In the abyss of the universe, the collision of two transcendent beings eclipsed the stars.
Mark's fist pierced Old Mark's chest, pinning him deep within the core of a dwarf planet, as scorching magma spewed forth, dyeing their figures dark red.
But just as Mark withdrew his arm, an anomaly suddenly occurred!
Old Mark's shattered body not only didn't perish, but instead regenerated at a terrifying speed visible to the naked eye.
His dark red bone armor became even thicker, and the patterns on its surface writhed like living things. He let out a roar that shattered the planet's crust and abruptly grabbed Mark's arm.
"Damn it! He's gotten stronger again..."
Mark's molten-gold pupils contracted slightly.
He could feel that the opponent's strength had increased by at least fifteen percent compared to thirty seconds ago.
Boom!
Old Mark suddenly exerted force, flinging Mark out of the planetary core, through tens of kilometers of rock, and finally into a frozen methane ocean.
The extreme cold liquid instantly vaporized, forming a massive cyclonic storm that covered half the planet.
But this was just the beginning.
Old Mark broke free from the surface's restraints, appearing above Mark at a speed that defied physical laws. His arm mutated into a massive bone warhammer, striking down with the power to pulverize atoms!
Mark crossed his arms to block.
Clang—!!!
A terrifying shockwave spread in a ring, instantly blowing away the entire planet's atmosphere. The surface plates shattered like fragile biscuits, layer by layer, and the planetary core was exposed to the vacuum, rapidly cooling and solidifying.
"Damn it!"
Mark was suppressed by pure strength for the first time, his legs sinking into the rock layer up to his knees.
Even more frightening, he felt that the opponent's attack contained some strange energy that was eroding his bio-field.
White Lion, who was watching the battle, suddenly stood up in the spaceship.
"This is impossible! Mark is actually being suppressed!"
Bearded Mark said, his face pale.
"That monster... it's learning, it's evolving. It seems that each time it revives, it specializes itself against Mark's abilities."
Earth, GDA Headquarters.
Cecil's data pad fell to the ground, making a crisp sound.
"Director?" his assistant asked worriedly.
Cecil didn't respond, only staring intently at the screen. In the footage, Mark was at a disadvantage in a head-on power confrontation for the first time.
"He'll win, right?" Eve's voice was tearful.
Allen didn't answer, only clenching his trembling fists tighter.
In space, Mark suddenly exerted force to shake off his opponent, retreating tens of thousands of kilometers to regroup. His chest heaved violently, and blood seeped from the wounds on his arms, solidifying into glistening beads in the vacuum.
Old Mark didn't pursue, but hovered in place.
His shattered body was regenerating at an astonishing speed, and the newly formed tissue exhibited a dark golden metallic luster.
"It's adapting to my bio-field..."
Mark keenly noticed the problem. Each time his opponent was injured, it analyzed the characteristics of his power and evolved specifically during regeneration.
He must kill it with one blow, without giving it a chance to regenerate!
Mark took a deep breath. The light from a distant star became visible to the naked eye, like a massive stream of light flowing into his body. His eyes burst forth with a radiance brighter than the star, and his surrounding bio-field condensed with unprecedented intensity.
"This strike ends everything!"
He transformed into a streak of light, all his power condensed into his right fist. Time seemed to freeze at this moment, and space warped and collapsed before his fist.
Old Mark seemed to realize the threat of this strike and adopted a defensive posture for the first time.
He crossed his arms in front, his bone armor thickened madly, and countless swirling runes appeared on its surface.
Boom!!!!!!!!
The moment fist and shield collided, a light brighter than a supernova explosion swept across the entire star system. Nearby planets were directly vaporized, and the orbits of distant planets were completely altered.
As the light gradually dissipated, the observers saw a breathtaking sight.
Old Mark's defense was completely shattered, both his arms were broken, and a huge hole was punched through his chest.
But just as Mark thought victory was in hand, an anomaly reoccurred!
The shattered bone armor didn't dissipate; instead, it transformed into countless sharp spikes, violently piercing into Mark's arm!
"What?!"
Mark was caught off guard. He tried to pull back, but found that the bone spikes clung tightly to his arm like living things, frantically draining his energy.
Even more terrifying, Old Mark's shattered body was using these bone spikes as a bridge, furiously absorbing Mark's power to reassemble!
"It's... devouring me?"
Mark was shocked to find his energy rapidly draining away.
He made a decisive move, his left hand transforming into a blade, and he swiftly struck Old Mark's chest, then rapidly retreated. His severed arm quickly regenerated in the vacuum, but the lost energy could not be recovered in a short time.
And Old Mark had already completed his reassembly.
His new body was even taller, exceeding five meters, and his surrounding bone armor exhibited a dark golden color, with a bio-field glow similar to Mark's flowing across its surface.
Most terrifyingly, his eyes had also turned molten gold, but there was no rationality in them, only a pure desire for destruction.
"It... it stole Mark's power!"
In the spaceship, White Lion cried out in alarm.
Bearded Mark's face was ashen.
"It's over... How can we fight now?"
On the interstellar public network, all observing civilizations fell into a deathly silence, and some weaker civilizations even began emergency evacuations of their star systems.
The observers on Earth were even more disheartened.
In space, the newly regenerated Old Mark slowly raised his arm. Golden light, similar to Mark's but more violent and chaotic, condensed at his fingertips.
Whoosh—!
A distorted heat vision shot out, not moving in a straight line, but constantly warping through space, attacking Mark from incredible angles.
Mark narrowly dodged by tilting his head, but a scratch was still left on his cheek.
What alarmed him even more was that the energy characteristics contained in this attack were extremely similar to his heat vision, yet mixed with some corrosive, alien energy.
"It even copied my abilities..."
Mark's heart sank.
Old Mark let out a victorious roar and lunged again.
His speed was faster, his strength stronger, and even his fighting style, while imitating Mark's, incorporated various strange variations.
The two collided again, but this time, the situation was completely different.
Mark's fists could barely cause effective damage to his opponent, while Old Mark's attacks managed to tear through his defenses every time.
Even more terrifying, the opponent seemed eternally tireless, while Mark's energy was continuously depleting.
Boom!
In another punch, Mark was sent flying tens of thousands of kilometers, crashing through an asteroid before finally stopping. He gasped violently, blood gushing from multiple wounds.
Old Mark didn't pursue, but hovered in place.
His body changed again; complex patterns appeared on his bone armor, and he began to actively absorb radiation energy from the surrounding space.
"Even the ability to absorb energy..."
Mark felt a wave of powerlessness.
This was simply an unsolvable opponent, growing stronger with every fight, infinitely evolving, and now even his signature abilities had been stolen.
Mark gritted his teeth and once again gathered his strength. He compressed his bio-field to the extreme, transforming himself into a humanoid star, and launched an active attack.
The two became entangled in battle again.
Each collision released energy shocks powerful enough to destroy star systems, and nearby planets successively turned into cosmic dust.
The observers were already numb. The scale of this battle had long exceeded their comprehension, and each clash made them feel their own insignificance.
"Is this... a cosmic-level battle?" Cecil murmured, finally understanding why Mark always said the Great Old Ones were a cosmic-level threat.
Allen tightly held Eve's hand.
"No matter how strong, Mark will definitely win!"
But confidence began to waver.
On screen, Mark was clearly at a disadvantage; his attacks were becoming increasingly ineffective, while Old Mark seemed to grow stronger endlessly.
Finally, in a brutal exchange, Old Mark took a punch to the heart from Mark, while its bone-spike spear pierced Mark's abdomen.
"Ugh!"
Mark roared in pain, retreating sharply, blood gushing like a waterfall.
The gaping hole in Old Mark's chest rapidly healed, and it pulled out its bone spear, bringing with it a large amount of blood and tissue fragments.
Mark struggled to stabilize himself; the wound in his abdomen healed slowly, as the opponent's attack seemed to contain some energy that inhibited regeneration.
"Damn it, it even evolved this..."
Mark felt a dizzy spell; his energy consumption was too high, and his injuries too severe. If this continued...
Old Mark seemed to sense its prey's weakness, letting out an excited roar, and lunged again, reaching unprecedented speed, even leaving afterimages in the vacuum.
Mark barely managed to put up a defense, but was directly sent flying by the immense force.
He smashed through the core of a gas giant, emerging from the other side, leaving a plasma trail tens of thousands of kilometers long.
Old Mark pursued relentlessly, countless spikes emerging from its bone armor, like a giant sea urchin. These spikes detached from its body, turning into a barrage fired at Mark.
Mark struggled to dodge in mid-air, but was still hit by several spikes. These spikes immediately dissolved upon entering his body, releasing regeneration-inhibiting energy.
"This is bad..."
Mark felt his strength rapidly draining away.
Old Mark had already caught up, its arm mutated into a massive hammer, smashing down with an air of finality!
Mark used his last bit of strength to raise his arms to block.
Boom—!!!
The terrifying force almost crushed his arms. He plummeted like a meteor towards the nearest planet, smashing deep into its crust, triggering global earthquakes.
Amidst the swirling dust, Mark struggled to stand, only to find one of his arms broken and multiple internal organs damaged.
Meanwhile, Old Mark hovered above the planet, its arms spread wide, the patterns on its bone armor glowing brilliantly.
The entire planet's energy was being frantically drained by it; the earth cracked, the oceans boiled, and the planet was rapidly dying!
"Must... stop it..."
Mark gritted his teeth, dragging his injured body as he shot skyward.
But he was too slow.
Old Mark had already completed its energy absorption; its body swelled again, its bone armor became even thicker, with star-like patterns appearing on its surface.
When Mark reached it, it merely casually threw a punch.
Bang!
Mark was sent flying back even faster than he came, smashing deep into the crust again.
This time, he couldn't immediately stand up.
Old Mark slowly descended onto the planet's surface, walking with heavy steps towards the crater Mark had made. Each of its steps caused violent earthquakes, and the entire planet groaned under its weight.
At the bottom of the crater, Mark struggled to prop himself up.
His battle suit was tattered, his body covered in blood, his breathing became rapid, his energy almost depleted, his injuries severe, while his opponent was more powerful than ever.
"Is this... the end?"
Mark looked at the approaching embodiment of destruction, a trace of unwillingness rising in his heart.
But just then, he noticed a detail: a tiny crack on Old Mark's chest bone armor had never fully healed.
It was the wound he had inflicted when he first pierced the opponent's chest, and although it was repaired with each revival, this particular spot was always the slowest to heal.
"Could it be...!"
Hope reignited in Mark's eyes.
Perhaps, this was the breakthrough point!
He used his last ounce of strength to stand up, his biological force field condensing again. The distant star seemed to sense his resolve, its light growing even brighter.
Old Mark seemed to perceive its prey's dying struggle, letting out a deafening roar, and charged forward faster!
Mark also let out a battle cry, facing his ultimate fate!
The two meteors collided again, erupting in a light that illuminated the entire star system!
When the light faded, the spectators witnessed a heartbreaking scene.
Mark's fist was deeply embedded in Old Mark's chest, hitting the crack, but Old Mark's bone spike simultaneously pierced Mark's chest.
The two stood frozen, as if time had stopped.
Then, the crack in Old Mark's chest began to widen, dark golden light bursting forth from it. It let out a painful roar, its body beginning to expand and contract unstably.
And Mark's situation was even worse.
Multiple bone spikes had pierced his vital points, blood gushed like a spring, his eyes began to lose focus, and his life force rapidly declined.
"No!!"
The spectators cried out in unison.
Debbie fainted in front of Nolan's grave.
Rui Jia's tears streamed down her face.
Cecil slammed his fist on the control panel.
Eve broke down crying.
Just then, another anomaly occurred!
Old Mark suddenly let out an even more agonizing roar. Its body began to mutate uncontrollably, various contradictory evolutions happening simultaneously, as if an overloaded system was beginning to self-destruct!
"So... that's it..."
Mark seemed to understand something, using his last strength to suddenly pull out his arm and retreat rapidly.
The moment he disengaged, Old Mark's body exploded with a bang, the terrifying energy release engulfing the entire planet and even the entire star system!
The light of the explosion lasted for several minutes before gradually dissipating. When visibility returned, only floating dust and debris remained in space.
Mark's figure was nowhere to be seen.
"Mark!"
White Lion frantically searched for a signal.
All spectators held their breath, waiting for the result.
After a long while, in the dust cloud at the center of the explosion, a figure slowly emerged.
It was Mark! He was still alive!
But his injuries were extremely severe; there was hardly a single intact spot on his body, and his breath was as faint as a candle in the wind.
And what was even more terrifying was that, opposite Mark, fragments of Old Mark were reassembling again, albeit slowly, but they were indeed reconstituting!
"It's not over yet, is it...?"
Mark smiled bitterly, his consciousness beginning to blur.
Just at this desperate moment, a spatial rift suddenly opened beside Mark, and a pair of strong arms supported him as he was about to fall.
"Looks like you need help, brother."
A familiar voice sounded.
Mark struggled to turn his head and saw a figure he never expected to appear there.
Regent Mark from Universe 1!
He wore a black and gold battle suit, his red cape silently fluttering in the vacuum, and behind him, dozens of Viltrum Warriors in similar battle suits stood ready!
"You..." Mark spoke with difficulty.
"Multiverse alerts aren't just for you to receive."
Regent Mark smiled slightly, looking at the reassembling Old Mark.
"Let us handle this trouble."
He waved his hand, and the Viltrum Warriors immediately fanned out, setting up a huge energy array that enveloped Old Mark's fragments.
"This is..."
Mark was surprised to find that this array seemed to be inhibiting Old Mark's regeneration!
"The Titan Clan just contacted me; this is specially prepared for these unkillable monsters," Regent Mark said confidently.
"Now, get some rest. We'll take over this battle for now."
Mark finally relaxed, his consciousness sinking into darkness.
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