27.02.2023

It is I, the Absolute Madman and oh boi am I excited to post this chapter! But first a comment to answer!:

SonicMax - There is a time and place for everything! And today I woke up and decided to choose violence!

And now, the action!:

Following the false alarm caused by a reporter taking things way too far and his buddies invading the campus alongside him, nothing of interest happened, which meant that the rest of the week flew by and before anyone noticed it was already Friday.

Izuku and his classmates were patiently waiting for a teacher to show up and guide them to the place called USJ. Aizawa said something about taking a bus to get there and none of the students had a clue as to where the facility could be located so all they could do was wait in their seats. It didn't dampen their mood at all however, as they were looking forward to today's special exercise with pure excitement.

"What do you think we're gonna be doing today?!" Kirishima threw the question out.

"Maybe it's going to be another combat scenario?"

"I bet it's going to be about our quirks!"

"As long as I get to watch the girls I'm okay with it!"

Those were some of the answers that rang out throughout the class. Those were proposed by the more social students however, as the more level-headed ones opted to stay out of the debate unless called upon, though some of them had their suspicions regarding the nature of today's exercise.

Their chatter was cut short when Aizawa walked into the room, his mere presence causing all the ruckus to die down nigh instantly.

"Alright, sorry for making you wait but there were some unexpected circumstances that had to be dealt with immediately." Their homeroom teacher stated as he walked towards his podium. "Let's not waste any more time than we already had. The nature of today's exercise is vastly different from what you've been doing so far, as such wearing your costumes is not mandatory, though you are free to take them if you want to." Aizawa explained and pushed a button on his desk, the wall at the back of the class opening to reveal the twenty cases in response. "You have ten minutes to change if you want to. Meet me outside when you're done." And with those last words Aizawa left the room, supposedly to procure a transport for them.

Quite a few students opted to wear their costumes instead of the P.E. uniforms that they usually wore during training with Izuku also deciding to retrieve his own case.

"We don't have to wear our costumes today, but I need to feel comfortable in it so that I can do everything that I need to do once there are lives on the line." Izuku thought to himself as he walked towards the nearest changing rooms with his case in hand.

The guys continued speculating about the exercise even as they changed into their costumes and their ideas were getting more and more ridiculous by the second!

Thankfully soon enough they were already seated on the bus and on the way to the USJ. It was then that Aizawa had finally decided to spill the beans and explain what exactly they were going to do.

"Today's exercise will be focused around the second important task of a hero - rescue. USJ is a special training facility where we teach students how to operate in extreme environmental hazards. From shipwrecks to wildfires, the USJ has it all." Aizawa explained simply and the bus was filled with excited chatter once again.

The chatter lasted for the next few minutes and quieted down only when they arrived at their destination.

The USJ turned out to be a giant dome, which probably housed the various environments that Aizawa had mentioned.

As soon as they were off the bus they noticed that someone was waiting for them by the entrance. They were wearing an oversized astronaut suit, clearly a hero costume, which was confirmed as they were instantly recognized by one of the students.

"That's the Space Hero: Thirteen!" Uraraka exclaimed at the sight of the heroine.

"Correct." Aizawa confirmed as they approached the entrance to the dome. "So far you've been learning how to utilize your powers in a combat scenario, today that changes. Today you're gonna learn about using your, destructive in nature, quirks to save people." After that short introduction Aizawa nodded to Thirteen, giving her the green light to go ahead and start her own speech.

"As was already stated, I am the Space Hero: Thirteen. I specialize in rescue operations thanks to my quirk being almost perfect for the job." She began. "Does any one of you know what my quirk actually is?" She asked.

"It's called Black Hole and it lets you suck up all the debris and rubble during rescue operations!" Uraraka explained with a wide, excitement-filled grin.

"That's right. My Black Hole is perfect for removing obstacles and debris, but it's also dangerous, very dangerous in fact. All it takes is one slip up for me to kill someone instead of digging them from under the rubble, so I must remain calm and careful whenever I use it." That reveal certainly sombered the atmosphere quite a bit, as though death is something natural and unavoidable, having to dabble on the topic so early on in their lives shook them up a bit. "I'm certain that most, if not all, of you also possess incredible powers which can be used to protect, but also to harm. Today's exercise is going to focus on testing the extent of your control over your own quirks. I'm sure that in time you'll be able to perfect your skills to an even greater degree than I did." Thirteen wrapped up her speech and the students began clapping and cheering, bringing an unnoticeable blush to the heroine's cheeks.

"Now that you know what we'll be doing, let's head inside. Thirteen will give you a tour of the USJ and then we'll begin the exercise." Aizawa stated and began leading his students inside the building.

The dome itself looked massive from the outside, but the inside seemed even bigger somehow! The first thing the students noticed right away was that the interior was divided into several sections, each of it unique and portraying a different scenario.

"Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint." Thirteen greeted the students properly once they were all inside. "As you can see the USJ is divided into sections which simulate different situations that you may find yourself in after you graduate. First we'll head to the central plaza and then I'll tell you all about the various zones that we've got at our disposal." The heroine stated and started descending the steps towards the central plaza with the students following soon.

"The Warp is disturbed around this place… I don't like it." Izuku heard the daemon's voice inside his mind.

"Well, if you don't like it then I for sure do." Izuku responded with venom, but it didn't seem to bother the daemon all that much.

"If you knew about The Warp as much as I do then you wouldn't like this disturbed aura either." The daemon argued and the link went silent for a few moments before picking back up. "Something's comin'. Look alive kid, up ahead." This time Izuku actually took the time to scan the central plaza that they were heading towards and saw… nothing.

He was about to dismiss it as the daemon trying to mess with his head out of malicious boredom, but his stance on the matter changed drastically once he noticed a mass of purple smoke materialize next to the fountain that stood directly in the middle of the central square.

"Mister Aizawa!" Izuku shouted to get his teacher's attention before pointing towards the plaza.

The entire group froze in place as people began pouring out of the smoke as if it was some sort of a portal. All of them wore something different but they had one thing in common - they looked quite ragged.

"Um, is this supposed to be a part of today's exercise?" Kaminari asked in confusion.

"No, it's most definitely not. I think they somehow managed to get past U.A.'s defenses to ambush us here. If I'm not mistaken then those are villains!" Aizawa declared and jumped to the front of the group, right next to Thirteen.

"I can't contact the school. Someone or something is blocking the signal." Thirteen revealed which put the students on edge.

It was already quite clear that this was no joke and that whoever was behind this was planning this for a long time judging by the sheer amount of bodies that kept pouring out of the portal. The tip of the iceberg however was a giant, purple monster made of nothing but muscle, a man covered in severed hands and a vaguely humanoid shape made out of the very same smoke as the portal.

"This doesn't look good. We are heavily outnumbered." Thirteen stated and Aizawa had to agree.

"Our first priority should be getting the students to safety. Let's fall back to the entrance." The man commanded and the group swiftly turned around.

"Do you think it has something to do with All Might?" Thirteen asked as they continued running up the steps.

"I can't think of anything else besides him. They must've orchestrated the alert on Monday to steal his schedule and find a good moment to ambush him. None of them expected him to be too busy to show up to class, but something tells me that they're not just gonna give up." Aizawa answered with dread.

The dread ended up becoming very infectious as the thought of those villains planning to attack All Might of all people was scary in and of itself. Everyone knew just how strong All Might was and that simple cannon fodder was no match for him. Still, if they went through all this trouble just to have a shot at him then who's to say that they don't have a plan on how to defeat him?

The students managed to reach the exit before the villains had a chance to organize, but that's when they found out something rather horrible - the doors were locked tight and simply wouldn't budge. Bakugo even tried to blow them up but they withstood the full might of his explosion as if it was a mere firecracker.

"Thirteen, try to get the students out of here." Aizawa commanded as he pulled out a pair of yellow goggles out of his pocket and put them on. "I'll buy you some time." And before anyone even had a chance to stop him he was gone.

"Alright kids, we need to figure out a way to get past these doors. Any ideas?" Thirteen asked and didn't receive an answer immediately, but Yaoyorozu eventually spoke up.

"We could try and melt off the hinges." She proposed.

"That could work, but can we even do something like that?"

"I should have the formula for thermite somewhere in my book." Yaoyorozu said and began flipping through the notebook that was on her belt. It took her only a couple of seconds to find the page she was looking for. "I've got it!" She exclaimed and her palm was soon enveloped by the shimmering glow of her quirk.

"Alright, once we get through the doors we'll need someone to run back to the school and bring help." Thirteen stated as Yaoyorozu started stuffing the hinges with thermite.

"Iida, that's a perfect job for you." Izuku spoke up, quickly catching his classmate's attention.

"I- I can't just leave you here!" He protested but Izuku was having none of that.

"You are by far the fastest out of all of us. You are the only one fast enough to get help. We're counting on you." This time Iida didn't seem to argue, though it was clear that the idea didn't sit well with him.

"It's ready!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed and the students took a couple of steps back away from the doors.

The thermite worked like a charm and the melted metal couldn't hope to support the weight of the massive steel doors which fell to the floor with a thunderous bang. It was bound to bring unwanted attention to them so Iida didn't waste time and ran straight for the exit.

He had to stop however as a swirling mass of purple smoke materialized right in front of him. Out of the mass walked out the humanoid entity made of the very same smoke.

"I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to escape. We've spent far too long preparing for this day to have our plans thwarted by some kids." The entity spoke and its body suddenly expanded, coming towards the students like a tidal wave.

Izuku was quick to act and rushed towards Iida, grabbing him by the arm and yanking him to the side, hopefully pushing him out of harm's way. The majority of the students didn't have nearly as much luck and they found themselves surrounded by the smoke in a matter of moments.

When Izuku regained his sight it was coupled with having the wind knocked out of his lungs as he landed on his back. The adrenaline coursing through his veins did wonders however and he managed to recover in just a few moments, jumping to his feet and taking in his surroundings.

The dome overhead meant that he was still somewhere inside the USJ, but he had no idea where exactly. The area looked mountainous so perhaps this was meant to imitate a landslide or something like that?

He had no time to dwell on the subject any more. He took one more look around and was glad to spot two familiar figures a few steps away from him.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he approached the two girls.

"A couple of scrapes, but that's it." Yaoyorozu responded as she produced a bandage with the help of her quirk.

"Save your strength, let me do it." Izuku stopped her in her tracks and moved his hands to hover above her scraped knee.

It was enveloped by a golden glow almost right away and the scrape seemed to vanish in a matter of moments. Not only the scrape itself, but also any and all pain associated with it was gone as if it was never there to begin with.

"Wow…" The girls let out in awe at the sight.

"That's one handy quirk." Jirou commented and Izuku smiled at the complement.

Their peace was disturbed however as a group of villains approached them.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Looks like meat's back on the menu boys!" The villain at the front of the group exclaimed with an expression that promised nothing but pain and suffering.

Unfortunately they underestimated their opponents. Izuku wasted no time and unsheathed his sword, letting it rest against the ground for now, the sight of the blade being enough to make the group pause for just a moment. They seemed a bit hesitant at first but the horde mentality worked like a charm and they were marching once again in no time at all.

"I'll act as the frontline and keep them at bay whilst you support me from a distance. Sounds good?" Izuku asked and the girls nodded with determination, and a healthy amount of fear, written over their faces.

Izuku charged in, catching the villains somewhat off-guard and using it to his advantage. A shoulder bash sent the 'leader' tumbling back and into his friends, causing a handful of them to fall to the ground. Izuku utilized his momentum and swung his blunt sword over his head, slamming it into the villain's stomach and rendering him unconscious with one strike. The others tried rushing him with their own attacks but one round swing was enough to stop them in their tracks, though a few of them managed to run into the blade and were brutally batted away as a result.

Yaoyorozu chimed in with an improvised net-launcher which immobilized those foolish enough to focus solely on Izuku and Jirou used her quirk to stun the more dangerous looking villains, rendering them defenseless and setting them up for Izuku to knock them down. They knew each other for only a month at this point, but their teamwork seemed almost seamless.

They were eventually able to overpower the group of villains and force them to retreat. The constant fighting took its toll on their energy levels however and the trio was feeling quite tired after their victory. They couldn't stay there however, so they forced themselves to their feet and decided to head towards the entrance to the USJ. The only problem was that the only way to get to the entrance led through the villain-controlled central plaza.

Overpowering a small group was one thing, but having to fight an entire army with their current strength would be suicide, so they decided to lay low and try to sneak by, opting to run as soon as their presence was discovered.

The thing with plans however is that they rarely survive the first contact with the enemy. This one was no exception.

When they reached the central plaza, Aizawa was still fighting against the onslaught of villains which never stopped coming despite the many unconscious bodies strawn around the plaza, their teacher's handiwork no doubt. He seemed to be holding his own quite well, so even though Izuku wanted nothing more than to rush in and help the man out, he understood that he wouldn't be able to help nearly as much as he'd have liked to. The logical thing to do was evacuate and allow their teacher to do his job. That's what Izuku kept telling himself, but that changed when the purple mass of muscle stepped into the view.

It charged their teacher with some crude, bestial roar, moving with surprising speed and catching not only them, but also Aizawa and the villains off-guard. Aizawa was unable to react in time and was forced to absorb the full impact of the monster's punch which sent him flying and most likely fractured a thing or seven.

The sight made the girls gasp in shock which in turn alerted the villains of their presence. They heard the man covered in severed hands shout something towards the muscled creature and it turned to stare down the students. Izuku was already aware what was about to happen so he grabbed his classmates by their arms and threw them towards the stairs, before bringing his sword up to just barely block the monster's rush.

Both of his knees buckled under the force of the impact and he was almost forced to the ground, but he held strong. He looked towards the two girls and yelled.

"Get out of here!"

The girls would probably protest against leaving him behind had it not been for the creature that he was currently barely holding back with his own strength.

Once he saw that both Yaoyorozu and Jirou were heading towards the steps, Izuku sighed in relief before focusing on his own struggle. He tilted his sword to the side, sending the creature tumbling to the ground before swinging his sword directly into its back.

The blunt blade pinged harmlessly off of the purple muscles however and Izuku was forced to dodge back to avoid a wild swing of the giant arm. He brought his sword up to block the other hand, but the impact still sent him a couple of steps to the side. He nearly lost his balance which would've left him wide open for another punch but he stayed strong and tried to counterattack.

His next strike also pinged harmlessly off of the creature's skin and that's when Izuku decided to change his strategy. It was very clear that it wasn't a human, so Izuku activated his quirk, his sword glowing yellow and the edge sharpening.

This time his attack managed to draw blood from the creature which didn't even seem to acknowledge the wound. Izuku was about to celebrate the small victory but a blindingly fast uppercut disarmed him and sent him stumbling back, leaving him wide open for a punch straight to the chest which sent him flying into the steps.

His back thankfully absorbed all of the impact which left a small crater in the stairs. His ears were ringing, his vision was blurry, his head was throbbing and he couldn't draw a full breath.

The only thing he was able to make out was the purple creature walking slowly towards him. All of the noise around him formed into an incoherent cacophony that made the ringing in his ears worse and worse and worse. Just when Izuku thought that his head was about to explode - everything stopped.

"Well… Well… Well… Brings back memories don't it?" Izuku heard the daemon speak, though this time it was not a voice in his head. "Do you still like the disturbances in The Warp?" It mocked him.

Izuku's vision was no longer blurry. He was still laying in front of the stairs with his back broken into the shape of the steps, but there was no one there besides him. Well, except for the daemon. The daemon appeared as a tall shadowy humanoid with piercing purple eyes.

"I think you know why I'm here." The daemon spoke as it approached him.

"Go to hell…" Izuku weakly responded.

"Funny you'd say that as I'm pretty sure that you're the one about to kick the bucket." The daemon mocked him with a snarl. "I gotta admit you're one stubborn son of a bitch, but is your pride worth sacrificing your friends? What do you think is going to happen to them once you're removed from the equation?"

Izuku hated that he actually considered the daemon's words. He hated even more the fact that the daemon was once again right.

"What do you want?" Izuku eventually asked, his mental fortitude failing him in the face of despair.

"The question is - what do you want? Come on, you know what to do. Just say it and I'll make the pain go away in an instant. You can trust me." The daemon's words held no venom and sounded like the most melodic music to Izuku's ears.

"Power… I want- I want power." Izuku responded.

"Then you know what to do. Free me from my prison and I'll give you power beyond your wildest imagination. Just like last time."

Everything suddenly shifted and Izuku was back in the presence, his ears no longer ringing, his vision no longer blurry and the purple creature just a couple of steps away from him. The only difference was that now there was a black case in front of him. It was already unclasped, so all he had to do was reach inside and it'd all end.

So that's what he did.

*scary piano music stops* Welp, place your bets on how long you think the Nomu is gonna last!

I'm to excited with this chapter to remember anything I wanted to talk about - if there even was anything I wanted to talk about in the first place lol - so I'mma bounce!

Have a great day and I'll catch y'all in the next update!