Chapter 148 - Deepening Battle

Seo Ja-young.

After a long time, she was feeling a bit of enjoyment.

"Hmm..."

"Ugh."

Under the dark night sky.

Above the city center where everyone had already evacuated, Seo Ja-young felt like she was enjoying a kind of fireworks display.

The only difference was that all the flames were purple, and they were being fired at a person.

Seo Ja-young wasn't typically the type to move around this actively.

As evident from her perpetually half-closed eyes, she was someone who loved doing nothing, lying down, and sleeping above all else.

Perhaps that's why even now as she floated in the sky, she was hovering as if reclining against the wind, almost sitting askew. One hand in her hoodie pocket, using her ability with the other.

[Lol why is she doing terrorism so casually?]

[Is this the composure of the strong?]

[For real, this is the first time I've seen someone so relaxed against Shadow Walker]

[Shadow Walker has definitely met his match lol]

Of course, that didn't mean she was actually being casual about it. She was just keeping it light, like she was playing without feeling pressured.

She briefly concentrated, looking at her hand. In a moment where time seemed to slow down, she felt the cold energy in her body flowing through her veins and concentrating in one hand. Soon, the top of her right hand began to boil hot. And simultaneously, a small purple flame bloomed above her hand.

With a feeling of rotating the flame that emitted a faint heat, she moved her hand slightly. The flame began to rotate faster, burning stronger as if gaining mass. Eventually, it looked less like a small flame and more like a burning purple fireball. Concentrated with energy, it repeatedly swelled and contracted as if about to burst intensely.

Before it could explode above her hand, she turned her hand as if pushing the fireball forward and extended her arm forward. In that position, she opened her palm. A purple fireball floated in front of her palm, burning fiercely on its own.

And in that state, she applied force as if shooting it forward.

"Fireball,"

With her brief murmur, something like a small magic circle appeared between her palm and the flame. At that moment, with a popping sound, the fireball was rapidly fired. And only then did her sense of time begin to flow normally again.

This entire process happened in an instant from Shadow Walker and the viewers' perspective. Mist, as she was called, seemed to wave her hand briefly before instantly firing a purple fireball. Leaving a purple trail in the dark night sky, it blazed toward where Shadow Walker was hiding in the darkness.

"Ugh..."

Shadow Walker, hidden in the shadows, tried to dodge and block, but the first shot was just the beginning. No sooner had he blocked one attack than another came flying, and then another.

Of course, Shadow Walker wasn't just taking the hits passively. Shadows suddenly rose around Seo Ja-young, who was still floating as if leaning against the wind, casually waving one hand to throw flames.

She quickly dodged by wrapping her body in flames. Being small had its advantages. It made it easier to move.

With that thought, Seo Ja-young gritted her teeth as she looked at Shadow Walker who had come right up to her face. Dodging his attack, she finally took out her other hand from her pocket. As she moved both hands, a large circular ring of purple fire formed between them. When the ring of fire shot forward, he hid in the shadows again to dodge.

As she flew up into the dark night sky and moved her body, she smiled genuinely for the first time in a while.

...Yes. As she had expected, flying through the night sky like this was quite fun. Fully utilizing her ability that she rarely had occasion to use, floating in the sky amidst a vortex of flames. All of it.

Actually, she could do all this thanks to Egostic. If she hadn't trained intensely with him, she wouldn't have lasted long. She probably would have just shot some flames and then run away.

Just as she was feeling proud of herself for accepting Egostic's offer, she saw Shadow Walker charging toward her.

...So this is the supposedly powerful Shadow Walker.

But as Egostic had said, he seemed much weaker against her flames. Of course, even though his nighttime powers were nerfed, he wasn't completely weak, so she was still fighting with considerable focus.

...But, how much time did she have left?

As Seo Ja-young shot another flame, she briefly recalled Egostic's words.

'I'll come save you if you're losing, and even if you start winning, backup will arrive soon anyway so I'll come get you then too. So whether you win or lose doesn't really matter, just do whatever you want.'

...He had said she could take it easy like that.

But Seo Ja-young had no such intention.

Take it easy? Taking it easy is fine, but since she was already out here, she wanted to win.

Under the dark night sky, with her purple hair fluttering, she unconsciously smiled slightly.

...Da-in. Though he didn't show it, he clearly didn't think she would win. Rather, he seemed to think she would be pushed back.

...But if she were to defeat Shadow Walker, what expression would Da-in make? Would he be surprised, or would he praise her for doing well?

Curious about that, she fought even harder with gleaming eyes.

Yes, let's try this next.

Feeling the sensation of wind blowing between her fingers, she began to draw something geometric again.

The purple flames blazed even more intensely.

The heat of battle was growing hotter and hotter.

***

No one can defeat Shadow Walker at night.

That saying was shattered when Han Group's giant robot completely nullified Shadow Walker's abilities.

Even then, his mental state didn't break.

Right, it was a robot. Giant robots are unavoidable. That thing was too big, a culmination of cutting-edge technology, the ultimate weapon created by a villain organization.

His mental state, which had been holding up with such self-justifications, finally shattered with the appearance of the Moon Priestess who arrived with a storm.

Ah! Has the once-great me now become a has-been who can't even defeat a single villain in the evening? Has my era of glory truly passed? How should I live now?

Already somewhat insecure about being barely different from an ordinary person during the day, he couldn't accept the terrible reality that he was now being pushed back at night too. His mental state actually broke so badly that he cut off contact with everyone and secluded himself at home for a while.

Of course, after wallowing in solitude and despair, he recovered somewhat thanks to his girlfriend's help and returned to daily life.

...But in truth, his mental state hadn't fully recovered. He still felt despair at the thought that there might be villains who could defeat him even at night.

As he was living day by day like that.

Another villain appeared who somewhat ignored his abilities and attacked.

Normally, he would have felt intense despair again.

He might have fought for a while, given up, and secluded himself at home again.

But this time was different.

Because he knew the purpose of this terror.

Because he knew that Egostic had specially prepared this to help him grow beyond his weakness.

He pulled himself together, gritted his teeth, and fought with all his might.

Yes. More villains like this might appear in the future.

Would he just despair every time? No. Now was the time to acknowledge his limitations and take a step forward. That must be what Egostic wanted from him.

In reality, Egostic had done it without much thought, but Shadow Walker, who had no way of knowing that, firmly believed it.

"Ugh... oh my."

The fire attacks kept coming.

Normally, it would have been nothing, easily defended by his shadows.

But for some reason, he was busy moving quickly to avoid those attacks that penetrated his shadows.

Floating against the backdrop of the dark night sky.

A small woman with long purple hair wearing a black hoodie.

Dodging her attacks as she waved her hands and threw flames, occasionally launching his own attacks.

He was gradually adjusting the direction of the fight.

"Hmm... You said you were going all out earlier, but is this all you've got?"

"Ugh... you..."

Aware of the cameras filming from a distance and with a touch of sincerity, he expressed slight irritation.

Gritting his teeth, he concentrated shadows in his hand and charged at the fire witch once more.

In fact, despite her bravado, it was already visible that she was slightly more tired than at the beginning.

That meant there was an opportunity.

He was determined to win!

Thus, for the first time in the confrontations between Ego-stream and Hero Association members, both sides were fighting with the determination to absolutely defeat their opponent.

And accordingly, the battle continued to rage on without end in sight.

On and on.

For quite a while.

***

[Wow lol this battle is truly epic]

[They're fighting so intensely wwwww]

[Oh no, buildings are exploding!]

[I live near there and it's chaos—the sky keeps flashing and there are loud noises lol]

[This is the first time I've seen Shadow Walker fight this desperately]

[How does Egostic have a newly recruited villain who can fight an A-class hero to a standstill with just raw power? Isn't she S-class material at this point?]

[Is this Mist? Why is this woman so cute and pretty?? Whether it's Star Mango or Ice Mango or whatever, Purple Mango is going to win my heart]

[No, Stardust is prettier, don't slander]

[What are you guys above talking about when you can't even see properly because of the recognition filter? Do you think Icicle who fights with her face uncovered looks like that?]

[The Ice Mango boom is coming]

[Why is no one talking about the actual fight lol]

[But the fight really is intense and going on for a long time—with Electra it was over in an instant]

[Who's winning right now? It's so close I can't tell]

[Shadow Walker seems to be winning slightly after getting his form back in the middle]

The chat remained active even though the battle had been going on for quite some time.

Now tired from commentating, I had stopped at some point and was watching the fight with some bewilderment.

Come on, guys. Why are you fighting so earnestly? You could take it easy...

Especially Seo Ja-young—I don't understand why someone so lazy about everything is fighting so hard. What for?

Anyway, that's not what's important.

What's important is that the longer and more intense the fight becomes, the higher the probability that she will come.

And as I expected.

Not long after, someone caught my eye.

As prepared in advance, I muted the camera and turned it in another direction, then greeted the welcome figure approaching me.

"Hello, Ms. Stardust. I knew you would come."

"...Egostic."

To my hero coming toward me with her blonde hair fluttering against the dark cityscape.

I greeted her with a grin while inwardly calculating my next move.

So it's going this way after all.

Then the answer is the pre-planned Plan B.

By the way, Stardust, whom I hadn't seen in a while, was still beautiful.

Just saying.