บท 17: Round 2
Making my way through the corridors of the stadium, I heard Present Mic announcing the match.
"Thanks for staying tuned with us everybody! We are about to begin the matches for the second round! For the first battle of the quarterfinals we have on one side, the man that can freeze the competition in an instant, Shoto Todoroki!"
Waiting in my post, I observed him making his way to enter the arena while the spectators showered him with cheers, but Todoroki ignored everything and stared at me with a serious expression.
"And for the other side, our most recent celebrity and holder of one thousand quirks... Neito Monoma!" He announced and the whole stadium was filled with whistles and shouts praising and cheering for me.
'One thousand quirks? That's not really accurate, but I suppose it's only a matter of time.' I thought to myself while smiling and waving at everyone and posing to the cameras.
I was still considering if I should just flick him away using OFA, but Endeavor's suggestion seemed far more interesting to me.
Making sure that we were both ready to fight, Midnight signaled for Present Mic and he shouted. "STAAAART!"
Todoroki immediately released a frosty stream of ice that rapidly enlarged itself as it approached me, to the point of easily towering over the stadium.
Not gonna lie, despite perceiving everything in slow motion, I can clearly see that he didn't underestimate me.
Not only was I being encased by ice in an instant to the regular eye, I also felt my muscles beginning to freeze.
He knew that I could regenerate, so accidentally killing me wasn't a real concern for him. And by looking at his rapidly formed ice armor, I understood that he was making sure that I wouldn't be able to erase his quirk.
Poor fool, he thinks he has planned for everything I might have.
If I was being honest, I could simply flex my muscles while using OFA and immediately break free of my ice prison, but I decided to be a little more dramatic.
In a second, after focusing on a metaphorical fire candle inside my chest, I felt my temperature surging to inhuman levels.
The ice didn't even stand the slightest chance, instead of melting it went straight to its gas state, and the freezing air of the stadium heated and expanded much more violently than Bakugou's recent explosion.
My clones were immediately deployed to rescue and protect anyone that had been sent flying away because of it, after all, I have a reputation to uphold.
Todoroki didn't have the luxury to be impressed, his ice protection was melting faster than he could possibly maintain.
In front of him, shining bright and emanating heat like the sun, he witnessed my flaming scarlet figure.
Not satisfied with his expression or lack of it, I amped Endeavor's quirk with OFA and soon my red flaming hair, fists and feet turned into a bright yellow and then to a blinding blue.
As my feet began to melt the concrete ground below me, Todoroki's last layer of defense melted away completely as he used his hands to block my heat and light.
"When did you..." He muttered to me while struggling to resist my presence. "Did my monster of a dad bribe you or something?"
"You said you didn't want to use your father's quirk to win. So allow me to defeat you with it." I said pulling both hands back while lowering their intensity back to red and surrounding myself in a dense cloak of hellfire. "If you don't want that to happen, I suggest you to finally accept that it is yours and fight back!"
From the grandstands, Endeavor's usual smug expression faltered and signs of worry for his son emerged as soon as he recognized his most powerful technique being reproduced by me. "Don't lose Shoto! Fight back!" He shouted unintentionally, but before he could intervene, he felt his quirk erased by one of my clones that witnessed his unusual reaction.
The oldest Todoroki stared at it in cold fury, but after a reassuring gesture he turned to pay attention to the ongoing match.
The youngest Todoroki gritted his teeth in defiance and attempted to attack me with his instant glacier, again.
"Moronic fool!" I replied, allowing his ice to form so that I could make him understand the situation by force.
Thanks to the heat that I was producing, his body now was capable of mustering even more lower temperatures, so the ice blast this time was considerably stronger than the first one he used.
It didn't matter though, in the end, my concentrated beam of heat easily vaporized his interceptive attack.
Similar to Bakugou's explosion, Todoroki's quirks were something I couldn't carelessly boost with OFA, the collateral damage wasn't something that I would dare to risk. So I didn't.
That means, Endeavor's strongest technique was by far more than enough to dwarf whatever the current Shoto could throw at me.
And just like when I broke free of his ice prison, the resulting blast wave was strong enough to blow multiple spectators away from their seats.
I guess I should stop doing that, it might become annoying to my fans and the regular audience.
Regardless, my clones were still very busy making sure that no one would get hurt while resisting the considerable push from my attack clashing against Shoto's.
After a moment of pure chaos, on one side of the arena, there I was standing mostly unscathed.
My clothes would've definitely turned to cinders if I hadn't acquired Endeavor's control over his quirk as well.
However, looking at Shoto, I couldn't say the same about him.
The upper body of his uniform had been completely disintegrated, and instead of taking damage himself, I noticed that he had instinctively conjured his own flames to brace against my overwhelming power.
I swear that I took it easy on him, but if not for that move he pulled on the last moment, I think I might've killed him.
Or at least, seriously injured him.
Man, "Prominence Burn" is definitely on a whole 'nother level.
No wonder Endeavor wishes to pass it down to Shoto, alongside everything else he possesses.
And if I'm not mistaken, this might be enough to overpower my regeneration quirk.
Crazy shit indeed.
I felt a little dizzy for a while, probably because that despite the fact that I might be capable of pulling out the same move as the number two hero, but my body was definitely not used to this level of stress.
Thankfully, with my regeneration already kicking in, the side effects soon disappeared.
I see now why Endeavor did consider Half-Cold Half-Hot a massive improvement over his Hellflame. "See, it wasn't that hard!" I finally spoke. "Truth be told, I'm really glad you didn't disappoint me. This power of your father is more than I was expecting."
"I need to reject..." He put out his own flames while mumbling the same shit he always repeated to himself. "I won't use his..."
"It's yours, stupid!" I shouted annoyed before sighing and reactivating my flames. "But if being a hero isn't that important of a thing to you, then I guess I can't really force you."
Not sure if it was thanks to everything we talked up until now, or simply my plot armor kicking in all of the sudden, but as soon as I finished my words his fire manifested again.
"I... I want to... become the world's greatest hero!" He declared more to himself with a confident smile that I never saw him making before. "You really are annoying, you know?"
Smiling back at him, I replied. "And you are the easiest person to get along with. Now that we lied to each other, what do you say? Shall we?" I extinguished my flames and amped myself with OFA.
"Ha! Agreed." He laughed and activated both his ice and fire. "Don't regret making me use my full power."
"I promise." I said and punched forward, forcing the very air around me to ripple, coalesce and condense rocketing itself towards my opponent.
His third attack wasn't much more creative than what he used against me until now. An ice avalanche and a massive fire blast were what he managed to come up with.
I guess beggars can't be choosers.
Back to his attack, instead of both natures canceling each other, it seems that they complemented each other somehow.
Unfortunately for him, I had decided to take him more seriously in my attack.
The vacuum I created demanded to fill itself and rushed in an arc as it created a shockwave that had been felt even by those outside of the stadium.
The wall of air rushed at Todoroki's attack with an incredibly dull sound.
That was the first time I used "Twin Impact".
And boy, I would say it clearly over performed.
There was nothing the blast of ice and fire could do against such overwhelming power, the force just pushed through anything till it hit and pushed Todoroki back until he was planted in the far wall of the stadium, simultaneously knocking him out and getting rid of whatever trace of ice and fire that might've reached me.
After a moment of deafening silence, I heard a thunderous applause raining down from above me and I just raised my fist in acknowledgement to the support I received from the spectators.
Present Mic was screaming his lungs out to be heard above the crowd while Shoto was being taken in a stretcher. "Neito Monoma advances to the next round!"
Looking back now, I noticed that Cementoss attempted to intervene, but wasn't really capable of accomplishing anything against me and Shoto.
I was about to offer my healing spray to aid in Todoroki's recovery, but I noticed I had lost it.
When did...
Oh, so that's why I didn't manage to find her anywhere.
Well, at least my spray was about to end anyways.
Back to the aftermath of my last battle.
From what my clone informed me, most people were still incapable of believing that students could battle at such ridiculous scales, not to mention we all were still only first years.
Imagine our future.
All Might wanted to talk with me about the match, he turned to my clone that was making him company and questioned why I was attempting to make my opponent use his full power.
I decided to tell him about Shoto's backstory and his relation with his father, explaining how the path he was trailing would only alienate him even further from his actual dream of becoming a hero.
All though Toshinori praised me for saving the boy from himself, I made sure to make it clear that I just did what I felt was right.
Obviously that made him admire and praise me even more, but I was more interested in hinting how I would succeed him, how I would contribute to his legacy.
I wanted to be someone that wins just as much as someone that saves others.
"That aside, young Monoma, I wanted to congratulate you. You definitely went far beyond any of my expectations after I told you to tell the world you are here. Not only you presented yourself as the undisputed winner, but that show you made is making sure you won't just be recognized as a powerful hero, but as the next symbol of peace." He told me with a prideful smile and patted me in the back.
"Of course, sensei! It's only my duty to honor the legacy you passed onto me." My clone nodded.
Meanwhile, another clone of mine was cuddling Toga, while she gushed about how I defeated another powerful opponent. And another one was sharing a few ideas with my parents, mostly serving as a bridge between the business couple and Mei Hatsume.
Would you believe that they even showed interest in Midoriya?
They said that he had some great field insight for support items, and the fact that he was quirkless was just another factor that contributed to pick their interest even more.
While all my other clones were making themselves useful, I just returned to my seat and noticed that Midoriya and Shinso were waiting for me.
It puts a smile in my face seeing that the strategy crafting was something Midoriya managed to introduce to Shinso.
I myself wish to do it more often.
Deciding to aid them in their discussion, I asked Shinso if he could find other triggers to his quirk, and also questioned to which extent his control over someone reached.
For Midoriya, I made his day when I told him that my parents were interested in him and Mei. He went on and on about his future projects.
But before we could continue with our conversation, I noticed that the next match was about to start.
Eijiro Kirishima Vs Inasa Yoarashi
That definitely caught my attention.
Kirishima was aware that Inasa could basically nuke the arena with a single attack. But contrary to Ibara, he was very familiarized with Inasa's quirk and his fighting style. While Ibara's vines couldn't resist being dragged away by the air pressure enough to reach him before he unleashed his powerful attack, Kirishima's density gave him a better chance to try it out.
Sure enough, as soon as Present Mic gave them green light to fight, Red Riot rushed right away.
Inasa quickly understood what was happening and swiftly switched his plan, instead of taking his time to build up enough air, he quickly shot his air dense current slices.
Although they weren't his most powerful technique, they were clearly very impressive on their own.
While Kirishima's head and chest seemed to be capable of enduring the pressure, his forearms and legs weren't as resilient.
Obviously the air blades weren't capable of chopping through his hardening limbs, but a few cracks were beginning to appear.
Not stopping to wipe his shallow cuts, Kirishima leaped towards the floating figure of Inasa and made a move to grab him.
Despite being airborne, Kirishima's mass, shape and momentum were capable of breaking through Inasa's strong currents of air and trapping him in his grasp.
Both dudes clashed against one another and fell straight to the ground, very hard.
Kirishima wasn't the only one that was bleeding now. Despite Inasa being a very bulky dude, he wasn't as invulnerable as Kirishima.
But before he lost the match, he pulled a technique I never saw him using.
He was suffocating Kirishima.
And it wasn't a small scale attack like the one I saw on avatar in my previous life, he made a vortex form and spun around the arena.
Despite his enhanced stamina, Kirishima needed to breathe as much as the regular guy, perhaps even more in his current state amidst a fight.
Inasa won despite receiving multiple bruises, and Kirishima collapsed to the ground completely knocked out.
Surprisingly, after being announced as the winner, Inasa managed to resuscitate his adversary by literally forcing the air to enter through Kirishima's mouth.
That was far beyond anything I had been expecting, on whom did he even trained that move?
Gotta watch out for that if we end up fighting again.
I watched, impressed as Kirishima woke up and accepted his adversary's hand while congratulating him for his victory.
Both competitors had been sent to Recovery Girl as the next match had been announced.
I wished good luck for Momo and Izuku, they thanked me and nodded to each other in respect.
Sometimes I forget that Midoriya isn't the same meek boy that I had grown up defending from bullies. Since he entered the Support course, it's like his sulking for not having a quirk had turned into a drive to inspire and protect others no matter what.
He had a sharp mind to come up with efficient strategies, despite how dependent on luck they might be sometimes. With his recent workout schedule combined with his newfound confidence, he certainly has the potential to transfer to the hero course if he wanted.
But would he?
From what he told me, his will to save and support have overcome his desire for fame and glory.
And since he doesn't have a quirk, regular laws preventing vigilantism don't take him into consideration.
At least, not completely.
After I greeted and fist bumped Inasa and Kirishima, I sat again and turned my attention to the arena.
Izuku Midoriya Vs Momo Yaoyoruzo
Present Mic announced the competitors and shouted. "STARRRRT!"
Midoriya repeated his first move of his last match and hid himself in a smoke cloud.
Instead of rushing like Tokoyami did, Momo decided to keep her distance and immediately created a taser pistol and waited for his grappling hook or boomerangs.
Looking from here, she clearly had the advantage.
The distance between them was a problem for Midoriya, given that Momo was aware of his tactics and had also learned how to create some of my gadgets like glue grenades.
But... it seems she wasn't expecting that he would throw smoke pellets all around the area. Extending it to cover most of it.
Not exactly her doom though, it was a risky move to blind yourself from keeping tabs on your opponent and could easily backfire.
She immediately understood that as well, so she repositioned herself while placing on the ground from what I see... land mines?
Not taking chances.
Excellent!
Clearly Midoriya had been practicing his stealth movements, given that I've yet to see him moving around the arena.
Present Mic narrated the match, while purposefully avoiding to reveal neither of Izuku or Momo's actions. Aizawa even complimented the quick thinking and skill of both participants.
Suddenly, an explosion occurred and caught everyone's attention.
The cloud of smoke, that was already getting thinner, was blown away from that specific spot.
I observed Momo turning to determine the origin from the explosion and made an arching path to check it while still hiding in the thin layer of smoke.
Now that the smoke was finally clearing, it was then that I noticed Midoriya move.
He had been in his initial spot all along, but if that's the case... then why that landmine activated?
While Momo investigated her trap from a secure distance, Midoriya surprised her from behind and pulled his own taser on her.
When everyone thought he had won, instead of being stunned, Momo turned around and pointed her own taser at him.
Paying more attention, the smoke had finally cleared away completely, I noticed she was now wearing a second skin that probably is capable of protecting her from the electrical discharge.
Though I assume hinders her quirk usage.
That obviously surprised Midoriya, but his quick reaction helped him grab Momo's weapon and diverge it away from him.
Forcing her to take her shot, he disarmed her and engaged in hand to hand combat with a gut punch.
Momo grabbed him by the collar with both hands and before taking the blow pulled him to roll backwards with her.
She had the physical advantage over him, being taller and heavier, she managed to pin him to the ground.
But Instead of struggling to free himself, he pulled something out of his utility belt using his free hand and pressed a button with his closed eyes.
A burst of light forced Momo to release him and retreat.
Midoriya stored his last gadget and picked two metallic cylinders that extended into escrima sticks and rushed towards Momo.
Pulling a Nightwing now? And here I was thinking you would be the second coming of the Batman.
Still recovering from her temporary blindness, Momo received a few strikes while she blocked most of the attacks against her head.
Taking advantage of her lack of visibility, Midoriya took her own utility belt and threw it out of the arena before sweep kicking her to make her fall.
But before he could continue his attack with a following strike, Momo created a long staff out of her palm and pushed him back before rolling back to her feet.
"It looks like the match isn't over yet! These two clearly have some martial moves to show us!" Present Mic remarked and the crowd began to shout in excitement.
While Midoriya had a more open guard and was hopping on one feet to the other, Momo had a more closed guard and was ready to thrust at him with her long metal staff.
Izuku charged and parried Momo's thrust with his left stick while preparing to strike at her ribs with his right arm.
Momo responded to his move by back stepping and spun her staff in an attempt to bash his head.
Midoriya got grazed in the head as he barely dodged before he decided to retreat back and immediately threw one of his sticks towards her head.
She swung her staff to block it, but Midoriya explored the opening and struck her left arm with a two hand swing.
She winced at that, feeling her arm scream in pain, but surprised him by spinning around and slammed him with her staff.
Expecting to continue fighting her, he didn't know how to react when she threw something at him.
A grenade.
Blinking for a second, he missed it exploding and trapping him in glue.
The stadium that had been cheering the match suddenly went silent.
Before the winner was declared and the crowd could cheer, I noticed the trapped Midoriya smiling at Momo and exchanging a few words with her. She turned to look behind her and noticed something.
It was small and had a robotic appearance.
Was it a drone?
When did Midoriya learn to create one?
The man is full of surprises.
"Izuku Midoriya has been immobilized! Momo Yaoyoruzo advances to the third round!" Midnight declared, but looking at Momo's expression, it seems things weren't as simple as that.
When they returned, I asked what happened.
Midoriya explained to me that he missed his chance to command his robot to capture Momo. From what he told me, it seems he had come up with something resembling my own glue grenades.
He told me he got that idea from seeing me capture some villains from the U.S.J incident.
And that the robot was a fairly easy thing to create in his course, and even though it didn't possess artificial intelligence like some of the school's robots, it was more than capable of performing tasks.
Momo told me that he could've trapped her as well with it, but it would be capable of freeing him, so either ways he wouldn't win.
I congratulated both of them in the end, giving my best performance to not sound insensitive nor insincere.
Momo was a little unsure at the beginning, but after pointing out where she did well, she eventually blushed and thanked me.
While hugging Momo, I turned to speak with Midoriya, but noticed that he was speaking with Shinso.
I guess that despite losing, Shinso was still impressed by his performance.
Cool.
Letting go of Momo, she went to speak with the girls while I sat again to watch the next match.
Katsuki Bakugou Vs Tenya Iida
That caught my attention immediately. Both competitors had great control over their own environment.
Bakugou had proved during the obstacle race that he had improved his stamina and air mobility. But Iida dominante the ground with a much larger margin.
Their expressions couldn't be more different, while Katsuki had a maniacal grin of excitement for the challenge, Tenya showed a more serious and focused type of confidence.
As soon as the match started, Iida didn't waste any time and charged, swinging his foot in a huge roundhouse kick.
From my martial arts experience, I knew this type of attack isn't usually used as a starting point to engage given its telegraphed movement.
But Iida's enhanced engine made it instantly hit Bakugou's head with great force, definitely surprising the shit out of him.
And before Bakugou had the chance to blast Iida with his full force, he was forced to defend against high speed kicks mixed with back hands and straights, while Iida initially dodged his fast explosive jabs.
Unfortunately for Iida, despite his strikes packing quite the punch, they were becoming predictable for Bakugou.
While Iida insisted on engaging in extremely close combat to press Bakugou, his lack of experience ended up allowing Bakugou to turn the tables with some light and fast bursts.
Just like he finished Kirishima with a shower of attacks in canon, he completely overwhelmed Iida and lifted him out of the ground and back with a final explosion.
Iida rose from the ground a few meters before pulling a backflip and barely managed to fall on his feet.
Both competitors were panting quite heavily, Bakugou still was recovering from Iida's initial attacks with a swollen face and a bleeding nose, while Iida had multiple bruises and burn marks around his forearms.
They stood there looking at each other for a minute, like if it was some kind of an epic stand-off, deliberately taking their time to catch their breath.
They then charged at each other.
Iida reactivated his recipro engine and flashed towards Bakugou, who used a single massive explosion to launch himself.
When they clashed, Iida gave everything he had in his kick while Bakugou met him with an open palm, its surface glowing white hot.
It was as if a mini nuclear bomb went off, only losing for my match with Todoroki and Inasa's devastating tornado.
The visible shockwave pushed both of them back, but while Bakugou steadied his momentum with multiple small blasts, it seems Iida finally reached his limit.
Seeing his unconscious figure lying outside of the arena, Bakugou was declared the winner.
Bakugou stood there, with his forearms red and swollen, staring with a maniacal grin at me.
'Dude, can't I just get a break?' I mentally facepalmed before giving him a thumbs up just to provoke him.
Regardless, after that the second round and quarter-finals came to an end. Next was the semi-finals, with two matches. Explosion boy versus me and Inasa versus Momo.
But they announced a ten minutes break.
Time to stretch.
———————————————————
(04/11/2020)
*Hope this chapter is of your liking. Anything you wish to ask, feel free to do so.
Thanks as always for your attention and please be safe.
Any problems with my writing, just point them out and I will correct them as soon as possible.
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