[More reviews, please!! :)]
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"Next up, we have cavalry battle. 4 people in a team - one is carried by the other three, wearing a headband with the total points they got from the obstacle course. First place is worth 10 million points," Midnight announced, causing everyone to look at Ryoto.
He, on the other hand, smirked. "HAHAH! GREAT! Come at me! That should mean that taking me down is an automatic win, right?! I expect you to come at me with all you've got," Ryoto provoked, amused by the challenge of having to face everyone.
'Knowing Bakugo, he would want to take me on instead of teaming up. The best candidates for our team are Shoji, Sato, Momo, Kirishima or Tokoyami. If we can get at least 2 from them, we would be guaranteed a win,' Ryoto planned.
"Momo, why don't we, as class 1A's representatives, team up,' Ryoto said, showing a charming smile.
"Eh... Okay," she responded.
'Easier than I thought...,' Zoro thought.
Next up was Tokoyami. "If they want to stare into the abyss, I will stare back at them. I will join you, Ryoto," Tokoyami accepted, weirding Ryoto and Zoro out.
"Kirishima wi-," before Ryoto could finish talking, Kirishima interrupted by saying yes.
"I am specialized in defense. Safeguarding our points will be quite a challenge for me, so I accept," he said.
After having formed the team, they talked about their tactic.
"I will be wearing the headband while you carry me. With my Quirk, I can cut our potential attackers, scaring them off. Momo, you create spikes and place them around us as soon as the round start. Tokoyami, you are the front. Your Quirk is like having two people, so more area covered. Kirishima, you will be at the back, carrying most of my weight," Ryoto explained their plan.
The plan was agreed on exactly as Ryoto had explained. When all the teams were ready, Present Mic announced the start of round 2.
"CAVALRY BATTLE ROUND 2 START!"
Huge spikes came forth from Momo's skin. Grabbing them immediately, Dark Shadow and Kirishima placed them around themselves.
Seeing a well-thought-out strategy like theirs, most of the teams were scared off.
"Momo, can you make me a sword, please. I can attack from a distance if we ever need to get offensive," Zoro asked.
"Sure," she responded, creating a simple steel Katana from her stomach.
The first one to attack was Bakugo. Bakugo was propelling himself in the air with his explosions. Staring right at Ryoto, he was smirking, greed leaking from his expression.
What Bakugo didn't notice was the sword that Ryoto suddenly pulled out.
"Shit," he yelled, flying back to his team, cancelling his attempt to steal Ryoto's headband.
"What happened," Bakugo's team asked.
"Damn Ryoto! If we approach him, he will cut us up. He has a sword, so forget about going near him," Bakugo explained, gritting his teeth in annoyance. For Bakugo, this was akin to admitting defeat. But his reasoning overpowered his emotions and made him hunt other teams' points.
Students from class 1B approached Ryoto's team next, softening the ground under Ryoto's team as they approached.
Pointing the blade's edge at Juzo - the one with the ground softening Quirk - Zoro prepared to attack slash.
"1-pound Phoenix," Zoro simply said, slashing the air.
This air slash flew towards Juzo's leg, doing only minimal damage to his pants. The cut landed right vertically on his crotch.
"Haha, he-," Juzo was cut off before he could even begin to make fun of Ryoto as he heard him chant something weird.
"Soul Reap!"
If only one object is cut, Soul Reap will only affect it, not anything close to it. Meaning, the slight vertical cut across Juzo's pants suddenly widened, cutting the pants and revealing his underwear.
Immediately, Juzo went to cover up his natural bulge in embarrassment.
"If you want to embarrass yourselves, try coming at me," Zoro called out so every contestant heard him. "And as for you, no pants, turn off your Quirk so my team isn't stuck."
Then, Shinso's team approached Ryoto's team. Zoro and Ryoto didn't know about Shinso's Quirk yet, so Zoro fell right for it.
"Why don't you give me your headband," Shinso asked, waiting for his Quirk's trigger.
"Why would I give you that?"
"You think it's that easy?"
"Has the dark turned you crazy?"
"Ehh?"
Ryoto's team responded, falling into Shinso's trap by triggering his Quirk.
"Brainwashing complete," Shinso exclaimed, watching Zoro slowly grab his headband as his teammates just walked towards him.
'The hell is happening,' Ryoto questioned, feeling an unusual silence inside his mind, even though Zoro was in control of the body.
'Snap out of it,' Ryoto yelled, taking the control of his body and breaking Shinso's Quirk.
Seeing Ryoto shake his head, Shinso was confused. "How the hell did you break the brainwashing," he asked, only to be ignored by Ryoto.
'He can only trigger it through a response, right,' Ryoto realized.
Ryoto proceeded to smack his teammates awake one by one.
Before they could ask what had happened, they saw Ryoto shush them. Ryoto then pointed is sword at Shinso, advising him not to approach.
The rest of the cavalry battle went smoothly. No one else attacked Ryoto's group, so they won.
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The winners of stage 2 then gathered in front of the plateau once more. Midnight, standing atop it, started her announcement.
"Stage two is over and we have our finalists. Stage 3, the stage that everyone was waiting for, the one on one fights," Midnight announced. "We will be drawing the match ups now, and after we are done with that, the contestants will get the chance to rest."
Midnight pulled out a box and started drawing out names one by one.
Izuku Midoriya vs. Hitoshi Shinso
Shoto Todoroki vs. Hanta Sero
Denki Kaminari vs. Ibara Shiozaki
Ryuji Sakamoto vs. Ryoto Matsuda
Tenya Iida vs Mina Ashido
Fumikage Tokoyami vs. Momo Yaoyorozu
Eijiro Kirishima vs. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu
Katsuki Bakugo vs. Ochako Uraraka
These were the matchups. Ryoto and Zoro were fortunate to face Ryuji and Shoto in the same bracket early on - it raised the stakes, boosting their performance.
After their short break, the first battle was between Izuku and Shinso, which Deku won.
The second fight went to Shoto.
The third fight went to Ibara.
And the fifth fight was Ryoto's. He was facing the perverted cook.
Cementos had rebuilt the fighting ground so that Ryuji and Ryoto could fight.
The cheers that erupted were only meant for Ryoto, the top performer. The spectators watched as Ryoto and Ryuji made their way up to the fighting ground and approach on another.
'It was my fault for not training you in no-sword style, so just watch me do it first,' Zoro said as he was handed the control of the body.
"Good luck," Zoro said, extending his hand.
"Same goes for you," Ryuji said, not taking his hands out of his pants' pockets, refusing Zoro's shake.
"Ready," Midnight asked Ryuji. He nodded. "Ready," she asked Ryoto and he also nodded. "Then begin!"
Ryuji's legs erupted into flames as he dashed at Ryoto. The cook could already guess what Ryoto's Quirk was, but he could not take him lightly.
30 feet away from Ryoto, Ryuji jumped and spun a couple of times, creating a spectacular ring of fire that even got the attention of Endeavor.
Descending towards Ryoto, Ryuji hoped to hit Ryoto with his heel. But before Ryuji could land that hit, Zoro jumped upwards, intercepting him mid-air and cutting his right leg's tendons, and burning his hand he used to cut him with.
"AGHH," Ryuji yelled, losing his balance in the air and falling down uncontrollably.
A cloud of dust formed with Ryuji's fall, and Zoro simply landed, holding onto his burned hand. 'Second degree burns, nothing serious,' Ryoto diagnosed.
The spectators chanted Ryoto's name, thinking that he had won, but when the dust settled, Ryuji stood there, right leg raised in the air, all of his weight on his left leg.
"Nasty cut," Ryuji said, pointing at his from the knee-down dangling leg.
"Nasty burn," Zoro said, pointing at his right hand and burned sleeve.
"One more exchange should decide the winner," Ryuji stated.
"It will," Zoro agreed.
The fire spread from Ryuji's right foot into his right knee.
'I might need to use my Quirk to reduce the damage to our body,' Zoro said.
'Do whatever, don't go overboard,' Ryoto responded.
"No-sword style, Bull Rush!" Zoro yelled.
"Arrow Shot!" Ryuji yelled.
Zoro clad his upper body in Sharpness, reinforcing it. He had crossed his arms in front of him and charged at Ryuji. Ryuji crouched down, right leg still in the air. He then pushed the ground, leaving a crater. He flew right at Zoro.
This time, the spectators could clearly see what happened, as the fire on Ryuji's legs weren't so bright. Ryuji's kick was too weak to penetrate Zoro's defense, and so he was knocked back by Zoro's charge, still unharmed.
Standing up again, Ryuji complimented Zoro's strength.
"Well done, Ryoto. I give up," Ryuji admitted his defeat.
"Are you sure you want to give up," Midnight asked to clarify.
"I am," he clarified.
That's how Zoro won the first round.
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Mina and Aoyama were next. Mina won.
Tokoyami won against Momo.
The fight between Kirishima and Tetsutetsu ended in a draw, only to be decided by arm wrestling match, which Kirishima won.
The last fight before the second round was Ochako versus Bakugo. Ryoto didn't even feel the need to watch this annihilation.
So, the Sharpness is actually Haki. So if I say "his arm is clad in Sharpness", it's armamanet Haki. If I say "the breath around Zoro", it's observation Haki.