Shigure was holding the same blindfold Keigo had given him as a birthday gift.
The same one that allowed him to see everything even while wearing it.
"A blindfold? Is that some special equipment?" Inasa furrowed his eyebrows.
A Cheshire grin appeared on Momo's face. "Yup. With this, we are definitely going to win." She instantly understood what Shigure was going to do.
"Is that so?" Looking at Momo's expression, Inasa's chest tightened. 'This girl is... scary. I must avoid her in the future.'
Shigure shot her a look, but didn't deny it. 'Why is she having so much fun?' He almost wanted to ask it, but didn't.
"Indeed. I will tell you its function later. Momo, can you tell me where Edgeshot is?"
Momo tilted her head, and her visor shimmered for a second. "There!" She pointed her finger. "He is dispatching multiple people while moving rapidly—OH, he is now fighting the girl who roughed you up. I will give her at most 30 seconds before she loses."
Shigure twitched. "First of all, I didn't get roughed up. Just conserving energy. Next, where is Todoroki?"
'I wonder how much energy it took to create that visor. I want one.'
Momo grinned, "He is skating in that direction. It should take around 20 seconds. Guess that girl might not get eliminated."
"Inasa." Shigure looked at him. He didn't need to say anything, as the wind lifted them, they shot towards that direction.
Momo tapped him, "We won't reach in time at this pace."
Inasa dejectedly said, "I can't go faster."
"I will help." Shigure used his Speed Up.
Inasa's eyes widened. "The world slowed down? Is this—"
Shigure interrupted him, "We don't have much time. Listen to the plan. You are going to create multiple cyclones when we reach there, to make sure Edgeshot doesn't escape." He then shifted his gaze to Momo.
"And you are going to make sure that Todoroki doesn't interrupt our plan, along with keeping Edgeshot distracted. If Jiro doesn't get eliminated, make her help you to keep him busy." He glanced at his stopwatch.
"We are here." He deactivated his quirk as they landed on the ground.
'Less than 15 per cent. I hope I don't get assassinated when I move towards the Locker room after this is over.'
Edgeshot glanced at them before disappearing from his position, dodging an ice shard and appearing near Jiro.
The latter shot a soundwave, which he dodged again.
Sound vs a person at the speed of sound.
"Inasa!" Shigure shouted, and the boy didn't disappoint. Multiple cyclones appeared all around them, isolating everyone present from the outside world.
Edgeshot glanced at Inasa before rushing at the latter.
BANG
"Old man." Momo intercepted him.
"As I said, I am not old." He moved again from his position, dodging multiple ice lances, which now headed towards Momo.
A turret erupted from the ground in front of her, releasing intense fire which clashed with the ice.
BOOM
A small explosion happened where both met.
Momo had put a shield on time to mitigate the damage.
Using the reduced visibility to his advantage, Edgeshot appeared behind her, "It's no use. I can sense your thermal signature."
He disappeared, dodging bullets.
"How about you take me as an intern if I pass the exam? I don't want to intern under the one who recommended me." A blower appeared in Momo's hands, blowing up all the steam.
"I will consider it." Edgeshot briefly replied before blitzing towards Shoto.
Just then, Shigure shouted. "Guys, I am using this!" He put on the blindfold, attracting everyone's attention.
"It would boost my quirk's power by 10 times for a few seconds. I will trap him. Use that to hit him."
Jiro blinked. "Wait, 10 times? Isn't that like 400 times?" She said the last part in a mutter.
Edgeshot heard her, but he didn't need that information. 'If I get near his quirks range, then I am done for. These kids might actually kill me.' His focus shot to limit.
His eyes darted all around the battlefield, finding weak links to exploit or to escape directly.
"Wait, are you se—" Kyoka suddenly lost her voice.
A ringing sound rang throughout her head before she lost consciousness.
Shoto's eyes widened. He saw it—but too late.
His arm jerked instinctively. Ice burst forth—
—but the threads were already there.
Kyoka collapsed mid-step. A dull thud echoed through the battlefield.
His attack tore the air above her head, useless.
"No…"
Before he could adjust, re-aim, anything—
"You should consider using your quirk fully. In the field, this will decide your life and death."
That was the last thing he heard before everything went black.
"Guys, huddle closer to me," Shigure shouted, urging Momo and Inasa to surround him.
WHOOSH
However, he was a beat too late.
'Slow Down.' He instinctively applied his quirk to all the things in his domain other than himself.
He turned around and found Edgeshot's one hand—now multiple threads were inching closer to him by the second.
The threads moved like vipers—silent, lethal, crawling towards him.
Shigure gritted his teeth. "His main body is out of my range. Attack on the crawling threads. Quickly."
Edgeshot moved his main body. 'His quirk is the same as before. Was he bluffing, or was he waiting for the right time?' Edgeshot instinctively converted his threads into smaller threads, spreading out.
This will lessen the damage to his true body.
However, unknown to him, this was working in his favour.
'9 Per cent. The fuck. Did he figure out my quirk?' Shigure's frown was getting more pronounced.
By spreading out his body and increasing the surface area, Edgeshot had unknowingly increased Shigure's energy consumption by a considerable factor.
Despite being slowed down, the strings were razor sharp and moving at a speed of 10 metres per second.
'I just have one second.' He gulped. Shigure's energy was plummeting at a rapid rate.
WHOOSH
Winds blocked the strings, slowing them down. Enough for Momo to throw an item.
"Catch this!" Shigure almost dropped it.
His eyes looked at the object in his hands in horror.
"A chainsaw?"
He glanced at Edgeshot, who had a similar expression to Shigure's.
He then looked at the strings, which had paused mid-air.
Shigure's expression turned contemplative, as if deciding the fate of the entire Japan.
"This is a hard decision for me, but some great sacrifices need to be made. You have already caused too much damage to the country." The chainsaw turned on.
With each word, Edgeshot's face became more confused.
'He's bluffing. Right? He's bluffing—right??'
"This is my last warning to you, Villain. Surrender now." The threads were now rushing back. Shigure chased after them.
'Just need a few seconds.' Edgeshot thought grimly. His strings were sharp, but he didn't want to test whether they would win against a chainsaw.
He glanced at Momo, who was looking at him with a smirk. 'That girl is dangerous. Normally, I wouldn't fear a chainsaw, but looking at her smile, I was right to be cautious. This is definitely not a normal chainsaw.'
"BEEP BEEP BEEP EXAMS ARE OVER. EVERYONE PAUSE. I REPEAT EVERYONE PAUSE."
Shigure dejectedly stopped, turning off both his quirk and the chainsaw. 'Did they stop it due to us, or was it the timer?' He took out his stopwatch.
There were still 3 minutes left for the exams to end.
"Tch." He clicked his tongue. 'It was probably due to us. Bet they would say something like to be prepared for the unexpected as an excuse.'
His grip on the chainsaw tightened. 'Maybe I could also give an excuse that I thought it was a villain who used mental attacks to sabotage us by 3 minutes.'
Shigure's eyes went towards Edgeshot, who was standing in his human body form.
The latter felt a chill run up his spine as their eyes met.
'But, will I be able to catch him in 3 minutes?' Just as Shigure was contemplating, somebody tapped him on the shoulder.
"Don't." Momo shook her head.
Shigure dropped the chainsaw. "I didn't even say anything."
She rolled her eyes, "You don't need to. It's all written on your face. Anyway, how is your energy tank?"
"4 per cent. Give me your energy." Shigure didn't need to say why he asked.
Momo created a chocolate. "You are so paranoid."
Shigure quickly devoured the bar. "You will thank me one day."
His energy flared back to 20 per cent. Enough to fight. But not enough to fuck around.
"THE RESULTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN 10 MINUTES. PLEASE EXIT THE EXAM SITE"
"It was nice working with, unlike someone else." Inasa patted Shigure's shoulder before shooting Todoroki a glare.
The latter didn't even glance at him.
"The pleasure is mine. Though you might be in deep waters, seeing how you duked it out with that guy."
A wry smile appeared on Inasa. "Indeed." His face changed into a contemplative expression.
Shigure just looked at him, going through various emotions on his face, before a determined expression appeared on his face.
He marched towards Todoroki, the latter already a long distance away.
Shigure didn't hear the conversation, but he only saw a confused look on Todoroki and Inasa multiple times bowing.
His bow was unique as it smashed craters on the ground every time he bent.
"That guy is quite...interesting," Momo commented.
Shigure just shrugged. He and Momo exited the exam site.
Like the end of the First Round, the results were shown on the screen. People who had passed had their names on the screen.
Shigure quickly checked his name and Momo's and some of the familiar ones before heading towards the locker room with Momo. His whole body tensed.
"Do you think—" Shigure put his hands on her mouth. His eyes were warning.
"You are not going to say anything until I get my tank full." The last thing he wanted was Momo to raise another flag.
"Tch. I didn't even complete—" Momo paused. Shigure stopped moving, too.
In the dark hallway, someone was standing. Someone Shigure knew.
Kawarin Seiko.
***
A/n- Reference to Chapter 18
***
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