"Haaah—!"
Fury raised his head and let out a low roar from hell.
He needed souls.
He needed souls filled with sin to replenish his nearly exhausted Flames of Vengeance.
Countless souls of extreme evil had accumulated around him.
These souls were, in their former lives, war criminals stained with the blood of the innocent, vile demons who regarded invasion and slaughter as glory.
"Judgment..."
The skin on Fury's body burned away in an instant, and Ghost Rider reappeared.
Those sinful souls, as if attracted by some invisible magnetic field, screamed and struggled, being drawn into the gaping skeletal maw that Fury opened.
"Aaaaaah—!"
The miserable screams of their souls being burned by Hellfire echoed through the ruins, continuous and unending.
With the influx of immense power.
Fury's Flames of Vengeance, which had been on the verge of exhaustion, were revitalized.
Consequently, his consciousness cleared immediately.
He clenched his burning fist and felt the fullness of the Flames of Vengeance within him, which greatly boosted his confidence.
"Gravik... your end has come."
He felt that, as he was now, he possessed the power to defeat Gravik and thereby save the World.
Fury looked around; this area had long since been reduced to a state where no original architectural appearance could be discerned amidst the nuclear blast.
...
New York, V.G.D. Headquarters.
Jessica Jones was wearing a specially made anti-radiation combat suit and was tightening the Vibranium bracers on her arms.
Not just her; apart from Banner, Nebula, Thor, and Goddess Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Quicksilver, Speedball, the invisible man Shabby, Firecracker Angela, and the silver hand Bucky were all wearing anti-radiation combat suits with lead-fiber linings, which had been rushed out overnight by the Vought Applied Science Department.
This was a lineup of heroes representing the strongest currently on Earth.
These battle-hardened veteran heroes were all silently making their final preparations at this moment.
They knew the level of danger of this mission well. An enemy that remained unscathed by a nuclear blast indeed exceeded any crisis they had dealt with in the past.
"These damned parasites dare to trample on Midgard like this! Just let me handle it alone later!"
"I will personally cut off that Gravik's head and hang it on the spire of the Vought Building!"
Thor, who had just rushed back from Asgard, was filled with Fury, swearing to make this Skrull understand whose territory Midgard was.
On the periphery of the preparation area, a large group of hot-blooded, new-generation heroes had gathered.
They watched the seniors preparing for battle, their eyes filled with unwillingness.
"Big Sister! Let us go too!" a young hero shouted loudly. "We are also Vought heroes! One more person means more strength! We can't hide in the back and watch you risk your lives!"
"Right! Take us with you! We aren't afraid of death!" The other young people echoed in unison, their emotions running high.
Jessica stopped what she was doing and swept her gaze over these young faces.
In those pairs of eyes, she saw fear, but she also saw the courage to face fear head-on and fight for humanity.
She couldn't help but feel a glimmer of gratification in her heart.
Since Vought's development, although the heroes recruited have been a mixed bag, at this critical juncture of life and death, there is still no shortage of hot-blooded warriors who fear not death.
But she still shook her head.
"No." Jessica's tone left no room for negotiation.
"Why?! We aren't afraid of death!" the leading young hero said anxiously.
"Because not being afraid of death doesn't solve the problem."
Jessica took two steps forward, staring directly at this group of young people.
"You should be very clear about how terrifying that enemy is. He was unscathed at the center of the nuclear blast."
"Whether it's because his body itself is strong enough, or because he has mastered some special ability we cannot understand. But one thing is certain..."
Her gaze swept over Steve, Tony, Thor, and the others.
"If tomorrow, even those of us who go cannot defeat him."
"Then... no matter how many more people go, it will just be a pointless sacrifice."
The young heroes clenched their fists, unwilling, yet unable to refute.
"Then can we only sit here and do nothing?!"
"No, you have your own battlefield..." Jessica walked up to the kid and patted his shoulder.
"If we fail. If not a single one of us can return alive from Australia..."
Jessica's tone became grave and solemn.
"Take the last sparks of human civilization, leave the Solar System, and take them to find a new place to inhabit in the Universe!"
"Don't look back. Not until you become strong enough to find a way to defeat those monsters!"
Jessica suddenly raised her voice, revealing an unyielding will.
"Then come back and kill them! Take back our home!"
The young heroes' eyes moistened; they felt the weight of this heavy entrustment.
"Do you all understand?!" Jessica shouted.
The young heroes, eyes filled with hot tears, stood straight, one after another, and struck their chests heavily with their right fists.
"Understood!!!"
The uniform response echoed in the air for a long time.
"Very good." Jessica turned to look at the top combatants behind her.
"Everyone, let's move out."
These veteran heroes took steady steps toward the outdoor helipad of V.G.D. Headquarters.
"Hiss—"
The airtight door slowly slid open to both sides.
"Click, click, click, click, click!!"
The scene outside the door made them raise their arms instantly; the dense flashes almost blinded everyone.
On the vast grounds of the helipad, besides the Nightingale fighter with its engines already started, there were actually over a hundred reporters and cameramen standing there densely!
Various cameras and microphones were aimed squarely at the heroes who walked out.
"Mr. Stark! How confident are you about tomorrow's battle?!"
"Captain America! Is there really still hope for humanity?!"
"President Jones! Will Homelander appear in the end?!"
"What the hell is going on?!" Jessica's tone was filled with dissatisfaction. "Has Vought's security become so lax that reporters can just enter the helipad at will?!"
Jessica's expression was ugly. She was just about to order security to throw all these reporters out.
"I arranged for them to come in." A gentle voice rang in everyone's ears.
Miss Skynet walked slowly out from behind them.
"Why?" Jessica asked, frowning.
"Because... if Boss Anthony were here, he would definitely do the same thing."
"Countless people around the World are in panic and despair."
"And we want to let the people in despair see clearly where hope lies."
Hearing the name "Anthony," Jessica shuddered, and the dissatisfaction in her eyes instantly dissipated.
Jessica closed her eyes, and the face of Homelander, always wearing that punchable smile, flashed through her mind.
"He would indeed do that... that show-off bastard."