"Woohoo!"
Impactor screamed while flipping in the sky. He and the rest of Kismet were cutting through the air, falling towards the ground.
"Celso, I know you can survive a fall like this, but the pain will knock you out, so pay attention!"
Belinha shouted at him while calmly falling.
"Alright, our mission is to take out as many Villains as possible and help stabilise the country. If you get defeated, it's a failure. If you get captured, it's a failure. If the Villains get away, it's a failure. If you die, it's a failure."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Failure isn't an option, so do everything you can to win and survive. Understood?"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"Good."
Flame wings formed on Belinha's back.
"I'm gonna do some recon."
She shot down with a burst of flames. She quickly approached the ground and started surveying the area. From the briefing, she knew she was above the city of Aarhus. The once beautiful seaside city was now in shambles as shady figures ran wild. She focused her eyes and spotted a group of Villains chasing a lone Hero. She engulfed herself in flames and shot down like a meteor. A fierce explosion of flames hit the Villains and forced them back.
"What the fuck?!"
The Villains cursed because of the sudden attack. They saw a silhouette inside the sea of flames, preventing them from reaching their target.
"Everyone, aim for the area I'm in."
Belinha walked out of the flames and faced the Villains. Some were on the street while others were on the roofs surrounding her.
"Blood Phoenix?!"
Her appearance sent shockwaves through their group. Belinha silently pointed at one of the roofs.
"What is she—?"
Something crashed into the building Belinha pointed at. The building collapsed and dust clouds covered the area.
"Ahh?!"
A scream resounded within the dust clouds.
"Hell yeah!"
An excited roar rang through the area. Something flew out of the dust and popped up in front of a Villain.
"Clench your teeth!"
Impactor grinned as he slammed his fist in the Villain's face. A thundering noise reverberated and bodies flew.
"Hahaha!"
Impactor let out a savage laugh as the rest of Kismet emerged from the dust clouds, dragging bodies behind them.
"Hello, Villains."
Belinha drew the Villains' attention to her. Flames danced around her and formed giant birds glaring them down.
"I implore you to struggle."
The birds let out a deafening shriek while Kismet closed in on their enemies. Belinha smirked, seeing her foes in panic.
"We need the warm-up."
Less than 10 minutes later, all the Villains were laid out on the ground, either groaning in pain or dead.
"That was far easier than I expected."
Impactor looked down at their beaten bodies with a frown.
"Well, it makes sense."
Batu answered while piling corpses on top of each other.
"For a while now, we've been fighting the highest rank of Villains, the Calamity Class. These guys are probably the lowest rank."
"Wait, Villains have ranks?"
"Of course they do. How would we differentiate their threat level otherwise?"
Belinha answered with a frown.
"We briefed you on this already."
"Ma'am, you and both know I wasn't listening."
Belinha's fingers wiggled as she fought the urge not to strangle him. She calmed down with a sigh.
"Listen this time, because this is info that is crucial on the frontlines."
Impactor sat on the back of a Villain who was trying to sneak away.
"I'm all ears."
"First of all, there are two categories of Villains. Regular Villains."
Belinha picked up a crying man off the ground and pointed at him. She then threw him onto a burning pile of rubble.
"And Supervillains like the Alala's Generals and Sinvula's Executives. To make more accurate judgments, we further break them down into ranks with Calamity as the highest and Petty as the lowest."
"So these guys are Petty Villains."
Impactor smirked while looking down on the guy he was sitting on. Belinha nodded.
"The ranks in ascending order are: Petty, Hazard, Mayhem, Ruin, Disaster, Calamity. Those Mayhem and higher are considered Supervillains
"Fun fact, there were originally 5 ranks with Disaster being the highest. A sixth rank was created when Calamities appeared because they were far beyond anything we've seen before and truly had the power to destroy the world."
Mikel added while making those they captured form a queue chained to each other.
"From what we've gathered, there are some Ruin Class Villains in Denmark leading the chaos."
Bojana spoke while checking the info being projected from her bracelet. Impactor stood up with a smirk.
"Say, how strong are us in Villain terms?"
"That's a good question."
Batu thought about it for a bit before answering.
"Well, you, Belinha, and I are Ruin Class and everybody else is between Mayhem and Ruin."
"So, that means there are Villains on our level?"
"Yes, but because there's a huge gap between each rank, people of the same Class don't necessarily have the same level of strength. The ranks are more determined by their threat level more than anything else."
"Either way, I can have fun fighting them?"
Batu nodded.
"I won't deny that."
"Then, let's go hunting!"
Impactor roared at the top of his lungs.
"We can't just run in blindly. We have to be strategic about this, or there will be great civilian casualties."
Belinha sought to contain his excitement.
"This section of the city was abandoned so we could run wild, but we need to be mindful of how we're going to do things."
Impactor pointed at Belinha.
"Then think up a plan where we can run wild, Leader!"
She grinned.
"I already did."
The city of Aarhus was mostly occupied by Villains, with civilians and soldiers being held as captives, while captive Heroes were being used for entertainment purposes. One of these activities was taking place in a thrashed store.
"Ugh?!"
A Hero fell to his knees in agony after being punched in the stomach.
"Hey, lift him back up."
Soldiers trembled as they obediently lifted the Hero to his feet. The Villains watched with sinister grins.
"That's right. Heroes are meant to be the shields that protect the people from scums like us."
A mountain of a man walked up to the Heroes, cracking his knuckles.
"They try to pretty it up, but they're essential meat shields for the weak."
He stepped in a slammed his fist in the Hero's torso. The force blew him and the soldiers holding him into a wall.
"Then, as Villains, we must make sure you're fulfilling your role as meat-shields."
The surrounding goons burst out laughing.
"That one looks like he's broken. Get me the next one."
"Alright."
The goons went over to where several beaten Heroes lay on the ground, shackled. They scanned over them and spotted a blonde man leaning on a wall.
"Huh? This one still looks fresh."
"Then, he can take a beating."
The goons laughed and lifted the man to his feet. They dragged him over to the Villain who looked at him with anticipation.
"What a pretty face. I'm gonna enjoy smashing it."
"Unfortunately, I love my face because I look like the person I respect the most. So, I can't afford for you to leave a scratch on it."
Villain had a look of bewilderment before he burst out laughing.
"As if you have any choice here!"
He punched at the man's head and a thud could be heard.
"Huh?"
The Villain blinked in confusion before looking down to see an arm on the ground. The arm was his. The pain rushed through his body the moment his brain realised what was happening. He opened his mouth to scream, but a gun nozzle was forced into it, breaking his teeth in the process.
"?!"
His eyes widened as he realised the gun was the Hero's arm that had transformed.
"We're on a stealth mission, so your screams would be a nuisance."
Kira spoke with a detached tone as he removed the wig he was wearing. The Villain searched for help from those around him, only to see his comrades all sinking into the earth with mud forcing itself down their throats. Ripples appeared in the floor and three people emerged from the earth. The Villain instantly recognised one of them.
(Batu?!)
He screamed in his head. He soon recognised the other two as Bojana and Mikel, also Kira, who was holding him at gunpoint.
(Why is Kismet here?!)
Fear flooded his heart and his knees trembled.
"I'm surprised."
He looked at Kira.
"You recognised me?"
Kira's cold green eyes stared straight into his soul.
"That's not good. I can't stand out more than Mira."
A light flashed and the Villain's vision doubled before his world faded away. The top half of his head slid off his body and hit the ground.
"I must've been standing out too much in the battles against Sinvula and Alala."
Kira flung the corpse to side without a change in expression.
"I need to learn to be more discreet."