The billowing dust rose like a furious dragon...
Amid the swirling debris and smoke, the Ghoul resembling a six-armed octopus lunged forward with a ferocious pounce. Its crimson eyes flashed with a sinister glow as it clamped its hands around the neck of the Tyrant zombie, its feet pressing down on the creature's chest.
Compared to the hulking frame of the Tyrant, Hiroshi appeared almost petite. Yet, the six massive scale-covered kagune sprouting from his back suddenly expanded, stretching outward like the limbs of a predatory octopus, ensnaring his prey in an inescapable grip!
"I'll devour you so I can complete the genetic fragments of the Progenitor Virus. Perhaps this will make me even stronger!" Hiroshi laughed maniacally, the shattered bones in his chest rapidly healing.
His enormous kagune split open, revealing sharp barbed spikes that vibrated at high frequencies, slicing through the Tyrant's robust body like a chainsaw through flesh.
Chunks of rotting pale meat scattered in all directions. The Ghoul, now devoid of any humanity, opened its maw wide, drool dripping from its jagged teeth. Its bulging eyes which were veined with bloodshot streaks locked onto its prey with ravenous hunger...
"Eat you!"
With the Tyrant firmly restrained, Hiroshi viciously sank his teeth into its cheek, tearing off a chunk of flesh and swallowing it with frenzied glee.
He had studied the Progenitor Virus before, even participating in its core experiments. He understood zombies all too well...
Most zombies exhibited traits like decaying flesh and insatiable gluttony. Their bodies rapidly deteriorated, and their immune systems collapsed as the virus spread unchecked, eventually consuming the host entirely.
Humans infected by the virus became 'the living dead'; losing their vision and relying primarily on hearing and smell to hunt. Once the brain was infected, they lost all cognitive function and emotional awareness.
Ghouls, however, retained their intelligence because their mutation process included a protective 'blood-brain barrier' that shielded their minds from the virus's full corruption.
To truly kill a zombie, severing limbs or inflicting other fatal wounds was inefficient. The brain was their only true weakness.
Hiroshi ground the rotting grayish flesh between his teeth, his face twisted with perverse excitement. He intended to gnaw through the skull and extract a more complete strain of the Progenitor Virus from the Tyrant and use it to evolve further!
The Tyrant thrashed wildly, its bone claws slashing through the air, but Hiroshi's powerful kagune coiled around its arms, immobilizing it completely. Even the Tyrant's monstrous strength couldn't break free.
Hiroshi feasted on the Tyrant's head, swallowing mouthfuls of the tasteless decaying meat until the underlying veins and tissues were exposed.
Drool dripped greedily from his fangs as he cradled the Tyrant's skull in both hands. With a deranged cackle, he bit down...
*CRUNCH*
...
The sickening sound of tearing flesh echoed clearly, sending a wave of nausea even through the remote observer, Madame Hydra (aka Viper)...
Compared to the cold brutality of bio-weapons, Ghouls were the true monsters.
They wore human skins but harbored the predatory instincts of beasts, viewing all living creatures as nothing more than food to fuel their evolution.
"Should we mobilize the Japanese Self-Defense Forces?" one of her subordinates asked.
If even the Tyrant couldn't handle this Ghoul and was instead being devoured by it, allowing such a creature to roam freely would lead to unimaginable consequences.
Hiroshi was no ordinary test subject. After his transformation, he had deceived researchers, meticulously planned his escape, and displayed both formidable execution and cunning intellect.
Once free, he had used his own flesh to conduct semi-conversion surgeries on humans, enhancing the quality of his prey to accelerate his own evolution.
Given these actions, Hiroshi was undeniably a high-level threat...
With the Tyrant's failure, the only option left was to leverage HYDRA's influence and mobilize the Self-Defense Forces for a full-scale bombardment in oder to erase this abomination from existence.
"There's no time." Viper shook her head.
Japan's Self-Defense Forces answered to the Prime Minister, with the Cabinet serving as the highest military decision-making body, followed by the Ministry of Defense. Mobilizing air strikes required navigating layers of bureaucracy.
Even with HYDRA's vast influence, bypassing protocols to authorize a bombing raid on Tokyo's bustling streets would be nearly impossible.
"The situation is out of control. Initiate Protocol Three." Her voice was ice-cold.
She wanted to request HYDRA's Special Operations Unit. The Tyrant was physically superior, with unmatched regenerative abilities, but its combat style and cognitive functions couldn't match the Ghoul's.
That was why it had failed.
The Special Ops Unit, however, was an elite force designed specifically for containing and eliminating experimental breaches. Their track record was flawless.
"Also, intensify the search for Wolverine." Fury simmered in Viper's chest.
Their meticulously crafted plans had been thrown into chaos. Logan, with his healing factor, had vanished, infuriating Ichirō.
Also, the ghoul's evolution had exceeded all expectations. If this continued, S.H.I.E.L.D. would inevitably take notice, and another full-scale purge would follow...
...
Back on the streets of Tokyo, the mountainous Tyrant collapsed with a thunderous crash...
Its head had been completely consumed, and was now a hollowed-out husk. Thick murky fluids splattered across Hiroshi's lips and teeth, painting him like a demonic cannibal straight from hell.
"This feeling... this power... it's incredible!" Hiroshi closed his eyes, reveling in the surging energy within him.
The mutated cells stored in his sac-like organ grew even more active, circulating through his body like a second bloodstream.
"I want more. I want to become the ultimate lifeform." The Ghoul's whisper was laced with madness, his crimson eyes gleaming with bestial hunger, "Ah, the lab! There's more food there! I'll return to where I was created and devour them all! Hahaha!" His laughter cut off abruptly.
Hiroshi's suddenly pupils contracted. A sense of impending doom, unlike anything he had ever felt, gripped his heart. It felt as if death itself were breathing down his neck.
He looked up...
A single golden light streaked down from the heavens like a meteor in freefall.
The atmosphere wailed in protest. Wind and pressure merged into a cacophony of howling wails.
Hiroshi's mutated body trembled uncontrollably. For the first time, genuine terror twisted his features.
It was the instinctive dread of prey facing an apex predator. The ghoul, a monster among monsters, cowered.
Then, survival instinct overrode everything.
Hiroshi ran...
He tore through streets, scaled buildings, pushed his body beyond its limits. Every fiber of his being screamed that if he didn't flee, he would die.
The golden meteor struck like a divine spear, piercing the earth's crust with apocalyptic force.
*Booom!*
Shockwaves rippled outward in concentric rings, liquefying asphalt and reducing concrete to glass-like particles. The heat was unbearable, the pressure enough to pulverize steel.
Cars vaporized into smoke. The very air ignited.
With his mind blank with terror, Hiroshi scrambled on all fours, his kagune flailing like desperate limbs.
In less than ten seconds, he was nearly at the street's end... Then, the world split.
A thunderous crack rent the air. An invisible blade of compressed wind sliced horizontally, and in that instant, the fleeing ghoul was bisected.
His body collapsed in two writhing halves. The six tentacle-kagune twitched like dying serpents, the regenerative flesh struggling to mend the fatal wound.
Hiroshi clawed at the ground with his remaining arm, dragging himself forward. He didn't want to die.
Despair flooded his mind as he rolled onto his back, then he glimpsed a tall imposing figure standing amidst the devastation.
Those eyes held no emotion. Only the indifference of a god crushing an ant.
Then...
Oblivion...
The ghoul's body disintegrated in a flash of searing light. His hyper-regenerative cells evaporated instantly.
The entire street, along with the monster that had terrorized it, was reduced to dust in a chain reaction of cataclysmic explosions...