Hello again, everyone. Well, it took me some time to really figure out how I wanted to change up what little of the practical test portion of the Final Exam arc as I did, but it was all in preparation for this final test portion I'm having Tunguska spring on our plucky 1-A students. It's time to see how well they manage to fare all together (for the most part) against the closest thing they have to All Might.

I know I've been asking you all to read and review for the last few chapters, and considering how much of the material was virtually left untouched for the practical tests outside of Kolya, Mina and Denkis' test against Principal Nezu, I can understand why you all thought it was unnecessary. This time around, however, it's all original, so if you would take the time to read and review and let me know how you think I managed to portray this final test of the term, that would be really, really appreciated.

I work hard to put together these fully original events, and that's where feedback is the most essential, so please, it wouldn't hurt you to take the few minutes needed to write up something and just let me know what you all think. I've really been wanting to avoid asking for reviews to this kind of an extent, but the overall silence for the last several weeks has been a touch concerning.

I'd like to give another shout-out to my beta reader, Mizu Hikikomori, for their continuous support and aid, even when dealing with things like internet troubles on their end. Their involvement cannot be understated, nor can my gratitude for their sticking with it for as long as they have despite numerous real-life circumstances.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, the original events surrounding them, and the alterations of established events that occur as a result of their existence in this universe.

A/N: [[]] denotes that characters are contextually speaking Russian.

Chapter 35

Final Test

(Заключительный Испытательный)

Frankly, Tomura Shigaraki was momentarily blown away by the total bluntness; no, the boldness of these two new faces that had been brought to him: some spiky black-haired teenager with a sewn-up burnt patchwork skin job dressed like an outdated street punk, and some bubbly vampire-fanged blonde schoolgirl with an aggravating voice, let alone sense of pure energy. And for them to just come in here asking to be added to the League of Villains from the get go was the kind of straightforwardness most people would've considered downright admirable.

Unfortunately for them, Tomura Shigaraki was not most people, instead looking at his two unwelcome guests with total disdain behind the disembodied hand clutching onto his face, and he was willing to express as much with the same kind of forwardness as theirs, not even turning to address his loyal misty comrade standing attentively behind the bar. "Kurogiri, warp these little upstarts out of my sight. It's looking like the two types of people I hate the most decided to come here as a goddamn set. Some snot-nosed little shit, and some try-hard-looking asshole with no understanding of 'respect'!"

The black-haired boy didn't look even remotely fazed, while the blonde girl beside him only looked to be trying to process what she was being told behind the upbeat fanged smile on her face. "Say what?"

In the face of this less-than-satisfactory introduction, however, the hazy Villain called Kurogiri only slightly stepped forward, never even taking his eyes off of Tomura instead. "Now, now; our guests went through all the trouble of coming here. If nothing else, let us at least hear what they have to say, Shigaraki Tomura-san. And besides…" Here, Kurogiri turned to address the smoking sleazy-looking bespectacled man that had brought the two guests in the first place, simply standing by and looking on as if this were just another normal day. "…this brokers' name carries significant weight in our circle, and the folks he introduces to us should prove strategically advantageous."

"Yo, I don't care what you end up doing, Kurogiri-san; just make sure you cough up my service charge, alright? And yeah, you might as well listen to their introductions after all the trouble I went to bringing them here together." The aforementioned broker spoke up with an exhale of cheap cigarette smoke before stepping forward to personally introduce each of his new finds to his current employers.

First off was the still-smiling blonde schoolgirl, who even despite everyone elses' words, Tomura just found increasingly out of place here, fangs or no fangs. "First up, this cute little high school girl here. The media is keeping her face and name under serious wraps, as she's on the run as the prime suspect for serial blood draining murders."

Taking this as the perfect chance to make herself known, the girl excitedly stepped forward; her sharp-yet-tired-looking yellow eyes reflecting just as much excitement as her sunshine-y tone: "My name's Toga; Toga Himiko! Life is hard! So I'd like to make a world that's easier to live in! You ask me, that just means getting rid of people wherever I go, but if that means Heroes too, then that's even better! A few weeks ago, I started hearing people talking about some big scary foreign Villain who came over and attacked a whole bunch of Heroes and kids! Vukodlak! That's what the name was! I was having such a hard time remembering, it was so fancy and complicated sounding! But they were saying that he was talking about getting rid of all the Heroes in the world, and I thought that sounded so cool, and that life really would be easier if they were all gone! Once everyone started saying he was connected with you guys, I just had to come over! I wanna be just like him, I wanna be the one to kill and become Vukodlak! So please, please, please let me join, Tomura-san; c'mon!"

Alas, even in the face of such infectious childlike enthusiasm and drive, Tomura was visibly less than impressed, not helped by the fact neither she nor her spiky-haired acquaintance could make out any of his face. "I didn't understand a single damn word you just said. Are you some kind of nutcase or what? You sure took a big leap over some bullshit rumors. Vukodlak has no affiliation with us; let's make that clear right out the gate."

However, while the girl called Himiko Toga didn't look to be visibly affected by his words, it did get Tomuras' head running in realization: 'Great, thanks to Sensei getting that blind old-timer out here and stirring up a scene, everybody's associating him with us. Making us look like some big freakin' joke, no doubt. With both he and Stain failing in their missions while people think they're one of us, what the hell kind of reputation is the League going to have with some brat like her in our roster?'

While this train of thought was stewing in Tomuras' head, the broker decided to step in once again while motioning to the black-haired patchwork boy to his left. "Don't worry, Shigaraki-san, she can hold a conversation, more or less; and she'll surely come in handy. Next up, this young man here hasn't committed any crimes that have particularly stood out, but he has taken to the Hero Killers' ideals quite a bit, I can promise you that already."

In contrast to the brokers' positive presentation, however, the stitch-faced boy simply looked upon everyone around him with a look of disdain, made unreadable by his physical expression, but also made palpable just by the very air he gave off, especially in his tone. "I don't know about this…does this group really follow any kind of cause? You're not actually going to let this insane chick join, are you?"

At this, Tomura suddenly sat up straight on his bar stool, the first real physical reaction he'd given to anything the two newcomers had said yet. "Whoa, there, buddy. Even the batshit crazy little brat there managed to spit out her name first. You're a proper adult, aren't you?"

The black-haired young man simply stared Tomura eye-to-eye, not even remotely intimidated by their hosts' body language. "Right now, I go by 'Dabi'."

Had it not been for the fact he really did not like these two, Tomura almost would've wanted to laugh at such an ugly individual naming himself something as morbid as the Japanese word for 'cremation'. However, since he was the one with the authority here, he wasn't about to give these two strangers any reason to lower their guard. "I don't want what you go by; I want your real name."

Again, the boy called Dabi remained standing vigilant, giving Tomura no ceded ground in this little verbal trade-off. "I'll tell you when I need to. In any case, I'll be the one to fulfill the Hero Killers' will."

Finally, Tomura rose up from his seat, shoulders hunched in an almost animalistic show of building aggression. "There's no need for you to run your mouth about shit I never asked you; either one of you! Will anybody shut up about Stain and Vukodlak already?! I swear, that's all I hear out of anyone anymore! Stain this, Vukodlak that…"

"Shigaraki-san, no…" Kurogiri began to speak up, clearly already able to tell just what was about to happen if he didn't intervene. Alas, Tomura showed no signs of backing down; finally revealing one eye from behind the hand on his face, staring straight through Himiko and Dabi alike.

"I'm not feeling this…no, not at all…you two…you're no good!"

The three immediately lunged for each other like a trio of especially bloodthirsty cobras, but it was with just as much swiftness that Kurogiri opened a series of portals between the three, sending their attacking hands (and knives in Togas' case) this way and that, just so long as they were away from each other. He could only hope that their initial attacks being proven worthless all around would somehow be enough to quell the built up aggression in the room.

"Please calm yourself, Shigaraki Tomura-san. If you truly desire to carry out what you wish, then the expansion of our organization is indispensable. And, odd though it may seem, our opportunity to expand is now. After all, at the moment, all eyes are on us. Do not reject out of hand; receive them, Shigaraki Tomura-san. If you don't make use of them, then everything, including everything Sensei left us, will—"Shut up."

Tomuras' sudden interruption struck Kurogiri silent as he withdrew his hands from his respective portal, thankfully opting to instead turn his back on Himiko, Dabi and the broker, and simply making his way for the back door. "H-hey, where are you—"I said shut up!"

With his final words being exclaimed to the visibly confused or concerned broker, Tomura took his leave, slamming the door behind him, leaving the remaining four to bask in the admittedly uncomfortable silence. Dabi and Himiko withdrew their own hands as well, giving Kurogiri the reassurance they wouldn't try going after his associate, thus convincing him to withdraw his portals and get back to the business at hand, while the broker just let out an exhausted sigh. "Well, anyway, I don't wanna have to say this about a client, but…Shigaraki-san is way too young to be the one calling the shots here. Too temperamental for his own good."

"He sure is intense, though! I actually thought I was gonna be killed for sure back there!" Himiko admitted, albeit sounding very excited by the thought of it, while Dabi simply looked on in silent, intense contemplation. "He is a pretty creepy one, I'll give him that."

With the two recruits speaking up again, Kurogiri finally returned his attention to them in kind. "Might we ask you to await our reply in the days to come? You see, he actually does understand, himself, what it is he ought to do. In fact, it is precisely because he understands that he left without saying a word. After our confrontation with both All Might and Tunguska, and later on, the Hero Killer, he's been personally humbled twice.

"Being placed in a high position of authority within our organization, he also has his pride and responsibility to consider as well. He was indeed telling the truth when saying he has had no personal involvement with the Villain known as Vukodlak, but the individual who helped found our organization arranged his coming here personally, and with his defeat, and the media and general public affiliating him with us, just as they are with Stain, both their failures can't help but inevitably make Shigaraki-san feel even further humbled in a broader sense as well.

"I'm certain we will come to an understanding…both you fine folk, and he himself."

Yuuei Academy Training City, Central Arena

All of the still active students of Class 1-A were still recovering from the utter shellshock they were reeling from in light of what they had just learned. Within the last minute, Tunguska had tried to launch a sneak attack on them, and then outright stated they were to partake in a third and surprise final test for their end-of-term exams. The fact that their Quirk History teacher showed absolutely no signs of a barely concealed snicker, or any other telltale sign that he was making it up, only made the gravity of their new situation hit that much harder.

"You all may be coming up with some questions as to how exactly this test is supposed to play out, so let me just put any curiosities you may have to rest. Time's wasting, otherwise. You've proven your general education and Hero logistics smarts with the written test, and you've shown your capabilities to plan alongside each others' individual strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your opponents, and mostly proved your effectiveness as small teams with the practical test. Now is the time for you all to show how you can adapt against a singularly overwhelming opponent on the fly, both in terms of teamwork, and in terms of figuring out how to utilize your Quirks together as one large cohesive group.

"This time, the escape gates are not an option. If you want to pass this final test, this war test if you will, you'll need to genuinely defeat me in battle. Capturing is no longer a condition for victory, it has to be a battle to the finish, until I can no longer bring myself to keep fighting back. There will sadly be times when you're out there working as Pro Heroes, where submission will be your only viable option to defeat a Villain, otherwise you're giving them ample opportunity to get you when your guard is down, if not just go for the general public out of the kind of wretched spite Villains are wont to do.

"However, I'm sure some of you will be quite relieved to know that one condition is carrying over from your practical tests to now. If even one of you is able to beat me into submission, then just like before, the entire class as a whole will pass. That is all."

Tunguska wasn't even remotely shocked by the collective looks of shock, confusion, fear and uncertainty on all the students faces, especially those of Nikolay, Eijirou, Mina and Ochako. However, the older Russian Hero had been silently preparing himself to receive such reactions from the kids he was supposed to guide and look after, ever since he'd first come up with the idea.

Teachers' Conference Office, the previous Saturday

The air among the gathered Yuuei teachers when it came to their last-minute change of the final exam curriculum from being against robots, to now being specially selected student teams against the teachers themselves, had been understandably tense, for a multitude of reasons. The teachers hated the idea of having to actually engage in combat with their students, while at the same time understanding Headmaster Nezus' reasoning that with Villains simply getting more and more bold with each passing day, the students needed to be all the more prepared for when danger would inevitably rear its ugly head.

Then in Tunguskas' case, he hated the idea of being singled out of the practical tests, since those children were just as much his responsibility as everyone elses'. With All Might even being included in the curriculum, what was the harm of having two such powerful Heroes involved, as opposed to just one? Who would've been better to try and help prepare his son for the real dangers of Pro Heroism than his own father?

All of these questions, as well as some remnants of feelings from the last personal conversation he and All Might had shared weeks ago, were awhirl in Tunguskas' head as Nezu took everyones' silence as the sign to adjourn the meeting and confirm the plans for the final exam.

And it was those same questions and feelings that were what finally drove the large Slavic man to plant a powerful hand on his share of the desk, drawing everyones' attention. He ignored all the confused and prying eyes, as he turned his attention to the school headmaster specifically. "Please forgive me for speaking out of turn, Nezu-san, but there's a proposition I would like to make in regards to the final exams structure. I'm not asking to take anyones' place in the practical tests…but I am suggesting we add a third surprise test to the curriculum…pitting myself, on my own, against the entirety of Class 1-A in the aftermath, or however many of them will still be able when all is said and done, considering the undeniable skill of all teachers present."

Tunguska could just feel the skepticism of all his peers bury into him like a series of daggers, from Nezu included. However, just chancing a momentary glance to the rest of his fellow teachers, he could feel the skepticism and disapproval radiating especially hard from All Might and Aizawa. "That doesn't sound like a good idea to me at all. Those kids are going to be considerably beaten up enough as it is, depending how things go, and you're saying you want to put them through even worse just so you can be included? Is your desire for attention and stroking the remnants of your old ego still that strong?"

Tunguska forced himself to not be agitated by Aizawas' accusative question. If anyone else had come up with such an idea, Tunguska knew he himself would've been feeling just as skeptical and suspicious of their intentions. However, his sense of purpose was too strong to be dissuaded by those kind of words, as he kept his attention on the likewise concerned Nezu.

"I understand how ludicrous what I'm suggesting is in these circumstances. If things out there weren't as bad as they're clearly getting, I never would've suggested such a thing. However, it's just like we all have concluded, Nezu-san; the Villains out there are only getting bolder with each passing day, and with the news continuously talking about the events surrounding Stain and Vukodlak, more and more of them are going to start coming out of the woodwork, and it's just like you said: those kids need to be prepared for the confrontations to come sooner rather than later.

"However, as much as I know we're all loathe to think about, there may very well come a day when those kids will have to face either a force, or an individual opponent too powerful for any small team, or even a small Agencies' worth of Heroes to handle. That's the scenario I'm proposing with this final test. We need to see how those students can handle themselves, not as a handful of small teams, but as one collective force for justice; test how well they're able to adapt to working together with classmates and Quirks they aren't used to. They need to get a taste of what it's like facing an opponent too powerful for any one of them alone, and see how well they mesh all together."

"Yes, yes, I understand all this, Tunguska-san. Please, stop before you start repeating yourself. You must understand that this is a lot you're giving all of us to think about." Nezus' interruption thankfully kept Tunguska from going on a needless tangent, and soon the whole office was rendered deathly silent as the headmaster sat in silent contemplation, and Tunguska could hear the uncertain mutterings from among his fellow teachers.

From among their numbers, All Might remained silent, watching his Russian colleague intently. From the start, he had already managed to figure out where this blindsiding idea was coming from. This had to be Tunguskas' response to his insistence that the students couldn't possibly join Izuku in the inevitable battle against All For One. There was no other explanation that made sense, especially with this kind of timing.

He had thought, and hoped, that his reasoning for why the students couldn't possibly get involved had gotten through to Tunguska, and they could simply re-focus their efforts on helping Izuku with his training. However, the fact they were now all in the middle of this very uncomfortable discussion and debate among themselves, had proven just how wrong he was. The fact the man he called his friend was actually overstepping him like this just didn't sit right with him, knowing the risks to be involved in the future if they went through with this idea. That was why All Might was the one to finally take action and step forward to speak his piece against it.

However, just as he began to do just that, his opening of his mouth was swiftly interrupted by Nezu putting his paws to the desk with exceptional force, producing a loud slam that rendered all the teachers silent. There was a surprising glow of consideration and hesitation in Nezus' beady black eyes as he still looked to be gathering his thoughts in his head, before finally lifting his gaze to look his fellow educators in the eye.

"It's not easy for me to say this, let alone for any of you to hear this, but…I do actually understand where Tunguska-san is coming from…as I'm sure the rest of you do, as well. Otherwise you all would've doubtless shot this idea down right from the start."

Tunguska looked on in surprise from the headmaster to his fellow teachers, who he now all realized were trying to avoid making eye contact with him, lest he see just how right Nezu was. From there, the headmaster continued: "The sad truth of the matter is that the Villains in this country are in fact becoming more and more bold, that's what we're changing the exam curriculum for in the first place. However, I know we're all reluctant to admit that with the rise of evil in our society, more and more powerful entities for Villainy are to inevitably make themselves known; the kind of forces that your average team or Agency simply aren't prepared or equipped to deal with on their own…and it's for those very possibilities that large-number forces of Heroes are a necessity…as is the experience needed to properly work together as a whole…the kind of experience Tunguska-san is suggesting our students may gain with this third test idea."

The teachers all had their eyes glued to the floor in contemplation as Nezu climbed up onto the desk, pacing back and forth across it as he continued, as though he were a decorated army general addressing his troops: "Our responsibility and jobs are to prepare those students for every possibility and skill they will need in order to both serve, and most importantly survive, in the world of Pro Heroics. For us to withhold any possible scenario from them for the sake of a false sense of security, confidence and preparedness, is outright irresponsible on all our parts. Know that I don't make this decision lightly…but it's with all of those considerations in mind, responsibility and circumstances alike, that I'm willing to give my personal permission to include Tunguska-sans' surprise third test in the final exam curriculum…with the agreement between us all that this be kept from the knowledge of the students themselves."

This time, even Tunguska was looking utterly shocked at the headmasters' actions alongside his fellow educators, while Nezu was downright unflappable in his demeanor. "We all know that in the field of Pro Heroics, we're rarely, if ever, given a forewarning of just what exactly we're going up against. That fact is what's instilled in all of you the natural sense of alertness that's helped you in split-second decision making that's helped you all to survive in this career for as long as you have. That sense of awareness and self-and-team preservation needs to be instilled in our students likewise, so they'll be much better prepared for whatever challenges the future may have in store for them. If any of you even remotely believe this to be a truly terrible idea of no merit, then I implore you to please make your thoughts and feelings known."

To the silent surprise of Nezu, Tunguska and All Might alike, none of the other teachers took the headmaster up on his invite. Not a single one of them looked happy with this idea, but the fact they were still remaining silent, with Midnight, Ectoplasm, and even Aizawa in the end, even giving the slightest approving nods, was the most shocking development of it all.

Tunguska swallowed a deeply emotional lump in his throat, as it was at that moment that an idea he both deeply believed in, yet personally abhorred having to go through with, was officially passed as the third and final portion of the final exams of the semester. He knew he wasn't going to have the luxury of being easy on any of those students, not even his own son. If they were going to have any chance against the forces of evil silently coming together out there, even as they spoke, then he was going to have to give them a full taste of just what kind of dangers they could be pitted against. He was going to have to give them his all, and force them to give him theirs in return.

Present Day, Recovery Girls' Field Tent

Izuku and Recovery Girl were still continuing to watch and listen in on Tunguska in the central arena as he explained all the details of their surprise final test. No matter how much Izuku tried to explain and justify what he believed to be the teachers' reasoning, the elderly nurse beside him still remained as decidedly disapproving of the whole thing as ever, even if she knew there was ultimately nothing she could do to change things now.

As for Izuku himself, now knowing exactly what his classmates were going to have to do, on one hand he felt guilty that his injuries, as well as Tunguskas' insistence, were keeping him from going out there to lend his classmates a clearly much-needed helping hand. On the other hand, his analytical and excitable self was already starting to come to the forefront.

'I wonder who's ultimately going to make the first move. Knowing what they have to do, I can't imagine everyone's going to just hesitate or actually wait for Tunguska-sensei to make the first move. Surely someone like Kolya-san, Kirishima-san or Todoroki-san would know how important it is to get the advantage from the start; having seen him in action. It's what I would do.

'Then again, if they do actually wait, and Tunguska-sensei makes the first move, what would be his first action? Who would be his first target? He's been helping to teach me in terms of overwhelming odds-combat strategy enough for me to know what his typical first approaches are. If you want to even your odds, you should go for the opponents that either have the advantage in speed, or in long-distance combat. Once you remove them from the field, then the rest of your opponents ultimately become much easier to deal with. There's already a good number of them that fit both those bills…but who would he consider most important to go for, and will everyone else figure that out before he decides to act?'

The air in the arena was only growing that much more tense in the aftermath of Tunguska giving all the details for how to pass this final test. Nikolay didn't want to dare taking his eyes off his father even for a split second, but his anxiety was leaving him desperate to see if any one of his classmates were visibly starting to formulate a plan. If they were, at least it would help him know they were starting to step up, and he could finally start to do the same.

While watching intently for the first sign that his father was about to act, Nikolay could instinctively feel Mina and Eijirou slowly inching towards him, either to start formulating a plan of their own, or just to make sure they were close enough to react in case any one of them ended up being Tunguskas' first target. Thankfully, neither of them was willing to take their eyes off the larger man, either.

"Hey, Kolya-kun, you got any kinda pointers what to really look out for? You don't think he'd go for that glowing Frisbee throw or those crazy bullet fingers right off the bat, do you?" Mina barely whispered out the side of her mouth, focusing intently on Tunguskas' hands.

"Yeah, you know Sensei better than any of us, man. You got any idea what he might try to do first? Does he have any kind of patterns?" Eijirou whispered likewise, while Nikolay was simply trying to keep his eyes moving all over his fathers' form, just looking for any telltale sign anywhere.

"In terms of physical fighting…no; he's not like Bakugo, always leading with his right fist. All I can say with any certainty is what he's probably aiming for. He's often said that the quickest way to winning a fight with overwhelming odds against you is to go for either the fastest opponent, or the one with a distinct advantage in distance combat, first. That way you make the rest of the fight against the more up-close and personal opponents easier. My only worry is which one he'll go for first, and among those two specific details…who?"

BKOOOM!

With a thunderous crack, the white-and-red form of Tunguska shot like an artillery strike from where he stood, practically a blur to those that could still see him. At least, that was before he immediately plowed a mighty fist into the earth running below him, essentially becoming an unstoppable human plow. As his fist tore through the earth as he shot forward, the sheer power behind it sent a multi-directional barrage of rocks and debris flying every which way around him, forcing all the students around to duck down as low as they could to avoid this sudden projectile barrage.

Among those that didn't even have the chance to duck; Mezo Shouji hurriedly brought his tentacles up to shield himself while Fumikage did the same with Dark Shadow. At the same time, Eijirou hurriedly activated his Hardening, just in time for several sizeable rocks to practically shatter against his crossed arms. Nikolay hurriedly fired one shot from his hands after another every time one got close to nailing him, deflecting them all by just a hair. All the while, Mina managed to melt each one that got near her as she tossed a cascade of her acid from her hands while she bobbed and weaved to avoid the rest, while Kyouka managed to stab her earphone jacks into one rock after another with surgical precision, sending her pulses into each one, reducing them to gravel.

In the span of those two seconds, Tunguska had his eyes firmly set on his first target, the one he knew would be a consistent hindrance unless dealt with. As he dashed past the rest of the students in that blinding kick-off, he shot straight for the momentarily distracted Tenya, who only then realized the teacher was coming right for him. The class president was visibly already beginning to make his dash for escape out of Tunguskas' path, but the teacher had kicked things off just half a second too soon for him.

Prying his fist from out of the earth, Tunguska grabbed onto the back of the collar of Tenyas' Hero costume, clutching it in a vice-like grip, and with his momentum still going behind him, he proceeded to spin his whole body around, swinging the momentarily helpless Tenya along with him, and after two full, dizzying spins, Tunguska let go, sending Tenya flying like a cannonball through the air for the arena wall.

It was just before impact was made, though, that a sudden cold front suddenly tore through the air at breakneck speed, producing a veritable ramp of ice over the wall, causing Tenya to instead land and slide up said ramp on his front, before thankfully sliding back down virtually unharmed.

Realizing his initial attack had been interrupted, Tunguska looked to the direction the ice had come from, to find Shoto and Momo already back on their feet, with the former having produced multiple ice walls to stop the rocks headed for him in their tracks. Realizing they were now their teachers' sole focus, Shoto proceeded to grab onto Momos' hand with his left, and produced a towering column of ice under their feet with his right hand and foot, sending them well over ten feet in practically the blink of an eye.

"It looks like we're going to have to repeat the same trick we did with Aizawa-sensei, Todoroki-san. I'll wrangle him with the nitinol alloy, and you activate your heat through the air. We'll have to do this at virtually the same time with his speed. From there, we just need to hammer him down until he can't fight anymore."

Shoto gave an agreeing nod to his partner, and with that, everything that followed occurred virtually in tandem. The two proceeded to jump down from the ice column, and as Momo produced another lengthy line of the memory alloy from her arm, she managed to quickly swing it down for Tunguska like a whip, expertly managing to wrap itself around the Russian Heroes' midsection, just as he visibly recognized what this material was. At the same time, Shoto activated his fire, sending a wave of it downward through the air, causing the memory allow to bind itself tighter and tighter around Tunguskas' body by the second, until he was practically like a fly in a spiders' web where he stood.

Unfortunately, Tunguskas' reaction time was just as good as theirs, as the moment he recognized what Momo and Shoto were trying to do, he barely managed to extend one arm through one of the only gaps in the binding right before the whole bundle tightened itself around him, ensnaring his other arm and nearly binding his legs together. However, that one arm through the gap was his one saving grace, as just before Momo was about to land, she still had her hand on the other end of the nitinol alloy line, and noticing that, Tunguska grabbed onto the line still connecting them with his free hand, and before the class vice president could let go, he proceeded to spin his whole body around on his heels, swinging Momo helplessly around and around before the wind friction finally forced her to let go.

The ponytail-wearing girl was sent flying from the veritable human tornado, only managing to have her fall broken by a fully alert Mezo, who came running in and grabbing her in his tentacled arms, digging his heels into the dirt so as not to get knocked on his back. Fortunately, Momo didn't look to be hurt once she was back on her feet.

Tunguska quickly used his free hand to tear the binding off from the rest of him, and just as quickly looked back up in time to find Shoto had encased himself in a large block of ice, still able to see the intense look in the boys' eyes through his crystalline shield. "So, you want to try and crush me right out the gate, malenkii Todoroki? Immobilizing me more securely would've made that plan a lot better."

BOOOM!

With another thunderous burst, Tunguska suddenly shot himself up into the air with a strengthened jump, shooting straight up towards Shoto like a bullet. His fists quickly began to glow with his concentrated energy just before he plowed one fist straight into the ice head-on, shattering the entire thing into a million glistening crystals in the afternoon sun.

The pure blunt impact left Shoto momentarily stunned, having only been a second away from activating his fire as a counter-attack. Too bad for him, however, that momentary stun kept him from reacting further, before Tunguskas' large hand came shooting through the myriad of ice crystals, clutching onto Shotos' collar, and came ripping him right out of the icy remnants in the air.

Tunguska then proceeded to use that pulling momentum to fling Shoto straight down to the ground like a ragdoll. The pure G-forces behind such a throw had Shoto on the verge of nearly blacking out before he could react enough to break his own fall. However, he was miraculously saved, as Ochako had taken that chance to come practically flying in, slapping a full hand against him just before he could meet the ground, removing his gravity and all risk of being obliterated on impact. Thankfully, this was enough to bring Shoto back to full awareness, just as Ochako brought her fingertips back together and restored his gravity, allowing the boy to land safely on his feet.

At the same time, as Tunguska was still momentarily at the peak of his jump, he heard an unmistakable boom come from below, and turning his attention, he was met with the sight of Nikolay tearing through the air like a bat out of hell, both his large tuning forks wielded in both hands, held at full extension to his sides as though he was going to bring them together around his fathers' head. The intensity in his eyes behind his goggles certainly said as much at the very least.

Not sparing even a heartbeat for Tunguska to react, Nikolay fired off as much energy through his arms into his tuning forks just as he swung inwards with all his strength to bring them together right into his glowing head.

Tunguskas' reactions were faster than the human eye could perceive, as he brought his forearms up to the sides of his head to catch the full force of those simultaneous swings. He fought through the overwhelming vibrations running through his arms upon impact, as he swiftly grabbed onto the metal tools with his own hands, leaving his son unable to use them.

What he hadn't counted, though, was that Nikolay had already been planning on his father being able to do so, as he immediately followed that counter up with one of his own, suddenly firing a concentrated blast through both his feet while leaving the rest of his body comparatively loose, allowing the outward force to send his whole body rolling backwards in a gymnast-like back flip, driving both his feet straight into Tunguskas' jaw as he let go in order to avoid dislocating his shoulders, only to grab onto the handles again just as quickly.

To his heat-of-the-moment-based excitement, the hit had been hard enough to actually make Tunguska reel his head back, for once not being the completely immovable object he often portrayed himself to be. However, when the older Russian lowered his head again, visibly moving his jaw around to make sure that kick hadn't knocked a tooth loose, his blue eyes now focused intently on the boy before him.

"Ochen horosho (Very good), Kolya; you took the interruption of your initial attack and followed up with a perfect backup. However, I told you to come at me with everything you have, and that means not stopping until you know for certain your opponent can't keep fighting. Like so!"

Before Nikolay could let go and fire himself away, Tunguska suddenly pulled his arms back, yanking the tuning forks and Nikolay even closer, to which the large man met his son with a swift but devastating knee straight into his stomach. Nikolay nearly felt his eyes pop out of their sockets as every last ounce of wind, and everything he had eaten today, came right out like the push of a magic button.

The boys' whole body went completely slack, letting go of his grip on his tuning forks as he went plummeting listlessly to the ground, only managing to be saved halfway down when Fumikage sent Dark Shadow rushing up to catch the Russian boy in its beak, breaking Nikolays' momentum and bringing him harmlessly down the rest of the way to the ground.

Tunguska watched this last minute save silently as he descended the rest of the way back to the ground. 'I'm sorry, Kolya. But as I said, you and your classmates need to know what it's like to face an opponent far stronger than all of you. You need to know what it is to plan alongside and work with each other as a whole. That's the only way you'll all be able to survive the dangers that are sure to come.'

The moment his feet met the ground, Tunguska suddenly felt them getting repeatedly pelted, quick to spot Minoru hurriedly flinging his hairballs as fast as he possibly could, desperate to stick the teacher to his spot so he couldn't come after them, fighting through the terrified and pained tears in his eyes.

Just as the tiny boy seemed to be finally reaching his limit, Tunguska spotted another bit of movement out the corner of his eye, just in time to find Yuga Aoyama on his other side, firing his navel laser through the opening in the elbows and knees of his costume, while he could also barely make out Kouji Kouda standing right behind Yuga as an anchor to avoid getting thrown back by the force of his own Quirk.

As the four bright blue beams tore through the air right for him, Tunguska quickly brought his still glowing fists straight up and fired with full force in kind, his two golden beams already dwarfing Yugas' four blue ones as they met head-on.

To the surprise and lack thereof of Yuga and Tunguska respectively, the golden beams practically devoured Yugas' with far great power, leaving Yuga and Kouji defenseless as Tunguskas' projectiles finally met their mark dead center. Both boys were sent flying and rolling across the arena from the sheer power behind it, while Tunguska simply cracked his knuckles once the beams dissipated, as though it were the most common bit of exercise he could've done.

"GRAPE RUSH!" Minorus' screeching voice snapped Tunguska at full attention once more, spotting the purple-clad boy rapidly bouncing himself all across the area surrounding the Hero, ricocheting off numerous of his own hairballs stuck to the ground and wall like a human pinball. 'Thank god I threw these down while he was up in the air. Please don't let him cut me off, let this work!'

The moment he bounced off the last bit of his hair that would get him a direct shot for Tunguskas' head, Minoru felt his bullet-like momentum come to a screeching halt, as an exceptionally hot-feeling hand clutched him by his entire face, leaving him dangling helplessly in his teachers' one-handed hold.

Without a word, Tunguska proceeded to fire himself right back up into the air through his feet with another enhanced jump; however, Minorus' compounded hairballs on his boots kept them firmly stuck to the floor, so instead his boots and pants legs practically exploded from the sheer power, as Tunguska manually freed himself at the cost of his footwear and half his pant legs. The power expelled from it even managed to leave several large fracture marks in the ground itself, effectively destabilizing the earth below. "Restraining your opponent is always a good strategy, malenkii Mineta, as long as you don't hesitate in following through afterwards. If you give your opponent even a second to gather their situation, you're pretty much offering yourself on a platter."

As Minoru tried pleading for mercy, albeit completely muffled by Tunguskas' hand, the older Russian looked around to notice a single trail of footprints to his side nearby, and yet to his memory hadn't seen anyone besides Minoru, Yuga and Kouji nearby. A smirk tugged at one corner of his bearded mouth.

With surprising speed and precision, Tunguska proceeded to turn his whole body around and toss Minoru straight up a few inches into the air in front of him, only to then flick a single finger against the boys' forehead, sending him flying forward. He immediately ended up colliding hard with an invisible obstruction, with an equally surprised and stunned feminine squeal immediately answering, as Tooru Hagakure was knocked several feet away on her rear, while Minoru had practically bounced right off of her, only to face plant in the dirt from being thrown and ricocheted so hard against his will. "Taking advantage of the chaos to sneak your way in for the attack? That's a very wise use of your Quirk, malenkaya Hagakure. But you still really need to learn to make your approach not so painfully obvious."

THWIPP!

Tunguska suddenly found his arms getting bound to his sides once more, only to find that this time it was Tsuyu Asuis' prehensile tongue doing the wrangling, as she had her hands and feet adhered to the nearby wall to anchor herself. At the same time, an instinctive battle cry forced Tunguska to take his eyes off his amphibious student to find Mezo and Eijirou simultaneously rushing him from the other side; the red-haired boys' upper body already taking on a more crystalline texture, the telltale sign of his Hardening going into effect.

Likewise digging his feet into the earth, Tunguska managed to clutch onto Tsuyus' tongue with one of his hands, and with all his raw physical strength, pulled, and ultimately managed to pry Tsuyu from the wall, using her own tongue like a chain, with the green-haired girl now essentially a human mace.

Realizing what their teacher had just managed to do, and that she was coming right for him, Eijirou hurriedly deactivated his Hardening, obviously for her own sake, but the result was ultimately the same, as Tsuyu bowled straight into Eijirou. The impact forced Tsuyu to undo her tongues' hold on Tunguska, while also knocking Eijirou aside, hard, even as he managed to grab onto Tsuyu at the same time to keep her from getting too much more badly hurt.

Mezo hadn't hesitated like his partner had, and therefore was able to close the rest of the distance, not giving Tunguska a chance to react before the masked boy proceeded to start leveling one fist after another into his center mass, with every other punch forming another fist with another of his tentacles, ultimately creating a nonstop barrage of blows to the stomach, chest and face.

At first, it seemed like Mezo was going to be the first one to actually make some headway in this battle, as he kept putting every ounce of his overwhelming strength into each blow, and it was actually starting to make Tunguska reel back, and even ultimately take two steps back in the face of his assault.

Unfortunately, after a good several seconds of this, Tunguska finally ducked below one punch, and use that momentary gap in the blows to launch one hand forward, grabbing Mezo firmly by the throat, actually managing to lift the most physically dominating student in 1-A off the ground, even if only by a couple inches.

As he and Mezo momentarily locked eyes, Tunguska once again found himself moving his jaw around, feeling around the inside of his mouth. After a second, his blue eyes widened with realization, before he finally capped off the silence by spitting out a single dislodged tooth, leaving Mezo wide-eyed that he'd actually managed that much against such a powerful opponent.

Thankfully for him, it didn't even look like the Quirk History teacher was angry. No, if nothing else, he actually looked…proud of him.

And that silent expression was immediately followed by his slamming Mezo headfirst into the ground in a devastating choke slam, leaving the tentacled students' head ringing sharply. "You're a real physical force to be reckoned with, malenkii Shouji, there's no denying that. Good on you. However, your Quirk is versatile enough that you might be at a bigger advantage fighting from a distance, and perhaps find a way to better utilize it alongside the Quirks of your peers. You're ultimately better suited to team combat than one-on-one."

With that, he proceeded to lift Mezo back up by the neck, and proceeded to fling him straight back into a just recovering Eijirou and Tsuyu.

All of a sudden, he felt something small lodge itself directly into his ear, and before he could even react, felt his head get practically swatted aside with an overwhelming high-pitched screeching directly into his ear. The larger men began buckling at the knees as the noise would not let up, coming in one burst after another, almost like the beating of a human heart amplified by a hundred.

As his head began to bow from the pain, Tunguska suddenly found himself facing a flesh and blond-colored blur come swinging into his field of view, just before a mother of a swing followed it, plowing directly into his face, sending the large Russian reeling back by his lower spine.

He couldn't tell if the ringing in his head had still been coming from whatever had burrowed itself into his ear, or if it was from the strike he had just taken to his face. All he knew now was that as he stood himself back up straight, he found Kyouka and Mashirao both rushing him side by side with aggressive intent.

Tunguska instinctively began to get himself into a defensive pose, but the two students now taking the chance to attack him were just a little bit faster. As Tunguska threw a retaliatory punch for Kyouka, she swiftly ducked down and stabbed one of her earphone jacks into his forearm, sending another of her pulses directly into it, leaving his bulky muscular arm shaking from the inside out, which he could already feel was doing a number on the fibers of his muscles and bones alike.

Mashirao quickly followed up by using his tail to propel himself up like a spring, driving a high flying kick into the side of Tunguskas' face, nearly sending him twisting around at the waist from the impressive force behind it. Kyouka was once more just as quick to follow through, as she planted her hands to the ground and swung her legs up like she was getting herself into a handstand, consequentially driving her boot heel into the other side of their teachers' face, sending him reeling back the other way.

As Kyouka quickly rolled herself out of his immediate striking range, Mashirao was already on the follow-up, having landed cleanly on his feet from the previous kick, and using his built up momentum to bring himself low, and sweep Tunguskas' feet out from under him with the massive striking force behind his tail.

Tunguska impacted hard with the ground below, but wasn't about to let himself stay down, as he kicked himself backwards and back onto his feet just as Kyouka and Mashirao stomped their feet into the ground he was just lying on. That bought him just the time he needed to get himself back into the defensive stance he needed, while both his students weren't giving him a moment to plan, pressing on with their consecutive assault, following each others' jabs and kicks with one of their own, and Kyouka even every now and then jabbing her earphone jacks into whichever part of Tunguskas' body was really exposed, making him feel the hard internal strikes of each of her transmitted pulses. After a little bit of time of this, she even started incorporating audible blasts through her boots to add that much further power to her kicks. For Tunguska, it was almost like fighting another version of his son in that regard.

However, even through the compounding pain of the lucky strikes Kyouka and Mashirao were managing to hit him with through his reflexive blocks and dodges, Tunguska simply had a deeply satisfied smile on his weathered face, already able to feel at least one of his ribs was cracked, regardless if it was from Mashiraos' melee or Kyoukas' heartbeat pulses. "Excellent synchronicity, malenkie Jirou and Ojiro! You easily could've just come rushing me with fists flailing and hope you got lucky! But instead, you took the time to coordinate your moves with each other, providing for a seamless barrage, giving your opponent no means to counter!"

However, just as Tunguska received a considerable palm strike to his abdomen from Mashirao, who proceeded to reel himself back to swing his tail once more, he glanced to his left to find Kyouka just then recovering from the previous high kick she had nailed him across the face with. As soon as she had both her feet on the ground, she was starting to send one of her earphone jacks right for his face.

That split second between strikes, that was all the time the Russian Hero needed. With the spike of adrenaline now rushing through his brain, Tunguska suddenly reached up and clutched onto the end of Kyoukas' earphone jack, and proceeded to yank it towards him with enough strength to avoid accidentally tearing the whole thing off; effectively reeling a shocked Kyouka forward with it. At that same moment, Tunguska proceeded to lean his head as far back as he could go, catching the reflexive movement of Mashirao out the corner of his eye.

As Tunguska leaned his head back, Mashirao was already following through with another swing of his tail. The blonde boys' normally small eyes widened with shock when he realized what the teacher had just done. Alas, he was too late to stop his own momentum, as his tail swung harmlessly just centimeters in front of Tunguskas' face, and subsequently collided dead center with Kyoukas' stunned face, practically knocking her lights out with it.

Tunguska immediately went on the attack as soon as he saw Mashirao accidentally hit Kyouka, and he swiftly thrust his clutching hand forward, stabbing the end of the earphone jack directly into the side of Mashiraos' face. At that same moment as impact had been made, Kyouka had instinctively fired the pulse she had been building up, and the full force of that pulse subsequently went directly into Mashiraos' head, sending him tumbling helplessly across the floor as his head was ringing mercilessly, leaving him completely and totally disoriented.

Realizing both these students were now, at least for the moment, out for the count, Tunguska unhanded the earphone jack, letting Kyouka collapse onto her back, writhing as she tried to fight through the blunt force pain to her face and get her senses back. Tunguska looked down upon the short-haired girl specifically. "Your Quirk is clearly more powerful than most give it credit for, yourself included, malenkaya Jirou. However, it is ultimately better suited for assisting your teammates as a means of suppression, rather than for a close-up one-on-one fight. Any kind of lengthy appendages that are easy for your opponents to grab are an inherent vulnerability you need to take into consideration; both of you."

At that moment, Tunguskas' ears picked up the sound of something rapidly approaching, and as he lifted his blue eyes from his two momentarily immobile students, he spotted Mina hurriedly sliding towards him on her feet, picking that very moment to spring herself up into the air with a well timed jump aided by her momentum; her black-gold eyes focused solely on her target below. "I'm really sorry for this, Sensei!"

With her advance apology, Mina proceeded to send herself spinning through the air as she threw one handful of acid after another right for him, all while making sure it still wouldn't be strong enough to risk anything lethal.

To her misfortune, though, Tunguska had her liquid projectiles well spotted, as he proceeded to stomp hard into the already deeply fractured ground below. This produced a powerful shockwave strong enough to send the ground breaking into multi-leveled chunks of itself, including one uprooted slab of solid earth that managed to rise perfectly in between Tunguska and Minas' acid. The cloudy slime impacted harmlessly against his natural shield, still sizzling and eating its way through all the same.

Immediately after, Mina ended up naturally landing on her hands and feet against the raised ground. The moment he heard his pink student land, and before she could instinctively leap off of it, Tunguska drove a determined fist straight through the whole chunk of solid ground, exploding it into a million pieces, and clutching Mina by her right ankle at the same time. With not a moment wasted, the Sun of Justice proceeded to fire himself up into the air with another powerful jump, reeling his arm back, ready to throw Mina straight down into the ground below while she still hung helplessly in his unbreakable grip.

Down below at that same moment, Tenya was dashing across the arena for the nearest plate of uprooted ground, having already calculated the trajectory needed for what was about to happen. That was why he had Ochako firmly tucked under his arm while he ran as fast as he could short of his Recipro Burst for the impromptu ramp.

The moment she felt the level of the earth below start to rise, Ochako quickly planted one full hand against herself and Tenya at once, removing both their gravity just as the class president kicked himself up and forward from the ramp's edge, launching himself like a veritable human bullet straight for Tunguskas' exposed side.

Tenya finally released Ochako from under his arm as he shot one foot forward in a high speed kick, driving his foot straight into Tunguskas' already cracked ribs, effectively breaking two or three under the momentum he'd already built up. The jolting pain and near terminal velocity-speed impact forced Tunguska to let go of Minas' foot as he nearly folded in pain, being launched at an angle for the ground below. At the same time, Ochako managed to catch Mina before she could fall very far, bringing her hands together to restore hers and Tenyas' gravity, as they managed to safely land on their feet, while Tunguska came crashing hard to the ground several yards away.

As Tunguska already was beginning to get back to his feet, gritting his teeth and even spitting up a tiny bit of blood from getting kicked in the side he'd been injured in back at USJ, Tenya was already getting back on the move, grabbing Ochako by the collar of her suit as he sprinted for their teacher. At the last second before his speed would end up driving them straight into the man before them, Tenya dug his feet in, bringing himself to a screeching halt, but using that built up momentum to now fling Ochako at Tunguska; the rosy-cheeked girl focusing intently on him while getting her body in the right position as she flew.

Just as Tunguska stood himself upright, already starting to bring his arm up to intercept whatever he could hear was coming his way, Ochako got herself just where she needed to be, clutching her arms around the one Tunguska was lifting, and hooking the inside of her knees around his neck. Still using her built up momentum, Ochako proceeded to throw her whole body's weight forward to try and drive Tunguska down face first to the dirt.

However, realizing what she was trying to do, Tunguska dug his bare feet in, bending his knees with her directional turning of her body so as not to get driven down any further. At the same time as this, though, Ochako was unperturbed, simply replaying her teachers' advice and training in her head on repeat as she carried through on her next action: touching all ten of her fingers against Tunguskas' arm, effectively removing the big Russians' gravity.

The moment she could feel his body become weightless, Ochako continued with her previous move, holding on with all her strength and turning her body so Tunguska would go rolling forward with her. The moment she knew the positioning was right as the large mans' bulky frame rolled with her, Ochako let go and brought her fingertips together, causing Tunguskas' considerable weight to now drive his whole body face first into the unforgiving ground below.

As soon as her feet were back on solid ground, Ochako instinctively turned back to find Tunguska still had his face in the broken ground, with the rest of his large body having fallen back so he was essentially on his knees, only now managing to get his palms onto the ground so he could try getting himself back up. "I'm sorry, Sensei."

As Tunguska finally pried his face out of the ground, he immediately answered one of his closest students with a wry, yet hearty, chuckle. "No…don't ever apologize for doing what you have to do in the heat of battle…malenkaya Uraraka. Especially..not when your opponent is still able to fight back."

Before Ochako could finish processing the last words he'd said, Tunguska suddenly rolled his whole body backwards until his feet were flat on the ground again. The moment they were, he launched his hand up, grabbing tight onto one of the wrist guards of her costume, and then proceeded to kick himself straight up into the air with another powered jump, this time with Ochako helplessly in tow, barely able to concentrate enough to react from the sheer wind force against her visor-protected face.

The moment he reached the peak of his jump, Tunguska threw his arm all the way around up and over his head, swinging Ochako the same way, and proceeded to throw her straight back down with enough force to effectively break the sound barrier. Ochako was using every last bit of willpower she had not to black out from the G-forces as she fell, and once she saw how she was about to plow straight into the ground in less than two seconds, her body essentially took the wheel. She planted her full hand against herself, thankfully removing her gravity at the last possible moment, as she now found herself floating harmlessly just an inch or two off the ground.

With a sigh of immense relief as her consciousness came back, Ochako quickly restored her gravity again, but didn't allow herself even a moment to recollect herself once she was flat on her back on the ground, instead taking that chance to hurriedly roll herself out of the way, as Tunguska came speeding straight back down, plowing his fist straight into the spot she had just been laying in. The impact resulted in another devastating shockwave that practically annihilated the ground of the entire arena, sending boulders and chunks of earth flying like wartime shrapnel every which way and then some, once again sending all the students that didn't duck or manage to shield themselves, flying.

To Tunguskas' momentary surprise, his punch had managed to reach deep down enough into the ground below that it ended up rupturing an underground water pipe, as the moment he withdrew his fist, a geyser of water came bursting out, producing a rain that spread through the majority of the central arena.

Tunguskas' strike had hit with power equal to that of an actual artillery strike, hence there was still a considerable haze of dust hanging over the entire arena in the aftermath regardless of the sudden inclusion of water. That unforeseen side effect of his attack left Tunguska in a momentary state of nearsightedness, unable to make out the forms of any of his nearby students while getting himself back to standing up straight.

What he didn't realize, was that this state of partial blindness was exactly what Fumikage needed, as he immediately seized that opportunity to get into the teachers' blind spot and send Dark Shadow racing towards him from behind. If he could just hit him hard enough in the right place with it, he knew he could finally end this war of attrition in a matter of seconds.

However, while Tunguska may not have been able to see, he was still able to hear perfectly fine. Hence, once he heard the by-now familiar sound of Fumikages' Quirk coming up behind him fast, Tunguska took a steadying breath, focused, and upon opening his eyes when turning around, greeted Dark Shadow with his flash bang attack, drowning the entire arena in a brief but overwhelming wave of blinding light, forcing Fumikage to shield his eyes, and Dark Shadow to instantly retreat and shrink down back to his wielders' side, now left more than docile in such blinding light.

As soon as the light dissipated and Fumikage began to lower his arms from his eyes, he was met with Tunguskas' face barely inches from his own, as the large man had kicked himself across the arena to meet his crow-headed student in kind.

Before Fumikage could even open his mouth to order Dark Shadow to counter, he was met with Tunguskas' large, powerful palm planting itself straight into his chin with incredible speed and force, sending him back-flipping helplessly through the air in an arc; his head ringing and his jaw burning with pure pain.

Luckily for him, Dark Shadow had managed to recover and grow just enough to be able to plant its own hands into the ground, breaking Fumikages' fall enough to where he wasn't at risk of breaking any of his bones, even if he did ultimately still come crashing and rolling painfully across the ground.

BWOOOM!

That moment, as he watched Fumikage crash and roll, Tunguska suddenly heard the distinct burst of bass that was only Nikolays' Quirk in action. As he turned back around in preparation to meet his son once again trying to charge at him, Tunguska was instead met with the runaway projectile that was one of Nikolays' large tuning forks, practically singing as it tore through the air across the arena, planting itself firmly against Tunguskas' neck with a force behind it strong enough to actually take the Sun of Justice off his feet, and send him flying back directly into the wall.

The tuning fork embedded itself into the solid concrete, still firmly planted against Tunguskas' bulky neck, much to his genuine surprise. As he turned his attention back into the finally clearing haze of dirt ahead, another burst cleared the rest away, revealing Nikolays' focused and intense form ripping through the air at breakneck speed with his other tuning fork already reared back in his dominant throwing arm, and at the ready.

The Russian boy didn't waste a second as he threw his remaining tuning fork with all the stored power he had in that arm firing right behind it, launching it at terminal velocity right for Tunguskas' still free right arm. Timing just happened to be on the boys' side this time, as the two-pronged end stabbed deep into the wall, pinning Tunguskas' right arm to it, leaving the older Slavic Hero immobile and with half his means of attack now, even temporarily, indisposed.

However, Nikolay was not about to take the kind of chance he had earlier. He immediately followed that up, as his previous launch still had him rapidly closing the distance between him and Tunguska, by planting his left palm straight into Tunguskas' muscular chest, and firing off another large portion of stored up energy through that hand and point blank into his torso, leaving his fathers' entire body visibly vibrating from the inside out. None of the students could hear it, but Tunguska could swear he could feel another two ribs completely break inside his chest from the built up power that just got shot directly into him. 'Well done, Kolya…don't stop until you know for certain your opponent is incapable of fighting back. But don't think that just because you strung together a series of successful attacks that I'm out of the fight yet.'

"He's pinned! Do it now!" Nikolay suddenly called back with all the intensity in the world. As Tunguskas' head perked up in curiosity, he watched the spout of water only momentarily break its flow, only for the flying and practically glowing form of Denki to come bursting out of the last of the dirt haze, having been thrown like a baseball through the water spout by Mezo.

Now that he was completely soaked through, Denki was now generating all the electricity in his body he could gather up, to the point his whole body was producing bolts and sparks as he hurriedly flew right for Tunguska.

"Here goes nothing!" With that desperate and exhilarated cry, Denki proceeded to reach a hand and a foot out to the handle of the two tuning forks pinning Tunguska to the wall, and upon contact, he proceeded to let loose every watt of electricity he had through the metal instruments, channeling the current through them and into Tunguska himself. The large man was convulsing with the incredible power of the current racing through his body and into the ground below.

The electrical spectacle only lasted for less than a handful of seconds, but it still came with enough power that Nikolay was certain it would finally be enough to leave his father winded and out of energy. At least, he certainly hoped so, since when the attack was finally through, Denki simply collapsed to the ground on his back, only able to goofily chuckle to himself as his face now had that same dopey expression that said he was officially out for the count.

Nikolay had to try and willfully ignore the smell of smoke and singed hair as Tunguska was audibly wheezing, trying to catch his breath. Parts of his hair and beard were indeed smoking, and parts of his costume were even showing considerable burn damage from the current he'd just become a conduit for. However, as he tried to cough the smoke out of his lungs and regain his breath, the large mans' momentary convulsions quickly came to an end.

Eijirou hurriedly came rushing to the scene to get Denki up off the floor, just at the same time as Tunguska was finally able to regain his senses, and look upon all his onlooking students from across the arena, but especially his son just before him.

"Well done…truly, well done, all of you. You're all starting to perform as well as I hoped you would. Despite being thrown around and having your go-to strategies thrown in your faces, none of you have shown a willingness to give up…the tell-all sign of any real potential Heroes. Not only that, you've also been showing a clear ability to quickly adapt and figure out how best to utilize your Quirks alongside those you're not used to working with, and figuring out what helps them best. Were this test simply meant to showcase your teamwork adaptability skills, you'd have already passed.

"However, this test is for a fight to the finish…and unless you all personally beat your opponents into a coma…you must always assume, until it's proven otherwise, that your opponent always has another trick up their sleeves…because ninety-nine percent of the time…they do."

FWOOOSH!

In that instant, Tunguska had aimed the fingers of his left hand for Nikolay and Eijirou, and with both boys' attention completely off where they needed to be, Tunguska proceeded to focus and fire his two prosthetic fingers directly into the sternum of both boys, knocking all the air out of their lungs, and hitting with enough force to send them flying back helplessly; Nikolay, Eijirou and Denki being caught mid-throwback by Tenya and Mezo respectively.

With new distance regained, Tunguska proceeded to focus the strength into his pinned right arm, pulling with enough force to pry the tuning for straight out of the concrete wall, before just as quickly reaching with his other hand to pry loose the one around his neck as soon as he had recalled his fingers back into place.

From the moment he was free, and before all his students' eyes, Tunguska proceeded to snap both the large tuning forks into pieces within the grip of both his hands, letting the metal pieces come clattering to the ground at his feet; now rendered totally useless. As Nikolay tried to get his senses back, he felt his eyes go wide and a cold sweat break out on his brow once he saw his destroyed weapons lying at his fathers' feet.

All the while, Tunguska simply stood as tall and proud as always, slowly scanning his gaze across his clearly winded and worried students. "So…what exactly do you all plan to do now?"

Inside the field tent, Izuku and Recovery Girl were watching every step of the fight with rapt attention. Both of them found themselves instinctively flinching with every single blow landed, regardless whether it was Tunguska hitting one of the students, or visa versa; although whenever one of the students was the one getting hit, Izuku could distinctly hear Recovery Girl verbally expressing distaste once again.

As for the boy himself, he now found himself looking at all of his classmates, slowly gathering together in the wake of Tunguskas' most recent recovery. For once, despite his anticipation for his classmates still being there, right now all Izuku could feel was worry. 'Given everything I've observed from everyone so far, they've all gone and done exactly what I thought they would do for their initial and follow-up attacks. Yet, even for every one that's connected, Tunguska-sensei has just powered his way right through each and every one.

'He really is deserving of his reputation as the closest thing to All Might, both in attitude and raw power. I thought for sure at least one of them would've been able to hit him in a way that would've left him considerably winded by now. I…I honestly don't know what they could do at this point to beat him. If anything, I think their best bet is going to be to try binding him once more. If he can't fight back, that's obviously going to be their only remaining strategy. But with how fast he is…I'm not sure how they'll be able to pull that off. What are you guys thinking right now?'

Across the arena from Tunguska, the 1-A students had all gathered back together after each of their attempts at attack. So much had already happened, but in reality, barely less than five minutes had actually passed. That realization, on top of observing how each and every one of them had ultimately gotten tossed aside like they were nothing, even when actually connecting with their attacks, left more than a few of them at a visible loss of just what to do.

"How the hell are we supposed to beat him? He just keeps shrugging off everything we throw at him!" Minoru lamented, still rubbing at the intense sore spot on his forehead from where he'd gotten flicked.

"It's just as he said: he's fighting us at his full capability, and we need to do the same if we're to win. But with his speed, strength and resilience, that's proving not to be enough." Fumikage noted, while Dark Shadow was still whimpering with a lack of its original physical strength, still trying to reconstitute itself beside him.

"Just fighting him outright has proved to be ineffective. What we need is to immobilize him, put him in a complete state of disadvantage, and lay on the attack from there." Shoto realized, even though he was primarily talking to himself.

"But Momo and I have already tried that, Todoroki-san. Sensei is just too strong, he keeps throwing us around even when we have him completely tied up-kero." Tsuyu countered, still feeling the ache in her own tongue from earlier.

"But our attacks are clearly affecting him all the same, so he's not totally invincible." "Yeah, we just need to sap his strength somehow." Mezo and Kyouka respectively pointed out, with Mashirao eagerly nodding in agreement; all three having seen the effects of their tactics up close.

"C'mon, Kolya-kun, you know Sensei better than any of us. Is there anything we could do to keep him from thrashing us every time we even try?" Mina asked Nikolay once she was sure he'd recovered from the hit to his chest and was back to thinking clearly. By then, Eijirou had hurriedly returned to his two friends' sides, after having managed to get the vegetative Denki to a farther corner of the arena, essentially out of harms' way.

Just as the Russian boy was about to answer, Momo visibly perked up, drawing everyones' attention. The class vice president turned her determined gaze to Nikolay, the gears clearly already spinning in her head. "Bezpalov-san, you once mentioned that your fathers' Quirk revolves around the absorption and dispensing of energy derived from light, correct?"

Nikolays' realizing smile and confirming nod brought a confident smile to Momos' face. "That's right, it's what provides him with the energy for his distanced attacks, and it also provides the majority of his enhanced strength."

With this knowledge now confirmed, Momo motioned for everyone to gather in, while also motioning for Nikolay himself to get in closer. "I'll need your personal input, as we're all going to need to work in tandem and know exactly what it is we have to do if we're going to win. The first thing we need to do is cut Sensei off from light, and stop him from being able to use any of his special attacks on us. To do that, we're going to need something that isn't able to actually reflect light."

"But how do we do that? Anything that you're actually able to see inherently reflects light. Does anything like what you're suggesting even exist?" Ochako pointed out concernedly. However, she was instead met with that same driven smile on Momos' face. "As a matter of fact, there is."

From there, Nikolay was able to step in. "On top of cutting him off from light so he can't keep refilling his energy, we need to focus on whittling down his strength to where he isn't able to keep fighting us. We've been approaching this like the practical tests; this is supposed to be a battle of attrition. As such, we need to focus on taking away his means of attacking, as well as his means of maintaining his power. First things first, we need to figure out what to do about those projectile fingers."

With his breath still heaving from the injuries to his ribs, Tunguska knew he needed a moment to get himself back to 100%, but he couldn't let his gathered students see that they were visibly starting to crack through his armor, so under the guise of humoring their attempts to come up with another strategy, he proceeded to turn his back to them for the few seconds he needed to get his second wind.

"Alright, malchiki i devochki (boys and girls), I've humored you all enough. I hope you all took advantage of that time, because your average opponent would never give you that kind of chance. Here I come! Threetwoone!"

With a sudden rapid countdown, Tunguska proceeded to kick himself backwards from the ground right for his students, not giving them the respite of the second it would take to turn himself around to face them. Mid-dash, he then proceeded to turn himself around, fist at the ready to drive straight into the ground and send them scattering.

At least, that was the idea, before he found himself staring at an empty arena, instead of the numerous shocked young faces he'd been expecting. Tunguska proceeded to drive his heels into the dirt, bringing himself to a screeching halt, momentarily filled with confusion. Momentarily.

The large man hurriedly lifted his gaze to directly above, and what he found was the sight of Mezo hanging with his tentacles expanded across the span of the arena, clutching onto the sides, resembling an organic net, with all of the other students standing atop his tentacles, watching their teacher below with pure focus.

The moment eye contact between them was made, Fumikage was the first one to act, leaping down from the Mezo net, with Dark Shadow already sprouting from his side and lunging right for Tunguska with a fierce roar. However, with an eager smile, Tunguska was more than happy to meet his student in kind, firing himself up from the ground with a glowing fist at the ready.

"ASUI, NOW!" The moment Fumikage shouted back to the rest of the students, Tsuyu proceeded to fire her tongue out and around his waist, reeling him right back up, while Dark Shadow continued forward, taking that moment to finally open its mouth as soon as Tunguska got within range.

What the Russian Hero found when the shadowy entity opened its mouth, was a familiar pair of gloves and boots suddenly jump right out with what looked like a black cloth taut in its hands, coming right for him. As Tunguska was about to try throwing his fist up to counter Tooru, he suddenly felt another pair of arms latch around his legs, yanking him down from his jump with the sudden added weight, distracting him just long enough for the invisible girl ahead to finish following through with her surprise attack, throwing the black cloth around Tunguskas' eyes.

With the well-timed assistance of Ochako throwing herself into the fray to weigh Tunguska down, Tooru proceeded to follow in kind, using both their added weight, to throw Tunguska off balance in mid-air, and subsequently drive him flat into the ground below, with Ochako managing to remove both their gravity from the moment they sent their teacher plummeting.

What was most interesting, however, was that from the moment he realized Tooru had attempted to blindfold him, Tunguska was already readying another flash bang attack to stun both girls and get himself back into position to carry out the next attack. But when he opened his eyes and let the devastating light out, he wasn't met with the loss of their coordination or stunned and confused cries of surprise. He wasn't met with anything, in fact. It was as though his flash bang didn't activate at all.

From the outside, even, at the moment when Tunguska had activated his flash bang, it was as though nothing ever happened, there wasn't even a glow from behind his blindfold to signify he'd done anything. The students all watched this development with surprise; even greater than when Momo had initially managed to create that very blindfold, which they all realized was blacker than anything they had ever thought possible, to the point it almost looked like a piece of genuine, physical nothingness, a literal piece of negative space.

"What on earth is that thing made out of, Yaoyorozu-san? That flash bang attack is normally so devastating, and that blindfold just made it…well, nothing." Tenya couldn't help but voice his surprised curiosity, which he could clearly see reflected in most of his classmates' faces as they observed Ochako and Toorus' counter-offensive below.

"It's a material known as black silicone. It's one of a very few materials that doesn't reflect light at all. As of right now, it's our best bet in negating Sensei's flash bang tactic, since that's the move of his that seems to revolve solely around light, instead of pure energy or physical strength. And since Bezpalov-san says it's one of the moves that requires Sensei use a good portion of his energy stores, it's a good way to put him in a position where he now has to be more careful how he uses the energy he has left."

"Now all we need to do is just cut Sensei off from the sunlight so he can't restore the energy he's already used up. That's our cue, Tokoyami!" Eijirou announced with a confident grin as he and his crow-headed classmate once more jumped down to the ground below, with Fumikage once more drawing Dark Shadow out.

"Encompass us, Dark Shadow! Don't let Sensei out into the light!" With that command, the shadowy entity quickly began to expand and grow above both boys' heads, and the moment they touched down on the ground near their teacher, just as Tunguska got back up and removed the blindfold, Dark Shadow proceeded to descend upon all three of them. Soon, the creature had formed itself into a veritable dome of pure darkness in the middle of the arena, with Tunguska, Fumikage and Eijirou kept inside.

As soon as they knew Dark Shadow was firmly in place, Eijirou and Fumikage immediately swooped in, proceeding to go for any exposed parts of their teachers' body with a series of well-timed and accurate kicks, knees, elbows and punches, following in suit to Kyouka and Mashiraos' earlier strategy, working in perfect synch with one another so that Tunguska couldn't mount a defense, even if he still technically wasn't going down.

All the while, every time he managed to land a hit that connected, Eijirou found himself instinctively screaming "Forgive me, Sensei! I'm sorry!" over and over again, even on the sparse moments when Tunguska was actually able to throw a retaliating kick or punch, only for the red-haired boy to hurriedly activate his Hardening to try and lessen the still intense damage his body took as a result of such powerful hits.

Nevertheless, there was no mistaking the smile on that bearded face, as Tunguska was slowly but surely managing to start deflecting or blocking Eijirou and Fumikages' strikes. "You're doing exactly what you must do as a Hero, malenkii Kirishima; be proud of that! Soldiering your way through your own admirations in order to do the right thing is one of the inherent responsibilities of a true man!"

It warmed Tunguskas' heart to see the joyous smile on Eijirous' face to hear his teacher say so, even as he was carrying on with his assault. Alas, the fact that the sharp-toothed boy allowed himself to even be that emotionally vulnerable for a second, was all the opening Tunguska needed. With a single hardened punch being thrown just a centimeter off-center, Tunguska proceeded to lean himself back, and hook his arm around the one Eijirou had just thrown.

With a powerful twist of his upper body, he yanked Eijirou right off his feet, swinging him directly into a surprised Fumikage.

As the two boys went down from the intense impact, Tunguska proceeded to draw his energy back into his fists, and went on to fire two continuous beams straight up into the mass of Dark Shadow. A pained screech echoed through the arena as Fumikages' Quirk withdrew from around them in response to the intense energy beams burning into it, hurriedly retreating back into the crow boy. As he and Eijirou realized what had just happened, Tunguska was still on the offensive, quickly re-aiming his fists and meeting them both with another two continuous beams slamming straight into their chests, sending them reeling back across the arena and tumbling across the dirt.

Tunguska momentarily paused as he groaned in pain at the feeling of his further battered ribs, and some clear accumulated bruises to his sides and stomach. However, putting his focus back on Eijirou and Fumikage ahead, he began steadily making his approach to—

CRUNCH!

With the first step, Tunguska suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet give way to his weight, sending him into a brief and sudden descent until he found solid ground again. In just a second, he now found himself stuck up to his waist in the ground, much to his total confusion.

Meanwhile, still observing from above, seeing their background tactic actually pay off, Kyouka shot a visibly grateful Kouji a congratulatory thumb up. "Awesome work, Kouda-san! Let's just hope we can keep him there and end this thing quick!"

While Eijirou and Fumikage had been keeping Tunguska busy, Kouji had taken the chance to get down and speak to the numerous insects, snakes and moles that had been drawn to the surface thanks to Tunguska breaking up the earth of the arena, and desperately asked them to dig out the ground from underneath their teacher, effectively making a last second sink hole for Tunguska to fall into. And to his immense relief (and perhaps even a tiny bit of pride) it had worked beautifully.

With the signal that Tunguska was now immobilized, Tsuyu and Mashirao proceeded to send themselves swinging down from Mezos' tentacles, making a descending beeline for their opponent, with the rest of their classmates quickly following suit, and Mezo finally retracting his tentacles and landing back on his feet, anxious to get back into the fray and put this insane test to an end.

Mashirao was the one to take the lead upon touching the ground, sprinting for the immobile Tunguska, and upon kicking himself up off the ground with the momentum of his dash behind him, he proceeded to twist himself around and drive the bulk of his tail straight into the Russian Heroes' bearded face, reeling his head to the side with the impact. Once the blonde boy had his feet back on the ground, Tunguskas' focus became razor sharp as he swiftly reached and grabbed both hands onto his tail.

However, Mashirao had already foreseen this possibility, as he immediately kicked himself backwards off the ground, twisting his body in the opposite direction as soon as he felt those large hands grab onto him. With that backwards jump, he proceeded to drive one heel after another straight into Tunguskas' face again, the one-two hit thankfully nailing him hard enough to make the larger man loosen his grip.

Seeing that he was stunned after Mashirao had made his move, Tsuyu was quick to follow suit, springing herself up and forward from the ground with an especially strong frog leap, putting her feet before her so that they met Tunguskas' head dead center with a beautifully executed missile drop kick. As soon as she landed on her hands and feet while his bulky body was reeling backwards at his trapped waist, the green-haired girl momentarily looked back as she began setting herself up for a backwards springing leap of her own. "Sorry about all this, Sensei-kero."

Not giving the teacher a chance to reply, Tsuyu proceeded to leap backwards from her hands, once more driving both her feet straight into the back of Tunguskas' head, sending him folding forward hard enough for his face to plant and ricochet off the ground, leaving him in a visible daze; his ears ringing from all the consecutive powerful hits he'd just taken.

Once she was back on terra firma, Tsuyu proceeded to fire her tongue at the dizzy Tunguska, firmly binding it around his arms and torso. However, the familiar sound had managed to stir him back into reality, as he instinctively clutched onto her tongue with both hands, even stuck down to his waist as he was. "You need to learn how to improvise your attacks more, malenkaya Asui! You've already seen that your tongue binding doesn't work on an opponent physically stronger than you."

"That's why she's not doing it alone!" Mezo suddenly proclaimed, as he practically came rushing in from behind Tsuyu from out of nowhere, bringing himself to a grinding halt before grabbing onto another section of her tongue with both hands, and planting one foot on another, effectively serving as an anchor. "I'm so sorry, Asui-san," he called back in early apology for the discomfort this no doubt had to be causing her, before he proceeded to grab onto more of her tongue with several of his tentacles, and from there proceeded to pull with all his strength, while Tunguska had already started trying to do the same, putting teacher and student in an impromptu tug-of-war, with Tsuyu serving as the involuntary rope.

In the end, however, Mezos' raw strength ultimately came through, as with one final desperate pull, he finally managed to pry Tunguska out of the dirt, still bound up, and then proceeded to swing Tunguska around like a human lasso. Once he was sure the momentum had built up, and Tunguska was disoriented enough, Mezo finally took the chance to look back and at last take his boot off part of her tongue. "Alright, Asui-san, you can let go!"

The pained look in her black eyes showing how grateful she was this was finally over, Tsuyu proceeded to undo her tongue from around Tunguska, with all that built up momentum managing to send him spinning and flying all at once through the air, for once finding himself airborne outside of his own control and barely able to start getting his bearings.

SHHHHHLK!

A frigid sound suddenly tore through the air as Tunguska spun through likewise, and the large Slav suddenly found himself encased head-to-toe in a frigid wall of cold unlike anything he'd experienced before, but at the benefit of no longer flying like a rag doll.

As his vision stopped spinning, he realized he had become completely encased in a wall of ice, and he could make out the sight of Shoto bringing himself to a stop just a foot in front of him on a trail of ice emanating from his right foot. As teacher and student made eye contact through the ice, he could see the glow of Shotos' fire begin to engulf his left arm and the left side of his face alike as he began to approach.

"I apologize in advance for how much this is ultimately going to hurt, Tunguska-sensei…but you did say to come at you with everything we had. I trust you'll find this more than satisfactory." As he made this blunt excuse for an apology, Shoto began to reel his left arm back, preparing to hit Tunguskas' frozen mass point blank with a burst of fire.

At the last second before he did, though, he caught glimpse of a sudden glow through the ice where Tunguskas' left hand was.

BZZZZT!

The very next moment, a beam of that same pure solar energy blasted right through the ice from the palm of Tunguskas' hand, shattering the entire block he had been trapped in, and driving straight into Shotos' chest as he began to brings his arms together to form a protective wall. The force was greater than Shoto had brought himself to expect, as he found himself easily blasted right off the ground and barely able to catch himself with his feet; sending him flipping, tumbling and rolling as a result; a considerable scorch mark burned into the chest of his costume.

As his head rang from the huge blow he'd just taken, he could barely make out the worried voices of Momo and Nikolay alike as they both hurried over to him once they saw him come to a stop after taking a mother of a hit at point blank range.

At the same time, as Tunguska was trembling from head to toe from the intense cold, he could also feel the accumulated punishment starting to take its toll on his still rock solid body. It was just as Shoto had said; he wanted these kids to give him everything they had, and they were doing as their teacher instructed to the letter. Even with the pain, that acknowledgment of their pushing their limits brought a deeply satisfied smile to his face.

"Very good…very, very good, all of you. Thank you for indulging me and not holding yourselves back. You're taking this just as seriously as I hoped you would. However, you all must remember that in the heat of battle, there's more for you to focus and apply yourselves towards besides just full-on attack. You also need to focus on protecting each other…especially those of you in positions of leadership."

With that bit of cryptic sagely advice, his blue eyes zeroed in on Momo and Nikolay as they were still helping Shoto back to his feet. The moment the trio realized they were right in his sights, the man had already taken action, kicking himself forward like a bullet for them.

Shotos' instinctive reaction was to stomp his right foot forward, producing a lightning fast, towering row of spiky ice columns down the span of the arena right in Tunguskas' path. The large Hero quickly brought his arms together in front of his face, smashing through the first few columns when unable to stop his own momentum. Immediately after, he had finally come to a stop, and now found himself completely trapped inside a veritable cell of pure ice.

"You're going to have to try a lot harder to keep me officially trapped, malenkii Todoroki!" Tunguska proclaimed, already reeling a fist back to start punching his way out. However, just as he was ready, he looked to the ice and was surprised to find the unmistakable twinkling face of Yuga Aoyama a distance away.

Tunguskas' immediate reaction was to fire a quick shot of energy from his fist right in the boys' direction. Only instead of the expected cry of shock as his attack met its mark, Tunguska was instead only met with the sound of further shattering ice.

The large Russian now found himself on full alert as he looked back, once again finding Aoyama looking right back .Another subsequent energy shot, yet more broken ice with no sign of the boy himself.

This process repeated a third and final time, with the exact same result. Tunguskas' frustration only grew that much more when Yuga had finally decided to speak up: "For all your talk of constant environmental awareness and alertness in combat, I must say I'm disappointed, Sensei. You're of a people who understand the value of grace and perfection in their endeavors like few others do. Don't you know that true beauty, the true value of ones' art, can only be found when you look beyond what's right in front of you?"

BZZZZT!

Tunguska suddenly felt a huge walloping dose of pure energy drive straight into his back from up above, bowling Tunguska forward through several whole columns of ice. At the same time, perched safely up above atop one of those same spires, Yuga looked down with a satisfied grin (virtually identical to the one he always wore) as he ceased firing his navel laser, while making sure to catch the glass prism he had just diverted his laser through in the first place; a nifty yet simple tool Momo had taken the liberty of creating for him shortly before everyone had executed their ultimate strategy just a couple minutes ago. He knew simply attacking their teacher head on would do him no good, and this simple little triangle of crystal had given him an instant advantage in attacking at an angle.

"Merci beaucoup, Yaoyorozu-san. Thanks to you, I can put an end to this barbaric little scuffle in no time flat, and do it beautifu—!"

WHAAAM!

While Yuga had allowed himself to get wrapped up in his own mental show of thanks, he had failed to realize that not only had Tunguska gotten back up, but judging by the angle from which he'd been hit, he'd managed to pinpoint the twinkling boys' position. He proceeded to take the glowing disk always floating behind his head, and throw it like a discus, ricocheting off the sides of several ice columns, and ultimately nailing him right in the side, nearly folding him in half as he got knocked off his perch and tumbled down to the ground below, officially out for the count.

Tunguska caught the glowing disk as it returned, and from there proceeded to fire a continuous beam of energy from both his hands, spinning himself around so as to carve his way out of the entire ice structure, raining frozen crystals down all over the arena. With that fancy obstacle dealt with, Tunguska looked back to his original course, and found to his momentary disappointment, that in the time he'd been preoccupied, Nikolay, Momo and Shoto were still there together, staring him down in kind.

"Your Quirks' versatility when it comes to aiding your classmates is unprecedented, malenkaya Yaoyorozu, but it will also serve to make you a favored target for any opponents you and your allies will come to face. If your partners aren't able to keep protecting you from even the most powerful enemies, then you're going to need to be able to react cleverly enough to protect yourself."

With his point made, Tunguska proceeded to fire himself forward once again, ready to take all three students down with a single bowling over charge.

But that was when he suddenly noticed that, the closer he approached, the farther they seemed to drift apart from one another, without their feet even moving. Realizing just how wrong this was, Tunguska hurriedly drove his feet deep into the dirt, coming to a screeching halt. Turning his head this way and that and seeing how his perspective of the three students kept shifting vastly differently from one another, the wires in his head connected exactly what he was looking at.

"I see; you three weren't as careless as I thought. You did do something while I was in that ice. You tried to trick me with three perfectly positioned mirrors to make it look like you were still there. Clever, indeed."

Tunguska could feel a sudden rise in tension in the air and swiftly turned on his heels in an about face, only to find Shoto firing a serpentine-like column of both fire and his cold front wind combined from both hands, delivering an undoubtedly devastating hot-cold blast straight into his targets' face.

Tunguskas' smile was that of pure exhilaration as he reeled a fist back, ready to simply disperse the hot and cold winds with the sheer wind pressure of a single punch.

Just as Tunguska had reeled his arm back as far as he needed, though, a sudden burst of bass erupted from within Shotos' attack itself, dispersing both wind fronts from the inside out, revealing Nikolay flying forward from out of it at even greater inhuman speed, eyes burning right through his father dead ahead. The adrenaline in his veins was the only thing keeping him from reeling from the combined cold and heat-related pain he'd just willingly put himself through for the sake of their combined fake-out. Had it not been for Shoto detailing this specific kind of attack from his battle with Stain before, such an insane idea never would've occurred to the Russian boy.

'I knew if it was just the heat and cold combined by itself, Dad would never risk charging headlong into it…therefore leaving himself wide open! Hope you can take this as well as I'm thinking you can!'

With his mind, heart and spirit alike ablaze with determination, Nikolay reeled his right hand back while bringing his left shoulder up to the forefront, knowing impact was now inevitable. All he could envision now was the time he had executed this exact same kind of move against Tenya at the Sports Festival, simply hoping it would go anywhere near as smoothly here.

Nikolay shut his eyes at the very moment he felt his momentum drive his shoulder straight into his fathers' solar plexus; the impact rippling through every inch of Tunguskas' body, while the immense impact against such a solidly built body left Nikolay consumed with the pain of his shoulder fracturing under the pressure and resistance. However, he was too driven to let that stop him, as at the same time his advance had been effectively stopped, he brought his reeled back right hand straight into Tunguskas' chest, and fired off every ounce of energy stored in his palm.

BWOOOM!

The insane amount of kinetic power was enough to send Nikolay and Tunguska both flying back from each other, with Nikolay bouncing and rolling across the ground, while Tunguska helplessly flew back-first into the opposite concrete wall, effectively embedding himself in it with an almost perfectly shaped indentation from the sheer force.

Tunguska fought to get several deep breaths of air back into his lungs after that massive blow to his gut, while also trying to ignore the intense ringing in his head, and the pain resonating through his entire body after having gotten bodied nearly through a solid concrete wall. As his eyes fell upon Shoto and Mina rushing over to Nikolays' sides as he struggled to get back up with a busted shoulder, Tunguska knew he needed to act accordingly.

BOOOM!

The moment he saw Nikolay was back on his feet with his partners, Tunguska proceeded to fire himself out from the wall from a powerful enough push from his hands, now barreling through the air towards them. Fortunately, for their sakes, they'd seen the larger man coming and were already charging together to meet him in kind, while at the same time giving no visible cues to each other just what their next move would be, lest their opponents' observant eye would somehow pick up on it.

Instead, with no visible warning, Nikolay and Mina both suddenly slowed down just enough for Shoto to get a step ahead of them, and the moment he was, he proceeded to throw his right arm up and stomp his right foot down, erecting a massive wall of ice between the trio and Tunguska. Of course, the Sun of Justice would be damned if he was going to actually let that impede him. He was, in fact, already getting ready to drive a glowing fist straight through it, and send that ice right back in their faces.

On the other side, however, Shoto and Nikolay were simultaneously getting ready to attack and get the drop on the rapidly approaching Hero. Mentally counting down from one to zero, Nikolay proceeded to throw his charged up right hand straight into the wall, firing a kinetic burst straight into it that practically de-atomized the entire wall at once, sending a flurry of crystals right into Tunguskas' face.

Shoto, on the other hand, immediately followed up by throwing his blazing left arm in the same direction as Nikolay carried out his attack, instantly melting all the crystals into a veritable wall of pure steam as a result, pushed forward into Tunguskas' face by the force of Nikolays' previous kinetic blast; hitting Tunguska with enough burning power to bring his charge to a halt, completely stunned by this out-of-nowhere stalling tactic on the two boys' part.

Once she could see Tunguska actually taking a couple steps back as a reaction to the steam, Mina immediately took hold of Nikolays' right hand, and with a silent understanding nod shared between them, she proceeded to break into a mad sprint, only accelerated once she began secreting her acid from her feet in another slide, with Nikolay loyally sliding right along behind her as she refused to let go until they knew the time was right.

The moment the two had managed to get through what was left of the steam, that was when they both knew. "Do it, Kolya-kun," Mina exclaimed as she suddenly knelt down into a squat while still sliding them forward. With Mina officially out of his path, Nikolay proceeded to fire himself up and forward over her through his hands, fighting his way through the pain of his fractured left shoulder all the while. With the built up momentum on top of his launch, Nikolay tore through the air, and letting his body take the reins, he proceeded to bring his right arm out to his side fully extended, and letting speed and gravity do all the work, he proceeded to drive his arm straight into Tunguskas' neck, toppling the disoriented yet powerful Hero with a perfectly executed clothesline.

The moment Tunguska slammed onto his back, Mina immediately followed up as well, forming a large, thick coating of her least corrosive yet most adhesive acid in her hands, immediately following through by throwing thick globs of it, one after another, over both his hands and feet, adhering the man to the floor with what was essentially tree sap in all but name. Shoto even came hurrying in immediately after; using just enough of his fire to harden it within seconds so Tunguska couldn't just fight his way out of it.

However, shared past experiences left Kyouka and Minoru nearby unwilling to leave that much to chance, so they both came rushing in, ready to stick him further to the ground with Minorus' hairballs, and with Kyouka ready to drive her earphone jacks into his ears at the first sign of trouble.

Unfortunately, by the time they both got into position, Tunguska was already back to putting yet another backup plan into action, as he suddenly focused just enough to fire his prosthetic fingers through the built up slime on his left hand, shattering its hardened mass like glass, with both fingers just barely missing Shoto and Mina, as they jumped out of the way.

With the second that distraction bought him, Tunguska proceeded to twist his body over, driving his now freed glowing fist straight into the earth to his right, using that raw strength to essentially roll and break his way out of the rest of the binding; his driving fist erupting out from the ground once he rolled onto his back again.

The moment those prosthetics had shot out and gotten his hand free, Kyouka had already made a point putting as much distance between herself and Tunguska as possible. Minoru, unfortunately for him, was not as lucky, as he had been too momentarily stricken with fear to move. As a result, the moment Tunguskas' driving fist had emerged from the dirt, he immediately lunged it forward, clutching onto Minorus' entire face in his palm, lifting him up off his feet. 'Oh, for Gods' sakes, not again!'

This time not wasting a moment toying with him, Tunguska proceeded to drive Minoru headfirst into the ground below with considerable strength behind it. However, his desperate escape had considerable adrenaline still coursing through Tunguskas' brain, and that momentary chemical imbalance had kept Tunguska from noticing that, even through the shock coursing through his body from essentially getting pile-driven into solid ground, Minoru had somehow found the sense of awareness to pry one hairball from his scalp, and stick it to the large Russians' forearm, effectively keeping him attached as a hanger-on.

BWOOOM!

The sound of another kinetic blast snapped Tunguska to attention, just in time to find Nikolay darting towards him once again. Gritting his teeth, the older man was preparing to rush him in kind, but that was when his son suddenly kicked himself up from off the ground, and proceeded to fold his body forward so that he was essentially body-slamming the ground itself, palms down.

By the time Tunguska realized what his son was doing, Nikolay had already met the ground, and the moment he felt impact, he fired a double dose of fully built up energy through his hands into the ground itself, producing a massive shockwave spanning the entire arena, kicking up most of the loosened earth that had accumulated throughout the battle, kicking it straight up into the air.

Nikolay was already getting back to his feet, but Tunguska was already plowing through the kicked-up rocks and earth, dashing right past Nikolay at breakneck speed, but still managing to clutch onto the back of the boys' chakha and pull him unwittingly along like a puppet, before digging his feet in to stop, and throw his son straight up through the air like a fastball with all that momentum.

Nikolay tried to regain his bearings as he spun upwards through the air, but just as soon as he began to determine his position relative to the ground, preparing to launch himself even higher through his feet to buy himself another second of planning, Tunguska was already flying up to chase after him, clutching onto Nikolays' left ankle in his hand, and immediately swinging him up and over his head and throwing him straight back down to the ground below.

Nikolay had no chance to react, instead meeting the unforgiving ground with devastating force; a force that reverberated through his entire body, leaving his ears ringing something terrible, while also instantly building up enough energy that, when his body instinctively fired off in reaction to the hit, it produced another colossal shockwave, sending even more loosened rocks and earth up into the air with what had already been tossed up seconds before.

The moment Mina had seen her partner get manhandled by their teacher, she had immediately come to his side with another slide, getting down to her knees to confirm just how badly he was hurt. From the empty look in his green eyes, he looked to be momentarily unconscious or in shock. From those throws, he was probably dealing with serious whiplash.

Before she could begin to lift him up and try to evacuate him, Tunguska came slamming back into the ground beside them, clearly already preparing to lay on the assault.

Recognizing as such, Mina was already on the move, ducking herself down below the initial fist he threw, before just as quickly springing herself up off the ground to avoid the following sweeping kick Tunguska threw her way, before ultimately landing on one hand, and instantly positioning her body so as to perfectly balance herself with a single handstand.

From there, Mina proceeded to do what she knew how to do best, and let the throwing of her weight, gravity, balance and momentum do all the work, as she proceeded into an inconceivable whirlwind of break dancing dodges, somehow managing to predict every move Tunguska threw at her through sheer understanding of physical follow through from one move to the next, and subsequently twisting, spinning and flipping her body so as to avoid it.

After a second or two of this, she even began managing to throw in a few carefully timed and coordinated elbows and kicks of her own into her teachers' ribs, before ultimately managing to roll and flip her way behind him, before kicking herself up into the air by her hands, and driving the soles of her boots into the back of Tunguskas' knees, forcing him to kneel and go over so that he was on his hands and knees.

The moment she saw the larger Hero go down like this, Mina took off with another desperate slide, grabbing Nikolay and bringing his uninjured arm over her shoulders, before hurriedly taking off further with the fastest slide she could before Tunguska could get back to his feet.

The Sun of Justice was quick to get back up, already preparing to chase Mina and Nikolay down, but that was when he suddenly noticed something very unusual about the arena: all of the rocks and earth that had been tossed up into the air from those two previous shockwaves of Nikolays' were all still floating listlessly in the air when they should've come back down long ago.

The moment he noticed this, his ears caught the sound of something zipping through the air faster than the human eye could follow, and zeroing in on it, he noticed Tenya bringing himself to a stop clear on the other side of the arena, clearly having just used his Recipro Burst, and with a clearly dizzy Ochako once again tucked under his arm before he hurriedly got her back onto her feet.

Squinting his eyes through all the floating debris, Tunguska noticed Ochako was holding one end of what he now recognized as the nitinol alloy Momo had tried using on him at the beginning of the whole battle, only clearly much longer than before. And lo and behold, the class vice president herself hurried onto the scene, grabbing the end of the alloy from Ochakos' hand, before just as hurriedly bringing it over to Shoto standing nearby with the other end clutched in his hands. With not a moment wasted, Momo was already tying both ends together.

All at once, taking in everything around him in that moment, especially the fact he was starting to see that same binding alloy all around from among the debris, everything clicked in Tunguskas' head, what the students were about to do:

In those few seconds Tunguska had been preoccupied with Nikolay and Mina, Tenya had decided to take Ochako along and use his Recipro Burst across the entire arena, with her carrying one end of the alloy while Shoto had the other, and using her free hand to touch all the rocks and earth that had been kicked up from those two shockwaves, rendering it all weightless. At the same time, she and Tenya were essentially wrapping and interweaving the nitinol alloy among all the debris before bringing the opposite end back to Momo, which she now just finished tying off.

Then, in a moment of taking a breath, Tunguska suddenly picked up a faint yet distinctly unnatural scent among all the debris and the alloy: the smell of lighter fluid.

As the hairs on the back of his neck began to rise, Tunguska barely managed to spy a tiny bottle of that very same fluid sitting by Momos' foot, just as she gave a signaling nod to Shoto, who instantly proceeded to produce a flame from his left hand, igniting a trail of fire that instantaneously spread along the alloy as it trailed all around and across the arena.

Time practically seemed to freeze around him as his heart caught in his throat, screaming for him to do something to escape this admittedly ingenious attempt at a trap. Tunguska was already beginning to bring his right arm up to punch the nearest approaching debris away so he could jump out of the way and remain free—

Except his right arm wouldn't budge when he tried to lift it. Glancing down, he felt his jaw genuinely drop when he spotted a chain of Minorus' hairballs (the boy himself having long since bolted away from him) connecting to each other, and subsequently attaching his lowered arm to his waist, thereby rendering his one move of deflecting useless.

WHAAAM!

As the binding all tightened back into itself at the touch of Shotos' fire, all of the weightless rocks and earth that it had been woven between, all got pulled in along with it, essentially creating a colossal squeezing trap all around Tunguska; compacting itself around him in a manner similar to an anaconda, rendering him for once both completely immobile and defenseless as he could feel himself getting increasingly squeezed in among it all as the binding continued to tighten the rocks around him together.

'Very well thought out, you lot! However, if I can at least stun you enough to buy myself a few seconds, this fight still isn't over.' With this thought in mind, Tunguska was already beginning to focus his energy into his eyes, preparing to hit his students with a sneak flash bang attack. At least from there, he could finish brute forcing his way out of their trap, and bring the fight back to them.

However, just as he was ready to open his eyes, his ears suddenly picked up the sound of faint footsteps from behind, as though they were actually walking on top of the zero gravity earth/binding mass. Immediately after, he suddenly felt that same fabric from long before being tightly wound over his eyes before getting wrapped taut around the back of his head; with his arms being trapped now leaving him unable to pry it off this time.

As soon as she had finished finally blindfolding Tunguska from being able to hit them with his trusty sneak attack, thanks to that trusty black silicone, Tooru shot an affirming thumb up to Momo, Shoto, Tenya and Ochako, just as Mina returned to their sides with a now-awakening Nikolay still in tow, quickly followed by Eijirou as well.

The Russian boy struggled to get back to his feet; a residual ringing still in his ears from getting slammed to the ground, but at least by now the piercing pain of his busted shoulder had turned into an incessant numbing soreness instead. His classmates could also clearly hear him wheezing as he breathed; possibly a chance he was dealing with some considerable damage to his ribs.

"Kolya-kun, please, we can take care of the rest, you're in no shape to keep going." Mina immediately tried to insist the moment she heard the first wheeze from within his chest once she took his arm off her shoulders.

"Ashido's right, man, you're gonna put yourself in the hospital long term if you keep pushing yourself from here." Eijirou stated in concerned agreement, but unfortunately, Nikolay stubbornly shook his head in refusal, trying to ignore the universally worried looks in everyones' eyes. "I'm okay…at least, enough to finally end this thing here and now."

Looking past Momo, Shoto and Tenya, Nikolay focused on Ochako, who while still trying to stand tall and ready, was clearly giving her all just to be able to stand up, clearly on the verge of upchucking from having to keep such weight afloat to keep Tunguska sealed in. "Guys…Uraraka-san's not going to last much longer. The moment she goes under, all that gravity's going to come back, and Dad will be able get rid of that blindfold and come after us again. We need to end this thing now."

"Of course, but how do we do that? We've hit him with everything we've got and he just keeps getting back up!" Tenya pointed out, clearly more than a little frustrated that their teacher simply would not go down even after everything they'd thrown at him.

However, Nikolays' battered body perked up with determination before turning back to Mina and Eijirou. "Mina…remember how, during our fight with Vukodlak, I actually used my Quirk to fire Ochako forward in order to help trap him?"

"Of course I do, but you just said she's not going to last much longer. How is she—?" Minas' confused question was quickly interrupted by Nikolay once again shaking his head, before finally focusing his gaze on Eijirou specifically.

"I'm not talking about using Uraraka-san for it. I'm saying I'm going to do the same thing…but this time it has to be through someone we know can hit Dad hard enough to take him down for the count with the power I'd be putting behind them." The moment she realized where Nikolay was going with this, Minas' eyes likewise went wide with understanding, perhaps even agreement with the logic behind it. Soon, following their Russian partners' train of thought, even Momo and Shoto looked to be in agreement.

Feeling everyones' eyes upon him in light of what Nikolay was suggesting, Eijirou looked understandably nervous and uncertain, already beginning to take a step back. "I-I don't know about this, you guys. I mean, I don't know if I could-!" as soon as he began to protest, Nikolay stepped in, planting his hand firmly on one of the red gears forming the shoulders of his costume, forcing Eijirou to look in his eyes through his busted goggles.

"Kirishima-san, you're one of the heaviest hitters we've got right now; you're our best bet at finally ending this thing. We've already gotten Dad good and winded and whittled down, I can see it in his movements. We're on the edge now. All you would have to do is just jump when I say, then I'll fire all my energy through a single blast point blank into your back, launching you toward him, then you just need to activate your Hardening right before impact, and you'll have taken him down for the count. You're our key to winning this thing, and I think you know it, too."

Eijirou, while clearly thinking about the details of the plan, still looked uncomfortable with the role he'd just been given. However, just as he began to open his mouth, he suddenly winced with instinctive annoyance when Mina likewise stepped in and began poking at one of the spikes of his hair especially hard in an attempt to get his attention. "You keep going on about how you want to be a brave, manly Hero who can do anything with confidence? This is your chance to do just that, Kiri! Even if you don't think you can pull it off, you must know that we all believe you can; doesn't that count for something? Besides, Tunguska-sensei asked us to give him everything we've got. Don't you want to prove to him just how brave and manly a Hero you can really be? Just how much manlier you've gotten?"

To virtually no one's surprise, appealing to his childlike devotion to the concepts of manliness in Heroism was what finally got Eijirou into the mindset they needed him in, as his nervous expression quickly shifted into one of silent understanding, before an eager smile spread on his face, and he turned to face Nikolay with a firm, accepting nod of what they needed him to do.

"Guys…I don't mean to rush you all…but please hurry! I don't…know how much longer…I can keep it down." Ochako groaned in severe internal discomfort, one spasm away from falling onto her knees as she tried to keep her composure, keeping over a ton of rocks and earth compounding together and weightless.

Her desperation, and therefore the desperation of their situation, was only becoming increasingly clear, and so with no further argument, Eijirou proceeded to get himself into position with a straight shot at Tunguska up ahead, while Nikolay got himself positioned right behind the red-headed boy, with Mina, Momo, Shoto and Tenya securing themselves behind him likewise, knowing the resultant blowback from his launching blast would throw him back hard, like always.

"Just tell me when to jump, Kolya-san!" Eijirou called back as soon as he bent his knees, getting himself into the start of a jumping position, just waiting for the word so he could become their intended human cannonball.

"Guys, hold up a second!" The sound of Kyoukas' voice suddenly called out, drawing everyones' attention to find the purple-haired girl rushing to join them, her triangular onyx eyes focusing on Nikolay specifically. "Maybe…maybe I might be able to help somehow. My Quirk is handy at helping infiltration and in fighting, but against someone that much more powerful…Sensei was right, I would be better suited to assisting my allies in situations like this. So please, let me at least try."

"I appreciate your willingness, Jirou-san, but time isn't really on our side. What exactly were you thinking of doing?" Nikolay asked while still trying to focus on sending as much of his remaining kinetic energy through his arms, injuries be damned, and build up in his hands for the divining moment.

Taking the question as Nikolays' go ahead for her to quickly make her case, Kyouka was already on it: "Okay, Bezpalov-san, is it true that heartbeats add to your overall energy stores when you fire? Ashido-san told me what Tokage-san did to help you restore your energy during the Cavalry Battle at the Sports Festival. So yes or no, is it really true?"

Nikolays' resultant rapid nodding, silently imploring her to hurry to her point, was all the answer Kyouka needed. "Okay. I can transmit my own heartbeat through my earphone jacks in pulses. Maybe I can jab them into your hands and send my heartbeat into you, and help build up your power stores even more than you could on your own. That much more power to your blast should just send Kirishima-san flying that much faster, and therefore make him hit that much harder and help end this fight faster, right? What have we got to lose?"

Kyouka was already silently kicking herself for asking such a painfully obvious question. However, her momentary disappointment was nonexistent when she saw Nikolay was once again nodding his head in a signal for her to get wherever she needed to be in order to do whatever she was planning on to help.

By now, Ochako had already fallen to her knees; her face now turning pale as she could just tell she would be lucky to last another handful of seconds before finally losing her lunch and consciousness all at once. "Guys…please…hurry up!"

With not a moment left to lose, but all the while swallowing the biggest nervous lump in her throat, Kyouka proceeded to duck down below Nikolays' extended arms until she was standing tall between him and Eijirou, right in between his arms, eyes firmly glued to the floor.

With a deep, shaking breath, she proceeded to come that single inch forward and bring her arms firmly around the Russian boys' sides, squeezing him in an unintentionally constricting embrace, while at the same time poking her earphone jacks square into the backs of his hands.

Kyouka had no idea of knowing if this was making Nikolays' heart start racing, but she ultimately realized it made no difference for the matter at hand, as her own heart was hammering at her chest like a jackrabbit; only compounded by just how scalding hot she felt her face was in this moment.

As for Nikolay, he couldn't not notice just how much Kyoukas' heart was racing while doing this (he could only imagine out of embarrassment for having to go to such extreme measures), as he felt her pulse compounding into his hands so rapidly, it almost felt more like one continuous stream of increasing power building into his hands; indeed far more than he ever could have been able to build up on his own, at least in such short time.

In nearly no time at all, it actually felt as though their power combined was going to physically tear through Nikolays' hands from the inside out, and so with his adrenaline and anticipation reaching a simultaneous fever pitch, the young Russian finally screamed: "NOW!"

Knowing without question this was his cue, Eijirou finally kicked himself up off the ground, arms crossed together over his chest and face. The moment he saw the red-haired boy jump up, Nikolay finally released that last mental restraint and fired off the single biggest blast he had ever released in his entire life. The sheer volume was so intense, it shook the entire arena, if not the entire training city, down to its foundations. It was frankly nothing short of a miracle that nobody's ear drums had burst from it, especially everyone closest to it.

The physical power in and of itself was incredible, tearing Nikolays' gloves to shreds as the force threw Eijirou forward like a literal bullet, while the kickback sent everyone (Nikolay, Kyouka, Mina, Momo, Shoto and Tenya) flying back like pieces of paper before an industrial fan. It was only through the timely intervention of Mezo and Kouji catching the whole lot before they could plowed straight through the wall, that they managed to avoid breaking anything in the aftermath of such an indescribably powerful attack.

At the same time, to anyone watching at that moment, Eijirou was literally like a red blur, fighting to keep his eyes open against the insane wind friction from the speed at which he was flying.

At that moment, Ochako had finally lost all restraint and essentially blacked out from the strain, and with her loss of consciousness, the veritable ton of debris she'd been keeping afloat to keep Tunguska trapped, all came collapsing down from around him.

Having long since spotted what Nikolay and his friends were doing, the moment he felt restraints come undone, he immediately brought his left hand up and fired his prosthetics straight for Eijirou, mentally apologizing the whole time as he knew the power behind them would be enough to stop the sharp-toothed boy dead in his tracks.

However, the moment he heard the sound of those false fingers firing from his hand, Eijirou instinctively brought one hand up against the wind current and shut it closed around his most admired teachers' projectiles; ignoring the blunt force pain of them driving straight into his palm.

With that immediate threat effectively removed, and less than a second before impact, Eijirou concentrated, hardening the entirety of his body while trying to keep himself as compacted as possible, becoming essentially a human cannonball. His eyes met solely with Tunguskas' at the last fraction of time before impact was made between them.

As embarrassed as he would have no doubt been to admit it himself, the truth was that, in that moment when they looked in each others' eyes, and Eijirou saw the most profoundly proud smile on his teachers' face, he didn't even try to fight the deeply moved and emotional tears in his eyes as he cried out at the moment of impact: "THANK YOU, SENSEI!"

WRAAAAAM!

The impact made between Tunguska and Eijirou produced an incredible shockwave akin to Nikolays', shaking the entire arena as they both flew across the grounds, bouncing and spinning in a daze from the force with which they had just met each other, before student and teacher alike ultimately came to a stop, rolling the last few feet completely listless.

All of the students across the arena were hesitant to get back up from the ground, with the sound of that final impact almost resembling that of a genuine war zone. Hell, the entire arena now pretty much resembled one. Ultimately, though, when no more noises came, they all eventually began to get back up, and upon seeing both Eijirou and Tunguska sprawled out on the ground and not moving, they all quickly began to rush for their red-haired classmate, with Nikolay and Mina leading the charge, both of them in too much of a rush to even notice how the young Russians' arms were now dangling listlessly at his sides.

Everyone quickly gathered around Eijirou as his face winced, and he struggled to open his red eyes, before eventually managing to wake back up, looking in momentary confusion to find everyone gathered around, looking down upon him worriedly. In response to the looks on their faces, though, he ultimately produced a confident half-smirk, all the while still wincing from the pain all over his body now that he'd deactivated his Hardening. "Don't worry, guys…I think…I think it's done. At least…god, I hope so."

With that, Eijirou opened his right hand, and out came rolling Tunguskas' two prosthetic fingers. Except, now that they were free, they weren't actually being recalled back to their controller. With that, once they had helped Eijirou back to his feet, everyone likewise began approaching Tunguskas' body, lying flat on his back, with the chest of his costume torn asunder from all of the blows he'd taken, with a multitude of bruises already beginning to form all over. His bearded face, however, almost looked surreal in how serene it was. If it weren't for all the bruises, scrapes and cuts, one would've been forgiven for thinking the older man was simply asleep.

In the field tent, Izuku and Recovery Girl alike were genuinely speechless. Even the old nurses' constant worry about all the injuries she was going to have to start treating had taken a momentary backseat to just plain amazement at what she'd just witnessed all those students manage to pull off.

But for as impressed as she was, it paled in comparison to how Izuku was feeling in that moment, looking utterly amazed at what his classmates had all just managed to accomplish when pushing themselves past their limits, and helping each other to do the same every step of the way. In the end, they had all banded together in the face of an overwhelmingly powerful opponent…and won.

Pride didn't even come close to describing how Izuku was feeling towards his classmates in that moment. No, right now, he was looking upon the boys and girls he had already felt deeply honored to call his classmates and friends, as though he were looking upon a genuine army of Pro Heroes in the flesh, through a screen. He knew he couldn't have been more grateful to be given the privilege and opportunity to learn how to become a truly great Hero alongside such admirable and promising peers.

Several of the students couldn't help but instinctively flinch when Tunguskas' face suddenly began to move; the older Hero starting to stir himself back to consciousness. Tooru was even already beginning to get her trusty blindfold at the ready once it looked like he was about to open his eyes, all but expecting him to try and hit them with another flash bang sneak attack.

Yet, when his blue eyes finally opened, there was no sense of hostility, or even intensity for that matter, in his gaze. Instead, he once more looked like a man who had simply woken up from a deep sleep, and was now looking up into the intent eyes of every single one of the students encircling him.

And once he had finally met the stares of every single one of them…his weathered, bearded face slowly formed into a very deeply satisfied smile. "Pozdravlyayu, mal'chiki i devochki (Congratulations, boys and girls). Well done…all of you. You all performed…above and beyond…and won."

The moment that last word had escaped his lips, the arena was suddenly filled with the familiar ring of the intercom, before the sound of Recovery Girls' voice filled the air: "AND THAT'S IT! THE FINAL TEST, AND THE END-OF-TERM EXAM IS OFFICIALLY ENDED! CONGRATULATIONS, CLASS 1-A! YOU HAVE ALL PASSED! ANY STUDENTS WITH INJURIES, PLEASE REPORT TO THE FIELD TENT FOR HEALING!"

The cacophony of cheers, jumping, and even momentary flips and dancing from Mina, was downright unprecedented. It might as well have been the same thing as being told they had all graduated with top marks!

Among all the celebrating and cheering, Tenya, Momo, Nikolay and Shoto were all happily congratulating and thanking each other for helping put all the plans together, especially congratulating Momo for the idea of combining Ochakos' Zero Gravity, Tenyas' speed, Shotos' fire and her own creating ability together to help entrap their teacher. It was honestly the kind of multi-tiered planning Nikolay could only hope to one day be able to put together, despite everyone being quick to remind him of his own responsibility in getting everything together.

They were all even quick to bring Ochako into the congratulations once she had finally finished dry heaving and was, at least woozily, able to get back to her feet, smiling bashfully as she was thanked profusely for her part in everything.

Of course, once conversations about the planning came into it, Nikolay couldn't rightfully leave the biggest players out, as he was quick to approach Kyouka amid the crowd, smiling gratefully once she saw him approach, her onyx eyes immediately falling back down to her feet in embarrassment.

"You know, as thought out as it was, our plan very easily could've proven to not be enough if you hadn't stepped in, Jirou-san. You really came through for us, even though I can imagine how embarrassing it must've been for you to help the specific way you did. Hopefully we won't find ourselves in a situation where you'll have to force yourself to do that again, if it makes you feel any less awkward about it. I just…I just wanted to say bolshoi spasibo (thank you very much), Jirou-san. You deserve just as much credit as everyone here."

She couldn't tell if the Russian boy in front of her was just incredibly dense, or if he was just pretending not to notice, but Kyouka could feel her face feel as though it were on fire, she was blushing so damn hard. Still, that didn't make it feel any less amazing to actually be receiving such praise for what ultimately didn't seem like much. For once, Kyouka didn't even stop to wonder once again just why it was that being complimented by him of all people was making her feel like this. It just felt incredible to actually know that she had pulled through and helped her whole class win the way she had.

As soon as Nikolay decided to give her some much needed time alone, she lifted her gaze up to meet him, taking a steadying breath before speaking up: "Kyouka. If…if it's not too uncomfortable for you…you can just call me Kyouka…if you want to, I mean."

Needless to say, Nikolay was surprised that she was actually opening up like this to him so soon, given how comparatively little time they had actually really talked to one another. Nevertheless, the faint yet unmistakable smile on her face said it all, and so he finally smiled back. "Thank you…Kyouka-san."

The purple-haired girl couldn't help but chuckle in amusement that he would take her offer, yet still be so formal about it. However, before too much more time could be spent laughing at their mutual awkwardness, Nikolay found himself nearly getting bowled over as Mina and Eijirou came rushing in, pulling the two into a massive group hug, both of them laughing with near tears in their eyes.

"Oh my god, you guys were incredible! We all passed and now we all get to go for the summer, and it's all thanks to you! I'll never be able to thank you enough, you guys! You are so awesome!" Mina was cheerfully proclaiming a mile a minute as she squeezed a stunned Kyouka in her arms before just as quickly doing the same to Nikolay, only to be met with the Russian boy exclaiming with unmistakable pain, forcing Mina to immediately let go, looking awful with guilt.

"It's okay, I…I think that aided blast was…more than a little too much for my arms." Nikolay bluntly explained through the tears of pain in his eyes. Finally noticing just how limp his arms both were, Minas' saddened guilt quickly turned to that same fiery determination, echoed by Eijirou and Kyouka alike.

"Okay, let's get everyone who's hurt to the field tent, especially you, Kolya-kun. You pulled through for us time and again today; you deserve to get some rest. Come on, we can celebrate after school once everyone's all patched up." Even when trying to come across as serious, Mina couldn't hope to keep her excitement to herself as she began slowly leading Nikolay along with a gentle hand on his one uninjured shoulder, with Eijirou and Kyouka, and soon the rest of the class following along, eager to get their own injuries seen to before returning to class to finally end this insane day.

Every step of the way, looking at the deeply proud and relieved looks on all his classmates faces, Nikolay couldn't help but feel an outright fire ignite in his chest; a fire of pride to be a part of such a group of kids so ready and able to go through so much for each other, and be able to come out victorious in the end. He always felt this way regardless, but in this moment especially, he wouldn't have traded his life with all his friends and classmates of 1-A here for anything else in the world.

Even for all the hardship and pain he had put his body through alongside them in order to win, in its own special way, this was the single happiest day of Nikolay Bezpalovs' life.

And there is the new chapter for the week. a lot of planning went into making this fight the best and most fulfilling it could be, where all of the 1-A students could get their chance to shine. I know such a feat was not easy, so I hope you'll all take the time to leave a review and let me know how you thought I did with this one. It would be vastly appreciated to know whether or not I'm doing well with this story in all your eyes.

Stay safe, have a nice rest of your week, hopefully free from the suffocation of wildfire smoke, and I will see you all with the next chapter on 08/14!