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Darian's game inventory stored quite a few weapons, but he was specifically missing a suitable pair of gauntlets, especially since he fought unarmed quite often.
Therefore, he chose to forge Absorbing Man into gauntlets.
Perhaps because there was too much material, the newly formed metal gauntlets were exaggeratedly large.
Each gauntlet was larger than half of Darian's body; they looked like forearm components stripped directly from a several-meter-tall heavy mech, and their massive volume made his originally sturdy upper arms look slender by comparison.
He moved his arms slightly, and a smooth metallic whirring sound came from the gauntlet joints. His fingers opened and closed flexibly, the knuckles moving fluidly without any sense of sluggishness despite the size.
"Not bad, not bad."
Darian nodded, very satisfied with this new weapon.
This Absorbing Man was simply a born material saint; he turned into whatever he touched. If he were fed into a giant stomach weighing several hundred kilograms, he would probably be able to conjure up several hundred kilograms of rare metal materials out of thin air.
Just as Darian felt a pang of regret, Red Skull in the distance looked as if he had seen a ghost.
"What the f*ck!?"
"Absorbing Man was actually absorbed!?"
Red Skull's face was filled with disbelief.
You have to know, Absorbing Man was someone who had once solo-killed Thor.
Although that time he had absorbed Scarlet Witch's Chaos Magic and had a small power boost, his own abilities were absolutely not to be underestimated; he could even trade blows with the base-form Hulk.
Yet, in less than a moment, Absorbing Man had been finished off by the opponent using a stone, and was instead absorbed and converted into a pair of gauntlets!?
Red Skull's heart sank abruptly.
He suddenly had an ominous feeling; the current development of events seemed to be completely out of his control.
Red Skull had originally pinned high hopes on Absorbing Man, thinking that with Absorbing Man around, taking down this bunch of guys would be a matter of minutes, but he hadn't expected this trump card to fall in the blink of an eye.
"What a piece of trash!"
Red Skull cursed under his breath and shouted, "Mysterio!"
As his words fell, a large amount of thick green mist appeared out of thin air, rapidly swallowing the entire space.
The moment Wade, Wolverine, and Old Hawkeye were enveloped by the mist, they seemed to be controlled, suddenly abandoning their opponents and charging toward Darian in unison.
Clearly, these three had already fallen into the illusion created by Mysterio, mistaking Darian for the enemy.
Mysterio deliberately did not include Darian in the range of the illusion, letting Darian watch clearly as his teammates attacked him.
This was Mysterio's brilliance.
You know exactly who is attacking you, but because you are worried about your teammates, you dare not fight back with full force, only falling into the predicament of being passively beaten.
This scene was just like Wolverine's X-Men teammates back in the day.
If not for the X-Men having reservations and being unwilling to use lethal force, how could dozens of X-Men have been wiped out by Wolverine alone?
Now, Mysterio was precisely trying to replicate this classic scene, with Darian taking the role of the X-Men, while Wade and the other two became the Wolverine of that time.
Looking at his teammates charging toward him, Darian shouted, "Calm down! You've been controlled by Mysterio! I'm your teammate!"
However, the three showed no reaction, their movements not pausing in the slightest.
The illusion not only tampered with their vision but also blocked their hearing.
Very quickly, the three had already rushed in front of Darian.
"I am Marvel Jesus! For Disney!"
Wade let out a strange cry, his dual blades already slashing toward Darian's chest.
"Don't force me to fight back!"
Darian said, but his right foot kicked out without hesitation.
"Bang!!"
Accompanied by a dull impact sound and the crisp crack of bones, Wade's figure instantly flew backward, crossing a distance of over ten meters and slamming heavily into the wall, shaking down a patch of debris.
Darian retracted his leg and turned, his right fist already meeting the punch Wolverine was throwing from the side.
The two fists collided fiercely.
Darian, wearing the gauntlets, felt nothing at all, while Wolverine gasped, retreating several steps, shaking his uncontrollably trembling fist behind his back.
Immediately after, Darian leaned back to avoid the compound bow that Old Hawkeye had swept across, then took the opportunity to grab the bow, giving it a forceful swing. Old Hawkeye was instantly sent flying into the air, crashing into Wolverine, and the two rolled on the ground in a heap.
Darian put away the compound bow, looking pained: "Friends, don't blame me. Attacking you was purely a last resort. If you want to blame someone, blame that guy Mysterio."
Mysterio: "..."
Could these people have a grudge? Why does it feel like this guy is enjoying the fight?
Seeing that Wade and the other three were no match, Red Skull immediately picked up the Captain America shield that had just been touched by Absorbing Man. Combined with his Captain America uniform, anyone who didn't know better would think he was the second Captain America.
"Everyone, attack together!"
Red Skull raised his shield and shouted, and all the supervillains, along with the newly risen Wade and Wolverine, charged toward Darian.
Darian: "?"
What's with this sense of déjà vu of superheroes teaming up with supervillains to fight the big boss?
"Da da da da da—!"
Gunfire suddenly erupted; the modified rifle in Crossbones' hands spewed tongues of fire, and dense bullets instantly enveloped Darian.
A white light suddenly burst forth around Darian; the bullets collided with the halo and deformed, falling off with a clattering sound.
At this moment, Wolverine let out a low roar and charged from the flank.
This time he did not lunge with his bare hands, but instead gripped a long sword he had picked up from the ground with both hands, slashing fiercely at Darian.
He only used a weapon and did not extend his claws, so it didn't count as breaking the vow.
Darian raised his hand, and the gauntlet, personally forged from Absorbing Man, steadily caught the blade.
Metal friction emitted a piercing screech, and sparks flew.
Although the blade in Wolverine's hand was exceptionally sharp, the gauntlet was forged from the same composite metal as Captain America's shield, so it couldn't break the defense at all, not even leaving a white mark.
Before Wolverine could change his move, Darian swung his left palm horizontally, slapping him hard on the side of his head.
The force of this slap was just right—it stunned him without causing brain damage—and Wolverine let out a muffled groan, collapsing to the ground.
Almost simultaneously, Wade closed in, his dual blades drawing cold arcs in the air.
"I'm going to turn you into a Red Skull sashimi platter!"
Wade clearly mistook Darian for Red Skull in the illusion, attacking without reservation. The dual blades slashed over at lightning speed, each strike aiming for vital points, every move lethal.
"Bang!"
Darian dodged sideways repeatedly, waited for the right moment, and slapped him again.
Wade was sent spinning half a circle in the air by this giant slap, stumbling and falling onto Wolverine, who had just propped himself up, his dual blades flying out of his hands.
Darian leaned down to pick up the two blades, flipped his wrists, and pointed the tips downward.
"Shhh! Shhh!"
Two piercing sounds rang out.
The dual blades pierced through Wade and Wolverine's bodies, pinning them firmly to the ground and restricting their movements.
Wade's eyes widened, his body writhing as he was pinned: "Whoa! I feel like three thick, long things have been inserted into my body!"
Wolverine: "..."
"Whoosh!"
The sound of wind breaking suddenly arose; Taskmaster leapt down from the air behind Darian like a phantom, the sword in his hand slicing through the air, hacking straight at the top of Darian's head!
Darian didn't even raise his eyes, simply lifting his left arm upward and easily catching the blade Taskmaster had brought down.
His right fist immediately blasted out, aiming straight for the opening in Taskmaster's chest.
Taskmaster seemed to have anticipated this, decisively abandoning the sword, and before the fist could hit him, he had already dodged backward, landing lightly several meters away.
"I have long observed your fighting style."
Taskmaster's voice came through the mask, calm and carrying a hint of confidence in controlling the rhythm: "Your force-generating habits, attack preferences, and even your center-of-gravity shifts when defending—I am already completely familiar with them and have learned your patterns."
As he spoke, his body posture had quietly adjusted. In his gestures, there was actually a hint of Darian's shadow, as if he were a living, dynamic mirror image.
Darian raised an eyebrow and stepped forward, charging.
"Take this punch!"
As he spoke, Darian delivered a left front kick straight into Taskmaster's chest and abdomen.
However, this move of his, which had always been effective, was dodged by Taskmaster with a side-step, the movement so fluid it was as if it had been rehearsed countless times.
"I said it, I have long seen through your fighting pattern."
Taskmaster's body twisted violently, his right elbow blasting toward Darian's face like a spring.
This elbow strike, whether in angle or force-generating method, was exactly the same as the Muay Thai Warning Darian had just used against Absorbing Man.
"Bang!"
"Crack!"
Taskmaster's elbow hit Darian's face squarely.
But Darian remained motionless; instead, a sound of bone fracturing came from Taskmaster's elbow.
"Urgh!"
Taskmaster groaned, stumbling backward, looking at Darian in shock.
He saw that on Darian's head, at some unknown time, a full-coverage helmet with sharp lines had been placed.
[Equipment: Level 6 Helmet (Forged from high-strength special materials, possessing excellent defensive performance, capable of completely blocking one firearm attack aimed at the head)]
Facts proved that the Level 6 Helmet was not only bulletproof but could also withstand elbow strikes.
"Why didn't you guess this one?"
Darian raised his hand triumphantly, his knuckles lightly tapping the side of his helmet, making a crisp sound.
Taskmaster: "..."
What could I possibly guess about this!
Who could have imagined that someone could suddenly have a helmet appear on their head while fighting!
Darian did not give the opponent time to adjust, his figure suddenly rushing forward, his right hand's five fingers spread, grabbing fiercely toward Taskmaster's face.
Taskmaster once again predicted in advance, pulling his body to retreat rapidly to the rear side. This was the best evasion path he had calculated based on the Darian attack patterns he had previously learned.
However, the instant his footsteps moved backward, Darian's speed suddenly exploded!
A palm larger than a sand pot, carrying wind pressure, turned into a silver afterimage, grabbing toward Taskmaster at an incredible speed.
"Oh no!"
Alarm bells rang wildly in Taskmaster's heart, but he didn't even have time to complete half a move change.
The next instant, his entire head was clamped by Darian's large hand like an iron hoop.
Terrifying power came from the five fingers; Taskmaster's helmet shell immediately emitted an unbearable creaking groan.
"Besides... who told you I was a technical player?"
Darian grinned, gradually exerting force in his hand.
In the face of pure stats, all of Taskmaster's techniques became futile.
He used both hands to desperately pry at Darian's wrist, kicking his legs, unable to shake him in the slightest. The helmet began to deform under the immense pressure, cracks spreading rapidly outward from between the fingers like a spiderweb.
"Crack!"
With a crisp sound, Taskmaster's struggle came to an abrupt end, his body suddenly went limp, and his hands and feet hanging in mid-air dropped powerlessly.
Darian let go, stepped on Taskmaster's corpse, and scanned the surroundings.
"Who's next!?"
Looking at Darian, who looked like a big boss, the remaining supervillains couldn't help but swallow their saliva.
What the hell kind of monster is this!
"Bastard!"
Mysterio gritted his teeth, and a large cloud of green smoke instantly emerged all around, the surrounding light gradually dimming.
In just the time it took to breathe, the entire space had fallen into a deathly silence of darkness.
"When your vision, hearing, and all senses are stripped away, let's see how you can fight!"
Mysterio's voice rang out from all directions simultaneously, layered and overlapping, making it impossible to accurately locate him.
Darian was not panicked in the slightest, charging rapidly toward a specific direction.
"Heh, do you think you can escape the range of my illusion like this?"
Mysterio let out a disdainful chuckle, his voice filled with the composure of someone in control of the whole situation.
Darian didn't react at all, instead speeding up again.
"Wait, what are you trying to do..."
Mysterio's tone suddenly changed; that composure turned into terror.
Before he could finish his sentence, Darian suddenly blasted a punch into the air in front of him.
"Crack—!"
A crisp bursting sound exploded.
The darkness enveloping the surroundings turned into a burst of green mist and suddenly dissipated.
Darian's iron fist did not miss, printing accurately onto the face of Mysterio, who was hiding in the mist, hitting that fishbowl helmet squarely.
The glass shattered instantly, countless shards splashing in all directions.
"Ah!!"
Mysterio let out a short, miserable howl, his entire body flying backward and slamming heavily onto the ground more than ten meters away.
He trembled as he propped up his upper body; his face was already covered in dense glass shards, and blood flowed continuously from the wounds.
Mysterio said in disbelief: "Wh-why can you see through my illusion!?"
Darian said happily: "Since when did you start having the illusion that I was under your illusion?"
He possessed Golden Eyes, which could see through all falsehoods and disguises. Even Loki's illusion magic couldn't deceive him, let alone Mysterio's special-effect illusions.
"How could..."
Mysterio's body went limp, unable to hold on any longer, and he fell backward onto the ground.
With Mysterio's fall, the illusions before Wade and the others dissipated, and they realized that the enemy they had been fighting all along was Darian.
"It's that damn Mysterio again!"
Wolverine was the first to react, anger instantly rushing to his brow; this was already the second time he had been controlled by the same trick.
At the same time, he said thankfully: "Fortunately, I didn't extend my claws this time, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable."
Darian laughed: "You're overthinking it. Even if you had extended your claws, it would still have been a matter of one slap; there's no difference."
Wolverine: "..."
That hurts.
Having taken down three supervillains in succession, Darian turned his gaze toward the remaining Red Skull and Crossbones, his mouth slowly curling up.
"Just the two of you left, supervillains."
Who the hell is the supervillain!
Red Skull's mouth twitched, and he gritted his teeth: "Who exactly are you, and why have I never heard of you?"
"Who am I? Didn't I already tell you?"
Darian's helmet switched back to the magic mask, his eyes emitting white light: "Since that's the case, let me reintroduce myself. I am the leader of HYDRA, the Black King of the Hellfire Club, the leader of the Mutant Brotherhood, the King of Sokovia, the Captain of the Immortal Alliance..."
"I am, Lord Doom!"