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[Entrance Exam 2]
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…
In a dark room, several figures sat before a row of faintly lit monitors, each displaying young boys and girls fighting desperately against robots.
"This year's examinees are really promising," Cementoss said, rubbing his barely prominent chin with interest as the students on-screen showcased a wide variety of Quirks—many of them powerful, or at least highly versatile.
"Yeah, but if we're talking about promising, a few of them are shining a lot brighter than the rest," Ectoplasm muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.
The others nodded in agreement.
Indeed, some examinees stood out far more than others.
On one monitor, a blond student rampaged through the battlefield, violent explosions erupting from his hands as he demolished robots with brutal efficiency. It wasn't just the raw power of his blasts—his control was exceptional. He used his explosions as propulsion, launching himself across the battlefield, twisting midair to dodge attacks while maintaining relentless momentum, speeding up his collection of points massively.
His name: Katsuki Bakugo.
"He already got to first place even though we are not even halfway through the exam. At the rate he is gathering points, no one will be able to take that place from him." Vlad King commented, sweatdropping as he glanced at the charts and watched the student's score climb at an astonishing pace.
"Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Nezu said suddenly from the back of the room, prompting several raised eyebrows.
He believed someone would score more than this?
Judging by the principal's enigmatic tone, though, it seemed they only needed to keep watching to understand.
Soon, more examinees began to draw attention.
A boy whose skin hardened like stone, tearing through robots while assisting nearby examinees whenever he could—Eijiro Kirishima.
A girl who, upon touching robots, rendered them weightless before sending them crashing back down like meteors—Ochako Uraraka.
The younger brother of the hero Ingenium, dashing through the battlefield with terrifying speed and precision—Tenya Iida.
Many promising prospects filled the teachers' screens as they continued their evaluations.
Still, none had yet matched Katsuki Bakugo, who—despite having earned not a single rescue point—remained firmly at the top through sheer destruction efficiency alone.
And so it continued… until the four-minute mark.
Up until then, nothing had seemed out of the ordinary.
But then—
Something strange happened.
On the rankings display, where the top ten examinees' names were listed, a single name suddenly appeared from nowhere.
It passed 10th place.
Then 9th.
Then 8th.
It skipped straight past 6th.
Then 5th.
And it kept climbing at an absurd speed.
"What the hell is happening? Did we get hacked?" Snipe asked, disbelief clear in his voice.
The rate at which the ranking was changing was far too abnormal. It almost looked artificial.
Nezu, however, merely snickered.
"I'd say it's only fitting."
The teachers stared at him in disbelief.
"I've found him," Eraser Head—or rather, Aizawa Shota's voice suddenly cut in.
Everyone immediately turned, searching for the monitor displaying the mysterious examinee.
And when they found it—
"W-why is he standing atop a building…?"
They couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Instead of a hyper-aggressive prodigy rushing through the battlefield and destroying robots left and right, the monitor showed something far stranger.
A black-haired youth stood calmly at the edge of a building, arms crossed as he observed the battlefield from above. His long coat fluttered behind him in the wind, hair swaying as he remained perfectly still, framed against the sky.
It looked undeniably cool.
But it explained absolutely nothing. How the heck was he getting so many points?
"H-hold on… what's happening in Battle Center G?" Sniper suddenly asked, noticing something odd on another monitor.
The teachers' eyes shifted—and widened.
Across the battlefield, robots were barely being engaged at all.
Instead, dozens of them were rising into the air, suspended helplessly, unable to resist an unseen force. An eerie, crimson aura wrapped around their metallic bodies as they floated upward like puppets on invisible strings.
"It seems to be limited to the central area of the stage," Aizawa noted, eyes narrowing. Then his gaze flicked to the idle examinee on the other screen. "…And it all appears to be centered on that kid."
"What's his Quirk?" Vlad King asked urgently.
They immediately began pulling up his data.
Midnight was the first to find it. "Takahashi Fukumoto. Quirk: Muscle to Mind. It allows the user to convert physical force into telekinetic power…"
"That doesn't add up," Cementoss muttered. "Even if the robots are made of lighter materials, that's still two or three tons he's lifting."
As if responding to the comment, the youth suddenly stepped forward—and jumped.
He dropped straight off the building.
Then, a moment later, he landed below in a textbook superhero landing, the concrete beneath him cracking outward as it shattered.
Yet, despite the impact, he stood completely unharmed.
"…The description seems a bit incomplete..." Midnight added, sweatdropping. "It probably includes superhuman physical strength as well, which makes his telekinetic power equally as superhuman."
"Was he the one you were referring to earlier, Principal?" Vlad King asked, glancing at Nezu in disbelief.
Nezu only smirked. "Perhaps. We'll see. He still hasn't reached first place yet—and there are six minutes remaining."
The teachers turned their attention back to the monitors.
After landing, Taka raised one hand—and then brought it down in a sharp, decisive motion.
Instantly, every robot suspended in the air plummeted downward, crashing violently into the ground. Not a single one survived the impact.
Without wasting a second, his figure blurred as he kicked off the ground and shot forward, hunting for his next targets.
Any robot that came even remotely close to him was obliterated in an instant. And at the speed he was moving, his point count began climbing rapidly.
Faster than Bakugo's.
"…Yeah," Vlad King muttered wryly. "At this rate, he'll take first place before long."
Suddenly, Nezu stepped forward and lightly tapped Vlad King on the shoulder.
"We don't know that yet, do we?"
A concealed panel slid open, revealing a massive red button.
"It's often during the most critical moment of an exam that examinees truly show what they're made of," Nezu continued pleasantly. "Perhaps Bakugo-kun will give us a spectacular comeback… or perhaps he'll be fullyovertaken."
With that, Nezu pressed the button.
…
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| Taka's POV: |
…
Too easy. Way too damn easy.
I definitely went overboard with my preparations—at least for these early stages of the show.
Even though I'm sparing the other participants a few robots so I'm not being a complete dick, I'm still wrecking most of the ones around here.
How many points have I racked up already? Sixty-two?
No, that'd only be the case if I'd destroyed nothing but one-point robots. I'm pretty sure I've taken down a good number of two- and three-pointers as well.
Honestly, I barely had time to register each robot before turning it into scrap, so I didn't even see how many points they were worth. I'm just estimating based on how many I've destroyed.
I'm probably nearing first place by now. If I'm not there already.
Normally, if there had been anyone from 1-A here who wasn't Mineta, I'd have slowed down about now. No point in accidentally robbing them of points and risking some random getting into the class instead.
But since this Battle Center seems to consist of that guy, Mineta, and a bunch of randoms, I don't have any reason to hold back.
I was going to use every robot in this place to score the highest of today, of this decade, or of this damn century.
Was this school even a century old?
No matter.
'Let's do this.'
My eyes narrowed as I began accelerating.
I wasn't flying—I didn't want to look too much like Rockinesis. Honestly, the telekinesis alone was already a pretty big giveaway.
Which, admittedly, made me grateful Nezu had stepped in and forced me to retire that identity. Otherwise, I would've ended up revealing a lot more of my abilities over these past three months. I just couldn't resist showing off.
But now that my vigilante days were over, I had plenty of powers I could use without linking them to my delinquent self.
Of course, there was still the issue of showing too many seemingly unlinked abilities to my supposed Quirk… that alone would link me to Rockinesis, who showed a similar level of randomness.
'I'll just have to sneak them in as subtly as possible.'
With a sigh, I slowed down and surveyed my surroundings.
Behind me, dozens of robots lay completely destroyed.
Still, this was far from enough.
I was planning on setting a whole new record.
'Now then… which direction still has robots left?'
I tried to recall which sections of the mock city I hadn't cleared yet.
That's when—
—RUMBLE—
The ground shook.
For a moment, I was confused. Too focused on searching for robots, so it startled me a bit.
But soon, it clicked.
"Hmm? Oh, right. Almost forgot this thing existed for a second," I snorted, turning my gaze toward the massive figure rising nearly a mile away.
The Zero Pointer.
Honestly, between point farming and aura farming for the teachers watching us, it had completely slipped my mind.
But not anymore. Seeing that giant, titanic, and terrifying figure in the distance, my mouth became watery.
The biggest moment for Aura Farming in this exam has come.
And I'm not wasting it.
Smirking, I turned and started running toward it.
I'd like to walk toward it calmly and epically, but with it being a mile away, the exam would be over by the time I arrived. So I had to sacrifice a few cool points just to make it there in time.
At my current speed, it didn't take long to reach the area where it was wreaking havoc.
Many participants were fleeing in groups or hiding from its scanners while desperately searching for any remaining robots. However, none of them was actually facing it.
Which was good.
Otherwise, who knew if my robot-monopoly ended up causing one of these guys to think of something desperate and steal my spotlight?
'Not happening.' I thought, finally slowing my running to a walk as I got close enough to focus back on looking cool.
As I strode calmly towards the metal behemoth, one examinee after another ran past me, throwing perplexed looks my way when they realized I was heading toward it instead of away.
Soon, I even crossed paths with an entire retreating crowd of panicked examinees.
When they saw me approaching, they parted instinctively, making way.
I smirked at the sight but didn't slow my pace in the slightest.
Before long, I was close enough. A few examinees were still nearby—some frantically searching for other robots, others hiding or trapped beneath collapsed buildings left behind by the giant robot's rampage.
All of them realized I was there the moment I stopped walking.
Including… the Zero Pointer.
Its many red eyes locked onto me, glowing like a hunter that had just spotted its prey.
Murmurs of disbelief rippled through the nearby examinees, who stared at me as if I were insane for facing it head-on.
But this is what an aura farmer does.
—Rumble—
The air around stirred, and the horrifying sound of metal screeching against itself filled the air as the giant mass of metal began descending, ready to smash me into smitherens.
But all I did was close my eyes and smirk faintly.
Then—I raised my hand.
—Screeeech!—
The Zero Pointer's metal plates and components groaned as their momentum slammed into an invisible force, stopping the punch dead in midair.
The resulting shockwave tore through the air, slamming into the ground and sending my coat whipping violently behind me.
Violently—but epically.
"Hmph."
I opened my eyes again, still smirking.
Then—
—Swoooosh!—
I flicked my hand aside, forcing the Zero Pointer's arm away.
With its guard wide open, I moved.
-BAM!-
My figure blurred like a shooting star. In an instant, I slammed into its chest, warping the metal inward as smoke burst free.
I kicked off immediately, rebounding toward a nearby building, and using it as a foothold to launch myself back again.
Another strike—this time to its arm.
Then again, landing along its side.
Again.
And again.
And again.
I ricocheted around the battlefield, striking from every angle while the Zero Pointer stood helplessly, absorbing blow after blow.
-Thud!-
"Fuuuh~"
When I finally landed back on the ground, ending my assault, the Zero Pointer was pitifully deformed from the sheer number of impacts. Morphing from a machine of pure destruction into a bullied little kid.
Yet, as it recovered from my onslaught, it still moved, still trying to attack me.
"Foolishness, zero pointer, foolishness."
... Of course, that was only because I was allowing it to.
As I was now, a single strike would've been enough.
But that would have made everything too short. And where was the fun in that?
Snorting, I turned my back on it.
Moments later, I felt the air pressure of one of its massive hands swinging toward me.
But before it could reach—
"Begone."
I raised my palm—and clenched it.
—BOOOOOOOOOM!!!—
In an instant, the Zero Pointer's head compressed like a crumpled paper ball and exploded, unleashing a massive shockwave that sent my hair and coat whipping forward as it struck my back.
And as all of that happened—
I walked away without looking back.
Because walking away from explosions without turning around... is always cool.
….
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-To be Continued…-
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(A/N: How was all the aura farming? Decided to add a few style points by banging on the zero pointer before deciding to destroy it for good.
Anyway, see you next chapter, I'm going to sleep now.)