Kou did not seek out the other heroes. Instead, he went straight to the city where the Hero Association headquarters was located.
The moment he entered the city, Ren noticed him.
However, Ren did not confront Kou immediately. He was sitting high above the Hero Association headquarters on a throne formed from crystallized spiritual energy. The throne floated in midair, allowing him to overlook most of the city.
His gaze settled on a distant figure dressed in rags and wearing a battered cowboy hat. The man looked like a homeless wanderer as he walked into the city.
As though sensing Ren's gaze, Kou raised his head and looked toward the throne in the sky.
Then he transformed into his original crimson insectoid armored form.
After activating his high-speed movement, Kou reached the rooftop of the Hero Association headquarters within moments. He looked up at Ren and asked,
"Ren, why have you become like this? What happened to you?"
"Hmph. I was truly ridiculous before. I actually thought you were one of my opponent's creations, merely the first step in some elaborate scheme. It turns out I was overthinking everything. You are the other System wielder."
Ren sat on the throne with one hand supporting his head as he leaned against its side and looked down at Kou.
"Although I don't know why you lost your memories, God, the being who embodies this planet's will, could not possibly fail to notice the interference of a foreign power system. It told me that only two anomalies exist in this world."
"Kou, can you truly remember nothing? Do you not remember how you came to this world?"
Kou listened to Ren's explanation, but no memories surfaced.
He frowned and looked at Ren sitting upon the throne.
"Were you deceived?"
"Whether it was true or false no longer matters."
Ren straightened his posture, though he still showed no intention of rising from the throne.
"With my current power, even if you really were merely a probe sent out by someone else, as I originally suspected, it would make no difference. Now that my level of existence has reached the Fourth Rank, those so-called schemes are meaningless."
"In any case, once you die, all the answers will reveal themselves."
Ren attacked without warning.
A second before the invisible strike reached him, Kou's keen instincts sensed mortal danger. He immediately dodged to the side.
Something pierced through the place where he had just been standing, leaving an enormous hole behind.
"A beetle's danger instincts really are impressive."
Ren spoke casually, seemingly unsurprised that Kou had avoided his attack.
Kou looked at Ren and realized that communication was no longer possible. The man had become completely unreasonable.
He took a deep breath, knowing he could no longer hold back.
Regardless of anything else, Ren had taken an entire city hostage.
That was wrong.
The crimson armor covering Kou's body instantly turned black. Its design became far more vicious, and the mandibles that had previously remained concealed were now fully exposed.
Within moments, he transformed from a sleek armored hero into a pitch-black insectoid monster.
"You look slightly more impressive now."
Ren commented with contempt.
Kou became a blur on the rooftop and charged toward Ren in the sky at a speed that even most S-Class Heroes would have struggled to follow.
However, the extreme speed that even the Deep Sea King had been unable to react to seemed no faster than a toddler crawling before Ren.
The difference between their levels of existence was simply too great.
In an instant, Ren created a net of spiritual energy and effortlessly trapped Kou inside it, like an insect caught in a spider's web.
Kou struggled desperately to break free.
However, the threads formed from spiritual energy were extraordinarily durable. Their ability to shift between tangible and intangible states meant that brute force alone could not tear them apart without a specialised ability.
Kou crashed heavily onto the ground, rolling and thrashing continuously, but every effort proved useless.
The net of spiritual threads tightened around him.
Cracks began spreading across his carapace.
"Is this truly all you can do? Within the Third Rank, you might be worth noticing. But before someone of the Fourth Rank, you are nothing more than an insect that can be erased with a wave of the hand."
Although different power systems varied greatly, they could still be roughly compared.
A First Rank supernatural life-form was no longer threatened by small-calibre firearms, including most submachine guns and rifles.
A Second Rank supernatural life-form could no longer be dealt with by twenty-first-century human civilisation without major sacrifices.
A Third Rank supernatural life-form possessed methods of resisting missiles and even small tactical nuclear weapons.
The Fourth Rank was far more terrifying.
In fact, the Fourth Rank could be divided into several distinct levels. In the terminology of cultivation systems, it might include stages equivalent to Golden Core or even Deity Transformation. However, there was no need to explain every comparison individually.
The weakest Fourth Rank existence could wipe out all life on a planet's surface, while the strongest could destroy entire planets.
Of course, these examples were not completely precise, but they conveyed the general scale.
That was why Kou appeared so powerless before Ren, who had already entered the Fourth Rank.
He was like a slightly stronger insect facing a healthy adult.
"If this is all you're capable of, then let's end this quickly."
After saying that, Ren killed Kou.
More precisely, he used spiritual energy to erase Kou's soul completely.
Kou's body immediately stopped struggling.
It collapsed onto the ground and became completely motionless.
Although the insectoid carapace covering his body did not disappear, Ren could sense that his soul had fully dissipated.
What remained on the ground was nothing more than an empty shell.
He was dead.
However, the System did not announce the completion of the mission.
"It seems you truly were nothing more than an insignificant side character."
Ren showed no particular surprise.
...
"So, why did you choose to become a hero? Why did you choose to be human?"
After his consciousness faded, Kou believed he would never awaken again.
He thought he had died.
Yet he unexpectedly opened his eyes once more.
He found himself inside a vast space resembling a laboratory.
Before him stood Carnage Kabuto's original form, submerged within a cultivation tank. The creature resembled an enormous rhinoceros beetle, far larger and more powerful than any natural insect.
Carnage Kabuto looked at Kou with mockery and contempt.
"Those people are truly ridiculous. They actually transformed me into a hero, and such a weak one at that."
Kou stared at Carnage Kabuto inside the tank.
After remaining stunned for a long time, he gradually understood.
"Are you the real me?"
"Although I hate admitting it, yes."
Carnage Kabuto sneered.
"I lost to some detestable man, an existence so terrifying that I had no ability to resist him. Then, whether because of some twisted sense of humour or another reason, he transformed me into you."
"A monster who wants to become a hero. It is truly laughable."
"...There is nothing wrong with becoming a hero."
"That may be true for you. But don't rush to argue with me."
"From the moment I was born, I possessed intelligence equal to or greater than that of humans, along with strength far beyond theirs. I was meant to become the next form of humanity, an existence that would replace the old human race."
"To me, humans are not even members of the same species. They are weak and contemptible. Why would I ever want to protect them?"
"Humans certainly have many flaws, but you are wrong about one thing."
"They are not weak."
"Oh? Are you referring to the man named Ren who killed you? He is no longer human."
"But humanity is still the dominant species on this planet."
"In many ways, humans are indeed inferior to powerful monsters and animals born with extraordinary abilities and powerful bodies. But you cannot deny that most of those monsters were once human."
"Even you were created by a human."
"You monsters think only of destruction. You know nothing except how to tear everything apart. Because of that, you will never understand the power of creation."
"You might easily kill most living beings or destroy everything before you, but you could never create a brilliant civilisation."
"The food, culture, art, philosophy, and technology created by humanity are things you could never produce or replicate."
"That is humanity's power."
"The power of creation and order."
"You make it sound impressive, but what difference does it make?"
Carnage Kabuto sneered.
"Didn't you still lose in the end? Humanity will eventually lose as well."
"Creation, destruction, none of it matters. Before true power and reality, those are nothing more than laughable, hollow, and powerless words."
"But I believe."
"I believe in humanity's potential."
"Ren may be unimaginably powerful to me, an existence I could never defeat, but I still believe in humanity."
"No matter what crisis appears, humanity will find a way to overcome it."
"Why?"
Carnage Kabuto roared.
"Why do you believe so strongly? Why do you blindly trust this so-called human potential and its miracles?"
"Perhaps because I hate losing."
Kou smiled.
"And because I love humanity."
Carnage Kabuto looked at the smiling Kou and snorted dismissively.
"It doesn't matter. This is merely a place where the dying linger."
"As the loser, are you prepared to accept death?"
Kou calmly nodded.
Just as he was about to leave, a voice suddenly sounded beside him.
"What is a hero?"
Kou did not know who had asked the question, but he answered anyway.
"Doing everything within your power to help those in need and bring genuine happiness to more people's faces."
"To me, that is what it means to be a hero."
"You knew you could never defeat someone as powerful as Ren. Why did you still go to your death?"
"Because a hero cannot run away from battle."
"An entire city was placed in danger because of me. If I chose to flee, how could I ever deserve to call myself a hero?"
The sound of applause echoed through the space.
Kou suddenly turned around and saw a man with an extraordinary presence watching him.
He was as proud and dazzling as the sun, yet he shared his warmth freely with everyone beneath its light.
"Then go."
"Go and become a hero."
...
Ren watched several S-Class Heroes rush toward him and yawned.
Just as he had dealt with Kou, he effortlessly defeated every one of them.
Even Tatsumaki, currently the Hero Association's strongest active hero, had been pinned to the ground. Her psychic powers could not create even the slightest disturbance.
"Let this farce end here."
Ren prepared to kill everyone in the city, consume them as nourishment, and complete his mission at the same time.
Then he heard the buzzing of insect wings.
Ren froze slightly.
A silver-white mechanical beetle flew past him and landed on a nearby rooftop, where a crimson figure caught it.
The crimson figure placed the silver-white beetle against the left side of his belt.
[HYPER CAST OFF.]
"What?"
Ren's calm and indifferent expression, born from his overwhelming increase in power, vanished instantly.
He cried out in disbelief, his face twisting with shock.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I am Kamen Rider Kabuto."
The calm voice answered.
Then Kou pressed the silver-white beetle attached to his belt once more.
[HYPER CLOCK UP.]
At that moment, time itself seemed to stop.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)