It was total chaos. The unusual entity known as Black Cat, once thought to be friendly to humans, had now become hostile, and to make matters worse, it seemed that Cage, an S-Class Hero, was about to die—a situation so dire that all the onlookers were struck with shock.
Among them, Yuanna sighed after reading the various messages blaming her for not going to help, and addressed the live broadcast camera.
“…The fact that the prison still holds means Cage hasn’t lost consciousness. I couldn’t break through it even if I attacked; it’s not that I don’t want to help, but that I can’t.”
This only caused the chat room to explode further.
[Cage dying is certain now, what will A City do?!]
[Why did Cage even come to W City?! You bastards!]
[If Cage dies, it’ll be trouble for W City, can Starlight handle this?]
[Starlight, please, please save him!]
[Somebody calm down Black Cat! Please!]
[What the hell, why did he go to W City and didn’t stay with Starlight? Why did he go alone?!]
[This is going horribly wrong, isn’t it? All I can do is laugh bitterly. Cage is such an idiot—why not just die alone instead of dragging W City down with him?]
[Tell Cage to release the prison!]
Even if the prison were to be released now, would anything change at this point?
It might have been possible if Black Cat was locked in from the start with him.
However, Cage had already made a grave mistake, and there was no turning back now.
Yuanna grabbed the camera and the antenna from two A-Class Heroes.
“Both of you, evacuate.”
“Huh? B-but…”
“I don’t want you two here when Black Cat breaks out. Go.”
“Ugh… Mr. Cage…”
The two heroes hesitated before handing over the camera and antenna to Yuanna, sniffling.
Yuanna, about to end the broadcast, paused for a moment upon seeing the chat room’s reactions. She set the camera in a suitable place and planted the antenna.
It seemed like people were pleading for her not to turn it off, accepting the situation as reality rather than remaining paralyzed by the uncertainty. It was time for the citizens, anxious from what they couldn’t see, to come to terms with the situation.
Yuanna, as one of the heroes, felt the responsibility to reassure the panicked public.
Walking within the camera’s frame, Yuanna exaggeratedly performed a stretching exercise and spoke with a calming voice.
“Now, everyone… The fact that Black Cat hasn’t yet torn Cage apart means it’s not capable of breaking through his armor with its teeth, or at least it won’t eat him alive until he passes out. That’s a somewhat positive outcome.”
[What the hell! How is that a positive thing?! Are you joking?!]
[Starlight, are you crazy? Are you okay with a fellow hero dying?!]
[Is this an S-Class Hero talking? Is that how you survive?]
She was trying to give some hope, but everyone seemed too excited to grasp what she was saying.
So, she offered more detailed explanations to make it clearer.
“Please calm down everyone. This means that when Cage passes out and the prison opens, that’s my chance to attack Black Cat.”
[Huh?]
[Huh?]
[Wait, did Starlight say she’ll go after Black Cat to save Cage?! Did I hear that right?!]
[Hell yeah! Starlight! You had our trust all along!]
At the swift reversal of public opinion, Yuanna smirked.
People, after all, living a life threatened by monsters, were understandably sensitive. But sometimes, it was exhausting.
At that moment, through her superhuman vision, Yuanna felt the prison’s barrier beginning to waver.
“He’s about to wake up, so let me give it a shot.”
[Starlight! You can do it!]
[Starlight! Starlight!]
[Middle School #2 Starlight Class, Yuanna! You can do it!]
[Save Mr. Cage! Please!]
[Star Punch! Star Punch!]
Unable to look at the chat anymore, Yuanna threw her smartphone aside and braced herself, feeling the tension.
The flames swirling around her grew fiercer after defeating Mirage, her powers elevated by the heightened Flame Drive to its peak.
KANG! At the moment Cage, thrown towards the ceiling, shattered the prison and flew back down, a human bullet named Yuanna was fired.
With an ample aiming time and within a confined space, the hyper-speed power attack, tearing apart a whirlwind of dust in a circle, shot out. Yuanna tightened her fist and raised her elbow. The impact of this was too much even for Yuanna’s power-enhanced fist to take.
Thus, her elbow, overheated from the acceleration, glowed red like the tip of a missile. Before Cage, who had soared high, began to fall, at the moment the vulpine form reached close to Yuanna, she unleashed her move.
“Kiiaaaaaaaah!!”
With a slight miscalculation due to only shadows and senses, Yuanna, having ripped off both front legs of the beast, slid on the ground covered in blood.
KWAAKGAGAGAC, stopping with both feet while almost parallel to the ground, Yuanna dashed forward and caught Cage mid-flight.
The onlookers who were watching this scene on video, struck with disbelief at what they had witnessed, could not bring themselves to type anything into the chat.
[Starlight, is she ridiculously strong?!]
In the chat window Yuanna didn’t see, the first comment came in, followed by cheers erupting from the ground beneath her feet.
Citizens in the shelter cheered, and Yuanna couldn’t help but laugh, momentarily forgetting the gravity of the situation.
The earlier attack had not killed Black Cat. In fact, within an instant, Black Cat had regrown its front legs and transformed back into a familiar black feline form.
The incredible recovery rate was characteristic of the abnormality, and gripping both fists tightly, Yuanna prepared to aim for Black Cat once again.
“Alright, then… this is where the real fight begins.”
A city where citizens who had not evacuated properly before were now all safe and evacuated.
With the help of A City’s S-Class Hero, Cage, the area was completely controlled, and even with slight destruction to the town, there would be no blame on Yuanna.
The menacing eyes of the monster, Black Cat, scattered killing intent around.
“So this is your true form?”
Upon closer inspection, the usually round and friendly eyes were now sharp like that of a wild beast.
Contrary to its usually clean look, Black Cat’s mouth was drooling, revealing its vicious nature.
The desire to tear and eat humans was clear in its eyes.
Now it was apparent; Black Cat was, indeed, a monster.
“After taking a beating, have you stopped pretending?”
Though the exterior still resembled the somewhat cute black cat, there was a stark difference in the atmosphere and demeanor.
By this point, Black Cat must have realized that humans were its enemy.
Monsters are the enemies of humans, and humans are the enemies of monsters—hence, they must fight.
Yuanna too had never intended to let Black Cat, now like this, go.
“ROAAAR!”
As Black Cat charged at Yuanna, her entire body was engulfed in flames. The fire spread to Yuanna’s surroundings, instantly melting the broadcast equipment.
Yuanna swiftly spread her fists, aligning her index and middle fingers with her ring and pinky fingers. Concentrating her powers into three sections of her fingers, she fired a high-temperature light bullet.
Black Cat, hit by the bullet, swiftly transformed into a black liquid-like form and burrowed into the ground.
When she quickly began firing light bullets at the ground, rolling her feet, the flames spread across the ground burning Black Cat. As Yuanna, covered in high heat, partially sank into the ground and faced Black Cat, transformed into a fiery new form, its claws dug into her body.
“What? Not that hot, are you!”
“KYOAAAAA!”
KANG! The flames spreading from the impact formed a circle, and Black Cat transformed into a massive gorilla-like figure, grabbing Yuanna’s leg and swinging her around like a club.
Being hit towards the ground, Yuanna curled her body to reduce the shock and, upon being released, exploded energy around the captured leg.
PAOONG! Freed from the grasp, Yuanna launched a kick at Black Cat’s head. Black Cat, transforming into a mist-like intangible form, evaded the attack and immediately changed into a wolf form behind her, charging forward.
A characteristic of the Fenrir monster family, the ability within its mouth could annihilate items.
Blocking Black Cat’s upper and lower jaws with both arms, the collision of their powers created a fiery explosion.
“Ugh…!”
“Kaarlrrrr… SSSHHHAAARRRK!”
Their powers were evenly matched. Amid the standoff, the blackened fangs of Black Cat, exposed to high heat, began to melt.
The elemental advantage came into play as Black Cat transformed into a colossal snake-like monster with petrification powers.
Yuanna, momentarily frozen solid, counteracted by using her fiery sun-like powers to burn away the petrification effects.
Not missing this brief opportunity, Black Cat wielded its iron-like tail and swung it against Yuanna, sending her flying.
“Crrugh… Black Cat!”
Slicing through five buildings, Yuanna stopped her skid by gripping the ground with both hands, assuming an animalistic stance, and charged again.
However, Black Cat seemed confused, looking around as if dazed.
The wreckage of buildings, the unconscious S-Class Hero, Black Cat had created ruins in moments.
On the verge of landing a killing blow on Black Cat, who was unresponsive, Yuanna suddenly paused, feeling a strange sense of discomfort.
“Ugh!”
The powerful punch that tore off half of Black Cat’s face startled it, causing it to back away and transform into a slimy form.
Yuanna, realizing she had refrained from landing the decisive blow during a perfect opportunity to eliminate a despair-level monster, shook her head to regain focus. Clearing her mind, she thought about Black Cat’s new form: a slime. Weakness: the core. Location of the core: …
Just as she arrived at this conclusion, Yuanna realized something was off.
“Wait, hold on!”
The wobbly Black Cat was sinking into the ground.
Recalling how she and Black Cat usually were, Yuanna remembered that whenever the distance grew, Black Cat would retreat and claim victory, while she would always lose in such matches.
“Wait, stop! Seriously!”
As Yuanna shouted in confusion, Black Cat, sinking into the ground, paused with only its eyes and ears peeking out.
Its gaze, questioning why she stopped when she had already fallen, was different from the monster’s eyes Yuanna had seen moments earlier.
Black Cat’s usual eyes were round again, blinking as if asking if there was something it needed to say.
It was as if its rationality had returned.
“You… surely you’re not going to fight again? Are you running away again?”
What else could I do? Black Cat blinked a few times, nodding as if understanding.
A monster that avoided harming humans, Black Cat.
As Yuanna took a step forward and Black Cat took a step back, appearing reluctant to fight further, Yuanna debated whether she should use all her strength to capture Black Cat.
With Cage down, capturing Black Cat without the prison would come at the cost of significant damage.
If Black Cat awakened its full monstrous nature and began devouring people, then it would need to be eliminated no matter the cost… but somehow, Black Cat didn’t seem like it would do such a thing.
Though it questioned her qualifications as a hero, Yuanna, who had benefited from Black Cat’s help multiple times already, wanted to make an emotional decision for once.
Frankly, Yuanna hoped that if Black Cat didn’t really intend to harm humans, that would be for the best.
“Haa… this is maddening…”
Pulling back her powers directed at Black Cat, Yuanna looked around. The unconscious Cage, the melted and nonfunctional camera and antenna. Even the camera on her uniform, specially made to withstand high temperatures, had melted like glass.
There was nothing left to document the current situation.
This fact made Yuanna feel a little impulsive.
“Why don’t you fight? Why don’t you attack people… or rather, you did, but why… why do you keep helping people being attacked by monsters?”
Though the act of asking questions to a monster was absurd, Yuanna waited for Black Cat’s answer anyway, knowing it was meaningless.
As if not planning to respond, Black Cat remained silent.
No, it would be impossible for a monster to talk… Realizing this obvious fact a bit late, Yuanna changed her question.
“…Are you really a monster?”
