Shadows of the Past - Pt. 2

"Oh, this should be fun."

The air shifted the moment the Bounty Hunter smiled.

The moment stretched to a tone silent and unmoving. Yet, beneath that stillness, tension coiled like a viper waiting to strike.

Grim's grip tightened around his blood-mist katana. The pain in his ribs dulled under the weight of pure instinct. This wasn't his first time staring in the eyes of death, but this time things were different. He had the Reaper System now. He discovered it the night of his parents' murder - a mysterious thing, no question about it - but it gave him confidence in the form of supernatural abilities. Although he fear little growing up in the slums of Division 12, now - with the Reaper System - he fear nothing.

I don't know how yet, he thought to himself... but I'm going to kill you first... and then I'm going to kill whoever sent you.

The bounty hunter - no, the Gami - stood in the center of the room, still smirking - and even more mocking - still at ease, looking at them as if they were a curiosity rather than a threat.

"Oh?" he mused, tilting his head deeper. "Are we doing this, then?"

No one answered.

They simply moved.

***

Hiroshi was the first to act.

A streak of silver carved through the air, moving at a speed to swift to follow. Hovering beside him was his grimoire which hummed with spatial compression, making the distance between him and the enemy nonexistent.

In response, the bounty hunter did something the others thought was either stupid or terrifying, or maybe both. He simply tilted his head slightly, standing there unmoving.

Not dodging. Not countering. Just… letting the attack miss.

Hiroshi shifted his grip and twisted mid-swing, the blade bending space itself. It was a feint leading into an unavoidable strike.

However, there was a sudden ripple in the air, and the bounty hunter was gone.

Hiroshi's blade cut through empty space.

Next to move was Arashi, vanishing without the use of his magic. It was sheer speed.

No step, no movement - one second he was standing still, the next, he reappeared behind their enemy.

And when he did, his grimoire flared, the markings on his arm glowing silver as he accelerated beyond human limits.

"What the...?" He said as something strange happened.

His blade should have struck true.Instead, the bounty hunter took a single step forward - a subtle, effortless movement - just enough to render the attack meaningless.

"Tch," Arashi clicked his tongue. "This fucker moves faster than my light magic. How inconvenient."

Following his attempt, Nozomi fired her pistol.

Not at the bounty hunter, but at the walls.

Her bullets curved in midair, bending toward him at unnatural angles - one aiming for his ribs, the other for his temple.

Her grimoire manipulated trajectories, enhancing kinetic force, which also accelerated the bullets, making them impervious to gravity. This made her shots more precise than an elite sniper at close range. Which meant, they should have landed.

But they didn't.

The moment they reached the bounty hunter, they unraveled. One second, they existed. The next, they didn't. It was that quick.

Grim's heart pounded.

Not once has he parried an attack, nor has he put up an single attempt at blocking them. Could it be... is he using forbidden magic?

"Erasure."

Grim's revelation froze the others right were the stood.

If he was right, the bounty hunter wasn't just avoiding their attacks. He was unmaking them, using an ancient power thought to only be a accessible by sages or angles - and both were thought of as rumors, not real existing beings.

And that realization alone sent shivers crawling up Grim's spine.

"Well, that's unfortunate," the bounty hunter murmured. "At least now you know you can't defeat me. So if you would kindly relinquish you soul cores..."

He stepped forward and the entire world lurched with him.

Without thought, Grim moved on instinct. But his crimson blade met resistance. His own attack slowed as if forward momentum itself was breaking apart.

Then the backlash hit.

A crushing weight, like a collapsing star hurled Grim backward. His body struck the ground hard, his ribs screaming in protest as something broke on impact. But he didn't stop there, his body tumbling across the wood, his hands barely able to catch himself before hitting the far wall.

"Grim!"

Nozomi's voice barely reached him. And in that moment, the air changed.

Hiroshi's grimoire ignited.

A deep hum filled the room as space itself compressed around him. Then he vanished.

It wasn't teleportation - not exactly. It was a collapse of distance itself. And when he reappeared, the world shook and Hiroshi's blade struck.

The bounty hunter's expression shifted to a flicker of something close to surprise - but only briefly.

A fraction of a second to be exact.

Even so, Hiroshi pressed forward, his sword curving through the air, miraculously bending past the erasure effect.

"Try to dodge this!"

It should have worked. Instead, the bounty hunter moved. He became a flicker - a distortion in reality. And Hiroshi was sent flying.

BAM!

His body hit the ground, and his breath leaving his broken body in a sharp exhale. A second later, blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, and Grim knew in that moment: if he was already dead, he would be soon.

Feeling triumphant, the bounty hunter flexed his fingers, returning to his sinister smirk.

"Good try. But you are only human."

Then his gaze flicked to Grim.

"Your turn."

Just as he expected, Grim moved on pure impulse.

No strategy. No planning. Just pure instinct, dashing forward as his katana ignited. Power surged through his veins - raw and unrefined - his blade pulsating while his body acted on a subconscious level.

He wasn't aiming where the bounty hunter was. Not this time. Because this time he was aiming where he would be.

And for the first time, the bounty hunter had to dodge.

It was just a flicker of movement. However, it was still progress, and that meant that he wasn't invincible.

Grim's grin could be seen even through his demon mask, which surprised his enemy.

"Oh?" The bounty hunter's smirk widened. "Now we're getting somewhere."

He flickered, and then there were three of him.

But no matter how closely Grim and the others looked, they were not illusions, nor afterimages.

They were three separate, real entities.

Grim, still catching his breath, cursed at the thought.

"Crap! This is bad. He doesn't just know one forbidden spell, he knows two!"

Beside Nozomi - whose grip on her gun tightened - Arashi stood ready to strike, his eyes narrowed.

Grim, however? He bursting with laughter.

"That's just unfair," he muttered.

Giving them no more time to rest, the bounty hunters moved. And the world became a blur of motion.

The battle spiraled into chaos the moment one of them clashed with Grim. Their weapons sent sparks flying into the air.

They fought like their lives depended on it - because they did. Each movement was calculated death. Every mistake was a fatal one.

Nozomi's bullets wove through shifting space, forcing constant adjustments. Arashi protected Hiroshi, slicing his blades at impossible angles.

And Grim?

Grim adapted, memorizing every flicker of movement in every fraction of a second.

And yet - nothing landed.

Even when they attacked together. Even when the bounty hunters should have been hit, they were untouchable.

And then - strangely - they stopped.

The bounty hunters, all three of them, stepped back, prompting the Grim and Nozomi to regroup with Arashi as he guarded Hiroshi - who by now was climbing to his feet.

"As fun as this has been," one of the clones mused, brushing imaginary dust from his coat, "I think that's enough for today."

Grim scowled. "Running away already?"

The bounty hunter chuckled.

"Oh, no. Not running. Time has just run its course, is all."

Grim caught a slight glimpse of flickering in the clone behind the one who spoke.

Could the spell have time restrictions?

But before he could think further, the air behind them rippled. Then, like a breath against a candle - they vanished.

Silence.

A long, heavy silence fell upon the room before Grim exhaled, lowering his blade until it vaporized into a crimson mist. His heartbeat still thundered in his ears, but he heard the familiar chime all the same.

DING!

[NEW UPDATE AVAILABLE]

[To receive updates, system must preform a restart]

[Update now] / [Cancel]

For a moment, he almost forgot the system was active. And to some degree, he was grateful for the reminder.

I guess I could update it now, but if the system works like a game, there's a chance something might be different the next time I use it. At any rate, I'm still not out off the woodwork yet.

He looked at Nozomi who wiped blood from her swollen lip. Arashi rolled his shoulders while attending to Hiroshi who shook his head.

"That," Hiroshi muttered, his voice laced with exhaustion, "could have gone worse."

Grim looked over the exhausted three, noting how exposed they were, and then let out a short, humorless laugh as he thought to himself.

Funny you mentioned it... because it just did.