Chapter 46: Vs the strongest Hero. Part.1
Ground Beta was silent. It was the kind of unnatural, heavy silence that hangs over a city before a typhoon makes landfall. The replica skyscrapers stood tall and gray against the blue sky, their windows reflecting the sunlight, unaware that they were about to become casualties of war.
The heat radiating from the asphalt shimmered in the air.
"Exam Three. Team Midoriya and Team Kuzan vs. All Might. Ready... GO!"
The robotic voice of the announcer echoed through the empty streets, bouncing off the concrete walls like a starter pistol.
Down the main avenue, two figures walked.
Izuku Midoriya was a bundle of raw nerves. His steps were jerky, his head swiveling constantly, his breathing shallow and rapid. He looked like a small animal sensing a predator in the brush.
Beside him, Aokiji Kuzan strolled with his hands in his pockets. His posture was so relaxed he looked like he was browsing for a vending machine rather than facing the strongest hero in history.
"We have to run," Midoriya stammered, his voice trembling. "Kuzan-kun, our only option is the Escape Gate. Facing him... it's impossible. It's suicide."
"Why do you think that?" Aokiji asked, his eyes scanning the rooftops lazily.
Midoriya flinched, then began to mutter, a torrent of words spilling out. "It's All Might. Even with the weights, his raw power output is beyond anything we can calculate. His speed, his durability... if we try to fight him head-on, he'll overwhelm us in seconds. He doesn't have an elemental weakness like Cementoss, and he doesn't have a visual limit like Aizawa-sensei. He is—"
"I see," Aokiji interrupted, his voice cutting through the panic. "I understand."
Midoriya stopped muttering. "Understand what?"
Aokiji stopped walking. He looked down at the green-haired boy.
"You seem to be suffering from an obsession," Aokiji said calmly. "You look at him and you see a monument. A legend. You're trembling because you've put him on a pedestal so high you can't even see his feet."
Aokiji turned his gaze down the long, empty street.
"Remember, Midoriya. We are facing a human. Flesh and blood. Don't give him a description greater than that."
Midoriya stared at Aokiji, stunned by the casual dismissal of the Symbol of Peace's grandeur.
One hundred and fifty meters away.
At the far end of the avenue, standing in the center of the crosswalk, a towering figure stood. The shadows of the buildings couldn't hide the beaming smile that seemed to generate its own light.
All Might adjusted his gloves. He planted his feet, cracking the pavement beneath his boots.
"Well then," All Might murmured, his deep voice vibrating in his chest. "Shall we begin?"
He drew his right fist back. It was a simple motion. A punch.
"SMASH!!!"
The world ended.
It wasn't just wind. It was a physical wall of compressed air.
The sound hit first—a deafening BOOM that shattered every window in a ten-block radius instantly. The glass rained down like diamonds.
Then came the pressure.
Cars parked on the side of the road were lifted into the air like toys, tumbling end over end. Streetlights bent and snapped at the base. The asphalt of the road peeled up like a carpet being shaken by a giant.
The shockwave tore down the street, devouring the distance between the teacher and the students in a heartbeat.
"Full Cowling... 5%!"
Green lightning crackled around Midoriya's body.
Aokiji's eyes widened slightly. Hmm?
He watched as Midoriya, reacting on pure instinct and adrenaline, kicked off the ground. The green sparks trailed behind him as he dove sideways, vanishing into a narrow alleyway between two brick buildings just a split second before the blast arrived.
Aokiji didn't dodge.
He stood there, hands in his pockets, watching the hurricane approach.
CRASH!
The wind pressure slammed into him with the force of a freight train. There was no resistance. Aokiji's body didn't bruise or bleed; it exploded.
In an instant, the tall young man was reduced to a thousand jagged shards of ice. His head, his torso, his limbs—all shattered into glittering debris that was swept away by the gale, clinking against the ruined concrete.
The wind howled for ten seconds straight, then finally died down.
In the alleyway, Midoriya peeked out, his green eyes wide with horror. "Kuzan-kun?!"
But then, he remembered what happened in the U.S.J and UA sport festival. He remembered the nature of his partner.
On the ruined street, the scattered ice began to move. It slid across the pavement, defying gravity, pulling itself together. A leg formed. Then a torso. Then the white waistcoat. Finally, the head sculpted itself from the frost.
Aokiji stood there, completely whole. He dusted imaginary lint off his shoulder, looking utterly unbothered by the fact that he had just been pulverized.
He turned his head toward the alley.
"Your Quirk..." Aokiji called out, his voice calm amidst the destruction. "Have you brought it under control?"
Midoriya stepped out, still shaken. "Just... just a little. By using a small percentage of it constantly throughout my body."
"That's creative," Aokiji nodded approvingly. "Much better than breaking your fingers."
Suddenly, Aokiji frowned.
He blinked. The bright sunlight that had been bathing the street had vanished. A large shadow had fallen over him.
"A cloud?" Aokiji muttered. "Strange forecast..."
He tilted his head back slowly.
It wasn't a cloud.
High above him, blotting out the sun, All Might was descending. He had leaped across the entire city block in a single bound. He was coming down knees-first, poised like a meteor, looking like a terrifying version of Spider-Man descending from a web.
"TEXAS... SMASH!!"
Midoriya gasped.
BOOOM!
All Might landed directly on top of Aokiji.
The ground didn't just crack; it cratered. A shockwave of dust and debris erupted outward, creating a mushroom cloud of dirt in the center of the intersection.
"Kuzan kun!!" Midoriya screamed, his green hair fluttered in the wind.
As the dust settled, the scene revealed itself.
All Might was crouching in the center of the crater. His massive knees were pinned to the ground.
Underneath him, there was no blood or gore. Just a massive, chaotic spray of crushed ice.
However, from the waist up, Aokiji's body began to reform, growing out of the ice directly next to All Might's thigh. He looked annoyed.
"Would you mind stepping aside, old man?" Aokiji complained, looking at the massive hero looming over him. "You're heavy."
All Might blinked, then threw his head back and laughed, a booming sound that echoed off the buildings.
"HAHAHA! What a flashy Quirk you have!" All Might grinned, his blue eyes piercing through the shadow. "No wonder you took First Place at the Sports Festival! Kuzan Boy!"
"Ice Age."
The whisper escaped Aokiji's lips, accompanied by a breath of white mist.
In a fraction of a second, the crater turned white. The frost exploded outward from Aokiji's shattered form, climbing up All Might's massive legs, encasing his torso, and sealing his iconic grin behind a thick, jagged prison of diamond-hard ice.
The Symbol of Peace had become a frozen statue in the middle of the street.
"He... he froze him?!" Midoriya gasped, peeking from the alleyway, his eyes wide with a flicker of hope.
Aokiji's upper body finished reforming. He exhaled a cloud of cold air, looking at his handiwork.
"Arara," Aokiji drawled, rubbing his neck. "That should hold him for a few seconds. Let's hope this gives you enough time to run. Move, Mido—"
CRACK!
The sound was like a gunshot.
Before Aokiji could finish his sentence, the ice statue didn't just break; it detonated. Shards of frozen water flew in every direction as All Might flexed his muscles, shattering the prison with brute strength alone.
A massive fist blurred through the air.
SMASH!
It was a direct hit to the face. Aokiji's head was obliterated instantly, exploding into a shower of ice crystals that scattered across the pavement.
All Might stood there, steam rising from his body as the ice melted against his skin. He looked at his fist, shaking off the cold frost.
"I know the nature of your Quirk protects you from physical pain," All Might said, his voice deep and serious. "But even so... punching a child in the face like that makes me shiver. It feels wrong."
He slowly turned his head. His blue eyes, glowing with intensity, locked onto the alleyway.
Midoriya froze. The gaze felt heavy, like a physical weight pressing on his chest.
"I—I have to run!"
Midoriya panicked. Green sparks erupted around his body—One For All: Full Cowling.
He spun around and sprinted deeper into the alley.
Think! Think! Midoriya's mind raced as fast as his feet. Kuzan-kun can regenerate! He's the only one who can stall All Might! My job is to get to the Escape Gate! I have to trust him!
He kicked off a dumpster, bouncing to the wall, then to a pipe, moving in a zigzag pattern to maximize his speed. He was a blur of green lightning, desperate to put distance between himself and the monster behind him.
The exit!
At the far end of the long alley, about one hundred meters away, he saw the bright sunlight of the main street. The way out.
"Almost there!" he panted.
He pushed his legs to the limit. Therty meters. Twenty meters. Ten meters.
BOOOM!
Something like meteor fell.
A massive shockwave slammed into the ground directly in front of the alley exit.
Midoriya skidded to a halt, shielding his face as trash cans, cardboard boxes, and debris were blown backward by a sudden, violent gale.
When the dust cleared, All Might was crouching there, blocking the exit completely. He rose slowly to his full height, his shadow stretching long down the narrow passage, swallowing Midoriya's hope.
"Where are you running?" All Might asked, his voice echoing off the brick walls. "Leaving your teammate behind with his head crushed? Is that how a hero acts? Midoriya Shonen."
Midoriya's breath hitched. Fear gripped his heart.
The other way!
Midoriya spun on his heel, ready to bolt back the way he came.
But the moment his eyes turned—
All Might was there.
"Too slow."
The hero's face was inches from Midoriya's, who didn't even have time to scream.
Back on the main street.
Aokiji had finally pulled himself together. Ice swirled and hardened, reforming his face and his signature messy hair. He stood up, sighing as he brushed imaginary dust off his knees.
"That old man is relentless," Aokiji muttered, rolling his shoulder. "He really doesn't hold ba—"
He heard a sound. A high-pitched whistle, like a mortar shell incoming.
Aokiji looked up just as a rush of wind hit his face.
"Huh?"
BOOSH!
A green-and-black projectile slammed directly into him.
Midoriya's body, thrown like a baseball from the alleyway, crashed into Aokiji with tremendous force. The impact lifted both of them off their feet. They flew backward, tumbling across the asphalt in a tangle of limbs before skidding to a halt near the crater All Might had made earlier.
Aokiji lay on his back, staring up at the blue sky. Midoriya was groaning in pain on top of his legs.
"Ow..." Midoriya wheezed.
From the dark mouth of the alleyway, heavy footsteps approached.
All Might walked out into the sunlight. He wasn't even out of breath. He dusted off his hands, looking down at the two students lying in a heap.
"Ten minutes have already passed," All Might laughed, though the sound was daunting. "Do you two really have time to be lying around sunbathing?"
He cracked his knuckles.
"Because the villain isn't going to wait."
.
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