Inferior, Yet Superior

*BOOOOOM!*

Adam's small theory missed the bullseye by a few miles.

'I'm fucked.'

And that wasn't even the worst part since now, a furious hunter was on their way to kick his ass.

At a blinding speed, Bakugo 'exploded' his way toward Adam, as his hands busted with flames.

Just when Bakugo was about two meters away, he changed directions by propelling himself up. He may have been angry at Adam, a bit jealous too if you may, but he was a trained hunter at the end of the day.

A frontal attack wouldn't have been appropriate considering that he didn't know what Adam's powers were yet.

That was another handicap given to the examiners to make the examination 'fairer'.

If it was a few years ago, he wouldn't have minded going head-on. But experience changes people, and Bakugo had a lot of it when it came to fighting awakeners.

Dungeons and Gates were not the only dangers out there after all...

All of this happened in less than 2 seconds, 2 seconds in which Adam never moved from his position.

Seeing this as an opening, Bakugo, who was still in mid-air, pushed himself downwards with a third, smaller explosion. One of his legs was already on its way to hit Adam.

He had to make sure to bring down his strength though.

Bakugo just wanted to knock him down and make him look stupid in front of his crush, not kill him.

"Go to sleep!"

Just as he was about to kick Adam right behind the head a bizarre thing happened.

As if Adam was nothing but a mirage, his body dissipated out of existence, and Bakugo's leg crashed against the floor of the ring.

"BOOOOOOOOM!"

He miscalculated his strength at the last second due to the unreal event that had just unfolded. Because of this, a huge explosion shook the training room, and a small crater became visible on the ground.

" Is this guy trying to kill me?"

Adam pointed at Bakugo as he looked at Ochaco, who opened and closed her mouth unable to form a sentence.

But who could blame her?

In the span of a millisecond, Adam disappeared and appeared back at the position where Bakugo was standing just before the test started.

" You have an annoying power, candidate."

" I will take that as a compliment, Suzuki."

"..."

Bakugo stared blankly at Adam.

"What?"

" You are doing it on purpose aren't you?"

" Whatever you mean~"

Adam simply waved Bakugo's complaints away as he yawned loudly.

"Oy!"

" More importantly, aren't you too comfortable?"

" What do you mean, fucker?!"

Bakugo was starting to reach his limit, especially when he looked to the side and saw both Rumi and Ochaco holding a laugh.

" I mean, when you are in the middle of a fight you should be more attentive..."

Before the blonde could process anything that Adam was trying to say, he felt a presence right behind him.

"Eh?!"

" Don't you think~?"

He reacted too late though, for Adam's fist had already met his chin.

*BAAAM! *

"Pwah!"

A small trail of blood splattered from his mouth as the intern hunter landed on his back, not far from Adam.

'Shit!'

On the other hand, Adam's hand (No pun intended) seemed to have been strained from the powerful punch he just delivered.

' To get injured the first time I punch someone is a bit embarrassing, but that's not important right now.'

[An external stimulus has triggered a reaction from the host!] X2

'Hehe~ So that's how it works.'

His assumptions were right.

He could trigger the system personally, but the process needed to be involuntary.

Wishing for a desired power purposely would not give him that power.

For that, he needed to create a scenario where a stimulus would trigger his system, and depending on the stimulus, a specific power would be granted.

Wishing for a certain power without the intention of asking the system for it also seemed to work. After all, that is how he obtained Eyes of Truth.

' I happen to talk to myself all the time, so this works perfectly I guess...'

If wishing for something involuntarily was all it took for him to gain new abilities, then he didn't need to worry.

[To counter the stimulus a new power has been created] X2

[ Unarmed Martial Arts Peak Mastery (Rank S) has awakened]

[ Adaptive Regeneration (Rank EX) has awakened]

'A Rank-S is great but... R-Rank EX?!'

[(Description)]

Before Adam could dismiss the notification that would allow him to see his two new powers' description, he felt a pinching-like sensation on his right wrist.

Then the next second, the pain he felt a few moments ago went away.

' It feels better now.'

He did not know what 'adaptive regeneration' was supposed to mean, but seeing as it healed him in less than a second, he would not complain.

For now, though, he had to teleport away.

Why you ask?

Well...

"Bring it on bastard!"

A fired-up maniac was on his way to beat him.

"Nope."

Just as a punch was about to hit him, he once again teleported away.

This time though, Bakugo did not stop there, and he rushed to Adam's new location.

This process repeated for 5 minutes straight.

Bakugo would rush to Adam and the latter would just move a few meters away from the former.

Contrary to the hunter's expectations, Adam was relentless with his timing. Not only that, but his energy reserves did not appear to have been depleted in the slightest. It was as if, he could teleport for eternity if he wanted to.

"*Huff, huff* Y-You, are just going... to run away?! How are y-you supposed to... pass the examination if you are just.... running instead of fighting?!"

"I got a hit on you though. Is not my fault that you can't catch me."

Adam simply shrugged his shoulders with a smirk, which only helped in making Bakugo even angrier.

Ochaco nodded her head at Adam's comment. She couldn't help but look at him with respect and admiration after pulling his weight against Bakugo.

He may be a young intern in the hunter business but that didn't make him weak.

The blonde psychopath, like Rumi and many other talented trainees, was higher Ranked than what his license stated.

The fact that Adam was 'overwhelming' an opponent considered to be a C-Rank unofficially, spoke volumes of the former's talent.

She believed that she had seen enough.

" He is right, Katsuki. Adam is not doing anything illegal. You may be the examiner, but I will not allow you to be unfair. As the referee I-"

"Wait."

Adam stopped Ochaco as he raised a hand.

"Adam? What's wrong?"

" Allow me to humor him."

"Eh?"

" If he wants me to fight him that badly let's go with that."

Both Bakugo and Ochaco looked at Adam in disbelief.

Although he had managed to connect a punch on Bakugo, that was only because he left his guard down.

Bakugo was stronger no matter how you looked at it.

On the other hand, Rumi gazed at Adam with great interest, after all, this would be the first time she would see him fight.

"Are you sure? If you fight him again the verdict will be out of my hands you know?"

Ochaco asked worriedly. If he did not stop her just now, he would have won fairly and squared.

"I don't know if you are arrogant or stupid..."

Bakugo did not like that Adam was looking down on him. His pride was already hurt from all the missed opportunities he wasted as he tried to catch him but to no avail.

After analytically staring at Bakugo for a few seconds, Adam nodded to himself as understanding dawned upon him.

"Come."

He just wanted to be done with it, so he taunted the blonde to come to him.

"Tsk! You asked for it."

Bakugo sprinted to Adam with a small explosion, reaching him in an instant.

Not thinking too deeply about it, he delivered an uppercut in an attempt to hit his chin. Perhaps this was his way of calling it even since that's exactly where he got hit earlier.

The speed he displayed was not something that Adam could react to without teleporting his body away.

*BOOM!*

And yet...

"Slow."

"""..."""

Silence.

For a few seconds that was the only concept that reigned over the room.

No one had the liberty to say anything, and they all had their reasons for that.

Bakugo was too confused to speak.

Ochaco was questioning her sanity as she looked at Bakugo's state.

And Rumi... was a bit wet down there.

" This makes me the winner, right?"

As no one replied to him, Adam opted to take the silence as a confirmation of his victory and proceeded to leave the ring.

On his way, he passed right over Bakugo who lay down on the ground while facing the ceiling, outside of the ring's designated area. He avoided stepping on him as if he were a random twig on a grassy hill.

"That's … insane."

Ochaco finally broke the silence.

What Adam just did was not a complex application of his teleportation powers in conjunction with something else.

He solely used martial arts.

Not only did he parry Bakugo's punch with ease, but he also used the same momentum of his punch against him, throwing him several meters out of the ring.

It might not sound as impressive, but here's the catch.

No one understood how he did it.

Hell... Bakugo himself wasn't even sure if Adam made contact with his body.

It simply happened.

Was he faster than Bakugo?

No.

In every sense of the word Bakugo was stronger, faster, and more resistant than him.

But whatever technique Adam had used, ignored this disparity.

" Ochaco, I read the rules before coming here. I don't know why you forgot to mention it but this counts as my victory right?"

A light of understanding seemed to fall on Ochaco as she suddenly exclaimed apologetically.

" I'm so sorry! I forgot about that rule!"

Teleporting in front of the chubby-cheeked girl, Adam patted her head gently with a kind smile.

" Make sure you don't forget it the next time you have to test someone, ok?"

Ochaco turned tomato red and stuttered her way out of Adam's godly hand.

" Y-Yes! I-I promise!"

"Umu~ Good then."

Feeling a murderous gaze behind his back Adam realized his blunder.

But would he bend in the face of adversity?

No!

He would face adversity with...

More head-pats!

And that's how Adam survived the bunny's jealousy.

Rumi looked satisfied with the pats and slowly but surely her annoyance went away.

' That was more dangerous than fighting this guy.'

With this thought in mind, he looked toward the spot where Bakugo was laying.

He was still staring at the ceiling as he lay absentmindedly on the ground.

Their last encounter kept replaying over and over in his head. Yet he couldn't grasp how it all ended like this.

There were at least 20 meters of distance from where he was sent flying to where he was now.

'Monster.'

Was the only word that came to his mind.

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A/N: Adam used 'Eyes of Truth' right before knocking Bakugo out of the ring. I did not add the skill interface showing his info because I still have to figure out how to arrange the stats based on Rank. Since Bakugo is considered C-Rank and Adam is supposed to be slightly above a normal F-Ranked hunter, I had to account for this.

Suggestions are welcomed.

Also, feel free to suggest a power that you would like Adam to have. Please keep it simple for now though, there is no need to destroy the universe just yet.