I'm gonna be fully honest right now.
I kinda forgot to release the chapter last night, and that's why it's coming out late. Like, I finished it in the morning, but you know when you're taking a test and you finish it, but you still have time so you reserve some time so you can check over your answers? That's what I was trying to do.
And I failed.
So, yeehaw, chapter here.
~~~~~
There's too much going on right now. So many people, so many things going around, so many rocks and pieces of debris I'm flinging. But I can't really feel it. I feel like I'm in an out-of-body experience, like I've disassociated from my body. It feels like there's something else controlling my body, but my mind's still fully aware.
It's like I'm in the zone.
I'm pretty sure blood flowing out of me at a steady rate is pretty unnatural. Unfortunately, none of the S-Class has some of that weird healing magic, other than whatever the hell Zombieman has under his sleeve. That's the only unnatural thing happening to me right now, having to use my power to quite literally slow down my blood flow from splattering out of me.
Even having to deal with this gigantic fusion of Psykos and the Monster King doesn't feel too abnormal, though it's definitely one of the toughest enemies I've faced so far. Probably second place. Maybe third. Not sure at this point, but I know it's not the toughest enemy I've faced.
That title belongs to that alien. Boros. When I faced him, there was an emotion I didn't think I'd ever feel again. Whether it was because I would have forced my emotions to shut off, whether I would push any source of it away, or whether I thought I was too strong to feel something that threatening again, I didn't think I'd feel it.
Terror. That emotion that I felt then was terror.
But it wasn't despair. I know it wasn't despair.
There's an unusually large range of emotions that humans feel, that dogs feel, that cats feel (maybe, cats are heartless bastards sometimes), that any animal feels. There are tons of words to express certain types of emotions too, specific types.
Happy. A simple word. But it can be expanded. Joyful, ecstatic, elated.
And there are negative emotions that can be expressed just the same. Sadness, fear, and anger are some of the most basic ones. They too can be expanded upon into other things. Hatred, sorrow, misery, horror, rage, malice, malevolent, any sort of negative emotion can probably be expressed.
And I think for fear, there are many unique ones, that could be thought of as related more to fear, as well as related more to sadness. Yet, they are used in both situations.
Despair is one of them. Despair's kinda the absence of hope. Despair's also the state of absolute misery, in a way. It has a very specific definition, but its meaning can be bent ever so slightly when it needs to bend.
God, I sound like a pretentious English teacher who really wants to convey how "Oh, language is so amazing, you should utilize it all!" as if normal words don't get the message across just the same when an individual's interpretations of words are different, you goddamn troglodyte.
Terror, on the other hand, is the fear of losing hope. Fear, of course, being that worry that something is going to go wrong. At least, that's how I've always seen it.
When I fought Boros. That? That wasn't despair. Because I knew there was hope. There was terror. That fear, that, at the last moment, the hope I had was going to be snuffed out, like embers crushed under a winter boot.
It sounds dramatic, but that's the only way I can really put how it felt then.
That was the most terror I'd felt before ever since I was a kid.
This enemy? I know that there's no way that I can feel that same level of terror. With the level of danger ahead of me, and...having learned that I am in fact not invincible, there's a little bit of fear that I could individually be defeated. Of course, not to the point of being killed or even incapacitated, but to the point where I can't fight as effectively as I could.
But even if you asked me to seriously answer, I couldn't seriously say that I imagine us losing this battle. Even with all the strategy that the Monster Association seems to have put into this, the terror they tried to strike into the hearts of the people, even the strategy they put into place where some of the cadres were put up against heroes that they had a definite advantage against. I can't say I imagine us losing overall, even with that gigantic psychic monster trying to escape at the moment.
And I can't imagine myself being hurt any worse than this. With everything that I've done, with that huge ass drill that I made from the ground, even someone who's as absentminded as Saitama could find his way there and could definitely find his way up there. And the moment he gets here, there's no need for me to even worry anymore.
When Blast told me all those years ago that someone won't be there to save me and that I need to get stronger, I believed it.
Now, I believe that I'm 100% strong. There's very little that could beat me.
The only big difference I can think of when it comes to following the advice that I'd lived by my entire life would be this. I don't think that having others by your side is a handicap anymore. In fact, I think having somebody by your side makes you even better when it comes to fighting.
And one of the things that I used to think was that someone there to save me would always apply to combat. That having to have been saved would extend not just to losing or the fear of death, but to that thought process of losing anything in general, no matter how minor.
But I think, at least now, that I've learned the difference between having to be saved by someone...and having someone to rely on.
And I'm 100% certain that I have someone to rely on.
That someone to rely on?
I'm certain that, with him here, I don't even need to think about feeling even terror.
~~~
Tell me. There's something out there. I can sense it from the talks I've had with...him.
And there's something that he's hiding from me. There's something that's not being said. That's not being told to me. But I know it's out there.
The more pressing thing is this.
What could be more important than the knowledge that I've already been given? What sort of horror lays out there in the universe that is so terrifying that I, Homeless Emperor, the Chosen One, cannot know of it?
What is out there that God himself would not tell me of? There has to be...something to it. Is it the source of his power? Is it a mistake he has made? Or is it an observation he has made that should be kept away from prying eyes?
Or is it something so powerful it lays outside of even his grasp?
It can't be. That, in itself, was blasphemy.
You cannot be thinking these things, it tells me, and I listen. I have flaws. It likely does not.
I am aware of many things. I am sure you are aware that, at least conceptually, I must seem, even to an average viewer such as yourself, that I am above most, if not all other life forms on this planet that are accessible through normal means. Of course, he is on a higher plane, that of which I cannot access on my own. He was the one that reached out to me, after all.
What do I mean, for example, when I say an average viewer such as yourself?
Of course, it is you who reads my thoughts. Who has been granted so graciously by him that is allowed to witness the events that transpire before me. Who is able to read my own audible thoughts as if they were texts on a screen. It is you who I mean by this.
Such a simple example, for instance, is an easy way to display my superiority to most, if not all organisms by this planet. Though, while I cannot judge his choices, I cannot fathom why he would allow such access to my mind, when I have been one of his most loyal subjects.
You are correct, but do not become complacent in your thinking, it speaks to me once more. He is correct. I cannot allow myself to become misguided.
I digress.
You are aware of my actions, but have I told you of my intentions? I think not. For they are second nature, more than a goal that I work to. It is in my blood to work towards this goal of mine.
It is simply to correct. To reform. To repair. To fix. However you wish to put it, whether it be in a pretentious light or in a simple one. It matters little to me.
The goals of the other cadres are likely different from me. One such as Fuhrer Ugly may want revenge. Black Sperm may simply want power. Gums...I'm unsure what it wants, though I imagine I could ask him. It, however, is simply a side piece of information, an inkling of curiosity. Nothing vital enough that warrants my questioning.
That is why I do not necessarily consider myself a member of the Monster Association. I, by nature, am not a monster. I am simply a man who has been blessed. That, by society's definitions, however rotten they may be, is not that of monsterhood. It is that of a savior. And that is exactly what I am.
...
Say you feel scared. What kind of scared? Horrified? Terrified? One may think those are one and the same. And yet, they are not. The same could be said if you used 'mortified," or at least, included it within that pool of vocabulary.
Horror. It is the presence of that feeling of fear, disgust, or shock, often combined together in a multitude of emotion.
Terror. It is the presence of extreme fear. What is that fear? The fear of loss? The fear of humiliation? The fear of pressure? It could be any.
God does not answer the question, for it is something that, as God put to me, A concept for mortals to worry about. It is for you to use against them, and for me to give you the means to do so. Unfortunately, God gave me little else, though there is likely a reason for this.
What I wish to instill within humanity is not terror, nor horror. What I wish to instill within them, to bestow upon them, is the presence of despair. The utter absence of hope. I wish to let them know that they have become complacent, and my presence will be a constant reminder to them that they must reform, to return to the image that God wished for them to be in.
~~~
The world above on the surface, broken. The entire city absolutely crushed, twirled into a spiral, the entire city in ruins. Whoever might've thought of moving into City Z like Saitama had done for the cheap cost certainly wouldn't have high hopes of moving after today, with the crushing force of Tornado's psychic powers twisting the city and infrastructure, from its houses to its sewage system, having been brought to havoc for the sole purpose of bringing down Psykos.
And yet, still, she had run. She tried to flee in spite of all that.
Even after Genos had chosen to give his energy to help boost Tornado's offensive abilities, even after Drive Knight had chosen to hunt her down, even after the S-Class had made their way to the surface, Psykos had started to flee.
Of course, Tornado wasn't willing to let that happen in the slightest, devoting her power completely to annihilate the fusion of Orochi and Psykos, driving them into the ground with a massive drill. She knew that she was likely destroying the corpses of any monster underneath, which Drive Knight seemed to be fond of, yet didn't care at that point. With the rest of the monsters left to go, she wasn't giving herself time to relax.
"Oh," she muttered to herself. "He's outside the goddamn barrier." She shook her head, watching everyone on the ground get ready for their clash. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter right now. He can get through anyways. It's not a problem."
As she spoke, the other heroes had finally gathered. The huffs and tired grunts of the heroes rung throughout the debris, though the same couldn't be said for the cadres.
She grit her teeth, looking down at all of them, before shouting out, "At least take care of those idiots! Make it a little easier on me, got it?!" She saw an incredibly, almost inhumanly ugly being climb out of debris, a hobo-looking individual with orbs of energy surrounding him, multiple copies of a mostly black organism other than its face, and...water. It seemed almost sentient, the way the eyes within it rotated around and observed, as if waiting for a chance to strike.
Narrowing her eyes, she huffed. She didn't remember all of the cadres, but she knew there were more than just them. There were two possibilities that stuck out to her, though. The first being that some of the other heroes were able to dispatch them. Perhaps someone efficient as Drive Knight, though he'd only shown up for about a moment or two.
Or, and this seemed much worse, the others were lying in wait, buried beneath the debris. They wouldn't be the top of the Monster Association if they couldn't survive some rubble falling down on them.
With my garbage luck? Tornado scoffed, scanning the battlefield once more. I'd be surprised if Death itself didn't come out of the ground just to try something. Fuck around, find out, I guess.
Putting her faith in the S-Class, of all people, was not something she thought she needed to do. Even with the ability to sift through some of her pride, that didn't take away the fact that she'd looked down on them her entire life. That wasn't going to entirely change so easily.
Yet, she didn't have much of a choice. At least, the blood wounds flowing through her didn't seem to let her think she had a choice in the matter. She cursed to herself, devoting a few of her resources to forcefully closing the wounds.
Crap, these things are worse than I thought. She hissed, the pain slowly seeping into her. She slowly became aware of her multiple broken bones, bones that she forcefully snapped back into place with her own power. Can't believe I'm going to have to go to a goddamn doctor after this. Shit's gonna cost me a fortune.
I just gotta hold out a few more moments until I can get this under control, she told herself, gritting her teeth as she leaned against a rock, sensing Psykos's presence fading away as the monsters began to fight with the S-Class. They just need to hold out until then...
As the pained grunts and eventual scream of agony escaped from the top-ranked A-Class hero, courtesy of the Ugmon that'd beat him up earlier, she remembered his words.
"You gave them to me, you know."
A dry scoff drew out of Tornado's throat, a shrewd smirk slowly coming to her lips despite herself, Yeah. Fuck yeah, I did. So you better get here before you get any more, you got it?
She knew he wouldn't be able to hear her thoughts, but it meant something to her.
Besides, even if he didn't show it, she knew her body's state would definitely put him in a state of worry, even if it was just the smallest iota. She could take that sort of panic and horror as a positive, at least.
~~~
"Miss Fubuki?" Bang questioned, turning towards the Hellish Blizzard herself, who seemed to be preoccupied with lifting up some of the debris to assist with whatever she could. His eyes were turned towards a blinding light that was quickly descending, like a shooting star of sorts. That, naturally, as you'd definitely expect a shooting star to smell like, smelled like overheating metal, an overwhelming amount of shampoo that was absolutely unnecessary for a cyborg that didn't even have real hair, and crackling flames all mixed into one.
"Yeah?!" Her strained voice grunted out, shoulders tense as she continued to push her limits, trying to recreate the moves that she'd been practicing on her own. She didn't want to divert any of her attention away from what seemed most important; after all, it wasn't every day that you came across some of the strongest monsters to ever show themselves to humanity, all in a group, no less.
"Not to alarm you," he cleared his throat, watching the blinding light hit the ground with a loud crash, fast enough to create a small crater only around a hundred meters away from them. "But wasn't that Genos who just fell from the sky?"
Mm. Bang clicked his tongue, keeping his words to himself as he saw the younger sister instantly bolt up, like her body had started before she had the chance to think; he doubted lighthearted words would do much in this situation. I wonder if Bomb was ever so...flirtatious and romantically devoted as this when he was young. I sure wasn't.
His thoughts did have a cause, of course. After all, seeing Fubuki's eyes fill with worry and completely ditching the current battlefield, leaving the S-Class heroes to fight with the monsters to go check on her boyfriend did seem a little odd, especially considering that Bang and Bomb themselves were more than capable of checking on him themselves.
His eyes looked away, somewhat downcast. This wasn't the time to let your emotions come through and take you over, but who was he to speak?
He'd never felt such despair like that.
~~~
I think I was taught from a very young age that something was wrong with me. I think that I was taught from a very young age that I was...unworthy. That I wasn't chosen.
At the same time, I'm not sure whether or not I should be glad that I wasn't chosen. After all...I'd heard about all the things that she went through.
She never told me outright, and I can see why. I don't think anyone would want to consciously remember being constantly experimented on with minimal food, and the only light you'd see other than odd tablets recording data being the small peep of sunlight into a barred window.
I think I was taught that nightmares are worse than reality. Yet, I think I learned that her reality was just as bad, if not worse, than her nightmares.
After all, I'm pretty sure that her hair started out a brown shade, but had streaks of dark green that she liked to avoid mentioning. Turning all of that into a bright green color definitely wasn't something she'd do willingly.
Long story short, I know that she was hurt. Hurt beyond anything I'd ever imagined. I thought she was hurt to the point where we'd always be separated. We'd be biological sisters, but that'd be the only thing tying us together. At best, I thought that we'd talk to each other maybe five times during our entire lifespan, and then see each other at our funerals, and that'd be it.
So, yes. I was the more popular one. With powers like hers and with trauma that she went through, nobody would approach her. They were afraid.
I was too.
I don't think there's shame in admitting that. I was a little kid, who, at the age of, like, seven, saw my older sister, eyes dead, and it looked like she was on the verge of both committing a mass genocide and breaking out into tears at the same time.
She was a different person from the older sister who'd always look at me with a reassuring smile.
Would I be the same if my powers awakening happened in the same way that hers did?
She...she was always stronger than me.
And that's why I know that there's such a gap in between us that I just can't overcome. It's not just because she has so much more strength than me and that her psychic powers are pretty much unmatched.
I couldn't go through half the stuff she goes through in her sleep at that age and keep pushing myself to live every day. I couldn't. I'd snap.
I'd break.
I did break.
I was...I am weak. I've always been weak.
I wanted to be better than her, for her sake. I wanted to make it so that, some way, somehow, she'd end up finding a way back into life. But, no matter the case, no matter how many people I hung out with, she'd never tried to ask me about it. She'd never even tried to contact me or speak to me outside of whenever it was absolutely necessary.
I felt...useless. Like I couldn't do anything for the life of me.
Because even though we were sisters by blood, it didn't feel like we were a family. That's why I can't really refer to her as some cool nickname like all those kids at school did. That's why I can only call her "Tatsumaki" or "Sis." I've never known anything else.
I'd never been close enough to her to actually call her something that actually feels like we're siblings.
I felt despair. When that light kinda just runs away from you. I tried finding solace with the Fubuki group, but in the end, that didn't go very well. After all, she'd just...keep on discrediting them. She'd even beat them up herself.
Having to be saved by her and...Saitama. That was another thing. I didn't know whether or not to think of it as me being weak or an actual development, and then something else developed.
Jealousy.
I'd spent my whole life trying to somehow break down that sort of barrier that she had made around herself, that wall she placed around herself, and I'd failed this entire time.
But in the span of however short she'd known him, he'd made far more progress than I ever had. Than I ever would have by myself.
I was jealous.
I'd lost.
I knew that I shouldn't be jealous. I should've just been happy for her, right?
But I was jealous nonetheless.
I'm friends with him, I won't lie. He's a good person. He has a good heart, cares about people, and definitely has morals and principles that are respectable. Whether or not it seemed like he did was a different story.
And then I met his disciple. The literal polar opposite of his mentor. Tightly wound, incredibly tragic backstory, drive to improve like nobody else in the world.
Suffering.
Now, I don't know Saitama's backstory all too well. Other than he used to not be strong, and that his middle school years weren't the best, we haven't really had the chance to get to know each other.
So I can't really tell whether or not he and Genos share that sort of...familial suffering.
While I never had a family to really call a normal home, Genos...Genos had it all, and lost it all in a single day.
...
I can't lose again.
And I can't lose the person who helped me get past that jealousy.
I can't lose the person who pulled me out of pure sadness. Out of despair.
~~~
I've always been an idiot. A bumbling, goddamn fool. An honor-driven, sometimes honor-enslaved, numbskull.
You'd think that, as a cyborg, I'd have a little less...extravagance. That I'd be more rational, less of a gambling man.
Then, why? Why do I remain so willing to bet my life away in every single fight? Why do I continue to give myself up? Have I not learned the worth of my own body, or do I always value the lives of other humans over that of my own.
Was I selfless and self-sacrificial or just reckless?
The Mosquito Girl. Definitely reckless. Carnage Kabuto. Reckless. Gouketsu. Reckless. Elder Centipede. Undoubtedly the most reckless.
The meteor. That could be argued as either, since I never knew whether or not Saitama-Sensei would show up. The Hero Hunter, at least the last I saw him. Arguably either, considering how many heroes were there.
Yet, there's one moment that sticks out to me. One moment that I keep compiled in my mind. It's what helps me keep pushing.
The Deep Sea King Fight.
Did I lose? Undoubtedly. Without hesitation; I cannot simply lie and say that it was a close fight. I may have chosen to lose, but I lost either way.
But I lost doing something. I wasn't losing because I was just being reckless or because I had simply been unfortunate. I had lost because I had saved someone.
I suppose that that is when I really started to consider what this title of mine was.
A hero. Is a hero someone that throws themselves away for glory?
I'm not even doing it for glory, if I'm being realistic. I'm throwing myself away as a pawn, buying time.
I'd go down as a martyr. But would that be heroic? Would I be fighting for the people in life, like that little girl? If I were to die, would someone else eventually die because I decided to sacrifice myself instead of running away and calling for someone?
It took me quite some time to properly reflect. I'd had all this technology, but with all that information literally in my head, I couldn't find that one puzzle piece that would awaken me, that one tick of information that would lead to me growing, learning, evolving.
It never occurred to me for quite some time that I needed another person in my life.
Throughout all my life, after becoming a cyborg, I had held hate in my heart. I had held hostility, malice, anger.
But what I truly learned was that the hate I felt in my heart was that I felt like I could not cry. I felt like I could not sulk, reflect in emotion, sully myself like a human would.
I felt hate for the robot that destroyed my village. I felt hate when I realized I could not bury my family; there wasn't enough of them remaining to give them even a rudimentary burial.
The realization that I had been so focused on revenge that I didn't remember to be sad for my family hurt even worse than all of that.
That day, I had wondered. How? How do I feel sorrow again? How do I cry, how do I learn to feel that sort of...crushing sadness? That crushing fear? I hadn't learned that fear before. I'd learned to be angry, how to fight, but never to be vulnerable.
So, why?
What's so different about her?
Was it because she was a weaker fighter than me? I can't even argue that. I've no real way to stop myself from being influenced by psychic powers. Was it because she was simply the sister of my sensei's love interest? I doubt that'd work, as Sensei and I are, personality-wise, two vastly different people.
I only learned when I visited her one day, crying. I had only went there as a request of Tatsumaki to check on her, but there she was.
Weak. Vulnerable. Everything that I wasn't. Everything that I wanted to learn how to be. It sounds...irresponsible, like a relationship built on struggle. Like we had used each other, her using me to help herself become strong again, and me using her to learn how to be emotional.
I don't like thinking that's what built our relationship. I truly believe that we are closer because of it, but that that is not the only thing that led to our becoming closer.
So why?
Why do I put myself in such danger when I'm here for somebody? For somebody who's not a stranger? When there's someone who would genuinely be affected by my death?
Why do I put myself in danger when the one person who I could make a new life with would hurt so badly from it?
She saves me now. I can tell she's using her psychic power to stop me from dying.
It hurts.
But I can't say that it's anger that hurts me.
It's guilt.
It's sadness.
It's pain.
The one thing I wanted to learn for the sake of my family, she taught me.
I can't let myself die here.
Not when the one person who taught me the difference between anger, sadness, and despair was.
When the one person who let me learn still looks at me with hope in her eyes?
I can't let myself just fall like that, when there's someone waiting for me.
~~~
"What...what are you doing?!" Tornado yelled out, concern lacing her voice as she limped over to Fubuki. "Didn't...didn't you think that it'd be fucking stupid to come here?!" She didn't care that there was Bang, Bomb, and the recently saved Genos right by her.
She turned around, forcing her body back into its normal state with her energy, "There's still some fodder left here." Fubuki could hear the tone in her voice all too well. She knew it better than Genos did. She knew it better than Bang or Bomb ever would. Hell, she was willing to bet that she knew that tone better than Saitama did.
She gulped, knowing full well what the cause of it was. No matter how much she grew, she wouldn't ever stop feeling protective of Fubuki. Of course, it'd become more rational in recent times, what with her not absolutely destroying anything that even so much got near Fubuki; the evidence was shown very clearly in the form of Genos not dying upon revealing his relationship with the younger psychic sister.
"No!" She shouted out, desperation in her voice. "You're still going to fight?! After taking on...that...that, that thing?! You have to stop your bleeding first!" Fubuki would've kept going, if she hadn't been interrupted with a look that could kill.
"Don't..." Her tone started off quietly, like she didn't want to say it. "Don't underestimate me! You...you wouldn't be able to help me in a million years! I...It doesn't matter, Fubuki! I have to keep you safe! I can't risk it!"
She sounded, to Fubuki, like she was lying. Not to Fubuki.
Like she was lying to herself.
"I..." Fubuki's voice kept going, her expression betraying her distress, holding out her hands as she did what she could with her power to restrain her. "I can't let you! You can't hide that you've barely got any strength left...please..."
"You're still saying that?" Tornado whispered quietly to herself, biting down on her lip as Fubuki tried to restrain her with a band of psychic energy.
Fubuki gulped, her breath heavy as she forced herself to keep going despite the sharp, stabbing pain in her head, "The reason you stopped trusting people all those years ago was to protect me, right...? To protect me from the adults who wanted to use my power..."
"Look," her mouth turned dry, doing her best to stop tears from flowing as she struggled to keep Tatsumaki restrained in the slightest, even if only to listen out to her. "Back then, having a sister who only wanted to isolate me...it was terrifying." She could've sworn for a moment that Tornado had her voice caught in her throat.
Genos thought about reaching his hand out to place on her shoulder, before Bang stopped him, a solemn nod on his face. Slowly but surely, the gravity of Fubuki's words reached him, and he silenced himself, despite the battle going around them.
"And...I thought I could use a faction to move past all of that!" Her voice was raised, which finally earned Tatsumaki's gaze, though it was more weary and...Genos thought he could see a glimpse of sadness in her eyes.
"But..." Fubuki's legs started to shake, her body nearly giving out if it weren't for her willpower flaring up. "I...I've started to think about what true strength was. And...I think, through you, through Genos, through Saitama...you're all stronger than me." God, it still hurts to admit.
"But...I think, little by little, I've...started to kind of understand you just a little more," she kept going, unable to stop the tears leaking from her eyes. "And...I know it! I just...I know you know better now! right?!" Tornado's eyes widened as Fubuki continued to speak.
"You're more than a good example for me. You're strong. You're smart in battle, you're talented. You're everything that I'm not! But...But why can't you just...have faith? Why? You...you know Saitama, don't you?! You know he'll be here!" Fubuki finished, feeling the rest of her psychic energy wipe out, and thus, Tatsumaki was completely free to go if she so desired. "Please...please, I can't lose you..." She sniffled, her body shaking with every breath she took.
And for just a moment, not from any enemy that was strong, not from indecisiveness, not from anything else, Tatsumaki was frozen.
~~~
...
...
...
Sorry, just in thought.
I want you to look at me. I want you to tell me something. I want you to know a little thing. I want you to think about just a single little thing.
What am I?
I want you to think just for a moment.
Don't worry. It's just the two of us sitting here. It's just us two, and nobody else. Think of it as... a little riddle, I guess. However the hell you want to think about it.
Don't think about that sort of white noise up there, going with all that "Don't look so scared; I wouldn't do somethin' dirty like take hostages, would I?" Don't think about any of that. That's just...that ugly dude. Fuhrer Ugly, if I remember correctly.
Eh, doesn't matter.
That stuff was all rhetorical question stuff, anyways. I don't really care if you answer me or not.
I'm the one who knocked down Tank Top Master.
I'm the one who took down Puri Puri Prisoner (though I'm thinking the fact that he was naked was monstrous in itself; I was probably doing the world justice by taking him down).
I'm the one who broke through Darkshine's supposably unbreakable defenses.
Several C, B, A, and S-Class heroes have fallen before me. Criminals too, but I guess you can only count it as that one time with that fucking....uh, what was it? Y'know, that one thing I did when I took down all those criminals and heroes at that recruitment thing.
You want me to tell you who I am?
Hey. Wake the fuck up. Can you even speak?
...
Doesn't matter, anyways.
I'm what the Hero Association would call a "God Level Threat."
There are...like, sixteen, seventeen S-Class heroes. And, so far, I've got a pretty good track record against the ones I've fought. Only two losses before, and those were a while ago. The result's probably different now.
Watchdog Man, whose style I've learned. And King, the supposed strongest man on Earth. I've only lost to those two, and soon enough, not even they'll be enough to stop me. Hell, not even Blast will be able to stand a chance against me!
But, I digress. Those are two losses, two...human mistakes. Not the mistakes of a monster.
I'm not even going to count that time that that goddamn egghead somehow knocked me out. That was...weird, to say the least.
I'm pretty sure I've seen him in the hero leaderboards, but apparently, the public doesn't like him for some reason.
And since then, I've been on a roll.
Metal Bat. If he'd hit me even once, I'd be done for. Too bad he couldn't.
Tank Top Master. Other than strength, there was nothing to him. And what else did the geezer teach me, if not to use the opponent's strength against them?
Demon Cyborg. Almost had him on the ropes, but then the fuckin' geezer and his brother showed up. Plus, that bird came and interrupted the damn fight, but before then, I almost turned that cyborg into scrap metal. Though, I suppose I could respect him. He's more heroic than you'd think.
Puri Puri Prisoner.
How the hell are some people considered villains when that guy's allowed to just fucking run around like that? Can't you, like, be legally registered as a sex offender for that?
God, don't even get me on how I had to fucking touch that. He's probably the hardest fight I had, not because of power, but...he was fucking everything wrong with the world. My hands are probably tainted just from coming into contact with him.
And, most recently, Superalloy Darkshine. The supposed unbreakable wall of the S-Class. So, I'm gonna guess that my hits can get through anything now, right? Just gotta land them.
And for that, I gotta get faster. Faster than that ninja.
I gotta refine my technique. Past both the geezers.
I gotta get unbeatable reflexes. Easily dodge that samurai's sword.
I gotta get a piercing blow. Crush that goddamn pile of fat.
More.
More.
I just need a little more, you know?
Ah, crap. I forgot.
That question I asked you?
What am I?
Well, you can probably guess now.
I'm a monster.