Chapter 163: This Is the Setup!
Dormammu had been lying in wait for some time now.
Using a term like "lying in wait" to describe an ancient, single-universe-level being seemed somewhat inappropriate.
Dormammu himself felt that this was not the proper posture for a normal Cosmic Celestial, nor should he be staring at Earth with such excessive caution.
After all, over the past few centuries, he had fought the Ancient One several times in various ways. Although he couldn't gain any advantage over her, he was still that remarkable Cosmic Celestial, beating the Ancient One into a passive defense. With all her might, she could only manage to protect Earth and its tiny surrounding area.
But a mere few hundred years was just a nap for Dormammu. He outlived the Ancient One and waited until a new Sorcerer Supreme took office, only to find that the times had changed.
The one in charge of Earth was no longer the Sorcerer Supreme, but a brand-new individual.
A much more difficult Villain to deal with.
Dormammu didn't even need to deliberately listen to the cosmic voices. Even just by guessing, he knew how outsiders described Du Wa:
"This Earthling defeated Dormammu and killed Knull, the god of the Symbiotes. Truly remarkable."
"That fool Knull was indeed killed, and he did indeed lose. Who would have thought Du Wa could become a god of the World Tree? Before this, Dormammu didn't even know there were several shadow Skyfathers hidden behind the World Tree. These fools were even crazy enough to hand over the power of the World Tree to Du Wa, only to be killed by Du Wa's people in the end."
Dormammu uttered an ultimate curse, "The reason I didn't succeed was that I was facing the Ancient One and Du Wa simultaneously. After trying and finding it futile, I captured a batch of Xenomorphs and retreated. I wasn't defeated by Du Wa. Are those fools blind?"
Dormammu should have swallowed all those planets with dissenting voices into the Dark Dimension and turned them into dead stars.
But now, after a long wait, he had more important things to do.
"Kronos and Thanos... hmm, those two each have their own ulterior motives, but thanks to them, they've cleared the obstacles for me to face Du Wa directly."
Dormammu saw Kronos being blocked by Foster.
Thanos, wielding the Infinity Stones, was also being held back by a powered-up Reynolds—he was amazed by the Sentry's powerful performance. The power of a million suns was once again unleashed, its positive and negative aspects superimposed. At full strength, could he actually hold off a Cosmic Celestial-level enemy?
Last time, Du Wa had manipulated Reynolds's body, joining forces with the Ancient One to force him back.
This had left a deep impression on Dormammu.
But judging from the last performance, Dormammu was certain that Reynolds was not this strong back then.
He had gotten stronger in these few years? Accumulated more power? Developed new powers?
This was simply marvelous.
The vast Dark Dimension suddenly ripped open a gap, and a ceaseless stream of black matter began to spread wildly, directly eroding the space-time of reality.
Eyes as vast as planets peered out from within the Dark Dimension, spying on the prosperous Earth.
Another Cosmic Celestial had entered the fray.
Seeing that it was Dormammu making a move, everyone's turmoil quickly subsided.
Because if one were to discuss who most desired the destruction of everything related to Earth, it would definitely be Dormammu; he had suffered too many losses on Earth.
But this was already the third single-universe-level being to make a move against Du Wa. How would Du Wa respond?
Du Wa shouldn't have a third subordinate capable of fighting, right? At this critical juncture, they would finally see Du Wa forced to act personally, wouldn't they?
"Does the current Du Wa still have a way to stop Dormammu?"
"Hard to say. The reason Du Wa defeated Dormammu last time was probably by using Reynolds's strength. He killed Knull by obtaining the divine seat of the World Tree's god, which he has now given to that former Female Thor. Without these two things, what power does he have left to use?"
"Even if Du Wa does act personally and miraculously defeats Dormammu, I wouldn't care too much. What I'm concerned about is whether this will interrupt Du Wa's possible ascension to a Concept God."
"No one knows. Apart from those Creator Gods who are never seen, no one has a clear understanding of what a Concept God is."
Everyone hoped to see Dormammu succeed, yet they also hoped he wouldn't.
Faced with the endlessly spreading darkness, the azure Earth remained motionless, maintaining a deathly silence, allowing the darkness to surge forward.
So much so that even Kronos took a moment to observe, suddenly compressing time and trapping Foster inside, thereby freeing himself.
"Your master is about to fall to Dormammu, and you're still pestering me? Ha, I get it. You also want to take this opportunity to escape Du Wa's control, don't you? Whether Du Wa becomes a god or not, your status as a vassal will not change. But if you could become a god in his place, then everything would be different."
A vassal who doesn't seek to better themself is not a good vassal.
Kronos himself wanted to break away from the sequence of Eternity, so he guessed it wasn't impossible for one or two powerful Xenomorphs to attempt to break away from Du Wa's conceptual order.
Kronos was met with a direct blow from Foster's axe, a strike that shattered all the superimposed time.
"Since you're so confident, why don't you just deal with me and go after Du Wa directly? Are you looking down on yourself or on Du Wa?" Foster rested Stormbreaker on her shoulder.
Their previous exchange was a chaotic intertwining of time and divine power. From the perspective of reality, it seemed as if the two had only just started fighting, but in truth, both Kronos and Foster knew they had already clashed countless times.
From the course of the battle so far, Foster had already realized that she couldn't defeat Kronos on her own.
The God of Time was, after all, one of the top-tier gods in the universe, exceptionally powerful.
Since she couldn't quickly defeat Kronos to free herself up to help Du Wa fend off the others, Foster immediately changed her battle plan. She didn't need to defeat Kronos; she just needed to pin the God of Time down.
This was the best outcome she could achieve. The rest was up to Du Wa.
Foster deeply believed that Du Wa would surely have a way to resolve the current predicament, believing in him even more than she believed in herself.
Because in the past, no matter what crisis they faced, Du Wa could always come up with a reliable solution.
On Earth.
"...What a terrible situation. In my memory, there has never been a more perilous time than now."
Du Wa was stationed on Earth. From his figure, endless points of light were constantly rising. This was the materialization of rules, the manifestation of concepts, and the response of the universe itself to Du Wa's corrosive assimilation.
As a god undergoing a drastic transformation, Du Wa let out a faint sigh as he faced the menacingly charging Dormammu.
Even a Cosmic Celestial cannot solve all difficulties.
Du Wa felt helpless. What was wrong with this bunch of gods? Why couldn't they ever see reason?
He was about to become the first Concept God ever nurtured by this universe.
Those few Creator Gods didn't count. They were already a part of the universe; they had existed since its birth.
But after Du Wa attains godhood, it wasn't like he was going to kill off all life in this universe, nor would he turn every living being into his host or simply have them chestburst into a Xenomorph.
"But the future those guys worry about will definitely happen. This universe will largely become mine. When facing the Multiverse, more and more gods from parallel universes will refer to this place as the Alien Universe."
Du Wa looked at the endless darkness obscuring the sky and the Dark Dimension that was constantly tearing open with more gaps.
"Every single individual in this universe, every last one, whether god or human, will eventually become a potential Xenomorph host. This point will not change in any future. Unless a universe-level war breaks out, requiring an endless source of soldiers, the vast majority of people will be safe and will enjoy peace and stability."
"However, certain individuals can't be spared under any circumstances, because these guys genuinely annoy me, like pervasive flies."
Du Wa finally glanced up, looking at the clearly somewhat-excited Dormammu.
Speaking of which, when this demon god was defeated and left a few years ago, he had abducted a batch of Xenomorphs. He had probably researched many of their secrets thoroughly by now.
"Du Wa, we finally meet again! I've finally seized the opportunity! The Ancient One is dead. This time, what other means do you have?"
Dormammu was extremely excited. His roar, like that of the world itself, shook the entire Earth.
Before the vast dimension, Earth seemed so tiny, like a grain of sand.
But even the strongest jaws can be broken by a grain of sand.
"The previous Sorcerer Supreme is gone, but there are two to succeed her."
Du Wa said this nonchalantly, then paid no more attention to Dormammu, focusing on the alteration and distortion of this universe.
Two?
Dormammu was stunned.
In the next second, two incomparably powerful spells suddenly erupted from somewhere on Earth. Carrying a majestic torrent of particles, they fiercely bombarded the endlessly spreading darkness.
The might of these two spells was in no way inferior to that of the Ancient One, and the destructive power of one of them even surpassed hers.
But what Dormammu couldn't understand was that it was one thing for two powerful mages to appear, but the magic they used was vastly different from the Kamar-Taj style of magic he was familiar with.
One was filled with an unspeakable darkness, sin, screams, and wails, as if it were magic refined from countless hideous souls.
The other was even stranger. Dormammu could clearly smell the aura of a demon.
The moment the faces of these two Sorcerers Supreme entered Dormammu's sight, he was even more stunned.
What the hell?
One was a Strange with dark circles under his eyes, a pale face, and a gaunt figure, looking as if he had overindulged. The other was blood-red all over with horns on his head, but on closer inspection, he was also a Strange?
And around each of their necks hung a Time Stone.
"A Sorcerer Supreme can have two Infinity Stones at the same time... Hmph, I see. It seems one of you is an outsider."
Dormammu instantly perceived the truth, but no matter how he looked at them, he felt that neither of these two Doctor Stranges had anything to do with the Ancient One. No matter which one she chose as her successor, Dormammu couldn't comprehend her way of thinking.
But then again, Dormammu never understood the Ancient One's way of thinking. After all, what kind of Sorcerer Supreme would go around racking up debts and refusing to pay them back? And now, he couldn't even understand the successors she had chosen.
The two Doctor Stranges joined forces to confront Dormammu.
The moment they fought, Dormammu was greatly shocked.
The Strange with the dark circles under his eyes wielded terrifying magic, occasionally mixed with a few of Kamar-Taj's signature spells. In terms of raw power, he was actually no weaker than him.
Moreover, that chaotic power, which seemed to be randomly kneaded together from countless monsters, further amplified the destructive force of his magic.
Where in the world did this guy learn his magic? Not even the Ancient One was this bizarre and powerful!
The other one, who seemed to be a mix of demon and human, was a Strange whose strength was clearly much weaker, but this guy possessed the Time Stone. All sorts of time-based spells poured out from his hands like a flood.
For a moment, the mighty Dormammu was actually at a disadvantage, unable to advance or retreat. Fighting against these two powerful Doctor Stranges, he couldn't gain any advantage at all, and it was clear he would be unable to play any effective role.
The one who should have had the best chance of seizing everything from Du Wa had ended up in such an awkward predicament, which was truly beyond everyone's expectations.
"Where did those two things, which I'm not even sure are human, pop out from? Since when did Du Wa have such powerful individuals under him?"
"One of them seems to have a demon bloodline. Is he a hybrid of a demon and a human? That's strange. Our universe has never had much interaction with Hell."
"I remember now! I think I vaguely sensed an unknown power opening the cosmic barrier last time. Maybe it was some demon who did it. Without us knowing, Du Wa has already made contact with the demons of Hell."
Gazes swept across, all seeing Dormammu becoming more and more passive as he fought, suppressed by the two Doctor Stranges to the point where he couldn't even lift his head. Even the Dark Dimension was beaten back, forced to continuously shrink.
Yet Du Wa showed no reaction to what was happening, as if it were all a routine operation that was supposed to happen.
This composure made even the gods frown.
Who else would make a move? If this continued, Du Wa would really become a god. He could complete the final step at any moment.
But in the universe, excluding those so-called Cosmic Celestials who were essentially just ancient, second-rate frauds of Skyfathers, there were very few single-universe-level gods to begin with.
Three single-universe-level powerhouses had entered the fray one after another, only to be effortlessly dealt with by Du Wa. Who else could they rely on?
Who else was willing to risk becoming Du Wa's mortal enemy to test his unfathomably deep schemes?
There actually was someone.
Du Wa also stood up, gazing in another direction.
Space was undergoing large-scale destruction, indicating that an otherworldly visitor of astonishing scale was breaking into this universe, putting pressure on its structural framework.
"Hehehe, excellent. This universe shouldn't be without its own designation. With so many hardworking gods, they've even created the perfect timing for me... My patience has not been in vain."
Mephisto had arrived. He had finally gotten his opportunity.
(end of chapter)