The battle between the Avengers and the Kang variants raged on.
The Ten Rings' stronghold was reduced to rubble.
In the distant forest, G'iah walked alone on a moonlit path.
The sky erupted with intensifying explosions, crimson beams sweeping the night, painting fiery clouds. The Kang variants' screams echoed, yet they stirred no ripple in G'iah's heart.
She'd done all she could. She chose to step away, wanting only for the remaining Skrulls to live peacefully on Earth.
After speaking with her father, she took on the duty of protecting her people, ensuring they wouldn't tread the path of rebellion again.
Watching her kin was protecting them.
Opposing Earth was opposing the invincible Spider-Man.
The Skrulls stood no chance.
Spider-Man's invincibility was the consensus of all dark forces.
Helping Spider-Man this time was for her people—and for herself.
With Mary Jane back, G'iah had no excuse to linger in Spider-Man's world.
It was just a dream—Mary Jane's dream, not hers.
She was a Skrull, destined to belong to a different world from Spider-Man.
A trace of sadness flickered in her eyes.
She raised her hand, green Skrull skin spreading across her palm, her sadness turning to sorrow.
As a Super-Skrull, she could become anyone, wield any power, unbound by her race's appearance.
But Spider-Man wasn't shallow. Even as the world's most beautiful woman, she couldn't sway him.
"You sure know how to read people," she murmured, chuckling as Charlie's smug face flashed in her mind.
"Mary Jane, you've really screwed me over." She gave a bitter smile.
"No, I didn't screw you over."
A red blur darted over the treetops, landing before G'iah.
"Mary Jane?"
G'iah instinctively lowered her head.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to—" she said, guilt-ridden.
Mary Jane looked at G'iah, recalling the woman she'd once saved with her life.
Though G'iah didn't need her meddling.
Unknowingly, she'd acted on instinct.
In that moment of crisis, she'd thought of her friendly neighbor.
She desperately wanted to belong to Spider-Man's world.
So she'd saved G'iah, a seeming ordinary person, at the cost of her own life.
What happened after, she wasn't clear on.
She'd only heard fragments—that a Super-Skrull had copied her memories, became her, and acted alongside Spider-Man.
At first, she was furious.
She wanted to find this jerk and teach her a lesson.
But now, she understood.
Copying someone's memories and becoming them was painful.
Mary Jane gazed at G'iah, her thoughts swirling.
After a long pause, she smiled.
"I think I did it."
"What?" G'iah asked, puzzled.
Mary Jane grinned. "I heard Super-Skrulls are badass. Without my memories, you might've chosen a different path. I think I saved a good person. What do you think?"
G'iah's eyes glimmered with an odd light.
"You… you don't hate me?"
"I'm worried you hate me."
Mary Jane took her hand, her tone soft. "I'm sorry my memories caused you so much trouble."
"I—"
G'iah panicked.
"No, no, I should be the one apologizing—"
"Hey, gorgeous, listen. You're not wrong, and neither am I."
Mary Jane smiled. "I don't mind sharing those happy memories with you, but you've got to figure it out yourself.
You're a Super-Skrull—you're not so lame that you can't shake off copied memories.
My memories are just an excuse. You already knew the answer before you realized it."
She rubbed her temples, exasperated.
"Convincing you is a headache. No guy would reject a shape-shifting goddess, you know? My pressure's huge, like that mountain—"
She pointed at a random peak. A cosmic beam from a temporal rift, carrying the invincible Spider-Man, smashed through it, ruining the mood.
Mary Jane: "..."
G'iah thought for a moment. "Guess you're pressure-free now."
Mary Jane covered her face. "Damn it, let me pick another."
She pointed at another mountain, but the rift flashed with six starry eyes, blasting elemental energy that leveled the peaks, their shockwaves swallowing Spider-Man's figure.
Mary Jane: "..."
G'iah: "Is your superpower cursing?"
A terrifying pressure hit, and Mary Jane froze, stopping her "curse."
"Shit, it's the Celestials!"
She looked up at the massive figures in the rift, her spider-sense screaming.
"How the hell did these guys show up?"
She rushed to the battlefield.
With Charlie's Black Death Sword glitching, the Celestials were a colossal threat.
In the mountain ruins, a refined spider totem formed a shield, protecting the group as Charlie's magical energy drained rapidly.
"Let me handle this!"
In the shield, Gwen raised the Black Death Sword, black liquid surging into it. The symbiote inside screamed in agony.
"Yip-yip!"
Hum!!
Black sword-light pierced the magical energy, shooting into the rift toward the six starry eyes.
But in the group's horrified gazes, the light was crushed by the starry glow, a majestic voice descending.
"A flawed Black Death Sword… cannot slay a Celestial in its prime!"
Under the Celestial's power, Gwen's sword cracked, the symbiote writhing in pain.
"Yip!"
Gwen paled, helpless to save her partner.
Charlie's heart jolted.
"This is a mature Celestial?"
Recalling how the Black Death Sword easily killed newborn Celestials, he realized the issue.
The sword could only slay newborns, not mature Celestials!
In Knull's hands, the Black Death Sword was unstoppable.
In Spider-Man's, it was just an ordinary artifact.
Celestials were invincible beings above gods.
Charlie hesitated, reaching into the void where a blood-red sword flickered.
The full Black Death Sword could definitely kill this Celestial!
Definitely!
But awakening it would devour everything—including the invincible Spider-Man.
Even his "immortality" couldn't save him.
Knull's power would trap him in endless despair and darkness.
So…
In a flash, Charlie grabbed Gwen's Black Death Sword.
Buzz~
He unleashed all his stellar energy, merging with the fracturing sword, becoming a crimson sun soaring into the rift.
"What are you doing!" Gwen cried.
Carter and the others sensed what was coming.
"No, come back!!"
"Little spider!"
Old Steve flung Mjolnir, chasing Charlie.
The crimson sun entered the rift, the Celestial's six eyes erupting with absolute destruction.
At the Kang Council, Immortus sneered.
"We were right. This bug's scared. Knull's god-slaying blade isn't easy to wield. He knows it, so he's going all out."
Scarlet Centurion nodded, grinning. "Worth waking this Celestial. That damn bug's finally done for."
"Not over yet."
Immortus shook his head. "This bug will revive. We need preparations."
Centurion mused, "Time cage!"
"Yes, a time cage to seal him with Elios in the edge world, a trophy for the Kang Dynasty."
Immortus laughed. "Let every universe know the fate of defying us."
"Only one fate—death!"
Centurion's face twisted, then panicked.
"No, that's—"
The Celestial's destructive energy, carrying Charlie, shattered the time barrier, flooding the edge world.
Boom!!
The Colosseum shook, Black Death Sword fragments scattering, faint stellar energy flickering in a ten-thousand-meter crater.
"No!!"
The sudden scene horrified Immortus and Centurion, their eyes wide as the planet-sized Celestial descended.
Time, space, matter—nothing could sway a Celestial's actions!
Celestials were supreme beings who created universes and life, ancient gods with creation's power.
They existed at the universe's birth.
The time-manipulating Kang Dynasty? Mere clowns.
They could awaken a Celestial but not resist one.
They were ants, bound by Celestial rules.
Charlie's gambit brought the Celestial, wounded the invincible Spider-Man, and delivered it to the Kang Dynasty.
Spider-Man slaughtered newborn Celestials; the Kangs woke one without permission.
Both defied divine majesty.
The Celestial would destroy all blasphemers!
Buzz~
As the Celestial's massive form fully descended, it raised its iron fist, all cosmic elements converging.
The sky dimmed, the earth returned to nothingness.
Unlike newborns acting on instinct, this fist could shatter time and space, annihilating the edge world to recreate what pleased the Celestial.
Wounded, Charlie gazed at the infinite mature Celestial, his broken mask falling, eyes full of awe and anticipation.
He finally understood true power.
Power even peak Superman couldn't match.
He was ready.
But someone told him to hold off.
Roar~~
At the Colosseum's center, sensing danger, Elios thrashed wildly. The time cage, weakened by the Celestial's power, broke easily. Elios became a void, merging into Charlie's body.
"Ugh~"
Charlie groaned, his body swelling rapidly, then compressing under his Spider-Man physiology, cycling as Elios's power reshaped him.
Weakened, Elios needed a vessel to escape the Celestial's oppression.
Immortus and Centurion, watching, were incredulous but had no time for envy.
They tried to flee with time devices, but under the Celestial's power, no one could leave.
Unless—
Boom!!!
The Celestial's fist struck the void, silencing Immortus and Centurion's screams, obliterating the Colosseum.
After an unknown time, the Celestial's aura faded, motionless.
A new Celestial descended, a murmur echoing the dead world.
"Interesting bug. By divine rules, you're allowed to live…"
…
Quantum Realm, Time City.
Tech Tower, top floor.
Charlie slowly opened his eyes, meeting a familiar face.
"You're awake."
Thanos sat by the bed, taking a green drink from a jelly monster.
He offered it to Charlie. "I remember you like juice."
Staring at the glowing, misty green liquid, Charlie waved it off.
"Thanks, I'm not thirsty… cough cough."
Coughing, Charlie felt unprecedented weakness, frowning.
"Where'd you find me?" he asked.
Thanos glanced out the window. "This is the Quantum Realm. What do you think?"
"Right, I remember. You're that Thanos."
Charlie snapped his fingers, sitting up.
Thanos's brow furrowed.
"I'd love to know who did this to you."
Charlie shrugged. "The guys you fear most."
"What?"
Thanos's face shifted. "Celestials… you met them?"
"Of course, or how'd I end up back here?"
Charlie stood, stretching.
He felt a presence sleeping inside him.
Thanks to it, his body was recovering fast.
Elios had altered him, and who knew what changes awaited.
But surviving that hellhole was a win.
Dying there, who knows what revival would bring.
He turned to Thanos.
"How's life here?"
Thanos nodded. "Fine. It'd be better if you hadn't shown up."
Charlie sensed trouble. "What happened?"
Thanos walked to the window, gesturing for Charlie to look outside.