The narration unfolded exactly as written in the invisible script that Nabiel had always observed. In the arena, the one-sided battle had just ended. Yaoyorozu Momo, with all her intelligence and preparation, had to swallow the bitter pill of absolute defeat under the shadow of Tokoyami Fumikage's Dark Shadow. Her speed was no match for her opponent's overwhelming offensive power.
In the waiting room, the atmosphere felt heavy. Momo sat with her head bowed, her shoulders trembling slightly. Her dark eyes were swollen, and tears of disappointment streamed down her cheeks. The self-doubt she had once suppressed now resurfaced, striking at her pride as a recommended student.
Nabiel stood nearby, leaning against the cold wall with both hands tucked into his trouser pockets. He offered no excessive hugs or sweet words. Instead, he provided a logical perspective, delivered in an extraordinarily gentle tone.
"Crying will not change the outcome, Momo," Nabiel said softly. "But today's defeat does not mean you are useless. You were forced to retreat, not conquered. At the very least, the Pro Heroes out there have seen your analytical abilities and how promising your Creation Quirk can be if given time. This is only one scene from your long story."
Momo wiped her tears and looked at Nabiel with still-blurry eyes. The young man's words always sounded strange, as if he viewed life from above a theater stage, yet for some reason they always managed to calm her.
Before Momo could reply, the loudspeaker blared loudly, calling the next participant for the upcoming match. It was Nabiel's turn.
Hearing her childhood friend's name called, a new wave of anxiety instantly replaced Momo's sadness. She knew exactly how severe the burns hidden beneath Nabiel's oversized white shirt were. The girl stood up and looked at him with a pleading expression.
"Nabiel…" Momo said weakly, her voice still shaking. "Please don't push yourself. You know your condition."
The Observer only looked at her for a moment before giving a light nod. "I know."
With his usual sluggish steps and slightly hunched posture, Nabiel walked down the corridor toward the brightly lit arena. The roar of the spectators was deafening, yet inside Nabiel's head there was only a long complaint.
Unfortunately, the Supporting Character had to face the main protagonist. Izuku Midoriya.
For an Outer who desired a peaceful life with minimal attention, facing the Protagonist directly, filled with an aura of justice, burning determination, and thick plot armor, was extremely bad luck. Yet here he was, standing on the concrete arena floor, confronting the green-haired youth.
Nabiel gazed at Midoriya from a distance. The sleeves of his oversized white shirt fluttered in the stadium wind. His eyes were fixed on Midoriya's hands, hands already covered in bruises and scars from forcing a power he could not yet control.
"We meet again, Midoriya," Nabiel said, his voice loud enough to carry across the distance between them. He let out a soft sigh. "I hope… this fight doesn't make you reckless."
Across from him, Midoriya assumed a fighting stance, his face hardened by determination. He knew Nabiel was a mysterious and dangerous opponent, proven by how the young man had survived the USJ incident.
"START!" Present Mic's voice echoed, signaling the start of the battle.
Nabiel did not move from his position. He let his arms hang loosely, waiting for the Protagonist to take the initiative. "Come on, Midoriya. Try not to hurt yourself."
Provoked or simply following his fighting instinct, Midoriya charged forward. He attempted a barrage of close-range punches, trying to pressure Nabiel. However, for Nabiel who had seen millions of battle variables, Midoriya's movements were far too easy to read.
With high mobility and extraordinary acrobatic flexibility, Nabiel dodged every punch as if he were dancing. His body shifted just a few centimeters right before Midoriya's fist could land.
When Midoriya threw a right punch that was too wide, Nabiel moved. He struck the back of Midoriya's hand downward, deflecting the youth's momentum so that Midoriya lost his balance and stumbled forward. Without wasting time, Nabiel landed a precise yet powerful blow to the back of Midoriya's neck.
The green-haired youth fell, but as the main character, there was always a burning will to rise again. Midoriya rolled, created distance, and raised his right hand. He brought his thumb and middle finger together, forming a pose as if about to flick a marble.
Nabiel narrowed his eyes. He knew exactly what that was. Midoriya's Quirk would create highly destructive air pressure. A troublesome plot device.
Before the finger could snap, Nabiel dashed forward at nearly imperceptible speed. He closed the distance in a fraction of a second and appeared right in front of Midoriya. His shirt sleeves flashed as he unleashed dozens of rapid strikes, short yet dense movements that locked every joint in Midoriya's body. Ending with a spin, Nabiel slammed Midoriya onto the arena floor and continued striking to prevent the youth from using his finger.
Yet a protagonist remained a protagonist. Amid the rain of blows, Midoriya found a small opening. Enduring the pain, he flicked his finger upward.
BAM!
An air explosion erupted between them. The proximity was too close for Nabiel to fully evade. He crossed both arms to block the shockwave, and his body was hurled high into the air.
Nabiel spun mid-air, using his flexibility to regain balance, and landed safely on both feet, skidding several meters backward. However, beneath his shirt sleeves, his bandaged hands throbbed with excruciating pain. His half-healed skin felt as if it were being forcibly torn.
Nabiel looked at Midoriya, who was now rising with one finger broken and swollen purple.
"In the end you chose to sacrifice something again. That is an amazing step, but…."
Nabiel dashed forward once more. He ignored the pain in his hands. He arrived in front of Midoriya, who was still regaining balance, and struck the youth's face hard. The powerful blow sent Midoriya crashing back onto the arena floor.
"Newton formulated action-reaction, a very troublesome concept…," Nabiel muttered quietly to himself. His hands trembled violently, sharp pain shooting up to his shoulders after delivering such a heavy physical strike. He looked down at Midoriya. "But do you know, Midoriya…."
Midoriya gritted his teeth, struggling to stand and swing at Nabiel with difficulty. Yet the figure in the white shirt continued to evade like a slippery eel, stepping left and right without stopping his words.
"The concept of action-reaction does not exist only in the physical context, but also in the metaphysical," Nabiel continued, his voice echoing in the arena that had suddenly fallen silent from tension. "For example, like fate and human life. The harder someone strikes the world, the harder the world strikes back."
Nabiel deflected Midoriya's weak punch, grabbed the collar of the youth's gym uniform, and threw him forcefully to the other side of the arena. Midoriya rolled hard and stopped just a few meters from the out-of-bounds line.
"Do it, sacrifice what is equivalent!" Nabiel shouted, his tone now rising in provocation. "Your fingers will not be enough to defeat me. The Villain who gave me these wounds let himself be burned by his own fire just for a small victory. Isn't that how humans are supposed to be?!"
Nabiel kept advancing, dodging Midoriya's increasingly desperate counterattacks, then slowly launched several quick punches with both hands, pushing Midoriya backward.
"You know nothing, not even yourself, Midoriya. And you… have only just begun to know my Quirk."
Those words triggered something inside Midoriya. Feeling cornered and pushed to his limit, Midoriya prepared another finger. This time, red veins spread across his arm. He concentrated far greater power, a Quirk output surpassing the previous one.
He flicked his finger. A far more violent and massive air storm surged straight toward Nabiel, tearing the concrete surface of the arena in its path.
Yet the figure in the oversized white shirt did not budge. He did not dodge. He simply stood upright.
Nabiel's eyelids opened slightly wider. His dark black eyes slowly changed. The sclera turned pitch black like the void of space, with pupils glowing bright white.
"True…" he murmured softly, a code word that tore through the boundaries of reality.
His Quirk, the authority of the Outer, was now fully active in public. [True> The moment the destructive air storm touched Nabiel's body, the wind shattered. No, the wind was rejected by reality itself. The deadly attack turned into a gentle breeze that could only flutter his oversized shirt. The truth that "Midoriya attacked Nabiel" was rewritten into "Falsehood."
The entire stadium was stunned. Absolute silence enveloped the stands. Nabiel walked through the remnants of the wind as if strolling in a garden, continuing to assault Midoriya with absolute precision.
All of Midoriya's counterattacks became meaningless. His punches either passed through or were blocked by an invisible wall of reality. In the Class 1-A spectator seats, Katsuki Bakugo's eyes widened, his jaw clenched. In another corner, Shoto Todoroki swallowed hard, cold sweat dripping down his temple as he realized the true form of Nabiel's Quirk, a power that felt illogical and violated the laws of nature.
Nabiel stopped right in front of Midoriya and looked at him with his cosmic eyes.
"You cannot do it, Midoriya," Nabiel said with finality. "Sacrifice what is equivalent. Because right now, I surpass you."
Midoriya hesitated at first. He looked at his trembling hand, then at Nabiel who stood impenetrable like a god. Yet that doubt was burned away by the protagonist's determination. Midoriya's face hardened. His entire right arm glowed with crackling red energy. He was ready to sacrifice his whole arm to overcome the impossibility before him.
Seeing that burning resolve, Nabiel's pitch-black eyes slowly returned to normal. A small, genuine smile from an observer satisfied with the main character's growth appeared on his lips.
Just before Midoriya could unleash his suicidal strike, Nabiel leaped backward. He flipped his body several times with smooth acrobatic movements.
One leap… two leaps… and on the third leap, his feet deliberately landed outside the white boundary line of the arena.
Both of his hands rose in a gesture of surrender. The cosmic aura surrounding him completely vanished, his Quirk deactivated.
"I surrender," Nabiel said in his usual lazy tone, as if the dramatic battle had been nothing more than a children's game. "After all, this is my limit."
Midoriya, who was still gathering power in his arm, stood frozen. He was stunned and confused by the sudden anticlimax. However, as the wind in the arena calmed, his eyes caught something.
The sleeve of Nabiel's oversized white shirt was no longer pure white. Fresh blood began seeping through the fabric, spreading quickly and dripping from the edge of the sleeve onto the concrete floor. Forcing himself to fight physically and withstand Midoriya's initial attack had torn open the severe burns on his hand again.
In the spectator seats, Yaoyorozu Momo gasped sharply and covered her mouth with both hands when she saw the blood. Her face turned deathly pale.
Seeing Nabiel's worsening condition, the prepared U.A. medical team immediately ran into the arena. Nabiel only sighed softly, letting himself be led away while staring at the bright stadium ceiling. Being human is truly troublesome, he thought.
In the broadcast booth, Present Mic, who had momentarily lost his words, finally grabbed his microphone again.
"P-Participant Nabiel has stepped out of the arena boundary! And with that… MIDORIYA IZUKU IS THE WINNER!"