Queens.
Evan Mercer lounged comfortably on the sofa at home, watching television.
Over the past several months, reports of demon sightings had taken up a substantial portion of the news.
Looking at his stockpile of more than a million Emotion Points, Evan couldn’t help giving the handful of Demonspawn shown being killed on television a thumbs up.
He honestly hadn’t expected those Lesser Demonspawn to be so capable.
“Let’s open an Earth-Tier (𝐈𝐈𝐈) Chest.”
He’d been saving his Emotion Points for quite a while now, so Evan decided it was finally time to spend some.
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained: 5 Star Card ×1, 4 Star Card ×3, 3 Star Card ×1.]
━━━━━ 🃏 Card ━━━━━
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Shattered Death World
A Death World is also a realm of the dead.
Though this world has been shattered, its core remains intact.
Vast quantities of the Essence of Death permeate it, and the entire world is suffused with the Law of Death.
It is also home to an immense population of undead creatures.
The world can grow and repair itself by devouring other worlds.
(Fusible)
━━━━
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Remains of the Bear God
The incomplete remains of a bear deity from a Western fantasy world.
Though badly damaged, the corpse still retains its divinity.
Even ordinary mortals who gaze upon it may behold the vision of a colossal bear roaring toward the heavens.
(Fusible)
━━━━
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thunder Crystal
Formed from a vast quantity of divine blood belonging to a god who mastered the Law of Lightning.
It contains a faint trace of lightning-law power.
(Fusible)
━━━━
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Power of the Lich King
The power of the Lich King from World of Warcraft.
It possesses the terrifying ability to wage a Scourge War and can transform, create, and enslave undead creatures.
(Fusible)
━━━━
⭐⭐⭐ Berserker Bloodline
Originating from a Western fantasy world, this bloodline allows its bearer to ignore pain and grow stronger the longer they fight.
(Fusible)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Evan was only barely satisfied with the results.
The cards were undeniably high quality, but he’d been hoping to strengthen the Nether Abyss faction next.
Looking at what he’d drawn, not a single card was particularly suitable for that purpose.
It left him somewhat frustrated.
“Still, there’s always a way forward. I don’t need to introduce another faction yet, anyway. I can just stockpile the Fusion Cards for now.”
“The Molten-Blood Demon has already reached Low Surface Tier (𝐈𝐈𝐈). The Nether Abyss Demon’s strength should also be enough for the moment.”
“I’ve got an idea for a new Combat Card too, but there’s no hurry.”
Evan grinned lazily.
While Evan lay comfortably on his sofa, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s agents were being run ragged.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Earlier that day, the NYPD had received an unusual report.
A woman from one of the city’s wealthy neighborhoods claimed that her daughter had been kidnapped by cultists.
The NYPD responded quickly, only to discover that the case involved supernatural forces.
Police Captain George Stacy wisely chose not to play hero and immediately passed the case up the chain.
Eventually, S.H.I.E.L.D. took over.
Ever since the Demonspawn incidents had begun, cases involving cultists had become increasingly common.
Some were nothing more than reckless schemes carried out by antisocial lunatics and weren’t worth worrying about.
Others, however, genuinely involved Demonspawn.
And whenever Demonspawn were involved, ordinary civilians usually suffered heavy casualties.
It wasn’t long before Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, and Phil Coulson arrived on the outskirts of New York with a squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
They quickly located their target.
From a distance, they could see a group of black robed cultists gathered inside a farmstead.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents didn’t rush in recklessly.
Instead, they used long range surveillance equipment to observe the farm while several snipers quietly took up position.
“Oh my God.”
“Get Tony and Gawain over here!”
The sight inside the farm made both Coulson and Natasha exclaim in shock.
The mutilated remains of cattle and sheep lay scattered around a grotesque, horrifying altar, their blood soaking the ground.
A black inverted cross had been driven into the altar, its surface carved with demonic figures.
Several girls were tied beneath the cross.
Their mouths had been gagged, leaving them able to do nothing but struggle in terror.
The cultists knelt devoutly with pitch black books clutched in their hands, chanting prayers, while two others dragged bleeding sheep carcasses across the ground to trace out a ritual formation resembling an inverted pentagram.
Once the formation was complete, the two cultists drew knives amid the prayers of their companions and began walking toward the girls.
“Fucking scum.” Natasha cursed under her breath.
Coulson didn’t hesitate.
“Take them down.”
Two gunshots cracked through the air.
The pair of cultists dropped instantly.
Coulson and Natasha immediately led dozens of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in a charge toward the farm.
After a brief moment of stunned confusion, the cultists reached beneath their black robes and pulled out fully automatic weapons.
Gunfire erupted.
But S.H.I.E.L.D.’s agents were highly trained.
After a short firefight, the vast majority of the cultists lay dead.
Only their leader remained standing, his entire body wreathed in swirling black mist.
Seeing that the cult leader had no intention of drawing a firearm, the agents kept their weapons trained on him as they slowly closed in.
“You accursed wretches! My god will never forgive you!”
With that, the cult leader drew a pitch black blade and plunged it straight into his own chest.
The instant the blade entered his body, the black mist surrounding him thickened dramatically.
Muscle swelled across his entire frame, transforming him into a hulking monstrosity.
Natasha immediately opened fire.
The other agents followed without hesitation, and the farm erupted with gunfire once again.
But just before the bullets could strike the cult leader, he manipulated the surrounding black mist, which corroded them away in midair.
“Holy Water Grenades!”
Coulson pulled one from his gear and shouted the order.
Ever since Demonspawn cases had started occurring more frequently, S.H.I.E.L.D. had equipped almost every field agent with specially modified grenades wrapped in containers of holy water.
Fortunately, they had proven remarkably effective.
“AAAAH! AAAAAH! AAAARGH!”
Several Holy Water Grenades detonated around the cult leader.
Holy water exploded outward, drenching his body.
The instant it touched him, his flesh began to corrode as though he’d been splashed with sulfuric acid.
Pits and cavities rapidly spread across his skin.
The cult leader screamed in agony.
“It works! Keep throwing!”
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents coordinated their movements while the snipers positioned farther away restricted the cult leader’s movements.
Despite possessing an enormous body, he couldn’t even touch a single agent.
Instead, he was battered relentlessly, howling in pain.
“If I’m going to die… then none of you are leaving here alive!”
Realizing there was no escape, the cult leader roared in despair.
He pulled out a pitch black book, then sliced open the veins in his arm.
Dark, almost black blood sprayed across the pages.
The moment it touched the book, the blood seemed to come alive.
Then the inverted pentagram blood formation on the ground began to stir.
The blood spilled by the dead cultists flowed toward their leader as well.
Before the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents’ eyes, a dark red cocoon rapidly formed around him.
Two more Holy Water Grenades were hurled at it.
They had no effect.
Seeing that, Natasha immediately ordered several agents to carry the kidnapped girls to safety while the rest established a defensive perimeter.
The girls had barely been evacuated when a sharp cracking sound came from the cocoon.
A moment later, every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent present felt an oppressive force bearing directly down upon their souls.
“Hahahaha!” A booming laugh echoed across the farm.
“Pathetic humans! I am Blackheart, the great Son of Hell! You dare slaughter my followers?”
The voice became vicious.
“Offer me your souls, and I may be merciful enough to leave your corpses intact!”
A figure burst from the cocoon.
Its build still resembled that of the cult leader, but its entire body now radiated a blood red glow.
Two fleshy protrusions bulged from its forehead, as though true demonic horns might tear through the flesh at any moment.
The body was still that of the cult leader.
But whatever had once existed inside that shell was gone.
Now, it was inhabited by Blackheart, the Son of Hell.