Four Apostles

Seeing Pestilence and the other two emerge, Alex’s expression turned extremely ugly. His hatred for Mr. Sinister surged to the heavens. If the timing had allowed it, Alex would have immediately gone after Mr. Sinister and torn him to pieces!

Setting aside his hatred for Mr. Sinister for the moment, Alex turned to look at the three and snorted mockingly. "Waiting to die?" It was not that Alex was overconfident; he truly did not take these three apostles seriously.

"Hmph, sharp-tongued!" Pestilence, the old woman in the lead, shouted and charged forward first, secretly releasing her plague virus.

Pestilence’s little move naturally did not escape Alex’s notice. He secretly sneered and paid it no mind, instead turning his gaze to the other two. The middle-aged man codenamed War had shown his hand in New York before. His ability seemed to be creating explosions, similar to the Inhuman Tashim’s ability back then, though far less effective.

The other one was somewhat short and looked rather mature for his age. He was codenamed Famine, but Alex had no idea what his ability was.

"Crystal, go deal with War. Leave the other two to me." Alex sent Crystal a Mind Telepathy message. After giving the instruction, he added concernedly, "Be careful!"

Hearing Alex’s concerned words, Crystal felt herself brimming with strength. She nodded firmly, her eyes gleaming as she looked at War charging over behind Pestilence. She did not look as though she were staring at an enemy, but rather at a long-coveted jewel.

Alex had no idea that a single sentence from him had filled Crystal with fighting spirit. He used Teleportation, bypassing Pestilence, who was right in front of him, and War, who followed close behind, and appeared directly before Famine, who had not moved at all.

Before he had acquired the antidote serum, Pestilence had seemed more dangerous to Alex. But now, this unfathomable Famine worried him even more. The unknown was the most terrifying thing of all.

When Famine realized that Alex had ignored Pestilence and War to come after him, he was visibly startled. It took him a moment to recover. By the time Alex’s attack was right before him, Famine’s face tightened. He narrowed his eyes slightly, twisting his gaunt body into an extremely strange posture and somehow dodging the first wave of steel ball attacks.

Seeing the steel balls miss, Alex’s thoughts shifted. The flying steel balls immediately turned around and shot toward Famine again, moving much faster than before.

"Is that all you can do?" Alex was somewhat surprised and suspicious as he watched Famine remain perfectly still. He did not believe that an apostle Apocalypse had painstakingly modified would possess only this much ability.

Just as he was thinking this, Alex suddenly felt pain in his palms. Looking down, he discovered that both his hands had seemingly weathered away, instantly turning into ash and vanishing into the air. The entire process took barely ten seconds, leaving Alex so stunned that he did not even react in time.

By the time Alex finally came to his senses, everything below his forearms had disappeared.

Crystal immediately panicked at the sight. Forgetting her fight with War, she rushed to Alex’s side and asked anxiously, "Alex, how are you? Are you okay?" As she spoke, Crystal continuously expended her energy, using her ability to heal Alex’s injuries.

"No need to trouble yourself. Watch me." Alex raised a hand to stop Crystal’s futile efforts and gently reassured her. As he spoke, his missing arms rapidly grew back, as though they had never disappeared at all.

Crystal showed no joy whatsoever, because she knew the regrown arms were merely constructs Alex had created with energy. They were not flesh and blood. This little trick was something Alex had learned back when he had survived in an energy body.

"Crystal, this isn’t the time to space out." Alex chuckled, interrupting Crystal’s thoughts. After signaling for her to continue keeping War occupied, he turned to look at Famine, who had easily avoided the out-of-control steel balls, deep confusion on his face.

Alex had not seen through Famine’s ability. Even now, he did not understand how Famine had rendered both his arms useless.

"Again!" Alex shouted and took the initiative to charge at Famine, abandoning his long-range attacks in hopes of observing him more closely at close quarters.

Famine knew his own limits. Though he had just reduced Alex’s two arms to nothing, that had already been the maximum output of his ability. Normally, using that same level of power would turn most people straight into dust, leaving at most a few severed limbs behind. Yet Alex had merely lost both arms!

Seeing Alex charge at him again, how could Famine dare take the attack? He turned and ran.

At the same time, Pestilence discovered that her plague virus had lost its effect and could not harm Alex or Crystal. Amid her shock, she began to panic as well. Her ability was extremely limited and relied entirely on the plague virus. Without it, her combat strength was practically zero.

On the other side, War was also completely countered by Crystal. Although War’s explosions were energy explosions, they mainly relied on fire and air. Crystal happened to be able to control the four elements of earth, fire, water, and air. With Crystal going all out, War could not even unleash a single explosion and was completely suppressed.

For a time, Apocalypse’s four modified apostles were nearly wiped out.

Just as Pestilence and the other two were at a loss, a figure suddenly rushed in from outside. It was none other than Angel, whom Alex had knocked unconscious earlier.

"Death, hurry and help us!" Seeing Angel appear, Pestilence was overjoyed. Forgetting everything else, she immediately called out.

Alex turned to look at Angel’s icy expression, and the fury in his heart flared up once more. His hatred for Mr. Sinister deepened further. In Alex’s eyes, Mr. Sinister must have been the one to wake Angel.

Dividing his attention in two, Alex immediately released his Psionic Power, preparing to use the same trick to knock Angel unconscious again.

However, before Alex could act, Angel struck first. Angel beat his wings and flew into the air. Amid gusts of wild wind, the black metal feathers of Angel’s wings flew out one by one, turning into steel-feather throwing knives that rained down in a dense, overwhelming barrage.

With a thought, Alex decisively abandoned his telepathy and used his magnetic field to seize control of every steel-feather throwing knife. He then turned them around and surrounded Pestilence, the other two, and Angel in the air.

Faced with Alex’s method, Apocalypse’s four apostles, led by Pestilence, immediately lost all desire to continue fighting.

Yet Pestilence did not surrender. Instead, she straightened her back and stared arrogantly at Alex as she barked, "Alex, if you want Tony Stark to live, surrender immediately!"

"What did you say?!" Alex’s expression changed drastically. The energy within him instantly became violent and unstable, and the surging energy spilling out destroyed everything around them.

"Tony Stark…"

Pestilence had barely spoken the name when Alex seized her by the throat with one hand and lifted her into the air. With rage soaring to the heavens, he growled, "You dare?!"