Izuku and the Winx went running through the corridors of the academy in the direction of where the explosion happened. On the way, they encountered several students who were fleeing in a state of panic and safety. Finally, they reached a part of the hallway where there was a large hole indicating that this was where the explosion occurred, but what they found left them speechless.
Surrounding the area were wingless dragon-like creatures made entirely of ice, causing havoc and freezing areas with their icy breath.
"What are those things?" asked Layla.
"Those, my dear, are my pets." said a voice unknown to them.
A pair of ice dragons stepped aside to show their master, the ice knight.
"Who are you?" asked Musa.
"My apologies, but my name isn't necessary to know, but you should know that I am your enemy." said the ice knight.
"Well, I have to admit you're quite polite." said Stella.
"I appreciate your words. You'd better stay out of my way; it would be a shame to see your lives end." said the ice knight.
"You're very wrong if you think we're going to back down!" said Bloom.
"As you wish. I have warned you." said the ice knight before pointing his spear at them, causing the dragons to charge towards them.
"Girls, Belivix transformation." said Bloom.
Before Izuku's wide eyes, the girls underwent some sort of metamorphosis in which their clothes and hair were changed and a pair of wings grew on their backs.
"Amazing. Is that another fairy power?" asked Izuku.
"Izuku, you stay there. We'll take care of them." said Flora.
"Okay." said Izuku.
A part of him wanted to help them, but he knew he would be in the way and that could hurt them.
"Very impressive. Let's see what you are capable of doing in that state." said the ice knight as his ice dragons approached the Winx.
"Fire Arrow!" shouted Bloom launching a bolt of fire at one of the dragons which exploded on impact.
"They may look creepy, but they're just ice statues. Stereo Crash!" shouted Musa launching a sound wave that destroyed 2 ice dragons.
"That may be, but my pets have a couple of hidden tricks." said the knight just as the pieces of the fallen dragons came together to form the ice dragons that had been destroyed.
"Can they regenerate?" asked Izuku in surprise.
Before anyone else could comment, an ice dragon shot an ice beam from its mouth.
"Morphix Barrier!" shouted Layla raising a barrier that defended them from the attack. "I have a feeling this isn't going to be as easy as I thought."
As they continued to fight the ice dragons, Izuku stood off to the side, observing the combat and analyzing the situation.
"Those ice dragons don't look very strong, but that regeneration of theirs might get the girls in trouble if they don't find another alternative." Izuku said.
Suddenly, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he could notice an unfamiliar figure coming out from another part of the building and running towards the forest. At first he thought it was some student hoping to be safe there, but a closer look made him see that the figure wasn't human.
Feeling curious, Izuku decided to follow, taking care not to draw the attention of the dragons or the ice knight.
The lava rhino, who had accompanied the ice knight on the mission given to him by Alvarez, was walking through the forest and in his hand was a book that looked very old.
"Why the hell does he have to take care of those fairies while I take this book to the boss? It's not fair! I want my share of fun too!" said the lava rhino in frustration before looking at the book he was carrying which had a picture of a star leaf on the cover. "I hope this is worth it, because if not... what was the point of having stolen it from that place?"
"Hey!" a voice caught the attention of the lava rhino, who turned around to see Izuku. "You stole that book?"
"Well, it was in a library, we can say I took it... 'borrowed' it." said the lava rhino.
"Give that back right now!" demanded Izuku.
"Oh, yes? And who's going to make me? You?" asked the lava rhino with a cocky grin.
Izuku paused for a moment to think about it. The two of them were in the middle of a forest, with no one around for quite some distance. Besides, the Winx were taking care of the ice knight and his dragons. And there was also the fact that he didn't know what that being was capable of. However, there was no other way.
After taking a deep breath to calm himself, Izuku activated his Quirk.
"If I have to, I will!" exclaimed Izuku positioning himself.
"Haha. Perfect. Looks like I'll finally have some fun!" said the lava rhino before throwing down the book and positioning himself for combat. "You better hope you don't die soon. That would be boring."
With a battle cry, the rhino charged first charging towards the green-haired boy like a true rhino. Just as he was within striking distance of him, Izuku quickly leaped over him
"Manchester Smash!" shouted Izuku kicking him hard in the back, sending him crashing into a tree.
Unfortunately, when Izuku landed on the ground, he let out a groan of pain. Looking down at his leg, he was surprised to find his clothes burned and slightly shredded, showing his skin that had been slightly burned.
"You got lucky, kid." said the lava rhino catching the attention of the green-haired boy, who lifted his head to see him getting up. "But you ran out."
With another battle cry, the lava rhino lunged toward him with his fist recoiled. Reacting quickly, Izuku drew back his fist as well. When he got close enough, they both threw their fists forward. The result was that both fists collided with each other, generating a wind wave due to the force applied.
Izuku used his Quirk to keep the enemy's fist in a stable position, but then, he felt a great pain in his fist, forcing him to retreat a couple of steps.
Looking at his hand, Izuku was horrified to see it with burns. If he had stayed a little longer, surely the burns would have been very serious.
"W-what happened?" asked Izuku.
"You seem to have noticed." said the lava rhino catching the green-haired boy's attention. "I'm surprised you didn't notice from the beginning, but, as you can see, I'm not exactly a living thing. No. I'm actually made of rock and lava. Which means if you touch me, you get burned. Literally."
Izuku was surprised at this revelation. He supposed this magical world could be many things, from goblins to centaurs, but he never would have imagined a being made of rock and lava, let alone facing a real one.
"Enough of the chatter. It's time to end this." said the lava rhino before leaping upward.
The moment he stopped in midair; he raised his fists before falling towards the ground. Izuku was able to pull back in time to dodge the attack, which was so strong that it caused a small crater in the ground.
"If he gets to hit me with that force, I don't think I'll survive." thought Izuku.
The next instant, the fight had completely changed, with the lava rhino trying to hit the green-haired boy and him continuously dodging his attacks due to having to think of a new strategy due to the situation.
"I can't hit it. If I do, I risk getting burned and I think the same thing would happen if he hit me. I can't let him do it, but I can't be running all the time." thought Izuku formulating a strategy.
"Hey! Stop running away like a coward and fight like a man!" shouted the lava rhino before throwing his fist towards the green-haired boy, but he dodged to the side to dodge it, causing the fist to hit the ground, leaving a small crater.
"He's right. I have to fight, but how?" wondered Izuku in his mind.
It was then that he remembered his battle with Shoto when he had to sacrifice his fingers to defend against his ranged attacks. Normally, he wouldn't do that again, but now that he had the Full Cowl, that wouldn't happen again.
"What's the matter? Now that you know my trick, you don't dare to fight?" the lava rhino asked taunting him.
"If I can't hit you directly, then I'll fight you without needing to." said Izuku.
"HA. Give it a try, kid. That'll make it more fun." said the lava rhino before charging towards him with his horn in front.
Izuku thumbed two of his fingers, building up pressure as he waited for his opponent to get close enough and when that happened...
"Delaware Smash!" shouted Izuku releasing his fingers, creating such a powerful blast of wind that not only violently hit the lava rhino, but also, due to the recoil effect, caused him to fly off in the opposite direction.
It also created an explosion so large that it would surely have been heard for miles.
While the two were having their fight, the Winx continued to fight the ice dragons, but it didn't matter what they did. Every time they destroyed one, it quickly regenerated.
"Techno Shock!" shouted Tecna firing a magic beam that hit another dragon that was destroyed, but soon after, it regenerated.
"Solar Storm!" shouted Stella hitting the same ice dragon shortly after it regenerated, but it wasn't long before it did it again. "Damn. Is there no way to destroy them completely?"
"Maybe we don't need to destroy them." began Flora. "Summer Thunder!" shouted Flora causing several roots to spring up from the ground around each ice dragon and entangle themselves in them, holding them back in the process.
"Good thinking, Flora. This way, they won't do much damage." said Bloom.
"Mmm. Very clever, but there's still something you haven't accounted for." said the ice knight.
"What?" asked Layla.
"Me." said the ice knight before pointing his ice spear at them and firing an ice beam.
Fortunately, they were able to dodge it by flying high in the air, but the impact area was completely frozen along with some spikes, like some kind of ice explosion.
"Okay. You've pissed me off enough. Sun Dance!" shouted Stella throwing a sphere of light, but the ice knight swung his spear back and forth, causing a wall of ice to rise up to protect him from the attack.
"In that case, let me help you cool that mood." said the ice knight summoning several icicles of ice around him and sending them towards them.
"Fire Dragon!" shouted Bloom summoning a fire dragon that managed to melt the icicles in time.
"Girls, be careful, it's stronger than it looks!" said Tecna.
"I'm glad you are cautious. I guess it's time to..." began the ice knight.
But suddenly, an explosion sounded from the distance, causing everyone to turn their heads in the direction of origin.
"What was that?" asked Bloom.
"Mmm. It seems my companion must have encountered some... obstacle in the way." began the ice knight before turning to the Winx. "Forgive me, but I must interrupt this combat. The time has come for me to leave." said the ice knight before leaving.
"Oh, no. You're not going to walk away. Morphix Net!" shouted Layla throwing some ropes of her magic to catch him, but the ice knight cut the ropes with the sharp point of his spear and ran out of the place.
"Damn it! He's escaped!" said Musa.
"Don't worry. We'll catch him next time." said Bloom trying to calm the situation.
At that moment, Flora noticed something, or rather, someone.
"Wait. Where's Izuku?" asked Flora realizing the lack of the green-haired boy's presence.
The six fairies looked around to see no sign of him.
"Wait a minute. Didn't that guy say that his partner found an obstacle in his way?" asked Musa.
"You don't think that...?" asked Tecna before Flora's eyes widened in concern at the revelation.
"Oh, no! Izuku!" shouted Flora before quickly flying towards where the explosion originated.
"Flora, wait!" shouted Bloom before she and the others followed the nature fairy.
Shortly after the explosion happened, Izuku slowly stood up while letting out a couple of groans, due to the fact that he had hit a tree when he was ejected by the recoil force.
He looked at his hand and mentally sighed as he saw that his fingers were still intact thanks to the Full Cowl. He still had the burns from before, but the important thing was that he hadn't overdone it.
A groan in the distance caught his attention and he lifted his head to see the lava rhino struggling to his feet. As it did so, Izuku could see that there was a rather deep crater in his chest. That proved two things. First, that he was indeed made of rock and lava; and second, that Izuku's attack had done quite a bit of damage to him, though not enough, as he was getting up
"Damn brat! You're paying me back...!" shouted the lava rhino before an ice spear was thrust in front of him. Turning his head, he met his companion.
"It's time to go." said the ice knight.
"What?! No way! I'm not leaving until that brat pays for what he's done to me!" shouted the lava rhino.
"Mega Watt!" quickly, the two minions jumped to the side to dodge an incoming attack.
Looking up, they could see the Winx arriving on the scene.
"I'm afraid you'll have to leave your business for another time. I don't think the lord is going to like this." said the ice knight.
The lava rhino let out a loud groan of frustration. "Damn it!" shouted the lava rhino raising his fists and pounding the ground loudly, causing a curtain of smoke to rise around him and his companion.
By the time the smoke dissipated, there was no trace of either of them left.
"Oh. I hate it when they do that." said Stella crossing her arms.
Now that they were gone, it was time to focus on something else.
"Izuku!" exclaimed Flora landing next to the green-haired boy. "Are you okay?" asked Flora with concern.
"Yes, I'm fine. I just suffered some burns." said Izuku pointing to his wounds.
"What exactly happened?" asked Bloom landing next to him with the others.
"You see, while you were busy with those ice dragons, I noticed something moving through the trees. I followed him and discovered that he was the companion of that ice knight who had stolen a book from the academy. I fought him, but then, I discovered that he was made of rock and lava, so I couldn't hit him directly." explained Izuku.
"And how did you defeat him? That explosion could be seen from Alfea." said Musa.
"What I did was to build up pressure in my fingers. When I released them, I shot a blast of wind at him so powerful that it caused the explosion." explained Izuku.
"Well. The important thing is that you're okay." said Flora.
"By any chance, where is the book that creature was carrying?" asked Layla.
Izuku glanced around.
"There it is!" exclaimed Izuku pointing in one direction.
The Winx turned in that direction and saw the book lying on the ground. Bloom walked over to the book and picked it up.
"So, they attacked the academy for this book?" asked Bloom.
"They must really want it bad." said Stella.
"Either that or there's something in it that's important enough to hurt people." said Tecna.
"But what could it be?" asked Izuku.
"We'd best take this to the headmistress. I'm sure she knows what this is all about." suggested Bloom.
"Good idea, but first..." began Flora before turning her gaze to the green-haired boy. "We need to tend to those wounds as soon as possible."
"I'm fine, Flora. This is nothing." said Izuku. But then, the nature fairy gave her a stern look like a responsible older sister, something that unnerved the green-haired boy, who raised his hands in defense. "O-Okay. I'll go. I'll go."
The Winx chuckled at the amusing scene.