The Dark Dimension, at the edge of Alfheim.
"Leader, bad news! That terrifying bug with a fruit knife is back again!"
On the dark throne, Malekith's face was already black with frustration as he heard his subordinate's report.
"How many times is this?" he asked helplessly, glancing at a nearby soldier.
The soldier counted on his fingers. "The seventh."
Malekith sighed in exasperation. "What does this guy want? Why doesn't he just charge in?"
As he spoke, the dark space was cleaved by a blood-red sword light. The sinister force churned the dark aura, turning the entire dimension scarlet in an instant.
Ah!
Splat~
In the bloodlight, Charlie, wielding the Black Death Sword, struck without mercy, its razor-sharp glow slaughtering the Dark Elves' lives.
Malekith watched calmly, unfazed.
As expected, after a bout of carnage, Charlie silently turned and left.
Malekith and his men were left baffled.
On a cliff outside the Dark Dimension, Charlie sat on a boulder, chin propped in his hand, legs dangling over the edge.
After a while, he stood abruptly.
"Damn it! Still no good ideas. So annoying!"
Grumbling, he drew the Black Death Sword, slashed open the Dark Elves' hiding dimension, and dove in to chop more elves.
After venting his frustrations, he returned to the boulder to think.
Malekith, watching it all, went from rage to resignation, his mindset shifting dramatically.
Kill all you want, bug. Enjoy yourself for now. Once I find the Dark Elves' treasure, you're done.
Seething, he let Charlie treat the place like his backyard.
After several more rampages, Malekith's true body returned.
Buzz~
His dark clones dissipated, and the real Malekith surveyed the chaos, frowning.
After syncing his clones' memories, he understood what had happened.
"Earth's Spider-Man…" Malekith muttered, lips curling upward.
"I've found the Dark Elves' treasure. Perfect to test this pure dark power on this bug."
As he thought, the Dark Dimension was split open again by the Black Death Sword.
"Where is everyone? Anyone else?!"
Charlie stormed in, noticing fewer Dark Elves, and grew annoyed.
But a surge of dark energy triggered his spider-sense, sparking his interest.
"I see you."
His gaze locked onto Malekith, his eyes flickering with blood-red light.
"Is this our first real meeting?" he asked.
Malekith smiled calmly. "Perhaps. You've killed so many Dark Elves. Killing you once wouldn't be too much, would it?"
"Kill me?"
Charlie laughed loudly. "You're nowhere near good enough to kill me—"
Mid-sentence, he sensed something wrong.
Damn, was I too cocky?
Given the universal law of "boast and get smacked" and that familiar face-slapping line…
Fine, this guy was gonna be tough.
But Charlie couldn't figure out how an ordinary Dark Elf King could defeat the invincible Spider-Man.
Well, he couldn't think it, but he saw it.
Buzz~
In the reflection of Charlie's blood-red eyes, deep black particles emerged in the void, multiplying rapidly into a boundless, dark-red galaxy swirling through the dimension.
The dark aura grew oppressively thick, faintly overpowering the Black Death Sword's evil energy, spreading beyond the dimension and infiltrating Alfheim.
His spider-sense screamed, and the Black Death Sword trembled slightly in his hand.
"This is…" Charlie took Malekith seriously now.
Malekith raised a hand, dark particles forming armor around him.
As they spread, his pale face changed.
The skin on the left side peeled away, replaced by grotesque, burned flesh.
The darkness coated it, like a shell for his past misfortunes.
Shedding all pretense, the raging dark power made him indifferent to his past.
He didn't need to live in it anymore.
He was Malekith, the future king of the Nine Realms!
The entire universe would fall into darkness, into endless despair!!
Seeing Malekith's eyes glow red, Charlie tapped a Dark Elf soldier's head with the Black Death Sword.
Clang clang clang~
"Hey, I'm talking to you! Answer me, punk! Got any manners?!"
His words made the dark particles pause.
What a mood-killer.
Anger flared in Malekith's eyes, but he boasted, "You're young. You probably haven't heard of the Dark Elves' sacred relic, the Aether. It can plunge the universe into darkness, devouring all light and hope—"
Charlie cut him off. "Wait, what's that?"
Malekith took a deep breath. "The Aether. It can plunge the universe into darkness."
"The Aether?"
Charlie was confused. Isn't the Aether the Reality Stone?
But he knew the Infinity Stones' energy. This Aether had no connection to the Reality Stone.
So in this universe, the Aether was just… the Aether?
Or maybe…
Before he could think, the Black Death Sword went wild.
Hum!!
It released endless symbiote cells, like starved desert creatures devouring the Aether's dark energy.
In seconds, the dimension's dark aura dropped by a third.
Malekith's face twisted in shock. He tried to reclaim the energy, but the sword's power defied his understanding.
This strange weapon ignored all control. The Aether's power was mere food, with no chance to resist.
"How is this possible?!"
Malekith watched the Aether's galaxy start to collapse under the blood-red blade, his burned face contorting.
"What is this?!"
His angry roar turned to fear as a strange flame flickered on the blade.
The flame's emergence spread a terrifying aura of destruction.
The Dark Elves merely glanced at it and burst into flames.
Ah!!
"My king! Save me~"
"No!!"
Amid screams, Malekith knelt, gasping, his red eyes fading to pure fear.
What was that flame? One look felt like his life was being stolen.
No, it wasn't an illusion.
Glancing at the Dark Elves burning to ash, his fear grew.
As for Charlie, he wasn't faring much better.
The flame on the Black Death Sword sent a deathly threat through him.
He instinctively backed away, but his spider magic couldn't exit the Black Emperor form.
In this state, he felt the sword's growing terror.
This unspeakable fear, from the soul's depths, could drive anyone mad.
This wasn't an ordinary Black Death Sword!!
He finally realized.
Forged from Celestial remains and endless vengeance flames over eons, this was the Full Black Death Sword!
The Aether's dark energy had activated its resurrection flames, and Charlie lost all control over it.
Clenching his fists and stomping, he groaned.
"What a mess! I just wanted a cool, powerful weapon with no control issues and self-repair to save on maintenance costs! This is too much—I can't handle it!!"
As he freaked out, the vengeance flames grew.
If they intensified, Charlie wasn't sure what would happen.
No, he had a guess.
The weakness returned, his life force draining at a terrifying rate.
His legs buckled, and he knelt, sweating coldly.
Activating the resurrection flames needed vast dark energy and his life force as its temporary master.
What goes around comes around.
He'd used the Black Death Sword so much, and now the cost was steep.
Without the Tear of Life's energy, he'd be a dried husk by now.
But his current state wasn't great—just a matter of dying sooner or later.
Seeing Charlie struggle, Malekith felt balanced.
"Hahaha, you damn bug! You can't control this power either. How ironic, hahaha!"
As Malekith mocked, Charlie rolled his eyes.
"Good. Hope you keep laughing."
Before the Full Black Death Sword drained him completely, Charlie activated a free Resurrection Match.
Stopping the sword now might still be possible.
Dying didn't matter—what mattered was not letting the sword fully awaken.
If it did, the symbiote god Knull…
The image was too grim to imagine.
Buzz~
With a thought, Charlie's body was swallowed by the void.
So were Malekith, the Full Black Death Sword, and even the Aether, vanishing from the Dark Dimension.
Yes, Charlie had forcibly dragged someone else into the Resurrection Match.
As a key culprit in the sword's loss of control, Malekith needed to learn the cost of crossing the invincible Spider-Man.
...
The Cosmic Web.
Charlie stood, checking his body.
His life force was back to peak, and the Black Death Sword wasn't draining him.
The Resurrection Match had cut Knull's control, but whether it stopped the Full Black Death Sword's awakening needed testing.
Whew~
He exhaled, looking at the prompt before him.
He hoped to find a way to suppress the sword in the match.
But the prompt… made his expression colorful.
[Scene: DC Universe—Superman: Man of Steel]
[Confrontation Mission: Earth Faction vs. Zod Faction (Free Choice)]
[Victory Reward: One Resurrection Slot per Person]
[Bonus Reward: Stellar Energy Absorption Conversion (Advanced)]
[Participants: Charlie Parker, Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter, Malekith, Kang, Wade Wilson, Ares, Grandmaster, Dark Elves x999, Peter Parker]
[Countdown: 30 Seconds]
The mission was simple, but the participants gave Charlie a headache.
Alright, Spider-Man forgot his no-kill oath. This is the price.
No one hated Spider-Man more than Ares, drowned in spit.
...
Clear skies, atop the Empire State Building.
Under the antenna, Charlie watched the countdown end.
But he didn't move.
He wanted to confirm if Steve and Carter were who he thought.
Three minutes later, he was sure.
"Hey, little spider, you're here!"
Elderly Steve swung in with a web-shooter, landing and hugging Charlie excitedly.
"I'm so touched. I forgot how long it's been since we fought together. I'm so thrilled, so happy…"
"Happy my ass!"
Charlie pushed him away, eyes narrowing. "I was gone for a bit—how'd you die?"
Before Steve could answer, a familiar figure swung in with a web-shooter, landing under the antenna.
"Got beaten to death, obviously," Carter said, scratching her head awkwardly.
Charlie: "…"
"Who beat you to death?" he asked, exasperated.
Elderly Steve and Carter exchanged glances.
"Uh, ever heard of someone killing in a dream?" Steve asked tentatively.
Charlie frowned. "Mary Jane killed you?"
Steve looked at the sky, and Carter's lips twitched.
"I hope the next teammate-killer isn't one of us," she said.
Charlie groaned. What a mess.
First Gwen, now Mary Jane.
Were teammates' lives that cheap?
"What happened?" he asked, eyelids drooping.
Steve sat beside him. "Not much, just a standard loss of control. We don't know why, but Mary Jane's case is better than Gwen's. She only killed me and Carter before Gwen stopped her."
Charlie: "…"
Is that supposed to be lucky?
He rubbed his temples. "No wonder I couldn't find her. Fine, let's deal with the match first, then figure it out."
Carter got serious. "So, what's the plan?"
She wasn't new to DC universe Resurrection Matches, but she knew nothing about this Earth's heroes, so she had no starting point.
Steve felt the same but was too lazy to think.
Leave it to Spider-Man.
As an old man, his job was not to burden the youngsters.
Charlie thought. "No time limit, but a confrontation mission means an irreconcilable conflict. A fight's inevitable.
So before that, I need to tap my old connections."
"Connections?" Steve mused. "I remember you got a woman with a trident to help against the Grandmaster. Is she your contact here?" he asked curiously.
Charlie nodded. "One of them. But in this timeline, I'm not sure where she's at.
Whatever, let's find another contact first."
"Who? Do I know them?"
"Stop asking, just follow me."
Charlie leaped off the building.
Meanwhile, in an ordinary office, a professional woman in black-rimmed glasses was printing files.
Sensing something, she turned to the window, where the city was slowly shrouded in black mist, her heart racing.
This feeling…
She'd only felt it when the Spider-Man Legion appeared last century.
So, were those guys back?
Diana's eyes gleamed with anticipation.