Standing atop the small cluster of floating "golden sand," Kaminari narrowed his golden eyes as he watched Snatch steadily retreat under pressure.

  "So, his limit is at 500 kilograms…"

  To be fair, Kaminari thought, handling such weight would also be difficult for him. Most of his power came from his Quirk, and when it came to pure physical strength, he wasly on Snatch's level. That wasn't just a matter of training but also of age.

  After all, Kaminari was only fifteen years old. His body hadn't even finished growi.

  "'Pikachu,' tell 'Crocodile' and the others to pull back," Kaminari anded calmly.

  At that moment, Snatch was in bad shape. His khaki-colored "sand sea" was pletely surrounded by Crocodile's golden sand, and the pressure was mounting from all sides.

  By normal standards, the fight was already over.

  Kaminari still had nearly 200 kilograms of golden sa in reserve. If he unleashed it, the fragile bance of Snatch's defenses would colpse in an instant.

  If Kaminari had harbored any ill ioward Snatch, the pro-Hero would have been finished—a victim of a crushing bination of sand-based teiques. Not even Aizawa or Midnight would've been able to stop it in time.

  "Haah… haah… What's going on?"

  Snatch bent forward slightly, breathing heavily as he eyed the retreating golden sand with a mixture of fusion and relief.

  But Kaminari, standing high above, made no move to expin. He remained silent, his golden armlinting uhe light, giving him an almost divine or demonic presence.

  Roughly thirty meters ahead of Snatch, a cluster of golden sand gathered rapidly.

  In no time, the t figure of "Golden Crocodile" reappeared, its sneering expression almost mog. It seemed to say: What are you looking at, weakling?

  Before Snatch could react, Crocodile's body shimmered, "elementalizing" into a golden mist and disappearing from sight.

  "Huh?!"

  Snatch's eyes widened in arm, his instincts screaming at him as his body tensed.

  The instant, his pupils shrank as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

  "Behind me!"

  Boom!!!

  A massive golden scorpion hook smmed into Snatch's head with explosive force.

  Bang!

  With a grunt of pain, Snatch was sent flying. But while still mid-air, he gritted his teeth and adjusted his posture, using precise movements to stabilize himself before nding steadily on the ground, one hand clutg his stomach.

  The dispy piqued Kaminari's i.

  "Suppressing the pain and avoiding further injury with trolled movements? Not bad. Definitely a step above the average pro-Hero," Kaminari remarked to himself.

  But as his gaze lingered on Snatch, he noted something else.

  "…However, his Quirk has signifit weaknesses. At the moment of the attack, he only had time to turn his head into sand."

  That realization led Kaminari to one chilling clusion: If someoacked him unprepared and fast enough, he'd be finished in an instant.

  Meanwhile, in the viewing area, Aizawa and Momo were deep in discussion about Crocodile's sudden disappearance.

  "That golden sand probably doesn't have stealth capabilities," Aizaecuted. "It could be something like optical camoufge."

  But Momo shook her head slightly, not fully vinced.

  "For that to work, every grain of sand would o have sensors to gather enviroal data. While it's possible in theory, the process would be extremely plicated and ineffit," she expined.

  After pausing to think for a moment, she tinued, "I believe the effees from diffusing the golden sand particles into the air. Once dispersed, they reassemble behind the target, creating the illusion of disappearand teleportation."

  "Ah, I see!" Aizawa's eyes lit up as he sidered her expnation. The logic was sound, and he immediately began brainst ways to ter su ability.

  Ba the battlefield, Kaminari observed the situation silently. Like many in the audience, he was tent to watch as Snatd Crocodile engaged in close bat.

  g! g! g!

  The metallic csh of the golden hook against Snatch's sand bde rang out repeatedly. Despite Crocodile's signifit height advas attacks resembled wide, sweeping strikes that were almost like sword sshes.

  Adding to the bizarre se, Crocodile tio "smoke" its golden cigar, its sneering expression making it appear even more arrogant.

  "If only it could talk," Kaminari thought wistfully. He imagihe figure ughing with Crocodile's signature "Guhahaha!" and made a mental o sult Dr. Tenma about adding sound capabilities to the battle suit.

  "I'll have to solve the color issue too…" Kaminari muttered under his breath, determio make future iterations even more lifelike.

  Shing!

  Crocodile's broad sand bde sliced ly through the air, severing its own body in half in front of Snatch's eyes.

  But just as Snatch thought he had nded a decisive blow, Crocodile's upper body reformed instantly. Without hesitation, it drove its golden hook toward Snatch's neck, f the pro-Hero to "sand-elementalize" and scatter into gravel to avoid the attack.

  Their exge was both dazzling and dull at the same time—visually stunning due to the golden special effects but repetitive in the sehat her batant could inflict real damage oher.

  After all, this was essentially a battle between two users of sand-based abilities. Teically speaking, Snatch was only a "half" sand user, which put him at a disadvantage.

  Snatch's cautious fighting style reflected this limitation. He had to carefully protect his lower body to avoid any critical damage.

  g!

  With a final, deafening csh, Snatd Crocodile were forced apart, creating some distaween them.

  pared to the t Crocodile, Snatch looked noticeably worse for wear. Beads of sweat rolled down his fad dripped onto the ground.

  "Haah… I 't keep this up," Snatch muttered, his breathing bored. "If this drags on, I'll be pletely exhausted… and this guy is way to."

  His eyes flickered toward Kaminari, who hovered in the air, the fight with an almost detached expression.

  Snatch hadn't expected things to turn out this way. Being pushed to his limits by a first-year student—no, by the student's battle suit was a humbling experieo say the least.

  It reminded him of his early days training under Endeavor, when every sparring session had felt like a one-sided beatdown.

  "But no matter how strong this kid is… he's not Endeavor!"

  With that thought fueling him, Snatch made his move. He leapt into the air, propelled by a swirling mass of khaki sah his feet. His gaze locked onto Kaminari.

  "Hey, kid!"

  "Had enough fun watg? Why don't you e down and fight me yourself?"

  As he shouted, Snatch's arms transformed into two massive sand palms, stretg out toward the golden figure in mid-air.