26 Tournament 3/3

Thank god, this tournament is finally over.

-*-*-*-

"Does it hurt?" The old lady in front of Kotei asked.

She was currently bandaging his arm which was in a bad shape even though she used her quirk on him. For reasons that she could not comprehend, it did not work as much as it should on anyone and she was sure that the young man in front of her was far from tired.

"It does." He replied, moving his damaged arm around.

"But the pain is manageable, I won't have any problem with fighting." Kotei finished, looking at Recovery Girl.

'Such injury should make any child or grow man cry in pain, but he simply shrugged it, like if it wasn't there in the first place. This child has an amazing pain tolerance.' The old woman thought looking at him using his supposedly damaged arm as if there was nothing wrong with it.

After a few seconds of observing him, she simply nodded in response and turned her head toward the unconscious blonde on the other bed, and sighed.

"Don't come back injured troublesome child, and stop sending your little comrade here on a stretcher."

"I don't hurt them, they simply hurt themselves on my attacks." Kotei stated shrugging his shoulders as he was putting back his shirt.

Hearing his answer she lifted her walking stick and tried to strike him on the head, but he already left through the door, leaving behind his voice as the only memory of him being here.

"Thanks for the help anyway madam."

Sighing at his actions, she simply whispered. "Childs nowadays are way too troublesome."

-*-*-

After exiting Recovery Girl's Nurse's office, Kotei was thinking back about the fight which just occurred.

'It was quite close... For a moment I lost myself in the power, and almost use my full strength.'

Stopping in the middle of the empty corridor, he brought his eyes to look at his hand then formed a fist.

"Still, it was quite... funny." A grin appeared on his face but soon disappeared to be replaced by a small smile as he noticed the steps approaching.

Turning around and opening his arms, he watched the flying girl.

"Kotei~! I knew that you would win!" Nejire said, her voice as energetic as always.

"Your cheers gave me strength." He said stealthily praising her.

"Hehehe~" She seems pleased with his sweet words and broke the hug and took a step back to fully look at him.

Noticing his bandaged arm, she started to launch a volley of questions to which he quickly put an end by patting her head.

"Don't worry Nejire, it is just something Recovery Girl wanted me to put, I'm uninjured."

"If you say so..." Seemingly appeased by his words, she practically melted as she felt his hand on her head.

She did not know why a simple head pat was so good, but she was not going to complain.

"I have the last match now. I will have to go, Nejire." Kotei said after a few seconds, the smile on his face did not fade as he was always calm near the periwinkle-haired girl.

Hearing him, she nodded and regained control of her body once his hand left her head.

Regaining her cheerful behavior, she jumped in his arms once again and whispered seductively in his ears.

"If you win I will give you a very special gift tonight~"

Laughing at her words, he asked.

"Would it be a gift for you or me, since I am going to win anyway?"

Pouting at his response, she asked back.

"For both of us! Don't you agree?"

"Yeah, you are right. It is always the peak of pleasure I would say." Kotei replied, putting her back on her own two feet.

Thankfully, his response seems to please her as her small pout was replaced by a blinding smile, and her cheeks took a rosy hue.

She seems both embarrassed and happy and shouts her last encouragements before leaving for the bleachers of the stadium.

"Wreck them all Kotei!"

Smiling at his girlfriend's words, Kotei began to resume his walk toward the entrance of the arena.

However, his smile disappeared as he noticed someone that he was not enjoying the presence of.

The man who was leaning on the wall turned toward Kotei and looked back with the same glare he always has when he is publicly seen.

"What can I help you with... Endeavor was it?" Kotei asked first, the match would start in less than a minute now.

"As expected, you are the only one worthy enough to make my boy fight at a hundred percent! I thought that this Midoriya boy would push him to completely use it, but he fainted the moment Shoto went all out!" He said with zeal, as his fire was dancing around him even stronger.

Pointing his finger at Kotei, he declared.

"You are the perfect instrument to push him to his limits! Go out there, and be a stepping stone for my perfect creation!"

"That's... was absolutely disgusting." Kotei said, his face morphing in one of utter disgust.

"?!" Endeavor seemed to be shocked by Kotei's words and at the moment he was going to reply, Kotei's voice was heard once again.

"You are a failure, everyone knows that." Kotei said while walking past Endeavor.

Stopping just before he was outside, Kotei talked to the silent hero for the last time.

"This is quite sad actually. Having to neglect your whole family for a dream that you eventually won't be able to achieve. Deep inside, you know that you will always be weaker than the blonde boy scout."

Turning his head slightly, to look at the shivering hero behind him from the corner of the eye, he continued.

"So much rage against yourself, hidden by this fake pride and arrogance. It is utterly disgusting."

Once finished, Kotei stepped outside and resumed his walk under the cheers of the hundreds of people present today, toward his last battle of the day.

In the same corridor in which he was earlier, the fire hero brutally punched the wall, leaving a dent in a fist mark.

Gritting his teeth he did not know what to think anymore as the last thing he did before leaving was thinking about the boy's words.

But he was sure- no certain, that his creation was stronger... at least that what he hopes.

Stopping a few meters from the younger Todoroki, Kotei's face adorned an unusual smile.

The type which makes one feel uneasy as if they were watched by something that went beyond their understanding.

Noticing this weird feeling, Shoto took a fighting stance and was ready to dodge and retaliate at Kotei's slightest move.

"3!"

Midnight began the countdown.

Kotei was still completely unmoving, as his gaze was locked on Shoto.

"2!"

Shoto wanted to say to him to go all out, but from what he was feeling he thought that he did not need to precise it.

"1!"

At this exact moment, Shoto was focused beyond comprehension and watched Kotei's figure with readiness and clear unease. The suffocating feeling from before did not go away and simply got amplified after each second.

"Start!" Midnight announced, making the crowd look intensely at the fight.

When Midnight's voice traveled to everyone's ears, Kotei began to... walk.

One foot in front of the other. Each step was slow and precise, almost like a machine.

Each one of his feet left an imprint behind, each time deeper than the previous one.

The spectators were looking at the event with confusion as they simply witnessed as Kotei walked to his opponent while this last one was unmoving, his eyes locked on him.

From what they previously saw, Shoto should have let a huge iceberg and hoped to encased him inside now that he was near. Strangely enough, he did not move at all as Kotei was now right in front of him, his strange smile still on his face and his hands in his pockets.

Kotei stood in front of his opponent for a few seconds unmoving before he flicked his forehead with enough strength to send the Todoroki flying a few meters in the air before he could stop his fly with his ice.

Shoto seemed quite bewildered to have been sent flying as he did not understand what just happened.

One second he was ready for Kotei's move, the other he was flying from where he was standing with a striking pain on his forehead.

He reacted fast enough to stop himself, but he was still perplexed by what happened.

"Welcome back." He heard Kotei's voice said something which confused him even more.

'Was he moving too fast for me to see or was it something else?' Shoto asked himself, readying himself once again.

"What did you do?" He asked Kotei.

The smile on Kotei's face widened, adding even more mystery to the case.

"Ever heard of animalistic instincts?"

"What?" Shoto frowned.

"Your body simply shut itself as it literally encountered his natural predator."

"You mean..."

"The only natural predator of humans is other humans."

"... Do you think that it will stop me?"

"Obviously not. It just was really fun to demonstrate my superiority."

Not wasting more time, Shoto released a giant ice block which completely froze Kotei.

Not a second later, cracks appeared everywhere on the ice and Kotei left the ice prison with visible purple gravitational waves flowing around him.

"Petty tricks." Kotei said looking at his opponent.

"That's what I call an attack." Kotei declared, punching in Shoto's direction.

Whatever was in front of him was blasted away, including Shoto's ice which was aiming to supposed to protect him.

Shoto was on the arena's limits, and he did not use his fire quirk yet. He could sense that Kotei was far from being serious. In fact, besides the feeling he gave him earlier which literally made him lose consciousness, he did not have a slight idea of his limits.

"Seems like I can't hold back like before..." Shoto whispered, his left side catching fire.

Kotei did not move from where he was as he continued to smile looking at his opponent.

'I hate it so much... it reminds me of his quirk.' Shoto thought, feeling the fire burn hotter and hotter.

"However, if I want to beats him I don't have my word in it! Take this Kotei Juryoku!" Shoto shouted, releasing both fire and ice toward Kotei, just like what he did in his previous fight against the green-haired boy from their class.

Due to the difference in temperature of his attacks, an explosion was seen, kicking a lot of dust in Kotei's location.

After a few seconds, the dust settled and Kotei could be seen standing at his previous spot.

It seems like he did not receive any kind of damage as only his upper clothes were shredded. Even the bandage of his arm disappeared as his perfectly undamaged hand was revealed.

The strangest thing about him was that his gaze was not directed toward Shoto, but high in the sky, just above them.

"Tell me Todoroki... can you still dance after that?" Kotei asked, lowering his head toward his opponent.

Shoto was perplexed, but the shadow which was being cast on the whole arena was certainly answering his questions as he hurriedly lifted his head toward the sky and had the same expression as everyone who was looking at the event.

A giant meteor was falling from the sky, just above the arena.

Kotei's voice was heard through the whole stadium as everyone was looking at the space debris which was promising them certain death.

"[Inevitable Doom]"

Falling on his ass, Shoto's gaze was still focused on the meteor which was approaching at a dangerous speed.

In the next second, he said the thing which would have been said by anyone in this situation.

"I-I lost..."

Hearing that, Kotei smiled and lifted his hand toward the meteor.

"[Collapsing Star]" Closing his hand and forming a fist, what happened next was even more shocking.

The meteor seems to be absorbed inside itself and disappeared after a few seconds of being reduced.

When everyone thought it was over, an explosion was seen and felt, the gust reaching the stadium which was a few kilometers.

Smiling at his actions, Kotei looked toward Shoto and then Midnight and said.

"It seems like I have won."