Solus turned to face the assembled Spider-heroes with a predatory smile spreading across his space features, his expression radiating the casual confidence of an apex predator confronting insects.
He genuinely couldn't comprehend why anyone would willingly travel here to embrace their own destruction, but his children's reactions told a very different story. The moment they spotted Ben Parker among the invaders, every Inheritor present, even the typically arrogant Daemos, couldn't suppress the fear that crept across their faces like shadows at sunset.
This was their family's impregnable fortress, the heart of their multiversal empire. If a genuine battle erupted within these walls, even their precious cloning machinery might not survive the devastation, leaving them without hope of resurrection should they fall.
"Solus, your reign of terror ends today," Peter declared, striding forward with unwavering determination. He pointed directly at the Inheritor patriarch with the righteous fury of someone who had witnessed too much suffering. "The Spider-War is over!"
"Just you pathetic few?" Solus clenched his massive fists, and Cosmic Spider-Man's stolen power flowed through his body like liquid starlight, causing indescribable transformations in his physical form.
His skin had turned completely obsidian black, while his clothing dissolved under the coverage of space energy, leaving behind an outline resembling a living black hole. White points of light dotted his form like distant stars, creating an appearance that bore an unsettling resemblance to Alien X himself.
"It is indeed symbiote energy," Overkill spoke with barely contained excitement within Ben's consciousness, his voice vibrating with predatory anticipation.
"I can absorb and redirect it, but the prerequisite is that you must be able to withstand the initial impact of his space assault when we make our move."
The symbiote had confirmed his ability to devour Solus's power just as the Inheritor patriarch had consumed Cosmic Spider-Man. The beauty of this strategy was that Solus remained completely ignorant of the trap being laid for him.
The cosmic-powered villain was utterly intoxicated by the overwhelming force coursing through his veins. Every cell in his body seemed to contain stellar energy, and he genuinely believed that a casual gesture could destroy planets and collapse entire universes at will.
"It would be wasteful to even deploy this level of power against insignificant insects like you," Solus declared with supreme arrogance, regarding Ben and his team with the same disdain a giant might show toward ants.
No rational being would use a planetary body to swat a fly.
"Children, eliminate them," he commanded with casual dismissal.
Brix and Bora exchanged uncertain glances, their earlier confidence shaken by the aura of quiet competence radiating from Ben's small team. For the first time in centuries, they found themselves hesitating before what should have been a routine slaughter.
Daemos, however, seized the ornate ceremonial dagger and charged forward without reservation, his predatory instincts overriding tactical caution.
He had noticed that the Nemetrix device was conspicuously absent from Ben's equipment.
"It seems that useless failure Morlun wasn't completely worthless after all!" Daemos snarled as he moved with lightning speed, leaving a dark afterimage trailing through the air.
"Without that watch, you're nothing more than one insect among thousands!"
He launched himself directly at Ben with supernatural velocity, his fangs bared in anticipation of the kill that would restore his family's dominance.
This will be easy! Victory is assured! Without that transformation device, Ben Parker is just another challenger to be crushed!
The blade flashed with lethal intent, accompanied by the metallic shriek of sharpened steel cutting through atmosphere.
Daemos's powerful form crossed paths with Ben's position, his cruel smile revealing razor-sharp fangs as bloodthirsty as any wolf's.
The Inheritor was already preparing to turn around and savor Ben Parker's mangled corpse when he heard an odd wet sound from beneath his feet. He glanced down in confusion and discovered a sticky, crimson mass scattered across the chamber floor.
Who left organs in my path? Daemos thought with bewilderment.
The confusion persisted until he attempted to turn around and realized he could see his own posterior when looking downward. Only then did the horrifying truth become apparent, those were his own intestines spilling from his bisected torso.
Daemos, cleanly severed at the waist, still had his legs standing upright while his upper body had collapsed like a demolished building.
Miguel silently lowered his arm, the razor-sharp retractable blade extending from his forearm now stained with Inheritor blood. The weapon gleamed with the efficiency of a surgical instrument designed for maximum lethality.
He was the one who had cut Daemos in half with casual ease.
A mere Daemos wasn't worth Ben's personal attention or effort.
The power enhancement provided by their Kryptonian armor was so overwhelming that Miguel could barely comprehend his new capabilities. Wearing this advanced technology, he felt as though every physical attribute had been amplified by hundreds or thousands of times. He could now wrestle with the Hulk and face Thor in direct combat without experiencing even a trace of fear.
Uncle Ben and Aunt May displayed no shock or revulsion at Miguel's lethal efficiency in eliminating their enemy.
As veteran members of the Plumber organization who had participated in extraordinarily brutal interstellar conflicts, they were no longer the naive individuals they had once been. While they retained their fundamental kindness and compassion, they would never show mercy to enemies, especially monstrous Inheritors who specifically hunted their nephew and consumed Spider-heroes alive.
These creatures had transcended the boundaries of ordinary adversaries; they were abominations that had abandoned all traces of humanity. The only appropriate response was overwhelming force applied without hesitation!
Daemos's instant execution sent waves of terror through the already frightened Inheritor family members, their confidence crumbling like a house of cards in a hurricane.
Even Solus found himself genuinely puzzled by this unexpected development.
When did these insects become so formidable?
At that moment, the cloning machinery behind them activated with mechanical precision, and a newborn Daemos emerged from the artificial amniotic fluid like a grotesque parody of natural birth. He stood up on unsteady legs, completely naked and still bearing the psychological trauma of his recent death etched across his features. Not far away, his bisected corpse hadn't even begun to cool.
"There's something wrong with their battle suits," the newly resurrected Daemos observed, his voice carrying the authority of someone who had experienced their power firsthand.
"You're absolutely correct, Daemos," Miguel replied, flexing arms that had become as thick as telephone poles beneath the armor's enhancement.
The visual design of their suits appeared similar to standard Spider-hero costumes, but their essential nature was completely transformed. The fusion of nanotechnology with Kryptonian engineering had effectively converted each team member into a miniature Superman, possessing strength that could reshape mountains and speed that could outrace lightning.
"Mere primitive tricks and technological parlor games," Solus declared with contemptuous dismissal.
From his perspective, technology was no different from tools wielded by prehistoric savages. Only raw cosmic power represented true fundamental strength!
"Come to me, my children!" he commanded, raising his hand as space energy flowed from his body toward his offspring like liquid starlight through invisible conduits.
Within moments, Daemos and the other Inheritors became shrouded in the same mysterious power that enhanced Solus, transforming them into smaller versions of their patriarch's cosmic form.
Of course, the energy differential between father and children remained astronomical, but even this diluted enhancement was sufficient to improve the Inheritors' capabilities by several orders of magnitude!
However, Ben showed no signs of panic or concern at Solus's tactical maneuver.
The cosmic-powered patriarch wasn't the only individual present who could access transcendent energy. Solus didn't know that Ben was the Lord of Mana and commander of forces that spanned multiple dimensions!
At Ben's silent command, Miguel and the other Spider-heroes simultaneously placed their palms against the spider emblems on their chests. The bulging arachnid abdomens featured distinctive hourglass patterns that began glowing with inner radiance.
"Mana, activate!" All called out.
Seven luminous figures erupted forward like meteors racing across the space void, their bodies wreathed in pink energy that seemed to bend space-time around their forms.
Although the replica Ultimatrix's overload prevented Ben from transforming into his Anodite form, he could still open dimensional gateways to his Mana realm at will.
The Celestial Forge dimension had been using the Nine Realms as its foundation, constantly absorbing cosmic power, chaos magic, thunder force, Odin-force, and countless other energies throughout its existence. It had already accumulated strength that rivaled entire pantheons of gods.
Ben launched himself directly at the most powerful opponent, Solus himself, bringing both arms together to cast a devastating Mana spell with the precision of a space surgeon.
"Roar!" he bellowed.
A fierce beam of concentrated energy struck Solus's chest with the force of a collapsing star, shattering his shoulder with a single devastating blow. The Inheritor patriarch's massive form seemed to explode like a dying sun, and the dimensional backlash from their collision began tearing apart the very Spider-universe they occupied.
BOOM!!!
The entire pocket dimension housing the Inheritor family's stronghold collapsed and annihilated itself in an instant, reality folding inward like origami made of broken space-time.
"Pelota's Shield," Ben intoned, pressing his palms together as a glowing sphere condensed between his hands before expanding into an indestructible spherical barrier that protected Peter and the others from being consumed by Solus's retaliatory energy release.
After the violent explosion subsided, the entire battleground had been transformed into absolute void, they had returned to the primordial cracks between universes and time streams, floating in void that existed before creation itself.
Solus's physical injuries healed with supernatural speed, cosmic power knitting his damaged form back together as if the devastating attack had never occurred. He had also managed to protect his surviving children from the dimensional collapse, creating his own protective barriers around them.
For what felt like eternity, the two forces engaged in furious combat within the multiversal void, energy beams formed by Mana and cosmic power creating a deadly light show as dense as artillery bombardment.
Both sides fought with desperate intensity, neither able to gain a decisive advantage as they traded devastating attacks across impossible distances. The conflict had escalated far beyond mere superhero combat, this was a clash between cosmic force that could reshape the fundamental nature of reality itself.
Ben and Solus, in particular, had reached power levels approaching single-universe entities, their battle threatening to tear holes in the fabric of existence with each exchange.
Although Ben couldn't access his alien transformations, his ability to channel endless Mana made him a formidable opponent. While Solus possessed Cosmic Spider-Man's space might, that power had originally been tied to Universe 13, without that dimensional anchor, he couldn't quite achieve the status of a true universal entity.
As the battle raged on without resolution, Solus became increasingly frustrated by his inability to overwhelm Ben decisively.
He released a roar that shattered millions of distant stars, the sound waves propagating across dimensional barriers to cause destruction in realities that had never heard of the Spider-War.
The cosmic power he had previously distributed among his children was summoned back to his core being, causing his energy levels to spike dramatically as he prepared for a finishing attack.
"Transform into cosmic dust and drift through eternity!" Solus declared, clenching his right fist as all the strength in his body condensed into a miniature black hole hovering before his knuckles.
BOOM!!!
With one devastating punch, he tore a hole through the universe itself, his attack carrying enough force to unmake galaxies and rewrite the laws of physics in its wake.
The Mana flowing through Ben's system dissipated instantly, completely overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of space force directed against him.
After all, he wasn't the true dimensional lord his power suggested, his current state was similar to Scarlet Witch or the Ancient One, essentially wielding borrowed divine power, though he could access it without limitation or cost.
When Solus witnessed Ben's energy failing, he finally released the triumphant laughter he had been suppressing. His form seemed to expand into that of a space giant as he seized Ben with one massive hand, preparing to crush his enemy like an insect.
"Do you see now? No force in existence can defeat me while I possess this invincible cosmic power!" Solus roared, lifting Ben to eye level as if examining a particularly interesting specimen.
"Today marks the final end of your pathetic resistance!"
He wanted to see the expression of despair and terror on his victim's face, the moment when hope died and acceptance of defeat settled in.
But he would be gravely disappointed.
Not only was Ben completely unafraid, he actually tilted his head and smiled with an expression that sent chills racing down Solus's spine.
Overkill began peeling away from Ben's body like discarded skin, revealing Ben's supremely confident expression beneath the organic armor.
Solus suddenly realized something was terribly wrong with this scenario.
"Solus," Ben said with quiet satisfaction, "you were the prey all along."
In an instant, the apparently retreating symbiote began writhing and expanding, transforming into an enormous web that opened like a predatory maw and engulfed Solus's cosmic form, wrapping around him like a cellular organism consuming its victim.
Solus found himself trapped within what felt like an organic prison, struggling desperately against constraints that seemed to tighten with every movement.
Overkill's face materialized on the symbiote's surface, his expression twisted into a savage grin that stretched from ear to ear, revealing rows of needle-sharp fangs that seemed designed for tearing apart cosmic entities.
He began systematically extracting the cosmic power from Solus's body like pulling silk threads from a cocoon, absorbing the stolen energy directly into his own essence.
The symbiote's evolutionary level began upgrading continuously as he consumed forces that had been meant to power universal champions!
After an indeterminate period of space feeding, the enormous organic prison contracted, Solus's struggles ceased entirely, and even his voice faded into silence.
Ben watched as Overkill's entire form transformed into something resembling a living starfield, as mysterious and beautiful as the night sky viewed from deep space.
The symbiote opened his mouth and released a satisfied burp that echoed across multiple dimensions, then flowed back into Ben's body like liquid shadow, leaving behind only Solus's desiccated remains.
The once-mighty Inheritor patriarch now resembled something that had been rotting for a thousand years, dried bark that would crumble at the slightest touch, all his cosmic power and arrogance reduced to organic waste.