Chapter 11

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"Again." Izuku said and the bots began activating once more. Sleeker models of what he would have fought during his training days at UA and outfitted in black, heat resistant armor and smart combat based AI programming, these robots were the ultimate upgrade compared to the archaic technology of a decade ago. Izuku tore through them like Swiss cheese. Outfitted in his full gear, Izuku began pummeling the enemies right and left, adding to his score. Since they were robots, there was less need of him having to hold back. Having eliminated most of the ground threats, gun turrets and aerial drones began pelting him with rapid fire as he leapt up in the air and activated Float. He still couldn't move as fast in mid-air as he would have liked, but he more than made up for it in ingenuity and versatility as he fired off several Delaware Smashes on both hands to propel himself around in mid-air, turning off his flight Quirk only in moments where he needed to sharply move towards the ground. The trick was learning how to switch it off and on and which direction to aim his hands, since Nana Shimura's Quirk was only good for levitation and not movement. Unlike when he used his Delaware Smashes in combat, he couldn't be as precise with his shots, not having his other hand to brace his arm and aim. The only comparison he could think of was like trying to fire a gun without using the sights and not having the support to take the kickback. The fact that he could do both now with little margins for error was a large mark of improvement. The suggestion had come one of his American professors, a man by the name of Tornado Arms, who could rotate his arms in a way that could generate sheer-force winds.

He was doing well with erasing the amount of time it took for him to take down the peon robots, but he also had to watch out for their organizer as well. A quick series of chain-reaction explosions fired at him as Ground Zero himself came charging in from the sky.

"Your reaction times are getting slower!" he admonished his rival despite the latter having shaved three seconds off of his record from the last time. Izuku crossed his arms and flicked his fingers on both hands simultaneously, causing him to spin in a tight, mid-air corkscrew. Utilizing the force of his spin, he wound up a St. Louis Smash with his right foot and felt the base of his boot meet his sparring partner's forearm, knocking Ground Zero towards the floor. His gauntlets were capable of containing the power five times the amount of a C4 explosion, so it didn't surprise him that it so readily absorbed the impact of his kick. Support technology was truly amazing.

"You just going to stand there smiling like an idiot all day or are you going to keep fighting?!" the ash blonde snapped his wrists to his side as he rocketed upwards to meet where the grinning hero was floating, causing the grin to fall momentarily from his face as he motioned to counter the offense. Rather than charge head-on like he normally would, Katsuki began moving around him in a serpentine fashion as his explosions darted him fast and upward. Izuku activated Blackwhip to pull himself out of the way before sending it back towards his opponent, the tendrils netting together like a gigantic fishing net as it moved to ensnare his prey.

"TOO SLOW!" Katsuki smirked, voicing Izuku's thoughts as the former closed his fist into a small circle and fired off a round of mini beams of energy, yelling, "AP SHOT MACHINE GUN!" as they accurately piercing through each weak point of his Blackwhip Net move. Izuku felt a twinge of frustration as he painfully retracted what was left of Blackwhip to his side and amped up the energy level of One for All to forty five percent... then fifty... fifty-five percent... As the percentage of power continued to steadily rise, Izuku felt his level of control over it begin to wane. It was like trying to harness a hurricane or steer an out of control car down a highway. The stronger it became, the more his grip on it began to slip that he could only do fast movements forward rather than versatile turns. Right when he had pushed himself to go over his older limit, which had capped out at about seventy five percent, was when a chime went off on his phone.

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