"Not good!"
Just before the final ultimate moves of both sides collided, Todoroki instinctively sensed a massive threat.
"It's dangerous here! Everyone, retreat back to the tower—!!"
!!!!!
The light of the burning clash didn't spread outward like normal light. Instead, it was compressed into a dome-shaped semicircle by an unknown force, like an inverted bowl pressed onto the ground.
One half of the "bowl" was black, while the other half was a flowing mixture of white and gold, like watercolor paint. At the same time, the area of the dome visibly expanded.
Wherever it touched, whether it was steel plating, metal fragments, or large chunks of ice—everything became red-hot, burned, and was then blown off the top of the tower by an immense shockwave.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Overwhelmed by fear, Mineta ran toward the tower entrance with his hands over his head. "I can't die! I can't die here yet!"
"There are still so many beautiful girls waiting for me! I absolutely can't die here!!"
"Todoroki-kun, what about Kaminari and the others?!" Kyoka called out as she ran, turning to look at the distant bowl-shaped energy wave in concern.
"It's out of control. We need to survive first!" Shoto Todoroki responded with a grim expression, then released a thick burst of white frost from his body.
Shua shua shua—
In an instant, a massive ice wall over twenty meters high and hundreds of meters wide rose up across the sky. Without pausing, Shoto dashed toward the entrance, using the rapidly stacking ice as footing.
Crack!
Soon, the first fracture appeared on the massive wall of ice—then the second, the third—spreading with terrifying speed.
One second? Two?
Either way, within three seconds, the entire wall had been torn apart by the typhoon-like shockwave, which continued to sweep outward, seemingly with no end.
"Hurry! Come on, Todoroki!" Kirishima shouted from inside the entrance, anxiously watching from behind.
"You guys go in first!" Shoto called out.
Hearing that, Kirishima immediately turned to shout to Bakugo and the others behind him, "Get down now! We can't save this floor anymore!"
"What about you and Todoroki-kun?!" Melissa asked nervously, supporting Dr. David.
"I'm staying to wait for him!" Kirishima grinned, giving a thumbs-up. "Don't worry, I'm not that easy to bring down!"
"Tch. Don't act tough—don't die, you bastard!" Bakugo shot him a disdainful look before turning to run downstairs.
"Then... Kirishima, be careful! We're not waiting for you!!" Minoru Mineta yelled, running after them with his short legs.
Soon, everyone except Kirishima had retreated into the lower levels of the tower.
"What are you doing?! Go already!" Shoto, now only four or five meters ahead of the oncoming blast, shouted at Kirishima, who was still standing at the entrance waiting.
"Let's go together!" Kirishima suddenly rushed forward, charging straight toward the impact wave with a smile.
"I can't do anything for Midoriya or Kaminari… but someone like you, who's right in front of me, I won't let you face this alone!"
"We're... partners!"
Click!
Just as the impact wave was about to reach Shoto, Kirishima grabbed his right hand, then pulled him into a tight embrace, turning his back to the blast.
"If my mediocre Quirk can't be used to save someone right now, then what's the point of it? What kind of Hero would I be…"
As the devastating light engulfed them, Kirishima Eijiro silently thought to himself.
BOOM!!!!
From the viewpoint of the snowman standing on the back of the ice dragon in the distance, the airport atop the central tower had been completely leveled.
This overwhelming destruction made even him, someone who had always taken pride in his strength begin to feel genuine fear.
"The blond one... and the green-haired one... might not be any weaker than me..."
As for Todoroki?
Though his Quirk was powerful in training, the man considered his own abilities to be clearly superior.
...
Gradually, silence returned. The shockwave passed as quickly as it had arrived. Gentle moonlight once again bathed the land, and stars shimmered quietly in the night sky.
A cool ocean breeze swept across the now-flattened airport platform. But there wasn't a single speck of dust left, let alone debris.
Oh, wait—three or four human figures were still scattered at the platform's edge.
At the far south end, where the entrance to the tower used to be, Kirishima lay unconscious on the ground, and atop him was Shoto Todoroki, whom he had shielded.
Cough!
The silence was suddenly broken by a soft cough. Kaminari, his upper-body suit completely torn away, revealing his ches, propped himself up weakly on both hands.
"It's... finally over... cough cough!"
To be honest, he had exhausted all of the electricity in his body. Even if he tried to use Electricity Absorbing Physique to draw in ambient charge from his skin, it would take too long to be useful.
At this point, he was no different from someone Quirkless. There was no way he could take on another fight.
On the other side, Midoriya Izuku had completely passed out. The red gauntlet Melissa had given him had shattered into pieces.
"…Huh?"
At that moment, Todoroki's fingers twitched, and his two-toned eyes—one black, one blue—slowly opened. As he began to move, Kirishima also started to regain consciousness.
"Hahahahahaha!"
Suddenly, a weak but unmistakably arrogant laugh echoed through the air. Kaminari, Shoto, Kirishima, and the newly-awakened Midoriya all heard it.
"No... it can't be!"
Kaminari's face immediately darkened. Sure enough, when he looked up, Wolfram was standing in the distance, supporting himself with one hand on the ground.
But now, his skin was no longer glowing red and hot. He looked thinner, his presence weaker.
"Hahaha! That cocky brat can't act smug anymore!"
"The final winner is me!"
"It's me, Wolfram! The strongest man in the world! A future legend!!"
After yelling that, Wolfram turned his cruel gaze toward Kaminari. He slowly raised his right hand and pointed it at him with a mocking smile.
"As for you, just go to hell!"
"My time doesn't need brats like you to witness it!!!"
"Despair—one and all!"
(To be continued.)
***
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