Chapter 22: Debut

Ep 5. Debut

Kyria’s mornings were picture-perfect, as if painted into existence.

– Beep-beep!

6 a.m. sharp. She sat up in bed, bathed in the unripe light of dawn.

‘Just ten more minutes…’

Like any primate, the desire to be lazy crept in.

“Nyuuugh~”

Kyria stretched and shook off the temptation with ease. She slipped her feet into neatly placed indoor slippers and trudged to the bathroom.

“Hmm-hmm~♪”

Her steps felt lighter after washing up.
She dropped slices of bread into the toaster and plopped down on the living room sofa, turning on the TV. The channel was set to the news.

[“This is your morning news for Monday, April 7th. Last night at 11:23 p.m., Special-Class Villain Crimson Blaze clashed with First-Class Hero Square in front of the D-8 Area Development Zone. Square was critically injured but managed to survive thanks to emergency treatment by Radiant Kyria…”]

Ding!

Kyria stood up, staring at the screen with serious eyes.
She took a bite of warm toast spread with strawberry jam, and a quiet happiness spread across her face.

After finishing her meal, she picked up a name badge from the standing coat rack.

---

[Special-Class Hero – Kyria]

Fully prepared, she opened her front door.

“Good morning, Miss Kyria!”

Three men waiting in the garden bowed in perfect unison.

“Did everyone sleep well?”

Kyria gave a warm smile, accustomed to such greetings.

Even among Special-Class Heroes, Kyria stood apart.
By her side were always skilled bodyguards and a loyal secretary.

The man in the center stepped forward.
Dressed in a sleek, jet-black suit, he was Kyria’s personal secretary.

“The limousine is ready. What would you prefer today?”

“I feel like walking today.”

“Understood.”

“Sorry I keep declining.”

“No apologies necessary. This is our job, after all.”

As Kyria walked down the sidewalk, morning commuters cast glances her way.
A silver-haired woman in a flowing outfit, followed by suited attendants—it was a hard sight to ignore.

Her steps were graceful and unhurried.
The secretary moved to her side.

“I saw the news. You were working late again.”

“It’s part of the job.”

Her light reply made the secretary scratch his head awkwardly. Kyria chuckled behind her hand.

He cleared his throat and changed the subject.

“Villains have grown bolder lately. Just two years ago, they wouldn’t dare go near Area D.”

Villains, generally speaking, were inferior to heroes.
Talent acquisition, training quality, sense of duty—villains lagged in every area.

And Nova was the heart of the Hero Association, the city of the best among heroes.
Since the death of Lightbringer, villain activity had nearly vanished.

But their resurgence began exactly two years ago.
Countless incidents happened that year, but one event stood above all.

“…Because Reminis retired.”

The sudden retirement of a hero symbolic of justice.

Protesters gathered at the Association gates demanding she stay.
Reporters chased after her, digging for truth.
And as if waiting for it, villains began to rise.

Kyria shuddered at the memory of those days.

“Can one hero’s retirement really change this much?”

“Reminis wasn’t just any hero. She was the symbol of heroism itself. She invented the very concept of being a hero.”

Of course, the real reason was something else.
Something tied to the hidden blemishes of heroes—something Kyria chose not to speak of.

“She invented the concept of heroism… but wasn’t she the First Radiant?”

The secretary tilted his head.
Lightbringer Reminis had passed down her title through succession.
The First Radiant was badly injured one day and entrusted her power to her niece.

That niece became the current Radiant—Seoran.

Wasn’t the true symbol of justice the original Radiant, not her successor?

“Let’s say I had a child.”

“…Pardon?”

Ignoring the secretary’s flustered look, Kyria calmly expanded the hypothetical.

“That child has the same abilities as I do, perfectly inherits my beliefs, and uses the same name.”

“Ah…”

“Would you treat them differently from me?”

The secretary was at a loss for words.

A transcendent person—someone who spreads the will of their predecessor to the world, even after death.

A true successor, inheriting everything, is no different from the original.
Especially when they’ve even surpassed their forerunner by slaying Lightbringer.

That’s the kind of hero Nova had lost.

Kyria looked troubled.

“It’s frustrating. The generation of devils is growing stronger, and our heroes are shackled…”

“Shackled, ma’am?”

“…Forget it.”

She shook her head, but the worry clouding her face was nothing like the serene expression she had worn that morning.

Kyria had no combat ability.

She couldn’t even guarantee a win against a neighborhood thug. For a high-tier ability user like her to potentially lose to a civilian… it spoke volumes about how lacking her combat instincts were.

And yet, she was a Special-Class Hero—one of the Association’s proudest assets.

“Is it true that you can bring the dead back to life?”

Kyria stared at the woman in front of her.

Shorter than Kyria’s already petite frame, draped head to toe in a heavy cloak, topped off with a fox mask.

Anyone would have called her a villain if they met her in a lawless zone.

But this was the Hero Association’s HQ—supposedly safer than heaven itself.

No need to waste mental energy on pointless suspicion.

“I’m afraid not. I can heal most injuries, but resurrection is beyond my power.”

“…Didn’t you succeed once?”

The reason Kyria was deemed irreplaceable wasn’t her strength, but her Talent.

She was one of the rare few with a healing ability—and among them, the most revered. An undisputed master.

A miraculous doctor who could even bring back the dead.

And once, she had.

After that, desperate patients swarmed to her, dragging dead loved ones behind them, begging for resurrection.

The woman before her was likely one of them, here because of those same rumors.

Unfortunately…

“It was a young boy. He’d died from poisoning. I brought him back to the point he could move like a normal person a year later.”

A shadow passed over Kyria’s face as she dragged that painful memory to the surface.

“Do you know what happened to him in the end?” “What?” “He was euthanized again.” “…Why?”

She could restore any injury of the body. But only the body.

“He was brain-dead.”

“…”

“His heart beat. His lungs breathed. But nothing I did could bring back his consciousness.”

As if his soul had long since departed.

“That’s why I say resurrection is impossible.”

“…But the body did live.”

There was a trace of hope in the woman’s muttering. Perhaps she believed that if she could get a body back, something could be done.

Kyria looked at her with gentle pity.

“Can’t you let your loved one go? Living on as a lifeless husk… they wouldn’t want that either.”

“You’re right. Thank you for your time.”

The woman turned away without hesitation.

Kyria tilted her head briefly, then calmly welcomed her next patient.

---

“…”

Kyria stood on her terrace in pajamas, gazing out at the night.

The full moon spilled soft light across the landscape. It had become her small joy, to admire this view after a long day.

“If only I could have saved him…”

She murmured, lost in thought.

“You still have regrets, I see.”

“?!”

She spun around, startled—only for a gloved hand to clamp over her mouth. Her eyes widened in shock.

The grip was unshakable.

But even more shocking was the intruder’s identity.

‘That mask from earlier…!’

Why? No—how?

Her home’s security was overseen by the Association itself. Dozens of systems, elite detection specialists rotating shifts in the garden—nothing short of airtight.

And yet, this woman stood before her, not a single alarm tripped.

“Darkness erases everything. Noise, mana, even presence. This city’s defenses against darkness-type abilities are sorely lacking.”

Darkness?

Yes, theoretically, the absorption traits of dark abilities could be used this way.

But they weren’t feared for a reason.

To erase one’s presence so thoroughly, you’d need a rare talent, and an extreme degree of control over dark attributes—no one like that had ever existed.

No one… except the person in front of her.

“…!”

Realizing the danger, Kyria thrashed with all her might.

“Radiant Kyria . I have a job for you.”

The woman subdued her like a toddler—effortlessly. Kyria’s eyes shook with panic.

She wasn’t a fighter. She could enhance her physical strength, sure. Her talent even allowed her to partially revive the dead—enhancing herself was child’s play.

She could overpower a wild elephant if she really tried.

But this woman restrained her like it was nothing.

A Special-Class threat.

A villain on par with a double-rank powerhouse.

“Refusal is not an option.”

As Kyria trembled in fear, the woman reached into her pocket and pulled something out.

A syringe!

Kyria’s struggling intensified.

But the villain didn’t flinch. She calmly pushed the needle into Kyria’s neck.

“Get some rest, will you?”

And just like that, Kyria’s world went dark.

It was the start of one of the most extraordinary connections in her life.

---

The moment Kyria opened her eyes, she tried to move—but her entire body was tightly bound with ropes designed for high-tier ability users.

Where am I?

A sofa, a table, some instant noodles, workout equipment…
If not for Kyria tied to the chair, it could’ve been any ordinary living room scene.

What’s going to happen to me?

Cases of kidnapped heroes raced through her mind.

She remembered the face of a hero who came to find her—missing fingernails, tortured beyond recognition.
Another’s body torn apart after being used as a villain’s punching bag.

No… please no…

Her whole body shook in fear. Then, someone poked her side.

“Kyaa! P-Please don’t hurt me!”

She thrashed like a caged animal, all pretense of dignity gone.

There was no trace of the elegant Radiant Kyria here.
Just a terrified girl on the brink of panic.

“I-I’ll do anything! Just please, no torture…!”
“…The hell is this?”

The casual tone made Kyria pause.
Trembling like a leaf, she looked up to see a woman she didn’t recognize.

Short brown bobbed hair, sharp eyes, and heavy makeup.
Overall, she gave off a tough, prickly vibe.

“You said there was a job, right?! I-I’ll do it! You want resurrection?!”

The woman looked at her like she was absurd.

“This is kinda killing the mood.”
“H-Hiee! I’m sorry…!”
“Alright, enough. Don’t worry. I won’t do anything until the boss decides what to do with you.”

Boss?
Kyria , now a little calmer, studied the woman in front of her more carefully.

‘Now that I think about it, the one with the mask had black hair…’

She began slow breathing, trying to calm her panic.

What was going to happen to her now?

The woman gently patted Kyria ’s silvery hair, like she found her cute.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“My name’s Serena .”
“Serena …”

Kyria ran the name through her mental database of known villains—nothing.
Either a minor villain, or someone who didn’t operate in NOVA territory.

“Not surprised you don’t know me. Unlike the boss, I’m weak as hell.”
“Your boss… the one with the mask?”
“Bingo~ Total badass, right?”
“…Where are we?”

Kyria had finally calmed enough to speak evenly.
It looked like a completely normal house. There were household items scattered around, even a TV.

“Our hideout.”
“E-Zone in the lawless district, right? I must’ve been out for a while.”
“Huh? No? This is B-Zone.”

Liar.
Kyria instinctively dismissed her words.

Zones A to C were clean zones, strictly guarded by elite heroes. No villain could ever set up shop there.

“The boss walked right into your house in A-Zone, remember?”

But that made Kyria pause.

She did…

Kyria bit her lip hard.
As the truth set in, her expression darkened with despair.

“The villains… they’ve already infiltrated hero territory.”

The situation was worse than she thought.
Now, the heroes had to start defending from within, too.

“Hmm?”

But Serena just tilted her head like she didn’t understand. Then, realizing what Kyria meant, she grinned.

“Sorry, but we’re not villains.”
“…You’re not?”
“Nope. Or maybe we are? I dunno, really. Either way, we’re not with the Association.”
“…Lies.”
“Believe what you want.”

She replied bluntly, then flopped onto the sofa. She grabbed the remote and motioned to the TV.

“Come on, watch this with me.”
“…Watch what?”

Serena let out a chuckle, the kind of laugh only a villain could make.

“The boss’s debut performance.”

She said it casually as she flipped on the news.

---

---

[Breaking news! B-9 Zone’s Hawn High School has been taken over by two ability users! Currently, 498 students are being held hostage. The police and hero BLUEBLADE are on the scene, attempting negotiations—]

[The hostage-takers’ demands have been revealed! Their sole request is for Gwangmyeong Reminis to appear. If the target does not show, all hostages will be executed!]