บท 206: CHAPTER 202

While Draul was having a repressed revelation about everything that constituted every aspect of the universe, in some corners of the universe alliances and discords were being made by Gods, Cosmics and Demons.

"Now then, what sayest thou? Freedom in my service or peace in imprisonment?" The eerie voice once again asked the prisoner buried deep within the heart of a forgotten planet.

"I bow before no one… I serve no one… I alone am God. I am the darkness that was before light was birthed. I am the multiverse in its purest form; sickening black of infinite. I alone am TRUE!" The planet boomed out a voice that darkened all the stars and suns of the nearby galaxies.

He was a forgotten one – The True Primearch, The First Darkness, He who Slumbers in the Void – he was no dark fiend, no no no… he prevailed darkness.

Way before time was conceived had he prowled through infinite void and conquered all its nefarious denizens. He had ruled unhindered, unmatched and unopposed… until they came.

The Sixth Firmament was destroyed and with its destruction came the multiverse into existence which then disturbed his serenity. They came with their multicolored armors and destroyed his home and shone their accursed light on his domain.

He had drunk their essence, had decapitated them and sent them running to the farthest reaches of the multiverse. He had ripped out their spine, or its equivalent, and carved his throne with it, their heart his weapon.

He has ruled once, and he will rule again… and he serves no one. The planet quieted down from his rubbing while the writhing mass of black receded into obscurity.

…

"Hohoho! So, so many, and just for a little game. I wonder who will want to play next? The little dark bud will soon bloom so everybody's scampering about. How uncivilized." In a white and black checkered room, a figure whose smile easily stretched towered the ends of his lips could be seen watching different parts of a particular universe and a few parts of the wider universe.

On each scene was a depiction of many events, both past, present and future alike. Some were against two armies, one of heroes while the others of an army of destruction fighting over a stone-embedded gauntlet.

Some were against the same group of people and an army of shadows that crawled from their fears and nightmares.

Others were fights amidst the defenders themselves – turning on each other as they had their arms out.

His eyes scanned all instances and alternates, possibilities were an even factor in his sights, the war going on at different universes but his eyes mostly remained on one – The Blind Idiot's.

"Hey Wade. What do you think would be a good climax to the story? Unfortunately, maybe not though, I can't change the end of this particular story since the end isn't set in stone. But what do you think will be the 'Oomph' moment?" He asked no one in particular before frowning in distaste. He grabbed what looked to be a swirl of lights and broke it with his hands.

"Great! Another universe gone at the hands of a psychopath. What the fuck is seriously wrong with you? I'm the epitome of everything psychotic but you don't see me destroying a universe do you?" A voice screamed in the white checkered room though no other body was in sight save the watcher.

"We both know, fully well at that, that the reason you say so is because you simply do not have the power to do as I." The figure simply said, not at all bothered by the tone of his unseen conversation partner. "Tch. Damned Celestials. Always looking for trouble and spoiling all the fun." He said with extreme disgust.

"Yeah, tell me 'bout it. If I was them, first thing I'd get rid of is that damned universe of zombies, like what in Ryan Reynolds name is that? I blame the big red guy though, with his Optimus Prime looking ass." And the voice went on a tirade of curse and swears, venting a frustration no one knew he ever had. "On the topic of 'random fucked up things people with power do', mind beaming me down there with the whole package? I feel like me and Draul are gonna be the best of buds, I can feel it in my… ghost? It's a match made in darkness." The volume of the voice got lower while the tone got softer as he tried cajoling the being seated to sending him back to Earth, a particular version of it.

"Yeah, fuck no. You'll spoil the entire thing if you went down there and I can't have you doing that. I'll consider when all the cards are on the table." The figure had wanted to straight up deny his company's words at first but a few seconds of pondering on it made him reconsider.

"So you really are not going to do anything?" Came the question that sapped every good mood out of the watcher.

"I would but there are too many known and unknown factors involved. The Celestials, Knull, The Ultimate Gods, The Other One, Tribunal, The Abstracts, maybe even the motherfucking Beyonder… *sigh* It's a clusterfuck I tell you." The figure slumped back into nothingness as he released an irritated breath. "This is the problem with all-powerful beings; they get too attached to new toys."

They both fell silent for a while, limiting themselves to only watching the multiverse go on and getting their entertainment from there.

"… Cap do got a nice ass though, just sayin'." The other voice silently commented, not that it escaped the ears of his roommate.

"Hey Wade, how about we play a game. You win and I give you back your body and send you on your merry way." The voice suddenly said as he soon grew bored of watching the chaos of the multiverse.

"Deal! Wait, what's the catch? Uncle Ben taught me never to make shady deals."

The figure rolled his eyes with exaggerated sarcasm at the words of his tenant. "No strings attached. Well there is one though; you'll have to win at least forty percent of the total numbers of games played."

"…"

"Righhht! You're lucky I don't have my blades with me or else they'll be going up whatever shit hole you have!"

The voice just sighed in disappointment at the fact that he won't be playing his games anytime soon. I mean it's not his fault he's that good is it?

'I guess we'll never know.'

…

[Draul St. Cross POV]

Having transcended all definable concepts in this universe and also embodying all aspects of it and also usurping its concept of Infinity, it would suffice to say that the universe was just another organ in my body, one of the important ones at that. But that was just the beginning.

Based on what I saw, the authority of Infinity gave me a whole lot of avenues to continue growing stronger but those avenues came with its lot of problems.

Infinity.

Even among Abstracts, Infinity could be said to rank among the highest and me basically taking away the concept of Infinity in this universe by all rights had set me against her.

And not only did I steal Infinity from the universe, I also stole Space, Time, Reality, Power, Soul and Mind away from the universe and mine it wholly mine. This also meant Eternity, Death, Lord Chaos and Master Order would most likely have it out for me and it was only time, which ironically I didn't have enough of even though I was time itself, that would tell how long it would be before I confronted these entities. And then there was Galactus and the Cthulhu Mythos to worry about.

Why couldn't the early writers of Marvel make a clear and precise connection between the Cthulhu Mythos and their multiverse rather than the vague references they made.

Talking about the Lovecraft mythology, the Nightmare I've seen for the second time is no doubt one of the Ultimate Gods, who in fact are just the collective parts of a whole. Meaning it is almost impossible to kill them, scratch that – it is outright impossible to kill any of them. They have long surpassed Death and what any of what the Abstract Entities could entail.

The Nightmare based on his titles which I was only able to comprehend after I completed my evolution was none other than Yog-Sothoth.

I wasn't an ardent reader of the Lovecraftian books but I knew which of these things were not to be fucked with.

If we were to take both Azathoth and The One Above All into the equation and also the Outerverse as a whole verse in and of itself, then it could be said that one of the oldest beings in existence throughout all and every type of reality is Azathoth – The Blind Idiot God – whose dream created the fulcrum for reality to spin into existence.

In other words, Azathoth was the first darkness, at least when it came to the Marvel-verse and it was his formless dream that caused darkness to permeate outward and created the first spark of Reality.

The darkness came before the light, that was a universal fact and it was from this darkness that beings like the Elder Gods, Primordial Darkness, the Firmaments came forth.

And since everything needed to go back to something, the creations that spewed from these beings created the Abstract Entities. Things like Death, Chaos, Order, Infinity, Eternity, Oblivion, Queen of Nevers and the likes came to be; Entities created from the limitations of both mortal and immortal beings.

But just like the True Void, all these things were parts and pieces of a collective consciousness that reigned above all – The One Above All. He was the culmination of everything in the Marvel-verse and the sum total and multiplication of every living being and entity in this multiverse. He is supreme in existence and might.

A boundless being. One who exists above all definable concepts and ideas, the facet of all things in and of itself. No being in the Marvel-verse could ever hope to contend with him because he supersedes them in existence.

A counterclaim to this fact could be made about the Pre-Retcon Beyonder but there were many explanations to that. He could also be a boundless being that entered the Marvel-verse but that also brings the question whether there is such a thing as true omnipotence.

All this begs the question: who came first?

The universes were created by the Celestials after the separation/death of the First Firmament which created the multiverse and Elder Gods were said to come from the Great Darkness which existed before creation itself. Are the Abstracts then a byproduct of the people that came after or…

Got it.

Someone already rewrote the entire Marvel-verse in their own image to a point where the starting point no longer exists, turning it into an endless loop of not knowing which came first.

Guess the omniscience I have achieved couldn't actually comprehend the entire multiverse.

I should kick things up a notch, wouldn't want to be caught lacking now would I?

The deal with the Nightmares and the Abstracts can chill for a while until they decide to get up in my face or I'm comfortably strong enough to seek them out.

I could see it all. Every star, every past, every lie, every truth… I was everywhere.. I was all.

A feeling like this could not be reciprocated. It could not be faked. This omnipresence and omnipotence was not something any singular Infinity Stone could make me feel.

'I guess I finally leveled up big.'

I opened my hand and in it was a beating light, softly thumping like a heart.

A sun. In my palms.

Seeing the numerous stars and the vast darkness, I held the small star between my fingers and created a black canvas with small white dots before placing it in the middle.

…

Multiple galaxy systems in the middle of nowhere, a sun suddenly materialized out of thin air and huge amounts of cosmic energy, blowing all the nearby satellites and asteroids away, generating its own gravitational pull and pulling the nearby celestial bodies, the ones that weren't obliterated in its creation, towards its newly generated orbit.