Chapter 98 One Punch Explodes
"That trajectory…"
Iron Man sharply reduced altitude while tracking the masked black figure below.
"He's heading directly beneath the Leviathan main cannon."
Inside the helmet—
JARVIS continuously scanned the unidentified target.
Three seconds later—
The AI returned a cold conclusion.
"Facial recognition impossible."
"The target's face is fully obscured by unknown material."
"Body-proportion comparison yields no database match."
"Skeletal-structure analysis…"
A slight pause.
"No matching records found."
Tony frowned immediately.
"A completely nonexistent person suddenly appears during an alien invasion?"
He maintained aerial distance while continuing pursuit from above.
Meanwhile—
The battle above Manhattan had reached its breaking point.
The five Leviathan war-beasts completed main-cannon charging simultaneously.
Crimson light illuminated the sky like blood.
Then—
The first Leviathan fired.
Boom—!!!
A gigantic red energy beam over ten meters wide erupted downward from the creature's dorsal cannon.
The beam tore directly through clouds toward a subway evacuation shelter below.
Tens of thousands of civilians remained trapped inside.
"No—!"
Despair erupted across communication channels instantly.
Tony accelerated desperately.
Too far.
Too late.
Captain America raised the vibranium shield instinctively despite knowing it would accomplish nothing.
Pure reflex.
Then—
Everyone witnessed something impossible.
Directly beneath the descending energy beam—
The black-clothed masked figure took two calm steps forward.
Then jumped.
Not a human jump.
The instant his feet pushed against the ground—
Boom—!!!
The entire avenue collapsed inward.
A crater thirty meters wide and half a meter deep exploded outward beneath the launch force.
Dust and rubble blasted into a circular shockwave.
Then—
His body pierced upward through the atmosphere with utterly irrational acceleration.
A white sonic-boom cone detonated around him instantly.
Several nearby Chitauri aircraft flipped uncontrollably from the pressure wave alone.
The masked figure shot directly into the crimson energy beam.
Chest first.
Boom—!!!
The destructive column struck him fully.
Energy capable of vaporizing skyscrapers poured entirely into a body less than two meters tall.
For one brief moment—
The battlefield froze completely.
Then—
Something even more terrifying occurred.
The beam failed to engulf him.
The crimson destructive energy collided against his chest like floodwater striking an immovable mountain.
A thin golden membrane spread invisibly across his body surface.
The energy dissipated continuously upon contact.
Absorbed.
Neutralized.
The masked figure remained floating motionlessly at the beam center.
Black combat robes fluttered violently in the storm of released energy.
His body never moved even one centimeter backward.
Not a single strand of hair burned.
The beam continued for three full seconds.
Then the Leviathan cannon exhausted its energy reserves and shut down.
Silence followed immediately afterward.
The masked figure slowly lowered his head.
The blank white mask faced the gigantic Leviathan directly.
Deathly stillness spread across the battlefield.
Human soldiers stopped firing.
Chitauri infantry froze.
Every pair of eyes locked onto the black figure suspended amidst fading crimson embers.
Far away—
The Flash lowered his mask slightly.
"…God."
Barry Allen's voice sounded genuinely shaken.
"He blocked that attack…"
"…with his chest?"
High above—
Tony Stark stared at the battlefield data JARVIS projected directly inside the helmet.
"Sir."
Even the AI voice carried faint hesitation.
"Based on thermal dispersion and energy-impact analysis…"
"The Leviathan cannon output equaled approximately forty percent of a tactical nuclear strike."
"The target's external body temperature increased by less than 0.3 degrees Celsius."
Tony repeated the number slowly.
"0.3 degrees…"
"He tanked a near-nuclear energy blast…"
"…and warmed up slightly?"
JARVIS provided no answer.
Because it possessed none.
Then—
Nick Fury's voice emerged from the Helicarrier communication network.
This time—
Calm.
Too calm.
And beneath that calmness—
Something deeply unsettled everyone listening.
"Someone tell me…"
"…who exactly that thing is."
Nobody answered.
Because nobody knew.
Then—
For the first time—
The masked figure spoke.
A cold mechanical voice distorted through the mask speakers.
"Acceptable firepower."
A slight pause followed.
"My turn."
At that instant—
The gigantic Leviathan filled his entire field of vision.
Two-meter-thick biological armor plating.
Elastic alloy muscle beneath.
Reinforced skeletal structures supporting internal energy channels.
A living interstellar warship.
But—
Analysis of All Things had already identified its weakness completely.
Seven inches beneath the throat.
A structural gap hidden between layered bone plates.
Behind it—
The central energy-core nexus.
Every neural command.
Every energy pathway.
Every biological function—
Converged at that single point.
Destroy the core—
And the Leviathan dies instantly.
Boom—!!!
The masked figure stepped forward in midair.
Even without physical footing—
A circular airburst exploded beneath his feet from pure biofield compression.
Then—
He accelerated again.
Transforming into a black meteor streaking directly toward the Leviathan's head.
The creature sensed danger instantly.
Its gigantic mouth opened wide enough to swallow a commercial aircraft whole.
Rows of metallic teeth reflected cold alien light.
The Leviathan intended to devour him completely.
The black figure never slowed.
Never evaded.
He flew directly into the monster's mouth.
"He's insane!"
An unidentified hero shouted across the communication channel.
Then—
The Leviathan's jaws snapped shut completely.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Despair spread rapidly among the watching defenders.
Then—
The Leviathan's throat bulged violently outward.
And suddenly—
BOOM—!!!
A horrifying muffled explosion erupted from inside the creature's body.
Not energy detonation.
Not artillery impact.
Pure kinetic destruction.
Beginning from the throat—
The gigantic Leviathan exploded segment by segment along the entire spinal structure.
Bone plates shattered outward.
Biological armor ruptured apart.
Nerves.
Organs.
Blood vessels.
Everything inside the hundreds-of-meters-long war beast disintegrated simultaneously from overwhelming physical force.
The black figure had punched through the Leviathan…
From the inside out.
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