VILLAIN'S RISING

–Meanwhile–

(Are you sure sending just one of your clones to fight them was enough?)

Sam sighed at the stupid question. Sometimes he wonders whether the voice in his head is really just another personality or not from the level of stupidity of its questions.

When Sam was 8, his father made him drink his blood. Shortly after, Sam started experiencing constant organ rendering headaches.

During those headaches, he started hearing a voice. Sam confronted his father about it, but the latter only told him not to worry about it.

Soon Sam came on to the conclusion that he developed a secondary personality to cope with all his life’s pain.

The voice in his head also confirmed his theory.

Somewhere down the lines, Sam got his full control of his powers, and he killed his father.

Through thick or thin, the voice in his head was always with him. Guiding him, watching him, protecting him.

Even though it was his own personality, Sam couldn’t be anymore thankful for it.

It was, after all, them against the world. His voice was his only ally.

Only his voice understands Sam. Only his voice knows what Sam feels like. Only his voice shares Sam’s views. Only his voice will stick with Sam.

(Oi! Jackass! Don’t ignore me!)

“Ahh, my bad. What was the question, again?” Kneeling down on one knee, Sam inspected the exposed part of the Dragon.

Although most of its body was still underground, a chunk of it was exposed. But that wasn’t enough. Sam planned to dig it out of the ground and fully study the corpse.

(I asked, are you sure sending only one of your clones at them would be enough?)

“Of course not. I’m fairly certain he will die, but I’m also certain that he will take down at least one of the heroes.” Sam answered.

(No but had you sent more than one, more heroes would’ve been dead!)

“Yes, but I’m sure Starsuper won’t just stand there and fight a clone.” Sam nodded and stated his thinking.

“Everything is going according to my plan. Starsuper and Starboy will come looking for me here, and along with them will come, my brother.” Sam continued with a calm expression on his face.

(Wait- So that’s why-)

-Swoosh!

-Thud!

Before the voice in Sam’s head could complete his words, the sound of something whipping through the air and landing on the ground interrupted him.

Sam couldn’t help but start smiling at that situation. Everything was predictable. Everyone was dancing in the palm of his hand.

Sam slowly turned around only to behold the father-son duo that any hero magazine would kill to have a shot of for their front page.

“Starboy! Starsuper! Long time no see!”

Both Willburns remained silent at that greeting. What kind of psychotic man was he to feel no remorse even after what he had done in the last few days?!

“No more warnings for you, boy. You have done a good job proving to us that you don’t deserve redemption.” Starsuper was the first to break the silence.

“Redemption? What’s that word mean?” With a playful smile, Sam spoke, feigning ignorance.

“Sam, why?” Anthony, who still wanted some answers, confronted him with a serious question. No threat, no hate. Just a simple question.

Seeing the earnest expression on Anthony’s face, his own expressions turned serious.

“I’ve already told you this before, Anthony. This world is broken. I know I have no right to say that since you consider me a villain and all. And I know full well what I’m doing is, in no way, acceptable or right, but it’s the only way.” Sam stated.

“No! The only way is to help! To fix, not to break! To give, not to take!” Anthony barked, still disgusted by Sam’s morales.

Seeing this, Sam just sighed. “Fighting over it with our words would lead us nowhere.”

“You know as well as I do, killing one another is the only way to resolve our difference of opinion,” Sam stated. “After all, history is written by survivors while victors write rules.”

Anthony nodded. Whatever hope he had of talking things out with Sam was now gone. Besides, he wasn’t completely wrong.

The only way to resolve this conflict was either to let Sam kill them or kill him before he did that. Only those who remain alive can go on to decide right and wrong.

“So be it,” Anthony muttered before he shot at Sam.

Starsuper decided to cover the sky while his son was rushing him from the ground. He flew up.

“Come!” Sam yelled as if calling out to someone.

Instantly, four clones of Sam made themselves visible and stood in front of their original. They were concealing their presence.

Two of the clones dashed at Anthony while the remaining two shot up in the air to confront Starsuper.

But Starsuper had no intention to give them a chance to fight. He pulled back his arm and threw his fist forward the next second.

-BOOM!

He broke the sound barrier by the mere swing of his arm, and a shockwave traveled toward the clone– ripping them apart like they were made of paper.

“Ahh, the infamous Star Punch,” Sam commented as he felt a tinge of pain jolting through his body.

Whenever his clones die, he feels a large fraction of the pain they felt, which could hinder him in battle, so using his clones in this battle just showed how desperate Sam was to win.

The clones that were rushing at Anthony met the same fate soon.

With speed incomprehensible to the human eye, Anthony appeared in front of one clone and impaled his chest with his right hand, gouging out his heart.

When the second clone tried to attack, his head was blasted open by Anthony’s heat vision.

Anthony retracted his hand and flicked the blood off him.

“No more clones,” began Anthony as he clenched his fist. It made a squelching as his grip squeezed his blood-slicked hand. “Now come fight for yourself.”

*

–15 Minutes Earlier–

During the explosion of the Hero Academy, Micheal was with three Sentries. So when the blast occurred, the Sentries quickly acted and deployed their walls, shields, and barriers.

Fortunately, that saved his life. But knowing that his brother was on the campus—the epicenter of the explosion, Micheal quickly tried to rush in to check on him.

Needless to say, the Sentries stopped him and brought him back to their headquarters.

He was sure that his brother was caught up in the explosion and most probably died. The pain that Micheal felt couldn’t be described in words.

However, that pain was nothing compared to the shock he felt when he heard the news of what really transpired in the Academy.

When Micheal heard the news, he couldn’t believe his ears. His own brother was the Progenitor? The brother he was looking forward to getting along with?!

When the Heroes at the headquarters drew the connection between Micheal and his half-brother, who was apparently the Progenitor, they tried to apprehend him for the killing.

Using his [Space Manipulation] ability, Micheal promptly escaped his death sentence and went to Willburn tower.

He knew that Starsuper would be willing to listen to him. But he didn’t find Starsuper there.

Fortunately, Anthony was present there, and he used his [Divine Sight] on him and concluded that he was neither a Demon nor was he hiding any ability.

Then they met up with Starsuper to decide what to do about him. Starsuper suggested a brilliant idea.

Sam was planning to hit both Los Angeles and Academy City Museum at once.

As fast as Starsuper was, traveling from one destination to another would require him some time.

And although Lightbringer was fast enough to keep up with him, traveling so long at full speed would’ve exhausted him.

Eve was nowhere near their speed, so traveling from one point to another would’ve easily taken him a few hours at best.

So he devised a plan which consisted of Micheal teleporting their forces wherever Sam decided to attack himself.

So as soon as Sam showed himself at the Museum, Anthony alerted them and initiated the plan.

Micheal acted as he was told and created several Spaces Wraps connecting Los Angeles to Academy City.

Later, he himself joined in with hopes of confronting his brother and seeing whether what he was hearing held any truth or not.

Unfortunately for Micheal, the news was true. Sam truly was the Progenitor.

After briefly talking to him, Micheal was certain that Sam wouldn’t back down.

Although he didn’t want to lose his brother, he would also not betray his world.

But he would rather be the one to end his brother’s life. He would rather be the one to say his last goodbye to him.

So while everyone was fighting against Sam’s clone, Micheal started looking around in search of a tall building.

He found a skyscraper, which was still not destroyed, tall enough to grant him a clear view of the area.

Micheal calculated the distance to its terrace and teleported himself to its top in the next moment.

From that height, he scouted the area in search of his brother.

He found Anthony and Starsuper engaging in a fierce battle with the original Sam.

Micheal promptly calculated the distance between him and them once again and decided to join the battle.

“I’m sorry, brother,” he spoke to himself. “I wish we could be brothers in another life.”