Izuku Floated up into the air, ascending after his team had thrown him. He saw that Todoroki was glaring at him intensely, but he continued to Float upward, a large smile on his face. The audience gasped and followed him with their eyes, shocked at the sudden turn. Izuku spun around as he continued to move upward, giving the audience a good show for the sake of it. He might as well be as entertaining as possible.
He looked around the field, now being able to see everything without moving around. Izuku was about fifteen meters up, so he could just spin around and look around. He saw Teams Todoroki, Asui, Monoma and Bakugo looking up at him, trying to figure out how to get to him. Team Shinso, consisting of Shinso himself, Hagakure, Kendo's Vice Representative, Nirengeki Shoda, and a boy he didn't know, but appeared to have spinning hands. Luckily, they were doing their own thing, but Izuku knew that Bakugo could reach him, as well as Asui if she wanted to risk falling back onto the ground. Izuku didn't think that Tsu would try to go for a leaping attack, mainly because he didn't think Shoji had the speed to get to the other side of him before she landed. Tsu could combine the use of her tongue with one of Shoji's tentacles, and pull herself back toward him that way, but he still thought it was impractical for Team Asui to continue to pursue him. The same went for Team Monoma, with their leader not being able to copy a powerful enough version of Explosion for sustained flight. That left Teams Todoroki and Bakugo, his original threats.
"GET BACK DOWN HERE AND FACE US LIKE A MAN, DEKU!" Bakugo yelled.
"Make me!" Izuku yelled back, knowing that Bakugo would do just that.
Bakugo launched himself off his team with an explosion, sending himself into the air similarly to Izuku's Operation: Floaty Boat. He kept blasting himself upward, flying toward Izuku with a wild grin on his face. That grin reminded Izuku of the days when Bakugo would beat him down without mercy, but he could tell it was different. That smile was malicious, and it was a sign that pain was to come. This smile was more like Bakugo was enjoying the battle, the rush of fighting. Izuku would admit that he was enjoying it, too, but it was more to do with the fact that he was finally getting to participate in UA's Sports Festival, and not out of an actual enjoyment of battle, like Bakugo had.
Izuku knew what to do. As Bakugo climbed through the air, his explosions sending shockwaves throughout the field, Izuku readied himself to summon Blackwhip. Bakugo neared Izuku, his explosions starting to rock Izuku's balance, and Izuku let small Blackwhips escape his hands, letting them swirl around as he began to spin with them. This stage of Operation: Floaty Boat required Blackwhip, making use of his new technique, Dark Slingshot.
Stage One was simple, just being the basic plan of hovering above the battlefield and waiting for time to run out. Stage Two: Dark Slingshot, was what Izuku was planning to do. Stage Three: Dark Shielding, was encasing himself in a bubble of Blackwhip strands, all interconnected and interweaving. He didn't think he'd need Stage Three, but nothing was impossible; that's what he'd learned in inheriting One for All.
"Hey, Bakugo! Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?" Izuku joked, hoping it would calm his churning stomach.
"SAVE IT, DEKU! DON'T STEAL MY MOVE!" Bakugo yelled, finally reaching Izuku's level.
As soon as the two leveled out and Bakugo's hover stabilized, Izuku released Float and dropped. He fell through the air for a moment, Bakugo looking at him like he was crazy. To be fair, this plan was kind of crazy, but it would be effective if it worked. He fell for a moment more, until he was about five metres off the ground, and then fired Blackwhip toward Bakugo, latching onto his shoulder and leg.
"Operation: Float Boat, Stage Two: …" Izuku started, his momentum halting as the Blackwhips connecting him to Bakugo strained.
Bakugo was pulled downward by Izuku's weight, making him lose his balance and his hover to become more unstable. Blackwhip stretched slightly under the strain of the two boys pulling it in two different directions, Bakugo up and Izuku down. This was perfect. Izuku yanked on the Blackwhips once again, pulling Bakugo down and himself up.
"… Dark Slingshot!" Izuku yelled, beginning to reel Blackwhip in as fast as he could.
The combination of Izuku's pulling and Blackwhip reeling back toward him created a massive force pulling the two boys together. As the two neared each other, Izuku grinned as wide as All Might, making sure to follow his philosophy of always smiling through challenges. Bakugo scowled, knowing that this was the move that got him during the Quirk evaluations on the first day of school. He growled at the reminder of his past anger, and attempted to blow Blackwhip off of his shoulder and leg, but it was too late.
Izuku shot out past Bakugo, the overwhelming speed being something that Bakugo had no defence against. Bakugo spun around, losing control of his own body and his balance being upset. Izuku flew upward, understanding why All Might chose to leap around the city when he could simply run everywhere. It was such a rush to fly, with the wind hitting your face and the feeling of speed and motion, and he was climbing even higher still.
As he came to stall at the peak of his flight, Izuku activated Float, sticking in place. He looked around, being about one hundred and fifty meters in the air, as well as at the level of the highest seats in the stands. He could see everything, and it was beautiful. It was like he was something other than human, something more powerful, and he was looking down on humanity to observe their ways. It was strange thinking like that, but that was what it felt like. Like he was powerful. Izuku waved to a few people up on his level, who were clapping and laughing at him. He laughed along, knowing that he was in a situation that not many had been in before, escaping the event while still participating.
"IZUKU MIDORIYA HAS ELEVATED HIMSELF TO THE TOP OF THE STADIUM! IS THAT ALLOWED?" Present Mic screamed.
"He probably took Midnight's ruling to heart, using the technicalities to his advantage," Aizawa said.
Izuku looked around, and realized that this was the highest he had ever been unassisted. There had been times, like in the USJ and when he had first met All Might when he had grabbed onto the man's leg as he had leapt away, where he reached comparable or greater heights, but he had either been distracted or he had closed his eyes. He hadn't fully comprehended those heights, but he was left alone with the realization that he could slip up, and nobody would be able to save him because he did this to himself. He could lose control of Float like he had with his Super Strength and fall to the ground. He was lucky that the audience was full of Pro Heroes, but any other time than this and it would've been trouble.
Still, though, the height was dizzying. He felt his breakfast come up his throat, but pushed it down. Feeling his fingers tingle, Izuku knew that he was getting sick due to a dormant fear of heights that had never been given the chance to present itself before now, and that bothered him. What other irrational fears did he have that he didn't know he had because he had never encountered the thing that he was afraid of? Pushing those thoughts away, Izuku focused on his breathing, trying not to throw up.
"It looks like the little dude's getting a little green, don't you think?" Present Mic asked.
"Don't you dare make another color joke like that ever again," Aizawa groaned.
Izuku's vision blurred, and he knew that he couldn't stay up as high as he was for much longer. He slowly began to lessen Float's affect, something he had learned he could do through practice. He had learned he could choose how intensely Float took effect, ranging from completely stopping him, akin to landing on an invisible platform, to simply slowing his falls. He dialled back Float, letting himself descend through the air slowly.
As he felt a strange presence in his mind, Izuku snapped out of his grogginess due to the sickness that had overcome him. It was similar to the feeling of the vestiges speaking to him, but different, like something else had forced its way into his mind. He looked around, feeling like something odd was watching him. As Izuku looked over at the booth he knew All Might to be in, he saw him.
All for One.
A cold, piercing fear struck Izuku the moment he saw the mangled, almost dead face of All Might's greatest enemy standing behind him, watching Izuku with a big smile. 'Watching' wouldn't be the right word, because the monster had no eyes. His face above the mouth was pure scar tissue, but Izuku could feel eyes on him, like AFO could see him despite his injuries. He knew it was AFO, having seen him in his dreams from time to time.
This seemed so real, though. Izuku knew that he wasn't really there, because All Might would be doing something about it if he heard the clapping of his sworn nemesis behind him. Izuku also knew that he was real for him, in the same way the vestiges were. He stared at the man, not comprehending what was happening.
Izuku didn't know how AFO could be in his vestige realm like this. It was such a striking image, a well dressed, yet disgustingly scarred man. Izuku had to keep himself from turning away, because he wasn't sure that AFO would stay there if he did. He kept his eyes on the Villain, and the man said something that he couldn't hear.
"What?" Izuku mumbled, unaware he was doing so out loud.
"I said … you're next, Izuku Midoriya," AFO's demonic screeching called out, sounding like it was coming from inside his own head.
He saw All Might visibly tense in his seat, his eyes going wide and his satisfied smile turning into a frightened expression. He had obviously heard the voice of the demon lord, All for One, himself, and was staring at Izuku with baited breath to see what happened next. Izuku felt his grasp on consciousness slip away, and he knew he was going to fall.
The world was black. It was all black, and Izuku knew that this was the vestiges' realm. He looked around, before settling back on himself and realized that he had his entire arm as a physical thing now, as opposed to his right hand and the top of his head. If he could only get his mouth to appear one of these times, he could learn more about his Quirks before he had to go back to the real world.
Izuku willed One for All to do something, anything, but regretted that wish when the form of All for One appeared before him, smiling evilly. Izuku went to take a step back, but he couldn't, for he still had no legs in this realm. He would've uttered a curse, but he felt like being in the presence of the demon lord of Japan was a curse in and of itself.
"Izuku Midoriya. You are the nexus point of the Quirks inside my little brother's power. You have immense potential, but you are no match for my powers. You will die, Izuku, and it will be painful," All for One said, his twisted vocals making Izuku want to throw up.
Izuku couldn't respond, but he didn't want to. He knew it wasn't a challenge by AFO, but a declaration that he knew would come true. Izuku shook his head, wanting to get the image of him out of his brain, hoping his form would exit the vestige realm.
All for One started laughing, but it was a broken, cracked laugh that didn't sound like a sound a person could make without having done unspeakable evils. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard, but throwing in a chainsaw scratching against a car's hood for some extra fun.
Suddenly, a bright light caught the attention of them both. Izuku and All for One looked to the side to see One for All, the vestiges and past users all lined up in a row, even the users that had been misty and unclear being physical and present. All except for All Might; something was different about him that kept him misty.
"Get out of here, brother," Yoichi said, scowling intensely.
"Oh, I don't think I will," All for One chuckled.
"Rei. We won't let you terrorize this boy," one of the formerly misty predecessors, either the second or the third, said. He had blasters of some kind on his arms, which would presumably support an empowerment Quirk from a distance, so maybe the third, with their power being Fa Jin?
"I'm not terrorizing anybody. I'm liberating him," All for One said, grinning like a madman.
"That's enough, All for One. You're going to leave, and never come back," Nana said.
"Am I now? Well, I hate to burst your bubble … oh, wait. I would love to burst your bubble!" All for One said.
As soon as he was done talking, All for One put his hands together facing toward the ground, dark lightning pulsing through him. The vestiges reacted to this in varying ways, from Lariat's falsely confident chuckle to Yoichi and Shinomori, the fourth's wary steps back. All the vestiges were on guard, though, and Izuku couldn't help but stay where he was and watch.
All for One's pulse of dark lightning spread to the ground, beginning to crawl around it and consume whatever it touched, spreading throughout the vestige realm. The vestiges all crowded around Izuku, shielding him from All for One's energies. Izuku looked around, seeing the realm he had come to know as safe being penetrated by pure evil.
The vestiges all conjured some sort of energy, and Izuku realized it was One for All. This had all happened so fast that Izuku almost hadn't noticed that all of the vestiges were glowing a different color, the colors that One for All usually showed him in dreams. They all fired off rainbow colored lightning that combated All for One's, beating back his corruption.
"ALL FOR ONE, LEAVE THIS REALM!" all the vestiges yelled.
Izuku was blinded by the clash of lightning, and everything was overtaken by the white light.
Izuku awoke in his body, still Floating in the real world. The shock of reappearing, though, made him release Float, dropping down in an instant. He fell through the air, trying to process what he had seen in the vestige realm. All for One had invaded, and all the vestiges were trying to combat him. That must have been why his basic One for All powers had stopped working; his Quirk itself was under attack.
He fell, spinning around from … something. Izuku didn't know when he had started spinning, only that he couldn't stop. Falling and spinning uncontrollably, Izuku tried to Float, but found himself unable to. Trying Blackwhip yielded the same result; total Quirk inhibition. Izuku started to panic, knowing that there wasn't any way out of falling now.
Judging from his altitude, about one hundred and fifty or so meters up, he guessed that he had about six seconds of falling time. Izuku forced his body to turn in the air toward the ground, stopping his spinning but highlighting another issue; the ground. He was going to crash into the ground at, given the amount of time he'd have to speed up, about fifty meters per second. That would be bad.
After another second or two, Izuku heard the people in the stands gasp, realizing that he wasn't slowing down. He felt the wind fly into his face, through his hair and past his arms and legs, but this time it was a chilling, morbid kind of freedom from which he knew death would proceed. He was supposed to announce that he was the next Symbol during this Festival, but instead he was going to die. It was almost funny, if it wasn't terrifying.
Izuku realized that his hearing had been dulled by the blood rushing in his ears, as he was yanked out of his thoughts by Bakugo, who had been flying toward him almost the whole time. He had a hard time gaining altitude, since gravity still worked on him, but he had reached Izuku as he had begun to accept the fact that he was done for.
Bakugo grabbed Izuku by the collar of his shirt, making Izuku yelp in surprise. He looked up to see the, while not openly showing his concern, clearly worried Bakugo while he readjusted his position to get better use of explosions while the two descended. He flew around the ring, firing more powerful, though less frequent explosions to keep them afloat because of the increased weight needing to be carried.
"What the fuck are you doing, Deku?" Bakugo asked, keeping his eye forward.
"I … don't know what's wrong with me!" Izuku gasped.
Bakugo's eyes narrowed, before swooping over Team Midoriya, who had broken themselves out of the half-melted ice around them, and dropped Izuku onto his team, who exclaimed in joy at his return. The different members held onto his legs firmly, not wanting to repeat Operation: Floaty Boat if all that was the result.
"Midoriya!" all three team members yelled, overjoyed at his safety.
"Hey," Izuku groaned, still feeling the aftereffects of All for One's pain-inducing presence.
"Are you okay? What happened to you up there?" Iida asked.
"I don't know. I blacked out, I think. What did it look like?" Izuku asked.
"There was this black and red lightning going around you. It would've been cool if you weren't obviously in pain," Hatsume explained.
"Really? It was black and red specifically? It's very important about what colors the lightning was specifically," Izuku asked in one breath, frantically looking at Hatsume.
"Yeah, why?" Hatsume asked, freaked out by Izuku's behavior.
"No reason," Izuku said, his voice small.
Those were the colors of the lightning that was coming off All for One in the vestige realm. If the confrontation he had witnessed in the vestige realm wasn't worrying enough, him emitting the same lightning as All for One certainly was. He'd have to talk to All Might about it later, since that was the only person he could talk about this with. He pushed it to the back of his mind, focusing on the rest of the battle.
Izuku felt weak, like he could pass out any minute. He knew that he'd have to hold out for the rest of the Cavalry Battle, so swallowed his pain and put his game face on, looking toward the teams that had crowded around. Teams Todoroki, Bakugo, Asui, Shinso and Monoma, as well as a few others headed up by people he didn't recognize, were crowded around, looking at him with worried expressions.
"Midoriya, are you alright?" Yaoyorozu called out.
"We can stop the match if you'd like," Midnight yelled from the stage.
"I'm fine! I can keep going! Come at us!" Izuku yelled, closing his fist and getting ready for an onslaught of his classmates.
"Uh … two minutes left, I guess," Present Mic said, clearly put off by Izuku's incident. Izuku realized he had been unconscious for some time, nearly five minutes by the sound of it.
"I think we should stop the match," Aizawa grumbled.
"Midoriya said he's fine, and that he wants to continue, so GO!" Midnight said, urging the match to go on.
Team Todoroki immediately got into a battle ready position, with one of Kendo's enlarged hands serving as the replacement for her other, which was out in front of her, ready to defend. Team Bakugo was also ready to fight, but was distracted by both Teams Shinso and Monoma. Team Asui had gone off and tried to fight some other teams, most likely some less powerful players than Todoroki and Bakugo.
Izuku locked eyes with Todoroki, who looked at him with a mix of shock and disbelief. He knew that he should probably rest, but that would mean exiting the event and therefore the Festival. Izuku wasn't going to do that, as he still had to announce himself as the next Symbol, so he had to stay strong, no matter how much it hurt.
"You're crazy, Midoriya," Todoroki said, his team slowly approaching Izuku's.
"Maybe. That's what separates the good from the great, though, isn't it? The willingness to get a little crazy?" Izuku asked, gasping after because that wasn't how he thought.
He had been having those moments all day; thinking something out of the ordinary for him, and then catching himself immediately after. It was unnerving to say the least, and Izuku wasn't sure if it was something worth bringing up to anyone. He had once caught himself actually thinking about the way he could use his Super Strength to crush Bakugo's hands to render him effectively Quirkless, and had been disturbed by it.
Todoroki seemed to notice the change in Izuku's behavior, as he leaned back, making a face that was somewhere between disgust and surprise. Izuku knew that other people had noticed it, like Iida for example, but he wasn't willing to confront that part of himself just yet. He didn't even know what it was.
"Midoriya, what's going on with you?" Kendo asked.
"I … don't know. I … let's just keep going with the Cavalry Battle," Izuku said, shaking his head to rid himself of his other thoughts.
Team Todoroki hesitantly got into a battle ready position once again, though they were visibly more tense about going up against Midoriya, who was becoming a wildcard. Izuku focused on the battle, and quickly started coming up with ways that they could defeat Todoroki's team. They didn't need to take Todoroki's headband, they just needed to keep theirs, so he focused his plans around evasion instead of combat.
"One minute left!" Present Mic announced with enthusiasm for the match having returned.
Now aware that Team Todoroki would be making a move on him soon because of their new time limit, Izuku could think of at least one way for each of his team's members' Quirks and skills could be used in conjunction with each other to keep Todoroki away.
"Iida. If Koda summons a swarm of birds to distract Todoroki's team while Hatsume constructs a flashbang to temporarily blind Todoroki and any others that try to approach us, can you get us out of here fast in that small time frame?" Izuku asked in a hushed tone, signalling the others to start on the tasks he had assigned them.
As a team of birds started to assault Team Todoroki, making them all bat them away, Hatsume got to work on the flashbang, working with the little amount of stuff she had in her backpack of gadgets. Iida thought about the question, until looking back at Izuku with a smirk on his face.
"How fast?" Iida asked.
"To get to the exact opposite side of the field in the amount of time that Todoroki would take to recover from the strongest flashbang Hatsume can make in about thirty seconds, you'd need to move at roughly twenty five meters per second. Can you do that?" Izuku asked, well aware of his Quirk evaluation results being under that, being able to cross fifty meters in a hair over three seconds, which equaled about sixteen and a half meters per second. Izuku was also aware that Iida had improved, but now was the time to see just how much.
"I'll certainly try," Iida said, lowering himself.
"Hatsume, how are you coming along with that flashbang?" Izuku asked, only to have a complete one shoved into his hand abruptly.
"Already done," Hatsume said, grinning wildly.
"This is why I love UA," Izuku said, smiling brightly.
"Are we ready?" Iida asked.
"Yes. Todoroki's fast, so we'll need to get going immediately after the flashbang goes off. Ready?" Izuku asked.
"Yes," Iida breathed.
"Thirty seconds left!" Present Mic cheered.
As soon as he heard Present Mic's announcement, he threw the flashbang, arcing it over the gap between the two of their teams and getting it to land in Todoroki's lap, who was still busy with the birds. He knew Todoroki wouldn't want to use his ice to hurt the birds, but that he also would refuse to use his fire in any way, so he was stuck with having to get rid of them with his hands.
Todoroki picked up the flashbang, recognized what it was, but it was too late. The projectile went off, emitting a loud bang, accompanied by a brighter flash than Izuku expected. All of Team Midoriya had closed their eyes and blocked their ears, but they were still affected by the grenade. It paid to have Mei Hatsume in your corner.
"Now, Iida!" Izuku said, seeing that three out of four of the members of Team Todoroki were incapacitated by the flashbang.
Iida then took off, showing off a burst of unprecedented speed. The world blurred past Izuku, everything he could see becoming one big smudge on his retina as Iida's speed overwhelmed his brain. He could tell the others were experiencing this too, because he could hear Hatsume giggling about the trippy visuals, which Izuku had to agree with.
In an instant, Team Midoriya had dashed across the entire playing field, a feat that surprised even Iida himself, by the strained chuckle at the showcase of speed. Izuku and Iida locked eyes, smiling wide despite Izuku still feeling weak. He had barely held on, and his head had rocked due to the sudden jumps in speed.
Iida's smile quickly turned into a frown, though, as he looked at something over Izuku's shoulder. Izuku looked back and saw that his headband, the one everyone was after, had slipped off, probably when his head had rocked back. Really wishing for Blackwhip right now, Izuku pointed toward the headband.
"Go, now!" Izuku called to Iida, who instantly obeyed the order.
The team sped along the ground, racing toward the headband with frantic energy. Team Todoroki had recovered and, noticing the headband still falling through the air, had begun to race toward it. The two teams tried to outpace each other, though for one it should have been much easier through the Quirk of Iida. His Engines had stalled following his explosive burst of speed, so they had to run normally.
Izuku snatched the headband out of the air, just as the two teams met. He and Todoroki stared each other down, the latter holding his right hand out, it beginning to be covered in ice and spreading cold mist around him as he prepared to engulf Team Midoriya in ice. Izuku, in that moment, made an instinctual decision to bluff, which wasn't something he'd normally do, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Holding both of his hands out, Izuku once again confirmed to himself that One for All had shut itself off to him. Todoroki didn't know that, though, and recoiled in anticipation for an All Might tier attack, a wave of fire exploding from his left arm. Izuku gasped, as it was the first time he had seen Todoroki use the actual fire part of his Quirk. Sure, he had seen Todoroki melt the ice he made, but he had never seen the boy summon flames from his body. It was different, and it was amazing to see.
Todoroki quickly regained his senses, and shut off his fire in an instant, regarding his left arm with disgust and a betrayed look. Izuku used this chance to whisper to his team to back away.
"Ten seconds left!" Present Mic yelled.
Team Todoroki didn't pursue. They stood, awaiting orders from their leader, who was consumed by looking at his left hand with the same look he had when talking about his father. Utter and unashamed disgust. It was like the arm had personally offended him, something like slapping his mother. Todoroki's eyes filled with pure rage, and he shook his hand, almost as if to make sure he had full control of it again.
Behind Izuku, he heard explosions. He turned around to see that Bakugo had once again left his team in favor of chasing after Team Midoriya in the air. Izuku panicked, knowing that Bakugo could reach him in the eight seconds that were probably left, and that he couldn't stop him with a Quirk if he did. Izuku looked back at Hatsume, who he had talked about this possibility with.
"I need the PBG!" Izuku said, and was tossed a net-shooter of Hatsume's design.
The PBG was the 'Plan-B Gun', which they had reserved for the possibility that he was going up against someone in a head to head without the use of his powers. Izuku switched the safety off and aimed it at Bakugo, who promptly dodged out of the way. He had anticipated this, however, and wasn't really planning to fire. Just to get him to think he had dodged.
Izuku fired the PBG at Bakugo, who had stalled in the air after his most recent explosion. He was caught in the net the gun had fired, and began to fall to the ground. He was caught by his teammates, but if it was in another situation, he would've been disqualified. Izuku smiled, knowing that he was safe from Bakugo. He looked back at Todoroki, who was still engrossed in his self-loathing.
"TIME'S UP!" Present mic screamed, almost blowing out the glass of the window of the booth the commentators were in.
Everyone froze, letting out a breath of relief that the event was over. Izuku crawled down onto the ground, where he and his team celebrated keeping the ten million points for the whole time. Teams Todoroki and Bakugo were celebrating coming in third and second respectively, but their celebration was cut short by Bakugo stomping the ground in a fit of rage.
Bakugo ran toward Izuku, hatred in his eyes. He growled, pushing Izuku to the ground with a powerful shove. Izuku hit the ground and looked up, looking into the eyes of his tormentor. This wasn't Bakugo, this was someone else, someone that he thought was gone. Bakugo seemed to realize this as well, as he immediately took a step back, looking at Izuku with the same look Todoroki had been looking at himself with; disgust.
Izuku knew that Bakugo had been working through his issues containing his anger, and he didn't expect the transition to the old Bakugo and the new, healthier Bakugo to be a perfect, smooth curve, but he was still scared, and Bakugo was still able to see that he was behaving in a way that was unacceptable, even to his now opened eyes.
"I … I'm …" Bakugo stuttered.
"I know. You didn't mean any harm," Izuku said, climbing off the ground with the help of Koda.
Bakugo hesitated for a moment, before turning away and leaving. Izuku watched him walk away, the blond's hunched over posture and his hands in his pockets the classic 'Bakugo stance' as he had started calling it in middle school.
"That brings the second event of the Sports Festival to an end. Now, we'll take an hour-long break so that we can all eat and for the participants to prepare for the final event," Midnight said, before dismissing everyone to their own whims.