Chapter 137: The Cosmic Springboard Du Wa Has His Eye On
"Captain, Jarvis just decrypted a server from the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D., and I have a major discovery! It's a bit complicated. The 'you' of this universe, after escaping from the Symbiote God Knull, immediately launched a rebellion and began massacring the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra..."
Tony's voice was incredibly grave and horrified as he spoke quickly, "This world is even more terrifying than we imagined. Setting aside things like Deities and demons, there are many hidden risks and things I haven't figured out. We could fall into a trap if we're not careful!"
A second or two later, the voice of his old friend, Captain America, rang out, "Well said, but it's too late."
"You're efficient as ever. Already infiltrated Stark Tower? But why does your voice sound a bit off? What did you do?" Tony grew serious.
"I was trying to get a suitcase from this group of Hydra agents. I suspected it might contain the Tesseract, so I had to make a move."
"And? Is the problem solved?"
"It is now. These guys were like fanatics, shouting incomprehensible things like their life's work was gone and wanting to fight me to the death. I took care of them," said Captain America.
"Now you understand."
"Yes."
Captain America stood in the elevator, looking down at the circle of Hydra agents lying on the floor. He let out a heavy breath, kicked his shield up, and caught it. "I also finally understand why their expressions were so strange when they saw me with the shield. It turns out the shield my counterpart uses in this universe was shattered by some guy named Hyperion. But who is Hyperion? Another name I've never heard. He can even shatter my vibranium shield?"
Tony replied after a few seconds, "Hyperion... I just looked him up. Like Thanos, he's also one of the Eternals. He came to Earth for some unknown reason, was killed by Du Wa, and then turned into a Xenomorph. Let me guess, it probably involves some Deity. Only a Deity could command someone of that level to cause trouble for Du Wa."
Tony grumbled, "This Earth is truly terrifying. You never know when some ferocious-looking guy will pop up. Guess what happened on my end? I saw a sorcerer fighting a demon! He was using the Time Stone, too, making the demon flee in terror!"
Captain America couldn't understand what Tony was saying at all. At this point, he wouldn't be surprised by anything strange appearing in this world.
There were even Xenomorphs, and their master was a terrifying Deity of human origin.
"A human named Du Wa created Xenomorphs and became the most powerful being on Earth. Since something like that has happened, nothing surprises me anymore."
Captain America opened the case and glanced inside, confirming it was the Tesseract. He noticed a corner of it was missing but didn't pay it much mind.
Anyway, what he wanted was the Space Stone inside the Tesseract. He wasn't concerned about the Tesseract itself, which was merely the vessel for the Space Stone's power.
"Tony, are you sure you don't need my help?" Captain America asked.
"No need. I've seen the battle over here. I'm certain you'd be useless if you came. If I get targeted by Strange or that demon, I might have a chance to escape, but you'd be a dead man."
"Then good luck. Abandon the Time Stone if you have to."
Captain America looked around. "Scott, you haven't said a word for several minutes. Where are you?"
But Scott didn't respond.
Captain America's heart skipped a beat as an ominous premonition rose within him. Scott was a bit of a chatterbox. He had originally thought Scott might have shrunk down and was hiding somewhere in the elevator.
"Scott?"
"Scott Edward Harris Lang. I just captured him. The Scott of our world doesn't have equipment that can change his form..."
A voice that was very familiar to Captain America sounded.
"Also, the key Jarvis code you're holding is obsolete in my eyes. I phased out those programs seventeen generations ago. You've seen it yourself; our universe is too dangerous, with too many powerful beings. To protect yourself or others, you have to risk your life to improve. If you're like the 'me' you know, making painstakingly slow progress, that just won't cut it."
Captain America immediately knew who had hacked his encrypted channel.
This universe's Iron Man.
Stronger, fiercer, and of course, more of a grinder than the old friend he knew.
"Stark?" Captain America called out tentatively. "We have no intention of interfering in your world's affairs. We just want to get the Infinity Stones to save our world. We'll return them immediately after we're done. Our arrival here was an accident."
"I figured. The moment you entered my territory holding severely outdated code, my Jarvis scanned and analyzed your situation. You're from another universe. I'm not too surprised. The theory of parallel universes isn't some profound knowledge. After I've personally witnessed a Skyfather shatter space-time, a Cosmic Celestial travel anywhere in the universe at will, and Kamar-Taj sorcerers and hell-demons fighting in full swing, the appearance of visitors from a parallel universe is nothing special."
This universe's Tony spoke with a natural steadiness, or perhaps it could be called indifference. It was a kind of calm composure one gains from having seen too many spectacles beyond mortal comprehension to be bothered by minor scuffles.
Furthermore, he had personally modified and piloted the remains of one of the Celestials, giving him firsthand understanding and deep research into what the single-universe level truly meant.
In fact, if he wanted to, as long as he could perfectly unleash the combat power of the Celestial Armor, he could barely be considered half a Celestial.
But even so, when Tony thought about facing Du Wa, Knull, Dormammu, Mephisto, or some of the other bizarre characters with this power, he still felt a tremor of fear in his heart.
He continued, "What truly surprises me is that your world seems ridiculously weak. The other me, who's currently running over to Strange's side to watch the show, looks at least ten years older than me. But based on an analysis of the code he gave you and the nanotech armor he uses, the power he commands is pitifully weak. I don't know what happened in your world to make you all so frail that you have to resort to time travel to get what you want from our powerful universe."
Courageous, or perhaps foolish and reckless.
A group of superheroes from a weak universe, running to a far more powerful parallel universe to carry out a theft... The move was so audacious it left one speechless.
"Didn't anyone in your universe step up to solve the crisis?" Tony asked.
"Yes. Us."
"Oh, I don't know what to say about your heroic feat. It's a fortune for your world to have you step up, but it's also a misfortune. I can't let you take the Tesseract. That thing is the important drive core I've chosen. Without it, I can't control the Celestial Armor."
Celestial Armor... Captain America immediately recalled the super-armor, hundreds of meters tall, that he had seen in a video.
"I'm sorry. To you, the Tesseract is just a small part of a grand plan, but to us, it's everything. I must take the Tesseract back and use its power to save our world," Captain America said in a deep voice.
"Then it seems there's nothing to discuss. You might not care about your own life, but do you not care about Scott's life either?"
This sentence made Captain America fall silent for a long time. Finally, he sighed and threw the Tesseract's case on the ground. "You win. I find that your moral standards are much more flexible than the Stark I know. Now I understand why you're colluding with Hydra agents."
"Watch your wording. Colluding? This is clearly just recycling waste. These guys latched onto S.H.I.E.L.D. like parasites, only to be beaten to a pulp by this universe's you. What's wrong with me using them to get the Tesseract? If I don't take it, *that person* might. What's worse, based on my understanding of him, that person probably wouldn't care about the power of the Tesseract. He'd just play with it for a bit before tossing it to one of his Xenomorphs."
"That person? Du Wa?"
"It seems you still don't know... Do you want to know why this universe's you suddenly went crazy?" Tony's voice held a strange quality. He wanted to give him a reminder, but in the end, he just shook his head, feeling it was unnecessary.
Because he knew very well that Du Wa had probably noticed these guys the moment they entered this universe.
Even if he didn't notice at the time, how could the Xenomorphs spread across the globe not have the slightest awareness of their arrival?
If the Xenomorphs noticed, it meant Du Wa had noticed. The fact that these guys could reach the vicinity of Stark Tower unimpeded already proved that the Xenomorphs were intentionally avoiding them.
Tony didn't believe that a Deity, or at least someone who had been a Deity, would be so slow in reading and receiving information.
The reason he didn't interfere, Tony guessed, was either that Du Wa didn't care about these outsiders at all and simply ignored them, or that Du Wa was plotting something even more terrifying and needed to make better use of them.
"But even if Du Wa really wants to use these people, what's the point? The Earth these people come from is extremely weak; it's hard for it to provide any useful buffs."
Tony thought to himself silently. Now, he only dared to shout Du Wa's name in his mind. He suspected that perhaps in a few more years, just thinking of Du Wa's name would be heard by him, and one would be forced to host a Xenomorph.
This was an inevitable trend; Du Wa would definitely advance in this direction.
At that point, Du Wa would be a Cosmic God in the truest sense. Throughout the entire universe, any living being who knew Du Wa's true name would ultimately be a potential Xenomorph container and servant.
...
On the other side, the Tony from Universe 199999 quickly calmed down after losing contact with Captain America and Scott.
"Looks like we have no choice? I don't know when it started, but we've been exposed all along. Our hiding and sneaking around just looks petty. We might as well be more open about it and let the master watching us think a little more highly of us."
Tony simply stepped out and, together with Banner, intently watched this universe's Strange.
When the fight between Strange and Blackheart heated up, he was hit by one of Blackheart's spells. His black robes were completely burned away, revealing a figure that left Tony and Banner dumbfounded.
"Is that Strange?"
"No, he's practically a demon with Strange's appearance! What did this world's Strange go through to become like this? He clearly has the Time Stone, so how did he end up in this state?"
Tony and Banner were utterly horrified, their worldview once again overturned. They felt this world was too terrifying. All the comrades they were familiar with had too many tricks up their sleeves; it seemed like any one of them could pop out with a unique specialty.
Countless rings of time gradually locked Blackheart down.
Even though Blackheart was Mephisto's most outstanding offspring, he was at a disadvantage before the Time Stone.
"I finally know why that old thing hates the Infinity Stones... These cheap but powerful things are scattered across many universes. No wonder he detests them so much."
Blackheart was being incredibly wasteful. If not for his incredibly long lifespan, he probably would have been aged to death by the Time Stone long ago.
But even so, he didn't want to drag this out. After all, he wasn't at the single-universe level, nor did he have a Hell dimension as a vessel to absorb the damage for him. As his capable subordinates died one after another at Strange's hands, Blackheart felt extremely aggrieved.
"You bastard! You clearly obtained Mephisto's bloodline, yet you're still using Kamar-Taj's Time Stone as a weapon?! Where's your bloodline power? Your demonic magic?!" Blackheart threw out various spells to resist the power of the Time Stone.
Strange's expression was extremely cold. "I seized Mephisto's power precisely to obtain a stronger body to better pay the price... I don't have the Ancient One's backing, nor do I have hundreds of years of life like her. To get results quickly, I had to take a shortcut. But luckily, you came."
A ferocious light shot from his eyes. Perhaps he had never been so obsessed with one thing in his entire life.
Strange knew clearly how insane this universe was. Putting aside everything else, Du Wa alone could use the power to infinitely reboot the universe just to imprison the evil god Knull.
If he wanted to alter the time node and truly resurrect Christine, he had to madly pursue the power of time and even what lies beyond it. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to get past Du Wa.
As for the chaos and cracks in the timeline caused by his crazed use of the Time Stone, and the transmigrators who had inexplicably arrived in this universe, he was aware of them but couldn't be bothered to care.
Even if a Christine from a parallel universe were to arrive, Strange wouldn't give her a second glance, because that wasn't the Christine he wanted at all.
Even at this very moment, Strange firmly believed that Du Wa's gaze was definitely watching everything that was happening here.
And Du Wa was indeed doing just that. His vision easily covered the entire Earth.
"A little interesting. Strange's actions have brought me an unexpected surprise. In that case, I can allow him to continue his brutish use of the Time Stone."
Du Wa stroked his chin. Universe 199999 was an extremely special place, the core of an entire system, a super-neutered version of Universe 616.
"Very well. Although I'm not very interested in a universe with such low combat power like Universe 199999, I can use the valuable position it occupies to speculate on a certain conclusion... If I succeed, perhaps I'll have the opportunity to touch upon..."
(end of chapter)