"Um, Xuan-kun... what's next?"
Momo was still catching her breath, her voice wavering.
"Your Quirk activation is too slow. You need to fix that first. Whether you keep using my 'method' is up to you," Wu Xuan said bluntly. The Quirks of those three thugs were mediocre at best; if Momo had been more skillful, she never would have ended up so disheveled.
It took her nearly ten seconds just to manifest a simple blade. In a real fight, anyone—even someone without a Quirk—could have rushed in and laid her out twice over in that time.
Momo fell silent, her face clouded with shame. She had originally wanted to ask if they could go buy some new clothes; as a daughter of the Yaoyorozu family, wearing dust-caked, tattered rags made her skin crawl. But Wu Xuan's critique made her realize she was still being far too delicate. To be a Hero, she had to shed that shell.
"Thank you for today. You've been a massive help," she said, standing and offering a formal bow. "I've decided to go home and study further. I need to internalize more molecular structures to speed up my Creation. I'll come back to ask for your guidance once I've improved."
Wu Xuan looked like he wanted to sigh. There's a next time? He didn't mind spending time with a beautiful woman, but he preferred a different kind of "training" environment.
"Then I'll head back. Xuan-kun, are you coming?" After their ordeal, calling him by his name felt more natural to her.
"No, I still need to 'cultivate' a bit more."
"I see. Then I'll be going." Momo walked away with a newfound resolve. She couldn't let Wu Xuan pull too far ahead.
Classes in Japan were notoriously relaxed. Shortly after Momo left, Wu Xuan stepped back out onto the streets, which were still teeming with students in various uniforms. He glanced at his watch: 8:35 AM.
BOOM!
Just as he was considering which high-crime district to haunt today, a deafening roar erupted from the direction of the elevated train tracks. The crowd shrieked in alarm, and a wave of people began surging toward the source of the noise.
A villain in broad daylight? Wu Xuan mused.
He strolled toward the commotion and soon spotted a gargantuan figure, over ten meters tall, transformed into a grotesque monster atop the tracks. The villain was in a blind rage, tearing down utility poles and ripping up railway steel like they were made of plastic.
The Pro Heroes Death Arms and Backdraft had already arrived, but their Quirks were only enough to contain the perimeter and prevent the destruction from spreading. Just as the crowd began to cheer for the arrival of Kamui Woods—who moved with lightning speed to bind the giant in his wooden branches—the scene shifted.
Mount Lady suddenly surged into view, her titan-sized foot kicking the villain clear across the tracks. The sudden intervention left Kamui Woods and the onlookers stunned.
Wu Xuan recognized the scene instantly. This was exactly how the original story began for Izuku Midoriya. But something changed—perhaps it was the ripple effect of Wu Xuan's presence in this world, or perhaps just a momentary blunder by the giant heroine.
After being kicked, the massive villain's ankle hooked onto the edge of the overpass. His center of gravity shifted violently, and his multi-ton body began to plummet directly toward the dense crowd of onlookers below.
Standing right at the front of that crowd, eyes wide with terror and a notebook clutched to his chest, was Izuku Midoriya. He stared up at the descending mountain of flesh, his mind a complete blank.
I'm dead.
Just as that thought took hold, a burly, golden figure—radiating a presence no less imposing than All Might—materialized in the air above the crowd.
BOOM!
A violent shockwave erupted like an air cannon, the aftershock stinging the cheeks of Midoriya and the hundreds of nearby civilians. Death Arms and Kamui Woods watched in disbelief as the gargantuan villain was blasted back into the sky.
Two seconds later, the monster crashed heavily back onto the bridge, the impact making the entire district tremble. A deathly silence fell over the thousands of people present.
Half a minute later, Mount Lady scratched the back of her head, striking a "cute" pose. "Um... oops? My bad."
But no one was looking at her.
"Hey, Death Arms!" Kamui Woods shouted. "Was that you? Did you hit him that hard?"
Death Arms shook his head, staring into the crowd. "No... I don't have that kind of power. To launch something that heavy... you'd need the strength of someone like Endeavor." He scanned the sea of faces, frowning. "It was someone in the crowd. Who has a Quirk that powerful?"
In the front row, Izuku Midoriya stood with his mouth agape. He remembered that golden silhouette. He knew only one person who fit that description.
"Wu Xuan-kun..."
How much of a monster had his classmate become?
A single relevant follow-up question:
Given how public that display of power was, do you think Wu Xuan should try to slip away before the Pro Heroes or the media start questioning the crowd, or should he use the moment to further "test" his influence?