Chapter 70: Xenomorph Astral Projection!
A chill ran down Reynolds's spine, as if he had just heard a terrifying death sentence.
He looked at Du Wa in horror. "Your words make me think of countless vampires having their chests burst open by Xenomorphs."
"Relax. You're the one I've chosen. I won't let you suffer the same fate as the vampires. You are completely different from them."
Du Wa naturally knew what Reynolds was thinking and simply sent out a calming mental wave.
He wouldn't choose to perform a chestburst on Reynolds; it would be pointless.
If he were truly desperate, killing the current Reynolds and transforming him into a complete Xenomorph... it would be hard to say how much strength and potential that Xenomorph would have.
At the very least, it would be difficult to deal with Dormammu now.
The Ancient One also cast a curious gaze, her interest piqued by the powerful weapon Du Wa had mentioned.
"His power comes from a pocket universe. How do you plan to augment his capacity to bear it?"
"There is a method, but the success rate is a problem. I can only give it a try."
Du Wa was also observing Reynolds's overall condition, hesitating internally. To be honest, if he had any other choice, he really wouldn't want to take this step.
The path of the Trinity Sentry.
The Sentry's strongest form—taking the Sentry of Universe 616 as an example—is the fusion of the human host Bob, the heroic persona Reynolds, and the dark persona Void. The three become one, transforming into the Red Sentry, who superimposes the positive and negative aspects of the power of a million exploding suns.
A Sentry like that would possess raw power that ranks among the best of all at the single-universe level across the entire Omniverse.
But in this universe, the Sentry, who should have perished but was instead born due to Du Wa's discovery, currently only possessed the Reynolds persona. If Du Wa wanted to unleash the Sentry's maximum potential, it would be best to find two more personas.
But who could he find? And even if he found them, what would be the success rate of the fusion?
"The Bob persona was born because the Doctor Strange of Universe 616—a version known as the Reaper—intervened to help. Combined with Reynolds's own desire to restrain his out-of-control Void persona, this new persona came into being, allowing him to live a normal life as Bob in Reynolds's body."
"The Void persona is either the physical embodiment of the pocket universe's power or a splinter personality that Reynolds developed during a psychotic break."
Du Wa had a contingency plan in mind for a long time. Now was the time to bring it out.
Du Wa didn't have the Bob and Void personas, but he could find a way to create two new ones.
"Reynolds, you have no idea how much potential is hidden within you. My mission is to activate that potential."
Du Wa sensed the mental fluctuation emanating from the alien larva in Reynolds's chest.
"That is, to superimpose three personas—my own, the alien larva's, and Reynolds's—to enhance this body's genetic and mental limits... The Reynolds of this universe was born abnormally due to my interference and lacks a dark persona. In that case, I'll manually create one."
Du Wa had never attempted this before, having only run theoretical deductions. Now, facing the threat of Dormammu, he had to take a risk.
Moreover, this risk wasn't one Du Wa would take via remote control; he would be personally involved. Without a reliable primary consciousness to take the lead, relying on the timid Reynolds to summon the courage to fight Dormammu felt far too uncertain.
What truly made Du Wa value this attempt was that if it succeeded, it would have far-reaching implications.
"Although I don't know what you plan to do, I'm mentally prepared," Reynolds said in a low voice after a moment of silence. "I'm just not smart, but I'm not an idiot. If it's something you're determined to do, I'll choose to follow you to the end. I don't think I'm any smarter than you, and I only obtained this power because of some unknown means you used."
"I am honored to hear you say that, Reynolds. I can make you a promise: I will never allow my subordinates to die for nothing."
Du Wa officially began his operation.
It was worth mentioning that even now, Du Wa had not appeared in person. He was still manipulating Druig to converse with the Ancient One.
Now, Du Wa had no intention of sending his true form to the front lines either. There were some things he didn't need to worry about too much.
In an instant, just as the terrifying black mist was about to cover the Earth, Reynolds's entire body erupted in an incomparably brilliant golden radiance.
Most strikingly, a powerful and distinct mental fluctuation simultaneously appeared from his chest.
It was as if something was about to break out of its cocoon, but ultimately didn't. It simply maintained a mental synchronization with the Sentry, shouldering his power and even attempting to superimpose upon it.
Absolute coldness, absolute rationality, absolute execution. The Xenomorph, in the guise of Reynolds, began to draw more power from the pocket universe.
An endless torrent of stellar power surged forth, landing precisely on the Sentry's body.
At this moment, the Sentry was, in essence, the gate and coordinates of the pocket universe in this universe. Wherever he went, that was the entrance to the pocket universe.
This was only the beginning.
The Ancient One, who had been observing, had a subtle change in her eyes. She suddenly sensed a third mental activity emerge from Reynolds.
In that instant, the Ancient One realized what Du Wa was trying to do.
But this act of transferring consciousness made the Ancient One suddenly think of a taboo magic spell.
"The Astral Projection technique from the Darkhold?!"
The Ancient One exclaimed in surprise, looking at Reynolds, who was now continuously emitting a terrifying golden light that shot straight into the sky.
"No, it's not that technique. I've never read the Darkhold, but I imagine the principle is similar."
Du Wa's voice rang out. This time, it was Reynolds's body that spoke.
Reynolds's body trembled violently. He slowly lifted his head. It was still Reynolds's face, but from his eyes to his expression, what one saw was clearly Du Wa.
This wasn't Du Wa controlling Reynolds through the Xenomorph; it was Du Wa himself.
Using the alien larva as a channel, medium, and spatio-temporal coordinate, Du Wa forcibly implanted his own consciousness into Reynolds's body.
"A long time ago, I confirmed something: I can maintain a real-time mental link with every single Xenomorph and perceive every host's words and actions through their alien larva. This leads to a very interesting question: my mind controls the host through the Xenomorph. So, what would happen if I tried to use the alien larva as a channel and anchor point to directly perform a mental invasion on the host?"
What belongs to the Xenomorph, belongs to Du Wa. The alien larva possesses the host's genes and controls the host's mind, so in theory, it also belongs to Du Wa.
At this moment, "Reynolds" slowly raised his head. Within his body existed three consciousnesses: Du Wa, the Xenomorph, and Reynolds. At this very instant, these three consciousnesses fused into one, with Du Wa's spiritual entity as the absolute dominant force.
To be honest, the process was excruciating. After all, these were three completely different conscious entities being forcibly conflated while maintaining a connection across space-time. If not for Du Wa's superior familiarity with and control over Reynolds's and the alien larva's consciousnesses, they likely would have collapsed the moment the three minds merged.
It was too difficult. Even now, Du Wa constantly felt the horrifying pressure on his mind, a pressure that was increasing with every passing moment. It was like truly shouldering an entire universe revealing its full scope, not just the part of the pocket universe that Reynolds had previously been in contact with.
But the results were also immense.
The three consciousnesses jointly became a new vessel for the power of a million exploding suns. The power wielded by the Sentry skyrocketed, and the golden energy brewing within him instantly doubled, with the potential to display even greater strength under Du Wa's control.
At this moment, every cell was emitting its life force to the utmost, absorbing as much stellar power as possible.
As Du Wa straightened his chest, the giant 'S' on his belt distorted. With the convergence of so much energy, a strange symbol was inscribed, resembling a Xenomorph curled up with its head and tail connected.
The body he controlled had swelled a size larger, becoming even more robust. Every fiber, every muscle within it, was filled with extraordinary power.
What was originally a golden body now also changed, taking on a hint of silver-gray.
Those familiar knew this was the color of a Xenomorph.
"I have to say, you've exceeded my expectations once again. I never thought you would use the Xenomorphs to create something akin to Astral Projection."
The Ancient One repeatedly observed the current Du Wa, her face filled with admiration.
It was truly remarkable. Even though she was the Sorcerer Supreme, far surpassing Du Wa in absolute power and knowledge, she had never imagined that Xenomorphs could be used in such a way.
Astral Projection was a taboo spell recorded in the Darkhold.
Theoretically, any life form born in the multiverse would have other versions of themselves in parallel universes—these were variants.
The version of oneself in this universe might be a hero, but in another universe, they might be a criminal.
Using Astral Projection, one could send their consciousness and soul across the barrier between universes to possess their variant in a parallel universe.
In the Ancient One's eyes, although Du Wa's process of occupying Reynolds's body was clearly crude and unfamiliar, and the duration he could maintain it was a major issue—who knew how long it would last before collapsing—it was undeniably a prototype of Astral Projection.
What was most astonishing was its safety and efficiency. Don't forget, using a high-level dark magic like Astral Projection required borrowing immense power from Chthon and paying a huge price. But Du Wa's method didn't. As long as the target of possession was a Xenomorph, it would work.
Theoretically, wherever there was a Xenomorph, Du Wa could use this method to descend, provided the conditions were right.
This was just on Earth. If there were Xenomorphs somewhere else in the universe, could Du Wa cross the vast distance of countless galaxies to descend there?
Taking it a step further, if one day Du Wa used some means to secretly transport some Xenomorphs to a parallel universe, could he achieve a cross-universal descent, just like true Astral Projection?
After all, a normal person using Astral Projection would first need to spend time and effort searching for and perceiving the location of their variant in other universes.
But Du Wa didn't need to. As long as a Xenomorph was present, he could extend his mind and will to that location.
Yes, achieving a cross-universal descent would be incredibly difficult, but any power that was constantly growing didn't just become strong out of nowhere. It required a great deal of time and wisdom to polish.
The Ancient One was very optimistic about Du Wa and his Xenomorphs, yet he kept shattering her perceptions, forcing her to constantly raise her evaluation of him and them. She was truly beginning to believe that Du Wa had many contingency plans in reserve, and she felt that he would never use all of his crisis protocols in a single battle.
No one knew how many cards Du Wa held in his hand, let alone when or at what opportune moment he would play them.
"I now understand why you are so confident in yourself. It seems you've made quite a few preparations for various crises in private. However, I'm still very curious. If someone were to kill your main body right now, would you live or would you die?" the Ancient One asked, looking over with curiosity.
"Good question. I don't know either, and I'd rather not get taken out by some random guys before I can advance further. That's why I'm constantly developing various crisis protocols."
This was a question Du Wa had, of course, also considered in private. But after thinking it over and over, the result was that he would probably die. However, it was also possible that a part of his mind might survive through a carefully selected Xenomorph. As for whether he would still be Du Wa at that point, or a Xenomorph with Du Wa's memories, was unknown.
But unless forced into that situation, who the hell knew if such a hypothesis was true or false? Du Wa wasn't about to commit suicide just to test the theory.
"No one can kill him. Absolutely no one." Druig, who had been acting as a messenger, spoke in a deep voice, his face contorting with a hint of madness.
Regarding Du Wa's consciousness descending into Reynolds's body and taking control, only Druig showed no surprise, as if no matter what happened concerning Du Wa and the Xenomorphs, it was all perfectly natural, a fundamental and reasonable rule of the universe.
"Dormammu is here," Du Wa said, pointing to the sky.
In the sky, a giant rift had revealed Dormammu's enormous head. Endless flames raged madly, momentarily raising the temperature of the infinite vacuum outside Earth by a significant margin.
Compared to the vast Dark Dimension, Earth seemed so tiny. The azure planet was enveloped in an endless black mist, watched by the demon god in the dark rift, like a candle in the wind, liable to be extinguished at any moment.
But it was this tiny planet that, in the midst of such terrifying despair, bloomed with a faint light.
Over the years, how many planets had been devoured by the Dark Dimension? The dead stars and desiccated life-bearing planets scattered throughout the Dark Dimension were clear proof of this.
"Heh heh heh, how very interesting. The Ancient One steps up to resist me, and now even this little thing dares to stand up."
Dormammu just swept a glance over and noticed that something was off with Du Wa's state.
He sensed three consciousnesses.
While such a thing was incredibly rare, it wasn't enough to surprise Dormammu. What really caught His attention was the extremely powerful force now surging from Reynolds, or rather, Du Wa.
His vision pierced through the entire universe, and He immediately understood what was happening. He saw the endless stellar power pouring in from another universe, all of it now converging on Du Wa.
Dormammu couldn't even sever this energy transfer, because at this moment, Du Wa himself was the portal to that pocket universe.
"Not only can I stop you, but one day, I will kill you," Du Wa stated simply. His voice, accompanied by countless streaking lights, shot up from below, coalescing into a long, golden corridor.
The Ancient One was the first to act. She had dealt with Dormammu for so many years that there was really nothing left to say.
She started with a super-enhanced version of the Crimson Chains of Cyttorak. These giant shackles, resembling energy whips but with a much deeper color and brewing with demonic power, lashed out brazenly toward Dormammu.
"Ancient One, you damn thing! You only know how to show off by borrowing others' power! If it weren't for me, would you even be alive right now? You would have been erased by time long ago, not even a soul left behind!"
The moment Dormammu saw the Ancient One shamelessly using high-powered magic, He let out a roar of impotent rage.
He now subconsciously felt that every type of magic the Ancient One used, every single magical particle, was his own selfless contribution, speaking from the perspective of their chain of debt.
Without the generous supply from the noble Lord of the Dark Dimension, Master Dormammu, how could the Ancient One possibly sustain her predatory lending scheme and so easily launch such a powerful offensive in an instant?
"Return everything you took from me, you despicable thief, you damned pilferer! You dare call yourself the Sorcerer Supreme?"
"Let me correct you. This isn't taking, it's borrowing. What is borrowed can be returned," the Ancient One said in a calm voice, as every one of her magical particles transformed into energy, blasting into the endless darkness. "I never said I wouldn't repay my debts. I'll just keep borrowing forever."
The two great sorcerers clashed violently.
Don't be fooled by how small the Ancient One appeared. In her left hand, she produced the Book of the Vishanti, and in her right, she wielded the Eye of Agamotto. Lights of different colors intertwined and shone, shaking the surrounding space and time. The very rules of the universe, even the most basic constants and parameters, became numbers that the Ancient One could freely modify.
And the Ancient One did exactly that.
To deal with the aggressive Dormammu, the Ancient One was clearly putting everything on the line. Every magic spell she cast, every time she used an artifact, was fundamentally at the price of her own life.
This made Du Wa quite worried. He had no idea how long the Ancient One's chain of debt could hold up; it might just snap in the next second.
After all, this version of the Ancient One was truly bizarre, the type to march forward on the path of magical debt without ever looking back.
Boom!
Terrifying dark clouds gathered, all formed from the light beams emitted by the condensation of infinite magical particles.
This was the pinnacle of dark magic, the strongest black magic wielded by the peak expert of the Faltine race in the entire single universe.
Not just Earth, but the entire solar system trembled. Throughout the galaxy, if one observed at the level of microscopic particles, one could see the storm of black magic particles that inadvertently spilled over.
Dormammu's wrath had to be shared by countless planets.
Any sufficiently ancient civilization knew this was the power of the Lord of the Dark Dimension. They were instantly filled with terror, terrified of being targeted by Dormammu, lest their planet be swallowed into the Dark Dimension and eventually become a dead, desiccated world.
An equally countless number of powerful beings cast their gazes over.
The World Tree was foremost among them. The skyfathers of the various worlds were already mobilized, ready to strike at Dormammu at any moment.
The World Tree was the domain of the gods, not of those Celestials, dimensional demon-gods, or hell-demons.
But what terrible price would have to be paid to repel Dormammu, and whether the remaining skyfathers could resist him after the death of Odin, the so-called "All-Father," were all unknowns.
The other planets and worlds all prepared for the worst. As the center of the storm, Earth, of course, would not remain idle.
The Ancient One fought on the front line.
S.H.I.E.L.D., which prided itself on being responsible for global protection, naturally took action at once.
"Avengers, assemble!"
With a resonant shout from Steve, several newly joined Avengers gathered together. They stood on the deck of the Helicarrier, looking up at the terrifying confrontation in the distance.
Even from thousands of miles away, they could feel the magic storm that shattered everything.
The battle between the human and the demon god made the entire Earth tremble on the verge of collapse.
This was the first time The Avengers had assembled. It was also the first time this fledgling alliance, the strongest team in Fury's mind, would engage in team combat.
"Wait, am I the only one who thinks this is wrong? The very first mission we human superheroes get is to fight a deity from another world? You guys really don't see any problem with this?"
Tony Stark stood on the deck of the Helicarrier, but the solid feeling under his feet brought him no comfort. With a dark expression, he looked around at the few people before him.
A grim-faced Captain America; a perpetually angry Hulk who looked ready to smash things; Hawkeye, holding a bow and looking like an elf prince but being practically useless; and a pale, gaunt Black Widow who looked like she was recovering from a major illness.
Tony wracked his brain but couldn't figure out what on Earth Fury was thinking, calling these guys over at a critical moment like this.
What kind of thought process led him to assemble this team called the Avengers, to try and do something at a time like this? And just who were these Avengers supposed to be avenging?
The demon god in outer space?
Tony had every reason to suspect that Fury's brain had been slapped silly by a Xenomorph, or that he had already been quietly parasitized and this was Du Wa's way of teaching them all a lesson at once.
Steve's expression was also grim. He knew this was an impossible mission, but his duty to obey orders left him no choice.
"I don't intend to send you to fight that visitor from another world. That is not an enemy you can handle. Nuclear bombs around the world are ready and can be launched at any time. I think what we can do is create the best opportunity for the nuclear bombs to be launched to achieve the best destructive effect," Fury said to the few people before him.
Sometimes, Fury would reflect. If he had a single super-powered individual who could stand on their own, would he still be so worried? Someone like Du Wa, for instance?
If, at the very beginning, when Blade made contact with Du Wa, he had realized Du Wa's uniqueness sooner, then killing Du Wa or recruiting him would have been the most correct choices.
By killing Du Wa early, Fury could have taken control of the Xenomorphs and, in minutes, raised a grand army far stronger and more numerous than the current Avengers.
Recruiting Du Wa was even better. Although Du Wa probably wouldn't follow many of his commands, he could at least help solve some of his problems, and that would have been enough.
But he had failed to do either, and it had cost him S.H.I.E.L.D.'s prestige and Coulson's life.
"The Sorcerer Supreme is fighting on the front lines. We must also do our best and not just stand by and watch countless humans be killed by an enemy from another world."
"Haha, well said! How about we switch places? You join The Avengers, and I'll stand where you are. Trust me, my brain is definitely better than yours."
Tony jeered loudly, showing no respect.
If he were given many more years, along with a vast amount of data and knowledge, he felt he might be able to create an extremely powerful suit of armor.
To fight a deity head-on? Okay, that was insane, but not impossible.
But definitely not now. Was he supposed to use the Mark 9, which he had rushed to develop with overtime, to take on a monster from another world?
It had only been a little over a year since his debut. Where was he supposed to get an anti-demon-god armor? It was simply preposterous.
Steve also looked helpless. He could only grip the indestructible shield in his hand tightly, suddenly wondering if such a powerful visitor from another world could shatter his shield.
But none of that mattered anymore. Steve had already resolved himself to die in this crisis.
Another terrifying boom echoed. Everyone looked up to see that a large swath of outer space beyond Earth had already turned into a boundless haze.
One powerful magic spell after another clashed fiercely, and the vibrant lines of light across the entire Earth continuously supplied power to the Ancient One.
Just as everyone was fraught with worry, just as many of the peak experts on Earth were preparing for a desperate struggle in silence...
"Charles, what's wrong?"
Magneto noticed that Professor X's expression was unusual.
"I saw that man make his move. It's incredible. I can't believe he thought of such a method. It reminds me of Apocalypse, constantly transferring his consciousness to gain endless life and powerful abilities. But the ability he developed is more refined than Apocalypse's method... However, I can feel that he is in extreme pain right now. He can't hold on for long."
A look of astonishment appeared on Professor X's worried face.
Soon, Magneto also sensed that a figure with a terrifyingly strong life-force field had suddenly appeared in the far distance, as if a bright sun had abruptly risen on Earth, soaring into the sky with a thunderous boom.
"So we don't have to fight to the death?" Jean Grey's eyes had almost transformed into an eerie golden-red, and the powerful telekinetic energy around her spread uncontrollably, causing the surrounding mutants to back away in fear.
"Not for now. Unless Du Wa also fails. That's when we'll have to act, regardless of the consequences. According to the plan, Destiny will prophesize the future for you, providing several reliable paths of attack to directly strike the enemy's body."
The people present turned to look at Destiny, who rarely appeared.
This mutant was too inscrutable; no one knew what was going on inside her head.
Destiny kept her head down, her face-hugging mask, which was almost featureless, concealing her expression.
Only when the Xenomorph was mentioned would Destiny tilt her head slightly, as if pondering something.
Seeing the battle fall into a temporary stalemate, Du Wa finally took action himself.
As Du Wa drove this body, forcibly unifying the three consciousnesses including his own, and recklessly shouldered the power of a million exploding suns, attempting to invert and superimpose it, only then did he clearly feel the terrifying burden that could almost crush him into nothingness.
"Even someone as strong as the Void from Universe 616 can't maintain precise control over his own body for long. Now I understand why."
Moreover, this was Du Wa's first time attempting it, his first attempt at something akin to Astral Projection, directly transferring his consciousness from a human body to Reynolds's via an alien larva.
Du Wa quickly assessed his condition and confirmed that he couldn't last long. But if he used this power to assist the Ancient One and make Dormammu feel a little pain, it should still be possible.
The next second, Du Wa shot straight into the sky. The terrifying force of his ascent caused the entire Sanctum to vibrate violently. The weaker edges of some magic arrays began to collapse immediately.
Du Wa was like a beacon of infinite light. His extreme power instantly tore through the dark clouds enveloping the Earth.
The red Cloak of Levitation clung tightly to his shoulders, its corners fluttering from time to time, cooperating with Du Wa with maximum tacit understanding, emitting magical energy.
"You? I once glanced at you from afar. Back then, I never paid any mind to an ant like you. I never expected that the ant from yesterday would grow into a strong ant."
Dormammu, while battling the Ancient One and tirelessly severing the Time Stone's influence on Him, turned his endlessly vast eyes to stare straight at Du Wa.
"And this ant would be more than happy to bite you, a demon god, to death."
Du Wa flew to the Ancient One's side, surrounded by countless magical runes that formed a golden barrier, blocking all external invasions.
Dormammu changed direction and lunged for Du Wa.
"Don't think I can't see it! You are the source of the Xenomorphs, not that so-called 'queen'! That fool Kaecilius was wrong from the very beginning!"
The flames of hell began to burn in Dormammu's eyes.
He saw Du Wa's current state and knew that Du Wa was not the original owner of this body but had accomplished a consciousness transfer through some method.
"Astral Projection? The Xenomorphs can be used like this?"
A deep greed flashed in Dormammu's eyes. He couldn't wait to capture Du Wa and convert him into his follower—no, not a follower. It would be best to strip the Xenomorphs from Du Wa and make them His followers.
Originally, Dormammu only wanted to capture all the Xenomorphs, decipher their genes and life characteristics, and then modify them through black magic to create magical husks that could bear his different powers, thereby completing his infiltration of Earth.
But seeing this scene, He immediately changed his mind.
If he could use Astral Projection to perfectly descend into countless Xenomorphs, why would He bother creating magical husks? There was a much simpler and more efficient way!
This creature, the Xenomorph, He, Dormammu, was determined to have it.
(end of chapter)