= Chapter 188. The Final Round. Part 3. The Road to Darkness =
- You go for the body, and I'll hit you from behind, go! - shouted Benji, lunging for my alternative.
- Son, stop!
Ah, the devil!
Throwing myself in my wake, creating magic circles and spreading them for support all around.
- Hela, guess who's creepy, smelly, and completely lacking a sense of style? - mutters Silver, diving at Red, raising his fist.
However, Irresponsible simply grabs Arachnid by the throat.
- 'Stupid child,' Future Spider tries to tear the monolithic limb from his throat. - You have no idea what's going on here...
- LET HIM GO! - I attack from the side, swinging on the thread and using both legs to strike my opponent, pendulum-like.
Benji falls out of the hands of my alternate.
- Ha, you never stop," Red pushed himself off the floor with his hands and did a little dance. - Mr non-stop!
- Have you had time to snort coke? - I arch an eyebrow beneath my mask.
In response, Irresponsible laughed.
- Close. At least it felt very similar.
Meanwhile, Benji attacked from behind, but Red accelerated, leaving an air pulse behind him, and in seconds was behind the Arachnid's back.
- 'Now watch carefully, Pete,' Motherfucker looked through the lenses of his mask into mine, grabbing Benji's head. - Watch and remember this moment for the rest of your life.
In seconds, pushing the Arachnid's head back, Red's right hand slammed into Benji's spine.
The bones cracked.
Throwing myself at my son, who begins to slump to the floor.
It's like everything has slowed down.
Stopped.
I'm moving.
And the noise just keeps getting louder and louder.
And it's getting louder and louder by the second...
A click.
And then a deafening crunch.
All the other sounds are gone. Dissolved.
Just the crunch.
The ever-repeating crunch of bones.
God, make it go away...
- Ugh, what a strange sensation... - Red shrugged.
- 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no,' I picked Benji up, holding his back with one hand and placing the other under his head.
- Dad..." the teenager whimpered weakly.
- Don't talk, don't waste your strength," no Raj, no Ani... Don't close your eyes, Benji!
- I'm sorry," tears came in his voice.
- Don't talk! - I gently remove the mask from Ben's face.
I notice that Ben's skin is starting to glow slightly.
- I was just," the brown-haired man coughed, "just...
- Shh," I pull my own mask off, feeling tears forming in the corners of my eyes. - It's okay. You're going to be okay.
Don't use cosmic powers to help... My regeneration only works on me...
Benji tries to raise his palm.
- I always wanted to be a real hero," my son touched my cheek. - I always wanted to be a hero like my father.
Some golden dust appears on my son's body.
- You became one," I blurt, feeling the tears flowing from my eyes. - You became a hero, son. You saved our family.
- I'm sorry," a tear trickled down Ben's cheek. - I'm sorry I let you down.
- You didn't! - I hold my son close to me, resting my head on his shoulder. - You did it, you hear me? - I hold his body, which is collapsing more and more with each passing second. - And we're going home! TOGETHER! - I'm screaming my head off. - Just keep your eyes open! - I can't see anything because of the hazy veil. - Don't leave me alone...
- His hands fell a minute ago, - said, as if nothing had happened, Red. - But ten points for the dramatic scene," Irresponsible slowly applauded. - This is exactly why I prefer daughters, you know," the man snapped his fingers. - Sons... Are so unreliable.
- Now, Benji," I take my son in my arms and carry him to the bookcase that miraculously survived, against the left wall of the room.
- They always want to be heroes like us," Red continued. - But they can't! - shouted Spider. - They will never come close to the greatness we represent! You see, the outcome is natural," he exhaled heavily. - Death. Pompous and utterly useless. And that's when we go back to our daughters...
Gently laying my son down, using the cupboard as a support. Now this dust is all over most of his body.
- Wait here," I kiss Benji's forehead, which is glowing brighter and brighter. - Daddy will be here soon.
- At least girls know their place is on their knees, in front of Daddy," Red laughed.
I wipe the salty paths, removing that murky veil, and, putting on my mask, turn towards Red.
- Come on, it's a good speech, at least for seven, don't you agree? - Red smiled.
I open the locket with the Mind Stone.
- Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you," the brown-haired man slapped his forehead. - Another dimension, kid, specially tuned from these trinkets, here Infinity Stones are like collectible stones sold to tourists in the Grand Canyon.
I rip the chain off my neck and toss the locket aside.
- Squandering government property? - whistled Motherfucker.
I reinforce my body with symbiotic material from within.
Waving my palms together to form spells.
- Magic, isn't it?
Sittorak's ruby chains, dozens of scarlet snakes, surged towards the brown-haired man.
The man calmly swiped his palm, creating a shield.
The weave of Hogoth's Storm.
Freezing slush descends upon Red.
- You know that if you say spells out loud, they're more powerful, right? - Blood Spider arched an eyebrow.
I concentrate magic discs on my palms and pass bioelectricity through them.
Launching them at Red.
- Boy, you're scaring me," the brown-haired man grinned brightly in counterpoint. - Say a word.
Methodically.
To the same point.
The construct will collapse, no matter how much energy is put into it.
The shield is cracking.
I lift every object not welded to the floor into the air: tables, chairs, armchairs, decanters, iron goblets, paintings, shattered boards, shards of stone. Everything.
And I launch an unstoppable stream at my enemy.
The dome bursts.
Red sharply increases the distance between us, creating magical discs in response.
- Wow, you're really going at it! - The irresponsible one is firing projectiles in my direction.
I deflect everything with my telekinesis.
He's bouncing.
He's laughing.
I shape the bio-electricity with a magic weave and launch it with telekinesis.
- Whoa, easy, Zeus! - Threw Motherfucker, having trouble deflecting the projectiles.
Clinging with two strands to the ceiling, pulling myself up, covering the distance to Red.
He's joking. Easy and at ease.
Feeling everything in front of my eyes turn green.
I hit the ground where Irresponsible was a second ago.
The rock splits and squirms under my fist into a small depression.
- Have you been working out?
Telekinesis.
Just hold it for a second.
- Okay, no kidding, you're really starting to freak me out!
Just for a second.
Red waved his palms to the sides, re-creating the doppelgangers.
Releasing symbiotic harnesses from my back, arms and legs, sharpening the tips and giving them acceleration with telekinesis.
Shadow threads burrow into the bodies, turning them into essence clouds.
Find the real one.
- SAY SOMETHING?!
One of the spears flew up from the ceiling and launched a powerful volley of fire at me.
I cover my face with my hands, returning the symbiotic material to my body.
I can feel the armour heating up.
The skin bubbles under the metal.
Regeneration can handle it.
- Don't be silent! Red's breathing heavily. - Don't ignore me!
Another weave.
Energy beam.
I create a telekinetic shield, reflecting a powerful stream into the ceiling. The masonry collapses in shards of stone fragments.
I keep going.
He's exhausted.
I feel a second of weakness and grab him with the invisible energy of my core.
Red violently shatters the telekinetic prison, teleporting to the other end of the room again.
It's not working...
The inner rage begins to take over.
- I'll kill you," I growl in a deep echo.
- Wow, you talk," Red snorted, normalising his breathing.
I always do.
My body begins to be covered in stiff fur.
Fingers join into three outgrowths with claws.
The foot curves.
Body size increases.
Four more limbs burst from between the ribs.
The jaw becomes deformed.
The skull elongates.
The vomeronasals are being ripped out.
I'm beginning to see in a reddish spectrum.
Three pairs of eyes.
- I don't know what's next, grow a tail?
- I'll kill you.
I lunge at Red, shooting organic webbing from all six arms, clinging to the ceiling with my feet.
He dodges, but I direct the threads with telekinesis.
I bounce off the stone surface, unleashing symbiotic outgrowths.
I cover myself with a telekinetic shield on all sides.
It tries to cut off the flagella, to break the distance.
But I can feel it...
Fear.
He's terrified.
He can't escape.
I open my mouth and spew out a powerful corrosive stream. I was wrong. It's not acid, it's not some kind of gastric juice.
It's energy straight from the inside.
Pure and unadulterated hatred... Devouring everything in its path.
- Shit! Red shoots a web, but I break its limb with a telekinetic pulse.
And I finally catch up to the one I swore I'd kill.
We start diving down together.
He's trying to break free.
So desperate.
So weak.
I knock my own doppelganger to the floor.
I get up, shaking off the rubble.
The irresponsible one's down.
I bring up all six arms and hit Red with all my anger.
And then again.
His body ripples with the protective orange magical field.
Strike again.
The last obstacle is down.
And again.
Grabbing Red by the collar, two hands hold his upper limbs, two more hold his lower limbs.
Bringing up the last hand to strike.
- Even from that mission with the Shatra, I knew it would be you," Red chuckled softly, and then grimaced, spitting back the blood the torn bottom of his mask allows. - Tell my girl...
I don't let the bastard finish his sentence and finish the job.
His head is ripped from his neck.
A massive fountain of blood shoots upwards.
I yank his arms apart, tearing his limbs from his torso.
Throwing off the spurs as I approach the head.
I twist the skull with a foot with outgrown chitinous claws, staring into the blackened eyes.
I spit out the acid, dissolving the scum once and for all.
I turn around and see Benji still lying in the same spot.
But his skin is almost translucent with a golden glow...
I take a step.
The dimensions diminish.
Another step.
The skull normalises its shape, the whiskers retract.
At the end, I run up.
- "Benji," I take my son in my human hands.
And I look at him with my own eyes.
- It shouldn't be like this," I feel a lump gather in my throat and a gaping void form just below. - It should be me, NOT YOU! - I can feel my voice breaking. - Not you...
The golden glow grows stronger and, before my eyes, the teenager arriving from the future, the hero with whom we did not immediately find common ground, turned to golden dust.
My son.
My boy.
I can't stop screaming.
I let out all the pain, the anger, the guilt.
This tearing guilt that only a parent who's lost a child can realise...
It's an emptiness.
Couldn't save.
Couldn't protect...
And I'm not even allowed to grieve.
At least not according to the person whose fault it is that I'm here.