"Take this, you bastard! A continuous grenade explosion with a 20-meter diameter!!!"
As Katsuki Bakugo roared, his hands acted like flint, igniting sparks at the starting point of the explosion array.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Using Bakugo's sweat as fuel, the explosions shot over ten meters high and charged toward Arthur in the center with a deafening, violent force.
That move that nearly wrecked Itsuka Kendo earlier now looked like nothing compared to this.
"Hey! If that hits him, he's actually gonna die!" Mina Ashido yelled, grabbing Tsuyu Asui's shoulders.
"Bakugo's going way too hard!" Eijiro Kirishima couldn't help but shout either.
This was insane. With that much sweat as fuel, even Shoto Todoroki's full-power flames probably couldn't match this.
"Idiot. Fine, I'll let you witness the real power of [The World]." Arthur, about to be swallowed by the explosion in the next split second, looked up and shouted.
Katsuki Bakugo's expression shifted, and his red pupils instantly shrank.
"Za Warudo!!!" Arthur raised his head and pointed his left hand forward.
[The World] burst out from inside him instantly.
At that moment, only Izuku Midoriya noticed it.
The time on the arena's big screen had just hit 15:00:00.
Rumble!!!
Whoosh!!!!!
Against the backdrop of Bakugo's massive explosions, everyone only saw that Arthur and [The World] had disappeared from their original spot at the center of the blast.
They appeared right where Katsuki Bakugo had just been standing.
And Bakugo himself was already flying backward toward the edge of the arena like a kicked soccer ball.
He was about to go out of bounds!
"Ugh!!!" Katsuki Bakugo coughed up blood through gritted teeth. He realized if he kept going like this, he'd definitely be out.
He placed his right hand behind him, palm open.
Boom!!!
At the last second, he used his strongest move, Blast Speed Vortex, pushing past his body's limit.
Thump!
A heavy landing sound echoed.
He managed to use the explosion to push himself back mid-air, right as he was about to fly out.
But the cost was brutal. The flesh on his entire right arm was full of tiny holes.
Compared to Izuku Midoriya's condition after forcing 100% of One For All, this was just as bad.
And at that exact moment, Midoriya noticed
The time was still at 15:00:00.
"This is [The World]." Arthur stood where Bakugo had just been, arms crossed, looking down at Bakugo sprawled on the ground.
Behind him, thanks to Bakugo's continuous grenade explosions, most of the arena was wrecked, full of craters.
But despite all that, not a speck of dust had touched Arthur.
"Kwah!!!"
Katsuki Bakugo coughed out a mouthful of blood violently.
Midnight thought the match was over. She was about to declare the winner.
"Wait!"
Noticing Midnight's movement, Bakugo roared in anger, pushing himself up with both hands, trying to stand.
Seeing that, Midnight bit her lip and put her hand back down.
"How... how terrifying of a Quirk..."
"He took down Bakugo in an instant..."
"Next round, Shoto's probably in trouble too."
Watching Arthur defeat Bakugo almost instantly, the students of Class A all gasped. A few even felt genuine fear.
Meanwhile, Izuku Midoriya had one hand on his chin, muttering to himself. "What's going on? When Arthur made his move just now, why didn't time pass? Why wasn't there any time difference at all? Why did Kacchan get sent flying instantly? Time difference... time difference..."
After repeating 'time difference' a few times, Izuku seemed to wake up from a dream. He stood up in disbelief. "No... wait... could it be... no, that's impossible. How could a Quirk like that exist?"
"Midoriya, what's wrong?"
Seeing Izuku suddenly stand up, Ochaco Uraraka, Tokoyami, Denki Kaminari, and the others nearby all looked at him confused.
But Izuku didn't seem to hear them. Without realizing it, he shouted in an incredulous tone, "Arthur's Quirk... [The World]... is... is it a Quirk that controls time??!!!"
Because the arena had fallen into a brief silence after Bakugo got instantly defeated and sent flying, Izuku's shout was heard by over a third of the entire audience in that moment.
After instinctively glancing toward Izuku, everyone who heard him showed expressions of disbelief one after another.
Like they'd just heard something impossible.
"Hey, what did that U.A. kid over there just say?"
"It sounded like he said the student's
Quirk... its true nature seems to be..."
"Controlling time!"
"Controlling time? No way."
"Impossible. How could there be a Quirk that controls time?"
"Wait a minute... if his Quirk really can control time, then everything he's done so far actually makes sense."
The Sports Festival audience and pro heroes erupted into intense discussions.
"Con... controlling time?"
Midnight in the referee area and Cementoss next to her also looked at Arthur in disbelief.
They remembered Arthur's instant teleportation, and how dozens of people got inexplicably sent flying during the first event's race.
"Could it be... his Quirk really is controlling time?"
Midnight realized that if Arthur's Quirk was explained that way, then all the confusing things he'd done before would actually make sense.
Even All Might in the audience, and Endeavor who was usually uninterested in any fight except his son's, both changed expressions dramatically.
If this was true, this Quirk was way too terrifying.
Katsuki Bakugo also suddenly realized.
Why, when the explosion trap he'd set was triggered, Arthur instantly attacked him.
And the explosion array behind him was still in the state of having just been ignited.
Combined with what Deku just said, there was only one explanation.
That twin bastard stopped time, walked over in the frozen world, and hit him.
Arthur didn't continue attacking Katsuki Bakugo either. He half-turned and looked toward Izuku Midoriya in the stands.
"That guy..."
At that moment, Izuku Midoriya realized how much of a stir he'd caused.
His face turned red, and he quickly sat back down.
"A... a time controlling Quirk?"
Present Mic grabbed the mic and shouted in disbelief. "Is that for real? Does a Quirk like that actually exist?!!!"
"I originally thought it was just luck, but you nailed it, Midoriya. I admit I underestimated you."
Arthur stared at Izuku Midoriya, who was sitting uncomfortably in the audience, and muttered to himself.
His voice wasn't loud. Only Katsuki Bakugo on stage, plus Midnight and Cementoss who were refereeing and keeping the contestants safe, heard him.
The three of them looked even more shocked.
That meant Izuku Midoriya was right?
[The World]'s ability was controlling time.
At the League of Villains' secret base bar.
In front of the TV, Kurogiri frowned, completely shocked, and whispered, "It's... it's actually time control."
Thinking back to what happened at the USJ.
Nomu suddenly changing its attack target for no reason, and him and Shigaraki Tomura getting instantly sent flying.
Kurogiri immediately understood how it worked. His voice trembled. "Damn... this Quirk is seriously terrifying."
Kurogiri turned to look at Kai Chisaki. "Second-in-command, let's mark this Arthur as our number one test subject."
Chisaki Kai did not respond. He stared at Kurogiri without answering, lost in thought.
And Shigaraki Tomura kept scratching his neck, endlessly muttering complaints only he could hear.
He was scratching until his neck was almost bleeding.
Now, because of the U.A. Sports Festival broadcast, the whole world knew about time stop.
Thump.
Footsteps sounded.
"Where are you looking, you bastard!"
Katsuki Bakugo's furious voice followed.
Arthur pulled his gaze away from Izuku Midoriya and looked sideways at Bakugo.
"You're like a pig with its legs tied, about to get butchered. You really think you can still beat me?"
His ribs were already broken. Who knew if his internal organs were damaged.
Just now, to avoid going out of bounds, he'd used an explosion vortex that pushed past his body's limit.
One arm was useless.
In this state, anyone who wasn't blind could see how this match would end for Bakugo.
"Stop it, Kacchan! You can't win anymore!!"
Izuku Midoriya, who'd just sat down, stood up again and shouted.
"Shut up, Deku!!!"
Katsuki Bakugo endured the pain shooting through his whole body, turned his head, and roared back.
Having Deku pity him was the one thing he couldn't stand.
Arthur ignored their drama with half-closed eyes.
He walked in front of Bakugo, using his height advantage (over 10cm taller) and the fact that Bakugo couldn't even stand straight right now.
Arthur looked down at him. "I don't feel bad for you. Beating someone who's already down isn't really my thing, but to deal with you like this, I don't even need [The World]."
"I'll give you one last shot. Throw a punch. Yeah... like a fish about to get gutted on a cutting board. One last struggle before you're done."
Arthur's weird analogy completely set off Bakugo's fury.
His bloodshot eyes looked like they were about to pop out. He glared at Arthur through gritted teeth. This bastard... he's seriously looking down on me!!
"Not moving? Then I'll do it myself."
Arthur walked forward slowly with his hands in his pockets.
"Ugh ah ah ah ah!!!"
Katsuki Bakugo let out his final roar of this Sports Festival. His last uninjured fist came flying with an explosion, golden light and a loud bang.
Arthur reached out. This time, he didn't grab Bakugo's wrist. He met the explosion head-on, covered the blast directly, and forcibly twisted Bakugo's hand.
The next moment, Arthur lifted his left foot slightly and prepared to kick Bakugo's right knee.
At that moment, a lot of people instinctively closed their eyes.
Because they could all imagine Bakugo's leg snapping.
But after a few seconds, they opened their eyes.
The imagined scene of Bakugo getting kicked away never happened.
Between Arthur and Katsuki Bakugo stood All Might, over two meters tall in his yellow suit.
His right foot was pressed against Arthur's shoe.
"The match is decided."
All Might said with a serious expression. "Young man, Arthur... and Bakugo, my boy."
Seeing this, Arthur let go of Bakugo's hand two seconds later.
He voluntarily turned and walked toward Recovery Girl outside the arena, showing her his right hand, which had been blasted open.
The next second, Katsuki Bakugo suddenly collapsed. Izuku Midoriya cried out, "Kacchan!!!"
"The win... winner! Arthur! He advances to the finals!"
After letting out a heavy breath, Midnight raised her hand and announced.
"The moment All Might stepped in to save him, Bakugo had already lost."
Shoto Todoroki said.
Looking toward the edge of the arena where Arthur was getting healed by Recovery Girl, Kyoka Jiro and the other girls swallowed hard.
"A... a time-stopping Quirk? Is that real?"
"How can a Quirk that terrifying exist?"
"Todoroki... can he really win?"
But Minoru Mineta's focus was always different. Drooling, he said, "Oh oh oh oh!!! This is seriously the Quirk I've always dreamed of! That means I could stop time and do stuff to all those frozen women..."
"Pervert!"
Kyoka Jiro's earphone jacks and Tsuyu Asui's tongue lashed out at the same time, hitting Mineta so hard he saw stars.
...
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