Hello my readers and sorry for the long delay (I am on my second year of University, but at least everything is going well).
I don't have much to say actually, I'll let the chapter speak for itself.
With that, have a good read!
It was a nice day as the blue sky was barely blocked by the few lone clouds that were around and the wind was barely noticeable yet pleasing to the skin. It was the sort of weather that would normally herald a peaceful day.
But today was no such day.
Around the Ghost Town of Z City, along with the region itself, numerous military units were gathering.
"This is Wolf 3, our soldiers are ready to hold the third eastern perimeter. All clear on this side" a large man in military uniform said through his radio, then looked at the group of three thousand soldiers behind him as he thought 'Hopefully the heroes won't let any monsters slip out of the Ghost Town...'
"This is Beaver 3, reporting for duty. Our soldiers are stationed and battle-ready, meanwhile our captain is speaking to the admiral of the fleet for eventual support" an admittedly scrawny soldier said through the radio, then shut it off and sat on the chair inside the captain's tent, taking a relaxed position as he thought 'With our support and the heroes, this is gonna be easy!'
"This is Glare 12, the howitzers and cruise missiles are ready to fire. We are currently in stand-by for additional orders" a muscular woman spoke into the radio as she sat in the driver's seat of a large truck. She then exited the vehicle and shouted to get the attention of the surrounding soldiers, then said "This is the first time we got mobilized after Operation Creeper. Remember, every shot must land on something of value for the enemy, we got this in the bag!"
The soldiers shouted in approval and returned to their posts, while the captain waited a little more as she surveyed the tanks and infantry given to them for protection. 'Are these gonna be enough if some big bad ones attack us?' she thought with a little unease in her stomach.
"This is Thunder 5, our planes are loaded and awaiting further orders" an old man said through the radio on his heavy bomber, then shut it down and leaned into the plane's pilot seat as he mused "Yeah, today we're the lucky ones out of all the forces stationed here..."
"This is admiral Nagash speaking, all Aircraft Carriers and Battleships are ready to provide air and fire support. God speed to all of you on land!" the cheerful feminine voice of the admiral bellowed to the radio, but as soon as it was off the diminutive woman collapsed on her seat as a sweat began blanketing her forehead.
"Oh God, this is going to be hell...hopefully the heroes do their job properly..." she said to her second-in-command, who promptly went to soothe her captain by putting his large hand on her shoulder.
Finally, stationed in the outskirts of D City was a colossal military station guarded by countless troops and more ships near the coast. At its core there was a nuclear bunker where Nagasaki sat at a simplistic desk, watching the various troop placements from various monitors connected to three different satellites.
"I know the Hero Association is the one that will ultimately destroy the Monster Association, but I want to have some guaranty of success regardless. And in the event that the human forces fail to contain the more powerful troops of the Monster Association...there are always more abrasive methods to achieve victory" the president mused satisfied as he got closer to the monitors.
"Let the war begin!"
X X X
"I should have expected this" Zombieman said as he crushed a half-finished sigarette under his boot.
"What I didn't expect was Metal Knight actually participating in this operation...even though he could have definitely sent a much larger force" Child Emperor said with a mixture of surprise and annoyance as he gestured to the three robots standing behind them.
The first one had a large, heavily armored frame and sported two huge vulcans attached to its arms, along with two cubic missile launchers on its back. The second one had a slim frame with long limbs to which were attached various sharp blades. The third had a cubic body with four legs and some sort of beacon at its top.
"Child Emperor, this is merely a rescue mission for me, the rest of the heroes are well-equipped themselves to handle the stronger monsters" Metal Knight said through the larger robot, whose code name was Bulk.
"Besides the overwhelming majority of my forces are better suited for long-range bombardments. Friendly fire is very much a concern of mine" Metal Knight then spoke from his second robot, whose code name was Blade, which greatly annoyed Child Emperor.
Genos ignored them and said to Zombieman "Still, the three of us are more than enough to rescue Waganma. I imagine that the role of Metal Knight's robots is to eliminate whatever small fry gets in our way"
"Correct, Demon Cyborg, and your fire power will be very useful to us after Waganma is rescued" Metal Knight spoke through the smaller robot, whose code name was Node, which finally broke Child Emperor's patience as he shouted "Could you take this SERIOUSLY!?"
"But I AM taking this seriously, Child Emperor. The forces that I have brought here are highly-specialized and able to work in tandem in order to eliminate even dragon level threats" Metal Knight said through Bulk, then spoke through Blade "Yes, it seems you are the one not taking this mission seriously, Child Emperor, throwing these senseless tantrums in such a situation"
The young hero gritted his teeth in order to calm himself down (a task he was greatly failing at), Zombieman gave the three robots a blank stare and Genos was too focused on the mission to care.
So Child Emperor walked past them and said "Anyway, it's finally time we're taking Z City back!"
As the group of heroes marched forth to reclaim the Hero Association's honor, the western hero team had mobilized.
X X X
"Tank Top Master, HQ has given the order to advance into position" a tall and rather built agent of the Hero Association said to the towering man as he put the communicator back in his pant pocket.
"Ah, so it's already time to go" Tank Top Master replied as he turned away from him and marched forth, followed by his loyal Tank Toppers.
Behind him Puri Puri Prisoner walked as well with a larger crowd of prisoners behind him, excitedly howling in preparation for the battles that would follow.
'How nice of Nagasaki to allow my honnies to participate in the raid! It'll be a hard experience, but I'm sure it will shape into being respectable heroes' Puri Puri Prisoner thought with a great smile on his face.
Pig God was among them as well as he finished to eat an entire pumpkin and looked behind him to see the B Class heroes assigned to this team recoil in fear or disgust (or both) at the sight of Puri Puri Prisoner and his cronies.
As the group walked towards their objective at wildly different paces, the southern hero team has mobilized.
X X X
Meanwhile, in the northern part of the Ghost Town, Mizuki was doing stretches with her new weights on, under the watchful gaze of Darkshine who thought 'Even though those weights seem too heavy for this stage of her training, her muscles are bearing them quite well! She's going to become a great hero in no time!'
Then he turned to see his other two teammates, Flashy Flash looking over to the Ghost Town and Tornado of Terror looking more annoyed than usual; there were also some other A and B class heroes, but Darkshine didn't care too much about them. What he very much cared about however were his fans, whose muscles were swollen with pride at the thought of fighting alongside their idol in such an important event.
Darkshine also noted that some of them were looking at Mizuki intently, perhaps to size up a possible challenger or a possible recruit or even both in the case of some members; one of which was Takanasha (better known as Taka), a tall beefy woman with ear-lenght spiky and soft black hair and very toned muscles, someone who Darkshine knew very well as she was one of his very first fans (which also included not-so-subtle advances Darkshine didn't exactly know how to deal with) and is currently the strongest member of his fan club.
'Even though her strength could have her become a very low-ranked S class hero, Taka has next to no fighting experience. After this, if she's truly adamant in becoming a hero, I should definitely train her into hand-to-hand combat...' Darkshine thought to himself as he intently looked at her, something which Taka almost immediately noticed and made her cheeks go red.
Darkshine had almost the same reaction and so he turned back to Tornado of Terror and saw the esper pick up her ringing communicator then she put it down after a few seconds and loudly bellowed "Alright everyone, it's time for the raid! Get moving and don't expect us to get you out of trouble!"
As all the heroes began moving Darkshine briefly looked at Mizuki, who was ahead of him as she walked with at a strong pace, and thought 'You won't have any trouble against the Monster Association's vanguard, but I'm curious if you are ready yet to take on a demon level...'
Darkshine then quickly looked around and, surprised by this, couldn't see Shinko anywhere. Something that surprised him, given how close the two were, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind.
With pride and absolute confidence in their triumph, the northern hero team had mobilized.
X X X
"About time we're moving, I was getting bored waiting for the higher-ups to give the order" Atomic Samurai mused as he walked up to his teammate, who was also preparing to advance deeper into the Ghost Town, but the seasoned swordsman stopped as he looked at the strange rectangular box beside Drive Knight.
Feeling curious about the S class hero he knew next to nothing of, Atomic Samurai asked "Say, how do you fight that thing?"
"This? I'm not inclined to reveal my weapon's secrets, but you'll see soon enough" Drive Knight responded without even turning his head around and started walking, leaving behind a mildly annoyed Atomic Samurai who murmured "Tch, whatever you say..."
But his attention was quickly grabbed by a soft swooping sound coming from behind him, and so he calmly turned around.
"Pardon my absence at yesterday's meeting, I was busy training a student of mine for this very event" Bang said in an amicable tone and then asked "By the way, I'm not late, am I?"
"Don't worry Silverfang, you arrived just in time" Atomic Samurai reassured him and started to talk about how his own disciples were doing. Upon noticing the S class heroes moving forward, the nearby A and B class heroes began walking forward as well.
With a spirit steeled by experience and tactics, the eastern hero team had mobilized.
X X X
Meanwhile, in the depths of the Ghost Town, Shinko scanned the dark and humid sewers as he held up his communicator.
'I can't believe that one of the entrances to the Monster Association's HQ was right here! If only we had gone a few dozens meters deeper...' Shinko grimly thought at how easily he would have ended it all, but then he shook his head to dispel it 'At least now I get to right that mistake...I also hope the Wastelanders can save Gaia without becoming stain on a wall'
He then looked upwards, where he certainly thought Mizuki was right now facing the surface forces of the Monster Association. Shinko hoped she would be able to descend into the main base, so that they could share more battles together.
A soft yet noticeable beeping pulled him back in reality though and Shinko turned to face the wall to his right, where he knew the hidden entrance was.
'It's time' Shinko thought as he put back the communicator in his underwear and put himself in a crouched position, one he had seen Mizuki take so many times before sprinting, but before his feet could propel him forward a louder beeping noise came from the communicator.
Shinko immediately sat up and picked the communicator as he responded "Phoenix Man, what is it?"
From the other end, the former monster replied "I just wanted to tell you that we should avoid the various hero teams to avoid complicating things, though it'd very hard to do due to the unpredictable nature of Gyoro Gyoro's strategies..."
"Yeah...good luck with that, call me if anything happens" Shinko said in a slightly apprehensive tone, but he still trusted the resourcefulness of his partner.
As he ended the call and put the device back in his underwear, Shinko turned back to the secret entrance, Shinko returned in a sprinting position, thinking to himself that this was technically a marathon, but instead of turns there were Dragon level monsters to kill.
'Now it's time' Shinko thought as his feet launched him forward, cracking everything behind him with sheer wind pressure and turning the wall ahead of him into dust, suddenly finding himself in a narrow tunnel somehow even darker than the room before.
However he didn't have any time to further analyze his surroundings as a sphere of blackness engulfed him in a nanosecond while he was still midair. Shinko was very surprised that something was able to outspeed him, but his surprise grew even stronger when he looked around and found himself in a completely different environment, a much wider room with walls of stone bricks and a few lanterns to light the path up ahead.
Shinko immediately snapped himself out of his stupor and went to his communicator, but as he took out the device he found that it was already beeping. Shinko pressed the button on top and heard a familiar voice squawking "Shinko, something is wrong with the HQ! As soon as I entered a void swallowed me and I suddenly found myself in another area. By the looks of it, I think I'm near the jail section!"
"Yeah, it happened to me as well and it actually managed to catch me in midair" Shinko said with a hint amazement and Phoenix Man replied "So this trap is able to catch even those with your speed...I suppose the only way to bypass this trap is to instantly teleport out of it..."
"Tornado of Terror is the only one that can avoid the trap then? Ok then, I'll go kill the Dragons and you go make sure no harm comes to Waganma until Child Emperor's team arrives" Shinko said as Phoenix Man gave his word of acknowledgement and then ended the call.
'NOW It's time' the fluffy hero thought determined and slightly annoyed as he started jogging across the corridor.
X X X
Flake Mage was patrolling the outer perimeter of the Monster Association's HQ along with two other monsters and his humor was positively underground, right beside him. It wasn't because of the monsters, who were oddly quiet all things considered, but because his plan had been a complete failure.
How did he find out? It started four hours ago, when him and his team were in front of not the exit they wanted to use originally (due to the Hero Hunter's rampage, some monsters came to fix the place to prevent any kind of sneak attacks) but a random hole in the outer perimeter that was not only so small it forced everyone in a crawling position (something that made Raptora very angry and position herself at the very end of the line), but still proved to be a better option than the original exit due to how far out it was from all the normal patrol routes.
It was going so well, however GOD decided that it was going TOO well and His decision had horrible consequences. Just as the weak light of the corridor was all but gone, an outright alien and oppressive darkness came out of nowhere and engulfed his entire team.
In that split second Flake Mage felt even worse than the day after the Monster Association's surprise attack, but at least the sensation ended in the same amount of time it happened, however Flake Mage felt utter dread wash over him as he found himself alone and in the worst place the Monster Association had to offer.
The deepest parts of the cave system.
The small monster didn't know how he exactly made it out alive AND in one piece out of that literal hellhole without melting due to the extreme heat, falling in a lava pit or being eaten by the many types of monstrosities that called that place home and weren't affiliated with the Monster Association (even if they were, it wouldn't make much of a difference and finding a nice monster was as rare of a chance as snowing in summer).
Now he was alone with no idea how his friends were doing and very much about to be killed by any passing heroes, which would of course be S class because that was how his luck worked.
'Then again...I guess I really deserve this' Flake Mage thought in a hollow tone 'I was too cowardly to take the risk of going with Sharp Stripe and dragged three mostly innocent monsters in a half-assed plan that had no business working...'
'And now any kind of escape is impossible, I guess I'll just die' Flake Mage finally thought as the wall a dozen meters away from his group exploded into dust and out of it appeared a shirtless young man of short stature, toned muscles and fluffy white hair.
'So this is it, huh?' Flake Mage thought as one of his teammates lunged at the incoming hero only to be platted into a wall with seemingly no effort 'Even if my effort will be futile in the end, I can't afford to go out in a cowardly way. I have to redeem myself!'
And so, to honor the courageous sacrifice of his friends, Flake Mage...got into a begging position and screamed "I SURRENDER" just as Shinko punched the air in front of the other monster, obliterating it.
A few seconds passed and the ice mage couldn't believe that he was still alive, but a voice clearly directed at him dispelled that doubt "Hey, I think your name is Flake Mage, right? Sharp Stripe asked me to rescue you, while the Wastelanders are off looking for your other friends"
"Wait, SHARP STRIPE!?" Flake Mage shouted as he stood back up at great speed, then started crying, rejoiced at his dear friend not being a stain any kind of surface. Shinko almost lost track of what he was supposed to say, but then decided to say anyway "She's fine, but isn't worried about you in the slightest, in fact according to her you're doing the best you can"
Flake Mage was overjoyed and through great effort stopped himself from crying any more, prompting Shinko to go on "However exiting the base now is impossible, as if something within this place is blocking anyone trying to, besides I need a guide to help myself orient in this base. I do have an accurate digital map of this place, but getting it out everytime to check if I'm going the right way is too bothersome for me"
"Sure enough! You can count on me!" Flake Mage said determined and Shinko motioned him to get on his back, something the diminutive monster did although without really understanding why.
"Okay so where are we going to first-" Flake Mage was asking when suddenly Shinko sprinted away, while his newly-acquired guide was holding on to his neck for dear life.
X X X
Elsewhere in the Monster Association HQ, a concrete wall exploded outward as a powerful tornado ripped through the tunnel's interior as well as all the monsters inside.
Out of the broken down wall and amidst the blood-stained rubble Ariol stood, his eyes burning with hatred like never before, and said a horribly venomous tone "You were fools to think that you could get away with such an infamy. Now I've returned and I'll make sure to show you the worst storm ever conceived while I am in this filthy dumpster"
He then propelled himself and sailed through the ruined tunnel like a torpedo.
"Well, if we manage to find those two in one piece we'll be lucky..." Gobold mused as he analyzed the monsters' remains, but Sharp Stripe chimed in as she said "Don't worry about it! Catfish Man and Maiko have probably already fled the HQ with Flake Mage!" but the goblinoid could see some unease in her.
The two were followed by Belphomet, Monoculor, Hulkaber, Malware and Sandscale Dragon. Aside from Nark, Lamia, Beeline and Gelgo were deemed unable to participate in the mission and as such had to remain in E City.
Lamia couldn't come because her poison breath could be potentially too dangerous for everyone else, Gelgo had a powerful ability but his nervousness and lack of nerves made Monoculor force him to remove from the team (something that saddened the slug monster to a great degree since he was looking forward to this mission) and Beeline simply had no actual way of being useful either in a fight or even in reconnaissance.
'Then again, we don't exactly need someone good at it in our team right now. Ariol clears up every room simply by passing through, and this thing right here is an extremely good tracker indeed...' Monoculor thought as he looked over to his teammates and then at the thing in his hand.
It was an organic device of a semi-spherical shape with its flat part looking like a reptilian eye; given to him by none other than Markedus himself, this fleshy wonder was able to track down anyone in the range of hundreds of kilometers by eating something belonging to that person's body, like a tuft of fur.
'Markedus, I'm not going to give Ariol strange ideas about you just because you gave us a warm welcome instead of killing us on sight...' Monoculor thought angrily, but was snapped out of it as he was touched by his brother's wing.
"Come on bro, we won't be able to catch up with the others at this rate..." Belphomet commented as he looked on with Monoculor. Indeed, all of their teammates had already gone ahead, though they were able to listen to their voices, far away in the distance.
"Alright then" Monoculor simply said and the two sped up among the ruined surroundings.
X X X
Elsewhere in the underground, dismembered chunks of monsters fell on the uneven, stony floor with sonorous spalts as a man walked at a brisk pace amidst the darkness.
Just by hearing the sound of his feet, one could immediately think that Sweet Mask was angry. Not only was his concert hijacked a few days ago (though he admittedly wasn't too angry about that since he was able to perfectly salvage that situation), but once president Nagasaki took over the Hero Association he had made no effort in the slightest to open dialogue with the face of the organization, something that greatly angered Sweet Mask.
But the worst part was that he wasn't included (no, he wasn't even NOTIFIED of) the meeting to plan the raid. Not even as a surface combatant or reserve fighter.
Though that would have angered him even more than he already was now.
'Nagasaki, the fact that you never even thought of including me in this operation shows that you are in no position to command the Hero Association' Sweet Mask thought with a determined expression, one that allowed the sight of every single vein on his face 'After I'll every monster in this building, I'll completely deface you on live TV using my popularity!'
'Though, when it comes to you...' Sweet Mask's smile got darker '...there is no end of skeletons in your closet'
The hero now noticed that he was right in front of one of the entrances to the Monster Association's headquarters, which looked like an unassuming tunnel with blood stains on its walls, so he strode in and continued on as absolutely happened to him.
Sweet Mask was already long gone when the stony ground outside the entrance cracked slightly and a black oily tendril with a reptilian eyeball silently sprung forth.
'Sweet Mask, your pride will be your downfall and I know perfectly what makes your mental state crack and wither away. I won't even need to do much of anything to make your true nature resurface once more!' Petrolic Wraith laughed through the probe as it slithered back into the ground, racing to get the finishing touches on his trap.
X X X
Concrete cracking, bodies exploding, muscles flexing, weapons swinging, throats roaring and above the Ghost Town an unnatural storm raged, product of the two psychic beings about to start their fight.
The raid had officially begun and even though the battleground was nothing short of chaotic Mizuki was focused like never before. After tearing through a small group of monsters she stomped her foot on the road, cracking a large portion of it while also leaving a noticeable footprit, and propelled herself towards another group of monsters which was indecisive on the hero to jump.
She smashed through a monster with the force of her central body alone and punched through three more with ease. Mizuki then felt claws slash at her muscles an in response she dealt a spinning hammer arm at her attackers, ripping through their bodies as blood showered the area.
A few punches later the group consisting of twenty monsters was turned to mulch and Mizuki, not seeing any more monsters in the immediate vicinity, allowed herself to calm down and survey the situation.
Mizuki looked at her muscular body, covered in gore and some sweat, and was content in seeing that none of the blood was hers. She then looked at her weights, still mostly intact despite the pumping of her muscles, whose weight had now been conquered by her. Sure, their weight was still there and she could very well feel it as it made moving her body the usual cumbersome, however in that case...
'I'll just have to push harder' Mizuki thought as pride for her accomplishments gave her warmth, but then shook her head as she thought 'Now's not the time self-congratulating, I have to get back in the fighting'
She looked around at any group of monsters headed her way, but found out that they were already all engaged by the Hero Association's forces, either professional heroes or Darkshine's fans. Speaking of him, he wasn't doing that much, merely standing in the back and roughly bumping in any monster that got too close, but Mizuki could clearly see that he was looking at his fans with pride.
She then turned to the skies, looking if she could jump and disrupt some flying monsters (she really wanted to truly test how high she could jump and especially how would she fare against airborne foes), but she was confused as flying monsters suddenly were cut into pieces while flying or about to ambush someone.
'Must be Flashy Flash's doing...' Mizuki thought as her gaze returned to the ground monsters 'No matter, I must prove my own too in this event, no matter what!'
Then suddenly a small section of the road was broken as a worm-like monster with a long thick horn roared and charged the athletic hero at great speed, but its primary weapon shattered as it roughly made contact with its prey's muscles. The monster roared in pain, but it was easily killed by a single punch to its head, shattering that as well in a shower of blood, chitin and brain chunks.
Mizuki didn't even turn around and only touched the part that was hit, finding no trace of blood or any kind of substantial injury. 'Still, it's not like the monsters here are that particularly powerful either...' she thought in slight disappointment, even though it was a sign she was getting incredibly powerful, but a louder roar quickly brought her back to reality.
She snapped her head in the sound's direction, expecting to find a particularly powerful or loud monster, but instead Mizuki was looking at a human.
Takanasha roared as she crashed into a crowd of monsters who, despite attacking her with a multitude of sharp claws, tentacles and utensils still failed to do any kind of damage to her. The bodybuilder cleaved through the bodies of the monsters she had crashed through, both alive and dead, with an upward swing of her leg.
She then turned to a large armadillo-looking monster seemingly made of concrete, who had turned himself in a ball and charged Takanasha with tremendous speed.
However, in a display of sharp senses as well as agility, she turned at the incoming attacker and threw back her right arm, making the muscles on her limb and back bulge so quickly and hard they created small ripples in the surrounding area. Takanasha then met the rolling ball of concrete as large as herself with a thunderous fist, which punched through the monster so hard her hand exited from the other side and the resulting shockwaves blew the monster apart from the inside.
As fleshy concrete chunks sailed all around, one of which hitting Mizuki square in the stomach (not that she felt that much pain, besides the impact made the concrete crumble), the athletic hero was stunned at her display of power.
'So this is the kind of fighter I have to surpass to make it into S class...' Mizuki thought with determination and chose to get closer to Takanasha, but not intervene in her incoming fight.
She charged once more against another crowd of incoming monsters as her legs bulged, then she crashed into the center crowd as bodies of flesh, slime and metal exploded or were crushed by her feet.
Takanasha then threw her fist to her left, obliterating the monsters in direct contact and tearing through those behind with the resulting shock wave. She wildly swung her flexed arms, who were now as large as tree trunks, and the shockwaves from the movements reduced the remaining crowd of three dozens monsters to pulp. Seeing the carnage she wrought, Takanasha roared in triumph.
'How wild, she's wasting too much energy showing off' Mizuki thought as nonchalantly shrugged off lead pipes swung at her right side, whose wielder was not reduced to bloody chunks with a couple of high-speed punches.
Mizuki decided to observe Takanasha a little more when she saw that the colossal bodybuilder was getting shot at.
"Hehe, your body surely can't take more of this, you better prepare to become rations!" a lizard-like monster with a ruined military uniform shouted as he hid behind a broken car while manning a machinegun, then one of his teammates, a black cyclop preparing a rocket launcher, told him "Uh, boss? She doesn't seem to be getting hurt..."
"Huh? What're talking abou-" the lizard muttered as he turned back to her target and his eyes nearly bulged out of his skull, thinking 'What the hell?! Her followers were already torn apart by this much firepower!'
Indeed, despite various bruises forming on her body due to the onslaught of lead, Takanasha didn't have any serious injuries and by now was slowly advancing. Panicking, the cyclop fired his rocket and it exploded right into her chest.
Mizuki was slightly worried about her and started sprinting to her, but stopped in relief upon hearing her now-familiar roar, so powerful that it blew the smoke away from her.
Takanasha was now sporting a nasty bleeding bruise in the center of of her chest, but her bulging body didn't show signs of weakening due to that. The bodybuilder leaped high as her legs broke a large section of the road and plummeted down the platoon, who were too slow or stunned to move out of the way.
As the payload of bulging muscles and steely bone crashed, she generated a powerful explosion that completely destroyed not only the road but also the surrounding area as the two cars used for cover were torn into ribbons and the buildings cracked at the shockwave.
Mizuki was actually stunned by this display, but it only strengthened her drive to outgrow her limits.
Takanasha slowly stood up from the crater, her pectoral muscles making her admittedly large chest giggle as she was breathing heavily, and looking at her powerful yet sagging form riddled with sweat made Mizuki think 'And now her stamina is almost spent, seems like training with her will do the both of us good. Might as well get Shinko too...'
However she shook her head as soon as Shinko entered the picture, a growing sense of jealousy creeping into her, and thought 'No, now that I think about it that would be a terrible idea...'
She returned her gaze to Takanasha, now no longer gasping for hair and instead facing a large flying monster which looked like a mix between a bird and a wyvern. It cawed loudly as it plummet at her and the colossal bodybuilder replied in kind as she propelled herself against it like a missile.
As beak and fist met, Takanasha's muscular arm easily tore through the monster into two bloody halves, but she didn't realize that it was a trap.
"Now, everyone!" a shout was heard and suddenly the bodybuilder was roughly grabbed by three monsters with purple skin and whose bodies looked like hands with neither eyes nor mouths, but unbeknownst to the assailants Takanasha didn't show any kind of worry whatsoever.
"Ha! As if a cowardly trick like this will work on me!" she shouted as her body shook in midair, her strength able to make the monsters lose their grip on her, but Takanasha wasn't finished. She grabbed the three monsters, one for each arm and the third between her thighs, and they all slammed into the asphalt below.
As the dust settled, Takanasha was at the center of yet another crater with a huge grin as she said "Didn't expect that huh? You shouldn't have underestimated one of the greatest bodybuilders on the planet, let alone one as close as Darky!"
"Our ambush..." the left hand monster moaned and the right one shouted "How could this happen?!" but the third one was strangely silent.
"Tch, don't play dead with me. I know you're alive" Takanasha said, but then noticed several shadows hanging over her. While she busy flaunting her strength, a small crowd of monsters gathered over her and their eyes were filled with sadistic malice.
"Oh" Takanasha said in an uncharacteristically small voice as sweat began running down her forehead. Then an onslaught of claws, slashes and bludgeons began.
As dozens of attacks rained on her, Takanasha started panicking as she thought 'Oh GOD, oh GOD, oh GOD what do I do?! There's so many of them and I'm stuck! If I don't think of something real quick I'm going to die!' even though the injuries she was getting weren't at all serious. But someone came to the rescue as the monsters looming over her were suddenly reduced to mulch by two powerful gusts of wind in quick succession.
Before Takanasha could look up to see her savior, a strong and confident voice addressed her "You're too focused on showing off and your fighting spirit dies off too quickly the second you face a slightly tougher challenge, but you still have great muscles"
She finally looked up to see none other than the young woman she was eyeing at the start of the raid, now covered in blood as she looked down her with a neutral yet slightly content expression.
Takanasha couldn't believe her eyes, when she first saw her she believed her to be just a random B class hero with better muscles than most, but the thing about her that Takanasha couldn't believe her eyes was that same hero bringing along weights.
'Those things look like those I use when preparing for the yearly international weight-lifting competition! How the hell is she even capable of fighting with that kind of strain!?' Takanasha thought incredulously as she faced this monster of a hero 'Is this the kind of heroes I'll have to surpass for me to get closer to Darky!?'
"You know, staring is rude" Mizuki told her with a mix of annoyance and amusement as she thought 'I can't believe I actually thought of her as a rival, the only thing she's got going for her is her physical prowess, and I have a knack for enduring hardships'
Takanasha snapped out of her stupor and flexed all of her muscles at the same time stronger than she ever did. This caused a large section of the road to crack under the pressure and a powerful shockwave to burst forth, barely phasing Mizuki despite standing right beside Takanasha. The three monsters, on the other hand, were reduced to bloody ribbons.
The bodybuilder quickly stood up in front of Mizuki and said "I'm not a hero like you, but know that I am one of the most powerful women on the planet. I'll become an S class hero in a matter of weeks!"
The athlete just laughed lightly and said "I know you're very strong, if fact you're the fifth strongest person I know, but being a hero isn't only about physical strength, it's about grit and you sorely lack in that area"
Takanasha was taken aback by how casually Mizuki was speaking to her, not even slightly fazed by her physique, but she couldn't deny that what the heroine said wasn't true.
'That panicking before was shameful, I must be better than that if I want to stay at his si-' Takanasha was berating herself but stopped as something dreadful was happening behind Mizuki who was instead calm, but still knew of what was happening behind her. The corpse of the third hand monster had started bubbling and sprouted tendrils to latch on to the other corpses, then it pulled all of them into itself as it transformed into a pulsing fleshy pile, which was rapidly growing and taking shape.
After thirty seconds it turned into a three meter tall humanoid monster with no discernable features aside from rippling muscles.
"What the-" "This is what I was talking about" Mizuki interrupted Takanasha as she walked closer to the monster, who had now noticed her. The bodybuilder was about to stop her as she said "Wait, you can't fight that thing with those weights and all of those injuries!"
Mizuki laughed again, this time harder, and said without turning to her "These weights are heavy as hell, but they only push me to fight harder. As for the blood...none of it is mine"
The two monsters began fighting and Takanasha could just stare in amazement.
X X X
Meanwhile in the surface, the western hero team was facing some difficulties. The surface monsters turned out to be more powerful than expected and as such a considerable part of their escort, made up by B and C class heroes, had been rendered unconscious or had been killed.
Zombieman was fighting off dozens of monster hordes by himself, but it was an uphill battle between the continuous injuries and the need to reload his guns. Metal Knight's robots meanwhile were admittedly doing a good job at whittling down the monsters' numbers, but they were far away from the rest of the team due to the one controlling them wanting to disrupt any kind of reinforcements.
Child Emperor, meanwhile, was organizing a makeshift HQ and overseeing two dozen drones while they did the heavy lifting. They were small cubical things on treads with long metallic arms, but they were much strongest than they looked; half of them were hauling broken cars to use as cover and the bodies of unresponding heroes to be sent back to the army, while the other half was busy killing monsters with automatic turrets mounted on their heads.
'As soon as they're done hauling the heroes we'll push forth and help out Zombieman' Child Emperor thought as he forced himself to look at the bodies of fallen heroes being hauled away from the fighting. That was always an eventuality in this line of work and he had to accept it if he wanted to fit in with the rest of the S class.
He shook his head as to not get distracted any further, but a soft ringing from his pant pocket prevented him from doing that. He reached out to grab the communicator and instantly knew that this call was coming from the secret channel.
"It's not a bad time to call, right?" Phoenix Man said from the other end and Child Emperor replied "No, right now I'm alone, what news do you have?" while he prepared for the worst.
"As for the main objective, I located Waganma and have currently eliminated the guards in front of his cell since they were talking about eating him. So far very few monsters have entered the perimeter and were either passing by or left very quickly after being called back to their posts. I think I can hold this position for a few more hours until some higher-ranked monster notices something amiss" Phoenix Man reported with a serious yet satisfied voice.
'Finally some good news' Child Emperor didn't voice this thought and instead asked "Very good, anything else?" which prompted the costume human to respond "Yes! The reason I originally called you was because Shinko and I were transported to random locations immediately after entering the Monster Association's HQ, the former in particular reporting that he was unable to avoid the trap. I believe this to be a secret device of Gyoro Gyoro and as such I don't exactly know its full functions and limitations"
Child Emperor's expression soured and said "Alright, I'll keep it in mind, keep guarding the jail section and don't get caught" then closed the communication device. He turned around and saw that all the bodies had been successfully relocated, which made him smile and take out a remote from his backpack.
He pressed a few buttons, which made the robots march in the direction of the fighting as small yet deadly machineguns sprouted from their back and were mounted on top of their cubic heads.
Child Emperor and his small mechanical army ran through the broken battlefield, mowing down crowds of monsters and saving heroes in need of help, until they reached the one the young hero was looking for, among a pile of corpses. Zombieman was currently regenerating as he took out a sigarette from his bloody and slightly torn coat and lit it, but as soon as he saw Child Emperor run up to his with a cohort of small robots he immediately put it away.
"Zombieman, I came as soon as I could! The bodies of fallen heroes have been hauled off to the safe zone and I just got new Intel from the spy robots currently in the base. Apparently there is some sort of device which is able to displace living beings in random parts of their base and its range appears to cover all of their base's outer perimeter" Child Emperor informed him and Zombieman's expression also soured.
"That makes our division into teams useless, let's think of ways to counteract this device or exploit weaknesses while we wait for the order to go in. We'll tell the others once we come with a solution" the undying hero said and Child Emperor nodded.
X X X
'Hello Drive Knight, sorry for calling you so suddenly, but I was busy with other things yesterday. What did you want to tell me?' a disembodied voice rang inside advanced cybernetics, going past encrypted programs like nothing.
'That your entire plan is bound to fail horribly, you know the S class heroes will sweep all of the Monster Association's HQ. That leaves a high probability of them finding and subsequently killing all of your group's members' Drive Knight mentally used his communication function as he slashed the last monsters on his path.
'Don't worry, you know I put all of my computing power on planning all possible routes and hostile encounters and I've come up with dozens of different strategies. Between Ariol's focused rampage guided by his mental link with Gaia and our biological tracker on her we'll be done in about an hour with some time to spare too!' the voice on the other end replied.
'I reiterate, Malathos, that this is a horrible idea...but you have my wish for a clean success. Just for a heads up, here on the surface the eastern and southern teams have currently eliminated all hostiles, while the western and northern is getting close to their objective' Drive Knight mentally sent his message as the last monster fell to his blade.
'Thanks, and I believe this to be the 100th time I told you to stop referring to me by that name, it's Malware now and I'd like to keep it that way. Anyway, speaking of heads ups, the Monster Association's HQ is protected by what appears to be a quantum device capable of displacing several beings at once in a random part of the complex's outer perimeter, however it appears that it's not fully charged and thus its coverage is spotty...at least for a few more minutes' Malware's voice rang with slight annoyance.
'Just what your group needed, am I to assume that you've manufactured the device?' Drive Knight sent his message with a cheeky hint, oddly enough.
'Oh please, you know I don't have free access anymore to the Organization's secret manufacturing plants, besides I have no idea myself of the device's very nature as I just assumed of its existence due to the field's presence. It could be magic or a monster's ability for all we knew' Malware's voice rang once more, to which Drive Knight responded with a dead-serious message consisting of 'Don't joke about such things'
'Alright, alright, sorry. I know how passionate you are about your hero work' Malware relented, then added 'Before I leave you, thanks for covering Phoenix Man's involvement with Child Emperor during that meeting. It means a lot. And as thanks your station has been refueled and resourced twice as good, with even a spare body already made for you in case the current one gets destroyed'
'Thanks, and good luck with your mission' Drive Knight sent his last message as he closed communications, then felt a hand pat his shoulder. He turned and found Silverfang at his side, trying to get his attention.
"You better hurry up, Atomic Samurai has already gone down to the Monster Association's HQ" Bang said as he turned and ran after his other companion. Drive Knight simply shrugged and followed the old man.
X X X
Shinko had been running for some time, killing whatever group of monsters he came across and occasionally running through walls at Flake Mage's suggestion, all the while also trying to find signs of Catfish Man, Maiko or even Raptora, apparently the new member of Flake Mage's group. But so far he hadn't found any.
"It should be close by now, right?" Shinko asked with a hint of impatience and Flake Mage, after looking around the slightly blurry surroundings said "The guy should be right up ahead!"
Shinko ran through a thick two-faced wooden door, with Flake Mage hiding behind his back to not get a concussion, and found himself in a long, expansive hallway with thick stone pillars and rows of torches at either side.
"Yep, just right up ahead" Flake Mage quipped from on top of the hero's fluffy head as Shinko walked up to the door at the end, looking around for any ambushes either from behind the pillars or from the hallways on the sides.
As soon as he got in range of an immaculate red carpet with a door behind it and some monsters at the sides, Shinko whispered to his guide "No matter what, stay close to me"
As soon as he got close, a monkey-looking monster with large eyes and long thin mustache greeted him "Ah, you must be the Fighter of the Outskirts. Quite some of us were expecting you but let's skip the pleasantries, I feel like you have urgent business to get to"
"Exactly, kindly show me the way to the big shot and I'll do the rest" Shinko replied cordially and Flake Mage had no idea whether he was being sincere or not.
"Right this way then! Along with your guide for the day" the monster replied as he and another monster opened the door, then quickly closed it and put a thick log in the middle to keep from opening.
Inside there was a noisy crowd of monsters disposed in a circle with a gap meant for the two to walk through. As he listened to the chants and things said, Shinko wondered what exactly did the guy do to warrant this much hostility.
"Finally, a show to remember!" "Come on Shinko, we're rooting for you!" "I'll be getting what's left of the guy's corpse!" "No, I will!" "At least there will be one less annoyance to deal with..." the voices chanted almost in unison all around him.
Flake Mage meanwhile put up quite a show and acted as if he was escorting a celebrity through a crowd of rabid fans. Being nearly wounded by a scythe made him quickly stop and hurry along though.
As the two got to the center, Shinko found his earlier question answered as he looked at the monster in front of him. A tall vampire with sharp looks, teeth and an even sharper mane of hair, he was finely dressed in intimidating yet elegant clothing and held an expression of pure contempt.
"I'm surprised to have you here, though that surely explains why the vermin were acting up so much-" Pureblood spoke, but he had no time to finish as Shinko obliterated his body in two swift punches, then spun his body like a tornado, cracking a large section of the floor and effectively creating wide blades of wind, which tore through all the monsters and the walls on the sides, except those behind the two sole living in the room.
Despite being completely unharmed, this experience was especially traumatic to Flake Mage, for the scene was completely normal, only for it all to turn into a cyclone of viscera and debris in a split second. As the destruction subsided the small monster was speechless and Shinko looking down at him with slight regret, kneeled down to his level and said "I know that was especially merciless from someone like me, in order to effectively destroy the Monster Association almost all of its members have to be eradicated"
"Wait, really?" Flake Mage said with a half-closed eye, confusion clear in his tone "Don't you usually kill the leader and the higher-ups and leave the minions alone?"
"That only works for small groups of monsters with simple leadership structures and only to natural monsters. Not only the Monster Association is massive with a rather complex leadership, but these monsters are banded together by an ideal, something very rare when it comes to monsters...but also a powerful motivator due to their almost natural arrogance. If Dragon levels have set aside their differences to fight alongside each other, then a serious clean up has to be enacted to truly stop the rise of splinter groups" Shinko explained to him.
"Oh, that makes sense but I was only weirdened out by the brutality of it. Besides I'm worried about my friends, I don't know where they are..." Flake Mage as he got sad once again.
Shinko genuinely felt bad for the guy, reminding him how bad he felt the day after the surprise attack.
"I know how you feel, I was in the same situation a few days ago with the Wastelanders and Mizuki...but a party from E City's monster community has come to extract them along with another monster called 'Gaia' and trust me when I say they're a capable bunch" Shinko reassured the small monster and then got up, giving him his back.
Flake Mage was about to climb up, but he was paralyzed by an aura of bloodlust coming from Shinko himself, who ominously said "As for the brutality, they came very close to harming my friends and especially my family...so they're going to pay dearly for that"
'Whoa, the rumors didn't say anything about this side of him!' Flake Mage thought as his entire being shook to its core.
Then the aura disappeared and, as Flake Mage began being able to breathe once more, Shinko said "Anyway, we've talked enough. There's still a lot of monsters to slay!" and let the ice mage climb up on his back, then he leaped through the hole created by his punches and started running once more.
"So, are there any Cadres nearby?" Shinko asked his guide as he turned his head around. Flake Mage briefly looked around to get a feeling of the layout and said excitedly "Yeah, a few ways away there should be a huge vault with one inside. Just keep going right this way and we should be there in a blink of an eye!"
Shinko was about to go full speed ahead, but a surprise attack to his left caught his attention as a huge hairless monster sprung forth from the floor with his cavernous mouth fully opened. It had the intent to swallow them both, but he never got the chance as a precise fist obliterated his internal organs and cleanly split the monster in two.
Flake Mage was amazed as he clearly witnessed the act of strength, but Shinko didn't mind it too much as he said "And that's one! Off to the other one!" and proceeded at full speed, with his guide holding on his shoulders for dear life.
As the duo got away, black tar crawled from the cracks between the bricks and a probe of Petrolic Wraith sloshed forth. As it looked at Gums' corpse it said in fake dismay "Oh dear, this isn't going to go over well with Gyoro Gyoro...and I can't quickly revive it without massively weakening it. I suppose I'll store it somewhere else instead, for when I'm ready to take my leave"
The two halves of Gums were thus encased in large bubbles of tar and slid right through the cracks in the floor.
X X X
Back in his quarters, Petrolic Wraith thought 'I have to hand it to you, Gyoro Gyoro. Your magic trick is nothing short of impressive, a phenomenon I never thought of having another chance to observe so clearly, but I have my ways of going around these types of traps...' and his white reptilian pupil became bright blue as several veins of the same color sprouted from it.
In front of his augmented eye, the physical reality he was in was replaced by a black space illuminated by a few particles of blue light...and many thick purple lines starting from a far-off source and extending into the distance, creating a gigantic cocoon with a few holes in various areas.
'Hmm, I see it's still incomplete. This will greatly simplify things' Petrolic Wraith thought as he mentally commanded his probes to pick up and transport several biological vats of genetic material and neuro-documents to the marked location.
'But before I leave, there are a lot of things I have to do, first of which is...' Petrolic Wraith thought as he gave a mental command to his laboratory's biological structure, which injected stimulating chemicals into the bodies of the Antlion Brutes through a proboscis lightly piercing their backs and had the black tendrils drop them onto the floor. Almost automatically, the hulking insectoid monsters rose up and marched out of the laboratory in an ordered line to various locations, assigned to them by Petrolic Wraith on Gyoro Gyoro's behalf.
'They're taken care of...and now I only have to awaken you' Petrolic Wraith thought as he crawled into his laboratory to manually awaken the new and improved Antlion King.
X X X
Takanasha's body and mind were wracked with nervousness, both the good kind as she looked forward to prove herself to the surrounding heroes (first of all Darkshine) and the bad kind as she was actually kind of scared.
This was the third time Takanasha fought monsters, the first time being against a wolf level when she was only eight years old yet she came out on top...with a lot of surface injuries and massive trauma. The second time was against a whole group of them when she was only 18 years old when she started heavily training, but to her the most dangerous weapons at their disposal were their insults, but the incouragements of some of her classmates made her push through in the end with only some injuries.
This was the third time and the prospect of facing head on so many monsters scared her to the core, but seeing her clubmates and especially the heroes rising to the challenge so eagerly made her ashamed of herself, but also pushed her to tear through her fears and face it as well.
Still, mental incouragements not backed up by experience in fighting monsters could only go so far and Takanasha, despite her creeping anxiety and resurfacing trauma, was still willing to participate in the raid and fight with her bulging muscles. She needed to get past her mental limit to not be dead weight to everyone else.
And that was when she had an idea.
While her anxiety wasn't a problem at all in her normal life, Takanasha would often put up a character during her dead-lifting competitions and other such athletic events, which helped her feeling more at ease when in front of jury and public with her muscles and a lot of her chest exposed.
So that's what she did in the Raid, and it really worked wonders...until she was unable to respond to that ambush.
Now, as she watched Mizuki fight, Takanasha started thinking that perhaps she was still too inadequate to become a hero.
'Mizuki is really good at taking hits and managing her stamina, though I think that's partly because she isn't feeling any pain and has huge amounts of stamina to draw from...' Takanasha thought as she intently looked at the heroine's form and movements.
On the other hand, Mizuki was happy with her new company as she thought 'When I first came to watch Takanasha participating in weight-lifting competitions on TV, her swagger and aggression always threw me off, but past that Takanasha makes for very good company! Besides, with her goal of making it in S class and getting close to Darkshine, her and I can become training partners...though I want to spend more time with Shinko, so I'll include him too if she wants to train with me'
The two were running to kill off the remaining monsters on the surface, and realized that the battle for the surface was coming to an end as they saw dozens of monster corpses strewn across the landscape...however they could also see human corpses as well, crushed and mangled...in some cases even half-eaten too.
And to the horror of Takanasha, most of the corpses were once members of Darkshine's. Her expression hardened with sadness and hatred as she felt partly responsible for letting them down, even though all those who showed up did so voluntarily.
'Monster Association, this has become personal!' Takanasha thought with rage and in the distance she heard a roar. Smirking at the prospect of taking her rage on something, she turned to the source and saw a humanoid rhino stomping forth in her direction.
"I am Rhino Wrestler, Demon level threat monster. I seek to challenge the S class heroes!" he bellowed as Mizuki got into a fighting position, but an open hand raised towards her stopped her.
"I know my performance was subpar throughout the whole Raid, but please let me redeem myself in your eyes!" Takanasha said with a tone dripping with determination (though to the athlete it sounded like begging) as she placed her open hand from in front of Mizuki to the center of her chest.
'But I wanted to fight him...' Mizuki groaned mentally at the prospect of handing away the possibility of fighting an actually worthwhile opponent, but for Takanasha's sake (who the heroine was starting to find endearing) she decided to give her that.
'Not like she's going to get seriously hurt anyway. If there's something going for her it is definitely her durability. And if she's in trouble I can finish off the monster myself' Mizuki mentally reasoned as she looked at Takanasha, who wore a determined expression and got herself in a stance the heroine was unfamiliar with.
The colossal bodybuilder took a deep breath and exhaled, then took another deep and exhaled, then took yet another deep breath and exhaled. The monster was intently looking at her, actually interested in what she was going to do.
Then something amazing happened.
As Takanasha took a fourth deep she suddenly flexed all of her muscles, which created an explosion of pressure that destroyed a huge section of the road, lightly cracked the exterior of the surrounding buildings and even made Mizuki lose her footing. As the heroine stood up she almost couldn't believe her eyes.
Takanasha's muscles swelled so much they almost surpassed the sizes of Darkshine's own muscles. Her limbs were twice as thick as tree trunks, her pectoral muscles strained her top as they pushed her now comparatively small chest and Takanasha's own was slightly entrenched in her neck muscles.
In her new mighty yet cumbersome form Takanasha took a step forward, making the asphalt beneath crack and slightly tremble, and then threw herself forward with her huge legs, cracking a large section of the road and creating a powerful shockwave that would've swept Mizuki off her feet if she didn't prepare for it.
Rhino Wrestler laughed as he charged his foe, but before he could register what was happening Takanasha had already passed by him with her large fist outstretched...and a split second later the monster's body exploded in a shower of blood, akin to a balloon.
Mizuki's mouth was now wide open as she stared at the giant being that Takanasha had become, but immediately after Rhino Wrestler's messy death her body convulsed as her muscles shrank and returned to their normal size, if not looking a tad deflated. The heroine wasted no time bolting to Takanasha's side, who was on sitting on the road with her eyes half-closed and her skin pale.
Mizuki grabbed her wrist to check her pulse and was slightly worried as she felt it rather weak, but Takanasha noticed her and slowly raised her free hand as she said "Don't worry, I'm fine. It's just that I'm not used to using this technique's full potential..."
"So this is the trick you sometime use at events to hype the crowd..." Mizuki and Takanasha replied "Yeah, this technique is called Power Quake and I learned it for various reasons, like-" but the heroine stopped her as she said "Don't speak, rest up for now and get up only when you stop feeling light-headed. We won't go down in the depths, but we still have the duty to kill any monster that gets out"
Takanasha nodded, shuddering at the thought of what terrors may lie in the Monster Association's HQ, and the two sat there together, unaware that the S class heroes were now descending into the Monster Association's HQ.
X X X
One punch was all it took to obliterate the opposing group of monsters in his way and he was just now coming to terms that maybe he was never going to have an exciting fight any time soon. But now there were more important things to think about.
"So this is from where the monsters appear all the time" Saitama surmised as he looked around the moss-covered dark sewers, before staring at the ground "Still, I haven't found any entrances to the Monster Association. Should have told Genos to get me a map of the place...
Then he kept walking forward as he brainstormed possible ways to find the HQ "Maybe if I just punch my way until I find it? Didn't really work in that weird alien battleship though..."
After a minute of thinking about it Saitama decided that this strategy was worth a shot and punched the wall to his right...which revealed a poorly-lit tunnel.
'This must be it!' Saitama thought hopefully and walked into the opening, but in a split second the world around him was submerged in an oppressive blackness. So Saitama did the obvious thing and moved (or better yet "phased") out of the strange darkness.
He found himself just a little more forward into the tunnel and looked back at the makeshift entrance to see if there were traces of whatever happened. Only to find absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.
"Well, that was weird...I wonder what that void does?" Saitama asked himself and decided there was really no harm in trying to find out, so he moved back outside and walked in once more.
The blackness enveloped him slowly (according to Saitama's perspective) and he suddenly found himself in a nicely-kept hallway with rows of huge pillars with some torches here and there.
"Oh, that's pretty cool" Saitama said to no one in particular as he looked around...until it dawned on him that now he still had no idea where he was. "Back to punching my way, then" Saitama reasoned.
X X X
"I'll be honest with you, Hidden Seeker, this device of yours isn't exactly showing too much promise..." Gyoro Gyoro said its patience was wearing thin, which prompted the cultist to say "No worries, Psykos, the Space Distorter still requires a few minutes of charging before its cover over the HQ will be absolute. Besides, we decided to activate the device now instead of later in order to confuse any would-be ambushers or prevent or bargaining chip from escaping"
Gyoro Gyoro was mostly unamused by the name used by Hidden Seeker, but accepted her reasoning nonetheless.
"The first part of the raid has concluded and the losses on our side are mostly negligible, which leaves the heroes tired and our most powerful troops in top shape. Victory will be ours!" the tactician bellowed while the Space Distorter at the center of the room started rumbling, its structure and central sphere glowing with otherworldly light.
...That was a lot, huh? Let's discuss it then.
About Shinko, I think those of you who have read these last chapters have started to notice that I'm trying to flesh out more his character. I know it sounds hypocritical of me to ask for reviews when I haven't published a single chapter for a whole year, so don't feel obligated to do it.
About Takanasha, the first thought I had when making this character was that I wanted Darkshine to have a love interest, but then I thought of her interactions with other characters, her personality and backstory and I can safely say now that I made a fully-fledged character. Having read the parts about her, what do you think?
About Mizuki, while we are getting closer to the more romance-filled part of the story, I'm making sure that she doesn't end up just as a love interest and has other goals and connections with other characters (like Takanasha); also the scene of Mizuki getting jealous is just a callback to Shinko getting jealous of King, it won't affect character interactions in the slightest.
About Malware and Drive Knight, I can't say I had all that lore in mind when I first thought of the characters, but I think that all of that is cool and I will do everything in my power to make sure that it all seems very well foreshadowed by previous chapters (friendly reminder that this is my first story and that it doesn't have almost any notes on what is supposed to happen).
Lastly, I'm sure you understand that the following events in this story will be much different from the canon's, especially the Arcs after the Monster Association.
With that, I hoped you liked this chapter and we'll see each other onto the next one (hopefully within the month!).