Chapter 95: Sports Festival (9)
—
The match after the next match was between Neji and Todoroki, and so Momo didn't return to the seats of Class 1-A and instead headed back to the waiting room where she found Neji.
"Oh, hey~ If it isn't my favourite snowflake." Neji waved his hand from his seat while Momo sighed under her breath.
Neji just shrugged his shoulders seeing her sigh. "Hey, I am joking. It was a good match, you did better than I thought you would."
Momo walked to him and crawled on top of his lap, pointing her finger at her forehead.
"You know, I am quite smarter than before, right? I knew I would lose without you telling me, so yeah, I expected it all."
Neji leaned back on the chair with Momo on his lap.
"Hm, I guess. It's basically
"Yees!" Momo exclaimed in relief. "I tried to explain it to Mom, but she just wouldn't get it!"
Neji frowned immediately. "Wait, you told your mother about your Quirk Growth?"
Instantly Momo flinched and looked the other way. "I-I… that…"
After a while, she grumbled while biting down on her lower lip. "I am sorry… I was lost in thoughts when she suddenly asked what's wrong. She is really good at pursuing me, so I was forced to say that my quirk grew after minutes of talking."
Neji deadpanned. "You didn't tell her about the potion… right?"
She rapidly shook her head. "No, no, I didn't! You told me not to. I can hold on to that at least!"
'Well, I told you not to tell anyone about the Quirk Growth either.' Neji thought in his mind, sighing.
Only Nejire's changes are what would be visible to the naked eye, as she now had a somewhat Super Strength and more durable body. But Momo's wasn't something that anyone would be able to guess unless she blatantly said so herself.
If news goes out that the people around Neji are suddenly growing stronger, stronger than most heroes even, then someone like Principal Nezu would surely get suspicious.
He would be certain Neji has more of those magical potions.
Looking at her guilty face, Neji sighed deeply. "Girl, you'd someday get me into big trouble, y'know. You better learn to hide things from your mother, or we would someday get fucked."
She nodded swiftly with an apologetic look on her face. "I will think of something… don't worry."
Neji stared at her for another few seconds before patting her head softly.
'Why does someone like her have such low common sense.'
It never failed to astonish Neji.
—★—
The next match was between Tetsutetsu and Bakugo, Neji and Momo didn't go there in person and just saw the fight happen in the Monitor in the waiting room.
It was an interesting fight as Bakugo could quite literally melt Tetsutetsu's body if he gets the chance to land enough blows, but at the same time, Tetsutetsu would win the moment he gets a hold of Bakugo.
So it was a cat-and-mouse game, but in the end, Bakugo won as expected.
Then, at last, the battle between the top 4 started.
There was a 10 minutes break for everyone, and after that Neji finally left the waiting room for the Arena when Present Mic called his and Todoroki's name.
On his way, a certain someone stepped out from an alley.
"Hey."
No.2 Pro Hero, Endeavour, said, stepping in front of Neji like a mountain.
"There you are."
Endeavour, standing at 195cm, easily towered Neji's 183cm build.
As Neji stared at the huge man, Endeavour crossed his arms and looked down on Neji with his eyes flaming red.
"An amazing quirk you have there. I can tell that you haven't even used your full power from your last matches." He said as fire danced in his face. "You are clearly the strongest in your year. But…"
His face suddenly burned hotter. "My boy Shoto has a duty to surpass All Might, and so shall he surpass you. His match against you will provide a valuable lesson. For that reason…" His eyes locked on Neji and burned as if he was glaring. "Give your all, hold nothing back, and show him he is nothing without his left side."
His last words brought silence in the hallway as Neji simply stared at the older man before a soft grin formed on his face.
"Why should I go out of my way to give my all and reveal my cards for the whole world to see?" Neji said. "I don't get what UA is doing. Trying to intimidate the lower rank villains by showing off their students, maybe? But do they not realise that the actual big shots are getting more than enough information on us future heroes? Making counter-strategies against us would be a piece of cake for villains in the future." Neji let the words settle as he continued. "Moreover, not like Todoroki would be able to take even the current power I showed. Then tell me, why should I go out of my way to use my full power?"
Endeavour's story reminded Neji of his past life's mother. Which caused complicated feelings to rise in him. But Neji was, in the end, just provoking him. He already planned to make Todoroki use his left side.
Provoking the man gave him a slight satisfaction. Though his mother would have called him a pushover for this.
After glaring at Neji for a few seconds, Endeavour was about to speak again, but Neji opened his mouth first.
"You know what? Okay, fine. I will make him use his left side." Neji slipped his hand in his pocket and took out his phone.
This phone was in his inventory, of course, as he had put his actual one in the waiting room because of the upcoming match.
He then smiled broadly at Endeavour. "In exchange, let me take some selfies, alright? Oh, you must smile at the pictures. I am actually a really big fan."
It was not entirely a lie. Cheering for the underdog was sometimes a good feeling. Though he would always like All Might more, that dude was anything but unlikeable.
Endeavour was a shitty parent, but so were many people in the multiverse. Goku was a trash parent, but nobody gave him hate for that. Neji ignored both his and Endeavour's personal life, none of that concerned the current him. After all, it was also true that as a Hero, Endeavour was not any less badass than All Might.
'I mean just look at his costume.'
He smiled as Endeavour stared at him with widened eyes, before grumbling.
—★—
Neji walked up the arena a bit later than Todoroki who stood on the other side of the arena.
But that could be ignored because of the stunning pictures he got.
"Boy, you are late." Midnight said, her right hand on her waist. "Another 30 seconds and the other boy would have ended up winning by default."
Neji turned his head at her and winked softly. "Oh? And you would have let that happen? Do you not care about your favourite student's results?"
Midnight blinked twice at him before smiling seductively. "My, I am still a teacher, you know~ I can't actively break the rules, can I now?"
Todoroki blankly stared at the two conversing from the sidelines as Midnight cleared her throat at the realisation.
"Anyway kids, your match starts now!!"
Saying so, she jumped backwards, taking a very safe distance and starting to observe the fight.
Immediately, Todoroki swiped his right hand from down to up, as in front of him spikes of ice formed and rushed towards Neji forging a mountain in its path.
The mountain approached Neji who raised his palm in the air slowly. Golden rings of unrestrained shockwaves burst out of his palm, crashing right into the ice and shattering it into pieces.
At impact, the mountain of ice crashed and broke down with the sound of glass shattering.
Todoroki didn't stop and continued the same technique for the next 5 breaths just as Neji continued defending casually. But by then, his body had started to tremble which was only visible to Neji, as the shivering was too light.
"You would catch a cold at this rate, why not use your left," Neji said with his hands in his pockets. "Your dad came to me when I was walking here, therefore why I was late."
Todoroki's eyes widened as Neji continued. "I don't know what problem you are facing in your family, but you can't win with just your ice."
Not like he'd be able to win even with his fire side, but that's beyond the point.
Neji shrugged, "Your right side is cool. White hair and everything, but if you believe you can surpass your father, let alone All Might, then you are dreaming-"
Neji's speech was interrupted by a shout from Todoroki as another barrage of ice rushed at him.
This time Neji let the ice come closer to his face and when it was his arm's range he simply slapped it with the back of his hand. The slap was soft, but the impact was strengthened hundreds of times using his shockwave.
The ice blasted away like dust as a cold wind blew in the arena.
Neji sighed. "I am not good at motivational speeches, so I guess that's it. People won't like the match being dragged like this when the winner is clear, so I will end it here. Though I expected more from you after that bold challenge... but eh, whatever."
Neji raised his palm in the air as Todoroki's eyes followed… before widening.
Above their head, above the arena, golden shockwave energy was flowing like a river. The massive mass spun, twisted, and whirled like a vortex.
That has been gathering above them whilst Neji was talking. Todoroki didn't pay attention.
The crowd, seeing Neji raise his palm in the air, cheered, as Todoroki clenched his jaws.
From the size of that vortex, there was no way to avoid it other than jumping out of the arena. But that would disqualify him.
Neji, seeing him contemplate, nodded. "This has the weight of an earthquake and the power of a tornado. Against this attack even your flame wouldn't do any good, but you would be able to survive with an igloo of ice, probably. Heh, guess your ice isn't so bad after all."
His eyes locked with Shoto's as he grinned. "Good luck."
Then his arm descended.
"«Gold Dragon's Dance». That's what I call it."
In a massive force of destruction energy, the swirling vortex came crashing down on the arena, engulfing both Neji and Todoroki, who had by then hidden inside an igloo made of ice.
But Neji could control the tide of the wave to not touch his own skin, and even then, he had the Passive skill [Shockwave Resistance - Level 80]. He would be more than fine.
But Todoroki...
As if a giant dragon had roared, the sky shook and the arena crumbled down. The whole stadium trembled against the massive force while Present Mic's voice came out muffled.
The entire crowd still managed to cheer and shout as the Gold Dragon's Dance continued.
It was truly as if a dragon was dancing, crumbling everything below its feet and destroying wherever it stepped.
The dance didn't last long since it drained a lot of Neji's power and he had to make sure to not spend all right here, but the few seconds it lasted, it had already crushed the arena into dust.
Now the arena that was raised a few feet higher from the ground, was dissolved against the ground except for Neji who stood on a small round platform made from the remaining arena.
The dust cleared gradually while Neji stood with his hands in his pockets, waiting for either Midnight to announce the winner or… for Todoroki to stand up.
The latter is what happened.
From the debris of dust-covered ice, Todoroki stood up, bleeding. Ice was penetrating many parts of his body, but none of them hit any of his vitals. His skin was cut here and there, his shirt torn off, and his body covered in white ice.
He wasn't dead, but from his freezing body, he was about to.
That attack was one of the strongest attacks that Neji had developed only recently, in the past two weeks. If Neji put enough power, it could seriously injure someone like Ryukyu who specialised in defence.
But Todoroki survived.
Both because Neji didn't put in enough power, and also because he didn't want the kid to be buried under ice, so he controlled the tide to not focus on the ice too much.
Now, from under the debris, as Todoroki stood up with his back hunched, his skin pale like a dead body, and his bare chest was out in the open, something started to change around him.
Instead of giving up the fight, as Neji had expected, Todoroki finally used his left side. There was no need for any deep motivational speech this time yet slowly from Todoroki's pale skin, hot orange flame started to spark up.
"You are giving your all…" He said in a ragged voice. "I will honour that with my own full power."
His left hand blasted as he swiped it upwards at Neji.
The crowd cheered.
Neji stood in his spot, his hands in his pocket still just as a small smile slowly crept upon his face.
"Good heavens, that's hot."
The fire crashed into him, but a wall of shockwave burst out from in front of him.
The wave of hot flame hit the wall, going either side of it, as Neji stood behind it like a man beholding a shield.
The cheer of the crowd grew louder.
Neji's shockwave was becoming easier and easier to control now. He wasn't limited to just shooting them out anymore, and in fact, could apply it to many more things after awakening.
This was one of them.
Now, the shockwave acted like an energy of its own, as it was from the beginning, except for the fact that he could actually manipulate it freely now. It was like bending water. Neji believed after using the Quirk Evolution Card, he'd finally unlock his "Energy Manipulation" power. That's when things would truly go wild, but for now….
This was more than enough.
Neji raised both his arms horizontally in the air as the pillar of fire passing beside him started to chill out bit by bit.
Around his raised palms, golden shockwaves started to dance. Unlike usual, when golden rings left his palms, this time golden shockwave concentrated in front of his palms into a bright shining ball, a ball that enlarged and took the size of a football.
This was «Gold Dragon's Breath». The 2nd technique of his "Gold Dragon Attack Set" that he made in the last two weeks.
The moment Todoroki's fire calmed down, the wall in front of Neji dropped as he pushed power into the ball. The ball shone and expanded and from it, a beam of golden shockwave dashed out.
Neji controlled the beam to enlarge since if it stays so narrow it would simply penetrate and kill Todoroki. Instead, as the beam approached the half-cold-half-hot boy, the beam expanded, bigger than his body, and engulfed him in the next instant.
Pain, extreme pain, shot out from every inch of Todoroki's body as the shockwave raged above his skin and vibrated even his cells.
A loud cry of pain left Todoroki as he was unable to attack with anything else.
The storm of golden breath ended, sparks slowly dimmed out, and Todoroki's body simply fell to the ground, limp and unconscious.
Neji's breathing came a bit ragged, the two new types of attacks were mentally a bit straining. He then looked at Midnight who stared at the destroyed arena in awe. Noticing Neji's gaze she blushed softly, unlike her usual self, and cleared her throat.
"W-with that, ladies and gentleman, Neji Hado takes another win!!"
There was silence this time from the crowd, but as Neji raised his fist in the air everyone broke in a magnificent cheer.
They yelled Neji's name out loud, applauding his victory while Neji smiled broadly.
There wasn't even a single scratch on his body. But that was to be expected, as Todoroki was but a Tier 3.
Neji walked back inside the dark tunnel, the joy of victory spreading through his body even though he knew it was childish to feel like this from a victory against a weaker opponent.
**
**
**
Author's Note: There'll be regular chapters from now on again. So, uh, vote power stones for poor author's motivation 😳