CHAPTER 068(Level 0)

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CHAPTER START---

Hearing Horizon call his name Deku hesitates to step forward, looking over at Eraser Head for any kind of help, only getting a bored look in response.

"Hurry up!" Horizon says. "I don't have time to waste on this shit. I promise I'm only helping you because Nezu made me a deal, not out of the goodness in my heart...honestly, when this is over I'll think you're even more of a pathetic piece of shit that doesn't deserve to be here than before..."

'Well, he's always mean to me...but if anyone can figure out what I'm doing wrong it's Horizon,' Deku thinks while walking forward.

"Stand right there," Horizon points to a spot a few meters away from everyone. And Deku silently obeys. "It took me all of two seconds to figure out your Quirk so you should be able to get this down Quickly once I explain it, watch me."

Horizon warps his sword out of the scabbard and into his hand, then turns to the city blocks of buildings in the training zone.

"Your issue is how you treat Quirks. You're such a pathetic fanboy that you think Quirks are more special than they are, it's just a part of you. And because you're an All Might fanboy you're trying to be like him and that's what's killing you."

"What?" Deku asks.

"You think all might powers up to throw punches, but he doesn't. He's always using his Quirk, he just amps it up at the moment of impact. If he didn't every movement would rip buildings out of the ground. And if he put all his power into a punch it would rip his arm off, that's what you're doing."

"So I need to use my Quirk more in everyday life?" Deku asks.

"No that would kill you. You need to stop treating your Quirk like some grand power and start treating it like another limb. Watch."

Horizon does a wide horizontal swing, without his Quirk, and nothing happens. Then he does the exact same motion again, slicing everything with absolute ease...

AMPUTATE!

All the buildings from where they stand to the other side of the training area, hundreds of meters, are cleanly sliced in two, leaving a thin horizontal line only a few feet above the road.

The sound of cement cracking and breaking echoes around as some building collapse under the sudden shift of weight. Down the street they hear cement breaking as what could have been a small town is effectively destroyed. But the buildings beside them stay standing, only with a thin sword slash along the walls.

"See, the same slash, but they didn't look any different. One did nothing and the other destroyed all the buildings, that's what you need to do." Horizon warps the sword back into the scabbard at his side and turns to everyone. Seeing them all looking at him, completely horrified by how easily he wiped out a small town.

"Hey!" he yells at Deku, snapping him out of his stupor. "You need to learn to use your Quirk to augment your regular actions before using it for the big attacks."

Deku considers it for a moment then realizes what he's saying. "So I need to run before I can punch!"

"Uh...sure. How do you normally visualize it?"

"Oh, like an egg in a microwave, I'm heating it up...but I can't seem to stop before it explodes."

"Oh wow...you're retarded," Horizon says.

"What?"

"You use the image of something that will explode, then act surprised when you do explode. Like of course you're a little retarded since it's been at least 10 years and you still can't figure out the basic function of your own Quirk...but still, I'm more and more surprised every time we talk...not in a good way."

"Uh...I...yeah," Deku just quietly agrees, realizing that from Horizon's point of view, this was the best explanation. He couldn't tell him that he'd only had the Quirk for 2 months at this point.

"Anyway, forget about the egg in the microwave, I want you to visualize yourself."

"Myself?"

"Yup, but as an empty vessel, a hollow shell with no blood."

"No blood?!" Deku asks. And everyone just focuses in even more on the lesson.

"Blood is power and energy for the body, that's the image you want in this case. Treat it like your Quirk, if mentally your body is filled with blood, boom, you die."

"I see," Deku taps his chin. "So this way I can more accurately control how much power I send to my arms..."

"Nope," Horizon says. "You're still missing the point." Take one drop of blood and stretch it to cover your entire body, activate your Quirk like that."

"One drop?"

"That way the strain is evenly distributed, too small to damage you while giving you a lot of benefits."

Deku falls deep into thought as he closes his eyes and begins visualizing. And Horizon turns to Eraser Head.

"Eraser, I need you to leave, can't have him thinking anyone is going to save him..."

"What?" Eraser asks. "I can't leave my students to get hu---" he's suddenly swapped with a leaf somewhere else in UA.

The other teachers are about to speak up but Nezu just waves them off before Horizon explains to Deku. "Having a safety net encourages failure. This way, if you fuck up, you die, that's all. So don't fail..."

"This doesn't seem safe," Uraraka speaks up.

"That's the point. Pressure builds character, you either break like a rusty pipe, or become a diamond..."

A small distance away from Horizon, Deku was still focusing on the mental image of his hollow body. Taking one drop of glowing blood and stretched it, impossibly thin until he couldn't even see it anymore.

One For All: 2%

Deku opens his eyes, feeling his muscles tingling. "This feels...good."

"Do a standing jump," Horizon commands.

"Alright," Deku goes into a full squat then jumps up, clearing six feet before crumpling to the floor. Unable to keep his balance while controlling his Quirk. "Ouch..."

Seeing Deku down on his hand and knees Horizon shrugs. "It's a start, increase the power as you see fit and you'll be fine. But overdo it and you're gonna break yourself."

"Thank you," Deku says. "You really are amazing, to know so much about Quirks so quickly."

"I know."

"Uh...is that it?" Deku asks, not sure if the lesson is done.

"I got you from self-destructing all the way to level 0, what else do you want from me? You had ten years to figure this out but still resorted to being a pathetic fucking leech, have some pride and figure the rest out yourself, get to work."

"Sorry!" Deku bows respectfully and does a small run back to his classmates, clearly excited about the progress he just made.

"Anyway, my job here is done. Self-reflection and discipline are all you need, you can figure the rest out yourself, probably, and if you can't, that's not my problem," Horizon shrugs as Vlad King walks over with Nezu on his shoulder.

"Alright students," Nezu cheerfully says. "You've all got the rest of this class to figure out what you need to do according to what you've just learned. The upcoming internships will be a good chance to learn about the background work of running a Hero Agency and managing the logistics of taking down villains. But it's also a good chance to ask Pros about Quirk use and see what you can learn from how they operate. Be sure to take full advantage of it."

"Yes sir!" Most of the students respond.

Vlad walks over and Nezu hops across to Horizon's shoulder and takes a seat. Horizon hands his tablet back to Nezu and they begin walking out of the training area.

SHAMBLES!

Eraser swaps back with the leaf and runs face first into Vlad's back, stumbling back and just shooting Horizon a dirty look.

"Care to explain yourself?!" Eraser yells.

Horizon stops and just looks back at him, "I don't like repeating myself or arguing, it's easier to just move you...not like you can do anything to stop it."

Eraser glares at him, "don't do that again."

"Sure sure," Horizon turns and continues walking back to the main campus.

Moments later he's sitting in Nezu's office, finalizing the edits on this thesis before Nezu can make it public. Now adding himself to the very short list of credible Quirk specialists and researchers in the world. Another accolade to show how truly invaluable he is.

"Tomorrow I'm leaving school early," Horizon says.

"Well, I don't believe Eraser has anything planned for Hero Training tomorrow, just a breakdown of how Hero Agencies operate so you all aren't going in blind."

"Things from the textbook, I won't be missing anything then."

"May I ask why?" Nezu asks.

"Well, your plan is that we come here Sunday morning, get out Hero Costumes, then take the train to wherever we're going. I don't like public transportation, especially when I'm sure to get people annoying me."

"And Horizon doesn't have a license, or own any cars or property, so you can't drive over in uniform," Nezu says.

"Yup, so I'll just drive over to Tokyo as Law and relax in my penthouse there," he shrugs.

"Is having a dual identity worth it? I'm sure you could have a lot more if you just used Horizon. People would be offering you things... and I know you enjoy female company, lots of heroes take advantage of their status for that."

"If I want something I can get it myself, and as for women. Well...just shut the lights off...and if all else fails, you'd be surprised by how many women and willing to put on a blindfold," he says with a mischievous chuckle.

Nezu shakes his head, "you're ridiculous."

"Only in all the best ways..."

END CHAPTER---