The villains in Shapeshifting Unrivaled all had a screw loose.
Considering they were characters born from that bastard Tanaka’s narrow little mind, there was no way they’d possess anything like charm capable of captivating readers.
The villains of Shapeshifting Unrivaled were, from start to finish, nothing more than devices meant to make the protagonist look good—consumables that served as incompetent, stupid stepping stones.
Even so, there was one reason I remembered a villain named Nova.
Because the episode laid bare the author’s fucking racist and bizarre ideology.
If I recalled correctly, the protagonist stopped some terrorist organization made up of Koreans, and Nova was the one who faced him, right?
Since that story came out early in the work, Nova’s combat ability wasn’t all that outstanding.
“Kahahaha! Is that all you’ve got?”
“Urgh……!”
Unlike the gallant momentum with which she had appeared, Nova was being brutally pushed back by the villain.
Was this, after all, the limit of a villain who got taken down by the protagonist early on?
“Now even a tiny bitch like you calls me a muscle pig? I’ll kill you!”
No, seriously, nobody said that. Why are you putting on a one-man show over something you made up?!
“When did I ever say—hup!”
Nova rolled out of the way of the car the enraged villain swung at her, but she failed to read the attack that came immediately after.
“Your lower guard’s wide open!”
“Guhak!”
The kick buried itself squarely in her abdomen, and Nova went flying like a cannonball before crashing into the café I was in.
“Kyaaaah!”
“H-hiiik!!”
Because of that, the people who still hadn’t escaped the café screamed.
And those screams poured oil on the mad villain’s murderous intent.
“What? Did you bastards call me a muscle pig too?!”
At any rate, that lunatic, thoroughly caught up in his persecution complex, huffed and puffed as he strode toward the café.
Just as he had tried to kill me, he was clearly planning to slaughter everyone inside.
‘Damn it, when are the other heroes coming? The whole street’s gone to hell!’
Even in this emergency, where people could die at any moment, there was still no sign of another hero arriving.
I didn’t care what happened to this world Tanaka had written, but I still didn’t want to watch people die right in front of me!
In my anxiety, I was about to call it in yet again on the phone I’d already used to report the situation several times.
“It’s…… not over yet.”
“Nova……?”
Nova staggered out from amid the ruined debris.
But her condition was terrible.
The equipment on her suit had been smashed, and fresh blood was streaming endlessly from her split head.
Even to me, a complete stranger to fighting, she looked as if she had long since surpassed her limits.
Even so, Nova’s eyes did not waver.
“You’re half-dead, so what’s with the bluff? Move. After I kill those bastards who called me a muscle pig……”
“……Pig.”
“What? What did you just say?”
“Kik, are your ears made of muscle too? I said muscle pig, you muscle pig bastard.”
──No, has she lost her mind?
I didn’t know if she’d hurt her head or lost too much blood to grasp the situation, but did she really need to provoke a villain who had already gone berserk?!
Ah, wait. Is this that cliché I’ve only heard about, where she turns herself into bait to protect civilians?
If that was her intention, then it definitely succeeded.
“K-kahahaha! Fine, I’ll kill you first!!”
The villain’s eyes rolled back in rage as he swung his fist.
Nova instinctively raised her guard, but there was no way her flimsy arms could block the villain’s enormous hammer of a fist.
“……!!”
Unable to even scream, she was sent flying back into the street.
She bounced and rolled across the asphalt like a skipping stone, only finally stopping after crashing into the guardrail. She did not move.
A stillness so complete it made me wonder if she was dead.
Even so, the villain’s venting was not yet over.
“Die, hero!”
As if intending to leave not even a trace behind, the villain leaped into the air, about to drive down a dropkick filled with murderous intent.
Fweee── Splurch!
“K-kraaaaaaagh!”
Right after a streak of red light cut through the air, the villain’s side was hideously pierced open.
The pain caught up a beat late, and the villain rolled across the ground, screaming in agony.
What settled over the place where the red flash had swept past was intense heat and overwhelming pressure.
The source of the flames that had punched through the villain’s side descended gracefully from the air.
“That’s far enough, villain.”
With red hair fluttering around her and an overwhelming presence radiating from her, she wore a cold, arrogant look in her eyes instead of the refreshing smile she had shown on the news earlier.
“It’s Flare!”
“It’s S-rank hero Flare!”
The people who had been screaming in terror instantly changed their tune and erupted into cheers.
Flare, an S-rank hero who controlled flames, acknowledged by all as the most famous and popular hero in South Korea, was it?
Just from her appearance, the villain forgot even to scream and could only tremble, crushed by her pressure.
“As expected of Lady Flare!”
“You saved us, Lady Flare!”
“Kyaaah! Lady Flare, you’re so cool!!”
Where had they all been hiding? Once the situation calmed down, people who hadn’t been visible moments ago began appearing everywhere like mushrooms after rain.
“Thank you, citizens! Thanks to your support, I was able to arrest the villain safely!”
At the praise and cheers coming from all directions, Flare put on the same smile she had shown on the news and waved her hand.
Just hearing the thunderous roar of joy that alone inspired made me realize how popular she was.
‘Well, even so, judging by the fact that I don’t remember her, she probably isn’t anyone important.’
Unlike Nova, no matter how much I thought about it, she didn’t appear in Shapeshifting Unrivaled. Did she die when South Korea was destroyed, or did she go off to another country?
‘Ah, right! Nova!’
More than that woman named Flare or whatever, Nova’s condition was more urgent to me.
I hurried over to check on her, and her state was even more appalling than I’d imagined.
Her body lay sprawled on the cold asphalt without the slightest movement, and her joints were bent in grotesque directions, as if the bones were broken.
Seeing the bruises visible through her torn suit and the fresh blood that kept flowing out made my chest tighten.
“Lady Flare!!”
“Lady Flare, please look over here!”
Even in the middle of that, the sight of them laughing and chattering among themselves left me dumbfounded.
Cheers or whatever be damned, someone was dying right now. Were they all in their right minds?
What was I supposed to do in a situation like this? No matter what my ability was, with her this messed up, there was nothing I could—
“I’m…… okay.”
“Y-yes?”
Nova, whom I’d thought unconscious, twitched, then raised herself up and leaned her back against the building debris.
“I’m B-rank, but my ability is still physical enhancement, so I’m pretty tough.”
“I-is that so? But your injuries are too severe……”
“If I go to a hospital specializing in heroes, this much won’t be a problem. More importantly, are you all right, citizen? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“……”
Who was worrying about whom right now?
She was in this state herself, so why was she worrying about someone else first?
For a moment, I was so dumbfounded I lost my words.
“……I’m fine. Thanks to you saving me, Miss Nova.”
“E-ehehe……. It’s only natural for a hero to save a citizen.”
Perhaps embarrassed by my words, Nova blushed and smiled bashfully.
Because of the facial-recognition interference effect, I couldn’t see her face clearly, but that smile alone was so innocent, just like a girl her age, that the fierce look on my face softened a little without me realizing it.
“Come to think of it, what did she even do in the end?”
“I checked the hero database, and she’s a B-rank hero?”
“Seriously, if she’s B-rank, she should act like it and not get ahead of herself.”
“Exactly. She pointlessly pissed off the villain and almost made things worse.”
“Does it even make sense for a hero to get stomped by a villain in the first place? What a joke.”
But at the jeering laughter coming from behind me, my mood sank right back to the bottom.
‘What the hell are those bastards saying?’
What did she do? Because Nova was here, greater damage was prevented, and who was it that bought time until that woman Flare or whatever arrived?
And in the café, who was it that made herself bait to prevent casualties?
More than anything, the one who saved me was this very girl you people are jeering at.
“Hey, you people! What do you think you’re—”
Even I, who wasn’t the person concerned, flared up in anger and was about to say something, but I stopped moving when Nova weakly grabbed my sleeve.
“Please calm down, citizen. I’m fine.”
“But Miss Nova, you……”
“What they said isn’t wrong. A hero can’t just be beaten by a villain.”
“……”
“If I had defeated the villain, the citizens wouldn’t have felt uneasy. It’s my fault for being lacking.”
Looking into those pure eyes that showed not a trace of falsehood, I covered my face with one hand.
How could someone be this upright? It was frustrating just to look at her.
Even though she had risked her life to protect people, it would have been only natural for her to resent this situation, where no one aside from me, an otherworlder, acknowledged her.
Instead, at the sight of her foolishly blaming herself and saying she was lacking, I carefully placed a hand on her shoulder.
“C-citizen?”
“Listen carefully, Miss Nova. It’s important for a hero to defeat villains, but what’s more important than that is saving people.”
Just as those people spouting nonsense had said, Nova may indeed have been crushed by the villain and suffered an unsightly defeat.
But.
“The one who saved me when I was about to be killed by that villain wasn’t Flare or any other hero. It was only you, Nova. You are my hero.”
“Ah……”
“So don’t put yourself down, saying you’re lacking or anything like that.”
The words were so embarrassingly cheesy that I got goosebumps even as I said them, but I still really wanted to tell her.
Because I absolutely refused to watch the hero who saved me lose heart because of trash like them.
“Thank…… you……!”
Whether my words embarrassed her a little or made her happy, Nova’s eyes grew teary and her face flushed.
Yeah, this was better than a gloomy expression.
Only after seeing her brightened expression did I feel satisfied and slowly rise to my feet.
“Citizen?”
“I’ll be going first. It’d be troublesome to get called in by the police or the Association as a witness.”
“But at least go to a hospital……”
I told you, I’m not hurt.
There were plenty of things I wanted to say, but at the sound of sirens wailing in the distance, I gave Nova a slight bow and left the place as I was.
“H-huh? The wounds? When did they heal?”
Leaving behind Nova’s shocked voice from behind me, I hid myself among the crowd.
Nova, the hero Nova, huh──
“This should be very interesting.”