Boom!!
The dark clouds burst apart with a deafening roar. Clad in black armor, Zod floated high above, eyeing the Spider-Man he'd just sent flying, his gaze filled with wariness.
"What did you do to me?" he asked, though he already knew, a flicker of panic in his heart.
How did Spider-Man know his power came from the sun?
Or perhaps…
In the nearby dark clouds, a magical web spread.
Perched on the web, Charlie casually wiped the blade of the Necrosword, his tone calm.
"You know, Spider-Man knows everything. Your power comes from the sun. Block the sunlight, and you can't unleash much of it."
Zod's expression turned thoughtful. "As expected of Spider-Man. After all these years, you're still that cunning bug.
But what else do you know?" he asked.
Charlie shrugged. "Kryptonite can counter your abilities."
At that, Zod visibly tensed.
"Anything else?" he pressed.
Zod's question puzzled Charlie.
Anything else?
"Guess that's it."
"Good."
Relieved that Charlie hadn't uncovered more, Zod relaxed.
"Hahaha, you damn bug, I overthought it. You're just a bug, nothing special."
Laughing, Zod waved his hand, and the Antarctic glacier quaked again. As the Kryptonian ship was fully exposed, a small, rising sun appeared beneath the dark clouds.
Seeing this, Charlie's eyes narrowed, a sinking feeling in his chest.
"An artificial sun?" He had a bad premonition.
"Haha, you guessed right."
Zod sneered, the artificial sun restoring his endless supply of stellar energy, his body surging with power once more.
Sensing Zod's strength skyrocketing, Charlie was baffled.
"No, if Krypton had artificial sun tech, you wouldn't have missed using it to evolve yourselves…"
Mid-sentence, he recalled the contestants from the Kryptonian battle.
Sure enough, Zod sneered. "You figured it out. Your world has artificial sun tech. After we captured your buddy, his suit's data spilled everything. You have no idea how advanced Kryptonian tech is."
It clicked for Charlie.
It was Tony's mess.
After Tony was captured by Kryptonians, his suit's system was hacked, leaking the artificial sun tech.
Now, Zod's artificial sun replaced the solar system's star. Though not as potent as real sunlight, it was enough to provide Zod with a steady stream of stellar energy.
Even with dark energy blocking the sun, Zod wouldn't be weakened by such tactics.
To weaken him, the artificial sun had to go.
Glancing at Faora near the artificial sun, Charlie abandoned the idea.
Faora wasn't easy to deal with either.
Fully adapted to Earth's gravity, she was only slightly weaker than Zod. He was still no match.
The Necrosword's full power hadn't awakened. It was effective against nascent celestials, but in the DC Universe, taking on Superman was too much.
After some thought, Charlie was left with one option: Kryptonite.
Wait!
Suddenly, he recalled Zod's earlier reaction.
Zod already knew Kryptonite could counter them!
If so, with Zod's personality, he'd likely keep such a threat under his control.
So…
Realizing a possibility, Charlie's eyes gleamed.
Kryptonite was hidden in the Kryptonian ship!!
His gaze locked onto the ship beneath the artificial sun, pinpointing his next target.
Noticing Charlie staring at the ship, Zod cursed inwardly and unleashed his full power, charging at him.
"Bug, you're out of chances!!"
Boom!!
With Zod's roar, a sonic boom erupted, shattering the dark clouds.
Crimson sword light stretched across the sky, but a tiny figure smashed through the destructive evil light with unstoppable force, overwhelming Charlie's form completely.
…
Cosmic Web.
[You have been eliminated and cannot obtain a Resurrection Match spot. Heat Vision +88°C.]
[Remaining retries: 99. Restart?]
Fourth Resurrection Match.
Empire State Building, beneath the antenna.
The red glow in Charlie's eyes slowly faded.
Soon, elderly Steve and Carter arrived. Charlie distributed Pym Particles, and they headed to the Kryptonian ship beneath the Antarctic glacier.
Microscopic world.
The shrunken trio gathered near the hatch.
"Little Spider, this thing doesn't even have a door seam. We can't get in," elderly Steve said, staring at the massive "chasm" filled with liquid particles, feeling overwhelmed.
Charlie thought for a moment. "No problem, I've got a way."
He released a duplicate.
Buzz~
The duplicate returned to normal size in a flash of light, firing a web beam at the ship.
Zzzzt~
Boom!!
The ship shuddered, alarms blaring inside as several soldiers shot out from the hatch.
While the Kryptonian soldiers pummeled the duplicate, Charlie, Steve, and Carter slipped inside.
Command center.
Click~
A stasis pod released a puff of white mist. The awakened Zod immediately asked about the situation.
"We're exposed?" he asked Faora.
Faora nodded. "Yes, Spider-Man found us, but it was just a duplicate. It vanished quickly."
"Duplicate…"
Zod was familiar with Spider-Man's rogue magic.
His face darkened. "After all these years, his magic must be even scarier. More importantly, if that guy's here too…"
Mid-sentence, he recalled a terrifying moment from the past.
After Spider-Man left, another black Spider-Man appeared.
That woman, wrapped in a black symbiote, wielded a dark magic sword that sliced through the council hall, nearly destroying the entire city. No one could stop her madness.
This indirectly hastened Krypton's demise.
Though he was far stronger now than back then, he still wasn't sure he could withstand that kind of dark weapon.
All he could do was take out Spider-Man immediately, leaving no time for him to use his weapon.
He knew that bug had a similar terrifying weapon.
With that, he tapped the liquid model before him, relentlessly tracking Spider-Man.
In the corner, Charlie watched, feeling awkward.
Why so nervous?
The invincible Spider-Man can't even beat you!!
Nearby, elderly Steve was pleased with Zod's reaction.
"Hahaha, as expected of Little Spider. No one's not afraid of the invincible Spider-Man."
Carter glanced at Charlie, who was quietly looking down.
"You seem guilty," she said.
Charlie shook his head quickly. "No way, don't misunderstand. I'm just agreeing silently."
"Really?"
"Of course."
"Alright, invincible Spider-Man, what do we do now?" Carter asked.
Charlie scanned the surroundings. "Split up and search for a green glowing rock. It can counter their superpowers."
He added, "It might affect our powers too."
Both Steve and Carter had evolved into half-Kryptonians due to the Codex, so Kryptonite would likely have side effects on them.
But it shouldn't completely suppress them.
They were only half-Kryptonian, after all.
Not bothering to ask why, they took the task and split up.
Using web-shooters, the trio left the scene, searching for Kryptonite within the ship.
But the Kryptonian ship was a massive maze. Finding something at normal size was hard enough, let alone shrunken.
It was like finding a needle in a haystack.
Charlie was the first to give up, instead lurking near Zod to see if he could glean new intel.
Unfortunately, Zod wasn't the brooding, self-talking type, so Charlie learned nothing.
He shifted targets.
Faora!
After cutting off her shower last time, Charlie had left quickly.
This time, he decided to dig deeper into this cold, ruthless, and sometimes unreasonable woman.
Attacking on sight—what was that if not unreasonable?
In her room, the tiny bug swung across the ceiling, landing on a metal pipe.
From his vantage point, Charlie could see most of the room's setup.
Bed, desk, bathroom, and an armory for her armor.
Plain and unremarkable.
At a liquid particle model, Faora monitored Spider-Man's search while reviewing old battle footage.
On the screen, Charlie faced countless Kryptonian soldiers alone, effortlessly escaping their encirclement and even toying with her.
Only that mysterious dark sorcerer could overpower Spider-Man.
Against the mighty Spider-Man, Faora felt like a rookie.
Every time she watched this "documentary," she studied Spider-Man's weaknesses, determined to one day teach him a lesson.
So, after Krypton's fall, Faora suggested Zod come to Earth.
She wanted to know what made Earth special, to produce a terrifying bug like Spider-Man.
Perhaps recalling something amusing, a faint smile crossed Faora's cold face.
When they first arrived on Earth, their cautiousness was, in hindsight, embarrassing.
They thought Earth was teeming with powerful beings, a remote but dangerous place.
Only after fully understanding Earth did they realize.
It was Spider-Man who was powerful, not Earth.
Earth's ordinary people were as weak as ants.
They found no trace of Spider-Man, not even much information about him.
His only appearance was during the war, when he used that black weapon to kill a massive alien creature, causing global panic and ending the war early.
Faora had seen that woman wield the Necrosword to devastating effect, so she knew how strong Spider-Man, with a similar weapon, could be.
An invincible bug!
If he showed up, their plan to restore Krypton's glory would be ruined.
Spider-Man wouldn't let Earth be terraformed into another Krypton.
A brutal battle was inevitable.
To win, Faora had studied Spider-Man's battles countless times, vowing to find his weakness and defeat him.
That moment had come.
Her lips curled into a slight smile as she pressed a button.
Buzz!
Charlie, admiring his own heroics, suddenly felt a splitting headache. Invisible soundwaves disrupted his Pym Particle device, and as his body returned to normal size, Faora charged like a beast, slamming him into the alloy wall.
Boom!!
With a loud crash, Charlie's back screamed in pain.
"Motherf—can I say that?" he grimaced.
"You already did."
Faora locked his throat with one hand, her eyes full of mockery.
"You've gotten weaker."
"No, you've gotten stronger."
Charlie's legs dangled in midair, seemingly unbothered by losing his invincible title.
"You prepared well. I'd call you Spider-Man's kryptonite." He gave Faora a thumbs-up.
He'd exposed the Pym Particles on Krypton, and Faora had prepared for it.
With a Superman's physique, her senses were razor-sharp, able to see lightning clearly.
Spotting a shrunken Charlie was no challenge.
She hadn't acted immediately to make him lower his guard.
Her goal was to use soundwaves targeting the Pym Particle device to catch him off guard.
Faora succeeded.
Another round lost.
Realizing this, Charlie wasn't discouraged but grew more excited.
"It's been ages since I fought a match this hopeless. Woman, you've got my attention."
As he spoke, the alloy wall slid open.
Carter, caught by Kryptonian soldiers, couldn't help but snark, "Stop joking around and take her out to save us."
Nearby, elderly Steve looked at Charlie expectantly.
"Yeah! Little Spider, blow her away. Show them how terrifying the invincible Spider-Man is."
Seeing their confidence, Faora grew nervous.
This cunning bug wouldn't fall for a trap so easily.
Could it be…
I'm the one who's been tricked!
Her heart skipped a beat, and she unleashed her full power.
Boom!!
With a massive crash, Charlie was buried in the rubble.
Faora: "…"
Carter: "…"
Elderly Steve: "…"
Soon, Zod arrived, and Charlie quickly became a dead bug under Carter and Steve's disbelieving gazes.
"No!!!"
Elderly Steve wept, unable to believe it was real.
…
[You have been eliminated and cannot obtain a Resurrection Match spot. Heat Vision +48°C.]
[Remaining retries: 98. Restart?]
Fifth Resurrection Match.
Beneath the antenna, Charlie woke and stretched.
"Ah~ Another day full of energy to get pummeled."
He glanced at the clear sky, first finding the Grandmaster to convince him to locate the other contestants.
Soon, in a sultry bar, Charlie spotted his good friend.
"One whiskey, please."
At the bar, Charlie took the glass, glancing at Wade, who was deliberately ignoring him.
"Still mad?" he chuckled.
Wade snorted, turning away to focus on the spicy dancers on stage.
Last Resurrection Match, Charlie had forgotten him on Paradise Island.
It was the pain of a lifetime.
He'd never forgive Spider-Man.
He swore.
The next second, Charlie jumped onto the stage, grabbing the mic and shouting.
"From now on, I declare Wade Wilson is Spider-Man's best friend, bar none!!"
At that, Wade's glass slipped from his hand.
Sniff sniff~~ "I forgive you! I'm so touched, Little Spider, I love you!!"
Tearing up, Wade leaped onto the stage, hugging Charlie.
Under the spotlight, Charlie patted his back, grinning.
Deadpool, locked in.