High above Brooklyn Area, Peter once again confronted the pain of being a superhero.
Just as he had once faced Matt, for the first time he heard Stark expressing his fears aloud, and for the first time, he felt the struggle within him.
Peter suddenly realized that those who could be called heroes always seem to share the same qualities. What drove Daredevil Matt and Iron Man Stark was the same impetus.
Peter also never agreed with a sentence as much as today - "Nobility is the epitaph of the noble."
Heroes are always troubled by their morals, which are higher than ordinary people. They always do what they have to do, even if they know it's a dead end.
But that does not mean they won't be afraid and suffer. Peter could feel that Stark was afraid.
But he should be afraid. In this world, no one can afford not to fear death.
But he seemed to be driven by something, like a moth to a flame, towards the path that was already set for him.
Even though Peter had described in detail to Stark the scene of his death, told him about falling from the top of a building, Stark still flew over there resolutely, as if he had already found his own grave.
Just like that night in Matt's cabin, Peter felt the same kind of anger burning in his chest.
But this time, Peter thought, he would definitely not witness another tragedy.
The same tragedy won't happen a second time, he is no longer the naive Peter Parker back then, no longer hesitating and giving up in a dilemma, he has clearly seen the path he should take, no matter what the price, he would stop all of this.
Peter suddenly felt as if his brain had been given a shot of tranquilizer, the boiling anger began to calm down gradually, and then congealed into a deeper power, surging in his heart.
Suppressing this emotion, Peter said to Stark, "Let's go up together."
Steve, who was cleaning up the vampires under the building, saw Stark and Peter flying to the top of the Highland Building together.
By now, the night was very deep, the moonlight gradually brightened up, the cold moonlight reflected on the blood, giving off a strange purple hue, the wings and talons of the bats, all shimmering with mysterious luster.
Soon, several helicopters carrying the mutation serum generator flew to the top of the Highland Building. The device was like an oversized ultraviolet generator, all in the shape of a bud.
Once the device landed, Stark stood in front of the machine and tweaked it a few times. The machine lit up with red lights, and the bud gradually opened.
Meanwhile, Peter was fighting off the bats that flew over. After all, such a grand entrance would undoubtedly draw attention from the other side. The vampires had sent over a dozen bats to harass them.
Stark muttered to himself, "It takes about 5 minutes to start, and until all the gas is consumed, it takes about 20 minutes. We need to hold on here for half an hour until the mutation serum takes effect."
Steve did not possess the ability to fly and was more suited to ground combat. The ground forces also needed him very much, and the SHIELD agents were mainly stationed on the ground. Ordinary people would have a hard time dealing with those giant bats. The situation on the battlefield was too tense to spare any reinforcements. If forces were forcibly dispatched, the defense line could collapse completely.
As 5 minutes passed quickly, the bud-like generator gradually unfolded, and soon, Peter felt the air becoming moist. Then, Stark retreated, and a fierce gale blew past, the generator directly disassembled, and a spherical storm swept over the entire battlefield.
Peter squatted at the railing on the edge of the building and looked down. At first, there were no changes in the bats, but in less than two minutes, some bats began to shimmer with the luster of scales. Approximately three minutes later, the mutation exploded completely.
Many bats had a lizard's claw coming out of their heads, and a leg suddenly grew out of a bat's wing. Peter shivered as he realized that these mutations were a bit unsightly, to be frank, they were simply disgusting.
Just imagine, a bat that was flying well in the air suddenly screamed as seven or eight lizard legs grew out of its belly, and then it fell down, the whole bat turned into a ball of flesh entangled with scales and claws.
Steve rolled and dodged a lizard meatball monster that had fallen from mid-air, feeling a little uncomfortable in his throat. He said into the communicator, "Connors, this stuff is really a bit too disgusting, my God, in all these years, I've never seen anything so... "
Indeed, the combination of bats and lizards was just too much for anyone to accept. This kind of scenario was far too premature for any carbon-based life form. Many front-line soldiers, although they weren't injured by the falling bat-lizard monster, their spirits suffered a considerable blow, and they crouched on the spot and started to retch.
But it must be said that this mutation attack was extremely effective. The vast majority of infected bats immediately lost their combat ability, after all, you couldn't expect a creature with seven or eight extra legs on its body and wings to fly as usual.
Most mutated bats fell down on the spot, either reduced to pulp or rolling around on the spot.
The bats' self-healing power was of no use either. Fundamentally, they weren't injured; they just had extra parts. While the self-healing power could heal wounds, it could do nothing about the extra scales, claws, and legs.
However, while the majority of bats had become infected, some were lucky enough to escape. Seeing this situation, Deacon roared angrily, "Go attack that device on the top of the building right now!! Can't you guys see it? It's that thing that's causing all the trouble!!!"
He was nearly driven insane, the majority of the living forces capable of fighting had been infected, and Deacon couldn't break the mutation anytime soon.
In just half an hour, the situation on the battlefield had become an entirely one-sided massacre. Humans faced no resistance and had directly recaptured the Brooklyn Bridge, if this continued, the vampires would surely be wiped clean.
Deacon cursed loudly, but the situation didn't improve at all. Finally, he said coldly, "It seems the great Bat Guardian will have to arrive early."
He coldly gazed at the rooftop of Highland Building, then said, "The great Bat Guardian will destroy that damn device for us."
Stark and Peter on the rooftop were busy dealing with some surviving bats when suddenly Peter's spider-sense was triggered. A blurry image flashed in his mind, and Peter yelled, "Get back!! There's danger!! Retreat!!"
Stark moved back at his command, but it was a bit too late. A violent surge of red light erupted from the rooftop's center. A beam of red light shot up into the sky, outshining all the stars.
Stark was blasted off the rooftop by the light. Peter barely managed to stay on, using his spider silk to hang off the building's edge. He climbed back up in just a few moves. Even though Stark's armor was somewhat damaged, its power system was functional. Stark crawled to the edge of the rooftop and jumped back up.
The center of the Highland Building rooftop was bathed in a dissipating red light. Out of it emerged a figure with long black hair, dressed formally, his eyes glowing red. Peter's spider-sense was practically at its peak.
The intense sense of danger was driving him insane. Every cell in his body was screaming at him to run, to get away from here. If he didn't leave now, he was definitely going to die.
The first words out of the self-proclaimed Bat God Guardian's mouth were, "Spider... where are you? Oh, there you are, my offering..."
Peter felt like he was being strangled. He slowly fell to the ground. He could feel a tremendous sucking force coming from the vampire. He clutched helplessly at his throat on the ground.
His immense physical strength was useless against this spirit-level suppression. Peter's mutation ability was still too fresh for him to resist a cosmic vampire veteran of stalking Spidermen across the multiverse.
Seeing this, Stark swiftly intervened. He pressed down on Peter, tearing his mask off and looking into his eyes, saying, "Wake up! Peter! You have to fight him!!!"
But Peter could only twitch uncontrollably, his eyes rolling back. He couldn't respond to Stark at all.
Stark was half-kneeling on the ground, he looked up at the figure who called himself the Bat Guardian. The figure reached out a hand, seemingly drawing something from Peter's body.
Not hesitating, Stark raised his palm and fired his palm cannon at the vampire. But the vampire was far from the bats of Earth. A magic barrier appeared and easily blocked all of Stark's attacks.
Seeing that his ranged attacks had no effect, Stark charged at the vampire. Morlun, noticing there was another person on the rooftop besides Spiderman, didn't take Stark seriously. During his hunt for Spiderman, many native forces had resisted him but none had succeeded.
With a wave of his hand, Iron Man was sent flying. Stark saw something being drawn out of Peter's body. He knew it was probably Peter's soul. It was even clearer to him that if this kept up, Peter would undoubtedly die.
Stark told Jarvis: "Eject me from the armor! Then detonate it! We must interrupt him!!"
"There are specialized self-destruct armors nearby, you..."
"There's no time! Use this one!" Stark yelled.
In an instant, Stark was ejected from the flying armor, which then shot straight towards the vampire.
The moment Peter regained consciousness, he saw Stark being ejected from the armor. This scene overlapped with the image of Stark's death that he had seen in his consciousness.
Peter screamed: "No!!!"
Before he could finish, black venom gushed from his arm, directly wrapping around Stark. He yanked back hard, and Stark was thrown in front of him.
But the violent impact and sudden stop during high-speed movement gave Stark's internal organs a huge shock. Blood gushed out of his mouth, nose, and ears. In an instant, Stark lost consciousness.
Peter was panting heavily. The image of Stark's death replayed in his mind over and over again. It was just a close call...
This intense fear consumed Peter's reason. His spider-sense began to ring loudly and Peter's consciousness plunged into chaos.
Suddenly, the vampire saw Peter, who was half-kneeling on the ground, raise his head to look at him. The look in his eyes was unfamiliar. His eyes bore no fear or despair.
He had never seen any other Spiderman with those kind of eyes. During his hunts, he had seen too much fear, reluctance, and resentment in the face of death, but he had never seen such calmness, like the dark calm of a sea.
"You damn vampire..." Peter slowly rose from the ground, his head lowered. His hair fell in front of his face, blocking the bright moonlight, casting his eyes in shadow.
"Don't lump me in with those bats." said The vampire, "I am a member of the great Morlun family. I am a god to the bats!"
"Bats? No..."
A vast, endless torrent of black tide surged in his consciousness, reminiscent of a swarm of shadowy bats streaking across an unfamiliar night sky.
Morlun heard the Spiderman in front of him lower his voice, as if it had merged with another cold voice:
"You've never seen a real... bat."