52
Ch.52 Heroes of W-City
"Huff… Huff… Huff…"
Iron Might, an A-rank hero known as the second strongest in W-City after Starlight, gasped for breath as he thought to himself.
This was truly insane.
A hero even considering teaming up with a monster?
But it had been the right call.
[Kyaaaaaaa!]
Starlight, who had been chasing down the endlessly fleeing and regenerating creature, shattered the bad cat’s core.
Crunch. The broken core burned to ashes under Starlight’s ability, and the creature, which had been spewing black smoke, let out a tearing scream before crumbling into soot.
No other monster reactions detected. The heroes, confirming that the Despair-class monster terrorizing W-City had been slain, erupted into cheers.
"Aaaaaah! We did it! It's over!"
"No, not yet! The one the Black Cat chased after!"
"Everyone! Prepare to move out immediately! Locate the Black Cat! We’re going to help!"
"Wait, what’s that—?!"
Just as the exhausted heroes readied themselves at Starlight’s shout, an ability they never wanted to see again unfolded in the sky above.
The bad cat’s spatial manipulation—a vicious power that could reflect long-range hero abilities or instantly sever the limbs of close-combat enhancers.
From within it, a black figure suddenly emerged and landed atop a building.
"The second bad cat…! Did the Black Cat lose?!"
"Of all times…!"
It wasn’t the worst-case scenario of three Despair-class monsters rampaging (including the Black Cat), but it was the next worst outcome.
If the Black Cat had been defeated, this thing is a Despair-class monster even stronger than it.
As the exhausted heroes forced themselves to muster their abilities, Starlight grinned widely and charged at the black monster.
"The Black Cat!"
"Kyyaaak!"
The creature easily dodged the rush by sinking into the building, then burst out from the side and dropped down where the other heroes stood.
The tense heroes flinched at the approach of a Despair-class monster—but then relaxed at the complete lack of killing intent in its eyes.
"Wait, this isn't the bad cat—it’s the Black Cat!"
"The Black Cat went hunting and came back!"
"You! Was that earlier display you showing off after taking down the bad cat?!"
"We believed in you! You jerk!"
The Black Cat took a moment to inspect the corpse of the bad cat, slain by the heroes, then turned away.
The monster showed no intention to fight.
Believing the battle was truly over, the heroes cheered in unison.
Amid the celebration, Iron Might let out a sigh of relief—but couldn’t shake a creeping unease.
The bad cat’s spatial manipulation—that troublesome ability—had been taken by the Black Cat.
Starlight had also grown stronger than before, but the Black Cat was improving at the same rate, if not faster.
As heroes, they should have been on guard.
But no one here is wary of the Black Cat.
Even Iron Might, who harbored these thoughts, felt slightly more relief than tension.
"I—I was wrong, okay? Sorry for doubting you."
"Kyarrrr…!"
And honestly, how could they stay tense?
Right now, instead of attacking Starlight, the Black Cat was just growling like a sulking child.
Instead of baring its fangs at the heroes who had attacked it multiple times, it was just… Throwing a tantrum?
Well, if something had to grow stronger, better it be this weird monster than any other.
"You—you’re a monster! You’re the weird one here!"
"Kyyaak!"
"Senior Starlight, do you really think a monster can understand you?"
"If you’re sorry, at least throw it some meat or something."
As all the heroes slumped to the ground, laughing weakly, Starlight—genuinely hurt by the Black Cat’s attitude—looked around at the exhausted group and asked,
"Anyone got any beef? Anyone here have beef on them?"
"As if…"
"Ahahahaha!"
With that, the Black Cat left the heroes behind and disappeared.
The heroes notified the operator that the situation was resolved, and soon, a steady alarm tone—different from the usual sirens—echoed throughout the city, signaling the all-clear.
[Attention, citizens of W-City: The Despair-class monster has been defeated! Repeat! The Despair-class monster has been defeated! Please exit the shelters!]
Finally, the nightmare was over.
The tightly sealed shelter doors opened, and people flooded into the streets.
Though the city was in ruins, the joy of liberation overwhelmed them as they walked together along the shattered roads, cheering.
Amid the noise, the exhausted heroes lay on the ground and briefly fell asleep.
The citizens thanked the heroes before dispersing, one by one, to check on their homes and loved ones.
Free from monsters, back to everyday life.
The laughter of relief ended there.
Now, it was time to face reality.
***
Back in the operations room, the heroes set down the operator’s report on the bad cats’ attack and shared their thoughts.
"Casualties: 4 B-rank heroes, 2 C-rank heroes. Civilian casualties… 524 total. Situation resolved."
"Miraculous…"
"Compared to being helpless against two Despair-class monsters, this number is absurdly low—but compared to W-City’s recent monster casualty rates… It’s horrific."
"What’s the public sentiment?"
"A disaster."
The heroes’ joy never lasted long.
Right after a victory, the citizens celebrated—but once they returned to their ruined homes and streets, irritation at their losses overtook their relief.
One by one, complaints surfaced,
[Why did it take so long? Did you even fight properly? How will you compensate us?]
This time, it was worse—because many believed the culprit was the Black Cat, who had been lying low until now.
[So you could kill it after all? Meaning you just chose not to until now, huh?]
[What’s your game? You let the Black Cat run wild until things got this bad?]
[When were you gonna thank the Black Cat for killing monsters? Look at you all mad over 500 deaths—honestly, hasn’t the Black Cat saved more than that by now?]
[Does that matter? You still failed to stop preventable deaths.]
[Funny how most people were all ‘Don’t kill the Black Cat! Protect the Black Cat!’ until now, but now they’ve all flipped. Pathetic.]
[That was when the Black Cat was protecting people. Could you say the same if it killed your family?]
If they had just waited for S-rank heroes from other cities to handle the Despair-class monster, maybe things wouldn’t be this bad.
The citizens of W-City were blaming the heroes’ incompetence, cursing them as a whole.
[500 deaths from one Despair-class monster? Does that even make sense?]
[It doesn’t? When D-City failed to set up the Ring once, a single Despair-class monster caused 1,700 casualties in a day.]
[This is seriously messed up.]
[Why bring up other cities? W-City’s recent monster casualties have been way lower.]
[Because the Black Cat’s been killing them?]
[You had chances to kill the Black Cat but didn’t, and now this happens? Starlight kept warning that trusting monsters was a mistake—what the hell were you doing?]
[Remember when Starlight used to scream about killing the Black Cat ASAP? Why doesn’t she seem like that anymore?]
[Lately, it feels like she’s not even trying to kill the Black Cat.]
[One thing’s clear: Starlight’s the reason 500+ people died this time.]
[So it’s true—they could’ve killed it but didn’t.]
[Any explanations coming?]
Before they could even savor the satisfaction of protecting the city, the operations room was filled with stifled sighs.
A C-rank hero, scanning the negative public sentiment, muttered in frustration,
"Sigh… Times like this make me wonder if we should’ve just let them all die."
"Heroes shouldn’t say things like that."
"S-Senior…"
Starlight, now changed out of her hero suit and into formal wear, stepped out of the locker room.
"People just need someone to blame. They’re going home to ruined buildings, maybe hearing about dead loved ones."
"I’m sorry…"
"Their helplessness is far worse than ours. Never forget that."
Rubbing her tired eyes, she held a briefing document for the post-battle report about to be broadcast city-wide.
Officially, it was a debrief—but in reality, it was a public apology demanded of Starlight.
The heroes’ expressions twisted at this routine humiliation, one they’d endured too many times before.
"Even if heroism requires a sense of duty, isn’t this too much? It’s not just once or twice."
"This is demoralizing. We fought to the death, and now it’s our fault?"
"If they need to vent anger, they should direct it at the monsters, not us…"
"Monsters are terrifying beasts you can’t reason with, but heroes are easy targets…"
"Seems like everyone’s reached their limit."
Starlight chuckled, finger-combing her tangled hair into a loose tie as she left the operations room.
"The citizens still don’t know it was the the bad cats, not the Black Cat, that went wild. It’s understandable."
"Even if they knew, it’d be the same. People just need an easy target to curse."
"It’s good if citizens see heroes as approachable. It means they have room to breathe. Better than desperately clinging to us for survival, right?"
"Well… I guess so."
"We can only hope they understand… But don’t worry. Even if they don’t, I’ll make sure I’m the only one taking the blame."
True to her word, Starlight intended to shoulder all responsibility—both for lowering guard around the Black Cat and for cooperating with a monster.
The heroes of W-City felt indebted to her but couldn’t step forward in her place.
The weight of being an S-rank hero, the face of the city—even if another hero took the fall, public outrage would still target Starlight.
And if they were honest… Most of them weren’t confident they could endure the citizens’ vitriol.
Instead, the heroes of W-City had silently agreed to support Starlight’s decisions, no matter what.
Just as they had when she proposed teaming up with the Black Cat to hunt the bad cats.
"Everyone, did you properly destroy the Black Cat footage?"
"Want us to smash it further? Make sure it’s irrecoverable?"
"Might as well. Do it quick."
The heroes all raised their broken cameras and crushed them in their hands.
During this battle, they had agreed to leave no evidence of the Black Cat cooperating with heroes.
The mere idea of heroes working with monsters would cause an uproar.
And it was a precaution—to prevent future complications.
If footage leaked of the Black Cat aiding heroes, people might start thinking that cooperating with monsters was acceptable.
The thought was horrifying.
People might assume other monsters, like the Black Cat, are safe and approach them.
Others might try taming monsters as weapons.
There were even rumors of a bizarre cult forming lately, calling monsters divine messengers.
If all those people flocked to W-City, the chaos would be unimaginable.
"Still… At least the Black Cat didn’t betray us."
"Weird to even use the word ‘betrayal’ for a monster."
"Is it a ticking time bomb, or can we really trust it? At this point, it’s earned some faith… But it’s still a monster."
"Sigh… How is the Black Cat somehow better than the citizens?"
Amid the heroes’ sighs, Iron Might dropped the shattered remains in his hand and picked up the remote.
Just in time—Starlight was stepping out in front of the reporters.