Starfield Mayhem (2)
Seo Ha-yoon stood at the center, me right next to her, and Ida-in on my other side. The legendary tag team had formed.
Backed by the full force of the law—talk about reassuring. Legitimate, righteous power was on my side. I felt like I could take on anything.
Maybe I should quit being a villain and become a hero.
Fat chance. With the villain label already slapped on me, even if I turned myself in, I'd rot in prison for life or end up as a lab rat and get discarded. For now, I decided to be satisfied with this temporary alliance.
Man, up close, she really does look like the protagonist. Seo Ha-yoon, clad in her white suit with a red cape billowing behind her, had a profile so beautiful it looked like a painting.
"What are you staring at, Blank? Focus on the enemy."
Seo Ha-yoon noticed my gaze and snapped at me curtly.
Ah, stared too much. It's rude to gawk at someone's face.
"Blank…!!! You got no pride as a villain or what?! Huh?!"
Crusher unleashed his rage at me.
"Villain pride? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Teaming up with heroes to take down your own partner—is that any way to do business?!"
Crusher came at me with some pretty emotional threats.
"Flash!! And you, you ditzy bitch!!! You're no heroes either! Teaming up with a lowlife villain just to rack up merits?!"
Crusher vented his fury at Seo Ha-yoon and Ida-in too.
"…."
At his words, Seo Ha-yoon and Ida-in looked a bit stung. He was trying to tie our feet with emotional appeals, but it was a shallow ploy.
"How exactly am I breaking villain code here?"
What, villains have to stick together no matter what?
"You bite anyone who pisses you off. Isn't that what being a villain's all about?"
"…You little shit who doesn't know his place…!!!!"
Crusher flew into a rage and charged at me.
"You started shit with me first. Then you kept attacking without tiring, wearing me out."
I focused shockwaves into my legs and launched my body like a cannonball to block Crusher's path.
"I concluded killing you is the only way to get some peace in my life."
So just vanish quietly already.
Fwooooooom!!!
I swung the iron pipe packed with shockwaves with all my might. My plan was to at least cancel out one of the gravity fields Crusher was hurling my way.
That was when it happened.
Vwoooom!!
A translucent barrier enveloped my body.
Ida-in…!
Ida-in had wrapped a barrier around me and the iron pipe. It was a technique from volume 5 of the original story, but she was using it here. An application where she morphs the barrier into a weapon.
She'd converted the barrier from a weapon into armor and cloaked an ally with it—a super useful skill.
Learn one thing, master ten, huh? That's protagonist talent for you.
Anyway, Ida-in had provided perfect support.
"Die!!"
Crusher thrust out an arm rippling with gravity fields.
I swung the barrier-wrapped iron pipe at it with everything I had.
KABOOOOOOM!!!!!
The gravity field clashed hard with the iron pipe, but only for a moment—the pipe pierced right through, flying straight for Crusher's forehead.
"…!!!"
Crusher's face twisted in panic as he tried to dodge.
But he was too late.
CRAAAAACK!!!!!
The thickly barrier-coated iron pipe smashed through the gravity field Crusher had deployed in front of him and struck his brow dead-on.
"Gaaarghhh!!!"
Crusher spat out broken teeth from his mouth and rolled across the terrace.
"Wha—what…!"
He wiped the blood trickling from his mouth, his face full of shock.
It was a matter of ability compatibility.
The key was that Ida-in's barrier emitted a repulsive force with physical power but was judged as non-material. It was a substance that existed yet didn't—an imaginary material.
On the other hand, Crusher's gravity field could only pull in material objects. It couldn't affect non-material existences.
That's why Crusher's gravity couldn't pierce the barrier.
That's why Ida-in's power is so broken.
Considering most superpowers interfered with the material world, Ida-in's barrier boasted invincible defense. It could shrug off most abilities.
Though I couldn't use my shockwaves either.
The barrier covering my body and pipe prevented me from unleashing shockwaves against Crusher. But there was no helping it. What mattered was landing meaningful damage.
Seizing the moment Crusher was hurt, Seo Ha-yoon fired a barrage of light beams at him.
Pewk!! Pfft!! Sizzle!
Seo Ha-yoon's light beams pierced Crusher's arms and legs.
"Grahhh!!!"
The smell of burning flesh filled the air. Crusher writhed madly, howling in agony.
"It's over."
Confirming Crusher's mobility was gone, Seo Ha-yoon charged at him to subdue him.
"Fuuuuck!!! I ain't goin' down like this!!!!!"
Crusher suddenly let out a beastly roar and forced himself up with superhuman strength.
Vrrrrrrrum.
I knew Crusher was tough, but he was stronger than I'd imagined.
Raising his hand high toward the sky, Crusher flashed a vile grin.
VROOOOOOOM!!!!!
A massive gravity field formed above the terrace like a meteor, crashing down on us.
"What…!!"
Ida-in stared at the gravity field in alarm.
He'd created a huge gravity field in the sky and was slamming it down on our position with all his might, aiming for mutual destruction.
"Don't do something stupid!! You'll die too!"
Seo Ha-yoon tried to talk him down in her rigid way.
"He's prepared to die."
You think persuasion's gonna work? I could see the terrifying resolve—he'd choose death over humiliation.
"Eat shit!!!"
He planned to suck in the entire terrace, himself included, with the gravity field and wipe it all out.
If the terrace pillars collapse, it'll crush people below too.
This bastard Crusher had derailed the original story in the shittiest way possible.
"Nngh!!!!"
Ida-in fully deployed her body barrier and blocked the descending gravity field pressing down from the sky.
Vrrrrrum.
She expanded an igloo-shaped barrier around me, Seo Ha-yoon, and herself to secure a safe zone, while radiating a wide barrier upward to hold it off.
Kiiiiiiing.
The barrier membrane and gravity field waged a fierce territorial battle.
"Cough… Eat shit…! You fucking bastards…!!!"
Crusher laughed maniacally, glaring at us with bloodshot eyes ready to burst veins.
Seo Ha-yoon tried to snipe Crusher's main body with light beams, but it was no use. She was inside Ida-in's barrier. Her beams couldn't pass the wall blocking the gravity field.
We were all trapped inside the barrier. To attack Crusher, we'd have to exit Ida-in's barrier—and step into the gravity field's range.
This spot was the safest place amid the gravity storm. Leaving meant getting shredded by it—even for an A-rank hero like Seo Ha-yoon.
"The terrace is gonna collapse…!"
Ida-in glanced at the cracking terrace floor in real time.
"Kyaaah!!"
"Move, quick!! Hurry!!"
This terrace jutted out from the Starfield building like a bird's beak. If it fell, the debris would plummet straight down—to where people were still evacuating.
If civilians died from this stunt, Seo Ha-yoon and Ida-in would carry that trauma forever. As someone who'd rooted for their heroic tales in the original story, I didn't want to see that.
Once. Just once.
A way to take out Crusher flashed in my mind.
"Seo Ha-yoon. On three."
"What are you—"
Seo Ha-yoon, who'd been anxiously watching below, whipped her head toward me.
"I can hold the gravity field back for three seconds. Use that window to zip behind Crusher and take him down."
I could pull aggro for about three seconds. I wanted to boast five, but even that was too long.
"Blank, what the hell are you—"
Ignoring Seo Ha-yoon's bewildered protest, I stepped out through a cracking section of the barrier.
"Blank…. You can't go out there…."
Ida-in looked at me in panic.
"A hero worrying about a villain? Hilarious."
"Th-that's not…."
Ida-in seemed to realize the hole in her own words.
The moment I exited the barrier, the gravity field's force began tearing my body apart.
Pook! Pfft!
Small debris from the building, sucked in by the gravity, pelted my body, drawing blood.
Kiiiiing.
The gravity was so intense, pain from my flesh and bones twisting dominated me.
"Blaaaaaank!!! Come out to die, have ya!!!!"
Crusher grinned maniacally at me and extended his arm.
Kagagagang!!
I charged straight at Crusher without hesitation.
Kiiiiing!! Kiiing!!
The overwhelming gravity shredded my body with agony. Suppressing the pain, I gripped the iron pipe and pushed forward, eyes fixed ahead.
"UHAHAHAHA!!"
Crusher thrashed in the gravity field, mocking me as I approached, then amped up the intensity of the overhead field.
He was determined to crush me before I got close.
Crack!!
My left arm snapped under the gravity, bending at an unnatural angle.
Fine. One hand's enough.
Dragging the iron pipe with one hand, I deployed shockwaves and closed the distance on Crusher.
Within range.
Fwoooooooom!!!!
Gripping the pipe tight with my intact right arm, I swung at Crusher with all my strength.
Crusher was reaching skyward, manipulating the gravity field. If he didn't stop, the pipe would hit for sure.
"…!!!"
Our eyes met. It was a game of chicken—a test.
A test to see if Crusher was truly ready to die.
Whiiiiiish!!!
The pipe hurtled toward Crusher's cheek with a ferocious whine. In the end, his reflexes betrayed him.
He halted the wide-area gravity field momentarily and wrapped one around his arm to block my attack.
That was what I'd aimed for.
"Guess you don't wanna die after all."
If he'd been truly prepared, he wouldn't have even tried to block. He'd have ignored the incoming strike, gritted his teeth, and focused everything on slamming the wide-area field down.
In the end, he was just a mob villain from volume 1 of the manhwa. No way he had that kind of resolve.
"…!!"
Crusher realized his mistake, his face twisting in despair.
"BLAAAAANK!!!!!!!"
He screamed my name at the top of his lungs.
But I wasn't the one he should be calling.
Seizing the gap where the wide-area gravity paused, Seo Ha-yoon converted her body to light and rocketed toward Crusher's flank at light speed.
Shiiiing.
Her foot, raised like a flying kick, glowed white.
KABOOOOOOM!!!!!
In the blink of an eye, Crusher was booted at light speed and slammed into the terrace railing.
"Guh… ack…."
Crusher rolled his eyes back, mumbled a few words, and sprawled out flat in a starfish position.
With Crusher unconscious, the gravity field fully dissipated.
We'd taken him down perfectly.
Oof… fuck.
I'd strutted out all cocky to buy time, but the damage was worse than expected.
Left arm broken, right arm's index finger bent and snapped. Ribs on my side cracked too.
With that insane gravity yanking every part of me, it was a miracle anything was intact.
Good thing I kept tension in my neck.
If I'd relaxed, my neck might've snapped and I'd be dead.
Crusher—a mob villain, but with a terrifying power. Straight out of the clichés of a shitty fanfic manhwa.
A gravity manipulator couldn't possibly be weak.
Still, I'd survived somehow and taken care of the villain.
That aside.
"We… we did it…."
Ida-in collapsed to the spot as tension drained from her body.
"Haa… haa…."
Seo Ha-yoon seemed to feel a wave of exhaustion too, standing dazed and breathing raggedly.
The mood was still heartwarming, but she and I were enemies.
How do I escape from here?
Body beaten to hell, surrounded by cops and heroes swarming the scene—I had to slip away somehow. Way too high difficulty.