Flood Zone - The Battlefield
"First," Tsubaki said, his voice carrying across the water with cold authority, "we control the battlefield."
His eyes tracked the circling villains with calculating precision. Twenty-three visible targets. Likely more below the surface. All equipped for aquatic combat, which meant enhanced swimming speed, underwater breathing, possibly water-based quirks.
But they were hesitating. Still assessing. That window wouldn't last long.
"Asui-san," Tsubaki said quietly, his hands beginning to glow brighter. "You're our distraction. The moment I create an opening, I need you in the water. Use your agility to keep them off-balance, target anyone who tries to flank us. Don't commit to fights—hit and retreat. Can you do that?"
Asui's fear hadn't completely vanished, but her expression hardened with determination. "Ribbit. I'm fast in water. I can do it."
"Midoriya," Tsubaki continued, turning slightly. "Stay on the boat. Your job is tactical support—call out positions, identify quirks, watch for patterns I might miss while I'm engaged. And if any of them manage to get on the deck..." He paused. "Use your quirk. I don't care if you break your fingers. Your survival takes priority."
Midoriya's hands were still shaking, but he nodded firmly. "Understood."
"Good." Tsubaki's armor coils hummed louder as he channeled more power. "When I give the signal, Asui-san, you dive. Midoriya, you get to the center of the deck and don't move from that position. Stay where I can see you."
One of the villains—a man with gills and webbed hands—called out from the water. "Hey, kids! You done talking? Because we're getting impatient!" His grin showed pointed teeth. "The boss said we could rough you up before feeding you to the fish!"
Other villains laughed, their confidence growing as the students remained seemingly frozen in indecision.
'They think we're paralyzed by fear, 'Tsubaki thought.' Good. Let them underestimate us.'
"Now," Tsubaki said quietly.
He slammed both palms onto the boat's deck.
Ice erupted outward in a massive wave, spreading across the water's surface in branching patterns like frozen lightning. The temperature plummeted. The water's surface transformed from liquid to solid in seconds—not thick enough to support most people's weight easily, but more than sufficient for what Tsubaki had planned.
"What the—?!" The gilled villain's eyes widened.
"Asui-san, GO!" Tsubaki commanded.
Asui dove without hesitation, her powerful legs propelling her into the water like a missile. She disappeared beneath the ice-covered surface with barely a splash.
"Midoriya, center of the deck. You're our eyes. Call out positions, patterns, anything I miss."
"R-Right!" Midoriya moved to the center, his analytical mind already scanning the chaotic battlefield.
Tsubaki stepped onto the ice.
And then he moved.
Not walking. Not running. Skating.
His boots slid across the frozen surface with practiced ease, the ice responding to his quirk like an extension of his body. He'd spent countless hours training this—using his ice not just as a weapon but as terrain that only he could navigate with perfect efficiency.
The villains' formation immediately broke. Some dove deeper to avoid the spreading ice. Others tried to smash through it. Their coordinated perimeter dissolved into chaos.
Exactly as planned.
"Three coming from your left!" Midoriya shouted. "Two more trying to circle behind!"
Tsubaki's response was immediate. He slid left with fluid grace, his hand extending as he moved. A wall of ice erupted between him and the approaching villains, sharp and angled to deflect their advance.
A villain with octopus-like tentacles burst from the water, trying to grab him.
Tsubaki spun, his momentum carrying him in a tight arc as his other hand came up. A spear of ice shot out, striking the tentacle and pinning it down. The villain screamed, trapped.
"Ribbit! Two more below!" Asui's voice called out as she surfaced briefly, her tongue whipping out to yank another villain off-course before diving again.
"Got them," Tsubaki replied, already moving. He slid across the ice toward where Asui had indicated, creating a spike that jutted up from below the surface. A villain with shark-like features surfaced, snarling—right into Tsubaki's waiting ice spear that caught his arm, immobilizing him.
The battle became a deadly dance. Tsubaki skated across the frozen battlefield with cold precision, each movement economical, each attack calculated. Villains lunged at him from the water, from the ice, from every angle—but he was always moving, always one step ahead, leaving frozen obstacles and trapped enemies in his wake.
"You little brat!" A villain with enhanced strength smashed through an ice wall, getting closer than the others had managed.
Tsubaki didn't even slow down. He slid under the villain's wild swing, his hand touching the ice as he passed. The surface beneath the villain's feet became impossibly slick, sending him crashing face-first into Tsubaki's ice wall.
"Right side, big one coming!" Midoriya called out.
Tsubaki saw him—a massive villain with stone-like skin, trying to use his weight to crash through the ice barriers. Tsubaki's response was swift. He created a ramp of ice, then used it to launch himself into the air, flipping over the charging villain while simultaneously creating ice that wrapped around the villain's legs mid-charge. The massive form crashed down, trapped and immobilized.
'They're not coordinating anymore,' Tsubaki observed coldly as he landed in a crouch, already sliding toward his next target. 'Fear and frustration have broken their formation. They're attacking individually, emotionally. Exactly what I wanted.'
A villain with blade-arms tried to slash at him from the side. Tsubaki's ice rose to block, then wrapped around the bladed limbs, freezing them in place. Another villain tried to grab him from behind—Asui's tongue yanked the attacker underwater before he could make contact.
The synergy was working. Asui created chaos and openings. Midoriya provided tactical awareness. And Tsubaki methodically dismantled their opposition with brutal efficiency.
But something was bothering him. A question that had been nagging at the back of his tactical mind since this attack began.
"Tell me something," Tsubaki said, his voice carrying across the frozen battlefield as he trapped another villain. "How exactly were you planning to kill All Might?"
The villains who could still speak snarled and cursed, but didn't answer.
Tsubaki's eyes narrowed. He slid between two attacking villains, freezing both their feet to the ice simultaneously. "Seriously. Look at yourselves. You're struggling against first-year students. We've been at UA for less than a week, and you can't even touch us."
"Shut up!" The gilled villain roared, trying to break free from the ice prison around his legs. "You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Don't I?" Tsubaki's voice was cold, analytical, almost conversational as he trapped another villain who'd tried to ambush him. "You're thugs. Strong ones, maybe. But thugs nonetheless. All Might is the Symbol of Peace. The strongest hero in Japan. In the world. If you're losing to us..." He created another ice formation, cutting off a villain's escape route. "...how could you possibly take him down?"
"We're not supposed to—" One villain started, then cut himself off, realizing he'd said too much.
Interesting, Tsubaki thought, his analytical mind processing that slip. They're not the main threat. They're a distraction. The real danger is...
His mind flashed to what he'd seen before being warped. The figure covered in hands—clearly the leader, unstable but intelligent. The mist villain polite but dangerous, with a warp quirk that had scattered them all. And that creature with the exposed brain near the plaza, just standing there like a weapon waiting to be deployed.
Those three. They're the real threat. These thugs are just meant to occupy us while the real plan unfolds.
"You're wasting my time," Tsubaki said, his voice dropping to something colder, more dangerous. "All of you."
"What did you just—" The gilled villain sputtered, rage overtaking tactical sense. "You arrogant little—"
"EVERYONE, RUSH HIM AT ONCE!" Another villain shouted. "He's getting tired! We can overwhelm him!"
'Tired?' Tsubaki almost wanted to laugh at the assumption. He'd barely tapped his reserves. This controlled skating combat was actually efficient, using his ice in ways that minimized waste while maximizing control.
But then he felt it—a massive disturbance in the water. Something big. Something that had been holding back, waiting for an opening.
"TODOROKI-SAN, BELOW YOU!" Midoriya screamed. "IT'S HUGE!"
The water exploded as a massive villain—easily three times the size of the others, with thick scaled armor covering his entire body—burst from below. He was the one who'd been coordinating them, staying back, waiting for Tsubaki to be surrounded.
A pincer attack, Tsubaki realized. The thugs from all sides, and him from below. Clever.
But Tsubaki was done playing.
"I don't have time for this."
His eyes tracked every villain still mobile. Fifteen targets, including the massive one now airborne, water cascading off his armored form. All of them converging on his position simultaneously.
Thirteen's words echo in my mind: 'This facility exists to teach you how to use your quirks to save people. But before I can save anyone, I need to neutralize threats. Efficiently. Decisively.'
'All of them. At once.'
Tsubaki's armor coils began to glow with intense blue light. He placed both palms on the ice beneath his feet, spread his legs into a stable stance, and pushed—not with calculation or restraint, but with the intent to end this battle in a single, overwhelming moment. It wasn't his style but taking them all down one by one was a waste of time.
"This is where the battle ends," Tsubaki said, his voice carrying across the flood zone with absolute authority.
"Ice Age" He said with finality.
The ice didn't spread gradually. It exploded.
Massive formations erupted from every direction—from the water's surface, from below, from the frozen battlefield itself. Towering walls of ice rose like the fingers of a giant hand, each one perfectly positioned to catch a villain mid-attack. The structures were enormous, dwarfing even the massive villain who'd thought to crush Tsubaki from above.
The temperature plummeted so rapidly that the remaining liquid water began to freeze solid, creating a crystalline forest of ice that filled the entire flood zone. Villains were caught mid-leap, mid-dive, mid-strike—frozen in place, trapped in ice prisons that left them immobilized but alive.
The massive villain's eyes widened in shock as a pillar of ice caught him in mid-air, freezing him in a block of crystalline blue that rose fifty feet from the water. His roar of rage was cut short as the ice encased everything but his head.
Within ten seconds, every villain in the flood zone was neutralized.
The silence that followed was absolute.
On the boat, Midoriya and Asui stared in shock at the transformation. The flood zone had become a frozen cathedral of ice, beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.
"That's..." Midoriya's voice was barely a whisper. "That's incredible..."
Tsubaki Todoroki stood in the center of his creation, breathing slightly harder but still controlled. Frost had formed on his right arm and shoulder—the cost of such a large-scale attack—but his expression remained calm, almost bored.
"Like I said," Tsubaki called out to the frozen villains, his voice echoing across the ice. "You were a waste of my time."
He turned back to his classmates, his eyes already focusing on the next objective. "We need to move. The real threats aren't here—they're at the central plaza."
Asui pulled herself onto the ice, her large eyes reflecting awe and concern. "Ribbit... Todoroki-san, that was amazing. But are you okay? Your arm..."
"I'm fine," Tsubaki said, and it was true. The frost was uncomfortable, but manageable. He'd trained for this. "Can you both move?"
"Y-Yes," Midoriya stammered, still processing what he'd just witnessed.
But his mind was racing beyond the immediate shock. He'd watched Todoroki face real villains—dangerous criminals who wanted to hurt them—and Todoroki had never wavered. Not once. Even when they'd been surrounded, outnumbered, facing impossible odds, Tsubaki had radiated absolute confidence.
He didn't hesitate, Midoriya thought, his hand unconsciously clenching. Even in his first real villain fight, he was completely in control. Analyzing, adapting, dominating.
' That's the type of power I need to have in order to be number 1 and save everyone with a smile'
Midoriya looked at his hand. All he could do was use power that would break his bones.
Meanwhile, Tsubaki had just defeated over twenty villains while protecting both of them, and he was still ready to keep fighting.
'I'm still so far behind,' Midoriya realized, the thought hitting him with crushing weight.' All Might chose me to inherit One For All. To be the next Symbol of Peace. But right now, I can't even use my quirk without destroying myself.'
'I need to step it up. I need to get stronger. I need to prove that All Might chose right.
Because if I don't... people like Todoroki-san will leave me before I ever get started.'
"Midoriya-chan?" Asui's voice broke through his thoughts. "Are you okay, ribbit?"
"I'm fine," Midoriya said, forcing determination into his voice. "Let's go. Todoroki-san is right—we need to get to the plaza."
The three students began making their way across the frozen flood zone, leaving the immobilized villains behind.
USJ Entrance:
"EVERYONE, BACK TO THE ENTRANCE!" Thirteen's voice was strained, their space suit damaged but their resolve unshaken. "WE NEED TO GET HELP!"
The students who'd avoided being warped—Uraraka, Sato, Shoji, and several others—had fallen back to Thirteen's position as Kurogiri blocked their escape.
"I'm afraid I can't let you leave," Kurogiri said, his misty form expanding. "We've gone to such trouble to prepare this welcoming party."
"Then you leave us no choice!" Thirteen's fingertips began to glow as they activated Black Hole.
But Kurogiri had been expecting this. His mist swirled, and suddenly the suction was redirected—toward Thirteen's back.
"NO!" Thirteen tried to shut off her quirk, but it was too late.
Her own power tore through the back of their space suit. The reinforced material shredded like paper. Thirteen collapsed with a scream of pain, their suit compromised, her back torn by their own devastating quirk.
"THIRTEEN!" Multiple students screamed in horror.
"How unfortunate," Kurogiri said with genuine regret. "Your rescue work truly is admirable, Thirteen. But I cannot allow—"
"IIDA!" Thirteen's voice cut through, weak but commanding. The hero was on their knees, one arm reaching toward the fastest student. "Run! Get to UA! Call the teachers!"
"But—!" Iida's engines flared instinctively, but he hesitated.
"THAT'S AN ORDER!" Thirteen shouted, their voice carrying the weight of a pro hero's authority. "YOU'RE OUR ONLY HOPE! RUN!"
Sato and Shoji moved as one, charging Kurogiri to create an opening. "GO, IIDA!" Shoji roared, his duplicated arms trying to grab the mist villain's physical form—the metal collar that anchored his consciousness.
Uraraka threw debris made weightless by her quirk, creating additional distraction.
Kurogiri tried to intercept, but the combined assault of multiple students created just enough chaos—
Iida's engines exploded with blue-white flames. "I WON'T FORGET THIS! I'LL RETURN WITH HELP!"
He burst through the gap, his incredible speed carrying him past Kurogiri's grasping mist and out the entrance. Within seconds, he was a distant streak heading toward UA's main campus.
Kurogiri's yellow eyes narrowed in frustration. Then his form dissolved, warping away from the remaining students.
Central Plaza
Kurogiri materialized next to Shigaraki Tomura with a soft whoosh of displaced air.
"Tomura," he said quietly, urgently. "One of the students escaped. The one with engines. He's going to alert the heroes."
Tomura had been watching Aizawa fight with genuine interest—the underground hero was systematically taking down villain after villain with brutal efficiency, his capture weapon and hand-to-hand combat creating a circle of unconscious bodies around him.
At Kurogiri's words, Tomura slowly turned his head. The hand covering his face shifted slightly.
"What?" His voice was soft. Dangerous.
"A fast one. With engines in his legs. He got past me while I was dealing with Thirteen."
For a moment, there was silence.
Then Tomura's hand went to his neck.
And he began to scratch.
Slowly at first. Then faster. Then frantically, his nails digging into pale skin hard enough to draw blood.
"One got away." His voice rose with each word. "One got away. One got AWAY. OnE gOt AWAY!"
The scratching intensified, red lines appearing on his neck. His breathing became rapid, ragged, like a child on the verge of a tantrum.
"This isn't how it was supposed to go! All Might was supposed to be here! The students were supposed to be scattered and helpless! We were supposed to show the world that their Symbol of Peace could be killed!" His voice reached a fever pitch. "Everything is WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!"
He whirled toward the entrance, hand outstretched as if to chase after Iida—
"Tomura." Kurogiri's voice cut through, calm but firm. "Calm yourself. We still have the upper hand."
"HOW?!" Tomura screamed, spinning back. "HOW DO WE HAVE THE UPPER HAND?! THAT KID IS GOING TO BRING EVERY HERO IN U.A. DOWN ON US!"
"It will take time," Kurogiri said with that infuriating politeness. "Even at his speed, reaching the main campus, convincing the heroes of what's happening, organizing a response team—we have at least fifteen to twenty minutes. Perhaps more."
"Fifteen minutes..." Tomura's scratching slowed slightly.
"And we still have Nomu," Kurogiri added, gesturing toward the massive creature standing motionless near the fountain. "The weapon specifically designed to kill All Might. Even if the Symbol of Peace arrives, we can still complete our mission."
Tomura took several shaking breaths, his hand slowly lowering from his neck. He stared at the blood under his fingernails.
"You're right," he whispered. "You're right, Kurogiri. Even if everything's going wrong, we can still salvage this. We can still break All Might. Show everyone that symbols can be destroyed."
His head snapped toward where Aizawa was finishing off the last of their low-level thugs.
"And if we can't kill All Might... at least we can kill what he's trying to create. His students. His legacy. His hope."
A grin spread across the visible part of his face—manic, unhinged, terrifying.
"Let's start with Eraser Head."
Aizawa sensed rather than saw the shift in atmosphere. The low-level villains were down—thirty, maybe forty of them, scattered across the plaza unconscious or groaning in pain. His capture weapon was frayed, his body was covered in cuts and bruises, and his eyes burned from overuse of his Erasure quirk.
But he was still standing.
"Eraser Head," Tomura's voice called out, almost playful. "That was really cool, you know? Taking down all those pawns. I am impressed."
Aizawa turned to face him, his posture defensive despite his exhaustion. "You want to fight me? Then come on. But you're making a mistake."
"Am I?" Tomura giggled, the sound wrong and childish. "Let's find out."
He launched forward with surprising speed, fingers outstretched in a grasping motion. Aizawa's eyes glowed red—Erasure activating—
But Tomura was fast. Faster than the thugs. More unpredictable.
They exchanged blows—Aizawa's tactical combat training and underground experience against Tomura's raw killing intent and unpredictable movements. The hero's capture weapon lashed out, but Tomura ducked and weaved with manic energy.
'He's not trained,' Aizawa analyzed even as they fought.' But he's dangerous. His quirk clearly needs him to touch me. Can't let him make contact.'
But Aizawa was exhausted. His reaction time was slower. His eyes were screaming for rest, tears streaming down his face from the strain of keeping them open.
And then it happened.An involuntary blink. Just a fraction of a second.But it was enough.
Tomura's hand shot out, five fingers grabbing Aizawa's elbow.
Pain exploded. The hero's flesh began to crack and crumble, turning gray and flaking away like ash. Decay spread from the point of contact, eating away at skin and muscle.
Aizawa bit back a scream, using his other arm to throw Tomura back with his capture weapon. But the damage was done—his right elbow was partially decayed, blood and disintegrating tissue visible through the damage.
"Does it hurt?" Tomura asked, tilting his head with childlike curiosity. "Decay is so honest, don't you think? It shows the truth—that everything falls apart eventually. Heroes. Symbols. Hope."
Aizawa was breathing hard, his vision starting to blur. But he raised his remaining functional arm, ready to keep fighting.
'For my students. Just need to hold on. Just a little longer.'
"You know what?" Tomura said suddenly, his tone shifting. "You're really cool, Eraser Head. Like, genuinely impressive. But I'm getting impatient."
He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
"NOMU. Deal with him."
From the shadows near the fountain, the creature moved.
Eight feet tall. Exposed brain. Bird-like beak. Eyes that were empty, lifeless, more puppet than person.
But the sheer physical presence it radiated made even Aizawa, veteran of countless battles, feel a primal stab of fear.
The Nomu moved with terrifying speed.
Aizawa's Erasure quirk activated immediately, his bloodshot eyes locking onto the creature—the familiar red glow washing over his target as his quirk suppressed the Nomu's abilities.
But when the Nomu's fist—the size of a bowling ball—came crashing toward him, Aizawa realized with horror that it didn't matter.Even with its quirks erased, the creature was still a physical monster.
The impact lifted Aizawa off his feet. The sound echoed across the plaza like thunder. His body flew backward, crashing into a concrete pillar hard enough to crack it. He crumpled to the ground, gasping, blood trickling from his mouth.
'My quirk worked,' Aizawa realized through the pain. 'But it doesn't matter. Even without its quirks, that thing is strong enough to kill me.'
"Surprised?" Tomura called out cheerfully. "Nomu is specifically designed to kill All Might he is the Anti Symbol of peace."
Aizawa tried to stand, his legs shaking. His capture weapon was torn. His right arm was partially decayed and useless. His body was battered from fighting dozens of villains.
And now he faced something his quirk couldn't stop.
But he stood anyway.
Because that's what heroes did.
The Nomu approached, its heavy footsteps inexorable.
Tsubaki, Midoriya, and Asui had just reached the edge of the flood zone, climbing the stairs that led up to the central plaza. They could see the massive open space ahead, could hear the sounds of combat—
And then they saw it.
Their teacher, Aizawa Shota, the underground hero who'd seemed invincible during their first days at UA, was pinned to the ground. The creature—Nomu—had him pressed into the concrete, one massive hand holding him down.
Aizawa's face was battered, bleeding. But his eyes—those determined, exhausted eyes—locked onto the three students.
And in that gaze was a single, desperate message:
Run.
Tsubaki froze, his analytical mind grinding to a halt at the sight. This was Aizawa. The teacher who'd threatened to expel them, who'd pushed them, who'd taken down dozens of villains without breaking a sweat. The teacher whose quirk could counter anyone.
And he was losing.
No. Not losing. He's already lost.
The Nomu's other hand rose, fingers splayed.
And then brought it down, smashing Aizawa's head into the concrete with sickening force.
CRACK
The sound echoed across the entire plaza.
At the entrance, the students who'd stayed with Thirteen screamed. "SENSEI!"
Across the various zones, students who could see the central plaza felt despair wash over them. Their teacher—a pro hero—had been defeated by that thing.
Tsubaki, Midoriya, and Asui stood frozen, speechless, their minds unable to process what they'd just witnessed.
"Well, well," a voice called out—high-pitched, manic, terrifying. "Looks like we have an audience."
Shigaraki Tomura turned toward them, his hand-covered face tilting with interest. He'd known they were there. Had been waiting for this moment.
"Students of UA," he said, his voice carrying across the plaza. "That was your teacher. A pro hero. And look how easily Nomu broke him."
He began walking toward them, his gait unsettling and wrong.
"All Might isn't here. The Symbol of Peace abandoned you. So I guess I'll have to entertain myself with what's available." His visible eye gleamed with manic glee. "I think I'll kill a few students before All Might arrives. Maybe that will motivate him to hurry up. What do you think?"
He was moving faster now, closing the distance.
Tsubaki's mind screamed at him to move, to act, to do something—but his body wouldn't respond. The shock of seeing Aizawa defeated had frozen him in place.
Midoriya and Asui were similarly paralyzed, their faces pale with terror.
Tomura's hand reached out, fingers splayed, aiming for the closest target—
Asui.
"Let's start with the frog girl," Tomura said cheerfully. "Five fingers. That's all it takes. Just five fingers, and you'll start to decay. Crumble into nothing. Won't that be fun?"
His hand was inches from Asui's face, his quirk ready to activate—
And time seemed to slow to a crawl.
To Be Continued...
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Author's note
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Just to address this if ppl ask it's not that Tsubaki can't use large scale attacks like Shoto it's just not his style to do so think of him as the opposite to Shoto at the moment and obviously there is a bigger cost for him as unlike Shoto he doesn't have flames. But just to say this he's not a budget Shoto you'll see soon why...