The sudden explosive rise in room temperature was accompanied by the scalding heat exceeding thousands of degrees.
BOOM!
The lab filled with several important experiments, heavily invested equipment and research facilities amounting to millions was swept away by a raging black inferno.
The pitch-black flames reacted like a starving living entity, engulfing and devouring anything and everything in its path. Everything that met its touch was destroyed in a split second.
The fleeing Martian felt the scalding heat, and the bald scalp in her Martian form tingled. Mericrozz was so frightened that her intangible form quickly phased right through the nearest wall. Her flying speed was raised to the extreme, that it seemed her soul would leave her body and escape on its own if she didn't move fast enough.
At that moment, the all too familiar feeling of fear and crippling anxiety assaulted her nerves and threw her mind into chaos.
Fire! A Martian's worst fear. Mericrozz who knew all too well how vulnerable she would be if she didn't get as far away as possible from that blazing heat, ran as fast as she could.
With her Martian abilities, she phased through wall after wall in a frenzy.
Amari saw her escape from the room, and his body blurred after her. A second after he disappeared, the spot where he stood was enveloped by the pitch-black flames.
Blar! Blar! Blar!
The alarms sounded throughout the buildings like sirens, yet Mericrozz paid them no heed as she focused all her might on escaping.
Her body was invisible and intangible, enabling her to move at high speeds without being noticed.
The Martian who was flying forwards suddenly changed directions and pierced through the roof. Her body appeared on the upper floor.
Appearing here, she instantly deactivated density shifting and, in her Martian form, spat out a mouthful of blood.
The bloodline oozed from the corner of her mouth.
Seeing the blood, the white Martian was visibly gloomy. Using her powers wasn't effortless. It would be if she was in perfect condition, but that wasn't the case at the moment.
The consistent use of telepathy, telekinesis, and density shifting carried a rather heavy strain on her damaged body. This could be seen through the very visible scars on her form and the leg area that was missing a foot.
If she couldn't fly, her mobility would have been greatly limited.
However, in her opinion, being severely wounded was much better off than being dead. The self-destruct blast from her spaceship back a month ago carried great destructive power.
Sensing that something was wrong at that time, she immediately phased away and escaped from the spaceship at her fastest speed.
Nevertheless, she didn't make it out unscathed, as she was still caught within the range of the explosion. Even if she was a Martian, a blast of that magnitude was enough to leave her in a half dead state.
Her current physical condition was the result of one month's worth of recuperation. After all, the Martian Physiology granted highly enhanced durability, making them almost nigh invulnerable, capable of tanking bullets, armored shells, energy blasts and a lot of kinetic damage but ultimately, this level of toughness was still a bit lacking when compared to Kryptonians.
Surviving an explosion almost comparable to a nuclear blast was already good enough. The fact that she also survived the trip back to earth in the meteor debris, although not in one piece, was enough to show how tough her body was.
When she discovered her situation, alongside her mangled body, she immediately hid as deep as she could to avoid being discovered. In her current state at that time, see was at her most vulnerable.
If she was discovered by the government or the Justice League, only the universe knew what her fate would be like. So until she fully recovered, she decided to hide herself. Now her body wasn't at peak state and she was forced to exert herself.
This result was counterproductive.......
At that moment, her eyes suddenly turned white and a feeling of crisis engulfed her.
She immediately activated density shifting as quick as she could, while the space beside her trembled. What came out of nowhere was a fist moving at lightning speed and fully coated with a dark red aura on it.
Luckily, it passed right through her body without inflicting any damage whatsoever.
Mericrozz immediately backed away as fast as she could, with speed a human could never keep up with.
Pushing both hands forward, her telekinesis rushed out in an attempt to smash the opponent far away. The walls and floor were destroyed in the process.
Amari walked forward with unhurried steps as the waves slammed into his being, but didn't succeed in slightly halting his movement.
All the energy was absorbed like a dried out sponge thirsty for a drop of water.
“Your telekinesis isn't my match, even in its heyday”. The coldness emanating from his voice was followed up by the release of the same pitch-black flame.
The black fires instantly emerged from the void and flooded the hallway. Seeing the approaching flames, Mericrozz felt the deep, thick engulfment of death.
The black fire engulfed the entire hall with its flames, but the Martian was nowhere to be found.
Amari stared at the burning hallway indifferently, not at all concerned about his escaping target. Why would he be concerned when the target was planning on initiating a sneak attack right behind him?
Lo and behold, he was right. The White Martian suddenly appeared from the floor behind him. The red eyes on her white face gave off a red glow.
Amari turned around in time to receive a full head on attack of Martian Vision. Two thick rays of heat slammed into his chest with a temperature degree capable of rivaling Superman's.
“Martian Vision? One of the lesser known abilities of Martians”. Amari stated plainly, looking not the least bit affected by the blazing lasers constantly blasting at his chest.
“Kamui”. With the activation of his ability, a strong suction force appeared in the surroundings.
Mericrozz immediately felt the absurdly strong pull that latched onto her right arm. Before she could properly react, her arm twisted and was instantly ripped off from the shoulder.
Squelch!
Blood splattered all over the place and rushed out of the torn off shoulder like a broken water tap.
“Creech!!!” A painful, inhumane wail that couldn't possibly be human resounded in the hallway. The severe pain made the Martian fall from the air with a thud.
Too bad, Amari wasn't considerate enough to let her finish her wail of agony.
His figure appeared in front of her in less than a second and grabbed her by the throat.
The wailing stopped as the Martian felt the strong grip on her neck.
“Not just any Martian can use Martian Vision. Even in the face of fire, you didn't freeze up as easily as other Martians would have”. Amari continued to speak with a face that screamed, I don't care about anything.
“...... Telepathy and telekinesis that surpasses even the Man hunter, tsk tsk..... Those Psion bastards actually wanted to recreate a Burning Martian. Lunatics I say.......” .
The struggling Martian froze for a second. Her eyes widened as she looked at Amari with a hint of disbelief lying within them.
“Surprised how I know all that?” He raised an eyebrow in amusement.
“I know many things. This stuff isn't even worth mentioning, so don't bother your soon-to-be dead head about it. Seriously....... You had so much potential. Those lizard lunatics actually almost completed their goal….”
“It's too bad. You just couldn't contain your curiosity. I guess it's true that curiosity kills the cat”.
At that point, Mericrozz's white and black body was covered with cold sweat.
“..... You...... What are… You?”
“That is none of your concern, dear. Alright, time to send you to the Afterlife”. His indifferent face finally showed a “serious” expression.
Knowing that she was about to be killed, the Martian's survival instinct kicked in. However, her body trembled when she discovered she couldn't density shift.
Her eyes immediately glowed red, ready to fire another blast of vision. Unfortunately, two fingers were poked into those eyes, effectively blinding them.
“Screech!” Another painful screech resounded.
“The Chamber will definitely find you”. Knowing that this was the end, her hideous face swore viciously.
“Yeah, yeah, classic death lines”. With a little more force applied to his wrist, the neck of the Martian was crushed with a snap.
Amari expressionlessly looked at the corpse with no signs of life and wore a pondering look. His original idea was to use Amaterasu to burn the corpse of the Martian until it was nothing but ashes.
But now on second thought..... The blood of a half awakened Burning Martian was just as valuable as Kara's. Her death was already a done deal either way the moment she tried to peek into his head, but that didn't mean her corpse couldn't be out to good use.
Plus, it could give him some surprises.
The Martians were the veritable descendants of the race Fernus. Also known as Burning Martians, known for their violence, ferocity, and will for destruction.
Twenty-thousand years ago, the “Burning Martians” were the dominant life form on the planet Mars. Their name originates from the fact that each Martian was perpetually ablaze with a glowing halo of fire.
They were a ruthless and barbaric race whose life's goal was to wage never-ending war against one another.
The Guardians of the Universe, who had been observing Martian culture for quite some time, decided to intervene the moment it became clear that it wouldn't be long before they developed interstellar travel.
They programmed a genetic weakness towards fire into Martian physiology to prevent them from evolving back into their natural forms.
All of this aside, it just emphasized on the fact that the Fernus Race was powerful.
Thinking up to this point, Amari quickly stored Mericrozz's corpse within the Kamui space.
“Great. Now that that's settled, let's make this quick”. His body disappeared as soon as he finished his words.
.........
The sound of alarms rang out within the Cadmus base, instantly sending the whole facility into a frenzy. Security guards were mobilized, staff and personnel immediately went to work to discover the situation.
“What the hell is happening?” A stern middle-aged woman dressed in an executive lab coat yelled at the top of her lungs as the elevator door opened up.
“We're under attack, Doctor Horton”. Someone replied in a loud voice.
“Don't you think I know that?” Hearing his obvious reply, her face was ugly. The male seeing her gloomy expression shrunk back a bit, not daring to utter another word.
“Project Cadmus is an investment of countless bigwigs. I want to know who is attacking us right this minute and what gives them the audacity.....” Horton said with a frown on her face.
However, several explosions from the lower levels of the building caused everyone in the command room to stagger, while some who were already standing fell on their butts.
“...... What was that?”
“It's not good, mam. Sublevel B-16 has gone up in flames”. A man yelled in anxiety.
“B-16? Fuck. What's happening down there?”
“I don't know, mam”.
The man's face was hideous. Cadmus's research was aimed at creating powerful genetic weapons. It didn't just include human experimentation, but also the creation of special vials and serums capable of creating powered individuals.
The majority of these serums were failures, but they were expensive failures and valuable research material.
The surveillance footage of the mentioned sublevel appeared on the screen. What could be seen was a rapidly spreading black flame, devouring everything in its path.
“Damnit!” Doctor Horton roared distressed.
“The fire… Whatever it is, it's spreading rapidly. What should we do?” A personnel questioned with a bit of timidity.
“What should you do? Find people and get down there to put it out, you nut head!”
The roaring voice of the doctor could be heard in the command room.
However, high above the Cadmus facility, The space around an area distorted slightly an Amari's figure appeared in the air.
He looked towards the buildings below and the patterns in his eyes spun rapidly as if accumulating power. A few seconds later.
“Amaterasu!”
The void suddenly cracked open, followed by a massive gush of black flames pouring down upon the earth like hell's judgement.
And right in front of its path was Cadmus.
BOOM!
“Send the word out. We need to let them know that the........” Doctor Horton said, but before she could finish her words, the entire Cadmus building was engulfed in black.