"So this… is the truth behind everything?"
Alex stood at the edge of the abyss, staring into the endless darkness, whispering to himself.
The truth.
Sometimes, it hides in the simplest of details.
The moment Alex saw the abyssal rift buried beneath the Ruin Universe, all the questions that had plagued his mind began to unravel.
Why did his earliest memories begin in the Ruin Universe?
Why was that universe so unlike any other in the multiverse?
Why did despair linger over everything like a permanent shadow?
Because this universe was backed against a hive — a source endlessly spreading contamination.
In other words, it had already been devoured by corruption, veering off into an utterly distorted path. And the one who had torn open this rift… was none other than himself.
His arrival had shattered the natural order. As a being from a higher dimension, his real body had descended into this lower-dimensional world — a world whose defenses were woefully inadequate.
The result was a horrifying breach — an abyss torn open by a cosmic entity simply falling through.
A rift connecting contaminated worlds directly to the core of the prime multiverse.
The contamination flowed from this very tear — like a catastrophic outbreak, infecting every timeline and parallel universe it touched, relentless as a virus and persistent as a parasite.
-----------------------------------
"For so long, I've been watching the other side of the rift. I saw many things there — fascinating things. And I witnessed the true power of the corruption. Unfortunately… that very power clouded my perception. I couldn't share what I saw with the other Watchers."
The Watcher's voice turned hoarse and heavy, grating like friction between broken circuits.
"When I finally came to my senses, you had already left the Ruins Universe. I had no choice but to leave as well — to track you through the traces you left in each world. It took time, but eventually, I found you in the Wastelands."
"But I was still too late. You had already gained the power to defend yourself… even to threaten me. Luckily for me, the Wasteland Universe is little more than a dumping ground in the multiverse. You couldn't reach very far."
"You wanted to kill me," Alex said plainly.
"Of course I did!" the Watcher snapped, frustrated.
"But I had no guarantee of success — I didn't even understand the extent of your power. If I attacked recklessly, the fallout of our battle could've spread the corruption to even more universes."
"And if that happened, I'd become the greatest sinner of this reality."
Alex narrowed his eyes. "Yet now, you're trying to bring the contamination from beyond the rift into this world. Doesn't that make you the sinner of the multiverse?"
"You think I came here just to unleash those corrupted beings? Heh…"
The Watcher's voice echoed coldly through the empty dark.
"My goal has always been singular — to sever the corruption completely and bring true freedom to the multiverse!"
"Time Bard, if you'd paid closer attention, you'd realize most of the universes obliterated by antimatter waves were ones already infected — consumed by chaos and despair. That energy wipes out corrupted worlds… nothing more."
Alex countered, "But some of those universes were innocent. They could've been saved, rewritten even. You have no right to choose which universes live or die."
"For the freedom of the rest of the multiverse," the Watcher sneered, "those were acceptable sacrifices. When you shattered the reality of that sad little world where Deadpool existed, weren't you doing the same thing?"
"If you really want to fix all this," Alex said, drawing the black umbrella from his back, "then help me close the rift. Stop the contamination — don't resort to extremism."
"I already found a way," the Watcher replied coldly.
Thunder rumbled through the void. Alex's eye twitched. A sense of unease crawled up his spine.
Before he could fully comprehend the Watcher's words, a strange energy field flared behind him. The chill of it ran down his back.
His entire magical aura surged instinctively in response.
Whipping around, he saw — emerging slowly through the stars — a massive, gray sphere, rotating as it moved toward him.
Squinting through its surface, Alex could see clearly what was inside.
Black smoke spread thick across the battlefield.
The Anti-Anti-Monitor Armor lay broken and powerless on the ground — one of its arms had been brutally ripped off, tangled with snapped treads and torn wiring, occasionally sparking with flickers of eerie blue electricity.
Elsewhere, Black Adam, Shazam, and the others had already lost consciousness, collapsed motionless amid the wreckage.
Only a handful of heroes could still stand against the Shadow Demon, and the battlefield was now buried under mounds of corpses and destroyed combat droids.
And now, the only one still fighting the Anti-Monitor… was Clark Kent — Superman.
But he wasn't doing much better.
He hovered midair with great difficulty, sustained only by sheer will and his biological field manipulation. His entire body was covered in blood, his energy clearly near depletion.
The massive gray orb that had arrived earlier wasn't just some weapon.
It was Universe Flash-01.
And behind it… floated an even larger orb — another universe — barely tethered to Flash-01 by a faint, glowing white energy filament.
Drawn forward by an unknown gravitational force, the two universes slowly drifted toward the gaping black rift ahead.
"Spectacular, isn't it?"
The Watcher's voice echoed through the void once again.
"To seal a rift this corrupted, nothing is more suitable than the power of someone who is himself tainted by the corruption. I knew from the start — if something happened to Universe Flash-01, the Wastelands would respond. That… was all part of my plan."
"To fight corruption with corruption — that's the lesson you taught me. And these two universes, the last to remain connected with you, the ones you're bound to the most — they are the perfect materials to seal the breach."
He sighed softly.
"It's a shame really. You weren't supposed to be here. In my original plan, you could've met your end with dignity — painless, even."
Alex finally understood the whole picture.
"So… because these two universes were already infected with my corruption, you chose them to patch the rift — and in doing so, kill them, and me, at the same time, without anyone noticing?"
That was the plan.
A plan so daring, so cold-blooded, and so calculated — even Alex had to admire it.
He couldn't help but pause to silently assess its feasibility.
And then, with a quiet sigh, he spoke again: "…To go this far, all for the sake of the multiverse… you really are something else."
"You're not too bad yourself," the Watcher chuckled.
"To break through my plan and track down my true body first — what can I say? You really do live up to your name, Time Bard."
But in the next breath, his voice turned sharp and cold: "Not that it matters anymore. Without you interfering, the Anti-Monitor battle would be over by now. And you — you can do nothing but stand here and watch as all your comrades die, one after another."
"As for you…"
"I've found you a better opponent!"
As the Watcher's voice echoed through the void, the dark rift began to squirm faintly.
After a brief spatial collapse, a series of explosive sounds burst out. At the same time, shadowy figures exuding terrifying energy extended their tendrils from within the rift.
Alex's brows furrowed deeply. He didn't know what these things were, but the chaotic and twisted energy they carried sent an indescribable sense of unease through him—like an omen. The already dark expanse grew even more chaotic.
From within the shadowed clouds, writhing worm-like creatures emerged, wailing and screeching, surging toward Alex in a storm of madness-inducing energy.
"What the hell is this…"
Alex instinctively gripped the handle of his umbrella tighter. He could already feel it—that imminent sense of death.
The worm at the front lunged straight at him. In an instant, its appearance changed. Its tendrils, covered in black slime, suddenly stretched outward—and then, a humanoid figure emerged, its face obscured.
Alex barely had time to raise his arm to block as his black umbrella clashed against the enemy's weapon.
There was a dull thud, and then he saw it clearly—a katana. An eerily twisted katana.
No… the real threat wasn't the weapon.
His eyes moved up—what he saw was a crimson arm.
'This isn't a power I've encountered before…'
Before Alex could think further, the opponent let out a thunderous roar.
Along with it came a suffocatingly oppressive energy. Alex could see multiple eerie phantoms flickering behind the black silhouette.
"Ghost God…!?"
Alex's pupils shrank, but his movements didn't slow.
The black umbrella clashed repeatedly with the katana as Alex fought while retreating. Finally, in a moment of opening amid the opponent's berserk assault, he found a weak spot.
The umbrella's tip jabbed forward—piercing through the enemy's chest in an instant. In the next moment, the figure burst like a soap bubble, splattering into black ink and vanishing without a trace.
Just as the figure dispersed, a strange sensation surged in Alex's mind. Fragments of memory he didn't recognize flooded into him. Somewhere deep in the unseen darkness, a universe collapsed abruptly—vanishing completely from the vast multiverse.
"These people… they're—"
Alex had barely begun to speak when another shadow lunged at him.
This time, three figures charged.
The one in the lead wore a Deathstroke-style armor drenched in black symbiote.
The other two?
One wielded Captain America's shield.
The other walked with thunderous steps—riding a sword like a lotus.
.....
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