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Chapter 121: Venom's Rebirth and the Plan
In Batman's original plan, he'd intended to retrieve Venom and retreat immediately, then execute the strategy he'd already formulated to defeat Anti-Venom.
But Anti-Venom clearly had no intention of letting Venom Batman escape so easily.
SHING!
Both arms transformed into scythes that scraped the ground. Massive amounts of white symbiotic material spread beneath the dirt, extending across the entire forest in the blink of an eye. Spikes as thick as adult thighs erupted from the earth.
The forest disappeared. In its place stood a forest of white spikes formed from Anti-Venom's symbiotic mass. Venom Batman stood at the center of this deadly terrain.
"Batman, we need to find a way to escape! I can't beat it!" Venom shrieked in Batman's ear with terror.
Batman said nothing. Everything below his knees had already lost Venom's coverage. The symbiotic material there dissolved instantly upon contact with Anti-Venom's white substance.
He had to get Venom out of the Adirondack Mountains as quickly as possible.
Dense white spikes surged toward Batman from all directions. He tried moving to dodge the spikes, but his feet were held fast by symbiotic material.
Venom's strength fell far short of Anti-Venom's. Even achieving perfect unity with Batman and operating at peak capacity, facing an equally unified Anti-Venom left Venom struggling desperately.
His legs lost their Venom covering. Batman could only rely on Peter Parker's thirty-ton strength against Anti-Venom's hundred-plus tons.
Every step became an ordeal.
Just as overwhelming white symbiotic material bristling with spikes swept forward—just as Batman seemed about to become Anti-Venom's prey—another threat approached.
Anti-Venom hadn't remained stationary waiting for its symbiotic mass to deliver Batman.
After transforming the forest into a white spike field, Anti-Venom wrenched both scythe-arms from the ground with a metallic shriek.
It lunged forward. Its pitch-black face split open at nearly a hundred-degree angle. A violent roar erupted from its maw.
Then Anti-Venom dropped to all fours, racing across the white symbiotic material toward Batman with savage speed.
In the blink of an eye, Anti-Venom reached Venom Batman. Its gaping maw plunged toward Batman's head.
In the next instant, the black symbiote vanished from Batman's head.
Venom feared Anti-Venom with every fiber of its being, but this retreat wasn't abandoning Batman.
WHOOSH!
Black symbiotic material rippled downward from Batman's head, wrapping around his trapped feet.
Though it lasted less than half a second before dissolving under Anti-Venom's material, it gave Batman the opening he needed to dodge the lethal attack.
SNAP!
Anti-Venom's jaws clamped down with tremendous force—on empty air.
Batman used that brief moment of restored mobility to sidestep twice, moving his head clear of the bite.
"Good move! Keep doing that!" Venom called softly near Batman's ear. "Batman, I can't probe your thoughts..."
"But can you tell me—have you found a way to deal with Anti-Venom?"
Ducking beneath Anti-Venom's scythe slash, Batman spoke with rapid precision. "Yes."
Venom's head extended from behind Batman's shoulder to his front, looking at him directly.
"I want to survive. But I have zero chance fighting it."
"Batman, I need you."
As it spoke, Venom drew the symbiotic material covering Batman's right arm downward, briefly wrapping his legs before dissolving again.
This time, Batman bent his knees the moment Venom's material moved. The instant his feet broke free from Anti-Venom's grip, he launched skyward, leaping dozens of meters away.
Airborne, Batman spread his cape, letting his body glide briefly before inevitably landing again.
Batman was moving. Anti-Venom was moving.
White symbiotic material spread across the ground like a carpet, covering a hundred-meter radius around Batman as its center.
No matter how far Batman leaped, the material followed his movements.
"Anti-Venom was born to kill me," Venom said, still watching Batman. "If it kills me, maybe you can escape..."
Facing the greatest danger since his arrival in this world, Batman maintained perfect composure. He looked at Venom's fist-sized head extending from behind his shoulder to his front.
"I won't let you die."
"You need to survive for my plan to proceed."
Venom's eyes drooped slightly. Its face looked less grotesque than when bonded with Eddie Brock.
"I can't grow wings yet. I can't make you fly."
"Batman, even though I can't fully access your memories, you're still the host I've dreamed of since my birth."
"We're no match for Anti-Venom right now. Only if you survive do we have any possibilities."
"I need to make a small sacrifice to free you from Anti-Venom's control."
While they spoke, Anti-Venom's frenzied assault never ceased. It even transformed white symbiotic material into a spear and hurled it at Batman.
The spear reached Batman's chest the instant after leaving Anti-Venom's grasp. Only then did Batman hear the thunderous boom.
The weapon had been thrown faster than sound. Yet Batman still evaded it.
"I'll leave a trace of symbiote inside your fourth vertebra from the bottom. And you, Batman—you'll use your plan to help us defeat Anti-Venom." Venom's voice dropped to a low rumble. "You'll prove to me that we're the strongest."
In the next second, cape, suit, arms, back—
Nearly all of Venom's symbiotic material surged toward Batman's feet.
Venom was using the instant before Anti-Venom dissolved it to buy Batman time to escape.
"Don't worry about me, Batman."
Venom's head also withdrew behind Batman's shoulder. Then that mass of symbiotic material flowed toward Batman's feet as well.
"The trace I'm leaving you is both the key to defeating Anti-Venom and my chance for rebirth. As long as you escape..."
Venom's voice grew weaker and weaker. Massive amounts of black symbiote poured continuously into Batman's legs, occasionally blocking attacks aimed at his upper body.
Its symbiotic mass diminished rapidly. Except for the trace left in Batman's vertebra, it held nothing back—giving Batman every possible chance.
Gradually, when Anti-Venom could no longer sense Venom's presence on Batman, it finally stopped its crazed pursuit. Instead, it stood in place, its face contorting continuously.
"Why stop? Keep chasing! I want to kill Batman!" Half of Eddie Brock's face emerged from Anti-Venom's dark visage, his features twisted in fury.
"My only target was Venom. And it's dead. Batman is nothing but an insect I could crush at any time." Anti-Venom's voice resonated. "Don't forget who kept you alive when that sniper bullet hit you head-on, Eddie... This body—I'm in control."
"Damn it! Damn it!"
Eddie Brock cursed violently, but his exposed face was quickly covered by white symbiotic material, silencing him completely.
---
Three hours later, the sky had turned pitch black. Batman pushed open the laboratory door on North Brother Island.
The three scientists conducted research here day and night. Seeing Batman arrive unprecedentedly in the middle of the night, they couldn't help but tense.
"Dr. Banner, Dr. Otto, Professor Connors—I need your help." Batman got straight to the point. "Extract the marrow from my fourth vertebra from the bottom."
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