Chapter 71 - Battling The Ghost Rider

[January of 2013]

[New York City]

Night

3rd PoV

The Beast-possessed Murakami appeared in front of the growling Ghost Rider in a display of extreme speed as it unleashed its long, black, sharp claws and made a swipe to the Spirit of Vengeance.

Slaash!

Andrew – who was just standing a few meters away – watched as the demon slash its claws in Ghost Rider's body. The slash seemed to be effective as four, big slash appeared on the torso of the Ghost Rider.

"Grrrh." The Ghost Rider seemed pissed off by this as it reached out its hand and tried to grasp the head of the demon-possessed Murakami.

Swoosh

Though, Murakami didn't let him as it moved again – displaying speed that far surpasses the speed of sound – and this time, appeared behind the Ghost Rider, with its claws ready to attack again.

"Grhh!" But this time, the Ghost Rider suddenly managed to catch up to his speed as it quickly turned around blocked the claws of the demon.

Crackle!

Murakami's claws had demonic energy surrounding it and it tried to corrupt and corrode the skeletal hand of the Ghost Rider. But the agent of Mephisto's power is also demonic in origin as the energy didn't managed to reach its supposed job and was turned useless.

Swoosh!

This time, The Ghost Rider have decided to be on the offense as its skeletal hand was then suddenly caught in hellfire. The hellfire also enveloped the demon's claws but it also wasn't effective with damaging anything as it was once again absorbed by the demon.

Bam!

The Ghost Rider then yanked his hands from the demon's claws and punched out with all its strength. The air warped around the flaming skeletal fist as it collided with the demon's face who leaned backwards to minimize the force of the attack.

Boom!

Swoosh!

But the force of the attack was still strong enough to blast away the demon as it whipped through the air and ended up crashing to the location where the battle of the fingers – the leaders – of the Hand and the defenders were happening.

"Dodge!"

Matt Murdock already sensed the incoming body of the demon as he quickly signaled to his team and they collectively jumped to the side to avoid the colliding with the demon.

"Shit!" But Madame Gao, Sowande, and Alexandra wasn't able to react immediately and the durable body of their demon-possessed comrade collided at them.

Bam!

Crack!

Madame Gao was the one to take the full brunt of the collision as it quickly and sickeningly cracked a few bones in her body. She – with Murakami – then collided with the other Fingers of the Hand and they all ended up smashing to the ruins of the establishment where the summoning of the The Beast took place.

"Ughh.." The Fingers all grunted in pain while the demon-possessed Murakami had an enraged look on its face as it lie there in the ruins pathetically.

...

"Arghh~"

On the other hand. The Ghost Rider slowly began turning its head around while breathing heavily and creepily like a ghost. Its fiery and literally burning eyes then settled to the standing featureless face Andrew.

"Oh shit." Andrew muttered, breaking the silence as he quickly put back the popcorn in his hand back to his personal space and then pulled something out from it. He then quickly disappeared from his position in a gust of speed as the infamous chain of the Spirit of Vengeance struck the place where he stood.

"Sinner!" The Ghost Rider growled and roared in an enraged tone as if it cannot tolerate the sickening presence of the sinful Andrew.

"It can see sinful person with just a look?" Andrew muttered as he appeared beside the defenders who was startled by his sudden appearance.

""Psionix?!"" Jessica and Luke Cage shouted in surprise after seeing the meta hero appearing beside them. Danny Rand on the other hand was confused for a moment but then turned curious as he realized who was the person beside them right now.

It hasn't been a long time since Danny have come back from his training with the monks and he was still confused with everything that had since changed. Though, he was informed by the other defenders of the source of all this change.

Matt Murdock aka Daredevil was silent on the other hand as his extraordinary senses was starting to overwhelm him after he tried to concentrate it to the just-appeared meta-hero.

He then stopped doing it altogether as the meta hero suddenly waved his hand and they all was then suddenly lifted and placed to the far side of the battlefield. Just as they left their position, a flaming chain whipped through the air and struck their previous location and then continued as it tried to struck the featureless hero.

Andrew tried blitzing away from the trajectory of the flaming chains when it suddenly sped up and it quickly caught up to him. His eyes widened in surprise as he tried teleporting away but something suddenly grasped his arms and he found himself rooted to his place.

"The fuck?" Andrew couldn't help but mutter as the Ghost Rider was the one to suddenly appear in front of him, displaying speed that far outstripped what it showed since its fight with the demon.

On the other hand. The Beast-possessed Murakami have already recovered from the previous attack as it stood up and was on its way to attack the Ghost Rider with its claws enveloped in demonic energy.

But The Ghost Rider was already done playing around with him as he whipped his chains and wrapped it around to the attacking demon in midair. The demon had a stunned look on its hideous face as it wasn't able to react and was then brought down to the ground and lied there while wrapped around with the chains.

It struggled to break free but it was futile as this time, the chain's grip hold was something he wasn't able to match up with his strength.

Andrew on the other hand was already feeling that what is happening was turning dangerous even for him as he tried to break free from the grasp of the Ghost Rider with his new strength that he acquired from absorbing solar energy.

But it seems to be not enough as even though the Ghost Rider was struggling to make him stay rooted, and he was on his way in succeeding from breaking free. The Spirit of Vengeance was already bringing its face closer to his face and was ready to use its most powerful ability.

The Penance Stare.

The Penance Stare have worked on strong beings such as Mephisto, Blackheart, Hulk and etc. And this was making Andrew slightly nervous as he tried breaking free with more Intensity.

But the ability have already started its job as Andrew's eyes widened and a small embers of fire appeared within his eyes.

""ARRGGHH""

""S-STOPP!!""

Countless screams of pain, agony and despair resounded within Andrew's mind as the souls of the damned's resentment tried creeping into his mind sphere and conscience to plant seeds of guilt and doubt.

Keyword; Tried.

The Ghost Rider tilted its skull slightly to the side as it felt something wrong but then Andrew's fists tightened as he flexed his arms wildly, breaking free, as he then slammed the staff in his hand to the skullhead's skull with all his strength.

BOOOM!

CRACKK!

The Ghost Rider's skull quickly shattered from the force of the collision as its body was then thrown far and collided with another building, but the residue of the attack was still strong enough as its body came out of the other side of the building and continued flying and then ended up crashing to the ground — creating a humongous crater.

"That damned skull head.." Andrew muttered in annoyance as he twirled the Berserker Staff in his hand.

The reason for why the Stare didn't work was as simple as it can get; He doesn't feel guilty. He doesn't feel anything from all the pain that he caused to anyone that he had met until now. The only feeling he feels from it is that they all deserved it and that he was only delivering the right punishment that they all deserved.

Andrew spreads his senses to check the state of the Ghost Rider and then saw its head regenerating as if nothing happened. But it seems his attack wasn't really that ineffective as after healing up, the Rider returned back to his human form and just lied there on the ground — unconscious.

Andrew pulled back his senses but then another presence was caught up in his senses. He turned his head to its direction but saw nothing. He was unconvinced since his senses wouldn't lie to him but then he felt that presence suddenly disappearing as his senses didn't register anything anymore.

"Tsk." Andrew narrowed his eyes at that but he cannot do anything anymore about it as he then around and looked at the stunned Defenders.

*****

Want to read ahead? Then consider subscribing to my pãtreon. I post sixteen advanced chapters of my book on there. It'll be my eternal gratitude.

www.pãtreon.com/moziel

(Replace the ã to a)