9 Hero Killer? (2)
"What do you want, brat?"
Akaguro questioned my 'pure' intentions. His ugl-normal face was serious as he asked that.
It had already been 14 days since I stuck to him. He seems to have stopped ignoring me too. Getting cozy already.
"What are you looking at, brat?"
It wasn't easy to get used to a 'nose-full' Stain. Wasn't he born noseless like that hocrux-creating dark lord?
"Nothing~ Hear this, my matron thinks that I'm wasting my time playing around here. I mean, she literally blew up."
Tsuzuru had a quirk called 'Blow-Up'. A quirk that increased her strength, in accordance with in increase to her anger. She becomes red-skinned, like a demon, when she uses it though.
Well, she might have been worried about me mixing with the wrong bunch. After all, in an era where heroes were the main focus of the society, fighting them was fighting the society.
Heresy would be the perfect way to describe it. And we would be heretics.
'But we're not fighting heroes. It's the fake ones that we hate.'
Not many understand that. But what exactly is a fake? What differentiates a real hero from a fake one?
I was sure that Akaguro didn't know the difference. In simple terms, he was a berserker, going on a rampage. Hoping that the world would get better in the process.
Maybe he killed a lot of bad guys. It didn't matter to me. But the second he kills a good guy, he will become the very thing he hates the most.
A fake villain.
Not even a real one. But a fake villain, who is scared. Not of death but change.
"Let's pack up. The sun's already setting."
I snickered as I knew fully well. There were only 4-5 banners with a small notepad with two signatures on it.
Nothing really needed any packing.
".... If you're here for fun, I ask you to leave. Do you find lives a joke?"
Says the killer.
"Nope, just find yours interesting."
He seemed like a real nutcase but I knew the truth. He's simple. I easily understood the crux of his problems.
Chizome Akaguro. A devout believer of heroes.
Ever wondered what happened when the saints realized that Gods weren't kind? That they were just indifferent to all life on Earth?
1) They would break. Their entire lives would be overturned. Lost without a purpose, they would roam the plane like a ghost.
That was the better option.
2) They would have an outburst. Breaking the Gods that dared to fool others. Only so that the world would change to their ideals.... For their entire lives would have been meaningless if they didn't do it.
That was the worst option.
3) They would just continue as they were. Ignoring the truth they saw.
That was the best option.
Akaguro chose the second choice.
When a boy full of hopes and innocence falls, he becomes a demon worth fearing.
It was easy to see. Akaguro was just a kid, trying to change the world for the better.
He, who was once hopeful, was beaten up and thrown down. And unlike me, he rose back up to fight again. Again and again, until he realized that it was meaningless.
Yet he never gave up. Not like I did. That's why he's my favorite..... And also why I hate him a bit. He's only a step away from perfection, increasing my irritation. Like building a toy model, only to find the most important piece missing.
He accepts death like me. It already shows that he gave up on the most important thing.
"You know, I don't have a lot of time. So let's speed things up. Follow me, I will show you something good."
The system wanted to show Akaguro a new path. Sadly, I was suicidal, not having anything akin to a path myself. And Akaguro didn't really want to change his path either.
Mission Improbable, there's no better name for it. Using the original word could get me CopyRighted.
"....."
As I walked in one direction, Akaguro silently followed. Perhaps giving me the benefit of the doubt for the last 14 days.
Many people threw disgusted glances at us. We were quite famous as heretics, after all.
As we kept moving our feet, the silence started to become overbearing.
"What do you think is a true hero?"
So it was time for some small talk.
"Everybody, except Almight, are fakes. There is only one true hero."
Oh~ Akaguro is fanboying again.
"PFft!"
"What?"
Just the image of him wearing a shirt like Midoriya and waving the light sticks gets to me.
"Nothing~ How do you think heroes are made, Ossan? Are they born? Or is it unchangeable fate?"
"...."
Akaguro couldn't answer. More like, he didn't know the answer.
It was his fault for not looking at the whole picture.
Sure, there were a lot of fakes mixed in today's society. But there was reason why nobody did anything to remove them.
Like two sides of a coin, the fakes gave them the right to bluff.
When a villain was born, they would be scared to fight, just seeing the numbers on hero's side. When a child would cry, they would feel safe after seeing a hero, even if they were fakes.
Now, what would happen without these fakes? In contrast to villains, it wasn't actually that easy to be heroes.
Hence, heroes would be outnumbered 10-to-1. And there will be no more bluffs.
A war will initiate.
Perhaps heroes will win, maybe they will lose. But that will require a lot of sacrifice. Akaguro probably just believes in Almight but he's a single man, a dying one.
That's the only reason fakes still exist.
"You probably think that Almight became a hero as soon as he popped out from his mother's womb, screaming 'I'm here!'. Guess what? It takes time.
Babies are neutral. They will grow up only as the world allows them to. Heroes are born perhaps.... But there are also those who fight their way up, to be a hero. To keep on fighting against the odds, again and again, after countless losses and regrets. Overcoming trial after trial to prove themselves.
Only to be killed before they could reach completion."
Akaguro frowned as he heard the last part.
'Did he find out who I am?'
I had only one thing to say to him.
"Heroes may be rare, Ossan but they're not some mythical-class weapon. One can always become the hero."
Now, we both knew I was lying. Not everyone could be a hero. Not unless the world allowed it.
Isn't that why most people try to destroy the world? So that they can finally be the hero of their own damned stories?
"And most of all, no matter who the hero is, they will fall one day. Almight can beat a hundred villains but he can't beat death."
Now, a full blast of killing intent was overflowing from Akaguro.
What else would you expect from 'Midoriya 2'?
"Don't deny it. Sooner or later, time will make him fall. Maybe not kneel but he will fall. And when that day comes, all hell will be unleashed.
And you will be playing a role in that hell. As the monster that bullied his favorite hero to death. By going against everything Almight stands for. I don't hate Almight. You seem like you do, Ossan!
You hate him for never saving you when he always show up in time for others. You hate him because he plays the good guy while you were suffering!"
"You! Do you even know what you're talking about? He's the only true hero I admire!"
In a burst of fury, he glared with no-good intentions.
"See~ You're willing to kill a kid, even though you admire the 'only' true hero. What next? Kill the fakes? So that Almight can be the only hero in reality?"
That was really the next step. But currently, Stain wasn't born. Akaguro was still Strendal, the vigilante who killed villains.
"They are a filth on this-"
"But, Ossan, you are also the filth of this world."
Like me.
Entering a deserted alleyway, I stopped my feet and turned around.
"Let's have a fight, you filthy thug."
With a victory smirk, I met his glare straight on.
"I don't fight without killing. And I don't kill innocent-"
"Ah~ Should I become a hero?"
That was a taunt.
It took him only 14 days to know I wasn't hero material. Perhaps he knew that on the first day. The only reason he let me go was because I wasn't a hero in name.
He was just like a God, sitting atop of his throne. For him, only heroes were his equal. And villains were something worthy of his wrath. Normal civilians? They were ants to him.
Soon, he would create another level.... For the true heroes. When that happened he would judge the fakes, like he did to the villains.
"Stop!"
Grunting that part, Akaguro dropped the banners and slowly inched towards his hidden blades.
I took out a small black key and non-chalantly unlocked my bracelets.
"Try and stop me."
- Clank! Thud!
"I'm going to the worst hero this world has ever seen. Kill me if you don't want that to happen!"
Yeah, a fight was the only method to settle this.
People like him and me... We didn't listen. We had to have things beaten into us. And even then, we wouldn't hear some of it.
'I should probably go all out though....'
After all, he was a Hero Killer. A title that speaks for itself.
That's why I brought him to a narrow alley. Long blades would be almost impossible to use here. But that still wasn't enough.
"Gate of Opening, Gate of Healing, Gate of Life! Open!"
- Boom!
A burst of air sprouted all over my body, turning my skin slightly red and floating my hair upward. The ground around me cracked, purely out of pressure.
"Come on, Chizome Akaguro! Show me your ninja wa-Wrong world."
