Although Victor and Venom kept up a stream of mockery against the Mecha-Doctor, their internal vigilance was cranked to the maximum.
Because the Mecha-Doctor's attacks were as precise as his evasions, as if calculated thousands of times.
Every swing of that scorching plasma sword carried destructive energy; the hum it made tearing through the air was hair-raising.
At this moment, Venom's massive frame had become a liability. The lightsaber sliced through him easily, like a hot knife through butter, and the severed parts struggled to heal, emitting the foul stench of burnt protein.
"Venom, switch! The high heat counters you too hard!" Victor shouted urgently in his consciousness.
"Switch now?! Has your brain finally been filled with chocolate sauce?!" Venom roared furiously while struggling to regenerate his sliced-off parts.
"Listen! I have a plan! How about we do this...?" Victor quickly transmitted a thought.
"Sounds good! But I'm worried you'll be finely minced into meat sauce before you succeed—one part lean, one part fat, plus a bit of gristle!"
Venom quipped, simultaneously leaning back sharply to narrowly dodge a sword strike aimed at his head.
"Better than you being chopped into dumpling filling right now! Cut the crap! Any later and you're really done for! Three, two, one!"
Victor finished the countdown.
"Don't blame me if you die!" Venom grumbled, but chose to trust him.
Just as the Mecha-Doctor's lightsaber was about to slash at Venom's neck again—
Venom's massive black body retracted abruptly like a receding tide, instantly vanishing completely into Victor's body!
The Mecha-Doctor's sword swung at empty air. The scorching blade grazed past the tip of Victor's nose, the heat wave stinging his cheek.
Almost at the same moment, relying on astonishing prediction and reaction speed, the Mecha-Doctor retreated half a step, precisely dodging Victor's right hand that had suddenly reached for his shattered half-face.
"I don't know what you're planning," the Mecha-Doctor's voice, mixed with metallic grinding sounds, held a trace of mockery.
"But the intent is too obvious. You missed by a little bit, kid." His remaining human eye even blinked.
"No," Victor grinned maniacally, a look of success on his face, "Just right."
Crack-crack-crack—
Victor's right arm emitted a tooth-aching, crisp sound—that was the sound of him voluntarily dislocating his shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints instantly!
The arm extended abruptly in a grotesque manner that violated physiological structure, and his fingertips precisely touched the Mecha-Doctor's exposed, spark-emitting broken metal cheek!
"Venom! Your turn!" Victor roared, enduring the agonizing pain.
"Hero's entrance!" Venom's excited roar burst from Victor's fingertips!
A small stream of viscous, pitch-black substance shot out like an arrow from Victor's finger, drilling precisely into the gaps of the Mecha-Doctor's exposed metal structure, invading directly into the interior of his alloy skeleton!
"Damn it!" The Mecha-Doctor jerked back half a step, his electronic eye flashing madly. "Dislocating arm joints to increase attack range... this guy is ruthless!"
But his shock was far from over. The Venom that invaded his body began to spread and permeate madly, like the most rapid virus, attempting to seize control of his body.
Black slime even began to ooze uncontrollably from the metal seams on the surface of his body.
"My control is being taken?! How is that possible?!" The Mecha-Doctor's voice carried genuine shock that algorithms couldn't process for the first time. "A mere parasite that can't live without a host... how does it have this ability?!"
Inside him, a silent but extremely fierce war erupted.
The Mecha-Doctor's cold electronic consciousness and Venom's wild symbiotic instincts engaged in a fierce struggle for control within the mechanical shell.
Externally, Victor seized the opportunity to pounce. First, he quickly snapped his dislocated right hand back into place, then used both hands to pry at the fingers of the Mecha-Doctor's right hand, which was gripping the lightsaber hilt tightly.
"That's a good thing! Victor, I'll help you!" A voice rang out—it was Venom controlling the Mecha-Doctor's left hand.
The fingers of the left hand deformed and fused rapidly, turning into a sharp machete gleaming with black metallic luster, and then unhesitatingly chopped viciously at the Mecha-Doctor's own right elbow!
The Mecha-Doctor stared in shock at his uncontrolled left hand: "My chassis control has been hijacked? And it can alter my chassis structure?! Amazing! This bioplasticity is... incredible!"
Suddenly, he whipped his head around. The intact human eye and the crimson electronic eye locked onto Victor simultaneously.
"Fine, I admit it, C-136, C-137." His voice strangely regained some calm, despite the frustration. "You take this round. Hope you have such good luck next time."
"Yeah, yeah, as long as you're happy," Victor replied perfunctorily, his entire attention on the lightsaber. "By the way, can you loosen your hand? I really want this toy."
The Mecha-Doctor smiled. The smile looked exceptionally eerie on his half-human, half-machine face. "Dream on, unevolved monkey."
His red mechanical eye suddenly began to flash violently and irregularly, at a frightening frequency. Simultaneously, a sharp, urgent beep-beep-beep alarm sounded from within his body!
"Shit!" Venom cursed loudly inside Victor. The portion of the symbiote that had invaded the Mecha-Doctor retracted instantly like it had been electrocuted, returning completely to Victor's body in a flash.
"Victor, run! This guy is now a giant, super-charged flashbang! He's gonna blow!!"
Venom completed the bonding instantly. Pitch-black symbiotic matter covered Victor's whole body like a second skin, providing superhuman strength and protection.
But Victor didn't use it to attack or defend. Instead, he poured all his energy into his legs—
Like a black cannonball fired from a barrel, ignoring the rapidly spiking, scalp-numbing energy hum behind him, he sprinted with astonishing speed straight toward Wednesday, who was nearby and hadn't fully reacted yet!
Thud!
He slammed heavily into Wednesday, knocking her to the ground. He covered her completely with his own body, his arms locking her tightly in his embrace, forming a desperate and fragile protective shell.
In the moment she was tackled, Wednesday only had time to see Victor's Venom-covered face. Those giant white eyes were contracting violently as never before, filled with a near-insane terror she had never seen.
Immediately after—
BOOM!!!!!!
A terrifying explosion, indescribable in words, detonated!
A horrific sound wave blasted outward from the Mecha-Doctor as the center, crushing and expanding in all directions in a sphere!
The rotting leaves and soil on the ground were lifted instantly.
Surrounding trees snapped and shattered as if crushed by an invisible giant hand!
Wednesday felt as if her skull had been smashed by a red-hot sledgehammer!
Severe pain and irresistible concussion stripped her of all consciousness instantly, her vision swallowed by pure darkness.
In the final split second before she lost consciousness completely, her blurred senses captured a few fragmented images that were branded into her mind:
The Venom covering Victor, that indestructible black symbiotic body, under this devastating sonic impact, boiled, twisted, and disintegrated violently and painfully like a wax figure thrown into a super-heated furnace!
It let out a silent wail and was blasted off Victor's body, flying away.
And Victor...
Stripped of Venom's protection, he took the full force of the impact with his own flesh and blood.
She felt those hands covering her ears using all the strength left in his life to press deathly tight against the sides of her head. The knuckles were twisted white from extreme exertion, as if trying to embed themselves into her skull.
Her final sight fixed deep in his ear canal—blinding, warm blood was pouring out endlessly, winding down to drip onto her pale cheek.
The touch was scalding.
Then, the world went completely silent, returning to darkness.