Innocent

"Don't mind it, I can help you," Mega said indifferently and began walking up to her.

"Agh!" She flinched and fell away from the wall. Her tail appeared from her rear and shot towards him. Mega grabbed the spiked end just before it hit his neck. It had an eyeball attached to the whip that was staring at him. The woman had a shocked look on her face. Mega's eyes narrowed.

Hikaru had shapeshifted into a helpless looking woman to trick him.

A shiny blade extended out of his right forearm and with it he sliced off her tail.

"How dare you try to trick me? You think I didn't know?"

"N-no-no! I wasn't!" She said shaking her hand in front of him.

The second blade on his other arm slid out.

"Wait! Please! I'm innocent!" She yelled as she crawled backwards by kicking against the dirt.

Lies. All lies.

Hikaru was a master of deception. He would not hesitate as he did before.

In a fraction of a second, Mega charged in with two blades which stabbed into her chest and then he sliced horizontally outwards, cutting her into halves the same way Dr Keno was killed by the blind monk.

"Next time, cover your burn wounds first before disguising yourself."

He aimed his right palm at the body but then realised something. As blood was pouring out from her body, her body heat was draining away and so parts of her body's heat signature were fading and becoming a darker green colour in his thermal vision.

However, the tail on her back was still a strong orange colour. She didn't seem to be healing.

He stepped on the tail and it started to wiggle like a worm. He looked closer at the base of the tail. It seemed to be naturally formed instead of inserted into the back which makes it hard to differentiate. Hikaru's ability to absorb and mimic makes it easy to blend in.

Mega concluded that this wasn't Hikaru. Only the tail was a part of Hikaru.

He had been baited.

Mega knelt to the ground and punched it while he gasped in pain.

With his eyes closed, his mind was replaying the scene before him when he killed the woman. She had said that she was innocent and cried tears.

Mega would never forget the fear and despair that he invoked in her eyes. He had made her feel afraid in the last moments of her life. He had killed her, not Hikaru.

"I'm so sorry. Please, please forgive me."

Mega opened his eyes and they met with her cold grey eyes flooded with tears.

They looked like they accused him of murder.

"I'm- I am sorry!" Mega almost shouted.

He hurriedly closed her eyes and held his hand there.

"I'll avenge you. I promise. So, let your spirit move on."

Mega got up and gently sprayed flames on her severed body. Her body soon turned to ash. Mega felt that he wanted to release her spirit from her gruesome death, but another reason was that leaving her body in this state made him feel guilty.

He turned around and scanned the area with fierce eyes. Hikaru had used the old lady to stall for time and to fake his death. He couldn't have made it far with his injuries and must be nearby.

All the inhabitants seemed to be doing somewhat normal things within the context of the situation. Hikaru had to be blending in since he was aware of his thermal imaging technology.

'The man laying down!'

Mega settled his eyes on him and thought it was strange. He must have been trying to blend in while healing his wounds.

Mega flew into the wall straight into his room. The old man got up from his bed looking shocked. There was blood on his sheets. A tail came from his rear and attacked mega. Mega swiftly hacked it and then grabbed the old man by his face.

His face was awfully stretched apart by Mega's grasp. His eyes were bulging out as he looked at Mega in fear.

"Please don't kill me!"

"Hikaru! You! You, you made me kill her!" Mega shouted as shook the old man.

"Aghh! My name is Akihito! Please, you can kill me but spare my wife!"

Mega turned his gaze to a picture frame sitting on the bedside desk. It was a portrait of Akihito and the old lady he met earlier. In the photo, the old man had his eyes closed and was kissing the cheek of the woman. Her eyes and mouth were opened wide in surprise.

One could tell she was incredibly happy.

"What is her name?"

Akihito stared in surprise.

"Chi-Chiyoko"

Tears streamed down his eyes. It was genuine.

If Hikaru could absorb things, it was a logical line of thought that he could also absorb the memories of his victims.

Mega lifted him by his face and pointed a blade at his face with his other arm.

Akihito's eyes bulged out.

He was going to stab him but stopped. A memory of the woman's crying flashed in his mind. What if he was innocent and Hikaru was yet tricking him again?

Akihito's eyes squeezed into sharp eyes and he grinned. He grabbed Mega's wrist, swung around his body and onto his back shoulders. He then wrapped his arms around Mega's neck and head and twisted it until it stopped 90 degrees to the right and made a metallic cranking sound.

Seeing that he couldn't twist it anymore, he pulled Mega's head back as hard as he could while pushing away with his legs.

***

Just before Mega fired his incinerators, Hikaru opened the suit from his back and flitted away. He then saw a woman watching the blaze, reflecting the orange light from it.

He instantly appeared behind her and pulled her back to the side of the house. He was going to absorb her to quickly heal and transfer the heat from his body but while seeing the brown liquid oozing out of him burn her skin, he had an idea.