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Venom stood at the peak of the mountain for a while before leaping straight down, landing heavily on a massive slab of rock.
All around him, the Venom clones who had been moving about froze mid-action and slowly gathered together.
"Tell me—who are you?"
Venom stared at the assembled clones with a terrifying grin, demanding loudly.
"I'm Venom!"
"I'm Venom!"
"I'm Venom!"
…
The clones roared together as if declaring their shared identity.
"That's right. We are Venom."
Hearing that, Venom's smile widened with satisfaction. Then his expression hardened, his voice deep and serious.
"What is it you crave?"
"Kill! Madness! Battle!"
The clones went berserk at once, roaring out their desires without hesitation.
"Then let's hunt to our heart's content!"
Venom stepped forward, both arms twisting into razor-sharp blades, eyes gleaming with a predator's hunger.
"Kill… begin!"
With that command, the clones exploded into motion, sprinting in every direction, tearing into the dangerous creatures lurking nearby.
In an instant, the battlefield turned into a slaughterhouse. The clones became relentless killing machines, hunting and tearing through every hostile beast they could find.
Watching them revel in the carnage, Venom grinned wildly, his eyes flashing with murderous fire as he slowly began walking toward the distance.
"The hunt has only just begun."
In a wide open clearing surrounded by several mountains that formed a valley, a colossal creature lay sleeping. It was a dangerous predator, towering like a living mountain, shaped much like a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Suddenly, the beast's eyes snapped open. It lifted its head and stared toward the valley walls.
Dozens of Venoms clung silently to the rock faces, gazing down at the T-Rex like hunters watching their prey, grinning darkly.
At the top of the valley, Venom stood with his arms folded, calmly observing the dinosaur as if the sight didn't faze him in the slightest.
The T-Rex heaved itself upright, glaring at the creatures crawling on the walls. It lifted one massive foot and stomped the ground, letting out an ear-splitting roar.
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
The clones answered back with roars of their own.
Enraged, the T-Rex swung around, its colossal tail lashing through the air with brutal force, sweeping toward the Venoms on the wall.
The clones reacted instantly, leaping away just as the tail smashed into the cliffside. The impact split an entire mountain peak in half.
The clones regrouped, circling the beast. Their hands morphed into deadly weapons as they dove into the attack.
The T-Rex fought back with raw power, its size and strength giving it the edge at first. But the Venoms weren't weak—they didn't stay down even when smashed into puddles of black ooze, reforming in moments and returning to the fray.
It didn't take long before the massive predator was riddled with wounds, blood pouring down its thick hide.
Up to this point, the T-Rex hadn't shown anything remarkable—no elemental powers, no strange abilities—just a huge body and brute strength. Unlike the Thunder Wolf Dragon, it had no lightning coursing through its veins.
Which made sense. If it had that kind of ability, it would have ranked among the most dangerous species alive.
The T-Rex seemed to realize that dragging this fight out would only mean certain death. With a desperate bellow, it turned and tried to flee toward the mouth of the valley.
One clone reacted instantly, shooting a web from its wrist that latched onto the beast, pulling with all its might.
Even with all its strength, the T-Rex could only stagger forward step by step. The clone's power was staggering.
The others raised their arms, firing webs that anchored the dinosaur to the ground, layer after layer.
Finally, the T-Rex toppled, bound tight, cocooned like a giant prey insect wrapped for later.
Venom, watching from above, dropped down from the mountain peak and landed in front of the trapped creature.
In full view of his clones, his arm melted into liquid black goo. He ripped off a piece of himself and flung it onto the bound dinosaur.
The ooze slithered across the beast's body like it had a will of its own, spreading fast and consuming it whole.
"ROAR!"
The webs tore apart as the T-Rex staggered to its feet again—only now it was clad in living black armor. It raised its head to the sky and bellowed, announcing its rebirth.
On its back, a gray spider sigil had formed, marking it as one of Venom's own.
Venom looked up at the towering new clone, smiling as his own body rippled into liquid form.
The other clones understood immediately. One after another, they detached from their hosts and streaked toward Venom, merging back into him.
His form swelled, growing larger and larger as he reconnected with all the fragments of himself.
By the time the last of them had fused back—except for the new T-Rex clone—Venom stood as tall as a giant, his power restored.
"Welcome back."
Venom glanced down at his body, smiling faintly. With each fusion came a flood of memories—everything his clones had experienced returned to him at once.
They were never separate beings, after all. Every clone was just a piece of him, carrying records that now flowed back into his mind.
He brushed aside the memories, striding straight to the massive T-Rex clone and swinging himself onto its back.
"Let's move. Time to settle some old debts."
"ROAR!"
The T-Rex clone thundered forward, carrying Venom at full speed.
In the blink of an eye, they vanished over the horizon.
"....."