Chapter 97: This is a Father-Son Showdown; Learn to Cherish It.
To put it simply, the people of Earth in this era had no deep understanding of how terrifying creatures like the Symbiotes truly were.
They were completely unaware of the fact that these things could bond with gods.
Certain people still thought of the Symbiotes' function in terms of parasitizing humans, boosting combat power, and forcibly manipulating or eroding the mind.
They still regarded Grendel as the strongest individual among the Symbiotes.
This was quite logical. After all, Grendel, who had traversed the universe carrying Knull's consciousness to Earth only to be struck down by Thor's hammer, was definitely a powerful being among all Symbiotes. But apart from a very small number of people like Du Wa, no one else knew that a monster like Knull even existed.
Rumble!
The moment the Celestial appeared, even as a half-crippled Celestial that had just been repaired and possessed less than half its peak strength, it was enough to shake the entire globe.
Tony Stark, personally piloting this armor that stood several hundred meters tall, began to wantonly clear out the Symbiotes. He was simply unstoppable, sweeping away everything with absolute violence and power.
The giant he piloted could, with a mere wave of its hand, blast away the massive swarms of Symbiotes obscuring the sky, tearing open a large stretch of blue.
"It's too powerful. This thing can unleash such incredible power after I've only barely repaired it. I really can't imagine how strong it would be if it were meticulously modified and restored to its full strength!"
Tony was currently piloting the Celestial from within, and he was deeply shaken by the immense power of this armor.
As his highly advanced brain processed the situation, he couldn't help but think that if he could fully possess this armor, he could surely fight against a god, right?
For a fleeting moment, Tony even felt like he had become a god... and that wasn't entirely an illusion. To wield the remains of one of the Celestials, even with high-tech modifications that lowered the control difficulty at the price of its upper limit, one would still need a super-brain capable of instantly processing vast amounts of information and reacting in real-time. Only then could one truly pilot this Celestial Armor.
And Tony had just such a brain.
He was like a god of war, a continuous stream of immense energy erupting from within the armor. The slightest discharge of this energy was a devastating blow that annihilated countless Symbiotes.
Even Ares would have to bow his head in acknowledgment.
"Tony, the enemy's main offensive is focused on New York. A large number of Symbiotes are still descending from the sky, and those two Thors alone can't hold back such numbers... I see Reynolds and the other Xenomorphs with the ability to fly have also rushed into the sky."
Dr. Banner's fingers flew across the keyboard on the Helicarrier, constantly analyzing the massive amounts of data refreshing rapidly on dozens of screens. He hadn't transformed into the Hulk to join the battle but was instead serving as a technician, helping to offload Tony's computing power and monitor the status of the Celestial Armor.
Fury stood on the control platform, separated by countless partitions, monitoring Banner's every move. With his single, cold eye, he stared at the data that he couldn't actually comprehend.
It didn't matter that he couldn't understand it. He only needed to know that the plan to use this robot of mysterious origin to create a super-weapon had succeeded.
Furthermore, the strength this robot was currently displaying was only what it could achieve after initial modifications. If they could use the experience from this real-world battle to formulate a more detailed and appropriate modification plan, and then invest more time, more energy, and more advanced technology into it, the combat power it could unleash would inevitably be even greater.
This meant that S.H.I.E.L.D. finally had a weapon capable of confronting a god head-on.
"If a mortal like Tony Stark can pilot this armor, then I can find others who can as well... Once the modifications are complete, I just need to send in someone with a super-brain to take Tony's place. This kind of shareable, immense power is far better than those so-called powerful individuals," Fury's mind rapidly assessed.
"You want S.H.I.E.L.D. to control the Celestial Armor? But Tony won't agree. The entire Avengers will oppose it. You've already lost their trust by using the Tesseract to create copies of me."
The real Captain America stood beside Fury.
"I will have a good talk with him. I gave him this thing of unknown history not for him to claim as his own or to unilaterally assign to The Avengers," Fury said.
"What about me, then? What's your plan?" Captain America hesitated for a moment.
"Your copies are a failed product. I will remove a fragment from the Tesseract and implant it directly into you. You will become the new Captain Marvel... one even more powerful than the one I knew."
Captain America didn't know any Captain Marvel, but he could only remain silent. If the world situation hadn't escalated to this point, with enemies far beyond the imagination of ordinary people, he would never have accepted Fury's proposal.
But he had no choice. He could only find ways to make himself stronger, exceptionally strong—strong enough to fight any enemy, even a god, and protect the Earth.
Fury paid Captain America no more heed, his mind flashing with all sorts of dark thoughts. It was his instinct as the head of all agents, always calculating for the worst-case scenario.
"For now, let's kill this swarm of Symbiotes that has gathered around us. We can't let them destroy our Helicarrier. I imagine no one enjoys free-falling."
But the war itself would not develop according to Fury's plans.
Soon, several symbiote dragons were drawn toward the Anti-Celestial Armor. They flew with agility, continuously launching attacks against the armor.
The symbiote dragons' attacks were far more than simple bites. Their bodies constantly shed raindrop-like Symbiotes, which incessantly tried to attach to the Celestial Armor.
"These damn things want to parasitize me. I can't let them infiltrate the armor's interior. Luckily, I prepared sealing technology in advance and sealed up all the damaged parts of this armor. I refuse to believe these Symbiotes can achieve infiltration at a microscopic level, passing directly through the armor's surface to appear before me."
Tony said with a hint of showing off. The abilities of Symbiotes were no secret: possess a living being, greatly enhance its combat power, and then take control and erode its consciousness.
Tony felt that since he had already considered this point, how could the Symbiotes possibly counter it?
He had carefully studied the material of the Celestial's body and was certain that it was a creation beyond ordinary imagination. Even Tony, asking himself honestly, admitted he couldn't create such a thing... for now.
He didn't think these Symbiotes could bypass this armor.
Immediately, Tony controlled the armor to suddenly erupt with an energy wave. Its several-hundred-meter-tall body was like a blooming sun, and in a brilliant flash, it turned the dense, raindrop-like Symbiotes on its surface to nothingness.
He even casually wiped out a symbiote dragon.
But soon, even more symbiote dragons pounced the moment he retracted the energy, piling on top of each other, layer after layer, completely surrounding the armor.
Many people, including Tony, believed that these creatures wanted to infiltrate the Celestial Armor, destroy it from within, and even control its pilot, Tony.
"These guys still haven't given up? What single-minded creatures. It seems they lack complex thought."
Dr. Banner, wearing his glasses, had a look of confusion.
These Symbiotes were far inferior to the Xenomorphs. By comparison, the Xenomorphs were the perfect organism.
Any single Xenomorph, even if it didn't evolve into a Queen to reproduce for the species, was a highly efficient operational unit in its own right, capable of acting with almost machine-like precision and efficiency.
Only Du Wa sent a warning to Tony at this moment.
"Their target isn't you, it's this Celestial."
"Celestial? Is that the name of this super robot? From the sound of it, they're a race?" Tony immediately pressed, curious about the robot's origin.
"They are a race of Celestials, cosmic gods who share a common origin. The vast majority of them are mechanical Celestials, but there may be a very small number of flesh-and-blood Celestials. I can't be certain on that point."
Du Wa sat comfortably in his beloved lounge chair, picked up a kettle, and casually heated some water. "But I must remind you, Symbiotes don't just parasitize living things. They can possess and control mechanical bodies as well. Everything you can do now, they can do too, if they succeed."
"What? That's incredible! These things with their primitive minds actually know how to control such a complex machine? You know, even I find it strenuous to control, and I need time to familiarize myself with it to unleash more of its power. These Symbiotes would probably need tens of thousands of years of training to remember how to pilot it precisely with their primitive minds."
"Wrong again. It would be instantaneous. Since you can manipulate a Celestial, the god behind the Symbiotes can too. His understanding of the Celestials is only greater than yours."
Tony's face paled in horror. This completely shattered his perception.
Symbiotes—no matter how you looked at them, these things only seemed to have meaning for flesh-and-blood life. How could they control machines? And there was a Symbiote god behind the scenes who could get the Symbiotes to quickly master the Celestial's remains?
Du Wa said nothing more, merely watching Tony as he was surrounded by the swarm of Symbiotes.
This scene was not necessarily Loki's handiwork. Loki likely wouldn't even recognize one of the Celestials; he'd be lucky to have even heard of them.
But Knull recognized them. The first thing he did upon awakening from the darkness was to cut down a Celestial. In the countless years of war that followed, he had been ganged up on by the Celestials many times and had been defeated more than a few times.
Knull knew very well the value of a single Celestial. For him, who was currently in a weakened state and desperately needed an extremely powerful combat unit, the Celestial Armor was something he absolutely could not let go of.
However, Du Wa would not agree. Although he wasn't particularly interested in the Celestials himself—his Xenomorphs were unlikely to be able to parasitize these beings that might or might not be silicon-based life, and forcing it would mean starting a war and losing a greater number of powerful Xenomorphs, a complete loss.
Unless one day, Du Wa could cultivate a specific branch of his Xenomorph species capable of parasitizing mechanical life. Then there would be no problem.
Du Wa watched as the Celestial Armor was gradually engulfed by a massive number of Symbiotes, its movements becoming sluggish and contradictory.
"Bad news, guys. My control index over the armor has dropped by thirteen percentage points, and it's still falling," Tony said quickly. "If nothing changes, we're about to lose this weapon. Maybe I should fly out of Earth, find the Symbiotes' nest, and self-destruct?"
Even his efficiency at clearing the surrounding Symbiotes had decreased significantly.
Fury immediately dispatched the Howling Commandos to close in on Tony, trying to use these non-human teams to relieve his burden.
But unfortunately, Loki had also arranged for millions of Symbiotes to block the area around Tony.
Even the Helicarrier where Fury was located was being invaded by Symbiotes. A large number of fighter jets had already taken off to engage in aerial combat, but it was foreseeable that their fall was only a matter of time. The Symbiotes had come too fast and too ferociously, and there were simply too many of them. Nowhere in the world was safe, except for Du Wa's Weyland Tower, which was relatively secure.
"This is a major intelligence failure. None of us expected them to be able to control machines. Du Wa, on the other hand, was the first to warn us... We absolutely cannot let the Symbiotes get that armor, or it's over."
Heroes continuously tried to rescue Tony, but unfortunately, their efforts were insignificant in the face of absolute numbers.
Just as Tony was about to be surrounded and devoured by the sea of Symbiotes, and this salvaged and repaired Celestial was about to turn its guns on humanity...
"In the end, I still couldn't stop it... I can't let Knull succeed. Otherwise, the enemy will gain at least a Skyfather-level combat unit. A Celestial under Knull's control would definitely be stronger than it is under Tony's control now. It wouldn't be like this, only able to exert clumsy combat power, looking strong but having one-dimensional attacks and many weaknesses."
With just a thought from Du Wa, a massive number of Xenomorphs charged forward ferociously, climbing onto the Celestial Armor like swarming ants and efficiently clearing away the Symbiotes.
The giant robot seemed to instantly become the absolute core of a localized war.
Some of the lowest-level Messenger Xenomorphs charged forward, heedless of the cost. The moment they were about to be devoured, they would rip their own bodies apart, splashing large amounts of blood and causing numerous Symbiotes to shriek in agony from the corrosion, thereby opening a path for other Xenomorphs.
In a war that started with tens of millions of combatants, the life of an individual was utterly insignificant. Only by inflicting a certain amount of damage could a death be considered valuable.
While the Xenomorphs suffered heavy casualties, even more were being continuously born. They emerged from the ocean and the rainforests, carrying the genes of different hosts, but they all upheld a single mission, followed the guidance of a single will, and poured all their passion into sacrifice, using their own flesh and blood to lift that man high.
In truth, the number of Xenomorphs was far less than the Symbiotes, but as time went on, this dynamic shifted. The numerical gap between the two sides gradually closed, and the total number of Xenomorphs successfully broke five million.
Now, even more giants let out strange roars, using all sorts of divine powers and magic as they charged majestically toward the base of the Celestial Armor.
"I'm saved. I have to once again offer you my sincere thanks. I overestimated this armor's combat style. If I survive this, I'm going to give it a full upgrade and completely integrate Jarvis into it," Tony said, a little dejected.
He thought he had become a god, at least at the Skyfather level, but reality had shown him that he was a pale imitation of a Skyfather.
"You're thanking me too soon. All my favors must be repaid," said Du Wa.
Outer Space.
"It seems the plan has failed. So that thing is the famous Celestial... No wonder Knull was so persistent. But Du Wa is also very cunning, not giving Knull a single opportunity."
Loki perceived the progress of the battle from afar, and watching this proxy duel between the two with a unique perspective was a real eye-opener.
This was another form of combat between two faction leaders.
For now, Du Wa had won a complete victory. But Loki wondered what Du Wa would use to resist Knull once he reclaimed his body and ruled all of Klyntar as a cosmic god.
"My decision not to descend to Earth was the correct one. Otherwise, if anyone discovered my whereabouts, they would never let me go."
Loki made up his mind. As soon as the Symbiotes were mostly dead, regardless of how many powerful life forms they captured on Earth or how much power they seized, he would immediately retreat. Someone like him would never sacrifice his own life for Knull.
But unfortunately, countless people wanted him to stay here forever.
Thor, weaving through the endless ocean of Symbiotes in search of Loki, failed to find any trace of him.
But Du Wa could. Don't forget, he still had Grendel and numerous Symbiote-Xenomorphs to act as a medium.
As several consciousnesses searched rapidly, by the time Loki received these signals and realized something was wrong, two figures were already rushing toward his position at high speed.
Both of these figures were surging with powerful divine energy.
"Female Thor and... Laufey..."
Loki, who had just calmly taken out the Casket of Ancient Winters, immediately froze, caught in a dilemma. He sensed a connection in his bloodline to this Xenomorph he had never seen before and instantly knew who he was facing.
This was a father-son showdown.
(end of chapter)