Chapter 429: Allen vs. the Eternals
"That man is back!"
"Blood's boiling—fire up the rocket launch!"
"I wanna see that clown bat wipe the floor with those alien freaks."
". . ."
The sewer collapse, naturally, marked the arrival of Faora and Allen.
Although Allen wasn't wearing his infamous clown suit this time, his identity was already public.
He'd long since been caught on camera parading through Gotham in that absurd outfit, and the footage had made its way online.
"Such a violent entrance. I wrecked the Ninja Turtles' home—are they gonna sue me?"
Allen looked at the passage blocked by rubble, his face slightly anxious.
After all, he was a law-abiding citizen.
"Boss, thank god you made it in time—any later and we'd be corpses."
Arthur was no longer as composed as before, now sounding like a desperate survivor barely rescued in time.
The livestream continued rolling, and gifts were pouring in nonstop.
Apparently, the mental state of the American public was a little suspect, given how much they adored this lunatic.
This, by the way, was the exact reason the Comedic Bat had never been listed as an official hero—the authorities felt an unstable hero was a PR nightmare waiting to happen.
"Everything's under control."
Allen confidently said, "You guys just ride the coattails."
He turned around—and instantly froze.
The passage was blocked; they'd need time to clear it.
Helpless, he looked toward the opening.
Their only option was to climb back to the surface and re-enter through another manhole.
Suddenly, a figure dropped from above.
"Joker, Penguin, Riddler—under public safety regulations, you're all under arrest."
Naturally, the newcomer was none other than the real Batman.
Allen clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Hey Bats, we're in the middle of saving the world. Could you arrest them another day?"
". . ."
Arresting criminals wasn't exactly something you negotiated over.
Still, given it was Allen making the request, Batman wasn't completely unwilling to compromise.
The group used grappling guns to return to the surface, then re-entered the sewer through a nearby manhole.
Bruce, now temporarily along for the ride, frowned in confusion. "Why is there another mutant down here?"
Allen answered as if it were obvious, "Easy—this is Earth, remember?"
In a world where DC and Marvel coexisted, it would be shocking if Earth wasn't a disaster zone.
Frankly, at this point, if the world ended, it would make total sense.
After all, the upper limit on villain power levels in both comic universes was absurd.
If the protagonists didn't all live on Earth, the whole planet would've been dust by now.
Clearly, Bruce didn't get the subtext.
In reality, the New York sewers were already crawling with mutants.
In America, homeless people tend to cluster in major cities.
The welfare programs offered by charity organizations in the cities were far better than what you'd get in a rural town, where locals weren't exactly generous toward the homeless.
Now, with so many homeless disappearing or dying, there was no way it was slipping past government surveillance.
The truth was, the authorities simply chose not to intervene—it was just another business deal to them.
By keeping the homeless population under a certain threshold, the savings could funnel into corporate pockets.
So rather than stepping in to help, they'd let disasters play out unchecked.
Besides, when mutant outbreaks occurred and the military was deployed, it always justified an upgrade in firepower.
In other words, everyone with power stood to benefit.
At this moment, a new mutant had locked onto a target.
A Black man wielding a warhammer swung with every ounce of strength, sending bursts of energy with each blow.
Phastos—engineer of the team—could manipulate matter telekinetically.
Given that starships inevitably took damage, his powers made him a natural fit for the role.
Unfortunately, Phastos was far weaker in combat than his teammates. Facing the endless wave of mutants, he was already nearing collapse.
Pffft...
A mutant leader lurking in the shadows suddenly struck.
Its tendrils pierced into Phastos, draining his golden energy.
The host had to be kept alive—if an Eternal died, their golden energy would dissipate immediately.
Clang!
The warhammer fell to the ground.
Phastos no longer had the strength to hold it. He stared in horror at the increasingly human-looking mutant leader before him, overwhelmed with despair.
He knew, without a doubt, that several teammates had already been killed.
Suddenly, a blur of motion appeared beside them.
"Makkari, run!"
Phastos, seeing his teammate arrive, immediately called out a warning.
But Makkari stood frozen in fear.
"I've been waiting for you. I knew you'd come."
The mutant leader smiled in satisfaction at the deaf, mute speedster. Tendrils sprouted from its back, aiming to steal her power.
Druig, the mind-controller, had already been taken out earlier.
The mutant leader had stayed constantly alert, waiting for a chance to mind-control Makkari.
Among the Eternals, only her power—super speed—was too difficult to lock onto.
That's why he prioritized hunting Druig first, gaining the ability to strike the others one by one.
Smack!
A sudden, thunderous slap rang out.
The mutant leader turned, stunned to find a young man in a hospital gown standing next to him.
"Who the hell are you?"
It was his first time seeing Allen, who greeted him with a slap so hard it left him dazed.
Who shows up to a fight like that?
"Your daddy."
Bam!
With a single kick from his size-10 Supreme flip-flop, Allen launched the mutant leader across the room.
While the others had been tracking the mutant, they didn't immediately rush in.
Allen went invisible, silently crept forward, and caught the mutant leader red-handed mid-extraction.
Without hesitation, he transformed into the Subway Judge of Justice and put a stop to the crime.
Boom!
The mutant leader was now deeply embedded in the concrete wall.
Phastos and Makkari, however, were in critical condition.
Phastos, drained of too much energy, died seconds later, his eyes going glassy.
Makkari, with only a thread of golden energy left, was hanging on by a thread—barely conscious, but not for long.
Ratatatatatata—
Gunfire erupted from another section of the sewer—Bruce and the others had launched their attack.
Fighting mutants barehanded? Let's not kid ourselves—Bats was getting absolutely steamrolled.
"I'll kill you!"
The mutant leader snapped back to attention, livid with rage.
The interrupted extraction meant he hadn't gained the full Eternal ability—at best, only 70% effective now.
"Can you not with the clichés?"
Allen pulled out an extendable back scratcher and a giant flyswatter, posing confidently. "One slash purges evil, one slash seals souls. Cool line, right?"
". . ."
The mutant leader raised his hand, firing golden laser beams from his fingertips.
"Hasa Kai!"
Allen swatted the beam aside with his flyswatter, knocking it off course.
With that probing attack failing, the mutant leader stopped holding back. He planted four arms against the concrete wall, transforming them into four massive black blades.
He moved like a hurricane.
In the blink of an eye, he was already swinging down at Allen. The sheer force, enhanced by Gilgamesh's strength, caused a sonic boom.
Clang!
Allen blocked the strike with both metal weapons, but the ground beneath his feet cracked like a spiderweb.
"Monkey steals the peach!"
A glowing green giant hand manifested, reaching between the mutant leader's legs.
"ARGHHH!"
The mutant leader shrieked and stumbled backward, clutching his crotch, hopping in agony.
Whoosh...
Allen smugly blew on his Lantern Ring, where a lone hair still clung to the manifested hand. "Sorry, I like keeping an ace up my sleeve."
"Good. I'm going to make your death slow and painful."
The mutant leader dropped his weapons, each of his four hands raising a single finger.
"Holy crap—Destructo Beams?"
Allen dodged with a roll as golden lasers rained down.
All four fingers fired rapidly, making Allen bounce and tumble nonstop to evade.
"You can't hit me—I don't even know which direction I'm dodging next. I'm completely unpredictable!"
Backflips, donkey rolls, side shuffles…
Total chaos, but somehow effective.
"Kid, I've figured out your weakness."
Allen shouted back mid-dodge, "You can't use all your stolen powers at once, can you?"
Bullseye.
The mutant leader needed to gather all the Eternal powers and form a balance within himself before he could freely switch between them.
Right now, he had to use them one at a time—otherwise, they'd clash.
Naturally, he wouldn't admit it. Instead, he sneered, "Let's see you dodge this."
Multiple illusion projections appeared—dozens of mutant leaders all aiming at Allen.
"Let's see how you dodge now."
The illusions couldn't deal damage but were meant to confuse Allen's judgment.
Real and fake blended seamlessly—it wasn't easy to tell them apart.
"Mirror images? Child's play."
Allen scoffed. "I've mastered this technique myself—Ascension-level clone magic!"
Ekern Form.
Hundreds of clones burst from behind Allen.
The sight stunned the mutant leader.
This guy had clone abilities too?
Golden lasers rained like meteors, wiping out one clone after another.
Only one of the projections was real—the others were just illusions.
Allen's clones, on the other hand, could each cast a spell before vanishing.
Smack!
BOOM!
The mutant leader was once again smashed into the wall.
"Bet you didn't see that—I turned invisible again."
Allen, thoroughly annoying, bragged with a smirk as the invisibility wore off.
At that moment, two more figures appeared.
The Eternals had arrived.
Warrior Thena and deputy leader Ikaris dove into the battle.
Behind them, Sersi and Ajak provided support—turning the tide completely in their favor.
With six teammates down, the remaining four realized the gravity of the situation and regrouped for a full-force assault.
Elsewhere, Bruce led the Clown Trio deeper into the fight.
Uxas punched a mutant square in the face with kryptonite knuckle dusters.
Clearly built for Superman, though sadly never used on him.
Faora kept her distance—just being near the kryptonite made her feel weakened, so she decided to sit this one out.
"Damn it."
The mutant leader, spotting Thena and Ikaris, instantly gave up the fight.
Picking off the Eternals one by one? Sure. But going toe-to-toe with two of their strongest members plus that lunatic Allen? Nope.
"Trying to run?"
Allen's eyes sharpened. "Scourge Tendrils."
Hundreds of crimson tentacles burst forth, ensnaring the fleeing mutant leader.
"Get off me! Let go, all of you!"
Panicking, the mutant leader tore at the tendrils.
But for every one he ripped free, another took its place.
Before long, the Eternals reached him.
"Phastos!"
"Makkari!"
Thena focused on her fallen teammates.
Phastos was dead.
Makkari, barely hanging on, used sign language to explain what had happened.
Once they understood the truth, the remaining four Eternals turned to the mutant leader with murderous intent.
A flash of golden light—
Thena struck, slicing him into pieces.
"To think he held out this long—it's a pity it ended so anti-climactically."
Allen remarked with a sigh, "Forget it. He's just some no-name villain. Dying that easily isn't really a problem."
In an instant, the mutated ones who had been fighting desperately scattered like frightened birds.
Without a leader to command them, they were nothing more than a disorganized mob.
Eventually, a new leader would emerge, and when the time came, they'd rise again.
But until then, the mutated ones wouldn't stop reproducing.
They were creatures born of slaughter, whose very existence revolved around plunder and destruction.
"Thank you for your assistance," Ajak said respectfully.
Without Allen's help, they might not have been able to successfully take down the mutated leader.
And during this leaderless period, it was the perfect time to eradicate the mutated threat.
"Old hag, drop the act."
Allen bluntly exposed her. "You people came to Earth with ulterior motives. I suggest you confess now and be treated leniently. Resist, and you'll be crushed to dust beneath the iron fist of the proletariat."
Suddenly, Ajak's face darkened. She feigned confusion and said, "Sir, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Still pretending?" Allen narrowed his eyes, his voice calm but threatening. "Don't push me into airing your dirty laundry. If I do, you won't be able to save face."
"To condemn someone unjustly, all it takes is a fabricated charge," Ajak retorted coldly. "If you insist on making things difficult, then let me show you—the Eternals are not to be trifled with."
As she spoke, three of her companions moved to stand beside her.
When facing external enemies, they naturally stood united.
Even if internal tensions ran deep, they could be put aside—for now.
"Stubborn to the end."
Allen simply laid it bare: "You came here to oversee Earth's destruction, didn't tell your team about it, did you?"
"What?!"
At those words, Thena, Sersi, and Ikaris turned to Ajak, their expressions grim.
They had been created and instilled with memories of righteousness, believing everything they did was to protect all life.
In truth, the Eternals were nothing more than lackeys of the Celestials.
For each Celestial to be born, a planet full of life had to be destroyed.
They had carried out this kind of mission more than once—only, each time, their memories were wiped afterward.
Only Ajak, as the team's leader, retained the full truth and could communicate directly with Arishem the Judge.
"You actually know the truth…"
Ajak was visibly shocked, then suddenly understood. "No wonder the moment we arrived on Earth, we were hounded by the native forces. You must've been the one instigating it all behind the scenes."
At that moment, Ikaris angrily demanded, "Ajak, what exactly have you been hiding from us?"
From their exchange, it was clear Allen was telling the truth.
"Was it the Emergence?"
Thena suddenly recalled their prior encounter with the Avengers.