Many centuries ago, Earth was a peaceful place, with quiet villages, simple lives, and no chaos. Then everything changed.
An asteroid slammed into the planet carrying strange organisms. The first people who touched them had changed. They awakened powers beyond human limits. They became the first to be gifted, the first Heroes.
For generations, these Heroes protected the weak and powerless from danger. They were symbols of hope. But thousands of years later, a darker force rose in answer, the Villains. And so began the endless war of Good and Evil.
--
Jake Solis, a low-ranking wannabe hero, ran for his life, branches whipping his face as he crashed through the forest, lungs burning, heart slamming in his chest. His skin was bruised, his top almost torn to shreds, messy brown hair matted with dirt; he looked like a man who had already lost.
Liquid stung his green eyes, causing him to wince.
Shit! Shit! I'm gonna die!
Behind him, a manic laugh tore through the trees. A B-rank villain who controlled wind was on his trail.
"Come out here, you son of a bitch!" the villain shouted out, grin wide and twisted. "I'm not done playing with you!"
Jake threw himself behind a fallen tree trunk and held still, breath trapped in his throat as the villain stopped and listened, razor senses scanning the tree lines.
The villain moved closer and closer.
Then—a voice rang out from behind. "Hey! What are you doing slacking around here?!"
The villain turned his attention from the young man. "Oh—boss," he said, instantly nervous. "You see—I—"
The mysterious man cut in with a cold voice, "Don't speak," he said, "The boss wants you back. Now. Move."
Footsteps retreated as silence returned.
Jake exhaled hard as he almost collapsed. "Fu-uck.. that was a close one." He slumped against the fallen tree. "So much for hero work."
He pushed himself up again, his eyes lit with stubbornness. He had debts to pay, villains hunting him.
He lived a life that sucked from every angle, but he refused to quit.
Through the trees, he spotted a silver gleam—a lake.
RANK-E VIGILANTE
JAKE SOLIS
"Looks like I can take a bath here," he muttered, pulling out his cracked phone. He scrolled social media.
[New Villain Obliterated by Queen Slave]
[Unknown Demon Woman Defeated in Queue City]
He shrugged lightly. Hero and villain clashes were just background noise now. He zoomed in on the blurry photo, a red figure with wings, glowing like molten fire.
THUD!
Suddenly, he tripped over a tree root and face-planted. "Ah... shit. What a day to be me…"
The young man scrambled, raising his head as he froze, his gaze locked on a lake.
The body of water shimmered in the sunlight, steam curling from its surface.
A hot spring? Here? How?...
Jake couldn't believe his eyes. There wasn't a single volcano in the vicinity, but the water was still boiling.
He noticed drops of blood leading to water. Then bubbles surfaced.
And she rose from the water.
A woman, crimson skin, wet hair slicked back, naked with curves sculpted by something otherworldly. But Jake's awe quickly turned to dread when her tail surfaced, long and alive like a serpent.
Malavika.
Her injuries were gone, but her body had changed. Her horns were missing, and her wings had melted. Her eyes now had a human-like appearance, with golden sets of pupils that glowed immensely. Her lips, pitch-black.
She moaned softly, brushing her hair from her face. Then she turned and saw him.
Jake shot back to his feet, stumbling backwards. Malavika watched him with a slow, predatory smile, curling as she let out a soft chuckle.
"Not a hero.."
The young man didn't wait as he bolted back. But he stopped in his tracks.
WHOOSH!
A violent gust of wind slammed into him, hurling him across the ground.
"AGH!"
He tried to stand, but another blast crushed him down again, this time crushing his ribs. Jake screamed out, the pain unbearable as his insides were broken.
The wind villain had returned.
"Well, well, well," the villain said, stepping from the trees with his hands in his pockets. "Thought you could hide from me?"
"I... I thought your boss wanted you—"
"Plans changed." He crouched beside Jake. "Boss wants you alive." Then he grinned cruelly. "But he never mentioned untouched."
His boot crashed into Jake's stomach. The young man choked violently, the pain from his broken ribs now pressing down.
The villain laughed, raising a cyclone of wind in his palm. "Let's see how far your endurance can go—"
Great. Just when I finished paying my last damn hospital bill…
In the last moment, the wind screamed forward, and a fist smashed into the villain's face. He flew back, nose bleeding.
Jake blinked, shocked by what he was seeing. Towering over him was a naked, furious demoness.
"Stupid humans!" Malavika snarled, voice now unsettlingly smooth and feminine, but sounded rough from her rage. "How dare you invade my sanctuary?!"
The wind villain was down, groaning softly before the light in his eyes was gone.
Jake couldn't believe his eyes. How incredible, he thought.
Then another voice sliced through the trees. A woman stepped forward, "Hey.. boss said—" she paused, noticing her passed out comrade. "What the fuck?!" She turned her attention to the demoness, sparks crackling in her hands. "It's you—you monster!"
Malavika was incredibly annoyed by this. "Another one of you insects. This is getting interesting."
Lightning shot forward, but Malavika vanished. She reappeared behind the woman. The villain spun and attacked again, but her attack was too slow.
Malavika dropped from above with a brutal stomp and flattened her.
With swift hands, she stripped the woman's clothes and pulled them on without shame. A cropped jacket, a tight black tank top, skin-tight pants. Her tail tore effortlessly through the fabric.
She walked over to Jake, who lay unconscious after the life-threatening injury. She knelt, dragging her tongue slowly across his cheek.
"This one still lives," she muttered, ready to snap his neck—until she saw his bandaged wounds. Her expression changed. Dark. Troubled.
She sighed sharply. Then she hauled him over her shoulder and walked deeper into the woods.
—🐐—
Finally, night fell. The moon cast a whitish glow on the now-cold lake. It seemed, Malavika's body was the cause of it heating up.
The demoness sat by the shore, legs crossed, staring into the sky, silent. Troubled. Lost in memories of the day she fell from her world into this one.
Behind her, a campfire crackled. Jake lay nearby, wrapped in cloth bandages. Miraculously alive. Barely.
He groaned awake, wincing as pain laced through his body.
Malavika felt it immediately, his heartbeat. His breathing.
She slowly turned her head, eyes glowing gold like a predator in the night. Jake shifted, turning toward the fire, then looked up.
Their eyes locked.
Crap!... It's her, the demon from the news.
Jake's blood ran cold. His vision blurred at the edges, panic flooding his veins as he forced himself to stand, hands shaking.
That human male is awake. Seems like his wounds are healed..
Malavika stood up too, eyes still fixed on him. Her expression was unreadable, calm, almost quiet, but Jake didn't seem peaceful. He saw death standing on two legs.
The demoness took a step toward him.
Jake snapped. He reached for the campfire, snatching a burning stick with trembling hands and pointing it at her like a woman.
"Don't come any closer! Stay back, you succubus!"
Malavika's expression changed as she heard that word. Brows knotted, lips curled, fury rippled through her aura like heat distortion.
"Succubus?!" she spat, voice rising. "How dare you? Insolent mortal!"
The firelight trembled with her rage. The night seemed to shrink around them. And Jake suddenly realised he had messed up.
Big time.
Now the young man who tried to protect himself from this 'Dangerous' woman was in deep trouble.
Where the hell did she come from? One second, the clearing was empty—next second, she was just there, like she popped out of thin air.
Before they could react, a blinding beam of light blasted down from above, cutting through the trees. The thunderous chop of helicopter blades tore through the forest air, whipping leaves and dirt into a frenzy.
They spun toward the noise, shielding their eyes from the spotlight.
And then they saw her.
Standing at the open side door of the hovering helicopter—hair slicked by wind, mic in hand—was none other than the news reporter from Queue City.
It's that inconceivable woman, again!
The reporter's grin stretched wide across her face as she lifted the mic, voice blasting through the speakers over the roaring blades.
『WE FOUND HIM! Earlier today, a mysterious demon woman fell from the sky and wreaked havoc across the city! She crushed countless heroes—but only one stood victorious against this succubus: the infamous Queen Slave!』
She leaned out of the helicopter door, hair whipping violently in the storm of spinning rotors.
『And now—she faces another challenger. One of the greatest heroes alive—』
Her words suddenly cut off. She turned, mic lowering as her eyes shifted to the man standing behind her inside the chopper.
"Is it okay like this, Flame Breather?" she asked, voice now small and professional, like she was suddenly aware of who she was speaking to.
The man gave a slow nod, lips curling into a dangerous smirk. His spiky red hair blazed in the wind like fire itself, and his eyes—deep, molten red—radiated pure confidence.
"Yeah," he said. "Perfect."
The air grew heavy. Heat rippled from his body like a furnace awakening.
A battle was about to begin—one that would shake more than just the forest. This man, the Flame Breather, wasn't just another hero.
He might even be stronger than Queen Slave, as he is the only S-Ranked hero who could use fire; even Arcflare is unable to absorb a single lick of his flames.
End of Chapter 2...