Chapter 211: The Unprecedented Fierce Battle in Universe 3
Author: Great Demon Spirit
In just an instant, Thanoseid was suppressed.
With the mass of three Darkseids, he had absolutely no room to resist Du Wa's overwhelming consciousness. At most, his struggles and resistance merely added a bit of amusement for Du Wa.
"How can this be? I've strived for so long, fought desperately, absorbed two Darkseids, and mastered more of the Omega Effect, so why was I invaded in an instant?"
Thanoseid's soul was completely suppressed by Du Wa's far grander consciousness, unable to move. He desperately tried to mobilize the divine persona within his body. This should have worked, as the divine persona was the aggregation of everything that was Darkseid—including his consciousness, divine power, and rules. But unfortunately, Du Wa was stronger.
As a Deity, Du Wa could, of course, use his parasitic power to forcibly suppress a divine persona that was not yet powerful enough!
"Stop struggling, my servant. Only if you had the mass of Darkseid's main body would you be able to resist me." Du Wa's voice echoed in Thanoseid's consciousness. "I know everything you're thinking. Even if you crudely try to control the content of your thoughts, I know exactly what you plan to do."
Thanoseid immediately fell silent, watching as Du Wa manipulated his body. A conceptual power unique to Du Wa surged forth from within him.
Of course, he wouldn't give up. He was, after all, the product of a fusion between Thanos and three Darkseids. How could he possibly admit defeat just like that? As long as he wasn't dead, he would definitely look for a possibility to escape Du Wa's control.
"What an interesting ability." The Anti-Monitor sized up Du Wa, knowing this was a concept god of a completely different type from The Endless.
"Perhaps you don't know, but not even the real Darkseid would dare speak to me with such a confident attitude," the Anti-Monitor said.
Du Wa was familiarizing himself with Thanoseid's body, focusing on forcefully wielding Darkseid's divine persona and mobilizing the power of the Omega Effect. Hearing this, he nodded seriously. "You're right, but that would only be the case before the Flashpoint event. The you of today is not as strong as you imagine."
The Flashpoint event had an extremely profound impact on the entire DC Multiverse in every aspect.
On the surface, the Multiverse underwent a soft reboot. The ongoing histories of many universes were abruptly overwritten by a new history, leading to specious changes. The heroes and villains caught in this change were unable to perceive that they had been altered.
On a deeper level, The Endless brought the Vertigo Universe into the DC World, causing its mass to increase explosively. Doctor Manhattan from the Watchmen Universe also took this opportunity to observe the DC World and secretly conduct dangerous experiments.
What Du Wa knew even more clearly was that the gods within the Multiverse had all been affected by the Flashpoint event. Their own origins and histories had also been distorted to a certain extent.
New 52 Darkseid was a typical example. Likewise, the Anti-Monitor, who was no longer a sixth-dimensional lifeform and had undergone a dimensional descent into the Multiverse, was even less able to escape this influence.
The Anti-Monitor after the Flashpoint event was much weaker than he was before it!
The great Anti-Monitor, armed with the Anti-Life Equation and having harvested countless life forms from innumerable universes, could only manage a 6-4 split against New 52 Darkseid when going all out... It was simply unbelievable.
Had the Anti-Monitor still been a sixth-dimensional being, he wouldn't have been nerfed to such a pathetic degree after being weakened by the Flashpoint event, to the point of almost failing against a mere clone of Darkseid.
Not to mention, the current Anti-Monitor had not yet reached the true peak in the total number of lives harvested. He hadn't reached the point where he had to find a way to discard the Anti-Life Equation, even at the cost of dying once.
"A baffling deity... indulging in wild fantasies within a narrow world, yet completely ignorant of the terrifying truth. Immersed in a world of imagination, perhaps you should be a god of imagination."
The Anti-Monitor strode towards Du Wa. A large amount of anti-life power radiated outwards, wiping out the nearby Parademons and Xenomorphs to augment his power. He then extended his reach to the other planets near Apokolips, not sparing them either, and began a long-range slaughter.
Du Wa quickly mastered the power of this body and said faintly, "Unfortunately, the Fifth Dimension would not accept a concept god like me, and the world already has a god of dreams. There is no room left for me."
The Fifth Dimension is a dimension filled with the power of imagination. The cartoon people of the Fifth Dimension must use imagination to display their strength.
The two colossal figures clashed. The fluctuations from their violent confrontation instantly caused Apokolips beneath their feet to tremble violently. Terrifying cracks spread across the vast and sturdy celestial body, gradually reaching its core.
A massive amount of magma erupted. The very rules that maintained Apokolips's existence were now being distorted and destroyed under the clash of the two top-tier gods.
Apokolips was rapidly collapsing.
Steppenwolf had already fled into the depths of the universe at the first opportunity. He was a new individual formed from the fusion of two clones: the Steppenwolf from the DCEU Universe and the Steppenwolf from Universe 3. Although he was also a single-entity deity, he was far inferior to Thanoseid and the Anti-Monitor. On a battlefield of this level, he didn't even have the qualification to intervene.
This world-destroying scene completely terrified Ultraman and the others. This group of villains, who were only used to lording over Earth, how could they have ever witnessed such a spectacle?
"Power, this is power!"
Alexander Luthor, while dodging the stray shockwaves and doing his best to ensure he wouldn't be blasted to death, watched the two warring gods with a fiery gaze. "If only I could possess this power..."
Luthor possessed the most intelligent brain in the entire universe and rapidly contemplated this possibility.
Originally, if Thanoseid hadn't appeared, they would have only needed to face the Anti-Monitor and then surrender to be his dogs. That would have given him enough time to formulate a plan to seize the Anti-Life Equation, with ample opportunity to probe the Anti-Monitor's strength and the characteristics of the Anti-Life Equation.
Unfortunately, everything was happening far too quickly now, from Thanoseid obeying Du Wa's command to cross dimensions and attack Earth, to then sweeping them up to wage war on Apokolips without rest.
"I didn't even know that this Thanoseid's ultimate goal was to deal with the Anti-Monitor and seize the Anti-Life Equation, much less that Thanoseid himself was merely a servant, working for his mysterious master!" Luthor suppressed his greed and fear, fully activating the power of Zansha within him. The power from six gods was used to protect himself.
He watched coldly as Ultraman scurried away, covering his head like a dog. However, after recognizing the guy's true character, Zansha did indeed see Ultraman as a useless piece of trash.
"I know what you're thinking, and I can help you!" Owlman was terrified. He hailed from Gotham City's Court of Owls and didn't have much strength. If he was caught in the crossfire, death was certain, so he could only shout at Luthor.
Luthor thought for a moment and sheltered this fellow whose brain was at least decent. Then, he turned and protected Superwoman as well.
"I knew you wouldn't forget about me." Superwoman was covered in a cold sweat, but she didn't forget to cast a flirtatious glance at Luthor.
Luthor pondered for a moment, looked at the coquettish Superwoman, and suddenly said, "If we can survive this, I'll need you to repay me properly."
"Of course, I'll be sure to satisfy you." Superwoman's mind naturally went to the wrong place, thinking it was the same as what they used to do.
Luthor's brain worked at high speed as he watched the two madly fighting gods from afar.
At this moment, the Anti-Monitor was incomparably shocked and furious.
"Why can a guy like you actually stop me?!"
The Anti-Monitor was in disbelief. He slammed a fist into Thanoseid's head, but he himself was also hit by an Omega Beam.
A massive amount of anti-life power, carrying the immense force to annihilate all life forms, washed over Du Wa's body, but it was far from enough to take Du Wa down.
"You're not even a deity from the Main World! I don't know which universe you popped out of, so why are you so strong?!" The Anti-Monitor was astonished.
"I told you, the you of today is weaker than you've ever been! You think you're invincible just because you got the Anti-Life Equation? Don't be ridiculous. You'd better scurry back to your world!"
Du Wa wielded Thanoseid's body, using and expending its power with abandon. He didn't care in the slightest how much damage the body sustained. He pushed it to its limits, never hesitating to trade a major injury for a minor one, always meeting attacks head-on.
The power of three Darkseids plus Du Wa was more than enough to fight against what could be called the weakest Anti-Monitor since the establishment of the Source Wall.
The brilliant divine light battered the framework of the universe. Finally, Apokolips underfoot could no longer bear the burden. Under this frequent and terrifying pressure, it let out a final wail and immediately collapsed into cosmic dust.
Luthor used the power of Zansha to deploy an energy field, resisting the anaerobic, radiation-filled, and low-temperature environment of the vacuum of space.
Ultraman could survive in space for a while, so he was fine for a short period.
Johnny Quick simply ran into a Speed Force channel, temporarily detaching from the dimension of reality. But he was in the most danger; he was merely a variant of the Flash, not the Flash himself.
"Luckily, I have a power ring. Surviving in the universe is a basic ability."
Power Ring glanced at the ring on his hand with a look of relief. Watching Deathstorm, Atomica, Grid, and the others disintegrate in the divine light, he breathed a sigh of relief. But then he remembered that Grid probably couldn't die; that guy was just a program that had completely devoured Cyborg.
"Power Ring, give me your damn ring, now!" Ultraman flew over in a panic.
"What, me?"
Power Ring backed away timidly. "N-No way. If I give it to you, I'll..."
"Then you can die! I'm not discussing this with you, I'm informing you of the outcome!"
Ultraman unleashed what could be said to be the most powerful attack of his life. One punch pierced through Power Ring's energy barrier. With his other hand, he grabbed Power Ring's hand and, with a sharp twist, tore off the hand along with the ring.
Power Ring let out a blood-curdling scream. Without the protection of the lantern ring's power, he instantly froze in the low temperature of space and died.
Ultraman frantically pulled the power ring off and put it on his own finger.
"Kal-L from Earth, welcome to the ranks of the cowardly."
The power ring immediately sent this message to Ultraman's mind.
"Bullshit, you're the coward! I'm not like that self-loathing idiot Power Ring!" Ultraman created a green barrier for himself and immediately felt at ease. Hearing that he had gained the power ring's recognition and been chosen, his composure shattered on the spot.
This meant that according to the power ring's selection mechanism, Ultraman, who harbored fear and cowardice in his heart, had already become a qualified wielder.
Even if Ultraman hadn't actively seized it, and had only approached, the power ring would have likely left Power Ring on its own and chosen him.
"Ultraman is so panicked he's not thinking straight, willing to even take something like the Power Ring just to survive." Luthor glanced over from a distance and let out a disdainful laugh.
The Power Ring was something that only the fearful and cowardly were qualified to wear. After putting it on, the ring's power would continuously corrupt the user, making them even more fearful and cowardly, creating a vicious cycle. The longer they wore it, the more useless they became, until the Power Ring selected a new wielder and left on its own.
But then again, the Power Ring was truly useful. As long as the wielder had imagination and enough fear in their heart, they could unleash the ring's versatile power. Long-term survival in space, for example, was a piece of cake.
Most importantly, ever since the Flashpoint event erupted and Universe 3 also underwent a soft reboot, with a specious new history overwriting the former one, the Power Ring no longer required its wielder to prepare a dedicated lantern battery to periodically recharge it, unlike in the past or like the lantern rings of other universes.
This particular ring, the Power Ring, was a fusion of a lantern ring and a lantern battery!
And, most importantly, living inside the Power Ring was Volthoom, the first lantern of Universe 3. At this moment, this first lantern of Universe 3, who could theoretically wield every type of ring, was closely watching the great battle outside.
Outside.
Luthor could guess Ultraman's thoughts with his little toe. It was nothing more than putting on the ring first to ensure long-term survival—no one knew how long those two terrifying gods would fight before an outcome was decided, and it was highly likely that more planets would be destroyed. This meant that without special means, survivors like them would find it difficult to replenish their energy for a long time.
If Ultraman didn't have a ring and had to rely solely on his own flight, he could fly himself to death and still not find a suitable planet.
But it was different with the Power Ring. A Lantern could use the energy source of all rings, the "Emotional Spectrum" that covered countless worlds, to engage in faster-than-light travel. They could fly faster and faster, and it wouldn't be long before they could traverse countless galaxies.
As for the miserably deceased Power Ring? Who would care?
"Luthor, what should we do? Can we find a way back to Earth first? It's far away. We'll be safe if we escape back to Earth," Superwoman urged anxiously.
Owlman looked at Luthor with deep meaning.
The two intelligent men looked at each other.
Luthor said coldly, "I have my own plan. If we go back to Earth now, everything will be for nothing."
"Are we supposed to stay here? What if that deity who controlled Thanoseid and that... what's-his-name, Anti-Monitor, kill us all with a casual strike?" Superwoman was genuinely frantic. If they weren't going to run, what were they waiting for?
Luthor looked at her coldly. "I hope you use that mouth of yours for useful things, not for questioning me! Even if we escape back to Earth, what then? Are you confident you can face the victorious God of Xenomorphs, or can you handle the Anti-Monitor? By staying here, there's still a chance to be the first to defect to the victor. If we wait for the victor to come find us on Earth, then we'll be truly finished!"
"Now we just have to see who wins. And we need to be lucky enough not to get killed here," Owlman said in a low voice.
If possible, they all hoped the Anti-Monitor would win.
Because the Anti-Monitor's power was visible.
But it wasn't the same for the Xenomorph's side. It was a being that used parasitic means to perfectly enslave all existence, could steal all of its host's power through chest-bursting, and had now instantly seized all of Thanoseid's accumulated power, which it was now consuming wantonly with a berserk attitude. To this day, the Crime Syndicate had never even seen the main body of the God of Xenomorphs.
(end of chapter)