A/N: What's there to say? It's the big fight you've all been waiting for! This is for everyone who's been with this story since the beginning or have just begun to read as I upload this chapter. This is for all of you, and the 90,000 views that this story has gotten since day one. I just... wow. I literally have no words to describe how happy I am. Thank you all so freaking much! If I could hug every last one of you, I totally would! Now, without further ado!

Let the battle begin!

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Chapter 35: Origin

Shoto was the first to strike, whipping his saber along the ground in a long, upturning slash, using the Dust within Jotunheim in tandem with his semblance, allowing him shoot out a large glacier of ice at speeds the Izuku had only ever seen the half and half leader produce twice, both times when they had battled against Stain.

Izuku, however, was ready for this, swinging Tempest around in a wide, horizontal arc at the rapidly approaching ice, channeling his Aura through the blade as he did so. It stopped the attack just in time, just a few inches from his own frame, a few jagged and sharpened ends barely stopping in front of his torso. With the added assistance of the wind slash, it was blasted apart, his attack taking several shards from Shoto's glacier and blasting the half and half leader backward, though he managed to stab Jotunheim into the ground and make an ice wall behind him before it pushed him off the side of the ring.

"Oh! And already we have two magnificent displays of power! What a start, eh Barty?"

Izuku ignored the conversing teachers, instead giving his full attention to Shoto, who now stood up from his ice wall and slowly began closer, likely wishing to engage in close combat. Jotunheim dragged on the arena floor behind him, creating an unnatural scratching sound with a particular metallic lacing, ice forming along the ground where it touched.

"Let's continue," Shoto said with an unchanged, cold stare in his eye. What just happened was a preface. This was where the fight truly began.

(Kimi no Chikara from My Hero Academia)

Shoto rocketed forward with his ice assisted speed, suddenly taking a quick jab at Izuku's torso with Jotunheim. The attack was so fast that Izuku barely managed to dodge it, and he only had milliseconds to recover as Shoto swept his saber in the direction that he'd dodged to. Their blades met, cracking the air with a metallic CLANG and a clash of strength then ensuing.

But Shoto didn't let it come to that, expertly controlling Jotunheim to try and stab at Izuku through the clash, a move which the blazer-wearing inheritor was unable to avoid. It got him in the left shoulder, visibly clashing with his Aura and taking him lower, down into the eighties, while Shoto still sat comfortably in the higher green zone.

Izuku recovered from this quickly, using the leverage that Shoto had given in the moment to move Jotunheim away and, with a carefully placed foot, sweep Shoto's footing out from under him and attempting to bring Tempest down in a heavy overhead strike on his torso. But Shoto reacted quickly, using his right hand to create a rounded curve and slip away from Izuku's blade, now sticking out of where he was only half a second prior. All in all, the fight currently only lasted some twenty measly seconds, and it was nowhere near finished.

Izuku brought Tempest from the ground it struck, this time going on the offensive with sweeps and slashes of varying speeds with green energy crackling off him as his sclera darkened and his pupils began to glow, a sign that Full Cowl was now fully activated. Shoto dodged, redirected, and parried most of these, but this was only a setup for what Izuku was going to do next. The green haired boy used Cirrus to launch himself into the air, simultaneously dodging Shoto's counterattack and rotating himself about eighty degrees, then releasing Tempest from his grip and using his momentum to turn the rest of the way, then kicking outwards with Stratus and launching Tempest towards a now surprised Shoto.

Shoto barley managed to step away from this attack in time, Tempest again burying itself halfway into the arena floor where he stood just-

But Izuku gave him no time to process this, coming at him again with a devastating heavy kick via Stratus that caused his head to visibly snap to the side and take his aura all the way down to the sixties, though Izuku wasn't far behind him with his own staying in the lowest margin of the seventies. But, using the momentum from the kick, through the frost Shoto could feel starting to form on his arm, he made a full rotation and slashed at Izuku once more as he briefly retreated, managing to catch the green haired inheritor unawares and bring his Aura down into the sixties.

Izuku was unphased by the slash, landing with an audible crack to the concrete floor, raising his arm to call Tempest back to his side. Shoto saw this and raced forward, trying to get in a hit while Izuku was still weaponless. He arrived too late, however, Tempest reaching Izuku's grasp and shifting into its second form, blade curving and handle extending to its full length. Mid-transformation, Izuku swept Tempest's handle towards Shoto's head, which he managed to dodge, which was then followed by a cleverly placed upwards slash, taking him down to the forties.

Okay, that's enough. This ends now.

Managing to catch himself, Shoto backpedaled away from Izuku's overhead swipe, launching icicle after icicle with Jotunheim as he back further and further away. Izuku advanced ever so slowly, taking the time to counter and shatter them with swings, spins, and slashes of all varieties. And as the final projectile broke into splinters, Shoto swept Jotnheim upwards, making a peak of ice rocket across the ground and towards Izuku, managing to catch his left foot and slowly but surely began to freeze over the boot itself.

Crap! What do I do?! I can't move my foot and Tempest is still too long to destroy this properly! ARGH!

YOU KNOW WHAT?! FUCK IT!

(End Song)

For the first time since almost the beginning of the semester, Izuku felt the energy of One for All's full power course through his left arm, the violet energy burning like a scarcely contained torrent of fire beneath his skin as the green haired boy launched his fist forwards, a blast of wind erupting from the impact and kicking up a large cloud of steam between him and Shoto. Almost every spectator dropped their jaws at this sudden display, which was even greater than before, but they had to cover their eyes from any spare debris that had been swept up in the attack itself.

When Yang was finally able to see again, there was still a cloud of hissing mist hanging over the arena, obscuring both combatants from view. Tenya was looking at the cloud intensely, worried for both his teammates, while Bakugo sat next to him stone-faced, though he did look a bit surprised himself, and everyone else simply looked forward in shock.

The steam began to clear, allowing Izuku to once again come back into full view. His left arm hung at his side, bruised and broken in several places, now limp from the force he'd just exerted. His teeth were visibly clenching in pain as he tried his best to not move his now broken arm, dragging Tempest's scythe form up to balance himself. He glared towards where he knew Shoto was, the mist just barely beginning to fade as the half and half boy finally came into view...

… and was nowhere near the edge.

Instead, behind him was an ice wall, one that was at least twice his own height, with Jotunheim stabbed halfway into the ground in front of him, briefly breathing out a misty breath as he rose, pulling Jotunheim out as he did so. He then said, "This is the most power that you can produce, isn't it? With that arm broken, you're not going to be able to use your scythe properly.

"Still, thanks for dragging it out this long. Look at the old bastard," Shoto glanced upwards, Izuku following his gaze to find a very stoic yet very angry Endeavor standing against a wall near the middle of the arena with his arms crossed and his flames ever burning on his shoulders. "He's furious. I imagine he'll have quite a few choice words for me once this fight is over...

"… I am sorry it had to come to this. But I need to win this tournament." And then, a tremble in his frost-covered right hand. And another. Izuku saw this for barely a moment, but it was more than enough to tell him what he needed to know. Is he cold? Wait, then that means... okay, I've got one shot at this.

As the gears continued turning in his head, he also saw Shoto brought Jotunheim back into its sheath, the placing his left foot behind him as he lowered his stance, the floor beneath his right side visibly cooling down and beginning to freeze over. He was going to make an all-out attack. He wanted this fight to be over.

In a millisecond, he drew Jotunheim from its sheath, the blue blade becoming only the slightest of flashes as one final, impossibly large glacier flew towards Izuku. This was it the attack that held Shoto's unrestrained strength behind it. The attack that would end the battle.

Or, at least, Shoto thought it would.

"I AM NOT DONE!"

Another blast of wind rocketed out from Izuku, blasting the approaching glacier to shards and dust, this time surprising Shoto to the point that he was pushed back even farther than before, blasting him back to the very edge of the arena before he just managed to make an ice wall behind himself, preventing the half and half leader from completely falling off. As the wind continued to whip and trash around for a few seconds, Izuku could be seen gripping the lower end of his scythe with the blade point forward on the ground, almost holding it in a reverse grip.

What the hell?! He shouldn't have been able to make a blast that strong, not in the state he's in!

A quick, almost too brief glance to the Aura readers atop the stadium walls told him otherwise. Izuku's Aura, which had been in the forties before, was now almost in the lower twenties while his remained at the fifty mark. But this didn't make any sense. Why would he take that kind of a risk? Damage himself that much? What was he trying to prove?

And then, like a whisper, so faint that if he didn't know Izuku uttered the phrase, he'd have sworn he imagined it, he heard these three, chilling words.

"You're trembling... Todoroki..."

Silence fell upon the arena. No one spoke, no one moved, and for a while, Shoto wasn't sure if anyone was remembering how to breathe. Izuku was pissed. Sure, he'd been a bit angry before, even frustrated sometimes, but never had his rage been more prominent than in this exact moment.

"It can be easy to forget that sometimes semblances are a lot closer to being physical abilities, especially for people like us. The reason your battles are so short most of the time is that you don't want to balance out the temperature with your left side. And you're still refusing to use it. You're really so desperate to stick it to him that you'd only use half your strength? That's just insulting.

"Listen. Everyone here is giving it their all. To win this tournament. Make their dreams come true.

"And yeah, I know my body's pretty fucked up right now. But the only things you've managed to land on me are scratches!" The green haired boy clenched his left hand, briefly groaning in pain before he tried something. He focused his Aura towards his left arm, and slowly but surely, a glowing green hue started to coalesce itself around his broken arm, numbing the pain enough for him to move it, at least for the moment. He slid his hand down Tempest's handle, then flipping it upwards and resting it on his right shoulder with the blade pointing skywards. Izuku's left arm was now almost entirely covered with his ethereal emerald Aura, lifting said hand and pointing it directly at Shoto. And then, with frustration in his tone and daring in his gaze, he yelled to his friend, "So the next time you come at me...

"IT HAD BETTER BE WITH ALL YOU'VE FUCKING GOT!"

Everyone was left speechless. Again, no one moved, no one spoke, not a sound was made. But Shoto steeled himself to this. He couldn't let himself give in. Not now. No matter how tempting it might've seemed.

Shoto rushed forwards with Jotuheim free of the ground once more, but something was different this time. He felt it, and he knew from Izuku's slightest reaction that Izuku had seen it as well.

"He's gotten slower," Bakugo muttered to himself. Yang glanced down and saw that the observation was incredibly accurate. Shoto's attacks were slower too, his ice being sidestepped by Izuku easily as he got closer. The green haired boy sidestepped his attempt at a stab and kicked at the half and half leader with an echoing blast of buckshot from Stratus, applying a bit more force to the shot than he'd anticipated and sending the two skidding apart once again.

The Aura over Izuku's arm flickered for a moment, causing him to flinch in returning pain. He fought through it though, managing to get close enough to the half and half leader to deliver a devastating punch to his upper torso with his Aura covered hand, pushing through with enough kinetic force to send him flying across the arena, skidding to a halt only ten feet from the edge of the stadium.

The pain, minimized though it may have been, still rebounded throughout his arm, causing the green haired inheritor to cry out before Shoto tried to get in another slashing attack. This was no longer a fight. This was a brutal slog of a bloody brawl, for all the world to see. They were both beaten to hell, and they'd get even worse as things progressed.

"Ozpin, we need to stop this," Goodwitch demanded as they observed the fight from their spectator's box with a worried gaze behind her glasses, with Aizawa to her right and Peach to her left, neither taking their eyes off of the battle in front of them. "I'm not sure Midoriya realizes just how much pain he's putting himself in. Once the adrenaline and his Aura calm down, it's going to hit him like a freight train."

"And I might not be able to heal him in one go. I'm good, but those hits aren't going to be that simple to clean up," Peach said as she shifted her neon orange hair, her eyes only concerned with staying on Izuku and figuring out the best way to put him back together. "Even if he does win, which is still up in the air, he might not be able to fight in the finals. Hell, in the worst case, he could end up with permanent damage."

Ozpin simply stayed silent as he looked on at the fight in front of him, though he was visibly gripping his cane tightly in order to stop himself from rushing down and stopping the fight himself. It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to not do what All Might would've done at that moment.

Aizawa's face remained stoic and calm as he continued to watch the fight progress, Shoto now pushed entirely on the defensive as Izuku attacked wildly, unlike his normally careful and tactful fighting style. He flashed back to a time when he had the green haired inheritor stay after class to discuss better control over his power. It was one of the only times the two had ever really spoken to each other, and the conversation only gave Izuku the conviction to work even harder. And he did.

Still, while he's managed to gain some control on a larger power output, it's only just that. It'll be a very long time before he can truly control it. The disheveled man rubbed some old scars on his arms from a particular mission that went poorly. It hurt like hell. Man, the fact that he's going through the much pain and still going... that takes a lot of resolve.

Just what the hell is driving this kid?

Back in the arena, Shoto dodged out of the way of a particularly well-placed tripping strike by Tempest, but as soon as he did so, Izuku flipped the blade around and caught Shoto around his back, swapping Tempest's handle to his left hand as he pulled him closer, sending One for All's energy through his right knuckle, managing to deliver a devastating right hook that brought Shoto's Aura down to the thirty mark, while his sat on the cusp of the teens, sending them both apart once again.

"Why? Why the hell are you putting yourself through this much?" Shoto asked, still confused as to the nature of Izuku's pleads and now desperate fighting style.

"I want to live up to everyone's expectations of me," as he dragged Tempest behind him, the blade's edge scratching across the ground as he broke into a slow run towards Shoto. "I want to smile while I do something good for them.

"I want to inspire people... the same way that he inspired me!"

Shoto...

As the half and half leader almost drifted back into his memories, Izuku finally reached him, giving him a hard shoulder ram with his good arm as he continued his yell, "That's why I'm giving it everything I've got! Just like you ought to be!" He pointed his Aura covered arm towards Shoto as he yelled this, the latter skidding to a halt as the former again continued, stepping ever closer as he did so, "There's no way I can truly understand just what you've gone through. Our lives couldn't be more different from each other. But you need to stop screwing around! If you want to defy your dad, fine, I won't stop you. But you don't have the right to call yourself number one if you're not willing to go all out!"

Something shook within Shoto. And he didn't know why, but mid-battle, he started to remember. Things he wished had never happened. Things he wished he could've changed.

"Get up. If you're this weak, you can forget about beating All Might, or even a Creep youngling," Enji said, his facial hair ever glowing as Shoto curled inwards on his stomach on the ground in front of him, his breakfast now spewed on the hardwood floor from the blow he'd received, wheezing all the while.

"Please, let him rest! You're pushing him too hard! He's only five years old!" his mother pleaded as she kneeled down to help him up.

"He can take it. Now get out of the way!" Enji yelled as he hit Rei across the face, sending her sprawling to the ground.

Shoto heard this, finally managing to raise his head and see where his mother had landed. "... momma?"

"Shut up..." Shoto whispered to himself as frost continued to form on the right side of his body. Again, another flashback began.

Shoto and Rei sat together in his room as the former quietly sobbed to the latter, curled up against her torso as he said, "I don't want to. Mom... please, I... I don't want to be the kind of guy he is! I don't want to hurt people or bully them like he does!"

"But honey... you do still want to be a huntsman, right?"

Shoto stopped crying for a moment, then looking up to his mother with tearstained cheeks as she continued, "Never forget. Stay true to yourself and who you are. You can be the kind of hunter you want to be when you're older."

"That's why... I'm going to win this!" Izuku hooked Tempest's blade across Shoto's torso, spinning and hurling him towards the edge of the arena with some assistance from a wind slash as he continued, "Even if I have to surpass you!"

Some of the spots of frost began to peel off, some audibly shattering and cracking in the air, only to be replaced by fresher ones. He was getting too cold. Shoto wouldn't be able to take the temperature imbalance for much longer. Yet that didn't concern him at the moment.

"Ignore them, Shoto. They live in a different world than the one I'm training you for," Enji said as he was dragged towards the training hall yet again.

And now he was flying through the air, having bounced off of the arena floor once already. Yet still, the pain barely registered. He knew that his Aura was getting low. He and Izuku were likely around the same spot in the regard. Yet still, the memories came.

"I can't do this anymore, mom. The children... they're more like him with every passing day. And Shoto... sometimes that left side of his is... unbearable! All I can see is his father! Please, I need to run away from this place!"

"Mom? What are you saying?"

The hissing from the teapot grew louder and louder, to the point that it was almost deafening. Rei whipped around with a crazed look in her eye. And then the pain. The same, unspeakable pain.

I remember...

He stood with his back against a door, with sterile white wrapping across his still stinging left eye. Enji paced across the room, muttering all the while, "Moronic woman. To hurt you at such an important time!"

"... where did momma go?" he asked with a coldness that had never been present before.

"Huh? Oh, she hurt my masterpiece, so I put her in a hospital down in Mistral, to keep you safe."

"... that was your fault."

"Huh?"

"You're the one that made her hurt me!"

I will reject you!

Shoto stood once more, Jotunheim again at his side, thinking still, I refuse... to use your semblance! I refuse-

"IT'S YOURS! YOUR POWER, NOT HIS!"

Shoto stood stock still, and fractions of seconds felt like minutes as he flashed back for the final time.

"Yes, it is true that children often inherit their parent's quirks and sometimes even their semblances, or develop similar powersets. But regardless of that, powers are what you make of them! You decide how you use it! Take this to heart kids! And remember!" All Might said as he flashed a thumbs up at the camera, Shoto and his mother watching the TV together as he concluded, "You've got it!"

(You Say Run from My Hero Academia)

Shoto's face lit up as he watched, his mother rubbing his head affectionately as she echoed what she'd said before, "But you... still want to be a huntsman, don't you?"

I hadn't realized... how much I'd forgotten...

"You aren't a prisoner of your blood. You're allowed to use your power in any way you wish. To be anyone you want to be."

At this realization, the heat began to build in his left side, burning hotter and hotter until finally, it burst, releasing a massive, spiraling torrent of flames as it did so. It was so powerful that Izuku had to catch himself just to keep from being blow away by the sheer force of it, and the audience on all sides was hit once again by the wind that had been kicked up from the release of power.

"He's actually using his fire power?!" Yang yelled in surprise, shielding her eyes from any spare debris that had been kicked up in the chaos. Many of the others had done the same with their own cries of surprise, all with the exceptions of Bakugo and Weiss, either out of some form of excitement or shock. Even Tenya, the most level-headed person on Team STIK, looked as shocked Weiss did.

You made him use his father's power. Toshinori thought to himself as he spectated the match. You damn fool. You were trying to save Shoto from himself this entire time.

"You damn idiot," Shoto scolded his teammate as his fire started to bend more to his control, the frost visibly melting from his right side in tandem. "Why're you helping me? We're opponents."

Izuku's eyes widened at Shoto's words, the look of mixed awe and surprise staying as the flames unfurled to reveal his partner, who continued his earlier statement, "Now who's screwing around?"

This only caused Izuku to smile, relieved that he'd managed to convince Shoto to accept himself. The two were grinning like idiots, neither really caring about the result of the match any longer.

The same could not be said for Endeavor, who began to holler and shout praise and excitement about Shoto's potential from above, his fire spiking higher as he did so.

And yet, neither combatant acknowledged him. Their focus was squarely on each other. Shoto, still reluctant, shed a single, silent tear. He'd broken his promise, the one he'd kept for over a decade. And yet, at the same time...

"Amazing..." Izuku said in awe, the same smile unmoved from his features.

"Why are you smiling?"

This caused Izuku's grin to suddenly drop, as he remembered where they were and what was soon to be done.

"With those injuries... and in this situation... you really must be crazy," Shoto said as he looked his partner dead on, his focus now regained. Izuku formed up, preparing for the onslaught that the two were soon to unleash upon each other. "Don't blame me for what happens next."

Alright. It'll be a lot harder, but I think I can still do the Cyclone Grove with just one arm.

And then, he felt the signature hum of Tempest, causing him to glance down and see the runes along the weapon glow, almost saying 'that won't do' before the handle began to collapse back down to its normal size, the blade unfurling and straightening itself out, forming into a bastard sword once more. Izuku hadn't shifted it. It had done that on its own.

Shoto stepped forward, charging to power within both of his hands with ice crystals sprouting from his right foot while all the while the flaming torrent of his left hand continued to rage on, resting that same hand, for the first time since they'd met, on Muspelheim's hilt.

Izuku too stepped forward, the bright emerald glow within his left arm then extending to his legs and right arm as he gripped Tempest in both hands, visibly ripping his pant legs and sleeves to ribbons from the sheer presence of this much power, taking up his Neben stance once more as Tempest glowed the same shade as his limbs.

And then, without warning, Shoto swung Jotunheim forward with all the might he could possibly imbue the strike with, causing a gargantuan pillar of ice to launch at high speeds towards his green haired opponent. It was the largest he'd made in their battle yet, easily casting the two of them in shadow, causing the flames on his left side to glow ever brighter.

Izuku rushed at the pillar head-on, Tempest becoming a fluid blur as he swung the blade with all the dexterity he could focus with and giving each swing as much might as he could potentially place behind them. He sliced through the pillar bit by bit, chunk by chunk, becoming a humanoid emerald beacon as he managed to burn even brighter, despite the fact that he was most certainly almost out of Aura. He knew that this was it. This would be the end of their match.

And then, with all the courage he could muster, Shoto grasped the hilt of Muspelheim and drew the blade in a single, fluid motion, the flames burning ever brighter and flashing behind him like the fire from jet engines as the blade itself began to glow with power.

Izuku had managed to finally cut his way through the entire pillar, with Shoto there waiting for him. The half and half leader mumbled to himself, "I finally get it, Izuku," as he raised slowly raised Muspelheim ever higher, preparing to strike.

"Thank you."

The resulting light blinded both to the other's attack, and when they finally met, the ensuing destruction blasted the arena to bits and shreds, the ground visibly cracking from the force of the blow as a steamy haze settled over the arena, alerting not a single spectator as to the victor.

(End Song)

The silence around the arena was deafening, even as the steam began to clear. Who won? How badly beaten were they? Were the two combatants even alive? These questions and more raced through the minds of many a spectator as the cloud continued to clear. But the ones who know the two, even Bakugo, and especially Yang and Tenya, were only concerned with whether or not they were alright. And as the steam cleared...

Izuku could be seen against one of the far walls of the arena, shoulders slumped and head limp, despite the vice grip that his right hand still had on Tempest. The glowing effect that had almost consumed his limbs before was gone now, and what remained from that were wavy, almost wind like markings that lined them, though they were particularly intense on his still broken and mangled left arm. He fell to the ground, unconscious, beaten, and most definitely defeated.

As the steam continued to clear away, Shoto was revealed to be standing on the opposite end of the arena with a look of shock on his face, with his jacket and combat vest torn to nothing but scraps. In his hands were the hilts of Jotunheim and Muspelheim, the blades of which, after such grandiose displays of his powers, were shattered into thousands of tiny, irrecoverable pieces. And yet, the result was as clear as day, no matter how much he may have wanted a different result.

"Shoto Todoroki has won the match!"

A/N: I hope that this depiction lives up to the sheer spectacle that was the animated version of this fight. It probably doesn't, but hey, I had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it!

Next Chapter: Jun. 22nd

Seeya in the next one!