The observation room, which had been lively only moments before with cheers, laughter, and commentary from one successful match after another, slowly settled into silence.
One by one, the names on the monitor changed.
Principal Nezu vs. Mina Ashido & Kyoka Jirou — PASS.
The replay showed the aftermath.
Nezu had transformed the training ground into a battlefield of construction equipment, conveyor systems, cranes, and collapsing infrastructure, using every industrial machine available as though he had spent decades mastering each one. Every route the girls attempted had already been predicted three minutes in advance.
Yet intelligence alone could not account for unpredictability.
Mina's Acid gradually melted through the supports of the enormous crane Nezu had chosen as his mobile command platform, forcing the principal to descend earlier than intended.
The instant his feet touched the ground—
"Heartbeat Wall!"
Jirou slammed both jacks into the pavement.
Rather than an offensive sonic blast, she generated a concentrated frequency barely above twenty hertz. It wasn't powerful enough to cause lasting damage, but low frequencies had a habit of disrupting equilibrium.
Nezu staggered for barely half a second.
Half a second against hero students was an eternity.
Mina shot forward on a trail of slippery acid, tackling the principal while laughing nervously.
"We...we actually did it?!"
The handcuffs clicked shut.
Thirteen vs. Ochaco Uraraka & Yuga Aoyama — PASS.
Several students had expected a careful rescue-oriented match.
Instead...
The recording resembled a natural disaster.
"...Midoriya," Iida adjusted his glasses while watching the footage. "Would you agree that Uraraka's creativity has become...rather frightening?"
Izuku nodded absentmindedly.
Thirteen's Black Hole made approaching impossible.
So Ochaco simply removed the ground from the equation.
Buildings.
Cars.
Lamp posts.
Entire sections of pavement.
Everything became weightless.
Thousands of tons of debris floated overhead before crashing down in carefully controlled waves.
Forced to constantly erase incoming projectiles with Black Hole, Thirteen's attention shifted upward.
And every single time...
"Sparkling Laser!"
Aoyama fired from another impossible angle.
Another.
Another.
Another.
Eventually one laser struck directly against Thirteen's visor.
The suit cracked.
Emergency pressure warnings blared.
Thirteen immediately raised a hand.
"I surrender."
Nobody wanted to find out what happened if that containment suit fully failed.
Present Mic vs. Rikido Sato & Denki Kaminari — PASS.
This battle...
Could hardly be called tactical.
Sound waves shattered windows.
Electricity arced across entire intersections.
Concrete exploded.
Sugar-fuelled punches flattened walls.
Present Mic laughed almost the entire time.
"YES! THAT'S THE SPIRIT!"
The volume became so absurd that several observation cameras temporarily lost audio.
Eventually Denki willingly overloaded himself, using one enormous discharge to short out several electrical systems Present Mic had been using to amplify his attacks.
With their hearing ringing...
Sato simply walked through the remaining sonic blasts and punched straight through the final barricade.
Present Mic landed flat on his back.
"...Worth it."
He gave them a thumbs up before allowing himself to be cuffed.
Midnight vs. Hanta Sero & Minoru Mineta — PASS.
Several students quietly skipped this replay.
The adults did too.
Even Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose.
"...Moving on."
The only important conclusion...
Sero had demonstrated remarkable composure.
Realizing Midnight's Somnambulist required inhalation, he immediately wrapped tape around both his own nose and Mineta's.
Unable to incapacitate them quickly...
Midnight was eventually restrained beneath layers upon layers of tape and adhesive spheres.
Snipe vs. Mezo Shoji & Toru Hagakure — PASS.
Unlike the previous battles...
Nobody quite knew what had happened.
One moment, gunfire echoed throughout the mock city.
The next...
Silence.
The replay finally revealed it.
Shoji had turned the entire encounter into a patient stalking contest.
Using duplicated ears, eyes and arms, he continuously tracked Snipe without exposing himself.
Meanwhile...
Invisible footsteps followed behind.
Every time Snipe thought he'd repositioned...
Toru had repositioned with him.
The decisive moment came only after nearly twenty-five minutes.
Shoji deliberately revealed himself.
Snipe instinctively fired.
At exactly that instant—
Toru struck from directly behind.
The veteran hero froze.
"...Good ambush."
Handcuffs.
Victory.
The screen continued changing.
Power Loader vs. Tenya Iida & Mashirao Ojiro
Several students leaned forward.
Iida, despite still recovering from I-Island...
had fought brilliantly.
Power Loader specialized in underground mobility, constantly collapsing roads and emerging unexpectedly.
Ojiro's instincts compensated for every blind spot.
Whenever Power Loader surfaced—
Tail.
Kick.
Counter.
Meanwhile Iida acted as the team's engine in every sense of the word.
His newly regenerated engines screamed with mechanical precision.
Instead of trying to overpower their teacher...
the pair gradually restricted every possible escape route until Power Loader found himself cornered against his own tunnels.
"...Excellent teamwork."
Handcuffs clicked shut.
Another pass.
Eraser Head vs. Momo Yaoyorozu & Shoto Todoroki
Silence returned.
Everyone remembered this one.
It had looked hopeless.
Aizawa had dismantled strategy after strategy, erased quirks whenever necessary, and repeatedly forced Yaoyorozu into situations where Creation couldn't keep pace with the battle.
Even Todoroki had found himself unable to rely on overwhelming power.
Until...
He stopped trying to fight Aizawa directly.
Instead...
Ice.
Fire.
Steam.
Smoke.
An enormous area-of-effect bombardment erupted across several city blocks.
Not to defeat Aizawa.
To deny him vision.
If Erasure required eye contact...
Then remove the eyes from the equation.
Within that blinding battlefield...
Momo's meticulous planning finally paid off.
The restraints landed.
Barely.
Aizawa had admitted afterward...
"...That was the correct answer."
Now...
Every monitor went dark.
The names disappeared.
No one spoke.
Even Present Mic stopped smiling.
The final match slowly appeared across the largest screen.
FINAL EXAMAll Might
VS
Bakugo KatsukiIzuku Midoriya
No cheering followed.
No casual conversation.
No one joked.
The atmosphere inside the observation room changed entirely.
Everyone present had watched All Might fight on I-Island.
They had seen him punch apart Wolfram's floating fortress.
Seen him continue fighting with a metal spike driven clean through his abdomen.
Seen him win anyway.
That image remained burned into every student's memory.
Ochaco quietly clasped her hands together.
"...Midoriya..."
Iida folded his arms.
"Bakugo."
Momo unconsciously tightened her grip on her notebook.
Todoroki stared without expression.
"...This will be difficult."
"Difficult?" Kaminari muttered.
"They're dead."
Kirishima scratched the back of his head.
"I wanna believe in them..."
Even he couldn't finish the sentence.
Kuro crossed his arms.
His usual grin had disappeared.
"...He isn't just strong."
Kuro continued quietly.
"All Might is, without a doubt, one of the strongest I've ever seen before. I can't even imagine a better hero than him."
No one argued.
Because everyone there understood exactly what he meant.
Aizawa finally stood.
His capture weapon swayed gently behind him.
"This exam has one purpose."
His voice carried across the room.
"Not to determine whether Midoriya and Bakugo can defeat All Might."
A pause.
"...It is to determine whether they understand what it means to face an opponent they cannot defeat."
The heavy blast doors at the entrance of the final arena slowly began opening.
On one side...
Bakugo rolled his shoulders, tiny explosions crackling from his palms.
Izuku took one slow breath, adjusting his gloves.
On the opposite side...
The familiar silhouette of the Symbol of Peace stepped into the ruined city.
Even wearing the compact weighted restraints designed by Mei Hatsume...
Even visibly injured...
Even smiling kindly...
The pressure radiating from All Might alone was enough to make the air feel heavier.
The final examination...