Chapter 185: A World Blending the Concepts of Two Multiverses
"Shuma-Gorath… I've never dealt with such a troublesome fellow. Aren't the Vishanti still around? With so many Ancient Ones like you united, perhaps with a group of Stranges or other Sorcerer Supremes, you still suffered casualties with such immense power. Can it be that the Vishanti never made a move?"
In any case, Du Wa hadn't detected any massive, Multiverse-level shifts, which meant no Multiversal Gods had gone to war recently.
In the Multiverse, Cthulhu-esque deities were infamous, even more so than Mephisto. The Cancerverse served as the headquarters for these Cthulhu-esque Gods, teeming with a multitude of active tentacle monsters. These things were known to the world as the "Many-Angled Ones."
No person, god, or universe itself was willing to deal with the Cancerverse. One look at its terrible name—the cancer of the Multiverse—was enough to know. It was filled with a group of freaks who had conquered Death, possessing the trait of immortality and being incredibly bizarre. No one wanted to come into contact with these things.
But there were always active groups rushing between various universes, standing on the front lines against the Cthulhu-esque concept.
The main force was the Ancient Ones.
Du Wa looked directly at his old friend before him. "According to your personality, unless it was an absolute last resort, you would never think of catching an interesting vampire to please me just for a chance to obtain my power."
"I have indeed met the Vishanti and obtained a great deal of knowledge and magic power from them, but they seem to be occupied with more important matters, unable to spare the effort to deal with Shuma-Gorath," the Ancient One said slowly. "Moreover, the ones who inflicted heavy casualties on us were a group of Shuma-Gorath's clones and the numerous Many-Angled Ones they command."
"That's a sad story. The Vishanti is made of three parts, yet even on the premise of not launching an all-out war with Shuma-Gorath, they couldn't even send one god to spare a hand to help you?"
"Perhaps they have already helped, for example, by monitoring Shuma-Gorath's main body, forcing it to be unable to use more power to create clones."
"That also makes sense."
Du Wa pondered.
Although the Vishanti were the ultimate source of White Magic, with a large number of formidable subordinates like the Ancient One, Strange, Kruger, and others, they also had many adversaries.
Chthon, the God of Dark Magic, was certainly at odds with the Vishanti. The Serpent God Set was also a ruthless character back in the day who devoured other deities to increase his strength, putting him in opposition to the Vishanti.
And then there was Shuma-Gorath.
It was true that the Trinity Vishanti was composed of three deities, but that didn't mean the Vishanti could split itself into three parts to deal with three Multiversal Gods.
If they were truly that powerful, the Vishanti wouldn't have needed to cultivate so many Ancient Ones and Stranges as their subordinates.
"It's too early. For the me of now, to rashly get involved in your conflict is far too early."
Du Wa estimated that if he were to face a Multiversal-level being, he wouldn't be completely powerless, but to proactively start a conflict with a Multiversal God would be a very tricky matter.
"You may not know this, but when I killed Mephisto, I was even prepared for Cyttorak to intervene. I even obtained a Crimson Gem made by Cyttorak in advance as a precaution," Du Wa said.
For his current self, only matters involving a Multiversal standing could make him so cautious. Anything below the Multiverse was not enough to warrant much of his attention.
"Then, can I understand it this way: you do have a way to counter Shuma-Gorath?" On the contrary, the Ancient One's eyes lit up, conveying a fiery passion as his whole demeanor became enthusiastic.
"I do, but not in the way you imagine, and it's even more impossible for me to lend you my power. Instead of wasting time on me, you'd be better off borrowing power from other Multiversal beings through various means."
"I don't need your power itself. Rather, I hope to borrow a force to join my war to intercept the Cancerverse. Those deformed creatures are spreading everywhere like a plague. Many universes have already been attacked by them, and even some of the cosmic rules of those universes have been infected, becoming deformed and insane."
"That is truly unfortunate. It sounds just like zombies." As Du Wa listened, he felt that if these words were used to describe himself, much of it would fit perfectly.
"In a way, it's also similar to how you expand your species, but you wouldn't be so extreme as to kill every single person or god."
The Ancient One's expression was grave. "Perhaps you are not yet aware, but the Cancerverse is about to extend its tentacles into your territory. A universe adjacent to Universe 199999 has already been invaded by a clone of Shuma-Gorath. It won't be long before they notice Universe 199999."
"Alright, what I dislike most is this kind of passive battle with little room to maneuver. It seems I now need to formulate a plan specifically for the Cancerverse."
When Du Wa said this, he always had a matter-of-course attitude, as if facing the Multiverse, though difficult and strenuous, was something he absolutely had a method to deal with.
In any case, the Ancient One could never figure out what Du Wa was planning in his head.
"I will lend you a batch of Xenomorphs to assist you. As a precaution, I will also arrange for a Strange to go to Universe 199999 to make preparations in advance. If even these forces cannot hold back the Cancerverse, I will take action—if I can still spare the attention for this side at that time."
The contest against the Cancerverse was completely different from the great battle to attack Hell.
In the Hell Dimension, there had never been a demon god in the true sense of the word. Even if a demon were to ascend to Satan's throne in the future, they would at most be the King of Hell, not yet considered a supreme deity who had integrated all concepts of Hell and demons.
Therefore, Du Wa could attack and kill Mephisto without any qualms, not having to worry too much about anything other than Cyttorak.
But once he was in a full-on confrontation with the Cancerverse, things would not be so simple.
Cthulhu-esque monsters were a chaotic and complex cluster of concepts, with a Multiversal-level monster like Shuma-Gorath presiding over them.
If they were to truly make contact, it would be a collision between the Xenomorph concept and the Cthulhu-esque concept. This would inevitably involve a confrontation of concepts, magnifying the uncontrollable factors infinitely.
It now seemed that Du Wa was about to face the threat of the Cancerverse directly.
If he wanted to forcefully break the situation, it wasn't without opportunity. It would depend on how much time he spent entering the DC Multiverse, and how long it would take to accumulate enough power from the DC Multiverse to come back and deal with the Cthulhu-esque deformed monsters.
"Time is tight. I must act." Du Wa issued a series of commands.
As for himself, after much deliberation, he brought along the Mephisto Xenomorph and the Hyperion Xenomorph.
He couldn't predict what kind of situation he would face after successfully entering the DC Multiverse. Even though he was a Concept God, his home base was in the Marvel Multiverse.
Crossing into another Multiverse, one with somewhat similar world rules, who the hell knew what an outsider Concept God would encounter. Bringing a small number of powerful guards was a necessary safeguard.
Du Wa immediately headed to Universe 833, arriving at the headquarters of the Captain Britain Corps.
The moment he left, the Watcher Uatu, catching wind of it, arrived, but he was a step too late.
"You're not getting away from me this time! Whatever you're planning, I must record it!" Uatu's eyes glinted fiercely as he glanced down at the Ancient One. "Is this related to you? Is this major event about dealing with Chthon, or someone else?"
"Watcher..."
The Ancient One let out a gasp of astonishment. It was the first time she had ever seen—or even heard of—a Watcher personally observing someone so closely.
But Uatu was clearly not interested in the Ancient One at all, striving to track Du Wa's steps as he rapidly traversed between universes.
Du Wa had forcefully broken into Universe 833 in an unconventional manner, startling the entire Captain Britain Corps.
Piercing alarms blared one after another, echoing throughout the world.
"There's an intruder!!"
"It seems the universe coordinates we've been trying so hard to hide have been exposed after all? Where exactly was the leak?"
"The enemy's strength is immense. They broke through our monitoring system in an instant. They must be at least a Deity from an Otherworld!"
"It's most likely not a Dimension God. I don't believe they could move an entire dimensional world into our Universe 833!"
A group of Captain Britains stood ready, their faces grave as they stared in one direction. There, a zone of space-time distortion and large-scale fragmentation promised that an extremely terrifying intruder would emerge.
Captain England, Marshal Captain, Imperial Captain…
Every single one of these Captain Britains was empowered by Merlin and his daughter Roma, and each was quite capable.
"No matter who the opponent is, we must deliver a thunderous blow at the first opportunity. We cannot allow anyone to disturb Her Majesty the Empress!"
The Captain Britains all knew that Her Majesty the Empress was closely monitoring the endless universes and various secret dimensions, and seemed to have made an extremely significant discovery.
Protecting Her Majesty the Empress was the duty of the Captain Britain Corps.
Under the gazes of the assembled Captains, Du Wa stepped out of the space-time tunnel.
The moment he appeared, his terrifying mass caused the entire universe to jolt to a sudden halt, an instantaneous lag clearly caused by the natural pressure of him as an outsider.
Following him, Du Wa's two chosen guards, the Mephisto Xenomorph, which possessed certain Xenomorph characteristics, and the Hyperion Xenomorph, also broke into Universe 833, one on his left and one on his right.
The entire Captain Britain Corps was in an uproar.
"There are three of them? One looks like a normal human, but the other two are monsters."
"The energy detectors exploded! Among these three intruders, at least two are at the Cosmic Celestial level with unfathomable strength. The other non-human creature should be at the Skyfather level, and a strong Skyfather at that!"
"Quick, check their data! Our central system should have records..."
Relevant personnel immediately began to operate the machines.
Normally, this task would be handled by Spider-UK, but he had now joined the Spider Alliance to fight against the Inheritors.
"Haven't you found it yet? When did our universe's most advanced machine become so inefficient?! This is a top-tier piece of technology capable of monitoring the Omniverse!"
"Found it. The situation is not good... We're in big trouble."
Soon, a large amount of information was transmitted into the brains of the various Captains, causing their faces to turn incredibly foul, as if they had eaten shit.
"God of Xenomorphs? With an army numbering in the hundreds of millions? And several subordinates suspected to be at the Deity level?"
"The most troublesome part is that the enemy is a Concept God! Damn it, a Concept God isn't necessarily the strongest, but they are definitely the most difficult to deal with! This means that even if we have the strength to defeat them, it's very hard to truly kill them! Are we supposed to endure their invasions again and again?"
There were even more morale-crushing words that the Captains present didn't say out loud.
The number of Xenomorphs was so terrifying, and they had spread to so many universes... if a real fight broke out, how could they possibly kill them all?
Some Captains were already contemplating what means to use to escape with the Empress, or perhaps, they should try to contact Merlin and Roma? With that father-daughter duo around, they could surely solve the Xenomorph problem, right?
"I want to see Saturnyne," Du Wa said faintly, looking down upon everything in this world.
"Barging into someone else's world and then demanding to see its master is not a good way to say hello."
The Imperial Captain was just about to organize the present Captains to charge.
"Enough. There is no need to solve this through war."
"Your Majesty! Even if Merlin and Roma aren't here, we can still..."
"No, I know what you're thinking. There's no need. They are not here to invade us, although the means they use to achieve their goals are no different from an invasion."
Empress Saturnyne walked out, escorted by several Captains. She raised her head and met Du Wa's gaze.
"So this is Saturnyne, the ruler of Universe 833..."
This was also the first time Du Wa had seen the Empress, and he was very interested in this Omniversal Observer.
Judging by her title alone, even Uatu, a genuine Watcher by birth, couldn't compare to the Empress. Uatu seemed more like a fake in comparison.
The Empress's fate was also quite interesting. She and the entire Universe 833 mysteriously disappeared from the Multiverse, leading to the amusing saying, "Spider-UK goes out for a fight and comes back to find his home gone."
"It seems you know who I am. Perhaps you have already observed all my information? Then you should know that I've come to you because your path is more reliable and doesn't require taking extra risks," Du Wa said.
"If every God from another world came to question the Empress like you, the entire Multiverse would be in chaos! God of Xenomorphs, you have set a terrible precedent. This is Pandora's box!" the Imperial Captain berated angrily.
"They won't. Very few people and gods know of the specialty of your Universe 833. Even if a group of them did come, I'm afraid it would be meaningless by then," Du Wa said, shaking his head.
To the ears of the Captains, this sounded like a world-ending declaration. Only Empress Saturnyne knew what Du Wa meant.
As the Omniversal Observer, Saturnyne's knowledge of the Multiverse was not false. She knew clearly what she was about to face. So much so that when Spider-UK had previously asked for her help against the Inheritors, she had acted extremely indifferent and completely ignored him. This was because there was something countless times more dangerous than the mass death of Spider-Men.
Perhaps this was also a way to make Spider-UK join the Spider Alliance, thus avoiding the fate of disappearing along with Universe 833.
"Saturnyne, I need the coordinates for Universe 9602. This world is hidden and cannot be found by conventional means. I can only come to you," Du Wa stated. "I need to know where this chaotic world, which has blended the concepts of two Multiverses, is."
(end of chapter)