Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"Hm? This scent, there's someone nearby...it's a strange scent though," Kora muttered to herself, as she swiftly made her way through the forest, her senses sharpened.

It hadn't been long since she and the others had split up, and she'd covered a fair bit of ground, having been heading straight in the direction she picked.

She quietly veered across towards the scent she'd picked up, silently making her way through the shrubbery, steadily drawing closer and closer to the scent.

She then peered out through the bushes as she got within a few meters of the scent, narrowing her eyes as she spotted a figure. A young man with red hair that had a couple of black stripes down the front, red eyes, a light brown complexion and he was about average height, with a strong, agile build.

He was wearing a fully black outfit, a black tank top under an unzipped black jacket, and black trousers with tall black boots that went halfway up his calves.

And beside him, was a glass ball, floating next to his head.

Kora locked on before firing out a rapid lightning bolt towards the ball, her eyes widening as the figure suddenly turned across and raised his hand, a mass of black blood erupting out of his hand and forming a shield, blocking her attack.

She grimaced before rushing out from behind the bushes, lightning erupting around her and wrapping around her body, before she sprinted towards him with immense speed, leaping forward as she closed in and swiped her claws at the glass ball, lightning crackling intensely around her hand.

Suddenly, several tendrils of black blood burst out of the figure's back, one of the tendrils grabbing Kora's wrist before he claws could reach the glass ball, before flinging her away with a sharp, powerful flick, a twinge of pain erupting around her wrist from the force of the flick.

She gritted her teeth before twisting her body across in midair to regain her balance, her feet hitting the ground and skidding back slightly, as she let out a slow exhale.

"Don't bother trying to fight me, you can't win," Remarked the figure, a red, oval-shaped crystal forming on the middle of his forehead before a rapid red beam burst out and shot towards Kora.

She raced away as fast as she could, the beam slicing through a couple of trees as she narrowly evaded the attack, loud crashes ringing out as the trees fell over and slammed onto the ground, clouds of dust rising up.

Kora unleashed a fierce, crackling blast of lightning towards the figure, before racing towards him at top speed as he formed a wall of black blood in front of himself, blocking her attack.

Lightning crackled intensely around Kora as she closed in and leapt over the wall of blood, the figure's gaze shifting up as she began to plummet down towards him, the lightning crackling around her intensifying sharply with a bright, electric glow, before she chanted...

"[Lightning Eruption]!"

A devastating electric explosion burst out around her, razing the ground black as several concentrated streaks of lightning erupted out and danced across the ground, charring the grass and dirt.

Kora landed with a soft thud as she let out a slow exhale, a thick cloud of dust rising around her, before she stiffened as a blood tendril suddenly shot out through the dust and wrapped around her neck, wrists and ankles, constricting tightly and restraining her.

"H-How...?" She uttered with a slight gasp as she began to get choked out, before the sound of footsteps echoed out, a silhouette appearing ahead of her through the dust cloud.

"You're pretty powerful. But not powerful enough."

"H-He must have used that strange black blood to block my attack at the last second, the force of my blast pushed him back, but that's all it did, he's completely unscathed," Kora thought to herself with a grimace, her vision starting to blur and darken.

She was trying to vaporize the blood constricting around her using her lightning, but it was no use, her attacks were having no effect on the blood.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. I have no reason to, and I can defeat you easily without needing to resort to killing you. But I'd advise you to stay out of my way. I have to get my hands on that time travel device, at any cost. And any obstacles to that goal will be eliminated without hesitation," He remarked coldly, right as Kora lost consciousness...

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the playing field...

Wistari peeked down through a curtain of leaves, locking onto her target. She was atop a tree, hiding amidst the branches and leaves. She'd come across one of the other teams, three of their members had stuck together, one of whom had the glass ball.

She quietly took aim, pointing her index finger down at the ball as she channeled lightning through it, charging up the Mana inside her finger to keep the sound of sparks crackling from giving her position away.

She then waited, maintaining the charged up Mana as she looked for an opening, wanting to make absolutely sure that she'd hit the ball in one shot, intent on avoiding a battle against opponents whose capabilities she was completely in the dark about.

Suddenly, as one of the figures yawned and stretched his arms up, she unleashed the charged up Mana, firing out a rapid, piercing needle of lightning, which struck and burst through the middle of the glass ball before any of them could react.

"H-Huh? What just...?" One of them trailed off in horror, as cracks spread out across the ball.

"Shit, is someone here?! How did-...?!" Began one of the others, before they all vanished from sight as the ball shattered to pieces.

Wistari leapt down from the tree, landing on the ground with a soft thud, a slight, conflicted grimace on her face.

"Alright, that's one less team to worry about. It does not feel right resorting to such tactics, but still, I...I do not regret it. We must ensure our survival in this predicament above all else, even if that means swallowing our pride."