VILLAIN'S RISING

Somewhere in the city of Los Angeles, inside a tall skyscraper…

In a large, extravagantly lavish room, a few people were gathered.

They all were dressed in hero costumes that were designed to not only look flashy but also assist them during a battle in one way or another.

Around a large, square table, all of them sat with grim expressions on their faces.

Anthony Willburn, who was sitting at the head of the table, was looking more agitated than the rest of them.

According to reports from the space facilities that were keeping a close eye on the battle between his father and Sam, Starsuper was struggling quite a bit.

‘My father is struggling?’

Anthony couldn’t believe it.

When his father and uncles faced the first Progenitor, Anthony wasn’t even born.

However, according to his father, the legends, and the history books, Progenitor alone wasn’t that strong without his army.

His father possessed planetary-level strength. Meaning he could destroy planets with ease.

If he was struggling against Sam, does that mean the current Progenitor was not only stronger than the last, but he’d also transcended past planetary-level threats?

According to the reports, Sam had transformed himself into a giant black dragon.

Anthony wasn’t even sure what to make of it.

He knew Sam could partly transform others and himself with his ability– that’s how he creates demons after all— however, is changing one’s complete biology even possible?

Sure, there are some people with [Shapeshifting] ability in the world who can turn themselves into animals, but changing one’s appearance is very different from ‘transforming’ oneself down to genetic levels.

For a second opinion, Anthony called the top bioengineers and biotech researchers of the world and asked for their views on the matter.

Needless to say, all of them were baffled.

“Completely changing one’s genome is nigh-impossible. If someone can do that, it can only be a god.”- That’s what they said.

‘A god, huh?’ Anthony remembered Sam calling himself a god before.

At first, he thought the boy only had some kind of god complex. However, now he was starting to second guess his previous opinion of him.

“Anthony, are you listening?”

While he was pondering over the situation, a sweet, crisp voice brought his attention back to the table.

“Yeah?” Anthony looked at the owner of the voice and answered.

The one who called him was a woman dressed in a revealing bright red latex costume.

She was Scarlett Vampire. One of the top heroes who took the lead during the battle of Academy City against Sam.

Although she was brutally defeated, her battle prowess was nothing to scoff at, earning her a seat in the hero council.

“The council was discussing whether we should send heroes to assist the general populace?” Scarlett repeated her question.

Several natural calamities have hit the world all over the globe since the moon got destroyed and its gravitational pull disappeared.

At times like this, the people needed the heroes of the world more than ever.

However, it has been a few hours since then, but the heroes were not dispatched to help the masses.

Instead, they were asked to hold their positions while staying still in Los Angeles.

“No, we can’t send help to the world.” Anthony declined the suggestion to help curtly.

“What? Anthony, you’re asking us to abandon the world?” Scarlett smashed her hands on the table in bafflement.

“We had issued a worldwide black alert beforehand,” Anthony calmly voiced his reasoning. “The people were asked to take shelter in underground bunkers near them. If they didn’t heed our warning, it’s their fault.”

“But-!”

Before Scarlett Vampire could retort any further, Anthony cut her off.

“And besides, we must guard the city of Los Angeles at all costs. If we fail to do that, the world will be done for.”

Scarlett could only bite her lip helplessly. She knew Anthony was right practically but abandoning the world still didn’t feel like the right thing to do to her.

“Anthony is right, Scarlett,” one of the men sitting at the square table chimed in. “We need to defend the relic.”

“Yes,” another guy joined in the discussion. “We have to stay in positions.”

Not everyone agreed with Anthony though. Some openly displayed their displeasure with the decision to abandon the world.

“What are you saying?! We are heroes! We can’t leave people to die!”

“Yeah! They call us protectors! If we can’t protect them, then who will?!”

“So what do you guys say? Should we leave our positions and leave the city undefended to save a few people?!”

“Yes! That’s exactly what we should do! Besides, isn’t Starsuper fighting the Progenitor?! That means this battle is already won!”

While the heroes at the square table continued to dispute over whether to help the world or abandon it, the room door slammed open.

Silenced, everyone stopped their wittering and turned their gazes toward the door.

“Eve?” Anthony frowned upon seeing a tall, handsome red-haired man with a chiseled face and a body scarcely covered in bandages. “You woke up? How are your injuries?”

Eve, who was standing at the edge of the door, surveyed the room with sharp gouging eyes, sending chills down to everyone.

“He shouldn’t have done that,” the red-haired man uttered in a whispering voice.

Confused, Anthony frowned. “Who shouldn’t have done what?”

“Your father, boy!” Eve snapped. “Arthur shouldn’t have confronted the Progenitor alone!”

Finally understanding his words, Anthony nodded. “I asked him to take me with him. However, he said I would only be in his way.”

“Tsk, never mind that,” Eve shook his head and got into talking about the more important matters. “What’s the situation?”

Without any delay, almost as if he had prepared the answer to this question beforehand, Anthony recited

“Sam had turned himself into a gigantic dragon— his transformation is around the size of the moon. Currently, my father, Starsuper, is engaging him in a fight. However, he’s struggling to defeat him.”

Eve, in all honesty, was left baffled. He had expected the situation to be grim, but not THIS grim!

“A dragon around the size of the moon?” Eve felt like his whole world had turned upside down. “That’s not a good thing….”

“Yeah, but don’t fret. If my father uses his full strength-” before Anthony could finish, Eve blurted in.

“No! You don’t get it!” Waving his hands, Eve started hyperventilating. “You… you don’t get it!”

The heroes present in this room were not worried because they didn’t understand the severity of the situation.

Not Eve, though. He was a Dragonheart. A member of the clan that’d tamed these beasts known as dragons for generations.

Where the rest of the world feared dragons for their fiery dragon breath, Eve knew what they should be feared for something else— their dragon scales.

The dragon scales were capable of absorbing a great deal of shock from physical attacks.

Meaning no physical attacks from outside could hurt those beasts unless dealt with an ungodly amount of impact force.

What’s more, the bigger the dragon, the more powerful the shock absorption they possess.

And ironically, Starsuper’s greatest weapon was his physical offensive strength.

Eve feared that if the dragon was around the size of the moon, even Starsuper’s strength would fail him.

Quickly, a thought crossed his mind. “Anthony, you can sense your father, right?”

With a bit of hesitation, Anthony nodded his head. “Normally, I can. However, my father is currently in close proximity to the Progenitor…. So I can’t sense him.”

“Tsk,” Eve couldn’t help but click his tongue in annoyance. “Fine then. I want you to go help him.”

“You want me to do what?” Anthony widened his eyes in utter confusion. At a time like this, Eve wanted him to leave his position? “Eve, listen, if my father is fighting Sam in space, where he can use no one as his human shield, my father will win!”

Eve simply shook his head, “Boy, you don’t understand. I fear your father will lose this time. And because he knows he’s the last hope of our world, he would not retreat either. He will give his life for us!

“I can’t let that happen. Because if Starsuper dies today, our world is doomed. That’s why I want you to go and assist your father in battle. Stall for time while I put together a spaceship and a backup team. Then I’ll rush to help as soon as possible!”

Anthony was visibly shocked. Eve doubted his father? The Starsuper? Even though he knew the kind of strength his father possessed?

Seeing the baffled look plastered on Anthony’s face, Eve’s face distorted in anger.

He yelled, “Don’t waste time, boy! Do as I say, or you will– we will lose your father!”

Surprised by the sudden hostility, Anthony took a step back. “Woah! Okay, I’ll go!”

Anthony was anxious anyway. Although he had full confidence in his father’s strength, the reports mentioning ‘Starsuper is struggling against the Progenitor’ caused him to worry.

And since Eve was pushing him anyway, he thought assisting his father wouldn’t be that bad. The both of them will end this battle a little faster together.

Nodding his head, Anthony walked to the large glass windows present. Midway through, he halted his steps and turned to face the heroes sitting at the square table.

The heroes nodded in reply—a look of determination present in their eyes.

Not a word needed to be said. They all knew what Anthony wanted to say, ‘Protect the world.’

Seeing their determined look, a warm smile appeared on Anthony’s face. He turned to the glass windows and activated [Flight] ability.

Like a bullet through a paper wall, Anthony broke through the glass, shattering it and escaping into the night sky.

The night sky was dark today, much darker than any other night. And if the heroes fail, the days ahead, too, will be plunged into the darkness.

Of course, Anthony had no plans to let that happen. He dug his fingers into his palm, and he clenched his fists tightly.

‘I will kill you!’ he thought, ‘I will end this madness! I will end this-‘

However, as he was lost in his thoughts, suddenly a bright ball of light appeared in his vision.

Narrowing his eyes, Anthony frowned in confusion. “What’s that?”

It looked like… a shooting star?

But it wasn’t moving….

No… No! It wasn’t that it was not moving! Rather, it was heading toward him!

Widening his eyes, Anthony halted in his place, stopped flying, and clenched his jaw.

He crossed his arms over his chest and embraced himself to get hit by it since it was already too late to move out of the way.

-Booom!

The ‘shooting star’ collided with Anthony with great force, pushing him back down to the ground.

Anthony tried to resist and use [Flight] to stop his descent, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t stop falling.

-Thwaaam!

Before he knew it, his body crashed into the very same skyscraper that he had flown off of and landed in the same room where heroes of the council had gathered.