AMV_WEAKLY
patreon
[12] Battle Trial (3)
🕑 Added 2025-05-30 16:30:44 +0000 UTC(Kata POV – Ground Beta, 3rd Floor)
Todoroki doesn’t respond to my taunt. Instead, he sweeps his arm forward, sending ice crystals racing across the floor toward me. I barely glance at them before a telekinetic blast shatters them to pieces.
'I can handle his ice. Maybe I should experiment—find our exactly how much I can do to a human.'
I know I can’t mess with his insides yet—I’d have to see them first. 'But what about everything else?'
Steeling myself, I lean fully into the villain role. 'This is going to be embarrassing.'
"Watch out, you're about to die." My voice comes out colder than I expected. For a second, even I believe it.
The ceiling above Todoroki groans and collapses.
He rolls aside just in time. Ice spikes erupt from the floor, closing the distance between us in an instant.
'Can my forcefield stop this? It should be strong enough.'
I activate it, watching as the ice slams against an invisible barrier a meter from my body. It holds. I flick my wrist, and the spikes explode into shards.
Todoroki’s eyes widen in shock. "How?" His voice is level, but I can’t tell if he’s angry at how easily I blocked him—or if he finally sees me as a threat.
Ignoring his question, I answer with a quote.
"People who fly into a rage..."
I extend my power, locking onto his body. With barely any effort, I lift him into the air. He thrashes against my hold, making it harder—but not hard enough.
"... always make a bad landing."
I launch him forward—fast enough to hurt, but not enough to knock him out.
He slams into the wall, coughing as the ice on his left side cracks and falls away.
'That should’ve hurt.' Disappointment prickles in my chest. This feels too easy.
"Get up and fight." My voice drops lower. "You're the hero here, aren’t you?"
His jaw clenches. Ice spreads across the ground, creeping toward me. I grin under my mask, smashing the frozen tendrils apart—only to realize he’s gone.
I raise an eyebrow. 'Hiding?'
I scan the pillars lining the hallway. He’s behind one of them. Breaking them all would bring the ceiling down on me, so I stay still. Time is on my side.
Seconds pass in silence. Then—
Ice rushes me from the right. I crush it instantly, but Todoroki’s nowhere to be seen.
My grin widens. 'At least he won’t go down easy.'
"Aren’t you getting cold?" My voice echoes through the room. Silence. "I guess not. Let me help."
The shattered ice around me rises into the air, floating in a controlled orbit. If he’s hiding, I don’t need to find him. 'I just need to hit him.'
The shards shoot forward, weaving between the pillars in a lethal dance. Halfway through, Todoroki bolts from cover, trying to avoid them.
'Got you.'
I grab hold of him and slam him into the floor.
I prepare to finish this—
But then, a thick pillar of ice erupts in front of him, charging straight at me. I crush it, only for another to rise in its place. By the time I clear it, he’s gone.
Smart. He’s figured out that if I can’t see him, I can’t control him.
If he’s thinking rationally, there’s only one thing he’d do next:
Try and attack from my blind spot.
I activate my forcefield. Not long after, I hear crackling—then a burst of ice slams into the barrier from my left, just out of view. I snap my head in that direction and crush the ice to dust.
But Todoroki’s already one step ahead. Massive walls of ice shoot up across the room, cutting off my visibility. The temperature plummets, and even through my costume, I feel the cold bite at my skin.
'Interesting.' I grin behind my mask. 'I know he won’t last long without his fire, so I might as well enjoy this while it lasts.'
"Let's play cat and mouse, Todoroki."
I raise a hand and unleash a telekinetic wave, obliterating every ice wall in sight. But for each one I destroy, another rises to take its place.
Occasionally, ice spikes shoot toward me. If I see them, I shatter them. If I don’t, I activate my forcefield and block them. Thankfully, shifting ice isn't exactly subtle.
Whenever he stops attacking, I keep up the pressure, moving shards of broken ice between the pillars, forcing him to make more walls to stay hidden.
"Every quirk has a downside!" I call out, my voice echoing through the icy maze. "You're resistant to the cold, not immune to it, right? How much longer can you keep this up?"
His answer comes in the form of another barrage of ice spikes from behind. My shield absorbing the impact.
I sigh. 'This is getting annoying.'
Time to end it.
I shift my focus. If he has nowhere to run, he can't run.
The ground beneath me trembles as I systematically crush the floor with my quirk. Cracks splinter through the concrete between the ice walls and pillars, destroying every place he could maneuver. I walk methodically, breaking every spot that could serve as cover, making sure no pillar blocks my vision before destroying the floor around it.
Todoroki adapts, creating thick ice platforms to stand on. Smart—but it only makes his location more obvious. And the more ice he makes, the more stamina he burns.
'It’s checkmate, Todoroki. You just don’t know it yet.'
I exhale, staring at the last pillar with the floor near it still intact. The only cover he has left.
"Will you come out yourself, or do I have to make you?"
Silence.
My eyes narrow. 'On the off chance he’s setting a trap…'
I launch a few of the larger ice shards with my quirk at the pillar, fast enough to shatter it completely.
I immediately activate my forcefield, in-case of a sneak attack.
A split second later—CRACK! Ice shards explode upward from beneath me, breaking the floor and slamming into my shield.
Smart move. But not enough.
I crush the ice and drop down through the now-destroyed floor, landing on the second floor.
Todoroki is there, kneeling, his breath coming in heavy fogged pants. Ice crystals coat his arms, his back—his entire body practically encased in frost. He’s shivering, struggling to stay upright on his hands and knees.
'Not gonna lie… I have some respect for him. Even after everything, he pushed himself to his limit.'
But I still have an exercise to win.
I lift a hand, telekinetically pulling out a strip of capture tape and binding him.
"You're captured," I state simply.
Todoroki doesn’t answer. He just exhales sharply, his shoulders slumping in defeat.
"You fought well," I say before turning away.
Time to find Mina.
(Mina POV – Ground Beta, 3rd Floor)
I charge toward Shoji the second Okada separates them, leaving him to keep Todoroki occupied.
'I can’t beat him physically, so I’ll keep my distance and use my acid.'
As the dust settles, I shoot a stream of low-solubility acid, forcing Shoji to retreat. "You're fast," I remark, genuinely surprised.
'This is going to be tough.'
I keep up the assault, spraying acid in bursts, forcing him back step by step until he ducks into another room. It looks just like the one we started in—same concrete, same pillars. But now, there's only one way out.
Shoji stops running and turns to face me.
"You ready to dance?" I ask, grinning.
"Bring it."
He surges forward. My eyes widen, and I instantly shift to high-viscosity acid, flinging globs at him, which he dodges with ease, closing the gap.
'He's really fast.'
I leap backward just as he lands where I stood, his fists slamming into the ground. The concrete explodes beneath his blow. I swallow hard. 'Yeah, definitely shouldn't let him grab or hit me.'
I keep moving, ducking between pillars, using my smaller size to stay out of reach while acid flies from my hands, keeping him at bay.
'He'll get tired eventually… right?' I wonder optimistically.
It works—just not enough. He’s still gaining on me. Each time he gets close, he lunges, and I barely manage to drive him back with another burst of acid. Over and over, the cycle repeats.
Minutes pass. He’s still fine while my arms are burning now from overusing my quirk.
'It's fine. I just need to hold out until time runs out.'
Sporting a confident grin, I taunt, "Getting tired? Because I can do this all day!" I spread my arms wide, acid pooling in my palms.
Shoji’s eyes flick toward the door behind me.
My grin falters. 'Oh no… he’s going for the bomb or to meet up with Todoroki.'
'Okada was right—if he got past me, and we hadn't collapsed the staircase, we’d be screwed.'
Shoji makes his decision. He sprints straight for the exit.
"Not so fast!" I shout, hurling another blast of acid.
But this time, he doesn’t dodge.
Instead, he raises all six arms, shielding himself as he barrels forward.
'Oh crap—!'
One of his arms swings toward me. Reflexively, I raise my own to shield myself, eyes squeezing shut.
'This is gonna hurt.'
…But nothing happens.
A second passes. Then another.
I cautiously open my eyes.
Shoji stands frozen in front of me, trembling slightly. But he doesn’t move.
A voice speaks behind me. Cool and neutral.
"I made it in time."
Relief washes over me like a wave. 'Okada!'
Turning around, I see him standing there with an arm raised towards Shoji, calm as ever. "Okada!" I exclaim, pressing a hand to my chest. "I thought I was a goner!"
He simply nods. "I've captured Todoroki. Bind Shoji while I have him restrained."
'Oh, right. Shoji.'
Shaking off my daze, I quickly pull out the capture tape and wrap it around Shoji’s arm. The second it tightens, he sags slightly, exhaling in defeat.
As I tie the last loop, a thought creeps in.
'Okada beat Todoroki on his own… and dealt with Shoji so easily.'
Compared to him, I barely did anything and even then, I struggled so much.
The match ends. All Might’s voice crackles through the earpiece.
"The Villain Team Wins!"
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Turning to Okada, I smile. "We did it! And it was all thanks to you! I couldn't even hold Shoji back because I’m so weak." I laugh it off and raise a hand for a high-five.
But Okada just watches me. His expression unreadable.
My stomach twists. 'Does he not like high-fives? Does he think I was useless?'
Then, he speaks.
"We."
I blink. "W-what?"
His gaze meets mine. "We did it. Together."
The words take a second to settle.
He sighs. Then says something I never realized I needed to hear, much less expected from him of all people.
"You helped a lot. Todoroki was harder to beat than I expected. I might not have been able to handle them both at once." He pauses. "So you did contribute a lot. And… don’t call yourself weak."
I stare at him.
"Strength can be trained. Experience can be gained," he continues. "But the strength to stand up and fight—even when you’re losing—isn’t something a weak person can ever have."
Then, without hesitation, he lifts a hand—matching my earlier gesture—and returns the high-five before walking off towards the monitoring room.
For a moment, I just stand there.
Shock. Confusion. Then, warmth.
A small smile tugs at my lips as I shake my head and follow after him.
'I’ll keep training. I won’t stay weak.'
Shoji walks behind us, looking dejected, but I don’t dwell on it.
For now, I just enjoy this victory.
