TIME: 1:32 PM
LOCATION: Z-City, Ghost Town
It's been a couple of days since the Hero Association was attacked by the Alien Invaders. Genos found it hard to believe that aliens even existed, considering Dr. Kuseno's thoughts on extraterrestrial life. Yet, there they were. Decimating A-City with a single swoop. It was no doubt a Dragon Level Threat. It could've even been a God Level Threat.
That is if it weren't for his sensei. Saitama. It no doubt couldn't have been anyone else to bring the alien leader down than him. Even when there are enemies that defy the common sense of strength, like Carnage Kabuto, his sensei always ends it in a single punch. The overwhelming power to defeat strength that already seems to defy common sense was always Genos' goal, ever since the Mad Cyborg incident, four years ago. And hopefully, Genos could get his revenge against the cyborg that nearly took away nearly everything he had.
But, the worries of the Mad Cyborg and his whereabouts are for another day and another Genos. For the disciple of the most powerful hero had been busy with work for the Hero Association. He had just finished defeating a Demon Level Threat Big-Eyed Grasshopper and his minions and is heading back home. Hopefully, he'll get to spar again with his sensei. He's been dying to try these parts on a real challenge.
"Saitama-sensei! I'm ba-!" Before Genos could greet Saitama, he notices that he's not home. Something that greatly concerns the cyborg disciple.
He enters the apartment and closes the door behind him. He then looks around aimlessly to see where he could've run off to. In the bathtub, behind the TV, the drawers, Genos checked every nook and cranny to see where his sensei could've ever run off to. However, it all became clear to Genos when he looked into the closet.
One of Saitama's hero costumes were missing from the hangers and instead said: "Out for Lunch". As expected of sensei… He usually does get lunch at this time of day.
… However, that also means that Genos really has nothing to…
Genos has always been observing Saitama, through actions and words, in hopes his godlike strength could rub off on him. However, with him out and about, Genos realizes that he doesn't have anything else to do but wait. And the utter realization of that forces a humongous sigh from the cyborg.
Perhaps the Disaster News that his sensei always watches will give him something to do while waiting for him.
Genos picks up the remote and turns on the TV. Watching intently at the reporter gives out the news. But seconds later, Genos witnesses a scene so gruesome that if he had a stomach, it'd be vomiting right now.
His eyes meet the screen with a reporter stood in concealed terror with a scene that looks straight out of a nightmare. Blood painted the walls, with distorted limbs piling alongside the chunks of meat and cadavers decorating the alley. And the worst thing of all is that it's all frozen. As if it just came from a butcher's freezer.
"Wha…?! Who could've done this?! A monster?" Genos looks on the bottom headline, and it says Monstrous Slaughter in Y-City. But before Genos could think much further about what that terrifying news meant, his phone begins to ring. It's from the Hero Association. So without a second thought, Genos answers the phone, turning away from the distorted scene on the television.
"This is Genos…"
"... I see, Y-City…"
"Should I go now?"
"... Understood, I shall arrive as soon as I can!"
With no word after that, Genos hung up and started to make his way towards the neighboring city. His conversation was short, but it held all the information he needed. There were monsters on the loose in Y-City, and he was called upon to stop them. It was likely the monster that killed all those men in the news. He was more than determined to bring these monsters back to the depths where they belong.
However, even though the answer could be right under his nose, he couldn't help but wonder. Where was his sensei?
Well, wherever he is, he can hopefully handle himself with this cataclysmic threat that has humanity dangling on a thread.
TIME: 1:38 PM
LOCATION: Y-City, MetroCy Supermarket
MetroCy in Y-City has been vastly known for their insane deals. And today was no different. No, today, they're having an "Everything's off by 90%" deal, which will last up to 20 hours. And with only three hours left on the deal, everyone better be prepared to buy buy buy! And that's exactly what this bald hero will do!
"HOLY CRAP! LOOK AT ALL THESE SALES!" Saitama thought as he looks at the sales cost for a loaf of bread. It usually costs almost 300 yen to buy one loaf. But now, it doesn't even cost 30! These sales are ridiculous, compared to the sales in Z-City. They, at best, just put certain items on sale by 25%. But this? This could feed him for months to come! Years, even!
Saitama wipes the saliva dripping off his mouth from looking at these cheap prices to usually expensive items. He didn't have time to waste. There were only three hours left for this deal. He had to move fast!
"Let's see, I need some meat, vegetables, wontons, yadda yadda yadda… I could probably use some new silverware too." Saitama thinks to himself, as he mentally takes notes on what must go in his hot pot.
Hot pots were Saitama's favorite food. He loved the endearing tastes that all the flavored ingredients intertwined together. It's like taking a bite from heaven. And with such low prices on everything, he could probably make enough hot pots for every meal of the day for at least a week!
First things first, though. He needed meat!
…
"Crap… Where was the meat?!" Saitama whispers with great concern, as he darts around this labyrinth of a store, looking for that meat. Everything seemed so weirdly placed, in places where they're either tucked in the strangest of spots or where you'd never expect them to be next to. and it was so hard to navigate around this store. They even had a map! A MAP! He probably should've taken the map, but that's beside the point!
What kind of store was this that they needed a MAP to navigate it? Well, one's things certain to Saitama. Once the deal ends, he's never setting foot in this store again.
"... Guess I have no choice now..." Saitama ponders as his deadpan face suddenly becomes a lot more focused and serious. "Killer Move: Serious Series - Serious Shopping!"
Suddenly, with great bursts of unimaginable speed, Saitama darts around the store through every aisle and every lane, contempt at finding any ingredients, really. Meat is a priority, but the rest of the stuff also makes the hot pot.
And one by one, he puts each ingredient in his cart. Egg dumplings, vegetables, wontons, mushrooms, even some cooking utensils, and silverware. In an instant, they all fill Saitama's cart to nearly the brim. And all that's left is the meat, to buy.
But no matter where he looked or where he went, he couldn't find any sort of meat in the store. This brings an annoyed scream to bellow out of the bald hero, as he suddenly stops all his momentum and comes to a complete halt.
Before he could express his annoyance further, however, a shiver comes from the bald hero. Suddenly, he feels the temperature of the surrounding area drop drastically. It almost feels that it could snow, even though it's the middle of summer and he's inside.
"Getting cold in here…" Saitama whispers to himself, as he scratches the back of his ear. Saitama gives out a small sigh. His eyes dart around the place, still looking for that aisle that contains the meat he's looking for.
However, Saitama's needs are finally piqued when his eyes stare blankly at a door labeled "Meat Cellar". Saitama wondered if it was wise to walk straight up in there. It looked like a door an employee of the store would walk into, not a customer. Maybe he shouldn't enter there.
"ATTENTION ALL CUSTOMERS!" The voice on the intercom chimes after a neat jingle plays over the loud speakers. "THERE ARE TWO HOURS REMAINING IN OUR 90% DEALS!"
There was more stuff the lady on the intercom said, but that was basically the gist of what Saitama heard. That message immediately squashed Saitama's hesitance to enter the room, as he rushes into the door of the meat cellar, at great speeds. However, what the bald hero encounters is nothing compared to what he expected to find.
There was mostly meat and stuff, and the usual you'd find here, but hidden within all that, there were stairs, that led to some sort of basement. And there were loud noises coming down there, too. As if there were a battle taking place there.
Saitama's curiosity piqued as the fight grows louder and louder. It sounds like a tough fight. Could it be a fight he was looking for? Probably not, but regardless, Saitama leaves his cart to head down those stairs to see what exactly was going on.
…
TEN MINUTES EARLIER
…
It wasn't an easy yesterday morning for Kori, even excluding what she had seen in that alley. The whole day, she had been researching and investigating these Chosen Prophets. However, only recently this morning is when she got leads. Rumors were stemming through the internet about these cultists. They apparently reported that supermarkets and fast food restaurants owned by Metro Inc. are where these cultists were spotted most frequently before their utter disappearance.
With this information, Kori can now narrow down her suspected areas where The Chosen Prophets chose as some sort of base. However, more evidence confirmed to her the major clue that the monsters could be in Metro Inc.'s supermarket, MetroCy.
According to these rumors, they report that MetroCy has been selling weird pins. And one look at them and there was no doubt about it. They were the pins of The Chosen Prophets. The monsters had to be in a MetroCy, in some capacity. Maybe even running the business itself. But, she's not gonna jump the gun just yet.
Kori greeted the nearby employees and took a map. Kori has been to a MetroCy before. While their deals are great, navigation is your enemy, here. She knows that these stores are a literal hell to navigate. And that could be a compelling reason for The Chosen Prophets to make a secret hideout here. Especially since this map doesn't show certain parts of the store, like the employee only rooms.
However, that was not where Kori decided to take the investigation to, first. Instead, she took it into the meat cellar. Why? Monsters as psychopathic as she imagines them to tend to consume meat-like products. It's kind of a large assumption to make, but they're monsters. She doesn't care about their feelings about what she assumes.
Eventually, after navigating through the store, she finds the meat cellar. With no hesitation, she walks into the room, only to be disappointed by the lack of monsters or even anything that seems off-putting. It seems like a very normal freezer for meat. Even the smell was just meat.
But one thing did catch Kori's eye. It was a lever that was also near a couple of buttons. She walked up to them and tried some random combinations. It took a few minutes, but her random combinations of button pushing and lever pulling activated a secret room that led to the basement beneath the supermarket.
Suddenly, she's encountered by an aura. A strong aura that is reminiscent of death incarnate. She was getting close. She could feel it in her gut.
With a silent sigh, she begins her trail deep down into the basement. She notices that the cameras that observe this basement are powered down. Strange that the company hadn't noticed, but that wasn't a concern, now.
There were loads of meat chunks scattered around here as if a child was throwing it around. And every time she went down further, the meat chunks grew more frequent and gruesome, and the smell of death was overcoming the meat. Darkness began to envelop the room as the light from the door faded away, darker and darker the further she went. Kori was on high guard. Prepared for anything to attack her.
However, her disgust grows even further when she reaches the ground floor, where she encounters her first dead body. No, a plethora of them. They all seem intact, with only a fatal wound to the skull noticeable on most of them. However, they too had the symbol for The Chosen Prophets carved into their cheeks. This was it.
"You're not an S-Class Hero." Suddenly, a voice came from within the darkness, as a cloaked figure with scaley tough arms throws a corpse to the floor. The voice was smart and sophisticated, yet ticked and insulted at the same time. This one was expecting an S-Class Hero to find him. Not some weird girl.
"No, I'm better." Kori responds, similarly insulted that she was compared to the Hero Association Pro Heroes. She had a distaste for those heroes. Not as strong as the Hero Association, themselves, but their lack of safety was also a reason why A-City was destroyed. So her opinions of them weren't that high.
"Hm? I can see you ooze with confidence. Quite unlike a citizen… Even a crime lord would fear us. You must be a vigilante!" A grin escapes the mouth of the man, as suddenly, with a snap of his fingers, a thick wall of fire surrounds them. Strangely, the fire doesn't spread, and stays in one place, as if it's controlled through supernatural means. "I am Luceon. Member of The Chosen Prophets. But judging from your expression, you seem to already know that. So, let us skip the needless banter and I'll split open your head and tear it from your body."
DEMON LEVEL THREAT - Luceon
Suddenly, Luceon ferally sprints over toward Kori with speeds that no regular human could ever detect. He twists and turns and makes many strange patterns in his movements before he appears behind the girl. Any untrained eye would think he teleported.
He reaches out towards her, ready to crush her skull. However, before he could reach her, a huge chunk of sharp and freezing cold ice engulfs Luceon's now pierced and bloody arm in place in an instant.
"!" Luceon was shocked at this sudden development of events. But before Luceon could regain composure, the ice chunks lunge at him, piercing his stomach and abdomen with bullet-like speeds that tore through him like scissors to paper. Causing the monster to launch back into the wall behind him, like a stone skipping on water.
"I'll only ask this once. Where are the rest of your comrades?" As Luceon slowly removes himself from his indent in the wall, beaten and bloody, Kori's tone suddenly carried a heavy weight of intimidation. One that he never would've expected from someone that isn't a hero. The monster even shudders as the temperature suddenly drops down a couple numbers below 0.
"... You're quite troublesome, aren't you?" Luceon grumbles as his wounds begin to heal through regeneration. The monster then proceeds to morph his hands into sharp veiny claws, as flames begin to erupt from his body. "Pluton shall enjoy your sacrifice!"
"Try it." Kori barks at the monster with rage, as a white glowing aura emits from her clenched fists. Her eyes show nothing but fury towards the monster, and her lips curve with anger. She wasn't joking when she said she was going to kill those monsters. And now, she'll show what she means.
Neither side backed down, both ready to tear each other into pieces. This was going to end in one way. A bloodbath. It's just a matter of whose blood it is, and neither side was going to let it be theirs.
So, without wasting another instant, they charge.
But unbeknownst to either of them, the World's Strongest Hero heads their way, with a face of anticipation and high hopes.
Author's Note: Dang, this took a couple of different turns than I was originally thinking. Originally, this was supposed to be a chapter that Kori meets Saitama in, with no action. But I think I'll save the Saitama and Kori stuff for the next chapter. The chapter might be a tad short, but hey, I wanna get something out to you guys now, and I don't have the most flexible schedule in the world. So what can you do?
Anyway, you'll see combat in the next chapter. Mark my words, I will get Luceon's & Kori's duel in the next chapter. And it'll be interesting since I haven't written an action scene yet, that wasn't a one-sided slaughter. But I'm sure I'm capable of writing an action scene decently well.
I'll also get Genos into the next chapter in a separate scene. I know that this chapter didn't really have a lot of him, but I did wanna show him off, somewhat, and for that, I think I did a fine job. Maybe not the best, but for my first time writing a canon character, I think I did well.
Again, I appreciate feedback and would really like to see your opinions on this chapter! Criticism is also welcome if you have any you'd like to share. I know I'm not the best writer ever, but I still wanna get you guys quality chapters. And if you feel like something's off, let me know and I'll see if I can fix it.
