The colossal battle between the Abomination and Enzer had drawn countless spectators.
"Looks like quite the skirmish," Blade remarked from his perch atop a distant skyscraper, his sharp gaze fixed on the chaos below. "Who exactly were you fighting?"
"I found a Hulk replica and decided to say hello," Enzer replied, his expression eerily serene.
"If you cleaned up your pets' bodies and healed their injuries, I might actually believe you." Blade offered a chilling smile, gesturing to the battered aliens surrounding Enzer. "You've taken heavy losses. That could leave you vulnerable to enemies."
"Don't worry, I'm not that easy to kill. If the enemies you're referring to are vampires, then I sincerely hope there are as many of them as possible," Enzer said coolly.
Blade studied the aliens, his mind racing. Enzer's confidence in his creations was unshaken, and the absence of the crowned alien, the one he hadn't yet seen, was notable. Their conversation lapsed into silence until the Abomination, barely recovered, roared furiously from the street below.
Blade tensed. His instincts screamed danger, a direct hit from that monstrosity would be lethal, even for him. But what truly caught his attention was the Abomination's half, repaired body.
"You did that?"
"I can."
"How many of your aliens died?"
"Nearly half."
"Nearly half… yet you still have six left. You've been preparing more than you let on," Blade said, surprised. More than ten in such a short time? And among the survivors, one stood out, its form twisted, grotesque, clearly a new variant. The fact that they'd paid such a steep price to assault the Abomination, only to seemingly fail, spoke volumes about the creature's threat.
Below, the Abomination rampaged across Broadway, hurling vehicles aside. If they'd been empty, Blade might have stayed put. But civilians were caught in the chaos, and he could no longer watch. Drawing his blade, he surged forward, scaling buildings with inhuman agility to rescue a trapped bystander.
Enzer, however, remained motionless. He waited, patient, expectant. His inaction baffled those observing.
"What is he doing?" Dum, Dum flicked a finger at the screen. "People are dying, and he's just standing there?"
"Fear, perhaps. He fought the monster first, suffered heavy losses, and now he's too scared to continue," Fury mused silently. Disappointing, but not unexpected. If Enzer understood fear, he might be easier to control. Fury adjusted Enzer's threat assessment on his computer, downgrading him to "usable but unreliable."
Blade, however, wasn't convinced. Enzer's silence puzzled him. There had been no hint of fear in their exchanges, only calculation.
Then, everything changed.
Dr. Bruce Banner leaped from a helicopter, stumbling before transforming into the Hulk. Fury's attention snapped to the green giant on screen. With the Hulk in play, who cared about Enzer? Did anyone truly grasp the raw power of the Hulk?
"HULK!"
The Abomination's rage erupted. Spurred by Enzer's earlier assault, he abandoned Blade and charged. Each thunderous step cratered the asphalt.
BOOM!
The Hulk was sent flying. Weakened from recent experiments and suppressants, he struggled to fight back. The Abomination pummeled him relentlessly, their battle reducing the street to rubble. Cars crumpled like paper; buildings collapsed like brittle sandcastles.
"See, Hulk? I'm stronger than you! I, Blonsky, the Abomination, am the strongest!" he bellowed to the sky.
The world watched. Videos flooded the internet, marking this as a turning point, the moment superhuman beings openly waged war on civilization.
Elsewhere, other powerful figures took notice.
"Professor, we still have time to leave," a voice urged.
"No. This is a human conflict. Intervening would only provoke greater tensions," Professor X replied from his wheelchair. His X-Men watched the news, divided.
But something troubled him. "That Abomination… he isn't just himself. There's another consciousness inside, one that rejected my mental probe. It feels… unnatural."
This was unprecedented. The Abomination's mind housed a foreign presence, bound to something darker. Was he truly just a failed experiment? Or was he engineered for this?
Professor X hesitated. He could stop the battle with his powers, but mutants were already on thin ice.
"The Lady of Destiny foresaw countless futures where mutants were exterminated. I must tread carefully."
His heart ached. No matter the path, their end seemed inevitable. What was the right choice?
Meanwhile, someone else observed with far less concern.
The Ancient One sat atop a snow, capped peak, her senses spanning the cosmos. She briefly glanced at New York.
"Reality has shifted again, but this is no demon's doing. This is Earth's own evolution."
As a near, godly being wielding artifacts like the Time Stone and the Books of Vishanti and Cagliostro, her power rivaled that of a universe itself. She sensed the subtle changes but had no desire to interfere. Without the Reality Stone, she couldn't rewrite events.
Her greater concern?
Debt.
"The Vishanti demand no tribute, and Cyttorak is indifferent. White magic and certain demonic spells are safe, for now. But black magic…"
All magic came at a price. Sorcerers borrowed power from cosmic entities, beings capable of erasing entire realities on a whim. Debts had to be repaid, and the terms varied.
The Vishanti were lenient. Cyttorak, the Crimson Demon, was lazy, content to let minor debts slide.
But black magic was the problem.
The Ancient One's dark power came from Dormammu, who in turn borrowed from Chthon, the god of dark magic. Chthon was ruthless, petty, and omnipotent, even sealed away, he could annihilate debtors across dimensions.
Which left the Ancient One in a bind.
She wanted the power, but not the bill.
So she let Dormammu suffer instead.
Somewhere in the Dark Dimension, Dormammu's fiery eyes snapped open as fresh resentment burned through him.
"Damn it, the debt increased again."