Its wildly multiplying, twisted torrent of power was instantly drained and unraveled by that absolutely perfect "hole."
The remaining energy, having lost its core support, turned into a cold blue mist. It spun weakly in place a few times, then faded away with a dying whimper.
The warped, frenzied, suffocating psychic pressure that had blanketed the center of Brooklyn Park for nearly half an hour receded in an instant, like the tide rushing back to sea, leaving not a trace behind. Only the grass and trees stained an unhealthy blue, and the lingering stench of slime in the air, proved that the terror from moments ago had really existed.
The bandstand returned to its original, dilapidated appearance. Sunlight filtered once more through the leaves and spread across the grass. Not far away, the "passerby" who had been singing and hugging a lamppost suddenly stopped, shivered, and looked around in confusion.
The scarlet energy surging around Wanda died down at once. The flickering energy nodes along Vision's body stabilized. The maddening buzzing in Peter's spider-sense finally vanished completely.
All three of them stood there in a daze, their eyes fixed on the same point—the bald guy in the red cape, splattered all over with blue stains and wearing white gloves.
He was frowning, carefully peeling the slime-stained "Discount Cabbage Special" flyer off his right hand. Heart aching, he blew gently on the polluted corner of the flyer, trying to blow the stain away, muttering under his breath as he did so:
"Now the cabbage special is ruined… Can I still make it to grab another one tomorrow?"
His tone brimmed with unparalleled annoyance, as if the thing he had just wiped out with a single flick of his finger was nothing more than a worthless, soggy vegetable ad.
The wreckage at the Beethoven music pavilion was quickly sealed off. Personnel in uniforms marked C.D.C. (Center for Disease Control), but with eyes cold and sharp, moved silently like worker ants through the scene, carrying specialized radiation scanners (SPC field units). They cleaned and took samples in silence. A disaster that could have escalated into a massive psychic plague had been erased before it began, along with a nascent extra-dimensional psychic lifeform embryo. Yet when the report reached the SPC leadership's desks, there was nothing "victorious" about it.
"...Analysis of residual energy at the scene shows that the core of the aggregation was penetrated and disintegrated by a form of 'absolute physical momentum' beyond our instruments' upper detection limit. The disintegration point reached a true vacuum at the atomic level, completely ignoring its powerful psychic and energy-based defenses. Our theoretical models… have completely collapsed." The tech director's voice was dry during the emergency meeting. On the projection screen was an image of a blazing, hair-thin trail of light, magnified countless times. "We've named it the 'erasure point.' It cannot be replicated. It cannot be understood."
"Supplement to behavioral pattern analysis of the target individual: 'cleaning off filth' was the direct trigger for the attack. He displayed no awareness of psychic pollution or the risk of a city-scale crisis; his focus throughout remained on the damaged discount flyer. The core of his behavioral logic is that he extremely cherishes and fixates on physical states or objects directly tied to his personal daily life. External threats will not easily provoke active behavior from him unless they strongly interfere with those core life elements."
A stone-faced intelligence analyst added, "His daily activities and shopping locations are highly concentrated and regular. His financial situation is… extremely strained. Money and discount information are among the few key factors through which he can be influenced."
SPC Director General Ross stared at the report full of absurd data, his knuckles whitening as he clenched it. A being who could, with a flick of his finger, annihilate a divine embryo—and the core of his decision-making is… grocery store discounts and rent?
(End of Chapter)
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