A spray of crimson mosaic burst out, and the enormous lizard head rolled a long way down the street.
Shing-
A piercing scrape of metal rang out nearby. The lizard head struggled to turn its sole remaining eye, then its pupil abruptly contracted!
The top of the lamppost he had swept apart with his tail had somehow been cut into a sharp point, shaped like an enormous lance used by charging medieval knights. The cold gleam reflected off its cut edge seemed capable of slicing someone open with a glance.
And that lamppost, several meters long, floated like a javelin above the terrifying human's right hand as he walked unhurriedly toward him.
Tap, tap, tap...
Those chilling footsteps rang out, and an indescribable fear spread through the air.
"N-no, don't!! Aah-"
After pinning the Lizard Monster to the pavement through his remaining eye, Josen felt around in his pocket, pulled out his cigarette pack, and silently lit himself a cigarette.
"Whew-"
Amid the smoke he exhaled, a pale blue spiritual glow rose and condensed into a lizard that bared its claws and fangs, hissing hatefully at Josen.
"Still acting tough?"
Josen snorted, and the ascending Lizard Spirit's expression froze.
You can see me!?
His Stand Ability activated, and a blank card appeared between Josen's fingers.
The Lizard Spirit, flailing all four limbs and even trying the breaststroke to speed his ascent to heaven, stopped in midair. Like cooking fumes caught by an extractor fan, he rapidly reversed direction, lost his original shape, and became a swirling mass of spirit that plunged into the card below.
(Nooo-)
A second later, the outline of an upright lizard with a terrified expression appeared on the blank card. As nodes along the patterns on its white face lit up, its border gradually turned deep blue.
Demon-level-Lizard Monster. Defeated. Sealing complete.
At the same time, his Stand delivered feedback directly into Josen's mind.
[Fate Draw uses +1.] [Current Fate Draw uses: 9.]
Wee-woo, wee-woo, wee-woo...
Police sirens sounded in the distance. Josen glanced at the Lizard Monster's mangled corpse and converted the instrument of his crime-that battle-hardened Road Roller-back into a card.
A short while later, the late-arriving police and firefighters extinguished the blaze at the entrance with fire hoses and rushed into the pedestrian street.
An officer who knew Josen spotted him among them. "Josen, you're here too!"
"Yeah, I just got here," Josen said, wiping his deliberately soot-blackened face as he looked over the devastated pedestrian street. "Let's hurry and rescue people!"
"Right! Damn monsters!"
More and more officers joined the search and rescue effort.
Soon, the riot police advancing at the front discovered the enormous monster corpse.
"Huh?"
"The monster's already been killed!!"
"What? That's great!"
"Jeez... what kind of attack hit this thing? A meteor?"
Elsewhere.
Faint breathing came from beneath a collapsed wall. Josen glanced around, then heaved with both hands, flipping over an enormous section of rubble. From among the bloodstained debris, he carefully lifted a little girl covered in injuries.
"Mister, I saw..."
Josen paused, and the little girl gently hugged his arm.
"You defeated the monster. You're a Hero, aren't you?"
A Hero? Maybe.
At the little girl's question, an image flashed through Josen's mind: a bald man in a red-and-yellow skintight uniform, a cape billowing behind him.
He glanced at the blood-soaked rubble again. Within the field of vision formed by his Psychic Power, the outlines of two lifeless bodies appeared-a man and a woman.
They were the little girl's parents.
Something stirred deep in his heart, and Josen's voice softened. "I'm a police officer. Get some sleep. Everything will be better when you wake up."
"Thank you... mister..."
He gently activated his Psychic Power, soothing the little girl's turbulent emotions. Clutching Josen's collar tightly, she fell sound asleep in his arms.
[Fantasy Card: Roadside Road Roller] [Card type: Item card] [Rarity: N] [Description: A scrapped road roller. Its weight, size, and feel are all just right.] [Effect 1: Road Roller Attack] [Summon a road roller that drops from the sky and shout: Road roller da!]
The next day was the weekend.
Taking advantage of a sale, Josen bought a fridgeful of discounted ingredients and made himself a Sichuan-style hot pot at home.
Once the broth boiled, he added the ingredients and switched on the television.
"Shocking! Z City suffers another monster attack, and the truth is actually..."
"Follow our cameras as we bring you the true story of the terrifying events on Senmu Pedestrian Street..."
"Wipe out all monsters! The world belongs to humanity!"
"Hero recruitment is now in full swing! If you possess extraordinary strength or a special talent, please call our inquiry hotline immediately at 18888888888. Once again, that's 18888888888..."
"Breaking news: the Hero Association has announced the establishment of branches in major cities..."
"Special report..."
As Hero Association advertisements gradually took over the screen, Josen ate and watched, unable to help wondering.
Saitama still hadn't heard of the Hero Association three years later. Did that guy never watch TV?
Oh, he only got a handful of free channels. Never mind, then.
Watching the relentless promotion on television, Josen thoroughly enjoyed his meal and couldn't resist opening another bottle of chilled '82 cola.
Glug, glug, glug-
Refreshing!
By the time he finished cleaning up, it was late at night.
Josen stepped onto the balcony and let the night breeze wash over him, quietly clearing his mind.
Although his surname was also Qiao, he wasn't a genuine member of the Qiao Family. He had merely inherited a few of their traits from afar, such as...
Standing one meter ninety-five tall.
A ranks in both power and speed.
Golden Spirit.
Maybe becoming a part-time Hero outside work wouldn't be so bad.
As the thought came to him, the blue monster card appeared in Josen's hand.
[Fantasy Card: Lizard Monster] [Card type: Character card (monster)] [Rarity: R] [Description: A reptilian monster mutated from a human. Disaster level-Demon.] [Note: An ugly disgrace to Demon-level monsters. Dismantling recommended.] [Effect 1: Night Vision] [Greatly enhances vision at night or in dim environments.] [Effect 2: Ambush] [Instantly closes in on prey to deliver a lethal pounce.]
Seeing the specially added note in the card information, Josen couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
Lizard Monster: ...
Say that again?!
A Stand was essentially manifested Psychic Power, so the note naturally reflected his subconscious thoughts.
Unlike item cards, character cards contained a monster's power from before death. They could be used on him or on other humans, but only one could be equipped at a time. Equipping one granted that character's set of abilities, with the option to apply its appearance as a skin. Naturally, unequipping it also removed the abilities it granted.
They were like paid skins in certain games that came with stats and skills. Their advantage was that they took effect immediately; their drawback was that they couldn't be stacked.
Ability cards such as Spider-Sense, meanwhile, had no numerical limit.
As for the dismantling mentioned in the note, that was a way to extract the power at its source.
A designated Fantasy Card could be consumed through dismantling, randomly extracting some of its attributes or abilities as enhancement materials to strengthen him.
As a veteran card player with a whole month and a half of practice, Josen knew very well-
Playing cards was just for fun. Being strong yourself was what really counted.
Before you continue