The Heroine Likes Me?!

The towering buildings around me were engulfed in flames, but I assure you it was not my fault. I implore you to believe in my innocence.

Before me was a young woman, likely in the latter years of her teenage life, with glossy raven black hair cascading down her back and piercing amethyst purple eyes. She wore a mask that covered half of her face, but I knew all too well what kind of expressions she would be making.

"Ahhh!" losing the strength in her body from fighting me continuously for a few hours, she fell to her knees. Her sword lay beside her.

Finally!

She had lost today, and the consequences of her defeat will fall upon those she loves.

I won't grant her a swift death.

No, that would be too kind, and I have no room for mercy.

Instead, I will torment those she holds dear and make her listen to their agonizing screams.

I will break her, both mentally and physically, relishing every moment of her endless suffering~!

And only when I'm satisfied will I grant her the permission to succumb to death's dark kiss.

"Ha, it's over!" I exclaimed, towering over the heroine as she lay sprawled on the ground. "Now, all I have to do is just press this button, and I'll know the location of the person you love the most!"

In my hand, I held a holographic map projection device. At one press of the button, this device will show me the location of every single person this young heroine loves.

"N-No, don't!" the heroine in front of me cried out in desperation. Since the mask she wore only covered her upper face, I could see her cheeks were red in fear.

Right, she should've cowered like this from the start. Maybe, just maybe, I would've spared her such a cruel fate then!

Haha! Hahahaha! Muahahahaha!

Click—!

Beep—!

"...Huh?" but when I pressed the button, a holographic map projected out in front of me. On that map, my current location was pinged….

Uhh, did I make a mistake?!

Oh god, this will be so embarrassing!! And after I made such a lengthy evil monologue too!

She will tease me about this every time we'll fight now! Fuck! Just let me die already!

"I-I-It's not like th-that I uh— I don't—"

Right when I was busy wallowing in first-hand embarrassment, the heroine's stuttering voice shook me back to reality.

I looked at her and couldn't help but notice again how beet red her cheeks were.

"Wait…" suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.

Noooo! Oh, hell no! No fucking way!

As an unwanted realization crept through my mind, I jumped a few meters back in disgust.

"Y-You're so full of passion, even when it comes to your mischievous schemes. I feel so alone, as no one truly understands me - my family sees me as a disappointment, my friends don't know my real self, and boys my age are too intimidated to approach me. I just want you to know that without you, my loneliness would be unbearable…."

Ayo, what the fuck?! This girl has lost it!

Is she truly confessing to me right now?! Me?! The one person who has been trying to kill her for the last six months?!

"S-Say something!" fiddling her fingers, she looked at me with her enchanting deep amethyst eyes.

"I– uh… What should I say again?"

Mind you; I am not just any ordinary being. I am the epitome of evil, a mastermind with a cunning brain and a thirst for power.

My hands are stained with the blood of hundreds of innocent souls, and yet, I have eluded the grasp of justice, escaping the relentless pursuit of those so-called government hounds. How, you ask? With my unparalleled intellect, that's how.

I am the puppet master, pulling the strings of fate. I am the one who calculates every move, every outcome, and every possibility before I make a single step.

I, a mere mortal they call me, devoid of even a speck of mana, possess the remarkable power to foretell the future with an accuracy that knows no bounds. Not by means of magic but through the sheer might of my unrivaled intellect!

It wouldn't be narcissistic of me to say that I am the smartest person alive!

But in no calculation did I predict THIS particular outcome! What the fuck?!

"Um, say will you go out with me?" using her katana as support, the black-haired heroine got on her feet and asked.

Her hand went to her face, and she took off her mask, revealing her full face.

I already knew who she was. Actually, the world did, so it's not like her face reveal came off as a big surprise to me.

But still, her pulling off her mask in front of me felt special in a way.

Huh? And here I thought I had already lost all my emotions.

"Tell me, will you go out with me?"

"What if I refuse?"

It's not like she could do anything to me. She had already lost. Right now, she must be barely standing on her legs. She had no strength to fight back—

"Ahh fuck!"

"If you refuse, then I'll kill you right here, right now. After all, if you can't be mine, I won't let anyone else take you either~!"

She held her katana up with her slender arms, and immediately a red hue enveloped the entirety of her blade.

She lowered her stance, readying herself to launch at me.

"Tsk!" I clicked my tongue in frustration. I thought she had no mana left!

I gave her too much time to recover! Arghh, it's a blunder on my part! Her love confession threw me off.

But it's fine. I'll correct my mistakes right now.

I donned a specially crafted nanotech combat armor that enabled me to manifest a multitude of weapons and harness the full power of my mana core reactor against my adversary.

With determination, I aimed my right palm at the young heroine. At my mental command, the nanobots in my arm transformed into a compact particle cannon.

"Last warning," I said. "Even you will end up with more than a few broken bones if you go against my particle beam regardless of your [A-Class] mana core!"

"Just say you'll go out with me then," she replied, cocking her head.

"Fuck off."

As I focused my aim on the black-haired girl, clusters of white energy coalesced in front of the barrel of my hand cannon.

FWOOOSH—!

In an instant, a beam of light erupted from my hand cannon and advanced toward its target.

The beam's intense pressure vaporized the concrete road beneath it, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.

Despite the attack, the heroine facing me showed no fear or hesitation on her face.

Kwuish—!

With a swift motion, she drew back her katana and surrounded it with a brilliant red aura until it shone like a crimson star before executing a precise horizontal slash.

Twooosh—!

Crack—!

Thud—!

My beam of light abruptly disappeared, and cracks appeared on my nanotech armor.

Her sword slash reached me even though she was standing so far away from me?!

"What?!" I exclaimed, astounded. "You neutralized my particle beam with your sword art?"

Thud—!

But that was all she could manage to accomplish before she crumpled to the ground, likely passing out from mana exhaustion.

Upon witnessing her condition, I couldn't help but facepalm in disbelief.

"...This idiot."

After thinking for a few seconds, I decided to leave her there.

Swoosh—!

The nanobots on my back morphed into two metal wing-like blades, resembling a jet pack, before I took off in the sky.

The reason why I attacked this Zone was already achieved by me anyway.