---

3 Days Later

Ken hid behind a few crates, watching as a docked ship had hundreds of people swarming around, and 'goods' were transported from cargo into trucks, vans, and the like.

And standing and commanding the people was his target, Minerva.

Tsk

'150 people, quirkless if what I hear is anything. Giran's going to be paying me extra for the misinformation.'

Taking a picture with his phone Ken shuffled, moving closer to Minerva while still staying close to the metal walls of the hanger he was currently hugging.

The woman donned the same green overcoat he'd seen in her picture; she paired that with black leggings and a pure black skin-tight suit.

She was wearing flat shoes and seemed tense, ready to react.

This, though, was unbeknownst to Ken, who, with his rookie experience, merely scanned her for weapons he could see.

Once directly behind her, Ken thought this was as good a chance as any.

The quirkless were moving the crates so they wouldn't be able to react quickly, plus Minerva was as preoccupied as she would ever be.

Ken picked up a stick he had previously sharpened before coming here and threw it at her body, intending to impale her.

With practiced moves, she sidestepped, turning around to face the direction in which the stick came from.

But when she turned around, she just barely saw Ken in the air, with his legs loaded back like a spring, ready to strike down and deal devastating damage.

'Since I'm young, most of the muscle and power I can exert is in my legs, so if I want to deal a heavy blow...'

Kicking down, Minerva, even in her surprise, shown by her wide eyes, managed to turn the other way, narrowly dodging the striking kick.

She then clicked her foot on the ground and sent a direct kick to Ken's chest.

The foot, which would normally hit his ribs, had a blade pop out of the sole. The blade found itself trying yet failing to lodge itself into Ken's lungs; instead, it knocked the air out of him.

Ken fell to the floor, stumbling and landing on his knee and leg as he clutched his chest. His breathing became abnormal as he tried to fix his rate of air intake.

Minerva walked over slowly, still wary of any counterattacks.

"Who sent you? Are you one who disagrees with my ideals?"

Venom dripped through her words, and when she was in front of Ken, the knife once again tried to pierce his skin, but this time instead of looking confused when it didn't work, she simply held it in a reverse grip.

She took a step closer to him, squatting to his eye level.

"You know, there's not just one weak point on the human body; your skin may have hardened, but your eyes?"

The sharper object found itself relishing in the sweet, dark red as blood trickled onto Ken's face, cascading down his skin.

The boy held in a scream and looked up, trying to appear as impassive as he could.

Yet upon meeting her eyes, only a cold, mirthless smile was upon her face; a promise of death awaited him.

"You're suppressing me; that's why it's not healing fast."

"What a pathetic ghoul."

"You should just let me out."

Ken's face twitched, and the mysterious voice no longer brought him fear; at least in this moment, he only felt pissed off.

He guessed as to what was speaking to him, and if things were true, then a lie was hidden in those words.

Focusing on the mind-numbing pain, Ken figured this should be enough stimulation.

So he stopped his subconscious thinking of suppressing 'it'.

'Come.'

His clothes were once again torn as the blood-red tendrils surged towards his enemies.

The shock of the sudden change in their dynamic allowed them to scrape out a part of her stomach, enough to wound but not instantly kill her.

'I don't need you.'

Returning to the real world, Ken felt his wounds heal up faster than before. On the outside, everything was normal, and inside his body, the fibers and cells were stitching together.

Minerva, who was surprised by the exchange, moved her hair, showing her forehead. On it, a third eye opened, showing infinite wisdom.

"This wasn't in the plans."

Ken looked at the woman who was muttering to herself, and he felt his Kagune return to each of his sides.

An uncomfortable feeling settled on him as her eyes landed on his form.

"What do you want?"

"To kill you."

No change happened in her expression, as if that were obvious.

"You don't seem to hate me or hold any personal grudges, so you should be a hired killer. I admit whoever wants me dead should have paid quite a penny for your services, but I promise you I can top it off."

She looked desperate as if this were her only option.

"The only thing I want is your dead, cold body."

"WHY! Is it to capture me? Maybe because you're hired by those SCUM. I just want to FIX this messed-up society. Get rid of this discrimination to create an EQUAL WORLD!"

Seeing her huff and puff about such 'righteous intentions' Ken couldn't help but think,

'Hypocrite.'

"Your righteous world requires the deaths of innocents."

"W-We'll need to get the message across."

"So sacrifices are needed, right?"

"Now you get it."

Finished with their brief conversation, Ken was about to pounce on her again when he suddenly couldn't move!

'Shit was a distraction!'

"AHAHAH. Leave it to the self-righteous to walk into a trap willingly."

She looked up from the hunched-over state she took when laughing; now she looked at Ken with a sense of loathing.

She stood in place this time, still speaking her villainous speech.

"What I said wasn't wrong. Mutants get discriminated against; that needs to change. But for those words to be taken seriously, I need to instill something—a sense of reckoning. I must target the young; let them feel the pain of losing someone. Only then will they take me seriously enough to talk."

'She's crazy, a psychopath who's willing to kill innocents and children as if they're pawns in her greater scheme!'

Struggling Ken's body only itched, twitching, and moving on an instinctual level, but otherwise, he didn't listen to his command.

"You're trying to move; how kawaii~My quirk's invaded your mind; your emotions are out of control, causing certain hormones to be released in mass. Your body's shutting down because of an overdose, and soon you will die."

'Overdose? I have the body of a ghoul. I can fix this!'

Desperation laced his internal voice as the boy tried to regenerate himself, to fix everything, but it was wrong with him so he could rise like the heroes he'd read about.

But it didn't work.

"Oh right, you seem to have some regeneration quirk."

Sauntering over, she pushed Ken's body down, with him facing up and her straddling him.

This would have been quite the scene if she wasn't repeatedly plunging a poisoned knife that hindered his regeneration through his eye sockets.

"DIE, DIE, DIE!"

Ken, who saw this and felt the metaphorical scythe promising death looming over him, went into mass hysteria.

'Move!'

"--How sad, you'll die in a minute and not even be able to do a thing."

'Why? Why? Why me, WHY DOESN'T MY BODY WORK…mOvE, MOvE, MOVE!'

Crack

Ken's mind was overloaded, not only with pain but with his overwhelming, scattered thoughts.

The two lobes were actively ripping it into two.

Sigh

"Shut up."

Ken's mind went blank, once again falling into that vast darkness. Not that the 'him' of this moment could register that.

This time, even as his sight and other senses left him, he was somewhat cognitive. He knew he was dreaming but couldn't escape.

Back in reality, Ken made a gesture; even with the lack of vision, he was unfazed, as if this level of pain was 'nothing'.

With a swipe of his hand, the Kagune, which had been frozen, pierced through her ribs.

"W-"

She tried to stand up, only for her mouth to be forcefully opened by the mountain of red liquid.

Her body was now not under her control as it was unwillingly lifted, pierced with a gaping hole through the middle that was only filled by his Kagune.

Ken stood up, licking his lips to savor the red drops of 'wine' that landed in his mouth and to rid himself of the pesky poison that would soon result in his regeneration speeding up to normal levels—well, normal for a weakened prepubescent Ghoul.

"Better."

He extended an arm, planning on ripping a part of her body off and enjoying the textures of human skin.

But his senses picked something up, incoming fast.

So without hesitation, he threw her against the walls of the warehouse, slamming her so hard that she instantly fell unconscious.

Simultaneously, he jumped back, still being nicked by the blades.

'Poison again!'

He willed his insides to rid themselves of this unknown toxin, but even that had been considered.

His new adversary, whose shadow completely covered the 12-year-old, sent a hard punch to his head.

Normally, although he hadn't been to the peak of what a ghoul could be, he'd be able to withstand a blow to the head.

But somehow, this punch was different.

His mind spun, and seeing he wasn't completely down, the figure drew their arm back, dealing two more for safe measures.

Once Ken was out, the only person left conscious here made a call, informing someone of how their target had been dealt with.

Then he picked up the boy and walked off, leaving the bodies of the quirkless he dealt with prior and his target lying on the ground for the clean-up crew.

_____________________

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