Blossoms of the Dark

XXXIX Shouto: Showdown

For the love of God, All Might stop this!

This trial of battle has gone too far. Bakugou looks ready to murder Midoriya. Freaking murder!

I turn to All Might-sensei to say my thoughts, but it looks like I won't have to because Sensei's expression mirrors them. He stares at the screens in horror.

I chance a glance at the screens, too. Uraraka levitates herself and almost touches the weapon. But Iida grabs it before she can, and he dashes away with it leaving a confused Uraraka who unknowingly releases her quirk. She crashes to the ground and rolls to the wall. Iida's tactic seems to be to evade Uraraka until time runs out.

Meanwhile, Bakugou's blast has left an enormous hole in the ceiling and in the back wall. The same red-haired kid from before pleads with Sensei to end the battle. But, Sensei says no. Instead, he's willing to give Bakugou one last chance. From his communicator, All Might-sensei warns Bakugou. "Bakugou, my boy, if you shoot another blast like that, I'll end this exercise forcibly, and you will lose. Launching an attack with such an extensive damage radius while indoors defeats the purpose of protecting your stronghold! It doesn't matter if you're a hero or a villain! That was foolish! Once more and you'll earn yourself massive demerits!"

Personally, I agree with the kid and think that All Might-sensei should just end the whole thing now. Bakugou's reaction only furthers my opinion. He ignores Sensei's warning and charges at Midoriya. He releases an explosion from his hands that propels him toward Midoriya. Midoriya tries to block Bakugou from the front, but in midair, Bakugou lands behind him and launches a blast at Midoriya's back. Midoriya stumbles forward from the impact, but despite the severity of that attack, I can't help but be impressed by Bakugou's stunt. "He deliberately misled his opponent and used his explosion ability to redirect his midair trajectory to his advantage. You wouldn't think him the clever type looking at him, but those were some subtle motor skills," I say.

The girl called Yaoyorozu agrees with me. "Landing a telling blow while resisting inertia at the same time means he must be able to adjust his explosion very finely."

After his stunt just now, I respect and fear him a little. For someone so angry all the time, to be that cunning during combat, ... it's admirable and terrifying.

But I don't have time to ponder. With his right arm, Bakugou grabs Midoriya's right arm from behind, swings him a full 180 degrees, and pummels him to the ground. Midoriya gets up and runs away until he is backed into a wall. Bakugou walks toward him slowly, that psychotic look never leaving his face.

In a final showdown, Bakugou and Midoriya rush at each other, arms poised to land a punch. And this time, Sensei adheres to the red-haired kid's final plea. Via the communicator, he says, "Attention both teams! The match is suspe-"

He is cut off by Bakugou blasting an explosion in Midoriya's face, and Midoriya landing his fist into the ceiling. The impact destroys all of the floors of the building. With debris all around, Uraraka uses this to launch a barrage of debris at Iida. While Iida is busy defending himself, Uraraka makes herself weightless. She lands on the weapon, therefore earning a victory for the "HERO" team.

However, Bakugou looks exasperated and Midoriya has a broken arm.

And if that's not bad enough, then both Uraraka and Midoriya collapse.

... What the hell ... just happened? 

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Image URL: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3c/b9/e8/3cb9e833b357b4078ac2e5953a5e0d49.jpg

Note: I have copied some dialogue from one of the English-translated versions of the manga. The link to the chapter is here: https://bokunohero.online/manga/boku-no-hero-academia-chapter-10/