Villain's Rising

"He's here."

-Boom!

As if waiting for that cue, a loud explosion occurred underneath the skyscraper's roof they were standing on.

Starsuper immediately activated his flight and lifted off in the sky as the skyscraper was demolished.

Lightbringer didn't wait either. He activated his ability and turned into a ray of light. In an instant, he appeared on the top of another building.

His speed was genuinely remarkable.

"Are you fine?!" Starsuper asked, knowing that the previous attack wasn't enough to hurt Lightbringer.

"I'm fine! Focus now!" Lightbringer replied and gazed at the base of the skyscraper that was still in the process of crumbling down.

-Swoosh!

A cyan-colored light flashed, and the head of a giant serpent appeared from the rubbles of the building.

"Medusa? She survived?" Starsuper arched his eyebrows as the head of the snake kept growing closer to him.

The translucent cyan snake gaped its mouth, intending to devour Starsuper alive, but the latter only mustered his strength and threw his fist forward at the incoming serpent.

That simple fist that he threw met nothing but air. But the force and speed behind that punch were enough to break the sound barrier and create a massive shockwave.

-BOOM!

The shockwave hit the serpent, and it exploded into cyan energy particles like a balloon.

That attack could've easily destroyed a few square kilometers area but all it took for Starsuper to stop it was a punch! A punch that didn't even connect!

"So you are not holding back, huh?" Lightbringer whispered to himself with a smirk. He knew Starsuper was getting serious, so now he should pull his weight too.

-Snap

Lightbringer snapped and transformed into a light beam again. In an instant, that light beam traveled to the ground below, and Lightbringer materialized.

"You're fast," a voice then resounded from behind Lightbringer. "But unfortunately, that's all you are."

Lightbringer turned to face the source of the sound and saw a boy with light red hair and a slim yet toned physique.

"You're not the Progenitor," Lightbringer raised his eyebrow. "How dare you act so cocky then?"

"Seems like you have already forgotten me, headmaster." Lucas sighed with a mocking smile. "I'm his 1st Demon General. As for why I am so cocky, the answer is simple. Why should I be polite in front of a dead corpse?"

"Are you perhaps calling me a dead corpse, boy?" Lightbringer's lips pursed. If Lucas was trying to anger him, then he had succeeded.

"What else should I call you, dead-" before Lucas could finish his taunt, Lightbringer turned into light and disappeared from his sight.

Before Lucas could even react, a light beam passed through him like a laser and gaped a hole in his chest.

"Khuu!" A sharp pain invaded Lucas' chest as he coughed a mouthful of blood.

"H-How…?" Lucas muttered before his regeneration kicked in and healed his chest.

Lightbringer, who had manifested a few steps behind him, smirked. "I do remember you. Lucas Redwing. You can manipulate vectors, and that means you can manipulate light."

That's what Lucas didn't understand. He had a vector shield around him all this time.

His vector shield should protect him from any harmful vectors. Any physical force should deflect off him.

But then how did Lightbringer not deflect? How did he pass through him?

"You're thinking why you couldn't deflect me?" Lightbringer closed in with slow steps as Lucas turned to face him. "The answer is simple. You are a dead corpse walking."

*

Starsuper, who was in the sky, looked down and confirmed that Lightbringer didn't need his help.

So now he could focus on the Villain who attacked him.

Starsuper pulled back his right arm and balled his fist. He willed his strength into it and threw a straight punch that, again, met nothing but air.

-BOOM!

The punch broke the sound barrier again, and a shockwave created that hit the rubble of the skyscraper below him.

Debris flew in every direction and revealed a cyan-colored shell that was hiding underneath it.

In that shell was a silver-haired girl. She was looking directly into Starsuper's eyes without any sense of fear.

"Surrender, Medusa. This is your last chance." The man in the golden cape spoke in an authoritative tone.

The silver-haired girl didn't utter anything and just stared back at Starsuper with the same intensity. Clearly denying to surrender.

"So be it!" Starsuper said and shot down on the ground like a meteor.

Medusa sidestepped to her right instantly and avoided getting hit by Starsuper.

-Baam!

A large crater was gouged out on the ground as soon as Starsuper landed. The debris and dust that flew everywhere followed that, blocked Medusa's view for a second.

A second was all Starsuper needed to close in the distance between him and the silver-haired girl.

Medusa could only widen her eyes as Starsuper vanished and appeared in front of her in an instant.

"Haah!" Medusa instinctively threw a fist in defense, but Starsuper lowered his stance to dodge it.

From that low position, Starsuper thrashed his hand forward and gaped a hole in Medusa's chest before retracting back his arm and taking out her heart with it.

"Khuu!" A gasp escaped Medusa's lips as her heart was gouged out of her chest.

But in the next moment, her body turned into a bunch of snakes clustered together. The snakes fell to the ground and dispersed in every direction instantly.

"What the-" Starsuper frowned in confusion and looked at his hand, which was holding her heart. He discovered that instead of a heart, he was holding a snake in his hand?!

The snake hissed and jolted forward at him, but Starsuper instantly shot a pair of lasers at him and cut its head off before throwing away his decapitated carcass.

"Illusion?!" Starsuper questioned with a frown on his face.

It is not a secret that many mythologies discept snakes as creatures who can cast or are related to illusion. It was no surprise she used a skill like that.

Promptly Starsuper activated his divine sight and began scanning the surrounding areas.

He didn't find anything, which made his frown grow deeper.

Just as he was about to call off his divine sight, Starsuper felt the ground beneath his feet trembling.

He looked down and finally saw what was happening, but he was too late to react.

The ground below his feet cracked open as if something from beneath tried to surface itself.

Without wasting a second, Starsuper activated his flight and lifted off the ground.

-Thaam!

But before his feet could altogether leave the ground, a vast, gigantic cyan serpent burst out from the earth with its maw wide open.

Starsuper didn't have enough time to counter it before the serpent devoured him by enclosing him in its mouth.

The assault didn't stop there. The serpent, with Starsuper still trapped in its gigantic mouth, ran through several buildings head first before it crashed on the ground.

-BOOM!

A loud explosion arose before dirt and debris flew in every direction. After the dust settled, a large crater came into vision.

In the middle of that large crater was laying a man in a golden and white body suit.

"Haa," the man only breathed a sigh as if he was annoyed. "That was good."

"Amazingly, you survived the assault of my World Serpent," a silver-haired girl appeared, hovering over the man lying on the ground before landing a few meters away from him. "Take pride in yourself. You will be the first one to face it twice."

As soon as she said that, the silver-haired girl raised her hands, and particles of cyan energy clustered over her head.

A bolt of cyan lightning shot down from the sky, and the body of a giant translucent serpent started forming.

Starsuper knew an attack like that would take at least a few seconds to power up, so he acted quickly.

With an insane display of superhuman speed, Starsuper blinked out of existence and rushed toward the girl in front of him.

Medusa could not believe her eyes. She knew Starsuper would be strong, but she had no idea that he would be this strong?!

Not only was he breathing after taking a hit from his World Serpent, but he also had enough energy to display such inhuman speed?!

The poor girl couldn't even react before Starsuper popped up in front of her and grabbed her head.

With his sheet-gripping strength, Starsuper ripped her head off her body as if it was nothing.

Like a fountain, blood gushed out and spewed in every direction from her headless body.

However, Starsuper had a look of annoyance still plastered on his face.

No ability can work twice on Starsuper. He already knew he was in an illusion. He looked at his hand and saw it was a head of a snake instead of a human.

He turned around to see a sizable headless snake lying on the ground with blood gushing out of its body.

"Fucking disguising," Starsuper commented while throwing away the head in his hand.

"He was right," a familiar feminine voice resounded from behind Starsuper. "You are indeed strong."