When the sun-bathed fist struck the Beast,
the entire Grandview Theatre — and the space it occupied — was swallowed by light.
A golden torrent erupted outward in a fan-shaped explosion from Star Platinum's fist.
Reality itself seemed momentarily overexposed.
Then—
the Beast screamed.
It was not sound.
It bypassed the ear.
It detonated directly inside the soul.
Peter Parker felt as if his brain had been dropped into an industrial blender and someone had slammed the highest setting.
White noise flooded his skull.
His vision fractured.
Balance vanished.
He slammed against the wall to keep from collapsing.
Matt Murdock suffered far worse.
His senses — sharpened beyond human limits — became instruments of torture.
The psychic shriek arrived layered in frequencies beyond hearing, beyond vibration, beyond perception.
He groaned and dropped to one knee.
Blood seeped from his nose.
Then from his ears.
Even his radar sense fractured into static.
Kingpin froze mid-movement.
Even in his berserk state, the psychic detonation stunned his nervous system.
Though blinded by webbing, he could feel the light — a burning pressure against his skin, as if existence itself were aflame.
At the epicenter of the storm,
the Beast boiled.
Its body — formed from concentrated malice and anti-life force — vaporized where touched by the solar Ripple.
Sheets of darkness stripped away.
Evaporated.
Disintegrated into nothing.
Madam Gao staggered backward.
For the first time in centuries,
fear filled her eyes.
Her god…
was being destroyed?
"No…!"
The Beast roared.
At the core of the dissolving darkness, something contracted.
Then erupted outward with desperate, ravenous malice.
Its remaining mass ceased flowing.
It hardened.
Then burst outward into dozens of jet-black tendrils.
They ignored the scorching solar energy.
They coiled violently around Star Platinum's arm.
Joren's brow tightened.
He could feel it.
Ripple energy was being devoured.
Not resisted.
Consumed.
Like feeding a black hole.
This thing was not merely resisting purification.
It was attempting to corrupt solar life force itself.
Golden radiance and void-black tendrils annihilated each other in violent flashes.
The clash reached stalemate.
"NOW!"
Daredevil's voice tore through the chaos.
Hoarse.
Urgent.
He forced his tortured body to move.
Spider-Man understood instantly.
A web-line shot upward, latching onto the already fractured crystal chandelier above.
"Hey, big guy! Something looks dangerous above you!"
Kingpin instinctively looked up.
BOOM—!!!
The multi-ton chandelier collapsed in a cascade of steel and glass.
Kingpin roared, crossing his arms above his head.
BANG—!!!
The impact shattered the stage beneath him.
Half his body slammed into the broken flooring.
Dust exploded into the air.
"Did that work?" Peter asked, eyes locked on the debris cloud.
A dark blur exploded out of the dust.
A shattered steel beam hurled like a missile.
Peter dove aside.
BOOM!
The beam slammed into the wall, carving a crater deep enough to swallow a car.
The dust settled.
Kingpin rose from the wreckage.
He tore the webbing from his face.
His white suit was coated in dust.
Blood streamed from a cut along his forehead.
His eyes burned with animal fury.
"Little bug… your tricks are finished."
He ignored Spider-Man.
His gaze locked on Daredevil — battered, bleeding, struggling to stand.
He chose the weakened target.
"Daredevil!" Peter shouted.
Kingpin moved.
His speed defied his size.
In two strides he closed the distance.
His fist — massive as a cauldron — thundered toward Matt's skull.
Matt could not evade.
He crossed both batons before him, focusing every ounce of strength into one desperate block.
CLANG—!!!
The batons bent into a grotesque arc.
The force launched him backward like a broken kite.
He slammed into rubble and did not rise.
Peter's mask lenses narrowed.
His eyes burned beneath them.
He lunged forward and kicked Kingpin's spine with full force.
BANG!
The impact could have dented steel.
Kingpin barely staggered.
He turned slowly.
A cruel smile spread across his face.
"Now… it's your turn."
The balance of the battle shifted.
At the Heart of the Storm
"Ora ora ora ora ora ora!"
Star Platinum's fists became golden comets.
Each strike carried solar life energy capable of purifying undead flesh.
They hammered relentlessly at the corrupting tendrils.
Golden fire and black vapor collided violently.
The underground stage descended into chaos.
"Muda muda muda! Useless!"
Madam Gao's shock gave way to manic reverence.
She watched the darkness diminish — yet never collapse — and laughed like a night creature.
"The Beast is immortal!"
"It is despair itself!"
"As long as fear and death exist, it cannot be destroyed!"
"Your sun will be devoured!"
Joren's eyes flickered with irritation.
She was correct — partially.
This was a war of attrition.
Even if he annihilated it entirely, the cost in energy and time would be excessive.
And his calculus homework remained unfinished.
The ocean documentary rerun was approaching.
He needed efficiency.
He needed the core.
His gaze shifted past the violent energy clash…
…to Madam Gao.
The anchor.
The conduit.
The faith sustaining the manifestation.
Cut the source.
As if sensing his intent, the Beast convulsed.
Its tendrils retracted instantly.
Compressing.
Condensing.
All darkness collapsed inward.
It formed a perfect sphere.
Absolute black.
Light bent around its surface.
The surrounding air warped from gravitational distortion.
Madam Gao laughed in exultation.
"Behold despair!"
"This is the Beast's true form!"
"The Star of Nothingness!"
"It will drag your soul into eternal annihilation!"
Joren stared at the sphere.
Then at the ecstatic old woman.
Yare yare.
A fitting name.
And a childish one.