Looks like we hit the milestoneš„š„
Here is the chapter as promised!!
Next milestone 1200PS!!! As they say, if you want, you gotta earn it.
Happy reading.
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The Imperial Penthouse, Celestial Tower:
The door to the master suite clicked shut with a soft thud.
Akira stepped back into the hallway, adjusting his cuffs. Inside the room, buried under a mountain of cotton pillows and silk duvets, Nia was already fast asleep.
He had tucked her in with care, making sure she did not wake up. As he pulled the blanket up to her chin, her small claw had hooked his leather glove.
"Hehehehe," she had mumbled in her sleep, her whiskers twitching. "Fishhhh... big fish..."
Akira smiled, kissed the top of her fuzzy head, and whispered a goodnight. She was safe. She was happy. That was all that mattered.
He sighed, rolling his neck to crack the tension out of his spine. The adrenaline from his little "torture session" in the Heir's Lounge had faded, leaving him with mental tiredness.
Time to face the music, he thought. Mom is going to grill me.
He walked down the corridor toward the living room. The lights had been dimmed.
He rounded the corner.
"GAH!" Akira jumped back, his hand instinctively going for his pipe.
Standing in the middle of the room was Honoka.
She wasn't sitting. She wasn't reading. She was standing perfectly still, her arms crossed, staring at him. And she was smiling.
It wasn't her warm, maternal smile.
It was the Creepy Smile. The smile that had when she knew everything and saw everything.
"Mom?" Akira asked, taking a cautious step back. "Did you drink too much champagne? You look like a horror movie poster."
Honoka didn't blink. She lunged.
"NO!" she shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders before he could dodge. "MY HOT-HEADED SON!"
She pulled him into a hug that threatened to crack his ribs.
"I just came back from sorting the mess you made!"
Akira stiffened. "Oh."
He pulled back slightly, looking at her with genuine shame.
"I swear, Mom," he said quickly. "I only did that because that little pig tried to harm Nia. He was going to leash her. I couldn't just stand there."
Honoka's expression softened instantly. The creepy intensity vanished, replaced by a fierce, protective warmth. She reached up and patted his head.
"I know, honey," she said softly. "I saw the video. And I totally understand."
Her eyes darkened for a fraction of a second.
"Honestly? I would be fine if you had done something worse. As long as that pig was still alive to learn his lesson, I don't care how many bones were broken. No one touches our family."
Akira let out a breath and laughed.
"Thanks, Mom. I thought you'd be mad about the PR."
"No problem, kiddo," she grinned, tapping his nose. "This is the reason we built this empire. So you never have to apologize for protecting what's yours."
Akira nodded, feeling lighter.
"Okay," he said, turning toward the kitchen. "I'm going to grab a water and then -"
SWISH.
Honoka appeared in front of him.
The Creepy Smile was back, and this time it was wider.
"Nowww," she drawled, wiggling her eyebrows. "Tell me about the girl."
Akira froze. "What girl?"
"The girl who helped save Nia," Honoka chirped, leaning in close. "The pretty one with the ponytail. The one you bought a soda for. The one you had a romantic moment with in the hallway."
Akira sighed.
So this is what it is about, he thought. The violence was fine. The romance that never happened is the interrogation.
"It wasn't a romantic moment," Akira deadpanned. "We discussed how she was wasting her quirk."
"Details!" Honoka waved her hand, steering him toward the sofa. "Sit down. I want to know everything. Her name, her quirk, her blood type, and when the wedding is..... Ahem, ignore the last part."
Akira looked at the clock. It was 11:00 PM.
This will be a long night, he realized, surrendering to his fate.
***
Meanwhile, in the Northern Sector(China).
The Northern Sector Depot was under attack.
BOOOOOM!
This was a war zone.
The Depot was a fortified storage facility for the Chinese Armed Hero Forces, housing experimental tech and confiscated villain gear. It was supposed to be impenetrable.
Right now, it was burning.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Automatic gunfire shot through the air, mixing with the boom of quirk-generated explosions.
Inside the perimeter wall, a squad of soldiers was pinned down behind a heap of slagged concrete. They were bleeding, dirty, and running out of ammo.
"Protective wall breach in Sector 4!" a soldier screamed into his comms. "We need backup! They have heavy hitters!"
A massive hole had been blown open in the reinforced titanium wall. Through the dust and fire, silhouettes were advancing.
A soldier ā the Squad Captain ā gritted his teeth. He stood up, veins bulging in his neck.
"GLUE WAVE!" he roared.
He slammed his hands onto the ground. A massive torrent of white liquid erupted from his palms. It surged forward like a tsunami of quick-drying cement, rushing toward the hole to seal the breach and trap the invaders.
"YES!" a private yelled, reloading his rifle. "CAPTAIN CHEN BLOCKED IT!"
The glue solidified instantly, creating a wall ten feet high.
"Hold the line!" Chen ordered, panting. "We just need to buy time for the Heroes to -"
Thud.
A figure landed in the middle of the squad.
He hadn't come through the wall. He had come from the shadows.
He was a lean man with brown skin and had dark clothing that seemed to absorb the light. He wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face. His eyes looked as if he did not want to be here.
"Cap -"
Before the private could finish his warning, the intruder stomped his foot.
"Bind," the man whispered.
SHWOOM.
A shadow expanded from under his feet. It wasn't a natural shadow; it was a physical, semi-solid substance that moved fast. It raced across the ground, connecting with the shadows of every soldier in the squad.
He was Rishi. The Shadow walker.
Instantly, every soldier froze.
Captain Chen tried to move his arm. He couldn't. He tried to activate his quirk again. Nothing. It was as if his own shadow had reached up and paralyzed his nervous system.
"What..." Chen gagged, his jaw locked.
"No need to struggle," the shadow user said calmly, walking past the frozen soldiers. "It will be over soon. Just stand there and die quietly."
BOOM.
The glue wall burst open.
A massive man stepped through the debris. He was huge, easily seven feet tall, wearing heavy armor. But his most terrifying feature was his arms. From the elbows down, his arms were replaced by massive, rotating multi-barrel rocket launchers.
Mark. The Heavy Artillery.
"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Mark laughed, his voice booming like thunder. "That was too easy! Why the hell was this mission so high-paying? These guys are so damn squishy!"
He kicked a piece of the glue wall away.
Behind him, a woman walked in. She was wearing a high-tech visor over her eyes and a suit covered in sensors.
Lexa. The Scout.
She tapped her visor, frowning.
"My quirk isn't detecting any more soldiers nearby," Lexa said. "Just the workers and scientists in the inner vault. It's... empty."
She looked around suspiciously.
"It doesn't make sense," she muttered. "This is a Tier-1 facility. Where are the Pro Heroes? Where is the heavy guard?"
"Chill, Lexa," Mark scoffed, spinning the barrels of his arm-cannons. "We just got lucky. Maybe they're on a break. Let's get the goods and get out of here and enjoy the easy money."
Rishi, standing by the paralyzed soldiers, shook his head.
"He might be an idiot," Rishi said, his voice dry, "but Mark is right. Paranoia wastes time. Let's get moving."
"Fuck you, Rishi," Mark grunted.
He started walking toward the inner vault doors.
"MOVE!" Mark yelled to the mercenaries swarming in behind them. "Secure the perimeter! Loot everything that isn't nailed down!"
"Wait," Rishi called out. "Deal with the soldiers first, you brute. No witnesses."
Mark stopped. He smacked his own forehead with a metallic clang.
"Oops. Almost forgot. Professional standards and all that."
He turned back to the squad of frozen, helpless men.
He raised his arm-cannons. The barrels spun up with a high-pitched whine. Inside the chambers, warheads glowed red.
Captain Chen stared down the barrel of the weapon. He couldn't move. He couldn't scream.
Forgive me, Chen yelled in his mind, tears leaking from his paralyzed eyes. I couldn't protect you.
"BIG ONE!" Mark yelled, grinning maniacally.
THOOM. THOOM.
Two massive rockets launched from his arms. They tore through the air, aiming directly for the center of the squad.
.
.
.
Silence.
No explosion. No heat. No death.
The soldiers opened their eyes.
Mark blinked. "What???"
The smoke from the launch cleared.
Both missiles were suspended in the air.
They were frozen, inches from Captain Chen's face. The thrusters were still burning, pushing with thousands of pounds of force, but they weren't moving. It was as if they had hit an invisible, immovable wall.
"What the fuck is happening?" Mark asked, stepping back.
Before anyone could answer.
Zip.
"AGHHHHHH!"
Mark turned.
He saw Rishi.
The shadow user was standing there, clutching his throat. A long, thin blade was hovering in the air behind him. It had passed clean through his neck.
Rishi's eyes were wide with shock. Blood poured from his mouth.
"Wha..." was all he could say before he collapsed, the shadow bind fading instantly as he died.
"RISHI!" Lexa screamed.
Her visor flashed red. Her quirk screamed a warning.
"THERE IS SOMEONE IN THE SKY!" she yelled, pointing up. "DIRECTLY ABOVE US!"
Mark looked up. The mercenaries raised their rifles.
High above the smoke, floating casually among the clouds, was a figure.
"FIRE!" Mark yelled.
TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!BOOM! BOOM!
Fifty rifles opened fire. Mark launched a full volley of rockets. A storm of lead and explosives shot upward, converging on the floating man.
But just as the bullets and rockets reached him... they stopped.
All of them. Hundreds of rounds, suspended in mid-air, forming a sphere of metal and fire around the figure.
The figure began to descend.
As he got closer, the light from the burning depot illuminated him.
He was an old man, with silver hair swept back. He was wearing a perfectly tailored suit.
The man didn't look like a soldier. He looked like a king.
"You can't let this old man have a single day off," the man whispered.
He flicked a finger.
The sphere of bullets and rockets turned.
"What the?"
Lexa tried to speak.
ZIP.
She was hit by fifty bullets, all at once. She dropped instantly, riddled with holes.
The mercenaries didn't even have time to run. The rockets Mark had fired slammed back into the ground at their feet.
BOOM.
The mercenary force was vaporized.
Only Mark was left standing, his armor smoking, his eyes wide with terror.
The old man landed softly in front of the soldiers. He adjusted his cufflinks.
Captain Chen fell to his knees, the paralysis gone. He looked up at the man.
"Sir?" a soldier asked, shaking. "Who... who is he?"
Captain Chen let out a breath he had been holding for five minutes.
"No need to worry," Chen said, relief washing over him. "We are safe."
He bowed his head.
"The Strongest Man in Asia is here. President Ming." (I mean itšš)
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His Pic if you don't remember.
Yup, he is here. He will be one of the key figures in the future. Did you like his design?
Let me know.
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