"I am the incarnation of death itself, the emissary from hell, Supaidāman!"
Takuya Yamashiro had completely synchronized with Leopardon's massive consciousness, transforming the towering mecha into an extension of his own burning fighting spirit. The colossal robot dominated the battlefield like a steel mountain, its shadow blotting out the sun as metallic fists descended like celestial meteorites. The powerful wind pressure generated by each punch alone was enough to further distort Morlun's already shattered remains.
Indescribable terror consumed every fragment of Morlun's scattered consciousness.
He desperately wanted to escape, to flee to any corner of the multiverse where this mecha couldn't follow, but his destroyed body could no longer respond to his commands. The overwhelming energy radiating from both Takuya Yamashiro and Leopardon had transcended the normal boundaries of cause and effect, creating a metaphysical lock that bound him to this location regardless of his wishes.
The giant robot's cold optical sensors stared down at the remains with mechanical precision, as if delivering an unspoken message:
Look at me, child.
Fists fell like extinction events compressed into single moments!
BOOM!!! BOOM!!!
The repeated impacts created a rhythmic thunder that echoed across the wasteland, each strike driving Morlun's essence deeper into oblivion until even his regenerative abilities could no longer function.
Meanwhile, in another section of the interdimensional battlefield, two disheveled figures rolled out of dissipating smoke and energy discharge like broken dolls discarded by an angry child.
The twin siblings Brix and Bora no longer resembled the aristocratic predators who had stepped through the portal with such confidence. Their once-pristine white hair was now charred and curled from energy weapon discharge, and numerous burn scars crisscrossed their previously flawless faces like a roadmap of defeat.
Surrounding them from four strategic positions, Uncle Ben, Aunt May, Miguel, and Spider-Cyborg had formed a tactical perimeter that left no avenue for escape. The two Super Soldier Plumbers carried weapons that superficially resembled children's water guns, their unassuming appearance completely at odds with their devastating capabilities. But no one present was foolish enough to underestimate their destructive potential.
After all, just minutes earlier, one of those "toy guns" had reduced half of Brix's torso to carbonized meat.
"Incredible!" Spider-Cyborg's optical sensors practically glowed with excitement and admiration. "What kind of weaponry are you carrying? The power output is absolutely remarkable!"
Even Miguel couldn't help but study the devices with professional interest. "According to Lyla's preliminary analysis, the energy released by that single shot would be sufficient to reduce an entire mountain to atomic particles."
"I honestly don't know the technical specifications," Uncle Ben admitted, examining the advanced energy weapon in his hands with the curiosity of someone discovering alien technology. The readout display on the weapon's side panel indicated that his previous shot had utilized less than twenty percent of the device's maximum output potential. "It was provided by a red-haired girl."
"Red hair?" Spider-Cyborg immediately perked up with interest, his mechanical mind jumping to the most obvious conclusion. "Could that be MJ? Though I haven't heard of Mary Jane Watson possessing this kind of technological capability."
"Not MJ," Aunt May corrected with a slightly exasperated shake of her head. "Another red-haired young woman, one who appears more delicate and refined than Jane."
She couldn't help but sigh with maternal concern and mild frustration. Her son was exceptional in virtually every way imaginable, but his romantic life had become incomprehensibly complicated. She had finally come to terms with accepting both Felicia and Mary Jane as part of their extended family, only to discover that there was apparently another woman with whom Ben had developed some kind of relationship during his time on alien worlds.
Now she was learning about yet another young woman, this one reportedly from outside their universe entirely. Why couldn't Peter learn a few lessons about romantic complexity from his cousin's example?
The thought made Aunt May feel simultaneously proud and worried about the kind of space-scale drama her family seemed to attract.
Brix and Bora, meanwhile, were experiencing the kind of profound defeat that redefined one's entire worldview.
Especially Brix, whose torso still bore the devastating damage from Uncle Ben's Atlantean weapon. The attack, comparable to receiving a full-power punch from an enraged Hulk, had completely shattered his ribcage and left internal organs exposed to the air. Even with the Inheritors' supernatural healing abilities, he couldn't recover from such catastrophic injuries quickly enough to matter in combat.
And that had been fired at minimum power settings.
Now, facing two individuals armed with planet-cracking weapons and backed up by experienced interdimensional warriors, both siblings felt a humiliation they'd never experienced in centuries of predatory dominance.
Who was really the more embarrassing failure in this situation?
"I knew that metallic fool Maltruant was setting us up!" Bora snarled with venom that completely contradicted her previously elegant demeanor. "There was definitely something wrong with his intelligence about this universe!"
"No matter what the circumstances, this is the enemy we have to face right now," Brix said through gritted teeth, his pain-narrowed eyes studying their captors with the calculating gaze of a wounded predator. Half of his charred body continued emitting wisps of smoke as new flesh slowly pushed against carbonized tissue, creating an excruciating regeneration process. "Perhaps this confrontation was always part of the prophecy's design."
The ancient predictions spoke of an inevitable collision between the Inheritor family and Spider-totems that would determine the fate of countless realities. Whether Maltruant had provided assistance or not, they would have eventually come to this universe and targeted its Spider-heroes. The collaboration with the rogue Time Variance Authority agent had simply accelerated the timeline.
This should have been advantageous, but unfortunately, the Nemetrix device was currently in Morlun's possession rather than theirs.
"I should have known better than to go recreational hunting," Brix muttered with genuine regret. He had been acting on predatory impulse rather than tactical necessity. Normally, it was their elder brothers Morlun and Daemos who handled active hunting operations while the younger siblings remained near the Master Weaver, ready to resurrect any family member who suffered an accidental death during combat.
At this point, he had essentially given up any hope of resistance or escape.
Death wasn't truly permanent for members of the Inheritor family. Their consciousness would return to the family fortress, new bodies would be woven into existence, and they would emerge with fresh physical forms within hours of their destruction.
Therefore, neither Brix nor Bora actually feared death itself.
But the pain of dying was still an intensely unpleasant experience they'd prefer to avoid if possible.
"What should we do with them now?" Spider-Cyborg asked, studying the two defeated Inheritors with a mixture of satisfaction and uncertainty. His internal admiration for Uncle Ben and Aunt May had reached almost incomprehensible levels, but his understanding of their moral framework remained based on traditional superhero principles.
"I assume you won't choose to execute them outright, correct?"
Spider-Cyborg instinctively believed that Uncle Ben and Aunt May would be reluctant to take another being's life, but what he didn't understand was that their experiences as Plumbers, including participation in space warfare against the Incursean Empire, had significantly evolved their approach to dealing with genuinely evil opponents.
They had learned that sometimes, mercy toward monsters was cruelty toward their victims.
The Inheritors had committed genocide across countless realities for centuries. Under Plumber jurisdiction, they qualified for immediate termination.
"Of course we won't kill them," Uncle Ben said with deceptive calm, pressing the muzzle of his energy weapon against Brix's temple. "Especially not before extracting information about their base of operations!"
Miguel shot twin streams of crimson energy from his arm-mounted web-shooters, binding both siblings together with restraints designed for superhuman prisoners. His expression was grim with the weight of space responsibility.
"There are several more creatures like these systematically hunting Spider-People throughout the multiverse," he said with cold determination. "We need to eliminate the entire family in a single coordinated strike."
"You pathetic insects will never extract any useful information from us," Bora sneered with defiant arrogance.
Why would she reveal family secrets when death was merely a temporary inconvenience? Resurrection would restore her to full power within hours, making any torture or interrogation ultimately pointless.
"That's not your decision to make," Miguel replied with arctic coldness.
Once they were in his custody, he would determine their treatment through whatever methods proved necessary. The Spider-Society possessed sophisticated interrogation techniques, and if those failed, Miguel was confident that Ben Parker would have more persuasive methods available.
"Take them back to 2099 first," he commanded into his wrist communicator. "Lyla, prepare maximum security containment cells."
A space-time portal suddenly materialized in response to his order.
Miguel initially assumed that Spider-Society reinforcements had arrived with impressive speed. As he prepared to issue additional instructions, a massive claw resembling a saber-toothed tiger's talon suddenly erupted from the dimensional gateway, clamping around his throat with crushing force and slamming his 1.9-meter frame into the ground with bone-jarring impact.
"Who, ?!" everyone shouted in alarm and confusion.
Aunt May was still forming her question when Uncle Ben had already swiveled his weapon toward the space-time tunnel and pulled the trigger without hesitation, his enhanced super-soldier reflexes engaging with lethal efficiency.
BOOM!!!
Sea-blue energy erupted from the weapon's muzzle, striking the dimensional portal with enough force to collapse the entire gateway in a cascade of dissipating energy.
However, a black shadow burst from the explosion with inhuman speed, moving so fast that Uncle Ben barely registered the attack before feeling his hands grow suddenly light. A flash of white light accompanied the complete destruction of his weapon, reducing the advanced technology to scattered fragments.
"Be careful!" he warned urgently, discarding the broken gun and reaching for the vibranium daggers mounted on both thighs.
But before his fingers could make contact with the blades, his chest erupted in agony as something struck him with the force of a meteorite impact.
The figure in the black coat displayed a cruel smile of predatory satisfaction. In the span of a heartbeat, he had closed the distance to Uncle Ben and delivered a devastating elbow strike to his chest, launching the enhanced super-soldier through the air like a projectile.
After completing this casual display of overwhelming power, the newcomer slowly withdrew his elbow with an expression of cruel contempt, like a rabid animal savoring the scent of blood.
"Even such pathetic weaklings represent opposition? Brix, Bora, you two are more useless than I imagined."
"Daemos!" Bora screamed with a mixture of relief and terror.
The man who had appeared so suddenly was Daemos, another member of the Inheritor family. In terms of raw power and combat capability, Daemos ranked third among their bloodline, inferior only to their father Solus and eldest brother Morlun.
"Are there actually competent fighters here?" Spider-Cyborg asked with grim determination as he observed two of their team members being defeated in seconds.
He immediately deployed his mechanical spider-arms to attack Daemos, the liquid nanometal flowing like mercury as it formed cutting implements designed to slice through enhanced biology.
However, without even turning his head, Daemos casually grabbed one of the mechanical appendages with his bare hand.
"Hmm? It didn't break immediately?" Daemos expressed mild surprise that he couldn't instantly dismember the cyborg hero, but his movements never paused. He forcibly pulled Spider-Cyborg closer, then delivered a devastating punch directly to his head.
BOOM!
Sparks cascaded through the air like a metallic waterfall as the impact nearly separated Spider-Cyborg's head from his body. His facial plating crumpled inward, the protective metal skin twisting beyond recognition while severed wires protruded like mechanical viscera.
He crashed to the ground and rolled several times before coming to rest in a smoking heap.
Even after this brutal display, Daemos appeared dissatisfied with the results. He studied his fist, which was now torn and bleeding from the encounter.
Just to destroy what he considered an insignificant pest, he had actually injured himself?! The concept filled him with irrational fury.
What Daemos didn't understand was that Spider-Cyborg's body had been completely reconstructed using Ben's advanced nanometal technology, with significant vibranium components integrated throughout his frame. The fact that even vibranium, one of the most indestructible substances in the universe, seemed less resistant to multiversal totem power was a troubling development.
This enhanced durability was the only reason he had been able to inflict damage on the Inheritor during his assault.
"Whatever," Daemos said dismissively, shaking his head and ignoring Aunt May, who continued pointing her weapon at him with obvious wariness. He spoke to himself with the casual tone of someone planning dinner. "One, two... and the scent of two more Spider-totems nearby. It seems tonight's feast will be quite abundant. Four prey captured in a single hunt, can that incompetent Morlun match such efficiency? Father should reward me appropriately, perhaps even grant me access to that special device!"
"Daemos!" Bora's urgent shout interrupted his self-congratulatory fantasy.
He glanced at his sister with obvious irritation before responding in a mocking tone. "You should address me respectfully as 'brother.' After all, I just saved your pathetic lives! Otherwise, you two failures would have been imprisoned indefinitely, losing your freedom until the end of time."
"This isn't the moment for family hierarchy!" Bora retorted with frustrated urgency. "There's still an active Spider-Man who can fight back. We need to exercise caution. The universe that metal fool directed us toward isn't what we expected, their strength and technology far exceed normal parameters."
"Bora is correct," Brix added his own warning despite his injuries. "Perhaps the Spider-Man in that universe is the prophesied one who will destroy our family line."
But Daemos dismissed their concerns with arrogant contempt.
"Prophecy?" he sneered with genuine disdain. "Ridiculous superstition! For that meaningless prediction, you've been obsessing over these insignificant insects for an entire century. Isn't it possible that they're not exceptionally powerful, but rather that you two are simply too weak to handle ordinary prey?"
His attitude ignited Bora's temper beyond her normal self-control.
"How exactly are you superior to us? Don't you also hunt Spider-totems?"
"There's a fundamental difference between our approaches," Daemos replied with bloodthirsty enthusiasm. "You limit your targets to Spider-totems because of fear and prophecy, but I refuse to ignore any totem-bearer! Everyone becomes my prey eventually!"
His hunting scope had never been restricted to Spider-heroes alone, he pursued all wielders of animal totems throughout the multiverse. In the Marvel universe specifically, countless superheroes possessed some form of animal-based power, and even Wolverine had fallen victim to his predatory appetites.
"You two failures can remain here and contemplate your inadequacy," Daemos declared with supreme confidence. "I'll soon kill and collect the remaining insects!"
As his boastful proclamation concluded, a calm voice suddenly interrupted from above.
"Really?"
Ben had healed his cousin Peter, who still appeared weak but functional. He stood on the edge of a steel building's rooftop, his black Prime suit creating an imposing silhouette against the urban landscape. The uniform seemed to absorb light like a deep ocean during eternal night, hiding unknown dangers beneath its surface.
Daemos, who had never experienced genuine fear during centuries of predatory dominance, felt an unexpected tremor in his heart upon hearing Ben's voice.
The vague terror of being watched by an apex predator made his entire nervous system tremble with primal warning signals.
'I'm actually afraid?' he thought with disbelief.
As a hunter who had stalked the most powerful beings across infinite realities, being afraid of what should be prey felt absolutely absurd.
"Don't make me laugh!" This instinctual fear wounded Daemos's pride more deeply than any physical attack could have managed.
Although Ben hadn't taken any action yet, the humiliation of experiencing fear was already driving him into a murderous rage. He immediately launched himself at Ben with predatory fury, his enhanced physique moving like a saber-toothed tiger as razor-sharp claws crossed the fifty-meter distance between buildings in a single bound, aimed directly at Ben's heart.
"Ben!!" Aunt May, who had been maintaining defensive positioning against Daemos, saw the Inheritor attack without warning and immediately brought her weapon to bear. But her targeting systems couldn't match Daemos's supernatural speed, within the blink of an eye, he had already reached Ben's position.
Daemos's savage, feral face was reflected in Ben's calm expression as the Inheritor prepared to deliver what should have been a killing blow.
But Ben remained motionless, as if he hadn't registered the incoming attack at all.
'Has he been paralyzed by fear? Or perhaps without spider-sense, he can't even perform basic evasive maneuvers?' Daemos thought with cruel satisfaction.
He had encountered too many Spider-heroes who reacted this way when their most trusted enhanced sense was negated. Suddenly deprived of their precognitive abilities, they became like individuals walking blindfolded, too terrified to move effectively, ultimately becoming helpless victims.
The Spider-Man before him appeared to be no different.
"I'll tear out your heart and consume it while you watch!" Daemos snarled as he sentenced Ben to death in his mind.
His claws struck toward Ben's chest with the intent of removing his heart for immediate consumption, a feeding method that provided maximum psychological trauma to the victim.
However, the familiar sensation of penetrating flesh and the expected spray of blood never materialized.
Instead, Daemos felt as if his talons had struck an immovable wall of pure force. Each individual claw crumpled and folded backward, erupting in pain as blood and tissue exploded from the impact points.
Before him, the relatively small black figure suddenly began growing taller and more imposing, transforming into something resembling a mountain-sized monster. The dark silhouette expanded until it engulfed Daemos like a physical manifestation of terror itself.
Four-Arm!
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