"My Quirk isn't about copying power," Kaito panted, his body trembling. "It's about finding the right tool. Your ice is strong. But everything has a breaking point. I just... helped it find its own."
He was buying time, both to recover and to get closer.
The shattering ice had created a field of debris, obscuring the ground. It was his only chance.
Todoroki's eyes narrowed. He stomped again, but this time it was a smaller, more controlled wave, meant to pin Kaito's feet.
Kaito was ready. He overwrote the drained Density Quirk.
He needed speed now. He focused on the data from Iida. Engine.
He activated it, and agony lanced through his calves.
It was like someone had shoved red-hot pokers into his legs.
He cried out, but he pushed through it, lurching forward in a ragged, uncontrolled burst of speed, just enough to avoid the ice and close the distance.
Ten meters. Five.
Todoroki was preparing another, larger wave. This would be the end.
It was now or never.
Kaito overwrote the Engine Quirk. He didn't need power or speed anymore. He needed to touch him.
He focused on the simplest, most fundamental Quirk in his arsenal.
The one he'd started with. The one he'd used to save Uraraka.
Zero Gravity.
He lunged, his body screaming in protest. Todoroki saw him coming and thrust his right hand forward, a spike of ice shooting from his palm to impale Kaito's shoulder.
Kaito didn't try to dodge. He took the hit.
The ice spear tore through his costume and into his flesh.
White-hot pain blinded him. But it anchored him.
It kept him from being thrown back by the next wave of ice.
He used the momentum, grabbing onto Todoroki's ice-speared arm with his left hand.
His right hand, bloody and trembling, slapped against Todoroki's chest.
"Release," Kaito whispered.
The effect was instantaneous. Todoroki's weight vanished.
His eyes went wide with shock and disorientation as his feet left the ground.
He was utterly helpless, floating like a balloon.
Kaito, still impaled by the ice spear, looked up at his floating opponent.
He was pale, bleeding, and on the verge of collapse.
"The match is over!" Midnight shouted, seeing Todoroki completely incapacitated. "Todoroki is unable to continue! The winner... SŌMA KAITO!"
The stadium was dead silent for a moment, processing the shocking upset, then erupted into thunderous applause.
Kaito deactivated Zero Gravity, and Todoroki dropped a few feet to the ground, landing in a crouch.
The ice spear in Kaito's shoulder dissolved. He clutched the bleeding wound, his legs finally giving out from under him.
As he fell to his knees, he saw Todoroki staring at him, not with anger, but with a dawning, profound respect.
He had been defeated not by a stronger power, but by a smarter one.
Recovery Girl's assistants rushed onto the field.
As they helped Kaito to his feet, he looked at the boy he had just beaten.
"You have so much more power," Kaito said, his voice raspy. "Why are you only using half of it?"
He didn't wait for an answer. He was carried out of the arena, the pain and exhaustion finally overwhelming him.
The world was a muffled, painful haze. The sharp sting of antiseptic and the dull, throbbing ache in his shoulder were the first things Kaito registered. He was in the infirmary. Again.
"Honestly, young man," a familiar, chiding voice said.
Recovery Girl bustled into view, planting a firm kiss on his forehead.
A wave of soothing warmth washed over him, knitting muscle and skin back together with an itchy, rapid intensity.
The deep exhaustion that followed was immediate and profound.
"You are as bad as Midoriya," she scolded, though her eyes were kind. "Taking a direct hit like that just to get close? What were you thinking?"
"That it would work," Kaito mumbled, his eyelids heavy.
He could feel the phantom strain of the Density and Engine quirks in his muscles, a deep-seated fatigue that even her healing couldn't entirely erase.
"You were lucky. The ice missed anything vital. But you pushed your Quirk factor to its absolute limit. You need to rest. I cannot stress this enough."
Before he could argue, the door to the infirmary slid open.
Todoroki Shoto stood there, his expression unreadable.