It was Hyun.
Though he was partially hidden behind the man and my vision was a bit blurry—perhaps from the Heat Ray I'd just expelled or my deteriorating eyesight—I could tell it was him just from his voice.
What on earth was happening here?
Was this an illusion born from overwhelming longing? A fleeting dream? Or perhaps a product of guilt?
Even though I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears, I couldn't believe them.
After all, Hyun had been in front of me when the building...
*Ah, could it be...*
Suddenly remembering what the Berserk Dragon had said, I belatedly looked around.
The building that had once been a hospital was now half-collapsed, with fires burning everywhere, reduced to little more than ruins.
But strangely, I couldn't hear the ear-splitting fire alarms, Heroes directing evacuations, or even people screaming.
It was as if the building were completely empty.
*No way.*
It had been at most 10 minutes—no, barely 5 minutes—since that man and I had started fighting.
Could everyone in the hospital have evacuated in that time? Even patients who couldn't move well, without a single person left behind?
That was impossible. Even with well-trained people, evacuating a building this size would take at least 5 minutes. Especially considering patients with limited mobility.
Moreover, I hadn't seen a single person leaving the hospital since the fight began.
Even if I'd been too focused on the fight to notice my surroundings, a large group of people moving would have caught my attention regardless. There was only one conclusion.
*Was the building empty from the start?*
Thinking about it now, there had been several suspicious things.
The hospital had been unusually quiet, and while preventing me from finding Hyun was one thing, they'd even stopped me from wandering around near my hospital room.
Of course, considering what I'd done, stopping me wasn't strange, but their excuses for sending me back to my room had been flimsy at best.
So how did they know to empty the hospital? Did they know that man would come looking for me? Or did they use me as bait to lure him in?
My thoughts became complicated with a strange sense of betrayal, but I decided to put it all aside for now. If we survived, we could discuss these things anytime.
With that thought, I turned back to Hyun just as the man with the hole in his chest erupted with blue lightning all over his body.
*He's still alive with a hole in his chest?*
It was incomprehensible by common sense, but for that monster, it seemed possible.
"Hyun...!"
Worried he might have been hurt, I called out to him with my raspy voice, and saw a dark shadow drop behind the man.
No, not dropping—it was moving to avoid the lightning spreading in all directions.
"Whew, a second later and I would've been electrocuted chicken."
"Hyun...! Hyun...!! Kuhak, kuhak!!"
Though my mouth had somewhat recovered, my throat hadn't healed completely, and blood gushed out when I shouted.
Seeing this, Hyun immediately came to my side and roughly wiped my mouth with his hand.
"You don't need to shout, I can hear you just fine. Don't strain yourself when you're in such bad shape. Is your arm okay?"
I looked down at my arm at his words.
The torn part was wriggling as it healed, but it still hurt.
"...Hurts like hell."
"Yeah, let's finish this quickly and get you treated."
Hearing his voice—which I thought I'd never hear again—made me choke up a bit, but I held it in and looked at his face.
As if his excuse about being late due to treatment was true, half of Hyun's face was covered in bandages.
He came to help me in that condition?
Really, what a stubborn fool.
"You're alive."
"Of course I'm alive. After making such a cool exit, dying pathetically would be too embarrassing."
Despite his obviously terrible physical condition, Hyun didn't lose his smile.
Yes, this was it. This was the Hero image I'd always admired.
I had a mountain of things I wanted to say, but now wasn't the time for leisurely conversation.
Hyun seemed to have the same thought, as he silently met my eyes, nodded, and then turned his gaze to where the man stood.
"Ha, hehehe.... Interesting. I vaguely knew this was a trap, but I never expected you to use your friend as bait."
"I feel bad about that too. I plan to atone for that sin after I kill you, so don't worry about it."
Hyun glanced at me briefly before glaring at the man with those words.
The man turned his head toward me and shouted:
"See? This is the true face of Heroes. You're just bait to be used and discarded whenever convenient. Can you still say Heroes are right? Can you really trust those who might stab you in the back at any moment?"
It was an incredibly stupid thing to say coming from the man who had tormented me more than anyone, even trying to kill me.
What the hell does he think I am?
Beyond anger, I felt so exasperated that I let out a hollow laugh and showed him my middle finger.
"Still better than you, asshole."
If my throat had been fine, I would have shouted it, but this was the best I could do with my sore throat.
The man quietly looked down at me, then sighed deeply and shook his head.
"How sad. It's obvious you'll be used and discarded, yet you're so blinded by a meaningless relationship that you can't see that fact."
"Why is your tongue so long? Trying to buy time to recover?"
"Hahah, yes. You've hit the nail on the head."
The man said, removing the hand covering his chest wound.
The large hole that had been in the center of the man's chest had somehow already healed.
"Even I can't fight with a hole in my chest, you know?"
Though I couldn't see his expression because of the armor covering his body, his voice tinged with laughter told me he was smiling.
"You monster..."
"Did you know? The reason your recovery is fast is exactly the same as mine. If I'm a monster, that means you're the same kind of monster as me."
In the past, that comment would have irritated me, but now it didn't bother me at all.
After everything I'd been through, getting depressed about being called a monster would be ridiculous.
"Fine, I'm a monster. So what? If you have nothing else to say, shut up and come at me."
I heated up my Ignition Organ again.
My throat was still burning, but it had recovered enough to breathe fire, if not a Heat Ray.
"I could accept one-on-one, but two-on-one? Isn't that unfair?"
"A terrorist talking about fairness? You should have been prepared for this when you did bad things."
"No, I'm not complaining. I just wanted to say that I now have justification to call for reinforcements too."
"What?"
As I blinked at the man's words, he tightly gripped the empty air and tore it open.
Yes, he literally tore open the empty space.
With a loud crack, the air was roughly torn apart, revealing a distorted space.
"I found I could do this after using this body. What do you think? It's much bigger than before, right?"
Behind the man, who was smiling with satisfaction, wolf monsters I'd seen at the hospital began pouring out, followed by all kinds of monsters.
"Damn... How many did you make...?"
Seeing the endless stream of monsters, I finally understood why Harmageddon had only used monster attacks twice in their terrorist activities.
They had been stockpiling them.
They had been stockpiling hundreds of monsters for this very moment.
"You coward..."
At my words, the man tilted his head as if confused.
"I'll return what you said earlier. As a Hero, you should have been prepared for this much, right?"
The man said, raising his hand.
Just then, scraps of paper fluttered down from the sky.
*Paper?*
The image that flashed through my mind was red hair.
"Ugh, disgusting how many there are."
"Get down!"
At Hyun's shout, I instinctively dropped to the ground.
—!!!
A series of explosions followed, accompanied by a deafening roar.
The explosions were so powerful that the blast waves shattered all the surrounding windows.
The overwhelming firepower instantly swept away the monsters that had been pouring out.
"Ugh...!?"
It was a familiar ability.
The carpet bombing-like explosions continued for quite some time, and when they finally stopped, less than half of the monsters remained alive.
Naturally, it wasn't a very pleasant sight for mental health.
I thought I'd gotten used to all sorts of things by now, but this was...
"Urp..."
"Ha, never thought I'd see this again in my lifetime."
Hyun let out a hollow laugh and turned around, and I followed his gaze.
"You're late."
"This is me coming as fast as I could, you know?"
From beyond the acrid smoke came the sound of clicking heels, and Ryu Hwa emerged, her red hair fluttering.
"So, where is that bastard?"
"Oh dear."
For the first time, the man wore an expression of being at a disadvantage.