One second, the street was packed with cheering marathon spectators.
The next, it was a charnel house.
Smoke billowed from the crater where the bomber had stood. Charred limbs scattered in a rough circle, white bone gleaming through blackened flesh. Some people lay motionless on the ground, too stunned to scream. Others ran, stumbling over bodies, trampling anyone too slow to get up.
The smell hit Liam like a wall: burnt hair, cooked meat, cordite.
The ringing in his ears faded slowly. Shizuku lowered her arm, blinking dust from her eyes.
"You okay?" Liam asked.
"Yeah." Shizuku checked herself over. Her sweater sleeves were shredded, jeans torn in several places. Blood seeped from a dozen shallow cuts. Some of the wounds looked singed at the edges. "Just surface damage."
She looked at Liam. "What about you? You're pale."
Liam didn't answer immediately.
Around them, people screamed. A man clutched his leg, or what was left of it. A woman sobbed over someone who wasn't moving. A child wailed, standing alone in the middle of the carnage.
Liam pressed his hand against his chest. His heart hammered like it was trying to break free.
Fifteen. Fifteen strands of cold-hot death energy had punched into him the instant the bomb went off. Fifteen lives snuffed out in a heartbeat.
And more were coming.
He could feel them dying. The ones too injured to survive. The ones bleeding out on the pavement.
Two more spikes drove into his heart like nails.
Seventeen.
Liam's vision swam. His heart wasn't beating normally anymore. It was writhing, like something alive was trying to claw its way out of his chest.
One more. Maybe two. That's all it'll take. Then I transform. Right here. In front of everyone.
He had no idea how old he'd be when it happened. Six? Ten? Twenty? Thirty?
Doesn't matter. Can't let it happen here.
A panicked man shoved past him, fleeing the scene. Liam grabbed the man's black windbreaker and yanked it off his shoulders. The man didn't even notice, too busy running for his life.
On the other side of the blast zone, Dago and his crew were down. The explosion had caught them mid-defense, tossing them like ragdolls. Most were unconscious. Dago was the only one still awake, staring at the chaos with dazed, glassy eyes.
"Hey! You alive?"
A sharp slap cracked across Slohe's face. The bureaucrat gasped, jerking upright.
Kanzai loomed over him, expression grim. "You hurt?"
"I'm... I'm fine." Slohe's voice shook. He looked back toward where the bomber had been standing. If Kanzai hadn't stepped in front of him, he'd be paste right now.
Something small and metallic arced through the air.
Slohe's eyes locked onto it. A grenade. Pin already pulled.
Time stopped.
"Don't look down on me," Kanzai growled.
His body changed.
Muscles bulged. Bones cracked and reformed. His frame expanded, shoulders broadening, chest thickening. In seconds, he'd transformed from a human into something else. Something bigger. Stronger. A humanoid tiger covered in dense, corded muscle.
Kanzai caught the grenade mid-flight and crushed it against his chest.
BOOM.
The muffled explosion sounded like a firecracker going off inside a barrel. Smoke curled from Kanzai's arms. He straightened up slowly, glaring at the crowd, and opened his hand.
Hot shrapnel clattered to the ground.
Not a scratch on him.
"There's more than one!" Slohe shouted, scanning the chaos.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Too far away to help. The crowd was still panicking, running in every direction. Impossible to tell civilians from terrorists. Kanzai couldn't leave Slohe's side, not with more attackers hidden in the mob.
And in Tiger Fist form, his En was garbage. He couldn't sense enemies fast enough.
"Guess I'll do this the hard way."
Kanzai sucked in a deep breath, and roared.
The sound hit like a shockwave. A physical wall of noise that rolled across the street in every direction. Ordinary people dropped like wheat before a scythe, clutching their ears, losing balance, collapsing where they stood.
Within seconds, the chaotic crowd had become a field of groaning bodies.
And in that sudden stillness, five figures stood out. Five people who hadn't fallen. Five people pulling grenades, detonators, and pistols from their jackets.
Kanzai saw them.
Liam saw them.
Shizuku saw them.
Their reactions were different.
Kanzai dug his clawed fingers into the concrete sidewalk, ripped out a chunk the size of a basketball, and hurled it like a fastball.
Shizuku glanced at the terrorists, then turned back to Liam, worry flickering across her face.
Liam's fingers were already moving.
He knew. One more death, maybe two, and he'd black out. Transform. Right here. Right now.
But his hand came up anyway. Thumb over index finger. Aura condensing into four bullets.
SNAP SNAP SNAP SNAP.
Four heads exploded in sprays of red mist.
CRACK.
Kanzai's concrete projectile obliterated the fifth terrorist's skull.
Five cold-hot spikes drove into Liam's heart simultaneously.
His knees buckled.
Shizuku caught him before he hit the ground.
"Listen... to Shizuku," Liam gasped, fumbling with his backpack. Jaku and the two crows poked their heads out, chirping in confusion. "Do what she says."
He pulled on the stolen windbreaker, wrapping it around himself like a cloak. Then he grabbed Shizuku's arm.
"Take me. Away. Now."
Shizuku adjusted her grip, scooping him up without hesitation.
"Wait!" Slohe's voice cut through the sirens. "Are you okay? What's wrong with Liam?"
"Is he hurt?" Dago called, struggling to his feet while supporting his unconscious teammates. "The ambulances are almost here!"
Kanzai's transformation faded. He shrunk back to normal size, frowning. "If you're injured, you need a hospital. Don't do anything stupid."
"That's right, Shizuku," Slohe said, trying to sound calm. "If Liam's hurt, the professionals can help him. Just wait—"
"Move."
Shizuku's voice was flat. No emotion. Just a statement of fact.
Blinky materialized in her free hand, its single eye staring blankly at the group.
Kanzai's temper flared. "Hey! You don't give me orders—"
"I can suck up all the corpses here," Shizuku said, her expression unchanged. Cute. Blank. Terrifying. "If you don't want that to happen, don't stop me."
The threat hung in the air like a blade.
Slohe went pale. Dago took an involuntary step back.
She's like a mother animal protecting her cub, they both thought.
Shizuku didn't wait for permission.
She turned and ran.
Not human-speed. Nen-user speed. One moment she was there, the next she was gone, vanishing into the maze of panicked streets with Liam wrapped in her arms.
Kanzai stared after her, jaw tight.
Then he turned back to Slohe and sighed. "This day just keeps getting better."