Chapter 48: Trial of battle (VI)

A/N: Annnndd, we're back to the present.

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"Yeah...Shido is definitely way too strong..." All Might thought to himself.

In fact, a student asked the question,"Sensei, but how old is Itsuka-sensei exactly?"

All Might looked at the student and said,"Exactly, Shido is almost thirteen."

Subsequently, when All Might noticed that the four students began to move, he turned around to look at the screen,"Oh...it looks like it started."

Upon hearing All Might, all the students immediately turned their gaze so as to look with All Might at the screen on which the broadcast of this first fight began.

On the screen, what is projected is the students' area and therefore, the rest of the class could see the two groups on the monitor. Once the timer went off, Group A and Group B started walking in the direction of the building where the fight against Shido would take place.

"Don't get involved..." Shoto said while looking in the direction of the other three companions who were shocked and angry to hear what the half-red, half-white haired boy said.

Immediately, Izuku looked at Shoto and said nervously,"A-Ano...we can't be in your way that much, this is something we should face together, w-we certainly can't face this situation on our own."

Tenya, hearing what the green-haired buy said, immediately nodded his head and continued with a serious face,"You're right, we certainly can't afford to deal with this alone. After all, Itsuka-sensei is a teacher, I really don't think a teacher at U.A. High School is weak, so we should formulate a plan."

Katsuki, on the other hand, immediately burst out in rage,"Hey! You half and half bastard! I'm stronger than you! So you make sure you don't get involved in my business, you bastard!"

Hearing their 'classmates' address him in this way, Shoto immediately revealed a slight contempt towards the three in his heterochromatic eyes, but immediately made it vanish afterwards. After a few seconds of silence and noticing that the three boys did not have anything else to add, he said in his usual emotionless voice, with a tint of annoyance laced within,"I already said it but I will repeat only once more. Do not get involved, I can easily solve this by myself, as long as you stay here and watch."

After saying this, he turned around and started walking towards the place where Shido was, who in the meantime, remained there with a smile, waiting for these four students to step forward in this test.

Not even taking a few steps, Shoto stopped for a second to say,"You're not needed" before walking again, leaving behind Izuku who had a worried face and the other two boys who had an annoyed facial expression.

"What did you say, you bastard?! Hmph! I will show you that you will be the one that is not needed!" Katsuki exclaimed before setting off in the direction of Shoto who could no longer be seen.

"Wait, don't be so impulsive, you need to have a plan..." Tenya tried to hold Katsuki back but gave up when he saw him leave as well. Shaking his head, Tenya immediately gave an exasperated sigh.

'We are only in the early days and we find ourselves in these situations. The discipline is lacking here.' Tenya thought before running in the direction of Shoto and Katsuki.

Seeing that Tenya also left in the direction of the test site, Izuku revealed a surprised expression and then a worried one.

'Will they be all right if they don't face it together?' He thought before following the others, hoping to catch up before the fight started.

In the meantime, once he had gotten out of the vision of the other three, Shoto accelerated the pace of his walk in order to reach the place faster.

'They don't have to get in my way. I don't want anyone to bother me from reaching my goal!' Shoto thought before looking at his hand and squeezing it,'I will prove to that man that even without his power, I am capable of reaching the top, that I can become a hero like no other!'

Immediately after, he looked up to set off again, this time with an even faster pace than before.

In this way, after a couple of minutes, Shoto arrived in front of that structure which unwittingly, will become a turning point in his life.

Looking at that building, Shoto immediately clenched his right hand forming a fist. HIs face was not as serene as he had shown earlier to his classmates. His arm was shaking slightly from nervousness, even though he knew he's strong, but at the same time, he knew the teachers at UA weren't weak at all.

But soon after he rethought of his goal.

'This will be my first stepping stone.'

Lifting his foot, Shoto placed it in front of him, and from under the sole of his boots, the ground began to freeze. The freezing started to accelerate more and more until after not even a few seconds, it froze the entire building in front of him.

.

.

.

.

At least that was his plan. But before the freezing could even spread five metres away from him, he had found himself frozen in ice that wasn't his.

"???" He was utterly confused. His entire body was encased within a cage made of ice

'Where did the ice come from?'

The ice which surrounded him wasn't directly on his body. There were empty spaces between his body and the actual ice, yet it was this fact that scared him.

Being able to lower the temperature and create ice, he could resist normal temperatures of ice and usually, the temperature of ice would be higher than it normally is when the person isn't touching it directly.

But the ice which was currently encasing him was very cold. So cold that he, a person who could create ice, was shivering.

He tried using his ice to break out of the cage, but the moment the ice manifested, it was frozen by another layer of ice, making him lose control of his own ice.

"H-How cold is t-this i-ice?" Shoto wondered as he shivered.

Just as he was wondering how to break out of the cage, Katsuki arrived.

"I finally reached you, you bastard!" He exclaimed the moment he entered the building, but when he saw the trapped Shoto, he grinned widely.

"Haha, you bastard! Who is not needed now? You even manage to trap yourself in your own ice!"

"Are you really that stupid? You think I would freeze myself with my own quirk?" Shoto said with disdain in his voice, but his shivering did not stop.

"Then wh-" Katsuki was about to reply back when he found himself trapped in a similar state as Shoto.

What's worse, the 'cages' seem to have connected themselves to one another, leaving the two boys trapped by themselves in one big cage.

"OI! You half and half bastard! Release us now!" Katsuki yelled at him, sparks appearing on his palm, threatening to explode.

"Humph! If you're so strong, why don't you explode your way out of here, like your temper?"

"What did you say?!?!?!?!"

As those two were about to continue arguing, Izuku and Tenya arrived and saw the scene from hell.

The entire building was frozen, not a single inch of concrete could be seen from underneath the thick ice layer. It was so cold that there was fog and mist around the place, devoid of any sound apart from their argument, footsteps and occasional small explosion sounds from Katsuki's palm.

"What..." Izuku muttered under his breath as he looked at the frozen place, then turned his gaze to the cage.

"...is this?" Tenya completed his sentence with the same shock on his face.

"Did you do this?" Tenya asked Shoto who was shivering inside the cage.

Shoto didn't even bother replying to him and proceeded to command Katsuki to blast them out of the cage.

"Why should I listen to you?! Didn't say you didn't need our help?! Then why don't you use your other half to melt the ice?!" Katsuki wanted to sit down and wait for Shoto to admit that Katsuki was stronger than him, but changed his mind after realising that the temperature of 'floor' was way too cold for him.

"..." Shoto didn't bother replying to him and just stood in the cage, desperately trying to use his right side to freeze himself out, but to no avail.

Izuku had enough of their childish squabble, and just punched the ice cage.

"Full Cowl:10%"

Putting 10% of One for All behind his punch, the cage instantly shattered into pieces, though not without any consequences.

Even if he had only physically touched the ice for less than a second, the sheer coldness that the ice released was enough for Izuku to have minor frostbites on his fist.

"Hah...hah..." Izuku panted, not from tiredness, but from the cold he felt from his fist,"S-So...cold..."

Katsuki felt anger rising up inside him.

"Who needs your help, fucking Deku!!!" He screamed in annoyance. He had missed his chance to show his prowess, and because of his hesitation, it looked as though he was saved by Izuku.

'Saved by fucking Deku?!! The nerd?!! Never!!!'

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From inside the building, Shido looked at the four students who were arguing with one another.

"They can't even bring themselves to work with one another and break the cage? How disappointing..." Yoshinon said as he hopped about on the window ledge, observing the students as well.

"What do you expect? 3 of them are considered some of the strongest in class and one person insists on following the rules adamantly. This is really a horrible match up for them, but if they continue with their behaviour, I wouldn't even have to use my quirk to beat them." Shido sighed as he saw them finally enter the building.

Yoshinon neither agreed nor disagreed with his statement, and just hopped back to Shido's left hand.

Not long after, the four students had climbed to the third floor where Shido was waiting for them.

"What a truly enchanting display of teamwork you guys have there. I'm impressed that you had time to argue with one another while a villain is on the loose."

Shido remarked sarcastically, not caring about the ugly faces that the students have.

"If this would be your attitude in the future when facing actual villains, then I suppose there wouldn't be a need for heroes anymore, won't we?"

While Izuku and Tenya had a guilty expression on their face, Katsuki and Shoto didn't even flinch. Katsuki was especially enraged. He had never been so humiliated before.

"Argh!! You bastard! Watch as I crush you!"

He immediately rushed forward, and threw out a punch. Shido moved his body slightly to the right, completely dodging the explosion from his palms before twisting his body and landing a kick on Katsuki's left waist.

"You're too straightforward. It's easy to predict your attacks." Shido nonchalantly said as he looked at Katsuki before turning his gaze back to the other three. "So are you ever going to attack me? Almost one fifth of the time has already passed, you know?"

Tenya, seeing that Shido had casually dodged Katsuki's wide area of effect explosions, immediately stood at attention. He could not afford to make any missteps right now. The same thing went for Shoto. From the beginning, Izuku had known about Shido's superior martial arts, and had never let down his guard in front of him.

The only one left out of the group with an expression that was still 'shocked' was Katsuki, who had just recovered from the kick and couldn't believe that he was countered so easily.

Tenya, seeing the status of his partner, immediately said in a low voice,"Damn..."

It was no secret that Katsuki was part of the top 3 in pure battle strength, along with Shoto and Izuku. However, all three of them had been countered before half of the time had even passed. Izuku had gotten mild frostbite and felt numbness in his fist, Shoto's ice was completely countered by Shido's, and Katsuki was kicked to the wall in one exchange without any chance of countering.

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A/N: Some of you guys might not like that I spend so much time on the interactions of the students, but I'm just trying to convey their problems and mentality, something that other authors usually don't do.

If you don't like it, please do comment it down.

Well, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.

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