On the news, it showed the aftermath of the fight: two colossal spears piercing through the base of the statue, driven deep into the ground.
Scenes of a mountain of debris and twisted structural steel—once part of the statue—were displayed, mangled from the onslaught of the dark spears.
There were shots of injured people lying in hospital beds, so groaning from the pain their bodies had sustained, and scenes of civilians cursing the villain.
Especially that last one, people cursing the villain.
Villain Points gained: 357
Villain Points gained: 321
Villain Points gained: 522
Seeing the continued surge in Villain Points, Maximilian couldn’t help but let out a smirk—before quickly reigning it in to avoid letting it show on his face.
"No wonder the sound of police sirens didn’t stop last night, and there are a lot more heroes patrolling the city now. I guess the heroes who were on missions outside the city were all recalled," Rebecca said in realization.
[Beep! Your Villain Point gain was affected by your heroic deed!]
The system’s voice blared, startling Maximilian.
Villain Points gained: 157
Villain Points gained: 51
Villain Points gained: 22
"What the hell?" Maximilian blurted out unconsciously when he saw the sudden drop in Villain Point gains.
"Huh?" Rebecca turned to him.
"Oh... no, nothing," Maximilian quickly denied.
Rebecca just nodded in confusion and turned back to the TV.
{Oi, Athel, what the hell happened?} Maximilian imdiately asked the one who should know best.
[Huh? 何?何?(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ ] Atherna replied.
{What happened?! It says my Villain Points were affected by a heroic deed! I don’t rember doing anything heroic! I just laid waste to that damn statue like the main quest told to!} Maximilian ssaged through their link, clearly annoyed.
[わからない~~ (;￣Д￣）] Atherna replied playfully in Japanese.
{Oi! Speak English, you weeb! Are you watching ani right now?!} Maximilian snapped.
[Says the weeb who likes swinging a katana around~ (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ] Atherna quipped before continuing.
[To be honest, I don’t know. I’m not omnipotent. You’ll have to figure this one out yourself.]
After listening to Atherna’s answer, Maximilian let out a tired sigh. To be honest, he didn’t know what happened either.
Maybe... a lot of people hated that statue?
And when he destroyed it, it counted as a heroic deed?
Ugh... how shitty must that Atlas guy have been, for people to be so happy when a villain destroyed his statue that the system recognized it as a heroic deed?
Must’ve sucked to be him, Maximilian thought to himself.
— anwhile, IHB Local Branch —
Within the tense atmosphere of the orderly and neatly arranged office, Strauss sat behind a large mahogany desk, staring at Onyx Blade, who was fuming angrily and glaring back at him.
To the side, Theodore Monroe, the UEC Fort Commander of Arkadia City-State, lounged on a couch, watching the scene with interest.
"Why are you doing this, Mr. Strauss?" Onyx Blade asked, her eyes fixed on the officer who always wore a solemn expression.
"To maintain order, Miss Onyx Blade. Or would you prefer to have rioters marching through the city?" Strauss replied nonchalantly.
"I’m not asking you to reveal everything, but at least don’t throw him under the bus like this!" Onyx Blade retorted.
"People need soone to bla when sothing bad happens. He’s just the perfect candidate for that role," Strauss said matter-of-factly, his voice cold and unfeeling.
"That’s not right! You’re pushing him away from us! At this rate, he might actually beco a villain!" Onyx Blade protested.
The two were arguing about the recent incident. It turned out that the base beneath the statue Maximilian had destroyed was a secret hideout for villains.
The sheer audacity of using the underground area of humanity’s number one hero’s statue as a villain’s lair was unthinkable. Tens of thousands of people passed through that place every day!
Not just civilians, police patrols and hero patrols often stopped to admire the statue of their greatest hero.
The idea that there had been a villain base beneath it all along, right under their noses, was deeply unsettling.
If this information were disclosed to the public, people would begin to question both the UEC and IHB’s competence; how could they let this happen?
Worse, if they revealed the truth that a mutant shapeshifter had infiltrated the upper echelons of human society, it would cause widespread chaos and riots.
People would lose trust in their governnt overnight.
So, to prevent mass panic and buy ti to root out infiltrators, they had classified the truth as top secret.
But soone still needed to take the bla for the commotion. And who better than the newly erged villain in black armor?
Onyx Blade, a hero of principle, didn’t deny the need for secrecy, but she pleaded that they at least refrain from painting that black armor vigilante as a villain.
She feared that doing so would only push him into becoming one for real.
Theodore listened in silence. Both sides had valid points.
However, as a high-ranking governnt official, he favored Strauss’s decision, throwing the anonymous villain... no vigilante, under the bus to maintain peace rather than losing control of the situation.
It was already bad enough that shapeshifting mutants had infiltrated their leadership. The last thing they needed was a citywide riot, sothing the mutants could exploit as a weakness.
"Society’s order is what fears the truth the most... huh?" Theodore muttered under his breath, his voice drawing the attention of the other two.
"What did you just say, Mr. Monroe?" Strauss asked, his tone carrying a hint of irritation.
"That vigilante’s speech... the one about what fears the truth the most. He said, ’Society’s order is what fears the truth the most.’ I think he’s known all along that sothing was wrong within the UEC leadership," Theodore replied, quoting the black-armored vigilante from the incident.
"Hell... he might’ve known about it for quite so ti, actually," Theodore said, his voice tinged with a hint of self-reproach.
He hated mutants.... hated them so much that the very idea of taking orders from a possible mutant infiltrator sitting among the Central leadership...
It made him feel...
Disgusted.
So disgusted, in fact, that he even considered attempting a coup, to sever ties and break free from Central.
But... he knew that would be no different from suicide. And even if he were to succeed, breaking away from Central’s support wouldn’t guarantee the city’s survival.
This incident had taught him to question every order that ca from the higher-ups, to always be on alert, sniffing for anything suspicious... anything that slled off.
"Mr. Monroe," Strauss began, "might I remind you that the vigilante in black’s insight into our current predicant has nothing to do with the plan we must carry out?"
"Of course, I know that, Mr. Strauss. You don’t need to remind ," Theodore replied.
"You’re making a mistake, Mr. Strauss. You, of all people, know as well as I do that he didn’t kill anyone—and he made sure no innocent lives were lost!
Because of this incident, we’ve beco aware of a glaring issue that needs fixing! He even prevented a round of terrorist attacks from those villains underground!
And you repay him by branding him a villain?!" Onyx Blade demanded, trying to appeal to his conscience.
"What kind of Director are you?!" she burst out in frustration.
"The kind of Director who prioritizes public order over individuality. If we don’t act this way, I guarantee you, Ms. Onyx Blade, that the future casualty numbers will mostly co from the people, the very people you, as a hero, are supposed to protect!
Not so anonymous vigilante who breaks the law just because he thinks he can get away with it!
And most importantly, I called you here to this city to deal with him, not protect him!" Strauss raised his voice authoritatively.
"Mr. Strauss, the data you gave didn’t ntion that he hadn’t killed anyone other than that mutant during Ms. Photon Fury’s incident. You gave false information," Onyx Blade said coldly.
"I did that because I knew you’d react this way! I need you to bring him in! To us! So we can find out what he knows that we don’t so that the incident like last night would happen!" Strauss argued back.
"Bring him in, and then what? Blackmail him? Send him to purgatory so he can’t tell another soul what he really knows?" Onyx Blade said, full of spite.
"That’s the idea," Strauss admitted coldly as if he were simply stating a fact.
"You’re heartless, Mr. Strauss! One day, you’ll regret it!" Onyx Blade snapped before storming out of the office in anger.
She had read the data Strauss gave her. At first, she hadn’t thought much of it. The report implied that, in order to restrain Ms. Photon Fury’s powers, the villain, supposedly nad Maximilian Sterling Graham, the brother of Max Sterling Graham, had resorted to kidnapping children and placing them in an abandoned building to use as hostages.
But in the end, Photon Fury lost control of her powers and killed all the children. This incident forced her to abandon her arrogance and return to Central for retraining, as she was determined to avenge the children.
However...
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