Chapter 407:
Chapter 407:
As far as Stardus was concerned, the day's events had happened in a flash.
Throbbing-
"…?"
As usual, she was working with other heroes and villains at the American countermeasures headquarters.
…It wasn't easy to work with villains, even if it was at the behest of Egostic, but she was slowly getting used to doing so for the greater good.
The angel attacks had almost stopped, and she felt a sense of peace.
She felt a sense of foreboding…and then…
It happened so fast.
"Attention, everyone, breaking news!!! The Angels have launched a full-scale attack!!!!!"
The loud voice was echoed by someone who had rushed to the center of the command center, where many people were gathered.Before the people gathered here could fully comprehend the meaning of the voice's words, which were tinged with fear.
"-Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!"
Outside the window of the task force, such cries could be heard.
When they looked to the side, they saw hundreds or thousands of angels descending from the sky.
That was the beginning of the all-out war between the Alliance and the Angels.
Although the number of superhumans gathered here was small, the number of angels in front of them was in the thousands, like a legion.
Thus, the situation seemed to be heading towards an all-out war…
"Everyone out."
That was when Stardus was not present.
***
"…Thank you, Stardus! You averted a crisis."
A moment passed.
In the now-empty skies, Stardus took a moment to catch her breath, and another hero thanked her on behalf of the others.
-Haaaaaah!
All those angels were blown away by a few of Stardus' star-punches, turning to light.
To that, Stardus shook her head in disbelief and said,
"No, I'm sure you could have handled that without me. Besides that, is the situation elsewhere…?"
"Yes. That is… There's another place under attack by angels right now. Apparently, the angelic forces are stronger in places where there are more powerful people…that's why everyone here is trying to return to their hometowns and stop the angelic invasion."
"…This is a serious situation."
As she looked around, she realized that all of the superhumans here were worried.
She wondered if Korea would be okay.
As she thought about it, she took out her cell phone and immediately dialed the hotline to reach the president of the association.
‘…Wait.’
Egostic.
Is he okay?
Thrill-.
Feeling uneasy for a moment, she moved her fingers faster and dialed the hotline to the association president.
…And just like that, after what seemed like an eternity, the dial rang.
Ding.
The president of the association answered.
[-Uh! Stardus, are you all right?]
The President’s voice sounded urgent over all the noise around him.
Stardus said she was okay and got straight to the point.
"Yeah. I'm fine. How are things in Korea?"
[…It's not great, but we've got the heroes from the Egostream and Yuseong Squad to hold us together. Still, it looks like things will be sorted out soon.]
"That's good to hear….By the way, do you know what Egostic is doing now, is he okay?"
[Ah… hmmm.]
At her question, he was silent for a moment, then coughed.
His response makes Stardus' heart flutter for a moment, before she raises her voice and asks again.
In a deep voice, the President sighed and said.
[…Egostic is safe, for now. He was brought here after being caught in the crossfire outside, and is currently being tended to by a group of people. He has no apparent injuries, but…I don't know. He's asleep for now.]
"…What?"
She wondered why her bad premonitions were always right.
Stardus' eyes glazed over at the shocking news of Egostic’s collapse.
Then, in a low voice, she spoke to the President.
"…Okay, I'll be heading over there, just so you know."
[Phew… I see. Well, we need hands here too, so it's good if you come…]
The moment she heard the voice of the association president a loud boom rang out.
A gust of wind blew right into where Stardus was standing.
"Ugh…"
A wind so powerful that even she, a superhuman, staggered.
She couldn't see anything with the naked eye, but the wind must have come from somewhere to the west.
It was blowing out her cell phone signal.
What the hell is going on?
Stardus thought to herself with a serious look on her face.
Soon after, a hero from another country's association came flying panting towards her.
"Hey, Stardus, look at this."
"…What is it?"
And on the screen he showed her.
[-cough, cough, cough, cough]
…something so big, so huge.
It was coming down from the sky.
"Right now, it looks like something has appeared over the sea! It looks like it's beyond the reach of humans, and if we don't stop it now…"
He explained with a look of urgency.
Indeed, no matter how you look at it, what appeared on the screen looked like something that could bring about the end of the human race.
Just like when she heard the voice of God, she felt intimidated by the mere presence of the creature through the video.
She looked at the other superhumans looking at her with desperate eyes.
"…"
…Stardus paused for a moment, unlike the other heroes who assumed she would fly away any moment now.
Of course, it seems right to stop this now, no matter how you look at it. If it wasn't stopped now, humanity would face an early demise, but…
‘I'm worried about Egostic…’
She was torn between wanting to go see him right away.
…But.
‘Yes.’
She relented.
…After all, she realized, if she abandoned the crisis of humanity to go see him now, it wouldn't be what he wanted.
She also knew that there was nothing he could do if she went now anyway.
For now, let's stop him.
"…I'm leaving now."
"….!! Thank you, Stardus! You're the only one who can stop this."
Then, with a look of determination in her eyes, she tossed her hair into the wind and muttered,
‘That thing coming down from the sky now, whoever it is….I need to take care of this quickly, I want to go see Egostic.’
***
There was a helicopter flying over the Atlantic Ocean and the sight that the cameras on board caught was overwhelming.
[What is that…? What is that…?]
The heavens opened up, and a powerful light shot down from the heavens.
A huge, white being in a reclining position, eyes closed, wrapped in a pure white cloth…
A huge being, looking like a white Buddha.
The strange being, which looked like a giant white Buddha, was descending from the sky in silence, not even moving its huge body.
It was clearly not even moving but just its mere presence gave everyone looking a sense of its immense power.
[Ugh…]
The power of that being was so strong that weaker people who were only watching it on television, would faint from the sight of it on the screen.
…Of course, the same was true for those who didn't faint.
The difference between seeing it in person and just seeing it on the screen, and feeling it, was enormous.
If that thing awakens, and we can't stop it…humanity will perish as it is.
Even if no one said it, people realized it just by looking at it.
…But, who?
Who…who can stop it?
When the world was gripped with fear on the screen a woman with flowing blonde hair appeared on the scene.
She was an S-class hero, the most powerful hero of recent times, Hero Stardus.
She stood there, her eyes serene and stared at the figure in front of her.
In the next moment, unnoticed by anyone, she unleashed an instantaneous attack with her yellow glowing fist at the floating figure in the sky and just like that, white smoke billowed around her.
[…A being no bigger than a worm, struck at her executioner.]
A loud, grotesque, creepy as hell voice was heard.
The physiologically repulsive voice, like dozens of insects crawling up your arm, comes from where the White Buddha was.
-bang.
Suddenly a giant golden hand appeared from the sky and clapped Stardus on the ground, as if grabbing a bug.
Just like that, the smoke cleared.
…On the sea, a great white being, still reclining, eyes and mouth closed and hovering around it were golden hands glowing in the air.
…In front of it, Stardus, still alive and flying.
At the sight of it some muttered to themselves, their voices trembling.
[…That's no match.]
It wasn't just a matter of strength.
It was a simple difference in class, between a creature of God and humans could be felt.
Humans were never designed to be defeated by ‘that thing' in the first place.
The world realized that as soon as they saw it.
But Stardus, on the screen.
"…I'm busy."
As if she wasn't frightened at all.
She was still muttering those words, her eyes still glazed over.
What mattered to her right now wasn't this beast in front of her.
The biggest problem right now was the fact that Egostic was lying out there somewhere…
So she wasn't going to spend a lot of time thinking about the monster in front of her.
"Come."
And with that, she attacked once more.
…Of course, against Stardus' wishes, quite a bit of time passed.
She struck with her glowing hand.
The white being flung dozens of giant, glowing golden hands at her but Stardus dodged.
The sea beneath her exploded, the sky split open, the wind whipped up, and the camera shattered under the being's attack.
By the time it was possible to capture the scene again through another method, the white being had already moved from its lotus position, stood up, opened its eyes, and was fighting in the sky with its gigantic body.
Stardus fought back, dodging and ducking.
The sea below disappeared dozens of times, the sky around them was slashed dozens of times, as the yellow light and the white light clashed relentlessly.
[aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!!!!!!]
Finally the giant being collapsed, exploding into yellow light.
What was left of it, at the end, was Stardus.
[….]
Stardus stood on an empty sea, her blonde hair flowing, her scarred body silently gazing at the spot where the white Buddha had once been.
The people, at last, realized that she was the savior of mankind.
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