VILLAIN'S RISING

“The other part is that only consciousness can enter this realm. That means if I kill you here, I will get your body. I will be alive once again.”

Without a delay of even a single millisecond or any signs of hesitation, Sam activated [Neither Manipulation] and willed otherworldly energy into his fists.

-Swaah!

Without any effort, Kale cocked his head to a little left and dodged Sam’s punch.

He then hopped a few meters back and created a safe distance between them.

“You didn’t even hesitate!” Kale spoke with a wide grin. “That’s what I like about you! Now I won’t feel sad for killing you!”

As soon as Kale hopped back, Sam activated [Biology Manipulation], intending to kill Kale right here on the spot.

But…

Nothing happened….

“Did you seriously think it would be that easy?” Kale said before his figure suddenly disappeared and appeared right in front of Sam.

Shocked by the sudden display of unmatched speed, Sam’s first instinct was to back down. But before he could do that, Kale grabbed him by the head with both hands and thrashed his knee into his gut.

“Khaaaa!” Sam felt the air rushing out of his lungs and a black veil momentarily blanketed his vision.

“As I said, we both are merely ‘consciousnesses’ in this realm. In layman’s terms, we are souls. That ability you borrowed from me can’t work on the soul. It can only manipulate the physical form of life while we are currently in the rawest state of life!”

After completing his short lecture, Kale pulled back an arm and balled his fist before planting it in Sam’s chest.

-THWACK!

“KHUUUU!”

The force of the punch sent Sam flying a few feets back before his body gracefully skidded on the ground and abruptly came to a stop.

“Khuaa! Khaaa!” Violently coughing up a mouthful of blood, Sam tried to stand back on his feet.

“Peek-a-boo!” But as soon as Sam got to his feet, Kale appeared right behind him. He swung his fist with all his force and hit Sam in the side of his face, sending him flying another few meters to the side.

-THWACK!!

-Kaach! -Kaach!

Sam’s body rolled on the white sand before it came to a complete halt. He couldn’t help but wonder, ‘He’s strong.’

His physical strength alone was as high as Starsuper. Coupled with his reaction speed and reflexes, this guy was a monster.

Another thought that crossed Sam’s mind was how he could bleed here? Was it his soul’s blood? So he could definitely die.

No, he can’t die here. He has to win. Even though it was paining all over his body, and he had no strength to move, Sam reminded himself that he had to live!

“Oye!” Kale’s voice attracted Sam’s attention. It was coming from above.

Weakly, Sam got up on his knees and turned his head up. He saw a blond-haired man, who had one of his legs pulled up, descending down on him like a meteor.

As soon as he entered the striking range, Kale unfolded his leg and threw an axe kick at the kneeling figure of Sam.

However, before his kick could land, Sam muttered, “Dragon’s Judgement.”

-KABOOOOM!

And unleashed a mighty explosion on par with a nuclear blast. If this was in the physical world, half of a city could’ve been destroyed.

But it was not enough.

When the dust settled and the smoke cleared up, the silhouette of a man became clearer.

It was Kale.

And under his feet was Sam.

Even Dragon’s Judgment as big as a nuclear explosion was not enough to stop Kale!

Sam couldn’t help but feel disgusted by this level of strength.

“Nice try but you can’t kill me.”

It was nothing new. At this point, Sam was already used to fighting with people stronger than him.

And what’s more, Kale’s strength wasn’t even that extraordinary. Yes, it was impressive but Sam had fought a guy with a similar level of strength and won.

If Kale was as strong as Starsuper, then all he had to do was do what he did with Starsuper.

Gritting his teeth, Sam focused on transforming his body.

His [Biology Manipulation] was of no use here since he was not in his physical form.

However, if all his other abilities were working perfectly fine then he should be able to transform his body too.

Why? Because transforming didn’t come under [Biology Manipulation] since it was now a ‘part’ of Sam.

Sam felt all he had to do to trigger the transformation was to think about it.

And certainly enough….

-Ghrrraaaaaa!

-Kabaaaaam!

A bright violet bolt of lightning flashed and fell on Sam. In the next moment, a light explosion went off.

It appeared as if a sun had spawned where the lightning fell—a violet sun. The force of the explosion sent Kale crashing back a few kilometers at best.

After a long while, the violet light subsided and a majestic figure of a dragon revealed itself.

It wasn’t as big as the last time but it was definitely Sam’s transformation. A giant black dragon covered in obsidian reptile scales and two black horns came out of his forehead.

This time though, blue flames were formed at the side of the black dragon’s mouth while his violet eyes were glowing fiercely. It was as if he was ready to shoot his Breath Of Destruction at any second now.

“Ha! Scary,” regaining his balance, Kale stood tall, facing the giant black dragon alone without any spec of fear present on his face. “But aren’t you too small? Last time your transformation was big enough to cover the moon. But right now, you can barely cover half the city of Tokyo.”

It was true. The transformation was definitely way smaller.

“Is that because you didn’t recover? Are you fatigued? Well, it’s to be expected since you’ve been continuously fighting for three days now with little to no time for rest.” Kale smirked.

Unbeknownst to him, it wasn’t the reason Sam’s transformation was smaller.

He had learned his lesson. Last time, his transformation was too big to fight one single individual.

Because of that reason, Sam unknowingly completely sacrificed his agility. And that blunder almost cost him his life.

Not only that but the bigger the body, the more time it takes to function.

For example, although the dragon’s breath Sam used against Starsuper in his dragon form was very, very destructive, it wasn’t exactly very fast since it took a lot of time for Sam to open his maw and breathe out fire.

Thus, this time, Sam decided to go for a sweet spot between both speed and attack.

Beckoning Kale with a gesture of his claw, the black dragon opened its giant maw and spoke in a heavy, hoarse voice:

“Show me what you got, first Progenitor!”