Riku stopped in his tracks and stared in disbelief. The slums of Graycott were in flames, buildings in ruin, men, women, and children screaming and running for their lives. "What in the..?" Riku was elbowed and shoved by a few people running, but he managed to stand his ground.
"No, not another one..! Run! Another hero!" Riku turned his head to see a young man pointing at the sky, looking up to see a young woman flying in the sky.
She giggled softly. "Yes, run away. You don't want to get caught in the destruction...~" She held out her hands and sparks began travelling down her arms and to her fingertips. She fired what looked like ten small lightning missiles from her fingertips, each one hitting different buildings.
Riku eyes widened as he just stared in pure shock. "No... This is...wrong... This isn't what heroes are supposed to do... What the hell's going on..?!"
Just then, the Gilbinga family flashed through his mind. "Everyone..!" He turned and dashed, running as fast as he could toward the family's home. "Please be okay... Please be okay..! Please be okay!" He thought to himself as he continued running.
Riku turned the corner toward their house, and for a moment, his mind got the best of him. He saw the house, completely fine, like a shining beacon amidst the chaos. A small smile formed on his face, and a single thought played through his mind. "They're alright... They're..."
A sudden loud grunt of pain followed by the loud, ear piercing scream of two children snapped Riku out of his fantasy however. "DADDY!"
Riku's eyes darkened and his smile faltered as he heard that, then completely faded as he heard a loud thump. "Eh..?"
One hour prior...
The Gilbinga family was doing what any normal family would do at this hour. Makou had just returned home from work, Reina was doing a bit of laundry, and the children were in their room playing. "Welcome back dear." Reina smiled at Makou, giving him a soft kiss as he walked up to her.
"Good to be back. I'm exhausted." He plopped down on the couch, stretching.
Reina giggled softly. "I prepared a bath for you, now go take it you smelly man."
Makou laughed. "Hey, you love this smelly man."
"Yes I do, and I'll never regret it." She gave him a warm smile and his cheeks instantly reddened. "Looks like I've still got it if I can still make you blush after this long." Reina giggled.
"Oh bah. I'm going to take that bath." He stood up.
"I'll be waiting." She teased as Makou walked off.
Makou was jumped by his children before he could reach the bathroom. "Daddy!" The hanged off his arms.
He chuckled. "Come here you two!" He gave them both a big hug and they returned his embrace, laughing.
"Ew daddy, you smell." Haruto pinched his nose.
"You're right...and sweaty!" Gina pinched her nose as well.
"Now that's not very nice." Makou laughed. "I'm going to shower right now, so go bug your mom."
"Kay!" They ran off to do so. Makou chuckled as he heard their laughter and went to take his bath.
He sighed in relaxation under the hot water, having already cleaned himself before getting in. As he bathed, he thought of work, how much money they'd have for food, keeping his family happy and safe, and more. He sighed again, taking a few minutes to relax before finally getting out, drying off, and getting dressed. He wondered if Riku would be coming to visit again today. "The kid's nice for always bringing food when he comes over, but I don't wanna rely on him... What if something bad ends up happening to him out there?" Makou frowned at the thought and walked out to the living room to find the rest of his family talking about just that.
"Do you think Riku's gonna visit today?" Gina asked.
"I hope so! He wasn't here yesterday or the day before so he should be here today!" Haruto cheered.
Reina giggled. "You kids really like that boy huh?"
"Yeah!" They hollered in unison, big smiles on their faces.
Makou smiled a bit himself, thinking, "They've been smiling a lot more since you started coming here. Thank you Riku..." Right after he finished that thought, there was a knock at the door.
"He's here!" The children cheered and ran to the door, opening it. Makou chuckled and walked over as well.
"Sorry, I don't think we're who you're expecting." The ones at the door were Seto, Kana, and Aina, the heroes who had attacked Riku a couple months ago.
"Huh? Who are you?" Haruto tilted his head.
"We're here to give you a warning. You need to evacuate." Aina looked at her nails as she spoke.
"And why's that?" Makou glared a bit.
"The slums are going to be destroyed so the city can expand. Might as well leave all your crap, we're starting in a few minutes." Seto chuckled.
"W-Why are you only telling us this now? You couldn't have told us this sooner?!" Reina jumped up, her eyes wide.
"Shut it lady! You're lucky you got a warning at all." Kana hissed.
"Calm down Kana, they have a right to be a little upset." Seto snickered.
"But you can't destroy it today... Riku is coming over today..!" Gina muttered, trembling in fear as she spoke.
Seto's eyes widened at the mention of Riku's name, a wild smirk forming on his face. "Is he..?"
"Kids, come on, we need to go." Makou walked to them.
"No!" Haruto ran and avoided his father, his sister following. "Riku's coming today! This is our home! We can't let them destroy it dad!"
"Y-Yeah..! Because if they destroy it, what will Riku be coming back to..?" Gina muttered again, still scared, but she had stopped trembling.
Makou's eyes widened slightly at his children's words. He thought of Riku, coming to visit them only to see their home in ruins and all of them nowhere to be found. He imagined his kids, saddened that Riku might never find them and his family struggling even harder to survive. He clenched his fist. "Yeah... Sorry strangers, but I'm gonna have to ask you to leave." Makou stepped up, looking at Seto and his group.
Seto's smirk grew even wider. "Is that so?"
Aina and Kana smirked as well. "I'm glad they're going to resist, this would've been so boring otherwise." Aina sighed happily.
Makou was encased by a bluish grey light and several different metal weapons formed around him. "I won't ask again. Please leave."
"Dear..." Reina frowned before standing herself, being encased in a deep green aura. Seto and Kana were encased in light grey auras and Aina was encased in a yellow aura.
"You can beat them Mom and Dad!" Haruto yelled.
"Y-Yeah!" Gina cheered as well.
"We'll see about that." Seto chuckled as a firework like signal went off. "And that's our cue to begin." Seto smiled as all of Makou's weapons suddenly flew at him, but stopped, flipping and floating at his sides instead. Makou stared in disbelief and shock. "This is not your lucky day old man." Seto laughed. "My power is magnetism."
Makou clenched his fists as he summoned a sword in his right hand. "Don't count me out yet just because of that..!"
"What a fool..." Seto stepped forward. "You two can take the woman. This one's mine." The two girls nodded and began walking toward the woman, Kana's arms being encased in metal and a few small balls of light forming around Aina. A few vines formed a protective cage around the children, Reina then holding out her hand toward the girls and a swarm of vines flew at them from the ground.
Makou rushed Seto, making the weapons he created vanish except for the sword in his hand. Even if Seto could control them, Makou still controlled their existence, something Seto couldn't do. "Too bad I can only control existing metal. Having your power would make my life ten times easier and me ten times stronger, but oh well." The small metal spikes that were in the several belts on Seto came out of their loops, floating around him. "I have my own metal too." He smirked. Makou took a stance with his sword, not saying a word. There was only one thing on his mind: protecting this house so Riku had something to come back to.
Outside, several screams and cries could be heard as well as several explosions, the ground rumbling. Seto held out his hand and all of his spikes flew at Makou. Makou swung his sword quickly, doing his best to deflect most of them, but he was distracted by the sudden yelp of his wife. "Reina?!" He turned to look and see several burnt vines on the ground and Kana was holding the woman up by her throat. Reina clenched Kana's arm, trying to free herself as she choked.
"Mommy!" The children cried.
Makou glared and went to throw his sword at Kana, but his arms and legs were all suddenly impaled by Seto's spikes. "Agh!" He groaned and knelt down.
"Don't you know not to look away from your opponents old man?" Seto chuckled.
Reina's body went limp as she passed out. "Hey Seto, I can kill her right?" Kana asked.
"Yeah. They tried to interfere, and we have permission to kill anyone who does." Seto chuckled.
"No! Don't you dare!" Makou yelled.
"Mommy no!" Haruto and Gina cried. But their cries went unheard. Kana snapped the woman's neck with ease, dropping her to the ground. Reina was dead.
Makou stared at her body, eyes wide and filling with tears as he thought to himself. "She was just teasing me...not even an hour ago..."
"Mommyyyy!" The children began crying, the vines around them wilting and dying. They both ran to their mother's side.
"Gosh, I'd feel bad, but they're so annoying I might just kill them too..." Aina muttered, a ball of light forming in her hand.
"Don't. They haven't tried to get in our way. We can only kill the parents." Kana told her off then looked over at Seto.
Makou rose up off the ground; his magic aura bursting as he punched Seto in the gut while he was distracted, knocking the wind out of him. "Ugh..!" Seto thought, "When did he..?" Kana's eyes widened and she bounced over, punching Makou in the face, his body slamming against the wall. Aina followed up the attack with a barrage of light beams, but Makou ducked quickly, running and avoiding her blasts, each one going through the walls of the house.
"Damn, stand still..!" Aina grumbled.
"I thought I told you both this one was mine..?!" Seto growled as he stood up, glaring at Makou.
"S-Sorry." They both said in unison and backed down.
"Daddy..." Haruto muttered, sniffling.
"Everything's gonna be okay kids... I'll beat these heroes and...we can keep going... It's what your mother would want..." Haruto sniffled and Gina silently cried, her head buried against her mother's chest.
"Yeah, about that." Seto smirked as the sword Makou was holding before stabbed into him from behind. His eyes widened and he coughed up a bit of blood. Haruto's eyes widened and Gina looked over, her own eyes widening with despair. The sword then twisted and flew out of Makou's body, Makou groaning loudly and falling back with a loud thud.
"DADDY!" Haruto, now filled with grief and rage, charged at Seto, howling with rage, and Gina simply cried.
Seto smirked wildly at the boy, holding out his hand. "I didn't think I'd be killing a child today..."
"Haruto!" Gina cried.
Suddenly, a figure broke through the window with inhuman speed, its fist colliding with Seto's cheek and sending him flying out the now broken door. "Seto!" The girls' shouted in surprise.
"You won't lay a finger on them..." Riku's palms bled from how hard he was clenching his fists.
Haruto's eyes filled with tears. "Riku..."
Seto stood up, growling like a wild animal. "So he appears!" He laughed.
Riku's face was dark as he looked around. His eyes widened as he saw Reina's and Makou's bodies. Without a word, he stomped on the ground, two training blade gauntlets falling out of his coat and he instantly slipped them on. He took a deep breath, his arms still shaking. "Did you do this..?"
"Oh, no, the other group that came did it and told us to finish. Who else would've done this idiot?" Seto sneered.
Riku turned to Seto, tears streaming down his cheeks. Seto flinched a bit, not from the tears, but from the wild fury in Riku's eyes. "Good to know..." He clenched his fists tightly and the training blades came out. "Because I'm gonna fucking kill you."