Chapter 21: Iron Will in the Landslide Zone
The world resolved itself from a swirling vortex of purple mist into a harsh, dusty reality. Rock Lee landed with the practiced grace of a cat, his knees bending to absorb the impact on the steep, unstable slope. The air was dry, and the scent of upturned earth filled his lungs. He immediately crouched, his body a coiled spring, his eyes darting around, assessing the new and hostile environment. He was in a deep, artificial canyon, surrounded by treacherous cliffs and jagged boulders. The Landslide Zone.
A few meters away, Shoto Todoroki stood, an island of perfect calm in the sudden chaos. He brushed a speck of dust from his white costume with an air of detached annoyance, his heterochromatic eyes sweeping across the terrain with cold, analytical precision. He was not afraid; he was merely inconvenienced.
Before a word could be exchanged, the villains made their move. They emerged from the shadows cast by the high cliffs, from behind the cover of large rocks, their forms slinking into the open. There were dozens of them, a motley crew of thugs armed with crude weapons and fueled by malicious intent. They formed a closing circle, their grins wide and predatory, certain that the two isolated students were easy prey.
One of the larger villains, a man with a Quirk that gave his skin a rough, stony texture, pointed a thick finger at them. "Well, well, what have we here? A couple of U.A. brats, all alone. This is our lucky day."
Todoroki's gaze remained impassive, as if he were studying a particularly uninteresting math problem. Lee, however, shifted his weight, settling into his familiar fighting stance, his focus absolute.
"Stay back," Todoroki said, his voice a low, even monotone. He didn't look at Lee, his eyes fixed on the approaching horde. "I can handle this." A faint mist began to emanate from his right side.
"That would be inefficient," Lee replied, his voice equally firm. His eyes tracked the movements of three different villains simultaneously. "They are too spread out for a single, decisive attack without risking collateral damage to the environment. Two fronts are better than one. I will support your advance."
Todoroki glanced at him for a fraction of a second. He saw no fear in Lee's dark eyes, only a powerful, unwavering resolve. He saw a fellow warrior. Without another word, he gave a curt, almost imperceptible nod of assent.
The partnership was formed not with words, but with a shared, silent understanding of combat.
The villains charged, their battle cries a chaotic roar. Todoroki acted first. He raised his right hand, not with a grand gesture, but with a simple, economical motion. He slammed his bare foot onto the ground.
A wave of ice, vast and instantaneous, erupted from him. It was not a simple blast; it was a tidal wave of absolute zero that surged up the canyon walls, consuming everything in its path. It froze the ground, creating a slick, treacherous surface for their enemies. It shot up in massive, jagged pillars, blocking paths and separating the mob of villains into smaller, more manageable groups. Several thugs were frozen up to their knees, their confident charge turning into a panicked, immobilized struggle.
It was a masterful display of large-scale environmental control. And for Rock Lee, it was the perfect opening.
Before the first frozen villain could even comprehend what had happened, Lee was a blur of green. He used the newly formed ice pillars as his personal playground, running up their vertical surfaces, kicking off them to change direction in mid-air, his movements defying gravity.
He descended upon the first isolated group of villains. A thug with four arms swung wildly at him. Lee weaved under the clumsy attack, his foot sweeping out and knocking the man's legs from under him. As he fell, Lee delivered a single, precise chop to the back of his neck, and the villain slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Another villain, who could shoot sharp quills from his body, fired a volley at him. Lee spun like a top, a green whirlwind of motion, his hands and feet becoming a shield that deflected every single quill without breaking his stride. He closed the distance in an instant and delivered a sharp kick to the man's temple. Two down.
It was a symphony of ice and fists. Todoroki would raise a wall of ice, trapping a group of enemies. Lee would already be in motion, leaping over the wall and dismantling the ensnared villains with a flurry of lightning-fast, non-lethal strikes before they even had time to react. Todoroki would freeze a path up a cliff face; Lee would use it as a ramp to launch a devastating aerial attack on the villains below. They moved with a terrifying, wordless synergy, a perfect fusion of overwhelming power and precise, targeted application.
The villains, who had charged in with such confidence, were now in a state of pure panic. They had come to fight students, not a force of nature and a silent, green demon.
After a few minutes, the battle was over. The Landslide Zone was a gallery of frozen and unconscious bodies. Lee stood, breathing steadily, his posture perfect, while Todoroki lowered his hand, the frost receding from his arm.
One of the last conscious villains, pinned to a wall by a shard of ice, stared at Lee with wide, terrified eyes. "What... what the hell is he?" he gasped to his similarly trapped comrade. "That kid... the one with the bushy eyebrows... he took down a dozen of us with just his fists and feet. I never even saw him blink."
The other villain grunted, wincing in pain. "Yeah... Why isn't he using his Quirk? Is he looking down on us? Does he think we're so weak that he doesn't even need to try?!"
Todoroki overheard the exchange. His head tilted slightly, and he looked at Lee, truly looked at him, for the first time. He had assumed Lee's impossible speed and strength were the result of a physical enhancement Quirk, one that was simply subtle in its application. But the villain's words, combined with his own observations, planted a seed of doubt. He had felt no energy signature from Lee, none of the tell-tale hum of a Quirk in use. There was just... effort. Pure, unadulterated physical output that bordered on the impossible. A flicker of something—confusion, intrigue, and a sliver of grudging respect—crossed his stoic features. He didn't ask the question aloud. The silence felt more appropriate.
Lee met his gaze, oblivious to the internal monologue of his temporary partner. "The hostiles in this sector have been neutralized," Lee stated simply. "Our classmates may be in need of assistance. We should proceed to the central plaza."
Todoroki gave another curt nod. "Agreed."
They made their way out of the canyon, their footsteps the only sound in the now-silent zone. They emerged onto a ridge that overlooked the entire USJ, giving them a bird's-eye view of the central plaza below. And the sight that greeted them made even Todoroki's cold composure crack.
Down below, the battle was not going well. Dozens of villains lay defeated, but their teacher, Shota Aizawa, was in the clutches of a monstrous creature. It was a hulking beast of a thing, with dark skin, an exposed brain, and dead, vacant eyes. Its muscles were grotesquely large, and it held Aizawa like a child would hold a doll.
As they watched in horror, the creature, the "Nomu," took Aizawa's head in its massive hand. With a sickening crunch that they could almost feel from their vantage point, it slammed their teacher's face into the hard stone ground. Once. Twice.
The man with the hand-mask, Shigaraki, cackled, a sound like scratching glass that grated on the nerves. "He's so cool, my Nomu. He's an anti-Symbol of Peace, designed to kill your precious hero."
Aizawa lay broken and bleeding, his body still. The symbol of their protection, the first line of defense, had fallen. And the monsters were just getting started.