"Ladies and gentlemen…" the announcer sounded more dramatic than his usual self, almost as if he were about to announce the end of the world. "This could be our final match of this phase. If Team New York wins, they move on. If Team LA wins, they survive."
"From Team New York, we have the Blur. He is ranked number two in his region and is looking to close out this phase with his team's final victory. From Team Los Angeles, we have the Echo, Los Angeles's number two ranked hero, right behind Spectre. I hope you all have your popcorn ready and your bladders empty because you do not want to miss this one."
The Blur watched as his opponent stepped onto the stage, a person with human proportions but lacking many human facial features. They had no eyes, no mouth, no ears or nose. Their face was simply a blank concoction of flesh. However, their flesh began to transform, turning partially blue as it began to mimic the Blur's blue costume. The transformation was somewhat Lovecraftian in the way their body was slowly melding into the Blur's image.
Before long, there were two Blur's standing on the stage; one real and one fake.
'What the hell?' the Blur was disgusted yet intrigued. The transformation was disgusting but at the same time, he wondered how much of himself was copied.
As if they shared the same brain, both Echo and the Blur took off, leaving blue trails of energy behind them as they began exchanging blows around the stage and then the field. They were moving so fast, that those spectating could see nothing more than cobalt flashes of light zipping around the arena. Just when the announcer would begin counting, their trails would touch the stage again, resetting the count; it got to the point where he just gave up. The only one capable of seeing the fight was Infinite, having a sense of super speed himself, though it wasn't to the same level as the Blur.
While the Blur fought his own cheap copy, exchanging punches and kicks within just fractions of seconds, he realized that Echo's speed matched his perfectly. 'How the hell do I beat myself?' the Blur asked himself inside of his head as the two began running up the walls of the stadium, still exchanging blows while dodging simultaneously.
As the two continued to fight, Echo began taunting the cobalt speedster. "It's a shame what happened to Raya, Rachel, Mom, and Dad." A sinister grin grew across the mimic's face as he brought up the Blur's secret past. Part of his ability was obtaining the memories of the person he was copying. He saw everything, including the Blur's family being murdered in front of him.
Upon hearing his family's names once more, names he hadn't heard uttered since that fateful day, the Blur began reliving that moment in his mind. The gruesome final images of each of his family members flashed into his brain and during this moment of distraction, Echo made their move, vibrating their hand at such a speed that they were able to impale the Blur through the midsection.
This was all part of Echo's strategy, it was how he became the second-ranked beta tester in his region. It was impossible to beat another person with their own abilities if they were more experienced in using them than Echo was. In order to win, he needed to do emotional damage along with physical damage. Having one's memories only made that strategy easier than stealing candy from a blind baby.
The Blur screamed in anguish as he was impaled by the Echo's hand and he began tumbling through the grass outside of the stadium, digging a trail that followed him until he crashed through one of the stadium walls. Echo, with a smile on his duplicated face, walked over toward the Blur as the countdown started.
"Ten!"
Echo could have simply waited for the announcer's countdown, winning via a ring-out. However, he wanted to kill the Blur. 'It's only fair if Team New York loses a member too!' he thought; he wanted revenge for his teammates. As he approached the Blur, the true cobalt speedster could see his foe's outline approaching him through the dust and debris.
"Nine!"
However, the Blur did not see himself, or the mimicked version of himself that Echo had become. He saw the man who ruined his life; the vibrating man that killed his family, the man who'd become known as the Black Haze. Immediately, the Blur was filled with bloodlust and rage. The man who killed his family was right in front of him and he was approaching him to finally finish the job of killing the entire family.
"Eight!"
"You!" the Blur, pushing through the pain, rose to his feet. Though his body healed itself incredibly fast, being able to repair flesh wounds as fast as one would digest food, his wound started to heal instantaneously. "You've finally shown for face again you bastard!" the Blur roared toward his opponent.
"Seven!"
Echo was taken aback for a moment, but then he realized the Blur was likely delirious from his injuries. Having access to the Blur's entire skill tree, he knew everything that the hero was capable of, however, he was unaware that the Blur could heal himself instantly. It wasn't in his skill tree at all. "That's right, Kevin! It's me!" Echo played along, finding it hilarious to taunt his opponents in a way such as this.
"Six!"
"I'll kill you. I'll–" The Blur's body began to vibrate intensely and his voice became nearly incomprehensible. "I'll kill you!"
The Blur's appearance started to change. Not only was he vibrating, but his eyes started to glow red, and red electricity started crackling around his limbs.
The Blur snapped his fingers, creating a shockwave that instantly ruptured the eardrums of his opponent. Echo let out an earsplitting scream, one that he could not hear since his hearing had been completely lost. The Blur's entire move set was in his visual field, but his shockwave attack was not present. 'I don't understand! I know all of his moves! How!?'
"Five!"
The Blur, taking advantage of his stunned opponent, zipped toward his fake and pinned him to the ground. In his own head, the Blur still did not see himself or the Echo before him; he saw the Black Haze, wearing a costume similar to his own but all black with hints of red.
The Blur shouted in fury before delivering a flurry of punches onto this deaf opponent's face. Echo tried to stop him, his hands to try and block some of the attacks, only for the Blur to snap his hands and leave him defenseless.
"Four!"
The Blur continued the onslaught, punching with so much force that the ground beneath Echo was being obliterated as well, creating a crater that continued getting deeper as the punches continued.
"Three!"
The Blur didn't stop, he still saw the Black Haze in front of him despite the only thing being there was a bludgeoned corpse. Infinite was the only one who could see what was happening, but he wouldn't dare stop him. If he were to step in once again, Team New York would be eliminated from the tournament.
"Two!"
Finally, in his own head, his family would be avenged. Black Haze would no longer bring terror to innocent lives.
"One!"
But the moment the announcer finished counting down, the Blur's mind seemingly repaired itself. Black Haze was nowhere to be seen. The only thing beneath him was the mangled corpse of Echo, the blank slate, dug into the crater that he created.
The crowd was speechless, as was the announcer.
Seeing the blood all over his hands, the Blur pointed his face toward the heavens and screamed, such that his vocal cords nearly ruptured. His screams continued and his friends rushed to his aide. Meanwhile, the show had to go on, and the announcer raised his microphone to his mouth.
"It looks like– It looks like both contestants were rung out, but since the score was five to one, Team New York wins by default." the announcer's happy-go-lucky way of speaking was completely gone. The brutality that was on display was far more gruesome than anything they'd seen that day. There was absolutely nothing left of Echo, just a splatter in the ground. Even Tigress was still recognizable after what had happened to her. Even then, she wasn't killed by someone who claimed to be a hero.
The announcer's tone hadn't grown dark because of just that. He also knew what was coming next.
"That also means Team Los Angeles has been eliminated." the announcer took a breath before saying one final word. "Permanently."
One by one, a member of Team Los Angeles began feeling a warm sensation inside of their eyeballs, the warmth turning into a burning sensation before their head would explode. Many tried to activate their powers, but it seemed as if their powers had been stripped away just before their eyeballs detonated.
Team New York watched as the people they saw as friends, rivals, and enemies were wiped from existence in the blink of an eye. Not only were they watching rivals die, but they also saw themselves in their place. Had things gone differently, their brains would be the ones splattered onto the grass. "No..." Tempo looked to Spectre, someone he genuinely saw as a potential friend once everything was said and done. Spectre, watching his teammates exploding around him, sat on the ground with his hands on his knees.
He noticed that everyone was exploding in reverse order of their rank, so he would be the very last to get what was coming. There was no point in running or panicking. He knew that his death was inevitable. When what was left of Echo's corpse exploded, Spectre looked at Tempo and waved his hand. "You better win, Tempo. Don't let me die for nothing."
The moment those words left his lips, Spectre's eyeballs exploded along with his entire skull and his body fell limp onto the grass beneath his feet.