Black Star stood alone and fell silent in his place; he lowered his head slightly.

“Of course, we’ll meet again….”

Black Star raised his head and looked toward the front.

“Because I added you to the list of my targets.”

Black Star looked up at the sky.

“First Stage….”

The armor on his body returned to how it was before.

“At the next encounter, we’ll see how far you can withstand my attacks.”

Black Star flew upwards very fast with a hard starting stomp that shattered the concrete surface he stood on and caused a wind blast that spread in all directions. After he was very high in the sky, he suddenly changed his flight direction horizontally, which caused a shock wave and a wind blast in the sky. He flew farther away until he was finally out of sight.

United States, Pentagon Building (A few days before).

In one of the meeting rooms inside the Pentagon building on the fifth floor. This room was spacious, with a long black table and rows of black ergonomic chairs, and rows of windows on one side of the room; at the end, there was a large monitor attached to the wall, and at the other end was a wide projector screen that hung from the ceiling on one corner of the room. The Secretary of Defense sits at one end of a table with a large screen nearby, displaying the United States Department of Defense emblem. He sits with his back to this screen. The Secretary of Defense was a middle-aged man in a black suit and loafers; he met with Department of Defense officials in military uniforms and high-ranking officials from the intelligence organization in suits and loafers to discuss a negotiation plan with Black Star. A laptop was provided on the table in front of everyone present. The Secretary of Defense’s expression turned serious.

“As we already know, under the direct order of Mr. President, we’ll be discussing our plan to invite Black Star to negotiate after the shocking thing he gave us yesterday.”

The Secretary pressed a button on the small remote in his hand. The large screen behind him then displayed a video of Black Star sitting on a throne-like black armchair with a tall backrest and a background of a vast grayish black room with grayish black high ceilings and dozens of black blocks of pillars connecting the ceiling and floor of this vast room with abstract line patterns all over the room. At the end, the back of this vast room goes straight through to the outside with a view of the clear blue sky and white clouds.

“I want to submit a file detailing my attack plan against many potentially dangerous targets on Earth to the United States Department of Defense. This file submission is a form of respect from me as part of a United States citizen; I hope you all will not hinder any form of action related to my plan.”

The video changed to a black screen and ended. The Secretary of Defense’s expression turned serious.

“And here is the file he sent us.”

The screen showed a document entitled “Hero or Villain,” the details labeled “Top Secret” by the United States Department of Defense. This document showed brief bios of many targets that Black Star will attack. The Secretary continued speaking.

“As you can see, these lists contain people with the reputation of being heroes or villains from various parts of the world. But the problem wasn’t how he would attack these targets, but how he got their information. Some of them are even saved in our top-secret documents, which alone can be concluded that there is a possibility that he committed a high-level crime by stealing the information inside the documents.”

One of the Military generals smiled.

"Sorry in advance, but if we talk about Black Star, wouldn't something like our Top-Secret documents possibly be trivial to him? With enough resources, I think he could have gotten the information easily."

Everyone’s expressions here were mixed; some appeared to disagree or agree. The Secretary nodded.

"Of course, but that doesn't change the fact that he might have committed a crime whose punishment is equivalent to a traitor of the nation."

Another Military General appeared to realize something.

"What about the possibility of another party passing that information to him? I mean, I think many insiders would willingly help him, even if it would be a traitor to the nation."

The Secretary turned to the general.

"That is very understandable. That's why we'll have a thorough investigation into this. Anyone that have any objections, please raise your hands."

None of the meeting participants raised their hands. The Secretary resumed speaking.

"Now we go on to the second problem. Black Star provided too little information about the targets he would attack. This proposal only includes the alias and location of the nation where the target is likely to be located and does not include why he attacked the target."

Another Military General appeared to have realized something.

"Maybe that's why it's called a proposal. If we agree to this on the condition that he must provide the complete documents, this will become our advantage."

The Military General said as if he agreed with Black Star's actions, but with the condition. The other meeting participants' expressions were remixed, but some who had previously shown disapproving expressions now agreed, and vice versa. One of the Military General's expressions turned astonished.

"You speak as if he needs to follow our agreement and comply with the conditions we put on him. He's just telling us what he will do, whether we agree to it or not."

The meeting participants’ expressions were mixed. The Secretary resumed speaking.

“Several teams were formed to research the proposals given by Black Star, and as a result, many of the targets remain unknown to us in detail. This begs the question: where did he get all the information on these targets? I understand if he is Black Star, who is capable of doing things far beyond our capabilities, but is it true that all this information is entirely obtained by himself? We still can’t be sure.”

The meeting participants appeared aware of that, and no one argued. The Secretary continued speaking.

“Before we vote to agree or disagree with Black Star’s actions, does anyone want to give an opinion?”

All meeting participants raised their hands. The Secretary invited one of the officials, a middle-aged man wearing a Military General’s uniform, to speak.

“After all, Black Star is part of a United States citizen. His actions will tarnish our nation’s reputation in the eyes of the world if he arbitrarily enters other nations’ territories to carry out attacks on his targets unless the nations in question permit him. But of course, Black Star is unlikely to ask for permission every time he will attacks his targets.”

One of the other Military Generals raised his hand, and the secretary invited him to speak.

“I guess, we need to consider other things regarding Black Star. It’s been several years since Black Star’s appearance, and thanks to him, the crime rate in our nation has dropped significantly. Victims caused by natural disasters and accidents also decreased drastically. I don’t even need to remind everyone here about the incident one year ago; if it weren’t because of him, we might not be sitting here right now to discuss this.”

No one appeared to want to object to his opinion.

The Secretary of Defense sighed while briefly closing his eyes. His expression turned serious.

"I understand that all your concerns about this situation are justified. Suddenly, Black Star, whom we know as the strongest hero, has turned into someone who abuses his powers, something that would be fatal. So, there's no need to hesitate to declare that what he's doing right now is wrong…."

The other meeting participants began to discuss this matter, making the atmosphere boisterous. One of the generals' expressions turned serious as he turned to the Secretary of Defense.

"So, you support us in disapproving of Black Star's actions?"

The Secretary appeared doubtful.

"More accurately, suspicious. It could be said that what we're facing might not be the real Black Star."

Some of the meeting participants' expressions turned astonished.

"For you to say something like that, you must have discovered something."

The Secretary smiled.

"That's what I wanted to discuss with you all."

The secretary operated the laptop in front of him, and the projector screen displayed several photos of Black Star attacking several buildings in his second state while hovering in the air. Upon seeing the photos, several military generals were shocked; one of them appeared to have realized something.

"What's with the changes in his body? This is the first time I've seen him like that?"

One of the intelligence organization officials began to speak, drawing everyone's attention in the room.

"We obtained that footage while investigating Black Star's recent actions. From our observations so far, every time he transforms into that form, his power increases significanly."

The secretary then showed two photos on the projector screen: one was a skyscraper more than a hundred stories high, and the other was the same skyscraper, already destroyed and nearly half-collapsed, shocking the military generals present. The secretary's expression turned serious.

"This is just one example of the effects of his increased power."