Five minutes earlier…
An explosion ripped through the facility, Max's clone caught dead center. The blast tore its way up to the surface, dust and debris raining down as a thick cloud of smoke rolled through the corridors. When it cleared, Max's clone stood there, lightning sparking violently across his body. With a grunt, he deactivated the Lightning Cloak, muttering,
"Damn… that was close."
The bastards had wired the place with more explosives than he expected, trying to slow him down. If not for conserving chakra—unsure of what else might be waiting deeper inside—this would've ended a lot sooner.
He glanced at the caved-in corridor ahead. Stone and steel completely blocked the passage. Lightning surged across his clenched fist, and with a single strike, he shattered the debris into dust. The path clear again, he pressed forward.
Turning a corner, gunfire erupted. Bullets clanged uselessly against the ribcage of his Susanoo as it flared to life. He weaved through hand seals.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
His chest expanded, then a roaring inferno blasted down the corridor. In the confined space, the firestorm became an execution ground. Screaming men scrambled to escape, but the flames engulfed them before they could flee.
Only one soldier survived, ducking into a side passage just in time. The fireball struck the wall and detonated, the shockwave searing half the man's face. He staggered against the wall, clutching his gun, teeth clenched against a scream as his skin peeled and bubbled. For a moment, silence fell.
A lightning spear burst through the wall, tearing into his shoulder and severing his arm at the elbow. The soldier shrieked in agony, stumbling backward, leaving a smeared trail of blood as he tried to flee.
Max's clone turned the corner leisurely, destroying every lab he passed. Glass tubes shattered under his strikes—releasing grotesque shapes suspended in green nutrient fluid. Some were malformed husks, others twisted into monstrous flesh growths. A few looked almost human, pale and still. A handful were alive, but misshapen… abominations.
He followed the bleeding soldier unhurriedly, like a predator toying with prey. At last, the man collapsed, strength gone. Raising his hand, Max's clone summoned the screeching roar of a thousand birds—the Chidori. Lightning stretched into a spear, which he drove clean through the soldier's chest. The body slumped lifelessly to the ground.
And that's when he saw her.
A girl. Young. Black hair. Standing in the hall, staring at him with wide, terrified eyes.
His killing intent flared—instinctive, unrestrained. The girl dropped to her knees, clutching her head as she screamed in terror.
The facility groaned. The ground cracked.
Then the earth erupted as massive vines tore upward, ripping through concrete and steel, threatening to bring the entire complex down.
The island shook violently as colossal vines tore free from the ground, splitting concrete and ripping apart steel like paper. Max's clone burst upward from the crumbling facility, his ribcage Susanoo shielding him as he shot into the open air. Dispelling it mid-leap, he twisted his body, narrowly slipping past the whip-like vines that lashed toward him. He landed in a crouch, then sprang backward, somersaulting out of reach as the vines slammed into the earth with bone-shaking force.
The ground convulsed again. Even more vines erupted, intertwining and stretching high into the sky. At their peak, they formed a living platform—carrying the black-haired girl from before. She stood upon it, chest heaving, eyes wide with fear and strain.
Then the vines moved. They wrapped around her body, forming a cocoon. The structure pulsed once with green light before being drawn downward, merging into a massive wooden shape.
The earth split apart. Roots and vines coiled together, twisting and thickening until a towering humanoid monstrosity took form. The cocoon was pulled into its chest as if absorbed, and the creature threw its head back with a thunderous, primal roar that rattled the entire island.
Max's clone froze for a moment, disbelief flashing in his eyes.
Chakra. This girl… she has chakra.
And not just chakra—her Wood Release radiated with raw power, more potent than anything he himself could muster. But it wasn't controlled. With his Sharingan , Max clone could see it clearly: ordinary vines erupting from the earth, instantly infused with her chakra, hardened and strengthened until they became weapons of living wood. It was as if the forest itself was defending her, instincts taking over where her will faltered she didn't even seem like she knows what she is doing.
A slow grin spread across his face.
"This… is going to be fun."
His Susanoo surged to life in full humanoid form, its armor gleaming with spectral light. Max's clone rose to float at its chest, the construct's towering height now rivaling the wooden titan across from him.
The two giants locked eyes—red blazing against green.
And then, as if drawn by an unspoken challenge, they charged.
Back inside the collapsed facility…
Dr. Benjamin dragged himself across the rubble-strewn floor, each movement sending white-hot agony tearing through his body. His ruined legs left a thick, glistening trail of blood in his wake, marking his path like a beacon of suffering. Sweat and saliva dripped from his clenched teeth, his ragged breathing echoing in the suffocating silence.
When the wooden tendrils had first erupted, they'd thrown debris everywhere. His men hadn't been so lucky—a slab of concrete had crushed them instantly. He had managed to dive aside… but at the cost of both his legs, severed clean by the falling wreckage.
Glancing back, he saw one of his soldiers' arms sticking out from under the rubble, limp and pale. The sight twisted something in his gut, but survival instinct drove him forward, clawing through broken glass and stone.
As he dragged himself past a partially intact lab, his eyes widened. One of the containment tubes was fractured—nutrient solution hissing in thin sprays through widening cracks. Inside floated a grotesque, pale mass of flesh, veins pulsing faintly beneath translucent skin.
The glass gave way with a deafening shatter.
The nutrient solution splashed over him, cold and reeking of chemicals. Dr. Benjamin shielded his face with one arm, sputtering as the stench filled his nostrils. Then—squelch.
The mass hit the floor in a wet heap. For a heartbeat, it was still. Then it twitched.
Benjamin's breath caught. Horror froze him in place as the mound of flesh began dragging itself across the floor, tendrils of muscle and sinew stretching outward like grasping hands. Panic surged, and he spun around, crawling faster, clawing at the tiles, leaving bloody streaks in his desperate flight.
The flesh latched onto his bleeding stumps with a sickening slap. He screamed, the sound raw and animal, echoing through the shattered corridor. The thing pulsed as it clung tighter, tendrils worming into torn muscle and veins.
He twisted, grabbing the abomination with both hands, trying to tear it free. His fingers sank into its gelatinous surface, warm and slick, as if he were plunging his hands into living guts. The mass shuddered, then surged upward, wrapping around his torso like a second skin.
Benjamin's screams broke into hysterical sobs as it crawled higher, covering his chest, his neck. His nails tore bloody furrows into his own skin as he tried to rip it off. His eyes bulged with terror as the thing pressed against his jaw, forcing its way over his mouth, smothering his cries into muffled gurgles.
The last thing he saw before his vision went black was his own reflection in the cracked glass of a nearby tube—his body thrashing, swallowed piece by piece by a nightmare of flesh.
The atmosphere was heavy inside the council chamber. Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, Cyborg, Green Lantern, Flash, and Shazam sat in their seats, the silence almost suffocating.
Batman had just finished explaining everything—everything about Max, and why he had attacked Lex Luthor.
Diana's eyes narrowed, her voice sharp.
"I can't believe you, Bruce. I thought we were finally a team. Yet you're still hiding things from us."
Green Lantern leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, scoffing.
"Yeah, spooky. A little heads-up wouldn't have killed you. Maybe a hint? Something?"
Batman's expression didn't falter. His tone was calm, collected.
"I saw no reason to involve the League. At the time, it was a matter I could personally handle."
Superman stood, frustration breaking through his usual restraint.
"Handled?" His voice rose, echoing in the chamber. "Bruce, we could have reasoned with him—calmed him down. We could have permanently shut down the operations at Rose Island together. Instead, you kept this from us."
He stepped closer, hands braced on the table, blue eyes drilling into Batman.
Before Batman could respond, the room dimmed.
The massive monitor on the wall flickered to life, bathing the chamber in red light.
WARNING. HIGH-ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED.
A digital map of Earth appeared, zooming rapidly across oceans and continents until it locked onto a single flashing point in the middle of the sea.
Shazam leaned forward, wide-eyed.
"…It's him, isn't it?"
No one answered. The silence said enough. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
The screen pulsed brighter, the energy reading spiking higher and higher.
Your most hated author has done it again 😈