The beam of light tore through the air, shrieking as it smashed against the shimmering shield that had been protecting the monstrous eye. With one clean strike, the beam pierced straight through the massive eyeball, cutting off its words mid-sentence.
A gaping hole blossomed in its center.
The monstrous form trembled violently, its body unraveling into streams of oily black mist. Those wisps curled upward, dissolving into nothingness before vanishing into the night sky.
And just like that—one blow, one decisive moment—the projection of Dormammu was gone.
The watching heroes could hardly process what had happened. The creature, an echo of the master of the Dark Dimension himself, had been annihilated. Not by Doctor Strange, not by the Avengers—but by the unlikeliest of champions.
Little Spider-Man had destroyed Dormammu's projection.
Nathan's brows arched upward in surprise as he lowered his hand. "What was he about to say?" he murmured to himself, voice low. "The true identity of the Beast? But… isn't the Beast exactly what it appears to be? A primordial demon? A creature born from chaos itself?"
His mind lingered on the fragmented words the Eyeball had tried to speak before its end, but the puzzle remained unsolved. Whatever revelation it had carried died with it.
Meanwhile, the small spider nestled on Nathan's head—the strange pink-and-white creature born from fusion with the Beast—slumped down. It trembled with guilt, its eight legs fidgeting like a nervous child caught misbehaving.
Nathan reached up, resting his fingers lightly on the creature. His voice softened.
"It's all right, little Spider-Man. You've done more than enough. You destroyed Dormammu's projection—something most would never even dare to attempt. Sure, we may have lost a clue or two, but that's not important now. What matters is that you've protected everyone."
The spider lifted its head slightly, large eyes glimmering with regret. Nathan held its gaze firmly.
"You're the one who ended this nightmare," he declared. "Today, you are the hero."
At those words, relief spread across the tiny arachnid's face. Its eyes curved into crescent shapes, a smile if ever there was one.
Watching this scene unfold, Hei Kong's mouth fell open in disbelief. Her pupils shrank as she tried to comprehend what she had just witnessed. Dormammu, the ruler of the Dark Dimension—a being feared by gods and sorcerers alike—had been brushed aside as though he were nothing more than a shadow.
Even if it was only a fragment, only a projection, that fragment carried power enough to obliterate entire cities. To mortals, it was invincible. Yet Nathan's spider companion had destroyed it with ease.
"Is this… is this the true power of the Beast?" she whispered, trembling.
The moment Dormammu's projection faded, so too did the oppressive aura that had smothered the city. A suffocating weight had pressed down on every soul in the block, freezing people where they stood, locking them inside their own helpless bodies. But now that dark pressure vanished like smoke, and the entire neighborhood exhaled as one.
Spider-Man—the original, Peter Parker—staggered in disbelief. His muscles loosened, his heart slowed, but the memory of that suffocating terror lingered. The sensation of being swallowed by infinite darkness, staring into an abyss that promised only madness, seared itself into his mind.
"What was that?" he gasped.
He perched on a rooftop, scanning the frozen pedestrians below. For a few horrifying seconds, they had all been statues—breathing but immobile, trapped by fear they couldn't comprehend. Peter fired a webline, swung down, and began helping.
He wove a massive net across the street, catching several cars whose drivers had been paralyzed mid-motion. Thanks to him, none of the vehicles crashed. When the people finally blinked back into awareness, they looked around in confusion, never realizing just how close they had come to disaster.
Peter clenched his fists.
'That pressure… it didn't just affect me. It froze everyone. What kind of power can do that? And why did it vanish so suddenly?'
His mind spun with possibilities. Could it have been a supervillain? Someone stronger than he had ever encountered? If so, who had fought them off?
On the far end of the district, other heroes were asking the same questions.
From shadowed alleys, rooftops, and broken windows, figures emerged. Daredevil, Iron Fist, Black Panther, and even Scarlet Witch surveyed the city streets. Their eyes met one another, sharing the same suspicion. And they weren't alone. Lurking in the darkness were others: Kingpin, Bullseye, and more villains who had felt the terror too.
The enemies of justice and the defenders of New York all wore the same expression—shock. None of them knew what force had caused the darkness, nor what had erased it so suddenly.
Daredevil tilted his head, listening to the echoes of the city with his heightened senses. His face grew grim.
"This wasn't natural. That pressure covered several blocks, freezing thousands of people in an instant. Only those with unshakable will—heroes, maybe a handful of villains—could even move. The source… whatever it was… is beyond anything we've faced before."
His words carried weight, and even the hardened criminals present felt a shiver run down their spines.
---
Far above, in the headquarters of S.H.I.E.L.D., alarms still blared.
Nick Fury sat at the head of a long table, his one good eye narrowing. "Reports are flooding in. Whole districts paralyzed. If it hadn't been for the heroes on the ground, there would have been mass casualties." He slammed his fist against the table. "This isn't some small-time incident. This was a message."
Tony Stark leaned back in his chair, the light from his arc reactor pulsing softly. "I've been running diagnostics across every satellite and sensor we've got. Nothing. No energy signature I can track, no physical trace. Whatever it was, it didn't want to be found. Which makes me nervous."
He glanced toward the empty seat where Thor often sat. "If only Goldilocks were here. He tends to have answers when this kind of 'dark energy' nonsense pops up."
Before anyone could respond, the conference room door swung open with a groan.
A massive figure in golden armor strode inside.
Thor, son of Odin, God of Thunder.
Tony blinked. "Well, speak of the devil—or the god. Weren't you supposed to be holding court in Asgard? What's with the surprise visit?"
Thor's expression was darker than storm clouds. He seated himself heavily at the table.
"I came because I felt it," he said simply. "Even across the Bifrost, I sensed the disturbance. A shadow stretching from Midgard into realms far beyond." His voice was grave. "I had no choice but to come."
Every Avenger in the room felt their stomachs drop. Thor's tone carried weight; he was not one to exaggerate.
Steve Rogers leaned forward, eyes sharp. "You know something, Thor. Tell us."
Thor's gaze flickered to each of them. Finally, he nodded.
"I fear what has awakened is not gone—it is only waiting. What we felt tonight… was only the beginning."
The room fell silent.
For the first time in years, the Avengers realized that they might have stumbled onto something far greater than any warlord, alien invasion, or rogue AI. This was cosmic, ancient, and steeped in darkness far deeper than any of them truly understood.
And in the middle of it all, standing quietly on a rooftop somewhere in New York, Nathan and his strange little spider had just destroyed a shadow of Dormammu.
The Beast's true nature remained a mystery. The world had been spared—for now.
But the game had changed.
The aftermath of Dormammu's projection would ripple across every hero, every villain, and every realm.
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