There lingered a bout of absolute silence among the audience.
Just… what was that?!
Just what happened in the last few dozen seconds?!
It was like Deku had become a one-man army, aiming to finish the entire event in a few breaths.
The most ridiculous thing was that it hadn't felt like he had been overestimating himself either.
A few more seconds…
That was all Deku had needed to finish the game, it had felt.
And that was when he himself was injured the most, almost on the brink of collapsing!
First, the greenish-black strands of energy that had erupted out of him were strange. Like, what were they?! A part of his Quirk?! Wasn't his Quirk a basic Power-amplifier?! If not, then what was it?!
Second, after Tenya's brave sacrifice, Deku had luckily managed to remain on the field.
Even then, at a glance, even a blind person could have seen just how bad the boy's situation had been.
Yet, defying all those odds, Deku had not only erupted with the greatest burst of strength, but… he had almost defeated every single student still active in the Battle Royale without injuring himself further.
Almost all who were watching the Battle Royale, whether at UA or on screen, remembered Deku. Not for something heroic, but mostly as the student whose only way to put up a fight was to sacrifice his limbs.
Last time during the Sports Festival, Midoriya had put up a great fight against Todoroki, but… none could have denied that such a display of strength was foolish, especially when it could permanently harm him.
This time, though, the control Deku had shown in those last few seconds felt less like the last steps of a dying man and more like a statement, shouted out loud.
Look at me! Deku seemed to cry on the screens. I am here…
And, as the timer kept ticking in silence, a chill began running down people's spines as they remembered those last scenes.
Despite Midoriya's sudden defeat, cheers, louder than ever, erupted out of people's lungs, their roars spilling out of the stadium and flooding the entire campus.
On the battlefield, locked in by the sky-high laser boundaries, none of the four remaining students could have cared less about those shouts.
Midoriya hadn't just pounded them.
He had pounded them so hard that their bones were broken.
Even Luke, despite the innate strength of a Cryptologist, had several of his ribs broken.
His nose was bent at an odd angle, and his ears donned bloody impressions of teeth, like earrings.
If he had used all his Beyonder abilities, then, perhaps, he could have easily dodged Midoriya and retaliated. However, the more he advanced in the three Pathways, the more he confirmed that none of the Seer, Marauder, and Apprentice Pathways were tuned toward a direct, physical confrontation. He would even go so far as to say that these Pathways had only one purpose…
To run away!
Not just run away, but to do it with style!
Still, against the likes of students, he could handle himself well, Luke believed.
However, the fact that a 20% One For All would be this powerful… he had never imagined that.
Luke had every reason to believe that this percentage progression, in the form of Full Cowling, was flawed to begin with.
Because, using Decryption and Deliberation, he could easily tell that the difference between his Reinforcement, which was equivalent to Full Cowling at 5%, and Deku's 20% Full Cowling was not a mere 15%, but more like 25.
Which meant, if he wanted to replicate Deku's last display of power, he would need to bestow a Reinforcement Quirk equivalent to 30% of Full Cowling, shooting its Complexity to not even Super, but near Plus Ultra.
Perhaps it was because of a qualitative difference between Reinforcement, which itself was a product of Bioalchemy, and One For All?
Regardless of the reason, as Luke spat out blood, he knew that Deku had already crossed the invisible threshold beyond which it would impossible for him to outpace the boy in terms of sheer strength… without using underhanded means.
Letting out painful grunts, Luke tried to stand up.
Choking Hero: Choker was not a Beyonder. He was a highly proficient, assassin-like, merciless character, with access to one and only one Quirk. Despite his insanely strong physique, he wasn't immune to getting hurt.
So, standing up as Choker, Luke grabbed his nose and straightened it with an audible crunch, cursing out loud.
Then, he looked around.
The ice that had covered the ground for the last five minutes was… gone.
It was lost in piles of icy and dusty rubble, craters of all sizes scattered across the entire field.
On one side, under the menacing, reddish hue of the laser boundary in his background, Todoroki was straightening his back, more bloodied than Luke, with both his legs broken. A layer of ice now covered those legs, acting like a cast. That couldn't hide the pure exhaustion in his reddened eyes, though.
Against the backdrop of another laser boundary, Monoma's Dark Shadow pulled the boy out of a crater as well. He looked much better than Luke and Todoroki, as most of Deku's blows had landed on Dark Shadow. However, the force of those attacks had still reached Monoma, it seemed, with blood coming out from the corners of his mouth.
Then, on the fourth side, was Momo.
Her injuries were a result of Todoroki's vengeful strike.
She was breathing so loudly, holding her chest, that it felt like she was suffocating.
Then, sensing eyes upon them, Momo, Monoma, and Todoroki looked at the person observing them.
Luke's helmet had shattered, leaving him with several scars on his face.
He couldn't even stand properly, holding his stomach as if he would fall forward if he dared to let go.
Yet, despite all that, there was something about him…
They couldn't see his mouth, hidden under a layer of blood, but they could tell that he was smiling from the way his blue eyes squinted.
Then, slowly, Luke lifted his free, shaking hand and pointed up.
Simultaneously, the timer RANG again, the battle entering its minute-long finale.
However, neither Momo's, Monoma's, nor Todoroki's gaze ever reached the timer fully, because… they had spied something between the land and the sky… a black dot… becoming larger and clearer in their blurry vision.
Snap!
With that sound of snapping of fingers, hearts jolted.
And, together, Momo, Monoma, and Todoroki let out a beastly growl…
… knowing who that black dot was and what Luke was going to do with it!