At that moment, Coulson finally recovered from his shock.
He cautiously approached Lu Xi, lowering his voice as if afraid of disturbing something, and asked in a whisper:
"Sir, you... seem to know the person over there?"
Lu Xi turned his head slightly and met Coulson's gaze, speaking calmly:
"This is Mephisto's projection. His true body is a demon king from the Hell Dimension."
"From the looks of it, he intends to use this magic circle to bring his true body down to Earth."
Upon hearing this, Coulson's expression turned grim, his features nearly scrunching together.
Everything he had experienced tonight kept shattering his previous understanding, overturning his worldview time and time again.
First, he had encountered this mysterious being before him, who was suspected to be Lucifer. Then all kinds of demons had appeared one after another.
And now, they were facing the enormous crisis of a Hell demon king's true body descending upon Earth.
Although Coulson did not know what consequences such a descent would bring,
even common sense told him it would certainly be an utterly terrifying disaster.
At this moment, Coulson was frantic. With the New York branch's current strength, they had already struggled greatly against those minor demons just now.
Not to mention this demon king's projection before them, whose strength was clearly several levels higher.
His hopes involuntarily fell upon Lu Xi once again.
At this critical moment, this Angel who was suspected to be Lucifer was undoubtedly their only hope.
With urgency and pleading in his voice, Coulson said:
"Sir, could you help us stop him?"
"As long as you succeed, whatever you need afterward, we will do everything in our power to provide it!"
Lu Xi did not answer. He merely sensed the situation in silence for a while.
From what he could feel, this Mephisto before him... seemed a little weak. At most, he was only marginally stronger than a lackey like Blackheart.
Lu Xi nodded slightly and said:
"I'll give it a try."
In truth, Lu Xi had never intended to let Mephisto descend upon Earth.
Since this was the Marvel Universe, Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, naturally existed.
Although he did not know why Ancient One had not dealt with him, Mephisto's descent would definitely alert her.
So, it would be better to fight Mephisto's projection first, make his stance clear, and earn some goodwill from Ancient One.
That way, he would not get kicked off Earth right after arriving.
Now that S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken the initiative to make a request, it was perfect—he could kill two birds with one stone, achieve his goal while also taking the opportunity to get some benefits from S.H.I.E.L.D.
He thought that, at worst, he would try fighting first.
If he truly could not beat him, it would not be too late to find a chance to run.
Mephisto raised his head, seemingly having heard their conversation.
He let out a cold laugh, his voice filled with disdain and arrogance:
"Lucifer, do you think you can stop me? Today will be Earth's end!"
Lu Xi did not back down. He took a step forward and said sarcastically:
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Earth gets a little apocalypse every day and a big one every three days! But when have you ever actually seen anything happen to Earth?"
The moment he finished speaking, brilliant light erupted around Lu Xi, and the three pairs of snow-white wings behind him slowly spread open.
Every feather seemed to radiate a sacred and powerful pressure, making the surrounding air tremble faintly under its force.
With a gentle flap of his wings, he shot into the sky like a meteor.
From high above, he looked down upon Mephisto and the magic circle beneath him.
Naturally, Mephisto was not going to sit around and wait for death. He immediately struck first.
Standing within the magic circle, his former appearance as a gentlemanly old man instantly twisted and changed, his body rapidly swelling like a balloon.
In the blink of an eye, a horrifying demon over ten meters tall, with sharp horns on his head and crimson-red skin all over his body, appeared before everyone.
The instant his transformation was complete, Mephisto swung his massive arms, carrying a howling, terrifying pressure of wind as he viciously struck at Lu Xi in the air.
Lu Xi remained calm. With only a light beat of his wings, he deftly evaded the fierce attack.
Since Mephisto had attacked first, Lu Xi naturally returned the favor. He raised his leg and viciously kicked down at Mephisto's truck-sized head.
That kick contained astonishing power. Mephisto only felt an overwhelming force crashing into him like a collapsing mountain and surging sea.
His enormous body rolled backward out of control.
"BOOM! THUD! BANG BANG BANG!"
Amid a series of thunderous crashes, Mephisto's gigantic body bounced and rolled across the ground like a stone skipped over water.
After rolling seven or eight times in a row, he finally slowed to a stop several hundred meters away.
In the end, he landed on the ground in an embarrassing seated position, utterly bewildered.
Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
Lu Xi raised an eyebrow slightly, unable to help feeling surprised by his own strength as well.
Fortunately, this S.H.I.E.L.D. base was located deep in an uninhabited wilderness.
Otherwise, if this had been in the city, that kick alone would have toppled at least several high-rises.
Mephisto struggled to sit up, his face full of bewilderment and disbelief as he roared:
"How could this be? Your true body has already descended? That's impossible!"
Originally, he had assumed that this Lucifer before him had also smuggled an avatar onto Earth.
As a veteran who had smuggled himself over several centuries earlier, he had naturally been confident that he could suppress Lu Xi. That was why he had acted so fearlessly.
But now, faced with such a vast disparity in strength, he had no choice but to believe that his opponent had very likely descended in his true body.
Lu Xi still wore a mysterious smile as he teased:
"Heh. Why don't you keep guessing?"
What a joke. He himself had stumbled into this world without understanding how. How could Mephisto possibly figure it out?
A trace of struggle flashed through Mephisto's eyes, as though he were weighing something.
Then his expression changed, and he instantly put on a flattering look.
"Since you have already descended here, why stop me?"
"Let us join forces and Devour Earth together. Would it not be wonderful to share such a bountiful plane?"
Lu Xi merely looked at him quietly, his eyes seeming to regard Mephisto as an idiot. The meaning could not have been clearer:
Even if he really wanted to Devour Earth, why would he share any of it with him?
Seeing this, Mephisto hurriedly continued:
"How about this? You take sixty percent, and I take forty... no, no, no! You take seventy, and I take thirty!"
"As long as we join forces to divide up Earth's plane, if other demon kings come to stop us, I will definitely charge in front and take the lead. How about that?"
Lu Xi tilted his head slightly and said with a half-smile:
"I can tell you've made quite a significant concession."
Mephisto nodded frantically.
"Yes, yes, yes! I'm very sincere!"
At this moment, Maria Hill and Coulson inside the base also heard their conversation, and their hearts immediately tightened.
One demon king was already more than they could handle. If two demon kings joined forces, then Earth would truly be doomed.
Just as they were beside themselves with anxiety and hurriedly grabbed the base's microphone, preparing to call out to Lu Xi,
Lu Xi casually began spouting nonsense:
"But unfortunately, I'm someone who judges by appearances. Even when I cooperate with someone, I look at their face first."
"You're too ugly. Rejected."
Mephisto showed an angry expression on the surface, but a gleam of triumph flashed through his eyes.
At that moment, a violent surge of magical energy suddenly erupted from the magic circle beneath Lu Xi's feet.
It turned out that Mephisto had said all that nonsense only to stall for time and wait for this very moment!
A massive fissure slowly split open in the center of the magic circle, directly connecting to Mephisto's Hell Territory.
Lu Xi instinctively lowered his head. On the other side of the fissure,
Mephisto's mountain-sized demon king true body was waving a scepter and launching an attack at him.
Looking closely, it was a blood-red cone of energy, carrying the force to destroy heaven and earth.
Before you continue