Light, Medium, Heavy II:

The second Izuku's mind processed the word 'start', he begins to think. Ryoya is going to be one hell of a fight, and he knows this better than anyone. And as much as he'd like to be able to sit back and analyze his opponent the way he does everyone else, he knew he would never be afforded that luxury.

His eyes track Ryoya as he lunges across the ring floor, inky ki leaving a black contrail with every step. Even with his enhanced senses, Ryoya is like a blur, closing the gap between the two in mere moments; and yet, Izuku knows his opponent so well, he may as well have taken a minute.

Izuku plants his feet and reels back, ki following his every move. With a battlecry, he punches as hard as he could, meeting Ryoya's kick head on. Their clash was strong enough to cause a small, yet visible percussion wave that nearly knocked Midnight over and hit the front row like a strong shove to the chest.

Both boys are separated as well as the crowd leans forward, prepared for the spectacle. "You still kick really hard, man." Izuku winces, shaking his fist off.

Ryoya's eyes go narrow. "I've learned from the beach."

That one, fleeting moment of conversation is all Izuku needs to plan.

'Start with Hadoken to stuff the approach. He's either going to jump or go through it. Be ready to react."

The hadoken, light and slow, flies true to its target. It's bait, and they both know it, but now the real fight happens; the guessing game to predict his next option. Izuku chooses the former - the jump and he guesses correctly - and has already moved to deliver a heavy Shoryuken to his opponent mid air. If Ryoya is surprised by this, he doesn't show it, but what he does is open his mouth wide and roar a torrent of fire downwards.

Izuku is equal parts ready for it, and not at all. So he allows his body to react by itself, thrusting an arm forward and letting a panicked, one-armed Hadoken fly. His repetition in training this very move is the reason that, despite the hurried performance, it's enough to meet Ryoya's flames head on. It's lacking impact, Izuku realizes. The Hadoken passes through the fire as though it's barely there, canceling it out with such ease that Izuku knew something was off.

Ryoya hits the floor to Izuku's right in a combat roll and immediately takes off again, forcing the green-haired teen on the defensive due to how annoyingly quick he was. It starts with a heavy punch that hits his guard hard enough that Izuku winces, and then another jab in quick succession that nearly lands on his ribs.

Izuku takes several steps backward, maintaining a defensive posture. Ryoya steps forward, raising a knee for a split second and watching as Izuku's eye's twitch downwards. The younger teen swears to himself mentally for falling into such a trap, and before he can do anything, Ryoya's leg twitches again. It's a feint, Izuku knows it, so instead of blocking low, he bobs to the right, avoiding the snapping jab that's strong enough that he can feel the wind from; and retaliates with two quick punches of his own.

They land on his exposed side hard enough that Ryoya hisses in pain and slides back a few centimeters. Izuku moves to capitalize, but Ryoya's still frustratingly faster. Izuku's attack - a heavy jab with ki dripping from his fist - is lightly swatted to the side, and in the same motion, Ryoya clamps down on his wrist and in a quick pivot tosses Izuku over his hip with a picture perfect hip toss.

The teen slams on the ground hard enough that the ring cracks, he bounces and air is evacuated from his lungs. In a similar action to his previous fight, Ryoya raises a ki-powered foot, and attempts to stomp on Izuku's chest. He gets about half-way through the motion before Izuku regains something resembling his composure long enough to use his free hand to fire another point-blank, one handed hadoken into Ryoya's face.

It lands with a loud thud and snap's the boy's head backward and his grip on Izuku's arm releases long enough for the boy to kick himself back to his feet. Using this momentary opening, Izuku darts forward, displaying an impressive amount of footwork as he starts to rotate before jumping off his lead foot.

"Tatsumaki!" He yells as the torrential kicks fly.

The fog lifts from Ryoya's eyes just in time for him to instinctively bring up a forearm guard to the side of his head to block the attack. The force of it is still staggering, even behind his guard, and it sends him sliding back a full meter before grinding to a halt. With a brief moment of reprieve from the combat, Izuku gauges Ryoya's reaction. An attack like that, normally, would only send his rival half the distance, but he realizes that in his weakened state, his ki doesn't provide as much passive defense.

Izuku watches through narrowed, analytical eyes as Ryoya scowls and tilts his head to the side in such a way that the loud, satisfying pops come from his neck. Well… that was a bit unnerving.

Someone - he assumes it to be Midnight, since she's the closest - squeals loudly as Ryoya's eyes narrow in such a way that Izuku feels tangible danger. Then he blinks and Ryoya is moving again, not moving faster but with so much more violent intent that Izuku momentarily only sees him as a blur. Then he's hit in the sternum with what feels like a baseball bat and as he slides back, he sees Ryoya with his hands wrist-to-wrist on his hip.

"Hadoken!" He growls. Izuku is helpless in his current motion, so he raises his palms before him, bringing forth as much ki as possible before catching the ball as it moves, using the flat of his hands to keep it at bay. It's so strong, and stings and is currently forcing him back but eventually, he manages to square his shoulder and clench the muscles in his legs. With a battle cry, Izuku wildly flings his hands upward, sending the hadoken sky-high before he and the audience watch it fade away like a will-o-wisp in the breeze.

He looks forward again to see Ryoya wasn't there anymore, and realizes all too late what had happened before a foot rocks the side of his head. His entire body jerks to the side and he all but ragdolls face first to the floor. He recovers quickly, quicker than Ryoya expects, as he catches himself on his palms and immediately rotates - like a dancer - to sweep the tanned teen's legs from under him. Then he shoots up.

"Shoryuken!" It's Izuku's turn to growl as his fist collides into the side of Ryoya's face, hard enough to lift the boy off his feet. He sees a thin line of blood fly out of Ryoya's mouth as he catches himself mid-air, performing a backflip and landing on shaky legs. In this moment of reprieve, both of them catch their breath. Izuku shakes some of the blur from his vision while Ryoya spits out a small glob of crimson liquid.

Then they both take the shotokan stance again, not breaking eye contact for a second. And then, without warning, they mirrored each other, action for action.

"Hadoken!"

"Hadoken!"

It takes all of three seconds for the two heavy ki attacks to collide. The crowd, who've been roaring at the edge of their seats until now, goes deathly quiet as the spheres meet and burst on impact with a near deafening boom; scattering ki in the air like sparks and contrails of a firework.

The beauty and majesty temporarily distract everyone from the main event, and both boys forcibly regain their attention by dashing towards the center of the ring once more, clashing fist-to-fist. Another percussion wave, just as strong and visible as the first, explodes from the epicenter, but neither notice, nor care.

The fight ramps up in intensity from there. Izuku and Ryoya hold back nothing, exchanging a flurry of punches and kicks that made lesser heroes feel inadequate. It's fast - almost faster than most people could reasonably follow - but fascinating watching the violent dance. Izuku is on the defensive for most of it, that much is painfully apparent, but gone are the days he'd be overwhelmed and wither. Now, he accepts the challenge head on.

Izuku finds an opening in Ryoya's onslaught. His offense is damn-near flawless, and Izuku knew waiting for the chance to counter would get him nowhere, so he makes his own. It's brief, so brief that he almost misses it, but for the tenth of a second, whenever Ryoya throws a jab with his left hand, he turns his body a bit too much into it, leaving him open. He remains on the defensive, blocking most of light and heavy hits, while wincing when medium strikes inevitably break through.

It's on the third onslaught that Izuku strikes, trading a punch in the eye that he knows he'll feel later, for a ki-enhanced hook to Ryoya's nose. It's surreal, feeling and hearing the nose break on impact, but now's not the time to cringe. Especially when he sees fire burn in Ryoya's eyes and his Adam's Apple start to glow.

His roar is like that of an injured wolf's howl. Izuku's eyes widen and he collects ki around his person, hoping that Focus can make this fireball hurt a whole lot less than he knows it will. It does mitigate some damage - most, even - but not all and Izuku's entire body is bathed in flames. He jumps back sharply, letting out a pained cry as the fireball slams into his torso before pushing him back a full five meters before fading away.

"Not good enough…" He hears Ryoya growl. "Let's get this going Izuku… this fight can't stay light forever."

There's a shift in the air then. Izuku hears Ochako's loud cheer from the crowd (You can do it, Deku!) and looks over to her. His entire class and sister class combined at some point and are on their feet as close to the railing as possible, watching with such interest and vigor that Izuku is amazed that the railing hasn't given in.

"You're right." Izuku agrees while nodding to Ochako. "Let's take this up a notch."

Not everyone notices it, but those who do wince. The shift in atmosphere is nearly visible.

"Well," Momo says, swallowing heavily. "Looks like they're done warming up."

"Y - yeah." Itsuka agrees, sounding just as worried. The rest of their friend group look just as on edge as they do, and it unnerves everyone who noticed.

"Whatever are you guys talking about?" Ibara asks serenely. "Surely that was more than a warm up."

"Yeah," Kaminari agrees. Then his eyes widened. "Wait… they haven't used -"

He's cut off by a low, bone-rattling frequency and an eruption of flames that, even now, forces everyone back to their seats to avoid being burned.

"Oh."

No one else speaks as the low humming slowly gets louder and louder, reaching a crescendo of a hundred birds chirping at once. Denjin Renki is loud and impossible to ignore, but Heat Rush is just as impressive, scorching the earth and air. The combination of the two rivals' power feels like nails scraping across a chalkboard made out of bone, sends shivers down spines and leaves an ache in gums. Everyone tenses, reflectively, defensively as if to protect themselves from an imaginary threat.

Then Izuku and Ryoya move and their clash is that of thunder.

Midnight screams as the percussion wave sends her flying into the audience and Cementoss lets out a string of curse words as he's pushed back a full meter.

Izuku hears none of it. The flame… bonfire before him burns too brightly, too hot for him to even dare to think himself able to split his attention. The first clash was a test; a challenge to see whose willpower will bend first. Of course, neither do and the fight begins in earnest. With their fists still pressed together and neither willing to give an inch, the crowd watches with rapt attention as Ryoya parries Izuku's fist to the side, and leans in with a left punch.

Heat Rush and the fire that burns off his fist makes it hard to see, but Izuku quickly ducks under it, crouches down slightly and attempts a sweeping kick towards Ryoya's legs. Annoyingly, the black haired teen anticipated this, and used his momentum from his punch to throw himself into a front flip. This allowed him to dodge out of the way of Izuku's electric kick, but not the sharp, rising elbow that he was bringing up as he stood.

Izuku's attack hits its mark on Ryoya's back, him being sent skyward as the hit and subsequent charge made him grind his teeth in pain. Izuku jumps in the air, fist pulled back, primed for a Shoryuken just as Ryoya spins in the air to face him. Green eyes widened upon seeing Ryoya's hand placement, one being set to catch and not block and the other ready to retaliate. The same position he used to use to royally punish Izuku for over-extending during training.

Izuku quickly changes hands, using left instead of right, as he has only seen the technique used on right-handed hits. "I don't think so." He mutters.

But just as they were about to collide, fire explodes out of Ryoya's heel, propelling him downwards faster than Izuku is ready for and while falling, the boy starts throwing a series of heavy punches towards Izuku's chest, head and stomach.

Though only two strikes of his land on their mark, the blows to Izuku's chest and stomach made him slower to respond to Ryoya's heel catching fighting again, and the teen showing cat-like dexterity with a sudden heavy roundhouse kick. Despite barely raising an arm to block in time, the force is so great that his eyes widen once more as he's slammed into the ground. Once he hit, his body created a small crater several centimeters deep and a full two meters across which shocked everyone.

Ryoya lands on the ground a few meters away, ignoring the deafening cheer of the crowd and Present Mic shouting something. His eyes narrow as he suddenly spins a full one hundred eighty degrees as Izuku suddenly appears behind him, throwing a knee towards his back. 'That was much faster than before.' Ryoya thinks to himself as he swats the knee to the side and spins the green-haired teen around. 'But still not good enough.' He sends a punch to the back of Izuku's head, somewhat surprised when the attack doesn't connect as Izuku ducks under it. The younger boy then back kicked one of Ryoya's legs, knocking him forward and towards the elbow Izuku readied as he stood up.

Izuku's elbow lands true on Ryoya's forehead, and in one motion, Izuku pivots on the ball of his heel and charges up green lightning in his fist. While his idolization of All Might had been tempered over the years, he couldn't help but to hear the legend's words in his head right now.

'Square your shoulders, clench your buttcheeks and yell -'

"Smash!"

For the briefest of moments, the arena goes deathly silent as Izuku's punch lands. Then a flash of light followed by the buzzing of lightning. A green lightning bolt shoots across the stadium before slamming into the wall at the far end directly under the students, exploding on impact and kicking up a massive cloud of dust as it does.

Midnight feels the need to say something, anything, but nothing comes to mind as she stares with a slack jaw at Midoriya still holding out a shaky fist. The green sparks are still present, but his fist is shaky and the tightness of his jaw makes it clear; whatever he did, hurt. She turns back to the dust cloud and finds her tongue.

"Ryoya Harushi -"

"Not good enough." She stops speaking when she hears a low growl. A silhouette leaps out of the smoke and lands on the railing, startling the students. It's Ryoya, and he looks… rough but not bad. He should've taken far more damage than that, if everyone's shocked expressions say anything, but there he is, still bathed in the ethereal glow of his flames with a single window in his U.A windbreaker over his abs. "It's… not enough." He repeats, ignoring the stares.

"But - but how?!" Someone shouts. He doesn't spare them a glance.

"Focus." Is his reply. "Izuku… that's not going to be nearly enough. You have to do far better than that to beat me." There's a sharp growl and barely hidden bitterness in Ryoya's words that are emphasized by the blazing inferno that he personifies. Wisps of fire scatter off of him and onto the students - Setsuna and Komori being the closest - almost caressing then leaving them completely unharmed. If nothing else, they lean into the warmth, fascinated by the sheer control over his power of destruction that's so vast, yet so tamed.

"Uh, I'm not sure we're following, big guy." Setsuna says jovially. She has to push her less than human instincts down when Ryoya looks at her. Her training kicks in, trying her damndest not to show her unease, but it's there. She makes eye contact, maintaining her usually sharp toothed grin. Ryoya does not have one to match. His face is flat, dirtied with ash, dust and blood. Heat Rush, despite his control, is still blazing wildly around him, lashing out at nothing and searing the railing white hot. His eyes are filled to the brim with life and power, so much so that it steals her breath. Would it kill him to dial back the power just a bit?

Even Komori, who is right there and lacks ki sense, feels utterly unprepared and lost in the sea that is his intensity. Her gut turns and her knees are weak and trembling.

Without words, Ryoya unzips his jacket and hands it to the closer person - the mushroom girl - who grabs it absently and with a noticeable shake. The black, short-sleeved muscle shirt he has on under it flexes when he does, leaving nothing to the imagination. And then he takes a single step forward and falls down to the grass and the second his foot touches down, his fist follows.

Power Wave is a technique that Izuku knows about, but hasn't had the pleasure - or displeasure - of seeing too many times. So he is mostly unprepared by the virtual tsunami of fire that erupts from the ground nor how quickly it engulfs everything in its path in a wide, cone-shape in front of Ryoya. Izuku tries not to panic though, and prepares his defense.

He takes a page out of Ochako's book, stomping down hard enough to dislodge one of the tiles that make up the ring's floor and crouching behind it when it comes up waist height. It does the job mostly well, protecting him from direct impact but not from the heat that singes his sides, even through his ki. Mind's Eye forces his attention to the right when he can feel Ryoya's ki running at him a bit faster than he's prepared for. His eyes snap open when it's a small, blue fireball instead of his rival that bursts through the black smoke and turns too slow to react to the heavy knee to the side of his head.

He's sent crashing through the concrete tile and into the floor with enough force that the area cracks and splinters, and he spits up a glob of blood while trying to regain his composure. Ryoya isn't finished, however, grabbing a fist full of Izuku's hair and pulling him up face to face.

"Where is it?" Ryoya demands. "Where's the Power of Nothingness?"

"I - I…" Izuku struggles to find the words. Truthfully, he did try to call upon it, but he was having a lot of problems trying to remain calm, especially now, with Ryoya glaring daggers at him with fangs fully bared; a wolf that has cornered his prey.

"How do you expect to beat me without it!? You told me you wanted to be a Symbol, right? For us? For me. To look onto and see hope. So far, I'm not seeing it, Izuku!" With that last point Ryoya headbutts Izuku hard enough to break his nose and follows up with a strong knee to the stomach and a fiery Shoryuken to his exposed chin.

It's an impact that is felt by everyone in the stadium. Izuku's body raises off the floor, much like Ryoya's did prior, but instead of jumping to meet him in the air and repeat the same mistake, Ryoya draws back his fist, twists his body and punches the ground.

"Power Geyser!"

Toshinori is thankful that no eyes are on him when he buffs up into All Might to catch young Midoriya. The geyser sends him flying into the stands like a ragdoll, ripping at his uniform and leaving burns on his person. From what the older hero sees, he's not conscious, or at least not fully lucid if the way his eyes are rolled into the back of his skull say anything.

"Young Midoriya!" The man shouts in concern. "Can you still continue!?"

Izuku, somehow, stirs after only a few seconds. It's clear that he's in pain, anyone with eyes can see that, but there's a fierce determination in his eyes that gives the hero a pause. He grits his teeth and tries to move, but it's with great effort. The kid looks bad.

"Yeah," Izuku confirms. "I'm fine. I can do this." All Might doesn't want to believe him, but the tone, the sheer grit behind his words leave no room for disagreement. "Throw me back… actually…"

Is Ryoya surprised when Izuku rejoins the fight? Not at all. Is he marginally caught off guard when All Might, the Symbol of Peace, throws his friend upward, at an angle back into the ring? Yes. But he doesn't let the strange visual take his attention from the main threat; Izuku, still with Denjin Renki activated, placing his hands near his hip.

He can see the lightning pooling in his hands, and the ki building up, so he wastes no time in his counter attack.

"Denjin…"

"Shakunetsu…"

Fire and lightning dominate the scene.

"Hadoken!"

"Hadoken!"

"Take cover!" Midnight shouts as the two energy spheres, one made of fire, the other cloaked in lightning, both the size of large beach balls, slam into each other. The resulting explosion puts the former one to shame. It's akin to an even grander firework, more pronounced due to the more aerial area of impact, sending ki everywhere much like it had before. It's a disarmingly beautiful spectacle, watching the ki scatter and fall, changing from red or green, to white and finally black and inky before fading away.

It distracts the crowd just long enough for Izuku to hit the floor and dash forward. He's fighting wildly out of character, on the offense, sending dozens of strikes of his own. Ryoya matches him easily, but both of them were able to block or dodge every hit. Even if the blocked ones resulted in burns or a shock, they didn't - wouldn't - allow it to slow them down. They eventually locked themselves in a stand-still, both having thrown and caught a punch from the other.

Ryoya can see it clear as day being this close. The message has finally gotten through to Izuku. 'Show me that you have the power to reach your dreams. Show me you can save them. Show me that you can save me.'

They pushed against each other, fighting to overpower the other. On the surface, perfectly even. But both boys knew better. Izuku had taken much more damage, and he knew deep down that he would lose this if something didn't change. Ryoya had thrown down the gauntlet. He'd let his challenge be known to everyone who could hear him, and it was up to Izuku to respond in kind. To the green eyed teen, success was the only option, failure would not be tolerated.

"You still need more, Izuku!" Ryoya shouts while spitting another fireball in Izuku's face. The boy shouts in pain but Ryoya keeps his grip firm on his hands, using his extra height to his advantage by raising his arms above his head. His impressive strength pulls Izuku off his feet before Ryoya drops his arms, and by proxy Izuku, directly onto a burning knee. Izuku vomits up his lunch and bile and doubles over in agony. Ryoya finally lets go and strikes Izuku's back with a move he's kept hidden.

"Misogi!"

A move beaten into him by his grandfather. A powerful, devastating knife-handed strike, amplified by Heat Rush and blue fire, lands on the center of Izuku's back and drives him into the floor. The impact is like an explosion in itself, creating a blue fireball around them and shattering most of the ring. The arena goes quiet when the fireball dies down and there's a myriad of shocked gasps when people see Izuku laying face down in a crater that's no less than a full meter deep and three meters wide. Ryoya still has his chopping hand extended and is panting heavily, but looks otherwise… defeated? Disappointed? His eyes are downcast and his jaw is set.

Ochako feels like she wants to cry, if she were being honest with herself. Seeing Deku there, so defeated, hurts her to her core. He had confided in her before the fight his lack of confidence in being able to defeat his rival, but she had scoffed at him. Told him he was the "Deku that always does his best" and that it would be a tough fight, but he would prevail. She hadn't once considered that this might happen. She wasn't ignorant to Harushi's strength, not in the slightest. If nothing else, he was the single person she held in nearly the same regard as Deku himself but… Deku was Deku.

He promised her that he'd make it to the finals, and she still hoped that he would hold onto that, but Harushi is incredible. She doesn't stop hoping, even when Harushi starts to walk away.

"Get up, Deku!" She shouts. "You can do it! I believe in you!"

She doubts her words can make it that far, but Harushi stops and glances directly at her with those piercing, deep gold eyes. It's brief, so brief that she must've imagined it, but he looks like he wants to agree with her. Like he's mirroring her efforts, if internally. It spurs her on.

"Come on, Izuku!" She shouts again, emboldened by the eye contact. "Stand up and win this! You promised to meet me in the finals! I'm waiting for you!"

Then something changes. Harushi is still looking at her, but it's different. He's smirking. Wolfish. Proud.

"What is that power…?" Momo echos. "Is that… Midoriya?"

There's a small pulse of light that comes from Izuku's body, as well as several white sparks of lightning. There's another, larger pulse that violently jerks his body, and Ryoya is forced to jump away.

He lands next to Midnight on the announcer's podium, loose and ready for combat. His eyes are gleaming and locked onto Izuku and the woman as well as Cementoss is taken aback by the power he gives off. He keeps watching, wordlessly, even as his teacher gives him a once over that lasts a bit too long to just be an inspection.

Izuku is tired. There he is, laying face down, battered and beaten on the shattered concrete floor, panting lightly as all hopes of victory slowly leave his grasp. He's fought hard, he really has but it wasn't enough.

Until he hears it.

"Is that it!?" Ryoya yells. He's somewhere, Izuku can't pinpoint it but he's shouting loud enough that his voice is picked up by the surrounding mics. His words are heard by everyone in the stadium and everyone watching at home. "I know that's not all you had! Get up!" He all but growls. "Stand up and fight! You're going to be the Symbol for the Quirkless, RIGHT? Well, stand up and prove to me that you can do that! I won't bow down to you if you can't RISE and prove that you can overcome me! Prove to everyone that you can fight me!"

The crowd is confused and upset at the apparent taunting, but there's a message there, meant for Izuku's ears only. He knows the double meaning.

"Get up and prove to me that you can save me if I can't save myself."

Izuku's hand twitches.

Ryoya's ki boils over, standing as a monument of beautiful fire. Midnight feels like she should step back, but she's not being burned. She's being blanketed by the lukewarm flames. It's so uncharacteristic for him to be so emotive, and wear his emotions on his sleeve. But his anger is driving him and his voice booms throughout the arena. "PROVE YOURSELF AND RISE!"

And Izuku did. And he does.

The world watches when Izuku's ki explodes around him, an unrepentant force of good being born into the world. It's a white light, almost angelic that wraps around his body. It's a physical pressure in the air and on lungs and down to their bones and blood. Everyone can feel it. It smells like fresh ozone, lightning striking in their midst. Izuku slowly rises to his feet.

His body is cloaked in a complex, silver, green and blue aura, consisting of crackling, lightning-like energy, complete with sparkling particles of pure ki lazily drifting upwards around him. His eyes change from bright green to a piercing silver and his form seems… blurry. There's a crackle in the air when he takes his first step. A crackle that makes hairs stand on arms and necks. All anyone sees is Izuku, shining like a bright star, flares of lightning shooting off of him erratically in every direction. He's lightning masquerading in human form, and it's laughable if anyone believes otherwise.

Nemuri is in awe, though she has no idea that Ryoya is shielding her from the brunt of it. It's surreal honestly, and she exhales a breath and feels like vapor should be visible.

"Midnight-san!" Ryoya shouts. She barely registers when he picks her up bridal-style and moves her away from the area and towards a group of heroes. Before he puts her down, she gets his message. "This will be ending soon. Whatever you do, don't stop it." She nods absently, and then realizes what she'd just agreed to, but Ryoya is long gone, already back in the ring.

There's fifteen meters between them, not a lot, ultimately, but enough space that no one can be caught off guard.

Or so Ryoya believes.

Izuku blitzes forward in a second, and for a moment, he can't hear any one thing in particular. The power is too uncontrolled, lacking way too much refinement for him to focus. There's no real sound here, so Izuku's senses are attuned to everything else; the sheer force of his speed and the feeling of heat from Ryoya's flames. Then the crowd's roar screams in his ear; a cry of thousands of people that shakes him to his core. The noise is so utterly loud that he can't comprehend it. And then it's all over in a millisecond. And his senses catch up, and Ryoya's planted on the ground at his feet.

He can't truly recall what happened, but he doesn't have the time to try. It takes all of a second for Ryoya to erupt in frenzied fire, rolling back over his shoulder and into a crouched position. Seemingly giving up on technique altogether, Ryoya creates a monolithe of flames that propels him upward in an act of desperation. At this apex, Ryoya throws caution to the wind.

"Power Dunk!"

He shoots down, leaving a visible tail of flame behind his fist. The attack screams strength, but to his surprise, Izuku doesn't move. At the last second, his hand snaps out however, fist meeting fist in another epic clash. Fire and lighting explode outward again as another boom hits the audience like a strong shove. Ryoya's eyes snap open when he sees that his attack hasn't done anything, and Izuku remains standing in place, giving nothing away except for the faith tremble of exertion in his arm.

Ryoya wasn't one to let something like that phase him, so when Izuku throws a punch, which is frighteningly fast, Ryoya narrowly manages to spin out of the way, while simultaneously performing a roundhouse kick, hidden by his flames.

Izuku reacts regardless, ducking under the attack and side stepping the follow up heel that comes down. Ryoya stalks his movements, calling forth Heat Rush - Blue as strongly as he could and kicks off the ground, creating an explosion to shoot him forward far faster than anything he'd done today. "Are you okay!?"

Izuku knows better than to acknowledge the question, and instead focuses on the massive amount of ki Ryoya pushes into his arm. He's using up everything he has; it's now or never.

"Buster -"

Izuku ducks to the side, trying to mute his surprise when he realizes how close Ryoya had gotten to landing that. He quickly delivers a strong, three punch combo to Ryoya head, chest and stomach. In a panic, Ryoya leaps back, trying to rather himself, but Izuku's faster, hitting him squarely in the chest with a one-handed Hadoken. The teen flies back with a roar of pain and ignites if only to save face.

Izuku can feel it, his power waning, so he opts to end it.

Izuku's ki shifts again. Thunder rumbles, and what remains of the ring cracks. Izuku is the thunder, lightning encasing him as he momentarily becomes too bright to look at. He takes the Hadoken stance, a motion that's as easy as breathing and begins to charge. No one needs to be warned about what comes next.

"Cementoss, raise the -"

"Don't you dare!" Ryoya barks through the pain, silencing the R-Rated heroine. "This is our battle! He has to do this!" The woman protests something, but Ryoya chooses to ignore it, drowning it out with the incredible pressure of fire. He has nothing at all left in the tank, and he knows Izuku doesn't either, so this will make or break them.

Izuku's calm, composed motions are in stark opposition to Ryoya's sporadic ones, but they both have the same thing in mind. End this now.

"Metsu…"

"Prominence…"

"Hadoken."

"Burn!"

No one watching is prepared for such a thing. The two freight-trains of power slam into each other, and despite putting up a good fight, the Prominence Burn is overwhelmed in short order. Instead of moving, Ryoya grits his teeth and stands his ground. He shoves his hands forward and into the beam, feeling an intense pain as he is driven back, regardless of his heel being dug into the ground. For the smallest window of time, the briefest moment, the Satsui flares up. It's all encompassing might and terror instantly bring the boy to a standstill.

Even against the beam, Ryoya takes one mighty step forward. Then as quickly as it comes, it's gone, and the tanned teen is devoured whole, vanishing in the beam as it slams into and destroys the wall on the opposite side of the stadium. When it clears, Ryoya's back is against the wall in the center of a deep crater, slumped slightly. Heat Rush is gone, and he's not moving. Izuku's power deactivates and he drops to his knees, clearly having nothing left as well.

Then Ryoya stirs.

"Th - there's just no way." Midnight whispers breathlessly. She watches with no small amount of amazement as Ryoya moves, leaning forward just far enough that he takes several shaky steps forward.

"You did it… Izuku." He says before consciousness leaves him, and he collapses face first in the grass.

"Ryoya Harushi is unable to continue." Midnight says, still somewhat shell shocked. "Izuku Midoriya wins."

A/N:Well, I hope the fight lived up to the hype! If you want to talk to me, you can find me at Jaded! discord gg pkmgFzUkBu

Monster King: Thanks!

Acosta Perez Jose Ramiro: Glad you enjoyed. :D

Chronolocked: It would be hilarious, maybe I'd use that idea for later down the line.

NinjaFang1331: Thanks!

Solbandgus: Honestly yeah, me and the Discord were talking about it and it is possible for her. New Order is pretty fucky.

Black Lion: Good choice of theme.

Helljumper206: Hell yeah! Hope you guys enjoyed.

Ryuujin96: Thanks. I also enjoyed working on the characterization here for the three main girls. The Sports Fes has been taking a bit long, but those are some moments I've been planning for ages. Also, speaking of Izuku vs Ryoya... hope you enjoy it.