Damian was in the break room of Class 1-A, there was still some time before the tournament began. Some were psyching themselves up, while the others tried to relax. But Damian, was trying to come up with a strategy.
He was going up against Mina Ashido, he remembered that she had some sort of acid power, but he did not really know the details yet. Her acid could be really advanced or really weak, that was the only issue he was dealing with right now.
He laid back a bit on the chair he was sitting at, and took a small sigh. He managed to get third place in the obstacle course, and second place in the cavalry battle. So far everything was going good, he only needed to keep up and get to the finale of the tournament, especially since he will be facing off against him if he manages to win this round.
The door to the break room opened up, and Izuku came in with the notebook in his hands. He had just spoken to Shoji about this opponent he was about to face...Hitoshi Shinso. He needed to watch out for the brainwashing ability he had, and not talk to him at any cost.
Izuku then looked up, noticing Damian sitting at one of the tables, so the male casually walked up to Damian who was lost in his thoughts. "Wow Wayne, I am really amazed at how far you managed to get! You were in the top three in both rounds!" Izuku said in excitment. He had to admit, he did not really expect Damian to get this far, and he was glad that he was wrong.
Damian looked up as he heard Izuku speaking. He was pleased at the fact that slowly but surely, everyone is starting to underestimate him less and less due to him being Quirkless. "I have to say, that stunt you pulled off in the first round really caught me off guard, I have to say that I am kind of impressed." Damian responded. He was speaking the truth, the move Izuku pulled off really shocked him.
Damian then noticed how Izuku was holding the notebook in his hands, and remembered what the notebook was about from the time when he visited him. 'Could he have some information on Ashido?' He thought to himself before looking up at Izuku again.
"Do you perhaps have some notes on Mina Ashido in that notebook of yours?" Damian asked, if Izuku does indeed have notes on her Quirk, then that may help Damian out a lot in coming up with a strategy.
"W-Well, In fact I do!" Izuku said as he then opened up his notebook and started going through several pages, he was actually happy that Damian was asking Izuku about this, and was happy that he was going to explain some of the things he managed to see from her.
"Alright then, show me what you got in there." Damian responded. Although Damian was not too worried about Mina Ashido, he still couldn't underestimate her, he needed to find some sort of weak spot during the battle, and exploit it to the max.
Izuku picked up an empty chair and brought it over towards Damian's side, as he then sat down and put the notebook on the table with Mina's page open. "What I could gather from her is that she can produce acid from any part of her body, and she can squirt it out from her hands." Izuku commented, reading a bit from the page.
"Do you maybe know how strong her acid is?" Damian asked, depending on the strength, if the acid manages to get on the gauntlets it could cause some malfunctions to a little surprise he was still keeping a secret, and would use it when the time was right.
"Her Acid can melt rocks, though not fully depending on the size. Seems like it is still a bit weak." Izuku commented. Ashido's acid was still fairly weak, while it could melt smaller objects, larger objects were not that easy to melt.
Damian thought about what Izuku said, if her acid was strong enough to melt certain rocks then they would have no problem melting off flesh or bones, so he had to be extremely careful. "What about her experience?" He asked.
"I am not sure really, but from what I can tell she can be both a close-range and long-range fighter, so I would say she has some amount of experience." Izuku commented as he looked down at the page where he had everything written down for Ashido.
'In that case, I shouldn't try getting too close to her, otherwise, she might hit me a lot easier with her acid. I will need to find a way to go directly behind her where she can't touch me.' Damian thought to himself once more, but then a 'ding' sound was heard across the stadium.
"The Tournament will start shortly everyone! Get back to your seats unless you want to miss some epic fights!" Present Mic said through the announcement speaker, letting everyone know to get ready.
As soon as the announcement was over, Izuku stood up from the chair with a slight sigh "I will be going first against this person called Hitoshi Shinso, I just hope that I will be able to push through." Izuku commented.
"In that case, good luck. And thank you for informing me about Ashido's abilities." Damian said as he also stood up from his chair, looking at Izuku one last time before heading off towards the exit of the room, opening the door, and walking out, heading towards the Class 1-A viewing area.
Izuku watched as Damian left the room, before putting on his usual determined smile. "I will do my best!" Izuku responded as he then exited the room right after Damian, heading off downstairs where the gate was.
"Are you all ready?! Everyone has been through Hell to get here, but now it is finally time for the One-On-One Tournament!" Present Mic announced as Cementoss was finishing up with forming the arena the students were going to battle on.
Izuku was standing there in front of the gate, hearing the crowd cheering on for the battle. Just as he was about to walk out, he suddenly heard a voice from behind him.
"Hey!" All Might said in his normal weak form. "It took a while but, you're finally getting the hang of using One For All." All Might said behind his student.
"All Might..." Izuku said as he turned around to face the number one Hero. "I am still not sure about it, it still feels a bit dangerous. And most of the time I feel like my body could fall apart if I lose focus for just one second." Izuku said as he looked down, One For All was still a lot for him to handle.
"Well, considering your experience and body, I would say that you are capable of only using 5% of the power." All Might responded to Izuku.
"F-Five?!" Izuku said a bit surprised as he looked up towards All Might "If you put it that way...I guess that I just got a bit lucky with everything." Izuku responded, still feeling a bit unsure.
"That's because you are always trying your hardest! You will never get to be a Hero with that sort of attitude!" All Might said in a bit more of a serious tone.
"Now, Listen. Every time you are feeling scared or worried..." All Might said as he then turned into his Muscular form. "...That's when you have to smile!" The number one Hero said with a thumbs up.
Izuku listened closely to what All Might had to say, and he just gave him a nod, as he then gave him a serious and determined look "I won't disappoint you, All Might. You have my promise!" Izuku said as he then turned around and headed out the gate, walking up towards the cement platform.
"It is time for the first match ladies and gentlemen! Izuku Midoriya versus Hitoshi Shinso!" Present Mic yelled out loudly as the crowd started cheering.
"The rules are simple! Win by knocking your opponent out of the ring or immobilizing them! And remember, you can fight all dirty you want, in this tournament, ethnics don't exist!" Present Mic yelled out once more.
"But of course, going for the kill is the only rule that applies here, and if you attempt to go for it, Cementoss will stop you immediately, and you will be disqualified!" Present Mic announced as Cementoss was making himself a small throne to sit on to observe the battle.
"Heh, you should know by now, Izuku Midoriya, that this battle is going to strengthen your test of will, so now...Let's get this started." Shinso said as he just stood there, watching Izuku's every move.
"But at least...I hope you will not put on as much of a Circus as that friend of yours, talking about his stupid pride." Shinso said with a small smirk on his face.
"Any person with a brain would never throw away a chance like this, but it seems like your friend does not fall into the category of smart people." Shinso said, baiting Izuku into saying something.
"DON'T TALK ABOUT SHOUJI THAT WAY!" Izuku said in an enraged state as he started charging towards Shinso, but then suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks, as his expression turned completely blank.
"This round...Is already over." Shinso said with another stern look as he observed the brainwashed Izuku Midoriya in front of him.
"Now, be a good little Hero, turn around and walk out of the ring." Shinso said, he was a bit surprised at how easy this was, a lot easier than other people he brainwashed.
After a few seconds, Izuku turned around and started walking out of the ring, slowly but surely. Izuku still was not properly processing what was happening in his mind.
Damian observed with crossed arms from the Class 1-A booth. 'Must be some sort of brainwashing ability, and it seems to be really effective.' He thought to himself as he watched Izuku getting closer and closer towards the ring, he felt a bit disappointed in Izuku.
'My body won't listen, Stop! Stop I said!' Izuku thought to himself as he tried to stop his body from moving forward, but it was all in vain.
Just as he was about to take a step outside the ring, he suddenly noticed some weird shadows from the exit of the stadium, with bright glowing eyes, all of them staring back at him.
'W-What...Is this?!' Izuku thought to himself as his left arm started to slowly twitch, as One For All started making its presence in his arm.
'I-I can move my arm?' Izuku thought to himself as he started to move his fingers around, as he then snapped them, creating a huge gust of wind that was felt throughout the entire stadium.
Izuku then received full control of his body back, as the boy stopped himself from crossing outside the ring, breathing heavily. The boy then turned his head around to look at Shinso.
"How? You shouldn't have control! What did you do?!" Shinso said in a surprised and annoyed tone, this was the very first time someone ever broke through his brainwashing ability.
Izuku turned around and looked at Shinso one more time, his two fingers were partially broken, and they hurt a lot. But Izuku just shook his head at Shinso's comment, now knowing not to answer him.
Izuku then started slowly charging towards Shinso, hoping to somehow knock him out of the ring even with his broken fingers.
"Nothing to say for yourself? Though I am jealous, just moving those fingers must mean you are the real deal. Unlike me, you are naturally blessed." Shinso said as he watched Izuku charging towards him, trying to get him to open his mouth again.
Izuku then finally clashed with Shinso, as he started pushing the purple-haired boy backwards with all his strength.
"Just say something already!" Shinso said as he then punched Izuku in the face with all his might, but Izuku just brushed it off like it was nothing.
Izuku managed to keep pushing Shinso out of the ring, until they were at the very border of the ring itself, and at this point, Shinso started to get more serious.
"Trying to push me out? Not gonna happen, I will give you that honor instead!" Shinso said as he then attempted to punch Izuku again, trying to find a way to turn him around and push him out of the ring instead.
Izuku quickly reacted and caught Shinso's arm, and with one move, he threw Shinso over his shoulder, slamming him on the ground outside the ring. "I will not lose!" Izuku said.
"Shinso is out of the ring! Izuku Midoriya moves on to the second round!" Midnight said as she raised up her arm, announcing Izuku as the winner.
All of Class 1-A was cheering for Izuku from the booth, except for Katsuki who was actually quite annoyed that Izuku even managed to pass the first round.
Damian was just sitting there observing everything, he was a bit surprised that Izuku managed to break free from Shinso's control, but he also finally witnessed that air gust ability from Izuku.
'That sort of wind power is enough to send anyone flying out of the ring if they don't have anything to hide behind or hold onto.' Damian thought to himself, analyzing the ability.
Later
Damian was leaning against a wall in the hallway inside the Stadium. Soon he was going to go up against Mina Ashido in his first round, and he was trying to come up with a strategy.
He then remembered something Present Mic mentioned about not killing. If Mina Ashido tried using her acid to melt parts of his body, that no-kill rule would surely be put into effect, and that is not something she could risk. Not to mention it doesn't seem like she is the type of person to melt other people's body parts.
'So I could try getting in closer.' Damian thought to himself. But this does not mean he shouldn't be careful, because she may try using her acid on his gauntlets or boots, and since he still does not know her exact acid strength, he can't get any of it on them.
He then stood up straight and started making his way down the hallway, towards the entrance of the stadium. He wasn't really nervous, he was just interested to see how strong his opponents were, and how they were going to fall at his hands.
Soon enough Damian would arrive in front of the big entrance, as he stopped for a moment. He was about to get watched by so many people, and they were all about to witness how strong a Quirkless person could be.
The thought of their reactions put a small smile on Damian's face, as he finally walked outside into the open, ready for anything that comes his way.
He would walk onto the platform, with Mina Ashido right across from him. Damian just stared down at Mina, as she did as well, with a determined look on her face. Both of them were going to try their absolute best.
"Welcome back to our second match of the tournament! On one side we have Damian Wayne, and on the other, we have Mina Ashido! This is gonna be an exciting battle ladies and gentlemen!" Present Mic announced full of excitement.
Mina palmed her fist into her other hand as she looked at Damian once more with a smirk "Time to see what you got in you, Wayne." She said in excitement.
"Just make sure not to hold anything back." Damian responded, getting ready for the countdown of the battle.
"3...2...1...CLASH!" Present Mic announced, starting the second match of the tournament.
As soon as Present Mic announced the start of the battle, Mina started emitting acid from her feet, as she started sliding around the platform like she was on ice using her acid, making her way towards Damian.
Damian observed closely as Mina started sliding around the platform using her acid. This was not something he expected her to be able to do, and it was gonna make her a bit harder to hit, but he was ready for anything she threw at him.
When Mina got close enough, she jumped up into the air and started producing acid from the palms of her hands, as she then started spraying it towards Damian, hoping to hit his gauntlets.
Damian quickly rolled out of the way to the side, dodging the acid that was about to hit him. 'Can't get too close, need to distract her with something.' Damian thought to himself. He then pulled out a smoke pellet and threw it towards Mina, as then smoke started spreading all around the platform.
Mina coughed a bit as soon as the smoke came out, and then realized what Damian was trying to do. 'Can't let him get too close to me!' Mina said as she started running in the opposite direction, hoping to get out of the smoke as soon as possible.
When Mina got out of the smoke, Damian was right there waiting for her. As soon as she stepped out of the cloud of smoke, Damian punched right her right at the side of her face, knocking her down to the side.
Mina had managed to catch herself using her arms just before she fell on the floor, a she then quickly stood up and attempted to spray acid at him one more time.
But at this point, Damian was already too close to Mina, as he managed to quickly duck under the acid, dodging it before it hit him, as he dashed towards Mina once more, grabbing her by the neck and slamming her down onto the ground.
Mina could feel the back of her head hitting the ground hard, and it caused her to let out some groans. Damian was a lot tougher than she expected, but this time Damian made one mistake.
While Damian still held onto her throat with his hand, Mina quickly grasped onto it with both of her hands, releasing a good amount of acid and covering most of his gauntlet in it.
Damian quickly let go of Mina as his attention turned towards his gauntlet which was almost completely covered in Acid, he attempted to shake off some of it off before it did any damage, but hardly any of it was getting off.
As Damian was focused on trying to get the acid off of his gauntlet, Mina managed to stand up from the ground, as she then managed to land a punch onto Damian's abdomen, after which managing to land an uppercut against Damian's chin.
Damian stumbled back a bit from the blow, realizing that she was just distracting him in order to find an opening. He brushed his hand against his chin a bit before opening his mouth "Not a bad punch..." He muttered.
Damian then noticed that the acid was not really doing anything against his gauntlet, either Mina's power is weak or the gauntlets were full-on acid-proof, probably the latter. And the acid had hardened up, leading Damian to smash it with his other hand, freeing up his gauntlet.
Mina was actually surprised that her acid did not do anything to his gauntlet, and she figured out that it was acid-proof. 'Really?! What is that thing made of?!' She thought to herself.
At this point, Damian had realized Mina's bluff, she only made it look like she was trying to burn off his flesh, in order to make people stay as far away from her as possible. When he had her pinned down, she could have easily sprayed the acid at his face or any part of the body, but instead only went after his gauntlet.
At that moment Damian started charging towards Mina, to engage her directly head-on without the worries of her burning his flesh off.
Mina was a bit surprised to see Damian heading straight for her, did he realize that she was just bluffing? She then started producing more acid from her fingertips, as she started firing them towards Damian, in hopes of somehow stopping him.
Instead of dodging, Damian ran right into the Acid that was coming his way, as several big drops of Acid went on his clothes, as well as a few on his face. But, his theory was correct, Mina was not making them burn his flesh off, and he only felt some small stinging.
Mina was caught completely off guard by Damian running straight into her acid, and she made sure to make it not burn him at all, and it seems like now her only way of fighting was with her martial arts abilities.
When Damian got close enough to Mina, he would put his hands on her shoulders, and started pushing her towards the end of the platform, so that she would cross the line and he would win the battle.
Mina felt herself being pushed by Damian, as she tried pushing him back, but Damian was too strong for her. She then tried to punch him in the face again using her hands, but Damian managed to dodge her every punch by moving his head around.
In order to speed this up, Damian then pushed Mina towards him a bit closer, as he raised up his leg knee first, hitting her in the abdomen with it, and then he finished his move off with a headbutt to Mina's face, but making sure not to hit hard enough to break her nose.
Mina was completely stunned for a moment after feeling the knee to her abdomen, and the headbutt. A small amount of blood came out of her nose as Damian hit her, but it was nothing too serious.
With Mina stunned, Damian managed to push her even faster towards the edge of the platform, and soon enough Mina was standing barely a few feet away from the line.
Damian then let go of Mina for a few seconds, as he then finished off the round with a strong kick to her abdomen once more, as Mina fell down on the other side of the platform, tumbling down a bit.
"Mina Ashido has been forced out of the ring! Damian Wayne moves on to the second round!" Present Mic announced as the crowd started cheering for Damian's victory.
Damian let out a small sigh, as Present Mic announced that he was moving on to the second round. He then started brushing off Mina's acid off of his clothes after it hardened up a bit, he was lucky that his gauntlets were acid-proof.
Mina then got up from the ground, groaning a bit as she then turned around to face Damian. "You know, you are really strong Wayne, I wish you all the best in the next round." Mina said with a subtle smile, she was not angry at all that she lost, in fact, she had fun facing off against Damian.
Damian looked down at her, seeing how she was wishing him all the best. "Thanks, you put on a good fight as well, and I would like to see you improve your skills more." Damian responded, she was not the strongest foe he faced in his life, but he thought that he should be kind considering she was being kind, as well.
Damian then faced forward, looking at the leaderboard and to see who he will be facing of fin the second around. And there it was...Right next to his name was 'Izuku Midoriya'.
Izuku was watching from the Class 1-A booth, as he also noticed that he will be facing off against Damian in the second round. And at that moment he looked down at Damian, who had turned around, and the two of them locked eyes almost immediately.
And both of them had serious looks on their faces, they both knew that this was not going to be as easy in the first round, and they both were thinking the very same thing.
'I will defeat you.'