Tiny Hero Ch 11: A Transformed Body!

I looked down at myself, my arms, my chest, everything. Still glowing. Still blue. It was like my skin had turned into stained glass and someone shoved a lantern inside me. But as the seconds ticked by, the glow flickered and started to fade, dimming like a dying bulb.

"What the hell?" I muttered, my voice trembling. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be terrified or impressed with myself. Probably both.

The girl I'd just saved clung to me for a second, wide-eyed, then scrambled back to her family. That's when I noticed—their stares. Every single Minari in sight had their eyes glued to me, like I was some kind of alien.

And then it hit me. Not just them.

I tilted my head up.

The Obelisks had stopped. Stopped moving. Stopped their twisted little "dance." Both of them—towering, naked, and covered in dust—were staring right at me.

"Um..." was all I managed before my stomach dropped.

Something huge—fingers—pinched around my right arm. I didn't even have time to scream before I was yanked off the ground like a bug caught in tweezers.

The girl slipped out of my grasp, safe on the ground, but I was the one dangling now, legs kicking uselessly as the world swung far below me. My stomach did cartwheels as I was lifted higher and higher, until my whole body was level with her face.

And that face—

She was young. Or at least, she looked young, in Obelisk terms. Her features were sharp, her lips curled with this mixture of surprise and curiosity, and her massive eyes locked on me like I was some puzzle piece she'd just found under the couch.

"What's this?" she asked, her voice booming so loud my bones vibrated.

I struggled in her grip, trying to twist free, but her fingers pressed into me like iron shackles. And then I noticed something that made my stomach flip again.

My arm.

It wasn't bending right.

It stretched. Long. Unnaturally long. Like rubber. Like I was some damn cartoon character.

"What the—?!" I croaked, staring at my warped limb as it dangled from her grip.

The Obelisk girl laughed. Not a sweet laugh, not amused—it was cruel. She bounced me. Literally bounced me, like a yo-yo, using my weird rubbery stretchiness to send me snapping up and down in her fist.

Every drop made my stomach jump into my throat. "Oh come on! I'm not a toy!" I yelled, but of course, that only seemed to make her laugh harder.

"What a strange little thing," she said, tugging my arm out, watching it snap back with a snap that made my shoulder ache.

Her partner, the male Obelisk, shifted. Dust and chunks of rubble slid off his back as he propped himself up, looming closer. His shadow swallowed the city block beneath him.

"Should we keep this one?" the girl asked, her smirk widening as she dangled me like a prize. "He seems... special."

The man's voice rumbled low, disinterested. "Sure. Doesn't matter to me."

That was it? Just sure? Just like that, my whole life was a maybe-pet project for two skyscraper-sized nudists?

I didn't like where this was going. Not one bit.

I didn't know how my body had changed, why it glowed, or why I'd suddenly turned into a human rubber band. But I did know one thing—being some Obelisk's toy was not in my life plan.

"Let me go!" I shouted, thrashing against her grip.

And that's when I felt it.

My fist.

It burned. Heat crawled up my arm, not painful exactly, but intense, like holding fire too close to the skin. The glow was back, only this time not blue—it was orange. Bright.

The Obelisk girl jolted, her smirk dropping.

"Ow!" she yelped, jerking her hand back like she'd touched a hot stove.

And just like that, she let me go.

The fall was shorter than I expected, but it still knocked the wind out of me when I hit the ground. Rubble dug into my back and dust filled my lungs. Groaning, I rolled over, pushing myself up onto shaky legs.

That's when I saw it.

My hand.

Still glowing. Still burning. An orange light, like molten metal under the skin, pulsed in my fist.

I stared at it, chest heaving, eyes wide.

"Whoa..." was all I managed.

Because for once, I wasn't just terrified.

I was curious.

And maybe—just maybe—a little excited.

I didn't even have time to enjoy the glowing-hand miracle before a voice thundered from above.

"Are you alright!?"

The man Obelisk.

His booming voice rattled through my ribs, so loud I almost dropped to my knees. His massive frame shifted, rubble sliding off him like sand off a dune, and when he leaned closer to the girl, the ground trembled beneath my feet.

She pulled her hand against her chest like a child stung by a bee. Her lips curled into a pout.

"I'm fine," she muttered, her voice still louder than a freight train.

The man's eyes, massive and shadow-casting, flicked down at me.

And that was when my stomach dropped.

"What did you do!?" he roared, his whole chest vibrating with the sound.

I froze. My mouth opened, but nothing came out. I wanted to yell, Nothing! I didn't do anything! But my voice was buried under the weight of his.

He raised his fist.

And my whole body turned to ice.

I tilted my head back, staring up at the massive shadow blotting out what little light was left. The sight of it alone—one clenched hand, the size of a city block, aimed straight at me—was enough to kill the air in my lungs.

I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe.

"BOOM!"

The world exploded.

The fist slammed into the ground with the force of a meteor. The concrete split like a dropped plate, and the shockwave sent me flying—or at least, I thought it did. Dust swallowed everything, choking and hot. A crater opened where I stood, rubble and dirt collapsing inward like it was all being swallowed.

And then it was silent. Silent except for the ringing in my ears.

When the dust began to settle, I caught sight of something that shouldn't have been there.

Blue.

A glowing, shifting puddle spread across the cracked ground, pulsing like liquid light.

I blinked. No—scratch that—I was blinking. Because the puddle had eyes.

My eyes.

Looking up.

At him.

At everything.

"What the..." my voice echoed, except it wasn't coming from my throat. It was bubbling out of the puddle itself. "I'm not dead?"

I wasn't dead.

I should've been paste under that fist, but instead... this.

I tried to move, and the puddle rippled. Stretched. A head formed first, dripping like wax off a candle, then an arm, gooey and trembling, followed by the rest of me. My form rose out of the liquid like some messed-up reflection trying to crawl out of a mirror.

"Wait a minute—what happened to my body?!" I shouted, staring down at my arms, my chest, all of it translucent and jelly-like, glowing faintly blue again.

I looked like... hell, I don't even know. Some kind of knockoff superhero crossed with a water balloon.

My hands passed over my chest, sinking into my own form slightly before bouncing back out. It felt... wrong. Too soft. Too flexible.

But it was me. Somehow, it was still me.

And I wasn't dead.

Not yet.