Became a Failed Experimental Subject

“You got the report, didn’t you? The heroes were exhausted too. W-City had three Despair-class monsters. Do you have any idea how hard we worked to minimize civilian casualties, and now you’re telling us to fight again?”

[Black Cat was probably just as exhausted. The odds were more than enough... No, you had the advantage. He was alone, and you had all the heroes of W-City with you.]

“Hah, after all that, you’re still underestimating Black Cat.”

[Are you saying it wasn’t enough? Then all the more reason... shouldn’t this reinforcement be used to take care of Black Cat? Don’t talk like you’re hesitant.]

If Black Cat had grown so strong that even all the heroes of W-City couldn’t win against him, then now—when he’s even a little worn out—was the time to quickly bring in S-Class hero support and eliminate him.

But even so, when Yu Anna fell silent, unable to bring herself to agree, Cage sneered.

[What, are you really a monster fangirl now or something?]

“...I’m just paying attention to Black Cat’s abnormality. If we let him go wild and lose track of him, the damage that follows will be unmanageable.”

[It’s true... Black Cat is a tricky one. If he decides to escape, there’s no way to catch him.]

“Exactly. We’ll handle W-City on our own, so don’t go stirring things up.”

[That’s why we sent the fastest hero.]

The hero who controls electricity—Electrice.

If Cage was A-City’s strongest shield, Electrice was A-City’s sharpest spear.

The fastest hero in the world—quicker than any other.

“Fastest hero, my ass. More like worst hero.”

And she was the S-Class hero Yu Anna hated most.

Cage ignored Yu Anna’s angry voice and flicked his cigarette ash onto the hand of a woman bowing beside him.

[My combat style didn’t suit him. He’s too tough and too versatile.]

Cage was a close-quarters telekinetic who created isolation fields with his power to trap monsters and wear them down gradually.

But trapping Black Cat in a small space only gave him time to cycle through different abilities and test them out.

[When you’re up against an enemy who can pull out the most lethal ability for the situation, what you need is speed to dodge and destructive power to strike back.]

That, exactly, was what both Starlight and Electrice had in common.

Starlight had more raw destructive force, but in terms of speed, Electrice was overwhelming.

[Starlight, if you attack Black Cat and Electrice blocks his escape, it’ll be like forming a ring with just two S-Class heroes.]

If two S-Class heroes who could handle Despair-class monsters alone teamed up, subduing Black Cat shouldn’t be difficult.

Add hit-and-run tactics that combine fast aerial movement and destructive strikes—a battle of attrition tailored just for him.

There was certainly a chance of victory.

But...

“Did you even read the report properly? When he was first spotted, Black Cat used Thunderfang’s ability. Don’t tell me you don’t know what Thunderfang’s trait is?”

[Lightning absorption. Immunity to electric abilities. I know.]

“And you still think I can catch Black Cat by teaming up with her?”

[Electrice is an S-Class hero. Even if her main power is neutralized, she should have more than enough countermeasures.]

“Her stats drop like a rock. What if she just pisses him off and fails to catch him?”

[Killing him is the best option, but it’s fine even if we don’t.]

“‘It’s fine’?! How the hell is it fine!”

If he really flips out in a full rage, who’s going to clean that up?

Even if we can clean it up, what if he doesn’t rage?

I’m already struggling with how to handle him being pissed off, and this will only make him hate me more.

[Don’t you think it’s strange?]

“What now?!”

[Black Cat isn’t Thunderfang. So why do you just assume he naturally has Thunderfang’s traits?]

“Because he’s amorphous.”

[He’s not an amorphous monster.]

With that cryptic line, Cage nodded toward the screen, and a data file popped up.

Footage and documentation on all previously confirmed amorphous monsters.

[Amorphous monsters only mimic the form of other monsters to hide their weaknesses. They can’t use other monsters’ abilities and traits at will.]

Amorphous monsters referred to those with fluid-type bodies centered around a core—slime, mist, ice, and so on.

But Black Cat had a proper body. A warm body with normal temperature.

[Black Cat, that guy is definitely... different from other monsters.]

A vague statement with no concrete explanation, yet Yu Anna found herself nodding without thinking.

Not because he didn’t attack humans—but because, as a hero who had faced countless monsters, she felt something off.

Black Cat was different from the others.

Yu Anna didn’t know what it was.

Neither did Cage.

They could only sense that uncanny difference through the superhuman intuition of a psychic.

“If Black Cat not only takes Thunderfang’s form but also inherits full electric immunity, then you’re saying he’s not amorphous but something else?”

[And if he only suppresses Electrice rather than killing her... it’ll prove whether you’re special to him—or he’s just special, period.]

“Saying you don’t care whether he kills or not... seriously....”

No matter how it ends, Black Cat is a monster that eventually has to be killed.

If they kill him, great—a dangerous Despair-class monster is eliminated.

If they don’t, that’s still good—new data.

Data on a unique monster would help in future battles.

For humanity, Black Cat must be subdued.

But lately, Yu Anna kept feeling like she was doing something awful to him.

Saving people, saving heroes, hunting monsters—while Black Cat hadn’t done anything wrong.

And yet, she’s the one who never trusts him.

She’s the one always trying to kill him.

...It’s only natural—he is a monster, after all.

Yu Anna was a hero. A psychic who kills monsters for the sake of humans.

Then why did it end up like this?

She let out a long, troubled sigh.

“Sigh... So, when’s Electrice getting here?”

[Soon.]

“‘Soooon’?”

[Unlike me, Electrice doesn’t need to take the train. You should know that.]

Trains that connected cities ran at speeds most monsters couldn’t catch.

They carried S-Class heroes and passengers, just in case of monster attacks—so the heroes could defend the train.

But a hero who could move faster than a train didn’t need to ride one.

“So where is she arriving?”

[She said she’d clear out some monsters in a closed-off zone along the way. She’ll be here in an hour. I told her to head to HQ when she arrives.]

“She’s really taking care of those monsters, right?”

Electrice was all talk and bluster—hard to trust.

Annoyed, Yu Anna got up from her seat and threw on the jacket hanging over her chair.

Whatever the case, with an S-Class hero coming in, she had to do something too.

Whether that meant making Black Cat hate her more as a hero... or stopping that infuriating woman from doing anything weird.

“I’m already stressed enough these days...”

Surely Electrice wouldn’t just charge in and piss off Black Cat for no reason.

Then again, considering she was an even bigger ego case than Cage... maybe she would.

And if she did... well, then...

She wouldn’t hold back.

Actually... that might not be so bad.

Not a very heroic thought, though.

With that murky emotion in her chest, Yu Anna sighed again and left the comms room.

“Haaah...”

But still, no way... right?

Surely both of A-City’s S-Class heroes wouldn’t do something that stupid.

****

“L-Let go of me! Do you even know who I am?!”

The woman who had tried to use her ability on civilians struggled to free herself from my grip.

Crackle, crackle, crackle—the surging electricity leapt in all directions, threatening the people nearby.

Boom! The broken sign lit up briefly, then caught fire, releasing a stinging, acrid smell.

The random electrical bursts spread outward. I twisted the woman’s wrist even harder.

“What the... you... a-a lightning user? Why... why aren’t you affected...?”

It’s not that I’m unaffected.

It’s just... a little tingly.

“Kh... You’re a psychic, and you’re siding with this inferior breed? What kind of psychic has no pride...?!”

The woman overflowed with a thick, greasy emotion as she pushed her output higher and higher.

An ability strong enough to drag in everyone nearby—if someone got hit by this lightning, it wouldn’t end in just a faint.

Which means, this woman...

“Needs to be taught a lesson.”

“Let go of me this insta—huhheeegh?!”

“UWAAAH?!”

“Wh-what the hell?!”

BUUUNG! I swung her hard, and she slammed into the pavement, right into a cracked sidewalk block.

Then shloop, I pulled her out and slammed her the other way—BAM!, then the other way again—BAM!

Psychics don’t die from something like this.

Bzzt! Even stronger lightning output raced through my body, crackling into the ground.

It dug into the earth, twisting something underneath—an ability working on something else.

Thinking she was planning something, I swallowed the electricity whole, hoisted her up, and glared at her.

“Are you a villain?”

“Wha—cough, what the hell are you...! That just now...!”

With civilians still nearby, and she’s still using her ability?

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! I slammed her over and over without pause.

Grabbing her limp wrist, I lifted her up.

She was now covered in cuts and bruises all over.

As our eyes met and she flinched in fear, I growled.

“Disengage your ability.”

“Ugh... haah... haah...”

She just sat there panting. So I slammed her into the shattered ground again—BANG!—then lifted her back up.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

When she still didn’t respond, I punched her in the stomach.

THUD! THUD! Loud rupturing sounds. She doubled over, frothing blood at the mouth.

Only now did I start to sense the taste of regret, fear, and terror creeping out.

Grabbing her hair, I lifted her head and looked her in the eyes again.

“Answer.”

“Hiii... y-yessir...!”

“If you came to eat, then get in line properly.”

“Y-yesssir...!”

“Apologize for causing a disturbance.”

“I-I’m sorry... I’m sorry...!”

“Mm.”

Thud. I dropped her to the ground and got in line, thinking back to my conversation with Yu Hyena.

If they can wait quietly but try to break the rules with power, that’s a villain.

You can’t just punish someone without knowing their situation.

But if they deliberately did wrong out of selfish greed, that’s more monster than human.

I can smell the difference between humans and monsters.

And a human that smells no different than a monster—

I can do whatever I want to them.

Still, we’re in front of a restaurant. For the sake of others’ appetites, I won’t kill her.

I just beat her hard enough to almost kill her.

At that moment, the woman got up and bolted, crying like a little kid.

“Waaahhh! Uaaaahhhh!”

“H-hiieek...”

“Hrk...”

The people who’d been standing in line saw that and fled too, running far away.

Thick fear. The scent of terror. And the delicious smell of tonkatsu.

“...Maybe I wasn’t supposed to do that.”

Rules for humans are still hard to understand.

****

“What the hell...?”

In front of the W-City Hero HQ, Yu Anna stood with her arms crossed, completely dumbfounded.

The S-Class hero Electrice, who showed up slightly past the scheduled time—

She was a total mess.

Her clothes were shredded, blood «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» was stuck to torn skin, her eyes were swollen, and the exposed belly she always flaunted was bruised all over. She limped as she walked.

This wasn’t an S-Class hero. This was just... a patient.

“Wh-what?! I just beat a Despair-class monster on my way here, that’s all!”

“...Are you even in your right mind?”

Whether that was true or not, the fact that an S-Class hero showed up this wrecked after coming to help was absurd.

Even if she ran into a Despair-class monster in a restricted zone outside the city, the normal response would be to leave it alone and bring back intel.

The restricted zones are monster territory, not human land—if another monster showed up mid-battle, we’d lose an S-Class hero for nothing.

“...Don’t tell me you don’t believe me? I went out of my way to clean up the restricted zone near W-City.”

“What exactly did you fight?”

“...A giant gorilla.”

Click. Yu Anna clicked her tongue—relieved, just a little.

If this idiot was that badly hurt, then the Black Cat operation might get canceled entirely.

“Well then, thanks, I guess. Now we won’t have a giant gorilla storming into W-City.”

“Exactly. It’s all thanks to me, so you better show some appreciation.”

“You’ve done more than enough. Go recover and head back to A-City.”

But things didn’t go the way Yu Anna wanted.

“Hmph. Go back? What are you talking about? This is a rare chance to take down the monster even Cage couldn’t handle.”

“You’re seriously going to fight Black Cat in that condition?”

“I’m an S! Class! Hero! I’ll be healed in three days. I’m staying in W-City for one week, and in that time, I’ll take down that so-called Black Cat, so make sure everything’s ready.”

With a smug grin, Electrice extended her hand toward the A-Class hero standing beside Yu Anna.

“What are you doing?”

“Uh... asking you to hold hands?”

“Why the hell would I hold hands with some ugly loser like you? The list! The W-City hero list!”

“How is he supposed to know that when you didn’t even say what you wanted?”

“Hmph! When an S-Class hero comes to help, the first thing you should do is report the combat power status!”

Is she always like this? Iron Might scowled and glanced at Yu Anna.

Yeah, she is. Yu Anna made a gagging motion like she was going to puke.

“That bastard... he’s dead... how dare he treat me like this...!”

Electrice snatched the tablet, her expression souring as she scanned the hero list.

“What the hell, why isn’t he in the A-Class list...? Don’t tell me... B-Class? Why’s he not there either?! C, C-Class...? No, no way, no way in hell I’d lose to a C...!”

And then, her face began to crumple.

“Why isn’t he even on the villain list?!”