VILLAIN'S RISING

Buildings were set ablaze, surroundings were vandalized, and rubbles of destruction were raining down the abandoned city area.

In the midst of it all, Heroes were fighting the Progenitor’s minions.

As they continued to struggle, they continued to perish. Their lifeless bodies kept collapsing onto the ground as they joined their fallen brethren.

Regardless, even when faced with such a grim situation, a boy in a white and golden body-fit battle suit kept fighting back.

His once bright flaxen hair had already lost its shine as they were now stained in red from the blood of his enemies.

His eyes, on the other hand, were still glimmering with hope– the hope that they would win this battle.

In his mind, he was constantly repeating the words, ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’

When Anthony learned about his extraterrestrial origins, he was disappointed.

He started showing interest in his home planet. Only then did Starsuper tell him the truth about their home.

Starsuper was from a faraway galaxy. His race was known as ‘Crestera.’

And one ordinary day, out of nowhere, people of their race were all granted a terrific ability.

They were granted the ability to evolve.

Evolution means a change in a population. That includes both easy-to-spot changes to adapt to an environment as well as more subtle genetic changes.

So a population that could constantly evolve had nothing to fear, nothing to fret about.

They didn’t need to eat, drink, sleep or perform any sustainable tasks. So they decided to direct all their energy toward the betterment of their kind.

They trained every member of their species and pushed their evolution to an unbelievable level.

Finally, they created their perfect world

It was a world of dreams. No hunger, no work, no poverty. What could’ve gone wrong in such a world?

A world where everyone gets their wishes fulfilled must be a happy world, right?

But things did go wrong. When they were granted everything, the easiness of their life started getting to their minds.

Not until it was too late did they realize that they had made a terrible mistake by creating this paradise.

After all, it was a world where no one needed to work.

At first glance, it does sound luxurious, but diving into that concept deeper, one would find that it was actually very flawed.

The feeling of ‘need’ or ‘want’ drives people. But in a world where those feelings were non-existent, the drive to do anything was also eliminated– thus eliminating the luxury that people create by working for others.

So what was left for them to do to fill this void?

Create artificial workers like robots and A.I.? Sadly, their technology was not advanced enough as they solely focused on strength until recently.

So what else?

Subdue one another and disrupt their world peace? But that would’ve wasted all those years of effort. Not to mention how foolish it was to do that.

Now what?

Enslaving other intelligent species might offer what they needed. Not only could that give them a sense of purpose, but it would also solve their problem.

Thus, the elites of the society launched this idea to the general masses. Needless to say, there were conflicting opinions regarding the matter.

Some wanted to go with it, while others pointed out how stupid that suggestion sounded.

But in the end, the program was made official, and the masses went with it.

They were a race of extremely evolved species that could not die. Even if they fight some unknown space aliens, what’s the worst that could happen?

They stand corrected. The Crestera race ventured out of their home planet in search of new worlds, new resources, and not to mention a whole new race of intelligent species to enslave.

Honestly, it wasn’t very different from what people on Earth used to do in the medieval period. They, too, used to wage wars for a sense of purpose and search for luxury.

It’s just that Cresterians were doing it on an intergalactic level.

Soon, they found worlds with intelligent races, and they began their conquest.

One could guess how this story progressed from here on out.

Sometime later, after conquering several galaxies and colonizing thousands of planets, the Crestera race met their match.

They finally encountered a predatory species that could actually threaten them.

It turned out that the Crestera race wasn’t as invincible as they thought they were. They couldn’t die, yes. But that does not mean there was absolutely no way to kill them.

The war this time was not about a sense of purpose or want of luxury. Rather it was now about their survival.

The Crestera and that unknown race engaged in a fierce battle of survival. But in the end, they fought to their extinction.

Only a few members of the Crestera race survived. Few of them were, of course, Starsuper and his three brothers.

According to him, they stumbled upon Earth by chance. They had no plans of stopping here, but this world had to offer something that intrigued them.

Humans. Yes, humans intrigued them.

Unlike all the other worlds they had visited till now, Earth was very, very distinct in comparison.

The dominant species among all the different planets they saw had at least one trait in common.

Yes, that trait was strength.

All of those species were strong, and thus they dominated their respective planets. After all, only the fittest could survive natural selection.

But Homo Sapiens, or humans, were different. They were delicate. The only thing that made them act as the dominant species of their planet was their technology.

They were by far the cleverest creatures among all the other species they saw, but being clever isn’t enough to get you through natural selection.

Intrigued, the Cresterian brothers decided to stay and observe the planet– observe humans.

Some centuries later, the First Light event occurred, and the world changed. Humanity developed superpowers, and animals evolved into beats and all that stuff.

Then the Dark Ages arrived.

Now, Arthur, who was by this point, obsessed with humans, suggested stepping out of the shadows and helping humanity.

His brothers, of course, denied that plan and urged him to leave this planet, but Arthur refused.

He decided to join in human matters and help them. One could say he found his sense of belonging with them, so he didn’t want to lose them.

His brothers followed him into the battle with the Progenitor, but they both died. And the rest is history.

Starsuper married a human woman and became the sign of hope for all of humanity.

He helped them settle on Mars, kept the world at peace, and taught his children to follow in his footsteps.

At that time, however, Anthony couldn’t discern why his father was so obsessed with humans.

But as he grew up, he started seeing what his father meant by his words.

Humanity was fragile. Even after all the superpowers they possessed, they were, at the core, fragile. And that fragility was exactly what made Arthur fall in love with them.

And now that Anthony had experienced it firsthand, he couldn’t let Sam succeed.

Yes, humans engross in conflicts over the smallest of things. Yes, they can’t function together without some issues. Yes, their beliefs get in the way of their productivity, but that all just makes them human.

After all, humans don’t need to be perfect. They don’t need to be strong. They were beautiful just the way they are.

Their individuality was what makes them human– what makes them different!

Snatching away their individuality– making them nothing but mere puppets– was not the way to a better future!

Anthony could not accept that!

“Haaa!” He cried out and jabbed his hand at one of the Demon’s heads– busting it open and killing him instantly.

That was the last one.

Anthony, drenched in the blood of his own and his opponent, looked around and saw at least 16 people still alive and standing.

“How many did we have at the start?” Anthony questioned with a saddened expression on his face.

“Ha! Ha ha! Ar-Around 200!” Liberty replied while panting for air in between her words– reverting back to her human form.

Anthony clenched his fist in bitterness and resentment. He couldn’t do anything to save them. He fell right into Sam’s trap.

“Don’t blame yourself, kid.” A hand tapped on Anthony’s shoulder before a gentle voice refreshed his ears.

“None of us expected him to use a virus to infect our members and cut our numbers at the start.” Scarlet Vampire continued. “Right, Liberty?”

Scarlet Vampire turned to Liberty but saw her in a miserable state. She was lying on the ground and desperately gasping for air as if she had just run 100 miles.

“Girl, will you live?” Scarlet Vampire jokingly asked.

“Sh-Shut up, you witch! Ha ha! You can suck souls to recharge your stamina. Not everyone has that cheat available to them!” Liberty replied as she tried to fill her lungs with enough oxygen.

Anthony smiled at their conversation. Right, he still didn’t lose. He could still save this world!

Just as he was in those thoughts, the area in front of Anthony twisted, and a hole was created in the fabric of space.

Anthony couldn’t help but smirk at that sight, “About time!”