The battle between Peter and Otto Parker had already entered its fiercest stage.
The two of them were going back and forth almost entirely on the strength of their bodies, while their technology kept either one from gaining any real advantage.
Two spider-themed figures kept darting between buildings, making for an eye-catching spectacle. Some bystander had already uploaded a video of the fight to YouTube, and it had broken ten thousand views almost immediately, with the number still climbing fast.
"I don't think you can beat me."
Peter was not saying that because he had overwhelming confidence in his overall strength. It was because his healing factor was absurd. That piercing blast from earlier had grazed him badly enough to draw blood, yet in less than thirty seconds, the wound had already vanished completely.
That was Deadpool-level regeneration.
Deadpool could come back from being burned half to death, so this kind of healing was basically a twisted version of immortality.
Of course, only basically.
It was still nowhere near true immortality.
If someone reduced him to ash, there was no way he was recovering from that.
Peter was honestly curious whether a completely destroyed head would grow back into a new one.
Of course, that was only curiosity. Nobody with a functioning brain tested things like that on themselves.
"Is that so?"
Otto Parker let out a cold laugh and took on a web-shooting stance.
Peter immediately sensed something off and mirrored the movement, but this time he did not use his natural organic webbing. He used the Electric Webbing formula he had developed himself.
Thwip, thwip, thwip!
Two strands of webbing shot out, and Otto Parker fired two of his own. The webs collided and stuck together midair, pulling tight as both sides struggled for control, neither one able to overpower the other.
"Your corrosive webbing doesn't work on webs. So what, you want to test whose raw strength is greater? Just so you know, mine comes with electricity."
Peter sounded very confident.
Among all the Spider-Men, Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man was the physically strongest, and even though Peter only had three-fifths of that peak strength, he still believed he could go head-to-head with Otto Parker.
"Kid, you know nothing about the Superior Spider-Man!"
Otto Parker suddenly exerted more force, and Peter instantly responded by pushing electricity into the webbing.
What Peter had not expected, though, was for Otto Parker's web-shooters to unleash two streams of fire. The corrosive compound feeding the attack only made the flames burn hotter, and the instant they hit the webbing, it burned straight through. Worse, the fire did not stop there and kept surging toward Peter.
Peter fired a fresh line of webbing and dodged out of the way, landing on top of a water tower. One hand braced on the roof of it, he let out a breath and steadied himself.
"That move is seriously ridiculous..."
"What kind of fire is that? Ordinary fire doesn't carry that kind of power. Is it because of your corrosive fluid?"
Peter liked to think of himself as someone who could walk through gunfire without panicking.
But even he could clearly feel how dangerous those strange flames were. If his physical ability had been any lower, there was no way he could have dodged that attack at that range.
"Peter!!! Tell me what the hell is going on with that regeneration of yours!"
Otto Parker was just as confused.
They had both been beating each other badly enough to leave wounds all over, so why was it that Peter healed back to normal almost immediately?
Spider-Man did heal faster than normal people, sure, but this was outrageous.
At that moment, both of them were Spider-Man.
So why did Peter recover that fast while Otto didn't?
This is cheating, Otto thought. This Spider-Man is absolutely cheating.
"If you push your own abilities to the limit, you can do it too."
Naturally, Peter had no intention of telling him the truth.
And even if he did, Otto probably wouldn't believe him anyway, so it was better to bluff.
Sure enough, Otto Parker actually bought the nonsense.
In fact, he looked like he was starting to really wonder whether he had been using the body wrong.
Both of them were burning through stamina fast.
Peter did have ridiculously strong regeneration, but healing injuries was one thing. Restoring lost endurance was something else entirely.
He needed energy.
Not sunlight or anything like that.
He just wanted to finish the fight quickly and then go demolish an entire fast-food place.
What should he eat today?
It had been a while since he last had Chinese food. Maybe that.
While Peter's brain was drifting off into food fantasies, Otto Parker was also thinking hard.
Only he was trapped in self-doubt.
Had he really not developed this body to its full potential?
He had all of Spider-Man's powers, and thanks to his equipment upgrades and training, he had even made them stronger.
So why was this happening?
Did that mean Spider-Men from other universes were just stronger than he was?
If so, then his own Spider-Man looked pretty pathetic.
"Peter!!!"
The more he thought about it, the less he could make sense of it, so Otto Parker finally gave in to pure frustration and started firing webs in rapid succession.
Unfortunately for him, Peter had already prepared for that. He was slightly faster and more agile than Otto Parker, and in an instant he slipped out of the web trap, his body turning into a blur that darted through the dead angles between the surrounding buildings, making him impossible to lock onto.
"My turn."
Immediately, Peter started firing webbing like money had no value.
Once the Electric Webbing was used up, he switched straight to organic webbing, and the rate of fire became absurd.
Otto Parker tried to dodge with his own agility, but between his injuries and his growing fatigue, it was clearly becoming harder and harder.
"You're actually pretty good. How about joining my side? There are even people you know in there."
"You talk too much!"
Otto Parker sent his remaining three tentacles at Peter.
Peter let out an exasperated sigh. He had already said that this man's equipment was outdated and underperforming, so why wouldn't he listen?
That kind of straightforward attack was honestly even less effective than webbing, because it gave Peter's Spider-Sense almost nothing to react to.
Peter reached out, grabbed one of the mechanical arms as it swung by, and slammed it downward. That instantly pulled its center of force lower and threw Otto Parker's balance off.
A strand of webbing shot out and stuck to that arm.
At the same time, Peter pushed off with his legs toward the side, dragging the claw of the mechanical arm with him as he circled around Otto Parker and came up behind him.
Only then did another one of Otto's tentacles react and rush toward Peter.
But Peter refused to collide with it head-on.
He kept circling around Otto Parker instead.
The arms were long, but they were not made for being manipulated like this.
Otto had no choice but to keep one arm pursuing Peter while rotating his own body to avoid ending up wrapped in his own tentacles.
To improve his position, he even redirected one of the two arms he had been using for balance on the building, sending it after Peter alongside the first.
Meanwhile, the arm Peter had in his grip kept shaking violently.
Each of those mechanical arms could produce roughly eight tons of force, but against Peter's full burst of around sixty tons, all that resistance was meaningless.
"It's over now, Otto."
(End of Chapter)
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