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Chapter 16 - Day One Part Two

Bakugo bounced the ball up and down in his hands, preparing to fire.

Finishing his stretches, he glanced at his classmates. Alright. Time to show everyone I'm number 1 for a reason.

Taking a pitcher's stance, he put his entire body into the throw.

And as a finishing touch, I'll add a little BOOM to the throw.

"DIE!" His hand flashed like a firecracker.

The ball shot away, leaving behind nothing but dust and the sound of a massive explosion.

It was rare that Bakugo got to produce a full explosion. Laws forbid it. Stupid laws, in Bakugo's opinion. Why should the strong hide their strength?

Right now, however, he felt free. Like an uncaged beast. I'll get to do this every day. His body shivered in glee at the thought.

Aizawa held up a tablet. 705.2 m.

"Woah!"

"Seven hundred meters? Are you for real?!"

"No quirk restraints at all? Man, the hero course is awesome!"

His classmate's cheers felt like applause to Bakugo. Right. This is how it should be.

A disappointed voice broke through the chatter.

"Awesome you say. You want to turn yourself into a hero in three years, and you think the road will be fun and games?"

Aizawa's expression was dark. Intimidating in the way only one an angry teacher's could be.

"It seems I was too lax. Right. Whoever scores the lowest in this test gets expelled."

Silence fell over the ground.

Aizawa's face twisted into a sick grin. "Your fate is in your hands alone. Welcome to the UA Hero Course, you diamonds in the rough."

Goosebumps erupted on all who heard it. Except one.

In the crowd of students, a blonde boy was staring up at the sky, completely unbothered.

A bird passed over him.

Is that a wyvern?

Event 1: 50 meter dash

Tenya Lida and Asui Tsuya went first.

Arthur focused on his friend. This was the first time he was getting to see Leda's quirk in action. As a member of a knightly household, it must be quite the sight to behold.

And a sight to behold it was, Tenya cleared the race in 3.04 seconds, nearly twice as fast as his opponent.

 What followed the race was students using quirks in ways that were either creative or comical. A boy with a navel laser beamed himself across part of the course, only to fall flat on his back near the end. In the end getting up and repeating the action led to him achieving a score barely better than what he would have gotten otherwise. He, of course, either didn't realize or didn't mind.

Finally, it was Arthur's turn. Beside him stood a boy with hair that appeared to be made of giant purple grapes.

Mineta Minoru was not pleased with the Blondie next to him. I swear just looking at this bastard is pissing me off. Look at that face! That hair! ITS BASTARDS LIKE THIS THAT RAISE THE BAR FOR THE REST OF US MEN. I, MINETA, WILL CRUSH YOU AND BRING BALANCE.

Arthur Boyle, unaware of the killing intent emanating off his running mate, cleaned his ears with a pinky.

Getting into running position, both boys waited for the signal.

Arthur stared ahead, his blank expression unchanged. He had pewter burning before the race even started. He chose not to flare it. Pushing his body at the very start of the test was a stupid move, one even Arthur wouldn't make.

"GO!"

Both boys crossed the track in completely different ways. One normally spiriting through the track, although at inhuman speeds, while the other was... bouncing on balls.

Mineta threw his grape balls onto the track before the race even started and used them as jump boosts. An ingenious application of his quirk in his opinion.

Arthur Boyle: 3.92 seconds

Mineta Minoru: 5.82 seconds

Event 2: Grip Strength

Still not flaring pewter, Arthur squeezed with all the might regularly burning pewter could muster.

Grip Strength: 150 kg

Event 3: Standing Long Jump

Flicking some coins onto the pit, Arthur easily burned steel to keep himself airborne and jumped through the whole course.

Result: Cleared the sandbox

Event 4: Repeated Side Steps

In an ideal situation, Arthur would have been able to force coins onto surfaces beside him and pushed himself against the two. Unfortunately, there was no wall to lodge the coins into.

Pewter it is.

Result: 105 per minute

Event 5: Distance Run

Result: indefinite (Aizawa decided to end it before Arthur ran out of pewter)

Event 6: Seated Toe Touches

Result: 37 centimeters (Excellent)

Event 7: Sit ups

Result: 98 in one minute

Event 8: Ball Throw

Arthur warmed up his arms while standing in the circle. Being the second last to step up meant all eyes were on him.

It made him feel special. Heroic. Knightly.

Flaring wasn't a conscious decision. Arthur felt like an indomitable knight, and so he became one.

Pulling out a flask from his pocket, he chugged an entire fill of pewter.

"Hey! Is that even allowed?" One of the boys asked.

Aizawa continued staring straight ahead. "As it is a requirement for his quirk, I will allow it."

3

2

1

Flare.

What Arthur felt this time was not warmth. His chest – no his lungs – burned as if they were on fire.

The ball vanished from sight. Winds blew around Arthur, slowly calming down.

Arthur stood, his pewter reserves fully emptied, panting heavily with his face red.

Aizawa raised his tablet. 714.4 m.

Arthur grinned smugly. Turning to stare at the rest of class 1A, he puffed out his chest.

"Greetings UA. The realm knows me as Sir Arthur Boyle but you can call me My Lord."

He was meant with blank loading screens instead of awe. Did I do something wrong?

The first to react was Bakugo. "YOU COCKY EXTRA I'M GONNA- "

In a shocking turn of events, he was cut off by an even angrier voice. A rarity given it was Bakugo being out-raged (A/N: heh, see what i did there). It was none other than Mineta.

"YOU HANDSOME SON OF A BITCH! HOW DARE YOU WIN THE GENETIC LOTTERY! MEN LIKE YOU SHOULD BE PUT DOWN! DOWN WITH THE BOURGEOISIE!"

Slowly, the rest of the class woke up from their stupor as well.

Momo Yaoyarozu frowned. How arrogant.

Tenya sighed and massaged his temples. "As expected of Arthur, causing a scene day one."

"Silence." Aizawa spoke.

His voice was quieter than everyone else, and yet everyone heard it.

All protests stopped.

"Midoriya. Step up, it's your turn."

The pressure shifted to the green head.

Midoriya paled.

It's okay Izuku, you can do this! You can't fail All Might now!

Slowly, gathering his courage, the boy walked into the spotlight.

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1000+ words wowy

Hope yall like it

Im assigning Arthur strenght based on what I think is appropriate. Brandon Sanderson once said burning pewter essentially doubles everything but I didn't even have a set baseline to double so I just googled whatever an athletes average would be. Sometimes I'd push the double to a triple for the sake of balancing. I took 12 metals away from him so I think boosting the remaining 4 is fair enough.

Until next time!

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