VILLAIN'S RISING

-Thwack!

Another punch landed right between Rebekah’s eyes. The impact was strong enough to make her drop to her knees.

But even as she was on her knees, Sam didn’t stop his assault. He threw another straight hook aimed at her face.

Rebekah tilted her head and dodged the incoming blow. But that wasn’t all.

As soon as his fist missed the mark, Sam grabbed her head from behind and pushed his right knee forward.

-Thwack!

His knee landed at Rebekah’s chin, making her fall to her back.

Sam was not going to stop even now. He mounted her, pinned her down, and started throwing punches at her.

-Thwack!

-Thrash!

-Thwack!

One after another, Sam kept hitting Rebekah, who was defenselessly lying down there and taking his endless assault.

All the while she had only one thought in her head, ‘Am I losing in the battle of strength?’

She was a Willburn and body was naturally the strongest and most adaptable thing in the world.

But then how was she losing a battle of strength? And how was Sam winning so easily?

No matter how she thought about it, it didn’t make any sense.

She had no idea that Sam was using [Neither Manipulation] to strengthen his body.

However, even Sam knew that his lead wouldn’t last much longer._.

The thing he had learned about Willburns by fighting and torturing Rebekah was that the more you beat them up, the stronger they become.

“You-“

-Thwack!

“Won’t-“

-Thwack!

“Survive-“

-Thwack!

“This time!”

Rebekah kept threatening Sam even as she was taking hits. And Sam knew she wasn’t just barking, she was ready to bite too.

She had decided to kill him and that’s what she will do if Sam doesn’t do something about her first.

He pulled back his arm and drew energy. It felt like he was draining something from an endless source.

That energy strengthened his body. Sam has experienced power before. But what he was experiencing right now was “Strength”.

-Thwash!

With his last and strongest punch, Sam’s fist impaled Rebekah’s heart and crushed it.

Her vision slowly darkened as she tried to say something but she failed to choke out her words.

Only a squeal escaped from her lips before she closed her eyes and fell into a deep comatose like state.

Sam called off his ability seeing that he had temporarily subdued her threat.

“This will take care of her for a few minutes at least.” Sam sighed before coming off on top of her and standing on his legs.

He took out his phone and dialed a number on it.

“Yeah, I need you.” He said in an authoritative tone as if he was talking to his servant. “You can sense me right? Come here and come fast.”

That was all he said before cutting the call.

(Was this in your plan too?)

“I knew she would react and I could’ve handled things better had I taken some hits. But to answer your questions, yes it was.” Sam nodded.

“I’m in control.” He said as if reassuring himself before repeating it. “I’m in control. I’m in control!”

*

“Are you sure you can hold her off, sire?”

“The last time I was able to hold her for seven days. And I didn’t even have any Demons or [Neither Manipulation] ability back then.”

“What if she escapes? Your plan will fail.”

“Midterms are one month away. I just have to keep her captive till then.”

Sam and Lucas exchanged worries and assurance.

They were in the basement of the house that Sam used as his hideout in the outskirts of Academy City.

Rebekah was hanging to a wall in front of them. Her arms and legs nailed to the ground.

She had a few people standing all around her. If one were to look closely at them then one would find that they weren’t actually people.

They were Demons. They had blackish skin and two horns coming out from their forehead. Their eyes were glowing red like they were on fire.

They were the Demons Sam created recently. All of them were previously the workers of this City.

All of them were keeping watch on Rebekah, like a predator waiting for their prey to move.

In terms of strength alone, all of them had surpassed Albert, the first Demon enhanced by Willburns’ DNA.

While Lucas was still anxious about Rebekah escaping, Sam was as cool as ice.

Sam knew he just had to keep her imprisoned till midterms. The first day of the midterms will mark the beginning of his plan and end of the world.

Everything was going according to his plan.

“Can’t we just kill her?” Lucas asked an obviously useless question.

“I would if I could. Even if you kill her, she will just go into a comatose like slumber. I’ve tried destroying her body but she would just regenerate. Not to mention her body is even harder than diamond.”

“Can I try?” Lucas volunteered.

“You? You think you can kill her?” Sam arched his eyebrows, seemingly doubtful.

“Yes, I can negate all the atomic movements in her body. She’ll crumble like a dirt castle!”

“You mean sand castle?”

“What?”

“People make castles with sand, not dirt.”

“…”

“…”

“Look sire, the point is, I can kill her!” Lucas said, practically jumping up and down as he begged for permission to kill her.

“Sigh, fine. Go ahead and try but don’t hold your breath.” Uninterested, Sam said before turning back and taking a nearby seat.

Lucas nodded and collected his breath. He wanted to hurt Anthony. And although he hadn’t got any chances yet, he was about to get his revenge.

A few years ago, Lucas’ little sister was put in a coma.

Why? Because a bomb was placed in her school by some criminals.

No, the bomb didn’t go off. Anthony Willburn aka Starboy came in and saved the day by garbbing the bomb and shotting through the roof.

However, the force and speed he shot through the roof was enough to crumble it.

A large part of the school’s roof came crashing down on a few of the students. One of them was Lucas’ sister.

The injury rate was much lower than what the death ratio could have been, so the news that Anthony’s mistake injured a few students was buried.

The families were given compensation and hospital bills. Where all the other injured students recovered, Lucas’ sister stayed in her slumber.

Lucas knew it was unfair to hold Anthony accountable for what happened to her sister, but he couldn’t help it.

If only Anthony had flown out through the window! If only he has thought about the consequences of his actions!

That was the reason for Lucas’ hate toward Anthony. Don’t be a Hero if you don’t know how to be one!

Collecting his breath, Lucas looked at the flaxen haired girl in front of him.

He stepped in closer to her and placed a hand on her chest.

With a single thought, he activated his ability [Vector Manipulation] to its fullest. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Both his minds started calculating the necessary calculations for what he had planned.

After a few minutes and completing the calculations that should’ve been impossible for even an AI let alone a human brain, Lucas opened his eyes which were glowing in the shade of red.

“Die,” with that said, Lucas negated all the atomic vectors in her body before taking her hand off her chest.

Within a moment, Rebekah’s body started disintegrating. Her atomic composition started crumbling and her body started falling apart like it was made of sand.

From her legs to her upper thighs, from her chest to her head, and from her arms to her hands. Every fell apart as if it was made of sand.

Sam, who was sitting a few steps behind Lucas, however, was still uninterested.

“I did it, sire! I killed her!” Lucas turned around to face his sire. Maybe he wanted pats for his hard work.

However, Sam only shook his head before pointing something behind Lucas with his index finger.

“I wish it was that easy.” Sam said.

Lucas frowned and turned around only to find out that something was glowing behind him.

Like a small sun, an orb was shining with blinding golden light. The light was so bright that Sam had to narrow his eyes.

The orb then started emitting tendrils of golden lightning. That golden lightning started forming a skull and bones. On those bones, muscle fibers started appearing. To cover up those muscle fibers, flesh started manifesting.

Slowly a whole body was formed in front of Sam and Lucas within the span of a few minutes. The body then fell on to the ground before them with a low thud.

Thud–

Lucas was left in daze, stunned, stupefied, blown away, and all the other synonyms the word ‘shock’ has.

Sam, with his eyes still clouded with uninterest, confronted Lucas.

“I told you to not hold your breath. Apparently they can regenerate from a single atom.” Sam sighed in exhaustion, as if he was remembering how hard it is to kill a Willburn.

“But don’t worry, dear Lucas,” Sam said with a smile. “Even Gods can be killed, these Willburns aren’t even Gods. They aren’t even humans. They are just insects.”