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...
As the arena robots carried the frozen Iida away, the audience sat in stunned silence. The fight had ended so abruptly that even Present Mic, known for his constant chatter, seed at a loss for words.
All eyes followed the trembling Iida as he was escorted out, shivering from the icy onslaught he'd faced.
"I lost control..."
Todoroki, now calm and composed, watched his opponent being carted off with a faint trace of regret on his face. The fury that had driven him monts ago was now subdued, replaced by a reflective deanor.
However, as Iida disappeared from view, being brought to Recovery Girl to get treatnt, Todoroki's focus shifted.
His gaze lifted to the stands, locking onto a muscular figure cloaked in controlled flas. The man stood still amidst the crowd, his narrowed eyes burning with silent intensity directed at the red-and-white-haired teenager.
"..."
Todoroki's lips tightened as he sent a deliberate, challenging stare the man's way.
That seed to have gotten a reaction out of the man, whose frown deepened after catching Todoroki's angry gaze.
Satisfied his ssage had been conveyed, Todoroki's gaze wandered again, this ti landing on a red-haired student with stylish glasses.
"..."
"..."
The student too was glaring at him with a wry smirk that seed to carry its own weight of aning.
The two exchanged glances briefly before Todoroki snorted, turning on his heel to leave the arena.
It wasn't until both combatants had completely left the stage that the silence finally broke.
Or rather, it was broken by Aizawa snapping Present Mic out of his daze.
"What are you doing? Snap out of it," Aizawa deadpanned.
"A-ah...? Right, yeah!" Present Mic quickly straightened up, coughing into his fist to recover his usual vigor.
["Ahem! Anyway, folks, with that, the first set of rounds for this tournant is officially complete! We'll take a short break, and then it'll be ti for the second set. Stay tuned!"]
As the announcent settled in, the arena ca alive again with chatter. Spectators speculated about the matches they'd just witnessed, while others simply filled the pause with small talk.
Amidst the noise, Tetsutetsu's booming voice cut through like a hamr striking steel. He clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't sweat it, Suzaku! At least you gave it your all!"
Suzaku's eyebrow twitched. "Real encouraging, eh?"
A few seats over, Juzo crossed his arms, his gaze lingering on the arena where Todoroki's giant ice formation had once stood. "Can you bla him, though? You're a great fighter and all, but how do you even deal with sothing like that?"
"It's not impossible... Probably..." Suzaku muttered, his tone wavering ever so slightly at the end.
In theory, he could think of several ways to counteract such a wide-reaching Quirk. All hypothetical, of course, but plausible. He just had to... Not get hit.
Nothing too hard.
"You've got nothing left to prove, Suzaku," Tetsutetsu said, gripping his shoulder tightly. Tears welled in his eyes as he sniffled dramatically. "You've already shown us how amazing you are!"
"Seriously." Suzaku sighed, suppressing the urge to give his friend a taste of the infamous Suzaku-Kick.
-Giggle...-
Unfortunately, his annoyance deepened when he caught a faint snicker coming from nearby.
"You..." Turning sharply, he found Itsuka hastily pretending to look elsewhere.
-Sigh...-
In the end, though, he let the matter drop.
After that, Suzaku pulled out his phone to check the updated match roster. As he scrolled through, his gaze lingered on the upcoming fights.
The next match: Ochako Uraraka vs. Katsuki Bakugo.
"Gravity Girl versus Explodo-Boy," Suzaku muttered under his breath, smirking at the ntal image. It seed the incoming round was bound to have a lot of angry shouts.
Following that, Eijiro Kirishima vs. Fumikage Tokoyami.
"Tanky guy vs. Shadow Bird guy," Suzaku mused. "Bet that one's gonna be quite the fight."
Considering one could tank every attack with unyielding determination, and the other 2v1 you, it was no wonder Suzaku thought like that.
Then, his eyes landed on the fight scheduled after that.
Izuku Midoriya vs. Suzaku Suzuki.
Suzaku raised an eyebrow.
So that was why Midoriya had given him that intense, destined-rival chatter earlier.
"No wonder," he muttered. At this rate, after the two first fights, he'd be going head-to-head with this world's main protagonist.
... And assuming he won that match, his next opponent would likely be Todoroki.
Suzaku's lips quirked into a resigned smile. "Looks like I'm up against 1-A heavy-hitters for the rest of the tournant..."
"All okay man?" Tetsutetsu asked, noticing his friend's contemplative expression.
"Yeah, I guess I'll just have to use a little more of my true power," Suzaku said as he leaned back in his seat, opening QuirkTok to kill ti.
Minutes later, the speakers crackled to life once again.
["The wait is over, dear spectators! It's ti to kick off the second round of the tournant!"]
The giant screen above the arena lit up, showing the next two combatants.
A petite girl with short brown hair stood on one side, looking calm but focused. On the other side, a blonde boy with—as Suzaku would call it—a constipated look, sparks of anger already flying from his palms.
["On one side of the arena, a rising star who's fought her way here with ingenuity and guts, and the one I'm personally rooting for in this fight—]
["Oi, don't pick sides."]
["—Ochako Uraraka!"]
The crowd erupted into cheers, though Uraraka kept her gaze locked on her opponent, clearly trying not to back off in front of his murderous glare.
["And on the other side, the... uh, most passionate student of his entire class! He should also work on his expression, or else he'll scare even those he saves... Katsuki Bakugo!"]
"Che!" Bakugo scoffed at the introduction.
From above, Suzaku leaned forward in his seat, a faint smile playing on his lips as he watched the arena below.
Ever since they t, Suzaku had sized up Bakugo's fiery temper and tendency to act like an overconfident chihuahua—all bark and no bite.
What was more, until now, their interactions had been limited to brief skirmishes, never a full-fledged combat where the goal was to tear each other apart. And in those fleeting encounters, Bakugo hadn't managed to leave much of an impression.
While Suzaku could make educated guesses about the explosive kid's abilities based on what he'd seen, assumptions alone weren't enough to gauge Bakugo's true danger level.
But now, with the blond hothead stepping into the arena, Suzaku finally had the chance to find out whether Bakugo's arrogance was unfounded—or if there was substance beneath all that blabbering.
["With the introductions out of the way, let's get to the action. Combatants, get ready!"]
Both fighters stiffened at Present Mic's booming declaration. Uraraka's shoulders were visibly tense, while Bakugo stood loose, a frown hanging over his already angry face.
The odds were clear just by seeing the contestants' contrasting attitudes.
["Ready, set..."]
...
..
.
["Go!"]
-Bam!-
The fight began with a burst of motion. Uraraka kicked the ground and dashed forward, her eyebrows knitted in fierce determination. She knew her only chance at victory lay in getting close enough to touch Bakugo and activate her Quirk.
But Bakugo wasn't about to make it easy. Even if he couldn't rember her na, he still could rember her Quirk.
"Die!" he bellowed, swinging his arm forward.
-Boom!-
"Ack—!"
An explosion erupted from his palm, sending a shockwave barreling toward Uraraka. Though she tried to dodge, the sheer force knocked her backward, making her tumble across the concrete arena helplessly.
However, even as she hit the ground, scraping her arms and legs against the rough surface, she grit her teeth and stood back up.
Without hesitation, she charged again, sprinting directly at Bakugo.
-Boom!-
-Boom!-
-Boom!-
Nevertheless, the result didn't change much.
Ti and ti again, Bakugo repelled her with bursts of fiery explosions, keeping her at bay with ease. Each blast sent her flying, and yet, she always got back up.
"Oi, stop bullying her and end it already!"
"So hero you are!"
The crowd began murmuring discontentedly, so even booing at Bakugo's seemingly rciless attacks.
Suzaku, on the other hand, watched with detached interest, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
'That shockwave range is annoying, but it should be manageable if I just redirect it sowhere else, maybe even back at him. But leaving that aside... His swings are full of openings... there's plenty of chances to smack so humility into him with my Suzaku-kicks.'
As Uraraka stumbled and charged repeatedly, Suzaku couldn't help but picture himself in her position, crafting counter-strategies in his mind, or groaning frustratingly when Uraraka didn't take advantage of a good opportunity and got sent flying away instead.
Unfortunately, her lack of combat experience was painfully obvious. Her movents lacked efficiency, and her reflexes were no match for Bakugo's explosive speed in keeping her at bay.
Yet, just as Suzaku began feeling pity for the battered girl, sothing shifted.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed small pieces of debris slowly floating upward, slipping through the thick dust cloud that lingered over the arena.
A grin tugged at his lips once he saw that.
'Would you look at that? She isn't charging blindly as I thought.'
And it didn't take long for others to notice as well.
["Oi, Bakugo stop ssi—Oof!"]
Present Mic, seemingly ready to join the crowd in criticizing Bakugo, was abruptly silenced when Aizawa hit him on the ribs with his elbow.
["Shut up. I expected better from pro heroes, but if you can't see what's happening here, you're even more hopeless than I thought. You included."]
["E-eh?"] Present Mic's baffled groan echoed through the speakers.
["Bakugo isn't holding back. He's fighting with everything he's got. And Uraraka... she's not as defenseless as you guys are thinking."]
His words seed to have marked a crucial point in the fight, as in the next mont, Uraraka, now visibly worn down, pressed her fingertips together and looked ahead with a fierce expression.
"Release!!"
"...!"
The next instant, the debris floating high above the arena began to rain down in a chaotic cascade. What had started as a few harmless chunks had now grown into a hailstorm of rubble. Bakugo's eyes narrowed, but Uraraka's determination burned brighter than ever.
Right after her last desperate tactic was set in motion, Uraraka kicked the ground once more and began sprinting at full speed towards the still startled Bakugo, planning on using this as a distraction to finally get a chance to touch him and entrap him in her Quirk.
—Unfortunately for her, she had failed to account for one thing.
"Useless..."
-BOOOOM!!!-
That being Bakugo's absurd firepower that grew the more the fight progressed due to him producing more sweat with ti.
With a single massive explosion pointed upwards, Bakugo cleared the falling debris from the sky, rendering Uraraka's distraction technique useless in one movent.
"It can't be..." Uraraka's eyes widened in horror as her plan was completely dismantled in but one move.
Even so, she refused to give up. Pushing through the pain in her battered body, she forced herself forward, determined to make one last attempt.
But her body gave out before she could take more than a step.
-Thud!-
The next mont, she crumpled to the ground, her strength completely spent.
["What is this?! Participant Uraraka has fallen to the ground!"] Present Mic's voice echoed through the stunned arena.
Bakugo stared at her fallen figure, his sharp eyes unwavering as if waiting for her to make another move.
Only when it beca clear that she couldn't continue, Midnight stepped forward, raising her whip.
"Ochako Uraraka is unable to fight. The winner: Katsuki Bakugo!"
The crowd fell silent for a mont before erupting into scattered applause. They cheered for both fighters—Uraraka's grit and Bakugo's raw power deserving recognition.
The Pro Heroes that had booed Bakugo previously were now also clapping, feeling a bit bad for having misunderstood the kid's intentions.
"Well, that's one fight less before I get my turn."
As the match concluded, Suzaku leaned back in his chair, turning his attention back to his phone as if the fight had been little more than a passing curiosity.
He had quite a few thoughts about the fight, like a small disagreent he had with Aizawa's comnt about Bakugo fighting with everything he had.
If he had been in the irascible teen's shoes, he would have just barraged the girl in explosions until she got knocked off the arena, leaving her no chance to fight back at all.
However, Suzaku, soone who fought constantly in underground clubs, certainly wasn't soone who cared about style or fair fights, so after thinking about it for a second, he decided to give Bakugo the benefit of the doubt.
After all, they were in a very important event the entire country was watching.
Maybe Bakugo had wanted to save her so face by letting her fight back a bit, or maybe the kid simply hadn't considered such a brutal option of fighting, and Suzaku was the only weirdo who couldn't care to embarrass soone like that on live television—Except for Todoroki, of course. That guy had one-shotted his classmate without a care in the world.
Either way, he wasn't about to start changing his ways though, if they wouldn't handle a little rough play, who knew what these kids would do when they fought a real villain?
"Next up should be Kirishima versus Bird-head, right?" he muttered, checking the tournant bracket on the UA livestream.
Suzaku couldn't help but feel a bit underwheld. Save for Todoroki's overwhelming display earlier, none of the fights had truly impressed him. While he respected the effort on display, the lack of refined skill and combat instinct left him feeling a tad bored.
The only exception was Arata, since he had trained the runt by himself, Suzaku assud the big-brained kid must have given Bakugo quite the trouble during their fight. Sadly, Suzaku wasn't there to watch it at that ti.
"Well, at least I'll get my turn to fight soon..." He muttered, a grin tugging at his lips.
Fortunately, it seed that if things continued as they were, the rest of the combats would be quite interesting.
Midoriya, Todoroki, Bakugo... It was good they were participating. Otherwise, winning this whole thing would have felt pretty hollow.
...
°
°
°
|Minutes later...|
...
The fight following Bakugo and Uraraka's emotional clash featured Kirishima versus Tokoyami, a battle defined by guts and strategy.
Tokoyami unleashed Dark Shadow in an unrelenting barrage, keeping Kirishima on the defensive, dodging and weaving to avoid being overwheld. On the other side, Kirishima's goal was solely one during the entire fight: get close enough to Tokoyami and beat him up until he surrendered or got out of bounds.
What started as a tactical standoff soon escalated into a long, grueling match. Both fighters displayed incredible endurance, but it was Tokoyami's one mont of miscalculation—turning directly into Kirishima—that decided the bout. The red-haired fighter capitalized on the mistake, slamming into Tokoyami with all his might, forcing him out of bounds.
Though victorious, Kirishima was visibly battered, his hardened body showing cracks and bruises from the effort. Dark Shadow had made quite a number on him.
But the audience didn't have long to dwell on the match. The tournant pressed forward, and the next bout promised an interesting match.
A clash of two students who had dominated the rankings from the festival's outset.
A showdown between two protagonists—though only you readers are privy to that fact.
-Step-
Suzaku took a step toward the stage, rolling his shoulders with a confident smirk.
"Let's see what the protagonist of this world is made of," he muttered, tilting his head to crack his neck on both sides. His eyes locked onto Izuku Midoriya, who had just stepped onto the platform
The green-haired boy moved hesitantly, his posture uncertain, but as his eyes landed on Suzaku, his nervousness was replaced with steely determination.
["Alright, folks! Next up, we've got yet another thrilling battle of the tournant!"] Present Mic's enthusiastic voice echoed across the arena.
["On one side, we have the brash and bold contender who's claid first place in nearly every challenge so far—Suzaku Suzuki, from Class 1-B!"]
["And on the other side, a competitor who's quietly climbed the ranks with raw skill and heart—Izuku Midoriya, from Class 1-A!"]
The crowd erupted in cheers and anticipation as both fighters took their positions at opposite ends of the arena, their eyes locked on each other.
Suzaku smirked, an air of casual confidence surrounding him, while Izuku's face remained serious, his jaw tight with focus.
Among the audience, students from both Class 1-A and 1-B leaned forward in their seats, eagerly awaiting the first true clash between the two classes in this tournant.
["Combatants, ready?"]
Suzaku loosened his shoulders, his grin widening. Izuku bent his knees slightly, his fists clenched tightly by his sides.
Both were ready indeed.
["Set...!"]
...
..
.
["Go!"]
...
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[ To Be Continued... ]
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(A/N: Finally got done with university stuff. So if I manage to lock in, I should be able to bring you guys another Chapter midweek.
Pray.
On another note, I made an illustration for this Chapter! Let know what you think of it; I personally think it turned out pretty well.
Here it is:
—Now, the usual image of God's presence here on Earth.)
->
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