Chapter 62:

Shoto and Melissa spent the next few minutes desperately trying to form strategies that would work against the other. One was worried about killing him, the other was worried about freezing her to death.

It was a perfect representation of worries regarding the first year's sports festival. Some more intelligent people are probably wondering why barely trained first years are being forced into potentially fatal gladiatorial combat on a grand stage in front of millions. The simple answer was money.

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Shoto was confused about what he needed to do to win. His fire would do more damage; but he quickly wrote that off, as the tournament already had enough injuries happen in it without him adding third-degree burns to the list.

So, he tried to figure out what freezing techniques he could use. He spent years working on his ice side, now his entire body produces cold temperatures if he so chooses to.

It also takes time for him to build up to the correct temperature needed for flash-freezing, so he would need to stall as much as he could. That was a new part of his quirk he had now, the ability to store, and build up, various temperatures inside of his body for release.

He looked up at the TV and tried to get a gauge for the weather. He decided to go for some sub-zero rain as an opener and hoped that he could delay or avoid one of Melissa's gut-busting punches for long enough to make her sluggish, perhaps even succumb to the cold.

He had seen Melissa's behavior after the match, she was clearly shaken up a bit. But, more importantly, she was nervous. He was banking that her nervousness was about holding back, and therefore she would make a more conscious effort to do so.

The heterochromatic teen decided that he needed to take advantage of this nervousness, and pressure her while building up the cold inside of his body. In his eyes, that would be his best opportunity to stall for time.

When Thirteen came to guide him to the tunnel, he began building up thermal energy inside of himself, hoping that his early preparation would serve him well. Only time would tell if it would be a smart decision, or not.

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Melissa, on the other hand, only had one plan.

The plan involved kicking and punching her opponent, not confident in letting her opponent grab her. Her opponent could freeze her over with an extended touch, and she didn't want to give him the opportunity to do so on a golden platter.

So, her plan involved quick and precise hits, leaving her opponent no opportunity to do so. It was a rather simple plan, but one that would work. There was, however, a minor problem regarding the simple plan. It was the kicking and punching aspect, so basically the entire plan.

She didn't want to lose control of her quirk again. Sakuya's earlier words still rang deep for her,

"If Toga chose to transform into anybody else's body apart from mine or Momo's, your punch would have gone straight through her torso."

She could assume Kirishima could have been added into that equation, but the point still stood. If she loses control during the upcoming fight and unleashes a 100% smash on her opponent's body, he will die.

The thought of it happening has been plaguing her mind as soon as she was called to go to the waiting room. It wasn't a pleasant thing to be imagined, neither were the reactions to the scene that would happen soon after. Endeavor would probably go berserk, and try to avenge his fallen son, before her 'Uncle Might' stepped in.

It would probably be the worst thing that could happen to her hero career, well, apart from dying. But, killing the number 2 hero's son live on TV would be killing her career before it started. So, in a sense, it would be the worst thing that could happen to her.

Fortunately, she didn't have much time to stew in her thoughts for much longer as Hound Dog opened the door, a clear signal that the match would be starting in a minute and she needed to start moving towards the tunnels.

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The two competitors approached the grand stage to compete for the chance to make it to the finals, and perhaps even win the entire thing. But, they only needed to complete this last match before that opportunity could be given to them.

[[It's the first match of the semi-finals!! Whoever wins this match will move on to the finals, and have a shot at winning the entire festival!!

The competitors need no introduction, so let's see if they're ready!!]]

"Are you both ready?" Midnight called out to the two.

""Yes, Midnight-sensei.""

They both lied, neither was completely ready. Melissa wasn't ready mentally, and Shoto didn't have enough energy built up. Yet, they knew that they couldn't stall the match out any longer.

[[You heard them, folks!! 3, 2, 1, START!]]

Melissa didn't waste any time at all, and shot forward, charging up her percentage along the way. It was much more efficient in closing the gap compared to her usual approach of building up energy on the spot before launching off.

Shoto noticed this and sent off some ice to form a wall, hoping it would deter her for long enough. His brief moment of respite was short-lived as Melissa had smashed it down, clearly having built up a high enough percentage to manage the feat.

Grinding his teeth in annoyance, Shoto sent a few more layers of walls her way. They were thin, and weren't going to hold up, he just hoped that they kept her busy. He was only at 75% of the energy he needed to freeze her over before she could react, and with each ice wall made it depleted.

Melissa didn't bother smashing down any more of the walls and decided to jump over them. Shoto recognized this, mainly due to Melissa overshooting her jump and being visible in the air.

Knowing that she doesn't have much air maneuverability, Shoto knew it was his only chance to finish this before his opponent got her footing. He was at 85% of the energy needed, he just hoped it was enough.

Pointing both of his palms towards the airborne Melissa, he prepared to send all the energy he could in order to freeze her over. Melissa's Danger Sense was flaring like crazy, and she knew something bad was going to happen to her if she didn't dodge whatever it was that Shoto was going to do.

She couldn't move in the air, because Nana Shimura, or whatever Sakuya called her, was being a stubborn bitch about not giving her the quirk. Nana claimed she didn't want to assist in the death of her relative, as stupid as it was, so Float wasn't unlocking any time soon.

She decided to break the rule again and began lining up her finger's angle for a 100% smash. The safest option for her to dodge was upwards, she aimed her finger towards the floor and fired. The pain immediately set in, as she grits her teeth, she found herself speechless at what happened below her.

[[Oh my god! Shoto Todoroki has turned the stage into a winter wonderland in a split second!! Unfortunately for him, it looks as if Melissa managed to avoid it by launching herself into the air!]]

The entire stage was frozen over. The previously square stage was no longer, in its place was a mountain of ice. The temperature of the stadium fell a few degrees, and people began noticeably shivering. The unlucky few with certain mutation quirks were succumbing to hibernation.

Melissa didn't have much time to admire the sight, as she needed to finish this fight. She smashed another one of her fingers at just the right angle to send her towards the tired-out Shoto. He tried to fire off a flaming fist to try and ward her off, but it didn't work, she sped right through it.

A devastating kick implanted itself firmly into Shoto's torso as he was sent tumbling away. He used his ice to orient himself and managed to save himself from falling out of bounds by a mere few inches. Unfortunately, Melissa followed up her previous kick with another devastating blow that sent him through his ice, and into the grassy field below.

[[Shoto Todoroki is out of bounds!! Melissa Shield wins!!]]

Melissa couldn't believe it, she had won! It was too surreal for her to process properly.

She collapsed onto her knees and immediately winced as the freezingly cold concrete made contact with her. A shiver ran down her spine, but she was too dazed to move, she did, however, make use of the ice to ease the pain of her broken fingers.

"Ugh! Damn… I lost..." Shoto muttered to himself, not intending for anyone to hear it.

He was already dreading the incoming storm of his sperm donor, which was almost guaranteed to happen due to this loss.

His 'perfect creation' had lost against someone who's being compared to All Might and his student Star and Stripe, it was the worst possible scenario in the eyes of the number two hero. It was a bitter reminder to Endeavor, that no matter what he did, he would always lose to All Might.

Shoto began icing over his bruised skin, naively hoping it would somehow heal the injury, so he wouldn't have to enter the infirmary, the area where his father would probably head to first.

He stood up with some minor difficulty and had a good look at his handiwork.

It was definitely enough to hold his opponent for some time judging by the thickness of the ice, however, he completely missed. He had no idea what Melissa did to dodge it as he was too busy focusing on outputting all of his reserves to notice.

Opting to go to the stands, instead of the infirmary, he hoped that Sakuya was there to heal him so he could dodge his sperm donor for longer. He didn't choose to go through the tunnels, another place where Endeavor could ambush him, instead choosing to form an ice pillar under his feet to enter the stands directly.