S-Class hero Genos laments.
He lost.
It had been to protect a little girl, but he had been defeated again.
He had seen on TV the scene of A-Class hero Stinger being beaten by the monsters that had appeared in J City.
He had immediately set out with his “teacher” and rushed to J City.
Then, along the way, they split up, and he heard the name Sea King from a naked man passing by.
By the time he sensed that the being called the Sea King was heading for the disaster shelter where J City’s citizens were gathered, it was already cruelly too late.
Many heroes were inside the shelter.
All of them were down.
In front of them stood the Sea King he had just heard about, looking down on them arrogantly.
His judgment was quick.
And the decision to make, the action to take, had already been decided from the very beginning.
He slammed a blow into that bastard Sea King’s head and launched him with a surprise attack.
Really.
He was such a hopeless fool.
He let his guard down, thinking he had brought the guy down.
While checking on the civilians, he was hit by a sudden ambush, sent flying, and smashed into a wall.
One arm had even been torn off.
It was no different from when he had fought Mosquito Girl before and decided to self-destruct.
And yet, they had definitely fought on equal footing. No, perhaps even beyond that.
He could feel a leap in growth that was beyond comparison to before.
With only one arm, he was pushing the enemy back.
If only he had not let his guard down, if only one arm had not been blown off....
...while he was thinking that.
“Big bro! Do your best!”
“Shut up!!”
He shielded the girl.
And his whole body was brought down by the bastard’s dissolving fluid.
His upper body had been melted away so badly that nearly all of it was gone, leaving his skeleton exposed.
In the end, he had lost.
He thought the bastard’s next strike would finish him off.
If not for the lizard monster that appeared right after that.
“Get up, vermin.”
Crack!
“Kyaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
It was a scene of one-sided violence.
A scream filled with pain rang through the shelter.
It was the cry that burst out as the lizard monster struck his abdomen with an elbow.
A situation where all he could do was watch one civilian suffer.
“You’re still not there yet. Get up. If you were heroes, this would be the moment to stand back up.”
Smack!
“Kyaaa! Kyaaaahhh!!!”
“...You’re noisy, so shut your mouth.”
Crack!
The people stirred with anxiety and fear.
But Genos noticed something.
He had been saying he’d kill him over and over, but in truth, he wasn’t laying a hand on anyone except that one man.
Even the man he was beating could be killed at any moment, and yet he wasn’t doing it.
“Get up.”
He struck carefully, avoiding vital points and only hitting places that could take the blow.
There was anger in his eyes.
And yet there was no killing intent, only the look of someone waiting for something.
Genos wondered what in the world he was waiting for.
How much time had passed after that?
“Justice Crash!!!”
A bicycle flew in and slammed into the back of the lizard monster’s head.
“.........Ow.”
He staggered, then rubbed the back of his head as if it hurt and turned around.
It was a lie.
This was the same guy who had fought fiercely, trading fists with the Sea King after he had grown even stronger than when Genos fought him.
There was no way that “just” that could have done any damage.
“The hero of justice, Mumen Rider, has arrived!”
The top-ranked C-Class hero.
He had zero chance of winning.
He was an opponent Genos himself suspected he could not beat even at full strength.
Should he stop him?
That thought crossed his mind, but Genos shook his head.
He did not think it was the wrong judgment.
And that judgment was correct.
“...Hero. You said you were Mumen Rider, right?”
“Sorry, but please bear with this a little.”
The murmur was so quiet that no one other than Genos and Mumen Rider himself could hear it.
Thudddd!!!
“-Guhk!!”
It happened in an instant.
A heavy punch slammed into Mumen Rider’s abdomen.
Compared to the fight with the Sea King earlier, it was nothing more than a feather-light tap.
But even that would have been a huge blow to Mumen Rider.
Sure enough, he staggered and took several steps back.
Anyone could see it.
There was no chance of victory for a C-Class hero like Mumen Rider.
“Hyaaah!!”
Clutching his aching stomach with his belt, Mumen Rider charged in with his fist.
The lizard monster showed no response.
“Yah!”
He shouted as he threw the blow.
Just as that fist, carrying all his strength, was about to reach the monster’s face—
Whoooosh.
Without warning, the fist twisted off into empty air.
As his guard naturally opened, another straight punch flew into Mumen Rider’s side.
Thwackkkk!!!
“Grrrrgh...!”
Direct hit.
Mumen Rider was sent flying and coughed up blood.
Even if it was a feather-light tap, it was clearly stronger than when the monster had been beating that man earlier.
It was precise control of force.
Seeing that he had deliberately adjusted it to the point of drawing blood, it was obvious.
What that guy was after was....
Thwack!
Pow!
Crack!
“Ugh, kuh, kgh!”
Thud.
He fell.
But.
“......Excellent. Now then, let’s finish—”
Grip.
Just as the monster tried to turn away again.
Two arms wrapped tightly around his waist.
“Justice... tackle.”
The strength had left that voice.
Groans leaked out between tightly clenched teeth.
“Huh... why are you getting up?”
He didn’t shake him off.
He simply said, “I know better than anyone that nobody expects anything from me, that a C-Class hero is no help!”
“...........”
“I know it... I can’t beat you. I know my power wouldn’t even work on a B-Class hero! Yeah! I know that very well!!!”
He let go of the arms.
“Even so, I have no choice but to fight. I’m the only one here! This isn’t the time to worry about whether I can win or not!”
He widened the distance.
He clenched his fist hard.
“No matter what happens, I have to stand here and—”
He rushed forward.
“—fight you!!!”
He struck.
Crack.
“......Yeah. That’s how it should be.”
Drip, drip, drip....
The scales and skin on the face that had been struck by the fist shattered.
Inside, for some reason, slightly melted flesh was revealed.
He had connected.
The monster was smiling.
“Keep that mindset with you from now on.”
He whispered to Mumen Rider, whose abdomen had caved in from a single blow and who had collapsed.
Then he straightened up again.
And shouted.
Like a third-rate villain from a comic.
“Damn it... I’ve lost too much blood. The injuries are too severe! I’ll withdraw this time...! But I’ll come back someday! Until then, you’d better be ready!”
“...........”
He left.
Staggering.
The silence broke, and the people’s cheers rang out.
Among them, Genos could only watch the pitiful departing back.
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