VILLAIN'S RISING

[The moon fell! Yes, you heard it right! The moon has fallen!]

The people of earth watched in horror as every media outlet, news channel, and online blog displayed the same thing repeatedly.

Tsunamis struck some areas of the world, and some parts were hit by violent earthquakes.

Since the moon was destroyed, its gravitational pull on our planet suddenly disappeared, causing turbulent ocean tides, large magnitude earthquakes, and strong windstorms.

It was as if nature itself was rejecting the ongoing events.

Millions had already lost their lives in these calamities, and countless were injured. The death toll was rising by the hour. The situation on earth wasn’t looking very good.

[According to all the top space research and exploration facilities over the globe, a creature believed to be the same size as the moon is spotted near the moon’s orbit.

If we believe the reports, the creature is identified as a dragon—an exponentially colossal dragon– big enough to wipe out our planet off the face of the universe.

Starsuper, the top-ranked hero in the world, is engaged in a fierce battle with the giant dragon as we’re speaking.

However, even Starsuper is struggling to vanquish the dragon.

….Humanity has never witnessed a battle of this intensity go down.

According to the observers who have been keeping an eye on the battle in space, Starsuper has kept the destruction away from our planet.

The light explosions in the evening sky some of you living in the northern hemisphere have witnessed are believed to be caused by this battle–!]

The female newscaster, who was reporting about the events of the moon’s fall, suddenly fell to her knees when the walls of the studio she was in shook.

The camera too fell to the ground as the cameraman must’ve dropped to his knees too.

Another earthquake? No, it was too short for an earthquake. It was something else.

The reporter pressed her index finger against her ear. From the looks of it, someone was communicating with her through a comm earpiece.

After a few minutes of utter silence, the cameraman picked up the camera, and the reporter got up on her legs.

After dusting her clothes, visibly trembling, the newscaster looked into the camera as she said

[Another golden light explosion has been spotted in the northern hemisphere’s night sky.

According to the witnesses, it looks almost like a sun has appeared in the dark night sky….]

Taking another brief pause, the reporter tried to calm herself down. She took a few long breaths and then recited

[People of earth, pray for Starsuper’s victory over the Progenitor. The moon is gone, so our nights will be dark now.

However, if Starsuper falls here, even our days ahead will be full of darkness.]

*

Meanwhile, in space a few hundred miles further from the moon’s orbit…

A giant black dragon clad in sharp obsidian scales was floating in the eternal, endless darkness.

On top of it was a blonde man dressed in a ragtag gold and white cape superhero costume.

The man was on his knees, his hands trembled, and his lips quivered. A feeling of helplessness washed over him as he realized it was the end.

The prophecy was true…

The fate of this world was set in stone, and there was nothing he could do to change it.

Despite his valiant efforts, despite using his full strength— the strength that Starsuper took pride in welding amounted to nothing!

Absolutely nothing was what he achieved.

He used his full power in one single punch— a punch that he dealt at point-blank range with no wasted movement.

It was a punch that was powerful enough to supposedly wreck the planet Mars.

But even with that amount of power at his disposal, the black dragon was still in one piece… without any mortal wound.

Its scales were able to absorb the shock force of Starsuper’s full strength!

Even if he could outmaneuver the black dragon after this, there was nothing he could do to defeat it.

Every passing moment only prolonged the feeling of helplessness.

While Starsuper was in despair, Sam fluttered his giant wings relentlessly to get him off his back.

The fluttering of the dragon’s wings shook Starsuper out of his train of thought and reminded him that the battle was yet to end!

He had to continue fighting! He had to keep on moving forward!

Maybe if he could deal another blow at this range—!

Before Starsuper could even entertain the idea of using his full strength again, a golden screen popped up in his vision.

[System Alert!]

[Host’s life is in danger!]

[It is advised for the host to cease Overdrive immediately!]

Along with the golden translucent screen came a sharp, organ-rendering pain.

Excruciating pain spread over Starsuper’s body as he felt like his body was being ripped apart in all directions.

‘Arghhhh!’ gritting his teeth, Starsuper clenched his fists.

Well, that was to be expected. Despite his body’s great adaptive capabilities, Starsuper wasn’t accustomed to using his full strength all the time.

At most, his body could handle the abuse for no longer than 10 minutes. However, right now, it has been well over 40 minutes since the battle started.

Starsuper was already stretching it thin, but now his body was on its limits.

On the other hand, Sam was more frustrated than ever.

Contrary to Starsuper’s belief, Sam had taken some damage by his last blow that was dealt at such a close range.

Of course, it was nothing life-threatening, but according to Sam’s estimation, it would only take 3-4 more blows like that to wound him gravely.

Sam didn’t want to risk it; thus, he kept flapping his massive wings violently to shake Starsuper off his back.

‘Get off! Get off, you fucker!’ he cursed in his mind.

Almost instantly, as if he got an idea, Sam activated his [Biology Manipulation] ability.

On the dragon’s back, Starsuper was on his knees, devoid of any strength and losing his will to fight back. Excruciating pain kept assaulting his body.

Then suddenly, the dragon stopped fluttering its massive wings.

‘What is he thinking now?’ with a frown on his tired face, Starsuper thought.

Before he could even try to deduce the answer to his question, several sharp obsidian spikes shot up from the dragon’s back instantly, impaling Starsuper’s tougher-than-diamond skin like a hot knife to butter.

‘Khkk!’ Enduring the sharp, acute pain, Starsuper coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Biting his lip in vexation, he swung his arm and destroyed the spikes impaling him in place.

Quickly using [Flight], Starsuper flew off in the distance and created enough gap between himself and the dragon. Enough to give him sufficient time to react to the monster’s attack.

But shortly after, the golden aura that shrouded Starsuper’s figure started diminishing until it subsided completely.

He couldn’t maintain his full strength anymore.

(Sam, he’s keeping his distance!) the voice in Sam’s mind yelled at him.

‘So?’ Sam asked. ‘What do you think?’

(I think he can’t maintain his full strength for too long!)

Sam nodded mentally and asked for the voice’s advice. ‘What do you think I should do?’

(Rush at him. Close the distance and attack consecutively, and don’t give him a chance to recover!)

‘Stole the words right out of my mouth!’ grinning viciously, showing off his dragon teeth, Sam flapped his enormous wings and charged at Starsuper.

Clutching his abdomen, Starsuper tried to suppress the bone-shattering pain that tormented him while calculating a viable strategy to get him out of this predicament.

To evade the dragon’s charge, Starsuper activated his [Flight] ability.

However, before Starsuper could get out of the way, the colossus black dragon gaped open its maw.

A blazing torrent of empyreal blue flame erupted from the dragon’s mouth toward Starsuper like a solar flare.

The caped hero could only widen his eyes as the pillar of blue flame sped toward him. He was already exhausted. He did not have the strength to avoid this attack in time!

-Fwwoosh!

The torrent of fire hit Starsuper with immense explosive force and pushed him a few hundred miles back into the empty vacuum of space.

‘Arghhhhhh!’ Starsuper bared his teeth in anguish as a stinging, burning sensation spread all over his body.

Starsuper had been hit by the dragon’s breath multiple times before.

However, there was something different about this black dragon’s dragon breath.

It was… hotter? It was hotter and stronger! It was way more fierce than a normal dragon’s breath.

It felt like Starsuper was hit by the force of a few dozen exploding nukes.

For a second, Starsuper’s mind went blank. He thought he might die. But fortunately, his regeneration kicked in, and his body started healing in time.

But it wasn’t the time to rejoice. The black dragon had already appeared over Starsuper.

Clicking his tongue, Starsuper cursed in his mind. At this rate, he will be overpowered and forced to go into a hibernating state.

‘No, I can’t let that happen!’ Starsuper thought.

This was a dire situation. Sam was already nearly unstoppable. If he gets hold of the relic in Los Angeles, he will become unstoppable.

Starsuper could not let that happen.

‘I have to stop him here!’ he thought. ‘I can’t let Sam walk out of this battle alive! I have to eliminate him here even if I… Even if I have to give my life in order to do that!’

Ironing his resolve, Starsuper took a glance at the earth’s direction with soft eyes.

Almost as if he adored the planet he had spent most of his life on, a gentle smile appeared on his face.

‘Thank you,’ as he uttered his gratitude for the people of earth in his mind, drops of tears dampened the side of his eyes.

It’s been a few hundred years since Starsuper came to this planet. Although he was reluctant at first, he ended up staying here.

The people of earth had been very welcoming of him too. They accepted him with open arms and hailed him as their protector when he defeated the Progenitor.

He then went on to find the love of his life on earth and fathered two lovely children.

During all these years that he spent here, Starsuper closely observed the humans.

He witnessed their blunders, achievements, and progress as a civilization.

And in time, he became just like them.

He experienced grief when he lost his wife and joy when he made friends. He felt pain when his comrades died and delight when he defeated his enemies and saved the world.

He started feeling emotions like a human. He stopped observing them, and instead, he joined them.

Under his guidance, he made the world a relatively peaceful place. He established a hero order and suppressed most of the criminal activities.

He did all that because he wanted humanity to grow past their conflicts and accept each other.

He wanted them to see what he saw in them.

Humans, at their core, were broken creatures. They fight each other on the most trivial topics. Be it religion, gender, borders, or something else entirely.

They are greedy, selfish, and short-sighted creatures. They take from each other, hurt others, and prioritize themselves over everyone else.

However, that’s not all for them. They may be broken, but they are beautiful….

If they take, then they give too. If they hurt, then they heal each other too. And sometimes, they act in the most unnaturally selfless way.

They are not predictable, but they don’t act randomly, either. If they fight over the most trivial things, then they change their hearts over very simple things too.

If they resent, hinder, understate, mislead, hate, neglect, and give up on each other…

Then they also forgive, help, emphasize, teach, love, learn, and believe in one another.

That’s what they’ve named humanity, and their humanity is what makes them beautiful.

And Starsuper will be damned if he lets some edgy kid with daddy issues and a villain complex end humanity.

Glaring at the incoming colossus black dragon fiercely, Starsuper softened his expression and closed his eyes.

He recalled his friends, comrades, late wife, and his son and daughter.

A bittersweet smile crept up on his face, and he inwardly muttered, ‘Thank you for showing me what it’s like to be a human.’

With that done, Starsuper shot open his eyes.

The titanic black dragon that was closing in on Starsuper from above his head opened its giant maw and shot forth another torrent of blue flames.

-Fwoosh!

The smile on Starsuper’s face vanished and was replaced by a resolute, unwavering look.

‘Initiate self-destruct!’