In the past, Grendel had always considered itself incredibly strong.
It possessed a massive body from which any small piece could become an independent symbiote. It had even caught the favor of Knull, the God of Symbiotes, serving as a vessel for divine consciousness. Everything pointed to one truth: it was strong.
But ever since arriving on the tiny planet called Earth, that belief had completely collapsed.
Though it wasn't the smartest symbiote, that didn't mean it was a complete idiot without any judgment.
Now, being dragged along by the lightning-wielding female Thor filled Grendel with intense anxiety and panic. Its writhing, oversized head... complete with liquid-like visual organs... darted around constantly. Occasionally its gaze would land on the female Thor's back before quickly shifting away.
As one of the few powerful beings on the symbiote planet, carrying Knull's consciousness should have made it formidable. Instead, it had the misfortune of encountering the perfect counter.
Now it was over. Not only had it failed, but even Knull's consciousness had been forced to transfer to Loki. They had to tear open a spatial tunnel and flee, with no idea which star system they had ended up in.
"I'm finished. Completely done for. I don't even know how these Earth humans will deal with me… No, it doesn't matter. Even if I survive them, Knull won't spare me. I witnessed his greatest humiliation from start to finish… I'm dead."
Grendel's thoughts were in complete chaos. Pessimism nearly swallowed its underdeveloped and imperfect mind.
Carrying Knull should have been something it could brag about to all other symbiotes... though some secretly harbored different feelings toward the brutal and insane god.
How had things turned out like this? These Earthlings wouldn't let it go, and neither would Knull.
The group returned to Weyland Tower.
Thud!
The female Thor dragged the now half-sized black dragon like a giant sack and slammed it to the ground with a casual flick.
"This thing wasn't very well-behaved on the way back. I kept feeling like something was watching my back. It was definitely plotting an escape. Maybe we should just throw it into an incinerator and let it experience fire and high heat firsthand," the female Thor suggested excitedly.
God, this was unbelievable. Even now, Foster felt like she was dreaming. She had defeated a black dragon in front of the entire world as the Goddess of Thunder!
"That's too cruel. Why not just pin it under your hammer and let it live with lightning forever?"
Adam smiled as he replied to Foster. He understood her exhilarated state perfectly.
Grendel was terrified. Its already limp body seemed ready to melt as it curled into a tight ball.
"Grendel, I know you can understand me. Your intelligence isn't so low that you can't manage basic communication. Whatever Knull made you do or planned while controlling you, I can tolerate it for now. But don't think you can get away with doing nothing."
In Grendel's view, this place was horrifying. Strange, exoskeleton-covered creatures were everywhere. Even among the few humans present, many carried those things inside them.
And the man approaching it... calling him human was a stretch... was even more terrifying. Grendel sensed carefully and immediately began trembling. It wondered if the female Thor had damaged its senses. Every Xenomorph it detected shared a faint but unmistakable spiritual connection with this person!
It was unthinkable. Knull connected to all symbiotes in exactly the same way!
"Great unknown god, you know my master Knull? That explains everything. No wonder he kept suffering setbacks on this planet... he ran into an opponent like you."
Grendel suppressed its fear and unease, taking several seconds to carefully craft what it thought was a clever statement.
The words surprised the female Thor and the others.
It could actually speak?
And why was it suddenly so cooperative? Why had it stayed silent and scared during the journey?
What they didn't know was that Grendel, as a powerful symbiote, was intimately familiar with how broad spiritual connections worked across the collective.
Every symbiote could link with others, and at the center of that vast spiritual network stood Knull, the God of Symbiotes!
No symbiote could refuse Knull's commands. It wasn't a simple servant-creator relationship but one involving souls, spirits, and rules of subservience.
That network had held until a thousand years ago, when Knull... possessing Grendel... took a hammer from Thor and the connection shattered.
Countless other symbiotes lost their link to Knull, enabling them to rebel and imprison his true body.
The closer Grendel got to Adam, the more clearly it sensed the unbreakable spiritual bonds between the Xenomorphs and him. The realization filled it with extreme terror and killed any thought of escape.
This mysterious human shared the exact same spiritual characteristics as their god Knull!
Grendel had every reason to believe Adam was a god like Knull. Well, he didn't seem quite as dark or terrifying, but who could say for sure? He might even be a young Celestial still in the growth phase.
This was not something an ordinary symbiote like itself could afford to provoke.
Especially not as a captive.
"You can sense it?" Adam asked suddenly.
"Yes! I couldn't before, but after carrying Knull's consciousness, I've been adapting to him, so…"
"Where is Knull now?" Adam cut the black dragon off.
He didn't need to think hard to know Knull planned to use the troublesome God Loki to free his true body, reunite consciousness with form, and become the evil god who killed anyone who displeased him again.
The two evil gods working together would make things interesting.
What truly concerned Adam was that neither was trustworthy. Both were petty. Loki might have undergone some slight changes in thinking, but after the humiliation Knull suffered on Earth, there was no doubt he would return for revenge once free.
"He has already fled far from here. Even I can only sense faint spiritual activity and can't pinpoint his exact location. From what I know, he will likely try to reach Klyntar…" Grendel said in a low, ingratiating tone.
Klyntar... the symbiote planet, formed entirely by countless symbiotes clumping together.
"You're leaking information about Knull to me. Aren't you afraid he'll notice?"
"No. Knull is our god and can control us, but he can't truly monitor every action of every single symbiote," Grendel replied.
"Heh, then I understand."
Mr. Sinister let out a strange chuckle. He glanced between Adam and the thoroughly cowed giant dragon, then looked down at his own chest.
The clever man instantly saw the striking similarity between Adam's relationship with the Xenomorphs and Knull's with the symbiotes. For the first time, he wondered: Was Adam some kind of underdeveloped god in his own right?
He knew Adam could transfer his consciousness at will, abandoning his human body to become a Xenomorph.
Or go even further... permanently possess a host carrying a Xenomorph embryo. If Adam took over Reynolds' body and never left, wouldn't that mean an instant, permanent power upgrade for him?
Of course, hosts like Reynolds already obeyed Adam absolutely. Their power was fully under his control.
All in all, Adam was eerily similar to Knull, the God of Symbiotes.
Mr. Sinister began rethinking his approach. Cracking the Xenomorph secret and eventually seizing the entire race would require more patience. He couldn't rush in just because he had dissected a few facehuggers and built a gene bank. He needed to plan carefully.
Antagonizing what might be an unknown god without full preparation was a terrible idea.
"This guy is thinking about betraying you. Why not let me kill him?"
Druid had been silent the whole time, indifferent to everything around him. But the moment Mr. Sinister harbored malicious thoughts, Druid stepped forward, killing intent flashing in his eyes.
In fact, as he spoke, Druid had already invaded Sinister's mind. The man's highly developed brain offered some basic resistance to psychic abilities, and he had constructed numerous logical barriers in his mental world to delay the intrusion.
"No need, Druid. I know. I've always known Samuel is ambitious. There's nothing wrong with that. Ambitious people have stronger drive than ordinary folks. It keeps them moving forward," Adam said, waving a hand dismissively. He truly didn't care about the malice swirling in Mr. Sinister's head.
As long as Sinister used his talents effectively and carried out orders without reservation... at least until any rebellion... Adam was satisfied.
"Fuck! You hear that? Get the hell out of my head, you damn psychic hall monitor!" Mr. Sinister cursed. He was genuinely afraid. His brain was his most valued and only true source of power, yet Druid specialized in invading minds.
"He can't betray you," Grendel said quietly. "I know that feeling well... harboring malice toward someone, thinking you've awakened, but being completely unable to refuse their commands. Hatred and worship mixed together. That's how every symbiote feels toward Knull. I think he's the same with you."
Mr. Sinister's eyes widened, his already pale face turning an even sicker shade of green. "What are you saying? You damn lizard, how dare a thing like you judge me…"
"A person with only a few decades of life?" Druid finished Grendel's thought with a cold, mocking laugh.
It infuriated Sinister. He decided symbiotes truly had major flaws. At the very least, this powerful one qualified to serve as Knull's vessel had dared to talk back in this situation. Its danger assessment was clearly defective.
Adam continued questioning the dragon. "Can you sense your fellow symbiotes on Klyntar?"
"I can feel them faintly. After Knull awakened, our broken spiritual links are starting to rebuild, but it will take time. His consciousness is tired and weak, so the connection is unstable and intermittent... practically nonexistent," Grendel said carefully.
Adam pondered this, combining it with what he knew of Knull's origins and rise. He began to understand the key differences between himself and the symbiote god.
In terms of background, a hundred Adams couldn't compare to a single finger of Knull. The latter was a dark god born from the primordial void, with an abyss world inside his body. He had woken up and immediately slain a Celestial with a sword. His starting point was absurdly high.
Adam knew he was purely human in origin.
But setting aside background and cosmic status, when it came to control over his subordinate race, Adam was very confident in himself.
His control over the Xenomorphs was so tight that he could closely monitor their every thought and intention. For example, he could sense Moira's thoughts even after she had become a Xenomorph.
He couldn't directly examine the minds of un-breached hosts, but he could control their every action if he wished.
In this regard, Adam believed he was at least equal to Knull. Grendel's inexplicable respect and fear proved it.
Most importantly, when Adam transferred his consciousness, he would never be as reckless as Knull... shifting into a subordinate body far weaker than his original form and wandering the universe. That was just asking for trouble.
"Grendel, your cooperation pleases me greatly. As the defeated party, you have fulfilled your obligations well."
Adam didn't hesitate to offer praise. He continued, "In that case, keep cooperating. Use your life to help me verify a few things."
Before Grendel could plead for mercy, Adam grabbed it, tore off a writhing piece of symbiote matter, and flung it onto a nearby Xenomorph.
It was well known that symbiotes could grant their hosts superpowers. So what would happen if a symbiote bonded with a Xenomorph?
Adam was very interested. The others had the same thought. Except for the expressionless Deathbird, everyone turned to watch the result.
Soon, a symbiote-Xenomorph hybrid was born... an unprecedented new individual formed by the combination of two parasitic races.
Adam closed his eyes, selected the consciousness of this new Xenomorph from the many in his mental world, and carefully examined everything.
"Interesting. They've fused at the genetic level. Symbiotes really are fascinating. Does that mean one host can produce at least two sets of genes... one Xenomorph and one symbiote bonded to the Xenomorph?"
Adam was particularly curious.
In theory, the more hosts a symbiote bonded with, the more abilities it could gain and the stronger it would become.
Through the Xenomorph, Adam analyzed the symbiote's thoughts and found only chaotic, jumbled mess. Perhaps because it had just separated from Grendel, combined with the lingering evil traces of Knull's consciousness, it had suffered severe corruption.
"Not bad. A rough estimate puts this Xenomorph's strength at least forty percent higher. With proper control, it could increase even more." Adam was intrigued.
"Does that mean our Xenomorph army could eventually see exponential growth in power?" Druid's eyes lit up.
Grendel spoke in a muffled voice. "It's not that simple. My body has been infected by Knull. Any symbiotes separated from me are chaotic lunatics, difficult to control. They will constantly erode and damage the host's mind."
"Erode the mind? That's laughable. We fear nothing less than mental attacks," Mr. Sinister said. No longer polite, he tore off a piece of symbiote from Grendel himself.
Adam ignored him, lost in thought about something else.
"Symbiotes share a basic spiritual connection as long as Knull remains conscious. My Xenomorphs can't communicate directly with each other yet. Once I decipher the symbiotes' spiritual structure, I'll know what to do."
Adam already had a preliminary plan. He would gradually use his own consciousness as the central hub, building a cloud-like platform where all Xenomorphs and their hosts could exchange information.
Exactly like the Damocles.
"After going in circles, it still comes down to dissecting a few Damocles to examine their brains and confirm things."
Damocles really was a treasure trove of an agent. Fury had promoted him, the Ancient One had valued him, and now even Adam recognized his potential and decided to develop that value fully.
As for the symbiotes... especially these ones contaminated by Knull…
They made excellent supplements and auxiliary tools for the Xenomorphs.
"Sometimes I used to wonder why my Xenomorphs didn't have powerful equipment like the Asgardians. Now I don't have to worry about that anymore."
What could be more suitable as personal gear for Xenomorphs than symbiotes... mass-producible creatures that fused at the genetic level?
What about the evil consciousness naturally carried by these symbiotes? Wouldn't it erode the Xenomorphs' minds?
That was laughable. Adam had zero concerns. If Knull himself came, there might be some hesitation. But ordinary symbiotes infected by Knull trying to erode a Xenomorph? They wouldn't even make a splash.
It was more likely the Xenomorphs would corrupt them.
Adam immediately used the hybrid as a bridge and launched a violent psychic assault on the attached symbiote.
The symbiote instinctively resisted fiercely under its chaotic consciousness.
"Stop struggling. Let me see!"
Adam invaded brutally, rummaging through the mental equivalent of a junk pile. After repeated examination, he confirmed that the symbiote's evil instincts couldn't shake the cold, ruthless mindset of the Xenomorph at all.
Even if one Xenomorph eventually succumbed over time, they were never truly alone. Other Xenomorphs could help share the burden, and Adam's own massive consciousness cluster provided support.
Grendel watched everything in silence. It only shifted slightly before settling down again. If Adam was willing to bear the mental burden of suppressing the symbiotes' evil instincts, that was only natural.
Adam grew curious about something else. What would happen if a facehugger directly implanted into a symbiote? He even dragged out Dracula, gave him a symbiote to bond with, then had the female Thor hammer both him and the symbiote into a daze. While they were disoriented, Adam shoved a new facehugger onto him.
"You demon! I thought you'd finally stopped tormenting me, but I was too kind in my judgment! Just wait... one day I'll break free, and every last one of you will die!!" Dracula roared in despair.
If he had known this would happen, he never would have provoked Adam back then. He could have lived much better using his immortality instead of serving as an endlessly reusable incubation vessel.
Splorch!
A Xenomorph burst from his chest.
"Hm. It gained Dracula's genes, along with some of the symbiote's adaptive abilities, while eliminating several of the symbiote's weaknesses…"
The Xenomorph's body had become somewhat softer and more flexible, allowing it to freely control its parts. This would likely grant strong resistance to ordinary physical attacks while boosting its already incredible vitality. It was essentially a genetic fusion of Xenomorph and symbiote, with the defects removed.
Adam looked at the weakened Dracula and the symbiote lying on the ground like dead sludge.
He then wondered what would happen if a Xenomorph implanted into a symbiote that had already bonded with Dracula.
The results were similar: it gained both Dracula's genes and the symbiote's abilities.
Everyone present grew excited... even the newly arrived Foster. She should have felt nauseated by the bloody scenes, but the powerful instincts of the Xenomorph embryo inside her helped her adapt quickly.
These dangerous individuals gathered together and enthusiastically conducted all kinds of risky experiments with the symbiotes.
Adam was already planning to perfectly strip the beneficial genes from the entire symbiote race and ultimately convert all symbiotes into subordinate species of the Xenomorphs.
Whatever abilities symbiotes possessed, specialized Xenomorphs would eventually gain them too. And Xenomorphs would have abilities symbiotes lacked.
In a stricter sense, an independent symbiote race would no longer exist in the universe. Every last one would ultimately become an appendage of the Xenomorphs.
…
Moira quietly left the terrifying ninety-third floor.
Anyone familiar with Weyland Tower knew the ninety-third floor was an absolute forbidden zone for life. All kinds of horrific events unfolded there.
Don't misunderstand... Moira hadn't left because she couldn't stomach the bloody scenes. She simply felt there was no need to watch Grendel's fate. It had fallen into Adam's hands.
"Knowing Adam, Grendel is the least of it. Even Knull has probably already been placed in his future plans."
Moira muttered to herself as she wandered aimlessly through the tower.
She couldn't leave. Unlike other Xenomorphs, she couldn't freely depart Weyland Tower to carry out various missions... like the specialized groups tasked with hunting vampires.
Moira received the best protection, though even she didn't understand why Adam valued her so highly. She was just a Xenomorph who wasn't even sure if she still had her reincarnation ability.
"Who's there?!"
Moira stopped abruptly and moved silently to a corner. This position gave the people on the ninety-third floor a direct line to strike downward through the floors if needed.
"Moira, I believe this isn't our first meeting."
A ghostly, ethereal figure appeared beside her.
Destiny, wearing her featureless mask, spoke in a cool voice. She had already identified the true nature of the Xenomorph before her.
"Who are you? Oh, I remember now. You must be the mutant called Destiny? I heard you can see fate, but this is our first meeting."
Moira felt relieved when Destiny didn't attack immediately. She knew everything she learned was already being shared with Adam.
"I don't think you have permission to enter Weyland Tower. You're quite bold. Aren't you afraid of dying?" Moira asked.
Destiny gave no clear response. Fear was not a concept in her mind. Even Magneto didn't know what she was thinking. "I have seen many fragments of fate. They shouldn't have converged like this, but your latest reincarnation greatly altered many things. It showed me the entanglement between us. I should have killed you many times, forcing you to reincarnate repeatedly and delivering the results of those trials to Professor X and Magneto in advance."
Destiny's words left Moira unsure how to respond.
It sounded absurd.
So she was supposed to reincarnate many times, only to be killed by Destiny each time? Such a thing was possible?
"Saying all that is useless. I have no way to tell if it's true or false. What exactly do you want?" Moira asked cautiously.
"For the future. The many fragments of fate I've seen point to an extraordinary ending."
"The end of mutants?" Moira pressed.
"Including mutants," Destiny answered. "But if the two of us work together, there may be a way to avoid that outcome."
Moira thought the woman sounded somewhat unhinged, speaking in vague, ridiculous terms.
"Then why didn't you come find me before?"
"I couldn't before. But the time is right now. You'll soon understand how I can help you, and you will thank me."
"What do you get out of helping me?"
"Fate."
Destiny lifted her head slightly. Even through the featureless mask, Moira could clearly sense an extreme fervor.
"I have seen a way to embrace fate... something neither you nor I could touch alone. If we succeed, fate will open its doors to us instead of only letting us glimpse an insignificant corner!" Destiny's emotions grew agitated.
This was extremely rare. Even the twins had probably never seen Destiny like this.
Moira fell silent. She felt she shouldn't get involved with what seemed like a calm madwoman.
"Accept her offer, Moira. She's not just here for you... she's here for the Xenomorphs and for me as well… Regarding what she mentioned, I've thought of a few things and can roughly guess her plan. It won't harm you. The stronger our side is against Knull, the better." Adam's command reached Moira's mind in time.
Ripples in the timeline would inevitably become a massive storm. Adam truly felt the weight of those words.
"Destiny… actually wants to become fate itself? Makes sense. For someone who has only seen fragmented scripts, the changes in the present world hold little interest. Seeing the complete script... and all its constantly shifting variations... is what she desires most."
Adam observed the strange symbiote-Xenomorph hybrids while also watching Destiny.
While Adam was planning the future of the entire symbiote race, Loki... under Knull's forced control... had already crossed through the spatial tunnel and arrived in an unknown star system.
"Where is this? Unlike you, I can't survive in space for long," Loki said, looking at the surrounding planets.
"#￥%#@#!!"
"…"
Loki sighed. He figured he should learn Knull's divine language first before considering his next move.
With Loki's intelligence and zero-distance contact with Knull's consciousness, he had gradually grasped some key words.
"Klyntar? The planet formed by the symbiotes you created? That's a terrible idea. You want me to dive into the core and deliver you into your body?"
Loki's face darkened. He could hardly believe the evil god was forcing him into such a dangerous task.
Just thinking about an entire planet made of things like Grendel made his scalp tingle.
But… if he succeeded, he might gain a powerful enough army!!
One comparable to the Xenomorphs. With Knull's involvement, it could even surpass Adam's forces!
^^^
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