"This is the place." They stood in front of Asashiro's dorm room. Amari stretched her legs. Ren knocked on the door.
"Mars- go hide. We don't know how easily scared he is."
Mars was crouched down due to his height. He yawned, "Alright. I need my beauty sleep..." He walked out of view and sat by the stairs.
The door didn't open.
"Asashiro Kuchiro? Asashiro are you there?" Amari knocked on the door again before it finally opened. A knife stabbed out through the entrance. Amari barely dodged it. "Calm down- we aren't against you."
"Why are you here?" He groaned.
Amari cleared her throat, "We are simply here to ask you... you help us- uh... kill this one guy. You won't need to do much cause we want you to make sure nobody interferes.
Asashiro walks out of the room. His lips were dry and his voice a little raspy, "You can't legally kill someone unless they have a bounty. So you need me because you need a third?"
"We have someone already," Ren says as he points in the direction of Mars. "But your power is critical to the plan."
Mars walks over, still crouched down. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Asashiro took a step back. "This is Mars, right? Why the hell would you wanna work with him? He's ruined the lives of so many people."
"Because at the end of the day, this tall guy is still a man of business," Amari crossed her arms. "Alright... we don't have much time. Follow me."
— Meanwhile —
Haruka flew back, catching himself on the ledge. If I made a weapon I might be able to take him. He thought. He dashed forward, keeping low to the ground.
"Unrefined." Batch said as he kicked Haruka in the gut.
Haruka aimed a kick for his leg but her jumped over it. He pushed himself up, kicking at him in the process. He missed every kick.
"Stop fucking dodging!" Haruka screamed. He ran forward and punched but Batch caught it.
"Sloppy." He swung Haruka up around and threw him.
Haruka rolled towards the edge of the rooftop. Sumiko had to run in and stop him from rolling off the side of it.
"You're playing a little unfair, Batch." Sumiko stood up
"I don't care. You want him to die out there?"
"It's getting late... do we have to stay here?" Taka yawned
Batch dashed forward and quickly appeared behind them. They looked around before he scared them, "Do you want to be able to survive against high level opponents. It's amazing you haven't fought one yet."
"Closest we got is some bitch with exploding scales." Haruka brushed his shirt.
An explosion was heard. The four of them turn and see a massive fire.
"That's by the market... isn't it?" Taka asked.
Batch lit a cigarette and started smoking. "The mall. It doesn't matter. We should stay-"
"We should help the people there." Haruka stood tired but ready to go.
Sumiko sighed, "I'm down."
"You can't just run into an active fight scene without knowledge of who is in it." Batch groaned as gunshots were fired.
Haruka grabbed Sumiko and ran down the building.
"I guess we are going," Taka nervously laughed.
"Guess so..." Batch sighed. They both ran down the building.
— Meanwhile —
"Hey... Satoshi... We know you are out there." Amari grinned as cocked her pencil gun. " Make this easy for us, will you?"
Ren squinted, "Not having my depth perception is making this quite a pain."
Amari yawned, "Yeah I get that. Just deal with it for now until we maybe find someone who is able to heal that. The medical team is useless here."
Asashiro looked around farther away from them. He called out, "I saw movement!" Ren and Amari quickly rush over. "In this restaurant. Pretty sure I saw our guy go this way."
Suddenly, a drone flies out of the restaurant, firing off grenades.
"Move!" Amari shouted. The group of them hid behind pillars and other things.
"What the hell is that?" Asashiro panicked.
Ren loaded his pencil pistol. "It's one of our targets drones. The boy is desperate. I can tell." He swerved into view, shooting the drone several times. He jumped back out of sight.
As the drone exploded, the three of them rushed into the restaurant.
"There's nobody here. Can we get in contact with Mars again? Maybe he's got any idea where this kid is." Amari said.
Mars was off doing his own thing.
"Where is he..." He sighed.
A noise was heard far away.
"That makes things easy." Mars dashed toward the sound, wearing a terrifying smile. His ash breath left a trail from his speed.
Shit- Someone's on their way. Satoshi thought as he got out a knife.
Mars arrived to the spot where the sound occurred. He picked up the soda can that made the noise. Laughing a little, he turned and grinned, "Found you." Mars grabbed Satoshi by the hair and threw him into a pillar.
The impact on his spine left him unable to stand up. He coughed blood.
"You aren't that strong..." Mars crouched down and grabbed his hair again, tilting his head as he looked at Satoshi's barely conscious face. "Disappointing. I guess they can't all be powerful."
"Get the hell away from him!" Haruka yelled.
Mars stood up, kicking Satoshi in the stomach.
Sumiko took a step back. "Who is that tall guy? Creepy..."
Mars turned around and looked at them. He stood tall and spread his arms wide, giving him a terrifying aura. The area around them turned into a hellish landscape. The screams of lost souls flooded the hallway, breaking glass.
"What are we gonna do?" Taka turned to Batch, frightened beyond belief.
Batch formed flowers around him and shouted, "I'll handle the demon. You get the rest of them, wherever they are."
The four of them split up.
Mars' bones creaked or cracked with every movement. He sighed, ash flowing from his mouth, "That's a shame. I would've rather fought the one with the year bounty. That's okay though. You seem just fine. Shall we begin our fight?" Mars crouched down, ready to pounce at any moment.
Batch put down his hat, jacket, and scarf, leaving him down to his shirt and pants. "I'd rather the kid not die under my care. Let's get this over with." He rolled up his sleeves.
Mars pounced forward at incredible speeds, aiming to punch his gut. Batch dodged the punch and formed a flower that shot a laser at Mars. The shot sent him rolling with a hole in his side.
"That power is strong." He sharply inhaled as he focused his power on the hole. The hole closed itself. "But not enough to stop me."
Batch's eyes widened. "So you know about that technique... You might be more interesting than I thought."
Mars lunged forward again, sending a barrage of chops and punches. Batch redirected all of them, but couldn't get a chance to strike.
He is experienced. I can't get a hit in. Is he planning on tiring me out? I don't know the full extent of his power either... His mind went crazy, thinking of countless possibilities for the fight. "What is your name again?"
"Mars Anderson." He punched Batch in the face and stomach, sending him flying into a pillar. "At your service."
The punches Mars made on him left burn marks. Batch stood up and groaned, "That's one hell of a punch." His power is hellspawn? I thought that power was wiped out 20 years ago... He thought.
~
Hellspawn is one of the rarest powers out there, with only one user of it remaining, being Mars. The power allows you to make the area around you into a hellish landscape. It comes with a heat immunity while also making it so any living thing you touch with your hands, aside from the power user themselves, gets burnt on the area of contact. The human body is also changed to where you breathe out ash instead of carbon dioxide.
Furthermore, looking into the user's eyes shows them your own darkest fears. This can be activated and deactivated at will. Lastly, the user ages 2.3 times the normal rate of a human. This power is a result of several generations of inbreeding, arranged marriages, and more all set in Europe and the United States several years ago, with the power ceasing evolution in the fall of 1894. Several years later, the family of holders of this ability were killed, aside from one of them which stored their power for their future child who would eventually be born 2 years later.
~
Mars grinned, "You've figured me out haven't you..." He dashed to Batch's right, kicking him into the pillar again. "You are old, you know what I'm capable of... probably." He looked into his eyes as he kneed his burnt stomach. His eyes flashed a deep red, the color swirling and winding. The stare causing Batch to see his fears for a moment.
Vines shot out of Batch, flowers blooming out of them. Mars flew back far. The flowers shot out more lasers as a shielding mechanism. He formed a flower on his hand that sprayed special particles to quickly heal the burnt areas. "He is trouble..." Batch stood up once again, coughing a little. "My flowers are having so much trouble." The lasers stop firing as the flowers wilt away.
The air was hot. Batch was sweating hard. "This place needs to get a bit nicer for me. "He forms two flowers on his palms. The left one glows a bright white. Mars' hellscape dissolves, going back to its normal state. He was about to use the other flower when Taka came flying by, his arm bleeding. Batch sent out thick vines, catching him. "Hey! Takahiro! You alright?"
"I couldn't even see him-" He coughed a little.
"It's alright. This happens. You are barely trained." He pulled out some bandages from his pocket and wrapped them around Taka's arm. "I haven't beaten my guy yet so don't get too lazy on me."
"What do you think you are doing?" Mars was standing twelve feet away from them.
"Taka get up- AGH-" Batch was stabbed in the back. He turned to see Asashiro. Quickly, he grabbed him and slammed the kid into the wall at full force, splattering blood everywhere. His unconscious body fell to the ground. His face destroyed.
Taka got up at the sight of this. Batch coughed out, "Take the knife for yourself kid," before forming flowers to heal the stab wound. "We don't got all day." He was breathing heavily.
Mars rushed forward as Taka grabbed the knife. Batch used the flower still on his right hand to form trees and other nature, turning the entire mall into a forest. Batch grabs Taka and quietly flees, taking a pistol out of a flower.
Suddenly, one of the trees lights on fire. Mars groaned, "What are you- a pussy? Get the hell out of hiding."
Batch aimed at Mars from a far distance with his pistol. He whispered to Taka, "How are the others,"
He shrugged.
"Whatever. They can handle themselves. Climb that tree and drop this grenade on him. He is immune to fire but we will still win." A rose blooms off of his arm and a grenade pops out of it. "Be careful." He hands it to Taka.
"Alright." Taka whispered. He slowly crept over to on of the trees and ran up it with gunung. The fire was spreading fast. He looked down at Batch, who nodded and did a thumbs up.
Forming flowers on his shoulders, he made them create little robot arms to quickly enhance the pistol. Taka dropped the grenade and Batch focused up. It exploded.
"Fuck! That's so rude!" Mars looked up and saw Taka. "There you are."
Batch took the shot, shooting the pistol and hitting Mars' arm, ripping it straight off with the bullet.
"AH! Holy fuck!" Mars cried out. "Wherever the other one is, you can have this one... I'd rather not die right now..." He coughed as he ran out of the building, closing the wound on the way.
Silence filled the forest-covered mall. Batch turned to Taka, "Where are the other two... where is the kid that guy was attacking?" He lit a cigarette.
"I don't know."