Heroine Addict (Marvel x Arifureta): Chapter 10, Massacres and Allies (Patreon)

You're a bit darker than I expected, Emma admitted.

Ryuu raised a mental eyebrow, Oh, really?

I hardly expected your Vibranium deposit would be in the hands of an international arms dealer. And your plans for him... Rather cold-blooded of you, but I have to say I approve. You would have thrived in my family.

Emma had a hint of grudging acceptance in her tone. If she was to be connected to anyone, at least Ryuu wasn't an idiot. If he was less willing to make strange choices to get his dick wet he'd be nearly perfect.

Ryuu shrugged as he picked up on her errant thought. It was difficult for them to keep anything from each other when they were actively communicating. At least he was clear in his priorities.

Ryuu stood on top of a crumbling security tower overlooking an abandoned shipyard. With his new foresight, it hadn't taken him long to track down Ulysses Klaue, the infamous arms dealer.

Destiny had discovered many different ways to use her powers over the years. There was one in particular that was incredibly simple and perfect for tracking down someone who didn't want to be found.

For the better part of an hour, Ryuu had meditated in front of a world map. Every time he pointed to a spot along the African coast, he would go into a trance. After a few seconds, he would shake his head and point to another spot. He did this repeatedly to induce visions of what would happen if he scouted that area at super speeds.

This type of divination was a forced, intentional vision. Important events would come to him on their own, but if he wanted details he needed to search for them.

This was how Destiny had lost her eyesight. She searched the future continuously for the first thirteen years after her power awakened. The damage the visions caused to her body blinded her, permanently. Luckily for her, her blindness could be cured with regeneration magic as well. Ancient magic sure was overpowered. Ryuu couldn't wait to get his hands on it.

Until then, he would accept some damage to his eyes to scry the future. He would have a fix for issue long before it caused him real problems.

Ulysses Klaue couldn't hide from him with all of the abilities he had at his disposal. He'd used his telepathy on every human he'd come across looking for memories of Klaue. He was a rather distinctive rogue, so it didn't take long to track him down when he already had the general area.

He looked down on the busy shipyard that held nothing but abandoned and decaying vessels. There was a lot of activity for such a decrepit place.

Ryuu spotted dozens of guards stationed throughout the compound as well as a decent sized garrison inside a retrofitted shipping vessel. They had a large amount of very illegal armaments. It obviously wasn't only his Vibranium that filled Klaue's coffers. Ryuu grinned maliciously. He was going to take Klaue for every penny he had.

He took out a Bowie knife and shapeshifted, morphing into a generic blonde, white male. He took one deep breath before taking off with a burst of speed. He raced down the tower and to the nearest guards.

He sped past them, his knife sweeping past their throats. He flashed past each guard that he could sense, not moving his focus to the ships until each guard was accounted for. The guards were still alive for now, because he was moving at such a high speed the first of them had yet to even hit the ground. He was moving so fast not even a single drop of blood graced his blade.

He moved into the ship-turned-garrison and found dozens of mercenaries in various states. They obviously weren't expecting any company, much less someone like him. He ran through the ship, blade parting the flesh of every man he came across. There were no innocents here. Even the briefest use of his telepathy confirmed that.

At a secluded area of the compound, Ryuu found Klaue sitting at a desk, typing away on a laptop. He grabbed Klaue's hands and stacked them on top of each other on the desk. As he returned to normal time, he slammed his knife through Klaue's hands, pinning him in place.

"Arghhh!" Klaue's roar of pain echoed through his ship, accompanied by a series of thuds as every last one of his mercenaries collapsed with their throats slit. Dozens of men gurgled on their blood as they choked and bled to death.

Ryuu backhanded Klaue to get his attention, then he got up close and ground the dagger down into Klaue's bleeding hands. Based on the fact that he still had both hands, Ryuu knew that his estimate for the timeline was spot-on. Tony's little accident with Ultron was still a couple years away.

"Hello, Mr. Klaue. It's nice to meet you," Ryuu greeted casually. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm thankful for everything you've built up over the course of your sinful life. It didn't feel right to send you off without a little goodbye."

Klaue was trembling in pain and confusion. He still had no idea what was going on. One second he was working on his ledgers and the next his world was filled with agony. Before his well-trained survival instincts could kick in, Ryuu gently patted the top of his head like he was some sort of pet.

"Well, this is it. Thanks for everything. Goodbye," Ryuu finished. He wanted to grant his unwilling benefactor death in a memorable fashion. After a moment of thought, he raised his right hand and it began to vibrate, threateningly.

His perception of time slowed and he activated his telepathy at its full strength, diving into Klaue's mind. He stole every last thought the man ever had, storing it in his own head for later processing. A full life was a lot of information.

After he was done stealing Klaue's memories, Ryuu thrust his vibrating hand through Klaue's chest, piercing his heart and killing him instantly.

Ryuu didn't feel any remorse for the lives he'd taken today. Not only were they the scum of the Earth, their deaths would buy him an introduction with a very advanced society of isolationist warriors. There was no reason not to kill them, really.

He placed all of the weaponry, in use or stored for shipment, inside of his pocket dimension. Using Klaue's memories, he unearthed four caches of vibranium scattered throughout the shipyard. Between all of them, Ryuu had liberated nearly 1000kg of vibranium from the arms dealer.

Hey, Emma. Can you transfer all of the funds from the accounts Klaue had access to in his memories? He queried Emma in his mind and she responded in agreement. She reviewed the stolen memories as well and found that Klaue had nearly a billion dollars squirreled away in various accounts.

I'll set up some untraceable accounts for you and transfer the funds. You'll have access to all of it within a week.

Ryuu loved this part of Emma. She was so efficient and agreeable in the face of wealth and benefits. Definitely his type of woman, mostly because he intended to be the strongest and the wealthiest man on the planet. Women did love ambition.

Halfway across the world, Emma blushed and rolled her eyes, unsure if she should be offended or not.

After collecting all of the bodies, Ryuu made a beeline for Wakanda. He forced some visions to guide him to the right part of the country and soon found himself before a glowing blue barrier that stretched upwards towards the heavens. The holograms didn't do much to deter him as he could see when he would encounter them, rendering the cloaking useless.

He thought of tracking down a member of the border tribe among the citizenry of the fake primitive Wakanda, but decided he wanted to make an impression.

He shifted from his generic blonde form into an African version of himself, mostly the same as his original looks, but with black skin and thicker hair. He looked mixed-race, which he hoped would buy him at least a little goodwill. Wakandans were notoriously xenophobic, after all.

Letting his intrusive thoughts win, Ryuu shifted into his diamond form and rushed the barrier. He unleashed a full force strike using his sharpened fist, his form coated in energetic lightning.

Bang!

Ryuu was thrown back as the Vibranium-based force field redirected the energy of his punch back at him. He twisted mid-air and sloughed off his momentum with a burst of speed, skidding along the ground for barely a meter.

The shield reminded Ryuu of the Black Panther's upgraded suit from the Black Panther movie. The force was stored and redirected outwards against the attacker. In Ryuu's case, his punch harnessed more energy than the barrier could store, and it was immediately released back at him.

The remaining force rippled along the surface of the barrier, threatening its integrity. That would get somebody's attention. These Wakandans had invented some crazy stuff, but they hadn't been challenged in far too long. He was confident he could get away with playing around with them a little.

After a few minutes, he felt a dozen minds surround him in the surrounding foliage. He looked inside their heads and did his best to glean whatever he could of the Wakandan language. He'd never tried such a thing before, but felt that if he sampled enough minds he would be able to learn it quickly enough.

From behind a towering tree, T'Challa, the Black Panther of Wakanda, prowled out to greet the intruder. He was accompanied by a dozen of the Dora Milaje, who were dedicated to his family's protection above all else.

"Hello, Prince T'Challa," Ryuu hailed. The prince and his retinue paused for a moment before they fanned out and the Black Panther approached him personally.

"Hello, stranger," T'Challa began, "You have attacked our border without provocation. What have you to say for yourself?" he questioned. It was strange that this man knew him, but his blatant challenge could not go unanswered.

"Haha," Ryuu laughed, unconcerned. "Sorry, sorry. That was just me having a little bit of fun. I wanted to see how Wakanda's famed barrier held up against one of my moderately serious strikes. Gotta say I'm impressed!" He gave the surrounding guards a double thumbs up.

T'Challa removed his mask and spoke with authority, "Be that as it may. You have committed a crime against the nation of Wakanda. Even knowing about our barrier and what it protects will cost you your freedom, at the very least. I'm sorry, but you'll have to come with us." He held his mask in his hands, peacefully. He didn't want this to devolve into a fight, but as the Black Panther, he was confident that he would come out on top no matter what.

Ryuu held his hands up in surrender, but his tone was nearly derisive, "Ah, I should have expected this from you isolationists," he sighed. "I'm sorry to say that I won't be going anywhere with you."

T'Challa made to put his mask back on and the Dora Milaje pointed their spears at Ryuu threateningly.

"Now, now," Ryuu chided, "There's no need to be so aggressive, my new friends. We're all on the same side here." Without further ado, he removed the corpse of Ulysses Klaue from his pocket dimension, causing his audience to gasp in shock.

"Here I have the body of a man you've wanted for quite a while, care to confirm?" Ryuu tossed the body towards them and it flopped on the ground, boneless.

One of the guards approached the body and examined it. She stood and faced her prince, saluting, "My prince, it is Ulysses Klaue, without a doubt. He has our brand," she confirmed.

T'Challa nodded, but before he could speak Ryuu interjected, "I have one other piece of information to give you, young prince," he said seriously.

When he saw that he had T'Challa's undivided attention, he continued, "Your uncle, N'Jobu, had a son, N'Jadaka, who was abandoned in America after his father's death."

T'Challa was shocked and unable to respond. Ryuu gave him an understanding smile. "I know, I get it. Crazy, right? Your uncle was killed by your father for conspiring with this decomposing piece of trash to steal Wakanda's technology and assets and distribute it to the outside world," Ryuu explained, gesturing to Klaue's corpse.

"The two obviously had very different motives when they did so, but the end result was a little orphan N'Jadaka watching as the former Black Panther flew away in his fancy ship after executing his father for treason. Since then, that little Orphan has devoted his life to gaining power to bring his vengeance down upon your family. Your father in particular," Ryuu dropped a ton of distressing information on the Wakandans all at once.

"You'll find N'Jadaka wandering the world as a man name Erik Stevens, former United States Special Forces. He is a warrior of the highest caliber. If you were to face him in open combat, you'd likely lose, which would be catastrophic for your people." Ryuu finished.

The Wakandans were silent as they digested everything they'd been told. Before they could ask any questions, Ryuu started to walk through their formation, without a care in the world. They didn't stop him.

"Don't worry about paying me back for Klaue or for the warning about your homicidal warmonger of a cousin. I'll be back to collect your debt at some point. See ya!" Ryuu waved goodbye with a cheery wave and blurred off into the distance.

T'Challa stared in shock at the spot that was occupied by their mysterious visitor only a moment before. He shook his head, feeling a headache coming on. He had much to look into.

Ryuu raced out of Wakanda and made a beeline through every country in his path all the way back to Japan. He was tired by the time he returned home, but felt satisfied in an accomplished weekend. There was just one last thing to do to prepare for the future.

He shapeshifted back into his normal form, his clothes becoming a casual pair of fitted jeans, sneakers, a low-collared shirt, and a comfortable leather jacket.

Raven's shapeshifting ability was extra useful because with practice he would be able to create any type of clothing with his morphs. At the highest levels of skill, he would be able to transform into animals. Raven was adept at transforming into various birds that she'd perfected for her spy and detective work.

Ryuu tracked down Shizuku using his visions and intercepted her as she walked home from school. She looked innocent and cute in her school uniform, though Ryuu knew she could take down a man thrice her size with little effort, even now.

"Hello, beautiful," he drawled as he came up behind her, startling her slightly, "Sorry I missed you at school today. I had some business to attend to," he apologized. His international errands and days full of sex had kept him away for an extra day and he'd missed the first day back at school as a result.

Shizuku's eyes narrowed and she looked at Ryuu suspiciously. Where had he come from? Her senses had been enhanced quite a bit as she learned more of her clan's ninja arts. She was confident in spotting any sneak attacks well in advance, but Ryuu had caught her completely unaware.

Ryuu chuckled, "Don't look at me like that, darling. I need to have an important conversation with you today. I trust your parents mentioned something about it?"

Shizuku's head bobbed, though she never took her eyes off him. "Yes... my mother said that I should trust in what you have to tell me, but that I should be wary of you..." she admitted.

"Telling me that you're being wary of me isn't the best way to be cautious, Shizuku," he smiled.

She shrugged carelessly in response, "I have a feeling that you can see through me, regardless."

Ryuu was surprised. Shizuku sure had good instincts. This was the first time he'd seen her since he gained telepathy and she could somehow tell the difference.

"How would you feel about going back to your house for our talk?" Ryuu offered.

Shizuku quickly agreed and they walked back to her clan's compound in a companionable silence. Shizuku's silent guards seethed as they watched their princess be approached by this outsider. A shiver went down Ryuu's spine as he enjoyed the pleasant walk with a pretty girl. Damn ninjas.