"Fuck, I feel like I was hit by a truck," I muttered, grimacing as a sharp pain radiated through my chest. The ground beneath was coarse and unsettlingly warm, like red sand baked under an alien sun. Struggling to my feet, I winced and rubbed at my chest, every movent sending small waves of pain through my body.
As my senses gradually ca into focus, I glanced around, trying to make sense of where I was. The landscape was barren, stretching endlessly under a blood-red sky. The sand shimred faintly as if imbued with so kind of energy.
Then I saw him.
Standing several feet away was a figure that didn't belong here, or anywhere. His skin was an unearthly shade of blue, glowing faintly as if he were a living beacon. His presence exuded power, a calm and terrifying kind of authority that demanded attention.
I froze. My instincts scread at to scan him, but... nothing. My ability to analyze and transform hit a wall, like throwing pebbles at a steel fortress. That could only an one thing: this being was high outerversal, far beyond what I could comprehend or replicate.
Fine. If I couldn't scan him completely, I could still try a mini-scan. A focused attempt to at least get a sense of his abilities. Narrowing my eyes, I scanned him, and the feedback I got made my heart skip a beat.
Crisis Energy.
The energy felt chaotic and raw, yet controlled. It seed to be a fusion of the Speed Force and other mysterious powers I had been seeking. This wasn't just so powerful entity; this was sothing entirely different.
"You..." I began, my voice faltering for a mont. "Are you The Presence?"
I couldn't help but stare in awe. Was I truly standing before the pinnacle of power? The ultimate being?
The blue figure tilted his head slightly, his glowing eyes eting mine. His expression was blank, devoid of any human emotion. "No," he said, his tone flat and steady. "From my understanding, I am called Doctor Manhattan."
Doctor Manhattan? The na didn't ring a bell, it wasn't what I was expecting.
Disappointnt crept into my chest. I had hoped to et The Presence, the supposed god above gods. Instead, I was here, speaking to... soone else.
"Oh," I said, struggling to hide my letdown. "So... what do you want with ?"
"I was preparing to leave this taverse," he said, his voice calm but detached, "when I noticed sothing new."
"taverse?" I frowned. "You an Omniverse?"
"No," he said, shaking his head slightly. "An Omniverse would encompass everything, Marvel, DC, and beyond. A taverse is a step below that."
I nodded slowly, absorbing this new information. His explanation felt logical, though it didn't ease the unease brewing in my chest.
"I exist everywhere, all at once," he continued. "Past, present, and future... it is how I perceive existence. But the future is dark. Again."
"Again?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "And why would it be dark? Did I... adapt to block people from seeing it? But if you exist in all tis, how can that even happen?"
Doctor Manhattan remained silent for a mont, his expression unreadable. "It is a long story," he said finally, his tone dismissive. "One that is not important right now. Suffice it to say, I have reset this verse before. But this ti, the darkness has a root cause I can identify."
"And that is?" I asked, frowning.
"You," he said simply.
The single word caused a question mark to appear above my mind. My mind raced, struggling to process the information. "?" I echoed, my voice quieter now.
"Yes," he said, as calm as ever. "Sothing is coming after you."
I took so ti to think, trying to figure out who would be after . "What... what's coming?"
"I can't tell you," he replied, shaking his head. "If I were to tell you, how would I know the answer to tell you? Even I am bound by strings, controlled by forces greater than myself."
"So, what's coming after ? Any hints?" I asked. The blue figure paused, seemingly lost in thought, before shaking his head. His refusal to answer deepened my frown.
"Then what's the point of telling this?" I snapped, irritation slipping into my tone. "You can't just drop a bombshell like that and expect to figure everything out on my own."
His silence lingered for a mont before he finally spoke. "It's not from DC. It's the reason DC and Marvel beca aware of each other."
The revelation froze in place. My thoughts raced. Who could it be? Then it clicked, Rob. He had to be after my templates. But could he actually take them from ?
"Well," I said, determination settling over like armor, "looks like I need to get stronger if I'm going to deal with that. So, tell , are we allies?"
For a fleeting mont, I saw sothing unexpected flash in Doctor Manhattan's eyes. Fear.
"Yes," he replied, his voice as flat and emotionless as ever, but the brief glimpse of fear stayed with . My mind reeled. What could possibly scare soone as detached and powerful as him?
"If you seek strength," he continued, "your first step should be to obtain power unconnected to that being."
More cryptic hints. My eyes narrowed as suspicion crept in. Did he know about the templates? Regardless, I nodded, already plotting how I could harness Crisis energy.
I opened my mouth to press him further, but before I could utter a word, he vanished, leaving standing in silence.
With a shrug, I turned and began my journey back to Earth. Whatever lay ahead, I would be ready.
***
"You're not back here for round two, right?" Rogue asked, narrowing her eyes as I suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Round two?" I repeated, tilting my head. "Oh, I must've gone berserk or sothing while fighting Thor. My bad. In that state, I do enjoy a good life-and-death battle, so I might've gone a little overboard." My tone was indifferent, which only seed to frustrate so of them further. The scale of the battle I'd caused had nearly thrown the multiverse into chaos,
after all.
"I've got to get going," I added casually, brushing off their tension. "I just got word that soone powerful is coming after , so I need to get stronger." My mind wandered briefly to the challenge ahead. How on earth could I possibly reach High Outerversal? What even was High Outerversal? First, let's break it down. Starting with Mid Outerversal, also commonly referred to simply as Outerversal. Yes, I should go over the basics. Outerversal (also known as 1-A): Characters and objects that exist in higher states of being, beyond all material composition, are definitively classified as Outerversal. These beings are entirely unreachable, their superiority grounded in the intrinsic nature of their existence rather than any quantitative comparison.
To clarify, lower tiers are essentially constructs derived from lesser dinsions. A four- dinsional spaceti continuum, for example, might qualify as Low Multiverse level at best. However, an inaccessible cardinal encompassing such spacetis firmly resides within the High Hyperverse level. Despite the vast difference in scale, both the entities and their constructs belong to the sa qualitative state of being.
Structures like the Von Neumann Universe are just unions of smaller elents.
In stark contrast, an Outerversal being or realm completely transcends all of this. Their superiority isn't rely additive or hierarchical, it's fundantal. Lesser states of existence are rendered utterly irrelevant in comparison.
Now, High Outerversal, that was sothing else entirely. It was as close as one could get to being truly all-powerful, an unfathomable gap that I had already experienced firsthand. Doctor Manhattan had taken out in a single shot without giving the slightest chance to
fight back.
High Outerversal: This tier represents entities that completely surpass 1-A characters, much like 1-A beings dominate everything beneath them. Within 1-A, there are layers governed by specific "algorithms." High 1-A beings transcend even these layers, operating on a superior
ta-frawork.
While 1-A represents qualitative superiority, High 1-A embodies "ta-qualitative" superiority, establishing hierarchies that stretch infinitely into higher dinsions of
existence.
Above even this was the Boundless tier, a realm occupied by the creators of this universe and Marvel itself. That level of power was beyond my concern for now. One step at a ti.
For now, my focus was clear: I needed to harness Crisis Energy.
"Your actions are not sothing you can just brush off," Superman said, his tone heavy with seriousness. "The scale of damage you could have inflicted wasn't small."
I dismissed his words with a lazy wave. "I could have just turned back ti or released everyone's soul from Hell, considering I'm the Lord of Hell," I said as if it were the most
obvious thing in the world.
"... Lucifer is the Lord of Hell... right?" Rogue interjected her expression a mix of confusion
and disbelief.
"Nope, that's now," I replied with a casual shrug. "Or should I say, the God of Hell? Oh, that reminds ... Zeus. I keep forgetting about him. Maybe I should conquer the Sphere of the Gods next." I rubbed my chin thoughtfully, already plotting my next steps. Before anyone could respond, the Fates materialized, their presence sudden and dramatic. "Great idea, Father of the Heavens. Only you are worthy of such a task!" Their voices dripped with exaggerated reverence, their flattery reaching comical heights.
I blinked, caught off guard. "R-really?" I stamred. Admittedly, I wasn't used to such praise, but it was oddly satisfying. Their words were like honey to my ears. "Wait, wait, wait!" Rogue shouted, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Why is everything moving so fast? One mont the multiverse is in danger, and now this? Slow
down! I can't keep up!"
"What do you an?" I asked, genuinely puzzled. "This is life. Things happen." I shrugged nonchalantly. These comic book types always loved their slow, dramatic build-ups. But in reality? Life didn't wait for anyone. It just... happened.
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