Chapter 8
Another Deity?! The Universe Destabilizes Further!

The scents of the bustling kingdom was overpowered by the fresh aroma of the flowers of the field, which flowed with the wind, petals flying past their faces and flowing through the otherworldly portal. As they all stepped through, the portal closed behind them, leaving them in awe at the open scenery.

"To think, a few hundred years ago, all this was cooled magma. The Fragments of the Gods are amazing if they're able to terraform an entire field." Izuku said in his shocked state. The flora seemed to go on forever.

"It reminds me of the Bionis' Leg." Shulk said with a slightly sad tone, his mind reminiscing of the home that he was forced to leave behind. That then made his mind wander to all the friends he was forcibly separated from. Sharla, Melia, and Riki, and everyone else from Colony 9 and 6.

"Oi! Shulk! Get it together!" Reyn shook Shulk's shoulder, snapping him out of his train of thought. "What're you doin', getting all teary-eyed on us?"

"Oh. Sorry, I was just…"

"Remembering the Bionis?" Dunban finished his sentence, with Shulk responding with a nod.

"It's hard to think of the fact that all those Homs, Nopon, and High Entia are actually… gone."

"Yeah, I'm still having trouble processing that myself." Reyn looked to the brightly lit clouds, which radiated a humid warmth.

"Still, we can hold out hope that they were also brought here." Dunban said with solace, looking out over the range, with large mountains blocking the horizon, shaping the continent like the jaw of a beast. And as if inhaling them, a large formation of distortion clouds was formed through the mountain range.

Then the chain reaction waiting to happen started. Metastra closed the portal to Mayflower, and as soon as she did, the residual energy shot through the sky toward the distortion clouds. Once the energy impacted, the whole world felt like it was shifting in and out of reality as the clouds sparked and continuously shifted between blinding light and crushing darkness. It was the same event that brought Bakugo and everyone else to this universe. Right in front of them, two sources of energy impacted with extreme force, with several other energy sources scattering across the continent.

After the impacts, the world returned to a stable state. "Okay, does anyone want to explain what the hell just happened?" Bakugo asked, understandably shaken.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that Metastra's portal was too powerful for the world to handle, and expelled that energy through a large distortion. The universe itself wasn't exactly stable to begin with, considering how many universes are linked to it." Eraclese explained.

"That reminds me, what's with that linked universe thing?" Izuku asked, the question still weighing on all of their minds.

"Let's go over that later. We need to see if the continent is still safe to traverse, and if that distortion brought over any powerful villains from other universes." Metastra intervened, the thought of a villain stronger than Blood being a rather frightening idea.

With that thought, Izuku went over to Izel to check on her. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah… I'm fine."

"Those things landed pretty close to us. We should check them out." Shulk suggested, heading over to the new craters in the once unscathed spread of flowers and grass. The others followed suit, the clouds overhead still sparking with residual energy. Eraclese and Metastra felt a cold feeling crawl up their backs as they approached the craters.

"What in the—" Reyn's words were caught in his throat as he saw who was at the bottom of the crater. It was a young girl in a pink dress, with wings on her head.

"That can't be… Melia?!" Shulk exclaimed, rushing down the crater to pick up the unconscious girl.

"This ain't the first time we saw her like this, though I was kinda hoping one time was enough." Reyn said as Shulk lifted Melia on his back.

"Now I'm really curious about who could have landed in the other area."

"We'll check on them, get Melia to a safe place. There's an incline to the east, we'll meet you there." Dunban commanded, rushing off to the north, where the second object from the distortion landed. Shulk went to the east with Reyn behind him, Eraclese and Metastra sticking close to them. The entire time, the two siblings never dropped their guards.

As they waited for Melia to wake up from the inter-universal travel, Shulk noticed the tension among the two gods. "What's wrong?" He asked, not sensing any hostility in the area. They didn't respond. It was as if they were completely removed from reality. "Is it something with the distortions?"

"Might be. They're gods, after all, they might be focusing on something with it—" Reyn's thought was cut off by Eraclese's random panic.

"He's coming! Cover any reflective surfaces!" Eraclese shouted, swiftly grabbing both Shulk and Reyn's weapons and stuffing them under a cover so they couldn't reflect light.

"Hey, what's the big deal?!" Reyn exclaimed in surprise.

"There's no time! We have to hide now!" Metastra burst out yelling as she sent a powerful beam of energy at a lake, the water either evaporating on impact or being flung in tiny droplets into the sky. As they continued either obscuring or destroying all reflective surfaces in the area, they didn't realize the swirling void in the sky. The distortion cloud held enough of a change for the mysterious threat to begin their transportation.

Then, it happened. The swirling void in the cloud collapsed inward, a dark portal paving the way for a mysterious shadow to travel through to this universe, pitch black wings spreading from the shadow as it suddenly vanishes from the sky. Eraclese and Metastra were shaking to their cores, their eyes wide with fear and dread.

"What… was that?" Shulk asked, taking back the Monado from its cover.

"He… He's here. Perseven is here." As Eraclese said this with a quivering voice, The shadow reappeared before the two gods, the darkness fading to reveal a young man with white hair, matching Eraclese's and Metastra's, though his hair was longer than Eraclese's, but shorter than Metastra's. He wore a black long coat with a grey shirt underneath, and black pants. His eyes were bright red, and around him, a dark aura pulsed from his very being.

"You two really messed up, you know that? Not only did you endanger this universe with your wreckless usage of your powers, but you also threatened the very fabric of time and space for the entire multiverse! The very thing both of you were created to preserve!" The boy, who Shulk and Reyn assumed was this Perseven, growled with a threatening malice.

The sibling gods couldn't form words with how scared they were. 'This is it. We're dead.' This was the only thought that could pass through their heads. Every part of them was screaming at them to run, but they knew deep down that now, there was nowhere to run.

Perseven cracked his knuckles, slowly approaching. "Now then, let's begin your punishments." But before he launched his attack, he slowed to a halt. His stance shifted away from the group, and toward something flying at them at a high speed. Specifically, it was charging right at Perseven. Before they had time to guess what it was, it stopped feet away from the floating god. It turned out to be a woman with black eyes and black hair, but her most prominent feature was a monkey tail.

"I thought I sensed a massive energy level out here. What are your intentions?" The mysterious girl asked.

"A Saiyan I take? Well, if you must know, I am here to eradicate two gods that have abused their powers." Perseven casually responded. The girl quickly scanned the ground and found Eraclese and Metastra still cowering in fear behind Shulk and Reyn, with another girl lying unconscious behind them.

"Somehow, I don't believe that story." The girl snarled, taking a fighting stance, her gaze fixed on the shadow winged deity. He grinned, and vanished the instant she took her stance. She looked around frantically. 'Why can't I sense him anymore?'

"Watch out! Behind you!" Shulk shouted to the girl, but her reflexes weren't quick enough to stop the full force of the attack. Perseven suddenly appeared behind her and slashed at her with claws made of dark energy. For anyone else, the attack would have sliced them in two, but the girl was able to somehow keep it from doing so.

"That's a cheap shot! But if we're going that route, then I guess I'll play along!" The girl vanished from Shulk and Reyn's visions, appearing in front of Perseven and unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks so fast that the two of them couldn't follow a majority of her movements.

Though Perseven took no damage so far, it was clear that she was pushing him back. The skill of this warrior was formidable indeed, though that didn't stop the sibling gods from being frozen in terror. At last, though, they fought at a speed Shulk and Reyn could follow. The girl's flurry of punches and kicks were frightening to say the least, but Perseven was still able to fend them off easily. His wings of darkness enveloped him, and he vanished from sight.

This time, though, the girl knew what to expect, and leaped out of his way a second before he struck, following the dodge with a counterattack kick to his side. This was enough to actually hurt Perseven a bit. He stared down at the girl with visible frustration. "You lowly mortal! Do you really think I'd be defeated by a lowly saiyan?!"

"Nah, not really. I just want a challenge. Ever since my master passed, I haven't had a fight like this!" The girl exclaimed, taking her fighting stance once more.

This statement visibly angered Perseven, his entire body was now covered in a black mist. "You ignorant fool! I'll show you the power of a god!" The darkness around him expanded, and swallowed the entire continent. When light returned, Perseven's appearance changed. He had what looked like a half-halo on his forehead, his shadow wings now solid with red spikes. He also grew a large, thick grey tail, which matched the rest of his body. His belly had black and red stripes with yellow stripes trailing from the base of his neck to the base of his tail. "This is my true divine form: the pure symbol of balance! What do you have to say now, mortal?"

The girl simply stood up straight. "It looks like I got no choice." She clenched her fists and shouted out as energy surrounded her body, pure white in color, but slowly taking a red hue. "Kaioken times three!" She shouted out, the aura around her now fully red. Her muscles visibly bulked as she now stood up straight again. "Is this to your standard?"

Perseven, now gritting his teeth with intensity, rushed at the girl, their attacks so powerful they sent visible shockwaves out each time they traded blows. But this time, the girl was on the defensive as Perseven quickly overpowered her, both in speed and in strength. At last, he pinned her down mere feet in front of the group, Metastra and Eraclese now visibly shaking in fear, their eyes filled with tears.

"Now to put you in your place!" His fingers began to glow, and created claws of energy poised to pierce the girl's heart. But as he made the move to kill her, he stopped centimeters away from her chest. Then, for some reason, he stood up. "Are you sure?" He asked to the sky, getting an awkward eye from everyone except the siblings. "...Very well, as you command my lady." His claws vanished as he reverted back to his human form, his clothes also somehow returning. "You get a lucky break this time. But don't expect that mercy from me in the future."

With those parting words, he fired a beam into a lake that created a dark portal, retreating to the realm where he came from. The mysterious girl got up, dusting off her clothes, and walked over to the group. "You guys okay?"

Shulk had to gather his bearings for a minute before he could respond. "Y-Yeah. We're fine, thanks to you." Now that she was closer, he could get more details of her. Her clothes seem like a mix of cultures. She wore a red bodysuit underneath a white kimono with red trims. As for her facial features, aside from the previously observed black eyes and hair, which, now that he had a closer look, both features had a slight tinge of green in them, and she also had a small scar on the right side of her jaw.

She was rather built, and was probably no shorter than Izuku. Her hair was curly near the ends of the strands as well as her hair being quite large, but other than that it was rather neat. And despite her scars, she still had a warm look in her eyes, and a smile with all the comfort of a home. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Okora."

"Uh- oh, right. I'm Shulk, and this is Reyn, Eraclese, and Metastra. And the unconscious girl is Melia." Shulk said, everyone else still too shooken to even talk.

"Well, it's good to… save you all, I guess. I mean, you don't seem like bad people. Plus, you might even prove to be a good rival for me someday!" Okora laughed at the end, but her laughter didn't seem sinister in any way. Rather, she seemed genuinely happy at the prospect.

'W-What is this girl?' Reyn wondered, her battle hardiness even baffling him.

"I'm… sorry, but Perseven, he mentioned that you were… what did he say again?" Shulk asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm a Saiyan. As you can see with this." Okora said, waving her tail in front of her.

"Y...Yeah… I was just about to ask about that."

"You see, all Saiyans— or at least, pure-bred saiyans— have these tails. For many, it's a weak point. But for people like me, we trained to overcome that weakness. At least… that's what my master taught me to do." Okora's warm smile faded at that last remark, but before Shulk could ask about her master, the others began to approach at quite a pace. There's no way they didn't see Okora's battle. They could only imagine their concern.

As they approached, they could see an unconscious white and red haired boy in tow with a burn over his left eye. "What the heck was all that?! That battle was all over the sky!" Izuku exclaimed in both excitement and fear.

"That was Perseven." Metastra said, her nerves finally calmed enough to let her talk. "He's the son of Giratina, and the lesser god of balance. For a universe like this, it stands to reason as to why he would take any disturbance seriously, no matter how small. At his full power, he's strong enough to take both Eraclese and I on at the same time, even if we were to go all out."

"S-Someone that strong actually exists?! But… who was fighting him just now?" Kirishima asked, looking at the five of them.

"That would be me." Okora said, her hand raised a bit. She introduced herself to the extended group, who couldn't help but stare at her tail. "With all that out of the way, let me show you guys to where I've been living. The natives here should be able to help your friends there."

With no other option in terms of living space, they take Okora up on her offer. Reyn lifts Melia onto his back and the group heads out with Okora in the lead. They stare up at the distortion clouds as they walk, their minds still wondering just what mysteries lie under those immovable cloud formations.

The journey took about half an hour, but as they came into view of Okora's home, they noticed something that dwarfed the oddness of Okora's tail. Some weird green humanoids were roaming all around the village, all of whom wore similar clothes to Okora. The vests they wore seemed similar in style with varying colors, but they didn't wear bodysuits underneath. Instead, they wore just baggy pants tucked into boots. What was most odd was the pink areas over their bodies that only seemed to exist in major muscle groups.

The literal crown on top of this bizarre species was their slug-like antennas on their foreheads. "These are the Namekians of Verde Sward. They often live in isolated villages in green areas like these, so that's why they live far away from human civilizations."

"I think that's the most normal thing about this whole situation." Reyn said, still a bit dumbfounded by all the new information being tossed at him.

"I was not ready for today." Uraraka said with the entire group nodding in agreement.

"Right then, let me take you to our doctors. Their healing abilities should be able to wake them up." Okora said rather casually, though since she lived with these bizarre creatures for a while, it would make sense that she wouldn't find anything about this odd.

The Namekians greeted the group quite warmly, some of them offering to help carry the two unconscious members. They went inside one of the huts to place them down, with even Okora being surprised to see another seemingly human pair already in the hut.

"Who are these two? Other humans from the distortion?"

The red haired girl turned to greet them, introducing herself as Pyra. She showed the unconscious boy lying down, saying his name was Rex. The group introduced themselves in kind as their unconscious persons were laid down, the Namekians immediately assessing the two new patients.

"They only appear to be suffering dimensional fatigue. It's nothing major in this case, they should wake on their own in less than a day." One of the Namekians assessed, a wave of relief flowing over the party.

With the primary concern now settled, Okora piped up with an offer. "Since your pals are all good now, how about a little sparring match? It's been ages since I've met fighters with your power levels."

"Pardon?" Dunban tilted his head, a bit dumbfounded by the young girl's eagerness to fight, especially after fighting a literal god.

"Come on, please? Just a minute long battle at least? I promise I won't go full power right away. In fact, I won't even use my Kaioken."

"Kaio-what?" Half the group asked.

"Fine, I'll give you a little gift if you do. I'll teach you guys some of my techniques if you can beat me." Her pot-sweetening was rather tempting for some of the members, especially to Bakugo.

"I'll do it." He said, cracking his knuckles. Okora gave Bakugo a warm, yet eager smile.

"Nice! I can tell you're a powerhouse too, so this'll be fun!" She said, the group stepping outside for the battle to commence.

For how strong her opponent was, Okora was rather lax. She wasn't even stretching, though some of them dismissed it, thinking she already had her warm-up with Perseven. As bizarre of a thought that was. "Alright, let's get the party started!" Okora lunged at Bakugo with astounding speed, a ball of light in her palm. As soon as it impacted with Bakugo, it blew up, sending him flying back.

"Interesting." Bakugo hummed, sending a volley of blasts toward Okora, who blasted them away with an energy wave, which was also headed straight for Bakugo. He dodged the wave with a downward explosion, sending him soaring through the air. But not even the skies were safe, as Okora showcased her ability to fly and throw punch after punch after kick, finishing her combo with a downward roundhouse kick, sending the bruised blonde crashing down to the ground.

"Come on! I know you're suppressing your power!" Okora shouted, sticking her palms out, the base of both of them connected. As she did this, she shouted out "Ka… Me…"

Bakugo stuck his hand out, preparing a huge explosion. Meanwhile, Okora turned her palms to face each other, sticking to her side. "Ha… Me…" A bright green ball of energy formed in her palms as Bakugo fired off a giant blast at Okora, shaking the entire continent with its power. In their heads, there was no way Okora withstood that. But the green light burst out from the smoke, Okora seemingly unfazed.

As she thrusted her palms forward, she roared with a mighty "HA!" as the ball of energy flew forward. With instinct alone, Bakugo used another big explosion to move out of the way of the energy blast, which impacted fiercely with the ground. The wind alone from it was enough to send Bakugo flying back further. The intensity of the blast was astounding, awe-inspiring. The fact that a Quirk could create something this powerful was mind-boggling.

But rather than looking smug at her powerful display, she instead looked confused, like she was expecting Bakugo to counter with his own blast. "Now you guys are confusing me. Is this part of your training?"

"Speak for yourself, that blast nearly killed me!" Bakugo shouted back.

"Seriously? I was holding that kamehameha back. If I didn't, it would have blown up the entire continent," Okora's remark baffled everyone even further.

"What kind of Quirk has that kind of power?!" Izuku shouted out in amazement.

"A what now?" Okora asked.

"A Quirk. That's how you unleashed that "kamehameha", right?"

"N-No. That's not how I do that. I use my ki to do that. And fly, and sense energy, and—"

"You mean all of us can pull that off?" Shulk interrupted, a bit intrigued by the versatility of this 'ki'.

"With time and training, yes. Heck, you might even make a kamehameha stronger than anything I could muster." Those last words struck well with pretty much everyone. A chance to get stronger without the help of Quirks? Having power capable of obliterating entire continents at their fingertips? Not to mention flight. Nobody had to ask them twice if they wanted to learn more about it.

"Can you teach us about this?!" Izuku eagerly asked, the rest of the group, minus Izel, Eraclese, and Metastra, nodding in agreement. Okora looked as if she was pondering their request. It was then that they remembered the agreement before the battle between her and Bakugo, and suddenly their expectations dropped.

"Alright. I'll teach you guys." And suddenly, their expectations were blown away.

"But, we didn't even beat you in a fight!" Ochako exclaimed.

"Sure, but I never said I wouldn't train you if you didn't win. Just by fighting the explosion boy here, I got a measure of his potential. And if you guys have half the potential he has, I got nothing to lose by training you." The thought process of a Saiyan truly was special.

But this was a big deal for the group. Something they never knew they needed was now being gifted to them. However, there was one thing they didn't account for.

And that was the months of sheer torture that Okora called "training". The training Izuku went through with All Might would look like a cake walk after this.