The So-Called Spider Totems

The instant a star compressed to less than the size of a person hurtled toward Peter, he felt space distort in the literal, physical sense. If the star's mass had been any greater, Black King could probably have just thrown a black hole at him.

Still, this was far too terrifying.

Peter pushed Captain Universe's power to its limit and broke free of gravity's restraints, but Black King seemed to know exactly where he would emerge and blocked his path, then kicked Peter away—only to strike an afterimage.

"Magic again... You really know a lot of different things."

"I don't understand. Why is my Spider-Sense barely reacting at all?" Peter said as he traded blows with Black King, baffled. "Are you not trying to beat me, or is there some other reason?"

"For no particular reason. I made myself very clear. What you're doing now makes me somewhat wary, so I came to persuade you not to do it. That is all."

As Peter dodged, he recalled Black King's words and roughly understood what was going on. Black King had discovered that Peter was researching how to dismantle the symbiote Hive Mind, so he had come to stop him. So it was all Knull's fault. If Knull hadn't created that special Carnage, why would I have researched this sort of thing? And if I hadn't researched it, why would I have run into Black King?

But Peter still did not understand the logic. "By your account, you've already replaced Knull in countless versions of Spider-Man controlled by symbiotes. Yet you're wary of what I'm doing?"

"You don't know? I thought your universe had its own guide."

Black King's tone remained calm. He casually pulled the sphere back and smashed it at Peter again. Peter hurriedly dodged, continuing the small talk