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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: The Lightning Punch
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"Lightning Punch...?"
The forest in front of my mansion.
There, I was training Choi Se-hee in her abilities.
"Right. Gather electricity into your hand, make a fist, and then let it fly."
"Huh? Do I really have to do that? Isn't it better to just shoot electricity from my hand from a distance?"
"Just try it, as if you're being fooled."
When I urged her, Se-hee, though skeptical, obediently followed my instructions for now.
She clenched her hand into a fist, concentrating electricity there.
Once the electricity began to gather in her clenched fist, I spoke again.
"Now, try to concentrate even more electricity into your fist, as if you're pushing it to its limit."
"I'm already doing that...!"
Gritting her teeth at my words, she concentrated even more electricity into her fist.
And when I felt it was enough, I told her,
"Alright! Now, launch it that way!"
"Uwaaaaaaah!"
Se-hee then extended her electricity-charged fist towards a section of the forest.
At that moment. *Boom*.
The electricity gathered in her fist, covering her arm like a colossal gauntlet, and at the same time, it shot forward with an immense tearing sound.
*CRACKLE-BOOM*.
An electrical shockwave attack of immense power that pulverized a section of the forest.
Trees in front were shattered and scattered everywhere, and the ground itself was scorched black as the electrical wave-bullet extended outwards. Yellow currents, as if concentrated lightning, swept through everything in front of her.
Soon, as the smoke cleared, the completely devastated forest landscape came into view.
To her, who was staring blankly ahead with her mouth agape, I chuckled and threw out a remark.
"How's that? That's the Lightning Punch. Pretty sick, huh?"
"...Wow. Fuck."
Gasping for breath, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the devastation she had wrought.
She had utterly obliterated a section of the forest. It had become a ruin.
"Let's stop here for today. The more you practice, the less strain it'll put on you. Here."
I handed a towel to her, who was profusely sweating.
She took the towel, wiped her face, and then spoke to me.
"...No, does it make sense that just gathering electricity into a fist and shooting it makes such a huge difference in power? Why is it so strong?"
"Ah, well, that's because... a punch is all about 'romance'..."
"'Romance,' my ass... But how the hell did you know this? That swinging it after gathering it in your fist makes it this strong?"
She looked at me with a puzzled expression.
How did I know? Well, because this is your main technique later on, of course.
Originally, you'd figure this out through trial and error in the latter half of the original story, but now that I'm here, there's no need to take such a long detour, is there?
Of course, I couldn't say that, so I just chuckled and told her this:
"Didn't you know? There's nothing I don't know."
"Ha. Aren't you just Mr. Know-It-All."
"And keep practicing that lightning strike as well."
"Alright. Hey, but... that cringey line you told me to say, do I really have to?"
"Of course. That's the core of it."
"Haa... Fuck, my life..."
"And remember this. The goal is to electrocute Stardust as much as possible for now."
To build up her durability.
"Alright, alright!"
Chuckling at her grumbling as she walked, I walked with her back to the mansion.
Right. Choi Se-hee, or rather, Electra... now that she's learned lightning, electric shockwaves, electric storms, and even this Lightning Punch, she's visibly quite close to the original Electra's final specs, even if her mastery is still a bit low.
As I looked at Choi Se-hee, walking beside me with the towel, I thought to myself.
In truth, if you only consider Choi Se-hee when I first met her, she would never be able to beat Stardust. She probably would've been beaten down after just a few hits right at the start of the fight.
However, with her current skill level...
Wouldn't she be able to withstand Stardust to some extent?
***
And now, back to the present.
In the middle of downtown Seoul, at an intersection.
"Ugh."
Stardust gritted her teeth and dodged the attack.
The tendrils of electricity extending from all directions began to close in, becoming increasingly unavoidable.
Ultimately, to get closer to the villain, she decided to push forward, taking some of the attacks.
"Guh..."
As hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity hit her, a searing pain coursed through her.
However, as a physical enhancement ability user, she somehow overcame it with sheer willpower. Yes, this level of pain, she could endure it. For now.
"Hahahaha! An A-rank hero, is this all you've got?"
As Stardust struggled to penetrate the electrical storm, the villain cackled maniacally, taunting her.
The villain, who called herself Electra, continued to spew electricity in all directions, her face flushed red.
Buildings around them were being pulverized, the ground torn up, and all sorts of objects were destroyed.
But Stardust evaded all these obstacles, steadily flying towards Electra.
Just one hit, one successful attack was all she needed.
Of course, with Electra constantly fleeing, even that was proving difficult.
And so, the battle continued.
Electra rode atop the electrical storm, continuously unleashing 100,000 volts towards Stardust.
Dodging such attacks, Stardust kept flying around to try and seize Electra.
Whenever Stardust got close, Electra would either quickly escape by riding the electrical storm or create distance by continuously striking the area around her with lightning.
However, while Stardust, though getting electrocuted and breathing a little heavier, maintained a consistent pace in pressuring Electra, Electra herself was visibly growing more exhausted from the prolonged battle.
With her orange hair whipping in the wind, she swore.
"Haa, haa. Fuck. You're so persistent."
To Electra, who was panting and gasping for breath, Stardust once again announced according to protocol.
"Electra, was it? Surrender now. Then I'll apprehend you without further attack."
"Fuck off!"
Electra shouted loudly, but it was clear she was losing strength and growing tired as time went on.
The electrical winds that swept around her like a storm grew weaker, and the continuous electrical tendrils she shot out gradually diminished.
Crucially, Electra was now panting heavily, no longer at ease, barely dodging Stardust's attacks.
Unlike the beginning, when Electra had pressured Stardust with her electrical attacks, now Stardust was the one pressuring Electra.
Yes, it was about time to end this.
Soon, seeing Electra enter her effective range, Stardust quietly spoke.
"Now, it ends."
As Stardust clenched her fist and flew straight towards Electra,
Electra, seeing the sight, spat, gritted her teeth, and shouted loudly.
"Who says I'm going to fall like this!!!"
With that, she immediately cut off all the electricity she had been emitting.
Above the electrical storm, she clenched her fist and began to gather all the current into her hand.
She didn't flee as Stardust approached, but stood still, concentrating solely on her hand.
As the air gathered into her hand, sparks began to accumulate and crackle around her fist.
When Stardust was right in front of her, only then did Electra raise her head and glare at her.
As massive sparks began to burst from her hand, Stardust's fist flew towards her...
And at the same instant, Electra also extended her fist to meet her.
"Let's see who wins, shall we-!"
Electra-Style Secret Technique-
Lightning Punch (Electric Power Fist).
Through her gritted teeth, Electra launched her sparking fist at Stardust.
And as Stardust also threw her fist at Electra—
*KABOOOOM*.
An immense roar echoed through the heart of the city.
*RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE*.
The shockwave erupted as Stardust's unleashed fist collided with the wave-bullet Electra had gathered electricity to fire.
Hundreds, thousands of sparks, accompanied by powerful tremors, radiated outwards from the two of them.
*CRASH*. Buildings all around were pulverized, and the intersection began to fill with dust from everything collapsing.
How much time had passed like that?
Soon, as the dust cleared, the figures of the two people finally came into view.
What was revealed through the thick dust was Stardust, floating relatively unharmed in the air, though with a few sparks still crackling around her body, and...
Electra, clutching her abdomen and slightly hunched over, precariously perched atop the slowly dissipating electrical storm.
"Cough, cough. Ugh, fuck. Cough."
Was it due to excessive ability usage, or perhaps because she had exchanged a single blow with Stardust?
Having been thrown far back by the shockwave, Electra was merely swaying, barely managing to support her body.
'It's over.'
And seeing her state, Stardust collected her thoughts.
She had managed to endure it somehow, but that last attack had been dangerous even for her. So much so that she had to slightly lift her power limiter.
To be pushed this far by pure strength alone... this woman called Electra was the first.
Where she came from, why she caused this terror, and who 'he' was that she mentioned initially... Stardust didn't know yet, but that would naturally be revealed once she apprehended and interrogated her.
For now, she would apprehend the villain before her, who was in no state to resist.
To make the arrest, Stardust flew towards Electra, who was still disoriented and swaying.
And just as she reached out to grab Electra, right in front of her—
Electra, who had been right before her eyes, suddenly vanished in an instant.
"....?"
As if, evaporated. Her hand cut through only empty air, as if there had been nothing there from the start.
As a bewildered Stardust hovered, wondering where the woman who had been right in front of her had disappeared to,
From above her, something rustled.
'What is it?'
What she saw when she reflexively looked up, filled with questions, was:
The one she had always recalled recently.
A black hat.
A black robe.
A black cloak.
Wearing a half-gray mask.
Holding Electra, who had just been standing, in a princess carry, looking down at her.
"Greetings, Stardust."
"Egostic...?"
A meeting she had never once imagined would happen like this.
"Yes! That's right. It's been a while. I am Egostic. Pleasure to meet you!"
Smiling widely at her,
Egostic stood there.
***
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[Damn, it turned on so suddenly lololol]
[Folks FUCK EGOSTIC LIVE is ON!!!!]
[Thumbs up if you're a delusional shipper who dropped everything to rush and turn on the stream lololol I know I did lololol]
[Who's that noona I see as soon as I log in???]
[SHOCKER) Egostic declares affair... Cheating on Stardust and going astray]
[Why is the first thing I see after turning on the stream him princess-carrying a girl lololol]
[Erogostic, you dog lololol]