Thanks to the twenty-minute intermission, everyone in the stadium had time to stretch their legs. Down in the VIP section, Eri tugged gently on Mirko's sleeve and whispered something into her ear. Mirko smiled and stood up, taking the little girl's hand.
"Hmm?" Gray stood up from his seat to let them pass through the narrow row. "Something wrong?" he asked.
"No, just a bathroom break," Mirko replied.
"Ah, I see. Okay, let me know if anything happens," Gray said as he stepped aside to let them walk past.
A few minutes later, while Gray rested quietly and watched the stadium crew repair the field, Tenya Iida walked briskly up the VIP steps. Reaching Gray's row, the boy stopped dead in his tracks and bowed at a rigid ninety-degree angle.
"Gray-sensei!" Iida called out, his voice shaking slightly. "I just received a phone call from my older brother. He told me everything that happened in Hosu City!" Iida lifted his head, fresh tears gleaming behind his glasses. "Thank you very much for saving his life!"
Gray smiled awkwardly, reaching up to scratch his cheek as he noticed several nearby pro heroes and spectators staring at them in confusion. "Haha... don't mention it, kid," Gray muttered, quickly waving a hand to shoo Iida away before anyone started asking questions about what he had been doing in Hosu.
Iida nodded and rushed back down the steps toward the waiting rooms. Soon after, Mirko returned with Eri in tow. Eri was happily carrying a small bundle of snacks they had picked up at the concession stand. Once they settled back into their seats, it didn't take long for Midnight to walk back up to the referee podium.
"Now then! Let's give it up for the first contestants of our quarterfinals!" Midnight declared, cracking her riding crop sharply through the air.
Izuku and Shoto emerged from the concrete tunnels on opposite sides of the stadium and stepped onto the elevated stone stage. The sheer excitement rolling through the crowd was loud enough to shake the seats; cheers and roars climbed higher with every passing second as the two powerhouses of Class 1-A squared off.
Once both boys stood ready at opposite ends of the arena, Midnight checked on them one last time, then raised her hand and shouted, "BEGIN!"
Shoto wasted zero time. The very instant the match started, he slammed his right foot down, sending a fast wave of ice racing across the stone blocks to trap Izuku right out of the gate.
Anticipating the move, Izuku had already activated Full Cowl a split second earlier. He leaped cleanly over the incoming frost. Hovering mid-air, he aimed his right hand at Shoto and flicked his fingers, firing a blast of pressurized wind straight down at his opponent.
Shoto reacted smoothly, raising a thick, angled wall of ice to brace himself so the kinetic gust wouldn't push him back toward the edge. At the same time, he ignited a low, steady flame along his left side to keep his body temperature stable and prevent frostbite.
Shoto continued using his right side to fire rapid waves of ice from a distance, keeping his left fire held in reserve for close-quarters defense. He knew just how dangerous Izuku was up close, so he kept his flames primed and ready for anything. Izuku kept dodging left and right across the square stones, gradually pushing his Full Cowl output higher bit by bit. As his energy rose, his wind attacks grew stronger too. Checking his fingers mid-dodge, Izuku felt no strain or tearing, so he kept playing it smart, biding his time and waiting for a clean opening.
Less than a minute into the exchange, Shoto began gathering energy for a massive ice attack. He wanted to force Izuku to stop playing defensively and push closer, giving him the chance to test a new technique he had been practicing with Uncle Iroh.
Suddenly, Izuku felt a spike of unease. He had never felt anything like it before, yet something deep in his gut screamed about the incoming danger. Trusting his instincts, Izuku planted both feet firmly into the stone blocks and pushed his Full Cowl to the highest limit his body could safely handle.
Across the stage, Shoto stomped his right foot down with heavy force, unleashing a colossal wall of ice that surged forward like a tidal wave. Izuku's eyes widened when he realized the attack covered the entire width of the arena, leaving him nowhere to dodge. Deciding that simple finger flicks wouldn't cut it, Izuku clenched his hands into tight fists. Standing his ground, he threw dozens of rapid, heavy punches straight ahead, firing off a continuous barrage of wind blasts that shattered the massive wave of ice piece by piece.
Izuku kept punching until the towering wall of frost completely crumbled into harmless snow. Breathing hard through the mist, he spotted Shoto standing across the ring; frost had crept heavily over Todoroki's right side, with thick chunks of ice clinging to his arm and leg. Naturally, thanks to the warm flames flickering along his left side, Shoto was already melting the frost and bringing his body back to a normal temperature.
Not wasting a second, Izuku dashed forward in a green blur. He closed the distance across the arena in a blink, appearing right in front of his classmate. Shoto's eyes widened in surprise as he swung his left arm out, unleashing a burst of roaring fire to push Izuku back.
Izuku didn't even flinch at the sudden wall of heat. Stepping straight through, he swung his right arm in a heavy, sweeping swat that dispersed the flames entirely, knocking Shoto's left arm wide open. Panicking slightly as his defense was brushed aside, Shoto tried to counter with a quick ice strike from his right side. However, after weeks of grueling hand-to-hand drills under Master Roshi, Garp, and Zephyr, close-quarters combat was Izuku's domain.
Slipping cleanly past the clumsy swing, Izuku pivoted and drove a solid left hook straight into Shoto's shoulder. The heavy blow sent the boy skidding backward across the stone blocks. Flying toward the edge, Shoto caught his balance mid-air, slamming his right hand down to create a curved ramp of ice that caught him and kept him safely inside the stage boundaries.
The entire stadium erupted into deafening cheers. Thousands of spectators jumped to their feet, roaring at the clash's sheer speed and intensity.
Yet for the two boys standing on the raised stone platform, the roaring crowd didn't even exist. All that mattered was the opponent standing right in front of them.
Izuku refused to let the momentum slip. Since Gray had strictly forbidden him from using reckless 100% strikes that would leave his arms crippled, Izuku lacked a true long-range finisher. Knowing he had to force Shoto off the stage physically, he pressed forward, firing off a string of rapid wind punches as he dashed in to keep Shoto off balance.
Realizing his cautious strategy wasn't going to cut it anymore, Todoroki dropped his hesitation and began attacking aggressively with both sides at once. Izuku twisted and leaped past several roaring streams of fire, closing the gap until he was barely five feet away from Todoroki, when that strange, tingling warning flared up in his mind once again.
Stopping dead in his tracks, Izuku glanced down just in time to see frost rapidly spreading from Todoroki's right foot across the stone floor. Less than half a second later, five pillars of ice erupted straight up from the ground beneath him. Leaning far back, Izuku barely dodged the deadly ice pillars as they shot past his chin.
Seeing that Shoto had recovered his footing, Izuku quickly came up with an idea. Noticing the ice pillar towering right in front of his face, he pulled back his fist and punched it in the center.
The solid ice cracked loudly, and the top half broke free, tumbling down toward him. Izuku caught the chunk of ice with both arms and twisted his torso. Gripping it like an oversized baseball bat, he swung it around with all his strength, hurling the heavy block straight toward Todoroki at high speed.
Shoto didn't waste a second either. Seeing the massive projectile hurtling toward him, he pushed his left fire side to its limit. The sudden spike in intense heat instantly melted the frost clinging to his skin and warped the air around him. At the same time, he slammed his right foot down, creating a thick barrier of ice behind him to brace himself. By superheating the surrounding cold air with his flames, Todoroki triggered a massive thermal shockwave.
BOOM!
The sudden explosion of expanding air shattered the incoming ice pillar and blew Izuku backward.
Suspended high above the stage, Izuku immediately realized that the explosion would carry him straight out of bounds unless he acted fast. Reaching deep inside himself, he tried to tap into that strange, dark energy he had awakened during his match with Shinso. Finding that familiar spark once more, he swung his right arm out in a wide arc. Thick black tendrils shot from his palm, lashing onto the massive ice wall Shoto had built behind him. Using the black whips like a grappling line, Izuku pulled hard and rocketed straight back toward Todoroki like a slingshot.
Down on the platform, Shoto was breathing heavily. Unleashing massive waves of both ice and fire in such a short time had drained much of his stamina. Seeing Izuku suddenly swing back into the arena using those bizarre black ropes made Shoto let out a tired sigh.
Refusing to give up, Shoto tried to gather his ice and fire again to trigger his secret weapon. Suddenly, a sharp spike of pain shot through his right shoulder. He realized he could barely lift his right arm; the left hook he had taken earlier had bruised the muscle far worse than he had thought. Still, he tried to channel his ice through his right foot instead.
Unfortunately, he was half a second too late. Izuku was already inches away from his face.
With all the momentum from his swing, Izuku drove a devastating punch straight into Shoto's stomach. The sheer force of the blow instantly shattered the thick ice barrier standing behind Shoto, launching the boy clean off the elevated stage. However, Izuku moved too fast to stop his forward momentum. Within a fraction of a second, both boys flew off the stone platform.
Shoto hit the grass, skidding rapidly across the lawn until his back slammed against the low concrete wall bordering the field. Izuku crashed hard onto the grass moments later, digging his boots into the dirt and skidding to a halt a few feet short of the wall.
For a brief second, the entire stadium went dead silent. Both contestants had clearly gone out of bounds; the only question left was who had touched the ground first.
Standing at her podium, Midnight glanced at the replay feed on her monitor, then raised her riding crop high. "Todoroki touched the grass first! Winner... Midoriya!"
Deafening cheers erupted across the arena almost instantly.
Before the medical robots could even roll out from the tunnels, Gray leaped down from the VIP stands and landed smoothly on the grass. He walked straight over to check on Shoto first. Seeing blood gushing out of the boy's forehead was concerning, and lifting his torn gym shirt revealed a deep, dark purple bruise forming right over his stomach. Reaching into his inventory, Gray pulled out a single green Senzu bean and popped it into Shoto's mouth.
The magical bean worked right away. Within seconds, the dark bruising faded completely, his breathing steadied, and the exhaustion vanished from his eyes. Shoto blinked in surprise, feeling refreshed. Gray reached down and helped pull the boy back up to his feet, which made the crowd cheer even louder.
Meanwhile, Izuku stayed kneeling on the grass a few yards away, nursing some muscle soreness from the hard landing, though it was nothing he couldn't handle. As he caught his breath, his mind lingered on that strange tingling sensation he had felt mid-air right before landing his final blow. Whatever Todoroki had been trying to pull off at the last second had felt genuinely dangerous, and the warning faded the moment Shoto's injured arm gave out. Izuku knew he had gotten lucky; if Shoto had managed to fire off whatever move he was planning, the match could have easily gone the other way.
Gray walked over after making sure Shoto was okay, then looked down at the kneeling green-haired boy. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
Izuku looked up, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Tired."
"I bet. That was a great fight, kid," Gray said with a smile, extending a hand to help Izuku stand back up.
Once Cementoss fixed the stone stage from the last fight, Midnight raised her microphone to announce the second quarterfinal match.
Momo Yaoyorozu and Eijiro Kirishima stepped onto opposite ends of the arena. Kirishima pounded his hardened fists together with a fierce grin, while Momo took a deep breath and dropped into a low martial arts stance she had learned from Edward Elric.
Up in the VIP stands, Mirko leaned forward in her seat. "Alright, let's see what your dark horse has got."
Gray smirked, crossing his arms. "If Kirishima lets her set up, he's in trouble. She's been learning from some of the smartest people I know. But..." Gray narrowed his eyes as he watched Kirishima's posture. "Something tells me he isn't going to give her a second to breathe."
Down on the stage, Midnight cracked her whip through the air. "Second match! BEGIN!"
Just as Gray predicted, Kirishima didn't waste a single second. Knowing full well that giving Momo time to think meant facing another crazy weapon like the sonic cannon she used against Mei, Kirishima hardened his body and charged straight at her.
"Coming through, Yaoyorozu!" Kirishima roared, closing the gap fast and throwing a heavy right hook.
Momo didn't flinch. Instead of jumping back, she stepped right inside his guard. Moving with fluid, practiced footwork, she ducked cleanly under his swinging arm. Before Kirishima could pull back, Momo slapped four small, disk-shaped boosters onto his shoulders and back, then flipped backward out of reach.
Kirishima skidded to a halt, blinking in confusion. "What the-?"
Momo didn't answer. She raised her hand and pressed a small trigger she had just created.
WHOOSH!
Blue flames erupted from the small boosters attached to Kirishima's back. The sudden thrust rocketed him backward across the arena.
"Whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Kirishima yelled, digging his heels into the stone blocks to try to stop himself, leaving deep trenches behind him.
The crowd roared at the sudden turn of events. Up in the VIP booth, Gray nodded in approval. "Smart. She knows she can't beat his defense head-on, so she's using boosters to push him out of bounds."
Inches away from the edge of the elevated platform, Kirishima gritted his teeth. Refusing to lose like this, he planted his toes into the stone, crossed his arms over his chest, and roared.
"Red Riot: Unbreakable!"
His skin violently thickened and hardened, morphing into jagged, razor-sharp rock armor all over his arms, shoulders, and back.
CRACK! CRUNCH!
As the jagged rock plates expanded, they crushed right through Momo's boosters. Metal bent and sparked as the devices broke apart and fell uselessly onto the floor.
Kirishima dropped back onto his feet right at the edge of the stage, steam hissing from between his teeth.
"My turn!" Kirishima yelled, charging at her again even faster than before.
Momo immediately activated her quirk, trying to build a complex restraint weapon. However, Kirishima was already on top of her. Seeing his jagged fist flying straight at her face, Momo had to cancel the big weapon and quickly form a sturdy metal bo staff instead.
CLANG!
Kirishima's fist slammed into the center of the staff, sending a shockwave through Momo's arms. Her boots slid back across the stone. With Unbreakable boosting his strength on top of Master Roshi's conditioning, every single punch felt like getting hit by a truck.
Kirishima didn't let up for a second. He threw a relentless flurry of punches and kicks, keeping Momo pinned down. Every time she tried to make space to create a new gadget, he rushed right back in, forcing her to stay on defense.
Moving on pure instinct from months of grueling training, Momo spun her staff in a fast blur. She ducked under a heavy uppercut, redirected a wide hook off to the side, and used her staff to vault over a low sweep without even thinking about it.
Even so, the difference in raw power was too much. Cracks started spreading rapidly across her metal staff with every block.
"You're crazy good, Yaoyorozu!" Kirishima yelled, winding up a massive overhead punch. "I'm giving you everything I've got!"
Momo raised her staff with both hands to block the strike.
Kirishima's fist smashed straight through the weakened staff, snapping it cleanly in half.
Left unarmed, Momo immediately activated her quirk to make another staff. Caught up in the fast pace of the fight and keeping her eyes locked on Kirishima, she stepped back quickly to buy herself half a second.
Her heel met empty air.
Momo's eyes went wide as she lost her balance. She hadn't realized how close to the edge Kirishima had pushed her. She tried to lean forward and grab the stone, but it was too late.
Kirishima stopped, watching in surprise as Momo tumbled backward off the elevated stage and landed on the grass below.
The stadium went quiet for a split second before Midnight cracked her whip and pointed down at the lawn. "Yaoyorozu is out of bounds! Kirishima advances to the semifinals!"
The crowd exploded into cheers. Down on the field, Kirishima let out a heavy breath and released his Unbreakable form as his jagged armor faded away. He jogged over to the edge, hopped down onto the grass, and held out a hand to Momo with a big grin. "That was insane, Yaoyorozu! If I hadn't gone Unbreakable right there, those boosters totally would've launched me out!"
Momo stared at his hand for a second before a warm smile broke across her face. She took his hand and let him pull her up. "You didn't give me a second to think, Kirishima-san. That was a great fight. Good luck in the semifinals."
Kirishima smiled brightly and gave her a confident thumbs-up. "Thanks! I'll win it for both of us!"