Chapter 12 ~ The Magma Boy
The air inside the ruined payload room was thick, suffocating, and incredibly volatile. The sheer ambient heat radiating from the boy in the pristine white suit had already begun to warp the visual space around him, turning the shattered concrete and scattered frost into a hazy, shimmering mirage.
Hanta Sero stood near the breached wall, his knees shaking slightly. The primal, overwhelming aura of the teenager standing before them triggered every survival instinct in his body. Sero swallowed hard, trying to push past the paralyzing fear. He was a hero in training; he could not simply stand back and watch.
Mustering his courage, Sero threw his arms forward, aiming his elbows directly at Sakazuki. "Take this!" he yelled, firing two thick strands of synthetic tape meant to bind the imposing target.
The tape shot through the air with incredible speed, but it never reached its destination.
Before the adhesive strips could even cross the halfway point of the room, they entered the invisible, scorching perimeter radiating from Sakazuki's body. The synthetic material instantly warped. The edges curled violently, blackening in a fraction of a second before bursting into small, harmless flakes of burning ash that fluttered uselessly to the concrete floor.
Sero's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. The heat was so absolute that his quirk was being incinerated in mid-air. He realized, with a sinking feeling of utter helplessness, that he was entirely out of his depth. He slowly took a step backward, his arms dropping to his sides.
Shoto Todoroki recognized the imminent, lethal danger. The ambient thermal output was completely negating his initial wave of frost. He needed to end this immediately, with a strike so massive and overwhelming that ambient heat alone could not possibly melt it in time.
Todoroki lunged forward, slamming his right hand flat against the pulverized concrete floor.
The building groaned under the sudden, massive expenditure of power. A colossal, roaring wave of solid, jagged ice erupted from the floorboards. It was not a simple wall; it was a miniature iceberg, a terrifying, expanding glacier that consumed the entire width of the room, surging forward like a frozen tidal wave meant to swallow Sakazuki whole. The temperature plummeted back toward absolute zero, the sheer mass of the ice threatening to crush everything in its path.
Faced with the towering, approaching catastrophe of jagged ice, Sakazuki did not take a single step backward. He did not brace for impact.
Instead, time seemed to slow to a crawl. With a terrifying, chilling calmness that completely defied the raging elements around him, Sakazuki raised his left hand. He grasped the fingertips of the black leather glove worn on his right hand. With a smooth, deliberate, and unhurried motion, he pulled the glove off. He meticulously folded the dark leather in half, opened the lapel of his immaculate white jacket, and tucked the glove safely into his inner breast pocket.
The glacier was mere meters away, its freezing shadow falling over him.
With his glove safely secured, Sakazuki's bare right arm transformed.
The flesh darkened and cracked, instantly giving way to a churning, blindingly bright mass of superheated, liquid magma. The dimly lit room was violently illuminated by a fearsome, aggressive orange glow. The concrete floor beneath Sakazuki's heavy black boots hissed and spider-webbed, instantly shattering under the sudden, catastrophic spike in thermal pressure.
Sakazuki extended his molten, glowing right fist straight forward to meet the incoming glacier.
There was no deafening explosion. There was no concussive shockwave of two opposing forces colliding. What happened was infinitely more terrifying.
The moment the colossal wave of ice touched the magma, it simply ceased to exist. It did not shatter into pieces; it flash-vaporized. A sharp, violent hiss of sublimating water filled the room as the superheated rock melted the glacier away in fractions of a second. It was like watching a red-hot iron blade sink effortlessly through soft butter.
Sakazuki began to walk.
His heavy boots stepped forward in a slow, rhythmic, uncompromising military march. He walked directly through the center of the ice attack. The massive glacier melted and evaporated before it could even brush against the fabric of his pristine white suit. The liquid fire carved a perfect, steaming tunnel right through the heart of Todoroki's ultimate offensive strike. It was a physical manifestation of absolute, unstoppable force.
Todoroki's mismatched eyes widened to their absolute limits. The breath hitched in his throat. His flawless, overwhelming defense—the power he had relied on to freeze entire buildings and crush the entrance exam—was being erased with zero visible effort.
Sakazuki closed the distance with terrifying speed, emerging from the thick veil of steam like an apex predator.
Instinctively, driven by sheer panic, Todoroki took a rapid step backward. His left arm—the side harboring his fierce, blazing flames—twitched. His body knew exactly what it needed to do to counter the approaching heat. But the moment the thought of fire crossed his mind, a dark, stubborn shadow crossed Todoroki's heart. He remembered his father. He remembered the oath he had taken to completely reject the fiery half of his lineage.
Todoroki hesitated. He forcefully pulled his left arm back down to his side, refusing to ignite it.
Through the thick steam, Sakazuki's sharp, dark eyes caught the subtle movement. He saw the twitch of the left arm, and he saw the conscious, deliberate decision to pull it back. A deep crease of intense annoyance formed between Sakazuki's brows. The boy had just actively chosen to hold back a portion of his power in the middle of a live combat zone.
Sakazuki exploited the microscopic hesitation instantly.
In a fraction of a second, the glowing, churning magma covering his right arm extinguished, instantly returning to heavily scarred, normal flesh. He did not want to kill the boy.
Sakazuki bridged the final gap, his large hand snapping forward with the speed of a striking viper. He grabbed Todoroki by the collar of his hero costume. Utilizing his immense, raw physical strength, Sakazuki lifted the lighter boy effortlessly off his feet and slammed him violently backward against the only remaining intact concrete wall of the room.
The heavy THUD rattled Todoroki's teeth, knocking the air completely out of his lungs.
Sakazuki stood over him, holding him pinned against the wall. The boy in the white cap glared down at him with a gaze so cold and severe it felt heavier than the ice that had just melted.
"Why do I see you holding back a piece of yourself?" Sakazuki rumbled, his voice low, rough, and dripping with absolute disdain.
In the back of his mind, an image flashed—the towering, muscular figure of All Might. The Symbol of Peace, Sakazuki thought. Behind that smile is a beast that terrifies evil because he holds absolutely nothing back when facing down corruption.
Sakazuki leaned in closer, his dark eyes piercing through Todoroki's stunned expression. "A hero who cannot bring out everything in his arsenal against a villain like me does not deserve the title of hero or justice! Do not stand before me if you are incapable of even unleashing your own power!"
Across the campus, the observation room was dead silent. The students watched the massive monitors with bated breath.
"He is playing the villain role perfectly," Uraraka whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "It feels so real..."
Pinned against the wall, Todoroki gritted his teeth, a sudden, fierce anger breaking through his shock. The boy in the white suit knew nothing about his past, nothing about the torment his father had inflicted upon his family.
"What exactly do you know?!" Todoroki roared, his voice cracking with pure, unadulterated rage.
A thick, jagged crust of frost instantly erupted across Todoroki's face and right arm. The air pressure in the room snapped.
BOOM!
Todoroki violently detonated the ice outward in a chaotic, omnidirectional blast of freezing kinetic energy. The point-blank explosion of raw power threw Sakazuki backward, lifting his heavy frame off the ground.
As Sakazuki was pushed through the air, a sharp, spinning piece of ice shrapnel grazed his cheek, leaving a thin, shallow cut. Sakazuki landed heavily on his boots, sliding back a few inches on the damp concrete before coming to a complete stop.
The room fell quiet save for the heavy breathing of the two combatants.
Sakazuki raised his bare right hand. He pressed his thumb against his cheek, wiping away the single, small drop of blood that had welled up from the scratch. He looked at the red stain on his thumb for a brief second.
Slowly, his entire body began to emit a terrifying, deep orange glow. The heat radiating from him was no longer contained to an arm; it was a full-body escalation.
"It is time for a villain like me," Sakazuki said, his voice dropping into a register that shook the dust from the ceiling, "to unleash himself."
Before Todoroki could even brace for the impending volcanic eruption, a deafening electronic buzzer shattered the tension.
"THE TEN MINUTES ARE UP!"
All Might's booming voice echoed violently through the hidden speakers in the ceiling, the hero sounding simultaneously relieved and awestruck. "THE VILLAIN TEAM WINS! THEY SUCCESSFULLY PROTECTED THE NUCLEAR WEAPON!"
The buzzer echoed away into silence.
The terrifying, glowing heat radiating from Sakazuki vanished as if a switch had been flipped. The heavy, intimidating posture of the villain melted away, leaving only a tired, deeply disciplined teenager.
Sakazuki let out a long, slow sigh. A single drop of sweat slid down his forehead, disappearing into his dark hair. He could feel the intense, uncomfortable heat of his own breath. His throat was agonizingly dry, the biological toll of the intense thermal exchange demanding immediate hydration.
He reached into the inner pocket of his white jacket, retrieved his folded black leather glove, and calmly pulled it back onto his right hand. He adjusted the cuff, smoothing out the fabric.
He completely ignored Todoroki, who was still sliding down the wall, and Sero, who was staring in wide-eyed shock. Sakazuki turned his broad back to them and walked straight across the ruined room toward the corner where his partner was lying amidst the rubble.
Sakazuki leaned down, extending his large, black-gloved hand.
Shoji looked up, wincing as he brushed some frost from his shoulder, and grasped Sakazuki's hand. Sakazuki pulled effortlessly, helping the taller boy to his feet.
"I apologize," Shoji said softly, his voice muffled by his mask as he rubbed a bruised elbow. "I was of no use to you in the end."
Sakazuki looked at him evenly, his expression calm and entirely devoid of judgment. "What are you talking about? We won. That is what matters. Do not dwell on what has no use."
In the dark observation room, the sheer gravity of the match had left the entire class paralyzed.
Izuku Midoriya was hunched over his notebook, his pen moving so fast it threatened to tear the paper. He was muttering rapidly, dissecting the terrifying gap in tactical execution and raw power between the students.
Standing near the back, Katsuki Bakugo's entire body was trembling with an ugly, dark mixture of rage and profound frustration. He ground his teeth together so hard his jaw ached. The physical apprehension tests from the day before were one thing—throwing a ball far was a simple metric. But this was real, tactical combat. The gap between himself and the boy in the white suit was a massive, yawning canyon.
Bakugo clenched his fist. With a sudden, explosive surge of anger, he punched the heavy metal wall of the observation room.
CLANG!
The loud sound made several students jump. Bakugo didn't look at anyone. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and stormed out of the dark room, his head lowered in total, furious silence.
Standing by the main console, All Might watched the monitors with deep, shadowed eyes. He looked at the boy in the pristine white suit, who was currently brushing dust off his heavy brown cloak.
This boy, the Symbol of Peace thought, a rare feeling of genuine unease settling in his stomach, does not need training on how to use his quirk. He possesses absolute mastery over it. What he needs is an environment that can actually contain this terrifying power.
Back in the ruined payload room, Todoroki sat heavily on the damp, concrete floor.
He did not look at Sero, who was cautiously walking over to check on him. Todoroki's mismatched eyes were fixed entirely on his own left hand resting in his lap.
The harsh, uncompromising words of the boy in the white cap echoed violently in his mind. Do not stand before me if you are incapable of even unleashing your own power! The words struck deeper than any physical blow. They shattered the fragile, prideful foundation of his icy rebellion, forcing him, for the very first time in his life, to truly question the logic of his stubbornness.
Todoroki slowly raised his left hand, gently touching his face, feeling the cold, damp air against his skin. His eyes widened slightly as a new, incredibly terrifying realization settled heavily in his chest.
Even if I had released my flames... Todoroki thought, staring at the broad back of Sakazuki as the boy walked toward the exit. ...would I have even stood a chance against him?