This is my longest chapter yet, it's over twice as long as my longest, which was chapter 6. Sorry if it took so long to put it out, I was being both lazy and waiting for high school to end. I guess I should say that I hope you enjoy this, even if I'm not sure that I did as well as I could.

"This temple? It has possessed by the power of a god." Doremy Sweet explained. Her long, red night cap dragging across the wooden floor as she turned her head to Maribel. Around her were dream souls, moving around her like drones. From above, the moonlight of the dream world flew in, making the baku look right out of some sort of fantasy game. When seen in this manner, Maribel didn't feel quite that intimidated, but perhaps she was simply getting used to the youkai's presence. "Gods and we are much alike. However, the divine power of a god can run counter to that of youkai, should they have great power and intent. I would presume that is why you cannot see the boundaries."

Maribel thought about it, it sounded ridiculous. But this wasn't the first time she experienced a similar effect, when she visited Mt. Fuji a few years ago, she saw that the boundaries were fuzzy. It felt like a less intense version of this."Well, do you know what god it is?"

She looked at Maribel, her smile twisting into something cat-like. "I've met a lot of gods over the course of my existence, but I cannot place my finger on it. There's a been a few that felt this way, but it's not exactly the same. A young youkai like yourself may not have had the opportunity to meet any, they are rare these days, the humans of today place their faith in the mundane and 'heroes' as they call them."

The blonde crossed her arms. "This temple gives me the same vibe as those pursuers I was feeling yesterday."

Doremy raised her eyebrows, making her look a lot smugger than usual. "Then has it crossed your mind that the god might be interested in you?"

"Now that you tell me, no." Maribel responded, scratching her chin in some confusion. It almost felt like she had a fever. "What temple is this, anyway? It's in the middle of the woods."

"For a god to exist, someone has to place faith in it. Take this clue: It must have some presence in the outside world. Thus, the temple may be an object of interest to humans or even youkai who live in the outside world." The baku responded informatively, shrugging as she did not actually know whose, or what temple it was.

While Maribel was thinking, Doremy was pondering other things. Her blue, ghostly eyes darted down to meet Maribel's, which managed to catch her attention. "I'd like to ask you to keep out of the dream world for some time after you are done here for now. As I've said before, you shouldn't leisurely manipulate the boundary to cross into the dream world."

Hearn nodded. "Right. Well, I think I'm almost done for today. I don't want to be near this temple for long." She said, pointing to the interior.

"Very well." Doremy replied, raising her hand as a way to wave goodbye. "If you have any nightmares and wake up, say 'Baku-san, come eat my dream.' three times. Then I will solve your problem." She continued. Maribel waved back at her with a smile after the awfully friendly offer, before eyeing the dark corners of the temple. Her eyes wandered back to where Doremy was, but she had already left soundlessly. She's fast.

Maribel looked back to the interior and felt curious, so she started walking around. Being unable to see boundaries were a new experience for her, given that she's been with it all her life, but it also put her at some unease. The passage of time was like nothing, signifying that she was having another bout of delirium. Although she could still take in the details of the walls. They were in pristine condition, despite looking so old. A temple like this must be centuries old.

A few footsteps resounded a couple of meters behind her, close to a window where the bizarre image of hills, a sky filled with red grids and the moon could be seen. It offered a strange purple moonlight shining down specifically on Maribel and the floor she was standing on. Maribel turned around to look at whoever it was, but due to the darkness and her delirious condition she couldn't quite make out how they looked like. Whoever it was had the voice of a girl, no older than her. "Sorry... But the master doesn't think you're qualified yet, you have to become more capable before she'll have a personal audience with you."

"Hmm?" Maribel could only say, breaking out of her 'sleep walking' like state. What little details she could make out included a long, handheld object, a strangely shaped black hat and vibrant clothing that she couldn't tell the color of. The shadows obscured most of everything else. A window shed some moonlight on her face. It featured very natural looking purple eyes, signifying the probability that she had a quirk. As a result of quirks, human characteristics had become more diverse, even for the quirkless, but less so. She was adorned with long, brown hair with a particularly weird cut of long hair with two long side locks.

She immediately wanted to leave, turned and ran away.

When Maribel woke up, it was still night out. This time, she actually felt drained, more than usual. It wasn't an actual nightmare, so she had no excuse to call for the baku. So she made herself comfortable and went to sleep again. For the first time in weeks, she had a true dream, rather than a 'real dream' or venturing the dream world in her sleep. She recalled activities during school, her classmates, the strange new figures that she met in the dream world.

The 'god' and its presence, the mysterious girl who spoke of qualification. All of it conjoined in unintelligible events thought up by her brain.

It must have some presence in the outside world.

Opening her eyes, Maribel found herself lying on her bed, small rays of sunshine going through the gaps in her blinders. She sat up and nudged her eyes a bit, got on the side of her bed and went over to her drawer to change from pajamas to her school outfit. Once that had been done, she went down to the first floor of her house to prepare breakfast for herself. Maribel held no care for time or the people around her, she only wanted to recharge, and ponder. As she ate her breakfast, she didn't notice that her father had also woken up. He was trying to ask her something, but she didn't even notice him at first.

He called out to her, loudly. "Maribel!"

"What?!" She yelled in return, staring him right in the eye. This took him aback and made her confused.

...My eyes? Is my quirk active?

Maribel turned her head to a window and stared at her reflection. As it turns out, her quirk was active and she closed her eyes. "Sorry, sorry... I'm pretty tired."

Concerned, her dad inquired her. "Are you alright?"

Maribel focused, it took a couple of seconds, but she managed to deactivate her quirk. "Yes, there's nothing wrong with me. But I should say quirk's gotten a lot more potent recently, by using it frequently. Supposedly, that's how I train my quirk. The nurse told me that. It's a bit confusing, since we never found out how my quirk works biologically.." She explained and took another bite of a ham sandwich.

The slightly distressed look on his face faded. "I hope you aren't hurting yourself too much at school. It's a hero academy, but putting yourself in a hospital isn't good for anyone."

"I only received some bruises thus far, it isn't so bad." Maribel retorted calmly.

A friendly smile appeared on his face. His blond hair and green eyes glimmering in the light of the sun coming through the window. "Well, I damn hope so. Shouldn't you be heading to school soon?"

Maribel swallowed the remains of her sandwich. "...That's right. I have to be quick!"

The day went by for her pretty quickly, Maribel felt really out of it. She hadn't said much to anyone yet, even when others had tried to talk with her. She remembered hearing Iida, Momo, Tsuyu and Midoriya talking either to her, or about her. It was weird, almost like having a fever without feeling warm, at the same time, she just didn't pay attention.

When the teacher arrived by the desk to the current lesson, Foundational Hero Studies. She blinked as she felt a new presence out of the twenty other ones in her proximity, suddenly snapping out of her condition and holding up a hand. "Aizawa-sensei. Isn't All Might supposed to teach right now?"

Aizawa looked as deadpan as he usually did and directed his eyes to Maribel. "We decided to change today's class to have three instructors. All Might, me and one more person." He said, causing Maribel to lower her hand.

The kind of meek voice of Izuku Midoriya entered her ears and turned her golden eyes to look at him at him. "Sensei, Could I ask what we will be doing?"

Aizawa pulled out a plate, similar to the one All Might had taken out during the last lesson they had. This time it spelled RESCUE in big blue letters. "This time you'll be going through rescue training. It will include anything from disasters to shipwrecks."

The class quickly started talking. Maribel leaned on her desk with an arm and turned around a little, looking at Momo in the back. "I hope we don't get injured this time." She wished. Catching the attention of both Yaoyorozu and the guy who sat in between them, Minoru Mineta. Maribel wasn't sure where his eyes wandered to, but she threw him a curious glance before looking back at Momo.

Momo was eager to offer her a compliment. "I think it'll be fine in rescue training. Your quirk seems pretty good for rescuing people." And then continued speaking, with some concern in her voice. "It feels like you've been almost asleep until now, did something happen?"

Maribel was about to describe her problem. "I don't know. I'm pretty sure I started feeling bouts of it since yesterday, perhaps-..."

Aizawa interrupted everyone. "You can decide if you want to wear your costume or not this time. Some costumes may limit your ability, after all." Then pressing a button on his remote to bring their costumes out from the sliding pieces of the wall. "This class will take place off-campus, so we're taking the bus. That is all I have to say... Start getting ready."

The teacher walked out of the classroom, presumably toward the bus. Everyone else got out of their seats and went for their costumes.

In the changing room, Maribel decided to talk to Momo again.

"So as I was saying. I've been feeling bouts of delirium for the past few days, mostly after school. It's pretty troubling, so I've been thinking of checking up with the nurse about it." She elaborated on their last conversation.

Yaoyorozu was a little curious. "You mean that's not why you stayed with the nurse after the battle training?"

The boundary girl excused herself. "Ah? No, not at all. I was just feeling things with my quirk, I don't think it's related to this."

"Well, that's a relief." She responded and started putting on the main part of her outfit, that being the yaoyoreotard, a leotard designed to expose as much of her skin as possible. The next piece of her gear was the yaoyoro-belt, a thick belt designed to hold and prop up the positioning of her third piece of equipment. The yaoyorictionary was the final and most vital part of her outfit which allowed her to check and add both materials and constructions that she could then create. Human memory could only remember so much, after all. Writing, the most important human invention.

Maribel's hero outfit had far less utility than hers, despite being very light and allowing her to move very easily. It was a flashy, yet simple outfit with a white skirt going past her legs. Legs that were adorned with a skintight, synthetic material as white as the skirt she wore. Her chest was covered by a fine white blouse and was accompanied by a purple and black tabard made of synthetic materials that covered her chest, back and neck. It was held together by the neck via a zipper that was barely visible. When it came to mitigating her faults, she had things she called accessories that would clamp on certain points around her body. Maribel didn't know the science behind such equipment, but she knew that Ochaco's quirk had similar problems and received the same kind of equipment, although in larger variants. The last pieces of her outfit were mostly of decoration or convenience, like the red ribbons around her shoulders or her mob cap that she could hold some of her hair in.

They both left for the campus, where the bus would arrive. Maribel saw Iida and walked over to him almost on instinct, bringing Momo with her. They stood right by the bus because of this. "Hi, Iida!" She waved.

Iida looked at her. She saw he was holding a whistle in his hand. "Oh, Merry." He said, smiling and just kind of forcing her to return the favor. But he changed to a normal expression thereafter. "You've been a little down today, did something happen?"

Maribel wasn't a big fan of repeating things she said before, so she decided to summarize. "I've been feeling out of it for the past two days. I'm not sure what it is. But I'll talk to the nurse soon."

"That's great, I'd suggest doing it after class." Iida said, friendly as ever. "If you'll excuse me for just a second." He told them and raised the whistle to his mouth. Both Maribel and Yaoyorozu looked at him a little strangely. Then he blew it and yelled out. "Class 1-A, gather around! Form two lines in accordance with your student numbers in order to board the bus smoothly!"

It was then that the bus actually opened, and when the three looked in, it wasn't really designed like he thought it was. He froze, as if he was defeated. "I don't think that'll be necessary anymore." Yaoyorozu commented as nicely as she could.

Maribel instead sought to comfort him a little and patted him on the back. "At least you have good priorities, Iida."

When they finally got into the bus and started riding towards the facility, Iida at last let out some words. He sounded a bit regretful. "Shoot... I didn't think it'd be this kind of bus."

The pink mutant sitting on his right weighed in. "There was no point, huh?"

"It's fine." Maribel said, sitting next to him. Everyone was kind of laughing at him, so it was to be expected for him to feel like he did.

Tsuyu started talking with nobody in particular. "I'll just say whatever comes to my mind..." And then pointed at Maribel from the other seat. "You could cut most things in half with those portals you make, isn't that a little dangerous?"

"A little. I'm improving my fine control, though." Maribel explained.

"I see." She replied back.

Maribel felt it appropriate to boast, just a little. "Apparently my quirk's becoming stronger with 'quirk training' too. It's a little overwhelming, since my quirk is very versatile and I have no idea of my full potential."

Tenya joined the conversation. "You can see boundaries, right?"

"Is that like seeing the time someone has left in life?"

Maribel glanced at him and then looked down at the ground. "Yeah... And it's hard to explain, but I can't see something like that." After a pause, she looked up and looked at the rest of the class seated around her. "Oh, did you know I can also flip the boundary of things?"

"Oh?" The redhead was suddenly curious. "How do you mean?"

"Well, it's a bit hard to comprehend, and I haven't really tried it a lot... But if something was a reflection for example, it would be 'false', and not the true object. By flipping this, maybe I could bring the object to me or me to it... Well, it's confusing." She explained enthusiastically, as if she was infatuated by her own capabilities. Then Maribel paused and blurted out another sentence. "What was your name again?"

"Ah, em... Eijiro Kirishima!" He responded, hardening his arm and flexing. Maribel thought he was trying to pose for her or something. She also realized that asking for names abruptly was a little weird.

Midoriya shined in. "That sounds really confusing. So I guess if someone was in a mirror, you could make them 'true' and touch them through the mirror?"

Maribel looked into his eyes with her own, golden ones. Causing him to cower a little.

"U-uhm..."

She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe I'll try it later." Maribel stated. "Maybe it works on invisible people, or a reflection of the moon."

There was a pause. They pondered on the capabilities of her quirk until Tsuyu decided to interrupt. "Your quirk's kind of like All Might's, Midoriya-chan."

"O-oh! W-well... I'm nothin-"

Maribel offered her own observation. "He doesn't get bigger like All Might does. Besides, it seems like Midoriya hurts himself when he uses his. Even if he hits hard, he isn't hard himself."

"Sounds about right. They just look a little similar." Kirishima agreed.

Midoriya froze up for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. He then stuttered a little nervously as he spoke. "Right!... Since I saw All Might as a kid, I took a liking to him since I could hit like him. B-but... It's kind of hard to use it without hurting someone, so I've held back on using my quirk. If I can learn to handle it like All Might does, I can become a great hero!"

The red head from earlier chimed in response, taking a liking to Izuku's attitude. "That's the spirit." He then looked up to Bakugo. "Does every class have this many people with cool quirks?"

Bakugo turned his head to the window. "Shut up about your mopey shit."

"But seriously, that sounds so manly, Izuku!"

The bus had already traveled a bit. So Aizawa suddenly cut in. "We're here. Get ready."

Maribel raised her head and replied. "Yes, sir!"

The building they were going to was a gigantic dome. A testament to modern architectural capabilities. Maribel wasn't used to it, and the rest of the class really weren't, so everyone marveled at it. When the bus stopped, they stepped out. This is where they met one of the other teachers for this lesson.

The sound of a voice ran through a radio, or low quality microphone, rang out from the hero. "Everyone, I've been waiting for you."

Immediately, Izuku Midoriya gushed. Maribel didn't quite understand the fascination, perhaps it was because she wasn't familiar with many heroes. "It's the space hero, Thirteen! He's saved tons of people!"

His costume was a little intimidating despite the fact that it was a lot like a space suit. The design on the helmet gave the impression of eyes, colored all black with two white spots. It was of course, made of glass... Or something like it. That's what space suits use, isn't it?

"Let's get inside without delay." He told the class, pointing at the stairs leading up to the absolutely gigantic structure.

The entire class spoke in unison. "We're looking forward to work with you!"

On the outside, it was a massive dome, as big as a small mountain perhaps. On the inside, it felt a bit like a space station with just how big it was. Maribel's long skirt swayed with each step as they headed inside, she took her place next to Iida. As they got to the other set of stairs, Kirishima spoke his thoughts loudly. "Wooow! It looks like USJ!"

"A shipwreck," Thirteen pointed to the area with water. "a landslide," His index finger shot to the area with a set of ruined buildings, covered in dirt and rock. "a fire," He continued, moving his arm to point at the dome with a clear fire-motif on the outside. "a windstorm." The following area he announced was another dome, colored in darker and brighter shades of blue in a checker pattern. Thirteen spread his arms to his sides. "Et cetera... It is a training ground I made with different types of accidents and disasters. It's called the 'Unforeseen Simulation Joint' or USJ for short!" The hero finished. Pointing out past the gate. Some low chatter erupted from the class.

Maribel looked to her side and spoke. "Looks like it was USJ, Kirishima."

"Awesome." He responded.

"Thirteen..." Aizawa said, approaching him. Their talking got a lot lower though, and she couldn't hear them.

Maribel spoke to herself after considering the situation. "It doesn't seem like my quirk would have any real troublesome application here, I'd just need timing to keep rubble from falling through."

"Not as safe as just lifting blocks of things, no?" Kirishima asked her rhetorically.

Maribel thought and then sighed. "I think I have a solution for that."

Aizawa returned to a normal volume, still keeping his eyes on Thirteen. "That's the height of irrationality. It can't be helped. Shall we begin?"

The space hero was quick to choose his words. "Let's see..." He paused for a second. "Before we begin, let me say one... Two, three... Actually, a couple of things." He raised his arm for everyone to see. "Everyone. My quirk, Black Hole, can suck up anything and turn it to dust."

Izuku stepped forward. Talking in his usual soft voice. "You've been able to use that quirk to save people from all kinds of disasters, right?"

Thirteen lowered his arms. "Yes, but it's a power that can kill easily." Thirteen turned his head to give each class member an eye. "Some of you also have quirks like that, right?" Maribel felt like raising her hand in response, but chose not to. "In a superhuman society, personal quirks have been certified and stringently regulated, so that doesn't seem to be a problem at first glance. However, please do not forget that there are many quirks that can easily kill with one wrong step. With Aizawa's physical fitness examination, you found out just how capable you can be, and with All Might's person-to-person combat training, I think you experienced the danger of using those powers against people." He spoke. Everyone in the class acknowledge that it was a speech, and sought not to interrupt. He pointed at class 1-A. "This class is a fresh start. You shall learn how to use your quirks to save lives. You do not have quirks to harm others. I hope you leave here with the understanding that you have powers in order to help others." He finished, then bowing gracefully. "That is all. Thank you for listening."

Ochaco was ecstatic. "That was wonderful."

Iida clapped. "Bravo, bravo!"

Maribel though couldn't quite appreciate it and stayed silent. But still, she did clap.

"All right then, first-" Aizawa said, but was cut off by the sound of the lights lining the side of the megastructure frying and shutting down. Maribel felt an odd sensation with her quirk and glanced to where it was, down by the fountain. She took a step forward or two to look down. "Hmm?" Aizawa let out when the lights went out, and also in reaction to Maribel.

Maribel raised her arm and pointed down at the unusual event. "Aizawa-sensei." She simply said. He glanced down at a portal that was in the middle of forming by the fountain. The class was stirred and Thirteen too, turned to look. "Someone's manipulating a border, and it's not me." She continued.

"What?!" Aizawa let out. "Everyone, gather and don't move!" He continued and waved the boundary girl away. Maribel shuffled back to Iida, and stayed a little close. Tenya was a little confused at the development himself, but he didn't seem to have much of a problem with her being so near him.

The portal exploded in size and took a form. It had a set of glowing eyes and a noticeably distinct portion in the middle of it. Someone was getting through it. I can feel it.

"Thirteen protect the students!" Aizawa ordered and readied himself for what was about to happen.

"...Who are they?" Kirishima worryingly asked, then a bunch of people came through. Mutants and more. He leaned forward to get a better look over the edge. "Is this like the entrance exam where the lesson has already started?"

"Don't move." The teacher ordered again and put on his goggles. "They are villains."

Maribel took a good look at the enemies they were faced with all of a sudden. Most of them looked like mutant-types, the kind of quirk she was honestly least fond of. Maybe it was the human inability to identify properly with non-human faces or such, but of course it had to vary from person to person, she had no problem with Tsuyu after all. Among the crowd, standing unmoving by the portal was a boy that looked only a little older than them, although it was hard to ascertain, due to the prop hand blocking his face. Next to him was a strange, mutant-type person, with what appeared to be an exposed brain and shark teeth. He had a hulking stature, clearly male in figure. The villains seemed to be quite the chit-chatters, so it was hard to discern any conversation from the crowd.

"The trespassing of yesterday was the work of these scumbags after all, huh? Their timing is too perfect." Aizawa said, loosening the wrappings around his neck.

Kirishima was now openly worried. "How the hell did they get into a hero school?"

Yaoyorozu stepped forth, next to Maribel. "Sensei, what about the trespasser sensors?" She inquired, which prompted Thirteen to turn around.

"We have them, of course..."

The boy that Maribel had seen and heard mentioned earlier, Todoroki, decided to give his own insight on the situation. Speaking in a calm but serious voice. "Did they only appear at USJ, or around the whole school? Either way, if the sensors are not responding, it means they have someone with a quirk that can get them past it. This is an isolated area separated from the main campus, and they attack during a time when a class is supposed to be here. They might be fools, but they're not dumb. This attack was planned, with some sort of goal in mind."

Aizawa moved to the center of staircase's top. "Thirteen, start evacuating the students. Try contacting the school. It's possible they're interfering with radio signals."

The class thought, Maribel thought about activating her quirk, but if they were evacuating it'd be best if she didn't.

"Kaminari. Try contacting the school with your quirk, too." The teacher resumed his speaking after a short pause.

Izuku sounded more worried than any of them. "Sensei! Are you going to fight them all by yourself? They're so many, even if you can erase their quirks, Eraser Head's fighting style is capturing after erasing the enemy's quirk. A frontal battle is-"

"You can't be a hero with only a single trick." Aizawa replied sternly. He gave a glance to Thirteen and said "I'm leaving it to you, Thirteen." Before taking a set of great leaps down the staircase, down to the horde of villains. Impressive feats like these were made possible by quirks enhancing human physique to varying degrees, allowing people to take great amounts of harm without any enhancement quirk.

In his first attack, he easily took out three of the villains through excellent application of his quirk and capture weapon. Weaving through the first enemy attacks like they weren't even there. But that was all she got to see before Iida took her attention. "Merry! Get to safety!" He said, causing Maribel to break her concentration and head past Iida, following the rest of the class. Even with a long skirt, she could move around relatively easily. Iida followed right behind her. She saw he stopped for a moment, but carried on herself, wishing not to disappoint him.

As they ran, Maribel could feel something in the back of her mind and abruptly stopped. "They're manipulating a boundary up ahead!"

"Huh!?" Iida let out and stopped early. So did the rest of the class. When the man who was creating these warp gates appeared before them, there was a good fifteen meter gap between them, allowing them some breathing room.

"It's nice to meet you." The black shade spoke with a loud, sinister, but cool voice. Maribel felt his presence was weird, as if his body was tearing in space. "We are the League of Villains. It may have been presumptuous of us. We have invited ourselves in to the home of the heroes, U.A High School, in order to make the Symbol of Peace, All Might, draw his final breath."

Despite his intimidating visage, the boundary girl was more concerned with other things. Maribel got a bit closer to Iida and spoke lowly. "I can feel his presence with my quirk very clearly. His body is like a gap in space."

"We believe All Might should've been here. Has there been some kind of change? Well, that is neither here nor there. This is part I am to play..." He spoke.

Thirteen prepared to attack, raising his arm and uncapped one of his fingers. Just as he did this, Bakugo and Kirishima ran and leapt into the fray. The first attack being dealt by Bakugo from a distance as the villain was enveloped in dust and smoke. Maribel was a little shook by the large boom, adding to how unfond she was of that quirk's user.

"Don't be so confident you gaseous little shit!" Bakugo yelled as he flew back from his attack, Kirishima landing right next to him.

"How threatening..." The shade let out through the smoke, it cleared when he took his form again. "Even if you are students, you are excellent golden eggs."

"Get out of the way you two!" Thirteen asked them, having closed some more of the distance to act as a barrier between the students and the villain.

"...My job is to scatter you all and torture you to death!" He declared, and attack with what appeared to be parts of his body. Maribel could very subtly see the inner workings of it all. From those shadowy pieces of fog, he could create a gate between locations. The sudden attack took Bakugo, Kirishima and Thirteen by complete surprise, leaving them no opportunity to fight.

Maribel felt it as they left through the warp gate. Nobody else could see what happened to them. "His quirks lets him open portals. He just sent them elsewhere!"

"Wha- What?!" Izuku let out. He looked freaked out. Maribel gritted her teeth, not knowing what to do. She was stressed, but without her quirk active, she kept herself under control.

"What an excellent deduction." The warp gate moved almost instantaneously, covering nine meters and unleashed another attack. "And now for the rest of you." Iida rushed to the side, grabbing hold of Maribel and Ochaco by their waists. Caught completely by surprise, Hearn couldn't help but gasp. By the time they got out of the way, Maribel had already started to push herself up, and Iida let go of her.

She took a deep breath and stared at the mess that was occurring. The warp gate had created a dome of its fog that would capture anyone inside.

"T-they got everyone!" Iida yelled out. Ochaco rose to his side and they all looked at the scene.

"This is bad... If our phones don't work, we're in trouble." The boundary girl muttered. Iida nodded in agreement.

When the attack was over with, all those who were left standing inside of the attack's range was the guy with several arms who was covering the insect-looking girl and a black haired guy with weirdly shaped arms. "Everyone! Make some distance!" Yelled Maribel to the remaining students. They all got up and ran as fast as they could toward Iida, Maribel and Ochaco. Regrouping closer to the staircase to avoid being cornered.

"I'll distract him!" The guy with the weirdly shaped arms told the rest of them and got closer to the warp gate, firing off what appeared to be tape at his opponent.

"Me too!" The pink insect-looking girl announced alongside him and swung her arm to create several droplets of acid that would travel through the air towards the warp gate. Combined, their attack made him back off for now.

"How troublesome..." The warp gate murmured and kept dodging the incoming attacks.

"We have to contact the rest of the school, somehow." The guy with multiple arms suggested, calmly, despite the situation.

"Uh... What was your name?" Asked Maribel, not very seriously. She regretted not asking for everyone's name back during the first day.

"Mezo Shoji."

Tenya was quick to suggest the building blocks of a strategy. "We have to get past him. I could do that, but I'd have to avoid being caught."

Maribel Hearn was quick to enter the conversation. "If we're going to distract him, it's best we don't let him catch onto the exact nature of it." She then got closer to Iida and talked. "I could bring anyone of us directly to the main campus, but it's more than two kilometers away based on what I've seen, I might just be exhausted by it all or pass out."

Ochaco joined in. Followed by Shoji, using two of his arms to get a mouth and an ear nearby. "I can make you lighter, Iida. It should make you faster, but if you don't want to go flying, you have to grab onto something, like trees or the ledges."

"I don't think I can make it out of the USJ any faster while I'm lighter, there's not much to grab without running into him. You know what happened with the emergency yesterday." Iida responded seriously. "I'm sorry, but we will have to do without."

"Damn it! I can't hit him, it just goes through!" The tape-guy yelled as the warp gate seemingly avoided his tape unimpeded, weaving around his eyes and fog-like body in response. But despite this, he continued his attack as it worked as a distraction. Of course, he had to be moving for a reason.

"Well, what do we do?" Shoji asked, knowing they couldn't hold out forever.

"I... Uh, his body is constantly manipulating a boundary, as if it's made of a gap in space. I might be able to stop him completely. If it doesn't work, I'll... I'll..." She had trouble coming up with an actual backup plan and was stuck on the same thought for a couple of seconds. "Damn it, I'll just send one of us to the school, even if it might put me at risk." Maribel presented her idea. Honestly the thought about trying it made her anxious, she had never manipulated someone else's gap before, 'warp gate' type quirks were a rare breed.

Iida had to be decisive. "It's our only shot. Let's do it!" He said, and broke off from the group. He entered a stance that would let him break into a sprint much faster, the exhausts by his legs shot out a little.

Maribel stood next to Iida, turning to look at the warp gate. "Give me just a moment." Hearn said as she straightened out a little and stretched, taking a deep breath as she did. Then she opened her eyes, activating her quirk and turning her eyes into the strange purple color they usually assumed. "Here we go!" Both the pink-skinned girl and the guy with the tape stopped their attack as she took a few steps forward.

Having been shoved around trying to dodge all the tape attacks, the warp gate sounded a little irritated. "It seems you've concocted a plan... I'll just have to put an end to that!" He reached out with his tendrils, prepared to attack whilst moving weirdly to avoid the distraction.

The boundary girl moved her purple eyes to stare into the bright, yellow eyes of the warp gate. He halted his attack for just a moment, and just as he was about to move again, Maribel swiped her arm across her field of vision. She imagined herself entangling the gap and constricting it, taking control of its form.

Instantly, the fog receded as the warp gate grunted. He shrunk and tightened up into an almost pillar-like shape, writhing as he did. "G-graaaah... T-the hell...!?"

"Now! Maribel called out to Iida.

"Iida!" Ochaco yelled out next to her.

The exhausts on his legs lit up. Fire blazed from them as he sped off, faster than any of them.

"N-nonono..." The warp gate stuttered, but Maribel tightened her control over his body. "Gnrgh..."

Iida got to the door and forced it open. That was when Maribel lost sight of him, and it meant that the plan was a success. She let out a sigh of relief. "The more I look at you... The more it seems you may be more squishy than I first guessed. What is your name?" She asked, looking at the warp gate. Now that Maribel held some confidence that she could keep the rest of them safe, she got closer.

"K-kuro... Kurogiri..." He said with some trouble, it seemed like her forced hijacking of his quirk was causing him some pain.

I should make him aware of his position, so he doesn't try anything. Maribel sneered at him. "There's a part of you that isn't a warp gate. What would happen if I collapsed your warp gate in the middle of it?"

Ochaco intervened, patting Maribel on the back. "Oooh... Uh... Let's not do that!"

Neither do I want to reveal that I'm not going to. Shut up about it. Maribel thought to herself and frowned, she obviously couldn't speak of her plans in front of him.

Shoji got a bit closer. "I think Aizawa-sensei's having a bit of trouble, if he goes down, they might go after us next."

Damn, I didn't think of that. We might be a pinch.

The warp gate scoffed at them. "That's right, the rest of your class is caught up with our members, and your teacher can't survive foreve...Gngh..." He boasted. Maribel discerned that this was nothing more than an attempt to derail her efforts and once again tightened him up with her Boundary Manipulation. But it's true, though... Still.

"With Iida through, you just lost your reason for staying here." Maribel gave him a grin. IMaybe I can remove him from the battlefield? Even if he can return quickly, I'm not sure he is as capable at creating gaps as me. What are his limitations...

She clenched her fist again as a mental primer for forcing her control over his warp gate body. Kurogiri felt a lot of pain washing down on him as the armor covering his real body was pushed against it, she kept it that way for the moment. "What are the conditions for you creating a warp gate?"

His voice was almost hoarse now. "I-ah... Need to s-see... Oh-or... I n-need c-coordinates..."

"Then I just need to send you to a place without coordinates." -The dream world, I'll just have to leave him there temporarily. She thought as she looked for the boundary between him and his dream self. Maribel then straightened herself out again and input quite a bit of effort to flip the boundary between real and dream self, but not enough to create nausea.

"Merry, what are you..." Ochaco was about to ask. But just then, Maribel waved her hand and Kurogiri lit up for a split second, in a purple flash. But instead of disappearing, he was replaced. What the hell am I thinking?! A look of distress and regret spread across Maribel's face as she realized she had made a mistake. Manipulating that boundary doesn't just move you to the dream world. Her hand shot out before the newly arrived dream-Kurogiri could react. Kurogiri's real body was enveloped by his warp gate, sending him back down to the fountain.

"What did you do?" Shoji asked, confused. A drop of sweat ran down her nose.

After a pause in action, where Maribel just panted from stress, she finally said something. "That was close..." Maribel then turned around and faced the rest of the remaining class. "...You'd be confused if I explained in detail. But I made a mistake. I was going to send him into a mirror world, but I just ended up replacing him. I really have to figure out how to do that."

Of course, what she said wasn't entirely true. Maribel wasn't very interested in explaining the mystical aspects of a dream world, people would think she's insane. Substituting it with something like a mirror world, whilst almost as bizarre, wouldn't make her look so weird. Wait, he might not know about my quirk now, since that's not the real one.

"So that's not the same one that we just fought?" Mezo Shoji asked again, turning to look back at the fountain. Maribel walked forth and stood next to him, the others lined up as well.

Maribel answered simply. "Yes."

The black haired student commented on the situation as he overlooked the fighting down there. "Without a teacher, we're in a bad position. Aizawa-sensei won't last forever, either."

"What's your name?" Maribel asked, turning her head to him.

"Me?" He replied, pointing at himself. "Hanta Sero!"

"Hmm. I'm feeling an itch, maybe I should help him. I could try it from a safe distance..." Distance.Maribel pondered on that.

Shoji created a pair of ears on his dupli-arms. "It looks like they're here, scattered."

"Hmm... I was thinking about telling you people to go help them, but it'd be an issue sending you all over the building whilst trying to help Aizawa. Because it's so large, I might get exhausted from doing it repeatedly. And it's not in our best interest to put ourselves in danger." Maribel explained her predicament. I wonder if I could hit them from a distance. She though and her ghostly eyes wandered between the different villains, dream-Kurogiri, the boy conversing with him and the muscular shark-like figure next to him. Finally, they went to Aizawa, who was having very little trouble actually fighting them, but there's not just fighting to a fight. There are stamina, strategy, match-ups. He hadn't faced all of them, and they likely have someone appropriate to deal with him.

Ochaco decided to offer her insight on the matter. "I'm not really equipped for combat, going in there wouldn't end well for me. Don't hurt yourself if you're going to help him."

The insect-looking girl made it clear that she wasn't going to join in. "This is the rescue lesson. I'm not about to get into a fight willingly."

Sero too, justified himself. "Ah... I don't have the experience to handle so many. We're just students after all."

Shoji turned his eyes to Maribel and devised his own plan for the situation. "I'll stay here and give everyone cover."

"I'm going to interject in that fight, but I want to test something first. I noticed something when I used my binding technique on Yaoyorozu, and later, Bakugo... Oh, and I'd suggest cupping your ears." The boundary girl made her intentions clear, the other students watched as she created two gaps in space adjacent to her, one on each side. Ochaco nodded and held her hands over her ears. The others did the same, Shoji's arms removed their ears and placed his hands over his actual hearing organs. I'll use what you taught me about kinetics, Renko.

Air funneled into the gap as a vacuum, with more volume than a building was extinguished. It screeched loudly as the wind was pressured by the atmosphere into the gap. Maribel started feeling a little weary because of it.

They all stood still for more than a dozen seconds with the wind rushing into the gaps creating a terrifying howl. She took a deep breath as she focused, when she felt the gust of air stopping. "One, two..."

She stared down at the action occurring below. Villains were swarming to Aizawa, their quirks being nullified. One with terrifying long fingers sent a piece of rope all over the ground in the time it took a normal human to blink. Hiding behind his teammates to avoid Eraser Head's quirk. Another attacked with a tendril of tentacles from their hair, only to be nullified before it could reach him. From the distance they were at, easily a couple dozen meters, the effects of her attack would the minimal. And if she wanted to avoid hitting Aizawa, she had to move them closer. So they flew like a set of magical mirrors and placed themselves in just the right places, pointing away from Aizawa.

"Three, four..."

The rope laid around Aizawa's position suddenly started to tighten up at a terrifying pace. Nobody had gotten any time to react to the movement of the gaps.

"Five."

The binding gap evaporated. As the warped space inside ceased to be, matter couldn't. It flowed out and into the atmosphere forcefully from the exit points of her gaps, it broke the speed of sound and flew fast enough to crash into the villains below from an impressive range. The winds knocking some of them over, down, away and stopping a few in the act of attacking, the aforementioned rope being sent all over, entangling itself in other villains. What resounded over the area was loud enough to be heard by everyone as a high-pitched howl.

"I'll call that one... Double Boundary." She said. Maribel felt a little tired after the attack, shuffling out so much stuff through a warp in space that she had created seemed to take a toll on her. This didn't seem to be the case when she simply tore through space with her gaps, her thinking was to distribute the attack over a couple of seconds. In other words, she'd have to be softer on the dissipation of the gap.

"That was so cool! It's almost like Midoriya!" Ochaco said.

Maribel couldn't help but smile. She moved her eyes back to Aizawa, who's hair dropped as he set her eyes on her. He then immediately resumed combat, turning away and grappling one of the villains with a single set of wrappings around the throat. He tossed him around, forcing him into the range of an enemy attack that scorched him. Immediately thereafter, the attack stopped, as Aizawa set his eyes on the enemy.

"Be safe, everyone." Maribel told everyone else and then started to walk down the staircase. Just to be prepared, she started to prepare another Double Boundary attack, the air that was in front of her rushed into her face and past the border of the gaps. The girl could discern a few faults in this new attack. The preparation needed for it prevented it from being reliably fired over and over, thus it would be best fit for something to bail her out of a situation or breaking an enemy formation. Secondly, in order to be prepared, she had to funnel the air and the things in it into the gaps. This would naturally occur with the vacuum she creates, but it would also give enemies a golden opportunity to approach her. Thirdly, both gaps would have to be eliminated simultaneously, allowing her one shot per charge from different directions and split power.

There were a couple of pluses to this attack, however. "I'm not sure, but the gap seems to disappear as I react. So if I react faster, I can make it more powerful. Of course, if it doesn't make me nauseous in doing so... With more space, I can shoot more mass... The speed of the projectile is the important part, though."

The battlefield below was chaotic, every villain wanted to have a shot at the pro-hero. Mutants with their fists and unusual physical capabilities completely failed in hitting him, emitters couldn't get any attacks off as he weaved through them and incapacitated them. Aizawa hadn't been lying when he said that a pro-hero couldn't exist with just one trick.

A gap in the border of space was created not far from the battle. The instant it was, it moved back, letting Maribel effectively teleport. It then evaporated. The two gaps she had created back on the staircase flew right to her, like a set of levitating, ghostly mirrors. Maintaining two gap 'sets' was a hard task for her, but she had pulled it off with a little bit of destablization of the binding gap. In a second or two, and eager to end the fight, she angled both of the gaps to avoid hitting Aizawa, as a way of preventing the villains from surrounding him.

"Double Boundary." Was an improvised mental trigger to stop focusing on the gaps. The space she had created by linking them in a wormhole-like fashion ceased as quickly as she could think, expelling the air found in them in a massive lance of a subsonic shockwave. With winds far faster than any recorded hurricane. Some villains were tossed aside dozens of meters away. If they were injured wasn't something she was concerned with, even if she should be. No, Maribel only wanted to deal with the situation at hand.

Maribel started running forward, approaching one of the confused villains from behind. A mutant type with a set of quills on his back and a rather rat-like face. In a bout of stress, she socked him in the back of his head, which was strong enough to completely knock him out, to some mild surprise from her.

With her entrance, the villains that the teacher had been fighting had been routed. They were no longer attacking in her presence. Especially once she got close to him. "They scattered most of the class around the facility, Iida got out and is going to contact the school. Thirteen was sent elsewhere, too."

Aizawa responded in far more serious tone that he usually did, but still kept his deadpan voice underneath it all. "That's a concern... And you shouldn't be fighting, get to safety."

Maribel decided to take this time to create another set of gaps around her to prepare her next attack, pointed upwards as to not disturb any sound. She attracted a lot of air. "I felt you'd be overwhelmed, and if you were, the rest of the class wouldn't have any hope until Iida co-"

U2 Akiyama - Touhou 15.5: Antinomy of Common Flowers - Yorimashi Between Dreams and Reality ~ Necro-Fantasia (Arrange)

"Enough talk!" A giant of a mutant, with dark green skin and rock-like fists yelled as he was about to attack, raising his gigantic fist. Simultaneously another that looked a bit like a demon, with leathery skin and military camo clothes charged at them. With this, the rest of the villains jumped in, regaining their morale.

Maribel muttered something that she felt she'd say again sometime. "My, how rude." The airflow into the gaps stopped, signifying that they were full. Maribel swiped across the thin air and unleashed her Double Boundary attack for a third time, focused into a cone. This time she reacted much swifter. Everyone in front of them, including the giant mutant-type user were tossed far into the air. "Eraser Head!" She called to her teacher, urging him to attack.

Aizawa sent his nanofiber capturing weapon at the same hulking giant and wrapped him in it. Then, with the help of the momentum, he swung him into a whole lot of the airborne villains. Sending them all down to the ground with a loud thud. Both the student and the teacher looked at them for a couple of seconds, before they discerned that they were incapacitated.

"Wait a minute." One of them said. Maribel shifted his eyes to him. The man had a nice, swept, black haircut, decent musculature and a good face. His fingers though, they were elongated, they touched the ground, strewn about. Really, it was a little disturbing. For clothes he wore a set of baggy, white pants and a green tanktop. "...Look under your feet." He said.

Aizawa's hair fell just when he jumped away, being already familiar with the villain. Not having time to activate his quirk before he would act. It seemed that he was familiar with this opponent. Maribel was immediately strung up in what appeared to be fingers. The moment after that, she was swung so that she'd be in the line of sight Aizawa. Blocking his vision of the villain. One of the elongated fingers held what appeared to be a flashbang in it, and unwrapped just as Maribel came into the trajectory where it could be tossed at the teacher. It flew off, trigger and all, right at Aizawa.

Maribel reacted quickly and created a gap where she'd be flung sideways into. She appeared right next to Aizawa, pushing him out of the way with her momentum. Although she was wrapped in his fingers, her quirk would still work, so she cleaved the flashbang in half with a gap. As previously mentioned, Maribel had momentum, momentum that would now be on the other end of a gap. The villain that was previously mentioned was forced to plant his face into the ground and withdrew his fingers from Maribel and through the gap just before it closed. She pushed herself up. And just as she did, Aizawa activated his quirk on the villain, forcing his fingers back into their normal state.

He pushed himself up to a knee, and then onto his feet. Briefly checking his hands before giving the teacher a threatening stare. "Call me Sleight of Hand."

The teacher gave him no quarter and threw his capture weapon just as he gave his alias. But the villain wasn't so bad without his quirk, side-stepping the incoming capture weapons and quickly rolling onto the ground to avoid the immediate follow-up Aizawa made by drawing his weapon back. "I don't like to hurt ladies, you're free to run." He said to Maribel, keeping his eyes on Aizawa as he got up again.

"Don't take me so lightly." Maribel responded seriously. She leaned back a little, her white skirt swaying in the process, raised her hand and attacked through a gap. He was unprepared for such a thing, even if he knew her quirk, and was hit square in the face. It left him with some serious damage to his nose and made him stumble. In this moment, Aizawa could get close enough to strike him as long as he did not blink, but staying true to his name, the villain suddenly managed to throttle the hero using his freakishly fast and long fingers on the capture weapon that Aizawa carried with him. A mere blink was enough for him to act. He brought him close, and was about to give Aizawa a serious beating until Maribel cut in with a kick through a gap aimed right at his stomach which forced him to let go of Aizawa and wobble back, then immediately withdrawing. The teacher was quick and spun around to knock Sleight of Hand's feet with a powerful kick of his own. Aizawa followed up by wrapping him with his capturing weapon while he was mid-air and tossed him away as far as he could towards the landslide area. Just as he did, Aizawa had to blink, and the villain's fingers began to extend. They were fast, extremely so, and grabbed Maribel.

Having been taken a hold of again, Maribel was flung across the area, landing outside of the ongoing action. Sleight of Hand hit the ground first and then Maribel landed on him, not as hard, but it still hurt like hell. They were mostly alone, as the rest of the villains seemed more concerned with Aizawa at the moment. After her intervention, it seems like they ran short on fighters. That was what she thought, anyway.

Sleight of Hand writhed on the floor for a second and tried to throw Maribel off of himself. She wasn't in the best of shape herself and was shoved off. He pushed himself up and panted. "Eraser Head's good, but he doesn't hit as hard as you... I'm sorry, but since you don't want to go away, I'll have to take you out of fighting condition."

Maribel felt like she got a jolt of energy all of a sudden and pushed herself up to a kneeling position. She got a glimpse of his face she did, it looked like she had done a number on his nose. He had also pointed his hand at her, probably in order to make use of his quirk. At such a predictable angle, Maribel knew what to counter with. His attack was to simply extend his fingers at a rapid pace. But it was not as swift as someone like All Might, so she had ample of time to react. She created a gap in front of her that led just behind her, forcing his attack to pass behind her and hitting nothing. "Sh-"

"Huh..." She let out in the same instance that she realized her position and promptly removed the gap from existence. It lost its oval form and turned into spatial tatters before ceasing to exist. In the process of doing so, removing all five of his fingers and half the potential of his quirk. He pulled back and took a hold of his hand, screaming in pain as what remained of his fingers pulled back into place, they looked like limp stumps. Maribel had thought of doing something like this before, but now that she saw it, she felt a little guilty. Her eyes drifted elsewhere in something that resembled shame, before she looked back at him with anger. Backhanded him with a clenched fist right in the side of his jaw. Some teeth flew out of his mouth as he wobbled to the side. Hearn made a very short sprint and grabbed a hold of this face, shoving him down to the ground. Sleight of Hand was forcibly shoved down on it and finally laid still.

Uh, I hope he's not dead... Maribel thought, more worried about the consequences pertaining to herself than him. She leaned in to listen if he was breathing.

"Pfaaaah..."

"Pfuuuuh..."

That's a relief, now, I have to get back to Aizawa.

Song: End

I've no idea what she did, but I was just a hair's width away from being done in by that flashbang.

Having had his student taken away from him, Aizawa wasn't happy, but he had to focus on the matter at hand. There was a trio by the fountain that he'd been eyeing for a while. They were oddly still. I would suppose that these are their pawns then.

"...So you don't know if any of them got away?" A voice out of them rang out. "Kurogiri... Because of you... Because of you!..."

He tossed his capture weapon and grabbed two enemies in front, slamming them against each other. The way that velocity was carried caused them to rotate, smacking their head into one another's and putting each other to sleep, inadvertently. He quickly maneuvered past these and found himself face to face with the three, still surrounded by enemies. They were in the middle of talking. "I'll just have to wait and see... Kurogiri, prepare to turn off the game..." The human-looking villain spoke with the same voice as the he heard before.

He turned his head to Aizawa. "Oh, so this is the mid boss... Huh..." He wore a hand over his face, the back of his head, over his arms... Other than that, his wear was awfully simple. But he wasn't like the other villains, by just seeing his eyes, you'd know that he's crazy.

Aizawa's hair raised as he gave an incoming adjacent villain a look. His goggles obscuring the fact that his eyes would be glowing. Then he attacked with a hard elbow, sending his opponent into another. Then came the sounds of footsteps, prompting him to turn around and unleash his capture weapon, which he used to grab a particularly lanky villain who had approached him from behind with a knife-hand. His quirk's effect transferred, reducing the man's hand to normal. Thereafter he tossed him right at the man with the hand over his face.

In response, the warp gate that Eraser Head had seen earlier acted and created a portal just where Shigaraki was. The lanky enemy would instead fall somewhere into the crowd behind the teacher.

Shota Aizawa's hair would then fall over his face. Just as he did, the villain with the light blue haired started talking. "There's a moment... Hmm." He said and then readied himself before running towards the teacher.

In conjunction, a lot of the other villains renewed their assault too, but Aizawa quickly retaliated with a barrage of powerful kicks, placed where it would most likely put the enemy out of commission. After that, he would turn and face this new enemy, just as he got close enough, Aizawa activated his quirk. "You're the final boss!?" He let out.

"Twenty four..."

Steeling himself, Aizawa threw a capture weapon, attempting to turn his enemy's momentum against him and send him tumbling into the villains behind. The villain then took the incoming capture weapon and kept it in his hand as he ran up to the teacher. Aizawa braced and then pulled on the weapon, forcing the enemy close whilst throwing off their own aim. He attacked with his elbow to the gut immediately after, forcing his enemy to stand still. The teacher couldn't help but blink, his dry eye combined with a multitude of other factors made it more difficult than normal to keep his quirk active.

Aizawa's right arm immediately started to fall apart as his hair fell. The enemy's quirk had activated. Surprised, and genuinely in fear, Eraser Head clenched his teeth and attacked with his left arm. They separated, allowing Aizawa to back off into an enemy attack. In an attempt to repel them, he would smack an enemy with his limp arm, sending them right into the ground, and then landing a heavy kick right into the gut of another, larger mutant quirk user with gorilla arms.

Shit... It hurts so much, the amount of mutant quirk users is really a hassle. They must've planned for my weakness...

In conjunction, many of the other villains renewed their assault too, but Aizawa quickly retaliated with a barrage of powerful kicks. Placed where it would most likely put the enemy out of commission. After that, he would turn and face this new enemy, just as he got close enough, Aizawa activated his quirk. "You're the final boss!?" He let out.

"Twenty four..."

Steeling himself, Aizawa threw a capture weapon, attempting to turn his enemy's momentum against him and send him tumbling into the villains behind. The villain then took the incoming capture weapon and kept it in his hand as he ran up to the teacher. Aizawa braced and then pulled on the weapon, forcing the enemy close whilst throwing off their own aim. He attacked with his elbow to the gut immediately after, forcing his enemy to stand still. The teacher couldn't help but blink, his dry eye combined with a multitude of other factors made it more difficult than normal to keep his quirk active.

Aizawa's right arm immediately started to fall apart as his hair fell. The enemy's quirk had activated. Surprised, and genuinely in fear, Eraser Head clenched his teeth and attacked with his left arm. They separated, allowing Aizawa to back off into an enemy attack. In an attempt to repel them, he would smack an enemy with his limp arm, sending them right into the ground. Landing a heavy kick right into the gut of another, larger mutant quirk user with gorilla arms.

Eraser Head looked visibly confused by this, no villain had ever put him to question before. "...W-what?"

"He's a little more unhinged, than usual, and he says that the first person he saw after becoming confused was that girl..."

I can't let him get one of the students...

"She wouldn't happen to be one of yours, no?"

Sleight of Hand had a few sharp objects on him too, flashbang grenades, sharp things. When they landed, Maribel had been a little unfortunate to hit them, her back was now bleeding a little and the upper part of her outfit had some cuts.

I have to get to him. She thought and started to walk on over. There was a lingering presence around her that she could feel with her quirk, as if she was being watched. Just like back then, just like in her dreams. It followed her with every move, just as intense as before.

Her eyes wandered around the area, most of the villains were out, but the handful that persisted didn't look so eager to fight. Maribel saw that Aizawa had been completely restrained by the shark-mouthed villain. It was a few dozen meter walk to get to them, and plenty of villains in the way. Maribel reasoned that she'd have to get rid of them in some form, and wanting to save herself the trouble of exhaustion, she aimed for intimidation. She prepared another Double Boundary attack, aimed at the villains who had started taking proper notice of her again. At this point, the villains had experienced her power, and the familiar wind that was the prelude to the attack. Combined with this, she made eye contact, making them back away. With only a few meters left, she yelled at them demandingly. "Stop right there!"

"Alright, Kurogiri- You others should watch the staircase." One of the 'human' villains commanded and the ones she had scared off earlier suddenly left for the staircase. Oh no... "Girl, what did you do to Kurogiri?"

Maribel stopped, but refused to respond. In the meanwhile, her Double Boundary attack kept charging, which they definitely took note of.

"It's not very wise to do that with your party member in the way." He noted, pointing at Aizawa.

She realized that just as he said it and aimed both of the gaps high into the air, along with one fist and consciously cut them off after swinging hit down again, lowering it to her side. After the howling winds had been with, she finally began to speak. "You wouldn't understand."

"You must be lying. Besides, we have your party member." Kurogiri said, he didn't sound so different. Maribel remembered that Doremy said something about the dream self being unhinged, was it true? Maybe he's just not displaying it yet, if I push the right buttons...

Maribel decided to test something. "Warp gate, do you remember what I did?"

"You somehow sent me back to Shigaraki against my will, didn't you? You bitch." He said, filled with contempt. It didn't sound too out of character, except for the insult. But he isn't saying what happened before that...

The boundary girl sneered at him, wiping some blood that was leaking out of her mouth with her sleeve. "Let go of Aizawa, now."

"You're making me angry... I'll phrase it another way: return Kurogiri to normal." The villain with the hand over his face asked again, pointing at her. "Noumu." Shigaraki, as he was called, then said. A cracking sound was heard as the shark villain took Aizawa's hand and started to tear it out of place. With minimal effort, it accomplished what it set out to do. Blood sprayed from Aizawa's wrists and down onto the red stone floor. Maribel stood almost in shock, staring at Aizawa, who couldn't bear to do anything but scream in pain. The giant then crushed the teacher's arm with a simple press of his palm.

"So what will it be?"

Maribel gritted her teeth. That villain can kill him instantly if I make the wrong move, but I don't want to back away. What should I do? Fight? The big one is stronger than the rest, would hitting it with my hands even work on it?

...I'm not really innocent anymore, I didn't have many qualms when I removed his fingers after all. Besides... I don't quite think people will look the villain's way.

Yuki Hayashi - My Hero Academia OST - You Say Run

Lost in her own little world, Maribel had to make a plan before they could act. Her most rapid attack was neither Double Boundary or a punch, it was her ability to attack physical objects with her gaps.

The presence she had felt earlier magnified a thousand fold, and although it usually made her uneasy, now it felt like a warming fire. Fatigue faded as she started feeling courageous and excited as if all her latent energy was drawn out, Maribel's body started to move, and she focused. Her purple eyes adopted a noticeable glow as Maribel raised her arm to shoulder-height and swung. ...Lend me those arms! I'll put them to better use: none at all.

Song: 0:22

'Noumu' as he was called, suddenly had his arms torn off, they fell to Aizawa's sides. Through his pained expression, the teacher was confused. Strangely enough, Noumu didn't seem to bleed, but Maribel didn't care. Shigaraki could only gawk at what just happened. An instant attack, with no room for retaliation or defense, that could kill almost anything. The black skinned creature started turning his head to her before Maribel felt a jolt of stress and attacked his torso, tearing it in half.

"Kurogiri!" Shigaraki let out, and charged at Maribel with an outstretched hand. The distance was 7 meters, something he couldn't cover quickly normally. So he closed it with the help of the warp gate, letting his arm pass through to reach out to her. The warp gate suddenly expanded under her own influence and Maribel sent her arm out in an outrageously quick attack that would be aided by Shigaraki's own velocity. Landing square in his gut and forcing him back with a grunt. After that, the warp gate faded under her own will too just as she pulled back.

"S-she can interfere with my quirk?" The warp gate let out. Unknowing of her actions earlier, as one's dream self might only just know what it dreams, this was her assumption at least. Maribel's eyes drifted to the warp gate, followed by a sudden contraction of the warp gate's body. He roared in pain as the plates protecting the real part of his body started to buckle, after a certain point however, she let go. All of this occurred very quickly, and preventing any enemy reaction. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

"Stay-" Shigaraki let out of his mouth before being struck by a kick to the gut from Maribel. She had suddenly covered the entire distance with her own, transparent, mirror-like gap. He was sent tumbling onto the ground and only started getting up after he had lost his momentum. Thus making the space between the two combatants a few meters. The purple-and-white heroine placed her foot back on the ground with a stomp, frowning. Slowly, she made a stride towards him, and he took a while to get up.

When she got close, Shigaraki suddenly shot up, turned and tried to grab a hold of her right arm. In response she shifted her arm around and grabbed his hand. Their fingers clasped together, one by one. She clenched her hand around his as hard she could, something which must've hurt as he responded with a defiant grunt. However, his quirk was made to apparent to her just as the fifth finger touched her. Maribel's skin began deteriorating at a rapid pace, and both of them pulled back their hands in pain. It hurt a lot, but Maribel couldn't bring herself to do more than grunt. She had to fight, giving up in this situation would mean she or Aizawa would probably die. Pieces of her hand began to fall off as nothing more than dust, followed by blood pouring out of the wounds. The pain was agonizing, but the student felt invigorated by the strange presence that was following her. She thought she could make it through.

In the pause after their attacks, Maribel suddenly put both of her legs right next to each other, before inexplicably falling through the floor. From above and through a gap, she'd kick the side of his face using the force of gravity with both of her legs. Shigaraki hit the ground in the process. After that she fell onto the ground, catching herself with a hand before pushing herself up as quickly as possible. He had been much faster, and she had instinctively started pulling away the moment he was about to grab a hold of her head. A touch was all he needed, if his quirk activated, she would perish. That was when Maribel's eyes wandered much faster than usual, they saw his fingers, his index finger. Although worried, she felt more confident now, reminded of the past events of the last few minutes. His right hand connected, and blood started to run down Maribel's face, followed by his index finger flopping against her chin and down to the ground. Shigaraki pulled back in pain again. Maribel wiped his blood away from her brow and eye and suddenly backhanded him in the face hard enough put him off balance, causing him to stumble more than a couple of meters away. "Your quirk only activates when you touch something with ALL your fingers, doesn't it?"

He started scratching his neck with both of his hands, bloodying himself. "You're so cool..." He muttered. "And you're irritating..." He continued, angrily, before starting to slowly walk towards her. This time his approach was far more relaxed, as if he was waiting for her. As if he's expecting me to attack him through a gap. She thought, then she created a Double Boundary with slightly larger gaps, as the situation gave rise to a new application. A lot of air funneled into the spatially warped gap and began to pull in the villain and all of the air surrounding him. He was initially caught off-guard by this, but pushed with his feet so that it wouldn't go so fast. He said something, but since air only travels in through objects and the air, it became apart of the high-pitched screech formed by the vacuum she had created. She limited the intake of air by making this one small.

...Charming Double Boundary.

Eventually, his feet started giving way. The Charming Double Boundary moved above him and unleashed its attack in conjunction, followed by her creating a gap under him. Shooting him down from above and right into the ground. It had applied a spin, making him hit the ground with his arm first and making a nasty cracking sound. The wind blew past Maribel, making her skirt flutter and almost blowing off her mobcap with the intense wind. Everything had died down after a couple of seconds, though.

"Guh..." He whined as he hit the pavement, the hand covering his face bouncing against the red floor and landing a little out of his reach. The boundary girl gave him a stare. In this dire situation, Shigaraki could only get onto one knee and began to scratch himself again. "I'm- I'm..." His without the index finger blood onto his neck as he did, placing his his face to replace the one he had before. He let out and then glanced over to Maribel. "Damn mid boss! All Might isn't even here, and it's already game over!" He screamed to himself. Shigaraki abruptly stopped scratching himself. Now, suddenly soothed, he started talking again with a creepy smile on his face. "...But, but... Oh, that's right, I still have my own..." And started scuttling towards the hand using his knees, barely catching himself now that both of his own hands were injured. Then with some trouble, he placed it back on his face, bloodied.

Maribel couldn't contain herself from giving him an insulting remark, delivered with the coldest tone she could muster. Even if she wasn't in good shape either, she had come out mostly intact. "Did you ever learn not to cut yourself? This was all foolish, you never knew your enemy."

The insult, whichever part of it, was enough to completely shatter his smile, turning it into an angry frown. She raised her arm and created a binding gap, preparing her final attack, Double Boundary. The wind started to course through the area. Blood began spilling out of her mouth.

Shigaraki burst out into a standing position and his angry scream reverberated through the USJ and her mind. "...NOOOUMU!"

Maribel let her attack off early, sending the deranged villain tumbling violently towards the edge of the pool. In that same moment a large shadow immediately appeared next to her and hit her in the side. It was too fast for her to notice any injury, but she felt something crack. The entire facility zoomed through her eyes in a blink and then went black. She was unconscious.

Song: End

Midoriya, Tsuyu and Mineta had been watching all of it. They'd been afraid of moving out, with the amount of trouble the villains had made. Noumu was one of the last villains on the field, a muscular and gigantic 'man' with pitch black, almost leathery skin and a pair of shorts. It had regenerated after the supposedly fatal attack that Maribel would have delivered. Although it had taken a while, possibly because Aizawa was in the area or because the injury was so great. Izuku couldn't tell. The last of the villains she had been fighting flew off into the side of the pool, barely hanging on.

It had attacked Maribel after one command, right after she used her final attack on one of them. From the looks of it, she landed on the other end of the facility.

"She-... She's dead..." Was the conclusion Izuku came to. Someone without a physically enhancing quirk shouldn't have been able to take such punishment and survive. He started rising out of the hiding spot.

"Wait, Midoriya-chan!" Tsuyu let out, but at that point it was too late. Izuku had already leaped away with the use of his quirk. He flew almost instantly to his target, Noumu.

"Detroit... SMAAAAAASH!" He yelled and struck, Noumu in the face. In this moment, it felt weird, his legs weren't hurting and his arm wasn't either. Then, the air coalesced into a wild stream that would blow apart almost anything in its trajectory. Yet, when it cleared, Noumu stood still with only having turned his face just a little. Izuku then bounced back onto the ground, catching himself relatively easily. But he was stressed. It did absolutely nothing!?

Noumu slowly moved to face Deku and looked down at him. But despite this, he didn't do anything, standing completely still. If I can't hurt him, then I should try and save someone- Aizawa is closest! Izuku thought as he suddenly turned around and ran after Aizawa. He wasn't too far away, so he didn't have any problem getting over to him. He started lifting Aizawa up, putting his arm over his shoulder. "W-h... What... happened to Merry?" He muttered wearily, heavily injured after the torture Noumu put him through.

Izuku turned around to look at the creature, it remained motionless. "T-the black one attacked her and sent her flying... I'm unsure if she survived."

"I told her to get to safety... For someone with such a powerful quirk, she's just self-endangering. We're not out of this yet, so be on the lookout for any more villains." Aizawa murmured next to Izuku. He could definitely get why he was so concerned about Maribel, but there was nothing Izuku could do for her right now. "Stay put, we can only stay put until help arrives... Hmm?"

Tomura Shigaraki had managed to get back up onto his feet, all wet from being partly submerged in the pool. It had taken a while for him to finally get back up, with the injuries in his hands and all that. He was now stumbling on over to Noumu and the bleeding Kurogiri. The warp gate himself wasn't capable of getting up, all that you could hear from him was quiet groaning. "The mid boss is dead, but my party doesn't have much HP left... I'll have to exit soon." Shigaraki said, adjusting the hand on his face and wasn't giving the two heroes a single care.

Izuku was baffled at his endurance. "H-he's still standing, after all she put him through?!..." And then turned his eyes to look at Aizawa. "I have to stop him, am I allow-"

"Does it look like I can stop you?" The teacher calmly spat out. All his student could do was nod and put Aizawa down. He then turned around and began to charge after Shigaraki, who was still a decent distance away from his companions. In an effort to save his limbs, and considering how injured the villain was, Izuku decided not to use his quirk. Even if he avoided breaking his limbs with his most recent attack, he wasn't sure if he could replicate the same feat again.

Shigaraki turned his head to Izuku and tried to lift his injured arms up in defense, only for his broken one to stay still, he stopped dead. The young hero thought about preparing a counter, but when he got close, his opponent decided to make a dash for Izuku. They met and traded blows, Shigaraki resorted to punching Izuku with his bloodied fist right at his gut, which hurt for them both. Izuku, due to his better condition, had an easier time recovering from the attack and lashed out with a hard blow to the jaw which would bring him down to the ground. Sparing him no time, Izuku got on top of him so that he could restrain him. That was when Shigaraki wrapped one of his arms around the student and made an abrupt roll towards Noumu. Midoriya managed to break away after a ten seconds of spinning, causing them to split off.

The villain got to his feet in a series of short motions, holding himself up with his bloodied arm before shooting himself up to stand. He didn't have the greatest balance as it was. Izuku realized just now that the situation just got much worse. "...Nou... Hmm?" Shigaraki let slip from his lips, a boom resounded throughout the facility, originating from the entrance. All parties present turned their heads to this new entrant. A set of heavy footsteps reverberated throughout the USJ as he made his presence known.

"It's fine now! I am here!" His good, mighty voice resounded down to the plaza.

Izuku's attention was taken by his savior. "All Might!"

"Now this really is a 'continue'..." The childish Shigaraki said in response, he turned around to look at his allies. "Kurogiri, are you feeling better now?"

The villain made his way over to his teammate, unimpeded, probably because he knew that Noumu would protect him. The warp gate didn't look to be in any decent shape, but he had managed to get up and find a resting spot by the plaza. Kurogiri could only say a little. "I'm not in shape to fight, but I think I can bring us home."

"Then we've picked the very hard difficulty... Noumu."

This chapter took a long while to get around to writing, but I've honestly been pretty slow at finishing it too. I'm honestly not entirely satisfied, but if I kept on writing, I would never be and the chapter would probably never be out. I'm not sure if I lived up to expectations either, but this is all about practice and having fun for me, so I don't consider that the most important thing in the world.

The next chapter will probably be more like a part 2 to this one, mostly featuring the secondary characters of this story and the fight between All Might and Noumu. I'm probably going to focus more on the intricacies of the moves the characters do, as All Might is an experienced fighter. He might try to bypass Shock Absorption with more than just raw power and knock Noumu off his feet before he sends him flying? Who knows.

Anyway, Charming Double Boundary (an attack which attracts the opponent with a larger boundary)/Double Boundary (An attack which seeks purely to hit the opponent and nullify incoming projectiles once used) is Maribel's currently strongest attack, it works by taking in air using a vacuum created by a binding gap and then unleashing it since matter can't really cease to exist. It's based on Yukari's Hisoutensoku spellcard known as Quadruple Boundary.

When Maribel refers to Kurogiri's body as a gap, it's that it's functionally the same as a gap. His quirk however can only manipulate the boundary between locations and only with certain knowledge (Sight/Coordinates). In case you were confused. With her ability to manipulate the boundaries themselves she could basically pull on his body like a string without touching him. It's a bit broken, but matchups are matchups.

As for what I'll do next? I think I'll rewrite the only old chapters I haven't done yet, but when that happens, I'm not sure. Since I have things to do in the following weeks.