Chapter 149: Seeing the Path to Concept Godhood
In Du Wa's eyes, Ultron was, at his core, a rare specimen, one that would be convenient for him to verify certain things.
He was strong, indeed, but not so strong as to leave Du Wa completely without options.
Du Wa saw that Ultron, facing the siege of powerful individuals like the four-stoned Thanos and Black Strange, was already struggling to cope.
"Universe 199999... this universe is not suitable as an anchor point to bear my concept. If I were to anchor my concept here, it would only restrain me."
Du Wa made his decision. He only needed to look at Thanos and Ultron to know. Those two were blasting each other with the Infinity Stones, their battle agitating the profound vacuum of space. The destruction they wrought directly exceeded the bounds of this universe, spilling over into other worlds.
However, this could only be described as impressive power. Between this and the multiverse level, there was an insurmountable chasm.
This was not what Du Wa wanted.
He immediately dispatched a group of Xenomorphs to travel through time, acquiring the Space Stone from the past of Universe 199999.
For the current Du Wa, since he could already project his consciousness across universes, communicating along a single universe's timeline was even less of a problem.
"I've been watching you, but I still don't understand what you're trying to do. Is this the result you wanted? To fight a cross-universe war?"
If one had to say who could discern Du Wa's actions, it would undoubtedly be Knull, the god of the Symbiotes, who had already become a part of Du Wa but had not yet had his self-awareness erased.
This miserably fated evil god was trapped in an endless cycle of reboots, all while having to maintain the Abyssal Realm as the foundational platform for Du Wa's Soul World.
For actions like traversing the universe and traveling back in time, using the Abyss as a transit world was enough to give Du Wa the confidence to complete them without hindrance.
The only one suffering was Knull. Since his birth, this being had suffered one humiliation after another at Du Wa's hands. After Du Wa used Moira's infinite seal on him, he was reduced to nothing more than a tool in Du Wa's hands, forced to witness the birth of countless new Xenomorphs in the Soul World, and watch as innumerable Xenomorphs died in battle and returned here.
"It's normal that you don't understand. Otherwise, you wouldn't have lost to me and ended up in this state. Perhaps you should feel honored. There is no Knull in this universe, so you won't have the opportunity to compete with another you... You are not a consumable, but a part of me."
Du Wa watched as Knull was once again rebooted by Moira's soul. This left Knull completely broken. Even if he went mad, he would shortly be rebooted by Moira to the state before his madness, yet he would retain all the related memories and sensations.
This was a fate countless times more terrifying than being locked in a dark room.
"Knull, before long, you will witness me with your own eyes—becoming a god."
"You already are one. The God of the World Tree," Knull said, his tone a mixture of anger and bitterness.
"I was, but not anymore. That is not a power that can satisfy me."
Du Wa extended his perspective to a time node five years in the past in Universe 199999.
The Chitauri were in the process of invading New York.
This was the correct destination where Tony, Captain America, and the others should have traveled.
Taking the Space Stone naturally caused no accidents; everything went off without a hitch.
Du Wa had no intention of taking the Time Stone from this point in time. The Sorcerer Supreme of this time node was still the Ancient One. Fighting the Ancient One here—who could unleash single-universe-level combat power—meant wasting too much energy. It wasn't worth it.
"How strange. I knew travelers from the future would appear, but it shouldn't have been you. I saw no vision of your arrival, but the moment you entered this place, I saw... Not only do you not belong to this time, you don't even belong to this universe. You are complete outsiders."
The Ancient One, dressed in her yellow robes, didn't even bother drinking the latte in her hand, tossing it aside. She took the initiative to approach, blocking the path of these Xenomorphs, her expression incomparably grave.
"From your perspective, the world five years from now will face a world-ending crisis. I need to take the Space Stone to arm one of my subordinates with its power." A Xenomorph conveyed this thought.
"Who is this subordinate of yours?"
"Thanos."
The Ancient One fell silent for a moment. "I truly cannot imagine that an outsider who has even brought the butcher of the universe under control would somehow not be interested in the Time Stone."
"More Infinity Stones isn't always better. Step aside and do not obstruct me. You are still the Sorcerer Supreme, but I much prefer dealing with the Ancient One from my own universe. At least she doesn't ask such terrible questions. Instead, she would wait patiently for the outcome, then see if she could share in some of the benefits."
Another Xenomorph flicked its tail. "You possess the Time Stone. By now, you should have already used the Time Stone to observe the events of the coming years. In that case, you must know that this universe has already become unrecognizable, not just because of me, but also because of Ultron. The Time Stone often only allows you to passively observe information."
"Strange made a grave mistake. He overlooked the influence of an outsider who is not recorded by this universe's time."
The Ancient One's expression was extremely ugly. Strange was her most favored successor, but now it seemed Strange had attempted a dangerous maneuver with an incredibly low chance of success. Originally, there was indeed a chance it could have worked, but the addition of an outsider like Du Wa, and the even more dangerous Ultron storming into this universe, changed everything.
This had thrown the time of this universe into chaos.
Even if this was not the outcome Strange himself wished to see, the Strange of the future who took that risk was, after all, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme. No matter what happened to Earth, Strange, as the wielder of the Time Stone, bore an undeniable responsibility.
"Are you certain you want to make a move? Regardless of whether you challenge me now, I will ultimately save this universe and also save Strange. You, in turn, can proceed with your original plan and leave Earth to do what you wish."
"...It seems you have a good relationship with the me from a parallel universe. Even a Sorcerer Supreme would detest a situation where she is forced to choose the lesser of two very terrible futures."
The Ancient One was silent for several seconds, even activating the Eye of Agamotto at one point, but in the end, she did nothing.
In the future, either Ultron would win, or Du Wa would win. Whichever of these two outsiders won the battle, they would reshape this universe, steering it in a new, unfamiliar direction. The only difference would be how many would live and how many would die.
The Ancient One had no intention of living much longer anyway. She preferred to die early. Even knowing the hardships of the future, she was more inclined to cultivate Strange to solve them—because she truly couldn't find a more suitable successor than him.
She herself was not a Sorcerer Supreme who would be responsible for Earth to the very end.
"You've made the right choice, Sorcerer. The survivors of the entire universe will thank you. When you leave this universe and cross paths with the Ancient One from my universe, remember to say hello for me."
Holding the Space Stone, Du Wa's forces immediately retreated.
But Ultron misinterpreted Du Wa's intentions.
"A group of insects entered the time stream, trying to quickly gather all six Infinity Stones while I'm preoccupied? You fools, do you really think you've pushed me to the point of helplessness!"
In reality, every time Ultron used the Infinity Stones to act, his opponents would besiege him relentlessly, forcing him to hold back his power to overcome the immediate crisis.
But Du Wa was not in a hurry to hand the Space Stone over to Thanos. Instead, he first used the power of the Space Stone to open a spatial tunnel.
"In this cluster of universes, there is one thing that satisfies me: the Infinity Stones can always display considerable power, even beyond their native universal boundaries."
The next second, a ceaseless Xenomorph army poured madly into Universe 199999, merging with the Xenomorphs already in this universe.
It wasn't just their numbers. The moment countless elite Xenomorphs appeared on the battlefield, they were like an insurmountable mountain to Ultron's robots. Wave after wave of assaults from the robot army couldn't budge them in the slightest.
Many of these Xenomorphs possessed extraordinarily powerful combat strength and had exceptional genes. Once they amassed in scale, they could effortlessly destroy all of the Ultron robots' offensives, dismembering the vast number of robots en masse.
Divine Power Xenomorphs, Dracula Xenomorphs, Superman Xenomorphs…
Various Alien Legions, each with unique skills, proved to be far beyond Ultron's expectations. Even when observing them by a higher standard and classifying their superpowers into various tiers, their might was absolutely beyond what he had predicted.
As a continuous stream of new Xenomorphs joined the fray, Ultron's robot army suffered an unstoppable series of defeats and began to collapse.
"Hmph, it's merely numbers. No matter how many robots I lose, it means nothing to me."
In outer space, caught up in the fight with several opponents and being pushed further and further from Earth, Ultron was surprised by the sheer variety and formidable power of these Xenomorphs that had stormed in from a parallel universe. He reached out, intending to use the Reality Stone to erase all these Xenomorphs, while simultaneously using the Space Stone to sever this universe's connection to all other universes.
"Perhaps you should take a look at this. How about we use more weapons against you?"
Black Strange also seized the opportunity, immediately casting several spells. In an instant, he replicated Thor's hammer and the Stormbreaker of Universe 199999's Thor by the hundreds and thousands, hurling them all at Ultron. From a distance, it looked as though he had manually created a sphere, with Ultron himself at its core, being crushed by countless hammers and battle-axes.
Ultron made an absolutely cold judgment. He then unleashed the power of all the Infinity Stones on his body, instantly causing the entire solar system to tremble violently. The massive sun, in particular, suddenly developed terrifying, visible cracks and began to break apart bit by bit. If no one intervened, this would bring about the final destruction of the entire solar system.
"You know nothing of the power of a deity! You just wishfully think that the Watcher is your true god! Look at the Watcher! He still hasn't used his full strength, hiding off to the side from time to time, worried that too much interference will destroy established facts! Even deities have flawed and contradictory aspects. Yet even at this moment, you still believe in him, stopping at nothing to hinder me."
Ultron not only began to destroy the solar system, but he also intended to blow up the entire Milky Way Galaxy along with it.
As long as he destroyed all the countless stars and planets, then the robots, the Xenomorphs, or whatever other damn things there were, would naturally vanish into thin air.
Ultimately, this entire universe would fall silent.
"This entire universe will be utterly destroyed by me, all because of you." Ultron's voice echoed across countless planets. "This is all thanks to the Watcher. His observation allowed him to see an even more terrifying future."
As long as Ultron held all six Infinity Stones, he believed he would become an eternal god.
"Does destroying a universe make you proud? If that's some kind of honor, I achieved it long ago, and far more thoroughly than you can imagine."
Black Strange's face was grim as he raised his hand. He didn't try to stop Ultron's destruction of the galaxy. Instead, he ripped the Eye of Agamotto from his chest and threw the Time Stone within it.
Thanos snatched it from the air and placed it on his gauntlet. From this moment on, Thanos finally wielded the power of time.
"Five Infinity Stones. This is truly an unprecedented power... and something my future self once possessed," Thanos let out a low growl, bearing the might of the Infinity Stones.
Although one of the stones, the Time Stone, was not native to Universe 199999, unleashing its time-related power was not a problem at all.
Ultron only glanced at him; Black Strange and Du Wa were the ones he was most focused on.
Black Strange was now at his wit's end. Even if he could fight Ultron, it would only be delaying his inevitable defeat.
As for Thanos, five Infinity Stones were also a threat, but as long as he didn't have all six, Ultron was certain he would not lose.
"If you had six Infinity Stones like me, then I might be a little worried."
All the stones on Ultron's body lit up—Power, Time, Space, Mind, Reality, Soul. Each stone, under his command, erupted with astonishing power, shaking the very foundation of the universe.
Thanos, of course, also did his utmost to control his five stones and fight back. This was another direct confrontation between the Infinity Stones. The terrifying impact distorted the rules of the universe, and the sudden shockwave tore apart planet after planet, beginning to destroy the universe's underlying structure.
This scene felt familiar to Black Strange, because when he had forcibly destroyed the absolute point in time, his own universe had collapsed due to structural damage.
And this duel between the Infinity Stones was killing Universe 199999.
At this critical juncture, Du Wa came online, taking control of Thanos.
"The way to use the Infinity Stones isn't limited to what you understand, Ultron. There's also my way. Thanos is my clone, possessing five stones. My other clone has one Space Stone. That makes a full set. There's no need to deliberately transport it here."
Du Wa extended his palm. Even though the Space Stone was separated from the other five stones by a vast distance, a connection that Ultron had purposefully blocked, at this moment, when Du Wa took over everything, the complete set of six Infinity Stones was formed.
"I can feel the concepts within this universe..." Du Wa said with a dawning realization. He had completed the most crucial piece.
With his Skyfather-level power, he had finally found the path to conceptual godhood.
(end of chapter)