Natasha, who had been frozen for a mont, surprised by Morlun's strength, was about to be hit by the truck. Gwen reacted quickly, jumping to push her out of the way. Both managed to dodge the truck but in that instant, even while still in midair, Morlun appeared beside them. It was only for a mont, but Morlun managed to bypass the spider-sense, or, more accurately, he overpowered it.
Morlun's ruthless smile was clearly visible. Gwen felt the world slow down as Morlun aid for Natasha, who was on her shoulder.
'No!' Gwen knew Natasha was protected by her pendant, but as a natural reflex, she shifted Natasha's position to shield her, leaving herself exposed.
Morlun's fist slamd into Gwen's abdon, sending her flying into an empty car.
"Gwen!"
Gwen let go of Natasha so she wouldn't drag her along with her; Natasha landed on the ground full of rage, pulled out her two pistols set to automatic mode, and unleashed a burst of electrified bullets along with her webbing.
MJ couldn't scream. Instead, she ran as Gwen erged from the car, its tal twisted from the crash. She pulled herself free of the debris trapping her.
"Gwen, are you okay?"
"..."
Gwen didn't respond. She took a step forward and then coughed up blood before collapsing to the ground.
"Huh? Gwen?..."
MJ's vision blurred as she stared, unable to comprehend why Gwen was on the ground, blood pouring from her mouth. Her knees gave out, and she sank to the ground, dazed.
"Mary Jane!"
Natasha's shout snapped MJ back to reality. Regret filled her; this was no ti to lose focus. Quickly, she turned to Gwen, examining her abdon as tears stread from her eyes. She tore off the mask that prevented her from wiping them away.
"Well, I thought I'd tear her in half..."
"Shut up! I won't forgive you for hurting my daughters!"
"Oh... well, then you'll have to do better than this," Morlun said, looking up at the sky with delight while the bullets hit him without hurting him, "I feel incredible in this world. It's strange... I can use my powers better here, in ways I never thought possible. Why is that? I don't understand... I'll figure it out after dinner."
Morlun disappeared, and just as his fist was about to strike Natasha, she vanished.
"...?"
"A spider shouldn't be able to do that..."
Morlun had experienced many differences in this world compared to others he had encountered. Kraven's hunt had been difficult; the man had managed to evade him for far too long. Otto Octavius had survived longer than he should have and, even now, wasn't dead.
Morlun himself felt his power was freer, as though he could devise ways to use it that he'd never considered before. Even his speed was absurdly enhanced in this world.
"Well, it doesn't matter..."
Morlun wasn't exaggerating when he said it didn't matter how far or where they ran—once he locked eyes on a Spider, they could never escape his detection.
MJ was frantically searching for healing potions or so kind of recovery item. Subconsciously, she had never considered this possibility, so she couldn't react effectively. They had never been seriously hurt before. Allen wouldn't have let anything happen to the girls. But Gwen's case was different.
Morlun watched this with amusent. "It's impressive she's still alive. This Spider-Gwen is surprisingly resilient..."
"You idiot! You're such an idiot! Why would you ask for sothing so stupid, Gwen?!" MJ ignored Morlun, focusing entirely on Gwen. "If you die, I'll kill you!"
"Have you lost your mind? Do you really think you can ignore ?"
Morlun walked slowly toward MJ and Gwen. His pace was calm, his gait elegant, his words polite—but this man was utter scum.
"It's always the sa scene: people crying while a Spider-Man sacrifice themselves. A brave, respectable act..."
"..."
MJ's hands stopped as she looked at Morlun.
"...!"
Morlun halted in his tracks. In situations like this, people tended to show two faces: one of despair, hatred, sadness, and the shutting down of emotions. The other was one of determination, courage, and defiance. Occasionally, he had even encountered people who faced him with a smile.
"What are you saying?..." MJ's voice dripped with disgust and anger, but her predominant emotions were scorn and coldness. "You're already dead..."
"What?"
"You still don't realize it?"
Morlun looked around. There were no sounds of sirens, no screams, no helicopters, no cars. This was New York City, a massive tropolis filled with millions of people... and yet there was no sound.
"I'll correct myself..."
MJ made Gwen drink a crystal-colored potion. Gwen started coughing, her pale face regaining color as her pain subsided.
"..."
Morlun felt sothing strange, different from anything he had experienced before. He should have asked what MJ had given Spider-Gwen to heal her so quickly. But he couldn't bring himself to interrupt what she was about to say.
"I'll correct myself... you'll wish you hadn't hurt Gwen... you'll wish you hadn't co to this world... soon, you'll wish for death. But it won't be granted to you."
[ I had to take him out of the world! ]
Morlun couldn't understand anything the girl was saying. When he tried to question her, he realized his words wouldn't co out. His heartbeat was irregular, his breathing erratic, sweat dripped from his forehead, and when he looked at his hand, he noticed sothing strange; it was trembling.
"You call yourself the Inheritor of reality? You are nothing but a shaless usurper who eats others. You're a vulgar parasite incapable of living on your own..." The girl's blue eyes were piercingly cold as she stared at Morlun. Then she averted her gaze, looking in another direction with warmth and softness. "You'll realize you made a mistake, little leech... you have no idea what true terror is."
[ I'm sorry, I can't hold it back any longer.]
Morlun turned to look in the direction Gwen was facing. All the color had drained from the world, and a small crack appeared in the fabric of space.
Morlun's eyes widened as his body and soul failed to respond.
"Huh... I... can't... move..."
The crack began to grow as the light from the buildings dimd. The stars in the sky went out, replaced by the faint glow of the fissure. Sothing was forcing its way into this world.
Morlun gasped. For a mont, he thought about running, but his legs wouldn't obey. He wanted to speak, but no words ca out. He couldn't even blink or turn away as the crack widened. Soon, fingers erged, gripping the edges and pulling it open slowly. It didn't seem necessary to be so careful, yet as the fissure grew, the ground began to tremble gently across the entire world.
No... the entire universe was shaking.
That hand was taking care not to break the world...
"...a..."
Morlun staggered backward. Had he ever done that before? He didn't want to know who or "what" this thing was. His once-elegant composure and arrogant, condescending eyes were gone, replaced by desperation... but it was too late.
There was nowhere to run, no way to escape. Even if you did, it wouldn't matter, because he wouldn't stop until he found you.
MJ, holding the now peacefully sleeping Gwen, spoke again, this ti calmly.
"If you want to hate soone, hate God, the world, or the fate that made you anger him..."
Morlun felt as though he'd swallowed a bitter insect. He had used those words against Peter Parker before, and it was obvious the girl had heard them. Now, she threw them back at him.
*Crack*
An arm entered, creating a sound of shattering glass that echoed throughout the universe. Morlun swallowed nervously saliva, wondering if he had ever done that before. Then, he saw an eye... a dull wine-colored eye staring at him intently.
"!!!!!!!"
Morlun had thought that hunting and killing spiders was fine, that it was natural. So were born as predators of others, so he convinced himself that there was nothing wrong with his actions, that they were sothing natural.
But as Morlun stepped back, he thought for the first ti that he had done sothing wrong, that his actions weren't justified, and perhaps they should have been more cautious when traveling through the multiverse.
...
On top of a building, Dex smoked a cigarette while watching the stars disappear.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Morlun... I didn't give you the proper welco... welco to Earth – 1E100 (googol notation)," Dex smiled with disdain, "Here, you too are prey..."
...
The system had removed Allen from the world because it sensed that things had gotten out of control to the point of him becoming a danger to the world. Thanks to that, Allen was able to regain the smallest amount of control to avoid being the one to bring danger to everyone.
'Ah... that was close... I almost made an irreparable mistake... thanks, system.'
[You better thank , you know how exhausting it was to hold you back?]
'I'm sorry... and we'll talk later... Now, I don't want to think about anything other than giving that cheap imitation of Dracula a miserable death...'
...
Like a wall of glass, it shattered, creating pieces of glass suspended in the air. The hole was large enough for a person to pass through, and that's exactly what happened.
One step at a ti, Allen's figure appeared.
"AHHHH! IT CAN'T BE!"
His reason was montarily cut off and he was compelled by his instincts to fight. Morlun's veins bulged, and his eyes turned red. He knew it; there was no chance for negotiation; he had to fight.
"HAAAHHHH–"
Morlun attacked, but his fist never reached the target. Morlun was in disbelief; he looked at the reason; his arm had disappeared, leaving only a red mist behind.
"Huh?"
Allen's hand buried itself in Morlun's chest.
"I don't care who you are... I don't care what you want... I don't care what you have to say..."
"...!"
"For now... just die once..."
Morlun's body exploded into a mist of blood like his arm, but he didn't die. Soon, his head began regenerating from the red mist. However, his gaze was a mix of terror and disbelief. His body, strengthened by hundreds of Spider-n and thousands of superheroes, was disintegrated effortlessly.
Allen waited for Morlun to regenerate before grabbing his face and slamming it into the ground, shaking the entire island of Manhattan, and only not destroying it due to his self-control.
"HHHHHGGGG!!!"
Morlun's skull cracked, and his brain was crushed, but he remained alive, experiencing pain he never thought he would feel.
Morlun regenerated again, this ti further away. His ability and speed in doing so had increased; he was definitely getting stronger, but that didn't matter because he felt helpless at this mont.
'I need to get away!'
Before he could finish his thoughts, he had already run.
"..."
Allen didn't imdiately chase him but instead walked toward Gwen and MJ.
"She's fine..." MJ said with a bitter look, "Don't bla her too much. I'll scold this silly girl."
"I'm not blaming her, it's just her personality... I'm sorry, I should have arrived when she was hurt, but..."
"I know, Allen... I'm glad you're still you..."
Allen didn't dare look at MJ for long, as his feelings right now weren't sothing that should be directed at soone he loved.
"I'll be back soon..."
"Yeah... be careful."
...
Morlun traveled at great speed, like a blur, thinking he needed to get away. Every cell in his body begged him to run as far as possible, his instincts scread at him to flee, but no matter how far he ran, no matter how much distance he put between himself and the threat, the constant feeling of fear and that sothing was coming didn't disappear.
Morlun left New York and ventured further into the heart of the country.
"This is fine..."
Above Morlun, Allen appeared, stomping on him, crushing him into the ground, and sinking the forest beneath them. Morlun's face was filled with disbelief as he looked at his torso completely crushed against the sky, like an insect.
"I am!"
"Destroy..."
Morlun's body exploded violently, scattering red liquid in all directions. That sa red liquid froze in the air and then ford Morlun's face, part of his torso, and one of his arms.
"You're starting to look more and more like Dracula... but that's fine, I'd dislike killing you easily..."
"AAAHHHHH!"
Feeling helpless, instead of regenerating his body, Morlun turned it into solidified blood spears. He grabbed one and shot it. Being the first ti, the spear passed as it brushed the air next to Allen's head like a missile, continuing through the forest until it hit a mountain, creating a massive hole.
Spider-Man is a superhero so strong that he has to hold back his strength against most villains, or he'd kill them, and Morlun has the combined power of nearly a thousand Spider-n, plus thousands of other superheroes and supervillains he's consud over hundreds of years across the infinite multiverse.
Morlun was very strong, Spider-Man from Earth-616 said that not even a Thor or an enraged Hulk had hit him so hard and that each blow was potentially capable of killing him...
"Die!"
Morlun regenerated his other arm and grabbed more blood spears to throw them at Allen. The sounds of the spears caused supersonic waves, and the impact was comparable to a nuclear explosion. For the first ti, Morlun felt he could defend himself.
"It won't happen..."
"It's impossible!"
Allen appeared in front of Morlun, completely unhard. This ti, Allen's hand didn't go toward Morlun, but instead to one of the blood threads connected to his body.
"Boil..."
Morlun's eyes widened as his body turned red and began to literally boil like hot water, bubbles, and steam rising, causing excruciating pain.
"AAAAAAAAAUUUUGGGHHH!"
'Why, why does it hurt so much?!'
It had been a long ti since Morlun had felt pain, but he didn't rember it being this agonizing. But he couldn't know that Allen's attack wasn't just physical—it was directly aid at his soul. One of the benefits of going to the Bleach world: immortality is common in both Marvel and DC, but the soul... the soul is different. Even gods can hardly receive damage to their souls and remain indifferent.
"It's complicated..." Allen sighed with a complicated look.
"AAARRRRGH! WAIT!"
Feeling his life in danger, Morlun tried to reason, negotiate, and if necessary, beg, but Allen's next words made him understand the harsh reality.
"I've been thinking and thinking... and I couldn't find a way to NOT kill you while I'm killing you..."
"Huh?"
It was an illusion...
Morlun understood. The man had foolishly believed, even for a mont, that he could fight, that he could defend himself, but it was all just an illusion. Allen wasn't concerned about what he could do, had no intention of listening to him, and didn't even see him as a real opponent.
Allen's focus was on holding himself back, for two simple reasons: the first was to avoid damaging his own world, and the second was to avoid killing him too quickly.
But it was complicated because...
Allen's gaze returned to Morlun, devoid of any rcy; there was only a hatred so intense it paralyzed Morlun. He had been restraining that hatred all this ti, not out of kindness, but to make him suffer more.
"You're too fragile..."
Allen's words ended any hope in Morlun's heart.
'NO, NO, NO NO, NO, NO, DON'T DO IT!"
Allen grabbed Morlun's neck, "lt..."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGG!"
...
Dex from a building sneered in disgust, "You know it very well, don't you, Lord Morlun? It's the sa feeling you caused hundreds... thousands of tis in others, that feeling of helplessness when facing you, that helplessness that causes every attack to do nothing to the opponent... Now, Morlun, enjoy it and savor it while you can, for this is all you can do. Make sure you scream loud enough for your family, especially your ruthless father, to hear because he will hunt them down and find them... Oh, great Inheritors of reality!"
===
A/N: Poor Gwen 🍷🗿
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