In Hells Kitchen after the battle, only the whimpering sound of the wind blowing through the ruins remained.
The starlight on Evil Peter gradually faded, returning to that dark gold vibranium suit.
He slowly descended from the air, a visible white light emerging from his body during the process.
Within the white light, Good Peter also ceased his output of energy arcs, merging back into one with him once more.
"Done."
Having returned to his original form, Peter lightly clapped his hands and uttered this sigh of relief.
His voice wasn't loud, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears.
These two words acted like a switch, instantly igniting all the accumulated emotions in everyone's hearts.
"We won! We won!"
"Boss is freaking awesome! (Voice cracking)"
The Spider-Men from different Universes erupted in earth-shattering cheers, hugging each other and weeping with joy.
The nightmare that had weighed on their heads for thousands of years, Inheritors who could have stripped them of their lives at any moment and even caused their Universes to collapse, had finally been completely wiped out!
"Peter!"
Gwen, Felicia, and Sif—the Valkyrie from Asgard—rushed forward immediately, unable to resist hugging Peter and looking him up and down with concern.
Gwen and Felicia both knew Peter had healing abilities, but Solus was no ordinary opponent after all, and he had inflicted unprecedented damage on Peter, so they were somewhat worried about whether he had left behind any hidden injuries or lingering ailments.
As for Sif, she was purely there to shower him with praise.
As a warrior of Asgard, she wouldn't worry about whether a hero returning from a great victory was injured.
She would only be thinking about when she could drink fine wine with the hero.
In contrast, Natasha was incredibly self-aware; she just hid in the crowd, smiling as she watched Peter being surrounded by the three girls, a mischievous, successful grin appearing on her face.
Mhm, that's right, she had specifically not held Sif back just now...
On the other side... Gwen and Felicia clearly hadn't expected this move.
The two of them couldn't help but freeze, first glancing at each other, then simultaneously looking at Peter with a meaning that couldn't be more obvious:
This little sister looks quite unfamiliar; where did you go and provoke her?
Seeing this, Peter couldn't help but feel a headache coming on; he would rather fight ten more Soluses for five hundred rounds than deal with a scene like this.
But for now, under the strange gazes of the other Superheroes, he still had to introduce the three to each other:
"Gwen, Felicia, this is Lady Sif from Asgard, whom I mentioned to you before."
"Sif, these two are Gwen and Felicia, whom I mentioned to you."
Sif, the silly girl, was tempted to say something provocative, but she was shut down by a dangerous look from Peter.
And while Gwen and Felicia felt a bit of dissatisfaction in their hearts, both of them knew very well to give their man enough face in public, so neither said much!
As for Peter himself, he decisively found a new task for himself, looking directly at Karn and the others to speak:
"Karn, Solus is dead. You should go back and take responsibility for your family's Universe-001. Besides, there's a half-dead Master Weaver over there waiting for you to rescue him."
Karn nodded solemnly. He took a deep look at Peter, his eyes containing more than just gratitude—it was an indescribable awe.
He knew very well that the man before him had already exceeded the scope of what they could understand.
"The gates of Universe-001 will always be open to you."
Karn first made this promise, then added:
"If you have any enemies in the future that you can't handle in your Universe, you're welcome to send them to Universe-001. Consider this a way for me to apologize to you on behalf of my father and siblings."
"As for visiting, let's set that aside for now. I still have some matters to attend to here."
At this point, he turned back to look at Tony and Captain America, unable to resist showing a smile that looked almost devilish:
"The battle is over, but there's an account I haven't started settling yet."
Tony was stunned at first, but then quickly realized what 'account' he was talking about, and subsequently couldn't help but become incredibly excited.
Sending those fat-headed, brainless fools out of office—this was a major event he had never done before.
For a billionaire like him who had seen and played with everything, this kind of novelty was very precious.
"Peter, how many people are you planning to take down using this opportunity?"
"Is that even a question?" Peter's face was still smiling, yet it caused the countless people present to gradually feel a chill that reached their bones:
"All of them, of course!"
"Understood!" Tony couldn't help but rub his hands together.
"Give me ten seconds, and I'll call in a bunch of brand-new communication drones."
...
The White House, the President's Office.
The President and General Mike, among others, were currently pacing back and forth anxiously.
The violent tremors coming from the direction of Hells Kitchen made them uneasy, but because the battlefield was completely isolated by an energy shield and the live broadcast cameras were destroyed by the aftershocks of the battle, they had no way of knowing the specific situation inside.
"It's been so long, why isn't there any news at all?" General Mike couldn't help but tug at his tie irritably.
He didn't even know anymore whether he hoped Peter and the others would win or lose; after all, no matter which outcome it was, it seemed like a fatal, bad ending for them.
"Look on the bright side," a high-ranking official couldn't help but speak up to comfort him.
"Maybe they'll both be heavily wounded, or even perish together."
At the thought of such a scene, the corner of the previously gloom-ridden General Mike's mouth couldn't help but curl into a smile. If such a thing could really happen, that would be fantastic!
Just as he was thinking this in his heart, all the screens in the office—TVs, computers, even the assistant's tablet—suddenly lit up at the same time.
After the static flickered for a moment, a figure that made their scalps tingle appeared on the screen.
The iconic dark gold skull mask, and the Battle Suit on his body was spotless.
It was none other than The Arbiter, Peter Parker!
"Pfft—"
The President sprayed a mouthful of coffee all over the documents in front of him. His body went limp, and he almost slid off his chair.
In the office, everyone's smiles froze on their faces.
They watched helplessly as The Arbiter on the screen used a tone so calm it was heart-palpitating to announce to the whole World.
"Citizens of New York, fellow countrymen of America."
"I am The Arbiter."
"Now, I want to announce some good news to you. Just now, a crisis sufficient to destroy our entire civilization... has been completely resolved by us."
"New York is safe."
"America is safe."
"The World is safe."