Chapter 177: Spider Alliance
Strictly speaking, Uatu couldn't be considered a true multiversal god.
If any presentable member of the Watchers was a multiverse-level being, then their species would be far too overpowered. Could they mass-produce beings of multiversal standing?
At that point, they could go toe-to-toe with the Beyonders.
Therefore, to better perform his recordings, Uatu had decided to assign a universe number. If he didn't, he would have no way to refer to Du Wa's universe in the information he recorded and sent back to his people.
"But the Watcher's emblem is too important, even though I only have half of it... Before I use this, I need to give Du Wa a heads-up."
Uatu entered the Khonshu Era Universe and found a Xenomorph.
"So that's how it is. You've been looking for me... You're really unlucky; you missed a spectacular major event."
Du Wa immediately understood what the being wanted.
Uatu looked at the Xenomorph before him. "What's missed is missed, but it won't happen again. I plan to assign a designation to your universe. A world that has birthed a concept god cannot remain ordinary; it deserves to be brought to the attention of the gods."
"That's a good idea. In fact, right before I made my move on Mephisto, I had already contacted Cyttorak and was working on this very thing."
"That guy is completely unreliable. Otherwise, you would have had a universe designation long ago, I wouldn't have been unable to find your headquarters, and I certainly wouldn't have missed the entire process of you killing Mephisto."
Uatu grumbled, taking half a Watcher's emblem from his chest. After enveloping and analyzing the Xenomorph, the emblem flashed with light, transporting Uatu to Du Wa's world.
A universe teeming with countless Xenomorphs, where everything was rapidly being transformed into Du Wa's likeness.
Throughout the entire multiverse, countless deities had been trying to find this place, yet all had failed.
"Khonshu and his chosen Moon Knight were able to find me. They even helped me deal with Mephisto." In the Conference Room, Du Wa looked at the uninvited Uatu. "But they tracked one of Mephisto's clones all the way here. It was lucky they didn't get lost."
"By that logic, Mephisto was the luckiest one. He was just passing through a universe he never intended to pay attention to, yet he had the good fortune to encounter a rapidly growing concept god and ended up losing his own life in the process."
The mere thought of this possibility made Uatu so vexed he wanted to slap himself. He had truly missed too much that was worthy of a grand record.
Du Wa's great battle—crossing dimensions to attack Hell and decisively killing Mephisto—was far more spectacular than the fight that took down Ultron with Six Gems. The significance of it was on a completely different level.
After all, Mephisto was fighting on his home turf, and Du Wa didn't have a regional artifact like the Infinity Gems to use.
"However, Cyttorak did half the job. He observed this world and made a preliminary determination of its location. For the multiverse itself, nothing adds more possibility than having a deity of multiversal standing perform a confirmation. Now, it's my turn..."
Uatu raised the half-emblem of the Watchers, and this object drew a look of focus from Du Wa.
This thing was a genuine multiverse-level divine artifact.
This was an artifact that even the destructive aspect of Eternity, the entity Shenfu, would try to seize the moment it broke free. It contained an immense amount of energy, and manipulating the universe, reconstructing space-time, and deconstructing dimensions were all standard operations for it.
But now, Uatu was willing to bring out an artifact of this caliber to officially establish this universe and finish the work Cyttorak had left undone.
"The multiverse..." Du Wa stared at the fluctuation emanating from the half-emblem. It wasn't that he coveted the artifact itself, but he held expectations for a multiversal standing.
A multiversal god could rewrite the internal structure of a single universe with a single glance, twisting or even instantly reconstructing the rules, history, and meaning within that universe.
A multiverse-level artifact wouldn't be much different, even if the one wielding it wasn't a true multiversal god.
A strange beam of light erupted from the half-emblem, instantly blanketing the entire universe from its most fundamental structure. The whole process lasted only for a moment.
Using a multiverse-level artifact to operate on a single universe was simply too easy.
Even though Uatu could only unleash a portion of the half-emblem's power, pinpointing this universe's location within the Omniverse was an effortless task.
This correction, originating from the fundamental structure and spreading to the universe's constants and parameters, was immediately perceived by some of the top-tier deities in this universe.
After carefully probing the framework of the universe and interpreting the changes, they immediately understood what was happening.
"This is the power of the Watchers. Those guys actually intervened? How rare. A Watcher came to our universe?"
"How interesting. The Watchers have always preached observation without interference, but now some guy with a powerful artifact shows up from who knows where and interferes without so much as a warning."
"That Watcher actually did give a warning. He made a deal with Du Wa first, and then used the artifact... Tsk, Du Wa is really in high demand. These outsiders either want to kill him or get close to him."
Many of the deities who existed as the rules of the universe could only wait patiently for the result, regardless of their own thoughts.
Because they couldn't afford to provoke Du Wa—and even the few Creator Gods who could had no interest in fighting him at such a critical moment of elevating the universe's standing—and they certainly couldn't afford to provoke the Watcher, Uatu, who was currently performing the operation.
If they really angered him, would they go up against a Watcher of noble origin who was wielding an unknown divine artifact? Don't be ridiculous. They'd be killed.
As for a Watcher not observing, that was not something they could get involved in.
"It's done. It seems quite a few Cosmic Gods were paying attention to our actions, but thankfully, they didn't do anything. This fully demonstrates the status you hold in this universe."
Uatu retrieved his half-emblem and hung it back around his neck, as if it were a beautiful pendant adorning him.
"The matter of universe numbering doesn't really harm them. Making an enemy of you and me is not a good idea."
Du Wa looked at the four-to-five-meter-tall, big-headed doll before him. "But the process of universe numbering was much faster than I expected."
"It was never a difficult task to begin with. All that's needed is to use a power that surpasses a single universe to establish this universe's place in the multiverse. If you were to rely on yourself, a concept god born from this universe, it would naturally be very difficult. But for Cyttorak and me, it only takes a little bit of time."
The Watcher Uatu's tone was still indifferent, but his speech had quickened considerably, which only further proved his change in mood. "Now you have no reason to avoid my observation... God of Xenomorphs."
"As you wish, Watcher. You've done me a favor, and I'm happy to do something in return."
Du Wa smiled and nodded. Being watched by a Watcher? To be honest, it wasn't something unacceptable. Forget him; even beings of multiversal standing would be spectated from afar by Watchers whenever they triggered a major event. He had never seen any hot-tempered individual go out of their way to wipe out the Watcher race.
Even if the Watchers weren't actually as uninvolved in the course of major events as they claimed to be.
Besides, Du Wa would only let Uatu see what he allowed Uatu to see.
As for the parts he didn't allow, Uatu could smash his own head in and still wouldn't see a thing... For example, his plan for transmigration to the DC Comics Multiverse.
But to accomplish this, the primary prerequisite was to get a designation for his own universe.
Having the designation itself wasn't the goal. The goal was to blend in with the vast number of numbered universes, to exist within the same sequence.
"Quick, quick, what other terrifyingly brilliant plans do you have? I can't wait to see them. You're not one to do things for no reason. I don't believe your purpose for contacting Cyttorak just to get a universe numbering was that simple."
"No plans for now... I'm a person who seeks stability."
Du Wa smiled faintly. Under Uatu's suspicious gaze, he extended his senses slightly and felt the designation for this universe rapidly forming. It was the system coordinates of a single universe within the multiverse; the designation itself was a convergence of countless pieces of information.
"Let me see what the specific number is..."
Du Wa vaguely remembered that the highest designation in the Marvel Multiverse seemed to be over 190 million.
That universe was a cyberpunk future, where heroes and villains formed teams in the style of gangs.
But a highest designation of over 190 million didn't mean that there were over 190 million numbered universes. Even including the vast number of universes with only temporary designations, the total wouldn't reach that number.
There couldn't possibly be that many worlds worthy of the gods' attention.
"1543681? An unremarkable number. Is this the designation for my world? I'll remember it."
Du Wa slowly opened his eyes and then, under Uatu's expectant gaze, remained silent.
One was in silence, the other was observing. Both were extremely patient. If nothing unexpected happened, this process would continue for hundreds of millions of years... not!
Even without an accident, Du Wa would take full subjective initiative to create a series of them. He couldn't tolerate wasting his precious life waiting.
It had taken Du Wa several years to become a concept god. Even though this period was confined to a single universe, from the macroscopic perspective of the multiverse, it was still an incredibly brief interval.
To advance to a higher power rank, Du Wa was fully mentally prepared. He might have to spend thousands or tens of thousands of years, or even endure hundreds of millions of years of evolution in specific regions, just to make progress.
"Well then, it's about time I did something..."
Du Wa glanced at the big head opposite him and saw that its eyes were vacant, with countless streams of information flowing around its body. Clearly, Uatu was observing other areas, diligently searching for information worth recording.
The moment Du Wa made a move, he would immediately follow.
...
Weyland Tower, 23rd basement level.
"Is it not ready yet, esteemed Dr. Sterns? We're all waiting on you."
Druig entered the laboratory with a grim expression.
As the self-proclaimed number one die-hard loyalist to Du Wa, even after Du Wa became a concept god, Druig's fervor for him remained at its absolute peak. He now believed that the world he hoped to see was one step closer.
"So noisy! You should be asking my assistant, that damn Brick! I finally understand why that bastard came to defect to us. His skills are subpar; he couldn't cut it at S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra anymore!"
Mr. Blue was extremely irritable. His temper had been foul lately, also because Du Wa had become a concept god. This meant he had even less of an opportunity. Were the very thoughts in his head now also within Du Wa's concept, able to be analyzed by Du Wa in real time?
"I won't listen to your reasons, because they're all excuses." A fierce glint appeared in Druig's eyes. If he had Mr. Blue's transcendent intellect, he would have long since devoted himself wholeheartedly to the great cause of serving Du Wa, instead of this, where Mr. Blue still had time to make excuses. Dammit!
"I just don't get it. Why are we using the genes of a mutated high school student to create a Xenomorph? And why are you in such a rush?"
"A rush?" Druig raised his voice. "It's already been three minutes since Du Wa gave the command!"
"Fuck! Why don't you go get the Time Stone and speed up my research?" Mr. Blue cursed. He was sick of this fanatic Druig.
Druig turned and left. He really would do it. But Mr. Blue, using his increasingly rich gene bank, had already successfully cultivated a special Xenomorph.
It was a Xenomorph created by directly combining, at the genetic level, the DNA of the deceased Peter Parker as a template.
Anyway, from Mr. Blue's perspective, he really couldn't see anything noteworthy about this one. Wouldn't it be better to create a few new vampire Xenomorphs from Dracula's material? Any one of those would be much stronger than the creature before him, right?
Peter Parker. Mr. Blue had never met the person, but he knew there was someone like that in Universe 199999, a little brat who liked to wear nanotech armor.
...
At the same time.
Universe 13.
"Hey, guys! I've miraculously found a brand new universe! The designation is... 1543681! This universe has one of our people in it too!"
A Spider-Man whistled, excitedly clenching his fist and punching the air.
The Spider Alliance had just been formed. To fight against those vampires, many Spider-Men had united and were searching everywhere for help.
They didn't want anyone else, only Spider-Men from various parallel universes.
Now, they had luckily detected a brand new universe. Perhaps the alliance would gain another comrade-in-arms.
(end of chapter)