Chapter 66: Goddess versus Deity (Part 2)
"THEY'RE GOING TO COLLIDE!!"
Present Mic's terrified scream was drowned out by the roar of two primordial forces about to clash.
In the teachers' box, all calm had been shattered.
"Cementoss, NOW!" Aizawa yelled into his communicator, his voice stripped of its usual apathy and filled with a desperate urgency. "Emergency containment, Maximum Level!"
Down below, Cementoss was already in action. He slammed his hands into the ground, and it liquefied, turning into a sea of concrete. Wave after wave of containment walls, each ten meters high and several meters thick, erupted around the arena—a desperate attempt to contain the impending apocalypse.
"My turn!" Midnight exclaimed, tearing the sleeve of her costume. She released her sleep-inducing aroma, a purple cloud that drifted toward the two combatants, hoping to put them to sleep before they could unleash their attacks.
It was useless.
Ochako's "Hammer of Judgment" fell. Todoroki's elemental vortex exploded upward.
The walls from Cementoss didn't last a nanosecond. They were pulverized, reduced to dust and gravel by the initial shockwaves. Midnight's cloud of aroma was torn apart and scattered by the whirlwind of air and energy before it could even get close to its targets.
And then, the two forces collided in the center of the arena.
There was no traditional explosion. It was something stranger, more terrifying. A dome of pure energy expanded from the point of impact, devouring everything. Half of the dome glowed with an intense pink color, the visible manifestation of a crushing gravity. The other half was a blinding swirl of white and orange, the fury of ice and fire at war.
The blast wave hit. It wasn't just sound. It was a physical force that shook the entire stadium to its foundations, causing the audience to scream in terror and cling to their seats.
Inside the dome of energy, time seemed to have slowed down. It was an inferno of deafening noise and unimaginable forces. Ochako, floating in the eye of her own storm, felt like her body was being torn apart. Izuku's "boost," the energy that had been fueling her power to a superhuman level, was beginning to fade. An overwhelming nausea washed over her, a side effect of exerting her Quirk beyond all known limits.
Hold on, she told herself through gritted teeth, blood dripping from her nose from the strain. Just a little longer… for Izuku… for the team…
Below, Todoroki was in similar agony. The searing heat from his left side and the glacial cold from his right were at war not just in the arena, but within his own body. The strain of holding two such opposing forces together at that scale was tearing him apart from the inside. He watched as his attack was contained, neutralized by the pure gravitational pressure. Frustration and desperation flooded him.
No… I can't lose… Not like this!
In a final act of pure, stubborn will, he channeled the last ounce of his power into a single point. Through a gap in the swirling chaos, where the forces of ice and gravity fought for dominance, he launched one last, sharp spear of ice. It was a desperate attack, his last bullet.
Ochako saw it coming. But her energy was almost gone. She couldn't dodge. She couldn't raise another shield of debris. Her body was screaming, on the verge of collapse. In an act of pure instinct, of fine control born from hundreds of hours of training, she did the only thing she could.
She extended a trembling hand and, right in front of her chest, created a small, warped gravitational lens—a point of distortion the size of her palm.
The ice spear, traveling at incredible speed, struck the invisible field.
And it was deflected.
Not with the same force. The lens, weak and flickering, absorbed most of the impact, but it deflected enough. The ice spear's trajectory twisted, spinning through the air to embed itself deep in Todoroki's own right shoulder.
He let out a choked cry, more from shock than pain, as he felt his own ice pierce his body.
The energy dome, its balance broken, collapsed in on itself with a final groan. The thunder faded, leaving a chilling silence.
The dust and vapor began to settle slowly, revealing a scene of total devastation. The fighting stage no longer existed. In its place was a fifty-meter-wide crater, smoldering and covered in rapidly melting shards of ice.
Both of them were still standing. Barely. On opposite ends of the crater.
Todoroki clutched his bleeding shoulder, the ice spear he himself had created sticking out of his costume. He stared at Ochako with absolute disbelief, his mind unable to process what had just happened.
Ochako was as pale as a ghost, blood dripping from her nose, her body trembling uncontrollably from exhaustion. But she was still standing, her gaze fixed on him, unfocused but unwavering.
Todoroki looked at her, then glanced up at the stands, at the furious figure of his father. He looked back at her, at the girl who had weathered his personal apocalypse, who had turned his own power against him.
A strange calm, a kind of resigned clarity, settled on his face. He deactivated his Quirks. The last trace of fire and frost vanished.
"Enough," he said, his voice hoarse and tired, but it cut through the silent stadium with stunning clarity. "I surrender."
He hadn't been beaten by force. He had been overcome by a skill, by a will, that he couldn't comprehend. It was a surrender born not of weakness, but of stunned respect.
Midnight, standing at the edge of the crater, was speechless for a second. Then, she composed herself and raised her whip.
"Todoroki surrenders! The winner, advancing to the grand final, is… OCHAKO URARAKA!"
For an instant, the silence held. And then, the stadium erupted. It wasn't just applause. It was a standing ovation, a roar of respect for the two warriors who had given them the most incredible battle most had ever seen in their lives.
Later, in the infirmary, the atmosphere was one of exhausted relief. Ochako was lying on a cot, drinking an orange juice. Izuku's "boost" had completely faded, leaving her with deep exhaustion and nausea, but miraculously, no serious injuries. Recovery Girl had said she just needed to replenish her energy reserves.
Izuku, Momo, and Toru were sitting by her side, reliving the battle with a mixture of awe and pride.
The infirmary door opened. Shoto Todoroki walked in. His arm was in a sling and his shoulder was bandaged, but he walked with his head held high. The mood in the room instantly grew tense.
He stopped in front of Ochako's cot.
"Your power…" he said, his voice calm and direct. "It isn't just making things float. You deflected my attack. What was that?"
"It's… the true nature of my Quirk," Ochako answered honestly, without a trace of arrogance. "Control over gravity in all its forms. The ability to create points of high and low pressure, to repel… and to warp. Izuku-kun helped me understand it, to see it not as a single ability, but as a spectrum."
Todoroki nodded slowly, accepting the explanation. Then, his gaze shifted to Izuku.
"It seems I underestimated you, too, Midoriya. Your analysis goes beyond simple strategy. You're able to see the hidden potential in others."
He turned, preparing to leave.
"Good luck in the final, Uraraka. You've earned it."
"Wait," Ochako said. "The final… but you…"
Just then, Present Mic's voice boomed from the TV in the infirmary, which was broadcasting the event announcements.
"AND NOW, THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!! THE GRAND FINAL OF THE U.A. SPORTS FESTIVAL, FOLLOWING ONE OF THE MOST INCREDIBLE BATTLES WE'VE EVER SEEN, WILL BE A DUEL BETWEEN TEAMMATES!!"
The screen showed portraits of the two finalists.
"THE STRATEGIST WHOSE MIND IS AN ARSENAL, THE GODDESS OF CREATION, MOMO YAOYOROZU!! VERSUS THE WOMAN WHO DEFEATED THE DEITY OF ICE AND FIRE, THE UNDISPUTED CHAMPION, OCHAKO URARAKA!!"
Momo and Ochako's eyes met across the infirmary. The elation from their previous victories faded, replaced by a new, complex emotion. They were friends. They were teammates. They were sisters in arms.
And now, they were the last two rivals standing for the title of festival champion.