Kenji
"Over here, Sir." A paramedic gently pushed him to the back of an ambulance, letting him finally sit down after a long day.
The lady looked like she wanted to check on him more, but someone called out her name.
"I'm sorry, but will you be ok on your own?" She asked apologetically.
"Y-Yeah. It's fine, it's not like I'm injured." Kenji managed a small smile.
She still looked hesitant, but another shout forced her to walk away, and Kenji was left alone.
He just sat in silence for a while, feeling his heart beat settle down.
"I'm actually alive…" Kenji muttered to himself. Having a hard time believing anything was real at the moment.
He couldn't help but pinch himself on the arm.
This entire clusterfuck messed with his mind. He had no idea what to do next. Was he just supposed to go back to work? After he nearly died?
'Like hell,' Kenji grumbled. 'I'm so asking for time off.'
Looking around, he was surrounded by the other survivors. Some were talking with their family, crying with each other in relief, while some cried at the loss of their loved ones.
Kenji turned his eyes away, unable to bear the sight.
He turned his attention back to the ruins of the mall. It was hard to believe that it had been so full of life just an hour ago. Now it was nothing more than a shallow husk.
But even through this despair, he could spot a brilliant flash of red.
'It's her again.'
The Valkyrie's crimson hair flowed in the wind over her battlesuit as she spoke to a family with a smile. Her presence seemed to calm everyone down with little to no effort.
'Wow.' Kenji's eyes didn't leave her, his mind stuck replaying the sight of her fight.
"You alright there, kid?" a voice asked.
Kenji jolted, glancing up to see a paramedic crouching beside him. The man had a concerned look on his face as he looked at his dazed expression.
"Yeah… Just processing everything, I guess."
The man looked at him in pity. "That's normal. If it makes you feel any better, you're doing way better than most people after a Honkai attack."
He handed Kenji a bottle of water. "Here, it helps if you drink."
Kenji took the bottle and muttered a "thank you" as he twisted the lid off and took a sip. The cold water did help him get his bearings a bit, but his focus soon drifted back to the Valkyrie.
She had completed her conversation and was now looking at the other group of civilians in the area, giving them a few words of comfort.
'Maybe I could go up to her and say thank you?' He thought. But he felt too nervous, and he was pretty sure he'd end up a bumbling mess if he attempted any kind of conversation with his savior.
He was now able to see her face. It was hard to believe that such a beautiful person could be so lethal.
Kenji's hand tightened around the water bottle. When he looked at her, he had a sense of unease and frustration that mixed with respect.
She was what these people needed, what he needed.
Someone strong, someone able to stand between them and the monsters. While all he did was hide.
He clenched his teeth, despising the feeling of helplessness that gnawed at him.
The fact that he was too weak to fight already frustrated him enough, but the fact that he didn't even try only angered him more.
The logical part of his brain knew that fighting wasn't his job, that he was just an ordinary person.
Yet there was a part of himself, a stupid and irrational part that asked a question he was too afraid to say out loud.
What if he could do something?
What if he could be like her, even a fraction of what she was?
He looked at his hands. They were rough from work, but nothing like the hands of a Valkyrie.
He had no power, no skill, no experience in battle. And yet…
'No, stop that,' Kenji forced himself back to reality. The thought itself was ridiculous, people like him didn't become heroes.
That was for someone like her. Valkyries who had trained their entire lives to deal with the Honkai.
But even so, a part of himself was unwilling to let the desire go.
Then she looked at him for a split second, and their eyes locked.
In that instant, Kenji felt warmth and reassurance just from her gaze. That she was telling him without words that he'd be ok.
She gave him a little smile and turned away, her figure disappearing among the Valkyries and officers that moved through the rubble.
"Kid, are you alright to go?" the EMT asked.
"I think so."
The man extended a hand, and Kenji took it, getting back to his feet. His legs felt like jelly, and he felt absolutely exhausted, but he'd be able to make it home.
Probably.
The guy gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder and guided him toward the exit, where the other survivors were being led away.
Kenji stole one last glance over his shoulder, watching the Valkyrie's red hair disappear among the other emergency personnel.
/ — /
"I-I should've ordered a taxi," Kenji grumbled as he shook from the cold air.
He'd been walking for a while now, and it was much more peaceful than the mall. But strangely, he found it equally uncomfortable.
Call him paranoid, but it felt like the shadows themselves were alive around him.
The desire to become someone who could fight was still in his mind. Frustration gnawed at him and mixed with an irrational urge to be more than another civilian.
"I'm a fucking moron," He put a hand to his head as he continued walking. He forced himself to stop the thoughts; this kind of thought process was how you get yourself killed.
He made a left turn at an intersection he recognized, and he knew he was about 15 minutes from home now.
But the further he walked, the feeling of unease kept increasing. Like something was watching him.
A part of him was just about ready to sprint the rest of the way home.
He glanced over his shoulder, scanning the empty road, but there was nothing there. Just shadows and silence.
'Ok, I need to calm down—'
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A painful spark jolted through his brain, making him clench the side of his head.
Before he could even fully process the pain, he heard a faint sound like something buzzing through the air.
Kenji's heart dropped, and he turned in the direction of the sound. He saw a small creature hovering above the ground like a bee.
Except it was fully white and looked like a metal killing machine.
'A Seraph?!'
The fear rooted his body in place, afraid that if he even flinched, the Honkai Beast would tear a hole through his body.
The creature hovered there for a moment and just stared as if assessing its target. Then it let out a high-pitched humming sound and darted forward with its sharp wings.
Kenji's mind raced as he tried to process what was happening. This thing must have followed him.
It must have slipped away from the mall, and for some reason, it was targeting him. 'How the fuck did the Valkyries not destroy this thing?!'
"Wait—no, no, no—" he muttered, backing up as the creature closed in, its movements almost too quick to see.
He barely managed to dodge as it swooped past him, one of its wings slicing close enough to graze his arm.
"Agh!"
There was a sting as it sliced into his skin, and he hissed in pain, clutching at his arm as blood seeped through his fingers.
The Seraph turned around and readied itself for another attack.
Kenji's heart raced, and his mind was full on panicking. It was impossible for him to outrun it.
'Maybe I could hide?' But there was nowhere for him to go.
With nothing else to hold on to, he grabbed a loose brick on the crumbling sidewalk edge and held onto it as he moved away.
He lifted the brick, ready for the creature to attack again, in hopes he could knock it out of the air. The Seraph beast was hesitant, as if it were narrowing its eyes, then it lunged.
"Go away!" Kenji lashed out, but the Seraph was able to avoid it with ease, simply darting to the side and slashing at Kenji with its sharp wings.
"Ugh!"
The sharp pain made him drop the brick as he staggered backwards. He put his hand to his wound, and his sight went blurry as he winced at the pain.
He started hyperventilating as he stared at the beast that hovered mockingly in front of him.
Kenji's mind scrambled to come up with a plan that would let him get out of there alive.
But it was no use. There was nothing he could do.
'I'm going to die here,'
The Seraph beast lunged once more, and something inside him snapped.
A fierce, desperate anger flared in his chest, stronger than his fear, drowning out the pain and panic. 'No. I can't die here. Not like this!'
He clenched his fists, the warmth growing stronger, tingling, then crackling, like sparks under his skin.
A strange feeling coursed through his body, spreading through his veins like hot magma.
The feeling grew stronger, filling him with an energy he'd never felt before. His vision sharpened, his senses heightened, and in that moment, he knew he had to fight!
The beast closed in, its wing slicing toward him, but Kenji moved on instinct. His right arm suddenly glowed, red streaks racing across his skin.
His fist shot forward, meeting the creature's strike with a force that surprised even him. He felt a shockwave ripple through the air as his punch connected, sending the Seraph flying backward.
Kenji forced himself to regain his balance, feeling the energy inside him flaring and then fading away.
"What the hell?"
He didn't know where the hell the sudden surge of strength came from. In this moment, though, he didn't care, he was only thinking of what he had just done.
He could fight back.
He wasn't helpless anymore.
The Seraph beast recovered and was preparing to attack again. But Kenji didn't back down.
He could feel that strange energy still simmering within him, a flickering power that was faint but still there.
The creature darted forward, wings cutting through the air but Kenji was ready. He lifted his fist and the strength flowed through him again.
"Haaah!"
This time, when his fist came crashing into the Seraph, it broke it apart, and bits of metal and energy lay on the ground.
Kenji stumbled back, breathing heavily as the last remnants of the creature dissolved into dust.
/ — /
"Haaah… Haaaah… Haaah"
Kenji looked at his shaking hands, his fingers tingling with the strange energy that had flowed through him.
His mind struggled to comprehend what he had just done, the exhilaration that came from a sudden show of strength.
Finally, he awakened his isekai abilities!
"I… I actually did it!"
Not only did he fight back against a Honkai Beast, but he also survived and won!
He could still feel the echo of that power within him, like a spark smoldering beneath the surface, waiting to be called on again.
Laughter slowly escaped his mouth.
'I killed a freaking Honkai Beast!'
The surge of power came out of nowhere, and his mind tried to think of all the possibilities he could do.
'Did my arm glow red lightning? Can I control lightning?!' He excitedly thought, completely overwhelmed by joy and adrenaline.
"This… this is crazy." He was grinning ear to ear. Hell, he might even start jumping for joy, "I can't believe—Ah shit!"
But a sudden stabbing feeling pierced through his joy. He looked down and the sight of the blood on his hand and shirt jolted him back to reality.
The gash from before was still bleeding, and now that the adrenaline was slowly ebbing away, it fucking hurt.
His vision blurred for a moment, and his knees started to tremble a little.
"Right… Still bleeding out. Ahh shit."
He needed to get to a hospital fast. He wasn't a doctor by any means, but he knew that he could bleed out real quick if he didn't hurry.
Memories of the city flashed through his mind, and he remembered that there was a hospital just a few blocks away.
Kenji pressed his hand on his side, trying to stop the bleeding, and he ran as quickly as he could in the direction of the hospital.
The empty sidewalks seemed surreal as he half limped, half ran down the quiet streets, each step sending a jolt of pain through his body.
His thoughts slowly disappeared as it was replaced by the single instinct to keep moving, to get help before he died.
"Come on, Kenji," he muttered, gritting his teeth, focusing on the distant glow of the hospital's lights as they came into view.
As he lost more blood, the strength of the hand that he clutched to his side began to wane. But he had to keep going.
The excitement and whatever his new power was wouldn't matter if he didn't make it to the hospital in time.
As he finally reached the hospital doors, he stumbled, nearly collapsing as he pushed through the entrance.
He saw the sterile lobby, and he could only barely take in the expressions of shock on the faces around him and the gasp of a nurse hurrying toward him.
"Made it..." he managed to say, his voice weak, before his legs finally gave out, and everything faded into darkness.