Lord Of Beasts

The battle ended in a single exchange.

One moment, the transformed B Rank still believed he could overpower Ethan and was about to unleash an explosive attack on him.

The next, Ethan had already moved past him.

His attack had been so impossibly fast that even Kaela, watching from only a short distance away, had nearly missed it. For the briefest instant, it looked as though Ethan had simply disappeared, only to materialise several metres behind the grotesque beast.

Only then did the aftermath reveal itself.

The hulking half-kangaroo creature frowned in confusion. Its elongated muzzle twitched, and its bloodshot eyes darted around wildly as though trying to understand what had just happened.

But that’s when its arm dropped to the ground, and the pain and reality of what had happened hit it all at once.

"Losing an arm sucks, right?" Ethan asked casually.

It let out wails of agony, but it seemed as though its loss of a limb wasn’t the only cause.

The creature staggered, its entire body suddenly betraying it.

Its muscles convulsed violently beneath its crimson skin. Veins bulged before collapsing. Flesh tore in dozens of places as the constant compression and release of kinetic energy finally exacted its price.

CRACK!

Bones shifted unnaturally beneath its skin as its oversized legs buckled.

The beast crashed onto one knee.

"W-why..."

Its voice barely resembled human speech anymore as it tried to speak.

It tried to rise, but its body refused.

Every fibre spasmed uncontrollably as if the drug-enhanced muscles no longer recognised one another.

Ethan watched calmly.

"I wasn’t trying to kill you, but you ended up killing yourself anyway."

If he’d wanted the B Rank rogue dead, he would have long since killed him. And his last attack was just to weaken the creature so that it was more susceptible to Beast Suppression so that he could question it.

He needed answers.

"Who supplied the drug? Why did you even take it? Who do you work for? Are you in some cult? Do you have more of that stuff on you?" he asked almost frantically.

But the answers weren’t coming.

The creature convulsed again, even more violently this time.

Its mangled body began shrinking as the beastly transformation rapidly unravelled. The elongated limbs shortened, patches of fur fell away, and the monstrous frame seemed to collapse inward under its own weight.

It coughed violently.

Blood spilt from its mouth.

"T-the Messiah is coming and they will..."

Its eyes lost focus before it managed to finish its final words.

One last spasm rippled through its ruined body.

Then nothing.

The transformation had forced the body far beyond what it could withstand, rebuilding damaged tissue just long enough to squeeze out more power before tearing it apart all over again. As soon as he lost his will to fight, there was nothing left holding it together.

"Damn."

Ethan clicked his tongue.

"That would’ve been useful."

As insane as the man seemed, he also seemed looped into something big.

"Oh well. It’s not like I’m gonna cry over the kangaroo fucker."

Ethan laughed to himself as Kaela approached him.

Her violet eyes gleamed as she looked him up and down, seeing straight through his composed exterior.

His right hand twitched involuntarily before he slowly closed it into a fist, forcing the muscles to obey. At the same time, the muscles in both legs tightened and spasmed uncontrollably, with him almost losing balance at one point.

’That took a lot out of him.’

She could tell that at a glance.

Beast Impact wasn’t something he could throw around carelessly, let alone when he poured into it more mana than it was supposed to handle. The mana cost alone was absurd, and even with Ethan’s ridiculous physique, forcing that much power through his body clearly came at a price.

Major Impact would be much more powerful and for less of a cost, but of course he hadn’t unlocked that yet.

Even so, she couldn’t stop smiling.

’And he still wasn’t anywhere close to going all out.’

He hadn’t used the werewolf-like or flame transformations she’d seen before, nor had he summoned Wolfy, Talon, and most importantly, Storm. That damned Lightning Dragonfly still had yet to make an appearance, something she had been waiting for.

’So he defeated a transformed, drug-enhanced B Rank without even using half of his abilities.’

The thought made her laugh quietly.

"Soon you might actually give me a run for my money."

Coming from the Riot Valkyrie, there were few compliments greater than that.

As she said that, another thought crossed her mind.

He wasn’t growing alone, and the woman who seemed to be his girlfriend was becoming stronger just as quickly. One hunted beasts in their sleep and could summon or wield the power of the creatures he acquired; the other had an unfathomable demon that she was borrowing power from.

"You and Elara might actually become the strongest couple in the world..."

Kaela paused.

"Actually, forget I said that."

Another pair surfaced in her memories, a legendary duo whose names alone could shake nations, and even she had to admit...

"Those two are just on a different level."

Ethan didn’t particularly care, nor was he interested in who the two people she was thinking of were. Instead, he was trying to figure out what the man who had just died was talking about.

’The Messiah, chosen ones, status quo... That’s definitely cult lingo. And if anyone’s going to know about them, it’s him.’

Ethan pulled his phone from his pocket, made a call, and Greg answered almost immediately.

"You knew there was a B Rank among them, right?"

"...I did."

"You didn’t think that was worth mentioning?"

"I didn’t think it’d be an issue for you and the Riot Valkyrie."

"It wasn’t."

Ethan glanced at the corpse lying nearby.

"But you also knew he had ties to whoever’s supplying these drugs."

The director of the black suits didn’t respond this time.

"You don’t care about some bank robbery," Ethan continued. "This guy was some loonie fucker wrapped up in some kind of cult."

Greg didn’t deny it.

"At least now you know what you’re dealing with."

Another short pause.

"I’ll send over the Black Suits to clean everything up."

The line went dead.

Ethan stared at the phone for a second before slipping it back into his pocket.

"What an asshole."

Less than a minute later, several Association vehicles rolled into the abandoned construction site. Black suits poured out one after another, accompanied by several combat-oriented Titled.

Something immediately caught Ethan’s attention.

Their attitude.

The moment they recognised him and Kaela, they instinctively straightened.

"Mr Crowe."

"Miss Riot Valkyrie."

Their respect was deeper than the usual respect they treated Titled with. Greg had clearly wasted no time informing everyone about the newly established Enforcement Unit, which was now their superiors.

Ethan gestured toward the unconscious criminals scattered throughout the construction site.

"Clean this place up."

His gaze shifted briefly to the dead, transformed B Rank.

"And collect everything you find on him. If he was carrying any of that drug, bring it to me."

"Yes, sir!"

The Black Suits dispersed without another word, securing the captured criminals with heavy mana-suppressing restraints while another team carefully approached the corpse. Kaela and Ethan watched them work, and he was disappointed to find that the man had no more of that drug on him.

There was no trace of it, or even a container.

’That psycho just casually had that in his pocket like it was gum.’

He sighed and waited for the black suits to finish their sweep of the area, enduring Kaela’s nagging to leave already.

"Sir, we have found some stolen valuables in a duffel bag, and cash in another. Aside from that, there is nothing of note on the premises. All the rogue Titled have also been secured and are on their way to a facility. The mutated corpse will also be sent to the research department."

The report was given by one of the senior black suits.

Ethan and Kaela looked at each other, then smiled, thinking the same thing.

"We’ll take these and process them," he said, grabbing one of the bags.

She grabbed the other. "Just forget you ever saw these."

The black suit wasn’t expecting that, since stolen goods were usually taken back and returned on a best-efforts basis. But it wasn’t like he could get it back off the Enforcers or voice his disapproval.

He just nodded and watched as the duo climbed back onto their motorcycles, bags in tow.

"I told you it’d be worth the wait."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. But I still need some good food and strong booze."

"And I know just the place for both."

With that, the engines roared to life, then they disappeared into the city once more, leaving the Association to handle all the official proceedings...