Chapter 280: The God of Xenomorphs is Watching You
Cul's face was a mask of despair. Du Wa was the absolute last being he ever wanted to face.
"Well, well, what have we here? The God of Fear's heart is filled with fear. That doesn't suit your station at all."
Du Wa stood amidst the cosmos, one hand gripping the Serpent Cul's neck. He shook him back and forth like a fledgling chick, causing the scrawny, pitiful Cul to sway from side to side, his mind clearly pushed to its absolute limit.
"What do you want now?!" Cul roared, his dignity torn to shreds. "Isn't imprisoning me for all these years enough? What more do you want? You're already so powerful, why won't you just let me go?!"
These past few years, Cul had lived through the most desperate days of his entire life.
As the Serpent of the Main Universe, the brother of the Main Universe's Odin, and the former king of Asgard, not even the long ages he'd spent imprisoned by Odin in the Eternal Prison could compare to the agony of these past few years.
There was no end in sight, no glimmer of hope. Cul was merely a tool for Du Wa to use and study as he pleased.
Through the Xenomorphs, Cul could also learn about events in the outside world. On this point, the confident Du Wa had never restricted him. But precisely because of this, Cul knew what sort of miracle Du Wa had created.
Even in the Main Universe, searching through countless years of history, a being like Du Wa had never appeared, ascending to godhood with such an exaggerated trajectory and even hunting down and thrashing long-established deities!
An event unprecedented in the Main Universe, let alone occurring in this utterly mediocre one?
"I never should have listened to Mephisto's nonsense. I shouldn't have escaped the Eternal Prison so easily, and I especially shouldn't have come to this damned universe to oppose Du Wa!"
Cul was filled with regret.
Back then, Mephisto had deceived Cul. In the normal course of events, Cul would have led his eight Worthy to ravage the Main Universe's Earth, bringing fear to the entire world.
But history had taken a turn. The God of Fear, Cul, had his plans foiled on a parallel universe's Earth before he could even truly land on the Main Universe's version, with no possibility of ever escaping.
"I know what you're thinking. You believe that being remembered by someone like me is not a good thing. Don't worry. I will return your freedom. As the God of Fear, I will allow you to return to the Main Universe."
With a point of Du Wa's finger, all the various energy chains on Cul's body shattered.
"Nothing in this world is given for free. For a god of your level, what could you possibly need me to do?" Cul didn't even think about running. It wasn't as if he could escape the Multiverse.
"Go to the Main Universe and do whatever you want. That's what I want you to do—or perhaps, restart your main business—spreading fear?" Du Wa casually opened a space-time tunnel and tossed Cul inside.
He didn't deliberately turn Cul into a Xenomorph, nor did he kill him cleanly. There was no need.
In fact, Du Wa owed his mastery of the Alien Astral Projection Art to Cul. After defeating the Serpent, he had used him as research material, which provided him with a new direction. This allowed him to use Xenomorphs as anchor points to transfer his soul and consciousness at any time, essentially logging in to take over their bodies.
For that reason alone, the years of torture Cul had endured were enough. From now on, he could let Cul do as he pleased.
"The Main Universe... Cul had better put on a good show and stir things up in the core of this Multiverse, because it won't be long before this universe gets even more chaotic." Du Wa's gaze traversed countless hyperspace currents, following Cul into the Main Universe.
The Main Universe had not been peaceful recently either.
Because Cul suffered a disastrous defeat in the Alien Universe and became Du Wa's captive, the great Source of Fear event that was supposed to erupt on the Main Universe's Earth came to an abrupt halt. However, the heroes, villains, and gods there felt no relief.
This was because many of them had personally witnessed the scene of Cul, with one foot having already escaped back to his home universe, being forcibly dragged back by a group of terrifying creatures.
For someone as powerful and fearsome as Cul to end up in such a miserable state, it would be strange if the natives of the Main Universe didn't react. They had long since branded the never-before-seen Xenomorphs as a great enemy and prepared for an invasion by the Alien Army.
But afterward, nothing happened. No powerful Xenomorphs invaded. The scenarios they had envisioned, like the descent of a Demon God from an other dimension or an army from a parallel universe attacking the Main Universe, never materialized. Everything was calm.
But this didn't mean the Main Universe could be peaceful. As the absolute core of the Multiverse, all sorts of major events were always happening. This had nothing to do with the personal will of the heroes, criminals, or gods. It was because the natives of this universe, whether in terms of strength or potential, far surpassed their parallel universe counterparts. This meant that for the same amount of effort, they would only create disasters far greater than those in any parallel universe:
Scarlet Witch had inexplicably gone mad.
The Chaos Magic throughout her body went completely berserk, its intensity far exceeding the upper limit of what her willpower could wield. Compounded by Chaos Magic's inherent ability to alter thoughts, it turned Scarlet Witch into a completely rabid beast.
The entire Earth was struck by great misfortune. The X-Men and The Avengers joined forces, but they were helpless against Scarlet Witch.
"New York has been destroyed by that witch, turned into a red desert! Maybe we never should have woken the witch from the dream she wove for herself," Iron Man complained furiously.
Including him, everyone felt that the cause of this disaster was Wanda and Vision getting together and, after a painful labor, giving birth to two children.
Everything should have been blissful, but then Professor X appeared. He mercilessly exposed the truth: the two children never existed; they were created by Scarlet Witch out of thin air.
The revelation of the truth sobered Scarlet Witch, but then she went mad, unable to accept reality.
At that point, things were still controllable. Professor X was fully capable of hypnotizing Scarlet Witch, buying enough time for the assembled heroes to act.
But a true accident occurred. Just as she entered a deep slumber, an unprecedented burst of Chaos Magic erupted from within Scarlet Witch. The terrifying red magic, like magma from Hell, covered her body, turning her into a crazed killer.
Yes, there was no trick of reality being overwritten by a virtual one, no House of M as there should have been, and Scarlet Witch did not nearly erase all the Mutants in the entire universe with a single thought.
Scarlet Witch had simply gone mad.
"Are you people determined to argue forever in these desolate outskirts? This is no way to take that woman down." Doctor Strange never lost his elegance, his clothes spotless. He now pointed two fingers at his own forehead.
The White Queen retorted sarcastically, "Sorcerer, you and Professor X should have stepped up from the beginning to end all this. I saw Professor X's efforts, but you just stood behind us, spouting incomprehensible nonsense."
The others also turned their gazes to Strange.
Professor X stared at him. "I sense the cortical response in your brain is extremely active. This isn't normal. When did you undo your mind-shielding spell? I hope you can come up with a good idea."
Anyone would be wary of Professor X's abilities and would not easily entrust the safety of their brain to his personal integrity.
The likes of Iron Man could use technology to protect their brains; for someone like Doctor Strange, it was naturally magic.
"Yes, I have indeed made a major discovery. Communicating with the Sorcerer Supremes of parallel universes over such vast distances is no easy task," Strange mused. "I should have found a deserted place, set up a magic circle, and made full preparations, but conditions don't allow for that now. I could only take the risk and open my mind in front of you all."
"Listen, nobody cares about your reasons. We only care about what results you achieved," Iron Man urged.
The others also gathered around, looking at Doctor Strange with hope.
"The good news is, I know why she lost control. The bad news is, this is not a problem we can solve. While we were all agonizing over matters on Earth, something major has already happened in the Multiverse."
"Something major? Did some god get into a fight with another? Is this related to Wanda?" Captain America asked, puzzled.
The existence of gods from other worlds was no secret. The Serpent, Cul, hailed from the Main Universe. Going to other universes should have been a dimensionality reduction strike, but the result was the complete opposite. He suffered a crushing defeat and was miserably dragged back right in front of everyone from the Main Universe.
The memory of that scene had delivered a huge psychological shock to the natives of the Main Universe.
"To put it simply, the God of Xenomorphs, Du Wa—yes, the master of the creatures that captured Cul, a super monster from a parallel universe—recently defeated the supreme deity of the Cancerverse, Shuma-Gorath. In that battle, countless Sorcerer Supremes from innumerable universes rushed over to fight under the command of the God of Xenomorphs."
Shuma-Gorath?
The crowd frowned. They certainly knew that name. That big eyeball had appeared in the Main Universe more than once, causing considerable casualties.
"Not a分身 that you're familiar with, but the true Shuma-Gorath, a terrifying Demon God who could rival the Multiverse. He lost to Du Wa." As Strange spoke, he presented the information he had received from other versions of himself as a magical display.
A torrent of images flowed before the heroes. Countless universes collapsed one after another under the terrifying impacts, and the ferocious, horrifying, endless armies waged a ceaseless, bloody war.
Let alone Du Wa and Glass, just the sight of the terrifying Alien Legion and the grand army of the Many-Angled Ones was enough to make everyone present turn pale.
This was simply too exaggerated. The three major interstellar empires combined couldn't even compare to a fraction of this war's scale!
"Is this the true scale of the Xenomorphs?" the White Queen asked, her face a picture of disbelief.
"To be precise, it's only a part of their scale. That God of Xenomorphs has the ability to implant Xenomorphs into the history of every universe; he just hasn't fully done so yet."
Strange's expression was also extremely grave. "And this is just the overview. No one can be sure how many gods more terrifying than the Serpent, Cul, exist within these Xenomorphs, but the number is certainly huge! And these powerful individuals are merely legion commanders of this super legion... It's no wonder the Cancerverse lost so miserably, being utterly destroyed and Shuma-Gorath finished."
"Now that is the real good news and bad news. We are not on the opposing side of the Xenomorphs, so we don't have to worry about a conflict with the universes they rule." Iron Man's words were laced with either sarcasm or self-mockery. "But what does this have to do with Scarlet Witch?"
"The connection is this: the God of Xenomorphs subsequently had a falling out with the God of Chaos and the God of Dark Magic. He is now eliminating Black Magicians across the Multiverse. This is the fundamental reason why the magical community on Earth has become so quiet recently. Black Magicians are dying in massive numbers. The Xenomorphs may have already quietly taken root in our world, but we have neither the time nor the ability to investigate and clean them up—the witch's rampage is also part of the battle between those two gods."
"I feel like I'm listening to a myth from a world far, far away."
"But when myth is reflected into reality, it's not a myth at all, but a real-world disaster."
The X-Men and the Avengers looked at each other. They had faced many crises, but this one seemed particularly severe, on a level they could not hope to reach.
If Scarlet Witch's madness was a mere aftershock from the clash of those beings, how could they possibly calm her down? Wait for the God of Xenomorphs to defeat the God of Chaos? That was unrealistic. Who knew how much time would have passed in the Main Universe by the time those two settled their score.
Just then.
A rift opened in the sky, and a tall figure fell through.
"This is the place! The familiar laws of reality, this is my home!" Cul stood up, incredibly excited.
Endless power of fear surged into his body, rapidly increasing his strength. The rare sensation fascinated him.
At this moment, the Serpent of the Main Universe had returned!
All across the Main Universe's Earth, the eight Worthy left behind from years ago immediately responded.
Hulk, who was with the Avengers, instantly let out a crazed roar as the power from Cul surged through him.
"Hulk, what's wrong with you?! Don't you go crazy at a time like this! We're already short-handed!"
"This is the power of Fear! Damn it, Cul is back! Earth is now filled with more Fear than ever before!"
The group instantly erupted into chaos, scrambling to pin down Hulk, who had once again become one of The Worthy, holding down both him and his powerful hammer.
The crisis that had vanished had reappeared. What did this mean? That the Xenomorphs who captured the Serpent had a change of heart and released him back to the Main Universe?
No, it had to be much worse than that. The Main Universe was in deep trouble!
"Everyone, the Xenomorphs are watching us. This will be countless times more perilous than Scarlet Witch's madness," Professor X said, looking at every person present.
The assembled heroes fell into silence.
(end of chapter)