Chapter 265: Death? Is That Supposed to Be Impressive?
Any given Multiversal God possesses a scale capable of rivaling the entire Multiverse. This signifies a grand unification of near-infinite energy, information, and rules.
Any Multiversal God can naturally interfere with the history of the Multiverse, influence its fundamental operating logic from the ground up, decide the fate of trillions of lives, and ignore limitations such as time.
Eternity, the final entity of time, is merely a Multiversal God.
Logically speaking, a Multiversal God should not be able to appear out of thin air. Yet, from the perspective of many Gods, this very unbelievable thing just happened!
The God of Xenomorphs, that fellow who was quite active in a few select universes, that strange collective entity of concepts, had revealed himself again after a very brief period of silence, and he had actually become a Multiversal God?
The first to sense that something was wrong were the various Multiversal Gods, who all cast astonished gazes toward Du Wa from afar.
The Inner World, the Magical Realm, the dimensional interlayers…
God after God was stirred, extending their infinite perspectives to look at Du Wa, who stood firm amidst the Multiverse.
They immediately began to analyze the information stored within the Multiverse, reading through all of history. But then, something even more astonishing occurred. No matter how they searched, they could find no intermediate information regarding Du Wa's advance to the Multiversal level.
It was as if Du Wa had skipped from a Cosmic Celestial straight to a Multiversal God out of thin air.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
"To put it bluntly, even if he had used that strange parasitism ability to luckily parasitize the body of a slumbering, gravely injured Multiversal God that had lost its self-awareness, and thus smoothly acquired the standing of a Multiversal God, I wouldn't be too surprised. I'd just think the fellow's luck was off the charts! But in reality, not even that happened!"
"Nor was there any process of finding and using an artifact! If there was a Multiversal-level artifact, it couldn't have been silent. No matter how fast Du Wa absorbed the artifact, a Du Wa without Multiversal Standing couldn't possibly conceal the fluctuations emitted by an artifact with Multiversal Standing! Just why did this happen?"
All the Gods were dumbfounded, watching as Du Wa, like a great mountain, pressed down on the entire Multiverse, making it feel incredibly heavy—this was normal. The Multiverse itself had to bear his mass; for a Multiversal God to appear out of thin air would naturally create a sense of weight.
This was also thanks to the Marvel Multiverse's sturdier construction. It wasn't like the DC Multiverse, where the Multiversal Gods had to specifically move their main bodies to the Sphere of Gods to lessen the burden on the fragile Multiverse.
Of course, the Sphere of Gods contained divine waves that could augment even Multiversal Gods, and they could also more closely perceive and study the Source Wall. This was another important reason for the Gods' collective move into the Sphere of Gods.
In the Inner World, several Creator Gods also looked over, their expressions filled with astonishment.
"It's Universe 9602. It must be there. A long time ago, a strange change occurred in that universe. The moment the signs appeared, just as I was about to go and observe, the Living Tribunal beat me to it and sealed off that universe."
As the final entity of space, Infinity immediately pinpointed the key to the problem.
The supreme god of space was indeed formidable, but in the face of the Living Tribunal, even Infinity had to bow its head, having all its detection capabilities for Universe 9602 forcibly severed.
If it were only that, Creator Gods like Infinity, Eternity, and Death would at most feel curious, but they wouldn't have any real designs on Universe 9602. It was just one universe, after all.
But now, after the Living Tribunal had sealed that universe and cut off its connection to other universes, Du Wa had somehow learned of its existence, walked out of it, and seemingly obtained an unprecedented boost. This was enough to shock and confuse even the Creator Gods.
"Besides the few of us, no other Multiversal Gods could have detected the existence of Universe 9602, much less known that the Living Tribunal had tampered with it."
Eternity looked at the other Creator Gods around him. "So, since it's absolutely impossible that we leaked this sensitive information, how did Du Wa find his way there?"
"Perhaps it was by chance. Even a god on the level of the Living Tribunal cannot truly exhaust all possibilities. In imperceptible corners, anomalous factors are always gestating and being born, eventually becoming a tide that changes the overarching trend. Not even a god can predict this," Oblivion spoke.
As a being who stood above the Multiversal-level, the antithesis to the sum of the other Creator Gods, Oblivion's perspective was far greater than that of Eternity and his peers. The information he observed was naturally very different.
"The major events that erupt in many universes often take turns that even we can hardly predict, leading to the end of the universe, the death of countless lives and Gods, and the successive demise of our own avatars. Even an avatar of the Living Tribunal sent to the past would be killed… Nothing is impossible."
Oblivion, just as his name suggested, was the terminus of all things. In theory, the end of all opposition was a part of him. "Death, I recall you once tried to recruit the God of Xenomorphs, but he refused you. That wasn't so long ago."
"That's right. Perhaps even back then, he already knew about Universe 9602 and was preparing to do something with it," Death said, equally amazed.
No pathetically insignificant Cosmic Celestial could refuse an invitation from the entity of Death.
This was not an avatar of Death from a single universe, but the entity of Death with Multiversal Standing! The chance to follow a Multiversal God, and a Creator God at that, whose status was half a level higher than other Multiversal Gods—what humble, insignificant, and weak single-universe-level being would have the confidence and audacity to refuse?
Could the Ancient One refuse the Vishanti and Eternity?
Could Dormammu refuse Chthon?
Could the Dark Celestials refuse the First Firmament?
Could Ego refuse Galactus… alright, that one had to be refused, and Galactus really didn't have much prestige. If it weren't for the Ultimate Nullifier artifact and his widespread existence as the key to a divine seal, he truly couldn't compare to Creator Gods like Death.
A Xenomorph could not possibly refuse Du Wa.
But Du Wa had, in fact, refused the entity of Death. The Du Wa of that time, a Cosmic Celestial, was like an ant before the Multiverse and was still mortal, yet he had refused Death.
Looking back now, it was as if his path forward had been decided from the very beginning.
Eternity looked down at his own body, which was a black expanse containing countless galaxies. All of time flowed within him. He said, "It's too late to consider those things now. I have no way of interfering on the temporal plane with a Du Wa who has already achieved Multiversal Standing."
Maneuvers like traveling back to the past were completely ineffective against a Multiversal God. Moreover, even in the past, a large number of Xenomorphs existed at various time nodes. For a special type of god like Du Wa, he could teleport to any time node at will to engage Eternity in an all-encompassing, end-to-end confrontation.
Death was very interested in Du Wa, but at most, she would just go and say hello, as they had at least had a brief communication before. But upon seeing Thanoseid walk out from within the scope of Du Wa's power, this interest magnified to its absolute peak.
"What is this thing??"
Death moved. Her main body left the Inner World and descended into the Outer World—the Multiverse—appearing before Du Wa.
Two Multiversal Gods met.
"We meet again. I didn't expect you to be the first one to show up," Du Wa said.
"Now that I'm here, the other Gods won't come, or they'll at most greet you—fellows like the Vishanti and Cyttorak, who have had indirect contact with you, will do just that." Death lifted her head, revealing the skull beneath her Hood.
Different people saw different appearances when they looked at Death, but with Du Wa's current standing, he naturally wouldn't be fooled by such a petty trick. He could directly see the substance of Death's existence.
Du Wa's assessment was that she was rather unremarkable. This manifestation was less distinctive than Black Hand's. That fellow, Black Hand, wore an armored battle suit, carried a huge scythe, and had a white gleam shining from the two holes on his face.
Death also keenly sensed Du Wa's subtle observation, but she didn't ask. This surely involved the internal situation of Universe 9602—the Creator Gods had not yet decided how to handle the matter of Universe 9602. Should they try to obtain intelligence about that universe from Du Wa? But that was a place the Living Tribunal had specifically shielded.
But what if they ignored it? Du Wa clearly had a close connection with Universe 9602, and a change that even the Creator Gods couldn't fathom had occurred.
"In truth, I am very interested in you, but I am even more interested in this fellow behind you. He is like a work of art, meticulously sculpted by a skilled hand, carrying things I have never seen before," Death said, her gaze fixed on Thanoseid.
Thanoseid stood with his hands behind his back, his cold face a landscape of rock-like ravines, showing no change in expression.
Even before Du Wa, he maintained this seemingly arrogant posture most of the time, to say nothing of facing a being like Death now.
"This guy is the God of Death? The strongest God of Death? He is indeed far stronger than any God of Death I have ever seen, but as it stands, he doesn't seem insurmountably powerful." Streaks of bloody light flashed in Thanoseid's eyes. The Omega Effect gave him a more powerful perspective.
"Thanos, I'm not sure if it's right to call you that, but you've seen other Gods of Death? Why wouldn't I know of them? All Gods of Death are within my will," Death said, sizing up Thanoseid.
Anything related to her devotees, Death was willing to patiently condescend to give it a second look, especially since this particular devotee was vastly different from the usual Thanos.
To be more precise, although he still bore the clear marks of Thanos in his appearance, in substance, the majority of him was no longer part of Thanos. Death suspected this fellow had used unknown means to obtain a colossal source of power, which had greatly filled out the part that wasn't Thanos, thus constituting his current life structure.
Furthermore, the advanced energy on Thanoseid's body, similar to heat vision, was extremely foreign. Its grade was high, but its manifestation was incomplete…
This was too interesting. It held too many mysteries, and it was related to Thanos.
"God of Death? I'm the one who beats up Gods of Death! There was once a fellow—to use Du Wa's words, that guy was a crippled fool. He left his strongest home turf and came before me to fight with his greatly weakened strength."
Thanoseid thought of the extremely stubborn Black Hand. At the end of that fight, he had only managed to expel Black Hand by relying on Du Wa's power. If he had truly wanted to kill him, he definitely couldn't have killed Black Hand, that God of Death.
Without shaking or even destroying the Emotional Spectrum, no one could truly kill Black Hand, not even the Entity of Existence.
"Thanoseid, do not speak of what you have experienced here. At least, now is not the time," Du Wa said.
Thanoseid glanced at Du Wa and seemed to understand. Based on his knowledge of Du Wa, the phrase "now is not the time" was enough for him to imagine many possible future scenarios.
It meant that Du Wa had even more astonishing plans that he had yet to reveal, just like what Du Wa had done in the DC Universe. No matter the time or the circumstances, he could always pull out a plan that would catch even the Gods off guard and make them suffer a great loss.
"Hmph, hmph, hmph…" Thanoseid let out a terrifying laugh.
Death looked at him. "What are you laughing at? As a Xenomorph, are you mocking your current master?"
"No. It just occurred to me that there seem to be many fellows who have not yet experienced the fear of being dominated by Du Wa, and that is why their imaginations about how things will unfold are so full of meaningless fantasies."
Death grew thoughtful.
Suddenly, Death extended an olive branch to Thanoseid. "Are you interested in coming to my side? Whatever Du Wa can give you, I can give. What he cannot give you, I can give you as well."
"Are you looking to die? Death may not die, but that doesn't mean she can't be sealed away and put into Slumber. I don't mind testing the quality of a Creator God like you here in the Multiverse."
Before the sneering Thanoseid could speak, Du Wa had already spoken faintly, "I was just planning to find some opponents to verify my strength, and I would be very happy to accept some of them as my subordinates."
Death fell silent for a moment, not out of anger at Du Wa's assertiveness, but more out of surprise at the meaning behind his words. "You have the ability to parasitize Multiversal Gods? How could such a thing be possible?"
"You can give it a try. I'm very interested in pinning Death beneath me, just as you are full of passion for Thanoseid."
This time, Death was truly uncertain and alarmed. She had no idea where Du Wa's confidence came from. Putting aside whether parasitism would succeed, even if it could, wouldn't he have to challenge a Multiversal God first? A god like Du Wa, without powerful subordinates, shouldn't be strong in theory. He shouldn't be able to defeat a god of the same level.
This created a vicious cycle. In the initial stage, Du Wa couldn't possibly get stronger with each battle.
"Go back to your world, or fight me and deliver a thorough death and a plague of Xenomorphs to the countless worlds of the Multiverse," Du Wa said slowly.
(end of chapter)