Chapter 254: The Number One Mind Control Master
The existence of the Prime Universe was extremely secret, with the Fourth Wall shielding it from all prying eyes from the outside world. However, as part of the Multiverse, it was not absolutely impenetrable.
This was because it was Universe Number 33, within the sequence of the 52 universes. It was simply overlooked under most circumstances.
The Main Universe's Darkseid had fortuitously found a breakthrough to enter this place, discovering the existence of Prime Earth through Du Wa.
"I clearly hid here and even disguised myself as an editor in the Editorial Department, yet I still couldn't escape your sight?" Darkseid was very confused. He had clearly done his utmost, and as a powerful New God, the various little tricks Darkseid had mastered should theoretically be far superior to Du Wa's.
But He was still discovered by Du Wa. Judging by Du Wa's casual demeanor, it was as if he had locked onto His position from the very beginning, but He knew this was impossible.
"I entered Prime Earth earlier than you and became the master of this world. But I never intended to treat this world as an insurmountable chasm. It's perfectly normal for beings from other universes to occasionally stumble in."
Du Wa looked at the deity before him, who was without any superpowers, and chuckled lightly.
But the entire Editorial Department had already exploded into chaos.
"Fuck! Am I seeing things? Darkseid???"
"It's over, it's over! The tyrant from the comics has come to the real world!"
"I said it, I said it! When Du Wa was promoted to a Multiversal God, the Main Universe's Darkseid suddenly vanished. No matter how I searched, I couldn't find him! So he had snuck into our universe!"
"Hey, everyone, I have some bad news. I just drew the last panel of the latest issue and saw Darkseid appear in the Editorial Department... Oh, it seems I don't need to explain much more."
A group of editors huddled together, shivering and terrified.
When the Editorial Department was invaded by Du Wa, there was still a way out for everyone. It was just a matter of becoming a Xenomorph, but at least they could become transhuman, gaining a long lifespan and a strong body. As long as Du Wa wasn't killed by a more powerful deity, every editor would live a long and peaceful life, being the elite on Prime Earth, a world of almost pure mortals.
But if Darkseid invaded the Editorial Department? Wouldn't He slaughter this place in minutes!
Boom!
A loud bang. Superboy-Prime, clad in his battle suit, crashed into the Editorial Department like a meteorite, piercing through countless partitions and appearing before everyone.
This action naturally caused a commotion outside. Many people tried to take out their phones to film, but they were quickly suppressed by officials using various means.
The officials of Prime Earth, though they had no understanding of the Multiverse's existence, knew that a very small number of special humans and strange creatures existed in this world that they could not afford to provoke. It was better to focus their main efforts on calming the public and maintaining social order.
Now, this group of terrifying beings was about to fight. Hopefully, this world could withstand it and suffer fewer losses.
"Clark? You're not slow to arrive." Du Wa looked at the guy in surprise.
Superboy-Prime's face was ashen. "I could hear your conversation and screams from the other side of the Earth!! Dammit, why is Darkseid here?! Why didn't I notice at all?!"
Some time had passed since the Main Universe's Darkseid disappeared from the Main Universe until now, yet he had been completely unaware of Darkseid's arrival.
If Du Wa's arrival had shielded his perception, that would be one thing, but the Main Universe Darkseid clearly shouldn't have had that ability.
"Don't be too surprised. Anyone who enters Prime Earth through unconventional means will eventually lose all their power and become an ordinary person. This is why Darkseid disguised himself as an ordinary person. However, I imagine handing over his divinity was not part of His original plan," said Du Wa.
A normal Darkseid would never do such a thing, handing over the vast majority of his power and knowledge, leaving himself with only a tiny bit of power to sustain his life.
But Du Wa was not surprised, because he had long known that according to the original course of events, Darkseid would indeed fall into Prime Earth with a group of Superheroes, and consequently lose all his superpowers and fight each other as mortals.
The only difference was that the current Darkseid had entered Prime Earth voluntarily.
"What a pity. I originally intended to copy your method, but only later did I discover that I am different from you."
Darkseid completely ignored Superboy-Prime, staring at Du Wa with a deadpan expression. A trace of regret showed in His eyes; He truly felt it was a pity.
Yes, Darkseid had already seen through the key to Du Wa's promotion to a multiversal being: using the power of the Editorial Department on Prime Earth to modify his own origin.
"To make the Xenomorphs appear in every corner of the Multiverse... that is a genius idea. This allowed you to spread your tentacles throughout the Multiverse, thereby harnessing the power of the Multiverse."
Darkseid's tone was very calm.
He couldn't do what Du Wa could. Even if he snuck into the Editorial Department and disguised himself as an editor, so what? Secretly alter the manuscript?
It was useless. Darkseid was one of the New Gods. He needed to condense a divinity that encompassed all knowledge, power, memory, and emotion to advance to a more powerful deity, not to mention He was currently in a state where his divinity was shattered.
Making every Darkseid appear in every universe? What was the point of that? Darkseid already existed in such a form.
What a conceptual god can do, one of the New Gods cannot necessarily do.
"Ha, so you realized your bet was wrong and decisively cut off your divinity, handing it over to the Batman of New 52 Earth?" Superboy-Prime's face was full of hostility.
"No, I first found the Batman of New 52 Earth, gave him the divinity, and then had him help me get in here," Darkseid said coldly. "That Batman is, at any rate, second only to the Main Universe's Batman. He at least has that much talent."
"A pity that your action of entering this place was simply a waste of time. Clark, see Him out," Du Wa ordered.
With one punch, Superboy-Prime blasted the powerless Darkseid into dust.
With that, the Main Universe Darkseid was temporarily dead. This immediately caused the Multiverse itself to react, becoming unstable due to the loss of a part of the pillar supporting the Multiverse.
The reason it was temporary was that Darkseid's divinity still existed as the energy source for the Hellbat armor. It was essentially still the Main Universe Darkseid; it just hadn't revealed its true form.
Superboy-Prime had an ugly expression. He said to Du Wa, "This guy discovered Prime Earth and then just died so casually? He clearly could have used other means to compel the Editorial Department to serve Him."
"You overestimate the power of the Editorial Department. These editors are not as powerful as you think. Darkseid discovered this as well, so after confirming he couldn't achieve his goal and had been discovered by me, it became meaningless to remain on Prime Earth," Du Wa shook his head.
Darkseid was an extremely decisive guy, but Du Wa always felt that He wouldn't give up so easily, let alone wait to be killed and devoured by Thanoseid.
Du Wa's gaze crossed the Fourth Wall, watching everything happening in the Main Universe, perceiving the evolution of all outcomes. He saw the Hellbat's painful struggle, desperately trying to escape the Main Universe, only to be beaten back time and again.
The armor itself was already in tatters.
Du Wa also saw a group of intelligent people, salivating over the Hellbat armor, scrambling about, trying to claim this prize and become an incomparably powerful deity in one leap.
A deity even more powerful than Lex Luthor, the God of Knowledge.
"Darkseid would not give up so easily. And those guys who helped the New 52 Batman create the armor would not have placed all their hopes on this one possibility," Du Wa asserted.
He had indeed noticed some people who had tipped off the New 52 Batman, for example, the DCEU Batman, who had remained silent and tried his best to reduce his presence after becoming a Xenomorph.
Should he also count the Main Universe's Batman and Lex Luthor?
It didn't matter. No matter what these guys meticulously planned, they could not escape Du Wa's sight.
Main Universe Earth.
The moment Du Wa refocused his gaze on this world, it meant that all the current turmoil was about to end.
"Is this all you've got? This is the result of you guys secretly uniting? This is as far as you can go?"
Du Wa opened his hand, as if grasping the entire Main Universe in his palm. In an instant, he suppressed everything within the Main Universe, completely crushing the Hellbat's defense system.
At this point, the Hellbat was utterly defeated. This Batman, who could be said to be the strongest at the moment, had lost.
But while the armor was crushed, the person controlling it was not defeated. The Spectre possessing this person was not waiting for death either. Even on the verge of doom, He still hadn't given up hope, trying to escape with Batman.
But unfortunately, that was of course impossible.
The Spectre was so filled with rage that His strength even soared, but before Du Wa, He once again tasted the bitter fruit of defeat.
"Why is it like this? This should have been a success. I never intended to kill you with this method... but why..." The Spectre trembled with rage.
Judgment after judgment failed. Inciting Batman to kill him was also futile. Even just trying to retrieve someone ended in failure.
Du Wa was like a perfect concept, without any loophole or flaw, leaving absolutely no opportunity for the outside world to exploit. The kind that even The Spectre was helpless against.
Just as the Hellbat armor disintegrated further, revealing Batman's figure...
The energy source driving the armor, the divinity of the Main Universe Darkseid, was now revealed. A continuous stream of divine power surged forth, yet it was incompatible with The Spectre and Batman.
"There's still a chance! If we can use the divinity..." Batman said quickly. "No matter what the Main Universe Darkseid wants us to do for Him, right now we can only..."
"Impossible," The Spectre said in a low voice.
"You're worried about Thanoseid? With our power, we can stop him. Worried about Du Wa? Worrying is useless, we can only go all out! It's just using the divinity. Although we no longer have the powerful and reliable intermediary of the Hellbat armor..."
"It's not because of that." The Spectre just shook His head. He was simply unable to use Darkseid's divinity.
He, who was of God's Faction, could not possibly have a deep cooperation with Darkseid, who existed as the fragile balance between The Presence and The Great Darkness. It was already good enough that they weren't trying to kill each other.
Moreover, forcibly using Darkseid's divinity would most likely not allow them to escape anyway.
In the instant of The Spectre's silence, Thanoseid rushed forward in a great hurry and snatched the fragment of divinity.
"Excellent! As expected of the Main Universe's divinity, it's even bigger than I anticipated! As long as I devour this and then clean up all the Darkseids in every universe, I can go to the Sphere of Gods and challenge Darkseid's true form!" A fierce light shot from Thanoseid's eyes. This was the only pleasure left that could interest him.
Similarly, as he was deeply influenced by Du Wa, Thanoseid, who had been thoroughly defeated by Du Wa multiple times, was subconsciously transforming himself according to Du Wa's will.
Thanoseid had set foot on a path Du Wa wished for him to walk, and he would continue down it until he died completely, or until Du Wa himself died.
Under Du Wa's approving gaze, Thanoseid began to forcefully absorb this massive divinity, rapidly devouring the power left behind by the Main Universe Darkseid to strengthen himself.
"It seems that no matter what happens next, Darkseid will be quiet for a while."
In the Sixth Dimension, the World Forger withdrew His gaze, no longer paying attention to the affairs of the Main Universe.
To Him, the desperate struggles of the New 52 Batman, The Spectre, and the Main Universe Darkseid were ultimately nothing more than meaningless, clumsy acts.
So what if they killed Du Wa? These poor fellows probably didn't know that Du Wa was nothing at all. The truly terrifying monster threatening the entire World Within the Wall was slumbering within the Origin Wall, and it was unknown when it would awaken.
The World Forger and his brothers didn't know either, but they were certain it was only a matter of time.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, the World Forger made a surprised sound and took one last look.
He saw a gigantic starfish struggling to squeeze its way into the Main Universe.
"...What is that thing?"
"It's Starro. Some beings call it the number one mind control master of the Multiverse, but it shouldn't be entering the Main Universe at this time, unless someone invited it to come at this critical moment."
The Anti-Monitor spent most of his time roaming the Multiverse and recognized the identity of the giant starfish at a glance.
Originally, the Anti-Monitor paid no mind to Starro, but He quickly changed His mind, because He thought of something very special.
"If I remember correctly, Starro's most powerful and feared aspect is not its mind control ability, but... its parasitic ability," the Anti-Monitor mused.
"Parasitic? Are you sure? Is it the kind of parasitism I'm imagining?"
"What else? You need to face this word head-on. Don't be influenced by the changes caused by Du Wa and his Xenomorphs."
(end of chapter)I think people don't understand it. I have a personal website where I post advanced free chapters — there are 10 new chapters per day, so you can check it out here: soollhooaf.com