Earth-001 was a world entirely shrouded beneath a bleak, blood-red sky.
At the center of this universe, a Gothic castle so grand it bordered on eerie stood tall upon the earth. This was the base of operations for the Inheritor family, and hidden beneath the castle was their greatest secret—the cloning factory.
The cold alloy corridors of the factory stretched into endless darkness, lined on both sides with large, amber-colored incubation vats.
These vats had not been opened for an unknown number of years, their surfaces covered in a thick layer of dust.
But looking closely, one could vaguely see figures submerged inside the containers—all of them clones of the Inheritor family members. These clones kept their eyes tightly shut like sleeping specimens, quietly awaiting the day they would be awakened.
Suddenly, a sharp alarm blared from one of the vats labeled "Daemos." The nutrient fluid drained rapidly, and immediately after, a blood-red crystal was delivered via a conveyor belt into the vat, where it was crudely inserted into the back of the clone's head.
After an unknown amount of time, the clone's crimson eyes slowly opened.
Ping!
The protective shield of the vat was shattered by a single punch, and the clone... no, the resurrected Daemos stumbled out. He gasped heavily for air, like a drowning man given a new lease on life. Once his breathing steadied, a look of pure ecstasy surfaced on his otherwise unremarkable yet endlessly terrifying face:
"The Other... 'The Other'!"
Without even taking the time to put on clothes, Daemos stumbled out of the cloning room and headed straight for the dining hall.
Inside the luxurious yet sinister dining hall, Daemos's family members sat around a long table enjoying dinner. Their dinner was very simple: Spider-Men who had died in various ways! One Spider-Man had his throat impaled by a wooden stake.
Another Spider-Man had all his joints crushed, slumping in a serving plate like rotting mud. Yet another Spider-Man was completely chewed up into a broth, with only his head hanging mockingly from the edge of the soup bowl.
Daemos's family members were feasting heartily on these "gourmet meals"!
"Oh? Look who it is. Isn't this my dear brother?"
Seeing Daemos stumble into the dining hall, the man sitting in the very first seat to the left of the head of the table paused his knife and fork.
The man was much leaner than Daemos, but the dangerous aura radiating from his body was far greater. He was the eldest son of the Inheritor family, and the most powerful hunter beneath their father, Solus—Morlun.
Looking at the unclad Daemos, an interested expression surfaced in Morlun's eyes. He casually tossed down his utensils and mocked Daemos with a teasing tone:
"How many years has it been? How many years has it been since someone in this family had to crawl out of that cold jar?"
"Why don't you tell your brothers and sisters exactly what kind of spider could leave a useless dog like you without even a chance to run away?"
Hearing this, a burst of laughter erupted around the table. Clearly, if the family atmosphere of the Inheritors wasn't full of mutual love, it was at least full of mutual hostility!
Faced with the mockery of his eldest brother, Morlun, Daemos, who had always clashed with him, shot back:
"Fool, what do you know? If you ran into that guy, you would only die faster than I did!"
After snapping at Morlun, Daemos respectfully dropped to one knee before the man sitting at the head of the table, who had remained calm throughout, and spoke with reverence but excitement:
"Father, I found him! I finally found that guy!"
"Found what? A particularly delicious spider?" A voluptuous female Inheritor instinctively licked her lips, her eyes filled with an insatiable appetite.
"No! Something ten thousand times more important than that!" Daemos trembled with excitement. "It's 'The Other'! The most critical 'Other' from the prophecy!"
The moment the words "The Other" left his mouth, the entire room fell dead silent. The contempt and mockery on every Inheritor's face vanished without a trace, replaced by a complex expression mixed with shock, doubt, and greed.
Morlun couldn't help but slam his hand on the table, his face turning frighteningly dark:
"Daemos, don't talk nonsense. The movements of The Other are elusive and completely untraceable; even Father has never seen him. On what basis are you so certain that the one you encountered is The Other?"
"There is no mistake!" Daemos roared. "He has no aura of a Spider Totem on him, yet he is tightly connected to the entire Web of Destiny! He is like... the center of the Web! The absolute ruler!"
Trembling on his own, he recounted the entire process of his brief clash with Peter from beginning to end.
"I couldn't even make him move a single step! That kind of power! That power that crushes everything! There is absolutely no mistake! He is 'The Other'!"
Hearing Daemos put it this way, Morlun's expression turned grim, but he could no longer find a reason to refute him. The other brothers and sisters in the family, meanwhile, fell entirely into a frenzy.
Through centuries of hunting and countless disappointments, they had almost believed that the prophecy was nothing more than an illusory legend. But now, "The Other" had actually appeared!
Only after listening to Daemos's account did the expression of the old man sitting at the head of the table finally change:
"Have the gears of destiny finally begun to turn!"
He was the father of all the Inheritors—Solus.
After eating the final piece of meat on his plate, Solus stood up abruptly and turned to enter a secret chamber.
The secret chamber was filled with dense spiderwebs. At the absolute center of the web, a figure with a human upper body and a lower body firmly locked into a mechanical device resembling a spider's abdomen hung his head half-dead—it was the Master Weaver.
Solus grabbed the man's hair and whispered a few words into his ear. Before long, the Master Weaver began working like a walking corpse, displaying a massive projection.
"It is right here." Solus let out an excited shout, then turned back to look at Morlun and the others, saying:
"My children! The appearance of The Other is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This time, we must sever that damned prophecy!"
At this point, Solus's gaze swept across everyone individually, and he spoke with an incredibly grave tone:
"This time, the entire family must mobilize! You must bring The Other back alive at all costs!"
Hearing this, Morlun hesitated for a moment, then probed:
"Father, should we also call Karn back?"
Hearing this name that had not been mentioned for a long time, Solus's brow furrowed slightly. But after a moment of hesitation, he finally spoke:
"Very well. Morlun, you shall go and bring that useless thing back."
"To ensure the plan is absolutely foolproof, I must also make a trip out. The castle will be left in the care of Jennix and that useless thing!"
After hearing Solus's arrangements, the members of the Inheritor family rubbed their hands together in anticipation, eager to launch this cross-universal ambush hunting war.
Except... what they would never imagine was that their so-called ambush hunt had already ceased to hold any secrets in the eyes of Peter!
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed. Claim early access on Patreon: Patreon.com/kazama677
🔓 You hold the keys to bonus chapters:💬 10 reviews ignite 1 bonus chapter🔷 100 Power Stones summon another
🔥 Your power determines how fast the tale unfolds.