Black_Paladyn
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MHA Paragon Rewrite 6
🕑 Added 2024-12-24 21:30:27 +0000 UTCMy fist shot forward, encased in liquid flux, as I punched the Villainbot square in its face plate. But when my fist made contact with the heavy metal plate, the liquid flux surrounding my arm instantly hardened into a solid, forming an armored gauntlet covered in a hexagonal lattice. There was another oddity as well: despite the momentum behind my punch, there wasn't so much as a whisper as my fist slammed into solid metal. Anyone observing would have assumed that I stopped my punch just before I made contact, but it was the exact opposite.
A grin stretched across my lips as a delayed and muted bang rang through the air as the Villianbot unraveled in the face of my punch. Its metal chassis was pulverized into countless fragments, sent flying in every direction while its internal circuits and wires were torn to shreds. I dropped back to the ground, resuming my earlier evasive maneuvers as the remaining villainous continued to waste their ammo trying to clip me.
As bullets rained down all around me, my heart pounded with excitement. The image of the One-Pointer exploding with a single punch played repeatedly in my mind: 'I can't believe that worked!' Glancing down at my right arm, I watched as the gauntlet quickly lost its cohesion and reverted into an amorphous blob.
While the blob may have looked unrefined, it was the exact opposite. The flux coating my arm was a non-Newtonian fluid, meaning that it existed as a liquid when undisturbed, but the moment a physical force was exerted upon it, the flux turned into a solid.
I took this property to the extreme by suspending a crystal lattice inside the fluid, allowing the shift between states of matter to happen instantaneously. When the flux shifted to its solid state, it was utterly impact-resistant, so when it collided with another body, there wasn't an equal and opposite reaction.
All the force was channeled into whatever I hit, which is why my punches didn't make a sound; there was no energy to make the air vibrate and produce a sound wave. The only sound would come from the energy left over after whatever I punched absorbed the brunt of the impact.
Now, this alone didn't make my punches dangerous; even when perfectly transferred, the force I could generate was that of a normal eighteen-year-old without any proper martial arts training. Nowhere close enough to shatter metal like glass. But the force I could generate when traveling roughly twenty meters a second or roughly 45 mph was a different story.
Now firmly amid the Villainbots, I was surrounded on all fronts with bullets streaming towards me at every angle. But my excitement only grew, feeling the wind whip at me as I narrowly avoided the endless hail of bullets that pinged off the street, missing me by mere inches.
Locking onto my next target, I dashed at one of the Two Pointers. Seeing me coming, the Villainbot raised its two crushing claws, and when I got into range, it tried to grab me, moving with a speed that belied the claw's unwieldy size.
Instead of dashing away at an angle, I spun, tracing a gentle arc on the ground as the claw speared past me and clamped down on the space I would have been with bone-crunching force.
Using the momentum of my spin, I lashed out with a right hook that landed flush against the solid metal pincer's side. Silence rang for a moment as the world seemed to hold its breath, then it exhaled with a muffled bang, and the Two Pointer's claw shattered along with the rest of its arm as the impact traveled up the limb.
The robot stumbled off balance with the sudden loss of limb, providing me the perfect opening as I dashed towards its face. A single punch later, the sophisticated machine was reduced to scrap metal, which clattered to the ground.
For the past three months, as I prepared for the exam, I worried that with my introverted nature, I would be overwhelmed by the chaos of live combat. But the mechanical whirl of Villainbot's turrets was like music to my ears, and my quirk's explosive power was almost addicting.
What happened next was little more than a blur, but eventually, I paused my endless momentum and stopped, my heart pounding and my face slick with sweat. Looking around, I stared at the dismembered Villainbots littering the street and mentally added up my points, 'One times three plus 2 times 2, seven points. A good start but not enough.'
My rest only lasted a split second before I took off again, looking for the next group of Villainbots. My newfound joy of using my quirk hadn't distracted me from the seemingly impossible expectations I had set for myself.
'Luckily for me, my quirk is all about making the impossible a reality.'
---
"Ah, this is my favorite time of year," A small mouse-bear hybrid with snow-white fur commented before reaching down to the end table beside it and grabbing a steaming cup of tea. But the mouse's eyes never left the wall of screens in front of it showcasing the current practical exam. The feed on the screens changed constantly, only showing the top twenty-five candidates with the most points. And since the exam had only begun less than five minutes ago, most candidates barely had more than three points. Eventually, the top candidates would pull ahead as time passed, distinguishing themselves and stabilizing the feed. But even within the first few minutes, a select few had already distinguished themselves.
"Your successor will undoubtedly have some competition this year, Toshinori. Are you sure it was wise not to wait for the results and then approach the top candidates?"
"I must admit I was hesitant at first as well, Nezu, my old friend. But I believe that spirit and attitude trump above all for the future Symbol of Peace, and it is there that young Midoriya exceeds." A tall, gaunt man with straw blond hair replied, standing behind Nezu's chair, also fixated on the screens.
Nezu nodded and took a sip of his tea before letting out a content sigh, "Well said, but I do hope that Midoriya can manage to get in on his own efforts. If he doesn't qualify, I would be forced to pull some strings to get him in."
Toshinori frowned, "Midoriya shouldn't get preferential treatment just because-"
"Yes, he does," Nezu replied before Toshinori could finish his sentence, "You said it yourself: he is the future Symbol of Peace, and if Midoriya is to bear the weight of such a mantle, he needs the training that only we can provide. Even beyond that, what if your old nemesis were to find out that you had a successor? Attending UA is the best way to keep him safe."
Toshinori grunted, unable to refute Nezu's words, "Very well, but I believe that Midoriya will prevail."
"Normally, I would agree, but this year is different. Not only is your rival's son attending, but so is the heiress to the Yaoyorozu Family," Nezu cited, "Both are guaranteed a place in Class 1-A if Midoriya doesn't manage to show up on one of these screens soon. I'm afraid he might never."
Toshinori didn't respond, his attention fully on the aforementioned screens, waiting and hoping that he would eventually see a head of dark green hair.
---
'This has gotten significantly harder,' I thought while pushing through the painful aches that had started to spread from my limbs. I didn't know how much time had passed, but the battleground had devolved, truly adopting its namesake.
The once scattered groups of Villianbots had slowly converged as people overestimated their capabilities and were eventually forced to flee, joining others who shared their fate. In the process, the once pristine city array had been destroyed, and buildings had collapsed, blocking off some streets while connecting others, providing open spaces for the Villianbots to converge together, forming an army.
But in response to the overwhelming force, people began to team up and, in an impressive display of teamwork, specialize into roles. Those with ranged quirks that could deal damage from a distance moved to the back lines, while those who needed to be up close moved to the front. Almost evenly dispersed between them were supporters, those with quirks that could heal or augment others, enhancing their fighting capabilities.
Almost everyone fell into one of those three categories, but a select few had the power and skill to leave the safety of numbers and dive into enemy lines. Those who did were either empowered by confidence in their abilities or greed, wanting to get as many points as possible. But before they realized it, they had overextended and were surrounded so far out that they weren't even able to see the other candidates.
That's where I came in.
