The world seemed to crawl in Midoriya's eyes.
One For All at 21% was not something heaven-defying. Nor was the speed so much that most of the faster Heroes and Villains, including students, couldn't react against it. What made Full Cowling stand out presently was the element of surprise.
None had been expecting Midoriya to let himself loose at this moment.
Not to mention, the solid strategy of storming UA's students by working together, regardless of which School they belonged to, worked against them, too.
Before, all the students had to do was throw one of the six balls they were given for the Exam toward the general direction of UA students.
With them numbering well over a thousand, that still counted to a thousand balls at least.
UA students? They were only sixteen in number because, luckily, two had already left the group.
No matter what kind of ridiculous Quirk they would use, one of the hundreds of balls would still get them… many times. Enough times to hit all their exposed marks, kicking them out of the Exam.
But that thinking also created blind spots, preventing hundreds of students from having a direct view of the area where the UA students were.
So, he did not need to be as fast as lightning, Midoriya knew.
All he needed was to be fast enough to never stay in one's direct vision, giving the impression that he had become lightning.
The CRACKLING that kept echoing out of him added to the effect, too.
A month…
For over a month, Midoriya had done nothing but talk to the Vestiges.
He had even halted his usual training, instead focusing on mastering the two Quirks he had already unlocked.
Float was still alright.
But he couldn't afford to repeat what happened during the Battle Royale.
Black Whip hadn't been that strong initially, Nana Shimura, his Master's Master, had told him, to Fifth's chagrin. With All Might never activating these Quirks, the Vestiges did not know what could have made Black Whip rebel, either.
However, the first user, Yoichi Shigaraki, had guessed that Black Whip was responding to One For All, getting stronger.
Every strand of energy that sprouted out of Midoriya was not the same as it had been used by Fifth, but was empowered by One For All!
During the Sports Festival, when Midoriya had reached the 20% of Full Cowling, the Black Whip's energy strands had also possessed the same power, wreaking havoc and annihilating the entire field outside Midoriya's control.
After days of talking to the Vestiges, Midoriya had concluded that controlling these strands of energy would be akin to activating Full Cowling on all of them.
In a way, Black Whip wouldn't just allow him to sprout strands of energy, but it would also give him an extra set of limbs; limbs that he could freely control… if he could control them.
That's why, instead of training further, Midoriya had poured his time into meditation, controlling every strand of Black Whip fully.
Now, as long as he didn't go overboard, he could masterfully control at most four strands of Black Whip at a time.
And that… made him unstoppable.
Float wasn't flying. So, Midoriya lashed out with Black Whip toward the ground, hitting the earth, and firing himself forward.
The speed of the green strand of energy was so great that it felt like a green bolt of lightning, snaking out of him and hitting the ground, creating a loud CRACK.
The students had already thrown many balls toward the UA students.
In Midoriya's eyes, they became helpless targets, suspended listlessly midair.
Left and right. Up and down. Cracks after cracks rang out as Midoriya propelled himself, taking sharp turns without losing even a touch of his momentum.
He didn't just repel the balls, though.
Midoriya grabbed some of the balls and sent them back right toward the students who had thrown them.
Some of those hundreds of balls went right through the gap between the students.
Most of them landed on the students' bodies, a great number of them hitting one of the three marks they carried on them.
And once Midoriya had covered the first layer of balls, he made sure to hit the remaining two marks of two students, completing the requirement to pass the exam.
Seconds.
All this happened in mere seconds.
With a CRACK, Midoriya reappeared where he had started, suspended midair, slowly retrieving the Black Whip inside him, ignoring Fifth's roaring laugh in his mind.
Then, as the Supervisor announced that he had cleared the first stage, Midoriya… fell.
With a thud, Midoriya's knees struck the ground, his vision blurring. He could see two of everything, a buzz deafening his ears. A heaviness settled into his chest as though he had swallowed a fist of something whole without chewing it first.
Hell Rush, as it was now, wasn't something he could use without facing consequences.
Controlling 21% One For All-powered Black Whip needed his all and everything, forcing him to finish the task as soon as possible before he lost control.
That drained his stamina like never before, leaving him at the mercy of others.
Midoriya had decided to resort to using Hell Rush in the direst of circumstances.
But, seeing all the Schools coming after him and his friends, he made an exception, going for it anyway.
The entire stadium seemed to have held its breath, all students, Commission members, and Pros who had come here with their students looking at him.
Then, just as Uraraka and the others approached him to help him up, and just as Midoriya opened his mouth to take a deep breath, he… disappeared.
"As Izuku Midoriya has passed the exam," the Supervisor said over the speakers, "he has been removed from the stadium. The rest can continue…"
The shock that had rooted the students to their locations gradually vanished.
They looked at the remaining UA students, a queer hesitation making them not attack instantly.
Izuku Midoriya hadn't taken out more than two students, despite having the strength to do so.
But… he had done what he had intended to do, it seemed.
Give the remaining UA students a chance…
… a chance to fight together!