Chapter 13: Demonic Hunting Ground (4)
1
After three days of intense training in the forest, during which he slept for approximately two and a half hours, Kazuya informed the bear (whom he had decided to name Jimbo for no particular reason) that they would finally be leaving the area.
"Does that mean I've completed my training, sir?" Jimbo asked.
Kazuya snorted.
"Not even close. It means I'm fed up with the forest." He squashed a particularly annoying mosquito with a finger without looking, as he said that. It was just one of the many things that had bothered him over these three days.
It was actually admirable that he had endured one thing after another for so long for the sake of his disciple. It was the same as for his own sake, of course, because he couldn't let someone who had learned from him be weak, but it still counted.
"Oh," said Jimbo, visibly discouraged.
Kazuya gave him a light smack on the back of the head.
"None of that nonsense. Take a deep breath and stand firm, don't you dare embarrass your master."
"Yes, master!"
They continued their way out of the forest. Kazuya could, of course, transform into a demon and be kilometers away in the blink of an eye, but if he did that, the poor idiot wouldn't know where to go. So he decided to be patient and take the longer path.
Even so, it seemed endless, and he was getting angrier by the minute. He didn't understand Jun's fervor for preserving the environment. What was so good about it?
Well, he did understand because she had explained it to him ad nauseam before, during, and after sex. To be honest, they hadn't done much besides that and fight in the tournament; they hadn't had the time. So they had found a moment for other things wherever they could.
Then his father defeated him, killed him, and he spent twenty years dead. By the time he returned from the dead, Jin was a rebellious brat, and Jun had died too, without anyone bothering to revive her. In fact, no one had ever found her body. Considering what Ogre was, he preferred not to think about the reason.
Well, things happen, Kazuya thought.
They shouldn't have much further to go before leaving the forest. Hopefully not, or he would lose his patience. He might even kill Jimbo in his rage, if not for the fact that then he'd have to find another bear to train.
Jun, I really hate this place, but our picnic wasn't so bad. Allowing himself a rare moment of nostalgia, Kazuya began to whistle.
"Come on, Jin. We still have a long way to go."
"What did you call me?"
Kazuya threw his head back to look at him in the coldest and most absolute silence. The bear swallowed.
"I must have misheard."
2
Kazuya entered the Protectorate base, followed closely by Jimbo, walking with the confidence of someone who owned the place. In a way, he did, in the same way that he owned the whole world: the building only remained standing because he allowed it.
No one got in his way or said a word. Instead, they quickly moved away from him, not even looking at him. Good, just as he liked it, inferior beings lowering their heads, showing their submission. There was nothing he enjoyed more. It was fantastic; it drove him wild.
Kazuya entered the gym and scanned it critically. It took him about half a second to judge that it was complete garbage that didn't meet his expectations. As if that weren't enough, there were more kids than adults using it, even counting Jimbo and himself.
"Let's get to work. No matter how deficient this equipment is, you don't have the right to skip a single day of training."
Jimbo nodded and started running on one of the free treadmills, breathing heavily. He was undoubtedly tired from the journey here and the previous night's training, which had lasted from dusk till dawn.
"Is that a bear?" said a little girl in a green suit that made her look younger than she was, and she was already quite young. What could she be, nine years old? What was she doing here? Not that he cared, of course, but it piqued his curiosity a bit.
Don't tell me this little girl is one of those 'capes.'
You've got to be kidding me.
"Of course. Haven't you ever seen a bear, kid?"
He had chosen his most diplomatic response, but the girl still frowned, angry. Or at least trying to look angry. She wasn't very good at it.
"Of course I have, but you don't see this every day. De... Clockblocker, what are you doing?" Kazuya raised an eyebrow. Everyone was unmasked, what did he want to hide by swallowing his name? Anyway, kids and their childish stupidities. If only more people left those things behind, truly maturing. Growing old is mandatory, maturing is optional. There would be fewer annoying people in this world otherwise.
"Just what it looks like. Recording it to upload to my Facebook."
"Why?"
"Why not?" Clockblocker shrugged. "Admit it, it's cute."
"Well, yes, but..."
"Vista, Clock, I..." began to say a kid even smaller with red and gold armor and a red visor. It contrasted with Vista and her colors of...
Ah, yes. The damn forest.
That's why she irritated him especially, not just for being a child, which was already quite enough, of course, but there was a bigger reason in this case.
"Jimbo, say hello."
"Hello," roared Jimbo.
The forest girl grimaced, taking a few steps back. What had the other kid called her? Oh, yes. Vista. Very original. Clockblocker stayed where he was, but his phone fell to the ground. The kid in the red and gold armor had no reaction. Visible, at least. Maybe too scared for that. Kazuya didn't know fear, but he knew there were three kinds of fear. One was the kind that left you too scared to move a finger.
"Dude," said a guy named... What was his name? In any case, he recognized him as the bastard who had tried to take him down after he crushed Lung's head. That was a name worth remembering, as he had given a good fight. "Don't mess with the kids."
"When have I done that?"
"Okay, whatever you say." The guy continued lifting weights as if to show off like if he didn't have superpowers helping.
"Things are always as I say, yes," Kazuya nodded.
The guy glanced at him but chose not to challenge him. Good. He could tolerate those who lowered their eyes and accepted they were inferior. Although he preferred, of course, the company of those who could challenge him. Not defeat him. That was not possible. Damn Paul had come close, leading to a tie, but that barely counted. He had been too distracted by his American stupidity to fully concentrate on the fight or something like that. Yes, definitely. Kazuya coughed.
"Am I doing well, Master?" Jimbo asked.
"Oh yes, sure," Kazuya said in a light tone unusual for him when he wasn't even looking at him.
He didn't know what he was doing and wasn't particularly interested at the moment. Damn Paul. Not only was he American, arrogant, stupid, that is, the average American. These days that guy lost to bears and kangaroos, so there was no way to explain how he had managed to tie with him apart from Kazuya being distracted. Right? There was no other explanation.
As he was going over it in his mind, trying to convince himself, another costumed jerk burst into the gym, interrupting his important training session.
"What do you want?"
"You didn't let me start." Armsmaster (he remembered mainly for the stupidity of the name, he hadn't impressed him or anything) sighed. "The director wants to see you."
"Give me a reason to want to see her."
Armsmaster sighed.
"News about Azazel."
"Very well, I see." As he passed by, leaving, he patted his head. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
Kazuya licked his lips, not literally, seeing Armsmaster suppressing his rage, powerless.
Lung had gotten rid of him like a mosquito, and Kazuya had destroyed Lung. So, even leaving aside that they were cooperating, he wouldn't achieve anything even if he decided to attack.
Yes, dominating the weak was a true pleasure, an inexhaustible spring. Speaking of the weak, he was about to have a chat with the little piggy again. No matter how much she thought she had some power in this world, there was no one weaker in this building. In this organization, even.
He reached the piggy's office, with Armsmaster following closely. I'll huff, I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down, he thought.
To his surprise, the piggy wasn't even going to make it difficult for him. She wasn't alone in her office, but her only companion was a girl maybe a bit older than that Vista, but not much more. Chubby cheeks and a primarily green Disney princess dress or something like that.
What did he know? He had no idea what little girls liked.
In any case, the important thing was that she didn't seem particularly threatening.
Kazuya frowned anyway because the girl wasn't very well cared for. Dirty and with clothes torn here and there. She even had some wounds. He approached her, ignoring the piggy and Armsmaster, kneeling to get to her eye level.
"Mishima Kaz..." The girl fell silent when he pinched her cheek.
"Who did this to you? Tell me and I'll kill them."
The girl's eyes widened more and more, becoming the size of pinpricks. She probably wasn't used to anyone standing up for her. A shame, but everything could be fixed.
"Kazuya."
He turned his head to look at the piglet. Still sitting in her office chair, she looked like she was watching the building collapse. It was normal for her to be so scared without him lifting a finger—everyone should fear him—but she was exaggerating a bit.
"She's not a girl," the piglet continued. "She's a woman. Glaistig Uaine, who fought side by side with Dragon against Azazel, is currently the only survivor of the Birdcage."
He let go of the cheek of the so-called... whatever her name was. He wasn't going to remember it anyway.
"How could you lock up a little girl?"
Armsmaster, knowing what was good for him, remained silent, arms crossed in a corner of the room near the piglet.
"I told you, she's not a girl!" The piglet banged the table to emphasize her impotent, pathetic shout. Who did she think she was fooling? "The last thing we need is for you to make her angry."
"Don't be ridiculous."
The girl sought his attention again immediately. How needy.
"Kazuya..." Her voice sounded like a hundred people speaking at once, a distorted echo that he imagined could be creepy in other hands.
He patted her head, tousling her hair.
"Don't you have a better name than Glais... Glais whatever?"
The girl blushed and lowered her head.
"Ciara."
"Ciara. Good, that's better. Much more normal. Tell me, do you like bears?"
She blinked.
"I suppose."
"Perfect!"
For lack of a better candidate and the desire to go out and find one, Kazuya had considered Vista as his Xiaoyu. But this girl, this Ciara, was more adorable and much less noisy.
"Well, anyway." The piglet put her hands to her head, frowning. "Dragon and Glaistig Uaine lost to Azazel, and the Birdcage was destroyed, killing all the prisoners in an instant. If you want to see the recording..."
"Why would I want to see that? It's the obvious outcome. I already told you, I'm the only one who can defeat him."
"Yeah, like you don't have plenty of reasons to say that. To make us think we depend on you."
Kazuya shrugged and continued pinching Ciara's cheeks. Thanks to her, he felt more relaxed. Her cheeks were soft and elastic like cream buns.
"Then don't believe me. Send as many idiots to their deaths as you need to feel satisfied. I'm not a patient man, but I can wait."
"While that monster kills millions of people?" Armsmaster said.
Kazuya shrugged again.
"It's not like this is my world. What do you expect? Well, even if it were happening in my world, I'd do exactly the same as long as it didn't affect me personally," he admitted calmly. He had nothing to hide.
"What a monster."
Armsmaster was about to take a step forward, to no avail, but the piglet put an end to it by raising a hand, signaling him to swallow what little pride he had left and stop.
"I know people like you, Kazuya. Most parahumans are the same, really. You have powers that normal people don't, and that's why you think you're the center of the universe, that you can push the world in whatever direction you please. The Protectorate exists precisely to stop people like you. I've been watching you, Kazuya. Too many of my own men treat you like some sort of harmless prankster, saying strange things, mocking people they don't like, training a bear. Yes, we have the recordings, and certain people pass them around like they've never seen anything funnier. But I know exactly what you are and I won't forget it. Kazuya, you're a monster in human skin."
He smiled smugly, lowering his hand from Ciara's head.
"I know." Did she think this was some sort of profound revelation? "And so are you."
Piggot simply returned his gaze silently, defiantly. She knew he could split her in half in the blink of an eye, and she didn't believe Armsmaster could save her at the last moment, so he supposed he could give her credit for her guts.
Not for her brain, but that was another matter.
He supposed she had become comfortable, believing he wouldn't risk the deal they had for the sake of returning to his world. That thought disgusted him, but what interested him most now was making her confront her hypocrisy, the cornerstone of her identity. It was too easy to destroy her physically. She was already half-dead, kept alive and functioning more or less only thanks to medicine and a machine.
He had to go for the foundations of her fragile existence first.
"You're exactly like the people you say you hate, using the power you have to push the world in the right direction because you think you're entitled to. And it's not hard to guess why. You lost someone, friends, family. In an accident, being saved by some irresponsible cape? On purpose? No. I think you were a soldier in this organization, built by and for superhuman people, and you learned firsthand how little they care about small ants like you. One or two or however many. And then you painted the rest with the same brush. Too convinced of your own righteousness to realize you were following in the same footsteps of the people you said you hated. Tell me, am I wrong about anything?"
Piggot was the first to look away, as expected.
"Kazuya, step back," warned Armsmaster, approaching with his halberd raised. Apparently, his boss losing the argument counted as a threat. She must have an ego as fragile as her obese and broken body.
"Enough, Colin," Piggot said. Armsmaster didn't stop immediately, but he obeyed and halted. "He won't do anything. For better or worse, he's alone in this world. He needs our help."
Kazuya returned her gaze.
"What a mistake you made."
Kazuya opened his hand and passed it over his chest, grabbing her heart.
Piggot's face barely moved, as if it hurt too much for that, her muscles frozen if only for a few seconds. As if she was still trying to understand what had happened in the first place.
With a single tug, he ripped out her heart.
Piggot fell to the ground, dragging the chair with her, blood gushing copiously.
Demonic Hunting Ground (4): FIN
