Chapter 147 : The Forgotten Hospital

Ryukyu's command came through the encrypted communicator a few days after I returned to the dorms. I was given time to recover, to feel a bit of normalcy again, but I knew that peace wouldn't last long. The world out there was on fire, and I was one of its firefighters. My second mission as 'Tyrant' was about to begin.

The targets were the "Corpse-Grinder Brothers"—Kagemaru and Jirobo—two sadistic Tartarus escapees. The intelligence report Ryukyu gave me was horrific. Kagemaru had the Quirk Corpse Marionette, allowing him to reanimate and control corpses for a short time. Jirobo, his older brother, had a simple Brute Force Quirk that gave him extraordinary physical strength. Together, they had taken over an old, abandoned sanatorium in the Chichibu mountains, turning it into their personal horror stage show, terrorizing the small villages nearby. The local heroes who tried to stop them ended up as part of Kagemaru's collection of puppets, a highly effective psychological warfare tactic that crippled the morale of subsequent attackers.

I traveled to the mountains alone at night, using local trains and buses before finally walking through the dark forest. I wore my new tactical costume, its hood covering my head, blending into the darkness. Inside my chest, my dragon's heartbeat pulsed with a calm, cold rhythm. As I thought about Kagemaru's Quirk—a desecration of the fallen—I felt an echo of anger from the original Tatsumi's soul, a soldier who deeply respected his fallen comrades. That anger didn't make me reckless; on the contrary, it sharpened my focus to a razor's edge.

The sanatorium stood on top of an isolated hill, an old Meiji-era building now weathered by time. Its blackened walls and broken windows looked like empty eyes staring down from under the pale light of a full moon. The atmosphere was straight out of a horror movie. I could smell the stench of decay and old disinfectant even from a hundred meters away.

I began my reconnaissance. I moved around the perimeter of the complex, hiding among the dead trees. I saw them. The 'guards'. They walked with a stiff, unnatural gait, dragging their feet on the frozen ground. Some of them still wore torn police uniforms or tattered hero costumes. Their eyes were empty and lifeless. They were Kagemaru's puppets.

My stomach churned at the sight. This was a crime against nature. I would not fight them. Destroying these bodies felt like a second insult. I had to get past them undetected. I used all the stealth and parkour skills I had learned, climbing slick stone walls, crawling along fragile roofs, and leaping from one shadow to another. I moved like a ghost, a whisper in the night.

In a distant port city, Akame was also moving in the shadows. Her investigation into Yozakura had led her to a warehouse district controlled by a smuggling syndicate. Based on the data she had hacked, Yozakura used this syndicate to ship special 'cargo'. She didn't know what was inside, but she intended to find out.

She infiltrated the main warehouse, bypassing the guards with ease. Inside, she found a heavily guarded shipping container. She opened it. The contents were not weapons or drugs. Inside, there was a high-tech stasis pod. And inside the pod, floating in a preservative fluid, was an object that made her hold her breath. It wasn't human. It was an ancient-looking short sword, with a hilt adorned with a green gem. It was a Teigu. Or at least, a perfect replica.

Suddenly, she realized something. This wasn't just about Yozakura selling data or subjects to this world. It was much worse. Someone in this world, most likely Humarise or All For One's network, wasn't just 'importing' from her world. They were trying to recreate Teigu. And if they succeeded... the consequences would be catastrophic for both worlds. Akame knew she had to get more information. She had to warn Tatsumi. The threat they faced had just evolved.

I finally managed to reach the main sanatorium building, entering through a broken window on the second floor. The inside was even worse. The long, dark corridors were filled with the smell of dust and death. The floorboards creaked under my feet, and I could hear the faint sound of dragging feet from the rooms around me. The puppets were everywhere. I had to move with extreme caution.

I used my Incursio senses to guide me. I wasn't looking for body heat; I was looking for its absence. I avoided the rooms that felt cold and dead, and followed the only trail of life in this place. I followed the sound of rough laughter and the occasional sound of an impact, which led me deeper into the heart of the building.

The trail led me to the old surgical wing. I peeked through the round glass window of a double swing door. The scene inside made my blood boil. It was an old operating theater. In the center, on a rusty operating table, sat Kagemaru. He was as thin as a skeleton, with eyes that shone with madness. Around him stood a dozen of his corpse puppets, positioned as if they were his loyal audience. In another corner, his large brother, Jirobo, was casually throwing a corpse against a wall repeatedly, laughing every time a body part came off.

This was the embodiment of pure evil. No ideology. No higher purpose. Just sadism for the sake of pleasure.

I prepared to storm in. I had already mapped their positions, planned my angle of attack. I would take out Jirobo first with a surprise attack, then focus on Kagemaru. I took a deep breath, my hand ready to manifest Dragon's Fang.

Just then, a cheerful and completely out-of-place voice suddenly came from the old speakers on the theater ceiling.

"Well, well, look what we have here. A little dragon lost far from its nest."

I froze. My entire body went cold. I knew that voice. I had heard it at the USJ.

Inside the theater, Kagemaru and Jirobo stopped. They turned to a blinking security camera in the corner. "He's here, just like you said, Toga-chan," Kagemaru chuckled.

"Of course he came!" Himiko Toga's voice replied. "Shigaraki-kun really, really wants to meet him. He said Tatsumi-kun has something very precious. So, we prepared a little welcoming party for him."

My heart felt like it dropped into my stomach. This wasn't a mission against two Tartarus escapees. This was a trap. A trap designed specifically for me by the League of Villains.

I immediately turned to flee, to tell Ryukyu. But it was too late. With a loud bang, a series of thick steel shutters fell from the ceiling, sealing all the doors and windows in the corridor where I stood. I was trapped.

"You think we didn't know you were coming?" Toga's voice continued, filled with a crazed glee. "Enjoy the game, Tatsumi-kun."

As the lights in the corridor began to flicker and die, and I heard dozens of dragging footsteps approaching from both ends of the corridor, I realized how foolish I had been. I had walked straight into their trap.

The operating theater door in front of me opened. Kagemaru and Jirobo stood there, grinning. Behind them, another shadow emerged from a vent in the ceiling. A figure with a tattered scarf and a wide smile filled with sharp teeth. Spinner. And beside him, another larger shadow, covered by a dark raincoat.

"This isn't fair," I said to myself, forcibly manifesting the Incursio armor all over my body. "This is completely unfair."

Behind the villains, I saw her. Himiko Toga jumped down cheerfully, her knife gleaming. And beside her, stepping out of the darkness, was the figure that made my hope vanish. A figure with a tattered raincoat and horrific burns on his face. Dabi.

This was no longer a cleanup mission. This was an execution. And I was the target.

The communicator in my ear hissed. It wasn't Ryukyu. It was Toga's voice, who had hacked my channel. "Don't bother calling for help," she whispered in a deadly sweet tone. "No one is coming."