Villain's Rising

"Y-You… You will never… win!"

"Oh dear brother, if I were you, I'd save my breath. After all, it might very well be your last."

Pain. Excruciating never-ending organ rendering pain.

Michael felt like he was being tortured. Currently, on the uppermost layer of the hideout, Michael was on his knees while Sam was caressing his head.

Upon taking a closer look at the brothers, one would see that the hand Sam was caressing Michael with was sparkling with tendrils of violet electricity.

What was Sam doing, you ask? He was enhancing Michael's ability. The ability to manipulate the very fabric of space.

One could argue that if trained properly, the holder of this ability would become nothing short of a god.

Unfortunately for Michael, the spot of god was already filled by his own half-brother.

"Wh-Wha… are… you doing…?" With a weak, feeble voice comparable to that of a child, Micheal blurted out while barely enduring the pain.

The pain was so excruciating that he felt like his head could explode at any moment. Yet not even a squeak escaped Michael's lips.

It's not like he didn't want to scream. In fact, he wanted to let go and scream and cry in agony. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't.

Sam was even denying him permission to scream in pain.

He could only muster a weak, feeble voice. So that's what he did. With a soft, shaky voice, he barked.

"Sta...Starsuper… won't let… you win! Yo-u… w-will never win!"

Even as his own brother cursed him with bloodshot eyes full of unadulterated hatred, Sam's expression remained unwavering.

He neither reacted to his curses nor spoke anything in reply.

Simply concentrating on his ability and his goal, Sam kept caressing Michael's head in a crackle of violet electricity.

-Thud

After a few long hours, which felt like an eternity to Michael, the pain finally stopped.

Having lost all the strength in his body, Micheal fell face-first onto the ground.

He didn't lose consciousness. He was extremely lethargic but not on the verge of passing out.

Yet, despite having lost all the strength in his body, he felt a surge of unknown foreign energy within himself.

"You feeling that?" Right then, Sam's happy, almost victorious voice fell in his ears. "You asked me what I was doing. I was enhancing your ability."

"En…Enhancing…?" Barely blurting out those words, Michael frowned in confusion.

He tried to get back up and separate his face from the floor, but the exhaustion he was feeling was too much for him.

"Yes. You see, if you are able to bend space, you should be able to manipulate time too. That is, after all, the general theory of relativity."

While Sam was going on about his deeds and goals, Michael couldn't feel any more lethargic. However, he still choked out a few words.

"Manipulate time…? Why? Wh-What do you want that for?"

"Yes, you see, I wish to see for myself. I wish to see whether I was born this way or not. Was my father right? Was I destined to be alone? And the only way to find out the truth is to confront my past."

"Wh-What does that mean?" Confused more than ever over his half-brother's words, Michael asked.

"You'll see what it means once we get to the past. Now then, stand up-"

After finishing his explanation, Sam pulled Michael by his neck and stood him up as if lifting a cat.

However, just as he was about to complete his sentence, a sudden realization hit Sam.

"Ah fuck," as if he remembered something, Sam cursed out loud.

You see, Michael's ability was to manipulate space, not time. And although both space and time are inextricably connected, they both function separately.

And while it's true that Michael may be able to manipulate time but controlling it would be a problem.

In other words, although Michael's ability could allow Sam to travel time, traveling to the specific time he needed to go would be a problem.

In simple words, Sam had created a car, but there was no steering wheel. He had the resources to travel to his destination but no means.

"Hahaha! Ahahaha!"

Right then, when Sam was lost in his head, Michael's deranged laughter shook him out of his train of thoughts.

"What? What's so funny?"

Sam feared that the pain had driven Michael to the verge of insanity. But he quickly discarded this thought since he took every precaution to avoid this scenario.

In fact, he even dulled Michael's pain receptors so that he wouldn't have to feel the full extent of the excruciating pain earlier.

"What's so funny, you asked?" Michael looked over his shoulder, staring directly into Sam's eyes. "You failed! Sam Gracefell, the Progenitor, failed!"

"You just now realized that you won't be able to visit the past, didn't you? Hahaha!" Michael continued laughing hysterically. "Just like this, your plan of world conquest will fail too! Hahaha!"

"Tsk," Sam wanted to retort, but his half-brother was spot on. Sam really did not think about this situation.

Maybe that's why Michael's laugh was ticking him off even more. He even thought about killing him and then taking his ability, but he, once again, discarded such thoughts.

He was planning to make Michael general of his army. He was needed.

"Sigh, well, since you are of no use to me now, I shall turn you into a demon." Having said that, Sam reached out his hand and grabbed Michael's head.

Michael wanted to scream and shout, but his voice didn't leave his throat. He tried to use his ability, but he failed to activate it.

He felt as if he was merely a rat trapped in a cat's clutches.

"Rejoice broth-"

But before he could start turning his brother into one of his minions, the voice in Sam's head interfered.

(Wait, Sam!)

"...What? I'm in the middle of something, buddy."

(Listen, I know I was initially against this notion of you traveling to the past, but maybe, maybe, I can help you with it.)

"Really? How? Time traveling is possible but traveling to my desired time is not. Do you have something to help me there?"

(Yes, I think if you use [Neither Manipulation], you can travel to your desired time.)

"Wait… with [Neither Manipulation]? How?"

(Time is a fourth-dimensional entity, and you can use [Neither Manipulation] to influence other dimensions. Thus, you can, theoretically, steer time.)

Sam was left stunned. There it was again. Again that ability, and again, the voice in his head was being shady again. This was the second time already.

Sam wanted to ask questions, but he kept his doubts to himself. Or at least he tried to.

"How do you know it'll work?"

(Sam, you have to trust me on this one. Make Michael activate his ability and use [Neither Manipulation] right after. You'll know what to do.)

There it is again. The voice in his head was acting suspicious again. Can Sam even 'trust' his inner voice like this?

Well, there was no choice. Sam wanted to move forward with no regrets. And to not have any regrets, he needed to face his past, literally.

Thus he nodded his head, looked at Michael, who was kneeling in front of him with his back facing him and spoke in affirmation.

"Fine, let's do this."