This chapter fought me every step of the way. It probably doesn't help I started a new full-time job that has rewritten by sleep schedule. Well, whatever the reason for the delay, I'm sorry this chapter took over a month to come out. Hopefully, the next parts will come out sooner. Anyway, happy America Day. Break out the fireworks to make babies cry and dogs hide. 'MURICA!

Now, for Review Replies:

CallMeCayde: Izuku is not a reincarnation like David was. For one thing, the Isu did not have green hair. He just has similar amounts of Isu DNA as characters like Altiar, Ezio, Arno, and the like.

Coach Blahk: Ah yes, a happy Aizawa is a scary Aizawa. In Canon, Ketsubutsu sent Emi's second-years. Only sending third-years would have been playing with fire of they didn't pass. But you were almost right. T stood for Templar and KA stood for Ketsubutsu Assassin.

Gamelover41592: I mean, the Exam isn't nearly as different as the Sports Festival second round or their finals, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.

LEGOBRICK13: It was mentioned previously that she attended Seijin, I just didn't mention that Seijin was the ninja school Shoto gave the business in Canon. This chapter should introduce the other Assassin spies and show who passed and who didn't... for the most part.

maxperseus130: I've gotten used to it. Yes, Symphony is distinct from the Templars, and I have good reason for that. How Eagle Vision works, however, is a mix of personal belief and nonverbal clues, so it could be that Izuku's mere suspicion makes her red in his vision. Speaking of Eagle Vision, between the recent Game Theory episode and thought, I think I want to lean toward the Eagle Sense of Revelations in time, though muscle reading isn't out of the question.

I'm glad you're enjoying the OCs that are filling out the Assassins' rosters. Animus training in all aspects is questionable, you're right there, and All Might has not passed on One for All at this point. I'm also glad you think it's cool I redefined Rin's Quirk to Dragon. I figured it fit since he had "ryu" in his name.

Monkey D. Conan: I have many big plans for both the MLA and for Overhaul, but those will have to wait for a later time. Once we get beyond MHA Canon, we'll be free to start chopping through the jungle, so to speak.

Pirohiko-Baltazar: We will explore the Forgers and their story at another time, beyond the shackles of MHA Canon.

SeanHicks: Everyone in entitled to their opinions, and mine are rather... traditionalist nostalgic? I loved the "why" in the games and felt it was what justified the violence for the characters. Games with serious characters like AC need that justification for me. I haven't read any of the books -yet- but I don't think the Colonial Brotherhood was as corrupt as Rogue made them out to be since we got everything there from Shay's point of view and Shay and Achilles were terrible at communicating. There's a lot to be said, but none of it is truly important.

stevenpiskunov2: The characters do not have all the information, but that is the basic information. Only those with Isu DNA can use the artifacts, and those sorts are a dwindling number.

Guest: Thank you, I liked the idea, too.

Chapter 48:

Spies Among the Students

The Quirk-borne earthquake that struck the center of the arena only seconds after the beginning bell scattered the UA students that tried to stay together, recreating the terrain from the flat landscape it had been. Momo scarcely dared to breathe in the shadow in which she hid, her back pressed into the back of one of the new jutting cliffs that filled what had been flat land. Since then, the exam had been a very dangerous game of cat and mouse, UA students hiding in the shade while claiming the valleys as their territory and silently daring others to come in for them. Still, the longer they waited, the more students built on the edges, waiting for a chance. She had a net-gun in her hand, her eyes looking for any sign of trouble.

"Status?" she hissed into the environment.

"They've got us surrounded," Ochako whispered from another shadow.

"Our adversaries are a number of schools that have teamed up against us," Shoji reported from another. "The students from Ketsubutsu appear to be leading them."

"Has anyone seen Bakugo?" Momo questioned.

"He ran off at the bell," Jiro reported.

"Kirishima and Ashido followed him," Kaminari added.

"Honestly, kind of wish we had the angry Pomeranian with us right now," Ochako grumbled.

"These guys are taking a quantity-over-quality approach against us," Jiro continued. "I can count at least 30 different heartbeats."

"That's more than enough for us to pass," Shoji nodded.

"Truly," Tokoyami put in, "if they expect us to be a simple feast, we will provide them with nothing short of a banquet of umbral madness."

"That's great and all, but we kind of need a plan first," Kaminari muttered. "I mean, most of our heavy hitters ran off already. We're lucky to have us here."

"Ah!" Jiro gasped, yanking her Earphone Jacks out of the ground. The electric boy was on his knees in a moment, holding her steady as she held her ears. "They're coming!"

"Ochako!" Momo called. "Kaminari! Let's tell them hello! Everyone else, on me!"

The two requested students nodded, Kaminari passing Jiro to Dark Shadow as they correctly guessed what Momo's plan was.

"You all better have my back for the next few minutes while I recover!" the blond yelled as Ochako activated her Quirk on him. He jumped, the effects of gravity no longer holding him down as he rose over the uneven landscape. Students gaped and backed away at the brazen action, Kaminari crossing his arms as he focused. Electricity sparked around him. "Alright, suit. Midoriya helped redesign you, so don't fail me now! Indiscriminate Shock: 1.2 Million Volts!"

"Get down!" someone in the crowd yelled as Kaminari began to glow like a small star, his suit directing the current into something uniform. He pushed his arms out, the electricity he'd built up releasing in a spherical pulse that grew. Ochako dove under the shock-proof blanket Momo had made as the world went white.

"My eyes!" the voice of the announcer cried. "What did those UA students just pull‽ I'm seeing spots!"

"Whey~!" Kaminari grinned, gravity reasserting itself as Ochako released her Quirk. He fell, Shoji catching him before he could hit the earth.

"Now's our chance!" Momo yelled. "Charge!"

The six UA students moved as one, taking off in the direction where the earthquake had come with Shoji carrying Kaminari under one of his Dupli-Arms. Momo, trying to lead by example, breached first, firing her loaded net at the first body she saw. A girl with blonde hair yipped, her torso, head, and arms sinking into her pelvis so the net flew over her, tangling a pair of boys behind. Yo Shindo, blinking heavily, readied his arms to drive them into the ground for a second time.

"Not on my watch!" Jiro called, stomping her boot down and plugging her Earphone Jacks in before Shindo could complete his attack. "Bass Boosted!"

The girl's accelerated heartbeat, amplified from her support gear, shot out in a wave of auditory vibrations. Shindo had no time other than to finish blinking the remaining spots out of his eyes before the sound hit him with enough force to blow him backward.

"Shindo-senpai!" Ono Yuifum called only to have to cross his arms, his Quirk: Slugger absorbing the full force of a punch from Mezo Shoji, the heteromorph from UA standing about half-a-head taller than the redhead. Shoji's eyes widened as the Ketsubutsu student tanked his punch without so much as a shockwave. "Well hello, big guy. Look, the kenetics are tasty and all, but you can have them back!"

Shindo punched, adding the force of Shoji's punch to the considerable output he could produce on his own. Shoji coughed —his mask absorbing most of it— as his torso distended around the redhead's fist. Only his multiple, tentacle-like arms let him keep a hold of Kaminari as he was forced backward. He rolled, protecting Kaminari with his own body, before slamming into an artificial cliff.

Yuifum moved, reaching his hand out to catch the projectile he saw out of the corner of his eye, only for said projectile to be one of Momo's nets. His eyes widened as the chords wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his chest as another UA student —a girl in a skintight pink bodysuit— charged him, pressing against his stomach with her fingers. Instantly, his feet lost their grip on the ground, her subsequent kick sending him flying backward with far more force than he expected of someone of her stature.

"Yaomomo!" Ochako panted as another student moved to challenge her. Thankfully, her knowledge of Gunhead Martial Arts was far superior to whatever combat style they knew. She flipped him over her shoulder and threw him a fair distance before deactivating her Quirk. "We can't keep this up with this many!"

"We must change the battlefield to our advantage," Momo muttered to herself, trying to take stock of who she was working with. What would her father do? Forming a plan, Momo discarded her netgun and reached for her navel, the multicolor glow of Creation appearing. "Tokoyami! Cover as large an area with Dark Shadow as you can!"

"We will try!" the bird-headed boy replied, Dark Shadow growing behind him. "The rays of the sun may sap our strength, but we will revel in a darkness of our own creation! Behold! Abyss Cage!"

Dark Shadow grew until it covered all the UA students and a number of the others, the sentient Quirk forming a dome that blocked out the sunlight above. The only source of light were the two stretched eyes of the Quirk, providing only enough for those within to see Dark Shadow's bloodthirsty smirk. An area equal to about half a football field was plunged into darkness, the UA students feeling goggles shoved into their hands. With nothing better to do, they donned the offered headgear as best they could, finding they were night-vision goggles.

"This is so metal," Jiro smirked, palming one of her orange balls. Kaminari, recovered from his attack before, slid beside her with one of his own.

"You know," the electric boy muttered. "With darkness like this, a single spark could be devastating."

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Charge Dolt?"

"I say we call it… Flash Bang."

Momo nodded to herself, two unlucky examinees at her feet and her own targets glowing blue. Though said glow could be disadvantageous in the dark, her self-made gear nullified that.

Yes, this is how she lived up to her father's legacy. Now, they simply needed to reach the antechamber. She only wondered where the student with the Vibration Quirk had scurried off to.

-AHC-

Saiko Intelli had chosen this building for a specific reason.

Well, several reasons to be specific, but it would take far too long to explain her thought process and the girls who had differed to her command trusted her enough that she didn't need to explain.

Each and every one was female, all dressed in the standard uniform of Seiai Academy. Though an all-girls school on the smaller end, Seiai was still considered one of the top five Hero Schools of Japan, it had a reputable list of graduates who went on to impressive careers in both the pro Hero scope and the wider world. Ryukyu was probably the most notable graduate of Seiai in recent history, though others included the pro Hero Woolen and the Sidekicks Sirius and Bubble Girl serving under Silkie and Nighteye, respectively.

Their uniform consisted of a modified sailor uniform including form-fitting white tops with buttons and a red bow, knee-length skirts, and a sailor's cap perched directly on their heads. Though this was the base, several of the girls in questions wore additional equipment to help with their Quirks, including Saiko's second-in-command, so to speak.

She was a girl on the shorter side of those in the exam, her hair a forgettable brown that she kept in a braid that went over her shoulder. Her eyes were protected from all manner of wind and dust by a pair of eyeglasses that fit to her face like protective goggles and her right hand was covered in a large glove, her left hand bare.

"Sogeki," Saiko's voice said in her ear, the girl raising her uncovered hand to better hear the words coming from her communicator. "What's our status."

"A number of students are coming down the street, ma'am," Kaya Sogeki replied, watching said group through a scope attached to her glove. "They've seen the bait. It looks like we've got takers."

"Origins? Prelisted bogies?"

"None, unfortunately. No UA, either. Twelve unknowns entering the building. Two heteromorphs and ten plains. Quirks unknown."

"Unfortunate," Saiko sighed. "Well, twelve will be enough for six of us. Will you accept joining me in the rest of this game while our companions advance?"

"You know I would follow you anywhere, ma'am."

"Thank you. We're locking down the building. The attack begins now."

Sogeki sat back as the shutters on the building fell, locking the students within. She kept her trained eye on the front, waiting to see if any of the students surprised her and escaped, but there was not even a muffled scream. Soon, far sooner than would have been if the students had been an appropriate level for this exam, the shutters rose again and Saiko led their classmates out. Sogeki shot a grapple across the divide with her Quirk: Aim and swung to them, rolling away her momentum. Of the group, their leader was the only one whose targets did not glow blue.

"You girls are on your own for the rest of the exam," Saiko said as her second landed beside them. "You will not always have me to lead and direct you. Please, make your way to the antechamber on your own. Sogeki and I will join you forthwith."

The girls bowed and muttered their thanks, taking off toward the safe zone. The pair watched them go silently. Though keeping an eye on their surroundings, the girls waited until their classmates turned a corner toward the waiting space before speaking.

"Ugh, finally," the brunette sighed, rubbing her head with her ungloved hand as the others left earshot.

"Kaya…"

"Oh come on, you were thinking it too, Saiko. Those girls need to learn to think, plan, and act for themselves rather than following you like a flock of sheep."

"Perhaps," Saiko conceded, "but that does not mean you need to be so callous about it, even if they cannot hear you." She turned, eyeing the street behind them so the two girls were facing opposite directions. "Targets?"

"I managed to track some of the UA students with Aim. They include one of those Eagle warned us of."

"Yaoyorozu?"

"No, not her. Personally, I don't like our odds against one as intelligent as her, but she is in another section, anyway. I'd rather hedge our bets against others. Currently, three of those who did not reach the Sports Festival's third round are engaged in a melee with students of various affiliations four blocks away. One is the scion of the French ambassador and her husband, Aoyama, as notable by his Quirk."

"I see. Very well. We will have our chance at Yaoyorozu in due time with our battle. Now is not the time to chase my own desires. Lead the way."

Kaya nodded and took off at a run, Saiko staying on her heels while the two kept their eyes open for traps or other opportunistic examinees. None presented themselves for easy pickings, though the free-for-all they approached warned them of its location by sound earlier than sight.

The group had nearly decimated a city block on the edge of the city zone, the buildings showing their integrity by still standing despite now only being shells of what they once were. Students in various uniforms and costumes flashed across the battlefield, teaming up and betraying each other in the same breath as each school tried to claim victory other the others.

The students in this battle numbered ten in total, representing four different Hero schools based on Saiko's analysis. Of the students, the sparkly blond stood out the most in his shiny armor, his Navel Laser slicing through the battlefield whenever one of his companions was threatened by another examinee. Said companions were a pair of boys, one another blond wearing a traditional karate gi with a tail and the other in yellow spandex. Between their close-quarters combat styles and Aoyama's ranged support —along with the other schools' refusal to properly team up— the UA students had managed to remain relatively safe with only the boy in yellow having two targets already hit and Aoyama with one.

"Saiko," Kaya hissed as they studied the scene. The periwinkle-haired Apprentice glanced at the Initiate, the brunette pointing at a section of the battle. "Three o'clock. It's Stinger and Bee."

Saiko blinked, her eyebrows rising.

"Well, what a fortunate opportunity. It appears we have a legitimate reason for Seiai and Seijin to team up. We must get their attention somehow."

"Or, alternatively, we can trust they will recognize us and subtly direct the battle to our benefit."

"Well, I suppose luck is a necessary component of any mission. Let us go."

Kaya reached to her belt, pulling out a number of coin-shaped disks. She loaded them into her glove and activated her Quirk: Aim. Taking a deep breath, she released her ammo, each disk taking on a yellow glow as they streaked through the air. The Seijin student in pink dove out of the way of the disk that came for her, her companion in purple raising a hand to catch the one coming for him. The one aimed for Mure curved mid-path, redirecting as the effects of Aim redefined the laws of physics.

They were not the only ones, Kaya firing disks at every student in the battle. Their responses ranged from catching to dodging to attacking the disks with their Quirks. The UA student with the tail jumped between the projectiles and his classmates, smacking the three disks aimed for them with his tail. Of those, only one lost its yellow glow and fell to the ground. The others turned, arcing around the blond.

"Yo, this is a chance!" the Seijin student in purple yelled to his companion, intercepting the disk coming for her. He held it tight in his grip, keeping it stationary until its glow faded. Mure spread her arms in response, three clouds of bees rising from her, each carrying one of her orange balls. "Let's go, Subako!"

"My beebies and I are ready, Koya!"

The pair charged forward, a student with a rectangular body and head spinning around to face them. His foot trailed over the ground in an arc, launching dust into the air where it condensed into floating cubes. Another movement —this one a push of his blocky hand— shot the cubes forward.

"Let's rock, Rock Man!" Sasori called, jumping into a spin. He lashed out with his scorpion tail, its sturdy exoskeleton shattering the cubes into smaller cubes that posed no threat. He landed, pulling out four orange balls, one for each hand. "Here we come!"

"Boss!" the blocky student called. "The ninjas—!"

"It appears your boss has suffered a tragic accident," Saiko commented, casually tossing aside the unconscious student in her grip, her other hand holding a collapsible spear. He crumpled to the ground, his targets glowing red. Other students laid there, Saiko and Kaya's targets now blue. "How unfortunate. You can thank your lucky stars, however; you have nothing to fear from us."

"Us, on the other hand," a voice said from behind him. Blocky's head spun like an owl, his square eyes widening. He yipped, running, prompting Sasori to give chase. Mure chuckled, eyeing the Seiai students. "Seems you stole some of our points."

"Apologies," Saiko shrugged, spinning her spear as it shrunk for easy carry. "We found a situation favorable to us and capitalized. Now that we have achieved the required points for advancement, we have no quarrel with you."

"You sure you a lot a big words," Mure laughed. Saiko spun, lashing out with her weapon that separated into a pair of tonfa, batting away the orange balls Mure's bees were carrying. Kaya's eyes narrowed, the brunette raising her glove as she prepared another disk.

"How dare you," Kaya hissed.

"Woah, sorry!" Mure said, raising her hands in surrender. "Can't blame a girl for trying."

"Oi! Subako!" Sasori called from atop the now-unconscious blocky student. "The UA kids are getting away!"

"I guess I have to bee on my way," the pink-dressed girl commented. She spun on her heel, running toward the scorpion heteromorph. "Save a couple for me, Koya! We gotta redeem Seijin after those other UA kids beeat us!"

Saiko and Kaya glanced at each other, the latter shrugging.

Mure chased after Sasori, the purple-dressed student practically galloping on his six limbs. Mure leaned forward, streamlining herself to catch up to and keep up with the taller boy. The three UA students were trying to escape, the two close-quarters specialists carrying the Templar spawn as he nursed a stomachache. The female Assassin Apprentice narrowed her eyes.

"Time to see if my specialized breeding program is bearing fruit," she muttered. Bees rose from fold overs in her sleeves, these bees a little longer than the average. Despite their size, these bees easily kept up with their host's top speed. "Speed beebies, show us what you've got."

The insectoid buzz increased as the bees shot forward. The student with the gi glanced backward at the sound, only having time for his eyes to widen before the bees arrived. Said student cursed, trying to pull away only for his joint carrying of the flashy blond to make him trip. All three fell, the tailed student recovering quickly as he turned to face their adversaries.

"Where did all these bees come from‽" the boy in yellow yelled, trying to bat the bugs out of the air. They buzzed around his head, divebombing him with every miss.

"Help!" the blond in the armor cried, bees rattling his Hero costume from the inside. "In my suit! There are bees in my suit!"

The tailed blond spun, his extra appendage disrupting the air enough to send the bees after him spinning. "Sato, you handle Bee Girl! I'll take on Purple!"

"I'll try, Ojiro!" Sato growled, pulling a packet from his belt and downing the powder within. Mure knew from the UA Sports Festival that it was sugar, Sato's musculature becoming much more defined against the material of his costume. Mure felt her mouth go a little dry at the sight and unconsciously licked her lips under her mask.

"Let's go!" Sasori cheered, charging Ojiro. The Seijin student flicked his hands, senbon needles appearing between his fingers. His scorpion tail lashed forward, a cloudy-yellow substance shooting from the stinger that Sasori swung his needles and hands through. "Toxic Trigger!"

"Shit!" Ojiro hissed, jumping away from the venom-coated senbon. Sasori was on him in a second, throwing a pair of toxin-coated punches with one fist from either side. Ojiro brought his arms up, deflecting both to his outside while avoiding the heteromorph's hands. He didn't know if the toxin could be absorbed through the skin and he really didn't want to find out.

Ojiro moved in before Sasori could get in another pair of punches, the martial artist throwing a pair of his own into the secret Initiate's gut. Rather than flesh, Ojiro flinched as his knuckles met something much harder under the purple cloth. He had too much training to stop at such an unexpected impact, however, the UA student flipping backward so his tail lashed up, impacting Sasori's chin on the way.

"Now this is more like it," Sasori grinned, reaching up to rub his abused chin as Ojiro landed. The cloth of his mask had torn, an abnormal grin showing off the student's heteromorphic mouth. It split down the chin, revealing his clicking mandibles. He spread his arms. "I've always wanted to do toe-to-toe with a UA student and that Midoriya kid was just too scary."

"You fought Midoriya?" Ojiro questioned, easing into a stance ready to both attack or dodge at a moment's notice.

"Yeah, he had that Todoroki guy backing him up. It's hard to fight when you can't see. Their group took out the rest of our classmates, so how appropriate that it'll be other UA students that give us a pass."

"Don't count your eggs before the hatch," the blond said. "Arrogance is unbecoming of a Hero student."

"Can't help it," Sasori laughed, his tail waving like a dog's. "It's the adrenaline."

Something hummed, Ojiro flinching away, but not before an orange ball carried by a cloud of bees pressed against one of his remaining targets, leaving him on only one.

Sasori capitalized on this distraction, launching forward with a rain of fists. Ojiro did his best to block or dodge, his opponent's four arms pushing his karate training to the limits to keep up.

Then it hit. His right arm started going numb, one of Sasori's punches slipping past his guard to slam into his shoulder. Ojiro stumbled backward, glancing down to see a spot of yellow left behind on his gi.

"Crap," he muttered as his whole arm lost sensation. "Poison."

"It's a venom, actually," Sasori offered. "Too many get them mixed up since they're both toxic, but poison only works if you eat it. Venom goes straight into the bloodstream and can be eaten with only minor side effects."

"Oh, that's good to know." Ojiro couldn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice as he fell to one knee, the whole right side of his body now going numb. Sasori approached slowly,, pulling out one of his own orange balls while wary of Ojiro pulling something.

"Hey, man. Nothing personal. Promise."

"That's not what I'm worried about," the blond replied. "Aizawa-sensei's gonna give me detention for not passing."

"Man, I don't envy y—"

"Sparkling Savior!" Sasori threw himself backward as Aoyama's beam shot through the space where he'd been standing, the orange ball he'd released in panic being incinerated by the attack. Aoyama shuffled forward, his previously-flawless skin now marred by bee stings. "Ne t'inquiète pas, mon ami! I am here!"

"Yeah well, I can't move," Ojiro admitted.

"Leave him and you can still pass," Sasori commented. "I only need one more point."

"Ah, but I cannot do that," Aoyama replied. "I cannot leave a comrade in need. Such would be quite unheroic, don't you think?"

"Heh, I guess you've got a point."

"Sugar Drop!" The earth shook, the rumbling doing little to cover Mure's concerned gasp. Sasori chanced a look, finding the boy Mure had been fighting in the middle of a crater, Mure at its outskirts on her side. The boy in yellow —Sato, if Sasori remembered correctly— was panting, his skin flushed and red.

"Subako!" Sasori yelled. "You good‽"

"I've felt better," the girl grunted. "Like right… now!"

Bees converged on the boy in the crater, the ball they carried finally hitting his third target. Sato didn't seem to notice as his targets flashed red and an automated voice announced his failure.

"Sato!" Ojiro called. Mure pulled herself to her feet, her ripped mask showing her grin and tears in her suit showing where her bees were covering cuts and scrapes with wax.

"One down, one each to go."

"Aoyama, leave me," Ojiro muttered. "If you get away, you can still pass."

"Non," the French-Japanese student grunted with a shake of his head. "I will not run."

"Then you will fail," Sasori replied. "You've got our respect, though."

The Seijin students charged, eager for their final points needed.

-AHC-

"Man," Camie complained, her and Leono stalking through the mock factory area. "This, like, sucks."

"This is the assignment we have been given," the short, lion heteromorph at her side commented, his voice quiet. "We must complete our tasks."

"I know that, King. I was just hoping to run into that cutie from UA in here, but he's, like, gone."

"I believe we should worry about ourselves first. If we pass, we may see him in the antechamber."

"You're totes right! Great idea, King!"

Her fellow Assassin Initiate sighed, really wishing Camie had chosen a different persona to hide her intelligence behind than 'airhead'. How she managed old American west-coast slang while speaking Japanese when both her parents were born-and-raised Japanese —her father a high-ranking police officer and her mother a stay-at-home mother moonlighting as an Assassin, no less— continued to be a mystery.

Leono's ear flicked, his brows furrowing. His pause caused Camie to pay more attention to her surroundings, a waved hand alerting her to a change in the air currents, a skill just about everyone in class with Inasa Yoarashi had developed. Her eyes widened, the girl kicking —because Leono was too short for her to properly reach him with her arms to push— her companion out of the way before throwing herself the other direction.

The area where they'd been standing cratered, the broken concrete sending up a plume of dust. The shockwave hit a moment later, scattering the dust cloud.

"Hello, competition!" a female voice cheered, the shadow in the cloud raising her hands. "It is time for you to give me my points!"

"You seem to be confused," Leono all but whispered with his quiet voice. "It's just you and me here."

The dust cleared, the lithe form of Pony Tsunotori standing in the crater on her hooves. She blinked her blue eyes, taking in the surroundings.

"Huh, that is strange," Pony muttered, rubbing her chin. Two horns orbited her like razor-sharp moons, their points pointed outward. "I could have sworn there were two of you here."

"It is only me."

"Is that so?" Pony hummed. She pushed one of her hands forward, dust particles —which were, in actuality, one of her horns powdered— shot away from her. Camie yelped as it harmlessly crashed into her, her illusion fading. "Ah, I thought there were two of you here."

"Yeah, well, it's two on one," Camie said, studying their opponent. "You're, like, one of the UA students, yeah?"

"Yeah! I am Pony Tsunotori, from America!"

"An American," the female Shiketsu student all but parroted. "That's pretty rad. I bet you've got, like, a whole lot of stories from home."

"Well—"

"LION'S SONG!" Leono roared, his voice smashing into Pony with though force to knock her off her feet on account of his Quirk: Thundering Roar. Pony recovered unnaturally fast, flipping through the air to kick Camie where the other tried to tag her with one of her orange balls. Camie rolled over the earth from the force as Pony landed, blood dripping down the side of her face from a busted eardrum. The American twisted, grabbing one of her floating horns like a knife to swing it through the air. Said air rippled as the bio-weapon made Camie's illusionary gas fold in on itself, but the horn found no purchase since the blonde had rolled away with the force.

"Like, where's your targets?" Camie hissed as the illusion Leono had tried to throw Pony into vanished. "You can't take those off or you fail!"

"But I did not take them off," Pony grinned, pointing into the sky. "I put my targets on one of my horns, and it is now floating high above the stadium. No one can reach them but they are on a part of me, so I cannot get out! Clever, right?"

"Ah, crap," Leono rasped, taking a step back from the American. It really was a brilliant strategy for their test, and he and Camie had the sheer bad luck of running into her. Although, considering how quickly she fell out of the sky after them when she could have easily waited and take the 500-left route, luck may only be a small factor. "How are we supposed to fight that?"

"Hehe!" Pony laughed, a tough of a whinny eking through her voice. "That is the thing! You do not!"

"Well, we may not be able to win," Camie admitted, "but I'll be damned if we don't go down swinging."

"I see. So that is how it is." Pony snatched her other horn out of the air, now dual-wielding them in reverse grips, as her third's particles condensed into jagged little satellites. The horns in her hands deformed, their bases where she gripped them conforming to her fingers as she subtly exerted her Quirk. Pony grinned. "Let us see what you have got!"

-AHC-

In the stands, Aizawa blew out a breath as he watched his various students proudly make their way to the antechamber —while keeping their eyes on their surroundings lest someone steal their spot— or accept their defeat and make their way to the exit.

"Disappointed, Eraser?" Emi asked, sitting diagonal to him one row behind. Aizawa turned slightly, allowing him to see her colors out of the corner of his eye. "Your kids are actually doing better than most UA first-year classes."

"They are going to beat the pass rate, at least," the dark-haired teacher admitted. He eyed the other Assassin spies in the crowd, some of them having passed and others having faced bad luck. In Yuifum's case, he considered the boy's choice to join the group attacking 1-A a very poor one indeed.

"How do you do it?" Emi muttered, Aizawa turning his attention from Bakugo and Ashido's battle with a Shiketsu student as they attempted to rescue Kirishima from the one who had turned him and countless others into blobs of meat. "Training kids despite knowing they might kill each other… It's—"

"We shouldn't talk about it," Aizawa grunted into his scarf. "Not here in the open. Our enemies have eyes and ears everywhere."

"They won't listen if I hold you like this," Emi whispered, leaning over the seats as she wrapped her arms around the Assassin from behind. He reached up, pretending to attempt to pry her arms off, but the young woman tightened her grip nearly to the point of choking him. "How do you handle it, Sho? Even the thought that my students might turn the skills I taught them against each other outside of training… it twists a knot in my gut."

"This world is not fair, Emi," Aizawa replied. "Our war has lasted centuries, and it is one we cannot afford to lose. Even if we do not live to see its end, human freedom and the Creed must live on, no matter who stands in its way."

"You say that so easily," Emi sighed. "Why does it have to be this way?"

"Because that is the hand we were dealt," the Assassin answered. Down below, Bakugo finally landed an explosion to Shishikura's face, blowing him away from the meatball that was Kirishima. The Shiketsu student reached for the explosive teen only for a wave of acid to block his path, Ashido doing her own part in the battle. "Hero, Villain, Assassin, Templar… These are just labels we take into ourselves. They only have the meanings we ascribe to them, and it is for these meanings and our ideals that we fight. Some Templars may have good intentions, but their ultimate goals would strip the world of all individuality in the name of a false peace and the lining of their pockets."

"But the children?"

"If ideas are not taught, they die, and this war has been passed down through the generations from our first contact in the Crusades. We all gave our lives to the Creed, and those students were given the same choice. They chose their paths, just as the Templars have. I know it's a dangerous road, more dangerous than the paths of Heroes, but we fight for more than just righting natural disasters or stopping petty thieves. We fight to protect the people from those that wish to control them, whether their enforcers are aware of their masters or not. Still, we do our best to keep the ignorant out of it, so only those who chose reap the consequences."

"I just…" Emi let go, every fiber of Aizawa's being wanting to grab her arm and keep her where she was, but he kept himself in check with countless hours of self-discipline. "It hurts, seeing them fight like that."

"All their fighting now is for the hope of a brighter future," Aizawa said.

"We are reaching the end of the 500-examinee limit!" Mira announced over the intercom, his words causing a flurry of activity in the arena. Aizawa watched without emotion as the last of his passing students ran to the antechamber for safety, leaving the fights and the lingering threat of the free-for-all. "If you want to move on, you better get those points or find a place to stick it out!"

"The world we live in is nothing but competition," the UA teacher said, more to himself than to Emi. "It is unfair and merciless. If they are to thrive, our kids need to learn when to follow the world's example."

End of Chapter 48

The first part of the Provisional License Exam comes to a close!I hope this turned out well enough for all of you and I hope your days are special!

No questions for the end here! I don't think there's really anything to really query about with the Exam. Tell me what you think!

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods