(Red Claw Hideout)

Mistress Culina was standing in front of a crystal wall that was displaying the events at the Gala while her underlings cheered at Hex and Malum’s efforts. “This is the power of our family! We may have lost some to this menace and he might have hurt our elite member but the experts in dark magic won’t fail!” Another raucous cry was given by the crowd, save for a few members.

An Earth stallion was seated with an expression of doubt next to his closer friends who shared his thoughts. “All the time Pod spent tailing him and every piece of information I saw just showed how tough that kid really is.” One of the clean up mares was present and seemed to agree with the stallion.

“I’ve seen what they can do with that blood magic stuff but seeing what he did to Dusk and Daybreak... not to mention Mist and...” The mare locked up once she started to talk about who fell to Zeko when they tried to take care of him then.

The stallion looked around somberly at the members who took the summoning of the massive undead being as a turning point in the fight and they voiced their pleasure with loud screams. The fight showed the large figure nearly taking Nouka’s head off but he was taken out of danger by Jenki. Before it could attempt to kill the pair it was hit by an air bullet from Zeko and Shiro’s scythe landing in its back, but when the crowd thought the fight was done it turned and bashed Shiro into a wall with the pommel of its axe eliciting another cry from the seated assassins. “They May have numbers but the sheer power of the Harbinger will not be met by mere children, rejoice when we see what the power of the Red Claw has to offer!” The crowd went wild at this last statement prompting them to focus on the battle and witness the strength of their unit.

==============================

Kotetsu tore Shiro’s scythe from the Harbinger’s back and leapt back before he could be chopped in half. “Nouka!” The clay user looked and saw the crack in the armor and tossed a bird straight at it. “Fire Style: Phoenix flower jutsu!” Kotetsu shot a number of flaming projectiles that met the explosive projectile and blasted a hole into their enemies’ armor, exposing a shadowy aura.

“At least we know it isn’t indestructible.” Zeko said as he and Jenki stopped the Harbinger’s movement by stabbing chakra rods into its joints, where they figured the armor was weaker. They were right and they managed to stop the hulking monster from moving at the moment.

“Let’s do it!” Jenki’s eyes pulsed and veins routed towards them from his cheeks pulsing additional blood and giving him a more menacing appearance. “ Eight Trigrams: Sixteen Palms!” Jenki proceeded to strike his opponent with lighting fast hits and knock it a distance away. “That stuff is harder than a rock, my hands kinda hurt now.” Jenki moved to evade a beam from the Harbinger, stumbling over a sword in the process. Luckily before the beam managed to come to him he was moved by sand and placed next to Kotetsu.

“You uh, you aren’t trying to die are you? I can handle that later if you want but seriously don’t die yet.” He shot another fireball at the downed monster and earned more laughter from Hex

“Struggle all you want but you can’t win, soon we’ll have the power of an Alicorn... and I’ll have the body.” The shinobi rolled their eyes and continued assaulting their downed enemy with throwing weapons until a burst of dark magic pushed them all backwards.

The Dōjutsu users saw the energy points that the Harbinger had repaired as it ripped out the chakra rods but their shock only increased when it proceeded to regenerate its armor, looking as if it were never hit. “Aw come on, ya can’t be serious! All that work to kill it and it healed?” Shiro exclaimed to Malum’s delight, cracking a smirk when she heard the anger present.

“How long will it take before your resolve is broken? Will it happen before or after your bod-“

“Kamui!” Malum’s legs were torn away violently and sucked into the kamui leaving her screaming in agony on the floor, allowing the barrier around Celestia to weaken significantly. Eyes weren’t on Kotetsu for having used his ability however, instead everyone looked at Shiro. “I was gettin really sick of your attitude and that was the fastest way to shut you up.” Her hair parted and revealed her right eye to be a Sharingan matching with Kotetsu’s.

“You gonna try that on the grim reaper imitation in front of us?” Jenki pointed out to Shiro and Kotetsu’s surprise but before either of them could try to transport their foe away it decided to change its weapon from an axe to a bow with arrows made from darkness.

It fired one at Zeko who stood there experiencing deja vu from his fight against Kanek. “Too damn soon but I can handle this.” The arrow struck his location and formed a bubble of a dark, viscous fluid.

“I’ll save you Zeko! C-True lion!” A large clay lion ran to the sphere and blew up upon making contact, unfortunately the orb only vibrated heavily like gel and didn’t show any sign of damage. Once the movement stopped Hex cracked a grin at the fact that Zeko was caught in the attack.

“He’s never getting out of that! That’s malicious slime and it’s unbreakable, once you get trapped you’ll die from suffocation.” Hex tended to his sister during his explanation, somehow not losing the same drive he had from the beginning. “You were fools to think that you could stand against blood magic and now you’ll see how outmatched you tru-“

“Guillotine Drop!” Zeko’s heel slammed into the Harbinger’s shadowy head letting an audible crack reverberate through the room once his foot met the collar of its chest plate. “So It doesn’t have a head...” He sidestepped to barely avoid a swing from the bow, he laid a hand on its abdomen. “Almighty Push!” The massive undead careened through the air and crashed through a wall of the castle, ending up in the training yard. “Less property damage...” He gazed at the room they’ve been in and noted the broken windows, decayed parts of the floor, and blackened spots indicating explosions. “Starting now, follow it!” Zeko jumped out through the hole in the wall with Kotetsu, Jenki, Shiro, and Nouka following. They regrouped in the yard and saw the Harbinger being held by large bones sprouting from the ground like a demented garden.

“So it did that to break its fall. This thing’s really cool!” Once their enemy was up and once again repaired itself it raised a hand and teleported its summoners to its location. Malum was barely conscious from her wounds and Hex was closing off her severed limbs. Zeko and Jenki both noticed the decrease in energy that their enemy had with those two being close by and smirked.

“Jenki! It’s time for ‘that one’ get ready.” Zeko sent a wave of sand to his friend who jumped on and rode towards the incapacitated assassins.

“ Eight Trigrams rapid air palms!” Jenki pushed his hands through the sand and sent out bullets of wind and sand, Hex put up a barrier but it was torn through as easily as paper letting him be struck and was knocked away and gasping for air. “We were right, that thing gets weaker when he gets further away.” The others saw how the Harbinger’s eyes lost some of their glow and was more sluggish when it fired an arrow, resulting in a bush being encompassed by the same fluid from before.

Zeko managed to summon Samehada while this was happening and pulled Jenki back so he wasn’t in danger. “Ok this is the best time to take this thing down, team k.h.u.o taijutsu formation A!” Zeko, Jenki, Kotetsu and Shiro rushed forward leaving Nouka to grab clay in preparation.

“Alrig- Wait... I’m not in that.” The clay user didn’t hear his initial and was dejected at not being able to take part in the attack.

“Ya know I like this one but you ain’t the boss of me Zeko!” Shiro started off with a violent slash to the Harbinger’s chest, making it stumble and leaving a large cut in its armor. She moved and let Jenki start his attack but their foe changed its weapon to an axe again and swung at Jenki.

“Perfect timing, Eight Trigrams 32 palms!” Once the axe nearly chopped into the green haired teen he struck his attacker’s wrist and knocked the weapon away, he then unleashed a rapid barrage of strikes to the weakened armor expanding the chink in the armor and leaving the dark being wide open.

Zeko ran up and slashed with Samehada, colliding with the forearm of the massive being. “So you decided to use your hands to fight? You’re a lot stronger than you look.” Zeko struggled against the strength of his enemy and didn’t its other arm until it grabbed him making him drop Samehada and it began to crush him. “That’s not good!” Zeko tried his hardest to break the hold he was in but was outmatched physically.

“Ugh, do I gotta do everything?” Shiro started to cleave into the Harbinger’s arms and got through the armor entirely revealing shadowy arms. Once Shiro tried to cut them off she nearly ended up hacking into Zeko. She pulled back once she realized her mistake and near crippling of her teammate.

“The hell?!” Kotetsu exclaimed then tried to use a chidori spear but didn’t effect the undead’s limb. “We can’t hit it! It’s like a spirit or something, we can’t touch it but it can touch us.” Zeko’s veins were starting to pulse and his eyes started to bleed but the fight didn’t leave his body. “Shiro, kamui!” The pair ran behind the undead and separated it’s torso from its legs with their technique, sending half of its body into their dimension. Zeko and the Harbinger fell to the ground, but Zeko was able to get up and walk over to his friends while their enemy struggled to get up.

“Ok that didn’t go as planned *cough* but we still won in the end.” He spoke with a hoarse voice but managed to breathe properly.

“NO!” The Harbinger was teleported to Hex and Malum, the latter being conscious again. “Don’t you dare think that this is over, we’ll come back and next time we- Urgh!” Hex and Malum were grabbed by the throat not by any of the shinobi but the Harbinger itself. “Urk! What are you- Ack!”

The Harbinger’s eyes began to glow red before it spoke with an echo, “Must...live... must...be free...” With those words a red energy ran from Malum and Hex and flowed into the Harbinger, giving it a physical form resembling a demonic stallion with a jagged horn. The shinobi noticed that as the Harbinger changed in appearance and power, Hex and Malum got thinner, grayer, and looked like skeletons with skin until they turned to dust at the hands of their own creation.

A universal pull reunited Zeko with Samehada and the team took fighting stances again. “I can’t be the only one who thinks this thing’s awesome.” Jenki broke the serious mood making Kotetsu throw a rock at him. But chills ran down their spines once they heard an ominous voice,

“I’m more than that now.” Their for now spoke but in a deeper, more intimidating voice. They saw that its armor was no longer beige but was pitch black and it now used a sword and massive shield, which were black. “Those two used power they knew nothing and subjugated me but now I-“ Kotetsu sent a fireball at their enemy who blocked it with the large shield without putting in much effort.

“Don’t care about any of that, we’re killing you now.” Kotetsu burst forward and tried to chop their demonic foe’s head off but met his shield instead. He decided to stop any notions of being unbeatable by channeling lightning into his blade and slowly forcing his way into the shield.

“Very interesting. You can strengthen your blade with magic.” Kotetsu was bashed by the shield and left with a gash on his crown. “You’re very powerful but from what I’ve seen you don’t have the power to beat me.” He charged a spell with his horn and shot a massive beam towards Kotetsu who didn’t get up in time. “If you’re only that durable then none of you will be able to-“ An explosion to the face interrupted their gloating enemy, courtesy of Nouka. When the dust cleared Kotetsu was behind Shiro and Zeko who was using lightning chakra mode. “You all must enjoy interrupting, but the game ends here... you will die here.” Kotetsu and Zeko rushed forward, Zeko using Samehada to collide with the sword while Kotetsu cut into the shield and nearly broke through but repulsion spell stopped his progress, luckily he was pulled back by sand and continued his assault. The cousins kept up their teamwork, keeping the sword away while one tried to penetrate their enemies’ defense.

“Alright Nouka now!” The duo jumped aside to let a clay dragon collide with the shield and detonate, blasting it to shards. The Harbinger stood still for a few seconds before vanishing and appearing behind Nouka with its sword raised.

“Your range makes you a threat.” He stabbed Nouka through the gut and raised him to his face, only to get another explosion. “There’s a theme here, you all evade my attacks and try to kill me but I am deathless and you are not, once you begin to make mistakes you’ll die.” He raised a hand and began to create a new weapon but it was chopped off by Shiro’s scythe.

She landed behind the demonic being and turned back with a scowl. “There’s no dealin with guys like you ya know. When we beat ya don’t cry since I’m gonna laugh at ya.” The hand grew back, giving Zeko an idea.

He tossed an explosive kunai as a diversion since he saw the Harbinger’s instant movement, and once there was a covering of dust he produced four chakra rods and tossed them to his allies. “You’ll know when to use them, team k.h.u.o.y killing move! Sage art: Magnet release rasengan!” Zeko made a rasengan covered in black seals and rammed it into the Harbinger’s stomach. The monster tried to counter Kotetsu but found that it couldn’t move leading to its forearm being cut off by a chidori blade and its sword being dropped.

“There’s my part, you’re up idiots.” Kotetsu jumped off and let Nouka create clay spiders and hand off them to Jenki.

“Eight Trigrams explosive points!” Jenki planted the spiders at various weak spots on the Harbinger’s shoulders, thighs and back and pushed him ten feet back with a palm to the gut.

“Now the explosion.” Nouka detonated the spiders and created large fractures in the armor. “Hey Zeko. What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Just follow their lead.” He passed Nouka and performed a lariat from behind their weakened quarry and sent him into the air, he started to fall back down which was Zeko’s signal. “NOW!” Shiro, Jenki and Kotetsu jumped and impaled the Harbinger in the thighs and shoulder once he hit the ground, Nouka pierced the remaining shoulder once he caught on. Zeko used the flying Raijin to appear and stab their enemy in the neck.

“It seems that I miscalculated my odds ever so slightly.” The Harbinger struggled to break free but its mana was being disrupted by Zeko’s chakra, rendering it immobile. “I can tell that I’ve lost this time but should we meet again the results will be different.” A dark purple portal opened beneath him and allowed him to turn into a mist and enter it, leaving his armor behind.

“You lost because our team-“ Zeko started

“Is the strongest there is!” They said in perfect unison as the portal closed, leaving them in the training yard.

After looking around and gazing at the armor for a few seconds Kotetsu decided to voice his opinion on what happened. “So does this count as us fighting death?” Zeko pondered the question while Jenki looked around in awe at the damage.

“Well technically he never said he was a grim reaper, he just said he couldn’t die.” Nouka responded

“My question is if these guys aren’t even the bosses and managed to summon that... how strong is the leader?”

==============================

The crowd was silent at the defeat of the Harbinger and the deaths of Malum and Hex to the point where none could speak and Mistress Culina hadn’t said a word in minutes. The stallion decided to whisper to the mare next to him. “I told you that he would find a way to win, he might be a relative of an Alicorn if he’s that strong.”

“When’s the last time you’ve heard of a male Alicorn? But that wouldn’t matter anyway. Mistress Culina might not be showing it but I can tell that nopony’s ever made her this angry before.” The mare looked and saw the expression of hidden fury on their leader, something she used as to not frighten her underlings but by looking hard enough one could see the anger present.

“Well this has been a nice gathering but this mishap has caused a minor setback.” Culina was lying through her teeth with that statement. “If I ever get a chance I’ll kill that kid slowly for making them doubt me!” She managed a calm facade but was screaming internally. “I must ask that you all depart and carry on with contracts as necessary... I’ll be sure to contact everypony when something like this is to happen again. Reluctantly, those in their seats got up and walked towards the exits, murmuring on the possibility of failing in being able to beat their grand target.

Author's Notes:

This was a masterpiece in my opinion, not sure if I’m being overly prideful or if my work here was that good or not. Don’t worry there’s an epilogue for those unanswered questions and don’t be afraid to tell me what you thought about this three parter.

Until next time