"Don't come near me! Don't come near me! Don't come near meeee!!!!"
A high-pressure water flow erupted from a newly manifested water sphere. It was even more powerful than before; by concentrating the force he had previously dispersed into many smaller strikes into a single point, Urakawa had significantly increased its lethality.
The power to scrape human flesh right off the bone was certainly a threat, but unfortunately for him, my body was a special model. There was no flesh to be carved away, and the torrent was insufficient to wash the threat aside.
"What the hell are you...?! Why is this happening to me?!"
The man forced his fallen body upright. While spraying water to cover his tracks, he turned his back and tried to put as much distance between us as possible.
A desperate flight. He acted without realizing that this single deed would trample upon my remaining patience.
"You won't even stand and face me?"
What exactly was this thing before my eyes?
He tormented those weaker than him, staged incidents for fame, and every victory he held was choreographed according to a script. Even while calling himself a hero, he turned his back on me—on a Kaijin—and fled.
Was such a creature truly a hero?
"Ah... how pathetic."
Even the slightest, most infinitesimal shred of expectation I had left finally withered away.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!!!!"
The man fleeing with his back turned clad his feet in water, accelerating as if sliding across the ground. To him, victory was always something found at the end of a calculation. Battles were things to be won before they even began, and today’s script had never accounted for an intruder like me.
The Promising Rookie. The Next Ace Candidate. The image he had built was, in the end, nothing more than a fiction. When truly driven into a corner, only one's core essence remains.
"There's no way you can run."
Before a Kaijin, lies and exaggerations crumble. Just like this. Quite easily.
"Right? You fake hero."
"!? !? !? !? !?"
One step, two steps, three steps. I accelerated with every stride. With every burst of speed, my black cloth fluttered in the wind, and my crimson eyes burned an afterimage into the path of my movement, slicing through the darkness. There was no way he could escape from me—from the Kaijin—with a flight of this level.
In a mere three steps, I had circled around to the man's front.
"Kuh!?!???"
He reflexively unleashed a water sphere.
Slow. Everything was far too slow.
Before the water sphere could reach me, I drove my fist into the man's abdomen.
"Gah...!?"
The piercing impact sent the man’s body hovering into the air, forcing every bit of air from his lungs. The pain caused him to lose control of his ability, and the water sphere dissipated into a harmless mist.
"Hmph!"
I swung my right leg through his defenseless, floating body. Incapable of even attempting a defense, Urakawa went crashing pathetically into a pile of rubble.
"Ah...!! Guh...!!"
"Stand up. You can still go."
His legs still moved. He could still use his ability. One arm was still intact. His mind could still process thought. I would crush every last bit of it—every scheme, every ounce of power, and his pathetic flight—with pure, unadulterated violence.
"Aaaaaaaaah!!!!"
Buried in the rubble, the man's final move was to spray a massive volume of water. It wasn't a water laser meant to rend flesh, but a pure mass attack intended to wash me away.
"What do you know, you've still got some fight in you."
A water flow surged toward me like a flood. Against such a massive volume, my response remained simple. I merely clenched my fist and struck.
"—Useless."
His desperate, final move vanished into a spray of mist before overwhelming violence. In the end, the man's actions were meaningless. The destined end would not be overturned.
"Shit, damn it...!! What, what the hell are you...!! Why did it turn out like this...?!"
He no longer had the will to even crawl across the ground to escape. His spirit was completely broken. Even as I approached, he did nothing but wail as he lay collapsed in the wreckage.
"What's wrong with using villains?! They're just criminals!! I was just making effective use of them while cleaning them up...!!"
"..."
"I'm... not in the wrong...!!"
"Just shut up."
I clenched my fist. I drew back for a blow that would shatter the earth, aiming straight for the man's face. Without mercy, without hesitation, I swung my fist down.
The impact traveled through the earth, causing the surrounding rubble to collapse. Amidst the rising dust, no fresh blood sprayed.
"—I'm not going to kill you."
The fist I swung down had shifted just before hitting his face, striking the ground instead. Though he suffered no physical wound, the man had glimpsed his own death. Unable to endure the terror, his consciousness flickered out.
"I won't let you become a tragic hero."
If I killed him here, the world would process him as a tragic hero taken down by a Kaijin. I would never allow that.
"I won't give you the mercy of death."
I ignored the unconscious man and walked over to Masao Shimogaki. Clutched in the hand of Masao—whose body had been forcibly turned into a monster—was a familiar black terminal.
"Always thorough, aren't you, old man?"
For the first time since arriving here, I used my ability while in my Kaijin form.
"Factor Release: Machine Kaijin Androbod."
Unlike in my human form, I could now exercise every ability dwelling within my body without restriction, operating at one hundred and twenty percent output.
I used my ability to hack the terminal Masao held. The device's recording function had been running continuously, capturing the entire conversation between the man and me. I extracted only the man's voice from the recording and broadcasted it into the sea of the internet, while simultaneously sending it indiscriminately to every news outlet and authority I could find.
"Enjoy your living hell."
With this, he was now just a common criminal. He would never see the light of day as a hero again. He would never obtain the prestige he had sought.
"...I guess this is goodbye."
The battle was over. I had rampaged a bit too flashily. In a short while, the police or heroes would arrive, having caught wind of the anomaly. I had to leave this place quickly.
I wanted to take Masao with me. But I had to leave him as evidence of the man's crimes.
"I'm taking this, at least."
Even if I took his body, I wouldn't be able to give him a proper burial. I would have to leave the rest to the heroes. I decided to take the terminal as a memento. This terminal represented Masao's pride as a combatant. At the very least, I wanted to bring his pride home with me.
"..."
The hour was already deep into the night. Blending into the darkness, I departed the scene. Using a Kaijin's physical abilities, it took less than a few minutes to return home.
"I'm back."
There was no reply.
I deactivated my Kaijin form and began packing my things. Masao was dead. Eventually, his identity would be determined, and this place would be investigated. I could no longer stay here.
"...Was it always this spacious?"
Even though it was just a small single room, it felt strangely vast right now. Suppressing my feelings of regret, I left the room with a load that didn't even fill a single bag.
Between that man's story and the traces left here, I would eventually be hunted, but once I left this house, it would be impossible to find me. I possessed neither a family registry nor personal information. If the worst came to worst, I could simply change my face.
"Thank you for everything."
I couldn't bring myself to say "I'm going." I knew I would never return here again. So, at the very least, I conveyed my gratitude one last time before leaving the house behind.
"..."
I walked the streets without a destination. Even though it was late, the streetlights illuminated the world brightly, and many people passed me by. When I thought about how everyone passing by, unlike me, had a destination they were aiming for, I felt a profound sense of loneliness.
"What should I do now?"
My daily life had been stolen. There was no "business as usual" for me anymore. I had no protection; I had to survive on my own.
"I wonder... what I should do."
The man from earlier came to mind. Talking about being a hero while exploiting villains and gorging himself on profit—how was that a hero? He was just scum. The world was currently overflowing with the supernatural and mired in chaos. There were probably other pieces of scum like him out there, living comfortably even now.
If that was the case, maybe I should be allowed to do it too. If I used the power dwelling in this body, I could live however I wanted. If I felt like it, I could even rebuild the Syndicate. If I surrendered myself to the swirling power, it would surely be an easier life.
"But, I—"
I couldn't do it. I didn't want to live that way. Because I knew of a far more wonderful way to live.
"Because I'm a hero."
I had thought that girl's back looked so cool. I had yearned for it, helplessly.
That's why... that's why... that's why I—
"Maybe I'll try aiming for it."
Not a sham, but a real hero.
I didn't know what I needed to do to become a hero. But at last, I had found a purpose.
"—Found you."
A voice called out to me while I was lost in thought. My sleeve was gripped tightly.
"I've been looking for you this whole time."
When I turned toward the lovely voice, a black-haired girl with refined, beautiful features looked back into my eyes. I knew her.
"I finally found you. My benefactor."
The girl was Senpai—the one who had been abducted inside the burning hotel and had been one step away from being turned into a monster. The last thing to happen on this day was a miraculous reunion with the girl I had rescued.