VILLAIN'S RISING

“Oh fuck, did I kill Eagle Claw too?” After realizing what he had done, Sam scratched his forehead. “Well, I did promise him that I’ll let him meet his fiance.”

After concluding that there was nothing to be done since not even the ashes remained of the heroes’ bodies, Sam shrugged.

He turned around and walked up to Eve, who was trying to get back on his feet but failing miserably every time.

“YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

From a distance, Anthony resumed barking while still being held in place by the dragons.

“Don’t bother,” Sam said while grabbing Eve’s head by the hair, completely ignoring Anthony in the background. “Your body is severely exhausted. You didn’t recover from the last battle, did you? I’m amazed you fought for as long as you did and still created that magnificently big explosion.”

With a genuine look of awe, Sam continued as Eve glared at him with eyes full of disgust and unadulterated hatred.

“I like this about you. Even after all this, you’re not the least bit scared. In your eyes, I can see nothing but hatred. I am not like this.” Sam admitted.

“I lied during the conference. I didn’t defeat Starsuper ‘easily.’ The guy punched me to space, for god’s sake! What kind of freak was he? Ahem, anyway, when I fought him, I experienced the true meaning of despair. I even thought of running away. After all, what right does the weak have when faced with the will of the strong?”

Recalling the most horrific moment of his life, Sam continued.

“You are not like that. You are not like me. You are strong-willed,” but as he said so, a deep sigh escaped Sam’s lips. “But as I said, what right does the weak have when faced with the will of the strong?

“So here’s what we’ll do. You’ll tell me where’s the relic I’m looking for, and I’ll let your son have his father back alive, yeah?”

-Thuu!

Instead of words, Eve replied by spitting on Sam’s face.

The corners of Sam’s lips curled up as if he was expecting such a reply.

“So be it,” he spoke before uttering “Dragon’s Judgment.”

Eve’s eyes widen in horror after hearing the words spoken by Sam, but even before he could react….

-KABOOOOOOM!!!

A louder and even bigger mushroom cloud explosion than the one Eve had created erupted with Sam at its epicenter.

Devouring anything and everything in its radius, leaving nothing behind, and turning everything to dust, the flames from the explosion subsided.

Even Anthony had taken a considerable amount of damage from it. But, of course, his body instantly started regenerating.

After a long while, the smoke began to clear, and the dust started to settle. As everything became clearer by the second, Anthony’s trembling eyes wandered everywhere, searching for any signs of life.

Soon enough, he picked up some movements in the distance. But to his disappointment, it was Sam.

And at his feet….

“No… No… please no….”

Was Eve’s half-burned lifeless body.

“Huh, so his full body didn’t burn. Guess the Dragonhearts really do have the blood of dragons flowing in their veins. Anyway, I should spread the news that their patriarch is dead. That should cause chaos among them….”

As Sam was talking to himself, he noticed a gaze on him. Smirking, Sam looked over at Anthony.

“Ah, fuck. Forgot about you. So, how’ve you been, Anthony?” Sam waved his hands with an ambient smile. “How did you like the gift I sent you? You know, your father. Sorry, I didn’t have time to wrap him up. Oh and–”

Before Sam could continue to bicker, he felt a chill run down his spine. Instinctively, he ducked his body for no apparent reason.

-SWOOSH!

But in the next moment, a fist swung above him in the place where his head was.

“The fuck?” Sam frowned in confusion and hopped a few meters back into a safe distance.

“How did you escape the dragons?” After taking a look at his assaulter, Sam looked at the dragons who were holding Rebekah.

To Sam’s surprise, even the dragons were bewildered. Dragons are intelligent creatures, but it seems like they had even had no idea when Rebekah escaped their grasp.

Without bothering to utter a reply, Rebekah shot forward like an arrow with her fist pulled back.

“Rebekah! No!” Anthony yelled, but it was too late.

As soon as she came into striking range, Rebekah threw a punch forward at Sam, intending to blast his head off with force.

Cocking his head to a little right, Sam dodged the punch aimed at his head and planted his own fist into Rebekah’s abdomen.

“Khuuu!” Air escaped her lungs from the punch’s force as her vision momentarily blacked out. She dropped to the ground on her knees and started coughing violently.

Of course, Sam had no intentions of stopping his assault here. He grabbed her by the hair, pulled back his leg, and thrashed his knee into her face.

-THWACK!

Her nose dislocated, and blood dripped out as if a water tap had been unscrewed.

“You caused me a lot of trouble, you bitch!” He cursed and pulled back his arm. Balling his fist, Sam threw a punch.

But to his confusion, his punch phased right through her face as he was punching the air.

Using this moment, Rebekah used [Flight] to instantly get up. Using the momentum she gained from getting up, she bashed her head against Sam’s, giving him the world’s most strongest headbutt.

-Thunnn!

“Arghhh!” But it felt like headbutting a steel pole. So instead, she fell back first on the ground.

“Ahh, yes, I remember. You had phasing ability. Isn’t that an ability that I stole? And you created a version of it. I swear to god, you Willburns have fascinating biology. And that’s coming from a person who can turn into a fucking moon-sized dragon!” Sam laughed.

“Well, anyway, time to end—”

-Vruuuummmm!

Before Sam could continue his sentence, he heard a rather weird sound. It sounded like a jet engine with boosted bass.

Arching his eyebrows, Sam looked up at the sky and saw the sight of his life.

Entering the earth’s atmosphere were several massive round dome-shaped flying objects.

They had reactor cores that generated enough energy to allow them to fly as if they were in zero gravity, making them hover in the air like the Sword of Damocles.

“Ouu,” Sam couldn’t help but whistle in awe. “Impressive. So the Martians are already here?”

‘Sire!’ right at that moment, Lucas contacted Sam through their mind link. ‘Sire! The Martians are here!’

“Yeah, yeah. I can see their spacecraft all over the sky.”

‘What should we do, sire?”

“I still don’t know where the relic is. I will keep searching for it—”

Before Sam could continue, Lucas cut him off

‘Sire, I know where the relic is.’

“Wait, you do?” Sam frowned.

‘Yeah. One of the heroes I killed just now begged for mercy before dying. He gave me the relic’s location. I think he thought that I would leave him if he’d told me that.’

“Huh, where is it then?”

‘It’s somewhere in the White Walker’s tower. The heroes are using that as their temporary base.’

“Okay, good work. Navigate your way there and bring Michael along with you. Let Marcel assume command over all troops.”

‘By your wish, sire.’

The mind link broke and Sam nodded. He then readied to take off into the sky. But before he could fly, Rebekah grabbed his leg.

“Oh, you still here, love?” Sam sighed. “Don’t worry, I’ll give you some attention too.”

He sucked in a deep breath and puffed his chest.

“Rebekah! Fly off! Run! We have to protect the tower!” Anthony yelled, still trying to break free from the dragon’s grasp.

Rebekah, who had seen the attack coming, activated [Heat Vision] at its fullest. She intended to blast a hole in Sam’s head.

Of course, Sam had already predicted it. So he kicked Rebekah’s jaw and turned her face away from him.

-FWOOOSH!

Seizing the chance, Sam let out his Breath Of Destruction, engulfing Rebekah in blistering blue flames.

Her whole body turned to ash after Sam was done spitting fire on her. Of course, that wouldn’t keep her down for long.

Sam knew, before long, she would rise back alive from her ashes like a phoenix.

“Tsk,” knowing that left a bad taste in Sam’s mouth. Shaking his, he turned to Anthony and spoke, “Well, at least that would keep her down for a few minutes. Now you be a good boy Anthony and don’t try to come after me.”

“I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!” Anthony kept barking.

Ignoring him, Sam activated [Biology Manipulation]. Two dragon wings erupted out from his back at that cue.

-Fwoosh!

Flapping his wings, Sam took off into the sky with his [Concealment] ability active. After all, he needed to stay under the radar of the thousands of UFOs that were blanketing the sky.