MSM Chapter 99 : Ionic Shell

Wonder Man stepped through the rubble. Dust and debris fell from his shoulders as he locked eyes with Lucien.

Lucien rolled his neck, feeling his ribs protest the movement. Blood still seeped from the wound in his side—the hole Vision had left when he'd phased through his body. It had started to hurt. Every breath hurt. Every movement sent sharp pain through his torso.

But pain was part of fighting. That was something Lucien had accepted long ago.

If he focused on the pain now, if he slowed down to accommodate it, the pain would only increase. The only way forward was through.

He drew on his mana again, flooding his body with power. The energy reinforced everything—muscles, bones, reflexes. His stats surged beyond their base level, pushing him again far past what Wonder Man could handle.

Wonder Man charged.

Lucien met him halfway.

His fist connected with Wonder Man's face. The impact created a shockwave that blew dust across the room.

Wonder Man's head snapped to the side, but he recovered immediately and swung back.

Lucien ducked under the punch and drove his knee into Wonder Man's gut. Then he followed up with an elbow to the jaw. Then a palm strike to the chest that sent Wonder Man stumbling backward.

Lucien didn't let up. He pressed the advantage, his speed making him nearly invisible. A barrage of strikes—fists, elbows, knees, kicks—all of them landing with devastating force.

Wonder Man tried to defend, tried to counter, but Lucien was too fast. With mana enhancement active, he was operating on a completely different level.

Each punch should have shattered bone. Each kick should have ruptured organs. Each strike carried enough force to kill a normal hero several times over.

Wonder Man staggered under the assault, his body flickering with each impact.

Lucien kept going. Twenty strikes. Fifty. A hundred. His fists blurred with speed, each one precisely aimed at vital points—temple, throat, solar plexus, liver, kidneys.

Wonder Man fell to one knee, then to both knees.

Lucien stepped back, breathing hard. The mana enhancement was draining his reserves quickly, but it was working. Wonder Man was down.

Except he wasn't.

Wonder Man stood back up. Slowly, steadily, like nothing had happened.

Lucien stared.

There wasn't a single scratch on Wonder Man's body. Not a bruise, not a cut, not even a mark. His ionic form glowed with the same intensity as before.

Not a single drop of blood.

Nothing.

Lucien felt doubt creep into his mind for the first time in this fight. Were his attacks even doing anything? Was this Wonder Man even human at all?

He'd hit him over a hundred times. Full-powered strikes amplified by mana enhancement. Attacks that could shatter this entire building many times over.

And there was nothing. No damage. No effect.

Wonder Man roared and charged again, his fists coming down like adamantium hammers. He slammed into the ground where Lucien had been standing, cracking the concrete and sending chunks of debris flying.

Lucien dodged, his mind racing. What the hell was going on?

Wonder Man kept coming, relentless and unstoppable. He smashed the ground, shattered support pillars, and destroyed everything his fists touched.

But Lucien was faster. He dodged each attack, his perception tracking Wonder Man's movements easily.

While dodging, Lucien activated his perception ability, focusing it on Wonder Man's body. He needed to understand what he was dealing with.

What he sensed shocked him.

Wonder Man's body wasn't human. It wasn't even organic.

It was like a shell. Human-shaped, but hollow. There were no internal organs, no bones, no blood vessels. Just skin stretched over a mass of energy—glowing, purple energy that filled the space where organs should have been.

Lucien's eyes widened. That explained the durability. Wonder Man wasn't flesh and blood. He was pure energy in a humanoid shell.

How do you knock out something that doesn't have a brain to damage?

Lucien needed to confirm his theory. He mentally reached into his inventory and summoned a dagger. The blade materialized in his hand—simple, sharp, deadly.

Wonder Man charged again.

Lucien dashed forward to meet him. Instead of punching, he slashed the dagger across Wonder Man's ribs.

The blade cut through the skin easily.

But instead of blood, a purplish light started leaking from the wound. Energy spilled out like liquid luminescence, glowing and crackling with power.

Wonder Man didn't even seem to notice. The wound didn't slow him down, didn't cause pain, didn't affect him at all.

Lucien jumped back, dismissing the dagger back into his inventory.

Typical attacks wouldn't do anything to Wonder Man. He wasn't dealing with a person. He was dealing with living energy wearing a human disguise.

"Bob!" Lucien shouted, still dodging Wonder Man's attacks. "Any idea what's up with this guy? How do I knock him out?"

Bob was hiding behind a concrete pillar at a safe distance from the fight. His head poked out from behind the cover.

"I don't know!" Bob shouted back. "Never fought this guy before! And I never read anything on him either!"

Lucien ducked under a massive haymaker that would have taken his head off.

"Actually, now that I think about it," Bob continued, his voice getting more distant like he was thinking out loud, "I didn't read many files at all when I was with SHIELD. I should really change this habi—"

"Shut it!" Lucien yelled, pissed off.

He was fighting for his life against an unkillable energy being, bleeding from his ribs, running low on mana, and Bob was having a moment of self-reflection about his reading habits.

Bob laughed a bit from behind the pillar. "My bad! It seems I zoned out again."

Despite the situation, Bob didn't feel nervous around Lucien at all. Lucien reminded him of Yelena in that moment—both of them would tap him out of his blabbering when he got lost in his thoughts.

"You sure did!" Lucien shouted back, sounding thoroughly pissed as he continued dodging.

He stopped using mana enhancement. The drain was too severe, and it clearly wasn't helping against Wonder Man anyway. His base speed was enough to dodge—barely.

"Should I—" Bob started to ask from behind the pillar.

"No!" Lucien cut him off immediately.

Wonder Man's fist came down where Lucien's head had been a split second ago. The concrete exploded from the impact.

"I can take him down!" Lucien continued, leaping over a wide sweep. "I can sense there are stronger beings down this floor! You're reserved for them!"

And it was true. Below this level, deeper in the facility, Lucien could sense multiple powerful energy signatures. Stronger than Wonder Man. Stronger than anyone he'd fought so far.

"That bastard," Lucien muttered, referring to the telepath. "It's like he's a demon lord and we have to fight his pawns before getting to him."

The strategy was working. Lucien hated to admit it, but the telepath's floor-by-floor gauntlet was effective. It had worn him down significantly.

His mana reserves were running low. The wound in his side was still bleeding. His body was accumulating damage, even if most of it was minor.

He still had Status Recovery. He could use it to restore himself to peak condition.

But even his peak state wouldn't be enough against the heroes waiting below. He'd need every advantage he could get, including Status Recovery, for the final confrontation.

Lucien had tried to communicate with Natasha again through his earpiece, but the signal was dead. Network jamming was still in effect throughout the facility.

He'd wanted to get information on Wonder Man—weaknesses, vulnerabilities, anything useful. But he was cut off.

He was on his own.

Wonder Man kept coming, tireless and relentless. His body didn't fatigue, didn't slow down, didn't need to breathe or rest.

Lucien, on the other hand, was feeling the strain. His breathing was getting heavier. His movements were still fast, still precise, but the effort was building.

How do you beat something that can't be hurt?

Wonder Man's fist came at him from the left. Lucien dodged right.

Another punch from the right. Lucien ducked.

A double hammer-fist from above. Lucien rolled away.

The pattern continued. Dodge, evade, retreat. Lucien couldn't damage Wonder Man, but Wonder Man couldn't catch him either.

It was a stalemate.

But stalemates favored the side that didn't need to rest. Eventually, Lucien would make a mistake. Eventually, his speed would fail. Eventually, Wonder Man would land a hit.

And one hit from Wonder Man might be all it took.

Lucien's mind raced through options. He could use his shadows—summon them to restrain Wonder Man. But would that even work against an energy being? He could hold him... sure, but what was the point if his attacks did nothing?

He could try Commander's Touch again. It had worked on Vision's density manipulation. Maybe it would disrupt Wonder Man's form.

But that would be of no point either, he would go down to face those heroes... and once he did, the commander's touch would fade away... and that would simply mean he would have to face all of them together.

Lucien dodged another wild swing and created some distance. His side throbbed with pain. Blood had soaked through his shirt entirely now, making the fabric stick to his skin.

He needed to end this. Fast.

Wonder Man now stood in one place. His body started to glow with a purplish hue that was slowly getting brighter and brighter, and it had started to concentrate on his chest. He was building up energy, preparing for something.

Lucien tensed, ready to dodge whatever was coming.

Just then, someone's voice came from behind... nearby where Bob was, but it was not Bob's.

Lucien knew who it belonged to.

"His head. Cut off his head."