"What?! No!!" With Sivana's words, everyone—Sivana's furious father and brother and the high-level executives who thought they had a glimmer of hope for survival—cried out in horror as they watched the demon of Envy lunge toward them once more.
This time, the demon showed no mercy. For him, killing or consuming ordinary humans was effortless. In an instant, everyone in the conference room, except Sivana, was dead, leaving behind only traces of blood.
"Let's go. I can hardly wait to claim the power that should have been mine all along!" Sivana exclaimed, eagerly gazing in the direction the demon had looked.
"The power that belongs to you? Hmph, arrogant human!" thought the demon of Envy, though he didn't voice his disdain, instead dissolving into a wisp of gas and merging back into Sivana's Demon's Eye.
With a crack, Sivana took off, shattering the conference room window and flying into the sky. After a few moments of silence, the company's employees forced open the conference room doors, reporting the massacre. The police and the Avengers received alerts of a suspected supernatural slaughter.
Rewind a bit. After receiving Robert's encouragement, Frank, now filled with confidence, transformed into a bolt of lightning and sped toward the demons' lair.
This was a remote town near Fawcett City, where the Seven Deadly Sins demons had established a temporary base. They had captured numerous lesser demons here, intending to ascend to Hell Lord status and then conquer Earth.
By the time Frank arrived, the demons had already wiped out the town's residents. Although they'd promised Sivana not to engage in large-scale killing until after their promotion, the moment Envy left with Sivana, the remaining six demons couldn't resist attacking the townspeople.
Due to the sheer power disparity, none of the town's people managed to get a warning out before they were slaughtered. It wasn't until Hulk located the demon of Wrath that the Avengers realized everyone in the town had been killed by demons.
"Damn it!" Frank, arriving at the devastated town, felt an intense wave of anger. Unlike the experienced Avengers, who had seen such scenes and could remain level-headed, Frank was still unaccustomed to such brutality. The last time he'd witnessed something this horrific was during a vampire and werewolf hunt with his father, when they saw people who'd been reduced to food for those creatures.
This memory of a similar scene only solidified Frank's resolve to continue down the path of mastering supernatural powers. If it weren't for Robert's intervention back then, he and his family would have likely met the same fate as those innocents in the town.
As he grappled with his fury, a rage burned so hot it caught the attention of both Hulk and the demon of Wrath.
"Hmm? Someone's approaching. Judging by the anger in his heart, he must be furious over what's happened here," the demon of Wrath commented to the other five demons in an underground lair beneath the town. "Which of you wants to take him on? Lust, you could use the challenge; you're closest to breaking through."
"If you sensed him first, then it should be you who goes out to meet him," Lust replied flatly, uninterested in being the first to confront an intruder. Although he was the weakest among the Seven Deadly Sins demons, he didn't want to be left behind at such a crucial moment.
"Agreed. Since you sensed him, it's only fair you handle him," chimed in Gluttony, Greed, and Sloth. The power hierarchy among the Seven Deadly Sins demons followed the order of their titles, so the latter four demons weren't about to let Wrath boss them around. With Envy gone, only the Pride demon could possibly side with Wrath, but even then, the others held the advantage in numbers.
"Very well, then, Wrath, you go. I'm close to breaking through, so deal with him quickly and then stand guard for me," Pride said dismissively, commanding the other demons to stay and protect him.
"Understood!" Wrath's eyes blazed with fury, but he held his temper. Outnumbered five to one, he had no choice but to comply if he wanted to avoid an all-out brawl with the others.
Seething with anger, his entire body radiated red as he headed out to confront Frank. He resolved to unleash all his rage upon this intruder.
"Only one demon is coming? Looks like they don't see Frank as much of a threat," Robert noted as he observed the demon of Wrath emerging from underground.
"A lesser power than Hulk! Hulk dismisses it!" Hulk scoffed in disdain, unimpressed by the demon's aura. He wasn't exaggerating—while he could sense the strength of the demon's wrath, the demon had no awareness of Hulk's presence, a clear indication that Hulk's own anger-powered energy far surpassed the demon's.
"Just one? I thought there would be more," Frank muttered, slightly surprised when only the demon of Wrath appeared. Although he didn't fully understand the demon's power, he remained vigilant, letting his divine strength surge.
"So it's you!" Wrath immediately recognized Frank, not because they had met before, but because he sensed the power of the wizard Shazam within him. Wrath harbored an intense hatred for the wizard who had imprisoned him for thousands of years.
Now, with the appearance of Shazam's successor, it meant the original wizard was long dead. But rather than diminishing their hatred, the demons redirected it toward Frank.
Wrath's fury soared upon realizing Frank's identity. His power, already near the Hell Lord threshold, surged even closer to that level under the influence of his seething rage.
With a roar, Wrath unleashed a torrent of flame, not bothering to speak. He intended to burn Frank to ashes immediately.
"Bring it on!" Frank, already prepared for battle, met Wrath's flames with his divine power, summoning a bolt of lightning to counter the inferno.
The resulting explosion was immense, shattering part of the empty town and forcing both Frank and Wrath to retreat.
"How long has he had Shazam's powers? Has he already mastered them?" Wrath murmured, shocked as he steadied himself. He hadn't expected Frank, still a child in his eyes, to wield such power so effectively. Yet, not only did Frank manage to counter his flames, but his strength also seemed to surpass Wrath's own.
In a flash, Frank reappeared in front of Wrath, his fist hurtling toward the demon's head.
With a resounding impact, Frank's punch sent Wrath flying. Not wasting a moment, Frank moved beneath him and delivered another blow, launching the demon skyward.
These consecutive punches mimicked the air combos he had seen Clark perform in old footage his father had shown him. Although Frank had initially idolized Robert, his abilities and appearance resembled those of Clark, Earth's Superman.
The thunderous blast from his clash with Wrath had already leveled part of the town, and Frank worried that their continued battle might cause significant harm to Earth.
Unaware that the Earth had been reinforced, Frank decided to follow Clark's example and carry the fight into the sky.
"Damn it!" Wrath, overwhelmed, realized he couldn't counter Frank's strength. Though his power was close to Hell Lord level, Frank's strength still exceeded his, leaving Wrath with no escape.
As his rage boiled without any outlet, Wrath's anger literally exploded.
With a deafening blast, Wrath's body erupted in a dazzling fireball high above, propelling Frank backward and sending him crashing to the ground.
The Avengers could see that Frank had taken quite a hit; blood trickled from his nose. While his Shazam form bore some similarities to Superman's, his defense wasn't impenetrable. Unlike Clark or Kara, whose iron bodies were nearly indestructible, Frank's defenses weren't quite as robust.
"Did…did I just kill him?" Frank muttered, looking up at the dissipating smoke cloud in confusion. He had only meant to drive Wrath back, not expecting the demon to blow himself up.
Unnoticed by Frank, a small flicker of flame separated from the explosion, landing nearby. As Frank stood up, that flicker burrowed into the ground, slipping away undetected.
Neither Frank nor most of the watching Avengers noticed the subtle escape. Frank's inexperience hadn't contributed to the oversight; rather, he simply lacked any ability to sense such details.
"Are you all just going to watch me get beaten?" In the underground lair, Wrath's thinly reformed figure glared at the other five demons, his voice seething with resentment.
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