The Talon was slightly stunned for a second, his head filled with immense confusion.
Zane didn't counterattack immediately. He first encased Gene in crystals, leaving only his eyes, mouth, and nose exposed. Then, he bent down, picked up the broken sword from the ground, and easily snapped it again with a gentle fold. "They say the Court of Owls is a massive and wealthy organization. How can they be so stingy with their subordinates?"
"Later, when I convert you into..."
Before Zane could even finish half his sentence, the Talon over there suddenly let out a roar. Immediately after, he pulled out several throwing darts from his waist and threw them all within two seconds.
The sound of whoosh, whoosh, whoosh piercing the air rang out, and these darts accurately struck Zane right between the eyebrows.
The latter dart pressed against the tail end of the former. Once the mechanism was triggered, the darts instantly exploded. For a moment, flames burst forth and thick smoke filled the entire office.
However, where there's smoke, there's definitely no damage. After the smoke and dust cleared, Zane was still standing there safe and sound, even having the leisure to continue his previous sentence: "After I convert you, I'll definitely give you the best sword to use."
"Whether it's an Nth Metal blade or a demonic sword enchanted with Dark Elements, just name it. Being my underling comes with lots of perks..."
"Shut up!" The Talon had never seen anyone who, during a battle, didn't throw a single punch but just stood there blabbering at the enemy.
A ruthless glint flashed in the Talon's eyes. Then, he moved his body nimbly, shifting behind Zsasz like a gymnastics champion.
Immediately following, he knocked Zsasz, who had barely reacted, to the ground with a single punch. He then snatched the latter's two submachine guns, aimed at Zane, and pulled the triggers.
The pitch-black muzzles of the submachine guns pumped out orange-red tongues of fire, and countless bullets poured out.
With a thought from Zane, his body composed of pure crystals rapidly grew outward in all directions, forming a curved hemispherical dome in just one second.
The bullets struck the crystals and, after one or two reflections, all ricocheted back in the direction they came from.
The pfft pfft sounds of bullets piercing flesh rang out endlessly. The Talon's eyes almost popped out in anger. He pulled out a specially made grenade from his waist.
The muscles in his right arm bulged as the Talon forcefully threw this grenade that looked like an iron pineapple.
With quick eyes and swift hands, Zane extended his arm with the speed of lightning. Then, a pale green crystal rapidly grew from the front end of his arm, enveloping the grenade.
Bang!
After a muffled sound, Zane retracted his arm, and everyone present was completely fine.
"Ahhhhh!! You monster, I'm going to tear you to pieces, then polish your severed limbs into jewelry and sell them to a jeweler!"
The Talon broke his character of cherishing words like gold, and even his cursing technique ascended to a new level. It completely didn't sound like something a brainless zombie could say.
Hmm... It seems he's so angry his brain is about to grow back.
What a miracle doctor!
"Die!" The Talon glared with bloodshot eyes, rushing to Zane's side with an almost bizarre footwork. Then, like a whirlwind, he continuously struck Zane's body.
The crisp ding ding dang dang sounds rang out incessantly. Zane stood there, looking at the Talon swinging his fists at him like an elementary school kid, and for a moment, he didn't even know what to say.
After a few seconds of silence, Zane got a bit bored and decided to end this meaningless battle.
"Alright, Talon, are you done hitting?"
"Now, it should be my turn."
Zane extended his arm, and the Talon immediately retreated. However, Zane's crystalline arm unreasonably extended by a meter, forcefully dragging the Talon back.
Gripping the Talon's shoulder, he bent down slightly, lowered his center of gravity, shifted his right arm back, and then exerted a sudden burst of force, throwing the Talon out at high speed.
Bang!
Carried by this massive kinetic energy, the Talon's entire body was forcefully embedded into the wall.
With the Talon at the center, pitch-black cracks continuously shattered outward like a spiderweb.
Like a captured prey.
The growth of the crystals let out a creaking sound. Zane aimed both hands at the Talon on the wall over there and shot out four crystalline blades with a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The front ends of these four crystalline blades were as sharp and thin as daggers, becoming thicker toward the tail end.
At this moment, they deeply pierced the Talon's hands and feet, firmly pinning him to the wall, unable to move.
Diamondhead's crystals were incredibly hard, and Gene's office wasn't some shoddy construction either. Even with the power of Electrum and the Dionesium factor, the Talon could only rage incompetently for a while, unable to break free.
Zane took two steps forward, switched the Omnitrix to capture mode, and then gently touched the Talon's chest with the dial.
In the transformed state, the basic functions of the Omnitrix could still be used normally.
"Unknown DNA captured... Calculating, estimated calculation time: 34 minutes and 27 seconds..."
A stream of green data surged on the dial, and countless codes ran rapidly.
Zane wasn't actually surprised that it could capture something as bizarre as a Talon.
Although Talons were artificially created (by mixing a slight amount of Dionesium factor with Electrum coins, embedding them into the teeth, and letting it seep into the blood cells year after year to complete the creation, while preservation relied on Mr. Freeze's cryogenic technology).
But the Omnitrix could even capture aliens composed purely of sound waves, and even the genes of cosmic entities like Alien X, let alone a Talon.
Obviously, the so-called "DNA" captured by the Omnitrix was a very broad and abstract concept.
With the DNA in hand, Zane didn't stop his movements.
He took a step back and whispered an incantation.
As the incantation was chanted, Dark Elements surged out like floodwaters. Zane's shining diamond body was shrouded in a purplish-black mist. Two creatures with extremely hideous and terrifying appearances, resembling blood-colored eels covered in bone spurs, drilled out from his back.
"What the fuck!" Watching this scene unfold, even the highly experienced Zsasz felt a chill run down his spine and couldn't help but curse.
He took a few steps back, stood with his employer Gene, and asked, "Gene, tell me the truth, what is this guy's background?"
"I... I don't know!" Gene, protected by the crystals, was also chattering his teeth.
Outside the wall, the teenager and the young man once again looked at each other... Huh?
First, they were surprised to see their old acquaintance Zsasz. Then they were shocked to see Zane transform into Diamondhead. Now, seeing Diamondhead suddenly turn dark on the spot, they were just straight-up terrified.
"God, are we going in?" The teenager forcefully pushed his jaw back into place and asked.
"Not yet. Don't judge a book by its cover. Although this guy... really looks like a supervillain, he has no intention of harming Gene. Let's first see how he plans to deal with the Talon."
The young man decided to play it safe.
I just left Gotham for a few months, how did such a terrifying guy pop up in this place again?
He couldn't help but think.
The camera shifted back to Zane. With a thought, the two dark creatures on his back, which looked as if they had swum out of a hellish sea of blood, opened their bloody maws, bared their fangs, and bit down hard on the Talon's head.
The sound of flesh tearing rang out continuously. In just the span of a breath, the Talon was left without a head.
But that wasn't all. Zane manipulated the crystals on his arm to grow and removed a vertical crystal about a meter high and five centimeters in length and width.
The Dark Elements surged like dark clouds and were entirely absorbed by the crystal. Then, Zane stabbed the dark crystal into the stump on the Talon's neck, and his right arm transformed into a giant crystal hammer.
Bang!
With one swing of the hammer, the immortality lost its effect, and the Talon was completely dead!
And next, the conversion was about to begin...