Hello everyone! Here is the second chapter of Echoes of War! Hope you enjoy it! Because today we... Well... Nevermind!
And before we start! The reviews:
Nexus Gundam: Thank you! Little thing when I wrote the 1st chapter, I at first had two options in head for the Sludge Villain. Keep him in a slimy form, or make him human once he dies, as his quirk stop working, but I decided to keep his like the show.
zeroshadonlord1: Thanks!
powerhendler: Thank you :)
Doc43Souls: You gave me a big idea for how the quirk works, thank you! So yeah, it's almost that but I decided to switch some little things, which you will see at the start of the chapter.
Radio D. Alastor: Glad you enjoyed!
581: Thank you!
gread dxd: Gracias!
edeath756: :)
ProlapseAnoos: :)
abnormalandlovingit3329: Thank you!
When he announced the news to his mother, the poor woman burst into tears and hugged him tightly, happy for him and the fact that he could fulfill his dream.
And in the two months leading up to the UA entrance exams, he practiced mastering the quirk.
He tested all the organizations and xenos breeds available, and wrote everything he learned in a notebook entirely dedicated to him.
And so...
The forces of Chaos reacted to a strong impulse of negative emotions, at first causing him mood swings. Sometimes he would express sudden fear over nothing, or get angry over nothing. He had characterized the emotions to the various chaos gods and their servants:
Khorne: Izuku had attributed fury, uncontrollable rage, hatred and frustration to him.
Nurgle: Izuku had attributed to him despair, disgust, resignation in the face of illness and fear of death.
Tzeentch: The negative emotions Izuku attributed to him are paranoia, deception, frustration with uncertainty and loss of control.
Slaanesh: Izuku had attributed obsession, addiction, the suffering of excess and the existential void after satisfaction to him.
This had obviously been done with a great deal of testing, and a couple of times Izuku had almost lost control. He had therefore decided to try and avoid the forces of chaos associated with the gods as much as possible; he could always summon the Night Lords, the Alpha Legion, and other Chaos Astartes who had little connection with the deities. The problem was that they were out of his control, and he risked injuring allies more than enemies. He would have to try and tame them as he went along.
Next came the Imperium of humanity, with a wide range of emotions, bravery for the Astra Militarum, heroism for the Astrates, and many others... Quite simple to control to be honest, not necessarily needing emotions to invoke them, and with great tactical potential. Izuku focused a lot on controlling it, and had managed to do so after three weeks of training without a break.
Then came the xenos.
The peaceful T'au. Easy to control, they had highly advanced technology, but were very willing to negotiate. Perfect for hostage situations, but in terms of devastation if negotiations went badly...
The Aeldaris, many emotions, but not mandatory. He could deal with them. Drukharis, on the other hand, he would never summon them, except in desperate situations, as they preferred to torture more than anything else, and risked attacking allies. Harlequins and Craftworlders were more neutral, but were willing to bend to his wishes, laying their enormous magical potential.
Orks, the pure joy of beating up something. If he had to get into a fight, they were perfect, but they didn't recognize their allies from their enemies when they were in the middle of it.
The Necrons, coldness. Too much devastation from their weapons, to be used only as a last resort.
And the Tyranids, hunger... Very easy to control with an attribute of his quirk that he'd discovered unintentionally. Very strong horde potential, certainly formidable and potentially deadly weapons, but they could take monstrous losses and move on.
Then he discovered other things. The solitary Berzeker summoning had in fact been a mistake: his body had cut off his quirk, reactivating it only when he regained consciousness to pull the chaos space marine back in his head. In fact, Izuku summoned factions in squads, he could also summon vehicles, the larger ones like a Knight Imperial making him faint. He couldn't summon anything bigger than that. So no Titan, fortunately.
He'd learned the hard way that all these factions shouldn't be invoked at the same time... as evidenced by the bolters, railgun, and other weapons impacts in his garden.
And the last thing he'd also discovered was a takeover ability, he could by God knows what means take control of a squad leader or commander. He had succeeded with space marine sergeants, with warbosses or orks nobz, T'au ethereals, and many others, yet some remained beyond his reach, many of them well known heroes who resisted him with a will far superior to lesser entities.
Then, after two months of intensive training... the time had finally come...
/
Chapter 2: Entrance exams.
/
"Are you ready my darling?"
"Yes..."
"Did you get your things and eat?"
"Yes Mom..."
"Did you study hard and train well?"
"Yes... I'm ready..."
Izuku slipped in his shoes and opened the door to leave when Inko, his mother, suddenly called him again.
"Izuku!"
The boy turned around, about to say a 'Yes?', when he saw his mother's face. She was smiling, but tears were streaming down her cheeks, she tried to hold them back, and wipe them away, but couldn't. Her voice vibrated with emotion as she spoke... " I'm so proud of you Izuku... Be careful..."
Izuku smiled back, nodding, before leaving. He descended the steps at breakneck speed, before running towards UA, which stood in the distance...
When he got there, he looked up at the building as he caught his breath... It was magnificent, rising into the sky with such pride... Izuku almost had tears in his eyes. He was deeply moved. But all this was cut short when he tried to take a step forward. He stumbled, and the ground closed in on him very quickly.
Then he floated, as if weightless, feeling light. Turning on himself. He let out a small cry of surprise before a voice asked.
"Are you okay?"
As Izuku spun around, he caught sight of the person who had asked for this. A girl with a round face and brown hair framing her face. He answered immediately. "Uh... yes, everything's fine! I... can I land now?" the girl's expression turned sheepish, "Ah uh yes yes! Sorry!", she put her fingers together and murmured something, instantly, Izuku felt gravity kick in again, and had just enough time to put his feet towards the ground before falling. He turned to her, "Thank you, without you I'd fall miserably like a grot in a squig pit...", she raised an eyebrow and showed a confused expression, and Izuku realized what he'd just said. "Oh sorry, don't pay any attention to what I just said...", her expression disappeared "Oh that's okay, whatever those 'grots' and 'squigs' are, I guess it must be no big deal...". Just as Izuku was about to ask the name of his rescuer, a voice sounded behind him.
"So you're here Deku? You still decided to come and screw up miserably?"
Izuku turned around very slowly, and looked at Kacchan with a certain coldness. He felt his skin crackle, his body ordering him to rouse the Necrons from their slumber and bring them out. But Izuku was quick to decline. No Necrons, especially not now. The brunette looked at them both with a confused expression.
"Kacchan... You're here too."
The blond fulminated, glaring at him.
"You've really built up your confidence over the last couple of months, haven't you? You think you're going to make it? An incompetent like you?"
Izuku was about to answer, when a loudspeaker announced that the written exams were about to start. Izuku turned on his heels and left, leaving Kacchan to brood over his venom, followed by the girl who asked.
"Do you know him?"
"Yes, unfortunately."
"Is your first name Deku? That's... pretty derogatory..."
Izuku sighed. "I know... It's not my first name, but a nickname he gave me... Don't try to find out why...", they both arrived at the examination room, and entered, separating to go to their assigned seats...
/
Izuku had easily passed the written exams, which had been relatively straightforward, but now it was time for the physical test.
"HELLO YOUNG PEOPLE!"
A powerful voice suddenly filled the auditorium, and everyone's eyes focused on the person who had just spoken. Izuku was seized with excitement. It was Present-Mic! The man stood on the stage, without a microphone, yet his voice carried to the back rows.
"YOU'RE HERE TO TAKE YOUR PHYSICAL TEST, AREN'T YOU? AND I'M HERE TO EXPLAIN YOUR OBJECTIVE!"
A screen lit up behind the hero, and a map appeared.
"HERE'S WHERE THE EXAM WILL TAKE PLACE! IT'S AN URBAN TERRAIN. IN THIS TERRAIN ARE SCATTERED ROBOTS SYMBOLIZING VILLAINS! EACH HAS A NUMBER OF POINTS! FROM 0 TO 3! THE 1S ARE THE SIMPLEST, THE 2S ARE THE HARDEST, AND THE 3S ARE THE STRONGEST! THE 0S, AS THEIR NAME SUGGESTS, DON'T SCORE ANY POINTS!
The hero's voice echoed for a moment, before one participant, a boy with blue hair and glasses, stood up straight and asked a question.
"Sir! I don't understand the point of the exercise."
Present Mic pointed a finger gun at the boy and replied.
"SIMPLE! YOUR GOAL IS TO ACQUIRE AS MANY POINTS AS POSSIBLE BY DESTROYING THE ROBOTS! AND NOW! ARE YOU ALL REEEEAAADY?"
The silence that followed was complete. No one had replied. Present Mic sulked and said. "IF IT'S LIKE THAT, GO AHEAD..."
/
Ten minutes later, all the participants were standing in front of two massive gates that would let them into the field. Izuku was in the front rows, in a dilemma... Which faction would he use?
Space Marines ? Overkill...
Astra Militarum? He didn't need to take out vehicles and masses of infantry...
Adepta Sororitas? Same as Space Marines.
T'au? They were going to try to negotiate with the robots...
Necrons? Too much danger for students
Tyranids? No fair play to the others...
Orks? Too much danger.
Aeldaris? Would perform less well against machines like these... Shurikens would bounce off them...
Then Izuku had an idea, plunging into his mind, his eyes rolling back as he set off to find his troops...
And the one whose form he would take...
His body spasmed uncontrollably, and he drew the worried gazes of a few other participants who wondered what was going on... Then the skin on his lower body began to move... Before his legs exploded.
This made some of the participants scream in terror.
Metal spider legs clicked on the ground, connected to a plaststeel abdomen.
His facial features hardened, while his body underwent a disconcertingly rapid transformation. His eyes, usually imbued with a mischievous glint, lit up with an inhuman gleam, now reflecting an ancestral wisdom. And a sort of respirator, completed with a vox grid, formed, covered his mouth and nose.
The change spread like a wave across his anatomy, metamorphosing his flesh into a tough, mechanical material. Energy filaments emerged from his skin, weaving a complex technological armor. His hands were covered in cybernetic gauntlets, with nimble fingers and integrated blades.
Izuku's scraggly green hair fused with optical cables, creating a cybernetic mane that seemed to pulsate with mystical energy. Implants sprang up on his forehead, forming a third eye that emitted a blue glow, symbolizing the symbiosis between flesh and machine.
Energy runes burst across his chest, revealing a deep connection with technology. Energy cables snaked around his body, plugging into ports that formed on his body. His eyes turned milky, but retained that... frightening wisdom, and a blue-glowing bionic formed over his right eye.
A red robe formed, covering his now mostly cybernetic body, and a hood covered his head, revealing only the lower part of his mask and his two bionic optics, which now glowed ominously...
Izuku Midoriya finally stood up, metamorphosed into a hybrid being, halfway between humanity and machine. His eyes revealed a transcendent understanding of technological mysteries.
Then...
Several black rifts opened up. Cadenced, mechanical footsteps rose from them, and two squads of skitarii rangers emerged. Two in the first squad carried a plasma rifles and a laser arquebuse respectively, while one in the second squad carried only a plasma rifle. Then came a third crack.
Heavy footsteps sounded, and two massive machines emerged. Bipedal humanoid walkers, larger than All Might, with a massive chassis covered in ceramic armor plates emerged, the dome-shaped heads of both machines looking right and left, scanning the participants present, their mounted flamethrowers rearing up like snakes with a menacing air, they were Kastelan walkers, glorious walkers of the Adeptus Mechanicus, numbering in legions in ancient times, now rare. Behind them emerged a cyborg, whose only visible organic part was half his face, and who was concentrating on his control console. He pressed a series of buttons before speaking in binary to the two walkers.
++Stand-by protocols activated++
The two walked, anchoring their massive feet to the ground, awaiting further instructions.
Izuku looked at his forces... There were 24 of them in all... More than enough. He chuckled with excitement, well... anything approaching excitement in his half-mechanical brain, his vox grid transforming the sound into a kind of mechanical bark.
"DEKU? YOU B-!"
Bakugo, who wasn't far from him, began to approach Izuku, before the first squad of skitarii turned and pointed their weapons at him, the blue lenses of their masks locking onto him. But Izuku raised his hand and fired a burst of binary.
++Stop.++
Then, with a clatter of metal against concrete, Izuku moved as the skitarii lowered their weapons, and was soon towering over Bakugo. In his Tech-Priest Dominus form, he towered him with a good fifty to sixty inches. The blond man froze, an expression of deep hatred on his features, and Izuku's mechanical voice suddenly sounded in the silence that had formed.
"How do you feel the weight of condescension, when the one you deem 'weaker' surpasses you in one fell swoop?"
If his face wasn't fused to that mask, he'd have smiled through his teeth. But hey, he'd just settle for his own voice.
Bakugo fulminated, wanting to explode in anger and punish him for hiding the fact that he had an quirk. Izuku continued.
"There's a 98% chance that you're getting ready to tell me 'You son of a bitch, so you hid from me that you had a quirk huh? You think you're better than me, don't you, you piece of garbage?', and only 2% that you'll take me at my word. Right, Katsuki?"
The use of his first name caught Bakugo by surprise, and his eyes gave way to a brief flash of surprise, captured only by his bionics.
"Yes, now I see myself as superior to you. I have a 78.223% chance of passing the physical exam, whereas you, taking all parameters into account, only have a 62.10% chance."
And that's what made the blond shut his beak, he spat at him, the spit falling 2.59 inches from his dress, before turning and walking away to stand in another spot.
The silence was just as heavy, all eyes fixed on him, some following Bakugo, but the majority were fixed on the boy-machine, Izuku caught fear, surprise and admiration in the glances, but Izuku's mechanical brain classified them as secondary data, something these glances were...
Izuku pivoted on himself, a diffuse sensation of pride, immediately repressed in the remnants of his flesh brain, passing through his body, then he approached his troops, and began to give mission orders to his troops, and in binary, the environmental and terrain parameters.
/
Well... when All Might had had the feeling that he was going to see this boy again and that he was going to surprise... he hadn't been a bit wrong.
All the teachers in the room were staring at the screens. Principal Nezu was the first to come to his senses, leaning back in his seat and smiling mischievously. "It looks like this year is going to be one of the most interesting..."
The majority of the teachers nodded in approval.
/
Present-Mic had finally recovered from his stupor. The participant who had transformed himself into a man-machine and summoned cyborgs had surprised him. That was for sure...
"Uh... VERY GOOD MR... MACHINE? GOOD! THAT ASIDE... START OF THE TEST IN..."
Everyone tensed, waiting for the signal...
" 3 ! "
Those who had speed quirks thanks to motors or technical elements activated them with a roar.
" 2 ! "
There were a few 'cracks' as some popped their knuckles or warmed up one last time...
" 1 ! "
Izuku tensed, the pistons on his paws producing a little smoke, and motioned with his hand, as a massive halberd, marked with a skull engulfed in gear, appeared, striking the ground and producing flashes of energy, startling a few other participants in the process, and Izuku leaned on it as if it were a cane.
"GO!"
The Mechanicus troops around Izuku let out a gigantic war cry, which even drowned out the horn.
"FOR THE OMNIMESSIAH!"
The skitarii dashed forward, running faster than most of the students thanks to their mechanical legs, but still slower than those with a speed quirk. Izuku accompanied them, his six legs enabling him to maintain the same speed as the skitarii.
Behind the bulk of the group, the massive footsteps of the Kastelans sounded, as the walkers set off, joining the bulk of the pack of participants with their long strides as their operator kept up with them as best he could.
Izuku gave orders, entering into the channels of his subordinates.
++Alpha and Beta, towards the center, engage all targets, Alpha, then you'll go east, Beta, you'll go west, Kastelans, you'll hold the center.++
A series of affirmative responses rang out over the channels, and the skitarii accelerated towards the center, forcing Izuku to speed up to maintain their pace. The boy also noticed that many of the participants decided to go their own way, which was a good idea, to be honest.
Then they arrived at the center.
And instantly a skitarii was hit by a laser, most of his circuits fried, and he collapsed, out of action. Izuku grumbled. The middle had been largely untouched by the students, for there was a large group of robots there, many 1 pointers, but also a few 2 pointers and 3 pointers. Analyzing the situation, Izuku deduced that the fight wouldn't be without casualties. It was a pity.
++Double line of fire formation. Now.++
Without responding, the skitarii formed a double line of fire. The first squad crouched, and the second stood behind. He lost two more skitarii in the process, including one carrying a plasma rifle, their circuits fried by the laser's electrical pulse when hit.
He raised his halberd and lowered it, giving the order.
++Fire++
/
"Looks like machine boy and his henchmen are in a bit of trouble..."
Power Loader exclaims from beneath his esoteric helmet.
"Indeed it seems so. Villain bots don't go easy on them."
Snipe confirmed.
Before their eyes, two more of these red-draped cyborg soldiers had collapsed, struck by the UA robots' lasers while forming a sort of double line in the manner of troops in the very old battles of the pre-Quirk era. Then they saw the kid-machine raise his halberd and lower it. Their first salvo eliminated 15 Victory 1 pointers, 1 Imperial 2 pointers and 2 Venator pointers. The UA robots tried to retaliate, but were mowed down by the devastating fire. They saw one of the cyborgs handling his weapon, which looked like a large rectangular box. The chamber of what looked like gas began to glow pure blue, the others gave him free rein, and the soldier took a long pull on the trigger, the light produced by the chamber intensifying even further. Then the cyborg released the trigger.
A blue ball crackling with energy was fired, the gun's barrel turning red from the heat, and it hit another Venator. As if a very large bucket of lava had been dumped on it, the Venator melted like wax, exposed wires crackling, before the robot collapsed on its side, destroyed. The cyborg only ejected one gas cartridge, mechanically, and replaced it as the ranks reformed and continued to pour hell on the robots.
Nezu was the first to break the silence caused by shock. "Looks like we have a special participant today..."
"This... Weapon... Shoots plasma! And apparently made with superheated gas..." Power Loader murmured, "I remember having a student in the support stream with a quirk that looked like that a long time ago, very dangerous, but he got away with it when he handled it. But I never expected to see it used in this way... so devastating..." finished the hero with an impressed voice. "I should probably ask him how he has such advanced technology..."
There was a small, excited sound. "I like them! I wonder..."
Immediately, Eraserhead and Vlad King, who were pretending not to pay attention, said at the same time. "Nemuri, not even in a dream."
/
Perfect. Everything was going according to plan. Izuku continued to receive tons of data, sorting out the most important with powerful tactical analysis. Now came the second part of the plan. He connected again to the channels of his skitarii, noting that each of them was fully focused on the battle, and ordered.
++Second part of the plan. Scatter.++
The two squads ceased firing, reforming. Alpha had lost two skitarii, Beta only 1, but it was their plasma rifle carrier, then with perfect coordination, set off in two opposite directions, Alpha to the East and Beta to the West, as planned.
Their move coincided with the arrival of participants who hadn't had the good fortune to run into robots and were now heading back to the center. Behind them, if Izuku honed his audio sensors, he could hear the footsteps of the Kastelans getting closer. They would take over and hold the center. He stepped back, deciding to take on a pair of UA robots himself, to see if they were any better than Adeptus Mechanicus technologies, just as the newly arrived participants lunged forward, making contact with the robots.
He paced the streets, looking for targets and avoiding the large groups of teenagers and robots clashing, and soon found two targets...
/
Jiro narrowly dodged a blow from a robot 1 pointer, but she couldn't get away from it. The machine was too fast, and protected its weak point when she managed to pierce its guard.
Suddenly, she stumbled and fell on her back, and tried to get up quickly, but the robot soon towered over her, a second one appeared around the corner, and slowly approached.
Jiro thought it was all over, that she was a goner, when her ears suddenly caught the clatter of six mechanical legs hitting the concrete floor as it drew closer, before another machine, wearing red robes concealing its body, slammed into the first 1 pointer, before decapitating the robot with a backhand blow from a halberd crackling with energy. The second 1 pointer charged like a bull, raising its arm covered in green armor plates before bringing it down, the boy raised the hallberd, and blocked the blow with a shower of sparks, the 1 pointer stepped back, on guard, before attacking from the right, the machine boy, whom Jiro now recognized, dodged to the left on his robotic spiderl legs and brought his weapon down on the arm, slicing it clean off, before gripping the 1 pointer's head with a cybernetic hand, the integrated claws sinking into the metal with disconcerting ease before tearing it off with a dry twist in a torrent of electric sparks.
The 1 pointer collapsed, and the boy turned to face her. The bluenette shuddered as a blind eye and blue bionics focused on her. The cyborg stepped towards her, his robes revealing his prosthetic, metal-covered body. She was repulsed, the skin she could see was almost rotting.
"Are you going to be okay?" The teenager asked him in an extremely cold, mechanical voice. Jiro nodded and replied, "Yes, thanks for the help...", the boy answered with a brief nod, and moved away on his six legs...
Jiro watched him go as he rose to his feet... What a strange character...
Then there was a big explosion.
/
Perhaps Kirishima should have thought better of his choices before charging into the heap. The center of the field was a veritable war zone after the passage of the cyborgs in red, three of whom were lying on the ground, out of action, but with no apparent serious damage, only occasional spasms... Probably short circuits. But this was absolutely no time to think about why they'd been put out of action. He had just enough time to harden his skin before an impact threw him backwards, staggering under the impact...
Boy, that one was hard to take.
The Imperial-class robot he'd chosen as his target began to circle him, completely ignoring the chaos around them both, then attacked when the red-haired boy least expected it.
Another impact narrowly avoided by his hardening. His armor was beginning to crack.
Then came the footsteps, and the ground shook as one of the imposing automatons which was at the starting line passed by him and slammed into the 2 pointers with all its might. The Imperial was thrown backwards, but quickly recovered from the impact, and unleashed a barrage of lasers, Kirishima positioned himself behind the red automaton, which took the torrent of shots that caused him nothing but small burns on his paint. In return, the walker unleashed a torrent of flames with his built-in flamethrower, making the green robot's armor turn white-hot as he closed in, before raising both his fists, which crackled with energy, before slamming them into the Imperial's torso, pulverizing it immediately and leaving the smoking, blackened wreckage of the fallen 2 pointer on the ground. A torrent of lasers rained down on his shoulder pad, and Kirishima had just enough time to throw himself back to avoid a massive Venator which struck the automaton which staggered. The 3 pointer then delivered a blow to the red walker's torso. The metal screamed, and a piece of red armour was torn away, revealing some damaged internal circuitry. The red robot stepped back, before charging headfirst, striking the green robot with all its mass, and managing to slip an energy fist into the 3 pointer's guard, before ripping off its generator, the Venator, deprived of energy, collapsed. The automaton didn't see it that way, however, and pulverized its head, as if to take revenge for the damage it had sustained.
The ground suddenly shook, Kirishima lost his balance, and right in the middle of a group of green robots, the ground rose up in a gigantic explosion.
/
Izuku had just finished saving the blue-haired girl when the ground shook and an explosion sounded.
Turning in the direction he'd come from, he saw a gigantic green robot standing in the center of the field, a 0 pointer, and simultaneously received tons of damage and situation reports. The two skitarii squads reported that the enemies they were facing were retreating, and asked if they should give chase. Izuku replied in the negative, ordering them to retreat, and evacuate as many participants as possible from the area.
The Kastelans' operator was in the midst of the closest thing to panic the half-mechanical mind could muster, reporting that one of the Kastelans had sustained significant damage when a four-meter-wide concrete block had slammed into its already damaged torso, and asking what was to be done. Izuku ordered him to withdraw the two automatons, while ensuring the retreat of the probably panicked participants.
Izuku himself turned back. If the operator of the two powerful automatons was panicking so much about the damage inflicted on the walker, then it meant it was really serious, and he'd probably have to make some expensive repairs to the circuits.
His legs clicked on the ground at a rapid pace as he closed in on the last position he'd captured of the damaged robot, passing panicked teenagers running in the opposite direction to escape from the massive 0 pointer, which Izuku admired as a masterpiece, not as advanced as an Imperial Knight, but massive nonetheless. It destroyed everything in its path...
'What a powerful machine...' thought Izuku... Then he reached the street where the damaged Kastelan was limping, a massive hole in its torso armor, carrying several participants on its shoulders and arms... The 0 pointer getting closer and closer… He immediately moved towards the machine, and after forcing the participants off the automaton with a cold, imperative voice, he ordered the red robot to kneel in binary. The latter immediately obeyed, and Izuku looked into the hole. A mecadendrite came out from under his robes and began to connect the cut wires, those concerning one of the pistons in his leg. Those that allowed his chest to rotate on itself could wait.
He glanced at the distance separating the two from the 0 pointing. 100 meters... His mecadendrite worked as fast as it could, and Izuku muttered a prayer in binary to calm the machine's mind from the outrage it was suffering with such non-conventional repairs.
The mecadendrite retreated back in the robes and the Kastelan stood up, the wires to its leg roughly connected, but the machine's mind didn't seem to mind such treatment, especially in the urgency of the situation. The automaton moved forward, his limp now gone, and continued his retreat, creating a very small distance between himself and the gigantic robot. Izuku followed suit, looking behind...
Then, as they passed a pile of rubble... Izuku heard a scream.
It took a few seconds for his mechanical brain to isolate it from the ambient noise and analyze it.
A 'Help'.
He turned his head, and his blue optics found the source of the call for help.
It was the girl who had prevented him from falling before the exam... She was trapped under concrete blocks...
Damn it.
He turned back, and approached the girl and the pile of rubble, his strange, mechanical appearance doing nothing to help the girl, whose panic rose a notch.
Then he pointed to the pile of rubble, and ordered.
++Attack the designated target.++
He marked the pile of rubble as the target. The Kastelan stopped and turned, before approaching, his fists crackling. Izuku turned to the girl.
"Whatever happen, don't move." He ordered in a dry voice, the red automaton raised its fists and began ferociously destroying the debris with powerful blows. Izuku raised his head and estimated the distance between the 0 pointer and them.
In about 42.19982 seconds he'd be on top of them. The walker continued to smash the debris before Izuku ordered him to stop. The girl was covered in minor scratches from the shrapnels and was covered in dust, but at least she was free. He transformed back into a human, and lifted the girl, tucking an arm under hers and supporting her. He turned to see the distance. Without his augmented brain and bionics, he couldn't estimate the time exactly. But around 15 seconds before he crushed them.
He asked the girl, "Can you run?", she shook her head, and with a grimace, "My leg's probably broken...", Izuku swore. He turned his head again towards the 0 pointer, now that he could no longer speak binary, he couldn't order the Kastelan to carry them...
10 seconds before the 0 pointer crushed them... But he had a solution, the only disadvantage being that he'd probably be very tired... And he'd probably be in a lot of pain... He looked at the girl with a determined gaze. "Hold me and whatever happens, don't move. I'm trusting you. Our lives depend on it."
6 seconds...
Izuku closed his eyes and concentrated... He cleared his head and began to think about what he wanted to invoke... Images of his mother telling him to be careful flashed by... Along with images of the girl he supported, relying on him... The Kastelan standing motionless beside them, whose machine mind was perhaps hoping for good maintenance once back on his forge-world...
A diffuse pain appeared in his head, then intensified to extreme degrees, he gritted his teeth, and managed to hold back his screams until finally they burst forth, screams of extreme pain... He wanted so much for it to stop, to stop everything, to get his head away from this pain... But he persisted, continuing to push, his screams getting higher and higher... Then he felt like a pop in his head, and he knew he'd succeeded... Then he slumped against the girl...
/
Ochako was worried, the green-haired boy seemed to have completely disconnected himself from the world, she watched nervously as the 0 pointed drew closer to them, and she even began to panic, her breathing quickening. What if the boy's plan didn't work? Would they die? Crushed like insects? Couldn't the red automaton do anything? She gave him a panicked look, as he stood there motionless, his circuits still working. Suddenly, a black crack opened up and sucked him in. She panicked: he'd abandoned them! It was all over... She resigned herself and watched the gigantic robot's tracks get closer and closer... Ochako thought of her parents... In the end... She hadn't been able to help them...
Then the boy began to scream in pain, and the air beside them shimmered. She was completely resigned and looked at the boy with hopeless eyes... It was all over... Then the screams went high-pitched, before literally becoming howls of pain... Then he slumped against her, unconscious, Ochako winced as she held him, forced to hold on her broken leg.
Then there was a crack of thunder. And the air split as a massive portal, as big as the 0 pointer, opened right beside them.
The first sound she heard was a war horn, so loud that she thought her eardrums had burst when her ears whistled furiously.
Then the ground shook even harder. Her eye returned just in time to hear a powerful cannon shot, an explosion, and the scraping of metal against the ground. She turned her head towards the 0 pointer. He had a smoking hole in his torso, and had been thrown back some two hundred meters, digging a deep furrow and destroying a few buildings before he came to a halt.
Then she looked at the portal. The end of a cannon, smoking, pointed out from the darkness of the portal. Then the ground shook again. And out came another titanic machine.
/
The Imperial Knight rose majestically, imposing his presence on the field like a titan of the Pre-Quirk era's mythology. His massive silhouette was the same size as the 0 pointer.
Its sturdy, rounded carapace was adorned with honorary emblems, testifying to the machine's glorious history and the battles it fought. Symbols of loyalty and honor were etched into its armor, recalling the unwavering determination of the noble lineage to which it belonged... The House Terryn.
Its mechanical arms were hooked up to the machine's weapons. The powerful mech was armed with a large Questoris heavy stubber and a Thunderstrike Gauntlet.
On his back, Stormspear rocket pods pointed skyward, ready to spit the fire of vengeance on anyone who dared challenge him. Family crests fluttered proudly in the wind, symbolizing the Knight's unwavering allegiance to his House and the Imperium.
His eyes shone with a sinister glow through the slit in the Knight's helmet, bearing witness to the determination of the pilot and the spirit of the machine controlling this war machine. Behind those optics, a ruthless fighting spirit watched, ready to obey its pilot's orders and crush anything that stands in its way.
The 0 pointer recovered from the impact of the shell fired at point-blank range, and its 8 red optical lenses looked down on its new opponent, its central computer analyzing its chances of victory. And his implacable logic dictated that he could win. So he charged. Surprisingly, the blue-and-gold machine charged back. The latter's cannon fired, but the shell ricocheted off an armor plate of the Executor-class robot, which retaliated with its laser cannons, which did absolutely nothing to the Knight, and then contact was made. The 0 pointer delivered a blow to the Knight, who staggered back after the blow hit him in the head. However, the Knight had also managed to hit the 0 pointer, tearing off a large section of its right flank with its energy-crackling gauntlet. The two machines glared at each other again. Then the Knight attacked again. He fired rockets, which served to blind the Executor for a quarter of a second, which was enough for the Knight Errant to deliver a powerful blow that sent the 0 pointer tumbling and crashing against the edge of the field, which buckled under the impact. A trail of destroyed buildings lined the spot in the direction he had been thrown. The 0 pointer struggled to get back on its tracks. The blow had destroyed two of its optics and damaged another, and two of the pistons supporting its head had been badly damaged.
The Knight charged at him to finish him off, but the Executor's audio system picked up his approach. The green robot grabbed the rubble of a building that lay strewn about and used it like a club to try and strike the other machine. The concrete shattered against the Knight's carapace as it grabbed the Executor, lifting it up and sending it over its shoulder with a sweeping movement, while rotating its torso before bringing it down hard on the ground, destroying another block of buildings. The 0 pointer raised his arm in an attempt to make his opponent let go, but to no avail, and the Knight emptied his rocket launcher into the green machine's torso. The rockets tore through the armor and penetrated its internal systems before detonating, the 0 pointer producing a high-pitched whine that rose to a crescendo before its torso exploded, creating an explosion so loud it could be seen from Mustafu. Its red lenses stopped glowing as its mechanical limbs fell limp to the ground, which was devastated by the battle between the two machines...
The Knight of House Terryn then straightened up, and his war horn sounded in the sudden silence of the field. A well-deserved cry of victory, which even covered the air horn that announced the end of the exam...
/
Grandiose. The fight had been grandiose. Nezu applauded slowly, it had been so long since he'd seen such a fight. He almost wished it had appeared in a film. The rat turned to the other teachers, whose eyes were almost out of their sockets. Power Loader was speechless, and Nezu grinned at his reaction.
He'll look less like that when he will have to repair the machine.
Then Recovery Girl spoke.
"Well. It seems I should go and help some of the participants..."
The screens showed a brunette limping as she carried the boy who had summoned the machine and given them a magnificent battle with both the cyborgs and the automatons who had disappeared as soon as the huge gold-and-blue machine had appeared, and the gigantic mech itself
Nezu smiled. And repeated himself for the third time. "It's going to be an interesting year ladies and gentlemen..."
/
Izuku grunted... His head... Goddamn it, it hurt...
It took the green-haired boy a while to remember where he was...
Ah yes... The exam...
He slowly opened his eyes, the light blinding him somewhat... He noticed that the ground was moving... Or that he was moving. Then he heard the girl's grunting.
Suddenly fully awake, he straightened up, surprising her with his unexpected movement. He asked. "Is everything all right?" the girl looked at him and nodded, "Yes, and you? You cried out in pain and collapsed just as your machine was about to atomize the 0 pointer," Izuku nodded, holding his head with his free hand, "I've been in better shape. Bringing the Knight Errant's hurt, I'm not used to getting things that big out of my head...", the two remained silent for a while, Izuku taking over to support her, walking towards the exit in the middle of the field that looked more like a battlefield than anything else now...
"By the way, did I ever get your name?" Izuku said suddenly, looking at her. The girl gave a little scream of surprise, "Ah yes! I didn't have time to introduce myself... My name is Ochako. Ochako Uraraka," Izuku smiled as he repeated the name in his head. "And I'm Izuku Midoryia."
They finally reached the exit, and were instantly greeted by applause and admiring looks from the other participants. Izuku and Ochako were quickly attended to by robot doctors, who had them each lie down in a stretcher and taken to the building's infirmary.
All the others continued to applaud, except one.
A pair of red eyes followed Izuku with visible rage as Bakugo restrained his urge to pounce on this pile of garbage and blow his face off...
ANNND! It's done! Yes, I brought an Imperial Knight to face the 0 pointer, but I simply couldn't resist to make a mech clash in this chapter...
Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did when I wrote it!