Chapter 65: The Final Eight Are Decided
"Strange... why can't my body move?" Lying on the ground, Uraraka forced her curled-up body to straighten, trying to crawl toward Bakugo. "But... but I haven't given up yet..."
Bakugo stood frozen, staring blankly at the girl who was still struggling to drag herself toward him.
In the end, Uraraka never reached him. In her eyes, Bakugo's figure slowly began to blur...
Midnight came over to check on Uraraka's condition and announced the result of the match. "Uraraka is unable to continue! The winner is Bakugo! He advances to the second round!"
At her words, medical robots carried Uraraka away on a stretcher. Ryanne was waiting for her below.
Bakugo let out a cold snort, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and turned to leave the stage. For some reason, even though he had won, he couldn't feel a single shred of satisfaction.
"Alright, the winner is Bakugo! Let's begin the next match!" Present Mic, unable to muster any enthusiasm for commentary, sighed dejectedly.
The next match was Kirishima versus Ashido. To put it simply, it was Ashido attacking Kirishima with concentrated acid from a distance while he dodged and looked for an opportunity to counterattack.
Ashido's Quirk required her to constantly generate the acid in her body, but Kirishima's Hardening could be maintained. Before long, a screaming Ashido, who was being chased down, found herself caught in a headlock by Kirishima and was forced to surrender.
Sounds easy, right?
But the moment Kirishima deactivated his Quirk, he grimaced in pain. While he hadn't felt much when he was hardened, his arm had been corroded by Ashido's strong acid and was now a mess of purple and red.
Ashido was shocked and immediately began to apologize, helping him to the doctor's tent.
And so, once again, when the result of the match was announced, the stage was empty.
Shiozaki versus Jiro.
"THE SEVENTH MATCH! ON ONE SIDE, THE TRAGICALLY UNHIP BEAUTY FROM THE HERO COURSE, KYOKA JIRO! ON THE OTHER, THE LAST HOPE OF CLASS 1-B, THE VINE QUEEN, IBARA SHIOZAKI!"
A vein throbbed on Jiro's forehead. "What do you mean, 'tragically unhip beauty'!? That old man has the worst taste in music, but he's always acting like he's my best friend! If you weren't a teacher, I would have already decked you..."
Jiro took a deep breath, forcing herself to forget Mic's words. Her chances of winning this match weren't high. Without her support gear, she would have to fight Ibara up close to have a shot.
That was her plan, and that's what she did. But Ibara's Quirk was simply overwhelming in a one-on-one match. Jiro dodged through an unending assault of vines, her own earphone jack attacks being swatted away. She couldn't get anywhere near Ibara.
Seeing that Jiro posed no threat to her, Ibara said a silent prayer. Dozens of thick vines burst from the ground, twisting together and roaring toward Jiro like a giant dragon.
Is she trying to finish me off with one last attack...?
Jiro's heart sank, but her eyes suddenly sharpened. Instead of retreating, she advanced, charging straight toward the vine dragon and Ibara.
The moment the vines were about to hit her, her earphone jacks dove toward the ground, scraping against the surface and creating a shower of sparks. The recoil launched Jiro into the air. She jumped onto the vine dragon, held on tight, and plunged the rebounding jacks deep into the vines.
THUMP! THUMP!
The powerful sound of her heartbeat traveled through the vines, through the ground, up Ibara's hair, and into her head. In an instant, Ibara felt an unbearable pain and collapsed weakly to her knees.
Present Mic took his feet off the soundboard, grabbed the microphone, and began to yell excitedly, "WHOA! FOLKS, WHAT DID WE JUST SEE!? WHEN THE ODDS WERE AGAINST HER, JIRO LAUNCHED AN INCREDIBLE COUNTERATTACK, PLUGGING HER EARPHONE JACKS INTO IBARA'S VINES! SHE TURNED THE VERY PLANTS ATTACKING HER INTO A WEAPON TO HELP HER! BEAUTIFUL!"
Jiro let out a sigh of relief. It had been a gamble—a gamble on whether Ibara's vines could conduct sound.
It was a property she had observed during the cavalry battle. She had personally seen the golden ripples of Kira's Hamon travel from Ibara's head, through her hair, and into her vines, causing them to grow explosively. Jiro had thought in reverse: if her hair could transmit Hamon to her vines, then couldn't the vines act as a medium to transmit her soundwaves to Ibara's body?
Luckily, she had won the bet. Ibara's vine dragon lay limply on the ground, motionless. Ibara herself was clutching her chest, her face contorted in pain.
Sorry. I didn't want to do this either. But for the sake of victory, I have to take you down.
Kyoka Jiro didn't unplug her jacks. The length of her cords was enough for her to reach Ibara. From her observations, Ibara had no close-combat abilities, and she had to stand still to grow her vines. If she could just get close, victory would be hers.
Closer, and closer!
Jiro charged and was right in front of the kneeling Ibara. Just as she threw a punch, a green vine suddenly shot out from the ground and slammed into her stomach. She had no time to react and was sent flying.
The earphone jacks were ripped from the vines. Jiro's body scraped across the ground. She fought back the urge to vomit and tried to retract her cords, but they didn't shrink back. They floated in the air for a few seconds, then fell limply, coiling around her curled-up body.
Jiro's earphone jacks weren't plastic or steel; they were a part of her body, like Ojiro's tail. She felt a burning pain in them. The flesh-colored cords were covered in scrapes, grievous wounds that made you think they might snap at any moment.
Midnight came over to check on her injuries and was shocked. Jiro was in no condition to continue. She decisively declared Ibara Shiozaki the winner.
Ibara was still on her knees, clutching her chest even after the result was announced, the look of pain on her face clearly not an act.
Midnight hesitated. Is she injured too? Apart from Jiro's soundwave attack, she shouldn't have taken any other damage.
Ryanne had just finished treating Uraraka and hadn't had much of a break when two more patients were brought into her white tent: a girl with long earlobes who was unconscious, and another who was clutching her chest in pain.
Ryanne sighed. Maybe she shouldn't have accepted this assignment. The number of injured students this year was already equal to the total of all three grade levels from previous years combined, and this was only the first round.
Still, if it were that old lady, it would probably be even more of a hassle.
Ryanne took a syringe from her pocket and injected herself with it. When she opened her eyes again, all emotion seemed to have vanished, and she had become a completely expressionless professional.
She skillfully selected vials of medicine from the shelf beside her, a faint green light glowing in her hands as she expertly prepared the concoction.
The final match of the first round was Yaoyorozu versus Tokoyami.
The moment the match began, Tokoyami unleashed Dark Shadow, launching a fierce assault on Momo. She created a shield, barely managing to block the first blow, but the force of the impact still sent her sliding backward.
Tokoyami knew that if he gave Momo a free moment to create something, he would be in danger. So he had Dark Shadow relentlessly attack the shield. Momo could do nothing but hold on tight.
After several blows, Tokoyami stopped his attack. Momo had already been pushed out of the white line. The match was automatically awarded to Tokoyami.
The first round was over. The final eight had been decided. The second round matchups were: Midoriya versus Todoroki, Kira versus Iida, Bakugo versus Kirishima, and Tokoyami versus Shiozaki.
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