Upon hearing this, Creston's pupils contracted sharply. It was almost instinctual, his desire to turn and defend his back—but it was too late.
Behind him, the dissipated purple-black smoke coalesced once more. Wednesday's figure emerged as if stepping directly out of a nightmare, appearing without a sound.
The slender, purple-black sword formed from nightmare matter in her hand had already transformed into a bolt of deathly lightning. Precise, merciless, and unhindered, it pierced through the desiccated, rotting shell of his back, striking straight at the heart wrapped in layers of dark energy, pulsing with a faint, ghostly light!
"Thud!"
The moment the sword tip touched the heart, it was as if an ancient switch had been triggered.
That heart gave a violent shudder. The vicious curse planted by Goody Addams four hundred years ago, coiled around it, was utterly detonated!
An indescribable dark energy exploded from within the heart, engulfing Creston's entire body like a supernova!
"No—!!!"
He let out a shrill, distorted howl of agony. His entire body, starting from the pierced heart, rapidly turned to ash, disintegrating inch by inch like burning paper, scattering into the air.
Within mere seconds, that vengeful corpse that had harbored hatred for The Addams Family for four centuries completely vanished into thin air, leaving behind only a faint, twisted, and deeply resentful remnant of a spirit.
"I... have I been... defeated by the addams... once again..."
Creston's spirit flickered weakly.
He did not look at Wednesday, who had delivered the final blow. Instead, he stared fixedly at the instigator hovering in the air, Goody Addams, his eyes burning with hatred and obsession spanning four centuries.
"I... will be back... Our grudge... will not... cease!"
"No," Wednesday's icy voice cut him off decisively, like a final judgment.
"You will not be coming back."
She released the sword hilt. The purple-black slender sword instantly liquefied, reverting to churning nightmare symbiote matter.
The mist-like substance, as if possessing life, rapidly spread, tightly enveloping and coiling around the remnant of Creston's spirit that was attempting to escape.
"You will become nourishment for the nightmare."
Wednesday pronounced his ultimate fate.
The nightmare's elegant yet unsettling whisper sounded directly in the deepest consciousness of Creston's spirit, like the sweetest poison:
"Sink into the eternal cycle of nightmares, Joseph... without end."
"No!!! No—!!!"
Creston's spirit let out one final shriek saturated with ultimate terror and despair, before being completely engulfed and absorbed by the nightmare's purple-black mist, transformed into nourishment to enhance the symbiote's own psychic power.
The grudge that had lasted four hundred years concluded at this moment with the complete annihilation of Creston's soul.
This corner of the battlefield fell into temporary silence.
Only the two-headed werewolf transformed by Enid slowly lowered its heads, emitting a low, questioning whimper.
Wednesday stood in place. The nightmare's purple-black armor slowly receded, revealing her pale and cold countenance once more.
She looked up at Goody's spirit in the air. Between the two of them, without need for words, a sense of understanding and relief spanning time and space flowed quietly.
The Addams Family's oldest nightmare ended here.
"Oh, looks like my dear has finished over there,"
Victor, in his Venom form, slammed his fist hard into Dr. 077's mechanical torso, producing a dull metallic clang.
"So... how come you're still not offline yet?"
The battle had been going on for a while now, a scene that could be described as a gang fight.
Venom faced him head-on, Riot swung a massive black warhammer smashing from the side.
Carnage, like a crimson whirlwind, entangled and pierced with countless sharp tendrils.
Scorn fired corrosive bone spikes from a distance, while Sleeper laid down viscous slowing fields on the ground.
However, Dr. 077's specially reinforced mechanical body, though covered in dents and scratches with exposed wiring and occasional electrical sparks, seemed to have its core systems still stable.
He stood like an unyielding steel giant, stubbornly holding his ground amidst the colorful tide of symbiotes.
"This is one of the advantages of a mechanical body."
Dr. 077's synthesized voice remained steady, carrying an inhuman calmness.
"Unafraid of blunt force and tearing. As long as the core processor and power furnace aren't fatally damaged, I retain combat capability."
"Hiss—!"
His shoulder armor opened again. High-temperature flame projectors and high-frequency sonic wave generators activated simultaneously. A scorching wave of fire and piercing sound waves mixed together, sweeping towards the closing symbiotes.
These were once universally recognized weakness attacks for symbiotes.
But this time, the effect was minimal.
Venom merely waved a claw in annoyance, as if shooing away pesky insects.
Riot even withstood the sonic waves to land another hammer blow.
Carnage's tendrils coiled even tighter.
"I say, are you still not giving up?"
Riot roared, his warhammer falling once more, smashing heavily onto Dr. 077's chest, erupting in a shower of brilliant sparks.
"You still think these are our weaknesses?"
Dozens of Carnage's crimson tendrils tightened like giant pythons, firmly restraining the mechanical body's limbs and torso, restricting its movement.
"Hey, big guy, stop squirming!"
"Representing the sweet gift of love, chocolate..."
Serum, while trying to transform its arm into a probe to interface with the mechanical body's ports, remarked in a tone bordering on poetic.
"Who would have thought, this one ingredient mistakenly added during the concoction of the potion could temporarily cover up or even eliminate the inherent weaknesses etched into our genetic fragments. This thing called love is truly marvelous."
Scorn, attempting to hack in nearby, let out a contemptuous snort:
"What are you sighing about to a mechanical scrap heap that only understands 0s and 1s? You expect it to comprehend something as advanced as 'love'?"
"Both of you, stop chatting!" Venom roared while tearing at a mechanical arm with his claws, "Haven't you managed to hack in yet?"
"No."
Serum retracted its probe and shook its head.
"This guy's body is covered by a special energy field on the outer layer. Mine and Scorn's psychic waves simply can't penetrate it. It's like hitting an invisible wall."
At that moment, a protective plate on Dr. 077's chest armor suddenly slid open, revealing a small laser cannon port. It instantly charged and, with a "hum," fired a blazing white beam, accurately striking the unprepared Serum in the chest!
"Don't waste your effort."
Dr. 077's synthesized voice was devoid of fluctuation.
"After the lesson of being hacked last time, did you think I wouldn't upgrade and perfect my defense systems?"
"Ugh!"
Serum let out a short cry of pain. Its pearl-white symbiote matter was blasted apart, scattering in all directions.
Its entire form flickered and distorted violently several times, like a faulty old TV screen, before, with a "poof," completely dissipating into the air.
Almost at the same moment, all the remaining Victors on the field—
Venom, Riot, Carnage, Scorn, Sleeper, and the two "unarmored" Victors providing fire support not far away—all jolted simultaneously. They let out a suppressed grunt in unison, a flash of pain instantly crossing their faces, and their movements stiffened for a brief moment.
Dr. 077's optical sensors keenly captured this phenomenon. For the first time, his synthesized voice carried a tone akin to "sudden realization":
"Oh, I see. Although the body split into eight independent entities under the effect of the potion, your consciousness remains the same. Sharing senses, and even... sharing damage."
The mechanical head turned towards the seven Victors who had just endured the impact of Serum's "death," his tone almost inquisitive:
"So then, how does it feel to simultaneously experience the taste of eightfold 'death'?"
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