Issue 9: Testing a Mortal's Spirit

Skyworld

"Hmmm…What does it mean?" Palutena wanders around her temple, pondering deeply about a certain question Ero once told her before their mission involving Thanatos. ""The answer lies in the heart of battle" …." After another second of pondering, she exasperates in frustration. "I'm getting a headache! What the heck does that mean?!" She growls. "That guy! He can't make things simple for sweet, ol' me, huh? What battle is he even talking about? The battle against Medusa and Loki? No, it would probably be too obvious, knowing him. Hmmm…" She calms down to ponder once more. "He said if I answer this question, I might learn something about humanity's potential, and my own. I know humans have the potential of learning, but what else, and what potential do "I" possess?" She asked dishearteningly.

BGM-Grandia 2 OST-Fight!

During her depressive walk, Palutena stumble upon the training room to see the D-Avengers, Pit, and surprisingly Ero, in his humanoid form, taking partners to train with before they go off to fight Medusa in the final battle, "Training?"

The goddess stops to see Weiss thrust her rapier straight at Lucina. The exalt grinds the side of the blade with her own as she steps forward and immediately turns back to strike at Weiss. The heiress quickly deflected the blade and jumps into the air, firing multiple fireballs back down. Lucina flawlessly rolls away, quickly standing back up to reflect a fireball that knocks Weiss off the air, but the heiress immediately bounced from the ground to enter a flurry of close-quarter combat slashes with Lucina as she counters with the same maneuver, eventually leading the two an exhausted stalemate.

"Want to take a break…?" Weiss asked while panting heavily.

"What? You tired already?" Lucina smirked while panting tirelessly.

"Didn't think so?" Weiss smirked as they resume their training session.

Nearby, Sonic speeds around Ero really fast that he produces afterimages to distract him. Ero grunts, and in a split second, locates the real Sonic about to dive kick him from the air and effortlessly his attack, countering with a straight of his own that bounces Sonic off the wall, to the ground to rev up a quick spin dash and launches himself at the warrior spider, but the second he's about to connect, Sonic vanishes. Ero stands still, knowing full well the hedgehog is trying to confuse him. With his spider-sense, he senses Sonic about to reappear behind him, and was about to grab the blue ball until he immediately uncurled himself and kicks Ero, causing him to skid across the ground.

"Is that all?" Ero cockily asked the hedgehog.

"Nah. You haven't seen nothing yet." Sonic smirked as he revs up a spin dash, gathering energy to enter the neon-blue Light Speed Mode. "Readdddy?!"

"The light speed won't help you." Ero proclaimed.

"GO!" Sonic darts straight for Ero in a blinding blue light.

Ero counters by forming white web glyphs that act as portals to punch through and attack the light-speeding Sonic wherever he runs. The hedgehog narrowly dodges a teleporting stinger and leaps through a complicated web net that had no opening as he opens up a kick that Ero blocks with his three elbows, causing wind currents from their clash. The two smile at each other for a second before they continue fighting.

From the doors, Palutena smiles to see how formidable the heroes are, "The D-Avengers are definitely impressive fighters indeed…for mere mortals. Although…" She turns her attention to see Spider-Man training against his new pupil, Pit, showing him just how much the young angel has to learn before he could get on his level.

"C'mon. Can't you take this seriously for one second?" Pit asked, trying fight Spider-Man with the Palutena Bow blades but he easily sees through and blocks every single strike like an expert martial artist, making Pit looking like a Grade A amateur.

"I am taking this seriously." Peter replied while dodging an arrow shot. Spidey swiftly ducks under one of Pit's horizontal slashes to sweep kick him off his feet, then immediately kicks him in the chest, sending him flying while Peter web yanks his bow from his hands. "You're like Ruby. You rely too much on your weapons." He said, webbing the bow to the wall behind him. "Now let's see what you can do without them."

Pit screams as he darts for Spider-Man, landing an impressive side kick he blocks with his arm. "Whew. Not bad. But your kick still needs a little more "oomph"!" He said as he kicks Pit again.

"Okay, ow! In case you've forgotten, I don't have super strength!" Pit said.

"Neither does Daredevil, yet he can give me a run for my money. C'mon. We're not done yet." Spidey taunted Pit to strike at him once more, but when he does, a red barrier suddenly appears between them, knocking Pit to the ground when he accidently ran into it. "That wasn't part of the lesson." Spidey said, wondering who put up that shield in the middle of their training match.

BGM End

"You all seem to having a great time without me." Palutena finally made her presence known to the team as her red barrier disappears.

"Lady Palutena?" Pit responded to her sudden appearance.

"Oh goody. We need a cheerleader," Ero said sarcastically. "Why are you here, child?"

"I'm here for a little, uh, divine intervention." Palutena said, blushing.

"You want to train with us?" Lucina asked her.

"It's entirely unfair for all of you to have fun without me." Palutena replied.

"We're sorry, milady." Lucina respectively apologized.

"That's alright, Lucina. So, shall we get started?" Palutena clapped her hands together.

"Oh please. You're not a warrior. You'll just be wasting our time. Go back to the kitchen, or whatever women do." Ero said, soon regretting that as Palutena angrily pulls on his ear hidden behind his mask.

"I am no stranger to fighting, Ero! I can kick your spider butt any day of the week!" She said, obviously annoyed as she releases his ear.

Ero growls at her, "Fighting me results in your death, child!"

"Fine then! I'll fight one of our mortal friends instead!"

"Tch. Whatever. Who do you want to lose to first?" Ero insulted her.

"Hmmm…" Palutena puts her finger on her lips as she checks out all the Avengers to find out who to fight, and after a moment, she glances at Spider-Man. "I choose you, Spider-Man!" She thrusted her finger at him.

"Wha?"

"You seem quite capable to entertain me. And since Pit here wasn't giving you a challenge, I'll make it up as your opponent. And this isn't a simple training match, it's a full-out battle." Palutena said.

"Is this for all the times I made fun of you? I swear I didn't meant half of them." Spidey joked.

Palutena laughs, "Don't worry. I'll hold back enough to leave a couple of bruises and broken bones. Nothing life-threatening."

"Ah great." Spidey sighed, ready for his punishment while he cracks his neck.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Ero asked Palutena about her holding back.

"What?" She replied.

"There's no need to hold back."

"Why is that?"

"If you do, you'll die." Ero replied.

The goddess of light flinches at the thought that Spider-Man, a mortal who loves to goof around WAY too much, could really kill her if she's not careful. She turns back to stare at the web-slinger, who's distracted by himself stretching his legs, prepping himself for a fight against Palutena.

"That goes for you too, Spider-Man!" Ero turned to Peter.

"Wait. I wasn't paying attention. What are we talking about?" Peter asked as he stopped stretching his legs.

"This is a no-holds barred battle! Fight as if you're trying to KILL Palutena, nothing less! Use what I've taught you because I'm not helping you! Don't fight as a hero, fight as a warrior!" Ero instructed his host.

"And what if I actually kill her?"

"Meh." Ero casually shrugged his crossed arms.

"Meh?! What's wrong with you?!" Palutena shouted at the divine spider.

"Hey, you're the one who asked for this."

"Because of you!"

"Really?" Ero raised an eyebrow as he's messing around with the goddess, frustrating her to no end.

Meanwhile, Spidey pounds his fists together, ready for action, "Hehe. Don't worry. I'll try not to leave that big of a mess."

"Hmph." Palutena grunted. With a simple poke from her staff, she teleports everyone in the training room to a tall mountain somewhere in Skyworld.

"This should be interesting." Weiss comments as she hangs around with her friends.

Sonic chuckles, "I know. Give us a show, guys!" He shouted to the two combatants.

"Do your best, Lady Palutena!" Pit shouted.

BGM-Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 OST-Training Field

Palutena nods to her angel servant before turning her attention to Spider-Man, who seems distracted seeing if his web-shooters are working properly. 'Spider-Man, the mortal Avatar of the Great Weaver. I can sense there's much about you I'm unfamiliar with. A human, possessing the spark of divinity, with many dark secrets. Maybe this is that battle Ero wants me to participate. The opportunity to learn more about myself and humanity.' She slowly closes her eyes, and as she does, a halo shaped as blue wings appear behind her, gathering Peter's attention. "Spider-Man! I won't forgive you if you hold back!" She said as she twirls her staff.

"You seem oddly serious about this. Ah. Whatever. Ready when you are, Pally!" Spidey said as he takes the stance of a fully trained spider-warrior.

Ero stares at Palutena, who also stares and flirtatiously winks at him before the fight, leaving him uncomfortable and annoyed. 'Kek. It would be miracle if she learns anything from this. Ah well.' He thought in his head before announcing the beginning of the fight, "Warriors. Gather. And fight!"

"Here I come!" Spidey immediately starts with a long web zip that directly reels him in up close to Palutena.

'He's fast!' She said in her thoughts before creating an explosion off her feet seconds before Peter swings in for him to only strike the smoke she left behind.

Spidey sniffs the air for a second, then swipes away the scent with his hands, "Whew. Who knew old ladies could release a smelly?" He quipped, just to sense the multiple energy blasts coming from above.

"I am REALLY getting tired of you!" Palutena revealed her presence from the air while angrily shooting at Peter. Spidey quickly zips and leaps from the rapid godly onslaught. As he lands on his feet, his spider-sense warns him to a giant beam of light that's about to rise underneath him, forcing him to leap into the air to avoid getting blasted.

"Nice shot, granny." Spidey quipped until he was caught off-guard by Palutena shooting herself like a missile and head-butts Peter through the air while she's safe flying. "What senile idea, using yourself as a missile." Peter quipped. While he's falling, the web warrior shoots a couple of web shots Palutena twirls her staff to block. He then gets the idea to attach web line to her arm to zip across the air to launch a powerful punch, but it was blocked right when she formed a red barrier.

"C'mon. Is that the best you can do?" Palutena smirkingly taunts the webhead.

"Probably, but I'll keep searching for new ideas." He quipped while he vaults over her barrier and launches two weblines between her to the ground so he could yank himself in while unleashing a powerful kick to the goddess's chest that was strong enough to leave a medium sized crater upon impact.

"Wow. Spidey's holding his own against Lady Palutena." Pit remarked on the battle so far.

"You haven't seen nothing yet. That was just the warm up. The real battle begins now." Sonic grinned as he continues watching the fight between man and god.

Spidey watches closely as Palutena slowly stands up from the rubble, "Need help getting up, ma'am?"

"I swear, I'm gonna shut that mouth up for good!" Palutena growled.

"Try it!" Spidey smirked beneath his mask. He watches as Palutena shoots multiple explosive flames at Spidey's vicinity. "Too slow." He quipped as he easily dodges all the explosions while countering with his web barrage, but were reflected right back at him by her reflective barrier, forcing him to dodge his own attacks. "Anything else?" He quipped until he sensed her teleport right beside him. 'Teleportation?' He thought before he was smacked hard in the chest by the arm of her staff, sending him rolling across the mountain.

"Power of Lightweight! And Super Speed!" Palutena said, increasing her godly speed to look nearly invisible while she flies around Spidey.

"You can't outrun age, granny Pally!" He quipped to easily locate Palutena when she was about to strike him from the side, countering with a fist to the chest, but was immediately countered when she blinded his eyes with light. 'Gah. Can't see. Hard to focus on my spider-sense. Guess I'll have to rely on instinct.' Thanks to the Way of the Spider, Peter focuses entirely on instinct to flawlessly avoid all of Palutena's swings and blasts.

"Why can't I hit him?" Palutena asked herself until she received a backflip kick from a blinded Spidey as he flips a good distance from her.

'Alright, I studied her. From what I can tell, she's not very good at close-quarters combat. Oh man. Why aren't all gods this easy?" Peter asked in his mind as he slowly regains his vision. He glances at a nearby stone column and rips it apart with his webbing to use as a projectile at Palutena. Unsurprisingly, she destroys it before it could reach her, but through the smoke, Spidey appears in front of her. "Crawler Assault!" He shouted and immediately unleashes a flurry of destructive punches right onto her. When she had enough, Palutena blocked the ending kick with a pair of wings she generated. "Wings? Can Pit do that?"

"No!"

Spidey leaps off the wings to the air, leaving behind a spray of clever webbing Palutena didn't notice that kept her stuck to the ground, vulnerable to Spider-Man zipping back down with a power strike fist, or so he thinks as she managed to block the attack with her a frontal shield. This wasn't enough to stop Spidey though, as evident from his small chuckle and his blurry disappearance from sight.

"An afterimage?!" Palutena responded to the fake while the real Spidey appeared behind her and deliver a kick to the arm so hard it could've broken the bones of a single human, launching the goddess across the rocky grounds. 'He's a lot faster than I thought. Far stronger than I could've imagined. Yet still…"

BGM End

In a flash, Palutena teleports right in front of Spidey and collides her staff with his arm, causing a large crater to form beneath them upon impact, "You're still holding back!" She finished, noticing Peter is still holding back his full strength.

"This is…more than enough." Spidey said while struggling to fling away the staff that's keeping him pinned down to the ground.

"I don't care! Get serious!" Palutena starts to sound frustrated as she swings her staff at Peter's ribs, knocking him through the ground but quickly recovers on his feet. "I need to know your strength! My strength!" She starts throwing humongous blue fireballs that Spidey avoids, narrowly dodging one that burns his foot. "Show me! Show me what humanity's greatest has to offer!"

"I've never seen her this worked up before." Pit remarked on Palutena's eagerness to see Spidey's full power.

"Is something the matter?" Lucina asked him.

"I'm not sure. Ero?" Pit turns to the god spider silently watching the fight. "O…K then. Good talk."

"Show me! I need to the know the limits of my power and responsibilities as a god! Do it, or you will perish!" Palutena demanded, launching an extremely powerful and large energy sphere that could probably kill Peter if he doesn't do something.

BGM-Dragon Ball Super OST-The Birth of a God

While Peter faces down the large energy sphere that could be his doom, he thinks back to his time in Beacon Academy, where he once fought a good friend of his, Pyrrha Nikos who also wanted to know the limits of her abilities, 'I want to see what my limits are, Peter. I knew you were strong, and I want to see just how far I can go, and how far I can push myself. That's why I don't want you to hold back on me. Get serious, and show me how far I can go!'

As Spidey slowly gains the will to stand up against the energy sphere, his lenses turn light blue and temporarily take a beast-like slitted shape. As his costume flares up to a majestic flaming violet cloak that almost resembles a spider, his voice goes deep, and with a single loud roar that sounds like a beast, he blows away the large sphere, scattering the wind all across the battlefield, almost blowing away his friends and opponent from his sheer force alone.

"Is that…?" Weiss stares in awe at Spidey's returning spider transformation.

"Aura Arachnid Mode…" Sonic answered.

"Aura…Arachnid..." Palutena slowly repeated, causing her to think back to Spider-Man's first appearance in her world, using the same form to finish off Twinbellows. 'This…This pressure. It feels…It…It can't be…Perfect Synchro…' She thought, terrified to learn a mortal mastered a rare divine technique that allowed him to achieve this form.

Ero continues to stay silent as he watches this whole fight, 'Go, Peter!'

In a simple devastating flash that's impossible to track down, Aura Arachnid Spidey blitz Palutena, delivering a fast combo of sharp claws that instantly destroys her staff without her reacting. As she turns to wonder what is going on anymore, Spidey uppercuts her straight from her jaw high into the air and follows her, instantly forming several flying kicks through her while ensnaring her in a series of webbing, leaving her trapped while Peter produces four giant aura arms from his back, all aiming to pound Palutena to the ground so hard it leaves a massive crater and a crack on the mountain.

"Err…I'm not done yet! Show me the true power of a mortal!" Palutena requested, summoning a large black hole to keep Spidey in mid-air, then rushes higher above him to shoot a large Mega Laser at him. With his aura expanding to new heights that shakes the heavens, catching the attention of all gods to sense his will, and a loud roar that can be heard for all mortals to feel, Spidey manages to break free from the black hole while his aura dispels the giant laser as he lands back on the ground.

"Let's go, Palutena!" Spidey speaks, intending to end this battle.

"Don't cry if you get hurt!" Palutena smirked, summoning a new staff to perform her final attack. "Prepare to eat my Palutena Glam Blaster!"

"Did she really have to add her name to the attack?" Weiss remarked.

On both hands, Spidey charges a light-powered energy sphere and a dark-powered energy sphere respectively and merges them together to form a larger, greenish-purple energy sphere. "Kumo…HADOKEN!" He launches a large beam that's surrounded by webbing straight at Palutena.

"Now! Palutena Clobber Laser!" Palutena shouted as she launches her very large beam of her own.

"I thought it was a glam-!" Pit immediately shut up when the two overly powered beams collided, almost blowing him and his friends off the mountain. The two beams are equal in strength, with neither giving in to the other, but Palutena starts to struggle and lose balance while Spidey remains calm and focus throughout it all, and before you know it, he unleashes one last shout of his will and completely overpowers her beam and Palutena herself.

'This is the potential of a mortal…I had no idea…!' She said as the beam envelops her entirely, causing a humongous explosion. Seconds later, through the smoke, an unconscious Palutena falls from the heavens.

BGM End

"Lady Palutena! Lady Palutena" Pit shouted as he helplessly sees her fall down, but thankfully, in a flash, Aura Spider-Man gently saves her through mid-air and carefully lands on the ground.

As the other Avengers run up to check on her, Palutena slowly opens her eyes to Spidey's as he uses his aura to heal her. "Warn ya." He said before depowering back to normal, gently putting her down on her feet.

"Lady Palutena! Are you alright?!" Pit frantically asked her.

"I'm alright, Pit. Really." Palutena said with an assuring smile.

Meanwhile, Weiss punches Peter's arm, "You idiot! You almost killed her!"

"She asked for it. Literally. It's not my fault." Spidey replied while tending his arm.

"Why did you ask him to go all out?" Sonic asked the goddess.

"I just wanted to, uh, learn something." Palutena replied.

"Like what?" Lucina asked.

"You know, uh, to see how powerful he'll be against Medusa. Yeah." She lied.

"What? You mean the other times I whooped butt didn't impress you? You really don't have much confidence in me, do ya?" Spidey asked.

"Not really."

"You're weird."

"Don't call a goddess "weird"!"

Spidey shrugged, "Whatever. Let's head back so we can prep up for our battle against snakehead." He said as he leads the D-Avengers and Pit back home, leaving just Ero and Palutena by themselves.

The goddess growls as she walks toward Ero to smack him in the head. "Gah! What was that for?!" He angrily asked.

"You didn't tell me Spider-Man knew Perfect Synchro!" Palutena said to him.

"So you don't like surprises? Fine then! I guess you should know I've also learned Perfect Synchro around the same time as him." Ero replied.

"But how? Perfect Synchro is the mastery of one's light and darkness and uniting them together for unbelievable power! No god besides Odin of Spider-Man's world has attained it! So how did a mortal LIKE Spider-Man achieve it?" Palutena asked.

"It's because he's a mortal is why he obtained such power." Ero calmly replied.

"Huh?"

"Didn't you sense his "will" during your fight? It continues to evolves after every challenge. Every hardship he's ever endured. Making him stronger and stronger in spirit with no limit in sight, making him the pinnacle of human potential. No god, no matter how powerful, will never experience the same pain as him. The loss. You have no idea the trials he has suffered that made him the MAN he is now." Ero explained to Palutena about Peter's, and to a certain extent, humanity's great potential in growth.

"I…" Palutena stares at the ground, depressed, having no clue the painful trials Peter has endured and overcame over the years that granted him inner strength that can rival gods.

"It would seem a spark of humanity has been inserted to your soul. You're learning. Continue learning from the boy. Maybe there might be hope for this world after all. But for now, we have business to take care of. It's time we hunt down our mutual prey." Ero said, referring to Medusa, ready to defeat her once and for all.

"Right!" Palutena said, determined to stop her arch enemy once and for all.


BGM-Kid Icarus Uprising OST-Opening

Spider-Man: Hey, it's Spider-Man! Oh yeah! This is it! We're ready for ya, Medusa! It's time we trim that hideous hair of yours! But is it just me, or does this adventure seem a bit too easy? I'm not liking the feel of this. My days are never too easy. Where's Loki, and who's he REALLY working with?

Next time on D-Avengers: God Mission:

Decisive Battle?! Medusa!

Spider-Man: The Three Sacred Treasures has nothing on my armor! Oh yeah!


KFX Here: What are your thoughts on the Spidey vs. Palutena fight? If you want to know what the "Kumo" means when Spidey used "Kumo Hadoken", it's the Japanese text for "spider". Heh? Get it! I'm creative like that! And yes, Peter did learn the Hadoken from Ryu, ALL THE WAY back at the beginning of "Battle for Remnant" in case you've forgotten.