Chapter 169: With 12 Infinity Stones Bearing Down, I'm Resurrecting You to Go to War
As a vast world existing independently from the Multiverse, Hell was like a separate multiverse in itself. It was divided into countless dimensions and was home to a multitude of Great Demons.
In the past, it was typically the demons of Hell who devised ways to launch attacks on specific universes within the Multiverse. Of course, these weren't the kind of great battles that ignited world wars; they were usually small-scale infiltrations by Hell's demons into a universe within the Multiverse, either to reap souls, seize negative emotions, or compete for some kind of divine artifact.
Previously, Mephisto had orchestrated a series of events in the 616 Main Universe, successfully guiding Cul the Serpent across universes to cause trouble for Du Wa.
In the eyes of the many native gods of the Multiverse, these demons were as annoying as flies, yet they possessed strength comparable to, or even surpassing, that of a Celestial. Thus, the problem was often resolved through expulsion, as the Celestials would never personally charge into a foul, miasmic place like Hell. The overlapping dimensions and complex structure made it easy to get lost, not to mention that upon entering Hell, one would face attacks from peak Great Demons who received empowerment from their home dimension.
But now, a fierce character had appeared, one who was attacking Hell from the Multiverse. And a death-defying one at that.
A massive number of Xenomorphs surged into the part of Hell occupied by Mephisto, like a great tide. Their sheer numbers were astonishing, their momentum immense, and their appearance immediately drew the attention of many other parts of Hell.
However, the demons from other Hells, who were at first shocked by which crazy faction would dare to proactively wage war on Hell from a single universe and undertake such a thankless task, soon changed their tune.
They gathered to watch with great interest. Upon seeing that the one under attack was Mephisto's Hell, they immediately began to rejoice in his misfortune. Not only did they have no intention of helping, but they even pondered if there was an opportunity to kick him while he was down. They desperately hoped these outsiders could exert a little more effort; it would be best if they could cripple Mephisto.
"Hehehehe, I didn't expect to encounter something so interesting just after waking up. How many billions of years has it been since a scene like this occurred? And the one getting beaten is Mephisto, hahahahaha!!"
"I've never seen these creatures before. Judging by their physical structure, they seem to be combat weapons born for battle. Perhaps the hestoneonic species of some universe? And with a scale like this, I'm guessing this faction conquered an entire universe, discovered an avatar Mephisto had sent in the past, and then traced it back to hunt him down."
"Hell has never lacked powerful outsiders who come seeking refuge, but whether they can gain a foothold in Hell, let alone rule a dimension, is another matter. This race actually chose the Hell ruled by Mephisto as the first dimension to attack?"
"Strange, I've entered many universes, but I've never seen such silent and efficient creatures... I just don't know what their souls taste like. I'd guess they can't compare to humanity's."
"Let's put aside the value of their souls for now, but Nightmare must really hate these guys, because he can't possibly collect enough Fear Energy from them."
Within the complex and vast expanse of Hell, there were natively born demons and Demon Gods who had entered from the Multiverse to become masters of a Hell dimension. These beings had various means of increasing their strength. Some, like Nightmare, primarily relied on absorbing negative emotions to enhance their power.
Mephisto was equally renowned. In the Multiverse, he was the personification of evil, cunning, and deceit, his main method of wrongdoing seemingly to use words to lure people into depravity.
But here in Hell, with the empowerment of a large dimension, Mephisto struck with overwhelming force. Many Great Demons had suffered at Mephisto's hands; some even had parts of their own Hells snatched away by him.
As everyone knew, the rules of the game in Hell were that the larger and stronger the Hell one ruled, the greater the Power they could be empowered with.
But conversely, one first needed the power to seize a sufficiently large dimension, otherwise they would just be the ones getting robbed, growing weaker with every battle.
Deformed and twisted figures descended one after another, casting terrifying and ugly shadows across the various dimensions of Hell. They conversed loudly and unrestrainedly, letting out bursts of horrifying laughter from time to time as they intensely spectated this rare war.
They watched as this species of unknown origin poured madly into Mephisto's Hell, engaging in a cruel battle with Mephisto's demons.
The rules in Hell were different from those in the Multiverse; they were far harsher and more complex. Even a creature as highly adaptable as the Xenomorph had to endure the impact of different world rules upon suddenly entering Hell, as well as withstand the pervasive assault of sulfur, magma, and poison gas.
Before long, the area around the space tunnel was covered in layer upon layer of Xenomorph figures. There were also countless corpses, mixed in with the remains of demons.
"Hmph, Mephisto's method of rule is extremely bloody, but I never expected his demons to fight so hard."
"They have no choice but to fight hard. Any low-level demon with half a brain knows that Mephisto will at most suffer a small loss in this war, but he can't possibly be defeated. If they don't fight with all their might now, Mephisto will surely begin a reckoning after the war is over. By then, their fate will be worse than death."
Mephisto's Hell was notoriously harsh and bloody.
The lowest-level demons universally suffered the most brutal torture.
Some Great Demons noticed that Blackheart was still nowhere to be seen. Combining this with the sudden invasion, they immediately suspected that Mephisto must have sent Blackheart on some mission, who in turn provoked a dangerous entity, leading to this frenzied retaliation.
"Even if this faction has an unusually large military force and can cross vast distances to fight in Hell, how long can they last? Even if they moved their entire universe over, they would be no match for Mephisto."
But gradually, the expressions on the demons' faces turned strange. They realized that the number of incoming Xenomorphs was not decreasing, but was instead growing larger and larger.
Could there really be a special universe with no Superheroes, no Deities, but filled entirely with this species of creature? Otherwise, how could there be so many of them? They seemed endless, showing no signs of diminishing at all.
For every one that died in battle, dozens more immediately appeared.
Mephisto sat atop a mountain peak, expressionlessly observing his war-torn territory.
Scorching magma erupted into red waves tens of thousands of meters high, clashing with the Xenomorph blood and mutually annihilating.
Piercing sizzling sounds echoed incessantly as clouds of potent venom erupted one after another from all corners of the dimension.
His domain was in complete chaos, and it was about to get even more chaotic.
"That fellow... is even more insane than I anticipated. At least several universes, under his leadership, have formed an Expeditionary Force to attack me."
It was like a Warrior Group crusading against a demon, embarking on an epic expedition with formidable momentum. If a medieval bard were here, they could surely compose a great epic poem. A hint of dark amusement rose in Mephisto's heart. Among the countless humans he had deceived, there were indeed many excellent bards.
He had even, on many occasions, leaned on his staff with a tilted head, looking all serious as he listened to these bards recite their poetry. Then, while loudly praising them, he would unceremoniously trick them into signing a contract, taking their delicious souls.
Mephisto surveyed his territory but was in no hurry to act. He didn't care how many of his lowest-level demons died. At worst, he could just plunder more low-level demons from other dimensions after the war.
Mephisto suspected that Du Wa or other single-universe-level deities would look for an opportunity to break into his Hell and deliver a fatal blow.
Of course, Mephisto was very confident in his own strength, especially when fighting in his own Hell. However, facing a siege from several Celestials at once would still be a struggle.
The main issue was that Du Wa truly had the ability to pull several Celestials together to gang up on him, which was a very painful prospect.
"Mephisto, your time has come."
Demon Strange, mixed among the ranks of Xenomorphs, stared at Mephisto with a savage gaze.
If it were just Demon Strange, it wouldn't be enough to make Mephisto take him seriously. The one that truly made this Great Demon wary was Black Strange, his face suffused with evil energy.
Being stared at by such an archmage made even Mephisto frown, suspecting that this man could instantly drag other Deities to his side.
For a time, all of Hell found itself in a state of stable chaos. The single-universe-level beings did not make a move, leaving only the endless Xenomorphs and demons to engage in mutual slaughter, until one side could no longer hold on.
But it was foreseeable that this process would not be a long one.
"The first to break will definitely be Mephisto. His one Hell cannot withstand the attack of three universes."
The people on Du Wa's side were well aware of what this invasion was all about.
The Alien Universe and Universe 199999 were continuously transporting astonishing numbers of the Xenomorph Legion into Hell.
As for the Khonshu Era Universe, Du Wa had also begun to extend his power there.
This world, which should have been plunged into chaos due to the actions of Moon God Khonshu, now had to welcome a temporary, yet even greater, chaos.
At the very beginning, the Superheroes rushed about everywhere, fighting the inexplicably appearing Xenomorphs. After figuring out the characteristics of this creature, they thought it was just some strange being from an unknown place. Though powerful and unique, it would surely be quickly annihilated under their combined assault.
But gradually, the Superheroes realized something was wrong. Why were there more and more Xenomorphs the more they killed? Even some people they were familiar with began to turn into Xenomorphs. The super villains who had originally planned to use the Xenomorphs to stir up trouble were even more terrified, as if plunged into an icy abyss.
More and more people inexplicably began to have Xenomorph larvae growing inside their bodies, becoming members of the Xenomorphs either actively or passively.
As an increasing number of heroes and villains were turned into Xenomorphs, the entire universe began to evolve into an Alien Universe. Furthermore, the speed of this progression far exceeded that of Du Wa's home universe, because this universe had the good fortune of being directly transformed by the concept god, Du Wa.
Moon Knight felt a sense of worry about this drastic change, but Moon God Khonshu was utterly frenzied, wishing this transformation could be completed in a single breath.
Moon God Khonshu, in order to prevent the fate of being destroyed by Mephisto, had gone so far as to incite Moon Knight to attack the heroes and mercilessly take their power. To protect the universe, Khonshu would stop at nothing.
Now that he had finally found Du Wa, a concept god, and had personally participated in the process of helping Du Wa achieve godhood, his feelings were even deeper. He firmly believed that Du Wa was the one who could save everything.
"Du Wa, no, I should call him the God of Xenomorphs now. He was able to save his universe, and now he's taking action for us, crossing endless space-time to attack Hell and completely cut off Mephisto's designs on our world. To achieve this goal, it's only right that our universe makes sacrifices! What's more, our universe has so many villains with malicious intentions. Letting them remain in this world is a scourge, and more innocent people will be killed. It's better to turn these guys into Xenomorphs and send them to the battlefield to attack Hell. That way, if they die, at least they'll die as heroes."
Moon Knight looked cautiously at his old partner, feeling that Khonshu was a stranger at this moment, but he didn't find it repulsive.
Because he knew Khonshu was right. Since not introducing an external force was a hopeless situation, then introducing a reliable external Deity, regardless of the outcome, would surely be ten thousand times better than not intervening at all.
Just like that, from three universes, countless Xenomorphs were continuously born and thrown into this unprecedentedly vast and ceaseless war.
Even if they died, it didn't matter. Don't forget, Du Wa had more than one set of Infinity Stones in his possession. He could easily use the Soul Stone and the Reality Stone to bring the dead back, and then send them back to the battlefield.
Universe 199999.
Under the eager anticipation of the masses, Thanos raised a hand and snapped his fingers.
Half the population that had been wiped out finally returned after a five-year absence.
The moment Doctor Strange opened his eyes, there was no surprise on his face. He unhesitatingly opened a teleportation gate and began frantically rallying reinforcements.
Following the one and only victory he had seen with the Time Stone, he immediately and precisely locked onto various regions on Earth, preparing to transport a large army to the front lines for a decisive battle with Thanos.
"Spider-Man, snap out of it! They're fighting Thanos on the front lines right now! Whether we succeed or not depends on this last chance. They need our help!"
Doctor Strange shouted, leading Spider-Man and a group of others through the teleportation gate.
The moment they landed, they focused their eyes and immediately fell into an eerie silence.
They saw Thanos, who was practically their Nightmare, slowly unclenching his fist. It was clearly he who had made the Snap.
"What... Thanos made the Snap? He's the one who brought us all back? Wait, Doctor, is this the future you saw? I'm so confused. This universal butcher wiped us out with one Snap, and then did another one to bring us back? What is he trying to do?" Peter Parker fired off questions like a machine gun, but the only response he received was the deep confusion on Doctor Strange's face.
This was a scene he had never seen with the Time Stone.
Drax was a simple-minded man. Roaring with rage, he charged directly at Thanos. But Thanos merely tightened his fist, the gauntlet inlaid with six Infinity Stones, and with one punch, knocked Drax to the ground.
"You took everything from me!"
Chaos Magic surged around Scarlet Witch. Her voice was so heart-rending it could bring tears to a listener's eyes.
"I don't even know who you are."
"You will."
While everyone else stood there dumbfounded and hesitant, Scarlet Witch, harboring a bone-deep hatred, couldn't care less. She flew up and charged.
Expressionless, Thanos freed up his other hand. Under everyone's stunned gaze, this hand also bore six Infinity Stones. With another punch, he smashed Scarlet Witch to the ground.
It was like a documentary playing on a loop, except the one doing the hitting had merely changed his posture to beat up a different protagonist.
"I don't care what grudges you have with the future me, but for now, you need to put them aside. Your resurrection does not come without a price. To win a war that affects several universes, you are now needed to join the fight."
The Thanos of Universe 199999, wielding power in both hands with twelve Infinity Stones, spoke coldly.
Doctor Strange's eyes widened as he looked at this unfamiliar Thanos, his mind completely shattered.
What the hell is going on!!!
(end of chapter)