"What is this?!" Present Mic shouted, nearly tipping forward over the edge of the announcer's booth, his goggles slipping as he pointed wildly at the arena. "MIDORIYA ISN'T FINISHING THE FIGHT! HE HAD THE OPENING—HE HAD IT ALL—but he stopped?!"
The disbelief in his voice echoed through the stadium, and it wasn't his alone.
In the stands, the entire Class 1-A section leaned forward as one, eyes locked on the battlefield below. No one blinked. No one breathed.
Katsuki scowled deeply, sparks snapping angrily from his palms as he grit his teeth.
"Tch… what the hell is Deku doing?" he snarled. "He could knock that half-and-half bastard out right now and move on so I can crush him next!"
His frustration bled into the air, raw and explosive.
Beside him, Momo rested her chin on her hand, eyes sharp and analytical rather than confused. She watched Izuku closely, following his posture, his restraint, the deliberate stillness in his stance.
"No… wait," she said softly. "He's not hesitating. He's choosing."
She lifted her gaze slightly. "He's giving Shoto a chance. A chance to fight with his full power."
"Full power?" Kaminari blinked, jaw dropping as he turned toward Sero. "Hold up—are you telling me icy-hot hasn't even been going all out yet?"
He snorted. "Man… guess you never had a chance, huh, Sero?"
"Shut up," Sero muttered weakly.
He was wrapped tightly in a thick blanket, teeth chattering nonstop as he clutched a cup of steaming tea with both hands. His fingers trembled like leaves in the wind.
"I… I still can't feel my fingers…" he added miserably, staring into the cup like it had betrayed him.
Laughter rippled faintly through the class, but it was nervous—uneasy. The atmosphere in the stadium was shifting.
The crowd buzzed louder now, whispers stacking on whispers.
"Why isn't he attacking?"
"Is he mocking him?"
"No… look at his face. He's serious."
"Is he… waiting?"
Back on the arena floor, the cold fog rolled low across the shattered concrete.
Shoto stood frozen in place—literally and figuratively.
His breath came out in harsh, uneven clouds, each exhale fogging the air in front of him. Frost clung to half his body, crawling down his arm and across his jaw, while the other half trembled—not from cold, but from something far deeper.
He stared at Izuku.
Izuku stood there calmly, his eyes—those emerald eyes—were fixed on Shoto with unwavering focus. Expectation. As if he were saying: Show me.
Shoto's fists clenched so tightly his nails dug into his palms, the sting barely registering as a thin line of blood seeped out.
'I… I really am holding myself back,' he realized, the thought hitting him harder than any blow Izuku could have landed. His chest tightened. 'All this time… I've been chained by his shadow.'
Memories surged—his father's voice, the training, the expectations, the fire he had sworn never to use. Pride twisted painfully in his gut, mixing with anger, fear, and something dangerously close to regret.
Izuku hadn't forced him. He had waited. And somehow, that was worse. The air between them felt impossibly heavy, the silence stretching until it screamed.
Shoto swallowed.
His throat felt dry despite the freezing air around him, his chest tight as something deep inside finally reached its breaking point. For a heartbeat, nothing happened—
Then the ice creeping up his right arm cracked.
CRRRRSHHHHH—!
Jagged fissures ripped through the frozen layer coating his shoulder. Chunks of ice shattered off and hit the ground, hissing violently as they evaporated into thick clouds of steam. The temperature around him spiked sharply, the sudden contrast almost painful.
At first, the fire on his left side flickered weakly—uncertain, hesitant.
Then it roared.
Bright, blazing flames surged to life, climbing up his arm and shoulder, wrapping his body in a fierce orange glow. The heat warped the air itself, bending light and sending visible ripples through the space around him. Steam exploded outward as fire and frost collided, the arena filling with swirling mist.
The audience erupted.
Cheers thundered through the stadium, shock and excitement blending into one deafening roar as spectators felt the sudden heat wash over them even from the stands.
"OKAY!!" Shoto shouted, his voice raw but steady, carrying across the arena as his flames burned higher. Frost still clung stubbornly to half his body, the two forces mixing violently around him. "I'll beat you—using my power!!"
The flames spread wider, brighter, no longer restrained. Ice formed and shattered beneath his feet with every shift of his stance, while fire licked up the concrete walls behind him, leaving scorched marks in its wake.
He stood tall. Balanced. Reborn.
A perfect divide straight down his body—one side a raging inferno, the other a living glacier.
Izuku smirked.
But inside, his stomach twisted.
'God, I love shounen… but moments like these?' he thought dryly. 'They always make me cringe just a little.'
Still, he didn't roll his eyes. His smirk stayed in place as he clenched his fists, power humming quietly beneath his skin, the air around him vibrating faintly.
"That's more like it," he said.
The stadium shook as Shoto finally let loose.
Frost exploded outward, racing across the ground in jagged waves, freezing cracks into the concrete.
At the same time, towering flames surged upward, scorching the walls and colliding with the cold in violent bursts of steam.
The arena became a storm of extremes—heat and cold warring for dominance with every second.
On Shoto's right side, white mist curled from jagged shards of ice that erupted with each step he took, the ground freezing solid beneath him.
On his left, flames roared so intensely they bent the air, heat pressing outward like an invisible wall. His silhouette stood perfectly split—half glacier, half inferno.
"NOW THIS—THIS IS SHOTO AT FULL POWER!!" Present Mic bellowed, his voice cracking with exhilaration. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BRACE YOURSELVES!!"
The air grew heavy, almost suffocating. Every breath felt thick as freezing cold and blistering heat clashed violently in the same space. Students in the stands leaned forward, eyes wide, completely unable to look away.
At the center of it all, Izuku stood calm.
His UA gym uniform still clung damply to his frame, water dripping from the fabric as steam curled faintly off his shoulders. His golden eyes glowed softly—not with strain or fear, but pure anticipation.
He cracked his neck once, slow and deliberate, and smirked.
"Took you long enough."
Shoto's glare sharpened, flames flaring higher in response, frost spreading wider beneath his feet. His voice came out steady, resolved.
"I don't need your approval," he said. "I'll prove it—with my power."
The storm between them intensified.
And everyone watching knew—
The real fight had finally begun.
BOOM!
Shoto launched forward.
The ground beneath him froze solid in an instant, white frost racing outward from his boots—only to detonate a heartbeat later as fire exploded from his heel, shattering the ice and propelling him forward like a missile. His movement blurred into a streak of blue-white frost and blazing orange flame, tearing straight toward Izuku.
Izuku didn't flinch.
The air around him rippled as he exhaled slowly, lowering into a grounded stance. His feet sank just enough into the fractured concrete, muscles coiling with controlled power.
Shoto closed the distance in an instant.
His fist—half encased in jagged ice, half wreathed in roaring fire—swung with crushing force, the air cracking like thunder from the sheer velocity.
Izuku raised one hand.
BAM!
Fist met palm.
The impact erupted like a cannon blast.
A violent shockwave exploded outward, pulverizing nearby ice formations into glittering shards and scattering burning embers across the arena like shooting stars. The sound slammed into the stadium walls, rattling the structure itself.
"WOAHHH!!" Present Mic screamed, barely audible over the chaos. "DID YOU SEE THAT?! THAT'S NOT JUST A CLASH—THAT'S A NATURAL DISASTER IN HUMAN FORM!!"
The crowd's cheers spiked into a deafening roar as steam swallowed the battlefield. Fire hissed against melting ice, water pouring into cracks torn open by the impact. The arena warped under the sheer output, heat and cold warring violently.
Through the haze—
Izuku didn't move an inch.
He held Shoto's full-force strike with one hand, arm steady, posture relaxed. His smirk never faded.
"Better," he said evenly, pushing Shoto back a step. "Now… let's really fight."
The mist churned around them like a living storm. Beneath their feet, the ground was split between frozen spikes and scorched stone—a perfect mirror of Shoto's duality.
Shoto answered with action.
He charged again.
A jagged wave of ice ripped forward, spikes as tall as walls surging up to entomb Izuku in a frozen grave.
Izuku sprinted straight into it.
BOOOM!
His fist shattered the first spike.
Then another. Then another. Each punch blasted through the ice like paper walls, shockwaves punching tunnels through the frozen onslaught until Izuku burst free of the storm, closing the distance in a heartbeat.
Shoto's left side ignited.
With a roar, he swung wide, unleashing a point-blank torrent of flame. The heat washed over the stadium, forcing spectators in the front rows to shield their faces as the air itself screamed.
Izuku blurred.
He slipped beneath the arc of fire, pivoting low, and snapped a kick into Shoto's shin.
CRACK!
The blow knocked Shoto off balance—but he adapted instantly, twisting his torso and slamming his ice-covered elbow down like a warhammer.
Izuku caught it with one hand.
The impact shattered the stone beneath them, cracks racing outward.
Then Izuku smiled.
"Too slow."
He spun, dragging Shoto forward, and drove his knee into Shoto's gut.
BANG!
The sound echoed like a gunshot.
Shoto gasped, air exploding from his lungs as ice shattered off his body. His concentration wavered for just a fraction of a second—
Enough.
The crowd erupted.
"THIS IS INSANE!!" Present Mic screamed, voice cracking. "MIDORIYA'S FIGHTING LIKE A SEASONED PRO—AND SHOTO'S POWER CAN'T PIN HIM DOWN!!"
But Shoto wasn't done.
Flames erupted violently, forcing Izuku back. Shoto skated across his ice with furious speed, hurling massive glaciers and fireballs in rapid succession.
The arena became a warzone.
Explosions of fire melted rising towers of ice. Water hissed into steam. Smoke and mist swallowed the stage as heat and cold collided endlessly. Through it all— Izuku moved. Dodging. Weaving. Striking only when necessary. Each blow was clean. Shoto's breathing grew heavier with every exchange.
Finally, desperation gave way to resolve. Shoto poured everything into one last attack.
His left side erupted in a colossal flame burst, a roaring inferno that swallowed half the arena. His right arm formed a mountain of jagged ice, spiraling upward with lethal force.
"THIS IS MY FULL POWER!!"
He brought both sides crashing down toward Izuku.
The entire stadium shook.
And then—
WHOOOOSH!
Izuku burst through the smoke like a bullet.
He cut a clean line through fire and ice, stepped into Shoto's guard, twisted at the hip—
—and unleashed a single, devastating right hook.
BAAAAAAAAAAM!
The punch landed square on Shoto's jaw.
The shockwave ripped the mist apart, slamming into the stadium walls and rattling the stands.
Shoto's body went airborne, spinning helplessly before crashing hard into the concrete. Ice shattered into fragments. Flames snuffed out instantly.
Silence.
Then—
Midnight raised her hand.
"SHOTO TODOROKI IS UNABLE TO CONTINUE!!" she announced. "THE WINNER—MIDORIYA!!"
The stadium exploded.
Cheers thundered so loud the structure trembled.
Izuku exhaled slowly, lowering his fist. There was no gloating. No celebration. Just calm control. He turned and walked toward the tunnel as chants of his name followed him like a tide.
Behind him, Shoto lay on the ground, fingers brushing his bruised jaw. His chest rose and fell heavily.
He had gone all out. And still lost. Yet beneath the sting of defeat, something else stirred.…Respect.
'At least I tried,' he thought.
As Izuku disappeared down the tunnel, a small, genuine smile crossed his face.
'I really enjoyed that fight,' he thought.
'But I want a challenge. Might have to take Endeavors invite seriously'
TO BE CONTINUED