Chapter 13
The second match of the quarterfinals was Ida versus Shiozaki, the girl who had taken out Kaminari.
It was a match that was over in a flash. Ida abused his speed and dodged the quick-moving vines of Shiozaki, pushing her out of the arena with haste. In contrast with the previous round, it was much too underwhelming to be of note. It was a good application if Ida's quirk though, even if inspired by his own brother's super moves.
Next was Misaka's fight. She was going up against one of her classmates. Ashido Mina. Her quirk allowed her produce and manipulate acid from her skin. She had already thought of a tactic. The acid Mina produced was naturally corrosive, and dangerous to humans. That's why she always reduced its corrosiveness to levels able to be handled by the normal human body, or else she'd kill someone. What that meant, was that her acid was not strong enough to melt metal. This tactic had a hole, in the fact that Mina could change the acid's parameters mid-battle, but Misaka wouldn't give her that chance.
The match started and Misaka dashed. She put her plan in motion. The destruction from the previous battle was the foundation of it. Particles of iron sand had scattered around the arena, at her disposal to use. It was not a laughable amount either. It was enough for it to be used offensively as she had done at the first Heroics Course with All-Might. However, that would be overkill. Instead, she'd force Mina to surrender.
This was going to be the last match she used brute force to win. Out-speeding and overpowering her opponents so easily without having a quirk that could somehow enhance her physical abilities would be suspicious. However, she had an excuse if they questioned her.
As she dashed, she gathered iron sand in her hands and formed two black, vibrating, swords. Mina had just started preparing the acid projectile when she saw Misaka coming. She knew she had to take quick action. In a swift movement, she changed the properties of the acid ball she had made, making it more corrosive. Then she changed its shape into something resemblant of a shield, in front of the swords.
As expected as soon as the swords met the acid shield, they started melting. But Misaka had expected that. That attack was just a simple distraction. She knew Mina had to keep her focus on maintaining the shield, and that left her exposed. She would take advantage of that. She released the swords from her hands momentarily levitating, and did a low kick, aimed at Mina's legs.
The kick landed and it caused Mina to stumble and fall. Misaka didn't give her the chance to recover. She created countless swords of iron sand and levitated them all around Mina.
"Will you surrender?" She tried her hardest to not sound menacing while saying it, something that her menacing one-liners trained as a Vigilante combined with the buzzing black swords swarming all around her made too hard.
Mina gulped and slowly put a hand up.
"I give up!" She shouted, loud enough for Midnight to hear her and call the match.
"Mina surrenders! Misaka moves on!"
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The next and final match was Bakugo against Kirishima. On one side Bakugo had ferocious attack power and mobility, and on the other side, Kirishima was a heavy-hitting defensive bulwark.
It was an even match, up until the point they started reaching their limits. Bakugo's explosions were softened by Kirishima, and Bakugo struggled to dodge in close combat. They traded many blows with no clear winner, as both got injured, and after some time, the results were starting to show. In some areas Kirishima's outfit and skin were badly burnt, and Bakugo's face was full of cuts and bruises.
However, they both knew the match was coming to an end soon. It would end in one critical hit. It remained to be seen who would be knocked out of the tournament.
"Ouch!!"
"He must have felt that! Does this signal the end of the match?!"
It was Kirishima who faltered first. He had reached the limits of his hardening. The flurry of fast, hard-hitting attacks was too much for his quirk to handle.
Bakugo wouldn't give up his advantage. He unleashed another barrage of attacks, forcing Kirishima to his knees.
"DIE!!!" With that scream he released a powerful explosion, and the quarterfinals were over, Kirishima finally knocked out.
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"Are you all ready for the Semi-finals?! I know I am! And the first matchup… it's an exciting one! Two competitors! Two families with a heroic legacy! The fight between two elites! Tenya Ida going against… Shoto Todoroki!!! Ready? Start!!"
Shoto unleashed fast moving ice, hoping to ensnare Ida. It worked partially, two walls of ice limiting his movement and another aiming for him. He however, had seen his attacks before. As soon as he saw the ice coming, he jumped. He trusted his speed to carry him forward. And his trust was well placed. He reached just above Shoto and turned to kick. At the same time, he used a technique, his super move, inspired by his brother's and forced his engines to work.
The trail left behind by him turned a beautiful, vibrant blue, and with monstrous speed, his leg came down to meet Shoto. Shoto ducked in the nick of time, but Ida didn't let up. He landed and immediately jumped again, kicking once more. This time though, Ida's kick hit.
Shoto laid sprawled down and Ida grabbed him. He ran, a mad dash to the out of bounds line. The win looked to be his, but the situation quickly changed for the worse.
Ida had gotten careless and conceited, forgetting what Todoroki could do. He felt something block his movement, clogging the exhaust pipes in his calf. He looked down, surprised to see ice there.
"Did you think I couldn't do any delicate moves? I have to admit though. You got me real good with that Recipro Burst. Good fight."
The ice creeped up from Ida's legs and quickly, his whole body was entombed in ice, unable to move.
"Ida can't continue! Todoroki moves on!"
"What a match! Todoroki moves on to the final! Without even using fire! Talk about domination!"
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"Now, we move on to the next match. It's Katsuki Bakugo versus… Misaka Mikoto!!! Bakugo comes back from a difficult match against Kirishima, while Misaka comes with an unbeaten record, easily winning all her matches with speed! Who will go on to face Todoroki in the finals?! The calculating Misaka, or the wild Bakugo?"
This was a matchup that, if it was the first match to happen, would be difficult for the U.A student Misaka. Physical attacks would be useless against Bakugo who could dodge them, and she wasn't supposed to be faster than him, if she wasn't to draw attention. She however, had the advantage with the <
There was a reason she had sought out Cementoss earlier. It was to ask a question.
"Is the concrete in the arena reinforced?"
"Ah, no. But if the arena is destroyed by the power of the quirks, I'll ask for some to be installed."
It was a crucial, if simple question, that would change her whole fighting style. Normal concrete was not magnetic and so virtually useless to her. However, if it were reinforced it would be able to be manipulated by utilizing the steel poles inside it. She had done it countless times before in Academy City.
The previous destruction had forced Cementoss to reinforce the concrete, and that opened countless possibilities.
"Start!!" This snapped her out her thoughts and returned her attention to the battlefield. She saw Bakugo standing, waiting for her to make a move. She knew however that she'd have the advantage, if she didn't want to reveal more of her cards, if Bakugo attacked first.
She decided to provoke him. She knew that Bakugo was hot-headed, so angering him would be easy.
"What, too scared to hit a girl? Come at me, you explosion maniac!"
"Huh… what did you say?" It had worked. Bakugo's voice sounded menacing and promised pain. It hadn't made him attack though.
"I said that you are too scared to hit a girl!"
"Me, scared? Bah, what a joke. Perhaps you are the scared one, afraid to attack me."
"No, I don't think so. I'm just smarter than you." Misaka didn't rise to the challenge, instead choosing to provoke Bakugo even more, by targeting his pride.
"Yeah, well. I'm stronger than you, or else you'd have attacked me!"
"Hoh… If you are so strong, then why haven't you attacked yet~."
"If you want it so much, I'll attack damnit! DIE!!!" He final gave in, her goading succeeding, as Bakugo exploded forward with lightning-like speed. Still, he was slower than what Misaka could perceive.
Bakugo reached Misaka and put his hands in front of himself, preparing an explosion.
Misaka saw the movement of his hands and waited for the explosion. Moments before the blast struck, she tore a piece of concrete larger than herself from the ground and used it to defends herself. The explosion struck, and a cloud of smoke and debris rose.
"Ha, that's what she gets for underestimating me." Bakugo triumphantly said. "Thinking that she was stronger than me. Don't make me laugh. Just because she got good scores at the start of the year, she thinks she's strong."
He goaded, and walked to where the explosion had happened, expecting to find a knocked-out Misaka there.
As he reached the site, he felt something dangerous coming. No, he didn't feel it, but rather heard it. He decided to fall back. And he did, just in the nick of time, before he saw a black claw smash the ground, and making it crumble. He knew that if it caught him, the round would over.
He had seen where the attack had come from though, and launched an attack there, kicking up even more debris, further reducing visibility. However, the attack didn't seem to have hit somebody, evident by the black claw that he was seeing in front of him, getting ready to attack. This time he was expecting it and got prepared to dodge. He successfully dodged the first strike, but as he was getting ready to attack again, the claw turned and attacked him again.
He was forced to use his quirk to dodge again. He dodged and went back twenty or so metres back into the dust cloud. He knew he was at a disadvantage, as with reduced eyesight, predicting and dodging the claw would be even harder. He was eating his words now, cursing himself for being so hasty. He didn't know why and how Mikoto was still up and able to track him so well, but it was humiliating to say the least.
As he pondered over his next move, he saw the claw pass right by in front of him, slowly, as if searching for something. He held his breath, sure that if he made any movement, the claw would attack. He tried to remember the battle from start to finish.
'First, I attacked, after she provoked me. Wait… did she plan for me to attack without thinking? No, don't get distracted now! However, there was something weird about the attack… yes! The explosion, instead of continuing forwards, looked as if it was shielded, judging by how the blast went upwards. So, I attacked, she shielded herself, and then she used the cover of the debris to attack. But how did she know where to find me? She can't know my location perfectly, seeing as the hand passed right in front of me. What did the earlier locations have in common?'
At this moment he had to hold his breath again as the hand passed by again. He however got an opportunity to see where he was standing. A realization dawned on him.
'It can't sense me because there's nothing metallic around!'
Indeed, he was standing on a destroyed crater of concrete, with no metal around him. All the other times, the concrete platform he was standing on would be reinforced with metal, and thus Misaka was able to sense him.
Now he knew one of her weaknesses.
He lied in wait, patiently waiting for the hand to show itself again, while charging up an attack strong enough to destroy the hand.
Not a minute later, the claw showed up again, and Bakugo took his chance.
"DIEE!!!"
The resulting explosion utterly destroyed the hand, the various particles making it up falling, giving Bakugo the freedom to move again.
'I'm going to make her pay!'
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Misaka had been controlling the pace of the battle so far and had successfully tricked Bakugo into believing he could only sense him when he was standing close to metal. Furthermore, she had let Bakugo believe that he had destroyed the claw of iron sand.
That couldn't be further from the truth. However, she wanted Bakugo to go on the offensive again. It would allow her to display more of her arsenal, but also keep some hidden aces for the next fight.
She saw Bakugo come out of the cloud, propelling himself even higher. He spotted Misaka out in the open, defenceless.
'What's she doing there? Arghhh, I didn't want to do this! But she forced my hand. I won't accept being toyed with by someone like her!'
"OH, and is that Bakugo up in the air? He's escaped from the cloud! What happened in there? He looks to be bruised."
Suddenly Bakugo began spinning in the air, countless Explosions going off behind him. He spun and spun, building up a terrifying speed, and honing on Misaka like a missile would.
Misaka saw the attack, and prepared to defend. She was sure that if she managed to defend against this, the battle would be all but over. She tore meter long slabs of concrete from the arena by magnetism and stacked them all, one in front of the other.
She had only managed to put up a 3-layer shield, composed from the ground behind her, before Bakugo and his attack finally reached her.
The attack met the shield.
It easily shattered the first layer.
Then it shattered the second layer.
And it shattered the third layer.
The attack connected, and though weakened in power, it was still strong enough to blow Misaka away.
'Kuh, what a strong attack! I've got to defend the next one!'
She was cursing herself now for imposing limits on herself again. She had limited her "pulling strength" down to a fraction to what it was. And while she said that she did it to <
But right now, that didn't matter. Sure, she was enraged, with herself mostly, but she was still coherent. She was flying out of bounds, with no way to stop. She forced herself to focus.
She dove deep into her radar sense, time seemingly stopping, and focused on Bakugo. To be more specific, she didn't focus on Bakugo, but rather the tiny, almost imperceivable, bio magnetic field he produced. She then focused on her own field. Of course, they repelled each other, both positively charged, but that could be easily circumvented by her own control over magnetism. For this to happen though, she had to block all other magnetic fields the crowd produced except her own and Bakugo's or else she'd be flung to the stands with a single mistake or not be flung at all.
She completed the calculations seconds before she was out of grounds, having to be extra careful with them so as to not disrupt Bakugo's magnetic fields and possibly kill him.
She was sure that Bakugo would not be expecting an attack and hoped he would be caught unaware. She prepared for the launch. For now, she was reducing her speed, but her flight speed would be similar to the speed a car would have in the city. If she didn't control her speed, she'd be out of bounds in mere seconds. A single punch at that speed could potentially be lethal, what with her enhanced strength.
She felt her accelerating beginning. She prepared, limiting her strength.
She launched. Her continuous acceleration towards Bakugo made her reach dizzying speeds. It was an outcome she didn't expect and punching someone while going roughly at the speed of a highway car was not going to end well. She'd have to massively slow down before reaching Bakugo, only using inertia to keep going. Thankfully, she had a solution to that.
She began reaching Bakugo and still hadn't slowed down.
'NOW!'
She used an equation similar to the one she used now in order to magnetically attract herself to the wall. However, the pull was not strong enough to begin pulling her back, only meant to slow herself.
She let inertia carry her forward, and got ready for her strike, choosing where to strike.
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Bakugo had been having a bad day. First, all the other upstarts had dared think themselves special, and for that they were quickly eliminated. Then he had to try, to try, just to progress to the next round, because an idiot he could use his quirk better than him. After he had gone through the ordeal, he had to fight against Uraraka, who proved to be an annoying opponent, against Kirishima who was even more annoying to deal, only if due to his toughness. And then there was the previous battle. Fumikage, that coward decided to surrender after making his life harder than it should have been. He could have just surrendered from the start if he planned to do that.
However, the most annoying of all was Misaka Mikoto. He had seen the girl's ability with his own eyes at the first Hero Course where she demolished Todoroki and Momo. And he had also heard what she had done at the entrance exam. What he hadn't expected, was her being this strong outdoors.
She had put him through the wringer, humiliating him, forcing him to defend with all his might. And worse of all, she had managed to somehow partly defend against his special technique, the Howitzer Impact. Thankfully, she was still blown out of bounds, though not hitting the wall. He immediately started to turn his back to the arena, wanting to go outside and vent his frustrations. Perhaps he'd even be able to do so against the Half-and-Half Bastard. But first he had to wait for the final verdict of Midnight before leaving.
He sighed, content with his own fight and with a bored look sat down, waiting for Midnight to announce his win.
He waited for some seconds, saw Midnight, who was at where Misaka should've been, and he started worrying. Why had Midnight not given him his hard-earned win? He was sure Misaka was out of bounds. Howitzer Impact, even if blocked, was still strong enough to blast her away. He stood up, running to where Midnight was, to ask what had happened.
As he ran though, he passed by the results of his fight. He stood still for a bit, taking some time to celebrate his win that he was so sure about.
He had not expected that just standing still for a moment to have such destructive, for him at least, consequences.
The debris parted, along with a sound of friction, like someone going against the wind at high speeds, and out of them came Misaka, who looked like she was flying. He saw her, and his eyes widened. However, Misaka was too fast for him to react in time. He desperately tried to go into a defensive stance, but Misaka flexed her body, and struck him on the chin knocking him up.
"WHAT?! Misaka is still inside bounds! How did she manage to do that?! And she's hit Bakugo as well!"
Bakugo had hoped to have some reprieve mid-air, but Misaka wouldn't let him. As if she was magnetically attracted to him, she shot up in the air as well, launching a barrage of punches that Bakugo was in no position to counter.
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Misaka had had a good day. She discovered Magicians, had walked through the previous fights, and had also felt her bonds with some people deepen. However, this one fight had enraged her. Though she had managed to knock out Bakugo, she was still mad, mad with herself for imposing limits. She was strong, stronger than almost everybody here, and she tried to act the part of a girl exploring her powers for the first time. It was stupid! She was more experienced than almost half the Heroes present, and certainly stronger. What was wrong with showing at least a little more of her strength, which she hadn't even hid correctly, in the first place? Nothing!
She took a deep breath. She was letting her emotions take control of herself. She saw Bakugo being stretched out, and Midnight urging her to move off the stage for it to repaired. She obliged, going into an empty preparation room.
If one walked into the room, they'd see bluish white sparks emanate from the top of Misaka's head. Misaka felt it. Her rampant emotions had influenced her control over her power, making it run wild.
She calmed herself. Yes, it'd all be fine. She'd win, possibly meet the principal, and then leave the school to go do her night job of Villain-hunting.
Slowly she calmed down and started getting prepared.
The intercom had communicated a 15-minute break, and she'd advantage of it, finding ways to abuse her full power over Magnetism being unleashed. After all she had a Hero heir to humiliate for the first time, in the public eye at least.