Narration POV
"Sero can you move?" Midnight asked from her platform as she shivered, half of her body covered by some ice. Her breath came out in visible puffs, the temperature having dropped dramatically in mere seconds.
"O-of course not," Sero replied, still encased in ice except for his face, shivering violently. His teeth chattered as he tried to speak. "Ow."
"SERO IS IMMOBILIZED!!!" Present Mic's voice boomed across the stadium. "TODOROKI ADVANCES TO THE SECOND ROUND!!"
The crowd sat in stunned silence for a moment, processing what they had just witnessed. The glacier that Todoroki created that big of an impact. It stretched beyond the bounds of the stadium itself, a monument to raw power that made many in the audience reconsider what they thought they knew about student capabilities.
Todoroki began to walk towards the encased Sero, his footsteps echoing in the sudden quiet. But as he did so, the stands began to stir. Someone started clapping slowly, then another joined, and soon the entire stadium erupted in a sympathetic chant while applauding.
"Don't worry about it! Don't worry about it! Don't worry about it!"
The chant grew louder, thousands of voices joining together in an unexpected show of support for the defeated student. Sero, despite being frozen solid, managed to crack a smile at the crowd's reaction.
Todoroki finally made it in front of Sero and placed his left hand on the ice. Steam began to rise as the glacier started to melt, water running slowly across the arena floor.
"Sorry I went overboard. I was angry."
Sero didn't say anything, simply glad he was being let out of the ice.
Todoroki's heterochromatic eyes instead moving upward to the stands. His gaze found his father, Endeavor, whose disapproving glare settled onto him. The number two hero's arms were crossed, safe to say he did not like the show.
Todoroki's gaze turned to the side, initially wanting to look at Midoriya but he caught the eyes of someone else, seated in a viewing box high above. Sky blue eyes met his mismatched ones.
Arthur Pendragon.
While Midoriya seemed to have caught All Might's attention, meaning he had to beat him to prove his point, the biggest obstacle would still be Arthur himself, at least in Todoroki's opinion.
The vigilante-turned-student had already beat him once, and he was going to do his best so that wouldn't happen.
The glacier he had formed finally melted completely, liberating Sero from his ice prison. The little water that was left of the glacier turning into steam and flying upwards, to join the rest of it's H2O brethren.
After it was done, Todoroki simply turned and walked off the stage. Sero followed.
In the viewing box above, Nezu set down his teacup with a delicate clink.
"Guess there's no ice for my tea after all," the principal mused, he turned towards Arthur who was rooted at his spot. "Still not a twitch, huh, either in the round before or this one. Seems like you are learning."
"Slowly, yeah," Arthur replied, as his gaze settled on Sero.
Present Mic's voice filled the air once more.
Narration POV
"Alright folks, I hope you brought your rubber boots because this next match is going to be ELECTRIC!" The pro hero was really getting into it now, practically bouncing in his announcer's booth. "On one side, we have the human taser, the walking power plant, the guy who makes your hair stand on end, literally! From the hero course, it's the man of lightning, volts as you've never seen them, DENKI KAMINARI!!"
Down below, Kaminari walked out into the stadium, trying his best to look confident. He waved to the crowd, throwing up peace signs and finger guns, and while most couldn't see it, there were a few who could.
He was sweating bullets, and one of the few who could see it was also the cause of said perspiration.
"And on the other side!" Present Mic continued, his excitement reaching fever pitch. "You all know him! You all love him! Well, not all of you, I'm talking about you, Triple J! The vigilante turned hero student, the boy who saved thousands, the one who walks the path of the sword! Give it up for Arthur PENDRAGON!!!"
The roar that erupted from the crowd was deafening.
Arthur appeared on the stage in a burst of speed, not quite a sonic boom but fast enough that most people only saw a golden blur before he was standing there. He didn't wave or acknowledge the crowd, his hand resting naturally on Excalibur's hilt as it always did.
In the stands, his classmates watched with varying expressions.
"This isn't going to be much of a fight, is it?" Kirishima said, though his tone was sympathetic rather than dismissive.
"Poor Kaminari," Mina added, shaking her head. "He was so nervous at lunch he could barely eat. And that's saying something, considering how much that boy usually puts away."
"If he sticks to the plan, we made, he could actually do something," Midoriya said as he twirled his thumbs, a little embarrassed at the fact that he himself couldn't keep his own plan together in his match against Shinsho.
Down on the field, the two friends faced each other across the arena.
"Well then, I guess this is it, huh," Kaminari said, running a hand through his hair in a nervous gesture. Electricity sparked between his fingers as he did so, his quirk responding to his emotional state.
"I guess this is it," Arthur replied, his tone gentle. He could hear Kaminari's racing heartbeat, could see the micro-expressions of fear and determination warring on his friend's face.
It was hard for him, in a way. He could hear how much Kaminari wanted this, but Arthur wanted it too.
"No way you could let me win, right?" Kaminari asked, though his tone made it clear he already knew the answer.
His blue eyes were apologetic but firm. "I'm sorry, but no."
"Figured," Kaminari said, scratching his hair more vigorously now, static electricity making the strands stand on end. "Honestly, I would have been disappointed if you said yes."
He took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders. "So I'm going to give it everything I've got! Don't you dare hold back on me, Arthur!"
Arthur smiled at that.
Midnight raised her whip, the crack cutting through the crowd's murmur. "Both competitors ready?"
They nodded.
"Then... START!"
Kaminari didn't hesitate. He'd thought about this moment, planned for it with Midoriya, knowing that his only chance was to go all out immediately. His arms shot skyward, electricity beginning to crackle around his entire body. The air itself crackled in anticipation, and several people in the front rows felt their hair standing on end.
"It's all or nothing!" he shouted, his voice carrying across the arena. "My ultimate move! INDISCRIMINATE SHOCK! 1.3 MILLION VOLTS!!!"
The explosion of electricity was instantaneous and all-encompassing. Lightning burst across the field in a spherical wave. The arena floor cracked and scored where the bolts struck, leaving burnt patterns across the concrete.
It was, objectively, an incredible display of power. This was the level of U.A.'s hero course.
Arthur POV
I watched the lightning approach, my enhanced perception allowing me to see every individual bolt, every crackling tendril of electricity as it raced toward me.
It was beautiful... in a way, however I didn't move from my spot.
The truth was, I couldn't dodge it. Not completely. I'd tested my limits extensively with Nezu over the past two weeks. Even with continuous mana burst, I could reach just over Mach 145, faster than any known hero, faster than even All Might in his prime. But lightning? Lightning moved at Mach 352.
I could minimize the contact, maybe, but some would hit me regardless. So I put my own plan into action.
The first bolt struck me directly in the chest. 1.3 million volts coursed through my body, and I felt...
Nothing.
Well, not nothing exactly. I felt the electricity, felt it trying to disrupt my nervous system, trying to stop my heart, trying to cook me from the inside out.
But Avalon was already at work, healing the damage faster than it could accumulate. My dragon heart, that mutated organ that was the source of my power, actually seemed to beat louder in response to the electrical stimulus.
Interesting.
The crowd watched as the lightning struck me, illuminating my form in brilliant white-blue light. To them, it must have looked like I was being destroyed, consumed by the electric storm.
"ARTHUR HAS BEEN HIT!!" Present Mic's voice boomed over the crackling of electricity. "THIS COULD BE THE UPSET OF THE CENTURY! IS KAMINARI ABOUT TO..."
I moved.
Narration POV
To the crowd, what happened next was almost impossible to follow. One moment, Arthur was standing still, being struck by lightning. The next, he was... everywhere.
Lightning began striking multiple points across the field in rapid succession, but it wasn't random. Those with sharp enough eyes, or slow-motion cameras, would later realize they were seeing Arthur's afterimages, the lightning following his path as he moved at speeds that defied comprehension.
A straight line towards Kaminari.
In the span of a heartbeat, he reached his opponent.
Kaminari.
The electric user's eyes were wide, though whether from seeing Arthur appear before him or from the inevitable side effect of his maximum output was unclear. His expression was already beginning to slack, his brain overwhelmed by his own quirk's backlash.
Arthur struck out in a precise stabbing motion, Excalibur still sheathed in Avalon. It was a gentle strike by his standards, enough to send his friend out of bounds without causing injury.
BAM
The impact was still enough to lift Kaminari off his feet. He flew backward in a perfect arc, electricity still crackling around his body but already beginning to fade. As he sailed through the air, his expression had fully transformed into the dopey, vacant grin that his classmates had come to recognize as his whey mode.
He landed on the grass outside the ring, bouncing once before coming to rest flat on his back. Both his thumbs shot up in the air, and he let out a happy "Wheeeey!" despite having just lost.
The entire exchange, from Kaminari's attack to his landing, had taken less than a single second.
The stadium was silent for a moment, processing what they had just witnessed. Then the crowd exploded.
"WOOHOOOO!!"
"THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!"
"DID YOU SEE THAT?! HE JUST TANKED 1.3 MILLION VOLTS!"
"ARTHUR, GIVE ME YOUR BABIES!"
That last comment made Arthur visibly flinch on stage, his calm composure cracking for just a moment as he tried to identify where that had come from. He sadly did.
"Kaminari is out of bounds!" Midnight announced, though she too seemed slightly stunned by what she'd witnessed. "Arthur advances to the second round!"
Arthur immediately walked off the stage, heading toward where Kaminari had landed. His friend was still lying on the grass, giving enthusiastic thumbs up to no one in particular, occasionally letting out random sounds.
"You okay?" Arthur asked, kneeling beside him.
"Mom," Kaminari said in a dazed voice, his eyes unfocused but somehow managing to look directly at Arthur.
"No, I'm not mom," Arthur replied, a small smile crossing his face. He'd heard about Kaminari's whey mode from the others but had never seen it in person. It was oddly endearing.
"Wheeeey," Kaminari responded, as if this explained everything.
Arthur carefully helped him to his feet, supporting most of his weight as Kaminari's legs seemed to have forgotten how to function properly.
As they walked toward the medical station, Kaminari kept making happy sounds and occasionally trying to give finger guns to the crowd, though his coordination was so off he mostly just flailed his hands around.
This was the first time Arthur had truly seen Kaminari's overload state, but it would most certainly not be the last. Oh, and Arthur wouldn't admit it to anyone but he honestly thought it was a bit funny.
A/N: Yeah sorry for not uploading these past days, I've been doing a lot of stuff lately, cause you know... college (kill me now). Plus I have also decided to start a secondary which I'll update every once a while. You can check it out, or don't, I can't force you guys and gals to do anything lol.
So the secondary fic it's called Percy Jackson: Julius of the Nine. As you can probably tell by the title it is a percy jackson fic, I loved Unlce Rick's stories when I was younger and this idea wouldn't leave my mind so I just wrote it.
One thing before you do try reading it, the protagonist has multiple personality disorder, so if that turns you off, you know don't read it lol, and no it isn't just some quirk, I promise it ties into his character if you wait for the payoff it'll be great... I think.
As for this chapter, loved writing the fight, cause it's basically Arthur aura farming lol.
Either way, thx for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. Author out.