Chapter 35: The Ten Million Point Target
The brief, welcome respite of the lunch break was over. A loud chime echoed across the campus, signaling the end of the intermission and calling the first-year contestants back to the field of battle. As Rock Lee walked with his classmates back down the long tunnel and into the sun-drenched stadium, the atmosphere had shifted. The initial, chaotic excitement of the opening ceremony had been replaced by a tense, focused energy. The first event had been a brutal filter, separating the contenders from the pretenders. Now, only forty-two students remained.
Lee felt the weight of a thousand eyes on him as he took his place on the field. He was no longer an anonymous face in the crowd. He was the victor of the first round, the boy who had punched a hole through a giant robot, the anomaly who had won without a flashy Quirk. His victory had not just earned him a place in the next round; it had earned him a reputation, and with it, a burden.
The students gathered in the center of the field, a collection of the most powerful and determined teenagers in the country. The roar of the crowd was a constant, thunderous backdrop to the quiet tension that simmered between them. They looked at each other, sizing up the competition, their minds already running calculations for the trial to come.
Midnight once again took the stage, her presence silencing the nervous chatter. "Congratulations to all of you who have made it through the preliminary round!" she declared, her voice echoing through the stadium. "But there is no time to rest on your laurels! The real battle begins now! It's time to find out what our second event will be!"
The giant screen behind her flickered to life, a wheel of different events spinning rapidly before it landed on one. "BEHOLD! THE CAVALRY BATTLE!"
A murmur of excitement and confusion went through the students.
"The Cavalry Battle?"
"How does that work?"
Midnight cracked her whip with a sharp, satisfying snap. "Allow me to explain! I want you all to form teams of two to four people as you see fit! The rules are simple. It's basically the same as a regular cavalry battle, where one person acts as the 'rider' and the others act as the 'horse.' The goal is to snatch the headbands from the other teams while protecting your own!"
She gestured to the screen, which now displayed a diagram. "Every contestant will be assigned a point value based on their results in the obstacle race."
This was the twist. The students immediately began whispering, their eyes darting around.
"So the teams will have different point values depending on who is on them…" Iida mused aloud.
"That means you have to choose your partners carefully," Yaoyorozu added, her mind already working through the strategic implications.
"The point values will start at five points for 42nd place and increase by increments of five from there," Midnight continued, a sly, wicked grin on her face. "The point value of your team will be the total of all its members, displayed on a headband that your rider must wear at all times."
The screen behind her lit up, displaying the full list of the forty-two contestants and their corresponding point values. The students craned their necks, frantically scanning the list, their minds buzzing with calculations. They were searching for valuable targets, for powerful but low-point allies, for the perfect combination to ensure their survival. The atmosphere was no longer one of individual competition; it had become a frantic marketplace of alliances and rivalries.
"Now then," Midnight said, her voice dropping to a low, dramatic tone as the screen scrolled to the top four finishers. "I'm sure you're all curious about the point value for our spectacular first-place winner."
Every head on the field, and in the stadium, snapped to attention. The screen showed Midoriya in 4th place with 205 points. Todoroki in 3rd with 250. Bakugo in 2nd with 300. The numbers were substantial, but logical. The suspense hung thick and heavy in the air.
Midnight let the silence stretch, savoring the moment.
"The student who clawed his way to the top, the boy who showed us a dazzling display of will and power… his point value is…"
She paused, leaning into her microphone.
"TEN MILLION POINTS!"
For a single, solitary second, the entire stadium was plunged into a state of absolute, stunned silence. The number flashed on the screen in brilliant, colossal digits next to Rock Lee's smiling face: 10,000,000. It was a number so absurd, so completely out of scale with all the others, that it seemed like a joke.
Then, the realization crashed down, and the stadium exploded in a disbelieving roar.
On the field, a slow, terrifying shift occurred. One by one, then in groups, then all at once, every single student—all forty-one of them—turned their heads. They turned to look at one person.
Rock Lee.
He stood frozen, the cheerful smile from his victory photo a stark contrast to the look of pure, unadulterated shock now on his face. He felt the weight of their gazes like a physical thing. He saw their eyes. They were no longer the eyes of classmates, of rivals, or even of admirers. They were the cold, calculating eyes of predators, of hunters who had just spotted the ultimate, legendary prize.
In that moment, he was no longer Rock Lee, the victor. He was a walking, breathing finish line. He was the golden ticket to victory for anyone who could take him down.
"That's right!" Midnight's voice boomed, dripping with cruel delight. "It's survival of the fittest, with the top chasing the bottom! For the student who finished in first place, this is the burden of victory!"
A large, fifteen-minute timer appeared on the screen. "YOU NOW HAVE FIFTEEN MINUTES TO FORM YOUR TEAMS! LET THE NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN!"
The field erupted into a frantic, chaotic scramble. It was a frenzy of shouting and deal-making.
"Join my team! My Quirk is perfect for defense!"
"We need someone with high mobility to be our rider!"
"Hey! You and me, let's team up!"
Lee stood still for a moment, his mind reeling as he processed his new, terrible reality. He shook off the shock. He was a target, yes, but he would not be a victim. He needed a team. He looked around, his eyes searching for potential allies.
He saw Kirishima, a person of strength and integrity. He took a step towards him, but Bakugo was already there, grabbing Kirishima by the shoulder and snarling, "You're with me." Kirishima gave Lee a brief, apologetic look before being dragged away.
He saw Iida, whose speed and intelligence would be invaluable. But Todoroki was already speaking to him, his voice low and serious, no doubt making an offer Iida could not refuse.
He looked towards his other classmates. He made eye contact with Ojiro, who immediately looked away and joined another group. He looked at Shoji, who simply shook his head and turned away.
The message was brutally clear. Teaming up with him was suicide. It meant anointing themselves as the target of every other team on the field. It meant facing a relentless, forty-one-person assault for the entire duration of the match. No one was willing to take that risk.
The timer ticked down. Fourteen minutes. Thirteen. The field, which had been a chaotic sea of individuals, was now a collection of small, tight-knit islands of alliances. Teams were forming, strategies were being whispered.
And in the very center of it all, standing in a small, empty circle of self-imposed quarantine, was Rock Lee. The victor. The anomaly. The ten-million-point man.
And he was completely, utterly alone.