Peter struck first with a strand of webbing, aiming to seal Amora's mouth; after all, it was common knowledge that a mage's mouth was vital for spellcasting.
However, Amora seemed to have anticipated this, or perhaps she understood her own shortcomings in direct combat, as she unleashed a pre-prepared portal instead.
As green energy coalesced in Amora's hands, a mist diffused outward, and the webbing was instantly shredded by that green surge. Subsequently, a tall, burly figure emerged from the smoke.
He was a bald man over two meters tall, his face painted with the war-tattoos of a Viking berserker, wielding a massive, heavy two-handed axe.
"Destroy this mortal, Executioner!"
The Asgardian Amora had summoned was Skurge the Executioner. A half-breed of Asgardian and Frost Giant, he possessed a physique even more formidable than that of a standard Asgardian. Yet, because of this, he faced discrimination among his own kind.
His heritage was a major reason for his allegiance to Loki's camp. Another reason was his status as Amora the Enchantress's "loyal follower"—the kind who would persist even knowing she didn't love him and harbored feelings for others.
Appearing on the floor, the Executioner raised his giant axe and advanced toward Peter. Peter fired a web-line onto the axe, attempting to yank it away, but to his surprise, the weapon didn't budge. Instead, a powerful counter-tug from Skurge caused Peter to stumble.
"Alright, I'm officially spooked."
Hearing the sound of Amora continuing to chant her spells, Peter let go in alarm and vanished from the spot. Seeing this, Amora immediately released a layer of gold-dust-like substance around her. This way, as soon as the invisible Spider-Man approached, his silhouette would easily be revealed.
However, the first to notice something was amiss was not the Enchantress, but the Executioner. While standing guard with his great axe, Skurge suddenly felt something step onto his back. By the time he reacted, he felt something constricting his throat.
"You're so big, you're actually perfect for riding around on your neck!"
Reappearing, Peter spoke while asking curiously, "I saw in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files that Asgardian body density is at least three times that of a human, but from the way I yanked you earlier, your weight hasn't seemed to change much. How do you do that?"
The Executioner, who had been grinning savagely, suddenly looked contorted. He repeatedly reached back to grab Peter on his back. Unfortunately, he couldn't catch the nimble Spider-Man, and he was becoming increasingly infuriated by the constant strikes from the four mechanical claws.
As for Peter, he wasn't just playing "horsey" on the Executioner's back. While dodging Skurge's attempts to grab him, he had already looped high-tensile webbing around the Executioner's throat. Now, with a relaxed leap, Skurge was finally brought crashing heavily to the ground.
Amora, who had been casting all this time, finally finished gathering a surge of powerful energy. She unleashed wave after wave of energy blasts, forcing Spider-Man to stop focusing on throttling the Executioner.
"Are you serious? Casting magic haphazardly inside a ship? What if you blow the whole thing up?"
"These are but mortals inside; what does it matter if they die!" Amora retorted, aiming and firing repeatedly while Peter ducked and dove with rapid agility.
At that moment, the Executioner tore the webbing from his neck, picked up his two-handed axe, and charged at Peter. Peter dodged the strike with a backflip, using his mechanical claws to brace against the ground, allowing him to deliver a powerful double-kick mid-air against the Executioner's axe.
The impact sent the Executioner staggering back several steps. Amora, still mid-cast, turned pale with shock as she saw the Executioner tumbling toward her, and she was promptly knocked to the ground by his bulk.
"Alright, lady, I have quite a few things I intend to ask you."
Seeing both of them down, Peter hurried to pin them with a large amount of webbing. In truth, he should have called Thor over, as Thor was the only one who could officially verify Amora's identity. However, Thor was currently in the middle of a passionate brawl with Namor—or rather, he was one-sidedly pummeling Namor in an attempt to get him to cool down.
"So first, could you please undo the magic on Namor? He's currently fighting Thor."
Amora paused, and then her lips curled into an involuntary smirk.
"I'd love to, little spider, but I can't. I'm a mage; I need hand gestures to guide my spells. Otherwise, I simply can't cast anything."
Peter felt something wasn't right; his Spider-Sense was ringing incessantly. Meanwhile, Amora, who had been looking at Spider-Man expectantly, was slightly confused when she saw no reaction. As the Enchantress, her charms could be triggered through speech. Even if Spider-Man's will was firm enough to resist her, he shouldn't be completely unresponsive. What was he dazing for?
After thinking for a good while, Peter finally realized why his Spider-Sense had been ringing.
The sense had been buzzing as an alarm to tell Peter he was under an enemy's influence, but that very vibration ended up canceling out her mental interference. It was an accidental defense—charms based purely on speech were, in the end, too weak.
"Oh, were you trying to charm me with your magic? Sorry, that trick doesn't work on me."
Amora's face instantly soured. With a roar of fury, the Executioner ripped through the webbing and brought his giant axe down in a massive overhead swing. Peter dodged with ease. Looking at the floor, which was nearly split in two, he frowned. These people truly didn't care about human lives.
He immediately attempted to cast a spell to pull the two into the Mirror Dimension to continue the fight, but Amora shattered the Mirror Dimension and, gritting her teeth, hid behind the Executioner to open a portal.
This Spider-Man was simply impenetrable; how annoying!
"We're leaving, Skurge. Let's leave this guy for our friend to handle."
Peter couldn't stop a mage from retreating just yet, but Amora's words contained something else that piqued his interest.
"Friend... is she talking about the CEO of Roxxon, Dario Agger? She actually thinks that guy can handle me? It seems this CEO is hiding quite a bit."
As Peter was thinking, a message came through the comms. Thor had knocked Namor unconscious and was preparing to haul him back to Avengers Tower.