"What the hell are you?"
The forest was dead silent. The wind was the only sound that could be heard for hundreds of meters.
The hero with the ponytail murmured, his voice kept low on purpose.
He ordered, "Seisplosion, we need you to keep this guy off our back as we try to get him in my capture tape."
Seisplosion nodded, his stance lowering as he got ready to unleash his quirk.
"I'll buy you time. Brick, Ashetown, help me run interference. Give Shadiness an opening that he can use," Seisplosion responded. His body coiled and ready.
Brick cracked his thick neck and rolled his shoulders. "I'll punch it until it stops moving," he said, his voice gruff and deep.
Ashetown exhaled a small plume of smoke from her mouth. "I'll blind it again. Just say when."
The Reaper tilted its head, as if amused. Then it lunged.
"MOVE!" Shadiness shouted, diving to the side.
The Reaper's scythe carved through the air where he'd been, slicing a tree clean in half. Bark exploded outward, and the trunk crashed down with a thunderous groan.
The sound echoed through the forest like a cannon blast, startling birds into a frenzy of wings
Brick charged, hurling a pellet with pinpoint accuracy. It struck the Reaper's head, sending a shockwave through its cloak, but again, the creature didn't flinch.
"It's like this guy doesn't feel it at all. What's he made out of?" Brick growled.
The reaper lunged again, now aiming at Ashetown. He swung at her chest, but before it could hit her, Brick shouldered the reaper, knocking him away.
"I don't know, but I know he's not getting out of here without cuffs," Shadiness muttered, extending his hand. "Let's get this over with."
"Agreed," Seisplosion said, slamming both palms onto a flat stone.
A compressed air shockwave burst upward, detonating the ground beneath the Reaper. Dirt and roots exploded, sending the creature airborne.
The sound was deafening — a BOOM that rattled the forest floor, shaking pine needles loose from branches.
"Shadiness!" Seisplosion yelled.
Shadiness's shadow darted forward, latching onto the Reaper's own mid-air. He clenched his fist, and the shadow hardened, yanking the Reaper down like a tether.
"Got it!" Shadiness shouted. "Tape incoming!"
He started running, tracking where the Reaper would land.
'We need to keep this villain away from our city,' he thought, placing all his hopes on this tape.
The Reaper landed hard.
Shadiness acted quickly, wrapping the tape around the reaper multiple times in under a few seconds. He pulled back, tightening the tape around the reaper.
"Brick, hit him! We need to knock him out." Seisplosion barked.
Brick rushed towards the Reaper, only stopping to shift his momentum into a singular punch that he connected to the Reaper's temple.
A resounding THWACK cut through the silence, the sound of flesh hitting flesh.
The Reaper's head snapped to the side with the impact, its face now facing away from everyone.
Brick stepped back, checking to see if the Reaper had been knocked out.
Everyone waited with bated breath as they stared at the thing that was trying to kill them.
A loud growl emerged from the hooded face. The Reaper twisted its head back, snarling at the group, cloak flaring, and then, with a tense of its muscles, the tape snapped.
"Damn it!" Shadiness hissed. "Brick, get back!"
Brick lunged backwards, trying to make as much space between himself and the reaper.
It was too late.
The Reaper twisted unnaturally, its limbs bending in ways no human could. It spun the scythe in a wide arc, slashing at Brick.
There was a moment of silence before a wet thud hit the grass.
Brick looked down, a feeling of hollow emptiness where his arm should've been.
Lying on the ground was his thick arm, severed at the shoulder.
He looked up helplessly at the Reaper, terror flooding his eyes.
"AHHHHHHHH!" He screamed in pure fear. There was no pain; adrenaline was dulling it. It was the feeling of helplessness, the loss of control, that tore the scream from his throat.
"Ashetown!" Seisplosion shouted.
Ashetown, shock and fear etched on her face, acted. She bellowed out a plume of smoke, obscuring the view of the Reaper.
Shadiness grabbed Brick, dragging him back to the group.
"Brick! You need to breathe! Look at me! You need to hold it together."
Brick stopped screaming and shot a glare at Shadiness. The smoke obscured the others, but Shadiness was so close that he could clearly see him.
He nodded, grunting in response, hushing his previous screams. He knew that if he kept crying over his arm, then they'd all die.
"Copy," Brick said, already moving.
"Seisplosion, do you think you can get him in the air again? I have an idea," Shadiness asked.
"I'll try," was all Seisplosion said.
The Reaper looked amused, as if this were all a game to it. The heroes kept hiding while it was just picking them off one by one, the screams and fear from Brick seemed to give it a euphoric thrill.
The ground in front of it rippled, a telltale sign that Seisplosion had used his quirk. It dodged to the side, making sure it wouldn't be sent up again.
It felt like that previous mistake was an embarrassment to his creator. Even if he could kill them and was holding back, that error should've never happened.
The Reaper growled again as he moved into the smoke; it wouldn't let them get a chance to recuperate. After all, this was a test of their wits and strengths.
It moved through the smoke, swinging wildly at any sound it heard.
As the smoke cleared, the Reaper saw that no one was in the cloud of smoke.
Its first thought was wondering if they ran.
The next moment, the Reaper saw another plume of smoke rushing towards him, not trying to cover up the group but rather to obscure his own field of view.
The cloud rolled in thick, swallowing the Reaper's glowing eyes.
He paused, listening. The forest was alive with echoes, the crunch of boots, the snap of branches, the exhale of heavy breathing.
"Now!" Shadiness barked, his voice sharp through the haze.
Seisplosion slammed both palms against the earth. The ground erupted beneath the Reaper, roots snapping, dirt flying. The shockwave thundered through the forest, creating a BOOM that echoed throughout the forest.
The Reaper staggered, cloak whipping violently.
"Brick, Ashetown, push him!" Seisplosion shouted.
Brick, now pale and trembling, still bleeding from the stump of his arm, roared in defiance.
He hurled himself forward, his remaining fist swinging with raw fury and all of his remaining strength.
The blow connected, a dull THUD reverberating through the clearing.
Ashetown followed, spewing smoke directly into the Reaper's face, choking its vision.
For a heartbeat, it looked like they had him.
Shadiness's shadow lashed out, binding the Reaper. He pulled hard, forcing the creature down. "Seisplosion, again!"
Seisplosion pressed his hands to the ground once again, veins bulging as he forced another shockwave. The earth beneath the reaper detonated, shards of roots and pressured air exploding outward, slamming into the Reaper.
The forest shook.
The Reaper staggered.
"Again!" Shadiness roared. His own shadow struggling to keep the Reaper under his grasp.
Seisplosion roared as he put his all into one major shockwave. The ground pulsed, a wave bigger than any other rippled through the ground.
BOOOOOM
Dirt kicked up from the explosion that sounded like the detonation of a bomb, obscuring the view of the Reaper.
Two sharp points of red light pierced the smoke. A guttural growl tore through the silence.
"It's like we didn't even hit him in the first place," Ashetown said, a feeling of helplessness filling her.
The cloak flared outward, shredding the smoke. The shadow binding it down burned away in a pulse of energy.
"We can't beat it, not us," Seisplosion said, gasping for air. The continuous use of his quirk catching up to him.
He reached for a small device, ready to signal the agency for reinforcements.
"That's enough playing around. We don't need more of you running around," a deep voice came from behind the reaper.
Seisplosion hesitated, looking to see who was talking.
It was like a demon from myth. Horns that curved up into the air, red light pulsing through, seem in its armor like skin. It's head more like a bird's than a human's. Four slits of red where eyes should've been. Cold intellect radiated from it, a sharp contrast to the Reaper's feral menace.
Each step it took released a heavy thud that spoke to its weight. It towered over the reaper, stopping right behind it.
"T-That's the villain they told us about... Were we fighting a lackey this whole time?!" Shadiness muttered out.
Seisplosion fumbled for the communicator. One push would summon dozens of heroes.
"Stop him," the demon said to the reaper.
In a blink, the reaper was in front of Seisplosion. It's scythe held high, ready to swing down.
Its blade cut through Seisplosion's wrist like a hot knife through butter. He could only watch as it fell with a thud onto the floor.
Everyone only turned in time to see Seisplosion's hand free-falling to the ground.
"Run!" Shadiness commanded. He planned to hold them back as long as he could before he would lose. There was no chance of winning.
Brick and Ashetown, stuck in place, only hesitated for a moment before dashing away towards the city.
They ran together, clumsily, not bothering to look to see if the reaper or the demon were on their tail.
The only thought they had in their head was "Keep running or you die."
"Take care of them," the demon ordered once more.
"I won't let you! HAAAAH!" Shadiness roared, drawing upon all his remaining power. His face flushed red with effort.
The reaper rushed towards him in a moment, hitting him in the chest with the other end of the scythe, kicking the air out of Shadiness.
He wheezed, incapacitated for now. The reaper moved again, now looming over the kneeling Seisplosion.
His face was morphed into a mixture of emotionless pain and the face of someone who had given up. He looked up towards the reaper, "This is how I die."
Closing his eyes, he accepted his fate, hoping that he had left a good mark on the world. His last hope, as he knew that this moment would be his last.
The reaper, instead of killing him, struck him with the blunt side of the scythe. Seisplosion was knocked unconscious instantly.
"Can't let you die now. You're my source of information, and my walking fear bank," the demon said, its features morphed into a sadistic smile.
The reaper disappeared from his position, pursuing the fleeing sidekicks.
"We never stood a chance, did we?" Shadiness rasped, forcing out one final question.
"No. Youdidn't," The demon replied.
***************
Brick and Ashetown ran side by side, Ashetown occasionally tripping on jutting roots.
The pain in Brick's shoulder had finally come, the adrenaline running out.
It was searing, the feeling of exposed flesh hitting the wind would make even the toughest men scream.
He couldn't. The monsters of the forest would hear.
"Are we far enough away?" Ashetown gasped out, already breathless from the fighting and pure sprint.
"No, we aren't safe until we make it to the agency," Brick replied, gritting his teeth.
The branches to the side of them rustled; they turned their heads for only a moment.
The reaper burst out, slamming into Ashetown.
She flew sideways, crashing into a tree. A gasp escaped her lips before she fell unconscious, blood trickling from a gash on her head.
Brick stopped, watching as his fellow sidekick was taken down effortlessly. He looked at the reaper with a face contorted with rage, the pain in his arm only fueling it.
"YOU FUCKING VILLAIN! I'LL KILL Y—" was all he could shout out before the reaper descended upon him.
The tip of the scythe passed through his side. He looked down, stumbling back as blood gushed from the wound.
He looked down, then up, his eyes shaking. Blood bubbled from his mouth as he coughed.
"Fuck..." he whispered. He felt his consciousness slip away. The blood loss from the severed arm severely weakened him.
"Why am I so fucking weak..."
======================
[Word Count: 2004]
Re-realised because there was a problem with the chapter, sorry
Suggestions for worlds, criticism, powerstones, or reviews would be appreciated!!! Love y'all