Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 23: You... You’re a Monster, Right...?

It was pure chaos.

The public was in shock—not just because the Black Cat, a creature once seen as possibly friendly toward humans, had become hostile—but because if this went on any longer, Cage, an S-Class hero, was going to die.

In the middle of it all, Yu Anna saw the chat blaming her for not helping and sighed, addressing the livestream camera.

“...The fact that the prison is still holding means Cage hasn’t lost consciousness yet. Even if I wanted to help, I can’t—I can’t break through that thing.”

The chat exploded again.

[So you're saying Cage is gonna die?! What’s A-City gonna do?!]

[Who the hell gave Cage permission to go to W-City?! Are you insane?!]

[If Cage dies, won’t W-City get completely wrecked?! Starlight better be able to handle it!]

[Please, Starlight! Please save him!!]

[Someone calm Black Cat down! Please!!]

[Why the fuck did he go in alone instead of teaming up with Starlight?!]

[We’re screwed. I’m laughing but I wanna puke—this psycho Cage’s gonna die and drag W-City down with him!]

[Tell Cage to shut off the damn prison!]

What good would that do now?

If they’d trapped Black Cat together from the start, maybe they could’ve taken him down.

But Cage had made a massive mistake. One that couldn’t be undone.

Yu Anna snatched the camera and antenna from the two A-Class heroes still streaming.

“Both of you—leave. Now.”

“Wh-What? But...!”

“If Black Cat breaks out, you’ll just get in the way. So get the hell out.”

“Ugh... Cage, sir...”

The two heroes handed over the equipment with teary eyes.

Yu Anna had been planning to shut down the broadcast right away—but after seeing the panic in chat, she planted the camera somewhere stable and plugged the antenna back in.

They didn’t want it turned off. The people watching... They needed time to face reality, not get swallowed in fear of the unknown.

It was a hero’s job to keep the public calm—even now.

Yu Anna stepped into the frame, stretched a bit dramatically for the camera, and spoke in a calm, measured voice.

“All right, everyone... The good news is, Black Cat hasn’t eaten Cage yet. Which probably means he knows he can’t bite through that armor. He’s not trying to eat him until he passes out.”

[THE FUCK?! How the hell is that good news?!]

[Has Starlight lost her mind? You happy your teammate’s dying?!]

[Oh I get it. She’s an S-Class. She’ll survive. No one else matters.]

She was trying to offer actual hope, but the chat was too worked up to process it.

So she spelled it out for them.

“You’re all getting a little too hysterical. If he only plans to eat Cage after he passes out, then when that moment hits and the prison drops... I’ll have an opening to jump in.”

[Wait, huh?]

[Hold on... what?]

[Did Starlight just say she’s gonna go save Cage? Did I hear that right?!]

[ST★RLIGHT!! I KNEW YOU HAD THIS!!]

Yu Anna chuckled bitterly as the public opinion flipped like a light switch.

People... living under constant monster threat, it made them unstable. She got that. But it was still exhausting sometimes.

And then she felt it.

With her superhuman senses, she noticed the psychic energy of the prison start to waver.

“It’s about to break. Alright, time to get serious.”

[ST★RLIGHT GO!!!]

[ST★RLIGHT! ST★RLIGHT!]

[Yuan-na from Starlight Class at 2nd Middle School—GO!]

[SAVE CAGE, PLEASE!]

[STAR PUNCH! STAR PUNCH!]

Unable to look at the chat any longer, Yu Anna tossed her phone aside and took a stance.

The flames licking through the air, the flare-drive burning hotter than ever since the Mirage battle—

BOOM!

Cage, slammed into the ceiling, bounced back down, his body flailing.

The instant he crashed through the prison wall with a shudder—

Yu Anna launched herself like a bullet.

“HAHHHHH!!”

Perfect aim. Limited space. Hypersonic acceleration. She tore through the dust storm in a spiral, bracing her fist, elbow angled for impact.

Even with her body enhanced by abilities, this amount of force would destroy her arm.

That’s why she used her elbow. Superheated by velocity and energy, it glowed red like a missile warhead.

Just before Cage could hit the ground again, a fox-shaped figure darted in—

And slammed into her.

“KYAAA—?!”

The aim had been just slightly off—just enough. BOOM. Two front legs exploded off the fox-form Black Cat, and Yu Anna, now drenched in blood, skidded across the ground.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

CRASH!

Sliding nearly parallel to the earth, she planted her feet hard and stopped. Then she bolted again—caught Cage mid-fall.

The viewers watching the feed were stunned. No one typed a word.

[Holy shit. Starlight’s actually badass.]

Cheers erupted from beneath her—from the shelters.

Hearing the people cheer, Yu Anna forgot her nerves and smiled for a moment.

She hadn’t killed Black Cat.

Instead, his legs had regenerated instantly, and now he stood in the form of the familiar black feline.

Formless-Type regeneration. Absolutely terrifying.

Yu Anna clenched her fists and squared her shoulders.

“So... the real fight starts now, huh?”

This city had fully evacuated.

Cage had done a good job keeping the perimeter sealed off. Even if she caused some destruction now, no one would blame her.

And across from her stood Black Cat—no longer hiding anything. His killing intent burned in his eyes.

“This is your real face, isn’t it?”

If you looked close, you could see it. The cute round eyes from before were gone—replaced by the sharp gaze of a predator.

Gone was the clean, collected form. His teeth were bared, drool dripping down in strings.

There was no mistaking the monstrous instinct swimming in his eyes.

The hunger to tear flesh. To consume.

Looking at him like this... there was no question.

Black Cat was a monster.

“So... now that you’ve been locked up and beaten a bit, you’re done pretending?”

Even now, his physical form was still the same—still looked like a black cat, deceptively cute. But the aura surrounding him had completely changed.

And now, he knew it too.

Black Cat had accepted it.

Humans were enemies.

Monsters were enemies.

There was no middle ground.

Yu Anna wasn’t going to hold back anymore either.

“RRAAAGH!!”

Black Cat lunged at her, cloaked in fire.

The blast radius alone melted the camera and antenna in an instant.

Yu Anna spread both hands and joined her index–middle fingers and ring–pinky fingers on each side, focusing her power into the gaps.

A searing photon blast fired straight at him.

It was a long-range tech she’d developed just to hunt the Black Cat.

It struck.

But Black Cat dissolved—turning into a puddle of black fluid and sliding underground.

Shadowform.

Yu Anna stomped hard, photon blasts raining down—igniting the ground, burning the space he’d just slithered into.

Then, diving partway underground herself, surrounded in heat, she came face to face with him.

A claw of fire slashed out, ripping into her body.

“...Tch. That all you got? Pretty lukewarm.”

“KYAAAAAH!”

BOOM!

The flaming body exploded into a shockwave—then reformed into something massive. Like a gorilla.

Black Cat grabbed her leg and swung her like a club.

Yu Anna tucked her limbs in, absorbing the hit—then exploded the energy around her leg to break his grip.

BANG!

She slipped free, twisted in midair, and landed a kick right at his head.

But he’d already changed again—into a fog-like, intangible shape.

Dodging with ease, he reformed right behind her—as a wolf.

The kind of beast she remembered. Fenrir-type.

And that mouth? Anything it bit would vanish.

Yu Anna caught his jaws between both arms just in time.

Black Cat’s upper and lower fangs met resistance.

The two of them clashed—power for power. Their abilities igniting like fireworks.

“Ghh—ughh...!”

“GrrrrRRRAAAH... SSSHHAAAAAH!!”

The clash of abilities was neck and neck.

Both of them were pushing out max power. But in that stalemate, Black Cat’s fangs—exposed to extreme heat—started to melt.

An ability compatibility issue.

Black Cat morphed again, this time into a massive serpent, and unleashed a petrification wave.

Yu Anna froze—only for a second—but it was enough.

Then, with the burning sun of her own ability, she incinerated the petrifying energy.

Black Cat didn’t miss that opening. His tail, now a metallic pillar of scaled muscle, whipped out and slammed her away.

“Ghh... Black Cat!”

She crashed through five buildings, clawing at the ground with both hands to stop herself—then shot forward again on all fours like a beast.

But then... Black Cat was just standing there.

Still as a statue, glancing blankly around at the destruction.

Shattered buildings, a collapsed S-Class hero sprawled out cold, and a city turned to rubble—all caused by him, in moments.

Yu Anna charged ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) in, ready to land a killing blow to his skull—

But right before her fist connected, something felt... off.

“Urgh—!”

WHAM.

Her punch blew half his face off.

Black Cat stumbled back in shock, head twitching as his body liquefied like slime.

Yu Anna blinked, stunned—not just by the impact, but by herself.

Why the hell had she hesitated?

Why did she freeze at the perfect moment to kill a Despair-Class monster?

She shook it off, trying to clear her head. Focus. New form—slime. Weak spot: the core. Where is it—?

But that’s when she realized something was wrong.

“Wait, hold on—!”

Black Cat was melting into the ground again.

And that’s when it hit her—how their encounters always ended.

When there was distance between them, he ran. And when he ran, he always got away.

Every time.

And every time, she lost.

“Wait! Stop! I mean it, stop right there!”

Panicked, Yu Anna shouted—

And Black Cat paused.

Only his ears and eyes peeked above the surface, now back in his usual black panther form. He blinked slowly, those round, unreadable eyes looking up at her—

Almost as if to say, What? You knocked me down. Now I’m leaving. Is that not how this works?

Gone was the predator’s gaze from earlier. His eyes looked soft again. Familiar.

Like he’d snapped out of something.

“...You’re not seriously gonna run again. You're not gonna fight?”

I am.

Black Cat blinked once. Twice.

Then gave a tiny, unmistakable nod—just like a human.

A monster that avoids hurting people. Black Cat.

Yu Anna stepped forward—and he stepped back.

Everything about him said, I don’t want to fight anymore.

Now she wasn’t sure what to do.

Cage was unconscious. If she wanted to stop Black Cat now—without the prison—it’d cost her. A lot.

If he really turned into a full-on monster again, if he started devouring humans, then yeah—she’d kill him, no hesitation.

But... right now, this didn’t feel like that.

Not at all.

Maybe it made her a bad hero, but after everything... after all the times Black Cat had helped...

Yu Anna kind of wanted to believe. Just this once.

She hoped—honestly—that Black Cat wasn’t the kind of monster who really wanted to hurt people.

“Haah... This is insane...”

She lowered her abilities and looked around.

Cage—out cold. The camera and antenna? Melted. Completely fried.

Even the bodycam built into her suit—custom made to handle extreme heat—was liquefied like glass.

No footage. No record.

Something about that made her act... a little recklessly.

“Why don’t you fight back? Why do you always run? You don’t attack people, but you do attack monsters attacking us—why?”

It was absurd. She was talking to a monster like it could answer.

She knew it was pointless.

But still, she waited.

Black Cat stayed silent.

Right. Monsters can’t talk.

Yu Anna winced, finally remembering something so obvious.

She tried a different question.

“...You. You’re a monster... aren’t you?”