S-Class Villain Eternox (2)
“Ugh, that dummy. He’s really okay, right…?”
Lavy, who had gone all the way to Seoul yesterday just to deliver the bento she had spent a full three hours packing for Smile, now lay sprawled face-down on her bed, burying her face in a fluffy pillow.
The image of Smile suddenly clutching his heart in agony mid-meal refused to leave her mind. Restless with worry, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
“Haa… yeah. That idiot can’t tell a lie to save his life, so it really must have just gone down the wrong pipe….”
Of course… honestly, the idea of Smile choking on his food still felt strangely off no matter how she turned it over.
But unless he was some otherworldly being, even a superhuman with invincible power still shared the same basic body structure as everyone else, right?
…So even Smile could choke if he ate too fast.
“…Ugh, but. Does that mean my bento was so delicious he had to scarf it down that quickly…?”
Thump thump—!
“…Hehe, that dummy. He didn’t seem to like the beef much, so next time I’ll pack something else, hehe.”
Having decided to set her worries aside, Lavy seemed delighted that her bento had earned a decent review. She kicked her long, pale legs against the blankets for a while, then snuggled deep into the soft covers. Before starting her hero work tomorrow she planned to practice cooking as she did every dawn, and so she resolved to get some sleep.
Bzzz—. Bzzz—.
“Huh…? A red light means an emergency call, but I’m not even on duty today. What’s going on…?”
Just then the wearable phone she always kept on her wrist even while sleeping vibrated hard, lighting up with a crimson glow that signaled a critical disaster, and the Ability Management Bureau called for Hero Lavy rather than Seo Su-a.
“This is Hero Lavy. What’s the matter?”
“R-Right now, all A-class and higher heroes in Incheon have been ordered to urgently deploy to Incheon Central Prison immediately!”
“What…? Every high-rank hero in Incheon? That’ll leave other areas wide open to villains. What on earth is happening? Don’t tell me someone’s escaped?”
“…Yes! Right now the S-class villain imprisoned in the Central Prison—the cannibal ‘Eternox’—has escaped! Dozens of guards have already been murdered, and contact has been lost with the two A-class heroes who were on site!”
“What…?! Eternox—that’s the lunatic Smile arrested years ago, isn’t it?! …Got it. I’m heading there right now!”
…With that shocking news in the dead of night, Lavy immediately pulled on her dedicated reinforced suit. She flung open the window and launched herself out, still listening to the Bureau agent’s voice over the unbroken call. For some reason the escapee had yet to leave the prison, and the minister’s order was absolute: do not attempt to capture him alive—kill him the moment he is found.
She hurriedly applied her flame ability and soared high into the sky.
Haa, kill on sight with no capture allowed…. I’ve never received such an extreme order before. That must mean he’s that dangerous.
Of course Lavy knew roughly about Eternox’s absurd regenerative power even without ever having faced him in person. So even with her own formidable ability she honestly wasn’t certain she could kill him on the spot.
But the fact that headquarters had issued such a firm kill order meant that this mad cannibal serial killer had to be stopped by any means necessary.
…I don’t know why he’s still inside the prison after getting free of his restraints, but that monster even gave Smile a hard time for a while back then. No ordinary A-class hero stands a chance.
Grit—.
“So if I want to cut down even one more victim that psycho can claim, I have to get there as fast as possible…!”
Feeling a fierce sense of responsibility as Incheon’s only S-class hero, Lavy tore through the night sky at full speed like a meteor shower, racing toward the Central Prison that lay far from the home she had deliberately set up close to Seoul just so she could see Smile more often.
“Aaaah, aaah! Aaaaah…!! I can feel it! My infinite vitality, grown far stronger through tens of thousands of deaths…! Yes! At this rate—at this very moment—I can put even that monster beneath my feet! Aaaaah! What joy this is—!”
“Guhh…! Y-You monster…! On the name of Hero Piercing, I will never let you set one foot outside…!!”
BOOM, KRAAAASH—!!
“Khh…!! How’s that? The feeling of having your heart pierced by my full-power charge! Even you can’t shrug off a pulverized heart without—!”
Crack, crunch.
“Gyaaah…!! M-My horns, dozens of times harder than steel…!”
“…Haaaah. A worthless piece of trash that isn’t even worth devouring is interrupting my moment of rapture. Don’t worry. Even if a worm like you doesn’t try to stop me, I have no intention of taking a single step out of here until that monster arrives.”
Inside the massive walls of Incheon Central Prison, where the corpses of guards and inmates lay strewn about in a cold heap, Eternox took a clean hit to a vital point from Hero Piercing—an A-class fighter whose physical ability and single-target destructive power ranked among the absolute top of his rank—yet he did not so much as blink.
He casually tossed the horn that had snapped like trash in his grip to the floor, then ground the dying hero’s face under his boot as he continued in a languid drawl.
“…Still, has the quality of heroes dropped this far in the ten years I was locked away? Even without that monster, there used to be far more useful ones around.”
Grab.
“Haaaah, but after ten years of gnawing on my own flesh just to survive, I’m starving. Even trash like this will have to do for now.”
…With that he turned his back on the horn-broken Piercing as if the man no longer existed, scooped up the body of A-class hero Electric—who had just been blasting him with blue lightning—and, like a beast devouring a human, opened his maw wide and began to chew on the unconscious Electric’s arm.
“Guhh…! N-No! You crazy bastard…!!! What the hell are you doing to my partner—khhurgh!”
“Hahaha! That’s right. In just a little while the most perfect meal of my entire life will come walking through those doors, so an appetizer this cheap is fine for now.”
“Guhhhh!! N-No!! Electric!! Damn it!! Where the hell is backup…! Please! Somebody help—!”
KWOOOOM—!!
And while Piercing, having lost his mind at the sight of that nightmare and charged in only to have his remaining horn shattered and his body slammed into the wall, sobbed in despair…
…a figure wreathed in crimson fire plummeted from the sky like a falling meteor, carving a massive crater into the ground as she landed.
“…This is Hero Lavy. I’m joining the scene.”
“La-Lavy! …Khh, thank god! If you’re here we can hold out just fine until the others arrive!”
Fwoosh—!
“Ooh, a flame that actually sends a chill down the spine. I was starting to think modern heroes were all as weak as that horned piece of trash. Good—so not every last one of them is garbage… khh!”
“…Piercing may be a hothead who makes mistakes, but he’s a good hero who fights for the safety of civilians with all his heart.”
FWOOSH—!!
“…So if trash like you insults my partner one more time, I’ll make sure you burn as slowly and painfully as possible.”
“Keheheh, quite the fierce temper for such a young lady. I like the ones who make tormenting them worthwhile. Looks like I’ll have to change appetizers after all—here, you can have this trash back.”
Thud—.
With those words Eternox casually flung Electric—one arm completely severed, gruesome bite marks still fresh on the wrist—toward Lavy.
“…Electric!”
Grit—.
“…What did you do to him.”
“Aaah, even worthless garbage like that—I was so hungry I was going to eat him, but something far better just showed up, so I stopped. Honestly, it only ruined my appetite.”
“…Now I understand why the Bureau issued an immediate kill order. I’m going to burn you to ash right here.”
“Hmm? You’ve certainly risen above trash, but aren’t you getting a little arrogant? You’re nothing more than a light diversion to pass the time until that monster arrives.”
And at that moment Lavy’s flames, which grew fiercer the greater her rage toward the enemy became, flared as she took in the corpses of the guards scattered around them—raging as if a volcano’s mouth had been transplanted onto this very spot, ready to erupt at any second.
“…Cooling mode engaged. Muscle assist at eighty percent.”
FWOOOOSH—!!
“Ooh…! Scratch what I just said. This isn’t merely above trash—this is one of the finest delicacies I’ve ever tasted. You’re a half-baked fool who takes damage from her own power, but even so, this is impressive!”
“…Haa. Was that your last will? It’s been a long time since my flames burned hot enough to sting my own skin. Don’t expect to die cleanly.”
And those wild, enormous flames compressed with astonishing precision into a single point, soon wrapping stably around Lavy’s body.
“…You wouldn’t know, rotting in prison for ten years, but right now I’m the strongest hero in this city. So if you were going to break out, you should have hurried up instead of wasting time with this nonsense.”