The Paragon : Origins

Chapter 16 : Overlord Overload

Location: Level 4, Tartarus

One Month Later

Time: 9 P.M.

To say that Izuku was nervous was an understatement. He might have fought Maki many times, but the Overlord always held herself back and not to forget, those fights were never serious, but just friendly spars. But today it was a different engagement. Today... Izuku was challenging her throne and thus the green haired former hero student couldn't afford to hold back. He has to pull up every single trick off his sleeve in order to win this.

Izuku simply sat up on his bed and started to take in deep breaths to calm himself down. He had prepared a lot for this fight. Sword Handling tips from Zoe, grappling from Pom, reaction times from Tobita, brawling from Drax and cloth handling from the books Aizawa-sensei had sent. But still Izuku was not very confident that he could best Maki.

'Nana?' Izuku asks mentally, knowing very well that she would answer and answer she did. The 7th user simply asks, 'Is it time?'

'Yeah' , Izuku simply replies to which Nana replies, 'I'll try my best to be a better danger detection' .

Izuku gently smiles and he says out loud, "I'll be in your care", and he gets up from the bed. It was already nearing dinner time, so not many people were occupying the floor and this was a good thing for Izuku as he had no idea how much damage it would cause. He walks to his table and grabs the binding cloth and starts to wrap it from his right upper arm all the way to the lower arm, while making sure that he could still bend his elbow. He does the same to his left arm. He then wears his prisoner shirt and then grabs his gloves, which Mei had sent him as a Christmas gift. Then he quickly ties his shoes and grabs hold of the blunt sword. Izuku takes in a few deep breaths and then walks out of his holding cell.

As soon as he stepped out, the entire atmosphere of Level 4 had become tense. Everyone was so used to seeing Izuku being cheerful that they had to literally take a step back when they saw him walking with a serious look on his face. Tobita looks up from below when he hears the commotion and his eyes widen when he sees Izuku walk down the steel scaffolding with a determined face. He simply blurts out, "Oh my God! He is doing it today!?"

This causes everyone to stop what they were doing and Zoe blurts out, "What!? I thought that we still had a month".

"This is bad! This is bad!" Peter says as everyone looks at Izuku with worry. Izuku didn't keep his decision private. Well it was obvious when the ever curious Izumi pestered him for details and he couldn't help himself and blurt out what happened. The crew was obviously shocked when they came to know about the offer and they were even more shocked when they came to know that Izuku was keeping that offer at hold. But their shock was beyond comprehension when Izuku had said that he was planning on becoming the Overlord. Even Maki knew about this and she didn't take the challenge lightly. She didn't ask for the reason but she agreed to take him on anytime he wanted. And thus both had started to work hard for this fight. Maki was preparing to keep her position, while Izuku was preparing to conquer her position. The hype of the fight was so high that even a betting pool had started, albeit there was no money to bet and to be truthful... the odds were even. But the same can't be said about the fight.

And hence, the crew had no other choice but to up Izuku's training. The mild session became even more grueling but Izuku didn't complain. He worked hard diligently and finally today was the day, it would be decided.

"Who do you think will win?" Pom asks to which Manami replies, "If Izuku had waited for one more month, his chances would have gone higher, but Maki's win rate would be still high".