It appears that I've been spelling Ochako wrong for like... years now because of the way it's spelled on the wiki and other fics. So if you wonder why it's now K instead of C, that's why. I falsely believed that C and K were kinda like R and L in the Japanese language. To be honest I could be wrong about those as well. Idk man, I'm just an American.

*******

"Fifteen targets up ahead," Jiro reported.

"Looks like bears of some kind," Setsuna confirmed. In a somewhat disturbing fashion, half of her face was missing. Her Quirk allowed her to separate parts of her body and control them telekinetically.

"Alright!" Kaminari punched his palm, cracking his knuckles. "Then let's get down to-"

"No," Midnight cut him short. "This is a battle of stamina. We're going to take each conflict slowly and carefully." She then looked to Izuku. "Can you make a hollow sphere of ice?"

"Yeah, but what will..." Izuku's face lit up. "Oh that's brilliant!"

Ever so carefully, he wove his gauntlets around a single point in space, creating a thin sphere of crystal clear ice.

"What's going on? You guys have your own language now or something?" Kaminari asked, to which Jiro slapped him on the shoulder. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"It's a gas bomb, genius."

With the sphere completed, Izuku left a tiny hole at the top, which Midnight stuck her finger through. Though she could tear away parts of her skin-tight bodysuit to release massive amounts of the gas, she could also output it from anywhere on her skin. As such, she began to fill the icy container with the pale-purple mist, allowing it to build and build until the sphere was close to bursting from the pressure.

Midnight withdrew her finger and Izuku closed the hole as fast as possible. Once they were sure it was ready, Izuku handed it to Setsuna, who grinned mischievously now that her body parts were back.

Her right hand detached from her body, taking hold of the makeshift gas grenade and weaving through the forest.

"Are we gonna do this for every single Villain we come into contact with?" Kaminari asked, crossing his arms, clearly impatient.

"It's a sound strategy that, in the event of failure, still causes some chaos and confusion amongst our enemy."

"Yeah but what if the wind blows the gas towards us? We're gonna get knocked out too! Or we have to wait for the gas to dissipate before fighting the Villains?" Kaminari pointed out, to which everyone stared at him with wide eyes.

"What?"

"You just... said something smart..." Jiro murmured in disbelief.

Kaminari rolled his eyes before smirking. "I'm always smart when it comes to the qualities of beautiful women," He said, winking at Midnight.

"It's a crime that you are legally considered an adult..." Jiro muttered under her breath.

"I'm in position," Setsuna interrupted. Through her eyes, she was just a few meters away from the ice bear clearing. Some were resting, but others were up and about. If she wasn't careful, they'd spot her before she could crush the sphere.

"Do it," Iida commanded.

Izuku, through his Sense Stat, felt her floating hand rush into the center of the pact and crush the thin sphere of ice. Thanks to the built up pressure, the gas exploded outwards, instantly enveloping the white fur with the pale-purple smoke. He didn't need superhuman hearing to catch their rage-filled roars, however.

"Good," Midnight purred, in her role as a seducer. "The more they roar the more they inhale." True to her word, within moments, the cries faded.

Midnight, physically, was a pretty weak Hero. B, maybe even C-Rank at worst. However, despite that, she frequently participated in A-Rank Gates. It was all because of her Quirk.

Most Villains had some sort of resistance to status effects, making it hard for Mages to properly debuff their enemies. But Midnight's Quirk seemed to bypass most protections that Villains had. She could put entire Boss Rooms to sleep, including the Boss Villain itself, something that was unheard of up until then.

Of course, like with any strategy, there were downsides. Her Quirk wasn't smart in its targeting, and it could put other Heroes to sleep if they weren't careful. And if a Villain was intelligent enough to sense the danger the gas represented, they could use magic to blow it away, or simply avoid it to the best of their abilities. But since Midnight fought as a Support Hero in parties, these outcomes rarely affected her efficiency. So far, the only thing that was uncertain was if she could put S-Ranks to sleep. It had yet to be tested.

"How long do we have to wait for the gas to dissipate?" Kendo asked.

"Not long," Izuku responded, stepping up and walking towards the clearing where the purple mist was spreading from. He raised his gauntlets and focused on creating a small twister. Since it was no stronger than a breeze, it didn't take much Mana out of Izuku.

The mist funneled into the twister, which Izuku then directed upwards, causing the gas to dissipate in the snowy atmosphere. It was thinned out so that it wouldn't come back down and catch them all unaware. The Omni-Elemental Gem was really putting in a lot of work.

And beneath the shroud of anesthetic gas was a pack of Ice Bears with their tongues hanging out of their mouths. They were out cold.

"Let's harvest their pelts," Iida suggested. Even Awakened humans could end up succumbing to the elements after long enough and there was no telling how long they'd be in the Gate.

"Miss Midnight?" Izuku asked, having the same thought as Iida, regarding the length of their stay in the Gate. "Does a Recursive Gate work like a Red Gate? Like with time dilation?"

Midnight nodded. "The conversion is about the same. One day in here is around an hour in the real world."

"Thank god for that!" Kaminari shouted, discharging a lightning bolt from his finger tip straight into the skull of an Ice Bear, exploding it into a red goopy mess.

[You have Leveled-Up!]

Izuku was too busy cringing at the violence to notice his increase in Levels. It was one thing to kill a Villain trying to kill you, but killing something when they were asleep? It just didn't sit right with him.

Midnight rested a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Why don't you let them handle this? I'm sure they're a little antsy."

Instead of the strange lust or frenetic gazes, Izuku only saw the warm understanding that could only come from a mother. It reminded him of the aching in his heart, the absence of his own mother.

"This... This is the job of a Hero isn't it?" He muttered, the others marching on to kill the sleeping bears.

Midnight shook her head. "There's no shame in what you feel. The only thing that matters is that you protect what's important when the going gets tough. Trust me, I know the guilt that comes with this power. It's not a bad thing."

Izuku let out a heavy sigh. "Thank you..."

"It's what I'm here for," She said, reminding Izuku that she was, in fact, a member of the UA faculty.

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

In addition to the three Levels he earned from his party members killing the bears, Izuku also got their souls. There was no official party system it seemed, but the System itself still recognized his contribution to killing the bears. At least that's what Izuku assumed. And it seemed like no one else was gaining any strength from the killings, so the System's growth was still his alone.

Once the others were done putting the Ice Bears to sleep for good, they skinned the creatures, cleaning off the pelts and fashioning them into coats.

Uraraka took to the job with ease, another sign of poverty that Izuku himself was used to. She knew her way around fabric, better than he did, that was for sure.

"Well... It doesn't make up for this," Uraraka said, brushing her fingers against the silver cloak, "But here you go!" She smiled, handing him the first of the fur coats.

Izuku wrapped it around himself, happy to have a little more insulation from the cold. "Thank you."

Once everyone was dressed, Iida turned to Jiro. "Where's the next pack?"

*******

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

With Izuku, Midnight, Setsuna, and Jiro working in sync, there hadn't been a single mishap so far. They'd cleared about 80% of the Gates Villains so far.

They feasted on Ice Bear meat, which was actually quite tender and juicy when cooked properly, and so far they had only taken a few breaks for rest, with alternating shifts so that some of them could catch some sleep. It was hard to keep track of time, since it seemed like there was no day night cycle, only endless cloudy skies raining down snow upon them, but by their estimation it had only been two days.

The ease by which they had taken out the Ice Bear population had put them all at ease, or at least, almost all of them.

Izuku was still worried about the Elves. They had only encountered the handful at the start of the Raid. It was odd for a Gate to have such little diversity, and judging by Setsuna and Jiro's scouting, Ice Bears were the only Villain's left. He couldn't sense anything else himself, so he left it alone, but he got the feeling that there was more to this snowy landscape.

*******

Izuku Midoriya:

Level: 65

Strength: 148 (+5)

Vitality: 138 (+25)

Agility: 213 (+45)

Intelligence: 126 (+5)

Sense: 111 (+25)

Available Points: 0

[Mana: 4201/4201]

[HP: 6012/6012]

*******

Izuku was currently alone on the night watch. Kaminari was supposed to stay up with him, but he fell asleep just half an hour in. Izuku was fine with it, because it gave him the chance to let his Shadows out to patrol the area and to look at his Stats.

"I'm not crazy right?" Izuku asked Igris, who was standing by Izuku's side. After playing around with the Shadow Monarch powers, Izuku figured out that he could recall all of his Shadows within an instant, seamlessly and stealthily, so he wasn't too worried about having them out.

Igris shook his head.

"There's more than just bears out here. You haven't found anything?"

Igris again shook his head, then stopped and raised one hand flat in a "so-so" gesture. He pointed to Izuku, then the bear pelt he was wearing.

"A bear that looks like me?" He felt the overwhelming urge to facepalm coming from Igris, but the knight stayed cool and pointed to himself, then Izuku. "Oh! You found the pack leader?"

Igris nodded.

"Well maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the pack leader is the Boss of this Gate. We still have another Gate to go through, so it could just be an easy start."

Igris gave him a look that said, "It's never that easy."

Izuku chuckled softly, "Not wrong there."

But Izuku's mirth caught in his throat. "What was that?"

He hadn't felt anything magical through his Sense Stat, rather, it was a soft THUMP THUMP THUMP, coming from far away.

Igris and all the other Shadows slunk away to hide beneath Izuku's shadow as he yelled. "Wake up!"

"What is it?!" Iida shouted, leaping to his feet, so perfectly awake that Izuku had to wonder if he was even asleep to begin with.

"I'm not sure. It's either really big footsteps, or small scale detonations."

"Ya know..." Kaminari groaned, pulling himself up, his hair all messy, "This is the point in the movie where the T-Rex appears."

"You dumb shit! You fell asleep?!" Jiro shouted, quite literally backhanding him to wake him up quicker.

"You guys see that?" Uraraka asked, looking up into the snowy wind.

"Wha-" Izuku's eyes widened. "RUN!"

[Skill: Speedstrike (Fire) has activated.]

Izuku scoop up Uraraka and Yui, throwing them over each of his shoulders and sprinting away from the campsite. Iida did the same for Kaminari and Jiro. Setsuna's body split apart and flew away in different pieces. Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were too slow, so they just activated their Quirks and braced for impact, with Kendo and Midnight being shielded by them.

All of it was just in time for icicles the size of pickup trucks to pepper the area like artillery strikes.

They exploded on impact with the ground, sending ice shards scattering like so many pieces of shrapnel. It shredded trees, boulders, and even managed to scratch the two tanks' seemingly invulnerable skin.

The barrage seemed to last for minutes, but in reality, the first wave of projectiles landed all at once. It was the shrapnel that made it seem never ending.

"It's the pack leader!" Izuku shouted. "We need a location!"

Iida skidded to a stop in the snow, setting down Jiro, who slammed her palms into the ground. Her face scrunched up in concentration, and she tilted her head, trying to isolate the sounds.

"The next wave is coming!" Setsuna warned.

"Fifteen kilometers in that direction!" Jiro shouted

"Keep them alive!" Izuku yelled to Iida. "I'm gonna end this!"

Iida nodded, already ferrying around the team to safer locations. Even from fifteen kilometers, this artillery barrage of ice was damn accurate. Trying to move up on it with the entire team was a complete fantasy. The rule of artillery warfare was to hunker down and wait for the shelling to stop. In this case, it was to hunker down and wait until Izuku could kill them all.

Even at the pace of the fastest normal human in the world, a fifteen kilometer sprint would've taken nearly half an hour. But Izuku cleared most of it within the first five minutes.

It was only when he was within five-hundred meters that the icicles began crashing around him, the pack catching up with his speed.

"Igris!"

The knight emerged from the shadow, speeding through the air like a bullet, drawing his onyx blade from his hip and slashing in a wide arc, carving through the barrage that threatened to rain down on Izuku.

By that point, the pack was in view. They looked just like normal Ice Bears, white fur, ice-blue eyes, bodies the size of two tanks stacked on top of each other, and claws longer than some people were tall. Aside from that, they had only one major addition.

Like Arcka, they had massive crystals growing out of their backs. These were the platforms from which the icicles grew and were launched at asinine speeds. And all of them seemed to be linked by tendrils of Mana, connecting to the lead bear, larger than the rest.

*******

[Polarus Pack Leader:]

Rank: A

Type: Ursidae

Role: Mini-Boss

Proficiencies: Long-Range Combat, Tank, Underling Enhancements.

Skills: Alpha, Endless Winter, Polar Howitzer

*******

"Mini-Boss huh?" Izuku grimaced as they continued launching barrage after barrage over to his team. "So there is more to this Gate. Then let's not waste time."

"Arise!"

[13 Ice Elves Lvl. 1 - Elite Grade]

[47 Ice Bears Lvl. 1 - Elite Grade]

Izuku pulled from his soul list and expanded his Shadow Army, now capable of 90 individual Shadows thanks to his Intelligence Stat growth.

No doubt his Raid Party would feel the expanding Mana, but Izuku could simply brush it off as the battle getting heated.

Alongside his sixty new Shadows and Igris, his previous Shadows emerged, charging headlong into the front line of the Ice Bears, with Izuku and Igris squaring off with the pack leader.

"Once they stop firing, Iida will head to help! We'll have about five minutes from that point!" Izuku relayed to Igris.

The knight held up two fingers.

"Heh. You think this will all be over in two? Then let's go!" Izuku skidded to a stop, throwing his arm back like an Olympic athlete about to make a javelin throw, which he basically was.

"Fire, enhanced with a body of earth, and accelerated with wind." Izuku stacked magic on top of magic as the spear of pure energy appeared in his grasp. "And finally!"

[Skill: Echo Attack has activated.]

As Izuku hauled his arm forwards, mentally directing his Skill to affect the javelin, three blasts of force acted on the attack. The wind blast, Izuku's initial throw, and the resounding Echo Attack. It instantly became a mach 10 missile of pure destruction.

But in that brief span of time, just before impact, the Ice Bear rolled forwards, its back facing the magical attack.

The shards growing out of it took the brunt of the impact, and instead of the javelin exploding with enough energy to decimate its body, the magic was redirected. The crystals shattered, its ability to fire artillery destroyed, and the rest of the energy was directed to its extremities, rather than center-mass.

Like it was hit with a magic shotgun, all four of the Pack Leader's limbs exploded into gorey bits of red paste. That should've been the end of it, but...

[Opponent is activating Skill: Endless Winter.]

As if picked up by a magical wind, the shattered crystals swirled around the bear, roughly implanting themselves where the stumps of its legs were. The bear roared in agony as the crystals tore through its flesh, building up thicker and thicker until it had four new limbs.

At the same time the Skill was taking hold, Igris was rushing close, his sword millimeters from lopping the Villain's head off. CLANG! But the sword, which could slice through almost anything, living or otherwise, stopped short, halted by the crystalline limbs.

The shone with an eerie blue-glow for just a second before exploding with force, impacting Igris's sword with a ferocity that managed to send the S-Rank equivalent Shadow skidding back along the snowy terrain... his sword laying in dissolving smoky pieces on the ground.

Of course, Igris himself wasn't even close to harmed, and he didn't seem all that perturbed by the loss of his sword, but it was clear that this was no ordinary bear. Just like Arcka, it had been modified by... something, pushed to the limits of its body by the crystals.

However, unlike Arcka, those limits were showing. The bear's eyes were growing dulls, its flesh and blood body falling weak. For the briefest of moments, it had surpassed an S-Rank and even broken his weapon, but that moment was over.

[Igris is activated Skill: Blood-Red Blade.]

With his hand flat, like a karate chop, Igris lunged forwards, energy surrounding his fingers and slicing clean through the bear's neck, dropping it to the ground with a heavy THUNK!

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

[You have Leveled-Up!]

*******

[You have obtained items:]

1. Damocles (Sword)

2. A-Rank Ice Elemental Enhancement Gem

3. Arctic Steel (Material)

*******

"Alright let's clean up in the next thirty seconds," Izuku said. As soon as the Ice Bear had died by Igris's hand, the rest of the artillery from the backlines had ceased altogether. They had more than enough time, but it was better to be safe than sorry in exposing a power like the Shadows.

Just as Izuku was about to resurrect the pack leader, Igris approached him, kneeling and dropping the bear's decapitated head at