Chapter 60: The Xenomorph Master is the True Reaper
The battle between the two powerhouses erupted in an instant.
These two were individuals capable of creating terrifying natural disasters with a single move. Now, above Westchester, they fought at full strength. From the moment they began, an earth-shattering commotion erupted.
The sky trembled and the earth screamed. Countless free-floating particles in the air perished from their collision, and the air itself boiled, showing visible distortions as it was buffeted by powerful shockwaves.
To an ordinary person, even with the most advanced telescope, it was just terrifying beams of light shooting into the sky. At a glance, they resembled an aurora, yet they brewed with destructive might.
The next moment, a golden figure was suddenly pushed back by an invisible force. He barely managed to stop himself in mid-air and, without hesitation, driven by extreme excitement, charged forward again. He threw a heavy punch, a thunderous blow that shattered all tangible and intangible matter before him, breaking through all defenses with absolute violence.
Every second, explosions of terrifying magnitude were generated continuously. However, these blasts were often countered by an equally powerful attack, consumed and annihilated on the spot before they could reach their peak and expand.
Du Wa closely watched the course of this battle. He was experiencing this world-stunning, cataclysmic battle firsthand, almost through Reynolds's own perspective.
Even looking back over the past few centuries, this battle was destined to rank among the greatest in human history—a true peak confrontation.
Naturally, the destruction and lethality caused by the clash between the two powerhouses suddenly increased by several orders of magnitude. Even from a great distance, being accidentally grazed by a tiny, insignificant ripple of the aftershock would result in instant obliteration.
The weak couldn't even dream of participating; just watching from several kilometers away was a life-threatening risk that filled their hearts with terror.
Even from tens of kilometers away, one had to guard against being blinded by the terrifying brightness of the sudden bursts of energy.
"I really didn't expect that the one to ultimately fall into Stryker's hands would be Magneto."
Du Wa monitored the entire super-battle, closely assessing Reynolds's overall condition—cell activity, energy transmission efficiency, neural speed, and self-healing ability. The most critical aspect was the mental level, such as brain cell activity and the operational intensity of different brain regions.
If it had been any other Xenomorph hero fighting Magneto one-on-one, Du Wa wouldn't have been so tense. He was even more vigilant than Reynolds himself, knowing full well that Reynolds's mind needed to be monitored most closely.
At the same time, a trace of deep astonishment showed in Du Wa's gaze as he looked at Magneto.
It was obvious that Magneto must have fallen prey to Mastermind.
The illusions created by Mastermind were truly indistinguishable from reality. The man could even conjure an illusory army of immense size and terrifying strength!
That's right, an illusory army—a grand army that all enemies would be unable to distinguish from the real thing, forcing them to fight to the death against thin air.
Even a fully lucid Professor X, when facing an illusion of this level, would find that the best counter is to directly use his psychic abilities to control Mastermind himself. This is because even he would have difficulty telling truth from fiction and could easily be tripped up. Let alone Magneto.
"Although the process is slightly different, the result is probably the same... a cataclysm that left a million dead."
Du Wa stood by the window, watching the terrifying flashes of light and the energy beams shooting into the sky, gazing at the distant horizon that had turned from night to day.
As mentioned before, across the Multiverse, Sentry has two common origins. In most, it's Reynolds, in a state of delirium, breaking into a lab and drinking the Sentry serum.
But this origin involves an interesting character: Reynolds's dark personality, the Void.
In some universes, the Void is a real entity from an outer universe. When Reynolds opened a channel to the outer universe and gained the power of a million exploding suns, the Void took the opportunity to invade Reynolds's body.
In other universes, the Void is not a cosmic entity but truly a secondary personality born from Reynolds's schizophrenia. And the reason for its birth is, precisely... Mastermind!
It was Mastermind who secretly hit the newly debuted, high-spirited Reynolds with a psychological suggestion. As a result, the Void was born, and the Void then controlled the Hulk, causing him to rampage in Manhattan and slaughter over a million people in a single battle.
"The location changed from Manhattan to Westchester, and the one rampaging under Mastermind's psychological suggestion is actually Magneto..."
To be honest, if he hadn't seen that the person who had gone so insane was Magneto, Du Wa would have suspected he'd gotten the wrong script and accidentally jumped into a multiversal battlefield before he was ready.
"I predicted Stryker would capture Professor X. I also predicted he would execute his plan to exterminate Mutants at Alkali Lake with top-tier mutants like Lady Deathstrike and Mastermind. I even suspected he would take the opportunity to deal with me, using Professor X to seize my control over the Xenomorphs. But I never expected things to turn out like this..."
After all, the two figureheads announcing they were going it alone at the joint summit was too great a shock for certain radical factions.
If it weren't for the existence of a peculiar Mutant named Destiny in this universe, Professor X and Magneto would never have made such a perilous decision with an unknown future.
Du Wa had a strange expression. Watching the blood-red-eyed Magneto from two perspectives, he knew without a doubt that the only illusion capable of driving a cold man like Magneto into such a frenzy had to be a vision of mutants being exterminated by humanity.
The only ones who could stop Magneto now were probably a handful of people like Jean Grey.
Of course, Reynolds counted as one.
"Come on, Reynolds. Let me see where your limit is!"
A deep sense of anticipation filled Du Wa's eyes. Reynolds was special. He had seized a one-in-a-billion chance of success, and as a Xenomorph Host no less. He was the only such exception in the entire Multiverse.
As long as Reynolds himself didn't get any crazy ideas and just performed normally, with the additional genetic empowerment from the Xenomorph, even though he had just debuted and his strength couldn't possibly be at its peak, it was still something Du Wa could look forward to.
"Didn't you say you wanted to be my most loyal guard? Go on, then. Display your talent to its fullest and let me witness it with my own eyes," Du Wa said slowly.
Reynolds seemed to hear Du Wa's words. In the midst of the fierce battle, his body shuddered. His slightly flagging spirits were lifted once again, his face instantly becoming ferocious. He was clearly using his true strength. Opening his mouth wide, he let out a deafening roar!
This sound even materialized into a tangible energy wave, wrapped in golden energy, that spread out with a boom. It was like the whisper of a monster, heard by countless people.
The people of Westchester were the unluckiest; an untold number of them were killed by that single shout.
But in such an unprecedentedly chaotic and dangerous situation, who had the time to care about how they died? As if they could choose whether to die at the hands of Magneto or Sentry.
Reynolds continuously accelerated, squeezing more and more energy from his body, filling every single cell.
Every muscle twitched slightly, with great rhythm, delivering an ever-increasing amount of strength to Reynolds.
At this moment, Reynolds was truly using his full power. But as for how far this full power was from perfectly realizing his potential and flawlessly wielding all his strength, it was hard to say.
Especially since, just a few hours ago, he had been a homeless man addicted to drugs with no future, at best accumulating insignificant combat experience from street brawls. Yet, in the blink of an eye, he had thrown himself wholeheartedly into a high-end battlefield.
If one were to speak of his potential in combat experience and fighting techniques, it actually came more from the Xenomorph in his chest. The Xenomorph's genes carried a high-intensity instinct for battle, which was now fused with Reynolds, providing him with extraordinary combat intuition.
"Still no match? We have no record of such a powerful individual. This is completely illogical," Fury said aboard the Helicarrier.
S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors the entire globe and should have the most comprehensive database, containing information on every impressively powerful individual.
But the appearance of Sentry completely shattered Fury's confidence.
At the very beginning, they couldn't even determine if this person was a Mutant or a superhuman, let alone how he came to be.
"I found something, sir. This guy flew out of Du Wa's residence," Hill said, looking at the video feed in disbelief.
Fury's face was expressionless, but his heart had already sunk to the bottom. The result he dreaded most and the name he least wanted to hear had converged.
On the screen, a terrifying golden light erupted from Du Wa's building, followed by a golden figure bursting through the roof, making the already precarious building look as if it could collapse at any moment.
Then, Fury heard the conversation between Du Wa and Tony, and learned that this powerful being bathed in golden energy was named Sentry.
"Robert Reynolds. I want all the intelligence on this person," Fury commanded.
Hill quickly replied, "I've found over two hundred people named Robert Reynolds. After comparing all the surveillance footage, we can confirm that this guy, with a record of multiple thefts, is the most likely match. The result is absurd, and we still need to perform a detailed facial comparison to be sure."
For a moment, Fury thought this world was too damn absurd.
He prided himself on being well-informed, but for some reason, whenever anything was connected to Du Wa, it seemed to derail from its original track and become bizarre.
"Are you saying this guy is another one of Du Wa's parasitized tools?" Fury raised his voice. He simply couldn't imagine that this individual, capable of fighting Magneto to a standstill, was a worthless homeless man and addict not long ago.
But how, in the blink of an eye, did he become such a powerful Superhero in Du Wa's hands?
Could it be related to Stryker? But Fury racked his brains and couldn't imagine Stryker possessing this kind of power, much less being moronic enough to hand it over to Du Wa.
At this moment, the ever-serious Coulson spoke slowly. "Now is not the time to worry about that. Their battle has already killed countless people."
Everyone present knew that neither Magneto nor Du Wa would stop.
"No matter who wins or loses this battle, we must update our assessment of Du Wa."
Fury rubbed his forehead.
In the past, Du Wa was difficult to deal with mainly because of the Xenomorphs' characteristics, especially the unpredictable standards for their transformation into a Queen.
No one wanted to see Queens with reproductive capabilities popping up all over Earth overnight. That would cause global chaos.
However, the absolute power Du Wa himself wielded was still a notch below. This flaw wouldn't mean much in others, but in Du Wa, it was enough for people like Fury to breathe a sigh of relief, as it showed that Du Wa wasn't perfect.
But now, that situation has been rewritten.
Although they didn't know what Du Wa had done, the fact that he could just send out a mysterious subordinate to go toe-to-toe with Magneto—to put it bluntly, even if he lost in the end—was still proof of Du Wa's power.
"Given Du Wa's personality, he must have parasitized this golden hero in advance and completed his control. It seems we need to prepare for the worst."
Coulson's expression also became extremely grave. Ever since he started dealing with Du Wa, nothing involving him had ever been easy.
The pressure Du Wa put on them was immense, and he was always unpredictable, making him impossible to guard against.
The entire Helicarrier felt like an oversized freezer; the atmosphere was so cold it killed any desire to even speak.
On the countless screens before them, there were only the two figures fighting fiercely in Westchester.
Rumble!
It was as if a deep and terrifying crack had opened in the sky.
The duel between Magneto and Sentry had officially entered its most brutal phase.
Reynolds felt more and more pressure. He gained a direct and clear understanding of Magneto's power, and as a result, when he was still unable to defeat his opponent, a sharp pang of fear finally struck his heart.
"This guy is a madman. Maybe I should try to attack his head and wake him up," Reynolds thought.
And he did just that.
A punch thrown with all his might carried a golden light that seemed to condense the sun itself. Its intensely compressed, terrifying energy particles pierced through Magneto's force field.
"His body can't compare to mine. He's starting to get injured."
Reynolds encouraged himself, looking at Magneto before him, whose skin had begun to crack and whose nose was bleeding. Although the injuries weren't severe, it was a good start.
Even though Magneto's physical constitution far surpassed that of an ordinary person, he ultimately couldn't compare to an anomaly like Reynolds.
As it turned out, anyone who underestimated Magneto, even a Magneto in a state of madness, would pay a heavy price.
"Be careful, something's wrong with his condition!"
Storm, Ororo, couldn't help but shout a warning. With her current strength, she wasn't strong enough to participate in a battle of this level, but she could float at a safe distance, paying close attention and ready to act at any moment.
At close range, Magneto suddenly reached out, using his immense strength to seize control of Reynolds's life-force field while simultaneously blasting Reynolds's body with a terrifying electrical current.
Energy was being dismantled, barriers were shattering. Even Reynolds was not absolutely indestructible.
He was finally injured.
"Don't panic, Reynolds. Your talent is far beyond this."
"But I'm hurt!" Reynolds was terrified. The pain in his body snapped him out of his exhilarated state.
"You are my subordinate. You should first understand the characteristics of a Xenomorph. Use your head and think carefully. For a Xenomorph, getting injured is just the beginning of the battle. It means entering the second phase, when it's the enemy's turn for a nightmare," Du Wa said. "Find a chance to wash your enemy with your blood, in the physical sense."
The few drops of blood that splattered from Reynolds gave him a pleasant surprise.
At extremely close range, when both sides were battered and their barriers were shattered, a single lucky drop of blood that hadn't been torn apart by the raging energy lightly touched Magneto's shoulder.
Using his super-hearing, Reynolds distinctly heard a piercing sizzling sound.
In a flash, he used his super-vision to see that the blood had corroded a piece of Magneto's flesh. Even though Magneto instinctively reacted and destroyed it with his internal magnetic field, this change let Reynolds know what to do.
"That's right! Blood! I have a Xenomorph inside me, and I also have Xenomorph genes. My blood is a reliable weapon."
Reynolds was overcome with joy and surprise, once again feeling a heartfelt gratitude for Du Wa's generous gift.
He had a healthy body, immense power, and extraordinary combat intuition. Now, even his blood had become a weapon.
Reynolds endured the intense pain, even trembling as he intentionally widened his wounds just enough so they wouldn't be rapidly repaired by his healing factor.
It was fortunate that the fight had reached such a brutal stage. Otherwise, in such close-quarters melee combat, a few drops of blood would have had no chance of getting close, as they would have been dismantled into atoms by the omnipresent magnetic field surrounding Magneto the moment they approached.
The two of them uprooted one building after another. Countless materials were turned to dust in the violent collision of energy, dissipating with the super-storm.
Reynolds was gradually gaining the upper hand. The process was painful, but it was really happening.
Outsiders couldn't see it, but Du Wa saw it clearly.
"The Void hasn't been born inside Reynolds yet, which is limiting his strength." Du Wa made his judgment on Reynolds's condition.
He had been wary of the Void from the very beginning, especially at the moment Reynolds broke through the gate to the outer universe. He had observed repeatedly but found nothing strange mixing into Reynolds's body.
So, the birth of the Void would depend on Reynolds's own mental state. Relying on himself alone, in his muddled state, he couldn't truly unleash his full power.
But the appearance of the Void would mean more trouble, which would become Du Wa's headache. All things considered, Du Wa was already quite satisfied with the current Reynolds.
Countless satellites were watching, monitoring everything, trying to capture the most subtle information and judge every clue.
Nuclear warheads had long been aimed at Westchester, ready to launch at any moment. Perhaps in a situation like this, only this could offer people some psychological comfort.
Bang!
A loud bang exploded between the two engaged in high-intensity combat. It shouldn't have been a big deal, but then someone saw signs of the rampaging energy weakening. A figure fell from the sky, crashing into the ground with a boom and creating a ten-meter-deep crater.
At that moment, everyone realized that the battle seemed to be over.
But looking around the battlefield, this ending didn't bring any ecstasy, only a sense of relief followed by a deep helplessness.
Reynolds panted heavily, the wounds all over his body healing rapidly. He even felt a sharp pain in every muscle. "I won, I won! But why is no one cheering for me?"
"Do you think they should cheer for you? You are the victor, the superhero who stopped the butcher. But, Reynolds, don't think that doing something will always get you an equal reward. You might even embrace the complete opposite result."
Du Wa's voice rang out, carrying obvious praise, which gave Reynolds precious psychological comfort.
Reynolds finally calmed down. He surveyed his battlefield, looking at the ground below him, at the countless deep pits. It looked as if it had been bombarded by a dense meteor shower; someone who didn't know better might think the Moon had crashed.
The once-bustling streets and neatly arranged buildings had long since vanished. The buildings that remained as ruins were few and far between, let alone having any hope of finding survivors inside.
Reynolds opened his mouth, dazed for a moment, then slowly descended.
Magneto was struggling to his feet. An extreme rage suddenly surged in Reynolds's heart. He raised a fist wrapped in golden energy, aimed it at Magneto's head, and was about to punch down to send him off peacefully.
"Bring Magneto back," Du Wa commanded. "He is not our enemy for now. Your heroic performance saved his life."
Reynolds opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he just lowered his head, sullenly grabbing the ridiculously strong old man who had just been fighting him to the death, and prepared to fly into the sky.
Storm, Ororo, finally flew over. Even though the battle was over, the chaotic residual energy in the air made her feel uncomfortable. It was truly unimaginable; if this was what it was like after the battle, how terrifying must it have been during the full-on fight?
In any case, it was not something she could have withstood.
"He—"
"Get lost. I'm not handing him over to you," Reynolds responded forcefully. He was no longer as surprised by his own changes as he had been at the beginning.
Storm hesitated, undecided. She really wanted to say that Magneto was probably being controlled and that even if he defeated Magneto, he'd best not take him away. But then she remembered that if Magneto woke up, she had no ability to rouse him, and things would only become more troublesome.
"What organization are you from? I think, after the Professor wakes up, we will meet again. We will take Erik back. The Mutants cannot lose him," Storm said uneasily in a low voice. "I still don't know your name."
A rare smile spread across Reynolds's lips, and he grew excited. "I am Rey—Sentry, a follower of Xenomorph Duwa. If you want to claim Magneto, my word doesn't count."
Du Wa?
Storm was shocked. She knew this person—the master of the Xenomorphs, the new Thunder God, the first person on Earth to continuously raise an army for an expedition to outer space. She also knew that Professor X had been paying attention to this young man.
But this being who called himself Sentry was absurdly powerful. He was also one of Du Wa's people? From the looks of it, he seemed extremely excited, as if he was very proud of it?
"My mission is complete. It's time to go back. If you want Magneto back, go find Du Wa, not me."
Reynolds grabbed Magneto and flew into the sky, instantly creating a sonic boom.
Countless satellites monitored his movements, watching him faithfully return by the same route. Even when landing, he descended precisely through the hole he himself had smashed in the roof.
At this moment, countless people had complicated expressions, and countless others were dumbfounded, finding the situation unbelievable.
Such a powerful individual was really one of Du Wa's people? How did Du Wa manage it? How did he do it? Could it be because of the Xenomorphs?
Tony Stark watched Reynolds fly away. "You S.H.I.E.L.D. guys, you're listening, right? If I were you, I'd give up on any funny ideas and focus all your energy on mending the relationship."
"Uncontrolled power is a time bomb. Placing all hope on the mood and morals of a powerful individual is the most foolish act," Fury said. "I will re-evaluate Du Wa. Likewise, Stark, I still suggest you seriously consider The Avengers. Earth cannot be without a powerful super-team."
Tony thought about it seriously. Fury was right.
The power of a team is greater than that of an individual. This is true in most cases, unless you encounter an enemy like Reynolds, where numbers largely lose their meaning.
"So, besides me, who else is on this team? A team you consider an ace must have a lot of powerful people," Tony asked.
"Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk." Fury held back for a moment before giving these three names.
"Sorry, my Mark V took some damage, it must have messed with my signal receiver—are you telling me the most powerful guy on the team you've assigned me is the Hulk? Ha, why do you think the Hulk is more reliable than Magneto? The ghosts of Westchester are watching you." Tony almost wanted to cut the communication and walk away.
This was a complete joke.
"Someone like Magneto would never join the Avengers. And even if he did, Stark, you wouldn't be able to sleep soundly." Fury's words paused.
"What a coincidence. With the Hulk around, I won't lose sleep easily, because I might just end up sleeping forever at any moment," Tony quipped sarcastically, and flew back to Stark Tower.
Only Fury was left, standing on the command deck of the Helicarrier with a grim expression, in a terrible mood.
This world was careening forward in an unpredictable direction, making even Fury feel vaguely uneasy.
"Xenomorph, Xenomorph... That madman Stryker, Magneto's rampage might be related to him, but there's no evidence for now. He had secret dealings with Du Wa before; they must have reached some consensus, perhaps a bargain related to the Xenomorphs..." Fury thought of the Magneto who had been taken away by Reynolds.
Professor X and Magneto announced their alliance during the day, and even had a brief conversation with Du Wa. That very night, both of them were terribly attacked. Professor X seemed to have been escorted away by the X-Men, while Magneto fell into Du Wa's hands.
Fury had every reason to suspect that all of this was Du Wa's doing, because judging by the outcome, Du Wa was the biggest beneficiary.
But the intermittent and fragmented clues simply couldn't be connected. Forcing them together would only make the matter more bizarre and chaotic.
"He uses war to establish his position and verify the value of the Xenomorphs. Thinking about it carefully, he's always done this, with no false modesty. Even the Asgardians approve of his logic." Coulson turned off the screen in front of him, feeling that the amount of information from today was a bit too much, so much that his head was spinning. He couldn't think of the best plan to resolve this turmoil.
From another perspective, there was no best plan at all. Only absolute power was free from deceit.
Fury suddenly fell into hesitation. In Coulson's eyes, this posture was like a pedestrian walking in a storm, hesitating whether to take out a long-treasured umbrella.
Not taking it out would save the umbrella, but his own fate would be difficult. Taking it out, the umbrella might be damaged and lose its value.
Coulson said nothing.
Finally, Fury let out a long breath. "It's not the most critical moment yet. I shouldn't contact her ahead of schedule."
Coulson was curious who 'she' was, but was smart enough not to ask. It wasn't something he was meant to know right now.
"So, how many people died in this battle?" Fury asked.
"Preliminary estimates are between three hundred thousand and six hundred thousand. The economic losses are currently incalculable," Coulson replied.
They would never know that if the Hulk had been the one to rampage, without Du Wa sending someone to stop him, the terrifying event of a million deaths would have occurred.
At the same time, in Kamar-Taj.
The mages, who had established a global magic array, of course knew what had happened.
The emergence of a new powerful individual was enough to attract the attention of this sacred land of magic, renowned throughout Earth and even the entire universe.
"There is no such thing as unearned power in this world. The magic arrays have already detected power originating from the Otherworld! Sorcerer Supreme, that human must be the problem!" Mordo said. It was unclear whether he was referring specifically to Du Wa or Reynolds, but they were essentially one and the same.
Du Wa can control Reynolds, turning him into a Xenomorph thrall. In that sense, Du Wa *is* Reynolds. But Reynolds could never be Du Wa. That was the simple calculus in the mind of a zealot like Mordo.
The Ancient One listened to the voice of the universe and slowly opened her eyes, a clear surprise within them.
"It is indeed the power of the Otherworld. The person with the Xenomorph in his body is the coordinate connecting to an unknown universe," the Ancient One nodded gently.
The great responsibility of Kamar-Taj is to monitor all activity from the Otherworld, including the dimensional demon gods of this universe.
Mordo said, "Perhaps a demon god from another universe has already infiltrated our world through those coordinates."
"Or perhaps not."
The Ancient One said softly, "But I have found nothing. What do you want to do, capture Du Wa and all his Xenomorphs? What would Asgard think of us? What would the people of the mortal realm think of us? Du Wa wouldn't just sit back and wait for death, either. He is constantly making all sorts of preparations."
"But—"
"No buts. You should continue to track Kaecilius."
The Ancient One gazed at the distant mountains and murmured in a voice only she could hear, "Because the time is drawing near... I need someone like him, who is always prepared."
(end of chapter)
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