[A/N]
I'm sorry about the mistake of yesterday, instead of 25 I published 35. Now I will publish 25 and after one hour 26.
Chapter 25: The Tyrant on the Ice and The Sound barrier
Obstacle 1: The Ice path
The massive green gates were jammed with hundreds of students pushing and shoving. It was a chaotic bottleneck of limbs and desperation.
Then, the temperature plummeted.
From the rear, Todoroki Shoto placed his right hand on the floor.
CRRRAAAAACK!
A glacier of ice surged forward with terrifying speed. It froze the ground, the walls, and the legs of dozens of students in the blink of an eye. The path transformed into a frozen wasteland.
"Apologies," Todoroki muttered, his breath visible in the cold air. He sprinted ahead alone, his boots gripping the ice. "But this is a competition."
Behind him, the trapped students struggled.
"I can't move!"
"So cold!"
"Naïve, Todoroki-san!" Yaoyorozu Momo shouted.
A flash of light erupted from her midsection. She didn't create a staff; she created a sleek, metal bobsled. She threw it onto the ice and jumped in, using two small spiked poles to propel herself forward with incredible speed, gliding past the frozen students.
"Smart!" Present Mic screamed from the commentary booth. "Creativity is key!"
But near the back of the frozen pack, a giant stood still.
Bartholomew Kuma's heavy boots were encased in thick ice. He looked at the frozen path ahead, calculating the distance. Running on ice with his weight would be inefficient.
He didn't try to break the ice. He didn't panic.
Slowly, calmly, Kuma raised his right hand. He turned his palm inward, facing his own chest.
The crowd watched on the monitors, confused.
"What is he doing?" Kirishima asked, struggling to break his feet free nearby. "Is he giving up?"
Kuma tapped his paw pad against his sternum.
"Repel... Self."
ZZZ-POP!
There was no build-up. No running start.
One moment, Kuma was standing in the frozen tunnel.
The next moment, he was simply... gone.
A vacuum of air collapsed where he had been standing, creating a small implosion that shattered the ice around his empty footprints.
At the end of the frozen tunnel:
Todoroki was running, confident in his lead. Suddenly, a massive shadow fell over him.
THUD.
Kuma appeared out of thin air at the very end of the icy path, his boots crunching onto the non-frozen asphalt. He stood tall, adjusting his glasses as if he had been there the whole time.
The stadium went dead silent.
"HAAH?!" Present Mic dropped his microphone. He scrambled to pick it up. "DID YOU SEE THAT?! INSTANT TRANSMISSION?! IS THAT TELEPORTATION?!"
The crowd erupted into a roar of confusion and awe.
Aizawa, in the booth next to him, narrowed his eyes. "No. It's not teleportation. He repelled his own body mass at supersonic speeds. He moved faster than the eye could track."
Todoroki looked up, his eyes widening in genuine shock. He... overtook me in an instant?
Kuma glanced back at Todoroki. "The ice is slippery," he said calmly. "It is better to fly."
Obstacle 2: The Fall of the Giants
Kuma and Todoroki entered the second zone almost side-by-side.
The ground shook. Dust rose.
Blocking their path were the Zero-Pointers—the colossal, green robots from the entrance exam. They towered over the students like mechanical titans, their red eyes glowing with menace.
"Target acquired," the lead robot droned, raising a metal fist the size of a house.
Todoroki didn't slow down. "You're in the way." He swung his arm, freezing the first robot in a precarious, off-balance position. He ran underneath its legs as it began to fall slowly.
Kuma stopped. He looked up at the second robot, which was preparing to smash the path.
In his mind, memories of the Entrance Exam flashed. Back then, he had been careful. He had been testing his limits.
But this... Kuma thought, his eyes cold behind the lenses. This is no longer a test.
He raised his hand to his chest again.
ZIP.
He vanished from the ground.
An instant later, he reappeared fifty feet in the air, hovering right in front of the giant robot's metallic face plate.
The robot's sensors couldn't even process the sudden appearance.
Kuma didn't use a shockwave bubble. He didn't use a projectile.
He simply extended his two bare hands, palms open, pink pads glowing. He touched the chest of the titan.
"Tsuppari Pad Cannon." (Heavy Thrust).
KA-BOOOOOOM!
The sound was like a thunderclap striking the earth.
The massive metal torso of the robot didn't just dent; it crumpled inward. The entire multi-ton machine was lifted off the ground by the sheer force of the repel.
It flew backward, screaming metal against metal.
CRASH!
It slammed directly into the first robot that Todoroki had frozen.
The collision was catastrophic. The frozen robot shattered into a million icy shards, and the propelled robot exploded in a massive fireball that rose high into the sky, shaking the entire stadium.
Debris rained down like meteors.
Kuma landed softly on the ground, the fire reflecting in his glasses. He dusted off his hands.
"Path clear," he stated.
Present Mic was screaming so loud the speakers distorted. "HE CLEARED THE WAY BY SMASHING TWO GIANTS TOGETHER! HE'S NOT A STUDENT! HE'S A NATURAL DISASTER!"
Obstacle 3: The Canyon
The third obstacle was "The Fall"—a deep canyon with tightropes.
While other students crawled carefully on the ropes, and Tsuyu hopped across, Kuma didn't waste time.
He touched his chest. Zip. He appeared on the first rock pillar.
He touched his chest. Zip. He appeared on the second.
It was a rhythmic, terrifying display of mobility. Boom... Boom... Boom. Each landing shook the stone pillars, leaving cracks in the rock. He crossed the canyon in seconds.
The Final Stretch: The Minefield
The final obstacle. A field buried with landmines.
Bakugo and Todoroki were in the lead, fighting each other furiously. Explosions and ice shards flew everywhere.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY, ICY-HOT!" Bakugo screamed, blasting ahead.
"You are annoying," Todoroki retorted, freezing the ground.
Behind them, a massive boom echoed. Midoriya Izuku was flying through the air, riding a metal plate propelled by the mines he had dug up.
"I'm coming through!" Midoriya yelled, soaring over the two rivals.
The three of them—Midoriya, Bakugo, Todoroki—were neck and neck, rushing toward the stadium tunnel.
Kuma was running behind them.
His heavy boots thudded against the dirt. Despite his immense strength, his raw running speed was hindered by his sheer size and weight. He saw the backs of the three students getting slightly further away.
I am too slow, Kuma analyzed. At this pace, I will be fourth.
He watched Midoriya's desperate sprint. He watched Bakugo's hunger. He watched Todoroki's focus.
He closed his eyes for a brief moment as he ran.
I apologize, Kuma thought, a silent message to his friends. But today... I must be absolute.
He stopped running.
He stood still in the middle of the minefield.
Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki were only fifty meters from the finish line. The crowd was roaring, expecting a three-way tie.
Kuma placed his hand firmly over his heart. He channeled more energy than he had used all day. He compressed the air around his body to the limit.
"Ultra... Repel."
VWOOP.
The sound was different this time. It wasn't a pop. It was the sound of the world tearing.
Kuma vanished from the minefield.
The Finish Line.
Midoriya was sprinting, his face twisted in effort, reaching for the finish line archway. Bakugo and Todoroki were right beside him.
They were about to cross.
But suddenly, something flickered past them.
It was a blur. A phantom.
Before Midoriya could take his final step, a figure materialized past the finish line.
Kuma appeared, standing perfectly still, his back to the track, ten meters beyond the goal.
He hadn't touched the blue ribbon. He had moved so fast he had phased past it before the air could even react.
For a microsecond, everything was still.
Then, the physics caught up.
WHOOOOSH!
A massive, delayed shockwave of displaced wind exploded from where Kuma had appeared.
The wind blast was so strong it hit Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki in the face, blowing their hair back violently and nearly knocking them off their feet. They skidded to a halt, covering their eyes from the dust.
Behind Kuma, the blue finish-line ribbon, which had been untouched, suddenly snapped from the air pressure alone. It fluttered down to the ground, torn in half by the wind of his passage.
The stadium went dead silent.
Eraserhead dropped his papers.
Present Mic's mouth hung open.
Midoriya lowered his hand, staring at the giant back of Bartholomew Kuma standing calmly in the winner's circle.
"First Place..." the announcer robot finally beeped, breaking the silence. "BARTHOLOMEW KUMA!"
Kuma turned around slowly to face his classmates. He adjusted his glasses, his face unreadable, his breathing calm.
"That was a close race," Kuma said politely.
The crowd erupted into absolute pandemonium. The Tyrant had arrived.
.
.