Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

Hope V Despair

The superhero who found himself trapped in a larger web than he could scope at the moment dashed back, wanting to get as far away from the freaky lurker of the makeshift underground area as possible. He dashed past a handful of bodies that could have been unconscious or dead. A lean sword fighter with white hair and a sky-colored dogi, a tall and burly man with facial disfigurements caused by slashes across his face in official and fancy samurai silks, and a handful more too far away in the dark to make out much about them.

This sight led the trapped superhero to the conclusion that whoever this mysterious warrior blindsiding him was, it was taking out more fighters here in this underground tunnel. These men and women were taken out and laying motionless, dead or unconscious, yet the faceless shape did nothing to eliminate them from the battle for whatever reason. This left the obvious risk for these fighters to awaken and return to the fray. Something about this hideous warrior didn't feel right.

"Exposing your succulent flesh to me? Don't mind if I do..." a husky voice chilled the superhero's blood to freezing temperatures as, this time without hesitation, sharp pain lit up in the rear of his shoulder and a spray of warmth covered his right side. With a stuttering and hesitant turn, the athletic man in a full-body jumpsuit turned to see the faceless magician having dug his sharp teeth into his shoulder from behind and was in the process of ripping the flesh out.

Something about this guy was seriously off! There was no indication that he moved at all. One moment he was right behind, the other it was as if he had never been there, to begin with, having moved across half the tunnel in a split instant and blitzing the superhero to get behind him. While the first instance of the magician blindsiding his opponent felt natural, with the hero fumbling into an already carved-up tunnel, the second one made the rescuer especially terrified of his odds and made him feel like he had no control over the battle.

The bodysuit superhero thrust his fist forward in a cross, trying to punch his opponent's face with all his might and maybe loosen a few of those horrific teeth. Instead, the head exploded into a pool of phosphorous-glowing pus with the horrific magician extending pale and withered arms from underneath his shadowy cloak, then another pair, then another, then another... With the shadowy cloak parting in the middle, an awful revelation of a segmented, centipede-like body littered with pairs of withered limbs on both sides and his opponent coiling about with a haunting chatter made the superhero freeze up in his place, sweating with fright and wide-eyed.

None of this made any sense! Such undefined ability that lacked any semblance of rules would've only been available to an illusion specialist. None of this could've been real yet, as the arduous twinges in the hero's shoulder kept reminding him that all of this was all too real. The chest of the hero lit up with bright light, releasing a blinding flash that made the faceless dread hiss and, in a flash, his body no longer appeared segmented and centipede-like, once again keeping its humanoid shape. Was it ever that weird in the first place, or was this just the cover of darkness playing tricks?

Just a little emergency beacon of hope. All that Signal Man could muster up with the despair of having seen Guard Woman, the strongest and most awe-inspiring heroine he knew being eliminated. His power and the strength of his armors depended entirely on how hopeful he felt and the hope he could inspire in people he rescued. If the person trapped underneath kilometers of rubble believed they could be rescued, then Signal Man could will it be with no effort. And Guard Woman was the most inspiring icon of all the Land of Earth superheroes...

Even in the face of war, their group persevered and inspired hope to live and be rescued in the troubled and oppressed villagers and settlers. Only once had Signal Man's powers failed him, when his own hope had faltered. When the sky split open with apocalyptic punishment and Iwagakure had been utterly obliterated. Despite Guard Woman's presence, despite her best inspirational speeches... Maybe even Iwagakure itself believed it could have been saved, but... Signal Man faltered. He didn't believe that he could be the conduit of enough hope to prevent something as calamitous as that...