CHAPTER 271(Monster and Dragon)

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CHAPTER START---

"Ngh," Ryukyu stirs awake, facedown against the grassy mountain floor. She opens her eyes slowly, feeling a headache pounding against the back of her skull as she looks around her.

She lifts a hand to shield her eyes from the afternoon sun while looking around, immediately seeing her city at the base of this mountain, with the ocean just beyond it.

To the far left she could see the highways wrapping around this mountain to connect her city to many others, and for a moment all seemed still in her world.

She sits up and rubs the back of her head, trying to remember what happened, and why she's on the ground now, but the memories don't return until she notices Horizon standing a dozen meters away looking out at the city.

Her heart begins racing as she raises a hand to her ear, trying to activate her earpiece, only to find it missing.

She begins sweating while reaching for her phone, not finding that device either.

She looks around, hoping to find one of them on the grass around her, but she sees nothing, aside from bits of dried blood scattered about.

She naturally looks down at her body, not finding any blood on her at all, then looks back to the splattering of blood.

Looking between the trail and Horizon she notices he's not moving, and forces herself to stand up, terrified, but more worried about whoever is clearly injured.

She notices the trail leading away and around a bush, away from Horizon.

But she nearly loses her lunch when she looks back at him, noticing both his hands were blood stained, all the way past his wrists.

From here she could only see his back, his hands hanging at his side while Scalpel hovers in front of him, slowly rotating and allowing her to just barely get a glimpse of it.

Ryukyu swallows harshly before returning to the blood trail, scared of what she's most likely to find at the end of it.

But things quickly become more than she expected within only a few steps.

She followed the trail, and along it found bits of torn up flesh. 

Teeth, entire eyeballs either intact or crushed, more than a dozen thus far.

'He hurts people and heals them so he can hurt them more...what a monster,' she thinks while following the trail.

She begins finding bits of white hair still connected to pieces of scalp, clearly torn away from the skull.

She eventually finds entire fingers, toes, feet,hands, then whole limbs.

"Ugh!" She blocks her mouth to keep her lunch down when she notices what are clearly internal organs laying in the grass.

Pieces of liver, intestines, 4 whole kidneys, rib bones, and many, many other things, all of which made her regret the choices that led to this moment.

A few steps later she finds Gentle Criminal, appearing perfectly healed aside from the sword pinning him to the floor through his midsection.

While trying to desperately drag herself and the victims away, Ryukyu feels a sharp pain in her chest as she drops them and crumples to her knees.

She places a hand over her chest and looks over to Horizon, now noticing him holding a still beating heart in his bloody hand while walking over to her and Gentle Criminal.

As she feels the square shaped hole in her chest, she notices her phone and earpiece in his other hand.

"Well I hope you had a good nap," Horizon says as he stands above her. "Because reality is here now."

Ryukyu narrows her eyes at him, still trying and failing to get up, "are you going to kill us?" she questions through grit teeth.

Horizon shakes his head at her, disappointed, "oh Kyukyu, tsk tsk tsk, I'm a hero, we don't kill," he lies. "Especially other Pro Heroes, I mean Japan really can't handle losing one top Pro right now, definitely not two. That would just make me look bad by relation, and we both know I can't allow that, right?"

She looks genuinely confused, not sure where he's going with this.

"But...I can't just have you go unpunished," he raises her phone and earpiece. "Especially since my very heavy suspicions about you being a spy for Pantu have now been confirmed.

But maybe that's my fault. After all, villains have many examples of why they should be afraid of me, but I never really gave Pantu a proper reason, until now..."

She feels her blood run cold and stomach turn at that.

"I---"

"Don't care," he cuts her off. "You people need to be punished for trying to meddle with me, and Gentle needs to die so...two birds one stone," he gestures to the floor at his feet, and there she sees another still beating heart appear, kept neatly in an invisible jelly-like substance.

Ryukyu's eyes go wide as she stares at it, even now in somewhat disbelief.

She glances over to Gentle Criminal's unconscious body beside her, then up at Horizon, "no, I won't be a murderer, I'll die before I become a monster like you!"

"Bold words," Horizon says as he gently squeezes her heart in his hand.

"Argh!" Ryukyu's pained screams flow through the forest as she feels a dozen small heart attacks, as if her chest was about to explode.

Seeing her heart being slowly crushed only made the experience all the more traumatizing.

But no matter how much it hurt, she never once tried to reach for Gentle Criminal's heart.

And eventually Horizon stopped.

"Wow, impressive," Horizon says. "But I half expected that since you're the 'True Hero' type, but you people have a very clear weakness..."

As Ryukyu's half listening to him, struggling to catch her breath, she suddenly finds herself at the edge of the forest at a cliff overlooking the city.

"Wha---"

"You super hero types can't stand being helplessly on the sideline while people die, because of you, right?"

She looks from the bustling city, then back to him, "no! You can't!"

"I can do whatever I want Kyukyu," Horizon growls out. "Now crush it," He gestures to the heart in front of her.

Ryukyu can't even hide how terrified she is anymore, looking at the heart in front of her.

"I can't," she pleads.

"You've got till I get to 'three', then people start dying," Horizon says coldly.

"Those people haven't done anything to you," Ryukyu says angrily. "They're innocent!"

"Yes, they are, but unlike you, I embrace what I am," Horizon says. "And I'm a monster, remember? So if people need to die for me to get people to stop bothering me, then so be it."

"But---"

"One!"

Hearing that her lunch nearly rushes back up her throat.

She looks at the city below, and genuinely considers this, considers actively and intentionally taking a human life, even if it is to save others.

She weighs the options, one life, versus oh so many below.

She considers calling Horizon's bluff, but instantly discards that idea.

He seemed serious, and even if she thought he was bluffing, could she take that chance with so many lives on the line.

"Two."

She squeezes her eyes shut, placing her hand atop the heart, ready to crush it.

But the beating of it against her palm causes her to hesitate.

It fills her mind with memories of her precious students.

Of Nejire, Uravity, and Froppy.

Of all the little girls she's met over the years who cheer her on and say they want to be just like her.

Strong, dependable, kind, a true hero for everyone to look up to.

"Three."

"AHHHH!" Ryukyu screams at the top of her lungs, squeezing her eyes shut as a few tears are forced out, and slamming her hand down on the heart.

With a quick squelch it splatters under her palm, splashing her with a bit of blood and causing her to instantly throw up on the floor.

Ryukyu unconsciously rubs her hand against the grass and dirt around her, even as the skin peels away she can't stop, desperate to get the sensation off her flesh.

Seeing the woman slowly losing her mind and failing to come to terms with what she just did, Horizon simply drops her own heart in front of her before looking out to the city.

"That's the difference I suppose, you can only be a dragon, but I'm...so much more," he takes a step in front of her and raises a hand to the city. "Too bad you moved a bit too slowly..."

And with that he shoves his hand forward, sending a simple command to many of the tall buildings and subway tunnel support columns supporting a few blocks of the city.

"Takt!"

In the next few minutes, entire buildings crack and fall apart as what would later be described as an unprovoked villain attack occurred.

Bringing down buildings and collapsing the crowded subway tunnels below the city, suddenly and without any warning.

Leaving thousands dead and countless more injured.

All while this city's main Pro Hero, was forced to sit on the sidelines and watch.

The first of two great tragedies that would befall this city within a mere two weeks...

END CHAPTER---