202 You Are Irrelevant III
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Chapter 195: You Are Irrelevant III
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Ian didn't stop. Every part of Nekron that isn't already dust had to face its destiny, and with Ian's speed, Nekron became dust in minutes, unable to contend at all... It's just that... The universe also became dust.
"That... It's quite hard to control," Ian provided his first excuse for accidentally destroying the universe, and followed with a better one, "To be fair, I just saved the universe, didn't I?"
I guess that makes sense. Nekron would've certainly turned the universe into a death zone, so Ian saved the universe by destroying it.
His attention was stolen by his staff. There was a reason he attacked Nekron with it first, devouring the embodiment of Death's energy.
"The Eight Vessel is finally completed. Only two more to go." Ian noted with a satisfied smile.
[First Vessel: Kryptonian energies (Red, Green, gold, black, Platinium)]
[Second Vessel: Forever Force]
[Third Vessel: Holy Light and darkness]
[Fourth Vessel: Perfect Magic and Mystic energies]
[Fifth Vessel: Perfect Divinity (Redirection)]
[Sixth Vessel: Force Of Evolution]
[Seventh Vessel: Energy of all that is psychic mixed with bits of the Anti-life equation]
[Eight Vessel: White Light Of Life & Black Light Of Death (All emotions)]
He had acquired the black light of Death. Long ago, he would've assumed he wouldn't need such a thing considering his power is literally Death immunity, but it quickly became clear to him that it's very different.
And through his new find control over Death and Life, Ian revived someone. He waved his hand, bringing out a coffin from his dimension, that of Billion Dollar Bates.
Those old pieces of bones within the coffin were that of the only person have control over the Anti-Life equation, and it took only a burst of life and death energy to bring him back only to die again a second later.
"Thanks." Ian was certainly grateful. The guy not only came back to life to hand Ian a gift, but he also allowed Ian into his mind to study all of his memories. Not just that, he gracefully died again once he fulfilled his destiny.
Ian blinked twice, in the process of comprehending the complexity of the equation. Slowly, a series of fiery, inscrutable alien symbols and glyphs started flapping around Ian like a bunch of cute butterflies.
These cute little things were the ban of life. The Anti-Life Equation has the power to dominate the will of any sentient race in addition to reality-altering powers that twist and distort freedom over life and death.
It derives its name from the fact that if someone possesses absolute control over you, you're not really alive.
"loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding ⋅ guilt ⋅ shame ⋅ failure ⋅ judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side."
Words came out of Ian's mouth, yet he didn't speak. Those words were deadly. Luckily for life, there was no life or universe around him, so no one was affected.
Ian was actually very merciful, destroying a universe so they don't have to live under the control of the Anti-Life equation.
"Dark side... Darkseid." Ian murmured, feeling the slow alteration of his psyche. The Rose of psych has just evolved many times beyond what it was before.
Ian basically gained cosmic awareness, meaning his psych is capable of detecting most things throughout a single universe. Well, he has a plan to elevate that to a multiversal level.
Ian closed his eyes, freely floating in space. He zoned out as Dr. Manhattan noted.
He didn't interrupt. Instead, he was also lost in thought, "What'll happen if I explore the depths of the negative energy of the multiverse?"
Dr. Manhattan was curious because his power comes from the positive side of the universe, so he wondered how far he can go. He started right away by closing his eyes and dozing off, quite odd, isn't it?
Ian, on the other hand, was exploring his own soul, getting an understanding of his own self.
It was a door that only opened to him after evolving his psyche to such a degree, and that door led to a very interesting place... A place akin to a universe.
"What the fuck is happening?" Ian frowned, sensing everything throughout his soul. He first sensed something akin to an outer layer, a curtain isolating his soul.
Next came a vast clear space, leading to the inner layer. What puzzled him was what's within the inner layer, his true soul, one could say.
Within it was a vast dark space, a broken expanse of nothing but darkness. Ian, however, was able to sense something akin to a black hole in the center.
Upon further investigation, Ian concluded it was a dark planet, a broken planet. The oddest thing was that the vast expanse wasn't broken in a literal sense. No, it felt like a broken mirror.
And even as he observed it, Ian could feel the Death mirror expanse constantly shattering, and somewhat recovering.
"Is this the source of my power?" Ian wondered with a frown. The more he thought about it, the more likely it was. It was already established that something was trying to kill him at all times, and this expanse was shattering at all times. He could see a correlation there.
He explored it more but found nothing. It was seemingly an infinite expanse of darkness with only one dark planet within.
'It feels like a mirror dimension, and its job is simply to reflect things... Like reflecting my Death... But wait,' Slowly but surely, things started coming together in Ian's mind.
His mind, accelerated by the Forever force came to the most likely possibility, "My power is damaged. That's why it's rare for Death to be reflected on my assailant. Those who try to kill me rarely die due to that specific action, meaning the reflection is incomplete."
The constant shattering of the Death mirror expanse as he named it in his mind; was a clear sign that his power is flawed.
A perfect mirror reflects things perfectly. When photons, rays of light, coming from an object strike the smooth surface of a mirror, they bounce back at the same angle. Your eyes, thus, see these reflected photons as a mirror image.
The Death mirror dimension is obviously flawed because it breaks instead of reflecting things. It still saves his life, but it's not perfect, and it's certainly not perfectly under control.
"Is this some kind of power system I have never heard of? Whatever I was, I came from there. I reincarnated in my previous world, then traversed here through some odd circumstances.
Either I had a confrontation with something or some things, thus leaving me in a dear state of which I'm recovering... Or," Ian narrowed his eyes, finding the second possibility to be much more likely.
"However, that possibility only applies if my real personality is the same as my current one because only such a kind personality can receive such a charitable donation."
He drifted throughout the Death mirror dimension, making sure he didn't miss anything. His thoughts were also drifting about, contemplating all possibilities.
Once Ian got enough of exploring his own soul, he opened his eyes to a surprising scenery. Dr. Manhattan was looking a bit different as he played around with what appeared to be a dark mist.
His eyes were entirely dark, giving an ominous vibe, but he returned to normal as soon as Ian woke up. He wasn't necessarily trying to hide it because Ian saw it clearly, but didn't question him.
"Discovered anything new?" Dr. Manhattan asked.
"Yup, the thing that's constantly trying to kill me. It's slowing down my recovery. I definitely had a past I don't know about, and it likely knows something about it... I'm very confusing." Ian murmured absent-mindedly.
"You are." Dr. Manhattan agreed, feeling his curiosity burning brighter than ever.
"Come to think of it, where is Darkseid?" Ian wondered to himself, knowing that Dr. Manhattan won't answer such a question. Such a low-grade being wasn't worth being spoken about.
But Ian was curious because there was no Darkseid in this universe, or there was, but he vanished not long ago, seemingly expecting his arrival... It made him wonder, what is the embodiment of evil planning?
