"I’m borrowing this, Shimogaki...!!"
ARMZ.
Using the black device—a keepsake from Masao Shimogaki that the Dark Matter Syndicate had produced for its combatants—Owari deployed an all-black Battle Suit.
Between the full-face helmet and the reinforced plating, the suit’s mechanical systems boosted his physical capabilities to superhuman levels. With this, he could push his power to the limit—even transform into a Kaijin—without risking his true identity being revealed.
"Mommy!"
"Stop it! Please, just leave my child alone!"
As Owari ran toward a crowded sector of the city, he found a woman who had failed to evacuate in time. She was huddled on the ground, desperately shielding a small girl in her arms as three robots closed in on them.
"Someone, please help...!"
Owari never let a cry for help go unanswered.
Fueled by his momentum, he lunged at one of the robots encircling the woman. His fist, enhanced by the Battle Suit, struck with enough force to send the machine flying through the air even without the use of an Ability.
"This thing is good...!"
He didn't stop there. He drove his other fist into a second robot nearby. Just as he pulverized it, the third robot leveled its muzzle at his back.
"Hah!"
A bullet whistled through the air, but Owari had already leaped. He ignored the stray round as it streaked into the distance, spinning mid-air to deliver a crushing kick that demolished the robot’s head just as it tried to track his movement.
That was the last of them.
"Are you all right?"
"Y-yes. You are...?"
"Don't worry about me. Is there somewhere you can go?"
"There’s an Emergency Evacuation Shelter just a little further ahead... The Heroes are there, too..."
"Then get moving. Now."
Escorting them personally was out of the question.
"Threat detected. Eliminating target."
The heavy, rhythmic clanking of metal feet echoed through the street. Seven more robots had emerged to block his path.
"Go! Now!" Owari barked.
"Yes, sir!"
He couldn't fight while protecting them. Not only was there the risk of stray fire from the robots, but his own attacks were far too destructive to use near civilians. Standing his ground, Owari watched the woman flee with the child in her arms, then turned to face the mechanical squad.
"Eliminating."
"Give it a shot, you scrap metal...!"
The seven robots opened fire simultaneously, a hail of bullets raining down like a storm.
"Factor Release: Steel Monster Iron!"
Owari’s entire body, Battle Suit and all, hardened into solid steel. He took the volley head-on. If he dodged or deflected the rounds, they might have struck the fleeing woman. Instead, he simply bolstered his defense and brute-forced his way through.
"Oraaa!!"
Even in his steel form, the impact wasn't entirely negated. With every bullet that slammed into him, a dull, throbbing pain accumulated in his body. He gritted his teeth against the ache, forcing his heavy frame forward and driving a steel fist into the nearest machine.
One, two, three—he tore through them. Even as their comrades were reduced to junk, the surviving units did nothing but continue to fire. These shoddy dolls clearly lacked any sense of self-preservation or camaraderie.
"Damn, that actually hurts!"
He crushed the final unit and let out a shout to vent the lingering pain.
"Nothing but junk in the end."
Individually, their specs weren't high. Any decent Hero could have handled them. However, their sheer numbers were the real problem.
"This might get ugly."
Heroes had too much to protect. No matter how weak these puppets were, a Hero would struggle if they were protecting civilians. If they were pinned down for even a moment, they would be swamped by the endless reinforcements these things could summon.
Boom!
As he stood there weighing his next move, the sound of a distant explosion shook the air.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The rapid-fire sounds of intense combat reached his ears.
"Fine. I'm going...!"
He was worried about the shelter, but the woman had said there were Heroes there. He would leave that area to them and focus on the main event. He had to get to the source of those explosions immediately.
Running like a gale with the wind at his back, Owari sprinted toward the center of the chaos.
"Out of my way!!"
The closer he got to his destination, the more the mechanical population surged. He punched his way through the stragglers until he reached a major shopping district—a place usually so packed with people on weekends that it became a pedestrian-only zone. Today, however, there wasn't a soul in sight. In their place, a sea of mechanical humanoids clattered and whirred.
"Burning!! Fast!!!!"
Another explosion ripped through the air, followed by a wave of searing heat that swept through the streets. In the middle of the machine-infested district, a single human stood his ground.
A man clad in red armor was tearing through the robotic ranks, his hands wreathed in roaring flames.
"Burning Shot!"
He compressed the flames between his palms and unleashed a blast. The explosion wiped out over a dozen robots, but the mechanical tide showed no sign of receding.
"Haa... haa... Maybe I overdid it...!"
The man maintained his fighting stance, but his breathing was ragged. He had been fighting for a long time, and his concentration was starting to fray from exhaustion. He didn't even notice the Melee Combat Robot with a blade for an arm creeping up behind him.
"Factor Release: Fire Monster Hellflame!"
Owari concentrated a hellish inferno into his right hand and thrust it forward. The searing blast caught the robot dead-on, melting its chassis instantly before the shockwave of the explosion shattered it into a thousand pieces.
"That form... who the hell are you?!"
"Focus! They’re coming!"
Ignoring the man’s shock, Owari stepped up until they were back-to-back. Together, they braced themselves to meet the next wave.
"Is this your doing? You some kind of Dark Matter remnant?"
"If I were, I wouldn't be standing here helping you!"
"I guess that's true...!"
They were only two men now, but having a partner halved the number of enemies each of them had to track. Securing a moment to catch his breath, the man in red armor spoke as he mowed down another row of machines.
"Tch! There’s no end to them!"
No matter how many they destroyed, more surged in to take their place. They were thinning the herd, but the finish line was nowhere in sight.
"Hey, you know these things are pretty simple, right?" Owari said.
"What's your point?"
"When they find a threat like us, they keep calling for reinforcements until we're dead."
"Wait, you don't mean..."
These robots were shoddy, mass-produced junk, but they possessed a basic homing signal. When they engaged a target, they emitted a ping to draw in nearby units. If you destroyed them instantly, the signal would cut out and the other robots would return to their original patrols.
Conversely, if you let the machines linger, they would call every unit in the vicinity to your location. Looking at the sheer volume of robots in the plaza, the truth was obvious: this man had intentionally made himself a target to draw them all away from the civilians.
"Every enemy in this sector should be heading here now. If you want to run, do it now," the Hero said.
"And what about you?"
"If I run, they’ll go right back to hunting civilians. I'm not going anywhere."
"You’re being reckless. You’re already at your limit."
Owari’s arrival had given the man a second wind, but his fatigue was deep. He was likely running on nothing but fumes.
"So what?"
Owari was right. The man was panting, and his limbs were visibly trembling from the strain.
Even so.
"If I were the kind of guy who ran away when things got tough, I wouldn't have become a Hero in the first place...!"
He forced strength back into his shaking legs, standing tall with a pride and conviction that defined exactly what it meant to be a Hero.
"Fine. I guess I'm sticking around."
"I called for backup a while ago. I’ll be fine even if you leave."
"Liar. You’d be dead meat long before backup arrived if I wasn't here."
With Owari at his side, the man finally found the breath to trade a few barbs. More than anything, Owari realized he simply couldn't bring himself to abandon a man like this.
"You've got a weird sense of duty. You sure you’re a Dark Matter remnant?"
"Who knows...!"
They both turned their gaze toward the growing mechanical tide.
Without a word of command, they both broke into a sprint at the exact same moment. There was no signal; they simply both knew that now was the time.
They didn't look back. They were strangers who had met only minutes ago, with no reason to trust or rely on one another. Yet, through the heat of battle, a silent understanding had been forged.
They could trust each other to hold the line.
"Don't die on me, Villain! I’ve got questions for you when this is over!"
"Don't croak, Hero! I’d have a hell of a time sleeping if I let you die after helping you this much!"
Two pillars of fire erupted, blazing brightly across the battlefield.