The Devouring Spider

[DragonsEye]

"Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does what a spider can!"

Peter Parker, better known to the world as the vigilante Spider-Man, hummed cheerfully as he swung beneath the New York night sky, the city's endless forest of skyscrapers stretching out below him.

And why shouldn't he be in a good mood? For the first time in what felt like literal years, life was going well for Peter Parker.

He had landed a solid job as an assistant professor at Empire State University. On top of that, New York's crime rate had dropped to its lowest point in decades, making his nightly patrols far easier as well as quieter than they used to be.

"Spider-Man is a Menace!"

A sudden harsh voice sounded in Peter's ears, shattering his pleasant thoughts without any prior warning.

"The mayor should never have granted him such a great honor. That recognition belongs solely to the brave officers of the NYPD. A mere vigilante does not deserve to share it with them."

"And just like that," Peter muttered with a sigh as he landed on a nearby rooftop, "my day is ruined."

A massive billboard in front of him blared the Daily Bugle's evening broadcast. Front and center, as always, was J. Jonah Jameson, passionately criticizing a statement the mayor had made at an event the previous day.

"While the NYPD certainly deserves immense credit for New York's reduced crime rate," the mayor had said, "I believe part of that credit also belongs to Spider-Man, the man who has stopped countless crimes in this city since his debut several years ago."

Needless to say, this statement had not been well accepted by Jameson who had been criticising Spider-Man since his very debut.

"Seriously," Peter grumbled, folding his arms as he watched the broadcast. "When will Jameson ever learn?"

"I've fought alongside the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, even the X-Men. Tony Stark and Captain America personally named me an honorary Avenger. People trust me now. Those days when everyone pointed their fingers at me just by hearing his voice are long gone."

'Hopefully, the day he learns his lesson comes soon', Peter thought. 'My ears have started to hurt from hearing the same rant year after year.'

With a flick of his wrist, Peter fired a web line and launched himself back into the air, eager to finish his patrol and call it a night.

Ring!

He wouldn't have been swinging for more than a few minutes when his Spider-Sense suddenly screamed in warning. Peter reacted instantly, dropping onto another rooftop as adrenaline surged through his veins.

He scanned his surroundings, muscles tense, eyes sharp. Yet, he found nothing.

No gunshots. No attackers. No immediate danger.

And yet, his Spider-Sense refused to stop.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

The warning grew more erratic, louder, almost frantic, as though reacting to something he couldn't see—or understand.

Then it happened.

Peter felt something pass through him. Not an impact, not pain—more like a wave, rippling through his very being. Something had changed. He was certain of it, though he couldn't explain how or why.

Just as suddenly as it had arrived, the sensation vanished.

His Spider-Sense fell silent.

As if whatever had triggered it… had already moved on.

Peter straightened, unease crawling up his spine.

Unfortunately for him, the real danger was only just beginning.

Crack!

His ears suddenly heard sound of cracking from above, causing him to look upwards.

And what Peter saw made his blood run cold.

The sky was cracking.

Splintering like glass.

Thin fractures spread across the night sky, widening rapidly—until, with a deafening shatter, the heavens tore open. A massive hole of absolute darkness yawned overhead, swallowing the stars around it.

"What the hell is happening?" Peter cursed as he saw the horrifying sight. "Where's Doctor Strange when you actually need him?"

He pulled out his phone, dialing the number of Earth's foremost expert on interdimensional matters.

But before the call could connect, something fell from the dark rift above.

It slammed into the city several blocks away, the impact shaking the ground beneath Peter's feet.

ROAR!!

The sound that followed was deep, guttural, and unmistakably inhuman.

Peter didn't hesitate. He immediately ended the call and shoved his phone back into his pocket.

Because he knew that if he wasted even a second now, people would die.

Firing his web-shooters, Peter swung at full speed toward the crash site, heart pounding as he prepared to confront whatever nightmare had just arrived in New York.

***********************************

The first thing Peter saw when he reached the scene was…… tentacles.

Many, many tentacles.

"What the hell is that thing?" Peter muttered.

Massive tentacles, dark green—almost black in colour extended from a gigantic, eyeless sphere of flesh. Its only defining feature was a grotesquely huge mouth, lined with rows of serrated teeth.

The creature, currently thrashing wildly, with some of its tentacles even hitting the nearby buildings, was the living representation of an eldritch monster, capable of giving nightmares to adult men with its mere appearance.

If there was one small mercy, it was that the monster was badly injured.

Deep gashes covered its body, oozing an unsettling green blood. It's current rampage was likely because of these very injuries.

Fortunately, it had landed on a street lined with office buildings, most of them empty at this hour. The few pedestrians present were already fleeing in panic, desperate to escape the creature's reach.

As Peter was analysing the entire scene, his eyes fell upon a certain young man who despite running as fast as possible was still dangerously close to the monster's flailing tentacles.

Immediately, Peter fired a web line and swung towards the man. Upon arrival at his location, he immediately grabbed the man in his arms and swung away just as a tentacle slammed through the spot where the man had been seconds earlier.

Peter landed a safe distance away and gently set the man down.

"Thank you," the man gasped. "Thank you so much, Spider-Man. You're a real hero. I—I was stupid to ever believe Jameson."

It seems that this man was one of those rare people who had fallen for Jameson's words and had considered Spider-Man a menace.

"It's alright," Peter said, already turning back toward the chaos. "You can think about who's right later—"

"Aaah!"

A scream echoed through the street, cutting him off.

Peter motioned for the man to run and spun toward the source of the sound, finding it to be a nearby building which had been pierced by a massive tentacle.

Thankfully, when the appendage pulled free, there was no blood staining it. A sign that no casualty had occurred because of the monster's attack.

"Looks like I can't wait any longer," Peter muttered, eyes narrowing as he saw the interdimensional monster's flailing tentacles continuously damaging the buildings.

He had hoped to wait for an Avenger or a Sorcerer from Kamar-Taj to arrive so that he could team up with him to deal with this monster. With a giant hole in the sky and an otherworldly monster tearing through the streets of Manhattan, it was only a matter of time before someone arrived to deal with it.

But now, it was clear to Peter that if he stalled any longer, casualties could occur!

"Well," he said to himself, forcing a familiar grin beneath his mask, "I've dealt with Doctor Octopus's tentacles before. These tentacles can't be that different, right?"

With these words, Spider-Man fired his web-shooters straight at the monster and leapt into battle.

*********************************

I am back!

First of all, I am really sorry for suddenly abandoning my Naruto fanfic. I had made the story too complicated and then suddenly lost the motivation to continue the story.

This time however, I am completely serious. I promise all of you that I have no plans to abandon the story before it hits 100 chapters. And if I ever stop writing this story, it will only be when I have a new story ready to take its place.

If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or just support me, please visit: p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m/DragonsEye

Also, if you have any suggestions for me, visit my discord at: https://discord.gg/XksjFyyg8

 

[DragonsEye]

Peter fired his web shooters in rapid succession at the monster's tentacles, trying to immobilize as many of them in his webs as possible before the monster became aware of his presence.

Kree!!

Peter's web assault soon caught the monster's attention and it immediately responded by attempting to attack him with its tentacles, only to find several of them stuck in Peter's webs.

Perhaps because of its heavy injuries, the monster didn't have enough strength to break through Peter's webs instantly and as such, could only attack Peter with its remaining tentacles.

Despite having no visible eyes, the monster's aim was surprisingly precise as it was targeting Peter with its tentacles quite accurately.

Though this precision provided no benefit to it since Peter was already prepared for its assault.

As the tentacles approached Peter, he simply shot a web to a nearby building and yanked himself in, smoothly dodging the monster's attack.

Of course, the monster was not going to stop attacking Peter just because he dodged its initial assault. Its tentacles immediately moved towards Peter's location, prompting him to break into a run on the walls of the building.

When the walls of the building ended, Peter swung over to another building while also webbing a few more of the monster's tentacles in the process.

He continuously moved around the monster, using himself as a bait so that the monster's attention would only be on him while also webbing its thrashing tentacles whenever an opportunity arose.

This deadly game of chase between Peter and the monster continued for a few minutes until Peter managed to web almost all of the monster's tentacles.

Though this was not that big of an achievement since the monster's earliest webbed tentacles were already breaking free from their webs.

However, it still left a big opening in the monster's defence and Peter fully capitalised on it by using one of his strongest attack maneuvers.

He shot webs from both of his web shooters not at the monster but on the ground on either side of it.

He then pulled on these webs as much as he could without breaking them, thus creating a lot of tension in them.

Snap!

Many of the monster's tentacles snapped free from the webs at this very moment but Peter didn't care about them even a single bit.

He simply released the stretched webs, causing them to act like a spring and hurl him towards the monster with all the stored force.

BAM!!

When Peter crashed into the monster with that amount of force, the impact was so great that the ground beneath the monster cracked, creating a crater.

If any ordinary civilian had seen this scene, they would have been shocked to their very core. Because the world knew Peter aka Spider-Man for his webs and spider like powers such as his wall crawling.

Very few people knew about his immense strength because Peter didn't get a chance to use it often. His usual opponents were common criminals who would die if Peter used even a fraction of his strength. As such, it was rare for him to find an opponent like the monster before him, against whom he could freely use his full strength.

Now, returning to the present, Peter's ground shaking attack had made the monster completely limp. Its tentacles which were struggling in the webs just a moment ago had gone still and for a few moments, there was no activity in its body, almost making Peter believe that it was dead.

Kruh….

However, the monster's painful groan soon after made it clear to him that this otherworldly being still had a lot of vitality remaining.

"Why can't this monster just die?" Peter muttered, frustration bleeding into his voice as he layered more webs over its body, sealing it completely.

"Guess I will have to send it on its way to hell myself."

Given the monster's current condition where it was nearing its death as well as completely trapped in the webs, it could be easily captured.

However, Peter's instincts, including his Spider Sense told him that the monster would be better off dead.

So, Peter listened to his instincts and jumped atop the monster's main body, ready to pummel it to death.

Bam! Bam!

Peter's punches, capable of bursting an ordinary human's skull if they ever struck it, landed repeatedly on the monster's already wounded body.

The impact was so great that the gloves of Peter's suit started tearing, unable to withstand the tremendous force passing through them.

Kruh! Kruh!

The attack on its body caused the battered monster to let out continuous cries. Yet, with every punch from Peter, its cries grew weaker, signifying that its death was near.

Ring!

It was at this moment where victory seemed within Peter's grasp that his Spider Sense suddenly rang. Before Peter could realise what it was warning him against, the monster suddenly let out a strange scream.

Kree!!

The scream was a small one, barely hearable with human ears. Yet, it impacted Peter's mind like a hammer!

That's right! The otherworldly monster, in additon to its humongous body, possessed psychic abilities too.

And it was this very ability which Peter's Spider Sense had been warning him about, causing him to take the decision of killing the monster.

However, unlike the mutants with psychic abilities on Earth who wielded their ability like a scalpel, the monster's psychic attack on Peter could only be described as a sledgehammer.

Possessing no finesse, the brutal psychic attack had forced Peter's mind into chaos, making it difficult for him to form even a single thought.

However, even in this chaotic state, Peter had only one thought in mind.

To somehow kill this monster.

And so Peter attacked again, striking his punches into the monster's body desparately.

Bam! Bam!

It was at this desperate moment where Peter was trying his utmost to kill the monster that a strange black energy suddenly appeared on his naked right hand.

Even in his fractured mental state, Peter reacted instinctively, changing the form of his right hand from a punch to a claw as it struck the monster's body while being coated in that black energy.

Kraah!!

As soon as the black energy touched the monster's body, it let out a huge cry with all its might, louder than all of its previous ones. It was as if it could feel that its end had arrived.

As for Peter himself, with his mind in a state of chaos, he could feel only thing right now, that he was eating!!

The black energy continues to act on the monster's body for a few minutes after which the monster's cries ended and its body became completely limp, a sign that the monster was finally dead.

"Just what the hell was that?" Peter slowly said as his mind finally started stabilizing.

He looked at his right hand which had stopped emitting the strange black energy which was the cause of the monster's death.

However, Peter couldn't continue thinking about the black energy for long because the monster's body beneath his feet suddenly fell apart, causing him to drop to the ground.

When Peter looked around to see why this happened, he was shocked to find that the monster's body had disappeared. All he could see around him was his webs and a strange, ash coloured dust.

Somehow, the otherworldly monster's body had turned into this ash coloured dust!

"Just what…. is happening?"

Peter had only muttered this much when his headache returned, this time much, much more stronger than before.

His vision started wavering and he could not maintain control over his legs.

"Spider-Man!"

Peter only heard a familiar voice addressing him before he suddenly lost his consciousness.

**********************************

And so it begins!

I know that Marvel Universe already has a character with the ability of absorption in Rogue. However, Peter's ability works in a way completely different from Rogue's.

The closest comparison would be Strange Supreme's devouring spell which he used to absorb the interdimensional monsters and achieve his current level of power.

If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or just support me, please visit: p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m/DragonsEye

Also, if you have any suggestions for me, visit my discord at: https://discord.gg/XksjFyyg8