A/n: Hello readers! PsychoJack is back with another chapter of Mineta the Mayhem. A lot has been happening in the last chapter with All Might, Monika and Moe having to confront and deal with the deadly intellectual that was Diamondeye. After a lucky victory for our heroes, Harukaze made a lethal strike against All Might rendering him out of the fight. Now it is up to Monika in order to quell the dangerous and now freed prisoner. What will happen is anyone's guess, however one thing is for certain, Harukaze has escaped! Read on in order to find out what happens next!
Monika, Moe, Warlow and the surrounding squad of prison guards were left completely startled by the sudden appearance of Harukaze, now freed from his cell once more. In the sudden rush of escape the rioting inmate made his mark that solidified his existence literally by carving the flesh of the world's most beloved hero All Might. The sight alone was fear inducing, considering that the legend himself was left vulnerable to the whim of this great terror, a walking cataclysm given form.
Moe, due to physically being the closest to All Might, could only lean forward in a desperate attempt to keep the lanky legend from crashing into the floor under his own weight. He had fallen down to his knees, his body limp as a result of the surprise attack, one that left him bloodied. The green fire haired heroine was left as much a victim as the guards, forced to witness the sight of one of the greatest beacons of heroism being brought down in such a cruelly unexpected manner. This was made prevalently worse due to the fact that even with her own skill set, she could not protect him. Quite the opposite, she was found to be useless when she was needed most.
As for Monika, her own ears couldn't register sound, as the building traumatic realization branded this moment into her mind.
-Flashback: Chapter 19-
"So long as you're with me, none of the prisoners would even dare to blink in our direction. I can guarantee it." The student said.
...
"It will be an honor to work with you All Might. I am ready to protect you with my life." The intern said with pride.
-Flashback End-
Despite her promise to protect All Might, she had failed in this regard. From her perspective she could only see the man who inspired the world at large be brought down in such a deplorable dishonorable manner, by a metaphorical knife in the growing dark.
Adrenaline had surged their way in her veins upon her eyes taking focus on the felon who delivered such an apparent fatal strike. Kuro Harukaze.
The felon was midair, guided by the power of his quirk, which enabled him to defy gravity with his smoke literally carrying him in a gust of smog, spewing from both his limbs as well as the vents he had stored it in for the span of 17 years. A literal storm, with him as its epicenter.
Monika's eyes which were wide in shock had taken on an insidious glare, one that held a deep rooted contempt towards this walking avatar of evil that was Harukaze. Harukaze clicked his lips beneath the muzzle of his mask, resulting in his obsidian tainted eyes meeting with Monika's azure ones, now lit with rage in his direction.
The way he danced midair, shifting with executed grace, a sinister dance of death as he controlled himself mid flight. To the duty bound intern, this was a farce, a sick joke that mocked the legend who he felled.
To her it was an insult of the highest degree. The fact that he was the center figure behind all of these nightmarish happenings, the same man who caused the deaths of many stalwart prison guards as well as the mutilation of a hero. Like a parasite he soared where others would fall, a thief in existence as well as in profession.
Her dirtied hands clenched tightly with a vice around her weapon, her black whistle shone with blue markings as if igniting from her own will despite not being placed against her mouth.
"Stay away from him you…YOU FUCKER!" Monika shouted, directed towards Harukaze before she pressed it against her lips and blew without a care as to her own well being. In conjunction with her number two blade whistle she shouted.
"FATAL JUGEMENT: GUILLOTINE!"
PWEEEEE
The resulting azure tinted sickle tore through the air with the velocity of a cannon as it barreled against the air, friction from the quirk causing the air around it to sizzle in prominent heat, the same heat that fueled her anger.
With a thrust of his legs, Harukaze propelled himself upwards like a rocket in a miasma of black smoke that caused the other occupants to cough haphazardly, their vision obscured by the toxic smokescreen that emanated from the quirk Black Wind. It felt like breathing in the smoke of a large house fire, it burned one's mouth and left the unmasked hall monitor and sidekick in a coughing fit.
Warlow between his own coughs, wheezed out. "Get away from Harukaze! That smoke is blocking your vision, there's too much of it in the vents!"
ZOOM
A thick wisp of ebony tinted smoke flew upwards towards the ceiling of the prison, a large cumulation of Harukaze's quirk smashed straight into the metallic roof of Hydra Prison.
"*static* Warlow this is floor 2, we got a visual of Harukaze on the ceiling our sentries are fried!" A guard on the walkie informed the group.
On reflex, one of the guards had pointed his rifle at the felon.
"Dammit, if only our guns weren't fucking jammed I would shoot him right between the goddamn eyes-"
BANG
Silence filled the immediate area as Harukaze used his chitin cladded arms to deflect a fired bullet that made its mark, causing it to ricochet off his shoulder. Had he not raised his shoulders, he would have been killed via a precise headshot.
The guards were wide eyed, the smoke that was used to jam their guns had dissipated.
Moe analyzed the vents now circulating thick black smog through the grates. They were currently tied to Harukaze.
'If he is really carrying the prisoners using his quirk then that means he probably can't jam their guns at the same time. He's looking for an immediate escape!'
Warlow after a stunned second immediately unveiled his walkie.
"Warlow to all units, OPEN FIRE!"
Harukaze's eyes widened before he immediately doubled his speed towards the ceiling, as the lower floors began lighting up with red laser sights. The other officers had begun aiming in his direction due to the fact that his quirk was already being used to transport the escaped prisoners, and thus could no longer be used to jam the weapons of prison guards at the same time.
Warlow commanded authoritatively. "Shoot him down, fire everything!"
'Floor 15 we are taking aim!' One guard responded on the walkie.
'*static* It's about goddamn time!' Another guard voiced over the channel.
With the velocity and bullet-like trajectory of his flight, the smoke user shrouded himself in his quirk, spinning like a drill to tear through the rooftop.
CRASH
He had crashed against the safety glass covered top of his confinement. The impact spread outward a large burst of small sharp shrapnels that collided on the first floor grounds, sprinkling glass fractures all over the floor.
The thing was that the glass was multi-layered, a form of thick safety glass designed to withstand exterior as well as interior bludgeons. Harukaze had merely fractured a mere small portion of the glass that contained its inmates for so long. Harukaze clicked his mouth twice, notably marking down the amount of glass he penetrated, finding only a mere fracture was made with his own power. He used his taloned feet to maintain his balance standing upside down on the rooftop leading to freedom from Hydra Prison. The smoke of the surrounding vents remained blocked from the outside.
'The glass didn't break?' Moe noticed as she tried to shield All Might from the rain of glass shrapnel and attempted to serve as an impromptu shield for All Might in case Harukaze struck again.
With a mere narrowing of his fully black optics, the felon merely breathed in and let the talons of his chitin cladded legs release themselves from the plating of the ceiling, dropping downwards, back towards the bottom of the prison as he had originally pulled off for his first escape.
Moe was able to notice his attention was towards the bottom floor.
'So that's why these inmates never tried destroying the roof to escape, between the sentries and that safety glass, underground was their only chance!'
Burnin couldn't help but take note that Harukaze's focus was more on his immediate escape as opposed to dealing with the nameless guards who blocked his entrance from the surface exit in a volley of bullets. His face was turned towards the bottom of the ground and as such it was clear enough to deduce that he would escape through the underground tunnel system. Going through the top was currently a pointless effort, at least with all the exposure he had to the storm of lead that was fired in his direction.
BURST
The gray skinned escapee launched himself downward, back into the safety of the darkness of the bottom floors, where he could safely enact his escape. With the many guns aimed in his direction there was no way he could survive a continued onslaught of this size, especially with the mask on his face that hampered his quirk.
Before he made it past the first floor, a burgundy dressed blur registered in Moe's peripherals. Taking a look, the fiery headed heroine noticed a hatless Monika leaping towards Harukaze in a desperately motivated maneuver to intercept him while midair.
Moe also noticed that Monika had all three of her whistles placed against her lips. From what she noticed earlier, the girl was already weakened from the earlier fight.
"MONIKA!" Moe tried to warn the intern as to how dangerous her action was. Unfortunately, Moe's own body ceased to move as well as she wanted. The earlier strength she had from earlier as a result of consuming a bite of Mamira's sphere had run out, rendering the green flamed sidekick unable to react with the speed she normally would have. She was too late, Monika went down along with the beast of Hydra Prison.
Moe gritted her fangs in frustration, right now she had to focus on All Might, slipping out Mamira's sphere to enable immediate emergency healing.
All Might was currently unconscious, his wounds already put the elderly hero in critical condition.
What she was not prepared for was for the sphere to have a notable half missing.
Moe widened her eyes and looked back towards the ridge where Monika jumped from, now knowing what Monika intended to do. She would battle Harukaze with the large boost of the sphere powering her quirk.
'Dammit!'
BASH
Monika had timed her tackle at the appropriate time, and made contact with Harukaze before he could mobilize in a downward strike through the underground tunnels where he would mount his escape.
With a messy midair struggle, the currently enraged intern found herself in her fight with the escaped convict, both trying to win this proverbial tug of war for midair dominance with only the darkness of the emptied prison hallways and smoke residue surrounding the two as they fell ever deeper into the pits of this purgatory.
Monika all around her could hear the echoes of voices deep within the depths. The sound of laughter, mockingly taunting her. She thought she was hearing things, however, considering that Harukaze was serving as a transporter for the other felons through his smoke, it was clear that the inmates within were making their opinions known.
With a ravenous blue glinted glare, Monika held onto Harukaze as both fell straight down towards the bottom, all the way towards floor 20. She would not give any more attention to the haunting laughs of madness that swarmed the inner depths, goading this fight onward with a faint and yet chilling chant from hell.
"KA-ZE! KA-ZE!" The legion of phantom voices chanted in the hall monitors' eardrums.
As she fell, Monika used her number three whistle to disorient her intended target. With a blow, the shrill sonic waves forced the black smoke to lose focus, causing it to drift without Harukaze's control to guide it.
"KA-ZE! KA-ZE!" The voices continued to chant.
Harukaze used his left arm to punch Hall Monika directly into her face, causing her to wince from the unexpected retaliation. He had used his stump instinctually, probably being his dominant arm. It had nearly knocked straight into the interns' solar plexus, intending to knock her out, or kill her had he still possessed his claws on that stump.
BASH
With a propulsion strike of his chitin enhanced punch, Harukaze had successfully knocked the number three whistle away from Monika's person, the trinket flew into the darkness, obscured by the rest of the growing void. She wouldn't be able to disorient him here.
Monika held Harukaze in a tight lock before he immediately grabbed her with his left arm by her throat, with the full intent of snapping her neck.
Monika already had her number one whistle readied on her lips and fired. As she used her red decorated whistle, she aimed herself in a horizontal manner right before she and Harukaze could smash against the ground.
PWEEEEE
With the power of sonic gusts, she was able to both fire herself away from Harukaze whilst also preventing herself from meeting face first with the grounds of floor 20. She hadn't prepared however, to wind up rolling against the ground as she had never used her whistle in this manner before, to stop herself from making a rather gruesome landing with the slabs of metal and concrete beneath her.
Harukaze on the other hand had used his own left hand to merely stop his movement by thrusting his chitin clad arm into the ground, and stopped himself immediately, with a deep indent on the metal plated ground serving as a reminder of the weight of his impact.
Harukaze deftly stood upright from his perfect upside down position, his smoke enabling him to simply thrust himself like a jet back into a proper upright position. His left hand appeared unflinchingly stiff as he removed the limb from the uprooted metallic plating of the flooring.
Monika dragged herself up, nearly tripping on a leftover corpse of the prison riot, specifically a guard who was gruesomely slaughtered by Lycant at the beginning of this entire travesty. Strange enough she was back to where she started. The girl let out a self deprecating laugh at the strange twist of fate. She herself was now left with Harukaze at the bottom of floor 20 with a field of corpses littering the area. All was quiet save for Monika's breathing.
The contrast between the two was heavily clear, light shone down from the rooftop as the final stray rays of the afternoon filled the bottom of floor 20, rays that were steadily dimming. In its place darkness enveloped the ground. Harukaze currently stood at the edge of the opposite side of floor 20, where insidious shades of black had claimed the ground, along with a massive amount of bodies stored within. Monika on the other hand stood in the area where sun rays touched, casting a rather bright aura against her person, as one who stood firm in the face of a great and relentless evil.
"Kuro Harukaze, I'm going to make you PAY for the lives you've stolen today!" The hall monitor threatened.
Harukaze took his left arm and snapped it a few times, realigning it back into place with a few sickeningly prominent cracks.
CRACKLE
SNAP
POP
Monika and Harukaze stood, the pervading silence filled their ears, leaving only the metallic hum of the hull that was Hydra Prison that echoed the surrounding ambience into their eardrums.
Harukaze stretched his right hand stump. This was the same hand that he had used against All Might, though it was through his quirk to shape it like a claw to slice the ex hero with an aerial swipe. Some of the legends' blood still littered against the now sealed stump. A haunting reminder of Monika's failure to keep her promise of protecting All Might.
He then stretched his left hand, instinctually readying the talons that served as blades. One could guess that the way he flexed each talon was also a silent fair warning to his opponent of what his talons would do to her.
The message was clear, whether he had claws or only a stump, Harukaze could destroy her easily.
His right stump dropped to his side. His eyes did not see Monika, however the audible click of his mouth made it clear that he was keeping Monika in his sights. The faint audible bellowing that passed his airways however served as a vivid reminder that this was not a citizen of any form of the word, this was a predator. This little detail enabled Monika to forgo the usual restraints of reservations she would normally have when dealing with criminals, dehumanizing Harukaze enough for her to be willing to fight without holding back.
Monika had her lips on her number one amd number two whistle, both her hands readied her security batons. Though slightly scratched and mildly dented from her constant fighting, they would make valuable extensions of her reach in this fight in terms of close quarters combat.
Razor blue eyes met with orbs of blinded obsidian, in a duel of the prison.
With a prominent breath inward from Harukaze, Monika immediately reacted, firing off a shot of her number one whistle.
PWEEEE
Harukaze immediately used his left fist to fire a black fist cannon that shook the room, intercepting the sonic gusts with his smoke powered flood.
BOOM
CRACKLE
The two attacks collided against each other causing a wide ripple within the room sending sparks and concrete to crash against the ground sprinkling bits of dust and debris all over floor 20.
Monika and Harukaze continously fired their respective attacks, each one indenting the ground and tearing the concrete apart in a wave of destruction with each blast. Monika and Harukaze dashed left and right, and consistently utilized their long range to blast the other away, only to collide in an explosive boom that shook the halls.
Monika switched to a number two whistle, launching a blade gust towards the wind user, intending on tricking him to use another black fist cannon to literally cut him in half. Considering that Harukaze posed as great a threat as he did, Monika was well within her rights to do so.
Harukaze clicked his lips and deftly somersaulted like an acrobat over the bladed sonic blast. With an immediate retaliation, Harukaze accumulated some of his smoke into his stump and swung mid somersault in a horizontal manner.
This caused three black bladed smoke waves to be sent towards Hall Monika, tearing through the ground as they speedily swept the air towards their intended target.
Monika took her black whistle and immediately blew on it. With a large gulp of air she was able to conjure up a blue tinted sonic shield that protected her from the onslaught.
Harukaze continuously fired one after the other a volley of black sickled blasts from his smoke imbued stump that impacted Monica's shield, intending on breaking her defense. This did not work however as the shield still held up no matter how many projectiles he launched at the brave heroine in training.
Within the shield however, Monika's lungs were being strained, increasingly aching the more she used her black whistle.
'Damn it, I can't keep staying on the defense forever, I have to do something before I run out of reserves!' Monika thought to herself, as sweat dripped down her forehead.
Harukaze seized his attack and began breathing in three times.
Monika wasn't sure what he would do, until Harukaze spun like a black drill straight into her sonic shield.
VRRRRRRRRR
CREAK
Monika widened her eyes as Harukaze's smoke drill attack that had shrouded his entire body had begun the process of steadily driving past her defense. The spinning of the drill met with the resistance of her sonic shield. As the tip of the drill successfully made it past the shield, a growing tidal wave of smoke began filling her space. Like an injection, Harukaze began the process of filling the small dome with his quirk in order to suffocate her from within.
Monika couldn't hold the shield anymore, if she breathed in that much smoke, she'll lose control of her quirk.
Immediately seizing her whistleblow, she immediately reacted with a double strike of her batons in a flourish, which was intercepted by Harukaze and the talons of his left hand.
SHING
CLING
CLANG
The battle had shifted to melee, Monika attempting to swipe at Harukaze who deftly swerved under or past Monika's swings.
Ducking in an extremely agile manner past both Monika's batons from a sideways swing, Harukaze struck with a smoke infused jab straight into Monika's gut., One that literally vibrated her body with the strength of the impact as well as the efficiently aimed location of the strike.
WHAM
The blow caused Monika to cough out, nearly dropping her whistles from the blow.
With a rapid flurry of strikes, four blows to the body followed by a spinning back kick to the face, Harukaze launched Monika upwards.
With practiced timing, Harukaze attempted an aerial spin to bisect her with his bladed left hand.
Monika, though midair, pressed her black whistle and number one whistle together and heaved.
"FATAL JUDGEMENT: GAVEL!"
With a gulp of air and a successful blow, Monika fired her most powerful attack, the same blue tinted cannon that decimated Diamondeye's tough exterior.
Harukaze, with the control of the surrounding smoke was able to dodge midair, defying gravity before he was destroyed by the attack, pulling off an aerial cartwheel and landing on the ground and performing a spinning handstand, launching a pitch black miniature tornado from his legs that carried Monika towards the wall.
BOOM
In an explosion of dust, Monika had crashed on the wall. Fighting Harukaze was incredibly difficult. His combat style was rather unorthodox, constantly shaping himself in a mixture of sturdy and more loose forms of combat almost seamlessly. It's difficult to keep up with a fighter that knows his body and his quirk to such a degree. It also didn't help that due to his quirk, he was able to form weapons in a wider variety of attacks than her own whistles could.
It was no wonder why Mineta was even able to hold a chance against him, they were both similar fighters, ones who knew themselves so much that the only limits to their combat was their own mind. As she is now, she lacked this talent, mainly because she relied on her whistles to make up for whatever she couldn't understand of her own abilities. She was limited in her quirk, whereas he was not, and the difference in their combat experience was already wide to begin with.
Harukaze stood upright again, clicking his mouth before he stared at Monika. Monika coughed out blood upon forcing herself off the wall. The darkness of the prison grew as the rays of sunlight began dissipating.
Monika took a deep breath. She began sprinting with her batons extended, forcing Harukaze to raise his hands, ready to engage again.
At the last second before she could be within striking range, Monika fired a number one whistle to her side, this enabled her to make a quick horizontal turn that practically led her to dance around Harukaze's retaliatory swipe before she used another number one whistle.
PWEEEE
The whistle made its mark, sending Harukaze a good ten feet away. However the talons on his feet kept him on the ground, slicing through the concrete as he went.
Harukaze grunted, narrowing his eyes from the rather well timed counterattack, which had left his torso scratched from the bits of debris and glass that the whistle blew against him. Due to his exposed torso, he had taken the glass against his vulnerable skin. His limbs were made of chitin, however, his torso was just as pliable and easily pierced as any other.
Harukaze clicked his mouth and immediately raised his hands forward, palms extended to the roof and his posture straightened. He closed his pure black eyes. He slowed his breathing.
'What the hell is he doing? The hall monitor thought to herself.
SHING
Monika felt a slice that had sliced her torso in a tri slash. She wasn't sure what happened, one second he did that pose and closed his eyes and the next second she was cut. But from where.
Monika while collapsing against the ground on her knees, clenched her torso which bled profusely. It wasn't fatal, but the blood loss was something to be concerned about. It was as if his claws had cut her though he was well away from her person.
Monika looked to the source of the blow, finding that the black smoke that surrounded Monika had shaped itself into a black talon, connected to Harukaze's stump.
With the vents providing the smoke he accumulated over the 17 years of his incarceration, Harukaze was able to simply extend his attack to a far distance through contact with the smoke. Monika was lured to the vent and thus subject to the mercy of the smoke he controlled.
She immediately backed away, back into the center where no vents were.
Monika tried to fight off the pain only for Harukaze to begin walking towards her. She swung a baton towards him, before her batons were sliced to bits by his stump which had shaped into large claws.
Monika immediately pulled her number one whistle and fired, however the smoke surrounding the intern formed a black smoke dome that closed in on her, causing the sonic blast to explode right in front of her, and making her ears ring.
WHEEEE
The ringing of her eardrums made everything muffled to Hall Monika. Her eyes shakingly looked around as her vision was obstructed, disoriented by her own quirk.
SHING
Monika had found her number one whistle sliced in half. Harukaze steadily walking towards her. She was seeing double and couldn't tell where he was coming from left or right. Her eyesight was hindered.
'I can't quit! Not yet!' Hall Monika thought before using her black whistle and number two whistle at the same time. Her voice was exhausted but her will remained.
"Fatal…Judgement….GUILLOTINE!"
Another blue sickled shaped gust fired from her lips, Harukaze immediately raised his stump to defend himself, instead finding a small portion of the stump sliced off despite the smoke molded shield he attempted to use. Where before he had missing a hand, now he had lost a portion of his wrist.
Harukaze let out a prolonged yet pained sigh, his voice coming out in a loud hiss that reverbed in the hallway of floor 20.
He stepped back into the darkness, where Monika couldn't see him with her eyes being obstructed.
"Come out…come out and fight you bastard!" Monika challenged as she whipped out a flashlight. The reserves she had gained from Mamira's sphere were running out, practically carrying her from this fight.
All she could hear was a large gulp of air, one that seemed to breathe in the entire floor, making any bystanders victim to the intrusive sound of echoed bellowing, like the breath of a devil in the depths of the abyss.
Upon using her flashlight, she noticed something in front of her.
Something big.
Her eyes widened as she took in what appeared to be a large black monstrosity. All of the smoke of the prison combined into this one cumulative form, under the control of Harukaze who was clearly enraged by losing another piece of his already damaged arm.
To her it was the stuff of nightmares. It was about the size of a small building, possessing the signature talons of its owner, a large gaping jaw of charcoal molded fangs. The lights of the remaining sun rays dimmed, yet revealed that within the center of the torso of this molded beast was Harukaze, semi transparent past the thickening smoke torso of this makeshift beast.
She could hear the wind swirl around Harukaze who continued to breathe in, as if his lungs could fit an entire building's worth of oxygen. The wind acted like an incoming tornado, sending debris and glassy bits everywhere, crashing against the walls as the hunched over fiend began taking shape. It only had its midsection, its torso and its spiked arms, and yet it was at least ten times Monika's size.
An avatar of smog, and a bringer of silent death.
Monika didn't have time to react as a large shadowed hand swatted her aside, an impact that left Monika helpless as her black flame like hair was loosened from her usual ankle length ponytail, sending her hair to messily fling with the sway of the wind.
Monika rolled against the ground, her body limp. She felt weak and was gasping for air. Her number two whistle had been smashed against the wall, broken apart by the growing velocity of the wind.
Her body couldn't move despite her attempts to force herself. The shadowy beast slowly made its way towards her, extending its taloned hand towards her.
Monika would use her remaining black whistle, however it was far from her reach. With her body limp and lacking enough energy to properly move, as well as her whistles being far from her person, Monika was weaponless.
'I'm sorry Minoru…I wanted to be there by your side…so much…' Monika thought to herself as her eyes watered. The idea of branded itselfiinto the forefront of her mind.
Monika looked at the talons closing in, the darkness had filled floor 20. All of the light of the sun was missing. She could hear guards trying to shoot at the beast, but it did no real damage, as it was made of smoke, this was simply a manifestation of Black Wind itself, an extension of Harukaze's strength and a machination of his will.
Monika thought back to Diamondeye, and their fight.
-Flashback: Chapter 30-
"Your quirk…it's a wonder you still stand…" Diamondeye's voice echoed inside her mind.
Hall Monika widened her eyes and immediately refocused on the fight.
"Your control over your quirk is admirable, though I wondered why you would need a whistle to use your own voice…you can't control it…"
Hall Monika hesitated.
"No…you are afraid of it…" Diamondeye peeked at her, though clearly he still spoke inside of her mind.
…
"ShoW mE yOuR QuIrK…" The voice of Diamondeye spoke.
Hall Monika gritted her teeth. She still resisted.
"OrPhAn…" Diamondeye's voice invaded her mind.
-Flashback End-
Monika sniffed in sadness.
'I always hated my quirk…before I had my whistles…it took…so much from me…just this once…please…let me at least…protect you from this…Minoru…even if it costs me my life…' Monika clenched her eyes as she calmed herself and forced her body to lie back, staring upwards to a stray ray of light that shone through the rooftop. It was that of an incoming sunset. The stray beam of light rested upon her forehead. It provided a comforting warmth despite the coldness of the metallic ground beneath her. It was of little comfort, and yet it's warmth reminded Monika of her duty.
'I wish I could have shown you my secret…for saving me when I needed you most….my sweet Minoru…my hero…Mayhem….'
Monika breathed in a silent inhalation of air. It was slow and gentle. One could say it was almost melodic, were one to be close enough to hear.
What followed was the opening of her lips. It was silent, and yet all noise, including the ambience of the hull was denied. Not the sound of the guards who rained bullets on Harukaze, not the sound of Warlow who was trying to reach her on the walkie, speaking about how he was coming down and to hold on, not the security elevator doors which opened revealing her squad who came back for her, who came to back to save her and pull her far from the boundless demon that had sprung himself free.
Not even a message from her phone was heard. Lodged on her utility belt in bold letters read "Minoru". He was calling her, the phone vibrating as the entire building shook with increasing intensity. The rooftop which had blocked Harukaze torn open like tinfoil, leaving a widened chasm under the force that emanated from her graceful lips. Around her, the remaining light bulbs of floor 20 practically exploded, and yet the bottom of the prison lit as if a lighthouse was activated. The figure of darkness that had engulfed the entirety of Hydra Prison left along with the destruction of the rooftop in full retreat.
Away from the light, that shone brighter than any sun.
CHAPTER END