The Raven Dark Hero 45

Chapter 45 : The Unexpected Collaboration

TL:SummerPeanut

"Skull, Joker... and Hiro eh?”

After parting ways with Fuuka, Kouki looked down on the three of them from above as they face off on a special stage. The area around the three of them is littered with soldiers of the NDF and injured civilians.

For Kouki, it felt strange to see a battle taking place in an everyday space, but he had to make a decision on how he should act quickly.

Skull and Joker. Although he doesn't like them, they can be said to be comrades who belong to the same organization.

However, Kouki is not yet twisted enough to sit back and watch unrelated people get killed. Especially if it was someone from his hometown. In addition, for some reason, Azusa and Haruka didn't try to run away but sit by the wall holding their hands and watching the battle.

And Hiro's existence was no longer clearly defined as an enemy to Kouki.

If the conditions were right, he believed he wouldn't hesitate to kill Hiro. And right now, Hiro was dealing with Skull and Joker by himself, and in a few seconds, he might as well be dead.

And yet...Kouki remembered. When he was little, when he was trying his best on something, Hiro was always sticking behind him. He remembered the days when he helped Hiro from being bullied by children many times, and sometimes even to the point of hurting himself.

The ally of justice. ...perhaps it wasn’t wrong that he was just trying to look good.

But precisely because it was Hiro who was being tormented, because that same person followed behind him even though he was really weak, that Kouki would confront challenges that he knew he wouldn’t win.

"This is the power of the elite!”

Hiro shouted, confident in his victory. All the dominated objects crushed Skull at once.

"...Did that do it?”

Every scrap of iron and metal attacked. If it hit him, it would inevitably cause massive damage... but Skull wasn't there.

"Kid! That was a close one!”

And then Skull came down from above Hiro’s head and landed a foot on his face.

"Kugh... why?”

"Why what. There’s no why you can see my body right?”

Hiro noticed. That the sticky liquid covering Skull was gone.

“Ouch ouch ouch...thanks to my gift that is. It's up to me to show you what. But... you've done it, kid…”

Joker stood up, snapping his neck.

"Da-damn…”

He can still fight. He wanted to think that so, but he knew that he is no match for these two.

"Devil Illusion.”

The Joker pulled out a rope from his chest, restraining Hiro's movements. And then...

"Then you die, little boy.”

Skull held up his palm towards Hiro, and sharp thorns appeared from it...

(Damn it... I... I...!)

He didn’t want to lose. He didn’t want to give up. He foresaw his own death...

……………

...... Weird. Skull's attack had been launched. However, Hiro did not feel any pain.

He opened his eyes. There was...

"Hey, scoundrels. I'll take it from here.”

There was a back that he had stared at many times too many since he was a child.

"Eh? ...Why?”

Hiro's understanding couldn’t catch up. This was because there is absolutely no way that a non-gifted can intervene in a battle of this level.

"Asshole...who are you?”

Skull had attacked Hiro with the intention of killing him. But the boy in front of him easily repelled the attack with his hardened arm.

"...Me? I'm .........a passing by the ally of justice, Sunglass Muffler.”

There stood a man with a scarf borrowed from a nearby store covering half his face and sunglasses covering his eyes.

(Setting aside Hiro, I've already forgiven Azusa and Haruka. Also abandoning ordinary people is against my principles as a hero. Yeah, it’s not like I'm not trying to save Hiro or anything!)

Yes, he made up an excuse in his mind. Even though no one would hear him.

"Kouki...? N-no... who?”

Hiro was stunned stupid, while Kouki was relieved that his true identity had not been exposed.

“Who cares? Anyway, now we have to deal with Skull and Joker.”

“No, you're an ordinary citizen, right? Don’t tell me you are a gifted?”

Of course, since Kouki is not a regular gifted, there is no barcode engraved on him. If they were to check him out, he would be instantly identified as a stray filth. If you think about it, it was the same when he first met Saejima... and he kept quiet, opting not to reply...

"Are you... are you... a stray filth?”

"......Oh my god! Can you just shut up! If you're not hurt, then help me out!”

Getting tired of all the hassles, Kouki used his arm as a blade to cut the rope that was binding Hiro's body. Then, as he was told, Hiro stood up.

"Huh? You're one of the NDF dogs but you're trying to fight us?”

Fight them they say. From Kouki’s point of view, no matter how much he doesn’t like Skull and Joker, they are still members of the same organization so that’s not really an option. Besides, in his current state, Kouki couldn’t fight with all his might.

Putting aside the already activated Lonsdaleite, Speed Star and Invisible Slash might expose his mysterious identity as Bright to Hiro.

“I have no intention of killing any of you. I don't know what you're after, but I think you should have done enough after rampaging so much.”

"Huhhh? We'll decide if it's enough! Right, Joker!”

“No, he's right, we've accomplished our mission, let's go home. I need to take a shower…”

“RIGHT?! JOKER?!”

“...sigh, I don't have a choice here. Let's just get rid of these two and retreat. It will be troublesome if reinforcements come.”

(Are you serious? Just go home!)

Kouki thought about how to cover up his Lonsdaleite.

(Isn’t it fine if I say it’s a gift that hardens a certain part of my body? But I feel like a Speed Star is essential for dealing with two of these guys... Wait, hmm? If I use Bright's ability, that Hiro doesn't know about....Okay…)

"Hey recruit, use your gift to get their attention.”

"What? Why my gift? .......Tch, I get it.”

Although he was surprised that Hiro listened to him so easily, Kouki began to prepare for the fight.

As soon as Hiro attacked Skull and Joker with Area Master, he activated Silent Stealth.

"Tsk, using same attack…”

Kouki’s presence completely disappeared from Skull and Joker's consciousness as they focused on reflecting the flying metal fittings.

Hiro continued to use his Area Master to manipulate and attack with multiple objects. With so many assaulting objects, Skull and Joker were left on the defensive.

Seeing this, Kouki was convinced that his plan was ready.

(I mean, isn't this Area Master invincible once he gains more proficiency over it?)

"Ugh...not yet!”

The effect ofrom pushing Area Master to the limit was Hiro's stamina being severely depleted. The more powerful an ability is, the less fuel-efficient it is, and this was true for Area Master as well.

"Heh...I think I'm reaching my limit. Go, Joker!”

“OK! … Wha-!?”

Joker, who had ten small knives in both hands, was about to throw them at Hiro. However, Kouki struck him in the back of the head with his hardened arm, causing him to fall like a puppet with broken strings.

“What!? Joker?! ...When did you?!”

Kouki's Silent Stealth made him difficult to be perceived again once the gift is activated while the attention is not on him. On top of that, he could normally maintain his stealth with normal attacks, but due to his low proficiency, his stealth was broken when he used his knifehand to down Joker.

Joker took the blow from his blind spot and lost consciousness. Hiro too was also another one surprised by that.

"Who exactly are you…”

“Don't let your guard down. There's still one guy left, okay?”

"You! How dare you do that to Joker! You have two gifts? Why are there are so many of these guys recently!”

Skull's was undoubtedly referring to Bright, but he didn’t seem to realize that Kouki in front of him is that Bright.

He could hear the sirens of a police car approaching from a distance. As for Kouki, he can't kill Skull and Joker, so he wanted to end it here....

“Listen, the reinforcements are coming you know? Take your partner and retreat.”

But Hiro refuted him.

“What are you talking about? These guys are mass murderers who killed a lot of people! You can't let them get away!”

(What's with this guy?! He looked like he was about to die just a while ago, but he's jumping and shouting around now!)

Kouki's annoyance grew as Hiro's weak attitude from earlier changed completely.

"Fool. You can't beat this guy alone, can you? Can't you see that?”

"Shut up! I'm an elite! If that magician is gone, I can beat at least one of these guys!”

Hiro also felt resentment towards the mysterious man, Kouki, who suddenly appeared and took all the spotlight from him.

He is the elite with promising future in the NDF. Following the attack on the Nerima branch by Kuroyume and if that elite couldn’t stop the filths now, he will definitely not escape punishment.

Furthermore, his pride would never allow him to be rescued by an unknown man who might be a stray filth while Azusa and Haruka were also watching.

"Idiots! Sonic Hedgehog!”

While the two of them were arguing, Skull was not about to let them get away with it. He took advantage of the moment and activated his sonic hedgehog.

There were countless thorns flying at him. Kouki reacted immediately and readied himself to block the attack, but Hiro didn’t.

(This stupid bastard!!)

! ?

"......What!?”

Hiro shouted in surprise. It was because Kouki was standing right in front of him.

Kouki was able to block the vital points with his hardened arms, but many thorns pierced his shoulders, flanks, and legs…

Author’s Note:

※Why doesn't Hiro know it's Kouki? Well, that's a fool's errand to ask.

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TL: I can imagine the hate for Hiro.