Noah watched the trio of heroes standing over the charred remains of the monster, his spectral arms crossed over his armored chest. He had been poised to strike, his "Emperor Engine" revving up for a spectacular debut, and then... that.
A series of flashy, somewhat theatrical combos from a group of amateurs had ended the fight before he could even throw a punch.
Was my kill just stolen? Noah wondered, a flicker of annoyance passing through his mind.
He looked at the creature on the ground. It had transformed from a large, fluffy white rabbit into something resembling an oversized, burnt briquette. He sighed, looking at his gold-and-silver gauntlets. He had really wanted to see what a "C-rank" Destructive Power felt like in practice. Now, he was forced to accept the cruel reality of the "KS" - the dreaded kill-steal.
With the monster seemingly neutralized, the fleeing citizens began to slow down. Curiosity, that most dangerous of human traits, overcame their fear. They trickled back toward the center of the street, forming a wide circle around the heroes and the "Strongest Man on Earth."
The mother and daughter, still huddled on the pavement, were weeping with relief. They looked up at King and the three newcomers, their eyes filled with profound gratitude.
"We're so lucky," the mother sobbed, clutching her daughter. "To think we'd be saved by so many heroes at once... and from such a terrifying Tiger-level threat."
While they waited for the emergency medical teams to arrive, the hero known as Academy Starlet, the girl in the sailor fuku, strutted over to the rabbit's smoking corpse. With a disdainful sniff, she raised her polished boot and gave the massive, charred head a sharp kick.
"Not so tough now, are you?" she teased, glancing at the nearby reporters who were already snapping photos.
She knew how the system worked. Defeating a Tiger-level threat was a major boost to one's ranking. In the Hero Association, threats were meticulously categorized, and a "Tiger" was nothing to scoff at for lower-ranked heroes.
Noah listened as the crowd whispered about the threat levels, the information flowing into his mind through the System's interface.
The ranking was simple but grim:
Wolf: A threat to individuals. Usually handled by C-class heroes or a group of determined civilians.
Tiger: A threat to a large number of people or an entire street. These required B-class heroes or a coordinated squad of C-classers.
Demon: A threat to an entire city's infrastructure. This was where the "real" heroes, the A-class and S-class usually stepped in.
Dragon: A threat to multiple cities. Massive, world-altering power.
God: A threat to the extinction of the human race.
"Hmph, naturally," Hoop-Star Kun said, flipping his gray hair and striking a pose that he clearly thought was camera-ready. "Under the devastating power of my 'Violent Hoop-Star Slam,' a mere Tiger-level beast never stood a chance. It's all about the stats, people. Daily grind, high intensity."
As the three heroes basked in the adulation of the crowd, none of them noticed the slight, rhythmic twitching of the rabbit's burnt ears. The cheers were too loud, the camera shutters too frequent.
But Noah noticed. Being a non-human entity anchored to King's shadow had its perks; his senses were heightened, tuned to the subtle vibrations of malice and intent. He drifted closer to the "corpse," his glowing blue eyes narrowing.
This thing isn't dead, Noah thought, his spectral hand reaching for the hilt of a non-existent sword. In fact, it's... changing.
Just as the thought crystallized, the monster's eyes snapped open. They weren't just red anymore; they were a glowing, incandescent crimson that bled light into the air.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
The sound was like a string of heavy-duty firecrackers exploding inside a metal drum. The rabbit's body began to swell, its charred skin splitting open to reveal bulging, corded muscle that glowed with a sickly purple hue.
"Wait... what is that sound?" a reporter asked, lowering his camera.
The crowd went silent. They watched in horror as the rabbit, now twice its previous size, slowly pushed itself off the ground. It rose and rose until it stood two stories tall, a mountain of mutated flesh and fury.
The quality of the citizens who had been cheering just seconds ago was immediately revealed. Their minds were frozen in shock, but their legs were already moving. The "brave" onlookers turned into a panicked stampede in less than a heartbeat.
"Wasn't it... wasn't it dead?!" King thought, his internal voice screaming in a pitch that only Noah could hear.
King looked up at the towering behemoth. Because he was the "Strongest Man," the crowd had instinctively surged away from him and the monster, leaving him standing in a dead zone. He had no escape route. He was cornered by his own reputation.
"Don't panic! Everyone, get back!" Hoop-Star Kun yelled, though his voice lacked its previous bravado. He fumbled at his waist, grabbing another basketball. He didn't even have time to perform his signature dribble to prime the explosive. He just hurled it at the monster's face. "Die already!"
The Rabbit Monster didn't flinch. It reached out a massive, clawed hand and caught the basketball as if it were a grape.
"Die... all of you..." the monster rumbled. Its voice was no longer a beast's growl, but a distorted, human-like rasp.
With a casual squeeze of its talons, the basketball detonated. The explosion, which had previously charred its fur, now didn't even leave a mark on its skin. The blast sounded like a tiny pop in the palm of its hand.
The rabbit had evolved. It was no longer a mere Tiger. It was pushing the boundaries of a Demon-level threat.
The monster's eyes locked onto King and the mother and daughter behind him. It raised a massive arm, its claws gleaming like polished obsidian. It swung downward with the force of a falling building. The sheer air pressure from the strike sent King's hair whipping wildly, the wind feeling like hundreds of tiny knives flaying his skin.
"Save them!" Hoop-Star Kun screamed, but he was too far away. His legs, usually so quick on the court, felt like lead.
"Ah!" the little girl wailed, burying her face in her mother's chest. She had been given hope, only to have it snatched away by a monster that refused to stay down.
The mother didn't try to run. She knew she couldn't. Instead, she threw herself over her daughter, shielding the child's small body with her own, offering her life for a fraction of a second of protection.
In that fraction of a second, the Emperor Engine roared.
Noah, who had been racing back toward King's side, felt a sudden surge of energy. It was as if a dam had burst inside his spectral form. Power - raw, unadulterated, and heavy poured into him. It was the "Emperor's Heart" ability, triggered by King's sheer, unmitigated terror.
Noah's form blurred. He moved faster than the human eye could track, merging into King's body just as the giant claws reached the man's head.
King, acting on pure, blind instinct, shut his eyes tight and threw up his left arm in a desperate, futile attempt to block the blow.
CLANG!
The sound wasn't of flesh meeting flesh. It was the shriek of metal striking an indestructible alloy.
The entire street went still. King peeked through one eye, his heart hammering so hard he thought his ribs might crack. He expected to be a red smear on the pavement. Instead, he saw the monster's massive claws frozen in mid-air.
He had blocked it. With one arm, raised casually, King had stopped a blow that could have crushed a main battle tank.
The onlookers gasped. The reporters, even in their terror, began to frantically snap photos of the impossible feat.
"This... this guy is basically Superman," Academy Starlet whispered, her jaw dropping.
She knew better than anyone what that block meant. The rabbit's claws had just tanked an explosive basketball without a scratch. Their hardness was greater than structural steel. For a man to stop that force with the meat and bone of his forearm... it was beyond logic. It was S-Class territory.
What immense strength... Noah thought, gritting his teeth.
Even with the "Emperor Engine" buff, he could feel the pressure. His Strength stat had jumped from C to something far higher, but the weight of a two-story monster was no joke. He could feel King's arm beginning to shake. If King's heart rate slowed down, if he stopped being terrified, the buff would vanish, and they'd both be crushed.
I have to end this now, Noah decided.
He narrowed his eyes, sensing the monster's balance. The rabbit was leaning all its weight into the strike, frustrated that its prey hadn't broken. This was the opening.
Noah suddenly shifted the Stand's energy, relaxing the resistance in King's arm. The monster's claws plummeted downward, fueled by its own over-extension.
In that split second, Noah redirected the force, swinging King's arm in a wide arc to the side. The momentum of the giant rabbit worked against it; like a drunken giant, the monster stumbled, its own strength carrying it off-balance.
"You damned human!" the Rabbit Monster roared, its voice shaking the windows of the surrounding buildings. "Again! You're stopping me again! Do you have any idea what they did to me?!"
The monster's roar was full of a strange, agonizing pain. It ignored the heroes in the distance. It ignored the crowd. Its burning eyes were fixed solely on the mother and daughter King was "protecting."
"I only wanted revenge!" the rabbit screamed, its claws pounding the pavement like pile drivers, cracking the asphalt. "I haven't touched a single other human! I only want them! Why do you stand in my way?!"
The monster's rage was so focused, so coherent, that it stopped the reporters in their tracks. Several of them pulled out notebooks, their professional instincts overriding their survival instincts. A monster with a motive? That was front-page news.
"Do you know how my brothers and sisters died?" the rabbit shrieked, spittle flying from its maw. "All eleven of us! We were pets! We were 'toys' for that little girl! She tortured us for weeks! She forgot to feed us, she poked us with needles, she watched us starve to death one by one until only I was left!"
The monster pointed a trembling claw at the sobbing child. "I ate the remains of my family just to stay alive long enough to change! I am the justice of the hutch! What did I do wrong?!"
The silence that followed was deafening. The crowd looked at the mother and daughter, their expressions shifting from pity to something much more complicated.
Noah, still merged with King, felt a cold realization wash over him. In this world, monsters weren't always born from radiation or alien DNA. Sometimes, they were made by the "innocent."
One of the reporters already had his headline: The Dark Secret of the Rabbit: Revenge or Rampage?
Noah looked at the monster, then at the girl. He had come here to be a hero, but the world was rarely that black and white.
"System," Noah whispered in the silence of his mind. "If I kill this thing... do I still get the Loot Box?"
[Ding! A kill is a kill, Host~ Justice is for the living. Loot is for the winners.]
"Good enough for me," Noah said, King's eyes hardening as the Emperor Engine revved into a higher gear.