Chapter 37: The Opening Salvo
The fifteen minutes on the giant stadium clock felt like an eternity and no time at all. Rock Lee stood as the rider atop his newly formed team, a bizarre but resolute fortress of muscle, thorns, and ingenuity. He looked down at the determined faces of his 'horse': Itsuka Kendo at the front, her large fists clenched and ready; Ibara Shiozaki at his back, her eyes closed in serene concentration; and Denki Kaminari on the side, a nervous but excited grin plastered on his face. The ten-million-point headband felt like a physical weight on his forehead, a crown that invited the blade of every guillotine in the arena.
"LET THE SECOND EVENT… BEGIN!"
Midnight's voice cracked like a whip, and the final moments of calm shattered into absolute, unadulterated chaos.
It was not a battle. It was a hunt.
As if pulled by a single, invisible string, every single team on the field—dozens of them, a tidal wave of Quirks and desperate ambition—surged forward. Their target was singular. Their goal was absolute. They were all charging directly for the ten-million-point prize.
"Here they come!" Kendo yelled, her knuckles growing as she slammed her now-giant fists together, creating a solid wall of flesh and bone before them.
The first wave of attacks was a terrifying symphony of chaos. Jurota Shishida from Class 1-B, in his beast form, charged at them like a rampaging bull. A volley of acidic blobs, courtesy of Mina Ashido from Bakugo's team, rained down from above. Mineta, from a safe distance, launched a salvo of his sticky purple balls.
But Lee's team was ready.
"Shiozaki-san, now!" Lee commanded, his voice calm and clear amidst the roar.
Ibara's eyes snapped open. "As the heavens will it," she whispered. From her back, her vine-like hair erupted, not as individual strands, but as a writhing, living wall of thick, thorny vines. They grew at an impossible rate, weaving themselves into a protective, semi-porous dome over the team. "Via Dolorosa!"
The acid blobs sizzled against the tough vines, a few drops getting through but their potency greatly reduced. Mineta's balls became hopelessly entangled in the thorny cage. Shishida's beastly charge was met with a wall of writhing green that wrapped around his limbs, halting his advance with surprising strength.
"Kaminari-kun, a warning shot!" Lee ordered.
"You got it, buddy!" Kaminari yelled. He placed a hand on Shiozaki's vines—which, being plant matter, were poor conductors—and unleashed a controlled, crackling field of electricity outwards. It wasn't a powerful blast, just a wide net of painful static. "Indiscriminate Shock: 100,000 Volts!"
The weaker teams that had gotten too close yelped and scrambled back, their bodies seizing from the painful but non-lethal shock.
They had weathered the first, most chaotic assault. They had survived. But it was far from over.
While the mob had been focused on Lee, the true predators had been biding their time. Now, they began to move. From the side, a massive wall of ice erupted, cutting off Lee's team's escape route to the left. Team Todoroki was making its calculated approach.
At the same time, the other teams began to clash amongst themselves in a desperate scramble for points. Lee saw Kirishima, on Bakugo's team, engage in a head-on clash with Class 1-B's Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, their two hardening Quirks creating a shower of sparks in a brutal, manly stalemate. He saw Midoriya's team, with Uraraka keeping them afloat just above the ground and Tokoyami's Dark Shadow acting as a multi-limbed weapon, cleverly snatch a headband from an unsuspecting team from the General Department.
The battlefield was a complex, ever-shifting web of alliances and betrayals. But for Lee's team, the objective remained brutally simple: survive.
"They're boxing us in!" Kendo shouted, her giant fists smashing a smaller ice barrier Todoroki had sent their way.
It was true. Todoroki's team was a picture of terrifying efficiency. Iida would use his Engine to propel them forward in short bursts, Yaoyorozu would create tungsten shields to block their path, and Todoroki would raise colossal glaciers to slowly shrink their available space. They were being herded, corralled for the kill.
"This is bad," Kaminari said, his confident grin finally starting to waver. "We're stuck between Todoroki's ice and that crazy mob."
But they had forgotten the third predator. The one in the sky.
"LOOK OUT!" Lee shouted, his eyes wide.
From above, a shadow fell over them. Katsuki Bakugo, propelled by his explosions and using Sero's tape as a grappling hook to swing from Todoroki's ice pillars, was descending on them like a hawk. His face was a mask of pure, manic joy—the joy of a hunter who had finally cornered his true prey.
"I'VE GOT YOU NOW, YOU DAMN EXTRAS!" he roared.
The final, chaotic confrontation began. It was a three-way warzone. Todoroki's team advanced on the ground, a slow, unstoppable force of nature. Bakugo's team harassed them from the air, a chaotic and unpredictable storm. And Lee's team was trapped in the middle, their defenses stretched to the absolute breaking point.
Shiozaki's vines whipped and thrashed, trying to simultaneously block the ice creeping towards them and the explosive attacks from above. Kendo's fists were a blur, smashing ice constructs and swatting at Sero's tape. Kaminari unleashed another, wider field of electricity, trying to create a defensive perimeter, but Yaoyorozu, with a calm expression, had already created a massive, rubber insulating sheet to protect her entire team as they advanced.
They were being overwhelmed.
"He's coming again!" Kaminari yelled, pointing to the sky.
Bakugo was using another of Todoroki's massive ice walls as a launching point, preparing for another aerial assault. Todoroki used the distraction, sending a powerful wave of ice directly at their feet, forcing Shiozaki to focus all her vines downwards to stop them from being frozen in place.
It was a brilliant, coordinated pincer attack, though the two rival teams had not planned it.
And in that split second of distraction, that single moment where all of Lee's team's defenses were focused on the two most obvious threats, Bakugo saw his opening. It wasn't the attack from above. It was a feint.
Using Sero's tape as a slingshot anchored to the ice, and a single, massive explosion for a final, blinding burst of acceleration, Bakugo didn't dive from above. He shot around the side of the ice wall, a horizontal missile of pure rage, appearing in their blind spot.
Lee's head snapped towards him, his senses screaming danger, but it was too late.
Time seemed to slow. He saw Bakugo's manic, triumphant grin, his eyes wild with victory. He felt the heat of his explosion on his cheek. He saw a hand, wrapped in a grenade-shaped gauntlet, flash before his eyes.
And then, he felt the sharp, tearing sensation as the ten-million-point headband was ripped from his forehead.
A collective gasp, a sound of a hundred thousand people sucking in their breath at once, swept through the stadium. Present Mic's voice was a choked, disbelieving scream. The giant scoreboard above the arena updated, the colossal "10,000,000" vanishing from beside Team Lee's name and appearing beside Team Bakugo's.
Bakugo flew away, soaring into the air with his prize, his laughter a raw, victorious roar that echoed across the entire stadium.
For a moment, Lee's team was frozen in shock and despair. They were now at the bottom, their incredible defense having been for nothing.
Kendo grit her teeth, her fists trembling with frustration. "Damn it! After all that…!"
But Lee was not looking at the scoreboard. He was not looking at his despairing teammates. His dark eyes were fixed on Bakugo's retreating, laughing form. The calm, focused expression on his face had been replaced by something else. A cold, hard, and terrifying fire. He had been pushed. He had been beaten. And now, he was going to push back.
He took a sharp breath, and a familiar surge of power, a warmth that pushed back the encroaching dread, filled his limbs.
"Kyūmon… KAI!" [ The Second Gate ]
The subtle shift in his aura, the sudden intensification of his presence, was immediately noticeable. Kendo's head whipped around to look at him, her eyes wide with alarm. "Lee! What are you doing?! Don't be reckless! We're finished if you fall off!"
Lee looked down, not at all of them, but specifically at Kendo and Shiozaki, the two girls who had taken a chance on him. His voice was calm, but it held a new, unshakeable weight.
"Count on them," he said.
He didn't wait for a reply. He bent his knees and, with a power that shocked even his own teammates, he leaped. He shot off of Kendo's shoulders and high into the air, a green arrow aimed at the sky, directly towards Bakugo's retreating team.
And as he soared through the air, his form silhouetted against the bright stadium lights, he brought his hands up to his forearms. In a series of swift, practiced motions, he began to rapidly unwind the thick, white bandages that had been his constant companions. The white streamers trailed behind him in the wind, a silent, solemn declaration. It was a ritual the world had not yet seen, a promise of a power he had kept sealed away. Until now.