I was meditating in a forest. Around me were objects of different shapes—rectangles, triangles, spheres, prisms… All of them were slowly floating in the air, as if they had forgotten gravity.
What I was doing right now was improving my control over telekinesis. Up until now, I had killed hundreds of thousands of people, and among all the abilities I had acquired, telekinesis was by far the most versatile.
Most of the abilities I had obtained were sealed using a skill I called "Sealing." I had no choice, because my mind couldn't handle that many abilities.
To give an example: if you have two hands, it's already difficult to draw a circle with one and a square with the other. But if you had a thousand hands and tried to draw different shapes with each of them, it would be enough to make your brain explode.
That was exactly my situation. I didn't have an ability that could combine my powers… and I wasn't even sure if such a thing existed.
That's why I seal most of my abilities. The ones I currently use don't have much function on my body, so I can use them. On average, 3 to 5 active abilities were the limit my mind could handle. Anything beyond that caused pain in my mind.
But they weren't necessary abilities, so I didn't feel bad about it.
At my current power level, I only had one enemy—Light. And I still hadn't obtained an ability that could defeat her…
Most of my abilities were focused on escaping or hiding, which is why I could never defeat her. For example, I could use fire and ice, but they were useless against Light. Against others, telekinesis alone was enough. So why not seal them and avoid exhausting myself?
With telekinesis alone, I could defeat almost anyone. Combined with teleportation and cloning, losing was impossible.
The reason I couldn't defeat Zenith… was because I couldn't deal any damage to her.
---
Three years ago, it was a Sunday.
A day that was supposed to be peaceful… but that was the day I first appeared as "Void."
Back then, I was inexperienced. I constantly tried to obtain every ability I saw on the internet whenever I had the chance.
In short, I tried to find and kill anyone who had an ability I liked.
When I saw my target, there was nothing that could stand against me. Before the hero could even see me, I had already captured him with telekinesis. After that, I spent time with him, trying to increase the chance of taking his ability.
That hero… was Zero, one of my current teachers.
At the time, he was undefeated in A-Class and quite famous. There were even rumors that he was planning to take the S-Class exam soon.
But when I appeared as Void, I broke his legs before he could even react. He experienced humiliation from me—something he had never felt before.
"Let him go!"
But he was lucky, because Light was nearby.
At that time, my biggest advantage was that I only showed people three abilities: telekinesis, cloning, and teleportation. Even if I used my shadow ability, they couldn't fully understand it. As for my other abilities, I never revealed them—I constantly used them internally to strengthen my body.
I was wearing black, medieval-style armor. I made it specifically to face Light. The armor was created using iron dust and shaped with telekinesis. Because of that, if Light grabbed any part of me, I could release control over the iron and teleport away.
If she grabbed my real body, she would capture me, beat me, and then throw me into prison. Even though it looked like a fan-made armor straight out of a Souls game, I owed my survival so far to this idea.
With my shadow ability, I could partially prevent her from touching my real body. But only partially. If she completely grabbed my body, my ability would deactivate. I could do things like turning my body into a thin rod, but I wasn't fully protected by the shadow ability.
As long as Light didn't want to kill me or break my limbs, she couldn't truly capture me. But if she grabbed my arm and I couldn't teleport, I would fly at full speed and tear my arm off myself.
She didn't know this, but even if my arm was torn off, there would be no blood or flesh. Thanks to my shadow ability, it would simply disappear and then be recreated. Others would just think I was reconstructing my body using iron dust or something similar. The Hero Association mostly saw me as some kind of evil spirit or monster.
Back then, I saw Light many times, but I always spread a telekinetic barrier around me. If something fast entered it, I would notice immediately and teleport away.
But this time… I waited.
And she came.
This would be our first real fight.
She stood in front of me. Even though it wasn't our first meeting, this was the longest encounter we had ever had. I thought for a moment. I didn't feel any mind-reading or weakening effect, and no barrier was being set.
Right now, it was just her, me, and Zero behind me with his legs broken.
I can't waste any more time. I have to end this before my teleportation time runs out.
"Heh… you're Light, right? Do you really deserve the title of the number one hero?"
Light looked at me and smiled.
"No. I just help people. They're the ones who placed me at number one because I was one of the first superheroes."
"So you're saying you're weak?"
"Hmmm… I'm just a little stronger than everyone else."
Heh… even though we just met, I could tell this woman was humble. No matter how black I was, she was even more white than me. (Now that I think about it, it sounds racist, but it's just a metaphor for good and evil.)
We stood facing each other. I quickly gathered power with telekinesis and sent it straight into Light's stomach.
Light blinked slightly in response to that power. But instead of being blown through multiple buildings like I expected, she suddenly disappeared while being pushed back.
At that moment, I felt a sense of crisis. I quickly created a telekinetic shield around myself. But the shield didn't even last a second before it shattered.
Light was already behind me, casually placing her hand on my shoulder.
"Despite being this strong… why do you kill heroes, child?"
When she called me "child," I felt a chill and covered my face.
But when I heard her lightly chuckle, I realized it… she had clearly baited me, and I had taken it like a stupid fish.
I couldn't understand why she was suspicious of me—maybe it was her instincts. After all, she had an ability called "sixth sense." Even though its exact function was unknown, in the hands of this monster, it was terrifying.
I instantly became alert and activated all my abilities—
Street lights shattered and turned into dust. Then my height grew to 2 meters, and my body expanded. I activated all the abilities I had and layered their energies over each other, wrapping them around my skin. My body became both the most durable and the strongest it could be. My speed and perception increased several times over.
Honestly, calling it "combining" is a bit of an exaggeration. I simply activated them all and strengthened my body according to their functions.
I turned to Light. This time, I was the one looking down on her. The once thin, pitch-black medieval armor now looked massive, as if there was an orc inside it. The pain I felt at that moment wasn't physical—it came from my mind. But since I was using multiple abilities at once, and some of them reduced pain, it was still at a tolerable level.
At least… for a while.
Light looked at me with slight surprise. Her mouth was slightly open as she tried to process the situation.
In an instant, I vanished from her sight. With my 2-meter body, I appeared to her right and punched her. The force of my punch sent her flying, crashing through several buildings just as I wanted.
But I didn't stop. I ran forward, calculating where she would emerge from the buildings. I waited behind one of them until she would come out…
…Where is this woman?
"Are you looking for me?"
The moment Light appeared behind me, I forgot the pain in my mind. Because it was replaced by something I thought I had lost—fear.
A-Class heroes were nothing more than a few minutes of work for me. Even though I hadn't fought S-Class heroes, I was confident I could defeat them too—at least unless several of them teamed up.
And I had rarely used my abilities like this before. Every single one of my powers had leveled up. My speed, my perception, my strength…
But right now, my senses were telling me that the level of this blonde woman smiling calmly in front of me… was something I could only imagine.
If she truly wanted to fight…
I would be an insect.
And she would be a human.
No ability I had could protect me from a serious punch from this woman.
A mixture of fear and excitement rose inside me.
After all…
IF I KILL THIS WOMAN, HER POWER WILL BECOME MINE.
But humans desire…
And God punishes greed.
I gathered all my power into one arm. Elements, telekinesis, poison, shadow… every power merged into my right arm. Then I threw a punch at her.
I was sure that at the very least, it would make her bleed… or injure her…
Until my punch created nothing more than a slight scratch on her cheek.
And what I saw next…
That scratch disappeared as if it had never existed.
From the very beginning, even if I punched her or attacked with telekinesis, she could have stood still without moving at all. Then why did she crash into buildings?
Because she let herself be thrown… on purpose.
I hadn't hit her.
She had only been playing along.
Either she was mocking me… or trying to drag me into despair. Considering her personality, she probably just didn't want to hurt me…
"Ha… hahahahaha…"
I could only drop to my knees and laugh.
Even as a child, I understood the power structure of the world. I believed even S-Class heroes couldn't defeat me… at least not unless several of them fought me together.
But when the power level suddenly jumped from human… to god…
It just felt ridiculous.
All these abilities, all this killing, all these sins… it was all for power.
But…
The woman looked down at me as I laughed like a madman and extended her hand.
"Child… I can see how stained your hands are with blood. But you must already understand the gap between us. Come… and become a hero to pay for your sins. Fight for innocent people."
Even though her words entered my ears, I didn't care.
I had already accepted that I would go to hell because of my sins. Even if I was just a child, I had killed countless people.
I had accepted it.
Because I believed my nature was to kill, to grow stronger, and to reach the top.
But this woman in front of me…
How strong would I have to become to kill her?
I ignored her outstretched hand. I clenched my fists and teleported away.
Thankfully, my teleportation ability allowed me to move anywhere within 500 km for 30 minutes. Even though it had a 1-week cooldown, this ability was the only reason I could escape… and the reason Light had never been able to capture me.
Well… her offer sounded nice, but why would I become a hero when I could hunt them and grow stronger?
Though now that I think about it… I was very naive back then.
If I had joined the Hero Association and gathered information about many heroes without revealing myself… I would have had a much better arsenal by now.
---
Three years later… today.
I wonder…
If I unsealed all my abilities and activated them at once… could I kill Light—or rather, Zenith—before I die?
BOOM!!
The moment I heard that sound, I knew my target had arrived.
I quickly ran through the bushes and saw my target.
Pink hair—well, putting out the flames on her head is more important right now.
I extinguished the flames on the girl's head using telekinesis. I also removed the metal helmet she was wearing. Honestly, she had fainted from the explosion, but I was glad she wasn't dead.
Since this was a remote forest and I had blocked the sound with telekinesis, no one came. That way, no one would interrupt me while I corrupted this girl.
I brought some water with telekinesis, laid her down, and helped her regain consciousness.
After a while, she slowly woke up.
When she saw me, she was shocked—
"H-HAAA! W-What did you do to me, you pervert!?"