The silence stretch a little bit too long as Sukuna stood in front of the microphone. The audience stared silently at him, wondering what he wants about to say. Midnight was about to remind him to start speaking, but he started just before she could call him.
"You guys act like I killed your parents." He called them out, looking down specifically at the students in the General Studies course. Some of said students gritted their teeth and clenched their fists at being taunted.
"We stand here because we want to become professionals. I admit that some of us have already faced real danger. But it doesn't matter. Today isn't about reputation."
He continued. "We are here to be evaluated, so give them something worth remembering. Your performance is the only argument that matters today." It was oddly unsettling at how calm he was, the psychological effect was working though.
"Oh and one last thing..." He grinned at them. His presence became intimidating as black markings spread across his face and body, as a second pair of crimson eyes opened, both pairs staring down at the student body.
"Come at me if you dare!!" The audience erupted at his declaration of war, already fired up for the tournament.
"Oh boy... That's one way to get everyone to target you..." Jin chuckled, shaking his head at his son's antics.
"He looks evil... almost like a demon from a folklore." Though there were cheers, there were also some whispers of doubt concerning Sukuna, unsure about that display of strength.
"What a wonderful speech..." Midnight laughed awkwardly, clearing her throat before continuing.
"Well! Let's start with the preliminaries shall we?! What would our students' first challenge be?!" Midnight pointed at a large floating hologram. The audience gasped and 'woah-ed' in surprise as the first event was revealed.
"An obstacle race!" Midnight declared with a grin. Some students who had low stamina, internally groaned and had nervous expressions showing.
"All 11 classes will participate in this race. The course will be the outer circumference of this stadium with a distance of four kilometers! Now here's the interesting part, as long as you stay inside the course, you're free to do anything you want! Just don't kill each other kay? So get yourself in position and knock yourselves out!" She declared, cracking her whip.
The students gathered around the starting line, the overcrowding and the pushing made it a tense scene as the light turned from red to orange. A silence reigned over the stadium as everyone including the audience stared at the light attentively, ready to burst as soon as it turned green.
The stadium hummed like a power plant. About thirty thousand voices braided together into a low electric thrum, rising and falling in restless waves. Banners snapped in the crosswind. Camera flashes from journalists to proud parents flickered like heat lightning along the stands.
Without warning, the light turned green. Hundreds of bodies charged forward in perfect unison. The stadium erupted. A whistle shrieked. A drum pounded.
"And they're off! Live from UA, this is Present Mic and Eraserhead, bringing you electrifying live commentary over to you! Oh?! What's this?! Look at Todoroki!"
With a single motion, Todoroki froze the legs of a bunch of contestants as he rushed forward, taking the lead. He ignored the chaos behind him, charging forward without a care.
"Remember listeners, it's a free for all in there! And it seems Todoroki is using it to his advantage very well! Oh? But what's this?! There are some who managed to escape!"
"You won't fool me that easily, half and half! Get over here!" Bakugo shouted, his voice a little too much like Scorpion, as he lunged forward using his explosions, quickly gaining momentum and catching up to Todoroki. Meanwhile, Momo smirked a little, having escaped the ice attack and launching herself forward via a pole vault using a metal pole she created.
Mina smirked, using her Quirk to make the ground wet and slippery, before she quickly skated forward, quickly catching up.
"This is insanity! Look at Class 1-A go! All of them have evaded Todoroki's trick! What the hell?! Is Mineta using his sticky balls to trip the other students?!"
Mineta was frantically throwing the purple spheres on his head everywhere, causing some of the students to trip and get stuck on them.
"What the hell?! I can't move!" He heard one shout as he smirked. Throwing more of his balls on the ground, he began taking advantage of the fact that his spheres bounce off his body to use them as small trampolines, jumping past a bunch of students.
"Woah!" A green blur almost threw Mineta off, as it ran past students, catching up to Todoroki and Bakugo.
"Hey!" Mineta shouted again, as now a pink blur blew past him, outpacing the previous green blur.
"Look at Midoriya and Sukuna, they're already catching up with Todoroki and Bakugo! Just look at how fast they are!"
'As I thought. Sukuna's speed is still far superior than mine. But I seem to have gained quite a lead.' Izuku thought to himself, running behind Sukuna.
"Oi shitty nerd! Don't think you're hot shit just because you're fast!" Izuku glanced to his left to see Bakugo just beside him. Just then, all of them heard a loud boom behind them.
'That sound... Wait, doesn't it sound like a jet—' Izuku winced as a giant gust of wind blew past him.
"Is that... It's Momo! And what a creation she has made! She's now in the lead!" Momo smirked, hearing Present Mic's commentary as she zoomed through the air, jetpack on her back, having broken the sound barrier with her creation.
"Yeahh!!!! That's my girl!!!" Momo's father shouted from his seat, watching his daughter on a hologram specially placed in the VIP section.
"But how will Miss Momo face this? What will you do now Momo?! When you're faced with THE ROBO INFERNO!!"
"You're telling me my son had to fight that?!" Inko shouted, almost fainting from pure horror.
Before the students was an army of zero pointer robots, the exact ones they had faced during the entrance exams. Some in the audience wondered how UA received the funding for this.
Momo stared at the robot army with a calm expression, as she pressed a button on a device strapped to her wrist. From the bulky part of her jetpack, some canisters popped out of it as she flew past the robots.
'Is she...' Todoroki paused as he widened his eyes, stopping immediately after realizing Momo's plan. Giant explosions appeared before him, engulfing the zero pointers, causing the other runners to stop in their tracks before they too were engulfed in it.
"The fuck are you thinking carpet bombing us?! Do you wanna die?!" Bakugo shouted, evading the falling robots, still flying midair using his Quirk.
"Oi Momo, save some for the rest of us." Sukuna smirked, picking up the pace.
'One For All Full Cowling: 10%!' Green lightning flashed around Izuku's body as he sped up alongside Sukuna who overtook him easily, catching up to the fighter jet-like speed of Momo.
With a sudden burst of speed, Sukuna disappeared before reappearing behind three zero pointers. The giants broke apart into pieces the second later, having giant holes at the center of their bodies.
Todoroki gritted his teeth, creating a moving wave of ice as he quickly skated through it. Even though it was only the first round, it was the most challenging moment in Todoroki's life.
"This is entertainment!! Look at these students go! Giving their all to achieve the number one spot! We now have a five way tie between Momo, Bakugo, Sukuna, Izuku and Todoroki! But let's not forget the rest of 1-A who are in pretty good positions themselves!"
Todoroki and the rest taking the lead had arrived at the Second Stage called The Fall, a canyon that must be trekked by walking on ropes. Bakugo laughed as he exploded his way across while Sukuna just straight up leaped over it. Izuku did the same, taking three massive jumps to land on the other side.
Meanwhile, Momo flew by over the canyon while Todoroki created an ice bridge, sliding across before destroying the bridge as soon as he got to the end.
"Man these guys are freaks!" Mei shouted, having worn support equipment similar to ODM gear to get her across the canyons.
"These five are still competing for the lead! But what will Todoroki, Sukuna and Midoriya do against the Third Stage?! The Mine Field?!"
Sukuna narrowed his eyes, with a flick of his wrist, he sent out a bunch of Dismantle type cuts at the ground, slicing it up, causing a bunch of explosions.
"Tsk!" Momo clicked her teeth as her vision was blocked by the smoke, forcing herself to fly through it.
"Oi bastard! You trying to kill me?!" Bakugo shouted as he charged forward, the sweat from his body boosting his Quirk, causing him to speed up. It was smooth sailing for Todoroki, as Sukuna had actually helped him by clearing the mind field with his slices.
A giant explosion went off in the background, as the audience saw Izuku holding a metal shield from one of the robots, having detonated a land mine, causing him to blast himself forward.
"Look at this! With Izuku launching himself forward, It's still a five way battle! Who will be in the first place?!" Izuku narrowed his eyes noticing he was still some ways away from the four
'This'll hurt... One For All Full Cowling 15%!'
Izuku's burst of speed lunged him forward just enough to have a small lead. But that small lead was short lived as Sukuna, Bakugo, Todoroki, exerted themselves even more while Momo kept speeding up, her jetpack starting to malfunction.
Five blurs rushed past the finish line. As Momo's jetpack broke, as she fell to the ground, creating a bouncing pad just in time for her to land on it, before tumbling on the ground.
Bakugo stopped using his Quirk and fell forward too, tumbling before quickly getting up. Izuku fell forward, gritting his teeth in pain as he laid on the ground, his body still not being able to handle 15%. Todoroki stopped, his body shivering a little from the overuse of his Quirk.
Sukuna just stood there, his markings still on his body with a neutral expression, as the crowd was silent watching the five of them hanging around the stadium, unsure of who the winner was.
Izuku looked at the four people around him, his breathing uncontrollable. Their faces were uncertain, while Bakugo glared at Present Mic, wishing he would just get on with it already instead of waiting for the sake of being dramatic.
As more and more people crossed at the finished line. Izuku only had one question.
"Who won?...."
To be continued...