Chapter 51: The First Battle of New York: The Battle of Hearts

On the seventh floor of the financial building, in the large conference room, Kingpin and the members of the Serpent Root Priesthood were present. The Five Fingers were absent.

They all focused on the battle below, watching Daredevil single-handedly overwhelm a group of people, all with satisfied smiles on their faces.

The white-haired elder priest of the Serpent Root Priesthood sneered, "Heh, the Shadow Realm is about to descend. These people cannot resist the will of our God! They will all become slaves to my God!"

One of the older priests glanced at Kingpin not far away and lowered his voice, "Alexandra and the others haven't come up. Who knows what they're plotting? They must be scheming something!"

The white-haired elder priest stared at Daredevil below, thought for a moment, and shook his head. "I had long suspected that they were plotting something. But as long as we serve the 'Beast' god well, that's all that matters. Soon, its power will cover all of Manhattan, and by then, we will possess absolute power! Even if the Five Fingers are nominally the leaders of the Hand, they will have to submit to the command of the Serpent Root."

The others nodded in agreement. They did not notice that, during their secret conversation, Kingpin had quietly left.

He turned into a side room where a man in a blue suit was waiting for him.

As soon as he saw him, Kingpin asked, "Kiriky, where are the Five Fingers?"

The man in the suit shook his head. "I don't know. I've been undercover for years, and I only vaguely detected that there seems to be a hidden area in the building. But I don't know where the entrance is."

Kingpin frowned, "Are you saying they've gone into hiding there?"

Kiriky shook his head, "It doesn't seem like 'hiding'. That place is very important, and it seems to have a lot to do with their resurrection technique, but I'm not sure of the specifics."

Kingpin furrowed his brow and nodded. Kiriky had been his informant inside the Hand for years, providing intelligence about the Five Fingers. Otherwise, how could he have trusted them enough to work together?

"I noticed that the Five Fingers and the Serpent Root Priesthood don't seem to get along as well as they appear?"

"Yes, the Serpent Root holds many of the Hand's secrets and is thus worshiped by the Five Fingers, but they have no real power. The Serpent Root wants to take control, but the Five Fingers consider them greedy, so they haven't invested much in summoning the Beast. That changed a year ago when Alexandra got the chance to enter the Serpent Root's secret vault. She seemed to learn something in there. Afterward, she started preparing the ritual to summon the Beast."

Kingpin sneered, "So, the story about the Hand suffering great losses and wanting to take revenge on Devil Face was all a lie."

Kiriky nodded.

Kingpin thought for a while, "Forget them for now. About the news you found regarding controlling the Beast—is it true?"

"It's true! The Serpent Root claims the 'Beast is the supreme lord', but in reality, they've found a way to control the body that the Beast will descend into! It's the red Oni mask in their possession! With it, they can control the demonized Daredevil! The Serpent Root Priesthood doesn't intend to be the Beast's slaves, but its masters! That's why they've dared to break ties with the Five Fingers."

Kingpin nodded, "If I've figured out that the Serpent Root is secretly plotting something, the Five Fingers must have as well. They invited me into this plan to act as a counterbalance against the Serpent Root so that their own schemes could progress smoothly."

Kiriky nodded, "But the Five Fingers probably don't know that the priests can control the demonized Daredevil!"

Kingpin chuckled coldly, his eyes flashing with malice. "This really is a chaotic situation! It looks like who wins in the end will come down to individual skill!"

Kiriky smiled, "I don't know who will win in the end, but the priests will definitely be the first to fall! A bunch of old men, spoiled by comfort, and engrossed in studying ancient secrets—they're too inexperienced to play these games."

Kingpin laughed, "Well then, Kiriky, go teach them a lesson! After we take the red Oni mask, we'll go see what the Five Fingers are really plotting!"

"Yes, sir!"

…

Deep underground, there was a vast hidden space.

A giant stone door stood tall.

The Five Fingers stood in front of it, with a respectfully bowing Elektra behind them.

At this moment, a golden force and a black force clashed on the surface of the stone door.

The Five Fingers were transfixed, their eyes wide, hands clenched, and bodies stiff with tension.

"Will it work?"

"It will! The Beast's power is highly corrosive; it will definitely break open the stone door!"

"The first Iron Fist's seal is too strong. We've tried everything over the years and still couldn't break it. The Beast's power is our only hope!"

"What if it still doesn't work? This operation is drawing a lot of attention, and this place could be exposed at any moment!"

"Stop panicking! Haven't we already dug a new escape route? If the elevator shaft is discovered, we'll blow it up! It's time to abandon it anyway!"

"Stop arguing!"

Alexandra waved her hand to silence them, "If the Beast's power can't open this door, we'll have to retreat for now and wait for the current Iron Fist to descend the mountain. But I'll remind you, the dragon bones from K'un-Lun are running low. And after reviving Murakami and Sowande, there may not be enough for all five of us to survive until then!"

Hearing this, Murakami and Sowande looked embarrassed.

"It's not our fault. Who could've guessed that Devil Face would be so powerful?"

"And Kingpin—what a failure! Of a nine-person team, two turned out to be traitors! Useless!"

As they defended themselves, the clash on the stone door changed.

The black demonic energy overpowered the golden energy.

Soon, "Crack!" A fissure appeared in the stone door.

"It's open!"

"Great!"

"There's a whole dragon skeleton in here! Enough for us to live for millennia!"

The five of them rushed forward and blasted open the stone door, revealing a massive dragon skeleton.

At that moment, there was a muffled sound from the elevator shaft behind them.

Then, the elevator doors were blown off by a punch, and two figures—one male and one female—stepped out.

It was Cohen.

Seeing the scene before him, he smiled, "Hello, everyone! So, this is where you've been hiding! Oh, if it isn't Murakami and Sowande! What, the underworld wasn't comfortable enough, so you came back? But why didn't you run farther? Meeting me again means you're heading right back there."

His gaze fell on the dragon bones. "So these are the legendary dragon bones. So white!"

"Who are you?"

Cohen wasn't wearing a mask, so they didn't recognize him at first.

An arc of electricity flashed from Cohen's fingertips, and they finally realized with a shock, "Iron Man! You're still alive! How did you find us?"

Cohen glanced at Alexandra, "Heh, it was my lovely Nine Spiders who told me."

Madame Gao finally noticed the figure half-hidden behind him and furiously scolded, "Nine Spiders! You dare betray me!"

Cohen's face turned cold. "Old witch, if you dare speak to my Nine Spiders like that again, I'll tear out your tongue!"

"You bastard!" Alexandra's face twisted in rage. "You survived Black Spider's assassination?"

"Just a Black Spider. It's not Spider-Man, after all. Don't expect him to come save you. I already took him down."

At that moment, the system chimed in, notifying him that Black Widow had been killed and that he had received a five-star golden reward package.

Before he could check it, Madame Gao shouted, "Elektra, kill them!"

(End of Chapter)