Chapter 67 - Inaza Yoarashi

The second test was over in a flash.

In addition to trapping the students inside my dome, I also had fun creating other separations within the dome. For example, I forced the teams to fight in tight spaces to gain access to their "exit" and return to the main dome.

Inaza - although I saw him glance at the improvised vent between my feet - hadn't tried to blow up the dome. It was understandable - if he didn't use enough wind, the debris would fall on the students inside, and if he used too much, he'd send it all over the audience. Bakugo, on the other hand, didn't disappoint me when he tried to blow up the main pillar at the end.

He probably thought something like "If these losers get hit by the ice, it'll be due to their own incompetence".

However, the event was time-limited and the timer announced the end. I stood up, a little disappointed that my little games had ended so quickly (I had planned to use my flames to turn my giant cage into a prototype of hell, but apparently that'll for another time).

- Shoto, Midnight shouted, pointing her whip at the dome.

I blazed like a torch, sending a salvo of flames that ignited the entire surface of my ice. Gradually it turned to liquid, drops of hot water mixing with the cold sand of the arena. Since I didn't hear any screams, I concluded that the temperature was more or less bearable for an ordinary mortal (I could only rely on this since my quirks had distorted my ability to understand what a normal temperature was).

My column began to melt from the bottom up; within a handful of seconds, I found myself on the ground in the midst of the other competitors, my ten-million-dollar headband still firmly attached to my forehead.

Were people looking at me murderously ?

Of course.

Did I like it ?

I loved being hated.

I didn't turn to Bakugo, already anticipating the level of anger he must have been in. As far as he was concerned, I'd looked down on him during the two trials (which was true) and considered him a nobody (he was more of a pest, but that was the idea).

If I even breathed too hard in his direction, I was pretty sure he'd pounce on me, Aizawa's threats or not; it was better he saved all that fervor for the next trial.

- The winner is once again SHOTO TODOROKIIIII!, Mic shouted, and the crowd roared with him.

I remained neutral in the face of the cheers and the half admiring, half angry looks of the other students.

I couldn't let those few thousand fans make me feel like I was on top of the world when I hadn't even started climbing the ladder; after all, it was only the beginning of my rise.

One day they would kneel before me - that was a certainty.

*

Inaza, Inaza, Inaza.

I didn't really know what to think of him.

He was weird, odd, but if there was one person in 1-A I didn't consider unworthy of breathing the same air as me, it was him.

When the first match was announced, there was dead silence in the 1-A section.

- Inaza Yoarashi against Shoto Todoroki! It's a promising match, in more ways than one! Eraserhead, what's your prediction?

- We need to reinforce the bleachers, he huffed. Where's Cementos?

Then Mic had to cover his microphone, as only half-muffled words could be heard.

- Haha, what a joker this Eraser Head ! The Yuei Championship will return after this little commercial !

I looked away from the giant screens and met Inaza's gaze.

He was serious now; all traces of his silly personality were gone. The atmosphere was heavy, the air saturated with tension.

- You can still give up, I said.

He frowned.

- Give up ? Why ? (He smiled) A hero never gives up, no matter the odds

Sometimes I wondered if he really believed all his bullshit or if he was just doing it on purpose.

If he faced someone he was sure he couldn't defeat, would he die for his ideals ?

This kind of thinking was so different from my own that I found it hard to comprehend.

What was the point of dying for an idea ? An idea is only the fruit of a concept, and no concept is infallible. If you sacrifice yourself knowing that it's pointless because the big bad wolf will win in the end, haven't you sacrificed yourself for nothing ?

I looked away as Inaza struck a pose, thumbs up in my direction.

- As if, I said and stood up

If I ever saw such conflict of interest, I'd definitely side with the big bad wolf.

*

I checked my last messages and waited for Mic to introduce us so I could enter the arena.

Dad : I'll be there for the final round of your championship.

I smiled slightly when I saw that he had managed to free himself; as a hero of his rank, being able to carve out even a few hours of free time from his daily schedule was quite a feat.

Not like all these second-rate heroes in the stands who think they're big shots.

Another message arrived.

Dad : Some people I know want to meet you after your first game. Is that okay with you ?

My eyebrows shot up. I replied briefly before putting my phone in my pocket.

Me : Okay

Inaza had been announced first; when I heard the audience's applause intensify, I knew that Mic had introduced me.

I entered the arena with my hands in my pockets.

I glanced briefly at the crowd before turning away - I found them so pathetic, huddled in cramped bleachers in the blazing sun just to watch a handful of teenagers play games. They'd paid to come; that was what amazed me the most.

You'd have to kill me to ever agree to such a waste of time and money.

I turned my attention back to Inaza; he was squinting, using his hands as a visor.

We exchanged glances and he looked surprised to see me (I frowned); he shook his hand in my direction with too much joy to be fake.

- Todoroki-san !

Midnight looked amused by his antics; I chose to ignore the boy.

- The first one to leave the combat zone loses, she reminded us. If you're both still here in the next 30 minutes, it's a draw.

Inaza shouted a loud "Understood sensei!" ; I just nodded. Midnight left us.

Inaza put on his most serious expression. - Let's do our best, Todoroki-san !

The whistle blew.

I barely had time to call for a gust of flame before Inaza retaliated with a wall of wind that sent me tumbling backwards. My flames managed to break the direction of his attack and kept me from being torn from the ground, though I had to bend my legs to withstand the impact. A stone - the size of a fist - flew at full speed in my direction without me (officially) being able to get out of the way; it crashed right into my nose, a sonorous "crack" reaching my ears.

Slightly incredulous, I lowered the top of my mask to place a finger on it.

Blood ? My blood ?

I was half sure I could hear Bakugo chuckling in the distance.

I smiled wickedly and wiped the blood from my nose with the tip of my thumb.

- Such violence, Inaza : it's not like you.

Legs bent, he took a breath to answer me:

- You're a formidable opponent, Todoroki-san. Anything less would be a mistake on my part.

Another gust of wind tried to tear me from the ground; I let myself be picked up and flew into the air. Inaza's eyes widened in surprise; the crowd roared; Mic shouted :

- Had Inaza Yorashi pulled off a tour de force by beating the previously undefeated winner of the first two rounds ?

I was high in the air, now a few meters above the ground, crossing the boundaries of the field. If he threw another salvo at me now, I'd be finished. In theory.

Inaza stood there, arms flailing, waiting for me to fall off by myself. But he didn't get carried away by the intoxication of the crowd.

He's not as stupid as I thought.

I held out my palms to him. A cloud of steam escaped from my lips. He saw it and used his Quirk to pull himself back to the edge of the field before facing me, the wind wrapping around him.

...interesting.

A veritable geyser of ice exploded from my hands, sweeping away everything in its path. The other Shoto in the anime had difficulties because his power was limited: I didn't have that problem because my substantial chakra made up for any difficulties.

Besides, I'd been training for many years; my reserves of Quirk were, I assumed, much greater than those of the other loser in the original story.

I had only limited the diameter of my ice wave so that it wouldn't 'accidentally' kill any onlookers (Aizawa would certainly nag me about it, and he already was enough a pain in the ass that I didn't want to give him even more reason to do so). Some might lose a finger or two, but nothing really important.

Inaza raised his hands in turn, clenched his teeth, and summoned the biggest gust of wind I've ever seen in my life.

It was like a typhoon in the sky: the air whistled, the trees around the arena bent under the force. I almost let myself be swept into the heart of the storm, so surprised was I; the original Inaza had never demonstrated such mastery of his Quirk.

I activated my Hell Flame at my feet and continued to project chakra into my hands. My flames exploded with a roar and turned blue: that's how unstable I was, high in the air without any support, and how much I needed them to keep me from being swept away.

In the stands, the lowly people were having a hard time: I saw some clinging to their seats to avoid being caught in the tornado, others taking refuge in the space between two rows of seats.

A jacket twirled through the air amidst half a dozen full bags of popcorn and Cokes spilling their contents into the air.

- Hey, my coat !

A child pointed an accusing finger at what now looked like a black flag flying in the sky. His mother grabbed him by the neck and threw him violently to the ground to prevent him from following the tragic fate of his garment.

I could barely hear the sound of my ice being reduced to heaps in the face of Inaza's onslaught: the whistling of the wind nearly deafened me. I gritted my teeth as his wind tore at my skin, hundreds of tiny cuts appearing on my flesh. I poured a monstrous amount of chakra into my Quirk to multiply its speed - and power: if my ice had resembled a wave before, what I now sent at him was worthy of a tsunami.

In addition to being faster, my ice was now much higher - he wouldn't break it fast enough. He'd either step aside or...

I could no longer hear the sound of my glass breaking.

I projected myself to the left of the field at full speed, my Hell Flame giving me a boost.

It was a gamble to know which way he would come: since coming from above was out of the question, since the height of my ice was too high (and he'd lose enough time for me to carry out his plans), the only way left was the sides. As for whether it would be the right or the left...

'Todoroki-san, you're right-handed !'

Inaza burst out from behind a block of ice and came at me at full speed. He looked confused when he saw me, the evil boy.

I'm ambidextrous, Inaza.

I sent a stream of flames at him, to which he responded clumsily. He threw himself awkwardly to the side, dodged by a hair's breadth, and ended up with singed eyebrows. I sent another salvo, which he dodged more deftly this time, coming at me faster and faster.

Let's see what he does with this.

I sent concentrated stream of fire after concentrated stream of fire as he began to find the rhythm between my attacks, becoming complacent and arrogant.

Fool.

This time, I sent a pure curtain of flames in his direction: he wouldn't have any eyebrows left, no matter what he chose.

He should thank me, the moron.

Against all odds, Inaza sprang to the heart of my flames and spun around at full speed. He was like a torpedo out of a rocket launcher: incredibly fast, but also - and most importantly - incapable of stopping. All I had to do was shift out of the way for him to pass me without raising a hair on my neck.

Looks like a failed Howitzer Impact.

At least Bakugo was smart enough to avoid the tunnel vision that made him easy prey. But then against all expectations, Inaza didn't pass me by: as soon as he reached my level, he exploded. Literally.

The wind he had compressed around him acted like a bomb, pushing everything away in its wake.

I resisted as best I could, but the pressure was too great: I was thrown at full speed onto the arena floor, unable to stop myself.

I struggled, but the pressure was too great: I was thrown at full speed onto the arena floor, unable to stop myself. The wind was so strong that it was impossible to turn me in midair: I was like a cannonball - nothing and no one could stop me from reaching my destination.

I strengthened my entire body with chakra and clenched my teeth and braced myself for impact.

BOOM !

The floor of the arena creaked.

I inhaled the dusty air and started coughing. It took me a few seconds to catch my breath; I lay there like a starfish, my eyes lost in the immensity of the sky above me.

Damn, Inaza doesn't mess around.

A huge smile formed on my lips.

I expected him to seize the opportunity to pick me up like a flower and send me tumbling out of bounds, but he did not.

The remnants of his wind continued to whip my face, and he still floated high in the air, looking down at me with his arms crossed over his chest.

It's downright stupid not to use the opportunity of Shoto Todoroki on a silver platter.

My perplexity turned into a pair of furrowed brows.

Does he sense my trap ? Or maybe…

My smile was so wide that it could have split my face in two.

A platform of ice rose from beneath my back, like a geyser erupting from the

Yellowstone floor. I arrived so fast that the wind itself pressed me against the ice wall, preventing me from moving by a hair's breadth: I angled the trajectory of my pillar to land right under Inaza.

He widened his eyes and tried to avoid me, to no avail. The pillar suddenly stopped growing and I was hurled at Inaza like a cannonball. I landed feet first to maximize the force of the impact: Inaza's eyes shone with cold determination. He crossed his arms in an X-shape to protect himself as best he could; I came in feet first to do maximum damage.

The sound of cracking bone echoed in my ears.

Inaza's gaze wavered, but his eyes never left mine for a second.

My smile turned carnivorous: I used his forearms as a trampoline to propel myself backwards in a perfect somersault, causing him to grunt in pain.

My flames exploded from my feet, acting like jet engines to keep me stable in the air.

- That's why you didn't throw me out earlier, isn't it? Your mastery of the wind is limited; you can't control all of its currents. Once you direct it in one direction, you can't change it until it disperses.

My hand twitched so much that I couldn't keep it still, but it didn't matter.

Everything that had happened before - everything I'd shown the world - was nothing compared to what I was about to do.

- You're the first one to push my Quirks to the limit, you know ?

And it was so damn fantastic.

Inaza ran two fingers over his eyebrow, wiping away the blood that threatened to trickle down his lashes; he gave me a huge, joyous smile, thumb raised.

- I'm honored, Todoroki-san !

My lips curled into a sneer.

Without warning, I propelled myself into the sky with my flames, rising higher and higher. The wind whipped at my skin, tearing it almost to the point of bleeding - but with every meter, the resistance became less and less; Inaza, for all his good intentions, was just an exhausted child whose quirk had a limited range. Nearly forty meters above the ground, I needed only a short burst of flame to turn around, now parallel to the arena floor.

I could see Inaza's eyes wide, the sweat dripping down his neck, the dried sand on his face.

But he was smiling, like the big idiot he was.

I imitated his expression without being able to stop myself, feeling the adrenaline rush through my body. He'd take it - yes, I was sure he would.

I inhaled deeply and felt my chakra grow so strong that the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Arcs of blue light danced across my skin, electrifying me like the most powerful of currents.

The heat concentrated between my fingers, like a white beam of unheard-of purity. Pea-sized, it grew, grew, grew.

I concentrated with all my might to shape it into a cylinder, but my chakra fought against me, scratching inside my body to make it all explode. If I let go too soon, the bleachers - and all the spectators - would go up in smoke. That wouldn't have bothered me too much under normal circumstances, but with the old man around...

I clenched my teeth so hard that veins appeared on my forehead, pulsing violently against the barrier of my skin. Smoke rose from my palms and my own hands began to burn.

A bit more, a bit more, a tiny bit more...

And then I let go.

A huge white tube exploded from my hands, so bright that for a few seconds I could see nothing.

It was a white so intense that it eclipsed even the light of the sun, drowning everything in its brilliance - beyond the white, nothing was visible.

As the light hit the ground, an explosion shook the foundations of the arena, threatening to engulf everything.

I was thrown backward by the blast, flying like a meteorite toward the edge of the arena. I heard screams in the distance as I spun around helplessly. I wanted to rip my head off for unconsciously activating my Sharingan at the start of my attack, flash banging myself by mistake. My thoughts spun in slow motion, an urgent urge to vomit gripped my gut. A hot, sticky liquid dripped from my eyes, and I knew the sensation too well not to know what it was.

There was a gust of hot air and the sound of debris crashing to the ground.

I forced my eyes open, disoriented, no longer able to tell earth from sky as I was thrown around. I forced flames from my hands to steady myself and prevent a fatal fall.

It took me a few minutes to come to my senses and realize where I was. A severe headache pounded against my skull; my brain was a cacophony of thoughts, and I could barely manage to be coherent over the melee of voices in my head.

I blinked, fluttering my eyelashes quickly to make the shapes clearer. Even though

I couldn't see colors anymore (which I hoped was temporary), I had no trouble seeing where I was; outside the arena, just a few feet off the ground. A little more and I would have died a stupid death caused by my own stupidity.

Okay, I'll never use a theoretical technique in combat that I haven't tested before.

I had almost killed myself for the second time that day, and I couldn't decide if it was the height of hilarity or if I was just completely crazy.

I slowly turned around, my flames sputtering a bit before I (gently) propelled myself back into the arena.

Even with my black and white vision, I had no trouble seeing the waves of smoke coming from the stands and spilling out. It felt like a pot boiling over.

I could more or less make out the huge cement dome that Cementos had erected at the last second to protect the audience from my attack. The cement was melting, gray bubbles bursting here and there inside. The walls had turned to liquid, gray rivers flowing into the arena, forming huge burning pools. Smoke billowed in white curls, swirling in the hot air.

The floor - the arena floor - was completely destroyed.

In the center was a crater four meters deep. All around it were irregular fissures, quickly filled with flowing cement. Rocks littered the ground here and there, and the sand formed a yellow haze that made it impossible to see the rest of the damage properly.

For a moment, I stood dazed at the chaos and destruction I had wrought; then, slowly, a thin smile came to my lips as I contemplated my handiwork.

This is what I'm capable of using only fifty percent of my power: if I keep pushing my limits, will anyone be able to stop me ?

I felt powerful, ecstatic, infinitely dangerous.

A groan escaped from the yellow cloud.

Inaza.

I landed, released my Hell Flame and moved towards the source of the sound.

Hesitation made my steps uncertain, and I began to worry about the state I would find him in.

Did he survived ?

I found myself wishing he had.

The dust settled.

The blurred outline of a body began to take shape before my eyes.

He was panting, his breathing wheezy and labored. The skin on his left arm was burned, his flesh pink and raw. Blood trickled from the wounds on his forehead and torso, staining his dirty clothes, which looked more like rags than anything else. His hands - I had to look twice to be sure of what I was seeing - were lacerated, as if a million blades had sliced through his flesh, carving deep parallel lines into his fingers.

I paused for a moment, the realization of what he'd done hitting me like a cold shower.

He had voluntarily mutilated himself with his Quirk to avoid melting in my flames.

He'd had to envelop himself in a tornado of unprecedented power to avoid dying, even if it meant crippling himself.

My respect for him is surgi-

I met his gaze.

There was nothing where his pupils should have been.

- Did he... did he faint on his feet?

I couldn't believe it.

The breeze picked up, so faint it sounded like a child's breath.

Inaza's knees shook and he almost fell forward, like a leaf carried by the wind.

I was at his side in an instant, supporting his weight on my shoulder and keeping him from collapsing against me with one arm.

Midnight whistled the end of the game: nurses rushed in with a stretcher and took Inaza away from me.

I stood in a daze for a moment, unable to take my eyes off the teenager whose strength of character was unquestionably the strongest I'd seen in two lifetimes.

- SHOOOTOOO TODOROKIIII IS THE WINNER!

Shouts - my name was being screamed - and cries of joy brought me out of my stupor.

I smiled in disbelief, turning around to make sure everyone was applauding, and yes, they had only eyes for me.

Hesitant at first, I raised my hand in greeting. The cheers doubled as I couldn't help but laugh nervously.

- I almost killed them all and they applaud me ?

Inaza was already a distant memory in my mind.

That feeling of being invincible, of believing that I could do anything without anyone stopping me, was galvanizing.

It was my first taste of mass worship, and I wasn't sure I ever wanted to go back.

*

Author's note :

Seeing the number of power stones compared to the number of people who read the story daily, I think there is a problem.

I usually publish at around 01h45 Paris' time but I want to know if most of you would prefer a publication schedule nearer to the power stones reset.

Tell me in the comments section and I'll follow whatever is more convenient for you.

Anyway, you can support me on my P@treon Nar_cisseENG if you want to read up to 50 chapters ahead.

See you in the next update everyone !