Wanda had just wanted to speak when Franklin gently tapped her and whispered, "If it's those captured Supermen, they'll consider us enemies, especially since we're still at war."
Wanda immediately became alert and retreated two steps. Sure enough, the next second, an X-ray shot over. Wanda quickly recoiled and said to Franklin, "Have they been devoured by the Nightmare?"
"They should be. The real Supermen might be dead; these are the Nightmare phantoms they've left behind."
"Like the previous morbid ones?"
"Yes. If we are devoured, our phantoms will also remain here, possessing part of our power, attacking other living beings here, and then devouring them."
"Oh my God, why is he so strong?"
"The power of dreams from our universe combined with some dark power from the other universe's origin, meaning this is a nightmare power very close to the Cosmic Origin, capable of eroding anyone less than its rank. Even you, who are on par with him, will be susceptible if you have any mental loophole."
"Damn that Incubus!" Wanda cursed, "Seeing he couldn't make it, he handed his power over to Darkseid. Also, where did that mysterious dark force come from? I'd better catch the culprit…"
Franklin, held in her arms, turned his eyes, clearly knowing something but dared not speak. Only after scanning the surroundings thoroughly, encountering several Nightmare phantoms, and finding no survivors, did Franklin open a teleportation portal to leave.
They returned to the Asgard Base, but as soon as they arrived, they heard Steve say, "The Nightmare Domain is spreading this way; we need to leave."
Wanda hurried over and asked, "What's going on, the Nightmare Domain will spread?"
Stark also walked out of the conference room, and after removing his goggles, said, "Situation is not optimistic right now. The Nightmare Domain is currently expanding outward at about one light-year per hour. It won't be long before the entire star system there will be devoured, followed by other star systems. We're not safe here either; better to return to Earth."
"By the way," Captain America turned to Wanda and said, "The Andromeda Galaxy isn't safe either; inform the mutants to collectively retreat, head back to Earth first."
Wanda furrowed her brows but nodded. She then heard Steve talking to Stark: "Our manpower is reduced significantly now, the command center suggests merging forces with Batman, but they don't have many people either…"
Wanda returned to the Andromeda Galaxy, where some mutants remained, but weren't skilled in combat. The stronger mutants have suffered extensively. However, Legion and his bizarre personalities were still around, especially some of the strongest personalities like Big Spider, Prophet, and "X", as well as David himself, who is dubbed the mutant God, were doing well. And the Big Dinosaur capable of manipulating time had been coaxed away by the Bat Tyrant Dragon from the dark multiverse, with the two dinosaurs now under Batman's wing.
"What's the next move?" David inquired. After undergoing a period of psychological treatment, he seemed much better, but to prevent a relapse, he was still kept out of combat.
"Let's return to Earth first," Wanda said, "We might need to merge with Batman, otherwise we won't be able to deal with Darkseid, who can control nightmares. Besides, he should have become a multiversal-level entity; we need to see what other universes have to say."
"What about the Andromeda Galaxy, just abandon it?"
"Darkseid's primary target is Batman, not us. Moreover, us not being there means him destroying it is pointless. Conversely, staying here could get us targeted, as he can gain power by devouring people in the Nightmare Domain. If he consumes us all, who could possibly stop him?"
Other mutants realized this too. Although Darkseid was outsmarted by Batman, losing Apocalypse Star was due to the mutants' actions, thus entwining them with enmity. Plus, mutants' abilities are immensely powerful, making them coveted by entities able to devour others and absorb their powers. If they don't flee fast, they will surely be chased down.
Therefore, the mutants hurriedly packed up and departed. Despite having just endured a fierce battle, depleting much of their power, even the residual strength was sufficient to pack all the valuables from the Andromeda Galaxy. Franklin even directly moved the capital's Sky Island into his Pocket Universe. The rest Wanda packed with the power of Scarlet.
The process was insanely swift, having been drilled before. Being akin to pirates, constantly pillaging led to frequent home invasions, necessitating rapid escapes. Thus, they returned to Earth even before Asgard's superheroes.
Nick was stunned seeing them return first, but quickly sighed in relief, realizing that if Nightmare Darkseid consumed the mutants, the multiverse would truly be finished.
Then, the remaining superheroes from Asgard Base returned too, though few were left. Everyone gathered in the S.H.I.E.L.D. conference room. Nick cleared his throat and began: "The prime target for that guy should be Batman; they can still last a while. We need to solve Asgard's issues first, then collaborate with Batman to take down that big guy."
"He's really become multiverse-level?" Doom asked incredulously, "Just because of Nightmare's last ditch retaliation?"
"I'm afraid so, but you guys know there's definitely more to it, save your questions." Nick wished the words "don't air dirty laundry" were plastered on his face, suggesting, "You all can't be oblivious to who's behind the scenes, can you?"
Those from the Central Universe seated there tacitly fell silent. Nick continued: "Currently, the key issue in Asgard is not the two empires but those massive bugs. Fortunately, we created the access point to the Antimatter Universe and can close it anytime, but before closing, we must clear the surrounding bugs. Listen to my orders now, form into groups of three…"
Nick began distributing tasks. Almost everyone received missions; those with group attack abilities cleared bugs, and the rest handled corpse collection since researching antimatter cells entails thorough battlefield cleanup.
"Um, Fog Guest, you're to lead the logistics team," Nick said, "Take the Symbiote Agents and Cosmic Beast, clean up thoroughly. Asgard helped us greatly; let's ensure no flaws are found."
The silhouette donning a black fedora nodded. Stark and Strange couldn't help but roll their eyes. Having Greed loot meant packing up the Fairy Palace for haul back, right?