Luke blinked.
Midoriya disappeared.
A rumbling, crackling kick brushed past his head, scraping the metal helmet.
At 20%, Midoriya with One For All was a force to behold, his speed a massive blur in people's eyes.
But an even more shocking sight was Luke, sidestepping to dodge the kick barely.
Midoriya's eyes widened, his right hand still clutching his left wrist tightly. He dared not let go of that area, lest Blackwhip go out of control because of all the pain. Pain that was already making his vision blurry. Pain that was draining his stamina. Pain… that demanded he give up.
Luke seemed to have caught onto his troubles as well, because, in the next moment, a CLICK resounded in Midoriya's ears.
With another rattling sound, green scales, little chunks of ice, and thorns came shooting out of the Scale Gauntlet.
Gritting his teeth, Midoriya spun around insanely fast.
Even then, because of the sheer proximity, most of those bullets ended up hitting his back, sending him flying with painful grunts.
Time seemed to crawl around Luke and Midoriya in that moment.
Midoriya was tracing an arc as the bullets hit him midair.
Luke, meanwhile, was standing still as before.
In his right hand, he was still rotating the massive blade with most of the thorny vine looped around his right shoulder.
Suddenly, the blurry disc, representing the massive blade, tilted.
A chill ran down Midoriya's spine even without having eyes on his back.
He had felt this before, he remembered. It was during the time he was fighting Hero Killer Stain during the Hosu City Incident.
Yes, it was the same feeling!
The same!
Death!
He was going to die in the next moment!!
Time hung between seconds as the world saw that bladed disc tilt… their hearts stomped the brakes between beats as Luke's hold on the thorny vine loosened… the Pros' eyes widened, occupying half of their faces, as the blade went for Midoriya… threatening to cut him in half.
How…
How was Luke doing this?
Not even the fastest Pros watching the Battle Royale had seen Midoriya's attack. Not completely. And they had been watching it from a bird's-eye view, or from screens.
Luke?
He had been standing mere meters away!
Without Reinforcement, Luke shouldn't have even been able to react!
Much less needed to be said about not only dodging Deku's kick, but also countering it with the Scale Gauntlet before following it with such a deadly move.
If the blade landed, then Deku…
Probably, not even Recovery Girl's healing would be able to save him, then!
Watching this all happen, petrified in the stalled flow of time, Eraser Head's mouth went dry.
No matter how one looked at it, it felt like Luke was deliberately breaking the rule — purposely hurting Deku with the intent to kill!
Was he trying to get disqualified?!
Moreover, Eraser Head would have already used his Quirk… only if Luke had been using his!
However, none felt the true brunt of Luke's killing intent more than Deku himself, something snapping within his mind as his survival instincts kicked in.
A whizzing sound cut through his mind, the blade approaching his back.
Instantly, involuntarily, and unwantedly, and pushed into a corner like weak prey, Midoriya… lost control.
Like bubbles popping on boiling water, with a loud, gurgling sound, monstrously thick strips of greenish-black energy came shooting out of Deku's back, lashing out in all directions.
Booooooooooooom!
Along with his blade, Luke was sent flying as a strand of Blackwhip got him on the chest, caving in the alloyed armor.
They went for Tenya, too, ignoring the distance between him and Deku, ripping apart the earth.
Tenya shot through the forest of living strips of wrathful energy created by Blackwhip, emptying his reserves. Despite that, a strand of greenish-black energy caught him by the leg, wrapping itself just above his engines. Before he could even push himself beyond his limits, it lifted him and… slammed him down before flicking him off.
Monoma couldn't even react as one of the insanely long strands of Blackwhip crossed the space like a missile, grabbed Dark Shadow, and flung both of them into the distance, the two of them colliding with Tenya midair with an audible crunch.
Even Momo, the farthest of all, wasn't spared, barely surviving the first strand of energy that came for her before another struck her thigh, drawing blood and making her fall.
Ice was torn apart.
The ground was upended.
In the middle of the field surrounded by laser boundaries, Midoriya became a writhing spider with infinite black-green legs of various sizes, with screams of pain echoing out of his throat.
Blackwhip hadn't discriminated while going out of control.
Along with the rest of his body, it had erupted from the area around his wrist as well.
Midoriya had been using a few strands of it as a cast for his broken wrist. The moment he lost control, the energy strands around his wrist enlarged, wrapping around his left arm, making it look like the arm of a demon… crushing not only his broken wrist, but the entire arm.
"Oi…" Eraser Head worded, losing his wits. "What's… going on?!"
All Might, standing next to him, stared at the battlefield, stunned beyond words as well.
Yet, despite their desire to do so, none of them could storm through the laser boundaries and get a hold of the out-of-hand, unexpected disaster.
Because Midoriya had not pressed his Emergency Switch.
Because none of the students had given up on winning the Battle Royale just yet.
Even as the world, and even the referees, took in this shocking, and utterly puzzling, sight, not having any clue what was going on, they did notice something very odd.
Midoriya was still screaming in pain, foaming from mouth as he tried to regain control. Tenya and Monoma were gasping for breath as they dragged their bodies away from more strands of energy coming for them. Momo had created a wall of steel around her as an impenetrable defense.
Meanwhile, Luke?
He was making a beeline toward Midoriya…
… the strands of monstrous energy missing him by inches… every time!