Mephisto's hand was halfway there.
His fingertips were just about to brush against Ian's skin.
However, Ian suddenly opened his mouth for a sneak attack—keep in mind, even Papa Clark has to say a lot of sweet words to make Ian lower his guard before putting a hand anywhere near his mouth.
It was unclear where a passing stranger like Mephisto got such audacity.
*Cranch, cranch...*
The jarring, crisp sound of breaking bone suddenly rang out! Ian moved! He didn't dodge, he didn't block; instead, with a beast-like, unannounced brutality, he lunged forward. His mouth snapped shut like a high-speed hydraulic press, biting down hard on the finger Mephisto had extended!
When there is enough moisture, things burst.
Mephisto's finger snapped instantly.
*Crack!*
This was an accident Mephisto absolutely had not anticipated. Sharp pain shot from the old demon's fingertip. His eyes widened as he watched three of his fingers disappear into Ian's mouth.
A mouth personally tested by God was indeed capable of handling "hard dishes." Ian chewed with gusto, the devil's flesh bursting with sulfur-flavored juices between his teeth.
Mephisto's nutritional value far exceeded expectations. Ian's body, which had been somewhat shriveled due to God's calculations—looking like some scrawny punk—rapidly filled out as if being inflated. Ian's skin regained its luster, his large eyes sparkled, and his well-defined, though not exaggerated, muscles bulged once more.
[Entropy Lord Experience +1008]
[Entropy Lord Experience +1003]
[Entropy Lord Experience +1007]
...
[You have leveled up! Obtained Class Skill Point +1, Attributes increased, World Recognition slightly increased]
[Entropy Lord Lv12 (101/20580)]
[Strength: 638 — 649]
[Constitution: 872 — 899]
[Intelligence: 71.4 — 71.7]
[Spirit: 350 — 377]
Mephisto's three fingers brought Ian more than just a replenishment of magic and stamina; they brought a massive amount of experience and even a long-awaited rise in World Recognition.
Ian had always wanted to know what kind of NPCs sat above the Key NPCs. Seeing World Recognition rise again was truly a double blessing.
"Oh... such wonderful nutritional value!"
Ian couldn't help but sigh in admiration. If three fingers were this good, wouldn't eating all of Mephisto help maintain world peace while yielding a fortune in experience?
It wasn't just a win-win; it was a super win-win!
In Ian's eyes, Mephisto was no longer shaped like a devil but like some kind of super experience pack. His eyes glowed, and he declared that high-grade tonic was an understatement!
"I admit you're my fan now! Come quickly and let me consume you completely! As a qualified idol, I have to wipe out my fans! Get into Master Ian's mouth!"
Ian might not dare provoke the head of God's family, but he was a man who dared to punch two rounds of divine ink out of Lucifer. He certainly didn't have any human filters for the King of Hell in the Marvel Universe.
To be fair.
Mephisto was truly great.
A fan meeting where he actually brought a gift, and the gift was himself. Ian was truly moved to tears; he decided that from now on, he wouldn't allow anyone to call Mephisto a bad guy!
Charging forward.
Ian used the [Substitution Method] again, pretending to have a fit of rabies. His mouth snapped five times a second, and Mephisto's entire hand was torn away.
"No!! How dare you! How dare you!" Mephisto yanked back his mangled limb. He looked down at his hand, severed at the wrist. What gushed out was not blood, but a thick, ink-like black magical blood smelling of sulfur and hellfire. That bite had gone straight into his essence!
The King of Hell was aghast. He didn't understand that for the Kent family, which already had a Superman with idealistic eyes and ears, having an Ian with an idealistic mouth was nothing to be shocked about.
"I WANT YOU DEAD!!!"
His voice was a mixture of shock and violent rage.
At this moment, the sky darkened abruptly, and thunder exploded! The old demon's face distorted completely, his human skin melting like wax to reveal his true form covered in crimson scales.
Burning horns, blood-red vertical pupils, a gaping maw—this was a posture that lowered Ian's sense of guilt. Ian had known from the start he was chewing on a demon.
"You dare desecrate the King of Hell!" he roared. The space behind him tore open, and a projection of the Hell Dimension descended upon the mortal realm—countless wailing souls surged within it.
It was a boundless purgatory of churning lava and flesh.
Agonized souls shrieked, mountains collapsed, and a sea of blood roared, turning into a colossal wave like a breached celestial river, pouring down toward the ground where Ian stood! That sea of blood contained soul-corroding poison and temperatures high enough to incinerate everything, capable of turning a city to nothingness in an instant!
"Ahhhhhhh~" Facing this city-destroying apocalyptic scene, Ian felt no fear. Instead, like a patient seeing a doctor, he opened his mouth and let out a long sound.
His Mimic Armor instantly covered his body.
It shimmered with a deep luster, like flowing blood. Master Evil God's true face was revealed by the Mimic Armor; his two eyeballs appeared larger than most people's palms.
Not even an anime girl had eyes as big as Ian's mimicked ones; he was leaning heavily into the uncanny valley effect. Not stopping there, he grabbed the corners of his mouth with both hands.
He pulled and pulled, like a chef stretching noodles. Ian forced his mouth open beyond human limits into a literal bloody maw! That mouth was large enough to fit a truck, and the depths of his throat were pitch black, as if connected to a bottomless abyss.
His human mouth expanded into a true abyss-maw.
His throat, like a chasm, generated a terrifying suction.
The towering tidal wave of blood was swallowed entirely by that giant mouth, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea! There was no explosion, no resistance; the sea of blood felt as docile as a stream as Ian "drank" it down gulp by gulp.
*Gulp!*
The final wave of blood disappeared into that bottomless maw.
The previously churning sea of blood vanished completely.
Ian patted his stomach with satisfaction. His mouth returned to its normal size, but his face was as rosy as a baby's. A faint glow of magic flowed beneath his skin, and he radiated the laziness and contentment of someone who had just enjoyed a full meal. This was true satisfaction; his complexion was as healthy as if he had eaten a billion-year-old ginseng.
[Entropy Lord Experience +2008]
[Entropy Lord Experience +1333]
[Entropy Lord Experience +1447]
...
[You have leveled up! Obtained Class Skill Point +1, Attributes increased, World Recognition slightly increased]
[Entropy Lord Lv13 (101/41160)]
[Strength: 649 — 666]
[Constitution: 899 — 911]
[Intelligence: 71.7 — 71.9]
[Spirit: 377 — 398]
This was the power of a dimensional demon god's essence. The experience it provided to the [Entropy Lord] class was naturally generous, but Ian had clearly moved past the age of being easily satisfied.
"You're too kind! Not only did you cut your flesh to feed me, but you even gave me a drink!" Ian, creating his daily new-style English idioms, let out a sulfur-scented burp and gave a thumbs-up to the shocked and furious Mephisto.
"I declare! Not even the Buddha can talk about kindness or saving all sentient beings in front of you. Buddha is nothing compared to you!" Ian's strength and aura were continuously intensifying. He licked his lips with lingering desire, his eyes flashing with a hunger for gourmet food, and lunged at the frozen Mephisto in the air.
This action left Mephisto pale and chilled to the bone.
"What kind of ghost thing are you! You aren't a superhero! Superheroes don't look like you!" Mephisto was completely terrified. He was a Returner, not a Resetter; he had lived through countless eons and seen countless heroes and villains, but he had never seen anything as bizarre as Ian!
Seeing Ian's undisguised, thirsty gaze and his brutal charge, Mephisto's brain worked at high speed, struck by a sudden flash of insight.
"Galactus..."
Beads of lava-like sweat rolled down Mephisto's forehead.
In his uncertainty, he secretly activated his authority, attempting to read Ian's essence. However, the feedback was a mess of chaos, as if he were peeking at some unspeakable entity.
"How is this possible..."
Mephisto scrambled to dodge. He didn't want to accept this. For a being of his level, obtaining information about others at the same level usually wasn't difficult.
In this universe, anyone who reached the Skyfather level possessed similar privileges. With a single glance, they could read the information of other life forms.
This was a special reading ability. Rarely could a lower life form evade the insight of a higher being; it was as unavoidable as a low-end computer being unable to stop a high-end hacker.
Unless there was a firewall higher than the observer providing protection—and this was also something Mephisto was unwilling to accept.
In Mephisto's eyes, Ian was just a superhero born into the new world by chance, a key used by various hidden entities to open the gates to the mortal realm.
Why?
Why could the great King of Hell not read a single bit of information? That ability, so similar to Galactus, forced a clever devil like Mephisto to overthink.
"The old Galactus couldn't reach the new era, so the universe chose a new Galactus?" One couldn't blame Mephisto for this view.
His vision was quite sharp; after all, the source of the [Entropy Lord] class was indeed Galactus. It wasn't strange that he saw similarities.
In the moment Mephisto was distracted, Ian had already lunged in front of him!
"Spicy Rabbit Head Advanced Version! Super Spicy Devil Head! My favorite!" Ian moved like a giant lizard, his hands and feet gripping Mephisto's demonic body tightly.
He hung himself onto him.
His face, which had just been rosy and satisfied, opened wide again, revealing snow-white teeth. Combined with hands that looked like they were sprinkling chili powder and cumin, his mouth went straight for Mephisto's hideous head!
It was clear that Ian had always listened to his mother and was the type of child who wasn't a picky eater. Unless it was demon brains that hadn't been roasted, Ian felt he could give anything a try.
In short, he couldn't let Mephisto's enthusiasm go to waste.
"Get off!"
See, Mephisto's voice carried quite a bit of heat; his head was literally smoking with rage. At the critical moment, he abandoned all pretense and turned himself into a wisp of ink-black smoke.
The devil escaped through the cracks of Ian's fingers, instantly vanishing into the complex streets and alleys.
"Don't run! Don't worry! I won't judge you for not being a free-range chicken! I don't care about the texture! Come back!" Ian bit into empty air and immediately turned red with frustration.
Before his voice finished.
His figure also turned into a beam of light, giving chase. Mephisto's smoke fled frantically through the narrow streets, every turn carrying a foul wind from hell.
"Don't come over here!"
Wherever he passed, bizarre mutations occurred!
Countless closed, seemingly ordinary house doors were smashed open from the inside! Various demons, smelling strongly of sulfur and blood, crawled out!
Some had bat wings, some were covered in scales, some had three heads and six arms, others dragged long tails... They roared and shrieked, using every trick in the book to try and intercept the pursuing Ian.
Ian didn't even look at these small fry. His high-speed body was like an out-of-control armored vehicle. Wherever he passed, demons were sent flying, crushed, and popped like bowling pins! Demon blood and guts splattered across the streets.
"If you come any closer, I'll chop you up and feed you to the dogs!" Ian felt his vision was being blocked, affecting his teleportation. His Mimic Armor transformed again; his arms turned into two giant carving knives, and dozens of tentacle-like blades sprouted from his back—Pinduoduo Ian had successfully "merged" with the protagonist of Prototype.
This look was indeed full of deterrent power.
The demons' charging posture froze instantly, and the ghouls in the front row began to quietly back away.
Ian ignored them.
He continued to lock onto the drifting black smoke.
Those dregs of hell weren't even as good as the dregs of the DC hell. Ian was afraid that feeding them to his trash can or car would damage the trash can's throat or the car's engine.
At this moment.
His eyes were only on the wisp ahead that kept changing directions, hiding in buildings, and even trying to turn into a building to deceive his sight: the evil villain Mephisto.
Searching and chasing, Ian was still chanting.
"Little Mephie, be a good boy, open the door~"
"Master Ian is bringing you something delicious~"
"What?"
"You won't open it? Master Ian is going to bite your head off?"
Ian's literary talent was truly earth-shattering; even his self-created nursery rhymes were perfectly executed. His steps were light, searching as if to a cheerful rhythm.
"Little demon, be good~"
"Open the door quickly~"
The sound of his singing seemed to fill the entire world.
Mephisto fled frantically.
His ruby cane had long been discarded, and his suit was in tatters.
The hell projection behind him was naturally shattered. His originally elegant and composed demonic bearing was gone; right now, he was as pathetic as a rat cornered by a cat.
"Shut up! You monster!"
Mephisto's scream echoed in the void, carrying an unprecedented terror. The authority he prided himself on, his power—it all seemed fragile and useless against this madman who only knew how to eat.
"Let the hellfire glow~"
"Come and play with me to your heart's content~"
the voice did not disappear.
Mephisto grew increasingly panicked.
The demonic grunts he summoned were torn apart like paper before Ian, completely useless. Ian's speed grew faster, and the nursery rhyme grew louder and closer.
It was like a death god's lullaby being poured directly into his soul.
"Won't open, won't open, definitely won't open!"
"Your tail is outside the door~"
Suddenly.
The singing voice was right next to him. Mephisto turned his head stiffly and found that outside the trash can, Ian had somehow stepped on his demon tail.
"Little demon, so dazed~"
"Drifting all crooked~"
"Shake your sulfur wings~"
"Fall right into my mouth~" Ian opened his bloody maw and, regardless of whether Mephisto was willing or not, started stuffing him in.
When dealing with non-humans.
Master Ian was always ruthless, cold-blooded, stony-hearted, thorough in extermination, inhuman, and completely insane—yes, Ian knew he was being very insane right now.
Therefore, it could be proven that he was not a madman.
"NO—!"
Mephisto let out a final, heart-wrenching scream, but it was too late.
He tried to turn into smoke again, but if the same trick worked a second time against Master Ian, either he was stupid or Master Ian was stupid.
Master Ian naturally wouldn't choose to be stupid. Seeing Mephisto trying to slip through the gaps in his teeth, Ian took a deep breath and inhaled the black smoke like a whale sucking in water.
"Who says Master Ian's digestive organs can't be lungs? Do you even know what a new-era Evil God is!" Ian directly digested Mephisto's entire existence.
The moment Mephisto was completely swallowed.
*BOOM!*
An indescribable, vast flow of experience, like a cosmic Big Bang, poured into Ian's consciousness! His "Clinging to Greatness" system flashed frantically.
The notification sounds nearly burst Ian's eardrums.
[Entropy Lord Experience +3008]
[Entropy Lord Experience +3333]
[Entropy Lord Experience +3447]
...
[Ding!]
[You have devoured the clone of "King of Hell · Mephisto" (High-Dimensional Being)!]
[Obtained massive amount of experience!]
[Level up! Level up! Level up!]
[Entropy Lord Lv16 (13221/329280)]
[Strength: 666 — 741]
[Constitution: 911 — 995]
[Intelligence: 71.9 — 72.4]
[Spirit: 398 — 459]
[Analysis Complete: Hell Lord Essence]
[Obtained Universal Skill: Whisper (Can apply whisper pollution to any existence)]
Not just an experience explosion!
Mephisto had also brought Ian a great gift!
"Wahoo! He dropped loot!"
Ian had only been this happy on his birthdays. The patterns on his Mimic Armor wriggled joyfully. He felt the surging new power generated by the level-up.
Taking on 3.5 Wonder Womans would definitely be no problem.
Listening to the system notifications.
Ian's thoughts ran wild like an unbridled husky.
"Wait... the thing I just ate was only a clone?" His eyes grew brighter and brighter. "Then if I capture Mephisto, could he be used as a sustainable, regenerative food source?"
"With a tonic like this, if I just lock him up, it'll be endless? Maybe I can even pair him with Trigon and select a superior breed!"
Ian grew more excited the more he thought about it, bowing to his own wisdom. However, just as he was wiping his drool and preparing to check the skill details, the entire world suddenly cracked like a shattered mirror.
*Crack!*
The illusion of the rainy street peeled away, revealing the endless void behind it.
Yes.
The new Tony Stark hadn't miscalculated. Ian saw the completely wrecked ship; he was still in the Void and hadn't returned to Earth for any reason. It turned out the reason Mephisto couldn't escape was that he had boxed himself and Ian in. The "world" from earlier was just a lie woven by Mephisto.
Not far away.
Besides the very broken ship, a spear destined to be like a soaring dragon also floated quietly in the void. It was perhaps the perfect subject for Ian to verify his new skill.