Deadpool was currently wearing a full, heavy-duty EOD bomb disposal suit, but he had painted it bright orange with "I ❤️ BOOM" in sparkly glitter on the chest. He was holding two giant red buttons, looking back and forth between them with manic glee.
"tum, if you have sensitive ears, now is the time to stick some cotton balls in there—or maybe just move to a different continent!" Deadpool screamed, his voice muffled by the thick blast visor. "We are in Ring 2, and the local seismograph just gave up and died! It's the King of Explodo-Kills versus the Arch-Wizard of the Crimson Demons! It's Bakugo against Megumin! It's a contest of who can turn the most oxygen into fire in under five seconds!"
Ring 2 was a completely flat, barren salt plain. There was nowhere to hide, no cover, and nothing but white sand for miles. It was a blank canvas waiting to be painted with fire.
Heimdall was broadcasting from a satellite orbiting the planet. "Match Number Twenty-Eight! The explosive prodigy of Class 1-A, Katsuki Bakugo! Versus the explosion-obsessed mage, Megumin!"
The Spark vs. The Chant
Bakugo stood in the center of the salt flat, his palms already crackling with orange sparks. His hero costume hummed with stored nitroglycerin. "Hey, brat! I don't care if you're a girl or a wizard—if you're in my way, I'm gonna blast you into next week! Why are you just standing there with that stupid staff?"
Megumin stood her ground, her red cloak fluttering dramatically. She adjusted her eyepatch and pointed her staff toward the sky. "You speak of explosions, boy? You play with firecrackers. I am a Crimson Demon! I have dedicated my entire life to the pursuit of the ultimate magic! I do not need 'rapid fire.' I only need... one."
The Count-Down
Bakugo didn't wait. He launched himself into the air using his Explosion quirk, flying toward Megumin like a human missile. "DIE! STUN GRENADE!"
A massive flash of light erupted in Megumin's face, but she didn't blink. She began her chant, her voice echoing across the salt flats with ancient power.
"Darkness blacker than black and darker than dark, I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson..."
Bakugo was closing in fast. "I don't know what you're saying, but it's too slow! AP SHOT!" He fired a concentrated beam of fire at her feet to knock her off balance.
Megumin didn't move. She was glowing with a terrifying red light.
"...the time of awakening has come! Behold my power! EXPLOSION!"
The Aftermath
Up in the booth, Deadpool dove behind a lead-lined refrigerator. "Brace yourself, tum! She's doing the thing! She's doing—!"
BOOM.
A mushroom cloud the size of a small city rose from the center of Ring 2. The shockwave was so powerful it turned the salt flats into glass for three miles in every direction. The sound was a roar that felt like the planet itself was screaming.
When the smoke finally cleared, Megumin was face-down in the dirt. She hadn't been hit; she was just completely paralyzed because using her ultimate magic drains every ounce of her energy. "Worth it..." she whispered into the sand.
Standing ten feet away, his hero costume scorched and his hair even spikier than usual, was Bakugo. He had used a Howitzer Impact to create a counter-blast at the exact moment of impact, shielding himself from the worst of the heat, though he was clearly dizzy and his ears were ringing.
"You... you crazy... brat..." Bakugo coughed, staggering over and lightly tapping the unconscious Megumin with his foot. She didn't move.
"Match Twenty-Eight winner... KATSUKI BAKUGO!" Heimdall announced from space.
Up in the booth, Deadpool popped his head out of the fridge. "She brought the bigger boom, but Bakugo brought the better cardio! That's 28 winners down, 23 matches to go in Round One, tum! I think my eyebrows are gone, but that was a beautiful sunset!"
The Matter is Changing!
We're cleaning up the salt and moving to the next ring!
Match 29 (Ring 19): Edward Elric vs. Overhaul. (Matter Reconstruction War! Alchemy vs. Disassembly!)
Match 30 (Ring 11): Rick Sanchez vs. Senku Ishigami. (The Battle of the Genius Brains! Science vs. Sci-Fi!)
Match 31 (Ring 13): Mikasa Ackerman vs. Spider-Gwen. (High-Speed Acrobatics!)