“You’re badly hurt.”
The man looked down at Han Sua, extending a hand.
“Can you walk?”
“…Get away. This much…Hmph!”
Gritting her teeth, Han Sua pushed his hand away, stumbling as she tried to rise.
Yet, it was clearly beyond her strength, for she immediately collapsed, plummeting back to the ground.
She didn’t even have the power to brace herself with her arms. Han Sua instinctively squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating the impact.
“Huh?”
A lukewarm warmth enveloped her body.
Han Sua found herself uttering a blank gasp.
Instead of the cold touch of the ground, she felt the firm chest of someone else.
Only then did she realize she was cradled in Kim Woojin’s arms, and she opened her mouth in a fluster.
“Wh-wh-what are you doing…!”
“Such a bother.”
Dismissing her protest with a light tone, the man carefully helped Han Sua to her feet.
His touch, so meticulous and gentle, starkly contrasted with how he had treated her until now, yet she immediately dismissed it in her mind.
‘Perhaps she was truly delusional, having been under his thumb like a dog for so long.’
Maintaining that posture, Kim Woojin’s gaze swept over her body, from top to bottom.
A creeping sense of shame made Han Sua blush, but regrettably, she had not a shred of strength left to resist.
Soon, his modulated voice emerged from behind the mask.
“Still, no fatal injuries. You should be able to hold out for a while with the suit and medication.”
“Wh-what is it…”
Han Sua replayed the man’s words, spoken moments ago as he looked down at her. Her mind remained a chaotic mess, unable to process.
“What are you trying to make me do now…”
She asked, her attitude clearly displaying her apprehension.
At this point, she could no longer discern whether what he was asking of her was a good deed or an evil one.
“I told you. Your work isn’t finished yet.”
Kim Woojin replied, nodding as if stating the obvious.
“Hero Psyche. I need you to help me.”
“Help you…?”
Han Sua mumbled, her voice devoid of sense.
Help, not an order.
The man’s demeanor had dramatically shifted.
“What exactly…?”
Han Sua asked, utterly bewildered. The man in the black suit nodded, as if it were perfectly clear.
“First, hit me.”
Han Sua thought.
‘Behind that mask, his face must be smiling.’
“Very hard.”
****
A resounding crash!
“Cough…!”
With a mighty roar, the pink-haired hero tumbled across the floor.
She endured the relentless barrage of attacks without attempting to counter.
“Hahaha, excellent, absolutely splendid!!”
Beyond the swirling dust, the villain’s shadow writhed with excitement.
The S-rank villain, Stingray, raised his prosthetic arm, cackling maniacally.
“I should have done this sooner. You look absolutely magnificent, Fearless! Hahaha!”
After spitting out a mouthful of bloody foam, Fearless ground her teeth.
“Cough, you son of a b*tch…!”
Her tattered suit continuously blared warnings of rapidly diminishing durability.
This was the result of enduring Stingray’s blows for dozens of minutes, all to protect the hostages.
She had no other recourse.
As long as she remained alive, he wouldn’t dare lay a hand on the hostages.
Thus, she held on, waiting desperately for reinforcements, but the news she longed for remained unheard.
Tragically, her body was reaching its limit far quicker than she anticipated.
“I never realized you were such a foolish woman. To sacrifice yourself for those incompetent civilians!”
—Thwack!
A laser beam, fired from Stingray’s fingertip, pierced through Fearless’s knee.
She let out a pained groan, immediately collapsing to the ground.
“Ugh…! Shut, up…!”
Fearless defiantly pushed herself up again.
“A superhuman’s life… isn’t heavier than a civilian’s! How could a hero abandon citizens?! Cough…!”
“Exactly. That’s what makes you a fool.”
—Thump!
Another fierce kick landed. Fearless rolled several more times across the floor.
“The age of might and savagery has returned. It’s becoming the natural order of the world for the strong to stand above. So why do you persist in this futile imitation of civilization? Hmm? You hypocrites.”
“I told you to shut…up…! Keugh…!”
Stingray placed his foot on Fearless’s neck, grinding it down with full force. The smile etched on his lips grew even more sinister.
He lowered his upper body, whispering.
“Fearless, want me to tell you something nice?”
“Cough, ugh…What…”
“That orphanage you cherish so much. I sent half of our Vandal forces there. Why do you think I did that?”
“What…?”
Fearless questioned him, disbelieving. Seeing her dramatic reaction, Stingray grinned, pulling up the corner of his mouth.
“I ordered them to bring those orphans you adore here. Aren’t you curious? If they’ll bring them alive, or if they’ll bring them dead. Or perhaps…only parts of their bodies.”
“What are you…! You bastard!!”
“Why are you so surprised? As promised, I haven’t laid a finger on the hostages here. Seems like there’s no problem at all.”
Stingray chuckled, manipulating his prosthetic arm. With a clanking mechanical sound, a sharp blade attached to its end.
“I’m truly looking forward to it. Your expression when they bring the orphans…!”
Fearless lamented her own complacency.
She had prepared to some extent, but the villain before her was more relentless and cruel than she could have imagined.
She never even conceived that he would deploy half of his forces to the orphanage.
“Let’s take our time and wait. So, first…shall I start by cutting off that arm?”
Stingray’s blade drew closer.
“Kukuku, I’ll make you feel the same pain I suffered. No need to worry. I’ll slowly, very thoroughly flay your fle—”
—CRASH!
Just as the blade was about to plunge into Fearless’s shoulder, a deafening crash erupted, instantly stirring up a thick cloud of dust.
Landing as if thrown by a jetpack was a hero clad in a purple suit.
“You’re…!”
At Psyche’s appearance, Fearless’s eyes widened. Assessing the situation, Psyche urgently cried out.
“Fearless! All the hostages have been rescued! The children at the orphanage are safe too!”
“What…?”
“What nonsense…Argh!”
—CRASH!
Stingray, grasping the situation in an instant, desperately swung his blade down, but Fearless moved a step faster.
The moment she heard Psyche’s words, Fearless kicked the villain in the abdomen, then deftly snatched her fallen blade from the ground. Taking a stance, she lunged at the villain in a single swift motion.
And before he could even react, Fearless’s blade had already pierced his abdomen.
“Th-this…is impossible…Gasp…!”
The villain, letting out a wheezing sound, then toppled sideways.
Seeing him unmoving, the hero finally lost her strength and collapsed.
Psyche, quickly rushing over, supported her.
“Fearless!”
It was a final strike, drawing upon her last reserves of strength. Now, not a speck of energy remained in her body.
Psyche, who had approached, was equally battered.
Seeing her torn and ruptured suit, the hero offered a faint smile.
“Cough, thank you, Psyche. For protecting the children…”
“…It was simply what a hero must do.”
“Haa…Still, it’s a relief. This time was truly dangerous.”
Fearless, seeing Psyche respond without a hint of hesitation, relaxed her guard slightly.
“…I never expected these villains to scheme to such an extent. Reinforcements will arrive soon, so until then…”
“That foolish Stingray. Did he fail?”
Then, a sudden, unfamiliar yet imposing voice echoed.
Fearless’s expression instantly hardened as she focused forward.
The sound of heavy footsteps grew closer. Emerging from the acrid smoke was an unknown villain, clad entirely in a black suit.
Behind the mask covering his face, a harsh, crackling voice resonated.
“Useless. I told him to make sure Fearless was dead, but…”
“Who are you…!”
Fearless glared at him, asking sharply. The villain, still exuding an air of composure, simply opened his mouth and replied.
“Marionette.”
“Marion…ette…?”
She repeated his name, tasting it on her tongue.
It was a name from a fleeting memory.
Marionette.
One of the villains who had recently begun activity, known for crimes in back alleys and banks.
A superhuman. Presumed to possess manipulation-type powers.
Last month, he had been assigned an F-rank on the villain chart. Even though he had recently started his activities, the Hero Management Bureau’s conclusion was that his threat level was still lower than most villains.
“Dealing with it, he says…”
However, as Fearless mulled over his words, she easily grasped the hidden meaning.
“Then…could it be…that you orchestrated this whole incident…!”
“Yes, that’s right.”
And this time too, he simply nodded.
“I ordered this attack. Fearless, your presence in this area has been quite irksome.”
Thud.
He stepped forward, arriving before Stingray, who had already become a cold corpse.
Placing his foot on the thick skull, he pressed down without hesitation.
—Squish!
Brain matter spilled out from the shattered head like a burst watermelon.
Even amidst such a gruesome sight, he merely wiped away the splatters on his suit with indifference.
“To think he couldn’t even properly complete such a simple task…Tsk.”
A shiver ran down Fearless’s spine. She immediately understood.
The rank the Bureau had assigned him was terribly, utterly wrong.
If he could command a heinous villain like Stingray as his subordinate, then the depths of his darkness were simply unfathomable.
“Ugh…!”
Fearless gritted her teeth in frustration.
At the end of the hope she had barely reclaimed, new terror had emerged.
Moreover, both of them were already severely wounded from the recent battle.
There was no chance of victory. Even as she tried to compose herself, despair slowly consumed her body.
And beside Fearless, who was engulfed in helplessness.
“…”
Psyche, who was supporting her, wore an expression that conveyed not fear, but rather an odd mix of awkwardness and reluctance.
