Saki straightened, her combat stance fluid and precise. Without hesitation, she lunged at another robot, her weapon unfolding in her hands. She struck with lightning speed, dismantling her target in seconds before spinning to roundhouse kick a third bot. Its head flew off, colliding with another enemy.

The girl sucked in a sharp breath, scrutinising her surroundings with a quick glance over the perimeter. 

The number of enemies was overwhelming despite the combined forces of the vigilantes. Saki now understood why someone as strong as the captain of the vigilantes would call for her. 

I might actually not make it back on time… Grandpa will probably scold me again… “sigh”.

Shaking off her worries, she locked onto her next targets. Without losing any more time, she proceeded to take down a horde of robots single-handedly. 

“She’s fast,” muttered Longshot, watching in awe as Saki moved like a shadow—there one moment, gone the next.

“That’s Blue,” Armstrong rumbled, his grin faint but unmistakably proud. “Strength, agility, precision. She’s got more fight in her than anyone I’ve seen, and she hasn’t failed any mission yet. Took me three months to convince her to join—and now I can’t imagine the team without her.”

Longshot scoffed. “She’s just a kid. How-”

A sharp crack cut him off as Saki used a robot’s severed arm to batter another bot into submission.

“I see what you mean,” Longshot admitted, wide-eyed.

“She’s not just good, she’s brilliant,” Armstrong said. “But well, we’ll fail as her seniors if we let her handle this alone. Everyone, let's show these damn robots what the Shinjuku Vigilante Association is worth. Let’s go!”

Saki barely noticed their renewed effort as she tore through the battlefield. Each movement was deliberate, every strike calculated. The tide of battle began to shift as vigilantes rallied around her, their morale bolstered by her unrelenting determination.

I won’t let them down, Saki thought, her cobalt eyes blazing with resolve as she plunged deeper into the chaos.

In the midst of the intense battle, Saki’s mind wandered back to the reasons that pushed her to put her life on the line for the safety of others. 

Being a villain sucked. Not one day went by without our villain towns being used as playgrounds by the supervillains. On top of this, with the many prejudices that weighed on us, we received less attention from the Hero Alliance League.

She sighed heavily, as she wiped off the sweat dripping down her face.

That was why the vigilante association was the main line of defence against the degenerate supervillains. These people needed us more than anything. So if my ridiculously frightening strength could help protect the people of Villain Town Shinjuku, I would gladly put it into use. 

Tightening her fist, she unleashed a brutal torrent of punches at the remaining enemies, not sparing any of them. 

Saki’s eyes burned brighter, her resolve solidifying as the last of the robots fell beneath her strike. Just like with all the other fights that she had gone through, she was not going to stop. Not until the last bot was destroyed, and not until the people of Villain Town Shinjuku were safe once more. 

At last, the army of robots had been defeated, leaving only the gigantic 60m one to be dealt with. But suddenly out of nowhere, the people who had taken refuge at the borders were loudly cheering from the sidelines. However, contrary to one might have thought, neither she nor her fellow colleagues were on the receiving end of these cheerful shouts of encouragement, making the girl switch her attention back to the gigantic mecha. 

Saki stood frozen for a moment, her breath catching in her throat as the realisation hit her. 

The flames from Kinryu’s attacks illuminated the battlefield as he soared through the air, his powers creating ripples in the sky. Dash was everywhere, his speed dismantling the robot faster than Saki’s eyes could follow. Raijin, with his energy-sucking powers, was draining life from the metallic monstrosity at its core.

Saki’s heart pounded in her chest, her pulse thundering in her ears. The heroes she had admired from afar, heroes who were now right in front of her, were the ones ending the battle she had been a part of.

For a moment, she couldn’t move. Her fangirl side overwhelmed her, eyes wide and mouth agape in sheer admiration. Kinryu. Dash. Raijin. The names she had memorised, the heroes she had studied. They were here, fighting just a few metres away from her, and for a brief moment, Saki was just... a fan again.

Taking off her mask, she drew in the cold air of the evening to calm her blood still burning from the adrenaline rush of the battle. Her eyes glanced over toward the towering mecha, giving all of her attention to her idols, carefully watching and absorbing the amazing display of strengths of her heroes. Her cobalt eyes gazing at them with envy, secretly wishing that she could fight beside them. 

But she quickly pushed that thought aside. There was a line she couldn’t cross, a boundary she had accepted long ago. Being a vigilante was the limit of her desire to protect people. It was as far as someone cursed with villain genes could dare to dream. Anything beyond that was arrogance. A delusion.

Stop dreaming. A villain can never become a superhero. Just be happy that you got to watch them closer this time. That’s good enough. 

With this bitter thought in mind, the girl hid behind her mask once more, suppressing her flickering hopes and desires to be a part of the heroes’ stage. Her eyes dimmed as her harsh reality caught up with her.