Horse Talisman: Do Not Harm My Master!

"Peter, want me to give you a ride?"

Captain George looked at Peter, a gentle yet slightly guarded smile appearing on his face.

He genuinely admired Peter for being kind, upright, and an excellent student.

But... the unclear relationship between his daughter and Peter left a small knot in his heart.

He had raised his little cabbage for eighteen years. He could not let some pig root her up too easily!

At the very least, it would have to wait until she was twenty!

"No need, Uncle George. Doctor Connors recommended several biology books to me, and I'm planning to borrow them all from the library at once, so I won't trouble you to make an extra trip."

After dealing with George and saying goodbye to Gwen Stacy, Peter hailed a taxi and headed straight for Midtown High School.

Relying on his reputation as the school's top student, Peter claimed that a teacher had asked him to retrieve some study materials. He easily fooled the guard at the gate and slipped into the deserted chemistry lab without any trouble.

Cold moonlight spilled through the windows, casting mottled shadows across the floor.

Peter turned on the lights, and the lab was instantly flooded with stark white illumination.

He carefully took the emerald-green Lizard Gene Extract from his pocket, as though he were holding an unrivaled treasure.

Then he opened the medicine cabinet and, relying on his photographic memory, swiftly began searching for the various catalysts needed to synthesize the serum.

Chemical reagents in all manner of dazzling colors were removed in an orderly fashion and arranged one by one across the lab bench.

Throughout the process, his movements were smooth and fluid, without the slightest hesitation, as though he had rehearsed it thousands of times.

This was his stage alone.

There was no audience, no applause—only himself and the imminent transformation that would remake him from the inside out.

He poured the Lizard Gene Extract into a beaker, then added the catalysts one after another in proportions precise to the milligram.

"Glug... glug..."

The liquid in the beaker began to boil violently, its color gradually shifting from emerald green to a heart-pounding dark green streaked with eerie threads of blood-red.

A gas carrying the mingled stench of blood and chemical reagents spread through the room.

Peter held his breath, his eyes focused to the utmost degree.

After an unknown amount of time, the liquid in the beaker finally stopped churning and completely transformed into a tube of viscous dark-green medicine that radiated an ominous aura.

The Lizard Serum was complete!

Peter let out a long breath and carefully drew the serum into a syringe.

He stared at the wicked green liquid in the barrel, his heart pounding wildly beyond his control.

Peter Parker of the normal universe had been Spider-Man, chosen by fate.

But he would crown himself with his own hands!

Without the slightest hesitation, Peter rolled up his sleeve, revealing an arm made excessively thin by years of malnutrition.

He raised the syringe and aimed it at his vein.

"Come on!"

Without a shred of hesitation, he drove the needle into his skin and pushed the entire syringe of medicine into his bloodstream!

My fate is mine to command, not Heaven's!

Cold!

That was his first sensation when the Lizard Serum entered his body.

A bone-deep chill instantly spread through his blood vessels and into every limb and bone, as though it intended to freeze his blood solid.

Peter's body jerked violently, and his teeth began chattering uncontrollably.

Yet the cold lasted less than a second.

The next moment, a volcano erupted!

An unimaginable burning sensation, like raging magma, tore through his blood vessels and madly devoured every cell in his body!

Yes, devoured—not fused!

Peter felt as though some horrifying existence were watching him. The Lizard genes within him were trying to consume him completely, then... be reborn in his body!

Thump, thump~!

In Queens, Gwen, who had just gotten out of the car, suddenly felt her heartbeat hammering in her chest. An inexplicable sense of oppression descended upon her.

It felt as though she was about to lose something incomparably important.

Alarms like electric currents rang through her mind, while countless tiny goosebumps suddenly rose across her arms.

Spider-Sense! Also known as Gwen's sudden shiver!

Without any hesitation, Gwen looked around, saw no one nearby, and directly clung to the wall of her house with both hands and feet.

Her wall-crawling ability, which often failed her under normal circumstances, was unexpectedly reliable now.

She scrambled up onto the rooftop in just a few moves. Seeing the gap of more than ten meters between her and the balcony across from her, Gwen instinctively took a deep breath.

"It's okay, Gwen. You can do this!"

She did not know why she was taking such a risk. Following her instincts, she pulled her hood over her head and then leaped with all her strength!

She landed perfectly, with the grace of a gymnast and without making the slightest sound!

"Whoa~"

Looking back at the chasm between the two small buildings—a distance no human could possibly cross—Gwen exclaimed in amazement, her heart filling with confidence.

She began running and leaping through the city's steel jungle like a parkour girl.

Although she had yet to develop her own Web Shooter, she was still far faster than an ordinary person. She could even race the speeding cars below!

And the direction she was heading... was Midtown High School!

"Ugh, aaahhh!"

In the laboratory, Peter could no longer suppress it and let out a painfully restrained roar.

Pain!

Pain beyond the limits of human imagination!

He felt himself being torn apart and reassembled again and again. His body crashed heavily to the floor, convulsing violently.

A bizarre green tint began to spread across his skin. Then, dense scales slick with mucus burst madly from beneath it!

The nails on his hands and feet lengthened and sharpened, turning into terrifying claws.

Each segment of his spine bulged outward with crisp cracking sounds. His entire body swelled and twisted at a rate visible to the naked eye!

Bestiality!

Endless brutality, bloodlust, and the desire for destruction surged against his sanity like the most violent black tide!

His pupils began to contract, becoming the cold vertical slits unique to reptiles, filled with undisguised killing intent.

He wanted to tear apart everything before him!

He wanted to make the world tremble beneath his claws!

The birth of the Lizard seemed to have entered its final countdown.

However, just as Peter's consciousness was about to be completely consumed by that violent beastiality and turned into a monster that knew only slaughter—

A sudden change occurred!

Buzz!

A ball of gentle, warm white light lit up within his body. It then rippled outward like water, instantly enveloping his entire body!

Noble steed: Do not harm my master!

The beastiality that could have shattered even a will of steel melted away the instant it touched the white light, like ice meeting its natural enemy.

The gentle white light healed Peter's completely beastified body again and again.

Before this utterly irresistible magic, even the deepest hunting instincts in his genes had to retreat, until they were completely driven away!

"Huff... huff..."

Peter suddenly began gasping for breath, and clarity returned to his unfocused eyes.

He was saved!

But restoring his consciousness was only the beginning!

After driving away the beastiality's control, the Horse Talisman's power did not stop there!