"This is all your fault!"
Peter was screaming at Star-Lord.
Right now.
A terrifying energy vortex was erupting from Ronan's body. Violet streams of mist-light, like a tangible storm, battered everything around them.
Under the influence of the Power Stone, even the four fundamental forces of the universe were being twisted in Ronan's vicinity.
The chaotic gravity field made it impossible to control their bodies. They were pinned tightly against a shattered wall, trapped in midair and completely immobilized.
Time rewound to several dozen minutes earlier.
After spotting Ronan entering the temple with his Accuser squad, Peter chose not to clash with them.
His spider-sense told him that Ronan's power was far more dangerous than anything Star-Lord could muster.
He decided to hide directly, then wait like a spider for the prey to walk right in.
The plan went smoothly. Ronan's Accuser soldiers pressed forward, and Peter simply followed behind, easily reaching the temple's deepest chamber. There he saw the Orb resting on its stone pedestal.
And the moment an Accuser presented the Orb to Ronan, Peter snatched it away with a strand of webbing.
Up to that point, everything had gone according to plan. Though Ronan was furious and attacked Peter relentlessly with his Universal Weapon, his spider-sense warned him in advance, allowing Peter to dodge every single strike.
The Accusers' attacks were also readable to Peter's eyes. Even though his spider-sense screamed like a vibrator cranked to the eighth setting, buzzing so hard his brain was nearly numb, they still couldn't hit him.
A weapon that can't land a hit is useless, no matter how powerful it is.
The next step was to escape the temple, then take the Orb to Bant. In their entire group, only Bant could fully unleash the Orb's power.
But that was when Star-Lord had to start wrecking everything.
He was probably afraid that if the Orb ended up in Peter's hands, he'd lose his shot at four billion. So right in the middle of the chaos, he went straight for Peter and tried to snatch the Orb.
Peter was already a little overwhelmed by Ronan and his soldiers' attacks, his spider-sense so scrambled that his brain could barely keep up. And because of that, Star-Lord actually managed to get his hands on the Orb.
Star-Lord turned and fled, but Ronan and Peter quickly caught up. In the ensuing scramble, Peter and Venom stopped holding back and took out most of the Accusers.
But the Orb shattered in the struggle, exposing the Infinity Stone inside.
Peter meant to grab the Stone directly, but the moment it touched him, a colossal surge of energy flooded his body. In an instant, his arm looked like charred coal burned by fire, purple cracks spreading across it!
If Venom hadn't acted decisively in that split second—splitting away and severing part of his own body—Peter would have been completely reduced to ashes under the Power Stone's energy blast right then and there.
Even so, Peter's right hand suffered irreversible damage. His body's healing factor could no longer repair the arm, which was already dead tissue.
Thankfully, Venom's previous host had been Deadpool.
That was the only reason Peter wasn't left a crippled spider.
But in that very instant, the Stone fell into Ronan's hands.
This impossibly powerful Kree actually grabbed the Stone with his bare hand!
Although Peter could see that Ronan also endured terrible pain the moment he made direct contact with the Stone, its energy didn't immediately destroy his body.
That alone proved Ronan's physical resilience surpassed even Peter and Venom's. Then, gritting his teeth, Ronan slammed the Stone forcefully into his weapon.
With the Universal Weapon as the vessel, at that moment Ronan could already unleash a portion of the Stone's power!
The Power Stone, as its name implied, could manipulate all forces and energy, granting the wielder unmatched strength and durability. It could mimic any physical ability, and even the four fundamental forces of the universe could be easily controlled.
Once Ronan held the Power Stone, a single thought was enough to completely alter the gravity of the area.
The temple, originally at the bottom of the sea, was instantly uprooted by the immense force and sent hurtling toward the surface.
Everything inside the temple was under his control. Peter and Star-Lord were seized in midair, pressed tightly against a shattered wall.
Thus came the scene at the very beginning. Peter and Venom both started cursing Star-Lord as a brainless idiot.
"I'm gonna bite his head off in one gulp!"
"Don't!" Peter said furiously. "How could an idiot like that possibly have a brain!"
A zombie would crack open Star-Lord's skull and walk away disappointed; a dung beetle would catch the scent and come crawling.
"I just can't swallow this!"
Venom was absolutely furious.
He and Peter had been just one step away from success.
But now, the Stone was in Ronan's hands. Never mind how Bant would punish this poor symbiote—Ronan himself would never let him off.
Sure enough, after relishing the immense power the Stone granted him for a moment, Ronan's face darkened. He looked at Peter and Star-Lord.
"You cosmic pirates who popped up out of nowhere actually dare to make enemies of the Kree Empire!"
He immediately raised his glowing hammer, aiming it at Peter and Star-Lord. The hot wind whipped up by the colossal energy blew against their faces, filling them with sudden terror.
"Is this really the time for that?!"
Star-Lord knew he had screwed up royally, but even with death at the door, his beak was still stiff.
Admit he was wrong? Not a chance. All they could do was team up and see if they could take Ronan down!
"Spider!"
He yelled, straining to pull the trigger of his elemental gun. In an instant, a blazing beam shot toward Peter.
Bang!
The beam hit the wall behind Peter. The immense energy not only shattered the wall that trapped him but also forced Venom to flee from Peter's skin in agony.
"I'm definitely going to kill him!"
Using heat against me? Venom made a note: this grudge was permanently carved.
Peter, however, quickly seized the opportunity.
The only reason he couldn't move was that Ronan had altered the gravity of that section of wall, sticking him to it.
Now that the wall was destroyed, Peter regained his freedom of movement.
He immediately charged at Ronan. At the same time, he flung a disc-shaped bomb from his hand, freeing Star-Lord as well.
Just as Star-Lord hit the ground, Peter was already in front of Ronan. His arm, swollen and thickened by Venom's enhancement, swung straight for Ronan's face.
BOOM!!!
It was like a thick log slamming brutally into a bronze bell, the shockwave kicking up dust.
Against an enemy like Ronan, Peter didn't dare hold back one bit.
During this time, Venom had been bonded to Peter and had already replicated his genes.
So now they were truly one plus one equals two. Two Spider-Men combined, a blow of nearly several hundred tons of force—even the toughest rock should have been pulverized instantly!
Of all the enemies Peter had faced before, not even Black Dwarf would dare to claim he could take a hit like that head-on.
But Ronan took it.
He simply raised his left hand calmly—the one not holding the hammer—and caught the punch. His feet didn't move even half a millimeter.
"Th-this… impossible!"
Peter's eyes went wide.
Even in his battle with the War Lord, he had never felt so utterly powerless.
"Impossible? It's simply your own ignorance."
Ronan was immensely satisfied with his power.
With the Power Stone, he didn't even regard Thanos anymore!
This was the power of a god! What was Thanos? And what was this weak little insect before him?
"You will be the first to die under my godlike power, but do not worry—many more will soon follow." Ronan's voice was cold.
Even now, he had no idea where Peter and Star-Lord had come from. From start to finish, Ronan's goal was to destroy Xandar, and beyond that, to protect the Kree Empire.
Although the peace treaty between the Empire and Xandar displeased him immensely, he had no intention of turning against his own people.
Of course, the Supreme Intelligence was an exception.
After Xandar was annihilated, he would personally return to the Kree Empire with this unparalleled power, destroy the Supreme Intelligence, seize the Empire, become its true ruler, and make the Empire great once more!
Not just Xandar—the Skrulls, who had warred with the Kree for centuries, would also be wiped out!
He would not spare a single enemy of the Empire.
But for now, he would simply dispose of the nuisance in front of him.
With a wave of his hand, Ronan seized Peter again, then raised his hammer at him.
"Die, insect!"
"Why does everyone call me an insect?" Even at a time like this, Peter couldn't help griping. "How many times do I have to say it—spiders aren't bugs…"
Ronan couldn't care less what a spider actually was. All he knew was that he was a god right now!
The Power Stone flashed.
Peter had practically accepted his death, but fortunately, Star-Lord finally stepped up at the critical moment.
After breaking free, Star-Lord didn't run. He cranked his elemental gun to maximum power. Four different elements fused together, forming terrifying lightning that blasted toward Ronan with immense force!
This blow forced Ronan to stop his killing strike on Peter and bring his Universal Weapon up to block.
BOOM!!!
After that shot, Star-Lord didn't stick around. He flipped Ronan the bird directly, then turned to run.
Ronan didn't understand the friendly greeting of the middle finger, but seeing the expression plastered all over Star-Lord's face that screamed "Eat shit!", he knew it was nothing good.
He immediately switched his attack to Star-Lord, but at the same time, Peter broke free and attacked Ronan again.
This time, Peter had learned his lesson. Clearly, against an opponent physically stronger than himself like Ronan, he had to fight smart, not with brute force.
His eyes swept over the temple debris floating due to the Power Stone's influence, and in an instant, a plan formed.
"I gotta say, I love math—especially geometry."
As Peter spoke, he dodged Ronan's attacks while shooting weblines in every direction. Every single strand missed, not touching Ronan at all.
This made Star-Lord, who was crouched down and fighting guerrilla-style, extremely annoyed.
"Spider-freak, what the hell are you doing?!"
"Finding a fulcrum," Peter said flatly.
"Haven't you heard, 'Give me a fulcrum, and I can move the Earth'? Maybe I can't move the Earth, but I can pull the whole temple."
Peter was still weaving his web without pause. It was as if Ronan had walked straight into a spider's nest—taut black threads stretched everywhere, disappearing into the unseen darkness, yet none of them actually touched his body.
"Whatever you're doing, it's futile." Ronan sneered.
But the next moment, all the rubble in the temple shuddered.
BOOM!!!
A colossal noise erupted, startling both Ronan and Star-Lord.
Then they saw Peter bring his hands together, entangling countless strands of webbing. The threads reaching in all directions intertwined, and the many webs formed fulcrums. With his own strength, Peter actually managed to move the entire temple!
In that instant, all the floating temple debris was dragged by Peter's power and came crashing toward Ronan at the center of the web.
It was as if Ronan himself had become the Earth's core with an immense gravitational pull, drawing countless meteorites crashing down onto him!
CRASH!!!
In a flash, Ronan was buried under thousands of tons of temple debris.
Star-Lord watched in utter astonishment. "How did you do that?"
"Physics," Peter said. "It's the principle of the lever."
Star-Lord scratched his head, completely baffled. What is physics? Such is my ignorance?
"Alright, that won't hold him long. Let's get out of here," Peter said.
"What about the Orb?" Star-Lord still didn't want to abandon the four billion, but Peter knew very well that with their strength, they couldn't take the Infinity Stone from Ronan.
He calculated how much time had passed since the Stone's energy had first erupted.
"I wonder if XLR8's speed could make it in time."
He was a little distressed.
Peter knew about XLR8. When he had joined the Plumbers, Bant had introduced the original ten alien heroes, but he wasn't clear on just how fast XLR8's top speed actually was.
After all, the distance from Bant's location to his current position was a full third of the planet's equatorial circumference.
BOOM!!
Another thunderous boom. Countless violet energy pillars pierced through the temple ruins like rays of light breaking through the clouds.
Then a wild surge of energy erupted from the depths of the ruins, instantly reducing every piece of rock to fine powder.
Amid the light, an enraged Ronan floated in midair, holding his heavy hammer. His blue robes floated like divine sashes.
Now, he was truly furious!
"Die!"
The Power Stone's might was unleashed once again. In an instant, a rain of destructive light came crashing down on Peter and Star-Lord.
The barrage was so dense that even Peter couldn't dodge it!
"We're dead!"
Star-Lord shouted in despair.
But Peter realized that his spider-sense hadn't been triggered at all.
The next moment, a green beam streaked across the darkened sky and collided with the energy unleashed by Ronan.
BOOM!!
Everyone looked up. In the sky above, a crimson flying fish shot past like lightning!
"Bant!"
Just one chapter today. Got too carried away playing Genshin Impact, hehe.
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