The explosion from their collision tore across the battlefield like the birth of a star.
For a moment, nobody could see anything.
Then the dust cleared.
Julius stood with Crocea Mors raised before him while Blackheart loomed opposite him, a massive crater stretching for kilometers around their feet. Mountains had been flattened. Entire forests had vanished. The landscape itself looked as though an angry god had taken a hammer to reality.
Blackheart laughed.
A deep, monstrous sound.
"You are stronger than I expected, human."
Julius rolled his shoulders.
"I get that a lot."
The son of Mephisto snarled.
Then reality twisted.
Thousands of black tendrils erupted from the ground.
Julius immediately reacted.
Golden portals opened around him.
Dozens of legendary weapons fired.
The tendrils exploded apart.
More appeared.
Then more.
An endless sea of darkness.
Blackheart wasn't simply attacking anymore.
He was corrupting the battlefield itself.
The very shadows seemed alive.
Every patch of darkness became a weapon.
Every ruined building became a trap.
Blackheart raised both hands.
A sphere of condensed eldritch energy formed above his head.
The power radiating from it made the air vibrate.
Even distant Foundation operatives felt their instincts screaming.
Danger.
Extreme danger.
Blackheart launched it.
The sphere shot forward like a meteor.
Julius narrowed his eyes.
Several golden ripples opened.
A divine shield emerged.
The sphere struck.
The resulting detonation swallowed everything.
A mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
Several seconds later, Julius burst from the center of the explosion completely intact.
The shield had cracked.
One of the treasures from the Gate of Babylon had been destroyed.
That was rare.
Very rare.
Blackheart smiled.
Julius stopped smiling.
That alone told Blackheart something important.
For the first time, the demon had managed to force Julius onto the defensive.
Blackheart teleported.
Appearing directly behind him.
A claw descended.
Julius phased through reality itself.
The attack missed.
Crocea Mors flashed upward.
The blade carved through Blackheart's chest.
A deep wound opened.
Black blood sprayed across the battlefield.
For a brief moment, Blackheart stared at the injury.
Then it regenerated instantly.
The flesh reformed.
The wound vanished.
As though it had never existed.
"You cannot kill me," Blackheart said.
"Probably."
Julius shrugged.
"But I can certainly annoy you."
Thousands of golden portals appeared again.
Blackheart's expression darkened.
He hated those portals.
The sky lit up.
Legendary treasures descended like divine judgment.
Entire sections of the battlefield vanished beneath the bombardment.
Blackheart charged directly through it.
Weapons shattered against his skin.
Explosions engulfed him.
Yet he continued forward.
Unstoppable.
Like a living catastrophe.
His fist connected with Julius.
The impact launched him through three mountains.
The peaks exploded.
Rock collapsed.
Several seconds later Julius emerged from the rubble.
Blood ran down one side of his face.
His suit was damaged.
A rare sight.
The O5-2 known as Sentinel looked almost excited.
"Now we're having fun."
Blackheart roared.
The demon expanded further.
His body grew larger.
Thirty feet.
Fifty feet.
One hundred feet tall.
A giant towering over the battlefield.
His power increased with every second.
Hellfire erupted from every inch of his body.
The sky itself turned crimson.
Meanwhile Ghost Rider looked up from his own battle.
"That can't be good."
The Wolfpack commander nodded.
"No kidding."
Back at the center of the battlefield, Julius sighed.
"Fine."
Golden light exploded around him.
The Gate of Babylon expanded.
Far larger than before.
The entire sky transformed into a sea of golden ripples.
Millions.
Perhaps billions.
Every treasure.
Every weapon.
Every artifact.
The full arsenal of humanity's legends.
Blackheart finally stopped smiling.
Even he understood what he was looking at.
Julius pointed forward.
"Fire."
The heavens answered.
The world disappeared beneath gold.
Thousands of explosions merged into one.
Blackheart crossed his arms.
Hellfire erupted around him.
Reality warped.
Dark energy flooded outward.
The two forces collided.
Golden light.
Black darkness.
Humanity's greatest treasures against the son of Mephisto.
The shockwave reached the horizon.
The oceans themselves trembled.
Deep within Hell, powerful demons began turning their attention toward Earth.
Because for the first time in centuries, one of Mephisto's children was being pushed to his limits.
And someone else was watching.
Far deeper within the infernal realms.
A throne of fire.
A smile.
Mephisto opened his eyes.
"Interesting."