Supervillain Idol System: My Sidekick Is A Yandere-Chapter 524: Show Of Force (Part 6)

Don didn't stop.

He shifted his weight and kept moving, boots hammering across shingles and broken concrete as more of the hound-things spilled into the open behind him.

They poured out of the earth in frantic waves—climbing, scrambling, clawing their way free as if the ground itself had turned against the town.

It wasn't just the fissure he'd crossed moments earlier.

Cracks were opening everywhere now.

He saw it happening in real time as he moved—hairline fractures splitting driveways, sidewalks tearing apart in long jagged seams, soil sinking inward before rupturing outright.

The rumbling deepened, no longer distant. It carried through walls and bones alike—GRRROOOOM~—and with it came more movement. Too much.

He cleared another roof and pushed toward the edge of the block. One more jump and he'd be out of this cluster of houses.

That was when a voice cut through the noise.

"Help! Please—someone help!"

Don snapped his head back.

A man stumbled out of a damaged house two buildings over. Mid-thirties, maybe. Average height. Greying hoodie torn at the shoulder, jeans soaked dark along one thigh. His face was raw with panic, eyes wide as he ran, arms pumping badly like his body hadn't caught up to his fear yet.

Don opened his mouth—

And then his instincts screamed.

He turned hard toward the ground near the man's feet, eyes locking onto a thin crack splitting the pavement beside the house.

"Wait—!"

Too late.

The fissure tore open—and something exploded out of it.

The hound burst upward in a blur of twisted muscle and bone, its malformed forelimb whipping out in a brutal arc. Jagged claws sank into the man's torso and tore straight through him.

Blood sprayed wide and bright, painting the wall behind him as his scream ripped free—high, broken, and abruptly cut short as his body folded and collapsed.

The girl shrieked.

She clutched Don's jacket and tried to turn her head, but he stopped her with a quick, gentle tap against her hair, guiding her face back into his chest.

"No, no," he said softly, forcing calm into his voice. "Don't worry about that. Let's focus on finding mommy, okay?"

Her breath hitched. She sniffed hard. "I'm scared, Mr—"

"I know," he said, already moving. "I've got you."

He turned to leap—

And something crashed through the house beside him.

Wood and brick exploded outward—as another hound tore through the wall and roof in a single motion. It came out mid-leap, body stretched long, claws angled straight for Don.

He dropped low at the last second, curling his back and shoulders around the girl to shield her as debris rained down. Shingles and splintered beams slammed into him—forcing him to pause just long enough.

The creature slashed.

Don jumped back, boots skidding as claws missed him by inches and instead ripped free sheets of roofing, sending them clattering across the street.

He didn't hesitate again.

He launched off the roof and hit the road running.

The streets were wrecked—cars abandoned at bad angles, asphalt split open, debris everywhere—but he moved through it anyway. Sprinting. Leaping. Cutting angles whenever the ground tried to take him.

Behind him, they followed.

The hounds poured into the street, howling in broken, wet tones as they chased. They weren't fast enough to keep pace—not alone.

But they didn't need to be.

More came from side streets. From alleys. From collapsed storefronts and broken yards. Shapes lunged from corners, snapping at empty air as Don blew past them.

Then the front closed in.

Four surged out ahead of him at once, bodies low and charging full force. Two more came up behind, closing the gap fast.

Don assessed it in a second.

He could fight them. He knew that.

But not like this. Not carrying a child. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He veered—

And stopped.

Two more hounds climbed onto the rooftops flanking the street, claws digging into brick as they paced him from above. One dropped low, crouched, blocking his escape.

They'd boxed him in.

The girl peeked up despite herself.

Her scream tore loose, raw and terrified. "Monsters!!"

Don planted his feet, body turning sideways as he adjusted his grip and lowered his center of mass, eyes flicking from threat to threat.

Around them, the ground kept rumbling.

And the hounds moved in.

Don didn't slow.

If anything, he pushed harder.

As the two leading hounds launched toward him, he surged forward instead of away. The first barely had time to register the shift before Don's foot came up under its jaw—CRK~—bone snapping through malformed skull as its body went slack midair.

Don rotated with it.

One boot came down on the creature's head, using it as a brief, brutal foothold. He didn't spring upward—he kicked off sideways, body cutting across the street in a tight arc, and his other leg slammed into the face of the second hound just as it turned toward its fallen packmate.

The impact caved its deformed skull inward with a wet crunch—and Don carried through the motion, momentum throwing him onto the rooftop to the left.

Two more were already there.

They snarled and charged the instant his boots touched down. Below, more creatures leapt for the walls, claws scraping brick as they tried to follow.

Don didn't wait.

He ran.

He cleared the roof and the next, then another, feet barely kissing down before pushing off again. The rooftops blurred beneath him as the chase spilled upward and outward, creatures scrambling, leaping, falling, climbing again.

Ahead—fire.

At the edge of town, a battered evacuation bus sat skewed across the street, one tire blown, windows cracked but intact. Hounds swarmed it from all sides.

Pyro hovered above it, flames pouring from his hands in a constant stream—WHOOOOSH~—burning through the pack. Some dropped immediately, bodies collapsing mid-run. Others kept moving despite it, charred and shrieking until they finally fell a few steps later.

A few slipped through the fire's edge, pushing closer.

Too many. Too spread out.

Don's jaw set.

He accelerated.

One leap carried him over two rooftops outright. He landed once, then launched again with everything he had.

This time, he went up.

High.

Wind tore past him as he arced above the street and came down hard—right where the creatures were thickest, near the cracks they kept crawling out of.

He hit like a dropped building.

BOOOOM~.

The road collapsed inward beneath him, asphalt folding and breaking apart as the force rippled outward. Debris and hounds alike were thrown skyward in a violent spray before gravity reclaimed them.

The street caved in on itself, opening into a deep, jagged sink that swallowed bodies and wreckage whole.

Don was already moving again—pushing off the collapsing ground as the destruction finished catching up.

Pyro reacted instantly, redirecting his fire to torch anything trying to flank the bus and blasting away chunks of debris that might slam into it.

Midair, Don took in the scene in a single sweep—positions, movement, threats.

Then he landed near the bus.

Several hounds were already on him.

The first rushed in low and fast.

Don met it with a high kick—CRACK~—skull bursting apart as the body crumpled. Another lunged from behind, claws missing by inches as Don sidestepped and drove a kick into its leg, bone snapping sideways.

He followed through with a knee to its jaw, dropping it hard.

The… one dropped from above.

Too close for a kick.

Don shifted his hold on the girl just enough to free one hand and swung the other in a brutal backhand.

The blow connected with a wet, tearing impact—and nearly ripped the creature's head free as it was sent tumbling across the street.

Another came straight at him.

Not at him.

At the child.

Its jaws opened wide as it lunged.

Don turned too fast.

His punch missed.

The creature snapped down on his fist.

CRUNCH~.

Pain flared white-hot through his arm, teeth biting deep as Don growled through clenched teeth. He didn't have time to dwell on it—two more were already moving in, bodies coiling to strike.

Fire roared nearby.

"Don?!" Pyro shouted, flames flaring brighter as he turned toward him.

The girl clung to Don, sobbing against his chest.

And the hounds closed in.