Green Goblin, wobbling like a cracked carnival prop, still refused to accept reality. "Fine! You two mutts can die together!" he snarled, yanking out pumpkin bombs and hurling them toward Ryuuto and Gwen.
Ryuuto clicked his tongue. "Mouth like that belongs in a sewer, dude."
He and Gwen split left and right, moving in sync. Ryuuto flicked his wrist, sending a storm of kunai whistling through the air. Goblin dodged in a panicked scramble while Gwen's webs shot forward, latching onto his glider and yanking it violently downward.
"Don't kid yourselves!" Goblin screeched as he fell. "Green Goblin is the strongest in New York!"
Laser beams burst from his fingertips, slicing Gwen's webs and forcing both of them to dodge. Then Goblin abandoned his glider entirely, vaulting through the shattered doors of a shopping mall with manic purpose.
"Ryuuto! Don't let him escape!" Gwen called.
He nodded. "Go. You've got this."
They sprinted in, refusing to let a clown with a glider cause more chaos.
Shadow Clone Technique!
In a rush of smoke, dozens of Ryuuto clones appeared, spreading across escalators, aisles, and rafters to cut off every exit. Gwen stayed on Goblin's trail while the clones boxed him in like a collapsing net.
A screechy laugh erupted from a pile of fallen merchandise. Goblin burst out, hurling random clothes at them like a toddler in meltdown mode. "Try these on! Bet you'll look fabulous!"
"Cute," Gwen muttered. She vaulted forward, webs snapping out to clear the flying debris. "But tricks like that won't work on Spider-Man!"
Goblin cackled. "Spider-Man? Great cosplay!"
A laser fired from his glove. Gwen dodged it easily.
His smile sharpened. "But your genes are second-rate! You're destined to lose! Massacre—your turn!"
A deep, wet hiss answered him.
From behind a collapsed display shelf, Massacre lunged out, all twisted purple-red flesh and writhing tentacles. The symbiote screeched with delight, striking at Ryuuto and Gwen with obscene eagerness.
"That's disgusting," Gwen muttered, face tightening. Even she looked rattled.
Her webs shot forward, but Massacre's tentacles deflected them effortlessly, moving with unnatural speed.
"Gwen, leave this freak to me," Ryuuto said, touching her shoulder. "Go shut Goblin up."
"Be careful!" She sprinted off after Goblin without looking back.
Goblin taunted her from the far side of the mall, blasting wildly and smashing expensive displays. "Come on, sweetheart! Let's see you dodge this!"
Meanwhile, Massacre surged forward, liquid limbs stretching like serpents, avoiding Ryuuto's shuriken with impossible fluidity. Tentacles wrapped around him from all directions.
Goblin cackled from afar. "Worried about your girlfriend? Worry about yourself! This is your last struggle!"
"Tch. Somebody's confident," Ryuuto muttered.
Light flashed.
Ryuuto swung his decapitating blade in an instant, cutting every tentacle cleanly. Severed limbs splattered across the tiles.
"Too slow."
Massacre didn't even react to the loss. It hurled its entire body at Ryuuto like a cannonball, smashing him through rows of heavy shelves with explosive force.
The impact echoed like thunder—except the body pinned under Massacre wasn't Ryuuto.
It was a wooden log.
Body Replacement Technique.
"You need better eyes," Ryuuto's voice came from behind.
He appeared like a ghost, decapitating blade gleaming. With a single sweeping arc, he cleaved straight across Massacre's twisted head.
But the symbiote's face twisted around like rubber, reforming as if bones didn't exist.
"You can't kill me, boy," Massacre hissed. "Welcome to your nightmare."
Its limbs lashed out like vines, wrapping around Ryuuto's blade and creeping toward his hand.
Ryuuto didn't waste a second.
Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!
A roaring inferno erupted from his mouth, swallowing the symbiote in a blaze of crimson heat. Massacre writhed violently, its entire body boiling and contorting under the flames.
But even burned black, it didn't weaken.
It grew wilder.
Ryuuto's expression hardened. He leapt back a full ten meters.
Massacre's body swelled grotesquely, then burst into a storm of red-purple liquid. The mass shot forward, reforming mid-air into a colossal hand of writhing tendrils aimed straight at Ryuuto's head.