Chương 46: Sports Festival (8)
Izuku's eyes squinted as the light coming from the end of the tunnel proved too much to handle. His feet walked him over anyway, body tense as he psyched himself up for the fight he was going to participate in…
Oh, who was he kidding? He was very excited for the incoming match. It wasn't everyday they were given the go ahead to beat each other senseless without much reprimand from the teachers.
As he stepped out into the light, he was greeted by the loud cheering coming from the audience stands, the chants making him reel at the sudden attention he garnered from just going out from the tunnel. Maybe he was out of his depth here… Was it too late to back out now?
No, why would he say that? Much less think of it. Yes, he had little to no contact with people ever since he'd been chucked into Lordran. Yes, he sometimes had trouble adjusting to normal society after a while. And yes, he sometimes had to force himself to not gut with his bare hands whenever he was in a crowded place because he still wasn't used to crowds…
Damn… He forgot he actually had issues, but anyways, all he had to do was just remember that the crowds were nowhere near him, so he had no issue trying to suppress his instincts from lashing out. It was only possible to suppress while in school because he was mostly around those he deemed safe enough to not kill, such as his classmates.
Picking up speed, he ignored Present Mic throwing out hype by introducing him to the roaring crowds, focusing only on the pink-haired menace. Said menace looked at him with a feverish gaze, lips nearly ripping her face apart as she hopped on stage decked out in mechanical whirrings and steaming hydraulics.
"What are you wearing?" Izuku couldn't help but ask the girl, the pinkette only giving him a big, wide smirk as she showed off her mechanical genius. Not that he could appreciate it. He was mostly into the shining, metal armor that gleamed off light when it was polished.
"Tell you what, we fight for a few minutes, I show off my baby right here to the investors, and I give you the win." Hatsume's words floated around Izuku's head for a few moments, and he didn't like it.
"No." Izuku frowned, insulted at being denied a match. Hatsume blinked, clearly not expecting his vitriol at the simple fact of not getting a fight. "You will fight me here, and we will not hold back. The full potential of your suit, use it."
"But it hasn't even gone through extensive testing yet!" Hatsume tried to reason, but Izuku wasn't budging. "What would the investors think? A tiny flaw is enough to have them not look at my baby, and I can't have that as the future CEO of Hatsume Industries!"
"... So this is all about money?" Izuku glared at Hatsume, the pinkette's mouth gaping for a singular moment as she cycled the thought in her head.
"No! It's about getting people to fund my inventions so I can help Heroes!" Hatsume looked a bit manic. "Ugh, I'm just gonna show you the power of my babies!" Hatsume glared at Izuku as she revved up her suit. It hummed as it powered up, neon blue streaks of light coursing through its cables as the pack on her back went to life. "Might as well give my baby an extensive test run! Let's see you talk smack about my dreams now!"
Once Izuku saw Hatsume was serious about the fight, he smirked. He was going to have one hell of a fight now, and he wouldn't dare squander it. He readied himself, poised and ready to strike if ever the pinkette rushed at him with the power of a Taurus Demon. He still doubted she could do that, but sometimes, good equipment can help bridge the gap between foes.
He learnt that by using the Drake Sword he got from cutting off that stupid red drake's tail that was guarding the bridge. It was a funny story. He wanted revenge because he was burned by the asshole a bunch of times, and he thought that the tail looked like it could make a good weapon.
So, with bow in hand, he went to sniping. It was a long fought battle, with Izuku using the covers of the sturdy pillars holding up the bridge as he aimed for its tail. The drake didn't like that, and tried to burn him while flying around non-stop. It took hundreds, if not, thousands of attempts, but one day, he managed to get lucky.
It was fun maiming that drake with its own tail once he was stronger down the line. Never would he forget the euphoria of using its own limb against it.
Anyway, memories of the past aside, Hatsume looked like she was ready to rumble, and Midnight, sensing the anticipation, started the match with a wave of her arm. In an instant, a loud roar of thunder echoed from the machine-clad pinkette, her body zooming through the arena like a speeding van.
Leaning to the right, Izuku dodged a wild haymaker from Hatsume, the girl zooming past him and directly into the edge of the ring. If she continued like that, she was going to lose by ring out. But alas, her suit came prepared, it seems.
Jet thrusters allowed her to redirect her momentum, the scorching heat coming from the propulsion system scorching the bricks black. Her head turned towards him with a manic grin, and Izuku returned his own.
Now, this was a fight that was fun. He'd have to hold back, not wanting to end a girl's life, but where was the fun in a fight if there was no struggle?
Sprinting towards her, Izuku cocked his fist back and launched it against the pinkette. Hatsume panicked for a moment, showing her ineptitude in close-quarter-combat, but managed to regain herself to avoid getting a severe injury. Didn't mean that she was unscathed.
Izuku's fist glanced against her armor, but it was enough to damage parts of it that covered her torso. In that split second, Izuku saw the horrified look that Hatsume wore before he sent a sucker punch careening to her abdomen.
Hatsume took it and spit flew around as the metal covering her crumpled before Izuku's mighty fist. She was sent flying back to the middle of the arena, hacking and coughing as she tried to get some air into her lungs. Her front plate was near demolished and Izuku could barely see the bruise on her abdomen peeking out from the ruined remains.
Ah yes, she decided to wear her tank top because wearing a tracksuit wouldn't fit inside the metal suit. And now, Izuku had to wince because it looked ugly, the bruise a purple blemish contrasting against fair skin.
For her part, Hatsume took it like a champ, her knees wobbling but refusing to fall. She looked at Izuku and glared, eyes promising murder for the partial destruction of her invention. Izuku just beckoned her over, further fueling the rage hidden deep within the pits of her core.
She slowly hovered her hand over a button located on the back of her palm and pressed it, the suit going taut for a moment, before it straightened out and did a pose. Hatsume herself was cackling madly, Izuku noticing her body going slack.
"Go, my baby! Auto-combat mode engage!" The suit, now fully automated, groaned as the metal joints creaked. That couldn't have been healthy for the one inside the suit. Izuku blinked when the suit pushed her out of the cockpit, Hatsume still wide and awake as she grinned while the suit rocketed forward towards Izuku.
"Oh? Second phase? Giving me Ornstein and Smough vibes." Izuku grinned and clenched his fist. He wanted to test this hunk of metal with his own strength. He may not be as strong as he was when he defeated Gwyn – he checked – but it was enough to beat this moving piece of metal.
Not even using his Pyromancies, he swung hard and wide, his right fist colliding against its own metal fist. Flesh met steel, and steel lost, its entire right arm being blown off from the sheer force Izuku had thrown. Hatsume's jaw dropped at the sight, her own invention designed to keep up with physical augmentation quirks, crumpling like foil.
Izuku didn't relent, capitalizing on the opportunity by grabbing its other arm as the metal suit reeled, and pulled. The first second, it was dislocated from its own socket. By the next second, it was torn off brutally, oil spilling out like blood.
Electric sparks came from the torn wiring, igniting the pouring oil, setting it alight. It caught onto Izuku's tracksuit, briefly worrying the onlookers, but Izuku himself paid it no mind. What was a normal flame, compared to the First Flame that used him as kindle?
His flesh underneath the tracksuit stayed unharmed, but the same couldn't be said for his clothing. Grabbing it, he ripped it apart and tossed it to the ground, before making sure that the suit of metal couldn't fight anymore by tearing its head out like a savage.
And he did it all with a large smile on his face.
The stadium laid silent, the crowd gaping as they saw the end of the second match. Izuku stood proud, his figure towering over the wrecked remains of the suit that was once Hatsume's invention. Said pinkette had already fainted the moment Izuku wailed on the suit without remorse.
But what got the attention of the public wasn't the win, nor the brutality of it all. No, what they saw were the scars marring Izuku's form, even if it was a heavily toned down version of what he had gone through in Lordran.
Maybe his classmates didn't want to talk about his scars out of respect, or either fear, so not a word was shared about Izuku's figure. That was now moot as the common populace got a clear view of his body, most of the lot going speechless at the sight, while some no doubt salivated. People were just like that.
"M-Midoriya Izuku is the winner!" Midnight picked her jaw from the floor as she immediately called for the medic bots to go and tend to the injured. "Midoriya, go back to your locker room and get dressed. You can head back to your class area and wait there for your next match."
"Will do!" Izuku gave Midnight a salute, while giving Hatsume a somewhat respecting glare. At least her inventions – when it wasn't a prototype – were worthy for field work, and that was something worthy of his respect. He just hoped that the delusions of grandeur weren't going to blind her to the truth of their careers.
Turning away, his figure etched an image into the minds of all the viewers. Whether it be for good, or for bad, remained to be seen.
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Izuku went back to the seats properly clothed and denoting a laid-back appearance. His return was heralded with speechless awe and a hint of curiosity from his peers.
"Yo, dude! That was sick!" Kirishima applauded with a toothy grin, his hand forming a thumbs up as he stood from his seat. "Like, goddamn. We knew you were going to win, but that was badass!"
"Indeed." Iida nodded, his arms chopping the air. "I have firsthand experience with Hatsume Mei's creations, and I have to say that her inventions are top of the line, even compared to some of the professional support creators of Japan. My brother sang her praises once he managed to see what she had made for me."
"Damn. How'd you rate her suit then, Iida?" Mineta asked while peeking from over his seat. "Midoriya here is just too strong to use as a benchmark. I doubt any of us could take him, no offense to all of you."
"None taken." Sato waved it off, while the other classmates agreed with him. "So, Iida? The suit?"
"Now I know the hero support costume classifications, and I assume you all know too. All Might's first iteration was along the lines of a D, since it was just your regular fortified hero support costume." Iida began to rant about other hero suits that had added mechanisms to their bulk, slowly increasing their grade classification. "If I were to rank Hatsume's current suit, I'd have to put it around classification B, pushing it to classification A because of its autonomous feature."
"Damn, that high?" Kirishima whistled.
"How strong is class A again?" Kaminari, the well-known class dunce because of his bad grades when it came to theory, asked sheepishly.
"Kaminari, have you not studied for our midterms? This was one of the questions on the test." The electric blonde turned pale when he heard Iida mention the midterms exam.
"Oh, shit…"
"Language!" Iida was quick to reprimand him by chopping the air. "Anyway, since you clearly haven't studied, Hero Support Costume Classification A, or HSCC-A for short, is a type of hero support item that could be worn by heroes over their own costume.. A B-class would have the full set: fortifications, rescue support items, offensive support items for villains, and the rest. A-class would have something more to get its label, such as Hatsume's suit having an autonomous feature that could detach from the wearer and do whatever it was programmed to do, in this case, fighting."
"... Uhh…" As usual, everything went over Kaminari's head, his brain not being able to keep up at the speed Iida explained. "Can you please explain one more time?"
"God damnit, spark plug." Jirou palmed her face, followed by Ashido, who was the other class dunce but not on the same level as Kaminari.
"Kaminari, if you need tutoring, we, as your classmates, can help." Iida offered a helping hand, figuratively that is. "It is our responsibilities to help each other when it comes to our schoolwork."
"... So you mean we can copy off of your paper?" Ashido butted in, a cheeky grin on her face. "You're helping us with our schoolwork, you know, by letting us pass?"
"Ashido! Such craven behavior is unfit for this academy!" Iida nearly blew a gasket while Ashido cackled to herself at the tease.
"Iida, relax. She's just teasing you." Uraraka calmed him down with a slight smile. She then turned towards Izuku with a slight frown that no one else caught but himself.
Letting the girl stare at him was something he wasn't uncomfortable with, so he let her. Passing by his other classmates, Izuku sat on his spot that he picked out earlier and watched as Cementoss fixed the stage by using his quirk because frankly, it was too weak to handle Izuku's sudden increase in strength.
"Welp, looks like it's my turn. Wish me luck, ladies." Kaminari winked at the girls, only to get eyerolls from them.
"Bruh, spark plug. You do know you're against Yaomomo, right?" Kaminari blinked, head turned towards the ravenette who looked at him with a determined gaze.
"Oh… Oh shit…"
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A/N: Help, I'm addicted to Deadlock!
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