VILLAIN'S RISING

-Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

A few moments after Anthony flew out the window and the heroes resumed the discussion on what to do from now on, a consecutive beep sound arose in the room.

The sound was coming from a radio device placed in the middle of the table.

-“A radio message? Must be from one of the space facilities observing the battle.”

-“Yeah, it must be to give us an update on the battle. I think the battle is over, as it’s been quite some time since the last golden light explosion in the sky.”

-“Huh, so the Progenitor lost already? I thought he would at least last a bit longer. Guess we all were worrying for nothing.”

-“See, what did Anthony tell Eve? Starsuper did it without any assistance once again.”

While everyone else had already started celebrating, Eve, on the other hand, watched the beeping radio device in horror.

It could’ve been precognition or something, but Eve felt like a really, really bad feeling in his gut.

With slow, shaky steps, Eve moved toward the radio device placed at the center of the large square table.

The murmur in the room died down when Eve pulled up the receiver and put it to the speaker. Everyone was waiting for the official announcement, ready to celebrate.

-[C-Can anyone he-hear me?! Can someone hear me?!]

As soon as Eve picked up the receiver, a hushed, trembling voice came from the other side of the line.

Confused, everyone present in the room looked at each other. Why was the reporter panicking so much? They didn’t even hesitate this much when reporting the events of the moon’s fall.

Eve quickly answered, “Yes, yes, we can hear you.”

-[I-I have… hah… I have updates on the battle…. The battle….]

From the breathless manner of talking, one could guess that the man on the other side of the receiver was hyperventilating in anxiety.

“Hey, I want you to calm down!” Eve snapped at the radio device. The tension in the voice from the radio was making him nervous. “I want you to tell us what’s happening calmly!”

p-a- n-d-a-n-0-v-e-l、(c)om For a few seconds, there was a brief silence. No words were spoken; only the sound of taking in long deep breaths could be heard coming from the radio.

After a moment or two, the man on the other side of the radio device spoke, his voice still trembling but comprehensive

-[The battle has ended and… St-Star… Starsuper has fallen…. The First Hero has fallen!]

Boom. Those words dropped like a bomb on everyone, hearing intently to the radio.

-“What?! Are you drunk?”

-“What the fuck are you saying?! You meant the Progenitor has fallen, right?!”

Some couldn’t believe their ears, while some instantly went into denial.

Only one man stood in shock. Eve knew this could happen, but he didn’t think it would happen this fast!

Quickly, he thought about contacting Anthony and calling him back. He can’t let Sam pick them one by one. This was the time to face him together!

“Someone, call a hero that can use telepathy or something to contact Anthony fast! We don’t have time to sit in denial and-“

Unfortunately, before Eve could finish his sentence, through the window that Anthony had flown out of came something crashing in.

-Thwaaam!

The heroes jolted up from their seats, some confused and some perplexing.

-“What’s that?! An attack?!”

-“No, look closely. It’s a person!”

The heroes widened their eyes as they discovered a person had crashed in through the window.

Some of them stepped closer to inspect while others readied themselves for battle.

“It’s Anthony!” A bald hero that had stepped forward yelled.

Promptly, everyone rushed in closer to take a look. A woman dressed in red– Scarlet Vampire– stepped in front and saw that something was over Anthony’s body.

Before anyone could do anything, Anthony himself flipped aside the ‘thing’ that fell on him while he was flying in the sky and stood up.

“Anthony, are you okay?!” Seeing Anthony fall like that, Eve asked in a worried tone. “What happened?”

“I- Uh, I don’t know?” Anthony grasped his head, massaging it while replying. “I was flying… I didn’t even reach the atmosphere when something came crashing down on me from the sky.”

“Are you fine? Are you hurt anywhere?” Eve closed in and started thoroughly inspecting Anthony’s body. “Was it a shooting star?”

“No, an asteroid shouldn’t be that strong,” Anthony shook his head. “It didn’t break after colliding with me. And the force it hit me with-“

Before Anthony could continue his tale, Scarlet cut in.

“Hey guys,” she was on her knees by the ‘thing’ that Anthony flipped aside, investigating it. “I think you all should probably take a look at this….”

Frowning, Eve, Anthony, and literally everyone else present there shifted their attention to the thing that fell on Anthony.

“Oh no…” The first one to realize what it really was was Eve. His face twisted, and his hands trembled. He felt his strength leave his body.

It wasn’t a boulder or an asteroid that fell on Anthony. Rather, it was a skeleton-like figure.

It was a dead body. The flesh was all blacked and burnt, charcoal-like in texture. Strands of golden hair stuck out from its head while two gaping hollow holes were where they should’ve been.

The whole room, including everyone, fell into an eerie, deafening silence.

Some had hands over her mouth while a few others stood there in utter shock. A few weak-willed ones started retching on the spot, and some ran out of the room with pale faces.

Anthony stood there lost. His mind didn’t want to comprehend the situation. He didn’t even want to think about it. He hated this.

Tears formed at the corner of his eyes, and his lips quivered a few times before he finally uttered, “…Dad?”

*

“Was my throw accurate?”

(You should really start a baseball pitching career)

“Shut up.”

Sam was floating above the skies of Los Angeles with his [Concealment] ability active.

He had no clothes on, his lean bare body for the world to see, while his right hand was enlarged, almost twice the size of his own body, and transformed into a dragon claw.

He used that to just now throw the dead body of his former greatest enemy, Starsuper, at his son.

He could partially transform his body. That ought to be useful.

(So, what will you do? Attack them right now while they are shaken up?)

“Why would I?” Sam shrugged his shoulders and spoke matter-of-factly, “I’ve killed Starsuper and achieved unfathomable power. No one in this world can stop me. However, facing them head-on right now while I’m exhausted could prove to be challenging.”

(Good. So what will you do?)

“Gather my army, of course.”