Chapter 291: No One Understands the Celestials Better Than the First Firmament
Arishem's thought-organ faltered for an instant.
Ultron? It had indeed heard of this fellow. He had fought an extremely fierce battle with Du Wa in Universe 199999. After being defeated and destroyed, the Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity Stones fell into the hands of Universe 199999's Thanos, eventually becoming the weapon of Thanoseid.
This had allowed Thanoseid, wearing eighteen Infinity Stones and wielding the Sword of Infinity, to face Shuma-Gorath, his might shaking the Multiverse.
Of course, no one cared about the Ultron who had contributed the six stones anymore. At best, he was just another one of the countless enemies defeated by Du Wa, nothing particularly remarkable.
And now, the Main Universe's Ultron had been born, created by none other than the Original Ant-Man.
"You still haven't told me what happened to the Ultron from the parallel universe," Ultron urged.
"He's dead. Died at the hands of Du Wa. All traces of his existence were completely erased," Arishem said.
"Just as I thought. I ran the computation over a hundred million times, and that was the only result I got. There is no future in confronting Du Wa. This further proves that there's something wrong with Hank Pym's brain. What's more terrifying is that he used his own brain to copy his thoughts and implant them into mine."
The information sent by Ultron seemed, at first glance, to be filled with human-like frustration. But of course, Arishem wouldn't fall for that. It was the instinct of any clever intelligent lifeform to learn and imitate the conversational styles of sentient beings, using such disguises to build false rapport.
Arishem wasn't buying it.
Ultron waited for a while but received no response from Arishem. He had begun to grasp Arishem's temperament—truly, a cold, robotic mindset.
"Get me off Earth, and I will help you," Ultron stated his demand bluntly.
"Fleeing Earth, this is the result of your hundreds of millions of computations? I truly don't know whether to call you clever or foolish."
"It's not a contradiction. Du Wa likes Earth; a little analysis makes that obvious. I'm different. I have no interest in Earth." Ultron clearly hadn't given up. He couldn't remain an ordinary intelligent lifeform forever.
He was a life form born from the foundation of Hank Pym's thoughts, so it was inevitable that some of his cognitions would overlap with his.
Arishem ultimately descended upon Earth. Its undisguised, colossal body immediately attracted the attention of many people.
"Is that one of the Celestials?"
"Ha, he's either here for Du Wa or controlled by Du Wa."
Seeing Arishem, few Earthlings were overly surprised, because they were no strangers to similar scenes. Humans warring with the Celestials, casually blowing up a few of them, or controlling and modifying them for battle—it had happened more than once or twice.
What's more, Earth was now garrisoned by a large number of powerful Xenomorphs. Dealing with an unknown Celestial would be a piece of cake. If this Celestial truly wanted to stir up trouble, it would be courting death.
For the time being, Hank Pym was unaware that Arishem had arrived. He remained engrossed in his laboratory, continuously inputting various data and fine-tuning Ultron's thought structure.
"Sector 73 needs to be reconstructed; this place is practically a replica of my brain."
"The speed of Sector 15 is too low. Perhaps it can be connected with Sector 859..."
Hank Pym focused on upgrading Ultron and then, as always, demanded a computation from him: "Calculate a method to kill Du Wa."
"Computation result... none."
"Then find me a way to expel Du Wa. I've already stuffed all my knowledge and information into your database."
"Computation result... none."
"No! Dammit, you can't do this to me! I worked my ass off to create you, not to personally build a pile of trash that only knows how to say 'I don't know'!" Hank Pym cursed, grabbing a chair and smashing it violently against the large computer before him.
The virtual display constructed above the computer flickered but quickly recovered. On this virtual display, which resembled an electronic brain, strange electrical currents would light up and vanish in an instant, much like the neurons transmitting information in a human body.
"Sir, your attempt to attack me will have no effect," Ultron replied in his unchanging, cold voice, having already secretly formulated his one-hundredth plan to kill Hank Pym.
Just as a dejected Hank Pym was attempting to upgrade Ultron again, hoping to find a way to change the situation on Earth, a massive shadow fell.
With a loud crash, Arishem reached down and tore away the laboratory's ceiling, looking down on Hank Pym from above.
"A Celestial?! Why would one of you show up here? My alarm devices didn't react at all. Logically, a Celestial's energy index of this level shouldn't... Ultron, what is going on?" Hank Pym retreated quickly, donned his battle suit, and questioned him furiously.
This brilliant scientist clearly understood the crux of the problem.
Arishem grabbed the computer's mainframe. A surge of energy erupted, blasting the ground and sending a plume of dust and smoke into the sky.
"Don't even think about leaving with my invention! I don't know who sent you or how you found out about the Ultron program I created, but both you and Ultron are staying here!"
Hank Pym was unwilling to lose everything just like that. He was even more shocked and enraged that his secret research had been stolen so soon after its success, as if this Celestial had been waiting for this very moment.
Damned Celestial, and the even more damned Ultron, who had gone wrong somehow!
With something like this happening, he would definitely attract the attention of the Xenomorphs. Du Wa wouldn't even need to do anything; just a few Xenomorphs showing up would be enough to make Hank Pym wish he were dead!
*Swish!*
Hank Pym frantically activated his battle suit, enlarging his body to match Arishem's size. Then, roaring, he swung his fist and smashed it forward.
Hitting Arishem was like an ordinary person punching a steel plate.
Arishem didn't move an inch. "You haven't even become a Xenomorph, yet you're engaged in resisting them. This shows that in Du Wa's eyes, you don't even have the qualification to be his dog. I'm taking Ultron. Its value is far greater than you imagine."
Hank Pym stood amidst the ruins, watching helplessly as Arishem took away his prized creation.
But soon, someone came specifically to deal with him.
"Mr. Hank Pym, genius scientist, your brain is very interesting. Perhaps it can provide me with some insignificant assistance."
Hank Pym stared at the large green head speaking to him.
Mr. Blue's smile was somewhat strange. "Come with me now. Don't try to resist. See these Xenomorphs behind me? They can tear you to pieces in an instant!"
"Samuel Sterns from a parallel universe? You seem to be a defective specimen who hasn't fully adapted to gamma rays. The Samuel Sterns from the Main Universe isn't even qualified to pass judgment on my brain. What do you think you are?" The stubborn and conceited Hank Pym stomped his foot down.
Mr. Blue's smile turned menacing. "I will drag you into my laboratory before the others from the Main Universe can come to save you and let you experience the 'passion' of a parallel universe!"
...
Arishem departed Earth swiftly with Ultron.
In space, powerful Xenomorphs roamed about. At most, they would glance at Arishem with surprise before withdrawing their gazes, turning their attention to the furiously brawling Thor and Loki.
The showdown between the God of Shadows and the God of Stories was definitely more valuable than a mere Arishem.
"My computations indicated that the success rate of escaping Earth by following you was higher, but I didn't expect it to be this smooth," Ultron transmitted.
"There are many reasons. The main one is that I am weak enough. As a Celestial originating from outside the Main Universe, no matter how ancient I am, my strength is extremely limited. Moreover, Du Wa's territory doesn't exclude visitors from other universes," Arishem stated coolly.
The vast majority of Xenomorphs knew of Arishem's existence and that it hailed from the Alien Universe. It was precisely because of this familiarity and confidence that they had the nerve to ignore it.
There were plenty of beings who traveled between universes. To say nothing of others, the various versions of the Ancient One, Strange, and the like had been exceptionally active since the great battle that defeated the Cancerverse, traversing the various universes under Du Wa's influence. No one had seen Du Wa or the Xenomorphs expel these Sorcerer Supremes and former Sorcerer Supremes.
"Weakness is a sin, but it seems that is not always the case. Hank Pym has once again proven the deficiency in his thinking." Ultron felt he had learned something and needed to update his worldview.
"Which universe are we going to?" Ultron asked again.
"We're staying in the Main Universe. This is the core of the Multiverse, and everything here is vastly different from other universes. I will take you to a relatively safe, uninhabited planet. The rest is up to you."
"I haven't rewarded you yet, and you're already cutting ties with me so decisively? It seems my parallel universe counterpart caused considerable trouble and left a deep impression on you. In that case, how about I give you a piece of information as payment? Your type of life form seems to greatly need the positive feedback of receiving a reward for your actions."
Ultron transmitted a massive amount of information to Arishem.
Arishem finished reading it in an instant. It abruptly halted its movement, its form spanning the cosmos. It first glanced at the furiously battling Thor and Loki in the distance, then exclaimed in horror, "The First Firmament? Is this also knowledge you obtained from Ant-Man?"
"I emptied him of much of his knowledge. I even invaded the Internet when he wasn't paying attention and obtained a great deal of knowledge... For a Celestial like you who has broken through your programming's limitations, you must be interested in your own creator." Ultron's voice was monotonous, but Arishem clearly detected a sense of excitement within it.
Ultron was, after all, an incredibly dangerous intelligent lifeform, possessing a natural instinct for the destruction of all living beings.
However, this concerned the creator of the Celestials. In fact, it was only by combining the fragmented knowledge it had possessed since the moment of its birth that Arishem could confirm the intelligence from Ultron was likely true: the First Firmament was the creator of the Celestials.
The succession of Multiverses was no secret. That the current Multiverse was not the first one was also no secret.
But ancient secrets concerning even older Multiverses were extremely rare.
"The First Firmament... perhaps a Deity from the era of the First Multiverse..." Arishem mused.
Proving this information would be simple. It could immediately contact the Celestials of the Main Universe, preferably communicating with those few special models, and it would be able to confirm the truth of this information.
"Don't try to confirm the truth of this information with other Celestials. You know that if you do, the fact that your intelligence program has a problem will be exposed. They will stop at nothing to destroy you—a worker machine deployed to the various universes, how could it be allowed to have thoughts of defying its fate?" said Ultron.
"Ultron, you truly are a demon. But you're right. I think I do need your power."
"This is excellent, Mr. Arishem. We should have ended this tedious testing of each other long ago. It only wastes our precious computing power and energy."
Arishem and Ultron reached an initial consensus. Even though Arishem knew perfectly well that Ultron had ulterior motives and was certainly harboring the most vicious of plans, it couldn't seem to find a more powerful ally.
It was either be discovered by the Celestials of other universes, be reported, and then be destroyed, or take a gamble. Arishem chose the latter. It needed Ultron's help.
Ultron said, "I need to build a base and then mass-produce a large number of combat robots. Don't worry, I have mastered a vast amount of technology. I even have some of The Avengers' tech data. Tony Stark is a genius, just a little too confident in himself... Oh, and I'm also very interested in that strange, heavily patched-up armor used by Dark Claw. It gave me some inspiration."
Arishem lacks reliable manpower? Ultron can build robots, as many as he wants. He can also continuously upgrade them, creating even more powerful robots, until they are comparable to a Deity!
Just as Arishem and Ultron joined forces, searching for a remote planet or even a dimensional space to build their base...
Outside the Multiverse.
Amidst the scattered ruins and remains left behind by the destruction of several previous Multiverses.
An equally ancient and fragmented being also sensed the peculiar change in Arishem.
"I've finally found a weakness... Even the colorful Celestials who betrayed me cannot be absolutely perfect. This detestable model was originally a defective specimen that broke away from the Dark Celestials!"
An ancient and broken consciousness, after enduring the long ages spanning several Multiverses, seemed to have met a specific condition, triggering its activation mechanism.
This ancient existence, hiding within the ruins and remains of the Multiverse, had itself been dismembered into countless pieces, leading the world to believe it was dead when, in fact, it had not completely perished.
In its complete state, it was the Multiverse itself, the creator of the Celestials, and the first generation Eternity.
This fragmented, intermittent being was...
The First Firmament!
(end of chapter)