What kind of power was ‘Radiance’?
A power permitted because one was the protagonist of a genre. It was the ability to imbue various attributes into that power by wrapping any part of the body with an intangible force.
Things like sharp light, which should normally be impossible, became possible under the name of superpower. That was also the reason Gim Haneul was the strongest in his genre.
“They’re dolls, so I can just break them, right?”
“Who said you could break them however you want!”
The masked person swung the giant hammer on their back from top to bottom. A hammer swung slowly for a superpower user. But Gim Haneul, who had wrapped Radiance around his eyes, knew that he must not step back. Because he could ‘see’ the presence of a swordsman behind him waiting for him to retreat.
The opponent was not one, but many. Every movement had to be made with that in consideration. The boy stuck to the right wall to evade.
And the swordsman positioned in the rear struck his sword toward where he had evaded. As the boy’s back touched the wall, it glowed faintly, and he simply bounced diagonally upward.
The masked person who had climbed atop the fence tried to swing their hammer to match him, but before they knew it, the boy was already beside that masked person and simply pushed them off.
‘They’re not incredibly strong. But the problem is… they’re not using their abilities.’
Even if he couldn’t tell exactly what the ability was, he could clearly perceive that they were ability users.
But the fact that they swung their weapons as if to kill without using their abilities meant it was an ability that required special conditions.
Since he didn’t know what the ability was, he had to fight cautiously; even though his opponents were dolls and he didn’t need to hold back, it would inevitably take time.
“You seem impatient?”
“Me? Sorry to say, but my role ends with tying down you dolls with abilities. Honestly, I wanted to help, but the strongest person in my story is already over there.”
Even as the night gradually darkened, the boy did not lose the light held in his hand. The dolls looked up at that boy from below the fence.
Hearing the boy’s words, those dolls began to laugh like mad.
““Puhahahahaha!!! You think the Student Council President is that strong?””
The Main Heroine. Though she played the role of a protagonist leading a genre, a woman without combat abilities couldn’t possibly be strong.
Since there was no way the opponent had the System, they wouldn’t have grasped the Student Council President’s ability and her status as Main Heroine, but since the Student Council President was known to some extent, if they investigated, they would inevitably know the strength she possessed.
“Well. What I can tell you is that in the place you raided, there’s a strong person who even I can’t beat.”
In a situation where enemies were buying time contrary to plan, the boy sent a gaze filled with trust toward the direction where the Main Heroine would be.
No, that trust wasn’t directed at the Main Heroine from the start---
“And it’s not you holding me back—it’s me holding you back. While she sorts out the situation, preventing you from taking others hostage.”
It might have been directed at someone else.
Radiance blazed even stronger from the boy’s hand. Even though there was a counter-type power that returned received force as-is, from now on he intended to disregard it.
“Well then, I wonder which side will be proven right?”
As the masked person with a bow loosed an arrow, the briefly paused battle resumed once more. Which of them would be proven right would be determined by the result of the other fight.
*
Student Council President.
Erica had been slightly mistaken about her. She had thought the Student Council President would be weak.
And rightly so, since the superpower called Wisdom, no matter how high its potential, seemed like a power that would at best allow one to fight skillfully in one-on-one combat.
Because unlike Student Council Presidents from other places, she didn’t possess the martial might to represent a nation alone, or the strength to face a thousand enemies by herself.
As Erica expected, she didn’t possess such transcendental might, but separate from that, the Student Council President wasn’t exactly weak either.
“You people, who is controlling you?”
She landed a kick on the abdomen of the figure wearing a black mask. Separate from that person being pushed back, when another approached Erica from the opposite side, she immediately went the other way and punched him in the face.
Protecting Erica. Though it was a situation where she couldn’t fight normally because of that, she showed physical strength and abilities far surpassing those of an ordinary adult male.
Honestly, the sight of the President fighting without showing a single sign of fatigue in a battle that had already lasted over ten minutes looked cool even to Erica, who had been a man.
But those she had taken down were at most five, and enemies seemed to be flooding in endlessly. Of course. No matter how much the Student Council President possessed physical abilities surpassing an ordinary woman, in the end, to protect Erica, she couldn’t deliver decisive blows and had to keep returning.
If this continued, even the Student Council President couldn’t guarantee victory.
‘A burden, huh.’
Erica bit her lip slightly. She had honestly thought a Bad Ending didn’t matter since it was something she should bear as a result of her own choices.
But someone else suffering because of her was a different story. They weren’t extras or individuals she had designated as black humans, and a woman close to her ideal type losing because of her was something she didn’t want to see in many ways.
“It’s alright, so please stay there.”
“Surely you don’t think you’ll be fine if you just buy time? If they see this situation, the Association will certainly intervene, but the Association is scheduled to be busy with another incident. Your cute prince is also captured.”
The doll, which hadn’t made a single scream even when being struck by the Student Council President, spoke in a perfectly fine voice.
In a situation where buying time was advantageous rather than disadvantageous, the two of them waited briefly to hear what the doll would say.
“If just one of you gets caught by us, we’ll let the other go. President, you could easily escape on your own, but don’t you hate being held back by that woman and unable to resist properly, continuously being pushed back? Hey, don’t you hate getting tangled up in this because of the Student Council President for no reason?”
That she got caught up in this because of the Student Council President? Looking at the Student Council President’s back, Erica recalled a past incident.
An incident where she had responded to someone else being bullied, only to end up being bullied herself, while the original victim transferred away.
That Student Council President’s back was the back of that foolish youth, and at the same time, the back of the girl who had first been bullied long before that youth. A back that would look different depending on how the President received that proposal.
“For your information, the one who stays here will be ‘taken care of’ so thoroughly that she’ll regret being born a woman. How about it? We’ll listen to whoever speaks first, so if you’re going to betray her, you should speak up qui---.”
“Miss Erica, I’m sorry. I think I have to take back what I said. I won’t be able to protect you.”
“Ahahaha, giving up already? Yes, this is how it is in the end. Even if they say they love you, when humans think about what will happen to themselves, they prioritize their own safety first. Here, we’ll send you off so hurry up and disappear...”
That back gradually changed into the back of the girl she had known. Erica didn’t particularly feel disappointment or otherwise toward that changed back.
She had simply always made irrational choices. It was only natural for one to choose what wouldn’t bring them pain.
The doll actually kept its word. A path created in the alley, just wide enough for one person to pass through.
If she escaped through that path, the President would be able to get out unscathed. Just as Erica was trying to understand the choice the Student Council President had made, she saw the President gently pulling her hand.
“I was saying that I would remain here, so please let Miss Erica go. In exchange, I won’t resist, so do as you please.”
“What...?”
Sacrificing oneself for others. Just as the President who chose that path was trying to put her former lover into the path leading outside.
The hand of the girl the Student Council President was pulling became as heavy as a gravestone. So heavy that even with a superpower user’s strength, she couldn’t move it an inch.
“Don’t.”
The girl who had been close to expressionless when hearing words about abandoning her now showed signs of anger. Why was that?
Naturally, it was because she didn’t like the choice the Student Council President had made. Her choice would only end up making her into trash.
It was a choice that would render meaningless the sacrifice for others that she herself had once chosen, and ultimately make her into the same kind of person she had detested.
“If you were really sorry to me, you should have told me not to do such a thing. If you really cared about me, instead of staying here, you should have said you’d fall into hell with me.”
Falling into hell with the Student Council President. Truthfully, Erica hadn’t built that level of intimacy with the Student Council President.
Though she had looks close to her ideal type, that was all it was.
Though the Student Council President harbored intimacy for Erica one-sidedly, from the standpoint of literally not being able to remember what came before, it was merely one-sided.
If they actually entered hell together, Erica might end up regretting it while going through the humiliating things that doll had spoken of. However, only this time, there was a way not to go to hell together.
[Current affection toward the Student Council President is 60. The condition for removing the Student Council President's affection cap this time is sacrifice. That is, whether you can sacrifice for the Student Council President.]
[Will you cause your Protection to rampage? If rampaged, your superpower will be damaged, making it impossible to use superpowers during the recovery period.]
[Among those currently targeting you are the Master of Influence, the Master of Falsehood, and the Master of Brainwashing. If you cause your superpower to rampage, you will become easier for them to capture, so please be careful. If rampaged, it will be considered a sacrifice for the Student Council President and the affection limit will be removed.]
There were karmic debts she could bear alone later.
‘YES.’
“Because that must have been the choice for me.”
And when she pressed that choice, silver lightning materialized and rampaged from Erica’s fingertips. Not one or two strands, but dozens of strands shot out from Erica’s fingertips.
Not the passive usage of Protection that absolutely guarded the user, but the active usage of Protection that struck down others in order to protect someone.
It was clearly a usage that even the Student Council President, who had known Erica well, was seeing for the first time.
Erica herself couldn’t see what was floating above her head, and since the protagonist boy wasn’t present at this spot, no one could see it, but above Erica’s head as she spewed silver lightning, her name, role, and ability floated up.
[Name: Erica]
[Role: Another Main Heroine (Current Status: Sub Heroine)]
[Ability: Radiance's Protection (Currently Applied: Radiance), ?]
She was only a Sub Heroine because Gim Haneul hadn’t chosen her in order to find the true heroine.
Erica was someone who could have become the Main Heroine in Gim Haneul’s genre.
But because she wasn’t chosen by Gim Haneul, she had become unable to expect the absolute protagonist’s salvation, and the decisive evidence that made Gim Haneul certain Erica wasn’t the true heroine was brilliantly floating above her head.
Because there was no one who possessed the [System].
Erica was there, but in her current state she couldn’t see herself in a mirror, so for now, these were things only Gim Haneul knew.
“If there is a next time, that’s what you should do.”
—The power that a girl not chosen by the protagonist should have obtained on the path to being chosen by him and reaching a Happy Ending was forcibly summoned by Erica’s choice.