Silence.
A deathly silence!
On the streets of Queens.
As Xi Nian, in his Tri-Symbiotic Form, landed alone on the ground, countless passersby filming with their phones and media reporters broadcasting live from afar froze like wooden statues.
Their mouths hung open in terror as a chill colder than the winter frost and snow crawled up their spines and into their hearts!
Tony Stark, Iron Man, who had become New York's undisputed number one hero after only a year and a half of superhero work, whose groundbreaking technological brilliance intimidated the entire world...
Had just been swallowed whole by an unknown monster?
It was like witnessing an omnipotent god being killed with their own eyes—a feeling as though their faith had crumbled.
Tonight was destined to be a night of despair for countless people in New York City.
Xi Nian, the culprit at the scene, had not thought that much about it. He had simply found Iron Man's interference too troublesome and disruptive to his hunt for the symbiotes, so he had simply—banned him.
Landing back on the ground.
Xi Nian stepped forward and approached Venom Spider from behind, where it shielded Aunt May with its body.
Though its body was only slightly larger than an adult's palm and looked harmless, even a little cute, Venom Spider, with Peter's consciousness currently in control, understood all too well how terrifying and unsolvable the unknown black kitten-shaped creature before it was!
Sensing Xi Nian nearing its body, Venom Spider braced its gray-green hands against the ground, its knees pressed into the street. The face revealing traces of Peter twisted as it said painfully and intermittently, "Kill me..."
"Please, kill me... I'm about to lose control..."
As it spoke, the gray-green viscous fluid over its body began to squirm like rotten, evil sludge, gradually creeping over the boy's exposed face.
"No, Peter!" Aunt May wept uncontrollably beneath it, reaching out to peel the gray-green fluid from Venom Spider's face, but it was useless.
Peter was about to be wrapped up again by the symbiote's parasitic armor.
Xi Nian, in his Tri-Symbiotic Form, nodded indifferently and raised a cat paw. "Then, as you wish!"
Crack, crack, crack!
Bone creaked and snapped. Xi Nian's extending, enlarging claws clamped onto Venom Spider's hands from behind, lifting its body into the air, while his dark tail bound Venom Spider's feet like a tentacle.
He ignored Aunt May's cries beside them.
The corners of the black kitten's mouth split grotesquely apart, extending far beyond the contours of its face and becoming a blood-red maw filled with interlocking fangs.
Venom chuckled in Xi Nian's mind. "You should've done this long ago. Just devour it outright!"
Xi Nian ignored it and said inexplicably, "Bear with it for a moment."
"Hm?" Venom, parasitizing Xi Nian's body, froze. Suddenly, it felt an extremely ominous premonition. "Wait, what are you trying to do?!"
Instead of swallowing Venom Spider into the Essence Devourer Beast's dimensional stomach, Xi Nian took a deep breath. He inhaled so forcefully that his chest rapidly expanded like a balloon!
Before long, his body had swollen to five or six times its original size.
Venom understood Xi Nian's intentions and immediately roared, "You're insane! Stop! Stop right now!"
Xi Nian ignored it. There was no way he would stop.
He raised Venom Spider high above his head, gathered himself for a moment, and lifted his lower jaw upward.
Xi Nian aimed his mouth at Venom Spider and suddenly opened it—
The next second.
People within five miles instinctively covered their ears as countless windows, car windows, and lightbulbs shattered!
ROOOOAR!!!!!
A terrifyingly high sound wave erupted from his mouth. Xi Nian roared skyward like an ancient monster, the sound waves surging layer upon layer like tides, thundering and exploding through the nearby air!
The sound waves became tangible sonic vibrations, carrying an indescribable force of impact! Had they not spread toward the night sky, the ground itself would have been forcibly stripped away!
He had unleashed ultrasound with a roar.
This terrifying, overwhelming sight made many people think of one figure.
That was the god among men far away in Metropolis—Superman!
Sizzle!!
Venom Spider endured the washing assault of the ultrasonic waves, and its tough parasitic outer layer immediately burst apart like boiling water in a scalding pot!
Hiss—
Strands of gray-green slime peeled away from Venom Spider's body. Under the ultrasonic assault, the second symbiote was forced to split from its host, Peter!
Of course, the second symbiote was not the only one enduring the ultrasonic attack.
"What are you doing? Stop it now! This will undo your symbiotic state too..." Venom howled in unbearable pain, never having expected Xi Nian to use such a method—one that harmed himself almost as much as his enemy.
With only one symbiote parasitizing a human, it was absolutely impossible to generate ultrasound through a roar alone. Only the stacked Tri-Symbiotic Form with the Essence Devourer Beast could achieve it.
"Wait! What's going on?" As Venom began to break itself apart, it quickly realized that the ultrasonic waves had not affected Xi Nian's main body at all.
Xi Nian, his human rationality restored, smiled and truthfully replied through thought, "I only acquired your abilities. I didn't inherit your corresponding weaknesses."
"So you had already realized it." Venom suddenly understood. From the very beginning, Xi Nian had not intended to deal with only the second symbiote; he had been plotting against Venom as well.
"Xi Nian, you bas—"
Before Venom could finish, its liquefied body was forcibly separated from Xi Nian, ending their symbiotic state.
However, since Xi Nian was parasitizing the Essence Devourer Beast, Venom became trapped within the Essence Devourer Beast's body instead. And because two symbiotes could not exist within one host at the same time, Venom had no power to seize control of the host while Xi Nian, this "symbiote," was incomparably powerful and had no weakness to ultrasound. It could only be forced into dormancy upon the Essence Devourer Beast!
Having left the Tri-Symbiotic Form, Xi Nian remained parasitized on the Essence Devourer Beast alone through the nature of his symbiote ability.
The evil, negative thoughts influencing his sense of self were swept away entirely.
Only the Essence Devourer Beast's "meows" remained.
Xi Nian let out a breath, having fully regained the rationality he possessed as a human.
Thinking back on his previous state, he still felt a lingering chill in his heart!
The Tri-Symbiotic Form's abilities had indeed been unimaginably powerful. But in that state, his thoughts and actions would grow increasingly extreme and evil until he became a monster driven purely by slaughter!
On the surface, Venom had been highly cooperative, but it had actually been guiding him toward the abyss of lost reason all along, hoping to seize control of this body!
Symbiote Venom fell into a shutdown-like dormancy.
Xi Nian parasitized the Essence Devourer Beast and still retained the appearance of a black kitten, except the white markings on his lower abdomen had vanished, and the cold, evil aura around him had dissipated. He looked more like an ordinary little cat.
Xi Nian raised his eyes and looked at the second symbiote separating itself from Peter.
Without hesitation, he opened his mouth wide again. This time, his maw became a bottomless Black Hole, swallowing the second symbiote as it tried to flee!
Essence Devour, exile!
Before you continue