There was no fire, and there was no lingering smell of gunpowder.
Present Mic, who had been startled by the sudden explosion, frowned in confusion.
"Was that a dud?" he muttered. "Or did the shells not have gunpowder in them when they were made?"
While he was still pondering the issue, he suddenly noticed fine powder falling onto the outside of his goggles.
"…?!"
At the same time, Yaoyorozu Momo and Jiro Kyoka seized the brief moment when Present Mic stopped using his Quirk. They burst out of the forest, sprinting straight toward the exit as if trying to break through in one decisive rush.
"Too naive, you two little girls!" Present Mic shouted. "You think I'll let you pass that easily? YEAH—!!!"
Speaking in his usual exaggerated tone, he took a deep breath, preparing to unleash an even more powerful sonic blast to force them back.
"WHHHHHHHHHHH—!"
But the moment he inhaled deeply, Present Mic suddenly clutched his throat and began coughing violently.
A sharp, burning sensation exploded through his throat. His eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins as he struggled to breathe. He lifted his head with difficulty, staring at the powder still drifting down through the air and covering the ground in a thin layer.
"…This stuff is chili powder?!"
"Bingo!"
Yaoyorozu Momo's voice rang out. "And it's ultra-spicy chili powder—about 15,000 SHU!"
Both Momo and Jiro were already wearing breathing masks they had created on the spot, preventing them from inhaling the chili powder.
As for Present Mic, who had taken a full breath of it head-on, his eyes and nose streamed uncontrollably. He bent over, choking and coughing, nearly rolling on the ground. He had no ability to resist at all and was quickly restrained.
The handcuffs clicked shut.
"Yaoyorozu Momo and Jiro Kyoka—exam passed!"
The announcement echoed throughout the examination grounds, instantly raising the tension among the remaining teams.
"No way—someone already passed?!"
Kaminari screamed as he ran, shouting to Ashido beside him.
Their situation was currently terrible.
Their exam area was located in an industrial zone filled with concrete buildings, with tangled pipelines twisting through every block.
"Run! Another attack is coming!" Ashido shouted.
She had no patience left to argue—just moments ago, they had barely survived several extremely dangerous assaults.
As she spoke, the reinforced concrete above their heads suddenly let out a strained cracking sound. With a screech, it collapsed, sending chunks of rubble crashing down toward them.
"WAAAH!!!"
Neither of them could remember how many times they had screamed like this already.
And the mastermind behind all of it—
U.A.'s seemingly harmless mascot, Principal Nezu.
At the center of the district, atop the highest crane, Principal Nezu calmly held a cup of black tea in one paw and manipulated the control lever with the other, constantly adjusting his line of sight.
"Calculating where destruction will cause a chain reaction is as simple as brewing tea for me," he said pleasantly. "And yet, you're completely unaware of it."
"The cruel truth is that the path to your escape route is being steadily sealed off by my hands."
"Nehahahaha—!"
His sharp laughter echoed across the area. The way the tea dripped from the corner of his mouth, combined with that eerie laugh, sent chills down the spine.
In the monitoring room, Masata naturally witnessed the entire scene.
"…Recovery Girl," he muttered, "is the principal really this terrifying?"
"After all," Recovery Girl replied calmly, "Principal Nezu was treated very cruelly by humans in the past. It's only natural that his true nature shows itself at times like this."
Having worked at U.A. for over forty years, Recovery Girl was practically a living fossil of the academy—there were very few things she didn't know.
At this point, Masata had already given up any hope of Kaminari and Ashido passing. He could only pray their ending wouldn't be too tragic.
At the same time, Yaoyorozu Momo's ruthless tactics sent a chill down his spine. He never imagined that the once-innocent Momo-chan would grow into this level of tactical menace.
Masata silently mourned for his future life.
Elsewhere, Asui Tsuyu and Tokoyami Fumikage were locked in battle inside a building against the stealthy Pro Hero, Ectoplasm.
Tokoyami's Quirk excelled at wide-range attacks and relentless pressure, preventing opponents from getting close. However, as long as distance was properly maintained, he found himself at a disadvantage.
Using his Quirk, Ectoplasm easily closed the distance and launched repeated assaults, leaving Tokoyami struggling.
Fortunately, Asui was there.
At the start of the exam, she had already swallowed the handcuffs. At the critical moment, when Ectoplasm used his own technique, she countered decisively.
With a combination of restraint and timing, both sides were momentarily locked down.
Just as Tokoyami had begun to feel hopeless about passing, Asui sent him a subtle signal.
"Let Dark Shadow pick this up quietly."
Using his Quirk, Tokoyami retrieved the handcuffs from Asui's stomach, then extended Dark Shadow over a long distance. While Ectoplasm wasn't paying attention, the cuffs snapped shut around his arms.
Another victory.
At this point, two teams had successfully passed.
"It never ends!"
"No matter how much we break through, more walls keep popping up!"
With other teams already succeeding, Kirishima Eijiro's impatience only grew.
His partner was Sato Rikido—another straightforward, brute-force fighter like himself. Their opponent was Cementoss, the Pro Hero they had already faced before.
This time, however, Cementoss's concrete was far denser than before.
Surrounded by towering cement walls, Kirishima could only harden his body to the extreme and smash his way forward.
Sato had already eaten a full bag of sugar, but his enhanced state was wearing off. His thoughts became sluggish, and dizziness set in.
"Hey! Hang in there!" Kirishima shouted.
No matter how loudly he called, Sato eventually lost all combat effectiveness.
Originally, the two of them had barely managed to keep up with the creation and destruction of the concrete walls together. Now alone, Kirishima was helplessly sealed in by the barriers.
Cementoss, who had previously been defeated by Masata, regained his confidence here.
"Remember," he said calmly, "a real battle is about maximizing your own strengths."
As Kirishima failed his assessment, other teams succeeded.
Iida Tenya and Ojiro Mashirao passed.
Kurosawa Yoru and Shoji Mezo passed.
At this point, the number of teams that had completed their exams had risen to six.