At a major press conference held at Vought Tower, the president, Madelyn Stillwell, dressed in a solemn black suit, confird with a sad expression that the mber of The Seven, The Deep, had been killed. She also announced that Vought would spare no effort in finding the culprit.
"Neither I, nor anyone at Vought, nor the other mbers of The Seven—Holander—we will all work to find the killer and bring justice for The Deep…"
Tap. Tap. Tap…
At that mont, Holander, his footsteps deliberately loud and clear, walked in through the main entrance. Every eye in the room turned to him. The press corps completely ignored Stillwell, and every cara swiveled to focus on Holander.
"Holander! Your teammate The Deep is dead! Have you found the killer?"
"Will you be avenging him soon?"
Holander's expression was cold, but seeing the caras on him, he stopped, forced a small smile, and said, "I will absolutely avenge The Deep."
Stillwell let out a sigh of relief. But then, Holander's tone shifted.
"I would like to say that. But in fact…" His voice suddenly rose. At the sa ti, a crowd of people began to pour in through the open doors behind him. So were dressed as security guards, others were wearing gold chains, and all of them were holding signs with Holander's face on them.
"In fact, what I want to say is that The Deep was not worthy of being a superhero!"
Holander's words plunged the entire room into a stunned silence. The reporters from the mainstream dia, the tabloid journalists who loved to invent stories—everyone was shocked into silence. Stillwell's face went pale. She felt as if the beast she had raised had just snapped the collar from its neck.
"Today, I want to ask all Aricans one question," Holander bood, his voice filling the hall.
"What… is a hero?!"
"Is it soone who puts on a show all day, who claims to love animals and get along with sea creatures, who is beloved by animal rights groups, but when faced with real danger, can't even protect himself, let alone our citizens? Is that a hero?"
Holander had just ripped open a bloody truth, and the reporters were speechless. The ones who reacted first were already furiously snapping pictures. They knew a world-shaking story was about to break.
"NO!"
Behind Holander, the crowd of gang mbers and his own fanatical supporters roared in unison. Holander was already one of the most popular heroes. His invincible power was an object of admiration and envy. Everyone had, at so point, wondered: if I were in danger, what kind of hero would I want to save ? Holander was the perfect answer. He could fly, he was super strong, he was bulletproof.
He took two more steps forward, until he was right in front of the forest of caras. He had to project an image of absolute power to conquer them all, to make them all believe that he was the one, the only true hero.
There was no [The Seven]. There was only [Holander]!
This was what "rcenary Tao" had taught him. Holander was growing more and more fond of the Asian man. He felt he had truly found soone who understood him.
He grabbed the microphone from the New York Tis reporter in front of him, his voice now amplified throughout the building. He looked at Stillwell, the woman who had once fascinated him, and said, word by word, "It's ti we redefine who can truly be a hero that saves this nation, and who should just go ho and protect themselves from dying."
With that, Holander turned and walked out. The reporters glanced at Stillwell for only a second before stampeding out of Vought Tower. They all knew an unprecedented purge was about to begin. The other heroes, who had been resting on their laurels for years, would surely fight back against Holander's challenge. The governnt, the military, and the public, who had long grown tired of the complacent heroes, would all use Holander's words to advance their own agendas.
Unprecedented chaos was about to erupt.
[You have obtained the Special Item: The Card (Unique, Indestructible, Drops on Death)]
Kaito Shirogane looked at the [Card] in his hand. If not for the clear system notification when he'd received it, he would have had a hard ti telling it apart from any other card. It had no trace of any special power. Or rather, the power it contained was on such a high level that he was currently unable to perceive it.
Unlike his black [Card of Sin], the back of this one was white. When held up to the light, he could see the sa intricate patterns, and the sa golden Ouroboros symbol in the center. The [infinite] text was slightly different; on this card, it was written in a beautiful, slanted cursive.
He still couldn't see the image on the back. He began to gently rub it, as he had before.
[Heartless], seeing this, sighed and explained, "Don't waste your effort. I've tried everything on that card. The common 'blood-binding' thod, the rumored 'appraisal' thod… none of them worked. If it weren't for the system notification and what that man told , I would have thrown it away long ago. But in any case, I've given it to you. If you can't activate it, that's not my problem."
Kaito's hand suddenly stopped. He felt a sharp prick on his fingertip. He imdiately stored the card in his inventory.
[Special Item has been bound.]
[Sequence: Tarot, beginning activation…]
[Activation Terminated…]
A ripple of Hamon flowed over Kaito's hand, and the tiny pinprick on his finger instantly healed. His expression was calm. He patted [Heartless] on the shoulder. "Even if I can't activate it, I can sell it for a good price. You just go be a good little bait, as planned. Heh. And try not to die."
[Heartless] was relieved. He, [Providence], and [Flawless] had all tried to activate the card, but nothing had ever happened. Even when they'd tried to force a blood-binding, the system had just given them the notification: [Insufficient Qualification. Activation Failed]. [Providence] had theorized that the card required a Reincarnator with a special qualification to activate, but they lacked the intel channels to find out more. In the end, the [Card] had just beco a smokescreen to throw their pursuers off their trail.
As a veteran "Farming Team," [9527] had been brought down by the coordinated efforts of its three "pigs." Not only were the team's core mbers all dead, but the team's charter and legacy had been seized by the three of them. To hide the true reason for the team's fall and to protect their real prize, [Providence] had intentionally leaked the rumor that they had found a special [Card].
Then, [Heartless] had been sent out with the (useless) [Card], and [Flawless] had been sent out with the team's real treasure—the massive hoard of DP and Singularities they had accumulated—and both of them had been deliberately "hunted." The true leader of the trio, [Providence], was in hiding with the real prize.
Now, seeing the card gone and his own life spared, and in a way that would arouse no suspicion, [Heartless] was so relieved that he didn't even notice the small, golden ripple of Hamon Kaito had just used.
"Heartless," Kaito's voice was soft. "Those other survivors of [9527]… they must be very important to you…"
[Heartless] froze, a sense of panic rising as he looked at the unsettling red face smiling at him.
Kaito gently tapped him between the eyes. "If you die, and I lose my Werewolf lineage item, I will absolutely hunt down your cute little comrades and collect my losses from them. So… don't die so easily."
The words should have been warm, but coming from this "rcenary Tao," they only made [Heartless]'s blood run cold. He knew this wasn't just a threat. This man was absolutely the type to follow through.
After Kaito left, [Heartless] took a deep breath and began his own operation. He contacted Vought, demanding a private villa for his "convalescence," with the arrangent to be made imdiately.
At that mont, Vought Tower was in complete chaos because of Holander. The Operations Departnt didn't even dare to report this new request to Madelyn Stillwell, who was desperately trying to contact Vought's real CEO, Stan Edgar. The situation had completely spun out of control. Stillwell had lost her grip on Holander, and the public narrative had completely collapsed. The governnt, which had been looking for a reason to move against Vought, was now fully involved, and Vought could no longer suppress the story. The short-form video platforms were now flooded with scandals about various heroes: so who had failed to maintain their physique and were now too out of shape to fight; others who were addicted to drugs and alcohol. The carefully crafted concept of the "Hero" was being deconstructed.
And in its place, Holander's approval ratings were skyrocketing. The B45 gang, under Holander's influence, had already been released without charges. Bobby imdiately declared that Holander was the true hero of the common people.
"In Holander, I feel seen. I feel respected." Bobby's quote beca the headline on every website.
In this situation, the Operations Departnt imdiately approved the new Translucent's request. They arranged a villa in the suburbs and even thoughtfully provided physical therapists.
Kaito watched as [Heartless] was driven away in a black SUV. He himself then went to A-Train's hospital room. But he was disappointed. The room was empty. The speedster was gone.
"Are you looking for A-Train?" A voice from behind him.
The Amazonian-looking [Queen Maeve], in her battle costu, was standing there. She studied Kaito carefully.
"Did you bewitch Holander?" she demanded. "Who are you? And what is your goal?!"
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