Villain's Rising

3 hours passed and the dueling practice finally ended. More than half of the students ended up leaving on the stretcher.

The few who were lucky, durable, or skilled enough to not sustain any serious injury were asked to take a break and chill out in the school cafe for the day.

“I’m so not doing it ever again!” Drake mumbled as he sipped his soft drink.

“I know right~! My back hurts! You just kept going on and on! What happened to you today, Drake?” Said Robin while stretching her back.

“Guys… You both are so misleading…” Anthony interrupted the couple’s talk with a ‘please stop talking’ glare.

Drake and Robin went against each other. Robin was on the defensive the whole match and Drake kept on attacking her.

In the end, Robin tried to get on the offensive side but the girlfriend and boyfriend duo ended up exhausting all of their stamina.

In the end, they both were on the verge of passing out so Karma declared the match a draw.

So right now Anthony, Robin, and Drake were sitting in the school’s cafe.

“I hope Kiara and Sam are okay,” said Robin with a worried face.

“Yeah, their duel was… intense,” commented Drake.

“Tell me about it,” Robin crossed her arms and leaned back on her chair. “There’s always this tension between them these days.”

“Indeed,” Drake nodded. “They were fine at the entrance exam and some days after the Academy started. I don’t know what happened.”

Anthony’s ears perked up at that.

“You both known them since the entrance exam?” Interested, Anthony asked.

“Sam and Kiara?” Robin answered. “Yes, we met them during the exam.”_.

“I see,” Anthony touched his chin. “Well, there’s clearly a tension between them. You are right about that one.”

However, before any one of them could further initiate the conversation, Drake’s eyes fell on the entrance.

The entrance to the cafe had just opened up and Sam walked in. He was not alone though, he was walking in with Lucas.

What was weirder was the fact that Sam had his arm around Lucas’ shoulder.

“That’s an odd duo,” Drake commented.

Drake wasn’t the only one, all the students who noticed them were also taken aback by this pair.

Although the class was fairly new, every student had already judged each other and made an impression on their classmates in their minds.

Lucas’ impression on everyone was… not good, to say the least.

Everyone knows that Lucas was not only rude but he also looks down on people.

He made that very clear during the freshman representative speech when he practically challenged everyone for the 1st place.

So to see him walking with someone was a shock to everyone who noticed them.

And that wasn’t the only weird thing. Lucas was so submissive to the boy walking beside him.

All his arrogance and haughtiness were nowhere to be seen.

“It is indeed an odd duo, but why is Lucas sweating so much?” Anthony frowned. “Does he only have a problem with me? Is that why he’s so rude to me all the time?”

“It isn’t only you dude,” Robin consoled. “It’s everyone he has a problem with.”

As they were talking among themselves, they noticed Sam splitting up with Lucas.

Lucas went to sit at the corner window seat as a waiter walked up to him to take his order.

Sam, on the other hand, started heading where Anthony, Drake, and Robin were sitting.

“Yo,” Sam greeted everyone as he walked up to them.

“How are you now, Sam?” Robin asked as the black-headed boy sat down. “You were injured quite heavily during your duel.”

“Oh yes, I’m alright. I heard about the duel between you two, how are you both?” Sam replied with a concerned question himself.

“I’m just exhausted,” Robin rested her chin on her hand and closed her eyes.

“And I will never participate in a duel ever again!” Drake slammed his hands on the table.

“Calm down mate,” Sam slightly smiled while taking his hand off the table. “The exercise was good. It gave us real combat experience.”

“I don’t have a problem with duel exercise itself, but rather its nature,” said Robin while shaking her head.

“Its nature, what does that mean?” Sam arched his eyebrows.

“You know since we have to hold back our powers while competing against other students.”

Ever after Robin’s explanation, Sam had a frown on his face.

Holding back their powers is one of the most difficult tasks you can ask an [Ability User] to perform at their will.

An [Ability User’s] brain is biologically on a different level than a normal person.

For instance, an [Ability User] can perceive danger far more ahead of time than a normal person.

If that wasn’t enough, it is said that a 17-year-old’s [Ability User’s] problem-solving skills can be more refined than an adult crime detective.

[Ability Users], even the lowest-ranked ones, are far more superior in intelligence than most normal people.

However, they don’t only have boons, they have curses too.

Sometimes [Ability Users] have weaknesses based on their abilities.

For example, an ability that would grant someone a fire elemental body will also restrict its user to get in touch with a water body.

Or let’s say, an ability that grants its user a mutation. A user that transforms into a beast of unfathomable strength. But a beast who loses its mind upon transformation.

Sometimes these weaknesses aren’t exactly weaknesses but more of a limitation.

For example, Anthony’s heat vision temporarily turns him blind while it’s in use.

Robin’s telekinesis deals a great pain to her mind when her ability is active.

Drake can get “heated” up if he uses his ability for too long.

Limitations like that. Needless to say, limitations can be overcome over time.

What they can’t overcome with time is their biology. Their brain is biologically built in such a way that it instantly thinks about “ending” a threat when it identifies something as one.

Their danger perception is on another level, and with that gift to sense danger comes a mindset to eliminate the source of that danger.

So when an [Ability User] determines someone as a threat, it’s very hard for them to control their instincts.

Needless to say, they then demonstrate their ability at max potential. And when they do that, it is very hard for them to control that.

Sam, for obvious reasons, was an exception to this rule.

His mind and body were fully under his control. That means there were absolutely no involuntary actions going on in his body. He handles all of them subconsciously.

What that means is, that if he wishes for his heart to stop, it will stop. Unless his subconscious orders it to beat again.

That was also the truth behind his “True Immortality”. Not many people in this world are Truly Immortal despite what they say.

Only a person who can experience a true death can be called immortal, or unkillable. The rest of them are just killable immortals.

Sam was the former one. Even if you destroy his body, burn it, melt it, or cut it into pieces, he will just come back.

His subconscious will just order it to regenerate and his body will follow.

So unless someone has an existence eraser, Sam can’t be killed. Well, either that or someone breaks his will.

Despite what his actions and mentality suggest, Sam is an 18-year-old boy. His will can break. So if you break his will to exist, he will die.

Of course, no one knows about this weakness. Those who knew it are dead.

So, in short, Sam’s body is fully under his control, and he never had to experience any problems when controlling his powers.

His ability can cover an area as big as Academy City, if every time he had killed someone without the proper control over his ability, the whole City would’ve died at least 3 times by now.

So by default, when Robin mentioned the discomfort an [Ability User] experiences while trying to hold back their ability, Sam could only frown.

Of course, he knew about that, but hearing someone complain over such a trivial thing when he had been dealing with such difficult situations for the past few weeks made his mouth sour.

At that moment, Anthony spoke up like a good diligent student he was.

“Yeah but, there will be instances when you’ll have to hold back your powers. This might seem useless now but it could prove a good experience in the future.”

At those words from Anthony, both Drake and Robin sighed.

Even Sam, who was trying to build a disguise of a good student, couldn’t help but sigh.

‘How simple-minded thinking does he have…?”

“Did anyone watch the last episode of Fate that aired last night?” Shaking his head, Sam changed the topic and led the conversation toward anime talk.

“Yes! Saber of Black was too op in that!”

“Meh, he only won because of plot armor or else Lancer of Red would’ve crushed him!”

Yes, Sam was an anime fan.

At first, he only started watching those things because he was trying to fit in between these simple-minded teenagers. But as he kept watching, he developed a liking for it.

Maybe he was really just an 18-year-old boy… despite what his actions may suggest.

Maybe if he was born under any other circumstances…

…But it was already too late for thoughts like that. Today, he has taken a step that will bring chaos to the world as they knew it.

A step toward destruction. Destruction of his own or of the world? Only time may tell.