The next instant, it happened.
Wu Xuan's Quirk, his Stand [The World], manifested fully.
Standing dead center of the pack, with the golden phantom overlapping his form, Wu Xuan launched a dual assault. With his own fists to the left and the Stand's to the right, he unleashed a whirlwind of violence upon the forty-odd candidates flanking him.
"ORA!"
Wu Xuan's eyes flared with predatory excitement. He let out a roar, lunging at a special admissions student to his left whose face was partially obscured by long bangs.
BOOM!
A single strike to the temple left the student dazed and senseless; he crumpled to the pavement instantly.
A second student nearby barely had time to register the blur of movement before Wu Xuan buried a fist deep into his abdomen. The boy let out a choked gasp, coughing up a spray of stomach acid as he collapsed, convulsing uncontrollably from the shock to his system.
On the other side, [The World] was moving with even greater speed and devastating precision. In less than two seconds, five of the twenty trainees on the right were either face-down or spiraling through the air.
By the time the rest of the group realized they were under attack, half of the forty-two candidates had already been purged. The entire process took less than five seconds.
"Hey! What are you doing!?" Present Mic shouted, his usual showman persona replaced by genuine alarm.
"Didn't you say interference was allowed?" Wu Xuan asked smoothly, though his movements never faltered.
He pivoted on one heel, delivering a high, snapping roundhouse kick that sent another student sailing. His next target: Yaoyorozu.
The young lady stood before him, her pretty face pale with shock. She took a frantic half-step back, her lack of practical combat experience written all over her posture.
"Hmph."
Wu Xuan's lips curled into a slight smirk. Just as his fist seemed destined to shatter Momo Yaoyorozu's delicate features, he shifted his weight. His knuckles grazed her left cheek by a hair's breadth, instead connecting solidly with the student standing directly behind her, knocking him unconscious.
When Momo found her breath and looked forward again, Wu Xuan was staring at her with an unreadable, mocking half-smile. Their noses were nearly touching.
"Heh."
Wu Xuan let out a soft, low laugh and brushed past her.
A deep blush flooded Momo's face, but it was quickly overtaken by a surge of hot resentment. She whipped around, shouting at his retreating back, "Why did you show mercy?!"
Wu Xuan didn't bother to answer. He simply kicked another student out of his path.
On the left side of the field, only seven people remained standing—including Momo. On the right, where [The World] had been rampaging, only two were left on their feet.
Inside the observation room, the faculty was stunned.
Principal Nezu, All Might, Shota Aizawa, and the rest of the staff watched the monitors in dead silence. Was this even allowed?
"Impressive," Midnight murmured, her eyes wide with a mix of genuine admiration and dark amusement. "To win the championship, he simply decides to eliminate every other contestant at the starting line."
"But isn't this going too far?" Vlad King turned to the Principal, his voice tight. "Is this not a massive violation of conduct?"
All Might was currently trying to sink into his seat. Every teacher in the room was shooting him a look that clearly asked: What kind of monster did you bring into our school?
Principal Nezu, however, just grinned. "Technically, based on what Mic told them before the start, he hasn't broken a single rule. But don't worry, there's no need for us to intervene. Someone is about to stop him."
Everyone turned their attention back to the screens. On both the left and right, Wu Xuan's momentum had finally been halted.
To the left, someone had caught Wu Xuan's fist. It was Inasa Yoarashi, the loud-mouthed boy from the bus. He held Wu Xuan's hand in his right palm, which was currently radiating intense, swirling wind pressure.
To the right, [The World's] advance was blocked by a sudden, gargantuan wall of jagged ice. On the other side of the iceberg stood a young man with a cold, stern expression and split white-and-red hair—the boy who had sat next to Wu Xuan during the written portion.
Ectoplasm frowned. "Principal Nezu, who are those two?"
Nezu tapped a tablet, pulling up the files of the two students who had successfully neutralized Wu Xuan.
Name: Shoto Todoroki
Age: 15
Quirk: Half-Cold, Half-Hot
Name: Inasa Yoarashi
Age: 15
Quirk: Whirlwind
"Extraordinary Quirks, all of them," Aizawa muttered, his drowsiness finally gone. He leaned forward, eyes fixed on the screen. "In terms of pure combat potential, these three are clearly the monsters of this year's recommendations."
"Should we call it?" Ectoplasm asked. "This was supposed to be a marathon, not a battlefield."
"No," Nezu replied, his eyes sparkling. "Adaptability is a core trait of a Hero. I want to see how they handle this."
More than ten seconds had passed since the starting gun. No one had run more than ten meters. In fact, only four people were still standing in the center of the chaos: Wu Xuan, Momo Yaoyorozu, Inasa Yoarashi, and Shoto Todoroki.
Noticing that [The World] was pinned by the ice, Wu Xuan retracted his Stand into his body. Inasa didn't press the attack immediately, instead taking a cautious step back.
"Looks like this year's batch isn't entirely made of fodder," Wu Xuan remarked, his voice dripping with arrogance.
"HOW PASSIONATE, WU XUAN!" Inasa shouted, slamming his fist into his palm, eager for the challenge. "But this is definitely going too far!"
The standoff was set: Inasa and Todoroki had flanked Wu Xuan from the left and right, effectively pinning the "villain" of the exam between them.