At this moment, New York was shrouded in terrifying, extreme heat.
It brought annihilation to everything.
After the initial violent explosion had passed, what followed was this overwhelming heat.
Everything, as if thrown into a fireplace like candles, was melting at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Skewed buildings, crooked streetlights, cars piled into small hills.
Everything, no matter what material it was made of, was melting rapidly.
This was a forbidden zone for life.
Even superhumans, the vast majority of them, could not survive in this environment.
Death was real, without question.
At this moment, calling New York a purgatory would not be an exaggeration.
Those who refused to leave, either had their bodies completely obliterated in the first massive explosion, or even if they were lucky enough to escape it, the following high temperature turned them into charred corpses.
Thick smoke billowed.
Flames raged.
This was hell on earth.
Far outside the city, in a containment camp, in an inconspicuous corner, at the moment of New York's great explosion, a trail of sparks outlined a circle.
Then from that circle, fierce, high-temperature flames burst out.
Instantly killing over a dozen nearby civilians.
But right after that, when the violent shockwave from the explosion swept through the camp like a hurricane, causing secondary damage, the entire camp fell into chaos, so no one noticed that corner.
Nor did anyone realize that from those erupting flames, a figure had flashed out.
"Homelander" Martin.
The middle-aged man cursed as he tore off the half-burned Stars and Stripes cape, then dumped a bucket of cold water over his head, cooling down the Magneto helmet glowing red from the heat.
After finishing all that, Martin looked toward New York.
"So that's how it is."
"That guy evacuated New York just to drop a bomb on me."
"Heh! But…"
"He still wasn't decisive enough."
"And he's a bit too soft-hearted."
"If he had been more ruthless, and blasted New York like this last night…"
"I might actually have been killed."
"Good thing the evacuation tipped me off."
"Otherwise, even with the Sling Ring and portal magic, I probably wouldn't have made it out in time."
Martin sighed. The burly man raised his hand. On his left hand was a Sling Ring.
He drew a circle, and just like Doctor Strange, opened a portal.
Martin immediately slipped into it.
———
At this moment—
[Inside the Osborn Safehouse]
Peter Parker raised his head and saw the floor-to-ceiling glass window ahead completely shattered, fragments scattered all over the ground.
Outside, people lay collapsed everywhere, along with tents and various debris.
The entire camp looked like it had been swept by a storm.
A complete mess.
He hurriedly helped Aunt May up from the ground, brushing the fragments off her body, asking nervously, "Aunt May, are you okay?"
"My ears are ringing, but otherwise I'm fine."
Aunt May looked outside in shock, "What happened?"
Peter Parker didn't know either, shaking his head.
"Peter, are you guys okay?"
A familiar voice came from behind.
Peter turned around.
Gwen and her father ran over. The father and daughter were helping people up from the ground.
Peter shook his head, "We're fine."
Just then, the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood up.
Almost instinctively, Peter jumped upward, clinging upside down to the ceiling like a spider.
And below him, right where he had been standing.
A broken iron pipe shot past with a sharp whoosh, like a cannonball, blasting through the wall.
If Peter Parker hadn't sensed it in time, that pipe would have pierced straight through his chest.
"Oh my God."
"Peter, how did you do that?"
"Where did that pipe come from?"
Aunt May, Gwen, and George Stacy all spoke at once.
But Peter Parker instinctively felt an extremely dangerous presence, leaving him no time to explain.
He dropped down, crouched on the ground, and looked toward where the pipe had come from.
The light there was dim. Someone walked out.
A low voice sounded, "So you've already been bitten by the spider?"
"I knew it wouldn't be that simple."
"Now that you've got spider instincts, this will take a bit more effort."
"I need to hurry."
Moments later, Peter Parker saw a man step out of the shadows.
The man was strongly built, wearing a blue combat suit with obvious burn marks, and a strange metal helmet.
Peter Parker said in a low voice, "Who are you?"
"Why are you attacking me?"
Martin tilted his broad chin upward, his gaze full of disdain. "Me?"
"You're not qualified to know my name."
"But you can call me 'Homelander.'"
"I'm attacking you because you're an additional clause for my 'return.'"
"If you want to blame someone, blame your bad luck."
He flashed forward, reaching toward Peter Parker, toward his target.
In Martin's return conditions, besides winning the "Iron Cage Blood Fight."
There was also an additional condition.
That condition was:
[Kill Peter Parker.]
Last night, he had already used some kind of dark magic to locate Peter Parker.
So while Alex was still searching for him in New York, he used a portal to move to the containment camp, partly to avoid a direct clash with Alex, and partly to take the opportunity to kill Peter Parker.
Otherwise, if Alex were here, it wouldn't be so easy for him to succeed.
If it had been a few days ago, Peter Parker wouldn't have been able to dodge Martin's grab at all.
But now, he had spider instincts.
The moment Martin moved, Peter had already rolled away.
At the same time, he lunged toward his backpack.
He grabbed it and quickly equipped the web shooters.
Then shouted, "Aunt May, Gwen, get out of here!"
"This guy is dangerous!"
Suddenly, a fierce wind roared above. Martin descended from the sky.
A kick slammed down.
Peter rolled quickly, then curled his body, preparing to withstand the incoming impact.
Sure enough, Martin's kick struck.
The entire safehouse shook, cracks rapidly spreading across the walls, the building on the verge of collapse.
At the same time, a shockwave burst out, forming violent air currents that swept outward.
Carried by the airflow, Peter was blown to Aunt May's side. This had all been calculated.
Reaching her, he immediately hugged his only family.
At the same time, he shot webbing outside the house, using its powerful elasticity like a light cable to fling himself and Aunt May out.
George Stacy hurriedly pulled Gwen up. The father and daughter were closest to the door and managed to run out into the open before the house collapsed.
At this moment, Osborn's security team rushed over. Seeing the collapsed building, they froze for a moment.
Then Martin burst out of the rubble, landing on the ground.
The security guards immediately raised their automatic pistols at him, "Stay where you are! Don't move!"
Martin ignored them completely. His eyes lit up, sweeping out a beam.
He slaughtered the security guards instantly.
Seeing this, Peter Parker knew staying here would only bring danger and trouble to others.
He immediately fired webbing, leapt into the air, intending to swing away.
A beam swept past, severing his web.
Peter fell straight down.
Martin let out a sinister laugh and rushed forward, kicking out.
Peter hurriedly covered his head with both arms, taking the blow with them.
At that moment, he felt like he had been hit by a high-speed truck on the highway.
His entire body was sent flying.
After hitting the ground, Peter gasped for breath, his arms burning with pain, his bones feeling like they were broken.
He looked up and saw Martin charging at him again.
He immediately dodged nimbly.
Then fired webbing, sticking it to Martin's foot.
Peter pulled hard.
Martin lost his balance, but instead of falling as expected, he floated in midair.
"No."
"Why is this like that guy…"
"He can fly too?"
Peter fired webs repeatedly, sticking them to Martin's body.
At the same time, he connected the webs to surrounding objects, trying to anchor Martin in place.
But this was not difficult at all for Martin.
This "Homelander" shot straight into the sky.
The webs either snapped or tore the objects they were attached to into the air.
Then Martin swept away the webs with his beams and dove down.
Peter slid low, barely slipping past under Martin's punch.
Still on the ground, he leaned back and fired a web, sticking it to Martin's helmet.
Originally, he intended to slam this self-proclaimed "Homelander" headfirst into the ground.
But when Peter pulled, he yanked off the Magneto helmet from Martin's head.
The helmet flew toward him and Peter caught it casually.
From the other side, the man shouted angrily, "Give it back to me, you little insect!"
It was obvious he cared about that helmet.
Even though he didn't know why, Peter immediately made a throwing motion.
Martin lunged toward the direction of the throw.
But the helmet remained stuck to Peter's hand.
Martin had been tricked.
Peter grinned, "What, you really care about this?"
Martin's expression darkened.
"Who doesn't have something they care about?"
"Don't tell me you don't?"
After saying that, the man first looked at Aunt May, then glanced toward Gwen.
Then he sneered.
"No, no," Peter's expression changed instantly, "I'll give it back."
"Too late."
Martin suddenly kicked up a piece of iron pipe from the ground and sent it flying toward Gwen.
At the same time, he looked at Aunt May, shooting red beams from his eyes.
"Pick one."
"Little bug, which one will you save?"
Peter shouted, throwing the helmet to the ground.
He lunged toward Aunt May, while simultaneously firing a web at the pipe flying toward Gwen.
He knocked Aunt May down before the beam hit her.
At the same time, the web stuck to the pipe. With a hard pull, he redirected it.
He had just let out a breath.
His vision blurred.
Martin's face filled his entire field of view.
"Got you, you damn little insect!"
Then his neck tightened. He had already been grabbed by Martin with one hand.
Peter's face instantly turned red. He curled his body and kicked with all his strength.
Bang!
His feet struck Martin's chest, kicking up a ring of dust, but the man didn't move at all.
"Hey, let him go!"
George Stacy drew his gun and fired at Martin's head.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets hit Martin one after another, but his head didn't even twitch.
The deformed bullets fell to the ground one by one, leaving George stunned.
At this moment, Martin looked over, his eyes glowing red.
A deep red flash streaked across the scene.
Gwen clearly saw that beam pierce through her father's chest, sending him flying.
"No…"
"No!"
The girl screamed, rushing toward her father.
But she saw him lying on the ground, his chest gradually soaking red with blood.
———
On the other side—
Martin turned back, looking at Peter Parker again.
His lips moved slightly.
"Goodbye."
Then his hand twisted.
Peter Parker heard a crack from his neck. His vision shifted rapidly, catching sight of Aunt May's horrified face.
Then everything darkened.
"NOOO!"
Gwen pressed her hands against her father's chest, trying to stop the blood pouring out.
Then she heard Aunt May let out a piercing scream.
Turning back, she saw the young man in Martin's hand, his head hanging at an unnatural angle.
Blood flowed from his mouth.
When Martin threw Peter Parker aside, that witty, humorous boy lay on the ground like a broken doll, his body twisted unnaturally.
"No… Peter."
Gwen covered her mouth with her hand, then looked back at her father.
George Stacy's eyes were wide open. Empty. His chest no longer rose.
"NO!"
"Don't die, Dad."
Gwen collapsed over her father's body, crying uncontrollably.
"Devil, you devil!"
Aunt May picked up a nearby stone and hurled it at Martin.
Martin was searching for his Magneto helmet when the stone struck his face.
Though it did no damage, it made him furious.
The man turned his head and, without a word, fired a red beam at Aunt May.
Just as the beam was about to hit her, a hand blocked it.
Martin immediately stopped firing, only then realizing that at some point.
A figure was standing beside Aunt May.
Golden hair, blue eyes, a black combat suit, without the red cape he had worn before.
It was his target.
The "Homelander" from another universe.
Martin immediately leapt back, creating distance.
He saw this "Homelander" glance around.
His gaze fell in turn on the corpses of Peter Parker and George Stacy.
Then it sharpened slightly.
Following his line of sight, Martin saw his helmet.
He rushed toward it.
But the other was faster.
A golden streak flashed past his eyes, striking the helmet first.
Not only he knocked it away, but the helmet was melting and gradually detonated.
Bang!
The Magneto helmet exploded into fragments, one of which flew toward Martin's eyes.
He immediately shut them. The fragment struck his eyelid and bounced away.
Martin opened his eyes again and heard the "same kind" behind him laugh.
"Looks like you're quite confident in your strength."
"You've already been weakened by 50%, yet you're not hiding, instead you came here to have some fun."
"Or do you have something else to rely on?"
"You think even with your strength reduced by 50%, I'm still not your match?"
Martin turned around, a smile curling at his lips, "What do you think?"
"Why do you think I was weakened by 50%?"
"It's not just because I'm the invading side."
"It's a protection mechanism."
"As for who it protects, I don't need to say, right?"
"Then the protected side is naturally weak like trash."
"That's right, I'm talking about you!"
Looking at the one in front of him, Martin appeared relaxed, "Though I think it would be safer to wait until I recover to 75% strength."
"But yes, it doesn't matter."
"Even now, I'm not afraid of you, my 'brother.'"
Beside Aunt May, the man nodded, "In that case, why didn't you fight me in New York?"
"Why come all the way here?"
"And you even killed my important test subject. Do you know how much effort I put into him?"
"I even became his life mentor."
"With you killing him like this, all my work is wasted."
"You really deserve to die."
Martin laughed loudly, "Then you're just too boring."
"Why spend so much time and effort on a little insect?"
"Oh, changing his beliefs to get more rewards at settlement?"
"Idiot."
"What are those rewards worth?"
"The biggest gains in the multiverse are things like Marvel Infinity Stones."
"And…"
"Invading 'others' like us."
"Too bad, you won't get the chance to try it."
At this moment, gunfire rang out.
Bang!
Martin didn't move, but a deformed bullet fell to the ground.
Gwen, this girl, her hands covered in blood, had picked up her father's gun.
She screamed as she fired repeatedly at Martin.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
One deformed bullet after another dropped at his feet. God knew how much Martin wanted to snap that girl's neck.
But right in front of him was his "kind."
He didn't dare lose focus.
In the blink of an eye, Gwen emptied the magazine, yet still pulled the trigger.
Her actions seemed to catch the blond man's attention.
Martin saw his "kind" shift his gaze toward the girl.
'Good opportunity!'
Martin's eyes suddenly lit up. What shot out from them wasn't a single deep red beam, but hundreds of red lasers.
This was one of the effects attached to his "laser eyes."
In an instant, hundreds of lasers densely bombarded the one ahead.
While attacking, Martin raised his hand, drawing a circle to open a portal.
Without looking at the result, he dashed into it.
At that moment, several bands of glowing red light with symbols wrapped around the Sling Ring on his hand. As Martin rushed into the portal, the ring was also dragged away.
Only then did Martin turn his head.
He saw that "same kind" smile at him, grab the Sling Ring, and crush it.
The ring shattered into pieces.
The portal closed.
In the containment camp, Aunt May saw that blond man standing firm amidst the storm of deep red light. After the barrage faded, he vanished into the air as well.
Only then did she come back to her senses, walking toward Peter's body, endless grief surging in her heart.
Gwen stood like a statue, unmoving.
Until a streak of deep red drifted before her eyes. She looked up and saw that same man descending from the sky.
This time, a red cape hung behind him.
She didn't know, the man without the cape earlier was Alex's clone.
The one descending now was the real Alex.
He had detected Martin's presence and rushed back, but did not appear directly in person.
Instead, he used a clone to probe.
The clone could not replicate Alex's equipment, so it had no red cape, and its black combat suit wasn't vibranium, more like an image.
The reason the clone could speak like Alex himself was because Alex used "mind invasion" to control it.
A clone had no independent will, so Alex could easily control it.
However, the clone also possessed "mental resistance." The reason Alex could successfully invade it was mainly because the clone copied Alex himself.
So "mental resistance" had no effect on the original Alex, but if others tried to invade the clone, it wouldn't be so easy.
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