Chapter 236: Fucking Concept Gods
In the very beginning, few realized Du Wa's true intentions.
Everyone was simply bewildered, unable to understand what Du Wa was up to.
All who paid attention to the changes in the Multiverse, who had scattered clones across the various universes, or groups like the Guardians who could probe for secret information through the emotional spectrum, detected the great battle in Universe 3.
The death of New 52 Darkseid, Thanoseid's absorption of his divinity, and his subsequent replacement of the void left by New 52 Darkseid—such a major event was enough to attract the attention of some powerful beings.
Especially when the Anti-Monitor also died at the hands of Thanoseid—or rather, Du Wa—it was enough to cause a sensation.
The Anti-Life Equation had appeared, yet the Anti-Monitor had fallen in battle, causing the Anti-Life Equation to fall into the hands of an obscure deity.
But even now, they had only witnessed the series of actions Du Wa had taken; they had yet to comprehend the purpose behind these moves.
"Black Hand has returned to Universe 0. That guy interfered with the course of the Main Universe, yet he doesn't stop the dangerous Black Hand from entering the Main Universe as well? Even if the Dark Walker can't stop him, doesn't he have many powerful warriors under his command?"
"And especially that strange Darkseid. I've looked through all 52 universes and couldn't find where Du Wa dug that guy up from."
"Probably from some worthless, remote universe, or maybe he was found in the Dark Multiverse. But that Barbatos fellow doesn't seem to be making any big moves. Perhaps he too has been derelict in his duties and failed to notice Du Wa's invasion."
"To deal with the Anti-Monitor, Du Wa even controlled Thanoseid to make a move. But now, he'd rather send out Superboy-Prime than act personally?"
"Heh, you say 'act personally,' but have any of us seen the true form of the God of Xenomorphs? The entire time, he's been wielding the bodies of his subordinates to fight... This guy is truly interesting. Doesn't that mean he can have an infinite number of bodies? To be expended at will?"
Some ancient beings had already discerned that Du Wa could likely control Xenomorphs from other universes, not just the ones he directly ruled. He had specifically sent these Xenomorphs into Universe 3 and the Main Universe in succession.
This indicated that Du Wa was not a single-universe god in the conventional sense; his sphere of influence extended beyond a single universe.
Everyone wanted to see the origin of this deity they had never heard of before.
"Hey, he's also secretly interfered with the history of many universes, inserting a creature like the Xenomorph. This guy seems to have some sort of time-related ability, not just a God of Parasitism... Ha, maybe he can parasitize time?"
Within the Domain of the Gods, deities continuously extended their vast divine consciousnesses, riding the omnipresent divine waves to roam wantonly, blanketing the Multiverse.
Not every deity had left a clone in the Multiverse, and even those who had didn't have them distributed across every universe.
More gods still concentrated their power in the Domain of the Gods, searching for a way to break through the Origin Wall. They were unwilling to be trapped within this enormous cage.
Changes occurring in the Multiverse would, at most, attract their attention, but it was exceedingly difficult to reach a point where they couldn't resist intervening.
Even a multiverse reboot was of little consequence; it certainly wouldn't reboot the Domain of the Gods.
Suddenly.
The top-tier deities were the first to perceive a certain change. They split off a trivial sliver of consciousness to gaze down upon the outside world, retracting it almost instantly. Though it was but a moment, it was enough to place immense pressure on the vast and boundless Domain of the Gods. Those omnipresent divine waves even experienced a momentary lag, as if overwhelmed.
Although this instant was imperceptible to many lower life forms, it was enough to make even some ancient beings' hearts pound with fear.
"Who was that?"
"To be imperceptible even to us, you don't need to guess to know it must have come from Heaven or Hell. Could it be the giant gods on the Origin Wall observing our world? Once those guys get on the Origin Wall, they become like the deaf and blind, knowing nothing."
Heaven and Hell, these two worlds had fought many times. They contained a large number of First Generation Gods, and rumors even circulated in the Domain of the Gods that there might be gods from before the First Generation within these two worlds.
But more gods thought this was nonsense. Before the First Generation, not even the Multiverse existed, let alone the two great worlds within the Domain of the Gods, Heaven and Hell. If such an ancient fellow truly existed, how could they allow themselves to be imprisoned by the Origin Wall? They could have escaped long ago.
"Sister, that was..." Dream wore a look of astonishment.
"There's no mistake. It was Lucifer. Only he can achieve such a feat... We must reassess his strength once again. He is more terrifying than we imagined!" Death said, filled with worry.
Dream was skeptical. "Could he be stronger than you? You must be much stronger than those two Gods of Death, Black Hand and the Dark Walker, right? I can't even perceive your level of strength anymore."
"He is stronger than me, at least for now."
Death was already faintly aware that she might have the ability to extend her concept beyond the Origin Wall into the Omniverse. This would only cost her some effort and time. When that time came, even she wouldn't dare to estimate what level her strength would reach.
At that point, she would surely be stronger than Lucifer. But not now. Lucifer was definitely one of the top-tier deities in the world within the wall. After all, even Lucifer was a god expelled from Heaven. Even though Lucifer had launched counterattacks on Heaven multiple times, his repeated failures showed that there was at least one god in Heaven with strength comparable to his.
It was the right decision for The Endless not to clash with Lucifer when they first established themselves in Hell. Otherwise, there would have certainly been deaths and injuries.
Dream hesitated for a moment and stood up, but was immediately pushed back down by Death.
"Don't go to Universe 0—according to the local gods' way of calling it, it has once again become the Main Universe. Don't go. Even if Du Wa is hiding an unbelievable secret, it shouldn't be you who steps forward. Didn't you see that Lucifer already has his eyes on Du Wa? The things you know, Lucifer and the guys in Heaven will find out sooner or later. When that time comes, are you going to step in and help Du Wa?"
"But now—"
"Not now, either. Since Du Wa did it, he must pay the price. This is his purpose for coming to this Multiverse." Death was very familiar with what Du Wa was doing. It was something the members of The Endless had just recently completed—advancing to the multiversal level.
The strength of a Concept God isn't necessarily the greatest, but they are certainly the most troublesome and do not die easily. However, by the same token, the methods of promotion required to step up to a higher divine authority are vastly different from other types of deities.
The simplest, and also the most difficult, method is to directly use a larger world to advance. The larger the world, the faster the concept that relies on it for existence will naturally grow—provided that a host of native gods don't intervene to stop it.
This was how The Endless had advanced, increasing their strength and level at lightning speed. Moving from the Vertigo Universe to the DC World was like entering a paradise made for The Endless.
But Du Wa was different. He had arrived long before the Flashpoint event and had personally witnessed the entire process of The Endless entering the DC World.
Most members of The Endless had already reached the peak of their strength, standing at the multiversal level, while Du Wa remained the same. Only now had he truly completed his plans and begun his promotion.
"A Concept God that relies on a specific race... To increase one's strength is far more troublesome and difficult than it is for us, and the upper limit isn't high either."
Death shook her head secretly.
So what if Du Wa exhausted all his efforts, carrying out numerous actions in countless worlds that baffled even the gods? Now that he had barely managed to advance to the multiversal level, what's next? How could he improve further?
It was a foregone conclusion. The upper limit of Du Wa, this God of Xenomorphs, had already been sealed.
Was he going to turn all living people in the Multiverse into Xenomorphs? And then turn all the gods in the Domain of the Gods into Xenomorphs? Did Du Wa have that kind of strength? He had to know he didn't.
The waters of the Domain of the Gods ran too deep, and there were far too many terrifying figures. Any random one of them could deal with a Concept God of Du Wa's type.
Death actually had little interest in Du Wa, nor in the world he came from. She really couldn't understand why Dream was so obsessed with Du Wa.
"Even if what you guess is true, that Du Wa really comes from a place comparable to this world, so what? He went through all this trouble to come to this world, isn't that precisely because his original world couldn't compare to this one? Otherwise, why would he come?" Death shook her head repeatedly, holding Dream down firmly, not letting him move.
Lately, Dream had been doing a bit too much, even going so far as to block Apokolips. If she didn't keep a good handle on him, would he be trying to block Lucifer's gate next?
Death and Dream looked toward the Multiverse.
More deities looked toward the Multiverse.
At this moment, many universes trembled slightly, and the tremors showed signs of intensifying. Countless rules were being squeezed by a rapidly climbing power, showing signs of distortion.
A powerful presence, far surpassing the single-universe level, began to emerge rapidly, climbing in every universe.
All the deities finally knew what Du Wa was doing. This guy was actually taking the opportunity to advance to the multiversal level?
"So this was his goal! Looking at the commotion in the Multiverse, the Xenomorphs in every universe... Could this guy be a Concept God too?!"
"I've never seen a Concept God like this, a concept coalesced from an actual flesh-and-blood race? That counts as a Concept God? Then as the Bat-God, does that mean Barbatos can treat all Batmen as a part of himself?"
"Don't be ridiculous. We all know what's up with Barbatos—except for trash like the Old Gods and New Gods who only appeared in the Third Generation. Barbatos has nothing to do with being a Concept God. I suspect this God of Xenomorphs actually took the opportunity of the Vertigo Universe entering our world to piggyback his transmigration."
"Observe the history of the Multiverse more closely. That guy appeared before the Flashpoint event even erupted. He was the catalyst who first triggered it."
A so-called Concept God with a bizarre parasitic ability, able to transfer his own consciousness and power to any Xenomorph? Alright, that was very novel. Compared to a Concept God like those from The Endless, he seemed particularly special.
But that didn't mean they could ignore the emergence of a new multiversal god.
No matter how peculiar a multiversal divine authority was, it was still a proven existence. If they reached out to explore it, they might be able to gain something.
One after another, gazes probed into the Multiverse, filled with all kinds of complex emotions.
These were emotions that surpassed the range of the Emotional Spectrum. After all, the Emotional Spectrum was merely one of the Seven Forces of Creation. No matter how powerful it was, it wasn't held in particularly high regard by the ancient gods, and it was even less likely to be able to encompass their will.
Kalibak was the first to enter the Main Universe. As the Crown Prince of Apokolips, he didn't have too many reservations.
"Hmph, to think the one who brought my father trouble and snatched away the Anti-Life Equation is actually advancing to a multiversal deity? I can't let him succeed."
Kalibak's fierce gaze swept around repeatedly, but he had to face an awkward reality—he didn't know where Du Wa was.
It wasn't just him; the other deities didn't know where Du Wa was either.
"Found him?"
"No, my clones in other universes are also searching. We've only found some Xenomorphs, but none of them are Du Wa's main body. No, maybe every Xenomorph is his main body? Isn't the rumor that he's a Concept God who has taken a strange path?"
Kalibak, Ares who had also rushed to the Main Universe, and the other deities all looked at each other in dismay.
"Concept Gods are such a pain. Not only are they hard to kill, but even finding the target has become a problem... Maybe his main body is hiding in some unknown universe?"
"No, he won't let us find him so easily."
A Boom Tube opened, and the Darkseid of the Main Universe stepped out, his hands behind his back. He spoke with cold indifference.
"Father."
Kalibak, brimming with hostility, immediately showed a respectful expression.
Although this Darkseid was also a clone with a relatively independent will, and was not the same as the "main body" of Darkseid on Apokolips in the Domain of the Gods, to Kalibak, he was still Father. There was no mistaking that.
Who could say for sure which Darkseid would ultimately absorb the others and become the complete Darkseid again?
In any case, as long as it wasn't that "Darkseid" who was parasitized by the God of Xenomorphs, it was fine. Kalibak had come for that very person and the Anti-Life Equation. He wanted Thanoseid dead, and he wanted the Equation.
More deities arrived. Many of them weren't even clones, but their main bodies.
But even so, they couldn't find Du Wa's main body.
"Strange, where on earth is that guy hiding? If every Xenomorph is equivalent to him, doesn't that mean he has no main body?"
Just then.
As the light erupting from countless universes surged to its zenith, a great tremor shook all of reality. The oppressive presence of a multiversal-level divine authority suddenly emerged—a power capable of matching the Multiverse itself.
(end of chapter)