CHAPTER 088(First Case)

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CHAPTER START---

Laying in bed at one of his Tokyo properties, Law is in his full Hero Costume aside from his visor, casually scrolling through updates on the Hero Network with his phone.

His sword and hoverboard are on the bed beside him, and one of his new visors is in its compact state in his pocket.

This is his third night spent in this property, and once again he's bored out of his mind.

His ROOM was open, extending to 1500 meters around him in every direction. Enough to easily contain Reacher's nightly patrol pattern, keeping his bait close by.

Suddenly Law sits up, sensing something approaching Reacher, moving quickly.

"Well it's about time...at least I think that's Stain, sensing swords...and throwing knives, that should match the wounds on the other heroes."

He reaches into his pocket and takes out what looks like a black piece of metal the same size as his phone.

Standing up he places it behind his neck and it expands, covering his baklava mask and forming his full visor.

Appearing exactly the same as before, but now more easily transportable.

And he even asked Mei to add a camera feature, realizing how useful the body camera footage was for the bank heist that he stopped.

Focusing on Reacher he feels Stain approaching him, sprinting across a rooftop and tackling Reacher as he slingshots out of the alleyway.

He always uses his extended arms to grab the ledges of buildings, but this time it seems that Stain was waiting for him and starts the fight by cutting one of them off.

"Ouch..." Horizon shakes his head, now sensing Reacher trying to run.

Only for two throwing knives to stab his thighs.

"Those probably hit the bone and major artery, he's not going anywhere."

Reacher drops to the floor, and he feels stain immediately take out a tanto -short katana- and throw it.

Reacher had extended his arm to the ledge to at least fall into the street, but Stain pierced his limb with the blade, throwing it a moment before the arm could properly begin extending.

Horizon feels Reacher flip onto his back, raising his sword to his face and biting it with his teeth, ripping the blade out of his arm and flailing his one remaining arm about to ward off Stain.

"Bad move moron..."

Another slash.

And his one remaining arm is severed on the floor, leaving him to flail about and scream while bleeding out.

Stain raises his sword and breaks into a full sprint, leaping a dozen feet -4m- into the air and dropping with a two-handed slash directly at Reacher's skull.

SHAMBLES!

Metal clashes with metal as Horizon suddenly swaps with the blade on the floor and blocks Stain's jagged and damaged katana with his pristine larger blade.

"Wow, you're not what I expected," Horizon says as Stain skids back across the rooftop, caught completely off-guard by this new arrival.

Under the full moon, he could see exactly what Stain was.

A tall and lanky man, wrapped in loose bandages with a long red scarf and mask, all torn and tattered. His chest had a bulletproof vest with blades strapped all across his body, but he was currently only wielding his damaged and worn-out katana.

Horizon doesn't move, and neither does Stain, all while Reacher is bleeding out on the floor, fading in and out of consciousness.

Without warning, Stain hurls four knives at Horizon.

"Takt," he speaks for the camera, and stops all the blades in place, holding them in the air.

A glamourous stunt that is much more difficult than making something move, to cancel its momentum he has to apply the same about of energy in the other direction, much more difficult, especially on small and fast-moving targets.

It would be easier for him to catch a falling bus than to stop a bullet for this reason.

Stain throws another set of knives, but this time Horizon raises a hand.

"Curtain," he creates the transparent blue dome around him and Reacher, with both severed limbs also inside it.

Without missing a beat he drops down and places a hand on Reacher, even as Stain rushes forward and slashes at the barrier a few times, not even scratching it.

"Booster Shot," Horizon begins healing Reacher with one hand while maintaining the barrier with the other, right in front of Stain. And the villain stops attacking. "I'll fix your limbs later, right now I just need to stop the bleeding..."

Stain takes a step back, looking genuinely surprised at the scene.

"The great pretender...wasn't a fake Hero?" he asks in a deep raspy voice.

"Just surrender," Horizon says, not caring to debate ideology with Stain.

"Fight or save, glory or service...and you chose service," Stain says with a sick smile. "Like a Hero, a real Hero...like All Might," he immediately turns and begins running away, leaping from roof to roof as fast as he can.

'What the hell is he talking about...wait. Does that moron really decide who lives and dies based on that? If you choose to fight or save? That's so dumb...'

A moment later Horizon is done healing Reacher, and the man begins coming back to consciousness.

Thanks to Stain's early departure he was able to drop the barrier and retrieve the limbs.

"Ahh...my arms hurt, what happened?" Reacher stirs awake.

"I reattached them, they'll be sore for a few days but you'll be fine," Horizon says as he sits the man up. "Just stay behind me alright."

"What?" Reacher asks, completely confused, not seeing any danger around them.

Without warning, Horizon summons one of his cards to his hand and throws it forward.

"Shambles," Stain swaps with the card, being ripped from his location nearly 1km away.

The sudden change in location causes the villain to freeze, "warping others, how troublesome," he growls, turning to square up against Horizon.

"Saving or fighting, right? Well, I can do both, and I'm really damn good at them, so, please surrender," Horizon says in a calm voice, sword drawn at his side.

Stain lowers into a combat stance, ready to rush forward, "I don't want to kill you, I don't kill real heroes, but I'll just cut you up enough that it puts you to sleep," his eyes drop down to Reacher who was sitting behind Horizon. "And I'll have to kill that one all over again."

Horizon hears Reacher make a scared noise behind him and has to suppress his groan, rolling his eyes in his visor, "don't worry, he won't get past me."

Hearing those words Stain feels his blood racing, "a heroic declaration that the people behind you would always be safe, I just have to test it!" he rushes forward. "Show me your resolve Hero!"

"It was more like a fact," Horizon says as Stain jumps and slashes diagonally. "Incision," he says for the recording as their blades clash.

Stain's worn-down blade is easily cut in half and Horizon's katana slashes into his left shoulder, carving all the way down to his right hip.

"Shambles!" Horizon swaps places with the shattered blade, avoiding the spray of blood that hits Reacher and grabbing Stain by the arm. "Booster Shot!" He swings him around overhead and slams him into the concrete roof, cracking it and nearly sinking Stain into it.

"Argh!" Stain feels his arm that was grabbed completely shatter along with the connected shoulder and collar bone. He reaches for a throwing knife with his other hand, swinging it across his own body to stab Horizon in the shin.

CRACK!

Horizon kicks Stain's fingers that were holding the blade as hard as he can, Booster Shot plus his steel-tipped Hero Costume boots shattered all the bones in those fingers and fracture the wrist, as well as knocking the hand away.

"That's enough," Horizon drops to a knee and puts a hand on Stain's head, using his superior strength to easily pins the man to the floor. "Counter Shock!"

"ARRRGHH!" Stain's short-lived scream is punctuated by the silent rooftop.

"Cybernetic upgrades," Horizon shakes his head. "Those make you really damn vulnerable to electrical attacks, not that it would have mattered. No more terrorizing the street, Hero Killer Stain," he makes sure that the camera gets a full breakdown of what's happening before turning around.

The only thing the camera sees is Reacher looking at Horizon with stars in his eyes and a massive smile on his face. "You did it, and you save me, thank you!"

"No need to thank me, this is just what heroes do, now let's get this guy to the cops, then I can do a proper check-up on you. Sounds good?"

"Yeah, that sounds great..."

Horizon makes sure to give the best first impression possible of his combat and overall style, because this will be his first case as a Provisionally Licensed Hero, so he had to make it count...

END CHAPTER---