Restart, Spider-Man! [97]

Mid-sentence, Xia Luo fired webs around Horned Loki's legs.

"What?"

Horned Loki was stunned. Before he could react, Xia Luo's webbing, wielding tons of force, yanked him up and repeatedly slammed him into the ground.

Bam, bam, bam!

"No!! Stop… stop!!"

With debris flying everywhere, Xia Luo finally tossed the defeated Loki into a crater.

"Confirmed—he's not a clone."

"Understood."

Old Steve pounced, locking his elbow around Loki's neck.

"Take it easy; running out of air is normal," he reassured him.

Loki's face turned bright red as he struggled, pounding Steve's arm. "M-motherfa—"

"Hey, that language is beneath you. Leave that to Nick."

Whirr—

The Tesseract glowed as Norman and Professor Curt worked to dismantle the portal device.

As the light from the Tesseract dimmed, the massive wormhole above gradually began to close.

Just as the wormhole was shrinking, Tuxedo Loki directed the missile through it.

Boom

The nuclear missile soared into the wormhole, which closed completely, and everyone exhaled in relief.

"It's over." Nick Fury wiped his brow and sank into his chair.

Meanwhile, Tuxedo Loki returned to the rooftop of Stark Tower.

"I did it."

"I'm almost there too." Old Steve, still choking Loki, gritted his teeth. "Damn, he's tougher than he looks."

Horned Loki continued thrashing, making Tuxedo Loki look slightly uncomfortable.

Seeing himself struggle to death was, indeed, strange.

He sighed, coming to terms with the fact that his past self was beyond redemption.

"We're gods; our resilience is exceptional," he explained. "Humans can't kill us so easily."

"I'm working on it," Old Steve grumbled, tightening his grip.

"Good luck."

Tuxedo Loki joined Xia Luo, who was nearby.

"I have to know, why did Stark enter the portal with the nuke?" he asked, still baffled.

After getting a taste of playing hero, Loki's memories were becoming clearer.

Xia Luo glanced up at the sky, now calm and clear. "The wormhole was closing, and the missile wasn't fast enough. Without Stark's suit to boost its speed, it wouldn't have made it."

"Ah… that makes sense. But I bet his suit malfunctioned afterward."

Loki smiled a bit. "I'm glad I lost to him."

He hesitated. "You've won a resurrection round before—what happens when you succeed?"

"A notification tells you the mission's complete."

"Then why haven't I seen anything?" Loki frowned.

"Maybe because the match timer hasn't expired yet." Xia Luo's response was distant.

Things had gone a bit too smoothly, making him uneasy. If earning a resurrection slot was this easy, the replays had been pointless.

Something felt off.

Sure enough, Spider Sense screamed in warning, but he couldn't pinpoint where the danger lay.

"Look! What's that?"

Old Steve's shout drew their attention to the space where the wormhole had been. A familiar, dark portal began to form.

Then, as if hurled back by some unseen force, the nuke from deep space shot out of the portal toward them.

"What?!"

Every nerve in Xia Luo's body went on high alert.

In that instant, he understood Dark Stephen's true goal.

The prize wasn't merely one resurrection slot.

He wanted all of them!

The moment Xia Luo realized this, blinding white light engulfed them. The entire city was swallowed in the weapon's devastating power.

—

[You have been eliminated, unable to obtain resurrection slot, rewarded with Original Web Mode +1.]

[Remaining retries: 12. Retry?]

Retry!

Eighth Resurrection Round

Under the night sky on top of the antenna tower, Xia Luo tested his web proteins, feeling the changes.

By now, he'd unlocked every color in the collection.

No way it's going to be rainbow black again!

Thwip!

Shooting a web, he watched the white thread vanish into thin air and then latch onto something.

Xia Luo: "???"

Cautiously, he tugged the thread, finding it was securely attached… to empty space.

Spatial webbing?

His face broke into a grin—this thing was absurdly overpowered.

Just how he liked it.

With that, he leapt forward.

Whoosh—

As the wind whipped past, he fired another web into the void, seamlessly soaring through the air.

Soon enough, a shimmering network of webs spread across the sky, defying physics as they anchored themselves to empty space. He lay back on his new "hammock," enjoying the novelty.

Right—almost forgot the mission.

Springing up from his web, Xia Luo dove toward Hamlet Street Theater.

The spatial webs let him swing freely across any terrain, allowing him to glide smoothly while adjusting his speed to avoid hitting the ground.

What followed was the same repetitive sequence, by now numbing.

After a long night, Xia Luo led the team far from Stark Tower to avoid Dark Stephen wiping them all out in one move.

At dawn, he took the group back to Stark Tower.

"Look, the portal's open!"

Old Steve pointed at the massive wormhole widening over the city. He watched as a shadow disappeared inside, gasping, "Someone actually went in!"

Xia Luo nodded slightly. "Stick to the plan."

"Got it."

With Dark Stephen gone, they could act freely.

They reached the rooftop quickly. After dealing with Horned Loki, Xia Luo took the Tesseract.

As the wormhole began to close, he tossed the Tesseract to Tuxedo Loki.

"Hurry to Kamar-Taj and find the Ancient One."

"Got it—wait for me."

Holding the Tesseract, Loki vanished through a small portal. Old Steve glanced around nervously.

"Spider-Kid, are you sure the Ancient One will help us?"

"Absolutely." Xia Luo grinned. "The only thing that can beat magic is magic. I can't think of anyone better suited to take down that guy."

He suspected Dark Stephen had let Loki open the portal so he could slip through to the Chitauri home base and kill their soldiers for a resurrection slot.

Without coordinates, even Dark Stephen would struggle to find them in the vastness of space; Loki was his only way.

Then there was the nuke, which could eliminate both contestants and Avengers, granting him two more slots.

Dark Stephen had thought of everything.

He might even intend to kill Thanos to secure a fourth resurrection slot.

One thing didn't add up, though: why kill Tony and Steve early?

As he pondered, a portal reappeared, and Tuxedo Loki emerged alone.

"Didn't they agree?"

Seeing Loki return empty-handed, Old Steve's gut sank.

Loki opened his mouth, but before he could speak, several portals sparked to life around them.

A squadron of Kamar-Taj sorcerers stepped through.

"Hello, I'm Wong, disciple of the Ancient One."

Dressed in a red-purple robe, the rotund sorcerer stepped forward to introduce himself. Xia Luo nodded.

"I'm Xia Luo Parker. Where's the Ancient One?" He had a bad feeling.

The sorcerers' expressions grew solemn.

"The Ancient One… fell during the battle with the Dark Sorcerer," Wong said, his face shadowed with grief.

"What?"

Xia Luo slapped his forehead. Without the Ancient One, Dark Stephen was practically unstoppable.

"When did this happen?"

"Last night, near a warehouse outside of New York. She sacrificed herself to save Tony Stark." Wong's tone was somber.

"A warehouse?"

Xia Luo raised an eyebrow, recalling the signs of dark magic he'd noticed at the warehouse where Tony and Steve had fought.

Dark Stephen didn't need dimensional magic to kill them, so was the Ancient One battling him at that moment?

Realizing he'd missed his chance, he felt like he'd lost everything.

If he'd held out just a little longer, maybe the Ancient One would've arrived in time to save him.

No—she hadn't been able to beat Dark Stephen either. She wouldn't have saved him.

Yet, Wong's words revealed something crucial.

"Why did the Ancient One save Tony?" he asked.

Wong hesitated, then explained, "She foresaw the Dark Sorcerer would come at this time."

"In her vision, only Tony Stark could defeat him."

Hearing this, Xia Luo frowned.

He didn't doubt the prophecy.

If the Ancient One saw Tony as the deciding factor, Dark Stephen likely knew it too.

That's why his target was Tony, with Steve's death as collateral damage.

At last, everything made sense.

Old Steve, however, was skeptical. "But Tony's dead. How can he defeat Dark Stephen now?"

Wong shook his head. "I don't know the secret."

A heavy silence fell over the group.

"Oh no—look!"

Tuxedo Loki shattered the quiet, pointing toward the approaching fire in the sky.

"The portal's been closed for a while. Why did they still launch this? It doesn't make sense."

Xia Luo, having anticipated this, replied, "Actually, it does. If the nuke wasn't Dark Stephen's doing, he couldn't complete two tasks at once."

"So, he planned all of this?"

Old Steve felt a wave of helplessness wash over him.

A Dark Sorcerer who could weaponize modern technology? Truly terrifying.

"Tuxedo God, send this thing to an uninhabited desert," Xia Luo directed.

Loki hesitated, "Wouldn't it be better to send it to the Chitauri ships in space and take that guy out?"

"Not if you want him to send it right back here."

"Right. I forgot he's a sorcerer too."

Loki flew toward the missile, rerouting it to a desert on the other side of the planet.

Soon, he returned to the rooftop.

"All done."

He hesitated before adding, "There are only two resurrection slots now. How do we divide them?"

"I'm glad you brought it up."

Xia Luo shrugged. "You and the old man can split them; don't worry about me."

Loki's expression softened.

Is this what it means to be a selfless hero?

Damn… I'm actually touched.

Old Steve, equally moved, protested, "No, you need it more than I do. I'd just be wasting it."

Nearby, Wong and the other sorcerers exchanged confused glances.

"You're talking about concert tickets?"

Wong leaned over and whispered to Xia Luo, "I've never been to one—could you save a ticket for me?"

Xia Luo gave him an odd look. "Not great timing, is it? The Ancient One just passed."

"That's why I asked in private," Wong replied.

Xia Luo: "..."

As time passed, Xia Luo ceased his efforts.

Without the Ancient One or Tony, who was destined to turn the tide, this match was a lost cause.

In truth, obtaining a resurrection slot wasn't difficult for Xia Luo in this match.

But after seeing Symbiote Tony and Thanos, he realized that his back-to-back matches were set in the same multiverse for a reason.

The chances of encountering terrifying opponents would stay high.

Despite having the restart feature, his odds of soloing this were low.

Reliable allies were essential.

And both Symbiote Tony and Thanos were powerful allies who he couldn't just let die at Dark Stephen's hands.

If he returned to this world in a future match, these connections would increase his odds.

At that moment, he felt something click.

Oh no—he was getting too good at this.

—

[You have been eliminated, unable to obtain resurrection slot, rewarded with Original Web Mode +1.]

[Remaining retries: 11. Retry?]

Retry!

Ninth Resurrection Round

With preparations mostly done, Xia Luo resolved that this would be his final restart.

He leapt from the rooftop, firing webs into the void as he soared toward Hamlet Street Theater.

Before Tuxedo Loki arrived, he snagged the scepter from Horned Loki and hurried to the cliffs outside the city.

Boom!

Not long after, thunder rumbled in the night as the God of Thunder descended to Earth.

"Loki, you're my brother—why are you doing this?"

Thor roared as Horned Loki emerged from the shadows.

"I already know the truth. We're not even blood."

"No, that's not true! Come back and face Father—you can be forgiven."

"Fine, but not the way you think."

Horned Loki glanced back, a strange smile forming as the Tesseract glowed in his hands.

Whirr—

Instantly, a small portal swallowed Thor, and Xia Luo dove right in.

Loki had noticed him and done it on purpose.

Xia Luo was also there on purpose.

"Hahaha, welcome to my world!"

The desolate planet stretched around them, Horned Loki smiling triumphantly as an endless Chitauri army appeared at his call.

"Loki, you tricked me again!"

Thor roared in fury, raising his hammer high as bolts of lightning struck down on the Chitauri.

Xia Luo, meanwhile, sprinted toward a familiar figure in the crowd.

"I surrender," he said to Ebony Maw.

Ebony Maw: "…"

---

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you spot any mistakes or inconsistencies!

If you wish to support me or read ahead here's a link! [patreon.com/WiseTL]