1 The Rise of an Anti Hero

The forest of Amrill was a vast display of centuries-old trees and vegetation. The sun rays were barely able to peek through the canopy. The birds chirped as they flew in all directions to find abundant food in the forest.

Whoosh!

The wind rustled under the canopy, and it was not a natural rustling. Instead, it was made by a white figure who flew through the forest at high speed. A peculiar thing about the figure was that it had two feathery wings as though the figure was an angel of heaven.

The branches and veins seemed too weak to stop the figure. With each wing flap, the figure significantly increased the flying speed. Finally, after almost five-ten minutes of flying, the figure landed on a branch. The wings faded into thin air as the figure wore a pigeon mask and full white dress resembling tight gimp suit. In addition, the figure wore a golden belt with several pouches attached to the belt. The figure took out a silver diamond-shaped stone from one of those pouches.

The forest was peaceful, and one could hear nothing except birds chirping and rustling trees. However, this silence was soon broken by the sound of horses galloping in the distance.

Amidst the thick forest ran a lonely path. The path was not paved but made after carriages traveled through the woods for several decades. Few merchants knew about the pathway to Kingdom Elyria in Fidor Continent.

Other than the merchants, the pathway's existence was known to the members of the United Federation of Heroes, who were commonly known as UFH.

Additionally, a group of villains with good sources of information knew about the pathway.

The UFH did their best to keep pathway's existence a secret from the villains but money could almost get you anything Etheria. To some villains, money was not an issue.

The figure spoke, holding the diamond stone before his mouth,

"This is The Pigeon. I have eyes on the target. No hostiles nearby, permission to proceed"

"Copy The Pigeon. You are clearly to engage the carriage. The target must not be harmed. The runes show there's activity around the carriage. Proceed with caution"

The Pigeon leaped from one branch to another to get closer to the carriage. The four brown horses pulling the carriages had no idea an Enhanced Human from above was watching them. The Pigeon tapped the side of his forehead as his eyes turned red. His vision turned blue and amidst the blue vision, he could see four red flickerings.

They were the heartbeats of the horses. He turned his gaze to the carriage but could not see what was inside or who was inside. However, when he looked around, he saw three red flickerings approaching the carriages through the thick forest. They moved fast yet made no noise which showed The Pigeon that whoever was coming towards the carriage was highly trained. The Pigeon waited until the three figures stepped outside the forest so he could scan them with the Scanner to know their identity and which class they belonged to before engaging them in a battle.

Like a predator waiting for prey, The Pigeon waited for hostiles to jump out of the forest. The moment the three figures jumped out of the shade of the forest, The Pigeon saw three men dressed completely black. Except for their eyes, nothing was exposed. They were what the commoners called Ninjas. Two of the ninjas carried short daggers in each hand, while the other one carried a longbow with a quiver filled with arrows strapped to his back.

"Scanning complete"

"Identity Triplets, no realm name founded. Enhanced Humans. Wanted for multiple murders, thefts, assassinations, and kidnappings. Twenty thousand Ethereals bounty on each of them" A melodious voice sounded inThe Pigeon's head. What he heard last put a wide grin onThe Pigeon's face behind the mask. He was one of the heroes who joined the gig for Etherials rather than upholding peace and justice. This job was supposed to be a quick extraction job with a low threat level. Hence, The Pigeon picked up the task because he hated to die in the field of duty. The only death The Pigeon would accept was the death caused by old age.

"Nnnhhh Eeeeeee"

The horses were startled when the two ninjas landed in front of them after a swift leap. The horses neighed loudly as they halted their steps.

"Take whatever inside"

"Where the heck is the coachman?"

The two ninjas spoke with a gruff voice,

"Who cares? Just make it quick before some damn hero appears," the ninja who carried the bow said, looking around cautiously.

"Too late boys"

The ninjas were startled by the voice. They almost jumped back in shock as The Pigeon landed in front of the carriage, just a few meters away from the two ninjas.

"If you surrender peacefully, The Pigeon will go easy on you" The Pigeon laughed. He felt he had the advantage over the ninjas due to his flying ability.

"The Pigeon" the ninjas uttered his name in unison. They creased their brows. They obviously did not expect an Enhanced class Hero to appear when their sources told them no threats.

The two ninjas wasted no time as they leaped atThe Pigeon. They knew there was no way The Pigeon would let them escape without a fight. Also, they believed with their coordination and teamwork, they could defeat The Pigeon.

The feathery wings grew out of the The Pigeon's back immediately. He flapped his wings to leap into the air. But, since it was a forest with webs like veins everywhere, The Pigeon could not fly as high as he liked to.

Whoosh!

The ninja standing behind the carriage quickly fired three arrows at The Pigeon. The Pigeon quickly made a barrel roll in the sky to evade the arrows. He successfully avoided two arrows, but the third one grazed his ribs. The pain momentarily disrupted The Pigeon's movements. The two ninjas were extremely quick to use this moment to attack The Pigeon. One ninja boosted the other one into the air to close the gap between them. The ninja got boosted to the air and swung his dagger, trying to cut The Pigeon on the back.

On the other side, the ninja fired a volley of arrows once again at The Pigeon. In mid-air, The Pigeons tilted his body to avoid the dagger.

Boom!

The Pigeon managed to avoid the dagger and uppercut the ninja with lightning speed. Typically, compared to the Special humans, the Enhanced humans were stronger. Only a few Special humans remained an exception to this rule. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case for the ninjas, who were far weaker than The Pigeon. Hence, The Pigeon's punch knocked the wind out of the ninja.

The Pigeon expected the two ninjas to be stunned after he knocked out one of their comrades, but unlike his expectation, the ninjas carried the fight without collapsing. Each party exchanged several blows, but The Pigeon had the upper hand due to his better powers.

"Smoke!"

Suddenly the ninja with a bow cried out. The other ninjas reacted almost within a second. The Pigeon failed to see where the ninja took the smoke bomb from. When the ninja threw the smoke bomb on the ground, it exploded with an ear-piecing booming sound. Then, the bomb released a thick cloud of white gas.

The Pigeon flapped his wings to disperse the cloud of gas. But, in the heat of the moment, he failed to realize he was making himself an easy target for the archer by dispersing the cloud.

"Ah!"

The Pigeon cried as an arrow pierced through his back. Fighting through the pain, The Pigeon leaped into the air once again. This time, the Pigeon activated the scanner to see through the smoke.

With the help of the scanner, The Pigeon immediately located the ninja on the ground.

Whoosh!

The Pigeon immediately dashed at the ninja without wasting a second. Unfortunately, the ninja was too late to react as The Pigeon landed a powerful kick on his chest, instantly knocking him out.

Yet again, The Pigeon flapped his wings to leap into higher air. Since The Pigeon knocked out two of the ninjas, he could entirely focus on the archer. He easily avoided the arrows thanks to his reflexes. This time, the archer was unable to hit him with a single arrow out of the many he fired.

"I'm gonna enjoy making your lives miserable inside the prison" The Pigeon growled. The archer kept firing arrows despite the fear of losing the freedom growing inside his heart.

Boom!

As the archer was firing arrows, The Pigeon closed the gap between them. Then, with a flap of his wing, he dashed at the archer at lightning speed. The archer almost closed his eyes instinctively. Then, just when The Pigeon's fist was about to hit the archer in the face, a white net dropped from the air onto The Pigeon and the archer.

"What the?!"

The Pigeon was stuck with the archer. He tried to take off into the air but couldn't do it because of the net.

At this point, the smoke from the smoke bomb lost most of its density.

Pulch!

"Arghh"

Suddenly, they heard a familiar sound of a blade piercing the human flesh. The growling after the stabbing made them stop squirming inside the net.

As the smoke cleared up, they saw a youngster in a black dress walking toward them with a broken dagger in his hand. Blood dripped from the tip of the broken dagger, drawing a trail in his path.

The Pigeon quickly activated the scanner to see whether he was a foe or a friend. But looking at the blood on his arm and face, The Pigeon didn't bet on the latter.

"Don't bother"

As though the youngster detected he was scanning him, he spoke in a cold voice,

"Scan completed. Identity unknown. Class level unknown"

The Pigeon was stunned. The UFH took pride in cataloging all the heroes and villains in Etheria. Since the youngster was not in UFH logs, that meant only one thing; he was a commoner. However, The Pigeon sensed an immense threat from the youngster.

Something told him that the youngster wasn't a mere commoner.

"Identify yourself," The Pigeon ordered. The archer would have stabbed The Pigeon with an arrow if he was able to grab an arrow from his quiver. Yet, the youngster didn't seem to care about the archer at all.

"Hmm, his soul looks delicious"

"Kill him"

The pigeon vaguely heard a demonic voice as the youngster made his way toward him.

Next chapter