Hi folks! Guess who? That's right, Darken here finally bringing in a new chapter of Deku into the Multiverse. July was a tough month, so I had to sacrifice most of my writing time, but we are back! I hope you all enjoy! We are finally entering for good an Arc I've been waiting to write for a while. Fingers crossed on managing to keep up writing now that I'm back.

(XX)

"Cinema. The final evolution of creative endeavors, the pinnacle of the art that started around a campfire so many millennia ago. Telling stories. Sharing events. The real and the fictional, the divine and the lecherous, the honest and the deceitful. Have humans not always sought to share themselves and their creations with each other? And what better way than an art that incapsulates voice, storytelling, music, visual inputs and the heart and soul of each participant, from the director to the scriptwriter, to the actors and the crew?" He paused for effect, "Are we not meant to take every art to new heights? Are we not meant to make it evolve again, and again, and again? This is what we do! We tell the stories as they happen! The actors are real, the stage is alive, and the outcome is not determined by the one shouting orders from behind a chair, but by the heart and soul of the actors in the movie, and then carefully polished by scriptwriters and helps to deliver the ultimate product of beauty. A movie so real, it is reality turned into a movie." He smiled, "That, is what we are going to see today. The first act took place under the shadow of a dark tower, under the wings of an emerald dragon, under the eyes of an unfeeling magician. But also in the bloodied soil of an arena, in a dark voyage through a vast multiverse, behind the closed doors of secret organizations' hidden bases. The first act is long, dripping with set up, and combat, and the continuous construction of a cast."

He paused. The crowd was listening. Someone whispered, "He is so good with words…"

That was probably his wife. Thank you dear. He smiled, and moved on, "The second act is different. Shorter, burning with the desires of all those that in the first act came together. A clash, another, a third. Three impacts that will change the multiverse forever. And we are going to film them. You all, today, are going to film my masterpiece!" The crew cheered, "My magnum opus!" Another cheer, "And now, Aiba, let the cameras roll! Himiko, let the bees collect! Twice, on the ready! Sekigai, the Trigger is ready if your own skills aren't enough! Everyone, get ready! Get prepared! We go in for the show of our life!"

The crew cheered again, louder this time. The Director's smile grew larger still and he turned to the screens.

Whether this really was his masterpiece or not, one thing was for sure.

This was really going to be a fun movie to make.

"Where shall we start our movie, sir?" Sekigai asked, dutifully typing on her support items.

"Why, we should start with some stakes, don't you think? Show what our heroes are fighting for. Wouldn't do to let the audience forget."

-x-

Power Suit examined the Portal. "And it actually works?" He said, "Not that I doubt you, Superior, but we worked months on this. It's hard to believe in a week you managed to fix it."

"Eheh." Mastermind grinned, "This is what happens when you put together the genius of Doc Oc and the great" thunder cracked from his speakers, "MASTERMIND!"

"Do you have to do that every time?" Superior asked, before coughing in his fist, "Either way, yes, we figured it out eventually."

"How does it work?"

"Well, we figured that since the problem was directing the portal to the right world, because the current disrupts both worlds, the best solution was not treating the two worlds as moving dots, but isolating one as the starting point of an artificial web of connections, following the Octavius Law of Multiversal Transmission and applying the theory of Current Repetitivity to produce a continuous flux of small portals rather than a single static one, and then ensuring that on receiving a positive feedback it interrupts the search and enlarges to maximum capacity."

"… What?"

"It opens a small hole again and again until it finds the correct signature and opens completely."

"No I get that, but isn't that dangerous?"

"It's not a full opening of the portal, it just enters in contact with the other universe, registers the signature and moves on. Otherwise yes, it would be dangerous, but we didn't want to bring in something dangerous by accident." He smiled, "Still, with this it's done. The League can send back home every non-combatant they have."

"This is incredible." Power Suit said, "It's… fantastic. How long will it take to send back everyone."

Superior and Horizon looked at each other, and Mastermind mumbled something.

"What did you say?"

"A couple weeks…" He said a bit louder.

Power Suit blinked. "What?! But… But what about…"

"The fact is, it took about eight hours for it to find the signature of my world." Mastermind explained, "The process should grow slightly faster over time, as the web expands, but it's still not something we can fix at this state. Considering there are about eighty people to send home, even hoping some of them come from universes that the portal registers while looking for another, that's still weeks of work."

"Damn." Power Suit grimaced, "I really hoped we had the solution for the whole 'hiding non-combatants' problem. We are almost sure the enemies plan to hit today after the Tournament ends, getting them out would have been great."

"I've got it." Shoto said. He had remained quiet until then, content with listening. Mastermind looked at him.

"You did?"

"Yeah. I can't give you details though. Just know we will likely get them out before anything bad happens." Shoto smiled, "Good job on the machine. I'll send you DNA samples from everyone. Hair is enough right?"

"More than enough." Mastermind grinned, "We will get everyone home with it and some patience."

"And this place staying intact." Horizon muttered. Mastermind grimaced. Yeah, that too. He tapped the other him's shoulder.

"Don't worry." He said with a grin, "The great Mastermind has worked on something special in his free time. I'm going to show this True League the power of science."

-x-

"Rise and shine baby, we are going on an adventure!" A voice shouted in Dekiru's ear. The young man stood up suddenly on his bed, looking around in confusion.

"What…" He asked. Since the mission in the fantasy world, Dekiru had been resting and not doing much else, save of course for keeping up his training. He was sure he hadn't pushed himself to the point he would have a nightmare and wake up like that.

"Good morning." A voice said. He looked down at his chest to see a head pop out from it, another Izuku looking up at him. He screamed, and the head cackled, before it, along with the rest of his body, phased through him, and Dekiru finally realized who it was.

"Oh, i-it's you Izzzuku." He blinked, "Wait, Izzzuku?! Where have you been?! We were starting to get worried!" He said, "You just up and vanished after that big battle."

"Yeah, sorry, I had to be in some places, see some people, grow up a bit." Izzzuku replied, yawning, "Exhausting, I tell you. So, as I said, Dekiru, rise and shine. I need you to be ready for another battle."

"Is it the True League?" He asked, "We know today is probably the day."

"Well, yes and no." Izzzuku shrugged, "I need your help and a couple of others'. If we work together, we can do a lot of good stuff, and ruin the day of some bad guys. What do you think, interested?"

Dekiru sighed. "You are going to stay vague until I agree, right?"

"The vaguest of them all." He grinned, "You are like me after all. If I make you curious enough and specify it's for good, you will jump into it eventually."

Dekiru chuckled. Yeah, that was a very… himself thing to say. "Alright. So, what's the plan?" He asked, "If it helps the League, I'm all for it."

Izzzuku grinned, "We are picking up a singer and a mangaka. I figure we work from there."

"W-What?"

"No time to explain! Move it!" Izzzuku shouted, entering Dekiru's mind and making them both vanish, warped to another world. As his room disappeared, Dekiru wondered what he had thrown himself into this time.

He found at this point he was more curious than worried. The Multiverse was definitely hitting him.

-x-

Piper dodged the blow from Captain Kamino's shield, ducked low and countered with his staff, only for the captain to quickly switch the orientation of his shield, block the blow, push aside the weapon and smashing the shield down, stopping it a inch from Piper's face.

"Point for the Captain." Kitsune said, sighing, "And that's twenty for him and zero for us."

Captain Kamino scratched the back of his neck, "Uhm, sorry, I… I figured this would be good enough as exercise?"

"It is good." Piper replied, standing back up, "Just… you are really strong. Not that we have ever beaten mister Revenant either."

Cap chuckled, "Now now, I feel like comparing yourself, or me, to Revenant is a bit unfair. I have a stronger body, but he beat me too."

"But that fight was close." Piper replied, "I watched a replay, and it looked like it could have gone either way."

"I'm physically stronger." Cap said with a shrug, "It's just that, and I'm nothing special at that. If we are talking about actual training, Revenant has pretty much anyone our age beat. If we are talking about strength, Deku is stronger than I am. If we are talking about intelligence, Horizon is smarter, at least in my opinion." He shrugged, "Doesn't mean I get bothered by it. The point of training to fight the good fight isn't strength for the sake of strength, it's strength to save, protect and encourage others. You two and I? We are going to leave our marks on the world, and we decide what it is." He smiled, "And I think you two both intend to make sure it's a positive one."

Piper and Kitsune looked at each other, smiling before Kitsune spoke, "That was… a very good speech."

"Thank you, my dad taught me well." He chuckled, "I had to do a lot of speeches in my days as Captain Kamino during the Dawn of Quirks, guess some lessons stuck with me."

"They totally did." Piper sighed, "But… How do I do what you do? I'm not as physically strong or as intelligent, right?"

"I mean, I wouldn't know the second, and the first? Piper, you got magical tool. You might be 'Quirkless'," He made air quotes with his finger, "But having an extendable staff and a ring that lets you jump as high as possible seems pretty good to me. Learn to use them well, and there is nothing stopping you from becoming a Hero."

Piper felt his chest tighten. How did he say it so easily? He had wanted for so long to here someone else say those words, and here was… well, himself, but he was more than that. "Th-Thank you." He said, bowing and holding back tears.

"No problem. That said, have you considered Merino's offer?" They both looked up at Captain Kamino, "I mean, we know the League is going to hit this place. He offered to take you to some other universe, and I think you should accept."

"Should we?" Kitsune asked, "But we could help here."
"Or you could end up being in danger yourself. I said that you two have what it takes to be Heroes, but it doesn't mean you should run into any trouble you see if you aren't ready for it. You are still young."

"… We are the same age." Piper said.

"Actually, I'm fairly sure I'm a bit older." Kitsune added.

"… Touché. But I have a lot of experience with things going wrong. I almost died after all. Other people in my family did too."

"I almost died too." Piper offered. "A guy with a crystal Quirk kinda punched me hard enough it destroyed my internal organs?"

"How do you survive that?!"

"Another Quirk."

"Ah, right." Cap coughed in his fist, "Makes sense. Well, one of you was almost killed, but-"

"I was kidnapped by a bunch of criminals that fully intended to torture and kill me." Kitsune offered.

Captain Kamino stared at both of them for a long moment, before closing his eyes, taking a deep breath and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alright. Alright, definitely talking to the wrong crowd here. Fine, fine, I can't force you to change your mind. Just… be careful, alright. I know technically we all have more or less the same combat experience, but… Well, just promise me you will know when to hold and know when to retreat."

The two nodded. Somehow, it didn't fill Cap with confidence. 'I just hope they will be ok.'

-x-

"How do you all feel?" Slice asked, looking at the trio of people in front of her.

"I'm not doing too bad." The Green Scar said, cracking his neck and winching. Usagi snorted, but he just sighed, "Yeah, yeah, laugh at the conditionally four hundred years old man, let's see how you are at my age." He shook his head, "I still have some pains here and there, but I should be able to put up a good fight. Just don't toss me at another dragon, or something like that."

Canary shrugged. "I'm doing fine." He said, his voice sounding just a tad tired, "I can sing again, and even if my Quirk won't be as far-reaching for a bit longer, it will work."

"I'm on the same both as the Green Scar." Itsuka Quanteng said, "I can fight, but not on the same level I could against Izmird. At least, not if I want to still recover afterwards. I can't abuse my Qi so often without consequences."

Slice sighed, "Well, that's better than I expected."

"We have had a full week. It would be more worrying if we were still bedridden." Canary commented, "So, what's the plan for the True League for All?"

"Well, we have been following the 'Three Shields, One Spear' plan that Shoto and Power Suit came up with. It's the best bet we have. We also have collected the information that Itsuka Kendrick has passed to Ironblood, so we have managed to put together a list of possible universes where the enemy hideout is."

"Not the most encouraging."

"It's never easy when dealing with an enemy that can also travel the Multiverse. Still, we will deal with them this way. Hopefully."

Canary passed a hand through his hair, letting out a tired huff. "I really hoped I would be done with this whole 'big enemy armies' after the Paranormal Liberation War. Shows what I know. So, we just wait here?"

"You are free to choose. Paladin will be warding the medical bay to watch the people that have been marked. You can help there, join the others in the stands, or just move back to the base."

"I have to stay here." Usagi said, "Which means grandpa here is not leaving. Knowing him, if I let him out of sight for one second he will just vanish."

"Now that's not fair, I can also vanish if you are watching m- Ow!" He shouted suddenly as Usagi punched his arm, the rabbit girl glaring daggers at him, "Youngsters can't even take jokes these days."

"You do realize you are not actually hundreds of years old, right?" Canary asked.

"I'm over forty, that's pretty much the same." The man said, shrugging, "That said, can we address the elephant in the room?" He asked, pointing behind Kiruka. She frowned, turning around to see an elephant half embedded in the wall, her jaw dropping a second later.

"What?!"

The elephant snorted, twisted around, transforming into a mess of shadowy material, and turned back into Izzzuku, the dream creature cackling at her friend's expression. "Thanks man, I needed the input."

"Any day man." The Green Scar said.

"Wait, Izzzuku?! You are back!" Kiruka shouted, and then made to hug him. He off course phased through her arms, but she just smiled, "I was so worried! Where were you?!"

"Oh you know, here and there, doing stuff. Sorry for worrying everyone." He looked at Canary, "So, you are feeling better?"

"I… Yes, I'd say so."

"Great!" Izzzuku floated close to him and then turned toward Kiruka, "Alright, I'm borrowing him, I'm sure you can survive without background music, thanks bye!"

Canary made to say something, but before he could Izzzuku had already entered his head and they had both vanished, leaving the others staring at the spot where they had been just a second before.

"… You want to try and figure this out Kiruka?" Itsuka asked. Kiruka just sighed.

"No. No, I'll just suppose he is doing something important. Feels better for my sanity."

"You two are very blasé about the fact he just kidnapped Canary." Usagi said.

Kiruka shrugged, "It's Izzzuku. I trust he is doing this for the right reasons."

"And it's Canary." Itsuka added, "I trust he can get himself out of trouble." She glanced at the other side of the room, where Siren, Canary's canary, was just resting, clearly awake but not overly worried, as she stepped down from her makeshift nest and started eating from a small bowl of seeds. "Also, Siren seems fine with it. I suppose we can be."

"We are really trusting a bird's judgment here?" The Green Scar sighed, "I'll say, Mewnie is a weird place, but the Multiverse has it beat."

"Didn't you fight a pigeon army?" Usagi asked.

"That is beside the point."

-x-

Revenant tapped at the keyboard of the laptop like a madman. Tap-tap-tap-taptaptaptaptap-tap-taptap-tap, the keys kept bouncing up and down as he pressed one button after another. Hacking wasn't the flashy business movies liked to depict it has, but it could require a lot of work if someone wasn't used to the coding program, and Revenant just wasn't. This was a completely alien language, and he was trying to push his way past the security of the files to reach the data he hoped was there.

'And I'm making no fucking progress.' He grumbled, as he realized he had made a mistake somewhere when he tried to enter the code and the system warned him he had broken something. He frantically undid the edit and leaned back on the chair. "Uuuugh."

The truth was, Revenant would have really preferred if he could access the data from here. Once he made it in, he could easily steal Sugoh's location and then just lose on purpose to Zombie. He got to kill his torturer, Zombie got to save his world, and everyone lived happily ever after. Ideal ending.

Unfortunately, it turned out he was dealing with the most asinine coding language he had ever encountered. It was like it was purposefully evolving to keep him out. Which was possible, he supposed, he couldn't discount the idea they had magically enchanted code or a super powerful IA making sure that there wasn't a backdoor entrance in their system.

But it still didn't solve his problem. He had been through Raccoon City, during his time in the simulation. He had a lot of experience with superpowered zombies. And the idea of causing people in that same situation to go without help – no, worse situation, he reminded himself, because he at least wouldn't have died when the zombie would tear him apart, he just feel a lot of pain – was nauseating. Whether he was Revenant, or the naïve little Deku, Revenant still wanted to be a Hero. Maybe it was spite for Sugoh's plans, maybe it was clinging to his wishes from before the Simulation, but he wanted to be one.

Not very heroic of him to let people die. And yet, he couldn't just let this end with his defeat. What was he supposed to do, ignore his one chance of killing Sugoh and Shigaraki? It wasn't just vengeance, though admittedly that was his main drive. Sugoh had already proved at Hosu how dangerous his improvements on those Noumu things could be. How many people would die each time he used them. Taking him out would save more lives.

Revenant gritted his teeth and kept typing. He still had six hours before the finals. It had to be enough.

-x-

Zombie swung his axe, the weapon crashing in the dummy and splitting the head in half, then grabbed the book and switched into the Werewolf. He sliced the target's chest and jumped back, before switching page again. The bow appeared in Centaur's hand and he pulled the string, the arrow materializing as he did. Again. Again. Again. The first arrow hit the back of the second with enough strength to split it in two like in that old Robin Hood story, and the third hit split the second the same way. He flipped pages again, turning into Goblin, poisoned daggers producing steam as they entered the ribs of the mannequin.

He panted, removed the bookmark and reverted back into himself. Zombie looked at the mangled remains of his opponent, if one could call it that. It was a good exercise in switching quickly, but it really didn't serve much against Revenant, given he was slippery enough that if Zombie could pin him down to execute a combo like this, he had to have already been knocked unconscious.

'The thing I have to keep in mind is that Revenant can take a beating.' He thought, pulling the axe out of the mannequin and slipping it back into its holster, 'I can't go in thinking I'm fighting a human. If I don't treat him like I'm fighting a powered zombie, I will pay the price.' That was the real reason behind Haimawari's defeat. He had tried to hold back, maybe even just subconsciously, because he didn't quite realize just how much Revenant could be pushed before he broke. 'I can't kill him, but I need to go at it with enough killing intent to not hesitate in delivering as strong a blow as possible. Man, tournaments are a tricky thing.' Not that he wanted to have to fight Revenant to the death, of course. He was a gloomy one, but surprisingly fun under all the boiling anger. Definitely Hero material, though he would probably never be as popular as the ones that were all sunshine and smiles.

He shook his head. No the time to think about that. What mattered was the here and now. He took a deep breath and his hand slipped in his coat, before a pair of axes flew out and planted themselves in the mannequin's legs. 'That could work, if I can hit him.' He considered. 'I guess we will see tomorrow. At least, I have a couple of monsters I've never used against him. It should count for something.'

And then there was the black page.

He studied it, trying to figure out what it meant. It had never been in the book before, he was sure of it. Touching it, it felt no different from every other, but it was entirely black, not a trace of paper under the thick ink. He had only noticed while flipping the book, though he could think of only one fight that could be the cause of its appearance.

'What happened Huanli?' He wondered, 'And what does this mean?'

As it always did, the Book of Evil offered no answers.

-x-

All for Deku watched dawn break from atop the roof of one of the Paranormal Liberation Front bases. Like the Gunga villa they had abandoned, this location was hidden within the mountains. According to Re-Destro, the hideout was a reserve that hadn't been in use while Hawks was spying on them, and only him, Trumpet and Skeptic were aware of its location at the time, so the chances of Hawks finding out about it were slim to none.

"It's done, sir." A voice said from behind him. He turned to glance at Shuichi Iguchi, his bodyguard, standing behind him on the roof.

"Good." All for Deku smiled, leaning back and stretching his arms, "Did the two Dabi figure out who is getting to kill Endeavor?"

"I believe the younger one has pointed out that having the actual son do it would be worse for Endeavor, which shut up our Dabi." Iguchi sighed, "I swear, we really need to help him find his father's hideout."

"All in time, Shuichi. With our new sources, we have a lot of High-Ends and Villains to add to our hunt. Today we break this world's resistance by taking out the whole Top 10, and then we deal the finishing blow to Alien King's. Mine can wait, unless Compress said something I should know."

"Nothing out of the norm, sir. Though, the ex-Heroes have been a bit silent."

All for Deku tapped his fingers on his knee rhythmically, while thinking. He had been away from home for a while, hadn't he? Besides going back to recover the Noumu and let Iguchi catch up, he had spent most of his time in this universe. "They are probably realizing I'm busy with something else."

"Should we do something?"

"No, I trust Compress and the others with this. They will deal with them." All for Deku stood up, "Let's not overthink things. I already have to worry about why I seem able to only travel between three universes."

"You think there is more?"

"I know there is more. Besides the fact that Deku seems to have vanished completely, there is also that 'Star Might' we know about, meaning there is at least another universe out there that can reach these three." He looked up at the sky, "I guess we will see. All I can do is what I do best right?" He raised his hand, extending it toward the rising sun and closing it, "I'll conquer. We will see where we go from there."

"So, you and Alien King are really going?"

"Yes, we have a jet prepared. It's gonna be fun. I've always wanted to go to America." All for Deku said.

"You have always wanted New Order."

All for Deku chuckled, "Can you blame me? I love Quirks, you know? It's always been my greatest regret that Star&Stripe destroyed it. All I have to do is beat Alien King to it."

"You agreed the first that steals it gets to keep the original, right?"

"Only way to make it fair." All for Deku replied. "Come on, Shuichi, let's go brief the others on their targets. We will strike simultaneously the Top 10 and the American Number One. We need to be professional about it."

-x-

"Just three hours." Itsuka the Witch said, waving her wand as a cup of coffee floated towards her. "Frankly, I can't wait for this to be over."

"Me neither." Setsuna replied, the Lizard Witch biting into her lunch. The fried tarantulas crunched under her sharp teeth, bits of spider falling on her clothes.

"Can you not eat like an uncivilized animal?" Itsuka asked.

"Can you not disturb me while I'm eating my favorite snack?" Setsuna retorted, earning an eye roll from the other witch, "So, are the others ready?"

"Yes. Everything is in place and everyone knows their objective."

"The League knows we are coming?"

"They figured it out days ago, as expected." She smiled, "As expected, after all. Now we just need to make sure we hit them hard and crush their resistance. With the League gone, the Multiverse will be ours."

Setsuna grinned, sharp teeth giving it the look of a predator waiting to hunt its quarry. Which Itsuka supposed she was. "And once that's done, Ozuku will be no more! No more pesky Midoriyas, no more disgusting All for Ones! It will be a perfect world for us witches to take over!"

"I appreciate the megalomania, but let's not just jump ahead. We need to survive today. Plans never survive contact with the enemy and all that."

"Yeah, yeah." Setsuna finished her last tarantula, sighing in happiness, "Relax, Itsuka. The True League will win. The Multiverse is ours."

Itsuka really wanted to share her optimism, but she knew that Midoriya always had a way to get himself out of the terrible situations he threw himself in. She had the feeling it might not be limited to just the Ozuku she knew. Shaking her head, she stood up.

"Come on, let's go." Itsuka said, "I want to check on everyone one last time."

Better safe than sorry, after all.

-x-

The Director smiled as the first fight of the night begun.

The stage was set, the actors in place. As Deku entered the field and Haimawari faced him, the two One for All users studying each other as they prepared for their fight for the third place, he smiled.

Stage set. Actors ready. Camera rolling.

"Begin!" The announcer Izuku shouted in the Arenaverse.

And the curtain raised on the day that would be known as the Great Battle for the Multiverse.

(XX)

Alright, and we will stop here today. Guest list, as usual:
Superior from Superior Legacy by Saint Danielle
Mastermind from Villain Notebook for the Future by Mean and Turf
Horizon from Horizon: Star Driven by Rogue Druid
Captain Kamino from Kamino's Ward by tunafishprincess
Pied Piper from Pied Piper by blackholeca
Kitsune from Quirked by armoryofstars
Canary from Canary by cloud_nine_and_three_quarters
The Green Scar from The Green Scar worlbuilding thread by Quantum01 and The Green Scar by Pro-man
Revenant from Locked in Digitial by Rogue Druid

So yeah, we are back, we are ready, and we are diving right in! Two fights in the Arenaverse, the last two friendly one for... a while at least. Hope you are all ready.