The sun was slowly setting, casting long shadows across the arena. The kickoff of the U.A. Sports Festival final match was at hand.
I stood in the ring. Bakugo stood opposite me. His palms flickered continuously with small explosions, his shoulders were tense, and a fire of pure, destructive fury burned in his eyes. He had been watching my victories all day.
"Finally..." Bakugo growled, his voice raspy with rage. "I'm sick of your arrogant bullshit! Your shadows, your daggers, that damn aura of yours! You think you're better than everyone else?! Today, I'm bringing you to your knees, Darkness! I'll tear you to shreds!"
"Your energy is admirable, Bakugo," I replied calmly, drawing both of my shadow daggers. "But anger without control is just blind smoke. Show me what you're truly made of."
"AND HERE WE HAVE THE FINAL MATCH OF THE U.A. SPORTS FESTIVAL!" Present Mic screamed, his voice carrying over the quieted stadium. "THE UNDEFEATED SHADOW KING MEPHISTO DARKNESS VERSUS THE EXPLOSIVE DEMON KATSUKI BAKUGO! ON YOUR MARKS... START!"
BOOOOOM!
Bakugo launched forward with a massive explosion at his back. The sound of a shockwave sliced through the air. This was no ordinary attack—Bakugo used maximum speed, weaving through the air with alternating blasts from his palms to create chaotic movement.
Executing a sharp dodge directly above me, he aimed straight for my back.
"STUN GRENADE!" he roared, as a blinding flash erupted from both palms, followed by a destructive shockwave.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Thick, fiery smoke and dust shrouded the center of the ring. The spectators gasped. Bakugo landed on the ground with a wild grin, convinced he had hit me with full force.
"Got you, you bastard—"
"Looking for me?" my voice called out directly behind him.
ZSCHHH!
Using Shadow Exchange, I swapped places with a shadow cast by a piece of broken concrete behind Bakugo's back.
Bakugo turned his head in shock, but it was already too late. My dagger slashed through the air. The lightning aura coating the blade swept away his defensive reaction, and a strike with the hilt hit him squarely in the chest.
KRAAAASH!
Bakugo flew back ten meters, bracing his palms against the ground and carving deep grooves into the ring. Saliva spurted from his mouth as he gasped for air.
"Damn it... DAMN IT!" Bakugo screamed, pushing himself up as massive flames began sprouting from his palms. His sweat was turning into highly concentrated nitroglycerin. "I WON'T LOSE! I WILL BE NUMBER ONE!"
Bakugo leaped into the air and began spinning around his axis. He generated a massive, fiery tornado that descended toward me at incredible speed.
"HOWITZER IMPACT!"
"My lord," Agron's voice echoed in my mind with cold amusement. "Show this boy what true dominance looks like."
I didn't raise my daggers to defend. Instead, I channeled all my energy directly into my right arm. A dark-red aura enveloped my fist, surrounded by dancing crimson lightning.
When the fiery tornado of the Howitzer Impact came within a meter of my body, I threw a direct punch right into the center of the explosion.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The shockwave of my strike punched through the fiery tempest like paper. The impact of my fist swept away all the flames, tore the vortex apart, and struck Bakugo directly in the core of his attack.
All the explosions went out in that exact second.
Bakugo flew across the entire length of the stadium and crashed deafeningly into the massive concrete wall on the other side of the ring, remaining motionless amidst the rubble. His eyes rolled back into his head, light smoke drifted from his palms, and he was completely unconscious.
The arena fell silent. Nobody breathed.
The shockwave from my fist continued to disperse the smoke over the destroyed ring for several seconds. I stood in my place without having shifted a single millimeter.
Midnight stood with her mouth agape before slowly raising a slightly trembling hand.
"Katsuki Bakugo is unable to continue! Incapacitated!" she shouted. "THE WINNER OF THE FINALS AND CHAMPION OF THE U.A. SPORTS FESTIVAL IS... MEPHISTO DARKNESS!"
In that moment, the stadium literally exploded. Thousands of people chanted my name. Camera flashes blinded the arena. I looked up at the scoreboard, where my name shone at the very top of the winner's podium.