Supervillain Idol System: My Sidekick Is A Yandere-Chapter 527: Show Of Force (Part 9)

As vapor rolled off the mechanoid in heavy bursts—venting from seams that hadn't been there seconds ago, it spread low across the crater, thick enough to blur the ground before thinning out and vanishing into the air.

Then came the noise.

Not loud. Not dramatic.

A layered sequence of muted mechanical sounds—soft clacks, internal shifts and a deep rotational hum—barely audible at the distance Don had climbed to.

He crouched on the branch, one hand braced against the bark, eyes locked on the shape. He didn't blink. Didn't look away.

The mechanoid began to change.

Its ovoid body leaned forward as mass redistributed, the lower half stretching and folding inward on itself.

What had once been a smooth curve split into articulated motion—segments sliding, locking, compressing—until two powerful limbs drove down into the crater floor.

They weren't human legs. Too compact. Too forward-loaded.

They bent like a predator's—thick upper sections angling sharply into reversed joints before ending in heavy, clawed feet that dug into the earth. The ground cracked beneath them as weight settled and balance finalized.

The upper body followed.

The shell parted and rotated, sections pulling back and re-forming as broad shoulders rolled into place. Arms unfolded with some force, long and dense, ending in massive claw-like hands—three thick prongs each, jointed and blunt at the tips, like industrial grabbers scaled to obscene size.

The head emerged last.

A smooth dome rose from the torso and locked into position with a low, final thunk. No eyes. No features. Just a single horizontal blue line igniting across its face.

The line swept once, scanning the area.

Then again.

It scanned the sprout.

The sprout didn't wait for it to finish.

One of its colossal legs shifted, compressing the earth as it took a step forward—DOOOM~—vines erupting outward in response. Thick, coiled limbs lashed toward the mechanoid in violent arcs, cracking the air as they struck.

They never touched it.

A blue field flashed into existence several meters above the mechanoid's frame—hexagonal plates locking together in a honeycomb pattern just in time. The vines slammed into it—BOOM~—their force rippling across the barrier in rolling waves of light.

The shield held.

The impact dispersed, energy bleeding off in glowing fractures before the pattern faded and vanished entirely. The next vine struck—and the shield returned just as fast. Absorb. Disperse. Fade.

Again.

And again.

Pyro let out a breathy laugh, hovering lower now, flames flickering along his body as he leaned forward to get a better look.

His eyes were wide. "Holy shit," he said, grin creeping in despite himself. "What kind of mech is that? Is Dr. Gadget inside?"

Starboy's mouth opened—

But before anything could be said, static cracked.

"Unfortunately, I am not."

Dr. Gadget's voice came through the comms—strained, filtered, but unmistakable.

"I've stationed myself elsewhere and am controlling it remotely," Gadget continued, words clipped. "More importantly, it sounds like you're still relatively close. Why aren't you retreating?"

Starboy glanced sideways toward Don, irritation already set in his jaw. "Someone decided now was a good time to stop and watch."

"No," Gadget said immediately—firmer now. "No, there is no time for that. You must all leave at once."

The mechanoid shifted its stance as it tracked the sprout's movement.

"Something is interfering not only with communications," Gadget went on, "but also with the advanced channels I'm using to control this unit. My responsiveness is degraded. That makes this mechanoid dangerous to anything in the surrounding area."

Another vine slammed down—BOOM~—the shield flaring to life again.

"Leave at once," Gadget said. "Go. I can't ris—" the comms cut before he could finish.

Starboy snapped his head toward Don. "You see?" he said sharply. "Let's get out of here."

Don inhaled, about to answer—

The mechanoid moved.

One of its massive claw-hands began to rotate—not the arm, just the hand itself—segments spinning around a central axis with rising force. The motion locked in place, the prongs angling upward.

It pointed at the sprout.

The blue line across its face brightened.

Then it fired.

A vicious beam tore out of the mechanoid's hand—SHRRRAAAAM~—the air split as the energy lanced forward.

It punched straight through the sprout.

The impact blew out the far side in a violent eruption of debris and organic matter—BOOOOM~—leaving a massive, clean-edged hole straight through its core. Chunks of scorched mass rained down across the crater and surrounding forest.

For half a second, the sprout staggered.

Then it began to close the wound.

Vines writhed inward, coiling over one another as fresh growth surged into place, sealing the wound with sickening speed. The hole shrank, then vanished entirely beneath layered flesh and vine.

Pyro stared, grin gone now, eyes narrowed in focus. "Damn," he said quietly. "Dr. Gadget's doing real damage. Looks like he'll be able to hold it off until backup—HUH—"

The earth rumbled, cutting Pyro off as the whole area began to shake visibly.

Not from the sprout.

Not from the mechanoid.

From Havenridge.

Pyro was the first to react.

He drifted a little higher, turning toward the town, flames guttering as his focus shifted. His brows drew together, jaw tightening as the ground far off began to behave strangely—too much movement, too fast.

"What the hell is happening over there?" he asked.

Starboy followed his line of sight, rising another few meters without thinking. His posture changed immediately—spine straightening, chin lifting as his eyes narrowed, trying to cut through distance and smoke and the low haze still clinging to the land.

Don didn't answer either of them.

He shifted his weight once, then sprang sideways to another branch—wood cracking under his boots as he landed. The new angle gave him a cleaner sightline past the treetops. He leaned forward, snapped off a smaller limb blocking his view, and let it tumble down.

What he saw made him still.

Near the center of Havenridge, fractures began to spread.

Not randomly. Not like earlier.

They radiated outward from a single point near the town's civic core, splitting asphalt and stone in clean, violent lines.

Pavement peeled apart as if pulled from below. Light poles tilted, then vanished as the ground swallowed their bases.

City Hall went next.

The building shuddered once—windows blowing outward as the structure sagged—then the earth beneath it simply… gave up. The foundation collapsed inward, walls folding as the entire building slid downward and disappeared into a widening black void.

Starboy sucked in a sharp breath. "No way…"

Before anyone could say more—

The ground erupted.

Not a rupture. Not a surge.

An explosion.

The entire area around the collapsed site detonated upward as if the earth itself had been struck from below. Roads tore free in long slabs, twisting as they were flung skyward.

Buildings lifted, cracked, and disintegrated midair—walls tearing apart, roofs collapsing inward before gravity even had time to catch up.

Then the sprout broke through.

It came out with obscene force—far greater than the first—rocketing upward in a column of debris and pulverized earth. The shockwave rolled outward in a violent ring, flattening everything that hadn't already been airborne.

Structures that had somehow remained standing were reduced to fragments in a heartbeat.

There was no stagger this time.

No hesitation.

The eruption erased a good chunk of the town.

If anyone had still been alive down there… there was no question now.

Starboy threw an arm up instinctively, forearm shielding his face as the wind hit them—howling, brutal, ripping through the forest canopy below.

Pyro did the same, flames flaring uncontrolled for a split second as he fought to keep his position.

The trees beneath them bent hard, branches snapping as leaves and debris were torn free and hurled downslope.

Don felt the branch under his boots tilt.

Just a few degrees—but it was enough to register. Enough to remind him how much force had traveled this far, bled off by distance, terrain, and dense forest… and still managed to reach them.

The second sprout rose fully into view.

Its mass was thicker, broader—vines whipping downward immediately, smashing what little remained of nearby structures.

Growth piled atop itself as massive leg-like supports formed, braided vines compacting together as they anchored into mounds of rubble the eruption itself had created.

Before any of them could react—

Static tore through the comms.

"Are you kids still in the area?!" Dr. Gadget's voice came through, strained and uneven. There was a wet edge to his breathing now, words breaking around coughs. "I said to leave—cough~—I said to leave at once!"

None of them argued.

Not even Don.

"Let's go," he said flatly.

He pushed off the branch and dropped.

The impact was light—controlled—but the moment his boots hit the slope, something else happened.

The world paused.

A translucent overlay snapped into existence in front of his vision.

———

Side Quest Activated: Last Man Standing

Objective: Hold off the newly emerged sprout from attacking Dr. Gadget until backup arrives

Time: 3 minutes 44 seconds

Reward:

• 2000 Idol Points

• 550 Aura

Refusal or Failure Penalty:

• 50% chance of death

• 80% chance of Dr. Gadget's death

• −600 Aura 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

• −500 Idol Points

———

Don stopped cold.

The sounds of the world dulled around him—wind, distant impacts, the deep roll of the earth—all pushed to the edges as he stared at the prompt.

'Of course.'

Most days, he forgot the system existed at all. It didn't guide him. Didn't reward him often when it should have. It didn't respond when he reached for it or push him forward like the ones in stories or games.

It just… appeared.

When it wanted.

Even now—when he was exhausted, bruised, and worn thin—when the enemy was only getting stronger.

An opportunity.

That was what it called this.

His jaw tightened.

If there were no penalties, he would have ignored it without a second thought. Walked away. Done what he already knew was right.

But this—

This wasn't a suggestion.

Above him, Starboy slowed midair, sensing the hesitation before Don even realized he'd stopped. He hovered in place and looked down, irritation flashing across his face.

"Hey!" he called. "What's the hold up? Is something wrong?"

Don didn't answer right away.

His mouth pulled into a thin line. Teeth ground together as his gaze lingered on the prompt one last time.

Then he accepted it.

The screen vanished.

He exhaled through his nose and looked up. "Yeah," he said. "Something's wrong."

Starboy frowned. "What?"

"I'm heading back to Havenridge," Don said.

Pyro's head snapped toward him. "What?"

"You guys go on ahead."

There was no explanation. No justification.

Don turned and launched forward—this time not away from the destruction, but straight back toward it.

He tore down the slope in long, punishing strides, earth breaking under his feet as he accelerated toward the town.

Toward the sprout.