Proof Of A Hero
A Different Victory

"You might be able to do it if you try. But if you don't try, you definitely can't."
~ Yuzuriha Inori ~
~ Guilty Crown ~

Key
'Is This' - Thoughts 
"Story" - Speech
"Too" - Electronic
"Fast?" - Deities

~ Midnight-sama! ~

"And the winner is Team Midoriya!" Midnight shouted all of the sudden, surprising everyone even if they just heard it from the commentators.

But as for the teams on the field, their shock ended quickly as team Midoriya started to cheer before going over to their leader. While everyone else complained and made an excuse like any professional or casual gamer would when they lost a game against an overpowered foe.

Along with Team Midoriya's cheering and excitement came the audience's excitement for the match. Despite all of that, Izuku was exhausted. His energy reserves declined dramatically from that couple of minutes when he fused with Athena while his bandaged arms felt like they were on fire and being torn off at the same time.

Ignoring or not noticing his pains, Midnight continued her announcement to everyone in the stadium. "The teams passing on into the final event are Team Midoriya, Team Todoroki, Team Bakugo, and Team Monoma!" She shouted into her microphone, completely unnecessary but the audience seemed to like it. "But we'll be back after this lunch break~!" She ended with a wink as the more upset times hurried out of the stadium.

After a few minutes, only Team Midoriya was left on the field while the audience continued to file out of the stands. But finally, one of them caught onto Izuku's pain and slung one of his bandaged arms around their shoulder.

"Thanks, Yaoyorozu-san," Izuku said before continuing to pant like a tired dog.

"It's fine, Midoriya-san. But what's wrong, you clearly are in pain." She responded, worry evident in her voice.

Lowering his head, Izuku didn't respond to her question immediately, gaining wary looks from the three females with him. "Izu-kun, does it have to do with the USJ incident?" Kira asked as their group left the stadium and were now walking in the festival grounds.

"Yeah," He said in a hushed tone before turning his head toward Momo. "Let's go somewhere a bit more private. We can explore the festival later as we promised."

Once the black-haired girl nodded, they all went back into the stadium and entered one of the private rooms reserved for participants in the festival. Of course, it was empty as everyone was having fun with their break, or trying to at least.

Overall the room was a bit bland but had a wall filled with reinforced windows to see the matches directly while the team of four sat at the table, two of them on each side of it.  

Looking at his three teammates, Izuku sighed before looking at them and trying to keep calm. "My powers have... weakened." He said, not getting a response from the three. "After the USJ incident, I lost a quirk."

"Which one?" Momo interrupted, letting her curiosity get the best of her. "Sorry, you seemed weaker and I don't quite know what quirk helped you with most things."

"It was my Body Supremacy quirk. It allowed me to control my body perfectly without the need to think twice about anything." He said, sadness reflected in his emerald green eyes. "Without it, my speed, strength, endurance, and even my quick-thinking took a heavy hit. But it also left me without proper control of my divine energy output, so in a minute, I could lose all my power and be unconscious for everything else."

Letting everything sink in, the three girls went into deep thought while Izuku sat there waiting for their response. Unfortunately, that wait was cut short as Momo's own quick thinking came into play.

"That means you'll have to train more to perfect your quirk and moves. So losing that quirk setback your progress and lowered the rate you can progress." She summed up as Izuku nodded and looked down at his arms.

"Midoriya-kun, your arms should be fine now, right?" Mira asked, albeit nervous yet concerned for the only male in their team.

Moving his arms onto the table, everyone could see the bandages were a bit ragged and loose compared to the state they were in earlier. Then he slowly unwrapped the bandages, in case he could cause some kind of harm by just ripping them off.

When all of the bandages were off, both his arms were paler than before from the elbow down. Honestly, it was regrown skin that would regain its color in time but it still creeped out everyone in the room to some degree.

After some awkward silence and staring at Izuku's arms, the only male in the room spoke up. "I guess I broke more than my bones in that battle with the Nomu. But I'll see you two in the final competition, let's go Yaoyorozu-san!" He said as he walked out of the room and threw his bandages in the trash.

Quickly, Momo ran to catch up to him while Kira and Mira were left in the room before looking at each other and going to the festival grounds for some food.

And when Momo caught up to Izuku, she walked next to Izuku who got some stares from things other than his previous win. But that didn't seem to matter as he focused on his time with Momo.

"So, what would you like to do first, Yaoyorozu-san?" He asked as she started to nervously look around.

How about," she trailed off as she spotted some of their classmates and grew a blush thinking about what would happen if they got caught together. "Let's just walk around!" She exclaimed with her nervousness trailing her voice.

Grabbing his hand, Momo started to speed walk around the festival, trying to find somewhere private for the two of them. Eventually, they were far from the stadium and away from anyone they recognized.

"Yaoyorozu-san, you don't have to be embarrassed," Izuku said unexpectedly as he tightened his grip on Momo's hand and turned her around, only to make her blush across her cheeks clear to anyone who walked by. "I'm just another guy, except for the three goddesses fighting for balance within my body. You can ignore that though."

Getting a giggle from Momo, they released each other's hand and started to walk side by side around the festival.

For the rest of their lunch break, the two spent their time together. Of course, it included avoiding their classmates and other friends, but at least they were happy by the end of the hour.

But now, everyone was in the stands waiting for Midnight to start the next event. Though Midnight didn't come out to the stadium first, Cemontoss came out to the center and created a fighting stage from underneath his feet as Midnight walked in after that.

"Welcome back, everyone!" She shouted as she stepped onto the stage and the crowd cheered. "The next and final event will be a one-on-one elimination-style tournament! And our first fighters will be our best team captain and worst team captain, give a round of applause for Izuku Midoriya and Neito Monoma!"

The first one to leave was a tall, blonde, and arrogant guy from Class 1-B who walked into the stage through the stadium, like a casual. But as for the other fighter in Class 1-A, he jumped straight from his class's reserved seating and into the stadium's arena.

"You Class A people really think you're all that, huh?" Neito said, making Izuku laugh as he landed in the hero pose with a different knee this time, but a golden pulse of energy still persisted to go over and heal his body.

And when Izuku looked back at Neito, he simply smiled happily while dusting off his P.E. uniform. "Nah, just me and Bakugo have this much of an ego. But we still get the job done when we need to," Izuku said in response before looking at Midnight.

"Let's get the battle started!" She shouted as she jumped back to get out of the line of fire.

Charging straight in, Neito held a smirk on his face as Izuku closed his eyes, only for a few members of Class 1-A to smile and get even more interested into the battle. But when Neito got close, Izuku opened his eyes before grabbing one of his arms and sweeping his legs to throw him over his shoulder.

Backing up, Izuku's arms seemed strained from the attack as he looked back at Neito who looked even more prideful. "The sin of pride. I thought Fumikage-san's rant about those sins was meaningless," Izuku joked as Neito looked at him straight into the eyes.

"You just made the biggest mistake of your life." Said the blonde fighter as he smirked even more. "Just touching me allowed me to copy your quirk."

Sighing, Izuku's smirk faded away and was replaced by a look of complete seriousness as his hands were encased in a soft yellow light. "Which quirk did you take? There were 3 to choose from and the last one I used was Weapon Manifestation." He said as the glow around his hands slowly spread up his arms.

In response to Izuku's question, Neito used the quirk he copied, only to form a wooden bow without any arrows. With the laugh of the audience, Izuku walked up to his opponent confidently.

"What the hell is with this quirk!?" Neito exclaimed as he looked at the bow within his hands with complete hatred.

From the nearby sound of laughter, Neito's attention was brought back to Izuku who was laughing in his face. "Man, you get the base-form of quirks!" He shouted as his laughter died down. "My quirks grow stronger and better with experience. Plus, these weapons don't come by cheap." He said before pulling out his Cerberus revolver. "I had to get bitten by a ten-story-tall, three-headed dog to get this one. So let's see if it was worth it."

With a single action, Izuku pulled the trigger and the bullets shot right past Neito's head, scaring him. And without a word, Izuku punched Neito in the gut with his solar-powered arm.

"Izuku Midoriya is the winner!" Midnight shouted as Neito was brought out of the arena by paramedics and Izuku walked out of the arena with a peace sign to the audience. "The next match will be between Sumiko Todoroki versus Sero Hanta!" She shouted excitedly.

As for the two competitors, Sero quickly ran through the halls to the arena while Sumiko started to walk. Along the way, she passes Endeavor and the two stop in unison with their backs to each other.

"Sumiko." The taller man with a flaming beard said as Sumiko stood still. "When will you use my quirk?"

"Never." The one-word response didn't even make Endeavor flinch as Sumiko continued to walk toward the arena, only to be stopped by a wall of fire overtaking her path.

Turning around, she glared at the Flame Hero while he did the same. "Use it. I didn't go through the trouble of taking care of three other children to have a rebel of a daughter."

"Go get another kid then, they'll happily help you." She said, still glaring at him with her ice-cold eyes in contrast to his eyes which were burning with rage, or just reflecting the wall of fire blocking off the hallway.

Clicking his tongue, Endeavor got rid of the flames and turned around but stopped dramatically. "You're worse than Toya, you know."

That one name seemed to have struck Sumiko greatly as she scoffed before walking away quickly, only for someone else to bump into her. When she looked up, she saw a freckled face belonging to Izuku Midoriya.

"Sorry, Todoroki-san." He apologized, only for her not to answer back. "Well, good luck."

Receiving silence again, Izuku walked off toward Class 1-A's reserved seats while Sumiko walked into the arena.

In the arena, Sero was jittery and excited for his match that he couldn't keep his hands still. Though Sumiko seemed a bit more relaxed, a small smirk appeared on her face as she stared down at her opponent but that smirk quickly disappeared.

"Fighters, get ready! Cause the match starts now!" Midnight shouted, only for half of the stadium to be engulfed in ice while Sero was frozen in a giant glacier. Not even the audience said anything as Sumiko hardly moved from her starting position. "A-And Sumiko Todoroki is the winner," Midnight said surprised and hardly able to get her words out.

While everyone was shocked, Endeavor wasn't even fazed by the outcome as he jumped into the air with his flames at the bottom of his feet, propelling him before he threw a few fireballs at the glacier and melted everything. Once everyone was pulled out of their stupor, Sumiko was already out of the arena and Sero was catching his breath without realizing what had occurred.

"Umm... Sumiko Todoroki moves on," Present Mic said after a long period of silence, which most people liked due to his usual outbursts.

"And the next match will be Ibara Shiozaki from Class 1-B versus Denki Kaminari from Class 1-A," Nejire said somewhat awkwardly as Sero started to panic, learning that he lost so fast compared to the last match which was quite the show of skill and experience, to say the least.

With a saddened Sero, the next two competitors made their way toward the arena without any big interruptions besides Sero wishing Denki 'good luck'. It's good that most of Class 1-A are friends.

But with the two in the arena, Ibara looked on with an apathetic gaze compared to Denki who instantly got the hots for his competitor on sight.

"Hey, Mother Nature, want to go pick some flowers, if you know what I mean?" He said as most of the female audience looked at him in disgust.

"No. Frankly, I prefer men who treat a woman with respect." She said, shutting him down as everyone got a good laugh out of that.

Onto a more serious note, Midnight took charge of the show again. "Let the third round of the preliminaries begin!" She said, not bothering to introduce the two again.

But it seems she didn't need to as Denki's rage from being shut down guided him to blast a stream of electricity toward the girl with vines for hair. Only for the blast to be meaningless as Ibara surrounded herself in a dome of vines that nullified the attack.

Shocked, no pun intended, by the easy counter to his attack, Denki tried it again. And the same thing happened as Ibara's dome split in half so the back half went into the ground, only for them to throw Denki out of the arena.

"Sorry!" Ibara shouted as her vines went back to her hair. But when she turned around and walked back to her seat, she mumbled a few things under her breath. "Lustful idiot."

"Ibara Shiozaki is the winner!" Present Mic and Nejire shouted at the same time before fist-bumping each other and then continuing their announcement. "The next match is Tenya Iida versus Kira Musubi!"

On cue, the two left their seats and ran side by side to the arena before splitting off to go to separate sides. "No hard feelings, right Iida-san?" Kira asked a bit quiet as she stood still with her hands at her sides.

"Of course, Musubi-san. But I won't hold back." He said as he got into a running position and Kira remained still.

"Alright, let the battle begin!" Midnight shouted again before Tenya started to run toward the pink-haired girl.

And right before he was going to get his kick in, Kira stomped on the ground as a cement golem rose from the ground and uppercutted Tenya. Using the golem as a shield, Kira stood behind it and made sure Tenya was in her sight before charged toward the golem.

'Bakugo-san broke it so I should be able to do the same.' He thought before getting near the golem and kicking its torso, breaking it in half. And before he could get to Kira again, a golem grabbed him from behind and chucked him out of the arena.

"With a surprise victory, Kira Musubi takes the match!" Present Mic shouted as the pink-haired girl rushed over to help Tenya who gladly accepted her help before the two walked out of the arena together and went back to their seats.

"An impressive use of a quirk. Creating golems to protect herself is technically an emitter-type quirk and can be used for many things given her control over her quirk." Mumbled Nejire as a certain protagonist was doing the same, though both didn't know the other was doing it as they were in their own reality.

"Anyway, the fifth preliminary round will be between Mina Ashido and Yuga Aoyoma!" Present Mic shouted as the two rushed toward the arena for their fight.

And as soon as the match started, Mina ran toward the blonde 'perfect boy' and shot acid at his belt, making his quirk fire off at the wall before Yuga puked. With a disgusting defeat, Yuga was disqualified for the safety of the contestants.

After their match, the next match was between Eijiro Kirishima and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. Both were completely even and matched each other for every punch, jab, and kick they tried to pull. Eventually, Midnight decided to make them arm wrestle since the battle wasn't going to end any time soon and Eijiro was the winner of the match of 'manly' endurance.

"So, what's happening for the seventh match, Present Mic?" Nejire asked soon after the sixth match ended. Then she heard Aizawa's head hit the table before pushing his seat away from her.

"It seems to be another Class 1-A match between Ochaco Uraraka and Momo Yaoyorozu. They're two of the ones with more versatile quirks so we're bound to see an exciting match." He responded as the two girls walked onto the arena and looked at each other fiercely.

"Good luck, Uraraka-san!" Momo shouted as she unzipped her jacket revealing her black sports bra to the audience.

"Same to you, Yaoyorozu-san!" Ochaco said as she got into a basic self-defense stance with her left side forward.

Smiling, Midnight stood on the edge of the arena with Cementoss off the arena and behind her. "Ladies, it's time to fight!" She shouted as she jumped out of the arena and landed on the ground with her heals not even making her stumble.

Ignoring that, Ochaco and Momo charged toward each other, one going for a grab and the other with an iron staff. Once they got close, Ochaco went straight for an attempt to grab Momo but the black-haired girl stepped to her right and used her staff to push the brunette away.

Getting back up, Ochaco tried again and Momo pushed her away once again before stepping back. Taking her chance, Momo started to make a bola while Ochaco ran toward her again.

"I gotcha!" Ochaco shouted as Momo become weightless and started to float upward. But before Ochaco could push Momo out of the arena, the black-haired girl stabbed her staff into the ground and held onto it.

"And I got you too!" Momo shouted as she threw her bola around Ochaco, restraining her arms to her sides before the brunette fell to the ground.

"Momo Yaoyorozu wins by default! Ochaco Uraraka is unable to move!" Midnight shouted as the crowd burst into cheers.

While they cheered, Momo helped Ochaco out of the bola restraining her arms while holding onto her iron staff to not float away, but Ochaco released her quirk once she was free. After both were free, they walked together back to their seats, both winded but the only injury was a small bruise on Ochaco's belly.

"That was awesome! And the eighth match is bound to be better!" Nejire shouted, getting herself and the audience excited. But a silver-haired girl in Class 1-B was a nervous wreck as she finally realized who'd her opponent would be.

"Yeah!" Present Mic shouted in agreement as everyone in the audience repeated what he said. "Next is Katsuki Bakugo versus Mira Takahashi! Class 1-A's hot-headed time bomb and Class 1-B's shy little star!"

With the new announcement, Katsuki jumped straight into the arena and stood there impatiently while Mira walked nervously through the inner hallways of the stadium. But before she could get too far, she saw Izuku running up to her.

"Mira-san!" Izuku shouted as he approached Mira as the short girl seemed surprised despite seeing Izuku run up to her. "I need to tell you something."

"I-If it's about my f-fight, I-I know I'll l-lose," she said dejectedly as Izuku made her look up at him.

"It is, but you can't just give up now when the fight hasn't even started." He said, feeling something odd come over him as his hair slowly became blonde and his eyes changed from emerald green to silver. "If you let him get into your head, he wins. So stay calm and keep focused on beating him."

Nodding, Mira was even more nervous as Izuku hugged her tightly and protectingly. "Midoriya-kun, I-I have to go," she whimpered out as she lightly returned the hug.

As quick as Izuku's new hair and eye colors appeared, they disappeared as tears started to stream down his face. "You can call me Izuku, you know." He said before pulling away from the hug and holding Mira by her shoulders before wiping away his tears. "We may not have known each other for long, but you're like family to me and I don't want to see you get hurt. So try your best and know when the match is over, cause I'll be they in a heartbeat."

Again she nodded before she ran toward the arena with newfound determination and left Izuku in the hallway smiling before a single tear streamed down his face.

"Nike the goddess of victory," he mumbled to himself before his smile turned into a frown accompanied by a look of disgust. "And Izanami the goddess of death."

In the arena, Katsuki was fuming mad but hiding as best as he could while looking down at his opponent, both literally and metaphorically. While the shorter fighter was nervous, evident from her shaking hands but she still had determination evident in her eyes. Though her eyes looked like small galaxies, emotions seemed to be represented more in them.

"Both fighters ready?" Midnight asked as she stood on the edge of the arena and both of them nodded. "Then let the last preliminary battle begin!"

Within the blink of an eye, Katsuki made an explosion behind him and blasted toward Mira. But instead of the usual explosive right hook connecting like the audience were anticipating, it was blasted back by a nearly invisible forcefield of energy around Mira.

"You got better, Albino Bitch," Katsuki said as he landed back on the ground.

Gaining a fierce face, Mira's palms held a ball of light as big as a baseball. And as fast as she created them, they were blasted and hit Katsuki straight in the face and stomach, only causing him to slouch over and get irritated.

"I had some help." She said as another ball formed in her right hand and her left hand created a barrier around her.

Going for the same attack, Katsuki blasted himself toward Mira again and tried to break her barrier with an explosion, only for it to get brighter and more visible in front of her. Coming up with a plan, Katsuki used his other hand to blast himself over Mira before he tried to blast her back.

But as quick as he went over her, Mira shifted her body and used her right hand to blast Katsuki with another orb of light. This one almost blasted him out of the arena if not for Katsuki blasting himself with explosions once more.

"That's pretty good, but I'm finishing this here and now." He said before blasting himself up in the air and starting to spin before creating a twister of smoke an explosions.

Angling that twister at Mira, Katsuki started to fly toward her with a twister of force to hurt Mira with. "I give up!" Mira shouted as she held up her barrier and wanted to assume a fetal position.

"DIE!" Katsuki shouted, not even hearing her shout.

But of course, before the twister could hit her, it all stopped as smoke flew everywhere. Out of that smoke was a floating pair of angelic wings that unfolded to reveal Izuku wearing a golden laurel wreath around his head and a chiton, or Greek-style tunic that revealed part of his chest.

"You're already the victor, Bakugo. Going farther is pointless, otherwise, Nike wouldn't have given you this victory in the first place." He said with Nike's voice overlaying his own voice, only adding to the intimidation factor before the form dispelled and Izuku was left kneeling on the ground panting for air.

"As he said, Katsuki Bakugo is the winner and moves onto the quarterfinals!" Midnight shouted before the crowd burst into cheers. In the meantime, Katsuki angrily stomped his way to the stands while Mira helped Izuku up before they walked to their respective seats.

~ Next Time: Quarterfinals! ~

A/N: And there we go, another chapter and breaks the 4000-word goal. Of course, thank you for all of you who waited for this story!~