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Chapter 10 The Spark within U.A.
🕑 Added 2024-01-09 15:36:11 +0000 UTCI am back from my break and it's good to be back! But I do have to note that there has been a slight change, which is Izuku's nickname. When I spoke with other authors, they pointed out that Deku wouldn't work for him since he's had a quirk which everyone knew about since he was 6, so I came up with a new one. Previous chapters will be changed to reflect that over the week.
Chapter 10: The Spark within U.A.
"Thank you for coming on short notice," Ryukyu stated as Izuku and his mother sat down at her desk, the pro having already prepared a little snack platter and water for the two.
"It's fine, we thought it was important," Izuku replied, still a little nervous but also giddy about being in her agency despite spending almost every weekend there studying with Hado. She found it refreshing to see someone like that outside her apprentice.
Though she could tell that he wasn’t dressing himself as his outfit had so much Haya influence, she wouldn’t be surprised if she started advertising herself as his stylist. Rather than one of his kimonos, Izuku was wearing a more modern look, that being a striped black and white shirt under a denim faded blue jacket with sunflowers randomly placed on it with a pair of black jeans and brown boots. Lastly, he had a small brown satchel.
"I wouldn't say such, I merely wished to speak to you about the upcoming U.A. entrance exam," Ryukyu replied as both Midoriyas sat a little straighter.
“I-I’ve been working hard for them,” Izuku stuttered out, ringing his fingers together nervously. “Hado and everyone have made sure that I know everything for the exam."
"I wouldn't doubt it, I've seen the work you'll be putting in. It's commendable." She told him, with Izuku getting red in the face at that, still unused to genuine compliments even if Hado thought it was cute that he would turn into a tomato at the drop of a hat.
"It wasn't easy getting enough credits to pass middle school, I'm still surprised that U.A.'s letting me take the exam at all with how late my application was," Izuku stated as they had to study harder than he ever had to ensure that he managed, which he only did with literal days left to spare. Barely enough time to confirm he was still applying to the U.A.
“You had already applied last year, so it was more an issue of confirming with the school that you were still interested," Ryukyu added as Inko placed a calming hand, even if it was still covered in bandages, on her son’s shoulder.
"Thank you for that, I can only imagine that they'll allow it because you asked." She stated as the pro shook her head.
“Not at all, the principal was quite open to the idea. But in the end, it’s more that we’ve opened the door, Izuku here is the one that needs to walk through it.” She had thought she'd need to do something like that, but principal Nezu had been as eccentric as she had heard. Once he confirmed that Izuku had already completed the first part and had no criminal record, he was more than, almost eager to let the boy try out for the exam.
“Is it bad that I’m nervous? About…everything?” Izuku asked, as thinking about the exam and all it entailed made his stomach want to leave his body.
Ryukyu smiled at him to calm his nerves. “It’s perfectly normal to be, this is a big milestone for you. One I’m sure you’ll manage to clear.” Inko nodded along with her, both having faith in his abilities.
“Still, I spent so much time catching up with my assignments and exams that I didn't have nearly as much time to train with my quirk. What if I fall short." He asked, worried that he'd trip up in the practical part of the exam as the U.A. was known for having one of the hardest in the country.
"I'm sure you won't, Izuku," Inko told him, her hand remaining on his shoulder and while he could see the bandages, it didn’t elicit the same shame it used to, the therapy helping him cope with it.
“She’s right you know,” The top pro stated. “I’ve been kept up to date with your training and Hado has nothing but good things to say about you and how far you’ve come.” She smiled, recalling how her apprentice would talk about his drive to improve which was similar to her own to learn all that she could about the world and people.
“Still…” She reached over and placed a hand on his, stopping him from doubting himself more.
“Free time is important, Izuku.” She had also heard that while he had fun at the amusement park, he had been a bit too eager to get back to his studies and training. “Take it from me, I would have burned out a long time ago if I only ever worked or trained. Sometimes it's healthy to stop and smell the flowers."
“Okay,” Koharu, who had been a silent spectator up till now, hissed something in his ear as he winced. “Yes, I know, Koharu, don’t need to be smug about it.” She held back the chuckle at how even the snake knew when to relax and had seemingly told him this.
"That being said, we'll be a bit busy so we won't be able to communicate while you finish up your preparation for the exams but I still wish to say good luck." She added as Izuku nodded his head.
“Thank you!”
Line Break
It all came to a head now, the day of the exam with Izuku feeling like maybe he had overestimated how confident he would be, as he had been standing at the entrance of the school for the better part of 10 minutes, his legs unwilling to move him any further for several reasons. The first and most important being that this was U.A. the top hero school in the country, one of the best in the world. Some of the best heroes went here, half the top ten were U.A. alumni for crying out loud, all that made him feel like a mouse trying to climb a mountain.
The other, smaller reason would be that this would be his first time on school grounds in months, as he had completed his middle school courses online with him attending special centers for tests. He didn’t even have Koharu with him as he had been told to leave her at home, so no snakey friend to keep him grounded. However, that didn’t mean he was alone as his mother, who had decided to accompany him, placed a hand on his shoulder, bringing him back to reality.
Neither caring for the looks he was getting to have his mother with him, or how he wasn’t wearing a school uniform but a green and black suit sans jacket, Inko gave him a smile she hoped would calm his nerves. "Remember to breathe Izuku, breathe." Looking towards her, he did what she suggested, taking deep breaths through the nose, holding it, before releasing it through the mouth.
Repeating this a couple of times, he felt his heart rate coming down, even if he was still a bit sweaty from anxiety and stress. “Thanks…I needed that.” He replied, his hands holding onto his satchel like his life depended on it.
“You’ll do great, just remember to keep your composure and do your best!” Inko cheered him on, getting him to smile a little as he turned back to the entrance, feeling like his legs were a bit more cooperative.
“I will, but maybe I should find somewhere to sit down and collect myself.” He spotted a shaded area not far from the gate, a great spot to relax and get himself into the proper headspace for this. Seeing where he was looking, Inko nodded and stepped back.
“It might be best; I’ll be waiting for you at home.” She gave him one last smile before turning to walk away.
“Bye, mom!” He called out after her before taking another deep breath and releasing it, walking past the threshold onto U.A. proper for what he could hope wouldn't be the first and last time. It seems like the heavens were smiling on him as well since despite the scene he made with his mother dropping him off like it was his first day of elementary, no one made anything of it, having their affairs to think about as he took a seat on the bench, a large tree covered with cherry blossoms in springtime bloom covering the area from the glare of the sun.
Pulling his feet up, he got into a meditative position and closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing and the fire he could always feel burning in him, tending to it like he would the flame at the temple, controlling its power and size as he recited some mantras under his breath. Unknown to him in his zen-like state was that he wasn't as quiet as he thought as others stopped to look his way, seeing him out of any school uniform, seated like a monk in prayer with his body reacting to the power he was manipulating, its temperature rising and falling with each breathe, creating a hazy effect around. There was one person who didn't mind this and approached him.
“Nice to see you made it.” Someone spoke up, a familiar croak to their voice.
“Hmm?” Midoriya opened his eyes to see a pair of dark green orbs staring back at him, immediately he recognised the person. “A-asui?!” He nearly fell over as he got up to his feet to properly greet her.
“(Kero)Call me Tsu.” But Asui was never one for such, even as his face went red at the implication of such a familiar nickname.
“A-are you sure about that?” He asked her, not wanting to offend her or disrespect the girl who nodded her head to the side, her larger-than-normal finger on her chin.
“I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t,” Blunt as ever, but she focused on other things, namely the fact that he was here. “By the way, you didn’t tell me you were aiming for U.A. too.”
“Y-yeah,” Thinking back to that day, he remembered how he hadn’t mentioned it, and how it could be considered dishonest. “Sorry, I wasn’t sure I would be allowed to do the entrance exam, not till recently at least.” He also hadn't told her that he dropped out midway through his final year of middle school, but saying that now wouldn't be a good idea, would it?
“School problems?” Asui assumed for him, giving him an out.
“Something like that…I was homeschooled for a while after some stuff had me leave normal school.” She could tell he was leaving stuff out, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he managed to get past the first part, and he was a pretty solid person when they first met.
“Well, we’re here so they must have been solved. But I think we should head in now.” She turned to walk into the building, it might not be yet time for the exam to start, but she didn’t believe in wasting time.
“Y-yeah!” Midoriya was quick to follow her, screaming for joy in his head that he managed to hold a conversation with a girl outside Hado and Haya. Lucky for him, they found that they were assigned seats next to one another, which meant he could sit with someone he was on good terms with, rather than being seated next to Bakugo who surely was also arriving if not already present. That wasn’t an encounter he was looking forward to having.
The duo continued to have a quiet conversation while the room filled up with students, only stopping once the lights dimmed, which ceased conversations across the place. Right after, the lights facing the stage lit up, along with a massive screen displaying the school’s logo.
“Hello, party listeners to my special yearly show, the U.A. hero entrance exam, so make some noise for the one and only, Present Mic!” The blonde sunglasses-wearing pro yelled out, no need for a microphone thanks to the one built into his costume, but there was complete silence from the crowd of students.
“Tough crowd.” If the man was affected by that lack of a response, he didn’t show it. “Anyway, let's move on to the meat and potatoes of the event, are you ready?” So he tried again, but once more there was silence as not a single person rose to meet his hype-making statements.
Midoriya would have been one of the loudest if he had more social interaction points saved up, but he wasn’t silent in his response to seeing Present Mic of all people conducting the entrance exam. “It’s the voice hero: Present Mic! I listen to his show every Friday!” Even before he had his first freak-out, it had been a highlight of his week and one of the few things he missed back at the temple till he finally got power reconnected to the place.
"(Kero) Best you keep the noise down, Midoriya," Asui advised as he slapped his hands over his mouth and nodded.
“As you would expect from any school worth its salt, you’ll be taking a written exam covering all the basic subjects you did in middle school and since you’re the hero course hopefuls, it isn’t gonna have any particular emphasis so if you didn’t do so well in chemistry or math, don’t worry too much about it.” Present Mic gave them the lowdown of the exam, which they had expected as many students breathed a sigh of relief, Midoriya included as he wasn't so confident in those skills as he used to be.
“On the other hand, your practical will be a 10-minute mock battle like the application said. You’ll be grouped up and taken to one of many areas to fight against some enemies we have cooked up just for you!” The screen behind him split to show a center circle labeled ‘you right now’ with 7 other differently coloured spots connected to that circle, labeled A to G.
Looking at the cards that were given when they entered and confirmed their identities, Izuku saw that while he was in group B, Asui was in group E “Oh, we’re in different groups.” He was a little disappointed in that, as it might have been fun to do the exam with her.
“We’ll just have to see each other afterwards.” She replied, that even if she was also unhappy with it, she understood that it was most likely done to ensure students from different schools didn't end up in the same groups where they could help each other, though as to why she and Izuku weren't when they didn't attend the same school must have just been bad luck.
“Each place will have 3 kinds of villains worth a point value from 1 to 3! Your job is to use those fancy quirks of yours to take out as many of them as you can to score the best you can. Of course, the higher the point value, the more dangerous it’ll be so if you can’t handle them, no probs-just focus on the weaker ones!” The screen changed once more to show the silhouettes of 3 different kinds of enemies, each with a point value under them relating to what Present Mic was saying.
“Of course, attacking other examinees and other unheroic actions are against the rules, if we catch you doing it, you can say goodbye to U.A.!” Asui thought that would be a given, as they were aiming to be heroes, but she supposed that they school had to cover their bases just in case.
“Excuse me, I have a question!” She along with Midoriya turned to see someone standing up, holding something-maybe the info form they had been given.
“Okay, listener 711!” Present Mic also noticed them as he pointed towards them, which got one of the overhead lights to turn on and direct to him, allowing them to see that it was a rather tall boy with a strong build and glasses.
Holding up the info card, the student began to ask his question. “The printout clearly states there are 4 types of villains, you only mentioned 3. If this is a misprint, then surely U.A. as the most prominent hero school in Japan should have caught it before it ever reached our desks!” Okay…that was a lot.
Not done, the boy turned to point towards where Izuku and Tsuyu were seated. "In addition, you with the curly hair, your incessant mumbling is distracting, if you think this is some pleasure tour, leave now!" The boy felt his face turn red as steam out of his ears out of embarrassment.
“S-sorry…” He mumbled as some others laughed at his expense as Tsu put a comforting hand on his shoulder as he tried not to think about how much of middle school this reminded him of.
“Alright, alright, let's settle down. I was getting to that. The last villain type is the biggest and most dangerous of them all, but it's worth nothing. It's just there to be an obstacle for you as it's not impossible to defeat, but you get nothing for doing it, so why bother?” The screen changed to show something else, one larger than any other with a big fat 0 underneath it. Even the model of Present Mic upon seeing it just ran for it.
“Thank you!” The boy sat down, with the light over him turning it.
“That's it for me, folks but before I go, I'll leave you with our school motto, as Napoleon Bonaparte once said: 'A true hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes.'” Something in that statement seemed to resonate with him, as his life had been nothing but misfortunes for years but….he was still here, wasn’t he? If he could live out in the sticks and rebuild a temple before managing it by himself, then this should be easy, right?
Hearing a voice that sounded way too much like Koharu in his head, he felt himself gain a little more confidence as more staff-no robots came around to hand them their written exams.
“Go beyond: Plus Ultra!” With that Present Mic jumped off as the robot took his place to manage this part of the exam Midoriya took out a pen, pencil, eraser, sharpener and calculator from his satchel and waited for the clock to start.
Line Break
3 and a half hours later, he felt like maybe he had underestimated just how hard U.A. would make its written portion as he barely finished in time to look over his answer sheet, correcting stuff he might have been wrong on. Once those were collected, they had been shuffled to a changing area where they got out of their school uniforms and into workout clothes, or just stuff they were comfortable with getting dirty. In his case, he now stood outside the imposing walls and gate of area B in an Endeavour brand dark blue compression-sleeved top and green sweatpants. Both of which were known to be fire resistant, same with his new pair of bright red shoes.
Looking up at the walls, Midoriya wondered where U.A. got either the money or space to build such a place as he had heard from Hado that U.A. had training areas that mimicked urban areas, but he didn’t think they were built to scale! Still, despite its size, he didn't know how many enemies they'd be as looking around, and seeing the tall glasses-wearing guy from before, to which he whipped his face in the other direction, he knew that this would be a battle of speed. He didn't think that the U.A. would have too many villains for them to fight, so his best bet was to find some before others, take them out and move on.
Taking a seat with his legs crossed, he closed his eyes and brought his hands together as he started to meditate once more, invoking mantras of protection and guidance. Just like earlier, his quirk responded to this, the flame's power growing shrinking with each calm, slow breath he took, the rising always being a little bigger than the fall, meaning that his flames kept increasing in power ever so slightly. Soon enough, steam started to escape with him with every breath as he felt his muscles relaxing, his heart calming even as all around it, it was as if there was a fire burning. His bones felt like steel in a furnace, slowly taking shape.
The boy from before, along with the rest saw him doing this, including the haze effect he was creating thanks to the heat he was putting off. The boy would have stopped this, but he could hear what Midoriya was reciting, mantras like those heard in a temple and assumed that while eccentric, he was merely getting himself into the proper headspace for this, most likely he had taken his words from earlier to heart.
"Okay, start!" Midoriya didn't question it when Present Mic yelled, his eyes merely shot open, revealing glowing orbs of emerald which shot to the entrance, seeing that it was open he bolted through it, his steam-powered body carrying him far faster than most, leaving the rest behind as Present Mic yelled something about countdowns, but he didn't hear it, his focus on solely on the task at hand-scoring as much points as he could.
Turning a corner, he came across a robot with two white '1's pointed on it. His body froze just for a moment at the scary machine before his heart came roaring back into play as a smile stretched itself across his face. It was one thing to hear that the enemies wouldn't be living things, it was another to see them. If they were truly just metal and wires, then…then
"I don't have to hold back!" He cheered as he didn't need to worry about burning anyone, about someone getting upset, about needing to explain himself to them like the therapist said he had to do. Now, all there was to do was jump towards the robot, his eyes shining like two emerald suns as he clawed at its neck, his heated fingers tearing through the cheap metal with as much ease as Koharu's fangs through rats.
Swiftly landing, he felt his control over his form, Boiling Volcano, slipping just a bit thanks to the excitement as he smiled, knowing that he had scored his first point. Not even turning to look at his defeated foe, he was already off, finding that others had finally caught off, namely the boy from before he seemed to have engines in his calves that increased his speed and kicking power-other then than, he could admit that he wasn't paying much attention-even stealing kills by accident as he would jump into the fray, tear through bots before leaving just as quick in search for more. The only thing that seemed to pierce through his flame-drunk gaze was when he saw someone having trouble, as he without thinking would rush over, handle the issue or grab them out of danger before moving on without a word.
With each kill, his excitement grew, and with every point gained, his temperature rose with it as he started to bleed out smoke along with his steam as he hit a 3-pointer with a double overhead hammer fist, his hands long since burst into flames thanks to a partial transformation on his part. Its head exploded under the blow, with whatever wasn't melting crumbling under the force of the strike before Midoriya jumped away, leaping from wall to wall to reach new targets now that the area was overflowing with defeated villain bots and examinees trying to get around to find more.
“What the hell?”
“Did he just do that?”
“What is he, a living fireball?”
“He just handled that 3-pointer like it was nothing…" A girl with rose-tinted cheeks and brown hair muttered, looking towards the remains of the villain-bot that the strange boy had taken out before Present Mic's announcement that 5 minutes had passed got her and everyone else to focus on their battles. With Midoriya, didn't think, he didn't plan-all he did follow what his heart wanted, what he had wanted for years
To burn whatever, he could and right now he was in paradise.
Line Break
Inside a dark room somewhere on UA's campus, the teachers watched the students through the dozens of cameras that were located in each zone. “Quite the crop this year, isn’t it?” Cementoss noted as he watched one student carve through bots with blades coming out of their forearms.
"Yes, we're seeing some real winners, but quirks aren't the most important thing," Snipe stated as his gaze lingered on how one girl with a seemingly weak quirk, managed to overcome robots by covering them in mushrooms, clogging her their gear or blocking range of movement till they shut down.
"I know that, Snipe. I'm merely commenting on their skills as this exam tests for more than just how many bots you can smash." Cementoss replied as in another area, an orange-haired girl with hands that seemed to grow to tremendous size helped carry people who appeared to be hurt away from the worst of the fighting, giving them time to collect themselves.
“The students aren’t informed of the number of villains in the area, or where they are, so to have any chance to succeed they need among other things, excellent scouting ability, sound judgment to act on what you scouted, exceptional speed and finally, battle prowess to be able to gain any ground in this mass search and destroy game.” The principal of the school, a creature of unknown origin simply known as Nezu listed off points as he turned his eye from screen to screen.
From one with a student whose quirk allowed him to duplicate his arms and grow extra eyes and ears, to another who watched the battling before swooping in, copying quirks as he went, to the youngest child of the Iida family as he zoomed around, lastly, his and All Might's gaze landed on Bakugo, the blond surrounding by destroyed bots and seemingly ready for more.
“All that turned into points which we can grade to ensure that only those with the greatest potential make it through and not just those doomed to peak now. A shame really.” The principal sipped his tea, he would help more of them but he had a limited number of seats in the hero course. A flash of green on one screen drew Midnight’s attention, observing it for a moment, the rated-R hero licked her lips with a smile.
"There is also the x-factor to consider, the desire to save as we have one student who seems to have taken that to heart." Her words drew the attention of the rest as they watched Midoriya jumping around, looking like a combination of Mirko and Endeavour with that leg strength and raw firepower. Bots he targeted went down in single blows, with him moving to help whoever was there even as they tried to wave the flame-handed boy off, he merely picked them up, dropped them somewhere safe and moved on to fight more people to help or bots to smash.
“Oh? A little firecracker that one.” Ectoplasm noted.
“I’ll say, kid might we well be Endeavour’s secret kid!” Snipe joked as the boy engulfed a 1 and 2-pointer with a spiral of emerald flames, leaving the burnt and destroyed remains of the bots in his wake as he sped off, a smile akin to a child’s when set loose in a candy shop on his face.
“He’s here?!” They turned to All Might, the man’s dropped jaw being an unexpected sight for them.
“You know him, All Might?” Vlad asked him.
“Know of him!” The blood hero raised an eyebrow at All Might's strange response as the man sought out a way to explain it. “I mean, I know of him, ran into him a while back with the Tatooin incident.”
“Now that you bring it up, that is the same kid, isn’t it?” Lucky for him, that worked as Midnight picked things from there.
Taking another sip of his tea, Nezu decided to nip this in the bud. "That is correct, I allowed him to participate. After all, it was an incident that was blown out of proportion, right All Might?" He turned to the symbol of peace, his gaze giving away nothing as was the norm with him.
Coughing into his hand, the man nodded. “Yes, the boy didn’t seem like a bad kid, just someone with some bad luck.” Truthfully, he heard that the boy had been found, but that was it. He had been hoping that he hadn’t just been put into juvie but if he was here, then that couldn’t be the case.
“Besides, his hero guardian, Ryukyu has nothing of concern to report on him.” Nezu enjoyed how his staff turned to him, shocked that the boy had managed to gain the attention of a top pro like her.
“The dragon hero?” Eraser asked just so they could be clear on who they were talking about, lest Nezu pulls out some obscure hero they never heard of and say they had the same names or something.
“Yes, she was the one that found him and has taken the boy under her wing as you say.” She had never been a student at U.A., but she was as honest as he had expected since she thought she needed to speak with him personally to ensure that he gave the boy a fair roll of the dice, which when he looked into his history seemed like a fair thing to be sure of.
While he thought about the fact he had added their old middle school to the unfortunately growing list of schools there were blacklisted for enrolment to U.A. he reached for the big red button he so loved to press every year. “Still, there is one last thing we need to test for.”
Line Break
Back on the field, the area starts to shake as explosions occur all over the place, causing the examinees to stop to look around to see what the cause could be. Even Midoriya came out of his flame frenzy when he heard the crackling of tracks coming towards them, till he looked up and saw that it was the 0-pointer…and that it was taller than the buildings around them! Its hands were so large that one crushed the top of a building it crapped seemingly by accident.
Recalling what Present Mic said about the 0-pointers, he wondered as the robot pulled an arm back to strike if U.A. couldn't have made the thing smaller.
Punching the area before it and shy of them, the examinees all took this as a chance to run, they got nothing from fighting it and even if they did, the damn thing was ginormous, you'll have to be insane to take that on. Midoriya was the only one who stayed put, watching it approach with fear in his heart-yes, but also raw unfiltered excitement as he couldn't help but thank the flame God for this chance to set fire to something so big! Sucking in a deep breath, he was about to get started when he heard someone groaning.
Looking around, he spied a girl caught under some rubble. Seeing someone in trouble banished all thoughts of arson from his mind as he raced over to help. “Can you walk?” he asked her, inspecting the piece of debris that had her pinned.
“I don’t think so, my ankle is sprained.” The girl replied, sounding tired and in pain.
"Alright, I'm going to lift this off you, and then carry you away, that sounds like a good plan?" He asked her, the heat of the moment keeping him collected and stutter-free.
“Y-yeah.” With that agreed, and the 0-pointer getting closer, he grabbed onto the piece of debris and lifted it, having far less trouble than the girl expected he would as he moved it so that it fell away, allowing him to scoop her help as she let out a yelp, both from the gesture and how warm he was, before he ran away towards where the rest were. Meeting up with the speedster from before, he handed the girl to the surprised boy.
“Take care of you, will you?” He told the boy, now stopping even as the boy tried to counter that or even ask what the heck he was about to do.
“Wait, what are you going to do?” The girl managed to get a question out as he turned to them, confused by the question.
“Handle the 0-pointer,” He pointed towards the massive robot barrelling down on them, Present Mic said it was an obstacle, and it looked like it was drawn to them, so best handle it now and then get back to the exam, right? “I hope you enjoy the flames.” He smiled at their confused faces as he turned and rushed the robot, his body completely transforming as he went.
“Best day ever!” Ignoring the startled yells and shouting at his change, he cheered for this chance to let loose as he took in a deep breath, mixing the air with the inferno that raged in his chest, eager to be released which he planned to do. Feeling the flame within him reach a suitable point, he went wild.
“Flame Serpent!" His voice, now akin to rocks being smashed together while being heated to near boiling point, exploded out of his jaws much like the massive construct of fire shaped like a snake which raced towards the 0-pointer, fangs bared as it wrapped around its extended arm, leaving extensive burns in the steel even after just a few seconds on contact before its head crashed into the 0-pointer's.
At the moment of contact, Izuku smiled as he let out another joyful scream "Be consumed by the flames!" Right as he detonated the flame serpent, creating a massive explosion which was felt almost throughout the entire area, with students further back almost falling every. When the blast cleared, the 0-pointer was covered in a thick smoke cloud, but it was unmoving. As the smoke cleared away, they could see why.
It was trashed. Its arm that the snake had coiled around was gone, and the few pieces of it all still attached were melted slag, meanwhile, most of its pieces littered the road. Its head and upper chest looked like a block of cheese that had been put into the microwave on high for a full 3 minutes, being nothing but melted metal that had collapsed in on itself, whatever wiring and other components that caught in the blast must have been cooked by literal tons of steel seeping down through its mechanical body. There were groans of metal straining and breaking before the wrecked machine fell backwards, its damaged superstructure no longer able to support its weight as it came down with a massive bang, kicking up dust, leaving Midoriya the last one standing.
Or more accurately, the last man jumping for joy as he couldn't believe that he had done that! It was amazing, he had never used an attack that big but Hado had suspected that he could, he couldn't wait till he told her! Maybe they could get another one, maybe 2 next time!
"Did you guys see that? It was such a beautiful flame, the color, the intensity, the heat-even the shape of the snake, I styled it off a friend and I think it came out great, right!" Midoriya danced for joy while the rest of the examinees looked on with some combination of surprise, awe and fear, seeing someone that they knew in their hearts would be a top pro one day
Line Break
And that is that. There was supposed to be more but I cut things short since the chapter was literally a few words away from the limit and if I went on, then I would need to include more if I didn't want things to end on a cliffhanger.
