Chapter 104: Prodigy
Chapter 104: Prodigy
AN: Sorry for the delay, was pretty busy with a bunch of overtime T_T
Anyway, here is the chapter! Enjoy!
------------------
Chapter 104: Prodigy
Looking at Leah happily cheering for the Spider-Men, Benjamin silently smiled at her.
If it is indeed as he thought, Leah is most likely the so-called ‘Prodigy’ Spider Totem.
When Benjamin remembered Peter’s shy look before when they called him the ‘Prodigy’, Benjamin nodded.
Yep, this makes more sense than that guy being the ‘Prodigy’.
But this leaves Benjamin with a decision.
Should he let Leah undergo Terrigenisis or wait until she gets older?
Benjamin knew that there were pros and cons to her awakening her Inhuman powers this early.
For one, she would be able to train her abilities early on and get used to her powers as she gets older.
But this will also take the ‘normal’ life for her as she will forever change into ‘something’ else.
And while Benjamin had created an environment where Mutants, Inhumans, and such aren’t as alienated as in the past, there were still some small groups of extremists who believed humans are the supreme race and the others are an infection in mankind.
Of course, those guys quietly disappear soon after they try to surface thanks to ‘HYDRA’ or the Thieves Guild.
As for freedom of speech? He let them talk first, didn’t he?
Besides, they weren’t killed. They were merely sent to a ‘Correction Facility’ so they could…rethink their views of the world.
Often times these people are just misguided or merely joining for the sake of joining. There were very few that absolutely adhered to their racist mentality.
They aren’t kept there for life either. Just a week. After that, and they still think the same as before, there’s nothing he can do about it. Just let them keep protesting all their life. And if they decide to turn to crime, they will be apprehended the same as any other criminal.
That aside, Benjamin pondered for a moment before deciding to ask for Leah’s opinion.
In any case, whether Leah awakens her Inhuman powers or not, the decision should be left to her.
“Leah, do you also want to become like them?”
“Hm? You mean, like become Spider-Man!?”
Benjamin nodded.
“Yes. Like Spider-Man. But you need to know, this isn’t just simply getting powers and that’s it. Even if you were to do nothing, you would still no longer be ‘normal’. Feel free to think about it for a while.”
“No! I want to be like Spider-Man now!”
“...”
Well, figures a child won’t think much about it.
Benjamin sighed.
He thought about asking her guardian instead but she didn’t really have any. Peter’s hardly considered one and while Benjamin thinks he can make the right decision, it was still important for Leah to decide as well.
Benjamin thought for a moment before deciding.
Anyway, even with Leah not being awakened, beings like Solus and the Inheritors can already ‘sniff’ her out to be a Spider Totem.
Perhaps at that instant when Peter found her and Benjamin saving her, she was destined to no longer live a normal life.
In that case, it was better for her to awaken early and start training her abilities.
Having decided, Benjamin put her down and took out the Terrigen Crystal he took from Solus earlier.
“Stay put and relax okay? This will just take a few moments.”
Benjamin lightly tapped his feet on the ground and created an earthen wall that surrounded Leah on all sides.
After that, he tossed the crystal inside and covered the top.
Inside, he could hear Leah panicking a bit so he calmed her down with his voice.
“Calm down. Take a deep breath. It will soon be over.”
There was no answer.
It seems that she has already started the Terrigenisis process.
Meanwhile, in the battlefield between the Spiders and the Inheritors.
Peter, clad in his black symbiote suit, was barraging the Solus clone with all his might.
MJ had also joined him and along with her symbiote suit, the two of them were pressuring Solus without a problem.
“ENOUGH! I AM NOT GOING TO BE DEFEATED BY MERE INSECTS!”
Peter groaned.
“For the love of- I keep telling this! Spiders are-”
“-Arachnids!”
Miguel continued Peter’s quip as he delivered a swing punch at Solus.
Peter looked at him in confusion.
Sensing his gaze, Miguel shrugged.
“What? I’m also a Spider-Man. I quip sometimes too.”
“Nice.”
While the two were talking, Gwen crashed beside them as he was blown away by a Morlun clown.
“Guys! When you’re done comparing quips, we could really use some help!”
Peter shot a web at Morlun’s face and charged ahead.
“It’s a coping mechanism of Spider-Men! Can’t help it!”
Miguel followed and charged towards Morlun as well with his arm blades extended.
“No, that’s just you Peters. I do it since everyone keeps telling me to lighten up!”
MJ swung past them and rolled her eyes.
“Less flirting. More fighting!”
Peter crossed his arms and shot two strings of webs at two Inheritors at the side before pulling them hard and smashing them towards Solus who joined their little skirmish.
Of course, he didn’t forget to not shut up.
“Aww MJ, were you jealous?”
MJ’s eyes narrowed and a symbiote spike shot from her hand and pierced through an Inheritor that sneaked up behind Peter.
“I’m so jealous I might just go find Captain Freed!”
“...Shutting up now.”
Peter stopped speaking and quickly focused on the battle at hand.
MJ snorted with a triumphant look.
Gwen looked at her in amazement.
“Wow, you managed to shut up a Peter. That’s amazing!”
“...”
Gwen then looked around and asked.
“Speaking of, where’s Capt. Freed?”
“He’s taking care of little Benjie and Leah.”
Miguel thought for a moment then asked as well.
“Won’t things be faster if that guy joins the fight and we take care of those two?”
Peter answered.
“Oh, this is his usual thing. Whenever Capt. Freed takes the back seat, it means there’s no big threat in the fight and we can fight to our heart’s content to gain experience. You should be more worried if he joins the fight.”
Gwen nodded as well since she had stayed in their world for longer and knew how Benjamin works.
She pointed at the side.
“Look, see. Whenever someone from our side is about to lose, their enemies would suddenly halt or trip for some reason, giving time for our side to regroup and counterattack.”
Miguel and MJ looked to where she was pointing and saw one of the Spider-Men who seemed to be of Indian descent stumble and about to be killed by an Inheritor.
Suddenly, the Inheritor trip unnaturally in mid-air.
Looking closely, they saw a vine emerging from the ground and entangling the Inheritor’s feet.
This gave the Indian Spider-Man time to stand up again and fight back.
“...”
Both Miguel and MJ were speechless.
MJ suddenly stopped fighting when she saw this.
“Huh, and here I was still worried over the fight. Since that’s the case, I’ll just focus on taking pictures for my article.”
“...”
This time, Gwen and Peter were speechless.
Not just them, but Benjamin as well.
He had been listening to them since earlier when they were discussing him. Anyway, he had nothing to do while waiting for Leah to complete the Terrigenisis so he was helping out a bit.
What was even more outrageous was that MJ, now knowing she’s completely safe, started to approach Solus with her phone acting as a voice recorder on one hand and having a symbiote tentacle hold her camera while filming.
“Mr. Solus! Can I have an interview? What exactly made you think of attacking the Spider-people in the multiverse? Please give me a comment!”
“???”
The Solus clone was completely confused and speechless.
Who am I? Where am I? Why am I being interviewed in the middle of a war?
What’s more, Peter and the others also stopped attacking him to give him some space for the interview!
He couldn’t remember it but it seems he somehow gave an answer unconsciously.
Their fight continued after MJ left so he stopped thinking about it.
After that, MJ took off and went to interview a few other Spider-Men and some Inheritors.
She even interviewed Cosmic Spider-Man who was just as confused.
A strange sight of people stopping their fights in the middle of the war as MJ continued her interviews.
While laughing at the sight, Benjamin felt some movement in the stone chamber he created.
Leah was awakening!
Benjamin removed the stone chamber walls and waited for Leah to emerge.
The instant a crack appeared on her husk, every Spider-Men in the vicinity felt their Spider Senses tingling!
“What…!?”
Cosmic Spider-Man was shocked at how his Spider Sense suddenly rang bells in his head.
It wasn’t the type that warned him of danger. But rather…he could vaguely feel that a powerful Spider Totem was just born.
It wasn’t just them who felt it, but the Inheritor clones as well!
Only, to them, it was as if they were still eating street foods before, and suddenly, they smelled an A5 Wagyu beef being cooked!
They all ignored the Spider-people they were engaged in a fight and quickly went for a mad dash toward that delicious smell!
Benjamin raised a brow at their reaction and sneered.
He lifted his hand and pulled out a sword he recently got from the System.
The next moment, a pitch-black sword appeared in his hand.
The sword had veins here and there which showed that this wasn’t an ordinary sword made of metal, but rather, a symbiote sword!
It was none other than the All-Black.The Godslayer. The Necrosword!
Solus’ eyes widened in shock when he saw the sword and despite the delicacy wafting on his nose, he sunk his feet deep into the ground to force himself to stop and quickly turned around.
However, it was too late.
Benjamin stabbed the sword into the ground and soon, countless black blades appeared beneath the Inheritors, impaling them in an instant!
As Solus was impaled, he was still in shock.
“No…! How…Why!? WHY DO YOU HAVE ‘HIS’ SWORD!?”
Benjamin shrugged.
“His sword? I don’t know what you mean, this is my sword. It’s better than Knull’s Necrosword that corrupts those who wield it.”
As an item from the System, the usual drawbacks of the Necrosword were non-existent!
Because of that, he can freely use it without worries.
With this weapon, he can go against the likes of Galactus or Knull if they ever decide to show up.
With the scene finally quiet after his show of power, Benjamin turned his focus onto Leah who was slowly starting to awaken.
Finally, the last shell of her husk dropped and her eyes opened.
The ‘Prodigy’ has emerged!