A thousand meters away on Aoki Street, panic was spreading.
"Run! It's a monster!"
"Mom!"
"Help!"
The crowd scattered like ants thrown into boiling water.
A girl with long purple red hair wearing a school uniform stumbled and fell to the ground.
"Ow… it hurts…"
She tried to get up, but one of her shoes had come off and her foot was badly scraped.
She turned her head and saw it.
Reflected in her trembling pupils was a massive green shape writhing in the distance.
It was a spherical monster nearly six meters in diameter. Its body was covered in a translucent gel layer, like a slime creature magnified a million times.
As it moved, it made a disturbing gurgling sound. Wherever it passed, sidewalk tiles dissolved at visible speed, releasing acrid white smoke.
"Fresh flesh detected!"
A jagged mouth split open at the center of its body, revealing rows of dense sharp teeth.
It suddenly compressed its body like a crouching toad and spat out a mass of dark green liquid.
The acid arced through the air.
The girl shut her eyes in despair.
But the pain never came.
She slowly opened her eyes.
The corrosive liquid was hovering less than ten centimeters from her face, frozen in midair as if restrained by an invisible force.
"Run now," a cool voice said from the side.
Only then did the girl notice a woman standing nearby.
She wore a dark green slit dress, her long green hair flowing behind her.
It was Fubuki.
Her hands were extended forward, fingertips glowing faintly as she used her psychic power.
"T thank you!" the girl stammered before scrambling to her feet and running toward safety.
The acid dropped to the ground and immediately burned a large crater into the pavement.
If that had hit her, she would have been gone in an instant.
The Acid Monster turned its writhing body toward Fubuki. Its gelatin surface formed a distorted face.
"Another hero? You disgusting insects always get in my way!"
Fubuki looked at it with visible disgust.
So ugly.
"Die. Hell Burial!"
She unleashed her signature move.
Countless stones lifted into the air, spinning rapidly to form a small tornado of debris.
The stone storm shot toward the monster.
But the moment it made contact, the monster opened its mouth and spat a huge wave of dark green acid.
The flying stones hit the acid and melted instantly midair.
The dissolved fragments and corrosive liquid splashed onto the ground, eating away at the street surface and leaving it pitted and ruined.
"What?" Fubuki's eyes widened in anger.
If her sister were here, she would have taken it down in a single blow.
The monster laughed.
A wet, sloshing sound echoed as its gelatin body trembled.
"Hahaha! Foolish hero! My digestive acid can melt steel! Your attacks are meaningless! Die in my acid!"
Its body convulsed and three streams of acid shot out at once.
"Psychic barrier!"
Fubuki crossed her arms in front of her chest. A translucent wall of psychic energy formed instantly.
Hisssss.
The acid struck the barrier, producing a sharp corrosive sound as it slid down the invisible surface.
Suddenly, a sound tore through the air from behind.
A massive figure landed on a rooftop.
It was Mountain Ape, one of Fubuki's subordinates. His muscular arms bulged as he lifted a bathtub sized chunk of concrete.
"Boss, move!"
He had been nearby all along.
But the monster was covered in acid. As a close combat fighter, he had no safe way to engage.
One touch would dissolve him.
So he had been forced to rely on throwing debris.
He hurled the concrete block.
It slammed into the monster's back, followed by a hail of smaller stones like shotgun pellets.
But the attacks simply slid off the gelatin surface without leaving a mark.
Its body was soft.
Physical attacks were ineffective.
The monster's face twisted in rage.
"Annoying flies!"
Its internal acid began to boil.
"Acid Flood!"
Dozens of acid streams erupted in all directions.
Fubuki struggled to block them, but the strain on her psychic power was growing.
"Fall back!" she shouted. "I can't hold this much longer!"
Mountain Ape tried to rush forward.
Eyelash grabbed him. "Don't be stupid! One touch and you're nothing but bones!"
He clenched his fists, frustrated at his own helplessness.
The remaining subordinates had no choice but to retreat several hundred meters.
The monster focused entirely on Fubuki.
Another acid blast shot forward.
She blocked it.
But no one noticed the thinner stream hidden behind it.
The monster was not foolish. It had learned her defenses.
A second, concealed acid stream followed the first.
By the time Fubuki noticed, it was too late.
She closed her eyes.
Am I going to die?
Boom.
A broken concrete wall dropped from above, intercepting the hidden acid at the last possible moment.
Ethan Cole walked forward.
"Hey, why are you spacing out?"
He had blocked it.
Fubuki opened her eyes.
Ethan was right in front of her.
So it was you who saved me.
Her emotions became complicated.
"Th thank you…" she muttered.
"No need. Focus on the monster. You distract it, I'll attack."
Mountain Ape and the others watched from afar, relieved and grateful.
If anything had happened to Fubuki, they would have been finished.
Fubuki understood and raised her psychic power again.
"Hell Burial."
Rocks shot toward the Acid Monster once more.
She used only minimal force this time, just enough to draw its attention.
The monster reacted and unleashed acid to block the attack.
Ethan seized the opening.
He moved along the side, stepping lightly across walls and poles.
In a few rapid movements, he reached a streetlight.
Gripping the pole with both hands, he tore it straight out of the ground.
Then he rushed forward.
Before the monster noticed him, he hurled the five meter concrete pole like a spear.
It pierced straight into the monster's head.
The Acid Monster was pinned in place.
Ethan exhaled and jumped down.
It's over.
But the moment he thought that, acid shot out again.
"Watch out!" Fubuki shouted.
Ethan reacted on instinct, diving forward at the last second.
The acid missed him by a hair's breadth.
A chill ran through him.
If he had been even a millisecond slower, he would already be dead.
"Hahaha! I am invincible!" the Acid Monster roared.