I'm still sick so updates are a little slow, sorry.
Let's go gambling.
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"What the fuck happened here?"
Kenshin stood in front of his apartment building. Thankfully, it wasn't just rubble like his previous one, but it wasn't exactly in pristine condition given that Saitama's apartment had a huge fucking hole in it. Scratch that, the roof and the wall were missing! The whole side! Thankfully, due to some miracle, Kenshin's apartment looked to be largely undamaged, at least from what he could see.
The former store clerk whipped out his phone and speed dialled the baldy, "SAITAMA! Why is there a hole in the building?!"
Saitama's voice came from the speaker, largely bored with a tinge of irritation, "Monkey."
"...What?" Kenshin blanked for a moment.
Not only was there a downright historic amount of wind crashing against Saitama's microphone making his words barely intelligible. Add to that the weird ass response and you have yourself a guaranteed confusion effect.
"Robot monkey."
"That doesn't help!"
There was even more shuffling sounds coming from Saitama's end before a different voice replied, it was Genos, "We have been attacked by modified mutants. We're on our way to their base."
"Oh, okay," now that Kenshin could understand, "Give 'em hell."
"Yes."
And then the cyborg hung up. Well, alright then. Kenshin heaved a sigh, looking back up at his half-destroyed apartment building and shaking his head. Hopefully, they had insurance, everybody did in this day and age with all the monsters running around. The question was if the owner of the building would be willing to repair it though...
"I don't wanna move again..." he grumbled under his breath.
Kenshin moved up the stairs, he wanted to do nothing more than throw himself into the bed and rest his brain. While his body was literally brimming with power and energy, he had a very slight onset of migraine, and he didn't like headaches. At all. He hoped that working as a hero, therefore being always in a loud environment, would make his body less susceptible to headaches and such. Or it would just give him a permanent one... which wasn't very cash money.
Taking off his shoes and throwing his hoodie into the laundry, Kenshin crashed down on his bed with a groan. The Hero Entrance Exam wasn't particularly difficult on his body, not at all, he was still feeling energised, but the written portion certainly made him think. Well, kind of? He answered everything truthfully, even the less "heroic" details. That was probably where he lost points and was sent to B-class instead of somewhere higher.
"What a bunch of bullshit," he muttered under his breath and decided to take a nap, hero work could wait, "I'm gonna need a costume or something too..."
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Trust me~ I'm an engineer~ I think we put this thing right here~
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Kenshin woke up in the early morning of the next day. The sun wasn't even out yet, and taking a look at his phone revealed why. It was 3:11 in the morning. Way too early for Kenshin's liking, he should've set an alarm or something. Going back to sleep was also impossible because he felt well rested and his body was way too energetic.
"Fucking EX+ Stamina..." he muttered, getting out of bed.
Going out was an option, but where would he go? Just about every store was closed save for a few clubs, gas stations and maybe one or two 24/7 internet cafes. Kenshin fancied neither of his options.
"I should get a gaming rig later," and he really wanted to, but he abstained until now.
Plus, he didn't know how much time his hero work would take from his free time, but he would definitely need some form of entertainment so he wouldn't go insane. A superhuman body with a normal body can be a mentally taxing combination.
Kenshin also decided to ask about commissions at the Hero Association later. It would be nice to have a dedicated combat costume or something along those lines. Getting new clothes every time his old ones get damaged would be a chore and a half. Pricing shouldn't be too much of an issue given his stockpile of cash, but he wasn't too versed in how much they charge for custom work and material costs. Either way, he won't settle for anything that so much as resembles Saitama's goofy, bright costume. The bald man could make it work (sometimes), and Kenshin couldn't. Not to mention he was a little bit embarrassed walking around in something so... tacky.
Putting on his shoes and foregoing his usual hoodie, the freshly registered hero stepped outside into the chilly streets of Z-City in nothing more than his usual pants and a plain old t-shirt. He was shocked to see the apartment building now in perfect condition. There were... no traces left of the attack that happened on Saitama's home. Kenshin couldn't exactly go and ask the man what happened now, it was way too early in the morning for that. So he pushed those questions to the back of his mind.
Kenshin didn't have a destination in mind or a specific goal, he couldn't sleep and playing gacha games on his phone was getting stale. So, he went out for a walk. There was something almost magical about being out and about an old abandoned town with a lit cigar. Very scenic indeed.
"I'm probably gonna get attacked..." he muttered under his breath, fully believing a monster would just randomly spawn out of nowhere and go for the kill.
He wasn't as bothered as he should've been, or more accurately, would've been. His maxed-out attributes gave him a sense of confidence. Kenshin could only hope it wasn't misplaced when a monster did actually show up. Just like he was expecting. It was worrying how often these things appear in the ghost town of Z-City.
"RATATATA~!"
It had a strange laugh, almost like it came straight out of One Piece or something like that. But given its appearance, the laugh was very... accurate. T'was a rat. A giant, fucking rat. Bigger than an ordinary man and clad in steampunk-esk armour with strange weapons in its hands.
"T'is I! Rata! THE KING OF NEW YORK!" the rat monster proclaimed, its red eyes glowing with malice and mischief.
"Cool," replied the man standing before the monster, taking a drag out of his cigar.
"WE HAVE COME FROM WITHIN THE SAFE EMBRACE OF THE SEWERS TO TAKE OVER YOUR WORLD!"
"Original," replied Kenshin, unbothered, the monster before him appeared far too weak to be a challenge but he was still on guard just to be sure, "Wait, we?"
Rata's face twisted into a malign grin, his already disgusting rat features becoming even more repulsive, "Indeed! WE!"
Several pairs of glowing red eyes appeared from within the shadows. More rat monsters. They were dressed in lesser armour that bore similar characteristics to the one Rata wore. Their weapons were swords that doubled as chainsaws, that was about the one cool thing about them. Kenshin could give them that. Chainsaw swords were cool as fuck.
"So there's sixteen of you," Kenshin breathed out of a sigh full of smoke, taking the cigar out of his mouth, "Here I go then."
With speed and power uncharacteristic of his body from a week ago, he threw his lit cigar into the face of one of the giant rats. Kenshin didn't expect it to do much, but he was surprised to see the monster rat's head disintegrate along with his half-smoked cigar.
"Damn."
There was no time for celebration, the rest of Rata's small armada charged forth, their weapons at the ready. They weren't quick, but they were much stronger than an average person. Unfortunately for them, Kenshin was anything but an average human.
With surprising ease, Kenshin's body weaved every strike and stab the rats of New York threw at him. It was surprising even to the man himself to see his body react in such a way. He was quick, and he could move even faster. His eyes could track every small movement, and his body could respond faster than ever before. Kenshin couldn't stop a small smile, it was exhilarating how much his body improved just from reaching EX+ in every attribute.
SPLATTER!
The man lashed out with a single kick, and the entire upper portion of one of the giant rats disintegrated into gore that harshly splattered against the wall of a neighbouring building. A chainsaw sword slashed his way, and Kenshin a bit of dumb stupor decided to meet it halfway with his fist.
CRASH!
SPLATTER!
A loud crash followed by the splatter of a giant rat rang out across the empty streets of Z-City as yet another monstrous rat was reduced to bits of flesh and a pool of blood.
"This is fun!"
With a slight bend of his knees, Kenshin jumped up high into the air. He was so high up that he could see the roofs of the surrounding buildings below him. Cards of burning magenta manifested between Kenshin's fingers. He didn't even bother looking to see what he drew, instead, he just threw the burning cards at the speed of sound. It was like watching old-school carpet bombing videos as the cards rained down with deadly, explosive force, detonating upon impact. A slight tremor passed over the sleeping city, and then, all was silent.
Kenshin crashed down onto the ground with surprisingly little noise, his knees absorbing most of the impact. And yet, he felt fine. There wasn't even a bit of strain on his legs or the rest of his body.
"Your turn," the new hero pointed at Rata, The King of New York.
The monster however didn't appear too fazed, he didn't look happy, but he wasn't necessarily quaking in his boots, "My compliments for making easy work of the scouts. But..."
The sound of marching footsteps began reverberating across the ruins of the Z-City, the ghost town suddenly felt a lot more alive than ever before. And not in a good way. Several hundred pairs of glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness, and from within that darkness, came a small army of giant rats.
They were equipped with more bulky armour. Those at the front had large shields made of thick steel and actual trash. The ones at the back had large spears, some even further back had actual guns made to look like something straight out of Wolfenstein.
"You will need to try harder than that," finished the King of New York with complete confidence in his numerical advantage.
Kenshin stood tall, sizing up the small monster army with a critical eye before sighing. Then, a wide smile appeared on his face. He couldn't be sure if he could actually defeat this many, but his body was thrumming with energy. Pulsing with power his mind was feeling the high of his overwhelming strength. He put his hands up, and on his palms manifested a dozen or so burning magenta cards, rapidly shuffling from one side to the other.
"Tell me, do you feel lucky?"
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