Chapter 119: Philadelphia's Final Battle
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Elias fingered his skull themed baseball bat as he nervously tapped his foot on the ground. He was in the middle of a purge in LA when he was suddenly pulled to Chicago.
He wasn't explained much, simply that he had to kill people, and since the leader could pull him from LA to Chicago so easily, and he didn't mind killing people as it was what he was doing initially, Elias did as he was told.
But then, things went awry. Not only were his targets powerful mutants, Serenity even joined in, and it only took a blow that almost killed him for Elias to understand that one, he was completely overpowered by Serenity, and two, he wasn't going to be shown mercy.
For the average person, and even most criminals, Serenity was a beacon of hope, but for Elias he was the most terrifying thing in the world, although he said otherwise, he seemed to have everything a God would have, and that terrified Elias greatly.
The reason was the Spirit of Vengeance inside him that gave him the powers of the Ghost Rider. If Elias had a demon empowering him, then it wouldn't surprise him if Serenity had an angel powering him, or maybe someone even superior.
Moreover, Serenity had always shown mercy to the criminals he fought, not even drawing blood from most. However, as soon as he arrived, Serenity tried to kill him, and that only strengthened Elias' impression of him being a holy figure out for him.
To have a being considered by some as a God, it was indeed terrifying, and witnessing the Spirit of Vengeance get trounced even while at full power, Elias was shivering. The spirit was even weakened now, so Elias knew that if Serenity found him, he was dead.
"You should not fear, human."
Elias' fingers and foot stopped as he looked at the origin of the voice, the being who brought him here.
Sefako pointed his finger at Elias, and a stream of blue energy was shot into the human. He was scared at first, but Elias then felt the Hellfire in him grow stronger.
Elias' Spirit of Vengeance, whom had been resting to recover from his injuries, suddenly awakened as the flames healing him were strengthened. However, the spirit sound wailed in anguish as it felt itself getting burned by the Hellfire.
The Spirit of Vengeance couldn't understand what was happening, Hellfire was a flame that originated from it, so it didn't make sense for it to hurt him.
But under his astonished gaze, the flames rapidly turned blue, and before the spirit could find a solution, it was turned into fuel for the blue Hellfire.
Meanwhile, on the outside, Elias first felt pain as the blue flame burned through his very being, eroding both his mind and body as he felt the torture he inflicted upon his victims for the first time.
Elias rolled on the ground, crying in pain as blue Hellfire began pouring out of his pores, covering him completely in them.
As the minutes passed though, Elias' cries lessened, and what took instead was a mad cackle. Finally, the flames receded, revealing an unsightly sight.
Unlike in the Ghost Rider's transformation, it wasn't just Elias' head that was turned into a skull, but his entire body took a skeletal form. His clothes were ripped into shreds, and yet they stuck to him, flapping with the wind.
A blue flame could also be flickering in his body, lighting up his eye sockets and occasional revealing itself through his rib cage.
Although he was turned into a skeleton, the insides of Elias couldn't be easily seen either, it felt like his skeleton was covering a darkness, alongside the blue Hellfire.
Elias got up from the ground, and looked at his hands. A tongue slithered between his teeth, moving disturbingly as a slow cackle sounded out from him.
Some distance away, Sefako looked at his work with a grin while Graxus felt disdain from Elias for his poorly used rage.
While they were judging the new Ghost Rider though, a large portal was opened close to them, and as they turned to look at it they saw the people who fought them arrive, spearheaded by Edward.
Edward had felt the Ghost Rider's transformation while underground, but he wasn't afraid by the empowered enemy. Instead, he felt excited as the stronger the flame became, the better it would work for him.
Moreover, he craved for a challenge, and the initial Ghost Rider was defeated as soon as he brought out his weapon, so it was for the best.
As for losing, this possibility did not even come to his mind, not because of arrogance, but because he couldn't afford to lose.
"So you are the magician who changed my array. That was impressive." Sefako commented, sounding sincere.
Edward looked up at the comment, the rune he had hastily shot into the array stuck out like a sore thumb as it was the only red rune among the other blue ones. He nodded, "Indeed."
Sefako's smile stretched a little wider as he added, "I could use a man like you. How about a deal, magician?"
"A deal? I doubt I would be interested in one with you." Edward remained polite, but if there was one thing he was sure he wouldn't do, it would be making a deal with Sefako.
Sefako circulated his magic as he increased his charisma, and said, "Submit to me, and I will leave your reality unscathed. I shall grant you powers equal to those of a Celestial, and perhaps even more if you prove yourself to be competent."
Edward snorted quietly at the offer, Sefako talked of Celestials lightly, as if they weren't some of the strongest existences in the multiverse.
Although Edward compared Sefako to Dormammu, that was more for their lifestyle and way to gain power than their real power.
Edward had actually felt Dormammu's presence for a brief instant while he was searching for what would become his current home through Astral Form, and although brief, he had felt the immensity of Dormammu's power.
He didn't know much about the Celestials and their powers, but going by reputation and what he read about them, they were at least as strong as Dormammu, or relatively close to him in power if a bit weaker.
On the other end, Sefako's aura while he was still in the spacetime tunnel was far from equalling Dormammu. Hell, even Roma was able to fight him for several minutes before being defeated.
Granted she was empowered by her island, but in her base form she was weaker than Edward. Even with the augmentation, she couldn't reach Dormammu's level of power.
If Edward had to compare Sefako's power while unsealed, he would place him next to Sauron. The intensity of their aura was about the same, they were stronger than him, but not by so much he felt like an ant in front of them.
And that was with Sauron being weakened. So overall, Sefako was way weaker than a Celestial, even with lax estimates, so it was a little funny to Edward to be proposed a power similar to a Celestial by an entity who was far from them in terms of power.
As all those thoughts dwelled in his mind, Edward even felt a little angry at the entity, and decided to cut short of his bullshit.
Raising his hand, Edward created a giant ball of red energy, one several meters in width, and without a word threw it toward Sefako.
Strong as he was, the mystical entity was forced to summon a shield as the attack reached them, but much to his surprise the attack was nowhere as strong as he thought it would be. However, a blinding light arose from the attack, blinding everyone on their side.
While the enemy was blinded, Edward's side split up as they each went for their targets. Magneto levitated into the sky as every structure made of metal around them was thrown toward Sefako.
Whether he was really weak to metals or not, Sefako really backed away from Magneto's attack. Magneto was an experienced fighter though and in a matter of seconds managed to completely surround Sefako with metallic objects.
Unable to dodge anymore, Sefako finally retaliated as blasts of energy were shot out of his hands, blasting away the surrounding metal. Magneto smirked and clenched his fist, and Sefako looked like he turned into a magnet as every piece of metal in the surroundings fired toward him.
Sefako quickly erected a wall of energy around him, but the sheer number of objects and the velocity they flew at quickly destroyed it, forcing Sefako to raise a more physical barrier as the rocks beneath them gathered and solidified.
But just as Sefako hid in a rock solid dome, it was slashed open with ease, and Wolverine shot toward Sefako.
Seeing the X-Man in mid air, Sefako smirked disdainfully and sent a deadly blast of energy at him, but Wolverine suddenly shifted to the right, dodging the blast of energy, and arrived him Sefako.
The Adversary tried to shield himself with his magic, but Wolverine's Adamantium covered claws easily tore through those shields, and slashed Sefako across the chest.
Blue blood cascaded down from Sefako's chest as Wolverine's claws easily cut into his flesh. Sefako punched Wolverine, sending him flying, but he also felt pain coming from his fist, and he was growing weaker.
Metals, and in particular iron, was truly his weakness, and served to make him even weaker than he already was. Magneto and Wolverine were the worst opponents he could get, based on powers.
While Magneto and Wolverine fought the big boss together, Roma appeared before Graxus, less than a meter before him. The Red Lantern didn't fear close combat though and punched at her.
Roma didn't attack herself though, and instead clasped her hands before separating them quickly, and rotated them to form a circle.
A small shield was created in front of Graxus' fist, and smashed into it as Graxus didn't have the time or intention to stop his fist.
The shield did not break from Graxus' strike, and instead redirected the strength from the blow toward Graxus, who was sent flying backwards by more than a hundred meters.
Graxus was about to jump back toward Roma, but as he tried moving he felt his feet stuck to the ground, and looking down the ground acted like glue as it stuck to his feet.
While he looked down, Pietro appeared next to him and began punching him, hitting him more than a hundred times in less than a second.
His fists also carried a red aura as they were strengthened by Wanda, but Graxus ignored the hits as he felt nothing from them. A mosquito could be trying to bit him and he wouldn't feel the difference.
Graxus sent a look at the witch, but decided to ignore her as he forcefully broke from the glue-like ground, and just in time as Roma arrived before him, sword in hand.
And it wasn't any sword, as it was the fabled Excalibur. The sword shone with a holy glow as Roma brought it down onto the Adversary.
Graxus intended to channel his power through his body to strengthen it and counter the blow, but to his shock he found the energy from his ring malfunction for an instant. It was only a short moment, something he wouldn't even have noticed in a normal situation, but this short moment gave enough time for Excalibur to connect.
Finally, for the third threat, the transformed Ghost Rider, the flame in his skull seemed to flicker violently as soon as he spotted Edward, and with a speed greater than ever before, he rushed at Edward.
Edward smirked as he too rushed forward, and their two fist soon met each other.