40 Battle Exam

"So are you going to be able to work with me or are you just going to get in my way?" Nick said as he stood at the entrance of the fake city on U.A.s grounds. It was impressive, the towering structures of concrete and glass making up an entire fake block. Very impressive.

Scoffing Bakugo didn't even look at Nick as he glared down the main street. The exit was on the other side, they could both see it but neither of them cared, it was one thing they shared in common. They would rather fight than flee.

"Work with you? Your just going to get in MY way bastard!" Bakugo retorted as he glared at the floor. He knew his words weren't true and he hated how he couldn't stop himself from saying them.

"You're a hindrance to me Bakugo… but you could work as a useful distraction." Nick replied as he looked at the other boy. Seeing the anger from being called something he hated the most… basically an extra.

Nick had just finished getting his new body and he was feeling stronger than ever, he had implanted his mind in the new creation of his and got rid of his old body. His own quirk factor was the only thing that hadn't changed in the transfer. He had effectively made the bodies merge and then got rid of the old one when he was done with it.

Taking out the cuffs he said. "Do you really think we could put these on All Might?" His voice questioned as he looked at Bakugo.

They had been explained the basics of the task, how All Might have weights as well and how they could either fight or flee.

Walking towards Bakugo who looked ready to storm off on his own he said. "Your strong alright, but you are nothing when compared to me. And even I cannot defeat All Might." Nick's voice was serious.

He knew he was right, Nick was confident in his strength, yes but he wasn't facing the All Might from canon, no he had healed the man. He had restored him to close to his prime and yes the spark of All for One may be dying down. But it still burnt brighter than ever. It didn't matter that All Might had half his body weight weighing him down. Hell, he could have 5 times his body weight and shrug it off like it was nothing.

Yeah if he was injured sure Nick could beat the man, hell he would at least try. But there was a reason that the 'symbol of peace' was such a strong symbol. It was because All Might's strength was almost ridiculous.

His strength right now was still less than injured All Might, who wasn't even half as strong as All Might was currently.

He couldn't beat All Might on his own but if he got Bakugo to help then it was possible. Hell, it was possible on his own but sheer strength was almost unbeatable in most situations.

"I'll tire him out, lead him by the nose and then I'll smash him when he's tuckered out!" Bakugo yelled back as Nick just shook his head, he thought that by beating the living shit out of Bakugo he would have got the image but nope…

"Who do you think you are? You are a student, you are weak, I have already shown that to you. This is a joint test, we need to work together. Lend me your strength, and I- we will beat him."

"I DON'T NEED YOU'RE HELP TO PASS THIS EXAM ASSHOLE!! I'LL BEAT ALL MIGHT MYSELF, AND THEN I'LL BEAT YOU! I AM. STRONGER." Bakugo said as he got really close to Nick.

Feeling a sudden change in the wind around him Nick narrowed his eyes and put his hand on Bakugo faster than the kid could react before pulling him to the side and out of the way of a wind blast that annihilated the building next to where they were standing. A trail of destruction was left in the wake of the devastating attack.

Throwing Bakugo to the floor after having pulled him out of the way he saw the boy stare wide eyes at the attack before staring back at Nick, rage filling his eyes.

"Brace yourselves. For. I. Am. Here." All Might said as he stepped out of the dust, he seemed taller, his hair waving in the wind that didn't exist simply the power flowing through him was enough to make the hair stand.

It was enough to make the hair on Nick's arm prickle.

Without even turning to Bakugo he said, "Stay out of my way then."

With an explosive movement, he was suddenly in front of All Might swinging a fist, he just needed to touch the man.

"Slow." Those words rang through his ears like a hammer on metal. Harsh.

He didn't even see it but All Might moved out of the way in an instant, suddenly behind Nick. Starting to rotate Nick felt the air shift again and focusing his mind overhauled the air itself sending the shock wave on either side of him devastating the floor but leaving him untouched.

Stumbling back a bit Nick was left staring at the Hero before him in amazement, the movement was fast, ridiculously so. So this was the Hero that beat All for One in his prime… truly. He was amazing.

Grinning wildly Nick said, "Now this is a fight that gets me excited!"

Slamming his fists together he activated his Gigantification and from his chest he felt the energy well, swelling and coiling around inside him as he felt his mass start to duplicate rapidly but instead of letting it make him larger he bent the forming mass to his will.

---

Bakugo watched from the side, his forearm hurt, Nick had just pulled him out of the way of a blast that would have crippled him, and that was if he was lucky.

Nick dashed forward, the ground shattered where he had been standing and as Bakugo stumbled to his feet the dust and rocks forced him to squint and cover his eyes. By the time he could see again, All Might was already behind Nick and was getting ready for another punch. Then in that same instant… Nick changed.

From his chest energy exploded as… 'mass' started to curl through the air filled with that golden lightning that condensed down and black muscles formed over skin that turned a dull grey. His hair floated as his eyes glowed a deep sunburnt gold. Energy flickering like fire around his skin that transformed. Arms sprouting from his back from bone to skin.

Watching as the bone was wrapped with flesh and muscle Bakugo could do nothing but watch in shock… how could he compare to these two titans? He had been stronger since his defeat at the sports festival but here he was seeing this happen before him. Could he even compare?

What was he asking, of course he could, he was KATSUKI FUCKING BAKUGO! HE WOULD BE THE STRONGEST!! Standing up his palms crackled with intense fire, he would NOT be left behind!

---

All Might didn't know how to react, Nick had just… bent the air? He had sent a blast planning on pushing Nick back but the boy had dealt with the attack with only a small stumble.

He was planning on beating Nick, showing the kid that he could still grow and that he wasn't invincible but the only way to hit the kid was with air attacks and now even that seemed impossible. He could brute force it yes but he didn't want to risk hurting the kid badly, even if he could heal.

Taking a step back the golden lighting flared around the boy, the energy radiating off him was immense and it seemed… Endless.

Eyes widening he crossed his arms in front of him as metal spikes crashed into his arm out of nowhere with enough force that he felt even he might bruise from it. As he was sent flying backwards he felt a sudden ignition against his back, he had been so shocked by the sudden attack that he had forgotten about Bakugo. Feeling the heat against his back he was sent stumbling forward. Bringing a leg up he was about to slam it into the ground but suddenly the floor moved from beneath him leaving him without footing.

Multiple metal tendrils tried to wrap around him but with a wave of his arms, a tide of destruction was sent out from him blowing everything back. Instead of falling he jumped against the air with enough force that the wind sent him shooting into the air.

Spinning around he sent a punch towards Nick with enough force he knew the boy couldn't redirect it.

---

Seeing All Might soar into the air Nick felt the air shift and knowing that he wasn't going to be able to block it he raised the ground in front of him as he sent the energy coiling through the structure of the stone changing it into metal. The hardest he could think of as it layered and layered becoming a shield.

He had worried about using energy before to convert material. But with Energy Saver and Endurance? He felt like he was brimming with vitality. No matter how much energy he poured out as long as he had the moral and motivation to win his stocks would expand and grow.

Dashing forward he slammed his feet into the ground as he launched himself into the air. The metal shield that had warped and broken from the attack of All Might broke down and transformed into giant metal cables that carried into the air with him. Keeping him connected to the ground.

Seeing All Might spin he saw Bakugo flying through the air with explosions.

Putting a cable beneath his feet Bakugo didn't even realize it was there before it suddenly flung him at All Might at speeds the boy was not used to yet to Nick's surprise he adjusted in the split second he had before he impacted All Might.

All Might not expecting Bakugo to approach so fast crossed his arms to deal with the explosion that Nick forced more oxygen into and pulled the air into All Might condensing the explosion.

With a sudden boom rocking the entire sky Bakugo flipped away surprised by the intensity of his own explosion.

Waving his arm the smoke cleared in an instant to show All Might with just a few burn marks on his costume as he stood proud and tall in the air.

Feeling danger flares behind him he spun around and before his foot could impact Nicklaus a blast of air sent the kid flying away and crashing into the ground in the city somewhere. Bakugo was forced away by the sheer shock.

Nick who had almost touched All Might from behind was hit by a kick way stronger than he had expected to hit him. He hadn't even had time to disperse the air.

Crashing through a few buildings and then impacting the floor Nick let in a sharp breath as he felt that most of his bones were broken. Healing himself in an instant he stood up as he glared towards where he saw All Might crash into the floor. Putting his hands on the ground he closed his eyes.

---

All Might slammed into the floor with enough force to send rock and dirt flying around him. Enough force to make Bakugo who had landed nearby stumble. Shit, he hadn't meant to hit Nick that hard but he had come out of nowhere. It was honestly shocking the speed and strength that Nick was showing right now.

He didn't know what to do, taking out Nick gently wasn't an option anymore, if he wanted to beat the boy he would have to do so without holding back. Taking a deep breath he felt his muscles invigorate, the power flowing under his skin unhindered like it had been the year prior. He felt free, shackles no longer bound him. Broken by a boy who he knew almost nothing about, but a boy whose strength seemed to soar to new heights with everything he did.

Hearing the explosions behind him he turned to hit Bakugo only for the boy to do his normal flip over the head of the teacher. The boy needed to learn new tricks.

Swinging his arm over his head he was about to lightly impact Bakugo but a cable yanked the boy out of the way. The ground around All Might suddenly shifted. Focusing his power on his toes he was almost about to jump to avoid whatever was happening but instead, he found the ground become a large flat area.

Then the buildings around him exploded. Where was Nicklaus?

As the buildings dissolved into dust, in mere moments. Moments almost too fast for All Might to see, how was the boy working his quirk so fast? Surely his brain's thought process would slow him down just like a normal person's?

His goal had been to show Nick and Bakugo that they were not as strong as they thought they were But it looked like Nick knew the limits of his strength but was dancing around it expertly.

Bakugo however was getting reckless, desperate to prove that he was good enough to be on the same playing field…

Watching the deconstructed dust swirl in the air he crouched down ready to react to anything. And react he did.

As the dust suddenly assembled into a barrage of countless spikes that lunged towards him he dodged each of them. The stable footing of the ground helped him weave between the spikes. Putting his weight on one foot to dodge an oncoming spike he adjusted just enough that the next wouldn't hit him as well but the ground under his foot shifted, less than an inch. But it shifted slightly. Throwing a hand up he smashed the spike that was about to hit him.

With every spike he dodge the ground now shifted with each of his movements enough to throw him off. How was Nick thinking so fast!

Having enough of this he threw his fist down and smashed the floor. The rubble flew into the air as a wave blasted everything around him away but as everything flew into the air it disassembled and reassembled once more into a floor that was completely fixed…

But all Might noticed something.

The wave of deconstruction hadn't come from an outside direction and if Nick wanted to affect this whole area he had to be in the centre of it.

Dodging another spike he clapped his hand and once more as everything exploded he plunged his hand into the ground. Before opening his hand with all the strength he could muster. The sudden generated force tore the ground asunder as everything at that moment exploded.

And his back was hit with a wave of heat. From the gauntlet that Bakugo wore a wave of explosion tore through the air.

Nick was thrown from the exploding ground and into the air as he kept his bearings and a cable connecting him to the floor.

Everything was happening so fast. Flexing his muscles All Might tried to jump away but Nick was already attacking him with a flurry of blows from all six arms.

---

Nick rained the endless onslaught down upon All Might but the man without any delay started blocking every strike. Each time he pulled his punches sharply just before contact could be made causing the blast of wind to make Nick's fist flash backwards, no matter how much Nick tried to push through the strength was just too much. All Might was blocking each of his blows without even making contact with him.

Suddenly using the surroundings as well he threw everything in the vicinity at All Might, spikes of metal and concrete, whips of earth and glass. Everything that he could get his quirk on.

With All Might barely being able to defend from it all the loud crackle warned both of them of the incoming attack. With a loud bang, the air lit up red and orange as an explosion activated. Using his quirk on the air Nick once more compressed it down into the side of All Might with a grin on his face as he jumped back. All Might crashed into a building.

Backing away Bakugo fell next to him rolling because of the explosion he had just made, his arm was clearly hurt from making something that big.

"Fuck! Did I get him." Bakugo almost screamed as they looked at the smoking hole that All Might had flown through.

"Nope," Nick answered without hesitation. You would need something much bigger than that to keep All Might down.

Watching the rubble fall onto the ground Nick took a step back. His arms merged once more until he had only two. There was no point having more right now, he couldn't fight All Might hand-to-hand anyway even with the advantage of touch that he had.

The air shifted before Nick could react.

And All Might was in front of him and unexpectedly punched him in the chest. Hard.

Nick was sent flying, he hadn't even had time to activate his quirk, there hadn't even been a moment of contact but the wind blast was enough to throw Nick back and crashing through buildings. Just as he felt the air shift above him signs of another punch he used his quirk to almost throw the floor at All Might.

With everything suddenly turning into spikes, he jumped out of the way of the attack as All Might flexed, the movement of his muscles enough to make everything around him fly back with a wave of air.

Shaking his head Nick said, "God damn it your strong All Might, you really are the symbol of peace huh?" A grin plastered on his face as he looked at All Might whose chest was heaving slightly.

It was working, he was wearing him out. Those powerful blasts couldn't be kept up forever if his flame was going out, it was only a matter of time before a single slip-up happened, and when it did… Nick would win.

"You are impressive yourself young Hendrix. Teacher has to give it his all." All Might responded as he stood up a bit straighter, shrugging off the rubble that had landed on his shoulder from the floor exploding.

"You really do have a troublesome quirk Hendrix." All Might said.

"yeah, very troublesome…" Nick responded with a grin. And All Might felt his body lock up.

"The thing about always brute forcing things is people get used to big flashy moves, not simple things." Nick continued as he pointed at the floor.

Where Nick had been just before he had exploded the floor was a tendril that was touching the bottom of All Might's foot. When Nick had blown the ground up in the dust and cover he had created a small tendril under the ground and made sure that it would touch the sole of All Might's shoe when he landed on the floor.

Walking forward Nick got the tendril to grow using gigantification and wrapped All Might with tendrils as he walked behind his teacher and put a hand on his back… he couldn't beat All Might with strength alone right now but he had gotten close enough that he was happy.

He could however beat the man. It just took some time and a single moment where All Might wasn't checking the floor.

---

Bakugo landed on the floor and ran around the broken building to see All Might standing stock still, tendrils of metal and bone wrapped around him and Nick standing behind him with his hand on his back.

"The cuffs Bakugo?" Nick said as he looked over at him, those stupid uncaring eyes showing satisfaction at his victory, he hated that satisfaction…

Gritting his teeth hard Bakugo took the cuffs out and threw them on the floor at Nick's feet. Watching the boy raise the earth unbothered by the sign of defiance he grabbed the cuffs and using his quirk forced All Might to move his hands behind his back and then cuffed him.

Bakugo stood there just watching. His eyes brimming with anger but also… tears. Why was he never good enough, ever since getting into this school Nick had been beating him again and again and during the sports festival he had decided that he would really try but now it didn't seem to matter. Everything he did was overshadowed.

---

Letting go of All Might he watched the man easily snap the cuffs as he turned around and shook hands with Nick quite quickly to the point that Nick was getting concerned for his elbow. "Fantastic work my boy! I thought you would only go all out with flashy attacks like other youths your age but a slighly bit of tricky is something that most strong Heroes lack!"

Their win was announced to the other groups.

Nick just nodded his head as he turned to look at Bakugo, after All Might said some encouraging words to his teammate they were both walking through the entrance and towards Recovery Girls tent to get Bakugo treated for his scrapes.

"Why are you so much stronger than me…" Bakugo said as he looked at the floor.

Thinking for a moment Nick answered honestly, "Because life is not fair, that is why you are so much stronger than normal people your age. Life just isn't fair and I got a busted hand when I was born. It's not your fault. But I also used the cards that I was given as best as I could, I knew how to play them as well which made a massive difference, but even I seek help. I would not have been able to do half of what I did today if it wasn't for one of our teachers helping me."

Turning to look at Bakugo he said, "Fear, Denial, Pride. Those are words I would use to describe you, I am not perfect myself and honestly getting character advice from me is a shit idea. But I at least try my best to be the best I can, and I let others help me grow. Hell just a couple of days ago I was called an idiot for something I was planning and when I thought about it, it was true. I was doing what I thought would be best but what do I know. We are still learning, let yourself learn." With that Nick left Bakugo with Recovery Girl, planning and going on waiting by himself somewhere. He didn't want to deal with people anymore today.

Looking at the sky he heard the announcement of Midoriya and Yaoyorozu finishing.

He still had a long way to go but he was growing, and that was all that mattered to him. He wasn't at a strength that he was happy with, but he believed that he could see a path there.

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Thank you for all the 'get well soons,' it was nice to see them. Feeling much better today but still a bit crook. Thanks for all the support! Let me know what you think of the chapter as well!

Comments and reviews are always welcome, thanks to everyone who does so!

Edit: Fixed some of the grammar. Hopefully it is better than it was.