BOOM!
The hidden guns detonated all at once.
BOOM BOOM!
The combined explosives ignited together in a massive blast.
CLANG!
The sound of two hard objects colliding echoed loudly.
"AGHHHHHH!!!"
"Kuh— UOHHHHH!!!"
Emma and Peter threw punches at each other at the same time. The moment their fists connected, there was a sharp, crisp crack of bone.
CRACK!
Emma staggered back, staring at her hand—it had gone completely limp, shattered into dust. She immediately followed up with a kick toward Peter.
But Peter grabbed her leg tightly, spun her around two or three times, and hurled her into a nearby wall.
The instant she slammed into it, Peter rushed forward, shooting webs that wrapped around Emma, immobilizing her for a short time.
As she struggled and writhed to break free, Peter slammed his hand into the wall and pulled out electrical wiring from behind it.
"What? It still has power?"
"I connected it to the city's power grid. If it snaps, a whole section of the city loses electricity."
"Are you insane?"
"I don't want to hear that from you!"
Peter grabbed the wire and snapped it.
Instantly, part of the city went dark, while sparks flew endlessly from the live wire in Peter's hand.
Then he jammed it straight into Emma. Electricity surged through her body without pause.
"KUHH!!!"
In agonizing pain from the shock, she tore free from the webbing and grabbed Peter's arm.
Of course, the current passed through Peter too, but he was fine.
The problem was that Emma, who had been suffering from the electricity, was starting to adapt to it.
Then Peter released the wire and swung a punch at her, sending her crashing hard into the wall and causing it to collapse.
"..." Peter looked at his own hand—it was now completely limp.
'She's already adapted to Paraquat poison, the plague from those rats, electricity, acid, explosives, parasites...'
'And now she's even starting to adapt to my attacks, making her skin far tougher than before.'
'The longer the fight drags on, the stronger she gets.'
"You know it doesn't hurt me anymore," Emma said as she stood up, rolling her shoulders and staring at Peter.
"Yeah, what time is it anyway?"
"You don't have your phone?"
"You want me to ruin my phone or something?"
"Don't worry, just keep it somewhere safe. I have no intention of breaking other people's phones."
"Hard to believe."
[Having fun torturing her? You've basically turned her into a monster now! She's practically Captain America, but stronger!]
'Relax, I'm doing it on purpose.'
[The fuck?? You said you wanted to torture her, and now you're saying you deliberately made her this strong? What the hell is your plan??]
'Get her to her absolute strongest state, then shatter her completely when she's at her peak. That's a form of torture too.'
[...wait, so you're planning to use my power? I thought you wanted to avoid using it?]
'This is the perfect moment to use it. If I'd used it right at the start of the fight, she would have been too hard to beat already. So I've been planning to use it from the very beginning.'
'Besides, if I really could have killed her easily earlier, I would have been suspicious. Who knows what that entity like you inside her head might have been planning?'
[...dude, one attack from my power is enough to kill her, you just too scare what happen next when she die or something.]
[Also what about your humanity? Aren't you afraid of losing it?]
'...I've thought about it, but there's no other way. If I don't hit her with one unexpected blow, this fight could drag on forever—or worse, if she escapes. A full-powered Emma is truly terrifying.'
[And you just created full-powered Emma.]
'Do you have the ability to absorb powers or something? I'm betting you do.'
[Uh... yeah? I do? But using it takes a while.]
'Perfect.'
"You were thinking for a pretty long time. Regretting it?" Emma tossed her knife into the air and caught it effortlessly.
Her gun was out of ammo, so she'd discarded it earlier. Now she only had that meat cleaver.
"So what do you think?" Peter asked, as a black liquid began to appear on his hand.
"How about this: you lie down, and I'll fuck you with a strap-on until you're pregnant. Sounds pretty great, right?" Emma grinned.
"...That's exactly the kind of answer Gwen would give."
"...Don't bring Gwen into this."
"Are you jealous?"
"Yeah. Why her? She's insane. She doesn't act anything like a normal person. To me, she seems like a collection of the worst traits a woman could have."
"Well, fair point. But at least she's loyal. She doesn't try to kill me or the people around me. She doesn't curse at me or anything. Though half her personality is just pure horniness."
"So you still love her?"
"...That's hard to say. I haven't fully figured out my feelings yet... But eh, I think she's good enough? I'm just a little annoyed that she keeps trying to pull my pants down."
"You're avoiding my question."
"So what did I ever do to make you love me?"
With just that one sentence, Emma's eyes lit up.
"...shit, I shouldn't have asked."
"You know, ever since you saved me, I—"
20 minutes later...
"And I still remember everything you did for me. No one has ever—"
30 more minutes later...
"The moment you and Harry drove me home, my lonely heart—"
"Emma, it's getting dark. Can you wrap it up?"
"No. I have to tell you everything, or I'll regret not pouring my heart out completely."
"You can tell me in prison. I'll visit every day."
"That won't work. I haven't even—"
[She's crazy just like Gwen... but even more talkative?]
'She's probably one of your devotees.'
[Are you insulting me? If someone were my devotee, they must be the one who causing chaos in the world... And she isn't even one, even though she's chaotic.]
"I'm done," Emma said, satisfied.
"...okay, nothing left to say, right?"
"You weren't listening to anything I said this whole time?"
"No no! Of course I was!"
Then Emma smiled.
"Hahahaha."
"...haha?"
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
"...Okay, you're creeping me out."
Tears began streaming down Emma's face.
"I know... I know you don't love me or anything. I knew it from the start..."
"..."
"But I couldn't accept it. So I'd rather eat you—keep you inside my stomach, digest you so no one else can ever have you. Especially not Gwen."
"..."
"So if you want to stop me... you know what to do, right?" She ran her hand across her throat.
"Nah, I'm good."
"What do you mean 'Nah, I'm good?'"
"It means I'm not going to kill you."
Her eyes twitched.
"Then how exactly are you planning to stop me? I can see you've run out of moves."
"Actually, I do have one left. And I'm using it right now. Get ready!"
"?"
She suddenly felt something liquid wrapping around her legs.
"This is—"
"Ahem... NYA NYA SPIKES ABSORB BALL TRAP!!!"
Instantly, the pitch-black liquid enveloped her completely, trapping her inside a black sphere.
From within, countless sharp spikes pierced through her body.
"!!!"
She immediately felt her physical strength draining away rapidly—it was being sucked out.
Meanwhile, Peter felt himself growing stronger, more powerful. Absorbing Emma's powers was really working!
"And there's more! NYA— alright, this is cringe as hell... Uh, NYA NYA EXPLOSION MAGICAL POWER!!!!"
Inside, the spikes spread throughout her body, causing her excruciating pain.
The black liquid sphere exploded outward in all directions, and Emma collapsed, unconscious.
[...it actually worked.]
"Alright, time to get her to prison." Peter stretched and walked over to hoist Emma onto his shoulder.
Was it really resolved that easily?
'Why didn't that voice inside Emma's head that she mentioned do anything? Was she really just insane?'
[What do you think?]
'From what I know... gods usually communicate with people this way, right? Like... uh, Moonie and that god he mentioned.'
[Yeah.]
Peter stopped in his tracks.
'...wait, don't tell me.'
[Yep. If she really had a voice in her head, it's very likely a god. I just don't know which one.]
'..."
Peter looked down at Emma slung over his shoulder.
Blood was pouring nonstop from her mouth, and it was getting worse.
"...WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT SOONER—"
BOOOM!!
Peter was blasted backward, slamming hard into a wall.
"Ouch ouch..."
He clutched his head and looked ahead.
Emma was now connected to a massive orb with eyes in the center, staring straight at him.
Needless to say, he could feel it... pure divine power and utter destruction radiating from it.
[...bad luck for you, man.]
"...why."
[That's an Outer God.]
"..."
My luck really is absolutely terrible.