However, at that critical moment—
"Oh? Looks like I arrived just in time, little lab rats~"
A lazy, strangely accented female voice rang out as if it were speaking directly inside everyone's minds—crystal clear, even drowning out the roar of the battlefield.
Then, from within the shadow cast by Abomination's thick arm as he gripped Tony—
Something changed abruptly!
Several razor-sharp shadow spikes—like they were condensed from pure darkness and malice—shot out without warning! They weren't physical, yet they radiated a soul-chilling cold. Unerringly, they pierced toward the tendons and nerve clusters in Abomination's wrist!
Splurt—!
This wasn't a probe. The shadow spikes carried an extremely vicious power—corrosive, disintegrating. Abomination's tough hide, so resilient that even armor-piercing rounds struggled to leave deep marks, was punctured as easily as a hot knife through butter! Dark green blood sprayed like a fountain, accompanied by Abomination's furious, agonized howl!
"GRAAAH!! My hand!"
Under that searing pain, Abomination reflexively loosened his grip.
Tony felt the pressure on his chest vanish. Survival instinct kicked in—he forced what remained of his working thrusters to fire and flung himself backward, tumbling messily onto open ground dozens of meters away. He lay there gasping, shaken, staring toward the source of the sudden upheaval.
Every set of eyes—including Hulk's, who had just turned his attention over—snapped to the edge of the battlefield, to the broken remains of a half-destroyed building.
There, at some point unknown to anyone, stood a woman with a graceful, alluring figure.
She had long, dark-green hair arranged into a complex, elegant style, with a few strands falling loose like swaying serpent tongues. Her face was eerie and beautiful; her emerald eyes were like bottomless pools, glittering with intelligence, curiosity, and a languid superiority—as if she could see through life itself. She wore black-and-green attire that looked like a research uniform and, at the same time, some kind of mysterious formal dress, outlining a mature, voluptuous silhouette. In her hand she toyed with a test tube that seemed to be formed from flowing green energy. A playful smile curled at her lips as she studied the wreckage below with evident interest.
It was Mobius!
"Another annoying bug?!" Abomination clutched his bleeding wrist and whipped around toward Mobius, his lone eye overflowing with bloodthirsty intent. "I'll tear you into pieces!"
Hulk also paused his roaring for a moment, tilting his massive head in puzzlement at this new "tiny thing" that radiated an aura his instincts warned him to be wary of.
Tony lay on the ground, peering through his shattered faceplate at that green figure. JARVIS reported urgently: "Sir, unable to identify target! Unknown energy spectrum! Unknown structural composition! Threat level… cannot be estimated! Extremely dangerous!"
Mobius seemed to ignore Abomination's threat and Hulk's stare entirely. Her gaze flicked over Abomination, swept past Hulk, and finally lingered for a brief moment on Tony's ruined armor. The curve of her smile deepened, like she'd found an interesting toy.
"A crude imitation full of defects," she sighed at Abomination, almost regretful. "A primitive lifeform driven by raw emotion—decent potential, but zero control," she added, appraising Hulk. Then her eyes returned to Tony. "And you… hmm. A clever design philosophy, but the materials and application scenario are disastrously mismatched… a 'craftwork,' perhaps?"
Her voice had that distinct, slightly drawn-out cadence—lazy, yet perfectly clear—like she was categorizing lab rats and sticking labels on their cages. That absolute, inhuman scrutiny sent an inexplicable chill through everyone (and every monster) who heard it.
"Hehe. This world's 'experimental samples' are unexpectedly… diverse~"
Those flippant remarks—like she was reviewing specimens—completely ignited Abomination's rage. He ignored the pain in his wrist, bellowed, and charged at the shattered wall Mobius stood upon like an out-of-control heavy truck, smashing his huge fist down with the force to pulverize everything!
"Something that doesn't know when it's dead." A trace of boredom flashed through Mobius's emerald eyes. She didn't even move her feet—only her shadow writhed.
The next instant, her figure appeared on another stretch of ruins dozens of meters away, still poised and elegant.
Abomination's punch hit nothing, blasting the already unstable wall into dust.
"A stinking bug that only dodges!" Abomination roared, snatching chunks of rubble and hurling them at Mobius like a storm.
Mobius chuckled. With a light tap of a slender finger in midair, the shadow before her seemed to come alive—expanding and twisting into a flowing shield of darkness that swallowed and erased every stone in utter silence.
"Attack patterns are simplistic. Emotional control is poor. Energy utilization is crude…" Mobius shook her head. "As expected—another failed copy."
She seemed to lose most of her interest in Abomination, turning instead to Hulk, who was low growling beside them, muscles swelling and his green hue deepening.
"And you? A lifeform driven by something as primitive as anger—where is your limit?" True research excitement glittered in Mobius's eyes. She decided on a deeper "test."
This time, she didn't simply evade—she attacked.
With a casual raise of her hand, twisted, ominous green lightning burst from her palm like living venomous snakes, lashing toward Hulk! This lightning wasn't a force of nature. It carried a double property—corroding mind and body alike—an application of Honkai energy called "Soul-Devouring Thunder."
"HULK!!!" Feeling the threat, Hulk roared and swung a fist to meet it!
Green lightning collided with his massive punch, erupting in a blinding flash! Hulk's body convulsed violently as he howled in pain; the surface of his fist charred black, and threads of green energy even tried to bore into his body—only to be forced out and annihilated by his ferocious vitality.
But unlike before, after taking the hit, the green in Hulk's eyes grew even thicker. His body visibly expanded again—his muscles knotting into an even more terrifying mass—and the pressure of power rolling off him spiked sharply!
"Oh? So that's how it is!" Mobius looked not startled, but delighted. Her emerald eyes shone brilliantly. "Anger really is an excellent catalyst! Growth far beyond expectations! A perfect experimental sample!"
Mobius licked her lips—almost sensually—and at the same time tilted her head to avoid a sneak punch from Abomination at her side. With a backhanded sweep, another shadow spike shot out, punching through Abomination's abdomen and launching him away. He crashed through several buildings before finally coming to a stop.
Hulk thundered in and attacked again, swinging a fist at Mobius. It looked like she wouldn't be able to dodge in time—Tony, and the countless onlookers watching through every kind of media feed, were about to cry out—
But Mobius raised her delicate hand and casually stopped Hulk's punch.
Hulk froze. He stared at his basin-sized fist, then at her arm—thin as a sugarcane stalk, seeming like it could snap with the slightest touch. He simply couldn't imagine how such a hand could block his attack.
The reason was simple: Mobius was not human—at least, not purely human.
She was a Fusion Warrior. Within her body were fused the genes of the Judgment-class Honkai Beast Shesha. And in the world of Honkai, every Judgment-class Honkai Beast was a monster capable of easily wiping out an entire city—silicon-based lifeforms over a hundred meters in size.
"Excuse me—could this little lab rat please not get so close? A brute-force brawl doesn't suit my aesthetic~"
Mobius released another bolt of lightning. With a deafening boom, a massive pillar of green electricity blasted Hulk away. The beam pressed into his chest, grinding him across the ground and carving a deep trench before slamming him into the rubble nearby.
(End of Chapter)
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