Chapter 7: New Encounters and the Trial of Battle

- Now that's powerful. Almost like the Almighty.

After a quick glance at the chart, I was approached by a couple of my classmates, who stared at me in awe.

The boldest of them all was a kid with red hair that resembled a cluster of small, sharp spikes. Average body and boring quirk, nothing special, but he reeked of Tetsutetsu's energy, perhaps it had something to do with the similarity of their quirks. To be honest, even their behavior is similar.

- Thank you.

He extended his hand to me with a wide and friendly smile, and I shook his hand in return.

- My name is Eijiro Kirishima, let's meet, brother.

Now you could definitely tell that they were psychological twins.

- Likewise, do you happen to know a teenager named Tetsutetsu?

Kirishima shook his head in the negative, which even surprised me, since their natures were perfectly similar to each other, which would make excellent friends.

- I'm Mina Ashido, nice to meet you Alex. And when you jumped, did you go into space?

A girl with pink skin and black eyes, whose yellow pupils were staring at me, already spoke up. She also had short pink hair with yellow horns.

A body mutation caused by a quirk... Well, that's not the worst example I've ever seen. Compared to Robert, she's almost indistinguishable from an ordinary human.

- No, reached the lower stratosphere because he decided to visit the Sahara. The sand there is so warm, we'll have to go back there after school.

All the students, upon hearing such a statement, only grinned wryly, trying to realize that this was far from a joke. Even Kirishima, who considered the Almighty the strongest hero, wondered if this was true.

- Not bad for a copy of the Almighty.

The explosive blond's voice came from behind him. There was a sneer in his tone, and a faint respect, perhaps due to the competitive spirit.

To aim for the impossible is practical, and it can be a lifelong motivator, but it has a downside. If you get too hung up on something like that, you can easily miss out on a lot of opportunities.

The guy with the white-red hair and the burn on his left eye was still watching me. Though I wasn't bothered by such a thing, after all, he posed no danger, but his gaze, it was almost like mine, just as unemotional.

The strangest thing was that the expression on his face changed after the third ordeal.

- Where are you going now, brother?

Kirishima turned to me again, apparently intending to ask me out.

- Home, I need to finish a few games. Why?

- If it's not too much trouble, you can come with us for a walk.

I was faced with a choice, to try to learn the next stage of human friendliness, or to refuse and continue to farm in the game, ignoring such an offer.

- Okay, I guess I can postpone video games for later. Where are we going?

My question was immediately answered by my classmate.

- Hmm, we can walk through the park, and then we can go to a cafe, because I'm hungry after this ordeal. Do you eat a lot?

We left the academy and were already walking down a busy street, most people didn't pay attention to me, but a few people did turn around.

- As much as I want, yesterday I ate 45 burgers, three kilos of fries and drank five liters of soda.

Kirishima and Mina opened their eyes wide again, trying to comprehend the answer they had just given. At first they wanted to ask again, but when they realized what the man in front of them was capable of, all questions fell away on their own.

- Yes... You are, after all, an amazing man, even the most amazing. Incredibly strong, terrifyingly fast, and with a bottomless stomach. Are you really from this planet?

The red-haired teenager looked at me with a smile, and then up at the sky.

- Yes, but sometimes it seems like that's not true, because I'm too powerful for this world.

Mina shook her head, pondering my words for a moment.

- That's self-esteem, though with that kind of power it's forgivable. There's the cafe.

The eatery was located on a spacious sidewalk area amidst the greenery. Tables were spaced apart, providing private corners for groups of diners. So too were the floral arrangements, adding freshness and liveliness, covered by an umbrella providing cool shade.

Seated at a free table for four people, I began to read a fairly extensive menu: five kinds of cakes with different fillings, several cakes, a couple of soups, a dozen salads; and the standard drinks: four kinds of tea, soda and coffee.

I ordered three soups and two cakes, while Kirishima ordered one salad and Mina ordered some cakes for tea. While the orders were being prepared, they started to shower me with questions again.

- Can you make it to outer space?

- Easy.

- Can you lift Lady Mountain?

- I don't know who that is, but yes, I can.

- And sk.

Finally the food was ready and I could begin tasting the borscht and napoleon, ignoring their next questions.

- When I eat, I am deaf and dumb.

Silence ensued, and I fully enjoyed the delightful food that delighted my taste buds.

- The only question I have is, how does it all fit inside you?

After chewing the last piece of cake, I turned to Kirishima, who was looking at me with incomprehension.

- Everything I absorb turns into energy, which I can use in the form of shockwaves, or to strengthen my limbs, or maybe something else. I didn't deal with it too thoroughly.

- How's that?

- I can just sit there and launch a strong burst that, at the slightest power, is capable of destroying an area. It looks similar to what you saw when I threw the ball into space, only a couple hundred times stronger.

Kirishima stared into the void when, after a few seconds, his eyes lit up brightly, as if a eureka had caught up with him.

- Like a shockwave from a nuclear explosion.

- Visually it's the most similar, yes, but there's no explosion, just a wave from my body.

- Gee, you're a real walking apocalypse. To be honest, I already think you're stronger than even the Almighty... After all, your abilities are incredible, maybe you'll even become the new Symbol of Peace.

Symbol of Peace? I don't think I want to become something like that. After one day, I didn't feel a rush of motivation or any interest... It's still boring.

Now I was already at home, after the cafe we walked around a bit more, but soon we parted as I felt someone approaching the house. The object of caution was the courier in a spacesuit, who immediately disappeared into the portal, but thanks to my speed I was able to stop the closure of the portal by grabbing it with my hands, and look inside.

There were spacecraft, satellites, and rockets everywhere, equipped with special containers that held items that were protected from the effects of space vacuum, radiation, and other adverse environmental factors, because all of this was on the space station.

Gee, I admit, it really surprised me. So the idea of parallel universes is quite real...

The creatures in spacesuits, of which there were more than a hundred on this station, turned to me and started shooting laser beams from their blasters, but they did not leave a scratch, I did not even feel their impact.

Okay, I'm going to have to do some in-game shuffling first, and then I'm going to look into this phenomenon in more detail.

I let go of the portal, which closed immediately, but one beam managed to pass through and hit a five-story building, destroying it.

Apparently, I should have caught it after all... Okay, I'm off to play.

Overnight I managed to get through the entire game, destroying the last boss with one hit, raising the critical hit and hit level to the max, which completely broke the gameplay. Also, there were ambulance sirens blaring all night and police car flashers flashing in the windows. I even had an officer stop by once.

- Hello, mister. Have you seen anything suspicious?

- A portal to a parallel reality, into which a humanoid in a spacesuit went.

The policeman stared into my eyes, keeping a puzzled look on his face, but when he noticed the console on, he immediately changed his face.

- The police officer stared at me in the eyes, but when he noticed that the console was on, he changed his face. Good night.

He left the grounds of the house and headed for the neighboring house, where there was a family of three children and a single mother who constantly brought home strange men. I kept noticing that they had tentacles instead of arms, but I had no desire to delve into something like that, so I forgot about it.

After sitting around playing games until morning, I felt a sudden urge to go out into the backyard and try to open a portal.

- Hmm.

I imagined a shimmering, neon circle tearing through the very fabric of reality, opening a path to previously inaccessible places. My imagination conjured up swirls of energy that created the impression of infinity and depth in the portal, blooming in a variety of vivid colors, from bright blue to deep purple, reflecting an unusual nature.

When I opened my eyes, I found no tunnel to the other reality, everything was the same, without any change.

- Yeah... Then I'll try another way.

All the energy I had accumulated over the years was directed toward my hands, causing the space that opened them to distort, but I still continued to imbue them. The moment the fabric of reality began to darken, I stopped the flow and put my hands out, as if there were a wall in front of me that had a crack in it, with which I could push the barrier apart.

With effort, the fabric of reality began to tear, revealing a completely dark space behind it. Wasting no time, I immediately looked into it, where I met with answering glances.

A black-haired man in a business suit, whose eyes were a blood-red hue, and a completely naked but invisible man with a camera were sitting at the table and drinking tea, still examining me. Their gazes made something inside me squeeze.

- Decided to try moving between universes? It really is an interesting topic, but it would take a lot more effort and effort to fully master it. And yes, I am a god in a way, and Sanyok is naked because he loves freedom. I've answered all your questions, so close the crack in reality, or else people will invade your world.

Nodding, I pulled my head out and closed the rift, trying to make sense of what had just happened, breathing deeply.

- I was expecting something like this, of course, but damn, it still felt kind of bad... It's really better to put it off for now, it's still a bit of a mess inside.

I took a couple of minutes to catch my breath, calming my heartbeat.

- Wait... Did I really feel the anxiety! After more than a decade, I felt an emotion long forgotten. It was... It's so unsettling.

For the first time in a long time, a wide smile appeared on my face while my eyes expressed the true joy of the moment. I was experiencing true bliss now, not the drabness of being that was already a part of me.

- But now I felt the beauty of life and, it's just lovely. Haaah, I'll go to the academy, and I'll settle down.

There were groups of kids talking to each other again at the school gate. My appearance made a couple of the students whisper even more quickly, even though they didn't know I had super hearing and could hear all their words clearly.

- So well built, I'll have to find out what kind of exercises he does, I want a body like that, too.

- How many centimeters do you think he has?

- What a doughnut, I could just eat it.

Comments like that made me turn away from the students with disgust on my face.

As I look at the two high-rise buildings connected by an elevated walkway, I feel a strange déjà vu.

____ At the academy _____

- So, class, tell me where the mistake is in the following example English sentence. who knows the answer? BCE PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND UP HIGH!

An overly loud hero named Excessive Mick taught English, which I had mastered as a child.

He was a tall man with pointy blond hair and a small mustache who wore headphones and sunglasses. He had a device around his neck that allowed him to direct sound in a certain direction.

I wonder what would happen if I tried to shout as hard as I could.

At lunchtime, everyone went to the main hall to taste the food prepared by Quicklunch, the hero who had moved on from being a hero to being a chef for Yuei.

From a visual standpoint, the food looked okay, but the next discovery discouraged them from trying his cooking. A tubular device attached to Bystrolanch's mouth went to a common pot where his saliva and stomach contents fell.

As I sat down at the empty table, I looked around at all the students eating such crap. While I was bored, I was approached by our class teacher, who apparently thought I was in trouble.

- Is something wrong, Adan?

She put a tray of mashed potatoes and a cutlet on the table, staring at me with her tired look.

- It's hardly a problem, it's more a problem that I don't want to eat that kind of food.

Aizawa raised his eyebrows in surprise.

- What's wrong with the food?

He took a spoonful of the potato mixture the chef had kindly given him, unaware of the horror I was about to unleash on him.

- Didn't you see the tube in the area of Bystrolanch's mouth?

After cutting off part of the cutlet, the teacher put it on a spoonful of mashed potatoes, sending it into his mouth.

- Right.

He chewed it slowly, enjoying the taste.

- I noticed that the pipe leads to the pot where all the food is cooked.

After chewing the food completely, he swallowed it while a little fear was already reflected in his eyes.

- So?

- The saliva and contents of Quicklunch's stomach flowed down this tube directly into the communal pot.

- Ahem.

Aizawa coughed, trying to restrain the sudden urge to return his lunch to the table. He took a couple of glances at me and Quicklunch, then stood up abruptly and walked out of the hall, heading outside. After admiring this picture, I continued to look at the other students.

- Brother!

Almost identical voices were heard to my right and left, saying the same word.

It was Tetsutetsu and Kirishima, looking at each other with suspicion.

- It's my brother!

Both raised the index finger of their right hands and pointed at each other, coming closer.

- Who is he? / Who are you?

- I'm Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, and this is my brother Alex, but who are you?

- I'm Eijiro Kirishima, and this is my buddy Alex.

We need to get out of here, not only is listening to their conversation too depressing, but they also attract unnecessary attention, which is already causing the students to stare at us.

- Okay, uh, guys, I gotta get to class.

Without listening to their answers, I left the cafeteria and went to my next class, which was supposed to start in ten minutes. As I sat down at my desk, I covered my eyes and waited for the next class until two of my classmates came up to me.

Denki Kaminari was a teenager with blond yellow hair. From the left side of his hair, his bangs, which covered a quarter of his face, and even part of his left eye, had black strands that looked like lightning bolts.

And Mezo Shoji, a tall guy with white hair and six arms, thanks to his quirk that allows him to reproduce any part of his body with tentacles along his arms.

- What do you want?

- Would you like to arm wrestle Shoji?

I looked at the six-armed guy, and he looked at me. I couldn't think of anything better to do, so I agreed, and we sat across from each other, elbows on the desk.

- Would the desk hold?

- It had held up fine in all the fights before.

Kaminari replied with a smile that didn't inspire confidence.

With our palms together, we began to wrestle. Shoji tried to use his multi-arm advantage, but it didn't help against my superior strength. He didn't even manage to tilt my hand by a micrometer, so, not to linger, I calmly lowered his palm to touch the desk.

Kaminari and a few of my classmates shook their heads, as if they'd expected such a result.

When I returned to my seat and wanted to cover my eyes to concentrate and remember that feeling of anxiety, the Almighty burst into the classroom.

- HERE I AM!!!

As soon as he walked in, all the classmates began to admire him and some even worshipped him.

- You made it!

My thought about the connection between the green-haired boy and this hero was beginning to make sense.

- Through the door, like a normal person?

How else?

- I can't believe it! The Almighty really will teach us...

- This silver age design! This style is so beautiful it gives me goosebumps...

It's a real fanatic, they're obsessed with it. Maybe it's the fruit of its wide propaganda since childhood.

The Peace Symbol went to the table and took out a sheet of paper on which he began to write something diligently.

- The fundamental teachings of heroes! In these classes, we will be laying the foundation of heroes in you through a variety of challenges! This will come in handy for you! We'll start right away with this one!

He picked up a sheet of paper and showed the inscription on it, "BATTLE."

- The test of battle!

- The test... Battle?

A few of the disciples asked again, even though the Almighty had been saying every word loud and clear the whole time.

- And for your first battle, we have prepared costumes for you, according to your requests according to the quirks you possess.

- Our battle suits!

- Cool!

I don't remember writing a costume request... I'll hope my dad pointed it out, although you can do it in this form. No one can touch me if they want to.

- Change your clothes and let's get going! Let's all gather at the Beta field! YOUR ATTIRE IS VERY IMPORTANT ON THE BATTLEFIELD, BOYS AND GIRLS!

After he finished these words, he left the classroom and apparently headed for the field. Without delay, everyone ran to the numbered boxes that corresponded to the desk numbers.

Thirteen, yep, still there, well, that's good.

A blue suit, adorned with bronze-colored shoulder pads and a high collar, and on the left chest was a small glowing circle of blue, the purpose of which I did not understand. And black boots, weighing a couple of dozen pounds.

While the others were admiring their suits, I quickly looked around and put it on, before doing so, of course, heading for the men's locker room.

While waiting for the others, I covered my eyes, remembering that blissful feeling, but I was not allowed to enjoy it for long, and soon we went through the tunnel to the Beta field, where the Almighty was already waiting for us.

- Great! Let's see what you fetuses are made of! It's time for the battle test!

Everyone started admiring the costumes again, but this time praising each other.

- You look great, brother!

I turned around and saw Kirishima and Mina looking me over from head to toe.

The red-haired guy's hero costume consisted of shoulder pads that looked like cogs, baggy pants, and a belt with an "R" buckle, leaving his chest fully exposed. Along with this, he wears a mask slightly resembling the jaw of a predator.

- You certainly have quite a figure, not unlike Kirishima's.

The pink-skinned woman was wearing a purple and turquoise camouflage suit, a jacket with white fur on the collar, and boots.

- Hey!

I am taller and more imposing than most of my classmates at 190 centimeters and 90 kilograms.

- Teacher! About the test site, are we going to use the layout of the city from the entrance exam?!

- You'll see, though, two steps and you're there! The battle test will take place inside the building! You most often see battles with villains outside, but... Statistically speaking, most often it happens away from prying eyes. Most crimes take place indoors. 3a hostage situation, barricaded house, black market. In the superhero community. Heh heh. All the little savvy villains are hiding in the shadows. For this iest, you'll divide into "villains" and "heroes" teams. To have a two-on-two team fight!

Most of my classmates turned to me in horror.

- What about the fundamental drills?

The girl with the frog mutation decided to ask a question, interrupting the oppressive atmosphere.

- That's what they are! Only there won't be any robots to beat without too much trouble!

This was followed by questions, from which I made a brief summary: the heroes must either catch the villains or touch the fake nuclear warhead before time runs out. The villains, on the other hand, need to guard the weapon, or capture the heroes. The division into teams will be by lot.

As everyone began to pair off, I immediately felt a hand on my shoulder.

- Brother, let's team up! Together we'll be invincible, a real unstoppable force!

- Okay.

Our team was marked with the letter F, which looked a little funny, because a similar symbol was often glimpsed in online games to express respect.

Almighty stuck his hands in the boxes and started pulling out the letter balls. In this unsophisticated way the turn came to us as well, fortunately we acted as heroes in the third encounter, as I was trivially bored waiting.

- Pair of heroes F! Pair of villains I!

Our opponents were Mashirao Ojiro, a blond guy with a ponytail dressed in a kimono, and Toru Hagakure, a girl with short, wavy greenish-yellow hair with pink speckles, big round eyes with purple pupils that surrounded turquoise and yellow. Her quirk is invisibility, so her hero costume consists of only gloves.

- Well, the villains have five minutes to enter the building and figure out their next plan while the rest of us can watch the action from the built-in cameras. Don't forget, this is hands-on practice! So feel free to put your best foot forward! But if the fight gets out of hand, I will, of course, interrupt it...

Ojiro and Hagakure stared at me apprehensively, while Kirishima smiled broadly.

- Okay, the rest of you, let's go to the observation room.

Left alone with my classmate in front of the building where the nuclear weapons mock-up was located, more specifically the 3rd floor and the second room on the right, I wondered what was better: to bend and punch the wall, being right next to the bomb, or to take the stairs to give them a chance to show themselves.

- Better to let them show themselves.

I turned to him with a little surprise on my face.

- What? It was clear from your look at the window and the stairs, and taking your strength into account, that's how it turned out.

- Nice deductive powers, I didn't expect that from you.

Kirishima began to think about my words, and after a few seconds his expression changed to neutral.

- Okay, let's go, it's been five minutes.

He immediately ran into the building and ran up the stairs, while I slowly made my way inside and stopped in the middle of the corridor where the stairs were set, to get to the third floor in one jump. A slight jolt from the floor was enough to cover that distance.

- I'll take care of Ojiro, and you go to the weapons!

Kirishima could be heard shouting on the second floor as he began to fight his opponent diligently.

Without further delay, I walked toward the bomb, ignoring Hagakure running back and forth. When I was 15 meters away from my destination, she decided to take a direct kick to the chest.

- Ouch.

She stepped back a few steps and tried to punch her fist in the liver this time, but again it didn't work.

- Ouch.

The weapon was eight meters away, and apparently realizing that the blows had no effect on me, she grabbed my arm, trying to pull me back. Instead of the result she expected, she was flailing in different directions, which in no way detained me and I touched the layout of the bomb.

As I looked at my arm, on which my classmate was still dangling, a conclusion came to me that brought a smile to my face.

Being the strongest, it's not so bad. The feeling of total dominance is intoxicating.

The loud voice of the Almighty could be heard from the loudspeakers installed in various corners of the building.

- The team of heroes has won!

___________

Six men in business suits sat in a dark room, where the only sources of light were a pair of desk lamps and a TV screen playing a video.

- Should we go to him?

The recording on the television stopped as everyone turned to one of the council members.

- Why? It's in his best interest to try to destroy such an object.

On reflection, everyone nodded in agreement. The guy who came up with the idea pulled out a key phone and called a scientist he knew.

- Professor Sanchez?

- Yeah.

There was a loud and prolonged burp from the speaker.

___________

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