Seven Heroes Redux

Although there was a barrier that reduced Caliel's power, many spectators were excited about the fight. And that made her stronger and faster.

But Revon was pissing off Caliel, who hadn't felt anger in a long time. Her attacks always landed, so missing them caused frustration. One factor that strengthened any power and 7-Up was anger. Added to the adrenaline of the battle and her power, Caliel was attacking faster and harder.

Revon still dodged easily. If she was careless for even a second, however, she could have her skull shattered. Caliel learned her opponents' battle techniques very quickly. But so did Revon, and she was always inventing new ones.

Overflowing with rage, Caliel jumped towards Mifuyu, who was talking to Kiseki.

It was so fast that Revon didn't have time to think, and threw herself in front of her partner, to serve as a shield. She had her belly ripped through in a single punch.

She couldn't move. She lost all the strength she had until a few seconds ago. Having the stomach pierced wasn't a sign of instant death.

But this time, the impact was so strong that the blow felt like it had landed on the head. The only thing Revon managed to do was bleed.

— I knew you'd do that, mosquito. You deserved it, after pissing me off.

Caliel glared at Mifuyu with murderous intent. Instinctively, the scientist froze all of Caliel's arms and legs. She covered the entire surface of the arena with acid, except where she, her partner and Kiseki were.

But Caliel wasn't angry anymore. She was very excited, about to have an orgasm. She finally got rid of the hindrance that was the ninja. She could go all out.

Mifuyu began melting Caliel's entire body, including her frozen limbs, with acid. But she felt no actual pain. Instead, she felt more and more pleasure, and grew stronger and stronger.

Caliel began to walk slowly towards Mifuyu, who felt more and more scared and walked backwards, until she leaned against a wall and slid down to sit down.

Caliel kicked Mifuyu's groin with all her strength, repeatedly. She was in a lot of pain, but couldn't pass out. Each kick was calculated so that she felt as much pain as possible while awake.

From the belly down, except for the legs, her body was disintegrated. Her organs were no longer there. The only thing left was blood.

A pool of blood was forming under her body. The acid and ice had been dissolved, so blood covered the arena the most now.

The 6-Up kept her alive and conscious, even without a body part. But the pain was such that it could not be lessened to the point of being bearable.

Caliel knew this, and used the resistance conferred by the potion to cause as much suffering as possible.

The pleasure Caliel felt reached levels she couldn't control. She leapt towards Kiseki, her own ally, to strangle her.

A deafening shot rang out across the arena. Caliel stopped her advance instantly. The bullet grazed her ear, causing it to bleed slightly.

Two people walked up to where Caliel was:

A girl with short, gray hair and eyes. She wore a gray military uniform, a hat, and white gloves. She carried the revolver she had fired in her right hand, and another on her waist. On her back, she had a carbine.

A tall, muscular man with red hair and green eyes. He wore a green short-sleeved shirt, black fingerless gloves with silver knuckles, and red pants.

The girl said:

— Caliel, this has gone way too far. In addition to torturing two heroines, you tried to kill your own partner.

— But this ain't cheating! No rules say I can't have fun, and the viewers are really enjoying it too!

The girl let out a sigh of contempt and said:

— It doesn't matter if it's in the rules or not. You're already a level 6 and should know how to control yourself. Or are you so retarded that you don't know something as basic as that?

Caliel frowned, irritated to the core.

— Don't talk like you're better than me, bitch. I'm on the same level as you, and I can kill you whenever I want.

— Really? I want to see you try.

Caliel moved behind the girl at a speed the spectators couldn't keep up with, about to decapitate her. The girl just sighed again and aimed the gun that was in her hand behind her head.

She shot Caliel's ear again, ripping it off. She stopped the attack, on account of the pain. Then the man punched her belly to knock her out and said:

— The rule is not whether you have fun or not. It's about taking away other people's fun. And you clearly did that.

Caliel fell to the ground, unconscious. The girl addressed Kiseki and said:

— Kiseki, heal Mifuyu and Revon quickly. They might die if there are no living cells left. But you don't need to heal Caliel. I warned her several times to change her behavior, but she didn't listen. So this will be her punishment.

— O-Okay, sorry!

— Why are you apologizing?

— It's just… I could have done it sooner, but I thought it would be cheating.

— Kiseki, you have to learn that rules aren't that important. Sometimes you have to break them to protect someone. Now go fix them.

— R-Right! Sorry…

— Why are you apologizing again?

— Oh, it's just… sorry!

Kiseki timidly went to the almost dead heroes to heal them. They were left without a scratch, but Kiseki decided to keep them unconscious to rest.

Yuto and Haji watched everything, terrified. They hadn't seen that much violence since the fateful halloween. Some viewers complained:

— What are Ria and Exwind doing here? The battle was so cool, until they stopped it.

Yuto, curious about who the two were, asked:

— Who are those two?

— Don't you know them? The girl is Ria, the top 1 level 6, and the man is called Exwind, the top 2. The two are always together. You must be new here if you don't know that.

— Yeah, more or less that. I haven't been to Tokyo for years.

— Then you missed a lot, man. Take a look at the association app later. The hero positions have changed quite a bit, so you might not recognize any of them.

— Thanks for the tip.

Yuto was relieved when he learned that no one recognized his face. The fact that there was so much mobility in the levels made it easy for him to be forgotten.

But one thing bothered him: the man in the blue suit was now staring at him.

— Can I help you?

— Tokihito Tatsuya.

— What?

— It's my name. I know you from somewhere. Does my name remind you of anything?

— That name doesn't mean anything to me, and I don't know how you know me. You must be confusing me with someone else.

— What is your name?

Yuto hesitated. Maybe the mysterious man knew about the invasion. He could be there to eliminate him, which the hooded woman had not been able to do.

But he plucked up courage and said his name:

— Ishikawa Yuto.

— That name certainly brings back memories, but I can't decipher them. You must be important to me. I couldn't even remember my own name until this morning, but yours is special.

Ria, still in the arena, remembered something:

— Tetsushi, I saw a familiar face in the crowd in the stands.

— What? How did one person catch your eye among all these people?

— It must be a coincidence that I saw him, but that person looked dangerous. He's right there.

Ria pointed her finger at Yuto. The two jumped next to him. Exwind questioned him:

— Lad, you remind us of someone. Could you tell us your name?

Yuto felt like they knew him from the invasion. They were probably there to arrest him, kill him, or worse.

— Actually, don't say anything. I'll try to remember your name myself.

Exwind closed his eyes to think. Ria had already remembered, but she hoped he would too. Impatiently, she revealed:

— He is Ishikawa Yuto, the seventh level 7 who participated in a raid against the association over five years ago.

— I knew it was him! Thanks for reminding me, Ria, you have a very good memory.

— You're the one who's too slow. We have to arrest him.

— Right! If you don't mind-

When Exwind turned to see Yuto again, he had already left. And the other two people who were sitting next to him were also not there.

— Huh?

— He ran off with a girl and a man in a blue suit while you were thinking. You get distracted very easily.

— Why didn't you say anything if you saw all that?

Ria didn't know how to respond, and just repeated:

— You have to start paying more attention.