"Hmm?!" As the surrounding area was swept by the Demon King's intensifying wind pressure, the danger didn't abate. The giant Demon King sensed something was amiss but couldn't locate Barry Allen and the others due to their invisibility. Frustrated, he continued to amplify his wind pressure, trying to force them out.
Despite his efforts, the Demon King finally had a breakthrough. When the wind pressure peaked, a figure suddenly fell from the sky, landing awkwardly on the ground, appearing unable to move.
It was Susan Stone, who had been floating invisibly. Whether she had exhausted her strength or was injured by the wind pressure, Susan lay helplessly on the ground, looking frail and vulnerable.
"Little bug! Finally, you show yourself!" Seeing Susan, the Demon King's excitement surged. He had waited long enough, and now, with a chance to take a life before his own end, he wasn't about to let it slip away.
With a roar, the Demon King lunged at Susan, intending to tear her apart in a final act of vengeance. As a Demon King, he understood that Robert and the others were using him as a training tool for Susan and her team, to sharpen their abilities. This wasn't unfamiliar to him—he had done similar things to train his subordinates in Hell.
But understanding didn't mean the Demon King was willing to cooperate. Knowing he was about to die, he resolved to shatter this 'sharpening stone' by destroying Susan and her teammates first.
"Watch out!" Tony Stark and the others, unaware of the plan, shouted in alarm as the Demon King charged towards Susan. They instinctively moved to help her.
Susan lay there, seemingly incapable of fighting back, her expression filled with despair. Unfortunately, Tony and the others reacted too late. The Demon King was already upon Susan, and even the fastest, Pietro, doubted he could save her in time.
"Swish!" Just as the Demon King was about to strike, two figures appeared in front of him. One of them threw a small flame into the Demon King's gaping mouth.
"What the hell?!" Pietro, almost there, saw this and immediately turned to flee, understanding the imminent explosion. Susan's body turned into a blur and vanished, with Johnny Stone revealing himself as he grabbed her and ran, while Barry Allen supported him.
"Boom!" As Barry Allen used the last of his energy and collapsed, a terrifying explosion erupted. Robert quickly shrank the telekinetic barrier, containing the blast and the Demon King within a confined space.
"Did we do it?" Johnny Stone hesitated to look back. Seeing the inferno raging within the small barrier, he grew anxious. He knew Robert had intervened, and if the Demon King survived, it would mean their mission was a failure. He didn't want his team to be the only one, besides Peter Parker's, that failed their task.
"No!" Inside the barrier, the Demon King's terrified roar could be heard. Previously, he had dismissed Johnny's explosive flames, as they hadn't been enough to kill him despite causing severe damage. But this time was different. The tiny spark Johnny had thrown into the Demon King's mouth was a highly compressed burst of explosive fire, containing the maximum energy Johnny could muster.
The Demon King's defenses were formidable. Normal attacks from Johnny and Barry hadn't breached them. However, internal damage was another story. Despite the differences in physiology between the Demon King and humans, internal attacks were far more devastating. The explosion inside his body caused far more damage than it would have on the outside.
This was why Johnny and his team had used Susan as bait to get the Demon King to open his mouth. It was their only chance to ensure they could kill him.
Though their plan alone might not have been enough, Robert's telekinetic barrier amplified the explosion's effect by containing and intensifying the blast within a small space. This caused repeated internal injuries to the Demon King, finally breaking him down.
"Ugh!" The Demon King, caught in the explosive aftermath, died in anger and regret. Even in his final moments, he rued not acting sooner to kill Susan and her team before Robert's arrival, or fleeing before Robert could trap him.
But there was no remedy for regrets. Of the nine Hell Demon Kings Constantine discovered on Earth, eight were now dead, with only Seldar escaping, likely preparing for the arrival of his Hell Lord.
"We did it!" Seeing the mangled remains of the Demon King within the barrier, Johnny Stone cheered with relief and excitement. Killing a Demon King was no small feat for them, especially since they had never achieved such a victory before.
"To be honest, I discovered something from Jarvis' calculations..." Tony Stark began, his helmet retracting as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking at Johnny Stone with a smile.
"If it weren't for the telekinetic barrier, your explosive flame would have erupted from inside the Demon King, severely injuring him but not necessarily killing him. The barrier allowed your explosion to deal multiple times the damage, leading to his death."
"Uh?" Johnny, Susan, and Barry looked at Robert, awaiting his verdict. After all, this was Robert's test, and he would decide if they had succeeded.
"Well... Tony is right. I hadn't planned to mention it because you did push your limits and performed admirably. But since Tony pointed it out, I can't ignore it. My intervention did play a role," Robert shrugged, subtly shifting the blame to Tony.
"So, we still didn't complete the mission?" Johnny sat down in despair, looking defeated. "We tried so hard and still didn't make it."
"Hey, do you think anyone here didn't try hard? Except maybe the Saiyan..." Tony rolled his eyes. "Look at Steve and Bucky—they're almost 200 years old combined! And from Jarvis' scans, the Demon King you fought wasn't even the toughest, more like one of the weakest."
"Why do you have to bring us down like that?" Johnny glared at Tony. "If you consider yourself just an ordinary person, the Demon King you killed must have been really unhappy about it."
"You got that right. He was very unhappy, even tried to curse me before he died, but my armor blocked it!" Tony chuckled proudly.
"As for why I'm hard on you, it's because you're the weakest. You failed the mission. You think you tried your best, but did you ever think about using a similar combination to Robert's telekinetic barrier with your own powers?"
"Wow, Tony. You're getting better at analyzing supernatural forces," Robert said, looking at Tony with surprise.
"Of course! I'm a genius. Anything I set my mind to, I can figure out!" Tony puffed up with pride, grinning with a smug look.
"Uh... I meant Jarvis. I don't believe you figured it out yourself," Robert replied dryly. "And speaking of which, haven't you been working on new armor for ages? Where's your next-gen suit? Still in the concept phase?"
"I've got new ideas! You'll see a new suit soon, one that'll make you look twice!" Tony's confident demeanor wavered as he hastily defended his progress, almost slipping up about his true plans.
"So, what's the punishment for failing the mission?" Barry Allen sighed, looking at Robert.
"Punishment? There's no need for one. You did your best, even exceeded your limits. Just take a break, and when you're ready, you can train a bit more during off time," Robert waved his hand, using healing magic to mend their injuries.
After days of relentless fighting and the final exhausting effort, Johnny, Susan, and Barry were battered and exhausted, both physically and mentally. Robert knew they needed time to recover fully.
"When you're all better, you can treat everyone to a meal. Consider it a punishment for failing the mission," Robert suggested with a playful smile.
"A meal?" Susan's eyes widened. Treating others to a meal was manageable, even if it meant biting the bullet and treating someone as rich as Tony Stark. But Robert was a different story. Feeding him was like feeding dozens of people, especially if he found the food particularly enjoyable...
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