Chapter 287: The Twisted Birth of the God of Stories
The Main Universe Loki had figured out much earlier how he should walk the path of improving his strength.
"Magic, divine power... neither of these paths is viable. To continue increasing my strength in these areas would be suicide; sooner or later, I will exhaust Du Wa's patience."
A deep, sinister ruthlessness glinted in the Main Universe Loki's eyes.
Magic?
True, he was a first-rate Magic Master in the Main Universe, and in his early years, he could have easily crushed the likes of Doctor Strange. But that was no longer the case.
Now, he might not be a match for someone like Doctor Strange, who had the backing of the Vishanti. Even if he could win, it would be impossible for him to ascend to a higher level.
At a higher level, in the hierarchy of the Multiverse, would the Vishanti share its power with Loki, promoting him to a Multiversal God in such a roundabout way?
Chthon would be even less likely to do so. It was entangled with Du Wa, and the confrontation between those two spanned billions of universes across the infinite Multiverse, encompassing all timelines of the past and future.
The Main Universe Loki didn't believe for a second that Chthon, while facing Du Wa's all-out assault, would generously share a portion of its dark magic to allow the Main Universe Loki to ascend to the multiversal level.
What's more, Chthon already had the Scarlet Witch. If it truly wanted to promote a subordinate, it could simply use chaos magic to control and temporarily enhance the Scarlet Witch—just like the crazed Main Universe Scarlet Witch. But even then, when faced with Du Wa's subordinates, the Scarlet Witch couldn't come up with any effective countermeasures and could only face defeat.
The two great entities of black and white magic were either on friendly terms with Du Wa or in a state of war with him. There was simply no place for the Main Universe Loki.
"Mother Earth Gaea chose the foolish Thor, and the remaining Serpent God Set has been missing for ages. It's unknown if he's even still in this Multiverse."
This meant that the path of divine power was also a dead end, unless Loki could somehow unearth the mysterious Demiurge and extract its powerful divine power to empower himself. But that was clearly impossible.
So…
"It can only be this. My own power, mischief and lies."
The Main Universe Loki stretched out his hands and grasped countless timelines.
Each timeline extended infinitely, and the moment it made contact with the Main Universe Loki, it transformed into a substance resembling the roots of the World Tree.
"He's insane! Is that guy trying to control the timelines of the nearby universes? Is that even possible? Would Du Wa allow him to do that?!"
"He's lost his mind! Although this cluster of universes isn't as important as the Alien Universe, it was definitely one of the first areas Du Wa brought under his control. To do something like this right under Du Wa's nose?! Does he really think the xenomorphs don't exist?"
A large group of Lokis stared with wide eyes.
Kid Loki even nudged the Alien Universe Loki's backside with his elbow. "I remember you came from the Alien Universe, right? Did you do something similar in the Alien Universe?"
"No. If I did that, even if Du Wa ignored me, the god of time would attack me immediately. A real god of time truly exists in the Alien Universe, and he is Du Wa's most loyal servant. That's a completely different situation from the universes with incomplete rules that you lot are from," the Alien Universe Loki said, shaking his head repeatedly.
Was he joking? Causing a ruckus with the timelines in a place like the Alien Universe? Was he looking for death?
When he had defected to the evil god Knull and led billions of Symbiotes to attack Earth, Thor had still stepped in to save his life. But if he dared to meddle with the timeline, he knew in his heart that Du Wa would absolutely not let him go.
But the Loki from the Main Universe did just that in Universe 199999, intending to capture the entire Universe 199999 system in one fell swoop.
Every Loki instinctively took a step back, crowding together with the hastily arrived, surviving employees of the Time Variance Authority. But at this moment, no one was in the mood to attack each other; all eyes were fixed on the suicidal Main Universe Loki.
Everyone was waiting, waiting for this Main Universe Loki, theoretically the strongest Loki in the Multiverse, to be blasted to bits or turned into a xenomorph for causing trouble in Du Wa's territory.
But nothing happened.
Even as the Main Universe Loki pulled countless timelines to wrap around himself, practically turning into a green tree of time, no strange transformations occurred.
"There are no life signs of a xenomorph, that's for sure. My specially developed detection magic wouldn't make such a mistake."
"No, that's under normal circumstances. He is currently bound to countless timelines. Your magic might not be able to penetrate such a massive flow. Let me try... Damn it, he's really completely normal!"
"What is Du Wa doing? How dare he let such an absurd thing happen? Damn it, maybe he's not as terrifying as the rumors in the Time Variance Authority suggest. If I had known this, I should have..."
Before he could finish his sentence, a flourishing life force erupted from within that Loki's body. Before anyone else could react, with a wet squelch, a xenomorph had already burst from his chest.
Splattering blood, mixed with fragments of internal organs and bits of flesh, exploded outwards, staining the faces and bodies of many nearby people with gore.
This Loki looked down at his own chest cavity in disbelief before collapsing to the ground on the spot.
"It's a big Multiverse; there are all kinds of Lokis. It seems we shouldn't overestimate the intelligence of every version of ourselves, because some are truly brain-dead."
The Alien Universe Loki looked grimly at the fellow who had died with his eyes wide open, then at the xenomorph, which was now squatting quietly, so docile it was unbelievable.
Every Loki cursed internally, retreating in unison to the corner of the wall, tense and drenched in sweat.
The employees of the Time Variance Authority were so frightened they could barely stand, staring in terror at the xenomorph. They knew better than anyone just how terrifying a xenomorph truly was!
It was a despair that could absolutely not be altered, an absolute, established fact.
"There's a xenomorph here, which means we are all exposed to that one's perspective, right? It's over. We finally managed to send Kronos away and prevented the xenomorphs from establishing a permanent presence in the Time Variance Authority, and now, in the blink of an eye..."
"You idiot, what's there to be coy about now? Just say Du Wa's name directly; he definitely knows what's happening here anyway! No need to deceive ourselves anymore. Besides, I suspect that even if you call him the God of Xenomorphs, or refer to him using certain specific words in your mind, he can still perceive it."
Everyone present turned pale as ash, their faces twisting in fear. They nervously rubbed their chests, terrified that one might pop out of them without warning.
The xenomorph's arrival was too fast. Even setting up magical defense and divine power blockades in advance was useless; they were not enough to match the multiversal-level Du Wa. After a successful parasitism, the speed of the chestburst was also too exaggerated. It could seize the host's genes in an instant, rapidly extracting enough nutrients to complete the chestburst.
As Du Wa improved himself, the xenomorphs themselves also improved in sync.
But the question was... why was the Main Universe Loki, who was so recklessly courting death, still perfectly fine? This xenomorph was just squatting right here, facing the Main Universe Loki's position. It was impossible for Du Wa not to see!
"I'll tell you the reason. It's because this is what he wanted me to do."
The Main Universe Loki slowly opened his eyes. His entire being looked like a person with a plant-like form, with green timelines bulging on the surface of his skin like blood vessels.
*Crack!*
He actively tore off the timelines on his body and walked out.
"Are you Loki now, or a xenomorph?"
"I am me, not anyone else. I have figured out many things, but the one thing I haven't understood is what Du Wa wants to get from me."
The Main Universe Loki scrutinized the xenomorph. After studying it for a long while and confirming it would not respond to him, he turned to the other Lokis. "Now, it's time for you all to contribute to me. I didn't rescue you to be your savior."
Everyone stared at the Main Universe Loki.
The Main Universe Loki revealed a cold smile. The part of him that was Old Loki, full of madness and evil, surged at this moment. He suddenly reached out, and countless green timelines grew out from his body, merging into the body of every Loki present.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Are these timelines? How did you do that? I don't understand at all!"
"It's fine if you don't understand. It's not like I had any hope that you inferior lot would understand my meaning anyway... Except for my Alien Universe self, who has a bit of a brain. The rest of you aren't worth a second glance from me. You should feel honored to now serve as a part to supplement the Lies."
Individuals originating from the Main Universe are, in most cases, the strongest individuals among all their counterparts in the Multiverse. Furthermore, whenever a cross-universe organization is formed, the person from the Main Universe naturally gains the trust of their variants from other universes.
A typical example is the Spider Alliance, where the other Spider-Men unconditionally trust the Superior Spider-Man from the Main Universe.
A similar situation occurs in DC Comics. The Main Universe Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman can easily sweep aside their counterparts from other universes.
Of course, someone like Golden Superman, who exists outside the scope of the regular Multiverse, is naturally a separate case.
At this moment, the Main Universe Loki finally revealed his fangs. He had summoned this motley crew because he naturally needed these guys to repay him.
"I merged with the timelines, not to control these infinite timelines and become the god of this local region of the universe. I wouldn't want a godhood like that even if it were handed to me," the Main Universe Loki said sinisterly.
To become the God of the Universe 199999 system? For such a small Minor Multiverse, even if he ascended to the highest level, he would be pitifully weak in the Main Universe, and fragile and easily defeated before Du Wa.
This was not what the Main Universe Loki pursued.
"On the primitive earth, a group of people from a tribe were gathered around a bonfire, enjoying the prey they had hunted, when thunder suddenly rumbled in the sky. A child in the tribe asked what it was. Do you know the answer he received? An adult told him that it was the God of Thunder in Asgard getting angry, striking the earth with a giant hammer, and so there was lightning and thunder."
The Main Universe Loki looked at everyone with the air of a victor. "We are all clear that this is the prototype of a myth. But if we look at it from a higher position, did the gods in Asgard exist before humanity, or did the myths created by humanity come first, and then the gods?"
"Conflating the concepts of real and false... Don't tell me you intend to..." Only the Loki from the Alien Universe reacted immediately, utterly horrified.
But how could that be possible? Just based on this guy before them, even if he was from the Main Universe, he wanted to achieve something so unbelievable?
"Hmph, among all these people, only you are barely worthy of my high regard. The help you provided me was also the greatest."
The Main Universe Loki sneered, "That's right. Everything originates from Lies! A white lie allows an ignorant child to begin to interpret the world's natural phenomena and build a so-called logical worldview. It is Lies that spark the collision of thought, it is Lies that create countless possibilities, including the gods, who are also born from Lies, because they too are naturally able to use Lies. And everything sparked by Lies is... a Story."
"You're extracting the Lies from our bodies... no, the Stories?!"
"Correct. I don't really need to build a Loki alliance. I just need you lot to provide me with the stories from different universes. As long as you help me complete the step from 0 to 1, I will complete the part from 1 to 10 myself!"
The Main Universe Loki came here not to do charity. He integrated the time of these many universes only to decisively abandon it, also because he had absolutely no desire to become the God of Stories for the Universe 199999 system.
If he was going to be one, he would be the God of Stories for the entire Multiverse, able to flip through the billions of evolutions occurring in the Multiverse as casually as reading a comic book!
This, this is...
The God of Stories!
The Lokis struggled desperately but were completely unable to break free from the Main Universe Loki's machinations. Even though many of them standing here were actually false images, having made preparations in advance for a potential betrayal, these tricks were utterly laughable in front of the Main Universe Loki.
When the Main Universe Loki finally elevated Lies into Story.
Countless instances of space-time flowed before him, and everything seemed to freeze.
"Finally willing to come out? I thought you would have appeared much earlier," Loki said, staring at the xenomorph before him.
It was the very same xenomorph that had chest-bursted from the body of a Loki.
The xenomorph's form twisted and warped, changing into the shape of Du Wa.
"The God of Stories. Although it's incomplete, I can already see a faint prototype. Tsk tsk." Du Wa sized up the Loki before him.
This was a version that had never appeared before, a Young Loki who was born twisted from the very beginning, who came to Universe 199999 to replace and surpass the Loki of Universe 199999.
But the problem was, this guy was still an incredibly long way from becoming *that* Multiverse God of Stories—the one who could casually draw a door with a marker pen, avoiding the disaster of the Beyonders destroying the Seventh Multiverse and entering the Eighth Multiverse directly.
If nothing unexpected happened, the original God of Stories would never be born. And this current God of Stories could only follow the Script meticulously set by Du Wa, forced to walk a dark path to the very end.
(end of chapter)