61
Ch.61 Opposition to the Subjugation
[The Black Cat subjugation failed. What a shame. Good work, Starlight.]
Inside the dim communication room, Kage spoke in a tone that suggested he wasn’t disappointed at all, calmly setting down his teacup.
[If Electress had followed the plan as intended, it would have been entirely possible… Well, I expected this much.]
"You expected it?"
[You and Electress have never gotten along. You don’t know how to handle her. And Electress… She’s like a wild horse that goes berserk the moment her leash is loosened.]
"Wild horse? More like a rabid dog."
[I agree. I’ll apologize first. I didn’t think she’d go as far as taking civilians hostage—that’s absurd.]
For once, Kage bowed his head slightly.
[…If this gets out, Electress’s reputation in A-City will plummet.]
"Don’t worry, I’ve already made sure the press is blocked. The only ones who know about the Black Cat subjugation attempt are the heroes of W-City."
[W-City’s heroes have strong camaraderie, so there’s no risk of leaks. I appreciate the consideration. But you didn’t need to go that far.]
"What?"
As Yoo Anna spoke in a voice filled with dissatisfaction and suspicion, Kage sipped his tea leisurely.
[I was planning to break Electress’s spirit properly this time… I’m tired of her extreme, irresponsible superiority complex. And the idiots who flock to her.]
"You… Don’t tell me—"
[When she listens, there’s no better hero. But if she thinks her opponent is weaker, she runs wild. My standing had fallen quite a bit thanks to the Black Cat, and Electress was getting bold. But I never thought she’d give me such a perfect justification… Now I can wipe out all the fools under her in one go.]
"You used W-City for your political games?!"
[Political games sound unpleasant. Think of it as reforging the hilt of a blade named Electress.]
Suddenly, Kage’s earlier words flashed through Yoo Anna’s mind.
"It doesn’t matter if you kill it or not."
Maybe that wasn’t just about the Black Cat.
[Judging by your expression, you seem to misunderstand… I wanted Electress to come back alive. It would’ve been better if she’d subjugated the Black Cat. But as long as she didn’t die, it didn’t matter if she lost.]
"Ha, you just didn't care—you wanted her to lose, didn’t you?"
[Precisely. I should thank the Black Cat—it left her with injuries severe enough to teach her a lesson but not enough to be permanent.]
"You do realize people could’ve gotten hurt because of you and Electress?! That bitch was torturing civilians—!"
[In the end, the only one hurt was Electress.]
As he said, the civilians had only received electric shocks under the guise of education from Electress. None were left with lasting injuries or trauma.
Even the shelter Electress had targeted remained unaware they had been in danger, thanks to the Black Cat’s intervention.
[For all her faults, she’s still a hero I allow to operate in A-City. Annoying as she is, she doesn’t kill civilians indiscriminately.]
"You were serious, huh?"
[Wasn’t she desperate to break through the Black Cat’s ability?]
"No matter how desperate, how is using your power on civilians justified?!"
[If that’s the monster’s weakness, you aim for it.]
"What if the people in the shelter had died?!"
[You haven’t changed at all.]
Kage looked at Yoo Anna with pity.
[Starlight… A single Despair-class monster’s maximum casualty count is roughly 300,000, with 20,000 deaths. That was before the hero system was properly established, but without heroes, it could still happen anytime. You learned this too. A single shelter holds a maximum of 50 people. Would you hesitate to kill 50 to save 20,000—no, let’s use a recent example. Would you hesitate to kill 50 to save 500, only to let everyone die?]
"There’s also the option of saving everyone."
[Of course, that would be ideal. But we’re here to minimize damage, not eliminate it entirely. We’re not transcendent beings.]
Yoo Anna had no rebuttal to Kage’s bitter, pragmatic argument.
[Has the Black Cat made you too complacent? Sacrificing a shelter as bait to kill a monster was once a basic strategy.]
"I still refuse to accept that garbage strategy. That’s only for when there’s no other choice."
[And how often do ‘no other choice’ situations arise with growing Despair-class monsters?]
The answer was never.
Only because the Black Cat of W-City was such an anomaly did it seem like an unreasonable method.
Kage sighed as if exhausted.
[You’re still too idealistic. Grow up, Starlight. This is why I can’t bring myself to acknowledge you.]
"Who asked for your acknowledgement?"
[You didn’t, but I did anyway. So I’d like you to act accordingly.]
Kage’s cold gaze bore into her.
[Don’t blame Electress. You’re W-City’s S-rank hero—the strongest superpower human in that city. If Electress ran wild under your watch, that’s your fault.]
"Electress is an S-rank hero, just like me."
[Same rank, not same level. Your sense of camaraderie, your egalitarianism—that’s the problem. Equality doesn’t exist in the age of monsters. Strong and weak. If you had properly crushed her even once, Electress would’ve backed you up, and the Black Cat would’ve been subjugated.]
"So, Electress harming civilians and taking hostages is my fault for not keeping her on a tight enough leash?"
[Exactly.]
"If I hadn’t stopped her, or if the Black Cat hadn’t, there would’ve been casualties."
[Impossible. I wouldn’t acknowledge a superpower human as my equal if they couldn’t handle Electress.]
She wanted to punch him.
Yoo Anna clenched her fists at his words, unsure if they were praise or mockery.
"You and Electress are both disgusting bastards."
[I’ll take that as a compliment. For the sake of civilians, superpower humans must always be filthy. Nothing is as vile as a superpower human’s clean hands.]
"Shut up. I don’t want to hear another word about how you used me for your political games."
[Heh… Thank you for contributing to A-City’s peace.]
Chuckling, Kage set down his empty teacup.
[Now, let’s get to the main point.]
On screen, Kage’s expression shifted like a mask being swapped—now weary.
[I genuinely want the Black Cat subjugated as soon as possible. This incident proved it can mimic other monsters’ traits. It even replicated the structure of my ability… That thing is growing stronger at a terrifying rate. If we don’t cut its head off soon, it might become a monster no one can stop.]
After reading the battle report, Kage seemed tense, as if recalling his own encounter with the Black Cat.
A monster that freely uses countless abilities means one where no attack works, and every attack it makes is lethal.
Worse, its number of abilities keeps increasing, and it learns how to use them by stealing from heroes.
The Black Cat’s growth rate is several times faster than other Despair-class monsters.
[The Black Cat tried to kill Electress. That proves only you, Starlight, are the hero it treats differently.]
Though Kage had cornered the Black Cat and nearly died, Yoo Anna had landed multiple fatal blows without retaliation.
Electress—and the heroes of W-City—believed the Black Cat lashed out because Electress attacked civilians. But to everyone outside W-City, that explanation made no sense.
There was a simpler answer,
Electress attacked, so it fought back.
Then why didn’t the Black Cat retaliate against Yoo Anna?
[Your destructive power is among the highest of all S-rank heroes. For monsters, destructive power is the easiest measure of strength. Its abnormal behavior is just temporary submission to a stronger opponent.]
The Black Cat is simply biding its time until it surpasses Yoo Anna.
With its high intelligence, it likely knows the moment it harms a human, Yoo Anna will hunt it endlessly.
The second it’s confident it’s stronger than her, the Black Cat will reveal its true nature.
It must be subjugated before then.
[That’s why I was going to deploy three S-rank heroes, even if it was overkill…]
A repayment for Yoo Anna saving him from the Black Cat.
Kage, genuinely concerned about the delay in subjugating the Black Cat, was prepared to use every means necessary.
Emergency mobilization based on Electress’s defeat, classifying W-City’s Black Cat as near-Annihilation-class for priority subjugation.
But the moment everything was ready, Yoo Anna refused support.
[Why did you oppose it?]
This call was to discuss exactly that.
Yoo Anna, who had been silently closing her eyes, exhaled and steeled her resolve.
After bringing Electress to the infirmary, she had endlessly debated the differences between the Black Cat and Electress—and what she truly wanted from the Black Cat.
The result?
"…I’m going to tame the Black Cat."
Yoo Anna asserted what she had long denied.
Or rather, its possibility.
Kage, as if he had expected this, sighed without surprise.
[I see… Starlight, I understand. W-City only has one S-rank hero—you. Heroes are always in short supply. The Black Cat is a unique monster. A monster that eats other monsters… I get wanting to borrow its strength. Fine.]
Then, furrowing his brows, he glared at her through the screen.
[But taming a monster? Are you insane?]
Of course he’d say that.
Yoo Anna wore a bitter expression at the expected response.
[An experienced superpower human of S-rank, fooled into thinking the Black Cat is harmless just because it eats a few monsters? Don’t spout weak-minded nonsense. If you waver, all of W-City wavers. The moment you stop doubting and trust a monster, it won’t be you torn apart in its jaws—it’ll be the weak civilians.]
"I know. Of course I know all that."
[Good. Then saying this just proves you’ve grown weak. Superpower humans can’t afford weakness, Starlight.]
On screen, Kage’s figure wavered like a heat haze from overflowing energy, his eyes sharp with killing intent.
[Have you forgotten how the monster weaponization plan—started by those incompetent pigs—ended?]
The long-running project to weaponize monsters only left bloodstained proof that humans could never tame them.
Monsters that slipped control caused catastrophic damage, and the arrogant higher-ups who had once believed in their safety ended up cowering behind the very heroes they’d tried to suppress.
Yoo Anna, having anticipated this, pulled out prepared data.
"Hold on. Take a look at this."
She sent Kage a video file.
Electress, her electrokinetic power, always destroyed hero cams, and she was unconscious during this moment, so she had no memory of it.
The Black Cat pounced on Electress, then slowly retracted its fangs when Yoo Anna intervened.
Kage’s expression shifted as he watched the unreported footage.
[A little deeper, and Electress would’ve died.]
"But the Black Cat didn’t kill her. There’s more—during the Mirage incident, when it hunted Disaster-class monsters…"
Yoo Anna played another clip—the Black Cat handing her a monster’s core.
[This is… Strange.]
"I don’t think the Black Cat is pretending to be docile out of fear."
If it were hiding its nature to gather strength, it would’ve tried to keep the cores.
But the Black Cat willingly gave up hunted cores, surrendered heroes, and showed little interest in growing stronger, as if ignoring a monster’s instinct to consume humans for power.
"Maybe… The Black Cat really can be tamed."