The City's Deep Night

The moon showed itself between thick, inky clouds for the first time in a long while.

Molting hadn't made me any taller, but Shan's influence had definitely changed how I looked. Triangular ears packed dense with white down, a tail puffed plump with fur — this was my true form now.

The ears and tail I'd been hiding with my mimicry ability flicked left and right as if stretching, twitching and swaying. Looking only at what showed, it was a form anyone could mistake for a beastkin's.

"It's been a while since I let them out. Feels nice."

[Yeah, it looks better when you let them all out. Cute.]

"Shan, it's the performance that matters, not the looks."

[W-well, if we can have both, th-that's even better, right…?]

Ugh.

The ears and tail that helped me keep my balance and picked up even the faintest sounds were actually pretty useful in a fight. At this point, not having the two of them felt more unnatural than having them.

[Th-then, when we register for the exam, how about introducing Tiss as a heteromorph or something?]

Oh?

That's… not a bad idea.

If I just let the ears and tail show and hid the rest of the monster traces with mimicry, it would put less strain on the ability than concealing everything and changing my entire appearance. Might actually work better than I thought.

I padded softly toward the pitiful sacrifice that Ichor had consumed. Whether she'd really just been overtaken or not, aside from the tentacles and the slime running off her, she barely looked any different from when she'd been human.

"Shan, can you tell who she is?"

[Umm…! F-found her on the net. She's an E-Rank villain named Violet… just a p-petty criminal.]

Fortunately, the host Ichor had claimed was an ordinary villain. Watching her endlessly collapse and re-form, she didn't seem to be a host whose abilities suited Ichor at all. That meant I had a decent read on the maximum power she could put out.

Four tentacles unfurled from her back; four more lay hidden throughout her body. Eight in total. Easiest way to think of it was fighting a killer octopus that could freely adjust the hardness, length, and elasticity of its own flesh.

The opponent was a complete amateur who'd only just gotten her hands on a hidden piece — but letting my guard down was out of the question. In monster terms, she sat somewhere between Intermediate Grade and Superior Grade, about the same level as Rox, the one we'd faced at the orphanage.

Back then, explosives had made short work of him. This time, I had to put her down with nothing but my own strength.

[H-how much should we unleash?]

"Let's aim to finish her within five minutes. Plan B."

If a fight broke out in Area 3 — a city district — a report would go in immediately, and heroes would be dispatched as a matter of course. Unlucky, and someone from the upper ranks like Baba Yaga or Lionel might show up. For all I knew, they were already on their way because of the earlier fight.

I just wanted to quietly grab the goods. Can't be helped.

Getting swept up in an incident before I'd even enrolled at the Academy? No thanks. So: five minutes. Deal with Violet, recover the hidden piece, and get out of here — all within five minutes.

Violet moved first. With no warning at all, a tentacle that moved independently of her body cracked out like a whip. It tore the air, kicking up a sonic boom as it flew for my throat. A twisted little smile of guaranteed victory spread across her mouth, as if she thought I was standing still because I couldn't even react.

I swatted the tentacle aside with the dagger I kept inside my coat, as casually as brushing off a bug with the back of my hand. The shock of two metals colliding rang through the abandoned factory.

But that sound only carried inside the factory.

The sound-erasing ability I'd gotten from Fedor wiped every noise around us clean — my own voice included.

Talk about arrogant.

"Giek?"

Violet's face, still drunk on omnipotence after taking down the Rainbow Heroes, twisted. It was the look of someone who couldn't believe this was possible. That stunned, disbelieving expression told me everything I needed to know: this was the full ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠extent of her power.

[Th-this is totally doable, right?]

Shan took confidence from Violet's reaction too.

I'll leave the calculations to you.

[Yeah! L-let's go!]

Rough estimate in hand. Time to wrap this up fast.

Until now, I'd deliberately kept every physical ability deactivated so I could adapt to the mimicry power. Not anymore. My lungs filled with air. The multi-layered biological filters running from my throat to my lungs purified every toxic substance inside the abandoned factory to perfection. Just drawing in the surrounding oxygen was enough to make the atmosphere itself begin to tremble.

"Kieeeh."

Sensing something was wrong, Violet howled and dropped into a defensive stance. The oxygen I'd pulled in rode my blood to every corner of my body. Blood that had been flowing at a perfectly ordinary rate now delivered dozens of times an ordinary human's oxygen to every last inch of me.

[I'll a-activate the second heart.]

The second heart that had been sitting idle started beating again. My brain synthesized adrenaline and a cocktail of other chemicals and sent them racing through my blood to every corner of my body.

"Let's go."

Just putting force into my feet and dropping my stance was enough. The floorboard warped and screamed — and I charged.

The vivid sensation of Violet's ribs shattering came up through the tip of my foot as I kicked her with everything I had.

"Kieeeek!"

One of the tentacles she'd instinctively thrown out to block got caught in the impact, burst, and sprayed slime in every direction. Acid. The kind that melted metal on contact. The moment it hit the railings and the scattered waste, it hissed out white smoke and started eating through the steel.

[Hehe, no use~]

On my skin, it just rolled off like water on glass and dripped to the floor.

[Whoa, her waist folded in h-half and she's still moving.]

Think of her as a zombie slime or something.

Violet replenished her collapsed body with green slime and pulled out every last hidden tentacle. She even honed her slime-coated arms and legs into blade-sharp edges, then came charging in, whipping the tentacles toward me.

"Kieeeee!!!"

Armed with blades across her entire body, Violet launched herself at the ceiling. Using the elasticity of her tentacles and slime, she bounced off the surrounding terrain at will, wildly swinging her remaining seven tentacles. There was no pattern to it, no technique — the chaotic flailing of someone who had never properly fought in her life. The power Ichor had given her turned that desperate thrashing into an industrial blender that shredded everything it touched.

The reinforced concrete walls her tentacle-blades kissed split apart like tofu. The steel railings that struck her body bent like taffy. When her tentacles shot out like bullets, I ducked low, parried, and gave ground.

To Violet's eyes, all that blocking and dodging and stepping back must have looked like I was retreating in fear, because she pressed even harder. Rougher. Faster. She drove me back, tearing the surroundings apart at random, steadily shrinking the space I had left to stand.

"Kihek! Kihek!"

Her facial muscles twitched as if in spasm. Her breathing grew more and more irregular. She had only just taken Ichor's power into herself. With the mutation still incomplete, her body was far closer to a human who'd gained a heteromorphic ability than to an actual monster. Forgetting to regulate her breathing, she pushed herself so hard that steam began pouring off her — she'd hit her limit. Skin that had been green flushed steadily redder, and that ragged breathing laid her exhaustion bare.

Not that the desperate struggle was completely wasted. By going berserk and cutting away every foothold, she'd left me with nowhere to retreat. Confirming that, her eyes mixed impatience with anticipation.

The instant she was certain she'd locked down the distance perfectly, a tentacle thrust packed with everything she had came flying in.

I caught it with my bare hand.

Sparks sprayed in every direction as the tentacle and my palm collided.

"Eh?"

Far from being cut or broken, my hand had seized her tentacle fast. Violet's eyes flew wide.

My left hand, locked around her tentacle, gleamed with a chilled silver-gray light.

The Metallization ability I'd picked up as a bonus after absorbing Rox's Essence. To activate it, I'd even swallowed Essence that let me eat metal and stockpile it in my body. Using the metal I'd synthesized and stored in advance, I could make my body's surface harder than titanium alloy in a single instant.

I squeezed. Her tentacle crumpled in my grip and burst.

"Kieeeek!!!"

Still neurally linked to the tentacle, Violet thrashed, shedding tears of blood. Pain, rage, and raw panic were written all over her as she tried to swing her remaining tentacles and somehow shake me off. I timed it perfectly and yanked the tentacle I was holding toward myself with everything I had.

Violet's waist snapped backward. A heavy shock ran through her, and for a split second the tentacles stopped moving. I didn't waste the opening. As she came flying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠toward me, I crossed both arms and swung them hard.

Not an impact. A cutting sound. Violet's body split in two.

That's it.

[W-we won!]

Metallization wasn't just about plating yourself in metal to get harder. I could also hone a stretch of my body — from pinky to elbow — as sharp as an obsidian blade with the strength of titanium alloy.

Her upper and lower halves, sheared apart, bounced away across the floor.

[Sh-she's still alive.]

Slime sprayed from the severed edges like spider silk and started stitching her back together.

Once Ichor gets inside you, you stop being human.

In a way, this was lucky. Originally I would have had to go into that contaminant-choked waste lake myself. Violet had brought Ichor's core outside for me.

Before she could finish regenerating, I seized her heart. No reason to hold back. Drain her fast, then pull the Essence.

While the Essence conversion was underway—

"…Over here…"

"Oppa…"

Voices. A presence. Only three minutes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had passed and they were already here? Fast. Way too fast.

[T-Tiss!]

I know.

[H-hurry!]

Moving at this speed was impossible unless you were a veteran on Lionel's level. No — there was almost no chance that kind of high-tier force would come sprinting here at full power over a simple disturbance report. Meaning the visitors weren't heroes dispatched after a call. Someone nearby had happened to walk in.

Even with the sound completely erased, they'd found us this fast.

[Deactivation's done too, Tiss, h-hurry and get out. S-someone's coming!]

…It's done. Let's run.

No time for a leisurely cleanup. I concentrated as hard as I could, scraped every last bit of Ichor out of Violet's body, recovered it, then fired the mimicry ability again and melted into the dark.

The factory door blew inward behind me.

"Who's there!"

Two people came rushing in. I felt it at my back.

[W-we made it.]

That was close.

I wiped the cold sweat off with my sleeve. Razor-thin timing — but I'd gotten out of the abandoned factory without being seen.

The moment Siu and Sia kicked in the abandoned factory door, they scanned the surroundings.

"They're gone?"

"What happened here?"

The enormous presence that had been inside had vanished as if it had never existed. No traces of movement. It felt as though everything had been wiped clean, as if nothing had been here from the start.

Light pouring through the broken ceiling brought the dark interior into view. Vivid traces of combat lay scattered in every direction.

A structure hanging precariously from the ceiling gave way and dropped into the waste lake with a heavy splash. Both of them stepped back fast.

"I'm sure of it… after that impact earlier, we didn't hear a single sound."

Evidence of a battle that had been happening until moments ago was everywhere. And yet not a sound. It was bizarre. The scale of it was wrong, too. Traces of fighting ran through the entire massive factory.

"Doesn't look like a villain. More like a monster ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠went on a rampage."

"A monster…"

The instant she heard the word, Sia's face went hard. Hatred settled into her twisted eyes, as if she'd come face to face with the thing that had killed her parents.

From farther in came the screaming grind of metal on metal. The abandoned factory was collapsing in places, as though two monsters had fought a life-or-death battle through it. Steel frames lay shattered. Filthy water seeped stickily through cracked, split pillars and stained the ground.

"Sia, look at this."

Siu picked a helmet out of the debris scattered across the floor.

"Oppa, doesn't this helmet look familiar?"

"Let me see."

Sia shone her flashlight as she asked.

"Isn't this… a Rainbow Heroes costume?"

"Yeah. I saw it in an ad."

A hero team that, despite averaging C-Rank, got treated like celebrities on the strength of good looks and entertainment value rather than actual combat ability. An entire seven-person team, unable even to run, had been wiped out. Just how horrific a fight had taken place here?

After putting in the report, Siu and Sia kept searching the area a little longer and found the camera the Rainbow Heroes had been using.

"Oppa, over here. There's a camera. It's completely smashed, though."

The camera wasn't just in pieces — it was thickly coated in green slime.

"The memory might still be intact, so let's take it for now."

"Got it."

Following the slime traces brought them to Violet's corpse, her chest pierced clean through. A short while later, after handing the evidence they'd found at the scene over to the heroes who'd arrived in response to the report, Siu and Sia were able to return to their lodging.

A few days later, the recovered footage arrived from the Management Bureau.

Heroes chasing a single villain. A villain being hunted like prey. At the end of that chase, the footage showed the villain falling into the contaminants and becoming a monster.

They skipped past the ruined section.

"This is…?"