VILLAIN'S RISING

“Huff Huff!” Liz panted heavily as she dropped to one knee. Her clothes were ragged and her body was covered in bruises.

She never expected to win against Rebekah but she at the very least expected to give her a good chase.

But it turned out that the reality is indeed often disappointing.

In front of absolute power, she could do nothing but yield in the end.

…No! She can’t give up! She can’t be a disappointment to her mother!

With shaking legs supporting her body, she got herself to stand.

In front of her was the flaxen-haired girl who bears the family name of Willburn.

“Why don’t you just stay down?” Rebekah asked with an arched eyebrow. “Are you a masochist?”

Karma, who was judging the match from the sidelines, couldn’t help but shake her head.

Rebekah had many chances to end this match but she chose not to. From the looks of it, she was enjoying the miserable state of her opponent.

Even though this training exercise was meant to turn students a little cold and help them handle their emotions in battle, Rebekah was just straight-up cruel.

She had no mercy. Even in Liz’s beaten-up state, she had no intentions of stopping or for that matter, ending the match.

‘Has she already killed?’ Karma thought while frowning her eyebrows. ‘Just what is Starsuper teaching his children?’

Liz, who was barely standing on her feet, lowered her stance a little and raised her hands in front of her face.

In the next moment, her hands started glowing, and a pair of round energy gloves formed around her fists.

“Come!” Liz shouted, challenging Rebekah to come at her.

Rebekah did nothing but smirk viciously, that was enough to send chills down the spines of the students standing in the crowd._.

“Fine,” Rebekah said before her feet lifted from the ground and her body started hovering in the air.

*

“Does it hurt here now?” The med guy asked as he patted Sam’s shoulder.

“No,” Same curtly replied, irritation clearly visible in his voice.

He was in the Academy’s medical room sitting on a hospital cot with his back straight while the med guy kept on inspecting him for any hidden injuries.

The medical room was big with many cots lined up in two rows. Curtains were separating them, creating a private chamber for every patient.

Although the doctor had already healed his injury, the med guy still kept on pestering Sam.

‘I should kill him.’ Sam thought.

(Bruh! You need to train your patience!) the voice in Sam’s mind commented.

‘I know!’ replied Sam irritatingly.

“I guess you are fine now. Well then, I’ll be going,” the med bow did a short bow before leaving the curtain chamber.

“Haa!”

Sam breathed a sigh of relief as he finally got his personal space back.

(Honestly speaking, you were amazing out there!) The voice in his head praised Sam.

“Yeah right,” Sam rolled his eyes, not believing the praise to be genuine.

(No, Really! I have known you since your birth. I know how pathetic you were in close combat since you never had to fight. I mean for you a thought is enough to kill your opponent-)

“Dude, shut up you’re boring me.”

(…In short, your close combat has improved a lot)

After hearing that, Sam couldn’t help but sigh again before falling back on the cot.

“Yeah, but I’m still not strong enough.” Sam said dejectedly.

For the first time in his life, he was feeling weak. Up until now, if he had to kill anyone, all he needed was a thought.

So when for the first time he was taking the close combat seriously without the use of his main ability, Sam was seeing his own shortcomings for the first time.

(Hey! I got an idea!) At that moment, the voice in his head shook Sam out of his sulking.

“What?”

(So you can experience others’ memories right?)

“It’s not my forte but yeah, memory manipulation is possible. Why?”

(Well, how about this, you take someone else’s memories and make them yours? Like a martial arts expert!

If you take a martial arts expert’s memories wouldn’t that automatically make you a martial arts expert too?)

With a blank face and a ridiculed expression, Sam spoke up.

“And what good will that do to me instead of creating a second personality inside me?”

What the voice in his head suggested wasn’t impossible for Sam to do. However, memories make up a person’s personality.

If Sam were to inherit someone else’s memories, then he will also inherit the personality that comes with it.

Not only that was too much work to do for too little reward but he also doesn’t want a second voice to invade his head. He was already fed up with the one he already had inside his head.

(Tsk, fine)

“Sometimes I think you are just here to amuse yourself with my troubles.”

(Hahaha! You caught me!)

Right when Sam was talking to his inner voice, a dull groan of someone who was in pain resounded throughout the medical room.

-“Arghh!”

Frowning, Sam got up from the cot that he was laying on and drew the right side curtains sideways.

Behind the curtains was a light red-haired boy laying on his bed inside his curtain chamber. He was Lucas Redwing.

“Arghahaha”

His eyes were shut tight but he seemed awake. From the looks of it, he was in pain due to an injury that the doctor didn’t notice.

“Oye, Lucas, you awake?” Sam asked the obvious question.

“What does it look like shithead?!” Lucas replied irritatingly before starting groaning in pain again. “Arghahaha!”

(Shithead? Did this bastard insult you right now?! Kill him!)

‘What about working on my patience?’

(Yeah, my bad. I should be guiding you to the right path. Torture him instead!)

‘Calm down! It’s your job to keep me calm, why am I handling your temper?!’

“Arghh! What are you standing there for shithead?! Go call the fucking doctor who treated me!” Lucas yelled, his vile usage of words contrasting his pretty appearance.

His choice of words and his appearance were so in contrast that even Sam was stunned.

Lucas had a small triangular face that can make anyone want to instinctively protect him, he had a thin figure and unkept light red hair.

But to think such a beautiful person can spout such vulgar words.

‘Well, appearances can be deceiving.’ Sam remarked in his head.

“Didn’t you listen to me you dumbfuck?!” Lucas yelled again.

However, his rantings and wailings were getting under Sam’s skin.

“Why the fuck are you standing there you fucker?! I said go call the fucking doc-“

Before Lucas could complete his cursing, Sam’s hand grabbed his head and shoved him down the bed he was lying on. Shutting his mouth in the process.

“Mmhhh! Mmmhhhh!” Lucas tried to scream but his voice was muffled due to Sam’s hand on his mouth.

“Mmmmh!” With that last muffled scream, in a desperate attempt to free himself, Lucas activated his ability.

“Shush now.” At that command, Sam’s eyes glowed in a violet hue.

When Lucas’s gaze met Sam’s, his panic instantly vanished. He was suddenly unnaturally calm even though a boy was shoving his head down.

His sudden calmness even surprised Lucas himself.

‘Why the fuck am I so calm?! Move! Move my body! Move!’ He tried to command his body to move but no matter how much he tried, his body wasn’t his to control anymore.

Fear instantly struck Lucas. He was untouchable all his life.

No matter how powerful a person he’s up against, no one can touch Lucas without his consent.

If you do try to touch him without him permitting you, the force you’ll put to touch him will be amplified tenfold before force will be directed at you, ripping your hand off the socket.

However, this boy was not only touching him, he was overpowering him.

And no matter how much Lucas wills it, he couldn’t activate his ability!

With the sudden fear of the unknown, came panic. This boy was not normal.

Seeing him calm down, Sam took back his hand and displayed a benign smile, completely different from the dangerous aura he was emitting earlier.

“Now then, since you calmed down and all, I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” Sam said. “Can we?”

He asked for permission while knowing full well what the answer would be.

“Y-Yes, just don’t hurt me…” Lucas drooped his gaze down. His earlier display of pride and arrogance was nowhere to be seen.

With a dumbfounded expression, Sam frowned before speaking.

“Why would I ever hurt my future general?”

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Information Available On:

[Memory Manipulation]

-Sub-power of Mind Manipulation and Biology Manipulation.

?Users can control memories of themselves and others. This allows them to modify, fabricate, suppress, influence, repair, restore, erase, detect, and view them.

?They can change memories to confuse, wipe away certain memories to cause amnesia, discern and provoke nostalgia, and enter the victim into a psychic vision, replaying their memory.

?Memories make up personality, so needless to say the users can manipulate the personality of their targets too.

?They can also absorb their target’s memories but this might come at the risk of absorbing the personality of their target too.

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