It was supposed to be a fight. It was supposed to be a two-sided beatdown, where both parties traded blows and tried to defeat each other. However...
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"Twenty hits," Ephialtes said calmly, wiping remnants of blood on his own wrinkled face. "I'll give you those."
"What?"
"You can hit me however you want for twenty times. I won't move, not even an inch."
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Despite all the odds, it became a one-sided pummeling. This offer... It could be a trick. It could be a distraction. The villain could be plotting something. Or whatever.
Kirishima doesn't know. He has always been a simple kind of guy. Whenever there is a chance, he will take it and punch his way out. And whenever there isn't, he will punch his way out until the obstacle breaks.
Either way, it will involve punching, because that's what he does best. No doubt he takes pride in it. Hardening makes his punches as destructive as having a rock smashed to the head, tough and solid.
The power riding behind it is indisputable either. Each swing gives off a buzzing sound, testament to how threatening it truly is. But...
"ORA!" Kirishima yells, throwing another hook that lands with a nauseating crack on impact.
Under his knuckles is a crooked nose, the owner laughs hollowly as it stirs and re-forms the shattered bones by itself. "That's the eighteenth hit. Two left."
Why isn't it working!? Kirishima wants to pull his own hair and scream. I've tried everything! Punching, kicking, bashing him to the ground, beating him up! Over and over, until my fists have become numb and my Hardening has started to wear off.
But, this villain isn't turning into a grandpa. The most he has aged up is a couple of years!
Gripping Ephialtes's collar as hard as he can, Kirishima asks. "Why did you let me punch you for free? I don't understand. Aren't you trying to become younger? This way, you will only get older, man."
"Sometimes, a sacrifice is needed to purge sins. An atonement for all those lifespan years," Arata shudders as she feels his glance on her, "and for the ones to come. By the hands of another male. Oh, how humbled I am."
Bewildered at his answer, Kirishima's jaw drops. "Huh?"
Unlike Kirishima, Arata seems to get it. "What sacrifice? This free twenty-hit count? It's not a fair exchange. You absorbed so many years from those girls, but you've only lost a few since Kirishima-kun started punching you. You can't call it a sacrifice."
"Say, Little Red Riding Hood, if you punched a person but they took little-to-no damage, would it count as a violence?"
Of course it would. It's the act that counts. I don't want to say it, though. It will be the same as acknowledging his purging sins with Kirishima-kun's punches. "Not to mention, we— we haven't taken what you did to the girls into consideration!"
Ephialtes's body shakes as he lets out a breathy chuckle. "Then, tell me. What do you think I did to them?"
"... I— I don't know... I'm not sure... Feed on their dreams?" But then, it would make more sense if the extension of his quirk was to induce sleep rather than hypnosis.
"That's your best guess? Why, you disappoint me. I thought you're clever enough to get my quirk figured out."
"..."
"Let me rephrase some clues to you. One, it's not a hypnosis, it's just how seductive I am to you girls. Two, healing factor through lifespan. Three, dormant potential consumption on sleeping girls. Emphasis on sleeping. Still doesn't ring a bell?"
"You... That's impossible..." Arata's green eyes widen, hands covering her mouth. "... A succubus? Uh, wait, I mean, are you a reverse succubus...? Since succubi target males, not females."
"The word you're looking for is 'incubus'. Yeah, that's my quirk."
"Isn't it... a myth?"
"Even myths originated from reality."
"Wait, hold up!" Kirishima interrupts, confused as to why Arata's face is almost green. "I still don't get it. Incubus? What does it mean?"
"Don't you worry, it just means a simple sleep paralysis."
"No! It means that he's disgusting," Arata hisses, voice brimming with pure ire Kirishima didn't know she's capable of. "He has preyed on countless sleeping girls and harassed them in their own dreams. All of it to prolong his own lifespan!"
"What!?"
"Disgusting, you may call it. But, you should see it from my side, Little Red Riding Hood. If you had an access to eternity without violating anyone, why wouldn't you do it?"
"You sexually harassed those girls. It is a violation!"
"It's only a dream, and I assure you, they like it too. After all, who can reject the appeal of an incubus?"
"I don't care! Just because it happens in a dream, doesn't make it less real. The memories of— of what you've done... are still there! Those girls have to live each day with the pain!"
"Aren't you being a little double-standard?" A sinister smirk shadows over the temporary bruises on Ephialtes's face. Dark wings flutter mockingly on his back. "If so, what about my pain? Weren't you the one who said my sacrifice didn't count because your friend's punches didn't leave physical damage on me? At least I tried to repent for my sins."
"That's inherently different!"
Before Ephialtes can reply to Arata, a rock-solid fist clobbers his jaw, wrenching it out of place with a sickening snap. The next moment, another powerful one smacks against his stomach. The force sends him bouncing off the floor a few times, shattering it with small craters. It only stops when his body slams into a wall.
Arata blinks, surprised at the sheer strength displayed by the feat. "Wow..."
"Going around assaulting girls isn't what a man does!" Kirishima cracks his knuckles, expression darkening. "I'll make sure you won't hurt the girls again!"
"Really?" In an instant, Ephialtes appears in front of them, his wings spread open. "Then, you'd better start by protecting Little Red Riding Hood here. Because, our twenty-hit count is up."
Razor-sharp horns clash with hardened skin. Kirishima staggers backward, caught off-guard by the unexpected retaliation. He is about to counter when a large hand grips his head—momentarily blinding—and brings him crushing down to the floor.
"Kirishima-kun!"
Dang it! Kirishima winces as the sharp cracks of the ceramic tiles dig into the back of his head. I was too careless!
"Worry about yourself, Little Red Riding Hood."
Ephialtes launches himself to Arata's direction, yellow eyes gleaming mystically. She quickly averts her gaze and ducks low to avoid the arm whizzing above her head.
"Ugh!"
Did she just dodge my attack? Ephialtes narrows his eyes and tries to catch her with his other arm, only to find he misses her by a couple of inches once again, despite her movement being awkward and all over the place.
How? She wasn't even looking at me.
After following her line of sight, a realization blooms at the back of his mind, and he can't help but get impressed. "What a smart quirkless you are. You predict my movements based on my shadow and evade accordingly."
"You're wrong! Arata-chan isn't—"
"So what if I'm quirkless?" Cutting off Kirishima, Arata grits her teeth and leaps back cautiously, her green eyes still on the floor. "At this point, quirkless or not, you'll still target me. You can't chase after Melissa-san again."
"Correct."
Shuddering upon the sight of his shadow creeping closer, Arata takes another step back, but her back rams into a large tree bark. Crap! Did I just corner myself? Was he intentionally leading me to this spot?
One hand swiping his own curly bangs, Ephialtes extends the other forward. "Now, you can't go anywhere—"
Seizing Ephialtes's elbow, Kirishima hurls him to the ground face-first. Pinning the demon down, Kirishima begins to unleash a torrential fist barrage.
"Run, Arata-chan! I'll hold him off!"
Run? Run to where? We can't go anywhere outside this botanical garden! Arata grumbles, but she obliges nonetheless. First thing first. Getting away from the creep is my current priority. Who cares about the next.
This is a terrible match-up. My movement is restricted due to the danger of his hypnosis. Kirishima-kun couldn't hurt him enough to make it count.
Why the hell was it, anyway? Was it because the damage wasn't life-threatening? But, ugh, I can't know for sure!
Forget defeating him... Even if Kirishima-kun broke his limbs, he would just recover by cutting back his lifespan.
What should I do? Should I just use my quirk? A memory deep buried inside her then arises for the first time in forever.
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Red. Red. It was all covered red.
Her body. Her praying mantis forelegs. The stone floor. The snow engulfing the basement.
... And, the teenager in front of her.
"You monster!" A flurry of screams echoed as the underground erupted in chaos. "How could you? How could you do this to him?"
"No, no... What... have I done?" Shivers racking her being, Arata sank to the ground and retched. Acidic bile mixed with the coppery taste of blood belched out from her mouth. It trickled down her jaw and neck.
"Stop feigning innocence! Look around you! Only a monster has the heart to do this!"
Her throat was burning like hell, but Arata desperately forced words out of it. "I'm— I'm sorry! I didn't mean to... H— He started it first! I was just—"
"To hell with it! Don't you dare come closer, monster! You're just like your mother!"
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Stomach churning upon the memory, Arata shakes her head and banishes the idea immediately. No. Not my quirk. There's got to be another way.
The only way to incapacitate him... is using the non-conventional ways, Arata pants, cradling her limp right arm. Right, Shoto-san can freeze him. Maybe... Maybe, we have a chance, after all. Okay, to Shoto-san it is.
Dashing as fast as her trembling legs can, her green eyes glance around. She hasn't taken more than a few steps when gleaming yellow suddenly enters her vision.
Oh no!
"Hi there, Little Red Riding Hood." Ephialtes walks up to her. Unlike other times where she steered clear of him, this time, Arata is frozen in place. "Nice of you to finally look into my eyes. You should've done that from a long time ago. I like you better as a doll—my doll."
His cold hand tilts her chin as the other trails over his own suit, as if searching for something. He continues speaking in a rich, melodious voice, "Wondering about your friend's condition? I tossed him to the trees. He would be stuck there for some time, so there wouldn't be anyone to come between us now—"
"Fly to infinity and beyond, Shitty Hair!"
"Thanks, bro! Oi, you demon! Don't think you can get rid of me!"
Kirishima's body comes flying into Ephialtes with speed so baffling it can match a bullet. With almost no time to sidestep, Ephialtes barely dodges the human missile.
A loud smash thunders behind him a second after, and he involuntarily grimaces. The sound is enough to make him grateful that he doesn't get hit.
Clenching his gashed shoulder, a result of being grazed by Kirishima's hardened skin. Ephialtes turns away from Arata and directs his attention to the red-haired boy instead. "How did—"
Then, without warning, a round of chills shoots down his spine. Alert, he quickly snaps his head back, just to find Arata swinging her left fist to him, the item in her hold glinting under the lights.
She broke free from my seduction? Impossible! And that item, is that my—
Her hand comes down as fast as she can, aiming to stab him from behind. However, before it penetrates his shoulder, dark bat wings slam her in the chest, catapulting her body a few meters straight to the nearest object.
Ice wall blows up in her back upon the collision, showering her with cold wreckage and rubbles. Arata can't catch a break as gravity immediately jerks her to the bottom, knocking her temple against the frozen floor. Her clasp loosens and the item slips, clinking noisily a couple of steps away.
"Urgh!"
Not heeding the raw bruises all over her, Arata quickly pushes herself up, trying to get back on her feet. Right away, a stinging pain swallows her head and abdomen without mercy. It forces her to bow back down to the cold ground. Her vision is drowned in a momentary blackness.
No, no... That syringe of his— I dropped it... Where is it?
Like an ominous answer to her question, Ephialtes lands in front of her with a soft thud, his fingers wrapped around a syringe. The instinct in her screams for her to get up and run right now, yet none of her muscles can cooperate.
"First, answer my question. How did you break free from my seduction?" His voice slithers slowly above her, rich and calm. Too calm, even. It reminds her of the calm before the storm.
"..." Run, Arata! Run! Or else you'll end up like those girls!
"No answer, really?"
"..." I can't move at all... Don't get any closer! Please, someone, please help me!
"You know, I was very confused when I couldn't find my sleeping drug. Now, I know why. You've been holding onto it—to my syringe—and planning to use it on me. It's bad, Little Red Riding Hood. Didn't your parents teach you manners?"
"..." Shoto-san, Kirishima-kun, Bakugou-kun... I'm so scared... He is going to put me to sleep, like the others... Then, in my dream... he will...
"Still no answer? Okay, I think I would have to teach you some."
What he said should have been a red flag. A red flag for her to do something. However, her limbs don't budge. They can't.
All she can do is stare at the leather shoes near her face. And cries out in anguish as one of them kicks her mess of a right shoulder, keeling her body over forcefully. A veil of wetness involuntarily emerges from her eye sockets, blurring her sight of the lights up there.
It hurts. It hurts so much. Is this it? Is this how I would end up? And what would it be after the dream?
"Oh, I understand now. Your right arm was badly hurt. And you clenched it with your other arm to disrupt my seduction effect using the pain. Wasn't that so? You have tricked me."
His knee pins her left arm down, and Arata can't help but scream when her other arm is yanked harshly, sending a jolt of immense pain. Yellow gleam enters her vision, and she immediately shuts her teary eyes, fearing the unknown.
Could I even wake up and look the others in the eye? He wants to feed on me as much as he can... How long the dream would be? A few minutes? A couple of hours? All night long?
Would I just shrivel up and die afterwards? Would he leave enough for me to see myself all wrinkled and old? Even so... would I be able to live with the experience...?
"Shh, stop struggling, Little Red Riding Hood. The needle will break mid-way if you keep doing this. You'll hurt yourself and I don't like it. I need you to be in top condition for me."
Grappling blindly, Arata wriggles with all of her strength. Still, the vice-like grip on her right wrist doesn't yield. Peeking a little, she can see that the syringe is only centimeters away from piercing her blood vessels. "Stop! Let me go! Don't inject me with that!"
Anyone, please... Help me... I beg you...!
"It seems scary right now, but everything will be great once you fall asleep. You're going to enjoy it, I promise."