Chapter 164: Halloween Night: Part Final |
A.N.: Check the note at the end of the chapter for a little surprise.
Enjoy~
...…
Third Person P.O.V.
After Eidolon sent Dracula flying and threw a light attack to keep him from regenerating, essentially taking him out of the fight, he doesn't waste time and raises his finger in Varnae's direction, too.
The finger lights up, and Varnae immediately goes on alert, seeing that attack again.
Glint
He jumped before the laser was shot, and succeeded in dodging the attack, but what he didn't take into account was that Eidolon predicted that.
Above his head, a portal opened, and in that moment, half of his body disappeared inside it.
And the hero is already ready to strike.
He is holding Nevan like a club, pulling back and gathering momentum like a baseball player ready to aim for a home run.
'Thunder Bagua.' He says in his mind, imitating Kaido's attack.
Don Boom
Eidolon swings, the attacks clear the air like it is erasing everything in its path, then the vacuum pulls the air back and creates a shockwave that destroys the surroundings.
Varnae was quick to go back through the portal, and lucky that he had wings, so he was able to dodge most of the attack.
Drip Drip
But even so, the damage is huge.
The rightmost part of his upper body was destroyed, as if someone had taken a bite of it. Only his head and a little of his brain and jaw exist, hanging almost loosely.
The portal also squeezed him, and he had to sacrifice chunks of his arms to go back through it.
But even so, he is alive, and he is regenerating at an incredibly fast pace. Even the destroyed part of his head is restored.
"That is some healing power." Natasha speaks while watching Varnae recover from Eidolon attacks and becoming brand new again "It reminds me of someone…"
On the screen, Varnae raises his two arms and joins his wrists, his hands forming a cup shape with all his fingers separated while pointing at Eidolon.
From his fingertips, thin orange blasts of energy fly in a curved trajectory to hit Eidolon from all sides.
Vwwonn
Eidolon makes no movement to dodge, and it looks like he is going to get hit, the blasts almost touching his body…
But suddenly, plate-sized wormholes appear all around his body and swallow the attacks.
Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom
And ten more wormholes appear around Varnae, connecting with the others, so that his attack hits him instead.
"Cool as heck…" Darcy nods impressed
"Eidolon is so bullshit." Jennifer comments with an impressed and disbelieving tone
"Right? How do you fight that?" Darcy replies while gesturing to the screen
While Varnae is being bombarded by his own attack, Eidolon dashed at him and delivered a strong punch that created a shockwave that cracked the ground.
Boom
The attack was strong, but Varnae's body is not weak either, his torso was not completely blown off. Instead, it is possible to see the bones of his upper body being pulverized, beneath his skin, only soft meat and blood as his body behaves like a sack with gelatinous substance inside.
It is a disgusting sight, no living body should become like that, blood was shot from his orifices too… but as quickly as his body was deformed by the attack, it got back to looking normal.
"Hmmm…" Eidolon hums to himself, All Seeing Eyes of God staring unblinkingly at Varnae.
The Original vampire retaliates with a physical attack on his own, an overhead swing that quickly reached Eidolon, but the hero blocked with his forearm.
Boom Crack Crack
Now Varnae proved himself physically strong, because Eidolon's leg sank into the ground till his calves, and the floor cracked under him. He is not affected, though; in truth, this only made him a little stronger.
Eidolon turned his forearm a little and grabbed Varnae's arm.
Crack
He pulls the opponent to him while dislocating his elbow and starts punching with his free hand.
Bam Bam Bam
It started slowly, but eventually it gained speed till a hundred afterimages of his fist are hitting Varnae.
Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam
Once again, Varnae's upper body is greatly deformed and soaked with blood, but he still has the strength to retaliate by trying to bite Eidolon's fist.
Chomp
He succeeded.
Or it looked like it for a moment before Eidolon's arm phased through his mouth and went through his skull.
In a show of acrobatics, Eidolon is suddenly upset, with his hand on top of Varnae's head.
Swish Crack
Then he spins around himself so fast that he becomes a blur, and with that, he turns Varnae's neck in an unnatural direction many times over.
When Eidolon lands and watches Varnae with interest, the head of the vampire is hanging loosely as if Eidolon had unscrewed it.
But then it spins back in place, and Varnae is as good as new.
Eidolon did not waste the opportunity while Varnae was recovering. In the meantime, he joined the palm of a hand with a fist and created a sword of light imbued with Hamon.
He was already cutting at Varnae while the villain went back to his pristine condition.
Swish
Varnae joined his hand in a strange seal, and the ground rose instantly to protect his body. Eidolon doesn't stop and cuts the shield without a care.
It was rocks reinforced with magic, slowing down his attack and even preventing it from going too deep, but even so, he was able to cut Varnae's joined hands with his sword.
"Aaaarghh!" Varnae shouts in pain before jumping a dozen meters back. The stumps of his wrists do not bleed; they are searing like cauterized wounds.
The Original Vampire grits his teeth, his flesh wiggles disgustingly before the cauterized part of his wrist falls off… and only then his hands heal again.
"I see… It is like Belasco." Eidolon finally speaks again "Your soul is puppeteering your body, so it doesn't matter how much damage I give to your body or how much I break it."
Sunlight is very effective, but Varnae just proved that he can go around this weakness of his… The most effective way would be to attack his soul.
"Heh!" Varnae smiles confidently, "Are you seeing it now? I am immortal and indestructible."
"I am literally destroying you, dude." Eidolon replies with a deadpan voice
The people watching released a laugh
Varnae shows some displeasure, but he schools his features.
"Now that we are at an impasse, why don't we have a conversation like civilized people?" The Original Vampire suddenly says with a reasonable tone
"Oh? We are not at an impasse, but I am always willing to talk." Eidolon replies while dissipating his light sword in motes. "Go on." He gestures to Varnae.
"Are they seriously talking like nothing happened now?" Johnny is in disbelief " just when things are getting good."
"Well… Eidolon is a reasonable and understanding man." Susan says, but her face still shows the strangeness of the situation
"It is wild seeing that gorilla face talking softly like that." Shego comments
"Yeah…" Some agree
"You get used to it…" Harley laughs "Just wait for my boy Hulk here to start reciting Shakespeare." She reaches to pat Hulk's shoulder. The green giant is eating pizza while sitting on the ground behind the couch.
"..." Everyone looks at him and tries to picture the image in their heads.
"I don't have enough imagination to do that." Stark is the first to shake his head, "Sorry, big guy." He says after the Hulk grunts at him
"I imagine him changing every verb for 'smash'." Johnny jokes "To smash or not to smash: That is the question."
"Now I want to see that." Ben is the first to laugh while slapping his knee, followed by the rest.
"Relax, Hulk, he is not making fun of you." Harley stops the Hulk from getting angry
"You know my name, but I don't know yours." Varnae gestures at the hero on the screen.
"I am Eidolon, a hero." Eidolon replies without any animosity or fanfare.
"A hero, huh?"
"I don't know how much you are into the affairs of the modern world, but it is a new profession. I basically deal with superhuman threats against humanity. Evil gods, aliens, other superpowered people, you…" Eidolon explains
"I see…" Varnae stares at Eidolon deeply. "So you work on the line between good and evil."
"Something like that, and?"
"Then with your strength, you must be privy to the truth of this world and the nature of its inhabitants."
"..." Eidolon's eyes narrow a fraction
"The universe is unreasonable, and the ones living in it don't make it better. The thought must have crossed your mind more than once, I am sure." Varnae smirks
"..."
"In the past, I lived in an advanced civilization. I thought it would be eternal, and I want to be eternal with it… But the Great Cataclysm wiped my home off the map and sank Atlantis. That is how unfair the universe is. You can try to ward off that and protect humans, but you must know that there are things you can't fight against." Varnae talks with some emotion
"And?" Opposite to him, Eidolon's face and voice are emotionless.
"And what comes from within could be even worse… The inner conflict, the evil, the hubris… Looking back, I think my home could have been saved if we had been a little better. More would be saved, at least, absolutely." Varnae continues while looking at the sky
"Get to the point so I can refuse."
Varnae looks at him and finally says
"Why don't we join hands, Eidolon?" Varnae words shock everyone, but Eidolon "Together, we can reshape the world, advance it millennia, and get rid of humanity's weakness… This way, the world will survive the next disaster and the many yet to come." He speaks passionately
"..." The people watch in silence
"Is that your big plan? Let me guess… You are trying to make everyone a vampire." Eidolon doesn't show what he thinks of this proposal on his face
"That's the original plan, yes. Everyone will become strong, fast, unaging… that is the next step in evolution! That will bring equality! No more disadvantages thrown by fate, gods, and the universe at unlucky individuals! Things will be fair!"
"I heard that 'next step of evolution' part before." Eidolon comments with some amusement
"I never went forward with this plan because the fatal weakness of vampires would condemn all humanity to hide during the day, but now the solution is at my hands."
Eidolon releases a low chuckle hearing that, but doesn't interrupt.
"The world will progress much faster when someone strong takes the reins of control, the whole population finally united in something that transcends all barriers!" Varnae continues to give his speech
"Hm, hm." Eidolon nods in understanding
"Instead of getting locked in this endless battle tonight, why don't we put our strength into this plan?" Varnae speaks to Eidolon "Join me, Eidolon. A true hero should do everything in his power to keep his people safe."
"Is that what you told Vlad Tepes before you sent him to impale all those people and become a vampire?" Eidolon asks with a small laugh
"..." Varnae's face gives that Eidolon must be, at least, half right.
"But I guess you have a point…" Eidolon eventually says to everyone's surprise "If we look at the vast universe, the crushing majority of the powerhouse species adopted a centralized power system… Dictatorships, Autocracies, Oligarchies, and the most successful are the Absolute Monarchies. Curiously, they always reach this political system before breaking the barriers of space travel. It is almost like reaching this point, the whole world really needs to unite." He speaks while caressing his chin
"..." The people watch with strange and even worrying faces, seeing him agree with this.
With the exception of the ones, who truly know Eidolon.
"Yes! I knew you could see my point!" Varnae smiles "Democracy is stupid, and I don't know how it reached the point that it is today. How could everyone have the same voting power? Is a stupid low-IQ person's opinion and a well-educated person's opinion worth the same? An evil person and a good person vote annulling each other? Ridiculous! The ones holding power should be the ones capable of using it properly. I can understand how democracy arose in response to bad rulers, but in an immortal empire, Democracy becomes obsolete!"
"Well, you more or less have a point… Every system gets corrupted at some point. It is through cycling that we kept going." Eidolon admits
"And there will be no need for more cycling. No more fall and rise of empires, if we make an immortal empire!!" At this point, Varnae is super animated
"Yeah, yeah… My workload would drop considerably with that." Eidolon nods many times "... But I refuse!" Eidolon goes from agreeing with him to immediate stone face rejection.
"What?" Even Varnae is a little shocked and surprised by the sudden change
"One of the things that I, Eidolon, like the most is to find someone who thinks they are hot shit and say 'no' right to their faces." 'Yay, perfectly used reference!' He is even posing a little with his hands on his waist.
"..."
"Pffft!" The first to break was Shego, immediately followed by Harley
"Hahahaha!" The clown woman threw her head back to facepalm "That is so him!"
"Not gonna lie, I am a little worried that the guy would accept." Stark comments "I was almost calling for my armor." He says in a joking tone
"Eidolon is not that type of man." Susan defends the hero
"I know… but you have to admit that the villain's speech is a little convincing." Tony turns his palm upwards while shrugging
"He is an old fella, he must have some charisma and a lot of practise in manipulation." Natasha gives her opinion.
While Eidolon is posing slightly with a stony face, Varnae frowns angrily.
"Are you gonna stubbornly cling to some misguided mission instead of seeking a definitive solution?" Varnae still tries to talk calmly
"Hmpf, you can stop now. I already made my joke." Eidolon scoffs "Your little tricks won't work on me, I already see through you…"
"..."
"I can spend all night tearing apart your words, but I will be brief." Eidolon points "Let's suppose that you succeed, what about the blood that vampires drink? From what I know, you guys don't feed on each other, and don't even start with 'from now on we are gonna feed on animals'. Please, you had five centuries since Dracula to try to work on that, it is not gonna change when vampires get in power."
"..." Varnae narrows his eyes before talking "I admit that something will look bad when spoken loudly…"
While he is saying that, Eidolon is looking at the camera over his shoulder and gesturing at him with his thumb. The cheeky frown of his eyebrows is like he is saying: 'Get a load of this guy'.
"With our power, we could very well force all vampires to never feed on humans, not that there will be more humans to feed… But that would cause discontent between the vampires if they only feed on animals, and I have the solution to that…"
"Here we go…" Eidolon once again points at him with his thumb while looking at the camera
"There are humans that would not be worthy of existing in the new world we create, undeserving of ascending…"
"Let me guess… Instead of genocide… a human farm?" Eidolon's eyes and tone are fully mocking
But Varnae ignores him "I said that it would look bad just by speaking it loudly. As a hero, you must be in constant contact with the evil and stupidity of humanity. Imagine how good the world would be if the lowest of humanity were gone. The bottom of the barrel that drags humanity down." He argues
Eidolon chuckles "I prefer to put them in jail, but tell me, how many people would be in this 'farm'?" He seems to humor the villain
"Half of humanity."
Eidolon holds back a laugh at the answer while the people watching gasp.
"I mean, logistically it makes sense… In this case, humanity should decrease a little because vampires are immortal." Eidolon's tone is laced with sarcasm. The ones who know him can guess that it is to mask some anger bubbling inside him. "But that is not the bottom of the barrel. Half of humanity is not evil… even guessing exaggeratedly, the number shouldn't be 10%, and from those, just a small number would even deserve such harsh punishment. And I have property to say that, I literally counted… Everyone can do evil, but just a small fraction of humanity is truly evil."
"..."
"And let's be honest, stop with your bullshit, your main goal is not progressing humanity or saving the world… You just want to save yourself and rule the rest of the world in the meantime." Eidolon's tone is condescending
"..."
"The truth is that you are evil, Varnae. Don't try to sell your methods as questionable actions for the 'Greater Good'. You are doing all of this for yourself and nothing else. You would not even be talking with me if I weren't stronger than you."
"Don't think that I showed everything-"
Eidolon interrupts. "There is also that blatant lie about equality… please, the vampire hierarchy system disproves you immediately. Again, you just want to be above everyone else, followed by some elites, then other vampires that you will not bother to look in the face, and then the humans that you will treat like cattle." Eidolon draws a triangle in the air and cuts it to create a social pyramid."
The light drawing floats in front of him, his index finger finishing it.
"That is not what I do, Varnae, and not how it works." Eidolon puts the tip of his index finger on the top of the pyramid. "The few people that holds power shouldn't stay on the top oppressing the rest, they should be below supporting everyone." He moves his finger in a clockwise movement, making the pyramid spin till is upside down
"Nonsense! What childish outlook on how the world works! The strong serving the weak?! Preposterous!" Varnae snarls "From a look, I could tell that you put a lot of effort into acquiring your strength! Like me! Our hard work should in the end profit others?? You talk like you don't know human nature; those ungrateful and foolish creatures will never appreciate what you do! The strong should rule, and that will be enough incentive to the others to try to rise in the ranks."
"..." Eidolon stares at him calmly through half-lidded eyes. "Have you never been weak, Varnae?" Eidolon asks with genuine interest in his voice
"..." The Original Vampire pauses
"It has been so long that you forgot that you were once human? In 'human' I mean a mortal with emotions and all that… I know that you are a Gigantopithecus. I, more or less, consider your race human in some way. The same with the Atlanteans and similar…" Eidolon interrupts himself to explain "But tell me, have you forgotten that you were once a weak human?"
"Hmp! Don't try to stimulate my empathy. I was weak, and I am not anymore. I did what every weak person should do: get stronger. Till there, they should obey the strong ones."
"And you are never once protected when you are weak? Never once?" Eidolon continues to ask with genuine curiosity.
"..." He knows that is a rhetorical question. Few living beings never need protection. Almost any race born naturally needs some protection in the early stages of their lives.
Knowing that Varnae is too prideful to even admit this fact, Eidolon smiles under his mask and continues without pressing for an answer.
"Even I needed others to protect me. Many individuals protected this very planet where I was born before I even dreamed of existing. Who knows what would be of me and everyone else if they decided not to do it?" Eidolon opens his arms.
"And of course I was once personally protected too." Eidolon gestures to himself by pressing his hand lightly on his chest. "Even I, Eidolon, this being standing before you, who looks so strong, was once just a defenseless small creature protected by my parents. My late mother, a woman infinitely weaker than me carried me for months in her body and held me for many more. And only because of her that I exist and I am here at this very moment."
"..." Varnae feels Eidolon gaze, almost making he taking a step back.
The hero's gaze is accusatory. Like he is saying 'Aren't you the same?' and Varnae can't deny the truth under Eidolon's scrutiny.
"And you know why she did that?"
"...the species survival. It is instinct to pass the genes forward." Varnae answers automatically, without even thinking much before saying.
"..." Eidolon's gaze changed from accusatory to something akin to… pity. "You really forgot what it means to be human?" His tone now carries a sad sigh "I know that humans are animals, but we are also much more than that. This reductive speech that we just eat, fuck, and kill doesn't hold."
"..." Varnae doesn't like that. When was the last time someone looked down on him like this? And it happened multiple times this night.
"...c'mon, are you really gonna let me say that?" Eidolon scratches his cheek. Is he embarrassed? "It is cheesy… but… Haah~" Eidolon sighs, finally focusing again and staring Varnae straight in the eyes and speaking as seriously as he can. "It is love."
"....."
The word that would probably create a loss of expectation and make at least one person burst out laughing in this situation was spoken in such a way that no one dared to crack a joke.
No, it is not like they didn't dare; it didn't even cross their minds at that moment. Not even Tony, Harley, or Varnae.
The conviction, the serenity, the pure eyes… Everything on Eidolon formed a spell that made the word resonate in all the humans listening.
"My mother did all that because of her unconditional love for me. When I was weak, when I couldn't give anything back… That is what love is, you can disagree and say that I am foolish, but love is caring for someone irrationally, without waiting for a reward. It is giving and giving… sometimes hurts, more than what is fair, but no one dares to say that love is easy either. And that is what humans do best, Varnae, you sadly forgot that, and many humans are the same, but deep down, we care about each other. That is why love is attacked daily by people like you, that wants to throw our good nature under piles of negativity, hate, and prejudice. Being kind and loving each other is not cringe, lame, or make us weak…" Eidolon says. "I think it's pretty cool."
Each word stronger than the previous one, his voice reverberated through the area even without him shouting.
Then, he smiles lightly and speaks much more softly.
"And I love humans…" He confesses from the bottom of his heart.
This cynical guy, who in the beginning thought objectively about the pros and cons of being a hero, who always has some agenda, working in the shadows… At some point, he genuinely started enjoying being a hero.
Even when complaining, even when it's hard… His myriad logical reasons for donning the cape… for survival, to protect his peace… It all lost space for the simplest reason.
He loves it.
Eidolon chuckles in a carefree way. "So you can give me a thousand reasons, Varnae. I will not change my mind. Every day I already argue with myself a thousand times too, and every day I continue doing what I do… Every argument loses to this simple and irrational one… I love this planet, and I love humans."
"..." Varnae can't say anything more…
This goes beyond arguing with an idiot. He wouldn't dare call Eidolon an idiot either. He can see in the hero's eyes, the determination and unshakeable will…
He saw that many times in exceptional individuals in the past, but nothing like this one.
This guy can't be turned to his side. It is impossible. He could spend years trying to break him, and he would crack; it would not be words that would do the trick.
"I also love you, Eidolon." Darcy says, emotionally, wiping a tear.
Her words break the spell of his charismatic speech, making the people around chuckle.
"He has a way with his words." Natasha smiles
"Sincerity is very endearing in this day and age." Susan adds
"If was not at least this much charismatic, we wouldn't be here…" Helena says while looking at the screen.
"Hulk touched." Even the Hulk exclaims
"I know, big guy, we all love you." Tony pats the green giant on the shoulder, making him smile.
"This also connects with what we talked about the political system. I am really not against a change on it, I am not a Defender of the Status Quo, I am a Protector of Humanity." Eidolon states in a more practical tone "Unfortunately, protecting the status quo from people like you IS protecting humanity. And the reason is what I just said."
Eidolon points at Varnae "You, Magneto, Doom, and all other villains who want to take over the world… don't love humans."
"..." Varnae narrow his eyes "And you should be the one that takes over."
"Me?" Eidolon laughs and scoffs at the same time "If I wanted, I would have already done it." No one can disagree with that. "No, no… I am not worthy. I am just the final obstacle against everyone with the objective to take over the world, the last hurdle. I will not accept anyone who is less capable than I and loves humans less than I. You are literally the stereotypical villain that wants to reshape the world in their distorted imagination. Magneto hates most of humanity and Doom… is Doom. Such a narcissistic dude that taking over the dude and improving people's lives would just be a consequence of an ego trip, after all, he would not accept being a bad ruler." Eidolon shrugs at the end "Our conflict is inevitable if he really tries to overstep beyond Latveria, so I hope he stops being a petty guy and chills out." he comments
"Doom? Not petty? Fat chance! haha!" Ben laughs
"Oh, look, a declaration of war against ridiculous armor guy." Tony say sarcartically
"Now that is a fight I want to see." Wonder Man smiles
"No, we don't." Susan interjects "It would be for the better that those two never fight."
"Relax~, Eidolon would destroy the guy." Darcy says with conviction.
"Absolutely."
"Yeah."
"I am also putting my money on Eidolon."
"Murasaki once said that if 'it's a one-against-one, always bet on Eidolon'." Helena says. Saeko got that after Hector defeated Kaido in the One Piece world.
On the screen, a long silence stretches between the combatants. It was broken when Eidolon gave a small laugh and stretched his waist a little.
"This is always interesting, you know?" Eidolon gestures between him and Varnae. "I started to enjoy this talk that I have with my opponents, so I got the habit of listening to their words. It is more than about respect… We are already enemies, so there is no need to pretend, so we can be honest with each other, have a heart-to-heart."
"It happens a lot…" Varnae replies with a casual gesture "Better a loyal enemy than a fake friend… I remember hearing that in the past."
"Haha, true. So… now that I listened to you and rejected your proposal, it is time for my counteroffer, Varnae." Eidolon stares at him meaningfully
"...say it."
"Surrender." Eidolon's voice drops. It is a drastic change from the casual, and even warm tone, he was using before. "Allow me to hold you under my custody. In the future, when I achieve coexistence between humans and monsters, I will release you under some restrictions. But at that point, there will already be a cure to the sunlight weakness… You will not take over the world, but you accomplish your objective of transcending your limitations."
It is… a reasonable proposal. Varnae is in trouble, but if he stays out of the game for too long, his influence will disappear on the monsters, and even when he is released, he will be under Eidolon's thumb.
The hero will not need to kill him to make him harmless.
But that angers Varnae so much that veins start popping under his skin.
"You think you can treat me like any of your criminals that you throw in the prisons??" Varnae snarls, his body growing in size with his anger, like he is the Hulk. "Do you think it will be easy? Not even the Great Cataclysm can bring me down! It will not be a brat behind his ears that will accomplish it!"
"You don't even know my age…" Eidolon comments lightly
"Then so be it, Eidolon! Let's solve this in the ancient way that survived till the present… The right way! With strength!!!"
"At least I tried talking…" Eidolon replies casually, but he is also getting ready for the next round. He joins his hands and recreates his light sword.
"You can't kill me, Eidolon. I am immortal and everlasting! I didn't spend so many years doing nothing; I can deal with sunlight by simply getting rid of my flesh touched by it! You refused my goodwill, so now we are gonna get stuck in this eternal battle till one of us gives up! And I am much older and patient than you!" Varnae continues to grow till he is ten meters tall.
"I know that being deceitful is a valid battle strategy, but what happened about being honest? Stop lying, you are not everlasting." Eidolon scoffs "Yes, you can regenerate your flesh from the biomass collected in you, admittedly very strong, soul, but different from a certain someone that I fought in the past, you don't have Outer Gods constantly sustaining you with their power. Both the biomass that you accumulated and your Soul Power are finite. I just need to continue attacking you, and you will eventually run out of them. In gaming terms, it is like a Boss's health bar." Eidolon explains calmly how he is gonna defeat Varnae, he All Seeing Eyes of God, activating to gaze deeper into the opponent's soul. "You can keep going on without loss of your fighting power, but there is no way you can keep it forever as you claim." He just needs to weaken Varnae's soul enough that he can't escape like before.
Varnae is momentarily surprised that Eidolon figured that out, but he recovered quickly. "Then you can try!!" He shouts and slams his hands on the ground
'Heh, avoiding from using magic circles or hiding them so that I don't destroy them… he is really not dumb.' Eidolon thinks as he jumps to dodge.
From the ground, incredibly sharp stakes rise, trying to impale him.
In the air, Eidolon makes a leg sweep so strong that it generates enough air pressure to destabilize Varnae, and at the same time, dashing at the vampire.
Varnae recovered fast, crossing his arms in front of him to brace for the wind pressure before opening them with a roar.
The roar may also be a chat, because he immediately started charging a perfect ball of fire in his mouth.
'He really stopped with the magic circles.' Eidolon readies his light sword; he doesn't intend to dodge.
Fwoosh
Varnae shoots an enormous ball of concentrated fire, five meters in diameter. At last, the explosion when this touches any surface will be gigantic.
Eidolon fearlessly swings his blade, though, a vertical cut is all he needs…
Swish
…and the ball of fire is divided perfectly in two halves, passing through him harmlessly till it hits a building behind and creates an enormous explosion.
BOOOM BOOOM
But at that point, Eidolon is already on Varnae and faster than the Original Vampire can react, Eidolon swings again, and again, and again, and again…
Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish
He swings so fast that his slashes create a net of light and cut Varnae into little pieces.
Boom
And he even uses his other hand to release a burst of shockwave with Air Cannon, dispersing Varnae's body in multiple directions.
Of course, that is not enough to deal with Varnae.
The searing pieces of his body shed the burning parts and then start joining back before forming Varnae's body again.
"Heh~" Despite looking like his efforts are in vain, Eidolon laughs and attacks again.
What happens next is a very fast-paced and crazy display of abilities from both parties. The two combatants fighting through the fortress is like a scene from the greatest action movie ever.
"How can I say this… That Varnae is a monster, but Eidolon makes he looks weak…" Jane Foster comments to Thor "Am I wrong?"
"You are not wrong… Varnae is strong, but my friend Eidolon has an overwhelming fighting style. It is about rhythm, tempo…"
"Is it a fight or a dance?" Darcy jokes
"The two have more in common than most would think." Thor laughs and says wisely
On the screen, they see Varnae summoning some beasts to hinder Eidolon, but the hero doesn't even pause… He freezes them and swipes with a laser from his eyes, not losing a second of momentum.
"It looks like Eidolon is enjoying himself a little." Natasha comments while seeing Eidolon literally grab the head of the wraith summoned by Varnae and throw it back at the vampire, and doing the same with the rest of the wraiths, so fast that he looks like a Gatling gun. The cloud of wraiths becomes his weapon.
"Of course! Eidolon knows the pleasures of a good fight!" Thor says with a big smile.
"Sorry to disappoint, dude, but he doesn't really like fighting." Shego gives Thor a look
"Yep, that is why 95% of his battles he ends quickly." Helena adds
Thor looks confused; that is not the image he has of Eidolon.
"You are confusing things, big guy." Harley shakes her head "He doesn't like fighting per se, but he likes playing with his powers… And fighting is the best way to use and test them. So when there is a battle that will last more than expected, he enjoys himself a little."
"If you pay attention, you will notice that he barely repeats powers." Pamela comments while looking at the screen and seeing Eidolon pull Varnae to him before making an explosion with his palm. "But maybe he does that to keep himself unpredictable too…" She is the one who knows him the least between the four, but even her catch that while watching.
"He is like one of those nerds who plays game cards." Shego smiles fondly. "It is not enough to have the powers in his collection; he wants to try them too."
"I think he also takes the opportunity to test the efficiency of his powers in battle. For the future, you know?" Helena suggests "It also keeps him sharp."
"I mean, he could have spammed nukes on the guy and be done with it." Harley says
"You women don't understand." Thor is not all convinced "But I also can't explain with words either. It is something only warriors feel during battle or a duel. An invisible contract… But I also understand what you are saying, after all, battle is to test your abilities and emerge as the better. So it's natural that he uses it to improve himself."
"That he does a lot… Almost like proving that anything the enemy can do, he can do better." Shego nods.
And on the screen, an example of that is shown.
Varnae controls his biomass and makes his arm extend and enlarge to punch Eidolon.
But it never reached the hero. Raising his left hand, he made the air around elastic and stopped the giant fist just centimeters away from him.
Thwack
On the other hand, Varnae was suddenly punched in the face by Eidolon's right hand.
The camera reveals that Eidolon stretched his arm like rubber and made it go around the fortress discreetly to deliver that punch, which is so strong that it broke Varnae's teeth.
The thing is, Eidolon didn't repeat his use of the portal from earlier, choosing to stretch his arm instead. His plan was revealed on the next instant… After his fist passed Varnae's face, it started retracting back, but his fingers grabbed the inside of his opponent's jaw, and he pulled Varnae with him.
Crash Crack Bam Crack Whoosh Crash Crash
It seems Eidolon purposefully made his arm stretch and go through narrow and difficult paths so that he could hurt Varnae as he dragged him to him.
When Varnae is finally on him, Eidolon spins his stretched arm really fast and throws the vampire into the ground with enough strength to create a huge crater.
Boom
And then he enlarges his own fist and punches down so strongly that it makes Varnae's body turn into a bloody pancake.
BOOOM
"He literally used a similar, but better attack just to show off his superiority." Tony shakes his head with a smile "I would do the same."
"If the guy will take some time to kill, he could at least play a little." Helena laughs "But don't be fooled by that, he looks playful but always takes things seriously… Cortana, is the perimeter safe?" She asks
"Since the beginning… No one enters and no one leaves." The AI makes another scream appear, showing a 3D schematic of a giant dome surrounding the area.
"See? He got everyone in checkmate from the beginning." Helena points out. "He could even try some big moves…"
"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?" Eidolon's voice attracts their attention.
Zwwoooom Boom
"Like, right now." Helena deadpans
They are not seeing anything; the screen becomes completely white for a long time.
"He didn't actually attack at the speed of light, right?" Reed asks nervously
"..." The girls from SCP look at him with dead eyes
"When there are no innocent people around, he doesn't need to hold back." Shego says with a somber voice
"Thor, I am starting to think that Eidolon is really stronger than you." Darcy throws a jab at the God of Thunder
"Please, I can do the same…" Thor rolls his eyes
"But the destruction would be catastrophic if he really-" Reed continues to argue.
"Don't worry." Cortana interrupts him "Master didn't really cross the threshold of speed of light; he also used diverse powers to contain the explosion in a small place simultaneously. And also calculated how much of his body portion he must turn into light to decrease the weight of the attack, minimizing the destruction."
"I see…" Tony nods "Wait, turn into light?"
No one answers the question because the screen slowly goes back to normal. It shows a devastated part of the fortress; it basically becomes a desert.
Eidolon floats in the air, looking down on Varnae, which literally regenerated from a small ball of blood.
"That is also ridiculous. The guy came back from nothing." Johnny complains "So even if I burned him to cinders, he would return?"
"Probably yes."
"Eidolon should throw him in the sun." Ben suggests.
Different from them, Eidolon shows a pleased face while staring at Varnae with his All Seeing Eyes of God.
"I can see it, Varnae~" He says with a slightly mocking tone "I can see the end of your soul power and biomass… Are you getting tired?"
"..." Varnae looks up with a scowl
Eidolon doesn't need an answer. He joins his hands and rains a storm of light bullets at Varnae. The wide range of attacks means to exhaust the Original vampire even more.
"Argh!" Varnae grits his teeth after receiving some attacks, but then he shapeshifts into a snake version of his body and starts slithering away to dodge the rain of light, zig-zagging with his long body.
He is not even trying to get around to fight Eidolon; he is really getting away from the hero.
"Did he give up?" Clint asks
"Took him long enough?" Jennifer laughs
High in the air, Eidolon narrow his eyes at Varnae for a second before showing an amused expression.
He doesn't hurry to interrupt Varnae; he slowly follows, knowing exactly what Varnae is aiming for and ready to destroy it in front of him.
With a change of screen to show the view from the, people saw what Varnae is doing.
"He is going to that giant hole he opened before." Natasha says
"It is from there that he got the many bodies to reform his own." Steve remembers them
Varnae's body returns to its original form, and he flies fast to the hole.
"I will show you what it means to be immortal, Eidolon." He shouts as he jumps inside.
Eidolon laughs and raises his left hand, palm downwards. 'Sorry, no Final Form for you.'
"Room…" He made a giant dome around them so fast that most people missed it.
Then he silently exchanged places with Varnae.
"!!!" Everyone is surprised by the sudden development, but Varnae is obviously the most shocked.
The camera accompanied Eidolon to an incredibly dark place. The hero is nice enough to make some motes of light to illuminate him, but that is not enough. Everywhere around is as dark as it can get.
But there are countless red dots deep down in the abyss, stretching till where the camera can get them.
Eidolon allows himself to slowly fall to explore this dark space. He already discovered it before, and if he needed to describe it, this place under the fortress looks like the tomb where Merum and Netero fought in HunterxHunter.
It is ample and very wide, with huge pillars supporting it. It goes very deep too, it is below the dungeons of the fortress.
"Roughly 110 million ghouls, thralls, and lower-level vampires are crammed here. No consciousness, it seems… only puppets." Eidolon comments.
His words surprise the watchers.
"Wait… so those red dots…"
"Eyes…" Eidolon answers, and he starts illuminating the place a little with his body. "This is how he would do his little Vampire Apocalypse plan. It seems I forced him to use them in a fusion… good thing I stopped him, it would become even more bothersome."
"This is more than the population of some big countries." Janet is horrified.
"If this much was released… in one night, Europe would fall." Steve says, worried.
"So the world is just at the brink of ending if this guy decides to release those monsters?"
"The world is always on the brink of ending…" Eidolon answers while he continues to fall.
The thralls, or noticed him, are ordered to attack. All red eyes locked on Eidolon eerily before they move like a swarm.
"But it will not end… do you know why?" Eidolon joins hands, not like a prayer, but one horizontally and the other vertically to encroach on each other. "Because I am here."
When he slowly starts separating his hands, an even brighter light is emitted from between his fingers, surprisingly revealing a small sun.
"!!!!!!!" To say that the jaw of the people watching hit the floor would be the understatement of the century.
Eidolon is using the powers of the Father of Fullmetal Alchemist to create a miniature sun, and many other powers to keep it under control. He is even throwing Hamon on it, just in case there is some magical law that makes the sun of this universe affect vampires and not an artificial one.
The sun grows the more Eidolon's hands move away from it, the whole place getting brighter and brighter, finally revealing how packed it is. But then all the monsters jumping on him start burning.
When it finally reached the size of a beach ball, Eidolon let it go, and this small sun floats. It passively started burning every monster down there
"But it is taking too long, and Varnae is outside banging on the barrier I created." Eidolon comments offhandedly, "It will be messy, but let's be done with that."
He points two fingers down, and the sun suddenly drops like a meteor on the ground.
Fwoosh BOOOOOM Bzzzt
The screens became fully white again, and the sound was so loud that the audio was cut.
Luckily, Cortana is a good cameraman, and she prepared some cameras far away.
The screen changes perspective to show a view of the whole fortress, and people can watch the exact moment the place suddenly disappears inside a pillar of light.
Not only that, the whole mountain range trembles, the earth moving up and down like waves, and giant cracks appearing all over the place, they are dozens of kilometers long and many meters wide. From them, light also starts escaping, illuminating the area so much that it even looks like day has already come.
"Thor…" Darcy turns to Thor with a consoling face "Yeah… Eidolon is stronger than you, buddy."
"I can also do that!" Thor will not give up on that.
"Can you create a fucking sun???"
"My Mjolnir is as strong." Thor argues
"I say to him to throw the guy at the Sun, and not throw a sun at the guy." Ben jokes
"I am not a genius scientist, but a sun of that size would have fucked us?" Jennifer turns to the brains of the group
"He can obviously control the output so that the heat or radiation would not spread. Restricting to the designated area." Cortana explains to calm them down
"That is what I am thinking, if Eidolon does not fight in a populated area, the guy can do that." Darcy speaks "Yeah, Thor… Sorry, but I will put my money on him now.
"Ridiculous, I will throw my Mjolnir at the moon, you all will understand my power." He says in a tone that the people around doesn't know if he is joking or serious.
"Please don't."
"Guys, check that out." Rhodes points to the glass wall.
When everyone looks, they can see how the night sky becomes a little brighter on the horizon, gazing at a weak tone of purple, like the dawn is coming.
"Crazy~" Janet whistles
On the screen, the destruction finally stops; it is very sudden, and the screen shows the destroyed fortress, a giant hole in the middle.
It would look worse, probably, but the whole place is already restoring itself, like it's turning back on time.
"This power of his is so convenient." Tony says with light envy. The people know that it is Eidolon that is doing that.
"Well, he said that he would try to keep the place as a historical monument or something." Jennifer reminds them.
"Here he is."
Eidolon finally appears on the screen, he is floating above the rapidly closing hole with his arms crossed. Around him, Selene, Blade, and the Moon Knight are floating in the air inside giant force fields made of hexagons, protected.
He is looking down on the ground that is already restored, Varnae also slowly regenerated back to his peak.
When the buildings come back, he drops the trio on a rooftop, but when he stays in place, the building continues to be restored, revealing that there is a pointy tower just beneath him, and it ends at the perfect height where the tip of his foot is, so he can stand on it without moving a millimeter.
"That is cool." Darcy comments
"He is absolutely doing that on purpose!" Jennifer laughs.
"He calculates where it would restore and stay in place just to look cool." Natasha also laughs with a shake of her head.
"It is a cute childish side." Susan smiles
Harley also laughs, but she has to defend her man. "He probably is doing it for the kids."
"What?"
"I mean, he is naturally and effortlessly cool… but sometimes he puts some extra sauce on it to make a show to his fans." Harley explains, "This video is probably gonna hit the internet, right?"
"He also makes the villains look bad through mockery." Shego points out
"Heroism is cool, villainy is lame… That is the message he wants to pass to the kids watching." Helena says
"That Varnae fella is looking pretty lame." Natasha has to agree
On the screen, Varnae has an incredibly ugly face, sweating bullets even though his face. In the meantime, Eidolon is looking down at him cold and collected. It is clear even to a child which side is the winner.
"Aberration!" Varnae shouts angrily, and an orange-red area envelops him.
Varnae lunges at Eidolon with his arms wide open. He releases energy blasts in all directions, but they all converge at the hero. Eidolon slaps them away casually and blocks Varnae's physical attack. The vampire is in his last legs, it seems.
But when Eidolon was readying his counter-attack, Varnae does something surprising, he turns his head at Selene and spits something at her.
"...?!" Eidolon has a foreboding feeling about that attack.
He immediately tries to throw it out of trajectory with telekinesis, but to his surprise, it continues forward unchanged.
His senses sharpen, and he can see that it looks like an object, a ritualist knife with an ondulating blade. There is strong and ancient magic on that item.
He makes a barrier… Crack and the knife goes through it. At that point, he felt that even if he opened a portal, the knife would ignore it somehow.
"!" He doesn't think twice, deciding to use the strongest thing he has to stop it… His own body.
He appears in front of Selene and slaps the knife away, making it bounce on his hand, finally stopping it. and it even disperses in a dark smoke.
It looks like he has dealt with it, but Varnae smiles evilly.
"I see…" Eidolon speaks while looking at his own hand.
Buchi
Then his eyes start bleeding profusely.
"!!!"
On the Abnvegers Tower, the people watch with horror as Eidolon's body starts changing. The veins under his skin start appearing, blackening, and sickly.
"KAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Varnae rejoices. He finally got the upper hand in the hero, "Do you like it, Eidolon? It is an ancient item made from an ancient sea serpent, so old that the name of the species is forgotten."
Eidolon's skin becomes ghastly pale, his eyes bloodshot, while blood leaks from the holes in his head.
"You must be in unbelievable pain right now. It is a venom that spreads fast through your blood, corroding everything your blood touches, because it turns your blood into the venom. In a minute, you will become a skin sack of venom! Hahaha!"
Eidolon looks bad, even holding his knees.
"I am surprised that you're not screaming in agony, but your end will be the same, even if honorable." Varnae smiles while looking down on Eidolon "You looked so invincible, but you have a fatal weakness… You are a hero." The Original Vampire savors those words as he speaks them, mocking Eidolon. He targeted Selene while aiming for Eidolon.
Almost everyone is watching with bated breath, shocked to see Eidolon in that state, everyone but the people who really know him. They are not worried… just a little pissed.
Buchi
Suddenly, a lot of blood burst out from Eidolon, so suddenly that the people watching jumped in flight, some women screaming in terror, not daring to think what happened to the hero.
"Aah, stop with hysteria!" Shego admonishes them with annoyance "As if he is gonna die to that. Geez~" She huffs in the end.
Her words and the fact that she doesn't look worried, made even the people who turned their gaze away look back at the screen.
Eidolon is still covered in disgusting blood, his body very thin, but he is still standing.
"Always nice to find something where I can improve." His voice cuts Varnae's laugh, and Eidolon slowly starts to straighten himself.
The camera angle shows the muscles on his back and triceps growing as he goes back to his peak muscled form, replenishing his blood, while the discarded blood around him evaporates.
"What?!" Varnae mouth drops
"That venom is new, but now I am immune to it, too. Thanks for the free sample." Even under the mask is possible to see that he is smiling widely.
"You… You… How did you survive?!?"
"I just switched the blood in my whole body… I have a power that does that. It can even change the blood type." Eidolon is nice enough to explain. "Didn't you say that it targets my blood? Easy to solve then."
What he didn't say is that he only suffered that much because he was letting his Sky Poison Pearl understand the poison.
As an item bound to a specific universe and its rules, the Sky Poison Pearl's "absolute" power only really works in the Against the Gods universe. It can cure every poison and venom registered in its "database". After all, it was an item born with the universe itself.
Now, outside of its home universe, it can still cure weak and even similar poisons found there, but strong ones it needs some time. Especially if it is magical, born from a completely different power system.
Varnae's trump card is not weak by any means, and Eidolon's body is still pretty much human. The magical properties of the dagger are even strong enough to bypass his almost impermeable skin.
It probably just needed contact with his aura or something, which is what Hector believes after deflecting it carefully and still getting poisoned. A sure hit item that would not stop till it accomplished its purpose of poisoning someone.
It was a one-use only, to balance it.
"Nice try." Eidolon gives him a thumbs-up. "But…" His tone gets colder "... I don't mind using underhanded tactics against me, but I also don't like that you're targeting my cute subordinate."
Eidolon pats his own chest, and a red semi-transparent ball leaves his body
"Here, take the pain back." He pushes the ball at Varnae; it looks slow, but the Original Vampire has no time to dodge.
"Aaaargh!" Her immediately falls on the ground "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaggggggghhhh!"
"..." Eidolon watches him contorting and wiggling like a worm with ice-cold eyes.
"What is that?" Susan asks a little uncomfortably.
"I have a power that allows me to repel things like the pain experienced by someone from their body… I am just giving back the experience he bestowed upon me." Eidolon answers like it's no big deal
"AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" From Varnae's reaction, people can finally understand that Eidolon just has a very high tolerance to pain.
It is a poison that uses the blood as a transport to affect everywhere in the body. Everywhere. Tendons, nerves, veins, bones, organs… Every highly sensitive part of the body was targeted.
"Like your blood turned into acid, right?" Eidolon describes the experience while asking Varnae. "Is that what you want to give to her? Then you should be ready to feel the same."
But Varnae eventually stops screaming and trashing around.
Eidolon only gave him the sensation, not the poison. And even if the experience damaged his body, the Original vampire still has his impressive healing factor.
"Huff Huff Huff" Varnae breathes heavily, soaked in sweat. He is on all fours and looking up at Eidolon again. His rage reached unimaginable heights.
He never hated anyone like this before.
"GO TO HELL!!" He curses
He literally curses him. From his hands, a magical circle grows, covering the ground but especially targeting Eidolon. It is not an attack, there is no aggression behind it, but Eidolon is suddenly bound by red chains that came from the edge of the magic circle, and even before he can react(maybe because he is recovering from the venom or because he doesn't care), he is engulfed in flames and disappears.
"Hahaha!" Varnae laughs again, a little weaker this time "Yes! Go to hell, you bastard! I don't need to kill you, I just need to remove you from my path…"
Unfortunately, Varnae doesn't even have the chance to enjoy the moment.
He suddenly stops laughing, eyes widening before he looks behind him…
A door appeared from nothing.
It is a completely normal red door, with the exception that it is standing without any support.
Blam
The door suddenly bursts open violently, from it blood, entrails, and body parts of things that are absolutely not human flying in all directions. It is also possible to see that the door, despite being attached to nothing, is connected to another place; it is a portal.
It is unclear, but it appears dark and red from the other side.
From all the dismembered body parts, one particular part attracts attention, it is a very generic-looking red demon that lost its lower half. He crawls using only his arms while leaving a big trail of blood from his waist.
"Uuuh… Nghh…" He moans in pain, his face showing panic and despair, his hand reaching for Varnae, maybe to ask for help or to tell him to run.
Tap Tap Tap Tap
Steps can be heard, and it doesn't take much time for Eidolon to walk through the door as if nothing happened. He is holding Devil Arm Nevan on his shoulder.
"Oh, one is still alive…" His eyes landed on the demon crawling away.
He then calmly walks to it and uses Nevan to smash the head of the demon like an insect, taking him out of his misery.
"Demons, right? Such annoying pests… You kill one, and there are a hundred more." He comments with a small smile to Varnae. The door behind him closes and disappears. "Is that another of your trump cards? Throw me in Hell? Sorry, but I have my precautions against BFR."
"BFR?" Hawkeye asks
"BattleField Removal." Helena answers
"Wait, did that guy really send Eidolon to Hell?" Betty Ross asks "And he came back just like that??" She can't hide the surprise in her voice
"Hell is real?" Tony is surprised for another reason
"You… You…" Varnae is also surprised. More than surprised, he is appalled by Eidolon. "How could… How could you simply come back like that?!"
"Because I am prepared." Eidolon shrugs without elaborating too much.
He is using the Hell Devil from the Chainsaw Man world. When he gained the card of that character, he debated with himself whether he should just assimilate it and gain its abilities, but then he remembered the contracts that allow humans to summon and use the abilities of the devils.
And because of the Essence, he will always be the master.
It was not hard to establish an unfair contract. Rather than a deal, it was more like a Master-Slave contract, where Hector gains everything and has to give nothing.
He still gives some blood to the Hell Devil, though; the creature is basically his familiar now.
After establishing the contract, he obviously needs to test his ability and see if they would work here in the Marvel universe.
And yes, the Hell Devil can open doors to Hell, but his limit is till the Third Layer for some reason. Hector theorizes he needs to get familiar with the Hell from here, or at least get stronger.
Anyway, Varnae couldn't send Eidolon too deep into Hell, so he could come back this easily. And while destroying Varnae's spirit even more.
"Prepared? Prepared???? Ridiculous!!" Varnae rages "You are the true monster here! How dare you pass yourself off as a human!" Varnae accuses, even pointing a trembling finger at Eidolon.
"Easy there, pal. You are breaking my fragile human heart…" Eidolon says with faux sadness
"That is what you are!! Claiming to be human, but you are the farthest from that! In truth, you are making a mockery of them!!" Varnae shouts
"..." Eidolon tilts his head.
"How can someone like you even consider himself as the same species as them?? Human? Don't make me laugh…To reach this level of power… I know what you must have done! It is unnatural! Preposterous! You shouldn't exist!!"
"..." Eidolon pauses and stares seriously, almost looking like he is really offended by Varnae's word. But when he holds his chin, he speaks normally "Hmm, I see where your confusion is coming from… I am human because I say so. Nothing more and nothing less."
"..." Varnae was taken back "That is not how it works. Admit it, you are more like me than the people you proclaim to be part of."
Eidolon sighs with a disappointed tone "A pathetic guy like you that thought abandoning your humanity would make you strong, can't criticize me." His tone is like he is admonishing a child
"..."
"Your mistake, Varnae, is associating humanity with weakness." Eidolon adopts a teaching tone "Yes, humans are weak, but they are more than that too. And our weakness is what pushes us forward in growth. You think relinquishing your humanity made your strong? You also gave up on the strength of humans… even though you are a Gigantopithecus, but you get what I mean. It can all be lumped together."
"Bullshit, I only got stronger since I got rid of my mortality!" Varnae says, incensed.
Eidolon shakes his head "Not by much it seems… You accomplished immortality, thinking that it was everything you even wanted, only to become obsessed with walking under the Sun, something you could do before."
"..."
"Varnae, the same things that made you call me a monster and make me look invincible… The sunlight powers, battle proficiency, magic counter, coming back from Hell… All of that is acquired because I am human. I know that I am weak, that I am not perfect and immortal, so I prepared beforehand. That is what humans do in the face of the unreasonable universe, Varnae… We adapt. We learn. We grow. We don't give up and become monsters."
"..."
"I am a Meta-Human with pride… Blessed with my powers, I protected the less fortunate. And I take it every seriously… so seriously that I also become something that you call a monster, but you are wrong. This urge to better myself is very much human-like." Eidolon declares with conviction "The Meta part made me naturally strong, but it is the human side that made me the strongest."
"!!" Varnae is surprised for a moment before he starts gritting his teeth, struggling with something.
This is like saying that the path he took years ago, the path he walked for countless years, the path where he sacrificed so much… is wrong.
He can't accept it. He simply can't.
"Do you have anything else to try?" Eidolon asks, looking larger than life from Varnae's perspective.
His tone shows some pity and respect; he is allowing Varnae one last chance to prove him wrong. For the once human who walked into his own path, defying his fate. He can at least give the guy this much.
"AAaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Varnea releases a roar to the sky and…
Voosh
…flies away.
"..." Eidolon stares at the Original Vampire, escaping with a sad gaze. "So you are just a prideless vermin. I wasted my breath with you." He waves his hand dismissively in Varnae's direction.
"That is not over, Eidolon!!" Varnae shouts while flying away "I will prove you wron-"
Glint
Varnae, who looks over his shoulder, suddenly sees a lot of shining dots…
Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi Buchi
And without time to react, he is suddenly impaled by countless spears of light, bombarded even, so much that he jumped the stage where he became Swiss cheese and went straight to be a bunch of chunks of flesh in the air.
And this is not the end…
The background moves a little, and only after the camera zooms out do the people watching notice that a giant, semi-transparent representation of Eidolon's body is looking down on Varnae.
It only shows from the waist and above, it looks naked, but the face has no features except for the fully white eyes. It is so big that it covers the whole fortress.
A single dislodged eye of Varnae looks at it with terror, but the god-like avatar says nothing. He just…
CLAP
…smashes him with his two hands like an insect.
The attack is so strong that it created a disk-like shockwave that spread vertically, and it was sharp enough to cut through the ground and create a kilometers-wide trench.
"..."
"Seriously, Thor… You are not winning." Darcy deadpans
"Please… the bigger they are, the bigger they fall." Thor is still unconvinced.
The giant avatar slowly shimmers out of existence, and the camera goes back to Eidolon.
The hero is holding a small ball to his eyes.
"And now you are so weak that you can't even escape this containment." He mocks
Inside the ball, there is a red-orange smoke moving around, looking angry.
"If you haven't shown me that you can open portals to Hell, I would have killed you, but then you would probably return, right? Your villains are so inconvenient. I am gonna seal you instead. This is one of those rare cases where not killing is the best solution to a dangerous villain like you." Eidolon says to the ball and then puts it away.
He then turns to the camera and gives a thumbs-up. "Victory."
Everyone clapped in a deadpan tone. They are still too shocked by what this guy has done. Do they even need to celebrate such a one-sided battle?
"I kinda feel bad for Varnae a little…" Someone says
"Maybe I should have told him to end this quickly." Harley shakes her head with regret "It would have been more merciful."
In the end, it was when they finally discovered how ridiculously strong Eidolon really is that they almost felt silly for worrying about him at certain moments.
Eidolon stretches his waist "And that should have been a quick trip. I ended up fighting an ancient dude and stopping an apocalypse."
"Just another night on the hero business." Shego raises a glass to him
"Exactly, and that is a good night… I won." He laughs "A bad one it will be if I lose."
"I don't even want to think about it." Steve Rogers comments with a tired sigh
"Nah, you need to think about it… It makes you lose sleep, and some food tasteless sometimes, but it keeps us alive." Eidolon shrugs, accepting the reality of his life. "So… is the party still going?"
"It has only been 20 minutes or something."
.....
A.N.: Hello There
It has been some time since I wrote a chapter so long, but I guess it is necessary to end an arc. It will not be repeated that easily.
Now, allow me to give you guys some news.
I posted a new story!!!
Go check it out, it is called "Average Omniversal Travel Enjoyer", and it is in this same profile.
If you like reading about a guy jumping from fictional universe to universe, please give it a try.
If you don't find it, it is probably because Webnovel blocks a story when it is recently created, just to check with AI for infringement. Check it out later.
........
If you like this story, consider supporting me in the p.a.t.r.e.o.n... There are chapters ahead.
Here is the Link: (without spaces)
patreon . com / Evans 269
Hope you all enjoyed it, make a comment because interaction motivates me to keep writing. Thanks for reading.
Till next time and stay good y'all.
Bye Bye~