Chapter 41: Salvation sent by the Baby Maker

Recap:

'Wake up, Deku.'

Slapping himself, the green-haired boly patted his now red cheeks and used a hand to the wall to stabilize him, hoping to steady himself.

But laughter behind him threatened to end his Sports Festival Journey instantly. Along with the laughter, his back felt heavy, as if an additional force was acting upon it.

Quickly turning around, an elongated finger was pressing into his backside and….ONTO HIS BUTTON!

Turning his head around now, the red glow reflected off of his now pale face.

[Eliminated] the machine spoke.

'I…lost.'

Common, we've got to hurry to the entrance, though we won't pass up the opportunity to lower the competition."

While some were refusing to accept changes, others were hoping things would change.

"COME HERE, YOU DAM'D WINDEX BOTTLE!"

'One time! I insulted him one time, and suddenly I'm number #1 on his target list...God where's Midoiya now? I could use the weird bromace they have going on to escape from this guy.'

Suijin cried with no tears as he ran for his life, as he had a sneaking suspicion that if he was caught, his button being pressed would be the least of his concerns.

____________________________________________________________________________

'FINNALLY!'

Looking at the collapsed roof behind him, blocking off the path, Suijin put his hands on his knees, taking in deep breaths.

It's been god knows how long since he started being chased by that maniac, and he just couldn't lose him. That, and his freakishly good instincts, meant that Suijin really was in a pickle.

Adding onto the fact that he didn't want to use most of his reserves, Suijin's just been running around like a headless chicken.

But a few moments ago he noticed a crack on the roof, so, after passing that point, he used his odd physiology to spin his head around and use a Piercing Shot to collapse the thing on his classmate.

'Was that dangerous? Yes. Would I do it again? Also yes.' Suijin shook his head.

He didn't have much time to waste. Although he could recall bits of the original map, there were still many parts he couldn't quite remember.

In addition to him already having a disadvantage for not being capable of senesing, he'd need to get a move on.

'Wonder what Shoji's doing?'

'Wonder what Suijin's doing?'

The large boy, with his lower face covered, thought.

As he was doing so, he raised his head forward and effortlessly sent a glare saying "Don't" to the pair that was trying to sneak up on him.

This stage had been rather simple for him: Protect the Button? He just wrapped some of his Arms around the button like a shield.

Locate the Exit? Vibrational Sensing made that a simple task as well. If Shoji really focused, then he could feel the significant movement East of his current location, 'The Arena.' he figured.

But unlike him as most of the freshman made their way through the dungeon, not everyone was having such a smooth time.

"Where is it?"

"One Second!"

The blond-haired boy turned back around, facing some robots, while trying to ignore the irritated feeling that crept up on him.

Ojirou had come into this competition wanting to do his best, so when he found out that this was a location-based test, he decided to seek asylum with a partnership.

It was just his luck that he met Jirou, someone whose quirk was especially Suited for such competitions. Unfortunately, due to the nature of her quirk, he had to stop moving so that she could concentrate on finding the exit.

Thus, their current situation of him being stuck in a deadlock with one of the robots they faced during the entrance exam wasn't very favorable.

Just as he thought that two more had rounded the corner, and seemed to spot the duo.

"Jirou I'm going t need you to either hurry up or call this one off... We can always try again once there are no villains around!" His desperate pleas went unanswered as the two new assailants got even closer.

He didn't want to stop his current deadlock for fear of messing up her concentration or, worse, damaging her ears, but Ojirou felt like he was out of options.

Just as he was going to make a decision, she stood up, unplugging her ear jacks from the walls.

"1 Floor below, 300 Feet West ahead."

Noting that she was done, the Mini Martial Artist grinned, as that meant that he could go wild.

Instantly, he smashed his Bulging tail into the scrap of metal, turning it into recyclables. He braced himself as the first of his new assailants charged at him, and he received the full force on that onto his wrist.

He grunted under the pressure but still managed to complete his next actions, which were spinning his body in a 360-degree Motion using the initial force to carry himself.

Then, by the time he reached his original position, the second one had come within striking proximity, and a collision of robots ended both of them.

"Phew."

"Let's get going."

"Right."

So this duo moved their way down the hall, hoping that they wouldn't get to the entrance too late since, who knows, maybe there's a certain number cap?

..

"YOU'RE ALREADY OUT!"

"WHY ARE YOU HUNTING US!"

"ISN'T THIS AGAINST THE RULES?!"

Screams rang throughout the Dungeon as many were caught off guard by a mysterious….SalesMan?

A green-haired boy was pitching products while eliminating opponents from the competition. But the most striking part was his glowing red vest, signaling his defeat.

Many had assumed that if you were defeated, you'd be kicked out, as such was a precedent established in similar trials at previous sports festivals.

So their surprise was imminent when they learned that this boy could and would be trying to eliminate them.

"I'll deal with him."

"But bro~"

"--Enough! I'll take care of him while you three search for the exit."

*Hic*

"If fate has us meet again, then we'll reunite in the second round."

"BRO~"-X3

Midoriya looked at the dramatic scene of three students running the opposite way while their leader came towards him.

"Ahem–"

"You wonder what these are? We'll see you just in time for a demonstration. This is the shock-repulsion 1400. They can absorb Kenetic Energy and release it all at once, allowing for devastating damage."

"I–"

"Of course believing without seeing isn't enough, so come, let's engage in a battle to show you the true might of these gauntlets."

Though on the outside the boy was spouting nonsense shamelessly, in his mind he imagined himself repeatedly ramming his head into a wall with a flushed face.

Apparently his "Act" annoyed the "Boss" enough that he started charging in towards him.

Midoriya, who'd done this multiple times before today, lowered his center of gravity while readying his fist, and once they were only a few meters away, he struck.

One connection of his fist to a stomach wouldn't have done much damage, that was unless extra KE was released, increasing the impact of the blow.

Piercing through multiple layers of defense, the man slumped onto his back and fell to the ground, knocked out and eliminated.

As Midoriya watched the button turn from yellow to red, he observed his own: what was once a dark shade of red had been slowly getting brighter.

'She was right.'

A few minutes after he'd been eliminated, he was met with a strange face.

A girl named Mei Hatume, who was part of the support department, apparently saw "MC Vibes" or whatever that meant within himself and offered him a deal.

As long as he promoted her "Babies" she'd help him. At first, he planned to decline, to at least keep whatever miniscule pride he had from being so obviously scammed.

But as if that innocent-seeming girl were the devil, her next words whoo'd him over instantly.

"You're not completely eliminated yet."

"Huh-"

"Yeah, when I took a look at one of these vests an eliminated person gave me, I found some extra signals we weren't told about."

She then pulled out the vest she'd deconstructed and flipped it onto the back before pointing to the huge, clear button.

"When this is pressed in, the pressure sends a signal to this over here, which sends a signal to the administrators of the event and your vest code, thus presenting you with a red color and noise saying you're eliminated."

Midoriya nodded his head; everything made sense so far.

However, I found something else: there are two special functions inside these vests." One is a timer; each and every vest has an individual timer. Next is a collector; whenever you eliminate somebody, the vest records that interaction and records the number of people you eliminate."

He nodded his head but was confused. Sure, this was interesting, but nothing told him how he could get back into the round.

"I have a speculation! The amount of time it takes to get out of the maze will assign you a certain number of points."

'Reasonable considering the individual timers.'

"So along with those thoughts, the number of people you eliminate should also be able to shave off or give you some points."

"That theory, along with me finding a wire, says that when some unknown condition is fulfilled, it will send another signal to you, button, and bam. It's possible for you to still be in the race."

Normally he'd disagree; her conjunction relied heavily on theory and speculation, but…that one event was why he believed in her.

'The entrance exam.'

He was sure he'd fail since he'd never defeated any villains, yet he ended up passing due to the unknown criteria of Hero Points.

'If there's any place that'll surprise me like this, it's UA..right?'

With that hope in mind, he focused his limited time on eliminating opponents and promoting the Baby that she lent him.

"FOR THE BOSS"

"WERE HERE TO SAVE YOU."

"BO

*Punch*

And after eliminating the other three lakeys, the green-haired boy's face lit up both metaphorically and in reality.

'She was right,'

He thought while looking at the yellow glow with a red tinge that appeared on his back.