Monster Mask had jumped away to get Waganma to safety, leaving the other Heroes of the Support Team to fend for themselves as they patrolled and secured their surroundings. The team had spent the past few minutes searching for monsters, taking down any of the stragglers they came across.
Once it truly seemed that all the monsters on the surface were dealt with, Death Gatling yelled to the Support Team, "Alright, everyone! Green has sealed all the exits, so should do it for now! Monster Mask is likely gonna be back in a few minutes, so everyone who wants to go down below with him, get into one group, and everyone else should get into another group."
"Hey, wait a second...! What's that?" Poison asked as he looked down the street.
As everyone turned to face where Poison was staring, they saw a tall, bipedal cat monster walking towards them.
Taking a step back as he got on guard, Sekingar asked, "It's approaching us by itself...? Is that one any more dangerous than the others? Can anyone tell?!"
"Did you miss a spot over there, Green?" Crescent Eyebroll asked.
As he sweated slightly, Green answered, "I... No. I sealed all the exits in that direction."
"Don't worry, troop! Myself and One Shotter will take care of this! Come on, kid!" Uchiara declared as he aimed his rifle.
"Right right," One Shotter answered as he rested his sniper on a stone and took aim as well.
Once they had both lined up their shots, Uchiara fired a controlled burst of three rounds, while One Shotter fired a single bullet from his weapon. However, as soon as the rounds got close to their target, the cat monster intercepted them with its claws, before returning the bullets to those the ones fired them.
From the perspective of the Heroes, as soon as Uchiara and One Shotter fired their guns, their bullets had somehow hit them instead of the monster. One Shotter only survived due to his sniper eye patch being what took the blow. Regardless, the recoil was still enough to knock him out cold. Simultaneously, two of Uchiara's rounds struck his chest, with a third hitting and shattering the front of his helmet.
As the two gunmen of the Heroes' team collapsed to the ground, the cat monster remarked, "Oh! It's actually a bunch of weak Heroes this time. Wonderful! All of you, come play with me and help me let out all this stress."
After checking to make sure One Shotter was still alive, Needle Star gritted his teeth and began to take steps forward. At the same time, Lightning Genji had darted over to check on and block everyone else's view of Uchiara before anyone else could get a look at his face.
"You damn bastard..." Needle Star seethed as he readied his weapon.
However, he was stopped when Jet Nice Guy grabbed his shoulder and told him, "Hold on! This one is really strong. We all need to be cautious and work together if we want to take it down... Wait, where'd the cat go?!"
As soon as Jet Nice Guy finished talking, the cat monster suddenly appeared in the center of the group. Simultaneously, Jet Nice Guy, Needle Star, Gearsper, Twin Tail, Narcisstoic, and Lightning Genji all suddenly shouted in pain as they fell over. Each one of them suddenly had blood fly from their torsos as their chests had been clawed open.
As the remaining Heroes looked at the cat monster and its blood-drenched claws in fear, the creature told them, "Hello, everyone. My name is Nyan, and I'm a Monster Association Cadre..." The beast then switched to a mutter as it finished, "Admittedly, I already quit, though."
While sparks of energy crackled from Gearsper's headgear, he exclaimed from the ground, "A... A Cadre!?"
Looking at the beaten Heroes inquisitively, Nyan thought to itself, Hmm. So this is all they've got on the surface? It's just as Gyoro Gyoro said. The Hero Association's combat forces are actually pretty weak. I knew that bald guy I encountered underground was a special case. Escaping to the surface was definitely the right move. From now on, I'll follow my monstrous desires and do things my way! I just love playing with toys until they break.
Grinning with huge razor-sharp teeth, Nyan asked, "What's wrong, gang? Cat got your tongue?"
Stepping forward while pointing his spear at the enemy, Stinger remarked, "Who cares if you're a Cadre?! You guys already lost anyway! We already got the hostage out of the city!"
"You did...? Well then! Once I'm done playing with all of you, I guess I should speed off and play with the child too! He couldn't have gotten too far by now. Oh, what fun!" As Nyan made its declaration, its mouth contorted into an impossibly huge grin filled with so many monstrous teeth that the creature could easily bite a full-grown man's head clean off.
As Stinger recoiled at that remark, Green slammed his hands to the street and yelled, "Dammit, Stinger! Why didn't you just keep your mouth shut!?"
Suddenly, a mess of vines wrapped shot out of the cement and wrapped themselves around Nyan's body. At the same time, Strange Binding Shell lassoed a rope on top of the vines.
"I know how easily Monster Mask broke these, but this should at least slow the thing down for a few seconds, right?" Shell muttered quickly.
Suddenly, Mizuki detached one of her medals from the sashes around her neck. The metal plate then tripled in size as the sports star Hero threw it at the monster's face.
"Discus Throw!"
As the disk approached it and the vines spread to its face, Nyan mockingly asked, "You think you can restrain me with this?"
The monster then made us of its mighty maw once the disk reached its face, biting the metal plate out of the air and shattering it in the process.
After that, Poison jumped at the monster and slashed at its eyes with his knife.
It just needs to be a scratch! Poison thought.
However, as his blade reached the monster's eye, Nyan closed its eyelid and caught the knife with it. Nyan then jerked its head back and snapped the blade in two.
As Poison looked at this feat of power with horror, Monster Mask's words about getting a stronger weapon rang through his mind. Immediately proceeding that, self-loathing spread throughout the C-Class Hero for not holding onto Monster Mask's gauntlet.
"Damn it!" Poison yelled as Shadow Ring and Feather shot past him.
As the two A-Class Heroes slashed at Nyan with their own clawed weapons. However, just before they could connect with their target, Nyan's body suddenly became paper-thin. With its form's new thickness or lack thereof, Nyan slipped out of its bindings and avoided Feather and Shadow Ring's attacks.
"As I thought, you guys are weak," Nyan remarked as it slipped away.
Without going very far, though, Nyan was suddenly standing behind Poison, Shadow Ring, and Feather, as their weapons were minced and their torsos were cut open.
"Now then, who's next?" Nyan asked.
Suddenly springing to his feet despite the blood leaking from him, Uchiara clenched his fists as he spun around and glared daggers at Nyan. However, thanks to how heavily damaged his armor was, this action revealed to all the other Heroes what Uchiara's actual appearance was.
"What?! The super soldier's a monster too?!" Crescent Eyebroll shouted.
"Yes, I'm part monster! We don't have time for that! This bastard's gonna kill this kid if we don't focus!" Just as Uchiara exclaimed this, a backhanded slash appeared along his chest, with more blood fountaining out of him.
"He's right, you know," Nyan chided as it dropped Uchiara for a second time.
"Giga Thrust!" Stinger yelled as he suddenly missiled forward with his spear.
With no effort on its part, Nyan noodled its body aside and avoided Stinger's attack. Just as quickly, though, Stinger stopped his momentum by spinning his spear like a propeller to push himself back toward his target.
"That's not it, flea ball! ENDLESS GIGA THRUST!"
After that, Stinger shot back at Nyan with his spear once again, with the monster avoiding him once more. However, Stinger simply repeated the same motions to launch himself back at Nyan over and over again.
This repeated for a full minute and, despite the intricacy of Stinger's moves, he managed to launch each attack in less than a second each time. By the end of it all, Stinger was darting through the air around Nyan so quickly that he appeared as a blur to most of the other Heroes. Unfortunately, Stinger's moves came to a stop on his one hundred twenty-second attack, as his arms' strength gave out.
As he landed in front of Nyan, sweating buckets and gasping for air, Stinger remarked, "Damn... I know I said (huff) it was endless, but that's (huff) all I can pull off right now... Didn't even hit the jackass once!"
Simultaneously, while not tired in the least, Nyan looked at least put-off.
That asshole! I actually had to put effort into dodging all those attacks! Nyan lamented internally.
As Stinger kept his spear positioned in front of his body, holding it with both hands, he suddenly felt his grip shift as his weapon was shredded in the middle. At the same time, Stinger felt several claws dig into his gut, only stopped from going any deeper by the fractional amount of damage his spear absorbed.
The instant the spear-wielded was laid out at Nyan's feet, while some of the Heroes were stunned, Crescent Eyebroll, Double Hole, and Strange Binding Shell rushed in as Green forced a pair of tree trunk-sized vines from the earth to lash at Nyan. Crescent slashed at the cat monster with his cutlass, as Double Hole sneezed a blast of concussive air, and Strange whipped with one of his ropes.
Unfortunately, in a blur of motion, the three Heroes who rushed in found their weapons and chests cut to pieces. In addition, Green suddenly found himself on the ground before he could understand what was happening, as Nyan was miraculously standing behind his lifeless body.
"Oh, Hell! This isn't good!" Sekingar exclaimed.
However, Sekingar's already tense body tightened up even more when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. Panicked, Sekingar spun around and threw a punch, but his fist was caught in the free hand of Uchiara.
As Food Battler and Captain Mizuki rushed in next, Sekingar asked, "Huh!? When did you-?"
"I rushed over while the cat was distracted! Shut up and listen, suit! I know you got control over that bomb in my neck, so I'm expecting you to make good use of it. I'm gonna get that thing in a grapple, and then you set off the bomb to take that freak out! Got it?! And as for you two!" Uchiara then shifted his gaze to Lin Lin and Death Gatling before finishing, "You're the only other ones able-bodied enough to get the unconscious to safety! I expect as much from you both!"
"Huh!? But you're the only one who's gotten back up from-!"
Rushing away from his three still-conscious allies and towards Nyan, Uchiara exclaimed, "Fatso and Amazoness are down already! Let's move!"
As Uchiara had claimed, Food Battler and Mizuki were both on the ground. Food Battler had gotten his front ripped open like the others, while Mizuki looked concussed after being smacked in the head by Nyan's tail.
Following their instincts, Lin Lin and Death Gatling started running after Uchiara, both internally praying that whatever plan about bombs he mentioned with Sekingar would work.
Moving faster than either of his two allies could hope to match, Uchiara reached Nyan and dove at the monster to tackle it.
Nyan was far faster than Uchiara, however, and was about to bat him away with another claw swipe but stopped suddenly when it felt something strike the back of its head. The blow wasn't hard enough to do any real damage, but it shocked Nyan for the extra second Uchiara needed to get the monster grappled.
Behind Nyan, Stinger had just thrown what was left of the butt of his spear at the freaky feline's head.
"Ha...! Gotcha, jackass...!"
In his blood-deprived condition, Stinger hadn't knowingly acted in cooperation with Uchiara's plan. Instead, he simply wanted to get a hit off on the monster after missing his mark so many times.
The second Uchiara grabbed Nyan, Lin Lin and Death Gatling ran through, picking up and kicking away any nearby bodies.
The next second, as Nyan came back to its senses, Uchiara shouted, "Do it, Sekingar! And Stinger... Tell my grandson that his Pop-Pop died good!"
Coming back to his senses after being kicked away by Death Gatling, all Stinger could respond with was, "Huh?! Hold on, what are you doing, War King?!"
For just a moment, Sekingar hesitated, unable to press the button on his watch for reasons he himself couldn't quite understand. Unfortunately, during this half-second, Nyan had returned to its paper-thin form and started to slip from Uchiara's grasp.
"DO IT, YOU IDIOT!" Uchiara monstrously roared at the top of his lungs while desperately clawing at the cat creature's slithering form.
Acting on reflex, Sekingar did as he was ordered and pressed a red button on the side of his wristwatch. The next second, Uchiara felt a sharp, burning pain in his neck before immediately losing all feeling entirely.
I hope you can be proud of me, my sweet Junkosui. These were the last thought that went through Uchiara's head.
To the surprise of a few of the conscious Heroes, Uchiara's body suddenly exploded in a fiery blast. The explosion was large enough to punch a hole in the street all the way down to the Monster Association tunnels and shattered the cement and glass of the walls and windows of the surrounding buildings.
As Nyan attempted to leap away, its right leg remained extended. Because of this, that limb got caught in the explosion. The heat and force of this blast were so great that it actually caused this Dragon Level monster pain, burning the flesh and fur on its foot in the process.
Once the explosion was finished, Nyan landed on the ground, wincing when its newly scorched right foot touched the cracked streets.
"Damn... Damn it! If I was just a second faster, we could've had a chance!" Sekingar screamed.
"Huh...? War King...? Uchiara?! You didn't actually...!? I mean, you couldn't have!" Stinger pleaded as he tried to stand back up.
"FUCK! Why couldn't that thing just die!?" Death Gatling shouted.
Trembling, Lin Lin exclaimed, "We... We're all gonna die... We... No! I have to keep fighting! I told Shunshi I could handle myself! I-!"
However, before anyone else could make a move or even a sound, Nyan appeared in front of the three conscious Heroes, glaring at them as it proclaimed, "Okay, now I'm pissed!"
Nyan then made a sweeping strike at Death Gatling, Lin Lin, and Stinger, sending all three flying. Surprisingly, none of them received any gashes from this attack. Even more shocking was the fact that suddenly everyone else, aside from Nyan, was floating in the air as well.
Examining themselves, all of the conscious Heroes saw as psychic barriers formed around their bodies and moved them away.
The only one exempted from this experience was the C-Class Hero, Gearsper. Having climbed back to his feet, Gearsper was gritting his teeth and staring down Nyan as his helmet sparked and started to crack apart.
As more and more psychic energy erupted from Gearsper's head, he shouted, "GAAAAH! Everyone, stay away from me! After seeing Lady Tatsumaki's powers, my imagination started running wild! I can't control it, and I can hardly let it out! But for the sake of everyone, I have to, even if it kills me!"
Once everyone was set down away from Gearsper and Nyan, crackling psychic energy spread to all of the buildings that lined the street.
Shocked and amazed, Food Battler, having lost half of his body fat, stood up and remarked, "Is that really Gearsper? Even amongst the C-Class, he always seemed unimpressive..."
Nodding, Sekingar replied, "I know what you mean. Even the higher-ups who made an exception to let him join for his psychic powers didn't... think... Wait! Food Battler?! I thought Nyan took you out!"
Pointing to his shredded costume, Food Battler explained, "Actually, I was just in shock. I've lost my energy now, but his claws went around the fat rolls of my stomach when they were still there. See? No blood."
"You... You're joking," Lin Lin remarked.
Before any more conversation could be made on this topic, the buildings that had been suffused with Gearsper's power suddenly started to compress in on themselves. The structures then molded into massive concrete spikes circling above Nyan, surrounding the monster on all sides.
Slamming his fists down in the air, Gearsper let out an earsplitting battlecry as he rained the spikes onto Nyan and buried the monster in a mountain of cement, steel, and glass.
At the same time, as everyone else looked on in awe, Death Gatling made sure to put his explosive clip back into his weapon. He then pointed the barrel of his gun at the pile of debris as Gearsper used all the power he could to crush and condense the materials down as much as possible.
Gearsper's helmet then finished cracking, falling to pieces off his face, as he exclaimed, "That... That's it...! That's all I've got...! I've repaid my debts..." The psychic C-Class then collapsed onto his face, having spent as much energy as he possibly could.
"That... That was incredible. We actually won. Hehe! That's what happens when you mess with the Hero Association!" Sekingar stated.
However, as soon as Sekingar said this, Nyan slipped out of the rubble in its thin mode.
"So, he used up all his power and self-destructed. How pathetic," Nyan remarked to its stunned crowd.
Just as everyone started to panic, though, Death Gatling aimed his arm cannon and opened fire while shouting, "DEATH TSUNAMI!"
Death Gatling then unloaded his entire explosive clip in Nyan's direction. The enhanced rate of fire combined with the explosive rounds caused a far more volatile attack than the Death Shower he'd used in the forest. The wave of bursting bullets reduced everything in their path to dust. Eventually, the Death Tsunami leveled two more large buildings that were in its path of destruction.
Once Death Gatling ran out of ammunition, the terrain in front of him looked almost like a desert wasteland. Everything had been blasted apart, and Nyan was nowhere to be seen.
After taking a couple of deep breaths, Death Gatling started stating, "Alright... Now nobody say-."
"I think you got him!" Sekingar yelled, causing Death Gatling to snap his head in the man's direction, fury boiling in his eyes.
The instant after that, Nyan bursted out of the dust with a few scuffs on its body. The monster shook with anger as it took seething breaths and gnashed its teeth.
Readying its claws, Nyan exclaimed, "Die!"
With that, the cat monster slashed at the air, causing a series of wind blades to fly at Death Gatling. Like the others before him, his body was cut into as his weapon was shredded, and he fell to the ground.
With Death Gatling on the ground, Lin Lin quickly came to the realization that she was the strongest fighter still standing. The fact that she was the only real hope they all had left of getting out of this alive suddenly hit her like a tidal wave.
As images of the unconscious Heroes being cut to ribbons raced through her mind, Lin Lin suddenly shouted, "NO! Dammit! I'm not just gonna sit here and do nothing!"
Lin Lin then materialized and started firing more of the burning orbs she'd made earlier at Nyan. The monster easily avoided each one of them, leaving pits of purple flames in each place it stood before quickly rushing in to cut up Lin Lin.
Nyan intentionally slowed down at the last second in hopes of savoring the hopelessness and horror it expected to see on the female fighter's face. Instead, the feline freak only became annoyed when it saw the determined expression Lin Lin made as she attempted to land an open-palm strike on the slowed monster.
Fed up with its game, Nyan unleashed a couple of slashes on Lin Lin's torso and face, sending her flying back as she grabbed at her body in pain.
Falling to the ground next to Stinger, Lin Lin was still conscious thanks to her Kie boosting her defensive traits. However, the poor woman was still too injured by this point to do much else than climb to her knees. Even Stinger seemed to lose what little vitality he had left and collapsed. Only Sekingar and Food Battler were still capable of standing by now as they watched Nyan creep closer and closer, as if to encourage them to make a run for it.
Raising his fists, Sekingar instructed his remaining ally, "Here's the plan, Food Battler. Once that thing gets close enough, I'll blast it with my Executive Beam. Then the two of us will rush in to finish it off in melee!"
"Huh!? Uh... Do you seriously think that'll work?!"
Shaking his head, Sekingar replied, "Not at all. But it's the only option we have left. Even if we wanted to run, we could never get away from that monster. And besides, we're the only hope the others and ourselves have left of getting out of here."
Just as Sekingar gave what he thought would be his final declaration, a dark-clad figure landed directly behind him and Food Battler and shouted, "What the Hell happened?!"
Moments later, Monster Mask had arrived on the scene and squared up to face Nyan by himself.
The leader of the Support Team and the Monster Association Cadre rushed in simultaneously to begin their battle. Every single one of these combatants' movements were too fast for any of the still-conscious onlookers to keep track of, so all they could do was hope that the clashing sounds they were hearing was Monster Mask winning.
Within the realm of speed that Nyan and Monster Mask were facing off in, the monster was repeatedly clawing at the A-Class Hero's armor with less success than it'd had before. While Nyan was landing each of its blows, the protection of Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit forced back each of its strikes before the claws could pierce through anything.
In turn, however, Monster Mask was unable to land a single hit of his own, with him frantically throwing out techniques from every school of martial arts he knew to draw from. The cat monster was able to slip around each of these attacks by using its paper-thin form to evade them with ease. Eventually, though, Shunshi managed to glance Nyan's chest with one of his punches, scratching the monster with the spikes of his gauntlets while igniting an explosion against the feline's torso.
The force of the blast on its own wasn't enough to leave any lasting damage on Nyan, but it still felt to the monster as if it had been viscously backhanded in its chest as it got knocked away. Nyan took advantage of this momentum, though, using it to propel itself away from Monster Mask as it bounced from one piece of rubble to another.
Jumping after it, Monster Mask shouted, "Get back here, you gutless bastard!"
Once the two had sped over to some more solid debris, Nyan went into its thin mode and slipped into one of the rubble piles.
Furious, Monster Mask jumped into the air and yelled, "You're not getting away from me!"
He then conjured a Light Ball the size of himself and threw it at the ground, blasting apart the already torn to shreds terrain.
Once he landed on the burning remains of the surrounding cityscape, Monster Mask began scanning for Nyan. After only a couple of seconds passed, Nyan suddenly popped out of the ground behind Shunshi and slashed at his back with a mischievous grin. However, the monster's claws were once again stopped from doing any real damage by a blast from the Hero's body.
Reacting the instant Nyan struck him, Monster Mask shifted in place and elbowed the monster in its clavicle. He had intended to shatter the bone with that strike but only succeeded in knocking Nyan away with no real damage yet again.
As Nyan took advantage of the situation to slink away again, it thought, Alright, so, a sneak attack didn't work, so that must mean these explosions are something he can do without having to think about. Hm. Guess I'll hit him with my strongest move and see how that affects him. If it doesn't at least hurt him, then I'll get out of here.
Picking up its pace, Nyan doubled the distance between itself and the Hero, even as Monster Mask continued to chase it. Once it was a suitable distance away, Nyan stopped, took a strong horseback stance, and crossed its arms. Suddenly, the cat monster's muscles doubled in size as its black, bloody claws doubled in length.
Halting his sprint, Shunshi's feet skidded across the ground as his pupils widened into dinner plates.
The Hell is it doing?! Shunshi questioned internally.
Just as Monster Mask finished sliding, Nyan proclaimed, "Feline Retribution!" The monster then slashed all of its claws through the air, causing ten shockwave blades to go flying at Monster Mask as they tore through the ground like butter.
"OH SHIT!" Shunshi exclaimed.
He had no idea how to counter such a technique. As such, he acted on instinct, crossed his arms and legs in front of himself for protection, and hoped that his martial art's technique would be enough to save his skin.
Within the next half-second, the air slashes reached Monster Mask. On contact, they set off another explosion from Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit. Despite this, Shunshi let out a growl of pain as he felt his armor get penetrated and his limbs being gashed into.
Stopping for a moment to admire its handiwork, Nyan gave off another toothy grin when it saw that Monster Mask no longer had his gauntlets or boots as their remains laid at his bare feet. In addition, Monster Mask's arms and legs were bleeding profusely. However, after only a few seconds of Nyan's observation, the blood flow stopped as the wounds coagulated.
"Well, well, well, seems that power of yours isn't enough to stop my full strength. That's good. Lucky for you, it seems like you heal fast... And lucky for me too! Now I'll get to have so much more fun torturing you!"
As Nyan said all this, Shunshi clenched his teeth and, without any warning, formed and lashed two Burn Whips at the cat monster.
Nyan flinched in panic for a moment, the surprise of this attack taking it off guard. However, with the monster's superior speed, it recomposed itself, went into its thin mode, and slipped between the whips of energy. Nyan then began to rush towards Monster Mask.
Seeing that Nyan had evaded his initial attack, Monster Mask unleashed a wild flurry of whips as he shouted, "Lashing Inferno!"
Confronted with a wall of Burn Whips, Nyan recoiled and started trying to slip underground again. Unfortunately for the monster, it actually took it a few seconds to maneuver through all the attacks before it could reach the crack in the ground it was targeting. In that time, a few of Monster Mask's attacks managed to graze the creature, singeing its fur in the process.
With Nyan having disappeared again, Shunshi took up a cat stance as he frantically scanned his surroundings. However, after a few moments, Nyan suddenly popped out of the earth at Monster Mask's feet, delivering a full-power uppercut slash to the Hero's face.
After stumbling back from that attack, Shunshi found himself unable to open his left eye. While the eye itself hadn't been seriously damaged, Nyan's attack had split his eyelid, along with a good portion of the left side of his face.
As his eyelid scabbed over, Monster Mask thought, Shit! It's gonna be a few minutes before I can open that again!
With its bloodthirsty grin returning, Nyan rushed back in to attack Monster Mask again, this time making sure that all of its attacks were at full strength.
Instead of being able to counterattack like before, it took Shunshi everything he had just to dodge Nyan's assault. After evading a few swipes, Shunshi just barely avoided getting his head taken off by one of Nyan's claws. However, the attack still grazed past his head, splitting Shunshi's ear and ripping off what remained of his helmet.
Furious, Monster Mask attempted to use Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist to defend himself. This actually had some initial success, managing to combine Silver Fang's techniques with his own explosive defense to deflect a couple of Nyan's attacks.
Unfortunately, the monster quickly got into the groove of this and managed to use its incredible speed and rubbery movements to slip behind Monster Mask and smack him with its tail. This attack was almost enough to do real damage to Shunshi's spine as it cracked the armor on his back and knocked him off his feet.
GODDAMMIT, ALL! I'm trying to use Spirit Rage, so why won't it turn on?! I could end this shitty cat in ten seconds if it would just turn on! I'm fucking furious, so why the Hell isn't it working?! Shunshi screamed into his mind as he fell to his knees.
Before Monster Mask could get back up, Nyan started slashing at him again. In response, Shunshi began spinning and flipping along the ground, avoiding Nyan's moves as the feline creature pursued him.
"That's right! Squirm and flail! It's so much more fun once the prey realizes how helpless it is!"
Enraged when he heard this, Shunshi lifted himself off of one hand and attempted to kick at Nyan. This failed, though, as Nyan delivered its own swift kick into Monster Mask's torso before his foot could reach the creature.
With the wind knocked out of him, Shunshi tumbled along the ground for a moment before coming to a stop. Grabbing at his chest, Shunshi was on his knees again as he desperately tried to get air back into his lungs.
Standing over Monster Mask as he struggled for oxygen, Nyan leaned forward and mockingly asked, "Aw, what's wrong? Did I kick you too hard? I thought you were gonna break every bone in my body. Guess you just didn't really care about your team as much as you claimed. Well, don't worry. I'm gonna put you out of your misery now!"
As Nyan raised a claw and began to slash down at the wounded Hero's head, Shunshi processed at ludicrous speeds, No! Why the fuck is this happening!? Why can't I be stronger...!? Garou would keep getting stronger and faster every time I fought him, so why can't I do that too!? Come on, body! For fuck's sake, start moving!
Just as Nyan was about to decapitate Monster Mask, his shoulder suddenly started glowing. Taking the monster by surprise, a Burn Whip suddenly shot out of Shunshi's shoulder and struck the cat in its jaw as if it were a powerful uppercut.
While Nyan recoiled back, Shunshi took in one last gulp of air before getting up and rushing back in.
Switching his style back to Fist Of The Impenetrable Fire Spirit, Monster Mask unleashed another flurry of attacks at Nyan.
While the monster was still stunned, Monster Mask's first few strikes landed on target, hitting Nyan in its stomach, cheek, and nose. The superhuman strength and explosive energy behind the last attack was great enough that it actually drew blood from Nyan's nostrils as the creature was sent hurtling back.
Flipping to its feet before it touched the ground, Nyan pondered, Did... Did he get faster all of a sudden?! Stronger too?! Crap... This feels like when that prison pervert was adapting to my attacks. Feh, forget this! I'm leaving!
Without a word, Nyan slipped into a crack in the ground once more, keeping an eye above itself to make sure the Hero wasn't somehow following it. However, this proved to be a mistake, as Nyan unknowingly slammed right into a wall of light that suddenly manifested in its path. Before Nyan knew what was happening, another explosion sent it violently flying back to the surface.
As Nyan rubbed its singed face, it looked at its surroundings and saw a ring of flames had surrounded itself and Monster Mask within a diameter of one hundred feet.
Monster Mask, whose hand had been pressed against the ground, stood up and stated, "You're not getting off another sneak attack, shit face!"
"You idiot! I was trying to leave!" Nyan spat back.
Cocking an eyebrow initially, Shunshi's face quickly went back to raw fury as he yelled, "You think you get to just leave!? You don't get to run from me just like that!"
"Run...? From... YOU!? I was just annoyed, you pathetic Hero, because you took me off guard! Oh ho ho! Now I'm really gonna take my time ripping you to shreds!"
Rushing back at Monster Mask, Nyan began clashing with him once more.
Despite Nyan going at him with full strength, Shunshi was able to use his and his master's martial arts to deflect all of the monster's attacks. Eventually, Nyan tried to maneuver behind Monster Mask again. However, Monster Mask was able to follow the cat's movements this time, spun around, and explosively elbowed Nyan in its chest. Simultaneously, as Nyan recoiled, Shunshi unfolded his arm and delivered a backhand bash to the monster's face.
Despite the explosions that accompanied these attacks, Nyan actually managed to stay rooted in place. Additionally, before Monster Mask could pull his fist back, Nyan stretched its mouth out again and bit down on the Hero's fist, getting all the way to his wrist.
Fortunately, as one blast after another went off against the monster's teeth, it was forced to fling Shunshi away before it could take his hand completely off.
After getting flung through the remains of a building, Shunshi blasted apart the rubble covering him and got back to his feet.
Looking at his arm, Shunshi winced slightly as he muttered, "Ick. Just a little deeper, and that bastard would've bit through my finger tendons. Can't let that happen again."
Shifting his focus back towards Nyan, he saw the cat monster slithering towards him in its paper form before leaping towards him and becoming three-dimensional again.
Like before, Nyan's muscles all doubled in size as it yelled, "You still aren't as strong as me, you flea!"
With both its hands and feet, Nyan then unleashed a vortex of claws on Monster Mask.
While Shunshi was able to deflect some of these slashes, specifically the ones aimed at his organs, all the others got through his defenses and started cutting his arms and legs apart, even with his explosions protecting him. He quickly realized how bad this could turn if he didn't do something, so Shunshi began pulling out some more recent training.
Suddenly, Monster Mask threw out a rotating, open-clawed strike at Nyan's torso in between the monster's attacks.
Nyan was able to dodge this, though, noodling its body around the blow. However, this only incentivized Shunshi to throw out another Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist attack at Nyan's face. In response, Nyan attempted to lean back while blocking with its claws. Unfortunately for it, this only resulted in burning circular cuts that went up its arms to appear. This attack actually drew some blood from Nyan's arms as well, with the burns managing to genuinely damage the monster.
Enraged, Nyan counterattacked by spinning its body while unleashing more slashes. This essentially turned the feline freak into a rotating ball of blades directed at Monster Mask.
Acting on instinct to escape this living blender, Shunshi formed as large a Light Ball as he could within one second under his foot and stomped it into the ground. The resulting blast propelled himself and Nyan away from each other, giving Shunshi a second to breathe and think.
The cat's right. I'm still not as strong as it... Maybe I should try that Abandonment technique. It could be dangerous, but... It's the only option I have right now if I want to win.
Standing up straight, Monster Mask took in a deep breath as Nyan pounced at him once more. Just as Nyan got close to cutting Monster Mask's gut open, the Hero let out a mass of steam from his lungs before he suddenly redirected Nyan's attack.
As Nyan tried to process what just happened, Shunshi delivered another whirling claw strike to the cat's torso. The force and resulting explosion sent Nyan skidding backward on its feet as more burning cuts appeared on its stomach. Before Nyan could recompose itself, Monster Mask thrusted his other palm forward and launched a Light Ball at Nyan's face. The blast from this attack actually knocked Nyan off its feet as it tumbled back. In addition, Nyan could feel as a chunk of the fur on its face had been burned clean off.
Looking at its surroundings, Nyan realized it had nearly hit the wall of flames Monster Mask had erected. It then looked in front of itself and saw Monster Mask rushing towards it with another pair of Burn Whips.
Lashing one of his Kie whips down at the cat monster, Shunshi seethed as Nyan was just barely able to sidestep it. As such, he lashed his other Burn Whip sideways into Nyan's path and managed to hit the creature in its ribs.
As Nyan was knocked down once again, it could hear and feel its ribs beginning to crack. Panic and rage spread throughout the monster's mind as this happened, with it glaring bloodshot daggers at Monster Mask.
Argh! I don't know if I can get through this wall, but I also don't know if I can still take this freak on anymore! Seriously, what the Hell just happened to him!?
While Nyan finished its thoughts, Monster Mask rushed in closer. Still more angry than concerned, Nyan dashed in to meet Monster Mask's confrontation head-on.
"Let's see how good those tendrils are for you when I'm so up close!"
Just as Nyan closed the distance between them, Monster Mask suddenly landed a knee to the monster's stomach. Before the cat creature could even start being knocked away, Shunshi extended his leg and shot it upwards, kicking Nyan in its jaw. He then spun in place, lashing Nyan in the side of its head with his Burn Whips before planting another kick in its torso. Finally, Shunshi spun the other way, hitting the other side of Nyan's head with his whips while spin-kicking it in its right arm.
Monster Mask had actually moved so fast during his kick-fest that his explosions hadn't had time to fully detonate until after he was done. As such, from Nyan's perspective, once it got close to Monster Mask, it was suddenly hit with a barrage of explosions all over its body that sent it hurtling into a large piece of rubble.
The damage dealt from this combo move caused several ribs and Nyan's arm to break, as well as a couple of teeth to get knocked loose.
As Nyan struggled to pick itself back up, it saw Monster Mask leaping at it. Through sheer survival instincts, Nyan screamed in fear as it jumped towards the flaming wall, dodging Monster Mask as he tried to slam his foot down on it.
I don't care if I get some more burns! I need to get out of here!
However, to Nyan's dismay and Shunshi's amusement, the cat monster was repelled from the fire-wall by yet another one of the flaming Hero's explosions.
While Nyan was flung through the air, having temporarily lost its ability to think, Monster Mask lassoed the creature with his Burn Whips and slammed it into the ground. Before Nyan could recompose itself from the burning and bludgeoning it had just received, Monster Mask once again jumped at Nyan, this time pinning it to the ground with hands that had a constant stream of explosions pouring from them.
The feline freak screamed in pain and tried to escape from underneath the Hero, however, Monster Mask stopped this by unleashing a bone-crushing flurry of punches and slashes upon it.
As he felt Nyan's skeleton break under his fists and claws, Monster Mask shouted, "I told you! I'm going to break every! Damn! Bone! In! Your! BODY!"
With each word, Shunshi threw out ten strikes that cracked or flat-out broke more of Nyan's bones. However, before Shunshi could finish the monster off, Nyan managed to regain its senses enough to turn into its thin form and slip from the enraged Hero's grip. Although, with how wounded it already was, Nyan couldn't manage to travel more than a few feet away before it needed to stop moving.
With what strength it had left, Nyan grabbed its wrecked arm and shouted through blood in its mouth, "No! It won't end like this for me! I'll get away from you, and I'll go get the other Cadres, or... Or Lord Orochi! Yes! Then you'll see! Then... you'll..."
Suddenly, Nyan found its words slowing in its throat when it saw what Monster Mask was up to next.
He had formed two more Burn Whips, but they weren't on his hands, though. This time, there was one on each of his shoulders. Strangely, the whips seemed to move as if they were their own living creatures, striking up controlled poses as Shunshi took up a Whirlwind Iron Cutting stance.
Within the span of a second, Shunshi thought, Alright! I'll use every muscle in my back to control the whips and leave the Water Stream Rock Smashing techniques up to them since that'll be easier for me. Then I'll use Whirlwind Iron Cutting with my own hands. Let's see if I can get this to work this time!
Once Monster Mask finished his quick preparations, he rushed at a limping Nyan and shouted, "Roaring Aura Void Ripping Fist!"
With his arms and whips moving in tandem, Monster Mask closed the distance between himself and Nyan before unleashing the combo move of his two martial arts masters.
Within an instant, Nyan was pummeled, slashed, blasted, and burned senseless by countless strikes as its body felt like well-cooked and tenderized meat.
Falling on its face once Monster Mask was done, Nyan was just barely twitching, signaling that it still had some life left in it.
Looking at Nyan with disgust as the surrounding wall of flames sputtered out, Shunshi remarked, "Tch! Looks like my techniques still aren't up to par with Silver Fang-Sensei's and Grand-Sensei's. That thing should be dead... Oh well. I can finish it off no-."
Before Monster Mask could finish talking to himself, a giant silver hand attached to a giant silver robot with one red eye suddenly crashed down onto Nyan's body. The strike itself was powerful enough that it caused a shockwave that flung several boulders into the air.
After that, the giant robot's body started to deconstruct itself into a strange, black, rectangular box. Standing next to the box was a much smaller robot. It still had a single red eye, but its body was smaller, slimmer, and dark black. Its hands had claws on them, and its face was still a silverish-white color, while the top of its head had shoulder-length, blueish-black hair. In short, this was no robot, but the cyborg S-Class Hero ranked number 9, known as Drive Knight.
Shocked, Shunshi exclaimed, "Drive Knight?! I... I didn't know you were part of this mission too, sir...! Um, what are you doing here on the surface? I thought all the S-Class were handling things below ground."
Shifting his eye over toward Monster Mask, Drive Knight replied, "I infiltrated the enemy fortress ahead of everyone to acquire intel. I had returned to provide it when I noticed you fighting this creature. It seemed to me as if it were about to regain its strength and finish you off, so I intervened to rescue you."
"Uh... I'm pretty sure I was about to win," Shunshi muttered.
Picking up the crushed remains of Nyan with one hand and his box with the other, Drive Knight ordered Monster Mask, "Now come along. We have more to discuss, and it would be simpler to explain it to the entire surface team at once."
"Oh...! Right, let's go... do that," Shunshi replied.
As Sekingar and the others attempted to drag away their fallen comrades to safety, they were also anxiously hoping that Monster Mask would catch up to them with news of victory.
For a moment, the group felt the ground shake and couldn't help but turn around to observe what was happening. A few minutes later, everyone smiled ecstatically when they saw Drive Knight carrying a beaten Nyan as a horribly injured Monster Mask walked alongside him.
"Whooooaaaah! Amazing! It's finally beaten!" Sekingar shouted.
"Even a monster Cadre is no match for an S-Class, it seems," Food Battler remarked.
Dropping the Heroes she was carrying, Lin Lin rushed over to Shunshi as fast as she could in her injured state and embraced him.
Rubbing her face into his chest-piece, even as the metal ground against her skin, Lin Lin exclaimed through a few tears, "You're alive! You're alive! I thought you were gonna be a goner for sure!"
Reflexively hugging Lin Lin back, Shunshi told her, "Hey, I had you to come back to. No way am I gonna die that easy."
Pulling back so she could reach toward his face, Lin Lin remarked, "But look at how hurt you are! Are you going to be okay?"
Gently taking her hand into his own, Shunshi told Lin Lin, "Don't worry, Lin. I've had worse. Heck, with how fast my healing's gotten, I should be completely fine within an hour or so."
Limping over to Shunshi, Stinger pointed to the monster in Drive Knight's hand and asked him, "So, what happened? Did you beat that freak, or did Drive Knight here have to pull your butt out of the fire?"
Speaking up, Drive Knight answered, "I suppose you could say it was both. Monster Mask had sufficiently weakened the monster to the point that I was able to finish it with a single blow just as it was about to make a surprise attack against him."
Scratching his head, Monster Mask replied, "I know you say that, sir, but I still think- AAAARRRGGG! Oh, God!"
Without warning, Shunshi suddenly started screaming in pain as he fell to his knees before curling into a fetal position on the street.
"Shunshi?! What's wrong?!" Lin Lin asked.
"Dude! What's happening?! Did the monster poison you or something?!" Stinger shouted.
"MY LUNGS...! FEEL LIKE...! THEY'RE EATING THEMSELVES!"
Running up to the scene, Sekingar asked, "Drive Knight, do you know what's happening to Monster Mask?!"
"Do not panic. I do not believe there is a need to worry," Drive Knight remarked emotionlessly.
"No need to worry?!" Lin Lin shouted as she put Shunshi's head on her lap.
"That is correct. I saw him utilize a breathing technique to enhance his body's performance in order to achieve victory. Likely learned from Silver Fang. This is most likely just an after-effect of such a technique. While the pain is no doubt severe, with the advanced healing factor that Monster Mask has displayed, he will likely make a full recovery within minutes."
"What makes you so sure about that?!" Stinger yelled.
"While my scanners detect extreme agitation of the nerves in his lungs, I am picking up no signs of loss of life. He will make a full recovery."
Gritting his teeth as he took in shallow breaths, Shunshi replied, "I... I hope you're right about that. Ack!"
"Don't talk, sweetie. Just let your lungs rest and recover," Lin Lin told Shunshi as she rubbed his forehead.
"Heh, like you're one to talk. You and me can hardly stand," Stinger remarked jokingly.
Giving him a quick glare, Lin Lin shot back, "Quiet, you!"
Speaking up, Sekingar got everyone's attention, "Alright, alright, Monster Mask is gonna be fine. Let's move on. I have something else I need to ask Drive Knight."
"Yes?" Drive Knight asked monotonely.
Intensifying his stare, Sekingar explained, "We haven't been able to contact you until now. What happened exactly? Communications with you got cut off as soon as you entered the Monster Association's hideout. That was two days ago, so we had assumed you'd been killed."
Lifting up his hand, Drive Knight made a holographic display. It included a map of nearly the entire Monster Association base, profiles on all the Cadres and any other members of Disaster Level Demon or above, as well as the location Waganma was being held.
"I went behind enemy lines to collect information. This is how I fight. I had to interrogate numerous monsters to obtain this information, so it took me a while. I had hoped to relay this information with the other Heroes before they went inside, but I didn't want to send it remotely and risk a traitor obtaining it."
"What!? A traitor?!" Sekingar yelled.
"Hmm... Before I get into that, tell me, what is the current state of all the high-ranking Heroes in the Hero Association."
Cocking an eyebrow, Sekingar responded, "Well, almost all the strongest Heroes are either hospitalized from the invasion and the Hero Hunter, or they're on this mission."
"I see... So, if a new emergency were to develop, very few or no capable Heroes at all would be able to arrive in time to deal with it," Drive Knight postulated.
Sweating, Sekingar asked, "Why... Why do you say that at a time like this? What could be a bigger threat?"
At this point, everyone, even Shunshi, had grown quiet as they listened to what Drive Knight was about to tell them.
"Let me confirm. Watchdog Man is not stationed at our main headquarters. Is that wise?"
"That's not an issue. Even if monsters attack our A-City headquarters, our base has the defenses that Metal Knight provided it with," Sekingar reassured.
"Exactly. He built it and is aware of all of its ins and outs. You blindly put your trust in him and him alone. That is enough to show how far you've fallen."
As his pupils dilated, Sekingar asked, "Wait, so the traitor you're referring to is..."
Nodding, Drive Knight answered, "Indeed. Metal Knight, or Doctor Bofoi."
Speaking up, Stinger remarked, "Hey, hold up! Stop acting so scary unless you've got actual proof to back this up!"
Glancing between Stinger and Drive Knight, Sekingar conceded, "He has a point. Do you have any actual proof of this?"
Tightening his metal fist, Drive Knight explained, "The Metal Knight drone was captured and taken apart by the Monster Association just before the final battle was about to begin. For all we know, this resulted in a major data breach. The timing couldn't possibly be worse. Bofoi has countless combat drones that all share battle data in order to improve their proficiency. Amongst them, Metal Knight is his favorite. He wouldn't so easily let it go. The only way they could have captured it so easily is if Bofoi allowed them to as a present. In that case, all the data on the Hero Association headquarters could have been captured. All its defensive systems could be rendered completely unresponsive as Bofoi's drones and missiles are taken control of and level the place. Bofoi would have to know all this could happen."
"Metal Knight anticipated all this, yet still went in there and lost...?" Sekingar asked fearfully.
Shivering slightly, Food Battler remarked, "I mean, it can't be true... Can it?"
"It is true. His goal was to supply the monsters with weapons," Drive Knight insisted.
"But... Why would he do that?"
"Because he's been waiting for just such an opportunity. A moment when the Hero Association is at its weakest. Because he's a villain! He plans to keep growing his military force in secret to one day conquer the world. The Hero Association is just an obstacle that he's currently manipulating. There are very few who know of this information."
Crouching down to whisper to Lin Lin and Shunshi, Stinger asked them, "Uh, hey. What do you guys think about this, Metal Knight being a traitor, stuff?"
"I... honestly have no idea," Lin Lin answered.
Sitting up slightly, Shunshi wheezed out, "Not... sure... Drive... Knight... also... weird."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Both of Shunshi's companions asked.
"Explain... later... Too... many... words," Shunshi gasped.
Putting his hand to his chin while rubbing the back of his head, Sekingar responded, "No, hold on a second... You say all this, but you still haven't given any real proof."
Pausing for a second, Drive Knight answered with a question, "If headquarters comes under attack, do you think we can rely on the number one Hero, Blast, to make an appearance and defend it?"
"Blast...? No, I don't think so. From what I understand, he's more or less retired," Sekingar explained.
"Is that so...?" Drive Knight inquired.
Pulling out his communicator, Sekingar stated, "In any case, you're right that we should be worried about an attack against headquarters right now. I'll contact HQ and tell them to increase security."
Suddenly, Shunshi forced out a shout through the blood in his mouth, "Look out!"
"Huh?!" Everyone but Drive Knight responded.
Before he could react, the hand Sekingar was using to hold his communication device was hit from behind with a laser and disintegrated.
As Sekingar screamed in pain, and the others in shock, Drive Knight turned to look in the direction of the beam, with everyone else following suit. Down that path, all the Heroes saw the robot, G5, walking towards them. However, G5 was critically damaged. It was missing both of its arms, while the rest of its body was so fractured that it looked like it could fall apart at any moment.
Grabbing at the smoking stump where his hand used to be, Sekingar yelled, "Where the Hell did that robot come from...?! Underground?!"
"I am Machine God G5. This seems like a great place to make an entrance," the crumbling robot exclaimed.
"Drive Knight! Hurry and beat this one too!" Food Battler yelled. However, the cyborg S-Class didn't so much as budge an inch when this was asked of him.
"What are you doing?!" Stinger yelled.
"Regrettably, I no longer have the power to fight. I can hardly even move. After working for dozens of hours, I only had the energy left to finish off the Cadre."
As G5 approached ever closer, it proclaimed, "Heh. I can barely detect any energy coming from that guy at all."
"Damn it...! We only had to retreat! Now we're between a rock and a hard place!" Sekingar lamented.
Quickly gulping down his last box of apple juice and regaining a small portion of his lost fat, Food Battler stepped forward and stated, "I guess it's up to me then. I'm the only one who's still unharmed."
Looking at him with a bit of awe in his eyes, Sekingar clenched his remaining fist and remarked, "I... I'll back you up with my Executive Beam!"
Gripping the remains of his spear, Stinger forced himself to stand on wobbly legs as he added, "I don't know what I can do right now, but that hunk of junk's in pieces already. The three of us should be able to take it down!"
"Hopefully, this is true. The other Heroes are all too injured to move or fight, and we cannot leave them here. Are you sure you cannot get in touch with Blast, Sekingar?" Drive Knight asked.
"No! Only a few of the higher-ups can do that! Besides, my communicator just got destroyed!"
Tilting its head as more pieces crumbles off of it, G5 asked, "You said all you had to do is retreat? That must mean the child has recently been rescued. I should be able to catch up and recapture him once I've eliminated you all."
As Food Battler, Stinger, and himself took up combat stances, Sekingar thought nervously, Like Stinger said, the enemy's already falling apart. I've just gotta hit him with my Executive Beam! Once I do that, myself and the others should be able to finish him off.
Just as Sekingar said this, G5's body exploded as a smaller robot came flying out of it, just like the one that had been inside of G4. Monster Mask and Lin Lin both desperately tried to climb back to their feet at this sight, but both failed to find the strength needed to do so.
As G5's real body came rushing at Food Battler, Sekingar remarked in dismay, "Oh, I guess not..."
However, from up above, the whole group heard a cold voice comment, "I have sensed this energy signature before."
Like a true miracle from on high, the Demon Cyborg suddenly shot down, foot first, into G5's head.
As he crushed this robot's body, Genos remarked, "It appears to be an upgraded version of the robot I fought before." The remains of G5's body then exploded as Genos finished, "But it would seem I am upgrading at a faster rate."
As relief washed over him, Shunshi looked at his cyborg Senpai with admiration. Not only that, but he noticed Genos had attained a new form.
The Demon Cyborg had been remodeled. His body had been reconstructed with black metal, while his limbs all had various spikes protruding from them. He had a couple of metal cables running from his elbows to the base of the back of his skull, while he simultaneously had metal grips over his temples. In addition, his hands had even larger claws on them than his previous body did.
Looking over everyone, Genos' gaze intensified when he saw the injured Shunshi, before shifting his attention to Sekingar and asking, "What is the current situation here?"
While Sekingar's jaw was still dropped in shock, Drive Knight muttered softly, "Genos..."
