The gates slammed open.
Izuku moved. Not the fastest off the line—that honor belonged to the guys who clearly trained for sprinting—but fast enough. His feet pounded against the pavement as he surged through the entrance, letting the flow of bodies carry him forward while he took in his surroundings.
Concrete streets stretched between tall artificial buildings. Fire escapes zigzagged up walls. Broken windows gaped like empty eye sockets. Narrow alleys branched off in every direction. Urban combat terrain designed for chaos.
Applicants scattered in every direction. Some charged ahead with confidence, already shouting battle cries. Others hesitated at intersections, trying to decide where to go, what to do, how to survive.
In the distance, an explosion echoed.
Then another.
Metal crashed against concrete.
Somewhere deeper in the city, the exam had already begun.
Izuku slowed slightly as he reached the first intersection, scanning left, right, above. Old habits from construction work—always check your surroundings before committing.
A grinding noise to his left.
He turned.
A robot rounded the corner. One-pointer. Small frame, jerky movements, glowing red sensor sweeping back and forth. Thin armor plates around the neck where the head met the torso.
Izuku watched it for half a second.
Pattern recognized.
The robot's sensor locked onto him. It lunged.
Izuku stepped forward. A quick burst of 5% Full Cowling—just enough to close the distance faster than expected. His fist drove into the joint between neck and torso, right where the armor gaped.
Metal caved inward.
Sparks erupted.
The robot collapsed instantly, limbs twitching once before going still.
A blue screen flickered in his peripheral vision. Too fast to read, but he didn't need to.
First one down. Bronze probably. Check later.
A few other applicants glanced his way as they ran past. Some looked surprised he'd taken it down so fast. Others were too focused on their own exams to notice. Izuku ignored them all and stepped over the wreckage, keeping moving.
The city swallowed him whole.
Streets twisted and turned. Buildings rose on all sides, blocking out the sun in places. The sounds of combat echoed from everywhere at once—explosions, crashing metal, shouting, screaming.
Izuku settled into a rhythm.
A one-pointer lunged from an alley. He sidestepped, drove two fingers into its optical sensor, kept walking as it crumpled.
A two-pointer charged down the street. He waited until the last moment, stepped aside, let it crash into a wall. Then struck the hydraulic line behind its knee. The machine collapsed with a shriek of grinding metal.
Another blue screen flickered.
He ignored it.
Movement became fluid. Precise and no wasted energy, no flashy moves. Just clean strikes to weak points and constant forward momentum.
Nearby, other examinees fought their own battles.
Eijiro Kirishima hardened his arms and smashed straight through a robot's chest. The thing exploded in a shower of sparks. Kirishima grinned, already looking for the next target, his teeth gleaming through the dust.
Across the street, Kyoka Jiro plugged her earphone jacks into a robot's exposed panel and short-circuited its systems. The machine sparked and froze mid-swing. She yanked her jacks out and moved on without looking back, already scanning for the next target.
A loud crack of electricity exploded somewhere behind him. Denki Kaminari fried two robots at once, the blast lighting up the whole intersection. Then he stumbled, slightly fried himself, and shook his head like he was trying to clear static. His hair was standing straight up.
Izuku passed a guy with electric blue hair who was desperately trying to reboot his phone. Not the time, buddy. Another applicant had some kind of hardening quirk and was just headbutting robots. Effective, but Izuku winced every time. That had to hurt eventually.
He ducked under another swinging arm.
Bent backward farther than any normal human should be able to—spine curving, center of gravity shifting—then snapped forward and jabbed two fingers into an optical sensor.
The robot went limp.
Training's paying off.
Still no sign of Ochaco Uraraka.
Hope she's doing alright.
He turned a corner and stopped.
A three-pointer stood in the center of the street.
Larger frame. Thicker armor. Heavy limbs built for crushing, not speed. Its sensor swept slowly across the area, tracking movement.
Other applicants kept their distance. Too risky. They circled around through alleys, leaving the big one for someone else.
Izuku studied it quietly.
Hydraulics behind the knees. Sensors clustered around the head. Arm rotation slow—easy to read, easy to predict.
Same design flaws. Just bigger.
He moved.
Five percent Full Cowling propelled him forward. The robot tracked him instantly, arm swinging in a wide arc—
Izuku slid under it.
Came up on the other side and drove two quick strikes into the knee joint. Metal cracked. The robot staggered, weight shifting as hydraulics squealed.
Izuku leapt upward, grabbed the shoulder plating, and used the momentum to swing himself behind its head. One precise strike into the exposed neck seam.
The robot collapsed in a heap.
He landed lightly on the other side, rolling once to absorb the impact.
Two screens flickered this time. One after the other.
The screens lingered a moment longer than before. Three bronze tickets waiting for him. He made a mental note to check exactly how many he had later. The system had been quieter lately—no new feats in training, just the same old routines from beach cleanup and All Might's workouts. Today was the first real action in months.
Izuku wiped sweat from his brow.
That's three. Bronze for each type. Not bad.
He moved on.
Robot activity slowed.
Not stopped—just a lull. The kind that made your instincts prickle, that told you something was coming.
Izuku slipped into a narrow alley, pressing his back against the wall. Took the moment to breathe.
Body check.
Muscles warm. No injuries. One For All humming steadily at 5%. He'd pushed a few times but always stayed within limits. Smart training paid off.
One week with this power. Five percent already feels natural. Good thing I didn't listen to All Might about going all out right away.
From the alley entrance, he watched the chaos continue.
Students sprinted past. Robots chased them. Metal exploded in the distance.
Tenya Iida rocketed past the alley entrance at full speed, engines roaring from his calves, arms chopping the air even as he ran. He was moving faster than anyone Izuku had seen so far.
Somewhere in the distance, someone shouted in victory. Another shout cut off with a crash.
Then—
The ground trembled.
A deeper vibration. Not like the smaller robots. This was something else entirely.
Izuku frowned.
The shaking intensified.
Buildings rattled. Windows shattered, glass raining down into the streets.
A massive shadow stretched across the street, blocking out the sun.
That's either another three-pointer...
It rose from behind the structures like a waking giant.
Or the big one.
The Zero Pointer.
It towered above everything—above buildings, above streets, above the tiny figures of examinees frozen in its path. Each step crushed asphalt like it was nothing. Concrete walls crumbled beneath its feet. Streetlights snapped like twigs.
The sheer size of it froze the battlefield.
Students screamed. Students ran. Some simply stood there, staring up at the monster, completely paralyzed by fear.
Izuku watched from the alley.
Then he saw her.
Ochaco Uraraka stood in the middle of the street ahead.
Frozen.
Eyes locked on the giant machine bearing down on her. Her mouth was open, but no sound came out. Her hands were clenched at her sides, trembling.
She wasn't moving.
The Zero Pointer lifted its foot.
Right above her.
Izuku moved.
He burst from the alley at 5%.
Then pushed harder.
6%.
His body surged forward. Debris blurred past. Students scattered out of his way.
The Zero Pointer's shadow swallowed the street, darkness falling over everything.
He reached her just as the foot began descending.
Grabbed her around the waist.
One final burst—
7%.
They launched sideways.
The robot's foot slammed into the street behind them. Concrete exploded upward. Chunks of debris rained down, one the size of a car bouncing past them.
They tumbled across the pavement and crashed against a collapsed wall.
Dust filled the air. Thick. Choking.
Uraraka trembled in his arms. Shaking uncontrollably. Eyes wide. Mouth open but no sound coming out.
"I—you—that thing—"
Izuku checked her quickly. Arms. Legs. Head. No blood. No obvious breaks.
"You hurt? Can you move?"
She shook her head. Still stunned. Still processing.
"Breathe," he said. "You're okay."
She took a shaky breath. Then another.
The Zero Pointer turned again, hydraulics groaning as its massive frame shifted.
Ahead of it—a group of examinees huddled against a building. Frozen. Staring up at the monster bearing down on them.
If that thing stepped forward again...
They were dead.
Izuku turned to Uraraka.
"Get behind something solid. Don't move until I come back."
She grabbed his arm. "What are you doing?!"
"Buying them time."
He pulled free.
Ran straight toward the monster.
5%.
Then pushed again.
6%.
His muscles strained. Burned. But held.
He leapt onto falling debris. Used broken balconies as stepping stones. Grabbed a fire escape and swung himself higher.
The Zero Pointer didn't notice him. Too big. Too focused on its path of destruction.
He landed on its arm. Ran upward toward the neck.
His fingers found handholds in the robot's armor plating. The metal was warm from internal systems, almost hot in places. He ignored the heat and kept climbing.
Anime knowledge. These things had a central processor near the neck. Disable that and the whole system shut down.
He found it.
A maintenance panel, slightly ajar from the chaos of the exam. Wires exposed. Sparks flickering from loose connections.
He jammed his arm inside.
Channelled 7% strength.
And ripped the wiring harness free.
Sparks exploded in his face. The robot froze. Lights flickered wildly. Hydraulics ground to a halt with a sound like screaming metal.
For one long moment, nothing happened.
Then the entire system shut down.
The massive body locked. Balance lost.
The Zero Pointer collapsed.
Izuku jumped clear. Rolled across a rooftop. Came up hard against an air conditioning unit, the breath knocked out of him.
The robot crashed to the ground like a collapsing skyscraper.
Dust erupted into the sky, blotting out everything.
Far away—inside the observation room—teachers leaned forward in their seats.
A slim and sexy woman with raven-black hair stared at the screen. "Who is that boy?"
A man with bandages wrapped around his neck shrugged. "Not on any radar I saw."
Among them, a skeletal man in baggy clothes watched silently. His eyes never left the screen.
A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
That's my boy.
Before the dust even settled—
The buzzer sounded.
BWWAAAHHH
"EXAM COMPLETE. ALL APPLICANTS REPORT TO EXITS."
Izuku lay on the rooftop for a moment.
Chest rising and falling. Body aching. Limbs heavy.
But nothing broken.
Good.
He pushed himself up slowly.
The adrenaline began to fade. Exhaustion took its place, settling into his bones like lead.
Students gathered around the fallen Zero Pointer.
Some stared in disbelief. Others cheered. A few were crying—relief, probably, or just the crash after so much fear.
Whispers spread through the crowd.
"Who did that?"
"Some guy climbed it—"
"I saw him, he just—"
Uraraka ran through the crowd toward him.
She crashed into him, grabbing his arms, checking him over frantically.
"You're insane! That thing was—and you just—" She checked him again, turning his arms over, looking for damage. "How are you not broken?!"
"I'm fine," he said. "Just tired."
She stared at him. Then at the giant robot. Then back at him.
Her eyes were wet.
"You... you saved everyone. You saved me."
Izuku shrugged slightly. "Someone had to."
She stared for another long second.
Then she burst out laughing. Hysterical. Relieved. Amazed.
"You're ridiculous," she said. "You know that?"
He almost smiled.
"Let's go."
They walked toward the exit gates.
The crowd slowly dispersed around them. Applicants streamed past—some laughing, some crying, some just walking in dazed silence.
Uraraka stayed close. Kept glancing at him when she thought he wasn't looking.
Izuku finally opened the system screens.
One after another, they flickered into view.
[ FEAT ACHIEVED: FIRST 1-POINTER DESTROYED ]
[ +1 BRONZE GACHA TICKET ]
[ FEAT ACHIEVED: FIRST 2-POINTER DESTROYED ]
[ +1 BRONZE GACHA TICKET ]
[ FEAT ACHIEVED: FIRST 3-POINTER DESTROYED ]
[ +1 BRONZE GACHA TICKET ]
The screens lingered. Three bronze tickets. Good haul for a first exam.
Then the final screen appeared.
[ FEAT ACHIEVED: ZERO-POINTER NEUTRALIZED ]
[ HEROIC ACTION DETECTED: MULTIPLE EXAMINEES SAVED ]
[ REWARD TIER: GOLD ]
[ +1 GOLD GACHA TICKET ]
[ REWARD PROCESSING... ]
Izuku scanned the results.
Three bronze. One gold.
Solid haul.
The screens faded.
He'd roll them later. Tonight, after everything settled. After he got home and let the exhaustion fully hit.
For now—
He walked toward the gates beside Uraraka.
Dust slowly cleared behind them, sunlight breaking through.
Not bad for a first exam.
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Author's Notes:
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15 CHAPTERS ADVANCE OF STARTING WITH BLACK CLOVER
5 CHAPTERS ADVANCE OF MHA: LIMITED CHAOS GACHA
NOTE: HAHA Izuku enters his first fight, how did you like the small glimpse of his power? how was the fight scenes? sometimes when I'm writing him I feel like he spends too much time in his thoughts than talking to people hmm. But anyway your feedback would be amazing and so would your support be.