Chapter 15

Shiro heard a ringing sound coming from the rafters of the house which immediately caused him to stiffen in alarm. A second later, he grunted in pain at the movement. He was still injured from the earlier fight and...a brief flash of red from above caused Shiro to roll away, saving his life from being reaped by the spear in Lancer's hand.

"You."

Shiro bit out venomously.

"Yes, me." Lancer Chuckled, twirling the lance in his hands casually.

"I wanted to make it easy for you. A blow you could not see coming to reduce your suffering. Now we have to do it the hard way."

Shiro looked around and grabbed a pipe lying on the ground. Holding it before him in a standard Kendo pose, the red haired boy decided to fight.

"Trace On!"

The pipe glowed with blue circuit lines as the teen reinforced it.

"Interest..." Lancer was about to say when something changed in his expression. Something was coming. He held his lance at the ready. What he wasn't expecting was a figure to appear in midair between the two and land in the middle of the room. The floor boards under them cracked as the figure landed heavily with it's hard body.

Ash took a quick glance of the area before understanding where he was. Without hesitation, he looked at Shiro.

"Run! Get to the workshop!"

"What..."

Shiro asked numbly only for Lancer to appear behind him and drive his spear right through the young boy's heart for the second time. Ash was too late to intervene, only seeing blood rush out of Shiro from his mouth.

"Noo!"

The Looper shouted and rushed forward in a telegraphed move. Before he could even take a second step, he heard a voice right close to his ears.

"Annoying pest."

The blow came in fast. Too fast and too strong for even his hardening quirk, taken to it's 'maximum' to stop.

The head of the scarlet lance speared right through Ash's chest, destroying his heart and lungs from the force of the blow. The last thing Ash saw was Shiro's mad rush to save him, his hand held close to his chest to stem the flow of his blood from the already healing wound.

Oh yeah, Shiro has Excalibur's sheathe that can heal anything. Lucky fucker.

Then the world went dark.

Loops remaining 34/35

(A short while ago)

Ash knew that this choice would determine a lot of what would happen to him in the future. He could choose to wear his big boy pants and face the music, which was actually the less harmful alternative.

While the M.C.U was dangerous, there were heroes to save the day. The Nasuverse was not the same type of pg 13 setting. People died in the background and on scene all the fucking time. The heroes were at times even more broken by the harsh reality of life than the villains were. Painting a very bleak outlook on existence.

Yet without too much thought to it, Ash was ready to bail out on the Marvel verse. He wasn't ready to give the kind of answers the Avengers were looking for. So he pressed okay on the text box and commenced the next mission.

The Avengers blinked and Ash was gone. A few minutes later Shield was scouring the whole city for the last member of the Avengers. Iron man was similarly tapped into every closest camera around through Jarvis. However, none of them captured his image. It was like the Teen disappeared without a trace. But the second he reappeared, Tony would be right there with him.

Ash was dumb.

In a bid to escape, he ended up starting a loop mission while he was exhausted from the fight he had just had with the Chitauri. The stupidity of his actions did not hit him right away. They hit him the second he died to Lancer's weapon and then looped.

He felt like he had wasted hid first loop.

Instead of feeling fresh and rejuvenated, the loop spawned him in the previous state he was in, exhausted. How was he going to fight..., sorry, distract lancer in this condition? 'You dumb idiot.' Ash cursed himself after landing, looking around at the tense mood.

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"What manner of creature are you?"

Lancer asked, pointing his weapon at Ash. The latter had appeared in the room with his quirk already activated and now that the other occupants got a good look of him, they could tell he wasn't completely human.

Ash decided to go for the peaceful approach this time around. He deactivated his quirk and raised his hands up to show he meant no hostility.

"Sorry for crashing in like that, I'm Ash."

Instead of answering Lancer snickered.

"What was that? It couldn't be low level magecraft. I felt no mana."

Ash scratched his head with an easygoing smile.

"Sorry. I can't really answer that. You know secrets and all that."

Cú chullain frowned before adopting an uncaring expression.

"I see. Very well."

His eyes became hard.

"You made one mistake however." The air chilled.

'Oh crap.' Ash tensed, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop Lancer once he decided to attack.

"Oh and what is that?"

The teen finally broke the silence.

A blood thirsty look appeared on Lancer's face.

"You are standing between me and my opponent."

Then he moved.

"Wait!"

Shiro shouted. Ash felt something pierce slightly into his neck. Looking at what it was, Lancer's spear poised to stab into his neck, it had nicked the skin and a trail of blood fell down his neck to his chest.

"Yeah?"

Lancer asked lazily, not removing the spear and also not going through with the attack.

"He had nothing to do with this! It's me that you want!"

Shiro frantically yelled, his knuckles white around the pipe he held within his grasp.

"Oh a hero. Now I understand everything."

Lancer started laughing. Ash's mind was running at high speeds. He was so keenly aware of the spear on his neck and his senses like always were working on overdrive. 'Think, Ash think! How can I get out of this?!'

"Here is the reality of your situation Mr.Hero." Lancer continued after his laughter.

"power means you get to make the decision. Whether this boy leaves here alive or not is up to me because I am Powerful! You talk as if you're strong boy..." He sneered at Shiro.

Ash could see the vicious light in Lancer's eyes increase. Think! Think! Any movement I make and he'll immediately kill me. But he will kill me and I will lose this loop without learning or doing anything. Come on!!!'

"...but words have no place in a Battlefield!!!"

"Noo!"

Shiro shouted taking a lunge towards the pair. He couldn't, wouldn't let Ash die...he had promised Kiritsugu that he would carry out his dream. To be a hero of justice. What kind of promise would it be, if he allowed someone to die infront of him?

Ash saw it coming. The slight twitch in Lancer's knuckles, the breath that he took a second prior, inflating his chest a little. Ash felt the pointy end of the spear break through his skin. 'Oh no...think! Think! What can help me right now? A counter. I need a counter! His brain shouted.'

He was too slow so dodging was out of the picture. He lacked the power to attack and his strength could not deflect the blow directly. Which left, defense. Ash felt like his brain was working overtime. His defense even at its strongest was not enough. Not really. It was too spread out.

He had Deku's exact problem only the opposite. One for All threatened danger to a body that was not strong enough to handle it. So Deku had had to reduce it's power and spread the quirk across his body instead of the way he had used One for All on his limbs alone.

I'm Ash's case, Hardening gave defense across the body but did not allow for someone to specifically strengthen one part over the rest. Logic dictated that was how it was supposed to be. Ash, standing with death facing him, decided to try it anyway.

Just concentrate...and compress. His quirk factor jumped at this seemingly fruitless endeavor, managing to do something only through Trigger could another Quirk holder manage.

Sparks erupted in between Lancer's spear and Ash's neck.

'What!"

Lancer thought. He could swear he had smelt blood. So how was it that where there was supposed to be normal white skin was jagged deep brown shell? Lancer flipped back loosely, negating the sudden push back from Ash. He watched Ash curiously.

The teen in question blinked, bringing his left hand to his neck. At the last minute knowing that death was coming for him, Ash had inexplicably managed to harden his skin to a very dense material by focusing his quirk on one spot rather than across his entire body.

He had done it.

Ash found himself falling. His eyes had lost focus and all he could see was creeping darkness. A sudden weakness invaded his body, his legs lacking the strength to hold him up. Ash knelt, arms heavy. Everything heavy.

What...is... happening...

A pain that was ever present in every part of his body hit him with the force of a 12 wheeler. Ash didn't understand what was happening but at once his body was shredded from within. Guttural screams escaped him, veins bursting from his blue eyes. The teen was now shaking with blood spraying all around the room.

Lancer twirled his lance and pointed it at the convulsing teen.

"You make known your disrespect for your body." He lectured.

"Using a skill or move that you are not familiar with does not mean that you are a progressive thinker. It means you're stupid." Then with slow steps, he begun walking forward, head bowed slightly.

"I will do you the honor of sending you on your way to death."

"Bastard!" Shiro cussed out, rushing forward to stand infront of the slowly dying Ash, protectively.

"What do you know?!" He shouted.

"How dare you judge his actions and presume to understand his motives? I won't let you talk however you want. Screw this!"

He swung his pipe aiming for Lancer's spear.

"Tch!" Lancer jeered, leaning away from the move.

"Don't get carried away boy!"

His weapon lashed out and the flat end caught Shiro on the side. The boy widened his eyes at the sudden pain. His ribs broke as he flew out through the glass window of the building.

He bounced through the front yard before finally smashing upon the wall of the shed. Shiro lay there, stunned and trying to get back. Tears due to the pain in his body begun to form. He heard something thump against the ground from the building behind him and scrambled away with his now crooked pipe.

He looked at what the mysterious object was and saw a head. Ash's head. The light inside them finally died away and Ash fell into the cold embrace of death.

The loop begun anew.

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