"This isn't a joke! You have to run! You need to find a way to score while escaping!"
That desperate shout belonged to Midoriya Izuku, who was currently being chased by the colossal zero-point robot.
Since the sludge incident a year ago, Midoriya Izuku had undergone one full year of All Might's hellish training. The result was a body with clearly defined muscle lines and a heart that had grown noticeably firmer. The timid, cowardly Izuku of the past was gone—standing in this exam arena now was a completely new Midoriya Izuku.
Not only that—just this very morning, Izuku had officially inherited All Might's Quirk: [One For All], stepping onto the path toward becoming the next "Symbol of Peace."
But none of that seemed to solve the problem in front of him.
Because he had entered the test zone later than the others—and because remnants of his old hesitation still lingered—by the time Izuku tried to earn points, most of the surrounding robots had already been destroyed.
And just as panic began to rise—
The giant robot appeared.
"Everything All Might gave me… will go to waste!" Izuku thought despairingly, tears welling in his eyes.
"It hurts…" A weak cry came from behind him.
Izuku turned around.
A girl with a delicate face was trapped beneath a pile of rubble. Looming just behind her were the massive metal feet of the robot.
His pupils shrank violently.
His body moved before his mind could react—just like it had a year ago.
Izuku took a deep breath, forcing his heart to steady.
His legs bent slightly. Green lightning surged across his body as he exploded forward. The reinforced concrete beneath his feet shattered under the recoil as Izuku launched himself into the air, straight toward the giant robot.
"Tighten your core… and shout with your heart!"
Drawing in a breath, Izuku raised his right arm.
"SMASH!!!"
A terrifying shockwave burst outward as his fist swung down. The wind pressure slammed into the robot's head, cracking its shell apart in a cascade of explosions. In the next instant, the massive machine collapsed into the ruins, completely destroyed.
"Whoa…" Izuku murmured midair, staring at the devastation he had caused.
Then reality caught up.
"AHHHHH—! I'm falling!!!"
The scenery spun violently as gravity reclaimed him. His limbs refused to respond.
"Am I seriously about to become the first One For All successor to die from falling?!" Despair flooded Izuku's mind as the ground rushed closer.
Smack.
A small palm struck Izuku's face hard.
"Huh—?"
Before he could understand what had happened, his body abruptly stopped in midair—then slammed into the ground.
Pain surged through him.
And everything went dark.
The camera now returns to our protagonist—Igarashi Masata.
Standing at the edge of a rooftop, Masata stretched lazily. His dark, tousled hair fluttered in the wind, sunlight filtering through it and casting sharp shadows across his handsome face.
"This should be the protagonist's moment, right?" Masata muttered as he looked down at the students fleeing from the robot.
With a casual motion, he tossed aside his coat, revealing a black vest stretched tightly over a powerful frame. Thick muscles bulged beneath the fabric, his abs clearly defined even through the vest.
Using a body far beyond normal human limits, Masata sprinted across the rooftops and quickly closed the distance to the giant robot.
"This should be close enough."
He extended his right arm.
"Hah!"
A massive surge of magma burst forth—but unlike Big Spitfire, it didn't form a giant lava fist. Instead, an invisible force compressed the magma back into his arm.
Though it lacked flashy visuals, the intense heat radiating from Masata's glowing red arm—and the sweat forming on his forehead—made it clear this move was anything but weak.
"So this is my limit when suppressing it…" Masata thought."But heat is just the appetizer."
"The real show starts now."
With a powerful kick, Masata shot forward like a diving hawk.
"Minggou!!!"
With a thunderous roar and violent wind pressure, his right arm punched straight through the robot's armor as if it were paper. The extreme heat and kinetic force pierced deep into its core.
"Hah!"
The magma that had been forcibly compressed moments earlier now erupted freely—like a volcano unleashing centuries of fury.
Scalding magma flooded the robot's interior, melting circuits and internal components instantly. The alloy parts—never meant to withstand such heat—collapsed like wax.
The robot convulsed violently.
Masata kicked off and leapt away.
BOOM! BOOM!
Two explosions rang out as the towering robot detonated in flames. Even the scattered fragments continued to melt under the lingering magma, corroded like flesh eaten by poison.
Masata slammed into the ground, creating a massive crater in the concrete.
The examinees who had fled earlier stopped in stunned silence.
One punch.A skyscraper-sized robot.Gone.
"Th-that's insane… I thought his Quirk was physical enhancement!"
"Oh my god, that was way too cool!"
"I don't even know your name, but I swear—Kirishima Eijiro will remember you forever!"
Even Bakugo Katsuki, who already knew Masata's Quirk, clicked his tongue angrily.
"…Tch."
That power wasn't something he could compete with yet.
Masata rose from the crater, feeling countless gazes filled with shock and admiration. He threw back his head and laughed boldly, radiating confidence.
"Hahahaha! Relax, everyone—your uncle's got you covered!"
"How did the exam go?"
That evening, Yaoyorozu Momo asked curiously as she walked alongside Masata.
"The exam?" Masata chuckled. "I think it went pretty well. Honestly, the difficulty wasn't that high."
Then he grinned.
"But U.A. really is rich as hell."
Their laughter echoed as the two figures disappeared into the glow of the setting sun.