Villain's Rising

“Why would I ever hurt my future general?”

Silence followed after those words from Sam. Dread silence. It took a minute for Lucas to reply to what Sam had said.

“G-General? What do you mean?” Lucas asked with a frown.

To be perfectly honest, he was scared and on edge… or at least he wanted to be but for some reason all his mind could do was stay calm.

His guard was completely down as if his brain was refusing to register the black-haired boy in front of him as an enemy.

His own calmness in this situation puzzled him more than anything.

Blinking his eyes a couple of times, Sam spoke.

“What do I mean? Exactly what I said. I’ve decided that you, Lucas Redwing, will serve as the General to my Demon Army.”

*

The match was over after a 15 minutes long one sided fight. Rebekah could’ve finished the match whenever she wanted but she chose to make her opponent suffer.

After the match ended, Liz left on a stretcher while Rebekah’s dress was drenched in blood.

Every student, strong or weak, couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of going against Rebekah.

She was a monster and everyone, including one of the teachers, Karma, witnessed her monstrosity today.

They witnessed the true power of a Willburn._.

However, what’s more terrifying was the fighting spirit of the girl who faced such a monster. Liz Fireforged.

Not much is known about her but everyone knew that her mother, Tanya Fireforged, who had a stealth ability died a few months ago.

Her mother was killed right here in this very city, and it is suspected that she was killed by the same Villain who killed Rose Bluespring.

In the records, Liz was mentioned to be an [A-Rank] potential. With her versatile ability to conjure pure energy, she is indeed strong.

But no one expected her to last for so long against Rebekah. Till the end she fought without surrendering.

A true Hero but unfortunately fighting spirit can’t give you victories.

After emerging victorious from a one sided fight that she dragged herself, Rebekah proudly headed back to her spot.

“What the hell was that Rebekah?” Furious, Anthony confronted Rebekah by blocking her path.

“What was what?” Rebekah asked, playing dense. “Did I do something wrong by winning, brother?”

Anthony furiously gritted her teeth before dragging Rebekah to the side.

“Let go!” Feeling Anthony’s grip tightening by the second, Rebekah voiced her displeasure before shaking his hand off.

“What’s wrong with you, brother?” She asked, irritation clearly visible in her tone.

“What’s wrong with me?! Are you seriously playing victim here?! Why did you drag the fight?!” Anthony’s eyes lit up in a golden shine as he clenched his fists to control his emotions.

Seeing that, Rebekah rolled her eyes. “That’s it? That’s why you are reacting like this?”

“That’s it? What do you mean by ‘that’s it’? You could’ve won anytime?!” Anthony was about to continue his rant until he remembered something and stopped.

After a brief pause, he opened his mouth to speak up again.

“A-Are you experiencing your impulses again?”

Those words fell on Rebekah like a bomb. All the emotions she was holding back broke out.

The anger, the sorrow, and the frustration, everything she had tried so hard to suppress resurfaced again.

“What the fuck, Anthony? You don’t trust me now, huh?” With her face red in anger, she eyed her brother with hostility. If only looks could kill a man.

Before Anthony could reply to that, she continued. “No, I’m not experiencing a fucking impulse Anthony, and if I was then that girl would’ve been dead. In fact, everyone here would’ve been dead!”

Instantly realizing that he had made a mistake, Anthony raised his hands slightly to assure her.

“Sister, I believe you!” He said. “It’s just that, ever since you’ve returned from being kidnapped, you are acting strange.”

What he said wasn’t a lie. Anthony really was worried about his sister.

Whenever he tried to ask about her kidnapper, Rebekah would just switch the topic or ignore him completely.

Their father, Arthur “Starsuper” Willburn, was off on a mission so Anthony couldn’t help but get worried.

Arthur had already warned Anthony that the Progenitor had returned. But his abilities don’t work on Willburns.

That means there could only be two reasons for why Rebekah was refusing to cooperate.

First, she really is in the dark about who her kidnapper was. Which is the most unlikely scenario but Anthony was still praying it to be true.

Second, she is willingly operating under her kidnapper, who is most likely the Progenitor.

That also means that not only Rebekah has now betrayed the Hero alliance but she’s also an enemy.

Needless to say, Anthony was hoping that the second scenario turns out to be false.

Rebekah, who finally noticed her brother’s worried and concerned face, calmed herself down.

She had been through a lot. Just a few more days and she will successfully execute her plan of assassinating Starsuper.

And after that, she will finally be able to live a happy life with her brother that she had always dreamed of.

Bringing her hand to Anthony’s face, Rebekah lovingly caressed his cheeks. Anthony was taken aback by her sudden change in behaviour but he didn’t resist.

Rebekah’s cheeks flushed as she finally decided to speak her heart.

“I can do anything for you brother. I can even make a deal with a demon. Everything I did and about to do is for you… for us.”

Confused and not knowing what she meant, Anthony was about to ask her to clarify.

But before he could do so, Rebekah turned around and started walking to the student crowd.

“But now is not the time for you to know.” She said before walking away and leaving Anthony standing there alone.

*

“What do you think Rick?” A 6’9 feet tall man asked.

The man had flaxen hair and golden eyes. He was dressed in his superhero costume, which was a skin tight golden and white suit with a golden cape.

He also had a huge belt on his waist, it resembled a heavyweight wrestling championship belt and the letter ‘S’ was inscribed on it.

He was Starsuper in his Hero costume, and from the looks of it, he was inside something akin to a dungeon.

Besides him stood the bald professor from Hero Academy, Rick Sanchez.

Although his barrier ability isn’t really needed, Starsuper still brought him along as his knowledge on beasts was practically unparalleled.

Of course, that wasn’t the only case. Rick had studied the Progenitor’s history all his life.

So if anyone in this world was the most knowledgeable about the Progenitor beside Starsuper, then it was Rick.

Right now they were standing in a dungeon that Kale “The Progenitor” used as his dwelling during his last few days before his life was claimed by Starsuper.

He used to guard this dungeon with ferocious beasts that he muted himself with his ability.

Some of those beasts managed to survive and are still alive and dwell in this very dungeon. They don’t go to the outside world since their master is dead.

They reproduce here, feed on their children or let their children feed on them and die here in this dungeon.

Inside the dungeon they live like the beasts they are but at least they don’t have to fear extinction.

That was until today. Because today Starsuper suddenly showed up knocking at their front door.

Within a few minutes, Starsuper cleared this whole dungeon of any life that had resided within it earlier.

And right now, in front of Starsuper was laying a mutated beast carcass. A beast whose ancestor’s biology was altered by the Progenitor.

The beast was a humanoid Tiger with two saber teeth protruding out from his upper jaw.

There were many of them laying lifeless around Starsuper but this one’s dead body was relatively in better shape.

After waiting for a few seconds, Starsuper repeated his question, this time clearly irritated.

“Oye! Doc! I asked, “What do you think about it?”

Rick, who was in a daze, was shaken out of his thoughts when Starsuper’s voice fell in his ears.

“I-I… think about what again?” Stuttering in half awe and half shock, the bald professor asked.

For a moment after hearing that question, Starsuper began questioning himself when he thought bringing this bald man along was a good idea.

After massaging his temple for a bit and dismissing any thoughts about leaving Rick here and flying off, Starsuper repeated his question for the third time with a little rephrasing.

“What do you think about this beast that I killed?” Starsuper asked, “Tell me anything that you think can be useful.”

“Ahh okay!” Rick answered instantly, “These monsters are made to protect this dungeon. At first one would think that’s because the Progenitor used to dwell here, but then why are they reproducing now when the Progenitor is clearly dead?”

After frowning over his words, Starsuper spoke with his interest piqued, “Elaborate.”