Chapter 243: The DC Great Cataclysm, the Wrath of the Spectre
The conflict between the superheroes and the xenomorphs was nothing more than child's play—at least, until the Main Universe Superman's strength suddenly surged for some reason, his emotions grew extreme, his consciousness broke through the limits of the Multiverse, or he simply achieved a multiversal resonance. Before that, any conflict on Earth was merely a children's game.
But Du Wa didn't care. Doctor Manhattan, however, could not afford to. He had come specifically for the Main Universe Superman.
"In seven minutes, your duplicates will defeat the Main Universe Superman. Some duplicates will advocate for killing Superman, while others will argue for imprisoning him to await your judgment. There are even bolder ones preparing to weaken Superman with Kryptonite, then find a random Queen to lay an egg and parasitize him."
Several hundred Doctor Manhattans tilted their heads, once again falling into a state of temporal confusion. Even with the powerful computational ability and logic He possessed, it still took Him an instant to differentiate between time nodes.
It was too difficult. Having lost his humanity, Doctor Manhattan could exist simultaneously at every point on the timeline. Distinguishing the actual location of his primary form was somewhat arduous.
Opposite him, an even greater number of Du Was had completely surrounded Doctor Manhattan.
In the DC World, three quantum deities had appeared over time. One was the outsider, Doctor Manhattan. Another was Universe 4's Captain Atom, who called himself Quantum Superman. And the last was the Quantum Batman from the Dark Multiverse, who would later be "possessed" by The Batman Who Laughs.
Among these three quantum deities, the one about whom the least was known was the Quantum Batman. The Batman Who Laughs targeted this fellow, eventually using dark metal to kill the Quantum Batman and transfer his own brain into the Quantum Batman's body, transforming himself into a quantum deity—The Darkest Knight.
As for Quantum Superman, he assisted the New World Superman, once helping to successfully activate the Thought Robot Superman and thwarting Mandrakk, who had nearly devoured DC Comics—that was an event from before the last major reboot.
Among these quantum deities, the most mentally unstable was Doctor Manhattan. With every step he took, he annihilated his own humanity more thoroughly. Rather than calling Him a god, it would be more accurate to say He was gradually transforming himself into a naturally existing phenomenon, like a form of energy or a set of operating rules.
Now, this troublesome being was willing to make a move to expel Du Wa, who was obstructing Him.
This time, Du Wa struck first.
A massive swarm of Du Was charged toward a massive swarm of Doctor Manhattans. The power unleashed in that instant alone produced cosmic waves that gave rise to countless black holes. Celestial bodies were swiftly annihilated, not even qualifying as the most basic of fleeting bubbles.
Before these two deities of multiversal standing, the entire process of all things, from birth to death, their supposedly long lives of billions of years, were nothing more than data flickering at their fingertips, completed in an instant.
It wasn't just the various celestial bodies of the entire universe. The moment they made contact, this influence surpassed the boundaries of the Main Universe and completely swept across the Multiverse.
This Multiverse, encircled by the Sphere of Gods, became fraught with peril, shaking violently. Terrifying cracks corroded everything. Only absolute nothingness, The Void, was spreading at an exaggerated rate, poised to devour all if nothing changed.
The viscous, blood-red high-dimensional energy enveloped numerous small black spheres, like a pool of water. These numerous universes, like little black balls, rocked dramatically like small boats in a tsunami under the churning, blood-red "pool water," in constant danger of being submerged.
In fact, some of the more remote universes had already vanished with a pop into the energy of The Bleed. All the planets, innumerable deities, and ordinary life within those universes successively dissolved into The Bleed, completely corroded by the terrifying high-dimensional energy.
"What's happening? What in the world is happening?!"
"Many universes have been destroyed! Currently, only the 52 main universes can be considered stable—no, Universe 3 was already in a dilapidated state, and it's about to be finished off too! I see a massive amount of energy from The Bleed rushing into Universe 3. That universe is practically dead!"
Piloting starships that could be considered the pinnacle of high technology in the DC World, the Monitors stared, dumbfounded, at the changes in the Multiverse.
More Monitors arrived, looking at the rampaging Bleed in disbelief.
Their Monitor race needed to periodically extract energy from The Bleed to recharge their starships, but they had never seen The Bleed become such a chaotic mess!
This wasn't like when the Anti-Monitor triggered the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Although only five universes remained back then, the Anti-Monitor did not possess the absolute brute force to directly destroy the Multiverse like these two!
"These two, compared to what Thought Robot Superman was back then..."
"Forget Thought Robot Superman! That guy is alive; he's the anchor of our world! He is the reader of the long story. Even when he took action back then, he focused on protecting worlds, not destroying the Multiverse like this!"
The Monitor race was different from the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor. They were not the offspring of Perpetua, but they did have an extraordinary origin, being a species from Outside the Source Wall. They had curiously entered to investigate this Multiverse, only to tragically discover that they had been assimilated by this small Multiverse and could no longer leave.
And so it has been to this day. They had virtually become beings similar to the Watchers of the Marvel World, observing the changes of the Multiverse, watching Superman and his ilk fight and kill, not daring to speak too loudly.
In particular, when they first entered the DC Universe, they discovered a colossal mechanical Superman appearing out of thin air, supporting this world like a door god—the Thought Robot Superman was a being that naturally evolved after the fusion of the Monitor race with the DC World. He was also the Monitor race's ultimate trump card for eliminating Mandrakk and protecting their own kind.
Superman is the absolute core of the DC World; everything crucial evolves from the image of Superman. The Main Universe Superman is like this, and so is the incredibly bizarre Thought Robot Superman.
There was also a host of individuals like the Golden Superman, scattered throughout the key points of the DC World.
Amidst their shock, the Monitors subconsciously wanted to find the missing Thought Robot Superman to quell this disaster.
"Doctor Manhattan... According to our calculations, this strange outsider must have also discovered Superman's special nature, which is why he's fighting the God of Xenomorphs, attempting to expel him."
"But then again, after Du Wa entered this world, he has already become a part of the story itself. No matter how bad it gets, he's not someone Doctor Manhattan can compare to."
The Monitors were staring at the changes in the Multiverse, watching the xenomorphs spread like wildfire, and had long since gone numb. But there was nothing they could do, because the Multiverse was the territory of the Monitor. They could only watch from afar, unable to act.
The battle between Du Wa and Doctor Manhattan was too astonishing. Countless, densely packed figures clashed, often with several Du Was besieging a single Doctor Manhattan, unleashing impacts sufficient to instantly obliterate any obstacle.
It was certain that before long, the Multiverse would face another reboot.
Boom!
Two Du Was grabbed Doctor Manhattan's arms from the left and right, while three more Du Was attacked from the front, piercing through this Doctor Manhattan's form. Finally, after a seemingly unremarkable blue light erupted, this Doctor Manhattan was torn into primordial quantum particles by Du Wa.
"This guy is really strong, and so hard to kill," one Du Wa said, lifting his head to look at the other battles scattered across the Multiverse.
In most of the other battles, however, it was Du Wa's duplicates who were being killed by Doctor Manhattan.
The superiority of a quantum deity was on full display at this moment, and only Doctor Manhattan dared to play like this, unscrupulously creating so many duplicates. These quantum duplicates were, in fact, each an independent Doctor Manhattan.
If Quantum Superman or Quantum Batman dared to try this, a civil war would break out in minutes, with a group of independent-thinking selves slaughtering each other.
"This must be your unique ability. Only you, with your excessive divinity, would dare to use such a move. You don't need to worry about your other selves turning against you."
One Du Wa spoke, and thousands upon thousands of Du Was said the same words. In that brief interval, a large number of Du Was died.
A newly ascended, special concept god, facing a quantum deity, could not establish an advantage as quickly as in the past. Du Wa's greatest strength was completely nullified. In his Duwa's Faction, besides himself, he couldn't field a second truly multiverse-level deity to aid in the battle.
He still needed time to develop, and he also needed to select suitable targets. Du Wa mused, wondering if he could also get his other self in the Marvel World to make a move.
"Excessive divinity...?" Doctor Manhattan tilted his head and thought. It was the first time someone had described Him this way, but it seemed exceptionally fitting. He felt less and less like a human.
"Divinity..."
A large number of Doctor Manhattans lowered their heads to look at their own palms. Although this action allowed a swarm of Du Was to kill over a hundred of Him in one go, He, devoid of emotional fluctuation, didn't care at all.
"That is a very good term. Unknowingly, I have taken too many actions in the pursuit of satisfying my curiosity," Doctor Manhattan said to himself.
His presence had spanned almost every stage of the DC World, from the Golden Age to the New 52 Era. He had traveled to every corner of this world, which was how he confirmed the truth that Superman was the sole core of DC.
There was nothing wrong with the act of exploration. But in the process of exploring the truth, He did many, many things He shouldn't have. He saved people who were supposed to die and altered the paths of different individuals to observe the evolution of DC history. Although it was impossible to change the overarching trend of generational change—He lacked that ability—he had indeed meddled in minor details where he shouldn't have.
This was not something a quantum deity who could ignore the evolution of high-dimensional space-time should do. Especially since Doctor Manhattan had repeatedly stressed to the governments of the Watchmen Universe that he would never interfere with the world's natural course, even if he possessed the ability to change history.
Therefore, when Adrian Veidt killed millions to force the world's governments to unite and thus achieve peace, Doctor Manhattan did nothing, nor did he intend to save those millions. To a "thing" that had lost its humanity, saving a group of people was no different in essence from moving a grain of sand.
But why would a deity bother to move a single grain of sand?
"Have you finally remembered? You have already done wrong. If I hadn't stepped in front of you first, forcing you to reveal yourself and focus on me, Superman would have sooner or later discovered what you were secretly doing to him. He would have eventually carried the resistance and fury of the entire world to confront you," Du Wa said.
The world itself possessed a defense mechanism, especially against higher-level, special deities who unscrupulously influenced the history of various generations. Superman would uphold the will of the world and become the most powerful antivirus program.
Defeating Doctor Manhattan should have been the task of the Main Universe Superman after discovering the truth, an act born of shock and anger. Although the Main Universe Superman would have voluntarily held back after delivering the winning punch, sparing Doctor Manhattan.
Du Wa was different. He wasn't the Main Universe Superman, born to carry the weight of the DC World on his shoulders. Nor could he wield the power of the DC World itself to unleash unparalleled force at critical moments.
The likes of Doctor Manhattan, the World Forger, or Barbatos would fall with a single punch before a powered-up Main Universe Superman; even a multiverse-level being would be rendered insignificant.
Du Wa estimated that unless a deity far surpassing the multiversal standing appeared, one who was determined to completely erase the DC World, only then could the Main Universe Superman, who bore the will of DC, be truly killed.
A multiverse-level deity was certainly not enough. A multiverse-level deity could at best be compared to the DC Multiverse, but not the DC World in a broader sense. It would be even more impossible for them to truly kill the concept of Superman.
"Choose, Jonathan Osterman. I must admit, right now I truly lack the ability to kill you. But having just advanced to a multiversal standing, I am at my weakest. Before long, I will surpass you and eventually find a way to kill you for good."
Du Wa's voice entered the mind of every single Doctor Manhattan: "You can also choose to fight me to the end, still clinging to your goal of expelling me from this world. But I'll remind you, you don't have the ability to kill me completely. All your attempts will only bring greater destruction to this world, making it even more impossible for you to operate here."
Du Wa never cared about being defeated or even killed by a powerful enemy. He didn't care in the past, and he cared even less now. It would be utterly absurd for a concept god to fear death. He might as well not have chosen the path of a concept god from the start and honestly become a normal deity, for instance, by using various higher energies or divine artifacts to achieve his ascension.
Doctor Manhattan's expression remained unchanged. He pondered like a lost machine. His thoughts had drifted to who knows which world in which period of DC history, and who knows who he had made contact with. By the time he withdrew his thoughts and stopped all his curiosity-driven actions at once...
It was too late. Du Wa wouldn't do anything, but the guardian deities of the DC World would certainly make a move.
"You two are completely insane!"
Endless fury roared as a figure in a green robe appeared, charging into the Multiverse in a fit of rage.
The Wrath of God, the Spirit of Vengeance—the Spectre had arrived.
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