Hearing the robber's desperate plea, Shigaraki Tomura tilted his head slightly, a faintly amused expression appearing on his face.
"Oh? Then tell me—what exactly are you good at?"
The moment he sensed a sliver of hope, the robber felt as if he'd been granted a stay of execution. He hurriedly began pitching himself.
"I—I can kill! I'm very skilled at it! Very experienced! Didn't he just say it? I've already killed twenty-six people!"
But in his frantic attempt to sell his value, he failed to notice something crucial.
The instant he proudly declared that he was good at killing—
The way Shigaraki looked at him changed.
It became the gaze meant for someone already dead.
Cold. Absolute.
A death sentence already passed.
The shift lasted only a moment before his expression returned to normal. So subtle that neither the robber nor Kurogiri—who stood ready in case of sudden resistance—noticed it.
Only the Sludge Villain, still partially wrapped around the robber's body, sensed it.
He trembled faintly.
That look—
It dragged him back to the agony of earlier.
Yet strangely, he felt no resentment toward Shigaraki.
Not because he enjoyed suffering—
But because he understood something clearly.
If Shigaraki hadn't intervened at Tendouin Shopping Street, he would have been destroyed.
With All Might present—
And multiple Pro Heroes on scene—
He would not have escaped alive.
Compared to death, a little pain was trivial.
And after subduing him, Shigaraki hadn't tortured or abused him like others had in the past.
Instead, he'd sought out a host for him.
Given him a second chance.
In the Sludge Villain's twisted worldview—
That counted as mercy.
He had no way to repay such "kindness."
So loyalty was all he could offer.
After all, beyond his Quirk—the ability to seize bodies and Quirks—he possessed nothing else.
And even if he did—
Shigaraki likely wouldn't care.
While the Sludge Villain's thoughts churned, Shigaraki stopped paying attention to the robber's frantic self-promotion.
Instead, he turned toward Kurogiri.
"Kurogiri. Have you confirmed the identities of his victims?"
"Yes."
There was something heavy in Kurogiri's tone.
"Seventeen adult women… five teenage girls… three teenage boys… and one elderly person."
A brief pause.
"All tortured to death."
The air grew colder.
Even someone like Kurogiri—no stranger to villainy—sounded unsettled.
He despised Pro Heroes. He rejected society.
But he had never targeted defenseless civilians.
This man, however—
Hunted the weak deliberately.
Robbed them.
Then tortured them for pleasure.
That went beyond being merely "vicious."
Even Villains had lines they did not cross.
This man had none.
He was rot.
Even the Sludge Villain felt disgust.
When he had attacked before, it had been for survival.
Desperate instinct.
But this robber?
He killed because he enjoyed dominating the helpless.
That kind of depravity was beneath contempt.
And Shigaraki—
Though he stood as the "Savior of Villains"—
Had once come from a country where some lines were deeply ingrained.
He looked down at the trembling man.
"This is what you call impressive?"
"You're nothing more than trash who only swings a blade at the weak."
His voice dropped.
"Even among Villains… we don't need garbage like you."
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