At this moment, the spider totem on Charlie's chest glowed ever brighter.
Doctor Doom was no stranger to the world's wonders; he knew what a true spider totem looked like.
But he had never seen one so intricate, so vibrant.
It was as if it held a new kind of life, a magical entity that could exist independently of Spider-Man.
Beneath this mysterious veil, Doctor Doom grew wary.
Coupled with the faint threat of death he'd sensed earlier, he became exceedingly cautious.
In the brief moment of his contemplation, Charlie, empowered by three magical spiderlings, was enveloped in dense magical arcs. Golden temporal energy occasionally warped the surrounding space, his overwhelming aura shocking yet expected.
In that moment, the evolved spider totem seemed fully activated. The dormant Elios within began to awaken amid the totem's surge.
To Charlie's surprise, his spider-sense seemed to have returned.
Reflecting on past events, he began to understand.
After the spider totem's evolution, the foes he faced in the main world were either too powerful to resist or too weak to spark his full effort.
The Conquerors Kang, suppressed by the Time Tablet, were no different from ordinary villains, so Charlie had toyed with them.
Had it not been for the mightier Celestials, he wouldn't have faced a truly challenging yet not invincible enemy like Doctor Doom until now, even after merging with Elios.
Doom's strength was just right to let Charlie go all out.
Shedding all burdens, the spider totem evolved to its final stage.
The earlier failure of his spider-sense might have been tied to this.
With Elios awakening, its power to devour time and space gave Charlie even more confidence.
Doctor Doom sensed Charlie's growing strength.
Glancing at Jean and Hulk battling Carter and the others, he secretly formed seals, unleashing dark magic.
CLICK CLICK~
Instantly, a dark magic circle appeared beneath everyone's feet, endless darkness spreading, hypnotizing Carter and her team mid-fight.
HUM~
Their eyes glowed blood-red, and at Doom's command, they charged at Charlie.
ZAP ZAP~
Sparks flew as Carter and Old Steve hurled their shields, slicing through the air toward Charlie's face with no mercy.
But Charlie had no interest in playing Doom's childish Civil War games.
As he leaped, he dove into a portal, dodging their pincer attack and appearing behind Doctor Doom.
HUM~
BOOM!!
A heat ray swept the ground, explosions igniting the sky, but such a sneak attack couldn't harm Doom.
"Bug, to your left."
Doom's figure vanished, his voice suddenly behind Charlie.
Charlie swiped the arcs on his chest, wild lightning coursing through him.
ROAR!!
Hulk lunged at Charlie's back, while Doom, at a distance, hurriedly drew a massive magic circle.
Charlie wasn't idle either. The ground quaked beneath him, winds howling.
ZAP ZAP~
As arcs surged—
Turn!
Kick!
BOOM!!
ROAR~~
An arc exploded, and with a wretched scream, the green monster was sent crashing into the golden phoenix behind it.
Meanwhile, Doctor Doom completed his dark magic in the limited time.
"Storm!"
He roared, summoning raging sandstorms in the sky.
"Snow!"
WHOOSH WHOOSH~
At his command, all ice elements in the heavens condensed into a thousand-meter ice spike.
"Fall!"
BOOM~
The massive spike locked onto Charlie, leaving no room for escape.
As the icy force descended, Charlie's muscles bulged, his fist crackling with arcs and magical energy. Stellar energy surged into his punch, shaking the void.
BOOM!!
The invincible Spider-Man turned and swung, his fist meeting the spike, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface.
BANG!!!
As the ice shattered, Carter and the others, controlled by Doom, were engulfed in the snowstorm, frozen into statues before they could react.
The frost spread rapidly, threatening to consume the city.
But Doom didn't wait for the spike to fully break. Dark magic bloomed beneath him, dispelling the ice. Ferocious dimensional beasts roared from the void behind him, forming a vast army charging at Charlie.
ROAR!
SCREECH!!
GROWL~~
SHINK!
Web rays sliced through, black blood splattering the ground, monsters carved apart by searing webs, their corpses piling into a small mountain around Charlie.
"Doc, your backup's kinda weak!"
In the sea of blood and corpses, the invincible Spider-Man crushed beasts with a flick of his hand.
Calmly, he kept an eye on Doom at the periphery.
Seeing this, Doom silently revived the slain beasts with magic, aiming to exhaust Spider-Man with a beast-wave tactic.
Charlie called it naive.
He cast soul magic, his head bowing as his body instinctively dodged the dense monster assaults.
No matter their numbers, they couldn't touch Spider-Man's suit.
In the sky, Charlie's soul locked onto Doom, hands forming seals to unleash the spider totem.
Instantly, dazzling light emerged from the clouds, a massive cosmic web spanning the sky. Countless webs descended, enveloping the battlefield, tightening around Doctor Doom.
"What's that?"
Doom was startled. He tried using spatial gear to escape, but the strange web had sealed the surrounding space.
Left with no choice, Doctor Doom braced for a direct clash.
"Argh! Damn bug!!"
Cursing, he spread his arms, his silver armor glowing, disrupting the magnetic field. Gravity shifted, the ground sank rapidly, yet the strange webs kept closing in.
"Damn, what weird magic."
Doom took a deep breath, pulling a familiar stone tablet from the void.
The Time Tablet!
In the decade Spider-Man was gone, acquiring it had been effortless.
Seeing it, Charlie's eyes narrowed, knowing Doom hadn't reached his limit.
As expected, Doom raised the Time Tablet, time magic freezing the world.
Charlie's movements slowed to a crawl, only his eyes able to scan the changes.
CLICK~
A stone drifted slowly past, the descending webs retracting, the cosmic web vanishing into the horizon.
Time reversal!
Charlie's pupils shrank, but he dismissed the thought.
True time reversal wouldn't let him retain memories of the process.
So… this wasn't true time magic!
As the cosmic web retreated, Doctor Doom exhaled in relief.
Guessing Charlie would try similar magic, he used the Time Tablet's power to pause time again without hesitation.
HUM~
An invisible aura flashed, and Charlie watched helplessly as Doom commanded the endless beast army toward his body. Doom targeted Charlie's soul, his grin cruel.
"Bug, your resurrection will be a joke!"
Laughing, he infused dark magic into his armor's lasers, purple rays slicing through Charlie's soul. As it shattered, Spider-Man's body was overwhelmed by beasts.
The invincible Spider-Man was killed again, but Doom showed no joy.
He scanned his surroundings, the Time Tablet flickering.
A slight temporal disturbance caught his attention.
"There!"
He unleashed golden energy from the Time Tablet, surging into the nearby void.
BOOM!!
Amid bursting flames, the void cracked, and a lively Spider-Man darted through the fire toward Doom.
"Got you!"
Doom laughed. "Freeze!"
But dense web-balls, ignoring time's laws, engulfed his body.
RUMBLE!!
"No~ How?!"
In the blazing light, Doom shielded the Time Tablet, shouting, "Freeze! Freeze! Time stop!!"
Charlie didn't react, unleashing a flurry of Friendly Neighborhood combos. Wild magic and arcs surged, his massive fists hammering Doom's silver armor, leaving visible dents and cracks.
"Impossible, my time magic…"
BOOM!!
Doom crashed into the rubble, still clutching the Time Tablet.
Struggling to rise, he looked at Spider-Man's glowing red eyes, something clicking.
"It's Elios! I get it, it devoured time's power!"
"No, wait. If Elios could ignore time stops, how could I have killed you earlier…"
"Why, why…"
Doom clutched his head, frantic. Charlie didn't intend to answer.
ZAP ZAP~
BOOM!!
Heat vision blasted Doom's chest, scorching his armor red, causing system chaos and triggering random tech gear.
BOOM!!
ZAP ZAP~~
HUM
Instantly, invisible gravity enveloped everything, wild arcs attacking nearby beasts. Doom's body flickered, teleporting unpredictably—into mountains, the seabed, then crashing into city skyscrapers.
"No!!"
In the building's ruins, Doctor Doom roared in defiance.
"It's over."
A golden portal flickered, and the invincible Spider-Man, a blazing sun, slammed into Doom.
CLICK CLICK~
As Doom's armor shattered, no metal remained to protect him.
Death seemed inevitable.
But he never let go of the Time Tablet, giving him a sliver of a comeback.
"Die!!"
Suddenly, Doom went berserk, the Time Tablet blazing. The invincible Spider-Man was locked in its light, regressing visibly into an infant, then crushed by Doom.
After dealing with Spider-Man, Doom knelt, panting, heart racing.
He didn't relax.
He knew Spider-Man would reappear.
Sure enough, footsteps echoed in the ruins.
The invincible Spider-Man strolled casually toward Doom, teasing, "Once, a guy from the dark dimension had a breakdown over my infinite retry mechanism. You've probably heard of him."
Doom gritted his teeth, glaring at the approaching Charlie. "Dormammu, right?" he said.
Charlie nodded. "Yup. So I suggest you end it now, or you'll face endless pain and torment."
"I… refuse."
A spark flashed in Doom's mind, his masked eyes reigniting with hope.
"I get it! I finally get it!"
He laughed skyward, pointing at Charlie. "The Spider-Man who ignores the Time Tablet is you, but the ones I killed weren't!"
Charlie paused.
The light in his inverted-triangle eyes flickered, then he shrugged helplessly.
"Alright, props to Doctor Doom. You're sharp."
"Hahaha, damn bug, you almost had me scared."
Doom regained his confidence, standing tall, radiating assurance.
He sneered, "Your spider totem evolved, causing a qualitative leap in your spider magic. From the start, you haven't used your other magic—clone magic!"
Holding the Time Tablet, he strode toward Charlie, his eyes mocking.
"If I'm right, your spider totem is down to one, so you only have one clone. A sad thing, but the new totem gave this lone clone permanent existence. With Elios, you ignore cooldowns, summoning new clones endlessly, creating the illusion of infinite retries, making even me feel fear."
He stopped before Charlie, staring him down.
"Am I right, you posturing bug?"
"Wow, you nailed it."
Charlie cupped his face, feigning shock.
"But no prize for guessing right."
"Oh, there is."
The Time Tablet glowed again in Doom's hands. "The prize is… killing the real you!"
HUM~
The Time Tablet's power spread, freezing Charlie in place.
Doom didn't rush to finish him, instead sensing his surroundings.
If Elios devoured the Time Tablet's power, he could trace it to Spider-Man's true body!
"Found you!"
Doom locked onto a corner of the ruins, hurling the Time Tablet.
"Perish, Spider-Man!"
BOOM!!
Amid Doom's laughter, the Time Tablet hit the corner, cracking and unleashing unimaginable temporal energy.
Hidden in the shadows, Charlie found Elios unable to instantly absorb the overwhelming time magic, causing his body to stiffen briefly.
"Now!"
Doom charged, but Charlie, ever reckless yet cautious, always had a backup plan.
CLICK~
As Doom closed in, a black-and-red spiderling on Charlie's waist bit through his suit, its fangs piercing skin. The power of the symbiote god surged, ignoring time and space barriers, unleashing the invincible Spider-Man.
SCREECH!
Endless darkness blanketed the city sky, blood-red swordlight struggling in the void amid crackling dark lightning.
Doom panicked.
"No, how dare you~"
"You're right, I don't dare."
As Charlie spoke, the blood-red swordlight vanished into the void, the darkness retreating.
Using the dark spiderling's "invincible" buff to escape, Charlie retracted the Black Death Sword's power, his eyes blazing with extreme heat vision onto Doom's chest.
ZAP ZAP~
BOOM!!
"Damn bug!!"
Feeling toyed with, Doom endured the heat vision's impact and scorching heat, his exposed skin reddening, on the verge of melting.
But Charlie noticed Doom's dark aura growing more terrifying.
"What did you do?" Charlie exclaimed.
Doom laughed maniacally. "What did I do? You'll never know, master, give me power!!"
BOOM!!
A dark meteor breached the dimensional barrier, plunging into Doom's body.
The power was so immense it trembled the soul, like a true god of destruction, filled with despair and fear.
"Bug, didn't anyone tell you, you can't win?"
Doom grinned savagely, absolute darkness about to engulf the world.
In a daze, Charlie saw another Doctor Doom in the despair and darkness.
Similar armor, same green cloak…
But this Doom wielded absolute power.
"No way?"
Charlie freaked out.
He's Doctor Doom.
He's also Doctor Doom.
Who's the real Doctor Doom?
Whatever, time for that move.
In the hopeless darkness, Charlie's pupils glinted with golden light.
War God's Power!
Accumulated through battle, the longer the fight, the greater the final burst—tenfold, even hundredfold.
Since gaining this power, Charlie hadn't used it much.
As always, it was useless against foes too strong or too weak.
This Doctor Doom was just right.
After dragging the fight this long, releasing the power made Charlie feel unstoppable.
"You can't win? I don't speak that language!"
BOOM!!!
Ultimate power erupted, miracles rekindled, despair faded, and darkness was banished by dazzling light.
"What!!"
When an unremarkable fist entered Doom's vision, he lost all chances.
"No~~ Impossible, I already…"
He couldn't speak; his body was collapsing, his consciousness fading.
Spider-Man brought hope—and death.
WHOOSH~
Time passed, unknown how long.
In the sunset's glow, Old Steve and the others reached the ruins.
They saw this:
Spider-Man's body was crumbling.
"Little Spider~"
Watching Charlie fade, Old Steve wept.
But he'd rushed out without tissues.
Unleashing power beyond his limits, Charlie's healing couldn't keep up with his body's collapse.
After devouring the Time Tablet's power, Elios seemed to slumber, suppressed by some mysterious force—or maybe on purpose.
It didn't respond.
Charlie could only await his end.
It'd been a while since he felt this.
Sighing softly, he picked up the shattered Time Tablet, turning to Carter and the others.
"Guys, hold onto this stuff for me, I'll be ba—"
ROAR!!
Hulk's bellow shattered the rubble, his wild figure flashing by, and Charlie lost consciousness.
...
Cosmic Web.
Charlie: "..."
"Rude jerk, I wasn't even done talking!"
He sat up on the web, muttering.
But soon, his mood brightened.
[Scene World: The Boys]
[Task 1: Become the world's most popular superhero, gain 3 retry quotas.]
[Task 2: Become the world's second most popular superhero, gain 2 retry quotas.]
[Task 3: Become the world's third most popular superhero, gain 1 retry quota.]
[Note: During tasks, refrain from using violence, assassination, spitting on rivals, or other unfair competitive methods!]
Reading this, Charlie clenched his fist excitedly.
"Yes! A popularity contest in this Resurrection Match? I'm in my element, it's in the bag!"
"Homelander, your VIP has arrived!!"
Spider-Man storms the entertainment scene!