After obtaining electromagnetic force, Zod's first step was to modify his own DNA and remove the limitations of being a researcher. Following the template from the Life Codex, he altered himself to possess the DNA of every profession.
The DNA of a soldier made Zod's cells more active than ever before, and even his absorption of sunlight became faster.
Being able to control cells and modify DNA also made Zod realize he didn't have to use it only on himself.
Mutant genes could be modified too. Beast Soldiers, and even the Beast God Generals he'd been contemplating.
What Zod lacked was the Adjusters' tuning techniques. But with electromagnetic force controlling cells and rewriting DNA, even Adjusters wouldn't compare.
"Beast God Generals…" Zod fell into thought. By his standards, each Beast God General should command a unique and powerful ability, like Geo's gravity manipulation.
He didn't know how the Adjusters did it, but mutant genes happened to fit that standard perfectly.
"Black Queen, how many kinds of mutant genes have we collected so far?" Zod asked.
He had never stopped the free health checkups. He'd even expanded them into other countries, so the number of mutant gene samples should be considerable.
After all, in some universes, the number of mutants exceeded 200200 million, with roughly 11 mutant for every 3030 people. A terrifying figure. Even if this universe didn't have that many, it still wouldn't be a small number.
"Over ten thousand non-duplicate mutant genes have been collected," Black Queen replied.
"Good. Begin experiments."
This time, Zod decided to use electromagnetic force and gravity to see if he could do what he envisioned.
He also used useless mutant genes as test material. If he could modify trash-tier mutant genes into something strong, that would be pure profit.
Then, through experimentation, Zod successfully produced a test subject that was no longer so trash.
The original mutant gene of this test subject only made his eyes glow, basically turning them into flashlights at night. After Zod's electromagnetic modification, it became laser eyes.
Another one was a mutant gene that had appeared in the original mutant storyline. Even if Wolverine cut off the arm, it would keep growing back, but it could only grow arms. After Zod modified it, it became a Wolverine-level healing factor. It just didn't include that ridiculous longevity. When a normal lifespan ended, he'd still die. But before that, even getting decapitated or having his heart pierced wouldn't kill him.
Of course, being burned into ashes would still kill him.
Zod felt that the reason Wolverine and Sabretooth didn't die might simply be that nobody had ever captured them and roasted them.
Then Zod also added Colossus's ability. When Colossus's mutant gene didn't match the subject's gene, electromagnetic force helped perfectly fuse Colossus's gene into him.
However, three mutant genes was the test subject's limit. If he fused more, gene collapse and death became extremely likely. Zod still hadn't reached deeper layers of the electromagnetic domain yet, so there was nothing he could do about it for now.
Using psychic power, Zod completely wiped the test subject's memories, then implanted memories he'd "carefully" woven. It wasn't that elaborate, really. It was a mental brand, making him loyal at all times, and he also left behind a "thought-wave" as a final insurance policy.
An undying body plus a steel body plus laser eyes.
After the mutant woke up, Zod gave him a name.
Black Knight.
Deathwing's members were named after chess pieces: Black or White King, Queen, Bishop, Rook, Knight.
Colossus and Iron Man were reassigned back down to World Serpent. With Black Knight now in place, there was no need for Colossus and Iron Man anymore. Those two could just serve as World Serpent's cadres.
"It's a pity you don't have flight. Otherwise, you'd basically qualify as a Black Rook," Zod said to Black Knight.
Black Knight said nothing.
Zod didn't mind. Black Knight would develop his own will soon enough. Right now, he was only pure like a newborn. Zod needed to have Black Queen arrange channels for him to access information and cultivate his values.
But then Blade showed up.
He wasn't here about Jared Nomak. Reaper leader Jared Nomak was already dead, and Blade hadn't managed to save Martha. However, a disheartened Blade had encountered a strange group. From what they told him, Blade learned there was a way to purge every vampire in the world, and it required eliminating Dracula, who had been retrieved by the vampires.
Blade had already fought Dracula once and realized he was completely outmatched, so he came to ask Zod for help.
First, because Blade Technology Industries had all kinds of advanced weapons. Second, Zod Heath himself was now a world-famous superhero. In a crisis threatening all humanity, Blade couldn't afford to force it alone, especially since he wasn't confident.
"The vampire progenitor, Dracula?" Zod invaded Blade's memories, replayed the footage, and confirmed it wasn't the comic version of Dracula. It was the movie version.
"Take this. You don't need any Daystar Virus. Have that female doctor hand the Daystar Virus over to me. This is my latest weapon specifically for vampires. I don't care if he's the progenitor. One shot, and he dies."
Zod took out the Extremis Virus weapon. He was very interested in the Daystar Virus.
"This is…?" Blade stared at the liquid sealed inside the bullets. It looked unreliable. Holy water?
"Be careful. That stuff reacts to any vampire virus. One mistake and you'll die. For vampires, it's probably poison among poisons," Zod said.
Since Dracula wasn't afraid of sunlight, UV weapons wouldn't work. Perfect. Extremis would do.
Blade accepted the 100100 Extremis Virus rounds Zod gave him, still half-believing, half-doubting. At least the ammo supply was sufficient.
Seeing that Blade hadn't brought in strong reinforcements, Deadpool… no, wrong, Hannibal and Jessica were very disappointed. But Blade said that while he hadn't gotten reinforcements, he had obtained a powerful weapon. He just didn't know whether it was actually effective.
When the battle began, the Albert squad stormed the vampires' headquarters, and Blade quickly ran into Dracula.
"Blade…" Dracula revealed a savage grin, just about to transform, when he saw Blade pull out another gun and fire three shots.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dracula sneered. Bullets? After waking up, he'd seen them all. Silver bullets, anticoagulants, whatever…
Then Dracula suddenly felt something was wrong.
And in Blade's eyes, the three bloody holes where Dracula had been hit lit up with a blazing red glow.
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