"Less than five minutes left—time to go all out!"
With that declaration, Todoroki launched himself off Iida's shoulders. As he descended, a fierce burst of icy wind erupted from his right foot, creating a towering icicle beneath him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Present Mic shouted into his microphone, his voice echoing across the stadium. "He's left his horse! Is that allowed?!"
Midnight, watching from her station, hesitated before responding. "According to the rules… as long as he doesn't touch the ground and maintains some contact with his team, it's allowed!"
Hearing this, Bakugo smirked from across the field. "If that's how it works, then fine by me!"
Without a second thought, Bakugo leapt off Kirishima's shoulders, launching himself forward with explosive blasts from his palms. He tore through the air, eyes locked on Monoma, who had stolen his headband moments ago. With a savage grin, Bakugo snatched it back from Monoma's neck in one swift motion.
"Get lost, side characters!" Bakugo sneered, glancing around at the dazed Monoma team before turning his eyes towards Kaminari, who was encircled by an imposing wall of ice Todoroki had erected around him.
"Next up, it's you, Kaminari!"
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the field, Midoriya's team was busy securing their own points. Tokoyami's Dark Shadow stood at attention, keeping a lookout. "Midoriya, our score's looking solid. What's the plan?"
Midoriya adjusted the headband he'd just snagged from another Class B team. "Let's play it safe! With Hatsume's gear, we've got a height advantage. Let's stay airborne and defend what we have!"
But inside the ice wall surrounding Kaminari's team, something unexpected was brewing. A sudden, blinding golden light shone from within, piercing through the ice and filling the stadium with a brilliant glow.
A Minute Earlier
"There are less than five minutes left," Todoroki muttered, perched on top of his icicle. "It's time to end this."
With that, he unleashed a wave of icy spikes, directing them at Kaminari's team to immobilize Tetsutetsu, Kyoka, and Momo. His intention was clear: to trap them, making it impossible for them to escape.
"Go for both teams! Take all their points!" Mineta yelled, hurling his sticky purple balls from another direction, while Asui's tongue whipped out, aiming to snatch the headband from Kaminari's neck.
At the same time, Tsunotori from Class B, riding on her teammate's shoulders, lowered her head. The tips of her horns glowed before she fired two energy blasts from them, targeting the left and right sides of Kaminari's team to box them in.
Seeing the incoming onslaught, Kyoka turned to Kaminari, her voice tense. "Kaminari! We're surrounded!"
Kaminari's eyes narrowed with determination. "Leave it to me!"
In one fluid motion, he grabbed a handful of steel balls crafted earlier by Momo and sent a weak electric charge through each of them. Then he tossed them out in a wide arc. As they hovered in midair, he held out his hands, letting golden electricity surge between his palms and the steel balls, forming an intricate web of electrified lines around them.
Within seconds, Kaminari's "Lightning Chain" had transformed into a defensive net. Hundreds of electric lines crisscrossed in front of them, intercepting Todoroki's icy spikes, Mineta's sticky balls, and Tsunotori's energy blasts.
The attacks hit the electric web with a series of loud clashes, generating flashes of light and bursts of steam as the cold met Kaminari's intense heat.
"Perfect!" Kaminari thought to himself as he maintained the current flowing through his hands. "Turns out I only need to power this 'Lightning Chain' through my hands instead of my whole body. This works way better!"
Suddenly, a scream echoed from nearby.
"Ahhh!" Asui cried out in pain as her extended tongue touched Kaminari's electrified web, sending a shock straight through her. The electric current traveled down to Mineta and Shoji, who were part of her team, and they all dropped to the ground from the shock.
In the stands, Present Mic was quick to react. "Oh no! Shoji's team has taken a direct shock! Is Kaminari's team going to get disqualified?!"
But Midnight quickly reviewed the replay and shook her head. "Nope! Kaminari didn't attack them directly. Asui's tongue accidentally made contact with his electric field while she was trying to grab their points. The shock was an unintended consequence of their own actions."
She raised her whip, making the call official. "Shoji's team is disqualified for landing on the ground, but Kaminari's team is still in play!"
The crowd gasped, the tension palpable. Kaminari's defensive technique had not only held strong, but it had also inadvertently taken out an entire team without breaking any rules.
"He's using those steel balls with an electric field… that's a clever application," Aizawa murmured from the announcer's booth, his eyes fixed on Kaminari's handiwork. "This 'Lightning Chain'—it's versatile. It works defensively and offensively, can be used alone or in a group. That kid's got serious potential."
Present Mic nodded enthusiastically. "Wow! That's gotta be a signature move, right?"
But Aizawa's keen eyes noticed something else happening on the field. Kaminari was shifting the steel balls around, each one moving in a controlled orbit around him, their paths guided by his electromagnetic field. The currents connecting them began to rotate, creating a vortex of crackling electricity.
The currents intertwined, forming a spinning wall of lightning that encircled Kaminari's team, shielding them from all angles. The sheer energy radiating from the vortex was enough to keep even Todoroki at bay, who had momentarily retreated with Iida.
From the stands, All Might watched Kaminari with wide eyes. "Could it be…? Has he already developed a technique of this level?"
Kaminari's "Lightning Chain" was now a defensive barrier, but as he increased the speed of the rotation, he turned it into something far more formidable.
Aizawa's narrowed his eyes, his normally stoic face betraying a flicker of awe. "He's… manipulating the electricity so precisely. That's beyond anything I've seen from him so far."
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