Chapter 34: Todoroki Falls
Almost every student from Class 1-A who had been scattered across the training grounds was locked in a hard fight.
Only a few were handling things with any real ease.
"It's pretty embarrassing," Shoto Todoroki said coldly as he froze another wave of villains solid, "to get beaten this badly by a student."
The students had been separated across different disaster zones:
Desert Zone: Akio Tatsuma alone.Flood Zone: Tsuyu Asui, Minoru Mineta, and Izuku Midoriya.Landslide Zone: Shoto Todoroki alone.Collapse Zone: Eijiro Kirishima and Katsuki Bakugo.Mountain Zone: Denki Kaminari and Momo Yaoyorozu.Fire Zone: Mashirao Ojiro alone.Storm Zone: Fumikage Tokoyami and Koji Koda.
Back near the main plaza, Tenya Iida was trying to hold things together.
"Shoji, can you locate the others?" he asked anxiously. "Are they still inside the facility? Can you confirm it?"
Using his replicated ears, Mezo Shoji listened carefully to the sounds around the USJ.
"They're still here," he said. "Everyone's still somewhere inside the facility."
That brought at least a little relief. As long as their classmates were still inside the USJ, there was hope. If they had been teleported outside the grounds entirely, things would have been much worse.
"This is awful," Iida muttered, frustration creeping into his voice. "Physical attacks don't work properly, and that mist villain can teleport. This really is the worst kind of Quirk to fight."
"Class president," Thirteen said suddenly.
"Yes!"
"I have a task for you."
Thirteen's voice remained steady.
"You need to get back to the school and report what's happening."
She glanced toward the disrupted barrier.
"The alarm never went off, and the communications are outside the service area. That means the villains likely prepared for all of this. Aizawa is doing what he can, but if there's someone interfering with communications, we may not be able to contact anyone from here."
Iida hesitated.
"As class president, leaving everyone behind…"
"Go," Thirteen said firmly.
Rikido Sato stepped forward.
"If you can get outside, the alarm will sound. That's why they're trying to trap us in here, right?"
Hanta Sero nodded.
"Exactly. If you break through, they won't be able to ignore it. Use your speed and shake off the mist."
Thirteen looked at Iida again.
"To save people, use your Quirk."
That settled it.
Under normal rules, the students still had limits on Quirk usage.
But this was no longer normal.
This was an emergency.
Ochaco Uraraka spoke up immediately.
"I'm good at support. Leave this to us and go, Iida!"
Kurogiri's distorted voice cut through the air.
"You're discussing escape plans in front of us?"
The mist around him thickened.
"How naïve."
Several streams of black fog peeled away from his body and rushed toward the students.
Thirteen stepped in front of them and raised a hand.
"Black Hole."
A massive suction force opened in her gloved fingertips.
The black mist Kurogiri had sent out was pulled in immediately, sucked away as if into a bottomless vacuum.
In the Desert Zone, Akio stood still for a few seconds, breathing hard as the last of his storm attack faded.
Then the winged Nomu crashed to the ground.
It didn't get up again.
Akio let out a long breath.
"So I finally killed one."
Without the Quirk Supplement, that fight could easily have gone the other way.
He stared at the ruined body of the Nomu and gave a dry laugh.
"I still thought too highly of myself."
If one of the lesser Nomu had pushed him this far, then the black Nomu in the central plaza was still in another league entirely.
He rested only briefly.
Then he started running.
There were still two Nomu left. One of them—the black one—was almost certainly in the central area fighting Aizawa.
The other, the green four-armed one, was somewhere else in the USJ.
Akio's goal was clear.
No matter what happened, he had to save Aizawa and Thirteen.
In the Landslide Zone, Todoroki had already frozen almost every villain in sight.
Their groans echoed through the icy rubble.
"T-This kid… how is he this strong…"
"He's really just a student?"
"Damn it… it hurts…"
Todoroki stood among them, expression blank.
"Breaking apart one by one after being isolated, huh?" he said. "This isn't exactly pleasant, but from what I've seen, most of you are just wasting your Quirks."
Then, without warning—
Something moved behind him.
Todoroki's pupils shrank.
He sensed the attack at the last second and twisted away, but not fast enough.
Crack.
His left arm snapped.
A violent shock of pain ran through him, and his arm dropped uselessly at his side.
Sweat instantly broke across his forehead.
For a moment, he could barely breathe.
This pain—
It was the worst he had felt in years.
The four-armed green Nomu landed heavily and turned to face him again.
Then it charged.
Todoroki forced himself to move.
If he hesitated now, he would die.
He kicked off the ground, narrowly dodging the Nomu's fist, then slammed his foot down and unleashed a surge of ice.
The Nomu was frozen solid in an instant, its body completely encased.
Todoroki retreated quickly, breathing hard.
He knew it wouldn't hold.
Against ordinary villains, that level of freezing would have ended the fight immediately.
But this thing was not ordinary.
The next second, the ice exploded apart.
The Nomu stepped free, dead-eyed and silent.
Todoroki's face tightened.
For the first time, he felt truly cornered.
Even against Akio, he had not felt this kind of pressure.
The Nomu lunged again, reaching straight for his head.
It was trying to kill him.
And then—
A bolt of lightning tore down from above.
Pillar of Lightning!
The blast smashed into the Nomu and drove it into the ground with a deafening crash.
Todoroki looked up in shock.
Akio dropped from the sky and landed between them.
He turned his head slightly and smiled.
"Todoroki. This really isn't the time to zone out."
"…Akio."
The moment Todoroki saw the lightning, he had already known who it was.
And, to his own surprise, the sight of him there made something inside him loosen.
He felt relieved.
✨Enjoying the story? You can support me on Patreon —
Patreon.com/MizuSan
✨ Patreon members get early chapter access, bonus content! 🥰
🎉 Plus, I'll release 1 for every 50 Power Stones you send my way! 🥳
🌊 Let's reach 80 Patreon members to unlock 5 extra chapters together
Join Patreon ,there is ongoing discount that will last for 3 days❤️