A Gathering of Heroes (Part Two)

"Gasp…" The Phantom Demon’s sharp intake of breath rang in Peter’s mind. Peter asked her, "What is it?"

"Nothing. Maybe it was just my imagination, but why does that skeleton’s power feel familiar?"

Just then, chains tore through New York’s dark night sky. The flaming skull rode a motorcycle, carving a bright arc of light through the air.

The rooftop where the motorcycle landed was less than two hundred meters from Peter’s building. When Peter saw its flaming eye sockets, he felt as though his soul was about to be sucked in.

"It really is him!" The Phantom Demon’s astonished voice rang out in Peter’s mind. "That’s Mephisto’s power! The Lord of the Hell Dimension has descended???"

"Mephisto?" Peter said uncertainly. "I think I’ve heard my friend mention that name before. Something about the Lord of Hell…"

"Mephisto is an immensely powerful Dimensional Demon God, one of the strongest among all Dimensional Demon Gods. His Hell Dimension burns year-round with raging hellfire. Any creature bold enough to challenge him will be reduced to ashes by those flames…"

As she spoke, the Phantom Demon’s tone became deeply puzzled. "Why would Mephisto’s apostle appear here? Could it be…"

Her voice grew lower and lower. "Could it be that Knull has broken free? Did he strike a deal with Mephisto?"

Then she muttered to herself, "It’s not impossible. Mephisto loves making deals with others. He has trading partners throughout the universe. If that’s really the case, then this is trouble. I have to notify the Agents of the Cosmos immediately…"

"Wait!… Why are those two fighting??"

Along with the Phantom Demon’s shocked voice, the flaming skull swung its chains, wrapping them directly around Riot, who was shrouded in a black curtain. Then it stared into Riot’s eyes with its burning sockets and said, "You are guilty! Die!"

Riot clearly had not expected an uninvited guest to appear while he was unleashing his power, but it did not interrupt his movements. He continued chanting, "The great Creator is about to descend. The world will ultimately be swallowed by chaos and darkness…"

"That skeleton is actually on our side??? Unfortunately, he’s only Mephisto’s apostle. It seems he can’t interrupt Knull’s descending power. Looks like I need to call for backup…"

"BOOM!!!!"

A deafening crash that shook the ground rang out. Peter turned to look and saw a massive figure leap into the battlefield amid a cloud of dust in the distance. His muscles bulged all over his body, and he was incomparably strong. More importantly, his entire body was a vivid crimson.

"Wait?? That’s Cyttorak’s power??? Is he the Lord of the Crimson Dimension’s apostle???"

The Phantom Demon sounded close to breaking down. "Why is Cyttorak here too??? Mephisto, Cyttorak… who’s next? Dormammu?? Chthon???"

"What is going on??? Is this a meeting of Demon Gods???"

Before her words had even faded, another wave of black mist rose in the distance. Peter turned again and saw a figure floating amid endless black fog. As the darkness flashed away, Mordo landed, his voice cold and low as it echoed around everyone’s ears. "I have come on the orders of Dormammu, Lord of the Dark Dimension…"

Strange and the Phantom Demon said together, "Dormammu?!"

"Mordo! Have you gone mad?!" A mage behind Strange shouted. "You betrayed the Sorcerer Supreme and joined Dormammu?!"

Mordo did not look too pleased either. Expressionlessly, he said to Strange, "Dormammu asked me to ask you why the Sanctum Sanctorum’s phone can’t get through. His… his…"

Mordo stammered for a long time, seemingly unable to figure out how to say that word. But Strange immediately understood. "The return rate, right? We already negotiated it down to 7.2 before. Honestly, that’s already our bottom line. If he keeps making harassing calls, we can’t give in anymore…"

Then he came back to his senses and looked at Mordo. "Wait, how did you become Dormammu’s apostle? Aren’t you afraid Teacher will be angry???"

"The Sorcerer Supreme did not choose me, so naturally I had to find another path… Strange, we’ll settle our score later."

As he spoke, Mordo turned his gaze toward Riot, who floated in midair. Peter and the Phantom Demon heard him say, "A god descending? What audacity."

Peter hurriedly jumped down and asked him, "What’s going on? What is that Symbiote trying to do?"

Mordo stared at Riot in the air. "The Demon God behind him seems to be trying to open a passage and descend."

"That’s impossible!" The Phantom Demon denied it through Peter’s mouth. "Knull is imprisoned on Klyntar planet. He hasn’t broken free. He can’t possibly come to Earth."

"His true body cannot come over, but his power can. Clearly, this Demon God left a seed inside his follower’s body. That seed is the key to opening a passage for his power to descend."

Mordo’s expression was cold. He said, "The Demon God behind him seems to possess a very high divine rank. Earth’s magical defense system may not be able to stop the eruption of the power seed…"

As he spoke, the group looked up. The flaming skeleton and the crimson giant were both closing in on Riot in midair. Flames and crimson power continuously eroded the dark curtain, but they were still not fast enough.

"Mephisto’s and Cyttorak’s apostles possess only a small fraction of their Demon Gods’ power. They may not be able to fully stop the power seed from erupting."

"Where is the Sorcerer Supreme?" Strange asked Mordo.

Mordo remained silent. After a long while, he murmured in confusion, "Even if the defense system might not be able to stop it, it shouldn’t have been breached so quickly… What happened to The Ancient One?"

Hearing that The Ancient One might be in trouble, the mages behind Strange grew anxious. Strange turned and told them, "Open a portal back to Kamar-Taj first. Find out what happened. Leave this to us."

After the mages left, Strange said to Mordo, "Whatever the situation is, you’re here to help, right?"

Mordo ignored him completely. Manipulating the Dark Force, he began to obstruct Riot.

Unlike the other two Demon Gods’ apostles, who were attacking head-on, Mordo intended to use the Dark Dimension’s power to suppress Riot’s power. He continuously seeped Dark Force into the area around Riot.

"What should we do next?" Strange muttered to himself, but Peter did not hesitate. He raised his hand… then pulled out his phone.

Two minutes later, armor screamed across the sky, while a gleaming shield flew over with a piercing whistle.

The first thing Stark said upon landing was, "Peter, Dr. Connors is looking for you. He said that if he doesn’t see you within ten minutes, he’ll come here himself and drag you back."

"But…"

Steve also leaped down from another rooftop and said to Peter, "Connors and Dr. Schiller have already gotten results. It’s that thing you had me test last time. You’d better go take a look."

Stark turned and said, "What exactly have you all been working on? So secretive! Jarvis told me that the laboratory you’re using overloaded twenty-seven times in three days…"

The moment Peter heard that Stark wanted to ask more questions, he immediately said, "Dr. Connors must be in a hurry. I’ll go right now!"

As he spoke, he turned semi-transparent and vanished with a whoosh. Stark’s eyes widened, and when he turned around, Strange had also swung the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak and jumped down.

Stark was extremely curious about what this group had been hiding from him, but with only Steve left beside him, he felt awkward asking. So he simply activated his armor and flew toward Riot.

In the laboratory at Stark Tower, the moment Peter landed, the Phantom Demon said to him, "We have to keep an eye on Riot! If Knull’s power really descends, I need to call for support from the Agents of the Cosmos immediately!"

"Trust me, there’s something more important than watching him right now."

Just as the Phantom Demon was about to argue, Schiller walked out from the laboratory’s preparation room and patted Peter on the shoulder. Peter heard the Phantom Demon let out a, "…Huh????"

Then the Symbiote fell silent. Peter asked her, "What’s wrong? Are you angry? Fine, I’ll finish up here as quickly as I can, then we’ll go to the battlefield…"

"No, there’s no need. Let’s stay here for now."

Peter was baffled. At that moment, Dr. Connors walked out holding a strange-looking object.

It looked like two pyramids, one upright and one inverted, with a sphere clamped between them. The sphere emitted a faint glow.

Peter walked over and stared at the object. "Is this the finished product? It’s much smaller than I imagined, considering it’s the result of all our work lately…"

Connors waved a hand and tossed the polyhedron to Peter. Peter hurriedly caught it and said, "Don’t tell me you want me to…"

"Who else besides you? Do you think just anyone would accept it if you handed it to them?"

"Fine, but you said…" Peter looked at the object in his hand, but the Phantom Demon could not help speaking up. "Where did you humans get such refined magical energy? Aren’t you a Mechanical Civilization?"

"I don’t know, but they call this thing a ‘deposit.’"

Schiller said to the two of them, "You can handle the rest of the work. I have something to do."

Connors took out a syringe and gestured toward his arm. He said to Peter, "You can handle the rest of the work too. I have something to do."

The Phantom Demon also said to Peter, "You’re the only one who can finish the rest of the work. I have something to do."

"Hey, wait! I can understand those two, but where are you going? Aren’t you a Symbiote?"

Before Peter could finish speaking, the purple on his spider suit faded away, returning it to its original red-and-blue color. The purple Slime vanished in the blink of an eye.

Peter was not the kind of person who forced others to do things, so he only sighed regretfully before continuing with the experiment.

Outside the laboratory door, Schiller held a glass jar and caught the purple Slime that had jumped inside. He extended a finger so the Phantom Demon could touch his body. The moment she connected, she cried out, "You’re actually here!!! Do you know that every Symbiote in the universe is looking for you???"

Gray Mist said, "I don’t know, and I don’t want to know."

"How did you get to Earth? You… forget it. You’d better hide quickly. Knull’s power is about to descend. It’ll be terrible if he finds you."

The Phantom Demon spoke rapidly. "Although we no longer acknowledge Knull as our creator and leader, he did create the Symbiotes. Even if he can no longer directly control Symbiotes, once his power descends, he will definitely be able to sense your existence."

"No matter how you got here, he has always hoped that newly born Symbiotes could free him from that prison. If he truly wants to capture you, even the Agents of the Cosmos won’t be able to help you."

"My kin… I’m sorry. I can’t help you. After their split, the Agents of the Cosmos no longer have the strength to form an army capable of resisting Knull. Once he truly breaks free, the universe will once again face the catastrophic assault of chaos."

Sorrow filled the female voice. "Child, while there’s still time, run."

Sorry I was late.