Chapter 174 - Wrong Judgment

I haven't seen Stardust in a while since my last act of terrorism against her.

Of course, I did meet her briefly when I instigated the fight between Mist and Shadow Walker, and I've spotted her from afar a few times.

But those were just sightings—I haven't actively engaged with her in ages. That beach vacation was the last time.

In other words, I'm starting to crave some quality time with Stardust.

And naturally, that quality time means terrorism.

"What should I do..."

I leaned back in my chair, deep in thought.

I do have some terrorism plans prepared, but...

"Hmm..."

I tried to recall the last battle I witnessed, when Stardust fought that gorilla.

...It was hard to tell much from watching at a distance.

"She's definitely gotten much stronger, hasn't she?"

Yes. That's the key point.

Despite everything, she's clearly stronger than in the original story. Incomparably so.

When I got home and checked my old notes, I found mentions of that fire-breathing gorilla. Stardust had barely managed to defeat it after getting thoroughly thrashed, winning only through a war of attrition.

Compared to then, she's truly powerful now.

She just had a brief scuffle with that gorilla before taking it down. Truly impressive.

The question is exactly how much stronger has she become?

One thing's certain—she seems a bit stronger than I expected...

"Hmm..."

I rested my chin on my hand, thinking.

...Actually, in a few months, another terrifying villain appears. A madman who takes over an entire region and wreaks havoc. He was so powerful that in the original story, it took forever to defeat him. Stardust went through another round of intense suffering, digging herself into a hole.

Since he was a main villain, I know his name and where he lives, so I had planned to kill him preemptively. Stardust wouldn't be able to defeat him anyway.

But now...

"Hmm... would it be... possible?"

Looking at things now, it might actually work.

Or maybe not.

It's hard to tell without facing her directly.

But throwing Stardust into that quagmire right away seems too obvious.

Anyway, back to terrorism. What kind of terrorism should I commit?

Ideally something that would also let me clearly gauge Stardust's abilities...

After several days of pondering terrorism plans and inspecting PMC facilities, I was still undecided.

Then one day, Seo-eun grabbed my hand and dragged me down to the basement again.

"Did you make another robot weapon?"

"It's not a robot weapon, call it a suit. Anyway, this time it's for real, oppa. It can easily defeat someone like Stardust!"

Seo-eun declared confidently.

She's been considering Stardust her rival for some time now, so this wasn't surprising.

Though I do remember being impressed by her previous suit's strength. Of course, it wasn't enough against Stardust, but that's because Stardust has become too powerful...

Seo-eun opened the basement door.

And what I saw was:

"Oh..."

"Well! What do you think!"

Seo-eun stood with her hands on her hips, proudly presenting her creation.

The form of this weapon was completely different from before.

While previous weapons resembled heavy humanoid suits, this one looked like some kind of alien flying machine.

A large circular metal body with four arms attached above and below, floating in the air.

"My masterpiece, the Star Destroyer!"

Seo-eun proudly showed off this massive weapon.

Just looking at it, it seemed powerful. The design was completely different from before, which somehow made it look even more formidable.

As I expressed my amazement, Seo-eun, seemingly even more excited, eagerly explained everything to me.

How durable the metals were, what cutting-edge technology was incorporated, and how Eun-wol's magic enhanced it further. All of it.

Having created three anti-Stardust suits by now, she seems to have developed some expertise.

I smiled as I listened to Seo-eun's cute chatter.

Though the content wasn't particularly cute.

"...So a person fits perfectly inside this circular body and controls it from there! Eun-wol's magic strengthens these parts, and the body naturally floats, allowing free movement along the x, y, and z axes, and the arms! This arm has missiles..."

The more I listened to Seo-eun, the more intrigued I became.

This actually seems really well-made? Of course, we'd need to test it in combat, but it might hold up against Stardust for quite a while.

I took a moment to look at Seo-eun chattering away in front of me.

...Right. Come to think of it, Seo-eun was one of the main villains in the original story. An incredibly powerful one at that.

She's adorable now, but she was quite prickly when we first met. It took quite some effort to get her to open up. About a year, if I recall.

"Oppa?"

"Huh?"

"Are you listening?"

"Yeah, of course. This one really seems amazing, Seo-eun. It's incredible."

"Right? Hehe. Eun-wol and Se-hee unnie helped a lot!"

I patted Seo-eun's head as she beamed at my compliment, and fell back into thought. I just noticed Seo-eun seems to have grown taller too.

As Seo-eun continued to insist that this weapon would definitely defeat Stardust this time...

Suddenly, something clicked in my mind.

"....."

After organizing my thoughts and letting some time pass,

I asked Seo-eun:

"Seo-eun, ultimately all that matters is that this weapon defeats Stardust, right?"

"Huh? Yes! I suppose so. Later I'm thinking of developing an unmanned version so I won't even need to pilot it..."

"Then can I just pilot this one?"

".....Huh?"

Seo-eun blinked at my sudden question.

Hmm, where should I begin explaining?

***

It's been quite a while since I last terrorized Stardust.

Of course, instances where I fought her one-on-one are few and far between. Most times, I fought alongside our Ego-stream members.

In this situation, while I wanted to check Stardust's capabilities, seeing Seo-eun's weapon gave me an idea.

Wait? If I pilot that thing, I could gauge Stardust's abilities in one go!

Plus, since I know Stardust's attack patterns and fighting habits well, it would be even more perfect.

So I convinced Seo-eun by explaining my reasoning (while conveniently leaving out the part about wanting to spend quality time alone with Stardust), and she eventually agreed.

"Well... you have a point. As long as it defeats her. You might even be better than me? Okay."

"Thanks, Seo-eun."

"...But I'm a bit worried. This isn't the final version yet, so I need to finish the paint job... and since you're piloting it, I should modify it more..."

As she busily gathered things, Seo-eun suddenly remembered something and asked me:

"Oh, oppa. Who are you going with when you terrorize with this? Eun-wol? Se-hee unnie or Ja-young unnie?"

"Hmm... I think I'll go alone."

"What? Alone?"

"Yeah. And Seo-eun, make the paint job different from before. So it's not recognizable."

"...Huh? Why?"

"Ah. I want to pretend to be a third party with no connection to Egostic when I terrorize this time. You can't see the face inside anyway, right?"

"???"

Seo-eun was clearly confused. But there's a reason for this. Since I've terrorized so frequently, Stardust might have become somewhat familiar with me. She might have figured out my patterns.

So to accurately gauge her strength, I want to make her think I'm a completely new villain. Given my track record of not causing casualties, approaching as a third party might be more effective in making her go all out.

Although Seo-eun didn't seem convinced by my explanation, I pressed forward. With the legendary "that villain" about to appear soon, I need to properly check if Stardust can handle him, with no room for error.

Of course, it doesn't matter if she discovers my identity at the end. I'll just reveal myself after gauging her strength and make my escape.

Taking a few hits during the fight? With my toughness, I should be able to handle it.

And so my next act of terrorism was decided.

Wearing that four-armed floating suit and pretending not to be Egostic while fighting Stardust. Alone, of course.

There were some objections about it being too dangerous, but eventually everyone agreed.

After weeks of preparation.

The day of terrorism arrived.

***

Since Egostic had declared to Methel, "My hero is none other than Stardust,"

Shin Ha-ru's mood, which had improved somewhat without her realizing it, worsened again after a few weeks.

"Sigh..."

In the Hero Association office.

Sprawled across her desk, Ha-ru let out a deep sigh.

...Somehow terrorism had increased lately. There were more villains too.

But what really troubled her was that among all those terrorist acts, not a single one was caused by Egostic.

For Shin Ha-ru, whose attention was essentially fixed on Egostic, this was disheartening.

"...He needs to commit terrorism so I can investigate or do something."

Ha-ru muttered without realizing it.

It was a strange sight—a hero waiting for a villain's terrorism—but no one was there to point it out.

...As days passed, she grew more concerned, and memories of their time together kept surfacing unexpectedly.

Surely this must be a strong desire to arrest him.

So today too, she waited in the office for him who never came. Rubbing around her tired eyes after a night of restless thinking.

And then, at that moment.

An association employee appeared from somewhere.

"Stardust! Another terrorist attack has occurred!"

"Sigh... who is it this time?"

"Someone in a strange mechanical device calling himself Chaos Destroyer is currently attacking the city! B-rank heroes and below can't handle it!"

"Understood. I'll head out now."

Shin Ha-ru, Stardust, stretched her arms to loosen up, then flew out through the window.

...It's probably just another useless terrorist attack by some useless person.

Let's just crush them quickly and return.

A mechanical device, huh. I'll just smash it to pieces.

At that point, that's what she thought.