Upon hearing this, Crackstone's pupils constricted violently. He instinctively tried to turn and defend his back—but it was too late.
Behind him, the dissipated purple-black smoke coalesced once more. Wednesday's figure stepped out silently, as if walking directly out of a nightmare.
The slender purple-black rapier in her hand, condensed from Phage's substance, had already transformed into a bolt of deathly lightning. Precise, ruthless, and without obstruction, it pierced through the rotting shell of his shriveled back, driving straight into the heart that was wrapped in layers of dark energy and pulsating with a faint, ghostly light!
Squelch!
The moment the tip of the blade touched the heart, it was as if an ancient switch had been flipped.
The heart convulsed violently. The vicious curse planted upon it by Goody Addams four hundred years ago was instantly detonated!
an indescribable surge of dark energy exploded from within the organ, sweeping through Crackstone's entire body like a supernova!
"NO—!!!"
He let out a wail so shrill it twisted the air. Starting from the pierced heart, his entire body began to turn to ash. Like burning paper, he disintegrated inch by inch, scattering into the wind.
In just a few seconds, the body of the Inferius that had harbored hatred for the Addams family for four centuries vanished completely. All that remained was a weak, twisted, remnant spirit filled with unwillingness.
"I... am I... defeated by an Addams... again...?"
Crackstone's spirit flickered weakly.
He didn't look at Wednesday, who had dealt the final blow. Instead, he stared fixedly at the instigator floating in the air—Goody Addams. His eyes burned with a grudge and obsession that had spanned four centuries.
"I... will return... our feud... will never... cease!"
"No," Wednesday's icy voice cut him off decisively, like a final judgment.
"You will not be coming back."
She released the hilt. The purple-black rapier instantly liquefied, reverting into the surging substance of the Phage symbiote.
The mist-like substance moved as if it had a life of its own, spreading rapidly to wrap tightly around Crackstone's fleeing spirit remnant.
"You will become fuel for Phage."
Wednesday pronounced his ultimate fate.
Phage's elegant yet unsettling whisper resonated directly in the deepest part of Crackstone's consciousness, like the sweetest poison:
"Sink into an eternal, recurring nightmare, Joseph... never to wake."
"NO!!! NO—!!!"
Crackstone's spirit let out one final shriek containing ultimate fear and despair before being completely swallowed and absorbed by Phage's purple-black mist, becoming nourishment to strengthen the symbiote's mental power.
The feud that had lasted four hundred years ended in this moment with the complete annihilation of Crackstone's soul.
This corner of the battlefield fell into a temporary silence.
Only the two-headed werewolf formed by Enid lowered its heads slowly, emitting a low, inquiring whimper.
Wednesday stood in place. Phage's purple-black armor slowly faded, revealing her pale, cold face once more.
She looked up at Goody's spirit in the air. No words were needed between them; a tacit understanding and closure flowed across time.
The oldest nightmare of the Addams family ended here.
---
"Oh, looks like my honey has handled business on her end,"
Vic, in Venom form, smashed a fist hard against Dr. 077's mechanical torso, creating a dull metallic thud.
"So... why haven't you logged off yet?"
The battle had been raging for a while, and it could only be described as a mob beatdown.
Venom took the hits head-on; Riot swung his massive black war hammer, smashing from the sides.
Carnage acted like a scarlet tornado, piercing and binding with countless sharp tentacles.
Scorn sprayed corrosive bone spikes from a distance, while Sleeper laid down sticky, restrictive fields on the ground.
However, Dr. 077's specially reinforced mechanical body, though covered in dents, scratches, and exposed wiring sparking occasionally, maintained a stable core system.
He was like an unfalling steel giant, stubbornly holding on amidst the colorful tide of symbiotes.
"This is one of the advantages of a mechanical body."
Dr. 077's synthesized voice remained steady, possessing an inhuman calm.
"I do not fear blunt force trauma or tearing. As long as the core processor and energy furnace do not suffer fatal damage, I retain combat capability."
Hiss—!
His shoulder armor opened again. High-temperature flamethrowers and high-frequency sonic generators activated simultaneously. Scorching waves of fire mixed with ear-piercing sound waves swept toward the encircling symbiotes.
These were universally recognized as the weaknesses of symbiotes.
But this time, the effect was negligible.
Venom merely waved his claws in disgust, as if shooing away annoying mosquitoes.
Riot even tanked the sonic waves to land another hammer blow.
Carnage's tentacles constricted even tighter.
"I say, are you still not giving up?"
Riot roared, his giant hammer falling again, smashing heavily onto Dr. 077's chest, exploding a dazzling ball of sparks.
"Do you still think these are our weaknesses?"
Dozens of Carnage's scarlet tentacles tightened like pythons, firmly binding the mechanical body's limbs and torso, restricting its movement.
"Hey, big guy, stop moving!"
"The chocolate of love, representing a sweet gift..."
Serum (Pearl White), while trying to transform his arm into a probe to access the mechanical body's interface, sighed with an almost poetic tone.
"I never expected that the accidental addition of this one ingredient would brew a potion capable of temporarily overriding, or even eliminating, the inherent weaknesses carved into our genetic sequence. Love is truly a wondrous thing."
Scorn (Silver Grey), who was also attempting to hack in, let out a disdainful scoff:
"Why are you waxing poetic to a piece of scrap metal that only understands zeroes and ones? Do you expect it to comprehend a high-level concept like 'love'?"
"Stop chatting, you two!" Venom roared while tearing at a mechanical arm with his claws. "Haven't you hacked in yet?"
"Negative."
Serum retracted his probe and shook his head.
"This guy's outer layer is covered by a special energy field. Scorn's and my mental fluctuations can't break through at all. It's like hitting an invisible wall."
Just then, a protective plate on Dr. 077's chest armor suddenly slid open, revealing a small laser cannon port. It charged instantly—Hummm—and fired a blinding white beam, blasting precisely into the chest of the unprepared Serum!
"Do not waste your energy."
Dr. 077's synthesized voice held no ripples.
"After the lesson of the last intrusion, did you think I wouldn't upgrade and perfect my defense systems?"
"Argh!"
Serum let out a short cry of pain. The pearl-white symbiotic substance was blasted apart, splashing outward.
His entire body flickered and distorted violently like the screen of an old television set with a bad signal. Then, with a poof, he dissipated completely into the air.
Almost at the exact same moment, every remaining Vic on the field—
Venom, Riot, Carnage, Scorn, Sleeper, and the two "naked" Vics providing fire support nearby—all shuddered violently.
In unison, they let out a suppressed grunt of pain. A look of agony flashed across their faces instantly, and their movements froze for a split second.
Dr. 077's optical sensors keenly captured this phenomenon. For the first time, his synthesized voice carried a tone akin to "realization":
"Oh, I see. Although the body split into eight independent individuals under the potion's effect, your consciousness remains singular. You share senses, and even... share damage."
The mechanical head turned toward the seven Vics who had just endured the shock of Serum's "death," the tone bordering on inquisitive:
"So, tell me. How does it feel to taste 'death' eight times over?"