Nobu Yoshioka

"Boss?" Jessica whispered, quietly enough that only he could hear.

Richard's face darkened beneath his mask. Wasn't it supposed to be that in American comics, people couldn't recognize you as long as you wore an eye mask over your cheekbones? Why the hell could Jessica still recognize him when he was wrapped up from head to toe?

That big blue guy next door only needed to put on a pair of glasses over his nose, and nobody could recognize him.

Richard waved a hand, signaling for them to leave quickly.

It seemed he would have to talk less around people who knew him from now on. What if their IQs suddenly came online?

Although she had no idea who this sudden rescuer was, Spider-Woman still thanked him before quickly leaving with little Gwen. Spider-Woman was faster than Jessica. She planned to get little Gwen somewhere safe as soon as possible, then perhaps return in time to help.

Richard gave the girl in white an extra glance as she climbed out the window.

That was unexpected. Judging by her outfit, she was probably Spider-Gwen.

Yes, this Spider-Man in white was Gwen Stacy, the same person as the blonde elementary school student she had carried on her back. She just wasn't Gwen Stacy from this universe, but from another parallel world. In that world, it had not been Peter Parker who was bitten by a spider and gained superpowers, but Gwen Stacy. That was why she was that world's Spider-Man.

Spider-Gwen had also appeared in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. If Richard's guess was correct, the girl before him should be the same one from the movie. How she had ended up here, however, was a mystery.

"I can help." Jessica got to her feet, stubbornly refusing to leave.

Richard glanced at her sideways. "Go."

Jessica wanted to insist, but after hesitating for a moment, she bit her lip and obediently backed out.

Even Jessica herself found it strange. She did not think she was the type to get used to following orders. Yet once she knew this person was Richard, she instinctively listened to him.

Maybe it was because she trusted him, though she had no idea where that trust came from.

Jessica left as well, and only Richard and the red-clad ninja remained in the room. Richard held the ninja's throwing knife in his hand. The ninja tried several times to pull it back, but the chain did not budge in Richard's grip.

The red-clad ninja had no choice but to give up and draw a gleaming dagger.

Richard had not rushed out on a whim. In fact, while Jessica and Spider-Gwen had fought the ninja together, he had been observing from the side. Though the ninja's moves were fierce, Richard felt he was merely some nameless extra. He did not even need to transform to deal with someone like this.

Richard guessed it might have something to do with the Light within him leveling up last time. Perhaps his physical capabilities and dynamic vision had improved considerably as well. After all, he possessed Noah's power. Once it evolved to its peak, it might not even be impossible for his body alone to take on a Space Beast.

The red-clad ninja saw that this man had made a domineering entrance. His black trench coat looked quite stylish too, and his presence made him seem like some kind of boss-level character. Besides, experience said that people who wore sunglasses in the middle of the night were difficult to deal with nine times out of ten. He did not dare let his guard down. Yet after patiently searching for an opening for quite a while, he felt that this trench-coated fellow was full of openings, like an ordinary person who did not understand even the slightest bit of technique.

Could this guy really just be an ordinary person?

With that doubt in mind, the red-clad ninja finally stopped waiting for an opportunity and launched himself forward in a probing attack, his dagger slashing out in a long streak of cold light.

Richard truly did not understand any moves, techniques, or fighting forms, but his eyes were sharp. The path of the enemy's blade was as clear to him as slow motion. After a brief thought, he reached his right hand straight toward the dagger's path. Somehow, with a flip of his palm, he effortlessly snatched the dagger from the other man's hand.

The red-clad ninja felt an indescribable force seize his hand. He had no way to resist as the dagger was ripped away. But he reacted quickly, drawing in a deep breath and gathering his energy into his left fist. A mountain-shattering punch, seemingly carrying an invisible ring of air, came crashing toward him.

That was "chi."

Richard knew this ninja was from the Hand, and he also knew that the Hand possessed a secret method of cultivating chi passed down from the legendary hidden realm of K'un-Lun. Through training, they could make their bodies wield a mysterious energy called "chi." Masters at the Hand's leadership level could even use chi to send cars flying through the air with a single palm strike... It had a strong air of a Westernized mutant version of wuxia.

The most terrifying aspect of using "chi" as a weapon was not its physical force, but the devastating blow it dealt to an enemy's internal organs and physiological systems. Spider-Gwen and Jessica Jones were certainly physically stronger than these ninjas by more than one level, but even they instinctively had to retreat when facing an attack of "chi." That energy made them sense danger. If it struck them directly, their internal organs would likely suffer injuries of varying severity.

However, using this move against Richard meant the ninja had truly chosen the wrong opponent.

Richard neither dodged nor evaded. His right fist casually met the punch surging with chi.

The instant their fists collided, the red-clad ninja's "chi" poured into Richard's body like a rushing river... only to encounter a vast ocean! The boundless power of Light naturally counterattacked the moment it sensed the invading force. Incomparably immense energy released itself, becoming visible azure radiance that erupted around Richard.

The red-clad ninja's "chi" collapsed in the blink of an eye. For one second, the ninja felt as though he had been dragged into some sort of illusion. In an azure expanse as vast as the starry sky, countless golden particles of light formed the phantom of a silver giant. It looked down with a majestic gaze, like a supreme god overlooking a lowly ant. The pressure felt as though it would crush the breath from his body...

Blue light burst forth, and the red-clad ninja was blasted away like a kite with its string cut, crashing hard to the ground. His mask had flown off somewhere, revealing a face as pale as paper and drenched in sweat, as though he had been completely drained in that brief second.

Richard stood calmly where he was, the hem of his trench coat, lifted by the air pressure, slowly falling back down. He looked at the ninja's face and vaguely felt it seemed familiar. After thinking for a moment...

...Uh, wasn't this the Hand ninja from season one of Daredevil who beat Matt Murdock half to death, got tricked to death by Matt, then came back to life in season two?

His name was...

"Nobu Yoshioka?"