Villain's Rising

A fist from the right, a kick to the left, a knee to the solar plexus, and a right hook for the face. Starsuper kept predicting and countering all of Sam's movements.

Even with Sam going all out, Starsuper was just too much of a challenge for his clones.

In mere minutes, Starsuper had already killed more than fifty of Sam's clones. And this was Starsuper holding back.

If Starsuper wanted, he could've just destroyed the whole vicinity. But he didn't do that because of obvious reasons.

He didn't know how many students were turning into Demons. Plus, Heroes already got his distress signal, so they were on their way too.

If he were to go all out, there was a chance for Heroes, unturned students, and even some civilians to get caught up in the destruction.

And not to mention that he wasn't so sure about Sam's real body being here in the Academy.

For all he knew, Sam might have already left the city. There was no way Starsuper would take a chance like that.

"Just die!" Stepping back and dodging a punch, Starsuper lifted off the ground, grabbed Sam by the hand, and threw him over the shoulder.

-Thwash!

Making an ark, Sam's body was slammed to the ground and gouged out a small crater.

Without giving his opponent a chance to get back on his feet, Starsuper shot a pair of lasers and melted a hole in Sam's head– killing another clone in an instant.

Making his feet touch the ground, Starsuper moved his eyes throughout the Academy grounds and readied himself for another clone to come at him.

But even after a few seconds of wait, nothing happened, and no one appeared.

-BOOM!

Right when Starsuper was about to drop his guard, he heard a loud explosion sound coming from near the back gates.

Without wasting a single second, with the speed of sound, Starsuper disappeared and reappeared on the site where he heard the explosion sound coming from.

He saw dust and smog filling the air. However, with his super eyes, it wasn't a problem for him.

Using his eyes to search the different spectrums, he saw two figures exchanging blows with each other.

It was clear that one of them was Sam. Starsuper didn't waste another moment and shot toward him at an inhumane speed.

The figure was indeed one of Sam's clones.

Just a few moments earlier, Sam tried talking sense with Drake. When Drake refused to cooperate with him, Sam even threatened to turn Robin into a Demon.

However, instead of fearing that outcome and surrendering to Sam, Drake threw a massive fireball at his face.

As expected, though, the fireball did no damage to Sam except to anger him. But Drake was not the one to give up.

When fireballs didn't work, he resorted to close combat. He started throwing fire-enveloped fists at Sam.

But there was no way he could've hit Sam with his speed.

Sam, whose patience was now broken, activated his ability. He was about to use his [Biology Manipulation] to render Drake's brain into mush.

However, right before the villain could accomplish his goal, Starsuper appeared there.

Before Sam could kill Drake, Starsuper flew at him before hitting him with the force of a moving mountain.

-Baam!

However, Sam already saw the attack coming and manifested an invisible barrier in front of him.

But even the barrier couldn't cushion all the force. Sam's feet were dragged a few meters back, making a trail.

"Just give up, Starsuper," annoyed from the hit, Sam said. "You know what's happening here, right?"

Frowning, Starsuper looked at Sam and waited for him to continue.

"You really are stupid, aren't you?" Sam sighed and rolled his eyes. "Strongest Hero, my ass!"

Before he could continue his mocking anymore, Starsuper blurred out of existence before grabbing Sam's neck out of nowhere and pinning him down on the ground.

Sam couldn't even react to that insane level of speed before his body was pushed down on the ground.

"Arghhaha! You like choking kids, I see!" Sam joked. He had nothing to fear. This was just a clone, after all.

"What did you mean?!" Starsuper clamored for answers, hostility clearly visible in his glowing golden eyes.

"Hahahaha!" Laughing like a maniac, Sam decided to reveal his plan.

It was already too late to stop it. They had no choice but to play his game now.

"Look around you, half of the students are about to turn into Demons, and half of them are in a slumber!" Sam pointed with his eyes.

"So? Do you think I won't kill your Demons? I'm ready to defend this world at any cost!" Starsuper voiced his determination.

"You don't get it, Starsuper!" With a deranged look in his eyes, Sam continued. "Not every one of those who are in slumber here will be turned into a Demon! What's more, not every one of them will be turning at the same time! Some may turn now, and some could take a few hours!"

As those words were uttered, the gravity of the situation sunk into Starsuper.

"You don't know when they will be turned or even how many of them will be turned!" He said before resuming. "And as you may have already guessed, my real body isn't here."

"Now you have two options, either kill everyone here, including innocents and find my location or choose to wait and kill only those who will turn and risk letting me get away to my next plan!" The smile on Sam's face only twisted further as he said those words.

Starsuper tried his best to keep a cool head and think about the situation calmly. However, it wasn't easy seeing the way Sam was smiling.

Never in his life did Starsuper feel a need to punch someone to death so severely as he was feeling now.

However, if possible, he would still like to extract information from him.

Besides, if what he said was true, then Starsuper was in a bind here. It's one of those scenarios where he has to choose between the two bad options.

-Swoosh!

Right then, Starsuper felt the temperature warning up, and a sound comparable to that of a rocket's thruster was heard.

He looked up to see someone enveloped in flames descending down on the ground like a meteor.

Starsuper instantly knew who it was. It was Eve Dragonheart.

-Thud

Landing on his feet, Eve looked around and saw his son. He was injured and bleeding from many wounds that were inflicted on him.

He was kneeling beside the girl Eve was very familiar with. It was Robin, his son's girlfriend.

She was down on the ground and screaming like her insides were being ripped apart.

She wasn't the only one, though. The whole Academy grounds were filled with students' agonizing screams.

Some were simply unconscious, while some were having their bodies bend and twist out of shape in a way that was simply humanly impossible.

"Dad!" Drake called out to Eve as soon as he saw him. His eyes were filled with tears, and his voice was breaking.

Eve had never seen his son like this. He may be one of the strongest Heroes, but seeing his son kneeling and crying for his love broke his heart.

However, family can come after saving the world. Holding back his feelings, he walked up to where Starsuper was pinning down Sam.

"Is this the Progenitor?" Eve asked, nearing him. "Why aren't you killing him?"

"Because I'm a god, you fucking idiot! No one can kill-" before Sam could continue his nonsense, Eve shoved his foot into his mouth and shut him up.

"This one is more talkative than the original Progenitor," Eve commented.

"More vicious too," Starsuper said before he summarised everything that Sam had told him about his plan.

"So it's a clone? No wonder he's so weak." Eve scoffed.

"Yeah," Starsuper nodded. "What should we do?"

"First, we'll ask him a nice question," Eve replied. "Sam, your name was it? Are you really planning to revive the Dragons?"

Eve took back his foot from his mouth and let Sam answer his question.

Sam, instead of answering, just giggled like a maniac. "Your son will break, you will break, Starsuper will break!"

Eve, who realized that Sam wasn't going to answer his query, started activating his signature move.

The temperature started rising instantly. However, even then, Sam didn't stop his babbling.

"You all are weak! And what right does the weak have when faced with an overwhelming power? The destiny is set. You all will lose!"

"What are you doing?" Not minding Sam, Starsuper asked Eve. "You'll blow this whole place up!"

"He's messing with us. We can't let him!" Eve responded. "We don't know if anyone here will really be spared from turning! It's better to kill them all now and grant them some mercy!"

Starsuper clenched his fist. It was true. He couldn't take the Progenitor's words at face value.

"Go take my son and get out of this place." With that said, Eve's eyes started glowing in a fiery red shade.

Starsuper reluctantly nodded and vanished in a blur.

He reappeared before Drake. Drake, sensing what they were about to do, stood up in resistance.

However, before he could show any resistance, a punch landed on his solar plexus, making him fall unconscious.

"Sorry kiddo," Starsuper apologized with his head dropped down apologetically.

Without waiting for another second, Starsuper activated his flight ability and flew away while carrying Drake on his shoulder.

-KABOOM!

Like a hydrogen bomb detonation, a massive mushroom cloud explosion occurred with Eve at its epicenter.

It was the sight of destruction and death. However, Starsuper knew it was only the start.