After everyone in Class 1-A arrived at Ground Beta, they followed All Might to a five-story building.
The streets here should have been covered in battle damage from the entrance exam, but they had been restored to spotless condition.
"Eh? Lock, why aren't you wearing your hero costume?"
The noise of Lock and Kyoka Jiro's scuffle made Eijiro Kirishima next to him look over. He pointed at Lock's school uniform and asked suspiciously.
The others heard the question and looked over too, curious about the answer.
"I can take my costume out anytime, anywhere. I'll put it on when I fight." Lock brushed the question off without explaining much.
Eijiro Kirishima nodded and didn't ask any more. He could see Lock didn't want to say more.
It seemed they wouldn't get an answer until the battle.
"Sensei, this is the venue for the practical entrance exam. Are we going to do another practical training in the city?"
At this point, a student in white armor asked. Judging by the voice, it was Tenya Iida, the one with glasses who looked like a disciplinary committee member.
"Nope! This course goes two steps further, with indoor combat training!"
Hearing the words "combat training" from All Might, all the students looked very excited.
As for fighting, they had hardly ever used their Quirks in a real fight, so like newborns curious about the unknown, they were eager to try.
All Might continued to explain: "Although most people think that we Pro Heroes catch villains outdoors, according to the statistics, the probability of incidents happening indoors is actually higher in this world!
"Confinement, house arrest, underground deals. In this Hero-saturated society, the truly vicious villains lurk indoors! So you will now be divided into 'Hero teams' and 'Villain teams' and fight two-on-two indoor battles!"
As soon as All Might finished speaking, the Class 1-A students, led by Tenya Iida just now, all voiced their questions.
Tsuyu Asui: "Aren't we doing basic training first?"
Momo Yaoyorozu: "How is the winner decided?"
Katsuki Bakugo: "Can I just blast them away?"
Toru Hagakure: "Won't we be expelled like with Mr. Aizawa?"
All Might twitched the corners of his mouth, overwhelmed. He wished he had eight mouths so he could answer all the students' questions at once.
Sure enough, as a teacher, All Might clearly wasn't very adaptable.
Looking at All Might's flustered face, Lock couldn't help recalling his thoughts from morning class.
Combat training.
The purpose was simple.
Yesterday, Shota Aizawa had tested all the students' Quirk knowledge and general physical fitness.
And today's combat training should be to test the students' combat potential.
Combat ability is certainly closely tied to Quirk development, but a well-developed Quirk doesn't necessarily mean strong combat ability.
It's similar to bodybuilders and professional fighters.
The two may be comparable in physical fitness, but in a fight, let alone one-on-one, even two fitness buffs against a professional fighter would just be asking for a beating.
Moreover, some people are born with poor mental toughness. In a real battle, they may freeze up, trembling and shrinking back in fear.
This combat training was meant to find out how each student handled actual combat.
Finally, the students stopped asking questions, and All Might wiped the sweat from his chin: "This is honestly more tiring than fighting."
Immediately afterward, he took out a box and said, "As for the teams, your teammates and opponents are all in here, and they'll be decided by lottery, except for Lock and you."
Looking at Lock's innocent face, All Might also felt awkward.
Lock was already a Pro Hero, and he had been commissioned many times by Heroes large and small for combat missions, so this combat training wasn't necessary for him at all.
Not to mention, once he took part, it would definitely be a crushing victory, leaving his opponents feeling they had no chance of winning and possibly even crushing their confidence.
All Might didn't want to see that happen. Or rather, as the No. 1 Hero, he understood it deeply.
"How about this? I have a proposal." Lock raised his hand and said. All Might nodded for him to continue. "I'll be a temporary teacher, an instructor for the combat training."
Hearing Lock's arrogant words, all the students were shocked, and All Might raised his eyebrows too.
It wasn't that his dignity as a teacher was being challenged. U.A.'s school culture is freedom, so All Might was interested in Lock's proposal.
"Go on."
"Eh!?"
All the students exclaimed. They hadn't expected All Might to actually agree to Lock temporarily replacing him.
Lock raised the corners of his mouth, spread his hands wide, and scanned the students of Class 1-A: "Anyone who wants to challenge me can stand up. There's no limit on numbers.
"Even if it's all twenty of you at once!
"In the fight, I'll give you guidance and suggestions based on how you perform attacking me."
Silence. Dead silence.
Everyone was stunned by Lock's wild words, or rather by his absolute confidence.
Could he really be so sure that when one person took on multiple opponents, not only would he not lose, but he'd have the spare time to give guidance and suggestions?
That question rose in everyone's mind. If Lock had known, he would definitely have answered: Yes!
In the original story, when Nejire Hado, Tamaki Amajiki, and Mirio Togata, the U.A. Big Three, third-years of U.A. High School, appeared on stage,
Mirio defeated everyone in Class 1-A all by himself.
Now it was Lock, and he could still do it easily.
Because the strength gap between them could be described by the idiom "the difference between heaven and earth."
Against absolute strength, the advantage of numbers wouldn't matter at all.
"Hm."
Before All Might could think about the feasibility of what Lock said, Shoto Todoroki, regarded as the most ruthless in the class, pushed his chair back with a scrape and stood up.
"I don't want to be half-hearted. I want to be the best, so I'll challenge you, Lock."
Tenya Iida, in his white armor, stepped out after him.
"Count me in as a challenger." Tokoyami, wrapped in a black cloak with only his bird head showing, said coolly.
"Me too! Me too! How can you be surrounded by girls like that in class? I'm so jealous!"
Minoru Mineta, the little grape-headed boy, jumped around, talking jealously.
Seeing this, All Might raised his hand helplessly and said, "Then, as Lock said, who else wants to challenge him?"
Besides the four who had stood up and Lock, the other sixteen students looked at each other in blank dismay, and no one else stood up.
This surprised Lock. He had thought Katsuki Bakugo would challenge him too.
But seeing Bakugo staring at Izuku Midoriya next to him, Lock seemed to understand something.
"Then let's draw lots for the remaining sixteen." All Might called out and began explaining the rules.
The setup was that the Villains had hidden a nuclear weapon somewhere in the building in front of them, and the Heroes had to find a way to deal with it.
And for Momo Yaoyorozu's earlier question about the win conditions:
Villain team: protect the nuclear weapon for a set time, or capture the Heroes.
Hero team: capture the Villains in a certain room, or retrieve the nuclear weapon.
After explaining the rules, the remaining sixteen students stepped forward to draw their teammates.
"Team A: Izuku Midoriya, Ochaco Uraraka
Team B: Kyoka Jiro, Toru Hagakure
Team C: Momo Yaoyorozu, Tsuyu Asui
Team D: Katsuki Bakugo, Mezo Shoji
Team E: Mina Ashido, Yuga Aoyama
Team F: Koji Koda, Rikido Sato
Team G: Mashirao Ojiro, Denki Kaminari
Team H: Eijiro Kirishima, Hanta Sero."
"Then the first two teams to fight are..." All Might rummaged through the box and took out two balls. "These two!"
In All Might's hands, one was the ball for Team A and the other was the ball for Team D.
In the first match, Team A, the Heroes, versus Team D, the Villains!
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