Chapter 55 - Time & Death III

...

'This is not good at all!' Sombra thought with a grim look, her violet eyes shining brightly as if they were her own lanterns. 'These two managed to do a lot of damage to Reaper in such a short amount of time... although it seems they're not exactly unscathed either'

Sombra looked at the scene right in front of her as she thought of a plan of action or anything that could get her out of this situation. She didn't know why she was here, where Moira was or why there were Heroes all over the place, but she knew that if Reaper was in this condition, then the situation must be really bad....

Even hacking the light of the place to give Reaper an advantage things had turned out this way.

Two Heroes were looking at Reaper who was clearly injured, the lack of the mask only made the whole situation more worrisome for Sombra. Looking around the room for anything that might help he only saw various weapons lying all over the place.

'Why would anyone carry swords?' Sombra wondered as she raised her hand forward. 'Never mind... it's not the time...'

Suddenly a large transparent screen of a dark purple color materialized in front of her, a bunch of glowing violet letters flashed in her face. Approaching the screen, she quickly began to fiddle with it, said screen began to change at speeds almost imperceptible to a normal human.

But not to the World's Greatest Hacker.

'Moira will have to give me a raise for all this!' Thought Sombra gritted her teeth as the pain in her abdomen intensified by the moment, running after being attended to by a doctor who had somehow died was not a good idea.

But if she wanted to get out of here without being caught she needed Reaper not to be defeated or captured.

'Resists for a few minutes...'

***

The Mercenary looked at the Heroes, and the Heroes looked at the Mercenary.

For both sides it was as if it was an eternity, analyzing and calculating each other's move. The slightest move could mean defeat for the other now that the tables had turned.

But to the world, this was only a measly second.

And then it began.

Faster than time could count, Lena disappeared and appeared in front of Reaper hitting him so fast that not even the pain could be registered by his brain.

Legs, arms, chest, stomach... everything was hit without mercy and by a speed that would humiliate light with ease.

The next moment, Reaper slammed hard into the wall, the force behind the combo of blows was such that it left a sizable crater around Reaper.

"GAAAH!!!" Reaper's entire body screamed in pain, every muscle, bone and nerve in his body was in constant agony. Even after his years as a Mercenary, he had never felt such overwhelming pain.

And through it all, he felt no fear.

Despite feeling his breathing cut off for seconds at a time, despite feeling his bones shatter into pieces and grind to dust, despite feeling his vision rapidly dimming inviting him to be consumed by it.

Reaper felt alive.

Staggering as if he were the undead, Reaper faced Lena once again, this time with a broad smile. Without realizing it, a strange black aura emerged from him, enveloping him in its cloak of darkness.

The cloak awakened a first fear in Mirio and Lena, making their hair stand on end.

"That was a good hit girl" Reaper spoke with amusement, her arms hung at her sides with broken bones unable to move and her consciousness seemed to fade briefly. "A very good... hit."

Lena simply stared at him without saying a word as she took a long breath, she could feel her power rapidly escaping her body. '5 Seconds...'

Reaper spat on the ground letting the blood pooling in his mouth flow out.

"Now..."

Reaper looked up at Lena. 

Her eyes were completely black, completely empty, almost as if there were no eyes in the first place.

Just Death and Darkness.

Lena took a step back as she felt a primal fear wrap around her like a blanket, like a lullaby sung by the most ancient of beings, a song you would hear at the end of every life in this world.

"Let me show you what True Death is!"

***

Reaper's body exploded into a black mist consuming the entire hallway and everyone inside including himself. Unlike his jet-black mist, this one looked like a smog so dark it seemed to be able to consume entire stars.

Lena looked around, but there was nothing.

Just darkness.

She tried to hear something, but there was no sound.

Just silence.

"Welcome to my personal hell" murmured a sinister but strangely sweet voice, as if inviting her to listen to it for eternity.

Lena froze as she heard it.

She hadn't even realized that the 5 seconds had already passed, and that exhaustion was starting to take over her body.

BAM!

Suddenly the sound of a gunshot echoed in the darkness and an extreme pain exploded in her leg preventing her from falling into unconsciousness.

A hand gripped her hair tightly, preventing her from falling to her knees and forcing her to raise her head to watch as Death looked directly into her eyes as if marking her fate.

"It would be too bad if you fainted now wouldn't it?"

BAM!

A hard punch connected squarely against Lena's stomach making her vomit all over the floor. However the darkness ate the vomit in an instant, as if the darkness around her was a black hole.

"You know, no one has ever hurt me this bad in my entire career as a Mercenary."

BAM!

A punch connected with Lena's head sending her to the ground like a sack of garbage, she didn't even have the strength to get up.

"You were the first one to do this to me, if it wasn't for me Quirk would have bled to death you know?"

BAM!

A kick connected with Lena's chest, knocking all the air out of her lungs.

A hand grabbed her hair again forcing her to stare at Reaper as she desperately tried to catch her breath again.

"You got your merit you know?" growled Reaper with narrowed eyes. "After so many years... I felt again for the first time what Fear is!"

With an angry shout Reaper grabbed Lena's skull and sent it crashing to the floor in a brutal, cynical motion. 

BAM!

At this point Lena was about to pass out from the severe injuries, she could feel how several of her ribs were broken, how part of her skull was bleeding as blood flooded her left eyes, her lips were shredded and her mind was working overtime to try to find a way out.

But his mind could only focus on one thing.

The Fear of Death, feeling of helplessness, the taste of despair.

It was all forming a whirlwind that along with her other experiences, were sending her into her biggest panic attack to date.

So as Lena's mind quickly faded into panic, with her last bit of strength she thought:

'...re...coil...'

...

__________________________________________

If you like the story you can support me on my Patreon! You can read up to 5 chapters in advance!

https://www.patreon.com/rTem

...