Divine Astral Dress: Fourth

Big Eye stretched out its tentacles and scratched its head, quite surprised by Garou's abnormal mental state. But it had always valued strength above all else; even if he was a madman, it did not matter.

As its Dragon-Level telekinesis activated, elements of every color rose from the ground and swiftly pieced themselves together into a portrait.

"Who is this?!"

"Nappa from Dragon Ball, a noble of Planet Vegeta, Vegeta's subordinate..." As the Monster Association's strategist, Big Eye was naturally familiar with that classic manga.

"...He's an Earthling, not a Saiyan." Garou could not help rubbing his forehead. Back when he was hiding **, he had often snuck peeks at Dragon Ball.

The image instantly reassembled into Master Roshi's likeness.

"He doesn't have a beard! His face is smoother!" Veins bulged on Garou's forehead.

The image changed again, this time taking the form of The Ancient One. Though Big Eye feared her magic, it secretly memorized her appearance.

"A man! No **!" Garou was nearly driven mad.

The next image, Ghost Rider, made Garou cover his face outright.

Big Eye suddenly had an idea and assembled the image of a new League of Heroes hero. "This is S-Class Hero Koro-sensei..."

"A human! That's a human!" Garou's eyes were bloodshot as he roared himself hoarse, "Not an octopus monster! And not Master Roshi, Piccolo, or Buu! Can't you understand human speech?!"

It seemed that even after being beaten into amnesia, Garou's fear of Li Chen remained deeply engraved in his heart.

Even if the other man had turned into a bald-headed figure, that fear had not diminished in the slightest.

"Fine, continue."

"I, a dignified hero **, punched Hawkeye, kicked ** Captain America, and single-handedly took down S.H.I.E.L.D.'s elite agents! Those guys were fully armed, yet I wiped them all out with one Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist!" Garou's eyes were bloodshot, and there was clearly something wrong with his expression.

Champion glanced at Big Eye and tapped his temple with a finger—was this kid brain-damaged?

Big Eye merely shrugged, indicating that although this person was not quite normal, he was still within controllable limits.

"Later, I crawled out of the sewers, and then... then I ran into a bald guy!"

Garou alternated between excitement and rage as he incoherently recounted the events of the past month. In his delirium, he forcibly linked the bald-headed image to the person who had knocked him unconscious.

"That bald guy rushed up and knocked me down with a 'smack'!"

"Pfft... cough, cough..."

Big Eye nearly laughed out loud, hurriedly holding it back—who knew Garou had such a talent for comedic storytelling?

"What are you laughing at?"

"I thought of something happy."

"What?"

"I can beat up B-Class Heroes."

Big Eye waved a hand for Garou to calm down, thinking that the kid had probably spent too long in the sewers and suffered **, which was why he was spouting nonsense. He needed proper care and recovery.

"Pfft..."

"You laughed again?"

Garou glared viciously at the imposing Champion. Though Champion really wanted to crush the kid into a meat patty, he held himself back out of respect for Big Eye.

"I can beat up B-Class Heroes too."

"I'll say it again! I'm not joking!"

"Yes, yes, yes..."

The two agreed verbally, but their bodies trembled as they struggled to suppress their laughter. After all, Garou's story sounded as absurd as the delusions of an idiot teenager.

"Hey!!!"

Champion narrowed his eyes. "Back to the point. That bald guy you mentioned... what rank of hero was he?"

Garou waved his arms in frustration. "He can't be measured by rank at all! He was so distinctive... so distinctive... that bald head like a marinated egg, fists as big as sandbags, and that dumbfounded expression—it was a perfect match! Unfortunately, he moved too fast, so I never saw his face clearly."

"Hm?!" Champion suddenly shuddered as a chill ran up his spine. That image inexplicably made him think of an existence capable of killing him with a single punch. But then he reconsidered; as a Dragon-Level monster, even a king would need three moves to defeat him.

"You look awful." Big Eye noticed the anomaly.

Garou was completely immersed in his own world. "You don't understand at all! I can beat down ten B-Class Heroes right now!" Bloodshot veins spread across the whites of his eyes, and he was obviously in a bad state.

Big Eye spread its mechanical arms. "Listen, we are well trained. Unless you are too weak, you will not be instantly defeated. Why not join us first?"

"No need." Garou turned to leave. "My advice is, if you run into that bald guy, call in a few more Dragon-Level helpers."

Champion muttered quietly, "Coward."

"What did you say?!" Garou spun around.

Big Eye hurriedly smoothed things over. "He praised you for being cautious! Anything else to add?"

"No." Garou had just taken a step when Champion suddenly blocked the doorway, his fist cracking as he clenched it. "If you don't join, don't even think about leaving."

"Champion!" Big Eye cried out as battle was about to erupt.

"163"

Big Eye's expression changed abruptly, and it hurriedly spoke up.

Even if Garou refused to join the Monster Association at this moment, Big Eye held not the slightest resentment.

After all, time was long, and Garou had the same nature as monsters flowing through his bones. When he came to understand it, he would naturally submit.

If they turned this into a tense confrontation now, it would instead go against Big Eye's original intention.

"Quit babbling! Today, I'm going to pound this arrogant brat to pieces!" "Just what I wanted! Watch me smash your head apart!" The Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, accumulated for so long, suddenly erupted.

Dragging his badly battered body, Garou poured every last bit of strength into his fists.

Blazing fighting spirit burst from his chest, and an inexplicable premonition rose in his heart—this battle might help him break through his shackles,

and enter the realm of Dragon-Level disasters in one stroke!

"In a maid café decorated with lily-of-the-valley wind chimes in Queens, New York.

A young waitress with a bow headband carried a tray between the booths.

(Solemn declaration: All services provided by this establishment comply with Article 17 of New York State labor law.)

"Three special omurice, please."

"At once, Master~"

The maid secretly glanced at the two girls beside Li Chen, ripples glimmering in her eyes.

Whether it was the energetic Yatogami Tohka or the silver-haired girl who seemed like the incarnation of divine favor, their stunning faces had long surpassed ordinary standards of beauty. If not for workplace rules, she would have taken out her phone and asked for a photo.

"Chen, you've been staring at the napkin for ages?"

"I just didn't expect Zero to look so dazzling in casual clothes."

Upon hearing that, Zero's star-dust hair clip tinkled as she moved. The pale blue glow around her drew repeated glances from neighboring customers, and even a bespectacled waitress accidentally spilled her lemonade.

"Daz... zling?"

The silver-haired girl's ear tips instantly turned rose-colored, her fingertips unconsciously drawing circles on the tablecloth.

"Very... happy..."

Her smile at that moment seemed capable of melting the snow across the entire street, making one want to hold that beauty in one's arms—though doing so in public would at least earn three months of community service.

"What about me? What about me?" Tohka puffed up her cheeks and leaned her face closer.

"My Tohka is, of course, the cutest in the universe." Li Chen casually pinched the cowlick atop her head.

With a soft jingle, steaming omurice was placed on the table, the ketchup heart drawn across the plate trembling slightly **.

(

The brand-new table knife suddenly reflected a cold gleam, while the edge of the white porcelain plate still bore unwiped ketchup. The instant Li Chen pierced the soft-boiled egg with his fork, golden yolk slowly flowed over the folds of the sausage—just like the blood of the alien creature Tohka had cleaved apart last night.

"P-please... may I take a photo with this **?" The waitress, whose uniform skirt was stained with cream, raised a Polaroid camera with trembling hands. On the second joint of her ring finger was a pale blue birthmark, a detail Raven had forgotten to conceal during her seventh disguise.

Zero's pupils abruptly contracted into two crimson vertical slits, honeycomb-like energy patterns surfacing across her irises. She smelled the shapeshifting gene fluid seeping from the other woman's pores, that sweetly fishy scent mixed with sodium chloride identical to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s laboratories.

"I suggest using your original form for a more meaningful memento." Li Chen flicked a grain of salt into the air, and the crystal shattered into three perfect diamonds before landing. Tohka was blowing bubbles into her lemon tea with a straw when one bubble suddenly transformed into a miniature outline of Mystique.

Blue scales suddenly seeped from the waitress's apron pocket, and the ketchup she had knocked over sketched the X-Men emblem across the tablecloth. When the automatic door cut her panicked retreating figure into fragments, Li Chen noticed the S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued quantum communicator on her right ear.

Fury's black coat dragged bloody streaks across the bulletproof glass, those blood droplets floating upward against gravity and arranging themselves into the Morse code for "Hydra." Li Chen flung the table knife thirty degrees behind him, and its tip precisely knocked away the miniature ** embedded in Fury's shoulder blade—a nanobot marked with a Stark Industries serial number.

"This time, turn Tohka into a cherry hair clip." Zero played with her dessert spoon, its metal surface reflecting three Tohkas with different hair colors. Outside the glass, Fury began spelling Hebrew with blood from his wounds, while Li Chen calculated the probability of opening a spatial rift on the back of the menu.

Li Chen scratched his head and rose from the maid café. He turned into a secluded alley and found the injured Fury weakly leaning against the wall. As one of the few people who knew the true face of the League of Heroes' leader, Fury looked especially miserable at that moment.

"Weren't you dealing with Hydra? How did you end up like this?"

"While investigating... they discovered me. Now the entire organization is ** me." Fury answered between heavy breaths.

"I'll stop the bleeding first." Li Chen used telekinesis to extract the bullet from Fury's abdomen, then roughly pinched the wound closed. The method was simple and brutal, but it did stop the bleeding.

"Hiss—you couldn't be gentler?"

"Sorry, my medical knowledge is limited. I only know this direct and effective method."

"I need your help..."

"No time."

"Listen! Hydra has already taken control of all of S.H.I.E.L.D..."

"Quiet." Li Chen made a silencing gesture, and Fury's mouth immediately became unable to make a sound, as if sealed by an invisible force.

"For this kind of minor scuffle, just find the patrol heroes in Queens. Captain America and Spider-Man should be able to help you. I don't want this to ruin my date, or else..." Li Chen narrowed his eyes. "You'll see the real apocalypse."

In his eyes, apart from the Winter Soldier, who had some strength, everyone in Hydra was worthless cannon fodder. Seeing Li Chen's firm attitude, Fury, unable to speak, could only nod helplessly.

After watching Li Chen leave, Fury suddenly felt a chill on his neck. At some point, dark clouds had covered the clear sky, and raindrops the size of beans began pounding down.

"Damn it, it was sunny just now..."

The curtain of rain became natural cover, allowing one to hide one's tracks more effectively.

"Splash—"

The sound of someone stepping into a puddle suddenly rang out.

Fury whipped around and caught a glimpse of a petite figure in a rabbit ** flashing through the rain mist...

"Whoosh—"

The torrential rain poured down like a heavenly river, silver threads weaving densely across the sky.

Caught off guard, pedestrians scattered and fled, and the streets became empty in an instant. Only a blue-haired girl stood on tiptoe, cheerfully splashing up strings of water.

She wore a green rabbit-eared cloak—"Divine Astral Dress: Fourth." The comical rabbit puppet in her left hand swayed with her movements, as if the entire rain-soaked alley were her private playground.

"Bang! Bang!"

Gunfire tore through the rain curtain.

Fury had just found his old friend Rogers when Hydra's ambush pushed him into a desperate situation. Surrounded by S.H.I.E.L.D. traitors and the Winter Soldier, the king of spies looked as bedraggled as a drowned rat.

"Clang—"

The Vibranium Shield deflected the deformed bullet.

"What hornet's nest did you stir up?!" Captain America gripped his shield and roared.

"It's Hydra! They hollowed out S.H.I.E.L.D. long ago!"

"Damn it! I need reinforcements!"

The captain blocked the Winter Soldier's mechanical arm—that face, so much like Bucky's, made him hold back. Fury pulled out his communicator. "I'll call Spider-Man right now..."

"Forget it, that kid is still solving linear equations in two variables."

"What rotten luck." Fury felt that his luck today was utterly terrible. "Where do we run?"

"Go find Tony Stark?"

"Iron Man... that works."