The Marvel world has vampires. Blade alone proves that—he's one of the universe's bona fide superheroes.Zod just didn't expect to run into one this early.
"Other than silver, is there no way to kill you?"
Zod doubted that.
"Foolish human."
Daken struggled with all his might, but the hand locked around his throat didn't budge. It felt forged from solid steel.
Then he noticed Zod's eyes turning crimson. An instinctive dread—something born into every creature of the night—flooded him.
A beam of heat splashed across Daken's face. To Zod's surprise, he disintegrated instantly, scattering into ash.
"That's odd… heat vision works that well on vampires?"
Zod blinked, startled for a moment, then the answer clicked.
Heat vision was Kryptonian solar energy released in beam form. Solar energy… sunlight… of course it worked on vampires.
When he stepped out of the restroom, the scene outside had turned into a blood-drenched nightmare. From the sprinklers overhead—looking deceptively like a normal fire-suppression system—blood poured down in torrents. Everyone on the dance floor writhed and reveled in the crimson rain.
Right.This was Blade 1.
Just… without the unlucky guy who triggers the scene in the movie. Maybe the plot hadn't started yet.
Zod's appearance instantly drew attention. The vampires, sharp-nosed and hungry, noticed he didn't smell like one of them.
"A human!"
"He looks gorgeous. Eating him would be a waste."
"Turn him. A face like that deserves immortality!"
Several female vampires practically swooned. His height, his physique, his looks—they checked every box for their tastes.
Zod didn't deny it; he had confidence in his build and his looks. Maybe he couldn't quite match Henry Cavill's hulking frame, but he wasn't far off.
"Never thought New York had this many vampires."
He sighed, his eyes glowing red again. The temperature around him spiked—though the blood-drunk crowd hardly noticed and lunged all at once.
A sweep of red light cut through the entire hall. Heat vision, even in its early "barbecue mode," had incredible penetration. To vampires, whose very nature opposed sunlight, it was nothing short of divine retribution.
An entire wave of them evaporated the moment the beams touched them. Before the survivors could react, Zod blurred behind them and swept the hall again.
A handful of terrified vampires scrambled under the tables. Zod walked over and kicked one aside—a table weighing several hundred pounds went flying.
"Go meet the sun."
"No—!!"
Their screams ended in seconds.
Zod stepped out of the bar a moment later, in an excellent mood. Now that he knew heat vision was the perfect vampire-killer, he was tempted to hunt a few more just for fun.
Not long after he left, a tall, broad Black man wearing a black coat and sunglasses pushed the door open. Blade took one look at the empty, ruined bar and frowned.
"That smell…"
He recognized the charred scent of vampires turning to ash. The layers of gray dust confirmed it.
"No idea who did it, but they took out a whole nest."
Blade shrugged and got to work. Cleaning up after fellow hunters—mainly collecting watches, wallets, and anything not reduced to ash—was a necessity. Vampire hunters didn't get paid well.
Meanwhile, the staff at the Continental were losing their minds. White Demon had taken down Daken—someone far stronger than Jitt. Hundreds of killers had died trying to take him out. The client ended up turning to the Continental, and even they had suffered heavy losses.
But White Demon finished the job.And as far as the Continental was concerned, that was a massive boost to their prestige.
Smaller assassin guilds? No comparison. Not even close.
Since White Demon didn't seem willing to leave Texas, the High Table decided to appoint a new branch manager and open an entire Continental there.
Zod wasn't staying for them, of course. He just wanted to avoid Marvel's main plotline for now. He was still too weak—running into a rampaging Hulk by accident would leave him splattered.
So he returned to Texas and resumed his daily sunbathing routine.
Thankfully, Kryptonians don't tan. With how often he sunbathed—daylight, moonlight—any normal person would've turned coal-black by now.
Time passed peacefully.The ranch villa finished construction.Texas got its own Continental.The new manager visited personally to greet Zod—after all, he owed his entire promotion to White Demon.
Zod was mildly amused. The High Table really bent over backward just to keep him nearby.
But the biggest surprise was something else entirely—He could finally fly.
After countless hours under the sun, more of his Kryptonian abilities had awakened. The biological force-field hadn't surfaced yet, but flight had.
With that, Zod spent most of his time above the clouds, absorbing sunlight at the highest intensity he could reach.
Any higher, and he simply couldn't fly that far yet.
Floating above the cloud layer, he felt himself strengthening every moment. Flying felt incredible, and the world looked even better from above.
"So this is why everyone craves power in their own hands."
He glanced down at a passenger jet cutting through the clouds far below, then accelerated back toward the ranch.
Jadriel was grilling meat. The boss ate like a bottomless pit—thankfully he earned just as quickly, or feeding him would be impossible.
Zod didn't know why his appetite was so monstrous. He wasn't a Saiyan. Back on Krypton, he'd never eaten this much.
Within minutes, he finished an entire Angus steer. Jadriel just stared, stunned.
While eating, Zod finalized his next plan: making money—serious money. He needed to prepare for Stark Industries' first golden opportunity.
Right now, Stark Industries stock was untouchable. After Tony's disappearance, prices would drop.But that still wasn't the perfect entry point.
No—the best moment was after Tony returned and announced the shutdown of the weapons division. That was when the stock would crash completely.
If Zod bought in with everything he had, then waited until Tony declared himself Iron Man…Tripling his investment would be conservative.
After that, he'd never have to dirty his hands with small jobs again.
"So for now… time to work harder."
Zod accepted five contracts at once, each worth over a million dollars.The Continental was stunned.
White Demon was confident now—recklessly so.
/-\
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