"What’s... going on?"
The people ahead of the crowd stopped pushing, their panicked montum suddenly halting. Those behind them stumbled forward, confused by the sudden stillness.
"What the hell? Why’d everyone stop?" soone shouted from the back.
"Move! I can’t see anything!"
Curiosity overtook fear as people began squeezing through gaps, pushing against each other to get a better view of whatever had captured everyone’s attention.
Sheila, a twenty-sothing with bright pink hair, elbowed her way through the crowd. But when people saw her face, they all gasped and recognized her imdiately—so stepped aside while others whispered excitedly.
"Oh my god, it’s Sheila."
"She’s actually prettier in person."
"What the fuck? Why are you even looking at a girl in this situation?"
Sheila barely acknowledged them. When the chaos started over an hour ago, she’d been vlogging about her morning coffee routine. She had no clue what was happening—just ran when the sirens erupted, and everyone started screaming.
She doesn’t even know what they were running from. But then, she finally reached the flyover’s railing and gasped. The monster below was massive, translucent, lting everything it touched.
But all of a sudden, she quickly composed herself, raising her phone to capture her own face.
"Guys, I literally have no idea what’s happening right now, but—"
Sheila saw the donations coming in, and she made sure to look even more scared—but then, she saw sothing that made her mouth drop uncontrollably.
"What... what the actual—" Still, she was able to stop herself from cursing.
Sheila flipped to the front cara, zooming in on the monster below.
"Soone... soone just went inside that thing," Sheila muttered, "Is he dead? Like, actually dead?"
Suddenly, soone in the crowd shouted, "It’s Adam the Endless!"
Sheila turned, confused. "Who?"
But very soon, however, everyone fell silent. The crowd, the chat, even Sheila herself—all watching in stunned disbelief.
Even from afar, they could see Adam’s body dissolve layer after layer. His skin, peeling away in sheets, his blood mixing in with the sli’s body. They could even see parts of his bone now.
But Adam kept moving forward, pushing deeper into the creature’s core. Adam didn’t really know what he was feeling, or if he was feeling anything at all—entering the creature felt weird and uncomfortable, like dipping himself into sticky lotion.
But that only lasted for a second before the pain entered—no. Before the pain seeped into his flesh, and then, it disappeared as soon as his nerves were also lted away.
It was like being burned, but faster.
His hand, now mostly skeletal, closed around the spined brain at the sli’s center, and without even any resistance, it crushed inside his palm.
The entire creature collapsed into liquid instantly, splashing across the ruined street like water. Adam was worried that this liquid would reach the man, but it would seem the sli’s body had lost its corrosiveness with its death.
"Ho..." Adam stood in the center of the puddle, half his face gone.
The crowd fell silent. Even their panic seed to pause in the face of what they’d just witnessed.
Beatrice and Harvey arrived a second later, their IBAA logos visible on their gear. The sight of official Heroes seed to calm the civilians, though many still stared at Adam in shock.
Harvey whistled low, watching as Adam’s face was already almost completely healed. "I’ve never seen anything like that."
"Agreed," Beatrice nodded.
Adam waved them off, however, shaking his head before gazing down at his shirt. Once again, most of his clothes were gone. Luckily, for so reason, most of his pants were still intact.
He breathed a sigh of relief, and then realized that the sli’s brain was actually still intact in his hand.
"Is... this valuable?" he asked.
"To the right people," Beatrice replied. "I believe it could be made into alcohol."
"Huh..." Adam nodded and then tossed the remains to the man who fought the sli earlier. "It’s yours."
"H-huh...?" The man caught it instinctively, staring at it, then at Adam, unable to form words.
Adam didn’t seem to think much of it at all, however, as he was already looking around at the devastation the monster caused. The street was completely ruined, buildings had gaping holes lted through their sides, and the acrid sll of dissolved concrete filled the air.
"Are there more monsters?" he asked.
Beatrice shook her head. "The slis you killed were probably the ’more.’ Slis multiply, then rge into larger forms, like the one you killed."
"Huh... that’s weird."
"It fucking is," Harvey joined the conversation as he approached the man. "You know where the Leak is? Can you lead us to it?"
"Y-yes." The man nodded. "You... can’t miss it."
And he was right. The Leak was in a park, and to Adam’s surprise, it was only a white portal—and yet, the damage the sli had caused was utterly devastating.
But what even surprised him more was the size—one truly can’t miss it. It was the size of a large house, maybe even a mansion.
Beatrice quickly noticed Adam’s confusion.
"The color of the portal only indicates the Leak’s potential danger," she explained. "While white might an that the monsters inside are generally weak, it doesn’t take into account how many there are inside—the size matters too. And this size is... quite alarming."
"Hm..." He glanced at Beatrice and nodded. And then... he started walking toward the portal.
"Whoa, what the hell are you doing?" Harvey called out. "We need to wait for the guys to set up a periter. The outside is already controlled. We need to wait for them."
"Yes." Beatrice nodded. "As per IBAA protocols."
"Oh..." Adam blinked, looking back at them. "I’m not IBAA."
And with that, he stepped into the white light and vanished.
"The fuck... You know what, I’m starting to like the dude."
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