Chapter 18: The Anatomy of a Hero
The walk back to the monitoring room was a strange one. A tense silence hung between the four combatants, punctuated only by the scuffing of their boots on the clean hallway floor. Eijiro Kirishima, back to his normal, unhardened self, rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin.
"Man, I really thought I had you," he said, looking at Lee with genuine respect. "That last move was totally unmanly, running away like that, but I guess it was smart! You're seriously fast, dude."
"Your defense was the most formidable I have ever faced," Lee replied with a respectful nod. "It was an honor to test my strength against your unbreakable will."
Kyoka Jiro shot a sideways glance at Kaminari, who was still rubbing the spot on the wall where he'd impacted. "You okay, Sparky? Your brain not too fried?"
"Nah, I'm good! My pride's a little bruised, but my head is still... mostly functional," Kaminari laughed, though it was a bit strained. "Your counter was awesome, Jiro. Totally caught me off guard."
When they pushed through the doors into the darkened monitoring room, a wave of noise hit them.
"That was awesome, you guys!" Mina Ashido bounced over to them, her golden eyes shining. "Lee, you were like, WHOOSH, and Kirishima, you were all, BAM, and Jiro, your attack was so cool!"
"Indeed!" Tenya Iida added, chopping the air with his hand. "A fine display of strategic withdrawal and targeted aggression! Though the destruction of property was somewhat concerning!"
Several other students offered their congratulations, a mixture of awe and confusion on their faces. They had all seen Lee's abysmal performance in the ball throw, yet here he was, having gone toe-to-toe with one of the class's toughest members and emerging victorious through sheer speed and tactics. He was an enigma, and it made him fascinating.
Lee noticed Bakugo standing in the corner, his arms crossed, his crimson eyes fixed on him. It wasn't a look of simple anger. It was a glare of furious, burning incomprehension. Bakugo couldn't understand how someone who appeared to have no Quirk could generate that much power and speed. The existence of Rock Lee was an insult to his entire worldview, which was built on the foundation of his own overwhelming, heaven-sent talent. Lee simply met his gaze with a calm, steady one of his own before turning his attention to the front.
All Might stood before the giant screen, his permanent smile somehow looking even wider. "AN EXCELLENT FIRST MATCH!" his voice boomed, silencing the chatter. "YOUNG KIRISHIMA, YOUR DEFENSE WAS FLAWLESS AND YOUR SPIRIT UNBREAKABLE! A TRUE SHIELD! YOUNG JIRO, YOUR SUPPORT AND QUICK THINKING TO NEUTRALIZE A THREAT WAS TOP-NOTCH! VILLAIN TEAM, YOU WORKED WELL TO DEFEND YOUR GROUND!"
He then turned his gaze to the hero team. "YOUNG KAMINARI, A BOLD ATTEMPT TO FLANK THE ENEMY! YOUR JUDGMENT TO SUPPORT YOUR PARTNER WAS CORRECT! AND YOUNG LEE!" All Might's voice was filled with a powerful respect. "YOUR SPEED WAS ASTOUNDING, BUT YOUR STRATEGY WAS EVEN MORE SO! YOU RECOGNIZED AN UNBREAKABLE OPPONENT AND CHOSE NOT TO BREAK YOURSELF AGAINST HIM, BUT TO REMOVE HIM FROM THE BATTLEFIELD! A TRULY HEROIC AND LOGICAL DECISION! WELL DONE, ALL OF YOU!"
He clapped his hands together. "NOW, LET US PREPARE FOR THE SECOND BATTLE!"
The screen flickered, showing a new building and four new names.
Match 2: Team B (Shoto Todoroki & Mezo Shoji) - HEROES vs. Team J (Hanta Sero & Toru Hagakure) - VILLAINS
"Todoroki, huh?" Kaminari whistled. "This should be interesting. That guy is no joke."
Lee's eyes narrowed, focusing intently on the screen. He remembered Todoroki from the Quirk Apprehension test. The boy who generated a pillar of ice without a single bead of sweat.
The match began. From the villains' perspective, the camera showed Sero wrapping his tape around the pillars in the room, preparing traps. The invisible girl, Hagakure, was hopping from foot to foot nervously. "Do you think they're inside yet, Sero?" she asked.
"Dunno, but if they come through that door, I'll tape 'em up good!" Sero replied confidently.
From the heroes' perspective, Todoroki and Shoji stood outside the building. Shoji, using his Dupli-Arms, had created multiple ears to listen. "One is on the fifth floor, north side," Shoji reported in his deep, monotone voice. "The other is in the same room. They seem to be barefoot. They are aware we are here."
Todoroki didn't reply. He simply placed a hand on the side of the building. And then, the entire building froze.
It wasn't an explosion of ice. It was a silent, creeping wave of absolute zero. A thick layer of crystalline frost spread from his hand, engulfing the entire five-story structure in seconds. The metal walls groaned under the sudden temperature change, and the air inside the monitoring room felt colder just watching it.
On screen, Sero's confident grin vanished as the ice shot up the floor and encased his feet, trapping him in place. Hagakure let out a yelp as the frost crawled up her invisible legs, a shimmering outline of her form now perfectly visible.
"S-S-So c-cold!" she shivered.
Todoroki walked calmly into the building, the floor cracking under his feet, but not the ice of his own making. He walked up five flights of stairs, past the shivering, immobilized villains, and placed a hand on the ice-covered nuclear weapon.
"HERO TEAM WINS!" All Might's voice declared.
The monitoring room was utterly silent. The sheer, overwhelming scale of that power was terrifying. He hadn't just defeated his opponents; he had dominated the entire battlefield without taking a single step into combat.
"Are you kidding me?!" Kaminari finally gasped. "He froze the whole building in an instant!"
"To neutralize both opponents and secure the objective without engaging in a potentially destructive fight… It is a powerful and efficient strategy," Momo Yaoyorozu analyzed, though even she seemed shaken.
Lee stared at the screen, his mind dissecting the event. He did not just create ice. He controlled the temperature of an entire structure almost instantly. It is not just power; it is absolute control. The gap between that and my own abilities… is immense. He did not feel discouraged. He felt a familiar fire ignite within him—the fire of a new, impossibly high wall to overcome.
The most anticipated match was next.
Match 3: Team A (Izuku Midoriya & Ochako Uraraka) - HEROES vs. Team D (Katsuki Bakugo & Tenya Iida) - VILLAINS
The moment the names appeared, the atmosphere in the room shifted. Everyone knew about the volatile relationship between Bakugo and Midoriya.
"This… is going to be intense," Kirishima muttered, leaning forward.
The match began, and just as Lee predicted, Bakugo immediately abandoned his post. He ignored Iida's protests and charged through the hallways, hunting for one person.
"DEKU!" his voice roared through the cameras. "COME OUT AND FACE ME, YOU QUIRKLESS WANNABE!"
Lee frowned. He is blinded by his personal grudge, he observed quietly. He has forgotten the objective. This is a critical error for a hero.
The confrontation was brutal. Bakugo unleashed a relentless assault, his explosions echoing like cannon fire. Midoriya, his face a mask of terror and fierce determination, could only dodge and retreat, using his knowledge of Bakugo's moves to barely stay ahead. The fight led them through several hallways until Bakugo unleashed his ultimate move, pulling the pin on his grenade-like gauntlet.
"HE'S GOING TO KILL HIM!" Kirishima shouted from the monitoring room.
"YOUNG BAKUGO, STOP! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL HIM?!" All Might yelled into the comms.
The explosion was massive, tearing out an entire section of the building. When the smoke cleared, Midoriya was bruised and battered, but alive. The tension in the monitoring room was so thick it was hard to breathe.
While this was happening, Uraraka had made her way to the weapon room, where Iida was playing the part of a villain with theatrical glee. Their battle was one of wits and Quirks, with Iida's speed making him impossible for Uraraka to touch.
The climax came when Midoriya and Bakugo met for their final, desperate clash. Instead of hitting Bakugo, Midoriya aimed his Quirk-powered smash upwards.
"SMASH!"
A colossal shockwave of pure force tore through the ceiling, the floor of the room above, and all the way to the top of the building. The power was unbelievable, but the cost was clear: Midoriya's arm was a broken, purple ruin. The blast, however, created a shower of debris that Uraraka, in a brilliant move, used her Quirk on, creating a makeshift meteor shower to distract Iida as she floated herself over to the weapon.
She wrapped her arms around it. "I'VE GOT IT!" she yelled.
"HEROOOOO TEAM… WIIIIIIINS!"
The monitoring room erupted.
"He beat him! Midoriya actually beat Bakugo!"
"He didn't, though!" Yaoyorozu countered. "He lost the fight, but he won the match. He sacrificed his own body to create an opening for his partner to achieve the objective."
Lee watched the screen, where medics were carefully loading a pale, unconscious Midoriya onto a stretcher. His eyes were wide. He had seen power. He had seen tactics. But this was something new.
He willingly destroyed his own limb, Lee thought, a profound sense of awe washing over him. He did not try to overpower his foe directly. He used that incredible power as a tool to change the battlefield itself, all for the sake of his partner's success. He endured the rage, the pain, the humiliation… all to secure victory for his team. Lee clenched his fist. Is this… also what it means to be a hero? To find victory not in personal combat, but in ultimate sacrifice?
The final matches passed in a blur, a montage of incredible abilities.
He watched Yaoyorozu and Mineta's team face off against Mina and Aoyama. Yaoyorozu created an insulating sheet to protect them from Aoyama's laser, then a catapult to launch Mineta's sticky balls, effectively trapping their opponents. It was a victory of pure intellect and preparation.
He saw Tokoyami and his sentient Quirk, Dark Shadow, overwhelm their opponents in a darkened corridor, a perfect use of environmental advantage. He saw Ojiro, the boy with the tail, use it with the skill of a fifth limb, his martial arts clean and precise, though lacking Lee's overwhelming speed.
With each fight, Lee felt his understanding of the world expand. He wasn't just watching Quirks. He was studying people. He saw how their personalities influenced their fighting styles. He saw cleverness, recklessness, courage, and fear. This world of heroes was infinitely more complex than he had ever imagined.
When the last siren sounded, All Might finally called them all back. "THAT CONCLUDES HERO BASIC TRAINING FOR TODAY! AN EXCELLENT EFFORT FROM EVERYONE! CHANGE AND RETURN TO THE CLASSROOM!"
As Lee walked with the others, his mind was buzzing. He had seen overwhelming power that could freeze buildings, and selfless courage that could shatter bones. He had seen more fighting styles and abilities in one afternoon than he had in his entire life. He looked down at his own hands. His path was harder. It was more painful. It was lonelier.
But for the first time, watching the others, he didn't feel like he was at a disadvantage. He just felt that his path was different. And he knew, with a certainty that settled deep in his bones, that he would not stop walking it until he reached the very end. He had so much more to learn.
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