Along the Hudson River, the defenses of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the National Guard stood as solid as an iron bastion.
Armored vehicles, howitzers, and snipers were deployed in layered formation, all aimed toward North Brother's Island.
"Boom—!"
Suddenly, two figures engulfed in hellfire erupted onto the scene—and instantly tore through the supposedly impenetrable line.
Johnny Blaze and Carter Slade, transformed into Ghost Riders, their flaming skulls wreathed in fire and their chains blazing like molten serpents, burst through the defenses like meteors.
"Fire! Stop those monsters!" roared the commander.
But before he could finish his order, Johnny Blaze—Ghost Rider in full fury—swept his chains in a wide arc.
"Sizzle—sizzle—!"
The howitzer twisted and warped in the inferno. Steel plates on the armored vehicles melted like wax, and molten iron splashed onto the scorched earth.
Soldiers scrambled back in terror as the two Ghost Riders strode across the boiling river, flames surging beneath their feet, heading straight for North Brother's Island.
In the distance, Nick Fury stood before the command vehicle, his single eye locked on the monitor screen.
He snatched up the communicator and barked:
"All units, listen up! Launch a saturation strike on North Brother's Island—now! Repeat, immedi—"
"Whoosh—!"
Before his order could reach the front lines, a dark green gale slammed into the riverbank.
The wind howled like a living beast, whipping sand and stone into a frenzy, tearing rifles, artillery pieces, and missile launchers from their mounts and hurling them into the churning waters of the Hudson.
"Plop…"
Soldiers clung desperately to anything fixed, watching helplessly as their gear vanished beneath the turbid waves.
"What the hell?! What's going on?!" Fury slammed his fist against the hood of the vehicle. His already grim expression darkened until only a grimace of teeth remained.
When the storm passed, the battlefield lay in ruins: unarmed troops, disabled vehicles, and silence—broken only by the distant growls of demons.
From the direction of North Brother's Island, dark clouds gathered, swirling with malevolent energy.
Meanwhile, Johnny Blaze and Carter Slade had already reached the island.
Inside the abandoned hospital lobby, Blackheart emerged slowly, his pale face contorted into a cold smile.
"Oh? Two Ghost Riders? Interesting…" He spread his arms wide. "But I'm not alone!"
Behind him loomed hundreds of grotesque hellspawn—some towering nearly three meters tall, their skin cracked like cooling lava. Others bore rotting, fleshy wings that left trails of stench in the air; still others were woven entirely from writhing shadows.
Flanking Blackheart on either side of the hall stood Roxanne and the members of the fiery convoy—frozen like statues, trapped in ice.
"Now," Blackheart hissed, his voice like a blade scraping glass, "hand over the San Venganza Pact—"
But before he could finish—
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Concrete rained down like shrapnel—only to be pulverized into dust midair by an unseen force.
A dark green hurricane ripped through the breach, shrieking as it carved a path through the very air itself.
The dozen or so rock demons surrounding the center of the hall didn't even have time to look up before their bodies were disintegrated by the wind blades.
"Pfft—!"
"Aaaaaah—!"
Like a torrential downpour of razor-sharp wind blades, the attack struck in layers: first peeling away their carapace-like skin, then shredding the muscle fibers into thread-like strands, and finally reducing even their bones to a scarlet mist.
At the eye of the storm, the boy knelt on one knee and plunged the Crescent Moon Needle into the ground with a resounding thud.
"BOOM!!!"
The moment the spear's tip made contact, a ring of compressed air erupted outward, blasting every demon within a thirty-meter radius into oblivion.
As the dust settled, Xiao rose slowly, his amber pupils gleaming like twin cold moons in the dimly lit hall.
"The contract is here. If you want it—come and take it."
With his left hand, he raised a scroll of parchment wreathed in black mist; with his right, he drew a spear and leveled it at Blackheart.
The entire hall fell into a deathly silence.
A Shadow Fiend near the edge of the chamber tried to slip into the shadows and flee unnoticed—but before it could reach the doorway…
"BOOM—!"
A flash of black-and-red light flared, and the demon crumbled into ash without a sound.
Diluc strode into the hall, fiery afterimages trailing in his wake. His dark red hair whipped wildly in the heat, his high ponytail snapping like a battle standard.
The hem of his black-and-red leather trench coat shimmered with golden tracery, licked by hellfire, and the heavy metal buckles on his collar clinked with each determined step.
Blackheart's face twisted in grim determination. His sharp eyes swept over the intruders, and he snarled to the surrounding horde:
"The San Venganza Contract lies right before you—don't you want it?!"
"If we all attack at once, these few can't possibly kill us all! Once they're exhausted, the contract of San Venganza will be ours!"
"BOOM—!"
In an instant, hundreds of demons roared and surged forward like a black tide.
Lava Trolls shattered the floor beneath them, Corrupted Winged Demons dove from above, and Shadow Fiends darted through the darkness to strike from ambush—transforming the abandoned hospital lobby into a slaughterhouse.
"Go back to hell, you demon!"
Johnny Blaze's skull erupted in blazing flames. The chains in his hands lashed out as if alive, carving crimson streaks through the air.
"Whoosh—!"
With a flick of his wrist, the chains coiled around three Winged Demons like monstrous pythons. Hellfire raced along the links, reducing the creatures to ash in seconds.
A Rock Troll swung its massive claw downward—but Johnny Blaze sidestepped with practiced ease.
"Pfft!"
The searing chains coiled, twisted, then ripped outward—tearing the troll's arm clean off in a spray of foul black blood.
Carter Slade's twin pistols spun between his fingers, spitting rounds of crimson hellfire.
"You don't belong here! Go back!"
He squeezed the triggers. The scorching bullets bored through the skulls of two Shadow Fiends with pinpoint accuracy, their heads exploding in purifying fire.
"Yu Yu Yu—!"
His hellish warhorse charged into the enemy ranks, hooves searing demon flesh to cinders.
Diluc moved like a phantom, his Blackrock Slasher blazing in his grip. Black-and-red flames spiraled around the blade, weaving fire and shadow into every cut.
"Kraaak—!"
A hulking flesh-construct swung a massive fist at him—but Diluc sidestepped and brought his blade down in a single fluid motion.
"Pfft—!"
The sharpened edge of the Blackrock Slasher cleaved through the demon's body as though it were butter. Black-and-red flames erupted from the gash, consuming the monster from within.
On the other side, three Shadow Fiends lunged from the darkness. Diluc activated his Elemental Sight and swept his blade in a wide arc.
"Whoosh—!"
"Awooo—!"
Crescent-shaped arcs of fire tore through the air
, slicing all three demons cleanly in half at the waist. Their burning halves collapsed mid-wail, crumbling into ash before they hit the ground.
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