However, Gravik did not give Darian a chance to call for reinforcements.
His golden-shrouded figure swayed violently, transforming into a straight stream of light as he charged over!
He was so fast that he left afterimages, and his fist, wrapped in powerful energy, caused a low sonic boom when he threw a punch!
The pitch-black tentacles at Darian's side immediately wove together into a shield-like shape to block the front.
Boom!!
The golden light and the black shield collided violently. A blinding glare exploded accompanied by a deafening roar, and a violent Impact spread out in a ring.
Darian was pushed back more than ten meters, his soles plowing two long, deep furrows into the ground.
"Do you see! This is true power!"
Gravik's body shimmered with golden light, his tone full of arrogance: "Those little tricks of yours are not worth mentioning in the face of absolute power!" As he spoke, he brought his palms together in front of his chest, and rich golden energy quickly condensed.
Immediately after, Gravik thrust his arms forward, and a golden beam of energy tore through the air, heading straight for Darian!
Darian reacted extremely quickly, diving to the side almost the instant the energy beam left Gravik's hands, rolling to create distance.
Rumble!!
The energy beam grazed his clothing and smashed fiercely into the wall behind him.
In an instant, bricks and stones flew, dust filled the air, and a huge hole was blown into the entire wall, with wisps of smoke rising from the edges.
"Little tricks? Then let me show you something big."
Darian waved his hand, and one by one, bulging burlap sandbags appeared out of thin air, slamming heavily onto the ground.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of sandbags were piled between them, like a crude barrier.
Seeing Darian's feat of summoning items out of thin air, a trace of surprise flashed in Gravik's eyes.
But after he saw clearly that they were just ordinary sandbags, he sneered: "You don't really think you can stop me with these sandbags..."
Before he could finish, a sudden change occurred!
Those sandbags suddenly trembled violently in unison, as if something inside was about to burst out.
Rip! Rip!
A dense sound of tearing erupted, and all the burlap bags burst open simultaneously!
Countless yellowish-brown sand grains gushed out, but instead of falling to the ground, they were guided by an invisible force, spiraling and rising rapidly. In the blink of an eye, they gathered into a thick, several-meter-high wave of sand, crashing down on Gravik's head!
"What!?"
Gravik's expression changed drastically. Before he could react, he was instantly swallowed by the roaring wave of sand.
Ever since he fought Hulk that day, Darian had deeply experienced the joy of fighting on home turf.
However, not every place happens to have sand.
But this couldn't stump Darian at all.
If there is no ready-made environment, then create one yourself.
Nowadays, his game inventory was already stockpiled with sandbags like small mountains, so he didn't have to worry about being unable to activate his abilities due to a lack of sand.
It wasn't that Darian didn't want to get more sand; it was mainly because his ability had an upper limit, and there was a bottleneck to the amount of sand he could control at once. If there were any more, he wouldn't be able to control it.
Boom!!
A dull, loud noise exploded from inside the sand wave.
A golden figure broke through the constraints of the sand layer and rushed into the air, looking slightly disheveled.
Gravik looked down at Darian in the center of the sandy ground below, his tone filled with suspicion and uncertainty: "This ability... are you the Lord of the Sand-Sculptures!?"
Darian: "..."
Why are you suddenly cursing in the middle of a fight?
"No! You are not Layla at all! You are Darian from S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
Gravik was both shocked and angry.
Darian's signature move of summoning items out of thin air was too easy to recognize. Gravik was clearly quite knowledgeable about the internal situation of S.H.I.E.L.D. and instantly connected the two.
Plus, the footage of Darian controlling sand to fight Hulk had long been spreading like wildfire on the internet.
Gravik had a fast internet connection and had even heard of the title "Lord of the Sand-Sculptures," so he immediately associated it with Darian.
Seeing his identity exposed, Darian remained calm: "No, I am Layla; I just fused with Darian's genes."
"Impossible!"
Gravik asserted: "I have investigated this long ago. Darian has no gene samples leaked at all, not even in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
In fact, S.H.I.E.L.D. had long attempted to collect Darian's gene samples.
After all, this was the closest and easiest superpower user to obtain gene samples from; how could they possibly let it go?
However, strangely, whether it was Darian's saliva, hair, or blood, as long as it left his body for a certain amount of time, these samples would mysteriously disappear as if they had evaporated, leaving not a trace.
Even more bizarrely, even if sampled and analyzed before disappearing, no effective genetic information could be extracted at all. Those gene samples were like carefully rendered game textures—they looked real, but inside they were empty, devoid of any substantial content.
Darian laughed: "Wanting to get Darian's genes? That's simple."
Gravik subconsciously asked: "What method?"
Darian smiled and said: "You call me... him, Daddy, and wouldn't you instantly establish a blood relationship?"
Gravik: "..."
This infuriating way of speaking was exactly the same as recorded in the files.
And you damn well admitted it, yet you still say you aren't Darian!
"No matter who you are, you are dead today!"
Gravik stopped talking nonsense. Golden light surged and condensed in his palms again, then transformed into an energy beam that blasted toward Darian.
Darian was prepared for this. He rolled to dodge the energy beam, stabilized himself by kneeling on one knee, and clenched his right hand in the air toward Gravik.
The next moment, the sandy ground under Gravik's feet suddenly erupted, instantly condensing into a giant sand palm that grabbed toward Gravik at extremely high speed.
Then the five fingers tightened violently, grabbing Gravik tightly around the waist, while the palm continued to exert force, attempting to crush him.
"Hmph!"
Gravik snorted coldly, and a dazzling golden light burst forth from his body. A substantive energy Impact exploded from the inside out.
Pfft!
The giant sand palm shattered in response, disintegrating inch by inch from the knuckles to the palm, turning into yellow sand that fell rustling to the ground.
Breaking free, Gravik was completely unharmed. A cold light flashed in his eyes, and he shot off like an arrow from a bow, turning into a blurred golden afterimage, charging straight at Darian at an astonishing speed!
"Sand Wall!"
Darian shouted softly at Gravik and raised one hand.
In front of Gravik's charging path, the ground shook repeatedly, and several thick sand walls rose from the ground, blocking his path in layers.
Facing the sudden obstacle, Gravik's charging momentum not only didn't slow down, but instead accelerated again, crashing straight into the sand wall.
The sand wall couldn't stop this brutal Impact at all.
Amidst the dull explosions, one sand wall after another was smashed to pieces by Gravik's forehead. Sand grains sprayed backward like an explosion, and dust filled the air wherever he passed.
However, just as Gravik smashed through the second-to-last sand wall, the moment his vision hadn't fully cleared, what appeared before him was not the last sand wall he expected, but black tentacles holding various weapons.
The tips of all the weapons were now pointed straight at the direction he was charging from!
"Uh!?"
Gravik's pupils shrank suddenly, and the hair on his body stood on end.
However, it was already too late to turn or stop suddenly.
In shock, he only had time to cross his arms and protect his head and face tightly.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
The dull sounds of sharp blades cutting into flesh erupted one after another.
Despite the buffer of golden energy, the force of the tentacles' strikes was astonishingly large, and the weapons were extremely sharp, easily piercing through various parts of his body, with purple blood spraying out like a fountain from the wounds.
"Ah!!"
Gravik screamed in agony, no longer caring about his offensive. Golden light erupted wildly around his body, forcibly shaking off the weapons still embedded in him, and he quickly flew back into the air.
Red light flowed inside his body, and he used the abilities of an Extremis Soldier to frantically repair his injuries.
Darian chuckled: "Do you really think you are Captain Marvel? If you don't have that Iron Head Technique, how dare you use your head to clear the way?"
"Bastard!!"
Gravik was burning with rage. No longer caring about the potential risk of genetic backlash, he drove the golden flow of light to its limit.
In an instant, his aura changed drastically. His pupils were completely swallowed by blazing golden light, and the golden light on his body became even more dazzling, emitting a heart-stopping energy fluctuation.
Not to mention, he really did have a bit of Captain Marvel's style.
Darian attacked first. Countless sand surged up, turning into a giant elbow that blasted toward Gravik.
Large-scale Muay Thai Warning!
Gravik didn't dodge or evade, and his fist, wrapped in golden light, suddenly punched out.
Rumble!!
Accompanied by blinding golden light, the seemingly mighty giant elbow instantly exploded, reverting into yellow sand that scattered powerlessly into the sky.
Breaking through the falling rain of sand, Gravik descended rapidly toward Darian like a golden meteorite!
"Sand Wall!"
Darian shouted at Gravik, then repeated his old trick, and sand walls instantly blocked his front.
But this time Gravik didn't use his head, instead firing a golden energy beam from both hands that pierced through all the sand walls, continuing without losing momentum, and shot straight at Darian behind them.
Two huge metal gauntlets immediately appeared out of thin air on Darian's hands, which he opened to block in front of him.
Boom!!
The golden energy beam smashed fiercely against the surface of the metal gauntlets, and the powerful Impact was instantly absorbed by the metal gauntlets, exploding into a dazzling turbulent flow of energy.
The next moment, Gravik's figure had already arrived, charging to Darian's front!
Golden energy surged wildly on his fists, and he punched continuously at a speed invisible to the naked eye, dragging out a flurry of fist shadows in the air!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The terrifying sounds of Impact connected into one, almost indistinguishable from each other.
With his power fully unleashed, Gravik was so fast he left afterimages, his fists and feet wrapped in boiling golden energy, every strike causing the air to explode.
Even with Darian trying his best, with all six black tentacles out, he could only barely fend off this storm-like offensive.
Every time the two collided violently, a deafening explosion erupted, and circles of Impact mixed with energy spread wildly outward like solid rings, ruthlessly scouring everything around them.
Suddenly, Gravik opened his mouth wide, and a torrent of high-temperature Fire mixed with golden energy spewed out like a dragon's breath.
"You can play like this too!?"
Darian was startled. Without time to think, he instantly activated his Protection Spell, and an energy shield covered his entire body.
Although he could be immune to Fire damage, he couldn't be immune to that golden energy.
While maintaining the Protection Spell to resist the golden energy, Darian watched his mana being consumed frantically.
No way around it, he had used too many active skills.
Between being the Lord of the Sand-Sculptures and the energy tentacles, plus the frequent use of various magic assists, his mana was already running low under this high-intensity consumption, and he couldn't spare a hand to drink a mana potion to replenish it.
If the stalemate continued, he would definitely be the first to be drained.
Darian narrowed his eyes and suddenly said: "Do you want to see something good?"
Gravik thought Darian wanted to beg for mercy and sneered in response: "It's too late to say anything now; you are definitely going to die today!"
"That means you want to see it."
Darian grinned and decisively used his trump card item.
[Item: cats memory (Can force a person to watch a cat's memory. The scenes are too terrifying; the viewer will have unpredictable reactions. Do not use it on yourself out of curiosity)]
The moment Darian confirmed the use, a pair of pure black VR glasses suddenly appeared out of thin air on Gravik's face, covering his eyes.
"What is this!?"
Gravik was shocked and subconsciously wanted to raise his hand to tear off this eyesore.
But he immediately discovered with shock that although his body could still move, his vision and some key perceptions were firmly locked behind those lenses by an unreasonable force, as if forcing him to watch the content that was about to flood in.
Gravik was horrified.
Fearing that Darian would take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, he didn't have time to investigate this strange VR headset. Golden light erupted around him, and he immediately flew backward, rapidly rising into the air to create distance, ensuring his safety while unable to see.
However, at this moment, the light and shadow inside the lenses began to circulate, gradually forming an image.
It looked like... it seemed to be from a cat's memory.
Seeing that there was no immediate threat to his life, Gravik's tense heartstrings relaxed slightly.
It was just watching a memory, and a cat's memory at that.
You know, he was a Skrull who had watched countless memories of others. He had seen even the most filthy and disgusting memories, including human forbidden films; he could watch things like the "Old Eight" or the "Two Female Old Eights" without blinking.
What could a mere cat's memory be so scary about?
Gravik was very confident.
But soon, he realized something was not quite right.
"Wait..., what the hell is this!?"
"My eyes are not clean anymore! Give me a pair of eyes that haven't seen this!"
"Arghhh!"
"Get out! Get out of my head! I don't want to see it anymore!!"
High in the sky, Gravik suddenly let out a painful and chaotic roar, as if he had seen the most absurd and terrifying thing in the world. He tore desperately at the VR glasses on his face, but he couldn't do it at all.
He could only struggle helplessly in the air, letting out heart-wrenching wails, which could be described as heartbreaking to hear.
And below, Darian gulped down a mana potion, watching his mana gradually recover, and immediately felt much more at ease.
"Whew... that was close, it almost dropped below 30%."
Although it was still far from bottoming out, for Darian, who suffered from deep-seated fire-power insufficiency phobia, as long as the mana bar dropped below the 80% safety line, he would start to feel uncomfortable, feeling just like leaving the house without a mobile phone.
With his mana replenished, a sense of security immediately returned.
Darian finally had the leisure to look up, gazing at the golden figure in the air who was stuck in a state of mental pollution, and couldn't help but scratch his head.
"What exactly did this guy see? Is it really that terrifying?"