Reading settings
Chapter 536: Cataclysm of Destruction
Under the dazzling lights, five corpses were neatly arranged.
Their muscles were swollen, and even in death, one could faintly sense a powerful aura emanating from their purple skin.
"Let me see just what you're plotting..."
Tony's expression was grim as he looked down at the five corpses of Thanos.
The "you," of course, did not refer to Thanos, but to Death.
A regular Thanos was nothing to worry about. Tony had more than enough power to kill him, even if he was resurrected countless times.
But what that schemer, Death, was planning—that was what Tony needed to be concerned about.
Across countless universes, no matter which version of Thanos's trajectory, the faint shadow of Death could always be seen behind him.
Tony wouldn't believe for a second that there wasn't a reason behind all this.
"This isn't something the Editorial Department alone can explain," Tony said, his face flickering between light and shadow.
The Editorial Department could secretly influence a multiversal being like Thanos, but they could never influence a god like Death. Otherwise, they'd be courting death, exposing themselves in minutes, and having Death hunt them down and slaughter them all.
"Let me see what secrets you hold."
Tony reached out and grabbed one of the corpses. With a slight exertion of force, the body immediately floated up as countless Allspark particles seeped into it, meticulously analyzing every one of Thanos's secrets.
The secrets of this creation of the Celestials, a descendant of the Eternals, a genetic mutant of the Titan Eternals, were thoroughly torn open by Tony.
When one thought about it carefully, the birth of Thanos was an extremely bizarre result. The reason the Eternals were called Eternals was that they possessed a perfect gene chain, born with a predetermined, complete set of possibilities, forming a closed yet infinitely diverse life form.
Yet, the first lady of Titan had given birth to a purple-skinned freak like Thanos.
An almost impossible product of genetic mutation.
A perfect being giving birth to a genetic mutant? Was that possible?
If it were possible, could the Eternals still be called Eternals? Would a creation of the Celestials be such a failure?
Tony once suspected that the first lady of Titan had cheated on her husband with a Kree, which resulted in the birth of that purple potato-head, Thanos. After all, the Kree had once attacked the remnants of the Eternals who fled Earth and single-handedly created the war weapon known as the Inhumans.
But what Tony was seeing now dispelled this strange idea.
Thanos was indeed a member of the Titan Eternals, a descendant of the Eternals.
That locked, perfectly cyclical genetic structure had an extremely complex genetic code, a code far more intricate than the X-gene of Mutants.
"Mutants are distant relatives or descendants of the Deviants, inheriting only a small amount of uncontrollable mutated genes, so it's understandable that they're easy to study... but Thanos, a descendant of the Eternals..."
Tony's brow furrowed deeply.
As he delved deeper, Tony brutally cracked every minute code within the corpse, forcefully breaking them open to analyze their structure before immediately attacking the next segment of the genetic code.
The layered, star-like structure, which seemed to be in an infinite, closed loop, had almost locked off all possibilities beyond this perfect circle.
An individual life would follow the rules set by the Celestials, and within this wonderful cycle, from the predetermined facts formed by countless genetic combinations, it would find its own unique path of evolution.
The Eternals still had infinite possibilities, but they faithfully adhered to the evolutionary path that had been artificially set for their race long ago.
For instance, if the evolutionary path of primates was towards humans, it would be impossible for them to suddenly evolve into a new creature formed from a monkey, a gorilla, a bird, and a snake.
Uncontrollable mutation was a characteristic of the Deviants. Just as some Mutants' appearances change drastically after their powers awaken—like gaining tails, horns, extra arms, or mutated pupils.
But Thanos was an anomaly, a mutant among the perfect Eternals who broke the program set by the ancient Celestials, becoming that unbelievable outlier, a living virus existing within order.
"Death tampered with Thanos's soul, interfering with his birth by using the soul to influence reality."
After examining all five bodies, Tony came to a conclusion.
For ordinary life, the body (a fertilized egg) comes first. When the body develops to a certain point, consciousness and a soul will emerge. Tony had understood this long ago; the so-called concept of reincarnation simply didn't exist.
Reincarnation was a fundamentally false proposition. Or rather, before Death, who held dominion over the authority of death, reincarnation was impossible for ordinary life—unless Death herself acted.
Excluding special cases involving certain powerhouses, Death had altered Thanos's soul and then cast it into the vast multiverse, allowing countless purple-skinned Titan Eternals to be born and to grow.
Some versions of Thanos had violent personalities, some were so weak they couldn't even defeat an ordinary human, and some were more rational but might have off-the-charts combat power...
"Does Death want to single-handedly create a Singular God?"
Tony pondered for a moment before dismissing the idea. The birth of a Singular God was not so simple. Just think about himself. Tony's own status as a Singular God involved too many coincidences, the personal intervention of writers and editors from the Editorial Department, and the accumulation of unique items, all of which barely allowed him to achieve ascension and completely erase the countless doppelgangers of himself across parallel universes.
Number One had already laid all the groundwork; Tony had just screwed over Number One in the final stage and seized the fruits of his labor.
"Making Thanos seek death, be killed, be studied, constantly resurrected across parallel universes..."
Tony mused, his expression gradually darkening. The Allspark bloomed with light, illuminating his very self as Tony examined everything about his being, both body and soul.
But there was nothing abnormal. The Plot Gem on his chest firmly concealed all information about him, hiding him completely.
Yet, spots of rust had quietly appeared on the black luster of the Plot Gem. Strands of intermingled willpower from Death and Thanos lay dormant, waiting for a specific moment to erupt.
"A perfect-level mutation cycle is truly Death's most supreme creation, a powerful weapon that can be infinitely replicated."
"Death doesn't need to recruit me, because she has Thanos. Just having Thanos constantly sent to his death is enough."
He remembered what Death had once said to him: "You will come begging me."
Tony slowly looked up, a ferocious grin spreading across his face.
"You want this Thanos to become a quasi-unique individual, a being who can seize a portion of the fruits of my uniqueness at a critical moment? Like Superman's doppelgangers—special individuals like Golden Superman and Silver Superman who can contend with a Singular God?"
"Don't even think about it! I wouldn't be called Tony if I didn't screw you over!"
A monstrous malevolence surged forth. Tony's face was cold. After a pause, he directly wiped the mark off the Plot Gem, but the gem's existence had already been exposed.
A thick death energy lingered. After he had killed Thanos several times, Death had taken notice of him. She couldn't be fooled by anything related to endings or death.
Tony summoned Shockwave and ordered, "I'll be making a trip to an alternate universe soon to establish a Grand Universe Proving Ground and personally oversee the implementation of the Doomsday project. As for these five corpses, chop them up and feed them to the dogs... on second thought, Wangcai and Cosmo might not eat them. Just send them to the laboratory. You can study them however you like."
"Oh, and when Thanos comes again, don't kill him. Capture him alive and imprison him. Lock him on the planet closest to the sun and have a Prime guard him."
"Killing him will dirty our hands."
"Have the science academy figure out the Speed Force technology as soon as possible and find a way to connect to the Speed Force Prison."
"Some little bitches and bastards have their eyes on me. If they really dare to interfere when I'm ascending to Level Seven, I'll show them what the Cataclysm of Destruction truly is!"
(end of chapter)
Under the dazzling lights, five corpses were neatly arranged.
Their muscles were swollen, and even in death, one could faintly sense a powerful aura emanating from their purple skin.
"Let me see just what you're plotting..."
Tony's expression was grim as he looked down at the five corpses of Thanos.
The "you," of course, did not refer to Thanos, but to Death.
A regular Thanos was nothing to worry about. Tony had more than enough power to kill him, even if he was resurrected countless times.
But what that schemer, Death, was planning—that was what Tony needed to be concerned about.
Across countless universes, no matter which version of Thanos's trajectory, the faint shadow of Death could always be seen behind him.
Tony wouldn't believe for a second that there wasn't a reason behind all this.
"This isn't something the Editorial Department alone can explain," Tony said, his face flickering between light and shadow.
The Editorial Department could secretly influence a multiversal being like Thanos, but they could never influence a god like Death. Otherwise, they'd be courting death, exposing themselves in minutes, and having Death hunt them down and slaughter them all.
"Let me see what secrets you hold."
Tony reached out and grabbed one of the corpses. With a slight exertion of force, the body immediately floated up as countless Allspark particles seeped into it, meticulously analyzing every one of Thanos's secrets.
The secrets of this creation of the Celestials, a descendant of the Eternals, a genetic mutant of the Titan Eternals, were thoroughly torn open by Tony.
When one thought about it carefully, the birth of Thanos was an extremely bizarre result. The reason the Eternals were called Eternals was that they possessed a perfect gene chain, born with a predetermined, complete set of possibilities, forming a closed yet infinitely diverse life form.
Yet, the first lady of Titan had given birth to a purple-skinned freak like Thanos.
An almost impossible product of genetic mutation.
A perfect being giving birth to a genetic mutant? Was that possible?
If it were possible, could the Eternals still be called Eternals? Would a creation of the Celestials be such a failure?
Tony once suspected that the first lady of Titan had cheated on her husband with a Kree, which resulted in the birth of that purple potato-head, Thanos. After all, the Kree had once attacked the remnants of the Eternals who fled Earth and single-handedly created the war weapon known as the Inhumans.
But what Tony was seeing now dispelled this strange idea.
Thanos was indeed a member of the Titan Eternals, a descendant of the Eternals.
That locked, perfectly cyclical genetic structure had an extremely complex genetic code, a code far more intricate than the X-gene of Mutants.
"Mutants are distant relatives or descendants of the Deviants, inheriting only a small amount of uncontrollable mutated genes, so it's understandable that they're easy to study... but Thanos, a descendant of the Eternals..."
Tony's brow furrowed deeply.
As he delved deeper, Tony brutally cracked every minute code within the corpse, forcefully breaking them open to analyze their structure before immediately attacking the next segment of the genetic code.
The layered, star-like structure, which seemed to be in an infinite, closed loop, had almost locked off all possibilities beyond this perfect circle.
An individual life would follow the rules set by the Celestials, and within this wonderful cycle, from the predetermined facts formed by countless genetic combinations, it would find its own unique path of evolution.
The Eternals still had infinite possibilities, but they faithfully adhered to the evolutionary path that had been artificially set for their race long ago.
For instance, if the evolutionary path of primates was towards humans, it would be impossible for them to suddenly evolve into a new creature formed from a monkey, a gorilla, a bird, and a snake.
Uncontrollable mutation was a characteristic of the Deviants. Just as some Mutants' appearances change drastically after their powers awaken—like gaining tails, horns, extra arms, or mutated pupils.
But Thanos was an anomaly, a mutant among the perfect Eternals who broke the program set by the ancient Celestials, becoming that unbelievable outlier, a living virus existing within order.
"Death tampered with Thanos's soul, interfering with his birth by using the soul to influence reality."
After examining all five bodies, Tony came to a conclusion.
For ordinary life, the body (a fertilized egg) comes first. When the body develops to a certain point, consciousness and a soul will emerge. Tony had understood this long ago; the so-called concept of reincarnation simply didn't exist.
Reincarnation was a fundamentally false proposition. Or rather, before Death, who held dominion over the authority of death, reincarnation was impossible for ordinary life—unless Death herself acted.
Excluding special cases involving certain powerhouses, Death had altered Thanos's soul and then cast it into the vast multiverse, allowing countless purple-skinned Titan Eternals to be born and to grow.
Some versions of Thanos had violent personalities, some were so weak they couldn't even defeat an ordinary human, and some were more rational but might have off-the-charts combat power...
"Does Death want to single-handedly create a Singular God?"
Tony pondered for a moment before dismissing the idea. The birth of a Singular God was not so simple. Just think about himself. Tony's own status as a Singular God involved too many coincidences, the personal intervention of writers and editors from the Editorial Department, and the accumulation of unique items, all of which barely allowed him to achieve ascension and completely erase the countless doppelgangers of himself across parallel universes.
Number One had already laid all the groundwork; Tony had just screwed over Number One in the final stage and seized the fruits of his labor.
"Making Thanos seek death, be killed, be studied, constantly resurrected across parallel universes..."
Tony mused, his expression gradually darkening. The Allspark bloomed with light, illuminating his very self as Tony examined everything about his being, both body and soul.
But there was nothing abnormal. The Plot Gem on his chest firmly concealed all information about him, hiding him completely.
Yet, spots of rust had quietly appeared on the black luster of the Plot Gem. Strands of intermingled willpower from Death and Thanos lay dormant, waiting for a specific moment to erupt.
"A perfect-level mutation cycle is truly Death's most supreme creation, a powerful weapon that can be infinitely replicated."
"Death doesn't need to recruit me, because she has Thanos. Just having Thanos constantly sent to his death is enough."
He remembered what Death had once said to him: "You will come begging me."
Tony slowly looked up, a ferocious grin spreading across his face.
"You want this Thanos to become a quasi-unique individual, a being who can seize a portion of the fruits of my uniqueness at a critical moment? Like Superman's doppelgangers—special individuals like Golden Superman and Silver Superman who can contend with a Singular God?"
"Don't even think about it! I wouldn't be called Tony if I didn't screw you over!"
A monstrous malevolence surged forth. Tony's face was cold. After a pause, he directly wiped the mark off the Plot Gem, but the gem's existence had already been exposed.
A thick death energy lingered. After he had killed Thanos several times, Death had taken notice of him. She couldn't be fooled by anything related to endings or death.
Tony summoned Shockwave and ordered, "I'll be making a trip to an alternate universe soon to establish a Grand Universe Proving Ground and personally oversee the implementation of the Doomsday project. As for these five corpses, chop them up and feed them to the dogs... on second thought, Wangcai and Cosmo might not eat them. Just send them to the laboratory. You can study them however you like."
"Oh, and when Thanos comes again, don't kill him. Capture him alive and imprison him. Lock him on the planet closest to the sun and have a Prime guard him."
"Killing him will dirty our hands."
"Have the science academy figure out the Speed Force technology as soon as possible and find a way to connect to the Speed Force Prison."
"Some little bitches and bastards have their eyes on me. If they really dare to interfere when I'm ascending to Level Seven, I'll show them what the Cataclysm of Destruction truly is!"
(end of chapter)
