Justice of the Hero Killer: The Unyielding Reason of the One Called the Last Boss - Twilight Arbiter

There was a sound of old steel groaning. 　The Iron Belt industrial district of Arc City. On the road leading west toward the Kagerou Hills, there stood an abandoned factory. The remains of a steelworks long since out of use, its rusted machinery sinking into the darkness. 　The smell of sea breeze and oil mingled together. Far off, a ship's horn sounded. 　Inami Rai stood on the second floor of the abandoned factory, beside a shattered window. He wore a black combat suit beneath a black half-coat. A yellow-green line ran along his collar, and a spiderweb pattern marked his left chest. His appearance was made to melt into the night. 　His sharp black hair was cut short, streaked with yellow-green mesh—heavier on the right side. His piercing yellow-green eyes stared fixedly at the scene below. 　On his left ear was a mechanical ear-cuff communicator. A small voice trickled from it. "Target's moving. Three of them coming out the south exit. One's a civilian." 　Rai let out a short breath. 　His fingertips traced a small burn scar on his left palm. A remnant from his days as a mechanic. He no longer repaired anyone's equipment now, but that habit alone remained. "Understood. Drones are in position. Moving in." 　His voice was low and quiet. 　Not a shred of his former brightness remained. Or rather, to be precise, it was locked away deep inside. What covered the surface was a cold smile and calculated movements. That was the man called Inami Rai now. 　——Until two years ago, it had been different. 　Rai had been an A-rank hero. A guardian of Arc City. In a metropolis of 3.2 million people, a place where only the chosen could stand. He had been special even among them. The Hero Oversight Organization, Apex. As one of its registered heroes, he had protected the city, protected his comrades, and enjoyed tinkering with machines. 　Gias—the supernatural ability said to be possessed by roughly three percent of the population. Rai's Gias was "Machina Link." By touching a machine, he could understand its structure and rebuild it at will. With that ability, he had made and repaired his comrades' equipment, and fought himself as well. 　He had comrades. There had been laughter. There had been trust. 　There had been people to protect, and justice to uphold. 　All of it—he had destroyed with his own hands. 　No. It had been destroyed. 　Rai turned from the window and quietly descended the stairs. His steps were practiced, avoiding the glass shards scattered across the floor. 　Outside, the night wind stirred the hem of his coat. Arc City's industrial district glowed faintly even at night. Streetlights, the distant lights of factories, the line of cars running along the expressway. But around this abandoned factory alone, darkness spread like a gaping hole. 　Rai's lips twisted slightly. It had the shape of a smile, but his eyes were not smiling. When angered, his smile only deepened. That was his habit. 　Dread. A former B-rank hero. 　His Gias was the ability to grow sharp spines from his body. A man who had been reasonably capable in combat. But now, he had fallen to being a mafia enforcer. Threatening citizens, extorting money. And if he didn't like someone, he hurt them with those spines. 　A man who had once been a hero. 　Before Rai's eyes, three men walked forward. In the center, a heavyset man. On either side, two men in obvious suits. The man in the center was Dread. Perhaps a sign of Gias exhaustion unique to former heroes—his left arm twitched slightly. "I'm really sorry... I just don't have the money this month..." "Shut up! Your shop was late last month too, wasn't it! You're paying today, no question." 　Dread raised his right hand. 　In that instant, black spines shot silently from the back of his hand. Sharp spines about thirty centimeters long. They gleamed slickly in the moonlight. "Hii..." 　The man fell on his backside. He couldn't even make a sound. His fingertips trembled from sheer terror. 　Rai watched the scene quietly. 　Something burned deep in his chest. 　This isn't justice. He knew that. That was why they were "Vice." Corruption. On the surface, a terrorist organization that attacked heroes. In truth, they were ones who exposed Apex's rot and judged heroes who had committed crimes. "Dread. You still think you're a hero?" 　Rai's voice echoed through the darkness. 　Dread turned around. A flash of fear crossed his face. And then, the next moment, he wore a vulgar grin. "Oh, look who it is... the legendary traitor himself. If it ain't the former A-rank hero, Your Excellency." 　Rai stepped forward slowly. He gave a light flick of his right hand. 　Something happened. 　The night air changed. 　A faint buzzing sound. 　It grew steadily. From the shadows of buildings, from the roof of the abandoned factory, from the depths of the alleys. 　Over a hundred small drones took flight all at once. Each lit a red sensor light, and countless eyes floated in the darkness. 　Rai's Gias, Machina Link. His ability to dominate machines had built and now controlled this swarm of drones. "W-what the hell are these things..." 　Dread deployed spines from his entire body. Countless black needles covered him, like armor. "Bring it on, traitor! I'll sell that face of yours to Apex!" 　Dread lunged. 　Fast. Even as a B-rank, he was a former hero. His physical abilities far surpassed those of an ordinary person. Swinging his spines wildly, he charged straight at Rai. 　Rai did not move. 　He simply snapped his fingers. 　With a sharp click. 　The countless drones fired simultaneously. Ultra-thin wires. They wrapped around Dread's limbs. "Gwah!?" 　Ten, twenty. The wires wrapped mercilessly, tightening. Dread's massive body was hoisted into the air. 　Rai walked slowly toward the man. "Sell my face? Scum like you doesn't have that kind of value." 　In Dread's eyes, genuine terror finally surfaced. 　Rai took a small device from the inner pocket of his coat. He pressed it against Dread's chest. 　A data jack for recording. It was siphoning evidence of his crimes from Dread's terminal. 　All the while, the wires continued to wind tighter, little by little. Blood began to seep from Dread's skin. "The money you've stolen over these three months—how many people did you extort? How many did you hurt? Do you remember?" "S-shut up...! What do you know! After I quit being a hero, I had no other way to survive!" "Is that so. So you threaten citizens. What a magnificent fall." 　Rai's smile deepened. 　It was a sign of anger. "Don't screw with me! I'm still a hero! Apex recognizes me! The Clearance Division's got my back! Don't lump me in with a traitor like you!" 　Rai's hand stopped for a moment. "...The Clearance Division is protecting you?" "That's right! As long as I pay up! Forty percent of my earnings goes into their pockets, and they overlook a few things. That's how it works. Common knowledge in Arc City." 　Dread laughed, blood streaming down his face. 　Deep in Rai's chest, something quietly snapped. 　Anger. Deep, cold anger. "Ah, is that so. So that's how scum like you can keep playing hero forever." 　Rai snapped his fingers. 　Three drones converged on Dread's left arm. 　Machina Link. 　The drones transformed. Armor deployed, joints interlocked, and they reshaped into a single mechanical soldier. A small combat unit with a sharp drill-like arm. "Your Gias activation organ—it's here." 　Rai quietly pointed at Dread's left shoulder, the point from which the spines originated. "S-stop...! What are you going to do...!" "I'm going to make sure you can never hurt anyone with those spines again." 　The mechanical soldier swung its arm down. 　The drill gouged into the skin of the left shoulder, destroying something beneath. 　Dread's scream echoed through the abandoned factory. 　——The old me would never have done this. 　Rai felt another version of himself whisper those words. 　The self from when he was a hero of justice. The self who loved tinkering with machines and laughing with his comrades. 　Back then, he'd had the luxury of choosing his methods when defeating evil. 　He had believed justice would win. 　He had believed heroes would protect the city. 　He had believed Apex was an organization that would make the world better. 　Two years ago, the Fallout Incident. 　Rai had been trying to blow the whistle on Apex from within. The existence of the Clearance Division. The scandals of heroes. The countless cover-ups. He had gathered the evidence and tried to bring it to the upper echelons. 　As a result, he was designated a dangerous individual as a "mentally unstable Gias awakener" and expelled from Apex. The evidence was erased, and the blame was placed on him alone. 　A thin surgical scar running from the back of his neck to his left collarbone. A wound inflicted when they restrained the resisting Rai at that time. 　Betrayed by what he had believed in. 　If it had been only that, he could have endured it. 　But they had denied his very justice, wholesale. 　That, he could not endure. 　That was why Rai was here now. 　As the leader of Vice, Last Code. 　Wearing the face of evil, to judge corrupted heroes. 　The strength drained from Dread's body. 　He had lost consciousness. Blood flowed from his left shoulder, forming a dark stain on the ground. 　Rai pulled out the data jack. 　He operated a small terminal and checked the data that streamed out. 　Records of crimes. Audio of threats. Transfer histories of tribute payments. Correspondence with the Clearance Division's handler. 　Everything was there. "...Good evidence. With this, another one's mask comes off." 　Rai quietly left the scene, recalling his drone swarm. 　——Thirty minutes later. 　Rai was underground in the old city district, Lowside. 　Hollow Base—Vice's headquarters, built from abandoned subway lines and drainage facilities left behind after the Breakdawn. Three underground levels, total area of 2,800 square meters. Electronic jamming devices deflected Apex's detection, and only this place, where light never reached, brought Rai's heart a small measure of peace. 　That said, this place too was made of the wreckage of his former self. 　Self-made equipment lined the walls. Traces of hands dirtied during maintenance. Remnants of the days when he repaired his comrades' gear lay scattered everywhere. 　Rai stood before the large central monitor and expanded the data extracted from Dread. 　His fingers moved on their own. 　Machina Link synchronized with the terminal. The sensation of data flowing directly into his brain through the machine. The pupils of his eyes narrowed abnormally. "...Forty percent in tribute. No mistake." 　He confirmed the numbers on the monitor with cold detachment. 　But his hand trembled slightly. 　Not from anger. Not from sadness either. 　"Helplessness" was perhaps the closest word. 　His former comrades, his former organization, had fallen this far. That fact gouged deeply into his heart. 　The sound of a door opening. 　He didn't need to turn around to know. It was one of the intelligence unit, Shade. "Leader. We've obtained new data from inside Apex." 　Rai closed his eyes and took a breath. 　Then, he quietly turned around. "Show me." 　He took the offered terminal. 　Machina Link flooded the data into his head. 　In that instant, his expression froze. 　——Clearance Division classified data. 　Within it were records of the Fallout Incident. 　The various machinations to frame Rai as mentally unstable and expel him. Forged medical certificates. Fabricated testimony. Leaks to the media. 　And in the final approval field, there was a single signature. 　Himeno Kanna. 　Former A-rank hero. Current head of Apex Public Relations. 　When Rai had been a hero, she had been his superior officer. A woman who was intelligent, earnest, and burning with justice. Somewhere in his heart, Rai had respected her. 　That person had given final approval to destroy him. 　Rai slowly set down the terminal. 　A smile rose to his lips. 　Deep, deep, terrifyingly quiet. "...So that's how it was. It wasn't a coi

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Name: Justice of the Hero Killer: The Unyielding Reason of the One Called the Last Boss
Author: Novelia

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