Villain's Rising

-"Keep on fighting! We can do it!"

-"The evil dragon shall vanquish today!"

-SWOOSH!

-"Focus all your firepower toward that big dragon! We have to stop him here– AARGHHHHH!"

Sam unleashed a torrent of blue flames onto the humanoid beings that looked and acted very, very similar to humans and let the fire devour them.

There were some who didn't die and instead came back to life. For them, Sam used his white flames that were infused with life-draining energy.

Needless to say, with his overwhelming strength and ruthless tactic, Sam broke through their fragile defenses with his colossal dragon body.

As he did so, he couldn't help but acknowledge how unique these creatures were.

Sam had conquered more than twenty-six thousand planets alone, but he had never come across a race that bore such a close resemblance to his own— humans.

Yet despite being so similar, they were so different. Or shall he say, ancient?

They were using spears and swords infused with some kind of energy to attack. And chain mails to and iron helmets armors to defend.

Some of them were chanting something in a foreign language and manipulating elements like fire, water, earth, or lightning, etc. The only reason they were able to face the might of Sam's army's modern nuclear weaponry was because of this.

They also used horse-like creatures to ride and big hawk-like creatures to fly. Even their architectural style was similar to ancient Roman human architecture style.

Shaking his giant head, Sam cleared his mind of such thoughts.

After breaking through their aerial defense, Sam arrived on the ground. He looked around by twisting his giant dragon body several times and studied the layout of the battlefield.

After determining where the important officials would be, he flapped his wings and began flying there.

-"He's moving toward the king!"

-"Stop him!"

-"All troop! Stop the dragon!"

The elves-looking creatures shouted something in a foreign language in sync and ran after the giant black dragon.

But Sam merely aggressively flapped his wings once to create a powerful gust of wind that sent most of the long-eared humanoid troops flying back.

After all, he was as big as Beijing itself.

"They are not strong," Sam concurred. "The only reason they gave us so much trouble was because they had put everything to their defense. Once I broke through it, it was over for them."

Sam didn't have his full army here at the moment. In fact, the units attacking this planet don't even make up a fraction of his full army.

If he had full force here, then this planet wouldn't have stood a chance, to begin with.

After all, by now, Sam possessed the biggest army in the universe. And also, by now, he was sure that he had conquered at least more than half of the known universe.

"Be grateful that you insects are getting to die by my hands." The black dragon roared before spitting out a sea of white flames, stripping every alive creature of its life.

On his way to a highly guarded camp, where Sam had deducted the officials of this planet's army to be, he brought death and destruction.

***

The war, which had been going on for 34 days by now, ended in under a half hour as soon as a massive black dragon entered the battlefield.

After breaking through their aerial defenses and storming his way through their ground defense, Sam transformed back into his human form and captured the king, checkmating yet another planet in the process.

Right now, the king of long-eared humanoid creatures was on his knees in front of a black-haired boy who sat on a majestically high throne, facing down at him like some sort of god.

The king was a long-eared humanoid being, much like the other members of his race. He had long slender legs and thin arms with a frail-looking body.

Seemingly, he was old, maybe in his 70s, and had long white hair that gently gazed at his shoulders. He wore a circular ring adorned with jewels on his head, like a crown, and a fitting robe-like dress that covered his sickly pale skin.

Despite being an alien, by the human standard, he was handsome even as an old man.

"Make him learn our language. I want to communicate with him." Sam uttered to Lucas.

Lucas was visibly confused. "Can't you just read his memories?"

"I can't," Sam answered honestly. "My ability is not working on him. I think he's related to Starsuper somehow."

"By your wish," Lucas bowed.

But as he was about to approach the long-eared humanoid creature, he spoke

"Don't touch me!"

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Even though he was on his knees, too weak to get up, his voice carried a sense of authority that instinctively made Lucas halt his steps.

"Ho?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "You can speak English?"

"I don't know what English is. But I can speak whatever you are speaking, you monster." The white-haired man looked up at Sam with eyes full of malice and hatred.

But Sam couldn't help and gaze intently into his eyes. After a long second, he said, "You have golden crystal-like eyes. They remind me of that damned Starsuper. Anyway, what is your name?"

After a bit of silence, the man replied, "Vriha Netyoive. I'm the king of the elven race."

At that reply, Sam immediately clapped his hands and looked at Lucas with a grin, "I told Michael they are like elves!"

Though in the next moment, his face went back to the seriousness and he looked at Vriha.

"Do you know anyone by the name of Arthur Willburn?" Sam asked.

"Why would I answer any of your questions? You are but a self-proclaimed hypocrite god. You talk about peace, but you wage war. You talk about justice but do not hold yourself accountable for the lives you take. You claim to be forging a fair world where everyone should have freedom but the minute you find someone with a different opinion than yours; you kill them. You are not a god. You are a monster Samael Gracefell."

Sam frowned in confusion. He had never told him his name. He couldn't help but move his lips to say: "You know me?"

"My curse is knowing everything. I hated it until I came to know about you." Vriha gritted his teeth.

The frown on Sam's face grew deeper. He asked, "What do you mean your curse is to know everything? Oh, and if you don't answer me, I'll kill the people of your planet. Then I'll bring them back to life only to kill them again. I'll skin the children alive. I'll let my men ra*pe your women. I'll torture the elderly the longest and make every man bath in molten lava."

Vriha looked at Sam like he was looking at some kind of monster. Not a monster from some children's book but a monster that can talk about killing so many people so brutally without a trace of expression on his face.

He clenched his fists in desperation before he started answering, "I possess a fraction of the power of Akashic Records."

Sam's interest had already peaked by now. He asked, "What is this Akashic Records?"

With a bit of hesitation, Vriha finally replied, "Akashic Records is the name given to the database of the universe that holds every information about the past, present and future."

"Ahh, so it's a database," Sam concluded but Vriha shook his head.

"No, it's more than that. It is a sentient relic of gods that has the power to rule every theory in existence and essentially manipulates reality." Vriha uttered with a look of malice still plastered on his face.

Both Sam and Lucas were stunned. There exists something like that? Something that can manipulate reality itself?

The whole throne room of the mothership was enveloped in a dreadful silence and the first one to break it was obviously Lucas.

"Where is it? Where is Akashic Records?" Lucas inquired with a genuinely curious face.

"It's in the center of everything." Vriha replied. "It's in the center of every universe."

"What does that mean–" but before Lucas could ask him to elaborate further, Sam cut in.

"Lucas, wait," he said and turned his face to Vriha. "How do you possess its power? And what are its powers?"

"Every time Akashic Records senses its existence to be in danger, it grants a fraction of its power to someone who can prevent the threat from ever reaching it," Vriha replied earnestly. "But there is a rule. In one universe, it can't directly grant its powers to no more than three people. But since the power given by it is hereditary, it isn't a problem. But of course, the powers grow weaker from generation to generation. For example, all my descendants possessed the same power as mine until you killed them. But since their powers were much, much weaker than mine, they couldn't face you."

Swallowing his hatred, Vriha continued, "Akashic Records' powers differ depending upon the person it's been granted to and the reason they had been given for. For example, the one you call Starsuper was a descendant of someone who was given the power of strength and vitality. My powers aren't the same as his.

"But there are some powers I have in common with him. The power to regenerate back from even a single atom. The power to negate what you call abilities. A system screen that gives us all sorts of information about our opponents. And the power… to completely nullify the effects of the [Biology Manipulation] ability on ourselves."

As those words were spoken, the throne room was once again plunged into a deafening silence.

Sam's hands shook as one of his hands grabbed the edge of the throne while the other grasped the armrest.

He calmed himself down by taking in long, deep breaths and said, "You mean to say…."

"The threat that the Akashic Records had sensed this time was you. The powers it granted to me and the predecessor of the one you called Arthur Willburn were all in order to stop you." Vriha finished the rest of his half-spoken sentence.

"Unfortunately, before he could stop you, the predecessor of Arthur Willburn died. And by the time you reached me, I had grown old and powerless. I prepared my people for your arrival but…." Vriha dug his nails into his palms, making his hand bleed.

"But you were still not ready to face a god," Sam smirked.

Vriha responded with silence. It wasn't because what Sam said was true, but it was because he knew the time to give a reply would come.

"So, what is your power?" Sam questioned authoritatively.

"My powers were to see the future and trap anyone in a time loop. I've grown too old to use my time loop… If only I'd been able to activate it, you would've stood no chance!" Vriha bared his teeth like a dog and barked.

"Ohh~ I'm scared, mommy!" Sam mocked with a laugh. "So I guess you know everything you know by your ability to see the future, huh? Then one last question before I kill you. What is my future? Tell me my fate."

"Hehe… Ha… Ahahaha! AHAHAHAHA!"

The grin that was there on Sam's face earlier was completely wiped off when Vriha suddenly started to erratically laugh like a maniac.

Lucas put his hands up and readied himself to activate his ability at a moment's notice.

Even Sam stood up from his throne, completely on guard.

"Aeehaha! Ahahahaha!"

For some reason, the way he was laughing reminded Sam of himself. The atmosphere was as thick as syrup when Vriha stopped.

He then looked at Sam with a gleam of insanity present in his eyes and spoke: "Your fate? Sure, I'll tell you your fate.

"You are not a god, Samael. You're just a human! Do you know why I'm saying that? Because gods don't bleed! But 'he' will make you! 'He' will rise against your tyranny! 'He' will break through your oppression! 'He' will live again and again, all in order to defeat you— kill you! And 'he' will succeed! 'He' will kill you in the end!"

Vriha's voice only grew louder with every sentence he uttered. Even Sam, who had not experienced the feeling of dread in a long time, felt his forehead damped in a cold sweat.

"Who's this 'he' you're talking about?" Sam asked, barely managing to keep on a furious face.

"I don't know!" Vriha shot an erratic grin. "I don't fucking know which timeline this is or whose memories I watched! But in the end, I saw you die! Vanishing into nothing!"

"How did I die?" Sam questioned.

"Aeahahahaha! Aaaahahahaha!"

But in response, Vriha merely started laughing again.

"Sire, just kill him!" Lucas turned to Sam, but the latter ignored him.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Sam yelled, repeating his question again: "How did I die?!"

However, Vriha only kept on laughing.

-Thud!

Sam's blood boiled in anger. He jumped down his enormously high throne and landed right beside the elven king.

"HOW DID I DIE?!" Sam grabbed Vriha by the neck and yelled in his face.

"Aegahahaha! Yes! Be scared, Samael Gracefell! Be scared! Thank you, heavens, for showing me that you are not a god! You are scared! Ahahahaha!"

But all he got in reply was a maniac laughter of an old man. Sam tightened the grip around his neck and yelled, "Last chance, how did I die?!"

Vriha stopped laughing, plunging the throne room into a heavy silence once again.

After a while, he smirked and uttered something, finally breaking the silence:

"From the den of wolves will rise a phoenix carrying the brilliance of fire.

From the house that carries the will of the sun will rise a prince that'll make the dawn shatter.

The prince will shoulder the burden of the people that he will inspire.

And without someone noticing he'll sacrifice one life after another in a situation o' so dire.

By breaking the shackles of time, he shall write his own destiny.

Weaving the red threads of fate, he shall vanquish his enemy.

By forging a ladder of blood and tears, he shall make him ascend.

Mustering his courage, the prince shall take the Last Stand at The World's End."

Silence.

Absolute silence.

The throne room was enveloped in a dreadful deafening silence where even the sound of a pin dropping would echo.

"Sire-"

Before Lucas could speak, Sam abruptly turned around his body and looked right behind him.

"What happened, sire?!" Lucas questioned.

"I feel like someone's watching me…" Sam said, his eyes scanning through the entirety of the throne room.

Vriha, who still had his neck grabbed by Sam, spoke with a chuckle, "Haha! It's 'him'! 'He' is watching us!"

-Slash!

-Splurt!

-Thud!

In an instant, Sam transformed his free arm into a bone blade and cleaved Virha's head off. He then sucked all his life force away, making him vanish into light particles, killing him.

"Wh-What was that, sire?" Lucas turned to Sam.

But Sam couldn't help and shrug. Even he wasn't completely sure of what had happened.

"Was that… a prophecy he uttered in his last moments?" Lucas tremblingly asked. "And who was he talking about? Who's watching us?"

"I-I'm not sure…" Sam shook his head and cleared his head. "Hah, don't mind that. It was an old man mumbling nonsense!"

"Yea-Yeah, that must be it." Lucas nodded after telling himself that everything was fine.

-Slam!

The throne room door slammed open right at that moment and in came Michael.

"Brother?" Sam greeted his brother. "So? You found out where and how these elves were escaping to?"

"Well, I don't know how to tell you this, brother. This could be very weird." Michael scratched his head and dug his hand deep into his coat's pockets.

He took out a glowing blue crystal and showed it to Sam.

"Oh, believe me when I say, brother, today's day has already gotten weird enough. I don't think whatever this is can blow my mind now. So, what is this?" Sam wiggled his eyebrows.

"This…" Michael took a deep breath and explained, "Is a stone that has properties to tear through the fabric of space."

Sam nodded. "So this is a relic. A high-priced one at that. That means the elves just teleported out of their planet, right? What's so weird about that?"

"The weird thing in that about that is…." Michael closed the stone in his fist and activated his [Space Manipulation] ability.

Instantly, right in front of Sam, Michael and Lucas formed a tear in the fabric of space.

The tear was an oval-shaped portal that was constantly emitting a dull ominous violet glow.

Although Sam's ability had nothing to do with space, even he could tell that something about this portal was different.

"Wh-What is this?" Sam stuttered. A frown appeared on his handsome face.

"This is a spatial portal that leads to somewhere outside of this universe. It's a portal to a multiverse." Michael responded, trying so hard not to freak out.

"Multiverse is real?" Lucas asked, barely calming down his excitedly beating heart.

"Apparently so." Michael nodded.

All three of them were in a daze. How could they not be awestruck? The multiverse was real! There were other universes than theirs!

After a while, the expression of shock washed off Sam's face, and his lips curled into a disturbing grin.

Sam had conquered most of the sentient lifeform civilizations in this universe. He did so in such a short amount of time.

He was this close to coming to believe that he had achieved his goal and fulfilled his purpose. That made him sad. But now, now that he knows there's a whole multiverse out there without god knows how many universes, Sam couldn't help but feel excited.

"Michael," he said.

"Yes, brother?" Michael responded.

"Call Kiara, Tracy, Rudra, Ryuusuke, Marcel, and Riley. Gather the generals." Sam ordered.

"Are we planning on invading… the multiverse?" Michael asked, swallowing hard.

"Not now. I'm still not done with this universe, after all." Sam replied. After a bit of silence, he let out a soft chuckle and said:

"I want to meet this hero who is prophesied to kill me– the hero who is prophesied to kill the demon god."

-The End-

AN: (I'm editing this note here after posting the chapter, so it may not increase the coin cost)

Guys, it's finally over.

Writing 'The End' was weird.

I know there are many things I could've done differently. But this was my first story, and I didn't know what I was doing for most of the part.

Yeah, I could've made it longer, but in my mind, I always thought of this novel as a villain origin story.

This novel is about a boy who's depicted as the villain, rising in power to embrace the label given to him.

As soon as he rose to power, the story ended. Yes, I could've made his journey longer, but as I said, this was my first novel, and I was merely trying my hand at writing.

Anyway, enough about that.

Let me say this, thank you.

Thank you to all the readers who have supported me till now.

Thank you if you've read this novel of mine up until now.

Even if you're reading this on a pirate site, thank you for giving my story a chance.

Anyway, I've set this story as a prequel to my next (and main) novel, [I Will Kill The Author], that'll air by the time you're reading this note.

As I said, there are many things I could've done differently. But every mistake that I made has turned me into a better writer.

So using this experience, I'll create a beautiful story next.

Thank you, once again, for being a part of my experience and the start of my writing journey, everyone.