(Kata POV – Monitoring Room)
The rest of the exam ended about as expected.
Lady Nagant stayed high on her perch, cool and methodical, firing any time Midoriya dared peek from cover. Bakugo, of course, was down the entire time, getting an extra bullet anytime he was unfortunate enough to wake up. The result was inevitable, and thirty minutes later, both of them failed.
'Almost half the class, huh?' I scan the scoreboard, raising an eyebrow. Eight out of eighteen didn't pass. 'That's… actually depressing.'
Technically, no one was seriously hurt. Bakugo only passed out from the pain, without actual injury, which, considering his attitude, was almost poetic. The rest of the class began filing into the Monitoring Room, still buzzing with adrenaline, or in some cases, quiet defeat.
'So, they'll get to watch my exam?' I think, watching them gather around the big screen.
I catch the faces of the ones who passed. Momo, Todoroki, Toru, Shoji, Tsuyu, Tokoyami, Jiro, Koda, Uraraka, and Aoyama. All bright-eyed and proud, despite still catching their breath. And for once, I feel like saying something.
"Well done." I tell them, a small smile tugging at my lips. "You guys were amazing out there."
The reaction is… more dramatic than expected.
Momo's eyes light up as if she's been handed a medal. Todoroki gives a quiet nod. It's simple, but speaks volumes of his satisfaction. Toru lets out a tiny squeak of excitement while blushing, either from the praise, or her realising I can see her… naked. Which I promptly choose to ignore.
"Wow. We're getting praised by the class rep, ribbit?" Tsuyu says, blinking in surprise.
"Indeed." Tokoyami adds, arms crossed. "It's truly a rare occurrence."
"It's a moment worth celebrating." Aoyama declares, striking a flashy pose.
The others burst into laughter, high-fives spreading like wildfire. I'm almost certain they're happier being praised than actually passing.
'…Is it really that weird for me to say something nice?' I sigh inwardly, deciding not to ruin the moment.
Then I glance toward the rest, who carry a small air of desolation… the ones who didn't pass. Kaminari, Mina, Sero, Ojiro, Sato, Kirishima, and Midoriya. They're all smiling for the others, genuinely happy their classmates passed, but I can sense the underlying frustration at their own failure.
Before I can say anything, Mina beats me to it. "We didn't get to watch, but if Kata says you guys were amazing, then it must've been awesome! Right?"
Kirishima punches the air, grinning wide. "Man, I wish I'd seen it! Sounds totally hardcore!"
Even Sero and Kaminari join in, clapping for their friends, despite the faint gloom behind their eyes.
'That's Class 1-A for you.' I think warmly. 'They lift each other up, even when they're down themselves.'
Still, I can tell it stings. So, I decide to step in.
"You guys shouldn't feel bad about failing." I say suddenly, and the room quiets, their attention swinging toward me. "These matchups were designed to target our weaknesses. Passing was supposed to be hard. You were all fighting pros who know exactly how to beat you."
They watch me closely.
"So the goal wasn't just to win." I continue. "It was to learn. To figure out what you need to work on and how to adapt. You definitely could've done better, yeah… but I'm sure you came out with something valuable from each fight… right?"
There's a pause, then slow nods all around.
Kaminari scratches the back of his neck. "Yeah, uh… turns out charging in without thinking kinda fries more than just my brain." He says with a sheepish grin.
Mina groans dramatically. "Ugh, don't remind me! Getting toyed with by Principal Nezu felt like being in a horror movie. I'm never underestimating small animals again."
That earns a laugh from the room.
Kirishima folds his arms, looking thoughtful. "Guess I learned brute force isn't always the answer. Sometimes you gotta, y'know… think your way through. Not just smash."
"That's… surprisingly profound coming from you." Jiro teases with a smirk.
"Hey! I can be manly and smart!" Kirishima argues, only to be met with resounding laughs from everyone else.
The tension finally breaks. The room fills with chatter as everyone starts trading lessons and observations. Sero and Ojiro debate what they could've done differently against Midnight; Momo and Todoroki exchange ideas on improving coordination. Tsuyu and Tokoyami quietly praise their teamwork. Even Midoriya, sitting off to the side with his notebook, begins scribbling like mad, while discussing with Uraraka and Aoyama, no doubt already analyzing everyone's performances.
I lean back against the console, watching them with an easy smile. The sting of failure is fading, replaced by something better… camaraderie, understanding, and the quiet drive to do better next time.
'Yeah.' I think, as laughter fills the room. 'This is Class 1-A. Loud, ridiculous, and stubborn… but they always get back up.'
And honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.
"Haha!" Nezu's bright laugh bursts through the room as he claps his paws together. "That's the spirit, my dear students! Use what you've learned today to better yourselves and right your shortcomings!"
The class, still riding a mix of exhaustion and excitement, nods with determined expressions.
"Now…" Nezu's eyes gleam with mischievous delight. "Only one exam remains. I do hope you're ready, Mr. Okada. You'll need everything you have for this one."
I nod calmly. "Whenever you're ready, All Might."
All Might grins, shoulders straight, aura impossibly bright. "Shall we?" Se says simply, already turning toward the exit.
Before following, I glance at Nezu. "How much destruction is permitted?"
"Oh, I've already informed the authorities and the HPSC." Nezu says cheerfully. "So long as it stays within the bounds of the training city… feel free to fight as you please."
A faint hum leaves me. "That's a bit small." I mutter, earning an amused twitch of Nezu's whiskers. Then I follow All Might out.
(Kata POV – Training City)
The artificial city is quiet and desolate.
I stand in the middle of a four-lane road, the breeze faintly stirring the dust between cracked asphalt. All Might's somewhere at the far end, a barely perceptible silhouette, framed by the sunlight as he stands between the escape gate and me.
'Is he being cautious I'd escape instead of fight.'
I close my eyes and extend my senses, light reflections, shifting air, vibrations, thermal readings, yet every method I try returns no result. It's as though All Might doesn't exist.
'Tch. Still nothing. Whatever rule Star and Stripe imposed on him… it prevents me from sending him with my quirk completely.'
I test a light telekinetic probe toward his position, only to feel it vanish on contact. 'Even that won't work.'
My usual methods like shields, density manipulation, even intangibility, are useless since they actively use my quirk to function.
I draw in a slow breath, feeling the weight of the silence.
Then the speakers crackle overhead.
"Begin."
And the world explodes.
A violent shockwave tears through the street like a surging python, shredding everything in its path. Buildings buckle and twist under the invisible force. The air howls, while glass shatters and asphalt curls.
'He's really not holding back.'
I thrust out my hand and counter with a telekinetic burst, easily stopping the shockwave. Even so, I acknowledge the power behind it, like standing before a hurricane.
'That was just the shockwave from a punch?'
The thought barely forms before the next one hits, literally.
All Might appears in front of me, instantaneous. There's no sound of movement, only the roar of displaced air and a fist filling my vision. The space between us detonates with raw kinetic energy.
'Fast.'
BOOOOMMMMM—!
The world turns white.
Wind scythes outward, vaporizing dust, bending metal. Buildings disintegrate. The pavement splits and folds into itself as a crater blooms beneath us, and the city quakes under the sheer force of the blow.
When the dust settles, All Might stands at the epicenter, arm still extended, grin still plastered to his face. A trench snakes down the road, asphalt liquefied from air friction alone.
"That was… dangerous." I murmur, reappearing atop a half-crumbled building on the far side of the block. My heart hammers, but not from fear… adrenaline, maybe even excitement.
At the last instant, I'd teleported away, knowing any defense wouldn't have worked.
All Might lowers his arm slowly, looking up at me with the same easy confidence. "Good reflexes, young man." He calls. His voice carries effortlessly through the wind. "You made the right call to dodge."
Even from here, I can feel his focus. Sharp, heavy, suffocating. That unshakable intent to fight. This is the weight the Symbol of Peace carries.
'So this is what it feels like to face All Might… No wonder villains used to surrender at the mere sight of him.'
I steady my breathing. "You're faster than you should be." I call back. "The second rule Star set on you… it's a physical power boost, isn't it?"
For a split second, his eyes widen in surprise—then he throws his head back and laughs.
"HAHAHA! Nothing gets past you!" His grin widens. "You're correct… and you'll need every ounce of your strength to keep up!"
'Great. So he's even faster than the current Mirko now.'
I don't get time to complain though. The air explodes behind him as he launches forward again, as sonic cracks split the sky.
This time, I'm ready.
Telekinetic energy floods my limbs, reinforcing muscles, bones, and nerves. My body hums with controlled power, as I boost myself. I'm still far slower than him, but fast enough to react.
He hits the side of a high-rise, runs along it, and then, grinning like a man possessed, grabs it.
'Wait—'
He tears the building off its foundation, concrete screaming as steel beams snap like twigs, and hurls it like a boulder.
The entire block shakes. I lift off my own building, slipping free as debris howls past beneath me. The tower slams into the street, flattening everything in a wave of dust and fire.
I hover there, watching the destruction spread, lips twitching.
Below, All Might straightens amid the storm of debris, that ever-present smile smirking up at me.
"Come now, young man!" He calls, voice booming like thunder. "Show me what makes you a hero!"
I exhale slowly, eyes narrowing, and stretch my hand toward him. The air ripples.
'Fine then.'
"You asked for this," I say quietly. My voice cuts through the ruined city like a blade.
Then I release my quirk, and the world shifts.
Air ripples, groaning under invisible strain. Sound seems to vanish, swallowed by an unseen entity, as the atmosphere begins to churn. Around All Might, the air twists violently into a spiraling vortex. The street cracks. Windows implode. Dust and debris are dragged skyward, swirling into a column that ascends to the clouds.
The tornado ignites as friction sets the winds ablaze, and the spiraling inferno screams toward the heavens.
Pressure builds until the air itself feels solid, dense enough to warp light. All Might stands at its core, a golden figure braced against impossible force.
"This won't stop me!" His voice booms through the chaos, resolute and certain. His body is battered with flying debris, but he doesn't falter as every step forward makes the air scream in protest.
"I know." I reply simply. "It was never meant to stop you."
His brow furrows with a brief flicker of curiosity.
Above him, hexagonal patterns shimmer into existence, as a honeycomb barrier wraps around the flaming cyclone, its geometric light reflecting against smoke and fire.
'That barrier definitely needs to be in place.'
I inhale, my focus narrowing. Every molecule inside that sphere is reflected clearly in my mind as I focus on one particular atom.
"Now…" I whisper. "I am become Death, destroyer of worlds."
Hydrogen tears free from oxygen as I snap molecular bonds like threads. I force them together again, slamming atom into atom, and a fusion reaction ignites.
The sphere immediately turns white-hot as it buzzes with volatile energy.
"Don't die, All Might." I murmur, and release it, making sure the barrier holds.
Yet still, the world is bathed in light.
A miniature sun blossoms into existence as a blinding spear of heat and radiation tearing through the clouds.
Sound seems to disappear again… then it roars back tenfold as the shockwave explodes, shredding what remains of the training city. Steel bends. Towers buckle. The ground sinks.
My barrier flares crimson under the strain, hexagons fracturing and reforming. The heat washes over me, harmless as my own barrier protects me, yet it feels like the air is burning.
When the light fades, the silence feels alien.
Then—
"Phew…" A voice rasps. "That was a close one."
All Might drops from the sky, smoke curling off his shoulders. He lands hard, boots cracking the ground, coughing once before straightening. And even after all that, he still smiles.
'So the barrier dissolves on contact with him.' I note inwardly. 'I didn't expect it to hold anyway. He's too fast for shockwave to hit him.'
All Might tilts his head, his grin never faltering. "Was that all you've got, young man?" He calls. "Because if it was, I severely overestimated you!"
I chuckle, lowering my hand. "No. I just wanted to see if a nuke would work on you."
He blinks. "…You're kidding, right?"
"Not in the slightest."
For a moment, there's only the distant hiss of burning debris. Then the sky darkens.
Thunder growls above. Black clouds churn, devouring sunlight, stretching for miles in every direction. Lightning veins twist through them, thick, white, and almost alive, as they fill the horizon with flickering veins of light.
"You should catch your breath now, All Might." I warn. "You won't have time later."
He squints up, awe flickering behind his grin. "What in the world are you—"
The heavens answer.
Bolts of lightning writhe across the sky, webbing together like the nervous system of some colossal creature. The wind dies, replaced by an electric hum that makes the air taste like ozone. Beneath us, the earth trembles as streets ripple, asphalt cracks, the ground moves, alive and writhing.
The air dries out as heat rises. Flames crawl up from fissures in the ground as steam erupts around us.
'Weather Manipulation.' I think, my eyes narrowing.
And in the heart of the storm, All Might looks up at me, hair crackling, eyes bright with wild excitement, and laughs.
"That's what I'm talking about!" He roars.
He launches upward, the ground shattering beneath his feet, hurtling through the chaos like a missile. Lightning answers him as dozens of continuous bolts descending in blinding unity.
They meet midair.
Light and thunder crash together in burst of light so bright the world goes white.
The city disappears in the glare, swallowed in the aftermath of the impact.
************
A/N: Hello Everyone! If you've enjoyed the chapter and book thus far, please consider leaving me some comments, reviews, or power stones. It really helps the book out.
How was the chapter? Fight scenes aren't my Forte, or maybe that's cause Kata is OP, but yeah, this is how I made All Might able to match up. To be fair, he can't handle an actual nuke, but he's quite close, especially with S&S boost. But let's start from the beginning.
To be honest, I wondered if to do the class discussion thing. Before ultimately deciding, f it! I think those little things are what make a book and the characters shine, even if it slows things down a bit, so I'll have them! It shows Kata's more human side, and how he cares for his classmates too, not just Eri. He's quite observant, interestingly enough. Would you categorise him as shy, or just introverted?
Then, moving on to the fight. Damn. The city didn't even last a minute🤣. Nezu should've prepared a bigger playground. All Might surviving the nuke, that's not me nerfing it. He didn't survive it. The reason light shot into the air, was he dodged before it could explode, which pinched a hole in Kata's barrier upwards, hence the explosion flying upwards.
He's quite fast, durable, and strong now, so he's an actual challange. Kata enhanced his body so he could keep track of All Might, since, with Radar not working, if he loses sight of All Might, he's screwed. He needs to dodge since All Might's hits will disable his quirk on contact, and lead to full damage.
And I guess, the stuff at the end was Weather Manipulation. His range is enough to do it now, and it's quite powerful. Basically an apocalyptic scene is happening.
Why didn't Kata just Nuke All Might directly on his skin? New Order messing with TK energy. Why didn't he just Nuke atoms around All Might? Fusion and Fission are more chain reactions that spiral out of control, so it's kinda hard to just do that. And it'd be illogical for there to be uranium or plutonium in the air. Hence hydrogen, and him gathering it first in the sphere. He can't just set of nukes, since that's affect more than just the city, hence the need for barriers, and Kata didn't think they'd work on All Might anyway.
Real fight begins next chapter (or rather, continues). You can suggest abilities you'd want to see, if they're reasonable, since it helps me decide, and they look cool🤣.
You can also read 10 chapters ahead and support me at [email protected]/AMV_WEAKLY
But anyway, that's all from me. Hope you all have a good day/night 🌉