Peter dragged the demonic Nightcrawler through the dimensional tear. He dropped the creature onto the cracked brimstone of Limbo.
It was immediately clear this wasn't the only one. Countless corrupted Nightcrawlers swarmed over the jagged rocks. They poured out of the shadows like a plague of roaches.
Peter took a deep breath. He braced his legs. He prepared to rely entirely on his spider-sense for a brutal brawl.
Aha! I am now full of power!
The Venom symbiote erupted from Peter's suit. Black tendrils exploded outward in a violent burst. Jagged spikes impaled a dozen demonic Nightcrawlers instantly.
Peter blinked behind his lenses. Two things became immediately obvious. First, Venom's strength was massively amplified in this hellscape. Second, his own connection to the mystic arts was practically humming. Casting spells in Limbo felt effortless.
Why is my magic on steroids? Peter thought. And why does the ambient energy of this place feel exactly like Knull?
He stepped over the twitching bodies of the demon-mutants. He couldn't tell if Belasco had mutated them or if Limbo naturally corrupted them. Either way, they barely resembled Kurt Wagner anymore.
"Okay, what's next?" Peter muttered. "I need to cast a divination spell to track Illyana and the X-Men..."
His spider-sense shrieked.
Peter spun around. A tall man stepped out from behind a jagged spire. He wore a green robe and a massive purple cloak. His cheekbones were impossibly sharp.
"Spider-Man!" the man boomed. "I am Immortus! I bring you the revelation of destiny!"
Peter just stared at him.
Immortus raised his hands dramatically. "The X-Men have fallen to this state because they tried to alter history! You, Spider-Man, must put everything back onto the sacred timeline!"
Peter narrowed his eyes. He crossed his arms. He studied the man's face. He filed through his mental database of comic book lore.
"Wait," Peter said, pointing a finger. "Are you just a variant of Kang the Conqueror? Or is 'Immortus' just a fancy skin you unlocked for the weekend?"
Immortus lowered his arms. He stared at Peter in flat silence. "I am Immortus," he said stiffly. "I am no one else."
Right, Peter thought. It's Kang. He put on a green bathrobe and expects me to play along.
Peter sighed. "Let me guess. You manipulated this whole mess to make sure Illyana become Magik?"
"You Avengers constantly try to deviate from history!" Immortus snapped. "I am simply correcting it! The fate of everyone must follow its predetermined path!"
Peter didn't bother arguing. He flicked his wrists. Twin webs plastered directly over Immortus's face. Peter lunged forward. He grabbed the temporal dictator by the robes. He violently slammed him into the brimstone dirt.
Immortus instantly reappeared standing ten feet away. His robes were pristine.
Time Stone, Peter grumbled internally. Of course he has a cosmic undo button.
"I protected the X-Men and your allies!" Immortus shouted, yanking a lingering black symbiote tendril out of his chest without flinching. "I froze their time! They will not be corrupted. But you must find Illyana Rasputin first! She is the key to everything!"
Immortus stepped backward. He vanished in a flash of temporal energy.
Peter frowned at the empty space. Kang was trying to stop the Avengers from altering the timeline. But enforcing the "correct" history just ensured Kang's ultimate victory. If Kang kept manipulating events to ensure every villain was born on schedule, the Kang Dynasty really was inevitable.
"We'll stop you, Kang," Peter promised the empty air.
He shook his head and refocused. "One crisis at a time."
Peter held up his hands. He began to trace a crude mystic mandala in the air. Normally, his magical training was barely entry-level. But here, the divination spell snapped into place instantly. His spider-sense didn't just buzz. It projected a crystal-clear, fragmented image directly into his mind.
"Okay," Peter said, lowering his hands. "I have a heading."
He began to walk, his eyes scanning the shadowed ridges. He knew Belasco had to be watching. He needed a defense. He awkwardly shaped his fingers into a somatic component, borrowing the power of the Web of Fate to cast a basic soul-shield.
Miles away, deep within a twisted palace of bone and black stone, Belasco stood before a scrying pool.
He chanted in a guttural, demonic tongue. He sacrificed dozens of screaming souls into the flames to fuel his dark magic. He threw his head back and cackled.
"You are just a mortal, Spider-Man!" Belasco roared. "Your soul is mine! You will open the dimensional gate to Earth-616 for me!"
He thrust his hands forward. The soul-corrupting spell blasted across Limbo, striking Spider-Man perfectly.
Belasco waited for the boy's spirit to shatter.
Instead, he hit a void.
It was a darkness infinitely deeper than the Dark Dimension. The sheer, crushing pressure of the Living Abyss slammed back into Belasco's mind. The symbiote wasn't just shielding Peter. The ambient energy of Limbo was resonating with Knull's lingering connection, reflecting the dark magic back as pure, chaotic energy.
Belasco stumbled backward. He clutched his horned head.
Knull? Belasco thought, his demonic eyes widening. Why is the consciousness of the Symbiote God tethered to this mortal child?
Belasco grinned, exposing his fangs. The backlash was severe, but it presented an opportunity. Knull's consciousness was sealed inside Spider-Man. If Belasco destroyed the boy's soul entirely, he would free the King in Black. Knull could easily tear a hole back into Earth-616. And if Belasco freed him, securing safe passage wouldn't be out of the question.
"Then your soul will simply be destroyed, Spider-Man!"
Belasco began a new, violent ritual. He channeled the absolute maximum power of Limbo to annihilate Peter's soul completely. He fired the mystic blast.
This time, it didn't hit Knull.
It completely bypassed the symbiote defense.
But it didn't hit Peter's soul, either.
Belasco looked into the scrying pool. He saw an infinite, glowing Web stretching across the multiverse. Deep within the center of the Web, a colossal, golden Spider shifted its massive bulk. The Great Weaver. The Patriarch's protector.
The golden Spider turned its multiple glowing eyes toward Belasco. It slowly raised a massive, razor-sharp claw.
Belasco's jaw dropped. The blood drained from his crimson face.
"Holy crap," Belasco whispered.