Chapter 113: Heartless
Kaito Shirogane blended in with the crowd of fleeing civilians, even letting out a few half-hearted screams, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face.
He knew the personality of Vought-America and The Seven. He was certain that getting a negative reputation with the world's strongest faction the moment he arrived was no accident. It definitely wasn't because he'd roughed up a single taxi driver. The "heroes" at Vought had done things far worse than he could imagine.
Therefore, he quickly connected the dots. This had to be the work of another Reincarnator.
The one he was hunting.
That [9527] survivor had used the [Directional Anchor] to track him, but he, in turn, had tracked the survivor. The target must have had some "home-field advantage"—arriving in this world earlier than him—and had already gained the trust of Vought. This was the only explanation for why Kaito and the other hunters had their reputations instantly tanked the moment they arrived.
Kaito's lips curled. A good plan, but not ruthless enough.
He understood. His enemy was trying to use this world's plot characters to eliminate him. If so, their next moves were easy to predict. The strongest plot characters in this world were, without a doubt, The Seven, and perhaps the legendary [Soldier Boy].
The "Supes" of The Boys universe, compared to those in Marvel or DC, were much more bound by the laws of physics. Take Homelander. He had the [Steel Body], [Super-Speed Flight], [Super Strength], [Heat Vision], [X-Ray Vision], and [Super Hearing]—a discount Superman, all around. But he couldn't, for example, save a crashing airplane. He lacked the special "biokinetic field" that would allow him to lift such a massive object. If he tried, he would simply fly straight through the fuselage.
Even so, Homelander's power was still an overwhelming force of suppression against most low-tier Reincarnators. Kaito had thrown his grenades and fled immediately, precisely so he could use [Kalpa] as a tool to draw Homelander's attention.
Having successfully escaped, Kaito glanced at the figure in the sky, now the center of all attention, and immediately regulated his heartbeat and pulse to match the panicked crowd around him. Homelander's super-hearing was a powerful tool, but it could be countered. While he was psychologically unstable, his powers were undeniably comprehensive.
Kaito disappeared, moving against the flow of the crowd. He wasn't the least bit worried that [Bad Kid] or [Kalpa] would beat him to his target. Finding a single, hidden Reincarnator inside a fortress like Vought-America was no simple task.
He moved quickly, heading for the more remote, run-down neighborhoods. He noted the posters on the walls. [Starlight] was now featured as a member of The Seven. This meant the world's timeline was after the death of [Translucent]. The anti-Supe group, [The Boys], must have already formed.
According to normal logic, the most ideal path would be to join [The Boys], Vought's main opposition. They even had some government backing.
But Kaito had a different idea. He looked at the decaying, impoverished environment around him and thought he might try another way.
"Yo, Asian-boy. Don't walk any further. This ain't a tourist spot, 'kay?"
A few men in baggy hoodies, pistols tucked into their waistbands, emerged from the dilapidated houses, looking him up and down.
Kaito smiled. The land of the free and the home of the brave was, of course, never lacking for slums, especially in a world made this chaotic by superpowers.
The man in the front opened his mouth, and his tongue, like a snake's, extended out a half-meter, a clear threat. Although this world, due to the rampant use of [Compound V], had many people who had been Supes since infancy, the type and strength of those powers were completely random. For every Homelander, there were thousands of ordinary people with minor, useless mutations, who could neither become heroes nor use their powers to commit any real crimes. They were just the refuse of the streets.
Kaito looked at them and suddenly asked, "Do you guys have any money?"
A large white man behind the group frowned, not understanding what this Asian was talking about. He pushed his tongue-flicking companion aside and stepped in front of Kaito, looming over him.
"You've got a chance to apologize, before I get mad."
Kaito raised his hand, as if to gently knock on a door, and tapped the two-meter-tall man on the chest.
Thwump!
A burst of force exited the man's back. A curly-haired black man standing behind him froze, thinking he was seeing things. His boss's shirt had just exploded outward from his back.
"You… ghhk…"
The giant tried to speak, but he suddenly lost all strength, and a gurgle of bloody foam filled his throat, blocking his words.
Kaito kept his "knocking" posture, his face a mask of regret. "A pity. It seems you didn't wait for my apology."
Thud.
The giant collapsed, twitched a few times, and went still. His subordinates finally realized what had happened. They instinctively stepped back, pulling their guns.
Kaito looked at them, all three or four meters away, and held his hands down in a placating gesture. "I just asked if you had any money. Relax. Perhaps I can help you... make a fortune."
One of them, at the back, suddenly raised his gun and pulled the trigger.
BANG!
Kaito's head tilted. He pushed off his toes, and his form was a phantom, instantly appearing in front of the shooter. He threw a punch.
SPLAT!
His fist punched clean through the man's stomach and out his back. He ripped his arm out and flicked the gore from his hand. The man's corpse rolled to the ground.
Kaito stood, his [Transparent World] already active, clearly seeing the muscle movements of the remaining men. After his Martial Arts Aptitude had reached Lv5 [Pre-Initiative], combined with his Transparent World, it was almost impossible for him to be caught off guard in a close-quarters fight. The moment their muscles even thought about moving, he would know their intent and strike first. Or, as he'd just done, he could predict the exact path of a bullet and dodge before the trigger was even pulled.
You don't have to be faster than a bullet. You just have to be faster than the man pulling the trigger.
The remaining two men were now completely panicked, thinking they had run into a powerful Supe. They dropped their guns and fumbled to pull the crumpled dollar bills from their pockets.
Kaito was very satisfied. He had them strip all the cash from the dead bodies, then tossed the wads of money back to the two survivors.
"Do you know," he asked, "of any other rich gangs nearby?"
The two men exchanged a look. They understood. This was a shakedown. In that moment, their fear of seeing their friends killed was already being replaced by a new, greedy excitement. They began to chatter, telling him all about the local power structure. In a country with universal gun ownership, and in a world where many people had superpowers, every city was a hotbed of "martial virtue."
Kaito smiled, satisfied. Since all you other Reincarnators want to play a game using the official factions, I'll just have to arrange a bigger game for you.
He glanced at his status panel, at the purple-glowing trait [Death-Taint of the Myriad Gods]. A much more terrifying plan was forming in his mind.
A Superman may be invulnerable, but he has no "magic resistance." Homelander, a weakened version, wasn't truly invincible. And more importantly, Kaito knew that Homelander had a very, very weak heart…
[Kalpa] watched the TV in the suburban house, his face a mask of rage. Homelander was on the screen, smiling for the cameras, announcing that the "terrorists" who had caused the explosion and the death of a taxi driver had been apprehended. In the footage, the captured "terrorists" were his female teammates, their faces blank and lifeless, like dolls.
He swiped the plate of salad off the table, grabbed the terrified, blond-haired woman on the floor, and threw her onto the sofa. He was dressed as a monk, but he lived with no prohibitions. In fact, his desires were even greater than those of a normal man. By his logic, he was "bearing the karma" of the world, so he deserved to indulge in certain "privileges." Sex, for example. And murder.
The woman's husband, twitching on the floor, finally went still. She could only whimper in pain. Kalpa vented his desires, his mind racing, planning his next move.
On the roof of another villa not far away, a man in a coffee-colored trench coat put down his binoculars. He spoke to the white-haired boy who was standing in a pool of blood.
"Kalpa's at it again. He really is a sex addict, just like the rumors said."
The boy, [Bad Kid], shook the blood from his hands. The family of eight that had lived in this house was now dead. "Don't underestimate him," he said. "His abilities are strange. I almost got caught in his trap last time."
He rubbed his hands together. A layer of bloody ice crystals flaked off, and his hands were clean.
In an office in Vought Tower, Homelander was staring, expressionless, at a yellow-skinned man.
"I don't care what Stillwell promised you. I run The Seven."
"You just be a good little [Translucent], don't do anything extra, and we'll get along… just fine." Homelander's expression did not look at all like he wanted to "get along."
But [Heartless] just sighed in relief. Homelander was still pathologically attached to Stillwell. His gamble had been correct. Now he could use Homelander to deal with the men who were hunting him.
He bowed his head respectfully, moving to the side. "Of course. The Seven will always be Homelander's Seven."
This finally made Homelander smile.
[Heartless] continued, "As you know, the men who killed the real [Translucent] have formed a group called [The Boys]. They're being funded by someone in the government. Their goal… is to rein in Supes like us."
"To be more precise," [Heartless] smiled, "I believe they want to hunt us down."
He was now in control. He wasn't just running anymore. He would, bit by bit, tear away every scrap of support his enemies had, and he would watch them die here, in this world.
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Guys We cross the 600 power stone goal and as promise here the bonus chapter
Next goal 700 power stone,come on guys you'll can do it, good luck.
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