Villain: Your Heroines Were Delicious

Chapter 151: Chapter 16

Haruka stood atop the skyscraper, the cold night wind whipping her hair, but she felt none of the chill.

Her focus was entirely consumed by the glowing blue topographic map of Aegis Noûs.

The battlefield below was a complex web of shifting spirit energy signatures—Seijirou’s steady gold, Rindou’s sharp blue, and the fading flickers of the Eight Limbs.

Now, she was listening to the conversation of Seijirou and Sosuke.

“The Bully Society…and the Rebel Council…” She hummed, deep in thought.

Suddenly, the holographic interface glitched, pulsing a violent, warning red as two new signatures had appeared at the edge of the Saint Shinomiya perimeter.

“What the—!?” Haruka’s breath hitched.

Their spirit energy didn’t just register; it flooded her sensors, rising like twin tsunamis that dwarfed every other fighter on the field.

“Threat level… Calamity,” she whispered. “I need to inform Seijirou…”

But as she was about to press the unmute and inform Seijirou of the anomaly, one of the signatures simply… blinked out. It didn’t simply move, but it seems to ceased to exist in the spectral dimension.

“Oh? An intelligence-type Karyoku? How rare to find one so… refined,” a smooth, nonchalant voice drifted from the shadows behind her.

Haruka didn’t even flinch, as her mind, governed by the cold logic of Odysseus, calculated the trajectory before her body even moved.

She spun on her heel, her leg cutting through the air in a devastating roundhouse kick aimed at the source of the voice.

Thwack.

Her shin was caught in a palm that felt like it was made of solid lead, and standing there was a young man with ruffled black hair and mocking brown eyes.

He wore a uniform she didn’t recognize—dark, sleek, and adorned with insignias that felt foreign to the 24th District’s hierarchy.

“Hey, you’re actually really beautiful,” the man said, his grin widening in genuine surprise. “How about you come with me? I’ll show you a much better time than sitting on a roof playing with holograms.”

Haruka offered no words, instead she used the caught leg as a pivot, pushing off his chest to create distance.

In mid-air, a bow of shimmering, sapphire energy materialized in her grip. This was the bow of Odysseus, the manifestation of his love, a symbol of unyielding loyalty.

“Penelope!”

She loosed a dozen arrows simultaneously.

These weren’t pointed shafts; they were heavy, axe-head-shaped bolts of blue light, and they tore through the air with a predatory whistle, converging on the man in a coordinated execution.

Twelve massive explosions rocked the rooftop, blooming in a chain of azure fire. Haruka landed gracefully, already nocking a second volly, her eyes narrowed at the thick, roiling smoke.

Just then, a sudden, violent gust of wind tore the smoke asunder.

From the center of the blast, a gargantuan phantom of a Golden Lion manifested, its roar vibrating Haruka’s very bones.

Then, the man emerged, transformed. His hair had turned a brilliant, metallic gold, flowing back like a wild mane, and a long, tufted lion’s tail lashed behind him.

“Oh, you’re actually quite strong,” he admitted, casually brushing soot from his shoulder. Golden fur pulsed with light along his forearms. “If I hadn’t activated my Karyoku in time, or if my spirit was anything less than the Nemean Lion, that would have actually hurt. Unfortunately for you, arrows and projectiles have no effect on this hide.”

Before Haruka’s predictive pathing could even calculate a retreat, the man surged forward.

Like a lion hunting for prey, he pounced.

His hand clamped around Haruka’s delicate throat with terrifying strength as he laughed, a wild sound echoing throughout the night sky, and stepped off the ledge of the skyscraper, dragging her into the abyss.

They plummeted toward the concrete hundreds of feet below.

But Haruka remained a void of emotion, and as they fell, she ignored the rushing wind and the crushing grip on her neck and simply pressed the tip of her ’arrow’ directly into the man’s open, laughing mouth.

The man’s eyes went wide, the pupils shrinking in sudden realization. “You wouldn’t—”

BOOM!

At point-blank range, Haruka released her arrow, causing an explosion that was like a brilliant blue star in the night sky.

The force of the blast ripped them apart.

Haruka was sent flying through the air, her clothes scorched and her skin peppered with abrasions, but she remained focused.

“Trojan Horse…” she muttered through gritted teeth.

The sapphire bow shattered into motes of light, which swirled around her like a protective cocoon.

The motes then expanded, forming the massive, translucent phantom of a Wooden Horse.

Then, in that instant, the construct enveloped her, absorbing the terminal velocity and the heat of the explosion.

This was the Trojan Horse—the ultimate manifestation of Odysseus’s cunning and his absolute defense.

She slammed into the ground, the phantom horse taking the brunt of the impact before dissipating into mist.

Haruka knelt in the middle of the street, breathing heavily, blood trickling from a cut on her forehead.

’Who are they?’ her mind raced. ’The Rebel Council? No, this level of power is…’

BOOM!!!

A second explosion, louder and more violent than the first, tore through the night.

This one came from the front gates of Saint Shinomiya High School. The shockwave was so powerful it shattered the windows of the surrounding blocks.

Haruka’s eyes widened as she looked toward the school.

“Hey! Don’t look away from me!”

Just then, a roar resounded as Haruka turned, immediately seeing the man rushing towards her with a savage grin.

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT YOU BITCH!”

*

*

*

At this moment, in the auditorium.

BOOM!

As the explosion sounded, shaking the building, the atmosphere in the auditorium, which had been thick with the tension of a diplomatic truce, was shattered in a heartbeat.

The floor beneath the four of them groaned and buckled, and for a terrifying second, the grand chandelier overhead swung like a pendulum.

Sosuke immediately stood up, his eyes darting toward the heavy doors, his instincts as a District Leader screaming of an intrusion. “Forgive me, Kageyama, I must go and see—”

He never finished the sentence as the massive side walls of the auditorium didn’t just break, but they disintegrated.

A thunderous explosion of stone and mortar sent jagged debris whistling through the air like shrapnel.

Suzune reacted without much any hesitation, her leg snapping out in a series of high-precision kicks to deflect the larger chunks of masonry that threatened to crush the couch where Seijirou sat.

And as the dust began to settle, a silhouette of monstrous proportions stood in the jagged gap of the wall.

The man was a titan, standing at 210cm with skin the color of polished mahogany and muscles so engorged they looked like they were fighting to burst through his skin.

His shoulder-length brown hair was matted with dust, and his black eyes gleamed with a predatory mirth.

“You are—!?” Sosuke’s composure fractured. His eyes widened in genuine recognition, a rare flicker of sweat appearing on his brow. “Yamada Jun!?”

Seijirou didn’t stand despite the commotion. He simply tilted his head, watching the giant with a bored, clinical interest. “You know that guy?”

Sosuke gave a stiff, mechanical nod. “He was the previous leader of the 4th District… a beast who was stripped of his title and captured after he personally turned several students into vegetable state during a brawl. He was sent to the Juvenile Detention Center for years. I heard he was released a few months ago, but since he didn’t return to the Society’s fold, I assumed he’d washed his hands of us.”

“Is that so?” Seijirou took a slow, deliberate sip of his green tea, his hands steady despite the literal collapse of the room around him.

“You are the leader of the 24th District?” Jun’s voice was a deep, guttural rumble that vibrated in the chests of everyone present.

Sosuke frowned, “I am. What do you need from me?”

Jun looked at Sosuke and let out a disparaging snort. “Hmm. You are weak. Are the current district leaders of today really so much more pathetic than in my time?”

Sosuke gritted his teeth, maintaining a dignified silence, but Hari took a step forward, her spirit energy flaring in an indignant rage at the insult to her master.

Only Sosuke’s raised hand kept her from launching a suicidal charge.

“Since you already know who I am, it makes the negotiation easier,” Jun continued, his grin widening to reveal rows of white teeth. “I am now an executive of the Rebel Council. I am here to offer you a singular chance: surrender the 24th District to us, or we will declare a war of annihilation upon you.”

Sosuke furrowed his brows, sweat dropping from his forehead. This man joined the rebels?

Then, could it be those other previous leaders joined as well?

“Hey.”

The word was quiet, but it commanded the room.

Everyone turned towards Seijirou as he set his teacup down with a sharp clink and stood up.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked casually toward the giant, stopping a mere meter away from the man who stood nearly two heads taller than him.

“I don’t care about you, or your council, or your little rebel games,” Seijirou said, his voice dropping into a lethal, low register. “But the 24th District is my territory. And I don’t particularly like you coming into my house and threatening war on me.”

“Your territory?” Jun glared at him, “How dare a mere trash claim what is ours.”

Seijirou remained silent, simply staring at him with a firm, yet almost lazy look in his eyes.

The standoff lasted for a heartbeat, a collision of two vastly different auras—one like an erupting volcano, the other like the cold, crushing depths of the abyss.

Then, without warning, a dark, viscous spirit energy flared around Jun.

He launched a punch that didn’t just move, but shrieked through the air, the pressure alone threatening to collapse Seijirou’s lungs.

But Seijirou was ready. His Ki detonated in a brilliant flash.

He didn’t dodge, instead he grabbed Jun’s massive, tree-trunk arm, pivoted his weight with surgical precision, and executed a thunderous shoulder throw.

Jun’s eyes widened as the world flipped, he felt the sickening sensation of weightlessness, but his instincts were honed by blood.

Before his back could hit the marble, he slammed his massive feet into the floor, the stone shattering as he forced his body into a crouch to prevent the slam.

But Seijirou’s follow-up was instantaneous.

He drove his elbow into Jun’s exposed chest, the impact sounded like a sledgehammer hitting a side of beef.

Jun let out a pained cough, his breath hitching as he was finally forced to the floor.

Seijirou stepped back, calmly dusting off his palms as if he’d just handled a piece of trash.

He then stepped on Jun’s face, “Trash? Me? What does that make you?”

Jun didn’t answer, or rather, he couldn’t.

Even Sosuke can only stare at him in shock, unable to utter a single word. Was Kageyama really this strong?

But the moment of silence was shattered by a second impact as a massive figure was thrown through the opposite wall, creating another gaping hole in the auditorium.

Seijirou’s eyes widened as he saw Haruka skidding across the floor.

She was battered, her clothes torn, with the faint, translucent phantom of a horse flickering around her one last time before dissolving.

“Ugrh,” she groaned, kneeling in exhaustion.

“Haruka!” Suzune shouted, rushing to her side to pull her into a sitting position.

Seijirou took his foot off Jun’s face and was about to walk towards Haruka, but stopped as another presence made itself known.

Through the new hole in the wall stepped another figure—a man whose golden hair resembled a thick mane, complete with lion’s ears and a tail that lashed with feline agitation.

He looked down at the injured Haruka with a sneer, but then his eyes snapped to the floor, where Jun was struggling to rise.

“Jun! What the fuck happened to you!?”

Jun stood up slowly, cracking his neck with a series of loud, wet pops. “Don’t worry about me, Yoshiro. I just got careless.”

Jun’s eyes were locked on Seijirou now, filled with a newfound, murderous respect. “It seems I underestimated you, boy.”

Seijirou, however, was no longer looking at Jun, instead his gaze was fixed on Haruka’s bruised face, then shifted slowly to the man named Yoshiro.

The air around Seijirou began to hum, a sound like a high-voltage wire about to snap.

“Are you the one who did this?” Seijirou asked, his voice eerily calm, motioning toward Haruka.

Yoshiro, the Nemean Lion, grinned, showing off his sharpened canines. “So what if I am? She was a feisty one, but a flea is still a—”

He never finished.

Seijirou appeared before him as if he had teleported, the sheer velocity of his movement creating a vacuum.

He unleashed a punch backed by the full weight of his cold, concentrated fury.

Yoshiro’s eyes dilated in panic. He managed to cross his golden-furred arms just in time to block.

The impact felt like a wrecking ball slammed into his skeleton.

The floor beneath his feet gave way as he was driven back several meters, his boots carving deep furrows in the stage.

Seijirou glared at him, his face a mask of absolute, emotionless ice.

“You’d better call an ambulance in advance,” Seijirou whispered, his Ki beginning to swirl into a dark, suffocating vortex. “Because I’m going to make sure you won’t be able to move a single muscle for the rest of your life.”