The Anomaly-class zombie

They kept moving until they got out of the park and onto the highway. While in the passenger seat, Yuto noticed something. Strangely enough, the road was completely empty—no zombies in sight...
“Bruno…” Yuto called out to him.
“Hm?”

“Why are there no zombies around?” Yuto asked, briefly looking out the window.

“Oh, that?” Bruno replied casually, with one hand resting on the steering wheel. “That’s because of the piglets.”

“Piglets? Like… pigs?”

“No, no. Not your bacon,” Bruno laughed out loud. “These are different. They’re anomalies.”

“Piglet… anomalies?” Yuto frowned his eyebrows. “I really don’t understand.”

“Alright, listen,” Bruno said. “Anomalies are zombies that have absorbed a large amount of angelic radiation—way more than usual. That kind of exposure mutates them into something much worse.”

Yuto stayed quiet, carefully listening to him.

“Piglets are a specific type of anomaly,” Bruno continued. “They don’t just eat humans. They also eat other zombies—even weaker anomalies.”

“…That’s insane,” Yuto muttered out loud.

“Crazy, right?”

Sigh... “A lot has changed since I remember,” Yuto said quietly. 

“Five months in a coma is a long time,” Bruno exclaimed.

“…Yeah.” Yuto sighed again.

“But look on the bright side,” Bruno added, playfully hitting him with his elbow. “You’re still alive...ehhh.”

Yuto frowned slightly. “Yeah.”

Then after a moment of silence, Bruno spoke up again...

“So,” he said, “how much do you know about fighting?”

Yuto blinked twice and turned toward him. “Fighting?”

“Hand-to-hand. Weapons. That kind of thing.” Bruno looked at him briefly before returning his eyes to the road.

“…None,” Yuto admitted. “ I've never trained before... everything I did to survive was just purely on adrenaline.”

Bruno laughed out loud. “Good. That makes things easier.”

“Huh, how is that easier?”

“Means I don’t have to unteach bad habits.”

The car slowed down and eventually came to a stop in front of an abandoned shopping mall.

“Yuto-boy,” Bruno said, turning off the engine. “We’re here.”

They both stepped out of the vehicle...

And almost immediately, a loud roar could be heard from inside the mall.
“Ugh,” Bruno grinned weirdly. “They sound hungry.”

Yuto swallowed his saliva. “What do you mean?”

“There are several piglets in there,” Bruno said casually. “I want you to go in and kill them.”

“…What?” Yuto stared at him.

“You have five days.”

“Five days?!” Yuto raised his voice at Bruno. “Chihiro said a week! I don’t even know how to properly use the angelic authority!”

“Firstly,” Bruno replied calmly, “it’s Captain Chihiro. Secondly, I only work five days a week.” He folded his arms. “And we’re raiding the Central Tokyo military base next week. I need to prepare too.”

Yuto wanted to argue more, but Bruno's response was reasonable...

“…So what are the basics?” Yuto asked after a moment. “How do I use the angelic authority?”

Bruno scratched his head twice. “There are no instructions.”

“…What?”

“Just imagine something,” Bruno nonchalantly said. “And hope you don’t die. That’s how I learned.”

“Then why were you asking if I could fight—like you were going to teach me something? What was all of that about?!” Yuto shouted in irritation.

“Eh,” Bruno laughed awkwardly. “I was trying to sound like a proper instructor. Ease the mood and all that.”

Yuto slapped his hands over his face. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

"The best way to learn anything in a short period of time is under pressure."

“Please spare me the Bull shit." Yuto sighed... “Anything else I should know about piglets?”

“Yes, yes—whatever you do, do not let them grab you. Also, they’re very fast, so don’t be deceived by their weight.”

“Okay… thanks,” Yuto replied, a dissatisfied look on his face.

“I’ll be outside,” Bruno added. “If you need anything, scream.”

"Scream, huh?" 

Yuto ignored him and stepped into the shopping mall through the broken glass doors...

While inside the mall, Yuto immediately raised his right hand to cover his nose and mouth.

The staunch smell of decay hit him all at once—thick, heavy enough to make his stomach turn from irritation... He slowed down his footsteps, breathing through his sleeve as his eyes quickly adjusted to the dark interior.

Almost immediately, Yuto realized the reason. The angelic authority within him was heightening all his Anatomical senses.

He then lowered his hand slightly and spat out some of his saliva before deciding to head up the dormant escalator...

As he reached the top, he paused and looked around him. That section of the mall was filled with blood and debris, scattered and painted across the floors and walls...

"Jesus... Christ." Yuto murmured to himself.

He tightened his grip on his hoodie as he cautiously moved forward.Then he heard it. And a second later, he saw it.

A piglet—the anomaly-class zombie Bruno talked about—stands at a height of seven feet tall, its body was grotesquely swollen with an unnatural mass. Just one look told him it weighed far more than a one-bedroom apartment, in Shibuya...

“ROARR—!”

The moment its dark green eyes locked onto him, it roared violently.

Yuto froze up. He had tried to stay quiet, but it didn’t matter anymore.

The piglet started moving toward him...

Yuto immediately raised both hands, panic and tension rising in his chest as he tried to imagine a weapon—anything—forming through his angelic authority. But as he focused, he noticed something strange...

The piglet...was slow...

Way slower than any zombies he had fought back at the university...

“…Was Bruno messing with me about them being fast? Did he exaggerate, or am I missing something?” He murmured to himself, reducing his efforts in summoning a weapon...

But that was his mistake...Soon after, he sensed a change in the atmosphere. He stopped focusing on his hands and looked back toward where the piglet had been— and it wasn’t there anymore.

“…You’ve got to be kidding m—”

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw a massive shadow over him...Shit.

The piglet was airborne…

And it was too late. It kicked Yuto’s body through the mall’s already weakened floor. The ground gave way instantly, collapsing into the level below.

Both of them landed on the lower section. Yuto briefly coughed up blood; from that single attack alone, his vision began to blur.But that didn’t stop the piglet from punching him again. This time, Yuto was sent flying like a sniper bullet.

his body smashing into a nearby pillar... Excruciating pain exploded through his back.

“Gah—!”

He barely had time to breathe...

Yuto raised his left hand again, desperately trying to summon a weapon, with his angelic authority—but his body refused to respond fast enough.

Then piglet grabbed his leg from behind...

Before Yuto could react or even struggle, it began swinging him violently, slamming his body against the ground over and over. His head struck the floor repeatedly; his vision was flashing between white and black with each impact.

Then it flung him far away...

Yuto’s body crashed beneath a dormant escalator, his waist slamming hard against the metal support...

Blood ran down from his eyes and ears...Everything felt distant.

But in that split second of hopelessness—right at the edge of losing consciousness—

Yuto imagined himself wearing boxer gloves. Immediately, a golden light wrapped around both of his hands, forming golden gauntlets. In that moment, the piglet jumped into the air again, trying to use its airborne attack on Yuto...

He quickly rolled over to the other side, briefly avoiding its air attack. In that moment, Yuto saw a once-in-a-lifetime opening and pushed himself upwards, punching it with all his strength while shouting desperately...

A golden bright light exploded the moment his fist made contact with the piglet’s skin, blasting half of its body into pieces...

Immediately, Yuto sat down on the damaged mall floor, breathing heavily before laughing awkwardly...

“Ahh—haha… I killed it…”

“Hahaha—!” between his laughter, he coughed hard...

Slowly, he lifted his hands, staring at the golden gauntlets... damn.

"I still can't believe all this is real," he said, still laughing slowly.

Then...

“ROAR.”

Yuto’s smile instantly vanished.
His eyes widened as he turned around...

Behind him, dozens of piglets were emerging from the mall shadows—more than fifty of them. Some dropped from the upper floor, while the others advanced slowly across the lower floor.

Yuto knew they were all watching him...

Slowly, he stood up and exhaled twice—not entirely out of fear, though part of it was—but this time, it was more about the thrill...

“…Guess I don’t have much of a choice,” he spat out, blood.

While all of this was happening, Bruno secretly watched him from the roof, ready to step in if anything went wrong...