VILLAIN'S RISING

“Khuu! Khuuk khuu!”

“Khuaa! Khaaua!”

At Eve’s command, a massive mushroom cloud explosion erupted, laying waste to everything under a 120 km radius.

Even the giant ‘dark matter’ shields were turned to nothing against the force of the explosion.

The heroes barely survived after Dead Weight put up a gravitational field dome around them.

When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, and the heroes stopped coughing due to the fire they’d breathed in, everyone looked with hopeful eyes toward the explosion’s epicenter to see the result of their battle.

“…Uh?”

“Fuck… We’re fucked….”

But what they saw shattered their hope of victory and shook them down to their souls.

They saw Eve, who’d dropped on his knees from exhaustion after causing that explosion, coughing up blood in front of Sam, who was standing there unscathed, patting the dust off his body as if what happened was nothing unordinary.

“That’s it. That was your plan?” Sam mockingly inquired by gripping Eve’s neck-long crimson red hair and pulling them back to make him look in the eyes.

Sam was hoping to see the look of despair on Eve’s face. But on the contrary, he saw a fiery spirit still plastered on his face.

-Thuu

Almost as if to beckon the death itself, Eve spat on Sam’s face with a disgusted look.

“Ha,” a chuckle escaped Sam’s lips after seeing the burning hatred in Eve’s eyes for him. “You really do hate me, don’t you?”

“Eve!”

“LEAVE HIM, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!”

“Sage, heal him! Scarlet, let’s go! We’ll rush him together!”

“YES!”

Seeing the heroes still not giving up, Sam couldn’t help but laugh in ridicule.

-THWACK!

“Give me a moment,” Sam said and smashed Eve’s face on the ground.

He walked away and faced the brave heroes who were rushing at him with a smirk on his face.

“Do it now,” he said.

For a moment, a look of confusion washed over Darkstar’s face.

It looked like Sam said it to him. But why would he say something to him at this point in the battle?

“No!” Then it occurred to him.

Sam didn’t talk to him. Rather, he talked to the person behind him.

Instinctively, his body turned around and he saw a sight that sent a myriad of emotions through his mind.

He saw Eagle Claw impaling Sage’s heart with his claw.

“Khuuk!” Sage violently vomited a mouthful of blood. A look of confusion and disbelief was clearly visible on her face.

Her lips quivered as she tried to speak. But before she could do so, Eagle Claw crushed her heart.

Light escaped Sage’s eyes as her lifeless body fell to the ground, dead.

While her killer, Eagle Claw, looked at Darkstar with eyes full of guilt and self-loathing.

“…Why?” Darkstar’s wrinkled face twisted as several emotions washed over it one by one. From confusion and bewilderment to hatred and rage. In the end, he roared again, “WHY?!”

“H-He said he would let me meet her… He said he would let me meet Rose again….” With teary eyes, Eagle Claw continued, “Ever since she died, I couldn’t feel anything except this fucking sadness and sorrow! My heart wrenches every time I think of her! At first, I wanted revenge… but now, I just want to see her one more time….”

“He has lost it….” Scarlet commented while baring her teeth.

It’s no secret that Eagle Claw had been dealing with mental breakdown ever since his fiance, Rose, died in Academy City.

But to think that would affect his judgment amid a life-or-death battle with the world at stake? He really had lost it!

“You bastard!” From the sky, Anthony, who was witnessing everything, finally decided to intervene now.

There was no point in playing on the backfoot now. Eve’s plan failed. Sam is not dead yet. And the remaining heroes couldn’t stop him because now they would have to deal with Eagle Claw too.

So Anthony decided that this was the last chance to interfere in the battle, or the victory would completely slip from their grasp.

Behind him, Rebekah followed. She knew Anthony would need assistance in fighting against Sam.

“Uh uh, I can’t let you both interfere.”

Sam shook his head casually and sucked in a deep breath.

Seeing that, Darkstar yelled, “Careful, he’s going to use ‘Dragon’s Breath’ on you!”

Anthony nodded and kept increasing his pace. He was more than confident enough in his flight agility to dodge an attack as slow and straight as a Dragon’s Breath.

But Rebekah felt as if something was off. She knew Sam wouldn’t let them close in on him this easily. The fact that he was letting them mean there was something wrong.

But before she could alert her brother….

“Ghaaaaaaur!” Sam let out a loud, beastly roar, inducing a spine-chilling feeling of fear and terror into anyone who dared listen to it.

Even Rebekah and Anthony froze up for a moment. And before they could break free of this feeling of fear, several dragons clustered around them like vultures and slammed them on the ground, holding them in place.

“Huuuu,” taking in a satisfying breath, Sam smirked.

“Neat, right?” He said pridefully. “I call it Dragon’s Fear. A fear-inducing scream that inflicts terror, pain, and confusion on anyone weaker than me.”

“… …”

“… …”

Although Sam was merely describing his power, the others couldn’t help but take it as a statement.

A statement that clearly said, ‘You all are weaker than me.’

“Aww, what’s with this silence,” Sam put the finger on his chin, acting innocent. “Are you guys scared?”

They were.

They were despairing.

But there was one who had already recovered from the feeling of fear and was currently gritting his teeth in rage.

“You monster,” Darkstar uttered. “I’ve seen plenty of your kind. You are the kind of filth that’s rotting this world-“

Before he could continue his long, bland, repetitive speech, Sam cut him off.

“Who do you fight for, Darkstar?”

Confused, Darkstar cocked his head, “What the fuck do you mean-“

Cutting him off again, Sam spoke, “I mean, who do you fight for? Your country? Your government? Money? Fame? What’s your motivation?”

After a few seconds of silence, Darkstar answered, “I don’t fight for money, fame, government, or country, you motherfucker! I fight for humanity itself! I fight to protect people from people like you!”

Sam put on a look of puzzlement on his face and tilted his head, “So you fight for humanity. Why are you fighting me then?

With a dead serious look in his eyes, Sam continued, “My actions are for the benefit of all humanity. You are not fighting for humanity, I am.

“Our diversity is our problem! For example, we split lands and create borders. On the right side of the borders, children starve to death. On the left side, imbeciles who haven’t qualified enough rule the country through bloodlines and connections!

“We divide ourselves by gender, religion, or literally any other thing and continue to wage war on each other! Without even trying to understand each other, we hurt one another!

“We let our greed guide us and cloud our judgment! Even the noblest of heroes are unfair to the world in the face of their own kin, their families!

“You know that– We know that! But we do nothing about it! The starving children! The imbeciles calling themselves governments! The fools hurting each other because they are different from one another! We do nothing about all that!

“Well, you don’t! I am doing something! I’m creating a new order— a new world! A just and fair world where justice would be served at all costs! A world where children wouldn’t be starved to death! A world where no unqualified will rule over the masses! A world where everyone will understand each other! I will create a new humanity!

“You’re fighting for humanity! You’re fighting the change! I am the change! I am the god of this new world!”

Darkstar shook his head as if he was listening to a moron speaking, “Our diversity is what makes us human, you brain-dead retard! You say you’ll create a fair world, yet you claim to be its god!

“You said you’ll create a just world, but justice holds a different meaning for everyone! What happens with someone who has a just reason that goes against you?! What happens if someone goes against your notion of justice?!”

Sam stood there in silence for a few moments before shaking his head as if he was arguing with a wall.

He sucked in a deep breath and puffed his chest.

Seeing this, Darkstar widened his eyes and created multiple huge shields of ‘dark matter’ in front of him.

“Everyone, get ready!” He yelled, and in response, Dead Weight put up a gravitational force field around them to act as a shield.

But it was to no avail….

-SWOOOSH!

Sam opened his mouth and let out his Breath Of Destruction.

-Tak!

-Tak!

-TAK!

A torrent of blue flame broke down the colossus ‘dark matter’ shields one by one and reached the heroes.

The blue flames couldn’t breach through the gravitational force field. However, the heat inflicted multiple fourth-degree burns on the heroes.

“ARGHHHHH!”

“NOOOOURGHHH!”

“PLEASE! NOUUUURGHHGGH!”

It didn’t take them long before breaking into screams of agony and cries of mercy. But even then, Sam didn’t stop. He kept on breathing fire.

“Nooooooo!” Anthony cried out at the top of his lungs, but the poor guy couldn’t even budge, let alone move from his place to help them, with multiple dragons holding him down in place.

“Y-You monster….” Eve, who barely got up to his knees behind Sam, looked in horror as he heard the beastly cries for help.

Not long after, the gravitational force field disappeared as Dead Weight must’ve either died or had no strength to put up the barrier any longer.

After that, the sea of flames devoured the brave heroes, engulfing their bodies into the fire and leaving not even the ash behind.

Only when the cries of mercy stopped completely and the world plunged into silence did Sam stop breathing fire.

“Huuu,” filling his lungs with air, he wiped the sweat off his forehead as if he had done running a marathon.

“Those who don’t agree with my notion of justice?” Sam’s lips curled up as a ‘isn’t that obvious’ expression formed on his face. “They will get no rights to live.”