Chapter 95: The Black Beast of the Second World War

“Let go, let go now!”

The instant Old Wang heard that, the Spirit of Vengeance shouted in Robbie’s mind, “If you do not let go, I am going to be sent back to Hell!”

Yes, the Spirit of Vengeance was immortal, and so Ghost Rider was immortal.

But this world had many ways to separate the Spirit of Vengeance from Ghost Rider, and then kill Ghost Rider outright.

Odin could do it. Hela could do it. The Ancient One could do it. So could those lords of Hell.

And for a Ghost Rider weakened to the absolute limit, even the Beast, with only part of its power descended, could do it.

Once the host was lost, the Spirit of Vengeance would be dragged back by the power of Hell.

I finally get to come to the real world, and before I’ve even had my fill, you want me to go back?

No way!

Feeling his soul being swallowed by boundless darkness, Robbie could not help but loosen his grip.

You said let go, so I let go!

The chain slackened, the darkness was severed, hellfire blazed up, the chill began to recede, and warmth returned once more.

Robbie quickly stepped back. Sensing the Spirit of Vengeance’s timidity and the weakness of its body, a voice carrying the stench of Hellfire rang out, “Master Wang, it is very strong!”

That is exactly why I need to be here... Old Wang waved a hand. “Go help Black Widow and the others. Leave this to me.”

“Got it!”

Robbie and the Spirit of Vengeance answered at the same time, turned, and left without the slightest hesitation.

“It’s you!”

The little boy opened his mouth, and the furious, savage voice within carried the reek of primeval wilderness. “Foolish human, you cannot stop me! I am the Beast. I am the embodiment of desire. I am the messenger of sin. I am the source of suffering. I am the star of disaster. Unstoppable, unyielding...”

“Too many lines. Did the author give you an extra chicken leg?”

Old Wang cut him off mercilessly, reached into empty air, and drew out a small bottle.

With the Flask of Eternity in hand, he took a small sip.

Feeling the true energy he had spent surge back to full in an instant, Old Wang’s spirits soared. He raised his left hand and crooked a finger. “You idiot, come fight me!”

“Die!”

The Beast, fluent in most of the languages of the world, exploded with rage and lunged at Old Wang. “Feel the power of desire and sin!”

This guy has been a shut-in for too long. Even his speech is this ridiculous... Old Wang set his stance, then struck.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Boom!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The slightly plump young man and the frail boy plunged into a fierce close-quarters brawl.

Black mist, carrying sin and desire, and green true energy, representing life force, clashed ceaselessly between them.

The black mist tried to corrode Old Wang’s body and turn him into nothing more than a lust-driven beast below the waist.

But Old Wang lived cleanly and protected himself well; he would not touch filthy, disgusting things, and he would not let the naked little boy get close.

He also wanted to use true energy to destroy the boy’s bodily functions, but soon discovered it was pointless. The boy before him was no longer really human. What sustained his body was no longer life energy, but the power of sin and desire, just like Ghost Rider. Even if you crushed the body to pulp, it would not matter.

Like memory metal, it would recover in the blink of an eye.

Old Wang remembered it clearly:

In the Defenders, the resurrected Elektra as the Black Sky had tremendous physical quality, immense strength, and blinding speed; she could go toe-to-toe with Luke Cage without flinching, and Jessica Jones, who could flip cars, could not outmuscle her.

The one before him, having absorbed the murderous desires of so many people, was stronger than ten Black Sky Elektras combined. They were not even in the same league.

Physical attacks would be very hard to use to kill the boy.

But energy could!

The Beast was very displeased.

Its plan had been perfect.

It was the embodiment of desire and sin, a master on the level of spirit and soul. Close combat was only the beginning; corroding the enemy’s soul and dragging them into the abyss of depravity was its true strongest weapon.

But very soon it noticed that something seemed off.

Why did this fellow’s soul and spirit feel stronger than its own?

No matter how much desire and sin it poured out, it could not corrupt him. On the contrary, a certain calm and tranquil aura radiated from his soul, as if it were trying to soothe his desire and convert his spirit.

How could that be possible?

“No. You are not human!”

The Beast’s eyes turned blood-red. It stared at Old Wang and felt certain it had found the truth. “Who are you really? A psychic entity from outer space? A magical entity from another dimension? Or an undying soul from some ancient age?”

“You guess.”

A deeply enigmatic smile appeared on Old Wang’s face.

I’m not an ancient soul, I’m not an alien, and I’m not a magical entity from another dimension. Do you think I’d say that I’m not even from your Marvel universe?

All that blood from the ladies was not used for nothing. The Beast could not see through his origins either!

The brawl continued.

At first, it was all right.

The Beast’s terror lay mainly in the realms of soul and spirit.

It fed on sin and desire, but souls were the vessel for sin and desire. The dead souls around them were all devoured by it and turned into nourishment, allowing it to descend with greater power.

Part of that power was used to strengthen its body, but that strengthening was limited.

In truth, Old Wang and the Beast were surprisingly alike:

Within a frail body hid an incomparably powerful soul.

It was the shackles upon the soul that prevented either from unleashing their proper strength.

The Beast represented desire and sin. For most superheroes, it might have been an existence impossible to resist, but Old Wang was unafraid.

He had long since grown used to such things.

Ancient gods, the Seven Deadly Shadows, spider demons, shadow priests, warlocks, dread lords, and all those female beings—who among them was not skilled in psychic assaults and the manipulation of the mind?

Back then, when faced with the temptations of Jaina and the Banshee Queen, after drinking so many hallucinatory concoctions from the Royal Apothecary Society and the alchemists of Kul Tiras, Old Wang had still managed to resist the urge to lose his composure and ride off with abandon. A mere Beast with only part of its power descended had no qualifications to affect him.

But as time passed, more and more people died, and the Beast devoured more and more souls, growing ever stronger, while Old Wang’s own strength did not increase.

He began to feel the strain.

That strain was most obvious in his flesh.

He had to admit that at this moment, he was actually not even as sturdy as a little boy.

Moreover, true energy was limited, and the essence of the Water of Eternity was limited as well. Yet because the killing had not stopped, the little boy could keep replenishing himself without end.

In terms of endurance, he had lost too...

“You need to make a choice, Wang.”

The voice of Miss Azeroth sounded in Old Wang’s mind. “You need a skill, a helper, or a piece of equipment—something that can destroy the Beast.”

Old Wang sighed. “The Beast can never be destroyed, just like the sha demons in Pandaria.”

“But at the very least, you can disperse the part of it that has already descended, just as you did before.”

The girl said, “I have come up with 2,234 solutions. Every one of them can do it.”

Old Wang’s eyes lit up. Without the slightest hesitation, he said, “Give me the cheapest one!”

“That will be 0.19 grams of Azeroth’s blood,” the girl said with a soft hum.

Inside the Heart of Azeroth, the five rings filled with blood.

A level-five temporal passage opened.

...

...

New York Sanctum.

Mage Daniel suddenly opened his eyes.

With the help of the power left within the Sanctum by the successive Sorcerer Supremes, he swiftly sensed the precise location of the temporal anomaly.

“New York!”

P.S. I recommend a book called My Planet Only Has Dragons. Just from the title, it sounds interesting, doesn’t it? It’s written in a very interesting way too—you should give it a look.