Seeing Loki, Charlie spoke up, "You killed Odin, so you earned a spot in the Resurrection Match, right?"
Loki's body trembled at the words.
"It's you."
He glanced at the Asgardian soldiers around him, then tapped his wrist device, his projection flickering to Charlie's side.
"He let me kill him…" Loki tried to explain but trailed off, realizing it was futile.
He looked at Old Steve and the others, shaking his head. "You don't seem to be doing so well."
"You can tell we're just souls?" Old Steve asked, surprised.
Loki pointed at the red markers above their heads, then at the green one above his own.
"Of course I can."
Old Steve: "…"
Before he could respond, Charlie pressed on.
"Tell me what you know."
"What I know…"
Loki glanced at the altar fight, then turned back. "Mephisto's running a multiversal game, randomly selecting spectators to bring here. He wants to harvest our souls this way."
His expression grew serious as he eyed the betting odds on the wall. "Yes, our bets are our souls, but you probably don't need to wager yours."
He glanced at Charlie's head, frowning at the lack of a marker.
"Your status…"
"Yep, you guessed it. I'm in the game."
Charlie shrugged. "Did you see Tony's match?"
"Yes, I did. He faced a strange opponent, very strong, but Tony Stark won."
"What happens if you lose?"
"Either your soul shatters, or you fight again. Lose three times in a row, and you become a Hell spirit."
"Hell spirit?"
Charlie raised an eyebrow. "What's different from a regular soul?"
Loki explained, "Regular souls can leave Hell. Hell spirits are fused with the Hell dimension, forever trapped in pain and despair."
Old Steve looked thoughtful.
"You're in the same world as us. Why didn't you tell us this?" he asked.
Loki scratched his head, embarrassed. "I didn't know your universe number, and there's more than one Iron Man here."
"More than one?"
The group was shocked.
From Loki, Charlie learned more, but time was running out. Deadpool and Wolverine ended in a draw.
Amid the audience's boos, a dejected Wade looked at the familiar figures in the stands, covering his face and crying.
"Wahh, I lost! So embarrassing!!"
Wade, cradling baby Kingpin, left the altar. Charlie exited Spectator Mode and selected Challenger Mode.
Beep~
[Please select your opponent!]
Charlie scanned the long list of names, skipped Thanos, and chose Tony from Universe 199999.
Beep~
[Queueing…]
[You are currently ninth in line. Challenge available in nine days.]
Frowning at the prompt, Charlie wasn't fazed.
Infinite Tonys were popular.
Though he couldn't make the challenge time, that wasn't a problem.
This was a game.
Hell's arcade was still a game!
And pay-to-win players were invincible!!
Charlie smirked, opened the payment interface, and spent all his tokens.
Ding! Esteemed Super Hell VIP, you may cut the line.
Ding! You are now first in line.
Ding! Your soul is valued at one million game tokens. Pawn your soul to bypass the schedule and enter Challenge Mode immediately!
[Begin challenge?]
Old Steve and the others were beyond speech.
"Let me try."
Old Steve placed his hand on the machine.
Ding! Your soul is valued at 300,000 game tokens.
"Three hundred thousand? Not bad." Old Steve grinned, satisfied.
He looked at Barton and Natasha. "You guys try?"
"My turn."
Proudly, Barton reached out, and new info appeared.
Ding! Your soul is valued at 998 game tokens.
Barton: "…"
"This machine's broken," he said confidently.
Natasha stepped up boldly. "Agent Barton, face your worth. I'm an Avengers veteran; I'm worth at least 500,000."
She pressed the machine.
Ding! Your soul is valued at 1,314 game tokens.
Natasha's smile froze.
Barton looked at the ceiling. "Beautiful lady, forgot how old you are?"
"Age lowers your value," Old Steve said seriously.
Black lines crossed Natasha's forehead.
"Peter, your turn," she said to Peter Parker.
Peter pointed at himself. "Me?" He was nervous.
If his soul was worthless, that'd be humiliating.
"Yes, you," Natasha said, arms crossed. She refused to be second-to-last.
"Uh, okay!"
Under pressure, Peter Parker submitted to the soul scan.
Ding! Your soul is valued at 150,000 game tokens.
Peter couldn't hide his excitement.
"Yes! Awesome! My worth is half of Cap's!!"
"Soul worth," Charlie corrected, eyeing them. "This damn competitive streak is wasting my time."
A mission failure prompt appeared.
Next round!
...
For his fifth Resurrection Match, Charlie's soul strength rose another 1%.
With 4% accumulated, he could feel his body changing.
He controlled his powers more easily, his spider-sense sharpened, and he could draw more from the spider totem.
The benefits were clear, but not transformative yet.
Charlie was eager for more.
At the dragon skull, the countdown ended, and Charlie rushed to Hell's Arcade.
"Here, eat me. To the room."
At the counter, Charlie slammed his hand down.
The witch, holding a fortune in tokens, froze, then smelled Charlie's enticing scent.
Her eyes gleamed with desire, throat bobbing as she eagerly pulled him into her room.
"Little guy, let me see…"
"See your corpse head!"
"Ah!"
After a scream, Charlie emerged with a pile of tokens, satisfied, and entered the VIP area.
Yes, he really robbed the tokens.
Next came the familiar routine.
Ding! Your soul is valued at one million game tokens. Pawn your soul to bypass the schedule and enter Challenge Mode immediately!
[Begin challenge?]
"Yes!"
With Charlie's consent, the room blazed with hellfire.
Buzz~
The familiar altar appeared.
Meanwhile, the audience waiting for Deadpool vs. Wolverine received a sudden update.
In the waiting room, Wade, holding baby Kingpin, froze.
"My match got delayed? Who's the jerk that—"
He stopped, seeing new info.
[Charlie Parker (Spider-Man Central Universe) vs. Tony Stark (Universe 199999)]
"My idol!!"
Wade squealed, clutching his face. "Oh! My favorite Spider-Man! I wanna watch! I gotta watch! I love this!"