Tokyo Ghoul: King

Chapter 10: Scars

  Roughly two years have passed since you left Eto's care. Roughly two years of slaughter and training by yourself to fulfill that vow of becoming the single most feared ghoul in all of CCG.

And as you had vowed to do, you had succeeded. You had made yourself the most feared thing in Tokyo, even more feared than The One-Eyed Owl. They called you the "Apex Predator" or "The 24th Ward Monster", depending on which form of your kakuja they referred to.

You had remained in the 24th, having made yourself a rudimentary home in one of the less-worn-down apartment buildings there.

The reason why they had given you those nicknames was because of that first night in the ward and what happened over the last years. The first night, you had vented out all the rage you had, though you did manage to somewhat retain your sanity. It had been a bloodbath.

On that night you had cannibalized on countless ghouls, which led to your kakuja mutating and transforming into a new form, which the CCG had described as the most dangerous ghoul to date. In addition, you had refined your control over your kagune in general over the last two years. You could now shape it into basically any form with little more than a thought, and even alter its density. The latter allowed you to improve your agility, a thing your RC type lacks.

Another reason why CCG feared you was because you usually left the remains of the various CGG investigators that trespassed into your territory at various sewer outlets. Your kakuja's destructive capabilities and reputation had effectively reduced CCG activity in the 24th ward to almost nothing, at most the odd two investigators every other month. After the sudden decline in hostiles in the ward your days started to get more jarring. You had partially expected this, but you kept going since you knew you were making a difference.

What you were not expecting was that some of the local ghouls would have started to respect you. At first, they all feared you like CCG did, but after they apparently understood that you only attacked those who tried to oppose you, they had started to appreciate your presence in the ward. Not that it stopped some ghouls from trying to fight you for your status a few times.

You did have more than enough food to supply yourself with and a roof over your head, but there was something missing.

You had lately started to feel lonely again. The pain of loss had and continued to hurt you, as it had resurfaced after you discovered that Eto had abandoned you for some other project of hers. Even if by your own volition, you had started to slightly regret cutting off any and all connections to other people. This lonely lifestyle was starting to take a toll on your mind more and more, as you had started to become lethargic and depressed, sometimes laying on your mattress all day, until you'd detect a CCG agent or some other peculiar scent to investigate. The people in the ward might have begun to respect you as of late, but they still acted on the fight-or-flight response most of the time. At the end of the day you had no shoulder to lean on.

You have tried to ignore the thoughts of regret and focus on other things, but it has become gradually more difficult.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a smell. The smell of CCG agents. It was an unpleasant, sterile stench. You chose to leave thinking about your situation for later.You had trespassers to deal with.