Everyone stood rooted to the spot in shock. Questions raced through their minds, but not an ounce of worry. Ever since Dark Shadow had started gaining true sentience, its rages had been controlled. Or at least controlled enough to not attack most of its allies. There had been occasions where he had harmed allies, but such instances had decreased in frequency with each rage.
So it was surprising when Dark Shadow rolled over them and threw them all in random directions. There was a short cry as Sukōchi was grabbed by Dark Shadows' beak and carried off. Then as suddenly as it had come, it vanished into the tree line leaving devastation in its wake.
Everyone scrambled upright and looked out to where Dark Shadow had vanished into thin air.
"Was... Was that Dark Shadow?" asked Kirishima worriedly.
"He must have escaped, but whatever Zeus did to him must be having lasting consequences. He's out of control." Said Bakugo, scanning the area around them, blasts prepped in his hands.
Something slammed into the ground in the middle of where they had been standing previously. The body of Sukōchi lay torn in half, an ominous purple smoke wafting from his body and horrid black marks all over his body.
"What the hell... It's almost as if the bodies have been put through a vat of some kind of acid," muttered Mina.
Momo's mind flashed to the reports she had seen about Aria Lin, the failed super nomu. Has Zeus done something like that to Tokoyami? Before she could voice her thoughts, however, the light suddenly started fading.
Suddenly the shadows grew deeper and more solid-looking. All noise faded and soon perfect silence fell over them. Every small noise echoed around them, their breathing became audible. Then the rush of wind started coming towards them.
They turned and they saw Dark Shadow, but he was different. Dark, vision-distorting, gray fire trailed behind him. Whatever the fire touched it stuck to, but didn't spread, just sat and burned before fading away. Momo saw Todoroki shoot a pillar of fire at the oncoming shadow, but it opened its mouth and fired a stream of the gray fire at Todoroki's shining orange.
The twin streams collided and the fire splayed outward from the point of impact and went high into the air. Todoroki didn't let up, just started increasing his flames output but it was clear the shadow fire was its match. Momo noticed that the dark fire didn't emit light, instead, it seemed to eat it. The light of Todoroki's fire was drawn into the shadow fire but it didn't seem to fuel the dark either.
Momo raised her rifle and fired through the fire to where Dark Shadow should be. Whatever was happening, whatever Zeus had done to Tokoyami and Dark Shadow, they would have to fight like their lives depended on it.
"And if it should come to it... we will grant Tokoyami a final mercy." she thought darkly.
It wouldn't be the first time they've been forced to make that choice, and her soul shuddered at the mere possibility of doing so to a dear friend.
It quickly became clear that Momo's attack was doing nothing or missing. Not that she expected otherwise. Dark Shadow was nigh unstoppable, having no weaknesses outside of bright lights. Not even Shigaraki's Decay had worked on it, composed of shadow as it was. Still, if she could distract it, then it might make the difference.
Then the twin streams of fire twisted and started chasing each other up into a colossal swirling pillar of fire, creating a strange glow that didn't quite reach the surroundings as it should have.
"BAKUGO!" Yelled out Todoroki.
"ON IT!" Bakugo yelled back and let loose a massive explosion into the maelstrom of fire.
The giant pillar exploded, and Todoroki cut off his fire as he erected a large ice barrier. It cut off their vision of what transpired but they could hear Dark Shadow let out a cry high pitched to cause the entire ice wall to vibrate. A split second later it crashed through the wall, lunging for Todoroki. Only to be met with a blinding flash explosion from Bakugo, and a jet of fire. It recoiled and shrank in size, but darted back into the tree line where it simply melted into the shadows.
Apart from Bakugo and Todoroki, none of them could do much to help. Momo created a few flashbangs and tossed them to everyone else who couldn't help. Todoroki had one arm constantly coated in fire, and Bakugo had small flashes of light constantly emanating from his hands. Momo went to take a step forward when she felt resistance from her left foot.
She swung her rifle down and saw that a shadow had reached up and out of its place to wrap around her foot. Then a thin tendril shot at her face from her left and she ducked as it speared through where her head had been. She fired her rifle into the base and was relieved when it snapped and the severed piece evaporated. She shot the shadows around her foot and freed herself.
"Watch out for the shadows! He's controlling them somehow!" She cried.
Immediately everyone looked down and there were cries of alarm as they realized they had been tethered without realizing. Then the whole forest's worth of shadows came to life. Tendrils of shadow rose from the ground and like whips started trying to smash, impale, strangle, or trap them. Only Bakugo and Todoroki were unmolested, the shadows not keen on approaching them.
Then Dark Shadow rose out of the center of the area between Todoroki and Bakugo and smacked Bakugo deeper into the forest. Then it pounced on Todoroki who arrested its attack with spears of ice, then blasted it with fire. It seemed prepared for that, however, as shadow fire sprung up all over its body and countered the normal fire. It started ripping through the ice, but Todoroki kept up the pressure on both, trying to wrap it in ice while trying to overpower its protective layer of shadow fire.
Dark Shadow howled in rage and used its shadow fire breath. Todoroki had to stop trying to wrap in ice to intercept the fire with a wall of ice. Using the break in Todoroki's attack, it smashed the rest of its icy restraints and lunged at Todoroki. Fortunately, Kirishima intercepted it with a flying tackle. Dark Shadow went tumbling sideways, screeching in anger and bathed him in its shadowy fire. Kirishima just shrugged it off however and smashed a fist through its left eye. It recoiled and like Bakugo, smacked him with a talon. Kirishima was sent tumbling a few feet but his immense density made it much harder for Dark Shadow to send him flying.
Todoroki collapsed his ice wall and sent another jet of fire at Dark Shadow, with Kirishima distracting it by attacking its side. Momo and the others noticed that the shadow tendrils receded with Dark Shadows' distraction and they used that opportunity to free themselves and run at Dark Shadow, throwing their flashbangs.
A series and blinding flashes erupted all around Dark Shadow, then an explosive wave of flashes came from behind Dark Shadow and overwhelmed it. Dark Shadows' roars and resistance faltered, and it started to shrink under the withering bombardment. It tried to run sideways, away from Kirishima and into the trees, but Daichi intercepted it with a round from his grenade launcher, causing it to stumble sideways where Kirishima jumped on it while Bakugo continued to launch wave after wave of flashes from the trees. Todoroki created a small pillar of ice in front of Dark Shadow and used it to split his fire to either side of it, so he didn't cook Kirishima but cut off its escape routes.
No one noticed however that all the lights had caused the shadows of the trees around the area to elongate and become pitch black. Shadows rose from the ground and smashed into the trees causing them to collapse. Ahmya noticed in time to avoid a falling tree, Shinso used his scarf to lash a falling tree to other upright trees, but others had to scramble out of the way or get crushed. Chaos erupted amongst them, people scrambling in random directions to avoid the trees, while others destroyed or stopped them. All this, however, served to allow Dark Shadow to escape. A tree fell on it and by extension Kirishima. The resulting shadows allowed it to slip into them and vanish.
It didn't reappear immediately, however, allowing them to regroup. They were forced closer together or else risk being separated by the fallen trees.
"Injuries?" Called out Momo.
There was a chorus of negatives while everyone took stock of the situation.
"This isn't going well, we weren't counting on fighting an opponent like Dark Shadow, we'll be exhausted before we even get to the enemy camp." Muttered Kirishima.
Momo turned towards Kirishima and saw something move in the shadows of the trees behind him. She raised her rifle and Kirishima immediately ducked. Momo sent a burst towards the shadow as everyone spun toward the target as well. The shadowy creature recoiled in pain and lunges out of the trees like a bullet.
It was so fast that no one managed to react in time as it clamped its jaws around Kirishima's head. Nothing happened even as it tried to crush his head, and it was then that they realized that it was a massive snake-like creature. One of Zeus's Nomu, a Hound of Zeus, had joined the fray.
Kirishima casually grabbed hold of its jaws and pried it off then in a show of power pulled its jaws in opposite directions. It started to rip down the middle, but then something flew from a nearby tree and crashed into Kirishima. Then a small horde of Hounds stormed out of the trees and all hell broke loose.
Kirishima was beset by the snake and vulture Hound. Both monstrous amalgamations of humans, the primary animal, and random bits of other animals. It made keeping track of individual Hounds a challenge.
Momo was forced to run as a trio of bat hounds, with boar tusks and needle-like fangs, flew at her, screeching and sending small sonic blasts at her. She lept atop a fallen tree and when she jumped off did a three 360 spin and fired her rifle at them. She didn't see if she had hit any, she hit the ground, tuck and rolled, and continued her run. A few steps more she tossed a flashbang behind her. There was a blinding flash of light and she heard the bats crash into the ground. She stopped running and spun around, her feet skidding across the layer of dead leaves as she aimed and fired at the bats. Already they were trying to get back up to go after her, but her gauss rifle made quick work of them once she bought herself enough time. The large projectiles ripped through their bodies and they let out a final screech as they collapsed in a heap.
She quickly replaced her ammo and started running back where she could see flashes of light and fire and hear the screaming of monstrous things. She clambered back over the top of the tree she had jumped off beforehand and saw things had well and truly devolved.
Kirishima had half of his body pinned by the snake hound while the vulture tried to peck at his face. At least he was unharmed though. Ahmya's team was back to back and were systematically taking down the hounds that came at them through quick and efficient teamwork. Todoroki was trying to fight off half-turtle and half-cat hounds which were proving both nimble and resistant to his elemental attacks while Bakugo was trying to fight multiple variations of cats. Their great flexibility and speed reduce the effects of the explosions. Shinso was backing up Mina, or rather Mina was protecting Shinso. Apart from Ahmya's team, Mina alone was having a relatively easy time with things. Her acid ate through the hounds at a prodigious rate, and Shinso used his scarf to trip them up which gave Mina the openings she needed.
Momo started taking potshots at whatever hounds she could, aiming to alleviate pressure from anyone who might be overrun. The turtle hounds ignored her rounds, and the cats proved too difficult to hit, she shifted her fire at Kirishima. She fired directly at him, his hardness would protect him, even if the impacts would hurt. In a few quick bursts, the snake fell off of Kirishima, writhing as it quickly bled to death. Then Kirishima grabbed the vulture hound and crushed it, before hurling its corpse at one of the turtle hounds and then charging into it like a battering ram.
The tide was quickly turning in their favor and Momo jumped down from the tree, heading towards Ahmya's group. She quickly inserted herself into their formation, and another minute later, the only hounds remaining were the cats using hit and fade maneuvers.
Todoroki suddenly roared out, "Form up on me, we have to take care of this now!"
Everyone formed up around him and when everyone was close enough for his liking, he raised his burning hand into the air and fire started to coalesce in his palm. A ball of fire formed, roiling a bright orange as it slowly increased in size. He kept this up, relying on everyone to protect him until his attack was ready.
Just as it was reaching a worrying size, Dark Shadow lunged at them from underneath a fallen tree. He detonated the building ball of fire early.
Fire and heat exploded outward, Dark Shadow screeched in anger and its shadow fire armor reappeared, but it had slowed it down. More than that, however, the wave of fire set the entire area around them aflame. The trees, bushes, and leaves burned, but given the frequent rain showers, it spread slower than expected. But it served to accomplish one thing, the shadow surrounding them was dispelled and Todoroki and Bakugo let loose massive point blank blasts of fire and explosions. The cat hounds that weren't instantly set ablaze, scampered off into the darkness beyond the burning forest.
The group immediately poured everything they had onto Dark Shadow, pinning it to the ground from the onslaught. Its screeches turned into a wail, then finally petered out. They ceased their attack, not wanting to accidentally kill Tokoyami. Exhausted and sweating a river, the group collapsed to the ground.
Dark Shadow had been fully dispelled and only the huddled form of its host lay on the ground curled up on itself, black smoke drifting up from the area around him. Momo went to take a step forward, hand resting on her rifle when Ahmya stopped her and approached instead. She crouched down next to the figure, then stood up and promptly put a quick round into its skull.
Then she turned to the shocked and angry looks of the people behind her.
"That wasn't Fumikage Tokoyami," she said darkly.
Momo felt her blood run cold and glanced at the others as looks of shock and anger were replaced by confusion and growing horror.
"I think we've discovered," she started to say, "just what Zeus used Fumikage Tokoyami for."
