Cryptomining Supervillain

Chapter 182 182: 182 SUPERVILLAIN TO SUPERHERO

182 SUPERVILLAIN TO SUPERHERO

Dackerie kept his camera trained on the chaos.

Dozens of Meat Heaps surged through the streets, chasing Black Halo through the shattered skyline. Damen fought fiercely at first, plasma lighting the ruins like miniature suns … but even he couldn't stand against that many.

Soon, he turned and fled.

"Make sure you record me running," Damen's voice crackled over the comm.

It wasn't panic. It was part of the act.

Dackerie understood the game now.

The city had painted Black Halo as the architect of the Corrosive Uprising — the monster behind the monsters.

But with these new footages, the story could change.

Now, he would be the hero who fought them. The savior who stood alone until the odds turned against him.

Even his retreat was framed as human, tragic, sympathetic.

By the time the last of the Meat Heaps melted back into the ground, transforming once more into Corrosivers, Dackerie's camera was still rolling.

A few minutes later, Damen landed beside him on the rooftop, his darkness dim and smoking.

"Did you get everything?" he asked.

"Yes," Dackerie said quietly.

"Show me the final cut."

Dackerie's hands trembled as he opened his console.

Damen sat on the ledge, staring across the burning skyline. The skies above Melrose were crimson, painted by fire and drifting ash.

"This was a good place once," Damen murmured. "Imperfect… but good."

Dackerie hesitated, unsure if he should respond. He kept his eyes on the editing screen, stitching together the footage as fast as he could.

Then Damen turned toward him. "Tell me, Dackerie," he said softly. "Why did you work for the Zetheris?"

The question froze him. His fingers stopped moving.

He didn't dare look up. The air felt heavier …. like the halo itself was watching him.

"You know… the usual reason," Dackerie said quietly, then sighed. "My scores in middle school weren't good enough for Meta High or the Military. But I am good with programming. There weren't many options for someone like me. Then the Zetheris offered me a scholarship. They gave me meta-amplification and strength enhancers to boost my scores."

"They were after your hacking ability," Damen said flatly.

"Yes," Dackerie replied, lowering his head. "That's the only thing I am good at."

Damen inhaled the polluted air, his gaze sweeping the burning skyline. "The Zetheris is gone now. You know that, don't you?"

Dackerie nodded. "With Garius and Shawn dead, and the Tower in ruins… there's no way for the corporation to recover."

"What will you do next?" Damen asked.

"I… I don't know," Dackerie stammered. "I'm just happy to be alive."

"If you survive this," Damen said, standing, "go to Silver City. The Aukouma Auction will give you a job… a good job. Tell them Damen Dark sent you."

Dackerie froze.

His knees gave out, and he dropped to the ground. It wasn't just the offer … it was the name. Damen Dark.

That was the man beneath the mask.

The name of the monster.

He would be killed instantly by the fact that he knew Black Halo's real identity.

Damen chuckled, sensing the panic in the air. "You already knew my secret. There is no need to pretend."

"I… I don't," Dackerie stammered.

"While I was killing Shawn Zetheris and those three scums, you were taking videos," Damen said. His tone was calm, but his words carried a killing edge. "I could sense you there."

Dackerie's face turned pale.

He had recorded that massacre, thinking he could use the footage to buy favor with the next Zetheris heir. He never thought the demon himself would find out.

"I… didn't mean to," he mumbled.

Damen turned his gaze on him, his voice soft but cold. "Remember this …. I can track you. No matter where you go."

The words weren't shouted. They didn't need to be.

Dackerie swallowed hard. "I understand."

He showed Damen the final edits of the video. Damen watched silently, then smiled. "Good. Send them to every media outlet. I want it on every headline by morning."

"Yes… I will," Dackerie said.

Damen rose into the red sky without another word. He didn't take the datapad or erase the files.

He didn't need to.

Dackerie watched him vanish into the smoke and ash, his hands trembling. He knew why Damen left him alive … because death was already promised if he ever talked.

"This Damen Dark…" Dackerie whispered. "He's a real monster."

-----

Damen wasn't afraid Dackerie would snitch.

The man wouldn't dare. Damen could track him anywhere … and kill him like a pest. That thought alone was enough to keep Dackerie silent forever.

Still, Damen saw potential in him.

"The new Aukouma building will need a resident hacker," he thought. "I can't depend on Kail alone. The more he uses his ability, the greater the risk he'll be exposed as a Quantum Mind."

With that settled, Damen returned to GenSyn Industries.

He went straight to the medical wing. After slaughtering so many corrosivers and meta-humans, his Blood Rank had climbed dangerously high again … Rank BB.

That was already flirting with his sanity.

He called the android nurse. "Get me a full blood transfusion," Damen ordered.

The nurse complied, preparing the machine. As the crimson tubes filled, Damen watched the cursed liquid drain from his veins …. his power condensed into something nearly alive. When the process was done, he said, "Crystallize it."

The nurse nodded and soon returned with another bloodstone …. a dark gem pulsing faintly with cursed energy. Damen pocketed it before checking his status window.

Name: Damen Dark

Strength Rank: B  Meta Rank: B  Blood Rank: B

Strength: 693 | Charm: 382 | Meta: 593 | Command: 592 | Blood: 610 | Armor: 2130

His Blood Rank had dropped safely back to B. But this time, he noticed his Armor stat barely improved. So that's the limit, he mused. Beyond Rank BB, it was difficult to farm Blood stats by killing creeps.

His Armor would likely cap somewhere between 2100 and 4000 using the loophole method.

"There is always a ceiling to every cheat", he mused.

The next morning, he turned on the holo-screen. As expected, the breaking news dominated every channel.

"From Supervillain to Superhero!"

The footage of Black Halo fighting the Meat Heaps played again and again … a loop of fire, plasma, and glory.

The anchors were ecstatic.

The city, desperate for hope after a week of chaos, embraced the narrative wholeheartedly. Melrose needed a hero now more than it needed a scapegoat.

And Damen had just given them one.

-----

For the next few months, Damen hunted corrosivers relentlessly. Each kill increased his Blood Rank, and he repeatedly the transfusions.

With every cycle, he gained more bloodstones, though their ultimate purpose remained a mystery to him.

He was just collecting them out of boredom.

Eventually, he realized the storage of meta-blood was depleted. The familiar cheat was gone … he could no longer farm endlessly.

Meanwhile, Melrose City fell into total ruin.

Meat Heaps ravaged every major family, razed districts, and even destroyed the Governor's palace. Survivors thinned with each passing day. Ghostly streets lined with the bodies of the fallen and the corrupted became the new normal.

Despite the chaos, no heroes or superheroes appeared to intervene. Melrose had become a city of shadows and corrosive monsters.

Damen could stay in the dead city though… he could mine the Meat Heaps for coins. And they yielded rich pay outs too. He began using his mining app's empowerment again because he was getting more coins than he could spend.

But… isolation from the world is unbearable.

He's already experienced Armageddon.

It was time to live again…. It was time to leave.

Damen arrived at the train station.

The waves of refugees had already passed, leaving only scattered pockets of survivors. He bought a ticket and sat on a bench, his eyes scanning around the platform.

Then the unexpected happened.

A deafening roar shattered the air.

Explosions ripped through the station. Screams echoed as shadows of monstrous forms tore through the crowd.

The train station was under attack.

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