ShuraZero
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Chapter 57: The Brilliance of Creation
🕑 Added 2025-10-03 14:25:21 +0000 UTCThe brief respite between matches ended, and Present Mic's voice once again filled the stadium.
"WE'RE BACK IN ACTION, EVERYBODY!! THE FOURTH MATCH OF THE FIRST ROUND PITS THE CLASS SPRINTER, THE SPEED GENIUS, TENYA IIDA, AGAINST THE SUPPORT COURSE GENIUS, MEI HATSUME!!"
Iida entered the arena with his usual martial stride, but Midnight stopped him in his tracks, her whip cracking dangerously close to him.
"Hold on a moment, young man!" she said, her tone sultry but with an edge of authority. "What is all that gear? The rules prohibit unauthorized support equipment! You're disqualified!"
Iida placed a hand on his chest, scandalized. "I implore you, Judge! This equipment was offered to me by my opponent, Miss Hatsume! She insisted I use it to make the match fairer and more balanced, allowing her to demonstrate the true potential of her inventions! I accepted out of pure sportsmanship and to honor her competitive spirit!"
Midnight blinked. A slow, appreciative smile spread across her face. "That chivalry... that desire for a fair competition even if it puts you at a disadvantage...! I love it! Permission granted! Let the battle begin!"
The "battle" was one of the strangest and most comical farces in the festival's history. Mei Hatsume didn't attack Iida even once. Instead, she used her opponent as a runway model.
"OBSERVE, POTENTIAL INVESTORS AND PRO HEROES!!" Mei shouted into the floating microphones, as she activated thrusters in Iida's boots that sent him moving across the arena against his will. "THE FLUIDITY OF MY 'AIR GLIDER' MODEL FLOATING SOLES ALLOWS FOR UNPRECEDENTED MOBILITY IN URBAN TERRAIN! LOOK HOW HE GLIDES WITH GRACE AND ELEGANCE!"
"Miss Hatsume, this is improper for a match!" Iida protested as he was dragged across the arena.
"AND BEHOLD THE STABILITY PROVIDED BY MY 'HYDRAULIC HOPE' JETPACK!" she continued, ignoring him completely. "IT GUARANTEES MAXIMUM AERIAL MOBILITY FOR ANY HERO, REGARDLESS OF THEIR WEIGHT OR BUILD! SEE HOW HE MAINTAINS HIS BALANCE EVEN IN THE SHARPEST TURNS!"
For ten minutes, the match was a glorified infomercial. Iida, humiliated and furious, was used as a mannequin to demonstrate every single one of Mei Hatsume's twenty-three "babies." Finally, once she had presented her entire catalog, Mei walked to the edge of the ring.
"AND THAT CONCLUDES MY PRESENTATION! HATSUME INDUSTRIES, CREATING THE FUTURE OF HERO TECH, TODAY! CONTACT MY REPRESENTATIVES FOR CONSULTATIONS AND ORDERS!"
With a bow to the cameras, she calmly stepped out of the arena, disqualifying herself and leaving a humiliated Iida as the winner by default.
In the stands, Izuku was frantically taking notes in his notebook. "Hydraulic propulsion... gyroscopic stabilizers... her technology is incredible, it could be adapted for..."
But beside him, Ochako wasn't analyzing the technology. She watched the arena with a thoughtful, serious expression. She saw Iida's frustrated determination, Mei's unabashed cunning, and she thought about her own impending match. About Bakugo. About the promise she made to Todoroki. Without a word, she rose silently and left the stands, seeking a quiet place to prepare herself mentally.
"NO TIME TO REST! THE FIFTH DUEL IS ALREADY HERE! FROM THE HERO COURSE, THE NEWLY VISIBLE AND EVER-CHEERFUL, TORU HAGAKURE, VERSUS THE SHINING PRINCE, YUGA AOYAMA!"
The match was a flash of color and movement.
"Bonjour, ma chérie!" Aoyama declared, striking a dramatic pose. "Prepare to be dazzled by my magnificence! It is a tragedy that your face must be the first to be marred by defeat, but such is fate! Navel Laser!"
A brilliant beam of blue energy shot from his navel. But Toru, armed with Izuku's analysis and her own training, was prepared. She didn't try to block.
"You'll have to be faster than that, Aoyama-kun!" she chirped.
With a playful smile, she moved. Her agility, which had always been remarkable, was now honed and precise. She dodged the laser with a series of quick, acrobatic tumbles, her movements fluid and calculated. She wasn't just reacting; she was anticipating.
Aoyama, frustrated at his inability to land a hit on a target that was no longer invisible, made a predictable mistake.
"You can't dodge me forever! Take my Supernova Laser!"
He unleashed a much larger, prolonged laser, a torrent of energy that swept across the arena. But holding it for more than two seconds brought on his characteristic, debilitating stomachache. He doubled over with a groan, clutching his midsection.
"Too bad," Toru said with a wink.
She seized the opportunity instantly. She sprinted toward him, her speed surprising everyone. Before Aoyama could recover, she delivered a single, clean, and forceful shove to his chest, pushing him off balance and sending him tumbling out of the ring.
Aoyama landed on the grass outside the boundaries, more surprised than hurt.
"And the winner is Toru Hagakure!" Midnight declared. Toru waved happily to the crowd, her victory a testament to agility and tactical patience over flashy power.
It was time for the sixth match. Momo Yaoyorozu waited in the dim light of the entrance tunnel. Her face was a mask of calm and concentration, but Izuku, watching her from the entrance to the stands, could see the tension in the way she clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides. It was the same doubt he had felt, the pressure of the world stage.
He approached her silently. She started at the feeling of his presence.
"Izuku-kun..."
He didn't say anything at first. He simply gave her a quiet smile, one so full of genuine pride that it seemed to light up the dark hallway. There was no pressure in his gaze, no expectations. Only absolute confidence.
"I'm not going to tell you to win," he finally said, his voice a conspiratorial whisper just for her. "I'm not going to tell you not to disappoint me, because that's literally impossible."
He moved a little closer, his presence a source of calm in the storm of her nerves.
"I just want you, when you're out there, to feel the difference. Feel the difference between the girl who doubted her own judgment at the USJ and the formidable strategist standing in front of me now. The one who devised countermeasures for ice, for mud, for sonic attacks. The one who built a rocket from scrap metal and mines. You're ready. You've already won the hardest battle—the one against yourself."
He looked her in the eyes, and his smile softened.
"Now just go out there and show him. I'm proud of you, Momo."
The use of her first name, so simple and so direct, was the final catalyst. All the tension and doubt remaining in Momo's heart vanished, replaced by a wave of warm gratitude and a steely determination. Izuku's words hadn't given her a plan. They had given her something more important: the validation she needed to believe in her own.
She gave him a small, determined nod, her dark eyes shining with a new light. With her head held high and her back straight, she walked toward the blinding light of the arena.
"THE SIXTH MATCH IS READY TO BEGIN!!" Present Mic roared. "ON ONE SIDE, THE CREATION GENIUS WHOSE STRATEGIC MIND LEFT US ALL SPEECHLESS, MOMO YAOYOROZU! AND ON THE OTHER, THE EMPEROR OF DARKNESS WHOSE POWER IS AS REAL AS THE NIGHT ITSELF, FUMIKAGE TOKOYAMI!"
"May the darkness be your judge," Tokoyami said, his tone deep and solemn.
"May logic prevail," Momo replied, her voice clear and firm.
The bell rang. Tokoyami, knowing his only advantage was a swift and overwhelming attack, didn't waste a second.
"Surrender! The gloom is too fast! Go, Dark Shadow!"
The beast of darkness shot out from his body, a living shadow with sharp claws and glowing red eyes. It lunged at Momo in a flurry of blows, a whirlwind of attacks from every direction.
But Momo was prepared. She didn't create a small wrist shield. With a fluid motion, the skin of her arm transformed, creating a massive Roman-style tower shield, a scutum made of a titanium-carbon alloy, lightweight but incredibly strong. She planted it on the ground in front of her and took cover behind it, becoming an impregnable fortress.
Dark Shadow hammered the shield relentlessly. BAM! BAM! BAM! The sound of the impacts filled the arena.
"It's useless!" Dark Shadow screeched, its voice a mix of Tokoyami's and a guttural echo. "The gloom is relentless! We'll push you out of bounds!"
"Your defense only delays the inevitable!" Tokoyami warned.
From behind the shield, Momo's voice came, calm and clear, devoid of panic. "Defense, Tokoyami-san, is only the first phase of the strategy."
While Dark Shadow was completely obsessed with shattering the shield, Momo's free hand was a blur of activity. With factory-like efficiency, she created five small metal discs, each the size of a large coin. Using Dark Shadow's impacts as auditory and visual cover, she discreetly tossed them to different corners of the ring. They landed without a sound, going unnoticed in the midst of the furious assault.
Tokoyami, sensing victory was near, pushed his Quirk to the limit.
"FINISH HER NOW, DARK SHADOW! WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT!"
Dark Shadow let out a roar and prepared for the final blow.
"Time's up," Momo said, her voice serene.
She pressed a small, hidden button on her shield's handle.
The five discs she had thrown across the arena activated simultaneously. They weren't explosives. They were high-intensity, military-grade flashbangs.
The arena was flooded with a pure, white, and utterly blinding light. It came from five different angles at once, a trap of photons designed to eliminate every last shadow in the ring.
Dark Shadow, who was about to deliver the final strike, stopped dead. It let out a high-pitched shriek, a sound of pure pain and agony unlike anything the audience had ever heard.
"LIGHT!! TOO MUCH LIGHT!! IT BURNS!!"
The beast of darkness, overloaded by the massive emission of photons from all directions, shrank violently, imploding on itself. It retreated at full speed into the body of a terrified and disoriented Tokoyami, becoming a small, trembling shadow peeking out from under his cloak.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Present Mic screamed. "DARK SHADOW HAS COMPLETELY RETREATED!"
With her opponent's main weapon completely neutralized, the shield dissolved from Momo's arm. With absolute calm, her skin glowed again, and she created a duralumin combat staff.
She walked unhurriedly toward Tokoyami, who was still blinking, trying to recover from the flash and the shock of seeing his partner defeated.
"It's over, Tokoyami-san," she said kindly.
With a few swift, precise, and efficient movements, she used the staff to push him out of the ring's boundaries.
The victory was clean, strategic, and utterly dominant.
"The winner... is Momo Yaoyorozu!" Midnight declared, her own voice tinged with astonishment.
The crowd erupted in applause, impressed by such an overwhelmingly intelligent victory.
Momo walked back through the tunnel, exhausted from using her Quirk, but with a sense of euphoria she had never felt before. It wasn't just the joy of winning. It was the satisfaction of having executed her own plan to perfection. She looked up at the stands and her eyes met Izuku's. He smiled at her, giving her a double thumbs-up in a gesture of unmistakable approval.
A warm, genuine smile, free of all doubt, spread across Momo's face. I did it, she thought. She corrected herself. No. We did it.
When she reached the stands, her team was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. Before she could say a word, Ochako and Toru enveloped her in an enthusiastic hug.
"You were amazing, Momo-chan!" Ochako shouted, squeezing her tightly. "That was the coolest strategy I've ever seen! Tricking him into focusing on the shield while you set up your trap!"
"You kicked his butt with science!" Toru added, laughing. "That was the most elegant victory in history! Poor bird boy didn't know what hit him!"
Izuku joined the hug, wrapping his arms around all three of them, his heart swelling with pride for his friend.
"I told you," he whispered in her ear. "You were ready."
Momo, who was normally so reserved and formal, laughed. It was a clear, happy, and uninhibited laugh. She let herself be hugged by her friends and, for an instant, rested her head on Izuku's shoulder, closing her eyes. For the first time in her life, she felt the pure, uncomplicated joy of a victory that was hers alone, but which felt so much better shared with the family she had chosen.
