"..."
The city was in chaos, buildings on fire, screams, the sounds of explosions echoing everywhere…
I looked around as we rode the motorcycle.
"So nothing big happens here, huh…"
"Shut up!!" Mirko shouted, blowing out the intercom audio.
Then, out of nowhere, from around the corner, a massive creature came running.
It had a robust and exaggeratedly muscular body, with arms disproportionate to the rest of its frame, dark yellow skin, and two huge horns on its head.
But my focus quickly shifted to the creature's exposed brain.
"A Nomu?" I turned on the bike seat, facing the creature that was now chasing us on all fours.
"Nomu?" Mirko asked.
"It's a type of monster, one of these things attacked my class at the USJ."
"Got it." She shrugged.
"Do this, Ghoul, hold that thing off while I find a place to park the bike."
"Fine"
I jumped off the bike, releasing my Rinkaku and heading toward the Nomu.
I drove two of my tentacles into its shoulders and the other two into the ground.
Grabbing the Nomu's head between my arms, I pulled it down with all my strength, sending its legs flying into the air, followed by the rest of its body when I released it.
It hit the ground, making it tremble from its weight. The Nomu rolled a few times on the street before getting up unsteadily.
I prepared to charge, but a car suddenly appeared, coming at high speed.
The driver tried to swerve around the Nomu, but it simply grabbed the vehicle from above, crushing the roof under the shape of its fingers.
"MOOOOOOO!!"
It lifted the car and hurled it at me, roaring like a bull, its voice slightly distorted.
I had to catch the car with all my tentacles as carefully and delicately as possible, I feared the passengers might suffer head trauma or whiplash if I handled it wrong.
I didn't have time to put the car back down, because the Bull charged at me again, aiming its horns at my chest.
"MOOOOOOO!!!"
"Urgh…"
I managed to grab the Nomu's horns with my hands, but I was slowly being pushed back.
I gritted my teeth, and as the Bull's initial advantage in the struggle began to fade, I started to overpower it, twisting its head to the side.
But in the middle of that, another Nomu suddenly flew into my field of vision.
This one was much thinner than the other, with dark green skin.
It had insect-like wings on its back, beating at an extremely fast pace, sounding like a helicopter.
Its eyes were positioned on the corners of its head, protruding in a disgusting way, like a slug's, and they locked onto me.
It puffed its cheeks as if it were about to spit something.
But one of its eyes suddenly shifted, and the Nomu immediately flew away.
A few milliseconds later, a rock flew through where it had been, hitting a nearby building and punching a hole through it.
I turned my head and saw Mirko lifting another massive chunk of pavement into the air and kicking it.
The stone struck the Bull in the ribs, making it stagger to the side and lose its balance, giving me the chance to throw it away and create some distance.
Mirko delivered a kick to the Bull, launching it into a shop.
I lowered the car, and a man and a woman got out safely and relatively unharmed, aside from vomiting when they stepped out.
"Take those two somewhere safe." She cracked her neck, heading toward the Nomu in the shop.
I nodded and turned to the couple, who were consoling each other.
"Excuse me." I wrapped them in two Kagune tentacles and ran toward the noise of a crowd.
The flying Nomu seemed like it wanted to follow me, but it was stopped by another rock thrown by Mirko.
I reached what seemed to be the center of the chaos.
Some heroes were fighting other Nomu, while others tried to push back a crowd of civilians who were watching and recording everything.
I set the couple down and immediately ran back toward where Mirko was.
But on the way, I noticed another crowd forming, separate from the first, this time, people were staring at a burning building.
"They're still in there! Where are the heroes?!!!" a man shouted.
'Damn…'
Dashing toward the burning building, I used my Kagune to shield myself from the flames.
Inside, debris blocked the stairway.
Pulling the barrier of rubble toward me, it collapsed in my direction.
Right away, a group of three people ran past, nodding in thanks as they coughed.
Climbing the stairs, I found more debris on another floor and did the same again.
Another group passed, but one of them pointed toward an apartment, unable to speak.
Heading there, I kicked the door open.
Inside, an elderly woman lay on the ground, a kitten beside her, desperately trying to wake her.
Gently lifting her with my Kagune, the kitten came along too, settling in my arms.
Near the entrance, I placed the woman where people quickly rushed to help, carrying her out of the smoke.
Before going back inside, the kitten meowed, as if thanking me.
This repeated at least three more times, breaking through debris and carrying out unconscious people.
The last time, I carried eight people and three pets at once, spreading them across my arms and Kagune.
Setting a woman on the ground, she woke, gathered what little strength she had, and grabbed my uniform, pulling me closer.
"My…"
"S-son…"
Tec
"Where is he?" I asked, struggling to hear over the noise.
"Third… floor… 311…"
I gently placed her head back down and ran inside once more.
I quickly reached 311 and kicked the door open.
"Kid??!!"
"Cough… cough… here… sniff…"
Tec...
I followed the faint sound of coughing and found a trembling boy, curled up in the corner of the room, crying and coughing.
"It's okay, I'm here…" I reached my hand toward his head, wanting to comfort him.
The child turned to look at me, but his eyes filled with terror.
He started trembling violently and hid his head between his knees.
"N-no… stay away…"
The scene made me freeze, and I pulled my hand back, but his next words hurt far more than Mirko's training sessions.
"M-monster… s-so s-scary…"
─── ◆ ───
[A/N]:
Hello, I hope everyone is doing well.
Unfortunately, I'll have to reduce the number of chapters starting in OCTOBER.
There will only be 1 chapter per week.
That's because I need to focus especially on college for a while.
Despite this, I don't want to stop writing or take a break, especially since we're reaching a really cool part of both stories.
Ah, everything will be normal in SEPTEMBER, with two chapters a week and all that.
That's it, I hope we can get back to our regular programming soon.
(The possibility of this happening had already been warned about previously)
If you'd like to support my work and receive bonuses such as 5 to 10 advanced chapters, spoilers, early access to my new books, polls, and more, check out:
P @ t r 3 0 n - Condor7