Chapter 41: Breaking Through
"So these are the faux villains from the entrance exam... Their only advantage seems to be their size." Shoto Todoroki, having been admitted through recommendations, had never seen this type of enemy before. But just because he hadn't seen them didn't mean he couldn't deal with them.
"Targets, eliminate."
Being at the very front, Todoroki was the primary target for all the robots. Their massive bodies began to move, their claws spinning as they reached for him.
"What a rare opportunity. I was hoping you'd prepare a more challenging obstacle," Todoroki said, placing a hand on the ground. In an instant, a torrent of ice erupted from his palm, freezing the ground as it spread towards the robots. Crystalline ice formed around his hand, and he swung it upwards. "Because... my bastard of an old man is watching."
A dance of ice raged forth. The entire area was consumed by a blizzard that seemed to appear out of nowhere, completely obscuring the vision of the other students and the camera drones.
When the icy mist dissipated under the sunlight, it revealed Todoroki's back as he sprinted forward. Behind him, the enormous robots had been turned into towering ice sculptures, their movements completely halted, glittering in the sun.
Someone with sharp eyes spotted Todoroki's escape route. "That guy went right under the robots! While they're frozen, let's go!"
Todoroki, still with time to spare, called back to them, "I wouldn't recommend that. I froze them while they were off-balance. They're going to fall."
However, despite his well-intentioned warning, several students saw it as an opportunity and ignored his words, charging straight for the gap.
BOOM!
The ice holding the robots didn't last ten seconds under their immense weight. It quickly cracked, and the robots, losing their balance, came crashing down.
"CLASS 1-A'S TODOROKI! HE TOOK OUT THE ENEMY AND HINDERED HIS OPPONENTS AT THE SAME TIME, CREATING A HUGE LEAD IN AN INSTANT! FOR A RECOMMENDED STUDENT SEEING THIS ENEMY FOR THE FIRST TIME, HIS ABILITY TO TAKE RATIONAL ACTION IS A PERFECT DISPLAY OF HIS ELITE STATUS!"
In the commentary booth, Present Mic stood up and cheered for Todoroki's move. He hesitated for a moment, then said, "It was brilliant, but don't you think it was a little... underhanded?"
"It was a rational and strategic action," Shota Aizawa said flatly.
"THAT WAS A BEAUTIFUL MOVE BY TODOROKI! AT THE SAME TIME, HE'S CAUSED SOME DAMAGE TO HIS RIVALS! WHERE ARE THE RESCUE TEAMS!? THERE ARE PEOPLE TRAPPED UNDER THE FAUX VILLAINS WAITING FOR YOUR HELP!"
"Like hell we're in trouble!" Kirishima crawled out from under a fallen robot, his entire body as hard as an iron plate. He looked at Todoroki's retreating back with lingering fear and grumbled, "Doesn't that guy care about anyone else? If it weren't for me, someone would have definitely gotten hurt!"
"If it weren't for ME, someone would have definitely gotten hurt!" From under another robot, a man of steel emerged, shouting in frustration. "You guys from Class 1-A are all bad news!"
"..."
"..."
The two of them were silent for a moment, then simultaneously leaped out from under the steel plates and scrambled over the robots' remains.
"Why is your Quirk the same as mine!?" they both roared at the same time.
Todoroki had damaged the robots' hands, but they still had their legs as weapons. Bakugo and the others, taking advantage of their lack of anti-air capabilities, simply flew over them.
This isn't right... Kira thought, standing still. Aside from their massive size, their agility and the thickness of their armor were nothing compared to the ones from the exam. It was just as Momo had complained when she first saw them: "Where does the school get the budget for this?"
These robots were just empty shells, fakes. If he had to use one word to describe them, it would be "counterfeits."
Back then, Tetsutetsu had been smacked by a robot and had used the force of its rising arm to escape. But now, he could punch right through the steel plating. Was this all just to scare some of the students?
"Kira, what are you thinking about? We have to go!" Mina Ashido, seeing that the largest robots were tied up by the other contestants, knew that if they just went around the sides, they could take on the smaller ones. While she wasn't confident in taking down the big ones, bullying the small fry was right up her alley.
"Don't you dare steal my prey this time!" Mina warned him.
"I won't. It doesn't matter anymore," Kira said as he started to run. "This stage was really just a test of the students' courage, to see if they still had the will to fight in the face of a colossal enemy."
"Then what about Todoroki-san?"
Kira was silent for a moment. "If a rabbit needs determination to face a fox, then a lion facing a fox needs decisiveness. Hesitation is defeat."
"Hah!" Mina produced corrosive acid on one hand and flung it at an approaching spider-like robot. She didn't bother to watch its head melt, instead asking curiously, "So you have such a high opinion of Todoroki, Kira. What do you think about him challenging you?"
"It was impossible to refuse in that situation, wasn't it?" Kira casually picked up a piece of broken armor from a robot and shoved it into the gaping mouth of a tiger-shaped faux villain. Without looking at its exposed wiring, he said without thinking, "Todoroki is strong, but that's no reason to think I'll definitely lose, is it?"
Mina Ashido stuck her tongue out at him. "See? You're still pretty confident in your own strength, aren't you? On the surface, you're the slacker class rep who doesn't like to fight, but you've never once backed down. You're actually a secret battle junkie."
"If I liked to fight, I would have started getting in your way a long time ago," Kira said in a lazy tone. "You have your fun. I'm going ahead."
Seeing Kira suddenly speed up as if he were tired of talking to her, a tick mark appeared on Mina's forehead. "What's that supposed to mean!?" she shouted. "Were you only going at my speed to accommodate me!?"
"I'll show you what I'm really made of!" Mina roared, accelerating with a flourish.
Not five minutes later, she saw Kira stopped up ahead again. She ran up to him, exasperated. "Why did you stop again? Are there more robots?"
"It would be easier if it were just robots," Kira replied, his eyes narrowed. "Can't you look for yourself?"
A chasm.
In front of Kira was a ten-meter-deep chasm. A dense network of stone pillars, connected by steel cables, was scattered irregularly across the area, looking like a giant chessboard.
Mina clicked her tongue. "Whoa! When did the school build this? This wasn't here yesterday!"
During the preparations for the Sports Festival, many students had walked back and forth between the venue and the school buildings countless times, yet no one had noticed any changes to the terrain. It was obvious: to avoid leaking the challenges, the school had only started the construction work after everyone had left last night.
"The teachers who operate the excavators must be exhausted," Kira said, looking back towards the main stadium.
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