Kraken's death was as sudden as it was inexplicable. As the closest witness, Peter couldn't begin to understand what had killed the man. It looked like spontaneous combustion—burning from the inside out until nothing remained but ash drifting on the harbor wind.
To everyone else, Kraken had simply been blown apart by the sustained gunfire. Police and gangsters alike erupted in celebration when the seemingly invincible threat finally vanished. They forgot their usual antagonisms, united in cheering the elimination of a common enemy.
"That was anticlimactic," Harry muttered, unable to hide his disappointment. "Why did he just suddenly die?"
Harry couldn't wrap his head around it. Kraken had demonstrated incredible power—his ability to fight two opponents simultaneously had been genuinely impressive. Yet this seemingly unstoppable force had crumbled under continuous small arms fire, and the tentacles that had overpowered Dr. Otto's mechanical arms were systematically destroyed in return.
"He looked powerful, but he was actually just burning himself out," Marcus explained casually. "High-intensity combat, constantly pushing beyond his limits—eventually something had to snap. What we saw was completely normal."
Harry nodded slowly as Marcus's words sank in. So it was power gained by consuming his own potential. No wonder Kraken had been so formidable. Still, Harry felt no envy for that kind of strength. He understood the devastating cost—only someone as unhinged as Kraken would sacrifice his life for temporary power.
With the battle over, the pier looked like a war zone. The containers Dr. Otto had been transporting were scattered and damaged, collateral damage from their desperate fight. Now that Kraken was dead, the least they could do was help restore the facility.
Of course, the Osborn Group wasn't responsible for the bullet holes and grenade damage—that was all on the gangsters.
Speaking of which, the criminals were already melting away after their victory celebration. Just because the police were ignoring them now didn't mean that grace period would last forever. Better to return to their respective territories while they could. As for the destruction here, that was a problem for their bosses to handle.
The NYPD Director breathed a sigh of relief when he received the after-action report. The gangsters hadn't been looking for trouble—they'd simply wanted to eliminate a mutual threat. He'd been tracking the rumors about the Octopus Gang's rapid expansion, how they'd been steamrolling other criminal organizations across the city. Such a powerful gang represented a serious threat to New York's government and law enforcement.
But now he no longer had to worry. With their octopus leader dead, the gang was just another piece of meat for the other criminals to carve up. They'd tear apart the Octopus Gang's territory themselves, saving the city the trouble.
"Bastards actually did some good for once," the director muttered.
Without the gangsters' firepower, the octopus monster might have survived. That would have been a threat to all of New York.
On the ride back, Harry was still buzzing with excitement while Marcus sat quietly beside him, lost in thought.
"Kraken's performance was impressive," Marcus mused. "At full power, even Spiderman couldn't match him. But the drawbacks were massive—burning that bright, pushing himself to those limits, he couldn't sustain it for long."
While Kraken's display had caught Marcus's attention, it was ultimately meaningless to him. He couldn't give this kind of power to his students. He wanted them to grow and change, to become different from what he remembered. But he didn't want them consuming themselves in the process...
Kraken's death made the newspapers, with photos provided by Peter—which made Harry curious. He'd watched the entire battle, but hadn't seen Peter anywhere. Where had he gotten those shots?
The general public didn't care about such details. What captured their attention was the mechanical octopus that had fought alongside Spider-Man. Many people had spotted the mechanical arms in the city that day. According to news reports, the device was a new product the Osborn Group was planning to launch, but the first-generation prototype had been stolen by the a Kraken. This time, the creature had targeted the Osborn Group again, attempting to steal their newly completed artificial sun experiment. Fortunately, he'd failed.
The Osborn Group had originally created the mechanical arms for the experiment, but the monster's intrusion had forced them to deploy the technology defensively. The official story made no mention of the gangsters' contribution, but highlighted law enforcement's role in the coverage.
Clearly, this was a calculated campaign by the Osborn Group. They needed publicity, needed the world's eyes focused on their company. Their strategy worked perfectly—instead of chasing rumors about aliens, global attention locked onto the Osborn Group. Everyone was waiting for their press conference, eager to confirm that a new era was about to begin.
In response to this anticipation, the Osborn Group finally made their announcement: the artificial sun had been successfully tested and would soon be put into practical use.
The world went wild.
An artificial sun meant controllable nuclear fusion—virtually unlimited clean energy. It represented humanity's technological leap into a new era. Overnight, the Osborn Group became the most talked-about company on Earth, and Dr. Otto earned recognition as one of the world's premier scientists.
With his newfound fame, numerous companies tried to poach Dr. Otto with lucrative offers. None of them interested him. The Osborn Group had funded his breakthrough research, and his artificial sun technology had unlimited potential—research funding would never be an issue. Rather than start over elsewhere, he preferred to continue his partnership with Osborn and delve deeper into nuclear energy applications.
He'd already identified his next research direction: cold fusion technology to make nuclear energy even more accessible and convenient.