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Chapter 200: You Are Irrelevant VIII

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The Imps were no contender. Hell, he could just leave, but he wanted to see it, and he did. Ian saw the fifth dimension crumble upon itself in an infinitely tiny timespan that he was barely able to comprehend what took place.

"Hmm, what have I just done?" Ian mumbled as he found himself in a blank space, the vacuum between universes.

"You have created some kind of paradox. You broke the rules that aren't supposed to be broken." Dr. Manhattan finally showed himself beside Ian.

"The fifth dimension wasn't equipped to handle that, I guess," Ian noted. The only reason he was alive was because of the time barrier he created around him.

Ian closed his eyes, spreading his cosmic awareness as far as it can go. The combination of psychic powers, the anti-life equation, and the collective unconscious elevated his senses near those of Dr. Mnhattan.

"That's amusing." Ian murmured, seeming a bit annoyed, "I genuinely had no interest in you. You're irrelevant, yet you sought my ire yourself? Tell me you wanna die without telling me you wanna die."

Ian shook his head, seeming more so bothered than anything else. A smile soon emerged on his pale face as he sensed something, "Lovely, well done."

His team finally completed the task he handed them, and they even drove the Batman who laughs insane if that's even possible. 

Well, Harley was mostly the one responsible for that as she left some amusing notes whenever she went. Whatever they were, they made him mad.

"Hello," Ian said with a sweet smile, his voice almost making the individual before him jump from his seat in fright.

The man was seated on a white floating throne, adorned in a black uniform with several glowing white lines over it. 

Ian's cosmic awareness detected him from universes apart, finding him in Earth Prime, and most interestingly, he was in New Genesis, or where New Genesis was at least.

He was just watching the remains of what was once his home when the very person responsible for its destruction appeared.

Metron, one of the greatest minds of New Genesis. He is a New God explorer who seeks scientific knowledge in the further corners of existence with the aid of the universal-traveling vehicle the Mobius Chair.

And his next words very much proved his intellect, "Y-you want the Mobius Chair?"

"Yup." Ian nodded before adding, "Just for a second."

Metron knew better than to deny Ian's request. Even if he wanted the chair forever, he'd still comply. That was enough to signify Ian's scariness to those who know, especially considering the value of the chair.

The Mobius Chair is a time-space/dimensional vehicle which allows one to travel and observe the universe. Its most significant role is containing the knowledge of almost everything within the Multiverse.

It was just a small possibility, but Ian still tried it. He took a seat, and asked, "What am I?"

[Unknown]

"Huh..." Somehow, that word sounded very ominous to Ian. It especially sounded very familiar as if he had heard it from someone very specific.

The word unknown is not very uncommon, so he wondered why it took him so long to hear it, and for it to trigger his memory.

Ian stood up, knowing that asking more questions is just a waste of time. Instead, he made his way to a certain dimension where he sensed a very familiar soul.

"Diana..." Ian asked, finding Wonder Woman herself tied to dark chains in a twisted place, 'Unconscious, and something is being absorbed out of her.'

His presence triggered the emergence of numerous twisted creatures, fitting the theme of the place. 

Some looked like orange baby monsters with massive heads and fangs. Others looked very humanoid with transparent skin. They were a bit naughty with their revealing skin, showing all of their internal organs. It made Ian blush.

They are The Otherkind, a race of magical monsters that dwell in the Other Place, the source of all the horrific, evil, and twisted magic in the multiverse.

Ian knew about them, and he realized what they are the moment he sensed them. That meant another thing, the ruler of this space is about to show itself.

So he waved his hand, bringing Diana out of her chains. He held her in his arms as he turned around to face a face, literally.

It was a very pale face with numerous wrinkles but only one single human-like feature, a mouth. Its mouth was very wide with long spikey teeth. 

Its ears were nothing like a human's, just a large gap on each side of its face. 

The creature's mouth was in the right place, but only if we take out the fact that it's upside-down, meaning its mouth is in its eyes area. However, it doesn't have eyes or a nose.

The name of the creature was the Upside-Down Man because it's Upside-down all the time. It's the lord of the Otherkind, an all-powerful being of horror and reflections of all dark and twisted possibilities of magic.

The Upside Down Man was formed when creation gave birth to Magic. The magic in its raw form eventually turned into a bright light that formed Hecate, the first magical being. 

As she was formed from the light, the Upside-Down Man was formed from the darkness, in the Other Place. Frightened by his presence, Hecate created a barrier to hide the Upside-Down Man away, not wanting her beautiful realm to be tainted by horror.

"Hey," Ian nodded as a kind smile emerged on his face, "You okay? I can fix you."

"Unfixed is better... Want me to unfix you?" The Upside-Down Man asked in return.

"Hmm, you don't know much about me, do you?" Ian smiled before turning his attention to Diana. He seemed unafraid, especially since the monster is right beside him.

"Let me fix her first," Ian spoke as magic flowed out of his hand, diving into Diana's chest. His magic illustrated a magical mark, and his reality warping changed how it works.

"How?" The Upside-Down Man asked with confusion, "The Mark Of Hecate is difficult to manipulate, let alone change its properties."

"Is that what you were trying to do? To awaken the mark, granting her the powers of your enemy to defeat your enemy?" Ian asked as his energy of life enveloped her, bringing her out of her sleep.

"Yes." The Upside-Down Man twisted his head as he responded. He was even making distance from Ian, becoming cautious.

"Hecate is the goddess of magic, but even she suffered under betrayal. Paranoid that the humans would betray or strike at her again, Hecate divided her power into five pieces and stored them in five human girls for safekeeping. 

These girls would never learn of this power, and each time one of them died, the power would be implanted in a new girl until Hecate would come to collect."

The Upside-Down Man charitably let Ian knows of Hecate's history, and even made it clearer just in case, "She'll come for the flesh in your hand sooner or later... Sooner I presume."

"So that's why..." The words heard were those of Diana. She was still in Ian's arms, feeling a bit light-headed, mostly because of the Mark of Hecate.

Ian just made all of that power in the Mark her own, and she was finding it quite hard to adapt considering the monstrous strength of Hecate.

"Thank you," Diana let out a gentle smile at Ian. It wasn't even that long since he left considering he played a lot with time. He might spend months out, but to them, it was just about three weeks.

"Have you gotten complacent? How did this cute thing catch you," Ian asked with curiosity.

"Huh?" Diana was understandably confused as she eyed the Upside-Down Man, "Cute? And isn't this thing an evil being, one of the strongest beings. I remember we figured that out before falling into its trap."

"It's..." Ian contemplated it for a bit before giving an odd question, "I feel like I had a pet like that at some point in time."

Just as Diana was about to respond to his weird question, still not realizing the odd situation they were in, having a conversation in the domain of evil; someone appeared.

"Oh For Christ's Sake! What a Fooking fucked up day this is!" His words broke the previous serenity in the air, yup it was...

"Is that a good way to talk to a friend, Constantine?" Ian said with an amused smile.

"When it's you, hell yes!" And with that, Constantine saw himself out with a speed faster than that of light, breaking his previous record by far.