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The fight was by no means swift.
It wasn't X's first rodeo against the unnamed being, but it was certainly the most dragged out it has been. After the first time she'd tried to temporarily take his trust value as her own, then feeling apt surprise at how his powers were not attached to them, the unnamed being had retreated and refrained from showing herself until now. She conveniently absorbed a portion of the top 11's powers through trust to levy a few gutsy rules about never running out of stamina on herself, and about an entire month in of the top 11 fighting her minions, it became abundantly clear that there was a significant gap in abilities between them since she could wield both trust and fear to her will but was personally immune to both.
Keeping herself poised in the air as her card summons scattered the ground like persistent flies, an amused smile painted her lips before she disappeared into the opening the cards offered her. Anybody else who attempted to get close was repelled heavily to the ground, and even after so long, she would allow only X to get in point blank distance. A lour took root in his expression as he faced the enemy that's just as much unpredictable as himself.
So she wanted only him?
Despite the fuss of some members of the top 11 over the dangers of getting close, X wanted to hurry and get back to his peaceful life. He'd summoned his sword and went right for her portals, immediately being grasped by multiple hands that tore him into her domain.
Feeling the telltale tug on her line, the unnamed being appeared, a predatory smile domineering her expression when she saw her bait had been taken.
"Finally. I was lamenting not knowing how much longer I've to wait..." She began, an almost adoring look flitting to her face. "But since you're here, everything is easier now!"
X prepared to end this the instant she lurged forward.
Mid-snap, pain detonated through his hands. Instead of a single, clean burst of pain, several sensations crashed into each other at once. X felt an unbearable pressure, a vicious tearing sensation as his fingers were ripped off by an unknown force, and a white-hot pain which seemed to push its way from his fingertips all the way into his wrist and forearm. Both his arms jerked on instinct as his sword clattered to the ground. The movement sent another surge of agony through him, and as if targeting anything that moved suspiciously, she made quick work of slashing at his legs as well.
For a few seconds, X could do nothing but gape. A strangled sound finally escaped him as his body flooded with adrenaline, and shock spread all the way throughout his body as the explosion of alarm made cold chills break across his skin. He tried to move again and pain pooled in his bleeding hands so intensely every muscle in his body locked tight simply to process it. Even the smallest movement seemed to jar the injury, sending waves of the throbbing feeling through his arm.
Blood smeared across his skin and dripped down to the floor, partially obscuring the damage beneath it. X could hardly muster the urge to move. His entire body, now enchained by her trust and fear value which acted as shackles, was stuffed into a position so snug it was suffocating. Even moving just a bit would cause his joints to scream in pain. X sucked in another broken breath as he stared at the blood running down his wrist, his thoughts deteriorating by the minute.
"Oops. Did I make a bad impression? You've only just arrived, after all," She hummed, peering at his reaction. Without even moving her limbs, the chains of trust and fear shifted to hold him up so he was no longer subconsciously slouching, politely avoiding his hands where the wound was most potent.
X's vision unfocused and focused back onto the unnamed being in front of him. His slightly cracked glasses had slid down his nose bridge to such an angle that he couldn't see clearly, and he panted as the growing dizziness made everything seem faint.
His white, usually slicked back hair was swept downwards to messily cover his eyes like bangs, mussed from cold sweat. X had felt like shit before, but this was like on a whole new scale he never wanted to experience. He weakly kept his gaze forward as she cradled his cheek and chin with one hand to tilt his face up in an illusory merciful gesture, her cold hands unexpectedly distracting from the sharp hot agony his fingers were causing him this instant.
"I just need one simple thing from you," Her amused expression didn't change as she looked into his eyes. "It's obvious by now that your powers don't originate from trust. I wish to know where it is from, that is all."
X's breathing was thin. "You're asking me?" he questioned, "I would have thought your constitution was much more interesting."
"If you'd share the source of your power with me, who knows? Maybe I will too." She leaned closer, so close she could press their faces together if she wanted to. "As long as you cooperate, I'll heal you right away and leave the rest of the heroes alone." She let go of X's chin, lightly patting his cheek a few times as if to pacify him, and the sight of dozens of mangled corpse of citizens from X city met his gaze again when she stepped away. "I'll revive these people, wipe everyone's memories of the past month, even, to give them a merciful and peaceful life. Though you'll have to stay with me. I've taken quite a liking to you after all."
A gun morphed into existence and was pressed against X's cheek, the smoky scent of gunpowder making him wince. "I can be very patient with you," she sneered, "but I hope you do not wait until it runs out. Since your snapping ability is nullified and you no longer have access to the dimensional powers, I'd advise you to know your place and accept whatever terms I offer before you truly find yourself regretting it."
"..."
Despite himself, a huff left X's lips. Then there's another louder exhale through his nose, multiple consecutive ones that made his aching chest heave. X lowered his head as he could no longer hold back his laugh, his face twisted into one that's so disturbingly insane and so out of the norm that the unnamed being bore a full face of morbid curiosity akin to that of a human's.
Without any warning, she took on his sister's form, staring at him with a ridiculously chirpy look. Then, as if mimicking his sister's personality, she playfully pinched his cheek and held his face so he was looking at her. "Now, now. What's so funny? Tell me the joke, please? I want to laugh too."
So she killed her too. The full extent of the unnamed being's powers were still unclear, but he had an inkling she could take on forms of humans as vessels as long as they had only recently died. That was the pattern she'd shown him so far, anyway.
"Huu..." it felt like a very long and satisfying laugh, and X exhaled at the end of it. The air was still once his voice stopped ringing in her domain, and the both of them stared at each other with varying degrees of wariness. Yet in X's eyes, that alarm had faded to become nonsensical and smug, so full of that usual whimsy he liked to pull in hero tournaments.
"I originally thought that even if you didn't know its origin, you'd have known the extent of all my powers," X murmured, his voice jumpy as he tilted his head. The white bangs made him look almost way too eerie with how his eyes were slightly concealed. "It almost scared me, honestly."
"..." Her eye twitched for the first time since he's seen her, and she backed out of his sister's body.
"Tell me...wh̙e̯̙̳n̳̿̿ w̎̀a̹ͥs i͖̊͟t̩̐̕ e̯͕ͣv̵ͣ̎ẻr m̯ͦ̉e̥̚͟n̠̥̲t̳̝ͯiͬ̀o̳̔͡n̜̎̎e̵̗d I n̔e͎̲̚e̵̡̔d̬̬̋èḋ̨̻ to sṋap to͈̿ͧ us̶e m̯͈̽y̞ p̸̏͒ow̬̖̝e̛͟r̹̀s͂?̿̉"
Flickers of colour shredded the floor his feet was touching. Her face contorted almost way too late as X switched into the 2D dimension, granting himself power to do as he willed.
The unnamed being flinched immediately. It's almost amusing how on-edge she was despite her nonchalant exterior. She yanked onto the chains of trust and fear, further mutilating his body as though he was a wild animal that needed to be shackled by control and put down. More sickening squelches of red came away as she tore at his limbs, the restraints winding around X's body now so tight it pressed unforgivingly into his ribs with an intent to paralyse him.
It might have worked if only she had swiped the top of his head off and killed him. X stared at her with a cold look as he rapidly switched between all the dimensions he had access to, twinkling triangles spreading out around him as his power rapidly surged to the hilt. His hair began flaring up as if imbued by blue flames, and her chains broke easily once contacted with him like hay being swallowed in a fire.
It was true that more often than not the snap correlated with the activation of his powers. But the actual fact was X really did it out of precision. The power which surged within him was raw, bubbly and unstable, much like a soda after being shaken, brimming and ready to explode. Snapping his fingers whenever he utilized it was akin to only allowing a small bit of that soda out each time, making his powers more manageable when he utilised it, and the funny part was that it was unnecessary even if it would appear as though it was. X's head felt like it was killing him, and the urge to throw up made his throat tighten again as he allowed himself freedom from her shackles. Kudos to her, at the very least. X had never seen this side of himself for so long he'd almost forgotten how it felt like. The last time was probably when he first woke up to this wildly eccentric power in the bathroom.
Splatters of colour filled the space as it rapidly overwrote everything else in the room. Raising what's left of his bleeding arm, X manifested the power into existence, the hour and minute hands appearing with a swift flourish. The unnamed being's eyes grew wide with an incredulous joy as she regarded the man in front of him with a possessive need to have him, her smile spreading wider when the clock fully manifested. "I see. So we really are similar!" She enthused.
It began ticking back, slowly at first, before trickling faster and faster like a broken clock rescinded of any sense of control. X's eyes burned as he garnered his concentration into it and saw his own hand regenerate in real time, his fingers twisting back into one that's not slick with blood but rather taut with unwounded flesh. His glasses and appearance reverted as well while the unnamed being was forced back into a reversed state, and soon the powers grew to overwhelm him, eating him up as the rewind grew to be faster and faster with the anger and rush of adrenaline threatening to consume him. His head throbbed with an intense pain intent on splitting his skull open, yet all of it was dulled with the hazy high of once again having no restrictions on his power. It all happened so fast he's almost sucked into a state of simply watching it happen, time rewinding faster than he could see. But with his last remaining shred of awareness, X raised his hand and everything around him stilled after a resounding snap.
His consciousness was thrown back into where he was at that time point he had rewinded to, and his body of the future given time ceased to exist. Faced with a pit of nothing but darkness, X flailed as he sat up.
"What's going on?!" He can't see anything. Had he somehow landed himself in some serious trouble?
A shiver passed through him, and X clasped his mouth as he recognised that feeling all too well. At the very least, it felt like he's at home.
He hastily pushed aside his blanket, going blind as a bat for the toilet, before slamming face-first into the door. Fumbling for the handle, he rushed into the washroom, tearing the eyemask off his head as he ungracefully threw up into the sink.
X felt like absolute crap. His chest was still heaving and he dry retched again, heartbeat pounding in his ears as he hastily brushed his hand against the tap to turn it on and swish the remains away. Flexing his intact fingers slowly, X stared at it for a moment, almost dazed from the overexertion of power.
He'd rewinded to a few months before the 21st hero tournament, huh.
X groaned as he miserably shut his eyes.
Well, fuck. Of all times, he just had to pick this moment to relive through.