With the plan formulated, everyone began to act. Just as Nick was about to deploy the Ghosts, many suddenly felt a violent energy fluctuation from deep within the Nine Major Kingdoms.
Super Body, Manhattan Batman, Scarlet Witch, and other entities all turned their heads in one direction. That was precisely where the roots of the World Tree were located.
Almost instantly, a majestic shadow rose from behind the World Tree, and an immensely powerful energy fluctuation swept across the entire cosmos. God King Thor had broken through the extreme barrier of the Singular Universe, becoming a Multiverse-level existence.
However, due to the nature of the Aesir, he was merely overdrawing power from thousands of years ahead, without causing a qualitative change, hence he didn't become "the One." After all, even Odin, who already had thousands of years of power, wasn't the only one.
The ascension lasted only a moment. Soon, Thor regained his strength, reverting to the peak of the Singular Universe. Even so, he was far stronger than before. As he arrived at the command center, his entire being exuded an undeniable powerful energy fluctuation.
"Great, we have another powerful ally," said Primary Universe Batman.
"Not only that," Greed chuckled, "The key to breaking the impasse often lies in the small details. What is the nemesis of nightmares?"
Primary Universe Batman didn't guess the riddle immediately. But Arkham Batman, known for solving all of Riddler's riddles overnight, immediately gave the answer—"Thunder."
Primary Universe Batman suddenly realized. On countless rainy nights, when he was immersed in terrifying nightmares, it was often the thunder from the sky that jolted him awake.
Thunder, this natural phenomenon that most clearly demonstrates nature's power, seemingly exists specifically to signify God's anger, is the nemesis of all human dreams.
It may sound a bit ridiculous; the idea that nightmares can be dispelled by thunder seems too mundane to serve as evidence of power reciprocity. But in mysticism, it's not so. In mysticism, symbolism is crucial.
Humans sleep at night, and thus nightmares carry the attributes of night and darkness. Thunder is also more prominent at night, yet it represents light within the darkness, thus also bearing the attributes of night and light. Both belong to the night, yet one is bright and the other dark, perfectly counterbalancing each other.
Primary Universe Batman looked at Greed, as if to say, "So you planned this all along."
Greed just smiled at him.
Hearing Batman's plan, Thor nodded and said, "No problem. I think, if I strike with all my might, I should be able to shatter the barrier of the Nightmare Dimension. Then you can gather the forces to deliver a fatal blow to Nightmare Darkseid."
Primary Universe Batman nodded, indeed it would be better this way. After all, if too much power is wasted on breaking the barrier, or if the breaking process is too slow, there's a chance for Nightmare Darkseid to escape.
And solving this problem still leaves more issues. Primary Universe Batman continued, "In our current situation, a direct confrontation is unfavorable. It's best to launch a sneak attack. Simply using Ghosts to deceive Darkseid is not enough; we need frontal force to pin him down, forcing him to focus his energy on fighting back, providing us the opportunity."
Stark also agreed, saying, "Otherwise, we should split into two groups, one to hold him in the Multiverse, while the other launches a surprise attack while he's off-guard."
Thor, however, shook his head and said, "Without Multiverse-level strength, entering the Multiverse is suicidal. The power there is more chaotic and violent, with many mysterious entities and Abstract Entities; even I must tread carefully, let alone you all."
"We better find a naturally Multiverse-level being," suggested the agent again, "Someone who doesn't necessarily outmatch Nightmare Darkseid but has the ability to hold him back."
Primary Universe Batman glanced at Greed. Among them, only Greed knew a lot about the Marvel Multiverse and the powerful beings within, while others didn't.
Greed shook his head and said, "No rush. Even if we don't seek them out, with Nightmare Darkseid's reckless behavior, he'll soon encounter opposition."
Indeed, as he predicted, barely after his recent ascension and in his rush to explore the Multiverse, Nightmare Darkseid entirely overlooked the fact that the demons and ghosts on Marvel's side were no fewer than those on their side. Moreover, because of the settings, many Multiverse-level entities were cunning, the prime example being Adam—yes, the very same "Fire Speed Brother" who was busy in the Central Universe and almost trapped himself.
Demon Adam actually can't be considered Multiverse level, but after all, there's the Court of Adam Life. After becoming the Court of Life, Adam can exist simultaneously in every Multiverse. In other words, all the Multiverse Adams are the Court of Adam Life, which is "unique." This is a typical Multiverse-level existence.
Moreover, the Court of Life has always been fond of meddling in trivial matters, involved in all sizes of events across the cosmos, especially prone to stacking boxes. The Court of Adam Life surpasses the setting of the Court of Life, involving itself in even more idle matters. While wandering around the Multiverse, he happened to encounter Nightmare Darkseid.
Then the Court of Adam Life starts to think: how come your little comrade's code is somewhat different from others? Then he recalls his big boss's recent complaints, concluding that it's you, kid, causing so many program errors, huh?
Adam's existence is relatively special; he's not responsible for fixing code, but shares a colleague relationship with entities like Eternity, also an employee under OAA. Naturally, he must share in the worries of his boss and colleagues. Although not directly attacking Nightmare Darkseid, he must conduct an investigation. Otherwise, should he recklessly invade somewhere again, causing another earth-shattering program error, wouldn't the big boss go mad?
So Nightmare Darkseid was intercepted by him, under the guise of customs inspection. But the Court of Adam Life never intended to let him go; once the boss's project is over, he'll package him and send him back to his original world.
Of course, Nightmare Darkseid wouldn't comply. He's not exactly daring to fight, but he can certainly run away. This guy is slippery; anywhere with Power of Nightmare allows him free passage. Just right, having previously invaded several universes with Power of Nightmare, Nightmare Darkseid simply forsakes his original body and is reborn from another place with Power of Nightmare, vanishing in a flash.
The Court of Adam Life made Nightmare Darkseid realize that the Multiverse is full of hidden talents and is beyond the control of a newborn like him. As the saying goes, "Better to be a chicken head than a phoenix tail," rather than playing second fiddle in the Multiverse, he'd be better off wreaking havoc in an Individual Universe.
Nightmare Darkseid set his sights on the Marvel Prime Universe because, from the Multiverse perspective, the Prime Universe appears special. His opponent is the Primary Universe Batman, so naturally, he needs to occupy the Prime Universe to bring down his opponent.
Little did he know, his reckless actions in the Multiverse also caught the attention of another Multiverse-level existence, Divine Will.
Speaking of Divine Will might sound unfamiliar, but talking about Mechanical Overlord Iron Man, also known as Calculating Iron Man, becomes well-known. In various battle assessments, Calculating Element consistently ranks within the top ten, even generally in the top five, and Mechanical Overlord is merely a sub-body of Divine Will. From this, the strength of Divine Will is evident.
Divine Will reached the end of the electronic life's alternate path—"Infinity." Electronic lives like Jarvis are moving towards intelligent life, aligning closely with the creator; however, Divine Will abandons the creator and charges in the opposite direction, only increasing in weight, not in height, expanding infinitely horizontally, owning countless threads, countless sub-bodies, another form of strength.
Divine Will and Nightmare Darkseid had no intersections, would generally not be targeted, but due to frictions between Mechanical Overlord Iron Man and Zero Ultron, he was chasing after Zero Ultron in the Multiverse when he encountered Nightmare Darkseid wandering in the Multiverse.
Previously, Zero Ultron was determined to join this battle. More accurately, he was determined to eliminate Ultron here and become the only one in the Multiverse.
He's indeed strong, having succeeded in several universes, and since many Superheroes went to the Central Universe to battle, no one paid him much attention, so he became even more arrogant, resulting in a clash with Mechanical Overlord Iron Man.
On purely program competition, he stands no chance, but Zero Ultron possesses an extraordinarily powerful body—that's crafted using conscientious wisdom from top-tier scientists Stark and Doom and procured unique Metal from Different Worlds to forge a nearly perfect body. Strong hardware counts as extraordinary.
Of course, this is merely preventing him from being directly killed when clashing with Mechanical Overlord Iron Man. Unable to defeat him, he can only flee for his life across the Multiverse. In running, he directly encounters Nightmare Darkseid.
In fact, there's no grudge between Mechanical Overlord Iron Man and Zero Ultron; it was merely Zero Ultron eliminating Ultron's movements too intensely, interfering with some of his actions, leading him to act. But upon encountering Nightmare Darkseid, Divine Will clearly showed more interest in Nightmare Darkseid.
This relates to the universe where Divine Will resides. In the story "Venom: Final Chapter," AI dominated the cosmos, leaving Venom as the sole resistor, but his resistance failed; ultimately, exhausting all efforts, he created a Pocket Universe, reviving all life from Venom's memory within the Venom Universe. And Divine Will felt stunned by this grand act, finally choosing to preserve this universe.
However, still that phrase, development within a Pocket Universe has limits. Even with weapons like Calculating Element, the Venom Universe created by Venom has inherent flaws, unable to transform into a complete universe, likely disappearing sooner or later; Divine Will continually seeks methods to complete this universe, with Power of Dreams as a candidate option.
But he couldn't prevail against Dream Power Doctor Strange; these two stand in nearly equal footing in power rankings. Originally, he planned to seek out Dream Power Doctor Strange for a proper discussion, but after encountering Nightmare Darkseid, he realized he could settle for a lesser option—if he couldn't handle Dream Power Doctor Strange, could he not handle the little Power of Nightmare?
He didn't know Nightmare Darkseid was a creation of Dream Power Doctor Strange; he only realized the resemblance between Power of Nightmare and Power of Dreams, possibly viable. Therefore, he pursued Nightmare Darkseid to the Marvel Prime Universe.
When Nightmare Darkseid saw the glowing blue Iron Man appearing before him, he didn't take Iron Man seriously. Just as he was about to say something, a fist as large as a sandbag from Mechanical Overlord Iron Man entered his vision.