1870, London England.
A baby was born. With it, came nothing stand-out or particularly special.
Growing up, it was an average life. Ordinary parents, in whom there was a sense of disappointment in their son. Around this time, class, status, and sophistication were the markers of a human being; an ordinary son was simply not good enough.
Even still, the youth did not hold any sort of resentment towards his parents. He understood why they viewed him the way they did, and earnestly wished to make them proud.
Studying hard to become a doctor, he had planned to attend a university. Once he made money, once he continued his studies, he would become a respectable young man in whom his parents prided themselves on.
Then, he lost interest.
No grand motivation. Nothing ideological or particularly caused. He wasn't scorned by his parents nor was he abused or mistreated or financially troubled.
Quite simply, he found it all boring.
And unprompted, he began his murders—killing prostitutes for a way to pass the time.
…
"Keh, ghkk! Yes, marvelous! Ghira… GHIRA. YOU HAVE TO! YOU HAVE TO RETURN RILEY WOODS TO FULL STRENGTH!"
Shouting with all of the might he could, the Whitechapel Murderer commanded his king with gleeful excitement.
To which, Ghira himself felt pressured into doing so. With that, Riley felt an overwhelming power return unto him.
…Y'know what? Seek victory first.
"Alright then," Jack the Ripper enunciated, taking one step. "You two weaklings, back up. Let me put my hands on him. If he wants to show off his strength, then we can KILL EACH OTHER! NO MORE TALKING, JUST FIGHT ALREADY!"
Wielding his surgical knife, the Ripper leapt through the air—at a remarkably slow speed. Riley buried his feet into the ground and kicked off with full force. Shooting through the air like a comet, boosted by a thousand murders and his own intensive training routine, Riley had overcome sound itself.
Spinning his hips, and bringing down his shin as if it were a war-hammer, Riley's downwards kick annihilated the left side of Jack the Ripper's body. Without exaggeration, the force acted as if it were a steel coil crushing an ordinary human's body, tearing through his collarbone and heart and flesh—a lethal blow.
The Ripper staggered, the sound of his own destruction piercing his ears, as he fell to his knees. His eyes were dragged open, his breath stolen by the attack. Hardly an attack, it was moreso akin to an execution.
—Unmistakably, it was beautiful.
"Such… strength," the Whitechapel Murderer gushed, climbing to his feet and standing tall, his body having had unquestionable havoc wreaked upon it. Regenerating, he made the net damage turn to zero; even still, he refused to forget that impact.
It was such a powerful blow. An overwhelming strike which exceeded his expectations to the fullest.
Riley Woods had cemented himself as the strongest opponent Jack had ever faced.
"The way it felt… my bones, they cracked under the force. They snapped, so loudly. I could hear it, I could feel it."
Spinning around with a joyous smile etched upon his face, the Ripper simply could not contain himself.
"I heard my own heart pop from being struck. Ah… you're marvelous. Give me more."
Leaping from the ground, Scott dared to intervene. To which, the scalpel was drawn. With a swipe, it bisected reality itself. Nullifying the distance between, it sliced the vampire's brain in two, halting his movements.
"Don't intervene. This is a gentlemen's duel; you're contaminating it with your filth."
Jack turned towards Riley, meeting his gaze eye to eye. "No interventions. Just combat. Is that acceptable, dear?"
Riley chuckled, throwing his hands up in the air and grinning, showing his straight white teeth.
"Got it! Let's see who the strongest Enemy of the Servants actually was. To which, I'll say it, here and now. ——The Failed Star, Riley Woods."
"——Leather Apron, Aaron Kosminski."
Kicking off the ground, reaching each other in the blink of an eye, the two clashed. Riley evaded the right hook, slipping under and to the left, comboing together a left hook to the body and right hook to the chin.
The force being so great as to sound like gunshots, it caused intensive damage throughout the killer's body, before the brown-haired man smiled with bloody teeth. Riley's chest shone a bright right, before the murderer punched him directly on it.
In spite of Riley being vastly more powerful, that attack landed with explosive force that took him aback—physically and mentally. His body slammed into a light-post, as he struggled to breathe. Quickly regenerating the wound, only to be pressed even further, Riley's body was inundated with glowing red dots.
Each time a target there was struck, the force was amplified three-fold, turning even weaker punches into impacts devastating enough to break bone.
Riley guarded himself, pulling his eyelids into a focused glare, Jack the Ripper unleashing a potent haymaker at his head which the youth slipped backwards, evading. Abandoning his abilities, Riley feigned a left jab to the head, before changing levels and taking Jack down to the ground.
Entering his guard, Riley pinned down one leg, stapling it to the ground and entering side-control. Not playing with just grappling, he raised his elbow and used [Falling], slamming down the force and piercing Jack the Ripper's sternum as if struck by a sniper-rifle.
Impaling him with his body, Riley's unbreaking gaze stared into the killer's eyes, as he pulled his body out from the murderer's lungs. Jack the Ripper tried to get away, but Riley kept his hold on him stable, rendering history's most famous serial killer unable to move.
"You wanted to prove you were the strongest, right?"
Jack's hand was on his hip, stuck. To which, Riley placed his hand underneath the arm, then pinned it with his head and [Falling] to prevent it from moving. Placing his opponent in a kimura, Riley laughed, as History's Strongest tried to move his arm, but was unable to.
"Hk! Shit, you…!"
Smiling in response to his inability to move, utilizing techniques from far beyond his time, Jack the Ripper flashed his teeth, as Riley laughed as comfortably as he would when sparring.
"Yeah… but now, I'm the strongest."
Riley snapped Jack the Ripper's shoulder, causing a disgusting crunchy pop to fill the air, as pain flooded the man's wound.
"Going in for the kill. Can you keep up?"
Riley took full-mount, sitting on the Ripper's stomach. To which, a scalpel was summoned within Jack's hand. With a swipe, it slashed across Riley's carotid, to which the youth regenerated, only for the killer to try and escape. Riley brought down his knuckles upon Jack's nose in response, breaking it and sending blood shooting out.
"This is just sad to watch," Scott complained, leaping at Riley and kicking him in the nose, sending the boy flying through the air. His vision, balance and hearing were all wildly distorted. The world span and span and span and span and span—until he crashed through a window and used his legs to stop his speeding momentum.
Jack the Ripper got to his feet with a scowl, to which Scott disappointedly shook his head.
"Sorry, old man, but you're just not fit for this era," Scott insulted, waving his hand and putting one hand on his hips. "Face it. You're simply much weaker due to the month of preparation we had."
"...Shut your mouth, you brat," Jack scornfully commanded. "A month of preparation? Yet, Riley Woods managed to beat you and your men without using your strength. If I want to be the strongest in existence, I can't lose to that same man, even if he's stronger now."
Riley approached the broken window he'd entered through, looming over them. Cracking his knuckles and heaving a sigh, he began to stretch his body.
Then, summoning [Crashing], a full-on car, Riley grabbed it and launched it towards the group. At a speed far too fast, the car crashed into Jack and subsequently erupted into a great ball of flames which gave Riley the immediate impression of a nuke, even if not actually on-par with such a blast.
Naturally, a bomb going off in the city caused many to sprint away in fear. The children in the nearby park were frightened by the blast, and began to cry.
Seeing that, Riley sighed and relaxed his shoulders, descending upon the battlefield with a calmness that he hoped would put the bystanders at ease.
"Riiight. Who could've guessed that bombs going off are scary? Haha, stupid and dumb attempts at humor aside… Sorry mister Tzu, but I'm not a warrior first and foremost."
His enemies emerged from the flames, his spectators looked out from the windows of their apartments or cars, and the children who had snuck out late in the night were in awe at the revealed face of the Red Mist.
Then, striking a silly pose, one hand on his hip and his other arm outstretched, index finger pointing towards the heavens, Riley declared it so.
"First and foremost, I am a friend! Not a warrior! Or a soldier! Or even a hero! —Yes, above all else, I am a friend! Someone who reaches out his hand to come to the aid of another—that is who I am!"
From the blast, a great wind blew, allowing his scraggly black hair and cape to theatrically shift with the air.
So, sorry for frightening everyone. But the guys I'm fighting are a lot more dangerous.
Shouting, taking up such a humorous stance that the frightened couldn't help but be star-struck by the absurdity of the situation, rendering realistic terror a pipedream, Riley has accomplished goal.
"Alright. If this gets on the news, I want my girlfriend to see how handsome her boyfriend looks covered in blood."
He closed his right eye and stuck his tongue out at them, showing his disgust before [Crashing] formed behind them. The explosion launched them in different directions, to which Riley sprinted towards Ghira, leaping into the air and unleashing a [Falling]-boosted Superman punch.
With such intensity that he struck the earth as if a meteorite, Ghira's physical form was dragged through concrete. The youth took off, following through with a soccer-kick to the skull which hurtled the body through towards the sky.
"—Notyet!"
[Hanging] wrapped around his ankle and dragged Ghira's body downwards at over nine-hundred miles an hour, overcoming sound as Riley pressed his feet firmly into the ground. A light squat, he had taken.
Shaking. His body shook, trembling with excitement and anticipation of the movement. Once it was registered, Riley leapt into the air, summoning [Crashing] beneath for an additional rocketed-boost.
Clenching his fists, tightening his muscles and a smile overflowing with excitement.
Land the hit. Land the hit.
Landing, landing.
BOOM.
The might of the apex creature, Riley Woods, had cemented itself within the skies. Akin to no less than an explosion in and of itself, Riley had eviscerated Ghira's form with an uppercut to the chin.
His force sent shockwaves through the lands, displaying his magnetic and omnipotent power for everyone to see.
Whiplash instantly took effect, and buried underneath the death-wails of sound, there was a neck's snapping. Ghira's body, covered in pitch-black darkness, had been broken from Riley——
"WE'RE NOT DONE YET!"
Enthralled by his ability to go all out, Riley had been inspired by the Ripper's enthusiasm for combat. Over the past month, having become quite an avid fan of combat arts, he had developed a giddiness for the sport and art of fighting.
Indeed, he and the Ripper were similar in that sense—they loved fighting.
Placing his whole hand over Ghira's silhouetted face, Riley grinned ear to ear in a remarkably uncouth and ugly smile.
"I've wanted to do this to you for a while now, y'knowww~?"
[Crashing] was utilized. An explosion which rocketed his momentum, in conjunction with [Hanging] around his chest, flying him down at over nine-hundred miles an hour.
One-thousand miles.
One-thousand-two-hundred miles an hour.
[Crashing] X [Hanging].
More.
Flying downwards, the sound of his own momentum cracking open the skies, Riley pushed harder, inspired even further by his own regained ability.
[Crashing] X [Hanging] X [Crashing].
Another explosion added even more momentum, falling down at a speed which turned the entirety of his vision and the world itself into one mere blur.
Just as they were about to crash into the abandoned office——
I want more.
[Hanging] X [Shooting] X [Falling].
Pumping the Forgotten King's skull with lead, with the introduction of [Falling], that mere second of its allowed activation was more than enough. Falling like lightning upon the world, the Failed Star single-handedly crashed through the entirety of the office building, traveling floor after floor in the matter of milliseconds.
…
Scott, the vampire, had been launched through the air. He had fallen back down to the street, and gotten to his feet. Within his ears, he heard what sounded like several explosions or gunshots, but was unable to determine where exactly they had come from.
His gaze turning upwards, had seen a firework light up the sky, an explosion detonated amongst the clouds. And then, not even two seconds afterwards,
"..."
He had not been able to say anything. Instead, his mouth went agape, his eyelids pulling back. His piercing red glare lost its edge, in awe and instinctual fear of what exactly had occurred.
A noise, far louder than anything he had ever heard before, had attacked the world. An office building had been impaled in far, far less than even a singular second.
There was an instinctual fear. Akin to witnessing the might of a dragon, Scott's mind instinctually had the desire to surrender.
A dragon was supposed to be the apex of all lifeforms. As a result, Scott could not help but imagine that the source of such potent destruction had to be a dragon, as the notion of a human being able to perform such feats of——
"Ah. That's some serious stress relief."
Clouds of dust had formed throughout the streets. As the smoke cleared, when Scott instinctively approached the scenery for himself, his vision was hardly flooded. Indeed, without being overwhelmed—no, it had been overwhelmed, but not flooded.
Focusing the entirety of his sights upon one singular figure, Scott saw Riley Woods emerge from the corpse of the building.
"...Still, it did hurt," Riley complained, rubbing his neck as his clothes and body were covered in blood. "...I went too hard for this body. Never thought I'd see the day where I was able to produce more force than my body could handle, but there's a first time for everything."
A soft chuckle rang in the air, and Riley spotted Scott. With a snide grin, Riley grabbed the physical form Ghira had chosen to inhabit—or rather, what little was left of it—before throwing it through the air. It limply cracked against the concrete next to the vampire, remaining utterly lifeless.
"Guess that loser was the first one to drop out. Makes sense; he hasn't done shit for hundreds of years, so no duh he'd get folded like a lawn-chair. Let's see if that regeneration is enough to make you last longer than the Ripper."
"...Just what are you—" Scott began to say, before Jack the Ripper leapt towards Riley, aiming with his scalpel to—
—Grabbing the Leather Apron by the face and using [Crashing] X [Falling], Riley wiped out the second opponent instantly. Having slammed his hand into the concrete, Riley stood back up, flapping his hand around, removing the chunks of brain matter and skull fragments from it.
"'Kay. Let's fight."
Scott stared at Riley, his breathing unsteady as a result of the strength he'd shown.
Yet, to his comfort, there was a voice.
"...Truly, I am infuriated. Upset by my own performance, disgusted by the performance of my greatest, there's no mistaking just how horribly we have failed."
Scott was the sole survivor. In the span of perhaps less than three minutes, Riley had annihilated both Ghira's chosen physical form, and the strongest in history, who could not stand the test of time, resulting in his death.
Thus, he was chosen.
—If there existed a Failed Star, then surely there shall be a Star who had not failed.
Without working for it. Without doing anything to earn or achieve it, Scott was given an incredible boost of strength.
"Therefore, I am entrusting everything to you, Scott. Prove to him that this world is worthless. Prove to him that the people within this world are worthless. —Declare it so loudly that it ends his life."
Affirming Scott's ideals, Ghira had ensured it.
As fast as lighting, Scott launched across the battlefield. With the swipe of his hand, Riley's arm was sent away, removed from his arm as sound wailed in its death.
"...Heh. Hahaha, okay. Alright, then. If it's so, then it's undoubtedly so."
Scott turned around, his piercing red eyes glowing crimson.
"I am a calamity. I will kill for my own amusement. I will hurt you because it entertains me. I will enjoy myself."
Grinning softly, Scott's fangs hung from above his lower lip, as his tongue glided across his teeth.