bullheaded challenges and left them alone. Maybe his pride simply couldn't take any more bruisings from losing and finally learned his lesson, unlikely as that scenario appeared to be. Either way, Maka didn't really care what went on in Bakugo's violent little head. He wasn't bothering her or friends anymore, so that's all that mattered.

Maka however dispelled any irritation left in her system over that hothead and glanced at her friends with a pleasant smile. "But soul's right for once, let's just forget about him and head inside before we're late."

"Y-Yeah that's probably a good idea." Izuku agreed wholeheartedly and started to walk, but not before being stopped by Crona.

"Um Izuku-san a-are you sure you don't want t-to try and calm yourself? You look really nervous." Crona replied in concern, noting the anxiety in the moss haired friend's expression he was poorly concealing.

"W-What are saying? I might be a little antsy, but that's perfectly natural. I'm one hundred percent fine, honest!" Izuku assured his tall friend with a wide yet shaky smile on his face.

"Then why are your legs shaking like pieces of jelly?" Soul sweatdropped, pointing to the late middle schoolers extremely wobbly legs. Seriously, how the heck was he even able to stand like that?

"O-Oh that's nothing, m-my l-legs are just a little sore from all the activity this morning. N-Now cmon, there's no time to waste!" Izuku exclaimed, and continued to walk towards the main entrance…or at least tried to.

The anxious wreck couldn't even take another step before his shaking legs immediately gave out and winded up tripping. The teen only managing to make a panicked yelp before he stumbled before bumping into someone who walked from behind and fell.

"Izuku-san/kun!" Maka and Crona called out in panic, but Izuku couldn't exactly pay attention to them.

'Oh god I haven't even taken a step into U.A and I'm about to make a fool out of myself! Why haven't I learned not to flinch so easily and try to…wait shouldn't I be on the floor by now?' Izuku finished in numb befuddlement, and started to realize he wasn't even standing on the ground, it was almost as if he was frozen in pla-

"Whoa there, are you okay?" Izuku heard the kind voice of a girl ask him in concern.

Midoryia turned his head over his shoulder and the second he did felt his face blaze into a a bright pink when he found a young girl with warm brown eyes, a perpetual blush on her cheeks and brown shoulder length bobbed hair standing beside him with Maka, Soul and Crona.

But why was this pretty girl, holding her arm outwards towards him like-oh wait, that was because she was holding him up in the air….huh?

"Huh?!" Izuku blurted out, but he couldn't even get a word out before the brown haired girl lowered him with back to the ground, as if he was a piece of lightweight furniture, much to the trio's mystification.

"Gosh I'm so sorry about that, today's been making even me a little clumsy." The short girl said sheepishly and placed her hands together.

"What did you do to him?" Crona asked with a mixture of surprise and confusion in his expression.

"Oh don't worry, I just used my quirk on him." The girl apologized and lightly bowed her head to the moss haired teen. "Again, I'm really sorry for making you fall like that."

"Uh…i-its fine." Izuku murmured, the heat still continuing to rush into his face. His heartbeat accelerating slightly and his eyes became almost as wide as saucers. He was actually talking to another girl!

Okay…okay he needed to calm down. The last thing he needed was to look like a weirdo. Now more than ever he was grateful to have some experience talking to girls from hanging around Maka. Otherwise he probably would've been acting like his heart was going to jump out of his chest! But he's a different person than who was ten months ago. So what could go wrong trying to talk to this nice girl who helped save him from making a fool out of himself.

But unfortunately his mouth still refused to fully cooperate like he wanted them to, and couldn't exactly give a proper response. "I'm a l-little jittery too…"

The young brown haired girl let out a soft and warm laugh. "Guess I'm not the only one then! Anyway I better get going. See you guys in the auditorium!"

"We'll see you there!" Maka cheerfully waved farewell, as the girl waved back with equal friendliness before she continued walking her way to the school's main building. And once she went inside the doors, Izuku finally allowed his body to loosen up and try to regain his wits from that awkward experience.

"I can't believe it…that was the second time I talked to a girl!" Izuku muttered in astonishment at himself, as his chest brimmed with pride and happiness. And best of all, he didn't act like a total oddball! Well mostly anyway.

"I'm not sure if you can count muttering seven words to a someone you literally just met for barely a minute. But If you need some advice on how to talk to ladies I wouldn't mind helping you out." Soul piped up before receiving an elbow strongly jabbed into his stomach side by Maka and gave him a stink eye. "Sunnova-! What the hell was that for?"

"Cram it Soul, he did perfectly fine. The last he needs is your kind of advice on talking to girls. They'll just run away like he has the plague." Maka scolded with a dry tone before glancing back at Izuku and softened her expression. "Maybe he wasn't perfect, but it's work in progress."

Izuku's face once again turned flushed and tried to look anywhere but his two friends. Yet he couldn't really argue with Maka, since the old him wouldn't have even been able to say anything but anxious gibberish. "T-Thanks I guess."

Izuku frantically shook his head and once regaining his wits again, gripped his backpack straps with returning determination. "A-Anyway let's start entering the auditorium. Hopefully we'll have a few minutes before the first portion begins."

Without anymore delay the four teens resumed their walk to the main doors without delay. Maka however remembering her earlier conversation with Soul, turned her head to look at Izuku.

"Hey Izuku-kun, before we go inside…" Maka started, eliciting the moss haired teens attention.

"Yeah Maka-chan?" Izuku quirked a brow and locked eyes with the teenage meister. Her face looking contemplative as she recalled her previous conversation with Soul. But in less than a second, shifted into a warmer expression.

"I just wanted to say that no matter what happens, I know you're going to do great." Maka beamed brightly, her voice colored with confident belief in her good friend.

Izuku stared at the ash blonde momentarily in surprise, before giving her a warm and thankful smile. "T-Thanks."

---

U.A AUDITORIUM

The atmosphere was brimming with a significant amount of excitement and eager anticipation. The numerous applicants had already submitted their papers and headed straight for the main auditorium. There they all sat within the expansive room and waited for when the exam orientation would begin. In the meantime the seated teenagers spent their remaining time waiting by whispering to each other about all sorts of topics. From what awaited them in the exams, discussing their quirks and strategies to pass or simple talk about what to expect from U.A once they passed. Maka, Soul, Crona and Izuku sat next to each other amongst the students.

Or roughly at least….

'You have got to be kidding me…' Maka flatly said within her own mind, as she tensely eyed the person next to her.

Maybe due to a case of bad luck, or simply because the universe once again decided to play another act of twisted cosmic humor, Maka wound having to deal with none other than Bakugo sitting between Izuku and her while Soul and Crona sat by her left. This unfortunate seating arrangement created an incredibly awkward situation for Soul, Izuku, and Crona as they felt the palpable tension arising between Maka and Bakugo. The scythe meister and temperamental blonde sat in silence as they kept glowering at each other like two dogs ready to pounce on each other.

But thankfully before the moment could turn volatile, the lights of the auditorium flickered to life without any warning. All of which shined directly towards the center staged podium, revealing a person who seemed to have been waiting for all the applicants to arrive. The man was very tall yet slim, possessing long blonde hair that was oddly enough spiked into a large tuft crescent. All while the man wore a pair of orange shades and sported an outfit with an unusual neckpiece that resembled a boombox. To Maka, he looked like someone who would've belonged as some quirky DJ soul might've listened to in his spare time.

"WHAT'S UP U.A CANDIDATES!" The man's loud yet welcoming voice echoed throughout the auditorium, further revealing to everyone his eccentric and energetic attitude.

Okay, make that a quirky and REALLY loud DJ.

"THANKS FOR COMING ALL THE WAY HERE, JUST TO TUNE IN TO U.A'S TOP DJ PRESENT MIC! NOW WHY DON'T YOU GO AHEAD AND GIVE ME A NICE, LOUD SHOUT OUT!?"

The exuberant man known as Present Mic, then cupped his ear and patiently waited for an energetic feedback from his teenage audience. But the students were either too nervous by what was at stake or stunned by the dramatic display to respond even a little bit; and only gave the DJ nothing but dead silence.

"Yeesh, talk about a tough crowd." Soul muttered, practically feeling the awkwardness flowing throughout the quiet auditorium. Seriously this was getting kinda uncool. They could've at least given the poor guy something instead of this dull atmosphere right now. Though was it him or did he sound familiar?

"What do expect when he's screaming in everyone's eardrums?" Maka complained as she rubbed her still ringing ears.

After a couple more seconds, Present Mic started to realize the almost solemn silence was all he was gonna be getting out of the applicants. Well that's a bummer, but he couldn't say he blamed them with how nerve wracking today probably was for them. "Keeping it mellow, huh? Fair enough. Okay then, I better just get straight to the point and give you guys the guidelines for how the practical exam will go down! Are you all ready!?"

Yet while everyone else chose to remain unresponsive to present mic's booming and lively voice echoing whole time, one of the U.A candidates was practically bursting with stunned amazement to see the energetic man standing on the center podium.

"Um Izuku-kun are you…doing okay there?" Maka sweatdropped, leaning a bit forward to see the moss haired teen's wide forest green eyes gleamed with barely restrained excitement and his hands were clasped over his trembling mouth.

"Oh my gosh, it's really him guys! It's the voice hero, Present Mic! I listen to his radio show every day of the week. It's so inspiring to hear, but I never thought I'd get the chance to listen to him in person! I guess all the teachers here are going to be pro heroes. Heck maybe one of the top ten will be one!" Izuku gushed with nerdy glee overflowing his tone.

If someone as awesome as Present Mic was actually working here, then who knows what other pro heroes are going to be teaching in U.A.

Maka meanwhile couldn't help but chuckle softly at her friends geeky excitement, as Crona stared simply stared in bewilderment by Izuku's ecstatic behavior. But Soul however widened his eyes slightly and snapped his fingers.

"Now I remember, he's that DJ who runs the 'put your hands up radio'." Soul recalled in surprise, not expecting the guy who ran a radio show to actually be some pro hero of all thing. "Names corny as hell, but I'll give him credit for having good taste in music."

"Shut the hell up you two, I can hear anything with you yapping so much." Bakugo hissed with a furrowed brow and arms crossed.

While Izuku clamped up and Soul shrugged, Maka glared briefly at the spiky blonde before clicking her tongue. "Rude."

"Now if you remember what was written in your applications, all you amped up listeners will be participating in a ten minute mock battle in one of our mock cityscapes to show everyone what you got in store!" Present Mic boisterously revealed to the applicants, surprising Maka, Soul and Crona. While they read in their applications the practical portion would be a mock battle, they never expected it to be in a faux city.

"No way, that's insane. But wait, that must mean each site must be 335 square miles long!" Maka murmured in astonishment, as she can only imagine how much yen could possibly go into something as extreme as an entire city.

"Who cares? I'm starting to like how these guys work." Soul replied quietly, yet the eager excitement was very much present in his voice.

"Now after I drop the mic, you can bring whatever you need and head straight for your specified battle centers. Okay?" The minute those words came out of Present Mic's mouth, the large monitor on the stage came to life and showed everyone a visual graph of eight different battle centers the candidates would be heading to, that were listed in a letter sequence.

"I knew it," Bakugo thought aloud, causing Izuku and the trio to glance at the blonde as he stated at the battle center's on the large screen. "They set the exam up this way so kids from the same middle schools can't help each other out, huh?"

Izuku's brow quirked up in curiosity, and examined the presentation as a look of realization came to his features. "Oh so that's why consecutive I.D numbers are assigned to different locations." The moss haired teen concurred, unaware how Maka and Soul suddenly looked like someone chained a tight knot around their stomachs.

'Oh shit.' Maka and Soul thought simultaneously, unfortunately realizing the blonde punk's line of reasoning was surprisingly quite sound.

It made sense that the practical portion would be structured to separating applicants from the same schools as a measure to properly assess their individual potential. But right now, that thinking worked against her and Soul since a good chunk of their capabilities revolved around them fighting together.

"W-Wait, that means you and Maka may not be able to fight and perform soul resonance together." Crona whispered in grave worry to his two friends, knowing more than anyone here just how interconnected their abilities were together.

"It's alright Crona. Even if we're getting separated I think we can find a way to make it work." Maka tried to reassure the sword meister with a forced smile she bore on her face, but Soul could already see the tinges of worry and dread leaking through that mask.

He couldn't exactly blame Maka for being worried since it was very likely they'd be starting this show at a disadvantage. But at least he could depend on using his death scythe abilities for the exam, especially when accounting for all the training he's done to improve his skills and develop a few new tricks up his sleeve.

But Maka wasn't exactly as fortunate.

She couldn't channel any soul menace like Blackstar nor did she possess any crazy powerful abilities like Death the Kid did. All she had going for her in a fight was her sharp mind and exceptional athleticism. Otherwise she was a mostly normal person like Izuku if they couldn't resonate with each other. She had her Soul perception and Anti-demon wavelength of course, but without him she couldn't exactly use those parts of her soul as proficiently.

He knew without a doubt Maka could find a way to still kick ass, since it was almost guaranteed for her to overcome any challenges that stood against her. But the fact she was going to most likely fight out there without him backing her up was going to make this exam much harder for her than it would've been.

'Dammit this is going to be a problem.' Soul grimaced, already starting to treat the card in front of them like a time bomb ready to blow up. But delaying this wasn't going to help either, so they might as well see where they were heading.

Maka, Soul and Crona slowly looked down to see their cards and with minor dread picked them up. Yet once the scythe duo did, their dread immediately shifted into baffled astonishment once they read their designated battle groups.

Examinee 7115: Test location Battle center C

Examinee 7119: Test location Battle Center C

Examinee 7118: Test Location Battle center A

'Wait what?' Soul and Maka thought at the same time in shock, as they tried comprehending what they were seeing in front of them.

"So guys where are you headi…" Izuku trailed off from what he was about to say, as his eyes caught Soul and Maka's cards and instantly lost control of his jaw once he saw what was written on them. "Huh!? Y-You and Soul are getting sent to the same battle center!? Izuku blurted out in astonishment, yet Maka quickly placed her index finger over his lips before he got any louder.

"Shhh! Hey don't just yell it out!" Maka scolded her shocked friend in a quiet voice, and immediately realizing his mistake darted his eyes around in panicked fashion to see if a particular person heard him.

Thankfully Bakugo only raised a brow at the moss haired teen, and merely grunted irritably before returning his gaze to the screen.

Once the coast was clear, Maka slowly removed her finger and allowed Izuku to speak, yet the teen only tapped his index fingers together in awkward embarrassment. "S-Sorry about that. B-But y-you can't exactly blame me for reacting that way, this shouldn't be possible at all M-Maka chan."

"While I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I gotta agree with Izuku-san here. This doesn't make much sense, does it?" Soul said under his breath, as he glanced back at his and Maka's card that bore the same battle center they would be heading.

"No it doesn't…" Maka replied slowly, as her stunned jade eyes returned to her card to make sure she was seeing this correctly. This doesn't add up at all. Why she and Soul getting lumped together in the same testing site, if this hero academy had discreetly designed the practical exam to prevent any teamwork with friends?

Was it a mistake made in the selection process? No way, an error like that wasn't likely to happen for such a prestigious and impressive school that dedicated so much effort to thoroughly selecting and testing candidates for their school. There was no way this could've been accidental. So why would she and Soul, out of all the people here taking this exam were the rules being bent for them?

Unless…

"Okay ladies and gentlemen time to take a look at who your targets will be." The screen changed its image to a display showing an urban area crammed with adjacent buildings alongside three robotic silhouettes with different numbers alongside each one. "Different villain bot types scattered out through every battle center. There are three different robots you'll be dealing with during your exam, which are numbered with certain points determined by their difficulty, so you better choose wisely! Your goal is to use your quirk to shred through the villain bots like a mid song guitar solo and get as many points as possible! But remember this is to test you as a hero, so no going anti-hero and attacking other examinees! Otherwise you're getting a one way ticket to disqualification!"

"Sounds like something straight out of one of those super mario games." Soul remarked, yet took particular note of the numbering each robot was assigned with. "But those guys shouldn't be too much trouble for us."

Maka however stared back at him with a slightly incredulous look for his casual shift in attitude, yet Soul merely glanced back at her with a confident smile. "Look even if it doesn't add up, why should we be complaining about getting this golden opportunity? What matters is that we're getting the chance to kick some ass together in the exam." Soul's smile then took a slightly cocky note. "Unless you want to try managing a solo performance without me?"

Maka's cheeks flushed with a faint pink blush at these words before the ash blonde gave the albino an annoyed pout. "Are you crazy? You'd be lucky to take down ten of those robots without me coordinating with you."

"There ya go, already you're getting your groove back on." Soul chuckled, yet the only response the lax albino got was a small huff from his meister before she crossed her arms in indignation. But behind that irritation, the death scythe could instantly spot the small smile creeping up on her face.

Man, his meister was too easy to read at times.

"W-What a relief." Crona said to himself, glad to see that somehow Maka and Soul would still be able to fight at her best.

"It's still odd though. But since Soul-san and Maka-chan have been trained by their old school to compensate for each other's weaknesses, I guess this works out fine." Izuku muttered with his brow slightly furrowed, as a persistent part of his mind couldn't help but wonder why this anomaly happened for Maka and Soul.

After all U.A so far seemed to value evaluating the individual quirks of applicants. Allowing teamwork between them, would risk muddling that particular lens for the judges to analyze. But what was the reason then to make Maka and Soul be exempt from this rule?

"Excuse me, but I have a question!" A stoic voice spoke out, finally breaking the mute silence that had stuck with the audience. The one response was broken by a young middle schooler with glasses and a somewhat bulky build. This middle schooler stood up from his chair and raised his hand to get Present Mic's attention. The DJ hero eagerly addressed the middle schooler and gave a thumbs up. "Hit me!"

A stage light lit up and directed itself where the young man stood amongst the examinees, while holding a book in his hands that contained the robot's silhouettes and other information listed in its pages. But what everyone noticed was the discontent clearly written all over the the teens face.

"On the print-out, there are four machines that have been categorized, not three like on the monitor." The student's tone became more stern and domineering, and his words rang with a cutting aggravation. "With all due respect, if this blunder resulted from the carelessness of the U.A. faculty, it is quite unbecoming. All of us are exemplary students, and I believe we deserve the best quality a prestigious school like U.A. has to offer." The student's next action was even more surprising as he immediately turned around and pointed to Izuku and Crona. "And you two! The one with the messy green hair and choppy pink hair!"

This student furrowed his eyebrows and gave both Midoriya and the young Gorgon an irritated glare. "I've been hearing you two muttering this entire time. It's becoming quite distracting. If this exam isn't serious enough for either of you, then stop bothering everyone else and leave."

Izuku immediately clasped his mouth with both hands, while Crona merely squirmed in his seat and tried covering his gaze underneath his bangs in drowning shame. "S-Sorry!" The former squeaked, but that did little to stop the snickering others sent their way; for such embarrassment at being shut up by the spectacled middle schooler.

Maka however glared down at the examinee below for calling out her friends and humiliating them for such a petty reason. "Just what the heck is his problem?"

"Dude I think you need to take a chill pill already," Soul piped up with equal parts boredom and exasperation in his tone, as he locked his indifferent crimson orbs with the spectacled teen, soon becoming the center of attention. "Nobody like stickler going around putting down a bunch of guys who are just excited for today. It's just uncool to waste everyone's time like that."

"What a vulgar attitude! Your acting even worse than them!" The spectacled examinee shouted in aghast outrage, while whispers began to arise amongst the audience over the developing a scene.

"Alright, alright let's calm down everyone! There's no reason to lose your cool, examinee 111!" Present Mic urged with his pleasant expression, hoping to defuse the situation before the tense atmosphere in the room started spiking through the roof. "But all that aside, good job noting that little detail! But believe it or not the fourth villain bot earns you zero points! He'll be more of a rampaging obstacle to overcome than actually beat, so don't waste your time with them!"

The young man kept his scolding glare at Soul for a few seconds before redirecting his gaze back to the pro hero. "Understood, thank you for the explanation! And I'm terribly sorry for the abrupt interruption." The teen said alongside a humble bow of his head, a stark and surprising contrast from his previously sharp and downright disrespectful behavior a minute ago.

"Well that's all from me, so we can wrap up introductions! But before I leave you listeners, I'll give you all a sendoff with our schools motto! The great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said 'True heroism in being superior to the ills of life' so how about you take that advice, to go beyond…" the monitor changed one last time now showing the words "PLUS ULTRA" as Present Mic raised his hand with a wide smile. "And give me PLUS ULTRA!!!"

...

Once again, the poor man was given nothing but the thick silence swiftly returning to the audience. Much to the pro heroes exasperation. "Oh c'mon, since when did kids get so boring?" The DJ hero muttered to himself within the awkwardly quiet atmosphere.

Maka however glanced at Izuku and saw the boy shaking with sheer excitement and happiness. Seeing those verdant orbs shine with joy and his lips becoming a shaky yet smile made the ash blonde feel so happy her friend could finally achieve his dream. Heck he could only imagine how bright his soul must be looking right now. You know what, maybe she could take just ONE small peek and see?

Deciding a tiny look wouldn't hurt, Maka activated her soul perception and immediately saw the emerald colored soul floating inside him as it was swelling with a warm fire that illuminated his entire...Wait what?

The scythe warrior blinked as confusion took over her face and looked closer, only to find the small soul she saw months ago, had not only doubled in size, but the entirety of the center was now embedded with a small yet radiant rainbow light that flowed like a ball of fire. Heck she could almost feel its energy being dimly emitted if she focused her senses hard enough.

'What is that?' Maka wondered with a brow risen up to her hairline as she stated at this anomaly in front of her with baffled surprise. What the heck was she seeing? Sure, the past nine months had allowed for his soul to get much stronger from his training and boosted mentality, but whatever was rooted in Izuku's soul did NOT look a natural change at all.

If anything, it almost looked like Izuku's soul had a….

"Okay everyone, go break a leg!" Present Mic's voice boomed one last time, pulling the girl out of her deep analysis and back to the present.

"Something wrong, Maka-chan?" Izuku asked as curiosity briefly took control of his facial features in place of his vigor excitement beforehand.

Maka hesitated for a moment and shook her head with a pleasant smile she mustered. "No I'm fine. I just got a little distracted is all."

Izuku's brow quirked but shrugged, as he and his friends started exiting the auditorium. Maybe she was getting nervous. He couldn't exactly blaming her when she looked pretty worried about not being able to work together with Soul. But he liked to believe she was going to be fine.

Not just because she was probably the strongest and fiercest girl he ever met, but her quirk was also pretty useful when it let her see the energies of anyone she saw like…like quirks.

'Oh crap!' Immediately Izuku halted in his tracks as every muscle and joint in his body became paralyzed with pure horror and starting sweating bullets once he started putting the dots together. T-There's no way she saw that right? Maybe she was looking at some other quirk energies in his direction or really was lost in thought? But as much as he desperately wanted to believe any one of those possibilities, deep down in his gut he knew none of them weren't likely to be true.

But if she really did see that, far sooner than he feared she would, then Izuku knew he had a lot of explaining to do when the time came; before he had to deal with his entire head throbbing for weeks.

---

Once Present Mic finished his introductory speech, the examinees gradually left the auditorium and made their way to the exits. Yet Bakugo before he stood up from his seat gave one more scathing glare to the four teens he sat with before with a grunt started stomping away and left with the crowd.

"Whew. About time that was over. Here I thought that whole presentation was gonna be twenty minutes of waiting around. But at least things didn't get too boring." Soul remarked as he got up from he seat and headed for the exits with Crona, Maka and Izuku towards the hallways.

"Well we have you to thank for that. We haven't even taken the test and already you made a huge scene." Maka huffed out, as she started to get up from her seat. Clearly not to pleased by Soul's spat with that spectacled young man.

"Are you seriously mad about that? Cmon Maka, somebody needed to tell the guy to stop acting like an uptight ass. Even a goody two shoes like you can tell he was being too much of a nitpicker." Soul retorted firmly, not regretting giving that guy a piece of his mind one bit. Especially when he picked on his friends for literally no reason.

"Even if he was acting rude, you shouldn't just go starting fights when we're around a whole crowd of people." Maka scolded yet soon her face softened as she walked alongside her weapon and patted his shoulder. "But it's good to know your head was in the right place."

Now if only that dummy used it more often instead of running his mouth and starting trouble.

"Eh no problem," Soul said with a laid back shrug. "I wouldn't be able to call myself a cool guy, if I didn't try to stick up for my friends. "

Crona's face flushed and timidly tapped his fingers together. "T-Thank y-you Soul, but really you didn't n-need to do that for us."

Izuku nodded hesitantly and shook his hands. "H-He's right, it wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, we have more important things to take care than being called out."

The four friends started to leave the auditorium and headed for one of the exits, but waited for the crowds to thin out and make it easier to leave. Once the stairways were less congested with examinees, joined the rest of the crowds to the exits and followed them out to the hallways.

As they walked through the hallways, remained on the path the rest of the applicants were taking. Yet soon the crowd started to splinter off from one another as they headed to the hallways leading to their designated battle centers-which were signified by the signs attached to the walls of the various hallways.

"Guys look up," Izuku spoke up and directed the trio's attention to the signs that directed to centers A-D. Centers A and B were directed towards the left hallways were a small cluster of students walked into, while C and D were located on the opposite wing that a handful of students assigned their travelled to. "This must be where everyone is splitting off to take their exams."

"Alright then, guess we better start doing the same and start heading to our own testing sites." Soul decided, and turned to face his meister with one of his usual confident, toothy grins. "Ready to give those judges a good show? I bet we're gonna make those guys drop their jaws when they see what we can do."

"Are you kidding me? I've been waiting to do that for eight months now." Maka replied with a cheery smile and to prove her point, slammed her fist into her hand. "I'm more than ready!"

"B-But are you going to be okay Izuku-san?" Crona spoke up, as he turned to face Midoryia with a worried expression. "I-I know you've trained so hard for this day, but since this is a test for people with q-quirks…" The sword meister trailed off, yet it was still enough for Maka and Soul to understand what he was trying to say.

"Hey it's alright C-Crona-san. I appreciate the concern but I think I'm going to be fine. Trust me I know more than a-anyone the risks, and maybe I'm a…little terrified but I've come too far to let that stop me." Izuku told the pink haired swordsman, with his voice growing more firmer as he spoke even when admitting to the fear that was swirling inside him.

Crona blinked in surprise by how undeterred Izuku was despite knowing how much the odds were against him. But that determination…it was unmistakable, and Soul must've no doubt thought the same thing too. And yet it shouldn't be surprising. They know very well just how much of a difference courage could make, and it looked like its presence was starting to finally blossom in Izuku.

And the very person responsible came to pat Crona's shoulder reassuringly with a bright smile. "Of course he'll be fine dummy, so quit acting so pessimistic. We all just need to focus on throwing your best efforts in the exam!" Maka beamed without a single hint of doubt in neither her voice or face.

"R-Right." Crona muttered as the worry waned from his facial muscles and became more relaxed from Maka's soothing presence.

"Just don't go too far showing off while we're gone Crona. The last thing you'd probably want is to get anyone caught in the crossfire while your annihilating the competition." Soul told the pink haired sword man with an amused smile, which was contrasted to Crona flinching back in a spark of pure panic at his friends advice.

"W-What!? I w-wouldn't want that t-to happen! I c-couldn't handle causing t-trouble before I even s-started the exam!" Crona yelped and frantically waved his arms in that same vein of mortification.

"Relax dude, it's only a joke." Soul sweatdropped, yet it did help to ease Crona from his pseudo panic attack.

"Oh….s-s-sorry."

"Well, we better start heading off to our exam sites." Izuku spoke up to his three friends and gained their attention, and pointed to the dispersing crowds heading to their designated sectors.

"Yeah you have a point." Maka agreed with a nod, but still exchanged affectionate glances and smiles to her friends before she parted ways. Crona did the same and despite Soul looking like he was barely moving his lips could still see he was smiling ever so slightly. He probably just didn't want to mess up that "coolness factor" he valued so much in his appearance.

And all the while, Izuku was trembling in a combination of excitement and perhaps some nervousness underlying his joy. But no matter what she knew without a doubt they were all going to pass no matter what else these exams threw their way. But before Maka and Soul left for their battle center, the former decided to say one more thing to try and keep themselves in high spirits.

"Alright, looks like it's time to show U.A what we can do!" Maka announced with a confident grin plastered on her face and raised her fist up. "The next time we see each other, we're all going to be students of U.A academy, I just know it! There's no way we're going to fail." Maka beamed to the point, one could mistake a sun was pouring out of her from the brave yet fiery determination lining her voice like a strong fire.

And that bravery seemed downright infectious as it rippled towards the three boys, who wore varying degrees of confidence from her small speech.

"Took the words right out of my mouth, Maka. As long none of us loses their guts we should be fine once we head in there." Soul replied in agreement with his meister, even if she was being a little flashy.

Crona quirked his brow at the metaphor, wondering if he was being literal or not before slowly nodding back. "Y-Yeah d-don't worry, I'll do my best." Crona muttered in between a faintly nervous chuckle, before turning his head to face Izuku. "But before we go, I…I wanted t-to wish you good luck Izuku-san. Even if it looks like it'll be impossible to win, I think you'll still find a way to overcome it."

Izuku's smile simply widened affectionately at the three friends he was so lucky to have befriended. "Thanks Crona-chan. And here's hoping you pass with flying colors too!

Maka's smile broadened in approval at the spark of determination she saw in her moss haired friend. "I have no doubt about it."

With those final best wishes spoken, the four teens split off and headed straight for where their respective exams would be waiting for them.

---

BATTLE CENTER A: 10 minutes till the exams began.

After splitting off from his friends, a bus awaited for Crona and the other examinees in his group to drive them to where their designated testing site was located. But thankfully before they entered the bus, Crona was given the chance to enter the locker rooms and change into his old black robe. It felt relieving to have something familiar with him as he took this exam, even if it was a subtle reminder of what he became a year ago.

Crona shook his head and banished those dark memories before they could run through his mind. 'This isn't the time to think about the past. T-This exam's already making me feel nervous as it is; I-I can't handle anything else on my mind. Maka said I could go all out once the exam begins, so destroying those machines shouldn't be too much trouble to deal with.'

But in less than a second, Crona's mind began to echo with the screechy cackling of his weapon. 'You actually think those tin cans are gonna give us any problems? Give me a break! You lifted one of the moon's teeth for fucks sake, compared to that, this pathetic exam and the rest of these posers will be pebbles to crush under.'

Crona's lips curled downwards as he continued to hear his merged partner's pompous voice. "That's not nice ragnarök. These people have probably b-been working just as I hard as we d-did to get here, y-you shouldn't insult them."

'You sure about that? Cause it sounds like they don't have any problem talking shit about you.' The demon sword sneered inside Crona's head. The teen blinked in confusion until he subtly glanced around and noticed several of the examinees staring at the swordsman with mocking grins amongst each other.

"Hey isn't that one of the guys who caused that scene in the auditorium?"

"Oh yeah, that's him alright. As if that stupid pink hair wasn't bad enough, the guy decides to go ahead and dress up like some edgy villain with that creepy dress."

"God what a freak. I'll be shocked if he lasts five minutes out there. But hey, at least it's good to know jokes like him won't be getting in our way." A stocky kid with a beetle's carapace covering his entire body sneered, with the last two following suit.

Crona couldn't help but flinch as he kept hearing more of these hushed jeers being made about him. And the fact his weapon kept cackling inside his mind didn't help either. The pink haired teen's facial muscles became etched with a more solemn expression and did his best to pull his gaze away from the rest of the bus.

He wasn't too surprised that some of these examinee's were making all these insults about him. If anything Crona expected to have these insults thrown at him for his appearance alone, since he knew in retrospect-or even on a deeper level, he was the complete and utter opposite to everything this school stood for. If it wasn't for Maka's kindly encouragement and the guidance of his therapist, he probably wouldn't last long in a course teaching him to be a hero.

Even now that word tended to bewilder him every now and then. He understood it's basic meaning and he's said it in the past, but as flattered as he was by Maka calling him that, saving a child wasn't anywhere near enough to pretend he didn't commit unspeakable sins. And he wasn't sure anything could. But at the very least, he could take his therapist's advice to focus on the present; no matter how much it stubbornly clawed at the back of his psyche.

"Oh just ignore those guys, their just a bunch of cocky hotshots who'd put anyone down to make themselves feel cooler." A friendly male voice spoke to the sulking teen, pulling him out of his pessimistic thoughts as his head shot up in surprise.

"Huh?" Crona blurted as his ebon orbs darted around the bus until he found a spiky blonde young man around his age sitting on the opposite side to him.

"Sup dude. The name's Denki kaminari, nice to meet ya!" The blonde boy, now known as Denki introduced himself with a friendly grin.

"Oh um h-hi," Crona meekly replied, and slowly waved his hand as he sat up straight on his seat. "My name is Crona Gorgon, its nice to m-meet you."

"Woah that's a freaky name you got there. It sounds like the name of a character in one of those DND games!" Denki remarked with the same friendly smile.

"Uh…thanks?" Crona replied at what he assumed was a compliment, if this person's friendly attitude was anything to go by. But now he was wondering what DND was.

"But you don't look or sound like you're from around here, aren't ya. I mean besides the whole getup you've got going with that robe of yours."

Crona blinked before rubbing his right arm. "Y-Your not wrong. I came from Aldera junior h-high, but I'm not really from Japan at all. I-I'm a-a transfer student from an American exchange program." Crona recited the information on his forged I.D, hoping he didn't screw up.

"No way, you're from overseas? Not bad man." Denki exclaimed with a quirked brow as his expression became colored with amazement. "Have you been in Japan long?"

"O-Only a year or so." Crona muttered timidly, not exactly sure what else to say. He still wasn't the best when it came to conversations with others. At least not without Maka being around to feel comfortable enough to talk.

"Oh cmon man, there's no need to be shy. Who knows, we might be classmates after today." Denki remarked, sounding quite welcoming to the idea.

"You really think so?" Crona asked with curiosity sparked in his features, wondering why he'd be so sure.

"Well okay, maybe it's not guaranteed, but its sure as hell possible. And if we do wind up in the same class, I might be there to back you up in case your in a pickle." Denki candidly told the sword meister, who stared at the blonde in surprise by this friendly attitude.

But Crona couldn't get a chance to respond back, as he was forced to flinch in pain as the familiar concoction of black blood and overall vileness erupted out of Crona's back in his plushie form. "Oh that's fucking rich, blondie!"

"W-What the hell?!" Denki yelped in shock as he watched the creature pop out of the robed guy like some kind of whack a mole.

"I've heard a lot of empty bravado in my life, but damn are you trying to compensate for something! Tell you what, maybe I'll believe half your crap, if you go ahead and become a meat shield for when me and this dweeb here crush the competition here!" Ragnarök guffawed arrogantly, however before anymore insults could come out of his mouth, Crona was quick to act and wrapped his lithe yet strong arms around his weapons neck and locked the sword into a headlock.

"N-Not another w-word!" Crona hissed out, trying to rein in his foul mouthed weapon before he caused any more of a scene.

"Or…or what? You don't f-fucking control me!" The sword wheezed out, and kept thrashing around his arms like a rabid ferret as one of his tiny free arms wildly whacked Crona's face.

"N-No I don't. But we b-both know w-what will happen if she hears you were causing me t-trouble in the exam." Crona reminded the gremlin who stopped his thrashing and as if someone pressed the pause button on him froze in the boy's arms.

"Grrggh…you just better hope this crummy test is enough to satisfy me after a year of putting up with all this shit!" Ragnarök spat out with nothing but raw acid in his voice, before promptly dissolving back into his meister's body without much of a fuss.

Once he was gone, Crona released a long and weary exhale and glanced at the incredibly confused and slightly insulted Denki. "I-I'm so sorry about him, he-my q-quirk's always had that kind of personality." Crona corrected himself at the last minute as he apologized.

"Uh…i-i-it's alright I guess." Denki replied awkwardly, not sure at this point to still feel offended or pity for the poor guy having to deal with a jackass for apparently a quirk. "But for the record, you have to deal with that, every single day?"

"At least w-when he's in a good mood. Otherwise his tantrums become more explosive than what I usually deal w-with."

"Yikes, talk about having a crappy quirk." Denki murmured with evident pity in his voice.

"Oi, keep it the hell down!" A gruff voice exclaimed in a low tone, from the back of the bus. But for Crona it felt like someone cracked a whip at him when his ears had registered that unmistakable voice and slowly turned his head to find none other than Bakugo brooding in the back part of the bus.

'Oh no…' Crona mentally whimpered, wishing what he was seeing wasn't true, but unfortunately there was no mistaking that scowling face. Why did Bakugo have to be here? He couldn't handle dealing with him again-and especially when he was about to take the exam.

But as petrifying as it was to know Bakugo was going to around him, the best thing to do was to stay away and ignore him as much as possible. The last thing he would've ever wanted was to end up causing a repeat of their first confrontation…

Crona faintly shuddered at the unfortunate memories that flashed through his mind, and how dangerously close he was to once again befalling into madness. But even so...he...he's gotten better than he was before; or at least he's starting to become better than the person he was months ago.

However the sword meister returned to reality once he started to feel the bus was taking a turn down a curved road for several minutes, allowing its passengers to see a few miles away the gargantuan arena that encompassed their testing site. Though even so far away, the examinee's could see the towering buildings of the cityscape peeking out of the metallic walls surrounding them. Crona couldn't help but let his face press on his windows glass in awe by the monstrously sized structure up ahead.

"Wow…it's so massive." Crona murmured to himself as his wide ebon orbs remained glued to the sights beyond the bus window.

"Can't say there's anywhere else this bus would be heading to," Denki remarked as he like the pink haired teen was just as mesmerized by the titanic arena. "But daaamn, look at the size of that thing! Even I didn't think they'd go this far either. Talk about sparing no expense." Denki whistled in awe, as the bus was reaching closer to the stadium sized metropolis.

'Oh hell yes! Now that's what I'm talking about! Just the place I need to finally let loose after almost a year of you bastards cock blocking me from an actual fight!' Ragnarök cackled almost madly, as savage bloodlust oozed out of his scratchy voice in rivers within the recesses of the meister's mind.

But Crona however didn't pay much attention to his weapon's barley restrained hunger for battle and continued to stare at the battle center far ahead with wisps of wonder in his dark eyes. All the while, Crona started to wonder if Maka and Soul's exams were anything as grand as this.

---

BATTLE CENTER C: 5 minutes before the exams begin.

"Holy crap, this place is huge!" Maka muttered to herself, and continued to scan her surroundings with amazement shining throughout her jade orbs. Everything inside those giant gates looked so lifelike. The sprawling buildings, the roads that went on for miles, it almost perfectly resembled an actual city that people would live in.

And this was all meant to be torn down?

Soul whistled as he scanned the faux metropolis, being admittedly impressed by the scale the staff was willing to go just for an exam. "Sheesh these guys really love to show off, if they're spending this much dough on a bunch of testing sites the size of actual cities." Soul remarked candidly as he and Maka stood patiently waiting amongst the rest of the applicants in the entrance to the battle center. The group of teens continued to wait for the giant metallic gates to open up and face the numerous robots awaiting to test their mettle.

The death scythe having currently changed from his school uniform into a black leather jacket underneath the white T-shirt he chose to wore with his black sweatpants and red/white patterned running sneakers. Meanwhile, Maka chose to wear an aqua green T-shirt with white trimmed sleeves and a "love books" logo plastered on the center, with white fingerless gloves strapped to her hands to match, alongside a pair of chartreuse yellow baggy jeans paired with a white belt to go with her pair of white and black striped sneakers.

"Just what kind of budget do these people have to build all these cities, just to let get destroyed like a bunch of legos?" Maka still had trouble wrapping her head around it, as the funding this hero academy must've had to afford such costly constructions must've been immense.

"Seems wasteful if you ask me. Hell, I doubt even Shibusan would be willing to spend that kind of money just for training." Soul replied, as while he knew their old school deeply valued students with potential, but going as far as building literal fake cities to test their potential, seems like your just throwing money down the drain for no reason.

"But we're pretty lucky to have been selected together. Otherwise death only knows what how you would've lasted without me." Soul remarked casually.

"Excuse me?" Maka narrowed her green eyes and glared at her weapon. "I'll have you know I could've taken care of myself just fine."

"Oh yeah? Well tell me great master fighter Maka, how would you duke out against a bunch of giant robots on your own? Try Maka chopping them to paste?" Soul teased smugly, all while his lips curled into a shit eating grin that only served to make Maka's face erupt with a beet red blush.

"Oh knock it off dumbass, I would've found a way! It's not like you could've done much without me tagging along either, so don't act so cocky." Maka pouted with her flustered blush still lingering on her face.

"That still doesn't answer my question you know?" Soul reminded his meister, yet his red orbs locked onto the particular object latched to one her right bicep. "But I see I'm not the only one who decided to wear it, huh?" The scythe said and pointed to the black headband that matched the one he wore around his head.

"Are you kidding? Of course I brought it along too. It wouldn't hurt to have some luck from back home helping us out" Maka cheerfully said while raising her

Maka then placed a soft hand on the headband with soul's logo, as a tender smile made its way to her face. "Even if our friends aren't here with us, as long as we wear these, our souls will still be united, just like Tsubaki said they would."

It didn't matter if they were literally dimensions apart from their teammates and all their other friends. She firmly believed that these headbands acted as the symbol that would always connect their souls together no matter where they went. And even now as she wore that headband, she could innately feel it. She just knew deep within the reaches of her own soul that they're friends were backing them up today. Maybe that sounded a little idealistic, but there was no way Maka could ever doubt the strength of those bonds.

"Well it's good that brilliant minds think alike." Soul added as he shuffled through his pocket and pulled out his own matching headband and placed it on his forehead. "Tch, hell maybe that idiot can still sense us all the way here and wants to give us his godly blessing or something like that. Then again I know for sure Spirit be going all out cheering you on, like some overdramatic fanboy."

Maka's face scrunched up, as if she just swallowed a lemon when that unpleasant image traveled into her head. "No thanks, that creep can keep a good distance away from me. The last thing I ever need is his support of all things." Maka said with a tone as dry as the Sahara desert, but soon released an irritated huff. "But knowing him, he still wouldn't leave me alone, no matter how much I tell him to back off."

"I wouldn't doubt it." Soul replied in an almost amusement tone, as the duo allowed the air of nostalgia that entered between their reminiscences to flow for a little while longer. It wasn't like thinking back on the past and the antics they'd get caught up with between their friends and teachers wouldn't hurt.

"Alright, it's time we start getting ready." Maka told the albino scythe with a bright smile stapled to her face. Her optimism almost appeared to overflow out of the young meister's soul wavelength and start pouring into Soul, if he started to share a similar grin was anything to go by.

"About time," Soul agreed wholeheartedly with the ash blonde, yet looked up as the giant iron gates began to open themselves. "And it looks like the show's about to start soon."

"ALRIGHT KIDDO'S QUIT STANDING AROUND! IT'S TIME TO GET MOVING!" Maka jumped at the booming voice, as did Soul to a lesser extent. But since they had experience with loud voices before, didn't react as outwardly as the other teens standing alongside them. The applicants looking up in surprise and bewilderment as they saw none other than a grinning Present Mic standing above them from one of the towers.

"Huh?!" Maka yelped, as she and Soul like everyone else, was caught off guard by the loud announcement.

"Oh yeah, these guys really love their dramatics." Soul remarked as he looked up at the DJ hero standing above them.

"What's wrong? In case you haven't noticed, the test's already started! You got less than ten minutes and the clock's ticking! Now run, run, RUN!!!" Present Mic exclaimed, and once the applicants regathered their wits, heeded the heroes advice and started flooding into the testing sight.

"Shit, we better get moving!" Maka muttered, and with a quick nod from her partner, both teens knelt down into a runner's starter position.

"Say, wanna do round two of your little race and see who gets inside first?" Soul challenged with a toothy grin.

"Why not? Just try to catch up or the last one there is a rotten egg!" Maka teased back with a smug smirk, recalling all the satisfying times she managed to run past Soul in those running tracks Rumi assigned them to.

"In your dreams." Soul replied, and immediately prepared to make his meister eat her own words. After all, his death scythe powers weren't the only thing he spent time improving after all.

In less than a literal second, Maka and Soul pushed their strong leg muscles into action, and launched themselves like fired off rockets into the fray.

"What the hell?!" One of the applicants yelped in shock, as they watched the athletic ash blonde and equally swift albino rush past them like fired off rockets. Of course, The stragglers left behind to catch up to the pair. Keyword "tried", but no matter how much energy they poured, a majority of them simply lacked both the stamina, endurance or the quirks necessary to do so.

Maka meanwhile had already started gaining an edge over her weapon in their little race, but surprisingly Soul was starting to close the gap between them, yet at the same time, still couldn't exactly reach the speedy ash blonde.

Looks like soul's been trying to improve his speed more than she thought. But unfortunately for him, once Maka dashed into the center of a urban crossroad they were heading into, skidded to a halt while Soul still had to catch up shortly after.

"Goddamnit!" Soul said under his breath, while he reached his meister.

"Looks like I win again." Maka boasted with a proud smile, yet at the same time carefully scanned their surroundings for any signs of those machines, but so far found nothing.

"Yeah, yeah, soak up your victory. But I swear, I was this close to beating you." Soul argued, knowing in his mind he could've finally outrun Maka if he had a minute longer.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Maka rolled her eyes before returning to the task at hand as she started looking around the streets. "Now enough goofing around, we gotta focus. These robots could pop up from anywhere-"

Suddenly her naturally sharp senses, further honed from years as a meister immediately sensed from the faint yet heavy sound coming from one of the buildings, and improved realized something was coming. Soul seeing Maka's hardened face immediately put two and two together and readied himself for what was to come.

BOOM!

"Whoa!" Suddenly her instincts were proven right as Maka alongside Soul were forced to leap a lengthy distance back to avoid the large green machine that exploded out of one of the buildings.

Once back on their feet, Maka and Soul cautiously examined the robot now stomping its way out of the dust and freshly made rubble from its destructive entrance. The robot vaguely resembling a scorpion with its four thin legs and gun like tail as it loomed over the duo.

[Target detected! Prepare for termination!!!] The machine emotionlessly announced, as its red optics locked on her and without any warning charged straight towards the teenage pair.

But instead of panicking or caught off guard like most would in this situation, the EAT class duo confidently stood without a hint of fear in their faces.

"Pretty big guy there, but we've faced way bigger." Soul said casually as he cracked his knuckles and stared at the approaching villain bot without much concern.

Compared to several years of fighting evil humans, monsters and the clown army, this lug of metal didn't warrant much concern for young yet badass veterans like themselves. If anything they could probably get a good workout from reducing all these bots to scrap metal.

"Just don't get cocky. Those judges are watching us as we do this, so we can't pull any punches." Maka asked lightheartedly while she rolled her shoulders. "Remember, we're not holding back."

"Got it." Soul said eagerly through the sharp grin on his mouth, as he instantly transformed himself into his weapon form for Maka's outstretched hand to grab.

The scythe meister once properly armed with her partner stared at the approaching villain bot with nothing but determination glinting within her jade orbs before lunging towards her foe.

Three points should be a good start.

Once she closed the gap between them, Maka pulled her scythe back with one hand as she ran, reared her legs and instantly catapulted herself towards the green robot. Before the three pointer could even take action and attack, Maka in the same second, spun her scythe within her hands to build momentum before unleashing a swift horizontal slash. The fast and large crescent blade once making immediate contact, sliced away both its head and gun tail off in a single stroke. Resulting in the destroyed villain bot twitching haphazardly for a few moments before slumping to the ground.

With a dull thud, Maka landing back on the ground and placed Soul over her shoulder as she examined their work. "Huh, that was easier than I thought."

"Looks like these robots aren't too tough, if it took a single swing to beat this metal chump." Soul mused within his weapon form, almost sounding disappointed that fight ended so quickly.

Talk about a letdown.

"That's probably because the challenge isn't just beating them, it's hunting enough of these robots to pass." Maka reminded her partner with a slightly admonishing tone. But unfortunately her Soul perception would be pretty much useless here, since there. Was no soul in these lifeless machines to even sense.

"But that's if we can find any more of them," The singular red eye of soul's scythe form glanced at the street to their left, and spotted three sleek robots with guns for arms and a single thick tire for mobility, while another resembled a living armored tank as they made a sharp turn towards Maka. "Though that might not be a problem. Looks like we have some more guests coming."

[Prepare to be eliminated!] The horde of villain robots said in unison, and continued stampeding for the duo.

"That makes things easier." Maka remarked, while positioning herself into a battle stance as the robots rapidly approached her.

The first one pointer pushed forward and fired its rubber bullets out of one of its gun arms, yet Maka immediately dashed around the projectiles and pounced on the green robot. The young warrior swinging her scythe to make a diagonal slash; tearing through metal and circuitry until it was cleaved into two pieces.

But Maka was far from finished.

The ash blonde flipped over the destroyed robot and continued her relentless pursuit for the remaining three. Once reaching the others, Maka rushed towards the nearest one and pulling her scythe back, landed several fast slashes that eviscerated the green machines upper torso into several large, torn chunks. The second villain bot tried to attack from behind, only for the scythe warrior to flip into a handstand and pulling both legs up to her chest slammed both her boots into the bottom of its small head.

The villain bot's neck shot upwards from the surprising strength behind the twin kick, stunning the machine momentarily. But in the midst of battle, a second was the equivalent of minutes. Time Maka used effectively as she flipped back to her feet and spun around to deliver a devastating vertical slash to the robots mid torso. The one pointer freezing for a few seconds before its lower body slid off from being bisected.

Alright, three down, one more to go!

Maka wasted no time and dashed for the last villain bot. The three pointer fruitlessly tried aiming both its guns at the swift ash blonde, but by the time it sluggishly raised its weapons, the young girl already closed the gap between them; as she lunged towards the robot and raised her large scythe over her shoulder.

"Alright soul let's take it up a notch!" Maka smirked victoriously, while Soul within his weapon form grinned with eagerness practically brimming out of his wavelength. "About time, you gave the call."

"Let's go, soul resonance!/Let's go, Soul resonance!" The duo shouted in unity, with their souls following suit as their wavelengths discharged towards each other until they achieved perfect synchronization with one another.

Once resonation between their souls had been achieved, the blade of Soul's weapon form became blanketed in a shining silver light and grew in mass until it became a massive and lengthy crescent blade.

"Letter X Hunt!" Maka shouted out one of their newer witch hunter moves and plunged her crescent scythe downwards in a clean yet large diagonal slash. The powerful energy emitted from the blade, pierced through the dense metal like a hot knife cutting butter. But once finished, Maka in less than a second, spun her scythe around her before swiftly making another diagonal slash on the opposite side of her bulky target; carving up the villain bot to nothing more than chunks of scrap metal.

Once Maka finished with her attack, Soul's blade reverted back to normal shape and size, while the ash blonde let her lips curl into a victorious grin at the sight of the destroyed three pointer. "Finally! I thought it take forever for us to get that hunter move down."

"Maybe we'd get it right faster, if you weren't being miss perfectionist every time we practiced." Soul chided the EAT class meister from within his weapon form, with his red eye glancing down at the girl wielding him in minor exasperation.

"Well excuse me but isn't the point of training is so we can iron out our weaknesses?" Maka retorted back, since while their hunter moves have been reliable and do a lot of damage, sometimes they tend to be too slow. But guess that's one the benefits of having better arm strength.

"But did you have to juggle practicing a bunch of other moves at the same time?" Soul said dryly, only for Maka to simply roll he eyes.

"That was Rumi's idea, not me. Now if you're done complaining we should find some more villain bots before we run out of time." Maka said, knowing eight points wasn't going to cut it.

"So I take it you want some eyes in the sky?" Soul asked, reversing himself on Maka's grip and instantly transformed his large blade into six lithe angelic wings.

"You read my mind." Maka smiled at her old friend knowing her thought process so well at times. Hopefully with flying in the air with their Grigori wing's it'll make the issue of finding villain bots to destroy relatively easy.

Yet just before Maka was about to ride on her winged weapon, the ash blonde noticed through the corner of her eye, a brawny looking examinee with spiky brown hair and thick lips stand several feet across from where she stood. The muscled teen staring at her wide eyes and a partially agape mouth. Most likely having watched a majority of her combative display.

Maka deciding to be friendly, smiled and waved at the stunned teen. "Don't worry I think there's still a few more villain bots a few blocks away. Just try to hurry up or somebody might steal the points from you." Maka beamed with a friendly attitude pouring out of her, snapping the applicant from his shock and nodded slowly.

"O-Oh uh, okay…thanks." The young man thanked awkwardly, not knowing what else to say after seeing this chick fight like a Mortal Kombat character.

"No problem!" Maka chuckled before sitting on her winged staff and started taking off to the skies above. "Good luck!" The meister wished before she and her weapon soared away to the rest of the urban area.

"You too…" The applicant muttered, before looking around at the wreckage before him and sighed. "Man, I'm starting to seriously wonder if I'm outta my league here."

---

AT THE SAME TIME…

Crona continued to stand around in the center of the large street he wandered himself into once the entered inside. The sword meister's ebon orbs continued to nervously dart around him as he kept scanning the horde of two and three pointer villain bots that were beginning to circle around him.

"Oh no, this isn't good. This isn't good at all. It hasn't even been a minute and I'm already surrounded." Crona murmured nervously, keeping his dark orbs locked on the handful of three and two pointers gearing up to attack him.

Meanwhile the other applicants who were busy destroying villain bots nearby couldn't help but incredulously glance at the cowering pink haired teen across from them.

"I can't believe this wimp was allowed to take the exam."

"Look at this guy, he looks ready to shit his pants at any moment!"

"Tch, I wouldn't be surprised if he starts trying to run away and cry for his mommy." The beetle examinee sneered as he kept throwing jabs at a one pointer, with the other two following suit with his laughter.

However the robed teen didn't pay much attention to all the mocking the other applicants were throwing behind his back. Instead Crona glanced at his back as his partner's coned head popped out of his merged partner's lithe chest. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Quite bitching already and start slicing these bucket heads up!"

"B-But there are other people here, what if I h-hurt them in the process?" Crona asked in strong fear of the possibility he'd wind up accidentally hurting or worse yet kill these other applicants if he started fighting in such a tight spaced area.

"Who cares! They have fucking superpowers moron, so why worry about their sorry asses? Now quit wasting time…you already know what to do." Ragnarök told his merged partner with sickening glee coloring his quiet voice.

Crona blinked slowly as he processed his weapon's reasoning before nodding slowly and straightened his posture up, like a wind up toy being turned on. "Oh…I guess you have a point."

"Then in that case, I shouldn't really waste anymore time, should I?" Had his enemies not been mindless machines, the horde surrounding Crona might've felt a chill run down their systems by the sheer frigidity suddenly coming out of his boy's tone.

But the second after Crona uttered these words, a pair of long yet lean black arms violently ruptured out of the boy's shoulder blades. Splatters of ink black blood rained out of his shoulders in droves, as the abyss of despair and uncleanliness, immediately manifested within the arms gloved hands, alongside the Darkness short sword being summoned to Crona's right hand.

Two of the three pointers attempted to rush towards the four armed boy and attack with their rubber bullets, but couldn't even move no more than a couple inches before becoming utterly eviscerated in less than a few swift slashes by the teen's twin katanas. The blades unnaturally sharp edge being enough to slice through the machines like a hot knife cutting butter and leaving their chopped up remains to slump down.

The other robots "attempted" to gang up on Crona but had just as much success as before they could raise their weapons, they were instead met with an overwhelming flurry of thorns flying out of the teens robe that pierced into their metallic shells like javelins; tearing the poor machines to shreds in seconds. The thorns however didn't stop there. Soon after dealing with the nearby villain bots, the black tendrils started swarming throughout the surrounding streets like a river and eliminated the other machines with vicious efficiency.

And all the while, the other examinees were forced to scramble away as the flood of thorns started coming towards the other streets and destroy the remaining villain bots. Leaving the handful of teens watching the swarming thorns with slacked jaws. Their terrified eyes looking ready to pop out of their sockets as they couldn't comprehend the utter massacre they were seeing before them.

"H-H-Holy shit…" one of the applicants managed to babble weakly.

"W-What the hell is this? We're we really making fun of this guy?" The beetle teen whimpered in pants shitting terror, as he and several others stood in frozen shock and continued watching the robed teen annihilate the remaining villain bots without a shred of mercy.

After bisecting another one pointer with the darkness and simultaneously decapitated another with a vertical swing from one of Ragnarök's blades, Crona looked around the wreckage of the destroyed robots around him curiously. "Those were probably the last ones around here. But maybe there's more to crush if I look hard enough?" Crona muttered to himself as one of his thorns held up a destroyed villain bot before dropping it to the ground.

Yet as he looked around, the sword meister was able to notice a few more robots rushing towards this area from the rooftops. Those looked like one or two three pointers but it was hard to tell as they hopped over the several buildings. Oh well it didn't matter, at least he found more of them to destroy.

"Oh wait, there's still a few more." Crona said casually and merely outstretched his left arm. Yet in the blink of an eye, several massive jets of black liquid erupted out of the boy's wrist and rapidly swirled into the air, until it all solidified into a single hulking yet hollow black cone.

"Bloody Lance." With a push of his hand the large projectile catapulted towards the two pointers with great velocity, and upon instant impact reduced the machines to chunks of destroyed metal, alongside carving out a considerable chunk of the building itself.

Crona lowered his arm once his creation accomplished its task and shifted his gaze to the rest of the exam site. "I should probably go look around for more of those robots before I run out of time."

The more of them he destroyed, the better the chance he had to stay with Maka.

Thus with no more villain bots to eliminate here, Crona commanded all his thorns to recede back to the recesses of his long robe, leaving behind several small piles of destroyed machines as the tendrils returned to their master.

"Excuse me." Crona asked politely as he started casually walking out of the wrecked street. Yet the applicants merely stumbled away from the pink haired teen in either awe or cautious fear.

The swordsman's extra arms suddenly retracted back into his body but were immediately replaced by a pair of long and lithe draconic ebon wings protruding from his back.

With only a single flap of his wings, Crona swiftly lifted himself off the ground and soared through the air to find his next targets. Thus leaving behind several stunned teens to watch the flying sword meister disappear to the deeper parts of the cityscape.

Meanwhile in the skies above, Crona continued to zoom by several skyscrapers like a bat straight out of hell. His lengthy black wings flapping strongly in the wind as he scanned the ground below him for any robots. But that was proving to be difficult with a certain voice cackling in his head.

'HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! God, it feels so fucking good to finally let loose! Even if it's just a bunch of metal buckets, there's nothing like the thrill of tearing apart prey!' Ragnarök guffawed almost manically, with equal parts bloodlust and excitement, much to his attached partner's exasperation.

"R-Ragnarök can you please c-calm down? It's hard for me to focus with all that noise you're making." Crona told his merged weapon, but it didn't sound like he took him seriously.

"Oh knock it off you damn buzzkill! Its been forever since I've been given a real fight! Now if only they had souls to eat, that would be perfect!" The demon sword said hungrily within Crona's mind.

"They're machines Ragnarök, they don't have souls, a-and even if they did, we need to focus on getting points if we want to pass." Crona lightly scolded his soul craving partner. Yet before the merged pair could continue arguing with each other, Crona noticed the swarm of green robots that was prowling around the streets far below them.

"And would you look at that! More of those rust buckets! Now what are you waiting for? Let's tear the metal fuckers to shreds!" Ragnarök exclaimed with vicious eagerness, as the craving for some good old rancor dripped from every fiber in his voice.

"B-But Ragnarök, there's more applicants down there too," Crona muttered, as he saw alongside the robots several examinees engaging with the villain bots. "W-What if I end up hurting them?

If that were to happen, he would be undoubtably disqualified just like that hero said in the auditorium. Maka would be so disappointed in him, if he failed so quickly in this test! There was no way he could handle that!

"Ugh you fucking-then use your head and figure a way around it! We don't got time to accommodate you being a pussy!" Ragnarök impatiently snapped back at his meister.

"O-Okay." Crona replied timidly, trying to ignore his weapon's vulgar voice and prepare to engage with his robotic targets. He just needed to make sure no one was caught in the crossfire.

With his mind made up, Crona flapped his wings and sent himself diving downwards to the ground below and towards the unsuspecting villain bots.

SWOOSH!

A small dust cloud erupted once Crona landed from the sheer speed and shockwave brought on by his descent, forcing the examinees and even the villain bots to flinch back from the sudden gust of wind.

"W-What the hell is that?" One examinee muttered, as he watched the dust started to clear and found the source to be a robed teen standing eerily in the middle of the broad, urban street.

The villain bots however weren't as nearly fazed by his sudden entrance, as a few one and two pointers tried to attack the teen. However this futile effort only led to the robots to meet a pink and black blur rushing towards them and in merciless succession, sliced apart each one in his path to ribbons.

With the abyss of despair and uncleanliness held in Crona's hands, the sword meister zoomed towards the remaining robots and promptly eviscerated them in a flurry of precise slashes from his twin swords. Each swift slash tore through the robots metallic plating as if it was mere tin foil, and no matter how hard those machines tried, they didn't have much of a chance to retaliate-much less land a hit-against this monstrous applicant.

"Yehahahahaha! Now this is getting fun!" Ragnarök exclaimed with sadistic glee through the mouthed hilts of the katana's. Reveling in the relentless slaughter of all these robots.

"R-Ragnarök please settle down, I'm trying to focus." Crona asked as he swung his left sword and decapitated the head of a one pointer in one swift stroke.

"Oi, don't ruin my fun here! Less talking, more destroying!" Ragnarök snapped back, much to Crona's continued exasperation at his weapon's bloodlust.

At least eliminating these machines were an easy enough task despite the limited timeframe. It wasn't like this wasn't anything new to him. He already had plenty of experience ending the lives of multiple targets whenever he was on one of his "missions" for Medusa to gather human souls. It was obviously something he hadn't enjoyed thinking back on, but he couldn't deny it wasn't useful.

"H-Hey watch out!" An examinee called out, causing Crona to turn his head over his shoulder and find a few three pointers firing off its rubber bullets at the young swordsman.

Yet much to that examinee's baffled shock, saw the pink haired teen was practically unfazed by the rubber projectiles fired at him. The volley of pellets only kept bouncing off the teen's body once they made immediate contact. And judging by the indifferent expression on Crona's face while he kept shrugging off the robot's non-lethal bullets, he didn't feel even an ounce of pain.

"Can you please stop? It's starting to itch," Crona said with minor annoyance coloring in his tone and face; as if he was dealing with a mosquito buzzing him than a slew of hard rubber bullets. And to deal with what he deemed a pest, raised the uncleanliness upwards into the air and spoke once more. "Screech alpha." The second Crona swung his sword to the ground, its mouthed hilt hurled out a large mass of eminence colored energy that released a gurgling roar through it's ghastly maw.

The broad screech alpha crushed the concrete beneath it as it zoomed toward the three pointer's like a runaway train, until the blast of dark energy collided with the robots and viciously tore apart the robots. The explosive force behind the screech alpha's impact created a minor shockwave that echoed throughout the wide street, sending several pieces of the destroyed villain bots and rubble flying everywhere from the powerful blast.

"There goes another one. But I h-how many points do I have now?" Crona wondered to himself with a slightly furrowed brow, as it looked like he was starting to lose track. Maybe twenty?

He was just surprised this test was proving to be so easy than he initially thought. True, the time limit made him more than anxious, but with how fast it was becoming to destroy these robots it shouldn't be too much of a problem either.

Yet suddenly the meister was torn from his thoughts when he heard a panicked yelp and turned around to see one of the destroyed pieces of the wrecked buildings was about to fall onto one of the examinees. Acting quickly, Crona summoned a long black thorn to enwrap itself around the rubble before it hit and flung it away.

"Huh?" The teenage girl blinked in surprise, before looking up to see an ashamed Crona standing not too far away.

"S-Sorry about that." Crona apologized timidly, looking rather guilty for still being careless enough to almost someone else to almost get injured.

"I-I-It's okay! B-But thanks for saving me there!" The teen stammered out, still amazed yet also a little terrified by the destructive display she witnessed from this robed examinee.

Crona's face erupted into a bashful pink hearing this girl thank her-even though it was his carelessness that endangered her to begin with. "Uh i-it's o-okay. It was my fault to b-begin with, so you shouldn't have to t-thank me."

However before the blonde could respond back, the sound of a tire grinding on concrete filled both teens ears and turned to see another one pointer zooming from a corner of a building.

The examinee flinched at the charging robot, yet as Crona saw his newest target, hardened his face with cold indifference. Once the meister turned around, he dissipated one of his swords while shrinking the uncleanliness into a dagger; and proceeded to slice a thin cut into his other wrist, much to the examinee's horror.

"H-Hey what in tarnation are you d-doing!? Are y-you out of your mind? Why a-are you-!?" Yet whatever else she was about to say got lost in her throat, as she watched then robed teen swing his bleeding arm in the air.

"Bloody needle." Crona uttered, and in mere moments the black droplets that came out of Crona's slit wrist sprung to life and catapulted themselves at the charging one pointer. As the animated splatter of ebon blood droplets flew, they all morphed into a barrage of lengthy and sharp needles that stabbed themselves all over the green robot like a swarm of angry wasps.

Each deadly needle pierced its sharp edge through every part of its metallic plating and circuitry, until the kebab'd one pointer's single tire was shredded from the onslaught of needles and promptly tumbled off course. The one pointer's body skidding off the street until it crashed straight into a nearby wall, resulting in a sizable hole forming from the crash.

"…H-Hurting yourself?" The teenage girl finished numbly, while she stared at the destroyed heap of the villain bot in stunned shock. Yet when she caught a glimpse at that cold look this pink haired boy had within his dark orbs as he tore through these robots with his quirk; she couldn't help but feel a chill crawl down her spine.

Crona meanwhile glanced back at the horned blonde one more time, as that cold indifference was replaced with a more meek yet friendly expression. "I should g-get going now. Sorry a-again for the trouble I caused you."

Without a second to spare, Crona summoned his lengthy black wings once again and lifted himself back into the skies high above to resume his hunt for more villain bots. Much to that baffled girl's stunned surprise, as she wasn't sure what in god's name just happened.

Yet amongst the applicants still standing in frozen shock from the swift and brutal rancor they bore witness to, a certain blonde was one of them, as he stood next to a building's corner and stared at the sky with a astonished expression.

"Holy hell, just who the heck is that guy?" Denki muttered in numb shock, and like everyone else watching as the dude who turned the street into a miniature junkyard flew away like it was nothing. "Guess it's a good thing I made friends with him."

"Eight minutes remaining!" Present Mic's voice announced throughout the testing sites, finally snapping the teens out of their frozen shock and immediately scrambled to find any remaining villain bots.

"Oh dammit! I better hurry up and-"

BOOOOM!!!

But as if Denki and the other few examinee's weren't already shocked as it was, a sizable explosion suddenly fired offacross the the next street, causing Denki and everyone else to jump back in fearful shock by immediate shockwave of the blast, as several destroyed green robots flew across the street and crashed to the hard concrete.

"What the fuck is this!?" The bellowing voice of none other than Bakugo soon followed. Several eyes cautiously watching as the scowling blonde furiously stomped out of the block and set his crimson orbs found the piles of busted up robots he didn't destroy.

"Goddamnit, just who the hell is trying to steal my spotlight!?" Bakugo barked with a dangerous amount of seething contempt throughout both his voice and expression, before continuing to obliterate whatever villain bots he could hunt down.

Denki meanwhile stared at the wrathful teen with equal parts astonishment-and admittedly a good amount of terror-while he resumed his wild rampage with his explosive quirk. "You gotta be kidding me, just how many powerhouses are running around here?"

---

U.A MONITOR ROOM, 2 minutes ago.

"This is getting pretty interesting. I figured this year's applicants would be talented but they're blowing my expectations away." The masked gunslinger hero known as Snipe remarked, as he and several others that encompassed the staff at U.A sat in their assigned seats within the darkly lit monitor room.

There the various pro heroes occupying the private room looked over the various monitor screens, that streamed various video feeds displaying the examinee's progress so far within the battle centers.

"No kidding, I didn't think we'd be seeing so many promising candidates right off the bat, after amping the practical exam's intensity this time around." A curvaceous yet scantily dressed woman said, known otherwise as the rated R heroine Midnight, replied in agreement with her colleague.

"But that's exactly why the exam was designed this way. I couldn't think of any other environment that would allow us to evaluate the applicants based on their reaction and then immediate actions towards a crisis in a limited span of of time." The principal of U.A academy spoke up with a small smile on his snout, watching through the monitors a number of applicants either formulating strategies for the situation, in the middle of attacking and destroying the villain bots, or outright hiding to prepare for a sneak attack against the machines. "Here the applicants are in a situation where they don't know the layout of the battle centers, where the villain bots will appear from nor when they're numbers will stop. And as a result, they are forced to meticulously search and destroy their targets while figuring out stratagems based on their quirks to gather as many points as possible before time runs out."

"But it's safe to say that it'll taken more than just showing off some flashy quirks to succeed. Brute strength alone can only take these applicants so far in this kind of daunting test." A bulky hero resembling a humanoid block of stone, known fittingly as Cementoss, added his own input.

The principal nodded. "Indeed, and that is why there are main factors we must consider here beyond just power and combat efficiency. Some are utilizing speed and robust usage of their quirks to succeed, while others who lack that strength, are seeking discrete area's to formulate proper strategies to effectively enact on and strike their targets." Nezu noted as he observed a young teen with a crow-like head and a shadow like entity maul several villain bots, while another blond applicant with a thick tail snuck behind a one pointer and immediately flung his extra appendage from behind before the robot could fight back. "In the end, we must also take note of those who display unique traits under pressure. Confidence, intelligence, and experience using their quirks in unique and creative methods. And the handful amongst these applicants that possess these qualities, and can conjure sufficient tactics from them, will be the ones to become future students here."

"I couldn't agree more Nezu-san. I think it's safe to say a great batch of new students are coming to U.A, soon enough." A skeletal blonde amongst the judges concurred with the principle, as he grew more and more impressed by what this generation had to offer for heroism.

"And I think I found some of them. Take a look at battle center C over there. That one in particular, is showing some serious adroitness," A man wearing an excavator claw as a helmet and sturdy gauntlets known as Powerloader spoke up. The man pointing to the left side monitors, displaying an ash blonde girl wielding a unique looking scythe that she used with an impressive level of skill as she hacked away at the villain bots with ease. "Damn look at her go. She's tearing through those bots like they're nothing!"

"Huh?" The blonde turned his head to look at the monitor for battle center C, yet immediately his sunken blue eyes widened a bit as he noticed who was on the screen. "Wait a second is that who I think it is…?" Toshinori murmured to himself in surprise. He'a seen that ash blonde girl too many times with his pupil to not recognize her.

"Ah yes, I believe that's examinee 7115, or going by her real name Maka Albarn. I'm glad to see she's already off to an astounding start with how efficiently she's disposing the villain bots." Nezu commented as he kept his eyes focused on monitors showing more of the young girl's finesse and speedy movements while hacking away at her targets.

"But what's with that scythe she's using? Isn't it prohibited for the applicants to use any weapons besides support equipment for their quirks?" Cementoss asked curiously, while still watching her use that lengthy weapon with a shocking level of mastery for someone her age.

"Acute observation Cementoss-san, but not quite," Nezu corrected, causing Snipe and the other judges to glance at the diminutive principal with curiosity. "That's actually applicant 7119, otherwise known as Soul Evan's she's holding in her grip. What we're seeing is the main function of his quirk, that from his application papers, allows him to partially or completely transform his body into a scythe or sickles."

"That's quite a deadly quirk to possess. Yet at the same time, it makes the boy have a hard time utilizing it in the other fields of heroism besides combat oriented situations like this one." A black masked man with a skull like face and wearing a lengthy lengthy cloak, known only as Ectoplasm stated. "Between that blonde kid in center going wild with his explosion quirk, I'm starting to wonder if we'll need to do more lessons on quirk regulation and improvisation."

"But I'm guessing those are the examinee's you made that exception for?" Snipe added as he looked over the tablet and examined the electronic file on the pair. "They're descriptions fit the background information you shared with us when proposing this idea."

"I just never thought you'd bend one of your rules to let them enter the exam together." Midnight remarked.

"It was always a minor and discreet policy compared to our more important rules concerning the overall exam. I was reluctant at first, I admit. But when I was forwarded with their backgrounds, I couldn't help but be fascinated enough with their skillsets to try this experiment." Nezu beamed as he eagerly watched the duo skillfully tear through the villain bots with precise coordination and speedy slashes the machines couldn't hope to avoid. "It's quite a sight to witness a duo as young as Maka and Soul exhibit such incredible experience and prowess."

"Though I take it from your expression Toshinori-san, you have some familiarity with these two?" Nezu told the astonished blonde in a quiet whisper as his sunken eyes remained glued to the screens.

"Uh, y-yeah I do, they're actually good friends of my successor. Believe it or not Izuku actually told me a bit about this EAT program they attended. But I found it kinda hard to believe at first. I just didn't even think the United States would attempt to do something so bold as letting middle schools begin pre-hero courses." Toshinori spoke back in surprise, with the last part reaching the other teachers ears.

Admittedly he hadn't exactly been up to date with the ongoings in America since he left the country years ago, but when Izuku during one of his training sessions had told him about the trio's old academy; it was quite a shock to hear those seemingly normal foreign students had such an unbelievable background.

"Trust me, we felt the same way when Nezu-sama explained it to the rest of us. But their guardian was the one who presented the information, and it all seemed legitimate." A female voice belonging to a woman wearing a bulky spacesuit, known by her peers as Thirteen verified the principle's claim.

"Just how sharp is that kid's edge? I spent hours making sure the bots armoring would be a challenge to bust up." Powerloader mildly complained, yet still couldn't help but be impressed by the duo being able to destroy these robots in such quick succession.

"It's hard to complain when we're seeing just how talented Albarn and Evan's really are. Heck, I can barely track Maka's movements with how she's rushing through these robots with ease." Midnight commented with a impressed smile. Then again when you remembered who they lived under, it wasn't too much of a surprise to see them kick this much ass.

"Wait a second, what is she…?" Cementoss trailed off, but not before she and the other judges were left surprised as they watched the monitor displaying the ash blonde's scythe transforming into a massive luminous crescent blade that sliced up a three pointer in mere seconds.

"These two certainly have their fair share of surprises, don't they?" Nezu mused with fascination, now beginning to see his decision may have been worthwhile after all.

"Talk about having a trump card. Just look at the size of that blade, it must be over twelve feet long!" Midnight remarked with amazement leaking into her voice.

"I'm shocked she can even lift him in that state, let alone swing it around without her attacks speed becoming diminished ." Snipe added, as he and the others watched the girl finish her powerful attack. But as if that display of power wasn't surprising enough, they watched as the ash blonde's weapon afterward's, transform once again, into a winged staff she promptly used to ride off into the air.

"Okay that's…unexpected." Cementoss muttered in stunned surprise, as he stared at the girl flying away to another section of the battle center.

"It's incredible! They can even fly in the air?" Thirteen gasped in astonishment of the feat. Their quirks were already unique to begin with, but this was something else altogether!

"But how are they even doing it? I thought the boy's quirk was based off transforming into scythes? Since when did generating wings come into the equation?" Snipe questioned, as this unexpected phenomenon baffled the teacher to no end.

"It must be the product of Maka's quirk at work here. She's most likely been using her quirk on her partner's "wavelength" to augmented the boy's transformation quirk in a powerful yet esoteric manner." Nezu theorized the theoretical mechanism between the duo of that granted them flight.

"Ah right, I almost forgot about her quirk's other abilities besides energy perception. But the wavelength of the soul? That sounds downright supernatural compared to most quirk's I've heard of." Ectoplasm remarked with a slither of incredulity to his tone, as the idea of a quirk based on the idea of the soul of all things was probably the first for him.

"Pretty ironic to say considering your hero's name, Ectoplasm-san. But you need a more open mind here. In this day and age, there are probably numerous quirks out there that are capable of things we couldn't even begin to have imagined as remotely feasible, several decades ago." Midnight added with a smile, as she was growing very interested to see what other surprises Maka and Soul would pull out of their sleeves.

"She's probably just using those terms to describe the energies her quirk can perceive, and make it sound cooler. We were all like that at some point when our quirks first emerged." Cementoss said with an amusement tone in his deep voice. After all it wasn't uncommon for kids to come up with all sorts of freaky names for their quirks and how they worked.

"I'm just having a hard time understanding why they needed to be grouped together so badly?" Thirteen couldn't help but wonder as she watched the ash blonde hack away any villain bots around her. "It almost feels unfair when you factor this girl's insane athleticism being added with her friend turning into that shapeshifting scythe."

"We already decided that any villain points they'd gain would be split between them. And given the unusual nature of their quirks and training from that EAT class in the west; it be like getting forced to fight with one arm tied behind your back if we split them up." Cementoss retorted while crossing his arms.

"Insightful as always Cementoss-san." Nezu complimented the masked sniper's analysis as he watched the scythe duo soar around the sprawling mock buildings. "Albarn and Evan's teaming up simply allows them to display their full potential for us to observe in this arduous testing environment. They still have no idea where the villain bots will appear, even when utilizing their shared ability for flight to find their targets at their elevated altitude. Combined with their limited timeframe and the vast area of the battle center, the challenge of accumulating enough points to pass remains a daunting task-even for the most talented of our applicants participating today."

"Unfortunately I think Aizawa-san would still be hard time agreeing with either of you. I still remember how irked he was after Nezu explained his proposal to the rest of us." Midnight remarked, remembering how vehement he was when Nezu proposed bending the rules for Maka and Soul.

"I can't say I blame him for feeling that way. In any other circumstances I would've agreed with him, but seeing Albarn and Evan's in action, I think they may actually warrant this exception." Ectoplasm reasoned, understanding while it seemed slightly unfair at a first glance, this method of teamwork was anything but conventional.

It was as though these two teens had been trained to use their respective quirks and skills so intrinsically together as a combined unit; it would ironically almost be like crippling a single applicant by dividing the pair, rather than making things fair.

"But now that I think about it, where's Aizawa-san anyhow? It's been almost three minutes in and he's remained a no show." Midnight asked with slightly furrowed brow, wondering what could possibly keep her old colleague late at a time like this. Especially since it's never like him to be this late.

Toshinori rubbed his chin. "That is strange, but I guess he must've run into traffic getting here or something along those lines-"

BUZZ

BUZZ

"Hm?" Nezu glanced at his electronic tablet next to him, as it started making a loud buzzing sound as the words "ALERT" flashed on the clear screen."Well, this is most unexpected."

"What is it?" Thirteen asked.

"It appears I may have just found the answer to Aizawa-san's belatedness." Nezu replied, causing many brows to rise up in confusion until the principal tapped the tablet's screen a few times before answering the alert. "Hello Aizawa-san, does there seem to be a problem?"

"That's putting it lightly!" The man on the other line grunted, sounding like he was currently running alongside someone else, if the fast paced stomping noises and growling was anything to go by. "Hound dog and I been trying to chase down this damn hothead after she decided to barge into the building when she couldn't take no for an answer!"

"STOP WHERE YOU ARE! *growl* DAMMIT ALL, THAT LUNATIC IS HEADING FOR THE MONITOR ROOM!" An animalistic voice belonging to the hunting dog hero snarled as he raced to catch the intruder with his fellow staff member.

"Oh dear," Nezu sighed out exasperatedly but didn't sound too surprised by this sudden development either. "I feared this would happen. I had hoped she would be more understanding, but it seems I simply underestimated just how tenacious someone of her nature could be when she sets her mind onto something."

"Is it serious?" The symbol of peace asked with a somewhat concerned yet bewildered tone. Just who the heck could be crazy enough to try to break into the country's most prestigious and fortified hero academy?

"Not at all, though I'm afraid I will have to confront this issue for only a moment." Nezu said as he hopped off his seat and turned to face the rated R heroine. "Kamaya, I believe your skills will be necessary to settle down our rowdy intruder once she gets here."

"Oh sure thing Nezu-sama. But I'm not really sure if I'll be able to get her to settle down when she's this riled up." Midnight couldn't help but muse with slight dread lining her voice, given the few experiences she had with her.

"Don't worry Midnight-san, I'm certain we can reason with our guest before this minor situation grows more hectic." Nezu casually assured the bespectacled woman, only to turn back to the rest of the judges with a beaming smile on his short snout. "In the meantime, I believe it's just about time we initiated the second phase of the exam."

"Alrighty then, time to turn things up a notch." Powerloader thought aloud, and reaching for the control board sitting below the numerous monitors pressed down on a single red button and activated the switch for the exam's next obstacles.

"Perhaps now with these big guys running around, they can help prove just how much of a bumper crop these applicants really are." Thirteen commented.

Yet at the same time, Toshinori turned his gaze towards the monitor for battle center A, and watched as a certain moss haired teen in a seafoam green tracksuit run down a street of the mock city. The boy's face clearly riddled with anxiety and fear, but at the same time, Toshinori saw the spark of determination within those eyes. The same spark he saw as he rushed headfirst into danger for the sake of those in need. 'Young Midoryia…I know you can do this.'

---

BATTLE CENTER C

*STOMP!*

*STOMP!*

Maka straightened up while she sat sideways on her winged weapon as the flew through a city block to find more villain bots. Only for the thunderous sound of something massive moving to suddenly start entering her ears.

"Huh? What the heck was that?" Maka muttered and looked over her shoulder, only to find with slightly widened eyes the source of the tremors-and holy crap that robot was huge…

"Looks like they're starting to amp up the pressure." Soul added, watching alongside his meister from the soulscape the handful of looming massive figures that arose from the other side of the cityscape. But within his weapon form, the albino grinned a sharp smile. "Fine by me, then. It wouldn't be much of a test if we didn't get some hurdles thrown our way."

Maka's surprise quickly fled from her face and in its place was a confident smile. "Yeah, you have a point there. Guess that means we better start doing the same, and pull out our big guns too!" The ash blonde fearlessly beamed and stared at the metal behemoth marching towards the rest of the cityscape.

"Come and get us you giant tin can!" Maka mocked with a cheery grin at the gargantuan villain bot before she and zoomed into the lower parts of the urban area.

Once hulking zero pointer set its sights on the flying girl and several other applicants through its far reaching optics, began marching its way through several of the empty buildings and apartments it towered over. The titanic villain bot charging through the mock city with the single minded objective of targeting any mass of examinee's in its vicinity.

Yet as the metal titan approached them slowly but surely from behind the duo, Maka and Soul were anything but afraid. This was time to muster all the courage and strength from within their souls and prove to U.A they had what it takes to become students here.

Thus with that same bright resolution resonating between meister and weapon, Maka and Soul swooped down to a street crawling with several villain bots below them.

The villain bots couldn't even detect the oncoming threat before they found one of their own sliced almost in half by Maka, as she jumped back to the ground with her scythe in her grip once again. Maka then using the two pointer's torn body as support, backflipped a feet away and skillfully landed directly in front of the other robots.

'Alright then, no more holding back. It's time to show U.A the strength of our courage!' Maka declared to herself with a confident grin and without any hesitation leapt straight for the horde of machines.

---

AUTHOR'S NOTES

AAAAND IT'S DONE! Hello everyone, and welcome back to another chapter of Soulbound Heroes! Sorry for four month long delay, but due to recovering from some burnout from rewriting the story for a year, and some scenes I had trouble writing; this chapter unfortunately had a late release. It's a shame, but I will strive to release these chapters as soon as I can, while delivering on as much quality I can implement.

But as you can see, we've finally reached the entrance exam! But if you're wondering why it's part 1, there was simply not enough room for the boat load of content I have planned for this small arc. As trust me much more is gonna go down between many other characters and of course the fight scenes for Maka, Soul and Crona as they put all their effort into passing the exam.

Now a lot of you guys may be wondering why Nezu and the staff allowed Maka and Soul to be grouped together given their policies towards judging applicants individually. Well besides the "backgrounds" given to the staff about their old school, that question will be delved a bit deeper in part two once Nezu deals with a certain intruder heading for the monitor room. (And I think you all have a good idea who it is)

Also yeah concerning Maka's "growth spurt", that was something planned since not only is she getting older, but I guess simply cause after all she's went through… deserves one good thing since coming to MHA. But trust me when I say Maka's going to learn her growth spurt is a blessing and a curse as the story goes on.

But the results of her training have pretty much given her a good boost in terms of raw strength like her friends. If not the most given how Mirko trained her the harshest for certain reasons. It was a department Maka always lacked and proved to be one of her and Soul's biggest weaknesses when facing foes like Giriko who dealt direct brute force.

Though image wise, Imagine Maka now with Yukina's physique from Kabenari of the Iron Fortress if you watch that anime. But if your curious Soul has also gotten pretty lean too, which will definitely do favors in enhancing his blows against an opponent. Both with and without his death scythe powers. Meanwhile, Crona, who's now much healthier physically as well, is also going to make a difference for him in battle since here's something to consider.

While the Black blood enhances one's strength, when Crona was emaciated and spindly, the black blood must've compensated and provided itself as the main source of his great strength and durability. Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to fight well with how badly Medusa starved him, much less be unfazed by Blackstar punching him rapidly in their short duel. But now he has some natural physical strength, well…let's just say the effects for his blood will be noticeable. And better yet Crona is actually starting to actually heal not just physically, but also mentally as he's trying to move from his past demons thanks to his therapy sessions. Not a 100% mentally well mind you, but major progress from where he was beforehand. Amazing what wonders a therapist can do for a person with enough time.

Though I am considering getting an artist to commission some fan art and a cover page in the future, so stay tuned on that front.

But concerning the new original technique as "letter hunt-X" for Maka and Soul, that hunter move is only a taste of what is to come in the future. Same for Crona especially who will be displaying the fruits of their hard training as well. Cause I'm not gonna lie, I'm quite excited to write the next part since that's going to show more how much stronger they've overall have gotten. Not enough to make them too OP, don't worry. But the best comparison is like sharpening a sword-it's still a good sword only now with a sharper edge to it.

Yet concerning the lack of reaction by the judges on Crona…don't worry, they'll see the rancor soon enough.

But now it's time for review responses...or double review responses I should say, since I unfortunately forgot to respond the reviews of my last chapter a year ago. So sorry about that!

Yellowpikmin88: Thank you so much for sticking to my story this long and I sincerely apologize for making you and everyone else wait nearly a year for the rewrite. And the fact you were one of the first reviews for chapter seven was touching to see, again, thanks a lot man!

But yeah Maka and Bakugo have pretty much established as bitter enemies, yet with the former's skills easily mops the floor with Kacchan. And yes Crona's therapy was indeed long overdue and I hope I made it satisfying and interesting enough to read, as Crona begins the long and arduous journey to healing from his deep mental trauma.

Though concerning the LOV…wait and see.

Thanks and yeah Maka pretty much spelled out that even if she knows its illegal there's no way she or Soul will ever be bystanders when it comes to those they care about being in danger. Something Mirko respected since it was a damn good reason and had the experience to not royally screw up.

Though for the exam and Maka and Soul's placement I won't lie that was one of the hardest decisions to make and one of the main reasons why this chapter took so long to finish. As while the duo are stronger after Mirko's training they still need each other to properly fight like you said, yet the issue has been resolved and be further addressed in part 2.

Mezentsevmichael: thank you so much for understanding!

Guest reviewer: that's the main goal the whole time, though concerning the old chapters I'm not really sure since the rewrite is pretty much almost the same, barring a few key differences. Not to mention having some updated context implemented. So really there'd be no point.

Guest reviewer: Don't worry, I have.

Guest reviewer: thanks man, your support and patience is very appreciated!

Dymian: honestly I learned the problem in the end wasn't the length per say, but in actuality the content within said chapters that didn't make sense and made the characters act OOC at times. Alongside rereading the manga to add corrections and fix scenes that made no sense. Which in the end became true reason why I did the rewrite besides removing maybe a few slithers of fat from the story.

That is very true and trust me I have plans in the future for more than just main chapters! *rubs hands together* believe me I got a lot of plans. And I'm glad you see those kinds of chapters that way as I wholeheartedly agree some chapters need simply some slice of life scenarios to develop characters and the world around them. Happy for the constructive criticism and I hope to see you back soon.

Guest reviewer: oops…sorry bro for that. But if it makes you feel better the new chapters are out now.

Guest reviewer: Well don't worry there's more to come in the future regarding Maka's improvements alongside Soul and Crona. But concerning Soul perception it doesn't read minds as it does see everything about a soul wavelength that a normal soul perception user wouldn't like the little ogre.

Guest reviewer: Thanks.

Max3636: Yeaaah that I cannot deny was a notable flaw in the original, but don't worry those conversations have been shortened to more reasonable lengths. But overall thanks and I hope you enjoy the rewritten version.

Gamecubenut: oh trust me you have no idea. But yeah Crona is pretty much Toga's dream boy given the nature of his quirk, so don't expect things to go for the vampire girl as they did originally.

Guest reviewer: sorry for the wait, but it's back now.

Guest reviewer: don't worry it is still ongoing.

Guest reviewer/mokkia: don't worry the length hasn't been too affected, just the content has been rewritten to better quality than before. But I'm glad to hear that the pacing wasn't as bad as I initially thought.

TyTylerBarela100: Thanks!

Guest reviewer: don't worry it has.

Guest reviewer: so sorry man for the wait-I know, but I'm back now.

Guest reviewer/Brieana: Thank you for your patience and yeah I too enjoy writing Crona and his moments, since despite his atrocities in the manga I wished he could've been given some happiness.

Guest reviewer(2): He hasn't yet, but don't worry check out chapter six to see. But yeah a lot of games are available to Soul and believe me when I say I'll try to throw some easter eggs here and there.

Guest reviewer: true, but he's still a teenager and in the end he has his hobbies. Especially when he acts lazy.

BOOMman123: it is ongoing once more and I apologize for the long wait.

Pulgarong00: Thanks man!

Trooper50: Glad to hear it!

Howldawg: Same here!

Guest reviewer: Je suis ravie que la réécriture vous ait autant plu ! et ne vous inquiétez pas, j'ai bientôt plein d'autres chapitres !

Guest reviewer: Don't worry this story has NOT been abandoned nor will it ever be! Delay's and hiatuses maybe but otherwise this train ain't stopping no matter what!

And thank you, it warms my heart to hear the compliments over my evolution as a writer from where I first started originally with this story and made it better. And yeah the results of the trio's training have been glimpsed here besides packing a good amount of athletic muscle, sharper reflexes and such.

And yeah that was no mirage, this chapter confirmed it.

I'm happy you like the therapy scene as I made sure to write it as well as possible and capture Iwata dissecting yet helping through Crona reliving some of his pain.

Glad you like those moments and don't worry, there's more to come with Izuku bonding with the trio. Glad you like the chapter!

Guest reviewer: Yeah I'm back! But yeah you're not wrong about Bakugo. Once he sets his mind to something, and combined with enough motivation from being humiliated so much he's going to do whatever it takes to avenge his pride and get back at Maka. Trust me the bad blood between those two is gonna get tenser overtime.

But in the end Crona's never gonna truly heal from that level of mental trauma. At best semi-normal is what Iwata cam pull off for someone so deeply traumatized by such monstrous abuse.

Guest reviewer: After this incident, it's definitely going to make Izuku want to do more than just have a strong enough body to inherit OFA. He wants to get overall stronger so he wouldn't need to rely on his friends saving him rather than help save everyone they can as heroes. Yeah Bakugo Is quite bullheaded, especially when he was at this phase.

RighteousHope: Thank you so much for understanding and for your patience especially.

Guest reviewer: wait and see in the near future…

Guest reviewer: well don't worry a lot is planned out concerning character interactions.

Velican.akat98: Thanks.

Shigro283(3): yeah those two have a lot in common in terms of meekness. Yeah…it's familiar alright, almost as if it happened in some alternative universe.

Guest reviewer: I'm happy to hear everyone's enjoyed the therapy scene and trust me when I say there's more of those to come in the future. And yeah their interactions in these moments are always fun to write and especially when writing the fight scenes.

Guest reviewer/Random anon: And don't worry, even if there's delays I'm going to continue updating from here on out.

Tiribiri: good to hear!

Guest reviewer: that's a topic that I'm not going to really touch on since Ohkubo pretty made Crona's gender based on what the reader see's. Some do they, she or he, but as you can see it's the latter. But at most, I will say Crona despite being a man has a number of feminine traits, which makes sense since the witch population is female dominant race, so the X chromosome would be more prevalent as a result.

Formerlyarandomreviewer: Yeah I am going to try correcting that issue with previous chapters whenever I have the time. And as for the secrecy with Iwata I will admit maybe it's unnecessary, but keep in mind if a therapist were immediately told Crona's background they wouldn't want to touch him with a meter long pole. But don't expect this to last forever.

It's nice to see you had a good laugh out of that scene! She doesn't realize that while she was growing, it wasn't the manner she was fearing. Quite the opposite actually. You'd think she'd realize sooner, that after eating tons of nutritious foods and intense exercise for nine months, this would all wind up having some effect.

Guest reviewer: Uh Asura pretty much showed you that in the manga. The black blood had no doubt made him not only more crazy but greatly increased his already godlike strength and durability.

Guest reviewer: ooh you have no idea when it comes to that little perv….

Also a group with team Deku and the smart kids, huh? That's actually not a bad idea, definitely keeping that one in mind. The rest however I really don't know what your talking about.

Guest reviewer: uuuuh, I get where you're going but Kratos and Crona are two VERY different people. Similar maybe but at the same time not exactly similar. One became a monster out of pure vengeance while Crona was literally born and tormented into being one.

Shigro283: Sorry for the delay, but it's here!

Anyway WOW that was a lot to cover, but while I was skimming through chapter's seven's reviews I unfortunately noticed not too many old reviewers came back. *sigh* look, I won't lie while that's disappointing to see, I understand since it's been a year I've been on hiatus without a peep, but I still really hope my other reviewers come back now that it's better than before. But then again it's probably also due to that notification issue FFN started so that doesn't help.

Also for more news this story has now been crossposted on AO3 now so hopefully I can garner some more fans and hell if you have an account check it out. Hoping it works both ways but eh I'll see.

Anyway thanks a lot for the patience and I hope this chapter delivered on the exciting content, and be sure to review, favorite and follow as those always help fuel my motivation and I especially appreciate constructive criticism and feedback, just no flames as those aren't cool. But I hope you enjoyed part 1 and I'll see you all in part two of the exam arc!

Shados960 out!