Chapter 29: Fools, Try to Live!
Bullseye, Lester, couldn't hold back anymore. Even if he wasn't doing it just to prove loyalty, he was, by nature, a madman utterly deranged and he couldn't bear to watch someone else be even more unhinged than him.
Except for Wilson Fisk.
Huh~!
With dead-on precision, the sharpened projectile left Bullseye's fingers, slicing through the air toward the face of the masked man with perfect trajectory.
At the same moment, three notorious villains charged forward: the Green Goblin—Norman Osborn himself cackling behind his armored mask while riding his glider; Doctor Octopus, Otto Octavius, his four hydraulic tentacles flailing around like serpents; and Mac Gargan, now the cybernetically enhanced Scorpion, his tail extended in a deadly arc. All of them lunged toward the masked intruder.
Villains of the same breed naturally band together.
The trio, longtime allies of Kingpin and sometimes even of Bullseye, were all ruthless and egomaniacal tyrants in their own right. Their reputations preceded them. And now, to show their allegiance to Fisk, they struck out like cornered predators.
This time, Kingpin didn't intervene.
As the undisputed crime lord of New York and indeed with influence stretching across much of the U.S.—Wilson Fisk knew when to stay seated. He was rarely angry, but when he was, even demons feared his wrath.
He had spoken with civility, but this masked man, this unknown presence, dared to behave with insolence and arrogance!
So be it. Let Bullseye show him what it means to be reckless in front of the Kingpin.
Would the masked man die?
Fisk didn't concern himself with that.
After all, every person must bear responsibility for their actions.
If this mysterious man had done something worthy of anger, he must suffer the consequences.
Whether he could survive well, that was his own problem.
The weak had no right to stand before Wilson Fisk.
Seated beside him, Ryan Wong, an enigmatic figure shrouded in shadow, simply watched with a stillness that belied tension. Fisk remained unmoved as his four deadly enforcers charged forward. Yet, strangely, the masked man made no move to evade.
Was he blind?
No. That wasn't it. He saw the attack clearly but dismissed it.
As if these deadly villains didn't even qualify to threaten him.
Do we not even deserve to scratch you?!
The thought rang in each of their minds like a shriek in silence.
Still, the villains did not hesitate. Green Goblin swooped in with twin pumpkin bombs in hand, Doctor Octopus sent all four arms slamming down like jackhammers, Scorpion's tail lashed with venomous fury, and Bullseye—gritting his teeth drew a second dart and flicked it at lightning speed.
At last, the masked man spoke.
He ceased his laughter, raised a gloved hand to his mask, and in a voice colder than the void, said:
"Pathetic... you are utterly ignorant."
Whoosh~! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!
The building trembled violently. Smoke filled the room. Fire alarms howled, and the top-floor office of Fisk Tower was engulfed in choking dust and swirling debris. Fisk frowned slightly and reached toward a discreet button installed beside his massive oak desk.
Hooooooosh~
The reinforced windows opened with a hiss, and the ventilation system kicked in, quickly dispelling the smoke.
And then clarity returned.
The dust cleared.
And the true scene was revealed to all those watching.
The four generals were worthy of being classified as A-list supervillains. Under their combined assault, they cracked the reinforced walls of Kingpin's custom-designed executive office walls laced with vibranium-infused steel plating salvaged through black-market Wakandan channels.
But Fisk didn't look the slightest bit pleased. The situation unfolding before him was bizarre deeply unnatural.
All of the attacks Norman Osborn's explosive pumpkin bombs, Doctor Octopus's titanium tentacles, Mac Gargan's piercing scorpion tail, and Bullseye's lethal precision projectiles had passed clean through the masked man's body and slammed into the walls behind him.
"This… is this some kind of hard-light projection?!" Wilson Fisk's eyes gleamed with a rare mix of suspicion and greed. If he could harness such technology, imagine the level of personal security it would bring.
But before he could finish processing the implications, Fisk realized something terrifying.
The masked man never moved. He hadn't even dodged.
He simply walked phased through the four stunned villains, turned around with fluid grace, and began weaving hand signs, fingers a blur.
"What the hell is this now?"
The four villains were momentarily confused. They had heard Fisk mention the idea of projection tech and assumed this man was intangible an illusion or a drone, perhaps. So even though their instincts screamed danger, none of them bothered to dodge.
The masked man's eyes narrowed behind the chrome-lined faceplate. His tone was calm but carried devastating contempt.
"Fools... Try to live."
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
BOOM!!
The roaring fireball erupted with such velocity that the four villains barely had time to shield their faces with instinctive reflexes.
Glass from the upper floor of Fisk Tower exploded outward. A swirling inferno engulfed the villains in a massive orb of flame nearly five meters wide, sending them crashing through the high-rise windows like rag dolls caught in a bomb blast.
SPLAT!!
The fireball burst midair like a catastrophic firework. The four supervillains were thrown into disarray, their bodies wreathed in flames as they plummeted through the New York skyline.
And yet, by the time they were halfway down, they began to recover their senses.
Though the jutsu's destructive force was immense, the masked man had deliberately held back. He wasn't trying to kill them.
Not yet.
They still had some value to him.
Pushing them from the top floor was simply a trial a ruthless test of their capabilities. The weak wouldn't survive. And the weak… don't deserve to live.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Doctor Octopus slammed his mechanical arms into the building's side, using them as anchors to slow his descent. Sparks flew from the vibranium wall as he clawed into it and stabilized.
Green Goblin reacted even faster summoning his glider with a remote wrist-activated control, then catching himself mid-fall in a controlled hover, laughing nervously.
Scorpion, with a screech of metal on stone, embedded his cybernetic tail and wall-crawling limbs into the tower's surface, stopping just in time.
Only Bullseye was left in free fall arms flailing.
But in the final moment, Bullseye gritted his teeth and hurled a chained dart upward with deadly precision. The dart looped around one of Doc Ock's metal arms. Bullseye's body jerked from the sudden force, and he swung like a pendulum managing to cling to safety.
All four survived.
But their expressions were grim, humiliated, and shaken.
In just a single move one jutsu—the masked intruder had overwhelmed them completely.
Yes, they'd been caught off guard. Yes, they assumed it was some illusion. But that didn't excuse their failure.
And now, a different fear gnawed at their thoughts.
Would Wilson Fisk… still find them useful?
And from a corner of the ruined office, Ryan Wong silent this whole time tilted his head, watching events unfold with icy interest. The trial wasn't over yet.
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