The pleading screams from the sacrificed followers were so loud that Hiro had to cover his ears.
Please, no!
Stop!
Noooo!
STOP!
Not my leg, no!
ARRRRGGHHH!
Stop! Yeeeeeeooooow!
The screams were that of men, women, and children, all of them growing louder as Hiro was forced to listen to his number of followers dwindle.
The onslaught ended with sobbing and a final throaty lament: How… could… you?
Hiro felt gutted. “Fucking hell,” he whispered as tendrils of red energy poured into the merchant.
Wayne the merchant’s shining button eyes spun again. “Fucking hell is right. But with the sacrifice of followers comes benefits to the tune of kill your darlings, all of them. Heh! Once you have more, visit my brothers and sisters across the city and see what the death of those that believe in you most can bring a soon-to-be notorious Survivor. For now, here are your things. And you already have access to {Kore Nani Neko}.”
The vape pen cartridges hovered in the air, Hiro able to take each one individually. He loaded the Poison cartridge into his vape pen, figuring he’d save the other three for the right moment.
“I’ll see you later,” he told Wayne.
“Maybe, maybe not. But you know where to find me, Survivor. I wish you luck until then.”
Hiro moved back to the rooftops. He turned in the direction of Bryant Park, toward the {Beacon} he had set for the Twin Bunnies.
As much as I want to go kill both of them using my new Bleed cartridge, it’ll be easier with another Survivor. As he sat there, perched above the city like a gargoyle, Hiro thought of his other current nemesis, the Lady in the Yellow Raincoat. If I go toward Juan, I could hunt her down as well…
In the end, Hiro decided it would be best to touch base with Valeria first.
With this in mind, he navigated a maze of rooftops in the direction of downtown. There was evidence that other Survivors were out, and he came across several fights playing out in the streets. Yet he didn’t join them.
Better to make it home first.
After crouching on a water tank, Hiro at least fifty stories above Midtown, he briefly thumbed through the current world stats to see how things were shaking out.
“Not great…”
The world had lost over seven million Survivors since he’d last checked. At least forty thousand of them had been in the city, where thirty-nine Hunters had been killed alongside over two hundred and fifty monsters.
Good to see people are fighting back, but to think so many have died since I last checked.
Hiro couldn’t shake the bitter taste in his mouth.
Rather than head down the dark path that was trying to process all that had happened, he moved to a rooftop terrace and paused there for a moment.
It provided him with a view of a small dog park in the West Village, a place he had once made a food delivery of a single piece of cake to a woman out with her fluffy white bichon.
We used to be so disconnected. Now, we are desperate. A smirk formed on his face. And still disconnected.
He was just about to continue toward his shelter when a portly-muscled man with the head of a panda bear stepped out into the park. The man wore flowing red robes, and he was easily three feet taller than Hiro.
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The skull indicating he was a Hunter appeared and faded away as a health bar took shape.
A yellow and red bandana was tied around his head, sitting just over his brow. On his human feet were a pair of geta sandals made of black wood. In his grip, the panda-man held a staff with a curled end, perfect for delivering a striking blow.
Miraculously, the Hunter had yet to spot Hiro.
The panda-man took a brief walk around the dog park and sat on the ground before a bench, legs crossed beneath him, staff rested across his lap like he was about to meditate.
Hiro’s mind raced as he took in the scene. Yes, the panda-man looks friendly; yes, the panda-man looks like he would be someone I could potentially team up with; yes, I could always use an animal companion, even a hybrid one. But this isn’t a movie. That’s a Hunter, Hiro reminded himself, someone who wants to kill me.
As the panda-man got comfortable, Hiro quickly planned out a route of attack.
It would begin with a surprise {Bounce} and transition into {Blade Whirlwind}. From that point, he would either hit the panda-man with a mist of poison, spear him with his Buster Kunai, or simply engage him, hoping to return fire with {Refund} once the panda-man tried for Hiro with his staff.
Wild stuff gets more followers. More followers means more items and more powers in the future. I should try {Kore Nani Neko} in this fight too.
Hiro steeled himself, quietly drew his katana, and went for it.
He flew down to the small dog park, mere seconds away from landing his strike when the panda-man rolled to the side and came up with his staff.
Whack!
His parry sent Hiro hurtling backward, where he hit the ground, bounced by accident, and smashed into the second floor window of a small residential building.
Ignoring a flash of pain, Hiro cast his hand out at the panda-man to use his new skill.
~Kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, NEKO!~
The sound of Japanese children singing was followed by the ferocious howl of numerous phantom demon cats, which all rushed toward the panda-man.
The Hunter struck the first with the end of his staff and managed to punch another, yet he was soon overwhelmed as the cats clung to him, yowling and ripping into his muscled physique with their claws and their teeth.
Hiro got to his feet, found his sword, and took off toward the panda-man just as his opponent swung his staff and was able to beat some of the cats back. Hiro hit the Hunter with {Blade Whirlwind}, and followed this up with a quick strike that seemed to be mostly absorbed by a last second pivot in the panda-man’s stance.
His cats continued to engage the Hunter, a few climbing a tree to divebomb him from up high. Another phantom cat jumped for Hiro, landed on his shoulder, and used that to springboard toward the panda-man.
After another blast from {Blade Whirlwind}, he caught a glimpse of the panda-man’s health bar, now half-full.
Getting there! he thought as he drew his Buster Kunai and tossed it at his opponent, the throwing knife morphing to full-size in the blink of an eye. It pierced directly through the panda man’s chest.
“Yes!” Hiro hissed, this word followed by another as he realized there was more to come. “No…”
Rather than keel over and die, the panda-man threw his arms back and forced himself off the huge blade Hiro had speared him with. He hit the ground seething, where he managed to kick away incoming cats with a barrage of quick feet.
The panda-man grew, his bloody robes shredding as muscles bulged, straining against his expanding form. He and bones pressed out of his flesh, where they quickly hardened into jagged armor.
The panda-man’s face was now a bear’s skull, his flesh peeled back into strips, drool and blood dripping from his open mouth.
His second form, Hiro thought, sizing him up.
“Grrrrrhhhhh…” The panda-man had a quarter of his health bar left, yet as Hiro caught a glimpse of it, he noticed the flash of gold that indicated that the opponent was now too strong for him.
Hiro could run.
There was no Zone of Influence here.
But I almost have him. I should go for it!
An idea came to him as the panda-man pulled his own arm out of its socket to use as a blunt object.
The seething beast swung with all its might at Hiro, who moved to block it. He managed to fully absorb the strike and send it right back at the Hunter through {Refund}, which hit the grotesque panda-man so hard it shattered bits of its ribcage.
Hiro ducked under another attempt, grabbed his Buster Kunai, and used {Bounce} to move to the air.
He sent his Buster Kunai hurtling toward the ground, where it morphed in size and drove directly into some of the exposed muscle on the panda-man’s shoulder. This pinned his opponent to the ground, the phantom demon cats doing the rest as they piled on top of the panda-man.
[A Hunter has fallen.]
You have new followers!
Soul Essence poured into Hiro as the Hunter faded away and the demon cats disappeared.
“What? No loot? Bullshit,” he whispered.
Hiro waited for his Companion to say something. When it didn’t, he turned back to the dog park.
“That’s weird,” he said as he noticed a pair of trash cans. The first trash can was stuffed with garbage and toppled to its side. The second was in its normal position, completely clean, its black bag practically crisp like a sanitation worker had just visited.
He took a step closer to the suspicious trash can.
“Whoa!” Hiro jumped back as the top of the trash can flew open, revealing a set of huge teeth and a long tongue that lashed at him. A health bar appeared over the creature as Hiro readied his blade: “A trash can mimic!? Fuck this place!”