Chapter 32: Lynn: I'm Waiting for the Explosion. What Are You Waiting For?
High above Staten Island.
Korthess, holding Lynn, hovered in the night sky, toying with him like a cat with a mouse. "Right now, your life is in my hands."
"Death Sorcerer, you have a choice to make. Cooperate with me... or I let go, and you fall and splatter into a paste."
Hearing this, Lynn glanced down.
From thousands of meters up, he could see the city lights twinkling like stars through the clouds.
He looked back up, clicking his tongue. "You know, for someone with a fear of heights, this would be pretty cruel. Good thing I don't have one."
"Oh, by the way, I let you catch me."
"What?"
The moment he spoke, Lynn pressed the button Natasha had given him.
A cable shot out, binding them together.
"What are you doing?"
Korthess struggled, but found the seemingly ordinary cable was incredibly strong.
Even he couldn't break it easily.
"What choice did I have? The obsessions of all those spirits are focused on you. If Natasha, Steve, and I had ganged up on you, I would have lost out on two-thirds of the death energy."
"This is the first time I've ever found so many purple-level spirits! If I lost two-thirds of that, I'd be devastated!"
"What do you mean?"
Hearing Lynn, Korthess felt a seed of doubt.
Especially since... this Death Sorcerer was still smiling.
"I don't know how you did that trick, stopping bullets in mid-air. Whether it's a vampire thing or telekinesis or what."
"But it's useless now. Oh, and by the way, the only reason I've been talking so much... was to distract you."
A faint beeping sound started up from under Korthess's breastplate.
That bad feeling turned into panic, and Korthess began to struggle violently.
He tried to reach for the silver bomb Lynn had planted on him...
...but Lynn had both his hands in a death grip.
"Damn you! You're a madman! That's a silver bomb! At this range, you'll die too! Are you trying to take me down with you?"
Seeing the panic and fear in Korthess's eyes...
...Lynn looked perfectly calm. "I've always wanted to try dying. I'm an (unactivated) Emissary of Death, and I don't even know what death feels like."
"If the Goddess of Death ever found out, I'm pretty sure She'd laugh at me."
Honestly, Lynn was deeply curious about his own immortality.
He had never died and come back before.
He really wanted to know what the experience was like.
And could he absorb death energy in the death-space before he resurrected? Could he raise the progress bar for his Emissary of Death identity?
He had to find out. And now, he had the perfect opportunity.
He looked at the thirty-plus purple spirits gathering around them, all of them staring at Korthess with pure hatred.
A grin unconsciously spread across Lynn's face. He was actually looking forward to this.
"Madman! You're a goddamn madman! You'll die too!"
His hands pinned by Lynn, Korthess heard the beeping grow faster and faster. He was filled with despair and terror.
'Damn it! I should have killed him the second I saw him!'
'Why didn't the black magic books ever mention that Death Sorcerers were insane?'
"Haha, don't struggle. Here comes the boom!"
As Lynn finished, the silver bomb hit its final countdown.
"NO!!!"
Feeling death arrive, Korthess let out a final, desperate roar.
The next second, a massive explosion tore the night sky apart, blooming like a beautiful firework.
A few seconds later, a "shooting star" rocketed to the scene.
Tony Stark, in his armor, saw the sparks from the explosion raining down, but there were no body parts, no remains.
He hovered for a good few seconds. "How much explosive... do you need to get that kind of effect?"
He dived down, following the sparks. "JARVIS, scan for organic compounds."
"Sir," JARVIS replied, "there are no organic compounds detected."
"It burned that clean? Not even a single trace of human tissue left?"
Tony landed on the ground, silent for a long time.
Just then, Natasha's voice crackled in his ear. "Tony, did you find Lynn and that damn vampire?"
Hearing the anxiety in her voice, Tony paused. "Sorry, Nat. I was too late. By the time I got here, the explosion had already happened."
"What?"
Hearing his answer, Natasha, standing on the estate grounds, froze.
"I understand."
She took a deep breath and cut the comms, her face pale.
"Natasha."
Seeing her expression, Steve Rogers already knew what had happened.
He sighed, walked over, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Lynn was a hero. Even if he always said he just wanted to enjoy life... he still had the courage to make the sacrifice."
"We should be proud of him."
Steve turned and looked back at the mansion. "Natasha, the mission isn't over. We still have to save those poor, innocent girls."
"We can't let Lynn's sacrifice be for nothing."
Hearing this, Natasha rubbed her face. "You're right. Let's move."
She was about to walk toward the mansion, but stopped. "That eulogy... why does it sound so familiar? Oh, right. That's what you said after the villa in the suburbs exploded!"
She instinctively looked around.
But the flicker of hope died. Lynn didn't appear beside them like he did last time.
"Come on. Mission's not over."
Steve patted her shoulder, and this time, he led the way.
***
At the same time, in Lynn's apartment.
"Awesome!"
Lynn shot bolt upright in bed. He felt incredible, full of energy.
It was like chugging an ice-cold coke on the hottest day of summer.
As an Emissary of Death, he found that dying was... exhilarating. Every pore of his skin felt amazing.
'If I'd known dying and coming back felt this good, I would've tried it ages ago!'
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