Chapter 106: Bonus - : Surprise (IX)

Chapter 106: Bonus Chapter: Surprise (IX)

Bonus Chapter for last week’s 5k stones.

2.5k stone for this week as usual.

...

"Close call," Gwen muttered while landing on the ground, blinking at the chopper’s nose that was only a few inches from the asphalt. "Now, about the big guy."

Right then, the door to the chopper was kicked open, almost giving Gwen a little spook. She looked back and found an old man with a cut on his forehead stumble onto the road.

His face was flushed red, and he looked delirious. The guy could barely stand straight. It was understandable; he just had a near-death experience, after all.

According to the files SHIELD had sent her, this guy was General Ross.

"That monster, who is that monster..." He huffed, barely getting back to his feet. The old man was shaking so badly that it felt like he might have an attack.

"Calm down, deep breaths..." Gwen wanted to go look at the very monster that was fighting John, but she couldn’t leave this guy panicking like this.

Just then, a grunt came from the helicopter; it was like someone was stretching the human voice like it was a rubber band. And it felt like it was about to break.

"Bruce!!"

Gwen ran towards the open door and found General Ross’s daughter inside, holding a man; she also seemed to have some head trauma. The problem wasn’t that she was holding this man; the problem was that this man’s skin was turning green as well. His body was pulsing like a heart, trying to rip through the washed blue shirt and the restraints that tied him to the bed.

Thinking about the monster that was fighting John, and looking at this guy, Gwen’s spider sense started screaming.

"Bruce, breathe. Calm down, we are safe, you are safe." Elizabeth Ross kept holding Bruce’s face as he kept grunting. And it seemed to be calming down whatever was causing the change.

"Yes, you are safe now. Totally safe." Gwen chimed in too, as she helped the survivors out of the chopper; agents from SHIELD were waiting to take further care of them.

’That was a close one.’ Gwen wiped the imaginary sweat off her brow as the Agents started to handle the rest.

With her work here finally done, she rushed off towards John. It wasn’t hard to locate him as there was a walking wrecking ball running around him.

Her initial thought was to go in and help, but after seeing the way John walked towards the stumbling giant, she decided to stop on a building at a distance.

’His muscles are insane.’ Gwen had felt those muscles with her own hands, and she still had a hard time wrapping her head around them.

Still, it was a good thing not many were around to see it all right now. Obviously, there were no normal people in the vicinity, aside from those who had lost their lives already.

And to the average person, the current John wouldn’t exactly inspire awe.

His shirt was gone, and he was covered in blood, plus he had that crazy smile and scary eyes right now. Not to mention the burst of Haki and cursed energy emanating from his body. He was nothing like the usual John who sat with her and ate 10 pizzas, or the one who comforted her.

Right now, any normal person would think that they were coming face to face with a demon from hell. Even Abomination himself was trying to crawl away.

His regeneration, which was boosted thanks to the deal he had made with the voice in his head, had started to slow down as well.

The bigger problem was that John had already crushed his ankles and knees before he could make another attempt to run away. It was like this demon would not stop until he was dead.

"S...Stop..." Still, Abomination tried to reason with this thing. It looked human, so it should listen, right? Even Banner, in his monster form, could be reasoned with.

But that was his worst mistake ever.

"Wrong answer." The demon in front of him just raised his hand, looking more excited than ever.

In this moment, John was in a state that was often described as flow. His brain had become so clear that it felt unreal. Whatever he wanted to do, it felt like he could do it in this moment.

So, John did just that. Haki covered his fist as he struck Abomination’s chest. To the latter, the punch felt even weaker than before.

Maybe this guy was also losing steam. That was perfect. If that was what happened, then he might have a chance to end this guy right here.

But right before Abomination could grab John as a last-ditch attempt, an explosion went off inside his chest. And it wouldn’t be wrong to say that that’s exactly what happened.

With the overwhelming use of Haki and cursed energy in the fight he had had up until now, John’s understanding of both had reached a new level with the trance-like state he had reached.

Since he had treated his hand like a sword and used it to train Haki imbuement. While pushing his body to the absolute limits, he was able to unlock one of the advanced techniques of Armament Haki, internal destruction.

With his thick and durable skin, Abomination just became the perfect test dummy for him to refine this newly unlocked power.

Since he was still new to the technique, John kept punching his target over and over, misfiring a few times. He was deaf to the screams and blind to the thrashing, with only the feeling of wanting to improve.

As the last dull thud echoed on the burning street, John finally felt the rising heat in his body fizzle out. Now that he was out of the trance, he looked at his bloodied knuckles, and the mangled giant passed out in the puddle of his own blood with a sigh.

That was the clearest indication that the fight had ended, and that he had won like he was supposed to.

’I am a human is not gonna cut it anymore.’ John reeled in his rampant cursed energy and Haki while noticing the few eyes on him.

Gwen, Natasha, and a few others he knew of, not to mention the one running away at this moment. That one didn’t seem to have any bad intentions, so John just shrugged; he was also too exhausted at this moment to start another fight.

At least Abomination was still alive. Looking at its soul and body, the thing was already on the road to a slow recovery. Still, there was another thing that caught his attention.

’What is that red thread?’ And as if noticing that he had noticed, the thread snapped and vanished into thin air.

What was that thread? Did it have anything to do with Abomination’s attack on him and the boost of its regeneration? Was the one who did this still watching? Did it have a purpose it was trying to achieve here?

There were so many questions swirling in his head that his brain started to itch again.

"Let’s put a pin in this." John looked at the blood covering his body and almost broke into hives.

A shower was needed, right this instant.

Thanks to the big-hearted SHIELD agents, he didn’t have to look for a taxi or take the subway looking like Carrie, just that he was covered in the blood of a gamma-irradiated monster instead of a pig. Not that anyone would bother to listen to such clarifications.

John had also decided to throw the shoes and pants that had made it through the ordeal the moment he reached his house. The stench alone was enough to stink up the entire neighbourhood for days.

The big-hearted SHIELD agents were taking care of that for him as well. Truly helpful.

Well, they were probably looking into Abomination, if that was possible. But John didn’t give a flying fuck about that. It took the entire bottle of body wash to get the layers of fresh and dried blood off his body, not to mention he had to use two bottles of shampoo to clean his hair.

But more than that, as the cold water flowed through his clean hair and down his unblemished skin, John was still replaying the fight in his head. Most importantly, the end of it.

Abomination was already telling him to stop. It had already accepted defeat. John should’ve stopped at that point. There was no need to beat the thing until it had passed out. There was really no rational reason for doing that.

Still, he had continued to beat Abomination to a pulp using Internal Destruction and used him to further train the technique in question. The worst part was that he felt no sense of remorse for that behaviour, like he thought he would after the adrenaline wore off.

Even now, when he was as cool as cucumber, John couldn’t bring himself to care. Maybe that was because he knew Abomination wouldn’t give two shits about him if he was the one who was weaker.

Or something in his brain has really changed for good?

Well, his brain did change. John only noticed it when he was using reversed cursed technique to heal himself just now. Before, there were some faint traces in his brain. But now, there was a very clear image formed by the wrinkles and folds of his brain.

A fully developed Demon Brain.