Chapter 128: The God of the Symbiotes Burned Himself, Saving the World
Within the shadow of the World Tree, the few Deities hiding there fell into a panic.
Though they had spent eons without interacting with the outside world, it was not as if they were devoid of their own emotions.
Now that Knull, this god of darkness, had abruptly discovered them—beings born from the shadow—they could not help but fall into a state of terror.
"Dammit, Knull has found us."
"How could this happen? Knull discovered our existence just by observing us indirectly? What kind of monster can achieve such a feat!"
"This is the level an ancient Cosmic God can reach... The question now is, what should we do?"
"Do nothing, of course. We wait for him to come knocking. Are you suggesting we should take the initiative to leave the shadow and besiege him? When have we ever done something like that?"
The Shadow Gods engaged in a heated debate.
They were furious, anxious, terrified, and enraged, even wanting to fight Knull to the death.
No one could comprehend the complex turmoil of being discovered by a terrifying Cosmic God after hiding for eons.
"It's all Du Wa's fault! Why couldn't he stop that Knull fellow? We clearly fulfilled our promise and gave him the power of the World Tree, but he failed to get the job done."
"Yes, Du Wa didn't do a good job. So what do you propose? That we take back the power of the World Tree? You know that's impossible! Knull is still standing guard outside. If Du Wa is defeated, our fate won't be any better. We've already sent most of our divine power to Du Wa."
"Then hurry up and urge Du Wa to kill Knull! If his current power isn't enough, then give him more! Tell him to step it up."
"The divine power we've already given is immense. If we give any more, our own strength will be weakened, and we'll have even less chance of surviving Knull's wrath."
"We can't place all our hopes on Du Wa. Besides, that guy gives me an extremely sinister feeling. He's every bit as dangerous as Knull."
What Knull wanted to do, he did openly. But with Du Wa, no one knew what he wanted until it was already happening. For all they knew, Du Wa had already set his plans in motion.
The Shadow Gods were also aware that they were essentially creating one dangerous Cosmic God to deal with another who seemed to pose a greater threat.
But they had no choice. As terrible as this strategy was, it was still ten thousand times better than leaving the shadow to fight in person.
The Shadow Gods began to contact Du Wa.
"Du Wa, what are you doing? Hurry up and kill Knull!"
"That evil god has already sensed our existence. You must stop him. Don't let him break into the shadow world."
"Our existence must absolutely not be exposed to the other life forms of the World Tree. This is our bottom line."
Within the chain of divine power, a torrent of obscure whispers flowed into Du Wa's mind.
"So noisy. I don't need you to teach me what to do. Either you come and do it yourselves, or stop hiding in the back and making a ruckus."
Du Wa could not even block these damned whispers, as the words were transmitted via divine power, transforming into mystical runes under his control.
He felt another wave of divine power surge in. Although it was not much, he knew it was the last of the strength the Shadow Gods could muster.
Very good. He had squeezed another wave of power out of the Shadow Gods.
But not only did Du Wa not find the Shadow Gods considerate, he actually found them to be a hindrance.
Then again, he could not have high expectations for a group of beings who would spend their entire existence, from birth to their future death, within the shadow.
Knull, the evil god born of darkness, could wield the All-Black the Necrosword and go on a killing spree across the entire universe; that guy never lingered in the darkness.
But the Shadow Gods, in stark contrast, refused to leave the shadow that had nurtured them, no matter what.
It did not matter, though. Du Wa had never placed any great hopes in these guys anyway. What he was truly looking forward to was a trump card he had held in reserve for a long time: Moira.
From a vast distance, he issued a command to Moira.
***
"Charles, you still haven't found Destiny? Where on Earth did she go, and why is she refusing our contact at such a critical moment!"
Magneto was extremely anxious. As someone who wields one of the four fundamental forces of the universe, he could feel more keenly than most just how brutal the battle outside was. The universe itself was like a sailboat on the ocean, tossed violently by stormy waves.
Professor X once again removed Cerebro, his expression relatively calm. "She hasn't contacted us for a long time. Perhaps she's made a more important discovery. A Mutant who can deal with Fate is not for us to fathom. I only hope that she has made her choice, and that her actions will ultimately prove to be correct."
"If the result is destined to be destruction, then whether it's correct or not is meaningless. That's why I want to ask her what result she saw in Fate."
This time, Professor X said nothing more, silently awaiting the outcome.
He never expected that the one to bring a major crisis to the Mutants would not be S.H.I.E.L.D., nor the anti-Mutant factions. Even Du Wa, who needed superhumans to act as Xenomorph hosts, had not paid too much attention to the mutant race.
Instead, it was an evil god who had rushed over from the depths of the universe. Just the aftershocks of his attacks severely threatened the survival of all Mutants, and even all of humanity.
"Destiny, I hope you have once again stood precisely on the side of Fate..." Professor X sighed softly.
Destiny had indeed already acted. She had made her move months ago.
***
Hiding in Earth's ocean, mixed in with countless ordinary Xenomorphs, was a single, unremarkable Xenomorph. At this moment, it lifted its head.
Its long head carapace broke through the agitated seawater.
"It's finally my turn... No, our turn."
Anxiety weighed heavily on Moira's heart. She had never participated in a war of this level.
In all the crises of her past lives, including all the encounters from her previous two reincarnations, she had never dealt with opponents on the level of a Cosmic God.
Now, with Du Wa holding the front line and creating a wide opening, the stage was perfectly set for Moira.
"Don't be nervous. We've prepared for so long, wasn't it all for this moment? Rather than run from Fate, it's better to seize it."
Destiny stood on the surface of the sea, watching Moira. Beneath her featureless mask, her thoughts burned like magma.
This day had finally come. Destiny had prepared for this day for far too long.
Soon, she would no longer be a Mutant who could only see fragmented images in the long river of Fate, but would become a part of Fate itself.
In front of Moira, Destiny viciously struck her own neck. Blood splattered onto Moira.
"We will become Fate, with my ability to interpret the fragments of Fate and your ability to reset the universe."
Destiny said, "We've worked so hard for so long, and we're just one step away. I believe Du Wa is also looking forward to your performance."
"Is it really worth it? Although we've tried this in private many times, the moment we truly succeed, you will die. You're sacrificing your life to complete me," Moira said, failing to understand.
"Within the concept of Fate, life and death are blurred. There are no strict definitions or divisions. They are all a part of Fate."
In the end, Moira said no more and began to use her ability.
***
The next moment, a powerful divine force descended, transforming into a giant hand that grabbed Moira. In an instant, it tore through space-time, bringing her before Du Wa.
"Moira, it's your turn. Don't disappoint me," Du Wa said in a flat tone, as if discussing what he was planning to eat in a bit. "I have clearly seen your efforts, I understand your thoughts, and I know even better that you can possess the ability you and Destiny envisioned—to control Fate. Once you succeed, Knull will become our plaything, and the grand design I've envisioned can finally be realized."
Moira did not know what grand design Du Wa was talking about, but it was not important. As long as Du Wa had a plan, that was enough. She just needed to strictly obey the command.
Under Du Wa's gaze, Moira prepared to act.
Knull saw Moira, this unremarkable Xenomorph. She had no powerful magic fluctuations, no attention-grabbing divine power, not even the most basic, immense energy.
"This is the final measure you prepared for yourself? An ordinary Xenomorph? If you'd brought out a Queen, I might have paid a little more attention, but this thing isn't even a Queen!"
Knull sneered repeatedly. Even with his calculations as a Cosmic God, he could not comprehend Du Wa's actions at all.
His intuition told him that what Du Wa was about to do was extremely dangerous, yet his reason told him that an ordinary Xenomorph was utterly useless.
Knull moved to destroy Moira, but Du Wa took a step forward, blocking all of Knull's attacks and shielding Moira firmly behind him.
"A vulgar god. No matter how ancient or powerful, you are ultimately vulgar. For trash like you, I have already prepared a full-service plan for your demise... Knull, you should feel honored. You are worthy of me personally designing a plan to make your life worse than death. Perhaps after countless years, even when the universe collapses and the multiverse is destroyed, you will be qualified to witness it as a part of me."
"What a joke. On whose authority? Yours, or this Xenomorph by your side?"
"You'll know soon enough."
Moira began to activate her ability.
Under countless gazes of curiosity and doubt, time began to operate in a bizarre manner, mixed with the power of Fate.
On Earth, the Ancient One was the first to notice the strangeness. Taking out the Time Stone, she carefully sensed the changes in the flow of time.
Mephisto also sensed that something was wrong. Because he came from the Hell Dimension, his life form was different from the natives within the multiverse. Generally speaking, his main body would not be affected by the time of a single universe.
"Time is changing."
"It's not a simple acceleration or reversal. Is it a localized cutting? No, that's not it. It's excising a region."
The Ancient One and Mephisto spoke one after another, expressions of deep shock on their faces.
They soon realized just how astonishing Moira's ability was.
A localized section of time began to connect head to tail. This was equivalent to cutting off a small fragment from the established fate of the universe, forcing time to cycle endlessly within that fragment. Like an ouroboros devouring its own tail, it began an infinite loop.
And Knull, who had already been severely weakened by Du Wa, was the core of this loop.
He was bound by this localized time, becoming the excised fragment.
A look of absolute horror appeared on Knull's face, followed by an eruption of endless rage.
The evil god wanted to struggle, but what greeted him was a heavy blow from Du Wa. A continuous stream of divine power runes bombarded Knull, causing every one of his attempts to break free from the temporal shackles to end in failure.
"How can this be?! I am a Cosmic Celestial! Not even the Creation Gods or the Celestials can kill me! Why can you use this Xenomorph to do this to me?!"
Knull was in disbelief. This completely defied common sense. It was precisely because he was a Cosmic God that he was all the more incapable of understanding what was happening.
Du Wa said, "It's normal that you don't understand. It would be abnormal if you could. Moira is the most special of all my Xenomorphs. She wasn't always the strongest, but now, she just might be."
Just how strong was Moira? In fact, it could be explained in one phrase: a universal reset, or reincarnation.
Moira's ability was to be reborn again and again, returning to the time node where her life began, and causing the universe itself to undergo a temporal regression along with her.
No matter how Moira died—whether she lived to old age or met an unfortunate, early demise—the entire price was borne by the universe itself. Countless planets, countless lives, were held hostage by Moira, forced to be reborn along with her rebirth.
If one took an extremely long-term view, they would discover that Moira's ability was a terrifying curse attached to the entire universe. How long the universe could exist depended entirely on how long Moira herself could live.
Even a Cosmic Celestial, as long as they had not reached a multiversal rank and had not transcended a single universe, could not escape Moira's reboot.
Du Wa could not determine if Moira was an Omega-level mutant, with infinite potential and an immortal soul, but the seemingly unremarkable Moira, who possessed no transcendent power, was a nightmare for the vast majority of beings.
Of course, beings like the several Creator Deities would certainly not be affected by Moira, because their main bodies existed on a multiverse scale. No matter how much chaos a single universe was thrown into, at most it would only affect their avatars located in that universe.
And now, with help from Destiny and Du Wa, Moira had truly developed her ability. She focused her power—the ability to drag the entire universe into a reboot—solely on Knull, a single Cosmic God. The effect was surprisingly good.
Du Wa suspected that some beings who could perceive the truth about Moira were even happy to see this happen, eager for Moira to weaponize her ability into an infinite loop against Knull.
Just let Knull, this evil god, bear Moira's fate. This was a great thing for the entire universe. This was a crucial redemption for the universe.
Knull, the God of the Symbiotes, was a truly great god. He burned himself, saved the world, and allowed the universe to return to normal.
(end of chapter)