The Protagonist System

184 Exam Time

Now that I had both of the ultimate powers of the world in my possession, and sacrificed them, I was feeling like my old self again. I felt confident, relaxed, and like nothing could go wrong. Most of that was probably thanks to my perks and blessings being back in full effect, though. It was great to not have to worry about the little things anymore.

Of course, the first thing I did with this new power was to visit a particularly irritating blond idiot named Bakugo and I took his quirk. I wasn't going to leave him a blank like I used to be, though. No one deserved to suffer being bullied for being quirkless like I was.

So, I created a cheap spell that duplicated the effects of the quirk, sweating a napalm-like substance and being able to ignite it at will, and gave the weak level 1 power back to him... by giving him a Wet Willy! What? Yes, it was petty and childish; but, the mean little bastard tortured me for 10 years and I deserved to have a little payback.

It also made my brides-to-be and my mother laugh for a long time. I lamented about how big of a wad of spit I had used to soak the inside of the idiot's ear and how I had to wash my hand off three times to get all the ear wax off of it, making them both amused and disgusted, so I figured my work was a success.

With that important thing out of the way, we started our watch on the hero agencies and the police stations. Since we knew the villains that the League would have tracked down eventually, thanks to their own paperwork and my own additions, it was easy to find them after they were released from their interviews.

Like I did to Bakugo, those powers I took and replaced with the cheap Level 1 versions. They also didn't know it was me doing it, thanks to me knocking them out first and dropping them off in a different part of the city.

When they woke up afterwards, they were both disoriented and with their severely reduced power. Without their full power, they could no longer be the criminals they had chosen to become. Funnily enough, they did not report the change to their quirks to the police, and that worked out to help cover up the whole thing.

The only time I did anything different was when there was a clear and present danger of the villains retaliating. Those people I sacrificed and kept their power, increasing my Karma Points a lot more than reforming them gave me. That also included a quick visit to a certain Yakuza compound to harvest the people there.

I killed them all instead of trying to sort through them and disintegrated their bodies, because they were all complicit in what Overhaul did to little Eri. Luckily, we had been early enough that she hadn't suffered through the worst of the experiments he would have performed on her to duplicate her quirk with drugs made from her blood.

I also took her quirk from her and Eri cried and cried in my arms as I carried her out of the place and back home. It was heartbreaking at how relieved the little girl was to never have to worry about reverting anyone else into nothingness and to never be experimented on again.

Inko accepted my decision to adopt Eri and my future wives adored her. It made Eri cry even more to go from no family to having so many parents that she couldn't get their names right. That made the girls laugh and they hugged her and kissed her little cheeks as Eri preened under the onslaught of affection, and that was how Inko welcomed another girl into the family.

*

Needless to say, the six of us blew through the middle school exams at the top of our respective classes and had even reached the top twenty scores in the whole country. It was hilarious to see the shock on the faces of the other students and the teachers, because they now knew the five fashion obsessed teenagers were also some of the smartest girls in the country.

I caught a few more criminals, some of which had more information to pass on, and led me to the Mutant Liberation Front. The details were scarce, which was why I hadn't gone after them before. I couldn't use my search spell to ask for generalities, like a guy with a charisma quirk, because that gave hundreds of results and was useless. I needed a name at least.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to hunt them down before the UA entrance exams and had to put it off until afterwards. It disappointed the girls as well, because they had become used to going out and making a real difference over the last four months. Why were we going to school again? To make things official and we would actually get paid for all the work we were doing.

We kept the evidence we gathered and would deliver the proof after we were recognized heroes. Until then, we sat on everything and went along with the facade that school was going to be.

I kissed the five girls goodbye and went to the Recommendation Exam and found out it was just a silly race. There were only four slots available for the top classes, two each, and I sighed at the large group of students around me.

“Afraid you're going to lose? Because you are.” A smug voice said.

“WET WILLY!” I yelled and lunged at him as I slobbered over my index finger and jammed it into his ear.

“AHH! Get him offa me! GET HIM OFFA ME!” The guy yelled.

I backed off before anyone could step in, mostly because I had already switched his wind generation power for a weak copy. “Does anyone else want to say anything? I've got nine more digits that need waxing.”

“Ewww.” The girls said and one made a gagging noise.

A couple of the guys laughed and I received a nod of respect from Shouto Todoroki.

I looked at the teacher overlooking the tests and took out a napkin to wipe my finger off. “Is there time for me to go wash up?”

“No, you're up first.” Ms. Joke said with a huge grin. “That was a great move. Can I steal it?”

“Help yourself.” I said and tucked the napkin away. “I have a few more I'll share with you later if you want.”

Ms. Joke laughed. “Hitting on me won't earn you extra credit.”

“It won't? Dammit.” I groused and she laughed again. “Okay, who am I destroying?”

Ms. Joke pointed to the guy that taunted me, at Todoroki, and at some guy with no lips that made everything soft.

“So, only one worthy opponent. Got it.” I said and the smug guy preened. “Hey, Todoroki? Want a tip to move faster?”

Everyone else laughed at the pouting smug guy and Shouto gave me another nod.

“First group, line up!” Ms. Joke said and went to the starting line.

We lined up beside her and I whispered to Todoroki about angling the ice under his feet forward, so he was constantly sliding downwards, and to use his dominant foot to push the ice out from underneath him. It should let him travel any path he wants, as long as there was some surface nearby to attach the ice to. The young man's eyes were wide as he stared at me in shock.

“GO!” Ms. Joke yelled and dropped her hand.

I grabbed Todoroki's arm and jumped 30 feet forwards, carrying him with my telekinesis, and I landed in a run. “Do it now, Todoroki!”

He reacted to my order automatically and ice formed under his feet, giving him a kind of shelf to stand on, and it left a solid trail of ice behind him.

“Now race me!” I said and pushed him away.

He windmilled his arms for a second as he drifted about ten feet away and then he evened out and braced himself like I told him. His glare at me was pretty heated, too.

“Catch me if you can!” I shouted with a laugh and did the same parkour moves I did every time I went out with my team on the weekends, only a lot faster. This was a race after all.

By the time the exam was over, after several races that I dominated in, I had the first reserved spot. A girl with a splitting quirk named Setsuna Tokage was second, Shouto Todoroki was third, and Momo Yaoyorozu was last. I wasn't shocked by that, honestly. They did have the best quirks to convey speed when they needed it.

I whispered to the other students to apply to the other hero academies because there was still time to take their entrance exams and they wouldn't miss out. Just because they didn't get into UA, it didn't mean they couldn't be heroes. They just had to it without the prestige UA would have given them.

Ms. Joke gave me a sexy look and repeated almost word for word what I said, because she didn't want to see the rest of them give up, just because they couldn't get in with their recommendations. The normal exams were the next day and they still had a chance to get in, even if they only went for the general course and worked their way up into the hero program.

Even the smug guy looked reassured and I was given a lot of whispered thanks as we all left the staging area. Shouto Todoroki pulled me aside and gave me a stern look, as if telling me to wait, so I waved at the others and waited. When we were alone, I cast a privacy spell.

“Why?” Todoroki asked me and he looked confused.

“Because I know.” I said and stepped close and put a hand on his shoulder. “I know your struggles and I know you hate the part of yourself that he gave you.”

The young man scowled at me. “How could you ever...”

“Because my power lets me use powers.” I said and absorbed his quirk, Hot and Cold.

Todoroki gasped and his entire demeanor changed as his repressed side completely disappeared and he no longer had to fight off using his volatile flames.

I mentally looked through my available powers and found Serafall's superior Ice Magic affinity and smiled. I licked my fingertip and gave Todoroki a Wet Willy without being mean about it and handed over both the ice power and the associated resistances he needed to not make himself an icicle whenever he used the power.

“There you go.” I said and patted his shoulder. “Now you can honor your mother and make her and your family proud by using primordial ice to become one of the best heroes in the country.”

Todoroki almost looked on the verge of crying. “You... how...”

“I can't admit to anything publicly.” I said and leaned in to whisper. “Have you heard about the underground vigilante names Apex?”

Todoroki's mouth dropped open and he stared at me. Our antics had been on the news lately, despite how careful we had been. Being active and handling crimes in view of the public had left enough witnesses for our likenesses and hero names to be released and associated with several solved cases.

“The only reason your dad isn't dead already is because there's no evidence of any of his crimes.” I whispered and Todoroki's mouth snapped shut and his glare came back. “I also don't know how to help you and your family any more than I already have.”

Todoroki lost the glare. “You helped my sister find our brother's body.”

I nodded and let his shoulder go. “He was a villain and was... I can't tell you what happened to him to make him look like that. Experiments and things to... well, the heroes and the police should have that information. I honestly didn't want to know. I have enough horrible images in my head without adding any more.”

Todoroki nodded because he knew what I meant. “Thank you.”

I gave him a searching look and then reached up to briefly touch the burn scars on his face. “Do you want me to fix your hair, too?”

“Wh-what?” Todoroki asked and reached up to touch his cheek and didn't feel the scar tissue anymore. “How?”

“It's just a little transfiguration.” I said and motioned to his hair.

“No, I... I match my brother and sister. I don't want that to change.” Todoroki said.

“Good choice.” I said and started to walk away. “See you in school.”

He didn't respond and I didn't really expect him to. It was a risk to tell him my illegal identity and I was sure he would keep it a secret, mostly because I had given him his fondest wish. He no longer had any part of Endeavor's flames inside of him.

I went home and greeted my brides-to-be and my mother, whom all welcomed me with open arms and liberal kisses. They were eager to hear about my test and were just as disappointed as I was that it had been so easy. I also told them I hadn't rushed and didn't reveal my full abilities, specifically because the test had been so easy to beat.

I saw them all home and the taxi guy with horns was our driver again, like always. He enjoyed both the long drive and talking to so many potential heroes, the tips he received were also happily accepted and he always left me at the apartment building with a thumbs-up and a grin.

I went to bed and wouldn't see the girls for another couple of days. They had their own entrance exams to take and we would meet up afterwards, just like we had today after mine. I wasn't worried about their exams, mostly because I had taught them everything I could and trained them to handle anything that the schools could throw at them.

If they didn't pass, it wasn't going to be the end of the world, either. We could stay as a team of vigilantes and wouldn't have to do all the paperwork for a real hero agency. It would be disappointing to miss out on all the free government money; but, it wasn't essential. We were pretty rich after all the people we robbed and cleaning up the beach.

The best part about that was they had their own money and still loved it when I took them out shopping and bought them anything they wanted. Of course, Inko had been brought out on a few trips as well and she was really starting to like how fashionable the girls were and had changed some of her own clothing to match.

Inko hadn't joined the team officially and only trained and practised occasionally, and that was okay. It was enough to give her a better body image and more confidence. She also liked that we made her train her power, small object attraction, and it didn't stutter anymore.

I would never tell her I had replaced her quirk with the power of the Accio spell and she could summon anything she wanted. That was what the training was for and she was quickly learning that she could grab bigger things. I also gave her the Depulso spell power and she figured out on her own that she could put things back after she grabbed them, and that made her very happy.

A few days later, I learned they had all done well and wouldn't know if they passed until they received the results, which was common among the normal student applications. Like me, they weren't worried about passing, mostly because they said they kicked ass and we could always stay as a vigilante team anyway.

Once we had our results officially, we could start learning about how to be a proper hero. Every time I said that, the girls let out laughs. We had been heroes for the last five months and would have no trouble with the hero school courses.

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