Peter Parker currently lacked the symbiote suit, and without Venom's help, his power level had dramatically decreased—or rather, it had returned to the expected level of Spider-Man.
And the opponent he faced was Kang the Conqueror.
"The resilience of your soul freed you from the illusion, but it has brought about your destruction, Spider-Man." Kang the Conqueror looked at the exhausted Peter with a self-assured, even arrogant smile. "You also cannot stop me from thoroughly eradicating the threat of the Cosmic Cube. Give up. I am fighting to save the entire Multiverse."
As Kang said, Peter's current situation was, in a sense, self-inflicted. The Soul Stone had created the world each person's soul desired and completely absorbed Korvac. The Cosmic Cube's energy was temporarily sealed within the Soul Stone.
Among the individuals enveloped, a few were special. Cindy was one, waking up because she realized the Peter in front of her wasn't the real one.
But Cindy wasn't the first to wake up. The earliest were Peter and Kang the Conqueror. Kang woke up entirely due to the power of the Time Stone, allowing his thoughts to break free from the constraints of spacetime.
Peter, on the other hand, was protected by the Spider Totem, preventing the Soul Stone from affecting his mind. He realized his predicament almost instantly. Peter then began trying to communicate with the theoretically ubiquitous Korvac. He succeeded, and the dispersed energy reformed into Korvac, albeit without sentience.
This, however, attracted Kang the Conqueror. Fortunately, within the Soul Stone, even the Time Stone's power was restricted and couldn't be fully utilized. When Kang attempted to use the Time Stone to abduct Korvac and Peter, the Soul Stone exerted its power. Kang only had time to transport Peter and Korvac to another point in time before the Time Stone's power was restricted to affecting only the user.
"To save the entire Multiverse, you can abandon the current Earth? Your actions just now nearly destroyed the entire world, and you don't even consider the possibility of Reed Richards sending Korvac back."
Peter looked at Kang the Conqueror and retorted dismissively. The villain spoke grandly about saving the universe and Korvac being a Multiversal threat.
In reality, Kang simply didn't care about 21st-century Earth. All he wanted to do was preserve his own 31st century. He didn't even entertain the possibility of Reed Richards and Adam Warlock succeeding, believing only he could achieve success, even if it meant blowing up 21st-century Earth.
"In that case, Spider-Man, I'll take you out first, and then eliminate Korvac."
The exposed Kang was not angered. As he spoke, he used the Time Stone to push his speed to the absolute limit, attempting to bypass Peter, who was trying to protect Korvac—who was currently stunned, trying to complete his personality using fragments from different people's souls.
Therefore, Peter's task was simple: stall. Stall until Korvac fully awakened. At that point, a Cosmic Cube who could control his abilities would surely find defeating Kang to be a walk in the park.
Peter barely dodged Kang's attack using his Spider-Sense and just managed to land a punch, which cracked Kang's faceplate. As the crack automatically regenerated, Peter quickly turned invisible and hid. When Kang lost sight of Spider-Man, he activated the analysis device on his faceplate to pierce through Spider-Man's cloaking.
But he still couldn't see Spider-Man.
Because Peter had hidden on the back of Kang's chair.
Yes, even having traveled into the Soul Stone, Kang still brought his chair. Peter conveniently stuck himself to the chair's back and then extended his "sinful" hands, channeling a massive surge of bio-electricity directly through the chair and into Kang's entire body.
"You primitive, you think lightning can penetrate my defenses?!"
Kang the Conqueror's battle armor was naturally immune to lightning. He grabbed Peter, his voice sharp with interrogation, but Peter merely looked at him nonchalantly.
"At least I didn't have to wait for you to stop, right?"
And with that, he punched Kang in the face.
"We have to find Reed Richards."
Emerging from Peter's perfect world, Cindy knew exactly what she needed to do and who to find. In Peter's perfect world, even Doctor Octopus, whom Peter admitted was incredibly smart, had no means to achieve time travel.
In other words, in this situation, conventional methods were obsolete. To travel to other points in time within the Soul Stone's space, they needed a different approach. They first found Adam Warlock, but unfortunately, the golden Warlock was extremely weak. The Soul Stone was a part of his body, but now, another Infinity Stone and an entire Cosmic Cube were within the Soul Stone. He was as weak and powerless as if he had indigestion, unable to help much.
The only thing he could do was guide them into other people's Pocket Universes to wake up more people for help.
So, they had to find Reed Richards, hoping that the smartest man in the world could somehow build a time machine within his dream world and then return to Peter's Pocket Universe to take them to Peter.
"I will guide you to the entrances of those Pocket Universes, but I am very weak now and cannot clearly see whose universe each one belongs to. I hope you can successfully find the person you need."
"This little golden man looks incredibly powerful, yet he's completely useless," Gwen grumbled after bidding farewell to Adam Warlock. Cindy remained silent. A fissure appeared before them, and the two girls stepped through.
Gwen looked at the surrounding streetscape, which she had only ever seen in movies and music videos about the 1980s. She scratched her head, very certain, "I'm sure this isn't Reed Richards' dream world. The question is, whose is it?"
Cindy didn't know either. They heard a voice that sounded vaguely familiar, rhythmically singing.
"Hey (hey)~What's the matter with your head? yeah~"
A smiling Peter Quill jogged down the street, pushing a shopping cart filled with children's toys, listening to the classic tune "Come and Get Your Love" on his walkman as he passed the two girls. Gwen and Cindy watched his retreating back, silent.
"Should we... wake him up too?"
Gwen asked uncertainly. Cindy hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
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An Important Announcement: Time to Write Our Own Novel!
Hello everyone!
Thank you all so much for your support; it truly helps me keep going!
I have some exciting news: after translating many fanfics, I've decided it's time to start writing my own Novels! I plan to begin with a new fanfic—I'm currently thinking of either the Avatar: The Last Airbender or Douluo Dalu universe, featuring a Neutral protagonist.That is exactly what I meant by Neutral Protagonist (This refers to the character's Alignment. A Neutral Protagonist is not strictly bound by concepts of absolute good or evil, nor are they necessarily tied to Law or Chaos. Their actions are generally motivated by their own survival, personal goals, or a desire for balance, operating in a morally gray area.)
Once I've written a few fanfics and gained more experience, I can then move on to developing my own original novel soon after.
If you want a direct hand in shaping the main character's destiny and giving input, be sure to join the poll!
I've launched a poll on my P@t reon page!
HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE:
1. Head over to our P@t reon page and become a member. (Don't worry, even those with a free membership can join the poll and share their input!)
2. Select any option you desire in the poll
3. Leave a comment on the poll post or send me a DM if you have any specific thoughts or ideas!
p@treon HongMengZi