Chapter 258: Parasitism, Xenomorph, Doomsday, and... a System Freeze
Quantum Batman watched seriously as the silently charging Doomsday approached. Even though his emotions were greatly suppressed, they were not entirely gone. A sense of surprise still arose in Quantum Batman's heart.
A power that no Multiversal Deity could take lightly lost its effect against this particular Doomsday in a matter of moments.
But Quantum Batman still acted. He didn't attack Doomsday directly—that would be suicide. He moved to clean up the omnipresent Spores.
Not Starro's Spores, but Doomsday's.
That's right, this first Doomsday of the Multiverse also possessed the ability to create and separate Spores. Just like Starro, even if Doomsday encountered an incredibly terrifying Deity and was killed, it could, in theory, resurrect from any single spore in an even more powerful form.
Strictly speaking, all high-level Doomsdays more or less possessed the ability to create Spores.
"The situation is now clear. Starro must have scattered Spores in other Universes, and a portion of those Spores were 'coincidentally' discovered by Doomsday. Coupled with the tampered-with Hell Armor, as well as the intervention of powers like the Main Universe's Darkseid and Alexander Luthor, it resulted in Doomsday appearing before us," Quantum Batman quickly analyzed.
He knew, with even greater clarity, that Du Wa would have deduced everything he had, only much faster.
The key was, what did Du Wa plan to do? Doomsday was already charging straight for them.
"Hahaha, Du Wa, how do you plan to deal with a Monster like this?!"
Alexander Luthor completely dropped the pretense, soaring into the sky and entering Space. Vast amounts of divine lightning crackled around him, like twinkling stars in the night sky.
On Earth, many people were watching this guy.
In Kahndaq, Black Adam, the King who possessed the power of six gods, raised his head and coldly watched Alexander's performance. In the end, however, he did nothing. Faced with the reality that Xenomorphs were appearing all over Earth, Black Adam could only carefully protect his own kingdom and sever contact with the outside world.
If even a single one of his subjects became a Xenomorph, Black Adam would expel them at the first opportunity to ensure the peace and stability of Kahndaq.
What made Black Adam feel fortunate was that as long as no one prayed to Du Wa, chanting his name to become a Xenomorph, Du Wa generally wouldn't force a large-scale Parasitism. This improved Black Adam's opinion of Du Wa immensely—because Du Wa was a powerful Deity who adhered to Principles. This was a rarity. A Multiversal-level Deity actually respecting the thoughts of Mortals.
"This guy is really courting death." Black Adam retracted his gaze and looked down, searching for the legendary Seven Deadly Sins. He planned to summon these beings, who were also Concept Gods, to act as his aides in jointly protecting Kahndaq.
"In this day and age, all life with a physical form exists in an extremely dangerous environment," Black Adam mused, sinking into thought as he sat on his throne.
"Honestly, I'm a little disappointed. After all your scheming and plotting, you guys only managed to summon this one Doomsday?" Du Wa shook his head.
A muscle in Alexander's cheek twitched violently. He roared, "I don't believe you can parasitize Doomsday! As long as Doomsday is in the Main Universe, your rule is nothing but a candle in the wind! If you can fail just once, it means you are not a perfect God, and you will surely fail a second and a third time! Du Wa, I will personally destroy the myth of invincibility you've built!"
Alexander Luthor was an extremely ferocious individual. Ever since the Flashpoint event had rebooted him, his temperament had changed drastically, becoming more radical and brutal. The extreme pride in his personality had also been magnified many times over.
This meant that when Alexander Luthor was subjected to immense pressure, he would erupt with even greater defiance. A strong sense of shame would compel him to do anything to change his passive situation.
Now, he had succeeded.
"You summoned a Monster like this to the Main Universe, so what if you defeat Du Wa? It's hard enough to even expel him! But the Main Universe will be destroyed by this Monster!"
New 52 Batman's voice, transmitted through the battered Hell Armor, rang out in furious questioning.
"Shut up! What do you know? A Batman like you, who has spent almost his entire life hiding and barely surviving in a single universe, what have you even seen? It's only with the help of so many of us that you even have the opportunity to stand here and speak to me!"
Alexander furiously berated him, "All your actions were merely to push events towards this current scene. Beyond that, you understand nothing. Now that your mission is complete, get lost!"
Alexander Luthor would never overestimate the Intelligence level of a Batman from outside the Main Universe.
Not even New 52 Batman. Alexander considered him a fool who, at this point, was completely unworthy of wasting his breath on.
"So, you desperately tried to showcase your Talent just to prove you aren't a Puppet I can casually manipulate? Alexander, has it ever occurred to you that your series of little tricks has been within my Perspective from beginning to end? Don't forget, I have countless more eyes and Brains than you," said Du Wa.
"Impossible. There were guys from other Universes involved in this Project."
"You'll find out soon enough. Doomsday is not completely unsolvable. It has a Weakness."
Watching the charging Doomsday, Du Wa had no intention of fighting it. A head-on clash would only help Doomsday evolve faster. "But this is fine. I was originally planning to do something else, getting ready to clean all of you up in one fell swoop. Now is the Opportunity."
He had already reached the Multiversal level. His main purpose for coming to the DC World had already been achieved. Before any crucial major events erupted here, such as Perpetua's escape, the appearance of The Empty Hand, Dream provoking Lucifer, or Heaven and Hell going to war, Du Wa had no intention of staying any longer.
It was time to shift his main focus back to the Marvel Multiverse. Compared to the DC World, the Marvel Multiverse didn't have something like the Source Wall.
Before leaving, he would first stabilize the situation in the DC world, establishing a relatively solid Order to prevent problems from erupting that would force Du Wa to invest a large amount of energy.
Boom!
Doomsday raised its hand and threw a punch at Du Wa.
All barriers and obstacles would instantly crumble. No matter how sublime the Power, it would be pierced by Doomsday's single punch.
"As expected of the ultimate combat Weapon. Even the future Main Universe Lex Luthor, after defecting to Perpetua and becoming an advanced combat weapon combining Earthling and Martian, would still be a step below this thing."
Du Wa felt Doomsday's evolutionary ability up close, watching the countless cells on its body jump rapidly, every gene mutating at an exaggerated speed.
However, there was a way to deal with such a Monster.
"If I can't kill you with brute force, then I'll use a more clever method," Du Wa said leisurely as he continuously retreated.
But his movements were not slow at all. He fixed his gaze directly upon the God of Knowledge.
Alexander watched Du Wa, whose expression remained unchanged, who even had the presence of mind to scrutinize Doomsday with an appreciative gaze, letting out occasional sounds of admiration. A bad feeling welled up in Alexander's heart. He shot a glare at the DCEU's Lex Luthor. "It's come to this, and what are you doing? Still clinging to that bullshit Third Plan of yours?"
"I'm different from you. Remember why I did everything I could to get the Mobius Chair from you? Luring Doomsday here, making Du Wa fail, proving that Du Wa can be defeated, proving that your intelligence is superior to Du Wa's collective intelligence... helping you scheme all this was just part of the process. My plan is the final goal."
DCEU Lex Luthor grinned and ran a hand through his messy hair, then slapped the chair beneath him. "I'll show you right now. I didn't want this chair just to possess Intelligence comparable to yours, or because of my earlier proposal to prevent you from being controlled by the Mobius Chair's reverse-thought manipulation. I truly have a perfect plan."
Lex Luthor acted. He used the chair's divine Power, which formed into gigantic hands that swiftly reached for various Planets across the Entire Universe, instantaneously filtering out Xenomorphs one by one.
At first, Alexander didn't understand. He just sneered, thinking whatever Lex was doing was meaningless, because Du Wa would surely be killed by Doomsday.
And that was indeed what happened. Du Wa was killed again and again, but he could always casually choose a Xenomorph as a Container and achieve a perfect, instantaneous Resurrection, only to actively meet Doomsday and be killed once more.
Doomsday itself was brainless. Its chaotic Thought only compelled it to strike down any Being that blocked its path, leading it to mindlessly kill Du Wa again and again.
From start to finish, Du Wa never fought back, giving Doomsday no Opportunity to evolve a counter to him or the Xenomorphs. In other words, Doomsday was constantly victorious, yet it never achieved any meaningful growth.
Everyone could see it. Du Wa seemed to be using this meaningless act to buy time for Lex Luthor...?
The ominous feeling in Alexander's heart grew stronger and stronger. After seeing Lex Luthor's actions, he immediately understood everything.
"Fuck, this is your fucking plan??" Alexander's eyes widened as he roared in disbelief.
Lex Luthor was having Xenomorphs parasitize other Xenomorphs. After countless Xenomorphs had mutually parasitized and chestbursted, then chestbursted in batches again and again until only one remained, Luthor implemented the Core Command he had given the Mobius Chair. The chair produced a genetic combination Formula that had already been deduced countless times.
"That's right, this is my plan. Using Xenomorphs to parasitize Xenomorphs, an endless cycle, like a snake devouring its own tail... Don't you think this Monster I'm creating with my own hands is far better than the one you and your group indirectly produced?"
As Lex Luthor accelerated the Parasitism cycle, like a Master Weaver of Xenomorph Fate carefully weaving genetic code, he spoke to himself, "Every one of you, in essence, failed to resist Du Wa. You realized you had no way out, that if you didn't do something, you could only wait to be parasitized by Du Wa. That's why, intentionally or not, without any detailed consultation, you all acted with tacit understanding through a series of actions."
"And you? Using a Xenomorph to deal with the God of Xenomorphs? What the hell is wrong with your brain? Or are you confident you can create a Xenomorph that will betray the God of Xenomorphs?"
For the first time, Alexander felt like his brain wasn't enough. "Du Wa is a Concept God, not some damn Species Leader!"
A Leader can be backstabbed by his kind, but a Concept God cannot. Otherwise, they wouldn't be a Concept God in the true sense of the word.
Yet Lex Luthor was doing something extremely irrational, and he was doing it using the Mobius Chair, relying on a frenzied Computation backed by a sea of knowledge.
"You're wrong again," Du Wa said slowly. "He never intended to stand on your side. He chose me."
"What?"
"What else? My Third Plan was to take my most prized Creative Idea, use Du Wa's Power to realize it, and smoothly defect to Du Wa! Remember what I told you? I said I would eliminate the Threat of Du Wa. By completely surrendering to Du Wa, it means I will no longer be threatened by him, so my greatest objective has been achieved. I'm different from you. I don't need to risk everything just to prove I have the Talent to trip up a Deity." Lex Luthor let out a series of strange laughs, like a man gloating after telling a colossal lie.
Du Wa's expression was completely casual from beginning to end, showing no sign of surprise. The Main Universe's Lex Luthor was capable of defecting to Perpetua and serving her loyally. The DCEU's Lex Luthor joining his Faction at the last moment didn't surprise him much at all.
But Alexander Luthor was about to die from rage. Terrifying divine Power shot from his eyes, aimed at killing Lex Luthor. But as the God of Knowledge, Lex Luthor was, at the very least, a Deity. He easily bypassed Alexander Luthor's divine Power.
"Success. This is my gift to you. Please forgive my offensive behavior towards you a while ago." Lex Luthor was more polite than anyone, letting out a neurotic laugh. "No matter how many times you fail, you can always make a comeback. The Xenomorph is the Future. I decided to take a gamble."
"You made the right choice. This is good. Otherwise, I was planning on taking the Mobius Chair and doing it myself," Du Wa said, his words sending a chill down Lex Luthor's spine.
In an instant, Du Wa deployed this special Xenomorph—one that encompassed the pinnacle of knowledge and was caught in a high-speed cycle—onto Doomsday.
Doomsday made no move to defend itself and took the hit head-on.
Just as Du Wa had initially predicted, any act of Parasitism would ultimately serve as a catalyst for Doomsday to evolve an anti-parasitism ability.
However, this Xenomorph was, in essence, born for the sole purpose of Parasitism itself. It possessed, in theory, the maximum possible parasitic efficiency. As long as it didn't encounter a Being beyond its specifications, it could parasitize anything.
And so, when immunity to Parasitism met maximum parasitic efficiency within a specific tier...
For the first time, Doomsday gave an unusual response. It stopped, seemingly "confused."
It evolved. It evolved the ability to be immune to Parasitism.
But this required an extremely brief evolutionary process. This short gap was seized by the Xenomorph larva. It acquired Doomsday's infinite evolution Gene and evolved the ability to be immune to Doomsday's immunity to Parasitism.
Doomsday immediately made a targeted evolution, evolving the ability to be immune to the ability that was immune to Doomsday's immunity to Parasitism...
Under Du Wa's appreciative gaze, this first Doomsday—a creature that theoretically possessed infinite evolutionary capability, a being that made even the Ancient Existences frown... had a System Freeze.
(end of chapter)