As soon as the match started, Iida and Izuku ran in sync towards the edge of the field, to gain as much distance as they could, knowing that they would assuredly be the first team to be targeted. Sure enough, at least three separate attacks whizzed by right where they were originally standing. Izuku surveyed the groupings, to see who they'd be up against.
Mashirao was in a group with Jiro and the general studies student, the only other group of three that he could see, which made sense since there only needed to be one more for the math to check out.
Todoroki had chosen to work with Tokoyami, Kaminari, and Ashido, making the group all students of 1-A, and all with decent range, so at least he knew what to expect from that matchup.
Kacchan had taken up Kirishima, Sero, and a boy from 1-B who looked a lot like Kirishima, seeming to take the "battering ram" approach to the challenge.
He looked for the other girl he remembered, the one from the Support course, and found her along with Uraraka, Aoyama, and the girl with vines for hair. They'd definitely be ones to watch out for, since the two 1-A students could definitely be stronger with support items, and he had no clue what the vine-haired girl could do.
As he looked across the rest of the groups, or in Shoji's case, seemingly one person, since he couldn't even see who was on their back with the way they'd positioned their arms, he heard a large crackling, and saw that Todoroki had created a dome of ice around his team, keeping anyone from being able to attack them.
"I'd say we should go attack them, but with the points we have we really just need to defend what we have," Izuku stated, before noticing that one of the groups was quickly approaching.
"Bonjour, mon amie! By any chance, may we borrow that headband of yours, s'il vous plait?" Aoyama called out, although he didn't wait for an answer before firing out his laser, aiming for Momo's legs to knock her off her perch and disqualify them. Izuku pushed the group to the right, taking the laser fully to the face instead, and as the laser hit the open space in his head, the laser vanished, absorbed into his cache of light.
"Thanks for the fuel, Aoyama! I'll be sure to use it we- woah!" Izuku's startled as dozens of vines leapt towards them from the rider of the other team, intent on stealing their headband. Startled, Izuku used the last thing he had on his mind, which was Aoyama's light.
He pushed his crystals flaws into a specific combination, funneling the light from his store towards the front of his head, condensing and directing the light like a focusing crystal.
Twin laser beams fired from Izuku's eyes, shearing through the vines with startling ease and allowing the three of them time to escape.
"I thought you said you didn't have enough ranged attacks to be the rider?" Momo asked playfully, since she knew already he had that sort of power already, having read through that notebook and implemented the changes herself.
"I didn't have the amount of light necessary to use just that for the entire cavalry battle, until Aoyama shot me full of energy just now. Otherwise I would have- Left!" As Izuku called out, Momo swung Kuromu down through the ground towards their left side, the length of the pole Kuromu had become to keep from cutting people extending as it transmuted more dirt, humming through the air until it slammed into Kirishima's hardened arm.
Izuku looked up towards Kacchan, only to find him flying towards him with his explosions, a line of tape connecting him to Sero, who presumably would reel him back in afterwards, since Kacchan touching the ground would be an automatic disqualification.
"Deku! Hand over your points!"
"I mean, how about 'no'?" Momo created a riot shield to fend off Kacchan as Izuku shot another laser, severing the line between their opponents. Kacchan was forced to retreat to rejoin his teammates, while Izuku, Momo, and Iida decided to find a new spot to guard themselves in.
"Hey Momo, can you create a sniper rifle? Like a big bolt-action?"
"I mean... yes? I don't know how to fire one like that, though, so I wouldn't be able to use it."
"Well yeah, but do they know that?" Izuku offered, gesturing towards the teams in front of them. Getting where he was going with this, Momo sheathed Kuromu in favor of a huge rifle, and began aiming it at anyone who came even close to their team.
Needless to say no one was in a hurry to get shot today, so they stayed well clear of the trio, even Todoroki's team, as much as they seemed to want to steal their headband, seemed reluctant to go against a team with both higher mobility and a huge rifle aimed at their heads.
A large horn sounded, signaling the end of the round. Izuku, Momo, and Iida came in first, of course, followed by Kacchan's team, Todoroki's team, Shiozaki's
team, which was apparently the name of the girl with the vines for hair, and finally Shinsou's team, the tired boy from general studies who teamed up with Jiro and Mashirao.
As this was announced, Midnight stated that they would be having a short competition to decide who of Shinsou's team would be joining in the tournament, since there was only one open spot for three students, but Mashirao and Jiro resigned, stating that they didn't even remember being a part of the cavalry battle, and that they'd like to just have Shinsou be the one to go ahead to the final round. With that, the finale of the tournament, the one-on-one matches, were drawn up as the bracket was finalized.
The first match would be Izuku against Shinsou, followed by Momo against Tokoyami. After that would be Todoroki versus Sero, and Shiozaki versus Kaminari. On the other side of the bracket, they had Aoyama against Ashido, Iida against Hatsume, the girl from the Support course, Kirishima against his lookalike, who was apparently named Tetsutetsu, and finally Uraraka against Kacchan.
If all went well, Izuku would be facing off against Kacchan in the finals. First though, Izuku would have to defeat Shinsou, and he still didn't know what their power was. This battle would be interesting.