Chapter 2

Arc 1 - You Lose - Part 2

Inside a luxurious hotel, loud music was blasting.

It was a party hosted by Sian Vore, a world-renowned businessman who owns an energy company which specialises in producing limitless clean energy for the whole world.

The guests were some of the most powerful individuals in the world, some via sheer physical power and others via influence or money.

Inside this large luxurious hotel, a slender man with short black hair and red flaring eyes smiled. Walking into the hotel through the door, he fixed his tuxedo’s bow tie.

“Wow,” he looked around with an impressed smile on his face. “This place is huge.”

For a few minutes, he admired the place he walked into.

But…

“Hey, can I get a drink?”

He turned around and saw a beautiful busty, tall and muscular woman in a red high low dress standing before him.

“Huh?” the confused man blurted out. “Uh? Ah? Hm? Oh? Oh… Oh. Oh! OHH! Right.”

The corner of her lips curled into a smile.

Noticing her beautiful big blue eyes and silky blonde hair, he froze for a moment.

“Right. Sorry. I-- I am-- No, I am not a… Uh, what do you-- Yes, I am not a waiter. Sorry.”

“Ah-h………...”

She realised her mistake, so an embarrassed smile appeared on her face.

“Sorry, that was rude of me. I just saw your clothes and um… Sorry,” she giggled stiffly. “Ahem. Again, I apologise for my rudeness.”

“Oh no, it’s okay--”

His eyes widened.

“S-S-SO-SO-SOR-SORA?!?!”

Anxiety danced clearly on his face as he realised who this beautiful woman was.

“I am-- I… It’s an honour to meet you, my lady,” he forced away his negative feelings and wore a happy and excited expression. “And I apologise for my… odd dress.”

She spread her right arm forward while holding onto her small purse with her left hand.

“The honour is all mine Mr...” she tilted her head slightly in a confused manner, waiting for him to introduce himself.

“Uh…?”

The slender man stared at her in a confused manner for a moment.

“Oh! Right.”

He finally realised why she stopped halfway through, so he smiled embarrassingly.

Sora noticed how much pressure he was under, so she paid it no heed.

In fact, she had other thoughts.

He is kind of cute. She thought amusingly.

“I am sorry.”

He spread his right arm forward and shook her hand.

“Gul. Lukace Gul. Nice to meet you, Ms Sora.”

Seeing his awkward movement, she forced herself to not giggle.

“Not to be stupid, is Sora your name or is it your codename?”

“I get that a lot,” although she did not show it on her face, she felt a little annoyed. “It’s my real name. I do not own a codename. I… I just loved this name a lot. Sora, it means sky in an ancient language of Ugya.”

“Ahhh, that is a beautiful name.”

Sora smiled widely, “Thanks.”

After a short time of staring, Sora pointed down at her hand while giggling.

Lukace followed the trail of her eyes and looked down that they were still shaking hands.

“O-oh. I am sorry,” he retracted his hand.

In return, Sora smiled embarrassingly as she tied her beautiful blonde hair behind her ear.

“It’s okay.”

Lukace moved aside, pointed with his arms, “Sorry to keep you waiting, please go ahead.”

However, she was reluctant to go in.

“Say...” she looked around awkwardly. “Want to come with me and get a drink outside? I am not much of a crowds person.”

“Hm, sure, sure. Crowds can be annoying at times.”

He smiled widely as he held out his arm to her like a gentleman.

She crossed her arm with his and smiled a happy smile.

“So, how do you deal with crowds of your fans?”

“Hmm,” Sora squinted her right eye and pouted her lips slightly, “I have to bear it then. I want them to know I can protect them. But it does get very annoying.”

“Sounds terrible. I am sorry about that.”

“Haha, don’t worry about it.”

Sora looked at him and smiled.

“Are you sure I am not bothering you by--”

“Oh no, not at all. I work well in the shadows.”

She thought he was joking, so she laughed.

"I am funny, aren't I?"

They left the luxurious hotel and walked under a faint street light for a few minutes as they talked. But while walking, Sora realised something.

“So, what do you do?”

Sora was curious.

She doesn’t know this person.

This party is only for people with influence, which means they are known across the world. Naturally, she would know everyone there.

But who is he?

“I...”

He averted his gaze.

“I am part of the secret services.”

“Oh?”

She glanced at him with thin suspicious eyes.

“Yes, part of the secret services,” his tone did not waver. He was serious. “I was sent to keep a close eye on you heroes… But I decided to have a drink with you.”

“Why would the government be wary of us?” with a lot of questions in her mind, she looked at the distant sky. “It has never been the case before...”

Suddenly, she stopped under a streetlight and moved away from Lukace Gul, which caused him to feel worried. He wondered if he offended her somehow.

“Hm, I will need to talk to my brother about it.”

“Brother…? Ah. But whatever you do, I don’t want to get killed, so...”

He averted his gaze with a nervous smile on his face.

“Oh...” a look of disappointment stretched across her face. “I did not know our government was that… Wow.”

Sora gave him a look of pity.

“Oh heavens, we should leave the bad topics behind, let’s talk about something more interesting.”

“Hm?” her mind was somewhere else but she tried not to show it on her face.

“Why is your chest so big?”

“...”

There were no cars or people around, so the two of them stared at each other in awkward silence.

Sora wondered if she misheard him, so she cleared her throat, plunged her head forward a little and asked, “Sorry?”

“Why is your chest so big?”

She thought she misheard him, so she raised her right hand to her ear and touched it dumbfoundedly.

“And what is the obsession people have with big breasts?”

She opened her mouth, but she could not think of any words, so she closed it again.

A complicated smile spread across her face.

She was not sure what to think of this situation.

“I never understood that,” his tone suggested he was serious. He wasn’t joking. He really wanted to know the answers to these questions.

The streetlight flickered a little.

Lukace looked at the light and then to Sora.

He studied the light on her body. Light shone only on her right side.

“I… I think...” she pressed her lips together, trying to come up with an answer.

“Ohhh, I get it,” he pumped his fist into his right palm. “It’s for this.”

“This?” she glanced around with the corner of her eyes. “This wha--”

Her eyes opened wide, wider than ever before.

Her breathing became chaotic.

She looked down and…

“HRG?!?!?!”

Her chest was missing.

It was cut clean.

“URK?!” she dropped her purse, raised her hands and held her chest tight in hope of lessening the pain.

“Shadows and darkness, they are interesting. Many hate them, but me? I love it!” he spoke casually as if there was nothing wrong going on in front of him. “The light shone on your right body, which means on the left side, it created shadows.”

He had created a blade of darkness and cut off her breasts.

He found that funny.

“And… hehe...”

He burst into laughter. It was not sinister laughter, but it was comedic laughter as if he had heard the greatest joke in the world.

“Breasts are awesome!” he screamed out in excitement while punching the air.

“Wh-WHAT-- YOUUUU---” her demonic sound was cut off when a dark spike appeared in her mouth, stabbing into her tongue. “Uok-- Ug.”

“You still did not answer my question: why is your chest so big? And why do people love that lump of fat so much?”

Of course, she could not reply.

“Not everyone can use that as a way to create sharp objects. Yes, they are interesting to me for that reason… But why is everyone else lusting after fat?” Lukace folded his left arm around his chest and raised his right hand up to rub his chin. “I never understood that.”

He threw away that comedic face and crouched next to her.

“You know, when I first became a criminal, everyone said that I will be the most useless person around. You know why?”

Sora was in too much pain to even think about his question.

“It’s because I have the ability to control and manipulate darkness. You don’t think it’s weak, right? Please don’t think like that. If you do agree with them, I will be heartbroken,” he sulked.

Dark liquid entered her mouth, ceasing her ability to breath properly.

“Darkness… Shadows… They exist everywhere. Including in your brain. I can manipulate the darkness inside your body or those shadows to molecularly rip you to pieces. Or I can use it to stop your blood from flowing. Or I can use it to stab a piece into your heart. Or I can… Huh, what else I can do with it?”

He stood up once more as he looked away, trying to remember what else he can do.

“What else… What else… !!”

A flash of light crossed his mind as he realised something.

“OOOOH, THAT’S RIGHT!” he shouted out excitedly.

He rushed back to her side and crouched next to her.

As he was walking back towards her, dozens of spikes appeared from beneath her and stabbed into her from every direction.

“AAARRRRGHGHGHGHG!!!!”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! That’s right.”

“OW GHHH OG!?!?!” she felt a pain in her mind, so she screamed out in terror.

It wasn’t physical pain, but pain on a different level.

“I can manipulate the darkness and shadows to send signals into your brain to inflict ideas into you. Or cause your memories to vanish. Or-or-or-or I can attack your astral self and damage it. Or even destroy it.”

He looked like a child who brags about how many toys they own.

“Or I can do the same and mess with your hormones. Or mess with your emotions by messing with the hormones and chemicals with you.”

Suddenly, a surge of pain inflicted her body.

Besides the physical, she was feeling incomprehensible emotional pain.

“Yea, yea, yea, yeahhhhh! So, that’s how it is. You don’t think I am weak, right? PLEASE don’t think I am weak. I mean… You don't, right? I am strong, right? Right? Right? RIGHT? RIGHT?!”

She didn’t answer.

How could she? There was a dark liquid oozing into her body through her mouth and spikes of darkness stabbed throughout her entire body.

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. HMMMMMMMMMM. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM,” his body shook violently. “HMMM. I don’t have time, lump of fat. Do you think I am weak?”

He knew well that she can’t speak, but even then, he was expecting her to magically answer him.

Lukace knows who she is, what she can do and what she can’t do. He knows of her hulking strength and durability, but he also knows that’s the only abilities she has. He knows she hates the crowds, which is why he aimed at her specifically.

So even knowing all that, he was hoping that she would fight against the pain and hurdles and speak to him.

“Come on! Answer me!”

She didn’t answer.

“YOU LUMP OF FATTTTT!!!!!”

“HNG?!?!”

Her eyes widened even more, almost bursting out of her sockets.

No, those eyes actually burst out of her sockets.

The white eyeballs burst out, then followed by dark oozing liquid that flowed down her face.

“UHAHUHOH?!?!” she tried to speak-- to beg him, but in return, on his face, a lustful smile appeared.

“Hehe.”

BOOM!

Her body exploded into small pieces of meat and bones that were splattered across the dark street.

“HAHA,” Lukace spread his arms wide as he danced around. “THIS IS THE BEST!”

Lukace Gul had purchased a warehouse nearby to keep some stuff in it just in case if anything went wrong. In that warehouse, he had stocked a ton of TNT, which he teleported inside her body and exploded it.

“MAMA IN THE HEAVEN-- I KILLED MY FIRST HERO! ARE YOU PROUD?!”

He screamed in happiness.

“ARE YOU PROUD??”

After a short while, he took a deep breath.

His laughter vanished.

His comedic expression vanished.

“Goodbye, Sora...” a thin evil smile spread across his face. “Sora Figus.”

He watched over her splattered body for a few moments and thought about it.

Her blood is beautiful. Should I dri-- Ohh. That is for the better.

Lukace created a long stick from the darkness and rearranged her body parts.

“OUWAHHHHHH!!!” he screamed on top of his lungs in excitement.

Two black wings shot off his back.

"They called me the weakest… They said the ability to Manipulate darkness is weak. It's useless. It's pathetic. But I will show you all how powerful this ability of mine is. It's more powerful than anything you have ever seen before, you illiterates!!!!"

Lukace swung his dark energy wings and slashed every building in his 1-mile radius.

“The name… Remember my NAME! EVERYONE WILL REMEMBER MY NAME!!!!!” he flew off towards the dark sky with his wings flapping.

The destroyed buildings alerted the nearby heroes.

It took them a few moments to get to the crime scenes.

And when they did, they widened their eyes.

Cosmic Titan forced his lips to utter the word that was written from the splattered body parts of Sora.

“BLACK WING!”

┈ ┈ ┈ ⋞ 〈 ⏣ 〉 ⋟ ┈ ┈ ┈

Inside a dark underground bunker, a man groaned, “Ugh.”

He was feeling pain like he had never felt before.

“Where--”

CLICK!

Someone clicked their fingers, and light appeared.

“Uu!” the man being held down by chains closed his eyes immediately. The light was a little too stimulating for his eyes.

“You have stared directly at the sun, Titan,” Black Wing who stood in front of him spoke in a disappointed tone. “But you have trouble here?”

Cosmic Titan opened his eyes and glanced around the cold empty bunker.

He saw a few of his teammates standing not far behind him, which caused him to widen his eyes.

“How did they survive?”

Black Wing’s team was at ground zero of the blast. So, how did they survive when some of the most powerful heroes couldn’t?

“Oh, I pulled them into their own shadows, teleporting them here,” Titan couldn’t see his face but he knew that Black Wing looked very proud of himself, which caused him to spit out in horror and disgust.

“Why did you kill them?”

Black Wing walked around as he thought very seriously about it.

“Well… For chaos, what else?”

Black Wing did not seem very sure of his answer.

No, he knew the correct answer.

He killed them so he could cause chaos.

So, he was masking his answer with an unsure sarcastic tone.

“I love CHAOS! It’s beautiful.”

“Ugh,” Cosmic Titan groaned in disgust. “HOW THE HELL IS THIS BEAUTIFUL?! YOU KILL--”

Back Wing raised his hand, to gesture that he was yawning.

Livid, Cosmic Titan ground his teeth and trailed off.

Compared to the serious mood of Cosmic Titan, Black Wing spoke casually as if he was talking, not to his greatest enemy, but his best friend.

“I could really use someone like you.”

Everyone’s eyes widened.

“Want to join my team?”