Chapter 2: Decisions and Experiments
Within a few days The Radiance had received her new 'ID' from Grimm. She didn't know how he managed to enter her into Japan's database, and if she was being honest with herself she didn't really want to know either. Grimm had a way of getting things done very efficiently as long as there weren't any questions asked. She didn't know how he managed to get his Troupe to Hallownest, she didn't know how he managed to bring her to another plane of existence, she didn't know how he created her new body, and she didn't know how he managed to get her an ID. Regardless, she went about familiarizing herself with the important parts.
Myla Grimm,
Sex; Female,
Birthdate; 1st of December,
Age; 15,
Quirk: Essence
'Myla is able to create a substance called "Essence" by combining a substance that she naturally produces with particles of light in her general vicinity. This Essence can be used for a wide array of offensive abilities and to a limited extent; object creation.'
'Examples would be her ability to form and dispel this essence in a way akin to variable intensity laser beams. Said intensity can be adjusted by strengthening or weakening a containment field made of light particles. Likewise she can condense this Essence into an unstable critical mass that will explode violently when its containment field is broken. The sole example of her object creation, as of yet, is her ability to create spikes of varying sizes, though these are not permanent and will disappear after a certain amount of time.'
'Because of her ability to create Essence, and the unique substance she can make, her genetic makeup is different from the average human. Interestingly, a byproduct of this are characteristics you would sometimes find in a moth. Extended quirk usage can be dangerous to her health, as the substance she uses to create Essence is not compatible with her bodily functions and must be expelled if too much is created without being turned into the final product. Failure to do so can induce fever-like symptoms.'
Honestly it was a lot more than she was expecting. He had come up with genuine reasons to explain her abilities and genuine reasons to explain what would happen if she overloaded this body's capabilities to handle her power. He did leave out her ability to teleport, and the fact that she could touch, interact with, and control the minds of others. He also left out her mastery of the Dream, and her ability to sense the true desires that every sentient being held. All of this was for good reason, obviously, but it did mean that she would have to be wary of what she did and didn't do. And if she did use one of her unlisted abilities she would need a concrete reason as to how she could do it.
Besides that she had been familiarizing herself with as much of the guide as she could. Every waking moment she had that wasn't spent wandering or exploring was spent pouring over the wealth of information Grimm had left her. She was fluent in the written and spoken language, even if it was vastly different than what she was used to. She was learning the laws and regulations around Quirk Usage, though they confounded her to no end. But the single most amazing thing she had discovered was the technology Humanity possessed.
Humanity could be considered gods as a species if it weren't for their lifespans and weak nature. Their technology was so far beyond what Hallownest had, and what was even more impressive was how far it went beyond even her own understanding. Humans had mastered science to a degree that if they met the Pale Light's society they would probably be hailed as gods. An example of this would be her "phone." A device that could contact other similar devices from across the planet nearly instantaneously. Hers was a small box that was entirely a pane of glass on one side that she could interact with. She could read what all of the little symbols did, but that didn't mean she understanded their meaning. The last time she had interacted with one of the symbols her phone had emitted a bright flash of light, making the goddess think that it was about to explode. She hadn't interacted with the damnable thing since.
There was much about this world that she didn't understand. There was much about this world that she was curious about, and there was one thing in particular that peaked her interest as of late.
A couple of months ago, around the time of her phone incident, the Radiance had noticed a Dream unlike any she had felt before. The determination was so profound, the light so blazingly bright, that she had almost thought she was in the presence of a Higher Being. She had rushed to her balcony overlooking a sidewalk and searched for the source, but all there was was a boy with messy dark green hair. It took her an embarrassing amount of time to realize that he had been the source of that Dream.
Her ability to sense the dreams and desires of others didn't tell her exactly what they wanted. Usually there was something else, another cue that told her what their exact dream was. Without that all she got was generalizations. Hope, Want, Revenge, Desire; but for what wasn't clear to her. This boy radiated Desire, and his Dream was full of Determination. But just looking at him in his black uniform with his yellow backpack didn't tell her a thing. When he saw her staring he gave her a friendly, albeit slightly nervous wave. She raised a hand in return before tearing her eyes off of him and walking back into her apartment. It was a passing curiosity, nothing worth nothing.
Except it wasn't…
She began seeing him again, and again. Sometimes he was in that uniform going one way, sometimes he was going the other way, usually at two specific intervals during the day. On weekends she saw him jogging, and she had even seen him near that beach that was completely filled with garbage. No matter how many times she convinced herself that it was just a coincidence, he kept appearing. Fate must have been trying to tell her something, or Grimm was playing a prank on her. And after watching him closely one afternoon she finally found out why she kept seeing him. She'd discover the grand reason as to why she kept seeing this curiosity!
He just… lived in the complex nextdoor to hers…
Stupid, Stupid Moth!
She had gotten so worked up, because she had forgotten one key aspect. They weren't in Hallownest anymore. Nothing in that godforsaken place was mundane; everything had an important reason for happening. Every reason was tied to a dozen others that all played a role in a grand scheme. This world? There weren't any all powerful gods. Things, despite the superhuman society, were just… normal.
She was still curious, but now that she knew shy she kept seeing the body, and because of her embarrassment, she dedicated much less time to his mystery. But even here, Fate had its way.
She had been walking home one day after exploring more of that beach. Somehow, day by day, the garbage was all being gathered into one large pile. At first she couldn't handle the stench, but now she was free to explore something new, and her pockets were lined with seashells or colorful things that had caught her eye. She had even enjoyed a few moments watching a crab. She had never seen one before, but she had heard of them when Hallownest was still in its prime. Seeing one now though… It was so small! Or were humans just that big? Its mind was a simple thing, and it took no effort on her part to influence it into climbing into her hand for closer inspection.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a slight crumple, and felt something shift slightly under her foot. She lifted her foot, and upon her looking down she found a battered notebook. When she picked it up it felt like it had been burned or soaked in water, flipping it over she read the front of it.
'Hero Analysis for the Future: No. 13'
She flipped through a few pages. Inside were drawings of heroes with notes scribbled down detailing fighting styles, quirks, and other small things. Some of it was faded from water damage, but not bad enough that it was unreadable. Near the back were some new heroes that had seen some news about. "Kamui Woods" and "Mt. Lady."
What an odd thing to find lying about…
"Hey!" She looked up and froze. The boy that confounded her came to a stop in front of her, panting from what must have been a long run. "That's, hah, that's mine…" His Dream was becoming clearer to her.
"So it is." She flipped through a few more pages, glancing briefly over the drawings and notes. She didn't notice the way the boy started flushing red, or the way he started sweating slightly.
"Can I, um, can I have it back?" She finally looked up again, tilting her head slightly.
"Of course," she said, handing it over. "It's very detailed. Do you mind if I ask why?"
"Oh! It's just, um, I've always really liked heroes since I was little, and I've always wanted to be one! I also really think quirks are fascinating so I started writing down all the heroes I come across so that one day when I become a hero I'll have a lot to draw upon and—"
The goddess' antennae twitched as his mumbling turned into background noise. After shaking her head slightly to clear it she snapped her fingers twice in front of his face. He stopped with a small jolt before flushing red again.
"Sorry! Sometimes I, uh, get carried away when talking about quirks, and heroes, and um, I almost started doing it again haha." He was sweating even more now. Was he trying to hide something? Or was it something more mundane like before?
"Are you ok? You're really red." That wasn't normal for humans right?
"Y-Yeah totally! Um…" He gathered himself a bit before looking at her more closely. "We've, um, have we met before? You look kinda familiar."
"You live in the apartment complex next to me."
"Oh! That explains it then, hah." She blinked, peering slightly into his mind. His dream was becoming clearer, and he had said himself that he wanted to be a hero, but…
"Well, it was nice talking to you, uh, thanks for finding my—"
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you want to be a hero?"
That seemed to catch the boy off guard, and he stammered for a few seconds before speaking clearly again. "Well, I've always wanted to be like All Might! He saves everybody with a smile, no matter what happens. I want to be that kind of here; the one that saves everybody and does it with a smile on their face. I wanna be someone that people can look up to, somebody that people can believe in, that can bring them hope!"
Ah, there it is.
She smiled softly, "I see, thank you for telling me. What's your name, by the way?"
"Oh! I'm Izuku Midoriya."
"Myla Grimm." It still didn't sound right.
"Well, nice to meet you, Grimm—" No…
"Myla…"
"I'm… sorry?" He started flushing again.
"Call me Myla, I don't like it when people call me Grimm."
"Oh! Um, t-then it was nice meeting you, M-Myla! Maybe we'll s-see each other again?" Again with the redness?
"Maybe, and likewise." With that she turned and started heading back to her apartment.
I've made my decision, thank you Izuku Midoriya.
Meanwhile, Izuku was mentally freaking out.
Holy crap!
I just talked to a really pretty girl, she lives nearby, and she told me to call her by her FIRST NAME!
Midoriya nearly fainted on the spot before he pulled himself together and resumed his original path.
The next day, the Radiance went to the U.A. Hero Academy and applied to take the entrance exam in February to enter the Hero Course.
The building, she had discovered, was the same building she had observed months ago when exploring Musutafu for the first time. The human who had helped her out, Midnight, was one of the teachers and had her fill out a small form. It was simple; and just included basic information to put in their system. When, when, she got in she would receive a more elaborate form to fill out. Midnight was nice as far as humans went, though she looked at the disguised goddess in a way that set off her new instincts in a bad way. The woman exuded no physical signs of danger for the duration of her time at UA, but she was still wary of the heroine until she left the premises.
When she got home— I'm really starting to call this hovel my home?— She found a package in front of her door. It was a brown box made of a coarse material, and after examining it for a few moments she brought the strange thing into her apartment and opened it up. Inside was a note, and her enjoyable and productive day immediately soured.
To my dear sister~
I've seen you've decided to enroll in the prestigious U.A Hero Academy. Good for you! I can't say I entirely understand your reasoning, but it is something to do whilst we are in this amazing new world~
Now I expect that you expect this entrance exam to be an utter breeze, but I wouldn't get too ahead of yourself. Inside this package is all the information you will be tested on. School in this world is composed of multiple subjects with the goal of turning a hopeful student into a more well-rounded individual. You will not be accepted based on your combat skills alone.
Study it well!
Also I am assuming that you've looked over the ID I made for you. In regards to your quirk, the ID is much more accurate than you'll initially believe. Essence is not native to this world. I have in fact given you a Quirk. If, gods forbid, you return to your True Form while in this world you will have access to the full scope of your abilities as you know them. While in human form however, I would recommend that you take these months to familiarize yourself with your Quirk and its limitations.
For your physical form itself I have obviously spared no expense in its creation, so you are currently in peak physical shape. That will not last forever though. I know that since your little tantrum you've spent almost no time in a physical form such as this, so allow me to remind you that your body needs upkeep. Eat good food! Push your physical limits! I've included another small booklet with exercises I recommend that you try.
All of this is up to you, but it wouldn't be flattering if the Radiance Herself failed an entrance exam meant for human adolescents. Exceptional adolescents, but you get the jist!
Good luck in your endeavors, Grimm~
She incinerated the note, as she did with every note the leech sent her, but she left the rest of the package alone for the moment. She hated him. She hated everything that he did. She hated the fact that he somehow already knew so much about this world, while she was left scrambling to catch up. She hated that he somehow knew everything that she did as or before she was doing it. She hated that he had shackled her like a common beast! But most of all she hated the fact that she was genuinely taking his advice to heart and was already setting the booklets aside for use later.
The two gods were complete opposites. She, The Radiance, was a being of pure Light. She represented and commanded order, uniformity, and peace. Grimm, and The Nightmare Heart, was a being of pure Darkness. He represented chaos, diversity, and discord. They were like the Sun and the Moon, she was the antithesis of him as he was to her. They both wanted different things, and almost always those things conflicted with each other, leading to a game of cat and mouse where the Light chased the Dark. She hated him, and she was amusing to him. But despite all of that…
She did care about him, on some minor level buried deep in her core. They were siblings, even if they were direct opposites. So she did take his advice, albeit reluctantly. That evening she expanded her mind out as far as she could, miles and miles away. Thousands upon thousands bounced off of hers, but she didn't touch any of them. She wasn't planning on it either. She found Grimm and his Troupe, but didn't try to contact him. No, she wasn't even looking for a mind at all, quite the opposite in fact.
There
Some miles away, there was a void in the sea of minds and dreams. Gathering her focus she focused intently on her current position, placing a Dream Gate in her living room and watching as the interwoven pattern settled into the floor before disappearing from the naked eye. It was still there, but it wouldn't be visible unless she wanted it to be. Usually one would need the Dream Nail to interact with her realm, but she was the one who invented it. The Dream Nail and its abilities had been a gift from her to the Moth Tribe, one that led to her downfall. Now it would serve to propel her to even greater heights.
When that was finished and she verified that it was a stable gate, she found that void again and gathered her focus. She disappeared in a flash of light and glyphs, and a sound akin to bells tolling echoed in her wake. She envisioned that spot, and drew herself back to the material realm, exploding into view in a similar manner to her disappearance. Immediately she grabbed her head as it throbbed in a sudden jolt of pain. Though she didn't see it, golden lines ran down her arms like cracks in her skin and glyphs shot out of her closed eyes like they were tears. She didn't fall to her knees, though it was close, and after a few moments she was able to gather herself.
She envisioned one of the Soul Statues that the madman had created. The Soul Master had been a genius of the Pale City, and one of the few that could have stopped the tidal wave that was her Light, but he was greedy for power. In his search for godhood he fell right into her hand and his experiments failed. None of the history was important to her, but one of his experiments came to mind. He had created statues that could contain a set amount of Soul. When it took in too much, it exploded in a spectacular fashion. She imagined her body the same way, except in her case she could control how much of her power she put into the 'statue.'
If she put in too much, well, she might not explode but it wouldn't be pretty. A teleport like the one she had just done, miles away, had her power beating against her current capacity and almost overflowing. If it weren't for Grimm's shackle she may very well have gone over. She imagined the statue, an idol in her True Form, and willed her power to an acceptable level. Then she finally opened her eyes.
She was in a park similar to the one Grimm had taken her to months ago when she had first arrived, but it appeared to be much larger. There was nobody around here, nobody to witness her, nobody that could potentially get caught in the crossfire. Good. The goddess welled her power and focused it into being, creating one of her swords and holding it by the 'hilt.' The sharp metal gleamed in the moonlight, slightly transparent but no less physical. She gave it a small swing, watching as a flurry of golden glyphs followed in its wake before fizzling out.
The Radiance was not a swordswoman, not by any stretch of the imagination. However, she had resided in the mind of a trained Vessel for a significant period of time, and she remembered its memories. The issue was that the memories of the training did not turn into muscle-memory, so she would need to practice if she wanted to use her swords effectively and not just as one of her normal attacks. She tossed the blade up into the air, watching as it twirled before gravity brought it back down to the earth… and stopped horizontally in front of her.
So she could control her blades with her mind alone as long as her focus wasn't interrupted, but she didn't know how many she would be able to use at once. She gave a small hum before dissipating the sword in a flurry of Essence. Turning to her left, she raised her left hand and summoned five smaller swords, sending them away from her like darts and watching as they buried themselves into the thick trunks of nearby trees. Her sword burst took little effort, and with a mental flick they disappeared. Next she crouched and rested her hand on the grassy soil, summoning about a hundred small spikes. They shot out of the ground and moved away from her for about forty feet before she began feeling the strain of using her power. Those disappeared and she stood again.
Ok, time for something… new.
One of her abilities had been a sword wall, where she would call a flurry of swords to block her opponent from reaching her. This would be similar.
Gathering Essence in her hands she sent about a dozen small orbs into the night sky, watching as they expanded into large versions of her usual golden glyphs. With a mental command and a downward motion of her hands they exploded into light, raining down dozens of swords. All of them exploded with bursts of Essence when they hit the ground, creating waves of force. The vegetation around her was destroyed and even the trees had branches knocked loose. Because of the swords' self-destructive nature there wasn't a constant increase of her power, but the initial 'cast' was substantial. If she changed their nature and they retained their form this would be much more difficult to maintain.
Over the course of a few hours she went through all of her abilities, sending out beams, bursts of beams, explosive orbs, and she even casted a wall of light. That last ability was probably the most consuming of all, and she discovered that with more focus she could warp the shape. She had managed to create a bubble around herself before it was too much, but she also discovered that she could create a disc that took much less focus to maintain. It was all very informative, and it helped her to understand her current capabilities. However, there was one downside…
When she was done she used her Dream Gate to teleport back to her apartment— using much less energy than before because of it— and almost immediately felt a wave of nausea wash over her. The Radiance retched and almost doubled over, feeling something well up in her throat. It was then when something came to mind, something she had read the day prior.
"Extended quirk usage can be dangerous to her health, as the substance she uses to create Essence is not compatible with her bodily functions and must be expelled if too much is created without being turned into the final product."
Was this what that meant? If she used her ability too much did she really get sick like this?
She barely made it to the bathroom before undertaking one of the most unpleasant experiences of her life. She recognized the substance immediately, as it sat glowing an eerie orange in her toilet. This was the telltale sign of her Infection. If she used her Quirk too much, she would have to expel this from her body… Wonderful…
She went to bed, and was forced to lay in her bed for nearly the entire day, making frequent trips to her bathroom as her body went through the process of expelling the godsforsaken orange substance that accumulated the previous night. She was so infinitely glad that she used her Dream Gate instead of teleporting naturally or this would have been so much worse. Unfortunately, though she was done expelling waste, the fever did not abate, and continued through the night until she fell asleep.
She awoke to the sensation of something cold and damp on her forehead and the smell of something being cooked in her kitchen. Who—
The door to her bedroom opened and a young woman walked into her room. The Radiance narrowed her eyes. She had never met this human before, but she had met this bug before.
"Syrra…" She said neutrally.
The young woman, Syrra, stood a few inches shorter than the goddess's human form and was dressed in a black dress shirt, pants, and a red vest. She had a mop of combed hair reached just below her ears that framed a soft face with wine-red eyes. Two red lines flowed from the corners of her eyes like tears, coming down in streams over her cheeks and down her neck, disappearing into her suit below. Syrra was one of the two Grimmsteed's that Grimm used to move his caravan around. She and her sister Syrro were twins, and she had only met the two on occasion. Syrra was also holding a tray of some kind of soup.
"Auntie," Syrra said flatly, if politely.
She sighed. "I'm not your aunt. We have no relation to each other.
The steed tilted her head before approaching her. "You're Master's sister, which means you're family to the Troupe." She helped her into a more upright position before placing the tray in her lap. "This soup should help with your fever, humans all around the world eat this when they get sick." The Radiance blinked before testing a spoonful. It wasn't bad.
"Did Grimm send you?" She asked.
"Yes. He noticed what you did in the park, and when you didn't leave your apartment for an entire day he sent me to take care of you until you get better."
"Mn. Sorry to inconvenience you, I'm sure you have your own duties to attend to." She took another spoonful.
"Not at all. Helping family is never an inconvenience."
"I'm not— tsk." She bit back a growl and just focused on eating her soup. Syrra watched her the entire time. "You don't have to watch me eat, you know."
"I was told to keep an eye on you while you got better, why wouldn't I watch you eat?" She was so serious when she said that too, that it was hard to tell if she was joking or not. Her dream didn't reveal anything either, and it was a bit too… red, for The Radiance to linger for too long.
This is going to be a nightmare…
She was bedridden for another day before she finally recovered. On the day that she was back to 100%, Syrra had disappeared like she was never there in the first place.
For the next few weeks "Myla Grimm" worked on improving her control with her Quirk and knowing the exact limits she could push before reaching a critical point. She found out what abilities she could reliably combine, and refined those until she could do two things at once without focusing too hard. She also worked on the time it would take to switch between abilities. She didn't come down with a fever like she had that one night, but she did sometimes get migraines, and she did have to expel a bit of orange waste one night. Luckily she didn't need to be cared for again; that was humiliating enough the first time.
She also worked on improving her physical form; going for runs and doing workouts that were described in the booklet Grimm had given her. It wasn't something she entirely enjoyed, but she couldn't deny the results, and each time she did the exercises they got easier the next time she did them. Her body had changed as well, becoming slightly firmer as muscle mass built beneath her skin.
When she wasn't working on improving her body and her Quirk she was working on improving her mind. Much of the material Grimm had given her was entirely ridiculous, but she reluctantly committed as much of it to memory as possible. Math was utterly ridiculous. Why was there a need for her to study and remember these equations? How would this help her to become a better hero? There were also more stupid laws and regulations, and a language called "English" that utilized a completely different set of characters and syntax than Japanese. This she was good at, as it would help her if she ever went overseas— she wouldn't even get started on how she reacted upon learning about the ocean— and the concepts were much easier to understand than math was.
Science was… Like math, but more interesting. She didn't really have much else to say about it. The remaining subjects were Heroics, Quirk History, and other minor things that weren't of much note.
This process went on for months, into the Fall and Winter, until eventually February came. And now here she was, standing outside a set of gates with the golden letters UA on the top of them. Beyond were the four massive towers that would hold her future. She wouldn't fail here, she wouldn't allow it. All around her, hopeful kids entered the gates to take the same entrance exam that she would in a mass of colorful clothing and bright faces.
There was one resounding dream that everybody shared, but one burned the brightest of all of them. His.
About a dozen feet in front of her was Izuku Midoriya, but something was different. His dream was the same, but somehow it burned nearly as bright as herself, taking her off guard. What had happened? And why did it feel like there were… more of him? He was a curiosity that she would keep an eye on. He had better get into the school, after sharing that dream with her. There was no way somebody with a dream this bright was allowed to fail…
Banishing the curiosities from her mind she took a step forwards.
It might not be worship like before, but this world will know my Light!
Chapter 3: The Entrance Exam
She hated it…
The written test was challenging, but there wasn't much that she didn't genuinely know or couldn't figure out. In that regard… In that regard…
Grimm had been useful…
The thought was almost enough to make her sick, but she saved herself the embarrassment of puking in front of hundreds of potential students and chose to ignore that fact for the time being. Grimm being useful… If she passed the exam then she'd have to… thank him… The goddess in disguise didn't know if she'd ever live that down, and if he made a big deal out of it she would downright refuse. Thanking Grimm… The thought revolted her, but again, she'd shelve that disaster-in-waiting until it actually happened. For now she had to focus.
'Myla Grimm' took in the large room she found herself in. Hordes of applicants streamed in from multiple entrances and took their seats, with her being somewhere in the middle next to a bespeckled boy who had the most focused look she had seen since coming here. Briefly she touched his mind with his, and the room suddenly grew more colorful. ASSURANCE. DETERMINATION. PRIDE. FUTURE. KIN. And she pulled back, mentally facepalming. It wasn't something she had considered initially, but when doing research she had discovered that there were people with psychic or mental-based quirks. What would happen if she invaded someone's mind and they responded? Would she be able to hide what she really was? Or would her presence alone be enough to overwhelm them?
Stupid Moth!
She couldn't go and invade the minds of everyone she came across! Back then… Back then she'd do it without hesitation, but back then all she had inside of her was hate, rage, and anger. She had to be better. She almost laughed. How low she'd fallen, that a goddess was being considerate of others' minds.
Suddenly the screen at the front of the room lit up and spotlights focused on a person near the bottom. "Hey Hey Hey UA Applicants! Thanks for tuning in to your school DJ, lemme hear ya scream!"
Complete and utter silence… Although there was a squeal from further up in the stands.
"Keepin' it mellow huh? I dig it! In that case we'll skip straight to the main show! Here's how the practical exam's gonna go down." The screen behind him changed, showing a large "you are here" sign with arrows leading to seven boxes labeled A through F. "You rocking boys and girls are gonna be conducting ten minute mock battles in super modern urban settings!" Looking down at her own card she saw that she would be in 'Battle Zone E' while the boy next to her was in 'B.' "Ok Ok let's check out your targets! There will be three faux villains in every battle center, you'll earn points based on their level of difficulty! But make sure you're keeping things heroic, because attacking other examinees is a big no-no, ya dig?" So they would be destroying machines? Nothing alive, but animated with the intention of harming them. A memory flickered behind her eyes, soulless automatons powered by Void and Soul guarding the White Palace. Machinations of the Pale Light himself, and viciously hostile. If these 'faux villains' were anything like those Kingsmoulds then she wouldn't hesitate or hold back.
As soon as the… interesting looking teacher finished talking, the boy next to her shot to his feet with an arm raised. "Excuse me, but I have a question!" Upon receiving permission he continued, lit up by a sudden spotlight. What is happening here? "On the application you've listed four types of villains, not three! With all due respect if this is an error on an official UA document it's utterly shameful!" What… "We are exemplary students. We expect nothing less than the best from Japan's most notable Hero School! A mistake like this is unacceptable!" She tilted her head, almost having to duck as he twisted his body and flung his arm around. Her hair whipped around as he nearly hit her.
"Additionally, you with the messy green hair!" She heard a small 'huh,' "you've been muttering this entire time! If you can't take this exam seriously then leave, you're distracting the rest of us." Without waiting for a counter or a response the boy whipped back around, with his arm down this time.
"Alright Alright, examinee 7111, thanks for calling in! The fourth villain type is worth zero points, and he's basically a big obstacle we've thrown in your way. It's not that it can't be beaten, but there's no point! So best just to avoid it!"
The boy next to her gave a low bow, "thank you very much, please continue!" And with his piece said he sat back down like nothing happened, completely oblivious to the Radiance's incredulous stare.
"That's all I have for you today listeners! Are you ready to go beyond? Let's hear a Plus Ultra!"
Complete and utter silence once again.
But it didn't last for long, and soon the potential heroes were all ushered out of the large room. Right outside of the building was a massive line of buses, all of them having a corresponding letter that would take them to their designated Battleground. It reminded her of the Pale Light's efforts to create an artificial transportation system. So did their exam cards work like the tram passes?
She ignored the crowd for the moment and made her way to the bus with a big 'E' on it. If she was right then, this would take her where she needed to go…
She really hoped she was right…
The potential students fluttered about, chatting, waiting, trying to settle their nerves. Some burned brighter than others, while a few were barely a flicker against her mind. There was nobody of note, other than a very large teen with eight arms and a mask covering his face. He stood out the most physically, but she wouldn't discount anybody. Nobody here was her friend, they were competition; obstacles that would hinder her performance. She would be wary of everybody until the test concluded, and would do her best to stay isolated. And with that thought, the gate opened. A second passed… Nobody was moving.
Seriously? Is nobody paying attention?
If nobody else took this seriously, then it made things exponentially easier. Focusing her power The Radiance disappeared into a flurry of glyphs and reappeared inside of the city. She barely had a second to take in her surroundings before her instincts screamed at her to move. She leaned back, watching as a metallic segmented tail flew over her face before summoning a blade. She twisted her body and lashed out with her new weapon, cutting off one of the 2-Pointer's front legs and causing it to topple. Before it could try to get its balance her sword lodged itself to its hilt in the central eye. The machine sparked before collapsing. Her sword flew back into her hand and she ducked again, bisecting a 1-Pointer that tried flanking her while she was distracted. The other examinees watched, stunned by the small performance.
"Are you all just gonna watch her clean house? GET A MOVE ON!" The teacher's voice finally spurred the crowd into action, and they all began sprinting towards the city. She was already gone.
From there it was a repetition process of using her swords, beams, or her explosive orbs to systematically dispatch the machines that tried attacking her. The 1-Pointers were fodder, there wasn't anything else she needed to consider. The 2-Pointers were dangerous by account of their tail, but they were slow and only had three 'legs.' The 3-Pointers were the most dangerous because of their ranged attack, and that they had considerable armor plating. The goddess raised a wall of light in front of her, grunting at the sudden and explosive impact of the 3-Pointer's missiles. Seconds later it launched another volley, cracking the wall in front of her and sending her back a few inches. She needed another strategy; sitting and doing nothing wouldn't get her anywhere. As more missiles were launched she leapt into the air, hovering and raising her arms. Two beams of essence blazed towards the 3-Pointer, detonating the missiles as they left their launchers. Internal explosions bracketed the robot until it exploded in a magnificent fireball. Taking a second she landed gently on a nearby rooftop and surveyed the city.
There were some examinees within eyesight doing fairly well. A pink-skinned girl slid around on some kind of substance while throwing globs of it at the machines. She couldn't see from this distance, but whatever it was destroyed them all the same. There was the multi-armed teen from before, a boy made entirely of some kind of metal, a girl with massive hands, and all sorts of interesting powers. At the moment she herself was somewhere in the 30's points-wise. Before she moved she also did a self-check, checking how close she was to reaching the "cap" of her powers. As it stood she was about halfway, and she wasn't paying attention to how much longer this test would go on for. Her mouth watered as an indication, and when she spit the liquid out it glowed orange. The faintly glowing sickly orange essence sat there, mocking her, reminding her of her past. She burnt it off of the rooftop with a small beam. Stupid, but worth the stress relief.
At that moment though everything shook, and she very nearly lost her balance. She looked around for anything, but… The building shook again, and this time cracks started forming on the roof. From below! The Radiance leapt into the air just as the building, and the surrounding few, all shook themselves apart. From the air she saw the entire city shake, confusing the examinees and making her own eyes widen. Roughly ten seconds after she took to the air, her building and the ones surrounding it all collapsed! The next minute was paradoxically calm until she could just barely make out a shape, and that's when the shaking resumed tenfold. Her eyes widened as an absolutely massive shape emerged from the dust, easily dwarfing the surrounding buildings. It's silhouette… It was the Zero-Pointer!
The gargantuan machine grabbed the side of a building and crushed it. Propelled by massive treads it began moving, causing a trail of destruction in its path. All around it the examinees ran away, some leaving to find more robots to destroy, but mostly just out of terror. They completely ignored those in need; their own survival instinct overwhelming their desire to become heroes. And then it made sense. This was to separate the weeds from the plants that could truly bloom. When faced with such a dire threat, one's true self came to the forefront. Raising her arms she erected a massive wall of light in front of the machine, stopping it in its tracks. Then its left, right, and rear. It halted, looking around as if thinking, and then it reared its fist back. The punch nearly knocked the wind out of her, and a sizable crack appeared in her wall. She'd have to act fast then!
In front of the Zero-Pointer she saw two people under a large piece of rubble, one holding it up and the other trying to crawl away. The Radiance disappeared and the next moment she was right next to them, causing the person crawling to let out a small scream.
Thud!
The ground shook as the monster hit her wall again, widening the crack. She suddenly felt feverish, and had to swallow down her essence unless she wanted to make a fool of herself. She turned to the one holding up the rubble, it was the girl with big hands from before. Now that she was closer, the girl had bright orange hair and teal eyes. She was covered in dust and bruiser but she didn't look too hurt. The girl on the ground however… A leg wasn't supposed to bend that way, was it?
"Hold on!" She said, palming the ground. Two large spikes shot from the ground, piercing the piece of rubble and holding it upright. "Get her and move!"
"Right!" Myla watched as the girl's big hands suddenly shrank before she ran and scooped the injured girl into her arms. A moment later her spikes disappeared and the piece of rubble came crashing down. "Thanks, another few minutes and we would've been toast!" Orange smiled at her. "The name's Kendo!"
"Myla," she said simply.
Thud!–Crack!
She winced as another large crack appeared in her wall, before another one sprouted out from the main one.
Kendo must've noticed her wince, "are you the one holding that thing back?"
She nodded, "not for much longer."
Thud!
She turned to look at the Zero-Pointer, "get her out of here. But if you can, there may be others in danger, get them out of its path."
"What– What are you gonna do?"
"Slow it down, hopefully destroy it. I figure that if it sees me as a big enough threat it might ignore everybody else!" She didn't wait for a reply before shooting off into the air. Moments after she did the Zero-Pointer punched her wall again.
Thud!–Crash!
And the sound of breaking glass filled the air as her wall shattered and broke apart. The pieces didn't last long before disappearing into flurries of her glyphs, and with the main wall gone she willed the other three to disappear. As much as she'd love to keep it contained, her walls would get weaker and weaker until she hit her limit. She scanned the city for the emptiest section before flying in that direction. As she did she launched a powerful beam of essence at it, scarring the metal and melting some of the plating. As she passed it she launched an orb, watching as it exploded violently against the machine's head, but only moving it slightly. But despite the lack of any major damage her attacks did the job, because as slow as it was she watched as it turned to face her and her alone. Eight red eyes met two blazing orange.
Just focus on me. Come on.
She couldn't go around saving every individual person, but she could occupy the machine's time and draw it away from the other applicants.
"That girl… she does know that fighting that robot isn't worth anything, doesn't she?"
"Could just be cocky. Confident enough in her score that she just wanted an extra challenge."
No. That's not it.
Shota Aizawa narrowed his eyes as he pulled up the girl's application.
Myla Grimm.
Quirk: Essence.
So far she had done well during the practical exam, racking up a rather impressive number of points. From what he had seen her quirk was incredibly powerful, but had some considerable drawbacks. It may have been hard to see to the untrained eye, but he noticed that as time went on she used her Quirk more sparingly. When she rescued the two applicants there was a tremor to her body. She was reaching her limit, and it looked like she knew that as well. So that begged the question; why go after the Zero-Pointer?
She suddenly dropped out of the air, dodging a sudden swing, and landing shakily on a nearby rooftop. The girl took a few precious seconds to cough before holding her out. A shimmering wall appeared in front of her, barely taking a punch from the Zero-Pointer before it vanished in those odd particles. She was breathing heavily now.
"Looks like she bit off more than she could chew. Picking the right battles is an important skill, and it looks like she has yet to master it." But that wasn't it…
"I don't think she picked this fight with the intention of winning it," the Principal added. "Look at where she is. An unoccupied portion of the city, and far away from the other applicants."
"She's distracting it! But doesn't that mean she's giving up opportunities to gain more points?"
"Does she know about the rescue points maybe?"
"Maybe she's just acting like a hero." He added, silencing the others. Besides, she obviously wouldn't enter this battle without some kind of plan.
I really should've made some kind of plan!
'Myla Grimm' leapt over a punch, using the metallic arm as a springboard and firing off another beam of essence. And once again it carved out chunks in the armor, but did little actual damage. She had to think! What could she do to kill this thing?! Could she even kill it? She dropped out of the air before catching herself, blinking away tears at the sudden rush of air that hit her. But now from her lower position, she saw something. The joints! Right at the armpit there was a lack of heavy plating, if she had a chance to hit that then it was finished. She just had to create an opening! Luckily for her, now was as good a time as any to test out her new attack. Gathering essence in her hands she threw out a dozen orbs, all of them stopping around the Zero-Pointer, and all of them turning into large glyphs. Concentrating, the world at large fell away, and then she brought her hands together.
All at once spikes launched themselves from the glyphs, hundreds of them and all without stopping. They exploded on impact, buffeting the machine and creating hundreds of craters and grooves in the armor. One of the spikes exploded on its face, taking out an eye and causing a small explosion. That was enough for the massive machine to bring up an arm in defense of its remaining eyes, and just so happened to provide the opening she was looking for. As fast as she could she flew under the thing's arm, gathering as much essence in her hands as possible, and firing the biggest beam she'd formed since her arrival in this world. Unlike before, this time the essence carved deep into the machinery and proceeded out the other side. Internal explosions wracked the joint and with a sudden blast the Zero-Pointer's right arm fell away, crushing a small building underneath. It was one less thing that that monster could hit her with, but there was something else much more important.
The new gaping hole wasn't protected! She could kill this thing!
As fast as she could and using as much of her power as she dared, the goddess flew to the new gaping weak spot. The swords dispersed, anything that she had formed in the past few minutes vanished. Every modicum of her power was going to her hover, and to the absolutely ridiculous amount of essence gathering on her hands. She let it build until it felt like she was holding one of her orbs, the light was almost blinding. To anyone watching it was as if another sun had just appeared above the faux battleground. Her eyes blazed golden, cracks began to line her arms as her power started to overflow. She couldn't stop now, even if it knocked her out, even if she was out of commission for a week, she would destroy this thing! Seven intact eyes moved to meet hers, the unfeeling red meeting her brilliant golden. The very air went still as she began thrusting her arms out—
"Tiiiiiime's Uuuup!" The Voice hero yelled, followed by a blaring horn.
The Radiance blinked in disbelief. The Zero-Pointer, as well as all of the remaining machines, assumed a neutral stance and began moving back to wherever they spawned from. Almost insultingly, the massive monstrosity turned its back on her and just… left. She didn't stop watching until it began lowering below ground on a giant lift.
"You're… Kidding…" She muttered, dispelling all of the wasted essence, watching it flutter uselessly to the ground like snowflakes, disappearing as they hit the ground. After all of that?! Leading it away, dodging its attacks, looking for weak spots, whittling it down, finding a genuine opening and an opportunity for a killshot. All of that effort. WASTED!
It was so unfulfilling, so anticlimactic! More than that it was embarrassing! She was a goddess! A Higher Being! How was she so flippantly denied her victory?! It was infuriating! Slowly she began lowering herself to the ground, ignoring the relentless throbbing in her arms in favor of fanning her hatred. And that as well! What did she have to show for her battle? Inevitable illness, sore limbs, and a throbbing headache! She vaguely heard the instructions on how to leave, and that they'd most likely get the results of their exam within a week. She ignored practically everybody else, not noticing the way they would step out of her way or look at her in slight unease. Nobody wanted to get in the way of the angry and disguised goddess, more for the fact that most applicants watched her blow the arm off of the Zero-Pointer. But it was more than that as well. Her eyes never lost their glow, and in fact they only glowed brighter in her anger. Golden cracks ran up her arms, petering out at her biceps, and also giving off an eerie glow. But most of all golden glyphs fluttered off of her at random, distorting the air and sizzling as they disappeared. As angry as she was, The Radiance ignored the results of her backlash; the visual representation of her true power versus the limit of her new body.
"Hey!" A voice snapped her out of her tunnel vision. The glyphs stopped forming. Slowly she came to a stop. It was the girl she had saved, the girl with the teal eyes and orange hair. Her anger faded, but only just.
"Yes?" She responded.
"I just wanted to thank you again, probably would've been in a lot more trouble if you hadn't showed up!" She laughed, rubbing the back of her head.
The glow in her eyes faded slightly. "It's what a hero would've done… Is the other girl ok?" She added.
"Yep! I think she's seeing Recovery Girl now." She… didn't know who that was.
Her eyes faded more, now back to her usual tangerine. Her anger faded too, now she was just tired. "Good. Kendo, right?" The other girl nodded her confirmation. "Are you ok yourself?"
"Oh yeah, no problems here! How about you? That was quite the show you put on, nearly did that thing in!" The pure positivity this girl exuded was sickening, it was like she was a small sun herself. Actually that wasn't it.
There were a lot of things she could've said in return. She could've revealed her anger at not being able to finish the fight. She could've given an honest response. She could've deflected the question and made an excuse to leave. Instead the answer was decided for her, because the moment she opened her mouth she doubled over and hurled.
"It's no problem, really!"
"You could be doing literally anything else other than helping me…"
"You helped me back there so it's the least I could do, really!"
"Tsk."
The humiliated goddess stumbled towards the door of her apartment, supported by one Itsuka Kendo who had her arm wrapped around her shoulder. The girl had escorted her all the way from UA to her new home, despite the multiple protests cast her orangette also hadn't stopped smiling for nearly the entire time, despite her less than pleasant attitude. If she didn't know any better The Radiance would assume that Kendo was faking this, or had some malicious intention. She didn't, of course. Simply at a glance—not even using her powers—she could tell that Kendo didn't have an evil bone in her body. That didn't make accepting her help any less humiliating though; she was supposed to be a goddess!
"Your quirk has a heck of a drawback, doesn't it?" she asked with a laugh.
"You… could say that, yes. The substance that forms and powers my abilities isn't compatible with the human body…" Or rather, the powers of an immortal goddess using a human as a medium wasn't conducive to pleasant results if attempted recklessly. Her bout with the Zero-Pointer was probably the definition.
"Quirks work in mysterious ways, don't they?" Or the meddling of a god of darkness… "In a way I'm lucky that my hands just get really big! No real drawbacks there, heh." The two stopped in front of the door to her apartment.
"You can leave now, I can handle myself from here," the Radiance mumbled.
"Are you sure? You're still pretty shaky, and you haven't really gained any color since the Entrance Exam."
"It's fine. Besides, one of his helpers is probably already on their way."
"His?" Kendo asked, tilting her head.
"Madam," another voice popped up.
The Radiance felt her eye twitch, "speak of the devil, and one of his little helpers won't be far behind…" She looked at the newcomer. Syrra again by the looks of it, standing with her hands folded in front of her and a blank face. "Syrra?" she asked.
"Syrro," the steed corrected simply, and now that she was looking at it the girl had her hair parted on the other side. She bowed, "it's a pleasure to see you again, Auntie."
A vein popped in her forehead. "I'm not your aunt… We have no blood relations…" She turned to Kendo who was watching with a confused face. "Like I said, his. I've taken too much of your time already, you can leave whenever you want."
"Ah… Are you sure?"
"I am more than capable of taking care of the madam without your help," Syrro added with a slight furrow to her brow. "If the madam doesn't want you here you should just leave."
"That's not what I meant, pipsqueak. Don't put words in my mouth." Her eyes flashed golden, and Syrro stood a little straighter at the tone of her voice.
"R-Right!"
She looked at Kendo, "I really do mean it when I'm alright from here, but thank you for the consideration nonetheless…"
"Of course, I'm happy to help anytime! Do you wanna exchange numbers? Maybe we can hang out sometime!"
No… Myla Grimm didn't need friends to complicate her life. They'd only slow her down in the future… "Sure, but I'm not great with this thing so you'll probably have to do it." She had already handed over her phone by the time her mind yelled at her to take it back. Kendo accepted it happily and soon she was walking away, waving with a grin large enough to outshine the sun. She stared at the new contact in her phone while Syrro waited patiently, ramrod straight from earlier. You stupid moth…
"Come on… Might as well get this over with. And quit being so tense, human bodies need to breathe or else they tend to die…" She slammed her door open, already on her way to collapse in her bed. Today had been tiring, and she figured at least for now, if she was sleeping she wasn't spending time being sick and getting comfortable staring into a toilet. She was out like a light by the time her face met her pillow.
"Why are both of you here?"
"The letter from UA! It came!"
"We came as soon as we saw it in your mailbox!"
The Radiance swore she was going to develop a permanent twitch in her eye. Both Syrra and Syrro were at her door with wide eyes and awed expressions, the former holding a letter with UA's logo stamped in red. And now that she thought about it, this was the most emotion she had seen out of them yet. Good to know they weren't talking shellwood. She snatched the letter out of Syrra's hand and moved to close the door, but both of them pulled it back open.
"No way!" Syrra shouted.
"We wanna see the results!" Syrro finished.
Twitch.
They really were twins weren't they? Finishing each other's sentences… "Tsk. Fine, but stay quiet or I'm sending you back to Grimm cooked well-done…"
Both of the grimmsteeds crowded around her when she sat down on her new very fluffy chair. She ripped open the letter and took out the small disc, the golden UA logo etched on the top with a small round… mirror in the middle? Both of the steeds titled their heads in opposite directions while she fiddled with it. There was a small button on the bottom so maybe…
Ping!
The shock of the sudden noise drew an undignified yelp out of the goddess and caused the twins to hide behind her chair, as if UA had sent some kind of bomb to her apartment. They peeked out from behind her chair and three sets of eyes watched as a small screen appeared out of nowhere. In the new… screen? Was a very tired man dressed in black with a long gray scarf wrapped around his neck.
"Do I really have to do this?" the man asked.
"Yes!" The somewhat familiar voice shouted out in the background, causing the man to sigh.
"Myla Grimm. You did fine on the written portion of the exam, slightly above average of what most people get and more than what was needed for the Hero Course, so there's not much to say about that." The man was professional when he spoke, though he did sound bored. Tired too, very tired. He pulled out some paper sheets before continuing, "when it came to the practical portion you scored second in combat points. During this portion you performed on your own and went out of your way to stay isolated when dealing with the faux villains. Even if heroes are sometimes required to work together this was more than acceptable for the situation you were in. While fighting you showed high levels of rational thought in regards to your power, and it's clear to us that you know where your strengths lie. Sixty combat points was more than enough to score a place in the Hero Course, so good job."
Her own eyes widened slightly, and there was a small skip in her heartbeat. The feeling was unfamiliar, and she couldn't quite place it. She also heard two identical gasps behind her and the feeling was squashed.
"But," the man said before anyone did anything else, "Hero work does not consist of solely combat. This is where Rescue Points come into play." The screen changed and showed a recording of her actions during the exam; including her containment of the Zero-Pointer, her helping Kendo and the girl, and her duel with the machine. "During the final phase of the exam you went out of your way to attack the Zero-Pointer while most others fled. Whether you did this with the intention of helping or not, the result was the same. You drew the faux-villain to an area with the least amount of examinees and distracted it until the end of the exam, giving others the opportunity to escape. You also went out of your way to save two other examinees when you could have focused on getting more points. The real job of a hero is to save people, even at the risk of their own lives, something many people forget about during this exam. In total your combat abilities and your heroic actions have gained you a total of One hundred and ten points, making you the highest scoring examinee."
She was first? A certain godly pride filled her chest. Of course she was, she would strive to be the best in anything she did. She wouldn't accept anything less, her pride wouldn't allow it.
"I expect to see you at the beginning of term, further details will be sent to you later in the week. Congratulations on making it into the UA Hero Academy Hero Course. But even if you did get the number one spot, don't even think about slacking off. The real work starts now, and pure talent won't be enough to carry you all the way to the top. So give it your all, Plus Ultra Style…"
"Great job Aizawa! Only thirty letters left to go!"
"You're kidding…" And with that odd ending the magical screen vanished into thin air.
A second went by, then two, and then she was almost forced to cover her ears at the sound of the excited squealing from directly behind her. Both steeds tackled her from either side, wrapping their arms around her.
"You did it!"
"You were so cool Auntie!"
"Congratulations Auntie!"
"I AM NOT YOUR AUNTIE!"