Chapter 37: Daredevil's Perception · The Desperate Game of Blind Chess
Drax's reckless charge had ended in the most absolute defeat imaginable. A deathly, suffocating silence fell over the battlefield. The remaining heroes lay collapsed on the ground, stared with vacant eyes, or clenched their fists with no strength left to throw a punch. The insurmountable chasm of power yawned before them like a frigid abyss, swallowing all hope.It was within this despairing silence that—A figure clad in dark red, like a panther merging with the shadows, slid out soundlessly from behind a shattered wall. He emitted no dazzling energy glow, no earth-shaking roar, not even a hint of superfluous presence. Relying solely on superhuman senses and peerless physical skills, using the ruins as cover, he approached the heart of the battlefield from an almost impossible angle and with unbelievable speed.It was Daredevil. Matt Murdock.He could not "see" the world-ending torrents of energy, but he could "hear" his comrades' hearts hammering uncontrollably with fear. He could "smell" the scorched metal and blood saturating the air. He could "feel" the ground beneath his feet groaning under the strain of unimaginable forces. He could not perceive the vast, oceanic fluctuation of Sun Wukong's magical power, but he could "hear" the other's steady, deep, almost cosmic rhythm of a heartbeat, and sense the terrifying mass contained within that iron staff—a weight so immense it subtly distorted the very space around it.He knew his own power was but a speck of dust before such beings. But he was a lawyer, and more than that, a warrior. His battles were never fought with brute strength, but by finding the rules, exploiting the flaws.Unlike the others, he did not launch an attack. Instead, he began to move around Sun Wukong in a high-speed, utterly erratic, and unpredictable pattern—rolling, dodging, leaping! He pushed his senses to their absolute limit, his billy clubs held defensively, straining to捕捉 (capture) even the faintest possible gap in the energy flow around Sun Wukong, any defensive blind spot, or even… the infinitesimally subtle tell before an attack!He was placing a bet! Gambling! He wagered that the other's power wasn't without expenditure, that the perfect defense had a fleeting, cyclical gap, that his超凡的感知 (superhuman perception) and reflexes would allow him to narrowly evade a thunderous attack at the last possible moment and find that theoretical, one-in-a-billion chance to counterattack!It was like playing a game of blind chess against a deity, with his life as the stake.To the others, his actions seemed like the dance of a madman on a knife's edge—meaningless and perpetually on the verge of being crushed.Sun Wukong, preparing to dismiss the next foolhardy challenger, unexpectedly let out a soft "Huh?" His Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils fell upon this "mortal" frantically darting and weaving around him, yet never striking."Interesting," Sun Wukong's lips curled into a玩味的 (amused) smile. "You, boy. Blind in the eyes, but bright in the heart. Your footwork has some merit,暗合 (implicitly aligning with) the mysteries of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams. Are you trying to feel this old Sun's 'Qi'?"He could sense that this mortal wasn't relying on sight, but on an extremely acute "perception" to observe the flow of energy around him and the subtle signs before his muscles tensed. This style of combat reminded him of certain mortal martial saints who had reached the Dao through skill alone."A pity, a true pity," Sun Wukong shook his head. "This old Sun has long achieved a body unified with the Great Monad, without leak or flaw, his magical power circulating perfectly, leaving no gap to exploit. Your meager cultivation can't even penetrate my protective divine light, let alone find a隙 (gap) to enter."Finding this "mortal" somewhat intriguing, he decided to see how long he could last. He deliberately slowed his movements a fraction, even occasionally leaking an extremely faint, fleeting "flaw" to lure him in.Matt Murdock's heart hammered against his ribs! He had caught it! Three inches to the left! A nearly imperceptible hesitation in the energy flow! Now!He lunged like a striking panther, concentrating all his strength and speed into a single point. His billy clubs crossed, striking with millimeter precision at the theoretical "gap"!The moment his clubs were about to make contact, the "hesitation" vanished instantly, replaced by a磅礴无匹 (vast and unmatched),凝练如钢 (condensed like steel) force of recoil!The clubs slammed into an invisible, indestructible wall, instantly bending and deforming! A terrifying force shot up the weapons. Excruciating pain exploded in Matt's arms; his虎口 (the web between thumb and index finger) split open, blood streaming down! He was thrown backward as if hit by a high-speed train, crashing heavily against a twisted steel girder in the distance. Blood gushed from his nose and mouth; his world went completely black (not that it made a difference), and he lost all ability to move.Sun Wukong retracted his finger (he had merely flicked it casually) and sighed. "Courage is commendable, and your thinking is clever. A pity the disparity in境界 (realm) is too great. Even if this old Sun stood here and let you hit him for a year, you couldn't harm a single hair. In this game of blind chess, you were destined for a complete and utter loss from the very beginning."Daredevil's defeat was silent, yet more despairing than any violent explosion. He represented the ultimate limit of a mortal challenging a deity with skill, wit, and will. And this limit, before absolute power, appeared so laughable and tragically futile.The alliance's final, faint幻想 (illusion) of victory through "skill" was utterly and completely shattered.