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"As expected, Armament Haki can grasp this ghost-like entity!"
Lionel was delighted, pulling the Annabelle doll, which was only half a meter from freedom, back with force. "You almost got away!"
Annabelle struggled fiercely. Fortunately, Lionel's physical strength was now close to Captain America's, otherwise, he really wouldn't have been able to hold her.
A few more dog-like monsters were summoned by Annabelle from the Shadow, tearing towards Lionel.
With a swing of the short knife in his right hand, the dog-like monsters, like the previous monkey monsters, turned into smoke and disappeared.
Is she so afraid of being caught?
Lionel could easily destroy Annabelle with his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, but he had no way to seal this evil spirit.
"Perhaps I can try that!" Lionel thought of an ability.
His eyes instantly turned into the same concentric circles as Makima's, representing a devil. Lionel used the authority of [Domination] he obtained from his contract with Makima.
"Stop! I am your Master now!"
"Stop! I am your Master now!"
"Stop! I am your Master now!"
Fearing that 30% of the authority might not be enough, Lionel specifically said it three times.
The constantly struggling Annabelle quieted down, and the dark monsters she had summoned once again also stopped moving, quietly disappearing where they stood.
Feeling the commotion in the house calm down, the husband cautiously asked:
"Mr. Lionel, is the problem resolved?"
"She is already in my hands; there won't be any more trouble!"
Lionel waved the Annabelle in his hand at the nervous couple. "Can anyone tell me what this doll's name is?"
---
"Sorry, I dealt with a haunting, so I'm a bit late."
In a coffee shop, Lionel sat down in front of Makima, holding a doll with strange makeup.
"It's fine, it's not our agreed time yet." Makima scooped a spoonful of ice cream, not bothered by Lionel cutting it close to their appointment.
Today, Lionel and Makima planned to go to the movies, but he received a call from the Old Priest at the last minute, so they agreed to meet at this coffee shop near the cinema. After Lionel finished dealing with Annabelle, he realized it was almost time for his appointment with Makima, and he didn't even have time to deal with Annabelle, so he just brought the doll directly.
Putting the ice cream in her mouth, Makima pointed to the Annabelle Lionel had placed on the table and said, "This doll isn't a gift for me, I assume. Its appearance doesn't suit my aesthetic, and you even used the [Domination] authority on her. Is she a living creature?"
Exaggerated blush, blood-red lipstick, terrifyingly black eyelashes and eyes, and a body that looked like ceramic yet wooden, covered in fine cracks—the Annabelle doll's appearance was indeed somewhat eerie.
"Her appearance is indeed a bit eerie!" Lionel agreed with Makima's assessment. He had always found the Annabelle doll to be very eerie and terrifying, the kind that you could tell was a horror movie protagonist just by looking at her.
Annabelle trembled slightly, indicating she was quite pleased with her appearance.
"She is the haunting I dealt with this time; she's an evil spirit named Annabelle."
"Oh, an evil spirit? Can you let her tell us about her origin?" Makima was curious about this so-called evil spirit. In her past World, supernatural powers all came from devils, but in this World, supernatural powers didn't have a unified source; it seemed various methods could grant supernatural powers.
Lionel tapped Annabelle's head: "Hey, I know you can talk. Tell her about your origin."
The coffee shop instantly grew cold, as if a chilly wind was blowing. The young waiter sneezed, suspiciously checking the ambient temperature—26 degrees, no problem.
"Keep the commotion down, remove the wind effect!"
Annabelle trembled in distress, and the coffee shop returned to normal.
"I come from Hell. An accidental opportunity allowed me to possess the soul of a little girl named Annabelle, but she was already dead at the time, so I could only attach myself to the wooden doll she last touched before her death. This is quite interesting…"
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Zebediah Killgrave scrambled out of the Hudson River, his custom purple suit tattered, but strangely, he had no injuries.
"Damn Wilson Fisk! He actually broke free of my control and tried to drown me! Once I gather my strength, I'll go kill him!"
Zebediah Killgrave was a Yugoslav spy, once assigned the mission to steal nerve gas from a U.S. Army Base.
Unfortunately, during the theft, he was discovered by soldiers, and bullets pierced the nerve gas canister he had painstakingly stolen. The neurotoxin inside the canister engulfed him, but luckily, he didn't die, merely fell unconscious. Zebediah Killgrave was released not long after being imprisoned.
Abandoned, Zebediah Killgrave unexpectedly discovered he had a special ability: he could control others through words, whether they were children, adults, or the elderly, whether they were street thugs or corporate executives, he could control them all.
With nothing, Zebediah Killgrave lived a comfortable life for several months using this ability. During these months, the women in his bed changed daily, he enjoyed the highest level of any service without paying any price, and he could do whatever he wanted.
Because he liked to wear purple suits, he gave himself the nickname Purple Man.
However, his ability was not without flaws. Purple Man could only control people within a certain range around him. Within this range, everyone was obedient to him. He could also control people who went beyond this range, but if they were away from him for too long, the control would weaken and eventually break, allowing them to regain consciousness.
Purple Man had suffered from this weakness before. He got tired of a woman, left her where she was, and the next day he was almost beaten to death by a group of gang members. Fortunately, he managed to control everyone again at the critical moment, avoiding being beaten to a pulp.
But today, he discovered another weakness of his ability: some people seemed to be able to forcibly break free of his control, such as Kingpin Wilson Fisk, who threw him into the river.
Controlling those with overt power could easily lead others to notice something was wrong with the controlled person, thereby exposing the manipulator, Purple Man, because he had to constantly stay near the controlled person.
So, the exceptionally intelligent Purple Man, using his 'World-shattering wisdom,' decided to control Kingpin, the uncrowned king of New York's underworld. As long as he controlled Kingpin, New York would become his private garden.
The idea was beautiful, but Kingpin gave him a resounding slap.
Using his ability, Purple Man easily found Kingpin and entered the range where his power was effective. At first, it went smoothly; Kingpin was successfully controlled. But just five seconds after Purple Man was envisioning himself as the King of New York, the mountain-like man shook his head and punched him to the ground.
"Idiot!"
That was the last thing Purple Man heard before losing consciousness. After that, he didn't know how long he was beaten, only feeling enveloped by river water in the end; he had been thrown into the Hudson River.
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