MARVEL: GAMER PATH - CHAPTER 289 (Patreon)

[Alex POV]

I continued battling Knull, using all the [Skills] at my disposal to keep him at bay, as I waited for Thor’s arrival, who, according to my map, was a minute away from our location.

From there, all I would have to do was give my brother an opening, which would hopefully lead to severing Knull’s connection to the hive mind, in the process cutting his connecting All Black weakening without measure.

All Black was a symbiote, so in theory, severing his connection should disrupt his grasp on the Necroblade.

This, however, was nothing more than a hopeful assumption I had.

From there, all I would have to do was give my brother an opening, which would hopefully lead to severing Knull’s connection to the hive mind, in the process cutting his connecting All Black weakening without measure.

All Black was a symbiote, so in theory, severing his connection should disrupt his grasp on the Necroblade.

This, however, was nothing more than a hopeful assumption I had.

On a positive note, I wasn't worried about the Necroblade, in any case, because even if the plan didn’t sever his connection to the blade, it would still weaken him a lot, giving me the upper hand regardless of the desired outcome.

Smiling, I continued with my battle, with Thor finally reaching our cosmic arena, now hiding beneath the asteroids floating nearby, waiting for an opening to strike Knull.

However, as Thor waited, I noticed something off with Knull’s expression.

He was smiling.

It was a small, subtle smile, but it was there, and it was pretty telling.

At first, I was confused by this sudden change of demeanor, but then I realized what was happening.

He knew.

The bastard knew.

Inwardly cursing, I tried to move towards Thor, shouting for him to run away.

However, before I could reach Thor, Knull had rushed at him, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye, his blade ready to pierce bisect Thor with a single swipe of his blade; the prospect of it all shaking to the very core at the possibility of it.

Without a second thought, I rushed to Thor’s aid, teleporting in front of Knull order to save my brother from our foolish mistake, blocking the first few attacks with [Serenity], locking myself in a brutal exchange of blows with Knull, that seemed to last forever.

However, even though I was managing to block and deflect most of his attacks, I was now locked in a dead end.

My [Precognition] showed me nothing but unavoidable ends, that I kept delaying taking the best possible detour from them each time, but as much as I tried to escape these ends, my every kept pushing me to a new dead end, each one harder to escape than the last.

In turn giving Knull the opening he had been looking for so long, as he thrusted his blade forward over and over again, breaking my defenses.

"Brother!" Thor roared in shock, as my blood painted the dark void of space as he violently blasted Knull away with a powerful attack that carried all the might of Asgard in it, before taking me into his arms worryingly.

However, Thor's actions had been for naught in terms of timing.

Knull’s attack had managed to reach me, leaving my body impaled by the Necroblade, who had already started to consume my very essence in desperate hunger, bringing forth unimaginable agony upon me, that was only slightly drowned out by Knull's laughter in the back.

I couldn’t move.

I had lost?

I can’t lose…

I couldn't lose.

"I... I didn't mean to..." Thor cried, his hands shaking, trying with all his might to take the Necroblade out of my body, failing at every attempt as the Blade latched into my skin as any other symbiote would, with tendrils digging into my body for hold.

“I will KILL YOU!” Thor roared, his eyes full of anger and tears.

"Rejoice that I allow you to see his last moments," Knull replied before my mind slipped into a world of darkness.

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[Alex….]

It is often said that we are defined by our trials and tribulations. That which does not kill us makes us stronger. And while this may be true to some extent, it is not the whole story. We are also defined by how we choose to face our challenges.

Do we cower in the face of adversity, or do we stand tall and confront it head-on? Do we give up at the first sign of trouble, or do we push through and persevere?

The choice is ours to make. But know this: whatever decision you make, there is strength within you to see it through.

We are what we overcome.

We cry for power that is already ours.

We seek strength in others, only to find it within.

We have everything, from the moment we take our first breath.

"What..." I muttered, opening my eyes to find nothing but white.

"What will you choose?"

A voice…

A familiar voice…

"Are you a God or a Man?"

I paused before giving an answer. "I am a man; Gods are defined by man... Gods are created by man... besides, for all the power I have… I am but a man…”

"I see..."

"Who are you?" I asked, trying to make sense of what was happening.

"You."

Me?

"A part of you at least, a figment of your imagination if you wish. We met already, don't you remember?"

The recovery mode...

That meant there was still hope to end this.

"That would be correct. However, this time there won't be any recovery… This is not your anime power up moment, or your last resort card type of thing… this is the moment where you decide what path to take, one of rest, or one of war…”

"What?" I asked.

"God, Man, Father, Killer, or Recovery mode in my case, these are all titles of power, titles that only hold any power if you give them any, to begin with..."

"I know..." I replied, understanding what Recovery was saying.

"The power to end this battle is already yours. It has always been... it's up to you to deny it once again or to accept it..."

"I accept it!" I shouted or tried to, without even questioning the fact I had denied it at some point before..

"Do you now? You might want the power to save what you deem valuable right now, but would that remain?"

"I don't care..." I muttered.

"You should… After this, your life will change forever; no more you will be ignored, and no more your power will have any mental bounds, so to speak. So tell me, are you sure of this? Many will target you. In fact, dying here could be in a way considered mercy, a quick end compared to what awaits for you if you take this chance..."

I scoffed, unfazed by the possible consequences. "Fuck them, fuck you, and while we are at it fuck everything else... My life has already been hard as it is, so fuck it all... I will be ready for all of them..."

"Haha, good answer. Very well... In that case, I guess I am no longer needed to serve as a filter, be well, and take care."

[Evolution requirements have been met...]

[User evolving from Celestial/Human to \|>~€~

[Adjusting stats...]

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[The Watcher POV]

I watched in awe as the awakening of a new being finally came to a sense in this particular universe. No longer the man he once was, he now stood above others, walking on the path of enlightenment.

“Now it’s time to…” Knull grinned, walking towards Alex as Thor got ready to fight. However, before he could, Alex stood up, hurling All Black at Knull like it was but an annoying bug he had allowed to bite him for far too long.

“Brother?” Thor muttered in shock, seeing Alex completely unharmed; in fact, he seemed better than ever.

Smiling, Alex stood facing his enemy, his energy completely different from before. His spirit was now calm, collected, focused, and overflowing with power. There was even a victorious grin on his face as he was thinking about how to end Knull once and for all.

"This changes nothing..." Knull smiled confidently, for in his mind, he was sure he had already won. “You might have survived that… but you won’t last for long now…”

'I have to revive the Symbiotes he killed... but how?' Alex wondered, watching his opponent carefully as he analyzed the situation.

At first, he had thought of using his energy to reverse the absorption process that Knull had done, it was after all, all a matter of energy, but what guarantee did he have that it would work?

He would need to test things out first, to see how his energy interacted with Knull’s before taking any decisions.

Taking a deep breath, Alex moved towards Knull, closing the gap between them before Knull could even process what was happening, delivering a galaxy-shattering gut punch to the Symbiote King, sending him crashing into an empty planet.

Coughing huge amounts of blood, Knull stood, his fists clenched and an expression of pure rage on his face as he growled, "Damn you! That..."

"Shouldn't have happened?" finished Alex, already in front of him, cocking his head with a sly smile, before resuming. "Don't worry. I, too, am surprised... so I really understand your shock, big guy."

Knull growled, taking a step forward, ready to strike Alex.

Alex, at this, stopped to look at Knull briefly, his smirk widening. "Who would've thought things would turn in my favor after being impaled by your blade... I mean, look at me now, I am now stronger than you... By a lot, isn’t that great?”

Knull clenched his fists even more as veins throbbed on his arms, threatening to explode at any time. "You are nothing..." he uttered in rage as he concentrated and gathered his strength for his next attack.

Alex watched him, curious to see what the monster had in mind for him, as Knull contracted his energy, summoning a few Celestial corpses that were under the control of a few symbiotes.

That after their summoning, immediately glared at Alex.

"I see..." said Alex, cracking his neck as he adopted a fighting stance. "You still had some of those laying around, what a sore sight honestly..."

"I did..." Knull grinned in victory. "And with them, I shall bring forth your end..."

Without another word, Knull made a gesture toward Alex as he commanded them in a roar, "Attack!"

The celestial puppets, at this, rushed on the warrior that had disappeared from their sight, reappearing behind them, arms stretched out, ready for the attack.

"Bye," Alex muttered as a massive beam of light left his hands, erasing the Celestials puppets from existence. "You really thought it would work? It didn't work when I was weaker. What in the universe made you think it would work now?"

Knull shouted in rage, his body shaking. "You're not supposed to be this strong!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Alex said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and amusement. "Did I hurt your little feelings? Very well then, I'll try to go easier on you next time. Would that make you feel better?"

Knull's eyes blazed with rage, at what he considered an affront to his very being, as he charged at Alex without a clear strategy, blinded by rage, swinging the Necro Blade wildly. But sadly for Knull, Alex was simply too quick and too strong now, being able to dodge every attack effortlessly as if fighting a mere human.

"Is that all?" Alex taunted, keeping his face at all times inches away from Knull's.

"SHUT IT!" Knull roared, trying to reach what for him was right under his grasp but at the same time unreachable.

"I'm disappointed; I was expecting more of a challenge from the Dark Lord of the Symbiotes," Alex muttered close to Knull's ear as he continued to dodge Knull's onslaught of attacks, one after the other, without breaking a sweat.

Knull roared in frustration, using all of his power to try and grab him, but Alex simply teleported away before he could, reappearing behind Knull and striking him hard with a powerful blast of energy that shook Knull to the core.

"Now you're just too weak," Alex said, his voice laced with cold disappointment as he stared down at Knull with disgust.

Knull and Alex were too apart now.

Alex had finally begun to accept his power, in turn stepping into a level so far out of Knull’s reach that for Alex, there was no difference between Knull and a simple human.

Alex Walker had finally reached the true heavens with his power, grasping the power only true Gods so far in history had been allowed to have, and Knull, in the face of that, was but a bug trying to eat up the sun.

“Are you having fun watching?” Alex chuckled, tilting his head in my general direction.

I froze, a smile creeping up my face. His awareness had evolved so far that he was now able to perceive and locate multiversal phenomena with frightening accuracy.

“Well, do enjoy the show,” Alex chuckled once again, turning his attention back to Knull.

As I was left to wonder what kind of beast had been unleashed onto the multiverse now that Alex was out of bounds. One of good? Or one of chaos? Only time would tell.

“I can still hear you…” Alex muttered loud enough for me to hear.

Perhaps, it would be best to have my monologues about him, with the channel to his dimension close.

“Yes, perhaps it would…” Alex sighed.