Chapter 16 - I Am The Strongest

(Nero POV)

Right after Cassandra charged toward Momo, the white-haired boy stepped onto the ground, causing a tide of ice spikes to come toward me.

Activating [Infinity], I stood still.

The ice spikes, before hitting me, simply collided with [Infinity], stopping a few centimeters away from me.

With a smile, I took a few steps to the side, causing the tide of thorns to continue forward.

"Are we not even going to introduce ourselves first?" I asked with a slight smile.

The boy's eyes narrowed in my direction.

"You are Nero Fujiwara. I am Shoto Todoroki," Todoroki said coldly, creating a large ice spike that shot toward me.

I raised my hand, and the ice spike stopped in front of my palm.

"I don't think this will work..."

Before I could continue, Todoroki emerged from behind the tide of ice, throwing a punch that stopped in midair.

He raised his eyebrow, realizing that his hand seemed to be frozen in space.

Not exactly stopped, his hand is just infinitely slowly approaching me.

I thought, turning around and punching him in the stomach.

My punch sank into his stomach, causing spit to come out of his mouth.

A pained expression appeared for a few fleeting seconds, but he quickly recovered. In the blink of an eye, I was in front of him, throwing a kick.

Todoroki raised his arms to defend himself, but his body was thrown to the side. Quickly lowering my left leg, putting all my weight on it, I rotated my body and threw a sidekick.

My kick hit him square in the waist, sending his body flying. Todoroki ignored the pain and stomped on the ground, causing two ice stakes to emerge, aiming to pierce me, but the ice stakes stopped when they touched [Infinity].

I ignored him as he jumped back, gaining some distance.

He let out a sigh and shook his hand hard, causing a large wave of ice to swallow me.

My entire "body" was covered in a tomb of ice.

Oh! So this is how the Sapiens men felt.

I thought, looking around me.

At this moment, I was inside an ice tomb, but thanks to [Infinity], I had space to move, and the ice didn't even touch me.

But that didn't take away from the fact that I was in an ice tomb.

While I was in my tomb, I saw Cassandra deliver a kick so hard that it sent Momo flying backward.

That fight probably won't last long.

I thought with a smile, looking at Todoroki, who was breathing slightly heavily. So, I used [Mercury], appearing in front of him and immediately throwing a punch.

My punch went toward his face, but Todoroki had time to react; he quickly moved his arm, blocking the punch.

With the force of the impact, he took a few steps back.

Ignoring the bruises on his arm, he stomped on the ground, causing ice spikes to shoot towards me.

The spikes got stuck in [Infinity].

He is smart! I thought.

With this attack, I realized he wasn't simply spamming ice; his goal was to wear me out as much as possible.

He must have followed a simple logic: "This barrier must have a limit or consume a lot of energy."

And if that's really so, he's right!

[Infinity] really consumes a lot of my stamina, in addition to putting enormous pressure on my body and, especially, my brain.

Normally, I can maintain [Infinity] for about 30 consecutive minutes.

But whenever something physical is stopped by [Infinity], the stamina consumption increases, putting even more pressure on my body.

Let's say he starts spamming considerably strong blows toward [Infinity]; this would make these 30 minutes go by at a faster rate.

Smart! But ultimately futile.

I thought. After all, even if this barrage of techniques makes [Infinity] put more pressure on my body, thereby consuming more energy, the consumption you're causing is still negligible.

The simple fact is that these hits are relatively weak, meaning [Infinity] doesn't need to split the space into many segments, and consequently, it doesn't wear me out as quickly.

As I was thinking this, yet another ice spike tried to penetrate my barrier, only to slow down to the point where it appeared to be standing still.

My eyes went to the bomb; honestly, I just needed to touch it and it would be over, and that would be easy thanks to [Mercury]. But through Todoroki's eyes, I could see that he wanted this fight more than anything."

Although he was fighting with all his strength, it still seemed like he was holding back, as if he had something more and refused to use it.

Todoroki ran his hand over the ground, creating once again a tide of ice that was coming in my direction.

Sorry, but this time I'm going to put a little pressure on you.

I thought, raising my hand as the great tide of ice approached me.

"[Blue Lapse]."

When the tide of ice was about to swallow me, the chunks of ice simply began to break off and be pulled back by an attractive force.

Instantly, Todoroki's body was thrown backward along with the sharp pieces of ice.

His body hit the wall with such force that the sound echoed throughout the place, and blood spurted from his mouth.

To make matters worse, the pieces of ice flew toward him.

Pinned against the wall, his body began to be pierced by pieces of ice, while his left side, covered by something resembling ice, started to crack.

Todoroki's body slid down the wall, falling to the ground.

He fell, supporting himself on his hands as a pool of blood formed beneath him.

...

"I think I overdid it."

Although I controlled [Blue Lapse] to not be lethal, the damage was still considerable.

I let out a sigh.

It's better to touch that bomb so he can be healed. These injuries seem quite severe.

With that thought, I started walking towards the bomb.

As I walked, I glanced to the side and saw Cassandra sitting on the floor with Momo tied up beside her, both watching me.

Momo looked shocked, apparently unable to believe that Todoroki could lose, while Cassandra's expression was enigmatic.

I couldn't discern her thoughts from her gaze.

"Well, let's get this test over with."

I thought, approaching the bomb until, suddenly, a wall of ice formed between us, covering the entire room.

My eyes turned to the side, and I saw Todoroki getting up, ignoring his injury.

The ice on his left side broke off, revealing that the other half of his hair was red and his eyes were turquoise.

But what caught my attention was the scar on his left side; it was definitely from a burn.

This boy must have been through something heavy.

I thought, turning to him.

"Friend, we better stop here; your body needs..."

"Shut up," he said, stomping on the ground and freezing it. Multiple ice spikes emerged, trying to pierce me, but without the slightest success.

"That won't work," I said with a serious expression.

Without saying anything else, he let out a sigh, which came out as freezing air.

The temperature in the room instantly dropped.

He brought his left foot back and raised his right foot, slamming it hard on the floor.

This time, it wasn't a tide of ice, but a freezing tsunami that covered almost the entire room.

Tsk! I clicked my tongue, not because I was worried, but because the guy lost control.

He must have forgotten about his partner lying on the floor.

If she were caught by this attack, at best, she would end up in the infirmary in serious condition.

Instantly, I teleported in front of them; Momo had a desperate look on her face, while Cassandra remained stoic.

Without thinking twice, I expanded [Infinity], and then the tsunami hit us, devastating the wall behind us with ice spikes.

...

"That was an unnecessary exaggeration," I said, with Cassandra shaking her head.

We were trapped in an infinite amount of ice; the entire room was frozen, even the outside.

It's a shame, but I have to teach you what an unnecessary exaggeration is.

I thought, raising my hands, one next to the other.

Between my hands, I created negative space, bringing "negative numbers" and "negative distance" into reality.

"[Maximum: Blue Lapse]," I said, launching the blue sphere that began to break the ice and draw it towards itself.

I moved my hand to the side, making the sphere follow.

The ice disintegrated as it was pulled into the blue sphere; in a matter of seconds, the ice tsunami was no more.

Todoroki, standing there in disbelief, fell to his knees. For a single second, I saw his left side generate a spark of fire.

Todoroki began to be drawn toward the blue sphere; before he was completely pulled in, I raised my arm, sending everything flying.

Along with all the chunks of ice, the roof was instantly pulled back, letting daylight cover us.

In the sky, there was a large sphere of debris being crushed and destroyed.

With my hand still up, I closed it, making the blue sphere unstable and explode, evaporating the debris that wasn't destroyed.

This time, I let out a tired sigh, feeling slight fatigue and a headache. Additionally, my eyes were hurting and itchy for some reason.

But it wasn't anything serious.

Without saying anything else, I walked towards the bomb, which was intact, as I was controlling the blue so as not to hit it.

As I walked towards the bomb, I said:

"Todoroki, you're strong. You probably could have beaten or had the chance to beat any of our classmates, but..."

I exclaimed, touching my hand to the bomb.

"I'm the strongest," I said with complete confidence.

And right then, All Might's voice echoed through the building:

"THE TEAM OF HEROES WON!!!"