Chapter 93: The Annihilation of Atlantis, This is a Grand Evolution
When Namor saw the two Superman Xenomorphs, his expression was grave, but he wasn't surprised.
It was only natural for these two to appear on the battlefield. Given Du Wa's personality, he was more than happy to dispatch some newly chest-bursted Xenomorphs onto the field, allowing him to more directly assess their strength.
"It seems the Xenomorph that burst from Laufey hasn't fully developed yet. So, for now, only those who have mastered divine power and magic can avoid becoming the Xenomorphs' primary targets for capture."
After continuous fighting, Namor, though exhausted, had quickly figured out the Xenomorphs' patterns of action, witnessing the racial traits of this species firsthand.
If it weren't for Du Wa, frankly, Namor truly felt that this species didn't have a very high starting point. They might have been wiped out by a moderately powerful individual or faction long before their horde could develop wildly.
But when Namor saw the Attuma Xenomorph, he fell into a long silence.
These Xenomorphs, from their external silhouettes, all seemed more or less the same. But just as someone familiar with twins can always tell them apart at a glance, Namor could now identify some of the special Xenomorphs.
With his powerful senses, Namor perceived that this new Xenomorph was very likely the one that had burst from Attuma's chest.
"I never thought, Attuma, that I would see you become like this at the end of my life. How ironic... You invited those two Eternals, yet they were utterly useless. Instead, they became powerful enemies in the annihilation of Atlantis." Namor's face was full of self-mockery, but he quickly realized, what right did he have to mock Attuma?
Surrender was also impossible. Anyone could see that Du Wa was now dead set on destroying all of Atlantis, converting the entire population of the ocean kingdom into Xenomorphs.
Du Wa was in dire need of quality hosts. The overall standard of the Atlanteans was far superior to that of the vampires, and now they had delivered themselves to his doorstep. How could he possibly refuse?
The Attuma Xenomorph moved without a sound, lunging fiercely at Namor. It brandished its dark, sharp claws and swiped viciously at him. Namor decisively countered, thrusting his trident forward.
With just one clash, Namor was greatly shocked. Whether in strength, speed, or even physical defense, this Xenomorph surpassed the original Attuma.
"It's just as the rumors say. A creature with such terrifying growth potential can absorb the best genes from its host... As long as it has enough time to grow, it will become stronger than its host. How can something like this exist in this world?"
Namor let out a long sigh. He immediately began fighting with magic and high-tech equipment, and for a moment, he was evenly matched with the Attuma Xenomorph.
But as time went on, more and more of the Alien Army swarmed into the Kingdom of Atlantis, engaging in wanton destruction and annihilation. All of Atlantis mobilized for war—men and women, old and young, all took up arms. This greatly increased their efficiency at slaughtering Xenomorphs, but they faced an overwhelming Alien Legion. The Xenomorphs were an endless, inexhaustible tide, and the Atlanteans' ultimate fate was to be submerged in the rolling torrent.
The entirety of Atlantis was plunged into endless slaughter and despair. Screams and wails spread through every drop of seawater.
"This isn't the end. I still have a way. As long as I trigger the Black Tide and lure out those things from the abyss below..."
Namor's eyes were bloodshot, but in the next second, his expression froze.
The Hyperion Xenomorph had sprung into action. Like a meteor, it descended, parting the seawater, and slammed into the very center of the Atlantean undersea continent. It then continued downward, causing the entire landmass of Atlantis to begin trembling violently.
And it was slowly rising.
The Hyperion Xenomorph was lifting the entire Kingdom of Atlantis!
It let out a sharp cry, clearly exerting its full strength. Otherwise, a creature like a Xenomorph would not make such a meaningless sound.
As the massive continent continued to rise through the water, numerous Atlanteans in submersibles frantically attacked the Hyperion Xenomorph. A barrage of magic and energy bombardments struck one after another, yet they couldn't inflict even the slightest harm on Hyperion.
These Atlanteans soon lost the ability to worry about the fate of their continent. They were quickly disabled by the sweeping Alien Army, their bodies bound tightly, making even death a difficult prospect.
Namor stared blankly as the Hyperion Xenomorph flipped the entire undersea continent over, smashing it heavily into the exposed abyss below.
Instantly, a terrifying earthquake erupted on the seabed, and violent currents surged in all directions. Its power was enough to wipe out the last of the barely surviving Atlanteans.
Atlantis was utterly finished.
Deep despair appeared on Namor's face. He had never anticipated that an ancient race with a history of twenty thousand years would end under his reign as Sea King, and in the modern era, no less.
One by one, Xenomorphs exuding powerful auras pounced on Namor, completely engulfing the Sea King who had fought to the very end.
...
"History is astonishingly similar. The Hyperion Xenomorph lifted the entirety of Atlantis and smashed everything to bits. It was just a bit wasteful. There were clearly many survivors who could have been captured and used as hosts, but they were all smashed to nothing in that one blow."
Du Wa remotely perceived the events unfolding in the ocean and shook his head slightly.
In a certain parallel universe, a crazed Hyperion had done the same thing, lifting Atlantis and then smashing it.
"Boss, we've detected a large number of strange creatures in the ocean. They look like fish, but their skin is very dark."
"Don't worry, those are deep-sea fish-men, one of Atlantis's old nemeses. Now that Atlantis is gone, we'll take over the Atlanteans' duty. Send a unit to suppress those things. It's a good way to expand our troop numbers."
Du Wa didn't pay the deep-sea fish-men any mind. A bunch of creatures that couldn't even take down Atlantis—their fate was already sealed against the Xenomorphs' attack.
This battle sent a massive shockwave across the entire world.
Anyone with access to information channels, upon seeing the vast Alien Legion spreading throughout the oceans, dense and unending, would feel a chill from the bottom of their hearts.
Just imagining facing such a legion, unafraid of death and impossible to kill completely... The scene was simply too brutal.
"What is the Sorcerer Supreme doing? Is she just going to watch the mortal realm descend into this chaos and do nothing?"
"The Sorcerer Supreme is not your nanny. She has her own code of conduct. Perhaps in her view, this action doesn't count as the destruction of Earth. Following that line of thought leads to only one conclusion: perhaps an even more terrifying enemy has appeared, which is why Du Wa chose such a radical method to rapidly expand his military force."
This world has never been short of intelligent people. Even if they listed out every single possibility and eliminated them one by one, they could still arrive at this possibility.
But who could it be? To make Du Wa resort to such actions, even at the cost of igniting a global-scale ocean war and wiping out an entire race.
What kind of enemy could make Du Wa so cautious?
No one knew, but it was most likely not an enemy from within Earth. Perhaps it was from an alien planet, or another dimension.
But Du Wa knew very well.
He recalled the scene of Knull's attack on Earth in Universe 616.
Knull brought three Celestials alone, each one parasitized by a Symbiote he had meticulously selected. This was the method Knull used to exert powerful control over the three Celestials.
He merely dispatched a portion of his Symbiote army to completely encircle the Earth, wrapping it so tightly that it blocked out all sunlight.
Du Wa felt that even if the Knull of this universe was nowhere near the equal of the Knull from Universe 616, and even if this universe's Knull had not recovered his peak strength, just a portion of the Symbiotes transferred from Klyntar would be more than enough to give the entire Earth a world of trouble.
This was completely different from the previous battle against Dormammu; it was a brute-force contest of numbers. Even the Ancient One couldn't possibly spread her magic formations to every remote corner of Earth, sealing off the planet and the entire solar system without leaving any blind spots. It was absolutely impossible.
It came back to the same point: when facing a numerically superior enemy, you either find a way to shatter the planet with one punch from the very beginning, blowing up the planet and the enemy's legion along with it—that's the fastest way to clear out mobs—or you have to grind it out bit by bit.
During the Civil War event, powerful heroes like Captain Marvel and Hyperion, when cut off from Earth by Hydra Captain America and forced to face an endless horde of Chitauri, would become exhausted and would have died in battle if it dragged on.
Du Wa had already made thorough preparations on his end. Next, it was a matter of seeing what move Loki would make.
And... just how many of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hidden projects that guy Fury would reveal.
"This battle must completely gut S.H.I.E.L.D. Then, the organization can fade from human history... In any case, in numerous parallel universes, S.H.I.E.L.D. being disbanded and replaced by other messy organizations is a common occurrence."
Du Wa made up his mind. This time, he would not give S.H.I.E.L.D. any extra chances.
Facing such a massive Alien Legion, which was still growing by the moment and had already broken the 400,000 mark—and considering the species reproduced exponentially—the speed of its future expansion would only continue to accelerate.
There wasn't a single person who wasn't panicking.
As Atlantis's most direct rival, the nation of Wakanda was plunged into chaos.
From the moment the war between the two nations broke out, they had been closely monitoring the situation's progress. Then, they watched helplessly as Atlantis, with whom they had fought for many years, was annihilated by the Xenomorphs with devastating force. These Xenomorphs fought without regard for cost or losses; it was utterly terrifying.
Without a doubt, after this battle, Du Wa's power had once again swelled.
"Their sheer numbers alone leave us with no options," Wakanda's prince, T'Challa, said in a low voice. The pressure on him was immense right now.
The current King, T'Chaka, sat upon the throne, his expression incredibly grave.
Wakanda was not some unknown small country, nor was it a background piece that had developed without reason. The origin of the first Black Panther was the power obtained from the legendary Panther God, which had been passed down through generations.
During World War II, Red Skull had even sent an army to invade Wakanda, seeking to plunder its Vibranium.
But now, an unbelievably ferocious entity had appeared in the outside world, destroying the entirety of Atlantis in both quality and quantity, and killing all of its people.
Their long-standing rival had met such a fate, one more terrifying than death. This left the entire Kingdom of Wakanda trembling with fear, terrified that Du Wa would learn of Wakanda from Atlantean captives and then send his army to attack them.
"We have never provoked him, nor have we ever harmed a single Xenomorph. Our shield covers the entire country. It's impossible for a Xenomorph to have snuck in and been accidentally killed by our people."
T'Challa's sister, Shuri, suddenly spoke up. As someone with a higher intellect than Tony Stark, her thinking speed far surpassed that of everyone else in the room combined.
"I've analyzed all the intelligence on Du Wa and built a comprehensive psychological profile... To put it simply, for the entire Kingdom of Wakanda, he probably doesn't care about anyone except for Father, because we cannot provide him with quality hosts."
The warriors of Wakanda primarily used Vibranium ore to climb the technology tree; the vast majority of them were skilled with high technology.
"Should we be pleased by the weakness of our own people?"
"Why not? My brother, the era has changed. It's become completely unrecognizable. We must view this planet with a whole new perspective."
Shuri looked at the elders of the various tribes in the royal palace and said loudly, "Which of you thinks you can stand against that terrifyingly numerous Alien Legion? Soon, their numbers will grow even larger, breaking one million, two million, even tens of millions! Against an enemy of this level, how long do you think our shield can last? And this is calculated only with the strength of ordinary Xenomorphs. If those few extremely terrifying individuals under Du Wa's command intervene personally, what do we have to stop them?"
They couldn't just call over the multiversal Panther God.
The Panther God, Bast, probably wouldn't care about the life or death of a Wakandan kingdom in an ordinary universe. Countless universes were being destroyed every moment; how could Bast possibly save every single one?
Unless He was insane.
Especially the universe Du Wa was in, which was currently a world without even a designation—a backwater ignored and overlooked by the Gods.
Perhaps one day in the future, a formidable character would emerge in this universe, attract the attention of the Gods, and give this universe a designation.
The Wakandans quickly reached a consensus. They sent Prince T'Challa as an emissary to New York to visit that terrifying man.
With his penchant for annihilating entire races, there was no one who did not fear Du Wa. This was a majesty built upon corpses and blood.
Entering Weyland Tower, Prince T'Challa cautiously observed his surroundings, confirming that apart from the Xenomorphs walking around on various floors, this place was no different from the headquarters of a super-corporation.
It was so orderly that it was unnerving, as if nothing had happened at all, as if the Xenomorphs' actions of constantly transporting Atlantean captives from the outside world to the 93rd floor were completely non-existent.
"This is insane. This guy is not much different from a Demon God. Perhaps only a demon from Hell would do things crazier than him..."
The one who received the prince was Gloria, the deceased Spider-Man's friend, who had become the chief secretary of Weyland Tower.
If King T'Chaka had come personally, perhaps Du Wa would have been interested in meeting him. But since it was just a future Black Panther, such a person wasn't worth his personal appearance.
Gloria wore a professional, fake smile. "I'm the only one who can receive you. The higher-ups of our kind are busy with other matters..."
"Busy with what?" T'Challa immediately pressed, his intuition telling him this was of great importance to Du Wa's military expansion.
"Of course, they're busy scheming how to maintain world peace. This is something we've been doing all along." Gloria was perfectly polite, leaving no room for criticism, and her words left T'Challa utterly bewildered.
World peace? Applying that term to Du Wa and the Xenomorphs seemed glaringly incongruous.
But T'Challa would soon find out what major disaster was about to befall this world.
(end of chapter)