Chapter 202: Release Thanoseid!
Darkseid, located in the Sphere of the Gods, was of course aware that the Flashpoint event was bound to erupt.
He had also witnessed the entire process of The Endless entering Hell. From beginning to end, his expression remained unchanged, merely watching with cold indifference.
Although Apokolips was the base of one of the two major factions of the New Gods and was teeming with powerful individuals, it had not yet reached the level where it could intervene in the disputes of Hell.
What's more, the gods of Apokolips had many problems of their own to solve.
The previous master of Apokolips, Yuga Khan, who claimed to have single-handedly raised the upper limit of all the New Gods, became obsessed with the mystery of the Source Wall. He insisted on courting death, and as a result, once he was on the Wall, he could never get down.
Darkseid killed his own brother, seized the Omega Effect, and overthrew the rule of Yuga Khan's wife, Heggra. He thus ascended to the throne of Apokolips, becoming the new dark monarch.
In the outside world, there was also New Genesis, led by the Skyfather, which frequently waged war with Apokolips.
"Even if we were to join forces with New Genesis, we would be no match for Hell. I advise you to remain calm. Before you obtain the Anti-Life Equation, do not entertain any dangerous ideas," a robed figure reminded him coldly as he walked in.
"Desaad, you should know that not even my uncle, Steppenwolf, would dare speak to me in such a tone." Darkseid turned his blood-red gaze, capable of annihilating a universe, upon his most loyal servant.
Back then, during the battle to overthrow Heggra, Desaad had performed meritorious service. On all of Apokolips, his status was equal to that of Steppenwolf.
He only obeyed Darkseid's—or to be precise, Darkseid's main body's—commands.
"I am merely fulfilling my duty faithfully. The impact of the Flashpoint event on our world is too great. Not only is this new batch of concept gods exceptionally difficult to deal with, but this is certainly not the end. It is the beginning."
Desaad said icily, "There will definitely be new concept gods, or other types of gods, who will use our world as a stepping stone to reach a higher position."
"Hmph, so what if they come? It's merely jumping from a smaller cage into a larger one. No one can cross the Source Wall!" Darkseid sneered.
Whether it was The Endless or any other newcomers, he paid them no mind.
Yuga Khan was so powerful, yet his fall was so tragic. This had left Darkseid deeply shaken. He began to search for other ways to grow stronger, attempting to破解 the mystery of the Source Wall.
Desaad pondered for a moment and did not speak further.
The Endless were still growing stronger rapidly and had not yet reached their peak. No one knew what kind of strength this group of concept gods, who had reached the absolute extreme, would possess.
At most, they'd be at the peak of the multiversal level. Could a concept god truly transcend the strength limits of the universe itself?
Without breaking the Source Wall, the growth potential of gods like the New Gods and Old Gods was largely locked, with no room for advancement.
This was also why, after three generations, all manner of gods hoped to learn the mystery of the Source Wall and explore the vaster Omniverse beyond the Source Wall.
"There is one thing that requires attention. The Flashpoint event was initially triggered by a remote universe. Theoretically, this should not have happened," Desaad said.
"I have already given a command to my clone in that universe. He knows what to do. Speaking of which, my clone in that universe suffered a defeat on Earth at the age of eight."
After Darkseid finished speaking, he quickly dismissed the matter from his mind.
It was, after all, just a minor interlude. What was there to note about that weak universe? At most, some new tricks might appear—perhaps it was also a newly emerged foreign concept?
This was no big deal. The Multiverse was so vast; it was commonplace for some strange concepts to emerge.
In the end, this was all just petty squabbling. The true, ultimate mystery lay in the Source Wall and what was beyond it.
...
DCEU Universe.
The new timeline created by the Flashpoint event should have overwritten the old one.
"It's a success."
Bruce sat before the complex monitoring instruments, staring at the ripple on the screen.
The moment he saw the ripple fluctuating rapidly, he let out a sigh of relief. "The time of the entire universe is undergoing a drastic transformation. Barry did it. I believed he could."
"It seems we are about to disappear, Young Master Wayne. Shall we have a drink to celebrate our death?" Alfred brought over two glasses of whiskey.
"It's also a celebration of rebirth. The new world will also have a Batman and an Alfred, just not us." Even though he knew he was about to disappear, Bruce still felt completely at ease, gladly raising his glass and downing it in one go.
Perhaps in the next second, he would vanish, and all cognition and memory would be frozen in this moment forever...
But it didn't happen.
Because Du Wa had made his move.
At the instant the new and old timelines were rapidly overwriting each other, Du Wa stood firm on the current timeline, like a nail driven into place. He forcefully blocked the brand-new time fluctuation, refusing to accept the new change in history.
A deity could witness Du Wa's grand feat of obstructing a timeline with their own eyes, but Batman could not. He could only make a judgment based on various objective data.
"Damn it. The time curve is restoring itself. The history that was supposed to appear is vanishing."
Bruce was stunned. How could something like this happen? A fully formed timeline, a history that had continued for who knows how many billions of years, had come to an abrupt halt as if it had crashed into an iron wall, even showing signs of regressing!
"In our history, right now, someone has acted to destroy the new timeline. It seems Du Wa is even more terrifying than we imagined. Is he truly a foreign deity?" Alfred let out a deep sigh.
The two sat numbly before the screen, watching the time curve return to normal, until the Flash found them.
"So that's how it is. I have a question. Since concept gods like you can enter the Multiverse, why don't those other beings do the reverse and enter other universes? Wouldn't that also allow them to leave this Multiverse and bypass the Source Wall?"
Lex Luthor tugged at his hair, muttering to himself as he often did.
Most of the time, he wouldn't get any response, but if he was lucky, Du Wa would answer some of his questions.
Lex Luthor now knew what had happened. It was also the first time he realized that the act of traversing timelines was actually a major event for the entire Multiverse.
"Because it's meaningless. Even a place as powerful as the Vertigo Universe, where The Endless originated, is nothing compared to the entire Multiverse. Although it's somewhat special, the new knowledge and new power it contains are not enough to satisfy the multiversal gods, let alone convincing them to abandon their existing system and risk a reverse traversal to weaker worlds," Du Wa replied.
Anyone who does that has something wrong with their head.
Besides, The Endless arriving with the Vertigo Universe and integrating everything into DC Comics was already a rare example.
Other concepts that entered DC Comics, beings like Godzilla or Cthulhu, only involved the integration of the concept itself, not pulling their entire native multiverse into DC Comics. The difficulty factor for that is almost exaggerated.
The most important point.
"The native universe of a foreign conceptual entity, even if it's also called a multiverse in name, is actually pitifully small in scale. It's completely incomparable to the current Multiverse acknowledged by the multiversal gods," Du Wa said.
His own DCEU alone, much like the MCU in the Marvel Multiverse, is actually a cluster of universes, composed of many universes. This already qualifies as a minor multiverse.
Similar examples include the DC Animated Universe and the TV series universes represented by the Arrowverse...
The gods trapped within the wall had long studied the various newly born conceptual entities. They discovered that among these concepts, some were naturally born within DC Comics, which was fine. Others were indeed from the outside, but they were completely without value.
Most of them only had a portion of their concept cross over, being reflected and captured by DC Comics as a projection and a sphere of influence, unlike The Endless who brought their entire native universe with them.
Even if they were brought over, the sheer scale of a mere minor multiverse was simply not enough to arouse the interest of this group of gods.
Otherwise, the moment Du Wa entered DC Comics, numerous multiversal gods would have already made a move against him.
"Vast worlds can give birth to more powerful deities, and these deities are confident enough to look down upon outsiders," said Du Wa.
"Hehehe, can I interpret it this way? You—the great God of Xenomorphs, Du Wa—can act as you please within this minor multiverse, but in essence, you are also one of those being looked down upon?" Lex Luthor let out a malicious laugh. Of course, he wouldn't belittle Du Wa for this; doing so would essentially be belittling himself.
Lex Luthor was excited by this new discovery. He had broken free from his previous shackles and had the opportunity to use Du Wa's perspective to get a slight glimpse into a truly grand domain.
Without Du Wa, he feared he would have spent his entire life fighting to the death with Superman, hopelessly lost in the delusion of human supremacy.
Even if he could defeat Superman, on the macroscopic level of the Multiverse, it would be worthless.
"I am not ashamed of this. My origins are even more mediocre. I was just a nobody hiding in an abandoned building in New York City. But in the end, many gods have died at my hands or been conquered by me," said Du Wa. "The gods of this Multiverse will be no exception. Sooner or later, they will be surpassed and defeated by me."
No high-level multiversal god would pay any mind to a concept like the Xenomorph, let alone the God of Xenomorphs.
Concept gods like Destiny and Death could stir up raging waves the moment they arrived, growing stronger at an exaggerated rate and forcing the pantheons to take them seriously.
But Du Wa was destined not to receive such treatment.
But it didn't matter. Sooner or later, he too would be able to force a group of beings with multiversal standing to bow their heads to him. This was why he had used every means at his disposal, even at the risk of attracting the attention of terrifying figures like the Living Tribunal, Ghost, and Merlin, to come to the DC Comics Universe.
As he spoke, Flash returned, carrying Batman and Alfred, although he clearly didn't want to.
"I'm sorry, Bruce. I couldn't control myself..."
"I know. Because it would be impossible for you to find me with your power alone."
Batman's expression was extremely grim. He looked at the people present: Superman, Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, Doomsday...
Among them, Lex Luthor was muttering to himself with great enthusiasm, clearly in high spirits from his conversation.
"Quick, tell me you have a backup plan. Or are you saying that getting caught and brought here was also part of the plan?" Superman looked at Batman, not giving up hope, and asked expectantly.
"There's nothing left. Even the method of creating a new timeline to overwrite this one was useless. What else can we do? The biggest mistake I made was not expecting this guy to be a real god." Batman remained calm, his gaze finally settling on Lex Luthor.
Lex Luthor shrugged and spread his hands. "Don't look at me like that. I've discovered that following Du Wa is very promising, so I've changed my mind—"
"Is this also part of the plan?"
"No, not at all. I already gave all my plans to Bruce, but he didn't act according to my plan, although I suppose I was psychologically prepared for this outcome long ago," Lex Luthor grumbled. "You definitely didn't try the second plan I gave you."
"That was unrealistic. Even if it had succeeded, I suspect it would have only helped Du Wa. That would be a nightmare for the entire universe."
"But now, this universe has already welcomed its nightmare. I'm looking forward to seeing this happen, and I've formulated a new plan. Du Wa has parasitized me, so I will parasitize Du Wa. I will grow stronger as he grows stronger, and then I will launch a rebellion. It's the perfect plan." Lex Luthor pointed to his temple. He knew his thoughts could be more or less spied upon by Du Wa, so at this point, there was no need to hide his intentions.
He had figured it out. It wasn't that they hadn't tried hard enough; it was that facing an otherworldly concept god of Du Wa's caliber while they were as scattered as loose sand, a crushing defeat was only natural.
Just then, as the few of them watched, Du Wa walked out.
"Seeing you all so active, I am very pleased. You have a great team atmosphere. How about we call you the Evil League? After all, in your eyes, I am an irredeemable demon."
Du Wa's mind was completely occupied with thoughts of the Vertigo Universe's integration into DC Comics. Although he couldn't see the full picture, the fragmented information he had gleaned was enough to provide him with immense reference value.
He processed countless complex pieces of information in his head, corroborating them with his future plans.
"It seems some people don't want me to think in peace and are preparing to get rid of me as soon as possible." Du Wa raised his head, gazing into the vastness of space. "Thanoseid, your opponent has arrived."
"Hmph, I'm looking forward to it."
Thanoseid revealed a grim smile. He was tired of watching these heroes and their house-playing solutions. Even Universe 9602 had fallen, to say nothing of this damn world?
If they were to truly break free from Du Wa's grasp, it would all depend on his, Thanoseid's, performance.
He would start by killing the half-of-himself from this universe.
The Darkseid of the DCEU Universe, leading the grand army of Parademons, charged toward Earth.
"One of my clones betrayed the main body and defected to another god long ago, but why haven't I heard the main body speak of this?"
The moment Darkseid saw Thanoseid, a look of deep confusion appeared on his face.
(end of chapter)