Namikaze immediately got into a prepared stance, but Shoto did not stomp right away. He considered a moment. I have upset him somehow, I ought to try and make things right before I defeat him. "You were lucky to get this far," he said, meaning it as praise, "but here it ends."
Namikaze's mouth opened in shock, and then Shoto stomped his right foot down, sending out his massive ice attack.
The crowd gasped collectively. In the stands, a girl screamed. The ice enveloped the teleportation user, causing him to disappear. It was just like Shoto's first match against Sero, or the many ice structures he sent out against Midoriya. That was quick. And now I've done it. He sighed, cold breath vaporising in front of him.
Midnight opened her mouth to declare the winner… and then Namikaze reappeared with a flash of yellow, standing in front of the ice pillar. He was breathing hard, partially keeled over. And his blue eyes were glowing with fury.
The crowd went wild. "YES!" Mina shouted, leaping out of her seat. "Wow…" Izuku murmured. In another part of the stands, Endeavour leaned forward, interested.
Haru looked up at Todoroki. "I could just barely move my feet in there. You nearly had me," he growled. When he heard the shocked noises from the crowd, he knew his voice was teleporting again. "Either think of a different tactic, or surrender."
Todoroki's nostrils flared. He slammed his right palm into the ground, doubling the ice output by adding it to his foot ice. Another pillar shot out at Haru, its shining blue spikes bearing down on him. Frantically, Haru threw his hands out… and yellow light enveloped the oncoming ice.
As the ice came at him, he teleported it to the side, its velocity sending it up toward the stands at a different angle from how Todoroki was shooting it. The crowd gasped again.
"HERE WE HAVE AN UNFORESEEN DEVELOPMENT! NAMIKAZE IS THE FIRST COMPETITOR WHO IS ABLE TO MOVE TODOROKI'S ICE!"
The ice was heavy and plentiful, and Haru instantly felt his arms resist the effort, urging him to stop. It was more weight than they'd ever born before. But he grimaced and held out, sending the ice away from himself, until the attack ended.
Todoroki re-angled his hand, now sending out ice from two places at once. Haru threw his hands out in an arc, and the yellow light crossed the ice as if cutting through it. Great pillars of ice teleported to the sides of the ring, crashing down and shattering in great explosions that caused the whole stadium to shudder. One nearly crushed Midnight, causing her to scramble out of the way. Present Mic was going wild. "WHAT A SHOW OF POWER! THIS IS TRULY WORTHY OF BEING THE FINAL MATCH, DON'TCHA THINK?"
Aizawa sighed. "If you're asking me, I…"
Present Mic just yelled over him. "OH? TODOROKI HAS STOPPED?"
Shoto stood up straight again, looking at Namikaze carefully. The warping boy was bent over, his arms hanging limper than normal, and he was breathing hard. "Your abilities have a limit," he observed. "And that was from just three of my attacks. I don't need a repeat of Midoriya. There is no point in exhausting yourself."
When Namikaze replied, the whole crowd heard.
"Ohhh? I think a repeat of Midoriya is just what we need. I'll keep negating your ice as a threat to me, because it's solid. But do you know what isn't solid? Fire. I can't warp fire. Use your flames if you want to end the match."
Mina was watching closely, chewing her nails with chattering teeth. Haru's eyes and mouth were now coursing with yellow light, and his face looked positively crazy. That combined with his hunched posture made him look like some kind of creature, and the whole crowd felt similarly unsettled. It was in the air.
Endeavour smiled.
Shoto was furious. How many people in my class has my old man spoken to? "Never," he snarled at Namikaze. "Never for you."
Namikaze let out an inhuman roar, and suddenly he was charging.
The crowd began to scream and lose control. Shoto's eyes widened in panic, and he stomped out another pillar of ice, but Namikaze only teleported lazily out of the way, and then re-adjusted his course, right for his opponent.
Haru was glad for their brief exchange, because it had given his legs that last bit of time to recharge their power. But that was the only thing he was happy about right now. All the rest of him was rage, pure rage.
Two-thirds of the way across the ring, he couldn't take it anymore, and warped the rest of the way to Todoroki.
The first hit was a punch connecting solidly into the ice-and-fire user's belly. "HOW DARE YOU SAY I WAS LUCKY TO GET HERE!" Todoroki tried to counter, but Haru had already warped to the side, landing another hit against his head. "I'VE WORKED SO HARD…" another warp, a kick to the back. "JUST TO GET TO THIS POINT…" warp, elbow to the face. "JUST TO KICK YOUR ASS!" Todoroki swung blindly again, whiffing, and Haru warped, punching him low near his liver. Todoroki nearly threw up, and, screaming with frustration, covered his right arm with ice and tried to freeze-grab Haru the next time he appeared in front of him. Haru warped back to avoid it, quick as a cat, and then forward again to keep up the assault.
The crowd was losing its collective shit. "NAMIKAZE GETS IN CLOSE! NO ONE HAS MANAGED TO TOUCH TODOROKI LIKE THIS ALL DAY! OOH, THAT'S ANOTHER HIT! AND ANOTHER!"
Mina was clenching her fists and breathing very loudly, while most of the boys in the class were going "Whoa!" and "Holy shit."
Izuku leaned forward. "This is the fighting style of a warp Quirk user in all its glory. Namikaze's strength is unenhanced, so none of the blows are very powerful on their own… but the persistence of it, and the constant changing of direction and placement… no one without some kind of resistance Quirk will hold out for very long. He's like a swarm of stinging insects."
Indeed, Shoto was beginning to lose his strength, and he kept trying to land a counter-attack, to no avail. Namikaze appeared right in front of him, and Shoto finally managed to freeze part of the boy's elbow… but then Namikaze LEAPT into the air, and disappeared in a yellow flash.
Haru had warped right on target, and he landed on top of Todoroki's head, locking his legs around the other boy's shoulders and falling to the ground, pulling his opponent with him in a takedown. The crowd gasped.
Haru flipped over and pinned Todoroki to the ground before the other boy could react. He held his opponent's chest down with one hand and punched him in the face with the other, twice, three times. "GIVE UP!" He shouted, punching him again. "CONCEDE!"
Through all the pain, Shoto grimaced and slammed his right elbow into the ground, sending an ice pillar straight up into the air. Namikaze went flying with it, off his chest and into the sky.
"OH NO!" shouted Present Mic, as the warp user went flying into the air like a ragdoll. Midnight and Cementoss got ready to take action. The crowd was buzzing. All Might's eyes widened. And Mina Ashido screamed.