"For our next match, coming right out of the gates is this man!" The lights shined down on the door as multiple helmet wearing guards watched while only a few active fighters chose to watch the fight of their potential future opponent. "He's a regular of Limbo and he knows how to use his quirk well!"
The inmate walked into the room, sunglasses on top of his sandy hair as his skin looked rough to touch. "Many have fallen to his quirk for looking down at it as being quite basic, but that's his greatest strength! He has honed the art of his quirk! Introducing once more...SANDMAN!"
Out walked the sandpaper man himself. Arai.
"Still can't think of a better name than that, huh?" the man with sandpaper skin smirked, raising his hand as he entered the 'ring', ready to throw down.
As the lights on him dimmed, his opponent was ready to enter.
"His opponent is also a regular with one of the most drastic changes ever since he entered Styx! Originally in Styx for a couple of years due to fraud, this man was dragged into the pits of Limbo and discovered the joys of relentlessly fighting and killing other inmates! But more importantly, he discovered his greatest joy! Burning everyone who stands in his way, especially their faces!"
Walking into the ring, a look of joy was plastered on the man's face.
"Once fearful of what Styx would bring, he was remoulded and came out as one of Limbo's regulars," the voice boomed from the speakers. "After tasting the forbidden fruit, he can never return to being a regular prisoner. Not only that, he's grown quite adjusted to keeping up the act of an innocent reforming prisoner!"
As the inmate appeared, in a standard black and white prisoner attire, he looked...really bland. The only thing Arai considered interesting about this man was that they could ignite their hands on fire.
"Ember Hands!" the voice began to fade out, indicating the start of the match not long after.
"Ain't that just his quirk? Then again, Inyoku is also called by his quirk..." it was then that the sandpaper skinned man got a good look at the plain looking inmate.
"Huh." Arai began as he stared at the man who lit their hands on fire. "Wasn't he that one inmate that was all nervous? The one Alexios talks with on occasion?"
A cocky grin popped onto the fiery handed prisoner. "Sandpaper, seems I gotta work a bit harder to burn your face off, hm?"
However for this man, he was ignored as his opponent started their own topic.
Arai sighed, "you know...there are some guards that I've met that are really good people. Good people you've taken advantage of it seems. One specific guard that comes to mind."
The man with ember hands just shrugged. "What does it matter?" he asked, scowling. "At the end of the day, I'm in prison and he makes the days more enjoyable even though we haven't met in a few weeks. The combo of his assistance and Limbo's rewards, I'm coasting for the rest of my prison days!"
"Agh..."
When the ember hand man saw the look on Arai's face, he had to ask. "What's the stupid look for?"
"I can't believe you're saying all those fodder level lines with a straight face..."
The flames of the inmate's hands increased. Growing much larger than before. "Cocky piece of shit!"
"Well, I won't say that I'm better than you. I'm really not." the sandpaper man began as the flaming hand opponent rushed forward. "But against one of the rare few that actually looks at me like a person? Then we have problems there, bud."
Arai raised his hands into a combative stance, he back-stepped away from the wild swing of the open palm of Ember Hands. Still one of the silliest nicknames Arai heard of in Limbo.
As he dodged not only the open palm, but the lingering flames that trailed behind, Arai dodged another swipe. Giving him a good chance to land a punch right in the man's face, causing him to stumble backwards. The gap between them was clear as day, it was like Arai was looking at invitations to punch him.
"A lucky hit," spat Arai's opponent as they lunged back into the fry, changing from the open palm swipes, almost as if he wanted to grab the rough skinned prisoner, he was now clawing with those fire fists!
There were a few close calls for the normally sunglasses wearing inmate as he dodged those flaming strikes. A thought occurred in order to pull the sunglasses off his head and wear them due to the bright flames as a bead of sweat broke out.
Right now it was a dodge and return fire kind of situation.
The bland looking inmate got real close with their attacks, even to the point of them almost spreading a flame on Arai's uniform.
"You know you can't win if you keep dodging!" taunted the cocky idiot.
"I know that-" Arai finished as he struck out against his opponent for the match.
"Oh, that was close..." Ember Hands whistled as he dodged the attack. "Better luck next time."
Arai lurched forward as a flaming fist slammed itself into his stomach. Hot.
Whacked down onto the ground this time, Arai huffed at the heat. As he took a second for his breath, he looked up as something caught his eye. The flames coming down at him! While it was good he resisted it somewhat, he still didn't want to deal with it and as quickly as he could, he aimed for the less experienced fighter's legs after dodging thanks to a roll and within mere moments, things changed after the fiery fists missed their target. Ember Hands on the other hand was swiped off his feet as the positions were now reversed, but not for long thanks to the rush of the other inmate.
Back on his feet, Arai resumed the position he was in before. "I guess it's time to show you some 'QMA' huh." Arai practically flew right at him!
Stunned by the sudden declaration for a second, Ember Hands moved his head just in the nick of time.
As Arai threw his fist, it was a complete miss. It wasn't even close to the ignited hand inmate's face! "What a lousy punch. At least aim-" the man with ember hands stopped in their tracks as pain brushed their cheek.
"Sorry, I wasn't aiming for a direct punch..." Arai said immediately after as he finished his strike.
A simple graze of the inmate's cheek was all it took for Arai's attack to land. It wasn't just any randomly thrown or wasted attack, it was a technique born from Arai's quirk and the need to use it for combat purposes.
In short, this was Arai's unique fighting style!
In a sense some might call it a martial art in today's world of quirks.
In the world of martial arts in a superpowered world, there were three reasons that some people thought of when they saw a person use martial arts in combat. The first being compatibility with one's quirk and the second being compensation for one's quirk.
One that gave the user something that worked well with their quirk and another that gave someone something else to use if their quirk was lacking or when they couldn't use it. Both could be used in their own situations separately.
However, there was a third. A third that could technically count as compatibility like the first, but unlike the other two, this one was inclusive for everyone yet couldn't be taught to everyone at the same time.
The first two mainly focused on existing martial arts.
Martial arts like judo, boxing and karate for example. This third reason removed that entirely. In fact, there were some that spoke up against the legitimacy of it being called martial arts if only a select few could learn a style that was given to them at birth.
Quirked Martial Arts!
QMA!
Despite the debates of whether or not it counted as martial arts, seeing as anyone could make their own fighting style with their quirk, quirked martial arts boasted an advantage for actual martial artists. It was a guaranteed set of techniques that could only be passed down to people with the same quirk (like family), people with a similar quirk (including near identical quirks from quirk frequency) or those who could copy those quirk abilities.
Sometimes existing martial arts were mixed in with this third set of martial arts, making it more formal than the standard technique everyone uses.
A custom made brawler style.
Like how Ember Hand's fighting style solely revolved around using their fiery hands quirk or Jolly Holiday's usage of candy canes to battle.
It was a fighting style that specifically used their quirks in a full on fight!
Many pro-heroes and villains used this style of fighting. A brawler style that meshed with their quirks. However, those who practice quirked martial arts however, went about it in a similar way to super-moves as some might say, hence the debate of whether or not they counted as martial arts.
The first two reasons only relied on martial arts being separate from the quirk, at most using it in compatibility for a few techniques, but the third specifically made it so it worked along with a user's quirk from the get go, from the first thrown punch.
A debate of whether this third reason of using martial arts in a world of quirks, was it just an evolution of street fighting and brawling? Or was it really a new addition to martial arts? Could both be considered evolutions of both brawling and martial arts?
Were there any differences at all?
It was hard to say at times.
Yet, the brawler style of Ember Hands and the quirk-martial arts of Arai were different in small ways. In this specific case, it was clear that these two were different.
One could be considered untrained while the other was considered trained.
To cut a matter short, quirked martial arts carried themselves the same way as regular martial arts, despite a person being able to make it on the fly in some instances. Imagine making your own fighting style that's only unique to you.
A comparison would be that of an untrained punch versus a refined, trained punch.
It was somewhat related to that of dojos getting popular in the world of becoming a professional hero for a living. Not many people took up dojos and went for whatever they could make with their quirk as the common choice, some dojos accepted hero students while others rejected hero wannabes for reasons already explained. It also didn't help that modern martial arts weren't taught with actual combat in mind outside of spars and sport.
It didn't change the fact that many people didn't bother at all with dojos or other types of fighting establishments. It was easier and cheaper with the on-the-fly styles and not to mention that heroes and villains were pretty successful without such aids, but those who managed to learn something from them did show results.
While heroes and villains used their own brawling styles, quirks and super moves, not all of them practised or trained their own style for close fighting, though some techniques might be used on occasion with added experience from battle. Hero students for example only really trained their quirks and super moves for the most part in their road to heroism. One could consider the brawling style unrefined while one who practised something like boxing was more trained, seeing sloppy haymakers as invitations to punch the person in the face.
There were a few martial artists that took their quirked martial arts to events (though nine times out of ten, it was only against other quirked martial artists), which was just a blend of martial arts and their quirks. It was a good way to put it.
A blend.
A blend of something that's still being debated and discussed to this day as nearly everyone had some form of martial art or brawler style just from being born with their quirk.
"It's not like every villain or hero uses martial arts, they don't really consider it." Arai thought as he missed his second punch, grazing ember hands' face. It was a true fact, despite the boom of certain dojos, many ignored them solely by making their own super-moves and stuck to the sorta successful brawler style. "Come on, it's just a little graze."
Due to the sole ability of his skin being sandpaper, giving it a rough texture, Arai had learnt to use his mutant quirk in order to make a martial art...or close to it. Out of all the quirks, mutants were the ones to develop some unique fighting style the most with transformations in the middle (depending on what they were) and emitters having their quirks used more as super-moves than anything.
In a battle, Arai was a grazer!
Purposeful missing attacks only to graze them with the feeling of sandpaper being slashed across their body!
"Shut it." a sudden flurry of flaming fists came flying right at the sandpaper skinned inmate. A smirk slowly appeared on his face as the sandpaper man began to sweat a bit as he dodged. "What's wrong? Are things getting too hot for you?"
Arai didn't say a word as he dodged another swing, going for a strike himself...only for his fist to be caught by one of those fiery hands.
It burnt.
"Thank fuck I'm not liquid sandpaper," the sandy blonde thought to himself as the bland looking inmate's other fist striked fast and hard into his face!
He didn't want to experience any new parts of his quirk he was unaware of or experience some sort of evolution.
"What was that about us having problems, bud?" Arai hated that tone as he was punched again. "Such hypocritical talk. You're taking advantage of him too, are you not?" a third punch to the face with even greater flames.
At this point, Ember Hands let go of Sandman and immediately let out yet another flurry of flaming fists. Focusing the fire in their hands to expand once more as they punched the on-the-defensive Arai around. The heat of the flames heated up the room faster than what Arai realised as he was being pushed back.
"Hypocrite? Maybe." Arai spoke up as he was back against the wall, unable to block all the fiery punches. "But, that's where we're different. Sure I've talked to the guy and I honestly feel pretty good, but I was never assisted like you were. You were given an extra push, a helpful hand that you broke."
Putting both of the fiery hands together, looking like that caught a sword in between their hands, Ember Hands pulled back their arms.
It was clear what he was about to do.
A two-handed blazing hand chop!
"Shut up!"
And down came the prayer chop!
"To be honest, I don't really care about much, but you just rub me the wrong way, bud." as the prayer chop came down, it was at this moment that Arai's left arm…stopped the chop in its place. "I'm going to get a really bad sunburn from this but…" an uppercut to Ember Hand's jaw followed right after.
Arai didn't have much time to waste in this brief moment. So he acted as quickly as he could, following right up with a swift kick to the man's genitals. Seeing Ember Hands falter, he got a few more seconds to turn the tide!
It was enough to cancel the fiery hands!
"The only thing powerful about you is your fire hands and slight experience in Limbo. I fought much tougher people than you, you know. Oops, I guess I ended up being a 'cocky little shit' huh?" he jabbed at the man.
Quickly taking up this opportunity, Arai grabbed hold of Ember Hand's arms. "Let's see what happens next!" quickly twisting the arm in two different ways, the scream of pain was all Arai needed before he flipped the other inmate right over him.
Following right up, Arai made sure his following attacks were all followed by fast grazes! Not once did Arai let his opponent stay on the floor for long, but he eventually let go. A bit of disappointment showed on the man's face. "Wow, after everything, you went down so fast! Getting my hopes up here."
As the convict with the ignited hands fell to the ground, Arai gave his own parting words. "Oh yeah, one last thing. He's not dumb, you know. I'd say you were already figured out some time ago...I hope..."
"And the winner is Sandman!" the voice returned with gusto. "Another great match from Limbo's contenders, but before we head into the next set of matches, we're going to be taking a quick break!"
As Arai left the room, he made sure to increase the weight on his foot when he walked over ember hand's face as a grin reappeared on his face. "I wonder if that rookie is up for his first match?"
Meanwhile as the third match came to an end, the voice that hosted these matches dug their hand into a small bag, pulling out a small handful of fingers before throwing them into their mouth. "As you can see, this is our resource operation." the voice said in between munches.
Next to this normally nervous figure was a shadow, looking down at the previous match coming to its conclusion. "I think you might be better at being a tournament host than being a mastermind," said the shadow as the finger eating host suddenly coughed.
"Non...nonsense, master!" the successor bowed their head. "It's just to make the inmates play along, without knowing what's really happening to them!"
"I know, I was just joking." the shadow smirked as the Mastermind of Limbo relaxed. "I still have to say, this was one of your best ideas. I still remember the day you proposed this idea."
Now relaxed and eating some fingers, the successor smiled. "You're too kind, master."
As the Master looked back at the screen they used to monitor the matches. "There are a lot more guards than what I was expecting to be here."
"Ah, we managed to only get the guards that would rather watch inmates kill each other than actually do something about it, as you know. Plus the whole anonymity thing works wonders!"
Crossing their arms, the master looked over at their successor who created Limbo, then pulled out another note. "Orders," they said as their successor took the note off their hands. "Seeing as the nursery is gone, we lost a lot. Thankfully not many of them were made-to-order in that batch."
"Understood," the successor took the note off the older figure. "...I see."
On the note was a list of different orders. It was styled like a chef's recipe in the way it was encoded.
For the successor, they understood it, as clear as day. "Client one wants something that packs a punch, a loyal bruiser in other words. Client two...eh, drone with feline features...better stop reading that for my own sanity. Client three, oh? I think I already have the necessary ingredients for that. I better get the long pork ready."
Shaking those thoughts away, the successor scolded themselves. "No. Limbo comes first!" they had to show Master how well Limbo had been going on this once in a random time check-up! "...but, it does seem like this list is more of the mature models than the standard, not as many M-Types compared to S-Types this time, but they're there. I'll just save the list for later."
Putting the list down, the successor saw that their teacher was deep in thought. The pupil thought about asking their tutor about it, but as it turned out, they didn't have to.
It was like they read their mind.
"I have been thinking about your slip up," the master in person said aloud, "even if you didn't slip up on the body tampering being discovered, they still would have questioned Vito about what happened, bringing light to Limbo even if it is a vague description."
"...so, the person who let Vito out..." the nervous tone was back in the successor's voice as they munched on a few more discarded fingers.
The master put their hand to their chin, confirming their pupil's thoughts. "They speed up the progress of them learning about this operation," they sighed, looking towards the back as two figures stood there in complete darkness. "I wouldn't be surprised if that person somehow meddled with the discovery of the body," they said, turning back around.
The successor's large unblinking eyes stared for a good while. "I...never thought about that..." the successor crunched down on some more fingers. "Do you want me to use some long pork and find them?"
A shake from the master's head. "No need. Those are for the drone orders." as the successor watched their master glare into space, they suddenly continued. "Though, it bothers me that this third party has gone undetected. At least they can make for a good scapegoat if they're found..."
As silence lingered around the two, with the younger growing a bit nervous from the silence, it wasn't long before the master spoke up again.
"Tell me, what was the plan for the body of that blood tendril inmate? What's his name?"
"Ah...well," the younger of the two started. "The plan was like many other resources and materials. When it comes to a dead body produced from Limbo, the body will be moved and discovered in a short time frame by one of our own. It is reported and the inmate that killed them is punished by us, standard lock up procedure. It doesn't affect their Limbo time though. However, if the killer is someone like Vito who can't leave their cell, then the blame is pinned on another inmate, especially one willing to take the blame for increased Limbo fights and rewards. Such as clothing and for a rare few, co-ed ward access. The same rewards the guards give out to inmates who built up trust and a good track record."
The successor coughed as their humanoid hands tapped on some screen. "Examples are like Inyoku-Yui Shiro's kariginu and Koneko Hirayama's hoodie, but I'm getting off track," the successor said with a mouth full of fingers before they swallowed them all down. "As I was saying. When an inmate is killed in Limbo, the body is sent to the morgue and planned to be sent to the funeral home and we collect the body from either depending on who's transporting the bodies, most of the time it's at the funeral home, as you know."
The master nodded, having picked up a few in person. "And for inmates that just lose parts of their body?"
"Same as the dead ones, really," the wide-eyed successor said, opening their almost scary looking jaw (or perhaps maw in this case) once more. "It's just reported as lost in a fight with an inmate or if it's in a bad condition from a fight, it's removed. In the end, it's just another resource."
"Ahem," a cough from the older of the two. "Now, how does this tie into the one that was discovered?"
The nervous tone briefly returned, "oh...uh, you see. That resource was the same as the other dead inmates. After they died in the one-sided fight with Vito, we moved the body to a place it would be 'normally' discovered and one of the Limbo guards on duty would discover the body and pin the blame on another inmate, like that candy cane guy or someone else." the successor sighed, the bag of fingers still practically full was placed away for another day. "However the body was discovered just a tad earlier thanks to that jackal showing around that fox newbie, ruining the normal, usual plan. It's a bit of a shame though, Vito was just one of our guarantee killers for when we needed a corpse, but there are always more killers around so nothing's really lost."
"Hm..."
"Master?"
Said master stood as tall as they could, rubbing their chin in thought. "We will need a plan to deal with this third party. The more I think about them, the more I wonder how much they've actually done without us knowing. We have no idea if they took the recent Vito murder to shift things in their favour by letting the normal staff realise that inmate fights might be happening under their noses..." they began to walk around the small room. "We are in the dark there, even if they did nothing at all."
"...nothing at all..."
As the successor processed those exact words, a horrible feeling started to swell up.
"Is there anything else about your Limbo idea?"
The successor jumped up. "Only when and where Limbo takes place. It changes each time we hold it. Not all matches are deathmatches or dismemberments, more so to scope out some potential resources though those kinds of matches are encouraged, but that's it. Why?"
The master walked back over, pulling out their phone, though a much older model than the regular standards of today. "Remember when I said your tampering didn't matter if Vito was released from his cell and that they would come to the conclusion of it being Vito eventually?"
"Uh..."
"It would have taken a much longer time if Vito wasn't released. If someone was found, they would eventually go on to the inmates that wouldn't have the ability to kill another inmate because they're locked up."
The successor gingerly stepped closer to their master. "Sir...I...I'm not following..."
A grin appeared on the master's face. "It's all just thoughts with no evidence to back it up, but I'm starting to think that your tampering with the body actually gave us a favour in the long run."
"It did?" they would have blinked if they had the ability too. "I mean, I just hastily removed the limbs because of an urgent order...another resource at the time was beginning to rot so-"
"It doesn't matter now," the master whispered out. It was surprisingly warm despite how the temperature in the room felt like it dropped. "It should be time for the next match soon, let me go through these thoughts."
Watching their master walk away and take a seat to think things through, the successor just turned to the screen they were using. "Ah. To think that my haste to complete an order would bring something good! I must be blessed with luck!"
Looking back to their master who was deep in thought, the successor's thoughts shifted somewhat. "...oh yeah, that's right. It did cause some problems..." scratching the side of their large, technically bald head. "Agh! Why did I have to rush that order?! All I had to do was wait a little bit...ugh. I guess it's too late for regrets, what's done is done and I just have to live with it."
"Master has already shown that this could be a favourable situation born from a mess up," their thoughts continued. "I just have to continue on, head held high. If I'm going to succeed my master, I better learn from these mistakes!"
Standing there with mixed feelings about the mess they made, a sudden idea popped into their head.
"I think it's time to take them for a test run," the successor said, thinking about the same two drones that were on standby.
As the successor looked behind them, right at two figures that stood who were awaiting their commands, the successor pointed at the tallest one. "Harvester, be on standby. Soon it'll be your turn."
Away from where blood was shed on the battlefield, in their own room sat two helmeted guards. They looked incredibly similar to others. However, unlike the dark green helmets with black linings on the crusader-like helmets, these few helmets sported golden rings around where they eyes would go, despite the dark tint of the helmets that blocked clear vision of the eyes as well as a few gold dots on the black linings in sparse numbers.
These two weren't the only ones in the room, but the same motorcycle helmet wearing man that Koneko referred to as Teddy. However, unlike last time, the visor of his dark tinted helmet was lifted up, showing his black eyes that contained a peculiar pattern to them. Four dots in his eyes, a similar pattern to a button one would see on a shirt or small hand-made plush toy.
The three of them sat around a small round table in the room.
"Crazy Ape is dead and the body will be dropped off for discovery as soon as this session ends," began the helmet wearing Teddy. "Jolly Holiday also sustained injuries while not life threatening, how do you want to go about this?"
The taller of the helmeted guards sighed. "It depends on the list, we have no idea. His current injuries can't result in amputation so we can still go ahead with obtaining cut off candy canes to go about the operation..."
The shorter of the two helmeted guards suddenly tapped on the table. "Should we really pin the blame on Inyoku for that monkey's death? Yes, we've done it before but Inyoku is also a good source of farming fresh resources and after what happened to inmates who are locked up having increased monitoring to a point its difficult to get our hands on them, it could be difficult to get our hands on some new killers if the guards ramp up their security procedures on all inmates one day. Not to mention the possibility of being tracked down."
"...right." the first guard huffed. "Man, I really need a drink after this..."
"If they're aware of inmates fighting each other, some inmates prone to violence would be monitored..." Teddy suddenly chuckled. "This is more tense than any of the daredevils stunts I do."
As the daredevil laughed, the second guard continued. "That's if it comes to that possibility. As it stands right now, Styx has an influx of dangerous criminals. It wouldn't be hard to find a killer that will actively compete in Limbo." they began, tapping to a rhythm. "The real problem is from what those other guards would do with the information of knowing that inmates are fighting each other like what Vito did, if they believe it wasn't just him."
"Right," the first guard nodded along. "We're always getting new contenders for Styx, like Crazy Ape. He was a newbie to not only Styx, but Limbo as well. It's always going to be easy to keep Limbo going."
"Now that brings us to another issue," Teddy sorted through some files on the tiny small table. "The introduction of two inmates and a third that was bargained off."
"Yes," the shorter guard nodded, crossing their arms underneath the black cloak they wore. "Yua Aoi, Sae Kumiza and Ashita Insatsushi."
"To think a group of inmates would discover us first before the guards do," the taller guard mumbled to themselves. "Then again, considering it's Ashita, we shouldn't be too surprised."
The motorcycle helmet wearing daredevil looked between the two. "Can we trust these inmates though?"
The two guards looked at each other for a moment.
"Most of them, but not all." the taller looked back at the button-eyed Teddy. "If they discovered us, there's always the potential problem of Limbo becoming public knowledge to the others..."
"We'll be fine! It's not like they can speak up or that the guards would trust them! We can continue operating Limbo here without any problems!" the shorter raised their arms up in the air. "That is what a complete idiot would say about the situation. We need to act quickly before any information leaks happen."
"With Limbo moving every time it comes up, it'll be hard for them to track us down. We could always close it down for a while again, but that might complicate the drone orders..." the other guard relaxed on the small table. "What a pain."
The daredevil Teddy had some other thoughts. "Then we have to silence them, right?"
"Depends on who," the smaller helmet wearing guard pointed out.
"If Ashita doesn't know something, she'll go out of her way to get that knowledge," the other helmeted guard began, "we can make a deal with her to keep her quiet if it satisfies her thirst for knowledge. I can also see Yua keeping quiet as she is the one with the least motivation connected with Limbo...Sae on the other hand..."
"She has no intention of letting this slip under any noses, she'll go straight to the wardens if she could." the second continued. "Unlike the other two, she is driven by what she was despite any scary act she puts on. There is only one way to deal with a snitch like her."
The second leaned forward on the small, round table. "It's better to let her die."
"They are participating in the Limbo matches, though only for one round thanks to some bargaining from Insatsushi." Teddy flicked through some papers. "...an inmate that wants to know everything, an inmate that wants justice to prevail and an inmate that...doesn't seem to have any reason for the search. Huh, it's as you said. Only two inmates here have reasons for pushing for Limbo...knowledge and justice...but, why are they looking for it in the first place?"
"That's something to figure out as we go." the guard that wanted a drink said, "should we wrap this Limbo session up early?"
A nod from the other guard. "That might be the best course of action, wrap up the next few planned matches and then continue another day."
As Teddy just sat there, nodding, he pulled out his own phone. "Okay, let's write up the next matches then. We'll have our two new guests go first then we'll finish it off with some regulars. It'll be enough to satisfy the guards and inmates there too."
"A shame we can't make them fight each other to the death," the taller helmet wearing guard sighed. "One's quirk will stop that and they don't really have the motive to fight each other…"
"And that's why we're planning to deal with them," replied the shorter one as a cough caught their attention.
As Teddy placed the phone down, the taller of the two helmet guards turned to face the other. "That reminds me, I heard they were upgrading the pills. Is that true?"
"Oh that? Yeah. Sorta." the other guard nodded. "The pills are still in production 'cause they're easier to disguise, but I've proposed the idea of making it a liquid or masking it as an inhaler. It makes it easier on me, that's for sure, but I doubt that will be the case. Not to mention someone here can't drink it properly. For now, they're staying as those pills."
"...low blow..."
"Ahem," Teddy got their attention once more. "About the matches..."
The guards returned their attention back to the daredevil. "We should probably fix the rest up, but how many matches do we do?" the taller one who relaxed on the table asked.
"Well we have to wrap up quickly to prevent any leaks about Limbo, especially if this Sae person goes to deliver the information or that information broker tries to deliver that info too." the shirtless daredevil crossed their arms. "We could always try affecting their memory, but we already know that's a really short term solution..."
Especially for something that would barely last half an hour or so...
"Anyways, Ashita is being monitored by an on duty guard that has ties within Limbo. It'll be the best course of action to get her on our side as soon as possible. A bargain, a deal, for knowledge should convince Ashita to keep those lips sealed."
"I hope you're right," the other guard stretched their arms. "It'll be bad if she sells us out before then solely because information was kept away from her...ugh."
It seemed like a plan was formed. "Then it's settled." The daredevil with button eyes smiled underneath his motorbike helmet. "We wrap up a few more matches, get Ashita and deal with the other problem after their match."
And back to work the three went, working their hardest to keep Limbo up and running and now a plan, it was time to act while they still could.
"Ah right, I need to get back to my own ward soon," the shorter quickly stood. "I took my lunch break for this."
"What a hero." commented the other as they watched the other guard get ready to head back to their ward. "I don't envy you at all for working in that hell of a ward."
It was then that Teddy stood too. "I need to get going myself. I shall see you both next time I return to Limbo. Might be a few months."
As the last guard remained sitting at the table, they only had one desire.
"I wanna drink."
"And we're back after a quick break folks!" The Mastermind of Limbo's voice flowed through the speakers. "Now to bring us back into the mood, we have this fighter going next."
However, behind those doors, a woman stood behind them. "So I'm going next then?" she thought to herself as the voice continued.
"This is her first time in Limbo but it's not about a person's track record in Limbo that counts. It's their track record in life! And this woman is one of the most dangerous inmates in Limbo right this second!" the voice cheered, the crowd of watching guards were ready to see some new blood. "I believe many here wanted to see her show her full strength, and maybe Limbo is the place to see it!"
Yua watched as the doors were prepared to open at a moment's notice, "she has many kills under her belt which is expected of this dangerous inmate and now the assassin is making her way into the pits of Limbo!" as the door's opened, that was her cue to make her appearance in this strange, tucked away little arena. "Oleander!"
As she walked into the centre of the room, the stoic looking woman raised an eyebrow at the voice. "Oleander? So we're going by assigned codenames then. Huh. They're even showing off our criminal records to everyone here."
"With many assassinations under her belt, who could be so bold to challenge this assassin?" the voice continued on as it always did.
"They're introducing us like we're in fighting competitions...seriously, who do they think they're fooling with this?" Yua thought as she followed the lights over towards the doors she came out of. "It seems my opponent is already here."
"Her opponent is already here and ready to throw down! This man has almost done it all. Murder, indoctrination, leading a cult. His resume is quite something! He amassed thousands, controlled many and left the non-believers broken! Both in body and mind!"
Out came Yua's opponent, not even waiting for the voice's introduction to end. A tall person from the looks of it as the voice quickly skipped a few things.
"The Cosmic Horror, Naut!"
Naut wore a hooded orange jumpsuit with a zipper that went right up to the top of the hood which was fully zipped up. Not an ounce of Naut's appearance was shown, as dark boots and gloves covered his hands and feet.
Naut was completely concealed.
The double doors they both entered through slowly closed, sealing the two in the room. Yet no brawl commenced, at least for now in this little moment.
"To think you were an assassin I've heard about," began Naut as he stood a little bit hunched over. "It's...surprising...to meet you in person."
"Hm…"
When Nozomi made her personal classification of the female ward's true big shots. Ashita and her vast sources of information, Sae's ability to restrain and incapacitate targets and Chikuha's pure explosive power.
She missed out on one person.
Yua Aoi!
Nozomi's classification came from either seeing them in action or hearing about it. Ashita's role as the information broker quickly proved her own power in intelligence and information. Knowledge was power. Sae's quirk and her former occupation spoke for itself, she did send many other people to jail, some were even in Styx. Chikuha was a ticking time bomb, ranging from small pops to full on carpet-bombing! It would be terrifying to see what would happen if she was serious.
Yet Yua was overlooked in that department? Why?
Because she didn't really have any reason to do so. She had no real reason to showcase her skillset outside of a few instances of her quirk such as dealing with a pesky prisoner or a hulking menace.
Nozomi only knew what happened within the prison walls, not outside it.
But, let it be known! Yua Aoi was capable of reaching that top! Not the top Akita claimed to be, nor the top Fumma decided he was, but the same top Nozomi classified the other three!
When she's involved, she could really show just what she was made of, just how powerful she can be. How fatal she can prove to be!
In her line of work…not only was she highly rated.
She was also an extremely deadly assassin!
Out in the countryside, was a couple with a single child. Their only daughter, Yua. It was a special day for Yua, she was four years old and one day, like a majority of children, would unlock her quirk for the first time.
"Your quirk will be showing soon," her father smiled, patting her head.
"Really?! When?"
A chuckle came from the man. "Soon, you just have to wait." he paused, looking around until his eyes fell upon a vase. "Like a flower."
"A flower?" the curious look of the four year old's eyes gazed into her father's.
"Yep! Flowers don't just appear like that, they have to bloom from buds. Just like you, my little oleander. You have to wait and soon, you'll bloom and your quirk will be here before you know it. It'll be any day now."
"Come on you two," her mother called out. "If we're going to have that picnic, we better get going."
"Okay! Coming!"
As she jumped down to follow her mother, her father couldn't help but cough. "Hm, winter must be setting in early…"
Little did they know, her quirk had already bloomed.
"Time to wake up!" Yua pushed her parents. "Wakey wakey!" as she pushed her father, she quickly moved to her mother. "It's almost lunch time...why won't you wake up?"
She put her hand on her father's forehead. "Are you sick?" she asked before she remembered what her mother said. "The phone!" scrambling to the phone and typing in those simple numbers up high on the fridge, it didn't take long for someone to turn up.
"A fatal poisoning…" one of the two paramedics whispered.
"It's already too late." the other sadly sighed as they noticed a little head poking through the door.
"Is Mummy and Daddy okay?" asked the four year old Yua. However, the pair that arrived, just looked at her and picked her up. She couldn't remember what they said as they took her away as she reached her hands out. The last thing she could remember was calling out to them.
It was the last time she saw her parents.
Standing in front of a strange building, the young girl was brought in to see a bunch of other children. Orphanage she heard them call it. She met a few different faces, people that she sometimes played with. One such friend stopped playing all of a sudden.
"Are you okay?" she asked her now bedridden friend. "I'll go get the caretaker!" When she went to find the lady taking care of them, she noticed the pale look on her face.
"...everyone's getting sick…" the child nervously fidgeted with her fingers. Just like her parents. "Hm…"
Each day, more and more people got sick and some got worse. Some fatally on the line. Until one day, someone arrived at the footsteps of the orphanage.
"I see," a man in a suit with a white coat over top nodded their head at the sick lady. "Don't worry, we'll take her back to the hospital. We'll examine her and find a solution."
The suited man stared down at the child. "Are you Yua Aoi?" he asked as she nodded. "Please, come with me. The caretaker already gave us permission. It seems your quirk is running rampant, let us help you control it." he offered out a hand.
Looking back at the sick faces in the beds, Yua outstretched her hand.
And soon, she was off to the hospital.
Something she thought was odd was the appearance of said hospital. It didn't look like one at all!
"Have you heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Apparently a couple out in the countryside were killed the other day." the person brought up.
The people in the room went about their business as another asked, "and? What's so special about that?"
"The only person in the house…was a child. Both parents were fatally poisoned and the only person there was their child."
"...hm…actually," another person joined in, "that sounds useful. A quirk that can fatally poison people. It's almost asking to be in our profession."
"Right?!"
"We should let the boss know."
"She should be in an orphanage or something…oh wait, we got a hit. Who wants to handle this one?"
It wasn't long before one of their agents got to the orphanage and brought her back to base. "We'll turn you into a great assassin."
Thanks to being taken into a villain group that focused and specializied in assassinations, Yua tireless trained to control her quirk and how to use it properly, quickly becoming one of the group's best assassins and blackmailer.
"Please, not her. Please! I can't lose her!" a man begged on his knees as his partner looked sick. Incredibly sick.
"If you want the antidote, you will do as we say," the expressionless assassin tapped her foot as the man before her just cried.
"Anything! I'll do anything! Just let her live!"
A man in the background smirked as he walked forward. "It's a good thing you work at the bank, now is it. Get us this amount and we'll give you a small antidote fee. Oh, and make it flashy."
As the teary man left, the suited man turned back to the fashionable Yua. "That's another one in our clutches, good work. Before you head back though, we got a hit. Head here and take out the target." he said, showing her the phone. A picture of a local pro hero.
Unfazed, she left immediately.
…
"The CEO of tech company Mango was found dead earlier this afternoon. Foreign traces were discovered in the body and it is assumed that he was poisoned in an act of foul play-" the news reporter was cut off as the screen went dark.
"Great work, Yua!" her contract manager (and superior) spun around in his chair. "Another well paying target done for! You really are the greatest assassin to ever come out of our group! I knew obtaining you when we did was the best decision we've made."
Yua Aoi, there wasn't anyone who didn't know of the poison assassin. Highly efficient, high success rate and a high kill count. The best assassin you could pay for! If you could afford her services of course.
Best of all, she left no traces. None in the sense of tracking her down as the killer, sure they might discover poison but not the poisoner. The radius of her quirk was a testament to that.
She had already proved herself to be the best they had, a real legend in the making. "Anyways, it seems we got another interested client coming in a few days."
"You wish for me to come with you?"
"Yeah," he nodded, tapping away at the keyboard. "I'll contact you when we're getting to the meeting site."
Yua bowed her head as she stood to leave. "Understood."
Since her days in the group, her 'contract manager' couldn't help but look at the list of lives she had taken during her 'employment' to them. He couldn't stop the large grin from appearing on his face when he read the names of heroes mixed in it.
"A real diamond we've got."
…
"Okay," her contract manager said, "we can handle any target you give us. We already got a list of hits on us if you want to see how well our best assassins have done in the field. Company CEOs, rival villain groups, politicians, celebrities, high ranked heroes, you name it."
"Hm," the client flicked through the records. "You're right about that. I can't believe one person was able to do all that."
The superior smiled widely. "That means you can trust us to take care of any target."
"She was the one to take down Payload?! Killing a high ranking top twenty hero, just like that…" The client looked at the list of successful hits, almost nervous at the fact. "It seems you truly are capable of any assassination."
Grinning, Yua's manager outstretched his hand. "So it's a deal?"
The client shook the manager's hand and on the third shake, yanked his hand, pulling the villain towards themselves and onto the ground! "You're under arrest!" they shouted as the doors blasted open with a wave of cops entering the room.
"Fuck!" the manager screamed when the cop suddenly kissed a wall. "Yua!"
"Already on it," the oleander assassin looked down with a face that portrayed nothing. No happiness, no sadness, no rage or surprise. It was the same old blank face.
As the contract manager ran for it, any following cops ended up on the receiving end of either her poison…or her own fists.
Though, unlike the first few cops, the next one got a good hit on her and eventually as more slipped by, Yua found herself overwhelmed and pinned to the floor.
While her contract manager had managed to escape, the same couldn't be said for the assassin as she was thrown to the ground. "You're under arrest!" the cop shouted as Yua felt the cold handcuffs wrap around her wrists.
"At least they only caught me…" she thought as she glanced to where her superior ran off to as more cops followed right after. "I doubt they'll catch up."
"She doesn't seem fazed at all by this…" one of the cops in the back mumbled as they raided the building, only to find nothing. "Seems it really was these two."
"Fuck. Get a search team on the ground now. They couldn't have gone that far."
Yua barely heard anything else as she was brought outside and into the back of a police wagon. The doors closed on her and by the time they next opened, she arrived…
At Styx.
Naut looked the assassin up and down. "You know…I think I would have accepted your services if this was under different circumstances." the completely covered inmate crossed his arms. "An assassin of your reputation. It's not an everyday occurrence."
"Naut…" the blank faced inmate tested the name. "I think I heard about you."
"Then I'm honoured," the completely concealed man bowed.
The more she thought about it, the more she was certain that she did hear about the cultist that bowed before her. "You went by many names, or at least adopted many. Cthulhu in America, Kraken in Europe…primarily Norway, Akkorokamui in Japan to name a few."
"Ah! It seems I have a bit of a fan?" Naut chuckled as he raised himself back up. "Or perhaps, it was a part of a hit that didn't go anywhere when I was in Japan?"
Yua didn't save a word on that matter. "Now is not the time for pleasantries."
"True." Naut looked up to the cameras in the room. "They're expecting blood by now." the cult leader sighed.
"A shame, this situation." Naut's hand reached for his hood, all zipped up. "I apologise. It's not often where I'm put in the entertainer's spot."
Grabbing the zipper, Naut pulled it down, right from the top of his head down to the neck. Now with the hood open, only an abyss was within.
That was until the first strike!
What came out of the zipped up hood, was fast and precise. It was a good thing Yua was on guard since…well, the start.
As the first strike zoomed right past her face, she noted the light teal colour of whatever shot out. Perhaps a seafoam green. Hard to tell in the heat of battle. Now with Yua jumping to the side, the blank oleander watched as whatever came out of Naut's more unique looking prison jumpsuit returned.
"Ah. I should have guessed," Yua Aoi watched as a tentacle returned to the cult leader and in-turn, was coming out of the now unzipped hood. Though, it could be argued that they were more tendrils than tentacles.
Tentacle: Naut has access to many tentacles under his hood! Whatever lies underneath that attire is a mystery!
Then, from right out of the open hood, another two emerged.
It lacked any suction cups and looked more suitable for holding and grabbing. Not to mention that Yua had no idea just how many tentacles were behind that hood of his.
So, she focused on keeping her distance. It was the safer play for her right now as she dodged a sudden lashing from one of the tendrils.
When a new tentacle came out, Yua whacked it away with her hand.
Naut was mostly standing there, letting his long reaching tentacles do most of the work outside of a few instances where he closed the gap between them. As he got close the first time, two new tentacles emerged that she managed to grab onto with her bare heads. Only to release when more popped out, which she returned to her old strategy.
As she whacked the approaching tentacles, a question popped in her mind. "They want a show from this…is it better to end this quickly or put up with the charade for a while longer?" in the mix of evading and redirecting, she focused on making as much skin contact as possible.
"It shouldn't be too long now," she thought as she went to whack a tentacle away. As her hand came close, the tentacle shot away from her. "A fein-" she didn't have much time as another tentacle sucker punched her from the side.
It wasn't long before Naut took advantage of her sudden hit as one tentacle wrapped around her leg, tripping her to the floor while the slowly growing number of tentacles she needed to avoid grew and lashed at her like whips.
Naut pulled the zipper down a bit further to let even more out. "It seems I currently have the advantage." he said as the tentacle around her leg let go as one gripped her arm and began to throw her around the room with a tight grasp.
As she was flung into another wall, her hand took hold of the tentacle around her arm as she tried to block the jabs of the others. "He's not showing any signs…must have a high tolerance." her eyes darted from him to an oncoming tentacle.
Suddenly grabbing the tentacle, she pulled and pulled hard.
Hard enough to cause Naut to be inched forward. So she did the same with the one her arm was wrapped around in, one after the other as his many others tried to stop her as she capitalised on the sudden pull that set him off balance. With a final strong pull, Naut was unable to regather his strength from the sudden resistance she started and was swept off one feet. One of them at least. "You-!"
He watched as she ran forward, avoiding his panicked attacks. Leading with the wrapped arm, the punch she threw was suddenly pulled back…
Unfortunately, the other hand didn't have those problems.
Striking a hit on the cult leader, she felt the gripped tendril loosen enough to free her arm before kicking the cultist away. Granting herself a second to breathe.
"He says that he isn't one to usually be in these situations, but compared to some other inmates here, he's doing better than most." Despite the assassin's evaluation, he wasn't like some of the others she fought. He was still commendable, compared to the other side of things though. He definitely had the potential.
Naut however, was not finished as he began once more.
As she evaded the striking tentacles, she managed to get around her opponent with ease before going on the offensive at a moment's notice.
Getting within his blindspot, Yua lashed out with great speed for a sure takedown. Right at the back of Naut's head.
As her fist connected with the back of his head, she pulled out immediately as more of those tentacles honed in on her exact spot. Missing said tentacles, she held onto her hand while the man turned around.
"It's either his hood or his head, either way…it's tougher than I thought."
She had no doubt that if she punched any harder that her hand would be out of commission. Hell, with the punch she went with, it hurt quite a lot.
Seems there was more under that concealing costume that he had yet to whip out.
"Are you perhaps waiting for something?" Naut asked, tilting his concealed head to the side. The zipper that opened the hood was now down to the top of his chest and she still couldn't see the man within the custom prison garbs.
Just darkness and the tentacles that emerged from it.
As he rubbed his side, that's when the oleander featured Yua went on the offensive. Seems like the usual method won't be working this time. "Perhaps I was," she said back, heading straight for the cult leader.
In response, Naut's tentacles went on the defensive. "I see, quite a shame for you."
As the oleander-assassin passed by as many tentacles as she could, a few grazed on by as they tried to stop her from getting too close. When she got closer and closer to him, Naut himself ran forward, as he threw his punches at the assassin, he watched as she effortlessly got around his assault while the tentacles closed around the pair.
Now, effectively within a cage of tendrils, Yua Aoi began her assault as Naut returned the gesture in kind with a headbutt!
Now with a few tendrils pulling her back, it gave Naut just enough time to land his hit!
A headbutt, once planned for her skull, landed on her shoulder! The restraint of the tentacles weren't fast enough to hold or slow down Yua too much though, allowing her to miss the attack aimed at her head…and to land a stronger punch to the cultist's stomach.
While the expression of Yua never changed, the pain that erupted in her shoulder was worse than her hand's previous attempt. Naut on the other hand, showed the lack of combat experience that she had, and now as she held onto him, she continued as his head flew back for round two!
As the headbutt came back down for another attempt, Yua kept up her assault as Naut's head came down.
"..." Yua said nothing as Naut came down…slowly as he slid off her and onto the ground, ending up on his back as one final attempt was made, judging by his sudden grip on her leg for a second.
It was over.
At least that's what she thought when the tentacles started to move around her, before falling to the ground around the cultist. As she prepared to fight one last struggle the cult leader might have had planned, Yua stopped in her tracks when the man on the floor suddenly spoke.
"It seems that victory is yours, Oleander." Naut raised his hand from the floor. Staring up at the ceiling, it was still impossible to see through the gap in the hood. "It seems that when it comes to combat, I'm still not completely ready to take on someone of your level. It's my loss. You win."
As Naut's hand fell back down, he turned his gaze towards the assassin. Not like she could see his face in the abyss of his jumpsuit. He heard the stories of the assassin and her victims and it made him think. "I wonder…if this was holding back, how are you when you go all out?"
As the sound of ringing rang out of the speakers, Yua decided to kneel down next to the downed cult leader. "For a non-combatant, you did pretty well." It probably would have meant something if she didn't look so expressionless. Same went for the tone as well really before the Limbo's host voice was heard on the speakers.
"And the winner is Oleander!"
"We got to see an assassin at work, a mere glimpse and I bet you all wanna see how the assassin would truly go about her assassinations!"
The sudden murmurs of excitement from the helmeted guards grew after Yua Aoi left the ring. "It's rare to see another new fighter, about time we got to see the assassin in action too."
"A shame it wasn't all out," another sighed, "at least I got my money's worth at least." they said, flicking through a few dollar notes.
"Well she was one of the inmates that fought toe to toe against Vito," a third collected their winnings. "If she was alone and unhindered by the other inmates, she could have easily incaptiated him. That's a skilled assassin for you."
A point from the first shot out. "The same could be said about Ueno and Shiro. Kumiza especially with her quirk."
"I don't see why that's important. Many other guards and inmates could have easily beaten that egocentric weakling. Also quirks like Pavlov and Marco and other types like that would whittle that weakling down. Not to mention some of the guards and inmates in Stygian."
"Ah, that's true. A real bunch of beasts. There are so many strong people here in Styx, after all. Still surprising how they became more open with accepting all types of inmates. It's practically the opposite of Tartarus." the first nodded.
The third grumbled. "Tartarus...a bunch of cowards you mean."
The first laughed as another guard had left not long after. "True that!"
"The next round is about to begin," a fourth walked by. "Get ready to place your bets if you're gonna keep gambling."
As the fourth walked away, joining a group that didn't seem interested in throwing their cash away, the second huffed. "...just because you guys aren't betting doesn't mean you have to ruin our fun..."
The voice returned, quelling the excitement for just a moment as they suddenly began to add more fuel to the fire. "Now we have a really exciting match coming up right next! It's sure to make even the fighter's waiting in the wings raring to go!"
"Even the fighters, huh?"
"Come on, hurry up. It's refreshing to watch inmates beat each other without having to worry about stopping them."
"Hope we get another new face to bet on. I'm on a winning streak."
And the voice was even louder this time. "Our contender is also a new face in Limbo and one that a few wanted to watch battle it out!" murmurs started to grow as the voice continued. "She's a distant woman, some consider a fallen angel thanks to her previous occupation! How IRONIC!" the voice boomed! It was almost smug. Almost.
"Fighting crime isn't all that's cracked up to be if you're the one doing the crime in the end! What a tragic turn of events for this poor, poor ally of justice. Not that any of us care about that, all we want to see is some action! Please welcome to the arena..."
And as the voice trailed off, the doors opened, but the fighter was given a helpful little push as she didn't step in immediately.
"THE FORMER PRO HERO, DARK FEATHER!"
In the centre of the makeshift arena was Sae Kumiza, the distant loner of Styx.
Also known as the former pro-hero...Dark Feather.
The former hero turned prisoner didn't dare to look up at the mention of her pro-hero name.
"Oh? And what's this?" the voice spoke up among the pure energy that radiated off the onlookers. "It seems that many inmates in the wings are raring for their chance to go! It's like they were all shot up on the best drug in the world!"
Dark Feather looked over towards the doors, the lights already beaming down on the door as the voice took on a chilling tone.
"Revenge."
The convict-hero kept her green eyes on the door.
"Charged with murder, this hero was sentenced to the very same life she sent others too and now her opponent would like to have some friendly words with her. Now, her opponent. Who could it be? What do the following prisoners have in common? Jolly Holiday, Gousen Hikudo, Maneater, Fleabag and a few others in the back got in common? That's right! They were all defeated and captured by Dark Feather! In some way or form during her few active years, from internship to active duty. There's not a lot, but there's a lot of rage being held back."
The doors flung open. "Now her opponent, the first of many that crawled their way to the line of wanting to taste revenge is this woman!"
Out walked a young woman with a skinny build with a light tan. She had short moss-green hair and on further inspection, perhaps it was moss! Darker green eyes glared into the hero while she wore an equally moss green jumpsuit.
"FLEABAG!" the unseen host called out as a ringing sound played soon after as if to say: fight.
"Dark Feather! I waited so long for this day!" the moss haired inmate grinned.
Sae couldn't help but stare. "...You know how this ends, Fleabag…"
"I wouldn't be sure about that if I were you." a hand reached up into her mossy hair before taking something out of it..
In her hands was a larger than normal flea and as soon it left her hand, it sped out like a bullet!
Flea-Shooter: She can grow and 'fire' fleas like bullets from her moss-like hair at her enemies!
"They've gotten faster," the former hero noted as she dodged the attack. "We've been through-" Sae was silenced as something shot into her back and refused to leave like a burrowing bullet.
The smirk on the villain's face said it all. New tricks were up her sleeve.
Pulling out another handful of fleas, Sae watched as they bounced all around her. The walls, the floors and the ceiling. They bounced everywhere within the room at speeds Dark Feather had trouble following with!
One by one they launched themselves at the former hero. One launched themselves into her arm, another into her side while many more jumped around her, sealing her movements. Reaching to pull them out, they put up a decent enough struggle with the bitting.
While she did manage to dodge some fleas, the larger than normal fleas kept coming all around her until they went for the strike. Whenever Sae noticed that some were gone, Fleabag kept them coming.
"Shit…" she hissed quietly as she pulled out another flea, leaving a small bleeding wound. Making sure to crush them soon after.
"How do you like my super-move hero?!" the flea thrower taunted. "I'd call it: Flea-Go-Round!"
Sae kept dodging the fleas to the best of her ability. "Oh? Going for the living flea circus theme now, Moss?"
All she got was a dark chuckle, ignoring the nickname. "And here I was told you went all silent since your fall from grace, you criminal!"
Sae froze for a second, until a fist sent her backwards. "Agh!" two point blank fleas shot straight into her sides. "Criminal…yeah…since when did I open up so much?" she thought to herself as she pulled out the fleas. Crushing them in her hands, Sae was about to use her quirk in the down time now that she got a second to breath.
But of course, her opponent wasn't as open to the idea. Another flea shot by and knocked away the crushed one away from the former hero's grasp.
"I ain't letting you use that bullshit again!"
Noticing the living Flea Circus reach up towards her moss-like hair, Dark Feather rushed forward.
What was meant to be a single, easy attack, was easily thwarted by a single move known as a kick to the face. "I'm not the same quirk reliant villain I used to be!" she shouted while punching the (former) hero as her fleas shot into their target.
As more fleas were shot, Sae took notice of a few of them just stopping after a good while. "Longer too…" she thought, pulling out more and more fleas from her body. Each time she got close, Fleabag and her fleas would just repel her in some way. She was even hit by some that sat where they were fired, like they were delayed! Fleabag improved tremendously.
It could be over...if she just used her quirk…
"I never used my quirk as much as before. It was mainly for self-defence in prison really." she thought as a flea entered her leg. It felt deeper compared to the last ones. "Not so much now…since then…"
As a hero, a person's quirk was invaluable in setting them apart from their colleagues. Since quirks were also a part of the majority of people outside a smaller percentage of people, it was also them. Their bodies, their identity.
For a hero, that identity was a lot.
Most heroes were known by two factors. The first was their image. Appearance, personality, seeing them in action and all that. The second was their quirk. Super-moves, collaboration techniques, etc.
So what happens when a hero like Dark Feather, who's quirk stood out more, fell to villainy?
Simple!
That quirk is associated with the old hero days…and for Sae Kumiza, it was a constant reminder of the day she fell into the pits of Styx.
"You're a trusted inmate for a reason, Kumiza." Shi's voice repeated in her head.
"We have your history on record…" it repeated again.
"...trusted huh?" Kumiza thought as she was struck again. "We've been through a lot suddenly. The two guarding this place, Limbo and who knows what else…why did I agree to it?"
She swung at the inmate before her, only to be blasted back by a bunch of fleas.
"Right…my history…can't even shake off my roots. I still have a job to do, so come on you fool! Get back up and do your job! What have we learnt? Bring it back out!"
As Fleabag knocked the former hero down, she pulled out another flea. "Man…you're not even putting up a fight anymore…" the disappointed look lasted only half a second as a big ass grin replaced it. "Ah well. Goodbye!" She fired the final flea at her victim.
"You fool…you learnt nothing…" The flea-flicking inmate froze when Sae pulled the flea-thing from her leg and in an instant, a dark light surrounded the flea held between her fingers.
The flea heading right at her head was suddenly sliced in two!
"Stay away!" She fired more of the fleas, only for them to be sliced in two, continuing in their trajectory. "STOP!"
In an instant, the dark light slashed through the moss-haired woman. One slash, two slashes, three slashes, four! By the time she was done slashing away, her opponent fell to the ground in pieces.
Sae looked down at her enemy, glaring daggers at her. "You really should have known the moment you threw them at me," the former hero sighed.
As she was about to walk away, a hand gripped tightly onto her ankle. "Where the fuck do you think you're going?!" shouted the flea villain.
The slashed, sliced and scattered woman was…alive!
No blood, no guts spilling out, she was perfectly fine. A dark light kept her in check right at sliced areas.
Void Separator: Sae can coat the objects she holds with a dark light up to a single metre. Anything cut with it separates along the cut! It is impossible for her quirk to harm anyone and while sliced up and scattered, can still move! The only way to stop this is a distance of thirty metres, in which anything cut will return to normal, like nothing happened!
Just as soon as it began. It was already over.
"Don't you leave, Dark Feather!" she growled as the hero easily removed the detached hand, "come back here! Let me kill you!"
"You are in no position to fight anymore…and don't call me that."
"DARK FEATHER!"
"...heh…it seems like that it will always haunt me now…not like it's anybody else's fault but my own…" her once proud hero name was now the opposite. There was no heroism behind that now empty name.
A name now in the mud. A name now associated with acts of villainy and crime.
The tragedy and fall of the hero once known as Dark Feather.
"Stop right there villain!" a voice called out as a man ran through the street, taking any available option to put distance between him and the hero.
"DON'T COME FUCKING NEAR ME!" the villain's voice boomed as they narrowly dodged another hero. The man ran and ran before they smashed through a window into a mall where they quickly began running. Suddenly pulling out yet another smoke bomb from their pocket, they slammed it into the ground, in the midst of the mall.
When the smoke settled, a small group of heroes scanned the mall with multiple people either running from the chaos or standing to watch the heroes in action. "He shouldn't have gotten too far, spread out." the hero ordered, his arm stretching out to send the heroes into action.
As the heroes searched, the man in question let out a sigh as his fists tightened around a nice pair of throats from within a fitting room. "Listen up, do not make a sound. Capiche?" The man tightened his hands around the pair, a man and a woman. "Let's go, nice and easy. No funny business."
And so they walked out, a man, a woman, and a taller man wearing some brand new clothes. A cap, to a fancy new jacket and an all around new appearance. "I quite like this outfit, don't I sis!" The hunted man glared daggers into the woman, his arm wrapped around the both of them.
"Y…yeah…" she nervously chuckled, trying her best to fight off tears.
"Now, little bro, how about you drive us home! A villain attack is serious business."
"...right." the husband replied, looking around the store.
"Remember, no autographs for the heroes. So stay quiet!"
As they walked towards the exit, where many of the civilians were running, someone else was also running through the store.
"Mum?! Dad?!" a small black haired child called out as she wandered the mall, covering her ears as the alarm blared. It didn't help that one of the clerks tried to get her to safety. "No! Mummy and Daddy are still out there!" she persisted as she broke out of the clerk's grasp.
Running through the store, the small child kept calling out and out.
No one replied to her cries.
"Maybe they're at the exit, waiting for you?" the clerk who ran after her offered. "Please, the heroes are here so let's head to the evacuation point. Okay?"
As the small, sniffling child took the clerk's hand and ended up heading outside the mall, that's when she heard. "HELP!"
"Mum?!" and off she took once more. "MUM!"
Running and running, she even saw a hero dart by, she heard another voice. "Stupid bitch! What did I just say!"
"HOW DARE-"
"DAD!"
By the time she arrived, she could only stare as her mother and father laid on the ground. "Mum? Dad?" she tried to approach, but a hand held her back. It didn't hold any power behind it as she ran up to her folks…laying atop a pool of red.
It was like she was punched seventeen times in the gut as her voice ran away. No matter how hard she tried to call out, it was nothing that resembled any words as she fell to the ground as the same hand tore her vision away from the sight and into a warm embrace.
"...I'm…I'm so sorry."
Melting into the hug from the clerk, all she could do was cry even more.
That was the day that Sae's normal life ended. The day both her parents died thanks to a villain trying to escape.
…
Even since that day, Sae worked twice as hard to fulfil her goal. Training her quirk, pushing her limits. Adopting the name Dark Feather. Sae Kumiza had graduated and became an official, recognized hero!
"Good work today, Dark Feather," the hero of the agency she now worked for gave her a thumbs up. As they watched some cut-in-half guy get taken away. "Reminds me of your first day when you interned. It wasn't that long ago, only a year and a bit, but man, time flies."
"It does."
"Yep! And your quirk also makes capturing villains a breeze. You know, train your quirk a bit more and I could see you being one of the most successful heroes in terms of capture rate." the hero mused while another sidekick laughed.
"It's not every day you see a person continue to live while having their bottom half separated from them! No worries of accidental killings with that!"
Sae couldn't help but smile a little as the older sidekick ruffled her hair. "I hope you can see me now, mum, dad." she thought to herself as the hero threw their hands up.
"Let's go get some lunch on the way back to the office!"
"Sure thing!"
Dark Feather's hero career was already off to an amazing start and she couldn't be more proud of herself as she helped capture villains and saved the lives of the people around her until one day a report came to the office.
"We got a report from the police," one of the other sidekicks mentioned. "A small gang of criminals have escaped from the police and were last seen heading towards an urban area. It says they're very dangerous when it comes to hostages."
"Spread out and look for them! We can't let people get hurt!"
It wasn't long before Sae was already heading down the street of said urban area.
Running down, searching house after house, Dark Feather ran and ran. "Come on…" she stopped as the familiar scent caught her nose.
The smell of blood.
Within a small house at the end of the street, guns pointed at a small family who sat on the ground, tears pouring down their faces. "Remember, if the police come, you didn't see us. Capeesh." one of the criminals hissed as they kicked the glass from a broken window away.
As sirens long since passed and silence filled the home, a hand stretched out, slowly and quietly grabbing a phone followed by a gunshot.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck!" one of the criminals cursed as the mother fell backwards with a bullet hole through her head.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" one of the five criminals screamed, ignoring the cries.
"I PANICKED!" they cried.
One of the other ones just pulled their gun out. "WHATEVER! JUST GET RID OF THE OTHERS! SHUT THEM UP!"
The sound of gunshots silenced the cries soon after and that was the sight Sae walked in on. A mother and her two children…dead.
She was too late.
"SHIT! A HERO!"
"GET HER-" he didn't have a chance as a dark light slashed through him. "A feather?" he noted, only to realise no one else was attacking her!
"I SAID GET-" His head turned to see his gang all sliced up, unable to do a thing.
"What's happening?"
"The hell?'
"HOW?!"
When the gang's leader turned back to the hero, all he could see was the rage in those green eyes. Sae dropped the thin needles she just used as dark feather-looking light faded…only for her to pick up a nearby kitchen knife.
He had to scoff, not like a hero would kill them…right? "You can't scare-" his words stopped when one of his lackeys' still living detached head was suddenly slashed in two right in front of him.
"Wait!" the gang leader called out as the hero lunged forward, as if his words could stop her.
All she could see was red.
The kitchen knife danced through them all, slashing away at their bodies and necks!
The worst part was that she didn't even hesitate to let them suffer for what they just did.
By the time it was over, Sae looked down at her bloody hand and the knife it held before it dropped to the floor.
"We heard gunshots! What…what happened here?" a policeman asked as they arrived on the scene.
Sae Kumiza barely looked at the officer. "I killed them."
She could have lied, she could have said that she was left with no choice. She could have gotten away with suspension, maybe a probation.
But she didn't, she confessed. They saw the lifeless look in her eyes.
"Please, sentence me to the murder of five people."
With conflicted looks, the police took her in and she was taken to court.
The look of the judge was the same look she saw the day her parents died and many more following. The exact same look.
Pity.
It was the reason she was sent to Styx and not Tartarus. The judge's gavel slammed down and she was taken away.
Away to Styx.
"Goodbye, Dark Feather."
Sae looked down at the now, cut in pieces villain she clashed with in the past.
"Damn…you…Dark Feather…" Moss tried her best to claw at the old hero before her, to no avail.
"AND THE WINNER IS THE HERO-TURNED-VILLAIN, DARK FEATHER!" the host's voice boomed over the speakers.
Tossing the now useless and crushed flea-like thing, the former hero was about to go back to the door as the voice continued. "AND THAT'S NOT ALL FOLKS!"
A scream caused her to turn around as what sounded like the slamming of the doors caught her ears. Within seconds, Fleabag was now in the hands of a new inmate. A sharp pair of teeth tore into the flesh, ripping it out of the separated convict.
"THERE SEEMED TO BE SOME INFIGHTING BEHIND THE SCENES AND THEY ALL WANTED A PIECE OF DARK FEATHER!" the host seemed to laugh. "THE MATCH IS BACK ON!"
"Not you…" Sae mumbled as the inmate with a mouth covered in blood smirked, tossing Fleabag to a random corner of the room after getting more mouthfuls of flesh in.
Sae's eyes lingered on the now partially eaten Fleabag. "...Moss…!"
"THIS CHALLENGER MADE SHORT WORK OF THE OTHER COMPETITORS IN THE BACK AND NOW SHE'S GOING TO GET HER REVENGE!" The host hyped the new inmate up as the onlookers began to cheer. "GO GET YOUR REVENGE, MANEATER!"
The now named Maneater was a young woman with short deep dark red hair that reached just past her neck and almost rivalled the blood splattered across her mouth and chin. Her prisoner jumpsuit matched the crimson colour with the edges of the sleeves near her wrists and around the ankles being ripped and torn.
"Now, my feast will continue!" Ice cold blue eyes stared into the hero, a hunger lurked within them. Raging.
"Wait, she made short work of the other competitors wanting revenge?! Just…just how many did she eat?!"
Sae had no time to think as Maneater moved faster than anyone she had faced before!
A little bit of a delay on this one thanks to some weather events that happened a bit ago here and the sheer size of this one.