Chapter 25: The Monster and the Project.
High above the roaring stadium, a lone hawk circled the open sky. It drifted on a thermal current, free and untethered, looking down with indifferent eyes at the concrete bowl below. To the bird, the humans were just specks of color vibrating with noise.
Down in the arena, that noise was a physical weight.
"THE SEMI-FINALS! ARE! YOU! READY?!" Present Mic's voice cracked the air, amplified to deafening levels.
The massive screens looming over the stands displayed the combatants. On the left, Shoto Todoroki, his face a mask of intense focus. On the right, Kuzan Aokiji, looking as though he had just woken up from a nap.
In the Class 1-A stands, the tension was palpable.
"This is it," Kirishima muttered, leaning forward. "The battle to decide the strongest ice user."
"But their vibes are so different," Kaminari said, tapping his knee nervously. "Todoroki is intense. Kuzan is... well, Kuzan."
In the ring, the two students stood ten meters apart.
Aokiji, his eyes—deep, void-like black pools—locked onto Todoroki.
Todoroki stared back. His heterochromatic eyes—the cold, steel gray of his right and the piercing turquoise of his left—narrowed. There was no hesitation in them. Only a repressed, volatile storm.
Midnight raised her whip. "START!"
Aokiji opened his mouth, his posture relaxed. "Todoroki, you..."
CRASH.
He didn't get to finish the sentence.
Before Aokiji could draw a breath, the ground erupted. Todoroki stomped his right foot with the force of a hydraulic press. A glacier—massive, jagged, and predatory—surged forward faster than the eye could follow. It wasn't a wave; it was a spear.
It tore through the space between them and impaled Aokiji instantly.
The crowd screamed.
Aokiji stood there, frozen in place. Three thick, jagged spikes of ice had skewered him completely. One spear had gone straight through his forehead, exiting the back of his skull. Another had pierced his right shoulder. The third had driven through his stomach, pinning him to the spot.
He hadn't moved an inch. His hands were still deep in his pockets.
"W-WHAT A VICIOUS OPENING!" Present Mic yelled, his voice wavering with genuine shock. "TODOROKI GOES FOR THE KILL IN THE FIRST SECOND! HE SPEARED HIM!"
"He's perforated!" Mineta shrieked, covering his eyes. "His head! He has a hole in his head!"
"It's useless," Kaminari shook his head, though he looked pale. "We know this by now. Physical attacks don't work on him. But... seeing it is still nasty."
Kyoka Jiro, sitting a row back, frowned, clutching her earphone jacks. "I didn't want to say this before... but doesn't Kuzan's quirk remind you of the Nomu? It's like he's not even human. He takes damage that should kill a person and just... ignores it."
"Don't say that," Momo Yaoyorozu interjected sharply, turning to face Jiro. "Kuzan-san is nothing like that creature. He has feelings. He would hate that comparison."
"I know, I know," Jiro muttered. "But I've never seen him take a scratch. It's unnerving."
"That's not true," Shoji rumbled, his arms crossed. "In the Cavalry Battle... when Bakugo blasted him... He seemed to be affected."
"Yeah!" Hagakure chimed in; " I felt that too."
Midoriya sat silently, his hand on his chin, muttering a storm.
"Bakugo's explosions..." Midoriya whispered, his eyes widening. He recalled Aokiji's complaints about the hot weather. "Wait... could it be?"
"Deku-kun?" Uraraka asked. "What is it?"
"It's just a hypothesis," Midoriya said, looking at Ojiro and Uraraka. "But... Aokiji-kun is ice. True ice. Not just a producer. Heat... extreme heat... might affect his real body. He can't shatter if he melts."
Momo's eyes widened. "That... logically makes sense. Thermodynamics would apply."
"So, in other words," Aoyama sparkled, pointing at the ring. "If Todoroki uses his fire..."
"He has the advantage," Iida finished grimly.
Back in the ring, the scene was grotesque. Aokiji was a statue of flesh and ice.
"Arara..."
A voice came from the impaled figure. Aokiji's mouth moved, even though a spike was protruding from his forehead.
"You seem very enthusiastic," Aokiji drawled, his voice muffled by the ice. "Even though I wanted to have a little chat first."
Todoroki stood his ground, his breath misting in the cold air. "Do you still insist on talking in that state?"
Todoroki's mind raced. Zero percent damage. My ice went through him, but he just reformed around it. Physical force is meaningless.
If I can't hurt him... I have to remove him.
Todoroki stomped again.
"THEN GET OUT!"
A second wave of ice, larger than the first, erupted beneath Aokiji.
"He's doing it again!" Mineta yelled.
"He wants to ring him out!" Midoriya realized. "If he can't kill him, he'll push him out of bounds with sheer mass!"
The massive glacier lifted Aokiji's body, carrying him high into the air and pushing him rapidly toward the white boundary line.
A ring out? Aokiji thought as he was carried backward. Smart. He realized his right side isn't a threat to me. It's a good plan. But...
Aokiji's body suddenly lost its form. He didn't shatter; he sublimated. He turned into a cloud of super-cooled mist. The mist passed through the rushing spikes of Todoroki's ice, drifting against the wind like a phantom.
Todoroki's eyes widened. He lost sight of him.
Then, he felt it. A chill that went deeper than his own quirk.
The mist coalesced behind him.
In a split second, Aokiji reformed. He stood back-to-back with Todoroki, close enough that their shoulders touched.
Todoroki gasped. The left side of his body—his fire side—was instantly coated in a thick layer of white frost.
"Too bad," Aokiji whispered, his breath a cloud of cold air right next to Todoroki's ear. "I thought we were finally going to have an honest conversation. Do you want to end this so quickly?"
"LOOK AT THAT!" Present Mic screamed. "HE PHASED THROUGH THE ICE! HE'S RIGHT BEHIND HIM!"
The crowd roared in disbelief.
Todoroki reacted on instinct. He spun around, throwing a vicious right hook aimed at Aokiji's head.
Aokiji didn't dodge. He caught Todoroki's fist with his left hand.
"Ice Time."
The cold flashed. It traveled from the fist, up the arm, across the chest, and down the legs.
In the blink of an eye, Shoto Todoroki was gone. In his place stood a perfect, frozen statue of a boy mid-punch. The ice was thick, encasing him completely.
"HE'S FROZEN!" Present Mic shouted. "TODOROKI HAS BEEN TURNED INTO A POPSICLE!"
Near the railing, Endeavor gripped the metal bar, his flames flaring with irritation.
In the VIP box, where Soichiro Kuzan was sitting, a small, triumphant smile on his face. Beside him, Sayuri looked down with worried eyes.
"Is it over?" Kaminari asked. "He can't move."
Suddenly, a bright orange light glowed from within the statue.
HISSSSSSS.
Steam exploded outward. The ice cracking sounded like gunshots.
BOOM!
A torrent of flames erupted from Todoroki's left side. The ice shell melted instantly, turning to water and steam. Todoroki stumbled back, panting, the fire dying down as quickly as it had appeared.
Aokiji took a few lazy steps back to avoid the steam.
"AND HE'S BACK!" Present Mic yelled. "THE FLAMES CAME OUT FOR A SECOND! TODOROKI IS FREE!"
Aokiji watched the last sparks fade from Todoroki's shoulder.
"So that's Endeavor's fire," Aokiji said, sounding unimpressed. "It looks flashy. But you put it out immediately. You really refuse to use it, don't you?"
Todoroki glared at him. "Shut up."
He swung his right arm. A massive, desperate wave of ice—the largest yet—swept across the arena. It crashed into the stands, creating a wall of frost. It swallowed Aokiji's position completely, burying him under tons of frozen water.
The crowd went silent. There was nothing there. Just a mountain of ice.
Todoroki panted, his breath ragged. Frost was beginning to cover his own right arm. His body was reaching its thermal limit.
Did I get him?
From the center of the ice mountain, a shape began to emerge. The ice didn't break; it grew. It morphed.
Aokiji walked out of the solid ice as if it were a curtain. He stepped onto the clear ground, brushing snow off his suit.
Todoroki gritted his teeth. "Damn it..."
Aokiji walked forward, hands in his pockets. He stopped five meters away.
"Shoto," Aokiji said, using his first name. "You and I... we are very similar. And I don't mean our quirks."
Todoroki looked at him calmly for a moment.
"I mean our situations," Aokiji continued, his voice calm but piercing. "We are both projects. Investments. Our fathers look at us and see stock options and legacy. That's why I'm curious..."
Aokiji tilted his head.
"Why do you have such a burning desire to win? By standing here, by aiming for Number One... aren't you just fulfilling your father's wish? Aren't you doing exactly what he designed you for?"
"Don't lump me in with you," Todoroki spat, his voice trembling with anger. "I am doing this for myself. I am on the path to becoming a hero because it is my will. Unlike you, who is just drifting."
Aokiji closed his eyes for a moment. "I see."
He opened them. The black void was intense.
"Then why do you insist on not using your fire? You know it's the only way to beat me. You know my ice is stronger than yours. You know my body is immune to cold. If you want to win... why fight with one arm tied behind your back?"
Todoroki glanced up at where Endeavor stood burning in the stands. He looked back at Aokiji with hateful eyes.
"I wanted to wipe you from this arena," Todoroki hissed. "To prove to him... that I can win without his cursed power. I will reject him by winning with my mother's power alone."
"Is that so?" Aokiji asked softly. "Has anything changed now?"
Todoroki's red hair shook as his body trembled. Smoke began to curl from the left side of his face, a physical manifestation of his internal conflict.
"My ice... it doesn't matter how much I use," Todoroki whispered, his voice cracking. "You... you are a monster. A freak of nature. To defeat a monster... I have to use something you can't stand."
Aokiji's eyes narrowed slightly.
"A monster, huh?"
Aokiji pulled his right hand out of his pocket, and moved it in the air quickly.
"Ice Age: Deep Freeze."
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK.
It wasn't a wave. It was an atmospheric shift.
In a millisecond, the frost consumed everything. It covered the floor. It climbed the walls of the stadium. It froze the cameras. It reached the very edge of the stands. The temperature dropped so low that the air turned into a white fog.
Todoroki didn't have time to blink. The ice engulfed him.
For the second time, Shoto Todoroki was a statue. But this time, the ice was thicker. Darker. Harder.
"HE'S DONE IT AGAIN!" Present Mic shivered, teeth chattering. "THE WHOLE ARENA IS A FREEZER! TODOROKI IS SEALED!"
A thin layer of frost covered Aokiji's face.
"A monster?" Aokiji whispered, his breath coming out as a dense cloud. "Oh come on Shoto-kun.. Even I have feelings, you know. That hurts a little."
"But..." Aokiji looked at the frozen eyes of his opponent. "This cold... it won't be enough to put you out, right?"
Deep inside the ice block, a light flickered.
It started at Todoroki's heart. A glow. Orange. Red.
BOOM!
The explosion was deafening. A pillar of fire erupted into the air, melting the ice prison instantly. Water cascaded down around Todoroki, evaporating into steam before it hit the ground.
But this time, the fire didn't go out.
Todoroki stood there. The left side of his uniform had burned away. Half of his body was wreathed in roaring, beautiful, terrifying flames. The heat wave blasted across the arena, pushing back Aokiji's cold air.
"LOOK AT THAT!" Present Mic screamed. "HE'S USING IT! HE'S REALLY USING IT!"
"His left side..." Midoriya whispered from the stands, gripping the railing.
In the shadows of the spectator area, Endeavor grinned. It was a wide, manic expression.
"Shoto!" Endeavor screamed, his flames flaring high. "Yes! That is it! That is what you needed! A wall to show you the limits of your rebellion! Unleash it! Accept your purpose!"
Todoroki lifted his head. His eyes were no longer confused. At this moment, they were focused on one thing: Victory.
Aokiji felt his skin prickle. A small, dry smirk touched his lips.
"Arara," He said, taking his both hands out of his pockets.. "It's going to get hot from now on."
.
.
.
.
.