Hearing Robbie's explanation, Luca on the other end of the comms wasn't too surprised.
From seeing the demons split apart, to witnessing their feeble strength, there were only a few possibilities.
What Luca cared about more was...
"I don't recall giving you a comms earpiece, did I?"
Robbie: "..."
Luca asked this over the comms channel again.
However, this time, Robbie acted like he didn't hear it.
"..."
After a long pause, seeing that Si Bei wasn't relaying the question and Luca wasn't speaking further—as if planning to wait him out—Robbie finally cracked.
Awkwardly, he spoke up.
"Hellfire... it can help me 'enliven' certain electronic devices, allowing me to eavesdrop on your calls..."
As he spoke, Robbie reached a hand up to the ear hole of his flaming skull and dug out a metal earpiece wrapped in fire.
As the flames receded, it looked like a completely ordinary Bluetooth earpiece. It wasn't even clear if it had any battery left.
"Good lord. A paranormal-tech Ghost Rider? With an ability like that, why are you playing with chains?"
Behind the screen, Luca roasted him helplessly.
However, the reason he wasn't panicked was that the situation was basically under control.
Since Robbie wasn't pulling any tricks behind their backs, the priority was still to resolve the crisis.
"Si Bei, give that guy a gun."
After instructing Si Bei, Luca didn't beat around the bush. He asked directly over the comms channel:
"Since these demons don't have souls, where do you think their souls went?"
At the very least, Luca was certain that before Mephisto used them, these demons possessed souls.
If the souls dissipated due to the splitting, that would be simple. If they were hiding among the horde, it would just take some effort to clear them out.
But if they had been taken away...
However, just as Luca asked the question...
BOOM~
A loud crash.
Gwen's figure smashed through a side wall, tumbling into the room in a sorry state.
Immediately following her, two exceptionally muscular demons burst through the wall.
"Cough, cough... These two demons are different from the others!"
Gwen, lying on the ground, pushed herself up with difficulty. Even her Ghost-Spider suit was torn in places.
"Okay, no need to confirm. It seems that after splitting, the majority of the power and the soul remains with the main body."
Behind the screen, Luca gave the answer decisively.
No need to think about it—with Gwen's strength, there was no way she'd be battered like this by two "one-percent" demons.
"Si Bei!"
At Luca's command, Si Bei slapped his palms onto the ground after rapidly forming seals.
THUD.
The next moment, two giant snakes burst from the floor, biting down firmly on the two demons in front of them.
Nearby, the "Arbiter" pistol that Si Bei had summoned and tossed to Robbie was instantly infused with Hellfire.
The originally high-tech gun melted and deformed rapidly. Not only did it swell in size, but the casing also grew rough, punk-style decorations.
As Robbie pulled the trigger...
The muzzle no longer fired the usual green ion beam.
Instead, compressed crimson flames blasted through the demon pinned by the giant snake.
The Hellfire erupted inside its body, incinerating the demon completely.
The other bound demon was swiftly beheaded by Si Bei.
This time, a massive amount of Demon Blood surged from the dead demon, rapidly absorbing into the ruby on the [Dr. Faust] hat.
Through the surveillance feed, watching the other demon turn to ash—wasting who knows how much Demon Blood because the Ghost Rider killed it—Luca's mouth twitched.
But ultimately, he didn't dwell on it.
At the same time, through more surveillance angles, Luca noticed something.
As these two demons possessing souls were killed, all the demons on the battlefield outside that looked like them turned to ash.
So they're networked remotely? That makes things easier!
Luca thought.
But before he could speak, the Ghost Rider, Robbie, volunteered.
"At close range, I can distinguish which demons possess souls..."
"No need!"
Luca cut Robbie off halfway.
Ignoring Robbie's reaction, Luca called Tony Stark directly.
"Tony, is that signal amplifier you made still around?"
On the other end, Tony, who had been on the comms channel the whole time, naturally knew what Luca wanted to do.
He abandoned the demon he had just blasted with a unibeam and flew rapidly into the sky.
"Kid, wait for it."
As he spoke, Tony flew a high-speed lap around the Aurantius Tower.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
From the special missile pods on the back of the Mark armor, a dozen micro-signal probes shot out, distributing themselves neatly around the building.
The moment the last probe lit up, a complete 3D projection of the building appeared on the virtual screen in front of Luca.
Of course, that wasn't the main point.
As the 3D projection appeared, numerous red dots symbolizing individual souls also manifested.
"Hajimi, filter out human souls!"
Having researched soul positioning for so many days with the intention of fishing specific souls out of Hell, how could Luca and Tony lack the means to detect souls?
It was just that earlier, the field was full of demons, so there was no need to use it.
Now, with the soul positioning device activated, in less than a second, Hajimi highlighted the remaining demon main bodies.
"1, 2... 13. Not bad. Counting the two dead ones, the numbers match!"
"Attention all units. Enemies locked. Eliminate them!"
At Luca's command, the Shield Squad, Si Bei, Gwen, Robbie, and even the drones all sprang into action.
Well, except for Tony, who grumbled unhappily about "doing this only because it's your turf" and "Uncle Tony is the real leader" before locking onto a target and charging out.
In reality, once the demon main bodies lost the cover of their clones and were already weakened, the outcome of the battle was no longer in doubt.
By the time the group finished slaughtering all the demons, the New York dawn hadn't even broken yet.
However, the sun not rising didn't mean the massive commotion at Aurantius Tower went unnoticed.
Just as Luca was yawning and ordering his Haro Engineering Team to clean up the site...
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, with absolutely no regard for noise pollution, appeared directly above the Aurantius Tower, its massive rotors roaring.
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