Chapter 35
[51]
“Molten Man can’t absorb stone! If you hit him with that, you should be able to reduce his mass! Any parts separated from the main body cease to function!” The scientist on Ren’s back shouted over the wind.
The two of them swung through Tokyo trying to catch the beast who took immensely large steps. They were mere meters behind the behemoth and could feel the intense heat he emitted.
“That’s great!” Replied Ren, “But do you think *cough* you could hold on somewhere *cough* besides my neck?”
“Sorry!”
Ren found it strange that ‘Molten Man’ seemed to ignore the fight on the street. From the way it moved, it seemed like it had a destination in mind.
“Where’s this thing heading?” Ren questioned the man.
“Good question! In all of our experiments he seemed to favor metallic compounds over anything else, so he’s likely headed towards the largest source of metal in the...Oh god.’[
“What? Where’s he going?” Ren looked up and saw his answer. The largest source of metal he could find. The Tokyo Skytree. “Are you friggin kidding me!? He’s gonna eat the Skytree!?”
“Not eat. Absorb. And when he does, he’ll be unstoppable.” The two of them looked forward and saw the Skytree a mile away, they didn’t have long before Molten Man reached it.
“Noted. Alright, I’ve got an idea!” He landed on the street, setting the scientist down. “Stay here.”
Ren leapt off the ground and quickly swung ahead of the creature. When he reached a suitable height, he released his web and plummeted to the ground, punching the ground with all his strength.
“Ahh!” Ren held his fist in pain. It wasn’t broken, but it sure hurt. Luckily, Ren had succeeded in his goal, the concrete beneath him had a large crack in it. Enacting the second part of his plan, Ren shot a half dozen weblines into a large chunk and pulled hard.
Ren tore the chunk out of the ground, it was roughly the size of his body and no doubt weighed a ton. He began to spin on his heels and swung the concrete around with him. When he reached a high enough speed, he released the concrete like an Olympic hammer throw.
The chunk soared directly at the creature, striking him in the shoulder and separating his left arm from the rest of him. The arm fell to the ground, losing its shape and becoming a glowing puddle on the street. The beast looked at its missing limb before releasing a screeching roar and swiping its remaining arm at Ren, large globs of lava flew at Ren.
The masked vigilante was forced to duck and weave past the projectiles, lest he be burned alive. Turning his gaze back to the monster, Ren watched as its arm grew back out of its torso.
“Are you serious!?” Ren cried, unable to believe the monster’s capabilities. However when he looked closer, he noticed that the creature’s size had notably shrunk.
‘Okay, so that did do something. So if I keep this up…’
Ren picked up another chunk of concrete, this one larger than the first, and held it above his head. While doing this, he couldn’t help but recall his first time using his new strength. Back during the Shibuya attack, Ren had struggled to pick up a concrete pillar half this size. He’d come a long way since then.
Now having passed by Ren, the monster was some distance away from him. Using his immense strength, he threw the chunk at the back of Molten Man’s leg, causing it to separate. The monster was unable to balance on its remaining limb and collapsed to the ground. Now the creature’s only focus was its ultimate goal, the Skytree, it dragged itself across the ground toward the tower.
Ren collapsed to the ground, having spent so much energy throwing boulders, he wasn’t sure how much more he could manage. Glancing to his left, he saw the scientist had caught up to him.
“What are you doing!? He’s nearly there!”
Ren pulled up the bottom half of his mask. “I *huff* I’m trying! At this rate *huff* I can’t stop him!”
The scientist looked up at the street before them. “Alright, I have an idea. See that building up there?” He pointed to what looked like a small 4 story apartment complex a few blocks ahead of the creature.
“Yeah? What about it?”
“Drop it on him.”
“What!? That’s crazy, people live there! Even if they didn’t, there’s no way I have the strength for that.”
“We can evacuate the building before we bring it down. Look, if we don’t do this, thousands will die.”
Ren paused for a moment, then realized the longer he waited, the less time there’d be to evacuate.
“Okay, let’s go.”
The two of them got ahead of the creature, Ren struggling to even carry the man on his back. When they arrived at the building, Ren turned to the man.
“How do we get them all out in time?”
The scientist simply turned to the fire alarm and pulled the switch. The blaring alarm hurt Ren’s sensitive ears to the point he had to cover them. The two watched as all of the residents left their rooms in a hurry.
The scientist looked at Ren. “I’ll make sure everyone gets out. You get into position to bring it down.”
Ren nodded and ran out the door. As he ran to the other side of the street, he could feel the heat coming off the creature. If he was going to do this, it needed to be fast. He didn’t know how, but he had to find the strength to do this. The masked hero fired over a dozen weblines into the side of the building, spread out across a large area to ensure it came down properly.
He looked across the street and saw the scientist giving him the thumbs up. The residents who had evacuated had fled in fear of the approaching monster.
Ren began pulling with all of his remaining strength, his costume’s padded feet giving him some traction on the concrete. No matter how hard he pulled, the building wouldn’t budge an inch. Molten Man’s head was now in the building's shadow, it was now or never.
‘C’mon Ren, remember what’s at stake. If you fail here, Tokyo is done for. Think of everyone who’s counting on you.’ Various images flashed through Ren’s mind, the people he’d met since coming here. His friends, the people he’d come to need in his life: Sojiro, Ryuji, Ann, Futaba, Makoto, Maruki, Takemi.. He had to do this, for them. Even if it killed him.
“aaUGGH!” Bits of Ren’s suit began to tear around his biceps and chest.
The brick and mortar of the building cracked under the pressure. The wall Ren pulled came free of the building and fell to the street like a giant domino. At that exact moment, the monster was completely beneath the wall as it collapsed. Ren fell backwards, barely able to breath; he was so exhausted.
As a cloud of dust obscured the street, the scientist walked atop the debris. He was searching for any trace of the monster, not one drop could be spared. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a glowing orb. Moving towards it, he saw a small bit of the creature left, no bigger than his hand. It pushed itself forward like a slug on the sidewalk.
The scientist picked up a large stone in the wreckage, holding it above his head.
“I’m sorry Kiritani.” He dropped the stone onto the final piece.
“Now you can rest in peace.”