"Excuse me, how should we address you?" Nick Fury asked, rubbing his bald head. Facing Baal reminded him of the sheer powerlessness he felt when he first met Bul-Kathos. That kind of existential dread isn't easily forgotten.
"Destruction," Baal replied casually. The power of a Great Demon Lord surged within him. He wasn't really answering Fury; he was simply igniting his own power. He felt a tremor from the fragment of Mephisto's power within him, but he didn't care to investigate.
Right now, it was more important to let the Barbarians relive a tragedy from their past.
Baal reached out and clamped his hand over Hellboy's head. Hellboy, who had been in his human-passing form, was instantly forced back into his true demonic aspect. He didn't even have time to scream.
"Red!" Liz Sherman cried out in desperation. She slapped herself hard across the face, the surge of pain triggering her pyrokinesis. Sparks began to fly from her skin. It was a tragic sight—uncontrolled power born of grief and desperation.
"I can't have you distracting the Barbarians just yet," Baal muttered to himself. These mortals weren't even worthy of a conversation. He would compromise with Bul-Kathos out of respect for a greater power, but S.H.I.E.L.D.? Whether he talked to them depended entirely on his mood.
And right now, Baal was in a foul mood.
"Fire!" Dum Dum Dugan barked, bypassing Nick Fury's command. Fury might have wanted to try diplomacy, but to a veteran like Dugan, the situation was clear. Baal had shown aggression; words were a waste of time.
John Wick drew his pistol and fired repeatedly. Even with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s high-tech rounds, the bullets did nothing. Baal didn't even flinch. Bucky Barnes charged forward, his mechanical arm slamming into the open wound on Baal's body, only for the metal to melt into slag upon contact with the Great Evil's blood.
Mortal weapons could harm a Demon Lord, but only if they were powerful enough. This mechanical arm was not.
Liz Sherman's flames roared to life, but they vanished the moment they left her body. She grabbed Nick Fury by the shoulder and screamed, "Hit me!"
"What?" Fury yelled back, his signature catchphrase lost in the chaos.
"I said, hit me!" Liz screamed with a manic intensity.
The bizarre exchange ended with Fury delivering a crushing blow to Liz's face. He still harbored the bitter memory of Coulson being "incinerated" before him; he put every ounce of his strength into that slap.
"Now... run!" Liz gasped. Her emotions were at the breaking point.
Fury didn't hesitate. He turned and sprinted away. Dugan and the others paused for a fraction of a second before following suit.
In the next heartbeat, Liz Sherman completely lost control.
A colossal pillar of fire erupted. In his arrogance, Baal hadn't expected such a flare. It was only for a moment, but it was enough of a beacon for Kalgax and the others to pin down his location.
"Ants!" Baal sneered, his ruined face contorting in mockery.
The Hellboy in his grip had already spiraled into unconsciousness. With a flick of his power, Baal snuffed out Liz's inferno. He didn't just extinguish the fire; he destroyed the very essence of her power. From this day forward, Liz Sherman would be an ordinary woman. Her "superpower" was now a thing of the past.
Baal's energy poured into Hellboy, systematically dismantling the integrity of this world's Hellish rules.
"The Barbarians want an explosion, don't they?" Baal whispered with sadistic glee.
Hellboy was the personification of this world's Hell. When those fundamental rules began to collide and collapse, he would become the most magnificent firework the battlefield had ever seen. It would be enough to wipe out those relentless Ancestors. If he was lucky, it might even damage their souls.
Even if Baal eventually had to surrender his divinity to Bul-Kathos, it wouldn't stop him from making life miserable for the Barbarians in the meantime. After all, Bul-Kathos had permitted the fight.
He just needed a little more time.
"Red!" Liz cried out in despair. Her flames were gone. In a matter of seconds, she had swung from rage to utter helplessness. Power brings a shadow of courage, but true courage has nothing to do with strength. She felt the aura of total annihilation radiating from her lover, and her vision was filled with Baal's towering, monstrous form.
Her soul began to warp under the sheer weight of her fear of the Demon Lord. Corruption was imminent.
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