A burst of gunfire struck Professor Wilson's head, but the bullets vanished into him like stones sinking into the sea, leaving not even a scratch.
In the next instant, one of his massive tentacles slammed into Steve's shield, sending him flying backward over ten meters and crashing through a wall.
That single blow made it clear just how terrifyingly strong the mutated Professor Wilson had become.
"Behold," Wilson said with a twisted grin, his voice echoing grotesquely. "The ignorance of mankind—believing that mere weapons can conquer all. True power… always comes from higher dimensions."
One of his tentacles coiled around Ronak's throat and lifted him effortlessly into the air.
Then, with a sickening click, Wilson opened his mouth wide and spat out the deformed, flattened bullets with a metallic clatter onto the floor.
"Ronak, merge with me," he hissed. "This is true power."
The moment the words left his mouth, two tentacles shot toward Lynn and Natasha.
Both moved with lightning speed, rolling to the side to evade them—but dozens more tentacles suddenly whipped out toward the S.H.I.E.L.D. researchers.
Those who couldn't dodge in time were instantly skewered, their screams cut short as the tentacles pierced through their bodies.
Their blood never hit the floor; it was absorbed directly into the writhing limbs.
Then, as Professor Wilson's face twisted into a manic grin, his jaw split unnaturally wide—an inner, insect-like maw emerging from his throat as it lunged to bite off Ronak's head.
Steve's shield shot forward, slicing clean through the brown, worm-like maw that had burst from Professor Wilson's throat.
The severed appendage hit the wall with a wet smack before dropping to the floor and dissolving into a puddle of pus.
Catching his returning shield with practiced precision, Steve squared his stance. "I don't know what kind of high-dimensional power you're talking about," he said firmly, "but Earth will never bow to your threats."
"What stubborn little insects," Wilson sneered, his voice warped and guttural. The corners of his mouth curled into a grotesque smile. "Sometimes, I truly admire your spirit, Steve Rogers. But in the end, you're nothing more than an outdated relic—an artificial product of an era long gone."
"Now," Wilson hissed, his tentacles writhing violently, "let me show you what real power looks like."
Steve took a steady breath, his grip tightening on the shield. "You're right," he said. "I do miss the old days—when there were only two monsters in the world: Red Skull, and me."
With that, Steve charged head-on toward the abomination.
At the same time, Lynn and Natasha split to opposite sides of the laboratory, firing in rhythm to cover him.
Bullets struck Wilson's distorted body, bursts of dark blood splattering across the floor.
Though they hadn't planned it, Lynn and Natasha moved in perfect sync—one distracting, the other striking—without wasting a single breath between them.
Whenever one of them was targeted by a tentacle, the other would immediately land a precise shot on one of Professor Wilson's weak points.
The bullets couldn't kill him, but each impact made his grotesque body jerk and falter.
Combined with Steve's relentless shield strikes, the battle in the lab briefly reached a bizarre rhythm—chaotic, but strangely coordinated.
"Enough! You damned insects!" Wilson's furious roar shook the room. "I carry a sacred mission! I am the one true god of this world!"
With that, all of his tentacles lashed out at once.
The laboratory erupted into a storm of flailing limbs—chaos and carnage intertwined.
Natasha and Steve were both struck and thrown violently against the wall, crashing hard before hitting the floor.
Lynn, relying on his Super Senses, twisted and weaved through the barrage with uncanny precision.
Palm-sized Bone Shields manifested one after another, blocking the fatal blows just before they could land.
"Damn it," Lynn muttered between breaths, narrowly dodging another strike. I really need to upgrade my abilities—right now, I've got no offensive options at all!
Rolling forward to avoid another incoming tentacle, he suddenly remembered something.
Catching Natasha's movement out of the corner of his eye, Lynn shouted, "Natasha! Work with me!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Lynn vaulted into the air, narrowly dodging the deadly sweep of several tentacles.
From inside his trench coat, he pulled out a small glass vial filled with a glowing blue liquid and hurled it straight at Professor Wilson's head.
It was a slow-acting agent—a potion Lynn had concocted using a formula from Mephisto's stolen notes after unlocking his Potion Creation ability.
Whether it worked or not would all come down to this one throw.
The moment Natasha saw the vial flying through the air, she didn't hesitate. She raised her pistol and fired—shattering the glass midair with perfect precision.
She had no idea what that blue liquid was, but at that moment, she chose to trust Lynn completely.
As the potion splattered across Professor Wilson's grotesque head, a hiss of blue vapor rose instantly.
The monster's body froze mid-motion, and the wild frenzy of tentacles suddenly slowed, their movements turning sluggish and uneven.
Seeing this, both Natasha and Steve's eyes widened in shock.
But they knew there was no time to waste.
Without hesitation, Steve charged forward, slamming his shield into Wilson's chest, while Natasha unleashed her Widow's Bite, electric arcs crackling across his body.
The attacks made Wilson roar in pain—but his mutated flesh refused to give way.
"It's not working!" Natasha shouted over the chaos. "We can't kill him!"
Seeing that their attacks weren't working, Natasha shouted urgently, "If Tony were here, maybe Jarvis could pinpoint his weakness!"
The moment those words left her mouth, Ronak—his body now sprouting several writhing tentacles—suddenly staggered to his feet.
"Resonator!" he rasped, his skin peeling away as multiple tooth-lined maws tore open across his body.
Pointing shakily toward the machine, he cried out with the last shred of his sanity, "Destroy the resonator—cut off its energy!"
Hearing him, Lynn and Natasha exchanged a glance and immediately raised their guns, unloading several rounds into the resonator's power source.
Bullets struck home, sparks flying—yet the machine didn't stop.
Instead, a powerful wind began to stir inside the lab, swirling faster and faster until even Lynn's trench coat whipped violently in the air.
"Oh, no…"
A familiar system chime echoed in Lynn's mind—[Harbinger of Death absorption detected]—and he watched the progress bar surge upward once more.
Realizing what was happening, Lynn rushed to Natasha and Steve's side without hesitation.
"Things're only getting worse."
No sooner had he spoken than a purple portal ripped open in the air, and a horned monster stepped through—brown, muscled, wielding a burning great axe.
"Holy—Barmecides, a horned demon from hell, like in Greek myth!" Natasha blurted. "I used to think Norse and Greek myths were just stories, but after seeing Thor and Loki… now a demon."
"Now is not the time for mythology lessons!" Lynn snapped.
At the sight of the demon, Professor Wilson's slowed, tentacled body began to merge with it—his face reappearing on the demon's left shoulder.
Lynn drew a breath. "Cutting the power did nothing. Fine—then I'll use a bomb."
"Natasha, do you have any explosives on you?"
______
Read 7 chapters ahead at P@treon/Captain69
There will be 12 advance chapters by the end of today! Thanks!♥
I wanted to post after completing the 12 adv chaps, but then I read a new review which asked for another chapter, so here ya go!🥰😎