Good evening, my readers! Here we are back with another chapter, which may not be as long as the others, but it has just as much going on!
Before going into the chapter, however, I want to address something: School is requiring more and more of my attention at the time of writing this, so don't expect any new chapters in May. MAYBE there will be the prequel chapter, but I'm not too sure about that...
Still, hope you enjoy this chapter!
Shinko yawned as he rose from his bed, the morning rays of the sun gently brushing his messy cloud-like white hair and his toned, bare upper body. No matter how much time passed since he run from home, sleeping in this bed after a day of hard, physical work was always the best.
He took a shirt out of his drawer and put it on, checking the time in the meantime. It was very early in the morning, almost 8AM. Shinko still had plenty of time until the appointment at J City.
He got out of his room and was promptly tackled by Caroline, who said "Good morning, big bro!". Shinko responded with a calm and kind voice, as he gently ruffled her hair "Good morning sis"
They went down the stairs afterwards and saw their mother in the kitchen. Gloria was preparing pancakes when she saw her children and went to give them a good morning kiss.
Caroline giggled when her mother kissed her forehead, then kissed Shinko's and he got slightly flustered.
"Oh, don't be like that. You're a hero, but i'm still your mother!" Gloria said with faked anger as she pouted, Shinko now timidly laughing. Then his mother's pout turned into a sly grin as she said "Besides, you're soon going to be someone else's man, so i'm just savoring these moments before the inevitable"
Caroline tilted her head in confusion, but Shinko understood what she was talking about, if his tomato-like face was of any indication. After that exchange, the three sat on the table and ate their breakfast with gusto.
Then Caroline rose from the table and sat on the couch to watch the TV. She got the remote and turned the television on, but soon she complained "It's the boring news!". Shinko and Gloria were interested, however, and decided to watch it anyway. Caroline grumbled for a while before settling in being quiet.
The news channel showed a middle-aged man currently talking about the series of monster attacks all over the cities, mentioning of enormous property damage, civilian deaths, hero deaths and othemo8r topics of the same kind.
"And now we pass the line to our reporter at the Hero Association's headquarters in A City. Thank for choosing TG 35 for your information outlet" the man said before the screen showed a large podium with four heavily armed guards on either side and even the S class hero Superalloy Darkshine on the stand's left side. On the right side there was a young woman, presumably on her mid-twenties, holding a microphone for another man seated behind the stand. A man that the family, as well as most of the human population, knew quite well.
The president Nagasaki himself, also known as a renowned economist who managed to avoid any kind of economical crisis for the past decade!
The president coughed twice, in order to quiet down both audiences, and spoke in a grand voice "Law-abiding citizens of all cities, i am at the same time so proud of your stubborn resistance aganist the whims of monsterkind and ashamed of those who form the so-called 'Monster Worship Party'! Today i, president Nagasaki, am here to announce that we in the government are working tirelessly to create a counter-strategy and defeat this horde of savage monsters! Therefore, for this very reason, i have bought the Hero Association!"
For a while the family stood silent, until Shinko uttered a single "what"
President Nagasaki was aware of the deafening silence his statement just created and immediately clarified "You see, yesterday at midnight...the cadres of the Hero Association were brutally assassinated!". This new information caused an uproar, both in the present audience and in the distant ones. Shinko in particular was very surprised by this revelation.
'Just how did the Monster Association infiltrate the headquarters?!' Shinko thought madly. This thought caused another, more ominous one, to enter his mind. 'If the they were able to enter the building and assassinate some of the most important people in the association, then how easily could they...kill the others?' Shinko thought as despair began slowly rising in his body. He tried to shook this nauseating thoughts, but succeeded in part.
The fluffy boy eventually returned his attention to the TV, only now faintly aware of the slim hand squeezing his shoulder.
Nagasaki's men were able to calm down the commotion and he started speaking again, this time starting with a dismissive tone, as if he was reading a boring script "Yes yes, it is a very grave circumstance and we will forever grieve their loss..."
"But!" the president said and his tone suddenly became lively again "My great compassion for all of my citizens brought me to buy the entirety of the Hero Association!". This declaration was again followed by a series of loud cheering and hope began rising again inside both audiences. Even Shinko briefly forgot the dreadful feelings that were eating him a while ago.
The crowd had to be calmed yet again and, once completely silent, the president spoke again "Yes, you heard right! The one person who made the police and the military into formidable forces of protection, president Nagasaki, will bring a lot of changes in the Hero Association's systems, but i'll speak about those specific changes another time. For now i have a fool-proof plan to destroy that group of savages. We will first evacuate the whole population of Z City, an action that is already in progress, then we will form a group of S and A class heroes and then we will begin the raid on that group's base, no doubt being in the underground of Z City's ghost town"
The crowd roared in excitement this time and the president said, among all of the voices "This is all for now, dear citizens, and mark my words. We. Will. WIN!!!"
With one final roar, an exuberant Nagasaki was carried out of the room by the escorts, including Darkshine.
Caroline finally got a hold of the remote and changed the channel to her favourite show, entitled "My big horse". At that point Gloria and Shinko lost interest in the TV altogether and went to the kitchen, letting their beloved little family member enjoy the school-less morning.
Gloria finally broke the silence as she sighed contentedly "Well, at least someone else seems to have the situation under control..." she said and Shinko nodded. Though he felt like he was forgetting something.
Shinko went to check the clock and found out that it was a little more than 9AM.
'That Nagasaki really talked for long...' Shinko thought in disbelief and settled on going outside to see how people were handling the situation.
Of course, he told this to his mom and Gloria said "Oh ok, just be careful out there!". "Mom, i am literally invulnerable" Shinko deadpanned, but his mom ignored him as she hugged him tightly. Her son immediately got the message and returned the hug.
Later, mother and son separated and went outside, waving his hand at Gloria and a pouting Caroline.
X X X
As Shinko awoke from his slumber, so did Mizuki, who found that sleeping on the wet grass was mildly relaxing. Sleeping on the ground, however, didn't give her a proper sleep.
Still, Mizuki was a heroine who narrowly avoided death yesterday, so she could very well take that.
Since the group started walking in the late afternoon and not everyone was fast, they did not cover much ground. Now the group was in the wilderness of D City, near the border of the Z City's own wilderness. Luckily for the rag-tag group, there were nearly no monsters that opposed them and the wild ones were easily discouraged from attacking.
'All in all, the journey started off pretty well' Mizuki thought to herself as she took in the fresh, clean air of the woods.
She saw the Wastelanders, some of them already awake, waking up or still sleeping. Mizuki noticed that some of them were missing. Mainly Ariol, Hulkaber, Gobold and Beeline. Mizuki wasn't worried about their safety, but she was still unnerved by their disappearance.
After all, she found the lack of Gaia in the group deeply wrong.
Mizuki decided to concentrate and put on her large weights on the usual places, then she set off into the woods.
She walked for some time and the stepped into a flowery clearing, also sporting rock formations here and there. "Yes, this is the perfect place" Mizuki said to herself and took a deep breath.
Ever since yesterday, she wanted to see how strong she had gotten.
First Mizuki did her normal training, finding that her muscles could very well support the weights. But to her it wasn't enough.
So Mizuki went to a nearby rock, nearly as large as herself, and gave it a swift punch.
Her fist's strength was greater than her previous ones' and it showed by making a considerable crack on the rock's surface. Mizuki smiled at this and flexed her hand a few times. It was just a little sore.
Mizuki tried with other, larger rocks and the result was more or less the same.
The more-than-athletic woman was amazed by her own strength as she thought 'So this is the power i achieved...and i could do all of this with my weights on no less! Now i just need a final confirmation...'
Mizuki looked at a large tree, taller than herself and with a robust trunk. She felt bad for doing this, but she wanted to be sure.
Mizuki strolled to the tree with heavy footsteps, which shook small portions of the ground and left two-inches deep footprints. She then tightly hugged the tree, her biceps and fingers digging into the bark rather easily. Finally, Mizuki heaved and lifted the tree, effectively de-rooting it from the ground.
Mizuki then slammed the tree on the ground and the slam echoed in part of the forest.
The redhead was now breathing in fatigue as sweat rolled down her body. But Mizuki felt more energetic than ever. 'Woah, this is awesome! With this strength, there's no doubt that i'll make it into A class. I might even be able to actually fight a demon-level monster!'
Mizuki was so absorbed in her achievements that she didn't notice that someone was watching her, leaning on a tree. Not that she could've, since his footsteps were as light as a breeze.
"Such a savage you are. At least Shinko's strength had some grace in it" Ariol said as he stood at the edge of the clearing, leaning on the side of a tree. Mizuki nearly yelped and in facing him she twirled so fast that the action created a few small ripples in the surrounding air.
"What are you doing here? I'm simply testing my strength" Mizuki replied matter-of-factly, her tone showing that she wasn't happy with being sneaked on. But then she saw how Ariol was eyeing the fallen tree and the heroine understood.
But before she could say anything, the new addition of the Wastelanders walked right beside Ariol, the latter not really minding her presence.
Mizuki didn't know much about her, except that she used to be part of the Monster Association, so the heroine was pretty suspicious of her. The she-monster however held up a clawed hand in front of her as she said "Settle down, i'm on your guys' side. Besides, i don't think i caught your name. Mine's Sharp Stripe if you were wondering". "My name is Mizuki" the heroine answered with a mirthless voice and went straight to the point "But what i don't understand is why did you exactly leave the Monster Association?"
Sharp Stripe didn't hesitate to answer "You see, at first i joined the Monster Association to see what was their game plan and so i could fight tons of strong humans, only thing was that not only they weren't doing anything interesting, but their rules were pretty shitty overall. So i tried to find a way to leave and decided that there wasn't a better occasion than this one"
Mizuki merely shrugged, finding that story to be good enough, but Sharp Stripe wasn't finished "Still...I saw you training out here and i want to spar with you. Fancy that?"
Mizuki was a bit taken aback by this request, especially because in a spar you're not supposed to kill your opponent. Something the muscular heroine might struggle with.
Before answering, Mizuki studied the monster in front of her.
Sharp Stripe had a respectable build, her claws and hooves were sharp and solid and she seemed very confident in her abilities.
'All in all, she could be a great opponent, but i know i'll win' Mizuki thought confidently, before looking at her opponent in the eye and answering "Ok, i accept your challenge!"
Sharp Stripe's toothy grin widened, but Ariol interrupted them.
"Hold it. Since we...do not have Gaia here at the moment...you two might injure yourselves greatly and we can't have that at the moment. So i will spar with Mizuki, since i have to get my head off of things too..." Ariol said calmly, but with a bit troubled voice.
Sharp Stripe groaned but complied anyway, so she got away from the fighting grounds, but before doing that she said to Mizuki "Still, we're going to have a spar after all of this is over. I can't let the opportunity to fight a hero as strong as you pass by!". The muscular heroine merely nodded at her.
Ariol got in Sharp Stripe's place rather quickly, not wasting time at all, and Mizuki already had some trouble following his movements.
'Sharp Stripe would have been an easy opponent to fight, but Ariol is a demon-level, plus i haven't see fight all that much...' Mizuki thought as a bead of sweat ran down her forehead. Ariol looked at her and said "Remove your weights first, you'll stand more of a chance then"
Mizuki took a deep breath and then roared as she flexed all of her muscles at once. With loud clicks the weights detached from her body and hit the ground behind her.
Feeling lighter and less bound, Mizuki smirked proudly at Ariol and went into a stance, her feet easily digging and moving the dirt. Ariol looked bored by the display.
So Mizuki went straight to the action, launching herself from her spot and coming at Ariol at high velocity. Her body was travelling so fast that it was rippling the very air around her, but Ariol paid half a mind to it.
When she got closed enough, Mizuki threw a powerful punch with her right hand, thinking that her strength and momentum combined would at least make Ariol flinch.
She was wrong. The air elemental raised his palm, perfectly catching Mizuki's fist and absorbing all the kinetic energy of the attack. He didn't seem in pain, but released her fist nonetheless.
Now looking closely, there was no kind of injury on his palm. Mizuki shook her head adopted a different approach.
She readied both of her fists and flexed her back as much as she could, what came after was an onslaught of punches. In terms of power they were creating very noticeable ripples in the air, while in terms of speed Mizuki was able to produce an afterimage for each arm.
Ariol was slightly impressed by those feats, but he kept absent-mindedly dodging them with slight movements of his head and upper body.
Mizuki was getting very annoyed by this, but so was Ariol.
"My turn now" he said as he took a step back and flicked his wrist. The action may have seemed weak, but from it a powerful gust of wind came forth and Mizuki was easily blown back.
She skidded once, then twice on the ground, but she managed to get a solid grip on the terrain with both her hands and feet. With specks of dirt and blades of grass littering her back, Mizuki rose with a determined expression.
Once again she launched herself toward her foe and this time Ariol did the same, although much slower than the heroine did.
When the two met face-to-face, Mizuki abruptly stopped and brought her left foot on the ground, which greatly shook this time.
With her tights flexed to their utmost limits, Mizuki twirled to gain more momentum and kicked Ariol straight in the face. The kick was so powerful it created a small, spherical ripple on the zone of the impact. From there it expanded, tearing clumps of dirt off the ground.
Sharp Stripe, who was watching from afar, was now more thrilled than ever to have an opponent that strong, but at the same time she understood that Mizuki far outmatched her.
'Well the, i'll just have to train even harder that before' Sharp Stripe thought as she smiled wildly 'Just wait until Flake Mage hears this!'
Meanwhile, Mizuki was surprised with how powerful she had gotten. Without her weights...well, weighting her down, she was a force to be reckoned with! She could defeat any horde of monsters without even trying too much!
She could even compete with the demons!
These thoughts made Mizuki think she was, in a way, starting to get remotely close to Shinko. She was so happy!
Until she saw Ariol.
Even though there was a bruise on Ariol's face, he barely flinched from the attack. He sighed and his right arm made a slight movement towards Mizuki's stomach.
Her abdominal muscles flexed immediately, their hardness easily surpassing that of rock and bricks, but to Ariol that didn't matter much.
His blow was mildly powerful, precise and FAST. Mizuki couldn't even see the fist until it collided with her abdominal muscles, digging into them fairly easily, to the muscular heroine's shock.
Ariol removed his fist and Mizuki slightly lost her footing, then she regained it and went to see her stomach. A large bruise was forming in the middle of it, but it didn't look too bad.
Mizuki saw worse injuries on her muscular body and Shinko could confirm it.
Ariol looked at her for a while and then said "Your strength, endurance and agility are formidable for a B class hero. Surely you'll become an A class in little time, but you still have a long road ahead before you can properly challenge a monster of threat level demon. That Chalato you fought weeks ago was just an imperfect imitation"
With that Ariol walked away, Mizuki following suit, then the heroine felt a clawed hand pat her on the back. She found Sharp Stripe behind her as she said "Now THAT was a fight worth watching. Just to let you know, when we're gonna have our fight, i'll be much stronger than i am now!"
Mizuki didn't pay much attention to what she said, but the mention of getting stronger did awaken something in her.
'Even though she doesn't seem too hostile, the idea of a monster that i don't know if i can trust getting stronger is worrying. I'll keep an eye on her for the time being...thought i at least hope she may join the monsters of E City. That would be a good use of her skills'
And so the three walked back to the "camp" where most of the Wastelanders were at the moment.
X X X
Meanwhile, in the HQ of the Monster Association, Necroanter was getting frustrated, but in a sad way.
The insectoid monster was currently in his laboratory, which was nothing special. It was a rather large room with three rectangular tables. The one on the right housed the Necroanter's notes, the one on the left housed the Necroanter's gems and the one up the northern wall was his "food table".
It wasn't a large or flashy laboratory like the ones of Gyoro Gyoro and Petrolic Wraith, but the Necroanter thought that it was enough.
Now however wasn't the time to think about such trivial matters because the antlion had more pressing matters.
The Necroanter was currently at his experimental table, tinkering with his staff and a selection of gems that he got from the mines.
What he was trying to accomplish was simple, in a way. Just like he said on yesterday's meeting, he was trying to harness the power of his staff in order to transmutate it into other containers.
Why would he try to do that, thought? The Necroanter wasn't even sure himself what was he doing exactly...
...Starting from the beginning, he had an hunch. He was reading the ancient texts of his homeland's mages (what was left of them anyway) and was intrigued by the mages' genesis.
Apparently, in a remote time when the world was extremely different, the very first mages, belonging of every race, got their powers from a being the texts refer to as God.
This extraordinary power was linked directly to the mages' life-force and had an ample variety of uses.
The texts also refer to a practice where magic was stored within specific containers to enhance its attributes and cast several spells at once. This practice, if done right, could even allow the casting of brand new spells.
The Necroanter was no stranger to strengthening one's magic, a technique required in order to be an antlion mage, but this practice was unheard of, even among his fellow mages.
The Necroanter was sure the antlion magemaster knew something about this, since these texts belonged to him, but now it wouldn't matter even if he did. All of the antlion mages, including the magemaster, were killed during the purges and the other antlion were unable or unwilling to learn magic.
Sure, he was partly to blame because he sucked at teaching, but still!
With this practice in hand (or, well, claw) the Necroanter was sure that it would increase his usefulness to the Monster Association. He could be able to do all kinds of sick spells and beat that oily spider at the popularity game!
Black Sperm would even be proud of him!
The Necroanter was filled with energy...for a short while since he then collapsed back on the table, remembering his roadblock.
He looked at its surface, seeing his long staff with its gem exposed on one end and the countless scraps littering the rest of the surface. So far the insectoid monster tried to use metals, such as silver and gold, at that proved to be a failure the moment they started melting at a very fast pace.
The only good note about that preliminary experiment was that he noted that the staff's gem wasn't losing power in the slightest. So he moved on actual gems.
The Necroanter tried different gems, from emeralds to lapis lazuly, from a diamond to rubies, from amber to quartz and so on.
Now he just had meager pieces of amethysts and the Necroanter felt like praying for this "GOD" in order to make his experiment work. So he clasped his hands together and uttered a few words in some long-forgotten ancient language.
Done that, the Necroanter grabbed the staff's gem in his right hand and a piece of amethyst in his left one.
With that, he began accessing the gem's magic and his mind was gradually flooded with arcane powers.
Compared to when he had to cast spells, this was an experience on a whole other level. In the former, he just had to partly connect his mind to the gem, and even then he was just transferring thoughts from one metaphorical point to another.
In this case, however, the link was reversed. Instead of the thoughts going to the gem, it was its magic making its way to his mind.
The Necroanter already felt his mind getting cloudy and his legs turning to jelly, so he transferred the magical energy to his left arm, then it finally went to the amethyst.
At that point the Necroanter stopped the flow and blocked it into the smaller gem.
The antlion opened his eyes again, his vision swimming, but he couldn't care too much about that inconvenience.
"Did that do it?" the Necroanter said aloud as he looked at the piece of amethyst "Right now it seems inactive, i hope this isn't a failure!"
He then panicked, both because the implications of his failure and because of sudden sounds, and dropped the amethyst piece on accident. Thinking quickly, or not thinking at all, he thrusted his claw foward, in a motion meant to catch it.
Then something unexpected happened. The amethyst piece glowed brightly and began floating back to the chitinous palm of his hand. The Necroanter couldn't believe his eyes at first.
"My project...finally...was a success!" the Necroanter shouted aloud, before flinching momentarily because of the loud sounds outside.
The Necroanter looked at the door and said in a slow pensive voice "Still, what are they doing outside that's so loud? Are they fighting?" but then shook his head and told to himself "AH! Don't get distracted now. You have more experiments to do. That's your chance of redemption!"
And so the Necroanter put back his staff and the charged gem. Before starting, he checked the gem of his tool and, to the surprise of no one, it was still fully charged.
The Necroanter scribbled down that the staff's energy was virtually infinite and then began the experiment once again, his excitement through the roof.
After a few minutes, between more charged amethysts and more loud (louder?) sounds, the Necroanter stood in front of a little more than a dozen charged amethysts pieces.
The Necroanter happily stared at his handywork and thought aloud, thinking about what he should do now "Ohohohohoh! Now we're talking! Since i can easily control the power within these stones, now i just need to make something...yes, some sort of artifact, like a necklace! Oh, the looks of Gyoro Gyoro and Petrolic Wraith when they'll see my powerful jewels!"
Now the antlion was imagining himself covered in those charged amethysts, adorned with a golden necklace and various silver rings, staring at the two aforementioned monsters as his eyes were hidden by shades and he was nonchalantly fixing the turtleneck of his expensive-looking tuxedo.
The other two monsters were eating their own limbs in sheer envy. Black Sperm was also on his side, cheering him on and crying in happiness while the monster king Orochi was commending his abilities. He was even about to give him a promotion!-
But before that could metaphorically happen, however, the Necroanter was brought back to reality by the door of his laboratory being launched across the room, torn by its hinges. It was then that a group of humans, all clad in weird suits, entered his laboratory, each more panicked than the last.
"Dammit, it's a dead end!" "They're going to catch up on us, be ready!" "Oh no, those monsters are coming, what are we gonna do!?". The Necroanter heard different voices, but the group of humans seemed to have not noticed him.
This unannounced intrusion by these weird loud people, coupled with a lack of basic manners, greatly annoyed the Necroanter, who was sure to let them know of his displeasure with the situation.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't you know you have to knock first before opening someone's door? And that doesn't cover the fact you outright tore it off! Someone ought to teach you some basic manners!" the Necroanter rambled angrily, his fast-paced speech pattern appearing in full force.
The human strangers understood little to nothing of his ramblings, but now they noticed the lousy antlion and decided to take him as an hostage. Before they could enact their plan, however, four new monsters enter the Necroanter's laboratory. Uninvited, again, much to the antlion's rapidly rising displeasure.
What made it worse for the Necroanter was that the monsters in question were none other than Petrolic Wraith, Bug God and Royal Ripper, their soulless eyes idly scanning the human mercenaries.
The Necroanter didn't know anything the fourth monster, who looked like a tall, one-eyed samurai clad in iron, but the displeasure the antlion felt toward it wasn't lessened.
"Seriously, can any of you NOT enter my laboratory like this?! Do you really have to do whatever it is that you have to do here of all places!?" the Necroanter shouted at everyone else in his laboratory.
"Shut up, you idiot. Haven't you realized we are under attack?" Petrolic Wraith told off the antlion with a scathing tone. The mercenaries took this as a distraction and attacked the Necroanter. Unfortunately for them, the antlion never took his attention off them and was ready for any of their attacks.
Or so he thought.
When the mercenaries came to the Necroanter, he panicked as he realized that they were faster than he expected.
"Amethyst Nebula!" the Necroanter shouted his new attack name in panic and all of the amethysts started levitating. They promptly shot towards the mercenaries at high speed.
Some of the amethysts made impact aganist the mercenaries that were attacking, releasing a dome-shaped explosion of pinkish purple magical energy, but others sailed right past the intended targets.
The magically-charged gems crashed into the opposing wall, making fist-sized cracks in it, and ricochet in random directions.
Then all hell broke loose.
Amethysts were flying in all directions, occasionally causing magical explosions. The mercenaries that were affected by the amethysts' magic fell unconscious.
The weird rude samurai guy, as the Necroanter dubbed it in his mind, promptly exited the room, while Bug God kneeled in front of Petrolialc Wraith and crossed his arms in a defensive position.
Then one of the amethysts penetrated right through Royal Ripper's left eye and lodged itself in his biologically-modified brain.
Immediately the same pinkish purple light shined within the meat puppet's body and took it over. While that was happening Petrolic Wraith felt the magic's influence through the telepathic link and emitted a loud, eldritch cry of pain that shook the very walls. Bug God also felt the same disturbance through his master's link and his knees buckled as a result.
Luckily for them both, the oily monster cut the link in time and thus didn't follow his puppet's fate.
Light was streaming within the bladed monster, changing his body and soul.
From his right eye-socket shined a circular, fiery pinkish light with a purple hue. From his left eye-socket came a large and sharp pink crystal.
His body was developing pinkish crystals at an outstanding speed, making him more durable and capable of further destruction.
Within Royal Ripper's body the crystals, shining a purple light with a pinkish hue, formed a facsimile of a skeleton and partly fused with Royal Ripper's flesh and hair.
Outward, crystals and pinkish veins began sprouting nearly all over and formed something akin to a natural armor with potential for offensive capabilities.
The parts that were affected the most were the swords. The metal was fully converted into hardened, veined pink crystals. The new swords were larger, but somehow thinner and sharper.
Finally, the transformation was complete and the crystals began exuding magical energy, which soon condensed into a pinkish mist.
Petrolic Wraith looked at the new version of Royal Ripper, or rather "Crystal Ripper", and released a sigh he didn't know he was holding.
'Luckily i cut the link off at the right time, or i would have followed the same fate as him...being controlled by that idiotic insect' The spider thought to himself, the last bit of his voice covered in venom as he eyed how the Necroanter was reacting to all of this.
Now that the Amethyst Nebula had ended, the aforementioned monster was collecting all of the amethysts littering his laboratory. He checked them and was surprised to see that the gems still had some energy in them, even more so when he saw that the energy was regenerating, but at a slower rate than the gem's in his staff.
The Necroanter immediately went to write the discovery in his notes, occasionally trampling on the bodies of the unconscious mercenaries.
Wraith saw that and thought 'At least that antlion knows how to do a research properly, but now i am intrigued by his equipment...'
Back to the Necroanter, he was putting the amethysts back on the table, then he turned around and said "Ok, now that i found all of my gems, would you please-", but stopped as he saw the outcome of his hastily thrown attack, especially Crystal Ripper.
Petrolic Wraith gave the antlion a deadpan look as he thought 'This is going to be a long day...' and looked at G5, the robot just now re-entering the room, muttering the need fo gather more data.
Moving his mind off the annoying antlion, Petrolic Wraith felt the need to get to know more about this 'Organization'
X X X
Child Emperor really didn't think Shinko could go that fast.
In the empty streets the young hero came on time at Shinko's doorstep and rung the bell. After less than a minute Shinko answered the door, fully dressed and ready to go.
"Good morning Child Emperor, i'm ready to go when you want" Shinko told him as he confidently strode at the center of the empty street. The young hero needed some time in order to get the message. When he did, Child Emperor took this as an opportunity for a preliminary speed test.
"Sure thing, but get us there fast" the young hero said and Shinko lowered himself, now being at eye-level with Child Emperor. The fluffy boy looked sheepish while doing so, since he thought the S class hero would be mildly annoyed at being offered a piggyback ride.
Instead of scoffing, Child Emperor got on his shoulders without any comment, then said "Ok, so my laboratory is in the center of J City, right between the modern residential area and the hystorical center"
Shinko looked at him confused and Child Emperor sighed as he took a tourist map of of his backpack. He then handed it to Shinko and the latter studied it for some time.
After ten minutes of waiting Child Emperor almost lost his patience, but Shinko finally gave it back to Child Emperor before the latter could indulge in some mean hair-pulling.
"Alright, i think i know where your laboratory is. Hang on tight!" the fluffy boy said and Child Emperor did as told.
Immediately after, Shinko went so fast that the whole trip was a 10-second-blur to the young hero.
Suddenly they were in the middle of another empty street, the buildings around them looking old, yet sturdy at the same time.
Child Emperor looked around and said "Shinko, we are at the hystorical center of J City, not where my laboratory is supposed to be!"
"W-well, topography has never been my strong suit!" Shinko rebuked, yet he knew that he was at fault in this situation.
Child Emperor got off the fluffy boy's shoulders and said "No matter, let's start walking". Shinko nodded hastily and hurried to him.
'At least no one witnessed that...' Child Emperor thought in relief. The sight of a well-known B class hero giving an S class hero a piggyback would be one to behold, to share with as many people as possible...and a nearly-infinite source of embarrassment for both heroes involved.
Eventually they arrived at Child Emperor's laboratory, which looked like a huge dome made entirely of steel. Shinko could also see various antennas sticking from the top.
The place looked high-tech and was also permeated with an aura of mystery. 'Child Emperor was said to be the second most intelligent hero in the Association. I wonder what he does in there...' Shinko thought as he looked at the laboratory in amazement, but was brought back to reality by Child Emperor, who was dragging him to the entrance.
The two entered the laboratory and Shinko took notice of just how high-tech the place really was.
The place had a lot of corridors, which led to rows of automated doors. The walls, ceiling, floor and doors were made entirely of steel and had a sci-fi feel to it.
Shinko at first thought that Child Emperor worked alone, but he was sorely mistaken as he saw many people in black suits going around the laboratory, entering and exiting these from these doors. Some were writing on clipboards, others were conversing amongst themselves and some were even on break, eating and drinking to their hearts' content.
Now Shinko was intrigued by this place and wanted to explore every inch of it, but Child Emperor tugging his arm every now and then represented a great obstacle.
He briefly thought about tugging in the opposite direction, thinking that Child Emperor couldn't possibly match his strength, but then decided aganist it both because they were going to do something important and because he didn't want to use even a bit of his power on a child a little older than his own sister.
Child Emperor, meanwhile, knew where he was going. The two walked in a straight line for some time, then turned left once, then they turned right.
It was after a few minutes of walking that the duo found themselves in front of a large, two-faced metal door.
"So...are we there yet?" Shinko tentatively asked. Child Emperor looked at him in mild annoyance and only uttered one word.
"Almost"
The two were silent as Child Emperor put in a password on a tab, which soon caused the doors to slid apart of each other and allowing the heroes to just walk right in. The metal here was of a darker shape and there were more winding corridors, but Child Emperor directed him to the elevator in the front.
The two heroes entered it and Shinko thought 'Woah, this almost feels like i'm entering some evil guy's inner lair!'
The two doors closed behind them and the elevator started its descent downwards at great speed. The weren't bothered by the rapid descent in the slightest, but Shinko did notice the air getting colder the further they got from the ground floor. 'Just how deep does this elevator go?' Shinko asked himself as the drop in temperature began to get more noticeable.
As he said that, the elevator's speed started decreasing gradually, until it fully stopped.
The door of the elevator slid open once again, this time the action being followed by a prolonged hiss.
The two heroes stepped foward and were greeted by a rather bare sight. Despite having good illumination, Shinko was fully convinced that the metal was black in color. The doors, before many in quantity, were now very few. In fact, there were just four of them, all very far apart from each other.
"Alright, I want you to know that this floor is a secret to the Hero Association. Not even the scientists here or the cadres know it exists. After this, i want you to promise not to reveal to anyone this location" Child Emperor told Shinko in a serious tone. "You have my word" the fluffy boy said with the same amount of seriousness, then returned to his normal tone as he asked "Ok, but...now where do we go?"
Child Emperor was quick to answer "Just follow me, we're going to the training room" and walked up to a door. To Shinko it was as if he had chosen a random door, but in the end decided that the kid probably knew where he was going.
Shinko followed Child Emperor and entered the automatic door. Stepping inside, Shinko couldn't believe his eyes.
The room he was in was completely white and gargantuan in size. Shinko could only compare it to the room where he fought Carnage Kabuto.
Thinking about him made Shinko remember how much time passed since then and especially how far he had gone.
But before he could go down the memory lane, Shinko heard some beeping noises coming from beside him. Child Emperor pressed a small button on the wall and a terminal came out of it.
Child Emperor began putting in various commands and Shinko had a feeling he knew what those were for. His suspicions were proven to be true when various containers came out of the floor. Inside of them, to Shinko's slight surprise, there were frozen monsters.
'Now these monsters look tough' Shinko thought as he looked at their muscular frames and their vicious looks.
Child Emperor, seemingly reading his thoughts, said "Yeah, these monsters are pretty powerful in their own right. They're demon-levels that i have gathered in my two years of service in the Hero Association. I studied their DNA for some time and i got all the information i needed from them". Shinko was amazed as he said "So you were a hero already at the age of 8?!"
The young hero looked at the fluffy boy in a disapproval and silently turned to the terminal.
Then, after some more combinations and commands, Child Emperor spoke again "Alright, i have set on various cameras and motion sensors in this room and the containers are about to release the monsters. I want you to fight like you always fight, but before you attack them could you allow them to get a few hits on you? I also want to test your durability". Shinko nodded and Child Emperor took some distance from the field, opting instead to check his monitors. The fluffy boy used this opportunity to remove his shirt, not wanting to go out and about bare-chested.
Done that, Shinko turned to the containers, which began to hiss loudly, thus signaling that the monsters began thawing.
After a full minute the monsters where free to move and took their first steps into the field, their mouths drooling as they realized they needed nourishment. As they took a glance at Shinko, they collectively decided that human would be a good start for their meal.
They ran up to Shinko and began clawing and biting at his body, doing unsurprisingly no damage at all. Shinko decided it was enough and swiped his hands at them.
The monsters were cleanly cut apart and their blood soon began painting the floor, along with their drool. Shinko looked at them sadly, thinking that they spent their lives being frozen, while occasionally being studied in a laboratory, and then, just as they were freed, they were intended to be cut apart. Shinko eventually succeeded in suppressing these grim thoughts and turned to Child Emperor, who was walking towards him.
"So, from the sensors and the visuals, your normal feats are those fitting for a strong S class. Still, there are just a few more tests i want you to do, just to gather more data" Child Emperor said. Shinko complied and followed the young hero out of the training room and into another part of the basement.
X X X
Fuher Ugly was hiding in the woods, watching the fight between a group of A class heroes and the famed hero hunter.
The ugly monster really didn't know what Gyoro Gyoro saw in him. To Fuher Ugly, the hero hunter was just a pretty boy flaunting his strength on nearly everyone else.
'The mere sight of this Garou would make Milotanus puke all of his stomach out for the whole world to see...if he were still here' Fuher Ugly thought grimly, before getting annoyed 'But what Gyoro Gyoro said is an order regardless of what i think'
Returning to the fight, the cadre saw Garou starting to gain the upper hand aganist the A class heroes. They were in fact falling to his rhythm and the hero hunter had little problems in dispatching all of them, one by one.
Not that those nuisances had fallen and couldn't get up for some time, Fuher Ugly thought it was his chance to retrieve Garou, but he couldn't be more wrong.
Up from the sky came none other than Demon Cyborg, an S class hero who had been rising in rank.
'Great, now Nuts n' Bolts is here too. Guess i'll have to wait a little longer to retrieve the guy' Fuher Ugly thought in annoyance. He decided he didn't have anything else better to do, so he watched the whole fight unfolding.
The hero hunter was definitely having problems with Demon Cyborg, but he was still trying to adapt to the new foe. Unfortunately for the white-haired guy, Demon Cyborg had apparently studied the Rock Smashing Water Flowing Fist and knew exactly how to counter it.
Even though Garou was now both in trouble and in for a beating, Fuher Ugly thought it was funny how the S class hero simply had to duck beneath his blows to get Garou in trouble.
The fight continued with the two going back and forth until two new figures enter the clearing.
'FUCK' Fuher Ugly thought as he saw who exactly entered the brawl.
And who else than none other than the Rank 3 S class hero Silverfang. Oh, and there was also an older man with longer white hair. Fuher Ugly rummaged through his memory and identified the other old man as Bomb, Silverfang's older brother.
'Well shit, these two have already killed the fodders, plus there's no way Garou's gonna survive aganist these three...Just lemme call him a second' Fuher Ugly thought in exasperation as he took a walkie-talkie out of his left pant pocket and turned it on. As he did that, Fuher Ugly willed his body to strengthen itself, especially his arms and legs.
Meanwhile, the two masters of martial arts were confronting an enraged Garou. The hero hunter couldn't belive these two were ganging up on him off all things.
'Dammit, do these two not care about their reputation anymore?!' he thought in disbelief as his body and mind were losing energy 'Ugh, these arrows certainly are a pain in the ass now...'
As he felt his brain and muscles getting number by the moment, Garou went in a sort of trance and saw his memories, from getting bullied at school to being taken in training by Bang. All of these memories, however, were bitter in their own ways.
'Ahh, to be back in this dumpster again' Garou thought in fake happiness 'All of those times heroes were always at the center of problems, filling society with hypocrisy and whatnot. I will never yield to a hero, even if my body succumbs!'
Back in reality, Bang and Bomb looked at a badly-beaten Garou, who had apparently stopped fighting. Of course, they knew better than to lower their guards lest the hero hunter returns from Lalaland.
"So...why aren't we attacking him now?" Bomb asked his little brother, the latter looking straight in the unfocused eyes of his former pupil. Bang shook his head and said "If Garou has decided to become a monster then i'll slay him, but at least i want to give him a fair fight"
His older brother, just like Genos who was on the sidelines, had a wildly different opinion on the matter and wanted to voice it, but before he could do just that Garou came back to the land of the living.
And he definitely wasn't happy.
The hero hunter roared so loudly that the earth shook and then he uprooted a huge tree, using it as a natural mace. The two masters of martial arts were bewildered at Garou's accomplishments, but the two soon steeled their wills once again.
His jump in strength only meant that he was even more of a danger and so they charged at him.
In his berserk-like state, the hero hunter noticed his enemies coming closer and so he replied in kind, charging recklessly as he slung the huge tree on his shoulder.
They, however, never got to meet each other.
Just as the three were minutes from colliding into each other, a huge creature rose from the ground. Bang and Bomb felt the vibrations of the ground and were able to avoid the long armored creature's body at it rose high in the sky, while Garou wasn't so lucky and was struck by it. As Garou fell into unconsciousness once again, he felt two rough hands grab him by the waist and put him on someone's shoulder.
Fuher Ugly sprinted as fast as he could in order to get away from the ensuing battle.
'Oh, Elder Centipede, if you get out of there alive i really owe you one!' the ugly monster thought of the living distraction as he heard the gargantuan monster's other segments coming out of the ground.
He then focused on the hero hunter, currently beaten, bleeding and unconscious "And you, sleeping beauty" Fuher Ugly said with a sneer "will soon meet the monster king Orochi!"
The cadre then cackled as he sprinted even faster in order to get to the hideout, causing tall streaks of dust to rise beside him.
X X X
Meanwhile, in the headquarters of the Hero Association, Nagasaki was writing ideas and plans (mostly the former) for the future of this association, as well as the current situation. He was currently seated in the meeting room of the former cadres of the Hero Association and he found the abundance of space to be a bit too excessive.
Still, he wasn't one who complained much.
Nagasaki could hear the marching footsteps of the guards just outside the room. Ever since the incident yesterday, Naga wanted to be sure that no similar events may occur. That was also why Darkshine was now appointed as his personal guard, standing in the same room to make sure no harm would come his way.
Sure, the S class hero quickly found out that this job would be a very boring one and began doing push-ups behind him, but the president didn't really mind him.
'Well, at least he's keeping his muscles in top shape' Nagasaki thought as he silently looked over to his most trusted bodyguard, before wondering 'How did these cadres even began to think that sending him away was a good idea is beyond me entirely, but it is thanks to their idiocy that this situation was possible to begin with!'
Nagasaki returned to his papers and kept writing on them. The president was currently planning the construction and the shipment on new training equipment. After seeing the state of C and B class heroes, the president decided to include them in a training program so that they may become stronger and eventually rise in rank.
Nagasaki was moved to make this decision because he knew that the S class weren't as infallible as they claimed themselves to be. In case they fell or weren't available Nagasaki wanted to have some replacements.
The president made this decision also because he "witnessed" various heroes who have become stronger, but still didn't rise that much in terms of classes. Some examples would be Captain Mizuki and Fluffy Boy, who defeated the monsters they came across with too much ease for simple B class heroes. There was also the B class hero Caped Baldy, who was rumored to defeat each and every one of his opponents with one punch-
Reading the performances of each hero made Nagasaki realize how dumb some of the heroes' names were. 'Seriously, who in their right mind chose such names?!' the president thought in exasperation, then calmed down as he thought 'Oh well, i'll just let the candidates choose their names and be done with it, maybe get someone to check and change them if something comes up'
Nagasaki nodded to himself, satisfied, and kept writing on other papers, now that he signed the previous ones.
'The shipments have been taken care of, formally speaking, but now i need new staff as well! Can't take care of everything here by myself after all...' Nagasaki thought, putting a hand to support his diminutive chin, and then removed it as he had an idea 'I know! I'll just put some of the lower staff members into the position of the former cadres! That way i'll solve this problem in a blink of an eye and get people who understand the Hero Association's inner workings!'
Nagasaki rubbed his hands in satisfaction and returned to his papers as Darkshine got up from the floor and started doing squats, completely unaware of the president's inner thoughts.
X X X
It was late morning when Shinko finished the tests Child Emperor and was now heading back to E City. Honestly, the fluffy boy was surprised with how many tests Child Emperor came up with.
Shinko could easily understand weights, laps and even hydraulic presses, but he was quite puzzled when the young genius took a blood sample (Shinko was still shuddering a bit from that) and even some of his saliva.
'That was definitely weird, i still wonder what does he want to do with those samples. Hopefully nothing nefarious...but still, Child Emperor is a hero, so there's nothing to worry about...' Shinko thought as he jumped from one building to another at a reasonable speed.
Meanwhile, back in the laboratory in J City, Child Emperor looked at the data he collected from Shinko.
'It's safe to say that Shinko's physical feats are higher than Darkshine's by a considerable margin' he thought as he compared two different groups of notes 'Besides, Shinko wasn't even trying all that much then...'
Child Emperor thought back a few minutes ago, when Shinko told him about his venture in the alien ship and his fight with Boros, and he had a hard time believing his story.
Now, however?
Child Emperor stood in front of a monitor connected to a machine that was analizing Shinko's DNA. The readings he was getting were so high they weren't making any sense.
'Nothing remotely human should have such readings...and yet...it's like he trained with so much willpower his body drastically changed from a molecular level!' Child Emperor thought in amazement.
When Shinko told him how he got this strong, Child had even more of an hard time believing him. But then he looked at Darkshine's interview.
Child Emperor requested it after he analized the bodybuilder's body structure. From that interview, Child Emperor understood that willpower played a considerably important role in his growth.
Seeing as how that came from one of the physically strongest humans on this planet, Child Emperor could at least begin to comprehend how Shinko reached the level of power he holds now.
But that was irrelevant at the moment. Shinko told him something about 'beginning to break his limits' and now Child Emperor had a strand of the DNA of that young man.
'What i have now is simply invaluable. Any person who is heavily invested in biological engineering will kill just to experiment on this DNA once! I must hide it in a very secure place so that no one else can have it!'
With that in mind, Child Emperor set off to find a containment chamber secure enough to contain the priceless DNA, but the ring of his cellphone stopped him.
Child Emperor answered the call, knowing that he received calls only when truly necessary. He was happy to hear about Zombieman.
"Hello, Child Emperor, i finished my business and i am near your laboratory. I have new intel about Shinko and a certain 'Saitama' character that will interest you. What have you been up to?" Zombieman said through the phone.
"Oh, i have made some tests on Shinko to better measure his strength. I even have a sample of his DNA" Child Emperor replied.
"I see. I should be at your laboratory in a minute or so" Zombieman replied and then hung up. Child Emperor closed his phone and hurried to the ground floor, so that he could welcome Zombieman.
X X X
"And that was all that happened. Will i now be able to be a part of the Monster Association?" G5 asked Gyoro Gyoro, who in turn nodded, looking to its side to see the unconscious pile of mercenaries.
It would probably give them to DO-S to be her puppets, but now it was more concerned with the scene unfolding behind the Samurai-looking robot.
Petrolic Wraith was looking at Crystal Ripper, studying every inch of his body, while Bug God was on his master's side, unresponsive as ever. Meanwhile the Necroanter and Black Sperm high-five'd each other, their faces expressing great joy.
"See? I told you i could do it. I just needed a bit more time to experiment!" the antlion said to Black Sperm, the latter responding with "Yeah, that was really cool of you! Think you can make more tricks with that magic of yours?"
The Necroanter beamed at Black Sperm and excitedly said "Yes! Yes! Yes! I have so many ideas now that i finally discovered how to better control the magic of the staff, but i think i need a bit more time to fully understand everything..." he finished with a low-key sad tone.
Gyoro Gyoro looked at Necroanter and Petrolic Wraith, calling their attention through telepathy and, when it was sure the Necroanter was listening, said "Well, looks like you both have made great progress this morning, but keep in mind that the raid of the Hero Association starts after tomorrow, so whatever you have to do, do it quickly"
At that, the Necroanter literally bolted to the exit of Gyoro Gyoro's private chamber, bright pink energy trailing behind him. The military advisor saw Petrolic Wraith averting his eye from its periferical vision.
Black Sperm, not wanting to be left out of another cool magic trick, immediately followed the trail of magic and easily caught up with Necroanter.
Crystal Ripper followed the two monsters, his movements being a mix of running and limping. 'Despite this, the crystal-like protrusions haven't hindered his dexterity one bit...' Petrolic Wraith noted with annoyance.
G5 left as well, not seeing any further need of remaining in the room.
"So, how is the resurrection plan going for you?" Gyoro Gyoro asked Petrolic Wraith, who in turn replied with "Very well. I was able to revive dozens of Antlion Brutes and the best piece of the collection is just one day away from completion"
Gyoro Gyoro pondered on the spider's words and asked "Is that so? I though you would resurrect the Antlion King without much trouble...". Petrolic Wraith looked flattered at the question and responded with "Oh you! I'm good but i'm not THAT good. The Antlion King's body was in a very bad state when i found it. If you want it at full strength then you have to wait. But don't worry too much about it, when the day of the raid comes the entire antlion army will be up and running"
Gyoro Gyoro was happy to hear this, but it was even happier at the fact that G5, who was standing just outside, heard the whole conversation.
'Now, slimy insect, let's see how you like it when someone else peeks at your work' Psykos venomously thought through her puppet.
And that was the chapter! As you saw, we got to see how most of the cast is doing, some new lore and, particularly, how strong Mizuki has gotten. Suffice to say, without her weights (or even with them), she can defeat pretty much any tiger-level monster, but she still has a ways to go before dealing with a demon-level monster.
Also, we got more Necroanter moments. Hope you like the character as much as I do!
Anyway, see you next time and thanks for the support thus far!