Gathering

"Sacrificing his own descendants? Is he even human?"

Mystique’s words greatly shocked Wang Bert. Having a bunch of descendants, then sacrificing them—what kind of twisted operation was that?

Mystique snorted. "He was never human. He’s a devil."

"That kind of behavior truly is no different from a devil’s."

Wang Bert nodded in agreement and asked, "Mystique, where is Azazel keeping his descendants? If nothing unexpected happens, Nightcrawler should be there too."

"Azazel’s lair should be in Las Vegas, but I don’t know the exact location."

Mystique said, "Iron Man, why don’t you use Money Power to locate Azazel? It shouldn’t cost that much, should it?"

She knows about my Money Power? That means she’s already infiltrated the upper levels of human society?

Wang Bert’s eyes flickered. He said, "Doomsday Master is shielding Azazel. To find his location would cost at least several hundred million dollars. Worse, Doomsday Master would notice."

"Several hundred million dollars?"

Mystique frowned deeply. After hesitating, she said, "Iron Man, help me rescue Kurt. I’ll owe you a favor."

"There’s no need. Nightcrawler is my ally, and I’ll do everything I can to save him."

Wang Bert shook his head. "I’ll search around Las Vegas. Maybe I can find some clues."

"You must hurry. Azazel is about to begin the sacrifice."

"Don’t worry. Nightcrawler will be fine."

Wang Bert hung up and thought for a moment before walking over to Magneto. "How are your injuries?"

"Poisoned, plus a stab wound to the abdomen. It’ll take at least half a month to recover."

Magneto sounded somewhat depressed. He had no idea what bad luck he had been having lately; he kept getting injured.

"We don’t have that much time. Magneto, Quicksilver, I’ll restore you, and you’ll help me deal with Azazel and the Evil Believers."

Before Magneto could speak, Quicksilver immediately said, "No problem. I’m going to tear Azazel to pieces."

Magneto glanced at Quicksilver and asked, "Iron Man, with the people you have, do you really need our help?"

"To let Azazel act smoothly, Doomsday Master will definitely create a large number of Evil Believers to tie down the Mutant Guardians and the Security Company."

Wang Bert said, "That’s why I need outside support."

"I see. Fine, we’ll help you."

Magneto nodded in agreement. Human Torch and Azazel had set them up so badly; they definitely needed revenge.

"Good."

Wang Bert nodded in satisfaction and took out a stack of banknotes. "Magneto, Quicksilver, return to normal."

The next second, the banknotes vanished, and Magneto and Quicksilver both returned to normal. The deadly poison and their injuries were completely cured.

Although Magneto knew Wang Bert had Money Power, this was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes, and he was quite shocked. As for Quicksilver, he ran a few steps, then shouted in disbelief, "Iron Man, what kind of power is this? It’s way too amazing!"

Wang Bert smiled. "It’s amazing on me, but not amazing at all on you, because you have no money."

Quicksilver felt as if his heart had been stabbed. He looked at Wang Bert resentfully. It was true, but why did he have to say it out loud? "Money is just an external possession."

Magneto snorted. "Iron Man, what do we do next?"

"Everyone else stays on standby for now. Quicksilver, come with me to Las Vegas. Let’s see if we can find Azazel’s lair."

"No problem. Finding people is what I’m best at."

Quicksilver nodded. Magneto did not stop him. "All right, Pietro, be careful. They don’t just have mutants; they also have Evil Believers."

"Don’t worry. If I want to leave, no one can keep me."

Thinking of what had happened earlier, Quicksilver cursed, "That damn Domino. Don’t let me find her, or I’ll beat her into a pig’s head."

"Domino?"

Wang Bert was stunned. Had Domino defected?

Inside the Belly of Small Mountain outside Las Vegas, Azazel carried Nightcrawler deeper inside while saying excitedly, "Kurt, I finally caught you."

"Azazel, what exactly are you planning to do to me?"

Nightcrawler could not help asking. It was worth mentioning that his entire body was paralyzed, and he could not move at all.

Azazel had injected Nightcrawler with a drug. He said, "You’ll find out soon enough, Kurt. You’re luckier than your older brothers and sisters, because your suffering will end very soon."

"I have older brothers and sisters?"

Nightcrawler was stunned. At that moment, Azazel reached his destination: a room filled with frost-covered tanks. Seeing the silhouettes inside those tanks, Nightcrawler’s eyes widened. "Don’t tell me they’re my older brothers and sisters?"

"That’s right, they are. To prevent them from escaping or dying, I froze them."

Azazel carried Nightcrawler to an empty tank and said, "This tank was specially prepared for you. Don’t worry, the sacrificial ritual will begin soon, so I won’t freeze you. In fact, the others will start thawing as well."

With that, Azazel placed Nightcrawler inside the tank. Nightcrawler asked in terror, "A sacrifice? What exactly are you going to do to me? We’re your descendants."

"You are my descendants, so your lives belong to me. What’s wrong with that?"

Nightcrawler looked at Azazel, his face full of disappointment. "I was wrong. You aren’t an angel. You’re a true devil. You can’t be reformed."

"Only fools like you would believe mutants are angels."

Azazel smiled disdainfully, shut the tank door, then went to the main controls and operated the machinery. Soon, the other tanks slowly began to thaw.

"A dream spanning thousands of years will come true tomorrow."

Azazel was full of excitement. Then, he teleported back to the main hall, where Human Torch and the others were waiting.

Azazel said, "Human Torch, thank you for helping me."

Human Torch was clearly in a bad mood. He glanced at Azazel and said, "We’ll help you complete the ritual. When the time comes, all you Demon Type Mutants must worship the great Doomsday Master."

"No problem. I have already felt Doomsday Master’s greatness."

Azazel looked respectful on the surface, but sneered inwardly. Once he rescued his kin, this world would belong to their Demon Type Mutants.

Azazel had never intended to worship Doomsday Master. His dream was simple: rule the world with his kin and possess endless power, wealth, and beautiful women.

Destroy the world? Only madmen wanted to destroy the world. Their devil race were merely ambitious men.

"Doomsday Master is naturally the greatest."

Human Torch said bitterly, "Azazel, once your kin return, let’s kill Iron Man together. If not for him, I would already be the leader of the Mutant Brotherhood."

Without me, you’d be the leader of what Brotherhood?

Azazel was secretly disdainful. He said, "Once Iron Man dies, not only the Brotherhood—even America will become your territory."

"Of course."

Human Torch had completely forgotten his previous crushing defeat and spoke arrogantly. The mutants secretly shook their heads, and their approval of Human Torch dropped sharply.

He could not even defeat Magneto, yet he was arrogant and conceited. Who would want someone like that as their leader?

I was just an undercover agent. Why have I ended up in such huge trouble?

Domino complained inwardly. Earlier, she had wanted several times to secretly call for help, but her intuition had kept warning her. She had always trusted her intuition, so she did nothing—given her luck, her intuition was almost one hundred percent accurate.

Just then, a group of figures appeared out of thin air. Everyone watched the newcomers warily.

"Relax, they’re allies."

Greed said. Besides him, Wrath and a group of Elite Evil Believers had arrived, each possessing special abilities.

"Greed, Wrath, what are you doing here?"

Human Torch asked in great dissatisfaction, "This is my territory."

"God sent us."

Greed glanced at Human Torch. "God attaches great importance to this matter. Nothing can go wrong."

Azazel frowned slightly. Doomsday Master cared so much about this matter that he had even sent the other two messengers? Human Torch did not dare oppose Doomsday Master, so he said, "You can come, but this is my place. You have to follow my orders."

Wrath and all the Evil Believers sneered at once. Earlier, Greed had said Human Torch was an idiot, and they had not believed him. Now, they were completely certain that Human Torch was not merely an idiot, but an especially stupid one.

"God will personally make the decisions in this matter."

Greed could not be bothered with Human Torch. He asked Azazel, "Azazel, when will the sacrificial ritual begin?"

"I need to make some preparations. It can only begin tomorrow."

Greed shook his head. "Tomorrow? That’s too late. Azazel, when is the earliest you can be ready?"

"The earliest? I’ve completed all the other preparations, but my descendants need quite some time to thaw and recover."

Azazel said, "As soon as they recover, I can begin the sacrifice immediately."

"That’s easy. I’ll help them recover. Azazel, the sacrifice will begin in half an hour. Any problem?"

"Half an hour? Is there any need to rush this much? This place is very safe. Iron Man won’t find us."

Azazel frowned. Half an hour was indeed enough, but for such a major event, there should at least be some sense of ceremony. How could it be so crude? "Iron Man won’t find us?"

Greed laughed. "You have no idea how terrifying Iron Man is. No more nonsense. The sacrifice begins in half an hour. Azazel, get your descendants ready immediately. I’ll go treat them.

"Also, give me a map of this place. We need to prepare for Iron Man coming to our door."

At that, Greed added, "This time, we must succeed. God is watching us. Do you understand?"

"I want success more than you do."

Azazel said, "I’ll make preparations now. The map is on the computer in my bedroom. Go get it yourself."

With that, Azazel turned into red smoke and vanished. Greed nodded and sent someone to retrieve the map.

Then, Greed said to Original Sin in his mind, "My God, Azazel will begin the ritual in half an hour. We can begin sending Evil Believers out to cause trouble."

"I will create a large number of Evil Believers in a short time."

Original Sin said, "This is a good opportunity to kill Iron Man. We must seize it."

That was right—killing Iron Man. Original Sin did not care about the Demon Type Mutants at all. It only wanted to take this opportunity to kill Iron Man.

"I will give it everything I have."

Greed said, "Once Iron Man dies, no one will be able to stop us from destroying the world. We won’t need to keep hiding anymore. Still, it’s a bit of a pity about all the arrangements in God’s City. Most of them have already been completed."

"There is nothing to regret. If this attempt fails, go back and continue destroying God’s City."

Original Sin said. It did not believe this plan would definitely kill Iron Man. The reason was simple: the other side was a Creator God.

No matter how arrogant or conceited Original Sin was, it knew killing a Creator God was not a simple task, even if the opponent was merely a Creator God’s avatar.

Doomsday Master is wary of Iron Man.

Greed’s heart stirred. He said, "That’s true. If this attempt fails, I will destroy God’s City on America’s Election Day and welcome God’s descent."

"Very good, Greed. If you can successfully kill Iron Man this time, you will become the head of the Seven Deadly Sins and my spokesperson in the mortal world."

"I thank you, My God. I will not disappoint you."

Greed was overjoyed. After thinking for a moment, he went to talk to Human Torch, lest that idiot ruin everything.

While the two messengers communicated, Domino’s eyes flickered. Using the excuse of going to the bathroom, she hid inside a restroom.

Then, Domino called Wade—there was signal and internet here, since Azazel occasionally stayed here to rest.

When Wade received Domino’s call, he said, "You know, BOSS told me you might have defected."

"I didn’t defect. You just didn’t give me good equipment."

Domino said unhappily, "I never had a chance to use my phone and call before. You should have gotten me some professional spy gear."

"We didn’t think that far ahead at the time. After all, no one knew this would become so serious."

Wade said, "Domino, where are you now? BOSS is looking for you."

"I’m in a secret base, but I don’t know the exact location."

Domino said, "I was teleported here. Wade, tell BOSS that Azazel plans to hold the sacrificial ritual in half an hour. Also, Greed and Wrath are here too."

"Half an hour? Domino, I’ll go find BOSS immediately. Don’t hang up."

Domino nodded. "All right, hurry. I can’t stay in the bathroom for too long."

"Understood."

Wade did not waste words. He directly teleported to Wang Bert, who was in Las Vegas, and explained everything.

"Half an hour? Doomsday Master really is in a hurry."

Wang Bert took Wade’s phone and said, "Leave this to me. Wade, go to the Mutant Affairs Department. A large number of Evil Believers will appear soon. Nightcrawler isn’t there, so they need you."

"Leave it to me, BOSS. I’m full of energy right now. I can handle however many Evil Believers there are."

Wade was full of confidence. Then, he teleported to the Mutant Affairs Department. The moment he entered, he heard Hank roar, "Damn it, where did all these Evil Believers come from? And why now of all times?"

In just a few minutes, more than a hundred Evil Believers had appeared across America. The phones at the Mutant Affairs Department were nearly ringing off the hook.

Cyclops, whose arm was wrapped in a bandage, said, "Without Nightcrawler and the Iron Man Armor, we can’t reach the scenes quickly. This is going to be troublesome."

Wade shouted, "Don’t worry. Nightcrawler may not be here, but your beloved Wade, who wants double pay, is."