Chapter 30- Endless Battle: Part 2
Iida was fighting Mei Hatsume from the Support Class, who was remarkable for the fact that she was the only non-Hero Class student in the final round of the Festival. As a Support student, Hatsume was allowed to bring any of her own equipment into the arena to make up for the lack of Hero Class training, an advantage that I was more than a little jealous of. Strangely enough, Iida was also wearing several pieces of equipment, and when questioned on this by Midnight, he announced that Hatsume had asked him to use several pieces of the gear, though he didn't announce the reason why she had asked him such a thing.
Though judging by the grin on Hatsume's face, she probably had an ulterior motive.
Sure enough, as soon as the match had started and Iida had charged towards Hatsume, the various pieces of equipment that he had strapped to his body immediately started to sabotage his attempts at movement. As soon as Iida got near Hatsume, a hidden engine or wheel would deploy and send Iida away from Hatsume again. Iida's engine-powered movement was used against him whenever he tried to move of his own volition, the momentum of his kicks being used against him as his legs were moved away from Hatsume whenever Iida got close to her.
As this was going on, Hatsume produced a microphone that had been tapped into the stadium's sound system, and launched into a sales pitch about all of the equipment she had developed. I dimly remembered hearing that various Hero Support companies attended the UA Sports Festival to scout the students of the Support Course in the same way that Pro Heroes scouted the Festival for the Hero Course students. I could understand in a way the need to draw attention from the scouts, and since Hatsume was the only Support Course student in the final round, it gave her a unique position to try and get the most eyes on her and advance her own future. But turning the Festival into an advertising campaign felt a little distasteful to me, but maybe I was just being critical at this point.
To ensure that I didn't miss anything too important, I split my attention between listening to Hatsume talk about her inventions and watching Iida's fighting style the best that could be seen in his current state. While I felt that I had better things to do than listen to Hatsume sell her inventions to the crowd, she was clearly a talented creator that had come up with several rather interesting devices. Power Loader had created my Artificial Vocal Chords, which had become a cornerstone of my fighting style, so it was possible that Hatsume would conceive of something just as useful. As for watching Iida, the benefits of keeping an eye on him were obvious, as he was another student that I wanted more information on to think of better counters and techniques to use against him.
I made a mental note to speak to Iida about his overly trusting nature, while I admired that trait in a certain sense, my more cynical side knew that such a personality quirk could be a weakness in the field. Lots of Villains would use trickery and other underhanded methods to defeat Heroes, and if a Hero was too trusting and naïve then they could easily fall victim to whatever ploy was being made. And I was speaking from experience on the subject of trickery, since I had been trained to turn the tables on Villains by avoiding giving them the advantage and use my own tricks to win, even if some people saw my actions as dishonest.
I pondered the best way to teach this lesson to Iida, but all I could come up with was using every trick I had during training until the point I was trying to make came through. Maybe it would just be better to let Aizawa know what I thought and see if he had anything to add? It wasn't my place to teach Aizawa's students, but it felt like my duty to help my classmates as much as possible; and if that was how I could help them, then so be it.
While I was thinking all of this over, Hatsume ended her presentation and jumped from the ring, leaving a bewildered Iida standing alone in the centre of the arena. Iida wasn't the only one who was confused and bewildered by what had just unfolded over the last few minutes, Midnight and Present Mic were seemingly unable to think of anything to say, and most of the crowd were watching in confused silence.
Despite the strange events that had just unfolded, Iida had secured himself a spot in the next round of the battles, which meant that he would be fighting Tokoyami. Iida seemed a little dissatisfied with this victory by technicality, but nonetheless he walked from the arena in his usual upright fashion, focused ahead on the next fight.
Midoriya and Todoroki's fight was the one that everybody had been waiting for all day, as the tension between the pair was almost unbearable at this point. The two squared off in front of the entire stadium, the expressions on their faces making the upcoming battle seem more like a fight to the death than a match in a Sports Festival. The reputation of the fighters seemed to be the reason for the anticipation of the audience, Todoroki was well known as the son of Endeavour and the spectators were clearly expecting great things from him. Midoriya was more of an unknown, but he had clearly made an impression on the audience through his impressive performance in the previous two rounds, and the cheers of the crowd on Midoriya's entry were even louder than Todoroki's.
Of course, those of us watching from Class 1A's observation box knew the real reason for the tension in the air, and why Todoroki and Midoriya were facing each other down so intently. Todoroki's challenge to Midoriya rang in my ears as I watched them stare at each other, and I wondered how far they would take this battle in the heat of combat. Midnight clearly sensed the tension in the air as well, though she eventually signalled the start of the match after repeating the rules one more time to settle the nerves of everybody in the stadium.
Todoroki opened the match by firing forwards a wave of ice that threatened to envelop the entire arena, the size and speed of his attack would have been enough to defeat almost any opponent. Though our class had seen an example of Todoroki's incredible power on several different occasions, it was always a staggering experience to see the sheer amount of ice that he could produce. The scale of Todoroki's power was intimidating in the extreme, and the speed of the ice he produced was almost as impressive, it seemed he truly had no weakness.
But before the attack could reach Midoriya, he let loose one of his usual bone-breaking attacks that let loose a wave of force that smashed the ice into large chunks before it could reach him. The air was filled with dusted ice and dirt that had spread through the stadium in an instant in a wave of kinetic force that Midoriya had unleashed to defend himself from the wave of ice. Though his power was far less controlled than Todoroki's, Midoriya's strength and indomitable will was just as threatening to be as his opponent, and his ability to secure victory in even the most dire circumstances meant that he remained an unpredictable threat.
Once the dust had settled, it was clear that Midoriya had broken one of his fingers, which I suppose was marginally better than breaking his entire arm with a single punch. Todoroki was unphased by Midoriya's negation of his attack, and simply fired another wave of ice towards his opponent, who again fired forwards a wave of force that shattered the next icy attack that was bearing down on him. This wave was again countered by Midoriya shattering another finger and using the resultant wave of energy to shatter the ice once again, sending Todoroki reeling from the physical backlash.
This back-and-forth exchange continued for a while, with Midoriya growing increasingly frantic and wild-eyed as he broke more and more of his fingers to keep destroying Todoroki's waves of ice. The sheer power on display from the two combatants was incredible, and it wouldn't have looked out of place in a clash between a Pro and a high-class Villain. I had always told myself that I could use my techniques to give me an edge in any fight, and if I was smart enough, I could win almost any fight. But when I saw power like this on display, it was difficult to convince myself that I would be able to win against either of the students in front of me.
Interestingly, Todoroki's waves of ice seemed to be getting smaller and smaller as time went on, and chunks of ice were forming on his right side as he kept using that side of his Quirk. It seemed that even Todoroki has his limits, though the amount of ice that he was able to produce without showing the slightest bit of fatigue was staggering, and he still looked capable of fighting on for a while longer. That said, there was ice spreading all over his right side, and his moves were becoming sluggish whenever he moved his arm to produce another wave of ice.
Midoriya shouted something out to Todoroki, and while his words were obscured by the ice covering the microphones, the passion and energy in his words was clear to see. It seemed that the tension between the pair had reached a fever pitch, and they were in the throes of some kind of dramatic confrontation. Midoriya's usual passion was on full display, and I wondered what exactly had occurred between the pair to evoke such confrontation, surely this couldn't just be the product of their conversation in the waiting room? Todoroki was shaken by Midoriya's words, his expression shifting to one of shock at whatever was being said, before his face then changed again to a wild grin, which was the kind of emotion I had never expected to see from Todoroki.
Todoroki's left side suddenly burst into fire that reminded me of his father, who interestingly enough was shouting his praises to Todoroki and encouraging his son to finish the match using his fire. Endeavour's own fire was bursting from his shoulders in great gouts of flame, sending the audience members nearest to him shuffling away in concern. Endeavour's shouted proclamations rang through the arena and clearly caught Todoroki's attention for a fleeting moment, though interestingly enough he wasn't swayed from his standoff with Midoriya.
Something about the way that Endeavour had acted had always put me on edge, and some of the more obscure Hero forums that I followed would occasionally mention various misdeeds that Endeavour had been accused of. These anonymous forum posters would always say that Endeavour had used his own reputation and legal threats to quiet anybody who spoke ill of him, but he could never quite quash the rumours that circulated the darker corners of the internet.
In fact, one particularly bold poster accused Endeavour of something involving his family and a particularly unpleasant series of actions, something that I had largely forgotten about in the year since I had seen it. But seeing Endeavour talking to his son made that story spring back to mind, and it seemed much more plausible ever since I had first met Todoroki and seen the way he acted. I had expected Endeavour's son to be as loud and aggressive as he was, but Todoroki's cold detachment was almost concerning in how deeply it contrasted with his father.
I wondered if Aizawa knew anything about these rumours, since he was the only Hero I trusted to not run defence for Endeavour simply on the basis of him being a 'fellow' Hero. Then again I doubted that Aizawa regarded Endeavour as much of a fellow Hero, given that they were like night and day in how differently they acted. I resolved to mention my concerns to Aizawa, I could never forgive myself if my fears were confirmed later on and I hadn't done anything about it.
The fight between the pair had come to a standstill, with a flaming Todoroki facing down Midoriya, who was seemingly unaffected by the injuries that his own power had inflicted on him. I was again amazed by Midoriya's incredible pain tolerance, as he had seemingly resorted to breaking his fingers twice each in order to give himself more 'shots' of his power that he could use to deflect Todoroki's ice. I assumed that his waves of force would be able to deflect Todoroki's fire as well, as the air pressure created by Midoriya's Quirk would surely be enough to snuff the flames in an instant. Then again, I wasn't sure exactly how much fire Todoroki could produce since he had adamantly refused to use his fire for anything other than melting ice during training, so the upper limits of his power remained to be seen.
Besides, if my theory on his power was correct then he could use his fire to cancel out the hypothermia that came from overusing his ice. And if Todoroki's fire functioned similarly to his father's, then overusing that power would likely caused some kind of overheating on his body that he could reduce by using his ice. In a sense, if Todoroki used both sides of his Quirk in equal balance then he wouldn't suffer the negative backlash from either side, and he would be limited only by how much physical stamina he had to keep producing ice and fire. If I didn't know better, I would almost think that his Quirk had been specially designed to be the perfect power, but as far as I knew there were no such means to manipulate Quirks in such a way, not that I would put it past Endeavour to try.
I wondered if Midoriya would find a way to better utilise his power without breaking parts of his body, and the prospect of facing Midoriya without any limit on his power was frankly terrifying, and he had the potential to join Bakugo and Todoroki at the very top of the class if he could manage such a thing. Midoriya's Superpower Quirk was quite vaguely defined as a high-level power enhancement ability, and it was possible that he could channel his strength into massive jumps or other applications beyond simply sending out waves of force.
Part of me thought that I was insane to find ways to keep pushing my classmates to get stronger and overcome their weaknesses, since in many ways they were my competitors for future success. But a bigger part of me knew that it was beneficial to all of us to keep pushing forwards and growing stronger together, and if my classmates got stronger then it would be a better challenge for me to figure out how to beat them. Besides, part of me didn't really feel like I was competing with my classmates anyway, fame and recognition would be a detriment to me and my success, so I was almost happy to see my classmates being thrust into the spotlight. My main concern was if Class 1A as a whole captured the public interest, which could be something that pulled me into the spotlight by proximity, which I would have to figure out how to avoid.
Midoriya rushed forwards to meet Todoroki head on, adrenaline keeping him in the fight when the pain of his shattered fingers should have taken him out a long time ago. Todoroki swept his left hand forwards and unleashed a wave of fire onto his opponent, the burning heat forcing Midoriya backwards and pushing him clear of Todoroki again. Even from my elevated position above the arena, I could feel the heat from Todoroki's attack on my face, and I was momentarily glad that I wasn't the one facing down the wave of fire that Todoroki had just produced with seemingly minimal effort.
Midoriya had barely managed to deflect that attack before it made contact with him, and his shot of power this time was poorly aimed and badly timed, so it was barely able to deflect the wave of fire. I could tell that Midoriya was running out of steam, it seemed that the adrenaline that had been keeping him in the fight was running out and the pain of his broken fingers was setting in. I knew that Midoriya possessed almost limitless willpower, but even he had limits to how much pain and exhaustion he could endure, even though he was clearly intent on carrying on.
Todoroki must have sensed this moment of weakness as well, as he pulled back his left arm in preparation to unleash a wave of fire that would most likely take Midoriya out of the fight. The fire flew forwards in a torrent of scorching energy, which filled the stadium in a second and obscured Midoriya from the sight of the crowd. The sound of rushing air and the sight of flames being pushed back made me realise that Midoriya must have fired another shot of force outwards while the fire was all around him, but whatever energy he could muster wasn't enough to blow away the flames completely.
As the fire and smoke vanished, I could see Todoroki and Midoriya standing apart from each other in the arena, each of them frozen for a moment as the shock of the final attack resonated through both of them. Midoriya wavered on his feet for a moment, and I wondered if he was going to keep going; but the final burst of fire had robbed him of any stamina that would allow him to continue fighting, and he fell to the ground in a heap of exhaustion.
Midnight hesitated for a moment before declaring Todoroki's victory and advancement into the second round of fights, it seemed like she needed a few seconds to process what had happened and to check if the fight had truly ended or if Midoriya was going to pull himself to his feet and continue to fight. Once it was clear that Midoriya was out for the count, Present Mic confirmed Midnight's announcement and talked over the crowd as Todoroki left the arena and a group of robots carrying a stretcher took Midoriya out of the arena and presumably towards Recovery Girl. Once the realisation of Todoroki's victory had set in the crowd erupted into applause, though there were clearly some in the stadium who were a little shocked at how far the fight had gone.
Todoroki had kept his word and defeated Midoriya in the first round, and so he had fulfilled his pledge that he had made before the Festival had begun, though he likely expected to meet Midoriya later on. It seemed that Todoroki was the one who had won this clash of ideals, and that he had proved his own strength over the one who he had seen as his main rival in the class.
But if that was the case, why did he look so distraught?
The final fight of the round was between Ashido and Tsu, and truthfully I wasn't really sure how this fight could end up, and both of my classmates could claim victory. Tsu was more physically adept than Ashido, and her powerful kick was sure to put her opponent out of commission if she was able to land it. On the other hand, Ashido was no slouch physically either, and her Acid Quirk would be a powerful tool against Tsu's close-combat fighting style.
My instinct was to say that Tsu would come out on top, though I wasn't sure if that was because she had a better chance of winning or if it was my own friendship with her that improved her odds in my mind. I knew that Tsu was capable of thinking well under pressure due to her calm and collected nature, something that would surely come in handy when her opponent was throwing balls of acid. Tsu definitely had an edge in physical strength and skill due to her Quirk, but Ashido's greater range and offensive power meant that she could probably defend herself from Tsu very well.
As I watched the pair square off, it was clear that the fight really could go either way, and even though I was inwardly rooting for Tsu, I knew that her coming out on top was far from certain. As soon as the fight began both of the girls moved forwards, each of them using their own methods of mobility to evade the other. Tsu used her jump to stay mobile and airborne, whereas Ashido used acid projected from her feet to slide along the arena at impressive speed, a trick that she had used before during the training battles. Both of them moved impressively quickly, which meant that the combat would surely be faster paced than most of the battles we had seen so far, which would likely make it harder to observe their actions.
Both of the fighters circled each other for a while, seemingly looking for an opening that they could exploit in the others defence. Ashido acted first, throwing baseball-sized lumps of acid at Tsu in an attempt to catch her out of the air. Tsu evaded all of the thrown projectiles with her usual nimbleness, though she was almost caught by the lumps of acid on a number of occasions. The few close calls were only avoided by Tsu's agility, but it was a sign of Ashido's accuracy that she was able to get so close to hitting Tsu with something as unwieldy as a ball of acid.
Watching the delicate game of throwing and dodging was an interesting experience, and it was giving me a great deal of information of how both Tsu and Ashido fought, which would surely come in handy in any future combat exercises. Tsu moved with a calm purpose which spoke to constant planning and practise, but in a way it made her predictable and likely to fall into a pattern, which was something that could be exploited by planning ahead and spotting any particularly weak jumps. As for Ashido, she kept creating and throwing acid with boundless enthusiasm that seemed to show very little fatigue, but this meant that she was much more likely to be sloppy and make a mistake. While Ashido was powerful and possessed good reflexes, her technique could use some work and it meant that she left small but prominent gaps in her defence.
I wasn't sure if either competitor had noticed the weaknesses in their opponent's fighting style, or if it was just my elevated position that made it easier for me to notice these things. I knew from experience that it was much more difficult to plan and assess weaknesses in the heat of a fight, and it was easy to fall into tunnel vision and obsess about beating your opponent to the detriment of all else. This is why Aizawa had emphasised to me the importance of measuring a foe from afar and coming up with a plan to defeat them before diving straight into combat, as this would give me the best opportunity to claim victory. Of course it was sometimes impossible to plan before a fight, and a Hero could easily find themselves ambushed without any information on their opponent or how they fought. But in these situations I had been taught to make space between myself and my opponent to give me time to figure them out and find a weakness to exploit.
These lessons rang through my mind as I watched the battle from below, and truthfully I was thankful that The Festival had given me such a great opportunity to see how my classmates fought and acted. It was pretty difficult to observe other classmates while in my own training exercises, so the ability to observe from a distance was convenient indeed.
After a while of the game of dodging, Tsu saw her opportunity and moved in, hitting Ashido with a powerful kick that threw her out of bounds, ending the battle with a single strike. It was strange to see a fight ending so quickly after how dramatic the previous battle was, but I was happy to see Tsu win her fight and move on to the next round, a fact that Midnight announced over the cheers of the crowd.
Tsu and Ashido both seemed to be in a good mood as they left the arena, Ashido clearly wasn't taking her loss too badly, her bubbly personality must have been keeping her spirits up, which was fairly admirable. As for Tsu, well it wasn't too visible, but I could tell that she was happy with her win. I had gotten a little better as reading Tsu's expressions over time, and it seemed that she was expressing herself more openly as well all settled into life at UA.
With the final battle of the first round over, Present Mic announced that there would be a fifteen minute break before the next group of fights would begin. But before the break there would be a tie-breaker between Kirishima and Tetsutetsu to determine who would move on to the next round, and the game that was decided on was arm-wrestling, which would surely suit the two brawlers well.
I watched the contest with interest, knowing that whoever won this game would be my opponent in the next round of the Festival, so I had personal investment in the outcome. Though the two appeared to be fairly identical in both their Quirks and their approach to combat, there were some slight difference in how the two fought. Kirishima was slightly more defensive, and Tetsutetsu was more offensive, though they were both clearly capable in both aspects.
As I was mulling this over, the contest came to an abrupt end when Kirishima suddenly got the advantage over his opponent, and once he had started winning, it was clear that the contest could only go one way. With a roar of effort, Kirishima slammed Tetsutetsu's hand onto the table, winning the contest and earning his place in the next round. With this announcement the four upcoming fights were displayed on the screens scattered around the arena, with portraits of each of us displayed next to our names. The crowds cheered at the promise of the second round of fights, having surely already been stoked into an excited fervour by the first round, and they all knew that things would only intensify from here.
Hitoshi Shinso vs. Ejiro Kirishima
Katsuki Bakugo vs. Mezo Shoji
Fumikage Tokoyami vs. Tenya Iida
Shoto Todoroki vs. Tsuyu Asui
It was interesting to see that all four members of our group from the Cavalry Battle had made it to the second stage of the fights, each of us having overcome our first opponents with varying degrees of difficulty. But our upcoming fights were all going to be much more troublesome, and it was conceivable that all of us could lose in the second round. Kirishima, Iida, Bakugo and Todoroki were all amongst the most formidable members of our class, and I knew that they would give their all in the coming fights as well. The second round was sure to be far more intense than the first, as everybody was already fired up and ready to fight again, and they had likely all observed their opponents and readied themselves for battle.
While I wished to help my friends strategize and win their own fights, I was up first, and I had to focus on my own plan before I was able to assist anybody else. Fighting Kirishima was a prospect that I didn't exactly relish, he was both strong and durable, his Quirk giving him something close to a perfect defence that made it almost impossible to harm him with conventional attacks. That was a nuisance, as physical attacks were basically my only means of fighting, given that I lacked a powerful elemental Quirk that could bypass Kirishima's defences. I was bereft of my equipment as well, which was a shame since my Capture Tools would be ideal for restraining Kirishima and bringing the fight to a quick end.
At the very least, Kirishima was noticeably less skilled than Ojiro, being more akin to a traditional physical brawler rather than a fast and skilful martial artist, which theoretically gave me an advantage since I should be able to outmanoeuvre Kirishima. But seeing Kirishima fighting Tetsutetsu made me careful not to underestimate him, seeing him both absorb and dish out attacks that would make anybody else crumple in a second was a stark reminder of his durability.
In any other situation, Brainwashing would be my only option, but that was off the table, so I needed to think of something else that would let me claim victory. A small part of my mind told me that it was better to use Brainwashing and confirm my victory, but I knew that winning a Festival wasn't a goal comparable to my ambition to be a Hero, and if this fact led to defeat, then so be it. But this acceptance of stark reality didn't mean that I was giving up on getting as far as possible in this series of fights, if for nothing more than to test my own skill.
I had little over ten minutes to think of a way to overcome Kirishima's unbreakable defence, and I could only hope than an idea came to mind.
Author's Note
I've split the battle overviews into two separate Chapters on the advice of a few helpful reviewers, so everything has been described more deeply so that this part doesn't feel as rushed.
The battle against Kirishima has been uploaded today as well, so there's no additional wait for the fight, which I'm sure that some of you have been waiting for.
I hope this additional detail makes everything more enjoyable and readable, and that this makes these Chapters betters.
I have a Discord server, and if you'd like to come and join then the link is in my profile.
Thanks for reading, I'll see you next time.