While the military was plotting how to capture Eddie and Morbius, their client had just finished an interview with Cletus Kasady, a serial killer who was arrogant even in prison and didn't take the guards—or Eddie—seriously at all.
Cletus Kasady, a born bad guy, had revealed his bloodthirsty, cruel, and indifferent nature from childhood. He pushed a disabled grandmother in a wheelchair down the stairs and threw a plugged-in hair dryer into the bathtub. He killed his mother, and when he killed his father, he was beaten and abandoned in an orphanage.
There, he met the girl who would become worthy of his lifelong devotion—Scream.
A girl with special abilities, she could emit unimaginable sound waves. The two had once been the most perfectly matched partners and lovers, but one day... Scream was captured and lost an eye. Kasady began to spiral out of control, carrying out killings to vent his anger, though the police could never find every body.
Eddie was invited to interview the legendary serial killer, but Venom was happy because the prison was full of bad people, and Eddie had promised that he could eat the bad ones. Kasady was originally very confident that no one could decipher where he had hidden his victims. He laughed at the police's incompetence and carved all the clues into the prison walls, but Venom easily cracked them.
So he was sentenced to death, and Kasady hated Eddie because of this, speaking rudely to the man. As a result, Venom was angered, and Kasady was massacred.
"Are you crazy? That will expose us. We could be captured for experiments at any time, just like your blue partner!" Eddie angrily scolded Venom for acting on impulse. He had already been targeted by the military, and if something happened at a time like this, he would definitely be arrested!
"I'm going to eat his head!" Venom retorted without hesitation. "Even if you do nothing, you'll be taken away for experiments sooner or later."
Venom saw the situation clearly, which was also due to the symbiote's extraordinary memory and learning ability. Although Venom usually seemed rather average—naive and a little irritable—he was actually more reliable and smarter than Eddie. That was simply a limitation of humans, and something in which they lagged behind more advanced technological civilizations.
However, the two of them still didn't know that Kasady currently possessed a terrifying power hidden within his body. Once it erupted, it would become a huge disaster!
When Renzo found out about this, it was already too late. Instead, he was scolded. Renzo was furious, angry that they hadn't trusted him. Although it had all been an unintentional mistake, they were teammates and companions. Why didn't they speak up when they had difficulties so they could work together to find a solution? Why insist on fighting alone?
This was a common problem among superheroes. When they encountered difficulties, the first thing they thought of was solving them alone. Only when disasters reached a massive scale would several superheroes join forces to resolve them, such as during the Battle of New York and the Age of Ultron.
And there was another matter that gave him an even bigger headache.
"Is the information accurate?" Renzo asked in a deep voice.
Standing across the table with her small body, Contempt answered through her electronic voice, "According to my observations, it is accurate."
Her electronic eyes stared at the table, where desolate debris was scattered across the desert. It looked like a space station belonging to some country had crashed there. Renzo combined the video leaked online with the intercepted phone calls from that country and determined that the crash had not been an accident.
Then there was only one truth.
"It's really ugly, watching you eat, Knull... Are you that eager to take Earth for yourself?"
Listening to the man's ridicule, Contempt deliberately shut off her hearing. Although she now had some desire to survive alongside humans... hearing something like this would have seemed utterly rebellious to her a month ago! How could she betray the god who had created her?
But she had been betrayed and held in contempt.
When had she become attached to this strange planet? Was this the first time she had experienced human emotions while possessing Annie? Was it when she first became aware of the world while browsing the Internet? Or when she went to the store and ate chocolate with Venom?
Contempt couldn't figure it out. She clearly possessed intelligence superior to humans, yet she couldn't understand herself the way humans did.
"How many symbiotes landed in total?"
"Based on the magnetic field and residual scent at the crash site, there were probably four."
Renzo fell silent. Four more had landed this time. Counting the dead Riot and the unidentified yellow symbiote, there were now a total of eight symbiotes active on Earth. And there was also an extremely dangerous Carnage!
Renzo wasn't sure about the personalities of those three symbiotes. It would be easier if they were as stupid as Venom. He might be able to make them give up on conquering Earth with nothing more than a piece of chocolate. But if they were fanatical followers of Knull like Riot, and strong at that...
Renzo couldn't guarantee that he could kill eight symbiotes in a short period of time. If even one escaped, it would become a huge disaster for society.
Once the symbiotes began killing without restraint, San Francisco would definitely be the first place affected. There were many people here, as well as Silicon Valley, where countless high-tech talents gathered. If the symbiotes started slaughtering people, the damage would be incalculable!
Renzo had to kill them before they found suitable hosts. Surrender was impossible. After all, there were only a few symbiotes with Venom's temperament.
But before that, he had to kill Carnage first!
Boom!
The wall of the church was smashed apart, followed by a harsh roar. The sound was so sharp that it almost pierced the human eardrum.
Eddie struggled to crawl out from beneath the masonry and dust, shaking his head awkwardly. The blow he'd taken just now had been heavy enough to almost knock Eddie out of Venom.
Morbius was still fighting Carnage, using his teleportation ability to continuously evade Carnage's scarlet spikes. He had narrowly escaped several times, but his body was still inevitably stained. His usual gentlemanly and elegant appearance was gone, and he now looked like a homeless man, with a thin trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth. His expensive suit was covered in marks, the buttons at his collar had been torn off, and a crack ran across his brow. He was in a miserable state.
"Vampires actually exist! Hehehe... What's the difference between vampire blood and human blood?"
Carnage laughed wickedly. Nearby, his girlfriend screamed. She was wearing a white wedding dress and veil and holding a bright scarlet bouquet, watching her boyfriend show off his power with a smile. Yet the cruelty in the corners of her eyes couldn't be concealed.
"Want to know? Please, I can tell you."
Morbius forced a smile as he spoke. As an expert in blood diseases, he had personally tasted the blood of various people, as well as his own, and the flavors were indeed different. He had even tasted Eddie's blood and Renzo's blood specifically and found that each had its own merits.
It was just like drinking milk tea. There were always different flavors and ingredients, such as taro paste or sago, each with its own characteristics.
Carnage let out a horrifying laugh and extended several long, blood-red whips from his body. They resembled the tentacles of some giant sea monster, attacking the man one after another. The covering assault blocked all of Morbius's escape routes.
There was no way out. One whip moved with lightning speed and sliced across the man's throat, sending a trace of blood spraying into the air.
Carnage was very afraid of Morbius's ultrasonic attack and had suffered badly during their first battle. If Eddie and Venom hadn't been restrained by Scream's sound waves, the first fight might already have ended with one of them winning or losing.
"Roar!"
Carnage wrapped around Morbius's ankle and slammed him into the ground with all his strength. The vampire smashed hole after hole into the church's stone floor.
Venom took the opportunity to crawl out from beneath the rubble. With a sudden sweep of his arm, he smashed the stone floor, knocking Carnage's head sideways and saving Morbius.
"Are you okay?"
"Not okay at all."
Morbius wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His pupils contracted as he stared viciously at the rampaging Carnage. The smell of blood on his body had completely enraged the blood-disease specialist, and he could no longer wait. He wanted to taste the difference between this monster's blood and human blood.
Eddie hadn't expected Carnage to be this powerful. He had pinned the two of them down and was beating them both violently.
In the original story, Carnage naturally wasn't this powerful. But because Eddie and Venom were much stronger than they were in the movie, the Carnage separated from them was also more powerful. Moreover, because the government placed such importance on Kasady, they had prepared a double dose of the lethal injection and administered it to his body. The symbiote reacted even more violently with Eddie's blood and the death-penalty drug, accelerating the formation and catalysis of Carnage and making him physically stronger.
With this level of strength, if the Eddie from the original movie were here, he would probably be held down and beaten until he couldn't tell which way was up.
Scream held a large bouquet and giggled, completely unconcerned about the two men. In the heart of a woman in love, her boyfriend was always the strongest.
The same was true for Kasady. Even when facing Morbius in a violent state and Eddie fighting with everything he had, he still managed to fight the two of them at once. However, after the two had worked together during this period, their bodies had grown stronger, and he inevitably took several heavy blows.
Morbius's body rapidly repaired itself, and his voice suddenly erupted into a sharp, piercing shriek, almost tearing Carnage away from Kasady's body.
Eddie seized the opportunity to leave several scars across Kasady's body. Judging by the force behind his punch, the man's ribs had to be broken.
"Go to hell!"
Eddie grabbed Kasady's shoulder with a massive claw. His tremendous strength tore away the man's shoulder blade. A red wave surged toward him, and Venom didn't dare remain entangled. He quickly released his grip and retreated, avoiding being swallowed by Carnage.
The two sides fought to a stalemate, neither able to gain the upper hand. Even if the battle continued until dawn, it would be difficult to determine a winner. Moreover, once dawn broke, Morbius's strength would be suppressed by the sunlight, making victory even more difficult.
Morbius dodged Carnage's piercing tentacles and suddenly raised his head. His warning instincts flared.
He rushed away from Eddie. The two instantly separated and transformed, hiding behind the broken wall.
Boom!
A rocket hit its mark, and Carnage was blown away by the sudden explosion.
This was a newly developed shock bomb from the military. It produced greater noise and flames and was a natural symbiote killer.
Felicia held the rocket launcher against her body, her red lips parting in surprise as if shocked by the weapon's power. But even more shocked was Carnage.
"What the hell is this? One vampire wasn't enough? Why'd you have to turn a blood bag into a sperm donor too?"
Kasady struggled to his feet. The scarlet Carnage slime crawled through the cracks toward him, and the man's expression became ferocious as Carnage merged with him again.
"Dear..."
Kasady called his girlfriend's name.
Scream screamed and collapsed onto the roof of the church in embarrassment. Her bouquet was burned to ashes by the scorching flames, and the white wedding dress she wore was covered in dust from the explosion, with the hem of the skirt scorched black.
"Dear..."
Carnage moved forward to protect the woman, but a strange force came from the side. He was knocked away and smashed through the church.
Countless searchlights illuminated Carnage, while infrared sights locked onto the monster's body. With a single command, bullets from every direction would roar and tear him apart.
"Hahahahaha! I really like myself now!"
Alexei shouted excitedly. His enormous gray body was even larger than Venom's, and a thick horn had grown from his head. The wounds across his body were visible to the naked eye, slowly healing.
Kasady and Carnage's expressions twisted, and he could no longer laugh wildly. The situation before him had obviously gone far beyond his expectations. He had never heard of these people before, as though they had appeared out of nowhere.
The Rhino charged him again, and Carnage caught its powerful horn. The tremendous force pushed the monster backward, plowing two long scratches into the ground.
The black soldier on the helicopter waved his hand, and bullets poured down like rain, hammering both the monster and Alexei.
The Rhino wasn't afraid of this level of attack. The dense, thick hide covering its body was enough to withstand most attacks. Even rockets could barely hurt it.
Carnage wasn't so lucky.
The dense bullets tore his body apart, exposing Kasady's face from time to time. One bullet grazed his cheek and nearly struck his head.
When Scream saw her boyfriend being attacked, an indescribable anger rose within her. That anger transformed into a harsh scream.
However, these soldiers were clearly well prepared. They had studied Scream's abilities beforehand, and every one of them wore a helmet equipped with noise-canceling protection. At most, Scream's sound waves sounded like sirens to them and were completely harmless.
But Carnage was different.
Fear filled his heart, and the violent noise separated him from Kasady. The red symbiote collapsed onto the ground and struggled to crawl.
Pfft!
A glass container was turned upside down, landing perfectly over Carnage and trapping him inside.
"Give him back to me!"
Kasady became enraged and lunged toward Carnage. The soldiers behind him swarmed forward, restraining the man, pointing their weapons at his head, and knocking him down with the butt of a gun.
Scream was also tied up again by the soldiers and escorted onto the plane.
The military commander wore a satisfied smile.
All of this had been a trap they had prepared. An hour after Carnage appeared, he received information about Carnage's true identity. This allowed him to rescue Scream and also learn Eddie Brock's identity. Following that information, Eddie and Morbius had gone to Chicago, where they officially met and fought Kasady.
But this time, Annie hadn't been kidnapped and threatened by Kasady. Instead, he had threatened to expose Venom's true identity and reveal all of Eddie's information to the world.
This desolate battle came to a desolate end.
As one of the combatants, Morbius used his abilities to take Eddie away without incident.
The military commander smiled lightly and looked meaningfully in the direction where Eddie had disappeared, but paid it no further attention.
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