The search for Garou was not going well for the two brothers Bang and Bomb. It always seemed that the two would either come upon the aftermath of one of his rampage or instead discover a monster attack instead. Part of the reason for their lack of success can be attributed to fact that Bang did not have the communicator issued by the Hero Association on his person. The reason for this was simple enough he was old and did not have either the time or patience to figure out how to use the technology which he told the Hero Association as much.

‘Perhaps I should have brought it with me and have them explain its use.’

Don’t get him wrong both he and Bomb were very adept at tracking but at the same time Bang was becoming impatient and having access to the Hero Association’s information network could only be a good thing for aiding them in their search. Even after they finally got their first lead following an entire week of fruitless searching they were still being left behind. Apparently the heroes whom they had met in the hospital previously had discovered Garou’s whereabouts in City R.

“Can we be sure the information is accurate?” Bomb questioned with rightful skepticism.

“It’s the only lead we have so it couldn’t hurt to search.”

Unfortunately despite their best efforts the two weren’t able to catch up to or intercept the heroes in question and even if they have the right place they still needed to thoroughly search an entire city which could take hours to complete.

“What I don’t understand is why those heroes didn’t inform you about it.”

An argument can be made for the communicator but Bang’s presence in the hospital would have surely made the rounds not to mention the fact that the heroes in question had already encountered them.

“If I had to guess then it would be that those young men want to be the ones to arrest Garou themselves without the aid of an S-Class hero like myself.”

Bang was aware of the internal politics of the Hero Association. How competitive it was and how petty some of the heroes can be especially when it came to ranks and popularity. It also didn’t escape his notice that the A-Class hero Death Gatling seemed to have a problem with him. He did an admirable job of hiding it but Bang saw through his façade and he was honestly confused. He didn’t know what the A-Class hero’s issue with him was but what he did know was that they were in danger and Bang needed to find them quickly.

So it’s for personal glory then” Bomb scoffed “that’s no way for ‘heroes’ to act.”

Bang could have rolled his eyes “I understand and agree with you brother but for now it is what it is. There’s nothing to do about it but make do with the hands we are dealt.”

As he says this the two look across the immediate area from the roof of a tall building.

“So you say” Bomb spoke before surveying the area “where do we start?”

If those heroes do engage Garou Bang hoped that their battle will create enough of a commotion that locating them will be made easier.

~O~

The moment Garou made his declaration he was attacked by Gun Gun who shot at him with his two revolvers. Garou leapt from the roof onto a tree and kicked off towards the Hero who barely had a moment to react to him.

“I’ll start with you!” the hero was most certainly out of bullets and thus helpless against him.

It should have been a simple takedown except before Garou could reach him there was interference from Stinger. Had he not twisted his body mid air Garou would have ended up skewered by the hero’s bamboo spear weapon but luckily he only ended up getting a cut across his cheek.

‘That didn’t feel like he was trying to capture me alive.’

Garou only managed to straighten into a standing position before Lightning Max came at him with a flying kick. He was fast and Garou could only throw himself onto his back to avoid a foot to the face. While on his back he did a back flip away to get all three heroes in his field of vision.

“…!”

Just as he landed his instincts flared and he whirled around to see a snake poised to strike at his throat! Eyes widening in surprise Garou’s hand snapped up to grab the snake by its throat just before it reached its target. Only the ‘snake’ turned out to be the hand of Biting Snake Fist and Garou was actually holding his wrist. Immediately Garou retaliated with a straight punch to his face however the hero’s other hand went up and just like before Garou saw what seemed to be a snake coiling along his forearm before ‘biting’ his wrist and wrenching it to the side.

Now they had each other’s wrists in vice grips. Naturally Garou’s next move was to kick however a preemptive stomp onto his dominant leg halted the attempt. Garou saw Biting Snake Fist gain a smirk on his face and immediately his ear picked up movement from behind. He turned his head to the side just in time to see the heel of a shoe blasting towards his head with assistance from honest to god rocket boosters coming from the front of the shoe.

Garou did the only thing he could and mustered the strength to throw himself and Biting Snake Fist to the side missing the attack though feeling both the wind and the flames wash over the side of his face. Garou hit the ground managing to wrench his hand out of the snake themed hero’s grip and cartwheel away to gain some more distance.

‘Lightning Max and Biting Snake Fist. They’re not bad.’

Both of them claimed to be martial artists and from what he just experienced those claims had some truth to them.

“…!”

It was only due to him picking up weird movement from Shooter near the back that Garou was able to avoid the hail of arrows that assaulted him unscathed.

‘Those are poison arrows if I remember correctly. If I hadn’t read about him I might not have been able to avoid those.’

The fact that he managed this was clearly shocking to the hero himself as he vocalized it.

“My technique isn’t even that well known but he reacted as if he was expecting it!”

“We had already guessed he had information on us” Stinger supplied.

“He’s a martial arts master” Biting Snake Fist spoke up “so he must have trained his body to react by instinct.”

Garou narrowed his eyes at the snake themed hero ‘definitely not an amateur.’

“Then the only way to overcome it is to overwhelm him” Death Gatling stated before leveling his mini gun at Garou and firing off some shots.

Garou immediately started strafing to the side only to be momentarily confused when the bullet storm ended just a couple seconds after starting.

‘Why did he stop?’

His answer came in the form of Chain N’ Toad appearing in his path out of nowhere swinging the weighted end of his kusarigama before launching it at his face. Garou was a bit surprised at the speed but avoided it by jerking his head to the side but then a large shadow fell over him. He had a split second to avoid a giant kendama ball with a smiling face on it courtesy of Smile Man.

Before he could even catch his breath he was assaulted by both Biting Snake Fist and Lightning Max. Individually the two weren’t anything special however they had great synergy and in his current state posed a significant difficulty to ward off. Nevertheless Garou persevered and managed to outmaneuver Max by ducking a high roundhouse to sweep his leg out from under him and follow up with a stomp to his head.

*Bang*

Or so he intended but ultimately stumbled as the side of his knee was shot by Gun Gun. In the very next instant Garou had to hastily redirect Stinger’s bamboo spear earning another cut on the side of his arm between his bicep and elbow.

“Damn it!” Garou was forced to hastily retreat with a slight limp.

He did not get far before he was intercepted by Biting Snake Fist and unlike before there was a surprising amount of ferocity in the older hero’s attacks. It actually caught Garou off guard for a moment however it wasn’t long before he was more than willing to meet that ferocity.

‘You couldn’t take me on with Lightning Max’ Garou thought to himself as the short exchange began turning in his favor ‘what makes you think enthusiasm would change anything?’

Only a moment later when the weighted end of Chain N’ Toad’s Kusarigama smashed into his ribs cracking them that he understood what happened.

‘A distraction.’

Garou coughed looking to the side in mild disbelief only to come face to face with Smile Man swinging his oversized kendama at him. Caught flat footed Garou had no choice but to hastily raise his hands in a cross block and take the hit for which he was sent skidding back several dozen feet. Guided by his instincts Garou ducked and felt something whizzed by his head before seeing Chain N’ Toad catch the sickle of his weapon.

“He avoided my ‘ear cutter’ from a blind spot just by instinct. You’re right Snek his senses are terrifying” the hero began swinging his weapon again in preparation.

Smile Man joined him “as expected of Silver Fang’s former disciple.”

Together both heroes threw their respective tethered weapons, a chained weight and massive kendama ball attached to a thin cord. Garou leapt away at a low angle to avoid the twin collision but had to contort his body to avoid a center mass shot from Gun Gun and again twist his body in a spin to avoid another hail of arrows from Shooter. All of this was done in one breath and unfortunately not even Garou could avoid the rapid continuous barrage of attacks.

As he landed there were now two arrows stuck in his shoulder courtesy of Shooter.

“Direct hit!” the archer exclaimed “the poison should take full effect in two minutes.”

Garou didn’t make any moves instead taking the time to catch his breath and assess the situation. He finally understood how they were operating. It’s an interchangeable formation of distracting him with overwhelming attacks to give one of the other heroes an opportunity for a decisive blow.

‘Not only that but if I get stuck in one place engaged for too long then the others will take debilitating shots to chip away at my stamina.’

He has to constantly keep track of everyone while staying mobile lest he be caught off guard. His instincts can only take him so far. Case in point he had a pair of cuts, a cracked rib and two poisoned arrows stuck in his shoulder on top of his already deteriorating health.

‘I can feel the poison taking effect.’

Right now he was drenched in sweat, panting for breath, his body was wracked with fatigue and his mind was going numb from the poison. Oh and he was also currently surrounded on all sides with no chance for escape or getting to one of the weaker heroes before being intercepted.

‘Damn, this is bad’ he thought to himself whilst making sure not to give away how desperate he was becoming.

Death Gatling chose to break the silence right then “if you’re going to surrender then now would be a good time to do it. I have my gun pointed directly at you so whether or not you end up as mincemeat will be entirely up to you.”

Garou silently glared at him with an unimpressed expression that did not waver despite his body being in the early stages of shutting down.

Death Gatling continued “you didn’t think it would turn out like this did you?”

“…”

“I can see it in your face. You underestimated us and now it’s coming back to bite you. Unfortunately for you ‘Hero Hunter’ everyone here is an elite hero who has been through many life and death battles with powerful monsters. They’ve all gathered here just to hunt you down.”

Garou knew this spiel was just a ploy to buy time for the poison to take effect. Still he couldn’t help but chuckle at the hero’s words.

“You guys? Elites? I can’t help but be put off by that statement” wiping the blood off his cut cheek he looked around the assembled heroes “what about the S-Class? With how much the Hero Association has been humiliated recently its weird how they haven’t sent any of them after me. Instead I’m being confronted by you lot” his smile grew a bit at his next words “just a bunch of inferior heroes. I can’t even get excited at the prospect of beating you since I’ve been doing that all week.”

He knew his words had an effect on the gathered heroes but even he didn’t expect the kind of response from Death Gatling.

“So you’re only focused on the S-Class heroes huh?” his expression was still stoic however his words had an undercurrent of malice and frustration “I can’t say I blame you. After beating two S-Class heroes I suppose lower ranked heroes would seem inferior. Heh, even the Hero Association itself seems to think so as well.”

“Huh?” this conversation took a turn.

“Death Gatling” Biting Snake Fist spoke up and Death Gatling met the other A-class hero’s gaze to which the snake themed hero shook his head “not the time.”

“…you’re right” Death Gatling nodded before turning back Garou with a hardened gaze “not that someone like you would understand” he paused “or maybe you do.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You took on the name of ‘monster,’ declared you would become the ‘symbol of fear’ and ‘absolute evil’” the hero shook his head “ridiculous. All I see is a brat playing at being a monster and failing despite everything.”

Garou stilled “what?”

“What exactly have you accomplished since you started on this crusade ‘Hero Hunter? You defeated several heroes including two of the S-Class which is impressive but ultimately what does it matter if such actions can be overshadowed in one fell swoop by the Monster Association? In the end you’re just a boy playing monster and an inferior one at that. And isn’t it poetic that us ‘inferior heroes’ will be the ones to take you an inferior monster down?”

~O~

‘Something’s wrong.’

Max understood just as much as the others that Death Gatling’s speech was meant to buy them time for the poison in Shooter’s arrows to circulate through Garou’s body and render him incapacitated however the young hero couldn’t help but feel that the conversation took a turn into some murky waters halfway through. He’s never worked with Death Gatling before so he didn’t know his personality or tactics but Max felt this kind of psychological warfare was a bit much. Even if it was effective perhaps it was too effective.

Max couldn’t see Garou’s face from his position however he could feel something in the atmosphere change upon the completion of Death Gatling’s speech. As a hero and a martial artist Max has fought a number of both monsters and other martial artists before but never has he come across an opponent like Garou. They say that he was Silver Fang’s former student but Max would have never believed it from what he’s seen of the man so far.

There was something off about him. Max has seen videotaped demonstration of Silver Fang’s martial arts and Garou’s movements only bore the most superficial resemblance to them. There was something primal about Garou, his movements were more animalistic than normal and sometimes in the briefest moments of engagement Max wondered if he was even fighting a human.

“The poison should be working he should be at his limits!” Shooter had yelled which signaled them to reengage but after several more quick exchanges Max was skeptical.

The simple fact of the matter is it didn’t feel like Garou’s movements were being dulled from the poison. Oh sure Max could tell the pressure was mounting on but so far they’ve not been able to land another hit on Garou with their tactics. It felt as if even though his movements were hampered he had already adapted to their tactics and was able to keep out of their reach for the time being.

Also unlike before Garou was now purely on the defensive focusing on dodging, keeping his distance and would immediately retreat if engaged in close quarters.

‘What is he up to? He has to realize he can’t win a battle of attrition.’

Garou was covered in sweat, his chest rose and fell with each harsh panting breath that seemed to grow harsher with each small engagement. It truly looked like it was only a matter of time before he keeled over and as fate would have it Garou’s body trembled before he started swaying. Seemingly losing control of his legs the young man stumbled to the side and his foot caught a loose rock that had him falling to the side.

Taking the opportunity for what it seemingly was Chain N’ Toad snagged his ankle to further trip him up. It gave Smile Man the opening to launch his kendama ball but before it could hit Max saw Garou inhale. It was a small but deliberate thing and it immediately raised alarm bells.

‘Breathing technique!’

Max’s martial art Hyper Karate had several breathing techniques and following his reentry into the dojo Max’s sensei taught him the importance of breathing techniques in martial arts. So he may not have known what Garou was up to but he realized Smile Man’s mistake before he went through with his next action.

“Shit!” he cursed but it was too late.

In a move that was very reminiscent of what he saw in Silver Fang’s Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist Garou turned his stumble into a sharp bodily spin resulting in him redirecting the massive kendama ball like a pinball that ricochet directly at Chain N’ Toad. Max could do nothing in his position as his fellow A-Class hero was crushed under the weight of the unwitting friendly fire.

“Chain N’ Toad!” Smile Man shouted in horror as he quickly pulled back on the cord attached to the ball however before he could get back his weapon Garou cut the cord using Chain N’ Toad’s sickle and halting the ball right beside him.

Gun Gun took the initiative for a headshot which Garou blocked using the sickle before taking cover behind the giant kendama ball to block the subsequent shots.

“Dammit he’s got the sickle!”

“So it’s fine if you all come at me with weapons but I can’t do the same?” Garou shouted mockingly “what with the discrimination huh!?”

Garou chose to act right when Gun Gun ran out of bullets by blasting the giant kendama ball towards the B-Class hero with a double palm.

Gun Gun only had time to curse before the oversized toy ball knocked the hero aside and out cold before ricocheting off a tree on a collision course towards Max himself.

“Tch” Max clicked his teeth and met it head on with a front flip assisted by the rockets imbedded in his shoes.

Giant Wheel Double Heel Drop.

The result was the kendama ball getting destroyed however the moment he landed Max’s legs got snagged by Chain N’ Toad’s stolen weapon robbing him of movement.

Suddenly Garou appeared before him using the debris from the resulting giant Kendama ball being destroyed as cover and said “better protect your vitals.”

“Wha?”

In the next moment Max felt a brief bout of vertigo as he was swung upwards where he could see a hail of arrows falling from the sky directly towards him. With a curse Max did as previously instructed and curled up in a fetal position to protect his head and torso. The hero ended up screaming in pain as several arrows imbedded in his arm, shoulder and leg. Garou wasn’t done yet however as he threw the weighted end of the kusarigama he had untangled from his leg at some point at Shooter’s forehead rendering him unconscious.

Stinger cursed and charged towards Garou in an effort to skewer him. He had to change course however as Garou simply threw Max at him full force. Stinger managed to catch the injured hero without falling over and hastily beat a retreat in case Garou decided to capitalize.

He did not however and with a near manic grin he stated to the rest of the heroes “half of you left.”

‘How is he still standing?’

As Stinger tended to him by pulling out the arrows Max knew it was too late. He could feel the poison taking effect and as Lightning Max’s consciousness faded his last thoughts were

‘He really is…a…Monster.’

~O~

‘We lost half our numbers within the span of two minutes.’

Death Gatling stamped down on the emotions that threatened to spill out upon that observation. Instead he used them to fuel his determination to see the mission through.

Smile Man had the right of it as he stated with a tone of grim finality “Death Gatling we can’t afford for all of us to get annihilated trying to capture him alive” he paused to give him a sideways glance full of grim meaningfulness.

“…you’re right, he made his choice. From now on we go at him with the intention to kill.”

Even if Death Gatling was used to death this decision was not one he made lightly especially since for all the damage Garou has caused he has yet to actually take a life. Unfortunately that wasn’t enough especially considering what Garou’s ultimate goal was. He was just too dangerous to be left alone. Garou presented a problem that will ultimately endanger a lot of people in the future and Death Gatling wasn’t going to risk the lives of the public or his comrades here.

‘The Hero Association is ignoring him so it’s up to us. We need to nip this in the bud here. Failure is not an option.’

In response to his words Garou started running towards him with surprising speed However Death Gatling was not his target.

“Stinger! Let’s go, you and me!”

In response Stinger leapt to his feet away from the unconscious Lightning Max and got into a stance with his spear.

“Bring it on then!” the young hero shouted “Death Gatling don’t interfere!”

“Idiot, don’t fall for his provocation stick to the plan we still have him outnumbered!” an aggravated Smile Man shouted.

Death Gatling remained silent. He had no intention of humoring Garou’s words or Stinger’s intention.

‘Once he’s close I’ll turn him into mincemeat.’

Yet when he got close Garou smirked and instead of engaging Stinger he smashed his fist into the ground creating massive fissures in the surrounding area and causing chunks of the ground to uproot all around them. The three heroes stumbled due to lost footing and loose rock flying everywhere. Death Gatling himself had to cover his face but in the process lost sight of his target.

‘Where is he!?’

He got his answer a moment later when Smile Man was incapacitated with a flying kick to the face.

“Ha, you’re just as gullible as they say Stinger” Garou mocked with a smirk.

“You bastard!”

‘This has gone on long enough.’

“Step aside Stinger” Death Gatling shouted.

Stinger mercifully did as ordered and Death Gatling unleashed his mini gun. Yet against all odds Garou kept ahead of the bullet spray using that low movement technique of his. It was frustrating especially since he could see what the man was doing.

“He’s heading for you Snek don’t let him get close!”

To his credit Snek was already aware and was already before Death Gatling even finished his sentence. Still somehow Garou increased his speed to catch up to Snek forcing him to stop his attack. Death Gatling watched as Snek and Garou engaged each other in a flurry of attacks. Snek was a strong and skilled fighter but Garou was faster, stronger and even more skilled. Despite his valiant effort Snek was ultimately overwhelmed and at the mercy of the younger man.

‘He’s not finishing it’ Death Gatling realized.

It became clear that the fight was over but for reason Garou wasn’t ending it.

“He’s toying with him!”

“Now be patient Stinger. After I’m done with him you’ll be next.”

‘Ah that’s why’ he thought with a pronounced frown that did not match his current emotion.

“It’s a trap Stinger he’s saying that on purpose to provoke you.”

“I don’t care” the younger hero yelled “I’ll finish this right here!”

No he’ll get beaten and Death Gatling was aware that there was no way he could stop him so he let Stinger do what he wanted. A bit heartless but stinger needed to learn not to be tricked so easily and besides there was still a way for Death Gatling to salvage the situation.

‘Garou must be at his limit now’ he’ said this before but now he was sure the young man was pushing himself to the utmost limits.

True to his prediction Garou was able to easily bypass Stinger’s reckless charge and slam an uppercut under the hero’s chin rendering him unconscious in a single hit. A weakened and bloody Snek used the opportunity presented to launch an attack from Garou’s flank. Garou ducked the attack and slammed his elbow into his gut sending the hero flying into a tree.

“You willingly gave up your human shield” Death Gatling raised his mini gun “I told you we gave up on capturing you alive. Now no one else will get dragged down with you. It’s over monster Garou.”

Before he could pull the trigger Garou did something surprising and held up his hand.

“Wait there’s a kid inside the hut. If you shoot from there he’ll get hurt.”

Despite himself Death Gatling hesitated and his eyes drifted to the very hut positioned behind him. He only wavered for a single moment before his glare hardened in intensity.

“I thought you were going to say something clever” he growled “that may have worked on Stinger but did you really think I would fall for such an obvious lie?”

It pissed him off more that he would use a kid as well.

In response to his words Garou yelled at the top of his lungs “WATCH CLOSELY! THIS IS THE MOMENT WHERE THE MONSTER WINS!”

It didn’t seem as if Garou was speaking to him and Death Gatling gritted his teeth at how far Garou was willing to go with this farce but unfortunately for the would-be ‘symbol of fear’ Death Gatling was fully committed to ending him.

Death Gatling’s voice was like the final ominous toll of a bell “only justice will win.”

DEATH SHOWER!

~O~

Tareo could admit to himself that he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the drawer. His ‘friends’ certainly reminded him enough times for that to be drilled into his head. At the same time despite being slow he wasn’t dumb and he knew a bad situation when he saw it. For example currently he was watching from one of several holes made by the mister and what he saw was something incredibly worrying.

A few days ago while he was sitting alone in the park reading a hero catalogue he met an older guy. Tareo knew that he wasn’t that old but he called him old guy anyway somewhat as a joke and because well, he never actually got his name. In any case when they first met ‘old guy’ was a little intimidating and weird to say the least. Tareo was sure anyone who got really excited about monsters can be considered weird. Despite this Tareo didn’t think badly of him and other being a bit weird Tareo actually enjoyed the company.

Besides it’s not as if he was likely to meet him again. That’s what he thought after the mister left to go on ‘patrol’ which Tareo thought meant he was a hero as well. Hey maybe that’s why he was excited about monsters. Except that’s not what happened on either accounts as far as he could see now. Meeting him again was unexpected especially since it turned out he had been the ‘homeless guy’ squatting in their base.

If Tareo was being honest the guy looked terrible as if he’d been in a fight but also sick. Despite this it didn’t lessen his intimidation factor in fact it actually made him more intimidating than he was. Adding to the terror of the situation was his ‘friends’ literally shoving him into the man only for him to fall flat on his face and injuring himself. Lucky for Tareo despite his terrifying appearance the man was amenable even going so far as to treat his injury and give him advice?

The point is he sympathized with Tareo’s situation with his ‘friends’ who weren’t so much his friends as they were his bullies who roped him into mostly bad situations. None of that mattered now however as currently Tareo was standing by one of three holes made by the man. He had been using them to keep track of the battle taking place between that same older man and actual heroes.

Throughout the entire battle Tareo was caught in a state of disbelief unable to fully grasp what he was witnessing. That mister was fighting heroes and at first he was struggling but then he gained the advantage and started taking all of them out one by one until only one of them was left. Then when the mister tried to tell the hero that he was in the hut and that he shouldn’t shoot the hero didn’t’ believe him.

And now…

“WATCH CLOSELY! THIS IS THE MOMENT WHERE THE MONSTER WINS!”

“Only justice will win” Death Gatling’s voice sent chills down Tareo’s spine and it might be his imagination but in that moment it looked as if the hero’s face was replaced by a skull.

“DEATH SHOWER!”

In the next instant Tareo fell down to a fetal position and covered his ears from the cacophony of noise. It lasted for what felt like minutes and the entire time he had his eyes shut. When it was over Tareo hesitantly opened his eyes to find that the edges of the hut were gone with holes riddled close to where they were sheered off. The part that survived unscathed was the section where he was watching the events unfold and as the ringing in his ears subsided the commotion outside gained his attention. Hesitantly he opened the door to find the old guy punching Death Gatling in the face and then ripping his mini gun from his arm.

“I don’t care about your shitty hero business! You caring about your ranking so much is so freaking lame” he then stomped the mini gun breaking it in half “and boring.”

Tareo swallowed thickly as he approached him because despite everything he did save his life so the least he could do was thank him.

“H-hey mister…”

Tareo watched him perk up and turn around “oh you’re alive.”

As he got a look at the man Tareo felt his heart stop. From his angle the sun was directly over his head casting the man in a dark silhouette. As he stood there terrified his eyes drifted to bodies strewn across the area and it suddenly dawned on him that he just witnessed somebody take down a group of heroes. And with this realization Tareo did the only thing a child could do in this situation.

He ran away screaming in fear.

~O~

As Garou watched the kid run away his expression of mild shock and confusion was schooled into a stoic façade.

‘Of course the kid would be scared out of his mind after all he just watched me take out his precious heroes’

Reaching over his shoulder Garou pulled out the two arrows stuck in his shoulder and threw them aside.

‘I’m a monster.’

“I really did it this time” he coughed.

He needed to get out of there fast.

“Urgh”

‘Water first’ he started limping towards the hut, hoping that his water bottles survived.

Halfway towards his destination however Garou was inexplicably blindsided by a sudden kick to the side of his head that sent him flying over the clearing and into the forest. That was by far the hardest hit he’d ever had today and he ended up taking some time to reorient himself. He just about rolled over to his hands and knees when an irritatingly familiar voice reached his ears.

“It’s been a long time Garou.”

Immediately alert now Garou looked over his shoulder and an involuntary hiss left his mouth.

“Old geezer” he spat out with an immense amount of vitriol.

Internally Garou cursed his luck ‘the one person I didn’t want to encounter right now shows up.’

His old master Bang, the 3rd ranked S-Class hero Silver Fang looked down at him with a stoic yet foreboding expression.

“Look at what you’ve become my former disciple.”

Garou bristled at his words, his bloody teeth clenched so hard they might break.

“Come forth and let me end your suffering.”

“So you want to kill me too eh?” Garou spoke as he shakily got to his feet and continued “fine then.”

Abruptly the shakiness in his stance abated and he went into a stance for the modified Water Streaming Rock Smashing Fist, one in which he incorporated several styles into the martial art for maximum unpredictability.

“Bring it on old man!”

In response Bang settled into the stance for the mastered version of the Water Streaming Rock Smashing Fist.

There was a beat of silence as the two eyed each other before Garou’s impatience won through and he leapt at him with his hands outstretched and finger curled like claws that couldn’t wait to rip him limb from limb.

Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist.

Garou never saw the first hit coming let alone the dozens of others that impacted across his body. The pain was so intense that he might have blacked out for a moment only to be knocked back into consciousness.

“Raargh!”

Finally Garou made a desperate attempt at retaliation by mustering all of what was left of his strength and willpower into a desperate retaliation with his modified version of the same martial art. For a moment he managed to hold his own against his master however that moment was ever so brief and in no time at all Garou found himself being pushed back aggressively. And in just five seconds since his initial retaliation Garou was right back where he started, at the seemingly nonexistent mercy of his former master.

*SMACK*

Garou took advantage of Bang’s attack and allowed his body to be pushed back, the only way he could gain some breathing room. Not that it helped as Bang was quick to rush after him but Garou was also quick to catch his wrist before the attacks landed. With the old man’s wrists in his grip Garou attempted to launch a flying knee into Bang’s face only to be handily outmaneuvered when Bang managed to instead pull him into his raised knee faster.

Disoriented from the blow Garou was helpless when Bang followed up by grabbing his ear to pull him into an overhead throw and finish off by delivering several quick yet devastating kicks to his chest while he was still airborne from the throw. Garou was sent careening into the forest through several trees until he landed sprawled heavily on his back.

He spat up some more blood but had no time to rest as the old man was already coming down at him from the air like a bullet with his fist cocked back. Garou raised a hasty cross block and immediately felt the bones in his forearms fracture as the impact created a massive crater with his body as the epicenter. Bang continued to lay into him with more earth shattering punches that had the crater continue its expansion.

‘Such fierce attacks…this isn’t like the old man at all…’ Garou thought to himself even as he tried to defend against the onslaught.

An attempt that has proven ultimately futile as Bang easily broke through his guard and Garou became too weak to reestablish it. In fact it became harder and harder for his body to respond to his command and his mind grew numb with each passing second.

‘Shit…I’m blacking out…no…I’m dying...’

Everything was pain and as the darkness crept at the edge of his vision the last thing he saw was the stoic face of his old master as he mercilessly tried to beat him to death.

…

…

‘…NO!’

Like a shock to his system Garou forced himself awake and with newfound adrenaline pumping through his veins he ignored the pain, grabbed some dirt off the ground and threw it in Bang’s face. Rather than being caught off guard Bang smoothly deflected the dirt but in doing so he briefly halted his chain of attacks. It was enough for Garou scamper out from under him though he quickly realized that his legs were barely able to support his weight anymore.

Not a problem as he instead went on all fours.

‘Just like that, remember those movements.’

As the memories of Watchdog Man replayed in his mind Garou began to match the S-Class hero’s bestial movement style. He started bounding across the forest, on the grass and leaping from the trees like a demented monkey on all fours.

Bang watched this all with a stoic expression though his voice did contain a hint of curiosity “you’re just like a wild beast. Where did you learn those strange movements?”

Now that he had mobility and Bang wasn’t attacking Garou quickly took the chance to hastily assess the situation and found that it was in dire straits. Retreat was the only option but for as passive as Bang was being at the moment he knew for a fact that it was mostly out of curiosity and assessment that he was being given some breathing room.

‘The moment I try to leave the old man is gonna be on me! I need something to distract him.’

His eyes caught sight of one of the unconscious heroes a ways away and immediately made a leap towards him. He noted that despite this the old man did not move a single inch from his position not that he had a chance to ask why when his answer came not a moment before he reached the prone hero.

“Don’t even think about it.”

‘What!?’

Another old man appeared from out of nowhere and kicked him across the face. Garou skipped across the ground until his body slammed into the middle of a large tree with such force that it toppled over with him on top of it.

“Gah!”

Groaning from the attack and the fact that at this point his body was just one big bloody bruise Garou picked himself up on top of the fallen tree. In the moment it took him to do so the two old men had Garou cornered. He wiped the corner of his mouth, spat out a glob of blood and looked at the new arrival.

‘That other old guy looks familiar.’

Said old man looked to Bang as he stepped forward at a leisurely pace with his hands behind his back “you’re holding back Bang.”

‘What?’ Garou’s eyes widened.

“I understand if you find this difficult to do since he was your former disciple. Should I take care of him for you?”

Bang hesitated for a moment before stepping past his brother “no as you say Garou was my disciple and as his former master he is my responsibility. I will take care of him…alone.” He sent a sideways glance to the other man who nodded.

“As you wish brother” and he stepped back but kept his eyes on Garou.

‘Brother?’ something clicked in Garou’s mind as he stared at the other old man ‘now I know why he looks familiar! He’s Bomb, master of the Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist.”

Bang’s older brother and in many aspects someone who was much more dangerous. If getting away from Bang was very difficult then getting away from both him and Bomb was downright impossible. And Garou really didn’t want to fight Bomb who’s martial art style was 10 times more lethal than his younger brother by design.

And as Bang slowly settled into the familiar stance of his perfected martial art Garou came to the conclusion that there was no escape. He prepared himself for another onslaught knowing that this may very well be his last.

*Rumble*

Yet before the battle can recommence the ground behind Bang and Bomb suddenly opened up and out spewed a deluge of monsters who leapt after the two old martial arts grandmasters.

“Now!”

“Attack!”

“Cover the Hero Hunter!”

Both old masters suddenly found themselves having to defend against these new enemies. Not that they were having a hard time of it but the sheer number of them kept the two distracted.

It left Garou confused “what the hell is going on?”

“It seems you are in a bit of trouble allow us to help you.”

Garou looked over his shoulder to see a monster in the shape of a sunflower with a face “and who the hell are you?”

He already knew the answer but needed time to catch his breath since it seems as if he will need to escape from two groups.

“We are the Monster Association. My superiors have acknowledged your achievements and are inviting you to become one of our members. We were sent here to ‘welcome’ you into our ranks.”

Words cannot describe how exhausted and in pain Garou currently is but still to accept help from them. His teeth grit and his hands balled into fists so tight that his nails cut into the skin of his palm.

“Fuck off! I don’t need your help!”

He’d rather die at the old man’s hands than accept help from the Monster Association let alone join them.

The monster was taken aback at first however his face twisted sideways and the smile came back “now now we simply cannot accept no for an answer. We have our orders after all and it doesn’t look like you are in a position to deny us anyway” as he finished the sentence the monster seemingly grew taller and the many tentacles on its plantlike body spread in clear sign of intimidation “so will you accept our invitation willingly or do you prefer we do this the hard way?”

Garou met the monster’s intimidation with a hard glare but before he could give his ‘answer’ something made a rather explosive crash into the ground coincidentally crushing a random monster.

“Support request signal confirmed” a monotone voice sounded from inside the smoke cloud “this must be the source of the signal.”

There was a silhouette in the cloud of smoke with its back turned looking at one of the unconscious heroes. Garou recognized the prone hero as Biting Snake Fist.

“Silver Fang I am here to lend assistance.”

“Your help is much appreciated Genos” Bang spoke amicably as he finished dispatching another monster.

Finally the smoke cleared revealing Demon Cyborg pinning Garou with the cold stare of his golden metallic eyes “you must be the rumored Hero Hunter” he held palm up which began to glow ominously “I will eliminate you.”

‘Shit!’ Garou internally cursed.

Before Genos could act on his threat however Bang spoke up “no! Leave Garou to me Genos. He is my responsibility.”

The two S-Class heroes held each other’s gaze for a moment before the cyborg lowered his hand “understood and the rest? Where did these monsters come from?”

“They are part of the Monster Association.”

“I see” and then instead of lighting up his palm he clenched his hand into a fist and a curved blade popped out his forearm.

“Huh?” the sunflower monster wasn’t expecting that and he certainly wasn’t expecting the S-Class hero to disappear from sight right before his vision split down the middle “huh?”

Garou didn’t react as the monster toppled over with its head split in two. There was no need since Demon Cyborg wasn’t aiming for him. He watched as the S-Class hero went on to assist Bomb in culling the deluge of monsters appearing from the massive hole in the ground. Bomb was still fighting against the seemingly endless horde in the background with a lot of blood and limbs flying about.

That was about all Garou saw before his attention was taken by the approach of his former master who gave him a look of disappointment “to think you would also be involved with Monster Association, how far have you fallen Garou?”

A genuine growl of anger and frustration escaped through Garou’s mouth as he bared his bloody teeth “I AM NOT-”

But before he could finish they were all suddenly interrupted by the arrival of a new monster. The giant bird creature gave a mighty flap of its wings sending forth hurricane force winds that blew all three humans and even some of the surviving monsters away. Amongst the shouts of shock Garou found himself snatched by the monster’s talons and whisked away at breakneck speeds.

“You won’t get away!” he heard Demon Cyborg shouted before his arms combined together to make some kind of canon.

A moment later Garou saw light building up from the barrel of said canon however his attention was taken away as the bird monster began shouting at the top of its lungs.

“I HAVE GAROU WITH ME! YOU’RE FREE TO CRUSH ALL THE ONES ON THE GROUND. I’M LEAVING THE REST TO YOU ELDER CENTIPEDE!”

As a massive blast launched from the canon there was a deep rumble from the ground before a truly massive creature rose from the under the remnants of the hut, cutting it in half with its giant pincers as it did. As the creature fully emerged Garou saw the blast impact its head causing a massive explosion that had him closing his eyes from the intense heat, light and gale force winds produced.

When the explosion and smoke abated Garou could now see the creature in its entirety “that centipede…” he trailed off remembering that thing to be the monster Metal Bat was fighting against the day before.

“That’s Elder Centipede” the bird began “he’s the embodiment of a natural disaster that swallows up everything in its path. I really envy his overwhelming destructive power.”

Garou gritted his teeth “dammit! Who the hell told you to interfere in my battles?”

“If we didn’t you would have died” the monster smoothly retorted “I’ve been watching your fight for a while now and I must say I’m a bit disappointed. You need to be more thorough when you defeat your opponents Hero Hunter you left all those heroes alive.”

“Nobody asked for your opinion” Garou growled “and I damn sure didn’t ask for your help!”

“Well not like it matters now. Elder Centipede will take care of everything and finish off those heroes.”

At that Garou began struggling in the monster’s grip “no, stay out of my business! Put me down dammit!”

“Hey hey stop struggling!” the bird exclaimed as Garou’s movements put a cramp in his flight.

“I won’t forgive this! Put me back!”

Despite the hampering to his light the monster found Garou’s tantrum to be amusing “hahahahaha why are you so mad?”

“They’re my prey!”

“Well it’s your own fault for not being able to finish them off besides taking out two S-Class heroes will be convenient for us too since they pose the biggest threat to our plans. You’ve experienced it firsthand too. It was a bad matchup for you just like Watchdog Man.”

His words cause Garou to pause in his outburst but still he glared.

With him being calm the monster continued “you should know in battle matchups exist and in the case our advisor Gyoro Gyoro said that out of all the S-Class heroes only four pose a threat to Elder Centipede:”

“Tornado of Terror who wields unparalleled psychic ability, Metal Knight who commands military power beyond the Hero Association’s understanding, One Punch-Man the strongest man on earth and Blast the top hero who forced Elder Centipede on the brink of death 2 years ago. Apparently the only reason why Elder Centipede is even cooperating with us is because of the opportunity to have a rematch with Blast.”

“In any case Silver Fang while no doubt being a peerless martial artist his martial arts can only affect opponents of a proportional size. The same can be said for Demon Cyborg as while his capabilities are terrifyingly high he does not come equipped with weapons to take on a being of Elder Centipede’s size.”

‘He likes to hear himself talk doesn’t he?’

Garou has kept quiet and ceased his struggles due to the adrenaline of the situation leaving his body. Everything was catching up to him now so he was only half listening to this monster’s spiel. Looking back at Elder Centipede Garou will give it to the bird that he certainly can’t see a way for the old man to defeat that thing even with Bomb’s help. They could get away from it for sure but then they’d be leaving the other heroes to die and they can’t carry all of them out while keeping away from it.

That’s not even taking into account what happens to the city and the people. He knew the old man well enough to know that he wouldn’t put others in danger to save his own skin.

‘He’s too altruistic for his own good.’

And the perfect example of his altruism came to Garou in the memories of his time as Bang’s student.

Looking over his shoulder at the rampaging centipede monster Garou couldn’t help but think to himself ‘I guess this is it huh old man?’

He scoffed under his breath “yeah right.”

“Hm? What was that?” the bird asked but Garou kept quiet “oh is he finally unconscious?”

“…” Garou closed his eyes and finally let blessed sleep overtake him

‘You better survive old man because next time we meet I’ll put you in the ground for sure!’

~To Be Continued~