"Huh?"
Hearing Shin's voice, the sludge monster finally remembered there was someone else here. It turned its head, squinting curiously into Shin's eyes.
"This your Quirk?"
The creature sneered, completely unimpressed.
"Pink eye?"
At that, Shin's mouth curved into a faint smile.
He dared to stare straight into the Sharingan.
Only an idiot with no idea what he was dealing with would do something that reckless.
"Come on then, kid," the sludge monster taunted. "Let's see what you think you can do."
"Why are you just standing there?" Bakugo Katsuki's voice snapped from across the alley. His temper, already running hot, flared even higher.
"Did you not hear me? Go hide!"
Shin ignored him.
His gaze stayed locked on the sludge monster.
"You want to see my ability?"
His voice dropped to a near-whisper.
"That's fine. I'll show you."
Shrrrp—
The next second, the monster's world fractured.
The flames, the rubble, the heat—all of it disappeared.
Silence swallowed everything.
Empty streets stretched out in all directions, eerily still.
"…Where did everyone go?"
This time, the sludge monster's voice faltered.
It spun, searching for any sign of life, but there was nothing.
"I heard about an experiment once," Shin's voice echoed from everywhere at once, disembodied, cold as ice.
"…Don't play games with me, brat!" the sludge monster barked, twisting and writhing.
"Show yourself!"
"You know," Shin continued, ignoring the outburst, "they say if you lock a person alone in a place with no light, no sound…they start to break. Sometimes in hours. Sometimes in days."
The monster's panic sharpened, a shiver racing down its oozing limbs.
A sick twist of regret formed in its gut.
Shouldn't have been so cocky…should've figured out what his Quirk was first…
"Hmph. I don't believe it," the sludge monster muttered, trying to convince itself.
It's just a trick—just an illusion. Any second now, the real world will come back.
"…To be honest," Shin's voice sighed, "I'm curious to see how long you'll last."
The three tomoe in his Sharingan spun once—and the darkness closed in completely.
At first, the sludge monster managed to stay calm.
No one answered him, so he talked to himself, babbling nonsense to keep from listening to the silence.
After eight hours, cracks showed.
It started sobbing, voice raw.
Thirty hours in, it was delirious, smashing itself against invisible walls that didn't exist.
In this world—Shin's world—nothing left a mark.
But the pain was always real.
At forty hours, the creature was nearly feral.
It clawed at the darkness, eyes wild, shrieking in terror, slamming its head over and over into the floor.
"Tsk tsk," Shin's voice said at last, soft with mock pity.
"Only forty hours? I was hoping you'd last longer."
A shape began to take form in the dark.
Shin stepped out of nothing, watching the sludge monster with a cool, almost curious look.
"You know, I actually prepared a little gift for you."
The monster's eyes widened.
It lurched forward, collapsed at Shin's feet, clutching desperately at his leg.
"Please—please, I'm sorry, I was wrong! Just let me out—let me out!"
Its voice cracked in hysterical relief.
Shin crouched, smiling as he looked down.
"Sorry. I can't waste a good gift."
"…Wha—?"
The sludge monster tried to move—
And found itself strapped to a giant wooden cross.
Its Quirk gone, its limbs pinned.
The darkness around them slowly bled red, transforming into a grotesque, scarlet landscape.
A huge blood-red moon hung overhead, casting everything in an eerie glow.
Shin stepped into view, holding a delicate crimson dagger that gleamed wickedly.
"This little bonus usually lasts three days."
He twirled the blade between his fingers.
"But judging by your face…I doubt you'll last even one."
In this place, pain was whatever Shin decided it was.
And no matter how tough the sludge monster's body, it didn't matter here.
Here, Shin thought calmly, I make the rules.
Shnk.
"AAAAAAAGH!"
The dagger sank into the creature's mass.
No blood flowed—only pure, searing agony.
In reality, less than a second had passed.
The sludge monster's body went limp.
It hit the asphalt in a twitching heap, unconscious, finally free from the nightmare.
Bakugo stared, dumbstruck.
"…What the hell did you do?"
He didn't need to guess.
The only other person who'd been standing was Shin.
And he was sure—absolutely sure—it had been Shin's doing.
Shin's eyes were back to their normal black.
He glanced over his shoulder, met Bakugo's gaze briefly, then turned away without another word.
"…Nothing," he said quietly.
"Just gave him a chance to get some rest."
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A/N: Please Leave A Comment Or Drop A Powerstone It'll mean alot to me...