BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. MY HERO ACADEMIA DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. I'M SO MISERABLE AFTER LAST CHAPTER THAT I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING FUNNY TO SAY. I'M SAD…

Dear readers…

I'm still not sorry about last chapter. Nyahaha!

My Alien Academia

Chapter 49

Crisis Ends, Part 1

Bellwood

Ben fell on his back, narrowly avoiding the talon that would have cut his head off. He rolled to the side to dodge again, and hissed in pain when he wasn't quite as fast the second time. Before the abomination—with too many joints, claws and teeth to be natural—could strike again, it was hit by five different-colored beams of energy and destroyed.

"Thanks," Ben said to his girlfriends, and painfully rose to his feet.

"No problem, Ben," Apacci said with a grin, but her usual arrogance was forced. "Are you okay?"

Ben grimaced as he felt the wound on his back slowly close up. "Let's just say that I'm really glad I heal fast."

"We've lost contact with Ichigo's team," Harribel said; she was the most composed out of all of them, but they all knew she was worried. "Urahara said something about fighting their way to Soul Society when his call was cut off."

"We'll try to join them once we're done here." Ben tried not to wince when another building collapsed. "Bellwood's a mess. Nelliel, did Kevin evacuate the family?"

The former Tercera Espada nodded. "I saw him taking them off the planet before I was attacked, but I'm sure they're safe."

"Good, that's…" Ben ran his fingers through his hair. "That's something, I guess."

"At least these things can be killed, right?" Mila Rose grinned and spun her sword. "It's not like we're out of options."

Apacci laughed. "Yeah, we've got this!"

Sung-Sun huffed behind her sleeve. "As much as I hate to agree with the gorilla and the fool, we are holding our own."

"What'd you call us!?" the other two members of the Tres Bestias shouted.

"Enough," Harribel said sternly, and her former subordinates snapped to attention. "There are more enemies approaching. Ben, what would be our best option?"

Ben heard a now-familiar shattering sound, directly above them. "First thing would be to move!"

Apacci looked up at the breach in the sky, and the thousands of monsters that poured from it. "What was that about holding our own, Sung-Sun?"

"Oh, shut up."

Nelliel swallowed. "We're not going to make it out of this, are we?"

"Only if we give up." Ben smiled at them all, then raised the Ultimatrix. "Once more, with feeling: it's Hero Time!"

…

Midoriya Izuku was not having a good day; in fact, this was turning out to be one of the worst days he'd had in a long time.

It might also be his last day, but he tried not to think about that too hard.

"Deku! Move your ass!"

"R-right! Sorry, Kacchan!" One For All filled his body—the twenty percent he could reliably use, at any rate—and kicked out. "St. Louis Smash!"

The thing that walked on two arms he was fighting finally stopped shrieking when Midoriya's foot caved in its skull.

When this strange invasion had started a few hours ago, Midoriya had thought it was an army of Nomus, sent by Shigaraki to finish what he'd started at the USJ. But these creatures radiated a sense of wrongness that no Nomu had produced before—and Nomus tended to regenerate, while these things looked like they were rotting before his eyes. Despite that, they were strong, and there were so damn many of them.

"Midoriya! Bakugo!" Aizawa shouted to be heard over the fighting; whatever these things were, they were immune to his Quirk, so he'd become a field commander, rather than a fighter. "The next level of defenses is ready! Fall back!"

Bakugo launched himself into the air with a twin explosion, then rocketed over to the barricade; Midoriya needed an extra kick off the ceiling to get the same kind of momentum, but was still only a heartbeat behind Bakugo.

"Good job," Aizawa muttered. "That bought us a few more minutes. We've just got to hold out until the other Heroes fight their way into the school."

"And how much longer is that gonna take?" Bakugo demanded.

Aizawa shrugged. "I have no idea. Until then, we're falling back to Gym Alpha. You two are with me; we'll link up with Present Mic's team on the way."

Midoriya was eager to do just that; more than a few of his classmates were in the other teacher's team, and he was getting worried about them. He and Bakugo followed after Aizawa down hallways that, until a few hours ago, had been packed with students going about their daily lives. Seeing those same hallways empty and cracked from constant shaking bothered him in a way he couldn't describe.

Fortunately, they found Present Mic and his team unharmed; Midoriya shared a tired wave with Ashido, Todoroki and Jiro.

"How did it go?" Aizawa asked brusquely.

"Not too bad," the other teacher said, his usual enthusiasm masking the anxiety he had to be feeling. "We brought the party to those freaks from a nice, safe distance."

Ashido beamed. "Yep! These guys were so good, I only had to use my acid on one of those monsters!"

Todoroki hardly seemed bothered, which was typical for him, but Jiro looked smug. "Yeah, we rocked that show."

The moment was ruined when the building rocked violently to one side, and with a deafening noise, the ceiling was ripped away by a massive arm. Midoriya heard someone scream, and couldn't be sure it wasn't him. He had seen the owner of that arm earlier in the day, but it had been drawn away from the school by a team of Heroes. To see it here meant that it had decided to ignore those Heroes… or it had killed them.

"Drive it back!" Aizawa shouted.

Midoriya raised his arms and charged up One For All. "Air Force!"

Air-pressure bullets punched into the enormous hand, as did a wave of acid, explosions, and spikes of ice. The attacks tore small chunks of flesh from the arm, which was discouraging, but it still receded through the hole it had made.

"Oh, thank everything," Ashido sighed.

"Is…" Midoriya looked around. "Is everyone okay?"

"No," Aizawa said curtly, and held a bleeding body in his arms. "Jiro is hurt. Let's get her to Recovery Girl."

Midoriya felt his stomach drop when he saw blood trickling down Jiro's forehead; she had taken a piece of debris to her head when the ceiling had collapsed. He and Jiro weren't exactly close, but she was a member of his class, and he cared about all of them.

"T-Todoroki-san, can you prop up the debris with your ice?" he asked. "Maybe we can make a tunnel out of here."

Todoroki nodded. "Good idea. Give me a minute."

"Hey, extras!" Bakugo pointed up. "I don't think we were the ones who drove that bastard back."

Midoriya peered through the hole, and saw the giant monster flailing about, trying to hit a much smaller target that flew around it, while blasting waves of fire.

"Is that Endeavor?" he asked.

Todoroki paused for a moment. "No, he's in Kyushu right now. There's no way he made it here so fast."

Midoriya frowned as he tried to recall all the Heroes he knew about with fire-based Quirks. He started mumbling under his breath, only for Bakugo to shove him forward.

"Icy-Hot made the stupid tunnel, Deku, get moving."

"R-right, sorry!"

After a few more minutes of walking, the two teams made their way to Gym Alpha, which the rest of the teachers and Hero Course students had turned into their main base. Aizawa handed Jiro off to Recovery Girl, then made his way over to Nezu to make his report.

"Deku-kun, are you guys okay?" Uraraka asked as she and Iida jogged over.

"Yeah, we're fine, Uraraka-san," Midoriya said. "I think Jiro-san only has a concussion; her injuries didn't look that serious."

Uraraka sighed. "That's a relief."

Midoriya nodded; honestly, it was a minor miracle that nobody in UA had been seriously hurt. There were a few fractures and sprains among the General Studies students during the initial attack, but the Hero Course students had been remarkably lucky. None of their injuries were bad enough to take them off the front lines for more than a few minutes, thanks to Recovery Girl.

As if the universe heard him, the gym shook; there were screams as something broke through the ceiling and crashed to the floor. Midoriya nearly let out Blackwhip from the suddenness of what had happened; instead, he grabbed the nearest student and jumped away from the falling debris.

If it hadn't felt like the world was ending, he would have been profoundly embarrassed to know that he was carrying Uraraka bridal-style.

It wasn't simple structural instability that had caused the ceiling to collapse. One of the monsters, the kind that walked on its hands, had cushioned the fall of the person who proceeded to kill it with one savage stomp. She was a girl, not much taller than Midoriya, in a red bodysuit that had a blue upside-down omega on the chest; she had shoulder-length brown hair, and a red gauntlet around her left wrist.

"Sorry to drop in like this," the girl said in English, "but I wasn't sure where to take this garbage." She looked up, and brought her hands to her mouth. "Guys, the party is down here!"

Four more people dropped down from the hole in the ceiling. Two, a girl around Midoriya's age, and an old man, wore hulking suits of armor that they used to fly. There was also a teenage boy with black hair that rode on a translucent platform of pink energy, projected by a red-haired girl who seemed to be partially made of that same energy.

The brunette girl frowned. "Where the hell is Izuku?"

Midoriya started, and then raised his hand. "M-me?"

The girl looked at him and laughed tiredly. "Not you. The other one."

Before Midoriya could apologize, the ceiling broke again—this time, however, half of the far wall went with it. The giant monster—a vaguely humanoid thing with bruise-blue skin and bony spikes coming out of its shoulders—crashed to the ground. Standing on top of its head was a humanoid tiger, who was in the process of punching the thing's skull into mush.

"I… I think it's dead," Midoriya said uneasily.

"Yeah, so do I," the girl said, then cupped her hands around her mouth. "Izuku! Knock it off!"

"One second!" the tiger-man shouted back, and then continued punching. "This is for… and the thing… and because… ARGH!"

"Is he all right?" Midoriya asked.

"He's been better," the girl sighed. "He just needs to blow off some steam."

After several more minutes of turning the monster's head from a solid to a liquid, the tiger-man staggered over to them. He was breathing heavily, but he looked just a little less angry.

"Okay, I'm done," he said, and then Midoriya shielded his eyes from a flash of green light.

When it faded, Midoriya wasn't the only one who was staring. His costume was different, and his eyes even more so, but there was no mistaking who they were looking at.

"I guess we need to explain a few things," a second Midoriya Izuku said.

…

It felt like hours, but Midoriya knew that only twenty minutes had passed while he had given his story to his counterpart. He put more effort into keeping his eyes locked with the other Izuku—eyes that had never been changed—and not glancing at the faces of people he knew were dead in his own universe. Even so, he couldn't help but notice some differences between them and his friends.

There was no closeness between Asui and Sero, nor Todoroki and Ashido. Had they not started dating in this universe? Had they even gotten to know each other well enough to think about it?

Iida stood apart from most of the students, and was just trying to corral them during his story. There was no watchful eye over his counterpart that Midoriya knew his Iida tried to hide.

Yaoyorozu was still holding herself in that way she used to do when she was less confident. That had completely faded after the raid on the Eight Precepts. Maybe this Momo hadn't fought on the front lines during that mission, or maybe hadn't been there at all.

And Uraraka… she stood near his counterpart, but there were no subtle nudges to remind him that she was there. Her right arm was still flesh and blood, and she wasn't trying to slip that hand into her boyfriend's left. As much as it hurt to see, Midoriya didn't think that she and his counterpart were dating.

The worst part was that, where the Rising Stars were as close as family, and would have grouped up to support Midoriya as he was confronted with such monumental information, there was just… nothing. Maybe his counterpart didn't have that level of friendship with them—or maybe the Rising Stars hadn't formed at all.

That hurt. That hurt more than he could bear, so he focused all his attention on his counterpart's eyes.

"So, anyway, that's what's going on," he said, using all his willpower to sound emotionless. "My world, my whole universe, is gone. The best chance we have of fixing it is here."

"That's…" The other Izuku scratched the back of his head. "That's a lot to take in."

The other Uraraka raised her hand. "I have a question?"

"Yes?"

Don't look at her face. Whatever you do, don't look at her face.

"How come you and Deku have different Quirks?"

Midoriya sighed, and pulled back his sleeve to show the Omnitrix. "I got this a while back. It lets me turn into aliens. Every universe is different, so I'm going to assume that you got One For All?"

Other-Izuku flinched. "How do you—"

"In my universe, Mirio got it after Sir Nighteye convinced All Might he was a worthy successor." Midoriya noticed another flinch. "What happened?"

"Sir Nighteye is dead," Other-Izuku said. "And Togata-san lost his Quirk when he got shot by a Quirk-destroying bullet. It happened during the raid on the Eight Precepts."

Now it was Midoriya's turn to be surprised. "Oh. That didn't happen with me."

"What's One For All?" Ashido asked, and it made Midoriya's heart clench to see her—even if it wasn't the girl who called herself his twin—alive and intact.

"We literally do not have time to explain every detail," Luthor cut in. "You survived the first wave of Vilgax's monsters, but their numbers are nearly infinite. Sooner or later, this universe will be destroyed."

Bakugo scoffed. "We killed those freaks easy enough."

"Really?" Luthor glanced back at the crater made by the giant monster's corpse. "And I suppose you were just humoring that one? Making it feel good about itself before you crushed it? Oh, wait, we dealt with it, not you."

For a moment, Bakugo seemed like an angry Pomeranian, not a human being, but a hand on his head from Aizawa kept him from saying anything. "If you're so convinced that the entire universe is doomed, why are you here?"

Julie sighed. "Again, time is kind of a factor here—"

"In more ways than one," Kevin cut in.

Julie ignored him. "—so to keep things short, there's someone on this Earth who can help us fix this mess. We really only helped out because Izuku—sorry, our Izuku—needed to blow off some steam."

"You guys were fighting just as hard as I was," Midoriya said, but he was too drained to sound more than a little accusatory.

"True," Julie admitted. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel good every time we killed one of those monsters."

Other-Izuku raised his hand. "I'm s-sorry, but who are you looking for? A Pro Hero, right? Maybe someone like Endeavor, or Hawks—or maybe someone with a more subtle Quirk…"

So this is what it's like to be on the other side of that, Midoriya thought. It's even more awkward than I thought it was.

"It's not a Pro Hero," he interrupted. "We need Eri."

Midoriya watched with mild fascination at the counterparts' reactions; like a switch had been thrown, they all went from confused, scared and intrigued to suspicious and hostile. It seemed that this Class 1-A was as fiercely protective of Eri as his own class had been.

"What do you want with a six-year-old girl?" Uraraka almost snarled at him—and, wow, did that hurt more than Midoriya expected.

"We're not entirely sure," Gwen admitted with a sigh. "All we know is that we can't do this without her."

"And we're supposed to take your word on that?" Aizawa asked. "You can't be serious."

"Most of the time, I'm not," Kevin said. "This time, we're all very serious."

"And since time is not on our side," Luthor added, "we won't be able to convince you. So we'll be taking the child with us."

"Like hell you are!" Other-Izuku shouted, much to his classmates' surprise.

To be fair, if I was in his position, I'd be just as angry, Midoriya admitted to himself.

"Wait, why are you telling us this?" Yaoyorozu asked. "You could have just taken Eri while we were busy fighting."

"We could have," Midoriya said—and this time, he had to look her in the eye, because she was wearing the first version of her costume, and looking anywhere else would have felt wrong. It still hurt, though. "But, like Julie said, we needed to blow off some steam."

"And talking to you made this whole operation easier," Gwen said. "Haven't you noticed that someone isn't here?"

Aizawa looked over the group, and his eyes went wide. "You clever bastards."

Midoriya almost laughed. "From you, Aizawa-sensei, I'll take that as a compliment."

…

"Hey, is this room taken?" Jen smiled as she opened the door. "Oh, it is. Hi, I'm Jen Tennyson."

Togata stood up from his seat; he tried to smile back, but there was a wariness there that Jen hadn't seen in the young man she'd known. "Hi, I'm Togata Mirio, and this is Eri."

Jen hadn't gotten to know the Eri from her Midoriya's universe—and wasn't that a confusing thought—but she could see that the little girl was more timid than the one who had basically been adopted by Midoriya and Uraraka. Still, she waved shyly from behind a chair.

"H-hello," Eri said softly.

"Don't worry, I'm one of the good guys," Jen said—though, considering what she was about to do, she certainly didn't feel like it. "Things are kinda scary right now, aren't they?"

"Yeah," Togata said, and Jen noticed how he was subtly trying to put himself between her and Eri. "All those big monsters running around is kinda crazy."

"That's why I'm here," Jen said. "My friends and I figured out how to stop all the monsters and save the day. We just needed to come here and get one last piece of the puzzle."

Togata blinked. "Oh! You and your friends are Heroes?"

"Well… most of us are, but things are bad enough that we have to work with people we really don't like." Jen shrugged. "Anyway, we were following the clues, and they brought us here. To you, actually."

"Me?" Togata scratched his head. "But I don't even have my Quirk anymore."

"I wasn't talking to you, Mirio." Jen knelt so that she could look Eri in the eye. "I was talking to her."

Eri pointed to herself. "B-but what can I do?"

"We're not really sure," Jen admitted, "but you're the only person in the whole world who can make all the bad monsters go away. So I need you to come with me, and—"

Togata grabbed her by the shoulder. "Whoa, hold on! I'm not about to let Eri go off with some strangers, just because you say so!"

Jen sighed. "Yeah, I figured you'd say that."

Togata might not have had his Quirk, but he still had well-honed reflexes, and started moving almost before Jen did. But she could move with super-speed, and he couldn't, so he was unable to avoid the finger that jabbed into a pressure point, and he fell limp. Jen caught him before he hit the ground, and turned to Eri.

"He's okay," she said to the scared little girl, as serious as she'd ever been. "I won't hurt you, and as soon as we're done saving everyone, we will bring you right back here. I promise."

Jen wasn't sure what this Eri had gone through, but whether it was her words, or the conviction with which she spoke them, Eri nodded.

"Okay."

"N-no…" Jen sighed when Togata managed to crawl over and grab her ankle. "You're not… taking her!"

"Look, I really don't want to hurt you, but you're being stubborn." Jen knelt and drew back her fist to knock out the stubborn boy.

"Hey, hey, Mirio, we brought snacks for you and Eri!" The door slid open, and Amajiki and Hado walked in; they froze when they saw what Jen was about to do.

"Um…" Jen sighed again. "Okay, this is exactly what it looks like."

…

Gwen nailed Aizawa in the face with a blast of Mana; that got him to close his eyes long enough for Midoriya to turn into Four Arms and hit his teacher's counterpart hard enough to knock him out.

They had discussed this before arriving in this universe; they weren't sure what the rules were regarding the origins of Quirks, so they couldn't be sure if Aizawa could erase Midoriya's aliens or not. Rather than take chances, they needed to drop him first.

The next target was Midoriya's own counterpart; that hadn't specifically been part of the plan, but he had warned his teammates about the dangers of whoever wielded One For All. Luthor blasted the other Midoriya in the chest with his cannons; without his Quirk active to soften the blow, he was winded and out of the fight, at least for a few precious minutes.

The two final dangers for the operation were Bakugo and Todoroki. Fortunately, Julie's armor could blast apart the ice and withstand the fire of the latter, and Kevin had the former's number. He absorbed a layer of stone, and then covered that in another layer of steel; the two levels of protection were enough to power through Bakugo's explosions. He grabbed Bakugo by one arm and slammed him into the ground hard enough to crack the floor. To his credit, Bakugo didn't stop fighting until Kevin punched him seven more times in the face.

"Where the heck is Jen!?" Kevin shouted. "I don't want to fight an army of superheroes today, if I can help it!"

"Sorry I'm late!" As if the multiverse was finally cutting them a break, Jen crashed through a wall; she was at her full size, with Eri clutched in one hand. Her other hand was busy swatting Hado into the floor. "Had a few unexpected snags to deal with."

Four Arms tried not to wince when he saw Eri; it was too easy to forget that this wasn't his Eri, the girl he'd practically adopted, that he'd gone to war against an entire criminal organization to save.

The girl that no longer existed.

"We're done here," he said, his voice hollow. "Constantine, bring us home."

The last thing Midoriya saw of this universe was his counterpart charging forward, One For All at full power. There was determination on his face, but also despair, because he knew he wouldn't be able to save Eri from someone who had his face.

He tried not to think about the pain he'd inflicted on people who should have been his friends. He failed.

…

"Well, mission accomplished, kiddos." Constantine wiped his hands, then reached into his coat to draw out a flask. "I'm gonna get drunk, and then I'm gonna see how the girl and the stuff you stole will save the multiverse. Let me know when you lot need me to send you off again."

"Thanks," Kevin grunted, and shuffled over to the stack of crates he'd claimed days ago as a makeshift bed.

Midoriya had asked him why he didn't sleep inside the Rustbucket. Kevin had replied that the only places he could sleep were the cockpit, which was uncomfortable, were claimed by the girls, or had been occupied by Ben. After that, Midoriya had wisely decided to leave Kevin alone.

"Hey, Izuku." Midoriya turned to face Jen, and tried not to look Eri in the eye. "I'm gonna help the kid settle in. Can you see if Luthor has a timetable yet? And think about bringing Gwen, just in case Luthor starts mouthing off and you need him teleported into the sun."

"I'll keep that in mind." Honestly, Midoriya had heard so many insults to Luthor that he had grown numb to it all by now. That, and he didn't have enough energy to care about anything other than the mission.

Midoriya headed over to his own little corner of the hangar for a moment to decompress. He tossed his hoodie and visor onto a crate and rubbed at his eyes until they were sore. The last two days had been one emotional gut-punch after another; losing his entire universe, and then being forced to interact with their counterparts was giving him mental and emotional whiplash.

He slapped himself a few times. Come on, focus. We've got the last piece of the puzzle, so I can't drop the ball when we're so close to bringing everyone back!

Midoriya didn't bother to put his entire costume back on, and just headed for Luthor's lab. This entire section of the Watchtower had been cleared out since the mission had begun, though the occasional Leaguer and Titan would drop by. Usually, they were only delivering food or needed supplies, but they would sometimes ask if the team needed extra help. They were denied each time, usually by Constantine; he said that the multiverse had chosen its champions, and it would be a bad idea to throw a wrench into plans like that.

Luthor was already out of his armor and sipping a cup of coffee when Midoriya arrived in the lab, and had a particularly disgruntled look on his face.

"Is something wrong?" Midoriya asked.

Luthor scoffed. "A few decades ago, I was one of the wealthiest men on the planet. A single cup of the coffee I drank daily was worth more than some people made in a month. Compared to that, this… is utter garbage."

"I wouldn't know," Midoriya said. "I prefer tea."

"I also had expensive teas."

"Okay, that I know; a friend of mine is rich, and she insisted we all have the best teas."

Luthor chuckled. "So, you can be a little self-indulgent. I was beginning to think you were selfless to a fault."

Midoriya moved his seat closer, then scrunched up his nose when he smelled Luthor's coffee. While it was true that he didn't drink it, he smelled it almost every day when Aizawa entered the classroom. The man might have looked like a scruffy hobo, but he appreciated good coffee. Compared to what Aizawa drank, Luthor was right; his coffee was crap.

"How bad are things now?"

Luthor sighed and tapped at his computer. "At this point, we have maybe twenty-four hours before Vilgax doesn't have to destroy universes himself; the destructive resonance will be irreversible."

"Do you think Vilgax will come here?"

"Perhaps before the very end." Luthor closed his eyes for a moment. "We know he hates this universe's Ben Tennyson, and facing him after ensuring his total victory is the smart thing to do."

"Please don't praise him, he killed all of my friends." Midoriya sighed. "So, we have one day before the end of everything. That kind of puts things in perspective."

"I suppose it does." Luthor shrugged. "I'd suggest you say your goodbyes to your loved ones, but I don't think you have any left."

"I'd rather say hello, after we bring them all back."

"That's assuming that's what will happen," Luthor warned. "We are pinning our hopes on a prophecy, mystical artifacts, and a traumatized girl who can't even control her powers. I prefer to have more reliable resources when beginning a project."

"Well, that's all we have," Midoriya argued. "At this point, we don't have time for a better plan."

"I think Vilgax knows this," Luthor said. "There's a good chance that he is aware of what we have, and has a better idea of how we want to use them."

"Which means we have to be careful," Midoriya said, not-quite agreeing with Luthor, and sighed. "I just wish we knew how powerful Vilgax himself is. I asked Gwen and Kevin, and all they said was that nothing they had in their universe could stop him."

"That does make things more difficult." Luthor leaned back in his chair. "When I was trying to destroy Superman, I would spend weeks, or even months, analyzing every scrap of information. Every time he displayed a new level of power, I would work on how best to counter it. Of course, none of my plans succeeded; I found that he was either holding back, or someone would come to help him."

Midoriya nodded; for most of his life, he had studied Heroes and their Quirks. By that logic, he had also studied their weaknesses; as much as he wanted to deny it, if he really wanted to, he knew he had an alien that would let him dismantle hundreds of different Heroes. This time, there was nothing to study; they could only hope that Vilgax could be beaten at all.

"I'll let the others know that we have less than twenty-four hours," he said, and rose to his feet. "Tell me if anything changes, okay?"

Luthor just waved him off, and resumed drinking his coffee. "See if you can't get something decent down here while you're at it."

…

Kevin took a deep breath. "So. Twenty-four hours, huh?"

"Less than that," Midoriya clarified. "If we cut things too close, Vilgax has a better chance of beating us."

Gwen's glowing eye flickered for a moment. "Did Constantine figure out what we need to do?"

"Just that we need all three, uh…" Jen glanced at Eri, now asleep on a pile of blankets. "Elements of the ritual. He'll take care of the rest, as soon as he figures out where we need to go, because we can't just do this here, apparently."

Kevin scoffed. "Yeah, because that would be too easy."

"And how long will it take for Constantine to do his part?" Julie asked.

A cough from behind her made her jump; she glared at Constantine, who was holding the journal Midoriya and Togata had found in one hand, and a mostly-empty bottle in the other.

"Now, actually, love." Constantine grinned, and Midoriya wrinkled his nose; he could smell the alcohol on the man's breath from here. "Wake up the kid, we've got work to do."

Jen gently shook Eri to wake her up, while Gwen and Kevin got Luthor. It took the latter a few minutes to get his armor ready, but the entire team was assembled soon enough.

Midoriya adjusted his visor and drew up his hood. "Okay, Constantine, what next?"

Constantine took one last swig from his bottle, then tossed it aside and pulled a piece of chalk from inside his coat. "Give me a minute, lad."

He used the chalk to draw a large circle on the floor, along with symbols that hurt Midoriya's eyes if he stared at them for too long. There were also nine smaller circles—seven surrounding three, with the three arranged in a triangle.

"All right, here's what's going to happen," Constantine said. "First, you champion lot are going to stand on one of the outer circles, doesn't matter where, and I'll be with you as well. Then the girl and the stuff you stole will be in the center."

"And that'll trigger some mystical ritual, and we're done?" Jen asked.

"Not on your life, love," Constantine said wearily. "No, this is just a transportation ritual, with some added enchantments to get us there safely."

"Get us where?" Gwen demanded.

Constantine smirked. "The beginning of time."

Jen was silent for a long moment. "Well, we're dead."

Midoriya blinked. "What? Why?"

"There's a law of reality itself," Jen said. "Nobody can see the beginning of time. Don't know why, or who figured it out, but it's the one place even time travelers can't go."

"Normally, that would be the case," Constantine agreed. "But right now, old Vilgax has done us a favor—he's done so much damage to the multiverse that the barriers around the beginning of time are almost totally gone."

"That sounds bad," Kevin observed.

"Oh, it definitely is," Constantine said. "But the entire goddamn multiverse is falling apart, so it's not like we can break it more." He noticed that Jen, Gwen and Midoriya were glaring at him. "What?"

Gwen's eyes narrowed, her hands over Eri's ears. "Do not swear in front of the child."

Constantine sighed. "Ugh, you lot are just as bad as Zatanna."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Jen said. "Now, anything else we should know before going to the beginning of freaking time?"

"How should I know?" Constantine asked. "It's not like I go there on holiday."

Eri flinched, but Midoriya took her hand, and smiled at her. "Don't worry. We'll keep you safe."

"O-okay."

With a little more prompting from Constantine, everyone got into their designated spots; Gwen carefully deposited the two artifacts near Eri, and then closed her eyes.

"You okay?" Kevin asked, and reached over to take her hand.

"Just… tired," Gwen said. "I want to get this over with and go home. I want to see my parents, Grandpa Max, and Ben."

Kevin's grip on her hand tightened. "Yeah, so do I."

Constantine gave everyone a quick onceover to ensure that they were in the right spot, and then began to chant. Midoriya didn't recognize the language, and the Omnitrix wasn't able to translate, but after a few seconds, a blue barrier appeared around them all, stopping at the edge of the circle.

Then the Watchtower vanished, replaced with the empty void of space.

"Ah!" Midoriya flailed for a moment. "What's going on? How are we not floating away? For that matter, how can we breathe?"

Jen laughed. "Dude, it's magic. Don't try to understand it, or your head will explode."

Luthor frowned. "Something is wrong. I recognize the stars, but others are missing."

Constantine nodded. "Yeah, we got out of there just in time. Looks like that domino effect has started to reach our universe, Lex; it's starting to fall apart, even without Vilgax doing anything directly."

Jen's brief good humor vanished. "Then we don't have much time."

Julie tried to smile. "Ironic, considering where we're going."

Kevin made finger-guns at her. "Eyyy…"

The remaining stars stretched and vanished, as Constantine's spell catapulted them far faster than any science could manage. There was a shattering sound, and speed transformed into time. Midoriya swore he could see flashes of history pass before him; some events he recognized, others were unfamiliar to him, and he wondered if he was seeing the history of every universe at once.

"Try not to look too hard," Constantine advised. "We're passing close to things we were never meant to see."

Midoriya took his words to heart, and clenched his eyes shut. After what felt like hours, there was a strong jerking sensation in his stomach, and he nearly fell over. He opened his eyes… and kept opening them, because his brain couldn't quite register what he was looking at, and forgot to not strain his eyes.

What lay before them was a massive hand, made of what seemed to be the void itself, and held within its open palm was a swirling vortex that glowed without an apparent source of light. The longer Midoriya stared at it, the more he felt both drawn and repulsed; within that vortex was everything he ever wanted to know, yet he also felt that he should never approach it.

"That's where we're supposed to go?" Julie asked, her voice a whisper.

"Aye," Constantine said softly. "Behold the beginning of time. Before the Big Bang, before the gods, before reality itself… there was this."

Even Luthor was silent for a moment, as he absorbed that. "Tell me, Constantine: how does this factor into our plans to stop Vilgax?"

Constantine grinned. "It all comes down to the girl. She has the power to rewind things, right? What we're going to do is get her in contact with Vilgax's personal timeline, and rewind that out of existence."

"That's… that's not how her power works," Midoriya protested, as his brain finally started working again. "Her Quirk only affects living things."

"Lad, time is alive." Constantine shrugged. "Maybe not with blood and bones, but it's alive in its own way, and Eri's power is connected to the very concept of time. It will work, as long as she knows what it is she's trying to rewind."

Eri blinked; she didn't understand most of what was being said, only that she needed to use her power on something. "How?"

Constantine pointed to the two artifacts. "With those; the mask will help you focus on what you need to do, and the crown will guide you in how to do it."

Gwen frowned. "Echoing Eri here: how?"

"For the love of…" Constantine held up the journal. "It's right here, okay? Written in the blood of crazy people that only a magician can see."

Kevin grimaced. "Right, because that sounds totally reliable."

"I'm confused," Julie said. "If that's all we need, why are the rest of us here? Shouldn't Eri be able to do this?"

"That much is obvious," Luthor replied. "If Vilgax was attacking worlds like Midoriya's, then it stands to reason that he knows what we are attempting, and he will try to stop us. Our role is simple—we have to keep that from happening, at any cost."

"And that's what we'll do," Midoriya said grimly. "Constantine, bring us in."

Constantine sighed. "Right, hang on to something."

"Hang on to what?" Gwen demanded. "We're floating in the empty void of space!"

"Just try not to puke, girl." Constantine grinned. "This might get a little bumpy."

With a gesture from Constantine, the entire group rocketed towards the enormous hand. The air began to shake; first it was just a slight tremor, but after a minute, Midoriya felt like a sock in a dryer.

"I am really glad I didn't eat anything before we left," Kevin groaned when they finally came to a stop.

"Looks like one of us did," Jen commented, when she saw Constantine vomiting a short distance away. "What, you can't take it, John?"

Constantine glared at her. "I'm not hurling because of motion-sickness, I'm hurling because I've been drinking for the last few hours." He turned his head and spat. "Damn, this is the last time I do something like this with you lot."

"Are you done?" Julie asked pointedly. "Where do we go next?"

"How the bloody hell should I know?" Constantine demanded. "It's not like I have a map of the beginning of bloody time! My job was just to get you here."

"We have to go there." Everyone froze, then turned to stare at Eri, who was pointing at—

Honestly, Midoriya didn't think he could get more surprised, but he was very wrong. Where once there had been a dark void of nothingness, there was now a very familiar doorway.

"Why is the door to my classroom here?" he asked.

Jen blinked. "That's what you're seeing? I'm seeing the door to my house."

"This is the beginning of time, and reality itself is starting to come undone," Luthor said. "It seems that we are all seeing something familiar to us, but performs the same function."

"It's not a door," Eri said, and Midoriya was a little creeped out at how emotionless she sounded.

"Okay, then what is it?" Kevin asked.

Eri stared at him with blank eyes. "Home."

Julie didn't hide a shudder as Eri slowly made her way to the door. "Yeah, nothing freaky about this at all."

"And now we have another problem," Constantine said, and pointed up to a familiar crack in reality. "Looks like Vilgax is coming to crash this party. You lot go after the kid; I'll buy you some time."

"John, that's suicide," Jen protested.

"We don't really have much choice, love," Constantine reminded her. "You lot are the champions of the multiverse, not me. Besides, if you win, then it won't matter if I get killed, and if you lose, I won't be around to laugh at you."

Jen grimaced. "Just… just try to stay alive as long as you can, okay?"

Glowing symbols appeared and hovered around Constantine's hands. "Can't make any promises, Jen. Just… if this works, and we save the multiverse, but I don't come back… give Z my love, would you?"

"… sure, John." Jen grabbed Midoriya, who looked ready to protest, by the shoulder. "Come on, Izuku, John won't be able to hold them off for long."

"Thanks for the blow to my self-esteem, Jen," Constantine grumbled.

"Can't hurt what you don't have!" Jen shouted over her shoulder as the team ran after Eri.

Constantine chuckled, and then turned to face the incoming horde of screaming abominations. "Okay, you ugly bastards, who wants to join me in Hell?"

…

Midoriya did everything in his power not to throw up; once again, he was abandoning someone he should have been fighting alongside. In all his childhood daydreams of being a Hero, he had never even considered leaving someone behind, but this mission had taught him a harsh reality—that, sometimes, you can't save everyone.

Sometimes, you can only save whoever you can.

"How do you know where you're going?" Kevin asked Eri.

"I'm not sure," Eri said, her tone completely emotionless. "It's like I've always been here."

"Still kinda freaky," Jen muttered, and tapped Midoriya's shoulder. "Did your Eri ever act like this?"

"Never," Midoriya muttered back. "She might have, if we'd brought her here, but I have a feeling that only this Eri has this… connection."

The strange doorway had opened up to a series of winding hallways that seemed to shift every time someone blinked. At first, it looked like the stone walls of a castle, then the Watchtower, the halls of UA, and then those of a house; sometimes, it looked like all of those at once. The hallways also seemed to go in every direction at once, yet Eri seemed to know exactly where she was going.

"Fascinating," Luthor said as they walked. "This is a living tapestry of time—specifically, all events that have come before our present. We're not necessarily at the center of all time, just an aspect of it."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "What, time has departments now? Is there a sub-committee that handles midmorning?"

Luthor didn't rise to the taunt. "This is a place mortal minds aren't designed to handle. It's likely that we can only handle this single facet of time. Even then, I wouldn't be surprised if our… 'appointment' as the multiverse's champions granted us some kind of protection from the side-effects of this place."

Jen sighed. "I hate to agree with you, Lex, but I can't think of a better explanation right now." Everyone paused when they felt a tremble in the 'ground', and Jen blinked away tears. "That was John making his last stand. We need to hurry."

Midoriya knelt by Eri. "Are we almost there?"

Eri nodded. "The door isn't far away."

"Guys, we have a new problem," Jen said, one hand to her ear. "John took care of most of the little critters, but there's a big one right on our tail, and I can hear more of those breaches opening up."

"Then we buy time for Eri to do her thing," Midoriya said, pushing down everything he knew about being a Hero, in favor of pure rationality. "Jen, can you hold off the big one?"

"Considering who it is, I think I'm the only one who can fight him and not die." Jen cracked her knuckles. "I'll be right behind you guys."

"Wait." Luthor pulled a small cylinder from a compartment in his armor, and handed it to her. "If it's who I think it is, you'll need this. It will slow down his healing, and give you the best chance possible."

Jen took the cylinder, which lengthened into a silver javelin; she hesitated, and then nodded at Luthor. "Thanks, Lex."

"Consider this an apology for… past transgressions." Luthor shrugged. "Good luck, Jennifer."

…

Jen watched as the rest of the team hurried off, and then turned to face her opponent. Just before he arrived, she activated her Ultimatrix.

"Hello, Doomsday," she said, as the grey, spiky monster stomped into view. "I don't think we've ever met. I'm Superman's niece."

Doomsday loomed over her. "You'll break like he did."

Jen grinned, and hefted Luthor's weapon. "Oh, I won't be the one breaking today."

…

"Can Jen beat whoever that is?" Julie asked as they ran.

"Possibly," Luthor said. "Doomsday was created by Project Cadmus as the ultimate counter to Superman. When I was… in their employ, I had plenty of time to study the creature. Even though he was locked in the Phantom Zone, I didn't like the idea of something that powerful running around without any means of control. Cadmus didn't have a way of actually killing him, so I took a crack at it; I never had a chance to test the weapon, but it should level the playing field."

"So, even odds," Kevin commented.

"Exactly." Luthor's armor began to beep, and he grimaced. "Another breach nearby; I'm reading several bio-signatures."

Midoriya made a snap decision. "Kevin, Julie, keep them off us; Gwen, we might need your barriers to keep Eri safe, and we'll need Luthor's brain."

"I'm not exactly sure if there's anything I can absorb here," Kevin admitted.

Luthor held out his arm. "Try this. The metal is from Apokolips, and more durable than anything on Earth."

Kevin put his hand on the armor; a moment later, his skin was covered in the same green metal. "Nice."

Luthor sighed. "As usual, I'm the reason anything is getting done."

Julie rolled her eyes. "You know, for a second, I was almost starting to like you."

"You shouldn't; I'm not a good person."

"Good luck," Midoriya said to Julie and Kevin. "If you can, find Jen before you catch up with us."

"Will do, kid." Julie smiled. "If it matters, I think our Ben would have liked you."

"That… that actually does matter." Midoriya smiled weakly. "Thanks, Julie."

Gwen floated over to Kevin. "One last thing." She grabbed him and kissed him; that might have gone on for a while, if Luthor hadn't pointedly coughed. "Just in case."

Kevin nodded dumbly. "Yeah. Just… come back, okay? I kinda want to do that again."

"Only kinda?" Gwen smiled impishly, then floated back over to the others. "Come on, guys, let's go save the multiverse."

…

"Well, well, well." Kevin grinned with a humor he didn't feel. "Where the heck did Vilgax drag you circus rejects from?"

Zombozo sneered, and swept his hat off his head. "Rejects? My boy, we're the opening act!"

Thumbskull crossed his arms. "It's four to two, kids; you think for one second you've got a chance against us?"

"Oh, please." Julie laughed in his face. "Ben beat all of you idiots when he was just ten years old. You're barely a footnote."

Frightwig's hair lashed towards her. "Just for that, I'm gonna enjoy ripping you apart, little girl."

Julie raised an eyebrow, and then her hands transformed into chainsaws, while missile launchers formed around her shoulders. "Bring it, freak."

Acid Spit shambled forward; drool dripped down his chin, hissing as it hit the unreality of the ground. He didn't speak, and instead vomited a noxious stream of acid at them.

"Oh, I forgot how gross this guy was," Kevin said as he ducked around the acid; his hand turned into a hammer, which he smashed into the Circus Freak's jaw.

Julie fired a barrage of missiles that sent the other Freaks scattering. "Yeah, now we have to win, because I do not want these guys to be the last thing I see."

…

"This is it." Eri pointed to a simple, almost innocuous door. "That's where I need to go."

"Well, don't stand on ceremony," Luthor said. "We need to hurry."

Eri reached for the doorknob… but she was too short to reach it. Even Luthor chuckled when Midoriya had to open the door for her.

"The key to saving the multiverse, and she's too small to go on most rides at a theme park," Gwen commented, but couldn't help but smile.

As soon as the four of them passed through the door, the good humor was replaced by awe. Before them was an empty void, save for a column of light, surrounded by swirling blue energy. It seemed to go on forever, and Midoriya had to force himself not to stare at it.

"Okay, so what now?" he asked.

"It's the light of the past," Eri said faintly. "I need to enter it."

"Then you'll need these," Luthor said, and held out the mask and crown. "If we were right, this will help you focus on what you have to do."

Midoriya held the mask to Eri's face, while Gwen held the crown over her head; just before they touched her, they shrank down to fit her perfectly, with even a slot in the mask for her horn.

Just as Eri began walking to the light, Luthor's armor beeped again. "Another breach is forming."

"Where?" Gwen asked.

Luthor sighed. "Right here."

The tearing sound that Midoriya had become all too familiar with reached his ears, and a breach appeared in front of him. It was larger than most he had seen, which meant that something very large was about to come through.

"It's him," Eri whispered.

Gwen had once described what Vilgax had become since his return, but seeing him in person was an entirely different matter. He was huge, easily thirty feet tall, with bulging muscles contained by black armor; his hands and feet ended in silver talons, and pulsing red cables spread out to his limbs from a red circle on his chest. It almost looked like a dark reflection of the Omnitrix dial.

Vilgax's face reminded Midoriya of an octopus, but the bulbous cranium and ragged tentacles didn't seem completely there, like a blurry photograph. Only his eyes, glowing a baleful red, didn't flicker in and out of reality.

"So, these are the multiverse's champions," Vilgax said, in a voice that was simultaneously a sinister hiss and booming roar. "A few traumatized children, and an old man who can never make up for his sins. Pathetic."

"Luthor, get Eri to the light." Midoriya turned into Diamondhead and readied himself. "We'll hold him off."

"Good luck," Luthor said, and for the first time since Midoriya had met him, he sounded completely sincere.

"Ah, yes, the boy who wields the Omnitrix in his universe." Vilgax held up one hand, and black fire appeared in his palm. "I have killed many of your counterparts. What makes you so special?"

At the mention of her cousin's murder, Gwen finally snapped; what remained of her skin and clothes vanished, and she fully became an Anodite.

"VILGAX!" she roared. "I'm going to kill you!"

Gwen fired a colossal beam of Mana, which Vilgax calmly swatted aside like it was nothing. With another scream of rage, Gwen flew in close and punched Vilgax in the face… which did absolutely nothing.

"Pest," Vilgax said, and punched Gwen in the chest; she rocketed off into the distance, where there was a flash of light. "Anodites are somewhat troublesome, but I've locked her in a pocket dimension. That will keep her busy long enough for me to enjoy killing you, boy."

"Then you're going to be disappointed!"

Inside, Midoriya was absolutely terrified; this was the monster that had wiped out entire universes in a matter of days. On the other hand, this was also the bastard that had killed everyone Midoriya had ever loved, and he hadn't even had the respect to do it himself; he had just sat back and watched as his army slaughtered everyone.

With that in mind, anger won out over fear.

With one arm as a giant blade, Diamondhead charged. He swung the blade into Vilgax's leg… and his entire arm shattered. Vilgax idly flicked the black fire at him; when it hit Diamondhead's leg, the flame began burning him away! Without hesitation, Midoriya turned into Swampfire and tore off his leg before the flames got too far.

"A wise move," Vilgax said. "More than one Ben Tennyson used a similar tactic in the opening stages of our fight."

"I'm not interested in your critiques!" Swampfire went Ultimate, and blasted Vilgax with the strongest torrent of fire he could manage.

Vilgax stepped through the flame like it wasn't even there.

"You used one of your ridiculous Ultimates much earlier than most," he said. "Thirty years ago, that attack might have actually killed me. Ben Tennyson is usually more restrained."

"Stop comparing me to him!" Ultimate Swampfire grabbed a double-fistful of explosive goop and hurled it at Vilgax. "I'm not Ben Tennyson! My name is Midoriya Izuku!"

The explosion that followed would have killed almost anyone from Midoriya's Earth. Vilgax, however, emerged from the smoke and idly brushed some dust from his armor.

"Of course," he continued, "Ben Tennyson is also more competent."

Stress and fear boiled over, and Ultimate Swampfire couldn't help but let Vilgax's barbs get to him. He screamed in frustration, and attacked again; just as before, Vilgax walked through his fire, then grabbed his arm and crushed it like dry leaves and hurled him aside.

"Pathetic," he sneered. "I have traveled the multiverse, obtaining power beyond that of gods. I have grown stronger with every universe I've destroyed, and you think you, a cheap knockoff of the only threat to my ascension, could stop me?"

Midoriya reverted back to Swampfire and regenerated his arm again. "No, not really—but I was trying to slow you down."

Vilgax's eyes narrowed, and then he began to laugh. "Oh, you thought you were being clever, did you? I have many pawns to unleash; the multiverse has its champions, and so do I."

…

A woman in black combat fatigues stepped out of a breach; despite the small armory she had strapped to her, Luthor couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well, this certainly is a surprise," he said. "Of all the misguided fools Vilgax could have chosen, you're the one he sent after me? I'm honestly a little insulted."

"Don't be, Lex." Mercy Graves calmly loaded a magazine into her rifle. "When Vilgax approached me, he knew I'd be the best choice to take you down."

Luthor almost laughed again. "What, just because he restored your youth? If I recall, the last time you and I met, I put you in the hospital for almost a year, and that was without my armor."

Mercy scowled, but quickly composed herself. "Oh, I have no intention of fighting you alone, Lex." She snapped her fingers, and a dozen of Vilgax's drones emerged from the breach behind her. "And I know the best way to hurt you isn't physical injury—it's just stopping your big plans. Hurting your ego is far more effective… and more fun."

One of the drones made a dash for Eri; it took a glancing hit from one of Luthor's cannons, and then lunged for its target. However, Eri simply held out one hand, and her horn glowed; as soon as the monster touched her, it was Rewound out of existence.

"Of course," Mercy sighed, and then addressed the other drones. "Focus on Luthor. I'll kill the kid myself."

The drones growled and charged, and Luthor opened fire. "Eri, go! I won't be able to hold them back for long!"

Eri nodded, and only barely avoided a bullet meant for her head.

"Come back here, you little brat!" Mercy made to go after her, but Luthor intercepted her.

"I don't believe I ever said this to you before, Mercy—you're fired!" Luthor shot at her with one of his cannons, but a drone latched onto him and tore the weapon off.

"Come on, Lex, be a good sport and let my new friends tear you apart," Mercy taunted, and aimed at Eri again; Luthor smashed a drone's skull in, and then managed to put himself between Eri and a barrage of bullets.

"Mercy, my dear, I don't think I've ever been a good sport." Luthor pressed a button on his arm, and his armor unleashed a pulse of energy that disintegrated the drones attacking him. "I've spent enough time studying these creatures to know how to counteract their energies."

"And I've known you long enough to remember that your armor has limited power," Mercy said, and snapped her fingers again to summon more drones. "How long can you keep this up, L—urk!"

Luthor smirked as he pulled his arm back from his throw; Mercy now had an eight-foot spear going through her chest, tipped with a glowing green stone. She coughed out a stream of blood, and collapsed.

"I was saving that Kryptonite for Superman, but I suppose I'll be satisfied with using it on you." Luthor turned to face the horde of charging drones. "Now, who thinks they're big enough to kill Lex Luthor?"

…

Eri glanced behind her; through her enhanced powers, she could see everyone's battles a few seconds after they unfolded. She didn't know any of them, yet she now knew their stories, and what was at stake. This was what she was meant for.

"Thank you," she whispered, and stepped into the light.

Okay, first chapter of the new year! And I ended on a freaking cliffhanger. Honestly, if I'd put the last two chapters of this arc together, I would be writing for far longer. At least I got this one out!

Thanks to Bigby the Big Bad Wolf for permission to use his original Bleach: Ultimate Alien story. I was excited to cameo this story, since it was actually the very first story I ever read on this site. God, that was about ten years ago. I feel old.

Worlds visited: Canon My Hero Academia universe.

Casualties: Literally everyone in the MHA universe, except for Eri. Also, the Ben 10: Unlimited universe was starting to fall apart when everyone left, so a lot of people are dead there as well. And John Constantine.

I realize I could have spent a lot longer in the canon MHA story, but that would have been nothing but "This didn't happen in Universe A, but did happen in Universe B", and that would have gotten old fast. Oh, and the heroes (and Luthor) are rapidly running out of time, so they don't have time to get to know people. And poor Midoriya doesn't need to spend more time around the counterparts of people he loves that just died.

And now we finally see Vilgax himself! I was kind of going for a Darkseid look for the guy; he's spent this whole time feeding off the death of countless universes, and is basically a god. Oh, and he's been killing versions of Ben Tennyson for a while, so he knows most of the tricks by now. Also, beating a full Anodite with one punch should emphasize that he is not to be taken lightly.

I wasn't completely sure which bad guys the team would be facing until shortly before writing this chapter. I actually enjoyed the interactions with Lex and Mercy the most, because neither of them are good people; I like it when bad guys fight. Also, if you're a little lost, Mercy was Lex's bodyguard/chauffer, and typically got her ass kicked by anyone with a bone to pick with Luthor.

As always, please consider buying my book, Alpha Sanction, by Josh Gottlieb. You can find it on my website (link in my profile), or on Amazon as an eBook or physical copy. I'm getting closer and closer to finishing the sequel, guys!

If you want to support me in other ways, you can also donate via P-atreon (link in my profile). If I can get a few more patrons, I might be able to quit one of my three jobs, and finally try to get a place of my own!

Many thanks to the following patrons:

Serious Muffins: Nimrod009, Aaron Meek, Matthias Matanovic, Red Bard, killroy225, Lokthar, Hakuryuken, Anders Lyngbye, Kristen Tyler

Incredible Muffins: RaptorusMaximus, Crazyman844, Ben Stueckle

Ultra Muffins: RangersRoll

Next Chapter: With their backs against the wall, can the multiverse's champions hold out long enough to stop Vilgax? More importantly, what will it cost them?

Plus Muffin!