IM/DC Bonus Chapter 19

I appeared in front of Darkseid. It wasn’t the Darkseid I knew though, he was muscular but not overly so like a normal human. His face was handsome, almost overtly so like something you’d see on a Greek statue. Another thing that stood out was his size, easily ten feet tall, he towered above the other Darkseids I’d met and dealt with to this point.

He had to increase his size, from the divinity his body radiated I could tell he was barely holding himself together, yet at the same time it felt like he was impossible to defeat. He was an enigma of a person and it was throwing my powers out of wack trying to think of something to beat him. I could stall him and hope that the other clones could show up and help… Or I could try something really, really stupid.

Before I could, he breathed in through his nose as if smelling something before he began to speak. “This universe is too important to destroy… How unfortunate. Let your true body know that if he doesn’t invade any of my universes I won't come and end all of everything by tearing this universe apart.” I questioned him. “What makes you think you can leave?”

He laughed. “This is only a shade of my true self, even then I have to regulate how much of my strength I use otherwise I’d rip this universe to pieces.” I felt him release the seal holding in his power. My eyes widened as everything I believed about him was wrong. Not only was he the most powerful entity that had shown up, but it was only a small aspect of himself.

My suicidal plan no longer needed to be played out… Fuck… That was his shade, if destroying the universe wouldn’t unravel this entire segment of the multiverse we’d have most likely lost. He could have just blown up his shade and caused the collapse which wouldn’t have been possible to recover from or do anything about. He was dangerous, like the real me. Any threat to his real universe would end with retaliation from the shades of himself, possibly the sacrificial destruction of this universe.

He was someone the main version of me would have to watch out for in the future and like two nations, if fighting did occur the chances of mutual destruction or a pyrrhic victory would be far greater than one outright winning. I sighed that it didn’t come down to that. We were underprepared and it would have cost the main universe if he was spiteful and didn’t mind sacrificing many of the universes under his control to spite an enemy.

It was a sign from him, it was possible to live without the destruction of the other. Perhaps in the future, the main bodies would go to war, but right now there was no reason to. Millions of combination universes, and billions of other universes, and that number was always expanding. That meant that not every enemy had to be fought in a life-or-death struggle if you knew you’d get a bloody nose doing so.

I sigh missing out on a good fight though. I was still trying to figure out a way to deal with him without risking my life but it seems that wasn’t necessary anymore… I guess I can go deal with some of the troops the entities brought… Hopefully, some attractive ones are floating around to make it more interesting.

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Third-Person Point of View

Nekron wasn’t all that strong in the perspective of most realities. It was when the energy of multiple universes coalesced into a single mass of death that he became a true threat in terms of what he was capable of. His existence wasn’t attempting to tear the universe apart, he was trying to subsume it. Every death from a multiversal entity in a universe he was in added to his own power. The millions of beings he corrupted with his rings were now empowered up to a similar level to that of a demi-god.

He could choose not to die. A normal human could no longer look upon his visage or they’d have their soul separated from their body and fall over dead. If it was any other person they wouldn’t be able to handle Nekron, he couldn’t be slain in a normal way. A singular person, even if they were a multiversal being couldn’t handle absorbing his power into themselves.

He would corrupt them and burn through the vessel of their body in moments, even the strongest Darkseid would burn. The true form of Darkseid or perhaps the real body of the protagonist could hold the being within them, but why would they? It was too much of a risk when there were better uses. Defeating an enemy didn’t require their death.

Thankfully Nekron appeared in the universe far enough away from Earth that half of the planet didn’t die viewing his appearance. It was also far enough away that even in his gigantic form it would take a second or two to make it there… He didn’t get a chance to move though as thousands of portals opened around him. 

The protagonist had been creating clones of himself to not only explore different universes and build their strength but also to safeguard this universe. They weren’t as strong, but their numbers were far more vast. While a singular person or thing couldn’t survive becoming a vessel, what about one hundred? One thousand? How many would it take, how thin did Nekron need to be spread to not burn up the people attempting to become his vessels?

Well, that was a hard question to answer but the sheer millions of galactic enforcers created were more than enough. They also had backup death lanterns to fill. One moment Nekron appeared, the next he felt his power being siphoned off into the lanterns. At first dozens, then hundreds. Each was strong enough to store the power of multiple multiverses worth of death energy.

Siphoning him in this way weakened him dramatically but he was still far beyond a single person. Just like his counterpart in the Life Entity, he could be classified as the Death Entity. He needed someone to give up his body to function within the universe. He got around this by becoming so strong he could make a body out of death energy to puppet but that original weakness was still there.

Anyone who offered their body could become the vessel for Nekron, and that’s what happened. Millions of clones offered their bodies to house the entity. Nekron felt his being begin to rip and tear into small fractions of his power. The collective death energy from multiple universes could be utilized to fuel the usage of the new death lantern rings to help protect those universes.

On top of that the death energy the clones absorbed would go a long way in making them stronger, they were already some of the most powerful beings in the universe, but now they could use that energy even without a death ring from the original death stone Thanos had created. 

All those years ago, something so small as the creation of a single stone that became a core aspect of the new lantern rings the protagonist used developed the system to house the Death Entity known as Nekron and his power would fuel the rings to protect multiple universes now instead of snuffing out the life in those universes. It was poetic that death energy would now be used to preserve life through its protection.