VILLAIN'S RISING

“Ghaawwwwer!”

A majestic dragon roared as if claiming the sky for itself and gaped open its maw.

From its maw, a sea of flames poured out toward Anthony, who was valiantly facing off the dragon with all his might.

He pulled back his arm and clenched his fist. Willing an absurd amount of power in his fist, Anthony threw a forward punch at the incoming torrent of flames.

-Booom!

-Fwooosh!

The sound barrier broke, and a shockwave erupted from the force, colliding with the sea of flames and extinguishing it in a flash.

Without giving the dragon that spat the fire a chance to recover, Rebekah shot forward like an arrow and landed a kick right between the dragon’s eyes.

-Thwack!

Nothing.

Not even a scratch.

The dragon didn’t even budge from its position in the sky.

A kick that could have demolished the Eiffel Tower did nothing to a dragon that was barely the size of a multistorey building.

“Tsk,” Clicking her tongue in frustration, Rebekah barred her teeth.

“Don’t fret, Rebekah!” From behind her, Anthony yelled. He instantly activated his [Heat Vision] and shot forward a pair of lasers from his eyes.

-Kzzzzzz!

The pair of lasers hit the dragon, but it couldn’t even break through its scales.

“Let me join!” Rebekah declared and activated her own [Heat Vision].

But before she could do anything, another dragon from her unguarded left side closed in and swung its massive claw at her.

“Fuck!” Fortunately, barely managing to avoid the dragon’s claw by a hair’s breadth, Rebekah flew up to safety.

“This is going to be troublesome!” She bit her lips in exasperation.

She looked around her and saw at least ten more dragons circling in the sky around her like vultures.

They weren’t attacking together. Rather, they were coming forward to attack one by one. It was almost as if they were only buying time.

By now, she was cursing the old her who gave the idea of controlling the dragons to Sam.

But something told her even if she hadn’t given him that idea, Sam had done this himself.

Unintentionally, her eyes wavered, and she started searching for the boy in question. She found him.

There he was. Alone, fighting off against the seven strongest heroes of the world all by himself, not even breaking a sweat.

She almost wanted to go down there and fight him off herself, but she knew doing so would put all the burden of withholding the dragons on Anthony.

In the end, she had no choice but to help Anthony here and now.

*

Meanwhile, on the ground, around seven or so, heroes ganged up on Sam with no intention of letting him leave alive.

These seven heroes were the strongest of the strongest— Elite Heroes after Starsuper. Every single one of them possessed [Calamity rank] abilities.

These seven heroes were part of a team called Knights of Justice. According to some fan theories, it is said that if together, they could even rival the might of Starsuper.

But that was before the Knights had 12 members. Sam killed off dead Eye, Liberty, and a few more during the events of Academy City.

The Knights right now consists of:

Scarlet Vampire. A red-haired beauty of unknown age, possessing the ability of [Soul Absorption]. She could absorb the souls of the people who died in her vicinity and use it to power herself to perform various tasks.

Martial God. A 32-year-old black-haired well-built man possessing the ability to manipulate [Life Energy] or Chi. He could use his inner energy to empower himself to a superhuman level.

Sea King. A 23-year-old blue-headed boy who possesses a gift of controlling water and all types of aquatic creatures— [Ocean Manipulation]. And although he becomes the strongest when in or near the ocean, even on dry land, he is a force to be reckoned with.

Dead Weight. A 26 years old underground superhero with mostly unknown origins. He hides his appearance under a titanium suit, and his gift is [Gyrokinesis], which lets him take command over one of the four universal forces— Gravity.

Sage. A 29 years old white-headed Indian woman with the gift of [Healing Aura]. Using her power, she could heal herself and the people that she wishes to within her range of sight from any kind of fatal injury or illness.

Eagle Claw. A 34 years old man with the ability to assume command over birds. While utilizing his full capabilities, he could transform his body into a winged humanoid with an eagle head and claws.

Darkstar. The captain of Knights of Justice. He’s a 57-year-old man who looks like he’s still in his prime with all the muscle he has cultivated over the years.

His ability [Dark Matter Control] grants him the power to control an unknown material that he uses to attack. It should be noted that the term “Dark Matter” is not to be confused with the true “Dark Matter,” which is among the components of the universe.

In addition, ‘unknown matter’ here does not mean matter that has not been discovered by humans but matter that did not exist until it was created by Darkstar himself.

The material he creates defies the Laws of Physics, allowing him to produce several different types of energy. He can use the substance and apparently shape it in any form he desires.

In short, he’s basically a god. If not for his ever-declining health that even Sage can’t treat, he could’ve been on par with Starsuper.

But even with him on the front and his team and Eve supporting him from the rear, Sam was still holding his own.

Although he could end them all with a flick of fingers using [Biology Manipulation], Anthony, who was holding back the dragons in the sky, was sticking too close to the heroes.

And because of that, the situation here was basically stuck in a stalemate, with either side being unable to obtain a winning position.

Or so the heroes thought….

In reality, Sam was still not using his full strength. He had a plan in mind, after all.

“Take this, you bastard!”

A loud voice thundered from above Sam, and Darkstar, who was clad in a black raven armor that was made up entirely of his ‘dark matter,’ tried to jump on him.

Sam, however, swiftly dodged the man by swirling to his left and taking a low, defensive stance.

-Baam!

A big crack was formed on the ground where Darkstar landed. Instantly, a chunk of his armor broke off, transformed into a spike, and shot at Sam like a bullet.

-Swoosh!

Dodging the black spike by cocking his head to the right, Sam transformed his right hand into an arm blade.

Darkstar was still regaining his balance, so Sam used this chance to close in on him and swung his arm blade at his neck, intending to cleave his head off.

-Swoosh!

Almost instantly, Sam felt as if his weight had increased tenfold. No, it wasn’t his weight that rose; it was gravity!

His eyes wandered and stopped at a man sporting a titanium armor suit. The hero Dead Weight. He was manipulating gravity.

“Tsk,” Sam couldn’t help but click his tongue. It was a troublesome ability; he had to admit that.

The sudden increase of gravitational pull on him showered his movements drastically, which in turn gave Darkstar a chance to regain his balance.

As soon as he stabilized himself, Darkstar yelled, “Crush him!”

Instantly, the gravitational pull on Sam started increasing even more.

“Like hell I will let you do that!” Sam bickered in response and activated his [Neither Manipulation].

Sam felt a surge of unknown interdimensional energy start flowing within him.

He stomped his feet on the ground and leaped a few meters back, away from the sudden ever-increasing gravitational pull.

-Kzzzzzz

Of course, the heroes were not going to give him a chance to catch his breath since as soon as Sam landed on his feet, he felt a sudden burst of scorching heat on the left side of his face.

He turned to see a huge fireball, almost as big as a truck, nearing him at breakneck speed.

“Fuck you, Eve!” He yelled before conjuring up an invisible wall of otherworldly energy in front of him using [Neither Manipulation].

-Booom!

The massive fireball collided with the invisible wall and exploded with immense force. Black smoke and dust rose from the explosion and obscured Sam’s vision.

“Tsk, these pests are so persistent!” Sam cursed under his breath and transformed his arm blade back into its normal state before gigantifying it.

He then swung his giant arm and created a strong gust of wind, blowing away the dust and smoke and recovering his vision.

“You bastard!” Right then, a voice full of disgust and contempt resounded from behind Sam.

He abruptly turned around his body to see that a man with an eagle head, claws, and giant bird-like wings was speeding at him.

Seeing him, a faint smirk formed on Sam’s face. “Eagle Claw? Long time no see.”

“Fuck you!” As soon as Eagle Claw came into striking range, he directed his claw at his chest, intending to pierce through his heart.

Despite being the weakest member of the Knights of Justice, Eagle Claw possessed more than enough strength to lay waste to multiple buildings with a swing of his arm in his bird transformation state.

However, here it didn’t even matter as Sam casually grabbed his claw, used his own momentum against him, and whirled around before smashing him on the cold, hard ground.

Grabbing his neck and shoving the bird hero’s face deeper into the soil, Sam yelled, “Are you still mad I killed your fiance? I thought we were over it by now.”

“I will kill you, you bastard!” Eagle Claw yelled while trying his best to fight back. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t get himself loose from Sam’s grip on him.

“Eagle Claw!” Darkstar yelled before biting his lips in desperation. “Scarlet Vampire, Eve, Sea King! Let’s round him up from all directions! Dead Weight, you hold him in one place, and Sage, handle our back!”

“Roger!”

“I’ll flank from the left!”

“I’ll get the right!”

“I’ll get close and use the Dragon’s Judgement!”

“Go you all and don’t worry about sustaining any injuries. I can bring anyone back, even from the brink of death!”

Concurring with the call given, all the heroes present there jumped in on the boy Progenitor, determined to kill him.

Sam, however, didn’t panic. He calmly knelt beside Eagle Claw, who still had his face thrashed into the ground by him, and whispered something in his ears.

Although no one noticed it back then, Eagle Claw’s eyes widened from the shock inflected by the words Sam had whispered in his ears.

Almost instantly, he parted his beak and uttered in an almost inaudible tone, “Yo…You w-will?”

However, before Sam could respond, a barrage of thousands of black spikes whipped through the air and flew at him from seemingly out of nowhere.

“Tsk,” clicking his tongue in frustration, Sam hopped a few meters back.

However, by now, he was surrounded by all the directions. There was no safe spot for him to get back to.

As soon as he landed, from his back, a sharp crescent blade of water shot at him. Sam couldn’t react in time, and hence, the blade cleaved his right leg off, forcing him to get on his left knee.

“Arghhh!” He winced in pain as he began to grow back his lost leg.

“Oh no, you won’t!!” Darkstar roared from a distance. He raised both his hands over his head, and hundreds of dark matter swords materialized in the air, painting the sky black.

Meanwhile, to keep Sam in position, Martial God jumped in and held him from behind in a reverse bear hug position.

“I got him! Do it now, Darkstar!”

“Die, you monster!” Darkstar howled and dropped his hands. At his gesture, hundred of black swords fell from the sky and started raining down on Sam.

“Fine, so be it!” Sam, with an infuriated look plastered on his face, barked while activating his [Biology Manipulation].

In the blink of an eye, Sam’s pupils elongated like that of a reptile. Tiny reptile-like scales appeared below his eyes, and two obsidian black horns protruded from his forehead and curved back in the shape of a crown.

His lost leg, which was still in the process of regenerating, grew back instantly as if it was never cut off.

With his pair of spine-chilling, reptilian eyes, he glared at the sight of a multitude of black swords raining down on him.

Before they could hit him, Sam puffed his chest and sucked in a long, deep breath.

At that moment, Eve instinctively knew exactly what was about to happen. He dashed back into a safe distance and yelled from the top of his lungs, “Everyone get back!”

-Fwooosh!

But as if waiting for that cue, Sam loosened his chest and let out a massive blazing torrent of inferno.

A sea of azure blue destructive flames bathed the sky of Los Angeles in a blinding illuminating glow, obliterating the barrage of black swords in an instant.

But Sam didn’t stop there. He scythed the fire breath by whirling around and created an omnidirectional wave of destruction, setting everything on sight to fire.