Inside the arena.
Peter and Eros were still chatting happily.
"So, you really don't want to fight?" Peter asked.
"Of course not," Eros sighed. "I'd much rather be sunbathing on a beach than risking my life against you in this dreary, godforsaken place. If you're willing to concede, I could treat you to..."
Eros didn't finish his sentence.
A sharp, stinging sensation suddenly flared at the back of Peter's head.
It was his Spider-Sense, screaming a frantic warning!
Rumble—!
The ground shook violently once more.
This time, the tremors were ten times stronger than before.
Nearby skyscrapers began to sway violently, and large chunks of concrete rained down from high above.
Peter turned his head in shock to see a gargantuan creature slowly straightening its body from behind the rows of skyscrapers.
It stood about a hundred meters tall, resembling an upright ancient Tyrannosaurus, but its back was lined with two rows of massive dorsal fins glowing with a ghostly blue light.
With a casual sweep of its thick tail, it sliced a dozen-story office building in half.
The giant beast threw its head back and let out a deafening roar.
"Wooo-roar—!!!"
The sound waves turned into a tangible shockwave that swept across the street.
Every window it touched shattered.
Peter covered his ears with both hands, bracing himself firmly.
Eros also wiped the smile off his face, his expression turning serious.
"What the hell is that thing? Godzilla?" Peter shouted.
"I suspect... this is why the Grandmaster said we were the prey," Eros said with a wry smile.
The giant beast slowly lowered its head, its slit pupils locking onto the two of them at the street intersection.
It was as if it had known where the prey was all along.
"It seems to have spotted us." Peter felt his scalp tingle.
The ghostly blue dorsal fins on the beast's back began to light up in sequence, the glow growing increasingly blinding.
A massive amount of energy gathered deep in its throat, emitting a chilling, buzzing sound.
"It's going to fire!"
Peter's Spider-Sense had spiked to its limit.
Without a moment's hesitation, he flicked his wrists.
"Run! Mr. Eros!"
Thwip! Thwip!
He shot webs from both hands, sticking them to the window frames of the buildings on either side.
Peter pushed off with his legs, launching himself into the air like a slingshot.
Eros reacted just as quickly, kicking off the ground and defying gravity to shoot into the sky.
The moment they left their spot, the giant beast opened its massive, blood-red maw.
Boom—!
A thick beam of ghostly blue atomic breath erupted from its mouth.
The high-energy beam was like a lightsaber hundreds of meters long, sweeping across the entire block with unstoppable force.
The breath then swept across the ground, right over the spot where Peter and Eros had been standing just moments before.
In the blink of an eye, that spot turned into a boiling, churning trench of lava.
Peter looked back from mid-air and gasped.
If he had left half a second later, there wouldn't even be ashes left.
At that moment, countless chunks of concrete rained down from above like a downpour.
Peter displayed astonishing reflexes amidst the dense falling debris.
He pushed off a falling floor slab, somersaulting in the air to dodge a steel rebar aiming for his head.
At the same time, he shot a web, stuck it to another boulder, and pulled himself through the gap between two colliding rocks.
"What is this? A buy-one-get-one-free bonus show?"
Peter fired web after web, swinging frantically through the collapsing ruins of the buildings.
Roar—!
Seeing that its attack had missed, the giant beast roared in anger.
It strode forward on its thick legs, its massive body smashing through every building in its path as it charged toward them, moving with a speed that defied its immense size.
Eros flew alongside Peter and said, "Hey, Peter! Looks like we'll have to deal with this big guy before we can continue our duel!"
"Good idea! Do you have a plan?!" Peter shouted back.
"Lure it to that suspension bridge!"
Eros pointed ahead. In the distance, beyond the ruins of the city, stood a massive twin-tower suspension bridge. The bridge deck had broken, but the thick steel cables still connected the two giant steel towers.
"Copy that!"
Peter made a sharp turn in the air, his web sticking to the propeller of a helicopter that had crashed onto a rooftop.
Using centrifugal force, he swung the entire helicopter and slammed it hard into the head of the giant beast charging below.
Bang!
The helicopter exploded into a fireball against the beast's tough scales, but it didn't leave even a single scratch.
However, the blow successfully enraged the beast.
It roared and shifted its focus, its gaze locked firmly on the darting Peter.
"I think this scene could be cut into my solo movie, maybe call it 'Spider-Man vs. Godzilla: The Rise of Peter Parker'? Ugh, that title is too straightforward; I wonder if there'd be any investors."
"Hey! Big guy! Look here! I'm over here!"
"Maybe you're just hungry? I'll treat you to a meal. What do you want to eat? A whale burger?"
Peter kept taunting from mid-air, guiding the giant beast to change direction.
The beast's massive tail suddenly swept sideways, slicing a dozen-story apartment building in half like a toy block.
Countless massive chunks of concrete rained down on Peter, covering the sky.
Peter's Spider-Sense screamed a frantic warning. He performed over a dozen high-difficulty gymnastic maneuvers in the air, dodging most of the debris. However, one truck-sized piece of wreckage still blocked all his escape routes.
Just as Peter prepared to take the hit, a streak of light slammed in from the side.
Bang!
Relying on the formidable physical strength of his Titan physiology, Eros punched the debris, shattering it into pieces.
He grabbed Peter by the arm and quickly pulled him higher, out of the danger zone.
"Thanks, Eros!" Peter said, still feeling lingering fear.
"Always happy to help, Peter." Eros turned his head and gave him a "sincere" smile.
In that split second of eye contact, a subtle, hidden glint flashed in Eros's eyes.
Peter suddenly felt a warmth in his heart. Looking into Eros's eyes, an indescribable sense of trust welled up within him.
"He's such a good guy," Peter thought. "Just like Ned, a trustworthy partner."
In the ensuing battle, the two displayed an astonishing level of coordination.
Eros used his Super Strength and flight abilities to constantly skirmish around the giant beast, drawing its fire.
Peter, meanwhile, used the flexibility of his webs to set traps in the ruins, disrupting the giant beast's line of sight and movement.
Whenever Peter fell into danger, Eros would always appear in time, using his back to shield him from flying debris or pulling him back from the edge of a crisis.
"Nice job, Peter! Your webbing is amazing! Did you develop it yourself? You're an absolute genius!"
Eros did not hold back with his praise.
His every word and action, the curve of his lips, his concerned gaze—all invisibly exerted a subtle charm.
Peter had no idea he was falling into a particular kind of emotional trap.
He only felt that Eros was the greatest hero he had ever met, apart from Homelander.
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