Once More (My Hero Academia)

22: Todoroki vs Midoriya 2.0

Ice blast.

Dodge.

Another mountain of ice rose from the ground.

Izuku dodged in the direction of Todoroki's left once again.

But by the third time Todoroki had learned. Ice shot toward Izuku's right, forcing him to dodge away from Todoroki's fire side. Almost immediately after, another attack shot straight toward Izuku's face.

Reacting fast, Izuku whipped his arms together in a defensive position that shielded his face, the motion creating two gusts of wind that blasted apart the iceberg aimed at him.

"Midoriya, you're just determined to force my fire out again, aren't you?!" Todoroki said through gritted teeth, "What? Did my father bribe you or something?"

"I'm not trying to pretend I understand what's going on between you and your father," Izuku said, "that's none of my business."

"You're sure acting like it is."

"I just don't respect your half-assed attitude toward all of this," Izuku said with a frown, "at least for me, becoming a hero is not something where I only put in half of my effort."

"You sound a bit like Bakugo, you know," Todoroki observed.

"He's not wrong about putting in effort."

Spears of ice jutted from the ground, and Izuku broke them off easily.

"It's not about effort," Todoroki snapped, "I'm going to prove to my father that I will win without his power, and I will do all I can to achieve that."

Izuku rushed forward, snaking around the spikes and mounds of ice separating him and his opponent.

More ice rose. Izuku broke off more with a few strengthened kicks and punches.

Not long after, the arena was scattered with ice blocks here and there.

"Sorry Uraraka," Izuku muttered, "but I'm gonna have to borrow your move here for a sec."

Dozens of black tendrils instantly shot out from Izuku's fists and grabbed the bits and pieces of broken ice.

Then, with a yell, Izuku heaved his arms. Some of the tendrils held onto the ice blocks and slammed in every direction. Other ice pieces flew at Todoroki, some as big as cannonballs and others like knives, as Blackwhip flung them out like projectiles.

With a grunt of annoyance, Todoroki lifted his arms, and a frozen wall the height of a 3-story building rose before him, blocking the projectiles.

But Izuku was delighted at the opening. A faster, taller wall also meant a thinner wall.

He quickly lifted his finger at Todoroki, took a deep breath, then released his quirk.

"Point-focus...." A black tendril the width of a pencil, enforced with One For All, blasted toward Izuku's opponent with the speed of a bullet.

Todoroki dodged as fast as he could as the tendril penetrated the ice like a spear and shot past his head. He realized that the whip-like quirk left cracks throughout the barrier, weakening it.

At this moment, Izuku lifted his other hand.

Don't think I forgot this move, he laughed at himself.

He flicked his finger, and a blast with the force of a hurricane shattered Todoroki's ice shield as if it were no stronger than glass. The force blew Todoroki off his feet, and he tumbled back.

Izuku lowered his hand. A strand of Blackwhip was wrapped around the finger he flicked, which had prevented him from shattering those bones from the strong blast of power. If only he could've done this the first time he fought Todoroki. He almost felt the pain in his hands just thinking about it.