Agent Venom was poised and ready, waiting to face Carnage, who was expected to descend from the sky in pursuit. As for the Venom symbiote itself, it wasn't particularly worried; S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were watching the whole time. If Flash truly couldn't handle it, they wouldn't let him be stubborn—they would call Peter.
Flash and Venom waited for a good while, but the red symbiote failed to appear. Just as Flash began to wonder if the opponent had fled, a disorganized mass of red sludge fell in a heavy free-fall, smashing into the ground.
Immediately, red arms as slender as skeletal remains thrust out from the sludge. Carnage propped up his thin frame and charged toward Agent Venom with a screeching roar. Flash initiated a "classic American draw," pulling out a firearm and opening fire on Carnage with rapid precision.
The upper half of Carnage's body, protruding from the viscous symbiote, was instantly riddled with holes. However, this did not hinder his movement in the slightest. In fact, Carnage didn't seem like a symbiote living in harmony with a host at all; he acted more like a mass of symbiotic matter capable of moving freely without one. With a grotesque shriek, he lunged at Venom like a mass of revolting slime.
Then, the Carnage matter attached to Venom's body restructured itself amidst mad laughter. Countless blades simultaneously pierced through Agent Venom's body before Carnage coalesced back into a humanoid form and tossed Agent Venom aside.
Since Venom could briefly enter a molecular state alongside his host to phase through walls, Flash didn't sustain any particularly severe injuries for the time being. He immediately hoisted an empty, unmanned car, hurled it at Carnage, and then drew his gun to shoot and detonate it.
Fortunately, Venom could restructure dismantled weapons, so Flash had no shortage of armaments. However, as he watched Carnage emerge from the explosion, even Flash felt a sense of helplessness.
"We simply have no way to harm him physically. Good lord, is physical damage ineffective against this thing?"
[Physical damage is ineffective... hmm?]
Hearing Flash's observation, Venom—who had formed a shield out of symbiotic matter to block Carnage's attacks—seemed to notice something.
Putting aside the matter of whether Carnage was his offspring, Carnage possessed very strange traits. Generally speaking, symbiotes have varying levels of resistance to sonic waves and fire depending on their individual strength, but that doesn't mean they don't fear fire at all. Even if you aren't afraid, it's still fire; sufficiently high temperatures can still burn or even char a person. Yet Carnage had crawled out of an incinerator with his host without any issues. No matter how one looked at it, this was bizarre. How could he be so powerful as to fear neither sonic waves nor fire? This could no longer be called resistance—this was full immunity to fire damage.
However, Flash had reminded Venom: What if Carnage wasn't actually immune to fire and sonic damage, but had instead found a way to place himself in a state of total disregard for them?
[I suggest we retreat.]
"What? But there are still so many people around!"
[But we are indeed no match for this guy. To be precise, we have no means of dealing with him. Retreat is the best option, and—]
Venom paused for a moment, appearing to sense something.
[And the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, seeing us in a bitter struggle, have clearly called in outside help. It's time to go.]
A strand of webbing stuck to Carnage's face and yanked him upward, slamming him heavily back into the ground. Spider-Man, wearing a white suit, landed in front of him. Watching Carnage tear the webbing away, Peter fired another strand onto his chest: "I heard there was a Hannibal in the neighborhood. Sorry, but you're not welcome in New York."
"Two... Codices... are here..."
Peter froze upon hearing those words.
He knew from the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that Carnage referred to Venom as "Father," meaning he was indeed Venom's son in a sense. Therefore, Carnage's use of the word "Codex" was extremely strange. After all, Earth was far from Klyntar, and symbiotes couldn't normally connect to the hive mind of their homeworld.
So, where did Carnage obtain knowledge about the Codex?
"Knull?!"
"You're going to die here! Spider-Man!"
Ignoring Peter's inquiry, Carnage charged directly at him. To defend against any possible attacks from Spider-Man, he began to shift forms incessantly. However, Peter simply raised his hand calmly toward Carnage. Immediately, Anti-Venom began to spread rapidly, turning into a giant net that directly ensnared Carnage.
Whatever you're babbling about, just take a hit from my Anti-Venom counter and be done with it.
The moment Carnage came into contact with Anti-Venom, he let out a scream of such unbelievable agony that even Venom felt like he might discorporate. Carnage's surface began to dissolve rapidly. But Peter soon realized something was wrong—the rate at which Carnage's mass was decreasing exceeded his expectations. Furthermore, if Carnage was being purified, where was the host inside?
He immediately retracted the Anti-Venom, discovering that from the very beginning, Carnage had been prepared when he charged. Before being completely restrained, he had severed a portion of his own mass, allowing part of himself to burrow into the ground and escape.
Moreover, the escape and the charge had happened almost simultaneously, as if two Carnages had existed at that moment.
"Truly... strange. It's as if every part of its body operates independently, capable of acting without a unified consciousness."
As Peter spoke, he used his webbing to pull out the small sample of Carnage remaining on the ground, then used Anti-Venom to create a small mesh bag to lock it away. He then crouched on the ground, looking at the traces on the pavement, and began to "cast a spell" to enhance his Spider-Sense.
In the future revealed by the Web of Destiny—
He saw nothing.
If he hadn't noticed the issue with the decay rate of Carnage's mass, then relying solely on prophecy and Anti-Venom's power, he might not have realized that Carnage wasn't actually dead. The failure of the prophecy also revealed a fact. He walked over to Flash's side and looked at him with a very serious expression.
"The worst news is, I'm afraid Carnage's birth wasn't that simple. There is a high probability that Knull's hand is behind this."
After hearing this, Flash had only one question.
"Who is Knull?"
Peter: "..."
[He is the God of Symbiotes. Last year's Symbiote invasion was driven by Knull's consciousness. His consciousness should be sealed right now.]
Venom explained for Flash. This meant they now understood Carnage's purpose. If Knull intended to return, he had to kill both the Venom who had devoured him and the Spider-Man who had sealed his consciousness.
[I don't think he's getting out in this lifetime.]
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