Black Hole

The monitoring room erupted. No one had expected the fight to end that quickly. A moment ago, it had looked like Bakugo and Yuto were about to drag the battle into a long exchange. Then Yuto had ended it with one swing.

"Kanzaki's swordsmanship is powerful," Tokoyami said. "And he can combine it with his Quirk. I can't see through him. Who knows what other cards he still has up his sleeve?"

"That was a real fight between men. I want to challenge him too."

Yuga Aoyama lifted his chin with his usual elegance.

"If I had been the one fighting, I might have stood a slight chance of defeating him."

"Aoyama-chan, I'll be honest. You're no match for Yuto-chan."

Aoyama went silent. Swordsmanship fused with a Quirk.

Even All Might had not expected that. Yuto clearly still had secrets. Tsuyu turned toward him.

"All Might, did you know Yuto-chan could use swordsmanship like that? And swordsmanship mixed with his Quirk?"

All Might could not admit he had no idea.

"Ha ha ha! Of course I knew!"

Inside, however, another thought rose.

Maybe.

Maybe Yuto really did have a chance to surpass him one day. To become a legend.

Bakugo had been eliminated, but Iida still guarded the fake bomb. He had heard the noise from the battle long before Yuto and Ochaco appeared in the room.

When he saw them, he immediately understood.

"Bakugo lost?"

"He did," Yuto said.

Iida planted himself in front of the bomb and refused to back down.

"If you wish to win, then you must first get past me."

He did not get to finish.

Boom. A circular blast of compressed air shot from Yuto's fist.

Air Shockwave.

Iida had no time to react. The blast struck him head-on and sent him crashing to the floor, unconscious.

With that, the match ended.

The Battle Trial continued after them. Todoroki won with overwhelming force. Tokoyami crushed his match. Mineta was beaten so badly that even Kaminari winced. None of the results were especially surprising.

Before long, the first round of combat training came to an end.

All Might stood in front of the class and gave his summary.

"I'm glad none of you were seriously hurt during today's Battle Trial. For your first exercise, all of you threw yourselves into it seriously, and that is worth praise."

He paused. "Of course, that includes Young Kanzaki."

Yuto sighed. So this was how All Might planned to drag him into trouble today.

"Class dismissed!" All Might declared. "I must take my leave!"

Then he vanished like a gust of wind.

The students stared after him, confused.

Yuto knew exactly why he had left. All Might's transformation time was running out.

After the Battle Trial, Yuto could feel his control over the Gura Gura no Mi nearing a new threshold. His swordsmanship had improved as well, though not as quickly. Overall, the result was not bad.

A few days passed. Then Class 1-A received a new lesson in Foundational Hero Studies.

"Thank you for waiting, everyone."

The Space Hero, Thirteen, stood in front of them. The round suit made the rescue hero look almost harmless, but every student there knew better.

Midoriya's eyes lit up at once.

"The Space Hero, Thirteen! A rescue hero who shines in disaster relief!"

Mina raised a hand.

"I love Thirteen!"

Thirteen gave a small laugh.

"Everyone, let's head inside first."

"Please take care of us!" the class answered.

Thirteen led Class 1-A into the USJ.

The space inside was enormous, almost like a small city built under one roof. Artificial mountains, water zones, fire zones, landslide zones, storm zones, and more stretched out in every direction.

"Amazing. This is the USJ?"

"Flood zones, landslide zones, fire zones, storms, and other disasters," Thirteen explained, spreading their arms with a hint of pride. "This is a training facility designed to simulate all kinds of accidents and catastrophes. Its name is the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. USJ, for short."

Aizawa cut in.

"That's enough introduction. We'll start the lesson now."

"Before we begin," Thirteen said, "I want to remind you of one or two things."

The class quieted.

"As many of you know, my Quirk is Black Hole. It can suck in and crush almost anything."

"That's why you're able to perform rescue work in any disaster, right?"

"Yes," Thirteen said. "But that is not the point I want you to remember. My Quirk can also kill people."

The air changed.

"Your Quirks are the same. Every one of you has a powerful ability. In this superhuman society, one wrong step can easily take a life. Keep that in mind. Today, I want to teach you how to use your Quirks to save people. Those who use their power to save others are the ones people call heroes."

The class went quiet. Thirteen nodded, then glanced toward Yuto.

"I watched your earlier lessons as well. Kanzaki did very well. He has a powerful Quirk, but he also has strong self-control. He does not let power make him careless or arrogant. That's something all of you can learn from. It's a quality worth respecting in a hero."

Several admiring looks turned toward Yuto.

Tsuyu said, "Yuto-chan's control really is good. When he fought Bakugo-chan, he pulled back. Otherwise, Bakugo-chan could have been badly hurt."

Midoriya looked almost more excited than Yuto himself.

"He also taught me how to use my Quirk better last time. It helped a lot."

With everyone looking at him, Yuto felt a little awkward.

"We're classmates," he said. "We should improve together."

Aizawa watched the exchange in silence.

Over the past few days, Class 1-A had improved quickly. A large part of that was because of Yuto.

His presence affected the class more than he seemed to realize.

"All right," Aizawa said. "First, we're going to..."

He stopped. The lights inside the USJ flickered violently. The water in the fountains went still. Thin blue sparks crawled through the air.

The students broke into uneasy whispers.

At the center of the USJ, a black warp gate opened.

Several figures appeared within it.

For the first time since class began, Aizawa looked tense.

"Everyone, evacuate. Now."

x

x

x

If you're enjoying the story so far, consider supporting me on Patreon ❤️
You'll get weekly early access to chapters, along with some exclusive content:

https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheDevotedReader