Ryukyu couldn't react fast enough to save herself. The bullet came straight through her chest, faster than she could ever react. She was falling down rapidly straight to the ground. It was pointless to try and break the fall. Her spine shattered, making her lower body, including her wings to be immobile. With a loud "THUD!!!", the end of her hero career was written.

Her vision is foggy from the dust. Her indestructible body shattered mentally. Her blood filled the hole that she created. As her consciousness starts fading away, all she could do is accept her fate.

All her life, she went through hardship and challenges, promising her parents in their dying bed to one day be a hero that'll be remembered. It seems that she cannot keep that promise any longer.

Even though her ears were ringing, she heard sounds of heavy footsteps coming from all around her. Her body and voice were too weak to call for help, even if she wanted to. All she could do now was stare at the blood that's filling the pool, defeated, as her mind slowly gives up.


-???-

Alive and dead, is the best way to describe her. Even though she felt so sure she's dead, somehow she also felt alive.

She felt smooth sands running up to her legs. Hr body felt dim and purposeless. She opened her eyes and was met with something that she can't even begin to describe. She was in her human form, kneeling in the middle of a desert with a black sky that's consuming any forms of light. 'Am I... dead?", she asks herself. She look down upon her body and saw that she's no longer wearing any clothes.

Around her, she saw the figures of her friends, family, and everyone she has ever interacted with, gathered around her forming a circle. They merely look to the distance, not even acknowledging she was there. "Damn it...", Ryuko mutters quietly to herself, speechless as she knows she's about to die. At that moment, she felt a feeling she swore to never feel again.

Hopelessness.

As she study her surroundings with visible discomfort, something was very off with the circle. In their encirclement, there was a line that they didn't touch, forming a gap in their circle. At the end of it, there was something bright at the end of it. Giving her body a feeling she did not expect to feel, 'hope'.

She walks through the line being very careful not to touch them. Her only goal now is to reach that light. As she continues walking on the path, head of the figures turns and follow her every movement, even breaking their neck as they follow her movement. 'Fucking creeps', she say in her head, disturbed by them.

She was nearing the last of the line. She could see the barren desert beyond this circle, empty. She stop her movement as the last thing she ever want to hear, happens. They were walking.

She turns her head and sees that all of them are facing her. Those at the backs and center were coming closer. She knows for a fact that once she leaves this circle, they will also follow. "Shit...", she thinks to herself. "One way or another," she decides for herself as she transforms into her dragon form and take off into the dark sky.

The figures below her watch as she flies and break apart, all merged with one another instantly, turning into a monstrosity of meat and flesh. At high speed, a tentacle grab her legs as she tries to fly away. "DON'T LEAVE US!!!", they all scream out in desperation to her. She felt regretful hearing the cries of people she once knew, but she can't let it get to her head. 'Come on...', she tries to escape their grip but it was too strong. "Why are you abandoning us...", she heard the voices spoke again.

"LET GOOO!!!" , she shouts out of anger with everything she got, wanting to escape from this torture. The shockwave from the shout was strong enough to loosen the grip of the abomination and letting her free. She raise her wings high and flew faster than she ever has, soaring through the black sky like a missile. All that she has in goal was to get to that shining thing that she saw from before, possibly her only hope.

She heard millions of sounds flying rapidly fast behind her. "Come on. Just a little more.", she said to herself as she fly much quicker. As the sounds get closer to her, she didn't turn her head back. Her body is almost breaking from her wings due to the high speed. 'Just a bit more!', she tries to convince herself, trying to ignore the pain.

No matter how fast she flies, those things were much faster than her. She could feel them on her body, small little bits as they dig into her scales. 'Fuck!', she shouts to herself. From her sides, she could see them. Those millions were small bits of the flesh, trying to tear her apart. The ones that she could see are moving closer to her face, but she couldn't do anything about them. They stick to her face and body, biting little bits of flesh relentless, as she could only try to distract herself.

The flesh eating monsters soon depart from her body as she near light. It's shine telling them it's not yet time. "finally...", she speaks as she's falling down rapidly. Her wings are torn. At best, she can do now is to land safely.

As she lands her broken body hard to the ground, she return to her human form. She can feel her flesh as it's exposed fully. 'Fuck...', she bites down on her lips as she endures the pain. There were blood spilling everywhere, her skin fully eaten and flesh exposed.

Despite her vision foggy, she could still make out what's radiating the light. It's a shining golden door. Ryuko pick herself up and endure it.

She starts walking to the door slowly but surely. She could feel every movement that he's making. It's beyond painful but it's her only hope. 'Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!', she keeps repeating in her head, blood crying from her eyes.

As she reach the door, the light reach her flesh, numbing the pain. She grab the doorknob with her exposed arm. "Better than nothing", she said with a smile, wanting to get out of this hell as she open the door.


-???, Ansan-

Alive

is what she feels throughout her body.

She no longer felt her skin exposed. She was desperately out of energy, but that didn't matter to Ryukyu. All that matters for her is the feeling of life again.

With a sudden jolt, she felt the numbed pain all at once, waking her up. Her body jolt up in a rush from all of the adrenaline rushing to her head. Her breathing ragged as she breath through mouth. Her pupils uneven, her vision blinded by all the adrenaline. 'Fuck!!!', she shouts in her head as her mouth is taking the air. Her hand on instinct grabbed her chest, trying to calm herself down.

As she takes deep breath of air, she finally calmed down a little bit. Her vision returns to her as she realizes where she's at right now. She was in a cave system, though it is not natural. Ahead of her, there's a long and large tunnel that's dug out by hands. Behind her and around is nothing but

She felt the cold brushing against her as the heat dies out. Though, she only felt it on most of her upper body and, almost like she's naked from the waist up. She looks down and saw she wasn't wearing her hero costume anymore. She had bandages all over her body, made from her old hero clothes and ripped cloths.

The bandages covers most of her breasts, only leaving little peeks. She's still wearing her panties that she wore with her old her costume. The bandages mostly cover her bodies, but most of it is now dirty from dirt.

Her body seems to be in it's previous condition, better even. Her body seems to grow much stronger, abs showing and muscles on her arms and legs, perhaps even closer to how Mirko looks. There was something else that captured her attention fully. A small circle, made out of clay right in the middle of her chest, fused into her body. As she touch it, it really felt like clay to the touch, but she felt it like it's part of her. "The hell...", she mutters, not knowing anyone that could do this.

She noticed the thing that she was sleeping on is a mattress that's filled with straws and wool, the cover of it was made out of cloths that were stitched together. The pillow is also made from the same materials, minus the straws. There's also another set of the same mattress and pillow beside hers. 'Must be the one that did this', she guessed as she gets up. Her legs are work perfectly fine, much to her surprise.

She remembered something that was lingering in the back of her head, she was in Ansan. For most of her life, Ryuko never believed there is a deity residing in the Ansan's forest. But now, she's skeptical of it. 'What if it's really real...', she thinks to herself as she looks at the large tunnel that was dug. What if she had been sleeping in it's home.

She knows the stories of how the deity fixed people's disabilities, and unstable quirks, but never believed it until now. She gather herself together as she walk down the tunnel. If she sees the deity in face, then and only then will believe it. Until then, she hopes that it's a kind man that's been helping her.

The long tunnel soon opened up to the right and she heard sounds of vegetable getting cut gently, echoing from the area. As she nears the opening, she smelt chicken broth coming from it. Her stomach growled lightly just from the smell alone. 'How long was i asleep?', think Ryukyu.

She stuck out her head and saw a large cave area which is almost a semicircle, renovated into two rooms: a kitchen and a room that's made for all purposes. Even though there were no walls separating them, it still felt like there was a barrier between them.

In the makeshift kitchen, there's a wooden table with six chairs around it, all of which is made seemingly by hand. In the back however is what catches her eyes. There's a full kitchen set made out of mud, and a man cutting vegetables on a top that's facing the wall. He's only wearing a pair of slacks, leaving his top exposed. His back is pure and definitely one of the most muscular back she's ever seen. His casualness is what surprises her most. 'How long has he been here?', she guess as he's the only other human here.

In the other room, there's a large wooden table in the middle. On top, there's tons of what seems like files made out of leather, or leaves. On the wall, she can see that her headband and claws cover were hanging on the wall.

Unfortunately for her, her stomach got the best of her and it growled the loudest it has ever, drawing the attention of the man. "Sit down. It's almost ready.", the man says in almost perfect Japanese without turning his head.

Ryukyu first hesitated, as she has never seen him before. But then again, he probably was the one that helped her. For now, she'll give it a shot, keeping her guards up. Before she sits down on the chair, she asks him a question, "How long have you been here?"

The man stopped cooking for a second before continuing. "Maybe 17 years now", he answered her. His nonchalant words says a lot. It seems this is not his first time receiving that question, but it has definitely been a while. 'That long?', she thinks to herself.

The man grabs two bowls from the sides and pour the soup in. He turns around and reveal his face to her. Ryukyu's feeling of hunger died out as she looks at his face. 'Holy, shit!', she screamed out in her head and a faint blush appearing on her face. She can confidently say he's one of the most handsome people she has ever seen. His eyes and hair is black, and his face seems to be so young. His face also shows a hint of friendliness as he puts two wooden spoons inside the bowl and brings it to the table. "Eat up.", he says, smiling to her as he puts the bowls down.

Ryukyu feels a bit shy but with a cough, sh regains her composure. She asks him one question. "What's your name?", she tries to break the awkwardness as she looks away, feeling shy looking at his face.

The man did not answer it at first, not because he was cold, but because he didn't have the answer she exactly wanted. "I do not have an exact name, but I'm called 'Sup-ui sin', or what you would say in your language, 'Deity of the Forest'."

She takes a little time to process what he meant, as she finally realizes. 'Oh... Oh shit! Oh fuck!', she shouts in her head, realizing he's the legend himself. A wonder of the world. He didn't mind her shocked expression as leaves the kitchen and go to the other area.

She turned her head to ask more questions, but her stomach did not want to wait. Hesitantly, she take the spoon in her hand and eat the soup. The taste is very harmonic in a sense, something she had never felt before. With every bite, she feels much closer to nature. "It's good!", she says as she eat more of it.

She can hear him coming back to the kitchen and standing right behind her. He puts her headband on her head and placed her claws cover on the table. "I believe these're both yours." he sits down on chair in front of her. She correct the placement by grabbing her blonde hair over the headband, blushing a little. "Jeez. Aren't you a ladies man", trying to hide her shyness.

He chuckles a little by her reaction. "Your dragon quirk is really strong, I'll give you that. I figured it would've taken 6 months to wake up with such injuries.", he says as he grab the other bowl and eat the soup.

"Then how long did I sleep?", she asks, considered his words. She stopped eating the soup, wanting to know how long it's been. "Maybe close 3 months now?"

"3 months?!", she shouts at him as she stood up from the shock, slamming the table. "Shit... sorry.", she whispered quietly to him as she sits back down, with a concern on her face. She can only guess at what happened to the mission on that syndicate, or even how her colleagues are right now. He slides his bowl over to her. "It's okay, you should eat more. You're still recovering after all.", he said as he gets up.

Ryukyu can only grab her spoon as she tries to think on how much she missed out on. "So... you really don't have a name?", Ryuko asks him, trying to find another thing to get distracted by, and to get on his good side. If what was said about him was true, It would be very good to have him as an ally.

"No, i really don't, but i supposed you could call me Yaito. I like the sound of it.", he said as he gets up, and went back to the other room.

'Yaito, huh...', she thinks as she looks back at him. She watch him sits down by the table and search the files. "Interesting", she says quietly as she eats more of the soup. She had originally thought that one of the wonders of the world, the deity, would've been much more inhuman, but instead he just seem so kind. Much different from what she expected.

As she finishes her first bowl, she realizes something that doesn't add up. 'How does he know Japanese?', she thinks. If she knows anything from the stories, 'He's probably been here all his life, which would mean there's no way he could have learn Japanese', she tries to guess on how. He could perhaps be a Japanese, but then again, what are the chances. And besides that, 'How does he know Japanese so perfectly?'

"Yaito... How exactly did you know Japanese?", she asks him, as she puts the finished bowl to the center of the table. His search of the files come to an end as he stands up.

"From you", he says from behind her as he hands over a file to her side. It's made out leather and smelt not the worst. "It's got everything you need.", he says as she grabs the file and take a look at it's content.

Her jaw instantly dropped. There are tons of papers inside, all of which are handwritten documents about the syndicate that she had been trying to take down, the Kuro Syndicate.

The papers inside consist of millions of names along with their ranks in the hierarchy. The papers also talks about the crimes, purchases, base of operations, safe houses, and so much more. There is possibly 100 papers inside, all hand written.

"How did you get all of this?" she asks him as she's shocked, looking over more of the papers. "Are all the other files like this too?" she asks him as she tries to comprehend just how many informations are inside. All of this is much more than what they already knew about them. With this, all of this is more than enough to completely destroy them once and for all.

"Yes, all of them are. I want to strike a deal with you.", He said as he sits down on the chair in front of her. "I want to escape Korea, unscathed. In return, you'll gain informations on countless criminal organisation."

Ryuko is surprised by his offer, but she it's expected. 'Of course. Nothing is ever free. But how did he get them...', as she think it over, it's probably better to play in his favor. Who knows what else is in those files. There could be info that'll permanently cripple villainous organisation all around the world. "Fine, but tell me first. How did you get all of this information?", she asks him.

Hearing her question, he was quiet at first. After some time, he gives himself a nod. "My quirk, it allows me to reshape anything close to dirt. With it, I can also reshape people and quirks by accessing their memories and mind."

"Reshaping, huh...", she whispers to herself quietly as she consider it. The right thing to do would be to bring him to the authorities, but then again, 'They'll probably keep him for their own purposes.', she taps her fingers on the table as she consider it.

Ryuko took some time as she think it over. She'll gain many files on criminals organisation, and considering how he has helped her, and his quirk, it would be valuable to have him as an ally. "Why did you decide to record the crimes?", she asks him, as the final deal breaker.

Yaito eyes light up hearing her question. "Well, I have nothing better to do. I like to see things finished and complete.", he takes out his hand out for a shake.

'A perfectionist.', she takes into his account. She finally decided on it. "Fine, I can help you out.", she take his hand. "But we'll need to discuss a thorough plan. Remember, we both need to go to the Japan Embassy first to confirm my survival, and your new identity.".

"For what it's worth, I can also reshape my body too.", he adds to the plan. As they both discuss what they both know about the system, they soon craft a plan though imperfect, it will get the job done.

First, Yaito will reshape himself himself to be 15 years old, which will make him need a legal guardian, which is where Ryuko will come in. They will go under context that the deity had been taking care of them all this time. Ryuko for 3 months, and Yaito for all of his life. She will give the files to them, saying that "it's the last gift the deity shall give to the world". They will let the authorities find this place and tell them the deity will disappear forever. While there might be holes in the plan, it might be just enough for it to work.

"Are you sure we'll go with this plan?", Ryuko asks him, crossing her arms, still skeptical it will even work. Yaito understand very well her concerns, though he doesn't really have that much of a choice. "If it works, it'll work. It it doesn't, then I'm the only one that will take the hit", he reassures her.

Ryukyu release her hand as she stands up. "Well, do you need to a week to reshape your body?", she asks him. 'He probably did reshaped mine', she thinks as she looks at her muscles and the clay in her chest.

"No, it only takes one hour at most. The week part is mostly just me gathering informations", Yaito says to her as he gets up. He noticed where she's looking. "You haven't recovered fully yet. It might take another month"

"No, I really have to thank you.", she says, her yellow reptilian eyes looking at his. "I really thought I was going to die back then.", she says, her words soothing, arms resting to her sides. Ryukyu is fully confident now and for now, she trusts him.

However, for Yaito, he blushes and felt something he had only ever experienced in the memories, love perhaps. "I... I just did something I had to", his voice stuttered as their eyes met. He can hear her soft chuckle.

"Still, do you have any clothes I can wear? I'm basically naked.", she points out towards her current clothing. She's wearing only her headband, a makeshift bra and panties. Most parts of her body is covered by the bandages, but most of them are already dirty. "Yeah, I can show you wear I keep them. Maybe they'll fit you", Yaito goes towards the door as she follows.

As Ryuko follows him, it was evident he's much taller than her as they walk side by side. "Tell me, Yaito. If you have clothes, why don't you wear it?"

Yaito was a little surprised by the question. "Well, I guess it's normal for me.", he says to her. Ryuko puts her hand behind her head in a casual manner, arching her front. "Don't get any weird ideas now", she teases him.

There was a faint blush on him as he tries to look away. 'What the hell is wrong with me', she argues with herself as she look at his face. Despite being much taller and more intimidating, he looked so cute in her head. 'Yeah, maybe my head is messed up', she grins as her arms is back to her sides.

"How long is this cave anyway?", she asks him. But that didn't take long as there is another opening, this time to the left. Her eyes immediately lights up as she looked at the the area.

It's split into two rooms, just like before. To the right of the area, it's the wardrobe. There are lots and lots of high value clothes both for men and women that she recognized to be the highest quality. To the left is what truly caught her attention. There were just piles of gold, rings, necklaces, everything that she could imagine. "Where... did you get all this?", she asks him, mesmerized. In total, maybe this whole room is worth hundreds of millions, maybe even a billion dollars.

"These are all the offerings they gave to me. Pick out any clothes you want, I'll be ready in one hour", he said as he walks towards the far wall in the wardrobe. He hardens his arm and stab the wall. The cave, came to life and soon encase him. 'So that's how it works.', she observes his quirk in action. But her eyes immediately darts somewhere else, the clothes.

Ryuko removes the bandages and finally take a full look at her body. Her body was covered in scars, but all of them have healed. Even though she felt a little sad about it, she's grateful being alive still.

As the one hour is up, the dirt encasing him soon breaks down. Out of it, fell a brand new man, young and very much so muscular. His face is mostly the same, though there is a little scar on his neck.

Yaito soon gets up and take a look at Ryuko, who has picked her clothes. Her bandages are on the ground. She's currently at the treasure area, trying out some necklace. From what he can see from behind, she's wearing a red dress that's a little tight on the waist, showing her curves. She's also wearing high heels. The dress is backless only on the top, which resembles a horizontal diamond. Scars were visivle. The dress is also tied around her neck, making it seems like she's wearing gloves that are tied to her dress. She heard him breaking out, and turned around.

Her front is indeed covered, but it is a little bit tighter, showing her chest more than when she wore her hero costume. Her abs can also be seen slightly on the waist. Her arms are indeed covered too, but the muscles are visible. There is also a slit that runs up on the left side of the dress. "So... what do you think?", she says as she put her left hand on her waist, her eyes examine him. He kept his muscles, and did lose his height. He is the same height now, wearing the heels of course. If she had to say, maybe he's around 5'7 ft.

Yaito blushes as he can't take his eyes off. "Jeez, you can't wear something else?", he says as he looks away, embarrassed. Her soft chuckle echoes in the cave. "I never had time to dress up before. Does it look good?", she asks him.

He take a look at her dress again, and is very much so speechless. He only nods. "Good enough. Oh, what do you think of this?",She asks him as she tries on two golden necklace. One is adorned with diamonds, while the other is with yellow gemstones. Both of them shows very high value. "We can bring them to Japan, you know. But the yellow one looks good", he answered.

She smiles and put on the yellow necklace. The fully yellow match her blonde hair and eyes, complemented by her red dress. "How would we even bring all of these?", she points to the treasures. "I've been taking offerings for years now. I have my method.", he says as he grabs a red button shirt and puts it on. It fits perfectly on him, along with the black slacks that he's wearing which is surprisingly not tat dirty.

She realizes that that the two of them looks like they're about to go on a fancy date. The thoughts makes her blush a little. 'Do I like him?", she questions herself. He did said that he can reshape minds and memories, but it really doesn't feel like it. "So, do you want to go now?", she asks him, seeing how they're both dressed up already.

He grabs an old leather gloves that doesn't seem to be from any famous brand. There were stitches all over it, telling stories of it's uses. He puts it over his right hand first. "Yeah, I'm ready.", before he puts it over his left, he stabs the wall again and the whole cave system starts shaking.

Came down from the ceiling, a pretty large box made out of coarse dirt right to the centre of the area. As it touches the ground, the files inside jumped and fell right back inside. Next, the ceiling above the treasures soon collapse, swallowing all of it, and letting the night air enter. "Trust me, all of them are unscathed", he says as he takes out his arm and puts the other glove on.

As the night shines on the large sinkhole on the ground, the view is mesmerizing from down there. "It really is beautiful here", she says to him. They both know that this will for sure alert the government, but not like it really matters.

The moonlight shines on her dress, making her seem so much more beautiful than before. "Yeah, really beautiful", he commented, not on the scene, but to her. She smiled on his compliment.

"You have seen me naked right?", she asks him, faintly blushing. She remembered that this dress isn't her hero costume. It can't grow, so it seems like she'll need to do it right in front of him. "Yeah, I have", he answered her.

"Just close your eyes, okay.",she ordered him. Yaito closes his eyes and face the wall. He can hear rustling coming from behind him. And when it's done, he can hear the sound of expanding. "You can look now", her voice much deeper than before, echoing.

Ryukyu is currently in her dragon form, sitting on the buried treasure. Her blonde hair mostly piled to the left side of her face. Her dragon form is filled with scars, some scales on her legs and arms seem to b missing, but most importantly, her wings are doing okay. The little clay circle now runs down the middle of her chest. Her dragon chest is now bare, only for him to see. It has been so long since anyone had seen her dragon's breasts. The only parts of her from the hero costum is just the headband on her head, the claw covers on her right arm, and the panties.

'Wow it's been so long.', she says to herself. It has been a while since she has ever been naked in her dragon form, and add to that, an audience too. Yaito can only watch as she stood there, but what catch his attention most is definitely her chests. The red dress that she wore is now sitting on the ground. "Don't stare at it for too long, cutie. Grab my dress while you're at it.", she teases him, noticing how he's looking at her breasts, as she walks over and take the box which fit perfectly in her hand.

"Talk about a personality change.", he goes over to the dress and grabs it in his arm. 'Wow she's hot', he thinks as he looks at her body. 'Perv...', she says in her head with a smile, knowing he's looking.

"Well? You gonna keep looking or what?", she says to him as she lays down, giving him a way to get on her. With the dress in hand, Yaito gets on her back. Though a bit hard, he finally gets on her back. She grabs the box hard as she stands up, letting her wings spread.

"Ready to fly?"

-End of Chapter-