Chapter 33: Splitting Up to Search for Teammates, MarcusDrops In and Crushes Zombie Hulk
Marcus stood on the shattered asphalt road, his gaze sweeping over the dense mass of decaying bodies covering the street.
He turned his head to look at Octopus Spider-Man, who had just stepped out of the portal: "Are you sure Morlunand the person you need to save are here?"
"That's right." The cold light in Octopus Spider-Man's sensor lenses flickered slightly, "We separated in this universe."
Marcus tilted his head slightly, relying on his own super-hearing to filter through the sounds of the entire urban area, "But I only hear the roars of zombies, and—"
He paused for a moment.
"The sound of Spider-Ham calling for help. I just don't hear any fighting."
Before he finished speaking, a round, pink figure scrambled out from a gap in the back wall of a collapsed shop nearby. Spider-Ham's two short legs moved rapidly, his red and blue suit covered in viscous liquid of unknown origin, and he waved his little wooden hammer wildly in his short hand.
"Help!" A miserable wail escaped from his pink pig snout through the opening in his mask, "Zombies are going to eat Spider-Ham!"
Behind him followed a massive, dark horde of zombies, their rotting arms reaching out in unison toward his round back.
Looking at the horde of zombies behind Spider-Ham, the next instant, Marcus's figure suddenly blurred.
His Bio-field covered his entire body, and he raised his arms to dash forward, crashing into the dark mass of zombies behind Spider-Ham like a meteorite.
The dull sounds of impact merged into one, with rotting flesh and shattered bones splashing everywhere; as he charged through, he forcefully tore a straight path open.
He turned and swept across, carving an arc around the location of the three of them, and all the zombies along the way were smashed to pieces.
Marcus stopped, his arms hanging at his sides.
Not a single drop of blood stained his black hoodie, as all filth was kept out by his Bio-field. With the three of them at the center, the zombies within a radius of several dozen meters had been wiped out, leaving only shattered remains covering the ground.
Octopus Spider-Man's sensor lenses scanned the clearing trace on the ground that was still steaming with heat, then turned to look at the panting Spider-Ham: "Did you find Morlun and Scarlet Spider?"
Spider-Ham leaned his wooden hammer on the ground to support his round body, holding his chest with a short hand to catch his breath. He lifted his head, his white lenses wide open: "No! I went to look immediately after I teleported over, but it was nothing but zombies! I didn't see Scarlet Spider or anyone else!"
Marcus looked at the still-panting Spider-Ham, his tone flat: "Perhaps he has already been captured."
Octopus Spider-Man was silent for a moment. The cold light of his sensor lenses flickered slightly under the leaden-grey sky, and then he said to Spider-Ham: "Are you sure they are still here?"
"Don't worry." Spider-Ham switched his wooden hammer from his right hand to his left, and pulled out the metal disc with the pulsing orange bead from behind his waist.
His short fingertips holding the hammer tapped the base of the disc a few times, and the pulsation frequency of the light bead noticeably accelerated, "Since my dimensional pointer points to this universe, they must be in this universe."
Octopus Spider-Man did not ask further. Of the four metal octopus arms behind him, one slowly reached forward, and its mechanical claw took out a small spider robot from the storage compartment of his suit, handing it to Marcus.
"In that case, we will split into two teams." His tone was as crisp as a tactical briefing, "Spider-Ham and I will search in the direction of Brooklyn; I must trouble Mr. Marcus to head towards Manhattan."
"If you find them, just press the button on its back, and we will rush over as quickly as possible. If we find them, it will also alert you."
Marcus opened his palm, and the small mechanical spider curled up in his hand for a moment, then its eight hair-thin metal legs flexibly stretched out.
It crawled up his palm to his wrist, its metal legs wrapping around his wrist and locking together. Its shell flipped and reassembled, and in less than a second, it turned into an understated black watch, with a miniature sensor light in the center of the dial flashing with a faint blue glow in a slow rhythm.
Marcus lowered his eyes to look at the inconspicuous button on the side of the dial, then looked up and nodded at Octopus Spider-Man.
Without any extra words, he kicked off hard with his feet, his figure shooting into the sky, and mid-flight, he directly accelerated to eight hundred times the speed of sound. His Bio-field fully covered his body, wrapping him into a silent black bullet.
In just an instant, he crossed the entire urban area from the Bronx and hovered steadily above Manhattan.
Below him, the buildings were in ruins, and the streets were filled with abandoned vehicles and slowly moving hordes of zombies. He tilted his head and cocked an ear, his super-hearing peeling back the soundscape of the entire Manhattan layer by layer.
Two low, speaking voices pierced through the noisy roars of the zombie horde and reached his ears.
"Hulk is hungry. Hulk wants to eat him."
Another voice was hoarser, carrying a certain slow and viscous rationality: "He is the only food right now. We cannot eat him all at once."
"His recovery ability is quite good. We will eat a few of his legs first, and then continue to eat after his legs grow back. As long as we don't turn him into one of us, we will have infinite food."
Marcus lowered his body in the direction of the voices, silently skimming past several dilapidated skyscrapers. In an open space in front of an abandoned warehouse, he saw three twisted figures.
Zombie Hulk, his massive green body covered in rotting grey-green patches. On his broad back, a figure was bound with heavy iron chains—it was Black Widow.
Her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform was in tatters, and her lower body was long gone; only half a torso remained, swaying slightly on Zombie Hulk's back. Her withered hands rested on Hulk's shoulders, and two balls of cold, eerie green light in her eye sockets were slowly scanning the front.
Hulk was still holding a figure in his hand, and Marcusrecognized the tattered red spandex suit at a glance.
Scarlet Spider was held in mid-air by his waist, gripped by Hulk.
His body had undergone some kind of semi-mutation; his entire body was covered in black fuzz, his skin was dark purple, his muscles were abnormally developed, and he was over two meters tall. Four additional biological spider legs had grown from his back, covered in barbs at the joints.
His face still retained human contours, but his forehead had several extra compound eyes, and his mouthparts had turned into spider chelicerae that opened and closed constantly, with transparent venom oozing from the tips of his fangs. The original white mask was completely covered by biological tissue, leaving only two glowing red pupils flashing frantically in his eye sockets.
Zombie Hulk grinned with his rotting mouth: "Fine, you are smarter than Hulk, Hulk will listen to you."
He clutched a freshly torn-off spider leg in his hand, shoved it into his mouth, bone and meat alike, chewed it up, and swallowed it. Then he stretched out that giant palm covered in rotting green patches, reaching for another biological spider leg on Scarlet Spider's back.
Scarlet Spider's red compound pupils suddenly contracted. He roared, and the three remaining spider legs on his back stabbed out simultaneously; the barbs pierced into Zombie Hulk's forearm, but failed to even pierce the skin.
He swung his fist at Zombie Hulk's face, his fist landing on the other's cheekbone, but it only produced a dull, thudding sound, and Zombie Hulk didn't even blink.
"Damn it—I'm going to kill you!" Scarlet Spider's voice sounded like sandpaper rubbing against his throat, and the intermittent roar was mixed with the buzzing of spider chelicerae, slurred and unclear.
Zombie Hulk's five fingers were about to close.
At that very moment, Marcus's figure appeared silently in front of Zombie Hulk.
Using his palm as a blade, he delivered a hand-chop precisely onto the wrist Zombie Hulk was using to grab the spider leg. Without any wind-up, the pure physical power exploded at the moment of contact.
Zombie Hulk's indestructible palm was severed at the wrist, and thick, rotting green blood gushed out from the stump.
Before Zombie Hulk could even let out a roar, Marcus's left fist had already smashed into his chest.
The power carried by his fist pierced through the rotting green chest muscles, and Zombie Hulk's massive body, like a meteorite knocked away, flew backward with a roar, smashing through a whole row of steel beams and concrete walls of the abandoned warehouse behind him, and hurtling ten thousand meters away.
Zombie Black Widow, bound to his back, disappeared along with him into the sky filled with smoke and dust.
Scarlet Spider fell heavily onto the shattered asphalt ground. He supported himself with his three remaining spider legs and crawled up shakily, his mouthparts opening and closing constantly, and the compound eyes on his forehead flashing with red light frantically.
He stared at Marcus, a hoarse, broken voice squeezing from his throat: "Who... are you?"
Marcus raised his hand and pressed the button on the side of the dial, and the miniature sensor light turned from blue to red, starting to flash rapidly.
He lowered his hand, his tone flat: "Octopus Spider-Mansent me to save you."
Chapter 34: Taking the Hulk's Sky-Falling Heavy Punch Head-On, Tearing Apart the Doomsday Hulk with Bare Hands
Scarlet Spider was silent for a moment.
He steadied himself on his remaining three biological spider legs, the compound eyes on his forehead still flickering with irregular red light, his mandibles opening and closing slightly as if he were trying to organize his words.
Just as he was about to speak, the air beside him was suddenly torn apart by an external force.
A dark red spatial rift opened silently, its edges sparking with electric arcs, as Octopus Spider-Man and Spider-Hamemerged one after the other.
As soon as Spider-Ham's round body landed, his white lenses locked onto Scarlet Spider.
He saw the cross-section of the torn-off spider leg on the other's back still oozing transparent tissue fluid, and his purple skin covered in bite wounds.
His short hand immediately reached for the metal canister behind his waist, which was printed with a pink pig-head silhouette.
"Want some pig feed? Eat this and you can—"
Scarlet Spider shook his head.
His voice squeezed out from his mandibles, hoarse and broken, but he refused decisively: "No."
Octopus Spider-Man's sensor lenses flashed with a cold light.
He didn't waste any time on pleasantries; his four metal octopus arms slowly retracted behind him as he asked in a deep voice: "What happened after we left? Where is Morlun?"
Scarlet Spider braced himself on his remaining three biological spider legs, his mandibles opening and closing, his hoarse voice filled with frustration: "After you left, I tangled with Morlun for a while. Zombie Hulk suddenly rushed out; Morlun couldn't match him and opened a rift to escape. I was grabbed by Hulk, and then I was saved by this person."
His red compound eyes turned to Marcus. "Is he the helper you found?"
"That's right." Octopus Spider-Man's sensor lenses flashed with a cold light. "Mr. Marcus is the one we found to help."
Upon hearing this, Scarlet Spider bent his three spider legs slightly, lowering his semi-deformed body a few inches.
His red compound eyes stared straight at Marcus, and his mandibles squeezed out two clear words: "Thank you."
Marcus's gaze rested on his bitten, broken body for a moment, his tone indifferent: "Just a mutual exchange of needs."
Just as he was about to say something else, a roar of fury suddenly exploded from high above.
"Hulk smash!"
Everyone looked up at the same time.
The lead-gray clouds were torn apart by a massive green figure as Zombie Hulk plummeted rapidly from thousands of meters in the sky.
His right wrist stump was still dripping with viscous, rotten green blood, and his chest was deeply indented with the punch mark Marcus had left earlier, with a hole punched through his decaying green pectoral muscles.
Yet, his murky eyes still burned with primitive rage; like a meteorite recaptured by gravity, he slammed fiercely toward the open ground in front of the warehouse.
The Spider-Men scattered instantly.
Octopus Spider-Man's four metal arms exerted force simultaneously to catapult him away, Spider-Ham's short legs moved rapidly as he rolled to the side, and Scarlet Spider kicked off the ground, leaping backward.
Only Marcus did not move.
He stood where he was, raised his right arm, and spread his five fingers.
Boom—!
The thunderous sound of fist meeting palm exploded across the clearing.
With Marcus's feet as the center, the ground suddenly collapsed downward, blasting out a giant crater hundreds of meters in diameter.
Spiderweb-like cracks spread wildly from the edge of the pit, tearing through the walls of the entire row of abandoned buildings nearby, and several already tottering factory buildings collapsed amidst the shockwaves.
The shockwave, carrying debris and zombie remains, swept outward, flipping a whole row of abandoned vehicles parked on the street, which rolled several times in the air before crashing into the display windows of shops along the street.
Yet, Marcus's arm did not move an inch.
His five fingers firmly gripped Zombie Hulk's fist, which was larger than a human head, and his wrist did not sink even a fraction.
Zombie Hulk hung in mid-air; the punch, which carried the full kinetic energy of a high-altitude fall, had been caught by him head-on.
In the eyes of Zombie Hulk, who had landed on the ground, a flash of something that could be called confusion appeared for the first time.
He looked down at his gripped fist, then at Marcus's expressionless face.
He tried to pull his fist back—but couldn't.
The chains on Zombie Hulk's back tightened, and the half-torso Zombie Black Widow was shaken uncontrollably.
Her withered hands gripped the chains on Hulk's shoulders tightly, the two eerie green cold lights in her eye sockets flickering rapidly, her voice hoarse yet urgent: "Hulk, let me down!"
Marcus did not give them a chance to react.
His five fingers, gripping Hulk's right fist, suddenly tightened, using the leverage to yank Hulk's massive body downward.
At the same time, he pushed off the ground with his right leg, his figure shooting upward, and his right fist, carrying pure physical strength, struck upward, slamming solidly into Hulk's chin.
A dull impact sound exploded over the ruins.
Zombie Hulk's decaying head snapped backward, and his massive green body was blasted off the ground by this brute force, like a reverse-flying meteorite, shooting straight toward the lead-gray clouds.
With a flash, he instantly pierced through the rising smoke and dust, appearing behind the still-ascending Zombie Hulk.
Marcus's right arm muscles suddenly tensed, and he punched through the Zombie Black Widow strapped to Hulk's back.
Rotten green blood gushed from the stump of her half-torso, and the two eerie green cold lights in her eye sockets flickered once, then extinguished completely.
The force of the punch continued, slamming heavily into Zombie Hulk's spine.
Zombie Hulk's massive body, like a twice-fired cannonball, was slammed back to the ground from mid-air.
He crashed into the previously mentioned crater hundreds of meters in diameter; the earth shook violently again, the cracks at the bottom of the pit tore deeper, and the entire pit expanded outward by another circle.
Debris and smoke rose into the sky, blotting out the sun.
Zombie Hulk climbed up from the bottom of the pit, with a punch hole that went all the way through his decaying green pectoral muscles.
He tilted his head back and roared, the rage and hunger in his murky eyes burning into a state of chaos.
But before he could leap up, Marcus's figure had already appeared in front of him.
Marcus's hands turned into blades, simultaneously stabbing into both sides of Zombie Hulk's chest.
His fingertips pierced through the decaying green skin and muscles, sinking in up to his wrists.
Zombie Hulk swung his only remaining left fist, along with his right arm that was severed at the wrist, smashing frantically at Marcus.
The fists landed on Marcus's temples, shoulders, and neck, each strike carrying terrifying force capable of collapsing buildings.
Yet, Marcus did not move a muscle.
Those heavy blows, sufficient to raze an entire building to the ground, only produced dull thuds when they landed on him, not even making a single strand of his hair move.
Marcus's hands, which were dug into Hulk's chest, suddenly tore outward.
Rotten green blood gushed out like a waterfall, and Zombie Hulk's massive green body split from the center of his chest, torn apart alive into two halves.
The two remains slowly toppled to the left and right, crashing into the bottom of the pit, splashing up debris and a mist of green blood.
Marcus straightened up, flicked off the rotting fluid from his fingertips, and looked down at the two halves of the remains at his feet that were slowly losing their last bit of twitching, his face devoid of any expression.
Then he rose from the bottom of the pit and landed steadily on the edge.
His black hoodie was still unstained, and the Bio-fieldslightly distorted the air around him.
The scattered Spider-Men peeked out from behind their respective covers.
Octopus Spider-Man's sensor lenses scanned the two halves of the decaying green remains at the bottom of the pit, and his four metal octopus arms slowly retracted.
Spider-Ham walked to the edge of the pit carrying his wooden mallet, braced his short hands on his knees to look down, and let out a "Wow" of amazement.
Scarlet Spider stood in place, his three spider legs supporting his broken body, the red light of the compound eyes on his forehead finally no longer flickering wildly, just glowing quietly.
He looked at Marcus's back, his mandibles opened, but he didn't say anything.
Marcus turned around, his gaze sweeping over the group of Spider-Men, his tone indifferent: "What should we do next?"
Octopus Spider-Man's sensor lenses flashed with cold light, and his four metal mechanical arms retracted gently behind him: "Now we return to Universe 13 first. Morlunescaped and will definitely take the news back to the Inheritors family. We need to reunite with the others as soon as possible and formulate the next step of the plan."
Spider-Ham hoisted his wooden mallet back onto his shoulder and waved a short hand: "No problem."
He pulled the metal disc with the pulsating orange light orb from behind his waist and tapped his short fingers rapidly on the base.
The air was compressed and distorted again, and a dark red spatial rift tore open in front of everyone, its edges sparking with electric arcs.
Scarlet Spider walked in first, supported by his three spider legs, with Octopus Spider-Man following closely behind.
Spider-Ham hopped along after them, turning back to wave his short hand at Marcus before entering the rift.
Marcus stepped into the rift last.
The dark red light closed silently behind him, and the lead-gray sky of the zombie universe and the remains scattered everywhere vanished on the other side of the rift.
Chapter 35: So Much for a Safe Haven? Universe 13 is Full of Mummified Corpses!
When Marcus stepped out of the spatial rift, he did not land in the expected safe haven, but in a charred ruin.
The concrete floor was covered in spiderweb-like cracks, and the air was thick with the heavy scent of blood and the acrid smell of something burned by energy.
Marcus looked around.
This place should have been a spacious indoor assembly point, but now most of the dome had been ripped off, and broken steel beams jutted out diagonally from the ruins.
Dried blood was everywhere on the walls—radial splatters, long trails of struggle, all layered on top of each other.
Spider-Men lay everywhere on the ground.
Some had turned into mummified corpses, their suits collapsed against their torsos as if every drop of moisture had been drained from them, their empty eye sockets staring up at the gray, hazy sky.
Others slumped in corners, deep, bone-exposing lacerations visible through tears in their suits, their fingers scratching weakly at the ground while they let out faint groans.
At least a dozen Spider-Men, and not one had been spared.
Marcus withdrew his gaze, his voice flat: "Are you sure you teleported to Universe 13?"
Octopus Spider-Man did not answer.
His four metal octopus arms were stiff behind him, and the data streams on his sensory lenses were flickering with unprecedented chaos.
"This is impossible."
His voice was a full octave lower than usual.
"This is absolutely impossible."
The wooden mallet Spider-Ham had been carrying on his shoulder slowly slipped off.
A very faint sound, like someone being choked, leaked from his pink snout through the opening in his mask: "No... Captain Universe Spider-Man, he..."
Scarlet Spider braced himself with three biological spider legs, the compound eyes on his forehead lighting up red one by one as he scanned every mummified corpse in the ruins.
His mandibles opened and closed silently, but he said nothing.
"And who is Captain Universe Spider-Man?" Marcusfrowned.
"He is one of the strongest among us."
Octopus Spider-Man spoke again, his voice regaining its steadiness but carrying a tension that could only be maintained through deliberate suppression.
"He controls the Enigma Force; this power is the pure, primordial energy of the bright universe, and it inherently counters the Inheritors' ability to drain life."
He paused for a moment, his gaze shifting to the most devastating area in the center of the ruins.
"We chose Universe 13 as our sanctuary precisely because he was stationed here.
With him here, the Inheritors dared not easily interfere.
Most of the survivors of the entire Spider-Man Alliance were hiding here."
After a brief moment of daze, Spider-Ham snapped back to reality.
Putting aside his shock, he scurried forward with his short legs, rushing toward the nearest casualty slumped in a corner.
He pulled a metal canister printed with a pink pig silhouette from behind his waist, twisted off the lid, poured out a few colorful pellets, and shoved them directly into the casualty's mouth.
"Piggy feed, eat it and you can move!"
The Spider-Man's suit had a horrific tear from his right shoulder to his chest, the edges of the fabric soaked in blood.
After he swallowed the pellets, the flesh at the wound began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Before long, he braced himself against the wall and slowly sat upright.
Octopus Spider-Man stepped forward quickly, his gaze locked on him: "What exactly happened?"
After the injured man sat upright against the wall, he reached out to press the healing wound on his chest and spoke in a hoarse voice: "It was Captain Universe Spider-Man... he was the one who held off Solus."
He raised his head, the eyes visible through the tear in his mask still filled with the lingering fear of having survived a catastrophe.
"Punisher Spider-Man had only just returned for a while when Morlun led his people here to slaughter us."
--- A few minutes earlier.
Punisher Spider-Man was the first to step out of the spatial rift.
He dragged the unconscious Brix and Bora with one hand, while his other hand gripped the back of 9700's suit.
Number 444 and Number 666 followed behind him, supporting each other.
The two spatial rifts hummed and vibrated after they stepped out, slowly closing.
Inside the Spider-Hall, various Spider-Men saw Punisher Spider-Man return with two Inheritors and crowded around him.
"As expected of the coldest Peter Parker!"
One Spider-Man shouted excitedly: "He actually brought back two Inheritors!"
"Now we have leverage!"
"Wait—these two were knocked unconscious?
How did he do it?"
Punisher Spider-Man threw Brix and Bora onto the ground, raised his narrow lenses to scan the crowd, his voice as cold and hard as ever: "I didn't capture them."
The surrounding crowd fell suddenly silent.
Just as he was about to continue explaining, steady footsteps came from behind the crowd.
Captain Universe Spider-Man walked out.
He wore a suit with nebula patterns formed by the Enigma Force; it was not made of ordinary fabric.
A faint golden light flowed around him, and the white base of the suit was adorned with tiny specks of stars that rose and fell gently with his breathing.
This energy construct could change shape at will, self-repair, and dissipate various types of energy and physical impacts.
He did not look at the crowding Spider-Men; his pale golden pupils fell directly on the unconscious Brix and Bora on the ground.
The Enigma Force gathered in his eyes, and the nebula deep within his pupils began to spin faster.
Then, his expression changed.
"They have tracking marks inside them."
Captain Universe Spider-Man raised his head, his voice very low, yet it caused the entire hall to fall into instant silence.
"Solus placed them himself.
They were used as bait to deliver our location directly to our base."
He waved his right arm, and the Enigma Force surged from his palm, tearing open a pale golden spatial rift at his side: "Throw them out of this universe immediately, quickly!"
Punisher Spider-Man bent down to grab Brix and Bora, but before his fingers could even touch their collars—
Another spatial rift opened with a boom behind Punisher Spider-Man.
Immediately after, three figures slowly stepped out of the rift.
The leader had an extremely burly and robust build, far exceeding the other two.
His heavy black formal wear was stretched taut by his muscles, revealing sharp, angular lines.
Dark hair hung over his shoulders, and in one hand, he carried a giant rock warhammer the size of a small vehicle.
He looked fierce, and as he stepped out of the rift, the hammer head smashed into the ground, causing the concrete floor to instantly crack with spiderweb-like fissures.
It was Daemos.
The tall, thin shadow beside him made almost no sound.
With a pale, pointed face and blood-red slit pupils, the hem of his pure black slim-fit long trench coat swirled silently behind him.
He carried no weapons, yet his demeanor was more dangerous than any weapon.
Morlun turned his neck, his slit pupils sweeping over every Spider-Man's face in the hall, and the corners of his mouth curled into a cold arc.
The person who stepped out of the rift last made the air in the entire hall freeze.
A giant, tall humanoid with cold white skin, black hair tied behind his back, and a black vintage aristocratic long coat hanging down to his ankles.
As his crimson slit pupils slowly swept across every Spider-Man's face, his exposed sharp fangs gleamed with a chilling luster under the lights, and the dark blood-colored energy swirling around him made the nearby air twist and steam.
Captain Universe Spider-Man withdrew his right arm, and the Enigma Force that had manifested the portal dissipated silently at his side.
His pale golden pupils swept over the three of them in turn, the nebula light flowing within his eyes suddenly receding—not because his power was fading, but because he was tightly gathering all the Enigma Force, charging up for an all-out strike.
His voice was steady to the point of being cold: "Solus. Daemos. Morlun. You dare enter my universe."
Chapter 36: Captain Universe Strikes with Full Force, Unexpectedly Falls into Solus's Trap
Solus did not respond. He took only one step after stepping out of the rift and stopped. His long black hair slid from his shoulders, and his scarlet vertical pupils passed over the mess of Spider-Men to land on Captain Universe.
He did not look at the unconscious Brix and Bora in Punisher Spider-Man's hands, nor did he even look at any of the tense faces in the hall.
His fangs slowly emerged from between his lips, and the corners of his mouth pulled upward. This was not the anger of being provoked, but the unique, greedy, and satisfied curve of a top-tier hunter finally encountering top-tier prey.
"Your universe?"
Solus's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached every corner of the hall. Dark blood-colored energy surged silently around him, and the air was compressed, emitting a low hum.
"From now on, this universe is my hunting ground."
His scarlet vertical pupils locked onto Captain Universe's pale gold pupils, and his figure suddenly vanished from where he stood.
"And you are nothing but my prey."
The next instant, Solus had broken the sound barrier, his right arm wrapped in collapsing dark blood-colored energy, his five fingers formed into claws, striking directly at Captain Universe's throat.
Captain Universe did not retreat. He stepped forward violently with his left foot, the concrete floor exploding beneath him, and the long-prepared Enigma Force erupted from his right fist.
The pale gold beam of light collided head-on with the dark blood-colored claw shadow in mid-air. Two diametrically opposed energies tore at each other at the point of contact; the Enigma Force evaporated the dark blood, and the dark blood eroded the Enigma Force. The shockwave completely shattered the remaining light-energy web totems on the hall's dome, and pale gold fragments and scarlet arcs poured down like a rainstorm.
Solus was knocked back several meters, his boot soles plowing two deep trenches into the scorched ground. He looked down at the fingertips of his right hand; the lingering dark blood-colored energy had been mostly evaporated by the Enigma Force and was slowly re-condensing.
The curve of his mouth grew wider, as if this punch had not frustrated him, but rather confirmed something he had been guessing all along.
He rushed up again. This time, there was no testing; dark blood energy erupted from every inch of his skin, condensing into dozens of sharp tentacles in front of him, stabbing at Captain Universe from all directions simultaneously.
Captain Universe crossed his arms, and the Enigma Forceexpanded into a pale gold spherical barrier around him. The tentacles struck the barrier, and dark blood and golden light exploded simultaneously, each impact shaking the entire hall violently. The two fought faster and faster in a pure energy clash, their figures blurring into two constantly colliding arcs of light.
Meanwhile, Daemos had smashed into the densest area of Spider-Men.
He cared nothing for the identities of his opponents. Holding the rock war hammer, which was comparable to a small vehicle, as if it weighed nothing, he swept it horizontally across their waists.
The three Spider-Men who bore the brunt had no time to dodge. Two were struck squarely in the chest by the hammer face, their suits instantly shattering, their bodies sent flying violently, crashing directly through the hall's load-bearing pillars; the remaining one tried to entangle the hammer handle with webbing to gain leverage and escape, but was instead yanked backward by Daemos, who swung him and the webbing together, slamming them heavily into the ground. The concrete floor cracked with a boom, and that Spider-Man was trapped in the pit, completely losing his ability to move.
"Too weak!" Daemos's roar caused the plaster on the walls to peel off. He raised the war hammer high above his head, ready to smash down onto the Spider-Man in the bottom of the pit.
A strand of webbing shot from the side, precisely sticking to his wrist. Punisher Spider-Man closed in from behind his right, his left hand gripping the webbing to pull and deflect the hammer's momentum, while his right hand held his gun directly against Daemos's temple.
The last three bullets in the magazine were fired at once. The muzzle flash exploded against Daemos's temple; the bullets penetrated the skin but were stopped cold by his ridiculously thick skull. Dark green blood seeped from the bullet holes, and Daemos slowly turned his head, his vertical pupils, bloodshot from rage, locking onto Punisher Spider-Man.
"You hurt me." He grinned, revealing a mouthful of blood-stained teeth, released the war hammer, grabbed Punisher Spider-Man's chest armor, lifted him up, and threw him violently against the wall.
On the other side, Morlun did not join the frontal melee.
Since stepping into the hall, he had completely vanished from everyone's sight. It wasn't that he had invisibility powers, but his movement speed was so fast that the dynamic vision of ordinary Spider-Men could not capture his figure.
Every time Morlun attacked, a Spider-Man fell. He walked silently on the edge of the battlefield, his blood-red vertical pupils precisely locking onto straggling prey. He would grab a Spider-Man by the back of the neck from behind, squeeze to knock them unconscious, and then toss them aside, his figure already darting toward the next target.
When he made his fifth move, his claws struck alloy. A harsh, metallic screech echoed through the hall, and sparks exploded between Morlun's fingertips and the steel chest plate.
He stopped abruptly, his blood-red vertical pupils narrowing slightly. Standing before him was an Iron Spider covered in silver-gray metal, the arc reactor on his chest emitting a ghostly blue light. Four mechanical tentacles unfolded completely from the interface on the back of his armor, each alloy claw at the tip rotating at high speed.
"Got you." Iron Spider raised his arms, his palm repulsors charging simultaneously, and two searing white beams shot directly at Morlun's face.
Morlun tilted his head to avoid the first shot and twisted his waist to dodge the second. The hem of his pure black trench coat was grazed by the beam, the edge instantly turning charred and curling. Just as he pointed his toes to gain distance, Iron Spider's four mechanical tentacles wrapped around his limbs and waist from four directions simultaneously, the high-speed rotating alloy claws biting into Morlun's black slim-fit trench coat, fixing him in mid-air.
"Trapped you!" Iron Spider's suit thrusters erupted suddenly, pushing Morlun, who was locked by the tentacles, through the hall wall; broken bricks and metal fragments poured down like rain. He pushed Morlun all the way out of the wall, attempting to drag him completely away from the battlefield.
Morlun looked down at the tentacles tightening around him, a cold curve pulling at the corner of his mouth.
He exerted force with all four limbs simultaneously, struggling violently; his pure physical strength snapped two mechanical tentacles, and the broken alloy claws fell to the ground, dragging sparks.
He grabbed the remaining two tentacles with his backhand and threw Iron Spider, armor and all, violently back into the hall, smashing through the wreckage of the floating platform, scattering starmap fragments and cosmic dust everywhere.
Captain Universe, who was fighting Solus, took in this scene. His pale gold pupils swept across the battlefield—Daemos was stomping a Spider-Man into the ground, Morlun had broken free and stood up again, and the Solusbefore him was attacking with increasing ferocity, the tentacles formed of dark blood energy pouring down like a rainstorm.
He did not hesitate. The Enigma Force in his body accumulated to the critical point, and he shook his arms outward violently, a circle of pale gold shockwaves erupting from his center.
Pure cosmic source energy collided head-on with the dark blood energy. Solus's offensive was torn open by a gap, and he was knocked back dozens of meters, his boot soles plowing two deep trenches into the scorched ground.
Just as Solus was knocked back, Captain Universeseparated his palms, and two beams of highly condensed Enigma Force shot from his palms.
One hit Daemos in the chest, sending his hulking body flying backward, his back smashing through a load-bearing pillar; the other hit Morlun squarely in the back. Morlungroaned, his just-stabilized figure sent flying again, falling into the depths of the ruins.
"Trash." Solus steadied himself, brushing dust from his shoulders with one hand, his gaze passing over the fallen Daemos and Morlun, his tone as cold as a blade. "You couldn't even dodge that."
He did not bother with his two sons. His scarlet vertical pupils moved away from them, as if looking at two broken tools that could be discarded at will. Then, his gaze locked onto a Spider-Man at the edge of the hall who was helping wounded comrades evacuate, and his figure vanished from where he stood.
The next instant, he appeared in front of that Spider-Man, his five fingers formed into claws, striking directly at the face.
Captain Universe's figure appeared in front of that Spider-Man at the same instant. He raised his left arm, the Enigma Force forming a shield to block Solus's claw strike, while his right fist, wrapped in pale gold light, struck directly at the other's face. Solus tilted his head to avoid it, and the two traded punches and blows at close range, each collision exploding with the aftermath of energy shockwaves.
"You fell for it." Solus suddenly lowered his voice, his tone filled with undisguised triumph.
He did not dodge Captain Universe's next heavy punch, letting it land on his shoulder. The moment the fist hit the trench coat and flesh touched, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Captain Universe's wrist.
Dark blood-colored energy erupted from between his five fingers, rapidly spreading up Captain Universe's arm. Captain Universe felt a brutal suction coming from the other's palm; the Enigma Force in his body seemed to have an opening chiseled into it, flowing outward along the point of contact at his wrist.
Solus's fangs were fully exposed, the corners of his mouth pulled to the limit, greedily devouring that pale gold cosmic source energy.
He slowly took a deep breath, his scarlet vertical pupils narrowing slightly with satisfaction, and a low, satisfied sigh leaked from between his fangs:
"Truly the most top-tier delicious prey."
Chapter 37: One Man Blocks the Inheritors, Marcus Saves the Day from Above
Solus's fangs still curved in a satisfied arc, and dark blood-colored energy was frantically draining the Enigma Forcealong Captain Universe's arm.
At that very moment, the hand Captain Universe had held captive suddenly flipped, seizing Solus's wrist in return.
Deep within his pale golden pupils, the nebula stopped spinning and suddenly collapsed, compressing all its light into a point the size of a needle tip.
The next instant, the collapsed nebula erupted outward with a hundredfold intensity. The Enigma Force, having built up to its limit, surged out from every inch of his suit, bathing the entire hall in a blinding pale gold.
Solus's slit pupils constricted sharply. He instinctively raised his other arm to block his front, hastily condensing the dark blood-colored energy into a shield.
But this time, the shield could not fully block it. The beam of light formed by the Enigma Force slammed head-on into the dark blood shield; the energy on the shield's surface was evaporated layer by layer, and cracks spread wildly from the point of contact.
The beam pierced through the shield and slammed solidly into Solus's chest.
Solus was blasted away, dragging several messy trails of dark blood-colored energy behind him. He crashed through an entire row of load-bearing pillars behind him, shattered half of a wall that hadn't yet collapsed, and finally slammed into the mountain of rubble in the deepest part of the hall.
Taking advantage of this fleeting gap, Captain Universe did not hesitate for a moment.
Captain Universe tore open a pale golden spatial rift with one hand and shouted without looking back, "Take the wounded and go! Quickly!"
Several Spider-Man who could still stand immediately rushed toward their groaning companions in the rubble. One Spider-Man hoisted two unconscious wounded on his shoulders, while another supported a companion with a broken leg and dragged him toward the rift. Someone looked back and shouted, "What about you?"
Captain Universe's back remained motionless. Fragments of the Enigma Force were drifting out from the damaged parts of his suit, like blood seeping from a wound.
"As long as you live, the Spider Alliance is not destroyed."
No one spoke again. Every Spider-Man who could still move carried or supported two wounded, silently slipping into the pale golden rift.
Yet, too many unconscious figures still lay scattered across the rubble; some were pinned under broken walls, others half-buried in debris. The pale golden light fell upon their soiled suits, but there was no response from them.
The rift began to flicker unsteadily, its edges collapsing inward.
Just then, Daemos and Morlun crawled out from the depths of the rubble. Daemos pushed aside a broken pillar pressing on him, dark green blood still dripping from his forehead. Morlun brushed broken bricks off his shoulder, his slit pupils as cold as two nails. Both locked onto the closing rift almost simultaneously.
Captain Universe thrust both palms out. Two light orbs of highly concentrated Enigma Force tore through the air; one slammed into Daemos's chest, and the other blasted into Morlun's chest—this time, they did not get back up.
A dark blood-colored afterimage tore through the smoke and dust. Solus hovered before the portal, his slit pupils sweeping over the last few figures disappearing into the rift, his mouth pulling into a cold, hard arc: "I'll deal with you first, then go find them."
Captain Universe waved his hand to dismiss the portal. The pale golden light dissipated silently behind him, and there was no hesitation on his damaged face.
"You won't have that chance. I will defeat you in this universe."
As he spoke, he soared high into the sky, dragging a straight, pale golden trail across the leaden gray canopy.
Solus looked up at the light rising higher and higher, sneering, "You cannot escape."
The Enigma Force he had devoured from Captain Universesurged out, wrapping around his entire body, pushing him to break through the smoke and dust as he chased the golden light piercing into the clouds.
——————
The wounded man leaned against the broken wall, his voice growing weaker: "After I saw Captain Universe fly into the sky, a dark red light chased after him, and then I passed out."
At this moment, Marcus suddenly looked up.
His gaze pierced through the broken dome and the leaden gray clouds, locking onto something moving rapidly in the high altitude. His super-hearing isolated the vibrations from high above; two energies were colliding at high frequency, and one of them was fading.
"They are still up there." He withdrew his gaze and turned to Octopus Spider-Man and Spider-Ham. "You take care of the wounded; I'm going to help."
Spider-Ham had just stuffed a piece of pig feed into an unconscious wounded person's mouth. Hearing this, he jerked his head up, and a startled sound squeezed out of his pink snout through the opening in his mask: "What?"
Marcus did not respond. He kicked off the ground violently, his figure soaring into the sky. The Bio-field wrapped around his entire body, turning him into a silent black bullet piercing the clouds.
Immediately after, a dull vibration came from high above. It was like two mountains colliding overhead, the aftershocks causing loose bricks in the rubble to fall with a rustling sound.
Spider-Ham looked up at the sky with his round head, his white eyepieces blinking: "Too bad we can't fly, otherwise we could have gone to help him."
As he said this, he pulled that metal can printed with a pink pig head silhouette from behind his waist and stuffed it into Octopus Spider-Man's hand. Then, as if performing a magic trick, he pulled out a second and a third, piling them all within the range his short arms could hold.
"Looks like we can only take care of the wounded." He twisted open a can, colorful pellets clattering into his palm, and turned to walk toward the next unconscious Spider-Man.
Scarlet Spider supported his broken body with three biological spider-legs and silently accepted a can of feed. Octopus Spider-Man's sensor eyepieces paused on those cans for a moment, but he didn't ask any questions; his four metal octopus arms each curled around a metal can, and they parted ways to head toward different wounded.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
When Marcus pierced through the final layer of leaden gray clouds, what he saw was this scene—
Solus hovered high in the sky, his left fingers tightly gripping Captain Universe's throat. Captain Universe's suit had dimmed until only a nearly invisible shimmer remained; his damaged face was covered in blood, and his hands hung weakly at his sides. The Enigma Force within him had been mostly drained, leaving him without even the strength to struggle.
"What delicious energy." Solus's fangs were fully exposed between his lips, his slit pupils half-closed in satisfaction. He tightened his fingers, savoring the suffocating gasps squeezed from his prey's throat. "I've decided—I won't kill you just yet. I want to savor you slowly, draining every drop of your Enigma Force bit by bit, letting you live to witness your own essence being completely devoured by me."
Just as he was about to say more, a very faint sound of air tearing came from behind him.
Solus's slit pupils constricted sharply. He jerked his head around.
A fist had already filled his entire field of vision.
Marcus's right fist slammed solidly into his face. A dull sound like cracking bone exploded in the high altitude; Solus's cheek caved in and deformed under the force of the punch. The hand gripping Captain Universe's throat let go, and then he himself was blasted away like a cannonball, forced back from Captain Universe's side, dragging a straight, dark blood-colored afterimage across the leaden gray canopy.
Captain Universe stumbled, steadying himself and barely maintaining his flight posture. His pale golden pupils turned toward this stranger wearing a black hoodie; fragments of the Enigma Force were still drifting out from his damaged suit.
"You recover your energy first; I'll go hold him off," Marcussaid.
Captain Universe did not ask who he was, nor did he offer any unnecessary pleasantries. He simply nodded, his voice raspy but clear: "Thank you for saving me."
He paused for a moment and added, "Be careful—he has absorbed seventy percent of my power."
Marcus nodded to show he understood, his figure instantly vanishing from the spot, turning into a straight black shadow as he chased directly toward Solus's direction.
Chapter 38: Death Struggle on the Lunar Surface, Shocking the Entire Scene! Solus Goes Berserk and Drags Captain Universe Down to Earth
Marcus's figure had just streaked through mid-air when the lead-gray clouds ahead suddenly exploded.
Solus stabilized his body beneath the lead-gray clouds. He turned around slowly; the indentation on his face caused by Marcus's punch had already healed, and dark blood-colored energy surged beneath his skin, smoothing away the last traces of bruising. Those scarlet slit pupils locked onto the black figure breaking through the air, and his fangs were fully exposed from between his lips.
"Dare to interrupt my meal," his voice was low and hoarse, and dark blood energy erupted from beneath every inch of his skin, coalescing into dozens of sharp tentacles around him, "I am going to kill you."
Marcus said nothing, instantly increasing his speed and charging straight forward.
The figure in the black hoodie broke the sound barrier, his right fist carrying pure physical strength as he aimed straight for Solus's face. Solus swung his arm to block horizontally, and the dark blood tentacles collided head-on with the fist in mid-air.
At the point of contact between the two forces, a visible white shockwave exploded, tearing a circular gap in the lead-gray clouds, and the cloud wisps within several kilometers were completely evaporated by the blast of air.
Marcus's left fist followed closely, slamming toward Solus's ribs. Solus twisted his waist to dodge, forming his fingers into claws to counter-grab at Marcus's throat; the dark blood-colored energy swirling at his fingertips scraped against the outer layer of the Bio-field, tearing the air and emitting a piercing screech.
Marcus tilted his head to knock away his wrist and drove his right knee toward Solus's chest and abdomen. Soluspressed his palms together and pushed down, taking the knee strike head-on. A shockwave exploded between the two, shaking the ruins on the ground thousands of meters below.
The two figures turned into one black and one red arc of light, constantly colliding in the high sky. Every exchange of punches exploded with a thunderous roar, and every collision kicked up circular air waves.
In the aftermath of a clash between their fists, Marcuscaught a gap in Solus's defense. He stomped fiercely on the void with his left foot, his figure cutting into Solus's open chest like an arrow, and his right arm, shaped into a hand-blade, slashed horizontally with all his kinetic energy.
Ssh—
The hand-blade cleaved into Solus's blocking left arm; the armor formed from dark blood energy shattered under the pure physical strength, and the crisp sound of bone breaking exploded in the high sky.
Solus's left forearm was severed at the elbow, dark green blood gushed from the stump, and the half-severed arm tumbled down toward the lead-gray clouds.
But Solus did not retreat. Taking advantage of the moment his arm was severed, he pressed in close, his right hand's fingers joined into a claw, and the dark blood energy at his fingertips coalesced into three-inch-long blades, piercing straight through Marcus's abdomen. The blades pierced through his back, bringing out a spray of hot blood mist, and the black hoodie was instantly soaked dark red.
Marcus let out a muffled grunt, his left hand violently gripping Solus's wrist before it could be withdrawn, his fingers locking down like steel bands to prevent him from pulling away. At the same time, he raised his right arm again, his hand-blade slashing directly at Solus's head.
Hum—
Dark blood energy surged crazily around Solus, mixing with the undigested Enigma Force within his body, and formed a half-dark red, half-pale gold energy arm at the site of his severed limb.
That hand precisely pinched Marcus's hand-blade, and a piercing friction sound rang out between the fingertips and the palm bones. The energy arm shattered inch by inch under the immense force, but it ultimately blocked the slash in mid-air.
"Do you think the same move—" Solus squeezed out a hoarse roar from between his fangs, "can work twice?"
Dozens of dark blood tentacles suddenly erupted from behind him, each covered with a thin layer of pale gold Enigma Force, stabbing simultaneously toward Marcus's vital points like swords.
Just at this moment—
A beam of pale golden light, condensed to the extreme, tore through the clouds from below and struck Solusprecisely in the back. The impact of the Enigma Forceshattered all the dark blood tentacles, and Solus himself, like a meteor knocked away, dragged his unretracted energy arm and shot straight back toward the moon.
The blades piercing Marcus's abdomen were withdrawn as Solus was knocked away. Marcus let out a muffled grunt and looked down to see a section of intestine sliding out from the wound. He did not change his expression, stuffing the intestine back into his abdominal cavity with one hand, and pressed his fingers against the puncture wound on his side, blood still seeping out between his fingers.
A pale golden light landed beside him. Captain Universehovered next to him, his damaged nebula suit glowing with a faint light again. He reached out, and Enigma Forcesurged from his palm, turning into a thin layer of pale golden energy membrane that tightly sealed the wound on Marcus's abdomen.
"Let's go together." Captain Universe's voice was hoarse but steady.
"Alright."
Two figures broke through the clouds simultaneously, one black and one gold, chasing toward the moon side by side.
On the lunar surface, Solus crashed into a silent gray wasteland. The impact point exploded into a giant crater with a diameter of ten thousand meters, and fragments of moon rock drifted slowly in the low-gravity environment.
He had just climbed up from the bottom of the crater, the dark blood energy at his severed arm still re-condensing, when his slit pupils caught two figures approaching rapidly.
Solus's fangs were fully exposed; he kicked off the ground, the lunar rock layer behind him exploding, and he charged straight up to meet Marcus and Captain Universe.
The three figures collided with a boom in the low lunar sky. Solus swung his single arm horizontally, his dark blood tentacles whipping toward Captain Universe, only to be blocked by the Enigma Force shield; Marcus cut in from the flank, his right fist smashing solidly into Solus's ribs, causing bones to shatter.
Solus backhanded a claw toward Marcus's throat, but its trajectory was deflected by a blast of Enigma Force fired from the side by Captain Universe.
Where the three were locked in combat, the lunar surface seemed to be constantly struck by an invisible giant hammer. Every collision of fists caused a giant crater with a diameter of ten thousand meters to collapse beneath their feet; every energy impact leveled entire mountain ranges.
Gray moon dust was shaken into the high sky, lingering for a long time in the low gravity, shrouding the entire battlefield into a gray, hazy land of death.
Suddenly, Solus roared at the sky, and half of the Enigma Force he had swallowed was forcibly detonated. A ring of half-dark red and half-pale gold energy shockwaves exploded from within him; Marcus felt an irresistible force slam into his chest, sending him flying and smashing out a series of increasingly distant deep craters on the lunar surface.
Solus didn't even glance at him. His slit pupils locked onto Captain Universe, he kicked off the ground, rock exploded, and his figure turned into a dark blood-colored meteor, charging straight at Captain Universe.
Captain Universe's pupils shrank. He remembered all too clearly that the moment Solus's fingers gripped his wrist, the Enigma Force leaked out crazily like a dam with a hole chiseled into it.
He could not let this guy touch him again. Pale golden light suddenly erupted beneath his feet, and he turned and flew rapidly toward Earth, dragging a straight golden trail behind him.
"You cannot run away." Solus's voice was low and hoarse, dark blood energy coalescing into propulsion flames behind him. He consumed a full half of the swallowed Enigma Force, his speed suddenly surging several times over, and he slammed into Captain Universe like a reverse-flying meteor.
Captain Universe let out a muffled grunt, feeling as if his back had been struck by a star. Solus's single arm clamped tightly around his waist, pushing him through the atmosphere and plummeting rapidly toward the surface of the Earth.
Two intertwined figures drew a trail of interwoven dark red and pale gold across the sky, and the high heat generated by friction with the atmosphere formed a searing white shock cone around them.
Marcus stood up from the pile of rubble on the lunar surface, the wound on his abdomen sealed by Enigma Force tearing open again under the violent movement, blood soaking through the edges of the energy membrane. He looked up and saw the arc of light plummeting rapidly toward Earth, his pupils slightly shrinking.
He leaped with force, the lunar rock exploding into a ring-shaped crater with a diameter of ten thousand meters, and Marcus's figure vanished from the spot.
His speed instantly broke eight hundred times the speed of sound as he dove at full speed, rushing toward Earth.
Chapter 39: Solus Attacks, Mecha Appears, A Single Punch Suppresses the Inheritors
On the ground, Octopus Spider-Man's sensor lenses suddenly turned toward the sky.
The monitoring footage fed by the satellite refreshed frantically on his lenses, and the two rapidly falling light trails were calculated instantly, finally locking onto the coordinates—the very ruins of their stronghold.
"They are crashing toward us." For the first time, his voice lost its composure. "Spider-Ham, open a portal. Now."
Spider-Ham didn't ask questions. He pulled the metal disc, which pulsed with an orange light bead, from behind his waist and tapped frantically on the base with his short fingers, tearing a dark red rift in the center of the ruins.
Octopus Spider-Man turned around, his four mechanical octopus arms extending to their limit simultaneously. Two arms curled around one unconscious casualty each, while the other two dragged two Spider-Men out from under a broken wall, where they had been pinned by rubble. With his own hands, he carried one person in each, bearing all six casualties by himself. Without looking back, he ran straight into the rift.
Scarlet Spider propped himself up on the ground using his remaining three biological spider legs; the red light in his forehead's compound eyes ceased flickering, leaving only stillness.
He exerted force from his waist, using the support of his spider legs to straighten his body, and switched to standing firmly on his own two legs. The three biological spider legs were then lifted from the ground, their tips hooking through the damaged suits of the three unconscious Spider-Men in turn, securing them firmly to his sides.
He then lifted one person in each hand and walked into the rift, stepping over the rubble.
Only Spider-Ham remained in the ruins. He stood at the edge of the rift, his round body like a sturdy sentry, blocking the space between the portal and the ruins.
He wanted to carry a few people too. He gestured with his short arms against his round belly, only to discover he couldn't even carry one properly.
Thus, he could only pray for Marcus and Captain Universe. Spider-Ham tilted his round head, took one last look at the lead-gray sky, and blinked his white lenses through the dust: "Captain Universe, Mr. Marcus, good luck."
After saying this, he turned and jumped into the spatial rift. The dark red light closed silently behind him, and there were no longer any Spider-Men in the ruins.
The next instant, an arc of light, interwoven with dark red and pale gold, crashed violently from high above into the very center of the Spider Hall ruins.
Solus slammed through the remaining dome steel beams with Captain Universe's body, shattering the cracked concrete of the ground, and didn't stop until he had plowed to the deepest part of the ruins.
The shockwave swept outward from the point of impact, causing the few remaining surrounding buildings to collapse in the aftermath, with broken bricks and dust rising into the sky, blotting out the sun.
The smoke slowly dissipated.
Solus stood in the center of the ruins, gripping Captain Universe Spider-Man's shoulder and holding him in mid-air.
Morlun and Daemos had awakened from the ruins at some point, standing on his left and right.
Morlun's pale face still bore scorch marks from being hit by Captain Universe's light blasts, and the dark green blood on Daemos's forehead hadn't yet dried, but both had regained their footing, their vertical pupils locked firmly in the same direction.
A sonic boom came from overhead.
Solus looked up, his scarlet vertical pupils piercing through the unsettled dust to lock onto the black figure diving from high above. His fangs were fully exposed between his lips, and his mouth curled into a cold, hard arc.
"Perfect timing."
His other severed arm stump lifted abruptly, and dark blood energy condensed at the stump into an energy palm, aimed dead at the direction of Marcus's dive.
Dark blood energy mixed with the Enigma Force gathered frantically in his palm, and the air emitted a low hum under the terrifying energy pressure.
The next instant, a dark blood-colored energy wave several meters in diameter erupted from his palm, tearing through the air like a burst flood, blasting head-on toward Marcus.
"You're next."
The light wave came too fast. He could only cross his arms into a hand blade, fingers together, his pure physical strength condensing into a blade edge at the edge of his palms, hacking down head-on against the energy wave.
The moment the hand blade collided with the energy wave, the dark blood energy was split in two, flowing past both sides of his body.
The energy aftermath grazed the ground of the ruins, plowing out two bottomless, charred gullies; the remaining broken walls and bricks along the way were swept into them, instantly melting into dark red lava.
But Marcus's figure was still pushing forward. His arm-blades were like a sharp knife splitting a flood, pressing down inch by inch against the energy wave.
His black hoodie snapped violently in the energy wash, and the wound on his abdomen, sealed by the Enigma Force, split open again, blood being pulled into a fine mist by the energy flow and drifting behind him.
Seventy meters. Sixty meters. He was getting closer and closer to Solus. But Solus suddenly increased the output power. The diameter of the dark blood energy wave surged, expanding from a few meters to over ten meters, and the air above the entire ruins twisted and steamed under the energy's scorching heat.
Marcus's figure was forced back. The energy flow that his hand-blades had split closed back up, pushing him upward and away, his boot soles plowing two invisible tracks in mid-air.
He gritted his teeth, his arm muscles tensed to the limit, his hand-blades holding firm against the leading edge of the energy wave, yet he was pushed step by step toward the sky by the ever-increasing thrust, further and further away from the center of the ruins.
Just then, not far above the ruins, a spatial portal tore open silently.
A figure jumped out of the portal, tall and sturdy, with a sleek racer-like physique wrapped in a motorcycle jacket and cargo pants.
When he landed, his boot soles crushed the rubble; he looked up, his gaze piercing through the dust to lock onto Captain Universe in Solus's hand, then swept over Marcus, who was struggling in the energy wave.
There was no wasted talk. He raised his left wrist, and the patterns on the surface of his Spider-Bracelet instantly activated, with dark red light spreading along his arm over his entire body.
The suit was woven from nano-fibers, the red and blue patterns clinging tightly to his torso, and the spider emblem on his chest lit up like a branding iron.
"This ends here."
Daemos and Morlun locked onto this newly appeared figure almost simultaneously. Daemos grinned, revealing a mouthful of blood-stained teeth, and spun his rock warhammer half a turn in his hand. Morlun's vertical pupils narrowed slightly, a trace of impatience appearing on his pale face.
"Father," Daemos said in a low voice, "Leave this Spider-Man to us to solve."
Solus's vertical pupils shifted away from Marcus for an instant, sweeping over the newly arrived Spider-Man. His mouth curled into an indifferent arc: "Go."
Daemos and Morlun launched themselves simultaneously. The burly figure and the lean black shadow flanked the figure from left and right.
Spider-Man did not retreat. He raised his hand, fingers splayed, and the core gem of the Spider-Bracelet suddenly erupted with blinding light.
"leopardon!!"
At the command, the spatial portal behind him that had not yet closed shook violently.
A sixty-meter-tall giant mecha stepped out of the portal, with heavy silver-gray armor paired with a crimson spider chest plate, and a golden leopard-print crown on its head shining brilliantly in the dust.
Its limbs were as thick as mountains, a long sword was hidden on the outside of its right leg, and its metal shell gleamed with a cold, hard luster amidst the dust of the ruins.
When the mecha landed, the earth sank violently, and the shockwave sent all the surrounding rubble flying. Daemosand Morlun's charge was forcibly stalled for a split second by this blast of air. Both pairs of vertical pupils looked up, gazing at the iron giant that blotted out the sky.
Spider-Man did not give the two a chance to react; as he leaped, he issued the command: "leopardon, attack!"
As the words fell, he leaped toward the open cockpit on the mecha's back, his figure instantly disappearing into it. The moment the hatch closed, leopardon's eyes suddenly lit up with blinding blue light.
The sixty-meter-tall iron giant moved. Its right arm's hydraulic joints emitted a muffled metallic roar, and the huge iron fist, carrying wind pressure, smashed toward the ground. Before the fist even arrived, the ground was already shrouded in shadow.
In Daemos's vertical pupils, the rapidly enlarging iron fist was reflected. He gripped his rock warhammer tightly, grinning to reveal a mouthful of blood-stained teeth: "What the hell is this thing?"
Morlun's vertical pupils suddenly contracted. He retreated violently, but the fist pressure had already crashed down from above, leaving not even half a second of room to dodge. He only had time to spit out two words: "What—"
Boom! The iron fist landed. The earth sank violently, and the spot where the two had been standing was smashed into a deep pit dozens of meters in diameter, with rubble and dust rising into the sky.
Chapter 40: Three Locked in the Ruins, Takuya YamashiroEnds the Leader of the Inheritors!
An iron fist slowly rose. At the bottom of the pit, Daemosand Morlun lay paralyzed in the shattered rock strata. Daemos's rock warhammer was broken in two, rolling beside him, while Morlun's pure black trench coat had been torn to shreds.
Their chests were still rising and falling slightly, but the energy within them had long since been exhausted by Captain Universe's two rounds of Enigma Force energy blasts, and at this moment, they couldn't even muster the most basic self-healing.
High above, Marcus was still using his arm-blades to desperately hold back the forefront of the energy wave, the blood mist seeping from his abdominal wound trailing behind him like a pale red streak.
Inside the cockpit of leopardon, Spider-Man withdrew his gaze from the bottom of the pit. He raised his left wrist, and the light from his spider-bracelet flashed in sync on the control panel.
The sixty-meter-tall giant mecha slowly turned, its crimson chest armor covered in fine cobweb patterns, the cold light of its head visor firmly locked onto Solus, who stood in the center of the ruins wreathed in dark-blood energy.
Solus sensed that the life force of his two sons was fading, but he didn't even lower his head.
His remaining arm still held Captain Universe suspended in mid-air, the energy palm formed at his severed arm firmly locked onto Marcus high above, with the dark-blood energy wave continuing to pour forth.
The curve of his mouth did not disappear, but there was now a layer of cold rigidity in that curve.
At this moment, leopardon's right arm rose, its five fingers splayed.
The hydraulic joints emitted a low, metallic roar as the sky-blocking iron palm swept horizontally toward Solus from the side, the wind from the palm lifting all the shattered concrete blocks on the surface of the ruins.
Solus finally moved. He tilted his head, his scarlet slit pupils sweeping over the rapidly approaching giant palm, his toes lightly tapping the ground as he swept backward dozens of meters while holding Captain Universe. The iron palm grazed his chest.
But just in the gap of his evasion, the energy palm aimed at the sky deflected by half an inch. The output of the dark-blood energy wave suffered a momentary interruption—and that instant was enough for Marcus to break free from the torrent of energy.
High above, the moment the dark-blood energy wave deflected, the pressure on Marcus's arms suddenly vanished. He did not waste that instant, his body plummeting straight down from the gap in the energy torrent like a meteorite.
However, the Enigma Force seal on his abdomen had completely dissipated under the scouring of the energy. Having lost that pale golden energy membrane, the penetrating wound was completely exposed to the air, and blood continued to gush from the breach.
He pressed his left hand tightly against the wound on his abdomen, the warm liquid between his fingers flowing down his wrist, trailing a broken line of blood behind him.
His speed did not slow in the slightest.
Solus had just stabilized his backward-sweeping figure when a black afterimage cut to close range in his slit pupils.
Marcus held his right hand in a knife-hand strike, carrying all the kinetic energy of his dive, and slashed horizontally at the single arm Solus was using to hold Captain Universe.
Solus's reaction was so fast it was almost precognitive; he violently pulled Captain Universe in front of him, using him like a shield to block in front of himself, precisely meeting Marcus's incoming knife-hand strike.
Captain Universe's body was hoisted into mid-air, and his pale golden pupils met Marcus's gaze for a fleeting instant. There was no fear on his damaged face, only a calm, almost relieved composure.
Marcus's pupils contracted slightly.
The knife-hand strike braked violently less than half an inch from Captain Universe's head, his closed fingers suddenly spreading open. The force of the strike dissipated into nothingness in his palm, transforming instead into a precise grab, firmly gripping Captain Universe's shoulder.
Just at that moment, the stump of Solus's severed arm stabbed in from the other side of Captain Universe's body. The dark-blood energy at the severed end condensed into a blade, piercing through Captain Universe's body, passing through from the back, and stabbing straight toward Marcus.
Captain Universe's body stiffened violently. The blade was protruding right from the center of his chest, pale golden shards of Enigma Force escaping wildly along the length of the blade. He gritted his teeth, not making a sound.
Marcus raised his left hand, which had been pressed against his abdominal wound. His actions were without a shred of hesitation; his fingers spread, and his palm directly met the blade that had pierced Captain Universe's body.
The blade pierced through his palm, emerged above his wrist bone, and continued deep along his arm, tearing through flesh and fascia all the way until his entire forearm was run through by the blade.
Then, his five fingers closed violently, gripping tightly onto the energy-condensed stump of Solus's arm, grabbing the arm the opponent tried to pull back. His finger bones made faint creaking sounds under the erosion of the dark-blood energy, yet he didn't budge an inch.
Intense pain exploded from his pierced arm, merging with the abdominal wound into a sea of fire that burned his nerves. But Marcus didn't even frown. His hand, Solus's severed arm, and Captain Universe's chest—the three were skewered together by the same dark-blood blade and pinned in the center of the ruins.
Blood gushed simultaneously from the puncture wounds in Marcus's palm, wrist, and forearm, flowing down the surface of the dark-blood blade, mixing with the pale golden Enigma Force fragments seeping from Captain Universe's chest, evaporating into a red-and-gold intertwined mist in the air.
Solus wanted to pull his hand away but found his severed arm firmly locked by the opponent's palm, the blade formed of dark-blood energy stuck between the opponent's flesh and bone, unable to move. He tried to rotate the blade, but Marcus's fingers were embedded in his energy body like five steel nails, and every rotation made the fingers sink deeper.
"Let go."
Solus's fangs showed through his lip gap, and for the first time, annoyance appeared in his slit pupils. His severed arm was locked by Marcus, his only arm was still holding Captain Universe, and he was pinned in place.
Just at that moment, Marcus suddenly looked up and shouted in the direction of leopardon: "Do it!"
The moment Marcus's shout fell, Spider-Man in the cockpit of leopardon violently pushed down the control lever: "Arc-Turn Boomerang!"
The golden leopard-print crown buckle on top of the mecha popped open in response, transforming into a streak of golden light that tore through the air, spinning at high speed as it slashed toward Solus.
Solus's slit pupils reflected the rapidly enlarging golden light. His only arm was still holding Captain Universe, his energy arm was locked firmly in Marcus's palm, and he could only watch helplessly as the boomerang cut into his shoulders.
"Sshhh—"
The golden boomerang cut in from Solus's right shoulder and emerged from his left. Both arms were severed at the shoulder, and dark green blood gushed from the stumps.
The moment the energy limbs were dispersed by the boomerang, the restraint was suddenly lifted. Marcusgripped Captain Universe's shoulder, kicked off the ground, and retreated rapidly with him, landing on a patch of shattered concrete.
The golden boomerang traced a perfect arc in the air, spinning back to slash at Solus once more.
Solus's arms were both severed, and dark green blood was still gushing from the stumps. He slowly raised his head, and deep within his scarlet slit pupils, a pure dark-blood energy mixed with the remaining Enigma Force detonated with a roar.
"Enough."
The golden boomerang was abruptly blocked less than half a meter from his throat by a layer of dark-blood-colored barrier. The surface of the barrier was intertwined with dark red and pale gold, and the high-speed spinning boomerang cut into the barrier, exploding with sparks in the sky.
The energy barrier erupting around Solus suddenly expanded outward, and the golden boomerang could no longer maintain its rotational trajectory, being hit head-on by the terrifying energy impact. The glowing boomerang body shattered into dozens of pieces in mid-air, scattering all over the ground.
The energy barrier pushed him up into the sky, carrying the force to destroy everything, like a meteorite flying in reverse, crashing straight toward leopardon.
Alarms screamed frantically inside the cockpit. Spider-Mandid not hesitate, tapping the control panel several times with his right hand as the thrusters on the mecha's back erupted at full power. leopardon's massive body did not retreat but advanced instead, charging head-on toward that dark-blood-colored meteorite.
"Sword Vigor!"
The armor on the outer side of the mecha's right leg slid open, and a giant, glowing longsword ejected. leopardon's sixty-meter-tall body flipped in mid-air, its right arm firmly grasping the hilt, and using the centrifugal force of the turn, it hurled the entire sword fiercely at Solus.
Sword Vigor pierced the air, the glowing patterns on the surface of the blade activating layer by layer, dragging out a long, narrow blue tail flame. The moment the tip of the sword struck the energy barrier, blue light and dark-blood energy tore at each other frantically, and a circular shockwave exploded in the air, blowing away all the lead-gray clouds in the surroundings.
The tip of the sword pierced the barrier.
Cracks spread wildly across the surface of the barrier, centered on the sword tip, spreading from a single point to the entire surface. The glowing longsword passed through the barrier, and with the pierced dark-blood energy fragments, it ran through Solus's chest.
The light of the explosion swallowed everything. The shockwave blew away all the remaining broken walls and bricks in the ruins, the earth trembled violently, and smoke and sparks shot into the sky.
After the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, Sword Vigorhad automatically flown back to the outer side of leopardon's right leg, with dark green blood still remaining on the blade.
Solus fell onto his back among a pile of broken bricks, both arms severed, the pierced wound in his chest still oozing dark green liquid. His chest was still rising and falling slightly, but he had exhausted even the strength to stand up.
He struggled to lift his eyelids, the light in his slit pupils as dim as a candle in the wind, staring fixedly at the sky-blocking steel giant: "Who... are you..."
The cockpit opened slowly. Spider-Man leaped from the cockpit, landing steadily in front of Solus. He stood up straight, looking down at the dying Inheritors at his feet.
"I am the emissary from hell, Takuya Yamashiro!"