Chapter 148: Anchoring the Universe
The few people brought over by the Watcher had rarely seen a war of this scale.
Yes, it was a war, not a battle.
Two races skilled in efficient slaughter were now using the entire Earth as their battlefield, unfolding a bloody massacre centered around the spatial rift.
As far as the eye could see, with every passing second, vast numbers of robots were reduced to mangled limbs. Similarly, a great number of Xenomorphs were torn to shreds by Ultron's robots.
The sheer density of their numbers, combined with the astonishing rate of attrition, left everyone present in a state of profound shock.
"They're simply the most perfect killing machines. Before dying, they even use their last bit of strength to tear open their own bodies, using their corrosive blood to destroy more robots... Complete weapons of war, every one of them a death-sworn soldier."
"Oh, Ultron's robots have also started to self-destruct before they're scrapped... The learning speed of this damn thing is truly disgusting."
Many of the outsiders seeing Ultron's robots for the first time wore looks of shock. In terms of mechanical precision and efficiency, Ultron's robot army was equally perfect, all thanks to Ultron's flawless real-time manipulation.
But in the end, this was a machine legion without individual thought. The Xenomorphs, however, were different. They were a group of flesh-and-blood lifeforms, yet they could still behave so coldly and silently on the battlefield.
This was incredibly shocking.
Among the crowd, perhaps only Black Panther, who came from the Zombie Universe, could remain relatively calm. He had seen the entire world fall, with zombies swarming everywhere to devour the living. Therefore, he had a natural adaptability to this silent, brutal scene.
"Hehehe, so these are the Xenomorphs. No wonder you're confident about conquering the Main Universe. Normally, even if you're a god from a parallel universe, trying to conquer another universe is extremely difficult, even more so than for a native god to accomplish the same feat." A strange expression appeared on Black Strange's face, and he subconsciously licked his lips.
He had devoured many demonic creatures, but he had no idea what these Xenomorphs before him would taste like.
"Put away those dangerous thoughts that have become your instinct. My Xenomorphs aren't so easily absorbed."
"Oh? You've placed a curse on every single Xenomorph? That must have been a massive undertaking, but I don't perceive anything special about them—except on the level of their minds and souls."
Judging from Black Strange's strength and the countless cosmic demonic creatures he had fused with, he was capable of forcibly breaking through an absolute time node, destroying a universe, and sending all its people and gods to meet Death in one fell swoop. He was, at the very least, a formidable character capable of going toe-to-toe with a single-universe-level god.
He was also the strongest fighter Uatu had chosen, at least on the surface. This was because Uatu couldn't gauge the true extent of Du Wa's strength, nor whether he was willing to contribute enough of it to save these universes.
Uatu was incredibly nervous, constantly looking at Du Wa with a hopeful gaze.
"My very existence is the greatest curse for people like you. I don't mind taking a moment to parasitize you before handling Ultron. Coincidentally, I'm short one Xenomorph Doctor Strange." Du Wa spoke casually, his attention focused on Ultron.
Black Strange looked thoughtful. "It seems you haven't parasitized the version of me from your universe... Is my counterpart in that parallel universe already dead?"
"Still alive. He's frantically chasing power, trying to do the exact same thing you did: alter a time node to save Christine. It's just that he's still developing rapidly and hasn't reached your current level."
"Oh?"
A look of profound surprise and a sense of camaraderie appeared on Black Strange's face. He wasn't alone. The fact that he had caused the death of an entire universe's worth of life wasn't entirely meaningless; other versions of himself were making the same effort.
However, it also meant they were making the same mistake.
Black Strange suddenly became very interested in the universe that had produced a special deity like Du Wa. He was also curious about what path his other self had taken and whether it could offer a new perspective.
A single universe capable of producing two talents like Du Wa and another version of himself was already impressive—and that was only what he knew. There were likely countless other special variations. This was enough to entice Black Strange to leave his dark room and see the sights of other parallel universes.
"This is no time for chatting! These robots are increasing in number. We can't hold them off like this forever. Even if we use a large number of Xenomorphs to plug this breach, we can't stop Ultron from creating more."
Uatu looked at this group of people who showed no signs of tension, and his eyelid twitched violently.
The helpers he had gone to such trouble to find—the two most powerful ones—were acting so casually, as if they didn't care about Ultron at all.
Even the native heroes of Universe 199999 had sprung into action, spontaneously joining the effort to encircle and destroy Ultron's robots.
"More breaches don't matter. This universe is destined to be a battlefield anyway," Du Wa said. "If we win, we'll use the Infinity Gems to restore everything. If we fail, everything here will inevitably vanish into thin air."
The not-yet-fully-formed The Avengers mobilized as one, joining the ranks to exterminate Ultron's robots.
Tony went all out, dispatching all of his armors to fly through the sky and burrow underground. But even with their desperate attacks, it was just a drop in the bucket against such vast numbers.
"Am I seeing this right, Tony? Are those Ultron's robots? But didn't we completely destroy Ultron? His original code was completely erased! I don't believe Vision would have made such a basic mistake!"
"Well, that's a tragic story. Our good old pal Vision was killed by Thanos. He's been dead for five years, so we have no way of asking him."
The native The Avengers were at their wits' end. They had originally been struggling with the problem of the Xenomorphs spreading, worrying what an Earth dominated by Xenomorphs would be like. Now, great. They didn't have the ability to suppress them, and now a swarm of Ultron's robots had appeared. As a result, the Xenomorphs had ironically become the main force protecting the world.
It was truly ironic.
The Avengers had no choice. A single glance at the skirmishes assembling everywhere, with the rooftops of random buildings swarming with battling Xenomorphs and Ultron's robots, told them who the most reliable force was right now.
They wanted to contact Du Wa. Of course, they didn't need to find him personally—they couldn't find him anyway—they just needed to call out where they stood.
"Do what you're supposed to do. The enemy you're facing now is not one you can handle. He is stronger than the Thanos from five years ago."
This was Du Wa's response.
A single sentence rendered the Avengers silent.
The Thanos from five years ago? Wielding six Infinity Gems, he had wiped out half the population of the entire universe with a single act. He was the greatest nightmare in the hearts of these Avengers.
And now Du Wa was telling them that this Ultron, who had appeared out of nowhere, was even stronger than Thanos?
Looking at the sheer scale of the numbers, it was indeed suffocating.
"...Our world really is plagued by disasters." Captain America took a deep breath, tightening his grip on his shield.
No matter how calm he was, just thinking about recent events was enough to make him feel it was all a load of crap.
First, their mistaken time-travel had brought Du Wa here, steering this world in an unknown direction. Now, an Ultron had shown up, likely having come from some other parallel universe as well.
Was their universe too weak? Or were all parallel universes this savage?
"Isn't the pace of this a bit too fast? We're still figuring out how to save our world, and now guys from parallel universes are taking turns invading it," Banner grumbled in a low voice. He clapped his hands together, creating a powerful shockwave that sent dozens of Ultron's robots flying.
Their cleanup efficiency was far inferior to the Xenomorphs'.
But Du Wa didn't expect this bunch of Avengers to be of much use anyway.
If they were to really compare, the The Avengers of Universe 199999 were at best slightly more numerous. If the The Avengers from Du Wa's own universe were brought over, they would crush them in minutes.
However, Du Wa soon shifted his attention, because Ultron had arrived.
The Mind Stone on its forehead and the five Infinity Gems in its hand glowed brilliantly with six different lights.
Ultron, possessing Vision's body and its iconic outer shell, its cape billowing high behind it, glanced first at Uatu, then shifted its gaze, finally settling on Du Wa.
"A very special being. Is every Xenomorph you? Your form of existence is very similar to mine, but you've somehow achieved it on a flesh-and-blood level rather than a machine one."
As Ultron possessed the Mind Stone and the Soul Stone, it could perceive this in an instant.
The battle between the Xenomorphs and the robots was, in essence, a battle between Du Wa and Ultron.
If there was any difference, besides the different vessels the two controlled, it was that Du Wa's manipulation of the Xenomorphs was semi-automatic. He often let the Xenomorphs fight based on their own instincts, without personally intervening.
Ultron, on the other hand, personally controlled every action of every single robot.
"Thanos, go," Du Wa said. "I look forward to seeing your brilliant performance."
"You want this guy to use four Infinity Gems against me, an opponent with six?" Even in Ultron's cold thoughts, it came to the conclusion that this command was very interesting. "In the universe of my birth, I, with only one Gem, killed a Thanos who possessed five Infinity Gems in an instant."
"Then try and kill this Thanos. All the Xenomorphs are with me."
"Let's hope you reach the same conclusion when I use the Mind Stone to destroy your spirit."
The moment Ultron's voice fell, Thanos made his move.
With a hum, a four-colored light burst from the back of Thanos's hand, blasting toward Ultron.
These two beings who fought using the Infinity Gems began their duel on this Earth 199999.
Reality was distorting, space-time was in chaos, and the battle on the mental plane raged on without end.
As soon as he attacked, Thanos's expression became incredibly grave. He felt a pressure from this Ultron second only to Du Wa.
Logically, Ultron with Six Gems should be stronger than Du Wa. But Thanos, who had already become a Xenomorph and also controlled the Mind Stone, knew clearly how terrifying Du Wa's mind was—it was a domain guarded by countless Xenomorphs.
Moreover, in this battle of four gems against six, Thanos lacked the Time Stone and the Space Stone. Facing the space-time attacks created by Ultron, Thanos found himself on the defensive.
"Not bad. He wasn't defeated right at the start. It seems this universe's Thanos claiming to wield Destiny isn't without reason."
Du Wa watched the distortion of all things tangible and intangible around them and let out a sigh of admiration.
"So you don't care at all whether Thanos lives or dies, right? You just hope he puts on a good show to help you verify some of your secret ideas," Black Strange asked curiously.
Du Wa spread his hands. "I don't even care about my own life, what do you think? Whether or not Ultron can be defeated isn't the most important thing to me. Personally experiencing the struggle between the Infinity Gems is what matters most. Besides, I'm not sending Thanos to his death. Now it's your turn to act."
The Watcher Uatu immediately took action, sending Ultron flying into outer space with a single heavy punch.
Black Strange let out a low laugh and glanced at his other teammates.
Among these people, only Thor was truly of use. Although the others were outstanding heroes from their respective universes, right now they could at best play a supporting role and harass Ultron.
Black Strange immediately used a painstakingly developed magic, enveloping everyone present in a layer of magical armor.
"Remarkable. A magical defense capable of withstanding an attack from a Cosmic Celestial. At least, I've never seen the Ancient One or Strange from my universe use it." Du Wa's knowledge of magic was encyclopedic.
These people from different universes all entered the fray.
And so, people watched with bizarre expressions as three heroes wielding identical shields fought arduously.
"Useless. You think you can beat me with numbers? What a joke. My forces will always outnumber yours by countless times!"
Ultron spoke coldly as the Reality Stone warped reality, creating countless robots. "In both quality and quantity, you are inferior to me."
"Is that so? How interesting. I love large-scale wars," Du Wa said.
At the same time, in the universe where Du Wa's main body was located.
"I've already stuffed the Tesseract into the Celestial Armor to use as a power source, and now you're telling me you want to open a channel to a parallel universe? The Tesseract has that function?"
"Of course, this universe's Tesseract alone isn't enough," Du Wa said. "I just need it to create a stable exit from this universe."
To transport elite Xenomorphs on a large scale, he would of course need to use the Space Stone from Universe 199999.
Besides, dispatching the Xenomorph army to fight Ultron was not the ultimate goal.
"Through the battle between Thanos and Ultron, I've basically figured some things out. The Infinity Gems within the MCU system have their upper limits locked. No matter how they are used, they will never reach a multiversal level. And then there's the Destiny of Universe 199999's Thanos..."
Du Wa pondered. There were too many things that could be exploited in this battle, enough to provide him with many ideas.
For example, anchoring a concept to the universe itself.
(end of chapter)