Chapter 237: Du Wa Decides to Bestow a Boon
Within the Multiverse, a Multiversal-level Deity had appeared in an instant. Without a doubt, the moment of its birth had a major impact on the Multiverse itself.
The endless rules of reality let out a collective wail, a sound born from the immense pressure of bearing a powerful Deity. The natural operations of some universes fell into minor chaos, affecting countless life forms.
Of course, no God would truly care about the life or death of ordinary beings. The one thing the Multiverse had no shortage of was life. To put it bluntly, even if all life forms were killed off, one could just find a way to reboot the Multiverse and bring everyone back to life. These people wouldn't even retain the memory of being killed and would simply continue the cycle of life and death.
The more ancient the being, the more indifferent they were to the fate of billions, paying no mind whatsoever to mortal creatures.
But the appearance of a brand new, Multiversal-level Deity—and a particularly difficult-to-deal-with concept God at that—was a major event that warranted the attention of even the old-timers.
All sorts of characters emerged, roaming through the various universes of the Multiverse. This brought immense pressure upon the teams of heroes in each universe and triggered a series of events.
"It's too late. The God of Xenomorphs's success is now certain. The Multiverse has become incredibly oppressive and heavy; that's because the guy's very presence within the Multiverse is exerting too much pressure on it."
"Heh, success or failure, it has nothing to do with most of us gods. Only the few who tried to make a move are concerned..."
"Why don't we wait and see what this Deity intends to do? If it plans to enter the Sphere of the Gods, which world will it choose to join?"
Heaven would never accept a concept God like Du Wa. Hell, on the other hand, would. Hell wouldn't object to any person or God entering; whether they could survive in Hell was another matter entirely.
Besides those, there were countless other worlds: Dream's Dreaming and Nightmare World, the Heavenly Host where the Old Gods congregated, the Underworld built by Hades of the Olympian Pantheon, and the Endless Corridor teeming with liches, mages, and fairies.
And, of course, there were the two giant planets of the New Gods.
Darkseid and Kalibak from Apokolips were currently in the Main Universe.
"Father, it seems we were a step too late. What should we do now?" Kalibak, as Darkseid's eldest son and most loyal warrior, asked the Darkseid of the Main Universe.
"No matter what I do, Du Wa will never let me go. Even if Du Wa ignores me, his subordinates won't," Darkseid stated coldly.
Kalibak fell silent. He knew Darkseid was referring to the one named Thanoseid. Several versions of Darkseid had already fallen at Thanoseid's hands.
Before leaving Apokolips in the Sphere of the Gods to enter the Multiverse, Kalibak had even entertained the thought of casually eliminating Thanoseid and digging out that strange fellow's divinity to offer to Darkseid—if he could win, that is.
But now, it seemed the opportunity was lost.
Du Wa had advanced to a Multiversal Deity, a power far beyond Kalibak's.
All his past disdain and contempt for Du Wa had to vanish into thin air at this moment. What qualification did he have to be dismissive of a Multiversal God? The strong are revered—that is the world's most simple and unadorned truth.
As for seizing the Anti-Life Equation... that was a pipe dream now. But Kalibak still felt it was an immense pity. "If we had acted a step faster, even if we couldn't have truly killed the concept God known as the God of Xenomorphs, we could have at least taken back the Anti-Life Equation."
"Well said, you are truly my son. But I have a question for you. After you succeeded, would you have offered the Anti-Life Equation to me, or to the me in the Sphere of the Gods?" Darkseid revealed a terrifying grin.
Kalibak didn't know what to say and fell into a deathly silence.
The silent standoff of this dysfunctional father-son duo did little to affect the bustling activities of the other gods.
"I still can't find Du Wa's main body—or should I call it his true form? In which world did he make his ascension?"
"Thor, can't you just ask a Xenomorph directly?"
"Damn it, I already tried! I've asked Xenomorphs in more than one universe, but these little things just ignore me," grumbled Thor from Asgard.
In the Third Generation, the most dominant pantheon among the Old Gods was undoubtedly Olympus. Some of its chief god-level deities had left many clones throughout the Multiverse, not to mention the existence of mass-produced daughters of Zeus like Wonder Woman, who could be replicated across the Multiverse, greatly enhancing the presence of the Olympian Pantheon.
Asgard, however, couldn't compare. The gods of Asgard were almost never seen in the various major events within the Multiverse; their main force remained in the Heavenly Host within the Sphere of the Gods.
For Thor to be able to come to the Main Universe and even deploy a few clones to gather information in various universes was already a monumental effort, but unfortunately, Du Wa paid him no heed.
"The God of Xenomorphs should join us in the Heavenly Host. We need such a powerful God," Thor said, looking at another figure from the Heavenly Host, Ares, the God of War from Olympus.
Ares frowned, somewhat reluctant to speak. He hadn't come for Du Wa in the first place, but rather to kill Thanoseid. That guy had insta-killed his clone, and the God of War had never suffered such a huge loss.
But now, that seemed impossible. A being like Du Wa, no matter how weak a Multiversal God he might be, even if his future upper limit was truly sealed as they imagined, making him completely incomparable to concept Gods like The Endless, he was still not someone Ares could afford to provoke.
A Multiversal-level God of Xenomorphs was a being on the same level as Zeus from the Sphere of the Gods.
"Hmph, if this guy is really crazy enough to parasitize all life in the Multiverse to increase his strength, artificially creating a disaster greater than the Crisis on Infinite Earths, it would actually be beneficial for me," Ares mused silently.
As the God of War, his ability grew stronger the larger the war and the more people participated. The greater the conflict, the more strength he could gain.
Ares saw the possibility of his future ascension to a Multiversal God, of being able to challenge Zeus. Only a major crisis that could shatter the Multiverse would allow him to touch the Multiversal level, where his own power could rival the Multiverse itself.
At this very moment, the ones who were most restless were precisely beings like Volthoom and Black Hand, who had started a war in the Main Universe.
They had been the ones to stir up the great turmoil in the Main Universe, but now a horde of gods had barged in, and none of them paid any mind to their conflict.
The weakest of the gods present were clones of single-universe deities. Who would truly fear the likes of Volthoom and Black Hand?
"Hahahaha, how ironic. We fight to the death to protect the world, only to be ignored like it's all just child's play," Sinestro's face was exceptionally grim, a fire burning in his chest.
He had gone to great lengths to backstab Hal, practically pushing Hal towards death with his own hands, just to seize the Green Lantern Ring and return to the world of the living. It was supposed to be a drama where he saved the Main Universe, but now it was completely unrecognizable.
Everyone was fighting, battlefields were everywhere, but no one cared about Sinestro's actions anymore.
What angered Sinestro even more was that he didn't dare make a move. He alone couldn't face the attacks of a whole crowd of gods.
Even when he saw Hal arrive, wearing a Black Lantern Ring, Sinestro could only glare at him, and Hal glared back.
"What's your plan?" Hal asked proactively after a moment of thought.
"My plan is that I don't need a plan! This is the Xenomorph's home turf now, the era has changed! The turmoil related to the Emotional Spectrum has nothing to do with us Lanterns anymore!" Sinestro raised his voice.
Volthoom also simply stopped fighting, warily watching every Xenomorph within his line of sight, because any one of them could transform into Du Wa.
But his slight distraction was met with a punch to the face from Superboy-Prime. His entire face deformed, and colorful blood splattered out.
"You dare get distracted in front of me? Do you have a death wish?" Superboy-Prime clenched his fist, thoroughly enjoying the frenzied battle.
Although he had been beaten down many times, causing a slight change in his mentality, at his core, he was still that hot-tempered, impulsive, and bloodthirsty Superman.
Ultraman, hiding far away, was also observing this version of himself from a parallel universe he didn't recognize at all.
"I thought I was evil enough, but I never expected there to be a demon more powerful and more evil than me... I can't be mistaken, this guy must have killed so, so many people. The number I've killed is probably just a fraction of his—this guy is more cruel, more insane than me."
Ultraman felt that he was merely bad, but he also possessed a sycophantic, fawning nature. Superboy-Prime, however, lacked this trait. This guy would demand what he wanted, not beg for it.
Look at him. Ever since Superboy-Prime appeared out of thin air in the Main Universe, without anyone's prior detection or perception, he had charged straight for Volthoom as if he had been preparing for a long time, starting an unconventional, fierce battle.
"Hmph, I thought your swift and total kneeling before Du Wa meant you'd achieved some deeper ideological awakening. Turns out it was really just your survival instinct at work..."
Alexander Luthor appeared beside Ultraman. In his Zansha state, he slapped away a stray burst of spectral power and sneered, his voice dripping with mockery.
Before Du Wa's invasion of Earth-3, he was the only being who posed a threat to Ultraman. Compared to the person he was before the Flashpoint event, who could have been called a superhero, his current post-reboot self had a lower bottom line and more brutal means. His willingness to collaborate with the Crime Syndicate proved he was no good guy either.
But when it came to kneeling and begging for mercy, Alexander Luthor felt he was far inferior to Ultraman, the leader of the Crime Syndicate.
"Every time you open that damn mouth of yours, nothing but shit comes out. Your breath stinks like Dark Claw," Ultraman cursed, then his face turned pious. "Everything we have now is a boon from Du Wa."
This, surprisingly, made Alexander Luthor look at him in a new light. Perhaps it was because Du Wa's ascension had caused the Xenomorphs inside their bodies to undergo a strange transformation. Although their strength hadn't directly increased, it seemed their very specifications had undergone a synchronous, incomprehensible transformation along with Du Wa, their collective entity.
Boom!
An enraged Volthoom clashed with Superboy-Prime once more, attracting the gazes of many gods.
"The Emotional Spectrum, the power of creation..."
"What's the power of creation? Never heard of it."
"Shut up if you don't know anything. This matter has huge implications; it's not something you can just ask about. And if you ask me what it involves, I don't know either. All I know is that it's very dangerous."
Just then, Darkseid seemed to have made a major discovery. After a cold laugh, he suddenly acted, opening a Boom Tube and disappearing from the Main Universe.
"Father?"
Kalibak was stunned. He wanted to follow, but he didn't know where Darkseid had gone.
"Don't chase him. If he didn't want to take you, he wouldn't let you find him easily. That's just how he is, no matter which 'he' it is..."
"Orion? You damn thing! You betrayed Apokolips, you traitor who defected to the Skyfather!"
The moment Kalibak saw Darkseid's younger son, Orion, he erupted with divine power and charged, completely ignoring the fact that Orion was unwilling to fight him, his killing intent chillingly palpable.
The eldest son and the younger son began to fight.
"Do you also intend to seize the Anti-Life Equation? Or are you naive enough to think you can pull the God of Xenomorphs into the faction of New Genesis?" Kalibak roared.
"And why not? I have to at least try. The Skyfather has made a discovery, which is why he sent me here," Orion said while parrying the attacks.
Just as Darkseid possessed the weapon known as the Omega Effect, the Skyfather, as the leader of the other branch of the New Gods who had confronted and fought Darkseid's main body for countless years, also possessed a divine artifact, the "Origin Scepter," which could detect extremely secret information.
But as for what was discovered, Orion didn't know. He was merely carrying out the command of his great adoptive father.
...
Prime Earth.
"Well, it looks like everyone is having a lively time. It must have been a long while since this Multiverse was this bustling."
Du Wa sat in a chair, swaying idly like an ordinary person, completely devoid of any radiating divine power or brilliant light.
This puzzled Jeff, who observed him cautiously. "You did it?"
"Yes, I did it. No one could stop me. I am now a powerful Deity comparable to an entire Multiverse," Du Wa said casually.
"Then I—no, we—"
"That's right. Just as you hoped, you are all free now. Barring any major incidents, I won't be showing up in the Editorial Department again, nor will I be forcing you to create anything new," Du Wa said with a smile.
A bad feeling welled up in Jeff's heart. "What exactly does a 'major incident' refer to? A major event like the Crisis on Infinite Earths?"
"No, the Crisis on Infinite Earths is nothing. I'm talking about something far, far greater than that—an event more complex and unfathomable than the simple destruction of a Multiverse. But something like that won't happen anytime soon."
Du Wa had never forgotten: for as well-behaved and sensible as the DC Editorial Department was, the Marvel Editorial Department would be that much more insane and prone to stirring up trouble.
"To recognize your contributions to me, I have decided to grant you long lifespans, strong bodies, and agile minds. This is a boon from the God of Xenomorphs. Please be sure to accept it."
As he was leaving, Du Wa affectionately patted Jeff's shoulder. The poor old man trembled violently in fright and was about to fall backward, but he quickly recovered, feeling robust and rejuvenated.
(end of chapter)