Buying My Way Through the Multiverse

Mirko stayed like that for a couple of seconds before she finally came to. She finally saw she was being carried like a princess and blushed a bit, having never been held like that before. But when she saw Gray blushing, she smirked. ”You wanna put me down anytime soon, or you’d rather keep holding me like this?”

Gray finally came to his senses when he heard what Mirko had just said. ”Ah, sorry about that,” he said awkwardly, his face still warm as he carefully set her on her feet. ”My bad. My body just moved on its own.”

Mirko kept quiet for a moment, her ears twitching, but a small, knowing smirk never left her face. Aizawa, standing on the sidelines, wiping his irritated eyes, looked back and forth between Mirko and Gray. His eyes narrowed into slits as the pieces of the puzzle suddenly clicked together in his mind. ”Wait, Gray... don’t tell me-” he said, but before the underground hero could say anything else, Gray shot him a glare. ”Not another word.”

Aizawa instantly raised both hands in a placating gesture. ”I’m not saying anything.”

Gray nodded, crossing his arms under his chest. ”Good. Just forget about it.”

Mirko, seeing the Nomu regenerate its sliced arm with a sickening squelch of tissue, snapped back into her combat stance. She was furious with herself; she had foolishly let her guard down during the scuffle, which was exactly why Gray had been forced to step in to protect her. Otherwise, she feared she might have gotten injured enough to be taken out of the fight entirely.

As she focused on the monster, her mind kept replaying the image of Gray saving her over and over again in a loop. She had sparred with him god knows how many times inside the UA gym, but the impossible way he had just saved her made her realize something. ’Just how strong is he?’ She hadn’t even seen him move. One split second he was standing a couple of dozen feet away on the stairs, and the next, he had her secured in his arms while the Nomu was suddenly missing a limb. ’I need to train more and get stronger!’ she thought to herself as she dove right back into her high-speed fight once more. She planned to ask him what the hell that was and, more importantly, why he looked at her like that. Once the battle was over, she planned on asking him a few questions.

Meanwhile, Izuku arrived at the Mountain Zone to find a bunch of low-level villains already knocked out cold on the rocks. He counted at least ten bodies scattered around, but he kept hearing the loud noises of an ongoing battle further up the ridge. He dashed forward, leaving Tsuyu and Mineta behind to scout the area.

Not even a minute later, he cleared a cliff face and saw Yaoyorozu, Kaminari, Uraraka, Aoyama, and Jiro completely surrounded by at least fifteen heavily armed villains. Kaminari was desperately using short bursts of his Quirk to keep a few of the thugs at bay. But then a large villain stepped forward from the crowd; apparently, he also had an electricity-based Quirk and was gathering current, ready to pounce on his defenseless classmates.

Izuku dashed instantly. With Full Cowl active, he appeared directly in front of the electric villain in a blind blur and threw a hard punch straight towards his stomach. ’Smash!’ he yelled in his mind as his fist made contact.

The villain’s eyes instantly widened in pure terror. He desperately tried to dodge to the side, but the punch was too fast for his reflexes to react in time.

BOOM!

The physical force of the strike sent the electric villain flying across the canyon, crashing violently into the solid mountain wall. The villain’s eyes instantly rolled back in his head as he dropped heavily to the ground, completely knocked out in a single hit.

”Are you guys okay!?” Izuku asked, turning back to his classmates.

”Deku-kun!?” Uraraka cried out in surprise, her hands held tightly to her chest as she sighed in relief. ”Yes, we are fine! Thank goodness you arrived; we were right about to be overwhelmed!”

”Sorry about that, Midoriya,” Kaminari said, rubbing the back of his neck as he sweated through his gear. ”I can’t really let my Quirk go wild in a tight spot like this. I could easily hit you guys by accident, so I was stuck here being useless.”

”Don’t worry about it,” Izuku said, getting the full picture of the layout.

He turned up his Full Cowl to a steady 18% and dashed forward again. This time he didn’t slow down for a second; he kept bouncing off the rock walls, blitzing left, right, up, and down to systematically take out all the remaining villains. Momo, seeing more help arriving, made more capture items in a flash. Using her expanded knowledge, she instantly synthesized heavy iron handcuffs and metal chains. She didn’t forget to make specialized, electricity-resistant rubber restraints for that one high-tier villain Izuku had sent flying into the mountain face.

Thanks to the personalized engineering training she had undergone with Bulma and Dr. Gero after her daily Roshi classes, she’d learned to make her mechanical items a bit faster than before. It wasn’t a massive, world-shattering improvement yet, but she didn’t expect to grow that strong in just a few days anyway. In fact, looking at the smooth chains in her hands, she genuinely looked forward to more weekend classes to keep improving her skill set.

While the frontline dealt with the criminals, Mineta started aggressively using his sticky grape balls to pin the unconscious villains to the floor, trying to help out a little and not leave the entire burden to Momo. Tsuyu also started helping Izuku deal with the swarming stragglers. Every time they captured or disarmed a villain, Momo or Mineta would immediately rush forward to restrain them.

In less than 5 minutes, the coordinated group of students had successfully captured every single villain in the entire sector. Izuku was panting slightly, but he didn’t stop to rest. Now that they had formed a much bigger, capable group, he turned to Jiro to check the perimeter. ”Jiro-san! Can you hear if anyone else is in trouble!?”

Jiro knelt down, plugging her earphone jacks directly into the solid stone floor to listen attentively. But no matter how much she tried to filter out the feedback, she could not hear anything else in the surrounding zones. The brutal battle happening over at the main central fountain was simply too loud for her to make out any subtle sounds. Shaking her head in frustration, she unplugged her jacks and looked up at Izuku. ”No, I can’t hear anything! Someone seems to be fighting at full force over by the plaza, and the shockwaves are too loud to make out any other noise!”

”Then we move as a unified group!” Izuku declared. ”We clear each disaster area one by one until we find our friends, and then we get out of here together!”

”Okay!” the group of UA students said in unison. They started jogging at a steady pace toward the other sectors of the facility.

Before the group had made it a few feet from where the battle had ended, they heard something loud in the distance.

”DIE!”

A huge explosion ripped through the air a second later. Izuku and the group stopped dead in their tracks. They checked around the ridge and instantly saw another massive group of their classmates. Apparently, they had the same idea: stick together to clear the facility. Bakugo, Todoroki, Kirishima, and Shoji led the rest of the students, moving like a solid wall. A few wandering villains tried to jump out and stop them, but the vanguard put them down in an instant with sheer charging force.

Seeing that all the remaining students were together, Izuku yelled towards them, ”Hey! Over here!”

The second group ground to a halt. Seeing that the rest of their friends were fine and unharmed, some of them let out a sigh of relief. But before anyone could ask any questions, Izuku cut in and told them something else. ”Gray-sensei and the others are fighting at the main plaza right now! We should head over there immediately!”

A few students nodded, preparing to sprint. But Bakugo’s palms instantly sparked with mini explosions. ”Don’t tell me what to do, you extra!”

”Now’s not the time, Kacchan,” Izuku said, stepping to the front of the line without showing a hint of fear. ”We should hurry!”

It took the group about 5 minutes to reach the main plaza entrance. Once they stepped onto the main plaza, every teenager was bewildered by the scene below.

Gray and Aizawa sat side by side casually on the stone stairs, completely relaxed. Down in the center of the plaza, Mirko and the lone remaining big monster were locked in a high-speed, earth-shaking fight. Further back, the guy with the creepy-looking severed hands was kneeling next to the fountain, clutching his broken fingers in pure agony, while the shadow guy with the warp Quirk stood silently right next to him.

”What the fuck is this!?” Bakugo barked, his jaw dropping as he took in the sight of the battlefield.

Gray, hearing the loud voice from the stairs, turned his head towards the kids. ”Oh, you guys are back! Good!” He stood up from the concrete step and casually pointed toward the main exit doors behind them. ”Thirteen is already outside keeping watch. I’m sure she already called for backup and emergency units.”

Gray walked calmly up the stone steps towards the gathered students, his posture perfectly relaxed. ”Is anyone injured?”

The students shook their heads in unison. Bakugo instinctively tried to shift his weight and hide the blunt blow he had taken to his back earlier in the Collapse Zone. But Kirishima instantly betrayed him, pointing a thumb sideways. ”Sensei! Bakugo got hit pretty hard in the back!”

Bakugo heard that, turned on his heel, and glared at him with bloodshot eyes. ”You bastard! Shut up!”

Gray stepped forward anyway, ignoring the blonde’s screaming. He reached out, grabbed the hem of Bakugo’s hero costume, and pulled his shirt straight up. He checked the impact to his lower back and saw heavy, dark bruising forming on his skin. Without a word, he simply reached into his system inventory, pulled out a single green Senzu Bean, and handed it directly to him. ”Eat that and wait outside for the heroes to arrive,” Gray told him, letting his shirt drop back down. ”This thing should be over soon.”

Once all the students successfully left the facility, Gray turned back towards the battle. Mirko seemed to have the speed advantage, but the Nomu was far stronger than her. It seemed she couldn’t bypass the Nomu’s Shock Absorption Quirk to do any real, lasting damage. Before Gray could step forward to finish the battle himself, he heard the heavy main doors to the USJ blast completely open. An enraged, unsmiling All Might had finally arrived.

Gray sighed heavily, looking over his shoulder. ”What’s the point of doing more property damage?” he asked All Might, gesturing toward the shattered entryway. ”You knew all the students were safe outside already.” Gray was about to continue blasting All Might a new one for the dramatic entry, but seeing how visibly pissed off and serious the Symbol of Peace was, he decided to just let it be.

Mirko noticed All Might had arrived and clicked her tongue in annoyance. ”You’re not taking this fight away from me, you hear me, old man!?” she barked, her ears pinning back.

Shigaraki and Kurogiri saw that All Might had finally appeared, but they looked hesitant. Their All Might-killing Nomu had been fighting the Number 5 hero to a standstill, so they doubted their grand plan would actually happen now. ”Shigaraki Tomura,” Kurogiri said, his mist shifting nervously as he monitored the entrance. ”Perhaps it is time we fall back and try again later.” More and more pro heroes started appearing at the top of the stairs behind All Might.

”Not yet, Kurogiri!” Shigaraki hissed, pointing a finger towards All Might with his good hand while ignoring his throbbing, broken fingers. ”Nomu! Kill All Might!”

The Nomu ignored Mirko and dashed straight toward All Might. Mirko tried to jump in and stop the creature’s momentum, but she didn’t manage it in time. All Might also dashed forward in a gold blur, meeting the Nomu in the middle of the plaza. Their massive fists clashed head-on, and a deafening sound wave broke out, shattering the remaining glass panels in the dome ceiling.

Aizawa tried to activate his Quirk on the Nomu, but Gray blocked him with an outstretched arm. ”Let him blow off some steam. It seems he really needs it right now.”

Mirko tried to jump back into the fray, but Gray instantly grabbed her arm and held her back. ”Let it be,” Gray told her calmly. ”If you still want to fight that badly, I’m more than happy to keep you company in the gym later.”

Mirko huffed and puffed in frustration, pulling against his grip, but she couldn’t budge him even a fraction of an inch. Realizing she wasn’t moving Gray at all, she finally gave in and collapsed flat on the ground right next to him and Aizawa.

”You better make that guy fight me next time the Dimension opens up, you hear me?” she snapped, glaring up at Gray.

”Sure,” Gray replied.

”And you still have some explaining to do about earlier,” she said before closing her eyes to rest.

Before Gray could even think of an excuse, he heard All Might yell at the top of his lungs, ”PLUS ULTRA!”

A colossal shockwave ripped through the central plaza as the Nomu was sent flying straight through the dome ceiling, disappearing into the sky. All Might stood tall, victorious and without a single scratch. Kurogiri had wisely used the distraction to open a swift warp gate, sending Shigaraki through the portal before they disappeared together into the void, leaving behind the low-level villains they had brought to be rounded up by the incoming pro heroes.