.......
Avengers Tower
Two more screens appeared left and right of the main one. One screen shows Selene free-falling to the ground, and the other shows Blade and Moon Knight jumping at Dracula on a rooftop.
"Oh! Multiscreen~ I don't know where to look…" Harley's eyes dart around.
But action explodes first on the latter screen; the fight between Dracula and the two anti-heroes starts.
Blade swings downwards with one katana, but Dracula simply sidesteps the attack while looking very aloof, not even deigning to attack back.
"You must be the Daywalker I heard about." He speaks
"Nice to finally put a face to the name, right? We would have met earlier if you had just come to me like a man instead of sending your minions." Blade says that at the same time he changes his downward slash to a horizontal one.
"You overestimate your own importance." Dracula steps just outside of the range of the weapon, surprisingly graceful for a big guy in armor, keeping his stance straight while using minimum movement.
"And what about me??" Moon Knight jumps in while holding a unique crescent-shaped blade, where the handle is located in the middle, so that two curved blades protrude from each side of his closed fist.
Moon Knight punches in the direction of Dracula's face while in the air.
This time, the Lord of Vampires doesn't dodge, opting to smack Moon Knight's hand away with his gauntlet.
"You…"
"Yes, me! Pay what you owe me!!" Moon Knight shouts as he retreats to get space for a flying kick.
"What are you talking about?" Dracula frowns while still dodging casually.
This situation is more like a noble hearing the complaints of his subjects than a fight per se, Dracula, as their superior is completely looking down on them.
"Don't play dumb! You owe me money!" Moon Knight attacks again.
Dracula frowns, offended, and kicks Moon Knight in the chest before Moon Knight can touch him.
"In which situation would I owe anything to a pauper like yourself?" Dracula says with disdain
"Uff! I don't remember the exact details, but you absolutely owe me money." Moon Knight recovers from the attack
"Preposterous! I will not have you slander my good name with your baseless accusations." Dracula spats
"Good name? You?" Blade attacks while Dracula is focusing on Moon Knight.
Dracula was caught a little off guard, the tip of Blade's sword approaching his heart, but the Lord of Vampires is still a strong creature.
Showing the difference in power, Dracula grabs the blade between his fingers, stopping its advance.
"Two pests!" Dracula lifts Blade by the weapon and throws him at Moon Knight, who was approaching
The two anti-heroes' bodies crash, stopping them, but Dracula doesn't take the opportunity to attack.
Instead, he looks at his hand, and there is some damage to the leather part of his gauntlet, and it goes deep enough to hurt his skin.
"Acid, garlic and silver…" He comments before dismissing the damage. Dracula is a little more resistant to those things than the average monster/vampire, but the combination of the three can be a little dangerous. "The best you two can do is annoy me…"
His hand goes to his waist, and he starts to slowly unsheath his long sword. "Nonetheless, this inconvenience shall be dealt with in a short time." He holds his sword with one hand, even though the blade looks too long to be used like that.
"Dream on, fucking nerd!" Moon Knight replies while Blade raises his sword silently and also pulls a gun from his holster.
With sword in one hand and gun in the other, Blade advances, shooting while closing the distance.
BlamBlamBlamBlam
Dracula uses his sword to deflect the first bullet and moves to the side to avoid the rest. He also advances and attacks Blade before he can shoot more.
ClinkClinkClinkClink
A sword duel ensues between the two. Both Blade and Dracula exchange dozens of attacks in one instant, their movements a blur because of their super speed, and sparks fly with every exchange because of their super-strength.
Dracula's moves lean more to a fencing style, his stance controlled while he moves the bare minimum, attacking with thrusts, lunges, and stabs… sometimes doing a quick swing to recover after his sword was reflected from a crash.
Blade, on the other hand, is fighting much more fiercely, using his whole body on every swing, aggressively trying to cut Dracula.
From an outsider perspective, it looks like Dracula is miles above Blade in technique, but the Daywalker has his own technique; it is just that being sophisticated is not his style.
Moon Knight intervenes by throwing a flying weapon at Dracula, but he just deflected it with his sword.
"Stop with your bullshit!" Dracula says angrily.
"That is my specialty! Random Bullshit Super Move!" Moon Knight shouts and starts throwing more flying weapons at Dracula.
The Lord of Vampires' nose crinkles like he is dealing with a swarm of flies, and he acts accordingly. He grabs the hem of his cape and uses it to swat the flying weapons.
After that, he dashes at Moon Knight, pulling his sword back a little with the intention of impaling the anti-hero.
"Whoa!" Moon Knight dodges by a hair before starting boxing with Dracula, but the vampire needs only one arm to defend against the attacks.
"Disappointing vessel of a god." Dracula sneers as he grabs Moon Knight's shoulder and pulls the anti-hero to be stabbed by his sword.
BlamBlam
But Blade saves his strange ally by shooting Dracula's hand and sword, making him drop his weapon. He also attacks immediately, after all, this is a rare opening where Dracula's two hands are busy.
The Daywalker slashes at the vampire, but his katana meets only the air because Dracula adopts a gaseous form for a split second, just enough to phase through the attack and circle Blade to appear behind him.
Thwack
Blade receives a backhanded punch on his ribs and is sent flying.
Moon Knight jumps to attack Dracula, but the vampire makes a flourish move with his cape in the direction of the anti-hero, and a swarm of bats emerges from him.
The distraction is enough for Dracula to telekinetically bring his sword back to his hand and finally stab Moon Knight.
Buchi
The anti-hero is impaled in the air, and in the air he stays, held by the blade going through his shoulder.
If he hadn't reacted fast enough, his heart would have been pierced.
"Hmpf!" Dracula then throws him away like a piece of trash, and at the same time cleans his blade from the anti-hero's blood.
Moon Knight slides until he stops close to Blade, who is holding the side of his torso.
Both anti-heroes are harmed but still standing up.
"Okay, now that bitch will get it." Moon Knight ignores the blood on his shoulder
Blade spat a mouthful of blood, despite not being attacked by a weapon, that hit from Dracula gave him more damage than the one Moon Knight received. His organs almost ruptured, but he is already healing.
"Can you still go on?" Blade asks while wiping his mouth
"Ya bet." Moon Knight says, changing his accent, maybe another personality took over.
"Good, because that bastard is gonna be serious now." Blade stares at Dracula.
The whole demeanor of the Lord of Vampires changed; his cape looked like it was alive, shadows seeping from it, his eyes shining red, the air getting cold around him.
"I was not serious either."
"Good, let's kill him for good."
"And get my damn money!"
The three combatants walk forward and start round 2 almost immediately; their speed is nothing like before. Dracula starts moving so fast that he becomes a blur, and Blade accompanies him with all he can. The Moon Knight is not that much behind, even if he doesn't have super-speed.
On the Avengers Tower, everyone watches the exchange with great interest and awe. The screen shows the battle getting heated, the combatants moving so fast and fiercely that they can't get their eyes off the screen.
"I am not any specialist… but that Dracula dude looks really strong. Like… really dangerous." Darcy comments. From her point of view, the two anti-heroes are pretty awesome, but Dracula is obviously dominating the fight.
"Indeed… It is even a bit worrying." Reed Richards comments
"Isn't he like, stronger than Loki?" Natasha turns to Thor
The God of Thunder shrugs "Loki is a sorcerer, it is not weird that some humans… I mean, some living beings in Midgard to display more impressive battle feats. But I still think Loki would win."
"Even so, if left alone, he would cause a lot of trouble." Steve Rogers says with a frown "And to think he was just lying around somewhere."
"And there are a lot like him." Peggy nods "But that is why S.H.I.E.L.D. exists, to protect the humans from those threats."
"I am sorry, lady, but I don't think S.H.I.E.L.D. before the heroes would be able to deal with the real threats." Shego comments with a dismissive tone "You all are just lucky the ones like Dracula didn't care to make a big move, and there are hidden heroes taking care of things."
"Believe it or not, S.H.I.E.L.D had some heavy hitters that would make Dracula look like a vegetarian bat." Peggy retorts with a proud and defiant tone. As a founder of S.H.I.E.L.D., she can't let other people talk badly about the organization like that. Earth was safe in our hands."
"..." Shego looks at her and frowns like she is thinking about something.
"People like the 'Marvels'…" Helena helps while casually taking a sip of her cocktail
"Aaahh! Now I remember… True." Shego nodded with serenity and didn't argue. From what Hector told them once during a boring lecture, Captain Marvel and the others are indeed very strong.
"How do you know that?" Peggy frowns; she is not happy that she won the little argument
"Spies never think others can play their games better than them." Shego shakes her head with an amused smile. That is all the explanation she will give.
"You will get used to it." Natasha advises Peggy.
"Okay, I think I could take Dracula, but who else thinks the same?" Johnny suddenly declares, and it suddenly becomes a competition with the boys
Thor didn't say anything, but he made sure to give a loud chuckle to remind them that he was there.
"A good punch in that pale guy's face, and he will have to get another coffin." Ben clenches his fist
"Please, you can never hit him with that speed." Johnny rolls his eyes and mocks his friend "Look at that."
On the screen, Dracula is creating afterimages to press on the two anti-heroes.
"And he can become mist…" Johnny adds
"I would eventually find a way. He also couldn't hurt me." Ben argues
"I don't know about that…"
"He can't drain blood from rock."
"With a little preparation, I can take him." Tony says
"He is simply too fast, dude." Johnny counters
"Eidolon always said that speed is what decides most fights. If there is too much difference, it always leans towards the faster." Helena comments
"See? The lady understands." Johnny points at Helena and winks at her.
She ignores his poor attempt at flirting. "I don't know if I could hit him with a bolt, but there are ways to explore his weakness if I prepare… He looks like the arrogant type that can be led into a trap, too."
"Exactly what I was thinking." It is Tony's turn to point out "I don't even need a trap. Give me some time to put some UV lights in my armor, and I am ready to go. Said that, Jarvis, remind me of making an armor specialized in hunting monsters… Silver makes for poor protection, but it can be good enough to deal with those things."
"Another armor, Tony? Really?" Pepper looks at him with admonishment and disappointment "Don't you have enough?"
"Babe, I swear that I am working on my definitive armor that can do everything and I will never need to make another…" Tony grabs her hand to plead like a boyfriend asking for permission to go watch football. "Buuuuut till there, I need to have those specialized prototypes for every situation. Look! There are folklore monsters out there! I am sure that I will be sleeping with some neck protection from now on."
"...I guess you have a point." Pepper concedes unhappily.
"Also, remember me to have a long talk with Eidolon about everything that is out there that can kill us." Tony says "I need to make countermeasures beforehand."
"It will be a very long talk~" Harley laughs
"Talking about countermeasures… it is not always that you have the chance to make them." Johnny speaks to Stark "So, do you think that you can take Dracula with your normal armor if you are flying at night and he suddenly attacks you?"
It is a friendly supposition, something men do a lot. 'Can you take a lion with prep time?' This type of silly conversation.
But to Stark, it hits a sore spot.
"I don't really know…" He admits, not his usual arrogant self "He is so fast that maybe Jarvis can't lock on him… The heat-seeking missiles may not work because he is dead… that mist thing is worrying… and if that sword is sharp enough…"
Pepper seems to notice his unrest because she grabs his hand. He looks at her after feeling her touch and smiles…
"Said that… I didn't install mini rocket propulsors so that I could arrive fast at a shawarma place. I can always make a strategic retreat and use what I learn to kick his ass later."
"Then you admit that you can't defeat him." Johnny, a man who couldn't read the room, laughs
"That is it, I am installing a nuke in all my suits. Then I will always win, even if I die." Tony suddenly says
"Tony!" Pepper's eyes go wide
"I am kidding…" He goes to placate her.
"Oh, Eidolon is doing something." Darcy, who is always watching the screens with great interest, speaks.
"Ugh… I hate that bitch." Shego is the first to understand what he is doing.
"Is that a naked woman?" Jennifer raises an eyebrow
"She is hot." Johnny comments
"Just watch…" Harley giggles
On the screen, Nevan appears and hugs Eidolon without caring about her naked torso, her red hair strategically covering her green nipples.
"Calling for me?" She asks sultrily, tracking his jaw with a finger
"Transform already…" Eidolon replies stoically.
Nevan pouts "I will be your care then. Be gentle~" After that, her body slowly morphs as she falls into his arms.
When Eidolon's hand touches her torso, Nevan is already the guitar Devil Arm.
"An electric guitar?" Susan asks, confused.
"It is one of his weapons." Helena explains
"How can a guitar be a weapon?" Wonder Man asks
"If the song is very good… or very bad." Ben points out
"We are forgetting the most important… is that woman who can turn into a guitar?" Janet asks with a frown
"Or is she a guitar that can turn into a woman?" Rhodes raises another point
"A guitar or a woman, what comes first?" Harley ponders philosophically.
"More like a demon succubus vampire or some shit like that." Shego waves her hand dismissively
"It seems you have a grudge with her." Natasha comments with amusement
"Last time he used her, she clung to him all day like a leech… So inconvenient." Shego huffs
"Jealous?" Natasha smirks
"As if! She was just fucking annoying, and I know she is gonna be a pain in the ass again." Shego crossed her arms unhappily. "Can't he use any of his thousand weapons without sentience?"
"Okay, but seriously…how can a guitar be a weapon?" Wonder Man asks again
"Everything can be a weapon." Hawkeye talks from experience "But I am pretty sure that anything Eidolon uses can't be normal." He continues with a lot of irony in his tone
"What gave it away?" Natasha asks with exaggerated surprise
"I don't know… The fact that the guitar was a demon vampire succubus was a small clue." He replies with a lot of sarcasm
"I am more surprised that he can play." Jennifer's mind is in another direction
"He can do anything." Helena explains like it's obvious.
On the screen, Eidolon is completely ignoring his surroundings while running his fingers through the strings of the guitar.
He hums absentmindedly. "What should I play? Lonely Day from System of a Down? That last solo is fire." It looks like he didn't even notice that absurd quantities of monsters are moving toward him, similar to a tsunami.
The monsters move into unison, jumping from root to roof till they are just above him, ready to clash down.
"Ah! Hehe~ This will be funny." He decided and hit a note at the same time he was covered by so many monsters that the people in the Avengers Tower couldn't see him.
BLAM
The monsters are thrown back by an omnidirectional shockwave even before anyone could get worried for the hero.
"I am a goofy goober…" He whispers so low that no one could hear him.
Then he starts his solo. The famous guitar solo that SpongeBob SquarePants performs in his movie. It is not a joke on his part; he is serious. The song is a parody of "I Wanna Rock," so it goes incredibly hard, even if Hector heard it first in a children's movie. So to Hector, it will always be the 'Goofy Goober' song.
Eidolon's hand moves through the neck of the electric guitar, his fingers expertly sliding on the strings while he makes them scream with his other hand.
With each note, purple electricity starts building around him, and bats start appearing to circle him, too.
In the beginning, it looks like a harmless performance, but when the first werewolf jumped back at him and tried to stab his back with his claws, the show really started.
Bzzzt
The werewolf goes straight through him, what he hit was an electric afterimage that immedaitelly become lighting and zapped the monster.
Eidolon appeared on a nearby rooftop, still playing, completely unbothered.
More monsters try to attack him, but they are met with the same retaliation; they are all zapped by the purple lightning, sometimes it comes from the tip of the electric guitar. Each note produces even more energy and bats.
The monsters are falling around him like flies, only by getting close. Instead of being afraid, the monsters get even more ferocious in the assault.
If they are getting dropped while Eidolon is just passively playing, they can imagine what happens when he finally takes action.
"He is preparing something!" A random vampire shouts
"Stop him!!" Another screams while conjuring some magic.
They change strategy to long-range attacks, accepting that all around him is a minefield of lightning. But it's too late… Eidolon finally decided to go on the offensive, and they will never have the chance to even touch his clothes now.
It happens during the high-speed riff. Eidolon's fingers press the strings, and he moves through the battlefield while playing.
Each dash leaves purple lightning afterimages that explode a little later, discharging electricity in the area. Lightning as thick as a human arm uncoils from him and the electric guitar to hit anyone remotely closer, and bats fly around creating a net of electricity.
He moves around and moves around, getting faster and faster to accompany the tempo of the song. The wind rises, and it becomes clear that he is moving into a circular path.
It is too late to try to run away when Eidolon literally creates a storm in the middle of the fortress. A grey hurricane spins so fast that it sucks all the monsters inside, it is charged with purple lightning that flashes Eidolon's silhouette playing Nevan all over the place.
And all of this is happening while Eidolon is ripping a very nasty guitar solo. It looks like the wind is making the music louder, or at least carrying it far away without interfering with the sound. Or it is one of his powers or one of the magical properties of Nevan.
"Damn, he can actually do anything." Jennifer admits
"Right? He is killing it!" Harley bops his head to the song.
"That is 'I Wanna Rock' from Twisted Sister." Tony says "Eidolon knows the classics." He nods his head appreciatively. "You guys will have to do your best now, having Eidolon as the Opening of the show." He talks with the musicians who are about to perform at the party.
On the screen, Eidolon is now just passively capturing every monster in the area with his hurricane, not even deigning himself to appear and confront them directly. They are zapped and dragged inside the hurricane to never be seen again.
It is a little more than a two-minute guitar solo, but that was enough to clean the fortress.
But the music eventually slows down, and the hurricane too, the storm slowly disappearing and Eidolon emerging at the top of a pointy tower while making the symbol of Rock with his hand.
"Happy now?" He asks the camera, his voice emotionless
"Yes! Thank you!" Harley smiles cheekily "I know you can't say no to this face~" She points at herself, and using the tips of her index fingers to press her cheeks.
"..."
"What did you do with all those monsters?" Ben asks"The whole place is cleaner than my room."
"They are in a better place now." Eidolon says solemnly while keeping a hand over his chest
Everyone chuckles "You teleported them to another place, right?" Jane Foster asks lightly
"..." But Eidolon just stares at the camera ominously
"Right?" Now her face fell
"I don't know if it was intentional, but we just recreated that scene in Attack of Clones." He points out and ignores her question completely.
The truth is that she is right. He indeed teleported them to a prison of his, but it is good to always keep a dangerous image, especially because he didn't kill anyone(allegedly) as he is being filmed.
People know that in reality heroes kill in certain cases, but it is completely different to show him using lethal force against enemies that are no match for him. There are the kids who will probably see it too…
So he spared the monsters… Most of them… probably…
Let's say that he was a little careless while kidnapping them, and some were hit by a great number of lightning strikes. So some casualties should have happened.
But he doesn't feel guilty for a second. Each time he uses his X-ray vision, he can see how they used humans around here. It is not pretty.
He will not have an excuse to rain down punishment on those monsters without showing the public the atrocities committed by them… but at the same time, revealing it like that would widen the rift between the two groups.
It is completely different from them simply knowing that vampires have to suck blood to survive and showing it in graphic detail.
"It took longer than an instant victory, but it was still a one-move win." Harley says to him
"Whatever, I will just end this and…" Eidolon trails off, his eyes moving to a specific spot
Coincidentally, the place where he was looking was being shown on the third screen.
While flashy fights are happening with Eidolon and Draculo, Selene is much more subtle. She is moving inside the buildings while rescuing captured humans with the help of Hector's Shadowkhan.
The group of shadow ninjas slowly recovered since he left all of them in the One Piece world.
"What?" The people watching obviously noticed his loss of focus and paid attention to the third screen after Cortana made sure to show that that was what he was watching from his point of view.
"You even gave your favorite handgun to her…" Shego comments after seeing that Hector lent ARMS .454 Casul to Selene.
But the focus is not on her.
It is in the individual that she stumbles during her search.
"It is that Nosferatu Joshua…" Eidolon narrows his eyes, his gaze focused not on the monster but on what he is holding.
Everything happened incredibly.
Selene pointed her gun at him. "Don't move."
Joshua acts in panic, immediately raising his arms in the air, holding a strange jar, before smashing it on the ground.
BangBang
Selene shoots two times in his knees, practically vaporizing his legs, and the jar breaks with a muffled sound.
From the jar, an orange-red mist emerges and dashes to Selene at such incredible speed that not even she could dodge in time.
"!!" Her eyes widen, and she instinctively crosses her arms to take the blow.
Blam
But Eidolon suddenly appeared in front of her and swung Nevan like a club; the hit was strong enough to disperse the mist and sent it flying away.
Eidolon narrows his eyes again… He used Haki, and he was not able to damage that thing. Even if it is something from another universe, Haki has at least a little effect in similar situations, especially Hector's Haki, which is so strong.
But he feels that if not for Nevan having demonic magic power coating it, he would not be able to damage that mist at all.
"Thank you…" Selene says behind him
He nods and watches what is happening in the battle against Dracula; that is exactly the direction where the mist went.
"Haah~ It is like the boss adding an extra shift when I am about to clock out…" He sighs.
The mist just entered Blade's body.
"I am lost now… What is happening?" Jennifer asks around.
"A damn last-minute big villain reveal…" It is Eidolon that answers, sounding tired.
"Oopsie~" Harley makes a sound
"It is not your fault." Eidolon says, understand that she may feel guilty for making him hold back.
Eidolon disappears from its spot and reappears on the bridge where the battle against Dracula was happening.
The fight obviously stopped. Both Dracula and Moon Knight stare at Blade. The body of the Daywalker is emitting strands of that mist while he looks in pain, or at least struggling with something.
That doesn't last long, while he is trembling and hugging his own body, almost crouching down, Blade suddenly goes completely still and straightens himself like nothing is wrong.
The big smile on his face shows that there is something very wrong…
"Hahaha! And tonight I return!" He laughs to the night sky, opening his arms "The First Vampire lives through it, fated vessel, the Daywalker! I, Varnae, live once more!"
"Varnae…" Eidolon narrow shis eyes again and thanks the cliché of villains monologuing and saying their own name
"Varnae?" Thor and Dracula also reacted to the name.
"Who?" Jane asks Thor
"Did he say 'first vampire'? Isn't that Dracula?" Tony adds a question on his own.
Thor leans forward. "Do you know about Varnae, Eidolon?" His tone was surprisingly serious, raising everyone's worry twofold.
"I read about him… A very ancient dude who gave Dracula his powers. Apparently, Dracula is only famous because he propagated vampirism. Varnae existed since before the Great Cataclysm." Eidolon comments while not taking his eyes of Varnae.
"What is the Great Cataclysm?" Jane asks
"It is what submerged Atlantis and Lemuria. Varnae was an Atlantean sorcerer before becoming the First Vampire." The hero explains
"Oh, and here I thought that I erased all traces of my existence…" Varnae finally speaks through Blade's mouth "I didn't think someone would still know me in this day and age. Especially a human."
"I read about you in the Sorcerer Supreme library." Eidolon says, and Varnae's smirk disappears. His words are chosen precisely to hit his opponent in his ego. "You know… the thing you failed to become…" He taunts, eyes becoming crescents to show that he is smiling big under the mask.
"..." Varnae frowns angrily at Eidolon
"How are you alive, Varnae?" Dracula suddenly interjects, also showing a frown "You said that you would die, and that is why you chose me as a successor."
"Oh, Dracula, I really died… I just kept a little assurance to my revival if our race even found itself in danger. Like tonight." He looks around to show his point
"Don't listen to him. He is lying." Eidolon enters the conversation "He probably never pretended to die… He went through a ritual to become the first vampire, but the weakness is a problem; despite trying everything, he never succeeded in getting rid of it. He probably put you on this path to one day find a vessel without the weakness and become 'perfect'. That is why he was aiming for my subordinate and then Blade… Blade probably was the primary target. That would also explain why recently you all are turning specific people and studying ways to become immune to sunlight. That Joshua Nosferatu was carrying the jar holding him… Isn't he your subordinate? So why are you unaware that Varnae still exists?" Eidolon said all that in one breath.
It is mostly supposition, but it makes a lot of sense.
"..." Varnae stares at him, trying to suppress his anger, and Dracula also frowns harder. "Don't listen to him; it is just a pathetic attempt to poison the well." The Original Vampire speaks dismissively to Dracula "Only the two of us know about what happened back then."
"Typical sophism… You are not even attacking the argument, just excluding me from the discussion by saying I don't know you two. Dracula, you also don't know this guy… His life is many times longer than yours. You don't know how he was before meeting you, and some people say that was his hubris that caused the Great Flood."
"Lies! I will not let you taint my reputation by saying that I have anything to do with that!" Varnae suddenly shows real anger for the first time. "I am a survivor!"
"..." 'It seems fighting the two is inevitable.'
"I will explain everything later, Dracula. let's take care of him first." Varnae steps forward and grabs Blade's katana, moving them around like he is testing his new body.
"..." Dracula doesn't look exactly convinced by Varnae, but Eidolon is a common enemy, so he also gets ready for the fight.
"You two let me handle it; that Varnae guy is a little dangerous." Eidolon says to Moon Knight and Selene.
Selene obviously listens and starts walking back, but Moon Knight starts arguing.
"No, no! I have business with Dracula! You get the body snatcher, and I deal with Dracula." He says while getting ready to fight Dracula.
"No." Eidolon simply says and kicks him casually, a portal opens where he is falling, and he reappears at the other edge of the fortress
"Son of-Aaaaaaah!" It is possible to listen to his scream as Moon Knight falls far away.
"Eidolon, my friend, I will ask again. Do you need my help?" Thor speaks seriously "I fought Varnae in the past, and he is really a tough opponent."
"Really? That is rare for you to admit." Jane looks at him.
"I was young, but that doesn't exclude the fact that he is strong. We fought for an entire night, and I had to explore his weakness to the sun to make him retreat… It became a teaching moment where my father made me reflect that I should look for other ways to win because victory is not always clear and sometimes can't be reached by using brute force alone." Thor confesses.
"Thank you for worrying, but I am good." Eidolon answers with a calm tone "He can be strong, but the conditions are also ideal to me… They are not humans and I already rescued everyone… I don't need to hold back and worry about collateral damage in this place." He declares while raising his fighting spirit "There is no way I am losing in those conditions. I even know their weakness…" He smirks
"Arrogant." His words were obviously heard by Varnae, that immediately dashed to attack him.
Blade's body never moved this fast. Dracula is also right behind.
The two swung their blades at him, and Eidolon showed no intention of reacting. With their fast movements, they reach him and surprisingly cut him into four parts.
"!!!" The people watching almost jumped in fright, seeing that
"That is rude, I am thinking…" Eidolon's decapitated head speaks while floating. His body slowly turns to face the vampires that passed through him as it reforms
His casual stance and unworried tone show how little he thinks of this fight. Obviously, that is all outwardly; inside, he is taking it as seriously as ever.
The reason why he hasn't acted yet is that he is thinking about how to get Blade's body back.
"Can you please return my friend's body before we fight?" He asks nicely, not a hint of aggression in his tone
"Why? Don't tell me you can't hurt me like this?" Varnae mocks with Blade's face.
"No, I can absolutely hurt you; don't even try the hostage play. In truth, this is pointless… I mean, you are not forcing me to make any hard decision. There is no urgency or anything like that. I can simply capture you and try to remove you from him slowly, later. We are all immortal people here. Ten years is not long if I can safely take him back." He explains his reasoning "Unless you have some mental switch that can explode the planet or anything… Then I am gonna kill you with Blade." His tone gets a little cold at the end, but he is still talking casually.
"Oh, ruthless aren't we?" Varnae chuckles evilly. "Can you really do it?"
"Yes." Eidolon said so fast and without hesitation that caught everyone off guard "I will try my best to save everyone I can, but if I don't have a choice, I will not hesitate to kill even my friends. I hope they do the same with me."
"..."
He is speaking so seriously that the watchers get solemn. It is nothing new that Eidolon takes his hero job seriously, but it is moments like those that remind them of that.
"I am gonna give you a demonstration…" Eidolon pulls Nevan, who was hanging on his back, to his front and plays a note.
Multiple bats appear around them, each charged with balls of lightning, and immediately fly to the two vampires.
The two display their speed by dodging the complex chain of attacks, sometimes cutting the balls of lightning with their swords.
"..." Eidolon just watches their move with interest, learning their pattern.
He is still calm when they finally close the distance and try to stab him, now knowing that cutting will not work.
ClangClangClang
But Eidolon parries their attacks with the arm of his guitar. A closed-quarter combat starts, the two vampires pressing while Eidolon fends them off.
This fight shows how strong Varnae and Dracula really are. Varnae blows are strong enough to make Eidolon slide back even when he parries, and Dracula is not that much behind him.
The hero continues to step back while dodging and parrying, eyes moving from one opponent to the other. It is when they decide to do more than attack with swords that he counterattacks.
Varnae holds one of his katanas in a reverse grip and points a finger at Eidolon; from that finger, a dark red magic circle appears.
Eidolon's eyes locked on it. The hero immediately kicks Dracula away, and gives a quick step forward so fast that he looked like he teleported, invading Varnae space and slapping his finger away with the arm of his guitar.
Bzzzz
He also zapped Varnae to paralyze the Original Vampire for a second.
Eidolon raises his right hand, his fingers stretched and joined together in a spear-like fashion, and he stabs Varnae through the heart without any mercy.
Butchi
His arm goes all the way till his biceps, appearing on the other side smeared with blood.
"Damn!" Someone exclaimed
Some women cover their mouths with their hands.
Eidolon removes his arm swiftly and with a wet sound, Varnae falls to his knees while vomiting blood
"Here is your example." Eidolon says coldly while looming over him, cleaning his arm with fast move.
"He was not fucking kidding." Wonder Man whistles
Eidolon keeps staring at Varnae for some time before he reaches out with his hand and, surprisingly, heals him.
"You are really committed to his body, huh? I thought I could bait you to leave it, but it seems it will not be that easy. Are you that confident in your healing factor?" Eidolon bends a little to stare at Blade's face from close, his eyes boring into Varnae's soul. "Or it can be that you can't leave this body even if you want?" He asks before slowly standing up
"You…" Varnae looks at him hatefully. That is one of the greatest humiliations he received in his life. Being hurt like that and then healed afterwards. "You have no idea of who you are talking to."
"I am pretty sure you are just a little leech that is afraid of death." Eidolon taunts, eyes shining while looking down on Varnae.
"I am gonna show you."
"No, I am gonna show you." Eidolon's eyes shine dangerously, and he releases his Conqueror's Haki and other fear-inducing powers.
He puts incredible pressure on Varnae, so much that even the ancient creature freezes with his mouth agape and eyes wide. From his perspective, Eidolon looks just like a monster of his nightmares, or death itself.
The hero then reaches for him, his hand making a grab motion very close to his face, and something starts leaving Blade's body. It is some dark orange-red smoke, something Eidolon immediately grabs and tries to pull it off.
Using the Soru Soru no Mi, Eidolon is trying to take Varnae off Blade's body.
He pulls slowly and carefully, All Seeing Eyes of God activated, but at a certain point, something extra starts coming out. There is a little white mixed with the darker smoke.
"..." Eidolon pauses and lets it go with a sigh. "So you are not a worm, but a parasite… fusing with Blade's soul."
The smoke re-enters Blade's body, and Varnae finally can focus again. He stares at Eidolon with horror and jumps back a dozen meters.
"What kind of monster are you?" It is what he asks while sweating bullets
"...I am only human… with a little extra." Eidolon gives him a side glance. "Seriously, you'd better get out of this body. Because when I remove you, and I will eventually, I will be annoyed if you make me do unnecessary work."
"..." Varnae stares at him seriously, still a little fearful.
On the Avengers Tower, Janet looks around."Someone tell me he was not pulling that guy's soul out of his body."
"..." No one can say that he is not doing it. And when they look at the women of the SCP, they just shrug without saying anything.
"He made the monster call him a monster." Natasha shakes her head "I think I am finally getting dull by his antics."
On the screen, another round is about to start, with Dracula coming back and Varnae creating a huge magic circle. The magic circle shoots a high-pressure jet of blood that Eidolon dodges.
But the destruction left in its path is devastation; it went through dozens of buildings as if nothing.
The battle gets even more grandiose and flashy, with both vampires using other techniques and magic to try to deal with Eidolon.
The hero dodges everything by leaving after-images behind, studying their patterns, but this time, he starts counterattacking much earlier than previously.
He dashes at Varnae, that already created dozens of other magic circles that stay behind him, ready to release their magic.
But Eidolon does something strange; the screen shows his hand, and he uses his index finger to poke the air a dozen times at high speed.
CrackCrackCrackCrack
The magic circles start crumbling.
"What?" Varnae is not the only one surprised.
"Never saw something like that…" Even Thor comments
It is just a simple trick of creating Nth metal pellets from the tip of his finger and using momentum to expel them faster than bullets. But Eidolon made it so fast and perfectly that neither the camera nor Varnae saw anything weird.
It looks like he can destroy magic circles by poking in the direction. Which makes him even scarier.
Eidolon obviously uses the chance to close the distance and attacks Varnae. The Original Vampire tries to counterattack, but Eidolon slaps his arm away and perfectly connects his own attack.
WhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwack
Every try of Varnae to recover was met with Eidolon one step ahead, frustrating it and punching him. If he swings, Eidolon stops with a tap on the forearm and punches. If he makes a magic circle, Eidolon destroys it and punches him. If he tries to retreat, Eidolon follows and punches him.
"I already showed that I can restore this body… Are you ready to remember how pain tastes?" Eidolon asks between attacks.
He even includes Dracula, keeping up with the two opponents at the same time, his arms become a blur, and so many afterimages appear that it looks like he has multiple arms.
He hits every part of their body with a precise strike while
WhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwackWhooshThwack
"Nasty combos~" Darcy says while watching the beatdown Eidolon is giving the two.
"Eidolon always has been an exceptional fighter." Thor says with a proud smile "And it is always annoying to fight him."
Eidolon suddenly pauses "Ah! Is it Blade feeling pain, too? That would be a little unnecessary then…"
The two vampires are all bloodied, but they are quickly recovering with their healing factor.
"Bastard!" Varnae shouts and makes a giant magic circle, which, if you look closely, is the same one from before, but on a huge scale.
To everyone's surprise, Eidolon raises his hand and creates a similar magic circle.
"What?!" Varnae says in shock, already shooting his magic, the high-pressure stream of blood flying at Eidolon.
And from Eidolon's magic circle, a similar stream of blood goes and meets the attack.
BOOM
The crash is messy and powerful. It is more than simply blood; it carries magical power that explodes when it comes into contact with a similar power.
Everyone is forced to step back a little as the surroundings are destroyed and painted in blood.
"How?" Varnae asks quietly, too surprised to even shout.
"I saw you doing it before…" Eidolon says simply
"Bullshit! That was too fast and…"
"And another body of mine encountered your hideout, and it was reading you books. I was just receiving the images just now." Eidolon explains and pulls a book from a portal.
Varnae recognizes that book, it is one of his own.
"I was studying how to take you off Blade, but I ended up learning your magic. Interestingly, it uses blood as fuel. For vampires, huh? It can also go well with me because I also have a healing factor." Eidolon comments while passing the pages of the book casually.
"Eidolon can use magic??" Darcy asks the SPC group
"And he still opens his mouth to say shit like 'everyone can learn' his techniques." Shego scoffs
"Even so, you couldn't have learned that too fast!!" Now Varnae sounds angry
"What can I say…? I am a little smart." Eidolon shrugs and throws the book over his shoulder, landing on a portal and disappearing
"..." Varnae grits his teeth. "You would need to be a genius to claim what you are saying as the truth."
"What matters right now is that I think I am close to figuring out how to remove you, so this is your last chance, Varnae." Eidolon glares "Get off my friend before I make you. I made this whole show to prove that I am capable… I am not bluffing."
"Hmpf! Come at me if you are that confident!" Varnae declares
"You asked for it." Eidolon jumps a little in the air and swings his arm downwards.
He increases the gravity around Varnae, making the vampire fall to his knees and removes the Lasso of Truth from his inventory before throwing it at him, tying Varnae before he can react.
He then makes some hand signals, and two white magic circles appear, one beneath Varnae and the other above, trapping him in a light cylinder.
Eidolon has some ways of solving possessions, but when against magic, it is better to use magic.
So, with the combined knowledge he got from studying Varnae's notes, with the spell the Ancient One taught him to remove the Wendigo curse, his magic talent, Lasso of Truth, and All Seeing Eyes of God, he is sure he can do it the right way and without leaving any future trouble.
"Activate." He says, there is no complex chant or anything like that.
"Aaargh!!" Varnae shouts in pain, fangs exposed, after Eidolon makes the magic circles activate.
"It could have been painless." Eidolon comments while extending his hand to the formation.
He gives a side glance to Dracula, but the Lord of Vampires makes no move to help Varnae. It seems he doesn't trust his benefactor.
Eidolon then put his effort into activating his recently created formation. One magic circle is to protect Blade, and the other is to expel Varnae. The Lasso of Truth is what makes the magic circles distinct between the true self and the invader.
'The Ancient One would call it sloppy work, but a Gambiarra(Brazilian word for a quick fix solution using unusual ways and tools, like pulling a MacGyver) will work just fine.'
The two magic circles light up and practically create a pillar of light, obscuring what is inside, but the screams of Varnae can still be heard.
Then, inside the light, an orange-red mist starts appearing as if it is tainting the space.
"Finally coming out?" Eidolon smirks. He can see that Varnae was finally removed from Blade's body, as expected.
What he didn't expect was that the orange-red mist that is Varnae's soul would be able to break the enclosure and escape into the air.
"Now I am surprised…" Eidolon looks up. Varnae is really capable; his age and his status of almost becoming a Sorcerer Supreme are not just for show.
Varnae stops in his soul form, eyes and a mouth appearing to snarl at Eidolon.
"Now you have done it!!" Varnae shouts.
The ground starts trembling, the streets light up with a red light, and then the fortress starts collapsing, a huge hole, like an abyss, starts appearing.
"I don't want to resort to it…" Varnae says regretfully. "I had the perfect vessel."
Then the ghouls start flying at Varnae like a swarm of insects. They hit themselves and their souls with such strength that it damages their bodies, and they don't stop. The ghouls mash together until they become an indistinguishable mass of meat.
It becomes a disgusting meatball, wiggling and twisting.
"Uggghhh!" Darcy puts a hand on her mouth.
"I think I am gonna throw up." Jane also looks away.
"It is a horror movie, ladies." Tony jokes
"But that is not CGI." Pepper says in distaste, forehead on his shoulder, to not look at the screen.
"Hero work is not always pretty." Ben nods. He has been inside big monsters enough to know that it is not always a glamorous job.
"You should have pixelated it, Cortana." Harley jokes
"I am against censoring." She says hypocritically. Earlier, she censored Hector's birthmark.
The mass of meat finally starts taking form, a humanoid shape appears like it is being molded by giant invisible hands, or maybe the real form is trying to get out of that meatball.
"You are really abusing the 'immortal' gimmick of vampires, huh?" Eidolon comments "Should I attack him?" He asks the camera
"That would be boring." Shego shakes her head
"If you think you should do it…" Harley suggests
"He is probably going back to his original body or something… He, indeed, should become stronger than with Blade's body, but his weakness will return. So I am not worried." Eidolon says "In his soul form, he can be tricky to deal with, but with a body again, it will make things easier. Dumb of his part, no?"
His guess is absolutely correct.
That is not how Varnae wants his resurrection to go.
This part of the ritual should have happened while he was still possessing Blade's body, so that he could make it his own, in his image, restoring his full power and without weakness.
But now he has no choice. Eidolon is simply too much.
Finally, the return is complete, and Varnae is reborn.
"That is the appearance he used in our fight. His true self." Thor says seriously "Be careful, my friend.
"If he has a weakness and is slightly slower than me, it will be an easy fight." Eidolon says to assure him.
"Are you sure he was a human? That looks like a gorilla?" Shego asks.
Indeed, Varnae's body is monstrous.
Some vampires can become anthropomorphic bats, human-sized abominations that encapsulate both human and bat in one.
But Varnae is a little different from a normal werebat.
He has a strong chest and a large waist; his stomach is like a barrel. His arms are not fused with wings, like the average werebat; his wings are on the back, something reserved only for high-level vampires.
His arms instead are thick and long, passing his knees, his forearm as thick as his large biceps.
The fur covering his body is neither black nor grey; it is brown, but closer to orange. And his face is not the face of either a bat or a human, but something similar to a gorilla, with thick brows and a flat nose. His ears are long like vampires but his earlobes are equally big, hanging like natural earrings.
"So you are really a Gigantopithecus." Eidolon comments when Varnae's huge form lands in front of him. He is bigger than the Hulk by a small margin.
"Giganto-what?" Wonder Man asks
"Gigantopithecus. It was an extinct ape… wait, is he really an ape?" Reed answers
"We are all apes. It is just the fossils found from the Gigantopithecus are attributed to an ape because they looked like gorillas, but in truth, they are sentient beings." Eidolon explains
"That is really interesting. We always know that the gaps in our knowledge are much larger than what we can guess from fossils, but a sentient species? This can change the study of paleontology." Reed says with an impressed tone.
"Can't blame them… He doesn't look that smart." Shego says her piece.
"But he is an ancient sorcerer; he is smart." Eidolon shrugs, not underestimating his opponent.
"Now I know why you want my body… You are ugly as fuck." Blade suddenly speaks, tired, but still cracks a joke while standing up.
"Are you good?" Eidolon asks while taking back his Lasso.
"Yes…" Blade replies as he walks to his side and pauses "Thank you for the help…" He says with some difficulty.
"It is what I do." Eidolon says casually while watching Dracula go to stay at Varnae's side.
"Don't get too happy… the night is not over." Varnae says while looking at them, he recovered his calm after getting back his body and power.
"Let's end this already… I have questions for you, Varnae." Dracula speaks
"Ugh… I am the one who should be saying that." Eidolon rolls his eyes, tone very unamused, and then he disappears from his spot.
He reappears in front of Dracula and gives the vampire a kick of his heel that sends Dracula flying so fast that he disappears.
It is only because the trail of destruction is happening in a straight line through the buildings that anyone can guess he was sent flying instead of being erased from existence.
Not happy with only that, Eidolon raises his hand, index finger pointing in the overall direction where Dracula was thrown, and charges another attack.
The tip of his finger starts shining into a golden light with some electricity cracking around it. He is imbuing hamon in his light powers.
A "X" spins on his finger before he shoots a laser. The laser is short-lived and disappears as quickly as it was shot, but it made a horizontal cutting motion.
GlintWoooohn
He shoots, and one second later.
BOOOOOOM
The horizon, that entire area of the fortress, explodes. A curtain of explosion, fire, and smoke rises, illuminating that part of the scenery.
Eidolon turns to Varnae, his back to the explosion that is so strong that the shockwave generated a wind that is blowing his hair. His features were obscured because of the light at his back, but his eyes were shining dangerously.
Even without using any power to induce fear in Varnae, the villain's dead heart started beating faster. His long-dormant fight-or-flight instinct is coming back at full force.
"I am done with your cockroach ways, and nothing is holding me back anymore." He says "You can already start regret resurrecting in my era."
..........
A.N.: Hello There
The plan was to end this fight in this chapter, but researching a little, I discovered that Varnae was actually strong and really fought Thor and put up a fight. So he will have the opportunity to show off what he can do.
Let's give the guy a little respect before he loses because he has an easily exploitable glaring weakness. Hopefully, he has a trump card on his sleeve... He must have, he is a magic user and super old.
F
Stay safe and till next time, people~
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