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Chapter 193: You Are Irrelevant I

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All of the endless came to that same conclusion. Ian and Dr. Manhattan were two sides of the same coin, both monsters the likes of which the world have never been seen before.

"I'm dying," Ian stated with his arms crossed, eyeing the horrifying Nekron before him.

"Someone or something is trying to kill you." Dr. Manhattan agreed, "And it seems to be happening outside of time and space... Outside of the known multiverse and perhaps even the omniverse."

The Omniverse, also referred to as the greater Omniverse or Overvoid, is the embodiment of Existence itself and is the collection of every Multiverse, universe and dimension that ever came to exist, actually exists, and will ever exist in the future.

It was one of the things Ian discussed with Dr. Manhattan for a while in one of their debates. Why? Because Dr. Manhattan is a being from a completely different multiverse.

That means that the monstrosity that is Dr. Manhattan had traveled from an entirely different multiverse to another and even passed through the Source wall, a barrier surrounding the multiverse.

So it was safe to say that he knows a lot, and Ian certainly learned a lot from him.

Dr. Manhattan was lost in thought for a while before concluding, "Yes, I'm certain that there is something outside of the Omniverse. Perhaps there are other Omniverses, bigger worlds."

That's really all Dr. Manhattan needed. He just wanted to know if there is something bigger out there, if there is a vaster world for him to explore. 

He simply wanted his curiosity to burn bright again because his nature drove him further and further from that.

"And I am from out there." Ian nodded, remembering where he came from. He came from a world where this Multiverse is but a story, yet here it is, real and clear.

Ian was very sure he wasn't from that world. Despite it feeling like the origin of all things, he felt like it was a mirage. He had Death immunity since his birth. 

And recently, after he acquired the energy of fear, he came to realize fears he had that seemed to have followed him from past lives. 

Not just that, the most damming of evidence were memories he didn't experience in this life. 

Those memories were mostly vague, odd sceneries and words but never something that told him something conclusive. 

He felt like he was going through a mind-fuck, but he felt much better as of recently as if all the terrible things he's doing were lifting his mood, or perhaps he just felt like he was close to attaining the answers he seek.

"Half of Nekron's growth comes from the dying universe. The other half comes from another variable... Me." Ian noted.

"I do not think it's due to your Death Force. Your control of it is perfect. It must be because of your constant death..." Dr. Manhattan added.

"And my constant Death is equal or greater than that of the entire universe." Ian continued in his stead. It was a horrifying thought, truly.

"The balance is also leaning to your side as you get stronger, almost like the value of your Death is going up... Your nature is very confusing." Well, then it must be incomprehensible if even Dr. Manhattan said it's confusing.

"I have a theory," Ian murmured as he stroked his chin, going into deep thought, "But first, let me try an experiment of mine, or fetch out something out of its hiding hole I should say."

Ian took a step, traversing the vast space of the realm of the unliving, a step was more than enough to take him to Nekron.

The being of Death was still lying dormant, looking as colossal as the moon, and Ian was simply wanting to wake it up for breakfast, so he extended his right hand as his eyes lit up yellow.

His arm movement gave birth to a construct, a colossal yellow projection of his entire arm, seeming as immense as Nekron's head. 

It was a construct of fear that Ian used to slap Nekron. He slapped the monstrosity right in the cheek, waking it up from its sleep.

A collision that immense almost broke the entity of death's skull, and it certainly caused enough destruction to leave the realm of the unliving in ruins.

"Neptune," Ian murmured and his wishes were instantly met, appearing in Neptune again.

Yet even though they're realms apart, Ian still heard Nekron's roar. No, everyone heard it. Nekron woke up and chose violence.

The only thing stopping it from bringing destruction upon the world was the fact that the realm of the unliving is its prison as much as it's a home, but Ian's actions changed that.

Nekron became so unbelievably strong that it easily crawled itself out of its realm, getting a view of the world, an almost completely dead world.

So if Ian didn't bring enough death to this universe, Nekron brought more, seeking to turn the entire universe into its realm, a realm of the dead.

Ian merely watched as Nekron harvested the souls of the living until the living were no more. Only one last thing was left, and that's the Arch-Nemesis of Death, the entity of life.

The Entity is the living embodiment of the White Light of Creation that gave birth to all living things in the universe. It is one of the two most fundamental aspects of the cosmos, Life, along with its direct counterpart Nekron, Death.

So naturally, they're enemies, and they want nothing more than to extinguish each other. 

Unfortunately, Nekron grew to become a monstrosity so far above the Entity in terms of power that the latter has no chance at all. 

Moreover, the dwindling life in the Universe further weakened the Entity, leaving it as nothing but a lamb for slaughter. It hid in the cracks of life for so long, but It can't anymore.

And only once it appeared did Ian introduce himself to the equation, standing between the Entity and Nekron.

A clear indicator of how weak was the Entity was its appearance, an entirely milky creature akin to an alien baby with wings.

That same baby found itself almost entirely destroyed as Ian nailed it with his staff.

"You're very good at hiding, I noticed. I couldn't find you in the prime universe no matter how much I tried, and even the Guardians lost contact with you... You hid long enough." 

The Entity was an annoyance to Ian, hiding in the cracks of life, a place Ian couldn't reach before, but finally, he attained what he wanted.

All it took was for the staff of all things to devour a single speck of the white light of life. 

The Eight Vessel started evolving, every emotion started mixing together, and soon all that was left was the light he sought for so long.

Ian even used the Forever Force to accelerate the process to the point that just about a split second passed since he appeared, but that was enough for Nekron's scythe to almost reach him.

Ian lifted his hand high, giving manifestation to a grand white shield, stopping the scythe in its tracks, "Grand Cannon." What followed was a white world destroying cannon manifesting above Ian, and shooting a moment later.

Soon, more and more cannons continued to emerge as Ian kept blocking Nekron's attacks. Ian constructed more and more weapons, all devastating Nekron at the same time, but the latter wasn't without resistance.

The unliving started rising. All of the dead, both those that fell by Nekron's hand and Ian's plague. From Superman to Lex Luthor, all rose from the ground and joined the battle, well, only those capable joined.

And well, Ian used them as practice targets to get perfect control of his newly found power, and well, there is another force to get right before him, isn't that right?