A Family-Like Atmosphere
A Family-Like Atmosphere
How long had it been since the last terrorist attack? Already, another Egostic attack had begun.
With public interest in him at an all-time high after the previous incident, this new attack was more than enough to command everyone's attention.
Like the last one, this attack was carried out alongside members of his self-made villain alliance, Ego Stream.
Stardus—practically his designated opponent by now—was locked in combat with a girl piloting what looked like a mobile mech suit.
As people murmured about where Egostic kept finding ability users like this, the battle unfolded.
At first, things went in Egostic's favor.
Befitting its name as the Starbuster, the mechanical suit gave the girl piloting it a significant advantage over Stardus. Stardus appeared to be fighting defensively, dodging and blocking the machine's attacks.
Seeing that, everyone assumed Stardus was being pushed back.
But the situation eventually shifted.
[Huhk?]
Wham— Wham—
A violent battle with nothing but wind and dust swirling.
The mechanical device's fist swung out, smashing a nearby exterior wall and wreaking havoc.
Yet Stardus was unleashing an all-out offensive against the Starbuster, a machine several times her size.
[Why, you—! You really wanna do this?!]
KABOOM—
The Starbuster was sent flying far into the distance by Stardus's attack.
The girl inside ground her teeth, her mind reeling from yet another impact.
Shin Ha-ru stared at the Starbuster—now trailing black smoke and with one arm dangling, completely unlike before—and let out a scoff.
"Surrender and give yourself up now. It'll be easier on you."
The hacker inside clenched her jaw at that dismissive remark.
[Don't make me laugh! Take this!]
The moment those words were spoken, the colossal Starbuster raised an arm toward Shin Ha-ru.
At the same time, something whirred out from the mechanical arm.
What popped out were small-sized missiles.
"!!!"
[Haha! Say goodbye!]
Laughter rang out from inside the machine as the missiles shot straight at Stardus.
Stardus immediately launched herself into the air.
KABOOM—
The area where Stardus had been standing exploded.
Smoke and dust billowed across the whole vicinity.
[...Gulp.]
The Starbuster stayed on alert, staring into the smoke.
When Stardus's silhouette remained hidden in the haze—
[...Heh. Big bro, I took down Stardus!]
The hacker cried out excitedly.
The chat erupted in response.
*
[She keeps calling him “big bro.” That's kind of cute lol]
[For real, is Mangostic her brother or something? lol]
[Why's a villain this cute when she's fighting a hero? Feels like rooting for a cousin lol]
[Ah wait, "took her down"??? You really shouldn't say stuff like that...]
[I know Stardus looked a bit weak against the Moonlight Priestess last time, but would an explosion like that really knock her out?]
[Fact check: "I beat her" ➡ they didn't]
[5 seconds until Stardus revives like a total monster lmao]
*
And right on cue.
Inside the smoke-filled space, the shadow of a human form began to flicker.
Gradually, it drew closer to the edge of the smoke.
And what stepped out of the smoke was Stardus, running a hand through her hair, completely unscathed—not a scratch on her, not even a tear in her suit—strolling out calm and relaxed.
[No, seriously. Augh... What, is she a superhuman? She tanks this?]
The girl inside muttered in a hollow voice, like she'd already tasted life's bitterness at a young age.
*
[Fact: “Superhuman” is correct.]
[She's a superpowered human, so superhuman literally fits haha]
[Hacker girl thrown off by Stardus popping back up like a roly-poly no matter how many times you hit her lol]
[Ah lmao Stardus is literally a quasi-S-rank hero lol]
[???: You are still a million years too early to face me]
[Deep meaning: come back when you're a little bigger lol]
*
The chat was already noisy, as if they'd seen it coming.
Soon Stardus launched herself back into flight, swung her arm once, threw a punch, and flew straight at the Starbuster.
The mechanical suit controlled by the hacker raised its heavy arm in response, swinging a steel fist at Stardus.
The battle resumed.
[Urk.]
Stardus simply pushed forward relentlessly, completely overwhelming the weapon created to be her opponent, the Starbuster.
***
[Aaaaaah!]
BOOM—
The final blow, thrown with every scrap of strength she could wring out.
The weapon took the direct hit and, accompanied by a scream from the girl inside, was launched high into the sky.
The weapon had already been practically shattered by her attacks by then.
The mechanical suit's head section was wrecked, hazily exposing the girl's form inside.
The Starbuster flew away in pieces.
Stardus launched herself into the air after it.
This was the end of what had been a fairly drawn-out fight.
...Though the battle had dragged on because that weapon was built out of something ridiculously sturdy, in the end, it was her win.
Just look at it, already depowered and helplessly drifting through the sky after her final attack.
With those thoughts running through her mind, Stardus reflected.
...She was weaker than Stardus, but still a reasonably strong opponent. Probably A-rank material.
How the hell did they build something like that? What did she mean by hacking everything so far? And what was that about living in the same house?
Shin Ha-ru had a lot of questions about the girl who kept calling Egostic “big bro.”
Oh well.
She could get the details later by dragging her back to the Association for interrogation.
With that in mind, Stardus soared high, her golden hair whipping in the wind, and reached out toward the girl still floating in midair inside her devastated machine.
And then.
Just before her hand reached the unconscious girl—at that very moment—
Vwiiiing—
A purple magic circle suddenly blazed into existence right in front of her.
Seeing it flash to life, Shin Ha-ru yanked her body aside.
In the same instant—
KABOOM.
A destruction beam—the same one she'd seen inside the storm before—streaked past, grazing her hair.
Once the sudden attack was over, Stardus turned back and looked again—
"...Fufu, Stardus. My apologies, but I can't let you take my colleague so easily."
It was Egostic, falling from the sky with his cape billowing, one hand resting on his black hat.
"..."
And the Moonlight Priestess, a red-eyed woman in white shrine maiden robes, staring at Stardus warily with small magic circles spinning in both hands.
***
Phew, that was close.
Outwardly I was grinning, but inside I wiped sweat from my brow.
Since it had been practically certain from the beginning that Seo-eun would lose to Stardus, I'd prepared for it in advance. Well, I'd mostly relied on Eun-wol.
The original plan had been to extract Seo-eun at the last possible second after she lost, but Stardus suddenly tried to catch her, forcing me to intervene early. I genuinely hadn't anticipated the midair grab.
Anyway, thanks to getting Eun-wol to fire off a destruction beam on the fly, we avoided the catastrophe of Seo-eun getting captured. Eun-wol caught her with magic too, so she didn't just go spinning off into the void.
After stopping Stardus, I grabbed hold of the unconscious Seo-eun inside the robot and scooped her up. Light.
"...Egostic."
Stardus, thwarted by my intervention just as she was about to grab Seo-eun, glared at me in frustration and muttered.
I grinned back at her.
"Please accept my most sincere apologies. But surely you can't expect me not to look after my own people? They're family."
"...Family?"
We were hanging in the middle of the sky, a cold wind swirling around us.
Stardus was glaring straight at me, and behind her, Eun-wol was projecting magic circles as a warning to hold her off.
I drifted in the air, holding Seo-eun, and put together a closing statement.
The attack was over. Time to go home.
For now, Stardus was saying something. Family?
"Yes, of course! All of us in Ego Stream are bound by the tightest, closest bonds—like family. A true gathering of villains. And given that, well... ahem. My 'longest-serving colleague' just went down. You honestly think I could stand by and do nothing?"
Nice. I'd delivered the line Seo-eun asked me to say, and I'd established a justification.
Using telekinesis, I manipulated the camera still bobbing around near the fencing over there and pulled it back toward us.
Then I started on my final wrap-up.
"At any rate! Very well, Stardus. The victory is yours. You've felled my colleague most splendidly. Since you've won, I'll withdraw gracefully. I'd better get my colleague treated right away."
I finished talking and gestured to Eun-wol.
Taking the hint, she tucked herself in right against my side.
I wrapped an arm around her and tossed Stardus a parting goodbye.
"Well then, adiós!"
"..."
Leaving Stardus with an expression like she'd lost everything, I teleported away and vanished.
Why'd you have to make that heartbreaking face, geez.
...Still not giving you Seo-eun though. Nope.
***
"Stardus, are you all right?!"
"Yes, yes. I'm fine."
After the attack was over.
Shin Ha-ru was being escorted by Association staff and police who had rushed over to rescue the hostages trapped in the steel cages and clear the scene.
With something like a cardigan they'd handed her draped over her shoulders, she took small sips from a cup and assessed the day's takeaways in her head.
The terror had ended like it always did, with no casualties. The wrecked nearby commercial district—well, Egostic would pull some kind of compensation thing again, so that'd be handled.
Losing the hacker in the end was disappointing, but overall, she could chalk the day up as having gathered some new intel on Egostic.
Inside the car, she sorted through what she'd learned.
'That girl back there is the hacker... she's probably the one who's handled all the hacking so far.'
'...And they live in the same house.'
'And what was it? "Precious colleagues," "family." He said they live like a family...'
Turning those thoughts over, she felt her own mood souring without her quite meaning it to.
Images surfaced in her mind: Egostic holding Electra before, Egostic vanishing while holding both of them this time. And now Egostic holding the girl like she was the most precious thing in the world, emphasizing the words "colleagues like family."
"..."
Family. Family, huh.
Ha, seriously.