Chapter 126: Mastering the Enigma Force, the Raging Zombie Sentry
The Zombie Avengers were about to pounce on Peter, who hovered in midair.
The sharp edge of Zombie Captain America's battered Vibranium shield was less than half a meter from Peter's face.
Marvel Zombies Spider-Man's webbing was about to stick to Peter's ankle.
Zombie Hawkeye's arrow had already covered more than half the distance.
Zombie Power Man was the slowest of the group and could only trail behind, practically jumping with frustration.
But at that critical moment...
Light!
Boundless white light!
It erupted from Peter's body!
It was a light of the purest white, like the primordial radiance born at the very instant the universe's first star came into existence.
The moment the white light touched the zombie heroes, they all erupted into agonized screams.
That completely defied everything known about zombie creatures.
After all, zombies were already dead. Their nervous systems had completely withered away, and their sense of pain had been erased at the source.
By all logic, they should have been incapable of feeling pain.
Yet that pure white light seemed to bypass their nerves entirely and burn directly into the fragments of soul that remained within them.
Zombie Captain America was the closest to Peter. As the white light struck him head-on, thick plumes of white smoke rose from his body.
He let out the most terrified roar he had made since becoming a zombie.
Then he raised his battered Vibranium shield in front of himself and sprang backward like a dying beast, tumbling awkwardly behind an overturned lab bench.
Zombie Hawkeye, Marvel Zombies Spider-Man, and Zombie Power Man reacted the same way.
They desperately scrambled away from the white light, howling as they rolled across the floor in search of anything that could shield them from it.
They huddled behind cover, trembling uncontrollably.
Only after the white light gradually dimmed did the Zombie Avengers finally dare to peek out, staring toward its center with their lifeless gray-white eyes.
One glance was enough to make them all freeze.
Spider-Man had completely changed.
The Iron Spider suit he had been wearing was gone.
In its place was an entirely new suit.
The new suit covering his body did not seem to be made from any known material. Instead, it looked like a form of pure energy.
It was as though an entire Nebula had been cut straight from the depths of the universe and draped over him.
His upper body was an unfathomably deep black, like the primordial universe before it had ever been illuminated by a star.
Countless points of light filled that darkness, varying in size and brightness.
Hair-thin white lines connected those points of light, weaving them into a breathtakingly vast star map.
It was as though a miniature Multiverse had been engraved directly onto his body.
His lower body was pure white, utterly flawless, forming the starkest possible contrast with the black above.
The lenses that had once covered his eyes were completely gone, replaced by a pair of eyes glowing with starlight.
At that moment, Peter looked like a deity born from the stars, his entire being radiating an untouchable majesty.
That majesty did not come entirely from his power. More than anything, it came from the difference in their very levels of existence.
Just as an ant could never comprehend the existence of a human being.
The instant the zombie heroes saw Peter's new form, the awe and terror engraved into the deepest reaches of their genes seemed to awaken at once.
The Zombie Avengers even forgot the unbearable hunger that constantly gnawed at their minds.
They wanted to flee, to get as far away from that god-like man as possible.
"Full retreat!"
Zombie Captain America roared hoarsely. He hurled his battered Vibranium shield at Peter, then turned and ran.
Marvel Zombies Spider-Man fired a barrage of gray webbing, trying to slow Peter down.
Zombie Hawkeye seized the opportunity to unleash a volley of arrows straight at Peter's vital points.
But the instant Peter raised his hand and gave a casual wave, every attack became meaningless.
The Vibranium shield, the webbing, and the arrows all vanished into thin air like chalk marks wiped from a board.
Under the influence of the Enigma Force, every attack was broken down into its most basic particles and returned to the universe's cycle of matter.
The sight terrified the Zombie Avengers even more.
They scrambled toward the laboratory exit in a pathetic frenzy, even grabbing at their own companions and trying to use them as shields.
These Avengers had once fought side by side countless times and trusted one another with their lives. Now they treated each other as nothing more than stepping stones.
Watching the ugly scene unfold, Peter spoke in a low voice tinged with sadness.
"Let me put you out of your misery."
"You probably don't want to go on existing like this either."
As he spoke, Peter raised one hand and made the familiar motion of firing a web.
But what shot from his wrist was no longer ordinary webbing.
Instead, streams of pure white light burst forth, like the purest currents of energy in the universe.
Four white beams pierced the four Zombie Avengers with perfect accuracy.
No blood flowed from the wounds, and there were no black scorch marks.
The areas struck by the beams simply began to expand. Fist-sized holes slowly spread until they consumed their entire bodies.
Within seconds, their bodies were gradually reduced to their most basic particles.
Like grains of sand scattered by the wind, they silently dissolved into the air.
Zombie Captain America was the last to disappear.
He lowered his gaze to his disintegrating hands, and an incredibly complex expression appeared on his gray-white face.
It was the bewildered expression of someone finally being awakened after spending far too long trapped in a nightmare.
The moment all four Zombie Avengers had been reduced to fundamental particles, Peter caught a hazy glimpse of four ethereal figures.
Captain America, Hawkeye, Power Man, and Spider-Man had returned to their normal forms.
They waved to Peter in gratitude, then turned and walked away side by side.
Bathed in the final glow of the Enigma Force, their figures faded completely into nothingness.
They had finally found eternal release, freed at last from those hideous zombie forms.
In the now-empty laboratory, Peter hovered in midair and looked down at his hands.
The power of the Enigma Force had far exceeded his expectations.
Even more astonishing was the fact that Peter had only just come into contact with the Enigma Force. There was still tremendous potential waiting for him to uncover.
"It's time to leave."
Peter gave a casual wave of his hand, and the massive interdimensional energy suit device rose into the air.
The next instant, Peter and the device transformed into a streak of white light, shot through the breach in the wall, and soared straight into the sky.
...
After Peter left, the State University of New York once again fell into deathly silence.
But that silence lasted only briefly.
A golden figure descended from the sky and crashed into the center of the university plaza.
The shockwave from the landing shattered every window in the surrounding buildings into powder.
The Zombie Sentry had arrived!
He stood at the center of the plaza, the S emblem on his tattered golden battle armor still clearly visible.
Every zombie within a ten-kilometer radius stopped moving at the same time.
They stared fearfully in the direction of the Zombie Sentry.
This was the oppressive presence of the Zombie King, the source of all zombies and the absolute ruler of this apocalypse.
The ultimate zombie once known as the [Marvel Superman] scanned every trace of lingering energy in the air with his gray-white eyes.
Then the Zombie Sentry's body flickered, and he appeared inside Laboratory 605 of the Physics Building.
In the Zombie Sentry's vision, the residual energy particles in the air were slowly dispersing.
Their trajectories played backward frame by frame before his eyes, reconstructing everything that had happened in the laboratory not long before.
Four Zombie Avengers were pierced by white beams, their bodies breaking down into the most fundamental particles within the light.
And the one who had unleashed that light hovered in midair like a deity descended from the stars.
The Zombie Sentry suddenly threw back his head and roared.
He felt challenged.
His fury erupted like a volcano.
The next instant, blinding golden light surged from his body.
It was like a miniature sun had been ignited and was slowly rising above the ruins of the State University of New York.
Everything touched by the light vanished.
Classrooms, the library, laboratory buildings, dormitories, the plaza, the parking lot...
Every structure that made up the university was vaporized the instant the golden light reached it.
Even the earth itself was stripped away layer by layer, each layer mercilessly swallowed by the golden radiance.
By the time the golden light finally faded, the State University of New York had disappeared completely.
All that remained was a mirror-smooth expanse of ground, sunken dozens of meters below its original level.
Its surface was so smooth that it looked as though it had been meticulously polished countless times.
Viewed from high above, it looked as if God had scooped a perfect basin out of the earth with a spoon.
It was an artificial miracle created through the overwhelming power of a single individual!
...
...
Meanwhile, the command room of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier had descended into chaos.
Just seconds earlier, the Helicarrier's radar system had sounded an alarm.
Agents scrambled frantically in front of their radar screens as piercing warning sirens blared from the speakers.
"An unidentified source of extremely high energy is approaching at... my God! Mach 10!"
The agent responsible for energy monitoring delivered the report in a trembling voice.
Dark red warning lights flashed throughout the command room.
Nick Fury strode through the door. His single eye swept across the bright point clearly visible on the energy radar, his expression grim.
"Activate the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier's combat mode."
Nick Fury's voice cut through the noise in the command room, bringing the chaos under control.
"All gun batteries, lock onto the target's position and stand by to fire. Superheroes, stand by!"
The instant the order was issued, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier shifted from cruise mode into combat mode.
Armor plates along both sides of the hull flipped open one after another. Dense rows of gun barrels extended from the armored compartments, every muzzle turning toward the source of the energy reading.
The entire S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier was filled with the tense atmosphere of an imminent battle.
The Superheroes assembled in the command room, fists clenched as they waited for orders.
At that very moment, Peter was approaching the Helicarrier at astonishing speed.
Stellar energy traced brilliant arcs across the night sky behind him.
His control over the Enigma Force was still at an extremely crude, rudimentary stage.
Back in the laboratory at the State University of New York, he had destroyed four Zombie Avengers with a single wave of his hand. But there had been nothing sophisticated about his energy manipulation.
The Enigma Force was simply that powerful.
It was sheer power overwhelming every technique in its path.
The Enigma Force surged through his body like an endless raging river.
He could guide its general direction, but he could not yet precisely control every branch of its flow.
Still, after the battle he had just experienced, Peter was gradually adapting to the changes in his body.
As he flew high above the ground, he could sense everything around him.
It was an all-encompassing perception created by Spider-Sense pushed to its absolute limit.
Every subtle current of air, every droplet of water condensing within the clouds, and every movement aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier several kilometers away appeared clearly within his awareness.
"Well, looks like my new appearance has caused a bit of unnecessary trouble."
Peter immediately realized that returning to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier in this new form had caused a serious misunderstanding.
His energy signature was somewhat similar to the Zombie Sentry's. Both registered as extraordinarily powerful energy reactions that exceeded the upper limits of the radar system.
[I need to get back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier as quickly as possible and clear this up.]
The instant that thought passed through Peter's mind, the Enigma Force responded automatically.
The space around him suddenly warped as though a wormhole had formed. His vision flickered violently, and Peter vanished from thousands of meters above the ground.
The next second, he appeared inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier's command room.
A Teleportation ability similar to jumping between spatial coordinates?!
Every sound in the command room vanished at once.
The instant Peter appeared, Nick Fury had already drawn his pistol and aimed it at the unfamiliar figure that had suddenly materialized in the center of the room.
But his finger never squeezed the trigger.
His instincts told him that the person standing before him was not an enemy.
Half a second later, the agents and Superheroes also reacted, drawing their weapons one after another.
Peter looked around at the gun barrels and various weapons pointed at him.
His star-like eyes blinked once. Then he raised a hand and spoke in the most ordinary tone imaginable.
"Director Fury, I just stepped out for a bit. I come back and none of you recognize me anymore?"
Disbelief flashed in Fury's single eye.
There was something unmistakably familiar in those starlit eyes.
"...Spider-Man, did you change your suit again?"
Nick Fury lowered his pistol and raised a hand, signaling the others to stand down.
The agents and heroes in the command room collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
Within seconds, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier had been pulled back from the brink of battle.
"It's more than just a new suit."
Peter raised his right hand, and a speck of white light gathered at his fingertip.
"The successful activation of the interdimensional energy device gave me new powers."
The white light at Peter's fingertip twisted and shifted, transforming into a brilliant starry sky.
"This suit is the physical manifestation of the Enigma Force. I encountered four Zombie Avengers: Captain America, Hawkeye, Power Man, and this universe's original Spider-Man."
"I've completely freed them from their suffering. They were finally able to leave as human beings."
At that moment, even Nick Fury, with his extraordinary emotional control, could not suppress the flash of elation on his face.
Had humanity finally found a way to fight the zombie heroes?!
...
Chapter 127: The Power of Belief, the Zombie Horde Attacks the City!
Peter's completely transformed state far exceeded Nick Fury's expectations.
Fury had originally assumed that Peter's mission would, at most, bring back the Interdimensional Energy Transfer Device.
But now, Peter had clearly succeeded in obtaining the interdimensional power known as the Enigma Force.
The unexpected development gave everyone in the command room a tremendous boost in morale.
Both the agents and the Superheroes could clearly sense the immense energy fluctuations radiating from Spider-Man.
Judging by the intensity of those energy readings, Spider-Man might truly have the power to stand against the Zombie Sentry!
"Do you have complete control over this power now? Is there any chance you could lose control?"
Nick Fury quickly reined in his excitement and immediately raised the most important question.
As Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury had seen far too many cases of ordinary people gaining tremendous power, losing control, and ultimately becoming slaves to that very power.
"Don't worry. The Enigma Force represents life and light. It chose me as its host because it sensed that the Zombie Virus was disrupting the balance of this universe."
"So theoretically, there's no risk of the Enigma Force going out of control. The only problem is... I need to adapt to it as quickly as possible. The Zombie Sentry has probably already sensed the appearance of the Enigma Force, and that'll only make him even more dangerous. We don't have much time."
"Understood."
Nick Fury's single eye sharpened.
At that moment, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had only one thought.
He had to do everything in his power to help Spider-Man, no matter the cost.
"I can put every resource S.H.I.E.L.D. has at your disposal. Tell me what you need. Laboratories, researchers, anything you can think of. If S.H.I.E.L.D. has it, it's yours."
Peter thought for a moment.
He looked up, swept his gaze over the agents still bustling around the command room, then looked back at Nick Fury.
"I only need two people."
"Which two?"
"Tony Stark and Victor von Doom."
...
...
Latveria, Castle Doom.
Inside Doctor Doom's study, Doctor Doom sat behind his personal black iron desk.
An ancient magical tome bound in dragonhide rested before him.
The fireplace burned with an eternal ink-green magical flame.
Doctor Doom's steel mask was lowered as he focused on the fantastical symbols covering the pages, each one continuously shifting and changing shape.
Suddenly, the space at the center of the study began to distort without a sound.
It was as though a pair of invisible hands had torn apart the barrier called space, then woven it back together.
The next instant, brilliant white starlight flared.
Peter appeared in the middle of the study in his Captain Universe Spider-Man form.
Doctor Doom abruptly raised his head.
A figure that seemed to have been condensed from a cosmic Nebula had materialized out of thin air before him.
The entire process had bypassed every defensive barrier surrounding the castle without triggering a single intrusion alarm.
Even the supposedly flawless magical defensive array showed no sign of ever being activated.
Were it not for the strange but steady energy fluctuations radiating from the unknown figure before him, an illusion would have seemed like the more reasonable explanation.
A trace of astonishment appeared in Doctor Doom's eyes, deep beneath his steel mask.
It lasted only an instant, but for Victor von Doom, even that brief moment was far too long.
Whether through technology or magic, it should theoretically have been impossible to bypass the layers of defenses he had personally established and enter Castle Doom directly.
Yet the person before him had done exactly that.
He was using an entirely new kind of power, something that belonged to neither technology nor magic.
That power had directly rewritten the structure of space itself.
It was the sort of trait one would expect only from a higher-dimensional being.
Still, Doctor Doom quickly sensed something familiar about the figure before him.
He recognized those eyes, glowing with starlight from within.
"Spider-Man."
Doctor Doom slowly closed the magical tome and rose from behind his black iron desk.
"It seems you succeeded. No wonder you went to such lengths to find this power."
"It's neither technology nor magic, but a third energy system completely independent of both."
A faint dark green gleam seemed to flicker in Doctor Doom's eyes behind the steel mask.
"I have to admit, this new form of energy is fascinating."
Peter nodded slightly.
His hovering body descended to the floor, and he sat in the high-backed chair opposite Doctor Doom.
"Dr. Doom, I didn't come here just to show you what the Enigma Force can do. I need your help exploring its limits. I need to figure out exactly what it can do and how far that power can go."
Peter spoke directly, as though he already knew Doctor Doom would agree.
"The Zombie Sentry has already noticed the appearance of the Enigma Force, so I need to master it completely before he finds me."
Doctor Doom remained silent for a moment.
His gaze lingered on Peter's new suit for a long time.
The suit, with a miniature universe woven across it like a star map, was completely beyond Doctor Doom's understanding.
For geniuses like Doctor Doom and Iron Man, few things were harder to resist than the unknown.
At that moment, Doctor Doom even found himself remembering the excitement he had felt when he first began studying magic.
"You've managed to pique my interest."
Just as Peter expected, curiosity ultimately drove Doctor Doom to nod in agreement.
"I'll help you. Hopefully, this so-called Enigma Force will deepen my understanding of the laws of the universe."
Just then, someone knocked on the study door.
Doctor Doom raised a hand and snapped his fingers.
The heavy oak door swung open by itself.
Tony Stark stood in the doorway.
His gaze first swept over Doctor Doom, then landed on Peter's new suit.
His eyebrows shot up.
"Whoa. I thought Fury was messing with me, but he was actually telling the truth?!"
Iron Man walked into the study and circled halfway around Peter, tracing the faintly shimmering starlight in the air with one finger.
"It's not technology, it's not magic, and it doesn't have the radiation signature of any known energy source. That's incredible."
Peter winked at Tony Stark.
"So... Mr. Stark, interested in joining our Enigma Force research team?"
"Absolutely. Count me in. No way I'm letting Doom keep something this interesting all to himself."
Tony Stark answered much faster than Doctor Doom had.
A quiet, cold snort came from beneath Doctor Doom's steel mask.
The fact that he didn't throw Iron Man out was already the highest form of approval Tony could expect from him.
And just like that, the two smartest people on Earth turned their full attention to Peter.
Research into the Enigma Force officially began.
...
...
Meanwhile, amid the ruins of Manhattan, New York City.
The Zombie Sentry stood atop a skyscraper that had been snapped in half, his arms crossed over his chest.
His gray-white eyes slowly swept across the city below.
Scorching sunlight poured over his golden battle suit without changing its temperature in the slightest.
The Zombie Sentry was still thinking about what had happened at the State University of New York.
He could sense the existence of that strange, unknown power.
It definitely did not belong to this universe, nor was it an ability possessed by any Superhero he had ever devoured.
It was something capable of threatening him.
And that damned Spider-Man had somehow brought it into existence.
"Why... are there two Spider-Men in this universe?"
With his hunger temporarily satisfied, the Zombie Sentry had regained the ability to think clearly.
That was what puzzled him most.
Spider-Man had clearly been one of the first zombie heroes he had infected in this universe.
So why had a second Spider-Man appeared at the State University of New York?
He lowered his head in thought.
Meanwhile, throughout the ruined city beneath the Zombie Sentry's feet, countless zombies were converging from every direction, forming an enormous zombie army.
Mixed among them were large numbers of zombie heroes and Villains still wearing their battle suits.
Many familiar figures appeared within the gathering horde.
Zombie Doctor Octopus, zombie Green Goblin, zombie The Lizard, and many others...
Originally, these zombies had been scattered throughout other cities in search of food.
But after what happened at the State University of New York, the Zombie Sentry sensed the emergence of an unknown threat.
He began summoning zombies from cities across the region, gathering them into a massive army in New York City.
After an entire day and night of convergence, more than half of New York City had been overrun.
The zombie army had grown to more than a million strong.
It was a staggering number.
Even the agents and Superheroes aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier had no hope of fighting an army of that scale head-on. Their only option was to remain aboard the Helicarrier and avoid the full force of the horde.
At last, the Zombie Sentry seemed to decide that the army had grown large enough.
He threw back his head and roared.
The sound boomed like thunder.
The shockwave spread outward from Midtown Manhattan in every direction, shattering every remaining glass curtain wall in its path.
Every zombie within dozens of kilometers stopped what it was doing at the same time.
They turned their heads, fixed their gray-white eyes on the Zombie Sentry's position, then began moving in the same direction.
Zombie heroes emerged from their hunting grounds, tossed aside the half-eaten remains in their hands, and joined the surging tide.
In life, they had been Superheroes and Villains.
Now, every one of them had submitted to the will of the Zombie King.
The zombie army began moving west from Manhattan, passing through the suburbs of New Jersey, which had already become a dead zone, then crossing Pennsylvania as it relentlessly advanced toward Eastern Europe.
Zombies never tired and needed no rest.
All they needed was to feed on every living creature they encountered along the way.
They marched without stopping.
Their final destination was Latveria, located in the Balkan Mountains of Eastern Europe.
The Zombie Sentry could sense the general location of the Enigma Force.
After all, on this planet, only Spider-Man, who wielded the Enigma Force, possessed an energy signature of such overwhelming intensity.
The Zombie Sentry had decided to lead the zombie army on a grand expedition.
He would completely eliminate the only threat remaining on this planet!
And because of the Zombie Virus, the army continued to grow as it advanced.
Tens of thousands of new zombies joined its ranks, along with even more zombie heroes and Villains.
And just as Murphy's Law predicted, things only kept getting worse.
Two days later, the zombie army gained a large new contingent of zombie heroes.
Following the advice of several intelligent zombie villains, the Zombie Sentry led an elite zombie squad in a surprise attack on Kamar-Taj in the Himalayas.
After some time, they successfully overran Kamar-Taj.
Large numbers of sorcerers were infected and turned into zombies.
These zombie sorcerers retained their memories and magical powers from life, including the ability to open Portals.
With large numbers of Portals at their disposal, the zombie army's advance accelerated exponentially.
A journey that would normally have taken a month was reduced to a single week.
Castle Doom in Latveria would soon face the first wave of the zombie army's assault!
...
...
Meanwhile, inside Castle Doom, Peter, Doctor Doom, and Iron Man had made a major breakthrough in their research.
Peter's entire body was covered in sensor patches as he floated inside a specialized machine undergoing energy monitoring.
Tony Stark watched dense streams of data cascade down the screen like a waterfall, then exchanged a glance with Doctor Doom beside him.
Behind Doctor Doom's steel mask, his brow was deeply furrowed.
"Judging from the brainwave patterns and the frequency of the energy fluctuations, your earlier hypothesis was correct."
Tony Stark nodded emphatically, excitement gleaming in his eyes.
"Yeah. At this point, we can be fairly certain... the Enigma Force inside Spider-Man would be more accurately described as the Power of Belief."
The Power of Belief?
The instant Peter heard the term from Tony Stark, an image popped into his mind.
A horde of green-skinned Orks roaring, "Waaagh!"
Orks were not creatures from the Marvel Universe. They were a species unique to the neighboring Warhammer 40,000 Universe.
As for why Peter suddenly thought of Orks, it was because they possessed an absurd ability.
As long as enough of them collectively believed something, they could warp reality.
It was also known as the [Power of My Thoughts], and it was somewhat similar to the Power of Belief Tony Stark had just described.
The [Power of My Thoughts], however, was usually applied to technology.
The Power of Belief had a much broader range of applications.
If the underlying principles of the two were the same, then as long as Peter's conviction was strong enough, he could do anything!