Shiller yanked Constantine sharply, dodging his head from the bullet, but the bullet still managed to hit Constantine's shoulder. Shiller raised his gun to counterattack, but Shadow Spider-Man dodged nimbly. Scarlet Spider-Man lunged forward using the alley wall, and Shiller dodged, activating the laser dagger to slash at his arm.
Shadow Spider-Man reached out, spraying black spider silk from his wrist directly onto Shiller's arm. Shiller was pulled off balance and the dagger veered off course.
Shiller immediately threw the dagger to his other hand, cut off the spider silk, and stabbed toward Scarlet Spider-Man's lower abdomen again. But Shadow Spider-Man raised his gun, and a bullet shot into Shiller's waist.
Shiller grunted, not only did his movements not stop, they became faster. In an instant, he slashed across Scarlet Spider-Man's thigh. The laser cut didn't bleed due to the extreme heat but emitted a scorched smell.
Scarlet Spider-Man didn't scream; he just stepped back silently and then punched again.
Shiller dodged by bending over, then stabbed toward his chest. As he sidestepped, Shiller kicked his side, and another laser forced Shadow Spider-Man back. Shadow Spider-Man took two steps back and fired a shot, and Shiller didn't even dodge, chasing Scarlet Spider-Man and stabbing him again in the waist and abdomen. The wound was long and deep, with intestines spilling out.
"Kaine!" Shadow Spider-Man shouted.
But Scarlet Spider-Man seemed not to feel pain at all, kicking Shiller back and immediately punching again. Shiller couldn't completely dodge the blow and was directly knocked away. The shield flashed brightly but shattered in an instant.
"Cough, cough..." With just this hit, nearly all of Shiller's ribs on the left side broke, and surely a few pierced into his lung, immediately making him feel a drowning suffocation.
In a blink of an eye, he charged forward like a train, crashing into Kaine Spider-Man's chest, not knocking him away but embracing him tightly to the ground and stabbing into his heart.
"No!!!!"
Kaine Spider-Man immediately turned into a white light. Shadow Spider-Man fired three shots, and Shiller didn't dodge, even as one of these three bullets pierced his heart. The life support system emitted a sharp alarm, yet he sped towards Shadow Spider-Man with a speed hard for ordinary people to perceive.
Shadow Spider-Man's Spider-sense blared wildly, but the alley was too narrow, and there was nowhere to dodge. He could only use his spider silk to attach to a wall and try to fly up. But Shiller directly reached out and threw the laser dagger, cutting off the silk.
The next second, he slammed Shadow Spider-Man into the wall.
"Bang!"
"Ugh!!!!"
Shadow Spider-Man's ribs also broke, and his injuries were no lighter than Shiller's. The other two Spider-Men, held back by Constantine's various spells and tools, quickly came to assist, but this gave Constantine a chance to pull Shiller out.
Blood foamed from Shiller's mouth, and unable to breathe due to blood choking his windpipe, it became utterly difficult for him to breathe. Constantine quickly took out the Eye of Agomoto, and with a flash of healing white light, Shiller took a deep breath.
At this time, the two sides had swapped positions. Shiller and Constantine reached the alley's entrance, running out quickly, with Spider-Man still chasing behind.
Captain Universe soon caught up, but just as he was about to stop them, numerous spaceships blocked the sky. The ships bore the same insignia, clearly belonging to one faction, with cannons aimed directly at the few Spider-Men.
"Intruder! You have entered private territory, please leave immediately! Intruder! You have entered private territory, please leave immediately!"
The number of ships grew, eventually filling the entire sky, each cannon barrel aimed at the few. But Shiller and Constantine managed to rush through successfully.
Shadow Spider-Man cursed, calling Captain Universe back and said, "There might be reinforcements in that tower; don't force it, let's head back first."
Captain Universe glanced unwillingly at the Central Tower; destroying these ships and the entire building would take merely minutes for him, but on one hand, he's not some evil demon capable of mass slaughter; on the other hand, the command center required them to keep a low profile to maintain social impact.
The Spider-Men retreated, but Shiller and Constantine also weren't in good shape. Time was limited earlier, and the healing was incomplete; after such a run, Shiller felt as if he was running out of lungs.
"Cough, cough, cough!!!" Shiller had a fit of violent coughing, followed by dry heaves, spitting out clots of blood he had swallowed before, his airway feeling like it was on fire.
Constantine cracked a rare smile and said, "How does it feel? Congratulations, you've experienced the daily life of a lung cancer patient."
Shiller took out a syringe and gave himself a morphine shot. After the pain relief took effect, he felt slightly better but still couldn't catch his breath and even walking became laborious.
If not for the fact that the Spider-Men had no intelligence on him and attempted to fight head-on, and Shadow Spider-Man using his revolver, not deadly but sufficient to cause significant pain, to stack buffs on Shiller, they might not have escaped, let alone taken down a Spider-Man.
Despite the good results, Shiller couldn't help but curse inwardly, "With Spider-sense, such strength, and under serious injuries, being able to shatter a fully charged Kree Empire personal shield with one punch, God must have focused on art design and used his foot to balance the stats!"
Little did they know, Shadow Spider-Man was also cursing; he's never seen anyone survive a full-on punch from Spider-Man, let alone someone who charged at Spider-Man and nearly shattered him!
Shiller actually took five shots! Five shots! And still managed to ram and pin him against the wall. Is that reasonable?!
Shiller stood in place for a moment, feeling somewhat recovered, then lifted his foot to move forward, and in the next second, his vision went black.
When he awoke again, he was lying on a hospital bed. Black-haired Constantine was at the window talking to blonde-haired Constantine. Shiller sat up in bed, realizing that the pain and suffocation in his chest had completely vanished.
"Oh, you're awake." Constantine from the Prime Universe walked over and said, "Don't worry, it's safe here. Tolos arranged the best ward for you; you should recover quickly."
"Tolos is the owner of the Central Tower?"
"That's right. He's also one of the investors of this planet. But he left for some business and isn't here right now. However, it's quite safe here, Batman should find you soon."
Shiller touched his pocket; fortunately, the Infinity Gem was still inside. The dark-haired Constantine seemed still immersed in some kind of shock, not yet recovering.
After Prime Universe Constantine left, the dark-haired Constantine sat by Shiller's bedside and said, "Do you know about Tolos... I mean... ah..."
"Don't be surprised, there will be even more shocking things in the future," Shiller shook his head and said.
"He is really an octopus," Constantine emphasized, "an actual octopus! A real octopus!"
"I understand." Shiller lifted the blanket and got out of the hospital bed, then continued, "Unfortunately, we won't be able to stay here much longer."
"Why?"
"There's a powerful figure among the Spider-Men who came; you've dealt with him before. To catch us, he'll definitely go to the boss of the Central Tower, and that octopus probably can't beat him."
"Will he turn us in?"
"We better leave on our own. Otherwise, Prime Universe Constantine won't be able to operate comfortably here."
Constantine also understood the logic. Prime Universe Constantine might have some vague connections with the octopus, but as the saying goes, everyone moves for profit. Tolos, as the black market boss, is definitely profit-driven.
The Spider-Men, realizing they can't force their way in, will surely report to the command center, which will coordinate relations, whether by using the Holy Sanctuary or seeking connections in Asgard, they will soon contact Tolos and request he turn them over.
Tolos can't afford to offend the Human race just because of his relationship with Prime Universe Constantine. After all, the Human race just won a major victory and is in the spotlight, with strong individuals like Captain Universe on his planet. Even for his own life, he has to comply.
Prime Universe Constantine will definitely try to stop him; the two might directly fall out, but Prime Universe Constantine stays here mainly to help Batman with fishing tasks, while collecting intelligence. Tolos is a very useful ally.
If they fall out because of this, the actual loss will be in Batman's intelligence resources, and the final outcome will still be being turned in, with no hope left at that point.
So, it's better to recover a bit and run, avoiding conflicts and retaining a sliver of hope.
Thus, they hurriedly went downstairs again, but this time, they got themselves a spaceship from the Central Tower, which had invisibility functions. They could fly it to the backside of the planet to hide for a while.
As for why not leave directly, because the blockade by the Interstellar Security Committee hasn't been lifted, and this small spaceship doesn't have warp function, even if they run they won't get far, better to find a place to hide.
The backside of this planet isn't a bustling marketplace, but rather a complex mining site, where resources had already been exhausted long ago, with few ever going there now.
This is precisely the hideout Shiller and Constantine needed; they had to drag things out until the blockade was lifted, or Batman located their exact position and sent reinforcements.
The two delved into the mine shaft, walked downwards through its complexity, with no one knowing where the next fork would lead. They turned and turned within, eventually unsure of their location.
Meanwhile, the Spider-Men had also caught up, not relying on Spider-sense this time, but rather the Scarlet Spider-Man Kane's special ability called "Kaine's Mark." Anyone he touches leaves a handprint, which other Spider-sense possessors can use to sense the other's location.
When Shiller killed Kane before, he had physical contact, leaving Kaine's mark on his arm, so despite the spaceship being invisible, it was fully exposed in the eyes of the Spider-Men.
Shiller began to sense something was wrong, feeling heat on his left forearm. He rolled up his sleeve to find a spider-shaped mark.
"What's this?" Constantine asked.
"Damn it," Shiller cursed. His intel was insufficient. The memory bank of the Tower of Thought contained a lot of Spider-Man-related information, mainly because there were too many Spider-Men; he was constantly on the run, with no time to read it. Additionally, Kane's ability was pretty obscure, seemingly mentioned just once in the comics.
"Your tattoo?" Constantine noticed a line of small text on Shiller's arm. He then asked again, "What does it mean?"
Shiller didn't answer him, only sped up his pace, but the Spider-Men traversed the mine shaft much faster than them. They had just turned a corner when they saw light ahead, too late to escape as the Evil Spirit Spiderman had already blocked their path.
Constantine raised his crossbow. Shiller also drew his revolver from his waist. The two stood back-to-back in the dark mine shaft.
"Weren't you curious about the meaning of the tattoo?"
"What is it?"
"Fight to the death."
But at this moment, the mine shaft the Evil Spirit Spiderman was in suddenly lit up as if it were daytime.
"Boom——"
A familiar engine roar echoed. With a "bang," the Evil Spirit Spiderman was directly knocked flying.
A black, menacingly-designed vehicle stopped at the intersection, metal boots stepped onto the ground, and the bat tag flashed with a cold gleam.