Peter's voice was very light, even gentle.
But to Otto Parker's ears, it was as chilling as the death knell of the Shinigami.
The shadow of death had never loomed so tangibly over his heart.
Otto Parker's pupils shook violently as the instinct for survival overwhelmed his thoughts.
He wanted to resist!
But just as the thought arose, Peter's fingers tightened inch by inch.
"Gah..."
Air was instantly sucked away, his mind went blank, and his body lost all strength.
Only those four mechanical spider legs remained, launching an attack on their own according to their programmed instructions!
The spider legs, sharp enough to pierce steel plates, stabbed toward Peter's chest.
Yet they only produced a series of ear-piercing metallic clangs.
The peak physique of the Aesir combined with the effects of Armament Haki was just that overbearing.
Those four spider legs failed to cause any substantial damage; instead, they shattered inch by inch in the successive collisions!
Seeing this, the emotion known as fear surfaced in Otto Parker's eyes for the first time.
"Ugh... cough, cough..."
"Let... let me go..."
"You can't kill me... I... I'm still useful to you!"
Otto Parker squeezed the words out of his throat with difficulty, his face devoid of any of the pride or composure expected of the "Superior Spider-Man."
"Oh?"
Peter tilted his head, the playful curve of his lips deepening.
He slightly loosened his grip, allowing Otto Parker to catch his breath for a moment:
"Tell me then, what use do you still have?"
Otto Parker breathed greedily while struggling to speak:
"Those... those eerie Predators, they are not easy to deal with!"
"Without me to help you analyze their weaknesses, you might not be able to handle them on your own."
"Your power can only reach its full potential when paired with my genius mind! If I die, you won't be able to get anything done relying only on those useless trash behind you!"
He was like a man grasping at the last straw, incoherently recounting his own value, trying to use future threats to trade for a sliver of hope in the present.
However, after hearing these words, Peter only let out a scoff.
"They're just monsters capable of hunting lone Spider-Men across the Universe."
Peter's voice was very calm, as calm as if he were recounting how many slices of bread he had eaten this morning:
"Even if we assume for a moment that I really do need a brilliant mind, why does it have to be yours?"
"Tony Stark, Reed Richards—which one of them isn't better than you?"
"What's more..."
Peter's gaze swept over Otto Parker, looking at him as if he were a piece of worthless trash.
"In the entire Multiverse, you aren't the only one named Otto Octavius, are you?"
"What makes you think you are the irreplaceable one?"
After Peter finished speaking, Otto's face turned visibly pale.
He... could not refute it.
That's right!
The man before him could even defeat the gods of Asgard.
The terrifying Predators he had spent so much effort just to catch a glimpse of might truly... be nothing in this man's eyes.
His genius mind was not irreplaceable either.
There were so many Ottos in the Multiverse; even if one Otto couldn't compare to him, what about ten, or a hundred Ottos?
This was the first time Otto Parker had recognized the cruelty of reality so clearly.
He considered himself extraordinary, believing he was one of a kind.
But in reality, if the scope were expanded to the entire Multiverse, he... was nothing!
This negation of his own value stung Otto deeply.
His eyes became more hollow than ever before, as if all his spirit had been drained away.
Seeing his despondent look, Peter curled his lips. He let go, allowing Otto to slump onto the ground, and spoke from a height:
"Any last words?"
"If not, then it's time to be on your way."
Zzzzt~
As he spoke, Peter raised his right hand, and a blinding electric light gathered in his palm.
Seeing that the lightning was about to pierce his chest.
Finally, in the great terror between life and death, the instinct for survival overrode everything:
"Don't kill me! Please! I don't want to die yet!"
He still had so many goals unfulfilled, so much research yet to be implemented, and he hadn't walked down the aisle with Anna yet...
He had so many regrets... he couldn't die... he didn't want to die!
Looking at Otto Parker kneeling on the ground in tears, the surrounding Little Spiders had various expressions.
Some were thoughtful, some showed disdain, and some felt sympathy...
As for Peter, he smiled, a very mocking smile:
"Look, this is the Superior Spider-Man who wants to surpass all other Spider-Men."
"This is the Superior Spider-Man who keeps talking about the Law of the Jungle, saying the weak deserve to be sacrificed for the strong!"
"Mr. Superior Spider-Man, where is your Law of the Jungle now!"
"Why haven't you, the weakling, died obediently? Why are you showing such an ugly state?"
Otto Parker, kneeling on the ground, shook violently. Every word from Peter made his back bend lower involuntarily, until finally, he couldn't even lift his head.
Seeing him like this, Peter let out a cold laugh:
"Hmph, in the end, your high-sounding rhetoric was nothing more than a double standard used before the butcher's knife fell on your own head!"
He grabbed Otto Parker's hair, forcing him to look at the group of Little Spiders with complicated expressions behind him:
"Look at them."
"You view them as cannon fodder, as fools, as beings inferior to you."
"But when their lives and the safety of others are weighed together on the scale, every single one of them would choose to run toward death without hesitation!"
"And what about you?"
"What are you doing right now?"
"Between you and them, who is truly noble? And who is truly base?"
Dead silence.
A strange, dead silence fell over the office.
Otto Parker opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound; only the flames of shame and fear repeatedly scorched his soul.
Peter's words, and the eyes of the surrounding Little Spiders shifting from anger to disdain.
All of this was like a sharp knife, peeling away the high-sounding shell he had worked so hard to pack himself in, exposing his ugly, cowering soul nakedly to the sunlight.
Otto Parker's body shook like a sieve. He wanted to deny it, but he couldn't even summon the courage to open his mouth and defend himself.
Looking at his humble appearance, Peter shook his head and gave his final verdict:
"The strong draw their blades against those even stronger, while the weak raise theirs against those even weaker."
"Otto Octavius... what kind of Spider-Man are you?"
"In my eyes, let alone surpassing other Spider-Men to become the so-called Superior Spider-Man..."
"You don't even have the qualification to be a Spider-Man!"