The End

Boom!

While Peter and Otto were talking, Eddie burst through the water like a rocket. His beast-like claws landed on the bridge as he silently stared at the two of them.

Li Nian slowly descended from the air as well, his golden cape gleaming beneath the stars in the night sky.

The three stood united, facing the black demon before them.

"Kehehe! This is justice ganging up on someone!"

Eddie dropped to all fours. Red-and-black patterns slowly flowed across his body like lava, churning grotesquely over his flesh.

"Look over there!"

Peter suddenly pointed toward the distant sky. The other two followed his finger and saw a mass of yellow sand vast enough to engulf skyscrapers filling the heavens. Like divine wrath, it swept toward everyone on the bridge.

The sandstorm scattered them apart. Doctor Otto clung tightly to the railing, while Peter avoided being swept off the bridge only because of Li Nian's protection. The surrounding cars were not so fortunate, however. One after another, they were shoved off the bridge like dumplings dropping into a pot.

The sand gathered, and Flint's enormous face gradually emerged amid the sky-filling yellow sand, terrifying beyond measure.

"Flint!" Li Nian shouted at the giant face in the sky.

Flint took human form and landed on the Brooklyn Bridge. Sand continuously shook off his body, making one wonder how many days it had been since he last showered.

"So you've chosen your side, have you, Flint?"

Li Nian spoke in a low voice. Seeing the companion he had recruited standing beside that demon left him somewhat uncomfortable, but his expression remained calm.

"I hope you haven't made the wrong choice!"

Both sides instantly assumed fighting stances. Peter had already taken off the tattered suit he wore outside, revealing the Spider-Man suit beneath.

"That Sandman is difficult to deal with. Physical attacks won't work on him!"

Peter warned the two beside him. Sandman would be his target—after all, he clearly could not beat Eddie. Choosing an opponent had to be realistic.

"Peter Parker!"

A shrill, venomous voice suddenly rang out from the sky, making both sides look up at once.

Several Pumpkin Bombs flew toward them, their arrogant faces splitting open in wicked grins. Behind them, Harry Osborn rode the Green Goblin Glider close behind, a bizarre smile identical to that of his father, Norman Osborn, curling across his face.

"Hahaha!"

The Pumpkin Bombs detonated with a roar, violently shaking the Brooklyn Bridge. The signs atop the bridge were caught in the explosion and shattered into rubble that rained down below.

"Harry!" Peter cried in disbelief. The figure before him gradually overlapped with Norman's shadow. Their madness looked as though it had been cast from the same mold.

"Peter, he's no longer Harry." Li Nian pressed down on Peter's violently trembling shoulder, restraining the agitated heart that was ready to rush forward at any moment.

"He's become the Green Goblin now. Peter, snap out of it!"

Li Nian slapped Peter across the face, his expression incomparably grave as Peter stood there in a daze.

"Now it's three against three."

Otto spoke with a solemn expression. "We don't have the advantage."

In truth, Peter had just been beaten badly by Li Nian, then had his symbiote drained away by Eddie. He was in a weakened state. Doctor Otto was not particularly strong on his own, and none of the enemies opposite were opponents he could defeat or control. The only one who could gain the upper hand in battle was Li Nian.

"I'll fight Harry!" Peter calmed himself and turned to Li Nian. His eyes were clear and kind. "Give me a chance. Give me a chance to knock some sense into him!"

"Then I hope you won't hold back!"

"I won't!"

Their gazes collided in an instant, like a meteor striking the earth and unleashing an indescribably violent explosion. Sparks seemed to crackle through the air.

"Kehehe!" Eddie let out a strange laugh and charged at Li Nian first. Li Nian showed no fear. Their bodies collided on the bridge, and Eddie was immediately carried into the sky by Li Nian.

Peter naturally faced Harry, while Otto was less fortunate, forced into battle with Flint.

Eddie opened his gaping maw, intending to repeat his old trick and blast Li Nian with another cannon. Dark magical energy poured forth, but Li Nian stopped it with one hand, forcibly twisting Eddie's head aside and directing the blast toward the sea.

"Ha!" Li Nian pried Eddie's huge mouth open with both hands, exposing his sharp fangs and bloodied throat. The power of the Mind Stone blasted straight inside.

Whoosh!

Golden energy burst through Eddie's body, instantly blowing apart the back of his head.

"His regenerative ability far surpasses Venom's original one."

Even Li Nian could not help being amazed that Eddie had survived this, though his expression remained utterly calm.

Eddie's head exploded like a firework, yet he still swung his claws, striking Li Nian's body with clang after clang without leaving so much as a scratch.

Almost instantly, Eddie's head closed back together like folded petals. He stared coldly at Li Nian, baring incomparably vicious fangs and lolling out a terrifyingly long tongue. The scarlet patterns across his body seemed to come alive, slowly writhing.

"Kehehe!" Venom Eddie let out a hoarse, grating laugh and opened his jaws wide, preparing to swallow Li Nian whole.

Li Nian did not move, but his eyes shone brightly.

"Perfect. Let him test my new ability!"

Li Nian was swallowed alive by Eddie. Though "swallowed" was not quite accurate—it was more like Eddie tore open his own body and forcibly stuffed Li Nian inside.

"Good!"

The instant Li Nian entered Eddie's body, his form abruptly shrank from over six feet tall to merely a few millimeters.

Li Nian had drawn inspiration from Scott's abilities. In the original comics, Vision also possessed the ability to grow and shrink, both of them altering their forms by adjusting their body density. It was practically a weaker version of Ant-Man.

As his body shrank, his density increased. Put simply, his already indestructible body forged from Vibranium had become even harder. Even if Thanos acted personally, he likely would not be able to crush Li Nian's head.

"So this is what the inside of a symbiote looks like!" Li Nian moved through Eddie's body. It was completely different from a human body. Though it coexisted with a human, its interior had changed entirely. Black fluid was everywhere, and after charging around for quite some time, Li Nian had not seen a single human organ.

"For the sake of so-called power, you've even abandoned your identity as a human. Pathetic. Truly pathetic!"

Outside, Peter and Harry were locked in fierce combat.

With the advantage in the air and superior firepower, Harry was currently chasing Peter down and attacking relentlessly. Even so, he did not dare let his guard down. Harry knew Peter was someone capable of creating miracles; that conclusion came from their friendship of more than a decade.

No matter how miserable his life became, no matter how the people around him left him one after another, Peter remained optimistic and positive. He had the courage to face his utterly ruined life and find his own unique joy among the scattered fragments.

"Peter! Face me! Just like you faced my father back then!"

Harry's bewitching laughter came from behind Peter. Peter could even feel the wind from the approaching glider.

"Harry! I didn't kill your father. I never once intended to kill him!"

Peter used his webbing to make a sharp turn. Peter's physical abilities were truly formidable; even with his injuries not yet healed, he could still run Harry in circles.

Peter leaped high into the air, made a 360-degree turn in midair, and stomped hard onto Harry's glider. He spread his arms and grabbed Harry from behind.

"Calm down!"

Harry did not care about any of that. He had completely abandoned his own will, turning himself into Norman Osborn. Only two words remained in his mind—revenge!

"Ahhh!" Harry roared, breaking free from Peter's embrace and throwing him into the sea.

Elsewhere,

Otto could not land a single hit on Flint. None of Otto's tentacles had any non-physical attacks. Against a Sandman who could reform himself at any time, that was simply laughable.

Wind and sand wrapped around Doctor Otto. Using his own sand, Flint formed a magnificent sandstorm tornado that sucked in everything around it. Doctor Otto could barely use his tentacles to block the cars flying toward him, but finer debris sliced across his body, leaving bloody marks over his aged flesh.

"Damn bastard!"

Otto could not help cursing, but gradually, he could no longer even speak. The air inside the tornado grew thinner and thinner. Every deep breath Otto took was more than half filled with sand, which lodged in his throat and made him cough painfully.

"Surrender, Otto! I don't want to kill you!"

Flint's rough voice echoed from all directions. Every grain of sand was his mouth, making it even more surround-sound than 3D surround sound.

"You're the one who should surrender, Flint Marko!"

A canister-like device suddenly extended from one of Doctor Otto's tentacles. The instant it touched the sand, it erupted with a harsh, blinding green light that shone over every grain of sand around them.

"No!"

Flint did not know what it was, but he could feel his body gradually weakening, as though... as though he were about to turn back into a human.

The sky-filling yellow sand seemed to lose its strength, falling in a light drizzle before slowly gathering into a person.

"Welcome back, Flint!" Otto said with a smile.