VILLAIN'S RISING

“Why are they resisting so much?”

Buildings ablazed, infrastructures turned to rubble, roads destroyed… Wherever Sam stepped his foot, destruction followed.

The iron wall encircling the city was already breached. The heroes who tried to stand in his way were dead.

Everywhere he could see, dead bodies filled his sight. Blood and gore spewed all over the ground, making it feel sticky and dirty to step on.

Sporadically, he could see some people who were not quite dead just yet; they were barely hanging onto their lives— the lives that his demon army was in the process of claiming.

-“Wa…Water…”

At a distance, he saw a man with his lower half gone, begging for someone to provide him with some water.

“Just surrender,” Sam muttered under his breath. “Why are they trying so hard? Why are humans so foolish?”

It’s been 14 hours since Sam proclaimed himself the ruler of the entire world.

After that, he ordered Marcel, Lucas, and Michael— his three generals— to raise an army big enough to conquer Los Angeles with the help of his clones.

Needless to say, his generals did so without any problem. Without the heroes protecting them, the general public was just sitting ducks.

They took anyone they could find and turned them into demons. Then, coupled with dragons, they marched down to Los Angeles, creating even more demons on their way.

Now, their strength was eighty thousand, while the heroes barely ranged around fifty thousand.

Although Sam knew more heroes would join the battle as it went on and not to mention the Martian spaceships that’ll be here any moment now.

Perhaps they were trying so hard because they had hope. Hope that they’ll win if they resist long enough.

“Fools,” Sam thought out loud. “They all are fools. Every last one of them.”

Shaking his head, Sam turned to the person who was begging for water earlier. He saw that the man had closed his eyes. He was about to die.

“You’re a strong-willed one,” arriving beside him, Sam said. “Your lower half is gone, yet you’re hanging onto your dear life. Do you want to live?”

No reply.

But Sam knew the answer. The man wanted to live.

Nodding, Sam raised his hand, and a violet energy started pouring out of his body. Like snowdrops, the violet energy particles showered the half-dead man.

In an instant, a violet cocoon wrapped itself around the man. And after a short while, the cocoon broke.

Inside it was the man. His body was whole once again. Any injuries that he’d sustained before were now gone completely.

The man slowly got up on his knees and started inspecting his hand. Using his hands, he started patting his whole body.

“I…I’m alive!” He shouted with wide-shot eyes.

“You’ve been reborn,” Sam said while putting his hand over the man’s head. “Go ahead and help others.”

“Y-Yes, master!”

The man stood up on his legs and rushed into the city in the direction where Sam’s demon army was headed.

Sam stood there in silence as he watched the man’s back blur into the background.

-‘Sire, where are you?!’

At that moment, Sam heard a loud voice in his head. It was Lucas. He was contacting Sam through their shared mind link.

‘Go ahead, kill anyone who dares to stand against us. I’ll catch up in a bit.’

-‘Roger!’

Although they had successfully managed to breach through the iron walls and enter the city of Los Angeles, there was a tiny problem.

Sam had no idea where the relic that he sought was. It could be anywhere in this city.

Sam even had a suspicion that the heroes could’ve also moved the relic. But in the end, he knew it was impossible for two reasons.

First, Marcel had kept a close eye on the movement of heroes until a day ago.

And second, the heroes wouldn’t take the chance and risk the relic being stolen while transporting it out of the city.

So, how should he find the relic?

Simple really. He would ask someone who knows where the relic is.

“Samael Gracefell!”

Talk of the devil.

A faint smirk formed on Sam’s face as he heard a voice all too familiar. It was Anthony.

He turned around and faced the flaxen-haired boy who called out his name in a voice full of detest.

“Anthony, long time no see. How are you?”

With a wide grin on his face, Sam greeted his old ‘friend,’ intentionally trying to get on his nerves.

To his surprise, however, Anthony managed to stay calm. In his stead, a long red-haired man dropped from the sky beside him like a meteor. He looked at Sam and said

“We didn’t think finding you would be this easy in all this mayhem. Why are you walking behind your army? Shouldn’t a kind stay in front?”

Listening to Eve, Sam couldn’t help but scowl. In a sarcastic tone, he answered, “A king should stay in front? Have you never played chess?”

“The king in chess is defended. Where are your defenses?” Eve, shrugging his clothes, retorted, “No pawns to throw, no pieces to trade… no queen by your side.

“You may be a king– no, you’re more than that, aren’t you? You believe that you’re a god, and in all honesty, you may truly be.

“You may be a god, but you’re all alone. You keep your mind-controlled minions by your side to hide how truly pitiful you are, to hide how alone you are! In truth, you’re just a scared little kid, still traumatized by the scars your father left on you. In truth, you’re not uniting humanity! You’re not forging a better world! No, you’re simply creating a world where you’ll feel safe! A world where your life will have a purpose other than suffering!”

Silence. Utter silence. For a moment, it almost felt as if the world itself had stopped moving.

Breaking that deafening silence, Sam opened his mouth, parted his lips, and spoke

“Are you trash-talking me, Eve? You know, the last guy who tried to trash-talk me is dead. Are you seeking the same fate?”

Before Eve could reply, Antony spoke up, “And you’ll pay for that.”

“Yeah? And how do you think you’ll do that? You both are not nearly strong enough to stop me, Starboy.” With a mocking smile on his face, Sam replied.

At that moment, a loud booming voice roared over Sam. “Who said they are alone?”

Sam jerked his head up and saw a flaxen-haired girl floating above him in the sky.

She was sporting a black and gray caped hero costume with the letter ‘S’ embroidered on her chest. It contrasted her father and brother’s gold and white hero costumes, symbolizing hope.

“Ayy, Rebekah! Long time no see! How are ya?” Sam casually waved his hand and said, “You got yourself a hero costume! What are you called? Let me guess, Stargirl?”

“Letting you live was a mistake. I should’ve killed you on the academy’s terrace back then!” Rebekah roared.

“Calm down, Rebekah!” Eve, seeing that Rebekah was starting to lose her temper, immediately cut in. “Stick to the plan. You and Anthony will only stand by and stop his dragons from reaching for his aid!”

“So you are planning to face me alone? How will you do that?” Sam shrugged while facing Eve. “Stopping me is impossible now. I can destroy the whole planet if I want to, and you know that. So instead, why not join me? I might even spare your son if you do that.”

“Tempting offer, but I don’t work with edgy teenagers,” Eve replied, shaking his head. “Besides, you’ll be dead by the time we are done with you! We are putting up our last stand at the world’s end!”

“We?” Sam raised his eyebrow in confusion. But in the very next moment, he grasped what was going on.

He was being surrounded from all directions. His instincts were raging, telling him to end this fight right away.

(You can sense them, right?)

‘Yes, I’m being surrounded.’

(Call your dragons. I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Don’t let your guard down.)

‘Roger.’

Accepting the voice’s advice, Sam yelled out in an overbearing voice, “Come!”

Heeding his howl, a dozen of dragons swiftly flew toward his direction, reaching him in an instant.

“Anthony, Rebekah, now!” Eve yelled.

As if waiting for that cue, both flaxen-haired siblings shot at the incoming barrage of dragons with all their might.

-Boom!

Using all their strength, they engaged in an aerial battle against the dragons that Sam had summoned.

“Ahh, so that’s your plan?” Sam nodded. “The Willburns will deal with the dragons while the elite heroes will face me.”

-Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

As if waiting for that very moment, several heroes jumped out at Sam from seemingly all directions.

Sam balled his fists, raised his guard, and took a battle stance. With a look that screamed ‘I don’t fear you!’ on his face, he cried out

“Bring it on!”