VILLAIN'S RISING

-A few hours ago, in Los Angeles, Hero Association Base. When Sam was about to revive the Dragons, Eve was unconscious.

A dull ache kept hitting his forehead. In the back of his mind, a thought continued to spiral.

“I couldn’t save him… I couldn’t save anyone.” Thoughts like these kept bombarding his mind.

As if to pull him out of his thoughts, a hand gently patted him on his forehead.

The touch he felt was so gentle that it reminded him of a distant feeling that he had long since forgotten— Love.

“Dad… wake up….”

In the distance, he heard a voice. A voice that was calling for him. Asking him to wake up.

So he did.

With the little strength left in his body, he weakly parted his eyelids and opened his eyes.

“Dad! You’re awake!”

Eve looked around and found himself lying on a hospital bed in a medical ward.

Several cannula tubes connected to drip bags on a stand were injected into his hand while his upper abdomen was covered in bandages.

Shiny red hair and matching eyes. A pretty feminine face with spotless silky skin on a slender body. Despite being a boy, he was so pretty.

Yes, there was no mistaking it. The boy in front of his eyes was his very own son— Drake Dragonheart.

Drake had a worried expression on his face as he quickly examined his father’s condition.

“…Where are we?” with a weak, hoarse voice, Eve asked.

“We’re in Los Angeles, dad. Heroes have taken full control of the city. More heroes are coming as reinforcements.” Drake replied while still continuing to examine his father.

“….Los Angeles.”

“Dad, does it hurt anywhere? If so, then tell me, and I’ll call for medics.”

“I’m fine, son,” to calm Drake’s worries, Eve lightly waved his hand. “How long was I out for?”

“31 hours,” Drake replied quickly. “Y-You went against the Progenitor a-and….”

It looks like Drake was hesitant to speak further. Seeing him like this, Eve remembered what had happened.

“…And Lightbringer died.”

They fought Sam head-on… and they lost. In the battle, many heroes died, and among them, one was Lightbringer.

“What about the dragon corpse? Starsuper stopped him from taking it, right?”

Drake didn’t know how to reply to his father’s question. He didn’t have the heart to tell his father the truth.

However, Drake’s silence was enough of an answer for Eve.

“N…No…” Eve mumbled in despair.

Does that mean all that death and destruction was for nothing?

They failed to eliminate him. Now Sam can revive the Dragons, and Eve wasn’t sure if he could be stopped now.

He needed to talk to Starsuper and devise a plan.

“Where is he? Where is Starsuper?” Eve asked, looking at his son.

Once again, Drake didn’t know how to announce the situation to his father.

At a loss, Drake scoured his head and answered after a short pause, “Starsuper is on the North Pole. He went to fight the Progenitor alone.”

“What?!” Visibly shocked by the revelation, Eve widened his eyes. “Why?! Why would he do that?!”

“He said he couldn’t endanger any more lives,” Drake answered and hesitantly continued. “…He said this will be his last battle.”

There was nothing more that needed to be said. Eve understood what Starsuper was trying to do.

Starsuper will use everything to stop Samael here.

***

-Kzzzzzz!

-Showroom!

The sky split, and the sound barrier broke once again. The flock of mighty Dragons sustained some damage to their bodies but almost instantly recovered.

The dragons’ regeneration was on par– no, it was even faster than Sam’s.

Seeing this sight that he had created firsthand, Sam, who was now in his dragon hybrid form, smirked wholeheartedly.

However, he knew it was still too early to celebrate anything.

Although the Dragons easily held their own against Starsuper, the latter wasn’t falling either.

It was almost as if an unstoppable force was clashing with another unstoppable force.

But Sam knew better. He knew dragging this battle out would be of no benefit to him.

Thinking this, he prepared himself to enter the battle.

The bat-like wings on Sam’s back fluttered, and he himself made an inhumane jump at breakneck speed.

-Swoosh

Like a bullet, he surfed through the air, aiming for Starsuper.

While Starsuper was busy holding his ground against the mighty rulers of the skies– dragons, Sam intentionally positioned himself for Starsuper’s blind spot.

Upon arriving right behind him, Sam thrust his claw forward like a claw, intending to burst open Starsuper’s skull.

But the caped superhero had already sensed the attack coming.

He twisted his body around, grabbed Sam’s hand, and with all the strength he could muster, he punched Sam straight in his solar plexus.

-Thwack!

“Ghaaaa!” Sam felt like his internal organs were crushed as all the air in his lungs escaped through his mouth.

But Starsuper had no intentions of stopping here. He once again pulled back his right arm and was about to hit Sam again when…

“Khaaaaauuuur!”

One of the dragons closest to them swung its mighty claw at Starsuper and flung him away like a toy, saving Sam.

After managing to get away from what could’ve been his death, Sam took a moment and breathed in.

His body instantly healed from the damage he had sustained.

“Th-That punch didn’t rip my body to shreds,” Sam wondered to himself. “I was able to tank a hit from Starsuper.”

Although it hurt a lot, Sam was able to take a direct hit from Starsuper and survive! And Sam didn’t even use any abilities! That was his physical endurance right there!

“These scales,” in awe, Sam gently touched the scales that had covered his body like armor. “These scales can absorb shock, giving me immense durability.”

Although the dragon scales on Sam’s body did give him immense durability, they could only absorb the shock from an attack and not nullify them.

Meaning Sam would still take damage if he were to be hit by another punch from Starsuper.

However, that still was a big improvement!

Now, instead of using [Neither Manipulation] for both defense and offense, he could use it solely for offense alone— greatly increasing his attack potential!

“You!”

While Sam was immersed in his thoughts, he heard a thunderous roar from his behind.

Instantly, Sam turned around and saw Starsuper hovering in the distance from him.

His hero costume was in rags, his cape barely intact. There were still quite a few wounds and burn marks on his body in the process of recovering.

His eyes were baggy, and his breathing was out of order. One could tell that Starsuper was having a really hard time.

And seeing him in this condition, having a hard time, was a treat for Sam’s eyes.

Ignoring the bright smile on Sam’s face, Starsuper yelled while still hovering in the air.

“You are dead!”

It wasn’t an empty threat or a harmless bark. It was a curse filled with resentment.

Without any delay, at speed incomprehensible to human eyes, Starsuper disappeared and appeared right in front of Sam.

In a flash, Starsuper directed his right hand at Sam, intending to grab him by the neck.

The black-haired boy was ready for it too. He activated [Neither Manipulation] and strengthened his body with otherworldly energy.

-Smack!

Guiding that energy to his left hand, Sam whacked away Starsuper’s hand.

From behind him, his legion of dragons flapped their wings and moved forward to bite Starsuper’s head off.

In the skies of the North Pole, one single man faced a legion of 48 Dragons and one dragon-human hybrid, all in order to determine the fate of the world— all in order to change the destiny that was already set in stone.