Chapter 117: This is over.

By the time Momo and Kai arrived at the stands, the battle between Kirishima and Bakugo had already been going on for a while, to the point where the platform was pretty destroyed, most likely because of the blond’s explosions. Bakugo was clutching one of his arms in pain, staring at the redhead with an expression full of hatred and disbelief.

In front of Bakugo stood Kirishima, a large part of his uniform torn, and breathing heavily. His hardened body showed various traces of blood, especially on his arms and head. He looked on the verge of defeat, yet he stayed firm, legs slightly bent in a stance similar to the horse stance, giving him steadiness and stability.

“What an incredible showdown of power versus perseverance!! From the start, Bakugo has been aggressive and attacked with everything he’s got, but Kirishima has stood his ground, taking every hit like an immovable pillar!!!” Present Mic remarked, bursting with excitement and prompting the crowd to go wild yet again.

“Motherfucker…”

Bakugo muttered under his breath in a rough voice, his face almost murderous, as he felt his arm twist in pain from all the rapid-fire explosions he had unleashed. For some reason, that made Kirishima smile defiantly. The redhead responded in a tone that was clearly tired and full of pain.

“Heh heh heh… I’ve been hit by things way stronger, so if you wanna beat me, you’ll have to do better than that…”

Kirishima’s words seemed to snap the last thread of sanity in Bakugo’s mind. He refused to believe that some mere extra like the one standing in front of him could stand up to a true genius, someone born to rise above the common rabble. Ignoring the pain coursing through his arms, he quickly used his explosions to launch himself toward the red-haired young man.

Seeing Bakugo close in, Kirishima quickly adjusted his stance, placing one foot in front and one behind, forming a sort of triangle with his legs. At that moment, the blond arrived right in front of him, extending his right arm to send a powerful explosion straight at Kirishima’s face, all the while letting out a ragged shout.

“DIE!!!!”

With impressive agility, Kirishima moved his front foot forward and slightly to the side, barely avoiding the attack. Immediately afterward, he expertly grabbed Bakugo’s arm and pivoted in sync with his own movement, pulling slightly downward. He managed to redirect the explosive blond’s trajectory toward the ground.

Using his free hand, Kirishima quickly applied pressure to Bakugo’s shoulder, making the blond spin midair. Before he could react, Bakugo slammed onto the ground with a loud thud. Seizing the moment, the redhead quickly immobilized the arm by twisting it outward, while placing the fingers of his other hand—dangerously hardened—right against Bakugo’s neck.

“You son of a…”

Finding himself on the floor, Bakugo wore an expression of absolute disbelief, refusing to accept what had just happened. Ignoring Kirishima’s razor-sharp fingers against his neck, he quickly tried to bring his hand up toward the redhead’s face to blast him point-blank while cursing under his breath.

For his part, Kirishima, who was used to taking surprise hits and fast moves during the last few weeks’ training sessions with the black-haired couple, reacted immediately. Using a technique similar to the one-inch punch, he delivered a hard blow to Bakugo’s nose, breaking it at the same time he endured the consequences of the explosion in his face, hardening himself with everything he had.

“Winner, Eijiro Kirishima!!”

Once the smoke from the explosion cleared, Midnight announced the winner out loud. Kirishima stood up with a huge grin, cheering at the top of his lungs as he raised his hands in the air, excited. The beautiful heroine quickly moved over to check on the unconscious blond lying on the ground.

“I WON!!!!”

…

(HE WON!!!)

Kai, for his part, was practically jumping out of his seat from excitement. He really had lost it: the bastard he had trained had won. The blond pain-in-the-ass was no longer going to be number one. Now, if Kai made sure nothing bad happened, the guy wouldn’t even touch the podium, and he would prove without any doubt that things can change—that destiny isn’t set in stone, that he had free will.

“So you were teaching him Aikido?” Containing his excitement, Kai spoke with a smile as he looked at Momo, who nodded happily. She could feel her beloved’s genuine joy, which made her just as happy, if not more.

“Yeah, just like you said it’d be good for him. So aside from physical conditioning and making him take strong hits from the robots, I also taught him as much Aikido as I could, and he learned pretty fast. He’s quite talented.”

“You did well. With Aikido, the trick for closing in on enemies, plus his Hardening and strength, and some solid martial arts training like Kickboxing or Kyokushin Karate, he’ll become a relatively decent Hero with a good range of action.” Kai spoke as he watched Bakugo being carried out of the stadium on a stretcher, feeling a furious storm of emotions inside him. Momo nodded with a smile.

“Hehe, I think so too. Besides, he’s very talented, and with what he showed today, it’s very likely that Heroes specialized in martial arts will want to recruit him, which will be a great opportunity for him.”

“I guess you explained that to him.” Kai said with a small smile, and Momo nodded cheerfully.

“Of course. I made sure to give everyone who asked for help a list of the agencies that would best suit them, so they can pick if they get an invitation.”

“You know, you’d make a great teacher.” Kai remarked, feeling more relaxed than ever, fully enjoying Momo’s happiness. She asked with joy and pride.

“You think so?”

“Totally. At least you’ve done a better job than the grinning idiot or the tired vampire.” Kai replied in a mocking tone, causing Momo to shake her head disapprovingly before scolding him in a stern voice.

“I’ve told you not to go around giving people nicknames, especially not the teachers.”

“Please, they’re just descriptions. Or look me in the eyes and tell me they’re not like that.” Kai retorted playfully, looking directly at Momo, who couldn’t help but avert her gaze, admitting defeat.

Even though All Might might be a great Hero and the Symbol of Peace, Momo was fully aware that as a teacher, he left a lot to be desired. After all, most of the time in class, he didn’t really know what he was doing and couldn’t even guide Midoriya—his successor—properly, and that was despite the boy using the Quirk he had used almost his entire life.

Unable to stand by and watch as All Might’s incompetence inadvertently harmed his successor—something she found out from Kai shortly after he spoke with the Symbol of Peace—Momo ended up bringing him to Kai so that he could give Midoriya some advice. In just a few weeks, those tips had transformed the green-haired student from a useless glass cannon into a real threat, which only highlighted how bad the number-one Hero was as a teacher.

On the other hand, Aizawa, while more experienced and relatively better than All Might at teaching, still fell short in terms of developing the students’ strength. Momo was fully aware of this, after all, she had spent her entire life training with the strict but absurdly effective Kai, who had likely turned her into the strongest in the class after himself. Even without using her Accomplice, she was pretty sure no one in the class could beat her, and she also couldn’t deny that Aizawa really did look like a vampire.

“Let’s drop it now. Tell me instead what you think about the next fight between Todoroki and Kaminari.” Momo changed the subject quickly, speaking in a serious tone. Kai smiled in amusement, then added.

“Well, the truth is, Kaminari will most likely lose. Even though he’s improved, and his gear can help him, Todoroki has better training, greater raw power, and better Quirk control. So your opponent is going to be Todoroki.”

“That’s true…”

Momo responded in a serious tone as she sank into thought. Ever since she saw the matchups, she’d known Todoroki would very likely be her opponent before she got to face Kai in the final, so she already had some strategies in mind and wanted to refine them.

After a while, the battle between Kaminari and Todoroki began. Just as Kai predicted, Kaminari couldn’t do much and ended up frozen after a short time. Though, he did manage to give Todoroki some trouble by using the cables on his wrists and his “movement technique”, which basically involved sending electric discharges through his feet to create an electromagnetic field that propelled him forward. It was quite similar to one of Mei’s inventions because, so far, he couldn’t use his electricity to stimulate his muscles directly.

“All right, I gotta go.”

While Todoroki unfroze Kaminari, Momo spoke in a more serious tone. Kai nodded casually and spoke with a smile, his gaze drifting casually to Iida, who looked incredibly focused as he left the stands area.

“Go all in.”

With a determined expression, Momo nodded and started walking toward the exit. Jiro, Mina, and Hagakure—the invisible girl—turned to look at Kai, hoping to glean some hint from his expression. But seeing him fully relaxed as he took out his phone, for some reason, reassured them considerably.

“An elite hailing from a family of Heroes, from the Hero Course—Iida Tenya!!” With Present Mic’s introduction, Iida promptly stepped onto the combat platform to roaring applause from the stands. The Hero then announced again.

“A multi-purpose creation talent, capable of producing even the most impressive armor, from the Hero Course—Yaoyorozu Momo!!”

Momo hurried onto the stadium floor, waving at the crowd that was cheering like crazy. She quickly spotted the Pussycats wildly waving signs with her name, which made her smile fondly. Then she looked over at Nemuri, who was on the judge’s platform; the Heroine gave her a confident smile, and Momo nodded firmly in response.

“No matter what happens next, I’ll give it my all, Yaoyorozu-san!”

As soon as Momo was on the combat platform, Iida spoke solemnly, drawing the black-haired beauty’s attention. The young man glanced for a moment at the 1-A stands, which inexplicably made Momo smile. She replied with an elegant, dignified tone.

“You don’t need to worry about that, Iida-san. You can give it your all.”

“Ready?!!... START!!!”

At Present Mic’s signal, Iida immediately adopted a runner’s stance and revved the engines on his legs to full power. He knew he had to take down the girl in front of him as quickly as possible and not let her equip her armor; once she did, beating her would be practically impossible.

“Recipro Burst!!!”

With a powerful shout, Iida shot off at great speed toward Momo, instantly positioning himself at her back. He tried to put his hands on her back to push her out of the platform, but just before he could, Momo spun around on herself, dodging him by the narrowest margin. Iida’s eyes widened in surprise as he continued moving forward from the momentum.

Moving with incredible fluidity, Momo grabbed Iida’s wrist with her left hand and pulled his arm downward, so his body would follow her spin. At the same time, she used her free hand to deliver a brutal blow to the young man’s abdomen, and with the strong momentum, he was carrying because of his speed, he went flying through the air.

While airborne, Iida reacted quickly, using his engines to pivot in midair and land on the ground. He fought for breath, feeling a stabbing pain in his ribs, thoroughly taken aback by how the black-haired girl’s strength was absurdly greater than her soft, slender arms would suggest.

Knowing he couldn’t waste a single second, Iida once again propelled himself toward Momo. This time, his expression was resolute. He really was going to give his all and wasn’t about to hold back just because he was fighting a girl. In a flash, he was right in front of her, spinning in the air to send a front kick aimed at Momo’s face.

Wearing an incredibly calm, composed expression, Momo sidestepped, avoiding the kick by a narrow margin. At the same time, she again used one of her arms to seize Iida’s foot in an attempt to use his momentum against him—but as the young man was expecting that, he quickly fired up his engines to twist himself in midair and break free.

Simultaneously, taking advantage of the momentum, Iida aimed a powerful knee strike at Momo’s chin. She dodged it by leaning her torso back, only to immediately dart forward and land a hard right punch to his hip. The blow was so strong that Iida swore he heard a cracking sound coming from his hip as he went flying once again.

“What a spectacular showcase of speed and technique!!! These kids don’t look like they’re only in their first year!! That’s true elite status for ya!!!” Present Mic exclaimed in excitement, prompting Aizawa to nod and remark in a tired tone.

“It really is impressive. That level of technique is rare even among professional Heroes. But this year, we already have several students with very high martial-arts prowess. The new generation is definitely going to surpass the old one.”

Meanwhile, in the 1-A stands, the group that trained with the class rep could only smile wryly at what was unfolding. After all, they had fallen victim many times to her ridiculous strength and skill. Even though she wouldn’t admit it, she wasn’t much less merciless than Kai during training.

As for Iida, who barely managed to land on his feet by using his engines, he felt his hip had become misaligned, and his ribs were in agonizing pain. He was so dizzy he thought he might throw up. Still, summoning all his willpower, he stood back up on unsteady legs, determined to make one last effort to try and win. Not only was he injured, but his engines were also overheating. Right then, Momo held up something that looked like a remote control and spoke with a small smile.

“Truly sorry, Iida-san, but this is over.”

At the same time she spoke, Momo pressed the single button on the remote, causing a strong electric current to run through Iida’s body. Moments later, he dropped to the ground, paralyzed. That was when Midnight announced excitedly, causing the crowd to erupt in applause.

“Winner, Yaoyorozu Momo!!”

***

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