Chapter 7: Blazing Hero – Inferna②

The structure of a train station is always confusing.

You’d think stepping out the ticket gate would put you on the first floor, but sometimes you’re actually on the second floor—or even underground.

I was heading toward my favorite donut shop near the station when, out of nowhere, the wall blew apart.

Obviously, it was a villain. And just my luck, I got blasted straight through a glass wall, shattering it on the way out.

To make matters worse, the place I was sent flying into… was empty air.

Since I had just come out of the gates, I assumed this was ground level—but turns out I was actually about three stories up.

I mulled that over casually while falling.

I really hate this, but the wounds from a fall don’t take me too long to regenerate from. It’s pretty much the same as being crushed to death. Bones shatter, organs rupture—that sort of thing.

Getting caught up in villains’ messes has put me through injuries like that plenty of times already. Not even the first time I’ve been slammed into the ground after falling, either.

But before I could smash into the concrete, a hero showed up.

Not Raiden. A female hero wrapped in flames.

Her name was Inferna.

A play on “inferno,” meaning raging flames—she controls fire. Unlike other heroes, Inferna doesn’t wear a mask to hide her face.

Instead, everything above her neck is on fire.

Whether there’s an actual face within those flames, or the flames themselves are her face, nobody knows. In this world, quirks that affect appearances aren’t all that rare.

She can apparently use those flames like an engine to fly through the air—about as hero-like as heroes come.

I couldn’t see her face, but from the neck down, her body was unmistakably feminine.

Put simply, she’s got a killer figure. Word has it she awakened a lot of men to a liking for “monster-head types.”

As the very first female hero, she’s also incredibly popular among women—especially little girls.

Anyway, Inferna grabbed hold of me, saving me from death by impact. But I still got hurt.

Ssshhhk—the sound of searing flesh. My arm turned bright red in the shape of her grip.

Apparently, Inferna runs hot—makes sense, given her head is on fire.

If that handprint had landed on my cheek, I’d be rocking the perfect maple-leaf slap mark. I half-escaped reality with thoughts like that. This’ll probably scar…

I hate burns even more than I hate getting crushed to death—which is what likely killed my mom—because burns are hellish when you don’t die.

They’re the hardest kind of injury to heal.

Heat alters the tissue composition, so the burned part has to be completely remade from scratch.

Compared to stab or slash wounds, where I can just reconnect the torn edges, burns are way more resource-intensive. Total downer.

Burns take longer to heal than even crushed bodies or lost limbs.

If I had the guts, I’d just cut the burned flesh off and regenerate it. But I can’t bring myself to do that just for efficiency’s sake. It’s painful. And gross.

Getting stabbed by a villain is one thing, but stabbing myself? That’s terrifying. Carving chunks out of my own body would be even worse. Freaky.

"Ki…"

The hero in front of me started to say something, but I didn’t even need to strain to hear it.

"KYAAA!!!"

What followed wasn’t words, but a piercing, silk-tearing scream.

Honestly, I figured I’m the one who should be screaming here, with these burns.

Inferna, flames roaring louder around her head, babbled quickly:

"F-f-f-f-forgive me, I messed up the temperature control! What a thing to do to a young lady before she’s even married!"

"Oh… don’t worry about it, it was an accident. But hey, eyes front—villain incoming."

"Eeeek! Stay back, it’s dangerous!"

The flame-clad hero let out a pitiful shriek before rushing off to face the villain.

Not quite the image I had of her.

Then again, after what I saw with Snowfox, I wasn’t that shocked.

Even if she told me to stay back, I’m slow.

Running wouldn’t do me much good anyway… villains always end up tumbling right into whatever direction I flee.

The villain Inferna was squaring off against: Ironclad.

A metal-manipulating villain—the same one Raiden was fighting the first time we met.

Which means, even after three years, they still haven’t managed to catch him. He’s tough.

Fire and metal probably don’t go well together.

Inferna could melt Ironclad’s metal until it was practically sludge—but Ironclad could still manipulate metal even in that molten state.

Swinging chunks of metal was already dangerous enough, but molten, super-heated metal? Even worse.

In a sense, maybe their powers were too compatible.

If Ironclad had been a hero, he and Inferna could’ve made one hell of a team.

…Or maybe that’d be too murderous. If Inferna had been a villain, teaming up with Ironclad would’ve spelled disaster beyond repair.

Even so, Inferna drove him into a pretty tight corner. But Ironclad’s been doing this villain gig for a long time—he knew exactly when to retreat.

He dodged Inferna’s pursuit and slipped away.

It’s not often I get to really watch a hero fight.

Usually, by the early or middle stages, I’ve already been pummeled half to death by the villain.

So today was a rare experience.

Seeing Inferna defend me against Ironclad’s relentless attacks, she might actually be better than Raiden.

Or maybe that’s too hasty?

I haven’t seen Raiden fight Ironclad up close since that day. If they fought now, would Raiden manage to protect me too?

Still, there were plenty of problems with Inferna’s fight.

The area around the station was a total wreck.

Not surprising, though. Ironclad was whipping around molten metal, and Inferna was throwing blazing punches and kicks—it’s a miracle the whole place didn’t end up in flames.

Maybe that was thanks to her ability?

She might’ve been controlling even the flames away from her body, snuffing them out when needed.

She also managed to protect civilians from stray attacks, even covering obvious blind spots. Maybe she’s got some kind of heat-based life detection too.

Nice. A versatile hero.