Chapter 32: Strength isn't everything.
The stadium pulsed with energy as the next match of the U.A. Sports Festival was announced.
"Next up! Katsuki Bakugo vs Tenya Iida!" Present Mic's voice boomed across the coliseum, sending a wave of excitement through the spectators.
Bakugo cracked his knuckles, his eyes locked onto Iida with a feral grin. He'd been waiting for a real fight. Iida, meanwhile, adjusted his glasses with a determined glint in his eyes. He hadn't used Recipro Burst yet, saving it for the right moment. Now, against Bakugo, he will need it.
"Good luck you two," Izuku nodded with a neutral expression.
"Won't need it!"
"Thank you, I'll do my best."
Standing opposite of each other, the two focused on one another, zoning out the laud crowd of spectators.
'I won't lose!' Iida cracked his joints, his engines roaring to life.
"Ready… BEGIN!"
Iida exploded forward, his engines roaring like a jet as he aimed to close the distance.
"Hah!" Bakugo anticipated it, launching himself backward with an explosion to avoid the immediate rush.
"Just because you dodged doesn't mean that I'll miss!" Iida pivoted sharply, twisting his body mid-dash and sending a powerful kick toward Bakugo's ribs.
"Uck!" Bakugo blocked with a cross-guard just in time, the impact rattling his bones. "Tch—so you're actually not slow this time, huh?" he growled.
Iida didn't respond. He knew Bakugo loved trash talk, but this wasn't about ego—it was about winning.
His chances are slim, he knew that. So, distractions are not allowed.
He launched another kick, this time aimed at Bakugo's thigh, but the blonde countered, detonating an explosion between them and forcing distance.
Bakugo took to the air, twisting mid-flight, his palm igniting with a concentrated blast.
"Howitzer—"
"Like I'd allow you!" Iida shot forward like a bullet, catching Bakugo before he could complete the move.
This isn't some TV show, why should he allow him to finish his move?
A brutal knee to the gut sent Bakugo hurtling across the arena, but he flipped mid-air, landing with a controlled skid.
"You really think that's enough to take me down?!" Bakugo snarled, wiping the blood from his mouth. "Die already!"
He blasted forward, explosions propelling him in unpredictable zigzags. Iida calculated his movement, pivoting at the last second and delivering a powerful spinning back kick. Bakugo barely managed to block, but the force sent him stumbling.
"You're fast, but you can't keep up with me forever, Bakugo!" Iida shouted, his voice carrying over the roars of the crowd.
Bakugo's grin widened. "Oh yeah? Then let's see how long you last!"
He raised both arms, sparks crackling violently.
!!!
Explosions rained down, forcing Iida on the defensive. The sheer force shattered the ground, dust and debris flying in all directions. Iida dodged with incredible speed, but Bakugo was already adapting, leading his shots to cut off escape routes.
"Gotcha!" Bakugo smiled like a feral ferret.
A new meme was instantly born.
Iida realized it too late—Bakugo had herded him toward the arena's edge.
"Damn it—!"
Bakugo lunged, aiming a direct explosion-enhanced punch for Iida's chest.
This was it.
Iida gritted his teeth. He had been saving this. "Recipro Burst!"
VRRRRRRROOOOOM!
A sonic boom erupted as Iida vanished from sight, his full power unleashed. The sheer force of his acceleration ripped the ground apart, leaving a deep trench in his wake.
Bakugo's eyes widened for a split second before—
CRASH!
Iida slammed into him at full speed, dragging him across the stadium in a streak of blue fire. The impact sent Bakugo skidding across the floor, rolling violently until he came to a stop.
The crowd went wild.
Iida panted, steam rising from his armor. His engines sputtered. He had used too much power—he wouldn't get another chance.
But Bakugo… stood up, refusing to lose.
His arms were trembling. His body ached. But he was still grinning.
"That all you got?" he muttered, blood dripping from his lip.
Getting dragged through the ground has battered him up, Izuku took his chance and snapped multiple pictures of him, it'll be useful for later when he talks shit.
Iida's eyes widened. "Impossible—"
BOOM!
Before he could react, Bakugo was already in front of him. The sheer ferocity of his explosion sent a shockwave through the air.
Iida tried to move, but—his engines stalled.
"I win."
Bakugo's palm slammed into his chest, sending a final, devastating explosion at point-blank range.
Iida was blasted backward, his body tumbling across the stage before slamming into the stadium wall. His vision blurred. He tried to push himself up, but his limbs wouldn't respond.
"…Iida is unable to continue! The winner is Katsuki Bakugo!"
The stadium erupted in cheers.
Bakugo stood tall, breathing heavily, his hands still smoking. He looked at Iida, who was barely conscious, and scoffed. "Dumbass… You actually made me work for it."
Iida let out a weak chuckle. "…You really don't hold back, do you?"
Bakugo grinned. "Not against a real fighter, four-eyes."
As Recovery Girl rushed in to tend to Iida, Bakugo turned toward the crowd, raising his fist.
His eyes were on Izuku, challenging him.
Izuku scoffed, a small smile on his lips.
'Challenge me? Look at you, you can't even take down Iida without getting humbled!'
However, Izuku was happy that Bakugo's fighting spirit was as strong as ever.
"Izuku-chan, I'm next," Tsu croaked out, a small smile on her frog-like lips.
"Oh? Right! You're against Itsuka Kendo. Try to avoid her in direct combat, a hand to hand confrontation is hard because I heard that she knew martial arts."
"Thanks for the tip but I don't think I can avoid a direct combat, after all, this is a fighting tournament," she shook her head.
"Use your tongue, silly," Izuku poked his tongue with his finger.
Looking at his tongue, Asui Tsuyu couldn't help but think that his tongue was somewhat lewd.
"R-right... I'll try my best," she walked away hurriedly, a small blush on her face.
She didn't know why, but for the past couple of weeks, Izuku has been... Different.
The best way she can explain his change is... Erotic. The guy became sexual for some reason.
And it wasn't even frog mating season so she wondered why she felt this way..
Itsuka Kendo and Tsuyu Asui stood across from each other on the battlefield. The announcer Present Mic hyped up the match.
"Kero." Tsuyu crouched low, her large, round eyes locking onto Kendo with a steady focus. "You're strong, Kendo-chan, but I won't go down easily."
Kendo smirked, rolling her shoulders and flexing her fingers. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Asui. Let's give them a good fight!"
"BEGIN!"
Kendo wasted no time, activating her Big Fist Quirk. Her hands expanded rapidly, becoming massive wrecking balls of muscle. With a powerful step forward, she swung at Tsuyu, the sheer force of her strike creating a gust of wind.
Tsuyu leaped back, her agile frog-like body making dodging look effortless. The moment Kendo's fist slammed into the ground, Tsuyu lashed out with her tongue, aiming to wrap around Kendo's wrist.
But Kendo was prepared. Instead of pulling away, she clenched her enlarged fingers, trapping Tsuyu's tongue between them.
"Gotcha!" Kendo smirked and yanked hard, pulling Tsuyu off balance.
However, Tsuyu expected this. Instead of resisting, she allowed the pull to launch her toward Kendo, twisting her body midair. Using Kendo's own grip against her, Tsuyu slammed both feet into Kendo's face!
"Gah!" Kendo stumbled back, releasing Tsuyu's tongue.
Tsuyu rebounded off Kendo's shoulders and flipped backward, landing on all fours like a frog.
The crowd erupted in cheers as the two fighters reset their stances.
"Hooh?" Izuku nodded with approval, pleasantly surprised.
Honestly, he expected the fight to end quickly with the loss of his classmate but to think that he forgot about that is stupid.
He forgot that Tsui has the proportional strength of a frog and the intelligence of a student from the most prestigious high-school in the world.
"Not bad," Kendo admitted, shaking off the impact and wiping the blood from her nose. "But let's see how you handle this!"
Kendo surged forward, her fists swinging like battering rams. Tsuyu dodged left, then right, barely evading the massive strikes.
But Kendo wasn't just swinging wildly—she was herding Tsuyu, cutting off her escape routes and pushing her closer to the arena's edge.
Tsuyu clicked her tongue. "Smart, kero…"
Kendo too was a student of the same school. She wasn't a muscle headed tomboy! (She is.)
Seeing an opportunity, Kendo slammed both hands onto the ground, causing a shockwave that made Tsuyu lose her footing. Kendo capitalized immediately, sending a full-force punch at Tsuyu's midsection.
"Gahck!" The hit connected, sending Tsuyu skidding backward, her feet digging into the ground just inches away from the ring's edge.
"Haaah.... Haaaah... " Tsuyu looked up, her mind racing as she caught her breath.
That punch knocked out all of her oxygen.
Kendo smirked, confident that the next hit would knock Tsuyu out of bounds.
But Tsuyu had a plan, her final move, something she desperately wanted to avoid doing.
Luckily, there was a lot of dust to block the sight of her next move.
As Kendo lunged forward for the final blow, Tsuyu suddenly spat out a thick glob of mucus onto the ground.
Kendo's foot slipped.
In that instant, Tsuyu's tongue shot out, wrapping around Kendo's waist before the martial artist could regain balance.
"Wha—!?"
With a sudden whip-like motion, Tsuyu used her tongue's grip to pivot Kendo's momentum against her!
The redhead's body soared through the air, spinning uncontrollably!
The crowd gasped.
Kendo flailed, trying to reorient herself, but it was too late—she had been launched cleanly over the edge of the arena, skidding for a bit before she stopped rolling.
Her massive hand dropped to the ground with a heavy thud, she stared at the sky in disbelief.
She... Lost. Even though she was stronger... She lost.
Now Kendo understood how class 1-A survived the villains attack at U. S. J.
"ITSUKA KENDO HAS BEEN RINGED OUT! TSUYU ASUI WINS!"
The audience exploded with cheers.
Tsuyu retracted her tongue and straightened up, offering Kendo a small smile. "You were strong, Kendo-chan. Kero."
Kendo let out a chuckle from the ground before getting up and dusting herself off. "That was sneaky… but really well played."
The two girls exchanged a handshake before parting ways, each earning the crowd's respect for an incredible battle.
"NEXT, HITOSHI SHINSO VS JARUTA SHISHIDA!"
"You do realize that you have a mic, right? You don't have to scream." Aizawa sighed.
"Oh, I wasn't using that to begin with."
"Wait... You haven't used your mic yet? Then how are... Oh."
"YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
---
In an old pub, a group of people who have been cast away by society gathered, most of them were criminals or on their way to committing a crime.
They were watching the sports festival through the plasma TV with a boisterous attitude.
"Jehahaha! That green girl reminds me of someone!" one of them, a fat large man laughed.
"Hahaha! Rui you bastard, you know that you can't be talking or being around kids!" another one, a drunken smaller man replied cheerfully.
"True that, Jehahaha!"
Multiple people sat in the pub, close to 30 criminals.
Most of them were men with the exception of few womwn who were... Much more dangerous than the men.
Although, they appeared less dangerous.
Human trafficking, rapists, murderers, monsters and all sort of people were accepted in this place for the simple reason that this place was owned by the mafia!
As long as you had money, you're welcome to stay as long as you want!
The screen stopped, turning black.
The crowd of lowlives instantly began to show their dissatisfaction by destroying the glass bottles of the drinks and throwing around multiple items on the ground.
A drop of beer fell on a woman in her 40s, she slowly raised her arm, inspecting it with a calm rage.
The crowd instantly stopped.
"M-maria... I'm sorry, it wasn't intentional..." a large man apologized repeatedly, sweat dropping from his fat face.
The sweat gave an odor that Maria found revolting.
She grabbed a fork, directly leaping onto the large man and impaled it into his eyes, her face showing an intoxicated flush of excitement.
"AHHHHHH—"
She kept on attacking his face repeatedly, drilling holes in it as blood splattered all over her face.
After a while, she got up, the man lay down, dead.
"Ah... Ahhhh~" her legs trembled, face showing ecstacy as she neared climax.
The men stood aside, watching with horror as the slim woman licked the blood off of her hands, an unhinged smile on her face, tears of joy falling from her eyes.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen... And you, Maria," Giran greeted, walking into the scene carelessly.
It wasn't his first experience, he knows the worth of a human life around these parts.
"... Giran." Maria narrowed her eyes. "Was it you who turned off my TV?" she glared.
"Easy, easy." he raised his hands, visibly sweating.
It can't be helped, fear works on most people, more than enough to detect them from harming him. But for some people...
The wanted to face the devil. They had no concept of fear.
"I'm here to offer you money, 20 million for one mission, you in?" he directly went to the point, not daring to steal anything from the original payout.
"... What's the job?"
"Kill some kid, I'm not sure."
"From whom?"
"The symbol of fear."
The crowd gasped, fear taking over their minds.
Who was the symbol of fear? The symbol of evil...
This is the man who is capable of destroying an entire country if he wanted, 6 years ago he wanted to destroy half of Japan, he could have succeeded if not for All Might who stopped him.
The public thinks that he died but the shadows can see what's hidden in the dark.
"I don't need your filthy money!" she growled, her mood soiled.
"You can also kill anyone else, not just the target. Do with them as you please." Giran persuaded, a wicked smile on his face.
"... Anyone?"
"Anyone."
"E-even... Little boys?" she muttered, heaving.
She can't wait to drink some young blood.
Her Quirk gave her bat wings, a mutation-type Quirks.
Problem? It was a mutation from vampire bats. It gave her a taste for blood.
"... Yeah sure, kill whatever you want."
"I'm in!" she smiled, two fangs protruding out.
"Meet them here, I'll be going out."
"Wait!"
Giran stood still, fear spilling into his heart.
"You forgot to open the TV."
"Ah... Ahahah, my bad." he opened the TV and hurriedly left.