The Intensifying Fight
The Intensifying Fight
Seo Ja-yeong.
For the first time in a while, she was having a bit of fun.
"Hmm..."
"Ngh."
The dark night sky.
Above the city center, which had already been completely evacuated, Seo Ja-yeong felt as though she were enjoying a fireworks display.
The only difference was that every firework was purple and aimed at a person.
Seo Ja-yeong was not normally this active.
As her perpetually half-lidded eyes suggested, she liked doing nothing, lying around, and sleeping more than anything.
Even now, as she hovered in the sky, she floated at an angle as though reclining against the wind. One hand remained in her hoodie pocket while the other worked her ability.
[Why does it look like she's barely even trying? lol]
[Is this the composure of the strong?]
[Seriously, I've never seen anyone this relaxed against Shadow Walker]
[She really does look like his perfect counter lol]
Of course, that didn't mean she wasn't taking it seriously. She was simply keeping things light, treating it like a game without putting pressure on herself.
She focused for a moment and looked at her hand. Time seemed to slow as the energy in her cold body flowed through her veins and gathered in one hand. Her right hand gradually heated until it felt as though it were boiling. At the same time, a small purple flame bloomed above it.
She moved her hand slightly, as though rolling the gently radiating flame in a circle. It spun faster and burned brighter, seeming to gain substance. Soon it looked less like a small flame than a blazing purple fireball, swelling as though about to burst before contracting again under the concentrated energy.
Before it could explode above her hand, she turned her palm forward and extended her arm as though pushing the fireball away. The blazing purple sphere hovered before her open palm, ready to detonate at any moment.
Then she poured strength into it as though firing it forward.
"Fireball."
A small magic circle appeared between her palm and the flame. With a bang, the fireball shot forward at high speed, and only then did time seem to return to normal.
To Shadow Walker and the viewers, the entire process happened in an instant. Mist briefly swept her hand, and a purple fireball streaked out. It crossed the dark night sky with a violet trail and detonated where Shadow Walker stood in the darkness.
"Ngh..."
Shadow Walker dodged and blocked from within the shadows, but the first shot wasn't the end. No sooner had he stopped one than another came flying, followed by another.
Of course, Shadow Walker wasn't simply taking the attacks. As Seo Ja-yeong reclined against the wind and lazily flung flames with one hand, shadows suddenly surged upward around her.
Wreathed in flame, she darted aside. Being small had its advantages: she could move easily.
With that idle thought, Seo Ja-yeong gritted her teeth and stared at Shadow Walker, who had closed in right before her. She dodged his attack and finally pulled her other hand from her pocket. When she moved both hands, a massive ring of purple fire formed between them. The ring shot forward, and he slipped back into the shadows to evade it.
As she soared through the dark night sky, she smiled genuinely for the first time in ages.
...Yeah. Just as she'd expected, flying around the night sky like this was pretty fun. She could freely unleash an ability she rarely had any use for and recline in a vortex of flame as she floated through the air. All of it.
In truth, being able to do this much was all thanks to Egostic. Without that brutal training with him, she probably wouldn't have lasted long. She would've fired off a few flames and run.
She was feeling proud of herself for accepting Egostic's offer when she saw Shadow Walker charging at her.
...So that's the supposedly powerful Shadow Walker.
But just as Egostic had said, he seemed much weaker against her flames. His absurd strength at night had been weakened, not erased, so she still had to focus pretty hard on the fight.
...But wait, how much time did she have again?
Firing another burst of flame, Seo Ja-yeong briefly recalled Egostic's words.
'If you're losing, I'll come rescue you. Even if you start winning, reinforcements will arrive soon anyway, so I'll come get you then too. It doesn't really matter whether you win or lose, so just do whatever you want.'
...He'd told her she could take it easy.
But Seo Ja-yeong had no intention of doing that.
Take it easy? Sure, that was fine, but since she'd stepped up, she might as well win.
Beneath the dark night sky, her purple hair whipping in the wind, she smiled faintly without realizing it.
...Dain. He hadn't shown it, but he clearly hadn't expected her to win. If anything, he'd expected her to be pushed back.
...But if she beat Shadow Walker, what kind of expression would Dain make? Would he be shocked, or would he praise her for doing well?
Curious to find out, her eyes gleamed as she threw herself into the fight with even more intensity.
Yeah. How about this?
Feeling the wind slip between her fingers, she began tracing another geometric shape.
The purple flames blazed ever fiercer.
The heat of battle continued to rise.
***
No one could beat Shadow Walker at night.
That claim had been shattered when Han-eun Group's giant robot completely ignored his ability and steamrolled him.
Still, his spirit hadn't broken that time.
Right. It was a robot. A giant robot couldn't be helped. It was enormous, the pinnacle of cutting-edge science—an ultimate weapon built by an entire villain organization.
That excuse had held his spirit together until the Moonlight Priestess appeared with a storm and finally shattered it.
Ah! So I'd become a washed-up has-been who couldn't even defeat a single villain at night. Was my glory really over? How was I supposed to live now?
Already nursing a quiet inferiority complex over being practically an ordinary person during the day, he could not accept the horrifying reality that he was now losing at night too. His spirit shattered so completely that he cut off contact with everyone and holed up alone at home for a while.
Of course, after wallowing alone, he recovered somewhat with his girlfriend's help and returned to everyday life.
...He had returned, but his spirit hadn't fully recovered. He still felt crushed whenever he thought there might be villains who could beat him even at night.
And then, as he went about his days—
another villain appeared who could partially ignore his ability and attack him.
Normally, despair would have hit him hard all over again.
He might have given up after fighting for a while and gone back to hiding at home.
But this time was different.
He knew the purpose of this attack.
He knew Egostic had specially prepared it to help his weak self grow.
He steeled himself, gritted his teeth, and fought with everything he had.
Right. More villains like this could appear in the future.
Was he going to despair every time? No. It was time to accept his limits and take a step forward. That had to be what Egostic wanted from him.
In reality, Egostic hadn't thought about any of that, but Shadow Walker had no way of knowing and believed it with absolute conviction.
"Ngh... ow."
The fire attacks kept coming.
Normally, they would've been nothing. He could have blocked them easily with his shadows.
But for some reason, they pierced his shadows, leaving Shadow Walker scrambling to dodge.
Floating against the dark night sky—
a small woman with long purple hair in a black hoodie.
He dodged the flames she flung with each sweep of her hand, occasionally attacking in return.
He gradually found his rhythm in the fight.
"Hmm... You said you were getting serious. Is this all?"
"Ngh... you little—"
Keeping the distant camera filming him in mind, he let a little genuine irritation seep into his voice.
Gritting his teeth, he condensed shadows into his hands and charged at the fire witch once more.
For all her bravado, he could already tell she was more tired than at the start.
In other words, he had an opening.
He would win, no matter what!
For the first time in a clash between members of Ego Stream and the Hero Association, both sides entered the battle determined to defeat the other at all costs.
Accordingly, the battle blazed on as though it would never end.
On and on.
For quite a while.
***
[Whoa lol this fight is seriously legendary lol]
[They're going at it HARD lmaoooo]
[Oh man, the buildings are all blowing up!]
[I live nearby and it's chaos. The sky keeps flashing and I can hear huge booms lol]
[I don't think I've ever seen Shadow Walker fight this desperately]
[One of Egostic's new recruits is going toe-to-toe with an A-rank hero on pure combat power lol. Isn't she basically S-rank at this point?]
[Why is this Mist girl so cute and pretty?? Forget Star Mango and Ice Mango—Purple Mango might score the winning goal here]
[Nope, Stardus is prettier. Stop slandering her]
[You guys above can't even see her properly through the Perception Inhibition, so what are you talking about? lol. Icicle fights with her face fully exposed—do you think she's a joke?]
[The Ice Mango boom is coming]
[Why is nobody talking about the fight? lol]
[This fight really is intense, though. It has been going forever. Electra was over in an instant]
[Who's winning? It's way too close to tell]
[Shadow Walker got his groove back midway through. Looks like he's slightly ahead now?]
Even though the battle had already lasted quite a while, the chat was still buzzing.
I had gotten tired and stopped commentating at some point, and now I watched the fight in mild bewilderment.
No, guys. Why are you fighting so hard? You can just take it easy...
Seo Ja-yeong was lazy about everything, so I couldn't understand why she was fighting this hard. What for, exactly?
Anyway, that wasn't the important part.
What mattered was that the longer and fiercer the fight became, the more likely she was to show up.
And sure enough, just as I'd expected—
it wasn't long before someone entered my field of view.
As planned, I muted the camera and turned it away before greeting the welcome figure approaching me.
"Good evening, Stardus. I knew you'd come."
"...Egostic."
Above the darkened city, my hero approached me, her blonde hair streaming in the wind.
I greeted her with a grin while my mind raced.
So it had come to this.
Then the answer was the Plan B I'd prepared.
For the record, Stardus, whom I hadn't seen in a while, was still beautiful.
Just saying.