Chapter 153: The Scorpion-Man?
The Alien's voice shook with fear as he confronted the figure before him. "You! ...you're not human, what are you?!" he demanded, his voice trembling.
The Alien had taken over Grant's body, and with it, he had absorbed all of Grant's memories. This included what Grant knew about humans and their world. Because of this, the Alien was absolutely sure that the being in front of him, with its skeleton engulfed in flames, was not a human.
"A Demon..." the Ghost Rider responded in a low, raspy whisper.
Hearing this, the Alien felt an even deeper sense of terror. Through Grant's memories, he was aware of religious figures and concepts like Christ, Gabriel, God, Satan, and the idea that demons were once holy beings who had fallen from grace and were now tasked with punishing sinners in hell.
"No... impossible... Demons can't be real... Everything, God, Jesus, Satan, angels, demons, they're all just made up by humans, they can't actually exist!" the Alien protested with strong disbelief.
The Alien's understanding of humanity and its beliefs came entirely from Grant, who was a rich businessman and an extreme realist with a very high opinion of himself. Grant would laugh at the mention of religious figures and certainly didn't believe in the existence of demons.
"Real or not... you're about to find out!" the Ghost Rider said, his voice dark and rough.
"Roar~!"
The Alien let out a monstrous roar and his tentacles lunged at the Ghost Rider. But as they got close to the Ghost Rider's fiery body, the tentacles burned up in the flames.
The Ghost Rider moved slowly towards the Alien. The Alien's face shifted from fear to complete hopelessness as the Ghost Rider's hand, made of burning bones, reached out and touched his strange, flesh-covered body.
"Thousands of years of sin, the blood debts of countless races... what a delicious feast, hahahahaha...!" The Ghost Rider laughed in a chilling, menacing way. Then, the empty sockets of his eyes blazed with an unending fire as he stared at the Alien, preparing to use the Penance Stare.
"Look into my eyes... your soul is stained with the blood of the innocent... feel their pain!"
However, in that moment, the consciousness of the Ghost Rider, who was actually Jon, seemed to slip away. Suddenly, Jon was overwhelmed by a flood of strange visions.
He found himself in a mysterious place, a vast desert that stretched endlessly, with stars dotting the sky above and a gigantic sun looming, threatening to engulf the heavens. It was a harsh, barren landscape where, by human standards, it seemed impossible for any life to thrive.
Yet, on the ground below, within a radius of a hundred miles, Jon saw alien worms writhing in the sand. Creatures that looked like the Alien he had just faced were engaged in brutal combat with one another. They attacked each other relentlessly, as if their sole purpose was to consume and destroy, even if it meant killing their own kind.
Gradually, Jon's consciousness began to return. The fiery glow in the Ghost Rider's eyes faded, and the Penance Stare was released. The Alien's soul had been scorched clean; this apex predator, which had roamed the cosmos for millennia, was now no more.
[Ding! Mission Five completed, the Alien has been eliminated, 2000 Penalty Points awarded.]
[Ding! Your legendary mission has been updated: Judge a thousand sinful souls across all worlds. Current progress: 81/1000.]
The flames that had enveloped the Ghost Rider's skeletal form began to die down, and he transformed back into his human form. Jon took a deep breath, feeling his legendary mission renewed by the Alien's soul. And with it, he had also gained the Alien's thousands of years of memories.
This universe, a realm open for exploration, was filled with countless races and creatures scattered across the vast cosmos. The Alien that Jon had just encountered was merely one of many.
"I wonder... how far can I go?" Jon mused aloud as he looked down at the pile of ashes that was once the Alien.
Jon then turned and walked out of the house.
As he stepped outside, he was met with the stares of many people. They were all gathered around, looking at Jon with a mix of shock and awe.
These were the survivors from the town, about a dozen in number. The rest had been taken over by the alien worms. When the Ghost Rider had passed judgment on the Alien, all those who were infected had collapsed, now lifeless.
The town had become a scene of devastation, with the bodies of the fallen scattered everywhere, creating a horrifying sight.
"My God, you... you actually did it!" Bill exclaimed, his voice still quivering with disbelief.
"Hahaha, I told you! It doesn't matter if it's ghosts or aliens, he can take care of it. That's Jon for you!" Luke declared, his voice filled with excitement and admiration.
Jon took a deep breath and then addressed Bill, "Officer, could you please bring all the survivors together?"
Bill paused for a moment, his voice heavy with emotion as he replied, "These are all the survivors."
His words carried the weight of loss, as he looked upon the remnants of his once familiar home, now in ruins.
"That's unfortunate," Jon said quietly. He then pulled out a pair of black sunglasses and handed them to Luke.
"Luke, put these on," Jon directed.
Luke, though confused, didn't question Jon and promptly put on the sunglasses.
Jon also donned a pair of sunglasses and then produced a device that seemed to be long forgotten, a neuralyzer: "Alright, everyone. I've helped you with the alien problem, but I don't like complications. To keep things simple and prevent any wild stories, take a look at this device!"
The crowd's gaze was drawn to the neuralyzer in Jon's hand. With a click, a brilliant white light flashed, wiping the memories of everyone present except for Jon and Luke.
Jon took off his sunglasses and stowed the neuralyzer away, then addressed the crowd, "Okay, folks, as you can see, we've had a major disaster here, indeed, an alien invasion by a terrible extraterrestrial. But don't worry, you were saved by a superhero known as the Scorpion-Man. Your town has been through a lot, but the alien worm menace has been vanquished thanks to Scorpion-Man's tireless efforts. Now, what you need most is to rest and rebuild. Don't dwell on the past, just focus on moving forward with your lives!"
With those words, Jon walked away without a backward glance, and Luke hurried after him, slipping the sunglasses into his pocket: "Hey, what was that all about? You wiped their memories and then spun them a new tale? And... why such a terrible story? The Scorpion-Man versus the Alien worm?"
"Do you think it's easy to come up with a story on the spot?" Jon replied nonchalantly.
"Sure, but... you didn't use that thing on me, did you?" Luke asked, a hint of concern in his voice.
"Maybe, I don't remember," Jon said with a shrug.
Luke looked momentarily stunned, then quickly pressed on, "Hey, you didn't zap me, right? And... what about Nancy? You didn't use it on her, did you? Did something happen with Nancy that you regret, and then you erased her memory?!"
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