Monitoring Room (Day)
Dominic watched in amazement and confusion when Midoriya directed Bakugo's explosion upwards. 'Did he even survive that?' he wondered as All Might spoke into his earpiece.
"The Hero Team wins!" he declared, causing the other students to murmur among themselves.
"It's so weird. The losers are basically untouched, and the winners are on the ground." Kaminari said.
"They lost the battle, yet won the war." Tokoyami quoted, summing up the ending of the battle rather nicely.
All Might brought the combatants back to the monitoring room to discuss their performance, though Midoriya was absent because of his injuries. When Bakugo walked in, he was still shaken by the results of the match, his normal angry expression having been reduced to one of disbelief.
"Well, despite how this one went, the MVP of this match is Young Iida!" All Might said, surprising the boy.
"Shouldn't it be one of the heroes since they won the match?" Asui asked, voicing many of the others' opinions.
"Yes, why didn't I pick one of the winners? Who has a guess?" All Might asked.
Almost immediately after he finished his question, Yaoyorozu raised her hand. "Yes, Mr. All Might. Iida adapted most to the context of the training. From watching the match, it appears Bakugo acted on his own because of an obviously personal grudge. And as you said earlier, it is foolish to launch a large-scale attack indoors. In the same way, taking into account the damage he received, Midoriya's plan was also rash. As for Uraraka, she let her guard down mid-battle, and her final attack was too reckless. If she treated the papier-mâché as a real weapon, she would not have been able to do something so dangerous. Iida had prepared for his opponent's arrival and assumed a fight over the weapon, which made him late in responding to the final attack. The hero team only won because they took advantage of the fact that this was training. They were practically breaking the rules."
'She said more than I expected.' All Might said to himself. "Yes, well, Young Iida also has parts of him that could be more relaxed. But, anyway, you are correct!"
"One should always start with the basics to develop depth of learning. We must strive to devote ourselves wholeheartedly, otherwise, we can't become top heroes." Yaoyorozu finished, feeling proud of herself.
"Alright everyone, let's change locations and start the next match!" All Might said, standing in front of the ballot boxes again. "The next teams will be: Team B as the heroes and Team I as the villains!"
'Team I. That's me and Ojiro. And Team B is...' Dominic turned his head to Todoroki. 'It feels like the Fire Element dwells within him, but it's being...suppressed somehow. More information is needed.'
Battle Center B (Day)
On the fifth floor of the building, Dominic set down the fake weapon. The first few floors were just mazes, like the ones Midoriya and Bakugo fought on. After that, all the floors were identical. "So, do you think that's all we need to do?" Ojiro asked.
"Unfortunately, I haven't seen Todoroki or Shoji's Quirks, so I can't plan around them." he answered, upset at how things turned out. He'd have normally set dozens of traps before they entered the building, but because of his lack of intelligence, he needed to observe them and create obstacles while they navigated through the maze.
"Look alive, kids! Show us you're the embodiment of good! Or evil!" All Might said over the earpiece. Not even ten seconds after the alarm sounded, ice flooded into the room, freezing everything it touched. Both Dominic and Ojiro were stuck to the floor.
"AGH!" Dominic said, the frozen substance acting like acid to his legs. "This is bad, they attacked this specific room. They know where we are."
"How do we get out?" Ojiro asked, his bare feet going numb from the cold.
"Leave it to me!" Dominic shouted, sending out small waves of heat that melted the ice. Through the use of thermal sight, he deduced that Todoroki was the source of the ice. "Let's see how they deal with this." With a snap of his fingers, a wave of red aura swept through the building.
Battle Center B (Day)
Todoroki saw how Dominic performed in both the Entrance Exam and the Assessment Test, so he knew that he wasn't a foe to take lightly. That fire Quirk of his was enough to put him on edge, but the boy's overpowering strength was nigh unbeatable with his current control over his Quirk. So, he needed a strategy that would be able to stop him before the match even started. No matter how much physical strength someone had, nobody could tear their foot away from the ice without severe damage to the skin. Even if blasted with fire, it would take several minutes for it to thaw. In that time, he and Shoji would rush to the fifth floor and capture the weapon before their opponents could free themselves.
But once they reached the third floor, a feeling of dread washed over them. Hearing a cracking noise, Shoji jumped backwards as parts of the floor fell apart. Looking into the gaps in the path, he was shocked to find pools of lava. "Is this Xiao-Long's Quirk?" he asked his teammate.
"I don't know." Todoroki answered. He tried using his own Quirk to freeze the lava, only for the icy mist to dissipate as soon as it touched the molten substance. Soon after his failed attack, the hall behind him and Shoji began to constrict. At the same time, a giant spiked boulder appeared in front of them and started rolling in their direction. With no exit in sight, Todoroki decided to make his own. He blasted a wall with ice, breaking it so that he and his teammate could escape.
"My, my! How clever!" Dominic said from behind the duo, shocking them and immediately putting them on their guard. "I must say, I didn't expect you to be able to react that quickly." Beneath his helmet, the boy grinned madly. "Let's see how you fare against this."
In an instant, dozens of fireballs materialized in the room, shooting towards Shoji and Todoroki. The scarred boy tried forming an ice wall to defend, only for the fireballs to break through it like it was made of paper. The fireballs struck Shoji and Todoroki, causing an explosion that sent them flying into a wall.
"Yararara! You think you can protect anything with that kind of resolve?" Dominic taunted as his opponents rose back to their feet. "You're just playing at being heroes! You'll fall here just like every other threat to my reign!"
More flames appeared in the room, bouncing around the floor. Knowing his Quirk couldn't stop them, Todoroki had no choice but to evade the attacks with Shoji. 'This guy's power is insane. How is he not getting tired, especially in that armor?' the boy asked himself as the flames finally stopped their pursuit.
"Ojiro, is it ready yet?" Dominic asked through his comm-link.
"Almost. Just give me a few more seconds." the tailed boy said.
"Got it." Dominic said, turning his attention back to his opponents. "If you surrender, I won't inflict any more damage on your bodies."
"What?" Shoji asked.
"I'm only telling you this because there's no chance of you reaching the weapon in time, and your odds of getting close enough to wrap the Capture Tape around me are nil." the armored boy explained. "You surrendering is the only conclusion where you do not meet a painful end. Make your choice now."
"Todoroki, he's planning something." Shoji warned his teammate.
"I won't surrender." the scarred boy proclaimed, getting angrier and angrier with every passing second. The flames he was seeing surround his opponent were scarily similar to another fire Quirk he was familiar with.
"Xiao-Long, now!" Ojiro shouted over the comm-link.
"I must say, I'm surprised to see this level of conviction in you." Dominic told his opponents as he raised his sword into the air. "Usually, people would choose to surrender in the face of an enemy they couldn't defeat. But you both decided to stand against me in defiance, even when I gave you a way out. For this, I commend you." The crimson blade caught fire, illuminating the room with a menacing red light. "But I must inform you that your mission has come to an end."
"What are you talking about?" Todoroki asked, getting a bad feeling.
"Didn't it ever strike you as odd that I've been fighting on my own?" Dominic asked. "Surely my chances would be better if I fought alongside my teammate, right? Well, what if I told you that Ojiro was busy with a task far more important that keeping you away from the weapon?"
"Oh no. The weapon..." Shoji said, worried. "It's not here anymore!"
"Yararara! So, you've finally noticed!" Dominic laughed. "While I kept you busy with my traps and fireballs, Ojiro was safely escorting the weapon to a new location!"
"Shoji, can you tell where the weapon is now?" Todoroki asked.
"It won't matter." Dominic said, turning his weapon so the blade was facing downward. "My attack has already commenced." With a grunt, he stabbed the weapon into the floor, flooding it with his energy. "Now, witness the might of my beloved sword: Scarlet Showstopper!"
Through the blade, Dominic's aura triggered an explosion that obliterated everything above it. Todoroki and Shoji, as tough as they were, couldn't withstand an attack of that magnitude. But even so, the explosion wasn't fatal. It was only intense enough to knock them unconscious and nothing more.
Sighing, Dominic removed his helmet and looked up at the now exposed sky. "If Ojiro hadn't taken the weapon far into the city, I wouldn't have been able to pull off that attack. He deserves praise for being able to haul it that far without jostling it too much. If it was a real weapon, even the slightest mistake would've resulted in disaster."
While the boy informed Ojiro of their victory, All Might couldn't help but feel reminded of his old nemesis from Dominic's speech. 'I know he was only emulating a villain like Iida, but still.' the man thought to himself, unnerved.
Monitoring Room (Day)
Dominic and Ojiro stood next to eachother, with All Might standing to the right of them. Todoroki and Shoji also stood by the Hero, waiting to hear the evaluation. "Now class, can any of you tell me who the MVP was?" All Might asked.
That set off everyone. Each student apart from those participating in the battle began spouting their own opinions. Kirishima said that it was Dominic since his attack sealed the win. Asui countered by saying that Todoroki's plan to freeze the room before entering the building would've worked if Dominic didn't have his pyrokinesis.
Before anyone else had the chance to say anything else, Dominic raised his hand. "I have a suggestion." he said. Many in the room assumed he'd declare himself the MVP. "I personally think Ojiro deserves this."
"Why me?" Ojiro asked, curious.
"Think about it. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to fight to the extent that I did." the boy explained. "If the weapon was still too close to my flames, it would've sealed our defeat. If it was too close, I would be forced to limit myself to keep it from detonating. And if I lowered the temperature of my attacks as a result of that, Todoroki would certainly be able to freeze me solid."
As the class took in this information, they remained blissfully ignorant of what would happen in the near future.
Scarlet Showstopper
A bright red sword made of Traptanium. Dominic carved it himself when he was just a child and learned how to use it from his mother and uncle. Because it is made of Traptanium, it cannot be destroyed unless struck with another Traptanium weapon.