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79.68% MHA: Horizon (Ope-Ope No Mi) / Chapter 301: CHAPTER 295(Skyward)

Chapter 301: CHAPTER 295(Skyward)

Discord: https://discord.gg/t7bHrdRY7Y

pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene 

CHAPTER START---

"So, who's up first?" Horizon asks, staring down all the 2nd Year Students in this completely silent arena.

The crowd seems to hold a collective breath as the students share concerned glances.

The Hero Course students immediately have all eyes on them, and among them, 2A naturally gets the most attention.

"You're smart," Kendo says to Momo. "You must have thought of a plan to fight him, right?"

"Yes, live in a different hemisphere and send robots to deal with him," Momo says quietly. "Shoto, Bakugo, and Deku will likely move first, just wait until they get his attention and make a break for the flag, that's my plan."

Kendo eyes the flag standing behind Horizon, "mhm..."

"This tension is insane!" Present Mic says. "To think Horizon himself would be the first obstacle, looks like he found a loophole to participate in the games after all!"

"I can't imagine a more difficult obstacle than this," Vlad King says. "He's effectively forcing everyone to work together without fully trusting each other at the same time, all the team planning they did minutes earlier was torn apart in one move, done directly after they likely shared some of their unique skills with their presumed allies."

"Attacking the bonds between comrades! How devious!" Present Mic says. "What do you think Eraser, who'd you bet on?!"

"Horizon," Eraser Head says. "It's more than 100 versus 1, but, this is as far from fair as those students will ever face in their lives. Luckily the goal isn't to defeat him, but to get to the flag."

"I see some movement from the competitors!" 

As the announcements went off, as if a silent agreement had been made, the students waited for Midoriya, Bukugo, or Shoto to make the first move.

Shoto and Bakugo had the same thought, wait for the others to charge forward, and in the moment Horizon responds to crush them, rush toward the flag.

They knew this was still likely impossible, but it was a better shot than a direct confrontation.

While they were somewhat confident in facing Horizon during the 1-on-1 section of the Sports Festival, at this stage there were no ring-out rules for them to use against him, so it was best to secure a spot in the next stage instead.

However, Izuku Midoriya had an entirely different thought.

With one brave step, he's the first person to cross the starting line.

The people watching unconsciously lean forward, excited to see what's about to happen.

"Izuku Midoriya from class 2A is the first to enter the course!" Present Mic announces. "This student made it to the final even last year before losing to Shoto Todoroki in an incredible clash of power. Now one year later everyone is excited to see how that explosive power provided by his Quirk, Super Power, has developed!"

Midoriya takes a deep breath, looking directly at Horizon, still standing there with his hands in his pockets.

'One For All: Full Cowling 45%!' Electricity begins dancing around Midoriya's body as his hair seems to move on its own as if it were in the wind.

His muscles feel tingly and his bones are almost creaking with each step, walking diagonally to Horizon so there isn't anything between himself and the flag.

Eventually, Midoriya stops and faces the flag, then crouches down into a sprinter's stance, yet Horizon hasn't done so much as turn his head toward the boy.

Bakugo's hands begin sweating, flexing his fingers to relax his joints and prepare for an onslaught of explosions.

Frost begins gathering on Shoto's right side, cooling his body in preparation for the flames he's about to unleash as a booster.

BOOM!

The air shatters as Midoriya launches at the flag in a green sparking blur.

The ground around him shattered just as the sonic boom broke the air, many people covered their ears and were startled at the sudden burst of power.

It all happened so fast that Bakugo and Shoto didn't even have time to take more than a single step over the starting line, before they came to a stop once more.

They were all amazed even and the crowd erupted into cheers, as "IZUKU MIDORIYA ADVANCES TO THE NEXT STAGE!" was announced.

Because there at the other side of the arena, Midoriya was sweating profusely, his entire body shaking uncontrollably, and the flag pole was in his hand.

The UA logo on the flag changes for a moment to show '1' before changing back.

He stakes the flag back into the ground before taking a few steps away, still shaking and sweating uncontrollably.

'That was too much,' he thinks to himself, tuning out the crowd. 'I can maintain 45% for a while, but pushing myself to 60% can only be done for one burst, but it was enough,' he sighs in relief.

Back with the students, Bakugo is furious while Shoto is completely confused, if anyone they'd expect Horizon to use the games as an excuse to beat up Midoriya, but yet, he didn't even more while the flag was captured.

He was still standing there, like a statue.

Midoriya, while still panting heavily, walks back over to Horizon.

"I doubt I was too fast for you, so I was right, about the puzzle," he says.

Hearing that everyone is confused, but Horizon just chuckles and turns to face Midoriya, leaving his back to the other students as they all begin rushing to the flag, "the first to move is often who life rewards the most, honestly you could have just walked over here while they were all frozen in place..."

Midoriya's shoulders relax, "I guess my usual overthinking came in handy this time."

While they spoke the other students already began rushing toward the flag, eventually parting like water around an immovable object when they got to Horizon and Midoriya, harmlessly moving around them.

"Strategy and problem-solving is part of life," Horizon says. "And this game reflects all aspects of life...or at least the ones I could fit within it. If you aren't the first to move, things usually get exponentially harder."

As he said this and it was announced through the speakers and broadcasting systems, Bakugo had already made it to the flag, with Shoto flying via flames a few meters behind him.

But when his fingers were millimeters from touching the flagpole.

The entire thing simply disappeared.

Bakugo skids to a stop as everyone else begins looking around the arena, then not finding the flag they look to Horizon.

"Didn't you hear me?" He asks. "Things get exponentially harder if you aren't the first to move, remember to stick to the course, you've got 1 Hour to get to the flag."

"So it's at the end of the course?" one of the General Studies students asks.

"Something like that, but I'll give you a hint, the name of this game," Horizon takes a hand out of his pocket and points to the sky. "Is 'Skyward', so..."

TAKT!

The entire arena along with all of UA begins shaking as massive chunks of earth are ripped from the ground just outside the arena.

The surrounding fields of UA are excavated, forming massive looping paths curling like a spring above the arena and toward the sky.

Over 10km of track, uphill, on what seems like a massive floating spring made of earth and trees.

As if he stretched out a small mountain and simply hung it in the air, the shadow cast was both awe-inspiring and terrifying, and a moment later massive rings appeared around certain sections to act as checkpoints.

Each of the massive paths was at least 150ft -50m- wide and they intertwined and crossed over each other, and the small bits and pieces of earth that fell from them simply hung in place as if they were stuck in the orbit of the track.

"And one last touch," Horizon mutters as part of the earth directly outside of the stadium lifts to connect to the floating track, acting as a ramp so everyone can simply run to the track.

As soon as this happened Shoto wasted no time and began skating on ice through the tunnel and past the first checkpoint.

BOOM!

Bakugo's explosions seem to snap everyone out of their trance and get them focused back on the event, "don't think you're beating my icy-hot!" he screams while trying to catch up.

Both Horizon and Midoriya are warped away as the crowd stampedes through the tunnel, ready to truly begin the first event Skyward.

"Oh, right, I'm the only student here until someone else touches the flag," Midoriya says as he appears in the almost empty seating area of 2A, above the civilian seats, high above the arena.

"Well done Midoriya!" Yagi says, waving his one arm for Midoriya to join him at the front row. 

"All Might, what're you doing here?" he asks while taking a seat beside his mentor.

"Well, I knew this is where he'd send you after you passed, so of course this is where I'd be..."

"What an insane course!" Present Mic says as the students take off. "Eraser Head, how confident are you in this not going terrible for us, considering where we are?!" he says while looking up at the massive track floating above their arena.

"I don't doubt that Horizon can hold up a mountain with his brain, we'll be fine," Eraser Head says.

"I'm more worried about the other students," Vlad King says. "If this is the course, I can't imagine what traps he has laid out on it for them..."

Meanwhile, in Horizon's viewing area, he has his feet up while scrolling on his phone, seeing the social media response to his latest spectacle.

All the members of Team Horizon were fully suited up in their Hero Costumes, minus their masks, sitting on couches and seats nearby watching the games.

"Where'd you even come up with this idea, seems insane, and unsafe," Sero asks.

"Oh, I was looking up ideas for interesting race tracks and found one that everyone hated from this super old game, the thing came out over 300 years ago," Horizon says.

"Was it called 'Rainbow Road' or something like that?" Juzo asks.

"Oh, you've heard of it?" Horizon asks. "That's surprising."

"I like looking into old stuff," Juzo says.

"What's more surprising is you letting Deku advance that easily," Shinso says.

"Well he solved the little riddle part of it, and if I'm going to be so critical of him, the least I can do is be fair," Horizon says. "Besides, I'm excited to see what else he's capable of..."

END CHAPTER---


Chapter 302: CHAPTER 296(Skyward Pt.II)

Discord: https://discord.gg/t7bHrdRY7Y

pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene 

CHAPTER START---

"Out of my way Icy-Hot!" Bakugo screams as he rockets past Shoto, making their way up the winding earth tendril course Horizon made.

"Watch it!" Shoto yells as he uses his flames to get out of Bakugo's way, intentionally slowing down to let Bakugo get past him.

As Bakugo takes the lead Shoto smirks, then looks back to see all the other students trying to catch up.

He sees Tokoyami closing in and waves his hand back, creating a blast of fire that ignites the grass behind him.

'That should stall hi---' Shoto's thoughts are cut short as Tokoyami uses Dark Shadow to dig into the cylindrical course and crawl along the underside, avoiding the flames.

'Attaching himself to the underside to avoid direct sunlight and my flames, looks like he'll be a bigger problem than I thought,' Shoto thinks as he keeps rushing ahead, using Ice to form a path and flames to push him forward.

'If I let Bakugo go first he'll trigger any traps Horizon has on this course, while all I need to do is be one of the first 16 people to touch the flag, no point in revealing any of my new moves this early.'

"Tokoyami Fumikage takes second place!" Shoto hears just before the announcement gets out of range.

As he completes the first loop Shoto looks over the side, seeing the stadium hundreds of feet below him, and among the course floating out of range are drones with cameras on them.

Looking above him Shoto sees flickering light and hears the explosions of Bakugo's Quirk on the loop just above him, and on this loop he sees a large red ring floating around it.

'So the checkpoint is a concentric circle with the track in the middle of it, allowing people crawling below it to pass that way if they want, a fight in all planes...'

As he realizes this he sees that directly above him Tokoyami is flying on the underside of the next loop.

"Tch, just because taking the lead isn't my goal doesn't mean I'll let you two embarrass me," he puts more power into his fire and ice, rocketing forward even faster.

Meanwhile, in the lead, Bakugo was enjoying the wind rushing past his face, not even feeling any pain or soreness as his explosions launched him ahead of the competition and up the track.

Enjoy his freedom to unleash his Quirk on the world's stage he quickly completes another loop, then reaches a junction in the course.

"What the hell..." he mutters as he comes to a complete stop, planting his feet on the dirt track and looking ahead to see it split into three parts.

Two made of earth on the left and right, and one in the middle made entirely of what smells like seawater.

Yet around each, he could see a checkpoint, all sharing the same number '3'.

'So I have to pick a path, and the middle is probably for people like Froggy who are faster in water, since flyers and regular people can use the normal track, whatever, I just have to keep moving...'

BOOM!

Bakugo launches up the left path, moving faster than before as he clears another loop.

This time instead of diverging paths, he's met with what appear to be UA Training Robots.

More humanoid in appearance but each was now 10ft -3m- tall, no longer inspired by animals they simply looked like big metal people.

"Tch, you'll have to do better than that to stop me!" Bakugo screams as he accelerates even more, moving higher, above the robots. "I'm not wasting my time on this piece of trash when the real fights are in the next stage!"

As he screams all the camera drones are focused on him, seeing him soar over the robots.

Then suddenly all their heads turn to him, and with one massive leap two of the robots leap the 15m -45ft- distance into his path.

Bakugo's eyes widen for a moment, never seeing UA's Training Robots acting like this before.

One of them spins to kick him in the side, and in response, he raises his right hand toward it while still flying with his left.

As the explosion is about to go off directly into the robot, a piece of rock slams into his forearm, directing the blast upward and allowing the kick to connect to his side.

"Argh!" he feels the metal foot slam into him, but before he can go hurtling into the ground below the second robot that leaped at him grabs his face and drags him down.

Slamming him into the dirt and pinning him down with its weight.

"What the hell," Bakugo groans as he's pinned down. 'Since when did these pieces of trash fight like this?'

As he thinks that, he flips his hand up, palm facing the sky, and releases a massive explosion to blow the robots holding him down apart.

Before the smoke could clear Bakugo moved through the cloud, getting behind his third target and swinging with an open right palm.

As he's about to connect the explosion begins to form, and without looking the robot crouches down and spins, kneeing him in the gut and sending him out of the smoke.

"Gah..." he tries to catch his breath after he stops rolling, then looks up to see the five remaining robots sprinting at him.

"Damn it!" Bakugo punches the ground as he gets up, taking a runner's stance with his arms behind him ready to activate his Quirk.

'So much for saving this for the next round, but since I'm fighting Horizon, then I may as well use it right now...'

He feels his arms becoming warmer, his muscles bulging, flexing, his bones creaking for a moment before they adjust.

His months of training came together once again for him to shine brighter than anyone else on this course.

CLA-CLA-CLA-BOOM!

Instead of his usual explosions, this time as he rockets forward at a new top speed, the explosive sweat is much more dense and concentrated, forming bright spherical explosions in his palm before they release the energy outward to push him forward.

Each explosion is like a white-orange star as it explodes behind him with more power than one of his Super Moves from this time last year.

Bakugo blitzes past these robots and is onto the next loop before the spectators can ever realize what's going on.

He makes it to the next section of the track where the paths converge, and two dozen robots are standing guard, but notices some scattered pieces about. 

'Who the hell was already here, then must have gotten past me during that fight, freaking Icy-Hot!'

"Out of my way trash!" Bakugo screams as he rushes into the next swarm of robots.

With each destroyed robot he feels his body become lighter, his muscles get hotter, and his mind becomes clearer and more focused.

'One year,' he thinks as he clears this section and rushes on to the next. 'One entire year since Horizon and I first fought, and now I'm getting my rematch.'

He makes it to the next junction and sticks to the left path.

'But I'm not the same person I was back then,' Bakugo clears some more robots, taking some hits that set him back slightly but still not disappointed by his own pace.

'I'm not delusional enough to think I can beat a monster like that. Someone who can make an entire track like this appears with a thought, someone who can fight all the competitors at once without even being here...

I'll use him as exactly what he is, an insurmountable obstacle that pushes me to keep surpassing my limits and climb to heights that Deku and Icy-Hot could ever get me to reach!

That's your purpose for Nezu bringing you here after all, isn't that right, Horizon...'

---Many Loops Below...

Finally making it to the section of the course with the robots, Momo is leading the pack by riding a bike, followed closely by the weightless Uraraka and Asui duo as well as Tokage floating as a collection of body parts.

"I don't have time for Nezu's toys," Momo mutters as she creates a small grenade-like device in her right hand and throws it forward, directly into the middle of the robots.

As the group is about to reach the robots her grenade goes off, setting off an electric shock that seemingly powers them all down.

"Thanks Yaomomo!" Tokage yells from above.

"I don't suppose you're thankful enough to let me touch the flag first?!" Momo asks.

"Ha, not even with you bo---!" Tokage trips over her words as Momo glares at her. "Not even with the world watching!"

The girls get past the awkward moment as they rush into this swarm of robots, yet the moment they're in the middle of the swarm one of the robots swings its hand out to grab Momo.

"Look out!" Uraraka tackles her out of the way, sending them both rolling in the dirt.

"Tha---" Momo's words are cut off as she suddenly becomes weightless and gets thrown back down the track, losing her lead completely.

"I'll get you some snacks later as an apology!" she hears Uraraka yell as the robots begin engaging.

Momo creates a blade from her forearms and stakes it into the ground to anchor herself, looking up at the fight in time to see Uraraka touch a few of the robots, making them weightless and then throwing them into the air.

She sees Uraraka taking the lead and gets up, making roller skates on her feet with larger rubber tires for the dirt track, and begins rushing back to them.

'I don't get it, that EMP grenade should have short-circuited those robots, they never failed before, something doesn't seem right. They waited until we were close, playing dead so they could strike, did Nezu reprogram them for this game...'

As she's catching on to what Bakugo had instantly realized earlier, the robots move toward Uraraka, flying with no obvious assistance toward the girl.

One by one she sees all her friends quickly being overwhelmed, forced to work together, and when one of the robots is shattered to pieces and falls at her feet.

Momo sees the inside of it is completely hollow.

"Oh my god..." she mutters, looking around at over a hundred students fighting these robots all at once. "Horizon is controlling all of these with his telekinesis."

"Looks like another student figured it out folks!" Present Mic announces as Momo's shocked face is broadcast to the world. "Game Master Horizon is controlling all these metal puppets from his comfy spot in the stadium, that's why it seems like they can fly and have eyes in the back of their heads, pretty cool right!"

The crowd looks both astonished and horrified at the sight of one student simultaneously controlling a small army of puppets with apparent ease, only for Present Mic to snap them out of their daze as the broadcast changes.

"And looks like we've got another student at the flag!" he says as the screens show Bakugo rocketing toward the flag, on the final stretch. "Looks like he's had a rough journey but he made it after all!"

Making it to the flag Bakugo stopped in front of it, his clothes were slightly torn and burnt, caked in dirt from all the times he'd been sent rolling across the floor.

His hands were already aching, but nothing he couldn't deal with before the real fights began.

And looking back he didn't see anyone in sight, "guess I got a good lead on them after all," he says as he touches the flag, and instantly warps away.

As he arrives in the 2A seating area, he sees Midoriya and All Might sitting there watching the games as Present Mic announces his name.

"Katsuki Bakugo secures his spot in the next round!" Present Mic announces. "Well, Eraser Head, are you surprised the first people to qualify are from your class?!"

"I can't honestly say I am," Aizawa says. "I would have been more surprised if those three didn't qualify..."

Bakugo smiles at that, then a confused expression forms on his face, "Wait, what the hell does he mean 'those three'?"

Bakugo looks around, only to see Tokoyami sitting in the back, clearly exhausted.

His feathers were dirtied and slightly matted in some places, his beak had a small crack with a bandage on it, and his left arm was in a sling.

"What the hell happened to you?" Bakugo asks, more curious than angry or surprised.

"I don't want to talk about it," was all Tokoyami said before limping away from the observation area...

END CHAPTER---

The chapter was a bit later because tournament arcs are hard...


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