//------------------------------//
// Round Two 
// Story: Operation: Replace 
// by Thought Prism 
//------------------------------//

	Before the group had time to even react to his declaration, the Merchant vanished with a rush of air and a whooshing noise. Sensing movement directly behind him, Ike only managed to spin ninety degrees to his left before a long, black katana was thrust forward with immense force, right where the back of his head would have been. Instead, the stab connected with his pauldron, deflecting to the side. What energy did transfer was enough to send Ike careening through three rows of shops and into the far wall.

Ike screamed in pain, and his sword clattered to the floor, the arm that once held it broken under the impact. The Merchant just laughed behind his mask, nonchalantly twirling his katana by the chain attached to its hilt.

Hazel blinked. 'Holy shit we're so dead.'

'He's Ichigo now!' thought Jared.

"You're next, pony," said the Merchant. His voice had picked up a menacing echo.

'Ok, Starlight, don't panic,' she thought to herself as he slowly approached. 'You have your magic this time. There's no limit to what you can do!'

Scowling, Jared fired another spray of shots from his machine gun arm while the Merchant was focused on Starlight, but he effortlessly deflected every last bullet with his blade, not even breaking stride.

Starlight saw this, and began trembling. Jared looked away in shame, as if he had anticipated the outcome.

The Merchant raised his sword, and dark energy rimmed in red formed around it. When he swung, the energy rushed outwards in a massive wave. Starlight formed the strongest shield of crystal she could around herself, one that had stood firm against even Twilight's magic, but the Merchant's power shattered it with ease. She tumbled backwards, collapsing in a heap.

"No!" screamed Ike, still clutching his arm.

'She's unconscious!' Hazel conveyed.

On a terrifying roll, the Merchant vanished again, slashing at Hazel from the side. However, rather than being cleft in twain, Hazel's body dissipated into mist.

"Hmph," he said. "You can't hide from me. I've got a two-for-one deal with your name on it!"

Jared blanched. "Oh hell, he can sense—"

The Merchant was on Hazel's true position - huddled in a ball behind an upturned table - in an instant. She flinched, unable to do anything beyond await her inevitable demise. However, the sound she heard next was not that of her own blood splashing on the ground, but a metallic clang.

Managing to open her eyes, Hazel beheld her savior. Standing over her was Ninja Slayer, the Merchant's katana caught on an armored forearm, his eyes literally glowing red with rage.

The Merchant jumped back into a defensive stance as Ninja Slayer spoke, voice deep with malice. "You have kidnapped dozens. You have harmed my teammates. You have even supplanted my own will. For these transgressions, I will end you."

"Ooo, I'm so scared," the Merchant said, deadpan. "Sorry, but I don't close up shop until five."

Ninja Slayer clenched his fists. "Naraku! Lend me all of your power! We will crush him at full strength!"

With a scream of righteous fury, Ninja Slayer exploded with energy, his armor flying to pieces. Purple, ethereal flames wreathed his hands, and his cloak had darkened to blood red.

The Merchant stared. "Well I'll be. Looks like you've managed to perfectly master the powers I gave you."

"Why the hell didn't you do that earlier?" Ike exclaimed. 

Ninja Slayer ignored him, lunging for the Merchant at supersonic speed. He wove out of the punch's path, slashing in retaliation. But Ninja Slayer bent his body backwards, the sharp steel passing overhead like a limbo bar. Using that momentum, he snapped his leg upwards in a kick, only for the Merchant to have jumped just out of range. 

Now having gained a new perch on the air itself, feet glowing, the Merchant charged his blade with destructive shadow again. "Getsuga... TENSHO!"

Ninja Slayer planted his feet, and the purple flames on his hands roared to life. He shoved both his palms upwards. "YEEART!"

The ensuing inferno collided with the Merchant's technique, meeting with a flash. Neither dissipated, and both men poured more and more power into the air, purple and black pushing back and forth. When it became too much, the pool of energy burst, and an enormous shockwave rocked the hall.

Once it had faded, Ninja Slayer was already back on the offensive, in midair and cutting loose with a barrage of jabs. The Merchant was slightly faster, and managed to block all of them with his sword. Whenever he saw an opening, the Merchant retaliated, but his quick cuts were also all blocked by whatever hand Ninja Slayer wasn't hitting with at each moment, the flames warding off damage.

Hazel peeked her eyes out to watch along with Ike and Jared. All three were unmoving, and wore stupefied expressions. The action was now nigh impossible for any of them to follow. The Merchant and Ninja Slayer had escalated their battle to greater intensity, and were moving so fast now, trading blow after blow, that only the ripples in the air from their motion were visible. Cracking sounds from the strikes that made contact echoed down.

Hazel rubbed her eyes in disbelief. 'Woah.'

'Ok, I really need to check out this Ninja Slayer series,' thought Jared.

A sharp ring signaled a lull in the struggle, and the pair fell, skidding apart along the ground. The Merchant held his sword with an iron grip, staring at Ninja Slayer as he panted in exertion from his wounds. Ninja Slayer stared back, equally winded, the blood from his own cuts invisible against his clothes.

"This... has been quite the negotiation," said the Merchant.

Ninja Slayer spoke, but not in reply. "I shall put everything we have left into one last attack, Naraku!" Sticking his hand out to the side, lines of light spiraled out of the air, forming into a gigantic shuriken twice the size of his body. When he grabbed its edge, it was immediately engulfed in violet fire.

The Merchant's stance wavered. "What? That's—! That was never in the show!"

Ninja Slayer snorted. "You lack imagination. Recite your death haiku, Mr. Merchant."

After a moment, he replied with an incoherent scream.

Ninja Slayer shook his head. Rearing his arm back, he hurled it with his entire body like a fastball. "Naraku... REAPER!"

A sonic boom rent the air as the humongous blade struck its target, sending up a roiling cloud of fire. Not taking another chance, Jared peppered the cloud with more gunfire. When the Merchant failed to immerge from within it even after the flames had faded to smoke, Jared allowed himself a smile.

Ike stood, ignoring the pain, Ragnell held low in his unbroken left hand. "Is it over?"

Hazel glanced solemnly over at the prone form of Starlight, then over to Ike. "I hope so."

Ninja Slayer took a deep breath, crossing his arms. The fire on his hands and in his eyes both disappeared. "Such an attack would have obliterated any ninja."

Jared sighed in relief. "Excellent. Then let's grab Starlight and—"

The sound of laughter interrupted him.

Everyone turned to its source, eyes wide with disbelief. The last wisps of smoke trailed off, revealing the Merchant, cackling in mad glee. His wounds were closing up again, the mask and katana replaced by a bright green belt with a heart-shaped buckle and dangling side loops. A golden aura surrounded him as he hovered in the air.

He sneered down at them. "Don't you people get it yet? I've just been doing the same thing I've been doing ever since I started this whole 'merchant' business: toying with you for my amusement. I was always going to win in the end."

Hazel stepped back. "No way."

"That's... that... argh!" said Ike, attacking the floor in frustration.

Heedless of the Merchant's words, Ninja Slayer threw another half-dozen shuriken at him. But as they got close, an invisible force snatched them all out of the air and crushed them to pieces.

Jared dropped to his knees. "I recognize that belt now. He's... right. We can't beat him. We never could. And now he'll kill us all."

"Then this mission was for nothing," said Ninja Slayer, crestfallen. "Fuyoko... Tochinoki... I have failed you."

The Merchant laughed once more, a sadistic grin on his face. "It looks like you finally understand. Now then, I'm going to savor this experience."

He spread his arms dramatically. "ZA WARUDO!"


*  *  *


Starlight rose with a start, her heart beating a mile a minute. It took her a bit before her most recent memories returned. When they did, she bolted to her hooves with a gasp. She frantically scanned the converted ballroom for signs of her teammates, but no sounds of battle could be heard.

Once she spotted them, she went pale.

The Merchant, with his new powers, had somehow completely frozen all four of them. Ike in anger, Hazel in fear, Ninja Slayer in regret, Jared in despair. Starlight could only stare, her temper rising as he ran his eyes over them in succession, as if appraising pieces of art.

He cupped a hand under Hazel's chin. "You, however," he said, monologuing, "did practically nothing. I mean, really, why did they even send you?"

Starlight shot a double-strength beam of magic at his back.

Hearing her fire, the Merchant dodged out of reflex. He spun to face Starlight.

Totally shocked, his brow was twisted in confusion. "What? The unicorn?!"

"I have a name, you know. It's Starlight Glimmer," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Big mistake, forgetting I was here."

The Merchant twitched. "I don't care! More importantly, how are you moving?"

She gestured to the frozen humans. "I was just knocked out, and they were obviously keeping you too busy to finish me off."

"No, you idiotic, technicolor friendship horse, I knew that! What I don't know is how you can act while I've literally stopped time for the entire world."

Starlight blinked. "Huh. That's... yeah. I have no idea. Maybe it's because I'm not from this world. Or because I've already splintered the timestream like a dozen times."

He blinked, then shook his head. "No matter," he replied, growling in annoyance. "I still possess the powers of the almighty Dio!"

"I don't care who you're dressed as," said Starlight stomping a hoof. "You're hurting my new friends." She began charging her horn with power.

"Well, you heard my disclaimer. If you still insist in this useless struggle, I'll crush you without breaking a sweat." The Merchant flew forwards, arms casually at his sides.

Wary of what he might do as he closed in, Starlight immediately teleported behind him. This time, she fired a shock spell in an attempt to force him to deactivate his time-stopping power. But it struck an invisible surface and vanished.

The Merchant just rotated and flew at her again. Starlight threw up another huge crystalline shield, distorting her view. When the Merchant was about ten feet from her, he landed, and her shield was suddenly beset by a barrage of impacts at blinding speed. Cracks were forming rapidly, but it held long enough for her to fire her magic through it at his face. As before, the beam didn't connect, but this time the impacts stopped for a moment before resuming in earnest.

A flash of recognition bloomed in Starlight's eyes, and her mouth formed into a resolute frown. The cracks continued to propagate as Starlight once more built up her power. Then, in that one moment-within-a-moment, the shield finally shattered at the same Starlight cast her spell, this one less of a beam and more of a spotlight.

The spell struck its target: the invisible object between the two. Starlight's pastel aura enveloped it instantly, revealing a humanoid shape. Howling in pain and surprise, the Merchant clutched at his head. A white line in the air connected him to the invisible figure, and it was getting slowly thinner as Starlight pulled.

"You... you're actually stealing my Stand!" The Merchant exclaimed, backing away against her magic. He tripped, collapsing onto his butt.

Starlight stared down at him in pity. "I was like you once. Acting out my own whims regardless of what was best for everypony. I invented this spell during that time, one that could rip away special talents. This is the first time I've actually used it to save others. Feels good, really."

Though the Merchant struggled, it was to no avail, and the white cord finally snapped. Starlight was then able to see what exactly she had taken from him: a golden man with an unreasonably buff physique, odd tubes on his back, and a wedge-shaped helmet.

Immediately, her four teammates started moving again, subsequently spotting her. 

"Starlight! You're ok!" exclaimed Ike.

Hazel blinked repeatedly. "What just happened?"

"I second that," said Jared. "We should all be in various states of terminal injury right now."

Starlight glanced briefly upwards at the 'Stand' she had just acquired. "Well, the Merchant's powers didn't work on me for some reason, we fought for a bit, and then I stole them."

Jared's face scrunched up into a grimace. "Now I have even more questions!"

Ike shouldered his blade. "Later. More importantly, did you finish him off?"

"No," stated Ninja Slayer, as he vigilantly watched their surroundings. "I see no corpse, and no explosions. Clearly, the coward is in hiding. When next he acts, he shall be at our mercy."

Starlight sighed. "Horseapples, I let you guys distract me."

"It's fine. He's a stubborn bastard, probably would have vanished anyway," said Hazel.

It was then that the man in question decided to interject, voice seething with anger. "No! It is you interlopers who shall vanish!"