Perhaps due to the loss of 'God's' will to restrain them, the dark seeds it had sown began to sprout and grow uncontrollably.
Within just two weeks, the number of monster attacks worldwide exploded, chaos intensifying.
One day, Sweet Mask had just finished a rapid intervention against a riot and was about to return to the Association when his emergency communicator shrieked.
"Unknown monster appearing at Rainbow Land! Attacking visitors! Preliminary assessment: Tiger-level, but with strange abilities! Requesting backup!"
Sweet Mask frowned, 'Rainbow Land? That famous amusement park themed around family and fairy tales? It was crowded with visitors, mostly children and families.'
Without hesitation, he changed direction and rushed to the scene.
When he arrived at Rainbow Land, the scene was already one of devastation.
The once colorful, laughter-filled merry-go-rounds, roller coasters, and candy houses were now shattered and scattered.
Terrified people screamed and fled in all directions. The air was filled with a strange mix of sweet candy scent and pungent burning.
In the fountain plaza at the park's center, a figure let out a piercing laugh, gleefully destroying everything around him.
It was a tall, thin clown in tattered, colorful costume, with exaggerated makeup on its face.
It wielded a clown hammer, each swing easily smashing sturdy rides.
"Look! Look! What a wonderful performance!" The clown monster shrieked with laughter, an ominous dark red glow flickering around it.
The more people watched it, the stronger its aura grew, its destructive power visibly increasing.
'A costume-type monster?' Sweet Mask thought to himself.
He moved like lightning, instantly inserting himself between the clown monster and a group of children trapped behind a spinning teacup ride.
"Oh? A 'pretty' Hero arrives?" The clown monster licked its lips, its scarlet tongue extending unnaturally long. "I hate... anything that attracts more attention than me!"
The battle erupted instantly.
Sweet Mask was more than just A-Class Rank 1... he had long possessed the strength to be S-Class.
His speed, power, and combat skills were top-tier. From the first exchange, he suppressed the clown monster with his fierce attacks.
However, as the fight continued, more park visitors were drawn by the commotion, stopping their escape to nervously watch the battle.
"It's Sweet Mask-sama!"
"Great! Sweet Mask-sama is here to save us!"
"Sweet Mask-sama is so handsome! Go!"
As people focused on Sweet Mask, the clown monster inevitably drew their attention too.
Those gazes acted like invisible nourishment, pouring into the clown monster.
"Haha! Thanks! Thanks for watching!" The clown monster laughed maniacally, the dark red light around it growing stronger, its speed and power increasing unnaturally.
In just minutes, its strength rose from Tiger-level to Demon-level, and it was still climbing toward Dragon-level.
Sweet Mask immediately recognized the problem. In this environment, his own popularity was empowering his enemy.
"Damn!" He tried to end the fight faster, but the clown monster, continuously 'charging', had become incredibly resilient and even began to overwhelm Sweet Mask.
To protect the children and visitors behind him who couldn't evacuate quickly, Sweet Mask was forced into a more defensive strategy, putting him at a greater disadvantage.
Seeing the clown monster tear through his defense, leaving a bloody gash on his chest, and laughing as it lunged at the terrified children—
"Enough!" A look of determination flashed in Sweet Mask's eyes.
"Gyaaah!" With a suppressed roar, the perfectly tailored white suit on Sweet Mask suddenly tore apart.
His body began to undergo a horrifying transformation.
His skin became rough and dark red, muscles swelling and twisting irregularly. His handsome features melted and re-formed into a monstrous head, covered in wrinkles and pustules, hideous beyond imagination.
In an instant, the elegant, handsome A-Class Rank 1 [Sweet Mask] was gone.
In his place stood an unspeakably ugly monster.
"Wh-what?"
"Sweet Mask-sama... turned into a monster?"
"No! Impossible! This must be an illusion!"
The watching crowd screamed in terror and disbelief.
His fans, once captivated by his looks, now stared as if witnessing a nightmare, their faces filled with shock and disillusionment.
Returned to his monster form, Sweet Mask's power, speed, and reactions had all leaped qualitatively.
"Die!" The harsh, grating voice came from his grotesque maw.
Sweet Mask became a dark red blur, moving far faster than before as he flashed past the clown monster.
"Pfft."
The clown monster's flesh was pierced by claws. Its substitute balloons burst one after another.
Seconds later, the clown monster collapsed.
The threat was neutralized, but the plaza was plunged into a different kind of deathly silence.
Sweet Mask slowly retracted his claws, standing still, looking around.
He saw not admiration and love, but pure terror and disgust.
"Sweet Mask is a monster!"
"He's been deceiving us all along!"
"Disgusting! So ugly! Go die!"
"Where are the other Heroes? Come kill this monster!"
"Help! A monster! Sweet Mask from the Hero Association is a monster!"
Curses, screams, wails, and calls for help engulfed him like a tide.
The very people he had risked exposing his identity to protect were now cursing him with the vilest language, even calling for other Heroes to kill him.
If this were the old Sweet Mask, obsessed with the 'perfect Hero' image and deeply hating his monstrous nature, he might have been shattered by pain, maybe even consumed by this overwhelming malice, driven to true madness.
But now...
Listening to the harsh curses, looking at the faces twisted by fear and disgust, his heart was strangely calm.
'Ugly?'
'I don't think my current form is ugly.'
'Choosing to expose myself to save them was my own decision.'
'Their reaction was within expectations.'
He remembered Hades's words: "Judging whether someone is 'human' or 'monster' lies in their heart, not their appearance."
'I protected them. I have a clear conscience.'
He slowly straightened his distorted body, ready to leave this place that no longer needed him, even hated him.
Just then, a familiar figure appeared before him: Setsuna.