Washington, the viaduct.
On a rainy night, the harley engine roared low. Johnny Blaze twisted the throttle, speeding toward the safe house as cold raindrops lashed against his leather jacket. The residual warmth of the Hellfire remained; he didn't care about this bit of chill at all.
Lin Huai's invitation had come suddenly, and Johnny couldn't refuse. That man was unfathomable. The [God of Death] tarot cards he had given allowed Johnny, who was struggling on the brink of losing control, to touch the threshold of a new life for the first time. Perhaps that man really could liberate him from Mephisto's curse.
His thoughts flickered, and Johnny slammed on the brakes.
Amidst the ear-piercing screech of friction, the harley skidded in a beautiful arc on the slippery road before coming to a stop.
The air ahead... felt wrong.
A chill pierced through his leather jacket without warning; even the residual warmth of the Hellfire couldn't withstand it. In the curtain of rain ahead, an unnatural thick fog surged out of thin air, visibility dropping to less than five meters in the blink of an eye. Even more bizarrely, the surrounding temperature plummeted unnaturally. As rain hit the bike, it made a crisp 'clack' sound, actually forming a thin layer of ice.
Johnny's nostrils flared as a familiar, nauseating scent wafted in.
Sulfur... no, purer than that. It was the decay and evil of the Hellish Abyss.
Mephisto. That old Demon had come looking for him after all.
"Roar!"
Without further hesitation, orange-red Hellfire erupted from within Johnny with a 'boom,' consuming his human shell. The burning Skull reappeared in the world, the fire of Judgement raging in its hollow eye sockets as it warily scanned the surrounding thick fog.
"Mephisto! Get out here!"
The roar, mixed with the power of Hellfire, turned into an Impact, trying to disperse the eerie mist.
But the mist didn't budge an inch.
Instead, three dull thuds echoed from deep within the fog, heavy as boulders hitting the ground.
Thump, thump, thump.
With the sounds, three pairs of crimson light points lit up in the fog, looking like three pairs of eyes from the Abyss, coldly watching him.
Three massive shadows burst through the thick fog, revealing their hideous true forms.
Three Gargoyles with wingspans exceeding five meters gripped battle-axes, halberds, and a hideous greatsword. Their bodies were made of some unknown black rock, covered in twisted Demon reliefs. Their bulging muscle lines were full of explosive power. The pair of huge bat wings on their backs weren't stone but rotting leather, each flap stirring up a bone-chilling wind that froze the rain into ice shards.
Their claws dug deep into the asphalt, leaving profound gouges, and the surrounding ground instantly froze with a thick layer of white frost.
What made Johnny most uneasy was the extreme cold emanating from them, capable of freezing the soul.
"Mephisto's little pets?"
Johnny snorted, revving the engine hard. The burning harley transformed into a roaring fire dragon, crashing straight toward the Gargoyle on the far left.
Facing the sweeping Hellfire, the Gargoyle neither dodged nor counterattacked.
It only opened its mouth and let out a silent roar.
"Whoosh—"
A stream of frost-white air erupted from its mouth like an invisible ice wall, instantly enveloping Johnny.
Johnny's entire body suddenly seized up.
The Hellfire, capable of melting steel, let out an ear-piercing'sizzle' of agony the moment it touched the frost stream, its momentum suppressed significantly!!
The power of the flames was countered!
Johnny was deeply shaken. When had he ever encountered such a situation? His Hellfire originated from Zarathos, the primal power that judged evil and burned everything. Now, it was being suppressed so hard by this eerie cold that it couldn't even lift its head.
He was distracted for a split second, and the other two Gargoyles moved. They didn't strike with their hands but raised their heads in unison, their three pairs of crimson eyes glowing intensely!
A strange energy instantly locked onto Johnny.
The harley beneath him was the first to have its flames extinguished. The metal parts composed of Hellfire were turning into grayish-white rock inch by inch, starting from the tires. Immediately after, the cold sensation of petrification spread rapidly along the bike's body and climbed up his legs.
"Damn it!"
Johnny roared in anger, frantically channeling Hellfire to resist. But the omnipresent frost aura suppressed him relentlessly, making his power feel like it was sinking into a swamp, operating with extreme difficulty. As soon as a flicker of flame rose, it was snuffed out by the even thicker cold.
He could only watch helplessly as his legs, knees, waist, abdomen, and even his chest were covered by that layer of grayish-white rock. He could even feel the flames burning within his bones being extinguished inch by inch. The petrification spread to his neck and jaw. The two clumps of blazing Judgement fire in the Skull's eye sockets also began to dim, turning into two faint sparks before being completely snuffed out.
On the viaduct, only a lifelike statue remained—a burning knight, along with his exaggeratedly styled motorcycle, frozen forever at the moment of a charge, his posture full of wildness and resentment.
The three Hell Gargoyles retracted their gazes and walked with heavy steps, forming a triangle to surround the statue. Just as one Gargoyle raised its claws.
A playful voice rang out in the thick fog.
"Hey, you three big guys."
"Isn't it a bit rude to get handsy with a work of art?"
The three Gargoyles' movements stiffened. They snapped their heads around, their crimson gazes locking onto the source of the voice.
Out of the thick fog, a figure wearing a black trench coat strolled out. It was Lin Huai. He looked relaxed, as if the three terrifying Hellish creations before him were just a few gorillas that had escaped from a zoo.
(Are these... [Gargoyles]? Arrodes, use your invincible knowledge to confirm quickly—is this the main material I'm missing for my upgrade?!)
Lin Huai looked at the three Monsters, a flash of wild joy in his eyes. He had searched far and wide only to find them so easily. Arrodes had even said there was a high probability these things weren't in this dimension; he hadn't expected Mephisto to personally package and deliver them to his doorstep.
Courier of the Year—it had to be him.
One Gargoyle was enraged by Lin Huai's flippancy. It let out a low growl, its crimson eyes lighting up again as a petrification ray shot straight at Lin Huai.
Lin Huai unhurriedly raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
Snap.
A ball of orange-red fire exploded out of thin air. A Paper Clone Substitute identical to him leaped out from the flames, perfectly blocking the ray. The paper effigy instantly petrified, turning into a thin paper sculpture before shattering into pieces on the ground with a 'crack.'
Meanwhile, Lin Huai's true body had already appeared ghost-like on the roof of an abandoned car dozens of meters away through [Flame Leap].
"Only know how to stare at people? Like a child." Lin Huai shrugged, looking bored.
The three Gargoyles were furious. They abandoned the petrified Johnny and simultaneously locked onto this constantly flashing little bug. They violently flapped their rotting bat wings, their massive bodies taking flight to surround Lin Huai from three directions. Wherever they passed, the frost froze everything into ice.
Lin Huai had a smile on his face, his brain working rapidly. The petrification gaze must be viewed directly to take effect; the Paper Clone Substitutes could perfectly bait it. Their frost aura countered Johnny's Hellfire, but it didn't have much effect on his own flames. The biggest trouble was their indestructible rock bodies.
He couldn't go head-to-head with them at all.
While using [Flame Leap] and his agile movements to dodge the Gargoyles' lunges, Lin Huai pulled out his phone and dialed a number. A man appeared on the screen, maintaining his bald head in a mansion.
"Tony! Emergency!! Stop polishing your bald head; the reflection through the screen is about to blind me. I need backup!!"
"What?!" Tony's voice was lazy and tinged with annoyance. "Isn't this Mr. Lin? So you finally remembered me."
"Cut the crap! I've sent you the coordinates. Hurry up and send over that big guy you prepared for the snake catcher! Highest priority!" Lin Huai said concisely.
"That snake catcher suit? Are you sure?! That thing hasn't had its final test yet. What if it explodes and takes out your snake catcher?"
"No time to explain! Move! Otherwise, your other friend is going to turn into a pile of broken rocks!!"
Cutting the communication, Lin Huai did a backflip and landed lightly on a bridge suspension cable, shouting down at the petrified Johnny:
"Hey! Skull!! I know you can hear me!!"
"Hold on! Don't fight it head-on; just treat it like taking a nap! Once the person I called arrives, we'll show these three rocks what technology and hard work look like!"
As he shouted, he pulled a stack of playing cards from his pocket. With a flick of his fingers, cards gleaming with cold light shot out like bullets, accurately pinning themselves into the Gargoyles' joints and wing connections. Although they caused no substantial damage, the massive Impact caused their movements to falter.
What Lin Huai had to do was stall. Like a top-tier matador, he maneuvered nimbly between the three rampaging giant beasts. Every dodge was a close call, yet every counterattack was precisely timed. He used illusions to create countless afterimages, making the Gargoyles' petrification gaze miss again and again. He used [Air Bullets] to strike the ground, kicking up clouds of dust to interfere with their vision.
The rain fell harder and harder, mixing with the cold frost aura to turn the entire viaduct into a frozen hell. The bridge structure teeled under the Gargoyles' brutal Impact, concrete fragments constantly peeling off.
Lin Huai's gaze swept across the gloomy distant sky, calculating the time.
Hurry up, Tony... any later, and this global limited-edition Johnny figurine is really going to be out of print.