Chapter 123: The True Devil—Emperor

The storm raged on.

Gwen and Tony managed to brace themselves in their own ways, while George and the others, standing behind Alan, were completely shielded from the winds by him. The spot where they stood was calm and peaceful, starkly contrasting with the chaotic scene outside.

At the storm's center, extreme heat and cold clashed, canceling each other out. It was like a scorching hot iron plunged into ice water, creating a persistent hissing sound.

"Is it over?" Gwen wondered aloud as the storm whipped up dust and steam, obscuring her vision even with Red Queen's assistance.

"I don't think it's that simple," Tony replied, steadying himself. Moments earlier, he had seen the Green Goblin's severed arm regenerate entirely.

Both Gwen and Tony enhanced their suits' sensory tech, trying to peer through the thick white mist. Their efforts, however, were largely futile.

As they speculated on the Green Goblin's condition, his furious, desperate roar pierced through the fog.

"This… this can't be…"

"The power my Master granted me—how could it lose…"

"I don't believe it!"

Following the voice, Gwen and Tony instinctively looked up. Amid the mist, the Green Goblin emerged, standing atop his glider.

"He's still alive?" Tony gasped, astonished.

The Green Goblin no longer resembled a human. Half of his body appeared to be melting, green liquid dripping from his form. His glider was in shambles, with only one wing left intact. His body tried to heal, only for portions to melt again.

As the Goblin looked down at Alan, the madness in his eyes gave way to an emerging glimmer of fear.

"This is impossible! My Master's power is the greatest!" he shouted, as if trying to banish his own terror.

But in his mind, another voice spoke: "Run. We can't defeat him."

"Run as far as possible, and when you're out of his sight, let me take over."

The Goblin growled back, furious. "You don't believe in our Master? This is nothing but a suit of metal, like Tony Stark's tin can armor!"

"We are the Master's most loyal servants! He gave us the power of immortality!"

"We… are invincible…"

Fueled by blind faith in Mephisto, the Green Goblin unleashed a more intense green flame, regenerating his injuries rapidly.

Everyone below heard his enraged outburst. Most dismissed it as the Green Goblin's helpless fury, but Tony couldn't help feeling embarrassed.

He knew all too well the vast difference between his own Mark suit and Emperor's power. In comparison, his armor felt like nothing more than a child's toy.

Alan, however, ignored the Goblin's roars. Instead, he watched with interest as the Goblin's body continuously regenerated.

"It seems that making a deal with Mephisto grants some form of immortality," Alan mused. He recalled that the Ghost Rider, perpetually engulfed in flames, was also an immortal being.

Above, green flames blazed around the Goblin, lowering the temperature across the area. The Goblin and his glider were regenerating visibly, restoring themselves to their original form in mere moments.

Once fully regenerated, the Goblin's confidence surged back. He began to laugh wildly, hovering in mid-air.

"Your attacks are useless. I can't be killed!" he sneered, his face twisting with a monstrous grin as he pulled out a handful of pumpkin bombs.

He crushed the bombs together with both hands, causing them to merge like writhing insects into a single, larger bomb—twice the size of a basketball.

Raising the massive pumpkin bomb above his head, he sneered, "Let your deaths be an offering to my Master. I thank him for granting me this immortal power!"

With that, he hurled the bomb downward with all his might.

"Oh no, if that thing detonates…" Tony's composure cracked as he, an experienced weapons expert, immediately calculated the bomb's destructive potential based on a previous explosion of the smaller pumpkin bombs.

"Emperor, if that bomb goes off, everything around here will freeze solid into ice sculptures!"

Both JARVIS and Red Queen simultaneously analyzed the bomb's potential blast radius.

"Miss Gwen, if that bomb explodes, the New York Police Department will also be instantly frozen over," Red Queen reported gravely.

Gwen's face fell as she glanced toward the police department. George and Anna were in there.

There were some other familiar officers among them.

"Sir, the only way is to get it as high in the sky as possible before it detonates."

"Take it up…" Tony glanced at the sky, his gaze hardening. "JARVIS, redirect all power to propulsion."

In his mind, he quickly formulated a plan. It wasn't that he didn't trust Alan, but in a situation like this, Tony's instincts drove him to take the best course of action immediately.

JARVIS paused for a second before replying, "Understood, sir."

Just as Tony prepared to act, Alan leapt into the air, leaving behind a golden trail of light, calling back, "Spider-Woman, Iron Man!"

"Protect everyone else. Leave the rest to me!"

Gwen and Tony both froze, only now realizing that Alan was heading directly for the massive pumpkin bomb.

Seeing this, the Green Goblin sneered viciously. "It's useless. Even if that bomb detonates mid-air, its blast will still freeze everyone below into ice sculptures."

Alan reached the bomb and pressed his palm against its surface, stopping its descent completely.

Gwen and Tony both breathed a sigh of relief, while the Green Goblin made a casual motion, as if mimicking an explosion, and muttered, "Boom!"

In an instant, the pumpkin bomb ignited with green flames, swallowing Alan whole.

The Green Goblin burst into crazed laughter. "Ha ha ha… Die!"

"I won't die, but you will. Even if this blast doesn't kill you, I can wear you down, bit by bit." The Goblin was certain that the Emperor couldn't possibly emerge unscathed from a direct hit from his giant pumpkin bomb.

And once the flames took effect, the infernal cold would freeze him to death. This was the unique edge granted by his master, Mephisto!

"No!" Gwen cried out as she watched the flames engulf Alan, while George, watching the battle from within the police station, went pale. Tony, just beginning to react, saw Gwen running toward Alan.

If she got too close to those flames…

Tony quickly grabbed her and prepared to flee in the opposite direction. Just then, JARVIS's voice came through, "Sir, the explosion's range is shrinking."

"What?" Tony couldn't make sense of this.

At the same time, Red Queen delivered a similar message to Gwen, who stopped her forward charge and looked toward the blast. She felt no trace of cold; in fact, the warmth felt almost soothing, like morning sunlight.

When Tony looked up, his pupils contracted at what he saw. The once-raging green flames were now collapsing inward, like air deflating from a balloon. It was as though someone were forcibly compressing the explosion.

"What… How is this possible?" Tony murmured, astonished.

The Green Goblin, equally shocked, stared in disbelief. "Could it be… him again?"

As he thought about the Emperor who had just been engulfed by the explosion, a shudder ran through him. The fear he had suppressed began to rise again.

"No… This can't be…" In desperation, the Green Goblin threw more pumpkin bombs into the green flames, hoping to fuel the blast.

Yet this time, the bombs simply vanished into the flames without effect, swallowed without a trace, like stones sinking into a pond.

As the green fire gradually receded, Alan's figure emerged from within, unharmed. He stood with one hand extended, seemingly holding the residual flames. Bit by bit, he compressed the fire into his palm, reducing it to the size of a glass marble.

Then, with a faint pop, it vanished like a bubble, leaving no trace.

The absurd sound made the Green Goblin freeze in place, his hand holding another pumpkin bomb. Beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

Alan observed the Goblin's ridiculous expression and spoke slowly, "Green Goblin, you've misunderstood something."

The Goblin's face twisted, instinctively replying, "What… What do you mean?"

"Just because you can't die doesn't make you invincible."

These words sent a chill down the Green Goblin's spine, making him shiver despite the infernal flames at his command.

Why was that?

In the next moment, Alan provided the answer.

The Goblin wasn't sure when Alan appeared in front of him, his hand poised in a slicing motion. In the next second, he saw his world split into two.

No!

The Green Goblin's mind quickly grasped the reality—he had been sliced in half by the Emperor Hero.

"Ahhhh!" he screamed in terror.

Immortality didn't mean invincibility. Nor did it make the Green Goblin immune to attacks or pain.

The sensation of being sliced in half by a single stroke was all too real.

Unlike before, when the pain didn't have time to register before he was already melting.

Then, Alan delivered a powerful kick.

The Green Goblin crashed to the ground, forming a deep pit on impact, raising a cloud of dust.

"Cough… cough…" Recovering once again, the Green Goblin slowly climbed out of the pit. As soon as he emerged, his pupils contracted. "You…"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Alan swung his sword once more, slicing the Green Goblin cleanly in half. Another kick followed, sending him back down into the pit.

In the pit, the Green Goblin regenerated yet again. But this time, his eyes were filled with sheer terror.

"Up! Escape upward…!"

As soon as his glider lifted him out of the dust cloud, a flash of Alan's blade descended. The Green Goblin was split in two yet again, crashing back into the pit.

No matter which direction he tried to escape, every attempt ended the same way—with Alan slicing him in half and sending him plummeting back into the pit. Each time, the Green Goblin's anguished, furious roars echoed through the area.

Watching from a distance, Gwen and Tony swallowed hard as they observed Emperor's relentless assault.

At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Nick Fury and Hill stared at the Green Goblin's repeated dismemberments, a strange look flashing in both their eyes.

"Director… are we still… in contact with him?" Hill asked numbly.

The scene before them was simply too overwhelming. Just moments ago, the Green Goblin was brimming with confidence, wielding his so-called immortality. But now, he resembled a trapped rat, toyed with at will.

Nick Fury's forehead was damp with cold sweat, grateful he'd never used any forceful tactics to keep Alan. Otherwise, the Green Goblin's fate would likely have been his own—or worse. After all, he didn't have an absurd ability to keep coming back to life.

Amid the dust, the Green Goblin rose to his feet once more, but the wildness and confidence were gone from his eyes. All that remained was deep-seated fear.

Though he couldn't die, every time he teetered on the brink of death, he experienced a new level of mental torment. Only now did he realize that the gift of immortality from Mephisto wasn't a blessing, but a prison.

For the first time, he saw death as a mercy.

"I… I won't try to escape anymore…" The Green Goblin had barely uttered this before a blade of light cut through the dust, slicing both the cloud and the Goblin himself in two once again.

With nothing left to support him, his body fell to the ground in halves.

Lying flat on his back, the Green Goblin looked skyward, his heart gripped by despair. "A demon… he's the true demon…"

Raising one trembling hand toward the heavens, he cried out, "Master, save me!"

…

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