Marvel: The Amazing Spider-Man in the Multiverse

Karl King spent an entire night consuming over a dozen homeless people, feeling his power continuously grow until he was even stronger than Spider-Man in broad daylight. So he decided to execute his plan: first, eat all of Peter Parker's friends at school, then impersonate them to approach Parker.

But his first target slipped away. That damn Parker seemed to have anticipated his intentions, snatching Gwen away the moment she stepped out of the subway station. Not only that, but the carefully woven, flawless human skin he wore was, in Parker's eyes, just a Halloween mask, punched through with a single blow.

That was one thing, but who could have expected that today, Parker emitted an incredibly attractive scent—sweet and pungent, like rotting honey mixed with fresh blood, which made his spider swarm completely lose control. Not only the spiders latent within his body, but even those hidden in sewers and wall cracks, all surged out like mad, coalescing into a black torrent, then solidifying into a three-meter-tall humanoid monster that swung webs just like Spider-Man.

"I'm faster than you!"

Karl King laughed maniacally in the wind. He caught up to Spider-Man at a greater speed, webbed his back, pulled him close, then raised his fist and punched Spider-Man in the head, sending him flying with immense force.

"I'm stronger than you!"

Karl didn't let go of Spider-Man, who was sent flying by the punch. Instead, he rapidly descended, landed on him, and delivered a series of punches until he had smashed him into the ground. Vehicles on the street blared their alarms, and pedestrians screamed, scattering in all directions. Countless spiders formed simple facial features on the giant humanoid face.

"I'm smarter than you! I have the Chameleon's intelligence! I know that Punisher is waiting for me in a trap! But you won't get that chance!"

He watched Spider-Man's eye lenses shrink.

"I thought you just took steroids, Karl, but I didn't realize you were on stimulants too."

"I'll rip that mouth of yours, Par—Aaaahhhh!!!!"

The web-shooter appropriately released an electric current, giving the spider swarm a shock therapy, but the pain only lasted a moment. The remaining large number of spiders devoured the corpses of their brethren, producing new spiders. More importantly, a significant number of spiders had already appeared on Spider-Man's body.

It was like a feast, right in front of them.

But just then, something flew over—a small bottle thrown by Spider-Man. The liquid inside splattered onto the spider swarm. Instantly, the spiders crawling on Spider-Man began to flee, uncontrolled by Karl King. Karl King could even feel his own spider swarm gnawing at him.

"And you actually think the Chameleon is smart? Karl, I can't believe how bad your math homework must be. No wonder I never saw you in class."

Spider-Man, who had backflipped onto a telephone pole, began checking his web-shooters. At the same time, a rocket whizzed past, directly hitting the chaotic spider swarm. The fierce explosion almost annihilated the swarm. The Punisher appeared, stopped his motorcycle, and threw several incendiary grenades at the burning swarm.

"Seriously? A bazooka in Manhattan?"

"Simple and effective. Stuff you don't even see much of in Hell's Kitchen."

The Punisher said this, watching the fire, throwing one incendiary grenade after another until he cleared his stock. Spider-Man, meanwhile, sealed all the surrounding manhole covers with his webbing. Both waited for the flames to completely die out, or for the spider swarm to emerge.

"You know, if this doesn't finish him, you'll have to..."

"Yes, I know."

Under their watchful eyes, a giant ball rolled out, its entire exterior covered in spiders that had been burned to charcoal. Seeing this, the Punisher immediately left to prepare a second plan, while Spider-Man sighed, sprayed himself with the third bottle of pheromones. This stuff was effective, but its duration was short.

Cracking open from the enormous charred shell, the already dried-out spider swarm could only coalesce into a pathetic meter-and-a-half tall creature. But its explosiveness showed no change. Peter fired a web at it. This time, the spider swarm automatically split apart into countless individual spiders, avoiding being wiped out by a single high-voltage shock. Seeing this, Peter immediately fired a web in the other direction, sticking it to a fire hydrant. However, immediately, leaping spiders bit through the web.

At this moment, Karl King understood one thing: this was a hunt by Spider-Man against him. To deal with Spider-Man, he only needed to do one thing: no matter what, do not let Spider-Man do what he wanted to do. His spider swarm crawled all over Spider-Man's body, directly destroying the old web-shooters, then solidified into a face, letting out a roar.

"Parker, you're dead today—"

"You look like you need help, little spider!"

An American football accurately slammed into Karl King's newly formed head. He glared fiercely and, along with Spider-Man, saw Eugene "Flash" Thompson, who had arrived at some unknown point. Seeing Thompson, Peter couldn't help but mutter "Damn it."

"I have backup, run away quickly!"

"But you really look like you need help!"

Peter, standing up, began swatting spiders off himself, but Thompson didn't run. He even seemed genuinely intent on helping him swat spiders. Peter, thinking quickly, shouted: "Thompson, right?!"

"Yes! Oh my God, you remember me!"

It's a miracle you're not causing more trouble!

"Can you drive?"

Watching his new suit being torn apart by the spider swarm, Peter knew the reinforced polymeric fibers wouldn't last much longer. Yes, they had a backup plan, but the backup plan wasn't secure enough to guarantee 100% elimination of Karl.

So he really did need a little help.

Thompson felt genuinely happy because he really could drive.

"Good, find a car, ram the fire hydrant, and then get out of here quickly!"

Peter said this while gripping and crushing the spiders on his body. Thompson found the nearest car. Fortunately, the owner hadn't pulled out the keys when fleeing, nor had they even turned off the engine. Thompson got in, slammed the steering wheel, and stomped on the gas, crashing directly into the fire hydrant. The fire hydrant collapsed, and a column of water shot into the sky.

Thanks to the New York government, there was indeed water in the fire hydrant.

Karl King, attracted by the pheromones, couldn't go after Thompson, who had already run to a safe distance to watch, but it didn't stop him from mocking Peter Parker: "Water? You think that can drown me?"

"I never thought that, Karl. But elementary school kids know one thing: water conducts electricity."

The severed high-voltage cables fell around them. A massive current instantly surged through the spider swarm and Spider-Man. Spider-Man stood up amidst the current, grabbing the high-voltage cable: "You might be faster and stronger than me by eating people, but I'm tougher, Karl."

"Time to say goodbye, Karl."

"No! No!"

Feeling his life draining away, the spider swarm, continuously dying in the current, barely coalesced into a face, uttering one last plea to the enemy before it.

"You're a hero, Parker, you're Spider-Man! You can't kill me, you can't kill anyone! I can stop attacking you, I can surrender. The Avengers must have a prison to hold me, Parker!"

As Karl King felt himself diminish, he also felt an indescribable silence. The high-voltage current passed through both their bodies, equally draining their lives, until finally, that face could no longer be maintained and disintegrated.

Spider-Man threw the cable into the accumulated water, then walked out, enduring the current himself. He glanced at Thompson far in the distance. At that range, an ordinary person couldn't have heard his and Karl King's final conversation.

"You didn't do anything wrong, kid."

"I feel... like nothing at all. No real sense of having killed someone." Peter asked the Punisher: "Is that right?"

"That just proves what you killed wasn't a person, kid. You eliminated a monster. You did the right thing."

The Punisher patted his shoulder: "Change your clothes, then tell your friends it's all over. You smell like barbecue."

This happened half an hour later.

A group of unknown NYPD officers cordoned off the entire street. They removed the high-voltage cables and collected all the mutated spider corpses. The male officer in charge responded to instructions from the other end of his phone.

"Yes, destroy them all? No problem, not a single spider will remain."

In an unnoticed corner, the corpse of a large spider burst open. The last surviving small spider quietly crawled towards a distant sewer drain, but a boot stomped on it, then gently lifted.

The responsible officer, noticing the stomp, looked over and asked the "special consultant" who had arrived to handle the case.

"Is there a situation, Agent Silk?"

"No." The Asian girl, who looked about high school age, looked at the spider corpse on the ground and replied concisely.

"All threats have been eliminated."