Chapter 180: A Deity? Du Wa has plenty of those under his command.
The Inheritors were certainly not a harmonious family. Although there were only a handful of them, the conflicts between them were exceptionally sharp.
Back in Universe 2881, when several Inheritors besieged Mechanical Spider-Man, a civil war had erupted among them.
The Inheritor named Karn, the youngest child in the family, engaged in a brief but fierce melee with his sister Bora and his brother Daemos.
This time, the raid on Universe 13 was led by Daemos—for now. He was impatient for a grand feast, desperate to devour a deity—no, two deities would be even better.
"Calm down, you're too hasty! Morlun is also on the move. He might follow our tracks. Don't think about hogging all the food," Bora chided with a frown.
"If even that weakling Karn can eat a God, why can't I?"
The burly, long-haired Daemos cursed angrily. If one didn't see his expression, they might mistake this tall man in a tuxedo for a gentleman.
Within the Inheritors, there was a general animosity towards the youngest son, Karn.
A few hundred years ago, the entire family of Inheritors mobilized, heading to Universe 001 to hunt the Master Weaver.
The Master Weaver was the deity who controlled the Spider Totem, a being whose upper body was barely human and whose lower body was a mechanical spider. On the Web of Life and Destiny, he was like a diligent weaver, carefully spinning the fates of all the Spider-Men in the Multiverse.
In that battle, due to Karn's cowardice and hesitation, his failure to charge forward at the critical moment directly led to their mother being killed by the Master Weaver.
Even though the Inheritors successfully captured and controlled the Master Weaver, seizing the Web of Life and Destiny and thereby gaining access to the fate and coordinates of every Spider-Man in the entire Multiverse, it still couldn't be considered a perfect victory.
Daemos, in particular, was filled with jealousy and hatred for his eldest brother, Morlun, because Morlun always received their father's affection and enjoyed the best treatment. Even when they caught a few Spider-Men to feast on, they had to wait for Morlun to return before they could eat.
On the other hand, Daemos, who had an extreme craving for food, was envious of Karn's luck. Some time ago, he had actually managed to hunt a deity!
The totem power within a deity-level Spider-Man was probably the sum total of countless ordinary Spider-Men!
How much would one's power grow from eating a god? It was simply incalculable. At the very least, it shouldn't be much worse than the Master Weaver, right?
In any case, the Master Weaver definitely couldn't be eaten. Unless they one day ate all the other Spider-Men, they would return to Universe 001 and devour the Master Weaver along with the Spider Totem he controlled.
"Bora, help me, quickly! Before Morlun and Father arrive!" Daemos roared irritably.
Bora sighed and charged into a group of Spider-Men.
"Fools! Barging into my territory is simply asking to die!" Captain Universe Spider-Man immediately raised his voice. He wanted to teach these Inheritors a lesson, to prove that his title as the strongest Spider-Man wasn't just an empty boast.
He wanted everyone to see how the Inheritors, who struck terror into ordinary Spider-Men, would die a miserable death at the hands of a deity like him.
Just as Captain Universe was about to charge, he was intercepted by Bora.
The large group of other Spider-Men, relying on their numerical advantage, also began to move out. Half went to help Captain Universe Spider-Man surround Bora, while the other half, unaware of the Alien Spider-Man's strength, intended to surround Daemos.
For these battle-hardened Spider-Men, quickly formulating such a tactic without discussion was not difficult; it was a battle instinct.
"Stop! All of you, take on Bora!" Superior Spider-Man barked sharply.
"You guys go deal with Bora. I'll team up with this guy to handle Daemos!" Main Universe Spider-Man gritted his teeth, unable to bear the thought of letting the Alien Spider-Man face such a terrifying Inheritor alone.
In a flash, Superior Spider-Man coolly scrutinized Main Universe Spider-Man, once again angered by the man's foolishness and naivety.
What an idiot. If this creature really came from the group that had finished off the God of Fear, then it was highly likely a scout sent to Universe 13 by that mysterious otherworld deity.
And looking at this Spider-Man's monstrous form, it further indicated that the terrifying deity possessed an extremely advanced mastery of biotechnology.
Furthermore, the other party very likely possessed traversal technology. Once they confirmed the situation here, the next thing they might face could be that terrifying deity himself.
Under these circumstances, Peter Parker, this clown, actually wanted to save that monster?
Daemos stared intently. He noticed that after this monster turned around, it stood motionless, seeming not to even have strange things like eyes.
"A creature I've never seen... what kind of Spider-Man is this? But my intuition tells me you're dangerous. Killing you will surely bring a great reward, no less than that self-important Spider-Man from Universe 13! You'd better not disappoint me!"
Daemos desperately wanted to improve.
As Daemos approached, the Xenomorph suddenly whipped out its tail, sending Daemos flying with a single strike. A deafening sound erupted, and the very air within the base boomed, causing the base itself to tremble.
If an ordinary person were here, their internal organs would be shattered in minutes.
This single move shocked everyone present.
Especially the Spider-Men, who even briefly stopped their attacks, no longer surrounding Bora, and watched the scene in shock.
"Am I seeing things? That terrifying butcher, Daemos, who killed several of us, was knocked down in a single exchange?"
"This guy... seems even tougher than the Spider-Man from the 616 Main Universe..."
"In the past, we always had casualties when fighting the Inheritors. It seems this time will be different. We have quite a few skilled fighters among us."
The Spider-Men who had never fought the Inheritors were one thing, but those who had personally witnessed the terror of the Inheritors and watched their teammates die one by one before their eyes were suddenly overjoyed. The way they looked at the Alien Spider-Man changed, filled with fiery passion.
"Hmph, just as I thought. Although the Inheritors are extremely terrifying, they still can't compare to Cul, let alone these monsters who captured Cul from another dimension," Superior Spider-Man sneered inwardly, growing more alarmed and uneasy. He quietly positioned himself beside Captain Universe, simultaneously moving away from the Alien Spider-Man.
"This is too strange. He's clearly attacked, but I still don't feel any totem power from him."
Daemos scrambled up clumsily, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, utterly confused.
But he had no time to search for the truth, because the Xenomorph had silently appeared by his side, like a silent iceberg suddenly bearing down on him. Despite carrying a terrifying mass capable of crushing all flesh and blood, it remained utterly silent, making the entire process of destruction eerily quiet.
The totem power within Daemos's body erupted continuously, greatly enhancing his physical abilities. He struck with lightning speed, grabbing the Xenomorph's neck and exerting immense force, but was stunned to find he couldn't move it an inch.
He knew that if any other Spider-Man were in his grasp, their neck would have snapped like a dry twig.
Slice!
The Xenomorph whipped its tail, its sharp tip slicing Daemos in half at the waist. Not only that, but it also opened its mouth and fired a scorching beam of light, piercing through Daemos's chest.
As a genetic hybrid of a Hyperion Xenomorph and a Spider-Man, this creature was naturally quite strong.
Of course, this "quite strong" was still far from the Skyfather level, but it was more than enough to violently slaughter one of Daemos's bodies.
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
"Cool!"
"My God, so fast, so ferocious! We're definitely going to win this time, right?"
"Look at that Inheritor, beaten so badly he couldn't even fight back. He was taken out in an instant."
"We need to step it up on our side, there are so many of us... Watch out!"
Just then, Daemos, not quite dead, opened his mouth wide and bit down hard on the strange Spider-Man before him. He needed to confirm one thing.
With that one bite, a look of shock appeared in Daemos's eyes. He discovered that the Alien Spider-Man truly had no totem power, unlike his guess that it was being shielded or sealed by some technique.
But he had no way to speak this truth. Having ingested the Xenomorph's blood, he used his last bit of strength to let out a blood-curdling scream. Soon, half of his head was gone. The sizzling half-corpse fell to the ground, a gruesome sight.
From the start of their fight to its end, it all happened so incredibly fast, almost too fast for the crowd of Spider-Men to process.
An Inheritor was dead in just a few rounds?
Then again, when the Inheritors killed Spider-Men, it often only took them two or three moves to finish one off.
"Nicely done."
Captain Universe Spider-Man floated in mid-air, nodding majestically with his arms crossed. Next, it was his turn to instantly eliminate Bora.
Bora's face showed absolutely no fear. Facing the imposing Captain Universe, she sneered and met him head-on.
Captain Universe erupted with terrifying energy, which transformed into countless streaks of light, all of which were knocked away by Bora.
Perhaps spurred on by the Alien Spider-Man, Captain Universe Spider-Man was desperate to prove himself, trying to finish off this Inheritor even faster to prove that he was the strongest Spider-Man in the Multiverse.
The terrifying energy shockwaves he unleashed had actually far surpassed the limit any ordinary Spider-Man could reach. It was the power of Universe 13, which blasted the entire base beyond recognition, causing layers of thick walls to collapse one after another.
"So strong! With these two, we definitely won't lose! The second Inheritor is about to be killed!" Six-Armed Spider-Man shouted happily, just in time to see Captain Universe Spider-Man crash out of the ruins like a white meteor, slamming Bora into the ground. The entire surface was smashed into a dense web of cracks.
At that moment, receiving news of the headquarters invasion, their temporal shuttles activated one after another. The Spider-Men who were on rescue missions in other universes hastily returned.
"What, is the battle already over?"
"Two Inheritors are dead! This is an unprecedented, massive victory."
"One was killed by Captain Universe, which is understandable. Just looking at him makes me feel like the whole planet is trembling. But what about the other one? The corpse is in pieces. Which one of us is so vicious?"
One by one, the Spider-Men who didn't know the truth arrived, looking at the scene with a mixture of surprise and joy.
"That has to be the Xenomorph's work. Only its highly corrosive blood could cause that kind of damage. The more powerful the Xenomorph, the more terrifying its body. If injured, its blood becomes its strongest weapon, something even a deity can't withstand."
A shuttle lit up again, and a Spider-Man wearing an iron suit jumped in. "I'm from Universe 199999. I just received a command from Du Wa and rushed over, but it looks like the battle is already over."
"Universe 199999? That seems very far away, hard to lock onto with ordinary methods," Captain Universe Spider-Man said majestically, his arms crossed again as if he had just completed a trivial task, his peripheral vision on the Alien Spider-Man.
But the Spider-Man from Universe 199999 gave him a flat look, completely devoid of any extra emotion. This was completely different from the other Spider-Men, as if he had already seen too many powerful beings like Captain Universe Spider-Man.
"You said Xenomorph? So this creature is called a Xenomorph? Isn't he from Universe 1543681? Why do you, a Spider-Man from Universe 199999, know him and seem so familiar? And who is Du Wa?"
Superior Spider-Man fired off a series of questions.
Amidst the towering architectural ruins, a group of Spider-Men stood, squatted, or simply hung from the collapsed buildings with their web fluid, watching intently.
They were all very curious about the Alien Spider-Man's origins, because the guy was ridiculously strong, and his blood was extremely bizarre, capable of instantly corroding even an Inheritor upon contact.
"What, you don't even know what a Xenomorph is? Oh, perhaps it's as they say. Du Wa has already assimilated every concept and meaning related to the Xenomorphs, which naturally includes the memories and knowledge inside your heads..."
It was the Spider-Man from Universe 199999 who was shocked in return.
"To put it simply, this big guy next to me is different from all of us Spider-Men. He comes from the Alien Species and is a subordinate of the God of Xenomorphs named Du Wa. Within the Alien Species, Du Wa is not the only deity. He also commands countless Cosmic Celestial and Skyfather-level Xenomorphs. I'm guessing the Xenomorph they sent over isn't particularly powerful, since my spider-sense isn't reacting at all."
The amount of information was staggering. They were already talking about the deity level? And this was a more terrifying god who commanded a group of other gods?
Superior Spider-Man realized that dealing with an annoying guy like Peter Parker wasn't always a bad thing, because motormouths always find an opportunity to blab, providing him with valuable intelligence.
"So, you're working for Du Wa now?" Superior Spider-Man pressed on like a machine gun.
The Spider-Man from Universe 199999 shrugged. Looking at the large crowd of Spider-Men, even though he knew what to expect, he still felt strange facing so many versions of himself at once.
"That's right. You know of Hell, right? A while ago, we followed Du Wa to attack a realm of Hell and killed Mephisto, its ruler. That battle tore the vast dimension to pieces. And you know the coolest part? Du Wa didn't even show up in his true form. He just controlled an avatar to kill Mephisto and drive off a horde of Great Demons who rushed to interfere. *That* was a terrifying sight."
Attacking Hell? Killing Mephisto? And shattering a realm of Hell? Superior Spider-Man felt like the brain he currently occupied—Peter Parker's—was about to overload.
(end of chapter)