BNHA: Martial Arts God (Patreon)

CHAPTER 71

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The dust settles as Gohru just whistled. Both of them were still surprisingly in the stage after that attack, but not without any consequences.

For Todoroki, there were now cut marks all over his body from the wind pressure that Midoriya shot out, that was his guess, and his arm that he swung had a dark bruise on its forearm. And the frostbite from overuse had finally hit from the looks of ice covering his right side of his face.

Midoriya on the other hand didn't come out unscathed. His right arm was now battered in blue and black, due to his lack of control of OFA and accidentally releasing a full 70%, and his left arm and leg were covered in ice, presumably from Todoroki's earlier attack.

Yeah, Midoriya took the most damage for sure.

Eventually, both of them got up with haggard breaths.

"Bastard... Why won't you just fall?!"

Todoroki was now annoyed at his classmate. Even with all those injuries, why was he going that far —

"You're trembling... Todoroki."

Midoriya mutters with a glint in his eye when Todoroki's eyes widened. So that's his weakness...

"Quirks are physical abilities too. There's has to be a limit to how much cold your body can take, isn't there?"

He points out as he takes a step forward towards Todoroki.

"And isn't that something you could solve by using the heat from your left side?"

At the mention of his flames, Todoroki grits his teeth as he raises his left hand, ready to attack.

"Everyone's fighting with everything they've got...

To win and get closer to their dreams...

To become number ONE...

And you want to win with just half your strength?!"

Midoriya trembles in frustration at his friend as he yells out.

"... You haven't put a good scratch on me yet, you know?!"

He clenches his right arm's fist, causing blood to drip from it, but he didn't even notice. Right now, he was high on adrenaline.

"Come at me with everything you've got, Todoroki! I'M NOT GOING DOWN THAT EASILY!"

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3rd POV

With an angry face, Todoroki leaps towards Midoriya who got into Renewal's Basic Stance once more, focused.

But...

'His movement is...!'

He was slower than earlier! That meant that his body is reaching its cold limit! This was his chance!

Following Todoroki's move, Midoriya activated OFA: Full Cowl at 1%. He couldn't risk it again, 1% is the most comfortable percentage that he could maintain constantly without any worries of losing control!

The moment Todoroki jumps at him, he moved.

"1%, set... It won't lose control... It won't... It won't... It won't... — "

With his increase in speed and the fact that Todoroki couldn't dodge midair because of his sluggish movements, he lands a hit into his solar plexus.

BANG!

"It won't!"

Todoroki coughs out saliva as he gets flung, but not before freezing Midoriya's arm that swung.

SHRK!!!

Todoroki falls to the ground a few meters from Midoriya, who grunts at the pain, before quickly getting back up.

It was now a battle of attrition, whoever can survive all the attacks that they take and be the last standing will win.

They continuously traded blows, with Midoriya punching and focusing on dodging, while Todoroki went on the offensive, sending ice blasts at Midoriya while closing the gap for a good hit.

Eventually, before he even knew it, Todoroki had trapped him between two ice constructs that he had made earlier in the fight, trapping him.

Quickly, Todoroki launches his ice at Midoriya who started charging up OFA. The ice was huge, so Midoriya in the state of panic, overloaded the Full Cowl limit.

One for All: Detroit Smash — 100%!

"Smash...!"

BOOOOOOOMMM!!!

The blast caused both of them to fly at opposite ends, with Todoroki getting blasted from the attack. Quickly thinking, he makes an ice wall behind him.

THUD!

He roughly slams on the wall, but it immediately shattered from the power, causing him to continuously created ice walls to stop himself from getting out of bounds.

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

At the 7th wall, the wind dissipated as Todoroki glared at his enemy. He was knocked to the ground with his left hand bending at a weird angle.

Groaning from the pain and exhaustion, Todoroki growled as he lifted himself up.

"Why... Are you going so far?"

Midoriya who slowly got up from the smash, answered back.

"Because... I want to live up to everyone's expectations!"

Midoriya quickly starts dashing at Todoroki with green lightning dancing around his body.

One for All: Full Cowl — 5%.

"I want to be able to smile... And respond to them...

To become... A cool hero...

That's what I WANT TO BE!"

Todoroki's eyes widened in shock as his cheek gets caved in by a fist.

POW!

"That's why — !"

He drops to the ground from the punch, before rolling backwards and recovering back up a few feet from his opponent.

"Everyone's giving their all!"

Midoriya who tumbles to the ground from the speed, immediately pushes himself up.

"There's no way I can know what's happening to you — But! — For you to become number one without giving your all, to completely rejecting your father..."

His mind goes blank.

A memory plays in his brain.

-

Father was standing with a disappointed look.

He was puking out his breakfast from the punch that Father gave.

"Stand up."

He says without any remorse.

"If you're downed by something like this, forget beating All Might, you won't even be able to take out small fries —"

Footsteps rang behind him.

"Please, stop! He's only five!"

Mother kneeled down to help him.

"He's already five! Get out of my way!"

SLAP!

Mother falls to the ground. He looked at his mother's figure on the ground.

His heart burns in anger. At his "father".

-

"Shut up..."

More ice starts to form on his left body.

-

He was in his room, crying on his mother's chest.

"I-I don't wanna, Mother...

I-I... I don't want to be like Father...

I don't want to become someone who bullies you, Mother!"

She pats on his head.

"But... You want to be a hero. Don't you?"

He looks up to see her face.

-

Midoriya was already in front of his, with his hand which was covered in ice raised into a fist. Red marks formed on his hand as even he could feel the amount of power Midoriya was using.

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"It's okay for you to be one...

As long as you have a future you feel strongly about."

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"That's why I'll win! I'll surpass you!"

BANG!

His fist gets slammed into his stomach.

Ice shattered and fell from his body.

He was flying.

-

He was watching his older siblings play ball.

They were laughing so happily.

They were having so much fun.

Father started dragging him from the view.

"Don't look at that, Shoto.

They're on a different world than you."

-

His pain suddenly numbed out.

The feeling of his heart dropping onto the ground hurt.

Why was he even dragging on the fight?

He could have just finished the fight in just a second with his maximum power.

Why...

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He wanted to go to the toilet at night, when he stumbled across Mother in the kitchen.

"Mom, I'm going crazy..."

Mother was talking on the phone while boiling water.

"I can't take it anymore...

Every day, the children seem to become more and more like him..."

Her voice seemed so scared, so much fear in her sentences.

"Shoto's...

That child's left side sometimes looks so disgusting to me...

I-I can't raise him anymore... I feel like I shouldn't — "

"Mom?"

She gasps.

The kettle was whistling.

She turns around.

Her face was so scary. Her eyes were so full of fear.

-

"Tsk..."

He had bandages covered around his left side.

"Fuck, this is an important time, too..."

His Mother was not in the house.

"Where's Mother?"

Father didn't even look at him.

"Oh, she injured you, so I put her in a mental hospital."

His words shook him.

He did what?

"It's your fault."

He told his Father, who turned his head in surprise.

He started to cry, but he was angry.

So angry.

"You're the one who made Mother..."

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THUD!

'I...'

With hands shaking, he gets up.

"I will reject... My old man's power..."

He could hear Midoriya gritting his teeth.

"Isn't it YOUR POWER?!"

He yelled desperately as his words shook him to the core.

-

He was watching All Might's interview with his mother.

"Yes, that's right! Children inherit Quirks from their parents.

But the really important thing is not that connection, but recognizing your own flesh and blood — recognizing yourself.

That's what I mean when I say: "I AM HERE!".

Understand?"

-

But...

You want to be a hero.

Don't you?

It's okay for you to be one.

'Ah... So that's what I've forgotten...'

You don't have to be a prisoner of your blood.

It's okay for you to become who you WANT to be.

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Jin Gohru POV

VHOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!

Fire erupts from Todoroki as it rose to the heavens. The heat was so hot that it even reached the stands.

'... Now that's some fucking firepower.'

He even started to sweat from the temperature!

Focusing on Todoroki, he could vaguely see the frost that had been accumulating from the fight melting from the flames.

... God-damn, the anime did justice. Todoroki looked badass with ice and fire.

"SHOTOOOOO!!!"

Endeavor roared with flames spewing out from his face as he stalked closer to the railing, his eyes only looking at Todoroki.

Ah, right. Forgot about this asshole. Well, I guess this could be a birthday present for Dabi...

Reaching below, he finds one of the screws that hold his seat into place before taking it out. Aiming at Endeavor, he concentrates his aim before firing it.

" — You will fulfill my desire — "

Before he could finish his sentence, a screw shot into his mouth.

"Hrk! Arghh!!!"

Because of his flame output, the screw that he accidentally swallowed into his stomach melted from the heat, causing him to yell in pain.

Denji who was right behind him just grinned with his phone already out a long time ago.

"Recorded it already."

Not long after that, he received a group chat message. It was a GIF from Dabi of Micheal Rosen doing the iconic meme.

SLURP CLICK!

"Nice"

Finally, Todoroki slams his right leg onto the ground as ice started emitting, preparing his final move. Flames surged out violently as he crouched slightly.

Midoriya responded by releasing his set limit of OFA: Full Cowl, causing the hem on his pants to tear from the amount of power he was putting into. His broken hand waving around mindlessly as he clenched his free arm's fist for one last attack.

Not long after, they moved.

Todoroki swung his right up in an upwards motion as the ice gathering on his feet shot out in a flurry of ice pillars that seemed to constrict everything.

Midoriya leaped over the barrage of ice with one 100% leg before using the other 100% leg to launch himself towards Todoroki with OFA's wind pressure.

They both raised their remaining hand, with Todoroki's burning with intense heat that melted everything in a meter's radius while Midoriya's was surging with green electricity, visible air compressing around his arm in circles very similarly to a Jin Hweechook.

Cement walls were erected between the two, but it seemed to be for naught as the two bursted through the walls with their attacks like paper and collided with each other, causing a massive explosion.

BOOOOOMMMM!!!

Multiple boulders were coming right at 1-A's stand, as Gohru moved as well.

Firmly slamming his legs to the ground, he quickly breathed a deep intake before swinging a roundhouse, the power causing all the boulders to fly off course and land around the stand with just the swing.

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In the end, when the smoke disipated, Midoriya was against the wall of the stadium, out of bounds before dropping to the ground, while Todoroki was standing on the stage with his left half of his uniform burnt to ashes.

"Midoriya is out of bounds! Todoroki moves on to the next round!"

Resting on his chair, Gohru just breaths out with a hint of disappointment. He had thought that Midoriya could have won that, but it seems that he was still inexperienced with Full Cowl.

Oh well, at least that still was, to date, the most flashiest match that he'd seen in this life.