The smoke on the quad hadn't completely cleared. Crackstone's spirit had been devoured by Phage, and Dr. 077's mechanical wreckage was still smoking.
The other seven Vics and the symbiotes aside from Venom flickered like bad holographic projections before vanishing silently into the air.
The potion's effect was even shorter than anticipated.
"That's it? So... this guy's final move was just to strip us apart?"
Vic scratched his head, looking around at the mess with confusion. It felt like the final boss's ultimate move was a bit anticlimactic.
"Vic!"
Enid was the first to rush over. She was draped in an oversized coat she'd found somewhere, her face beaming with the brilliant smile of a survivor.
"We won!" She threw herself happily into Vic's arms.
Feeling the softness in his arms, Vic's eyes went wide. He subconsciously blurted, "Enid, you're... underneath..."
"Shut up!" Enid's cheeks exploded red. She buried her head in his chest, mumbling in a voice as quiet as a mosquito, "I was five meters tall just now! My clothes shredded ages ago!"
Vic realized what had happened and gave a sheepish smile. His gaze turned to Wednesday, who was standing reservedly to the side.
Even her deep eyes seemed to flash with an imperceptible softness.
Vic blinked, the corner of his mouth hooking into a mischievous grin. He extended his other arm and, brooking no argument, pulled Wednesday into the hug as well.
Wednesday stiffened slightly. Unexpectedly, she didn't push him away immediately. After a token struggle, she allowed him to hold her, a very faint blush appearing on her pale cheeks.
Not far away, Wednesday's parents—Gomez and Morticia Addams—stood in the crowd.
Gomez clapped enthusiastically, his face showing undisguised appreciation. "Whoa! Well done, my boy!"
Morticia pursed her lips elegantly, looking with complex eyes at her daughter, who for once wasn't rejecting physical affection from a boy. Finally, her expression melted into a knowing smile.
"Well, I finally understand why that girl would rather share him than be without him. He is indeed... a unique child."
On the other side, Enid's parents, Esther and Murray Sinclair, watched their daughter hugging that "arms dealer" boyfriend and his "other girlfriend." They could only exchange helpless glances and sigh.
"Can't be helped. The girl likes him." Esther rubbed her temples.
Mr. Murray had already started mentally calculating if he needed to add a "special social expenses" line item to his daughter's allowance.
However, amidst this warm moment of victory, one figure was in no mood to enjoy it.
Venom was writhing anxiously at Vic's feet. He tried to merge into Vic's body again, only to be bounced off as if hitting an invisible wall.
He suddenly scrambled up to Vic's shoulder, his voice filled with unprecedented panic and urgency:
"Vic! Run! Get out of this area! NOW!"
"What's wrong, buddy?" Vic looked down at him, confused. "Didn't we win? What are we running from?"
"Bullshit! Win my ass!"
Venom was practically roaring, his massive white eyes wide with terror.
"I can't merge with your body! That bastard's self-destruct before he died set up some kind of anti-intrusion field over this area, blocking symbiotic fusion! Listen, Vic, that piece-of-junk heart in your chest can't hold out much longer!"
The words were like a bucket of ice water dumped over his head. Vic's pupils constricted violently, the smile on his face freezing instantly.
He abruptly let go of Enid and Wednesday, speaking fast but with undeniable resolve.
"Honey, I'll be right back!"
Before his voice faded, he shot out like an arrow, sprinting toward the academy's boundary.
"What happened?"
Enid and Wednesday spoke almost simultaneously. They exchanged a look and, without hesitation, chased after him.
Mavis, Johnny, and the sensing-something-was-wrong Addams and Sinclair couples immediately followed suit.
Vic sprinted with everything he had, explaining to the crowd chasing him over his shoulder. The wind carried his words, broken but distinct:
"When I was a kid... escaping the lab... playing battle royale... I got ambushed by a Plague Doctor named 062... heart got blown out... Venom used lab materials to make me a fake heart... usually relies on him to provide power to keep it beating..."
"Venom can accelerate healing, but he can't generate a heart out of thin air!"
"Shut the hell up! Save your energy! RUN!"
Venom roared from his shoulder, voice raspy.
"Less than two minutes! That damn heart is going to stop!"
"If we can't merge before your heart stops, you are really dead!"
Two minutes. A race against death.
The joy of victory was instantly replaced by massive panic. Everyone's hearts leapt into their throats as they followed the sprinting figure, rushing toward an uncertain hope for survival.
That heart, cobbled together from lab scraps and symbiotic tissue, was making grinding noises in his chest like rusty gears—harsh and sluggish. It beat slower and slower, weaker and weaker.
Black spots at the edge of his vision spread like ink dropped in clear water, rapidly blooming to consume his sight.
A bone-deep exhaustion and coldness radiated through his limbs, as if his blood were coagulating.
"Faster! Faster! It's right there!"
Venom writhed anxiously on his shoulder. His massive white eyes stared dead ahead at the faint energy boundary line of the academy, his voice distorted by extreme fear.
"Thirty seconds! No! Twenty-five!"
Twenty-five seconds.
The distance between life and death was compressed into such a fleeting moment.
Behind him were Enid's tearful cries and Wednesday's cold but hurried footsteps, along with the chaotic sounds of the worried group chasing them.
But Vic couldn't hear them clearly anymore. His entire will was focused on that boundary line—so close, yet seemingly unreachable.
Twenty seconds.
His steps began to stumble. His body leaned forward uncontrollably, nearly pitching face-first into the ground.
"NO! VIC! GET UP! RUN!" Venom let out a desperate roar.
Fifteen seconds.
Vic bit down hard on the tip of his tongue. The sharp pain and the metallic taste of blood gave his chaotic brain a brief moment of clarity.
Using the momentum of his forward lean, he used the last of his strength to throw himself forward, scrambling on hands and feet like a broken ragdoll!
Ten seconds.
His fingertips finally touched a cool, ripple-like energy barrier—the boundary of Nevermore Academy.
Five seconds.
"GO THROUGH IT!" Venom roared.
Vic pressed his forehead against the invisible barrier. His legs felt like they were filled with lead; he couldn't move another inch.
His heart... had almost stopped.
The dull thumping sound that had sustained his life for over a decade was as weak as a candle in the wind.
Three seconds.
Darkness completely swallowed his vision. The world went silent in his ears.
"NO—!"
This was the last sound Vic heard before his consciousness sank completely—Venom's shrill wail, filled with unwillingness.
Vic's body went limp and collapsed. He fell just inside the boundary line.
Just one step away from freedom and life.
"Vic!"
"Vic!"
Enid and Wednesday threw themselves to his side almost simultaneously. They grabbed Vic, and with Mavis helping from behind, they shoved him across the boundary.
"MOVE! EVERYONE MOVE!"
Free of the anti-intrusion field, Venom writhed frantically, attempting to merge with Vic's body once again.