Villain's Rising

'Nothing… Nothing happened?' a look of despair washed over Starsuper's face.

His mind instantly went on to process the worst-case scenario.

What if he couldn't beat it?

If his 100% strength couldn't do anything to hurt the dragon, what other options does Starsuper have?

Should he retreat? But where to? If he can't beat him here, then no one on Earth would be able to beat him!

Even if the reinforcements were going to arrive from Mars, Starsuper wasn't sure that they would be able to offer more offensive aid than him!

Gnashing his teeth in desperation, Starsuper clenched his fist again. 'No, I can't falter! I can't back down!'

While he was pulling his morale back up again, Sam, now transformed into a colossus black dragon, expressed his astonishment in his mind.

'I survived his attack without a scratch?!' he thought but almost instantly put his guard back up again.

He wasn't sure if that last attack from Starsuper was delivered at its full strength.

To confirm, he asked the voice in his head.

'Was that his strongest?' he asked. 'Or will the incoming attacks be stronger?'

However, the voice in his mind didn't respond instantly. Instead, there was a brief silence before Sam heard his answer.

(That… I think that was his full strength…) with a bit of hesitation clear in its tone, the voice spoke.

Sam couldn't help but curl his lips up, revealing his large, sharp dragon teeth.

Without any ado, Sam flapped his giant wings and shot forward at Starsuper with incredible speed.

Even the minute movements done by Sam's gigantic body exerted pressure immense enough to make Starsuper tremble in his presence.

'Arghaaaa!' Letting out a fierce battle cry in his mind, Starsuper charged forward at the incoming giant dragon.

He pulled his fist back and started clustering the golden aura in his hand again.

'Overdrive 100%!' he yelled in his head while still continuing his charge.

If the shockwave created by his punch wasn't enough to vanquish the black dragon, then he would hit it directly.

As soon as Starsuper got into striking range, he shot his punch forward with all his strength.

In contrast to Starsuper's ferocious efforts, Sam effortlessly swung his massive dragon claw and flung Starsuper's body like a tick.

The caped superhero's body collided with the part of the moon that was still intact with a bang.

-Kuwaaam!

The impact of the crash was so great that it dug out a massive cavity on the surface of the moon.

'Ghaaa!' Starsuper felt air escaping his lungs even though he wasn't breathing for a long time.

He felt the impact of his fall at its fullest.

But what crushed his spirit wasn't the fact that he was overpowered; rather, it was the fact that just a casual swing of Sam's arm did that to him!

A casual hit from the dragon was capable of rendering Starsuper into such a powerless state, then what might its actual strength be?!

Starsuper shuddered at the thought, but almost instantly, he gathered the strength back in his body.

He needed to get up! He needed to-

Before he could even collect his thoughts, the black dragon flapped his enormous wings and appeared over Starsuper.

-Vuaaaaam!

Giving the hero no time to recover, Sam thrashed his colossus body to the moon, slamming into Starsuper and wrecking the last of the remaining intact moon.

Like a truck running into a cardboard wall, Sam tore through the moon and rendered it into chunks of floating white rocks.

Amidst the white debris was floating the body of a superhero dressed in ragged gold and white cape costume.

He had his eyes closed as if he was unconscious. But in the next moment, the hero shot open his eyes and activated [Flight] ability to balance himself.

The force of the collision was so great that Starsuper momentarily blacked out.

He couldn't help but click his tongue. Starsuper's body was durable enough to withstand the heat of the sun. It could survive a nuclear explosion.

Yet, when Sam's giant dragon body crashed into him, he felt as if the moon itself had fallen on him.

Shaking his head, Starsuper sorted his thoughts. There was no time to waste.

As if waiting for that cue, Sam, who had used this moment to get above Starsuper, started descending down on him, intending to tackle him again.

But unfortunately, the caped superhero had already sensed an attack coming from above his head.

He instantly looked up, and a thought surfaced in his head.

'He isn't faster than me,' Starsuper thought.

It was true.

Sam's dragon body was slightly bigger than the size of the moon. Although it was tough, evidently tougher than Starsuper himself, it wasn't faster than him.

Nodding, Starsuper acknowledged the fact that he couldn't beat the black dragon in a contest of strength.

So what could he do?

He could outmaneuver him!

If he could outmaneuver him, he could deal a final blow to him at point-blank range.

Starsuper was sure that if he were to strike a punch using all his strength at point blank, he could defeat the black dragon.

After all, the black dragon's body size was only slightly larger than the moon.

Starsuper, on the other hand, had more than enough power to destroy a planet as big as Mars if he put all his strength into his punch.

A strategy formed in Starsuper's mind before he yelled in his head, 'Overdrive 100%!'

Right away, Starsuper's figure was cloaked in a vibrant golden aura. This time, however, he was not going to attack head-on.

In the blink of an eye, Starsuper used [Flight] at its fullest and swiftly flew past the black dragon to get behind him.

From Sam's point of view, it seemed like Starsuper had disappeared.

'Where is he?!' Sam shot in his mind.

(Behind you!)

At the voice's response, Sam abruptly tried to twist his massive body, but it was already too late.

Starsuper had already mounted himself on Sam's back.

-Zzzzz!

A sizzling sound arose as Starsuper stuck his feet to mount on the black dragon's spiky back.

'It's hot!' It felt like he was standing on molten lava. However, his body was durable enough to withstand the heat of the sun's core. 'Let's see if you can tank this!'

Without wasting a second, Starsuper gathered the vibrant golden aura in his right hand and raised his fist.

With everything he had, all his remaining strength poured into one single strike… Starsuper struck down his fist.