As the Blue Sun rose on a desert landscape, screams filled the morning air. Buildings crumbled to the might of large humanoid creatures. They laughed as the sky was filled with corpses, tossing them up for their own amusement. People cowered in their houses as the creatures spouted their greatness. One in particular, a whole foot taller than the rest of them, was the loudest. Particular was his own belief in his strength. "Hahaha! Your people crumble like pebbles in our hands, and your houses like glass! All of what belongs to you shall go to me! For I am the strongest being this universe has ever known!" Hearing these words, the villagers cowered even more. Since they knew nothing outside their home, they had no other option then to believe what he said about him being the strongest. But unbeknownst to all of them, an alien named Taras, was hurtling towards their planet.
狩りが始まる
|The Hunt Begins|
Play One Punch Man Theme, The Hero
It had been approximately three days since the massacre on the rebellious planet, and their ship was running low on supplies. Unlike Boros, who rode around in a giant warship, Taras used a small star craft with a small crew of five trustworthy individuals. One who he'd been forced into mentoring by Boros, who saw potential in him for his crew, another who acted like a secretary for him, two that piloted and maintained the ship, and the last being the one who cooked their meals. He had met each of the individuals separately and decided to take them on as his personal attendants. They had gone through thick and thin, with most of the time Taras saving their asses, but Taras still enjoyed their company.
That is, unless one of them brought him bad news, which Jeeto the cook did, and it was in the form of telling him they were low on supplies. Rolling off the mattress he had been sleeping on, Taras groaned noisily at the prospect of having to stop at another alien world. For him, it was boring politics, because he couldn't conquer planets willy nilly, there was a science behind it. Instead, he'd have to take his money, which they probably wouldn't accommodate for, so he'd have to have it changed, and then there would be the chance of being cheated, and it'd just be a big mess.
Clicking his antennae together to detect Taras' emotions, Jeeto sighed, knowing it'd be best to let Taras settle into the prospect. Walking out the door, Jeeto started thinking about what he'd need for the kitchen, letting several of his arms wander: straightening paintings (he had no idea why they had those), picking up fallen objects, and sweeping stuff to the side. Turning in, he used four of his six hands to open the door to the cockpit. Sitting in chairs staring out at the expanse of stars, Teg and Xatos let their hands auto adjusting course, as they looked back to see Jeeto enter. It was somewhat cramped due to Jeeto's arms, but he managed to squeeze them in tight enough to not cause much discomfort. He asked when they'd be arriving at their pit stop, and was responded to by a series of grunts. Translating this, Jeeto knew that they would be arriving in five minutes and went to tell the rest of the crew. After Lios and Boaz learned of their nearing stop, they prepared for the entrance into orbit.
Flying down, the star craft entered orbit at a speeding pace, but still managed to land gracefully, thanks to Teg and Xatos' piloting skills. Stepping out of the ship, Taras sniffed the air, just to make sure it wasn't toxic then proceeded to start his trek to the nearest town, with Jeeto following behind to get the best food possible. But before he went too far, Taras turned around to face the rest of his crew. "I need you guys to watch the ship. If anything bad happens, then you'll have to answer to me." They all nodded, knowing what would happen if even so much as a scratch hurt the ship. Smiling, knowing they would follow his command, Taras turned back to the desert expanse and started walking.
Soon, they finally made it to the town, where they were looked at strangely. Taras examined the town surrounding them, seeing what looked to be results of some kind of earthquake, with houses caved in on themselves. Looking around, Taras saw what was obviously the food store and walked in. Seeing rows of food, Jeeto and Taras quickly filled up a box and walked to where they needed to pay. Seeing the amount, the person at the counter quickly wrote out their tab, which Taras paid with a few coins. Holding up the coin to the light, the alien told them in a gravelly voice, "We don't accept the type of currency." Face palming, Taras replied, "Please can you make an exception, we're kind of in a hurry…" but the alien only shook their head, "Sorry sir, we don't accept it, there is a money changer down the street though." Taras sighed, "Fine. Jeeto, watch the food. I'll get our money changed." And with that, Taras walked out of the store.
Things weren't going well for his crew either. In mere minutes after he left, large reptilian humanoid aliens started to rampage around them, with Boaz only managing to fend them off with his sword. But even that wasn't enough. All they did was laugh as he tried to swipe at their legs, but when the metal met the skin, all that came off was sparks. The others cowered behind him, as Boaz deflected the strikes from their massive weapons. But he was quickly tiring, and he was wondering what Taras was doing.
Taras tapped his fingers on the desk as he waited for the changer to finish his examination. This little "Pit-Stop" had turned into a full out visit because of the planets economics. He hadn't expected them to be this stubborn, but he was wrong, like all the other times he had tried to change money. Every time, he always hoped they'd be less stingy then the last planet, but he was always wrong. Finally, after he was about ready to leave and try his luck at the next planet, the changer rung him up and told him that his money was worth ten of their yurics (their dollar). Happy at this, Taras traded in his money for the money he would receive. Walking out of the shop, he returned to the store and Jeeto, paid the amount, and started the journey back to the ship.
Boaz at that point, had confronted the leader of the group of bandits, and started assaulting him, but all he did was shrug off the attacks like they were nothing. He laughed maniacally at Boaz's attempts to harm him, and he laughed even more when Boaz stumbled from fatigue. Tired of the petty attempts to stop him, the leader quickly smashed Boaz out of the way and into the side of the ship, leaving a Boaz shaped dent in it. When he fell back to the ground, he felt his back, which was covered in the hot stickiness that was his blood. As he fell to the ground to the sounds of the bandit's laughter, all he could wonder was where Taras was…
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!"
The sharp words brought Boaz back to attention, as he stared past the bandit's feet to see Taras, looking pissed, and at that moment, he wasn't sure whether to be scared about his punishment, or to be sorry for the bandits. "I'm gone for ten minutes trying to get food, and then the stupid economics of this planet happens, and I'm forced to wait while some guy stares at my money, and you guys let this happen!" The crew started staring ashamedly at their feet, knowing they had screwed up. Taras sighed, "I should expect this by now, especially from you guys." Staring at him, the bandits, were not sure who the guy yelling at their victims was.
One of them, either the stupidest or the bravest, put a smile back on his face, with the knowledge that there was no way they could be beaten, and charged. What happened next was so fast, only Boaz and the leader were able to catch even a glimpse of it as Taras punched the stupid bandit in the stomach, rupturing through and causing blood and guts to spew out his back like a geyser. The corpse collapsed next to Taras, who still had his fist raised, causing the other bandits to back away slowly from him. But the leader just laughed, as he stepped forward to take the challenge.
Pounding his chest, the leader proudly stated his status on the alien world. "I am Vadus, ruler of the Scalene People, a race of giants best fit to rule this world! I was born into the house of champions, and I am seen on this entire planet as the strongest in the universe! Who are you, my challenger?" Taras, nodding knowingly, glad the speech was over, replied simply, "Not much, but my uncle rules a planet." Vadus smiled, "Is that it? Is some royal snob supposed to intimidate me? You're dead snob!" Saying these words, Vadus' face broke down in concentration, as his body began to change. His muscles growing larger as his glowing yellow blood coursed through his body. Finally done, his body now a mass of muscles and glowing slightly yellow, Vadus sneered as he threw a punch, surrounded by a Mach cone, directly hitting Taras in the face, with the force scattering dust behind Taras into a giant cloud.
But just as Vadus was about to take the ship and leave, he was shocked and terrified to hear words come from the cloud of dust where Taras once stood.
"You really are weak, aren't you?"
Terrified, Vadus' terror turned to panic as he saw Taras walk out of the cloud, unfazed by the powerful punch. Turning, Vadus began a mad dash away from the being who wanted him dead, but was too late.
Grabbing the hilt of his sword, Taras, in the blink of an eye, caused a red beam of light to shoot out of his blade as he swung in an upward arc. Vadus stopped in his tracks, but this didn't stop Taras, who started swinging his sword in a flurry of motion, sending thousands of red beams at Vadus. He was swinging the blade so fast, that all around them, the dust was beginning to pick up, as they swirled around him, faster and faster, until he was surrounded by a tornado of dust, and still Taras didn't stop his swinging.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Taras held his sword straight up, allowing the dust to fall, spreading in waves over the Scalene people. Still holding his blade up, Taras gave a quick flick in his wrist, causing the large amount of yellow blood to fly off of it, and doing this, the dead Vadus fell to pieces, in an almost liquid-like state, as his yellow blood seeped into the earth.
Terrified, the Scalene turned and started running towards the mountains, but Taras didn't let them go far. A quick swipe and beam of light sliced each and every one of them in half, the bodies falling as their blood seeped into the earth.
Sheathing the blade, Taras turned and started walking back to the ship, almost as if he had forgotten about the dent. All he said as he passed his crewmates amazed faces was, "I'm tired, I think I'll go to bed," and with that, he entered the ship.
The five stared out at the bloody scene with pure amazement. Even though they had known their lord for several years, it was still incredible to know that he had all that power.
"Hello! I am Vadus, Ruler of the Scalene People! I'm not a fame hog like that last guy, so I won't keep you long! All I'll say is, this: Next time on The Path to Vengeance…
ガス状惑星
| The Gaseous Planet |
"This is gonna be a fun one!"
