The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

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Chapter 109: Legally Blonde (4)

"...Why?"

A hollow voice echoed through the dark, desolate slums.

The grotesque figure, blinking as if he couldn't accept the reality in front of him, let go of Juliet's neck and stumbled back.

“A man…? Oh? Then I….”

Was he recalling how he had just buried his nose in Juliet's hair, flaring his nostrils in excitement?

His expression stiffened as if he had discovered half of a cockroach in the bread he was eating.

“You perverted bastard...!”

Freed from his grip, Juliet displayed a brilliant roundhouse kick aimed at the grotesque figure.

Although he couldn’t be compared to beings like Yurina, he was still a top-ranked candidate in the comprehensive evaluations.

Smack!

The crisp, clean kick hit the grotesque figure’s jaw perfectly.

As his skirt fluttered, something bluntly bulged out over his shorts.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Aaaargh!”

The grotesque figure, clutching his jaw from the kick, screamed in agony, and I, unintentionally assaulted in my line of sight, also cried out, covering my eyes.

“Hey, what the hell?! How could you hit me too?!”

“Huh, huh? When did I hit you, Dale?”

Juliet looked at me with a bewildered expression, as if unjustly accused.

Shaking off the tragic stimulus my optic nerves had just endured, I grabbed Juliet by the shoulders and pulled him back.

"Anyway, stay back for now."

He had managed to land a blow while the grotesque figure was momentarily shocked, but his abilities weren’t something a mere candidate could handle.

'Well, if you think about it, I'm just a candidate too.'

With a bitter smile, I took a step toward the grotesque figure, who was trembling in rage, clutching his jaw.

“You dare mock my pure love?!”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Since when did ambushing women on the streets to satisfy twisted desires become pure love?

Even though there hadn’t been direct physical contact beyond his hair, it must have been a traumatic experience for Juliet.

"From ancient times, there’s only been one way to deal with idiots who think with their lower half."

I unsheathed my sword, aiming it at the grotesque figure.

"Bloom."

Whoosh!

Ashen flames wrapped around the blade.

With a sharp thrust of my foot, I swung the flame-engulfed sword toward the grotesque figure.

“Grrr!”

The figure swiftly dodged the blow, sliding backward.

“Damn it…!”

Judging that he couldn’t win, the grotesque figure turned and began to flee.

It was clear now why he hadn’t been caught until now; his agility was impressive.

“Where do you think you're going?”

Hiss.

I took a deep breath.

Drawing my sword back, I lowered my stance.

The distance between us was about 100 meters.

No matter how far I extended my aura, it wasn’t a range I could reach.

‘Magic blade.’

Translucent magical blades formed around the sword.

Unlike the magic bullets that Berald had created, these were long and sword-shaped.

It wasn’t so much a ‘magic bullet’ as a ‘magic blade.’

And it wasn’t just one; there were dozens of thin, paper-like magical blades stacked together.

Whoosh!

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Ashen flames burned around the magic blades.

The entire space around the sword was engulfed in flames.

In that state—

“Ashen Blade, Second Form.”

Flaming Blade.

Boom!

With a powerful step, I swung the sword horizontally.

Dozens of flaming blades shot forward, sweeping everything in their path.

“Grr… damn it!”

The grotesque figure kicked off the walls between buildings, leaping high into the air to avoid the flaming blades.

But—

Whoosh!

The flaming blades changed direction sharply in midair, homing in on the airborne figure.

“Gaaahhhhhh!”

The grotesque figure, his entire body torn apart by the flaming blades, let out a wretched scream as he plummeted to the ground.

“Whew.”

I looked at the grotesque figure lying on the ground, and a smirk formed on my lips.

‘This is my first time using it in real combat, but it’s not bad.’

It was a technique born from the insights I gained watching Berald’s battle.

Although the magic-bladed, flame-infused attack looked similar to the sixth form of the Sun Sword, White Light, it was fundamentally different.

‘This one allows for free directional control.’

The basic principle of White Light was to focus aura on a single point and fire it out in a straight line.

Naturally, changing its direction mid-flight or retracting it once fired was impossible.

'However.'

In the case of Flaming Blade, since it was a technique harmonized with magic, it could change direction mid-flight like a guided missile.

‘Its power also exceeds that of White Light.’

Aura, created using the power of the Inner Realm, has a weakness where its strength diminishes the farther it travels from the user.

But Flaming Blade, harmonized with magic like Berald’s martial arts, didn’t lose its power no matter how far away the target was.

‘It’s a complete upgrade of White Light.’

Of course, it consumed more mana compared to simply concentrating aura at a single point like White Light, but even considering that, the advantages far outweighed the drawbacks.

“Grr… gah, cough! Cough!”

The grotesque figure, collapsed on the ground, coughed up dark red blood.

His body, shredded by the flaming blades, was as mangled as if a ravenous beast had torn it apart.

Half of his limbs had been severed and lay scattered across the ground, and through the torn skin of his abdomen, his entrails spilled out.

And yet—

“Blonde... I need... the blonde....”

With a gaze full of greed, he crawled, inch by inch, toward Juliet, who was standing far off in the distance.

Earlier, he had claimed he didn’t care for a man’s hair, but now, with death looming, he seemed desperate enough to cling to anything, regardless of gender.

“Eeek!”

Juliet screamed and backed away from the grotesque figure.

“Wow... this guy is persistent, huh?”

What in the world was so special about blonde hair that he clung to it despite being fatally wounded?

‘This is madness.’

I scowled at the grotesque figure crawling across the ground, still bleeding profusely.

“Ah, ugh... ah.”

The groans from the grotesque figure gradually faded as his head slumped forward.

“Is... is he dead?”

Juliet asked with a trembling voice.

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I reached for the figure’s neck and nodded.

“He’s dead.”

He had been tenacious in more ways than one.

“Well, let’s see who this guy really is.”

I pulled back the deeply pressed hood.

As I did, the grotesque figure’s identity was revealed.

“...Raskal?”

Power Man, Raskal Joe.

A true hero among heroes, who protected the weak and punished the wicked, unlike the many self-serving heroes.

“Why is Raskal...?”

I stared down at Raskal’s corpse, baffled.

Blonde hair and a chiseled jawline.

Though I had never seen him in person, his appearance matched exactly with the images of Raskal that had circulated in photos.

“Raskal? As in... that Power Man? No way, was he the culprit?”

Juliet, who had stepped closer, widened his eyes in disbelief.

It was hard to believe that the main culprit behind such a revolting and perverted crime was someone worshipped as a 'hero' by the people of the slums.

"As expected, rumors aren't to be trusted, huh? Pretending to be a hero on the outside, while in reality, he’s just trash who satisfies his own desires by assaulting women!"

Juliet fumed as he glared down at Raskal with contempt.

"......"

Rumors aren't to be trusted, indeed.

I couldn’t agree more with Juliet’s words.

'Something's off.'

It didn’t sit right to simply label Raskal as some pervert obsessed with blonde beauties.

'Raskal died in his past life fighting to protect the people of the slums from the Demon God’s army.'

If he had only pretended to be a hero while secretly being a villain, there’s no way he would have sacrificed his life to protect others at the end.

And there’s another thing.

‘This incident didn’t happen in my previous life.’

This eerie series of attacks on blonde women didn’t occur in my past life.

Of course, it’s possible that the news simply never reached the academy back then.

'But if it had been a case like this, it would've definitely been a big topic at school.'

In terms of sensationalism, this case was even more provocative than the usual murder cases happening in the slums, wasn’t it?

In a place like Hero Academy, where even obscure news from far-off corners of the empire spreads like wildfire, there's no way a case like this, happening right in Valhalla City, wouldn’t have reached the school.

'That means...'

I narrowed my eyes as I examined Raskal’s corpse.

'There’s someone behind this.'

Someone who pushed the widely beloved 'hero' down into the depths of disgrace.

"......"

"What's wrong, Dale?"

"Nothing."

Shaking my head, I reached out toward Raskal's corpse.

Fwoosh.

Ashen Flames flared up, consuming the body completely, leaving not a single trace behind.

"Juliet, keep the fact that Raskal was the culprit a secret."

"Why? Wouldn't it be better to expose this scumbag's true nature to everyone?"

Juliet tilted his head, puzzled.

"......"

I thought about explaining my suspicion that someone had been controlling Raskal from the shadows, but I shook my head.

To those unaware of what had happened in my previous life, it would only sound like baseless speculation.

Sigh.

I let out a deep breath before speaking.

"In the world of heroes, we still need at least one hero."

"......?"

"Anyway, you can keep it a secret, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

Juliet nodded hesitantly, and I began to walk away.

'The future is changing.'

I had sensed the signs for a while, but now, the future had diverged so much from my past life that it was becoming truly unpredictable.

Fwoosh.

I lit a small flame in my palm, narrowing my eyes.

The future had begun to shift.

In this unpredictable torrent of change, there was only one thing I could do.

"......"

Extinguishing the flame, I turned my steps toward the orphanage.

* * *

"Madness, you know, is a lot like gravity."

On a dark field, a boy with a youthful face wore a deep grin as he spoke.

"Once you start falling, you plunge into the endless abyss."

The boy hummed a tune.

"And only after you've fallen to the very bottom can you finally confront it."

He burst into laughter, stretching his arms wide.

"Your true self."

"......"

The old man listening to the boy clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"What brings you here?"

"Hmm? Do you have a problem with me being here, Jackal?"

"......"

Avoiding the boy's smiling face, Jackal, the Archbishop of Beasts, turned his head away.

While he could deal with other archbishops, the one person he didn’t want to get involved with was this boy.

The one called the "Archbishop of Madness," an unpredictable lunatic.

"What about Valhalla City?"

"Oh, are you talking about Power Man?"

The boy’s grin widened until it seemed like it would split his face.

"Isn’t it fun? Watching a hero who’s been praised as a 'hero' fall all the way to the bottom."

"......"

"Hehe, and I didn’t even corrupt him like Mephisto did, you know?"

The boy shrugged.

"I just gave him a little push."

Stretching his arms out in front of him, the boy chuckled.

"So he could confront his true self."

"...Haa."

Jackal let out a deep sigh.

"Stirring things up right in front of the Hero Academy isn't a good idea."

"Hehe, I didn’t expect to hear that from you, Jackal... Oh, could it be because of that 'Spider'?"

"......"

"Mmm. I heard you came back empty-handed this time. I guess it’s true."

The boy twirled around as if dancing.

"Anyway, don’t worry about the 'Spider.' I didn’t come here to meet them this time."

"Then?"

"I heard something fun from Mephisto this time."

"Something fun?"

"Yeah, apparently some cadet took down the Helios family head-on and ruined his plan."

"Huh."

A cadet took down the Helios family head-on?

That was news to Jackal.

"You probably know who the cadet is, Jackal."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you know the cadet who's close to that 'Spider' you're after? They were with you when you failed last time too, weren’t they?"

"Ah, you mean that gray-haired cadet."

Finally realizing who the boy was talking about, Jackal nodded.

"Dale Han."

Licking his lips like he had a delicious meal in front of him, the boy known as the Archbishop of Madness, Seto, smiled broadly.

"What kind of face will you show me, I wonder?"

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