Chapter 42

Fumikage Tokoyami draws Katsuki Bakugo in the second semifinal and is immediately outmatched. The glare from Katsuki's Explosions saps Dark Shadow, which has not recovered its strength anyway, and the relentless pace of the assault leaves no opening to counter, forcing Fumikage into pure defense. He holds out for a while regardless. Losing patience, Katsuki slips around Dark Shadow and lands at his opponent's back, then detonates a Stun Grenade that engulfs both Fumikage and his Quirk. The smoke lifts on Katsuki pinning him. He blames Fumikage for advertising Dark Shadow's weakness, though he concedes the pairing was never fair, and Fumikage, still able to stand but with nowhere to go, concedes the bout. The surrender sets the final: Katsuki against Shoto Todoroki.

Tenya Ida tells Izuku and Ochaco to study the final closely for the sake of their eventual rematch, and both agree. His phone rings and he steps away to take it. The caller is his mother, and he starts by apologizing for his careless loss, but she cuts him off and tells him to stay calm. Whatever she says next leaves him stunned and shaking.

On a rooftop, the figure glimpsed earlier resolves into the Hero Killer, Stain, who calls society warped and swears he will force it to face the truth. Kurogiri arrives and Stain levels his katana at him, but Kurogiri asks him to lower the blade, saying that Stain's reputation is precisely why he wanted a meeting, and requests a moment before warping the pair away.

Shoto waits in a preparation room, turning over what Izuku told him about his power belonging to nobody else, and admitting to himself that the thought had never occurred before their match. The door bangs open on Katsuki, who has walked into the wrong room and is promptly ignored, which grates on him until he blows up the table to force eye contact. Shoto tells him Izuku is the sort who cannot help dragging other people's problems into the open and fixing them, and asks whether his childhood friend was always like that. Katsuki remembers Izuku trying to help him as a boy, kicks the table over in a fury, and snaps that he has no interest in Izuku or in Shoto's private troubles. On his way out he tells Shoto to hold nothing back, because when he stands at the top he intends to make Izuku bow. The final match begins.

Fumikage surrenders, handing Katsuki the win.

Tenya learns devastating news about his brother over the phone.

Kurogiri makes contact with Stain on behalf of the League of Villains.

The tournament final between Katsuki and Shoto gets underway.

"Final-Match Time" runs nineteen pages, published in issue 25 of 2015 on May 18 and collected in volume 5 as part of the U.A. Sports Festival arc. The anime split it between Episode 24 for the first twelve pages and Episode 25 for the remainder. Momo Yaoyorozu, Ochaco Uraraka, Kyoka Jiro, Mina Ashido, Tsuyu Asui and Toru Hagakure share the cover.

Hellflame, Invisibility and Warp Gate appear alongside the duelists' Explosion and Dark Shadow, with Stun Grenade as the featured super move and the Capturing Weapon as an item. Locations span the Sports Festival Stadium at U.A. in Musutafu and Hosu City. Kohei Horikoshi's author's comment records his excitement over the wave of Star Wars news at the time.