Chapter 161: Chapter 160: Serpent Slaying.
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Inside the mirror dimension that Ryan had conjured.
A monster straight out of a horror movie showed its head from the swamp. The Man-thing walked quickly out from the swamp and touched the belly of the giant serpent with his hand.
"Arghh-" The serpent screamed as it was burned from the Man-thing's touch. The serpent flailed around and smacked Man-thing with its tail. The 3 meter tall swamp monster was slammed into a tree and broke into a million pieces.
"That's it?" Ryan muttered as he conjured a giant sword of light in the Ankh shape and threw it into the Serpent's body, impaling it on the ground. Then, he saw that the Man-thing's body was combining again. He kicked the Serpent's head with his heel, causing the Serpent's jaw to dislocate.
However, Set was an Elder God. Even his avatar that could only conjure a portion of his power can fight on an equal ground with the Ryan. "Zzaa…" The Serpent blew out the fog of poison that entered Ryan's eyes. The poison curse has the potency to permanently blind a person, even if that person was an extremely strong person.
The Serpent saw that Ryan had lost his sight and was distracted so he shot an ink-black dark magic beam that could kill all lives in a radius of 10 kilometers.
Ryan pressed his index and thumb finger together on both hands while his other 6 fingers were pointing upward. "Open!" He ordered. Then, a third eye opened on his forehead.
He sensed the dark magic beam was coming toward him. He conjured a mirror spell and reflected the beam toward the Serpent's mouth, causing an internal explosion on its throat.
BOOM!!!
The Serpent's mouth was sizzling from the explosion and it staggered for a moment. The Man-thing climbed upward onto the Serpent's body to get to the crown, but the Serpent recollected itself and healed before the Man-thing could snatch it. It shook its head violently, throwing the Man-thing to the side.
"Demon BURNS at the touch of the Man-thing." Ryan said spookily, causing the Man-thing to look at him.
"What? You need a trademark catchphrase," He said. The Man-thing stared at him for a while, before it attacked the snake again.
He was unbothered by his "blindness", as he knew it was only temporary for him, instead of permanent if it was a permanent curse on someone else. He already stored some on his pure DNA, and can implant new eyes when he got back.
Even now, his magic circuit is eating the poisonous energy, increasing his poison resistance in the process.
"So, the crown is the weakness," Ryan muttered after seeing the Man-things relentless pursuit for the crown. "Summon, Iron Maiden!"
A steel trap appeared out of thin air and started to wrap itself around the snake. The trap was filled with blades and it penetrated deep inside the Serpent's body, causing it to scream in pain. The Serpent shot a mind blast that could instantly kill a Kamar Taj Master Mage at Ryan, but his defenses were easily able to tank against it.
"I had been breached by D'Spayre once. Now it will Never happen again." Ryan vowed. He took out his sword of light from the Serpent's body, and charged it with all of his energy.
The energy from the light dimension illuminated the entire surrounding, causing the Serpent to sizzle before the sword even penetrated it. The Serpent connected to Ryan telepathically again, and spoke in Ancient Egyptian language.
"Zaaa.. You have no idea with whom you are messing with.."
"I know exactly with whom I am messing with. The question is… do you?"
The Serpent suddenly realized that he didn't know the identity of the man in front of him.
"Doesn't matter… You are in cohort with the person who will bring change. I only need to hunt him… and you will be there…"
This time, it was Ryan who was silent.
"If you stop this. I will let humanity live for another 100 years before I come again." The Serpent tried to make a deal. He could only descend because of the crown. If it was taken away, it'll lessen the already low chances of him descending on Earth.
"Or.. You know… a million years if I destroy the crown…" Ryan tried to terrify the Serpent.
"Hahaha… no one could destroy the crown without paying a high price…I may be locked out of Earth, but my essence is still inside the crown. Destroying it will destroy the Earth, especially when Gaea is not around…"
"Hmm, now you are putting me in a tough spot." Ryan said.
The Man-thing managed to climb the Serpent's head and tried to put his hands on the crown. The crown sizzled and the Serpent was scared. Ryan noticed that the Serpent was weaker than the Ancient One at the moment. It seems that the Kamar-Taj's — Trinity barrier on Earth caused the Serpent's strength to stop when it reached a certain limit.
"No. STOP. I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU!" Set's avatar said.
"You see. I really wanted to let you go. But now I want to destroy the crown even more." Ryan said while showing a bone chilling smile. The Man-thing managed to pry away the crown after a lot of difficulty and it fell to the side with the crown.
"NOO!"
"Good bye."
Ryan held the giant sword in his hand, and flew toward the Serpent. Before cutting it, the Serpent initiated a mass telepathic order. Ryan slew the Serpent, splitting it into two from head to tail, revealing its bones.
It fell down lifelessly on the ground, and it quickly melted and became a bone of fossils. Destine split from the snake before it was cut, and he fell lifelessly to the side.
The entire mirror dimension shook. Not only that, the image of Set had descended on reality, trying to kill the mysterious man even if he risked the Demigorge attack. However, the Ancient One was waiting for that.
In the Sanctum, the Ancient One opened the eye of Agamotto, and the time infinity stones. Wong and the rest of the Masters of Mystic arts were activating the Earth's defense line, preventing Set from entering the world.
"Do you really think I won't have someone to back me up?" Ryan smirked as his third eye saw the sight of Set, who was bigger than Jupiter. staring at him. Then, Set disappeared as his effort was futile and the sun, the place where the Demogorge lived, started to shake.
By Set's disappearance, the Demogorge inside the sun also calmed down.
Ryan showed his middle finger to the sky and walked toward the giant corpse.
"Aahh, so that's why there's dinosaur bones there." Ryan finally understands why he saw the bones in the mines before. It was the remnant of the Serpent from its era.
Although the Serpent is dead, the incident wasn't over.
"Gimme." Ryan said to the Man-thing who held the crown in its hand. However, the Man-thing shoved the crown inside its body instead.
"You want to keep it?" Ryan said in disbelief. The Man-thing nodded slightly.
"But I want to destroy it!" Ryan said again. The Man-thing shook his head when Ryan said it.
Ryan didn't know why, but he could communicate with the Man-thing, even though the creature was silent the entire time.
"I need to find Set's child first?"
The Man-thing nodded and touched Ryan's eyes with his hand. It burned the poisonous energy that was left behind after Ryan had devoured it, making his vision come back, albeit blurry. His pupil was still gray instead of dark purple. It will take him a long time before his vision could fully heal.
"I want to just change my eyes tho…" Ryan said in a sad tone. The Man-thing shook his head, and didn't allow Ryan to do so.
The Man-thing was connected to the nexus of realities, and it's wisdom was greater than Ryan, although he couldn't show it to people.
He wondered why, but then he could sense something was changing with his vision. His eyes seemed to be more evolved, and he could see the lines that separated the realms with his naked eyes. Even his third eye seemed to have some changes. He closed his third eye and prepared to go back to DC. His sight seemed blurry, but his other senses allowed him to walk normally.
"Ryan Knight. The Daredevil. Before that…" He walked to the unconscious Destine that was freed from Set's influence.
Finally, Paul Destine could become himself again – become Mentallo again. Become a…supervillain again!
SLASH.
Ryan cut off Paul Destine's head, preventing the re-emergence of the supervillain into this world. Man-thing stared at him as he thought what Ryan did was unexpected.
"Want to come? There's a lot of snakes in DC." Ryan asked while Paul Destine's blood splatter was still on his face. He exited the mirror dimension with the creature after storing the Serpent's bones in one of his storage rings.
The Man-Thing shook his head and returned back to the swamp. It needed to guard the crown until Ryan came back to destroy it. Ryan shook his head and prepared to teleport to his office.
"Damn, the Snake-men is in my office. Please don't breed there." Ryan muttered as he stepped foot inside his office. The shocked Serpent-man only hesitated for a second before they attacked Ryan with their massive body.
Ryan took out his ice gauntlets as he was already out of his disguise.
BOOM
The entire room froze, even the Serpent-men in front of him.
…
10 minutes before the Serpent was slain.
The Avengers fought an intense battle near Ryan's office building as the Vice President.
"Tony, is he inside?" Natasha asked.
"I don't know. He shields his office from me after I dropped in and bothered him once." Tony replied and shot at the Serpent-man nearby. He and Rhodes stood side by side at the defense line to prevent any more Serpents from entering the office.
"Is this what being an Avenger feels like?" Rhodes asked as he shot his machine gun attached at his arm toward the attackers.
"Basically. Yes. Still want it?" Tony said with a smirk as he shot a palm cannon.
"Are you kidding me? Who will say no to this?" Rhodey said as he took out his shoulder cannon and exploded the floor around 5 Serpent-men, knocking all of them out. "Also, what's the deal with Carol?" Rhodey asked in slight anticipation.
Carol at that time was helping the citizens to evacuate.
Thor and Hulk were smashing the Serpent-men all over, but new ones popping out.
"Who wants new boots!" Hulk grinned and clapped his hand together, causing a shockwave that knocked down dozens of the attackers.
"Why would you put snakes on your feet?" Thor mocked as he conjured lightning to smite the attackers that were fighting with Hulk.
"Shut up or I'll put you on my feet!"
"Bring it on creature."
"I'll smash you Goldilock!"
Suddenly, the infighting calmed down when Kai reached the place. "Ugh, That was the longest I have ever flown."
Thor and Hulk seemed to avoid his eyes when he saw them, causing him to be confused.
"What happened?" Kai muttered. Then, the tattletale interjected. "Thor and Hulk were fighting again."
"No we weren't!" Hulk said angrily toward the tin-man. Both of them behaved around Kai as they knew Kai had the capabilities to stop the exclusive food delivery toward the Stark Tower as he was the shareholder in Domingo's restaurant.
"You are spout lies Stark. Hulk and I are best friends!" Thor said.
Tony was flabbergasted by the sudden change. "Anyway, Kai. Take north. Create a perimeter over there."
"So…no rest?" Kai said and took out his sword. He coated his sword in hell flame from his companion beast and slashed at the creatures. Then, a curious thing happened.
"ARGHH- STOP. I'M BURNING!" The Serpent-man shrieked and fell onto the ground. Their body was engulfed in an orange flame, but the flame turned blue afterward. "Oh, this is an unexpected surprise."
Kai could feel that his hell's gate companion beast was devouring the sins inside the creatures greedily and were strengthening itself. 'Maybe it'll evolve into a mythical companion beast after this.'
"How did you do that?" Tony asked in disbelief after seeing that only Kai could permanently destroy the creatures.
"He can burn the dark magic!" Thor exclaimed in excitement. The only other person he knew could do that was a saint, and it has been over a hundred years since he met that man. The man who rode a horse and has a flaming skull on his head.
Kai stepped quickly all over the battle and started to execute all of the Serpent-men. He burned all of the dark magic inside of them, allowing them to become a normal human after the fire.
Natasha and Ayala entered the building and started to search for Ryan.
"Why isn't he doing anything? This is unlike him." Ayala muttered.
"That's why it's troubling." Natasha answered. If Ryan was seen fighting, then they would breathe in relief. But he didn't. The only reason that they felt he wouldn't do that was because something worse had fallen onto him.
Ayala had transformed into the white tiger and her reflexes were enhanced. The duo arrived at a turn after a long corridor. Ayala jumped agilely on the wall to make a turn instead of slowing down her movement.
There were multiple Serpent-man in a black robe nearby when she landed from her jump. She widened her eyes after landing extremely near where the Serpent-man was.
"Duck." Natasha said coldly and shot an electric disk from her widow bite , saving Ayala from getting bitten from her inexperience. She nodded slightly at Natasha and attached the Serpent-men using her tiger claw. She scratched the eyes of the attacker, and Natasha kicked them away.
"What are they? They have faces like a snake. But they have claws. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of them being a snake?"
She jumped on top of a Serpent-man that swiped his claw at her, landing on his thick and scaly arm. She scratched his face multiple times before she kicked him in the chest to the window. The Serpent-man crashed onto the window and fell outside the 3rd floor of the building.
"LOOK, IT IS CONFIRMED THAT THE SNAKE-MEN WERE AIMING FOR OUR VICE PRESIDENT ON THE THIRD FLOOR."
Reporters and cameraman that were camping near the office had been covering the entire incident from the start. They were following Ryan's every move for 3 days, which is why Tony knew Ryan was still at his office.
"Here it is Folk! Conclusive Prove that Aliens walk among us! And Now, they are targeting our Vice President because they KNOW he is our only HOPE!" J. Jonah Jameson was covering the entire incident on a live broadcast.
Even Ryan was puzzled by J Jonah Jameson's love for him. JJJ had been covering everything about him in a non-biased manner even if everyone else was condemning him.
He became a die-hard fan of Ryan when he was informed there will be regulations for the Vigilantes and Superheroes, but Ryan still kept the details of his plan from the public and the Avengers.
"Doesn't matter if they are snakes or lizards.We Just need to Crush them." Natasha said coldly as she took out a 3 part baton that she combined into a long staff. She bashed the head of the assailant with the staff, causing a lethal dose of electricity to shock them.
Ayala and Romanoff left a trail of incapacitated Serpent-men behind them. Shortly after they left, the unconscious Serpent-men snapped their eyes open and staggered to stand up again.
They were only 10 meters away from Ryan's office when suddenly the Serpent-men started to gigantify in size, becoming as tall as 5 meters in height.
Before Set's avatar died, he ordered them to do whatever it takes to kill Ryan right now as the helper was still inside the mirror dimension. These Serpent-men were killing themselves so that they could forcefully increase their strength!
Hulk was smashing the creatures on the ground. Suddenly, a massive fist punched at him from the back, slamming him into the walls.
"Uff. You're going to pay for that!" Hulk rubbed the back of his head and said with gritted teeth. He focused his strength on his leg and jumped with all his might toward the giant snakes. "HULK SMASH!!!!!"
3 giant Serpent-men were knocked down like a bowling pin from the hulk's punch. At that time, a young reporter was standing nearby and the debris from Hulk's shockwave was flying towards him. "No-" The young man yelled.
A figure in white and blue, star spangled outfit summoned an energy shield that was shaped like his previous shield and protected the young man from the debris.
"CAP!" Danvers said in excitement. She saw the situation and was on her way before Captain America arrived. She continued shooting beams at the snakes while protecting the citizens.
It seemed the snakes suddenly went crazy after they were gigantified. They no longer were moving in coordination and were attacking randomly. To make matters worse, their numbers were growing.
"Kai, any chance you could share that fire?" Steve asked while throwing the energy shield at a Serpent-man's hand and kicked its face, knocking him down.
The hard light energy shield that Ryan had made for him disappeared and a new one appeared at the bangle on his hand. It could change shapes and form, but Captain America sticks with a shield.
"Ahh, I think so." Kai replied. He forgot that he could attach the fire to something else. For example, Thor's hammer.
"Nice call Cap." Tony said in awe. That's why Captain America is the leader during combat.
However, before they could do anything, an iceberg emerged from the third floor of the building, knocking out 5 snakes with it.
"Ryan!" Carol yelled in excitement as she saw Ryan with Natasha and Ayala standing together through the broken walls. He managed to return to the office just a second before Natasha and Ayala walked in.
"Kai. Here." Ryan raised his left hand. Kai threw his fire onto Ryan's fire gauntlet, which strengthened it.
"Natasha, could you help me aim...but don't touch my clothes..." Ryan muttered, causing Natasha to be baffled.
"Your…eyes…" Ayala widened her eyes when she saw Ryan's condition.
"Natasha!" Ryan said sternly this time. Natasha snapped out of it and held his arm to help him aim.
BOOM
A massive fire wave was shot out from his gauntlets, burning hundreds of the Serpent-men at the same time. Then, Natasha helped him aim at the rest of the Serpent's while Kai took care of the stragglers.
"What is he? The final boss? Why did all the enemies fall down when he appeared?" Rhodes said playfully and took a deep breath. He held his knees while standing, as he was extremely tired from the short fight. However, Tony was silent.
"What happened?" Tony muttered underneath his breath as he saw Natasha helping Ryan to aim multiple times.
New Serpent-men kept appearing in the night, and the fight lasted until dawn. The total of the Serpent-men they fought that night in Washington reached more than 2000.
"Look. Isn't he Senator XXX. Was he a snake person too?" One of the cameramen zoomed in on the people who turned back into humans. The public that was watching were shocked when they saw who the Serpent creatures were.
"Politicians. Lawmakers. Judges. Generals. Celebrities."
"What's this? A biochemical attack on the upper echelon of the country?" Carol said as they rounded up all of the people there. SHIELD arrived during the battle and had helped to evacuate the citizens.
"You can't hold us here! We're victims!" A lawmaker said while trying to break the encirclement. A SHIELD agent pushed him back toward the crowd and aimed his gun at the lawmaker.
"You- I will make sure you're all fired! DO YOU HEAR ME!" A politician shouted.
"Uhhhh, what are we going to do now?" Rhodey said. One of the people there was his direct supervisor.
"You. Why didn't you call us for help!" Tony said angrily as Ryan climbed down to the ground with Natasha and Ayala. However, Ryan ignored him and went to the crowd of people there.
"Mr. Vice President. What is the meaning of this! You can't do this to us!" A random person shouted. They were thinking that they could now pressure Ryan into releasing them. After all, what evidence Ryan had about their cult?
"Enough." Ryan said coldly, causing the previously cold-blooded creatures to shiver. "You're all under arrest for the crime of betraying the human race. You will be judged, and will face execution afterward."
The Avengers, the SHIELD agents, the Serpent-men were all shocked by Ryan's judge and jury proclamation. Before they could say anything else, Ryan took out a video that he enlarged using a holographic panel for all of the people there to see. Even the reporters.
It was a video of the cult temple, and the people's plans for humanity's extinction. It even showed the video of the old man from the Rothchild family, and the old man's dialogue with the cult leader.
"Do you really think you can threaten me into submission? I only bid my time to collect the evidence to get rid of you once and for all."
JJJ snapped his coffee mug in anger after he heard Ryan's words. "THEY DARED TO THREATEN THE VICE-PRESIDENT! THESE SNAKES!!!"
"As the commander during wartime in the country. I declare. All of you are guilty." Ryan said while flashing a cold glint in his eyes. The crowd there felt weak in their knees.
They screamed unfairness and wanted to enter the courtroom to defend themselves. But Ryan turned a deaf ear on their plea. They willingly joined the cult and were not forced into it. And now, they will face the consequences for their actions.
"Ryan. What happened?" Gwen arrived at the office under the heavy guards of the Templars. She jogged hurriedly toward Ryan, however, he stopped her from getting near him.
"Gwen. Some poison is still on me. Let me clean it first. And Then you can touch me."
His answer caused people to become angry at themselves. Especially the SHIELD's agents and the Templars who just pieced all of the puzzle together. Even Tony started to create an intricate scenario in his mind, as to why Ryan didn't call for help.
"He…couldn't." Tony muttered. Gwen stayed by his side until the matter was over. The news about Ryan being poisoned and was blind reached the ears of the citizens, and it caused a public outrage!
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