Chapter 209: Announcing to the Entire Multiverse
The Multiverse itself is a third-dimensional world.
The Domain of the Gods enveloping the Multiverse is largely a fourth-dimensional space, though in reality, it's probably closer to four-and-a-half dimensions.
Higher still is the Fifth Dimension, home to the Fifth-Dimensional Kingdom, a headache for countless gods, as it is populated by a great number of fifth-dimensional beings.
From the perspective of a Multiverse native—a three-dimensional being—fifth-dimensional beings are a bunch of cartoon characters. Of course, this is the result of them actively entering the third dimension without deliberately maintaining a specific image.
The power these fifth-dimensional cartoon people can exert in the third and fourth dimensions is unimaginably immense. Under specific conditions, they can even occasionally unleash multiversal-level strength. The most representative figures of the Fifth Dimension are Mister Mxyzptlk, Bat-Mite, and a certain Supreme Superman—also known as Golden Superman—who successfully ascended after squatting in the sun for ten thousand years.
And then there is the unknown Sixth Dimension, the most clandestine of all, difficult for even a god to discover. This is the control hub for the entire DC Multiverse, and also the headquarters for the three brothers: the World Forger, the Monitor, and the Anti-Monitor.
That's right, as the offspring of Perpetua, these three brothers were sixth-dimensional lifeforms from birth. They possess an enormous natural advantage over all beings below the Sixth Dimension. As long as they actively undergo a dimensional descent, they are naturally and incomparably powerful gods.
Because of the Anti-Matter Universe, the Anti-Monitor had a falling out with the World Forger and the Monitor, after which he fled the Sixth Dimension. Since then, he has permanently resided in the Anti-Matter Universe, protecting his territory and his own existence. In doing so, he has undergone a dimensional descent, becoming a powerful deity who can be killed by the superheroes and powerful gods of the third and fourth dimensions.
But Du Wa knew that the Anti-Monitor's "death" was essentially an illusion. Even killing him so completely that he couldn't be resurrected was useless, because if the Anti-Monitor truly wanted to revive himself, he could be reborn in the Sixth Dimension at any time.
Killed again and again, resurrected in the Sixth Dimension again and again, returning to the Multiverse and the Domain of the Gods again and again.
All three brothers possessed this ability of infinite resurrection. As long as the Sixth Dimension, this DC control hub, remained uncompromised—not attacked, occupied, or destroyed by a powerful god—they would always have a reliable escape route.
If they could no longer strive within the Multiverse, they would have no choice but to return to the Sixth Dimension and become innately divine, sixth-dimensional beings.
The vast majority of beings in the Domain of the Gods were unaware of this; they were completely ignorant of the existence of the Sixth Dimension as a dimensional world.
And Du Wa knew even more. Above the Sixth was the Seventh Dimension, where a Seventh-Dimensional Supergirl existed. The Eighth and Ninth Dimensions were unknown, but the highest Tenth Dimension was home to a terrifying Tenth-Dimensional Being that fed on life from the lower dimensions, a natural enemy to almost all humans and gods.
No Multiversal God could compare to the dimensionally supreme Tenth-Dimensional Being; they were naturally on the defensive. This meant that to fight a Tenth-Dimensional Being, one would have to expend even more divine power and use more powerful divine artifacts to compensate for their dimensional disadvantage.
Du Wa made up his mind. He would seize this opportunity and finish off the Anti-Monitor.
He watched as the Anti-Monitor destroyed the Arrowverse Universe with devastating ease. His scale surged, and even across a vast distance, separated by the countless barriers of The Bleed, Du Wa could vaguely perceive the apocalyptic aura emanating from him—the aura of a natural enemy to all life.
The Anti-Monitor continued to search for other universes, beginning a new round of hunting.
Du Wa stood guard over the DCEU Universe, waiting with patience, sensing the Anti-Monitor's approach.
At this moment, within the other universes under the DCEU system, superheroes and native gods had already become aware of something through the gradually intensifying, subtle universal fluctuations.
The Supermen of different universes led their respective teams of heroes, preparing for the worst, ready for a desperate struggle.
By now, the Anti-Monitor's frenzied actions could no longer be concealed and became known to many gods.
The more universes the Anti-Monitor destroyed, the more avatars of gods he killed, the more gods learned what was happening to him.
The news spread like wildfire. The Domain of the Gods grew lively as a massive amount of information flowed through this higher-dimensional space-time, shuttling rapidly and being transmitted between different realms.
"The Multiverse is in chaos again. That's right, it's the Anti-Monitor again."
"Has that guy, Mobius, gone mad? Does he want to start another Crisis on Infinite Earths and kill the Multiverse all over again?!"
"We finally achieved stability with 52 universes. It looks like he wants to reduce that number again. What a villain. Truly worthy of being the master of the Anti-Matter Universe. But I like it!"
"Some remote universes have already been wiped out by him. Hmph, how ridiculous. He doesn't even dare to touch the numbered universes. Such an utterly ugly display of cowardice."
The Anti-Monitor was quite well-known. Any god who had been around for a while knew this fellow was a god of anti-matter who had once been killed by a group of superheroes.
This time, everyone initially thought the Anti-Monitor was just carrying out his insane plan to destroy the positive-matter universe again, so they didn't pay it much mind at first.
"Someone contact The Monitors, quick! Drag this Anti-Monitor back. I really don't know what's wrong with their kind. The Monitor is nowhere to be seen, and they've let this mad dog, the Anti-Monitor, loose without a care."
Some gods grumbled, finding it a nuisance.
Right now, everyone was focusing their main efforts on The Endless and Hell. Who had the energy to bother with changes in the Multiverse? They didn't even have a good grasp of The Endless's style of doing things. What if one or two of them turned out to be as terrible as the Anti-Monitor or Darkseid? The Domain of the Gods would truly descend into chaos.
The Monitors also learned of the Anti-Monitor's actions but gave no response, as was their custom.
Because there was no response they could give. These Monitors had a different origin from the offspring born of Perpetua, like the Monitor and Anti-Monitor. In name, they were all monitors of the Multiverse, but in reality, they were not the same.
As time went on.
"Wait, something's not right. The Anti-Monitor isn't right!!"
"A brand-new power... It's not any known power or divine artifact. What's going on?"
"It can annihilate any living being. After my avatar was killed by him, his strength increased slightly. This isn't an illusion. From what I know, the only thing with this kind of ability might be..."
"The Anti-Life Equation!!"
At this, the entire Domain of the Gods boiled over. Gods in the various worlds were startled, absolutely horrified.
If the birth of all life forms was considered a set of "life equations" containing all the mysteries of creating life, then perhaps a final formula for the destruction of all life also existed in the world.
In the past, only Darkseid believed in the existence of this formula; not a single other god did. Now, they all believed.
What was even more surprising was that Darkseid had searched bitterly for billions of years, only for the Anti-Life Equation to appear in the possession of the Anti-Monitor. His luck was truly awful.
Darkseid's mood was indeed quite foul.
"Darkseid, should we attack the Multiverse and kill the Anti-Monitor?" Steppenwolf came to him directly. "I can kill him for you and seize the Anti-Life Equation."
"In your eyes, have I become that weak?" Darkseid was completely shrouded in shadow.
Steppenwolf fell silent for a moment. "I am merely reminding you that the gods of the other worlds are stirring. Certain individuals in the Multiverse have already made arranstoneents in advance. If you move too slowly, the Anti-Life Equation will no longer be yours."
"The Anti-Life Equation is not that simple. Darkseid is observing the Anti-Monitor's performance."
Desaad removed the hood from his head and spoke slowly, "The Anti-Life Equation is the nemesis of all life, including the gods. No matter how powerful the Anti-Monitor is, he is still a part of life. For him, a living being, to wield the power of anti-life, can he truly remain unscathed? Acting rashly against a power one does not understand will lead to a miserable end."
Steppenwolf shot Desaad a glare, clearly not agreeing.
Whether it could be used or not, they should at least snatch it back first and study it slowly later. There were plenty of opportunities to find new test subjects. Why did it have to be the Anti-Monitor? Or was there some inevitable connection between the Anti-Monitor and the Anti-Life Equation, which was why Darkseid was unwilling to act rashly?
Steppenwolf retreated without another word. He awaited Darkseid's command, but the avatar he had planted in the DCEU Universe had already been dispatched by Du Wa to Earth-3 to make preparations. Although he was unclear about Du Wa's purpose, he guessed it might be related to the Anti-Monitor and the Anti-Life Equation.
"The God of Xenomorphs, Du Wa... this fellow seems a bit off..." Steppenwolf mused, but he quickly dismissed the thought. A mere single-universe deity, not even from a powerful divine system, didn't even have the ability to survive in the Domain of the Gods.
All the gods watched as the Anti-Monitor wreaked havoc.
But just as Darkseid had predicted, the more powerful the Anti-Monitor became, the more something felt wrong. Even the Anti-Monitor himself realized that he was becoming faintly unstable.
"This won't do. How can I waste time on these worthless, trash universes? I should go to those 52 universes, to kill the truly powerful and important life forms!"
The Anti-Monitor, who had been intoxicated by the might of the equation, suddenly came to his senses. He silently berated himself, then abandoned the universes before him and turned to leave.
"He's not coming? I've already made all the preparations. If nothing unexpected happens, he should be heading to Universe 3 to cause trouble for the Crime Syndicate."
Du Wa watched the departing Anti-Monitor and let out a sneer.
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Anti-Monitor was slightly screwed over by Ultraman. Attacking Universe 3 this time could be considered revenge for his past self who died in battle.
Sure enough, the Anti-Monitor, having accumulated a certain amount of strength, headed straight for Universe 3. At the same time, on Apokolips of Universe 3, Thanoseid was in the midst of a great battle with Darkseid.
Facing a Thanoseid who had absorbed one Darkseid, the Darkseid of Universe 3 could not establish a clear advantage and was even slightly on the back foot.
"Different versions of you possess different levels of strength." Several wounds appeared on Thanoseid's body. The gushing blood splattered onto Darkseid, creating sizzling sounds. "But no matter which you it is, in the end, you will all become me!"
"A me that has developed a brand new thought process, mixed with other concepts... truly interesting."
Darkseid was smashed to the ground by a punch, causing even an ultimate cosmic body as resilient as Apokolips to tremble and develop a crack several tens of thousands of kilometers long.
This was immediately followed by a clash of Omega Beams.
The more Godhood Fragments one controlled, the more of the Omega Effect they could utilize, and the stronger the Omega Beams they could fire.
The dissipating specks of red light corroded the universe itself, destroying space-time.
Thanoseid forced his way forward, walking step by step until he was in front of Darkseid. He shoved the beams against his opponent's body, raised a foot, and just as he was about to be repelled by the divine power erupting from Darkseid, he bulldozed through Darkseid's barrier of divine power with even greater force and kicked him.
The terrifyingly heavy blow made even Apokolips groan under the strain.
"You have used a power that does not belong to us. The more you use it, the deeper you will sink! Sooner or later, you will be firmly bound by that power!" Darkseid said coldly.
*Smack!*
Thanoseid grabbed Darkseid's head and slowly applied pressure. Amidst cracking sounds, he said in a chilling voice, "I am already bound now. I might as well make good use of the power that fellow gave me and seize more Godhood Fragments in a short period of time! You won't die. You will live on as a part of me."
Another Darkseid was absorbed by him, meaning he had become even more powerful.
He was now equivalent to the scale of at least three Darkseids.
"Great Thanoseid, your divine power is supreme!"
On the other side of Apokolips, Ultraman flew over with his men at once. Seeing the ferocious and clearly more powerful Thanoseid, he trembled all over, his face a mask of sycophancy.
His ability to suck up was greater than anyone else in the Crime Syndicate, which even made Thanoseid fall silent for a moment.
"Steppenwolf, learn from this." Thanoseid grinned savagely, his huge palm resting on Ultraman's head, stroking it continuously as if it were a duck's egg.
The other members of the Crime Syndicate looked at each other, stunned. This was the first time they had seen their boss act like this, but... it was good to be alive.
Just then.
Thanoseid's expression froze as he received a command from Du Wa.
A powerful fluctuation emerged from his body. From the moment it appeared, it suppressed all of Apokolips and naturally restrained Thanoseid, causing his eyes to flicker before he ultimately lowered his head slightly.
"Thanoseid, the Anti-Monitor is headed your way. Kill him and bring back the Anti-Life Equation."
"I am willing to obey your command... my master."
Thanoseid cleared his mind, severing all sorts of dangerous thoughts, and let out a savage laugh, revealing his tyrannical nature.
This left Ultraman, who had been racking his brains to flatter Thanoseid in a desperate bid to survive, utterly stunned.
"The great Thanoseid is also a subordinate... He actually calls another person 'master'?!"
Du Wa's gaze also fell upon Ultraman.
"Ultraman... this guy will be useful in the future, as one of the special Supermen of the Multiverse. However, it doesn't really matter if he's killed. We'll see if he can survive this war. Regardless of Thanoseid's outcome, I will..."
Du Wa's thoughts drifted far away. His focus was no longer on these individuals.
This battle would be the beginning of his greeting to the entire Multiverse, a declaration to all of DC... the Xenomorphs have arrived!
(end of chapter)