Chapter 259: Return!
One moment, Doomsday was mindlessly destroying everything, crushing all obstacles with unstoppable force. The next, after Du Wa truly made a move, it stood rooted to the spot, motionless, as if it were dead.
But everyone knew that Doomsday was a monster that had evolved an immunity to death. Unless that member of The Endless—arguably DC's strongest death god to date—personally intervened, there might be a chance to erase this primeval Doomsday.
But second-rate gods of death like Black Hand or Dark Walker were absolutely no match for this endlessly evolving Doomsday; it would develop an immunity and counter them in minutes.
"What… what's going on?"
New 52 Batman had a bewildered expression. He stood atop the tattered hell armor, surviving in the vacuum of space thanks to the empowerment from the Ghost's possession. His various physical functions had been greatly enhanced, but precisely because of this, with his mind sharper than ever, New 52 Batman was all the more shocked.
"This is the Doomsday you mentioned? The monster that even gods fear? I was used by those guys to indirectly bring this thing to the Main Universe, and this is the result? It was taken care of by Du Wa with a single, casual move?"
New 52 Batman suspected that Du Wa had parasitized Doomsday and turned it into his vassal, just like Quantum Batman. But its state was clearly wrong, as if it were stuck in some kind of intermediate, frozen state.
The Ghost had never seen a Doomsday like this either. In the past, even He had never found it necessary to engage this Doomsday in a life-or-death battle, let alone possess any in-depth understanding of it.
The Ghost, controlling Batman's body, wanted to seize Doomsday, but Thanoseid directly blocked His path.
"Du Wa told me that your greatest weakness is dealing with a god of my type. As it happens, I'm very curious to taste the Power of Judgment." Thanoseid stood before the Ghost with his hands behind his back, his sheer mass dwarfing all other Darkseids within the Multiverse.
The Ghost's mood soured even further, and His face began to contort with a savage expression.
He couldn't even pass judgment on a regular clone of Darkseid, nor did He dare to personally kill any Darkseid. This was because Darkseid himself was a symbol of balance, born from the fragile equilibrium between light and darkness in the constant game between The Presence and The Great Darkness.
Furthermore, the Ghost had previously tried to pass judgment on one of Du Wa's clones in the Sphere of Gods, intending to completely erase Du Wa's existence, only to fail miserably. This turned His previously infallible Power of Judgment, derived from the authority of The Presence, into a joke.
"Since you want to test it, then as you wish! You foolish creature! I may not be able to pass judgment on Darkseid, nor on Du Wa, but that doesn't mean you can resist my power as they can!"
The Ghost said coldly, "Don't think that just because you devoured the Main Universe's Darkseid, you can truly surpass Him. Your body contains more than just Darkseid and Du Wa; there are other parts as well!"
It was that part from another world that turned Thanoseid from Darkseid into Thanoseid. This meant that Thanoseid could be attacked by the Ghost's Power of Judgment!
"A product of another world, Thanos—he will be your fatal flaw! Don't forget, you owe your very existence to me!"
The Ghost had never forgotten that He, in collaboration with an otherworldly super-being called the Living Tribunal, had pushed two universes into a fusion. He had personally witnessed the birth of a host of hybrid individuals like Thanoseid, the Super-Soldier, and Steel Lantern.
It was a miracle, but to the Ghost and the Living Tribunal, these beings held little value. After all, whether in DC Comics or Marvel Comics, there was never a shortage of so-called miracles.
In two worlds of such immense mass, new things were being born at every moment. Even Godzilla and Gundams could pop up, so what couldn't happen?
Mere hybrid heroes. At best, they would only ever become Cosmic Celestials, confined to Universe 9602 and unable to communicate with other universes. They simply weren't worthy of attention.
But who would have thought? Who would have thought a Du Wa would appear, and using some unknown method, precisely locate the coordinates of Universe 9602, successfully enter it, and even use Universe 9602 to slip into the DC world!
The greatest miracle of all was that Du Wa then advanced to become a multiversal god here in DC, forcing Him, the Ghost, into an impossible position and causing Him repeated setbacks.
"And now, even a piece of trash like you that I once ignored can stand before me... Die! After I kill you, I will take Doomsday. Whatever Du Wa wants to do, I will oppose it. I can't let him succeed! I absolutely cannot stand by and watch him grow his strength again through some unknown means!"
Boom!
A terrifying flash of energy surged, forming a dreadful sword that stabbed down at Thanoseid from above.
An extremely sacred aura spread throughout the multiverse, reflecting the Ghost's ferocious face.
When the Power of Judgment dissipated, the Ghost stared blankly at the unscathed Thanoseid, utterly bewildered.
"My Power of Judgment… can't even pass judgment on Thanos??" For the first time, the Ghost doubted his own ability. He suspected that when The Presence created Him, some unknown error might have occurred.
Using DC's judgment to smite a butcher from Marvel should theoretically be possible. It was one thing for Du Wa, a concept god with a clear conscience who had forcibly parasitized and swept up a vast number of life forms from two worlds, to be able to resist His Power of Judgment. But why could the part of Thanoseid that belonged to Thanos also do so?
"A Spirit of Vengeance is nothing to be afraid of. The judgment bestowed upon you by some unknown being could not possibly give you the ability to hunt down all enemies. That would contradict the very meaning of judgment. If that were the case, it wouldn't be judgment at all," Thanoseid said coldly.
In the Marvel Universe, Thanos, a cosmic butcher who considered himself guiltless and viewed slaughter as a form of fair and just amusement, was naturally immune to Ghost Rider's judgment attacks.
As both are Spirits of Vengeance who wield the Power of Judgment originating from The Presence, the Ghost and Ghost Rider share similar origins and possess highly similar abilities.
Not to mention, the current Thanoseid was rapidly replacing and occupying Darkseid's key position, and he also possessed Du Wa's power.
The Ghost was helpless against Thanoseid. With his Power of Judgment being ineffective, was he supposed to kill Thanoseid with brute force? What a joke. The current Ghost was a far cry from the one who had attacked Du Wa; without that immense power from before, He was no match for Thanoseid.
Thanoseid fired a single Omega Beam, blasting the Ghost, along with the Batman body He was using, to the edge of the universe.
"You seem quite interested in the life forms of the New 52 Universe. The last body you used was from the New 52 Universe, and the current Batman is also from the New 52 Universe… Is that your headquarters? Perhaps you don't know, but that is a place Du Wa has abandoned. The world you hold so dear, as if it were a priceless treasure, is one he couldn't be bothered to invest his power to occupy and manage."
Thanoseid spoke with a cruel expression on his face, growing more and more accustomed to his current identity.
Would the Ghost die? The moment this thought emerged in Thanoseid's mind, Du Wa clearly told him that he wouldn't.
But Thanoseid still wanted to try, if only to test the mettle of The Presence. He immediately charged toward the Ghost and began a merciless onslaught.
"I hope New 52 Batman can hold on. The Ghost will probably protect him with his life." Du Wa withdrew his gaze.
It was rare for Thanoseid to be interested in matters beyond Darkseid. The last time he had been this agitated was when he launched a rebellion in an attempt to end Du Wa's rule.
Du Wa leisurely approached Doomsday, closely observing the ferocious-looking freak. This thing could be considered one of the most unique monsters ever conceived in the history of DC Comics.
But it had never reached its true peak.
However, if it fell into Du Wa's hands, its future would be very different.
"However, how should I use this thing? I can't control it at all. Am I supposed to use it as a one-time-use weapon?" Du Wa was stumped. Even he couldn't think of a good solution for the moment.
Existing methods wouldn't work. Would he have to resort to external forces, like divine artifacts?
But even with a divine artifact, after a single use, Doomsday would immediately evolve a way to become immune to it… He couldn't possibly find a huge pile of divine artifacts capable of controlling Doomsday, only to expend one every time he used this weapon to eliminate a powerful enemy, could he?
Where would he find so many powerful divine artifacts? Even Du Wa couldn't procure them.
"As things stand, keeping Doomsday in this state of System Freeze is already extremely difficult; we were on the verge of failure." Lex Luthor appeared beside Du Wa, seated in a chair, fanatically observing Doomsday. He added, "You have to admit, I also contributed to suppressing this unique monster."
"You're right. I haven't stooped so low as to compete with a subordinate for honor. You used my power and successfully developed a method to neutralize Doomsday. Congratulations, that's a remarkable achievement," Du Wa said casually.
To put it bluntly, even without this man, Du Wa could have dealt with Doomsday in the same way. Even without using the Mobius Chair, Du Wa still had his own rapidly growing reserves of immense computing power, as well as the Anti-Life Equation, another divine artifact capable of computation.
"I don't have any good ideas for utilizing Doomsday; this thing is too unique." Lex Luthor thought for a moment. Other than using it as a one-time targeted assassination weapon to take out a terrifying enemy in one go—at the price of allowing Doomsday to undergo an even more astonishing evolution—there was no better use for it at the moment.
But Du Wa could certainly think of something so obvious, so Lex Luthor didn't say it.
"Let's seal it away for now. It will become one of my trump cards. If I ever encounter an enemy I can't handle, I'll have no choice but to use it."
Du Wa shook his head. According to his assessment, Doomsday wouldn't be waking from its System Freeze state anytime soon—the creature hadn't yet reached the point where it could quickly evolve an immunity to a system freeze. If it could, Doomsday itself would be a concept god, the supreme deity of all Doomsdays in the multiverse, including the Doomsday-demons on Apokolips.
"Hehehe, my gamble paid off. I've won my chips. Now the loser is going to be in for it." Lex Luthor looked at Alexander Luthor with schadenfreude.
Despite both being Luthors, Lex Luthor felt not a shred of compassion and couldn't wait to see Alexander suffer.
"I never should have believed your lies and handed the Mobius Chair to you. If I had insisted on fighting for it, this chair would have been mine." Alexander Luthor's voice was incredibly calm, and the flow of Zansha power in his body gradually subsided.
There was no chance. Facing Du Wa, he had no opportunity to escape; he could only await Du Wa's judgment.
This judgment was far more intimidating than the Ghost's laughable version.
"It wouldn't have been. Dark Claw and the others were already watching you. Without my help, you would have been besieged by them. If I had also tried to stop you then, you wouldn't have stood a chance," Lex Luthor said.
Dark Claw, Steel Lantern, and the others also possessed great strength and could have gone head-to-head with Alexander Luthor. They were strong contenders for the Mobius Chair.
Du Wa had no interest in talking with this man. With a wave of his hand, he erased Alexander Luthor from this world as if wiping away a speck of insignificant dust.
"What a pity. I had formulated a plan on how to use him. Zansha is an excellent container. I was even preparing to create a Xenomorph with the Six God Force and have Alexander Luthor test it out." Lex Luthor felt it was a great shame. With the existing xenomorphs, it wasn't impossible to forcibly create six gods.
But no matter. There were other beings on Earth who possessed the Six God Force, and they would also make for good experimental subjects.
"You'd best be careful. If you really screw things up and attract some troublesome characters, I might not be able to save you in time," Du Wa sensed Lex Luthor's dangerous thoughts and commented lightly.
Lex Luthor understood immediately. Du Wa was likely preparing to leave this multiverse.
Another world… where could it be? He guessed it was probably a multiverse outside the Source Wall.
Moreover, it wasn't a minor multiverse like the DCEU system, but possibly a multiverse comparable to the world within the Source Wall. Only this could explain why Du Wa, even after his promotion to a multiversal god, would still have the thought of returning.
What kind of world could have given birth to Du Wa?
Lex Luthor really wanted to go and see, but he didn't mention it. He hadn't even figured out the world within the Source Wall yet; Du Wa would never take him.
"Should I say something like, 'I wish you all the best'? If you die, I will find a way to save myself and then logically take over the power you've left behind here."
"You'll have to survive here first."
Du Wa paid Lex Luthor no more mind.
Back in the Marvel Multiverse, some trouble had been piling up, involving multiverse-level gods. Although it hadn't reached a breaking point yet, it was enough to warrant Du Wa's return.
"I just wonder how the Living Tribunal plans to deal with me? And the Marvel Editorial Department, perhaps they've noticed a few clues…"
All of this piqued Du Wa's intense interest.
(end of chapter)