Chapter 6

Through the eyes of a young werewolf

Despite what it sometimes felt like Toby did not spend all of his days at Mister King's house preferring to spend them either in his own one person apartment or camping out in the wilderness. Perhaps it was a particular quirk of his own inherent nature but he had always enjoyed his time out in the wilderness more than in the cities; spending it hiking, swimming, hunting, fishing or occasionally building shelter. There were still many places of wilderness in the Supercontinent and quite a few of those wild spaces had fully formed shelters where he spent a week or two just relaxing and getting away from all of it. Thus days like this where he had stayed over with Mister King, while not unusual, were still in the minority. Technically Mister King was still his legal guardian after all and while he never presented himself as a caretaker or parent he still made it known that he was responsible for Toby.

So that's why Toby was standing there cooking his pancackes when a massive explosion rocked the house causing the foundations to shake and Toby to drop Mister King's mug causing it to shatter to the ground. That was a problem for later though as Toby dashed towards the source of the explosion without a second thought. In mere seconds he had arrived at the entrance to King's basement. Previous warnings about not entering the basement entered his mind briefly but he discarded them due to his worry over his guardian.

The basement door broke as Toby pushed it open, the steel and wood proving no barrier to his muscles; it was never meant to be, which monster in their right mind would ever invade the sanctuary of King. Only one, and as that one stepped into the room he gasped out loud at the condition of the owner of this sanctuary.

Mister King stood in the centre of the room looking worse than Toby had ever seen him. His entire right arm had disappeared, evaporated taking part of his shoulder with it and a large portion of the right side of his clothes were gone. Even some of the skin of his face was gone and Toby found himself briefly repulsed before concern overwhelmed him.

"Mister King, are you okay," he said receiving a look informing him of what a stupid question that was. Of course he wasn't okay; it looked like he was hit by a bomb or some other explosion.

"Honestly I've been better Toby," Mister King said before smiling with a ghastly rictus. "But believe it or not I have been worse." Almost before he had finished speaking Toby watched as the flesh on his face started to grow back at an alarming rate. Simultaneously a few red threads grew out of his right shoulder exploding out into a vestige of an appendage before almost dragging bones out to form part of the skeleton. Then nerves and veins burst out from the shoulder travelling down the length of the arm before they were caught up and wrapped in a mix of muscle and skin. Honestly the process was saved from being disgusting only due to how quick it was and Toby found himself momentarily distracted for the three seconds it took for a new arm to appear.

"What happened to you, Mister King," Toby said, not taking his eyes off the now fully healed arm that was being wrapped in red threads. The Strongest Man in the World seemed pretty casual about his injury. Even though Toby also could regenerate he would still be pretty freaked out and in pain. You couldn't regenerate from death after all even if you were Mister King…maybe?

"I was experimenting with a new technique," Mister King said. "My experiment went awry and I was forced to redirect the force of the explosion towards my own body and try to bleed off the energy."

"What?" Toby said more than a little dumbfounded at the explanation. Mister King seemed back to normal right now and Toby began to feel more and more embarrassed. Of course Mister King wouldn't actually be hurt and now he had destroyed the basement door and from the smell he had burnt his pancakes. Toby flushed in embarrassment at the thought as he stammered to explain that he had broken Mister King's door.

"That's fine, it's just a door," King said waving him off just as he started. "I've been meaning to get another one sometime soon. The original door doesn't have that ominous feeling that you would get from a vault door." Mister King snapped his fingers and the various damages and loose objects that Toby hadn't even noticed lying around the room started flying around and resorting themselves into a facsimile of the room in its past state. "While we're done here why don't I test your training," King said placing his hands into your pockets. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

"Yes," Toby said quickly. "We haven't sparred for two weeks." Well when he said sparring it was really more of him attacking and then King dodging or blocking his punches and telling him what he was doing wrong.

"Then what are you waiting for," King said still not taking his hands out. "Attack me with all you have."

"Okay," Toby said nodding his head, knowing from experience that talking wouldn't help at this point. He moved forward swinging a punch at King who nimbly dodged it with barely any effort. The follow up was an attack from the right that aimed lower at King's side.

"Don't neglect your footwork," King said as he stepped backwards. "You're stronger than quite a few A-Class heroes but your sloppy fighting style holds you back severely. You have neither the inborn fighting skills of many Mysterious Beings nor do you have any martial arts to speak of."

His words were harsh but there was an undoubtable difference between the two of them as King stepped around his attacks with minor effort. Soon enough that red mist that so seldom appeared started to colour his vision again and he felt his muscles bulge and his canines lengthen. Hair started to grow and he felt his spine start to straighten moving from a 's' to 'c'. His eyes turned sharper just in time to see a fist appear before his vision crashing into his face and sending him into one of the walls.

"Your mind gets a bit too clouded in that form," Mister King said calmly as Toby struggled to extract himself out of the wall. A few of his bones were broken and blood was pouring out but as he left the wall he felt his wounds swiftly disappearing and his body returning to its prime condition. "I see your wounds are healing slower than usual. Maybe we shouldn't have tried this around the new moon."

Toby didn't respond, instead breathing in and out trying to regain control over his emotions. As he did so his previous transformations reversed themselves returning him to his normal self, albeit with severely damaged clothes. When he eventually opened his eyes again he saw Mister King standing still watching his hand, ignoring him.

"There's a lot of potential," Mister King said, still not looking at him. "But I'm not going to force you to unlock it. If you want to get stronger than considering picking up a martial art or go into the wilds and hunt down a Mysterious Being or two."

"Like the Abandoned World?" Toby asked only to receive a laugh in response.

"You will be eaten there puppy," Mister King said. "Beings of your strength over there are the bottom of the food chain but at least they know how to run away and keep their head down. You have no such advantages."

"Ah," Toby said feeling a bit hurt, not that Mister Kings words were unwarranted. If the creatures in the Abandoned World were really that strong then he should definitely not head that way. However it still hurt that his guardian saw him as that weak. Maybe he should try and work out again. After all Mister King said he had some potential. If he trained then one day in the far future he might even get strong enough to rival Mister King or Miss Tatsumaki.

"You will likely not ever attain that power," Mister King said and Toby got the strange feeling that Mister King was somehow reading his mind. "It's easy to say that if you trained for hours each day and put in the effort that you would get much stronger but unfortunately I just don't see you having the drive," he stated as a matter of fact. "Sometimes the ability to be able to work consistently plays even more of a role than innate talent. I've finished your pancakes for you. You may want to get back to them."

The worst part was that Mister King's tone was dismissive at all. Every word he said spoke of a deep understanding of Toby and one that he couldn't refute. In some ways the fact that he didn't care about Toby getting stronger hurt more than if he was disappointed in his strength. He looked up to see a dissatisfied look on King's face that vanished so quickly that he second guessed whether it was there or not.

"I'm going to go get the pancakes," Toby said extricating himself from the conversation. "Would you like me to make you some Mister King?"

"Would you like me to have some?" Mister King said immediately and unexpectedly. "No I don't think I will. I'm going to continue blowing myself up until I can figure out this move. Maybe you should eat your pancakes and spend some time figuring out things as well."

"I will," Toby said nodding in agreement. It was obvious at this point that Mister King was tired of conversation and the most appropriate thing that he could do was to leave him and get out of the house. It was the other reason why he spent little time at Mister King's house. While his custodian could be good conversation he didn't like speaking for long periods of time. He turned around, giving one last look at the World's Strongest Man before he traipsed upstairs to eat his pancakes in solitude.

The pancakes were pretty decently laid out and even perfectly topped with that mix of cinnamon syrup; somehow Mister King had telekinetically finished the cooking process while talking with him. Still no matter how good they tasted, and they were really perfectly made somehow (the pancakes could probably stop a demon-level monster in their tracks); they tasted bitter in the young werewolf's mouth. Toby idly took a bite of the pancake before he suddenly crouched down, placed his knuckles on his ground and his legs together and started pumping out pushup after pushup. His muscles barely burned as he did it and he easily got to two hundred without any pause before he stood up.

"It doesn't seem to have an effect," Toby mused to himself. Wasn't over a hundred pushups meant to be hard? Should he do harder exercises? Should he go and hunt down Mysterious Beings like Mister King did? Maybe he could go and ask Miss Tatsumaki for help. She did offer to train him if he ever needed to get stronger.

'No,' he thought shaking his head. If he wouldn't even impose on Mister King then there was no way he could impose on Miss Tatsumaki. Sighing Toby slipped the plate into the sink before he put on his dark green greatcoat and stepped into the meekly sunny streets of Y-City. Both he and Mister King had places of residence in Y-City but they lived on opposite ends. In fact Toby's apartment was much closer to the restaurant on the days that King opened. He went fewer days this time and the brand and intellectual capital might be sold off to a third party with Mister King retaining some involvement. Toby wasn't that involved in the discussions although he stood to gain some share in the business.

Maybe while he was out there he should pick up some groceries. Mister King had an almost inexhaustible pantry but his apartment wasn't subject to the same luxury and in fact he was running out of fresh vegetables at the moment. Yes, he liked good vegetables; he could almost hear Mister King chuckling about a veggie werewolf. His mood dropped as he thought back to the words said by Mister King; about how he had no faith in his ability, no he had no faith in his willpower.

"Am I just having stupid teenage angst?" Toby asked himself as he walked down the street. He was almost turning fourteen in a short while; less than a month. "I'm just blowing things out of proportion. I will go and apologize to Mister King when I get back." That resolved Toby nodded and headed towards the large greengrocer a half-dozen miles away; while there were closer ones none of them had the standards to which Toby had recently become accustomed to. That was just one of the disadvantages at working at a well-renowned restaurant.

"I wonder if my parents would like my cooking," Toby said out loud as that stray thought streaked across his mind leaving him momentarily unable to think of anything else. Truthfully he had no memories of his parents; his first clear memories only emerging when he was already imprisoned within white walls. It was likely that his parents had either been captured or killed by the military wing of whatever hellish science organisation captured him. Still, Mister King thought that his cooking was getting better and that would have to suffice for him.

Finally after a few minutes of quick walking Toby found his way to the large steel building and stepped through the glass doors that automatically opened at his presence. Focusing on his mental shopping list Toby strode through the aisles of the shop noting that it was busier than usual for this time of the month.

"Green peppers, baby marrow, fresh lettuce," Toby said to himself picking out the contents of his search. "Oh, scallions," he said reaching for the vegetable only to pause with his hand halfway hanging in the air. Suddenly he dropped the bag, eliciting a few protests from the surrounding customers who did not enjoy the sight of random vegetables being flung everywhere. One of the staff members ran to stop him moving when he grabbed the staff member with his hand and yanked him to the side a moment before a car weighing a few tons burst through the door landing on the spot where the staff member stood just a few seconds ago.

"Bee, bee, beets," the high-pitched voice stuttered out as a scrawny looking goat human figure with the top half of a goat walked into the store. It was bare except for a pair of black tights showcasing its ribs that were covered in white fur. Rectangular pupils scanned the shop gazing over the dozens of shoppers that had frozen in fear before it locked onto the various vegetables.

"Rad, rad, radish," it bleated as it took a step forward into the store only to pause to look at the humans in front of it as if confused. Its eyes suddenly focused on one of the nearby shoppers, a teenage girl with pale skin and headphones who was cowering with her head down, before it lowered its horns and charged.

It was only a few feet away when the shoe of Toby collided with the ribs of the goat and the thing went skidding across the floor and into a stand of canned beetroots which exploded and gave the Mysterious Being a bloodied look. Toby touched down lightly on his feet maintaining distance. From his probing attack the thing was probably a powerful wolf that was strong and durable but with very little speed and fighting skills. Still Toby wouldn't let his guard down; Mister King had repeatedly emphasised that point to Toby.

The creature quickly stood up on its hooves and focused on Toby staring him down before it lowered its head and charged forward once more. This time Toby stepped to the side as it approached only to be caught as the creature stopped on a dime and rammed its head into the young werewolf sending him stumbling back with aching ribs; his clothes given by Mister King preventing the horns from gouging into him.

Gritting his teeth through the pain Toby brought down his fists on the skull of the Mysterious Being. The goat's head whipped down but Toby had no time to rejoice as his hands stung from the rebound of the force and the goat used the separation to gain a slight bit of distance.

"Car, car, carrots," it bleated loudly as it brought its head up at full speed ramming it into Toby's stomach causing all the wind to get knocked out of him as he flew upwards into the ceiling hitting the ceiling light and getting electrocuted by the nearby wires until they burnt themselves out.

"I forgot," Toby said gritting his teeth in pain as he felt all of his wounds begin to heal. "Goats have hard heads." The situation where he was getting beaten was humiliating, even more given the fact that he knew this creature still didn't qualify as a demon. It was his own poor performance that led to him fighting it in the worst way possible.

Snarling in frustration Toby dropped down behind it just as it was focusing on some other part of the store whether food, shopper or just the pretty decorations. He lashed out quickly aiming for the ankle and was rewarded with a crack as the thing legs of the goat broke easily sending the thing plummeting to the floor. With one swift motion Toby slashed down with his claws and separated its head from its shoulders, cutting through the tough muscle in a second.

Toby stood back up breathing and just feeling his wounds recover quickly. His werewolf physiology did cause him to swiftly heal although the recovery was noticeably faster when it was a full moon as opposed to one that was still new. Still the beast shouldn't have taken so much effort to go down and it was only because Toby had fought so poorly that a mere Tiger could have given him so much trouble. Shaking his head he resolved to do a better job of it in future_ and then the pain hit him.

A star exploded in his chest as bursts of agony told him that his body was definitely not okay. Almost as if he was in a trance he looked down to see a muscled, black-furred arm with long hooked claws stab straight through the centre of his chest; a wound that would be fatal to any human. The arm retracted and Toby fell forward barely catching himself before he fell and scuttling away. He turned around in time to see another massive arm fly towards him and his world went white as it penetrated through his stomach and intestines causing him immeasurable pain. He opened his eyes to see a swarthy nine-foot tall heavily-muscled humanoid lion wiping the flesh and blood of the goat creature off of him.

"I hated that stupid goat," the lion said in a deep rumbling voice as he threw Toby into one of the aisles toppling it over and causing the werewolf to be covered in fresh tomato juice. "I've spent so long trapped inside his weak body. My only companion was that feeble mind that could think of nothing more than grass and greenery. I can promise you boy that I'm not a vegetarian however."

Toby struggled to his feet feeling his regeneration start to slowly kick in. His weight had been reduced a bit considering the massive gaping holes in his torso and it was only for that reason that he was still able to stand. Even untransformed his constitution was a lot tougher than a human; well an ordinary human at least.

There were a few humans and so Toby tried to block himself from their line of sight as his injuries stitched themselves together, but there was absolutely no hiding from the black lion. The Mysterious Being looked at him with realisation in his eyes that was slowly replaced by scorn.

"You're no human," he growled towards the recovering Toby. "Why on earth would you waste your life protecting these humans?"

"Oh don't try and pretend there's any kinship between us," Toby said at a voice so low that normal humans wouldn't hear him. Despite both being Mysterious Beings they weren't even the same species; and even if they were there was there might have been hatred regardless. Even humans a species that was generally placid had irreconcilable hatreds, why on earth wouldn't they.

Feeling the rest of his wounds heal up, Toby crouched down before he pounced at the humanoid lion lashing out with his claws in an attempt to carve into the beast. Just as he was bringing his claws to cut into the lion he felt his wrists grabbed with crushing force and then a knee hit his torso with such force that his spine buckled and his wounds reopened gushing with blood. The pressure on his wrists redoubled and he felt the bones creak as the lion that had a good two feet pushed him down.

"Pathetic," the Mysterious Being said as he was oppressed by the overwhelming strength of this creature pressing down on him. "Well if you can't be a predator, then you can be my dinner." With those words he leant down and Toby's world went white with pain as steel teeth clamped into his shoulder for an instant before a chunk was torn from his shoulder.

He was released and he stumbled backwards, his right arm hanging by a thread as the creature devoured his flesh with blood pouring from its teeth. Toby took a step back in panic as his slowly healing arm twitched while slowly regenerating. His breathing was heavy as he realised that he could not beat this creature, at least not how he was. A brief glance around him revealed that the store by now was mostly empty with the few remaining humans focusing on making the same escape. Toby turned his head back as the lion prowled towards him confident in his own strength and victory; and there was a very good reason for that considering he was handing Toby his ass. Growling in annoyance Toby stepped forward lashing out with his claws using the same move and was immediately caught once more.

The lion bared his teeth cockily at the same situation but his smile faded as the strength difference narrowed. Simultaneously Toby grew from his almost five feet height to six feet and his muscles bulged outwards as thick brown fur covered his body and a snout protruded from his face. He returned that mocking grin before reversing the grip on his wrists and crushing his arms.

The lion immediately lashed out with his knee driving it into Toby's form which caused the werewolf to stagger backwards slightly but otherwise did no damage to his completely unharmed torso. In response Toby stepped forward throwing a left, right left combo that caught him on the last swipe cutting into his skin causing a burst of blood to erupt. A look of absolute fury blighted the lion's face and he punched forward with a blow that Toby was forced to cross his arms to block.

That was a mistake because right before fist met forearms the lion opened his mouth and roared; and Toby's ears burst as a wave of sound hit him shaking his insides and causing his teeth to rattle. That brief moment of distraction froze Toby and the next blow landed right in his throat causing his trachea to crumple inward. He nearly blacked out from pain and while his windpipe started to heal almost automatically he was certainly not able to protect his head as he was slammed down into the floor. He rose from the ground with teeth bared and wounds regenerating only for a foot to slam him back to the ground with such force that he felt his bones break and his body go limp. Light briefly entered his eyes again as he spat out a bunch of his broken teeth and he had a brief moment of lucidity before nearly half a ton of lion drove his head straight through the floor again rattling his skull.

His body wriggled limply, out of his control and a muddled sense of panic was the only thing he felt and the detached feeling of his impending death filled his emotional spectrum; but he could muster no strength to oppose it. The expected death didn't come as he felt the foot lift up off of his head and the Mysterious Being move away. The rumbling voice of the humanoid lion reached his ears but he was unable to understand them as his body's regeneration kicked in trying to restore him to functionality again. In a few seconds his trachea restored itself, his teeth grew back and lucidity returned to him.

As he snapped back to full consciousness his sense of danger returned. He was still on the floor and if he didn't move right now then the lion would resume his beat down. Swiftly he raised his guard returning to his feet and scanned the room looking for his foe. However the sight that greeted him was not one that he was expecting. Instead of the fierce and contemptuous lion that he fought against there was a corpse standing frighteningly still; lying next to the corpse on the floor was the decapitated lion head with a look of unspeakable horror on its face. Slowly, achingly slowly the corpse started to fall revealing the killer of that creature.

An abnormally handsome blue-haired man stood dressed in a white jacket and black pants. He affixed Toby with his yellow eyes and for a brief instant Toby felt the weight of unspeakable hatred focused on him. His breath hitched as he tried to in some way understand just how this person he had never met managed to despise him so much. The blue-haired man stepped forward and Toby took a shaky step backwards in response cursing his werewolf instincts that showed him just how much he was outclassed by the person in front of him. He gritted his teeth in self-reproach and was just about to defend himself when one of the shelves containing vegetables crashed down between the two of them.

"Change back Toby," Miss Tatsumaki said as she descended into the building from the same hole that the car thrown by the goat opened up. "And you Mask had better drop that look before I ruin that pretty face of yours."

"And let a Monster go free?" the man that Toby now recognized as Sweet Mask said with contempt bordering on disgust in his voice. "Can you bear the responsibility if that thing goes out and kills a human? Since when have you ever heard of a Monster respecting human's right to live. I should eliminate that hideous thing right now."

"You do that and I'll reduce you to meat paste," Miss Tatsumaki said and as she spoke small pebbles and dust started to rise from the ground in clear defiance of the law of gravity. For a moment it looked like the two would start a fight in which only one would walk away from.

"Hey Tat's do you want some Apple Coffee," Mister King said as he walked down the aisle with a pack of gourmet coffees in his hands. "Oh, you're here as well Sweet Mask. What flavour coffee would you like?"

"Don't act so casual King," Tatsumaki rebuked immediately as Sweet Mask just stared in shock at the unexpected S-Class hero who had joined the conversation. "There is no way you don't know way you haven't been aware of what was going on. How long have you been observing?"

"For a decent length of time," Mister King said throwing an apple-flavoured coffee towards Miss Tatsumaki before he reached into the box and chucked one towards the surprised A-Class hero. "I think I'm really starting to enjoy these canned coffees. Do you want any Toby?"

"No," Toby said meekly as he slowly reverted back to his human form. For some reason the change was a lot harder than normal this time.

"Wait, you know this monster, King," Sweet Mask said dumbfounded. No dumbfounded was too light a term. He looked as if his world axis had suddenly turned 180 degrees and fallen out from beneath him.

"I adopted him after rescuing him from a lab about a year ago," Mister King said lackadaisically as if he wasn't admitting to housing a Mysterious Being. "Although to be honest he's more like a little brother than a son. I'm not exactly a person who strictly enforces family roles."

Toby swallowed at that moment realising his mouth felt very dry; he felt happy at Mister King's words but there was another emotion running beneath the surface that felt like guilty or shame. On the other side the blue-haired hero looked like he had swallowed a lemon and for a brief instant an ugly countenance overtook his face; so quick that Toby could barely see it.

"Monsters have no concept of family," the man said firmly, his words almost daring King to refute his stance. There was something strange about his words; they contained a certain underlying desperation that told Toby that he was missing a vital part of the conversation.

"That's entirely untrue," Mister King said firmly. "For the most part Mysterious Beings experience the exact same motives and emotions as humans. The difference lies mainly in the fact that their emotions are amplified and their restraint is heavily diminished. Believe me when I say that I listen to the story of every Mysterious Being before I kill them and I have slain thousands. There were more than a few that concerned themselves with family."

"But you still killed them in the end," Sweet Mask said clinging to the thread of logic that would win the argument for him.

"I have killed every Mysterious Being that I have ever met," Mister King said his voice earnest which immediately caused a look of surprise to show on Sweet Mask's face as well as an equally disbelieving look from Miss Tatsumaki. Mister King however had that look on his face that indicated that he was just waiting for an expected response.

"But then why...?" Sweet Mask started before he cut himself off manifestly trying to figure out a way to phrase the question.

"Because Toby is not a Mysterious Being," Mister King said getting a look of shock from Sweet Mask and contemplation from Miss Tatsumaki. "The definition of Mysterious Being requires one to not be a human and to pose a threat to society. Toby does not pose a threat to society and not just because he isn't that strong. His character is not one that would cause suffering to humans." Kings voice was warm clearly broadcasting his approval.

"That's just semantics," Sweet Mask spluttered. "Nobody uses that description. You are using that definition just to justify your decision."

"Of course I am," Mister King said calmly adopting a pose with his arms crossed. "But I can only use that definition because my position is inherently justifiable. It is said that the beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms and I don't mean to brag but I have a quantifiably large amount of Wisdom."

"But then if a monster no longer posed a threat to society you would just let it go," Sweet Mask said still in disbelief.

"Depends on the monster but I could let them go," Mister King said casually. "I have let them go in the past. Actually the non-human part of the definition is where I am most likely to let it slide. Anybody who has spent any amount of time in society will find that there are humans that commit more evil then any Mysterious Being. Would you like me to whip up a meal and then we can have a chat? I always believe people are more honest over a good meal."

"Before you go along and have your little heart to heart do you want to finish up here," Miss Tatsumaki said with irritation in her voice. "I refuse to believe that you don't notice it King."

"I've actually fought this type of Mysterious Being before," Mister King said chuckling to himself. "The goat, the lion and the snake; each one is a bit tougher than the last. The snake hiding in the corpse is a low dragon in case either of you want to take it out. Be careful they are pretty fast."

The next second an explosion happened as the corpse of the lion was crushed cratering the ground beneath it. Toby flinched back as pieces of scales and flesh fell apart about a metre from him. He didn't even see the beast move and Miss Tatsumaki had already destroyed it. Surprisingly Sweet Mask had also moved at the same time almost interspersing between the now vaporised corpse and Toby himself but not quite arriving in time. The hero stopped halfway as the creature disappeared before a shocked and doubtful look appeared on his face.

"Ha, it seems that you also don't think of Toby as a Mysterious Being," Mister King said seriously as he took a sip of his coffee. However this time Sweet Mask's expression was strange as he looked at Mister King with a look of sudden understanding.

"You know," he said with a complicated expression on his face.

"Always have," Mister King said.

"Then kill me," Sweet Mask said bowing his head slightly and Toby recoiled as he got the feeling he had jumped ahead twenty chapters in a book and now half the party were now dead or traitors. He turned his head towards Miss Tatsumaki who was now fixing Sweet Mask with a stare of iron. The shorter esper saw him looking and made a gesture that told him to relax.

"Haven't you just listened to the whole speech I've given," Mister King said sighing. "If you ever go wild and start killing indiscriminately then I will be the first to put you down." He then gave a wild smile. "Not because I hate you or I want to put you down but because I can sense an interesting story behind you and I would love to give you an appropriate epilogue."

"What?" the A-Class hero said raising his head and Toby was shocked to see veins and scars cover his face. "But you are a true hero. You've saved hundreds, myself included, who owe their lives to you. You've killed thousands of monsters and all monsters fear you. People venerate you as the Heroes' Hero. You must hate monsters."

"You of all people should know how dangerous it is to place people on pedestals," Mister King said. "Yeah I do take some enjoyment from people but I really, really enjoy listening to the backstories of Mysterious Beings before I defeat them. I've even got a book back home just with a record of Mysterious Beings and their backstories and it's over a thousand pages now. If I hated them why would I even bother to record their words? Do you think I'm such a pervert that I can get off on their dying words?"

"But then_," Sweet Mask started.

"Wait Sweet mask is a monster," Toby suddenly blurted out finding his voice only to blush as the three remaining in the store turned towards him.

"Yes I am," the A-Class hero said. "Would you like to kill me? What about you," he said turning towards Miss Tatsumaki. "You've made it quite clear you hate me."

"Hmph," Miss Tatsumaki said crossing her arms and turning her head away. "Killing something so pitiful would ruin my mood. I'm with King on this one," she said softly before her eyes glowed and her voice turned cold. "If you ever start killing humans then King won't even have time to hear your last words." In an instant Sweet Mask went stiff as he was lifted into the air, unable to move a muscle. "I will personally tear you into pieces so tiny your fans won't even see a corpse." With a slight gesture the A-Class hero dropped to the floor where he lay kneeling while his face reverted to his handsome appearance.

"You don't understand," the blue-haired man said with clear desperation in his voice. "I'm losing my humanity. Besides my constant desire to kill evil everything else is disappearing."

"Even your love for your fans," Mister King said seriously, before his voice seemed to take on a mocking tone. "I've told you what I've told you before, so listen up. Monsterification cannot add something that wasn't already there and cannot take away something which is fundamental to your concept of yourself. Anything that you become will ultimately be a possible outcome that you could have become even without transforming into a monster. What you have lost is a hell of a lot of restraint. I recommend mediation for that, or buying a puppy. Here I'll even let you borrow mine," Mister King said and Toby's eyes widened as he felt his custodian put a hand on his shoulder and push him towards the A-Class."

"What," Sweet Mask said only a second faster than Miss Tatsumaki. Both of the heroes were now eying King like he was taking leave of his senses.

"I've been meaning to get Toby a spot in the hero association," Mister King admitted casually. "He's an easy A-Class but he could use a mentor."

"But he's a werewolf," Sweet Mask said with genuine confusion.

"I'll vouch for him," Mister King said. "Tell anybody that if they have a problem with a werewolf hero then they can take it up with me."

"And if they need a second reference I will be glad to offer it," Miss Tatsumaki said.

"Wait what happened to not forcing me to unlock my potential?" Toby said a bit confused at the unexpected situation.

"That was before you threw yourself at a demon level creature," Mister King said resolutely. "If you're going to do that then there is no fucking way I'm not getting you some training."

"Okay," Toby said turning his head away as he felt a warm feeling in his chest at his caretaker's concern.

"Wow busy day," Mister King said chuckling. "Oh well Tats and I were going to catch a movie and the two of you are frankly not invited. So I'll leave it to you to deal with the after action reporting to the association. I've already taken out the cameras."

"That's correct," Miss Tatsumaki said somewhat huffily. "If you had invited them as well I would have broken your arm."

"You would have tried," Mister King said scoffing with a smile on his face. "Farewell then." He gave a wave as he turned around before he easily leapt up and out of the hole in the roof with Miss Tatsumaki following after him. Toby watched them go before he turned his head to the side and started to realise that Sweet Mask was standing right next to him. The hero was looking him up and down with an uncertain look before he turned to the door just as the first emergency personnel were entering the building.

"Just follow my lead," he said quietly and then all signs of vulnerability were gone and a mask of perfect poise descended upon his face as he went to confront the humans arriving at the scene. A second later Toby followed after his new mentor.

xxx

6 Months before canon

You know, one of the weirdest things that I had to deal with in my twenty-eight years of life was the presence of luck that I had been building up for my lifetime until I had maxed it a few months ago. Unlike King of the webcomic/manga/anime who appeared to have endless luck I had started with a measly 25 and over the nearly three decades gained an extra nine million nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and seventy-four. During that period I had learnt a few tricks on how better to use my luck such as contracting it into a brief moment to land a devastating blow, focusing on a single effect that I wanted to occur and one of my most interesting; siphoning the luck from others.

That was why I sat on the roof of Z-City general hospital holding up threads of red that felt around examining the people in the intensive care unit. Each one of these threads would look around for sources of fortune, tapping the wellspring before glowing orange and healing the bedridden patient. For the next few weeks they would probably lose a few bets or trip over their feet or have a humiliating encounter but considering that the majority of those I sapped previously had no future past a few weeks I considered it a more than fair bargain. I had been doing this process slowly over the last few hours while slowly watching the darkness recede. Finally when the sun peaked itself over the horizon showering the land with golden light I stopped.

It was really quite a beautiful day I thought as I stood at the edge of the hospital. I could already hear the slow thrum of humanity waking up. Besides that omnipresent hum of civilisation the roads were relatively quiet and there was not a single sign of my work. That was good I suppose. While normally I would be looking forward to any sign of a Mysterious Being today I wasn't feeling up for it; I had far more important things to do. I guess I was lucky.

I made a single misstep as I released the ever-present psychic restraints before I regained my stride and allowed my body to adjust to my full strength. Almost casually I shook my hands feeling the air crackle at simple motions causing gusts of air at the sheer force from my unrestrained form.

King

The Gamer

Title - None

Species - Human

Health- 24 999 999/24 999 999

Mana – 24 999 999/24 999 999

Level – 9 999 EXP 9999999999/9999999999

STR – 9 999 999

VIT – 9 999 999

DEX – 9 999 999

INT – 9 999 999

WIS – 9 999 999

LUK – 9 999 999 (12 456 803)

Points -0

Money 5 486 686 571¥

I had reached my maximum potential and now it was now time to go past that. Unfortunately Demon-King Mode required a certain stimulus that was barred from me and so I had subsequently decided to seek it out. This was the day I arranged. Butterflies notably did not flutter inside my stomach and I both blessed and cursed Gamer's Mind for that very reason. My final destination was an empty field in the abandoned area of Z-City almost three hours walk and less than a minute if I put some effort into it, but I didn't see the need to put any effort into it considering my meeting was still a ways away. Instead I took the scenic route stopping by the many beautiful vistas of Z-City that steadily faded away to be replaced by crumbling architecture. I grabbed a skewer on my way to the location and slowly picked away at the strips of beef speared on the metal rod.

I arrived at the empty field with plenty of time to spare. Like much of the abandoned districts in Z-City the place was a dump with rusting implements arrayed over yellowed grass and glass from nearby windows scattered among the tangled foliage. Ever since the Mysterious Beings had come out of the woodwork a few years ago the property values in this area had fallen sharply in this area as this place was hit with a disproportionate number of attacks coupled with a slow response from local heroes. The combination of those factors had slowly strangled this part of the city of any value it had once held leading to it being relabelled a ghost town; and it was in this empty field in the middle of a ghost town that I stood leaning against a half-buried metal sign while waiting for my opponent.

Time went by until the hour of the meeting approached and then time went by a bit more. Still it wasn't as if I hadn't expected this; the future was a murky swamp but I could occasionally glimpse through the foamy surface and into the ripples of future events. The event before me caused fierce ripples that blotted out any fine details while illuminating the basics. A quick estimation indicated that I still had around two hours left and so I closed my eyes and activated Supreme Awareness of the Natural World just idly sensing the world around me in a form of meditation I found relaxing. I took a single breath before I slowed down my heart rate and reduced my energy outflow to a crawl.

Two hours passed in a blink and I soon felt a familiar object approaching my resting place. My dormant body took a single breath as my systems returned to one hundred percent in a blink and I opened my eyes to see a familiar depilated figure clad in a recognizable yellow jumpsuit with white cape and red gloves. He looked quite embarrassed to be so late but I couldn't hold it against him. I was the one who asked for the meeting in the first place.

"I'm sorry," Saitama said. "A cat had stolen my glove."

"Must have been quite a cat," I said smiling to myself. "Are you prepared?"

"Yeah," Saitama said. "Is this where we are going to fight? Should we put up a barricade?"

"That won't be necessary," I said trying to hide the excitement and anticipation in my voice that was bleeding through Gamer's Mind. "This is where we are going to fight." My words were accompanied by a casual touch in the air that revealed an orange doorway. I had searched for over a month for an Instant Dungeon that was stable enough to really take some heavy fighting. Unfortunately even tough Instant Dungeons would degrade after a few battles with Tatsumaki let alone the absolute devastation I was prepared to release. This one however was nearly as stable as the real world (if it could really be called that) and would be able to easily absorb any massive bouts of destruction.

I stepped through the doorway with anticipation and was confronted by a world that was pouring with rain. The skies above me were pitch black and thick tree-like bolts of lightning that plunged the world into pure white before being chased an instant later by devastating rumbles that I could physically feel.

"Fucking weather," I yelled out, my absolute fucking frustration at the fucking meteorological conditions managing to drown out even the thunder for a moment. I'd been in here over twelve times and not once had it been anything but flipping blue skies and sunshine and then the one day I come out it's like fucking Enlil tried to give it another go with the whole Sumerian Flood shit. I could already see rivers of water start to flow out of the portal and I thanked my fucking stars that Life Fibers were waterproof. I didn't need fucking wet socks to go along with this whole fucking thing and what I really needed right now as some really good synonyms for 'fucking'. Over twelve million luck my butt.

"Where are we?" Saitama said as he walked through the orange door holding up his hand above his head. "If you had told me the weather was like this I would have brought my umbrella."

"I've honestly spent some time in this dimension and it was never like this," I said seething. "There were sources of water of course but they were generally lying the ground and not in the sky." I sighed as I felt my annoyance dissipate as the humour of the situation hit me. "Tiger-King Mode," I said and immediately felt my body start to change and the temperature of the surrounding areas immediately ratcheted up to thermometer exploding levels.

"Are you okay, man," Saitama said looking concerned and I just gave him a thumb up as I started walking deeper into the watery world allowing the orange portal to close. All the waters in my vicinity started to boil before they transformed into vapours that rose towards the sky creating a scalding mist that ascended into the skies. The transition from cold to hot created huge updrafts that brought forth gale force winds that dispersed the clouds. In the span of ten seconds my Tiger-King Mode had changed the weather and the very landscape turning the deluge into a desert.

"Oh wow," Saitama said. "It feels like you dry cleaned my suit."

"My apologies but it is likely to get crumpled again," I said as I took a breath and regulated the power of my Tiger-King Mode. The beat of my hearts were deafening and my blackened flesh smelled like char but I succeeded in retracting the energy to right beneath the surface of the skin; ready to be unleashed in a moment. "Ready," I said; receiving a short nod in response as flickers of anticipation broke through Saitama's emotionless façade.

"Great," I said snapping my mouth shut before I crouched down and dashed forward in an explosive burst. My psychic powers and my own internal energies combined together around and begun to spin ferociously and my concentration was pushed to the limit as I was forced to control the nuclear level destruction that I was wielding. Simultaneously the air in front of my fist turned to plasma at the sheer force behind it and the sound barrier shattered into a billion pieces sending out deadly sonic waves.

All of these effects happened in a mere millisecond and they lasted until the instant my fist connected with Saitama's torso. I could feel a rebound of force reduce every bone in my hands to powder but it was worth it to see the spectacular effects. An explosion that would likely have vaporised most of the S-Class erupted turning the area just in front of me into an unsurvivable hell.

Saitama went flying as well; the undefeatable hero disappearing through the mist of plasma, rock and flame that accompanied my punch. Without any preamble I instantly healed my bones and dove headlong into the pandemonium. Supreme Awareness of the Natural World was the real MVP in situations and I quickly locked onto Saitama's presence dropping down on him with a kick that he avoided, even while flying through the air, and I immediately transitioned into a knee that connected with him and sent him skidding across the ground before he caught himself and regained stillness.

I was on him in a second and had to avoid a punch while simultaneously returning a cross punch. I managed to deflect most of the force but I still felt like my left shoulder broke as he clipped me while my punch straight into his bald forehead merely caused him to move back one step. I matched his step as I felt my bones re-fuse. I slapped my hands together causing loose dust, mist, water and lava to be blown away allowing me to see the results of the brief confrontation.

Saitama's jumpsuit was tattered but there was not a scratch on him. He lifted his hands before clenching them into fists and I could see a brief look of interest on his face before he swung his fist towards me. I countered with my own fist pushing that near infinite Spin to its limit and matching the force head on. Two fists collided for an instant causing an immense shockwave before my knuckles broke and I was forced to slide backwards. Saitama was halted but otherwise it looked like he took no damage.

"Consecutive Normal Punches," he said stepping forward and I raised my arm as what felt like hundreds of arms flew towards me. I raised my arms as the onslaught of arms crashed into my body giving no chance for rebuttal and I smiled as I watched the other version of my body flicker and turn into static before it disappeared.

"," I announced in turn as the one of the eyes of my stand turned flickered and turned dark. In a second two more versions of myself appeared as the upper pair of eyes lit up and I dashed backwards putting space between the two of us. The copies of myself went all out using deadly moves but collapsing into static seconds later but they had bought me enough time to create some distance.

"Excellent," I exclaimed before I lashed out with a storm of orange-coated threads. Saitama stepped back flickering as my eyes strained to catch his motion. His motions appeared effortless as he ducked between the waves of strings and I immediately reached out with my Psychic power stretching it to the limit to halt him. I think the surprise did more to halt him then my actual force as he broke free almost immediately but not quick enough for hundreds or orange-coated threads. It was a sound like grinding metal as these strings attempted to cut him to pieces but they weren't able to break his string and he reached out to grab a few hundred of the strings before he used his remarkable strength to pull me towards him. My strength was immense but paled compared to his and thus I used the momentum covering my body in orange light even as I wound up for my ultimate move.

"The World Burns," I said causing my psychic power and internal energies to spin before they synced up creating shocking interference. However unlike its predecessor the Shun Shun Rika rejected the combined energies from affecting me and the rebound created another set of waves that redoubled the interference. The human meteor that I had become could have wiped out the dinosaurs and I briefly saw Saitama's eyes turn sharp as he took a stance and held out a fist.

"Serious Series: Serious Punch," Saitama said seriously and I grinned at the thought of pushing him so far before it was replaced by shock at just how powerful the resulting blow sent towards me was. It was unexplainable like telling a medieval villager about the size of the universe and my self-preservation told me to run, but I didn't feel fear. I couldn't feel fear and so I grit my teeth and dug deeply into my reserves pushing my powers further than I had ever done. I stretched my hands out and formed them into fists lashing out at the point of impact.

Mistake

Danger

Death

Regret

Gamer's Mind has S-H-A-T-T-E-R-E-D_

In that instant of collision I felt my death coming towards me and then blackness, and the next thing I felt I was in the sky; no the ground beneath me was gone revealing an endless abyss. The space around me was cracking and I felt like the lifetime of this dimension had suddenly jumped very close to expiry. A wave of emotion overwhelmed me that I didn't—couldn't process right now. My thoughts raced through hundreds of variations before focusing on the one overwhelming all of my senses right now. The absolute fear of death permeated every single cell of my body and all 37.2 trillion cells were united in their fear against the dying of the light.

"Monkey Dance," I said naming the secret technique from Toriko that was learned from Bambina the Monkey King. I rejoiced as I felt each and every single one of my rapidly regenerating cells and they all rejoiced with me united in our emotions. My interest peaked as I realised that nearly all of the cells grown back were pure Gourmet Cells. With a smile of anticipation I deepened my synchronization with each and every little part of me before I ordered them to Spin. Functionally infinite amounts of energy coursed from my supercharging my regeneration and reducing me to my peak form; no too far beyond my peak form.

The Life Fibers in my body formed into my full body suit and gorged themselves on my energy before returning just as much strength into my cells reinforcing the machine and holding my body together. Sparks of electricity drawn from my body by the Life Fibers were greedily digested but created a vast area of positive charge as a result causing the entire dimension to crackle as lightning bolt after lightning bolt struck the ground repeatedly. Pores in my body opened up releasing blood that immediately evaporated creating a vermillion mist that boiled around me. Pure power changed into pure pain but I couldn't even feel it as my nervous system was replaced by the red threads that were the only thing keeping me from exploding.

"Demon-King Mode," I said every word I said sending out a puff of flame and bloody mist. I turned my eyes towards Saitama and was surprised and keen to see him looking at me with some anticipation. I took a step towards him noting how awkward the feeling was as my Life Fibers had to physically drag my leg towards him. "Imperfect Demon-King Mode," I corrected myself. "I can't keep this up long," I admitted with some embarrassment.

"Bring it on," Saitama said and took a familiar stance.

"Great, wonderful," I said nearly overwhelmed by emotions. I smiled widely as I took my own stance drawing back my fist once more invoking my strongest move. "The World Burns," I tried to say, speaking through a mouthful of superheated blood. By no means was this my best attack. In fact it was probably the least elegant attack I had thrown for over a year. Still I doubt anybody would have complained if they were able to see it. I can't describe how the attack looked because the world had turned white at that point and I later found out that my eyes had been covered by bloody tears but when the Serious Punch was thrown once more I no longer felt that absolute terror.

Time passed once I had thrown that attack and I stood there expecting to once more feel the effects of that Serious Punch. I don't know what happened after that. My vision grew dark as I ran out of something; stamina, willpower or something else. I had an overabundance of energy but I wanted nothing more but to rest and as soon as that thought hit me it became overwhelming. The attack ended and I stood there in darkness as I felt my body start to repair the physical damages as my cells started to go to sleep and my Life Fibers retracted into my flesh leaving behind a normal pair of clothes. I tried to open my eyes but they felt like the heavies thing I've ever had to lift and so I gave up. Even my Supreme Awareness of the Natural World wasn't responding and I wondered for a brief terrible moment if I was dead before I felt a pair of arms around me preventing me from falling forward.

"Good fight," I heard Saitama say and if I could move a muscle I would smile right now. I had lost, but I knew that I was going to lose from the start. "We should have another one when you get better?"

I tried at this point to smile or to confirm the rematch but I couldn't. I couldn't even open my eyes anymore and I couldn't assess his condition. I wasn't sure if he was being genuine or just faking it, after all he did that with the fight against Boros. He might just be saying that to make me feel better. Suddenly through the blackness a blue text box popped up in front of me.

Quest Partially Completed!

Defeating the One Punch Man

Objective

1) Defeat Saitama after he has broken his limiter. (Not Completed)

2) Give Saitama a good fight that will alleviate his apathy. (Completed)

Gained Title "The World's Penultimate Being"

Gained 8.3x1024xp

The long absent noise of experience received was enough to lure me off to sleep with a smile on my face.