Ikaris had no idea the White Demon possessed the terrifying ability of Energy Absorption. Seeing that his maximum output cosmic rays had not only failed to inflict damage but had actively empowered the demon, Ikaris instantly realized the situation was far more precarious than he had originally assumed.
His initial flippancy and absolute arrogance completely vanished. Ikaris fully activated his innate Eternal physiology, constantly interacting with ambient cosmic energy to exponentially enhance his physical stats!
Although his arrogance was gone, he still didn't believe he could lose. Hovering in the air, he stared at the White Demon with a grave expression.
"You are exceptionally strong," Ikaris admitted coldly. "But you still have to die!"
Su Mu looked at the Marvel knock-off Superman. Through the absolute energy vision of the Six Eyes, he could clearly see the brilliantly glowing, golden energy core humming deep within Ikaris' chest.
The Eternals were synthetic beings created by Arishem the Judge, the Prime Celestial. To sustain their functional immortality and god-like abilities, Arishem had implanted an internal cosmic core within each of them. While it wasn't a source of truly infinite energy like an Infinity Stone, its reserves were unfathomably deep and vastly superior to an Arc Reactor!
More importantly, these cosmic cores possessed a distinct advantage over the Infinity Stones: their energy output was highly stable and exceptionally easy to absorb!
Even with his newly acquired Level 4 Energy Absorption, Su Mu wasn't entirely certain he could flawlessly absorb the raw, chaotic output of an Infinity Stone without suffering massive physical backlash. But an Eternal's stable cosmic core? That would be a walk in the park!
If he could extract and assimilate Ikaris' cosmic core, he wouldn't need to bother tracking down Arc Reactors for a very long time. That single core could easily sustain him until he leveled up enough to safely devour an Infinity Stone.
However, killing Ikaris wasn't going to be simple.
The Eternals' musculature and skeletal structures were forged by Celestials using incredibly exotic, pseudo-divine cosmic materials. This granted them terrifying physical strength and near-absolute invulnerability. As the strongest warrior among the Earth-bound Eternals, Ikaris' physical durability was functionally peerless.
Most importantly, Su Mu knew Ikaris possessed flight speeds that completely eclipsed his own current maximum velocity. If Ikaris realized he was losing and decided to flee, Su Mu wouldn't be able to catch him in a straight chase!
Add the Celestial-forged combat armor he wore into the equation, and Ikaris' overall defense significantly surpassed even the Hulk's!
Killing him would be a genuine challenge.
But... Su Mu thought, a deeply excited smile curling his lips. With the Limitless just reaching Level 4, I'm more than willing to test my new toys!
Having landed the first Black Flash, Su Mu had effortlessly slipped into "The Zone." His control over his internal cursed energy pathways was flawless.
Combined with the absolute perception of the Level 3 Six Eyes and the hyper-efficient energy processing of Level 4 Energy Absorption, Su Mu could now intentionally trigger a Black Flash with a 100% success rate!
Completely ignoring Ikaris' declaration, Su Mu vanished from his position and instantaneously materialized directly in front of the Eternal!
This time, Ikaris didn't let his guard down. He reacted instantly. However, his deep-seated pride as an Eternal warrior prevented him from dodging. Even knowing the demon possessed some form of energy absorption, Ikaris chose to meet the attack head-on with pure, unadulterated physical force!
The two fists violently collided!
BOOM!
Catastrophic black-red lightning exploded between them! The apocalyptic kinetic shockwave violently erupted outward.
Tony Stark's billion-dollar cliffside mansion, completely unable to withstand the shockwave, instantly shattered into rubble. Even the reinforced subterranean laboratory was completely caved in!
The kinetic force violently displaced the ocean below them, carving a massive, perfectly circular cavity into the water and kicking up a devastating tsunami dozens of meters high!
Su Mu and Ikaris engaged in a brutal, hyper-speed brawl, completely destroying the coastline!
As the fight dragged on, Ikaris grew increasingly horrified. The White Demon's energy absorption seemed to possess absolutely no limits! Every single time their fists clashed, the demon devoured the kinetic force of Ikaris' strikes, using that energy to continuously reinforce his own physical vessel. Fighting him was like punching a literal black hole; he was only making the monster stronger!
His confidence rapidly eroding, Ikaris' expression grew incredibly grim.
He was entirely incapable of inflicting damage. Any cosmic energy or kinetic force he applied was simply devoured and weaponized against him!
However... Ikaris reasoned, his attacks can't severely damage me either.
While the White Demon's combat speed was incredibly fast by human standards, it was still slower than Ikaris' absolute maximum velocity. Ikaris could reliably dodge the worst of the strikes.
Furthermore, even when he took a direct hit from that terrifying black-red repulsive force, as long as it didn't strike his head, his Celestial-forged biology and rapid healing factor could easily shrug off the blunt-force trauma!
This realization allowed Ikaris to calm down. The White Demon's energy absorption was incredibly problematic, yes, but he wasn't invincible! If Ikaris retreated and returned with the other Eternals, they could easily overwhelm him!
He definitely won't be able to absorb Sersi's cosmic transmutation! Ikaris thought confidently. Sersi didn't use energy attacks; she fundamentally reorganized molecular structures. She could turn the demon into glass with a single touch!
Having formulated a plan, Ikaris decided to tactically retreat. He was arrogant, but he wasn't stupid.
After violently clashing with the White Demon one last time, he used the recoil to blast himself backward and turned to fly away.
But in that exact microsecond—the fraction of a second where his hyper-focused combat awareness relaxed to initiate the retreat—the White Demon vanished.
In the blink of an eye, the demon materialized directly in front of him! Those crystalline blue eyes were staring at him with absolute, predatory greed, looking exactly like a ravenous beast staring at a dying piece of prey!
Throughout their entire brawl, Su Mu had been patiently analyzing the situation and waiting for a single flaw.
He had finally found it!
The further Ikaris retreated, the weaker the localized interference from Dr. Richards' Spatial Disruption Device became. Under the continuous adaptation of the Six Eyes and the fading spatial scrambling, Su Mu was finally able to fully engage the absolute spatial dominance of the Level 4 Limitless!
A blinding azure black hole and a terrifying black-red singularity materialized in his palms. They instantly merged into a basketball-sized sphere of pure, deep-purple imaginary mass!
Pushing the Limitless into absolute overdrive, Su Mu abandoned the conventional teleportation of Blue. Instead, he utilized the Level 4 upgrade to continuously, violently fold space itself!
While chain-folding space placed a horrific strain on his physical vessel, it granted him an unprecedented, absolute level of speed!
Su Mu instantly closed the gap. The terrifying sphere of imaginary mass effortlessly pierced through the residual spatial scrambling of the disruption device and violently slammed directly into Ikaris' torso!
The Celestial-engineered physical vessel—designed to battle cosmic threats—was entirely meaningless before the absolute concept of Purple!
The indestructible Eternal combat armor. The skin that could withstand a nuclear blast without a scratch. The hyper-dense musculature. The pseudo-divine skeletal structure.
Everything Ikaris was so profoundly proud of was instantly pierced through, completely erased into absolute nothingness, along with millions of gallons of seawater behind him!
In a desperate, primal bid for survival, Ikaris had managed to twist his body at the very last microsecond, avoiding total annihilation. The purple sphere only cleanly erased a massive chunk of his abdomen and his left side instead of his entire torso!
Just as Ikaris realized he was still alive, he suddenly realized a figure had materialized directly beside him!
The White Demon!
Simultaneously, a chilling, demonic whisper drifted into his ear. It was the exact same phrase Ikaris had used earlier, just slightly modified.
"You are pathetically weak," Su Mu whispered. "But you still have to die."
Because the Spatial Disruption Device on Ikaris' belt had been completely erased by the Purple blast, Su Mu's absolute spatial dominance was fully restored!
The speed of localized spatial folding was infinitely faster than Ikaris' raw flight speed!
While Ikaris was momentarily paralyzed by the agonizing shock of having half his torso erased, Su Mu pushed his cursed energy reinforcement and Energy Absorption to their absolute peaks. He reached out and clamped his hand firmly onto Ikaris' face!
BOOM!
Accompanied by a blinding eruption of black-red lightning and an inescapable storm of localized spatial slashes, Su Mu violently drove the "God" downward! Spewing golden Eternal blood into the air, the two of them plummeted from the sky like a meteor!
The massive oceanic vacuum created by the Purple blast hadn't even begun to fill yet when the catastrophic impact of their landing violently displaced the water again, kicking up another apocalyptic, hundred-meter-high tsunami!
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