Chapter 24: HOME
.
.
.
~~~~~~~~~[START]
.
.
.
Standing in the dark, near a small lamp as it shone its light on the table he was leaning on,
his gaze focused as he looked at his hand that stood in the middle, observing it.
His palm faced upward as if holding something, but on it was nothing, nothing but a black liquid substance that floated above it,
spinning in a circle, its shape resembling a tiny sphere.
It spun faster and faster with the passing of time, and then,
Ken closed his palm into a fist, as it instantly changed form,
and its once smooth surface was filled with a dozen spikes,
yet it didn't stop its rotation, floating there on top of his closed fist—beautiful, mysterious, but deadly.
---
'I almost have it,' Ken said, as his hand opened and the once floating substance vanished,
leaving nothing to prove its once existing nature. Ken smiled,
thinking about what he had gone through to get to this level.
Yes, the system did provide Ken with applications, but it didn't give him experience.
Even when he fought, the system only gave him moves and skills, but those skills just turned into muscle memory and knowledge.
It's like a 70-year-old man trying to remember how to box; yes, the knowledge of boxing is still in his mind, the memories of the movements are still ingrained in his muscles,
but that doesn't mean his body will be physically capable of performing them.
Much like Ken, the knowledge of abilities was imprinted in his hippocampus (the part of the brain that stores information that's hard to forget),
but his body was too small and weak for the abilities' full capacity, so he had to train and infuse those abilities into his unity.
And now, he had learned how to create the most complex substances in the depths of his [construction], a substance that would change everything; he had learned how to create [Liquid Metal].
---
I stood up as I started walking to the exit, and as usual, I was met with Mei who was currently working on one of her big babies,
which she promised would give her recognition and turn her into 'the greatest inventor in the world,' she says.
Much like in the anime, her character is mostly consistent, coming from the fact that she doesn't focus on anything else rather than her inventions.
But then, her bent body changes as if she had discovered something, and slowly, she rises, turning around to look at me.
As her eyes lock onto mine, she whispers a word I wouldn't expect to hear from a 13-year-old child, "fuck," when suddenly, her body starts bolting.
As she runs with full force toward my direction, looking at her,
I become confused for a second, but my confusion disappears as I hear the faint sound of a gas leak.
Looking back, I also start running, completely forgetting about Mei who was running behind me, and unknowingly to both of us,
we said the same word, which wouldn't be expected of kids our age, "FUCK!"
BOOM!!!
We both got pushed by an incredible force, pushing us so far we collided with each other.
Finally fixing my eyes as my vision cleared from the dizziness I suffered, I saw Mei, who was already up, but her face was still focused on her baby who had just exploded, turning her vision and looking at me.
Her face and the front of her body were covered by black dust, almost hiding the color of her hair completely.
She smiled, and then the room fell into immediate laughter, as she fell down due to the intensity of her giggles.
The thought of either of us getting hurt didn't even cross my mind.
Then, with her laughter stopping, "Ice cream?" she asked as she looked me straight in the eyes, her smile still wide and open, her eyes slightly closed due to its overwhelming size.
I didn't know what it was, but, I was... happy.
---
Sitting on a bench as I licked my ice cream, Mei was sitting by my side as she kept on blabbering about her dreams and ambitions,
speaking about the people she follows and what type of babies she will make to increase her recognition.
Suddenly, I get a call, rather, a calling. Unzipping the hidden zipper that's embedded in the sides of my jacket,
a phone which looks like it came from the past comes out, specifically a Nokia 3310.
Mei laughs when she sees it, causing her to drop her ice cream carelessly in the process.
This made me burst into laughter because earlier that day she was complaining about how the warehouse didn't pay her enough,
complaining about how expensive the price of ice cream had grown , saying that it had shot through the roof.
Swiftly, she grabs my ice cream and shouts "Dibs!", as she starts eating it without much thought.
Shaking my head, "Just so you know, this phone is practically indestructible," I say as I answer it, but first, there was silence,
for almost 5 minutes, no one said anything, this included me and the person at the end of the call.
"Come see me," he finally spoke, and without hesitation,
"Noted," I answered, hanging up and placing it where it once lay.
Mei, who had now finished my ice cream, looked at me with the face of an innocent child, as if she wasn't guilty of eating the very ice cream she snatched,
with her lips surrounded by the white evidence, as if showing the innocent face of the guilty.
"Oh, look at that," she said, widening her eyes as if her words were fully scripted, "It's finished! Oh well,
guess you should buy more," she spoke, her voice followed by her weird, unsettling laughter that I had now grown accustomed to,
"hehehehehe."
---
**(Elsewhere)**
Entering a large building which I now knew to be my second home, the guards at the door let me in swiftly without resistance.
As I entered the elevator and went to the top floor, going in, I was greeted with the reflection of myself, reflected from the clean shine of the marble floors, brown and white they were.
The walls were made of glass, so clean you could see outside as though the windows themselves didn't exist, offering a full view of Musutafu.
"If it isn't my grandson himself," the chairman of the Hero Public Safety Commission said, who I now knew to be Mirai.
"Adopted," I corrected as I moved closer and sat on a comfortable, fully white sofa, and Mirai followed, sitting opposite me.
"How's my daughter been?" he asked, looking at me with a smile, and honestly, I couldn't be more serious with the man because I didn't hate him, as much as the anime might speak about how bad he is.
He never seemed to be a bad guy; yes, his moral code and actions are questionable, but that doesn't make me better, because for all I know, I'm worse.
So I simply showed him a genuine smile, thinking about all the good things he has done for me over the years.
"She's holding out good," I replied, thinking about how in the next few years things would get ugly for the man I'm sitting in front off.
But then his expression got serious, something I'm very used to, considering that it's the face he makes every time we speak about missions.
"Mr. Ken, do you know why I need you?" he asks, his voice silent and mysterious, like trying to sound as if it's connected to a riddle.
"This is a world that has every type of power one could think of, whether strange or mysterious; it's full of many different powers, and most of those powers are mutations," he continues.
"Why would I need you when I have Lady Nagant who can take missions with her gun from a distance?" With his question, it causes me to think for a second,
but after I realize the answer, as if seeing my reaction, he didn't wait for me to respond.
"Yes, strength, skill, strategy!," he said.
"In all my life, I have seen people possessing one or two of those qualities, but you, you possess all of them," he continued.
"And do you know the most important one you possess?" he asked, but again, not waiting.
"You possess the power of death," he said.
"Your moves, your skills, or techniques are as if designed to kill, not just to kill but to kill groups, to kill in large numbers, to kill in war."
He fixed himself, adjusting the way he was sitting.
"So I don't need you to simply kill; I need you to slaughter," he spoke , gaining my attention, for I had also figured this out long before he asked me.
When I was fighting Shigaraki, I was forced to fight swiftly, forced to kill opponents as quickly as possible, and that was only possible because of the skills I got from my templates,
skills specially designed to instantly kill cursed spirits in their numbers.
Slowly, Mirai bent down and took a stack of papers.
"Ken, this is your first slaughter.
It's a group of underground criminals who take part in human trafficking, trafficking children with powerful and useful quirks," he spoke as he flipped through the pages.
"They are currently working with one known hero; it's not a pro, but her quirk is said to be powerful.
Not much is known about its exact use, but its name is called 'Direct'. This is your first assassination,"
Mirai stood up, as he started pouring himself what looked like some type of golden whisky.
"This is it, Mr. Ken," he spoke.
"These are the type of humans who don't deserve anything," he continued as he swiftly drank the whiskey in one gulp.
"These people are demons, and it's time for them to meet home," a faint smile played at the ends of my lips.
'Finally,' I thought, 'time to get my next template.'
.
.
~~~~~~~~~~~[END]
Yep this was also a time skip but it was graduall , so if u want the next chapter , make sure those powerstones reach 120 and I'll upload it today , and if they go to 200 I'll upload to and 💀 yea that's it lol , go to my PT and sub for future extra chapters
patreon.com/DUSK_IS_ME984