Chapter 71: The Illusion of a Starry Sky is a Postcard to the Entire Universe
With an absolute determination to possess the Xenomorphs, Dormammu immediately focused his power to strike at Du Wa.
Countless particles of dark magic coalesced into purple spikes. As if a corner of the universe itself was collapsing, they rained down on Du Wa, as dense as light rays.
But Du Wa simply raised his head sharply, his eyes erupting with an unusually powerful heat vision. With a quick turn of his head, he annihilated all of these magical attacks.
His figure was as fast as lightning, moving at near-teleportation speeds across Earth's outer space. His movements were swift, and every strike he made was certain to erase a large area of dark magic.
Du Wa personally felt the strength he now possessed and rapidly adapted to it, repeatedly stacking his power on this new foundation.
For a fleeting moment, he subconsciously thought that if he were the real Superman, simply fighting in outer space would already be a huge environmental advantage.
The sun, floating in the distance, generously transmitted sunlight.
Even though Du Wa wielded the power of a million stars from his pocket universe, it couldn't be said to be the sum total of a million Supermen.
"Is this all the strength you have? Is this the limit for you, the master of the Xenomorphs? With this, what qualification do you have to command a creature like the Xenomorph? You'd be better off becoming a part of me, along with the Xenomorphs."
Dormammu let out a terrifying laugh. Every tone of his voice was like the universe itself whispering.
"Don't be deceived by him. We have the home-field advantage. He wants to lure you into charging forward so he can swallow you into the Dark Dimension in one gulp. I won't be able to save you then," the Ancient One reminded him.
Once inside the Dark Dimension, it would be enormous trouble. Without the great power to shatter a dimension, facing Dormammu in his complete form meant one couldn't even escape.
The Ancient One once again used the Time Stone, converting the power of time into a visible green light. With a raise of her hand, she seemed to effortlessly reverse everything before her.
Even for one as powerful as Dormammu, who could exist outside the dimension of time, being directly interfered with by the Time Stone meant that the traces he left in the reality of the universe were inevitably corrected.
Not to mention, there were also artifacts like the Book of the Vishanti and the Brazier of Bom'Galiath, which the Ancient One wielded to attack Dormammu simultaneously.
Dormammu was filled with disgust for the Ancient One. A good portion of the reason was that this fellow had far too many artifacts. No matter how they fought, she could always pull out all sorts of powerful items.
In this battle, the Ancient One struck with overwhelming force, proactively shouldering most of the pressure from Dormammu.
"I'm very curious. Every single person or god who has set their sights on my Xenomorphs has only seen how miraculous this creature is, wanting to claim it for themselves and transform it into their envisioned ideal. But they have never truly seen why I can control the Xenomorphs... I like the title 'Master of the Xenomorphs,' but even you, Dormammu, have never truly understood what this title means."
Du Wa took a deep breath. Right now, he possessed strength equivalent to three times that of Reynolds. Of course, this power was not enough to deal with the current Dormammu—a Dormammu who already had half his body out of the Dark Dimension—but this was only the beginning.
He tried to invert and stack the power of a million stars.
Boom!
A sound like the collision of countless planets erupted from Du Wa's body, or perhaps like a hundred million stars suddenly reversing time, their magnetic fields flipping.
Du Wa began to reverse-stack the power of a million stars. This very act caused the might of his body to abruptly double once more.
But this was still not the end. Du Wa attempted to compress the power of a million stars from both positive and negative directions, completing the first integrated stack.
His figure swelled once more, becoming taller and more robust. His body was filled with an immense amount of energy, which was desperately seeking a target to unleash upon.
The incredibly vast Dormammu was the perfect fit.
Du Wa spread his arms. His figure was so tiny, but the golden web of light expanding crazily from his body was swelling at a frantic pace, forcibly carving out a golden region within this endless darkness.
Energy and magic collided, canceling each other out, and ultimately turning to nothingness, dissipating completely.
With a thunderous roar, Du Wa accelerated. In an instant, he broke through the obstruction of the dark magic shackles and appeared before Dormammu's main body. From a great, great distance, he threw a punch. The golden energy within his body seemed to generate a stellar explosion in an infinite loop. An immense torrent of energy built up, and all of that destruction, under Du Wa's control, surged directly toward Dormammu.
Dormammu's head was struck by this golden energy that tore through space-time and shook the sun. A hollow void, devoid of burning flames, immediately appeared on his head. After a large amount of dark magic dispersed, it began to reconverge, about to repair this wound on Dormammu's body.
Immediately after, the Ancient One also charged forward. In one hand, she held the Book of the Vishanti. The ancient book automatically flipped through its pages, and from it, strange sigils continuously poured out. This was sacred magic, worthy of being inscribed in the halls of any magical sanctum, and at this moment, it bombarded Dormammu like a dense rain.
Dormammu's furious roar shattered distant planets. With a wave of his massive hand, he created countless powerful magical storms, intending to devour everything before him.
But the Ancient One had already blocked with the Time Stone, casting all of Dormammu's attacks into a forgotten corner of time.
"Is this the extent of your strength? You exhaust all your means just to create a tiny wound on my body? A battle like this, I can fight for another million years! I don't believe you can live that long!" Dormammu lowered his massive, flaming head.
"A million years? Do you dare repeat that to the God of Dark Magic and see if he agrees with your nonsense? If all the power you used was your own, if you were the origin of dark magic, only then would those words have any persuasive power."
As Du Wa spoke, he delivered ruthless blows. In this short period, his strength had increased threefold again.
It was already enough to make the Dormammu who had walked out of the Dark Dimension feel a trace of pain.
Du Wa's gaze became even sharper. He could see every microscopic particle with his naked eye, watch the movement and recombination of atoms and molecules, and finally, he transcended space to fix his gaze upon Dormammu's body. It was an incomparably massive body burning with magical flames, surrounded by brewing dark magic. And deep within the Dark Dimension, some other indistinct creatures were lurking and roaming.
Du Wa knew those were things that had run into the Dark Dimension from the borders of Hell. They were numerous and impossible to kill completely.
Just as Dormammu said, with the power he currently possessed, it was still not enough to truly defeat Dormammu.
Du Wa assessed his own state. The load on his mind was increasing at an unprecedented rate, but he estimated he could hold on for a while longer.
He then glanced worriedly at the Ancient One, who spoke little but was more decisive and precise than anyone when she acted. Every magic spell she cast was aimed directly at Dormammu's vitals. The most ridiculous part was that at the beginning, the Ancient One was still fighting with white magic and demonic magic. Now, she couldn't even be bothered to pretend anymore, liberally using dark magic. The more dangerous and vicious the dark magic, the more frequently the Ancient One used it, unleashing it all on Dormammu.
At first, Du Wa was worried the Ancient One would collapse, but from the looks of it now, the one whose mentality might collapse first was probably Dormammu.
"At least in this universe, I am the supreme of dark magic. Even the Ancient One you trust is nothing more than a thief who stole my power. Look at her face, feel her power. Without my generous gift, she would have died long ago! And now she dares to use dark magic against me? Oh, so you're finally no longer using my power, but directly bypassing me to borrow dark magic from that guy? You're courting death."
Dormammu's voice penetrated directly into Du Wa's heart, allowing all three consciousnesses to hear it. The Demon God tempted him: "What's so good about following an ordinary human like the Ancient One? A life of just a few hundred years, and even that is sustained by theft. Why not think about it from a different perspective and come join me?"
"You? So that's what you're thinking. You want me to become your attack dog?"
With a shoulder bash, Du Wa tore through several streams of dark magic with the massive energy clinging to his body, expanding the golden region as he slowly spoke.
"It is no shame to be the servant of a cosmic god. Don't forget your human origin! Think of Kaecilius! You can be stronger than him, more noble than him. No matter which planet or which world in this universe you go to, all people and gods will treat you with the utmost respect, because you are my servant."
Dormammu tempted, "What's more, you can control a creature like the Xenomorph. As the source of the Xenomorphs, your human background is your biggest shortcoming. Why not take this opportunity to discard your human identity and believe in me as a Xenomorph?"
"Not bad. At any other time, I might have been a little tempted," Du Wa said. "But, I've thought of a better way. If I can give you a taste of pain, wouldn't that better demonstrate how extraordinary I am? Because even the ancient Dormammu couldn't take me down."
The Ancient One's expression didn't change from beginning to end, because she knew that a person with Du Wa's personality would never submit to a demon god—not even a single-universe-level dimensional demon god.
"I remember you said you prepared more than one emergency plan." The Ancient One pushed forward, creating a dense net of time with the Time Stone at its core, shielding the two of them.
The Ancient One asked bluntly, "Do you have any other reliable plans to deal with Dormammu? You know very well that the two of us can't last much longer. We're relying more and more on the Time Stone. Dormammu is in a bad state too; his power has been crazily stolen by me over the years, but he should be able to hold out longer than the two of us."
"If you're referring to the strength to directly take on Dormammu one-on-one, I don't have it. I am a man, not a god. To be more precise, I am just the master of the Xenomorphs. It's impossible for me to kill an enemy of Dormammu's level at this point in time."
But he did have ways to improve the situation.
The Ancient One had artifacts, and so would Du Wa.
Asgard.
Every single Asgardian was closely watching this great battle. There were even some death-defying Asgardians who were clamoring desperately, vowing to go and fight in Midgard.
"The people of Midgard helped us when we were in trouble. Now that they are in difficulty, we cannot stand by and do nothing."
"It's perfect timing. Jotunheim has also retreated. This is a great opportunity."
"A bunch of idiots. You're not equating Du Wa and the Xenomorphs with all the people of Midgard, are you? Those are two completely different things. Even if we help, we should be helping Du Wa, not the other people of Midgard!"
"What is the King doing? We still haven't seen him issue a command."
The honor of the Asgardians meant that even knowing there was nothing but darkness ahead, they absolutely could not retreat.
Thor thought so too. For this reason, he brought a few Xenomorphs and burst into the grand hall.
"My brother, do you have any idea what you are doing? You are dragging all of Asgard into a war that is difficult to win! The opponent is a true demon god, not like any enemy we have faced in the past."
Loki gripped the Spear of Eternity tightly, his face dark as he looked at Thor before him.
His gaze shifted continuously, lingering on the few tall and strong Xenomorphs.
"When we went to war with Jotunheim, Du Wa didn't think we could win either, but he still provided us with a steady stream of aid. What have we done for him?" Thor said loudly.
Loki was about to die from anger. "You already gave him Mjolnir! That is the weapon of the Thunder God, not something a mortal should be able to touch. Is that not enough? It's only because you command the Xenomorph armies that I haven't demanded Mjolnir back from him in the name of the king!"
Thor shook his head. "It's not enough. He lifted Mjolnir himself; I didn't make him lift it. You should be very clear on this point. A single Mjolnir is not enough to exchange for the current situation. If Dormammu's invasion of Midgard hadn't happened, we would have received even more Xenomorph reinforcements."
"And that is your reason for declaring war on Dormammu in the name of Asgard? What will we use to fight Dormammu?"
"We can send some things from the treasury to Du Wa. I heard from Heimdall that Du Wa used a powerful magic spell to fuse with a Xenomorph and is now fighting alongside Midgard's Sorcerer Supreme to resist Dormammu. We can transport some artifacts over, just like the help Du Wa provided us."
Loki sat on the throne, his hand gripping the Spear of Eternity tightly, his face alternating between shades of green and white. Sometimes, he really wanted to give Thor a good whack with this artifact.
He really wanted to pry open Thor's head and see what on earth his foolish brother was thinking. He was being sold out by Du Wa and was still helping him count the money!
Loki didn't believe that Thor was unaware that Du Wa had sent troops to participate in the war just to capture more divine beings as captives, thereby completing parasitism to obtain more powerful military units.
Look at those captured Frost Giants; their numbers had already reached six hundred.
Loki was even hesitating. Should he awaken Odin from his slumber? The situation had deteriorated beyond his expectations. But if he did that, everything he had worked so hard for would be finished. He was supposed to prove to everyone that he was the most outstanding successor, at least far stronger than Thor.
"Hiss!"
A Xenomorph suddenly cried out.
"What is this thing saying?" Loki's expression was grim.
Thor lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said, "If I heard correctly, it said it wants to borrow the Destroyer Armor... No, this isn't its idea, it's Du Wa's idea. Du Wa needs the Destroyer Armor!"
"The Destroyer?" Loki also fell silent. Although it was an extremely powerful artifact, it wasn't on the level of the Spear of Eternity. Besides, the Destroyer had long been thrown into the treasury, where it had sat idle for a thousand years.
Thor saw Loki's indecision. He simply bypassed Loki, strode directly into the treasury, and brought out the Destroyer Armor.
Loki's brows were tightly furrowed. Forcibly suppressing his anger, he used the king's authority to release the control permissions on the Destroyer Armor.
"Let's hope he doesn't add humiliation and defeat to this weapon of ours, which is filled with history and honor," Loki said. "If just lending out a set of unused armor can make him finally force Dormammu to retreat, then nothing could be better."
Heimdall immediately activated the Rainbow Bridge, instantly transporting the Destroyer Armor to the world of Midgard.
Dormammu also noticed this scene, his eyes fixed on the iconic Rainbow Bridge.
If this had been a few thousand years ago, Dormammu truly wouldn't have extended the domain of the Dark Dimension to Earth and caused such a commotion.
Everyone knew how ferocious the elderly Odin was. He was truly fearless, daring to charge at anyone with the Spear of Eternity in hand.
But now? Rumors of Odin's death were spreading everywhere. And based on the facts, the proud Odin had not appeared for a long time, and there was no news of him even when the war between realms broke out. This meant he must be dead. What use was Asgard sending over a set of Destroyer Armor with the Rainbow Bridge now?
Dormammu grinned sinisterly and was about to sever the Rainbow Bridge and destroy the Destroyer Armor.
But Du Wa had already acted in the first instant. Transforming into a meteor, he collided with the precisely teleported Rainbow Bridge.
The Destroyer Armor, which had once accompanied Odin to battle the Celestials, was now worn by Du Wa.
The red hovering cloak flew automatically, draping itself over the shoulders of the Destroyer Armor.
"Is this one of your plans?" the Ancient One asked.
"That's right. What did you think an emergency plan was? It's not a wishing machine that can solve all problems. Fully utilizing the limited conditions at hand to achieve the maximum possible effect—that is the true meaning of the operational plans I devise."
The Destroyer Armor brought Du Wa an all-around enhancement, from his mind to his soul, from his cells to his body. Everything, under the empowerment of this super armor, amidst countless magnificent surges, experienced an explosive growth.
Even having just begun to wield this armor, Du Wa could already clearly sense that his capacity limit had once again skyrocketed. He finally understood why the elderly Odin dared to wear this armor and lead the various pantheons of the World Tree to challenge the Celestials.
Like a true Celestial, Du Wa charged rampantly across the endlessly vast cosmic battlefield, violently piercing through everything in his path with an impact far more powerful than before.
For a time, Dormammu's attacks struggled to achieve any real effect.
"Again, it's like this again. Why do guys who oppose me always appear on this tiny planet?"
Repeatedly thwarted, Dormammu's patience was completely exhausted. He truly couldn't understand. As one of the foremost demon gods in the universe, he was supposed to be high and mighty. Why did these lowly ants repeatedly refuse the olive branch he extended?
Dormammu just wanted to devour Earth, kill the Ancient One, and seize the Xenomorphs. Was that really too much to ask? For a cosmic demon god, wasn't this a common, everyday matter?
Weren't even the Celestials nourishing themselves with countless sentient lives?
"You are wrong, Dormammu. You are the one opposing me, not the other way around."
Du Wa and the Ancient One left the magic formation protecting the Earth, forcing Dormammu step by step back into the Dark Dimension.
Dormammu was indeed strong, but his strength was a peak divine authority he only possessed after, as a top-tier sorcerer of the Faltine race, he took control of the Dark Dimension.
Without the Dark Dimension, Dormammu was ultimately just a powerful sorcerer. Perhaps with the accumulation of a long life, he was much stronger than an artifact-less Ancient One, but he absolutely did not have the posture to look down upon the universe as he did in his complete form.
The golden power unleashed an endless series of impacts.
Dormammu attacked again and again, but it was all in vain. Even when he sometimes achieved clear results, under the shroud of the Time Stone, time seemed to lose its meaning. Only the endless, repetitive battle consumed Dormammu's strength.
Dormammu tried time and again to swallow Du Wa into the Dark Dimension. Once inside the Dark Dimension, Dormammu would be a true cosmic demon god. He would easily dismantle Du Wa's resistance, perfectly integrate the Xenomorph creature into the Dark Dimension, and ultimately cause it to transform into a creature of darkness.
But unfortunately, Du Wa would not allow Dormammu to do as he pleased.
Planet after planet rose and fell amidst this fierce battle. Some planets even gradually deviated from their original orbits, eventually exploding, their billions of years of life turning into a dawn in deep space, and then vanishing.
At this moment, no one had the mind to care about the life or death of other worlds; their eyes were only on Earth.
If not for Midgard, where Earth was located, being supported by the rules of the World Tree, making it unbelievably resilient, it's likely that the other planets beyond Earth, including the sun itself, would have already begun to descend into annihilation under the aftershocks of Dormammu's attacks.
Dormammu looked at the heavily armored Du Wa. He didn't know how much longer Du Wa could last, but whenever Du Wa seemed unable to hold on, the light of the Time Stone would flicker, and Du Wa's condition would always quickly recover somewhat. This made Dormammu gradually fall silent.
The Time Stone was in his opponent's hands, which put him in a very passive position. Even though he was a demon god who ignored time, the power he could use was not infinite.
"Give me the Xenomorph. I can give you eternal life, and I will meticulously craft an exclusive magical body for you. I can grant you whatever you desire."
Dormammu attempted to use mental magic to brainwash Du Wa. Every word he spoke was an invasion into Du Wa's mind.
Dormammu wanted to dye Du Wa in his own colors.
"What's so good about following the Ancient One? To be a human who dies after a few decades or centuries? I can give you everything she can give you, and I can give you what she cannot! The method you're using now to have your spirit descend upon a Xenomorph is very much like an out-of-body technique, but it's still far, far from the real thing. With my help, I can help you perfect this ability. Paired with the magical Xenomorphs I modify, you could command them to appear anywhere in the universe in an instant, even in a parallel universe."
It was a beautiful vision, or so Du Wa thought. He felt the mental magic that was crazily invading him, trying to dismember him on a conscious and spiritual level, and remained expressionless.
As the battle raged on to this point, everyone present gradually understood that it was endless. As long as the Ancient One didn't break, as long as the Time Stone maintained the flow of time, they would not lose. The worst-case scenario was creating a time loop, repeating over and over.
But likewise, they could not charge into the Dark Dimension to give Dormammu a beating.
"Dormammu, I think you've misunderstood my purpose for participating in this battle from the very beginning... Did you think I was showing you my talent to sell myself for a good price? Or perhaps, I was showing you the great potential of the Xenomorphs to solicit a bribe from you? It's neither."
Du Wa suddenly laughed. Sure enough, even a demon god was still a type of life form. And as long as it was life, its thoughts were bound to follow certain rules.
"In your eyes, what is a Xenomorph? Just a tool for you to randomly modify and command? A medium to achieve your goal of invading Earth?" Du Wa said, "For me, the greatest significance of this battle is to introduce myself to the entire universe, to achieve the goal of pushing the Xenomorphs out into the cosmos."
"Sooner or later, there will be Xenomorphs on every planet, and my Xenomorph armies will inevitably appear on every battlefield."
"The rarest races, the most precious memories, the most secret abilities in this universe will all be mine. I will complete a great genetic unification of all of them, transforming all the mystery and beauty in the universe into a single word—Xenomorph! And if I had to add another word to that, it would be me, Du Wa!"
Within Du Wa's smile was an extraordinary indifference. He knew that even by joining forces with the Ancient One, it was impossible to kill Dormammu. They could only force this guy back like a wild dog, making him suffer a great loss and forcing him to retreat.
The Xenomorph is a species born for battle, and only through battle can it obtain a continuous stream of genes to enrich Du Wa's gene pool and provide a solid and reliable foundation of power.
Reynolds was a classic example. In the future, there would be many more people like Reynolds.
One had to know, Mr. Blue had always been, under Du Wa's instruction, pushing forward the project to establish the Xenomorph gene bank.
All genes that could be copied and absorbed by the Xenomorphs would eventually become a part of the entire Xenomorph species, and could be brought out for use when needed. This was Du Wa's goal.
Spreading the footprints of the Xenomorphs and Du Wa himself to the most chaotic, cruel, and bloody regions of the universe was also something Du Wa planned to do.
Stepping up to challenge Dormammu was the best entry Du Wa could add to his personal resume, ultimately capturing the attention of the entire universe.
Look at this battle with Dormammu. He successfully survived and even forced Dormammu to retreat. What kind of formidable character must he be? Shouldn't a life form personally nurtured and promoted by such a person be worshiped and believed in by all the warmongers?
He must vigorously cultivate the Xenomorphs. The Xenomorphs are the truth of the universe; the Xenomorphs are the future of the world.
Du Wa also contemplated one thing: in this endless multiverse, apart from that handful of numbered universes, the vast majority of universes would eventually become nothing more than background panels for successive multiversal major events, turning into grains of sand used to assess the degree of destruction in the conflicts between one deity and another, quietly disappearing.
Since there was a Zombie Universe, a Cancerverse, a Spider-Verse, an AI Universe, and a Venom Universe, then it was perfectly reasonable for there to be one more Alien Universe in this bustling multiverse.
Given the infinite number of possibilities, if you haven't established your own universe, you'd be too embarrassed to introduce yourself on a multiversal scale.
When it came to developing the Xenomorphs, Du Wa, who was single-mindedly focused on leaping to a higher standing and witnessing a grander view, was serious.
"...What a madman. A lower organism with a head full of fantasies. That day will never come. You and your Xenomorphs, without the support and modification of a deity like me, will ultimately remain a lowly species. You can't even solve the most basic problem of lifespan."
"That's not a problem you need to consider. But sooner or later, you will see the future. I hope you don't die before then."
Du Wa's body was on the verge of its limit. Even with the Time Stone helping him recover his state periodically, it was impossible to truly reverse Du Wa back to the time node before the fusion of the three consciousnesses. Such a reversal would become a time loop.
One last time, Du Wa launched an all-out attack on Dormammu. As the portal to the pocket universe itself, a massive number of stars now converged on Du Wa, causing the light he emitted in that instant to be bright enough to scorch all the darkness within his line of sight.
With the empowerment of the Destroyer's divine power, and the Ancient One promptly throwing out the Book of the Vishanti, driving immense magic at any cost, it all poured into Du Wa.
Du Wa himself transformed into a golden giant capable of holding a star in his hand. The rolling golden energy, with Du Wa's body as its core and a reckless determination, crashed forward. Silently, a golden fissure was torn into Dormammu's massive body.
Dormammu, whose body was more than halfway out of the Dark Dimension, was forced to retreat some more under this blow.
The immense dark cloud finally began to disperse slightly at this moment. Along with it, the rift to the Dark Dimension, which seemed to want to tear the entire solar system in half, also began to slowly close as Dormammu retreated.
But Dormammu hadn't done nothing. While trying his best to avoid getting trapped in a time loop, he continuously used his massive physical form to crush down on Earth, repeatedly striking the magic formations.
"He swept away several hundred Xenomorphs," the Ancient One said to Du Wa.
"Mm, I felt it. This guy couldn't capture me, so he could only target the ordinary Xenomorphs, trying to gain some results," Du Wa nodded slightly.
The Ancient One warned, "He and I are both mages. Our ways of thinking have common ground. If I'm not mistaken, he will attempt to use analytical dark magic to reverse-decode them, working from the bottom up to eventually decipher you, the source of the Xenomorphs, and complete your brainwashing."
"Brainwashing? I like that word."
Du Wa slowly dissipated the golden energy that had been a heavy burden on him. In the night sky, the energy scattered, embellishing the void with endless stars. At this moment, it was as if the entire solar system, the entire World Tree, was cheering for his victory, for the dispelling of darkness and the return of light.
But this was an illusion.
Du Wa pointed to his own head. Just before his consciousness was about to leave Reynolds' body and return to his main body, he said, "I have many characteristics. The biggest one is my head. Dormammu wanted to invade my brain, but he quickly stopped and chose to withdraw. It's not yet known who will brainwash whom."
(end of chapter)