Background Character

I was already at the front of our jail cell, clinging to the cold, metal bars while I waited for Trixie.

She's a little late. I'm getting worried.

The sewers were most quiet in the morning when there were less guards roving around. Day shift kids hadn't even had a chance to awaken yet, but that was part of the plan.

Yesterday, I'd dropped off my Memory Stone back in the air vent. It had taken copious amounts of incriminating photos that Trixie would deliver back to Tsukino. Both women had their own roles to play, though Trixie still needed to finish hers.

I looked through the metal bars again for any sign of her. Nothing.

"Hmmm?" Wendy's voice behind me yawned. "You're up early today, Aisawa."

"There's someone I'm waiting for."

"Huh? Who?"

Then, I heard it. The odd sound of an animal's footsteps trotting up the tunnel. It was a foreign noise—something anyone would know doesn't belong in sewers.

A bright and happy Shiba Inu with a ring of keys in its mouth. The cute dog strolled right up to the door of our jail cell, tail wagging.

"Good girl, good girl." I reached between the bars to pet her. "Grapes on me later."

"What?" Wendy's confusion dropped her jaw. "What's a dog doing down here in the sewers?"

"Hey!" Trixie said. "I'm no dog! I'm S:D—Stealth Dog! Big difference."

"It's a long story," I laughed. "But she's gonna help us bust out from here."

In another moment, Trixie poofed into a chimpanzee. The new dexterity of her fingers let her easily slide in the keys and unlock the door of our cell. It was wide open now.

I didn't even bother trying to calm Wendy anymore. She was in shock, mortified, at the sight of her prison door being unlocked without guards.

"Yay! Hug time!" Trixie poofed back into a pixie as she flung herself at my chest. She rubbed her face into me over and over. "Even if you're a kid, you're still one of my fave person's ever!"

"Alright, alright, haha. Now go bring me Dauntless."

"K'!" And she flew back out into the sewers.

Other kids in our cell had awoken from the commotion. Many stood from their beds, confused if they should run out the door or not.

"Don't go anywhere," I told them. "Not yet."

"A-Aisawa?" Wendy said. "What's happening?"

"My real name is Aizawa, not Aisawa. Sorry for keeping it secret from you."

"But . . . Why?"

There wasn't any point discussing anymore; I'd let my actions speak for themselves.

When Shiba Inu Pixie trotted back into the cell and handed me a knife, I knew what to do. And what time it was.

Dauntless Effigy felt even heavier in my hands than usual; I could barely hold it up without shaking.

As if my touch awakened it, loud whispers began invading my mind:

'Embrace me.'

'Entropy is your ally.'

'I will grant this world conflagration.'

I'd already decided what would happen days ago. And now, it was too late to try changing our plans.

"A-Aizawa?" Wendy said.

I ignored her, because I knew she'd try stopping me. All I did was issue Trixie one last command to go open the remaining jail cells of kids. It'd be every person fending for themselves from here on. And I'd take advantage of that chaos.

I held the knife with one hand, raising it as high as my wobbling arm could. "Manifest: Dauntless Effigy!"

Red lightning blitzed out in a blind rage. Kids around me screamed and ran for safety as crimson thunder tore apart mattresses and sliced into brick walls. I felt the evil penetrating my thoughts like never before, the whispers evolving into sentient sentences:

'Jin Aizawa—you neglect my power until you need it.'

'Yet you still expect my aid?'

Shut up! I thought. Give me everything you can! I know you've been wanting my body! Well come and take it!

'Your hubris is amusing. Fine. I shall consume my fill and save you from obsolescence.'

I let out violent screams as the red lightning began pulsing through me, overtaking me. My consciousness split between mine and someone else's—the demon inside Dauntless Effigy wanted to fully consume me. But I wouldn't let it. It wasn't time for that. IT WASN'T!

Instead, I felt the corrosion-curing of Dauntless taking effect. It began evaporating the Youth-Youth magic and slowly restoring my body. Lightning blitzed everywhere as my factory clothes ripped and my legs and arms all began growing. Adult muscles returned, abs formed, until even the sharpness of my nose was restored.

But Dauntless wouldn't let me off the hook yet. It overtook more of my body until my hair began glowing hot-red. Every hair stood straight up as if I were being electrocuted, though I felt no pain, only excitement.

But as the transformation finished, I realized I still managed to hold onto sanity. Good. Then I remembered Chief Borsalino's words:

'Activating Dauntless will temporarily give you the skills and dexterity of an Assassin-class. Very useful for an NPC that otherwise has no skills. The drawback: the more you use it, the higher chances you'll be corrupted and essentially die.'

The Dauntless knife blitzing static in my hand spoke clearly now.

"You are fortunate your will is strong," it said aloud. "Next time, however, I will obliterate what remains of your resolve and overtake you."

"Do what you want," I grinned. "For now, you're gonna listen to me."

In that moment, Dauntless Effigy surrendered completely and calmed down. It was at my command now.

I didn't turn back to tell Wendy goodbye. I didn't want her to see my corrupted face, my corrupted body. She'd learned almost everything about me was a lie. And the least I could do for her now was fight for her freedom.

That's when I heard it: a muscular woman's powerful screams charging up the sewers straight towards me. Dauntless Effigy had unleashed a massive amount of energy that anyone strong in the area could have felt.

My role: subduing Warden until Nuri can set up the final piece of our plan. Drawing Amila down here for one final reckoning would come at the very end.

I stepped out into the tunnel as dozens of children were running to escape everywhere. Trixie had initiated the ultimate prison break throughout the sewers that would act as cover for us.

But Warden didn't care anymore. She was standing at the end of the tunnel, veins bulging with rage. Her hands curled into fists as the Boxer-class woman readied for combat.

"You!" she said. "I've seen you in the papers! You're Jin Aizawa of Borsalino! Why did you come here?"

I couldn't do anything except grin. My adult body was still fending off Dauntless' influence, but I managed to say one sentence.

"You're not my boss anymore, haha!"

She just spit aside. "You got spunk, punk! I'll crush that grin into dust!"

Powerful auras clashed as we finally charged at each other head-on. And the battle began.

*

AMILA

Morning sun woke me up.

It was windows without curtains that I hated. But I hated many things.

And now it was just another morning of waking up naked beside an old, fat politician.

I turned away from him so he wouldn't see me hooking my bra—he'd gotten more than enough of my breasts last night. And I'd need to scrub my body clean to get his stench off me.

He woke up from the commotion.

"Mm," he said. "Wanna go another round?"

This fool. "I think I've provided my services enough for you to keep ignoring my underground activities."

"Hmmm, I enjoyed your company though. Can we at least talk longer?"

"We already talked at length last night before we fornicated. We were joking about how it'd be much more profitable to send the orphans to work in mines. But I haven't conjured a good public excuse for getting orphans into mine shafts."

"I'd always be happy to help you brainstorm—in bed."

Not a chance. I finished putting on my glamorous black clothes again. Being posh meant being the center of attention. And being the center of attention meant no one could ignore me. No one could go against me.

But as I stepped out from the politician's home, an unexpected call was received.

"Huh?" I manifested my staff tipped with heart-shaped crystals. It was glowing with the voice of one of my underlings.

"M-Madam!" the person said. "There's been a prison break! All the children have escaped! And Warden is currently fighting against a powerful foe! Give us orders!"

What? The words barely even registered before my blood began boiling. Teeth grinded. Fists curled. And I didn't even bother replying before I flew up into the air with a burst of magic.

"Hold down the fort! I'm on my way now!"

"Wait, Madam! There's something else going on. Nuri is staging a gather over at—"

I hung up before he could finish. I didn't care about anything anymore. The sole thing on my mind was blinding rage while I rocketed through the sky.

How many more dicks do I gotta suck so people get the message that I don't want anybody messing with my operations? Doesn't everyone know that I'm saving the world? Am I not at least entitled to run a side hustle? Can't a Hero have something nice! JUST GIVE ME THIS MUCH!

It didn't even take me a minute before I blitzed through the town floor, plowing through several meters of rock, until I crashed down into the sewers. A crater of water dramatically formed while water danced around me.

I saw them: my second-in-command Warden had been beaten unconscious into a wall while a strange man with red hair stood over her. But I immediately recognized him anyway.

"JIN AIZAWA!" I screamed. "It's you! You were that little kid! Why did you come here?"

But he just grinned before blitzing away in a bolt of red lightning.

"THERE'S NO ESCAPE!" My emotions reacted with my body. I was helpless as my abdomen enlarged and turned into the huge legs of a spider. Pink scales formed along my skin until even my face grew fangs and I became half-arachnid, half-human.

Then I gave chase.

"JIN AIZAWA! DOG OF BORSALINO! LET ME KILL YOU!"

My spider legs could move faster than almost anything alive. But even from here I could tell Aizawa had surrounded himself with an Assassin aura—the fastest class in the world.

I tried blasting him with Hero aura to slow him, but the demonic aura surrounding him was protecting him. There was nothing I could do except continue chasing him through my own sewers.

"ARE YOU UPSET WITH ME?" I roared. "UPSET WITH WHAT I'VE DONE WITH KIDS? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THIS WORLD HAS DONE TO ME TOO? WHAT THE CHURCH DID TO ME WHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL? YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'VE SUFFERERED THROUGH! THIS WORLD DESERVES TO SUFFER IN EXCHANGE!"

Entire sections of the sewer began caving in. But I swatted concrete away like flies and kept giving chase.

"THERE'S NO CHILD LABOR LAWS IN THIS WORLD! NO CHILD EXPLOTATION LAWS! NO RED TAPE OR REGULATIONS! SO TELL ME WHAT I'M DOING WRONG, AIZAWA! I SAVED THESE KIDS FROM THE STREETS. AND WHO CARES ABOUT ORPHANS ANYWAY? THEY DON'T EVEN NEED THEIR PARENT'S PERMISSION BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO PARENTS! THEY WORK FOR ME NOW! THE LEAST THEY COULD DO IS GIVE SOMETHING BACK!"

The end of the sewer tunnel was coming up. And that would be where his back would be to a wall and where I'd kill him.

But as he finally reached the end, he just turned around and grinned again.

"DIE!" I swung my clawed hand at him and burst the entire wall behind him.

An entire swath of ground collapsed around us, and I emerged into the bright chamber of a cathedral where dozens of reporters were waiting with Memory Stones pointed. Like they all already knew what to do, they began snapping photos of my hideous, huge spider body.

"STOP!" I said. "I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"

"You'll kill no one, Amila!" Nuri in her golden armor let her presence be known. She stuck her sword into the floor and unleashed a damning amount of Hero aura aimed straight at me. The overwhelming power managed to make me shirk a few steps back.

"N-Nuri!" I said. "What are you doing here?"

"This is the end of your operations, Amila! You can't beat me! You're weak! That's why you modified your body like a demon to try making yourself stronger! But even still you're weaker than me! You're weak but you're even weaker at heart! Take responsibility for what you've been doing all across this country under the guise of opening orphanages! The world will now know what you've been doing!"

"SCREW OFF!" As I lunged a claw at her, her Hero aura blasted me back and forced me back into the ground. With overwhelming power that could almost rival Sybas', I had no choice but to retreat.

Down. Down. Down into the depths where I'd need to figure out how to proceed from here.

*

"Hey, Aizawa," Chief Borsalino said.

"Yeah, boss?" I said.

We were on the roof of the headquarters building, enjoying a drink together. But he laid down his tea on a coffee table so he could read the newspaper again.

"'Disgraced Hero Amila Will Be Temporarily Retiring From Her Hero Duties to Reflect on Her Actions.' Now that's a title I'd never thought we'd publish, haha."

"Sorry for making you go through all that trouble."

"Nah, if anything I should be thanking you! With Nuri's protection, the church could levy backlash against us or on any other presses. And we all finally got to publish something spicy against the church!"

"It does feel nice to work for a press with backbone at least."

"Yeah, but should know—the church will have its eye on you from now on after exposing one of their Heroes. I won't be able to protect you if they go after you."

"That's fine. When I reincarnated in this world, I told myself I didn't want to be a bystander anymore. And that's what I did. Because even background characters can do things sometimes."

"Haha, true enough. Tsukino and Trixie are gonna have their hands full from now on I suppose."

And we continued chatting and chatting until the sun began to set and we retreated back into the office building.

No matter what the future held, I'd play my role as the proper background character no one would expect me to be.