VILLAIN'S RISING

While pillars of fire were raining down on the earth from the sky, Sam and Anthony were engaged in a fierce battle– determined to claim the life of one another.

“Why are you doing this?!” Anthony barked before throwing a punch with all his might.

Sam parried the attack without backing down. He blocked the blow with his right hand and headbutted Anthony.

Anthony lost his footing and took a step back before thrashing a straight kick aimed directly at Sam’s abdomen.

Sam caught the kick with his hands easily. But it was a faint attack.

As soon as Sam fell into the trap and caught his kick, Anthony jumped and spun his upper body before landing a shin kick on the side of Sam’s face.

-Bam!

The force of the kick made Sam let go of Anthony’s leg. Anthony seized this chance Instantly. As soon as he landed on the ground, Anthony delivered a right hook.

Sam, although still stunned by the previous kick, took a step back to avoid the incoming hook.

That was another mistake.

As soon as Sam stepped back, in a fast-paced move, Anthony lifted his left leg and delivered a high kick on his chin.

“Khuu!” The force was enough to knock Sam back in the air, but he still managed to land on his feet.

“Just stop it, Anthony!” Sam barked, regaining his senses. “You and I want the same thing!”

Anthony, baffled by Sam’s bullshit claim of wanting the same thing, paid no mind to his babbling and flew at him.

-BAAM!

But before he was just a few inches away from him, something fell down on him from above and thrashed him down on the ground– creating a small crater and pinning him down.

“Arghh!” Anthony tried to struggle and shake off the thing that was pinning him down, but he was clearly not strong enough.

He moved his head up to gaze at the thing that was pinning him down and found it to be a tall, toned woman.

Her skin was darkened, her eyes were looking as if they were set ablaze, and her strength was anything but normal.

Anthony immediately figured out what was happening. It was one of Sam’s enhanced demons that he must’ve put on standby beforehand.

“Calm down!” Sam yelled at Anthony, seeing that he was still trying to resist– trying to break free.

“Fuck you!” Anthony yelled back and activated his heat vision.

Before he could act, however, the demon on top of Anthony stabbed his eyes with two of her fingers.

“Arghhhhha!” Anthony screamed in pain, but without any mercy, the woman on top of him dug her fingers deeper into his eye sockets and gouged out his eyes.

“Arughhhhaa!”

“I told you to calm down! Calm the fuck down, Anthony!” Sam repeated his words as he stood in front of Anthony– looking down on him.

“I-I will kill you!” He said– his eyes had already started to regenerate.

Despite Sam’s suggestions, Anthony made it clear that he had no intentions of calming down.

Sam could only facepalm at that expected choice and gestured for his demon to bash his head down harder on the ground to make him shut up.

The demon obliged and did as he wished. But Anthony still kept on cursing Sam through his muffled voice.

“Sigh, Anthony, just listen to me!” With an exasperated sigh, Sam said. “You and I literally want the same thing!”

Seeing that Anthony finally calmed down, more or less, Sam decided to continue.

“You want a peaceful world without any crimes, hate, violence, and war. I want the same thing too, Anthony. It may not look like it, but I really want the same thing.

“Because you see humans as individual creatures, you can’t see the real issue. Humanity is toxic, even to their own kind!

“They start a war over the smallest of issues! They don’t bat an eye to betray their own kind! They are always engaged in self-conflicts and fail to see the bigger picture!

“All they need is a small reason to start a hate cycle, or in the worst case, a war! Be it religion, race, gender, borders, equality, or it could literally be any other thing!

“Humanity is broken, and humans are flawed! They r*pe, kill, and hate each other because they don’t understand one another! They can’t be sustained as individual creatures, no! What they need is a hive mind!

“If they could see and truly understand each other, they would finally understand each other! There will be no need for war! There will be no crimes! There will be no hate!

“A world where everyone would understand each other will be a perfect world! A world where instead of raging war on each other, humanity will finally be productive!

“I can make that world possible! Once I remove my limiter, I will be capable of uniting the human race! I would be capable of fixing the world! So please, Anthony! I ask you to work with me and create a perfect world!” Sam said while dramatically raising his hands in the air.

As soon as Sam finished his monologue, he looked down at Anthony with a gaze full of expectations.

However, Anthony was looking back at Sam as if he was looking at a deranged man.

“What?” Sam frowned and asked.

“Sam, do you plan to create a hive mind?” Anthony asked a question in reply.

“Yes, exactly! My plan is to create a unified consciousness and connect every human being.” Sam nodded excitedly.

“I will eradicate every negative feeling from humans and bind them together! I will control them and guide them toward the right direction, Anthony!” He continued.

“Sam, you’re insane! You’re a fucking psychopath!” Anthony cursed with a disgusted face.

Sam, who genuinely couldn’t understand what set him off, frowned. “What? I thought you wanted the same thing– world peace?”

Anthony’s face twisted in anger as if he was arguing with a mad man who was ignorant of basic rights and wrongs.

“Don’t you see what you’re doing here?! You’re taking away their free will! You’re taking away their individuality! You’re trying to strip them of their humanity and turn them into mindless work slaves!” Anthony barked.

“Yes, even my father and I want the world to be at peace, but not like this! This is insanity! You’re not a hero for trying to achieve a goal like this. You’re being unreasonable!” He continued, but Sam looked at him like he was looking at a kid.

A kid who couldn’t comprehend the reality of the world. Sam felt stupid for even trying to converse his point across. He should’ve known…

He should’ve known that as a Gracefell, it was his destiny to walk his path alone.

After all, no one could understand the Heart of a Demon.

“Sigh, I know what I’m trying to do is, by no means, justifiable. In fact, what I’m doing is completely wrong. But I also know this is the only way. Call me a Demon, call me a Villain– I don’t care. I will fix this world.” Sam looked at Anthony with a cold, apathetic look before he started to walk away.

“Subdue him until I’m done,” before walking out of sight, Sam murmured and walked away.

The female Demon that was pinning Anthony down nodded. She lifted her hand, and razor-sharp nails sprang out of her fingertips– turning it into a claw.

Anthony tried to use all of his strength to shake off the Demon on top of her, but she was just way too strong for him. She didn’t even budge.

“Tsk,” Anthony clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Fine then, Divine Sight!”

As soon as he blurted out those words, a golden translucent screen popped up in Anthony’s vision.

Anthony quickly found out that the woman Demon on top of her had a super strength ability. Without further ado, Anthony suppressed that ability.

With nothing holding him back this time, Anthony activated his Flight ability and shook her off him before flying upward.

The Demon rolled on the ground before standing up on her feet. She looked up in front to see Anthony hovering in the air– meeting her gaze with a furious look.

The Demon tilted her head and rushed and Anthony. The flaxen-haired boy didn’t back down and rushed at his opponent with breakneck speed too.

-BOOM!

A massive shockwave erupted when the two of them clashed. But it didn’t take long for Anthony to start winning.

-Swoosh!

-Thrush!

Dodging two consecutive blows, Anthony thrashed his leg forward and hit the woman directly in the chest– sending her flying back.

Seizing the chance, Anthony shot a pair of lasers and blasted a hole in her chest– killing her in an instant.

“Haaaa!” He breathed a sigh of relief, and his hovering body fell down to the ground.

Slowly he sat himself back on his knees and looked around him.

Some Heroes managed to survive the earlier assault. They were now fighting the Demons, who had come down on the ground.

Needless to say, the Heroes were losing.

Anthony couldn’t help but clench his fist. Their plan was ripped asunder.

Sam easily countered their number. First, he cut their numbers in half with an unknown vector microorganism, and then he used himself as bait to distract their attention off the Demons that attacked them through the air.

It was a simple tactic, but his battle awareness made it possible to happen.

Anthony gritted his teeth and stood up. He needs to save the remaining of their forces and stop Sam.

But before that, he should call for backup. He tapped on his earpiece, and a call was connected.

“Yes, initiate Plan B.”