*BOOOOM!!!*

The rocks blocking the tunnel entrance completely gave way and broke into pieces. Water shot out into the chamber, carrying tons of debris with it.

Two jumped back further into the chamber to avoid it.

*Tmp!* *Tmp!* *Tmp! *Tmp!*

With each step the chamber seemed to shake under its weight. Zero stood against the back wall under the crack. His eyes didn't waver as he did as Two asked of him.

He was watching the ace.

The oversized Reaper stepped into the chamber, drenched with tiny pebbles lodged in parts of its bone armor. It stood about the size of two Reapers stacked on top of each other and as wide as two next to each other. It snarled at the two of them as it entered. It just did what they didn't think possible and punched its way through the collapsed tunnel and made it out to the other end.

It was obvious it wasn't going to leave without what it came for.

Two stepped forward to meet the challenge head on. He held his blazing katana in his right hand and stood directly across from it.

Unlike some of the others, Two wasn't into witty banter. He had a job to do and he just clocked in.

The Reaper rushed towards Two and sent down a mighty fist to crush him. Two dashed forward, dodging the fist, and did a quick upwards slash with his katana across the Reaper's chest.

It didn't even scratch the armor.

Two quickly got out of its reach as it attempted to take a bite out of him instead. He jumped backwards and then attempted to circle around it.

It's tail whipped towards him - Two jumped up to avoid it, but fell into the Reaper's trap. A heavy left fist was coming right at him now while he was in mid-air. The bones around the fist pointed straight at him as it zoned in on its target.

"Righteous Flame!" He shot out flames from each of his palms to create a spinning momentum. As the fist came in, he timed it just right so that he rolled off of the outside of the protruding bones and rolled up its large arm like a yoyo.

Once he was inches from the Reaper's face, Two stopped the flame rotation and pointed two of his left fingers right at the Reaper's head.

"Melting point."

There was a glow that began right at his outstretched fingertips.

*SZZZTTTTTTTT*

A thin beam of concentrated fire shot out of his fingertips and shot into the Reaper's skull.

Melting point is a move that takes away the wide attack spread of Righteous Flame and narrows it down to a tiny stream of fire. While thin, the speed at which it releases gives it a lot of piercing force. Depending on the heat of the flames it could break through just about anything.

"GAAAHHHH!"

The Reaper screamed out in pain as it stumbled backwards.

Looks like it got him, Two thought to himself.

Zero watched in awe. "Amazing!"

As Two landed on the ground, the Reaper lifted its head while almost tipped over and glared right into Two's eyes.

"It was too shallow!" Two exclaimed.

That's when it did something that wouldn't be believed for a creature of its size. It kicked itself off the ground and did a black flip to regain its composure. The second it landed from the flip it dashed right at Two with decent speed.

"Fine then." Two quickly sheathed his katana and turned to face the Reaper as it was on an collision course with him.

"Righteous Flame!" Two held out his palms towards the Reaper and released a wave of high burning heat.

"RAHHHHHH!!" The Reaper was held at bay as the intense wave of fire halted its momentum.

Even with your armor and muscle, it's still susceptible to high ranges of heat!!! Two thought as he pushed out every bit he could.

The Reaper fought against the wave of fire as much as it could, but it was slowly being pushed back. The heat was starting to scorch its outer layer of skin and the armor was becoming more brittle.

But the Reaper wasn't giving up easily.

As if it no longer cared about what happened to it, through sheer force of will it raised one of its mighty feet and took a single step forward.

Two increased the output and the Reaper took yet another step against the fire.

"You've gotta be kidding me. It's still trying to approach even with this?" Two said as he kept up the attack. His guess was that his flames would outlast the Reaper who was more or less committing suicide at this point.

Pieces of the Reaper's armor began to fall off to the ground as it was charred off from the Reaper.

"Rahhh…..rrraaahhhhhh….RRRAHHHHH!"

"No you don't!"

Two continued to hold his ground, but the Reaper was slowly getting within range despite the damage it was suffering.

Then with one powerful leap forward, the Reaper pushed through the last of the fire to finally reach Two.

Shit! Two thought as he felt its arms wrap around him and hug him against the body of the Reaper.

"Two!" Zero yelled out.

The Reaper squeezed Two with increasing pressure - he could feel the air escaping from his body and his bones started to strain against the oppressive force.

The Reaper opened its mouth to show off its several rows of razor sharp teeth. Teeth that could easily rip through a hybrid's flesh. Two struggled to get out of its grip but he was highly outclassed when it came to physical strength.

Zero watched on from the backside of the room as the Reaper tightened its grip around Two.

*Creeeeakkkkk*

Two could hear his ribs straining under the pressure. If they were to all break it would run the risk of one puncturing his heart. Which even a hybrid couldn't just shake off.

Zero continued to watch as worry and anxiety started to surface in him.

Two said to watch, but this….this is becoming all too familiar, Zero thought. In his mind was when Azrael finally grabbed the former Zero. The last precious moments of him struggling as Azrael would rip him completely in half.

And it was happening again.

"I…I can't…" Two couldn't finish his sentence as he was finding it almost impossible to breathe anymore. The Reaper was going to completely crush him before devouring him it seemed.

This has to be at minimum an A class Reaper, Two thought. Well, I guess it helps having you this close. I'm sorry Zero. I didn't want to use this since you would most likely get caught in it…but we can't let this guy kill us and find a way out.

Two began raising his body temperature even further. Little trails of smoke started to rise off of the Reaper's arms where it was touching Two.

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His body was reaching dangerous temperature heights.

Here it goes, Two thought to himself as he was trying to keep his focus. Scor-!

*BAM*

Two looked up at the Reaper at the loud sound just as he was about to use an ability and saw Zero in the finishing motion of an airborne punch.

Zero?! Two was shocked.

The force of the high speed punch was enough to knock the Reaper's face sideways and cause his grip to loosen just enough. Two didn't let the chance slip by as he jumped out of the Reaper's grasp and created some distance.

Zero landed from the punch and didn't attempt a second go at it. He instead retreated back to Two.

"I'm sorry! I just couldn't stand back and watch this happen..again. I know you said-"

Two held up a single finger at Zero to silence him.

"Enough. Part of an aces job is to know when to help and when they need help. Neither I nor the first Zero were very good at asking others for help. But I want you to be better than us. It's the only way to make it out here."

The Reaper had quickly recovered from the hit, its muscles having absorbed most of the damage from Zero's punch. It had now locked back on to them and began to snarl as it slowly approached.

"Zero."

"Yes?"

Two looked at him with a confident half smile. "I'm gonna need your help with this one."

Two grabbed the katana from its sheath and rushed to meet the Reaper out in the middle of the chamber so they weren't backed into a corner.

Zero adopted a serious look as he waited for his moment. "You can count on me, Two."

Two leapt up in the air - he pointed his left palm away from him and shot a weak blast of fire behind him in the air, just enough to give him a boost forward at the Reaper. He slashed his katana at the Reaper's neck as they closed in to each other.

Two slashed down but the Reaper's fist came up and it blocked the strike with the bones around it's fist.

The Reaper turned its body and aimed another punch at the mid-air Two.

"Now." Two said almost as a whisper.

"Chronos Trigger!"

The time field was established around the Reaper and Two. The Reaper's fist slowed down as it was nearing Two to an almost stand still.

Now, time to try something new. Zero thought.

Zero had always used Chronos Trigger to slow down opponents, but only ever increased the speed of his own movement. But he had never tried increasing the movement of something ELSE.

He focused on Two and triggered the distortion on him with the idea of fast forwarding his time instead of slowing it down.

And it worked.

Just as the Reaper slowed down, Two became much faster.

Two did the same trick again by boosting himself in the air with fire and then slashing through with his inflamed katana but in quick succession.

*SLASH*

*SLASH*

*SLASH*

*SLASH*

*SLASH*

The Reaper could take no action to defend itself as it was moving at fractions of a second.

This is unbelievable! Two thought in disbelief. It's like time itself has stopped around me. It's so surreal. Is this what Zero feels every time he does this?

Two continued his onslaught as he started shaving away the muscle around the Reaper's neck with each slash of his katana. It was only a matter of time before he was able to make the fatal blow.

Zero held up the remote time circle as Two continued to chip away at the Reaper's defenses. While it was working, it was definitely a different feeling to focus on two different time flow speeds outside of himself. It seemed more natural to use the distortion on himself so he didn't have to use the same mental capacity that he was currently using to distort Two in the same way.

Was this why Azrael only ever used it on itself?

All the attacks were also starting to wear on Two.

"Almost…there!" The repeated attacks in such thin air was making him light headed, but he couldn't stop the assault. This was the best situation they could ask for.

He was starting to see actual blood spurt out from the wounds so Two knew that it was working. Two went in for another searing slash, hoping that this would be the one to end it.

Then the Reaper ducked back some to avoid the katana altogether.

"What?" Two said in shock.

Oh, no. Zero thought. His focus had slipped slightly which had released some of the time restraint on the Reaper. He was now able to move fast enough to at least dodge Two's last attack.

"I'll fix it!" Zero said as he tried to re-distort the Reaper but in doing so he lessened that on Two which took away some of his speed. As of that brief moment, their speeds had equalized enough that Two no longer had an overwhelming advantage.

The Reaper lunged forward and delivered a hard shoulder blow to Two who was sent flying towards the back wall.

*THUD!*

"Ughhh!" Two hit the wall hard and fell to the ground.

"Two, are you okay?!" Zero yelled out as he ran over to him. He kept his primary focus on slowing down the Reaper.

Two picked himself up off the ground as his head was still spinning. "I-I'll make it." He looked to the Reaper as it was still in the same spot thanks to Zero reapplying the distortion. "But we may need a new strategy."

I can only imagine it takes a great toll on his mind to continuously keep up the time field, Two thought to himself. Much less distort multiple things in different ways. We can't risk another slip like that or that could be the end. There has to be a different play here.

A drop of blood ran down from Zero's nose, but he didn't notice as he was so focused on the Reaper.

Two noticed however. "...You're at your limit, Zero."

"What? No way. I can keep doing this."

"No. You can't. Since arriving here you've used Chronos Trigger quite a bit. And at your current state, this is the most you can do without risking heavy drawbacks."

"No, Two! I'm not going to be the one that causes us to-"

"You won't be." Two rested his hand on Zero's shoulder. "We all have our limits. And this is yours."

Zero felt frustrated at Two's words, only because he knew he was right.

Two pulled his katana back out and lit it ablaze. "On my word I want you to release the time field."

"You…you can't be serious? If I do that he'll run right over us!"

"Those attacks earlier did more than enough damage. The area around his neck is weak now. I just have to get in there and deliver the final blow."

"Then let me keep-"

"No. I rather be able to process everything at one speed to give myself the best chance at making sure this strikes true. If there was another shift in speed by accident then I wouldn't be prepared for it. So, we'll do it this way."

D-damn it all! Zero thought. Why do I have to be so weak? I couldn't stop Azrael from killing Zero. I couldn't protect Nora. And now I can't even hold my own on a mission…

Two began approaching the Reaper.

"Now, Zero!"

Zero reluctantly released the time field. As if it had been loading up this entire time, the second it was released the Reaper came out full speed like it had probably been trying to do.

Two held up two of his left fingers and aimed at the Reaper's less protected feet. "Melting point."

The concentrated beam of fire shot out and went straight through the Reaper's foot. It let out a yell as it stumbled forward having been thrown off balance.

Two leapt up into the face of the Reaper as it stumbled and aimed to plunge his fiery blade right into its chest wound.

The Reaper tried to recover its stance to avoid it, but it was too late.

Two plunged his katana straight through the Reaper's chest.

"GAAAAHHHHH!" Flames erupted out of each end of the wound as Two turned up the heat once the blade was in its body.

"Burn and scatter to the wind." Two said as he held on to the katana. The Reaper flailed about in agony as its insides were being scorched.

It took off running towards one of the cave walls at full sprint.

"What the hell?!" Two said as he saw what it was doing but didn't want to let go of the katana. It was heading towards the wall with the crack below it.

*BAM!*

The Reaper ran straight into the wall. Two was crushed between the Reaper's body and the wall - he didn't feel anything break, but the force and impact was enough to cause Two to release his grasp on the blade and fall to the ground.

"Two!" Zero yelled out as his comrade laid in a slump on the floor.

The Reaper reached up and yanked the katana out.

*SNAP* With its impressive strength it snapped the sword in two and dropped it to the ground below.

Two was slowly trying to pick himself back up. The impact had caused him to black out for a few seconds so he was still coming to. However the Reaper wasn't going to give him the chance. Part of its body was still on fire and most of its insides were most likely done for at this point. But it didn't want to just let Two walk away from this. It raised one its oversized feet up above Two.

It was going to stomp the life out of him.

Zero only had mere seconds to act if he was going to save Two.

Chronos Trigger, he quickly thought. He activated the time field around himself and rushed to Two's aid.

The Reaper had already shown it could stand up to Two's flames. Now that the katana was broken, they were running out of offensive options. With what little life it may have left it could still tear them both down. So, Zero decided it was time to make a gamble. The same gamble he made when he first fought against Two.

The only way out of this is to use IT. He thought. Whatever that was that I used to tear off that Reaper's arm back during the presentation. If I can make that happen again, I could end this!!

He jumped up at the unsuspecting Reaper and reared back his fist.

"I'm going to drive this fist straight through you, Reaper! Just like Two I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect those close to me!"

As he swung his fist forward, his full concentration went to making sure his fist was able to barrel through the Reaper hard enough to break both bone and flesh.

Zero didn't notice, but the necklace that Five gave him began to lightly glow around his neck.

That's when his entire arm began to vibrate similar to how it had previously. Zero was unknowingly cloaking part of his body with the time field and intensely speeding up just that single part. By doing so he was allowing that single part to move potentially upwards to 10x faster than he himself could move by using Chronos Trigger. By concentrating on such a small target, the speed it can move at increases dramatically rather than doing his entire body.

The punch that Zero was about to throw, as well as the one that severed the Reaper's arm, came with a force several hundred pounds heavier than a normal high speed punch he would do and came in at a much faster speed.

"AHHHHH!!!" Zero bellowed out as he delivered the punch to the Reaper's wounded chest.

There was a brief pause as the impact caught up with the punch itself.

*BOOOOOOM!!!*

The Reaper didn't even have a chance to realize what happened as it was sent flying like a rocket through the air straight into the back wall. The force caused spider cracks to shoot up from the impact point on the wall all the way up to the crack.

*THWOOOOOOOM*

The wall began to give way and completely collapse around the Reaper who made no attempt to get out of the way.

Two looked on at the sight of the Reaper's lifeless body buried beneath the rubble and Zero who stood at the center of the room staring at his own fist in surprise as he basked in the moonlight that poured through the now giant opening leading outside.

Two wasn't sure what he just pulled off, but knew that Zero had just achieved something special.