VILLAIN'S RISING

“Take your hands off my son!”

A thunderous voice echoed throughout the vicinity, shaking everyone in their steps.

“Is he-“

“Yes, it is indeed him. Starsuper aka Arthur Willburn.”

Looking at the source of the voice Sam and Lucas found a man, quite muscular for his age, hovering in the air.

Seeing him up this close made Sam feel something… Something that he thought he would never feel. Something that he thought he was immune to. Something that he was used to using against his enemies.

Seeing him up that close made Sam feel his first taste of true fear. Sam knew that if Arthur wanted he could kill him with just a finger snap.

‘I’m supposed to defeat him huh?… What a cruel joke.’ He thought to himself while clenching his fists.

Even Albert, who was about to finish off Anthony, called off his Laser Beam. He then raised his head to look at the man who dared to interfere with his hunt.

Right at that moment, Starsuper vanished from everyone’s vision. Albert, even with his inhuman speed, was not able to follow Starsuper’s movement.

Where did he go?! That was the question on everyone’s minds. Even Albert was visibly confused._.

-Tap

The next second, Albert felt someone tapping his shoulder. He turned his neck to look at who it was and to his surprise, he found it to be Starsuper!

“I can sense our family’s DNA in you. Mind telling me where did you get that?” Starsuper asked casually as if he was asking someone for directions.

“What was that speed!” Lucas whispered his amazement.

“Grhaaaaaa!” Like a beast incarnate, Albert roared at the top of his lungs before throwing a fist at Starsuper.

Starsuper, who had already seen it coming, stood there and took the blow like it was nothing.

-Crack!

A bone-cracking sound came from Albert’s hand as soon as his fist clashed against Starsuper’s body. It felt like he was hitting a mountain made of lead!

“That’s your full strength? I can see why Anthony lost against you but against a Willburn who has lived for a few centuries it would take at least thousands of you to even make a dent.”

Albert hopped a few meters back and created some distance between him and the man they call the strongest Hero.

Although Albert was unable to think like a rational being, he was still a Demon created for the sole purpose of battle.

He instinctively knew that fighting Starsuper in a fist fight would result in his demise. So he decided to fight him with abilities instead!

He activated his Laser Beam ability and his mouth and eyes glowed in the blood shade of red.

“Is that a Heat Vision ability? No, since you’re planning to generate it from your mouth too, I guess it’s a Heat Beam Emission ability.” Touching his chin, Starsuper mumbled.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Show me what you’ve got.”

As if waiting for that challenge, Albert shot three Heat Beams aimed at Starsuper. Two from his eyes and one from his mouth. Those Heat Beams converged into one massive beam and made their way toward Starsuper.

Starsuper simply activated his own Heat Vision and a pair of golden Heat Beams collided with Albert’s Heat Beams.

-Wroom!

The collision created a shock wave that shook the ground. Gales blew and dirt rose but the perpetrators stood tall and held their ground.

At first glance, it looked like both of their Heat Beams were evenly matched but after a few minutes of continuous colliding, Starsuper’s golden beams started dominating Albert’s red.

Slowly but surely Starsuper’s beams were making their way toward Albert while he could do nothing.

“Should we jump in?” Lucas asked.

“Are you stupid?” Sam responded with a rhetorical question.

After what felt like an eternity, Albert couldn’t maintain his Heat Beam Emission anymore and his red beams subsided, allowing Starsuper’s Heat Vision to finally hit him in the chest.

-Swoosh

The force of the beams sent him a few steps back but Albert didn’t lose his footing. He managed to somehow remain standing on his feet.

“Grrrr!” Like a mindless animal, Albert growled at Starsuper before dashing at him with his signature inhumane speed.

This time Starsuper decided to parry his attack too. His feet lifted off the ground and he flew toward the incoming beast at an even incredible speed.

Both of them pulled back their first before throwing the strongest punch with the strength they could muster.

-BOOM!

A shock wave even bigger and louder than before arose and shook the whole Island this time. When the dust settled, the figure of two men brawling among themselves was revealed.

Albert was now with only one arm. His right hand, which he used for throwing the punch at Starsuper, was ripped into shreds and rendered into nothingness.

But even with one arm, he was dealing blows to Starsuper. Although none of the blows were doing any damage since Starsuper either blocked them or dodged them.

And even if he didn’t do either of those things, it was not like Albert could do any real damage to him.

It was clear from their previous exchange of punches that Starsuper was the stronger one between them. It was also apparent that Albert was fighting a losing battle.

-Swosh!

-Click!

-Clash!

Albert kept attacking and Starsuper kept defending. It was as if he was gauging his strength.

After a few more exchanges of blows, Starsuper spoke: “It feels like you’re adapting to my strength. Seems like you’ve inherited that ability too.”

It was true. Albert was getting stronger by the second. Starsuper could feel it and even Sam could feel it.

“Too bad for you, I can’t give you the chance to fully adapt.” Starsuper casually spoke before finally deciding to end this sorry excuse of a fight.

-Swoosh!

Dodging an incoming strike by tilting his head, Starsuper kicked Albert and sent him flying a few meters back.

Without giving him a chance to recover, Starsuper started floating in the air before he shot at Albert like an arrow being shot at a target.

Albert barely got to his feet in time and prepared to activate his ability.

However, before he could do anything Starsuper spoke again.

“Because you’ve inherited our DNA you’re Immortal. But you can still be killed by us.” Starsuper spoke while clearing the distance between him and Albert. “Divine Eyes!”

The Heat Beam Emission ability Albert was preparing turned off by itself. He looked in front to see a fist just a few inches away from his head.

-BOOM!

Another shock wave was created as soon as Starsuper hit Albert. But Sam didn’t wait for the dust to settle and began moving.

“Sire…”

He already knew the results. He felt his connection with Albert going off. Albert had died.

It just took a single punch from Starsuper to kill him.