Riot was stunned upon hearing this. Glancing at its empty lower half, it snorted coldly:
"Hmph! We Symbiotes are advanced lifeforms, not like you low-level beings who are divided by gender!"
"We are genderless!"
"But you, human, you are considered an advanced lifeform among your species. That's why I recognize you and gave you the chance to fight me fairly, not the chance to run away like a coward simply!"
Listening to Riot's childish reverse psychology, Lock thought about it and actually accepted!
Because its testing of Riot's abilities was almost complete.
So Lock stood up straight and beckoned to Riot with his hand:
"Then come at me."
Huh? It fell for it just like that?
Seeing that the other party had agreed to a head-on clash so easily, the smile on Riot's face was almost irrepressible!
As long as it could touch the opponent, it could transfer into their body!
But to prevent this cunning human from noticing anything unusual, Riot quickly lowered its head to hide its sinister, gloating expression and charged at Lock for one last full-power sprint while stifling a laugh!
Soon! Soon, it would be able to possess the strongest host it had ever inhabited!
When Riot got close enough to see Lock's toes even with its head down, it leaped up. In mid-air, it instantly detached from its nearly dead original host and turned into a large mass of sinister silver-gray liquid, lunging to cover Lock completely!
However, faced with this, Lock had no intention of dodging at all. He even spread his arms wide to welcome Riot's arrival!
Whoosh——
The moment Riot touched Lock, it burrowed into his body, completing the possession!
'It's a success! Jie jie jie! This body is mine!'
Inside Lock's body, Riot couldn't contain its ecstasy. It surged through Lock's interior, familiarizing itself with and assimilating every limb and bone!
The more it assimilated, the more surprised Riot became!
Because only by personally experiencing Lock's powerful physical body could it feel just how much difference there was between this body and that of a normal human!
The gap was as vast as that between an insect and a human!
Finally, Riot couldn't wait to burrow into Lock's brain, wanting to take complete control of this body!
Symbiotes control their hosts primarily through willpower; whoever has the stronger willpower holds absolute dominance!
Having possessed countless beings before and earning the title of the Symbiote race's strongest Weapon Master, Riot was incredibly confident in its own willpower!
It was the representative of brutality and chaos—Riot!
The naturally weak nature of humans would surely not be as resilient as its cold-blooded ruthlessness!
However... was that really the case?
As Riot burrowed into Lock's head, it was instantly stunned by the sight of countless vengeful spirits rushing toward it!
Then came the experiences of the souls who had died at Lock's hands!
Things like twisting a person's head off alive, hanging countless people up to cosplay as teru teru bozu, slicing people like sashimi, peeling a person's skin off entirely and then covering them in sand to wait for death, using palm barbs to tear off a person's scalp, and grinding it down bit by bit... Even the cold-blooded Riot couldn't help but feel its heart tremble... Killing is one thing, but this guy was too cruel, too inhuman!
Moreover, Riot discovered that the number of people Lock had killed might not actually be fewer than its own!
It usually killed the people around its host to replenish its energy and then just left.
But this guy—almost every mission was a Musou-style infiltration, wiping out entire teams, even entire gangs!
It thought it had killed enough people, but this man just calmly asked it, "Oh, not bad. So, how many did you kill yesterday?"
Madman!
This guy was a madman and even more cruel and bloodthirsty than itself!
Finally, Riot realized with despair that it hadn't gained any advantage in terms of willpower; it had even fallen slightly behind... Not only did it fail to take control, but it was also trapped within the other's mind... Correspondingly, in reality, Lock suddenly opened his eyes and raised his right hand. Silver-gray liquid surged from his five fingers, transforming into a silver-gray blade!
That's right. While Riot was reading his memories, he was simultaneously mastering Riot's abilities!
Since Riot lost the battle of wills, its abilities naturally belonged to Lock now!
Following Lock's imagination, the blade in his hand shifted into various forms: Claw Form, Hammer Form, and Whip Form!
This made the smile on Lock's face even wider: "Wow, this is so cool!"
The ability to freely mimic any form of weapon was incredibly practical in actual combat!
And it wasn't just an upgrade in weaponry; he felt his strength had also increased—not just by a little, but by doubling his original base!
And this doubling wasn't even the limit!
Lock closed his eyes, and with a thought, the Symbiote tissue crawled over his Scarlet Spider suit, instantly dyeing the red and black suit into a metallic silver-gray!
In terms of augmentation, the Symbiote in suit form gave him a strength boost that was a full three times his original base!
Lock stretched his arms, feeling the explosive power within them. His tone became somewhat excited:
"This feeling... It's amazing. No wonder even Spider-Man would become addicted to this power!"
Isn't this much better than defeating other Spider-Men one by one to gain a bit of strength from them?
Defeating Peter only increased his strength by half of his original base!
Yet just letting Riot possess him had directly increased his strength by a full three times!
As for whether the Symbiote could grant him even greater power—it could, brother, it could.
He could also evolve the Symbiote from its suit form into its Perfect Form, which was the form Riot had used before.
However, in that form, it would be harder for him to suppress Riot's self-will, and his actions would inevitably be slightly influenced by it.
But that wasn't the most important thing. At most, Riot's influence would just make him a bit more brutal, and since he wasn't a good person to begin with, he naturally wouldn't mind that bit of influence.
The main issue was that in the Perfect Form, the Symbiote's energy consumption would increase drastically, and its combat endurance couldn't compare to the suit form.
Unless... he upgraded the Symbiote again!
Thinking of this, Lock suddenly released his willpower suppression on Riot, freeing it from his mental space.
The moment it was freed, Riot's sinister head sprouted from Lock's shoulder, gasping for fresh air as if it had been suffocating inside.
In reality, being trapped and forced to witness Lock's past atrocities repeatedly had indeed left Riot on the verge of mental pollution.
To think that its Symbiote race had always been the ones influencing their hosts' mental states, yet this time, a host had influenced its instead!
Symbiosis is truly unpredictable... Lock reached out and grabbed the head protruding from his shoulder, forcibly pulling Riot's face in front of his own, revealing a cruel smile:
"As the landlord, I'll allow you, a wanderer from Klyntar, to stay in my body!"
"But let's get one thing straight: the house is mine, and my rules are the rules. Everything in this house is decided by me alone!"
"Otherwise, I'll treat you to the high-frequency sound waves and high-temperature flames that your Symbiote race loves so much!"
"Now, answer me: 'Understood, sir!'"
Faced with a Lock who seemed omniscient—even knowing about the Symbiote Planet and their weaknesses—Riot felt fear for the first time!
It realized that it not only couldn't control this human, but it couldn't even see through him!
But it was too late to choose a new host, and it wasn't willing to give up such a perfect host anyway. Therefore, it could only nod reluctantly:
"I... I understand, sir..."
"Good boy!" Seeing Riot temporarily submit, Lock smiled with satisfaction and released its neck.
Then Lock looked down at the other three Symbiotes shivering in their isolation tubes, a glint of greed appearing in his eyes:
"Now, answer me: there are special existences among your Symbiote race that can grow stronger by devouring their own kind, right? Can you do it?"
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A/N: 40+ Advance Chapter Has Been Uploaded.
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