"Chronos Trigger!"

Zero activated the time field once more and immediately took off with enhanced speed. Before anyone could blink he had already closed the distance between him and the Reaper.

I don't know how I was able to take off the Reaper's arm, he thought to himself, but I'm gonna gamble on it here!

He took a page from the Reaper's book and came in from his blind spot. Zero revved up a punch, going straight for the back of the Reaper's neck. If he could manage to pull off that move again, then he was about to claim this Reaper's head.

*Bam!*

Zero's punch definitely hit home - but it didn't even break the skin. The reaper bent over forward from the force of the hit, dropping his meal in the process.

"Tch. It didn't work!"

The issue when it comes to fighting a Reaper is not just their tough build. It's also their height. To get in a good hit above the belt, the average person would have to jump to reach. So in order for Zero to reach this Reaper's neck he had to leap into his attack.

Meaning there was about 1.5 seconds between Zero's attack landing and his feet touching the ground again. It was during that 1.5 seconds that the Reaper struck.

The Reaper's tail swooped up and wrapped around Zero's right leg. "No!" He tried to slip out of it but to no avail. The Reaper turned to face Zero as he dangled him above the ground by his leg. Since he was now hanging upside down he could feel the blood rushing to his head. He needed to break out of this before his own blood vessels began to rupture.

The Reaper had blood all around his mouth from the snack he just enjoyed. It looked past Zero to the others out in the distance.

Haji took notice of this. "Major General, sir."

"Hm?"

"Don't you find it odd how calm this one Reaper is. Before they were all gunning for their next meal as Reapers do. But this one…it's almost as if it-"

"Nonsense." He didn't want Haji to offhandedly cause a panic with the guests from Command. "We did an aerial scan with one of the drones earlier - there are only low ranking Reapers in this forest."

Despite rejecting Haji's claim, Marcus was also beginning to feel uneasy. This one is definitely a B rank, he thought to himself. But this shift of behavior isn't normal for a B rank or lower Reaper…

"I-Is he gonna be okay?" One of the men asked. Marcus snapped out of his thoughts and turned his focus back to Zero.

The Reaper was still holding him upside down, but hadn't taken any form of action against him. Thinking he had the jump on it, Zero hadn't taken the extra step to slow down the Reaper and had solely focused on his own speed. His haste had cost him.

"Ughhh!!" Zero struggled to free himself. The Reaper looked at his squirming prey and he could feel the grip he had on his leg tightening.

"Agh..Aghhhhh! Let me GO!!" Zero held up his hand as he started to use Chronos Trigger once more, but as he went to do so he was hit with a sudden wave of nausea and lightheadedness.

The overuse of his ability and the effects of being inverted were starting to take their toll on his body.

*CRACK*

Zero's eyes widened suddenly and his mouth went agape.

The Reaper had just broken his leg.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" His blood curdling scream could be heard throughout the entire area.

"AHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHH!" The pain seared through his entire body, it was almost unbearable to deal with. Zero looked up at the Reaper with watery eyes and tightly clenched teeth.

"I swear…I'll fucking kill you for this…." His eyes reflected a rage that Zero hadn't shown before.

*BANG* A bullet whizzed through the air and shot straight through the Reaper's throat. A spurt of blood sprayed out of the exit wound. "Raaargh!!!"

His grasp on Zero finally loosened and he fell to the ground in a slump. The Reaper fell to one knee as it looked with all four of its red eyes over where the others were. Marcus can be seen holding a pistol with his outstretched arm as a thin line of smoke emitted from the barrel.

"The test is over." Marcus declared.

Haji gathered the men from Command and began to shepard them out back towards the road.

"W-wait, what's going on here?"

"I thought these were all B class Reapers! Marcus, you will have some explaining to do back at base."

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The Reaper snarled as it stood back on two feet, still holding one hand to his bullet wound. Marcus stood his ground as he stared back at the Reaper.

"It seems too aware to be a B class. No low rank Reaper would try to compress a wound. Something is amiss here." Marcus said to himself as he pulled out his second pistol. "But we'll figure out what when we take your body back to the lab."

The broken and battered Zero was the only one close enough to notice what happened next. A faint purplish glow started to surround the Reaper. And while not 100% sure, Zero was certain that the Reaper was slightly larger than it was when he first encountered it.

The Reaper reared back its head and then let loose a mighty scream in Marcus's direction.

"SCREEEEEECHHHHHH!"

The sound was unlike anything zero had even heard - it was a piercing sound that crippled those who heard it. Zero tried to cover his ears but it wasn't enough. It felt as if his ears were bleeding and his brain was vibrating from the pressure of the sound.

Marcus was no exception. He fell to one knee as he tried to block out the sound with his hands. "What the hell is this?!"

No one could hear what he said as the scream was the only audible thing. Haji tried to keep his footing but could feel his knees start to buckle. The scream was starting to heavily damage their equilibrium. He looked to the men behind him - two of them were in a fetal position on the ground and another was on his back in agony. Blood was starting to leak through the man's fingers as he held them against his ears.

Haji could barely form a thought as it was. "This…this is no B rank! It somehow transitioned into an A! Or higher!!" The scream drowned out his words.

After what seemed like an eternity the Reaper finally stopped. However, the damage had clearly already been done. Only one of the men from Command was still conscious while the others laid on the ground passed out. Haji had fallen to the ground but was struggling to stand back up. Meanwhile, Marcus had remained on his one knee with his glare fixated on the Reaper. "This motherfucker.."

The Reaper wasted no time. It took off at a high pace towards the others. Marcus attempted to reach for his guns which had fallen to the ground, but doing so only threw him further off balance. There was nothing he could do to save them.

"Who knew….that we would stumble upon a new Reaper variant now of all times.."

Zero watched on as he laid on the ground. He managed to lift himself to his side so he could see. The Reaper was closing in on them fast.

"Oh no. They…they can't defend themselves!"

Zero tried his best to get back to his feet. The second he put pressure on his right foot a sharp pain shot up his leg and he fell right back to the ground. Even if he tried to use Chronos Trigger, Zero knew it would be hopeless. He can't even stand let alone run and they're too far out to trap the Reaper in its radius.

Haji propped himself up one hand and went for his gun. "You're pressing your luck if you think I'll let this happen." He took a deep breath and grabbed the gun from his side holster, pointing it at the incoming Reaper.

*BANG* *BANG*

Each shot was a wild miss. "D-damn it. I can't aim properly!"

Zero watched as their end was approaching. As he sat there in pain and agony, he could only think that maybe…this was a good thing. No one over there cared for him as a person. Only as a tool. A tool that would be disposed of if it became useless. Also, didn't he just fail the test by not killing the last Reaper? Then maybe with them dead he can run off and live a peaceful…human…life.

.....

...…

"Like hell!" Zero forced himself upon his left knee. He ignored all of the pain and mental fatigue. He ignored the suffering he had been through up till now. He ignored the looks of the people back in the city. Most importantly, he listened to the only thing that mattered. His will to prove himself as worthy of redemption. To survive here and build a life out of whatever situation he has to be in and repay Azrael's sins. His sins.

He held out his hand towards the group in the distance. Zero had only tried this once when he first joined Midnight Squad and failed. But now…a feeling was itching at him that now might be the time. Either it worked or everyone over there would die.

"Sgt Sadiki. Major General Conway. I hope you're watching this…"

The Reaper was upon the group now and its first target was the one who pierced its neck - Marcus. Marcus stared down the Reaper with a glare that would frighten most. But the Reaper was unfazed. It rushed Marcus and jumped up high, preparing to come down with a mighty slam like it did to Zero earlier. "Do your worst, demon."

"CHRONOS…TRIGGERRR!"

Just before the Reaper came down on Marcus, it suddenly came to almost a complete stop as if it was frozen. The Major General was astounded as he had prepared himself for death. He didn't know what to make of it as he looked past the Reaper at Zero in the distance with his hand raised. Blood leaked out of his nose and he was only on one knee.

But he did it. He created a remote time field that wasn't dependent on him!

"Z-zero?" Marcus said softly.

He was clearly struggling to keep it going however as what little stamina he had left was quickly waning. Performing this new move while also focusing to only affect the Reaper was too much. The move would soon undo itself.

"Sadiki, now!!" Zero bellowed out.

Haji aimed his gun once more. Hitting an almost still target was doable even in his current state.

"I'll scold you for the disrespect later." *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Bullets ripped through the Reapers flesh as it was unable to scream out while being affected by the time distortion.

Marcus, through sheer force, snapped to a standing position. His body was still very unsettled but he wasn't about to be shown up by his subordinates. He reached in his back pocket and grabbed a special clip for his gun. He slid the other out and this one in as quick as he currently could.

*Snap* Marcus pointed the gun at the suspended Reaper. "Behold the power of Alpha."

*BANG* The bullet impacted the Reaper, but didn't pierce through. *BOOM* The bullet exploded while in the Reaper, knocking off parts of its flesh and bone armor. It was sent flying across the field. It smacked into the ground which knocked the wind out of it.

"Ga…Ga…"

Haji let out a small sigh. "Good thinking, Major General."

Zero put on a slight smile as his arm dropped and the time field dissipated. He looked over to where the Reaper had landed as it had already started to slowly make its way to its feet.

Zero's eyes widened in fear. He didn't have anything left in the tank to continue this fight.

The Reaper managed to stand back up, smoke trailing from its body from the explosion. The part of its body where the bullet exploded had left a gaping hole that extended all the way to its side.

Marcus scoffed, "What kind of Reaper gets up so quick from something like that." He pointed his gun back towards the Reaper as a bluff. There was no way he could hit a target that far off with the internal damage they had all been dealt.

"...*wheeze*….*wheeze*…." The Reaper's breathing was ragged. It looked back to Zero. He returned the glare and refused to be the first to go down. While he was weakened, his will power remained steadfast.

The Reaper stood for a few moments. Then it bolted towards the treeline.

Zero swore right before it disappeared into the brush that it had looked over its shoulder at him with a grin.