Braga, Portugal. The city was in ruins after Impactor's battle with Sinvula. Buildings were destroyed, the roads were cracked open, and fires were in every direction.
"Hah~! Hah~! Hah~!"
Impactor was on his knees, gasping for air. His body ached every time his chest moved from breathing. His ears were ringing, and his vision was blurred. His body wobbled back and forth before he collapsed on the floor. Some distance away, Phobos and Deimos were observing him.
"I thought he only had luck, but I was mistaken. Impactor has the guts and determination to see it through, even when facing a literal force of nature."
Phobos started clapping.
"I must acknowledge his strength. He would make a great soldier."
He stopped clapping.
"Too bad he must die for the Bellum Company."
"At least he won't be alone."
Deimos looked at Phobos.
"Because we're all going to die once a war breaks out between us and Iron Rain."
"Stop being negative, Deimos."
"Am I lying, though?"
"No, but you don't have to be so negative about it."
Elsewhere, Sinvula was floating in the sea after being hit by the combination of Alala and Impactor's attacks. His body was covered in wounds and his blood stained the water. As he stared at the sky, shark fins peeked out of the water and circled around him. A shark approached him with its mouth wide open to devour him. He clicked his tongue and swung his arm. The sharks exploded one after the other, with the closest one being the last to perish. Shark blood and meat flew, but none could get past the invisible barrier around him.
"......."
He silently rose off the water's surface as if he was being pulled by invisible strings. He stood on the water and started walking like it was the ground. His injuries visibly began regenerating while he marched towards Braga.
Back in Braga—
"Sinvula is on his way."
Alala appeared behind Phobos and Deimos.
"Are we going to fight him, Commander?"
Deimos asked with a trembling voice.
"No, we achieved what we came here to do. I'll sort things out with Sinvula at a later date."
"Then..."
Deimos' body perked up. Alala nodded.
"We're leaving."
Deimos pointed to the sky with his index fingers and looked up towards the heavens.
"Thank you, thank you, Lord. We will all get to live to see another day."
Alala turned to Phobos.
"Why is he being so dramatic?"
"Unfortunately, he is not. The world came so close to ending today."
"....You guys are over-exaggerating. Anyway, let's go."
Alala looked down on Impactor. Several people wearing the GHF logo appeared and were preparing to take him away. She remained silent and flew away with Phobos and
Deimos following behind her.
"Hurry! We need to get out of here before the Mad Shaman returns!"
The GHF personnel quickly put Impactor on a stretcher and strapped him down. They didn't hesitate and made their escape as their lives depended on it.
"......"
Sinvula arrived on the beaches of Braga with half of his injuries almost healed. He turned his head to the east. Alala was leaving with her crew. He looked to the north. The GHF were escaping with Impactor. He lifted one hand in the air.
"Where do you people think you're..."
His words trailed off as he stared in space. After nearly a minute, he brought his hand back down.
"Ah, fuck it. I'm going home."
He blasted off into the air with enough force to shake the beach. Alala watched Sinvula leave before turning back around.
"See? You guys were just blowing things out of proportion."
A small smile was under her mask.
"The Three Calamities have a certain understanding."
An hour later, Sinvula arrived at Iron Rain's underground town.
"Hey, boss."
"How's it going?"
Members of Iron Rain greeted him with smiles and friendly tones.
"It's alright. I'm not mad or anything."
Everyone sighed in relief.
"That's good, because you got your ass beat.'
A strong gust flung an Iron Rain member across the town.
"You said you weren't angry!"
"I'm not."
Sinvula smirked at his subordinates.
"I calmly threw him across the town for talking shit."
"Bullshit!"
"This is an abuse of power!"
"We deserve free speech!"
Sinvula faced the angry cries with open arms.
"You're free to come kick my ass if you have a problem."
"You think we won't?!"
"Get him!"
Five minutes later, Sinvula walked into his home with a smile on his face. He stretched his body as he walked into the hall.
"I don't know how you can just walk in with a refreshed look after beating your subordinates to a pulp. I can't tell if you're a pervert or maniac; maybe both."
Bastion greeted him while walking towards him.
"More importantly..."
Bastion grabbed Sinvula's shoulders. Sinvula could feel Bastian's hands shaking as he held him down. A water droplet fell from Bastion's face and hit the ground.
"Thank you for not fighting Alala!"
He lifted his head and his face was smeared in tears and snot. He started shaking Sinvula.
"I thought we all were going to die before I could enjoy retirement with a wife and kids!"
"C-Calm down, Bastion."
Sinvula removed Bastion's grip after some struggle.
"First off, you most likely are going to die single and alone."
"Fuck you."
"Second off, Alala and I fighting wouldn't destroy the world. Humanity? Maybe, but not the world itself."
"....Everything is a joke to you, isn't it?"
"Either I be a jokester or a psychopath who goes around destroying countries for fun."
Sinvula walked past him.
"The choice is yours."
Bastion followed behind him.
"Where's Kiara?"
"I don't know. She received a call while we were watching your fight on the news and left in a hurry. She did say not to worry."
"I see."
Sinvula walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge.
"I'm surprised, though. Why didn't you attack the GHF or Alala?"
"Normally, I would."
Ingredients floated out of the fridge and landed on the counter.
"If it were anybody else, I would've slaughtered them even if I had to sink Portugal."
He closed the fridge and started munching on grapes.
"After fighting that Impactor kid, I've grown to like him. I think he has what it takes to become a true Hero. It would be a waste to kill him before he reaches his full potential. Also, I feel like he will rock the GHF to the core in the future."
"I don't get it, but I'm not a psycho, so that's given."
Bastion took some grapes from Sinvula.
"So you didn't fight the War Angel because you didn't want to cause mass destruction?"
"Hell no. If it wasn't for my family, I would've destroyed this world years ago."
He pointed at Bastion.
"Just to clarify, that means you would've died before we became friends."
He finished the grapes and started washing the ingredients.
"Alala, Mishma, and I have a peculiar relationship as the Three Calamities. Us fighting won't happen that easily; not because of others but because we have an understanding."
He laid his ingredients on the counter.
"More importantly, do you want food? I'm hungry."
"What are you making?"
"Jollof Rice, fried plantains, mashed yams, and roasted beef."
He took up a plantain, cut the tips, and started to peel it.
"That's a lot of food."
"Healing from my injuries took a lot of energy, and I suddenly felt like eating my mother's cooking...."
Sinvula's eyes widened, and he dropped the plantain.
"…I know where Kiara went."
He looked at Bastion.
"Where's my phone?!"
"In your room."
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"
Sinvula ran out of the kitchen in a panic. He flew upstairs to his room and flew back down holding his phone.
"What's wrong?"
Bastion asked after seeing Sinvula looking at his phone with his hands trembling. Sinvula showed him the phone and spoke with a shaky voice.
"My sister was calling."
"Ms. Chinara? Why would she....."
Bastion's eyes widened.
"Oh..."
Sinvula nodded with a pale face.
"She saw the news."
Elsewhere, Alala, Phobos, and Deimos returned to the Bellum Company's hidden island. They were watching their soldiers train in close combat.
"The GHF took Impactor, so that means they plan on making him a certified Hero."
Phobos spoke to Alala, who was sitting on a stool, while they all were under the shade of a pine tree.
"Are you going to say we should've killed him there?"
"Not at all. Killing him then would make it look like you're stealing Sinvula's kill. However, why did we allow him to be taken?"
"For the same reason Sinvula did, I would like to see how he grows."
"Don't Villains who allow the Hero to grow stronger always regret it at the end when they lose?"
Alala and Phobos looked at Deimos, who stared back at them.
"I mean, it's true."
He shrugged.
"...Another reason I let him go is because I need to take him down when he's at his strongest. Having the GHF patch him up and make him stronger works out for me."
"I still can't believe that guy doesn't have any formal training."
Deimos took out a tablet.
"When I had our information brokers find everything about him, I was shocked to see he wasn't in the GHF's database. I wondered if he was a secret project nurtured by them to become an Anti-Calamity weapon, but when our cyberforce couldn't find anything, I threw that idea away. The guy was a rogue. He challenged the Calamities to get accepted as a Hero without going to the academy."
"He must've had some complicated reasons not to join one of the academies."
Phobos frowned under his mask.
"Even so, to challenge the strongest beings in the world, he's insane."
"He won though."
Alala's comment silenced the two Generals. She watched her soldiers giving their all to train.
"You can say I was caught off guard or I was ambushed, but that doesn't change that I lost. Normally, a loss on the battlefield equals losing your life. I know that more than anybody else."
She stood up.
"I'm far stronger than Impactor, but I won't look down on him. Strength alone doesn't win wars."
She smiled under her mask.
"The GHF can have him. Turn him into your greatest weapon if you want. In the end, I will win."
"Commander, saying that out loud basically triggered a lose flag. He's definitely going to beat you now."
Alala glanced at Deimos before returning to watching her soldiers.
"Deimos, 50 laps around the island. Every lap must be completed faster than the previous one. If not, another lap will be added."
"...Commander, I would like to apologise for my—"
"Laps, now."
Deimos looked at Phobos, who turned his head away. He sighed and started running.
"For a self-proclaimed coward, he seems to say whatever he wants to you."
Phobos let out a dry chuckle.
"To tell you the truth, half the time I want to laugh, but I don't want to give him the pleasure."
Alala chuckled a bit while Phobos smiled under his mask.
"How cruel."
"You can run laps with him if you have a problem."
"I'll have to pass on that."
The two laughed together while Deimos' screams of frustration could be heard in the distance.
Lisbon, Portugal. The Global Hero Federation had branches in every country in the world. Portugal's branch was located in its capital, Lisbon. Inside the branch, dozens of doctors were surrounding a man lying on a table. His tall, muscular body was on full display except for the underwear and mask he was wearing. His tanned skin was covered with cuts and bruises from head to toe.
"Remove his mask."
A doctor pulled off his partially torn mask as ordered. Gasps could be heard around the room.
"He's just a kid."
"He looks no more than 20 with that baby face."
"You mean a kid, who would be a fresh graduate from the academy, fought the Calamities?"
"….He looks Portuguese. This could work for us."
The doctors started talking among themselves.
"Enough."
A doctor who seemed to be the most senior silenced the others. He placed his hand on Impactor's body.
"This kid is a hero and it's our job to keep him going."
He turned and faced the other doctors.
"Prepare to patch him for another round with those monsters."