Finally, under the watchful eyes of the S.H.I.E.L.D. totem warriors, Corrupted Charlie let out a sky-shattering howl. Clutching his head in agony, he spewed a torrent of red and blue light particles from his mouth.
"My head's gonna explode!!"
Buzz~
As the light particles rained down, countless Spider-Men emerged from the glow, and the scene quickly became chaotic.
"Oh my gosh, we're out!"
"Awesome! We're like Thor now—just switch to 'daddy mode' and we're safe!"
"I didn't think of Dad, just Aunt May."
"I thought of Uncle Ben."
Sniffle "We can't even piece together one Uncle Ben."
"What's happening to our bodies?"
"Aw, crap, I don't wanna go back yet—I'm still wanted!"
Soon, the swarm of Spider-Men vanished into the void at a visible rate, returning to their own worlds.
Meanwhile, Corrupted Charlie, kneeling in a daze, saw the dark energy around him dissipate.
He gasped heavily, his eyes vacant, lost in thought.
Charlie had no time to deal with him. Morlun was dead, but the third-stage totem power was gone.
It had to be Fin Fang Foom pulling strings behind the scenes!
Without hesitation, he retrieved the twelve talismans and opened a portal to the underground world.
Buzz~
As the portal swallowed Charlie, Totem Steve, who'd just witnessed this, looked curious. Before the portal vanished, he dove in with a flying leap.
In the primal forest of the underground world, Charlie streaked across the sky like a comet, leaving Totem Steve holding his shield, looking around in confusion.
"Where am I? Why did I follow him?"
Slow to react, Totem Steve realized Charlie was long gone.
"Spider-Man!!"
He climbed a tree and shouted at the sky, "Take~ me~ back~~!"
His cries echoed through the forest, quickly drawing a horde of underground monsters.
"Oh, crap, what are those things?"
A dark, suffocating mass approached, oppressive and overwhelming. Totem Steve's face paled. Without hesitation, he leaped from the treetop, diving into the dense forest to avoid being devoured by the ravenous, monstrous birds.
Rustle!
After running for who-knows-how-long, Totem Steve stopped at a cliff's edge.
Panting heavily, he leaned forward, legs trembling.
Glancing down at the endless green below, despair washed over him.
Where was the exit?
"Spiii~der-Maaan~ Take~ me~ back~ I'm~ lost~"
Failing to learn his lesson, he shouted again toward the cliff's depths.
This time, no monsters came.
But someone answered.
Roar!!
Suddenly, a massive green dragon erupted from the endless expanse ahead, its body shimmering like a special effect. Every scale gleamed vividly, and the intricate patterns in its vertical pupils were strikingly detailed.
"Quack quack quack! Poor little bug, thanks for the totem power. Dragon bro's done playing with you."
Morlun's leech totem had prematurely awakened the slumbering Fin Fang Foom—an accident, but a delightful surprise.
For Spider-Man, it was indeed so.
Boom!!
As twelve radiant beams erupted in the forest, the twelve zodiacs materialized, taking solid animal forms to seal the underground space and surround the fleeing Fin Fang Foom.
Roar!!
The green dragon's light-form slammed against the zodiacs' encirclement, but each attempt was repelled by a stronger counterforce.
His heart sank to rock bottom.
"Damn it, it's Shendu's power—how is it this strong?!"
Fin Fang Foom, who'd once had dealings with Shendu, was shocked. He knew exactly how capable Shendu was.
In the past, he'd dismissed the twelve talismans, thinking they were just a fragmented version of Shendu's power—nothing special, even combined.
Now, he realized he'd been dead wrong.
The twelve talismans were incredible—it all depended on who wielded them.
Shendu was such a waste!
Cursing inwardly, Fin Fang Foom burned the totem power he'd stolen without care for the consequences.
Boom!!
Green flames surged into the sky, shaking the entire underground world.
This was his domain, his world.
With a single thought, that pesky Spider-Man would be crushed!
But as the thought formed, Fin Fang Foom's pupils dilated, as if he'd seen something terrifying.
"No way! How could it be them?!"
Desperately, he flapped his wings, crashing against the talismans' encirclement to escape what came next.
But the Eight Immortals' artifacts bombarded the underground world, turning it into an apocalyptic wasteland.
The earth cracked, forests collapsed.
Volcanoes erupted, tsunamis roared.
Fin Fang Foom could no longer maintain the underground world's balance. Each strike from the artifacts stripped away chunks of his totem power.
The scattered totem energy was captured and devoured by the spider totem, which soon swelled dozens of times in size.
Finally, as the dragon totem collapsed, the golden leech within it was fully absorbed into the spider totem.
"No!!"
Roar!
Having devoured the golden leech totem, the spider totem rejoiced. The shadow of the Web of Life and Destiny stretched across the sky, celebrating the birth of the third-stage totem.
Buzz~
At last, the Web of Life and Destiny cast down golden light. Bathed in it, the spider totem underwent a qualitative transformation.
Charlie spread his arms, embracing the light and feeling the long-lost peak of his power.
"The Invincible Spider-Man is back!!"
With a triumphant roar, the spider totem devoured Fin Fang Foom's remaining totem power.
After a flurry of activity, the golden spider totem slowed, shrinking back into Charlie's chest and vanishing.
Having absorbed Fin Fang Foom's totem power, the third-stage spider totem was stronger than ever before—nearing some kind of limit.
Charlie didn't know if a fourth stage existed, but he had one more task.
Fin Fang Foom had once mentioned that a god could have their own divine domain.
And now, the shattered underground world was a ready-made divine domain!
With that thought, Charlie unleashed golden webbing, enveloping every corner of the underground world.
Where the golden webbing passed, the lizardmen, snakemen, and dinosaurmen natives sensed the guidance of a god.
They knelt, devoutly worshipping the golden webbing in the sky.
Meanwhile, the twelve talismans scattered as beams of light to the world's edges, temporarily acting as the domain's foundation, preventing its complete collapse.
Forming a true divine domain required a suitable medium and eons to perfect.
Asgard, one of the Nine Realms, was the result of generations of gods' relentless efforts.
Even then, it was shattered by Surtur's sword, proving divine domains weren't indestructible.
Charlie had cleverly claimed a half-finished domain, unable to draw benefits from it yet.
But he believed that in time, he'd become the Invincible Spider-God!
Yes, the upgraded Invincible Spider-Man!
With that done, Charlie vanished into a portal.
Far off in the forest, Totem Steve, hoarse from shouting, failed to catch Spider-Man's attention.
He collapsed in despair, staring blankly at the sky cloaked in golden webbing.
"Take me back…"
In the now-silent forest, only Totem Steve's murmurs remained.
…
Main World
When Charlie returned to Wakanda with the dazed Corrupted Charlie, Xu Wenwu stood eagerly, desperate to ask about his wife's resurrection.
"I know you're anxious, but hold on," Charlie said, calming him.
He took out the half-Tiger Talisman and found Future Jade.
Future Jade looked surprised at the witless Corrupted Charlie. "You dealt with him already?"
"Already?" Charlie frowned. "What's that mean?"
Future Jade shook her head. "Don't rush to make him vanish. He'll be crucial later."
Charlie nodded, trusting her. He stowed the half-Tiger Talisman and sent Corrupted Charlie to the half-finished divine domain.
Next, it was time to show off his new power to old friends.
He turned to Xu Wenwu. "Follow me."
Opening a portal, he stepped into Mephisto's Hell Volcano.
"Mephisto, I'm here to make a deal."
Charlie's voice wasn't loud, but every soul in Hell heard Spider-Man's words.
Mephisto, hearing the familiar line, fumed.
Boom!
The volcano erupted with thick black smoke, forming a towering flame demon shadow, thousands of meters tall.
"Grah grah grah!"
The flame demon spoke slowly, volcanic lava cloaking the sky.
Mephisto put on a grand show, then roared at Charlie before all the souls: "Puny insect, I'm not Dormammu, and you're not the Sorcerer Supreme. Next time, I won't forgive your rude behavior, got it?"
Charlie shrugged off Mephisto's threats, smiling. "You know why I'm here."
Mephisto's face twisted. "I won't help you find a soul. Give it up!"
"Oh? Really?"
Charlie smirked calmly. Golden webbing erupted in radiant light, swiftly covering the lava floating in the sky, painting the entire Earth in glorious gold.
The terrifying divine power shocked Mephisto. "What? You…"
He quickly regained composure, sneering, "So you're a god now. But in my world, you're nothing—"
Before he could finish, Charlie summoned the twelve talismans. The aura of the half-finished divine domain flooded Hell's space.
Mephisto was stunned again but remained defiant. "Just a half-baked divine domain. In my Hell, you're—"
Charlie cut him off again. Corrupted Charlie, within the divine domain, shuddered as the eight demons' power was drawn out.
Borrowing all the domain's power was one of its abilities.
Grah!
Roar~
Roar!
As the eight terrifying demons rampaged through Hell, mysterious Bagua runes disrupted its rules, and surging demonic energy rapidly overtook Mephisto's domain, silencing his bravado.
"Damn it, stop!!"
The towering flame demon slammed a fist at the Bagua runes, but the demonic energy's nature exceeded Mephisto's expectations.
As the fiery fist struck, space warped, volcanoes erupted, and in an apocalyptic scene, the Bagua runes spun, dissipating the fist's power. Demonic energy climbed Mephisto's arm, visibly consuming his Hellfire and assimilating it into Shendu's flame power.
Roar!!
The demonic energy, now a dragon, roared in the sky, growing stronger by absorbing more Hellfire.
Mephisto was furious—and scared.
"Stop, stop it, you cursed insect! What have you done to me?!"
He slapped at his body, trying to extinguish the spreading demonic flames.
But as Future Jade had said, the demonic energy naturally countered Hellfire. Mephisto couldn't stop its spread.
He unleashed Hell's full power.
Boom!
Every volcano in Hell erupted simultaneously—Mephisto's wrath, fueled by eons of stored soul energy.
Hellfire from countless volcanoes wove into a silken canopy, swiftly covering the golden webbing.
Charlie sensed Mephisto's counterattack was no small feat, but he wasn't nervous.
Future Jade had said Corrupted Charlie could devour Mephisto's Hell, so it was possible.
Though Corrupted Charlie was now dazed and unusable, he could at least take half!
The Eight Immortals' artifacts emerged, their eight radiant beams exuding an aura that unnerved Mephisto, halting his "rage" mid-air.
"Invincible Spider-Man, didn't you say you were here to negotiate?"
The flame demon dissipated, and Mephisto transformed into a kindly white-haired old man, trying to appeal to Spider-Man's conscience.
Everyone knew Spider-Man didn't hit old folks.
Charlie: "…"
He wasn't sure if the artifacts could take Mephisto down, but Mephisto wasn't sure he could survive these strange objects either.
He'd never seen them before.
The older a demon, the more cautious. He didn't dare gamble.
He knew Spider-Man was here to make a deal.
So, Charlie recalled the artifacts and conjured a golden contract with his divine power.
"Give me half your Hell, then help me find a soul. Don't give me that look—you know the West can't lose Jerusalem, just like Mephisto's Hell can't lose Spider-Man."
Charlie tossed the golden contract to him, brimming with audacity.
The bolder he was, the less certain the old demon would be.
Mephisto's Hell was his for the taking—not even a coconut tree could stop him!
Wait, no—Jesus.
Leisurely, he reached into the void, pulling out a bottle of Coconut Tree brand coconut juice.
Coconut juice is juice too.
Mephisto stared at the contract's outrageously harsh terms, his old face darkening.
This was an utterly humiliating treaty no demon would sign!
Even a dog wouldn't agree to it!