-Hero public safety commission
The Hero Public Safety Commission was never quiet.
Even now, past midnight, the lights inside their Tokyo headquarters burned like cold stars. Dozens of screens flickered with footage, maps, reports. Analysts whispered over terminals, their voices tense. Graphs rose. Dots vanished.
Disappeared.
In the war room, a red digital map of western Japan pulsed like a wound. Entire clusters of villages, once bright with activity, were now blackened voids—offline, unresponsive.
There was no warning. No sign of evacuation. No distress calls. Just silence.
A skinny man in a sleek suit leaned against the table, jaw tight, fingers drumming. His face glistened with a sheen of nervous sweat. Beside him stood an older woman in a gray uniform, her arms crossed, eyes narrowed like a hawk.
"Four more villages last week," she said flatly. "We're running out of ways to explain it to the public. Landslides. Gas leaks. It's starting to look pathetic."
"It is pathetic," came a voice behind them.
They turned.
The current number 5 hero, Mirko stood at the entrance to the room, one hand on her hip, the other dangling loosely by her side. She didn't wait for an invitation. She never did.
She stepped into the light, her long white hair tied back, her ears twitching slightly as she scanned the map. Her crimson eyes locked on the western edge of the country—just past Aokusa.
All black.
"Something's eating people out there," she said, voice low and blunt. "And I don't mean metaphorically."
The woman in gray sighed. "We don't know that for sure."
Mirko snorted. "You don't lose whole villages overnight unless something real nasty is chewing through the countryside."
The man in the suit adjusted his tie. "We've dispatched drones. Recon teams. They find nothing. Not even rubble. Just… emptiness. Like the towns never existed. The only consistent detail is a weird electromagnetic interference. We think someone—or something—is suppressing all surveillance."
Mirko's ears perked up. Her expression darkened.
"You think they're hiding something."
"We know they are. We just don't know what."
The woman in gray tapped the table. The screen shifted—pulled up satellite images of empty roads, overgrown villages, blurred spaces where buildings should be.
"We want you to go out there," she said. "A small team. Quiet. Not to fight—"
Mirko laughed.
The woman flinched, annoyed.
"—unless necessary," she continued.
"Everything's always necessary," Mirko muttered, stepping closer. "You want me to tiptoe into the belly of the beast? Then you better be ready when I start cracking skulls."
The man raised his hands in mock surrender. "You'll be given discretion. But if this is what we fear it might be… you don't go in blind. No grandstanding. No charging in alone."
Mirko turned toward the screen again.
Black.
All of it.
Her blood itched with anticipation.
She'd hunted villains, monsters, But this… whatever it was… it felt different.
Evil in its nature
Hungrier.
She could almost hear it breathing through the silence on the map.
Her fingers flexed.
"I'll need eyes. Ears. Someone who can track quirk residue. Give me a squad with real experience, not kids with provisional licenses."
"You'll have them."
"Good." She cracked her neck. "I leave in an hour."
The woman blinked. "You haven't even—"
"Already packed. Already decided." She started walking out. "If people are dying out there, I'm not gonna sit around playing politics while you draw lines on a map."
And just like that, she was gone.
—
Hours later
A small group of heros lead by Mirko arrived into the rural country side near the ruins of a nearby Disappeared village
The forest was suffocating with tension, a heavy stillness hanging in the air as if the earth itself held its breath. But that silence was shattered by the sound of snapping twigs, followed by an eerie hiss that reverberated through the trees.
Mirko crouched low, every nerve in her body singing with anticipation. She could feel the pulse of something—something ancient—moving beneath the earth. A bloodcurdling growl broke the silence, sending a shiver up her spine.
The first demon emerged, a grotesque, hunched figure with jagged claws and glowing eyes. Before Mirko could react, the thing lunged at her. Its talons scraped the air, fast as lightning, but she was faster. With a fluid, powerful leap, she spun, her legs kicking out in a blur.
Her foot connected with the demon's skull with enough force to knock it back, but the thing was relentless. It snarled, twisted its body unnaturally, and immediately lunged again, faster than before.
Another demon joined the fray, its mouth splitting open grotesquely as it charged at her. The smell of rot filled her nose as she kicked off the ground again, landing gracefully on a nearby branch. But she barely had time to get her bearings.
In the blink of an eye, Kasumi, One of the pillars created by Mazoku, appeared from the shadows. She was a towering figure of destruction, her body massive and covered in black, jagged armor that seemed to pulse with dark energy. Her eyes were wide, feral, full of madness. She was like a berserker unleashed, her movements erratic and full of violent energy.
Her voice was an animalistic growl, dripping with insanity. "Your blood… It calls to me!"
Before Mirko could even react, Kasumi was upon her, a blur of claws and rage. The lieutenant's speed was terrifying, as if the very air couldn't keep up with her. She swung at Mirko with a vicious swipe, a sickening crack ringing out as her claws cut through the air like a hot knife through butter.
Mirko dodged barely in time, feeling the air shift just inches from her skin. Her body was fast—too fast for most—but Kasumi moved as if she had no limits. No hesitation. Like a crazed animal in heat.
Kasumi's laugh was guttural and wild. "More blood!" she screamed, her voice raw with adrenaline and madness. "I'll carve you open and drink it all!"
Mirko gritted her teeth and responded in kind, her legs snapping forward in a blur of motion, her powerful kicks striking Kasumi's armored chest with enough force to rattle the trees. But the lieutenant barely flinched. She absorbed the hit like it was nothing—her body bulging and shifting unnaturally as she charged forward with even more ferocity.
Mirko's eyes widened. This wasn't just a fight; this was a war against someone who didn't know the meaning of surrender. Kasumi was a berserker—pure, unrelenting rage personified. Her stamina seemed limitless, her strength beyond any mortal comprehension. Every attack was a frenzy, every movement a brutal, chaotic assault.
One of the lesser demons lunged at Mirko's side, claws extended. She lashed out with a knee, snapping its jaw in an explosion of gore, but Kasumi was there again, swinging her monstrous arm in an overhead strike that nearly crushed Mirko's skull. Mirko barely managed to duck, the air from the blow leaving a gust of wind in its wake.
The forest echoed with the sounds of battle—crashes, howls, the sickening splatter of blood. Mirko's team was being torn apart by the lesser demons. She could hear the screams of her comrades, the sound of them being slaughtered in seconds, but she couldn't afford to think about it. She had to survive. She had to stop Kasumi.
With a roar, Mirko launched herself at the lieutenant, her legs like whips as she spun, her body twisting in the air. Her right foot collided with Kasumi's shoulder, sending the demon stumbling back. The ground cracked beneath Kasumi's weight as she slid across the dirt.
But Kasumi's berserk laugh echoed through the forest as she recovered in a blink. She lunged at Mirko again, her claws ripping through the air with unnatural speed. This time, Mirko couldn't dodge fast enough. One of Kasumi's claws scraped across her arm, slicing through her flesh in a deep, gaping wound. Blood splattered across the ground, but Mirko fought through the pain, her rage matching Kasumi's own.
She retaliated with a spinning kick aimed directly at Kasumi's head, but the lieutenant caught her leg in mid-air with ease, her monstrous strength pinning Mirko in place.
"You're weak!" Kasumi spat, her voice like nails on a chalkboard. Her claws dug into Mirko's skin as she lifted her up, her monstrous arm flexing with inhuman power. "You'll break just like the rest!"
Mirko gritted her teeth, her legs kicking in a desperate attempt to break free. She slammed her heel into Kasumi's head, but the lieutenant barely staggered. With a deranged screech, Kasumi slammed her into the ground, her foot digging into Mirko's chest, pushing down with crushing force.
Mirko's ribs creaked with the pressure, but she refused to scream. Blood trickled from her mouth as she glared up at Kasumi, her chest heaving.
"I'm not like them," Mirko growled, her voice hoarse, "I'll never break!"
But Kasumi's eyes only gleamed brighter, crazed with bloodlust. "Then die like the rest of them!" With a savage roar, she reared back and brought her clawed hand down toward Mirko's throat.
Mirko's body tensed, her leg shooting up in a last-ditch effort, her powerful foot connecting with Kasumi's chest with enough force to send the demon staggering back. For a split second, Mirko's vision cleared, and she pushed herself up from the ground, her body aching, her strength nearly depleted.
But Kasumi was already back on her feet, and this time, Mirko knew she couldn't win.
Mirko's heart pounded in her chest, her mind scrambling for a way out. Her teammates were dead. The forest was a blood-soaked battlefield. And Kasumi—Kasumi was unstoppable, driven by an insatiable bloodlust that only grew stronger with every kill.
She had to escape.
Mirko's legs burned as she sprinted, pushing her body to its limits, jumping from tree to tree, her quirk enhancing her every leap. Kasumi pursued without hesitation, her laughter ringing through the night like a haunting melody. "Run, little rabbit!" she shouted, her voice shrill and maddened. "I'll catch you soon enough!"
Mirko's legs screamed in protest, but she pushed herself harder. She couldn't let the lieutenant catch her—she had to warn the others, had to survive.
But just as she was about to break free, she felt a cold, iron grip wrap around her ankle. Kasumi had caught her.
With a crazed grin, Kasumi yanked Mirko down to the ground, the force knocking the air out of her lungs. Blood poured from her wounds as she struggled, but Kasumi's grip was unrelenting, her claws digging into Mirko's skin like knives. As she played unconscious from lack of air
"You've lost," Kasumi purred, her voice dripping with madness. "Welcome to your end."
Right as she was about to kill her with a brutal swing to the head a voice rang in her mind stopping her powerful arm instantly.
"Wait" the Melodious voice said in an amused tone "Bring her to me"
Katsumi dropped Mirko as if she was trash and immediately Kneeled down in reverence " As you command my king" she said as if having the honor of speaking to god himself.
And then in a swift motion Berserker lieutenant hoisted her over her shoulder like a ragdoll.
A quiet stillness washed over the entire forest, returning to its peaceful slumber Awaiting for the next batch of fools to die in its embrace.