9] My debut into the world of villains

(Shin POV, Horizon Academy rooftop)

I'm looking out over the city, knowing the the Devastation Arc is about to begin.

Shin- "I wonder how brother is doing... It's been a while since I died, hope he's doing well." A sigh escapes my lips.

?̈́҉̙̩͙̯?̢̩̲͎̲͎̞̲̅ͬ̍?͉͇͍ͯ͘-͓̪ͫ̉͞ ̝̫̬͋̏ͨ͌̚͝͏̤̯̮̝͇̲̱"ͭ͏̫̞̳̜̜̺̝̟Ë̷̟͔͈̪̗́͌̆͒n̻̬̳̣̹͍̟̉̚͠d̷̺̲̬͙̯̗̐l̷͎̝̥̱͇͚̠ͯ͂e̱̜̗͙̳̅͂̈́̒́s̡̪͙̳̥̟͕̤̅̓ṣ͈͖̜͙̻͚̯ͮ́_̡̟̝̳͂̉V̖͉͎̹̠͕͐̀ơ͇̺͚̐͂i̸̯̙͓̘ͪͤ͂ď̸̝̫̺͎̱̟s͔͙̥̫͖̬͖̭̓ͣ͆̕ ̸̩̤̓ͯ͌̿i̷̬̣̙̫͖͔͇͌́sͬ҉͈̱̱̹ ̧̹̣͚̹̮͈͒ͩ̒ͥc̴̘̣̲̹̼͂̒õ̆̓҉̠͙ṟ͖͙̪͑͠ȓ̤͚͕̳̞͐̕ͅę͍̞̈́̿ͤc͕̺̯̰͕͗́̕t̢̩̱͉̤̲̥͚̂̂̅.̰͙̗̜͓͚̜͔̔͡.̪̻̍ͮ̚͡.̥̞̭̣͚̒ͩ͞ ̹̦̫̙̱̪̓̌̊ͦ̕Y̭̦̍͟o̦̥͚̟̣̻͊ͦ͛͝ũ͏̫̱͖̦̬ ̤̘̗̯̗͓̐̚͜a͈̬͖̻̝̖͚̙̓̂ͩ̀͝r̴͉̭͙͌͐ͣe͓̼̠͖̠ͣ̀́ ̖̳͕͈̻̹̪͒̾ͦ̀u̷͓͖̗͈̟̮͌ͯs͕̣̥̩͌͛ͬ̕e͒̑ͧl͖̮͚̭̈́̏̕e͙̪̼̠͍̣ͫ͗ͭͫ͝s̪̤̫͈͆͜ŝ̭̞̌͠.̵̱͖̗̫̫̖͈̺͇͊̔ͧͨ̄ͭ̕"̦̦̓̈́͆̑͘

Ever since that Ⱨ̵̧̻̹͓̠͕͈̯̘͊͛̀̀͌̍́͒̉́̎Ø̶̢̰̺̝̫̬̱͍̈́̓̓͑̈́̓́͆̓̋͂̚̚₴̴̡̨̛͈̩̙̳̃̉̀̐̌̄̏͒̓̆̍̃₱̶̮̞̱͔̯̅̐͑͑̅͆́̃͂́̈̍̚͝ł̸̨̙͙̾̎̓͌͐₮̴͕̞̤̏̈́̂̐͒̊͑̍̀̆͝͝₳̴̟̗̯̈́̀͗̐͌̄̽̑͝͝Ⱡ̴̛̬̫͋͂̂̔͋̍͋̉̒̃̒̍̏̕, I've been hearing this strange voice in my mind.

Any time I try to think back to when it started, I get a splitting headache.

Shin- "Honestly, I haven't really done anything villainous by my standards. I agree with the voice in that regard. Sure people who kill villains are villains in this world, but I can't call myself one yet. At most I'm a small time crook." 

One day randomly, my body changed. My muscles are a lot denser, and a lot less visible. I'm physically stronger, but I look weaker than I did when I first got this body.

I think absorbing those monsters changed my physique, but it took a while to show. It's strange, because I definitely absorbed their aura. The only thing I felt immediately was my stamina refreshing, but none of my Aura related abilities grew.

I think it's the same reason I still haven't gotten Kari's Flair yet, because her monster core corrupts it. It's also why she tends to get corrupted faster whenever she uses her Flair.

Yes, I called her Kari. I found three syllables a bit much, so I shortened it as a nickname.

Anyway, back to my previous thought. I think Hollow should make an appearance in the Devastation Arc, let everyone know who he is. With my level of control and my rank of Darkness Manipulation, I can definitely be in two places at once.

The only problem is that I have no clue as to the exact date that it will happen, it could happen now, tomorrow, or next week. All I know is that it will happen at around this time.

*** (8:00 PM, three days later)

I was helping Kari with a costume design, something that she likes. Just as we're about finished an explosion rings out through the town.

Shin- "Freaking finally." I immediately morph my surrounding shadows into my Hollow costume, putting the facial distortion mask on underneath. I don't know how it works, but it stops people from recognizing who I am as long as it's on. 

I tell Kari to stay behind, and she nods. I immediately fly out of the building at top speeds, looking for the source of the explosion. My feet lightly tap the ground as I land, looking at the smoking building.

Hero- "Hey! Stop right there villain!" Some random dude I can't even recognize from the novel is here, must be an extra. He holds his hand out to me, and I am appalled.

Shin- "Did you really just start blasting without asking questions?" I dodge a sonic wave, it shattering glass behind me.

Hero- "Did you not cause the explosion?" He stops attacking and looks at me in confusion. 

Shin- "No!? But I am however going to get rid of you, it's pretty rude to just start attacking people." I pick him up with my [Telekinesis], my palms facing him. He starts panicking, but before he could do anything I close my hand.

With that motion, he implodes into a small meat ball.

"That was easier than I thought, what rank was that loser? I wonder what rank I'll be after this." More explosions, more powerful heroes, more witnesses to my power.

Hero 7?- "You monster! How could you! She was the nic-" I cut him off by shocking him to death, frying him with a lightning bolt.

Shin- "Wait, that other hero was a girl? Talk about a reverse trap *pfft* Weird." I pause for a moment. "I feel like I'm forgetting something... Must not be important."

As I'm massacring heroes with the previous heroes' powers, Aiya's family is getting brutally murdered in front of her eyes.

(Aiya's POV, ruined mansion)

Why is this happening? Why is a hero destroying our house?

A B-Ranked hero, Shadow Flame is burning the Lemir family mansion.

SF- "HAHA! This what you greedy pigs deserve! This is for limiting me to B! I could have been S-Ranked if it wasn't for you Fuc-" Shadow Flame is spouting nonsense that I can't comprehend.

I am currently trying my best to hold him off, but he just melts through my ice. I can't find mom or dad, my sister was already murdered. My brother is barely hanging on, and I'm barely pulling together.

I unlocked a healing Flair moments ago, but I haven't had the chance to use it. I'm afraid. My ice is slowly losing ground, and my brother is dying in my arms. If I stop to heal him, we'll both die.

My brother grabs my hand.

Brother- "Go... I'll hold him off for as long as I can."

Aiya- "What are you going to do! You can barely move! I have to stay!"

Brother- "No! Aiya *cough* listen to me! I'm going to die anyway, the only thing you're going to do is kill yourself." A tear falls from my eye as I push one last wave of ice, running for my life.

My brother's bleeding body is shifting, I can assume that he's going to use all of his life force to supply his Flair.

I run as far as I can, tears streaming down my face. Running out of the mansion and into the yard I see something disturbing. My parent's corpses strung up in the air like Christmas lights. This sight forces me to stop running, falling to my knees. I'm no longer able to move, the only thing I can do is cry.

A group of thug looking people approach me with sneers on their faces. I try to run, try to move. Nothing in my body is working, fear is flowing throughout my whole being.

I close my eyes in expectation of death, but it doesn't come. I look around, thinking I may be in heaven. What I do see is a figure dressed completely in black, wearing a cloak and a hood. 

Aiya- "Who... Are you?" I manage to barely squeak this out, and the figure turns to face me. What I see shocks me, there's nothing under the hood.

Hollow- "I am Hollow, of the Abyss." He steps toward me, his footsteps barely audible.

"Tell me, child. Where is the person who did this?" I point back in the direction of the chaos, and he wordlessly begins his way toward it.

Aiya- "Wait! It's a B-Ranked hero! You cou-" He turns to face me, and glowing white eyes and a Cheshire-like smile can be seen.

Hollow- "Oh perfect, another hero to crush." The figure laughs before a huge black scythe emerges, making him look like the personification of the grim reaper.

The figure moves incredibly quickly, disappearing from my sight almost instantly. I immediately get up and shakily run back from where I came. If there's a chance that that 'Hollow' guy could defeat Shadow Flame, maybe I can save my brother.

Not even five minutes later, I make it to my brother who is barely holding on. He seems horrified, and I look where he is looking. When my head turns I see something that can only be described as savage.

Hollow has glowing red eyes, a wide white smile, and his hand on a broken Shadow Flame. He slams Shadow Flame to the ground, causing blood to leak from his face. Hollow seems to be enjoying himself, brutalizing this hero.

I notice that one of Shadow Flame's legs is gone, and I notice an arm next to us. Hollow laughs maniacally as he rips off the other arm of the ex-hero, which causes a weak shriek out of him.

I finally snap out of my daze when my brother coughs, causing me to run up and immediately start healing him. After about ten minutes of healing, I deem him okay enough to live.

I sit down on my butt, totally exhausted from using this new Flair so much. I look up to the night sky, satisfied in being able to save his life. I look around for Hollow or Shadow flame, and the only thing I can see are multiple body parts and piles of flesh.

(Shin POV, City B5)

I drop the broken hero off in the abandoned warehouse from before, Zeke, Roya, Aerin, and Gavin all look surprised to see me come back with a mutilated person.

Shin- "Don't kill him, I need him for experiments." That's all I said before flying off to cause more chaos, robbing basically every bank I can for the money. I kill heroes that cross me, and the villains don't really bother with me too much.

The chaos continues until about 3:00 AM. Buildings are destroyed, families have been massacred, heroes couldn't do anything to stop it. Most of City B5 was totally destroyed, excluding my neighborhood, the academy area, and around the Hero Association. 

My neighborhood would have been destroyed as well, but I stopped that from happening because I didn't want to bother getting a new house while replacing all I had... Also Hikari was there, and I didn't want her to accidentally get killed.

I couldn't just save my house either, or things would be suspicious. Luckily nobody decided to mess with it, as the people who would, never came back.

After the chaos died down, I go and steal the Flair of Shadow Flame. It adds to the proficiencies of both [Darkness Manipulation] and [Elemental Control]. Win-win for me, not so much for him. Living is basically torture, but I wouldn't let him die. 

He's way too valuable, and I may need his face to get Aiya to join my side easier.