"Blacklight Virus" was, in fact, not a virus at all.

Originally, it was a species that had existed even before life emerged on Earth.

At first, its function was merely to assist the host in activating dormant genes, thereby achieving biological evolution.

For this reason, researchers initially referred to it as the "Symbol of Evolution"—a physical manifestation of the concept of evolution.

It wasn't until later, when Blackwatch, a covert organization established by the U.S. military, conducted experiments on a mutated form of this species, that it was given the name—"Blacklight Virus."

Unlike the original prototype, which only assisted in biological evolution, the mutated Blacklight Virus was highly infectious, and the probability of an infected person turning into a zombie approached one hundred percent.

Even the story's protagonist, Alex Mercer, failed to successfully merge with the virus.

In truth, the fusion never even began—he was already dead by that point.

Alex was originally a researcher for Blackwatch.

Due to his unique upbringing, he had developed a certain degree of antisocial behavior.

After discovering suspicious activity within the organization, he attempted to escape with a vial of the virus prototype—but was discovered on the subway platform.

The Blackwatch soldiers pursuing him opened fire without hesitation.

Just as Alex was being shot dead, he shattered the vial of virus in his rage, intending to drag the whole of Manhattan down with him.

However, the virus didn't infect Manhattan.

Instead, it devoured the corpse of Alex lying nearby, inherited part of his memories, and became him.

In the end, the newly-born Alex awoke in a Blackwatch laboratory and escaped, growing stronger as he fled.

Ironically, this version of Alex—formed by the Blacklight Virus—turned out to be more humane than the original.

At the end of the story, he piloted a jet and risked his life to carry a ticking nuclear bomb out to sea, saving New York.

And this time, the new Blacklight Virus encountered someone from another world—Lyon.

…

A few seconds earlier, Lyon had successfully traversed into the world known as Prototype.

His landing point was a dark alleyway.

As he turned his head, he saw the story's protagonist—Alex Mercer—standing right behind him.

At the same time, the sounds of rapid footsteps and helicopter rotors echoed from outside the alley.

It was the Blackwatch forces chasing Alex.

As the pursuing soldiers burst into the alley and the helicopter's spotlight lit the narrow path as bright as day…

Over a dozen muzzles flared, and two crimson laser beams pierced the silence of the alley.

"…Looks like I've arrived at the very beginning of the story?"

Amidst the falling remains and the explosion of the helicopter—Lyon turned to look at the wary yet bewildered man in the leather jacket and hood behind him.

"Alex Mercer, you look like you could use some help. Of course, I'll need a small favor from you too."

And so, Lyon led Alex on a rapid-clearance path.

They rampaged from the west side of Manhattan to the east.

When American reinforcements arrived, they slaughtered the reinforcements.

When other infected creatures showed up, they were cut down just the same.

In just half a day—

Every base in the U.S. under Blackwatch control had been completely eliminated by the two of them.

Alex also advanced through repeated absorption and evolution, gradually recovering his memories.

When Alex finally realized that he had actually died long ago, and that his current self was merely a virus aggregate possessing his memories—

The nuclear missile the U.S. had launched arrived above their heads.

At that moment, Lyon meaningfully patted Alex on the shoulder.

"Remember, Alex—great power comes with great responsibility."

Then, he casually drew a sample of the virus into a vial and hurled himself headlong into the incoming nuclear warhead.

In a sky full of blazing light, Alex's anguished and sorrowful scream echoed through the inferno.

Lyon quietly chose to return to the Marvel world.

…

"Was that a bit too harsh? I can't even imagine how devastated Alex must be. After all, I was the first person to show him kindness after he emerged…"

On the floating island, Lyon looked at the syringe in his hand filled with the blacklight virus extract.

"But hey, Spider-Man grew after losing Uncle Ben—Alex should be fine too."

"Time to begin incubating the second avatar."

Lyon stored the virus extract within his internal world, then stood up to assist the mages of Kamar-Taj in fusing construction materials into the defensive array.

Inside his internal world—

A small avatar formed from Lyon's blood sea.

That avatar then extended its hand, guiding the virus extract into the air.

"Avatar Secret Technique—Activate!"

The avatar ability was unleashed.

Lyon's entire internal world began to tremble.

It was as if an endless stream of world force surged from every direction, converging on the blacklight virus extract and enveloping it.

In an instant, the virus extract was dissolved—reduced to its most fundamental genetic information.

The entire process up to this point was identical to the incubation of the Blood Sea avatar.

But in the next moment, the avatar secret technique seemed to encounter an error—like a computer program crashing—it froze.

The viral genetic material suspended in the air, along with the massive flow of world force, all came to a halt, as if someone had pressed a pause button.

Lyon frowned in confusion, and a thought suddenly occurred to him.

Just like how Tony was unable to cultivate the style of Swallowed Star Universe due to lacking the proper genetic structure…

Could it be that the Blacklight Virus, due to being "incompatible" in constitution, also couldn't be incubated into an avatar?

Other than that, he couldn't think of any other reason why the avatar ability would stop halfway.

Just as Lyon began considering switching to other genetic material he'd brought back from the Swallowed Star World to incubate an avatar—Something else changed within his internal world.

A purer strand of energy suddenly drifted out from Lyon's origin core and entered his internal world.

This energy cut straight through the swirling sea of world force and enveloped the viral genetic material.

A few breaths later, the energy dispersed, and the avatar technique suddenly resumed functioning.

Lyon watched as torrents of world force surged into the genetic material, forming a black-and-red eggshell.

His internal world fed back information—Lyon instantly understood: the Blacklight Virus avatar would take ten hours to incubate.

But his attention was now completely focused on something else.

"That energy just now... it was cosmic energy from the Swallowed Star World. Was it left in my origin core by the source will?"

Lyon muttered in surprise, "That's really considerate. It had already anticipated that I would cultivate avatars from other worlds and left behind energy to remodel the source accordingly in advance."

"So that means my next avatar will also go through a similar transformation."

"This source will... it's so thoughtful I don't even know how to repay it."

He looked at the black-and-red avatar egg floating in the air, then withdrew the small Blood Sea avatar he had been controlling and re-merged it into the sea of blood.

Ten hours later in his internal world—

Lyon, currently cultivating in the Blood Sea, stopped and turned his gaze toward the suspended avatar egg.

The black-and-red shell began to crack bit by bit. The crisp sounds of breaking weren't loud—far less dramatic than when the Blood Sea avatar was born.

Within a few minutes, the eggshell completely shattered.

From within emerged a glob of black liquid shimmering with a red glow!

At that moment, Lyon's consciousness split again—from two perspectives to three.

Only, the new perspective couldn't see anything.

"I guess I'm in the form of viral fluid right now," Lyon said internally. "Everything's pitch black—I can't speak, can't hear anything."

"And since I've just been incubated, I haven't even reached the planetary level. The gap with the main body is too large, but I can just infuse energy with the Space Infinity Stone—shouldn't be too troublesome."

No sooner said than done—Lyon immediately began channeling energy into the body.

The aura of the Blacklight avatar surged rapidly.

Planetary, Stellar, Cosmic... it only began to slow once it reached the Domain Lord stage.

While continuing to infuse energy to build up its foundational strength, Blacklight Lyon simultaneously used telekinesis to lower himself to the ground.

Then he began reviewing his innate abilities:

[Devour and Evolve]: By absorbing the genetic material of other lifeforms, one can filter, assimilate, and refine stronger and more suitable genes for survival.

[Simultaneous Assimilation]: Converts organisms, organic matter, and inorganic substances into nutrients and structural components, recording their information in the process.

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