Whew, that was seriously nerve-wracking enough to make my palms sweat.
To think she’d try to stop a runaway train head-on with her bare body.
It was recklessness beyond courage, but it was so cool it reminded me of a movie scene.
Honestly, I’d wondered if that would actually work, but I guess human will can sometimes laugh in the face of the laws of physics.
To think I’d get to witness that legendary scene here firsthand—the one where the red Spider-Man desperately threw himself at a runaway train just like this to stop it.
Watching it on TV gave me chills, but seeing that scene reenacted on a stage of my own design brought a whole new depth of emotion.
Our Nova was no less desperate, but sadly, movies and reality were strictly different.
In movies, the hero stops the train like a miracle and closes their eyes amidst the citizens’ cheers, but this is reality.
The cruel reality where the slightest misstep means becoming a corpse scattered across the tracks.
“Hah… hah… y-you…!”
Just five seconds. No, if she’d had even three more seconds, Nova might have been able to stop the train on her own.
But when do things ever go exactly the way you want?
A frustration falling just short of victory makes a protagonist stronger than a perfect win.
Though I ended up stepping in to finish things, I still didn’t hold back my applause.
“Splendid.”
I truly had no other words to say.
Nova had proven her worth as a Hero (a protagonist) far beyond my expectations.
If not now, when would I give her applause?
A stage with no audience was lonely, but at the very least, I as the producer was duty-bound to send the highest praise to her fighting spirit.
“Though you couldn’t stop it on your own, I cannot help but be moved. Hero Nova, allow me to pay my respects to you.”
“Sh-shut… up…!”
Nova’s current condition was miserable.
Her shredded limbs, her leg armor crushed into powder, her suit torn everywhere—blood seeped from wounds all across her body.
Perhaps due to intense friction heat, faint steam rose in wisps from the surface of her suit.
Her head seemed injured too, as red blood gushed between her stark-white hair and flowed down her face.
She was truly in tatters, but the glare she fixed on me was sharper than ever.
Those hate-filled eyes, that burning gaze, were aimed solely at me.
“Why… didn’t you stop… I took down your subordinate…!”
Ah, right. I had definitely promised her.
That if she took down my subordinate, Accel Unicorn—Purungi—I would stop the train.
And when Nova beautifully shot down our Purungi, I had actually tried to stop the train for real.
No matter how much I called myself a Villain, I shouldn’t break my word.
Hm? Just because I’m a villain means I can break promises? Nonsense!
Going back on your word as easily as flipping your palm is something third-rate villains do; at least I, especially in front of Nova, didn’t want to show such a pathetic side.
And I had intended to keep it, but then—
『Hey, Gang Jinwoo.』
The moment I saw Stella’s message suddenly transmitted over the private channel, everything went wrong.
『Isn’t it a waste to end it like this? I have a good plan to make Nova grow, so why don’t you leave it to me?』
I was shaken by those words.
The dopamine boiling over from Purungi and Nova’s fight seemed to slightly suppress my reason.
Normally I would have dismissed it as the tin can’s nonsense, but in that moment, the proposal from that psychotic AI sounded captivating.
And as a result, I ended up completely falling for this psychopath tin can’s scheme.
Makina had been beside me, glaring and telling me not to cross the line, but with the complacent thought that I could step in and clean things up if needed, I ultimately decided to watch.
Looking at just the results, this risky gamble Stella orchestrated had awakened Nova beyond my expectations.
She was usually nothing but complaints about trap items and whatnot, yet she came up with such a plan herself. Tch.
Why couldn’t she just honestly say she liked Nova?
Talk about a total tsundere.
Well, thanks to that, Nova getting stronger is a good thing, but sigh…
I didn’t want to be branded a third-rate Villain who breaks promises from his very first act of terror.
Getting on the protagonist’s bad side is a Villain’s fate, but being seen as a liar from the very start felt a bit unfair.
“So you ask why I didn’t stop it? It went like this.”
The train was tightly coiled in massive vines, stopped just a hair’s breadth before hitting the wall.
Of course, I definitely didn’t do it. My abilities are only Resonance and Restoration; there’s no way I could control such a huge plant, right?
Then who did? Obviously my other subordinate.
Hmm, it felt a bit early, but since Nova showed me more than I expected, I wondered if it wouldn’t be bad to introduce him to her early.
Though it was like I’d only placed a spoon atop the table after Nova went through hell to prepare the meal, anyway, the promise was technically kept in the end.
“Shut… up….”
Nova barely lifted her foot, which had been embedded in the cement floor, and tried to approach with murderous intent.
The chilling killing intent of a wounded beast weighed down even the air.
However, even though her transformation hadn’t worn off yet, she had already been pushed to her physical and mental limit, so she couldn’t even take a few steps before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
She twitched her fingers and flailed her limbs trying to get up somehow, but cruelly, her body wouldn’t follow her will.
“Sigma…!”
Even collapsed, she didn’t take her eyes off me and declared in a voice full of anger.
“You… I will definitely, definitely with my own hands…!”
But before Nova could finish her words, her head drooped and she lost consciousness.
Seeing that once pure and righteous face twisted with murderous intent, bitterness swirled in a corner of my heart.
With my own hands, what had she been about to say? Catch me? Defeat me? Or kill me?
Whatever it was, it seemed I’d gotten thoroughly on her bad side.
Ngh, maybe I should have just stopped it calmly according to the original plan.
I glared at Stella with regret, but she showed no reaction, as if it were none of her business.
Ugh, I really can’t just send her straight to the junkyard.
“…Very well. I shall look forward to it.”
Though she was already unconscious, I paid my respects to Nova with the utmost respect befitting a Villain.
It was my first act of terror, but fortunately there were no casualties; though I’d been a bit too greedy at the end, I’d accomplished the plan to raise Nova’s awakening and recognition, so I guess this is enough.
“Okay, cut the cameras.”
Judging that I’d achieved my intended purpose, I clapped my hands frivolously.
Then, drones that had been recording the entire process in stealth mode slowly revealed themselves in the air.
The train windows were all covered by vines, and with no one else watching, my shoulders, which had been stiffened trying to look imposing, sagged.
As the tension released, soreness flooded my entire body.
“Haah. That was tough.”
The results were good, but I couldn’t do something like this twice.
Terror aside, pushing Nova to her psychological limit had been exhausting.
“From now on, we’re doing things my way, so keep that in mind, you tin can bastard.”
In response to my words, the blue gem on the bracelet that the guy had returned to—having apparently deactivated his transformation—flashed on and off in protest.
But I completely ignored it.
Part of it is that risky acrobatics are hard, but I’m trying to make Nova grow, not turn her into an avenger!
“Anyway, anyway. Let’s all withdraw before the Association and police come rushing in.”
The subordinates waiting in the darkness vanished via warp almost before I finished speaking.
“—We shall take our leave first.”
“Ah, you worked hard too.”
Soon, the one who had summoned the vines also left a brief greeting and followed.
After confirming that even the drones had disappeared, I prepared to leave as well.
“I should do what needs to be done before that.”
I placed my hand on the head of the girl who had returned from Hero Nova to I Seoha.
She had changed from that beautiful and valiant form back to her small, fragile self, but her physical condition was still a mess.
Still, Stella had taken some emergency measures before the transformation wore off, so it wasn’t as bad as when we first met, but the small remaining wounds here and there really bothered my eyes.
“Good work, Nova. The next terror act will be a bit gentler, so rest easy until then.”
The nuance sounds a bit off, but since I’m the only one listening, it should be fine.
I cleanly healed the wounds on I Seoha’s body with my Restoration ability and laid her down comfortably nearby.
I wanted to take care of her more, but people would be arriving soon, so this was all I could do.
“Then I suppose I should head back too.”
Just as I was about to press the warp device.
Shing—!
A sharp, ominous noise I’d heard somewhere before.
At the same time, a streak of red light instantly pierced through me.
“YOU BASTAAAAARD!!”
A roar laced with rage. My thought upon seeing Hero Flare rushing at me, red hair whipping and blue eyes blazing fiercely, was simple.
Oh boy, I’m screwed.
I couldn’t even scream at the terrible agony rushing in and reflexively pressed the switch.
The massive ball of red flames flying right behind missed hitting my head by a hair’s breadth, and I evacuated the scene in a flash of light.
@
Crash!
I opened my tightly shut eyes to see the familiar scenery of my home.
Fortunately, it seemed the warp had properly activated just before Flare’s flames blew my head off.
I steadied my body, which had collided with the corner of a piece of furniture, and caught my rough breath.
Makina—she might usually seem a bit ditzy, but her technical skill really is the best.
I really thought recruiting her to our side was the best decision I’d made a hundred times over.
Feeling so proud, I thought I’d pat her head or something.
“Kyaaaah!!”
But seeing Makina scream with a deathly pale face the moment she saw me, the atmosphere seemed completely wrong for that.
“J-Jinwoo! Y-you…!”
“*Cough*… Ahh, I just got grazed a little right before coming back.”
“Grazed my foot! You have a hole in your stomach! A hole!!”
Tsk, I was trying to ease her worry by mixing in some bravado, but it seemed to have backfired.
Well, with my side completely torn open, sizzling with burnt flesh and my body trembling, how could anyone call this a graze?
Even I was on the verge of retching from the smell of burning protein wafting from my body.
Jeez, I tried to act cool in a way uncharacteristic of me, and look at what happened.
“Th-then your Restoration ability! Hurry and treat yourself with your Restoration…!”
“I want to, too, but….”
Restoration isn’t some omnipotent ability you can just click on.
It requires delicate control and concentration, so it takes quite a while; with my mind flashing white like this, I might kick the bucket before I could even start the treatment.
Ah, it’s getting hard just to stay conscious.
My vision swayed and blurred, and my body collapsed straight to the floor.
Fortunately Makina caught me just before I fell, but now, really, this was the limit.
How long had it been since I promised Makina I wouldn’t do dangerous things, only to end up like this again?
The same with Nova; was this instant punishment for breaking my promises?
Anyway, since Makina was by my side, I wouldn’t die immediately, but when I woke up later, I’d have to apologize properly first.
And no matter what happens from now on, I had to keep my promises.
Having made that resolution, I lost consciousness into the deep darkness.