Chapter 37: Queen Of Eternal Darkness

"So...I think I know where the kid is." Kirishima commented.

Nezu had actually had Team D wait a bit, so they could change the fake city a bit.

Firstly they had shifted it into night mode. Covering the city in a dome that gave off some fake moonlight.

The only other light sources were the street lights that were littered about the city.

However, the most notable change was the enormous castle that took the place of a few buildings.

It looked to be made mostly of cement, meaning that Cementoss was most likely used to make it so quickly.

Still, it didn't make it very hard to figure out where the kid they were supposed to find was.

"Right, they are most likely inside the castle," Tokoyami said. "Although given how our other classmates' trials have been, I have little doubt that it's a trap."

"I'll go ahead! Any surprise attacks I'll have to go through me!" Kirishima hardened his arms and brought his fist together.

"No arguments there!" Toru gave him a thumbs up, not that anyone could see it, as she was without her gloves.

With that decided, Kirishima went out in front, with Tokoyami and Toru following behind and Ojiro guarding the rear.

Back in the observation room.

"So a...a castle," Sero remarked, a little taken aback that they made a whole freaking castle just for this kid.

"Yeah...she's a bit...overdramatic." Izuku sighed, although there was a hint of a smile on his face.

"Oh! Oh! Is it Kiba! Is it finally time for Kiba!?" Mina asked VERY eagerly. Representing more than half of my readers.

"Well, yeah it's her." Izuku sheepishly admitted. "Unlike the others, she was VERY involved in the process of making this exercise. Of course, we had to refuse a lot of her requests because a lot of them were...unrealistic. But the exercise still has a lot of...Kiba, to it."

"YEAHHHH!" Mina cheered.

"They're not meeting much resistance." Todoroki pointed out as he watched his four classmates travel towards the castle. "I expected more of those Grimm monsters."

"Maybe they'll be there when they try and enter the castle?" Sato theorized.

"No." Izuku shook his head. "Kiba has...something different planned. I think it'd be better if you just watched."

A few minutes later, with Team D.

As Team D reached the entrance of the castle, they found Kiba waiting for them. Standing up on a balcony over the gate.

Kiba was wearing a very elegant black dress, with long black gloves and black dress shoes. As well as a golden crown with large red rubies. And her hair was styled up in fancy drills.

"Welcome, heroes," Kiba said in a very smug tone, her face reflecting her confidence as she literally looked down on the students. "To your demise. I am Kiba Midoriya! Queen of Eternal Darkness! The rightful ruler of all that lives and breathes! And the one destined to inherit the earth!"

This got...various reactions.

Tokoyami went silent, as he got bad middle school flashbacks.

Wow. This is...a lot. Ojiro thought.

Is this part of the exercise? What's going on? Kirishima wondered in confusion.

Toru on the other hand.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Toru squealed. "It's Kiba! Ah, I love her! Look at her! Look at how cute she is and her cute little dress! EEEEEEEE!"

Everyone was taken aback by the invisible girl's sudden outburst. Most of all Kiba, mostly because she didn't know she was there.

"So this is the streamer you were so excited about...yeah that makes sense," Ojiro said, taking a good look at Kiba. This is the exact kind of person the internet would enjoy.

"Well, she sure is cute," Kirishima admitted.

"The cutest!" Toru gushed.

"Ah-hem!" Kiba fake coughed into her fist to pull the attention back to her. "I see my reputation precedes me! To think even someone in the hero's party would admire me so. Well, we will touch back upon that later. For now, I must test you to see if you are worth my time. Now. COME! Nuckelavee!"

"What?" Said all four of the students at once.

Then, from inside the castle, they heard a clopping sound. Like a big horse was coming towards them, very quickly.

"What kind of name is-" Before Ojiro could finish he was cut off.

RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

"AHHHHHH!"

A blood curling, ear-piercing scream ripped through the air, forcing the students to clutch their heads in, coving their ear hoping to stop the noise from reaching them.

Through the gates exited another huge Grimm. This one being far more horrifying than anything else they'd seen up until this point.

Its bottom half was a huge Grimm horse, that looked rather normal for a Grimm, with the exception of its rib cage poking out of its chest, and its red eye glowing slightly brighter and more menacingly than the other Grimm.

The particularly horrifying part was the rider. Which was physically attached to the house by its torso! Its body was skinny, with its rib cage poking out in the same way as the horse, and jagged spiny bones came out of its spine. Its mouth didn't seem to be able to fully open. As the black parts of its lower mouth seemed to be stuck to the boney white part of its upper mouth as if its teeth had dug into its gums and were pulling it upwards, as its mouth emitted a strange hellish glow that could also be seen in its eyes. To make it even more demon-like was its mask featuring two long horns at the top of his head, and its long disproportionate, skinny arms, which went all the way down to the ground and at the end of them, instead of hands were two...things, that were somewhere between claws and fingers.

In summary, it looked like the Horsemen Of Death had come and was physically attached to the horse.

The four students stood absolutely still, paralyzed in shock and horror.

Back in the observation room.

"What the actual fuck!?" Kaminari blurted out.

"L-Language!" Iida managed to pull himself together quick enough to scold his classmate, but his eyes were still glued to the screen.

"Hey Midori, have you ever considered getting these kids to a therapist?" Mina asked Izuku, trying to look away from the screen as much as possible.

"Constantly," Izuku admitted. "I'm honestly kinda ashamed of myself for not having them all on regular appointments. It's just...hard to find people you trust with your kids."

"Don't you have other employees you trust with your kids?" Todoroki asked.

"W-well...y-you see…" Izuku was sweating a bit, looking away from the class as his face turned red.

Momo's eyes went wide. "Wait a minute...are you saying-"

"That you still haven't hired any other employees!?" Ochaco gave Izuku a stern look, making him sweat even more.

"Wait what?" Jiro asked.

Once again the class was treated to yet another shock, when they all suddenly realized that Izuku was taking care of all these terribly dangerous children, by himself.

Suddenly a few of them, such as Todoroki, Shinso, and Momo, had noticed a few things about Izuku they didn't before. Such as the bags around his eyes, and his overly tired posture. As if he was running on nothing but coffee and determination.

"I mean I've been looking at applicants!" Izuku swiftly defended himself. "It's just...like I said it's hard to find people to look after your kids. I've heard horror stories about baby-sitters or people running orphanages who abused and mistreated the children. And the kids...have already been through so much."

"But if you keep this up your gonna work yourself into the ground!" Ochaco scolded. "How much did you even sleep last night?!"

"O-oh well you-you know...a while," Izuku answered without answering, making Ochaco glare harder.

"Do you have some kind of quirk that helps with exhaustion?" Mina asked him.

This only made Izuku sweat even harder. "Uhhhhhhhhhhh. C-can we not talk about-"

"Shitty Deku doesn't have a fucking quirk!"

"Oh no," Izuku muttered.

Into the observation room walked Katsuki Bakugou. Still in a few cast as Recovery Girl was unable to heal all the broken bones Kai had given him. He was exhausted and his body still ached, but that didn't stop him from limping his way here, and glaring at Izuku like he took his entire existence as a personal insult.

Which he did.

"Deku's quirkless!" Bakugo barked. "Which is why he's been hiding from me! For months!"

Most of the class gave Izuku surprised looks, receiving yet another shock in only a short while.

Izuku however, switched from nervous to exasperated. "Kacchan. I haven't been hiding from you, I just moved."

"Where!?" Bakugo shouted at him.

Izuku sighed and shook his head. "Kacchan. We'll have this conversation later."

"Like hell, you get to tell me what to do!" Bakugo limped towards him, but Ochaco stood in his way. "Get the fuck out of the way Round Face!"

"Try and make me." Ochaco dared him in a deadly serious tone. "You won't get far in those casts. You look like you're about to tip over."

"Grrrrr!" Bakugo opened his mouth to let out some more curses and threats, but someone far more threatening spoke first.

"Katsuki Bakugo." Everyone froze when Nezu spoke up. His tone was as calm as ever, but there was an underlying threat lacing his words that sent shivers up Bakugo's spine. "Need I remind you that you are on exceedingly thin ice? Acting so impolite to our guest is an offense worthy of detention at least."

"Tch." Bakugo held back his tongue. He was absolutely pissed, but he knew that saying literally anything right now, wouldn't help him. Not with someone like Nezu.

"And I doubt Recovery Girl, cleared you to leave the Medical Wing either. Meaning that not only did you threaten our guest, you disobeyed one of our staff to do so." Nezu deduced. "And what's worse is that the guest you threatened, is a high-ranking government associate. And the head of the government Q.R branch."

"Wait what the fuck?!" Katsuki was taken off guard by that, looking at Izuku with a mix of anger and shock. "Deku! What the fuck have you been up to?"

"I will explain later...it's...a long story." Izuku sighed. "For now you should go back to Recovery Girl's office. I WILL tell you about it later. I promise."

Bakugo wanted to shout at him. Tell him that he can't tell him what to do. But he could feel Nezu's gaze. Warning him that if he did anything funny, he'd pay for it dearly.

"Yes, I think that would be for the best." Nezu agreed. "And I think it would be best if you did this, now."

If looks could kill, Izuku would have died a long time ago, but right now, he would have been atomized.

But that was all he could do. Give Izuku an enraged look, and eventually, turn away and leave towards Recovery Girl's office.

After that, there was a prolonged period of silence, as the class took in this new information, while Izuku prepared himself for the worst.

"Soooo...quirkless huh. Man, that sucks." Kaminari said.

Izuku was a bit shocked, but even more so when Jiro stabbed him with one of her jacks.

"AH! What the hell was that for!" Kaminari rubbed his arm where Jiro had stabbed him.

"For being an insensitive idiot!" Jiro hissed at him.

"While I doubt you had any harmful intent, your words could be taken offensively, Kaminari," Shoji explained. "It could be taken as you looking down on him."

"What!? Oh shit, I'm so sorry man!" Kaminari swiftly apologized.

"No-no it's fine!" Izuku reassured him flusteredly. "Your right, it does suck...a lot."

"More than you can imagine," Ochaco muttered bitterly.

"And that explains the trust issues." Shinso now saw Izuku in a whole new light. "Quirk discrimination. I thought the whole thing with Bakugo was the reason but that was just a small part of something a lot worse wasn't it?"

"Is quirk discrimination really bad around here?" Mina asked, with a very concerned and worried expression on her face.

"Wait does that mean Bakugo is quirkist?" Sero asked.

"I mean I don't know?" Sato asked before looking at Izuku curiously. "Is he?"

"If he is then it's appalling that U.A. allowed him in despite this." Todoroki looked at Izuku. "How bad did he treat you because you were quirkless? Or was there another reason?"

Izuku didn't quite know what to say, and he was looking increasingly uncomfortable, with all the attention pointed at him.

Because of his quirklessness.

Fortunately, this was very different from the past.

"Enough!" Iida suddenly shouted, causing almost everyone to jump. "That detail was obviously something Midoriya was trying to hide, and something that clearly makes him uncomfortable! He is an honored guest at U.A. and we should desist in asking about such things for the time being!"

"We are mostly a bunch of strangers to him. I really don't know why you'd think he'd want to open up to us." Asui reminded everyone.

"Yeah, guys come on give him some space!" Ochaco said, getting between Izuku and everyone else.

"T-Thank you." Izuku's face turned red. Embarrassed at needing to hide behind his friends from something that ultimately, in his opinion, he should have been able to handle.

Right. I guess the last thing I'd want to do is talk about my discrimination issues with a bunch of people I met less than two hours ago. Shinso chided himself.

The purple-haired teen now had a keen interest in whatever the hell Izuku's story was. Partially out of curiosity, and partially because he wanted to know how much he should hate Bakugo.

"Putting Midoriya's...condition? I-Is it ok to call it that?" Momo wasn't really sure how to handle this situation and she was very afraid of being labeled a quirkist or worse, subconsciously being a quirkist.

"It really doesn't matter, that's one of the nicer things people have called it anyway," Izuku explained.

"O-Oh...W-well not to sound dismissive, but putting that aside, would you like to explain the part where Nezu said you were in charge of the Q.R. branch?" Momo asked. It had taken a while for her to get over THAT particular fact. It just didn't make any sense to her. Not only should one person not be doing that much work, but he was fifteen! Since when could fifteen year old's be government agents let alone run a branch of the government!?

"Yeah what's that about?" Ochaco had, in her rage at Bakugo, completely missed that part the first time and was now left wondering what her friend had gotten himself into now.

"That was not necessarily true. While I do hold...influence over the Q.R. branch, and I have power and responsibilities aligned with them, I am not technically in charge." Izuku explained.

This was true. While the Quirk Removal Branch would do basically anything he said considering that he could put an end to the whole branch at any time, that was only in practice, as on paper the government was still in fully in charge of that branch, and that branch now had its own leaders and officials.

"Uh...this might be a stupid question but...what's the Q.R. branch?" Kaminari asked.

"I don't know what it is either?" Sero admitted.

Looking around, it was easy to tell that most of the class seemed to not know what it was either.

"Really?! None of you have heard about it?" Momo looked at her entire class in shock. "I

suppose the news has only started to spread recently, but I had expected at least a few of you to know."

"It stands for Quirk Removal branch," Nezu explained.

"EHHHHHHHHH!?" This time the entire class was in shock, and it showed.

"Wait? Quirk Removals? Like getting rid of quirks?" Sero's eyes were wide and his jaw was hanging, and this expression was shared by a large chunk of the class.

"Y-yes," Izuku admitted, before quickly explaining himself. "The Q.R. branch is focused on removing quirks from level two O.P.C.'s. And only ones I think should have their quirks removed."

"But, how? Why? What even-" Momo really couldn't wrap her head around a single teenager being in charge of such an important function, that could change so many people's lives.

"How does one even erase a quirk?" Todoroki asked.

"And what are the criteria for it?" Shinso asked.

"Well, I can't tell you how it happens, but as for the criteria. Typically, only people with quirks that are too dangerous to be allowed to exist in society." Izuku tried to think of the best example." For example, there was a boy who had a roulette quirk. Every twenty-four hours his quirk would change from one thing to the next. This caused a lot of different problems, as no one could adapt to his quirk since it kept changing, most of the time this would only lead to minor injuries and small scale property damage, however, some of his quirks were so dangerous that they would lead to mass death and destruction. And so eventually D.O.C. had to take him in and contain him."

"And since there was nothing they could do to contain his quirk, the only options he had would either be to stay locked up forever, or have his quirk be removed." Todoroki summarized.

"That sucks!" Mina cried.

"Being locked away because you were born with a dangerous quirk. How horrible." Momo said.

"Izuku." Ochaco, unlike the others, was more concerned for her friend. After all, she knew having to decide the fates of people's lives, must weigh heavily on him.

"Unfortunately there is little choice for anyone in the matter," Nezu spoke up. "If the people with these quirks were to be released, then they WOULD cause casualties eventually. Whether they wanted to or not. Their quirks are simply too uncontrollable. And so these are the only two real options. It is truly horrible for these people and their families, but there is little choice otherwise."

The class went silent, a feeling of frustration brewing inside most of them. Frustration at the misfortune of these innocent people, who they could do nothing to help.

"Of course removing quirks is only a last resort," Izuku reassured them. "D.O.C. will try first and foremost to find ways for these children to live WITH their quirks, rather than simply just taking them away...at least they will so long as I'm deciding who gets their quirks erased."

"I imagine that the government has been trying to expand the scope of this branch?" Nezu asked him.

"Yeah, but taking away someone's quirk is a serious matter. One that shouldn't be treated as a first or even second option." Izuku explained. "It's condemning them to a life of hardships."

The class once again went silent, as they had to fully take in what Izuku had said.

"Well, I believe that's enough sidetracking. It looks like the battle with that monster is about to end." Nezu said, turning everyone's attention back to the exercise.

A few minutes ago, with team D.

"RAHHHHH!" The monster(because I'm not gonna write out its name every time) let out another ear-piercing scream, as it charged towards them.

"Ugh! Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami covered his ears and called out for Dark Shadow to attack.

The sentient quirk which had been suppressed since the exercise started, burst out of his cloak, to confront the charging Grimm.

Dark Shadow was quite big due to the lack of light, about the size of the creature's torso, and so when the two met, Dark Shadow was able to tackle the monster's chest, but while this did stun the rider a bit, it didn't manage to stop the horse from charging towards them.

"I got this!" Kirishima activated his quirk, hardening his arms and running towards the monster.

Kirishima grabbed the horse's legs mid charge and tried to hold it back but whenever the horse would pick up its feet it was taking Kirishima with it.

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" The horse did stop its charge, but only so that way it could flail around, to try and throw Kirishima off, its leg.

Meanwhile, Dark Shadow was busy attacking the monster's head, clawing at its head and making some scratches in its mask.

The Nuckelavee grabbed into Dark Shadow's face and then started pushing it away, however much, to everyone's surprise, its arms extended, pushing Dark Shadow a couple dozen feet in the air, before rotating its body and swinging Dark Shadow around, and then slammed it into the ground.

"Everyone close your eyes!" Toru shouted.

Knowing what was coming, everyone closed their eyes.

"Say cheese!" Toru unleashed a massive flash of light that blinded the horse and the rider.

"RAHHH!" The creature stumbled back, the rider covered its eyes with its hands while the horse just started bucking around while blinded.

Ojiro took this time to jump up to the horse's head, using his tail to boost himself up before hitting the head with his tail.

This didn't do much damage, but it did further stun the horse, causing it to stumble.

"Dark Shadow! It's legs!" Tokoyami commanded.

Dark Shadow rose up and charged at its legs, tripping it up and causing the horse to fall.

"Now! For its head!" Tokoyami allowed Dark Shadow to grow a bit larger, and the sentient quirk went right towards the rider's head.

The monster stretched one of its arms at Dark Shadow to protect itself, but then Ojiro jumped up and smacked the arm away.

It was about to use its other arm to try again, but Kirishima held it back. "Not today!"

Dark Shadow reached its head, opened its massive beak.

And bit its head off.

At that moment, the creature stopped moving and slumped over.

A few seconds later, it started to evaporate, and eventually, it turned into nothing but black smoke.

"Hmm." Tokoyami watched as the monster disappeared and forced Dark Shadow back to his side, repressing his emotions enough to shrink him.

"Yeah! Alright!" Toru cheered, throwing up her hands in celebration(not that anyone could see it). "I thought that would be a lot harder!"

"It probably would have been if it wasn't for Dark Shadow." Ojiro pointed out, taking a moment to breathe.

"Yeah, that was awesome man!" Kirishima praised his classmate. "You two are manly as hell!"

"Hmph. A simple matter. You all also performed well." Tokoyami said simply. "Now, let us confront the child."

"Hey Hagakure, you said you've watched this kid on Youtube right?" Kirishima asked, looking around since he couldn't see her.

"That's right!" Toru had a huge smile on her face(not that anyone could see it). "She is so cute the way she acts like a little queen! And when she messes up or makes a mistake she how she stutters and tries to fix it it's just so CUUUUTE!"

"R-Right. But what about her quirk?" Ojiro asked.

"Oh, it's some kind of enhancement quirk," Toru revealed. "She's super strong and fast and tough. And she keeps calling herself a vampire so she probably has to drink blood."

"Maybe it's like Sato's quirk but with blood instead of sugar." Kirishima speculated.

"In that case, it would be best if Kirishima once again took the lead," Tokoyami told them.

"Sure! More than happy to take a hit for my friends!" Kirishima gave him the thumbs up. "Cause that's how a real man does it!"

With that decided, they all stomped the castle.

When they got inside they found the castle was rather...plain, lacking any color or decorations. Which was to be expected given how quickly it was made.

It was also very narrow and small. The hallway they were running through didn't lead anywhere but in front of them and it didn't seem like there were any other rooms either.

The truth was the castle was mostly just cement with a hallway and "Throne Room" with no other rooms.

When they finally reached the Throne Room, they were greeted with the sight of Kiba, sitting on a cement throne.

It seemed that while they had been fighting the Grimm, Kiba had gone for a change of clothes.

Now she was wearing what looked like blood-red armor, as well as her usual cloak. She was also holding a wine glass, with some blood in it.

"Oh my god look at her little armor!" Toru squealed.

"Who made that?" Kirishima wondered.

"Heroes." Kiba addressed them, while not looking away from her wine glass. "I see you have defeated my Nuckelavee."

"There has got to be a better name for that," Ojiro muttered.

Kiba stood up, off her throne, and turned away from them. "Do you truly understand why I must rule this world?"

"Are we...supposed to answer that or-" Kirishima couldn't get out any more words as an invisible hand covered his mouth.

"Shhh! She's gonna start monologuing!" Toru whispered.

"You privileged few, born with abilities that fit the taste of the public, would never understand the struggles of my brothers and sisters." Kiba continued, little did they know the reason she had turned away was because she had written a script, and was currently reading from it. "When my father found me I was cast aside. Thrown into the gutter by the despicable people that had been given the honor of birthing me. Despite my beauty. Despite my grace. Despite my power! Despite my perfection! In their eyes, my quirk made me nothing but a parasite! A blood-sucking leech is what they called me!"

Is this real? Is this an act? Wha-what is happening? Ojiro was not prepared for a full monologue when he went to heroics class today.

This is going to go on for quite some time, isn't it? Tokoyami cringed. He knew better than anyone that these kinds of speeches were not short...because there was a time when he once gave them!

"For someone such as myself to be treated like gutter trash proves that this would is wrong! That it is unjust!" Kiba's acting was hammy, as usual, but it was what one would expect from a child. And her exaggerated hand motions made it all the more entertaining. "And so I who am perfect. I who's power sits above all things. I whose gaze looks down upon all! I Kiba shall be the one to correct these imperfections!"

Back in the observation room.

"Wow, she is...really going on for a while." Kaminari pointed out, while Kiba was still talking.

"She has some impressive grammar for her age." Momo praised the young girl.

"Well, she did read an entire dictionary," Izuku explained.

"Why?" Kaminari asked, his face showing pure confusion. "I haven't read through a dictionary!"

"We could tell," Jiro smirked.

"How long does she intend to keep talking?" Shinso asked.

"Well the script she wrote was twenty pages soooo...this might take a bit." Izuku sighed.

"She wrote a script?" Ochaco had an amused smile on her face, as she had to try and keep herself from laughing. "What am I saying of course she had a script."

"She worked on it, for hours," Izuku remembered seeing his daughter furiously writing and editing her work, with several dictionaries and thesaurus littered around her.

She had worked so hard on it that he didn't have the heart to tell her to make it shorter.

Although he did feel bad for having to put everyone through twenty pages of monologuing.

At least the invisible girl seemed to be enjoying it...not that he could really tell.

"She is still going." Todoroki honestly was surprised she hadn't run out of breath. "How long has this been going on?"

"Roughly seven minutes," Nezu said.

"Well...at least she's giving them time to recover after the fight with that monster," Momo said, trying to look on the positive side. She honestly did find the girl quite cute and she could see where her popularity came from. Heck, she'd probably check out one of her videos after this was all over.

"I don't get why you guys are complaining! Look at her! Look at that smug little face!" Mina giggled.

"That's gonna stop being cute when she grows up," Shinso said.

"No...no she's still gonna be cute in the future," Mineta said. "I can tell."

"...I am going to assume that was a compliment. And nothing else." Izuku said, his tone alerting the boy that this was a warning.

"Yeah! Of course!" Mineta was quick to say, sweating a bit. The last person he wanted to piss off was the person in charge of deciding who got their quirks removed.

"Well, I doubt she could go one for much longer," Shoji said.

With Team D...Fifteen minutes later.

"And so that is why I ask you! Will you join me? Or be destroyed!" Kiba finally finished her monologue, and dramatically pointed towards the students.

"Yes, my queen!" Toru replied.

"No, she won't," Tokoyami said.

Kiba looked at the other two...only to find that they had fallen asleep. "HEY!?"

"Huh?" Kirishima and Ojiro jolted awake.

"Did you two fall asleep!?" Kiba was livid. "I spent hours! Preparing that speech! And you two fell asleep!?"

"Uh...sorry?" Kirishima quickly apologized. "You...went on for a while so…"

"...You have five seconds to harden yourself before I turn you into a red smear on the walls, floor, and your friends," Kiba said in a dead serious voice, as she dramatically threw off her cloak.

"Hey wait a-" Kirishima didn't get any more words out, before Kiba dashed over to him, at speeds he couldn't react to, and punched in his hardened stomach.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kirishima was immediately sent flying through the concrete walls, far away from his friends.

Everyone took a step back, not expecting such speed and power from someone of her size. Even Toru hadn't expected that.

Kiba gave Ojiro a nasty glare. "Your next."

Oh shit. Ojiro never saw himself being so afraid of a seven-year-old...but after seeing one of his toughest classmates being knocked away like a baseball, he was more than a bit intimidated.

Tokoyami unleashed Dark Shadow, who was doubled in size and let him stand guard in front of Ojiro.

Kiba was not deterred in the least however and simply ran up to Dark Shadow, and uppercut him in the beak, sending him flying through the roof.

Tokoyami could feel Dark Shadow's cord tugging at him, and he was almost lifted off the ground because of how high Dark Shadow was sent.

"I'm sorry my lady! Please forgive me!" Toru unleashed another flash of light.

"Kahhhhhh!" Kiba hissed and covered her eyes. "The sun!"

"Run!" Tokoyami commanded after Dark Shadow returned to him.

The three immediately turned tail and ran for the exit while Kiba still recovered from Toru's attack.

When they reached the hall, Dark Shadow took a moment to cave in part of the roof. Blocking off access to the throne room.

"That won't hold her long! She's strong! Really strong!" Dark Shadow warned them, as he caved in more of the roof to try and block Kiba's path.

"And fast! She was so fast!" Toru always wanted to meet Kiba, and when she realized that she was gonna be the one to face her, she was excited.

And now she was remembering that Kiba was gonna be the one kicking her ass. So now she was a little less excited, a little more scared out of her mind.

They felt the castle shake, and the sound of something being destroyed behind them signified that Kiba had recovered, and was breaking through their barriers.

And so they ran, just a bit faster.

When they reached the outside, they found Kirishima, whose lower half was still stuck in the side of the wall.

"Kirishima!" Toru ran over to her classmate, who looked to be in a daze.

"Huh? Toru? Why are there five of you?" Kirishima asked deliriously.

Dark Shadow pulled Kirishima out of the wall and set him down gently.

They could see the imprint of Kiba's fist on his hardened abbs, as well as various cracks around it.

Ojiro wanted to ask if his classmate was alright, but he was a bit distracted by the hole in the wall, showing that Kiba had punched him through many feet of concrete.

"Ah. Man, she punches hard." Kirishima groaned after regaining his senses.

THRWOOM!

"Well unless we wanna be punched next we gotta figure something out!" Toru pointed out.

"Do you think there might be some kind of win conditions like the other ones?" Kirishima asked.

"I don't think so. The win conditions were pretty obvious. I think we just need to subdue her." Ojiro looked at the hole once more, realizing what he just said would entail.

"So we have to subdue a girl that can punch someone through a dozen feet of concrete and moves faster than we can see, while also not attacking her?" Toru summarized. No one could see her expression, but they could tell she was probably terrified by the tone of her voice.

"That seems to be our only option." Tokoyami agreed, a nervous sweat going down his beak.

THROOM!

The rubble over the exit was broken, and out came a very cross Kiba.

"You know, I had expected many things from the mighty warriors of U.A...running away was not one of them!" Kiba growled at them, baring her fangs in a way that would have been cute if she didn't just punch through a concrete barrier.

"Dark Shadow! Restrain her!" Tokoyami let Dark Shadow grow to the biggest size he could get which still allowed Tokoyami to control him.

Dark Shadow charged at Kiba and tried to grab her, but despite being more than quadruple her size, Kiba just backhanded it away.

However, Dark Shadow only was knocked a few feet away and quickly shook off the blow before charging at her again.

"Tch. Persistent little shadow." Kiba dashed towards Dark Shadow and proceeded to drop kick the blackbird. "Begone!"

This time Dark Shadow got sent significantly further, being sent over a dozen feet away before digging his claws into the ground to stop himself.

However with Dark Shadow so far away, Kiba had a free shot at the students.

"Perhaps if the shadow will not yield, then I should destroy the one who casts it." Kiba glared at Tokoyami, with murderous intent.

"You'll have to get through me first!" Kirishima stood in front of Tokoyami and activated his quirk, hardening his chest and arms.

Kiba immediately ran over to him, grabbed his leg with both hands, before picking him up and swinging him like a mace, batting Tokoyami away.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Kirishima struggled, but Kiba had a death grip on his leg, and he couldn't do much without accidentally hitting Kiba(not that it would have helped if he could.).

Dark Shadow came back and tried to get Kirishima away from her, but she just hit him with Kirishima too, landing repeated hits with her hardening weapon, keeping the shadow at bay.

"Grrr! Harden your head!" Kiba ordered her hostage weapon.

"Eh!?" Kirishima didn't have time to ask questions, as Kiba suddenly jumped up, and when she came back down he saw what she was going to do, and had no choice to but to oblige.

Kiba slammed Kirishima's face down on Dark Shadow's head as hard as she could.

Dark Shadow was smashed into the ground, its head getting stuck for a moment.

"Whhhhheeeyyy?" Kirishima was seeing stars, and he now finally understood what it was like to be Kaminari after using his quirk.

"Toru! We could use another flash!" Ojiro shouted out to his invisible teammate.

"K-K! Say-gah!" Before Toru could attack, Kiba, threw Kirishima at her, hitting her in the Torso and causing both her and Kirishima to go flying away through a nearby tree and out of sight.

"I will not allow her vile light to shine once more!" Kiba shouted.

Meanwhile, Dark Shadow pulled itself out of the ground and came at Kiba from behind. Finally grabbing her with both arms and holding her in the air.

"Cursed Shadow! You will fade into the darkness!" Kiba shouted as she struggled to try and get out of Dark Shadows embrace.

Dark Shadow was having a hard time keeping hold of her, as she was still stronger than him.

He needed more power.

And then he had an idea.

"You know, you remind me a lot of Fumikage when he was little." Dark Shadow told her.

"Dark Shadow. Cease." Tokoyami ordered, a small blush of embarrassment adorning his face.

"He used to wear a cape and some gold plastic armor." Dark Shadow continued.

"Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami could feel his embarrassment grow.

"And he called himself, The Black Guardian of the Shadow Plains." Dark Shadow was cracking up as he recalled those memories.

Ojiro gave his now thoroughly embarrassed classmate a look. "Black Guardian...of the Shadow Plains...I think just the Black Guardian would have worked."

"ENOUGH!" Tokoyami shouted in pure outrage.

Dark Shadow could feel it. The pain, the embarrassment. The sheer feeling of regret. All that combined with the stress of the exercise, and Tokoyami's already loosening control of him, made Dark Shadow get bigger and bigger.

And then his eyes turned red.

"Oh no." Tokoyami realized too late what had happened, and all he could do was look on in horror as his quirk went out of control.

"ROARRRRR!" Dark Shadow now towered over everyone, with Kiba still in his hands.

He raised his arms up.

And slammed Kiba into the ground.

The ground cracked from the impact, and Kiba was left flat on her back, staring up at the monster that loomed over her.

"No!" Ojiro and Tokoyami shouted, thinking they had failed the exercise.

Kiba pulled herself up, rubbing the dust off her armor.

Then she dashed away to avoid a slam from the enraged Dark Shadow.

Kiba looked up at the pure black monster in front of her and smirked. "Finally, a worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary!"

"RAHHH!" Dark Shadow unleashed another attack, bringing his claw down on Kiba.

In response when the fist was in range, Kiba unleashed her own attack, punching the claw.

When the two attacks collided it sent waves of wind washing over the surrounding area, which made Ojiro and Tokoyami cover their eyes as the sheer force of it almost knocked them over.

Dark Shadow and Kiba struggled in a test of strength, however, Kiba was surprised to find that she was actually being pushed back!

She dug her feet into the pavement, however, this did very little to help as she was still getting pushed.

"Gahhhh." Kiba grit her teeth as she felt the sheer power of Dark Shadow coming down on her arm, the pain coursing through her body grew greater, as she grew weaker and weaker.

The more she used her strength, the more she used it up.

Am I! Being overpowered!? No! I just need more blood! Kiba jumped back, away from Dark Shadow, and quickly set her sights on Ojiro. He'll do.

Kiba lunged at Ojiro, with her teeth bared, and tackled the tailed student to the ground.

Ojiro could do nothing but look on in terror, as Kiba's fangs came closer to his neck.

And then a flash of light washed over everyone.

"Kahhh!" Kiba hissed as she covered her eyes. "Not again!"

"RAHHH!" Dark Shadow also covered itself, moving away from the light. And losing a few centimeters of size.

While Kiba was stunned, Kirishima ran up and grabbed her with his hardened arm and chest.

"Are you guys ok!?" Toru ran up to Ojiro and helped him off the ground.

"Yeah. But...we hit her." Ojiro pointed out.

"But it doesn't seem like the exercise has ended," Tokoyami noted. "Perhaps the order not to harm her was yet another logical ruse."

"Congratulations you figured it out!" Kiba confirmed, before kicking Kirishima in the abbs with the back of her foot. "Now perish!"

"AGH!" Kirishima dropped Kiba as he recoiled in pain, a small crack appeared in his hardening.

"RAHHHH!" Dark Shadow charged at them, coming right at Kiba and Kirishima.

Ojiro pushed Kirishima out of the way by hitting him with his tail, before moving out of the way himself.

Kiba rushed at the oncoming Dark Shadow and jumped up to punch the sentient quirk in the face.

Dark Shadow recoiled from the impact of the punch, but quickly shook it off and retaliated with a swipe of his claw.

"AHH!" This time Kiba was the one sent flying back, her body digging into the ground and the force of the blow pushed her back over a dozen feet.

"RAHHHHH!"

Meanwhile, in the observation room.

"I don't understand!?" Iida shouted out to the principal. "They are currently harming the child! The exercise should have ended!?"

"Ah, well you see, it was a logical ruse." Nezu cackled when he saw the shocked looks on the students' faces. "You should be familiar with them by now."

"Wait!? So we...we were allowed to harm the children!?" Momo couldn't believe what she was hearing. Surely such a thing couldn't be allowed at a HERO school!

"You can't be serious!" Mina added.

"Actually that...makes sense," Ochaco said after thinking about it for a moment.

Everyone but Nezu and Izuku gave her questioning looks, urging her to explain herself.

"These kids aren't fragile. It's not like we could do serious damage to them by accident with our quirks. Even Bakugo couldn't do serious damage to Kai by accident. I know! I fought them!" Ochaco remembered that time she fought Fu, Kiba, Kai, and Sansan all at once. She shuddered at the memory. Never again. "At first I thought I'd have to go easy on them...but...that didn't end well for me."

"Let us have this discussion once everyone is present," Nezu instructed them. "But rest assured that Mr. Midoriya would not have allowed this if he believed you all could hurt his children any more than they hurt each other on a daily basis."

Izuku nodded. "These kids all want to become heroes, so they spar with each other on an almost daily basis. There are sometimes when I have to step in to keep them from doing serious damage to each other. I know what they're capable of, and I believe they can handle this...and if not, they can always surrender."

On the screen, they watched as Dark Shadow beat Kiba, as the vampire girl tried in vain to fight back.

After a few minutes, it was clear to see that the fight was over.

"I think it's time we brought this to a close," Nezu said, looking over his control panel.

Back with Team D.

Suddenly, the dome that was being used to simulate nighttime, started to open up. Allowing sunlight to fill the false city.

"RAH!? RAHHHHHHHHH!" Dark Shadow stopped beating Kiba into a crater and started roaring out in outrage.

As more and more light flooded into the city, Dark Shadow grew smaller, and smaller, until his red eyes turned yellow, and he was back to normal.

"Is...is it over?" Kirishima asked no one in particular.

"That is correct Mr. Kirishima. Team D has succeeded." Nezu said over the loudspeaker.

"What!?" Kiba, who was still conscious just a little scuffed up, pulled herself out of the hole Dark Shadow had pounded her in and looked absolutely outraged. "I can still fight! I-ah!"

Kiba had pulled herself to her feet too fast, and the stinging pain that coursed through her sent her right back down to her knees.

"Kiba. That's enough." Izuku said over the loudspeaker, his voice firm and leaving no room for argument.

Kiba pouted but made no further protest.

A few minutes later in the observation room.

After a quick trip to Recovery Girl for Kirishima and Toru, everyone was back in the observation room.

"Now, as you have noticed, the rule in which you were not allowed to harm the children, was a lie," Nezu explained with complete nonchalance while sipping his tea. "You might be wondering why this is, and why if this is the case, did I lie about it in the first place?"

"Yes! I must admit I am very disappointed with the amount of deceit being done by our educators!" Iida huffed.

"Ah, but there is a reason for that lie. An important one. However, first, let me explain why you are allowed to attack the children at all." Nezu said. "Firstly, as you've all determined, these children are quite strong."

That's a massive understatement! Thought pretty much everyone in the class.

"To be perfectly honest harming these children is not something you could easily accomplish, and two of these children most of you have no way of harming at all." Nezu continued. "It would take both a conscious effort on your parts and a lot of neglect on our parts, for one of these children to get seriously injured. I don't believe even Mr. Bakugo would seriously injure a child, nor does he have the power to do so accidentally."

"Yeah but...is it...really ok to hit kids?" Jiro asked sheepishly.

A lot of the class still seemed unsure about the prospect of attacking children...which was understandable.

Surprisingly enough, it was Izuku that spoke next.

"While I definitely don't condone attacking children in almost any situation...there are unfortunate situations where that is the best course of action," Izuku said with a heavy heart. "I don't...like to think about it this way, but...let's look at Kai's scenario. In that scenario, a villain forced Kai to go on a rampage. However, that test was simplified for the sake of this exercise. If the villain that controlled Kai was smart he wouldn't be on top of a roof with the hostage right next to him. In all likelihood, it would take much, much longer to find them. And in that time if the heroes didn't take him down, Kai would have destroyed the entire city, and killed countless people."

The reality of the situation hit the class hard.

They had been fighting in a fake city, with fake buildings and no other people.

If this were real, then there would have been real people on those streets that Kai walked on and in those buildings he crushed. Those would have been real people's homes that got destroyed because of him.

"And the aftermath wouldn't be much better." Izuku continued. "Of course there are the thousands or tens of thousands of lives he would have either ended or ruined, but even Kai's life would have taken a bad turn. Even if he got his parents back, the guilt he'd feel for what he did would leave mental scars that would last for the rest of his life. And he'd never be able to show his face anywhere again, he'd be treated like a monster by pretty much everyone even if they knew his family was being taken, hostage. His life...would have been over before it really began."

There was an underlying sadness in Izuku's voice. As if he wasn't just talking about the simulation. As if he had known stories similar to this, that wasn't fake.

And that made everything he said all the more mortifying.

"And that leads into why I lied." Nezu jumped back in, although his tone was less cheery than before. "Because what I said, don't attack the children, is what you will hear from the people in charge. Such as the Hero Public Safety Committee. However, while I do not condone frequently ignoring people with authority or your superiors, most of the people telling you this, are not pro heroes. They're not on the field. And they don't know what it's like to be in your situation, and as such sometimes fulfilling those orders is either impossible or not worth the cost. Is it ideal to not attack children? Yes, absolutely. Is it always possible? Unfortunately, no. And in those situations, you will have to go against what you've been told. These are the hard decisions one will have to make as a pro hero."

This was the difference between Aizawa and Nezu.

Aizawa would crush his student's spirits with harsh words, intimidation tactics, and threatening expulsions.

Nezu was far more cruel. He would crush their spirits with the three worst enemies of man. Truth. Logic. And reality.

To say the mood was low would be the understatement of the century. The mood went straight to hell. And it was clear everyone was deep in thought, taking Nezu's words very seriously.

I'll have to...hurt kids? That's awful! But if I don't...I might just ruin their life. Mina thought about the scenario of having to choose between spraying a CHILD with acid or condemning them for life. It made her stomach turn

Shinso thought about his own life. He had been targeted because people were afraid that he COULD use his quirk on them. There would be no telling how bad it would have been, had he actually done something to someone with it. Let alone if he had done something as terrible as murder. Even if it was an accident or if he was forced, he would never hear the end of it.

Ochaco felt like she had just increased her own gravity, or that she just overused her quirk. Part of her had wondered if one day she would be the one to give Izuku a child(not in that way she swears), but she's always thought it would be like how Izuku did it. Finding children in need and giving them a home. Not beating them to a pulp and delivering their unconscious body to Izuku. And the worst part is that look in his eyes when he explained it to them. That look of resignation, and despair. He'd understood this for a while, and unlike her, he would be the one to deal with the aftermaths.

After giving them a few minutes to take that in, Nezu decided it was time to move on.

"And as heroes, even when you have to make these decisions, you can't freeze before or after. Every second can count." Nezu warned them. "And as such. Let us move on to our last exercise."