Jhon shot upward, breaking through the water's surface and flying twenty meters into the air before falling back down. The water exploded on impact.
"URGG," he groaned through clenched teeth.
He didn't even have a second.
Namor emerged from below him, his hands grabbing Jhon's ankles and dragging him downward, pulling him into the depths.
He couldn't understand how someone could be so damn strong in a world like the MCU. The only explanation he could come up with in this flood of emotions was that Namor had never been able to show his full strength in the movies—this version was far stronger in the water than on the surface.
Unable to keep pondering the possibilities, he tried to fly and create portals while being dragged, but Namor was spinning him too fast. The water turned into a chaotic whirlpool.
CRASH
He slammed him into the ocean floor.
Sand and rocks exploded outward. A twenty-meter crater formed. Jhon was buried in the center. His mind went blank for a moment, but it quickly returned.
Namor didn't wait. He dove downward, his hands reaching for Jhon's neck, his mouth open revealing those fangs—
"NOOO!" Jhon exploded upward, sonic waves created from his mouth by the shout. Water rushed into his throat, but it didn't bother him.
Cosmic beams shot from his eyes without hesitation.
SHHHHHHH
They hit Namor directly, launching him 100 meters forward.
GRAAAAHH!
The zombie roared—even infected, he could still feel pain.
And how was the one who fired the beams? Right now, his eyes were blazing with cosmic energy, glowing so intensely that they illuminated the infinite ocean.
His jaw was clenched, his arms numb but slowly healing. His tactical suit was practically shredded.
Veins bulged on his neck and forehead, showing the rage building up inside him. When had they ever treated him like some damn weakling they could just toss around? WHEN?
Jhon wanted to end it, to destroy him. So much that he didn't even want to use his Eternal form—no—he wanted to kill him in the same way he'd been humiliated.
Was it developed pride? A growing ego? Or his underestimation of the MCU? Whatever it was, he didn't care right now. He just wanted to see that damn Atlantean face split in two.
Namor had already healed. His smoking chest was good as new, staring with his red eyes at the one he had to kill.
RRRRGHHH!!
He charged forward at supersonic speeds. Shockwaves formed from his velocity.
And Jhon? Jhon could feel his bones healing. His Dhampir healing improved every time his body took increasing damage. The wakfu helped accelerate the process.
So now, he didn't want to stay passive. He charged too.
"AHHHH!" Not caring about the damn water, he flew toward Namor with a shout. Like the zombie, sonic waves were generated by his speed.
Soon, they were just one meter apart.
BOOOMM
Their fists collided. The water trembled so violently that waves crashed against the submarine.
Jhon and Namor were shot backward like bullets, stopping at 50 meters. The wrist of Jhon's right arm was bent like a pencil, but he didn't stop staring at the Atlantean after regaining balance.
The Atlantean in question only had a dent in his hand. Without giving more time, he charged at Jhon again. His mouth open, revealing his sharp, rotting teeth.
Jhon responded immediately.
SHHHHHHH
Cosmic beams were fired at the zombie, who shifted positions to dodge them. But he had no time—every time he changed position, Jhon tracked him with his gaze.
While keeping him at bay, lines of cosmic energy began forming near his arm, connecting to it. Hundreds and hundreds, creating new muscle fibers in perfect sync with his arms. So much so that his wrist snapped back to its original position, the wakfu healing it internally.
He clenched his hand to test—it still hurt a bit, but the pain was fading quickly. Still angry, he created two damn cosmic energy spears, one in each hand.
Stopping the cosmic beams from his eyes, he flew with another sonic BOOM toward the zombie.
Namor roared and charged in the same way. His small ankle wings looked like perpetual motion machines.
Then came the symphony of blows. Namor threw so many that Jhon's body was covered in bruises. However, his bones no longer broke easily.
Jhon stabbed his spears into Namor's body, his precision and speed increasing over time.
As he improved, he felt he now had the ability to open portals without his concentration being affected. So the Atlantean landed fewer and fewer hits on his body.
Less than two minutes had passed in the fight, but it felt like an eternity to him. His strength was already matching Namor's, demonstrating his terrifying talent and potential.
GRAAAAHH!
Namor growled as Jhon's spear embedded in his chest, creating a hole. His healing would kick in, but the cosmic energy prevented it.
With a grin showing all his teeth, Jhon quickly grabbed his head, taking advantage of the slight distraction. Then...
BOOOOM
Headbutt. The zombie's head cracked like a nut. His healing factor kicked in immediately, but Jhon kept going and going.
Karma for being grabbed by the ankle had arrived, and Jhon wanted to finish him with his damn head alone. His jaw was fully clenched, his muscles tense.
Lines of wakfu and cosmic energy prevented Namor from moving from his position. The rotting Atlantean couldn't budge no matter how much strength he used.
BOOM BOOM
Blood started pouring from Jhon's forehead, but he completely ignored the pain. He only felt the primal thrill of fighting, pumping adrenaline through him in waves. He squeezed his hands harder on the head, veins bulging with every bit of pressure.
RRRRGHHH!!
Namor screamed, and hundreds of Atlanteans who had stayed back began approaching at high speeds. All opening their mouths to bite our protagonist.
However, insects are just that—insects. Jhon didn't need to pay them direct attention. While continuing to crush Namor, 20 portals opened around him. Massive amounts of wakfu poured out, vaporizing the weak Atlanteans.
Jhon applied more and more force with his hands. Namor's head began cracking as time passed.
His smile grew wider. His fangs were slightly sharp. His eyes began slowly generating cosmic energy.
Namor screamed louder and louder, feeling the pain of all his skull bones breaking and reforming.
10 seconds. 10 eternal seconds—that's all Jhon needed to turn his face into meat paste. The zombie stopped moving and just went limp.
If he still had life, he'd wonder: What the hell kind of drug are you on to get stronger than me so fast?
The Eliatrope hovered there, looking at the deformed face of the being he'd fought. He felt his body stronger, so much that he thought he'd need seconds to finish Abomination if they fought again.
His breathing was heavy, calming down from the short but tough fight.
This is when he realized what a damn terrifying talent and unlimited potential meant. His powers grew as he trained, and what better training than fighting to the death?
He didn't know if he could kill Ikaris, whose punches generated impacts that changed the weather. He just intuited he wouldn't die from one blow.
After a few seconds to recover his shaken body.
He was about to head to the submarine to help, sensing his friends hadn't finished with the hundreds of guards inside. But suddenly, Namor's head began healing rapidly, surprising him.
'Damn that healing factor!' Jhon knew that if his own head had been turned to pulp, he doubted he'd heal as fast as the zombie.
Understanding how to kill him once and for all, he held him by the shoulder. Then tensed his hand covered in cosmic energy. Using all his arm strength, he threw a thunderous punch into his gut.
BOOOM
His fist went through him, splattering intestines into the water.
A small ball combining cosmic energy and wakfu began forming in front of his wrist. The mix of two opposing energies imploded as they touched, refusing to merge.
Then he left the ball inside his body, which didn't delay in healing, without removing it from his system.
Opening a wakfu portal behind him, he entered and appeared 500 meters away. Namor's arms were already moving, slowly regaining mobility.
He waved his hands and created a gigantic portal to the submarine, pulling it in. Then positioned it nearby. The submarine shook with the impact into the water.
"Boom," Jhon said in his head as he looked with his hazel eyes at the zombie.
Having thought that, Namor's body began cracking. Blue and yellow energies started leaking from the cracks.
2 seconds...
BOOOMM
A gigantic dome hundreds of meters wide formed in the water, illuminating its vastness. The Atlanteans eating the few remaining live animals died alongside them without noticing.
'Finally.'
He turned toward the submarine. He needed to get inside. He created a wakfu portal in front of him, ready to cross it, when...
THUURRMMM
A massive thunder sounded even in the ocean depths.
He frowned and shot out of the water, expanding his perception further.
Out of the water, he broke the surface and flew higher.
The sky had changed.
Black clouds swirled everywhere, forming a gigantic vortex. Lightning crossed from cloud to cloud, each bigger than the last. The air smelled of ozone and death.
Jhon looked ahead. 'Who the hell is it now?'
His perception reached the distance between those approaching and him, clearly sensing what it was.
Five ships.
Asgardian ships, their sails torn but recognizable, gliding through the air at unnatural speeds. Zombies and zombies of what were once the citizens of New Asgard were aboard.
All with those damn red eyes.
But that wasn't the worst.
In the center of the flotilla, floating above the main ship, was her.
The damn Wanda Maximoff.
Her hands glowed with chaos energy, red as blood. Her hair floated wildly around her pale face. Her eyes...
Her eyes were completely red. No pupils. No irises. Just red.
She opened her mouth and let out a scream.
"GRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
It wasn't human. It was the sound of madness and hunger combined.
The zombies on the ships responded in unison, their own screams joining hers in a symphony of horror.
"Shit..." Jhon floated there, swallowing hard. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit nervous. The bitch can manipulate reality!
Processing the escalating situation. "Looks like wiping out her army pissed her off more than I thought."
He wasn't wrong. Wanda had planned to take down Infinite Hulk first, using Kamala's powers and her own together to manipulate reality on a large scale and build a zombified world.
But a guy who wasn't in the equation showed up, ruining her plans.
Seeing how dangerous he was through her zombies, she deduced the best move was to take him out directly and control him once converted. That way, he'd fight Hulk while she took advantage.
Unaware of Wanda's thoughts.
Jhon had some water droplets running down his forehead. Definitely from the ocean!
He was about to think of a strategy, but no time. Up in the sky, a being wrapped in lightning was approaching him. As things were going, it'd reach Jhon in seconds.
He frowned seriously, realizing the shit he'd gotten into. 'The damn Thor.' He thought with a grimace, growing worry eating at him.
Not willing to risk finding out if he's as strong as him, he came to a conclusion.
His body, responding to his will, began to change.
His skin hardened, taking on a dark metallic gray tone. Cells restructured at the molecular level, compacting into an almost armored surface.
Glowing cyan lines began appearing all over his body, first on his chest, spreading like living circuits to his shoulders, arms, and legs. They pulsed with pure cosmic energy.
His hair grew longer, flowing backward like solidified energy fibers, with strands that flickered intermittently.
His musculature became more defined, not growing in size but in density. Every muscle fiber compacted, becoming more efficient.
His eyes changed, pupils vanishing, replaced by a uniform cyan glow emanating from the sockets.
On his forehead, a geometric symbol materialized, an Eternal mark, glowing with the same blue light coursing through his form.
Organic armor covered his torso and limbs, forming from his transformed skin. Biomechanical plates with hexagonal patterns and technological details that breathed with his energy.
He had adopted his Eternal form.
---
After 2 seconds, the Odinson was already a few meters in front of him.
Thor raised Stormbreaker to the sky.
KRAKOOOOOM
A massive lightning bolt descended from the cloud vortex, striking the axe. The energy built up, glowing brighter and brighter.
Then Thor aimed at Jhon. No first date—he already wanted to generate electricity in his body.
The lightning was released.
It was building-sized. Bright blue mixed with sickly red. Descending like the judgment of an angry god. And the metaphor wasn't entirely wrong, since it's Wanda who's furious.
Jhon reacted on instinct. His hands extended above him. The wakfu in his body reacted, materializing a 30-meter diameter portal. Right in front of the descending bolt.
The thunder entered the portal.
Jhon grunted, feeling the energy trying to tear him apart. He didn't even know how that shit was possible!
However, the strain was minor. He took advantage of the bolt and created an equally large portal near the Asgardian ships.
The thunder emerged.
Wanda saw it coming instantly, her hands rising.
Chaos energy erupted, forming a massive crimson barrier over the entire flotilla.
The thunder impacted.
BOOOOOM
The explosion lit up the entire ocean. The shockwave flattened waves in a perfect kilometer-wide circle.
But the barrier held.
The thunder dispersed, redirected to the sky in a thousand directions.
Wanda lowered her hands, unscathed. The ships hadn't even moved.
"..."
"Of course..." Jhon closed his portal, with a grimace on his robotic face. "It had to be easy, right?"
Thor roared, charging straight at him.
Sighing, Jhon took a fighting stance. 'Alright, here we go again.'
He charged.
BOOOMM
---
In the infinite void of the cosmos, among nebulae glowing like open wounds in the darkness, a being floated.
Its form was colossal, so massive that planets seemed like marbles in its presence. Crimson and gold armor covered its celestial body, plates forged from the cores of dead stars. Six eyes glowed in its helmet with incandescent white light, arranged in two rows that observed everything, judged everything.
Its hands, each continent-sized, held pure cosmic energy. Between its palms, a new planet was taking shape. Molten rocks spun, compacting under its divine will. Oceans were born from nothing. Atmospheres woven like invisible threads.
It was creation in its purest form.
Then it stopped.
The six eyes blinked in unison.
Something... impossible.
An energy signature that should belong to its creations, but this one was not one of them.
'Eternal.'
Only it wasn't molded by its hand. Nor was it bound to it.
The half-formed planet hung suspended, forgotten.
Arishem turned its massive head, its eyes focusing on a specific point in the galaxy—a small, blue, insignificant world.
A planet from which one of its kind was meant to emerge. To which it had sent Ikaris to exterminate the repulsive plague.
Who had uselessly failed to fulfill his purpose.
Creating a hole spanning millions of kilometers, it vanished as it was swallowed by it.
---
Unaware that a damn Celestial had noticed his existence, Jhon was up in the air with Thor.
THURRRRMM
A gigantic lightning bolt formed, seeking the tiny Eternal.
Moving with grace, he dodged every massive bolt generated. In each arm, he held a spear of pure energy.
His "hair"—in this case, cosmic energy and wakfu—moved as if alive, seeking to ensnare the zombified god.
Behind him, hundreds of portals poured pure wakfu directly at his attackers. Not wanting the others to join in hunting him, he didn't give Wanda a chance to get close.
BOOOMM
Jhon's spear clashed with Thor's Stormbreaker, scattering clouds as if they were fleeing. The sky trembled with every contact.
In this form, Jhon knew he was strong—VERY strong—but he barely felt on equal footing with the Asgardian. What would happen if he let Wanda attack him? He didn't want to describe it.
"COME ON, YOU DAMN HAMMER GOD!" shouted the Eternal as he created hundreds of compact balls near Thor. They all exploded simultaneously in response.
"GRAAAAHH!"
The zombie god growled in pain, taking the explosions directly.
Jhon flew so fast it seemed like teleportation, appearing in front of him.
He was about to land a full-force punch, but at that moment...
Space itself began to distort.
First came a hum—low, deep, vibrating through the vacuum where sound shouldn't exist. Nearby stars flickered, their lights trembling as if the universe was holding its breath.
Then the sound arrived.
VRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMM
A cosmic roar that pierced dimensions. It wasn't an explosion. It wasn't thunder. It was the sound of reality being forced open, torn by something too vast to exist in one place.
BOOOOOOOOM
Space in front of Earth fractured like glass. Cracks of golden and crimson light spread through the black void, expanding, opening.
KRAAAAAAAAAAAASH
And then it appeared.
Arishem.
Its colossal form emerged from the black hole, first its helmet with six burning eyes, then its massive shoulders, its torso eclipsing moons.
The hole closed behind it with a final boom that shook satellites and rattled orbital debris.
WHOOOOOM
---
Jhon didn't stop. He connected the devastating blow to Thor.
BOOOMM
His figure was launched thousands of meters away, with his zombified nose broken.
As for him... right now, he was pale, looking up.
He didn't even know his blood pressure could drop in his Eternal form!
"But what the fu—!" He was about to curse, but suddenly he felt he couldn't move. He tried to create a portal, but it was as if he was inhibited.
He felt the energy in his body, but couldn't release it.
"URGHH," he grunted, trying with all his strength, but he couldn't even budge.
'What do I do?!' Jhon panicked in his mind, not understanding why a damn Celestial was coming for him. It didn't make sen—!
His pupils dilated fully when a possibility crossed his mind.
The essence removed the disadvantage of being bound to Arishem, but it never said it removed the way a Celestial could sense its race. Jhon, being fully an Eternal after adopting his form, had no way to prevent the Judge from realizing that someone he didn't create, over whom he had no control, existed as one of his kind.
Especially when this very Celestial had sent Ikaris to end the virus, keeping an eye on Earth, considering that its kin was due to emerge soon.
"Eternal."
An ancient voice echoed across the Earth. It was so imposing that all living humans—and even the dead—shuddered.
Jhon's friends inside the submarine were alarmed. What the hell could be so massive that its voice sounded like that?
"Friday!" shouted Riri, kicking a guard. Not many were left.
[What do you need, Miss Williams?] asked the AI, knocking out a guy shooting at her.
"Go see what that is!" ordered Riri, dispatching a guy sneaking up behind Kamala.
"What happened?!" shouted Kamala in alarm, while creating a cosmic energy sphere around a guard.
"I don't know!" replied Kate, shooting an arrow into an attacker's leg.
They didn't understand—it hadn't even been 10 minutes!
They were all confused, waiting for Friday to say something. But it wasn't Friday they heard next—it was a scream heard for kilometers.
"KAMALAAAAA!"
Kamala's pupils dilated hard upon hearing Jhon's voice. She shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out her little paper. With a trembling hand, she called out to Friday.
"FRIDAY!"
The robot, about to head up, turned toward her.
[Tell me, Miss Kamala]
"Amplify my voice!"
"What are you doing, Kamala?! We need to know what that was!" Riri didn't want her friend getting upset now. She didn't understand why she asked for that.
"I need it!" argued Kamala to her friend, looking at her with teary eyes full of conviction, hoping she'd believe her.
Riri rarely saw her like this, so she gave her the chance without issue. She nodded to Friday, who was waiting for confirmation.
[You may speak, Miss Kamala]
---
As for Jhon, who hadn't heard Kamala's request, he was seriously considering entering his dimension and fleeing for good.
He cursed the essence for preventing the personal wish from letting him escape these situations.
Trying to escape again with all his strength, he failed once more.
The Celestial was already pulling him toward Earth's surface, his body getting farther from the submarine.
'Screw it.' He was about to enter his dimension to escape, but it wasn't necessary.
"[I wish the Zombie virus had never existed in this universe, that only Riri, Kate, Jhon, and I remember what happened!]"
A voice boomed over a megaphone across the ocean. He was already far away, but with his Dhampir powers, he heard every word.
A smile escaped his lips. He looked at the sky and said: "ROT IN HELL, YOU DAMN CELESTIAL!"
"Granted."
He blinked. And everything went white.
---
End of Chapter 19. 3600 words. Friday's was 5000, so in the end, it all balanced out.
What did you think? Bet you didn't see that coming, hehe...
Leave your power stones, please.
[JhonDaoist]