Spinning around happily after finally taking out the giant that is the enhanced middleman, Mu looked down towards Jon who's still locking the spherical camera towards her with a victorious smile.
How's that for a performance?
Suddenly, there was a shadow that dashed behind her followed by a loud sound of flesh being pierced through and blood being splattered. Then, she felt a solid object hit her right in the back, and she turned around in a hurried panic only to see Jupiter's body falling straight down after bouncing off her back, a gigantic dark fragment of armor cleanly through his stomach.
The glow of the Second Sun is no more, and all that remained behind was Jupiter's free-falling body.
'JUPITER!!!' Mu screamed before she dived down to catch him, however, the speed of his fall is quicker than she thought.
COME ON COME ON COME ON!
Screaming repeatedly internally as the wind ripped away from her tears from the moment they came out, Mu reached out towards Jupiter before activating her power, warping the space around Jupiter and slowing him down.
Then, she crashed into him and wrapped her hands tightly around his frail body before rapidly decelerating and dropping onto the ground. She stumbled a few steps forward when her foot touches down, and she manipulated her body to shield Jupiter from impact with the ground.
Jupiter coughed once as blood oozed out from his abdomen and his mouth. Mu crawled around and placed her glowing hand around his skinny face, though the tears in her eyes had obscured the outlines of his face. The only things she can see clearly are that of his cheekbones.
'WHY?! JUPITER! Where is your Escalation 3? Where is your stupid glow?!'
'Mu...' Jupiter murmured, and his voice so faint that Mu can barely hear it.
'YOU IDIOT!' Mu cried as she dug her fingers deep into the side of his face, 'why didn't you use your powers NOW! Are you taking easy on me? Again?!'
'I was never as strong as you...' Jupiter said with a chuckle, though only more blood was pumped out by this action, 'that was all I had...'
'What?'
'I told you...I will always be chasing after you...' Jupiter said, tilting his head slightly as the bubbling of his blood is now muffling his voice, 'but you are always stronger...'
'So what?!' Mu shook her head as emotions she couldn't understand began to well up inside her, and she doesn't know what to with them, 'does mean you should save your enemy!'
'You idiot....' Jupiter said with a smile, and that same look returned to his eyes. Now, Mu finally understood. It was a look of warmth, of admiration, of respect and...love...
'Look around you...that was the biggest stage, wasn't it?' Jupiter said as Mu looked to see Jon still locking the camera onto the two of them, 'you have the eyes of the entire world watching you, and you delivered the best performance.....your first dance....'
'NO!' Biting down hard on her rosy lips until blood began to drip down, Mu shook her head repeatedly.
'That was your dream...wasn't it?' Jupiter asked.
'You idiot....what's the point of being on the stage without you being there to watch me...'
'Ha...haha....then I am glad I was able to be part of your first...' Jupiter said, grabbing onto Mu's hand with the faintest of grip, 'and you are the most beautiful...perfect as...as.....'
The grip loosened, though his fingers still clung onto hers. His eyes still locked onto her face.
Holding on him, Mu sat still for a long while without moving. The light of Jupiter's glow had gone off completely, as the implant rolled off his blood-stained uniform.
This stupid boy with white long hair...
Reaching in, Mu kissed him on the lips.
'You will dirty your perfect clothes....' Jupiter's voice came through, though Mu wasn't sure if it was really him, or just a memory of his inside her mind. Mu's body trembled for a moment before she held his warm lips.
Sitting back, she realized that Jupiter had already passed on with a smile.
Then, the ground quaked as the gigantic body of the enhanced middleman began to slowly collapse upon itself due to the sheer weight of its body. A blast of air dirt swallowed the pairing, and Jon dashed into the blast before bring both Mu and Jupiter away from it.
Turning off the camera, Jon stepped away from the two and gave them some alone time as Mu held Jupiter's body in her laps.
The sound of engines came from beyond the bounds of the cities, and now finally the reinforcements have arrived. However, they have not come here to fight.
With Mu's final attack and Jupiter's sacrifice, the battle at the Abandoned city for the Red Blob came to an end. The truth regarding the Red Blob was revealed to both the majority of people within the Superhuman Association and Cameraman Association, which directly leads to the two countries immediately condemning the creation and usage of these substances.
At least on the surface, no more experiments will be run on superhumans using the Red Blob anymore. At the same time, professional heroes from the Superhuman Association will also crackdown on any other traces and hints of the Red Blob from the underworld, and the suppliers understandably went into prolonged hiding after.
Strangely so, despite the grave implications that the Red Blob consumed by the middleman is made from all the superhumans that previously inhabited the abandoned city, this city was not noted down on any records all across the world, and absolutely no one has any memories of the existence of this city at all.
It was as if this city never existed in the first place, or that its existence was erased...somehow.
Realizing that there are way darker forces at work, the survivors of the incident attempted to return to its prior normal.
Due to Jupiter's heavy contribution and ultimate sacrifice in the fight against the enhanced middleman, he was treated as a national hero of Necrovia and was buried as such. Preliminary talks between the long time opposing countries have also begun, with Mu being given special permission to be at Jupiter's funeral service.
The day of the service was a strangely sunny day, and Mu was glad to be able to cover up her eyes with a pair of dark sunglasses. Her slim figure is reflected upon the coffin of Jupiter's, and his voice still lingered in parts of her mind.
She never understood him, but he always did for her.
And now...just when she started to realize what all of her past memories truly meant, he is no longer there with her. Mu wanted to hold back her tears and maintain a strong image in front of the various officials of Necrovia, and nothing she tried to do was working.
Mu didn't say a single word, as she went straight back to her gigantic mansion located in the outskirts of Basha's capital. Her attendant was cleaning the area when she returned, and the old woman looked at the teary girl who stormed back into her own room before letting out a sigh.
There were three knocks on the door, and the attendant entered without Mu answering.
'There was a letter that Jupiter wanted to give you through the Tutor.' The attendant said, 'but I was ordered to destroy it.'
An envelope was put on the table, and Mu looked up with red eyes at her before rushing over to open the letter.
"Mu. I know that our pasts and our origins are not to be discussed, but I have some idea after observing you for all this time. However, regardless of where you are from, I am still happy to have known you for this year.
I know you will shine on the stage with your dances, and the bigger the stage, the brighter you will shine. I know you are one to never give up because of how stubborn you are, and I admire that part about you. You appeared to have this inner strength that I just don't have.
I hope I can watch you dance like you don't have a worry in the entire world some more. You are just that beautiful to me.
Jupiter."
Digging her nails into the paper, Mu stood up from her table facing away from the old attendant. Then, she undid her dark blue twin tails and let her long hair run down behind her.
'My lady?' The old attendant asked, 'do you know what you will do next?'
'Yes.' Mu said, turning around with a smile on her face, 'I am going to the biggest stage.'
'Just you wait, you idiot...'
With that, a new hero in training and the very first professional hero coming out of the Kingdom of Basha is born.
In the meanwhile, Jon, Pethant and Ally returned back towards S city and headed directly into the Cameraman Association located within the C Institute campus with all of their footage. This mission will have been classified as an individual investigative mission, and all of the footage will be handled as such.
The truth regarding the Red Blob, the mystery of the city that was 'ghosted', and the clash and cooperation of the two National Treasure superhumans and the later development in international relations are all great big stories waiting to be told. However, the writing, post-processing and editing is to be done by actual journalists.
Jon knows deep down that this won't be the last time he would have encountered the Red Blob or other superhumans that are part of the heightened generation. However, it is highly unlikely that anything more can be done now that the entire world's eyes are on the Superhuman Association's responses to this. Perhaps he would need to dig a little deeper at a later date when those lurking behind the scenes show their face inevitably.
Handing off the edited footage, the three then received a fat paycheck.
Pethant got full payment yet again, though he insisted on treating the three to an all you can eat ramen night, to which even Ally obliged happily.
'THREE SPICY PORK BOWLS COMING UP!'
'Thank you for the meal!'
'Thanks for this, Pethant.'
'This-is-for-my-hard-work-and-fame!'
As the trio plowed through the meal, Jon's phone vibrated, and a special message came from the Superhuman Association.
'As a token of thanks for your involvement in the Red Blob Incident, the Superhuman Association headquarters would like to thank you by inviting you to a trip to the exclusive Hot Spring resorted outside of S city for a weekend.'
'What's this, master?' Pethant asked, budging towards Jon and trying to see the text.
'Free trip, apparently.' Jon said, sliding his phone into the middle of the table.
'A-HOT-SPRING-EPISODE-with-MY-LOVE???!!!' Ally cheered, 'just-like-those-romance-anime-I-binged!'