Quick Author's Note! In the last chapter I accidentally called Kirishima a her, so I just wanted to clarify that there is no gender-bending going on amongst the 1-A class.
Bakugo was stunned, no one had ever been fast enough to avoid one of his blasts close-range. It was basically unthinkable for him. But to Izuku, it was a fairly simple task to step out of the way.
Izuku had known Bakugo his whole life, he knew how he fought, he had seen it up close and personal. Because of this, he also knew everything he needed to know about his Quirk. In the moment before the attack, the area around his hand would combust and kick up a smoke that obscured his view for just a second. This allowed Izuku to activate Stealth and move before the explosion even happened.
Of course, this was a fancy trick, but it wasn't enough to completely beat the rage filled teen.
"Don't go blaming me if you can't keep up," Izuku bluffed, knowing that he was not the only one who had gotten stronger. Bakugo's explosion wasn't the biggest it could be, but Izuku recognized the new strength and focus behind it.
Unlike a Heroes Awakened strength, which mostly relied on physical attributes, the more unique, Quirks, the ones that didn't focus on simple physical enhancement, could grow with the user.
Over time and with enough practice, Quirks could push someone up an entire Rank just from their training. For example, Yaoyorozu's Quirk could reduce the Mana cost it has on her body or her Quirk just might work faster. In Bakugo's case, however, it seemed like his Quirk was simply destined to grow more destructive.
In fact, Izuku's snarky jab only seemed to incense Bakugo more. He took no brief moment to pause in shock or exclaim his disbelief, he simply launched another barrage of fiery explosions.
"He's gotten too strong for me like this. His Quirk's now at a higher A or maybe even a low S." Izuku crossed the gauntlets in front of his face, which took the brunt of the attacks, but still managed to rock his body to the core.
As the smoke cleared and the fires settled, Izuku emerged, his Shadowsteel armor covering his body.
"OI DEKU! IS THAT HOW YOU CHEATED YOUR WAY IN?! DID YOUR MOM BUY YOU THOSE-!"
An enormous BOOM could be heard for miles around as Izuku wrapped his hand around the back of Bakugo's head and slammed him into the ground. The road cracked under the weight of his blow and a mushroom cloud of dust was kicked up. "Mention my mother again… and I will kill you."
Bakugo was undeterred though and placed his palm against the ground, wasting no time using his Quirk to launch himself out of the crater and into the sky. Izuku could've sworn he almost felt his fingers break as Bakugo's incredible velocity escaped his grasp.
As he stumbled back, nursing his sore left hand, Bakugo shot forwards, getting in his face and detonating a point blank attack.
Izuku felt himself crashing through building after building as he attempted to right himself and gain his bearings.
It wasn't long before Bakugo was on him again slamming his palm against his back, this time directing Izuku into the air with its explosive force. Bakugo knew that the air was his territory and that while there, he would hold the advantage over the less maneuverable Izuku.
"I was too confident in my abilities," Izuku realized as he was thrown about like a ragdoll, the only thing keeping him conscious and in the fight was his armor.
"THIS IS IT, DEKU!" Bakugo reared back his left arm, preparing to launch the final attack. But it was at that moment, that Izuku righted himself in the air.
[Skill: Overwhelming Strength has activated.]
[Skill: Mechanical Destruction has activated.]
Their attacks collided like a beam clash, the explosive force of Bakugo's attack completely nullified by Izuku's powerful pressure blast. With the armor buffs, in addition to the Skill buffs, his Strength Stat far outweighed anything Bakugo could throw his way.
The bully fell back to the earth with asinine speed, his body falling through the very same gaps in the buildings that Izuku had been sent crashing through moments earlier. But just because Bakugo was dealt a massive blow it didn't mean that Izuku was suddenly okay. His armor disappeared from his body as it's limit was revealed.
[After taking a certain amount of damage, Skill: Appearance Befitting A Ruler's effect will end and cannot be activated for until health is recovered back to full.]
Izuku landed on his knees, right next to the crater where his rival lay. He couldn't see his body, but he knew he had won. After all, his Strength Stat was basically boosted to 1000, there was no way he could stand after that attack… right?
But Bakugo continued to defy Izuku's wishes and his bruised and bloodied hand gripped the edge of what would've been the gravesite of a normal human. "Looks… like… you're all out… of tricks."
Izuku should've been proud. Even as he lay exhausted on the ground, his body sore and wounded, he should've known that he had accomplished much as an A-Rank to take on an S-Rank and still see a fighting chance. And yet, he couldn't help but feel the shame of defeat, he knew that his goal had not been fulfilled.
"I wanted… to beat you… on my own," Izuku breathlessly stated, "You were the one person that, more than anything, I wanted to be stronger than."
Bakugo's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets with rage, "YOU WORTHLESS NERD!" He took Izuku by the collar of his shirt and lifted him to eye level, "I DON'T CARE IF YOU REAWAKENED OR NOT! YOU STILL DON'T HAVE A QUIRK! YOU CAN'T BEAT ME!"
"I know I can't…" Izuku gave a weak smile, "But he can."
Bakugo gasped as a cold hand gripped the back of his neck and before he knew it, his entire body was encased in solid ice, forcing Izuku to tear away part of his shirt in order to let him drop to the ground.
His eyes met Hyo's, who stood at the ready behind Bakugo, but also appeared to admire his handiwork for a moment.
"It's okay," Izuku reassured, "He won't be able to escape."
While Bakugo's inherent explosion power and Awakened strength made him almost impossible to cage, there were a few solutions. The most prominent was to cut off his Quirk, a nitroglycerin-like sweat that he secreted from his palms. But if that sweat was frozen and he was too cold to produce any more, he was effectively trapped in an inescapable prison.
"Izuku Midoriya wins," Aizawa's tired and bored voice announced, "Now unfreeze him if you can and get back inside, I want to get the rest of the battles over with."
Izuku nodded to Hyo, who's Shadow seemed to sizzle for a moment in reluctance to his orders, but made no move to disobey them.
All at once, the ice fell away to nothing, showing just how proficient Hyo was with his control over moisture. He didn't even need to turn it into water to turn it into air.
Bakugo clutched at his throat as he gasped for air, watching out of the corner of his eye, Izuku walk away, disappointment in his body language. "What the… hell was that… Deku? You lost…" He said, almost like he was trying to argue away the battle's results.
"I have about four ways to take you down, Hyo being the most efficient," The Elf gave his creepy smile to Bakugo, "But none of them are of my own strength, so I tried to hold out… but I still almost lost… and in the end, I still had to rely on my Shadow. I may have beat you, but I still lost."
Yaoyorozu wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, she wanted to congratulate Izuku, but on the other hand, she could tell that he wasn't in a good place as he desperately attempted to ignore Bakugo's presence.
Both boys had vehemently defied treatment from Recovery Girl, so they looked a little out of place in the room, bodies worn and outfits torn.
"Midoriya," Aizawa started, a threatening gaze in his eyes, "You won the battle, but you held back a lot of your potential strength. That gets people killed. Do that again and I'll expel you, Catastrophe Child."
Izuku nodded solemnly, his brain working overtime to try and place this Hero, but he couldn't manage it with so little information.
"Expel him?!" A girl with pink skin asked, "You can't do that on the first day can you?!"
"I can and will if I need to." Aizawa sighed and rolled his neck, eliciting a few popping sounds, "Now, if we could get this over with so I can get back to sleep, I'd be grateful."
After the explosive start of Izuku and Bakugo's battle, it seemed difficult to measure up to them. While some match-ups, like Kirishima versus Hagakure, the girl who could turn herself invisible, and Kaminari versus Tokoyami were interesting, none really matched the same power as the first fight. At least, until the final match.
"Yaoyorozu and Todoroki."
The name snapped Izuku out of his depression and he snuck a glance at the heterochromatic boy. "He's Natsuo's brother?!"
Almost as if he was responding to Izuku's unheard question, Shoto's body exploded with a seemingly impossible amount of Mana. The entire room could feel it. Even Aizawa, their stern and soic teacher seemed to flinch for a moment.
"Has he been suppressing that force this entire time?"
"I'd expect nothing less from Endeavor's son," Yaoyorozu said, bowing to Shoto as he gestured for her to go first.
"Endeavor's… son? Just what kind of family have I put on my bad side?" Izuku asked himself as wall after wall of ice chased after Yaoyorozu down on the battlefield, her rifle the only thing holding back the waves.
Izuku knew that Yaoyorozu was putting everything she had and more into each and every bullet she created. There was no doubt in his mind that a single one of those bullets could tear through two whole buildings, but they were just barely enough to put explosive dents in Shoto's ice. Her skill, her Quirk, her Mana… everything, it was all insignificant next to the S-Rank's insurmountable force.
Within no time, Yaoyorozu had surrendered, her Mana running dry, while Shoto had barely used up ten percent of his own stores.
And now, with the battles over, Izuku had found just one more person to be wary of, another monster among men. "There's no doubt about it… I still need to become stronger." He glanced over at the Heavenly Gate's Key, nodding to himself with resolve, "I will become stronger, for both Bakugo and Todoroki."