Chapter 6

Mechanized Melee

Yagi Toshinori's Heart swelled with pride as he watched young Midoriya's actions on the screen. Without hesitation he had acted in defense of his fellows and that was the catalyst to finally activate One for All within him and destroy the Zero-Pointer in a single mighty blow.

Hidden from the examinees, the Zero-Pointer was more than just an obstacle, but a test in and of itself, to see who possessed true heroic spirit.

While he may not have scored any villain points, young Midoriya most definitely had the makings of a true hero within him. Considering his obviously broken limbs (thank goodness Recovery Girl was standing by) he would need training, both in technique and his ability to control his new Quirk, but that was what U.A. was for.

Yagi heard gasps. While he had expected some form of shock at young Midoriya's actions, this didn't sound like awe or approval, but rather alarm.

"What's going on?" Yagi asked, and then realized that they weren't looking at what he was. He in truth had been laser-focused on young Midoriya, though to be fair, he and the rest of the faculty would be going over all the footage in depth once the test concluded. That was when the actual villain and hero points would be tallied up.

The rest of the faculty were focused on another of the training cities, area E. Through the screen, Yagi could see the zero-pointer of area E and it just looked wrong.

"Is it supposed to do that?"

"No, they're not. Somethings gone wrong!"

"Shut it down!"

Buttons were pressed to, but to no avail.

"What's going on?"

"It's not responding! Why? Something's interfering?!"

"Is this a glitch?"

"I don't know!"

Yagi had heard enough. Innocents were in danger. He stood up from his chair and took a deep breath. Though he had passed One for All onto young Midoriya, he still had power left within him. He transformed, his height, build, and bulk greatly expanding.

All Might turned to the rest of the staff. "I'm going."

"Hold on." A high-pitched yet gentle voice said. All Might turned to Nezu, the headmaster of U.A. who was keenly focused on the screen. He held up a paw, urging All Might to wait. "I want to see this."

All Might looked at the screen, which was observing area E. There, he saw an examinee wielding a gigantic key projecting a barrier against the swing of the malfunctioning zero-pointer.

"With all due respect, you can't just let things play out. Even if there are examinees with Quirks strong enough to defeat a zero-pointer, with one out of control like this we can't just leave it to-

"I'm not." Nezu said. "Go but standby outside of the testing area until I give a signal."

All Might paused, before answering. "Alright."

Strelitzia's Protera spell barrier was barely able to withstand the impact of the zero-pointer, cracks forming in it almost instantly. She could feel the strain as she poured energy into the spell to try and hold back the possessed machine.

"Get back!" Strelitzia shouted to the students still present. This wasn't a test anymore. A Heartless had taken control of the machine, this was now real danger. And she was a Key-Bearer, she had to act.

The examinees began to flee as Strelitzia abandoned supporting the spell. The barrier crumbled as the zero-pointer began reeling back for another swing. Strelitzia dodged to the left as it swung to her right. She could feel the force of the wind in the wake of the metal fists passing as it rammed into a building with such force as to punch a hole into it.

For a moment she hoped it had gotten stuck, though there was no such luck. The zero-pointer rapidly pulled its fist free from the building, causing it to crumble into rubble, filling the street with clouds of dust.

There, Strelitzia could see nothing but clouds of brown, while her hearing was drowned out by the rumbling of the zero-pointer's treads. She heard a mechanical groan, and knew the machine was winding up for another punch.

There was no way she could survive a strike. Even with a durability boosting Protect spell armor, if that thing hit her now she was going to be paste. So she moved, rushing towards a building on the side and running up it.

However, she only made it part of the way up. The zero-pointers fist smashed just beneath her. Strelitzia lost her footing as the concrete she was running up crumbled. She soared briefly before she felt the pull in her gut from falling.

As she fell she turned towards the zero-pointer and aimed Starlight. No time for holding back.

"Fira!" A massive fireball streaked out her Keyblade, as Strelitzia let herself be blasted back by her spell, landing on the ground as the fireball impacted the zero-pointers chest and burst into an explosion larger than a house.

As she landed, Strelitzia's hair was blown back and she could feel the sudden spike in heat from the blast. Even that however was nothing compared to the sheer size of the machine. Where it had struck there were dents and melted metal, part of it's ventilation had been melted shut. Still it wasn't enough.

Raising Starlight once more she called out. "Aerora!"

The winds gathered around Starlights tip, compressing and molding into a sphere of raging air. She fired the ball of compressed air headlong into the zero-pointer, where it exploded into a blast of wind that even at a distance Strelitzia had to brace herself against while the zero-pointer was sent skidding back ever so slightly.

The machine reeled back, aiming another of it's massive punches at her. The Heartless was clearly focused on her. Which was good. She needed to get it away from the others.

So, instead of backing away or dodging to the side, she rushed towards the Heartless. As it was about to bring its fist down, she raised Starlight.

"Aero!" Instead of a sphere, this time she used the wind magic to create a powerful updraft, launching her into the air. The zero-pointers fist slammed into the ground beneath her, kicking up another dust cloud.

Strelitzia landed on the machines arm and began running up it. As she did so, she cast a Thunder spell, aiming at the exposed area that had been damaged with the fire spell.

Though to little effect more than more damage. She had been hoping she could short out the machines systems. Unfortunately it didn't work. The Possessor was in control, it wouldn't matter.

So Strelitzia kept moving up the arm to its shoulder and leaped off. As she fell, she turned and aimed Starlight at the zero-pointer. "Fira! Fira! Fira!"

Strelitzia cast the spell repeatedly and fireball after fireball slammed into the back and side of the machine as it tried to turn and face her. It dragged its arm through several buildings as it attempted to backhand her, though she allowed the force of the spells to push her back, avoiding the swing, and continuing the barrage before landing and backing away to observe her handiwork.

The fire had had an impact on the zero-pointer. The metal of its body was glowing red and even beginning to melt in places, worst of all in its right arm, which didn't appear to be functional anymore.

This didn't stop the Heartless however, as it simply raised its other arm and brought it down in another titanic blow onto the street. The ground shook, knocking Strelitzia off balance while damaged buildings began to completely crumble, kicking up another massive dust cloud.

Strelitzia coughed as the cloud of dust rolled over her, once again blocking out her sight, trapping her in a shroud of roaring whiteout as the dust coated her. She was probably looking like a mess now but that didn't matter at this moment.

Putting a stop to that Heartless did.

She attempted to rise to her feet once more, only for another tremor to sent her sprawling back to the ground. As Strelitzia pushed herself back up to her knees, she looked at the cracked ground, and noticed beneath her the cracks were beginning to glow. Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

It's casting a Dark Quake spell! Strelitzia immediately used Aero to launch herself away from the ground as it exploded, dark energy surging out of the cracks.

As she sailed through the air, towards the side of a building, she turned her focus back towards the zero-pointer, where its yellow eyes began to glow. Bolts of darkness were launched from those eyes, streaking towards the air towards Strelitzia, all the while the machine continued to advance towards her.

She didn't stop her movement; Strelitzia continued to channel Flowmotion, running up the side of the building as the dark spheres homed in on her, dodging and deflecting them as she moved, then shielding her eyes as one impacted into the window above her sending down a shower of glass.

Unfortunately, she realized too late that with the window gone, she wouldn't be continuing up, and instead she went through the new opening, careening into the interior of the office building and crashing into the furniture.

For a moment, she found herself impressed at the sheer money U.A. would have had to not only build multiple mock cities, but to furnish them as well. However those musings were quickly forgotten as she extricated herself from the pile of wreckage, only to see the eyes of the zero-pointer staring in at her.

Shit.

They glowed, and Strelitzia had only seconds to react. Raising Starlight, she chanted, "Holy!"

As the zero-pointer was about to fire once more, a glowing sphere emerged from the tip of her Keyblade, launching forwards to slam into the face of the zero-pointer. The light magic countered the dark energy forming.

The machine reeled back, though it swung its arm as it did so, slamming the side of the building. Glass shattered as the entire building trembled. Strelitzia dove to the side as the metal fist passed through, tearing its way through multiple floors, sending debris everywhere in a roaring chaos. Furniture was smashed, lights shattered, walls were destroyed, and load bearing pillars were crushed. The building shook and began to sag, as chunks of concrete began to come falling down from above, forcing Strelitzia to roll to the side to avoid being crushed.

The building was coming down.

As the zero-pointer pulled its fist out of the collapsing building, Strelitzia grabbed on and was pulled along for the ride. The arm jerked up, and suddenly, Strelitzia felt vertigo as she was launched into the air above the machine.

Confused for a moment, she scrambled to recover her bearings as the winds whistled around her. As she reached the height of her flight, she turned back to the ground. Activating Flowmotion, she focused on the zero-pointer, letting her momentum build up as she fell, until she glowed with an orange light before smashing directly into the head of the zero-pointer with a loud crunch and a wave of energy burst out.

The metal of the machine's head dented and crumpled as sparks ran along its body. However, to her dismay, the possessed zero-pointer wasn't out of the fight yet. Activating Flowmotion once more, she leaped off of the zero-pointer's head as it tried to swat her.

"Fira!" As the machine attempted to strike her in mid-air, Strelitzia once again blasted herself away using the recoil from her spell.

She needed to end this.

Fortunately, she could feel her finisher ready. All the fire magic she had been using had build up a surplus of fire energy within her. She could use that, to augment a Fira spell to the next level. Grand magic.

As Strelitzia hit the ground, she looked up to see the possessed machine continuing to roll towards her. This time, instead of moving, she planted her feet and held Starlight before her. She began to feel hot, very very hot, almost boiling as she channeled magic into the key.

As it almost drew too close, Strelitzia let out a howl. "Firaga!"

A massively intense ball of flame launched out like a fiery comet, leaving sparks and flame in its wake to impact the zero-pointer square in the chest, where it blossomed into a towering hellish inferno. The explosion blasted a chunk out of the zero-pointer while also damaging the nearby buildings as well. Glass shattered and chunks of concrete were blasted off, and the structures were engulfed in flames.

Strelitzia held up her arm to guard her face as she felt both the force from the explosion and a searing wave of heat wash over her, like opening a hot oven but far far more intense. In short order, the heat wave had passed, and Strelitzia was able to take a look at her handiwork.

The zero-pointer, was finally down for the count. Even though the spell had ended, smaller explosions were already going off across its body as it fell backwards, hitting the ground as a pile of scrap metal. Strelitzia sighed in relief as she saw the Possessor emerge from the husk and then disperse into wisps of darkness.

As the adrenaline faded from her body, she realized just how much she was drained. There was no denying just how weak she was now. Her magical capacity had been severely diminished if something like a Firaga spell required Grand Magic to pull off. Especially if it was exhausting now.

Her reserves of magic had been all but depleted by a battle that before wouldn't have taken so much out of her before. She was thankful her injuries were limited to small cuts and bruises. She didn't think she could manage even a basic Cure spell right now.

Additionally, she lamented that for all that effort, none of it was worth any points. And the time limit for the test must have already passed, even though she couldn't hear any announcement. Did she even have enough points to pass? She wasn't sure, and that was if the test wasn't just rendered null because of all this. She sighed as she picked herself up and dusted herself off, wincing at a bit of soreness, before limping back to the entrance.

This ended up being a bit more than I expected but it was entirely fun to write. Took a bit longer to write than I expected as well, though that may have been due to me working on multiple stories at once. Well, one other story. Ah well. Just how it is.

~Dragonexx