Marvel: I'm a Symbiote

Symbiote 0274: Collateral Damage (2/2)

“Sorry I’m late,” Alex abruptly jumped into the thick of the fray after multiple minutes had passed, two Dragonscale swords in his hands sliced through five of the Soul Suckers close to Natasha. “How’s the general situation?”

Natasha gave him a concerned look, “The earthquake stopped a minute or so ago, but a quarter of the people have died already, and the horde of these flying lizards doesn’t even seem to be affected. What exactly happened?”

“Long story short, Wanda destroyed a dimension, and the shockwave affected every single dimension that shares space with the universe. The more stable major dimensions and the main material plane are fine and mostly unaffected, but countless subdimensions like this one have been annihilated. I had to use the Time Stone to pull the intact dimension ahead of the shockwaves so that they never affected it in the first place. All of this quaking has been because of one of the weakest initial shockwaves,” Alex’s explanation only raised more questions for Natasha.

“You can explain things to me later. How about we work together to keep these people safe first?”

“No need,” Alex shook his head and waved his palm, releasing a viscous red mist that spread across the now-destroyed village and went further across the lake. It passed through each and every one of the released Soul Suckers, vaporizing them all instantly. As the wave of Chaos Energy continued on its path, the seal blocking the Dweller-in-Darkness shook even more violently as it tried to escape.

After destroying all of the released creatures, Alex merged back into Natasha. [Go to the leader and tell her that I’m going there to take care of that dweller guy. Pacify her and then go check up on Xialing. Bring her out before I break the seal. It would be better for her to see the truth about her so-called mother with her eyes.]

Natasha nodded as one of Alex’s other bodies formed itself in front of the Dragoness, who was still at the bottom of the lake, unwilling to leave her abode unless it was an actual issue.

[Hi there, little dragoness.]

[The tremors seem to have stopped. Is the dimension not under threat of destruction anymore?]

[Everything’s fine. Except for one very minor issue. The instability has greatly weakened that dweller guy’s seal.]

The dragoness snorted, releasing two jets of water from her nostrils, [Mr. Apex. Tell me straight. Does this event have anything to do with you?]

[Are you kidding me? Why would I want this dimension to get destroyed when I already told you of my plan to take over this place? I even went as far as using Time Authority to make sure that the shockwaves wouldn’t annihilate this sub-dimension like so many others.]

[So you are aware of what led to this turn of events …]

[Yes. The Chaos Dimension has been destroyed. As one of the oldest and most stable dimensions, its destruction released a shockwave that shook the entire Universal Reality.]

A somber atmosphere came upon the two before the Dragoness finally conveyed her thoughts, [I will help you beat the creature if you are confident. Otherwise, I will do my best to reestablish the seal.]

[Cool. I can ride you in battle, right? I’ve always wanted to fly on a dragon.]

[Sure …] The dragoness seemed a little weirded out by the mention of riding her. [Are you confident that there will be no casualties? Otherwise, we can just fix the seal.]

[Trust me, it’s going to be fine.] Alex said before approaching the dragon. She seemed to resign to her fate and sighed as Alex swam forward and sat on the dragon’s neck, just behind her head, so that he could grab two scales for support. [Now, let’s fly.]

Just as Alex steadied himself on her back, a huge amount of force slammed his face as the dragoness propelled herself forward at full speed.

Moments later, the two emerged from the water as the dragoness roared. With Alex having cleared most of the escaped Soul Suckers, the villagers were free to admire the spectacle that the dragon’s emergence showed. Emerging completely out of the water, the Dragoness roared loudly at the seal. Her tail flapped as she quickly approached it.

[Somebody’s feeling a little vain …] Alex teased the dragoness as she snorted. They were soon upon the cliff that held the seal made of Dragon Scales. [Are these your scales?]

[Yes. The original inhabitants constructed this seal using my freshly shed scales. What now?] The dragoness continued to float in front of the seal as more Soul Suckers escaped the confines.

[I’ll blast the seal open. All you need to do is to restrain that guy. I’ll take care of the killing part.]

[Don’t get too close to it. It will suck your soul.]

[I’d like to see it try.] Alex snorted.

[Don’t be arrogant. Even I don’t dare to get too close to him, lest he suck my soul as well.]

[I have multiple Infinity Stones tethered to my soul. If that dude can take my soul, then there’s no way in hell any of you suppressed it. Worst comes to worst, I’ll use the Stones. Now stop doubting me and get ready.]

As he was speaking to the dragon, the atmosphere in the dimension naturally became cloudy. While the Great Protector’s emergence shone a bright light on everyone’s hearts, the cloudy atmosphere within the entire dimension represented something else entirely. Alex charged the clouds further with Chaos Energy as lightning started crackling in the sky, but instead of the usual white-blue, it was deep crimson, as if they were in purgatory.

Following his words, a thick bolt of crimson lightning fell from the clouds and targeted the cliff that Alex and the dragoness were facing. It struck directly at the circular seal on the side of the cliff, causing the slowly weakening scaly formation of the seal to collapse completely, with most of the individual scales getting completely vaporized. Another roar, this one much louder than the Great Protector’s previous roar, reverberated through the entire dimension.

Thick tentacles burst out of the collapsing cliffside as they held up the structure just long enough that a large creature could come out through the opening created by Alex’s attack. It was easily five times the size of the Great Protector.

Looking at the demonized eastern dragon, Alex controlled the lightning gathered in the atmosphere and made smaller bolts fall upon the freed Soul Suckers, who were quickly making their way toward the village, ready to fetch a meal for their master. He made sure that not a single one of the minions could even reach halfway to the village.

As for the Dweller-in-Darkness, the evil soul-sucking dragon. It took to the air and spread its entire scaly body as if enjoying freedom after such a long time. Then it moved, aggressively charging at the Great Protector with purpose and determination.

[You got this, right? Or do I need to blast it with some Chaos Lightning?]

All Alex got in response was a derisive snort as the dragoness spun around, generating a cyan glow underneath herself. A whirlpool formed within the water as the evil dragon continued approaching them. Just as it was close enough that its tentacles were about to reach Alex and his dragon, she shot forward in a tangent, escaping the whirlpool that she had formed underneath herself. The water shot up, forming a tornado that engulfed the evil dragon within. It roared as its tentacles expanded outwardly in an attempt to escape the encroaching whirlpool, but the dragoness continued to maintain the tornado as it kept the evil dragon suppressed.

Floating in front of the magnificent feat of water manipulation, Alex could almost sense the Dragoness underneath him being smug.

[Such a competent Dragoness …] He praised her, rubbing her head underneath her scale in the process. [Now let me take care of it before it decides that it wants to pull some kind of special power out of its ass.]

Instantly, multiple bolts of Chaos Lightning fell down into the tornado, tinting the water red as the evil dragon roared in immense pain. What followed the lightning was a downpour.

The Dragoness was just about to purr as Alex continued to pet her but instead perked up in alertness.

[That’s not water …] She growled at the rain as if it was her greatest enemy.

[Don’t worry, I’m only targeting the other guy. I won’t try to eat you.]

[You’re going to eat the Dweller-in-Darkness!?] The Dragoness couldn’t believe it.

[Of course. Think of how much Bioenergy I could get off of that hunk of flesh. Not to mention the ability to suck away the souls of living creatures. That thing is a treasure chest in and of itself.]

[You’re insane, you know that?]

[I am from the Klyntar race, Dragoness. We sustain ourselves by binding ourselves to organic life forms and eating other life forms. Looking at it more pragmatically, our race is the Apex predator for all biological life. And I am the craziest of them all, hence my title of Apex.]

The Dragoness couldn’t retort to those words and passively watched as the black rain fell upon the tens-of-millennia-old evil dragon. Its wails resounded in the same way that its roars had once echoed and shaken the dimension. There was no bang, no culminating climax for the evil dragon, just an agonizing death as the Apex predator devoured its entire being.

[EP +27887]

Alex’s smile widened as he received enough EP to last his depleted reserves for quite a while, especially after he was forced to expend a shit ton of EP to use the Time Stone to protect the dimension. Then, he moved his focus to his new skill.

«Skill Acquisition»

«EP/Bioenergy Units: 29,176»

«Cosmic Energy Units: 0.0000»

«Manipulation Abilities»:: ‹Advanced Lightning Manipulation› ‹Basic Blood Manipulation›

«Innate Abilities»:: ‹Biological Manipulation› ‹Host Enhancement› ‹Devour› ‹Copy›

«Derived Abilities»:: ‹Low Cosmic Physique Creation› ‹True Sixth Sense› ‹Inventory› ‹Advanced Camouflage› ‹Elemental Immunity› ‹Hypnosis›

«Magical Abilities»:: ‹High Magic Affinity› ‹High Chaos Affinity› ‹Host of the Scarlet Witch› ‹Soul Devour›

«Authorities»:: ‹Time (2.5%)› ‹Mind (2.5%)› ‹Soul (5%)›

«Cosmic Abilities»:: ‹Low Cosmic Manipulation (Incomplete)›