Chapter 27: The Silent Blade
The massive wave of ice roared through the hallway like a frozen tsunami, its jagged edges scraping against the concrete walls with a deafening screech. Kirishima braced himself, his skin hardening into jagged rock.
"Get back!" Kirishima yelled.
Zoro didn't move an inch. He didn't even widen his stance. He simply held the Wado Ichimonji with a single hand, the white hilt steady in his grip.
"One-Sword Style..." Zoro whispered.
With a flash of steel faster than the human eye could track, Zoro swung the blade in a precise, vertical arc.
Shing!
There was no explosion. There was no collateral damage. Instead, a clean, razor-thin line appeared in the center of the massive glacier. A split second later, the entire wave of ice parted in two, sliding harmlessly past Zoro and Kirishima and crashing into the walls behind them. Zoro hadn't destroyed the ice; he had simply carved a path through it.
"No way..." Kirishima gasped, looking at the perfectly smooth cut on the ice walls next to him. "You didn't even break the floor!"
"Don't just stand there," Zoro said, sheathing his sword with a rhythmic click. "We have a job to do. Follow me."
On the fifth floor, Todoroki's eyes widened as he felt the vibration through the ice. He had expected the match to be over. He didn't hear an explosion, yet his sensory ice told him the intruders were still moving—and fast.
"Tokoyami! They're coming up the central stairs!" Todoroki warned.
"Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami commanded. The shadowy beast erupted from his cloak, its eyes glowing with a dark hunger. "Go! Intercept them!"
Zoro and Kirishima burst through the double doors of the fifth floor. Instantly, Dark Shadow lunged at them, its claws extended.
"I'll handle the bird-guy's shadow!" Kirishima yelled, lunging forward with a hardened fist. "Go for the ice user!"
Zoro didn't slow down. He blurred past Kirishima, his speed catching Tokoyami off guard. As Dark Shadow tried to pivot to block him, Zoro didn't draw his sword. Instead, he used the scabbard of the Sandai Kitetsu, still attached to his hip, to deliver a powerful, blunt-force strike to Dark Shadow's midsection.
The impact sent the shadow beast reeling back toward Tokoyami. Zoro didn't want to hurt the student; he just wanted to disrupt his focus.
"Too slow," Zoro muttered.
Todoroki gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, sending a forest of ice spikes toward Zoro's feet. Zoro leaped into the air, spinning gracefully. Mid-air, he drew his Sandai Kitetsu, but he didn't use the edge. He used the flat of the blade to swat away the incoming spikes as if they were nothing more than flies.
He landed inches away from Todoroki.
Todoroki panicked, reaching out with his right hand to freeze Zoro's chest. Zoro caught the boy's wrist in a grip of iron.
"You rely too much on your power," Zoro said, his voice cold and steady. "You think because you have a massive Quirk, the fight is already won. That's why you lose."
With a swift, fluid motion, Zoro tripped Todoroki's unbalanced leg and pinned his arm behind his back. At the same time, he reached out his other hand and calmly tapped the surface of the fake nuclear weapon.
"THE HERO TEAM WINS!" All Might's voice boomed through the speakers, sounding half-relieved and half-stunned.
The entire match had lasted less than three minutes.
In the observation room, the students were speechless. Unlike Midoriya's match, which left the building in ruins and the Hero in the hospital, this building was perfectly intact. There were no broken windows, no shattered ceilings, and most importantly, no injuries.
Zoro released Todoroki's arm and stepped back, sheathing his swords. Kirishima was panting, having barely started his fight with Dark Shadow.
"Is... is that it?" Kirishima asked, looking around. "We won? Already?"
"The goal wasn't to kill them," Zoro said, looking at Todoroki, who was staring at his hands in shock. "The goal was to secure the weapon and neutralize the threat. Why waste energy destroying the place?"
A few minutes later, the four students returned to the monitor room. The class looked at Zoro as if he were an alien.
"Young Roronoa..." All Might approached, his expression uncharacteristically serious. "That was... remarkably efficient. You didn't cause a single point of unnecessary damage."
"In a real fight, you don't always have a recovery girl waiting for you," Zoro stated, crossing his arms. "And if you blow up the building you're supposed to be saving, you're just a villain with a better excuse. Learn to control your strength, or it'll be the death of you."
Todoroki looked up, his mismatched eyes reflecting a new kind of realization. He had always been told his power was absolute. But today, a man with three pieces of steel and no Quirk had shown him that power without precision is just a loud noise.
Zoro leaned back against the wall, closing his eye.
"Next time," Zoro muttered. "Give me a real challenge."
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