As time passed, Gravik's roars grew weaker and weaker, and the golden light on his body flickered on and off like a faulty light bulb, his flight path becoming erratic.
In the end, his entire body turned into a falling streak of golden light, crashing headfirst straight toward the ground.
Bang!!
With a dull thud, the ground shook.
Gravik slammed heavily into the ground, creating a radial shallow crater and kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
Darian leaned in to look and discovered that the VR glasses on the opponent's face had disappeared.
At this moment, Gravik's eyes were glazed over, staring blankly at the sky. His chest heaved weakly, and he muttered something unintelligible, his whole person exuding the numbness of a mental breakdown.
Even when Darian walked up to him, he showed no reaction, as if he had completely given up resistance.
Darian couldn't help but be curious and asked, "What exactly did you see?"
Unexpectedly, as soon as the words were spoken, Gravik seemed to recall something, his hollow eyes suddenly filled with boundless fear.
He trembled violently, clutching his head tightly with both hands, his fingernails digging into his scalp, almost drawing blood.
"Shut up! Shut up! I don't want to remember! Get out of my head!"
Gravik shrieked madly, his voice distorted by extreme fear, even carrying a sobbing tone.
While shouting, he desperately slammed his forehead against the ground, as if trying to force amnesia through physical means, to forget certain terrifying images.
Is a cats memory really that terrifying? To think that even a warrior with such strong willpower as Gravik would be devastated into such a state.
Darian muttered to himself, but his movements were not slow at all.
Six black tentacles suddenly erupted, wielding various weapons, and struck at the defenseless Gravik.
Gravik, still in a mental breakdown, had no resistance and was instantly torn to pieces. Under such injuries, even the self-healing ability of an Extremis Soldier could not save him.
Before dying, there was no fear on Gravik's face; instead, he showed an expression of relief.
"What a pity. If his memory could be extracted, couldn't it be recycled for the next lucky person to watch?"
Darian felt a bit regretful.
But there was no help for it. Who knew if Gravik would suddenly wake up? It was safer to finish him off early.
"However, I just drank a mana potion and restored my blue, but the battle is already over. It feels a bit wasteful."
Outside the Base, the battle was raging.
The Radicals Skrulls, who were originally struggling, managed to stabilize the situation after that group of Skrulls infused with special genes joined the fray.
Although the individual strength of these Skrulls was not too strong, they had the advantage of numbers. With all sorts of strange abilities combined, even Hulk was momentarily held back, his offensive hindered.
Of course, it was mainly because they were being deliberately targeted.
The Radicals Skrulls used most of their combat power to deal with Hulk and Tony, the two main damage dealers.
Steve was also entangled by a special Skrull; the two were evenly matched, and neither could do anything to the other.
As for Natasha and Clint... Well, their scraping skills were quite good, and the Skrulls fighting them were quite satisfied.
Just as the battle reached a stalemate, Boom!! A loud noise suddenly exploded, and the ground shook three times.
Both sides of the battle stopped simultaneously and looked toward the source of the sound.
They saw the metal shell on the top of the Base arching upward. A giant arm made entirely of flowing yellow sand broke through the roof, fingers spread wide, pressing heavily on the edge. It was like someone pushing themselves up from the ground, lifting the massive body underneath little by little.
In just a few seconds, a Sand Giant standing dozens of meters tall rose from the ground like a moving hill, casting a shadow that covered nearly half of the battlefield.
Two giant eyes with blurred outlines looked down at everyone present, the sense of oppression maximized.
Sand Giant: (..) Everyone: (° A °)
"What is this!?" Everyone on the scene was shocked by the scene before them.
Especially Hulk, who suddenly became unusually irritable, seemingly recalling some unpleasant memories. Only after Natasha, the beast tamer, gave him some soft-spoken soothing did he barely calm down.
Darian stood on top of this behemoth, his clothes flapping loudly in the high-altitude airflow.
He looked down at the quieted battlefield, cleared his throat, and casually cast an amplification magic on himself.
"I am Layla from the Conservatives. I have some good news for you: your Radicals leader, Gravik, is dead!"
"Now, I'll give you two choices. Either surrender and join us Conservatives, or follow your leader to the grave!"
Hearing this, the Radicals Skrulls were all shocked. Gravik was actually dead!?
Before they could even question it, they saw several pieces of something fall from the sky, with the Gravik pieces scattering on the ground.
Radicals Skrulls: (" A °)
The facts were right before their eyes; they had no choice but to believe it now.
Clang! Soon, a Skrull threw the weapon in his hand onto the ground.
Then a second, a third... More and more Radicals Skrulls chose to surrender, and even those Skrulls infused with special genes gave up resistance.
On one hand, their leader was dead. On the other hand, there was a behemoth standing across from them, its fist several times larger than their entire bodies. How the hell were they supposed to fight that!
However, what they didn't know was that this behemoth under Darian's feet was actually just for show.
It only looked intimidating; its actual combat power was incomparable to the Sand Giant he used to hammer Hulk before. It was like comparing a solid object to a hollow one—same mass, but vastly different in size. It was primarily for visual impact, specifically for putting on a show and acting cool.
It just cost too much mana.
Darian, seeing that the Radicals had surrendered collectively, quickly dismissed the Sand Giant to avoid his mana dropping below 80%.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents didn't just watch; they immediately stepped forward to control the surrendering Skrulls. As for the die-hards who were still resisting, they showed no mercy, emptying their magazines and watching them fall to the ground one by one from acute metal poisoning.
Thus, the human side achieved final victory.
Steve and the others didn't cheer; they just felt a sense of emptiness. The mastermind behind the scenes had been handled by Darian alone, and he had taken all the spotlight, making them feel like extras who just showed up for a cameo and then clocked out, with zero presence.
Especially Tony—this flashy mustache-wearing guy loved to show off the most, but today he barely managed to get a few lines, leaving him feeling stifled.
He secretly vowed in his heart again that when he got back, he must build an even larger iron armor. He'd set a small goal first: just make it a bit taller than Avengers Tower!
Because the battle between Darian and Gravik was too intense, coupled with Darian's showboating, the entire Base had been reduced to ruins.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents searched through the ruins and finally found a hidden prison cell inside, where many Skrulls were locked up—all of them true Conservatives.
The Conservative leader was a Skrull named Talos. He was Nick Fury's number one alien lackey, having done plenty of dirty work for him in the past. He advocated for living in harmony with Earthlings and even went so far as to sell out his own race to Nick Fury just to gain the trust of Earthlings—a true alien on the outside, Earthling on the inside.
Darian was just a fake Skrull traitor; the real one was Talos.
When Talos saw that it was Darian who had rescued them, he looked surprised: "Layla, aren't you Gravik's subordinate?"
Darian smiled slightly: "Talos, have you forgotten? I am the undercover Agent you sent to the Radicals. I lived up to expectations, successfully infiltrated the Radicals, and took out their leader, Gravik."
Talos: "?" I sent her? Why don't I know about this?
He opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly noticed Darian's undisguised threatening gaze, and then saw the scattered pieces of Gravik, causing him to shiver involuntarily.
"Oh, right, right, right! It was me who sent you to go undercover. Oh, Layla, this time it's all thanks to you!"
Talos grabbed Darian's hand and shook it vigorously, looking gratified as if to say, "I knew I didn't misjudge you."
Darian said happily: "It's not all my credit; our Conservative reinforcements also contributed."
Reinforcements? Aren't all our Conservative people locked in the room next to me?
Talos looked blankly in the direction of Darian's gaze and saw the five Avengers standing neatly, with hundreds of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents beside them, all smiling gently, looking at him as if he were one of their own.
Talos: "..."
It seems we have been secretly invaded by Earthlings. Oh no, wait, with this ratio, it should be said that we invaded Earthlings.
Several Conservatives who had just been rescued gathered around, complaining: "Talos, why didn't you tell us earlier that we had an undercover Agent and reinforcements? You made us worry for nothing for so long."
"So Layla is one of our own! I thought she was Gravik's most loyal subordinate."
"Exactly! You're too tight-lipped. Hiding it even from your own people?"
You might not believe it, but a second ago, even I didn't know about this.
Talos smiled forcedly: "I was afraid the news would leak."
He didn't dare tell the truth, fearing that if things were exposed, Earthlings would wipe out all the Skrulls here.
Of course, as a qualified Skrull traitor, Talos didn't want the two races to clash, especially since the other side had helped them clear out the Radicals led by Gravik, so he took the blame for Darian.
Anyway, he had taken so many black pots for Nick Fury over the years, one more wouldn't hurt.
Thinking of Nick Fury, Talos's expression suddenly changed: "By the way, did you find Nick Fury? He was also imprisoned in the Underground Room."
"Is that Bald Egg here too?" Darian raised an eyebrow and immediately took out the hummingbird spy camera to search, and sure enough, it marked Nick Fury deep underground in the Base ruins. Following the trail, he soon found a cell buried by the ruins and kicked open the deformed iron door.
"Officer, where are you?" Darian stepped on the iron door, looking left and right, but found the dark cell empty.
But the marker was clearly in this place. He shouted loudly: "Answer me if you can hear me, Officer? Nick Fury? Cyclops? Bald Egg..."
"Damn. I'm under your feet..." A weak voice came from under his feet.
Darian didn't hear it clearly, spun around twice in place, still couldn't find the person, and stomped his feet in anxiety.
"Don't... don't stomp... I'm under your feet..."
After it was repeated several times, Darian finally understood. He looked down and saw that underneath the iron door he was stepping on, there seemed to be something dark pressed down. He quickly jumped off and lifted the door panel; Nick Fury was indeed lying there.
"Officer, why are you hiding here? I've been looking for you for ages. Honestly, don't do this next time."
Darian said with a look of blame, helping him up.
Nick Fury's face turned even darker upon hearing this, making his teeth look even whiter.
He had clearly just heard a commotion and was lying on the door to listen, how could he have known that this guy would come up and kick it, pinning him to the ground along with the door? His ribs were probably broken.
Before Nick Fury's motherf***er could escape, Darian spoke first: "By the way, Officer, didn't you say you were going to find a scapegoat? Why did you end up being the scapegoat yourself?"
Nick Fury was instantly choked, coughing dryly: "Originally, I intended to let Talos take the... *cough*... divert Steve's attention, but I didn't expect that guy Gravik had been eyeing Earth for a long time."
To put it plainly, he had failed.
According to Nick Fury's account, he had originally wanted Talos to disguise himself as him, so he could smoothly pass the blame onto him, fool Steve, and after the heat died down, release Talos to continue working for him.
Anyway, Talos was used to taking the blame for him; one more time wouldn't matter.
At the time, Nick Fury rubbed his bald head, feeling that he was simply brilliant.
But he never expected that Gravik had long had ill intentions toward Earth.
After learning of Nick Fury's plan in secret, Gravik simply decided to counter-scheme, turning the fake act into reality. He directly replaced the real him and imprisoned Nick Fury and the group of Conservative Skrulls including Talos.
In addition, Gravik had absorbed some of Nick Fury's memories, learning about the special relationship between S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, so he set his sights on S.H.I.E.L.D., which led to the subsequent secret invasion.
Nick Fury's plan could be described as trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice.
Just then, Steve, Natasha, and Clint also squeezed in. Hulk and Tony were not convenient to enter, and they still had to guard the Skrulls outside.
As soon as Steve entered, his eyes carried a hint of vigilance as he looked at Nick Fury. Although interrupted by the Skrulls' secret invasion, he hadn't forgotten Nick Fury's identity as the leader of HYDRA.
Nick Fury also noticed Steve's expression and thought, Oh no. His brain spun rapidly, and he immediately straightened his face, raising his voice.
"Steve, you've come at the right time! Listen to me, there's a mole in S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
"It's the Skrulls! They impersonated me and lurked in S.H.I.E.L.D. for many years. And to prevent their Skrulls identity from being exposed, they deliberately disguised themselves as HYDRA forces, using S.H.I.E.L.D. to carry out all kinds of violations in secret!"
"They also used my identity to formulate the Insight Project, attempting to further control all of humanity!"
"Not only that, for so many years they have been secretly embezzling S.H.I.E.L.D.'s funds. I've crunched the numbers; it's at least tens of billions! Steve, this is all a Skrulls conspiracy!"
Darian: "..."
Holy crap! You can play it like that!?