"Ah!"
Hal groaned in pain as the yellow fear energy fully entered his body, spreading through his bloodstream, continuously polluting his cells. Every cell seemed to be infiltrated, infected by the yellow fear.
Hal raised his head. His eyes were ferocious, and the veins bulging across his body glowed faintly with yellow fear energy, twisting like dragons, spreading through his swollen muscles.
'Om…'
In an instant, the yellow fear energy surged upward, reaching his brain.
At that moment, it was as if the fear of the entire Earth had shrouded his body. All the fear from around the globe was absorbed into him.
Even with his firm will, he could not help but feel the immense pain radiating from humanity every moment on this Earth.
"Please! Don't! Help!"
In one of the world's most dangerous countries for women, where a woman is assaulted every 13 minutes, six women are violated each day, a bride is murdered over dowry disputes every 69 minutes, and 19 women per month suffer acid attacks, Hal heard the cries of the weak. All these countless voices of fear gathered and poured into Hal, absorbed into his being.
"Please, don't kill me!"
In the Middle East, amidst war and terrorism, riots and conflict spread endlessly. The immense fear radiating from the region crossed the skies and was absorbed by Hal.
Even in so-called peaceful nations, fear lived on. Fear of society, of wives, husbands, fathers, bosses, criminals, governments. Every ounce of fear in human hearts, no matter how small, was drawn out by an invisible force and gathered into Hal.
All of it. The silent cries, the voices of terror, the helpless pleas—all echoed deep into Hal's heart, begging for salvation, praying for deliverance from this sorrowful world.
At that moment, Hal felt the despair, the darkness, the fear of life across the entire Earth. He could sense the fear of the Fifteen Nations Alliance as they watched the battle between Barmulodi and Diana, trembling in the face of such overwhelming power. He felt their terror as they made decisions out of fear.
One by one, Hal felt it all.
The magnitude of this gathered fear nearly destroyed him.
Hal's eyes suddenly widened, his pupils dilating abnormally. His body twisted uncontrollably. Yellow fear energy erupted from his back, fusing with his flesh and blood. Insect-like limbs burst through his skin, protruding outward, ten pairs in total, emerging grotesquely from his back.
Hal's eyes glowed like lanterns with the intense yellow light of fear. Ten pairs of grayish-yellow insect appendages jutted out from his back, their sharp ends piercing into the ground beneath him, lifting his body high into the air.
His face was expressionless. The emotional system of his nervous system had been severed. What remained was his iron will, holding onto consciousness, suppressing the corrosion of fear, forcing control over the fear energy.
He looked up at the starry sky, his head raised. The insect limbs supporting him pressed into the ground like a towering mutant form, holding his body aloft.
This was the fear entity Parallax, the embodiment of fear in the universe. Parallax itself was insect-like, with many limbs and a segmented body. Now infected by Parallax's energy, Hal, relying on his overwhelming willpower, transformed into a terrifying hybrid form, resembling Parallax itself. Such a mutation was unsurprising.
'Bang!'
Hal's grotesque, mutated body trembled violently. The ten pairs of grayish-yellow insect limbs standing behind him stretched into the air, terrifying like giant spiders crawling across an invisible web, lifting him upward as they flew toward space.
Above the starry sky, two streaks of light collided repeatedly. They flashed across the sky like shooting stars, dazzling in the dark expanse of the universe.
Rather than a battle, it was more like Bardi relentlessly chasing Diana, attacking her repeatedly, forcing her to burn through her divine energy. Once her divine power was depleted, it would mean her defeat.
Diana felt heavy sorrow in her heart. The man before her had shattered her proud princess heart completely.
Before leaving Paradise Island, she had been the strongest warrior among the Amazons, the Princess of Themyscira.
She believed that with her own strength, she could bring justice for the 50 million innocent people who had died, and execute the murderer responsible.
But reality had taught her otherwise. Even as an Amazon, here in space, she was nothing more than a ball being thrown around.
Her strength was no match for this man.
Her combat skills were inferior to his.
Even her strategies and tactics were completely ineffective against him.
She had no chance at all. All of her clever tricks were meaningless.
Diana could only feel bitter anguish in her heart. Her beautiful face was flushed with anger as she was knocked away once again. She had already lost count of how many times she had been struck down.
If nothing changed…
This would be her defeat. Her end. Death at the hands of this man.
On the ground, every nation with reconnaissance satellites watched the battle between Bardi and Diana in the skies with heavy hearts and silent dread.
Such power, capable of striking into space itself, was suffocating for all of humanity.
The superpowers of the Fifteen Nations Alliance urgently gathered their key personnel—those believed to be safe from Bardi's reach—to discuss whether they should use nuclear weapons.
The situation was too critical.
With presidents, kings, parliaments, and military commanders all weighing in, no one dared to make a hasty decision about launching nuclear bombs. But at the same time, no one wanted to bear the wrath of Barmulodi.
His power had already spread across the globe, infiltrating every inch of their nations. Many large and medium-sized corporations were already under his control. In some cases, high-ranking government officials, even presidents, had become his puppets.
The best-case scenario was that Barmulodi would die out in space.
But if he survived… there would be no hope left for mankind.
Already, much of the world had been eroded by Barmulodi. No one even knew how many nations were secretly under his control.
Their options were limited.
But just then, after a long silence.
A second voice echoed through the encrypted communication channel.
"Launch! Our country agrees. The war has already begun, and this may be our only chance."
"Agreed!"
"Agreed!"
"Agreed!"
"The United States. Forty-three megaton nuclear warhead. Target locked."
"Russia. Thirty-two megaton nuclear warhead. Target locked."
"United Kingdom. Thirty megaton nuclear warhead. Target locked."
"African mercenary state. Twenty-four megaton nuclear warhead. Target locked."
"Germany. Seventeen megaton equivalent. Target locked."
"Impala. Eight megaton equivalent. Target locked."
"Kahndaq. Five megaton equivalent. Target locked."
"East Alliance. Thirty megaton equivalent. Target locked."
(To be continued.)
***
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