The sound of steel striking steel rang out as the thin-bladed knives in Luke's hands flashed, effortlessly parrying all the green scales coming at him.
Not only Hiryu Rin, the Class 2-B student facing him, but even the Pros watching this play out looked on in amazement.
Not many had seen Luke fighting Class 1-A students singlehandedly during the first semester last year. Not many knew of his proficiency in practical handy tricks and martial arts, which he had been taught by a seasoned assassin. And not many had ever imagined that he might not be as helpless without his raven as the rumors made him out to be.
To see him making a beeline toward Hiryu Rin, knocking off every single green scale without losing even a unit of his momentum, became one of the greatest unraveling sights of the entire Sports Festival.
Hiryu Rin couldn't take in the sight with as much surprise and enthusiasm as the audience, though. Just as Luke arrived within his reach, a dense layer of green scales covered his entire body, becoming armor.
Then, without waiting for him to come any closer, Hiryu charged.
The razor-sharp tips of green scales protruded out of his steel boots as Hiryu attacked Luke with a roundhouse kick, aiming for his head.
Suddenly, as if Luke had never been running to begin with, he paused with a jerk.
Hiryu's entire foot traced a sharp line across the space, missing Luke's head by mere centimeters.
The audience gasped.
Luke grinned.
Changing the grip on his knives, he stepped in, thrusting the knife.
Hiryu stepped back effortlessly, changing the knife's trajectory with the back of his scaled hand. Simultaneously, his steel-padded knee went for Luke's sides, aiming to break his ribs. With the two of them so close to each other, it would be a miracle if Luke managed to dodge it. It didn't even matter where the knee landed, as it was bound to break bones at the moment of contact.
A miracle did happen, though.
Luke's leg, mirroring Hiryu's kick, moved. Then, the sole of his raised foot landed on the top of Hiryu's foot, slamming it down with a jerk, countering the monstrous knee attack before it could even make contact.
Luke and Hiryu, now standing so close to each other that they seemed to be practically hugging, looked into each other's eyes.
The blond-haired guy's eyes carried amusement.
Behind the visor, the serpent-like black eyes carried shock.
And then, Luke pulled back his left hand, a chill running down Hiryu's spine.
Instantly, all the green scales on Hiryu's body stood up, their tips pointing out like thorns. This was a defense mechanism of his Quirk, protecting his body from attacks. If someone managed to go past his defenses and attack him, then that someone would only end up injuring himself in the end. Thus, such a person would think twice before attacking him.
To Hiryu's bad luck, Luke was a different breed.
Under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of people, and unbothered by the pointy scales, Luke slammed his fist deep into Hiryu's chest.
CRACK!
People cringed at the sight.
Hiryu was sent flying, rolling across the pebbled floor, before he flipped himself up to an upright position.
The moment he landed on his feet, though, Hiryu fell back on his knees.
Blood came pouring out of his mouth, painting the glossy, wet pebbles red.
First, he looked at his chest and saw a bloody print of a fist, with several green scales missing there. The mere sight of it was so astounding and ridiculous that, for a moment, he even ignored the pain.
Then, slowly, Hiryu looked up, the buried pain shooting through his head, making him wince.
Only a few feet away from him, Luke was picking off the green scales embedded in the exposed fingers of his left hand, blood dripping off them. A few of the green scales were also lodged into the glove part of his hand, but they had failed to puncture the material itself, barely rupturing the skin underneath.
Not wincing even once, Luke pulled off all the green scales, then looked at Hiryu, wielding the knife in his right hand.
Then, he stepped forward.
Madness took over Hiryu's mind. He lifted both his hands and used his Ultimate Move once again, concentrating all the green-scale bullets on Luke without worrying about Luke dodging at all.
Sadly, Luke had no shortage of dealing shocks to overwhelm the enemy's mind.
Instead of flicking away some of the incoming scaly bullets and missing a large portion of them, he simply lifted both his hands and covered his face.
With loud thuds, the green scales hit his body, some outright falling off, some staying lodged into his body, blood dripping down his costume.
Click…
Click…
Hiryu pressed the switch on the Scale Gauntlets, but they had all run out of scales.
Luke put down his arms and stared at the boy with his blue eyes, his face devoid of any smile.
"… Why…" Hiryu asked, losing all will to even put up a fight. "… Why didn't you use your Quirk?"
Luke walked forward and came to a stop right in front of the boy, making a fist with his bloody left hand.
Then, without answering, he slammed it down.
In the stadium, a pin-drop silence lingered.
They saw as a raven came flying down and… healed Luke instantly, before disappearing back to the sky. They saw as he collected all the fallen green scales, took off Hiryu's Scale Gauntlets, and put them on himself. They saw as he nodded to himself as if satisfied with the fit before he disappeared into the forest.
They did all this in utter silence.
And together, no matter whether they were civilians or Heroes, or even some Villains watching it from far away, seeing the laser boundary go past Hiryu's body, they all experienced the same feeling.
This was no Battle Royale.
UA… had practically trapped 99 students with a monster!