Chapter 111: The True Use of Singhson's Banishment
At the same time, in a certain parallel universe.
"Marc, you madman, how could you do something like this!"
"Marc, don't listen to the nonsense of that deity behind you! Look at what you've done! Iron Fist, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange—you've stripped them of their power! What in the world are you trying to do?!"
"He's insane, completely insane! Do you and that Moon God of yours want to rule the Earth? You're even building pyramids all over Manhattan!"
"He also stole Thor's Mjolnir! To think he's turned the hammer into his own weapon!"
"Shut your mouths! I've done nothing wrong. Through the deity's eyes, I saw the tragic end of the Earth. Everything I'm doing is to save the Earth!"
Moon Knight stood in the wreckage of the Sanctum Sanctorum. With his current strength, he could even hear the countless voices discussing and cursing him. These were not just spoken words, but also the true thoughts of many people on a mental level.
He was afraid these superheroes already hated him to the bone, thinking he had gone mad or been bewitched.
Moon Knight looked down at his own hands. He had cruelly deprived numerous superheroes, who possessed ancient powers, of all their strength.
He was like a tyrant, obeying the commands of the Moon God Khonshu—one of the Egyptian pantheon from Celestial Heliopolis.
"Your prophecy had better be right, or the two of us will be hunted by the entire world."
Moon Knight engaged in a mental dialogue with the Moon God Khonshu, who had granted him his power.
"It can't be wrong. A few weeks ago, didn't you see what I was like at that moment? What do you think would make a Moon God like me cast aside my dignity?" There was none of the composure or majesty a deity should have in Khonshu's voice. Instead, it was filled with terror and unease. He then urged Moon Knight to continue hunting the next hero to seize more power.
Moon Knight fell silent for a moment, recalling the scene: he had fought past a group of guards and rushed before Khonshu, only to see the ancient god cowering in a corner, trembling at the tragic vision he had witnessed.
It was a future where Mephisto invaded Earth and ultimately brought about its complete destruction. This had terrified Khonshu, a mighty Moon God, to the point of weeping bitterly.
But it didn't matter. The god was terrified, but as the human who had received the deity's power, he decided to fight to the end. Moon Knight, Marc, was determined to defeat Mephisto.
"Let's go. Before the other heroes arrive, let's hurry into the Sanctum Sanctorum's Underground Prison and kill this universe's Mephisto first."
The man and the god reached a consensus.
Moon Knight completely ignored the half-dead Doctor Strange on the floor, from whom he had just stolen all magic. He even disregarded Doctor Strange's pained pleas, using magic to forge a path directly into the deepest part of the magical prison underground.
Doctor Strange had defeated this universe's Mephisto and imprisoned him. To eliminate any future trouble as much as possible, Moon Knight decided to kill this demon.
Bound by countless red chains, Mephisto sat peacefully, having clearly waited for a long time.
"Your death date has arrived, Mephisto! Your evil intentions for this world will never have the chance to be realized!" The moment Moon Knight saw the red-skinned demon, his voice was stern and his expression severe.
"Is that so? Such a brave human. But I see the deity behind you shivering in my presence. How pitiful... But that's to be expected. Heliopolis is, after all, not a place like Asgard, Olympus, or the Great Luo Heaven. A god from the world of Heliopolis, even a Moon God who has mastered this universe's ancient power, is only qualified to be called a god on Earth."
This Mephisto, who had revealed his true form, leaned against the wall, a strange glint in his eyes as he let out a low, eerie laugh.
Moon Knight quickly assessed the gap between himself and the Mephisto before him and concluded that he could win. He immediately broke open the prison and charged inside.
"Khonshu, give me more divine power. This is no time to be wary of each other. My plan is to beat this Mephisto to death with Mjolnir." Moon Knight's plan was simple and brutal.
Moon God Khonshu agreed, mustering his courage to fight alongside his chosen servant, Moon Knight. "The death of this Mephisto is just the beginning. More Mephistos will certainly arrive from various parallel universes. I don't know why they are so determined to destroy this world, but it will definitely happen."
Moon Knight had already raised the thunder god's hammer and was about to throw it at Mephisto.
But just then, Mephisto stood up and let out a terrifying laugh. "Hahahaha, what an interesting human and god. Shivering in fear, yet still able to muster the courage to stand before me... But unfortunately, I don't have time to play with you."
Moon Knight's heart skipped a beat as a bad premonition arose. But he gritted his teeth and unleashed all his power, including the primordial energies he had seized from Doctor Strange and the others, erupting with everything he had in a single, decisive strike to kill Mephisto.
But a terrible smile remained on Mephisto's face. He merely took a small step back, and the space behind him instantly experienced a strange tremor as a highly unstable portal appeared.
"Oh no, Marc, it's over! We're finished! This is a spatial portal! Mephisto must be connecting to other universes, just waiting for us to break the chains on him so he can transport countless Mephistos into our universe!"
Moon God Khonshu nearly went mad. Extreme fear was followed by extreme madness. He shrieked, urging Moon Knight to kill Mephisto at all costs, to kill as many as came, until they died a glorious death.
"Perhaps it was our very act of trying to stop Mephisto's world annihilation that led to his arrival, thereby creating the outcome of world annihilation..."
Moon Knight's breath came in ragged gasps, a bitter taste in his mouth.
He watched helplessly as all sorts of bizarre auras emanated from the portal behind Mephisto. He could almost see numerous Mephistos converging. Amid his despair, he was instead spurred to embrace utter madness.
He was a hero, wasn't he? Since he had seen that desperate future, he had to stop Mephisto.
But in the next second, Moon Knight and Moon God Khonshu, who were preparing for a desperate struggle, were instantly stunned.
To their astonishment, they watched as this incomparably arrogant Mephisto took one step back, slipped into the portal, and never came back out.
The many other Mephistos seemed to be just passing by, casually taking this universe's Mephisto with them as they traveled to an unknown region of the multiverse.
The spatial portal slowly dissipated amidst tremors, eventually vanishing as if it had never been there.
Only a bewildered Moon Knight was left standing alone in the prison.
"What... what just happened? Didn't that demon already bring so many helpers from different parallel universes? Why did they run away?"
"One possibility is that these Mephistos found a more important target, and this target is so crucial that it required them to mobilize a massive amount of power to deal with it."
Khonshu murmured, a sense of relief washing over him as if he had just survived a catastrophe.
But who could it be? Who could make this host of Mephistos abandon a world whose fate was practically sealed, a guaranteed victory already inscribed by the universe's destiny, just to turn and attack another target?
"Marc, my intuition tells me that the being who caused such an abnormal action from so many Mephistos is extremely important. We must find out the reason... If the other party is a person, as long as they aren't a hopelessly evil villain, we can join forces to fight Mephisto together."
"For once, we're on the same page. I was thinking the same thing. Let's hope the other party is a superhero from some parallel universe. If not, then we're in trouble."
Moon Knight had no way out. He had committed so many acts in this world that drew the wrath of gods and men, treating so many superheroes with such cruelty. Even if his goal was to save the world, he could not possibly be accepted by righteous individuals.
Sure enough, a host of superheroes, led by Tony Stark, charged in and completely surrounded Moon Knight.
"Heroes are heroes because they charge forward even when they know it's impossible! Marc, what you consider an act of saving the world is actually the biggest mistake. We don't need someone like you to save us."
Tony spoke with righteous indignation. The vast majority of heroes, including himself, didn't really believe that Mephisto was coming to bring about the extinction of this world. Even if a Mephisto really was coming to destroy the world, they had more faith in themselves and would use their own strength to fight back.
They would never believe that a third-rate hero like Moon Knight could successfully resolve the disaster by plundering the power of other heroes.
"I can't get through to you self-righteous fools. Every single one of you thinks you're smarter than me, stronger than me. But when faced with a major event, you are also more foolish and more arrogant than me."
A deep impatience showed on Moon Knight's face. He raised his hand and summoned the thunder god's hammer into his grasp. "Perhaps I've already found a more reliable plan to save the world. I don't know who the other party is or what their character is like, but at least one thing is certain: he is definitely stronger than all of you combined. That is the kind of power worth relying on to save the world."
He had already reached a consensus with Moon God Khonshu. That was enough. As for these superheroes, they could do whatever they wanted. If they really got in his way, he would just have to take them down one by one.
...
A large group of Mephistos gathered together. Without a doubt, they had banded together and traveled to the universe where Du Wa was located.
"Sixteen in total... Mephisto, did you abandon all your missions in other universes just to come here in one go to be killed by me?"
Du Wa wasn't surprised that Mephisto had summoned his parallel universe selves, but he was surprised that Mephisto had called upon so many helpers of varying quality all at once.
"Strictly speaking, these 'me's' were primarily busy with one universe. But now, I can abandon that universe to deal specifically with you." One of the Mephistos laughed excitedly. Judging by his appearance, this one was practically a demon version of a hippie.
"I see where you've come from."
Du Wa immediately nodded with understanding, a look of sudden realization on his face, which irritated the Mephistos.
Although the group of demons didn't believe the ridiculous nonsense Du Wa had spouted before—about their plans all being within his plan—when Du Wa actually struck a pose of "so that's how it is," it still managed to endlessly annoy them.
But Du Wa did indeed know where they had come from, especially these variously styled Mephistos.
The Age of Khonshu universe.
Logically, a continuous stream of Mephistos should have been invading that universe, only to be repeatedly thwarted by the lone warrior-like Moon Knight and the Moon God Khonshu, who had become a madman out of excessive fear.
Of course, where these Mephistos actually came from wasn't that important. What was important was that no matter how many came, Du Wa would make sure they all stayed.
Ancient One thought so too.
The moment she saw so many Mephistos, her gentle expression somehow became even gentler.
Of all the people present, only Strange was in true agony. He had just watched his girlfriend inexplicably turn into a dried corpse, and then so many similar-looking demons had popped out.
"Open your eyes and watch, you fool. Your woman was killed by a demon. Do you know why?" Druig would never pass up an opportunity, especially since he had discerned from Du Wa's attitude that Strange must be very important. He certainly couldn't miss this chance, so he barked at Strange.
After seeing Strange shake his head mechanically, Druig said, "Because you have no strength. You are not a glorious and great Xenomorph."
"But Christine was also..."
"Only her body is dead, but her soul is not. In another world, she is with every one of our individuals." At this moment, Druig actually resembled a priest more than Carl Burbank did, never missing an opportunity to guide a lost lamb.
Ancient One glanced at him. "Your people are poaching my people. Aren't you going to do something about it?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"I want a larger share of these Mephistos."
"Whoever gets them, gets them. I want them all."
Du Wa was the first to act. Strictly speaking, as long as a single Xenomorph moved, it was the same as Du Wa moving.
Countless Xenomorph heroes led the charge, with an even greater number of Xenomorphs rolling in like a tide, submerging the entire villa district.
Of course, the 16 Mephistos wouldn't just sit there and wait for death. They each let out terrifying laughs, joining forces to unleash a horrific fluctuation of magic, which transformed into 16 magical fulcrums that faintly began to resonate with each other.
The intense battle instantly turned the large expanse of villas into ruins.
The red light pillars that shot up into the sky looked as if they were condensed from blood.
"The more you do, the more weaknesses you reveal. I already know what you're trying to do, and I've already formulated a plan to break yours."
Du Wa's voice emanated from an ordinary Xenomorph.
An enraged Mephisto smashed the ordinary Xenomorph to pieces, but immediately after, he heard Du Wa's words from many other Xenomorphs: "You used that vicious magic spell, 'Singhson's Banishment,' to banish so many of your selves to my universe. But a simple increase in numbers cannot change the situation. Without Strange, you can only use yourselves as the foundation for your next move."
"Situation? A native from a single universe should know better than to speak of such easily alterable things to a Great Demon. To me, you humans who submit to time and fate are no different from lower organisms... I have thoroughly confirmed your and the Xenomorphs' location. That is enough for me to employ some of my true means."
Mephisto said. Ordinarily, it should have been this universe's Strange who, after his defection, would have desperately carried out the next steps. But unfortunately, he now had to do it himself, mobilizing this large group of his parallel universe selves to do it together.
These clones weren't originally meant to be used this way, but he had no choice but to resort to his backup plan.
This was also the true use of Singhson's Banishment.
"I was originally reluctant to let that one come over. Your universe's Strange was the more suitable candidate, but I have no choice now."
That one was a quality target, indirectly scammed through Mephisto's proudest series of operations. It could also be considered a small new concept that had been born on a conceptual level—
The Serpent!
(end of chapter )