Hello there, my readers! This chapter will probably be the longest thing I have ever written and I'm proud of it.Before continuing with the chapter, I want to thank everyone for their great support and encouragement, especially Exodus12345, who has taken his time to review the first chapters and point out eventual mistakes.
With that said, on to the chapter!
It was 9am and the sky was a clear blue when Shinko and Charanko arrived at the stadium. They simply went at the reception and Shinko showed his ticket, stating that he wanted to join in the tournament, while Charanko was speaking with someone else.
"Oi, Shinko! Come here, i want you to meet somebody!" Charanko called him from the other side of the entrance. "Coming!" Shinko said and went up to his friend, who was with another man:he was larger and older than the both of them and had a rather developed chin.
"Shinko, he's Sour Face, a former disciple of Bang's dojo" Charanko presented the man, who in turn said, with a scrutinizing gaze "So you are the new disciple of Bang...it's nice to meet you in person" and offered his hand.
Shinko shook his hand and said "Likewise. Charanko kind of mentioned you a few days ago and i was curious about his former disciples"
"Is that so?" Sour Face asked him, then said "Despite the fact that you managed to actually peak my interest, you are still a hero. One who does not treat martial arts as good as he should!" he ended the sentence almost angrily, breaking his calm and serious facade.
Shinko was taken aback and tried to hold his temper at bay, almost succeeding, as he said "I don't know what's your problem with heroes, but i have come at the dojo to train every day and tried my best" then Shinko calmed down and finished by saying "Besides, Bang is also a hero"
"Bang is another matter" Sour Face suddenly said "He was a prized and talented martial artist even before this 'hero mania' began. His dojo did so much for the martial artist world and i was nearly mortified when it almost closed for good, but luckily that was just a short setback" he finished with a sigh of relief.
"Well then, i hope that you're mentally prepared for this" Charanko started with Sour Face "because the ones who managed to convince Bang to reopen his dojo are right in front of you!" he then proclaimed loudly in the hall, hoping for the dramatic effect to do its magic.
It didn't, of course, and Shinko cringed inwardly at the immense attention they would bring on themselves.
Expect that there was nearly no one to witness the exchange, luckily for Shinko. "Looks like everyone went to the locker rooms already..." Sour Face stated, then turned on to Shinko and told him "Come, i'll show you where the locker rooms are"
As the two martial artists went their way, Charanko hurried himself to the stadium's seats, hoping he would be quick enough to get a well-positioned one, preferably on the middle.
X X X
Meanwhile, in the Hero Association's new headquarters, made entirely of Permanium and high-quality steel (courtesy of Metal Knight), a commotion was taking place in the control room.
"Tell me, what is the matter for such hasty call? I was just going to have a meeting with some of our sponsors, not to mention the one i have with the president in an hour or so..." one of the CEOs of the Association, the oldest one actually, said to the various employees, who were glued to their seats and watching the monitors worriedly.
"Sir, we are registering several appearances of monsters in numerous cities:some are City B, C, D, E, M, and Z; these appearances are especially numerous in Z City and E City and all the monsters seem to be tiger level threats and above" one of them, named Kiru, said as he turned to his boss.
"I see, how are the heroes handling this situation?" the CEO asked him, seemingly unfazed on the outside, but nervous on the inside. The employee looked troubled for a second and couldn't speak, but then another employee, named Natasha, stood up from the other end of the room and said "We are getting mixed results:the heroes ARE fighting the monsters as we speak, but some of our forces are getting defeated by the monsters"
"Are the S class in action yet?" the CEO asked her, now actually beginning to show his nervousness despite his best efforts to hide it. Now it was her turn to look troubled, but to Natasha's internal relief Kiru answered the question for her "Sir, unfortunately not all our S class are active at the moment:Puri Puri Prisoner and Tank Top Master are still out of commission, while Darkshine is still in the base. But at least most of them are currently dealing with the monsters, Tornado of Terror included"
At this the old man sighed in relief. 'Good, now that she's fighting the monsters as well, we don't have much to worry about. At worst, we'll just have to deal with some collateral damage' he thought calmly, but his relief was short-lived.
"Sir, we are experiencing even more monsters appearances!" Kiru exclaimed as all the monitors started getting a lot of red dots on their city maps "Sir, all the cities are getting attacked at once! And...these numbers..." he said as a stunned silence surrounded him, but no one needed to say anything.
The numbers displayed were massive.
The CEO was the most stunned of them all, for in all three years of his career, he never had to deal with, or even saw, a monster attack of this magnitude.
"Sir..." Natasha began in an unsure voice "...despite the fact that we are vastly out-numbered, the good news is that none of these monsters are trying to attack the headquarters, therefore i think we can-" her attempt to raise morale was interrupted by the automatic doors sliding open. Darkshine, his muscles glistening as they reflected the mechanical light of the computers, entered in the room and, completely calm despite the current ordeal, explained his unexpected appearance "Oh, i was just passing by and happened to overhear the situation" he said as he raised his hands, then continued "So now i'm asking permission to leave the HQ and help out the other heroes, besides, with how many monsters seem to be out there, my muscles could REALLY use some real workout!"
The CEO looked at him for a moment and said "We were just going to summon you for that. We will assign you to Z City due to the massive monster appearances, but first we ask you to assess the situation in E City...you'll understand what i mean when you get there..."
"So first i have to go to E city, then Z City? Ok then, but first i'll help out in C City, since it's on the way" Darkshine said as he 'lightly' runned to the exit.
The CEO sighed in relief as now they had another one of their strongest fighters on the front lines, but then he nearly jumped as the computers' screens began to blare crimson-red lights. He knew what that meant and now his worry raced to the stars.
"Sir, numerous dragon-level threats have been detected!!!" Natasha and Kiru said at the same time.
With that, the entire control room plummeted into chaos and the CEO put both hands on his face.
X X X
"Justice Crash!" Satoru said as he runned his bicycle right into a monster's side, killing it swiftly.
Ever since he was discharged from the hospital, Satoru continued with his hero work, which usually meant he was helping out the elderly, teaching children about responsabilities or fighting monsters.
But today was different, as the amount of monsters present in the city was way too out of the norm as the hero mentally swore that he killed 20 monsters or so in the last 20 minutes.
That however didn't mean that he wasn't up to the task, ever more so by the fact that he encountered some heroes as he was fighting his way into the city.
As he shed the blood of his clothes and bicycle, Satoru began thinking about something, a thought that circled in his head as he kept fighting these monsters:he remembered that nearly all the monsters he fought were wild and disorganized, with some exceptions. It seemed to him that the objective of these monsters was to cause as much damage as possible to the cities (like all others), but these ones...were only distracting the heroes...
Immediately, the final product of this train of thoughts was delivered to him:they wanted to attack the hospitals!
Those were important buildings and it made sense that the monsters would concentrate their attacks on them, while also making sure the heroes would be busy elsewhere.
"Damn it! I need to hurry up!" Satoru yelled as he got on his bike and began going thrice as fast as a normal car. He also made a mental note about the hospitals' location:in his area there were only two, the one he was discharged from being the nearest.
At the thought of the injured heroes having to deal with the monsters, Satoru went even faster.
And when he arrived, he saw that it was too late, for the monsters were entering the hospital without any resistance. So Satoru pedaled faster he ever did and crashed on a group of monsters who was trying to get into the hospital all at once, but was stuck in doing so.
A rain of gore showered Satoru and the entrance's floor as he said "Don't worry, Mumen Rider is here to help! Start evacuating the hospital!" to the petrified nurses, who broke from their stupor and started to hurry back to the other floors.
Thinking quickly, Satoru took some forniture (mostly chairs) and barricaded the doors with them, since he was sure he couldn't stop all those monsters, but he could slow them down long enough to let the others escape.
As finished putting the last chair, Satoru turned just to see a monster trying to attack him, so he sidestepped and threw a punch on his forehead.
The monster fell unconscious and another one came to his place, however he was not focused on Satoru, but on the door.
As that monster started wrenching the chairs away, Satoru ran to stop him, but yet another monster attacked his back with sharp claws. Satoru cried in pain and turned himself to retaliate, but instead blocked another monster attack mid-turn. Satoru executed a counter on him, killing that monster, but he was already starting to get cornered.
But then something else happened.
A fist came through the door making the monster and the remaining chairs fly all over, hitting other monster who just came.
Then Tank Top Master stepped in the hall, but he wasn't looking too good:he still had bandages on his forehead and his left arm still had restrains, meaning it was still broken. Still, he looked as ready to fight as ever.
He punched other monsters away from Satoru and confidently said to him "Mumen Rider, i thank you for your help, but now go to the other hospital, from what the doctors were telling each other, they need your help more than we do. We have things under control"
And just as he finished saying that the rest of the Tank Toppers burst through the other doors and joined the fray. This sight filled Satoru with hope as he took his bicycle off the ground (completely ignored by the monsters, for some reason) and sped towards the other hospital.
X X X
In Z City, Mizuki was fighting for her life in a crossroad as she was assaulted by monsters at every angle. No matter how many she killed, these pests seemed to be endless and proved to be quite a bother, since nearly all of them proved to be Tiger levels.
But it wasn't like that at first:the start of the morning had been normal as Mizuki started jogging around the city, but then a few monsters started appearing, causing trouble and the like. So she started defeating them (with ease, since this training was truly making her stronger) and went around the city slaying the troublemakers...until Mizuki found herself in that blasted crossroad. Then dozens of monsters sprouted from the ground, all eager to attack her. And that's how she found herself in that death trap.
Mizuki punched an incoming monster in the face and then twirled, slicing two other monsters with her leg, but could not block another attack coming from her side. Her body certainly did not look good as in was full of nasty bruises and cuts, Mizuki was also getting tired with her previously trekking around the city and then fighting for her life. The only things intact were the steel weights on her body, which were also slowing down her movements.
As she spun around several times, killing monsters as she went, not only Mizuki couldn't block all the incoming blows, but she was actually feeling tired. A stray thought made itself known as she punched yet another monster into death. The one of fleeing.
But that was impossible now, since she was cornered by all sides. Also, these monsters would no doubt follow her, causing destruction in their wake. So Mizuki had to remain there and fight, buying as much time as possible for the other heroes to come.
But then, after another round of attacks dealt and received, she started losing consciousness. At that, Mizuki started to panic, so her attacks became more desperate, but she couldn't move away from her position, stuck in the deadly ring.
Just like a nightmare.
'Shinko, i'm sorry' Mizuki thought as her vision started to fade...but then something inside of her moved.
'No. I said i was going to with Shinko all the way through, he would never give up in a situation like this, all powerful or not. Besides, the others must be in a similar situation too:the Wastelanders, Darkshine and Gloria too...' Mizuki's insides were nearly on fire by how fast her blood was flowing' I will not fall here!' she finally thought with steel-hard resolution.
The monsters, now ready to feast on her body, were thrown back as Mizuki pushed herself up at a fast speed and roared, her muscles swelling so much the broke the steel weight without any trouble.
The monsters, wasting no time at all, were immediately on her, but she was not going to be put down. Any blow that hit Mizuki's muscles was instantly repelled and all of her attacks dealt much more damage. She even started moving around, tackling every monster on her path, killing them swiftly. Mizuki was now truly unbound as she lay waste on her foes.
This kept on for another hour, until no opponent was left alive. Mizuki's muscles relaxed, but they were bigger than before. Just as she regained clarity, panting heavily, she noticed her strengthened muscles and that her wounds didn't hurt as much.
Then the adrenaline wore off, thus enabling all the fatigue and the pain from over-exertion and wounds to slam on her all at once.
Mizuki gasped in pain at dropped on the ground, trying to somehow block the pain. But even the slightest movement hurt. Hell, even breathing did.
'Well, at least i did it. Shinko and everyone, i hope you will be all right' Mizuki thought in relief before collapsing in a forced sleep.
Despite the fact she was seemingly unconscious and surrounded by piles of dead monsters, she was sleeping quite peacefully.
X X X
Shinko was changing himself in the lockers, preparing himself for the final match aganist that martial artist prodigy, Suiryu. This left him some time to think about his experience in this tournament.
The stadium was bustling with people who were eager to see the awesomeness of martial arts and the speaker's voice reflected all of their enthusiasm.
Shinko, on the other hand, wasn't as enthusiast as them or, better said, not anymore. At first he was eager to see different martial arts (even dragging out the matches), but then he got bored quickly:sure, their movements were intricate, precise and flashy and Shinko was actually very interested, but then it dawned on him that his opponents' movements were too slow for him, literally harmless and started getting repetitive. There was practically no challenge in these matches! It all seemed too easy!...
...And maybe this was the reason Saitama was getting depressed as of late.
He wanted challenge, whereas Shinko didn't care about all that. But now he could understand Saitama's situation and he felt a bit bad for him. Maybe, because of his overwhelming strength, he was dealing with loneliness as well, or at least used to? Probably the latter, since Saitama was always in good company with Genos, Bang, King (he actually got to know him one time in Saitama's apartment) and Fubuki (ugh).
Apart from that, he couldn't say his experience was bad, or even (too) dull, for a few reasons.
Shinko had to put some thought into the strength of his blows, since he was fighting normal people, even if their were fighters to a degree...
...granted, his control loosened when he fought Bakuzan and Choze. Their ideologies were one more toxic than the other!...
...Hopefully they would be fine at the infirmary.
There was also the word about monsters roaming in the city, but Shinko worried little of it, since he could defeat them swiftly enough if need be. Bakuzan also offered to slay them himself, which might have heightened Shinko's opinions of him, but then he got to personally know the guy and his true intentions.
Another thing that disappointed him was that Bang was not present, but it was not his master's fault (and Shinko wouldn't hold it against him) because he was currently busy with hunting his former student, Garou. Shinko also heard from Charanko that his older brother, named Bomb apparently (Shinko didn't even know that Bang had a sibling, especially an older one), came to help him.
He finally put on his normal clothes when the voice in the speakers announced the names of the next participants.
Shinko exited the lockers and went to the ring, a large stone square surrounded by the cheering crowd. If this event happened before becoming a hero, Shinko would definitely have a panic attack. But now he was (almost) calm as he watched Suiryu get on the ring as well:he was a tall guy with jet black hair, black pants and a white shirt. Shinko could also tell he had swell muscles under that shirt.
"About time i get a proper challenger, even if it's a hero" Suiryu said with a smirk, making Shinko impatient already. His vision of the world was something that he definitely didn't agree on, but decided to stay calm and ignore his remarks.
"At least i'm sure you won't underestimate me" Shinko simply answered with a smirk.
The two got into position and, at the speaker's signal, the match began.
Suiryu was the first one to move as he closed in and executed a series of swift kicks, which Shinko avoided without any problems. This kept on gor a few minutes and Shinko was honestly getting bored, wondering when he was done holding back.
Shinko's distraction was what 'punished' him when Suiryu shouted "Void Sky Dragon Fist!" and rapidly began to punch Shinko. His movements were so fast that he befan rapidly spinning like a tornado.
The fluffy boy was unharmed as always, but this technique (and the power behind it) surprised him a lot, so Shinko took a step back. However he was still in Suiryu's attack range.
"Void Quake Tiger Fist!" he shouted as he put his non-dominant foot on the ground and punched Shinko square in the chest. This action created noticeable fissures in the ground, but the fact that his opponent was unharmed yet again made Suiryu raise an eyebrow.
'Hitting him feels punching a mountain...just how strong is this guy?' he thought, but then dismissed it 'It doesn't matter. I'll just defeat him like any other opponent!'
Then Shinko flexed his body and shockwaves rippled from all of his sides. Suiryu was blown back, but out of of the ring yet.
"You're really good, i'll give you that, but now it's time for me to get serious too!" Shinko said to Suiryu, who in turn smirked and readied himself once more.
But before either of them could do anything, part of the stadium exploded and a large humanoid monster came in. He had dark, rocky skin, four bloodshot yellow eyes, black spiky hair and was clad in a ripped dark-purple keikogi. As the spectators started panicking the monster straightened and looked at Suiryu and Shinko, both surprised by his sudden appearance.
"Well, then. I'm satisfied to see that at least the martial artist world has still people of talent" the monster said, then grinned "I am Gouketsu and you'll make fine monsters...by eating these..."
After he said that, Gouketsu tossed some squirming purple blobs, but before anyone could do or say anything they were squashed by Shinko, who prepared himself. But before he could attack, Gouketsu eyed him with interest "Even better, i can finally get to end you. You've been a nuisance to the Monster Association for long enough, but soon it won't matter as we'll squash E Cit-"
Gouketsu never got end his speech as Shinko dissappeared...and several car-sized holes appeared on the monster's chest. As his body crashed, Shinko was already out of the stadium and running to E city.
His mind was fully focused with worry as he quickly surveyed the information he had:the Monster Association really existed and were attacking E City. He had to immediately arrive there and bring his family to safety. He couldn't afford to fail. He WON'T fail. Not after leaving them alone for so long.
But as his mind steeled, he passed A city and saw an unnatural amount of monsters in the area. Was this attack aimed at other cities as well? If that was true, it the situation could be even worse. He began worrying about Mizuki and the Wastelanders, but that worry was short-lived. After all, they could defend themselves very well and Shinko believed in their abilities.
Who he had to focus on, now, were those that couldn't defend themselves, such as his family.
Shinko stopped and closed his eyes as he inspired deeply (like Mizuki did when she prepared herself to go all-out), then opened them and began going FAST.
Meanwhile, in the underground part if the stadium, Charanko stirred from the toilet he was sitting. Those hot-dogs sure did a number on him!
He didn't really notice the monster attack since he was underneath the stadium, so he passed the vibrations as a side-effect of the battles fought upwards.
Anyway, this time of sitting in the toilet made Charanko reflect on a question that bugged him for some time...
...Why wasn't he getting better at the Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist? Or rather...why was he starting to get better when Shinko joined?
Well, he did try to help Charanko a bit, showing him the movements in a slower manner and following his, stopping when Charanko made an error...
...He did get better at it, but then why wasn't his as effective as Bang's or Shinko's-
There.
That was the answer to his question. Those two were extremely powerful physically and as such could use the technique more effectively.
That was the only explanation possible, since he technically knew the movements and could still execute them (though slower than them).
Therefore...could the answer to this problem be more physical activity? Charanko didn't do much of that, even under Bang.
'Well, no use thinking about it' Charanko thought as he rised from the toilet and marched out of the bathrooms.
By hitting the gym he would become stronger anyways, besides, if his plan really works, he could rise in the martial artist world and maybe (just maybe) have a date with that cutie named Lin-Lin?
That thought just made him happier.
X X X
It wasn't a normal day at the Smelly Lid prison. A monster attack was announced about an hour ago and since then, the guards didn't return.
This caused the inmates to become restless and a group of hardened and dangerous criminals like them would've at least attempted a jailbreak by now.
Hadn't of course been for Puri Puri Prisoner, currently trying to get them to calm down as he sweetly said "Come on now, my pretties! The guards are away to control the situation outside, so you'll have to stay calm or i'll give you a french kiss each!"
At these words, all of them became horrified and calmed down.
Puri Puri Prisoner smiled at the bunch of misfits. They were criminals alright, but weren't exactly that bad and he would truly devote himself to rehabilitate them into functioning members of society.
Thinking about society and rehabilitation made him also think about tha young boy named Garou. Even as he greeted him with the utmost love, Garou still savagely attacked him! But Puri Puri Prisoner was not angry...he was understanding, because that was how nearly all of the inmates reacted at first.
So the thing he did was take all that pain...and return it with nothing but love.
That did make Puri think about something else...what if he used that line of thinking in his fights against monsters? He could probably shape that idea into a counter, like a punch? No, not that...
...Perhaps a hug? Yes, Puri Puri Prisoner liked the sound of that. How could he not think of that before?
Well, he didn't have time to elaborate on that because the reinforced doors were torn from their hinges and a plethora of monsters came in.
Immediately the inmates became restless yet again and Puri Puri Prisoner faced the foes with a stoic face. But he wasn't fast enough.
"Quick, fire all you have at the hero!" one of them said. Then they all fired different attacks, ranging from elemental attacks like fire to the more bizarre such as parasitic eggs or explosive toilet paper.
The nearly endless stream of attacks crashed into Puri Puri Prisoner who couldn't even dodge because then the attacks would harm his boys.
He endured attack after attack for what seemed to be an eternity and the monsters were getting restless each passing minute.
After a mid-hour the attacks dwindled and, as the smoke dissipated, Puri Puri Prisoner was naked and had a lot of bruises on all of his body, but he was still standing.
"How...the hell...could he withstand all of that?" one of the monsters asked between wheezes.
"The answer is simple...I have taken all the pain you have inflicted on me and I returned it with nothing but LOVE!" Puri passionately answered. At that the monsters were incredulous and rather uncomfortable, so they made a run for it...
...hadn't been for a huge, bipedal elephant who blocked their way and said "Oh no, you don't! I will defeat this imbecile and for that i'll need all of your power!" as his proboscis began inspiring, sucking in all of the monsters.
The inmates and even Puri Puri Prisoner were fully paralized as the monsters' screams became quieter and quieter until there was only silence...abruptly broken a roar.
That monster mutated as he grew multiple proboscises which soon became brimming with different powers. As the transformation ended Puri stared at the monster and said "A monster that attacks other monsters...You are truly a being without love!"
But the brute wasn't listening to his virtue-signaling and promptly fired a powerful elemental blast. Puri didn't dodge the blast and instead took it head on because his honnies could very well get hurt.
The inmates jumped to safety as a deafening explosion took place but, as the dust and particles settled, Puri Puri Prisoner was still standing...
...until he slightly lost his footing and his body began vibrating compulsively.
"Ah, finally what i wanted to see! Your body is beginning to wear down with all of the attacks the peeps have thrown at you. Prepare for your final demise at the step of Vacuuma!" the newly identified monster said as he took a step foward...only for a brick to hit his left eye.
"Not a step further!" an old-looking inmate shouted from the fragile safety of his cell. After that more voices rose and even rocks were thrown at him by more inmates, who began to show their support to Puri Puri Prisoner.
The large hero simply stood there, amazed by his honnies' braveey and love for him as they stood aganist this monstrosity that could very well wipe them from existence.
He felt a power flow and strengthen itself within him. A power he knew so well...
...THE POWER OF LOVE!!!
Puri Puri Prisoner took a step foward and that step alone created various fissures in the floor around him. Vacuuma was quick to notice this, but couldn't do anything.
The Vibrant Angel had already ascended.
Puri Puri Prisoner launched himself aganist Vacuuma, who could only say "YOU REALLY ARE A MON-" before getting blown to bits.
The inmates watched the corpse falling with a bit of reverence and terror, for they knew that truth better than anyone.
Puri Puri Prisoner turned to them and said "Thank you, my friends, for not letting me get lost in that miasma of hate and see the graceful light of the power of LOVE!" as they simply screamed at the sight of his thick body hair.
X X X
Outside sirens were blaring, smoke was rising and chaos could be easily heard. But in King's apartment the only sounds were those of a fighting videogame and Saitama's rage.
"Come ON! these combos are starting to get on my nerves!" Saitama shouted, the jolt of his head almost making his headphones fall off. The bald guy noticed this and simply readjusted them.
Saitama had lost to King a grand total of seven times, but he wasn't going to give up any time soon. His consecutive-low-kick strategy just HAD to work.
King noticed his friend's rage and suppiled "If you want, i can tone down my skills or we may as well play the new DLC that just came out"
Saitama looked at him with a blank look that showed King his undying determination to best him in a videogame. King looked at him in the eyes and said a slow "Ok" as he turned back to the screen.
The two heroes returned to play games, completely unaware neither of the chaotic situation outside nor of the world-scale monster attacks in the cities.
X X X
Child Emperor was in a very difficult position. Not in the sense that he was in a school trying to evacuate as many people as possible from the danger of monsters (even if that was part of the situation). Well...it was pretty difficult to explain, so let's start from the beginning.
Child Emperor was in E City to speak with Gloria, Shinko's mother. Now that the fluffy boy was suspected to be the "Fighter of the Outskirts", he wanted to know everything about Shinko's background, past actions and experiences. So he was going to pay her a visit in the early afternoon, when he was sure that he wouldn't find an empty home. That was until a string of monster attacks happened and Child Emperor noted that the school, the place he was nearest, was already overrun by monsters. So he jumped into the fray and began killing those that crossed his way to open paths for the classes and evacuate the building...until Child Emperor noticed that most classes were already gone.
Fearing the worst, he put on his heat-vision goggles and began looking around. Amongst the heat signatures of a plethora of monsters, Child Emperor couldn't find any human-like heat signature, so he turned in the direction of the backyard and there were large amounts of human heat-signatures, no doubt the classes he was trying to save. And that was where things started getting weirder and weirder.
They were surrounded by monsters in every direction, but said monsters seemed to be defending themselves from other monsters, while taking great care of not letting a single one through their defenses. This looked like some sort of gangwar between monsters, but then why was one party trying to defend the humans?
Child Emperor pondered on said question for no longer than ten seconds, because the "Fighter of the Outskirts" came to his mind. The monsters in E City were behaving strangely for a few years now, acting heroically (as in, not letting people get hurt by other monsters, they didn't care about property damage) and generally behaving as a stable community. Child emperor didn't study the social dynamics among them simply because he had other things to do and because he frankly thought that their nice behavior was suspicious. But with an established and widely respected leader-figure, like Shinko, this change in behavior didn't seem so out of the blue anymore. Not even Child Emperor really knew what would happen to Shinko if his theory were to become public...
It definitely wouldn't sit well with the Hero Association because this change of the monsters' behavior made the heroes' presence unnecessary and caused a drop in donations, while the people's reaction could be calmer as he basically reduced monster attacks (and consequential damages) by a solid 89%.
Child Emperor would have thought more on this turn of events, but returned to the current situation as he heard a monster sneak from behind him. He turned, ready to strike the monster down, when the fiend was torn in half by a sickle.
That was the moment Child Emperor found himself face-to-face with a bipedal, man-sized, mantis-like monster. Child Emperor also noted that there was a blue band on his right arm...plus an entire class of scared children (along with a stressed-out teacher in front of them) and some other monsters (with blue bands as well) on the sides and back of the little group.
Upon seeing him, the children loudly cheered and the teacher almost passed out in relief.
"Oh, hi there!" the mantis-like monster spoke "Didn't know there were heroes in the school, actually much better for us! We blocked most monsters from coming here, but if you could help us evacuate the kids, that would be great!"
Child Emperor sighed, his suspicions beginning to be confirmed, while the teacher looked at him like he was her last link to normalcy. Fitting, but Child Emperor wanted to get to the bottom of this situation.
The young hero looked at the monster and groaned as he said "Lead the way"
"Alright then! We're going to the backyard!" the mantis-like monster said as the teacher seemed to pass out on the spot and the children...well...they were still scared, but seemed to trust Child Emperor's judgment.
"Oh, by the way, my name's Sickrel" the now-identified mantis-like monster said as he pointed the way with his sickle, but stopped as a another monster destroyed a wall on the back. The kids and the teacher screamed, but the black, beetle-like monster on the back of the group was faster as he threw a flaming bottle of glue at the hostile intruder.
The bottle exploded right in his face and the monster roared in pain as the fire-hot glue spreaded on his entire body and on the walls too, creating a slimy-looking, yet resistant wall.
"No time to waste, let's move out!" the beetle-like monster said.
"Aye aye Moldi!" Sickrel said and the group started to walk. The time they all took to reach the school's backyard was rather short, thanks to Moldi's glue bombs, creating sturdy walls that kept the enemies at bay.
The group finally arrived at the door leading leading to the backyard, they opened it and, after descending a railway, faced the makeshift camp:it was large, with monsters wearing blue bands patrolling nearly every corner of it, nursing their injuries or eating some corpses of other monsters (presumably the attackers). Meanwhile the children, along with their teachers, stood in compact groups, scared and confused about the magnitude of the monster attack and their protectors.
The atmosphere changed when Child Emperor arrived as the children, the teachers and even some of the monsters began cheering.
"Alright, Child Emperor! This is our temporary camp, do you like it?" Sickrel asked the young hero, but the latter had a new objective in mind.
So, ignoring Sickrel's question, he asked "Where is your leader?"
Sickrel was a bit down, but pointed him a red, spiked monster under a large oak, who seemed to be speaking with a communication device.
Child Emperor made his way to the leader, hearing what the monster was talking about.
"...We're stuck here without an escort and with defenseless civilians, what do you mean by 'bring them to a safe place yourselves'? My troops are injured and tired as is! We can't charge to the shelter in these conditions!" the red monster shouted in the device, closed communication, muttered something and began dialing another number, but was stopped by the arrival of Child Emperor.
"Alright, i want to know exactly what is going on this instant" the young hero commanded without skipping a beat.
"Basically all of E City is being attacked right now and we were tasked with bringing these kids to safety" the red monster told him and Child Emperor froze in surprise.
"What do you mean all of E City is being attacked? he asked and the monster raised an invisible eyebrow as he said "...You didn't know that? Aren't you supposed to be the only smart one among the S class?"
Child Emperor decided to ignore that semi-compliment and instead focused on the new piece of information:all of E City was attacked and these monsters were trying to protect the civilians, presumably by bringing them to the shelter. The aforementioned building was located in the near-center of the town and, which meant that guiding the people there would be very difficult.
"...Ok, what is your plan for defending E City?" Child Emperor asked to have a better idea of how they were dealing with the situation.
"In order to defend the city, we split it in four quadrants, each one with a Monster Lord. The north-eastern and south-western quadrants are well defended, the south-eastern is ok, i guess, but the one we're in right now is a mess. The Monster Lord who was supposed to lead us is currently stuck at HQ because of an ambush of the Monster Association while the one substituting him was fighting another demon level, but we haven't heard from him since we gathered everyone here" the red monster said and began to take sone breaths.
Child Emperor was again stunned by the mention of this 'Monster Association', a group of monsters he never heard or even knew the existence of.
The red monster read the young hero's expression, but still said "There's also another problem -at which Child Emperor groans tiredly- that is a dragon level calling 'Magmatic Lizard King' and his army of monsters, who have allied with the Monster Association and are making the situation more chaotic for us"
Meanwhile Sickrel saw the state of the young hero and came at his side, trying to comfort him as he said with an apologetic tone "Don't worry, Child Emperor! Even if you knew about this, the Monster Association would be attacking all of the cities anyway"
This act had the opposite effect on the young hero as he turned and practically screamed in sheer panick "ALL OF THE CITIES!?"
Sickrel nodded fearfully and Child Emperor tried to calm himself down, but new information (along with the rapidly-depleting morale of the civilians) made it difficult.
So he took a deep breath, turned to the red monster and said "Ok, let's concentrate on the situation at hand. Do you have another plan?"
The red monster put a hand under his chin as in thought and, after a while, told him "We can go to the south-western quadrant, i received a communication from Markedus ten minutes ago and everything was going fine there"
Child Emperor was once again in thought. He didn't know if he could trust this "Monster Lord", but at the same time there weren't that many options and most of the heroes in the area were down anyway.
The young hero would have thought more about this dilemma, but was snapped out them by a sound.
Three monsters, one mole-like and the other two worm-like, sprouted from the ground, looking worried as one of them said "Sir! The enemies are breaking into our defenses, so they'll likely be here any minute now!"
At that the monsters readied themselves while some of the children started crying. Child Emperor sighed, having taken his decision, and turned to the red monster as he said "Then we have no choice but to reach this 'Markedus' and fast"
The red monster sighed and conceded as he said to the rest "Pack up, guys! We're moving to a safer location"
At that, everyone began moving, the children complaining a little, and a large monster destroyed part of the wall so that they could pass. With that, they began walking as they eyed the destruction around them. The buildings weren't totally demolished, but they still had a lot of cracks and broken windows.
Child Emperor put on his heat-vision goggles once again and saw various non-human heat signatures emanating from the surrounding structures. Eventually the monsters inside those buildings got out and attacked the group; Child Emperor almost expected the blue-banded monsters to turn on him, but they held true to their words and fended the attackers off.
Between the fear and the uncertainties, the unusual group kept walking, accompanied only by the sounds of far away battles and the eventual ambushes. The fact the monsters admittedly did a good job at protecting the civilians allowed Child Emperor to make a question to the leader "So, what kinds of monsters form this community?"
"The monsters who live in E City generally want to live peacefully and aren't that hostile, of course they also have to obey the Lords to an extent. As for the battalions, we have more ground monsters than aerial ones, along with an artillery and a flying carrier-" the red monster was cut off a wheezing sound, which came from the air. They raised their eyes to see a giant dragonfly careening into a skyscraper and then falling on the road with a crash.
Out of the dead monster crawled a scrawny rat, who went to the red monster, completely ignoring Child Emperor, and said "We've gotta get out of here! Phoenix Man is dead!"
Child Emperor and the red monster were mildly to completely frozen, but the former snapped out of it quicker and asked him "Can you elaborate?"
The rat-like monster just realized who he was talking to and began to panic, but mustered enough calm to say "So, our substitute leader, the demon level Phoenix Man, has died to the demon level Milotanus and now we are running away! There are also no heroes around to keep that ugly fiend busy!"
Child Emperor sighed and said "First I'll bring them to a safe place south and confront your leader, then i will deal with it"
The rat relaxed almost immediately as he said "Ok then, to Markedus we go!" and began matching triumphantly...towards the wrong direction. The only reason Child Emperor was tolerating them was because they were helping him rescue the civilians.
After some more time, the ragtag group reached their destination...as the were looking at a wall of yellow and purple fire.
As the children and adults looked at the site with fear, Child Emperor put on his goggles, but the fire proved to be too thick to be any use. So he turned to the red monster and asked him, without hiding his distrust "Is this really the place?"
"Yep! -Replied Syckler from behind him- Markedus put on this wall of fire around the settlement for extra protection aganist the Monster Association's lackeys!"
Child Emperor sighed yet again and got closer, abandoning the wall the group took refuge behind. There he could see a few monsters, wearing blue bands on their most visible limbs, inspect a row of people. He spotted a large, black and red mole-like monster with a star-like nose sniffing the people one by one as they looked uncomfortable with the action. Child Emperor was to the point of running straight to them when the mole-like monster shouted "Intruder!" at one of the last humans of the row. The human cursed under his breath and began mutating into a monster, but was stopped by a stream of flames coming from the other monster's nose, burning the hostile monster to a crisp.
The people were terrified when the mole-like monster observed them, but then he turned to his left and shouted "ALL CLEAR! LET THEM PASS!"
With that, the wall of fire opened up a path for the humans and they run to it as soon as they saw heroes patrolling it. The camp was also quite the sight with sturdy tents on the road and four skyscrapers stitched together by durable webbing, no doubt as durable as steel.
Child Emperor was nearly amazed at this level of organization between these monsters, but then heard a screech above him and saw a bat-like monster shout "Moletorch! There's someone here!"
Child Emperor got out of his hiding spot and looked at the approaching mole-like monster, who said "Well then? We got a real live S class hero over here. Have you finally come to steal our credit or what?"
Child Emperor ignored the snarky remarks and explained the whole situation to Moletorch. The monster nodded and after a mid hour the group was in the camp behind the eery wall of fire.
'Finally safe' Child Emperor thought as he saw the children and adults being treated by human nurses as the monsters, and some of the heroes, oversaw everything.
'Well, now to get the information I want' Child Emperor went up to one of the monsters and asked them if they knew where Markedus was. The monster pointed the peak of a skyscraper and the young hero activated the propeller function of his backpack.
He flied to the skyscraper and entered through a broken wall. "Hey, you can't enter! There's still a meeting in session!" a monster shouted at him, but Child Emperor ignored and pushed the door open...and found himself faced by four monsters, probably with important status.
"Gentlemen, you have your orders and your troops, i will be occupied for some time" said Markedus as he motioned Child Emperor to enter the room. The purple-colored demon was certainly calm in front of an S class hero.
Child Emperor closed the door as Markedus said "Well then, it's an honor to have such an important guest in this bastion! Have you finally decided to grace us with your presence?". Child Emperor ignored the snarky remark and instead said "I don't care, i want to know all details of your operation and what is exactly going on here" with a deadly-serious tone. "As you can see, the Monster Association had a temper tantrum because we didn't join their side and has attacked our lovely city. The heroes were merely glorified meat-shields in the enemy monsters' wake, the humans became defenseless and we had to make do..." Markedus calmly told the child hero.
The latter was unamused and decided to start with more concrete questions "Ok then, what is the Monster Association and how come i never heard of it?" and Markedus answered, almost baffled "The Monster Association, before being just the stuff of rumors, is supposed to be this powerful group of monsters that aimed to destroy human society. Nobody really knew if it existed, but there were so many rumors about it. How come you never heard of them?"
Child Emperor groaned and said "I don't have the time to hear the monsters' gossips and my satellites didn't show any suspicious monster activity..." he then shook his head and continued "Next question. Why are you all together? What brought you to become protectors of this city?". Child Emperor already knew the answer to this, but wanted to be sure.
Markedus looked at him with his six yellow eyes for a moment, but then sighed and said "the one who united the monster lords and all the monster within E City is none other than Shinko, nicknamed "the Fighter of the Outskirts". His strength and kindness have touched many, ourselves included, and we decided to establish some sort of rule among the weaker monsters to protect them and to direct bloodlust towards something useful. Happy now?" the demon finished with a sneer.
Child Emperor was a bit stunned. He had been right about Shinko and this could make things complicated...or not, he still had to decide on that.
His mind itching to go back to the topic, Child Emperor made another more direct question "What's your battle plan for this situation? And did you come to know of the Monster Association's attack?". He kind of already knew the answers to these questions as well, but wanted to hear the leader's answer.
"You mean YOU of all heroes don't have the slightest idea of what to do in a similar siruation?" Markedus shouted in surprise, then shook his head "I thought you were smart..."
The unamused glare of the child prompted the demon to continue "Basically we split E City in four quadrants, each of us taking one. Unfortunately, one of was ambushed in the headquarters and was substituted by our contact, but the current news about him seem grim indeed..."
Just as Markedus said that, two small bird-like monsters came to him from opposite directions. "Sir, I'm here to report that Phoenix Man has mysteriously revived and is on the verge of defeating the hostile demon level!" the one from north said with happiness in her voice.
"Sir, from the southern-eastern quadrant Laile has announced that the enemies have been eradicated by none other than the 'Fighter of the Outskirts'! Not only he is among us, but he's also on his way to defeat the Magmatic Lizard King!" the other, coming from east, said with excitement in his voice.
Child Emperor and Markedus briefly and silently looked at each other, the latter finally saying "Well, now THIS was a needed stroke of luck"
X X X
Red Nose never thought he would find himself in this kind of situation, gripping his half-conscious comrade in arms as numerous monsters...were trying to stop the advance of other monsters. What was worse was that the blue-banded monsters were defending the shelter much better than he and his group ever managed while also directing the civilians inside it. This was disheartening and he felt a bit of shame, but it was (although arguably) better than death.
Exactly. His little group of friends gets to live without too many permanent scars while these blue-banded monsters (who had been unusually nice to them) handled the situation. And if everything went south, if somehow more enemy monsters came their way, he would fight until the end, even if to buy little time.
Red Nose thought this just as a deep roar shook the earth. He looked up and saw that the blue-banded monsters had finished off the enemies...just as a gigantic lizard with a smoking back came into his sight.
The unlikely hero froze in fear as the lizard, the "Magmatic Lizard King" as he heard the other monsters call it, charged up a beam of plasma and fired it...right at him.
Red Nose was probably experiencing a powerful heart attack and the monsters looked at the beam hopelessly. Until all they saw was a massive, shining black wall of muscles.
Superalloy Darkshine tanked the beam with his full body, the stream of energy splitting in half and harmlessly continuing its double course. As the dangerous light show ended, the muscular hero, whose muscles were steaming with heat (but otherwise looked unharmed), looked at the over-sized lizard and was going to say some line about "His heat not being powerful enough to melt his muscles", but was interrupted by something going THROUGH the gargantuan monster's sides. The action, so fast Darkshine hadn't even fully seen it, caused the monster to die as he spectacularly blew up in a fountain of liquid cyan-orange plasma.
Both the monsters and the S class hero were petrified, but the latter soon shook his head and continued his patrol of E City. Darkshine did notice the blue-banded monsters and their deeds, but decided to momentarily put that aside to investigate what exactly had killed the dragon level threat.
Meanwhile an unconscious Red Nose, along with his semi-conscious group, was being escorted to the nearest hospital by the monsters.
X X X
Darkshine eventually arrived in the north-western quadrant and was greeted by the sight of Phoenix Man standing over a mountain if charred human-like monsters. The monster, however, looked different, being more humanoid clawed hands and feet, two large wings, and a reptilian-eye-like sphere at the center of his chest. All complimented by the rest of his custom being more armor-like.
Upon seeing the herculean hero, the phoenix-like monster narrowed his eyes (the ones within the costume's mouth) and flew away, not even bothering to attack Darkshine.
He just stood there, wondering who was that monster and...well...the meaning of all of this mess! But couldn't come up with anything, so Darkshine sighed and turned around. 'With a different approach i can probably get the information the superiors need' Darkshine thought as he walked calmly 'Let's start with keeping an eye on these monsters, then!'
X X X
When Mizuki awoke, she was surprised to be in her own apartment again, positioned on the couch, but she was immediately taken aback by the Wastelanders being in there as well, looking beaten and sullen. Ariol especially looked...sad...and probably trying to get over his anger at...something? With that Mizuki immediately remembered the Monster Association's cronies cornering her by all sides and her muscles overcoming the pain and the exhaustion by becoming harder and bigger. Mizuki looked at her body just to make sure and, to her satisfaction, it was larger and tougher than ever before. 'Shinko is going to be so proud!...And worried when i tell him the chaos that happened, but probably not too much...' Mizuki thought, but then saw Monoculor coming towards her.
"You're finally awake! Truth to be told, we expected you to be out for longer, but this is good too" Monoculor said with a smile, which soon fell as he finished talking. Mizuki raised an eyebrow at his behavior. 'Why is he so down?' she asked herself and the Monster Association's existence came to mind. She shook her head and started looking at the Wastelanders. To her surprise there was a new female monster, with black and white fur, sharp claws and quite some muscle too. Upon seeing Mizuki, she waved at her with a smile. The hero returned the gesture and turned her attention to the other monsters.
The group was...alright, all things considered. A bit beaten up, but nothing too mayor-
Mizuki stopped and looked again:Gelgo, Beetle-Roach, Beeline and Gobold were all in the kitchen. Hulkaber was reading a book as his tentacles were still shivering. Lamia and Belphomet were reassuring a traumatized Nark beside the couch, Ariol was conversing with Sandscale Dragon-
Wait.
"Where is Gaia?" Mizuki slowly asked.
Ariol looked at her with terrified and crestfallen eyes and Mizuki was actually afraid, since she never saw the stoic demon level in that state. "Gaia has been taken by the Monster Association" he shakily said and now Mizuki was truly terrified herself.
Well, this was some ending...Why is Gaia in the Monster Association's clutches? What happened in the Ghost Town of Z City? And will we ever hear about Genus and his companions ever again?
These questions (and more) will be answered in the next chapter!
But first I want to say that from this point forward, there won't be any more scheduled updates (unless I communicate otherwise).