Chapter 158: Good News: The Black Order Has Entered the Fray. Bad News: They Can't Deal With the Aliens for Now.
Trouble lurks even in the shallowest of waters, to say nothing of an entire universe.
Even if this universe lacked the most basic designation, when faced with a multiverse-level event, it was destined to become nothing more than a background element. Unless a small-probability event, like the birth of some heaven-sent hero, were to occur—which was practically impossible—it would end up as just an insignificant piece of data among the information tallied after the crisis subsided, like how many universes were destroyed.
No high and mighty being would truly exhaust themselves for such a nameless universe. It wasn't worth it. New universes are born at every moment in the multiverse, and countless more perish for all sorts of reasons.
Even among the numerous numbered universes, all kinds of major events erupt, with an endless stream of gods and demon gods entering the fray. Merely dealing with these disasters to ensure the stability of the multiverse was already overwhelming. Who would care about the life or death of some backwater, nameless universe?
But some of the beings within this universe would certainly pay close attention to the place they called home.
Following a series of actions by Du Wa, a number of powerful entities gradually began to see the full picture.
Du Wa was eroding and merging with the universe on the level of its Rules. This was something that could not be faked.
"This is his goal, isn't it? All that time spent deploying Aliens across the universe, constantly expanding their scale... so it wasn't just to simply expand his race, but to prepare for this very moment?"
"Such massive ambition. He's treating all the Aliens scattered throughout the entire universe as coordinates to erode it. Once he has positioned these coordinates in every corner of the universe, he can achieve a preliminary coverage of the whole thing. Is he trying to use countless Aliens to hold the entire universe hostage to achieve his goal?"
"It's already obvious. He wasn't satisfied with being the God of the World Tree. He wants to become the God of the Universe, to become a part of this universe—and a crucial part at that. I suspect he wants to become a Creator God of this universe, to be as omnipresent and indispensable as Eternity and Infinity."
"He abandoned his power as the God of the World Tree, there's no mistake about that, right? I saw one of his subordinates cleansing the World Tree. The power that woman used far exceeded the level of an ordinary Skyfather. That was definitely the divine power of the World Tree, passed on to her by Du Wa."
"Giving up being the God of the World Tree to try and become a Cosmic Celestial who can command the universe and exist as an indispensable part of it?"
If it were the Du Wa from before, the various gods in this universe would have more or less heard of him, and might even have regarded him with a mixture of dread and goodwill, because not long ago, Du Wa had forcefully crushed the infamous Symbiote God, Knull.
But after the battle in which Foster massacred the Shadow Gods, the power she wielded could not be hidden. Naturally, some would realize that Du Wa must have separated his power, that he was no longer the incredibly powerful God of the World Tree they had understood him to be.
Then, they would realize that Du Wa could transfer his consciousness and control his various Alien subordinates in battle. In a sense, he still retained the divine power and authority of the God of the World Tree, ready to be used at any moment.
So it could be done like that?
"He's not satisfied with just the World Tree region. What a greedy fellow. The World Tree contains nine large worlds and countless planets, nurturing endless life forms. All of these could serve as a source of hosts. He just needs to be the God of the World Tree and control the World Tree, and no one would provoke him until the end of the universe... Why on earth would he make such a risky move? This is a blatant declaration of war."
This universe was only so big, and without a designation, it was destined to be unremarkable. Yet Du Wa insisted on expanding his own concept, which would inevitably and severely squeeze the positions of the original gods.
At the very least, no one wanted another guy comparable to the Creator Gods appearing above them. That would be terrible. Everyone had a grasp of the Creator Gods' style, but Du Wa's was a complete mystery.
More importantly, this Du Wa fellow wasn't alone; he directly possessed a terrifying race that was innately predatory and parasitic.
If they let Du Wa continue his ruckus and he actually succeeded in holding the entire universe hostage, could the other gods expect a good outcome? They might very well end up as Aliens themselves!
"My lord, traces of Aliens have begun to appear in the Black Order as well. Those things are rapidly invading our domain."
Corvus Glaive's evil eyes glinted as he spoke with malicious intent.
Thanos sat motionless on his throne, his eyes fixed on the distance, taking in the entire scene. He did not immediately respond to Corvus Glaive's words.
He saw Aliens appearing on the various planets under his rule. On some, they were already engaged in combat with his army.
During this period, Thanos's men had also summarized some lessons and experiences from fighting the Aliens.
The most important point was that it was best not to send Outriders to engage the Aliens in melee combat. In a one-on-one situation, an Outrider was no match for an Alien. Furthermore, dead Outriders would be carried away by the Aliens as food, and living ones would be maimed and used as a host.
The best method was still to dispatch the Chitauri to attack the Aliens.
Generally speaking, Chitauri soldiers, who commanded various high-tech equipment and could fight in a planet's outer space, could pilot battleships and other heavy weapons to bombard the planetary surface over a wide area.
Of course, in the process, they would inevitably encounter some extremely terrifying individual Aliens. Certain Aliens even possessed the ability to fly out of a planet and fight in outer space with their bodies of flesh and blood, capable of tearing a battleship apart in minutes. If not that, they could transport a wave of ordinary Aliens into the battleship, commit self-mutilation, and use their acidic blood to destroy the ship from within.
But these were rare situations. The most capable group of Aliens and Alien heroes under Du Wa's command paid little attention to the Black Order, so not many forces or powerful combat units had been sent here.
In most cases, the Aliens invading the Black Order were often at a disadvantage against the Chitauri, who attacked from a distance with high-tech weapons.
"It's not just our Black Order. Xandar, the Kree Empire, the Matrix... Aliens have appeared in the territories of many factions in the universe. This isn't surprising. They are terrifying life forms favored and deployed by a Cosmic Celestial, or someone comparable to one. Most people don't dare to carry out a large-scale massacre of the Aliens; they must consider the consequences of angering Du Wa."
Thanos gripped his scepter with a large hand, toying with it in a somewhat carefree manner.
The figures below all wore looks of greed, their eyes fixed on the scepter. If they could get their hands on the Mind Stone, they too would be qualified to become remarkable Cosmic Celestials.
But alas, it was not theirs. It belonged to Thanos.
"A Deity has already contacted me." Thanos's expression was unreadable, but the speed at which he toyed with the scepter quietly increased. "That fellow proposed an alliance."
"A Deity... sought you out, my lord?"
The villains of the Black Order were flustered, their faces filled with astonishment.
They admitted that Thanos was strong and sufficiently brutal, capable of committing all sorts of deranged acts to please Death without any psychological burden.
However, allying with a Deity was something beyond their comprehension.
At best, Thanos was a sub-Skyfather. He was much stronger than them, but not to an insurmountable degree. He still lacked the ability to face the likes of Odin or the Ancient One head-on; he'd be lucky not to be beaten to death. How was it that now, even a Deity above the Skyfather level was proactively contacting Thanos?
Was it because Thanos possessed an Infinity Stone? That was a possible reason.
"Speaking of which, at least two Infinity Stones have been confirmed to be on Earth..." Ebony Maw couldn't help but say, feeling the situation was tricky.
Who would dare go to that damned place, Earth, now? The best-case scenario was that one person went in, and two came out.
"If things are handled well, I will soon be able to obtain a second Infinity Stone. But this will inevitably lead to a more intense conflict with Du Wa's Aliens."
The thought of the Aliens spread across so many planets also vexed Thanos.
Through certain channels, he had learned about the course of the battle between the grand army of Symbiotes and the Aliens during their invasion of Earth.
Everyone had focused only on the fight between Du Wa and Knull, which was normal. After all, a deathmatch between gods was a rare sight, happening maybe once in hundreds of millions of years.
But they had overlooked just how miserably the grand army of Symbiotes had been beaten by the Alien Legion, despite their superior numbers.
Among the Aliens, those individuals who wielded immense power were fully comparable to a Skyfather. In both quantity and quality, they completely crushed the vast majority of ancient factions in the universe.
Any single one of them could have swept through the Black Order that had taken him so many years to build.
And now, to make matters worse, a monster like Foster had appeared, someone who was above a Skyfather, though it was uncertain if she counted as a Cosmic Celestial.
By this calculation, the power in Du Wa's hands was absurdly strong, enough to make any ambitious fellow feel despair.
A single Cosmic Celestial was no longer confident in their ability to take down Du Wa.
It would take an alliance of at least two Cosmic Celestial-level beings to have enough suppressive force against Du Wa.
And so, a certain Celestial had secretly approached Thanos.
"Was it a Creator God?" Ebony Maw asked, his eyeballs darting around.
"No, but a Celestial second only to the Creator Gods, one who also masters the Rules of the universe."
Ebony Maw suspected it was a member of the Celestials but didn't say it aloud. Instead, he asked, "For a Cosmic Celestial to contact you, my lord, shows that Du Wa's actions have struck a nerve with them. But even if you do succeed in stopping Du Wa, they will reap the greatest rewards. My lord, if you'll forgive my bluntness, what do you stand to gain?"
"Everything," Thanos said as he stood up.
His subordinates, including Corvus Glaive and Ebony Maw, exchanged glances, immense confusion welling up in their hearts. If they didn't know that Thanos was not one for boasts and instead had a habit of always speaking the truth, they would have thought him mad and started seriously considering how to kill him and take his place.
They couldn't understand Thanos's statement, but they didn't dare ask, because this cold-blooded tyrant would genuinely kill them.
In any case, their group had thrown in their lot with Thanos not because they agreed with his philosophy or anything of the sort, but purely because they had submitted to his immense power.
If a greater power were to emerge and offer them sufficient benefits, they would not hesitate to kill Thanos and pledge allegiance to the other party.
"Go and bring me back the Cosmic Orb. That thing has fallen into the hands of the Marauders."
As Thanos spoke, he looked down coolly, but he couldn't see his most favored candidate—Gamora.
That madwoman was the top cosmic assassin he had personally trained, a useful tool.
"Where is Gamora?"
"Heh, I just received news and was about to report it to you: she's been getting very friendly with a guy named Tony Stark. She's probably in that Stark's bed right now," Nebula said with a face full of malice.
This wasn't because she hated Gamora so much; it was purely because she hated everyone. Be it the Cull Obsidian or anyone else, if she or any of the others had a chance to backstab a comrade, they would do it without hesitation.
This, right here, was the political correctness of the Black Order.
"Tony Stark?" Thanos repeated the name, somewhat puzzled.
"He's an Earthling. The fact that he could leave a damned place like Earth unscathed proves that he knows Du Wa. Perhaps they're even on good terms," Nebula said, her words dripping with malice.
Thanos let out a terrifying laugh. "Excellent. Gamora is truly not picky at all. She had better bring back news that satisfies me. Otherwise, I will kill her, along with her newfound lover, Tony Stark."
"My lord, that won't be easy. This Stark possesses an extremely powerful armor. It is said that during the battle between Du Wa and Knull, he piloted this suit to slaughter countless Symbiotes, powerfully protecting Earth. By my deduction, if he can fully unleash the power of this armor, I'm afraid he would be no weaker than that recently famous Female Thor," Corvus Glaive sneered.
A savage glint flashed in Thanos's eyes, his tyrannical nature on the verge of erupting. He fought back the urge to tear Corvus Glaive in two.
"...That should be an armor made from the remains of a member of the Celestials. This means that this human, who came from Earth to wander the universe and busy himself with sleeping with women from various planets, possesses astonishing wisdom, but his own personal strength is likely not high. I don't know how he manages to handle Gamora. I suspect he uses high technology," Corvus Glaive said in a rush, his heart skipping a beat as he spilled all the information he knew.
The grand hall fell silent once more.
Thanos didn't bother asking these guys why they had gathered so much intelligence but only reported it now that it was brought up.
This was how the Black Order was. Everyone had their own schemes. As long as there was an opportunity, they would surely stab each other in the back. Whoever had the most strength was the boss.
Just like the Ebony Maw and Corvus Glaive of certain parallel universes, who would not hesitate to kill Thanos the moment they got the chance.
(end of chapter)