After leaving the field, Bakugo stood off to the side, fuming and muttering to himself. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! You half-and-half bastard! And that wind bastard!"
For Bakugo, not getting first place was already a failure. Not even making top three was even worse.
"Next round. Next round I'm definitely taking all of you down."
While Bakugo was still raging, Midnight had already started explaining the rules for the second event.
At the same time, a lot of people noticed something interesting.
Nobody from Class A got eliminated in the first round.
"Crack!"
The whip hit the ground. Midnight pulled everyone's attention back, waving her hand and shouting, "The first event is officially over! Those who got eliminated, don't worry. The school has other stuff prepared for you."
The moment "42" appeared on screen, the big display switched to show "Second Round."
"Now for the main event! The 42 people moving on to the second round, get ready immediately."
"The second round is a cavalry battle!"
Midnight kept explaining. "Teams will have two to four people. Same rules as a normal cavalry battle. Each 'horse' gets a headband with points tied around their neck. Like the first round, you're free to use your Quirks, but no malicious attacks."
"So we can go after the person on top?"
Everyone thought the same thing.
For people with large-scale attacks like Todoroki and Yoarashi, this rule would hold them back. But still… everyone couldn't stop thinking about what happened in the minefield.
"What exactly was that Quirk that moved 400 meters in an instant?"
"These are your points from the first round, based on your ranking."
On the big screen, starting from last place and moving up, each person's score increased by five points per rank.
"And the points for the first place winner are…"
Midnight drew it out, a teasing smile on her face.
"Ten million!!!"
The second she said it, the whole stadium exploded. The other 41 contestants, even people like Yoarashi who knew Arthur's Quirk pretty well, all looked at him like hungry wolves.
No question about it. Getting that ten million would lock in first place.
"So we can attack the person on the 'horse,' right?"
Arthur grinned and touched the corner of his mouth with his finger.
He usually liked more intense fights, but messing around a little was fun too.
"I love nothing more than taking down overconfident idiots."
"Now you have fifteen minutes! Start forming your teams!"
After explaining the rules, Midnight stepped back from the referee area and left the students to it.
Right away, Todoroki, Yoarashi, and Bakugo got swarmed by people.
As for Arthur, everyone avoided him.
Everyone knew teaming up with Arthur meant becoming a giant target.
Yaoyorozu glanced at her boyfriend.
She didn't want to be his teammate. She wanted to compete against him.
Arthur was so strong that even Yaoyorozu, who spent every day with him, didn't know his limits.
But that was exactly why she wanted to pull back the mystery around him.
"Momo Yaoyorozu, let's team up."
Jiro walked up and invited her.
Yaoyorozu smiled, thought for a moment, and nodded.
"Hey! First place! Team up with me!"
Suddenly, a girl with shoulder-length curly pink hair and cross-shaped pupils patted Arthur on the shoulder from behind.
He turned around. The first thing he noticed was her chest. D-cup or bigger, hard to miss.
But for some reason, she also had a bit of an airhead vibe.
"I'm Mei Hatsume from the Support Course! If I team up with you, the first place winner, my adorable Babies will get crazy attention! What do you say? Team up with me!"
"Support Course?"
Arthur glanced at her homemade combat uniform.
Combat uniforms weren't allowed in this competition, but the Support Course's custom gear seemed to be an exception.
"Is this… a knife?"
Arthur pulled a small white plastic-looking dagger from Mei Hatsume's waist pouch. It was tiny. More like a fork than a dagger.
"That's my precious Baby!" Mei Hatsume said excitedly, not caring that Arthur was going through her stuff. "Press the little button on the bottom."
Arthur pressed it. The white knife, originally fork-sized, instantly expanded to the size of a normal military knife.
"It's a special portable dagger, right? Super convenient! To make it usable in the U.A. Sports Festival, they modified it to a low-power version with a slightly sharper edge!"
Mei Hatsume's eyes lit up. She got so excited her chest almost pressed against Arthur, and she didn't even notice.
"The blade isn't sharp, which is a bit disappointing, but it's pretty interesting."
Arthur put the dagger back into her waist pouch. But he didn't pull his hand away. He let it rest on her hip.
His other hand cupped Mei Hatsume's chin, pulling her closer. Her slightly goofy but still cute face was right in front of him. He smirked. "I'm kind of interested in your stuff. Want to come to my room tonight and help me mod some things?"
"If you team up with me and let my Babies get attention, that's no problem at all!"
Mei Hatsume said excitedly, completely clueless about what was happening.
A lot of nearby students stared with wide eyes.
"You bastard!"
"While we're all busy looking for teammates, you're out here flirting?!"
"Arthur…"
A bitter female voice came from behind.
Arthur turned his head. Yaoyorozu, with Jiro next to her, was standing behind him with a forced smile. "Did you find teammates? We happen to have two people as well."
"Momo, that's scary…" Jiro swallowed hard.
She thought that if this were an anime, she'd probably see black smoke coming off Yaoyorozu.
Arthur let go of Mei Hatsume's chin, turned around, and spread his hands like it was no big deal.
Yaoyorozu had originally wanted to compete against Arthur. But after seeing him with Mei Hatsume, she couldn't just stand there.
If she didn't step in, was he really going back to his room for "modifications" tonight?
"What exactly happened?"
"Time's up!"
Fifteen minutes passed. The teams had formed.
The most notable ones were:
Todoroki's team with Kaminari, Iida, and Kendo from Class B.
Midoriya's team with Yoarashi, Uraraka, and Tokoyami.
Bakugo's team with Kirishima, Ashido, and Sero.
Pretty surprising that Yoarashi was carrying Midoriya on his back.
Yoarashi was the horse, and Midoriya was the rider.
Only someone that oblivious would actually do that.
If it were Bakugo or Todoroki, no way they'd let someone ride on their back.
Arthur wasn't willing either, honestly.
But the idea of three girls carrying him was just weird.
Even just for looks, Arthur at 1.85 meters would look strange even on Yaoyorozu, who was the tallest of the three.
He summoned The World, which bent down and let Arthur stand on its back.
The three girls Yaoyorozu, Hatsume, and Jiro positioned themselves on its left, right, and middle.
"Hey! Is that even allowed?!"
Someone from Class B pointed at Arthur standing on The World's shoulder and yelled at Midnight.
"As long as the rider's feet don't touch the ground, it's fine."
Midnight replied.
"Arthur, do you have a plan?"
Yaoyorozu looked up at him from behind. Arthur was already tall, and with The World half-crouching, their combined height was over 2.5 meters. Her neck was starting to hurt.
"Hatsume, use your gear from the start. Wait for my signal."
Arthur had a smile that made Yaoyorozu and Jiro feel like something dangerous was coming. "I don't like this kind of competition. Let's end it fast."
"No problem. As long as my Babies get shown off."
Hatsume shrugged.
"Everyone, take your positions…"
Midnight raised her whip like a referee's starting signal.
"Our goal is the ten million, obviously. We don't know how many will advance to the third round, so we need to aim for high scores. Got it? Kaminari, Kendo."
Iida said to the two beside him.
"Don't rush."
Todoroki's face was serious. He was thinking about Arthur's teleportation from the first event. He put his hands on Iida's shoulders and said quietly, "We don't know how that ability works. Charging in blind will just get us killed."
Iida, Kaminari, and Kendo all shifted their expressions.
They remembered that insane scene too.
Similar conversations were happening in the other teams.
"Everyone's going after that ten million. If we get it, we're basically champions, right? Bakugo."
Kirishima turned to Bakugo behind him.
"Idiot. Don't act stupid."
Bakugo growled. "I don't care about your lives. I'm only teaming up with you morons because I had no choice."
He lowered his voice slightly. "If we don't figure out that ability… that half-and-half bastard will wipe us out immediately."
Kirishima, Ashido, and Sero exchanged glances.
None of them expected Bakugo to be this calm.
Meanwhile, Midoriya was already warning Uraraka, Tokoyami, and Yoarashi.
"Everyone, Arthur's team is obviously the main target. But we still don't know how his Quirk works. Let's go after low-score opponents first and avoid fighting Arthur's team directly."
Even Yoarashi nodded.
Anyone who'd taken hero classes knew how dangerous it was to attack without knowing the enemy's abilities.
"START!!!"
Midnight swung her whip down.
The moment she spoke, nearly ten other teams rushed straight toward the center.
Their target was obvious. The ten million points tied to Yaoyorozu's head.
"Arthur, should we run?"
Jiro was getting nervous seeing so many people charging at them.
"Wait. Let them get closer. If they don't get close, I can't use The World."
Arthur smiled with half-closed eyes.
Closer and closer.
The closest team was some Class B group whose name Arthur didn't even know.
Less than two meters away.
"Hatsume. Now."
Arthur commanded.
"OK!"
Hatsume hit the switch on her back thruster. With a huge blast of wind pressure, she launched all three of them nearly ten meters into the air.
"Don't let them escape!"
"Use your Quirks on the sky!"
"Wait, what's he doing?!"
Some people weren't giving up and planned to attack upward.
But a few sharp-eyed ones noticed Arthur was already moving.
"THE WORLD!!!"
Arthur raised both hands and shouted.
The riders from nearly ten teams who had rushed forward were still focused on Arthur in midair.
Then suddenly, they felt a sharp pain in their bodies.
Nearly ten riders got knocked to the ground by the sudden sting and impact.
The stunned audience looked at the big screen.
Every single one of those riders who fell had a white dagger stuck in them.
On their shoulders, stomachs, or collarbones.
It was the dagger Hatsume had modified and shown Arthur before the match.
At that moment, Arthur's team landed from the air.
All the riders from the surrounding teams who had planned to attack them were down on the ground, stabbed.
The whole stadium went dead silent.
After a long pause, Midnight as head referee was the first to react. She waved her hand and shouted.
"Monoma's team. Rider down. Eliminated!"
"Shiozaki's team. Rider down. Eliminated!"
"Awase's team. Rider down. Eliminated!"
"Shishida's team. Rider down. Eliminated!"
"Shinso's team. Rider down. Eliminated!"
In an instant, more than half the teams were gone.
"W-what the hell just happened?"
Present Mic as commentator was completely lost. Aizawa's eyes next to him narrowed sharply.
"What the hell happened?!"
...
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