The moment the robot shattered, the Phantom Engine above the council chamber activated.
"Bzzz~"
As space warped, Dark Stephen's dark portal twisted and collapsed, and the dark array in the chamber crumbled under the distorted space.
The dark tendrils dissipated. Seizing the moment of Dark Stephen's shock, Jor-El darted through a hidden door in the hall.
"You won't escape."
Losing his key target due to carelessness, Dark Stephen's face darkened.
Under the Phantom Engine's influence, he couldn't open a portal. He formed hand seals, unleashing a dark whirlwind that carried him toward Jor-El's escape route.
With Jor-El now Dark Stephen's target, Zod felt relieved.
"He won't have time to activate the defense systems. Find the other elders. If they resist, then—"
He glanced at Faora, who nodded, leading a squad toward the elders' quarters.
As Faora navigated the complex structures, Charlie, in his tiny form, memorized the layout.
"Boom!!"
Before Faora's team could breach the elders' quarters, a noise erupted above. A familiar figure smashed through the ceiling, landing before them.
"Jor-El?"
Faora frowned at the disheveled scientist.
Charlie, meanwhile, eyed the dark mage floating down from the ceiling hole, his own brow furrowing.
How long could Dark Stephen sustain that dark magic?
Critical intel.
He figured he'd gathered enough info this round.
Time to test Dark Stephen's limits—next retry would be smoother.
As Dark Stephen waved, summoning dark tendrils, the Phantom Engine's spatial distortion affected his magic. The tendrils emerged uneven and malformed.
Charlie noted this thoughtfully.
Dark Stephen's magic was mostly spatial. The Phantom Engine was indeed his kryptonite.
As the tendrils spread toward Jor-El, threatening to engulf him, Charlie deactivated his Pym Particles.
"Bzzz~"
Light flickered, and Faora saw a red-and-blue blur. An unfamiliar "bug" grew to full size in a blink.
"That's… a bug?" She blinked.
"Zzz~"
With the arc Spider powering his suit, Charlie became a bolt of lightning, weaving through the tendrils and pulling Jor-El from their grasp.
"Bang!!"
The tendrils struck the ground, cracking the dark-golden floor. Charlie casually shoved the stunned Jor-El aside.
"Mr. Stephen, you should thank me. If I hadn't stepped in, you'd have beaten Mr. Jor-El already."
Dark Stephen froze.
He realized Charlie was right—defeating Jor-El would've earned only one resurrection slot, costing him a shot at the first task.
Still, he wasn't about to thank the bug.
"Damn pest, you showed up after all."
Dark Stephen sneered, turning to Faora. "Bring the prisoner outsider here. I want to see what this bug chooses."
Faora frowned. "Using hostages isn't a warrior's way."
"I'm a mage, not a warrior," Dark Stephen retorted.
Faora: "…"
Charlie gave a thumbs-up. "Looks like you've finally learned how to play the Resurrection Match. Too bad you'll have to deal with me before your hostages arrive."
With that, lightning flared. Dark Stephen summoned tendrils, lashing the scene wildly.
"Bang bang bang!!"
"Boom~~"
Tendrils whipped through the air, debris flying in the chaos.
Amid the rubble, a flashing arc sped toward Dark Stephen.
"Zzz~"
"Bang!!"
A dark shield glowed, dispersing the charging arc.
"You can't escape."
Dark Stephen smirked, forming seals to summon a mirror dimension.
"Crack crack~"
Space inverted under mysterious forces, poised to trap everything in a dimensional field.
But the Phantom Engine's distortion warped the mirror dimension, exposing flaws.
Seeing this, Charlie shot a web, swinging out through an unclosed dimensional gap.
"Whoops, Mr. Mage, your magic's slipping. Been skipping your Voldemort supplements?"
Mid-taunt, surrounding soldiers fired plasma energy at him.
"Crap!"
"Bzzz~~"
Charlie swung through gaps in the flashing energy with spatial webbing.
But the Phantom Engine's distortion affected his webbing too.
So…
Misjudging distance, Charlie took a plasma blast to the chest, tumbling into a dark-golden wall.
"Bang!"
"Ouch! That hurts, I'm gonna die—huh? I'm fine?"
Debris slid off the shattered wall. Charlie touched the singed spider emblem, scratching his head.
"Haha, almost forgot, I'm not the old—"
A dark tendril whipped toward him with a gust.
"Let me finish!!"
Lightning flared as Charlie dodged, his vibranium suit glowing red and blue. Releasing stored kinetic energy, he smashed through the tendrils with sheer force, landing beside Jor-El.
"Doesn't the Phantom Engine only warp space for a few seconds?" he asked.
Jor-El adjusted a device, eyes fixed on the mage in the darkness. "I stumbled on his weakness, so I lowered the Engine's output to maintain a constant initial distortion and widened its range. By the way, what's your name?"
Charlie grabbed him, darting away in a flash of arc energy. "Just open a space jump and get out of here!" he shouted.
"It can't lock onto moving targets and needs prep time."
Thrown, Jor-El crashed into a dark-golden pillar, sliding down with his face scraping the surface.
Charlie palmed his forehead. "My bad, didn't check the details."
He leaped, dodging frenzied tendrils below.
Dark Stephen's magic was noticeably weaker.
Charlie estimated he could sustain high-intensity combat for an hour at most.
With the Phantom Engine's interference, many spatial spells were unusable.
This boosted Charlie's odds.
Before he could further drain Dark Stephen's magic, soldiers brought Tony from the prison.
"Charlie! You're here to save me!" Tony beamed.
Charlie's face darkened. "Look around. Do I look like I'm in a position to save you?"
He drew a circle, magic sparks flaring, and vanished from sight.
"He knows magic too?"
Dark Stephen frowned, seeing Charlie disappear.
"This complicates things."
Limited in power, he'd failed to catch the pesky bug.
If Charlie caused trouble from the shadows, securing two resurrection slots would be tough.
Time was short, so he focused.
As long as Jor-El didn't escape, he had a chance.
Grabbing the bruised Jor-El, he demanded, "Where's Kal-El? Take me to him."
"I won't—fine, I'll take you."
Jor-El, initially defiant, relented and led Dark Stephen to the gene chamber housing the Codex.
In his ear, tiny Charlie chuckled. "Perfect. Get him to a confined space alone, and I'll handle him."
Like before, Charlie could spark magic but not open portals.
So he used Pym Particles to shrink, faking a teleport in the dim light and climbing onto Jor-El.
His persuasion worked—Jor-El agreed to his plan.
Spider-Man's charisma was unmatched.
As for Tony…
Dark Stephen seethed at the sight of him.
In the last match, Tony's Knowledge Gem led to his humiliating defeat by an unprincipled mob.
A lifelong stain.
Useless now, Tony was swallowed by dark tendrils.
Charlie saw it, feeling the pain.
Literally—Jor-El's collar pinched him.
Ouch, too much!
Soon, in the gene chamber housing the Codex.
The Codex, split into beams of light, infused a swaddled infant.
As the dark doors opened, Dark Stephen and the others witnessed the scene.
"The Codex!"
Faora gasped. "Stop it!!"
The Codex was Krypton's only hope for continuation. Without it, Krypton had no future.
She rushed to intervene.
Dark Stephen frowned. "Noisy woman."
He bound her with tendrils and approached the odd scene.
"Where's Kal-El?"
He asked Jor-El but eyed the infant.
Jor-El sighed, stepping forward to cradle the baby. "This is Kal, my child. A naturally born infant can't be discovered, so I hid him."
Dark Stephen's face lit up. "Haha, Kal-El! So Superman Clark's just a baby. No wonder even Zod couldn't find him. Is this the Resurrection Match's trick? I'm loving these surprises."
Laughing, his dark magic spread uncontrollably.
He reached for Jor-El. "Hand him over. I won't kill him—just need to touch him once."
The task was to defeat Superman, not kill him.
He had no intention of harming a baby or risking task failure with unnecessary actions.
Spider-Man taught him caution.
Like this.
"Bzzz~"
A red-and-blue figure erupted from his shoulder.
A fist the size of a sandbag swung at Dark Stephen's temple, his form collapsing under the force.
But behind Jor-El, Dark Stephen's real body emerged from the darkness.
"Pathetic bug, you think I wouldn't guard against you?"
Charlie, caught off-guard by the failed sneak attack, froze, while Dark Stephen smirked triumphantly.
"It's over!"
He snatched the infant from Jor-El, but the baby didn't react.
No crying, no movement—stiff.
He was dead!
Dark Stephen's world shattered.
"Why? Who did this?!"
Wailing, his bloodshot eyes darkened, black veins spreading across his face.
His dark magic surged recklessly, heedless of the unrenewable energy.
With no chance left, what use was conserving it?
Under the magic's onslaught, Charlie locked eyes on the infant, sensing no heartbeat.
So, Superman died young?
Who did it?
Who could've reached baby Superman before Dark Stephen?
Before he could ponder, Dark Stephen turned his rage on him.
Blood-red eyes and blackened veins made him look demonic. "Damn bug, it's your fault! You delayed me, letting someone else claim the task! I'll tear you apart!!"
Instantly, Dark Stephen unleashed all his stored magic.
"Wait, calm down, let me explain—"
"Die!!!"
"Boom!!"
Endless darkness swallowed the room.
...
[You have been eliminated. No resurrection slots earned. Reward: Web-Ray +500°C.]
[57 retries remaining. Restart?]
In the cosmic web, Charlie woke, still puzzled.
He couldn't beat a berserk Dark Stephen.
But who killed Clark?
He thought of Jor-El.
The guy trusted him too easily, possibly tipping off allies to move the real Superman.
But using a dead infant as a decoy?
Maybe a bionic robot?
No, Dark Stephen would've noticed.
So the infant was likely Superman.
Someone had indeed found and killed baby Superman first.
Suspects: Gwen, Carnage, or Gravik.
Only they remained untracked. Everyone else was under Faora's surveillance, with no chance to act.
But that didn't matter.
Charlie knew Clark's location. If he reached the gene chamber first, he could wait for the culprit.
Superman was his—no one could steal this!
As always, no one played the Resurrection Match better than Spider-Man.