Mr. Kenta took a seat on his couch in his lodge, picking up a beer off the table in front of him.
"Ahh, I wonder how Mykhail is treating that sword. It's been here so long, it's never had a chance to get some fresh air."
As he took a sip of his beer, he turned the TV on. To his shock, every channel broadcasted the news, which had footage of Justice and Kumiko fighting in the streets.
"Oh my…" Mr. Kenta stated to himself. "Could that be…?"
"Hi!" the reporter on the news announced. "This is Reporter Miku speaking, and the battle between Justice and this mysterious new entity has continued into the Downtown District! It is advisable that you all stay inside your homes at this time, and I'll keep you updated as things continue!"
Mr. Kenta sighed, getting off his chair. "Well then, I guess it's time I step in, before chaos emerges."
He grabbed a coat and headed out the door without another word.
Meanwhile, in the Downtown District…
"Kumiko! Wait! Stop!"
Justice tried to break free of the transformed Kumiko's grip, but he found himself having a hard time loosening it. As she dragged him along, jumping from place to place, she knocked over various cars and civilians.
"She's not listening!" Justice thought. "Well, as a hero, I'll have to make her!"
He took his sword and swung it at her, which forced her to stop running and block the attack.
"Grrr…bad choice."
He stepped back as she unleashed a barrage of tendrils from her body, all of which lashed out at Justice like deadly whips.
"Crap!"
He ducked out of the way, and the tendrils headed for an unsuspecting old lady who was busy casually walking the street.
"That woman from the office!" he realized.
Just as they got close, Justice tossed his sword like a boomerang at them, cutting them before they made contact. The woman turned her head, noticing the scene.
"Hello again, young man! Great seeing you!"
"Heh, you stay safe, Ma'am!"
Without a second glance, she continued walking down the street, humming to herself.
"What a lovely child."
She headed down the street, not realizing the people fleeing behind her or Justice being tossed into the store right next to her.
"Ow!"
He got up, looking around to find himself in a clothing store that was now empty. "This girl is so strong, what do I do?"
He didn't have time to think it over before an entire car came flying through the window.
"WOAH!"
He used his sword to bat it away, and Kumiko jumped through the broken window, the voice in her head louder than ever.
"Kill…"
The substance on her right hand shifted into a large, sharp claw, and she didn't hesitate to try and slash Justice's face.
"Die…"
She missed, slashing deep marks into the walls of the store. Justice just stared at the damage she caused.
"Woah. Now THAT'S cool."
Kumiko took a few steps forward, the floor shaking with every step.
"Come…here…!"
Justice backed up, holding his sword out. "Hold on, hold on! Don't eat me! I'm not food!"
She laughed and held out her hand, which seemed to extend toward him, but just as she was about to grab him…
"FREEZE!"
Behind them, a platoon of armed guards was standing outside, rifles pointed directly at the pair. A soldier in the middle, with a white vest, stepped forth.
"Both of you are under arrest per order of the Utopian Government! I'm taking you both into custody, effective immediately!"
Kumiko and Justice both shared a look, confused.
As soldiers stepped inside, one by one, Kumiko turned to face them and raised her hand.
"Wait, don't—-!" Justice shouted.
A single tendril emerged from her hand, which was sharpened like a blade. With ease, she swung it around, slashing deep cuts into every soldier who stepped foot in the store.
"AHHH!"
"My arm!"
"She got my face!"
As the soldiers dropped to the ground one by one, the one in the white pulled out a radio.
"HQ, we have an issue! The subjects are showing signs of aggression! We need backup!"
As he spoke, Kumiko began pouncing on more and more soldiers. "AHHHHHHHH!"
"I repeat! We need immediate backup, ASAP!"
On the other end, the voice of a woman answered back. "Is that so? Hmph, one moment."
The soldier could hear a button being pressed, and heavy machinery in the background, seemingly in motion.
"Godspeed, Captain. The Boss awaits."
The line abruptly hung up, and just as it did, Kumiko landed in front of the man and grabbed him by the neck.
"Who…are you supposed to be?"
The captain struggled, but her hold was too tight. "By the order of the Government, I demand you let me go this instant!"
The voice in Kumiko's head echoed one command through her mind.
"Destroy…"
In response, Kumiko shapeshifted her arm into a sharp, bladed limb, preparing to stab the captain in the chest.
When she lifted her arm, a blade came heading straight for her, making her duck and drop the man.
"What a pest…"
She shifted her arm into a tendril and swung it right at Justice, knocking him into a lamppost.
"Ugh, she's just too strong…" Justice moaned. "How did she even get those powers? I don't see any sword in her hands!"
Kumiko looked between the downed soldiers and Justice before unleashing a multitude of sharp tendrils from her back, preparing to slash them all.
"Now…"
But before she could attack, a missile headed straight for her face, exploding on impact.
BOOM.
"Yes!" the captain cheered. "Direct hit!"
"Kumiko!" Justice called out.
To both of their shock, however, she was still standing, half of her face and her entire right side blown off. She looked down at the damage, and her wounds immediately began to HEAL.
Her torso, arm, and face all fully grew back, and she looked at her hand, satisfied.
"Ahh, that's better."
"Impossible!" the captain exclaimed.
More missiles came for her, but she easily deflected them all with her tendrils. Massive robots began marching one by one down the street.
"Targets detected. Initiating containment protocols immediately."
"These things again?" Justice thought.
The first robot pointed a cannon at Kumiko, but before it could fire, Kumiko had already slashed its arm off.
"Error, error, damage detected."
And then its head, making it collapse to the ground.
"Pathetic."
The other robots immediately tried to fire at her, but she effortlessly evaded their shots, cutting them down piece by piece.
Justice stared in awe, and the captain stood up, back on the radio.
"HQ! The alien-looking entity is currently destroying our robots! We need more assistance! HQ!"
The severed head of a robot landed right next to him, making him jump back.
"How weak. Unleashing gas now."
Then the line hung up. From the body of a destroyed robot, a powerful white gas began to flow, and Kumiko's mask partially retracted when it came into contact with her.
"What…what is…this…?"
And then she passed out, falling to the ground.
"One down!" the captain reported. "Moving on to the other!"
Previously downed soldiers slowly got to their feet, weapons at the ready. The captain pointed at Justice.
"Capture him by all means! Use of force is permitted!"
Justice raised his sword, backing up. "Guys, heh, how about you just let me go? We don't need to pull out the guns, do we?"
"Surrender, or else!"
"Nevermind, then."
The sword in Justice's hand began to glow a soft light blue, and as the soldiers got closer and closer, it almost seemed to be speaking to him.
"Run…"
More robots entered the area, heading right in Justice's direction.
Justice took a moment to think, look around the area, and then….
He ran over to Kumiko, picking her up and bolting as fast as he could.
"Hey! He's trying to escape! After him!"
As shots were fired, Justice turned corners and jumped over cars, gaining more and more distance away from the soldiers.
"He's too fast!"
After heading down a few more blocks, he noticed a line of robots blocking the end of the street.
"Target found."
And behind him, the soldiers were vastly approaching.
"Damn it, boxed in!"
To the left of him, he heard a voice calling to him from an alley. "Mykhail! Over here!"
"Huh?"
When he looked in that direction, he saw Mr. Kenta with a coat draped over his head, motioning for Justice to follow.
"This way!"
"What is HE doing here?" Justice thought.
But the forces continued to advance, and Justice slung Kumiko over his back and followed Mr. Kenta into the alley. When the soldiers reached the spot, they found it empty.
"No trace of them, Captain," a soldier noted. "It's like they vanished into thin air."
The captain noticed a glowing light blue substance on the ground, and he smirked.
"Well, maybe we can still acquire what we came for. Grab a vial, we'll need to scoop all this up."
Meanwhile, at Mr. Kenta's lodge…
Mykhail took off his mask, and he walked up the steps to Mr. Kenta's lodge, Kumiko still in hand.
"How did we get here so fast? Weren't we just in the city?"
Mr. Kenta opened the door, chuckling. "I don't know what you mean. We simply walked, that's all."
"We…did?"
"Come in," Mr. Kenta stated. "It's time for us to talk."
Once Mykhail was in the house, Mr. Kenta pointed to the couch. "You can set Kumiko down right there."
"How do you know this is her?"
Mr. Kenta shrugged. "Lucky guess."
Mykhail laid Kumiko on the couch, and as soon as she did, the substance covering her body seemed to absorb back into her skin, reverting her to normal.
"Now then, may you have a seat at this table?" Mr. Kenta asked.
"Sure…?"
When Mykhail started to head to the kitchen table, Mr. Kenya held up a hand. "Might want to take off that costume, though. You are the world's biggest fugitive right now."
Mykhail groaned and went to take off his costume. When he came back, Mr. Kenta started to examine his sword.
"Hmm. It's been so many years since I've seen this thing glow…"
"You know what this is?" Mykhail asked.
"Oh, of course! I've been guarding it for the better part of a millennium!"
"WHAT?" Mykhail nearly fell out of his chair.
"Yup! The master of this sword entrusted it to me long ago, hoping to find a new wielder for it. It only took about 800 years, but it seems to have chosen you, Mykhail!"
"It…chose me?"
Mr. Kenya picked up the sword, but it didn't glow. He handed it back to Mykhail, and as soon as Mykhail touched it, it started to glow again.
"Cool…"
Mr. Kenta nodded. "See! Now it belongs to you!"
Mykhail held it up in the air. "Believe me, I'm not complaining."
He looked over at Kumiko. "But what's that stuff in Kumiko's body? That's not an ancient sword or anything!"
Mr. Kenta tapped his chin. "That…that is a more complex explanation. Let's just call it a…symbiote for now."
"A symbiote? So it's alive?"
"Technically, yes."
Mykhail nervously looked back and forth between Kumiko and Mr. Kenta. "Wait, so it's gonna EAT her?"
Mr. Kenta laughed and shook his head. "No, no! You're thinking of a parasite, not a symbiote. It's just going to try and merge with her, that's all."
Mykhail breathed a sigh of relief. "Is there any way to get it off?"
Mr. Kenta stood up. "Right now? No clue. I don't have all the answers to this situation right now, but for the time being, it's best you two lay low. How about you stay here for the night until the heat dies down?"
"Well," Mykhail replied. "Are you sure she's not going to eat us in our sleep?"
"Who's going to eat you?"
Mykhail jumped up and whirled around to find Kumiko, awake and staring right at him with a smile on her face.
"Oh, am I interrupting something?"
Meanwhile, inside of a meeting room…
Yuiko sat back in her chair, tapping her pen as she hummed a tune to herself. A few minutes later, the captain and his soldiers emerged from the door next to her.
"Ahh, Captain Kano. I trust you bring back something of use?"
He and his soldiers bowed, holding up the vial filled with the blue liquid. "We didn't manage to catch Justice or that other freak, but we did manage to acquire a sample of this. It seems to have originated from his sword."
Yuiko sat up, taking the vial out of his hands. "Hmm, really? In that case, maybe this may just do the trick. Well done, soldiers. You are dismissed."
They bowed again and left the room immediately. Yuiko got up and headed for a room next to the meeting room, and once she opened the door, she Mr. Sato, who was overlooking a cryogenic pod.
"Yuiko. What brings you here?"
She gave him a curt bow and handed him the vial. "The men have retrieved this from the boy's sword. Do you think it could be used in a concoction to replicate his abilities?"
Mr. Sato took the vial from her and studied it for a moment. "Hmm. Let us test."
He guided her into a nearby office room, which had a withered flower on the desk. "This flower hasn't had water for over a year. It has long since died despite my attempts to revive it."
Yuiko watched as he unscrewed the vial and tipped it over the flower. A tiny drop made contact with the stem, and soon after, it turned green and the flower's petals returned to their pink color, fully healed.
"Amazing…" Yuiko remarked. "It's brought it back from death!"
Mr. Sato tapped on the stem. "It's done even more than that. The flower has a much thicker base now, and these petals are longer than before. Do you know what this means?"
"The plan was a success?"
"Indeed. Prepare the dispersal system. We'll use it on this entire city."
—-