25. Noble Knight

Bakugo, by now had learnt and adapted, as was his genius.

Enraged still, he wasn't going rush in recklessly, something Deku could stand to learn from.

He prowled around me, circling halfway to my back before he spotted an opening.

He took a step forward, one hand sparking, when suddenly he hesitated, noticing my trap.

"Sly bastard!" He muttered, launching himself into the air, his one hand forcing him into a spiral.

Bakugo spun in the air like a lathe, and I read his move.

A windmill kick, on my head.

Wha- was he planning on killing me here?

Surely not, I thought, circling my leg behind me and getting into a half horse stance.

The best way to deal with prodigies is to end them where they stand, before they begin to adapt.

But that ship had sailed when I let the match get to four blows.

Now I had pummel him into the ground before he'll calm his tits.

His kick fell upon me just as I disengaged my pain receptors, and grabbed his pant sleeve mid air, twisting it around my palm.

With a sudden and violent jerk, I pulled at it, shattering his balance and disabled his kick, shunting it's momentum into the ground beneath me.

"Awaha!" He cried, as I grabbed his shirt with my free hand, putting him in a firefighter carry and slammed him onto the floor, all in one smooth swift motion.

"Khyah!" He groaned, the dusty field lending him to a coughing fit.

I stood back up straight, and picked up the book I had dropped, dusting it off, before returning to it's current page.

As Bakugo stood back up, I glided away from him, putting a good ten feet between us, while he panted like a dog, wiping his sweat onto his hands.

He looked up at me, his gaze venomous. If looks could kill, I'd be dead a dozen times over.

To Bakugo's credit he recovered fast, scanning the field with a quick look, as I yawned, purposely to offend him.

I can't give him time to adapt and overcome but I also can't look like a warmonger in front of everyone. He has to be the one to make the first move, be the bad guy in this tale.

Thankfully, he obliged me with a violent response as was expected of him.

And I would have fallen for it too, had I not spotted the gleam in his eyes, the telltale sign of a feint.

He seemed to rush in with a punch, a low jab from his right hand.

But the book sang a different tune.

He was going for a knee to my chin.

Smart, but not quite.

As he pulled up before me, wind howling from his explosions, I slammed my palm into his thigh methodically, pushing it to the side as soon as his knee began it's ascent.

For someone who had never done splits in his life, his reaction was obvious.

I knew the pain too. The first time I did a 180 degree split, I didn't get out of bed for two days.

It hurts like a motherfucker and ot was one the easier tricks to debilitate your opponent.

The snap and stretch of his muscles was faint but his face betrayed the pain he felt, as he fell on his face, grabbing his groin, while I stepped away, letting him kiss the floor.

"Fwuffger, basfard! I'll gwill hyu!" He mumbled in between pained gasps aand moans, tears coalescing at the edge of his eyes.

I blew at my nail, rubbing them against the hem of my pants, clearing out the dirt from them, mocking him.

"Two blows and you fell over like a limp dick.

I didn't even need to use my quirk to beat you!

Pathetic! Both you and your quirk, are just pathetic!

Is that how you'll become the number one hero? By begging villains to take pity on you?" I asked, squatting down beside him.

He lifted his chin, blowing out the sand from beneath him with a pained snort.

"You!" He growled, taers stremaing down his face, "My quirk is the best! Better than yours! Better than anyone! Anyone!"

"Is that why you lost to someone with a bookshelf quirk? Because of your superior quirk? Truly, a marvel, that hamster wheel of brain that you have in that noggin. You can rationalize anything in there huh?" I said, bonking his head with the book.

"..no...I- .....it's all your fault! Your fault! If you weren't here, I'd be at the top. It's what I deserve!" He cried, struggling to stand with a limp.

His glutes were no doubt burning up with a healthy build-up of lactic acid by now.

"What you deserve is Juvenile Detention Bakugo. I read about what you put Deku through for the past eight years." I said, patting the book in my hand.

"Shall I read it out to everyone one here? An excerpt perhaps?" I aksed, as his eyes went wide in fear.

"N- ple-" he stuttered, begging.

"Uhum ahem!" I cleared my throat, and began, imitating his voice, "Deku, if you dare to show up at the entrance exam I will personally kill you! I am the only one who will get into UA from our school. It'll be my hero story!

Some quirkless, worthless piece of shit like you doesn't deserve it. So take my warning and stay away from UA. There's no place there for you. It's where the real heroes are born."

The atmosphere chilled to a ghostly sikence as everyone turned their gazes to Bakugo.

"That's horrible!" Momo gasped.

"Sounds like a villain!" Iida remarked.

"It's downright evil!" Kirishima added, with a look of disgust on his face, "Not manly at all!"

"Exactly. And that's the least of what he has done. In just that one excerpt I could nail you for three offences, violating the right to education, grievous bodily harm and attempted murder." I said, pulling out a thick envelope from my pocket.

"You see this Bakugo?" I asked the stunned boy.

"This is the letter I wrote to the board of directors of UA, detailing your good deeds from the past couple of years.

If this had landed on any one of their desks, you'd be banned from every hero school in the country, and likely jailed for the rest of your life in fear of what you could do to people if released.

Just one letter. That's what it'd have taken for me to crush all your hopes and dreams.

So why is this letter still in my pocket?

Why were you even allowed to set foot on this campus?

Because I am not you, Bakugo. I am not evil."

And in part because he'd be a horrible opponent to have, if I'm being honest and I'd rather not have to deal with a terrorist with yields ranging in the kilotons.

But I wasn't going to tell them that.

I put a hand on his shoulder, and looked him in his shivering eyes.

"This is a chance for you to better yourself Bakugo. Maybe even your last chance. Life is short, and hero careers even more so. Don't make any more enemies than you already have. Not for that high of fame and fortune. Because when you're laying there, on your deathbed, you'll remember these moment, these days. And you'll weep in regret." I said, in a sombre tone.

To everyone else, I seemed like a decent and kind person but to Bakugo, as was apparent by his book, the implications were clear.

I have this letter, right here. And if you don't run on the straight and narrow, this letter will find it's way to every major school, publication, and government agency, regardless of relevance.

I will destroy you.

And in his fucked up king of the jungle morality, he tangled himself up even more, taking it as the threat it was.

Because if he was in my position, he would have done the exact same thing.

But just to fuck with him more, and cement myself as the noble hero here, I grabbed his hand and pulled it out, open palm.

"Here." I said, with gentle smile, and handed him the letter.

Bakugo looked down at it, starved for words, as he wet his lips and swallowed his saliva in shock.

With a shaking hand, he accepted the letter and stowed it into his pocket.

"Then we're good here, aren't we?" I asked, patting his shoulder.

He nodded furiously, his tears having dried up in the afternoon sun, leaving dry graves of salt upon his face, frozen in fear.

"I take it you're done with this whole drama?" A voice came from behind, as a sleepy eyed Aizawa-sensei rubbed his eyes lazily, zipping up his sleeping bag.

"And I take it your afternoon nap isn't done yet?" I countered with a smirk.

"Cut it with the sass, kid. If this is about why I didn't intervene, it's because I knew you could've handled it. And if you couldn't, I would have. No need to worry about it. Now get back to your classes. We don't have all day here, the seniors need to use the field too." He replied.

"But sensei, about the expulsion..." Uraraka asked.

"No one is getting expelled." He grinned.

"What?!" Everyone cried out.

"It was a logical deception to bring out your maximum potential!" He announced.

"But if you keep lying to us like that it will stop working!" Deku chastised.

"Who said I was lying?" He replied, with a smirk.

"So nuanced! As expected of UA!" Iida exclaimed, as the rest of the class sighed in relief.