Gorr's dry, broken laugh echoed across the ruined streets like gravel scraping against bone. The shadows around him surged thicker than before, coiling like living smoke, feeding on the chaos and growing stronger with every drop of divine blood spilled.
Odin pressed the attack without pause. Gungnir flashed in precise, devastating arcs, each thrust carrying the fury of a king who had ruled for millennia. One spear strike pierced Gorr's side, solar fire erupting from the wound. The All-Father twisted the weapon, trying to burn the corruption from within.
Malice was a whirlwind of crimson fury beside him. Her silver hair whipped wildly as she slammed layered force fields into Gorr from every angle, crushing, grinding, trying to pulp him where he stood. "You don't get to laugh," she snarled, voice raw with Susan's pain and something far darker. "Not after what you did to him."
Thor came in like a storm unleashed. Mjolnir spun in wide, thunderous arcs, lightning exploding on every impact. He roared with each swing, driving Gorr back step by bloody step, cracking the already shattered streets beneath them.
For a moment, a brief, desperate moment, the three of them had the God Butcher on the defensive.
Gorr took hit after hit. Black blood sprayed. Wounds opened and tried to close. The Necrosword screamed as it drank deeply to heal him, but even it couldn't keep up with the combined assault.
Then Gorr stopped retreating.
He planted his feet.
And smiled.
The Necrosword exploded outward in a storm of blades and tendrils. One lash caught Thor across the chest, sending him crashing through a collapsing tower. Another whip of shadow slammed into Malice's fields, shattering them and hurling her backward. Odin barely managed to block a spear-form thrust aimed at his heart, the force of the blow driving him to one knee.
"You dance well," Gorr rasped, breathing steady despite the damage. "For a pair of corpses."
He advanced again.
The Necrosword morphed into a massive cleaver and came down in a brutal overhead strike. Odin met it with Gungnir, but the impact forced him back, boots carving furrows in the stone. Malice tried to pin Gorr with a crushing field; he shattered it with a contemptuous swing and backhanded her hard enough to send her skidding across the ground.
Thor launched himself forward once more, roaring, lightning crackling wildly around him. Mjolnir collided with the Necrosword in a cataclysmic clash that lit up the entire district. For a heartbeat, thunder god and god-slayer stood locked, power pushing against power.
Gorr leaned in close.
"I have killed beings far mightier than you, Boy," he whispered.
He twisted.
Mjolnir flew from Thor's grip.
The hammer spun away, crashing somewhere in the distance. Thor staggered, and Gorr drove a fist wrapped in shadow straight into his gut, lifting him off his feet before slamming him down so hard the street cratered beneath them.
Odin and Malice attacked together, spear and crimson force striking at the same time.
Gorr turned.
The Necrosword met both attacks and pushed them back, forcing the All-Father and the crimson storm to retreat several steps.
Gorr stood tall in the center of the destruction, breathing steady, the Necrosword dripping with the blood of gods and warriors alike. His sunken eyes swept over the battlefield, cold and unyielding.
"This realm will burn," he said quietly. "And when it does, I will make sure your precious spider watches every second of it."
High above on the broken bridge, Sable kept pressure on Peter's wounds, her hands stained red. Peter's breathing was shallow, but his eyes were open, fixed on the fight below.
"We have to help them..." he whispered, trying to push himself up.
Sable pushed him back down gently but firmly.
"You stay right here," she said, voice tight. "They're buying us time. Don't waste it."
But even as she spoke, the sounds of battle grew more desperate.
Gorr was winning.
---
It wasn't even close anymore.
The God Butcher moved through the chaos like a force of nature that had finally decided to stop holding back. The Necrosword sang with every strike, a hungry, wet sound that grew louder the more it fed.
He caught Thor mid-charge with a brutal backhand of pure shadow. The impact lifted the thunder god off his feet and slammed him through three buildings in a straight line, Mjolnir flying from his grasp as he crashed into the ruins. Thor tried to rise, blood pouring from his mouth, but Gorr was already there, driving a spear-form blade straight through his shoulder and pinning him to the broken stone.
"Stay down, little god," Gorr rasped.
Odin attacked from behind, Gungnir blazing with desperate power. The spear pierced Gorr's back, but the Butcher simply reached over his shoulder, grabbed the weapon, and yanked it out with a wet tearing sound. He spun and drove the butt of Gungnir into Odin's face, shattering the All-Father's nose and sending him staggering backward.
Malice screamed and unleashed everything she had, a crushing wave of crimson force that wrapped around Gorr like a vice, trying to pulverize him where he stood. For a second, it looked like it might work. Gorr's bones creaked audibly under the pressure.
Then he laughed.
The Necrosword erupted outward in every direction at once, shattering her fields like glass. One of the black tendrils whipped forward and caught Malice across the chest, lifting her into the air before slamming her down so hard the street cratered beneath her. She tried to get up, blood trickling from her mouth and nose, but Gorr stepped on her back, pressing her into the stone.
He raised the Necrosword for the killing blow.
High above on the broken bridge, Sable's voice cracked as she watched.
"Susan—!"
Peter tried to push himself up, black tendrils from the symbiote still desperately holding his wounds together. His vision swam, but he could see it all, Thor pinned, Odin bleeding, Malice about to die.
"No..." he whispered, voice breaking.
Gorr brought the blade down.
A flash of gold intercepted it at the last possible second.
Odin appeared in a burst of light, Gungnir slamming into the Necrosword with a deafening clang that sent sparks of divine fire exploding outward. The All-Father stood over Malice like a shield, single eye blazing with cold, unyielding fury as he pushed Gorr's blade back.
"Not today," Odin growled.
He shoved forward, forcing Gorr to retreat a step. Then another. The All-Father pressed the attack with renewed ferocity, Gungnir spinning and thrusting in a masterful display of centuries of combat experience. Each strike was precise, powerful, backed by the full weight of Asgard's king. For a shining moment, Gorr was actually driven back, forced onto the defensive as Odin's spear carved glowing wounds across his shadowy form.
Thor dragged himself upright, bloodied but roaring. Malice rose beside him, crimson energy flaring wildly around her silver hair. Even Sable, watching from above, felt a spark of desperate hope.
For that brief window, it looked like they might actually turn the tide.
Gorr absorbed hit after hit, black blood spraying, his body jerking with each impact. He stumbled once. Then twice.
Odin pressed harder, voice thundering across the battlefield. "You have brought nothing but ruin! You will find none here!"
Gorr suddenly stopped retreating.
He planted his feet.
And smiled, that same tired, broken smile.
In one fluid motion, the Necrosword whipped around, catching Gungnir mid-thrust and twisting it aside. Before Odin could recover, Gorr drove a shadow-wrapped fist into the All-Father's gut, lifting him off the ground. He followed with a brutal elbow to the face that sent Odin crashing into a ruined wall.
"Peace has cost you your strength," Gorr rasped, stepping forward as Odin struggled to rise. "Victory has defeated you."
The words landed heavier than any blow.
Gorr advanced, the Necrosword lengthening into a massive cleaver once more. He brought it down in a savage arc. Odin barely managed to block with Gungnir, but the force drove him to one knee, cracks spiderwebbing through the ground beneath him.
Malice screamed and attacked again, but Gorr backhanded her aside with contemptuous ease. Thor charged in roaring, only to be met with a devastating kick that sent him tumbling across the street.
Gorr stood over the fallen All-Father, the Necrosword raised high.
"You gods have grown soft," he said quietly. "
High above, Peter watched through blurred vision, the symbiote still desperately trying to hold him together. His heart twisted as he saw his friends, his family, broken and bleeding on the ground below.
And somewhere deep inside him, something stirred.
---
Peter could barely keep his eyes open, but he saw everything.
He saw Gorr standing over Odin, the Necrosword raised for the killing blow.
He saw Thor struggling to rise, bloodied and broken.
He saw Malice, Susan, crawling forward, still fighting even as her power flickered.
And something inside him snapped.
Deep in the core of his being, buried under pain and exhaustion, something ancient stirred. It was the same raw, desperate power he'd felt months ago in Wakanda, when he'd shielded T'Challa from certain death, when Anansi had surged forward out of pure instinct to protect someone he cared about.
Peter reached for it.
He dug deep, past the burning in his chest, past the black tendrils desperately trying to hold him together, past the fog in his mind. His eyes flickered gold, then dimmed, then flared again.
Sable noticed immediately. She was still kneeling beside him, hands pressed against his wounds. "Peter...?"
His breathing grew ragged. The flickering intensified. Gold. Brown. Gold. Brown.
"Leave them alone," he whispered at first. Then louder, voice cracking with effort. "Leave them alone!"
The power surged.
"LEAVE THEM ALONE, YOU MONSTER!"
A bright flash of golden light erupted where Peter stood, so intense it forced Sable to shield her eyes. When it faded, he was still there, same face, same torn suit, same blood on his hands. But his eyes burned solid, molten gold. The shift in his presence was unmistakable. The air around him felt heavier, older, like reality itself had stepped aside to make room.
It wasn't Peter anymore.
It was Anansi.
And he was furious.
Gorr sensed it instantly. He paused mid-strike, the Necrosword hovering above Odin's neck. With a casual flick, he hurled the All-Father aside like discarded trash and turned fully toward the bridge, eyes narrowing with dark recognition.
Anansi stepped forward, the Staff of Anansi materializing in his grip with a low, resonant hum. Golden threads flickered across his skin like living tattoos.
The two ancient beings stared at each other across the battlefield.
They began to circle one another slowly, like predators who had finally found worthy prey, each daring the other to make the first move.
"What happened to you was wrong," Anansi said, voice calm but carrying the weight of centuries. "But what you've allowed yourself to become... is worse."
Gorr's grip tightened on the Necrosword, shadows writhing around him.
"You have no right to judge me, god," he snarled. "You're all the same. Inherently selfish. You only care about yourselves."
Anansi's glowing eyes remained steady, unflinching.
"I could spend the rest of existence explaining to you why your views are flawed," he said quietly. "How childish it is to blame every god for the actions of a few. I spared your life the first time because I hoped time would let you grieve. Let you heal. Let you become the man you used to be."
His voice hardened.
"But now I see how naïve I was. I'm going to put you down before you can continue this pathetic little game."
Gorr's face twisted with rage.
"This is not a game to me," he hissed. "This is my life."
Anansi's eyes locked with Gorr's, gold burning into black.
"Truer words have never been spoken."
For one tense, breathless moment, they stood perfectly still.
Then, in perfect sync, Anansi summoned his staff with a flash of golden light while Gorr called the Necrosword fully to his hand.
Both screamed, one in divine fury, the other in bottomless hatred, and charged at each other.
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