[Izuku P.O.V]
The shock hit like a thunderclap in Izuku's nervous system—white-hot, jarring, and absolute. For a split second, the world tilted. The trees around him blurred into streaks, his knees buckled, and the healing aura that had softly glowed around his body like a gentle sunrise shattered in an instant.
He hit the dirt hard, gasping as if the very air had been torn from his lungs. His fingers dug into the forest floor, trembling, scorched nerves still twitching. For a moment, there was nothing but static behind his eyes.
Then the pain settled and he could concentrate enough to flare his healing aura again. Steam hissed off him as new flesh replaced the dead tissue and damaged nerves were restored. By the time he was done, hardly any time had passed, but it was enough that the class could have made significant progress in extracting his sister.
Standing up, he looked over to Kaminari, still stupidly staring at anything that caught his eyes. Izuku sighed and gave him mental props for catching him off guard before pinning him to a nearby tree with a light projection construct. It was weak and would disappear in about twenty minutes, but it would keep him out of the way for a while if he recovered from his Quirk-induced stupor faster than expected.
Remembering the path back toward the ambush site, Izuku began jogging. His enhanced physicality from [Reinforcement] had just worn off, and his boosted Dexterity stat was following close behind. But he wasn't in a hurry—at any moment, he could use Shadow Projection to teleport near the class.
As he moved, he pondered the current situation he and the exam were in. The original plan to drag the fight out and test every part of their teamwork over time—slowly and sustainably—was already shot. Barely twenty minutes in and he was down a trump card due to an unexpected application of his Light Projection that the class had discovered and exploited.
But he still had one more surprise left.
A system window popped up, displaying the information he wanted to see at that moment.
[Secret Unsealed]
When activated, the user can select any two attributes or one ability to seal away. Once sealed, the selected attribute(s) or ability will remain locked for a minimum of 24 hours. After 24 hours have passed, the sealed attribute(s) or ability will not only be ready to be unsealed but will receive a ten-time boost for 5 minutes. For an additional boost, the user can leave the attribute(s) or ability sealed. For every 24 hours that pass while an attribute(s) or the ability is sealed, a five-times boost is added to it. The boost caps at 100.
Current Attribute(s)/Abilities Sealed: Strength (20x)
Well, he had multiple trump cards if he included [Shadow Projection], but that was more of an unseen hand kind of deal. He didn't want to be linked to Umbra of all villains, especially at this point in time, or exposed for having more than one quirk.
That wasn't to say he wouldn't use it. He would—and had been. Izuku had used it to evade Kaminari a few times in order to sneak attack the class while they were still reeling from his sudden burst of speed. Hopefully, they would link his sudden disappearance and reappearances to speed, not teleportation.
Figuring he had taken long enough to make his way back and with his healing aura once again drained, Izuku's mind flashed with a blurry, horrible memory of sitting in the school bathroom with constipation. The embarrassment and half-forgotten pain in that memory powered his [Shadow Projection] enough to let him slip into one of the many shadows on the forest floor.
If the ability didn't already have horrendous activation requirements, this would be its worst part. Falling into shadows felt weird and instinctively terrifying. If Izuku had to compare it to something, it would be like letting yourself drown in an ocean storm at night.
He couldn't breathe because there was no air. He became blind because light didn't exist here. He felt crushed on all sides by what seemed like shifting currents but were actually the constant swaying of shadows in the material world. Even if the first use of the ability hadn't been traumatic to him as a child, Izuku was sure he wouldn't be using the ability much regardless.
But as USJ and his stint as a temporarily licensed hero had proven, it was too useful to keep shafted any longer. From shadow creatures that could bypass debris and move undetected to find injured or buried people, to near-instantaneous movement across long distances, and even automatic wins by paralyzing villains by their shadow—the ability was just too strong to ignore because of his hangups with it.
It was just too bad he couldn't use it in concert with [Light Projection] more advanced applications. He had tried to again despite what happened the first time but he quickly figured out that as long as his body had negative energy or positive energy built up, he couldn't channel the other type of energy at all. Whether that was due to the system or some traumatic mental block he didn't know but right now it hardly matters.
As he floated in the lightless blank, Izuku pictured the general area he wanted to emerge from. Immediately, he felt a tug on his body, pulling him through the currents like a fish on a line. Before he knew it, the tugging sensation stopped.
He kept his mind clear, shunting the excess negative energy gathered from the experience into forming shadow minions that vanished off into who knows where as was forcibly ejected out of a shadow behind a tree—just within earshot of the class.A little closer than what was necessary for him to hear but cut he also wanted visual information.
From what he could pick up by sound alone, most of them were back on their feet. A problem, considering he no longer had his enhanced physical abilities—he couldn't blitz them anymore, especially with Iida up. But the bigger issue quickly became apparent: he couldn't hear his sister anywhere nearby.
Izuku realized what was going on almost instantly. He hadn't expected them to try something as risky as having the rescuer run alone back to the safe zone. It was a bold play, but not one he couldn't counter—he just needed to figure out which direction they'd retreated in.
He shifted carefully behind the tree to take stock of who was missing. Depending on who had been sent, he might need to use his second trump card to get the speed needed to catch up.
But the moment he moved to peek, the entire world shifted.
A blue tint washed over everything. He couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't hear. The air itself felt frozen, the temperature dropping several degrees in an instant. Through faint vibrations in the ground, he could just barely make out distant celebratory cheers.
He was frozen. How had they found him?
Was it Koda? No—he hadn't heard him speak to any animals or vice versa. That only left Shoji or Jiro. They were the only ones who could reliably detect his eavesdropping and location.
Izuku cursed mentally. It didn't matter who had found him. What mattered now was getting out—because if he didn't, he would lose. And he couldn't afford to lose.
This wasn't about pride. It wasn't even about the system quest, though it was part of it. He wasn't so prideful or petty a loser that he couldn't admit the class had earned a win much earlier by forcing him to escalate.
No, this was about Ochaco, making sure she didn't pay for his cowardice in USJ. He could feel her in his thoughts, the way he always did when guilt crept in because of her current condition. Her laugh. Her smile. The furious blush she'd wear whenever he complimented her training. The smile in her voice when she had declared him her hero. Those memories, sharp and bright, sparked something deep in his chest.
[Light Projection] sparked dimly at first, his negative feelings regarding her current state dampening its power—but that was alright. For his purposes, he didn't need much. The light flared subtly, then brightened. The ice surrounding him began to warm, melting slowly as fissures formed and arced through its structure. He could feel the temperature drop further—Todoroki, most likely, trying to keep him trapped—but it wouldn't work for long.
With nothing to do but charge his energy and his other senses dulled by the confinement, Izuku began to notice something else. A sense that was new, yet somehow familiar. An awareness that allowed him to vaguely track the positions of his constructs.
The cage. He realized quickly that it was moving—and fast—toward the safe zone. He tugged at it through his connection, trying to slow its approach, trying to reel it back like a fisherman pulling against a strong current. But the resistance was intense. Whoever had the cage wasn't going to give it up without a fight.
Izuku tried to pour more energy into the pull, but between the ever-deepening cold and the effort it took just to stay conscious—to keep healing his cells from oxygen deprivation and hypothermic decay—he was running out of options that didn't involve popping his second trump card.
'You forced my hand,' he thought. Not for the first time in this training session, and he doubted it would be the last.
He abandoned the tug-of-war for now and shifted his focus entirely to raising the temperature inside the ice. He needed space—room enough to form energy attacks.
The ice cracked, fissures spiderwebbing through it like lightning. Chips broke off, melting into water, then boiling into steam. The rising pressure began to strain the structure of the ice from within.
He felt the temperature around him plummet again—another desperate attempt to contain him—but it was too late. He'd created just enough space to fight back.
His arms spread slightly, palms open. The golden glow from his aura pulsed, growing hotter and denser. Sparks danced from his fingertips as spheres of condensed light began to form—glowing, humming orbs the size of baseballs. The steam and boiling water hissed violently, vaporizing instantly as they touched the orbs, adding even more pressure to the already fracturing prison.
The ice couldn't take it anymore.
With a thunderous crack, it began to collapse. Massive chunks shattered and broke apart around him. Some pieces, too large to vaporize immediately, smashed into his body—but Izuku didn't flinch.
He was too focused.
Too determined to get this next part right.
He could now clearly hear Momo shouting at Todoroki to keep up the pressure but it was too late. Before the ice user could get another big attack off, Izuku launched his.
Dozens of light bombs tore through the remaining ice around him in every direction. Overhead, they streaked toward the distant safe zone with screaming velocity. The sky above the forest flared like a meteor shower. Whistles turned into roars as each orb screamed with barely restrained power trailing twinkling light behind them.
Near where the class was, they hit like small suns. One after another, explosions of blinding gold erupted across the forest floor, not powerful enough to kill, but enough to break down any hasty defense the class came up with to block them while also being strong enough to scorch the air and shake their formation.
He couldn't see them through the steam. Couldn't hear their screams or their confusion over his own attacks but that didn't matter. Those near him weren't his focus, whoever made a break for it with his sister was.
He could still feel the cage in movement, getting further and further from him. So the person was either tanking the attacks or evading them. It was impressive, they were even moving towards a different area than the one the class came entered to avoid easily being tracked. When he found out who it was, they would get some extra points on the evaluation.
Izuku cut off the healing aura, not wanting to accidentally give his classmates a second wind. The golden glow faded from his skin as he reached out with his power to grasp the construct holding the cage. It hovered just a few dozen feet away from the forest's edge—dangerously close to breaching into the designated safe zone.
He narrowed his eyes, pulling with focused intent. The cage shifted slightly, gaining ground back toward him before resistance kicked in again. Whoever was on the other end had dug in.
'Good,' Izuku thought. This was exactly what he wanted. He raised his hand and began channeling power into more energy attacks. Golden orbs flickered into being around him.
As he walked forward through the underbrush, stepping over scorched earth and burnt leaves, he hurled blast after blast at the resistance point.
Faced with a choice—take the hits and risk injury or let go—they chose the smarter option. The hold on the cage snapped, and Izuku seized full control in an instant.
The cage shot upward like a rocket, lifting out of the trees and gaining altitude fast before curving back toward him. A sharp, distant boom echoed through the forest as his artillery strikes hit home.
Izuku didn't know if Asui, he realized after a quick head count of the class, had dodged in time but she was fast and nimble enough to escape if she reacted quickly.
The rest of the battlefield was easier to assess.
His classmates were downed in various states. A few were unconscious, others groaning or rolling on the ground in pain. Some had minor burns from the radiant heat and impact of his attacks, others looked exhausted, bodies heaving with shallow breaths. It wasn't pretty. He'd pushed a little too hard—but they'd made him. Later, he'd heal their injuries and apologize but right now, he needed to secure the field.
Floating up small, glowing platforms, he created light bindings with a flick of his fingers. The constructs wrapped gently but firmly around the students' limbs, lifting them off the ground one by one. He spaced them out as he worked, sending some hovering gently deeper into the woods, while others drifted toward the tree line. They weren't strong bindings—just enough to discourage movement until they recovered. Anyone determined enough could break free, eventually.
With his work nearly done, he began forming a wide light platform beneath himself, using it to lift him into the sky. His gaze turned upward—and there she was.
His sister.
Her cage was drifting slowly down toward him. She was perched cross-legged on its edge, watching the whole scene with theatrical boredom. As soon as she saw him, her expression lit up with exaggerated indignation.
"No fair, you cheated!" she yelled, arms folded tightly under her chest, propping up her cleavage. "You're not supposed to go this rough on them this early! You skipped half the fun!"
"I know, I know," Izuku said with a long sigh as he adjusted the floating students one last time, making sure no one was too close to crash into anything. "But they were stronger than I thought. Kept catching me off guard. I didn't really have a choice if I wanted the test to keep going."
"That's exactly why I said we should save this part for last," she shot back, gesturing wildly as she lay down in the cage, her voice echoing between the metal bars. "But nooo, you and Momo were a little too excited to put the most complicated test first. So here we are."
She huffed, kicking at the side of the cage.Then she paused mid-grumble, eyes narrowing. "Oh. Also? Put on some clothes. I do not want my brother to be known as a pervert."
Izuku blinked, startled. Then he looked down.
What remained of his training outfit was barely fabric. Charred edges, holes, and half-burned seams left him almost completely exposed. Only tatters clung to him now, and they weren't doing a good job.
His face turned scarlet. Practically glowing.
With a quick motion, he surrounded himself in light and conjured a full suit of glowing armor—nothing complex, just something to spare what little dignity he had left. As the plates of light locked into place over his limbs and chest, he muttered a curse under his breath.
Above him, his sister broke into laughter, the sound ringing out across the forest.
"You better hope no one saw anything!" she called. "I wonder how Ochaco would feel knowing everyone but her got to see the goods first."
Izuku groaned, dragging a gauntleted hand over his face. "God, please no."
His response only made her laugh more.
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A/N: Hello, i bet your wondering what happened to me being more consistent. Well literally the day after i said that, i got a idea, Grug style, and to sum it up. More fics are on the way, both original and fan. What happen to the other fics i haven't started on or updated for years now? What other fics? They don't exist. Anyways, look forward for more new on the next chapter!
Thanks for the stones genskot and others who dropped them. See ya next week!