The superhero who found himself trapped in a larger web than he could scope at the moment dashed back, wanting to get as far away from the freaky lurker of the makeshift underground area as possible. He dashed past a handful of bodies that could have been unconscious or dead. A lean sword fighter with white hair and a sky-colored dogi, a tall and burly man with facial disfigurements caused by slashes across his face in official and fancy samurai silks, and a handful more too far away in the dark to make out much about them.
This sight led the trapped superhero to the conclusion that whoever this mysterious warrior blindsiding him was, it was taking out more fighters here in this underground tunnel. These men and women were taken out and laying motionless, dead or unconscious, yet the faceless shape did nothing to eliminate them from the battle for whatever reason. This left the obvious risk for these fighters to awaken and return to the fray. Something about this hideous warrior didn't feel right.
"Exposing your succulent flesh to me? Don't mind if I do…" a husky voice chilled the superhero's blood to freezing temperatures as, this time without hesitation, sharp pain lit up in the rear of his shoulder and a spray of warmth covered his right side. With a stuttering and hesitant turn, the athletic man in a full-body jumpsuit turned to see the faceless magician having dug his sharp teeth into his shoulder from behind and was in the process of ripping the flesh out.
Something about this guy was seriously off! There was no indication that he moved at all. One moment he was right behind, the other it was as if he had never been there, to begin with, having moved across half the tunnel in a split instant and blitzing the superhero to get behind him. While the first instance of the magician blindsiding his opponent felt natural, with the hero fumbling into an already carved-up tunnel, the second one made the rescuer especially terrified of his odds and made him feel like he had no control over the battle.
The bodysuit superhero thrust his fist forward in a cross, trying to punch his opponent's face with all his might and maybe loosen a few of those horrific teeth. Instead, the head exploded into a pool of phosphorous-glowing pus with the horrific magician extending pale and withered arms from underneath his shadowy cloak, then another pair, then another, then another… With the shadowy cloak parting in the middle, an awful revelation of a segmented, centipede-like body littered with pairs of withered limbs on both sides and his opponent coiling about with a haunting chatter made the superhero freeze up in his place, sweating with fright and wide-eyed.
None of this made any sense! Such undefined ability that lacked any semblance of rules would've only been available to an illusion specialist. None of this could've been real yet, as the arduous twinges in the hero's shoulder kept reminding him that all of this was all too real. The chest of the hero lit up with bright light, releasing a blinding flash that made the faceless dread hiss and, in a flash, his body no longer appeared segmented and centipede-like, once again keeping its humanoid shape. Was it ever that weird in the first place, or was this just the cover of darkness playing tricks?
Just a little emergency beacon of hope. All that Signal Man could muster up with the despair of having seen Guard Woman, the strongest and most awe-inspiring heroine he knew being eliminated. His power and the strength of his armors depended entirely on how hopeful he felt and the hope he could inspire in people he rescued. If the person trapped underneath kilometers of rubble believed they could be rescued, then Signal Man could will it be with no effort. And Guard Woman was the most inspiring icon of all the Land of Earth superheroes…
Even in the face of war, their group persevered and inspired hope to live and be rescued in the troubled and oppressed villagers and settlers. Only once had Signal Man's powers failed him, when his own hope had faltered. When the sky split open with apocalyptic punishment and Iwagakure had been utterly obliterated. Despite Guard Woman's presence, despite her best inspirational speeches… Maybe even Iwagakure itself believed it could have been saved, but… Signal Man faltered. He didn't believe that he could be the conduit of enough hope to prevent something as calamitous as that…
And here he was faltering again. Faced with just one man… Thing… Whatever this faceless lich was. The insignia attached to his chest that was meant to serve as his emergency beacon of hope when he couldn't produce any other hope from elsewhere acted on its own. Now his reserve hope was empty. All that remained was terror. Terror of the unknown, terror of faltering again and losing hope.
"You're just a delight…" the faceless magician hissed, extending his hand that had vastly overgrown fingernails scratching at the lich's own fingers, yet they looked too dry to bleed and too lifeless to rot. Something that was dead could no longer necrose. "My magical runes became empowered by the terror I inspire and you're just a little bundle of insecurities and jitters, aren't you?" the lich showed bloody glyphs glowing red on his hands.
Signal Man had spent enough time with ninja to know what sealing glyphs looked like. This was just a first detail to the true extent of his opponent's technique, yet it didn't seem like he'd allow Signal Man to unravel the true secret behind it. A forceful pressure wrapped around Signal Man's throat and lifted him up to where the superhero's feet dangled in the air. Despite his best attempts, Signal Man had no idea what had grabbed him and what was choking him to death. It was more than likely that something like this had done the others in too. All of them fell afraid and feeding this monster enough for him to realize their own defeat.
Except for where Signal Man and this dread were polar opposites, they were quite similar too. Each of them drawing from a concept present within the surrounding people to make their thoughts materialize. However, where Signal Man wielded hope to rescue people who initially appeared to be beyond saving, this vile magician employed terror to magnify his own power and the capacity to kill and maim. A plastic click made the faceless, shadowy magician stop chattering with his teeth in the ecstasy of seeing another one bite the dust before him.
A flash made the dread hiss with a mean sizzle as Signal Man only had a fraction of time from when light sparked in his gadget and when it left his signal to catch it, imbue it with hope and shape it into something grander. Signal Man's head became a golden, ethereal pair of garden shears that snipped the shadowy hand holding him suspended by the throat and left the superhero in a controlled hover. Another flick and the flash of light became a detached fist, enveloping Signal Man's forearm and swatting his opponent aside.
Another click and the booming hope surrounded Signal Man and turned him into a living barrier that threw itself forward and slammed against his foe, crushing him to the wall of the tunnel he dug up, leaving the dread stunned and sitting on his rear by the tunnel wall. The chattering mage shook his head. As the light of hope vanished and the living wall that Signal Man had become dissolved with a sparking sizzle, the enigmatic magician vanished, as if melding with the dirt behind him.
"Was that a flashlight?" a husky voice rang throughout the tunnel.
"That's right, but it illuminates nothing, it can't glow in the dark," Signal Man replied, looking around and aiming his flashlight that had the same insignia as the icon on his chest attached to its front end around.
"A flashlight that can't glow?" the magician wondered, with spite dripping from his voice.
"Correct. It doesn't shine with mere light, instead, it lets me channel hope and use it to bolster myself into becoming the tool necessary to save those in need! The Torch of Hope, that is me–Signal Man!" the body-suited wonder struck a flashy pose, waving and turning his arms to the sides before leaning down on his knee and flexing to conclude it.
"Hope? I thought that you heroes called mana "willpower", or something like that…" the disappeared horror hissed.
"Hope is a fundamental element of will. A spiritual aspect of will under my control. You cannot will to life something you do not believe in and hope is a belief in that which you aim to accomplish!" Signal Man aimed his turned-off Torch of Hope gadget about. "These warriors you've beaten are all in need of rescue, even though they are too weak to hope for their salvation, my hope is strong enough to will that to be!"
"Pathetic…" shadowy surges began leaking from the surrounding tunnel walls. They merged in the middle, producing the flapping shadow cape. A gust of wind began carrying gravel and rubble about and these detached particles began spinning in the epicenter of the flapping shadow cloak. With the gravel and rubble all rubbing together, the gravel became wet and stuck into a mass of clumps that began taking humanoid shape. Before long, the shape manifested into the dreadful foe that Signal Man had encountered underground. "The very fact that you still see what I show you means you're afraid. Your fear gives me power and in the complete darkness of this tunnel, I have enough to make your heart jump out of your chest from fear."
Signal Man bellowed in pain as something solid penetrated his thigh from below. Then, something unseen punched into his chest clean through, filling the superhero's mouth with the bloody iron aftertaste he had almost forgotten. With a persistent battle cry, Signal Man ignited his Torch of Hope and allowed his head to turn into a massive hand of golden light. The luminescence of hope betrayed the magician's power to be solid shadow constructs, appearing from the ground and the walls. Tendrils, sharp and strong enough to penetrate even a body that could withstand the collapse of mountainous mines without injury.
Powering through the flare of hope, the faceless dread tilted his hand up and allowed a shadowy tendril to wrap around his hand and become a whip while its end carved and adopted a hook-like shape. With the limited area of the underground tunnel, it'd have been nigh impossible to avoid the shadowy tendrils of this abominable warrior. The magician sent his shadowy hook soaring right toward the ensnared and perforated superhero but a resounding clang and the hero's body becoming enveloped by a golden phantom construct knight's helmet that closed its visor to deflect the hook strike and burning away the tendrils stabbing through him dispelled the nightmare scenario.
"That ability to mold and wield darkness as you please… I've heard of a clan of ninja that originates in Konohagakure, the Nara clan. These ninja can manipulate shadows, similar to you, though it is because of their hidden technique that they pass from generation to generation within their clan. Not to mention, darkness seems to weaken their techniques, while it only seems to strengthen yours, though the principle has to be the same," Signal Man grumbled with a streak of blood running down his lip and the injuries from the shadowy tendrils stabbing through him dragging him down and impeding his movements.
"Correct, using my own tricks, I've managed to capture and inspire so much dread in a child of this Nara clan that they betrayed some of their clan secrets to me. Even children were valiant enough not to spill all the beans, but… I've obtained enough to forge my own spell and seal it within these magical runes on my hands. Now I command darkness and despair, just like you channel hope," the faceless lich reared his spiky and long teeth that still had blood drooling from their tips.
"Monster! You would torture children for something like that!?" Signal Man clenched his fist, punching out from his own hope construct of a knightly helm and shattering it into yellow bricks that faded away upon collapsing.
"I prefer torturing children. Much easier to scare, and much more durable hearts too. Heart attacks too common with adult subjects…" the rotten magician pressed his long finger with an overgrown and crooked fingernail digging into his pale lip that did nothing to conceal his monstrous teeth underneath.
"Guard Woman often warned us not to succumb to the slippery slope of believing we exist to fight supervillains, not to become entangled with political games and live to fight and gather strength… She believed that heroes only exist to rescue people and that our strength should be directed at that goal alone. She only took this stage of warfare because she believed in all the lives we could rescue if we won this tournament and the Agbarah Sheikhate and establish a worldwide heroes headquarters…" Signal Man's clenched fist shook with the need to inflict grievous bodily harm as his strained mouth shook with a twisted grimace of wrath. "However… Right now, the only thing I want to make come to life is your crushing defeat!"
"My crushing defeat? That is impossible. In the cover of darkness, my shadow manipulation is invincible and I can draw on an infinite supply of fear, sustaining my illusions that make you question everything you see and lash out at shadows and creepy noises while I am perfectly safe. Just how do you intend to inflict this crushing defeat upon me? I don't think your own hope is strong enough. Not when my terror is just as potent here in complete darkness," the faceless lich postulated while a crooked smirk decorated the face of the pummeled superhero.
"Your terror? It's funny you bring that up…" Signal Man pointed his finger as if casting an accusation at his opponent. The gaunt magician bent his oversized head to the side out of confusion, so much that it threatened to crack his puny neck that had to sustain it upright. "Because I've been wondering about something here, just how I can draw from my hope to rescue people, you could probably draw from your own fear too, right?"
"My fear? What do I possibly have to fear down here? I can just sit tight and outlast this entire competition, eliminating fools seeking some rest like the ones lying around you," the faceless magician mocked his opponent.
"That's exactly it–you're afraid of exposure. You're afraid of being in the light, where you are weaker than everyone else and where no one's afraid of you and you can't hide behind your illusions anymore," Signal Man cast an accusing stone that shattered his opponent's façade like a glass panel. "That's why you let all these warriors you've beaten just lie around here, even though they can wake up and try to defeat you again. Because fighting them multiple times feels better to you than peeking outside just for a smidge to eliminate them. You're desperate to stay down here in your little tunnel."
"Even if it were so, it's of no use to you! Fear is still fear, even if it is my own! You're right, I can draw from my fear to sustain my illusions so even if you are too stupid to be terrified right now, you still won't be able to touch me!" the faceless magician elevated the volume of his husky voice a great deal, speaking out of frustration and desperation to be acknowledged as terrifying and right.
"Hmph…" Signal Man reached for the pouch on his utility belt, removing a scroll and unraveling it before flinging it on the ground. Had his opponent a pair of eyes, he'd have followed the scroll's path with great intent but since he hadn't, he could only do so by turning and waving his head about and sensing vocal vibrations of the paper sheet touching the ground by drawing them with his long, flappy and wet tongue like a serpent. Just what sort of experiments and bodily modifications could grant this monstrous man a body like this, Signal Man thought he'd rather not know, lest the revelation of how many children had to suffer and die to make these experiments possible became known as well.
With a resounding poof, a massive metallic construction manifested from the smoke. The gadget was large enough to clog the entire tunnel, and it made the limited space even stuffier when Signal Man kicked it from the back and directed it to turn. This, in turn, revealed it to be a massive searchlight with a stylized emblem matching that of the Signal Man's chest insignia. The superhero flipped a switch beside the searchlight with a rumbling thud, filling the tunnel with golden light.
"Wh… What's this, ladies and gentlemen!?" the announcer grabbed hold of the sheet of cloth that protected his head from heatstroke as the ground underneath shook and rumbled. The audience shifted in unease in their seats as the arena ground swelled up, temporarily postponing all current scuffles as beams of radiant light burst forth from underground. With an emphatic roar, the ground split open, spewing rubble, dirt, and debris in all directions as a golden beam of light carried a sizzling body of a pale, faceless humanoid into the sky until the focused energy wave of pure hope ran out of juice and dissolved. This left the nude and wrinkled body of the faceless lich to plummet from the sky.
"Oh, my!" the announcer pointed at the dreary sight. "This is a lich from the Tonika Village, Yabure Kotsuzu!"
A few of the spectators and warriors who became startled by the sudden eruption of the signal of hope from underneath that blasted Kotsuzu up in the air sighed in relief as whatever vile experiments the Tonika Village nightmare had done on himself to create his current appearance seemed to render him junk-free, making the horrid sight of his uncloaked body a less scarring experience than it'd have otherwise been.
"Take… That…" Signal Man panted while crawling out from the collapsed hole that buried the underground tunnel in dirt and caved the entire arena in a little. Even if by giving this creep his everything he winded out and blasted all of his hope in one go, leaving him gasping for air and stamina, knowing that he made the worst nightmare of the faceless lich come to life felt worth it at that moment.
All of those defeated, hurting warriors... Signal Man rescued them all.