Chapter 8

The council of the gods.

Once more Saitama was pulled into another boring meeting as they discussed a punishment for Pig God. "Pig God, as it stands you have personally altered the balance of power within this world. The death of the shadow king and the rise of a new one." Child Emperor announced. "What say you to this?"

He nodded. "I accept that I am responsible for these actions. I didn't intend on this power shifting to one Metal Bat at all. Yet, it has been done."

"Question remains, what do we do with Metal Bat?" Child Emperor asked.

"I say let him learn his power and strength," said Saitama in his typical board voice. "In the time he has been shadow king, he has not done any harm to the human world. He has changed the shadow world for the better, his legions are die hard loyal to him and there is a new council in place, so there is no corruption."

The room came to an eerie pause. "Uh… how do you know that?" King asked.

Saitama crossed his arms. "Well, I know of all plots and plans for massive destruction ahead of time, it's my thing isn't it? The Shadow King purposely got involved in the vampire war with Garou hoping he would be killed, then, the power of the Crimson Plague would go to him. He was going to kill everyone on that battle field, harvest their souls and use them in all out war against the human world." He said offhandedly. "He's been building his legions just for that and was on the verge of starting his plan."

No one said a word, yet all eyes suddenly shifted to Pig God. "You knew this too?" Child Emperor asked.

"Acts of greed are made known to me." He said. "But I insist on the notion, I never intended for Bad to become the new Shadow King. He must have picked up Garou's abilities to learn something new when he has seen it. He witnessed the King absorb the strength of others and adapted himself." He explained. "Be that as it may, I agree with Saitama. He has not done any harm to the mortal world. He has slayed monsters as he has always done, he is not lusting for more power or strength. In fact, I have been told, this scares him greatly. He doesn't quite know what he has become, and yet, he is not allowing this power to go to his head."

"I… agree on that," said King. "However, are we also just playing stupid here? What if he gets a liking for this strength? Is he aware of what he can do? So far he has merely scratched the surface of his potential."

"King is right…" Child Emperor decreed. "So, what's to be done?"

"Training of course." Pig God stated. "I will help him adjust to his growing power, it must be done if not, he may have difficulty later with it. But I ask of you, trust in Bad. He has heart that the previous Shadow King did not."

The table nodded in agreement. "We all know Bad, when he was mortal, even as a half vampire he has stayed the same. I have seen too often when one is turned even into a Halfling, the power goes straight to their heads." Child Emperor said. "Bad isn't the smartest, but he heart is always in the right place."

"Are we nearly done here? There's a sale today I got to get to," Saitama stated in his usual board tone.

"If you don't like these meetings then why do you keep coming?" King asked.

"The tea is better than what I got at home…"

Pig God stared about the table. "My punishment… has it been decided yet?" he asked.

Looks were exchanged among the others, Saitama however offered his two cents on the matter. "How about this, we wait and see what happens. There's no point in punishing him if he hasn't done anything wrong. Bad isn't going mad with power, if he slips up, let's judge him on that." he said.

"You know, for someone who doesn't want to be here, you have some of the best perception on things!" Child Emperor announced.

Saitama shrugged. "Again, I'm in it for the tea…"

#

Zenko was having a normal day at school, well, as normal as it gets.

It was recess time when she was out playing with her friends, yet suddenly, the monster warning system went off. The sirens wailed as they called out. "Attention, attention, level demon threat in the area. Please evacuate, repeat, level Demon…"

The students froze as they felt the ground shaking below their feet. The tremors only grew as many of the children were suddenly falling to the ground hard, no one could keep their balance as a massive monster began to make its way towards them!

Screams and panic filled the air, the monster crushed cars under its feet as it slammed itself into the buildings to cause unnecessary destruction. Then, it began to lick its lips towards the school.

"RUN ZENKO RUN!" one of the boys called. She tried to get to her feet, yet as she did, the monster approached and she felt the ground shake below her once more. She couldn't keep herself up!

The other students were quick to rush into the school, but Zenko wasn't fast enough as it went quickly into lock down. The Monster was eyeing her and grinned as it drooled. She stumbled back, yet before it could get any closer, it appeared!

A massive limb came down before her, blocking her view from the monster. Even the monster itself froze at the sight, standing as its equal, was a massive dragon that appeared to be made of black smoke! It laughed at first to the dragon, perhaps thinking it was a cheep trick and couldn't do anything.

Then it started to grow.

Bigger and bigger until it towered over the monster, instantly it stopped laughing, panic came over its face when suddenly the dragon lurched forwards.

CHOMP

One snap of its jaws and the monster vanished. As quickly as it appeared, the dragon shrunk down and vanished into the shadows. Zenko was still on the ground, stunned to what she just saw. "Whoa… that was cool!" she said.

The call went out to the sudden defeat of the monster, the children came back outside but all of them were staring at her oddly. "What was that!?" one boy asked.

She played dumb to it all. "I dunno!" she said. "One moment there's one monster, than there's another and it ate the other one… then vanished!" she said. "It's weird isn't it?"

"How could something that big disappear!?" one girl asked.

Even the teachers were perplexed to what just happened before their eyes. Zenko however knew she had to tell Bad that the dragon did an excellent job in protecting her.

Now, she needs to think of a great name to call it!