Chapter 5: First Power, First Test
POV: Nova Asahi
The pen slipped from Nova's fingers as he reached for his hero analysis notebook, gravity claiming it in that inevitable arc toward the tatami floor. Three months ago, he would have watched it fall with the resigned acceptance of someone whose reflexes belonged to a sedentary college student.
Instead, his hand moved without conscious thought.
Time stretched like taffy, the world shifting into crystalline slow-motion as Enhanced Reflexes activated for the first time. The pen's descent became a lazy drift through thick air, rotation visible in microscopic detail. Nova's enhanced perception tracked its trajectory with mathematical precision while his body responded with fluid grace that belonged to someone else entirely.
His fingers closed around the pen a heartbeat before impact, the catch so smooth it felt like choreography.
"Holy shit. It actually works."
The sensation faded as quickly as it had come, time resuming its normal pace with a subtle mental click. Nova stared at the pen in his hand, heart hammering against his ribs. For twenty-five percent faster reactions, the subjective experience felt like the world had been wrapped in amber.
[Enhanced Reflexes - Level 1]
[Passive Ability Active]
[MP Drain: 5 per minute during active use]
[Current MP: 145/150]
Five MP per minute when actively enhanced. His total pool of 150 meant he could maintain the effect for half an hour before exhaustion, longer if he used it sparingly. The mathematics were encouraging, but the real test would come when reflexes meant the difference between success and failure.
Nova didn't have to wait long for that test.
The convenience store robbery unfolded three blocks from his apartment at 9:47 PM, announced by the sound of shattering glass and panicked screaming. Nova was already in costume—black hoodie, surgical mask, dark jeans that wouldn't show bloodstains—when the noise reached his enhanced hearing.
"Three weeks since the last major incident in this district. I was wondering when something would break the pattern."
He reached the store in under two minutes, enhanced agility letting him navigate rooftops and fire escapes with parkour efficiency that would have been impossible before the system's modifications. The scene below crystallized through the store's windows like a tableau of urban violence.
Three men with knives cornered a clerk behind the register. The leader—tall, wiry, movements sharp with desperation or stimulants—gestured with his blade while shouting demands Nova couldn't quite hear through the glass. The clerk, an elderly man with hands that shook too much for his age, fumbled with the cash register while tears streamed down his cheeks.
"Armed robbery in progress. Three attackers, bladed weapons, civilian in immediate danger. No heroes in sight."
Nova's Enhanced Reflexes hummed to life as he approached the store's entrance, perception sharpening to laser focus. Every detail etched itself into his consciousness: the robbers' positions, sight lines, potential weapons within reach, escape routes.
"This is it. First real test of the system's capabilities."
The door chime announced his arrival with cheerful incongruity, its electronic melody cutting through the tension like a blade. All three robbers spun toward the sound, their attention shifting from the clerk to this new unknown variable.
"What the hell—" The leader's question died as he registered Nova's appearance. Black-clad figure, face obscured, moving with the confident stillness of someone comfortable with violence. "Get out! This isn't your business!"
"Actually," Nova said, Enhanced Reflexes painting the world in slow-motion clarity, "it became my business the moment you pointed that knife at an old man."
Time dilated as the nearest robber lunged forward, his blade cutting a silver arc through the air. Nova watched the attack unfold with crystalline precision—telegraphed wind-up, committed forward momentum, predictable angle of attack. His body flowed around the strike like water, the knife's edge missing his throat by millimeters.
"So far so good. Reflexes work perfectly."
Nova's counter-attack felt effortless in the enhanced time stream. His fist drove toward the robber's solar plexus with textbook form, expecting the satisfying impact of a decisive blow.
Instead, his punch landed with all the force of a gentle shove.
The robber staggered backward more from surprise than damage, knife still firmly gripped in his hand. Nova stared at his own fist in confusion, Enhanced Reflexes showing him every detail of his failed strike in humiliating slow-motion.
"Twenty-two agility points. Enhanced reflexes. Perfect timing. Why didn't that work?"
The answer came in the form of cold steel sliding between his ribs.
The second robber's knife found the gap between Nova's dodge and recovery, slipping past his enhanced perception like a magic trick. Pain exploded across his side—not the clean, dramatic wound of movie violence, but a ragged tear that sent fire racing through his nervous system.
[HP: 170/200]
[Status Effect: Bleeding (Minor) - 2 HP loss per minute]
"Oh. Oh fuck. High agility doesn't automatically mean combat experience."
Nova stumbled backward, hand pressed to his wounded side, while the robbers regrouped with renewed confidence. His enhanced reflexes showed him every detail of their coordination—predatory grins, shifting positions, the leader's knife weaving hypnotic patterns in the air.
"Not so tough now, are you?" The leader advanced with the swagger of someone who'd found his opponent's weakness. "Should have minded your own business."
But Nova's mind was already adapting, gaming instincts overriding shock and pain. Enhanced Reflexes weren't enough—he needed strategy, positioning, tactical thinking. This wasn't a turn-based RPG where he could optimize each action in comfortable isolation. This was real-time chaos where hesitation meant death.
"Use the environment. Control engagement range. Isolate targets instead of fighting all three simultaneously."
Nova feinted toward the leader, then pivoted sharply left as Enhanced Reflexes predicted the man's reaction. The robber's knife cut empty air while Nova grabbed a bottle of wine from a nearby display, its weight solid and reassuring in his hand.
Glass exploded against the leader's temple, sending him crashing into a rack of magazines. Before the other two could react, Nova was moving again—using shopping aisles as barriers, forcing them to approach one at a time instead of overwhelming him with coordinated attacks.
The second robber came around the corner at a dead run, knife held low in a reverse grip. Nova's Enhanced Reflexes tracked the incoming strike, but this time he didn't try to match speed with speed. Instead, he grabbed a metal display rack and swung it like a club.
The improvised weapon caught the robber across the chest with bone-jarring impact, launching him backward into a cooler display. Energy drinks cascaded to the floor in a colorful avalanche, their cans rolling across linoleum with metallic percussion.
The third robber took one look at his unconscious companions and bolted for the exit.
Nova let him go. Two out of three wasn't bad for his first real fight, and the adrenaline crash was already making his vision fuzzy around the edges.
[Combat Complete!]
[Enemies Defeated: 2/3]
[Hero Points Earned: +40 (20 per robber)]
[Enhanced Reflexes Level Up! 1 → 3]
[Civilian Saved: +20 Hero Points]
[Total Hero Points: 560]
The clerk emerged from behind his register on shaking legs, gratitude and terror warring in his weathered features. "Thank you. Oh god, thank you so much. I thought they were going to—"
"Are you hurt?" Nova's voice came out steadier than he felt, though his side throbbed with each heartbeat. "Do you need medical attention?"
"No, no, I'm fine. But you're bleeding! We need to call an ambulance—"
"I'm okay. Just a scratch." Nova pressed his hoodie against the wound, fabric already soaked with blood that looked black under the store's fluorescent lights. "Call the police. Tell them two suspects are unconscious, one fled on foot toward the east."
He was gone before the first sirens wailed in the distance, Enhanced Reflexes letting him navigate back alleys and emergency stairwells despite the pain radiating from his ribs. By the time EMTs arrived at the convenience store, the Phantom had vanished like smoke.
Nova's apartment felt different when he returned—smaller, more fragile, like a dollhouse that couldn't contain the violence he'd just experienced. His hands shook as he peeled off his bloodstained hoodie, revealing the angry red gash across his ribs that would definitely require medical attention.
"First aid kit. Antiseptic. Bandages. Pray it doesn't need stitches."
But as he cleaned and dressed the wound with supplies bought during his first week as a vigilante, Nova realized his hands weren't shaking from pain or blood loss. They were shaking from the adrenaline rush of actual combat, the electric thrill of using his abilities to save someone's life.
Enhanced Reflexes had worked exactly as advertised—twenty-five percent faster reaction time, perception boost during active use, precise tracking of incoming threats. But reflexes without experience were like having a sports car without knowing how to drive. All the enhanced speed in the world couldn't compensate for poor technique, bad positioning, or tactical inexperience.
"I could have died in there. If that second robber had aimed six inches higher, I'd be bleeding out on a convenience store floor instead of sitting in my apartment feeling sorry for myself."
The lesson was humbling and terrifying in equal measure. The system provided tools, but tools required skill to use effectively. He needed training—real training, from people who understood combat as more than a sequence of optimized button presses.
Nova pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found Izuku's number. His green-haired friend would know about martial arts gyms, training facilities, places where someone could learn to fight properly instead of relying on enhanced reflexes to carry him through increasingly dangerous situations.
"Hey Izuku, weird question—do you know any good self-defense dojos? Something for people with weaker quirks who need to rely more on technique?"
The response came back within minutes, enthusiastic and detailed in the way only Izuku could manage. Recommendations for three different training facilities, complete with analysis of their teaching philosophies, cost structures, and proximity to public transportation.
Nova smiled despite the pain in his side. Some things never changed, regardless of which world you lived in.
His phone buzzed with a second message: "Is everything okay? You don't usually ask about combat training."
"Yeah, just thinking about UA prep. Figured I should learn some basics before the entrance exam."
"That's really smart! I've been thinking about physical training too, but I'm not sure where to start. My mom worries about me getting hurt."
An opportunity crystallized in Nova's mind—a chance to nudge events toward their canonical trajectory while addressing his own training needs.
"Want to train together? I heard about this abandoned beach that's supposed to be perfect for strength conditioning. Dagobah Municipal Beach Park. Lots of heavy objects to move around."
"That sounds amazing! When do you want to start?"
Nova checked the calendar on his phone, doing mental calculations about timelines and character development arcs. Izuku needed to begin physical preparation soon if he was going to be ready for All Might's training program. The beach cleanup was supposed to start around this time in canon, triggered by Izuku's own desperation to become stronger.
"This weekend? Saturday morning? We can check it out, see if it's as good for training as I heard."
"Yes! I'll bring my training notebook and we can document our progress!"
Nova set his phone aside and stared at his reflection in the black window, seeing the Phantom's mask overlaid on Nova Asahi's face like a double exposure. In seven months, that enthusiastic boy would inherit the greatest power in the world. In seven months, Nova would face UA's entrance exam with whatever abilities he could scrape together from the system's gacha mechanics.
But first, they would clear a beach together, building strength and friendship while the greatest hero in history watched from the shadows, waiting for the right moment to change both their lives forever.
"Enhanced Reflexes level 3. Sixty Hero Points closer to a Premium Roll. One knife wound that could have been fatal."
The mathematics of survival were getting more complex, but Nova was finally starting to understand the variables in the equation.
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