Chapter 387
"What have you done?" Diana's voice trembled.
Her shield was completely shattered, but her eyes were brighter than ever.
Just as Hode was about to speak, an alarm suddenly tore through the silence.
A blinding white light ignited at the center of the contracting black hole; some existence beyond comprehension was awakening.
He felt the cosmic consciousness he had gained from his time with Eternity explode in his mind—that was no black hole, but a door being forcibly opened.
Bruce's voice came through the communicator, filled with unprecedented gravity, "A door leading to the abyss of the Multiverse."
Chapter 643: Red Light Swallows Everything
The existence within the white light had not yet fully awakened, but Hode already felt a chill, as if his soul were being pierced by countless ice picks.
Residual images from the cosmic consciousness lingered on his retinas—it was a colossal shadow stitched together from countless shattered dimensions, each fragment reflecting a World that had been devoured.
"Carol, take everyone back three kilometers!"
Hode's roar carried a metallic, trembling static; his seismic sensing ability, gained from his time with Daisy, allowed him to perceive the spatial structure collapsing with the black hole at its center.
"Diana, use your Speed Force bracelets—"
"This isn't the Speed Force!" Diana suddenly interrupted him, the Lasso of Truth pulled taut in her palm, "This is... some higher-dimensional entropy phenomenon."
She flicked her wrist, and the lasso transformed into a golden vortex, enveloping everyone, but the dark matter that should have been repelled instead proliferated wildly along the edges of the vortex.
Wanda suddenly let out a painful muffled groan, her Chaos Magic overflowing uncontrollably.
Hode saw the magical patterns on the back of her neck growing in reverse, creeping up her cheeks like poison ivy.
"The space-time anchor has been corrupted..." Every word she spat out was stained with blood, "Someone is tampering with the essence of my magic!"
"705u.com-53 Reading Club" Natasha's auxiliary ship suddenly emitted a sharp alarm; the holographic projection displayed suffocating data: spatial curvature increasing by 300% per second, projected to break the critical threshold in 17 seconds.
Her fingers moved in a blur on the console, "I suggest initiating a warp jump immediately, but the coordinates will be randomly projected to the Golden Palace of Asgard."
Hode suddenly grabbed her wrist; the battlefield intuition he had gained from his time with the Valkyrie Sif led him to make a desperate decision, "Odin's Eternal Spear can temporarily fix the spatial coordinates!"
Carol's energy beams exploded against the surface of the black hole, but only caused the colossal shadow within the white light to tremble slightly.
She suddenly changed direction, her energized palm pressing against Hode's back, "Hold onto me!"
A thrust like a supernova explosion shot them toward the wreckage of the auxiliary ship; Hode felt the mechanical symbiote ability he had gained from his time with Nebulaautomatically activate, and the debris of the wreckage reorganized around him into a streamlined ship.
"Diana, use your Bracelets of Submission as a spatial anchor!" Hode's voice exploded in the communicator, "Wanda, channel your Chaos Magic into the bracelet's inscriptions—Natasha, start the warp engine!"
Diana's Bracelets of Submission and Wanda's magiccollided, sparking brilliantly, and the proliferating dark matter suddenly let out a piercing shriek.
Hode saw the ancient inscriptions of the Amazon warrioremerge on the surface of the bracelets, creating a quantum entanglement with the Chthon mark in Wanda's magic.
The auxiliary ship's wreckage twisted into a Mobius Loopwithin the warp field, wrapping the black hole in a constantly folding space bubble.
"5 seconds remaining!" Natasha's green eyes reflected the frantically ticking countdown.
Carol suddenly pushed the energy core into the engine room, the overloaded blue light illuminating the determination on her face, "Tell Fury, I have loved this Universe."
"No!" Hode felt the aerial maneuvering ability he had gained from his time with Falcon Sam allow him to make a turn that defied the laws of physics.
He grabbed Carol's arm; the Vibranium sensing ability he had gained from his time with Black Panther T'Challaallowed him to instantly locate the fatal flaw in the engine room—Loki's illusion residue was hidden there!
"It's a trap!" Hode's roar rang out simultaneously with the explosion of the engine.
The warp bubble cracked with spiderweb-like fissures under the impact of the explosion; the tentacles of the colossal shadow from the black hole pierced through the cracks, wrapping the auxiliary ship's wreckage into a cocoon.
Diana's Lasso of Truth suddenly extended automatically, wrapping around Hode and Carol's waists; the Amazonbattle cry and the Kree energy roar intertwined in the vacuum.
Wanda's Chaos Magic went completely berserk at this moment, her pupils turning a pure, scarlet red.
Hode saw a blood-colored fissure tear open in the space behind her, and countless pale arms reached out from the fissure, each palm carved with the same runes as the black arms.
"They are here..." Wanda's voice carried a dual echo, "The apostles of Dormammu..."
Natasha suddenly hurled the Soul Capture Device toward the blood-colored fissure; the precise predictive ability she had gained from her time with Hawkeye Clint allowed her to adjust the angle at the last second.
The device bounced three times on the edge of the fissure, each touch releasing sound waves of different frequencies—that was the Siren Song of Atlantis recorded when Hodewas with Mera, the Joker's laughter sneakily recorded when with Harley, and the magical resonance from practicing reverse spells with Zatanna Zatara.
The blood-colored fissure emitted an inhuman scream, and the half-extended arms suddenly carbonized into ash.
But the tentacles of the colossal shadow from the black hole seized the opportunity to pierce into the core of the auxiliary ship; Hode felt the cyborg sensing ability he had gained from his time with Victor Stone allow him to see the structure inside the tentacles—it was a Data Streamcompressed from the Death moments of countless parallel Universes!
"Diana, sever the Data Stream!" Hode concentrated stellar energy at his fingertips; the Lightning Power he had gained from his time with Shazam Billy coursed beneath his skin, "Mark the time nodes with lightning!"
Diana's longsword descended, wrapped in the thunder of Zeus; the moment the blade collided with the tentacles, Hode saw time split into countless fragments on the edge of the blade.
In one fragment, he saw himself kissing Wonder Womanon the beaches of Themyscira, her Bracelets of Submissionresonating with his stellar energy; in another fragment, Carol carried a comatose Hode as they rushed out of the Sun's core, her Energy Shield reflecting the silhouettes of the two embracing.
"Now!" Hode condensed all the time fragments into a spear of light; the willpower he had gained from his time with Green Lantern Jessica allowed the spear of light to pierce through the core of the Data Stream.
The colossal shadow of the black hole let out a deafening roar, and the tentacles began quantum tunneling under the effect of the spear of light.
Wanda suddenly regained clarity, her Chaos Magictransforming into the form of a phoenix and pouncing toward the collapsing black hole.
"In the name of love!" Her magic resonated with Hode's spear of light, and rainbow-colored ripples spread through the space between them.
Hode felt the energy resonance ability he had gained from his time with Vision reach its peak at this moment; he heard the weeping of that broken soul deep within Wanda's magic—that was the Chthon fragment trapped in the magic matrix!
"So you were the key all along..." Hode whispered into the void; the magical rune knowledge he had gained from his time with Doctor Strange Stephen surfaced automatically in his mind.
He grabbed Wanda's hand and injected Zatanna Zatara's reverse spell into her body through energy resonance... The Chthon mark suddenly began to burn in reverse, and the dark matter that had been eroding space-time retreated back into the black hole like an ebbing tide.
But the contracting black hole suddenly stilled, and countless faces familiar to Hode appeared on its surface: Gwen, the Spider-Woman struggling with cancer; Janet, trapped in the Quantum Realm; and even a corrupted version of himself from a parallel World.
Each face opened its mouth and spoke with the same voice, "You cannot escape..."
Diana's Lasso of Truth suddenly pulled taut, dragging everyone toward the auxiliary ship's wreckage.
Natasha yanked the control stick, and the wreckage shot out of the warp bubble at the last second.
Hode looked back to see that the black hole had already collapsed into a singularity, but new dimensional fissures were constantly proliferating on the surface of the singularity, and from each fissure, black arms carved with runes reached out.
"Multiverse signal detected." Bruce's voice came through with static interference, "Seven parallel-World Hodes are dying simultaneously."
Carol's Energy Shield suddenly cracked with spiderweb fissures, and she spat out a mouthful of blood, "Not seven... seven hundred."
Hode felt solar energy boiling within him; the hope power he had gained from his time with Superman Clark led him to make a desperate decision.
He ripped open his shirt, revealing the Sun mark on his chest that he had gained from his time with Lois Lane, "Wanda, channel your Chaos Magic into my mark—Diana, use your Bracelets of Submission to anchor my soul!"
The moment the two forces merged, Hode saw countless parallel-World images explode on his retinas: in one World, he was kissing Harley on a rooftop in Gotham, and black arms were stabbing out from behind her; in another World, he was making love with Captain Marvel in space, while her energy core was being devoured by black arms...
"So this is the truth..." Hode's laughter carried a manic tremor, "We are the virus..."
Alarms suddenly tore through the dead silence, and the auxiliary ship's dashboard exploded completely.
Natasha stared out the window, her green eyes reflecting a suffocating sight—all the dimensional fissures were merging, black arms were reaching out from the void, each palm embedded with a beating heart, and those hearts were sealing away Hode and his lovers from different Worlds.
Diana's longsword suddenly unsheathed itself, and the Amazon emblem on the hilt began to bleed.
Wanda's Chaos Magic uncontrollably formed scarlet roses, and on the petals, the moments of Hode kissing each of his lovers appeared.
Carol's energy beams turned into a poignant aurora, outlining the contours of countless Universes being annihilated in the vacuum.
Hode felt the Sun mark begin to burn in reverse, and memories of his time with Lois flashed by like a revolving lantern.
At the very last moment, he saw all his parallel-Worldselves turn their heads simultaneously, flashing the same smile at the void.
"Welcome to the true ending." Seven voices with different timbres overlapped in Hode's mind.
The auxiliary ship's wreckage was suddenly pierced by black arms, and Natasha's Soul Capture Device emitted a blinding red light.
Before his consciousness faded, Hode heard the final encrypted message coming from Bruce's communicator, "Original Universe coordinates detected... but it requires..."
Red light swallowed everything.
Chapter 644: Hiding Seven Hundred... Corrupted You
Hode opened his eyes in the chaos, countless shattered Universes floating in the residual red light on his retinas.
He could feel his consciousness splitting across seven hundred parallel Worlds, each fragment immersed in a different version of a Death experience—Harley's shrill laughter as his lungs were corroded by the Joker's gas, the magical echo of Wanda as he was pierced through the heart by Hela, and even the excruciating pain of being burned to ash by Lois's Sun mark in some World.
"Breathe, Hode." Diana's voice pierced through the data turbulence; her Lasso of Truth was wrapped around his wrist, cracks of Amazonian text floating in its golden light, "Your soul is quantizing."
Hode coughed up blood mixed with plasma, the Sun mark on his chest flickering like a broken neon light.
He saw Diana's Bracelets of Submission covered in spiderweb-like cracks, the thunder of Zeus exploding into blue fireworks in her pupils.
At one moment, they floated in the void, embracing; her lips tasted of the metallic rust unique to divine blood, and Hode suddenly realized—this might be the final hallucination before his seven-hundredth Death.
"Coordinates locked." Natasha's voice came from all directions; the metal fragments of the auxiliary ship's wreckage reorganized behind her into a spiderweb-like array of instruments, but the warp engine required a living energy source.
Carol's energy beams suddenly pierced through the darkness, her Kree suit cracking with spiderweb fissures, revealing the skin beneath that had been eroded by dark matter.
"Use mine." She grabbed Hode's hand and pressed it against her chest, supernova-like energy forming a black hole vortex where their hands met, "Tell Fury... I have loved this Universe."
Hode finished the line before she was annihilated, and the stellar energy he had gained from his time with her suddenly flowed in reverse, branding new magical patterns beneath his skin.
He saw his own twisted smiling face reflected in Carol's pupils; in some parallel World, they had made love on the surface of the Sun, but at this moment, her body was turning into stardust and slipping through his fingers.
Wanda's Chaos Magic suddenly reached out with scarlet tentacles from the void, her face appearing simultaneously in countless dimensional fissures.
"They are here..." Every version of her bore different scars: the left eye corroded by Dormammu, the abdomen pierced by Loki, and even the heart crushed by Hode's own hand in some World, "This time, it's the main body."
Diana's longsword suddenly let out a dragon-like tremor, the blade automatically slicing open Hode's palm.
The moment the divine blood dripped onto the Lasso of Truth, Hode felt the battlefield intuition he had gained from his time with the Valkyrie Sif activated to its limit—he saw the enemy.
Seven hundred black arms reached out from the void, each red heart in the palm sealing a Hode from a different World and his lovers. In one arm, Harley was hitting his knees with a crowbar, her laughter mixing with dripping brain matter; in another, Wanda's Chaos Magic formed a womb-like cage, with countless Hodes in fetal form floating in the blood.
Energy resonance! Hode smeared Diana's divine blood onto his Sun mark. The energy perception ability he had gained from his time with Vision allowed him to see the shocking truth—all the black arms were the love modules stripped from Hodes of parallel Universes, now being restructured into weapons by some higher-dimensional entity.
Natasha's Soul Catcher suddenly disassembled automatically, and the fragments of the Atlantis Siren Song intertwined with the sound waves of the Joker's laughter in the void. Hode saw Zatanna Zatara's reverse spell flowing out from her eye sockets, forming a Mobius Loop-shaped magic chain that entangled the nearest black arm.
"Diana, sever the timeline!" Hode condensed stellar energy into a light spear, and the Lightning Power he had gained from his time with Shazam slithered beneath his skin like a lightning tattoo. He grabbed Wanda's wrist, channeling her out-of-control Chaos Magic into the patterns of the light spear—in that instant, he saw fragments of Chthon smiling in her pupils.
Diana's longsword descended, wreathed in Zeus's thunder. The moment the blade collided with the black arm, Hodefelt the cyborg perception ability he had gained from his time with Victor Stone reveal a horrific scene—inside the arms were countless replaying memories of Death: slow-motion footage of Carol turning to ash on the surface of the Sun, a close-up of Diana having her heart pierced by Hela, and even the final visage of Natasha committing suicide with a Soul Catcher in one World.
"Time node!" Hode injected Lightning Power into the blade, and the magic runes he had gained from his time with Shazam automatically manifested in the air. He saw seven hundred time fragments splitting on the blade. In one fragment, he and Zatanna Zatara were entangled in a love nest formed by reverse spells, her magic voice resonating with his heartbeat; in another fragment, he and Mera were kissing beneath the Atlantis throne, her Siren Song and his stellar energy forming a new life form.
The black arm suddenly let out an inhuman scream, and the severed cross-section revealed a core—floating there were seven hundred miniature Universes, and in each Universe, a Hode was perishing together with a different version of an enemy. Hode felt the tactical analysis ability he had gained from his time with Bruce working frantically, and he realized that these miniature Universes were actually...
"A dating simulator." Natasha's voice suddenly became ethereal, her green eyes turning into two rotating cosmic models. "In every parallel World, you are repeating the same pattern—gaining power through love, using that power to protect your lovers, and finally watching them die because of you."
Wanda's Chaos Magic completely went berserk at this moment, her blood-red roses devouring the nearest black arm. Hode saw the faces of all his lovers appearing on the rose petals: Harley's smile in Arkham Asylum, the tears in Mera's eyes during her coronation, and even the expression of a corrupted Diana in one World as she tightened the Lasso of Truth around his neck.
"You are the virus." Hode laughed at the void. The Sunmark he had gained from his time with Lois suddenly exploded, forming a light net that enveloped the seven hundred miniature Universes. He felt himself in all parallel Worlds turning his head at the same time; those Hodes eroded by dark matter, twisted by Chaos Magic, and soaked in divine blood, all wore the same smile at this moment.
Diana's Lasso of Truth suddenly went taut, dragging everyone toward the collapsing coordinate point. In the last second, Natasha's Soul Catcher projected a hologram—it was the coordinates of seven primordial Universes, and next to each coordinate floated photos of Hode kissing different lovers.
"Choose." Bruce's voice came from the communicator, laced with the static of quantum interference. "Each coordinate will..."
An explosion swallowed the second half of the sentence. Before his consciousness dissipated, Hode saw his selves in all parallel Worlds reaching out simultaneously. The Sunmarks on seven hundred palms, Chaos Magic, divine blood cracks, Siren Song, reverse spells, Joker's laughter, Vibranium perception... all the power gained from love merged into a white beam of light at that moment.
The last image he saw was Diana's longsword piercing a core, with the afterimages of him kissing all his lovers in different Universes appearing on the blade. For a moment, he was certain he heard seven different voices echoing "I love you" within the beam of light.
Then, there was darkness.
He did not know how much time had passed when Hodewoke up in excruciating pain. Afterimages of the white light beam remained on his retinas, and his nasal cavity was filled with the smell of burning and the salty stench of seawater. He tried to move, but found his body wrapped in some kind of transparent substance, like an insect trapped in amber.
"Don't struggle." Diana's voice came from above. Only half of her Bracelets of Submission remained, with Zeus's thunder flickering at the broken edge like a dying candle flame. "We are trapped in the quantum foam."
Hode rolled his eyes to see Carol floating three meters away, her energy core entangled by some kind of black vine, its supernova-like radiance gradually dimming. Wanda was curled up in the corner, the blood-red cocoon formed by her Chaos Magic covered in cracks, with pale baby arms reaching out from every fissure.
"Natasha..." Hode's voice triggered a string of electronic static. Only then did he discover a data cable inserted into his throat, the other end connected to the floating Soul Catcher. Natasha's face appeared on the surface of the device, her green eyes being eroded by a Data Stream.
"The primordial Universe coordinates are a trap." Bruce's voice suddenly came from all directions, trembling with the instability before quantum decomposition. "In those coordinates... are hidden seven hundred... corrupted versions of you..."
Diana's longsword suddenly drew itself, and black blood oozed from the Amazon emblem on the hilt. Hode saw the blade reflecting countless approaching black arms, each red heart in the palm sealing an Avengers or Justice League member from a different World—Batman eroded by dark matter, Superman controlled by Chaos Magic, and even Shazam corrupted by Joker's laughter in one World.
"They are here." Wanda's voice carried a double echo. Her magic cocoon suddenly exploded, revealing countless wriggling, fetal-form Hodes inside. On the forehead of each fetus was engraved the emblem of a different hero: a Batarang, an S-shield, Aquaman's trident, a Green Lanternring...
Carol's energy core suddenly emitted a blinding blue light, and the black vines turned to ash in the explosion. She grabbed Hode's wrist, and with a supernova-like thrust, shot them both toward the boundary of the quantum foam—floating there were the wrecks of the seven primordial Universe coordinates, each emitting familiar laughter.
"Welcome back, darling." The voices of seven Harleys overlapped. They reached out fingers painted with purple nail polish from the coordinate wrecks. "This time, we're going to play something new..."
Before his consciousness was swallowed by darkness, Hode saw Diana's longsword pierce the nearest coordinate wreck. On the blade appeared the afterimages of him kissing all his lovers in seven hundred Universes, and a version of himself from a parallel World was crawling out of the hilt, wearing the smile he was most familiar with.
Red light exploded once again.
Chapter 645: Natasha's Lipstick Still Lingers on His Lips
Hode felt his consciousness torn into fragments, each one soaked in scorching memories. He saw Diana's longsword vaporize into golden steam in the quantum foam, and the version of himself that crawled out of the hilt was analyzing the battlefield with Bruce's tactical thinking—that Hode held the fragment of Carol's energy core in his left hand, his right hand wrapped in threads of Wanda's Chaos Magic, and his ankles bound by the data cable of Natasha's Soul Catcher.
"Conquering seven Universes at once this time?" Hodelaughed in the data torrent, the Sun mark suddenly projecting a holographic map onto his retinas. The seven primordial Universe coordinate wrecks were restructuring into a Mobius Loop, and on each loop floated different versions of Harley—the Arkham Asylum Dean wearing blood-red lipstick, the Gotham underground queen in a Stars and Stripes bikini, and even a tragic painter in one World with her body pierced by Batarangs.
Diana's Bracelets of Submission suddenly emitted a dragon's roar, and the remaining half of the bracelets automatically clamped onto Hode's wrists. Fragments of the Lasso of Truth pierced his palms, and divine blood flowed along the metal patterns toward the bracelets, activating the oldest war memories of the Amazon. "Do you remember the tsunami of Themyscira?" Diana's voice carried a double echo, her pupils simultaneously reflecting scenes of seven hundred Hodes proposing in different Universes. "That time you used Supernova Energy to help me dry my battle cloak."
Hode felt the battlefield intuition he had gained from his time with Diana suddenly evolve into four-dimensional Vision. He saw the Harleys of the seven primordial Universes lifting their hands in synchronization, the purple gas bombs popping from their fingertips forming fractal structures in the quantum foam. On the surface of one bomb appeared the Joker's smiling face—it was the symbol of eternal love that Hode had personally tattooed on Harley in one Universe.
"Chaos Magic resonance!" Hode wrapped the remaining magic threads of Wanda around his wrists, and Chthon's demonic crest immediately appeared beneath his skin. The gas bombs of the seven Harleys suddenly changed direction, and crystal structures of Carol's energy coregrew on their surfaces—just like the energy wedding dress Hode had once woven for Carol on the surface of the Sun.
Natasha's Soul Catcher suddenly emitted a shrill scream, and a holographic projection of Bruce appeared on the surface of the device. His cowl cracked open in three places, revealing his left eye eroded by dark matter beneath. "Coordinate restructuring requires a living key..." Bruce's voice was laced with the static of quantum tunneling effects. "The Hode of each Universe must sacrifice their most precious memory."
The fragment of Carol's energy core suddenly erupted with supernova radiance, and Hode saw the afterimage of him kissing her in the Kree Planet Nebula stretched into light-years. Seven Harleys let out inhuman cackles simultaneously, and their bodies began quantum tunneling—fingers painted with purple nail polish pierced Hode's chest, but brought out fragments of memories of different lovers from seven hundred Universes: the apple pie Harleysaved for him in Arkham Asylum, the battle cloak Dianawove for him with the Lasso of Truth, and even the DNA of their first kiss that Natasha had saved in a Soul Catcher in one World.
"Energy overload!" Hode pressed the Sun mark onto Diana's Bracelets of Submission, and the stellar energy and Zeus's thunder formed a black hole vortex. The quantum-state bodies of the seven Harleys suddenly froze, and energy patterns of different heroes appeared beneath their skin—an energy conduit of a Green Lantern ring grew on the spine of one Harley, while the eyeballs of another turned into Shazam's lightning symbol.
Wanda's Chaos Magic completely went berserk at this moment, and blood-red roses grew frantically from the cracks in the quantum foam. Hode saw the Death scenes of all his lovers appearing on the rose petals: the divine blood sprayed when Diana was pierced through the heart by Hela wrote his name in the void; the "forever" carved into his palm by Carol with energy before she turned to ash on the surface of the Sun; and even the butterflies that flew out of the wound when Natasha committed suicide with a Soul Catcher in one World, carrying his genetic code.
"Reverse conquest protocol initiated." Hode suddenly spoke using the pronunciation style of Zatanna Zatara's reverse spells. The magic perception ability he had gained from his time with Zatanna Zatara allowed him to see the shocking truth—the Harleys of the seven primordial Universes were all emotional modules of a higher-dimensional entity, and they were now invading reality in reverse through his love memories.
Diana's longsword suddenly reassembled automatically, and the Hode that crawled out of the hilt suddenly wore Bruce's tactical smile. He flicked out a Batarang with his left hand to sever the quantum entanglement of three Harleys, used the fragment of Carol's energy core in his right hand to blast apart the gas bombs of two Harleys, and the data cable of the Soul Catcher at his ankle simultaneously pierced the temples of the remaining two Harleys.
"Memory grafting!" Hode injected the Siren Song he had gained from his time with Mera into the blade, and the Amazon war song formed a resonance wave with the Kreeenergy. The bodies of the seven Harleys suddenly began to become transparent, and afterimages of Hode kissing different lovers in seven hundred Universes appeared beneath their skin—for a moment, all the afterimages overlapped into a Vision of Hode embracing seven Universes simultaneously in the quantum foam.
Natasha's Soul Catcher suddenly exploded into stardust, and Bruce's holographic projection split into seven hundred tactical panels in the explosion. Hode saw a countdown for a different Universe displayed on each panel: in one Universe, the Avengers Tower was being devoured by Chaos Magic; beneath the Atlantis throne of another, black vines were surging out; and in one World, Diana's Lasso of Truth was even tightening around Superman's neck.
"Coordinates locked. Complete." Carol's voice suddenly came from the energy core fragments; her consciousness was synchronizing with herself in 700 Universes.
Hode felt the stellar energy he gained from being with her suddenly flow in reverse, branding new magic patterns under his skin—those patterns formed star maps of seven primitive Universes, and in the center of each star map floated different versions of Harley smiling.
Diana's Bracelets of Submission suddenly emitted one last dragon roar, and the remaining bracelets turned into a Data Stream, injecting into Hode's Solar Mark.
He saw the battlefields of 700 Universes overlapping on his retinas: in one Universe, he was using a Batarang to block poison gas for Harley; in another, he was using the Siren Song to calm a rampaging Wanda; in one World, a darkened version of himself was even using Chaos Magicto imprison Diana.
"The choice is in your hands." Hode suddenly shouted at the void, and the Solar Mark he gained from being with Lois suddenly exploded, forming a light net covering the seven primitive Universes.
He felt all versions of himself in parallel Worlds turning their heads at the same time; those Hodes eroded by dark matter, twisted by Chaos Magic, and soaked in divine blood, all revealed the same smile at this moment.
The bodies of the seven Harleys suddenly burst simultaneously, and the purple poison gas formed a supernova storm with Carol's energy crystals.
In the center of the storm, Hode saw Diana's longsword pierce the core of the quantum foam, and on the blade appeared the afterimages of him kissing all his lovers in 700 Universes—for a moment, he was certain he heard seven "I love you"s in different tones echoing in the storm.
Then came the red light.
When Hode regained consciousness, he found himself floating at the intersection of the seven primitive Universes.
Each Universe rotated around him like broken mirrors, and the mirror surfaces reflected different versions of the ending: in one Universe, the Avengers were offering flowers at his tombstone; in another, members of the Justice League were being transformed into weapons by Chaos Magic; in one World, seven Harleys were even using his genes to clone a new Universe.
"The game has only just begun." The voices of the seven Harleys suddenly came from all mirror surfaces simultaneously, their faces fusing into a new form within the quantum tunneling—the left eye had Diana's divine blood crack, the right eye had Carol's energy crystals, and Natasha's lipstick mark still remained on their lips.
Hode felt his Solar Mark suddenly start to burn, and the resonance with the seven primitive Universes allowed him to see the terrifying truth—the core of each Universe was sealing a different version of "705u.com-53 Reading Club", and those Hodes were reverse-controlling reality through romantic memories.
In one mirror, a darkened Hode was using Chaos Magic to imprison Diana, and her Lasso of Truth was engraved with the oath "Forever yours."
"This time, I have to conquer myself in seven dimensions simultaneously?" Hode laughed in the data torrent, and his body suddenly quantum-decomposed into 700 fragments.
Each fragment flew towards a different Universe, and energy patterns corresponding to his lovers appeared under his skin—one fragment carried Diana's divine blood crack and thrust towards Themyscira, another wrapped in Carol's energy crystals rushed towards the Kree PlanetNebula, and one fragment even had Natasha's Soul Data Thread wrapped around it.
The new form of the seven Harleys suddenly let out an inhuman screech, her body began to expand infinitely, and the battlefields of 700 Universes appeared under her skin.
Hode saw himself in one fragment using a Batarang to block poison gas for Harley, another fragment using the Siren Song to calm a rampaging Wanda, and even in one World, a darkened version of himself using Chaos Magic to imprison Diana—and all the versions of himself in the fragments suddenly turned their heads, revealing the same smile as the main-Universe Hode.
The red light exploded again.
Chapter 646: It seems he succeeded now.
In the red light, Hode felt his consciousness being torn into countless fragments, each falling towards Universes of different dimensions.
He saw Carol's energy patterns burning on his left arm, Diana's divine blood boiling on his right arm, and Natasha's Soul Data Thread growing wildly, wrapping around his spine.
"This is much more exciting than dealing with seven Harleys at once." Hode sneered in the quantum tunneling, and Mera's Siren scales patterns appeared under his skin.
In one fragment, he was using the scales to reflect Harley's poison gas, and the purple toxic mist condensed into ice crystals on the surface of the scales—that was the water control ability he gained when kissing Mera in the Atlantispalace.
Bruce's holographic projection suddenly flickered on the retinas of all fragments, and the tactical panel displayed a countdown: The Dark Dimension is devouring the coordinates, requiring a living energy matrix.
"Need an energy matrix?" Hode's left hand in one fragment suddenly stabbed into his own chest, and Carol's stellar energy gushed out from his fingertips, "Then use the solar core as a battery!"
The fragment pierced by energy turned into a golden meteor, tearing open the first crack in the Dark Dimension.
From deep within the crack came Hela's laughter; her Scepter of Death was poking at Diana's Bracelets of Submission, and divine blood was sprinkling into the void like raindrops.
"Amazons don't give up easily!" Diana's voice exploded from the bracelets of all fragments, and the fragments of the Lasso of Truth automatically coiled into an energy bowstring.
The right eye in one of Hode's fragments suddenly turned into a Hawkeye-style scope; this was the enhanced Visionhe picked up when teaching Kate Bishop archery at Avengers Tower.
Seven arrows condensed from Chaos Magic pierced through the Dark Dimension, with Carol's energy exhaust trailing behind the arrow tails.
Hela's scepter suddenly erupted with green ghostly light, and the Death energy corroded the arrows into skull shapes.
But Hode was prepared—in one fragment, he was using Wanda's magic threads to weave a shield, and Zatanna's reverse spell patterns appeared on the surface of the threads.
"In the name of love, reverse Death!" He shouted at the void, reciting the spell he stole from Zatanna, and the corroded arrows suddenly changed direction, with the skulls spitting out Natasha's Soul Data Thread.
The Data Thread wrapped around Hela's ankle like a viper, and Hode in one fragment immediately activated the Siren Song.
The melody of Atlantis stirred up a tsunami in the Deathdimension, Hela's high heels shattered in the waves, revealing the anklet underneath made of the souls of Avengers members.
"Remember what you said?" Hode's lips in one fragment pressed against Hela's earlobe—that was the charm technique he learned when drinking with the Valkyries in an Asgard tavern—"You said Death is an eternal embrace..."
Hela's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of needle points, and her Scepter of Death began to absorb the surrounding Dark Dimension energy.
But Hode was faster than her—in one fragment, he suddenly took out Lois's press pass, and Superman's solar energy flickered on the photo on the pass.
"Clark, borrow your wife's relic!" He shouted at the void, and the press pass instantly turned into a red solar radiation gun.
The moment the radiation gun collided with the Scepter of Death, the coordinate debris of the seven primitive Universes suddenly reorganized in the explosion.
Hode saw himself in one fragment using a Batarang to block poison gas for Harley, another fragment using the Siren Song to calm a rampaging Wanda—and all the Solar Marks in the fragments were burning simultaneously, tearing his consciousness into 700 parallel selves.
"This feeling..." Hode grinned through the excruciating pain of consciousness splitting, and in one fragment, he suddenly used Shazam's lightning symbol to draw a rune in the void, "It's like dating seven Universes at the same time!"
The moment the lightning rune exploded, he saw Diana's Lasso of Truth straightening in all dimensions simultaneously, and the oath engraved on the lasso suddenly turned into Carol's energy equation.
Hela suddenly let out an inhuman screech, and her body began to quantum-tunnel into countless black butterflies.
Hode in one fragment immediately activated Mera's water control ability, freezing the black butterflies into crystal statues.
But Chaos Magic surged from inside the statues, and blood-red roses grew wildly from the cracks in the crystal—that was the magic residue he got when kissing Wandain the ruins of Westview.
"Had enough fun?" Hode's left hand in one fragment suddenly grasped Carol's energy core fragment, and his right hand flicked out Bruce's Batarang, "It's our turn to fight back!"
The moment the energy core collided with the Batarang, the battlefields of 700 Universes suddenly overlapped in the void.
He saw himself in one Universe using the Siren Song to calm a rampaging Hela, another Universe using the Lasso of Truth to bind the entrance to the Dark Dimension, and even in one World, a darkened version of himself using Chaos Magic to imprison Diana—and all the parallel selves wore the same smile on their faces.
Natasha's Soul Catcher suddenly vibrated on the wrists of all fragments, and Bruce's holographic projection appeared on the surface of the device: Coordinate reorganization complete, but it requires...
The projection was suddenly eroded by dark matter, and Bruce's left eye turned into a purple vortex.
The Solar Mark in one of Hode's fragments suddenly emitted a blinding light, and he saw the Dark Dimension of 700 Universes invading reality through Bruce's eyes.
"Then cut the connection!" Hode's right hand in one fragment suddenly stabbed into his own left eye, and Carol's stellar energy exploded in his eye socket.
The excruciating pain reminded him of the lips burned by energy when kissing Carol in the Kree Nebula, when she smiled and said: "Does it hurt? This is the price of love."
Now he finally understood the meaning of those words.
The invasion of the Dark Dimension was temporarily blocked, but the battlefields of 700 Universes were still overlapping in the void.
In one fragment, Hode was using Shazam's lightning to repair Diana's Bracelets of Submission, and in another, he was using Zatanna's reverse spell to seal Wanda's Chaos Magic.
At some moment, he saw the movements of all parallel selves suddenly synchronize—just like 700 mirrors reflecting the same figure at the same time.
"The rules of the game have changed." The new form of the seven Harleys suddenly emerged from the depths of the Dark Dimension, her body composed of countless black butterflies, and on each butterfly's wing was reflected a battlefield from a different Universe, "Now you have to conquer simultaneously..."
Hode launched an attack before she could finish speaking.
In one fragment, he suddenly used Mera's water control ability to scoop up Hela's Scepter of Death, and in another, he used Hawkeye's scope to lock onto Harley's heart.
But Harley's body suddenly quantum-decomposed, turning into 700 poison gas bombs that shot towards different Universes—on the surface of each bomb appeared Joker's smiley face, which was the eternal love he had personally tattooed on Harley in one Universe.
"Damn it!" Hode's left hand in one fragment suddenly grasped Carol's energy core, his right hand flicked out Bruce's Batarang, "Wanda! Help me lock on..."
The resonance of Chaos Magic came faster than he imagined.
In one fragment, he was suddenly wrapped by blood-red roses, and Wanda's face emerged from between the petals: "You finally remembered me?"
Her fingertips traced across Hode's chest, branding a new demonic crest under his skin—that was Chthon's curse, and also the gift he received when kissing Wanda in the ruins of Westview.
"This is not the time for reminiscing!" The Solar Mark in one of Hode's fragments suddenly exploded, and the stellar energy burned the roses into ashes.
But Natasha's Soul Data Thread suddenly surged from the ashes, and they wrapped around Hode's limbs like vipers: "Remember you said you would protect me forever?"
Natasha's face appeared at the end of the Data Thread, which was the last expression he saw when he kissed her in the soul World.
The battlefields of 700 Universes suddenly trembled simultaneously, and Hode saw himself in one fragment using the Siren Song to calm a rampaging Hela, and in another fragment using the Lasso of Truth to bind the entrance to the Dark Dimension.
And the Solar Marks of all parallel selves were burning simultaneously, tearing their consciousness into 7,000 smaller fragments.
This is much more stimulating than dealing with seven Harleys at once." Hode grinned through the excruciating pain of his consciousness splitting, and in one fragment, he suddenly used Shazam's lightning to write in the void.
The moment the lightning runes exploded, he saw Diana's Lasso of Truth tightening simultaneously across all dimensions, the vows engraved on it suddenly transforming into Carol's energy equation—and the solution to the equation was the coordinates of the seven primordial Universes.
Harley's new form suddenly emitted an inhuman, shrill laugh, her body beginning to expand infinitely as the battlefields of seven hundred Universes emerged beneath her skin.
In one fragment, Hode was using a Batarang to block poison gas bombs for Harley, while in another, he used the Siren Song to soothe a rampaging Wanda.
In an instant, the movements of all his parallel selves suddenly synchronized—like seven hundred mirrors reflecting the same figure, and in the hands of the person in the mirror, each held a dripping, bloody heart.
The red light exploded again.
When Hode regained consciousness, he found himself standing at the intersection of the seven primordial Universes.
Each Universe revolved around him like a shattered mirror, reflecting different versions of the ending: in one Universe, the Avengers were laying flowers on his tombstone, while in another, members of the Justice League were being transformed into weapons by Chaos Magic.
And in the central mirror, the seven new forms of Harleywere merging into an ultimate existence—her left eye was a crack of Diana's divine blood, her right eye was Carol's energy crystal, and Natasha's lipstick mark still lingered on her lips.
"The game has only..." Hode's words were cut off by a sudden explosion.
He saw himself in one fragment using the Siren Song to soothe a rampaging Hela, while in another, he used the Lasso of Truth to bind the entrance to the Dark Dimension.
And the Sun marks on all his parallel selves were burning simultaneously, tearing their consciousness into seventy thousand smaller fragments.
In the instant before his consciousness completely dissipated, Hode suddenly smiled.
He remembered his first date with Diana, when she asked him, "Are you afraid of Death?" At that time, he replied, "No, what I fear is living without having loved enough."
Now it seems, he has accomplished that.
Chapter 647: The Intersection of the Seven Primordial Universes
When the red light dissipated, Hode found himself standing in a void.
Beneath his feet were flowing nebulae, and above him were shattered dimensional rifts, while the projections of the seven primordial Universes rotated around him like marionettes pulled by invisible strings.
"This is much more stimulating than fixing the Batcomputer in Bruce's lab." He tugged at the burning energy patterns of Carol on his left arm, and his fingertips were immediately scorched.
The excruciating pain reminded him of the sensation three days ago when he kissed Carol in the Kree Nebula, and she suddenly bit his lower lip—she had laughed and said, "Does it hurt? This is the first kiss gift of stellar energy."
Now he finally understood that it was not a first kiss gift at all.
"Hode Stark!" Diana's voice exploded from the void, and fragments of the Lasso of Truth suddenly wrapped around his ankles.
He saw the patterns of Natasha's Soul Data Threademerging on the surface of the lasso, those silver-blue threads climbing up his calves, piercing his skin like parasitic vines.
"How dare you inject Chaos Magic into an Amazon relic!"
"Darling, this is called cross-dimensional fusion."
In one fragment, Hode's right hand suddenly ejected one of Bruce's Batarangs, the body of which was engraved with Zatanna Zatara's reversal spells.
He threw the Batarang into the void, friction between the metal and air creating purple sparks, just like that time you tied the Lasso of Truth to my tie...
Diana's Bracelets of Submission suddenly emitted a divine hum, and seven arrows formed from divine blood pierced his right shoulder.
The excruciating pain caused the Sun mark in one of Hode's fragments to activate automatically, and Carol's stellar energy gushed out from the wound, condensing into a golden shield in the void.
The surface of the shield displayed the patterns of Mera's Siren scales—the water-controlling ability he had gained when he kissed Mera in the Atlantis palace.
"Watch your back!" Wanda's voice suddenly rang out from all dimensions simultaneously.
Hode felt a chill on the back of his neck, and in one fragment, he immediately activated Hawkeye's scope vision, seeing seven hundred of Harley's new forms oozing out from the dimensional rifts.
Each Harley held a poison gas bomb, the surface of which reflected the battlefields of different Universes: in one, the Avengers were laying flowers on his tombstone, while in another, members of the Justice League were being transformed into weapons by Chaos Magic.
"Playing with poison gas?" Hode's left hand in one fragment suddenly gripped a fragment of Carol's energy core, while his right hand ejected one of Bruce's Batarangs, "Then taste the solar wind!"
The moment the energy core collided with the Batarang, the battlefields of seven hundred Universes suddenly overlapped in the void.
He saw himself in one Universe using the Siren Song to soothe a rampaging Hela, while in another, he used the Lasso of Truth to bind the entrance to the Dark Dimension—and on the faces of all his parallel selves was the same smile, like seven hundred mirrors reflecting the same madman.
The poison gas bombs suddenly underwent quantum decomposition, transforming into countless black butterflies that shot toward different Universes.
In one fragment, Hode immediately activated Mera's water-controlling ability, freezing the black butterflies into crystal statues.
But inside the statues, Wanda's Chaos Magic suddenly gushed out, and blood-red roses grew wildly from the cracks in the crystal—this was the magical residue he had absorbed when he kissed Wanda in the ruins of Westview, when she had bitten his lip and laughed, "This way, you will carry my mark forever."
"Wanda, now is not the time for reminiscing!"
The Sun mark in one of Hode's fragments suddenly exploded, and stellar energy incinerated the roses into ashes.
But Natasha's Soul Data Thread suddenly gushed from the ashes, coiling around his limbs like venomous snakes, "Do you remember saying you would protect me forever?"
At the end of the data threads, Natasha's face appeared—it was the last expression he had seen when he kissed her in the Soul World—calm, resolute, with a hint of a sly smile.
The battlefields of seven hundred Universes suddenly shook simultaneously, and Hode saw himself in one fragment using Shazam's lightning to repair Diana's Bracelets of Submission, while in another, he used Zatanna Zatara's reversal spells to seal Wanda's Chaos Magic.
In an instant, the movements of all his parallel selves suddenly synchronized—like seven hundred mirrors reflecting the same figure, and in the hands of the person in the mirror, each held a dripping, bloody heart.
"The rules of the game have changed."
The seven new forms of Harley suddenly emerged from the depths of the Dark Dimension, her body composed of countless black butterflies, each butterfly's wings reflecting the battlefields of different Universes.
Most eerily, her left eye was a crack of Diana's divine blood, her right eye was Carol's energy crystal, and Natasha's lipstick mark still lingered on her lips—a mixed color left behind when Hode had kissed all three of them simultaneously in a parallel Universe.
"Damn it!" Hode's left hand in one fragment suddenly gripped Carol's energy core, and his right hand ejected one of Bruce's Batarangs, "Wanda! Help me pinpoint..."
The resonance of the Chaos Magic came faster than he had imagined.
In one fragment, he was suddenly entangled by blood-red roses, and Wanda's face emerged from between the petals, "You finally remembered me?"
Her fingertips traced Hode's chest, branding a new demonic sigil beneath his skin—it was the curse of Chthon, and also the gift he had received when he kissed Wanda in the ruins of Westview.
At that time, she had branded the curse right where his heartbeat was strongest, laughing as she said, "This way, even if I die, you will remember me forever."
"Now is not the time to go crazy!" The Sun mark in one of Hode's fragments suddenly exploded, and stellar energy incinerated the roses into ashes.
But Hela's Death energy suddenly gushed from the ashes, and green spectral light coiled around his neck like a venomous snake—it was the mark of Death that Hela had secretly planted on his collar when he was drinking with the Valkyrie in an Asgard tavern.
"Darling..." Hela's voice rang out from all dimensions simultaneously, the tip of the Scepter of Death pressed against his brow, "You owe me a dance."
Hode suddenly smiled.
He remembered his first dance with Hela, when she wore an evening gown woven from undead bone spurs, and her high heels crushed his toes.
At that time, he endured the excruciating pain and said, "The way you dance is like slaughtering the beat."
She licked the blood from the corner of his mouth and said, "And the way you bleed is like inviting me for more."
Now it seems, she has indeed accepted the invitation.
"Then let's... dance a waltz of the dead."
Hode's right hand in one fragment suddenly pierced his own chest, and Carol's stellar energy gushed out from his fingertips.
The fragment pierced by the energy transformed into a golden meteor, tearing open the first rift in the Dark Dimension.
From deep within the rift came Diana's roar, her fragments of the Lasso of Truth automatically winding into an energy bowstring, and seven arrows formed from divine blood pierced the Dark Dimension, their tails trailing Carol's stellar energy exhaust.
Hela's scepter suddenly erupted with green spectral light, and Death energy corroded the arrows into the shape of skulls.
But Hode had been prepared—in one fragment, he was weaving a shield using Wanda's magical threads, the surface of which displayed the patterns of Zatanna Zatara's reversal spells.
"In the name of love, reverse Death!" He shouted the spell he had stolen from Zatanna Zatara toward the void, and the corroded arrows suddenly changed direction, Natasha's Soul Data Thread spewing from the mouths of the skulls.
The data threads coiled around Hela's ankles like venomous snakes, and in one fragment, Hode immediately activated the Siren Song.
The melody of Atlantis stirred up a tsunami in the Deathdimension, and Hela's high heels shattered in the waves, revealing anklets made of the souls of Avengers members beneath—that was something he had secretly tied on after analyzing her weaknesses with Bruce's tactical panel in a parallel Universe.
"Do you remember what you said?" Hode's lips in one fragment pressed against Hela's earlobe, a seduction technique he had learned while drinking with the Valkyriein an Asgard tavern, "You said Death is an eternal embrace..."
Hela's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpricks, and her Scepter of Death began to absorb the surrounding energy of the Dark Dimension.
But Hode was faster than her—in one fragment, he suddenly pulled out Lois's press pass, the photo on it flickering with the Sun energy of Superman.
"Clark, let me borrow your wife's memento!" He shouted toward the void, and the press pass instantly transformed into a Red Sun radiation gun.
The moment the radiation gun collided with the Scepter of Death, the debris of the coordinates of the seven primordial Universes suddenly reorganized in the explosion.
Hode saw himself in one fragment using a Batarang to block poison gas bombs for Harley, while in another, he used the Siren Song to soothe a rampaging Wanda—and the Sun marks on all the fragments were burning simultaneously, tearing his consciousness into seven thousand smaller fragments.
0 --- Seeking flowers ---
"This feeling..." Hode grinned through the excruciating pain of his consciousness splitting, "It's like dating seven Universes at once!"
The moment the lightning runes exploded, he saw Diana's Lasso of Truth tightening simultaneously across all dimensions, the vows engraved on it suddenly transforming into Carol's energy equation.
Hela suddenly emitted an inhuman, shrill scream, her body beginning to quantum tunnel into countless black butterflies.
In one fragment, Hode immediately activated Mera's water-controlling ability, freezing the black butterflies into crystal statues.
But inside the statues, Wanda's Chaos Magic suddenly gushed out, and blood-red roses grew wildly from the cracks in the crystal—this was the magical residue he had absorbed when he kissed Wanda in the ruins of Westview, when she had bitten his lip and laughed, "This way, you will carry my mark forever."
"Have you had enough?" In one of Hode's fragments, his left hand suddenly gripped the energy core shard of Carol, while his right hand flicked out Bruce's Batarang. "It's our turn to strike back!" The moment the energy core collided with the Batarang, the battlefields of seven hundred Universes suddenly overlapped in the void. He saw himself in one Universe using the Siren Song to soothe a rampaging Hela, while in another, he used the Lasso of Truth to bind the entrance to the Dark Dimension—and all his parallel selves wore the same smile, like seven hundred mirrors reflecting the same madman simultaneously.
... 0. Red light exploded once again.
When Hode regained consciousness, he found himself standing at the intersection of the seven primordial Universes. Each Universe revolved around him like shattered mirrors, reflecting different versions of the ending: in one Universe, the Avengers were laying flowers on his tombstone, while in another, members of the Justice League were being transformed into weapons by Chaos Magic. In the central mirror, the new forms of seven Harleys were merging into an ultimate existence—her left eye was Diana's divine blood fracture, her right eye was Carol's energy crystal, and her lips still bore the lipstick stain of Natasha.
"The game has only..." Hode's words were interrupted by a sudden explosion. He saw himself in one fragment using the Siren Song to soothe a rampaging Hela, while in another, he used the Lasso of Truth to bind the entrance to the Dark Dimension. And all the Sun markings of his parallel selves burned simultaneously, tearing their consciousness into seventy thousand smaller fragments.
In the instant before his consciousness completely dissipated, Hode suddenly smiled. He remembered the first time he kissed Carol, when she asked him, "Are you afraid of being burned to ash by stellar energy?" At that time, he replied, "No, what I fear is being alive but not having loved enough."
Now it seemed he had achieved that. Red light swallowed everything.
But at the very moment the red light was about to completely envelop him, Hode's right hand in one of the fragments suddenly pierced into the void. Carol's stellar energy condensed into golden threads at his fingertips, and the patterns of Diana's Lasso of Truth appeared on the surface of the threads. Following the threads to their end, he saw—in a certain parallel Universe, Natasha's Soul Data Thread was wrapped around Bruce's Batcomputer, and the computer screen displayed the coordinates of the seven primordial Universes.
"So that's why..." Hode's laughter was suddenly drowned out by explosions. Seventy thousand fragments shrieked simultaneously, and in each fragment, he was fighting with the abilities of different heroes: in one fragment, he used Shazam's lightning to split open the Dark Dimension; in another, he used Hawkeye's scope to lock onto targets; and in yet another, he was using Bruce's tactical panel to analyze the battlefield—and the Sun markings on all fragments burned simultaneously, tearing their consciousness into seven hundred thousand smaller points of light.
Before the last point of light dissipated, Hode suddenly saw the truth of the coordinates. It was the intersection of the seven primordial Universes. It was also the heart of all his parallel selves. Chapter 648: The Heart of Parallel Selves
Hode's remaining points of light recombined at the core of the coordinates, and his consciousness fragments fell into place like a puzzle. He could feel Carol's stellar energy boiling in his veins, the patterns of Diana's Lasso of Truthburning under his skin, and the chill brought by Hela's Death mark—these intertwined marks now all pointed in the same direction.
"So the fulcrum of all parallel Universes..." He whispered to the void, and his left hand was suddenly entangled by Natasha's Soul Data Thread. Those silver-blue threads surged from all directions, weaving into a countdown dial on his wrist. The numbers on the dial were pieced together from the battlefield wreckage of different Universes: the ruins of the Avengers Tower in one Universe, a sunken ship from Themyscira in one dimension, and the collapsed dome of the Atlantis palace.
"Three minutes." Natasha's voice sounded simultaneously from the ends of all the data threads. "When the countdown hits zero, the seven primordial Universes will be like stacked glass cups..." The explosion interrupted her words. Hode saw himself in one fragment using Shazam's lightning to weld a dimensional rift, while in another, he used Mera's water-control ability to solidify the flow of time. But the central battlefield suddenly split open, and the ultimate form of the seven Harleys emerged from the rift—her body was composed of countless black butterflies from 705u.com-53 Reading Club, and each butterfly's wings reflected a collapsing Universe.
"Darling, you're late." Harley's lips suddenly split into seven petals, each speaking a different language: Diana's ancient divine tongue, Carol's Kree Planet war cry, and Natasha's Russian profanity. Her left eye erupted with Diana's divine blood fracture, burning a scorch mark onto the Sun mark in one of Hode's fragments.
The intense pain reminded Hode of the first time he kissed Diana. They were at the edge of a cliff on Themyscira, and she suddenly bit his tongue: "The blood of an Amazonwarrior is the seal of an oath." At this moment, he instinctively activated the power of the Lasso of Truth, and silver-blue threads surged from his wound, wrapping Harley's left eye into a cocoon.
"Clever." Harley's right eye suddenly turned into Carol's energy crystal, and stellar radiation burned the threads to ash. "But you forgot..." She snapped her fingers, and the phantom images of the battlefields of seven hundred Universes suddenly overlapped on Hode's retina. He saw himself in one Universe using the Siren Song to soothe a rampaging Hela, while in another fragment, he used the Lasso of Truth to bind the entrance to the Dark Dimension—and all the Sun marks of his parallel selves burst simultaneously.
"No..." Hode's right hand in one of the fragments suddenly pierced into his own chest, and Carol's stellar energy spewed out from his fingertips. The fragment pierced by the energy turned into a golden meteor, tearing the first rift in the Dark Dimension. From deep within the rift came Diana's roar; her Lasso of Truth fragments automatically wound into an energy bowstring, and seven arrows formed from divine blood pierced through the Dark Dimension, trailing Carol's energy exhaust at their tails.
Hela's Death energy suddenly surged from the other side of the rift, and green ghostly light entangled the arrows, corroding them into the shape of skulls. "You're still so meddlesome." Hela's voice carried the drunkenness of Asgard mead, just like that time at the tavern... She suddenly appeared behind Hode, the tip of the Scepter of Death pressed against his spine. "You stole the undead bone spur from my heel."
Memories split the chaos like lightning. Hode remembered that night at the Asgard tavern, when Hela's high heel crushed his toes. When he bent down to wipe away the blood, he found a glowing bone spur embedded in her heel. "Is this a fragment of the Scepter of Death?" He had teased while raising his glass, "Aren't you afraid of stabbing yourself?"
"Are you afraid now?" Hela's scepter suddenly pierced into his back, but the expected intense pain did not come. The Sun mark in one of Hode's fragments automatically activated, and Carol's stellar energy melted the bone spur into a liquid state. The liquid metal suddenly solidified into the shape of a Batarang, with Zatanna Zatara's reverse incantation carved into the blade—a technique he had stolen from Bruce's laboratory.
"In the name of love..." Hode shouted the incantation he had stolen from Zatanna Zatara toward the void, and the Batarang suddenly changed direction, stabbing toward Hela. She nimbly dodged to the side, but the Batarangsuddenly split into seven hundred miniature Batarangs, each reflecting the battlefield of a different Universe: in one Universe, the Avengers were laying flowers on his tombstone, while in another, members of the Justice League were being transformed into weapons by Chaos Magic.
"Boring tricks." Hela snapped her fingers, and all the Batarangs suddenly froze into ice sculptures. But inside the ice sculptures, Mera's water-control energy suddenly surged, and the crystal shards turned into a tsunami, rushing toward her. Hode saw himself in one fragment using the Siren Song to guide the waves, while in another fragment, he used the Lasso of Truth to bind the Harleyblack butterflies attempting a sneak attack.
"You are always so easily distracted." Diana's voice came from above. Hode looked up and saw her Lasso of Truthtransform into a net, the surface of the lasso showing the patterns of Natasha's Soul Data Thread. Those silver-blue threads suddenly came alive, wrapping around Hela's limbs like vipers: "Just like that time in the Soul World..."
Memories flashed back again. Hode remembered deep in the Soul World, Diana used the Lasso of Truth to bind the rampaging Chaos Magic. At that time, she suddenly turned to him and said, "The oath of an Amazon warrior is stronger than any chain." Then she kissed his lips and tied the other end of the lasso to his wrist.
"Now it's my turn." Hode's lips in one of the fragments suddenly pressed against the back of Hela's neck—a charm technique he had learned from Mera at the Atlantispalace. Hela's body suddenly stiffened. The moment the Scepter of Death fell, Hode saw the coordinates of the seven primordial Universes reflected in her pupils.
"So that's it..." He suddenly laughed, his left hand gripping Carol's energy core shard, and his right hand flicking out Bruce's Batarang. The moment the energy core collided with the Batarang, the battlefields of seven hundred Universes suddenly overlapped in the void. He saw himself in one Universe using Shazam's lightning to repair Diana's Bracelets of Submission, while in another fragment, he used Zatanna Zatara's reverse incantation to seal Wanda's Chaos Magic—and all the Sun marks of his parallel selves burned simultaneously, tearing their consciousness into seven hundred thousand smaller points of light.
"Game over." The ultimate form of the seven Harleys suddenly merged into one, her body turning into a pitch-black mirror, the surface reflecting the Death scenes of all of Hode's parallel selves. But just as the mirror was about to devour him, Hode suddenly saw the flaw in the mirror—in every Death scene, Natasha's Soul Data Thread was wrapped around a broken coordinate.
"You forgot..." He opened his palm toward the void, and Carol's stellar energy condensed into a golden compass in his palm... The compass needle suddenly pointed toward a broken dimensional rift, and from deep within the rift came the electronic sound of Bruce's tactical panel: "Abnormal energy source detected... Immediate evacuation recommended..."
"Too late." Hode suddenly pierced his own temple, and Carol's energy core shard poured out from the wound. The surface of the shard displayed the patterns of Diana's Lasso of Truth, and the patterns suddenly turned into Natasha's Soul Data Thread, with the end of the data thread wrapped around a familiar strand of red hair—the one he had pulled from Wanda's head in the ruins of Westview.
"In the name of the Seven Deadly Sins..." He shouted the forbidden incantation he had stolen from Zatanna Zataratoward the void, and the red hair suddenly burst into flames. In the flames, the coordinates of the seven primordial Universes appeared, each coordinate engraved with the name of a different female superhero: Diana's divine blood fracture, Carol's energy crystal, Natasha's Soul Data, Mera's Banshee scales, Hela's Death mark, Wanda's Chaos Rose, and Harley's crazy smile.
"Now..." Hode's laughter was drowned out by the sudden explosions. Seventy thousand fragments shrieked simultaneously, and in each fragment, he was fighting with the abilities of different heroes: in one fragment, he used Shazam's lightning to split open the Dark Dimension; in another, he used Hawkeye's scope to lock onto targets; and in yet another, he was using Bruce's tactical panel to analyze the battlefield—and the Sun markings on all fragments burned simultaneously, tearing their consciousness into seven million smaller points of light.
Before the last point of light dissipated, Hode suddenly saw the truth. Those coordinates were not the end. They were the beginning. Red light swallowed everything.
But at the very moment the red light was about to completely envelop him, Hode's right hand in one of the fragments suddenly pierced into the void. Carol's stellar energy condensed into golden threads at his fingertips, and the patterns of Diana's Lasso of Truth appeared on the surface of the threads. Following the threads to their end—5.7—he saw in a certain parallel Universe, Natasha's Soul Data Thread was wrapped around Bruce's Batcomputer, and the computer screen displayed the coordinates of the seven primordial Universes.
The coordinates suddenly began to rotate, and each number transformed into the eyes of a different female superhero: Diana's emerald eyes, Carol's blue eyes, Natasha's gray eyes, Mera's green eyes, Hela's golden eyes, Wanda's violet eyes, and the insane irises of Harley.
So that's... Hode's laughter was suddenly drowned out by the sound of an explosion.
Seven million fragments screamed simultaneously, and in each fragment, he was fighting using the abilities of a different hero: in one fragment, he used Shazam's lightning to weld a dimensional rift; in another, he used Mera's hydrokinesis to solidify the flow of time; and in yet another, he was using Bruce's tactical display to analyze the battle—while the Sun mark on every fragment burned at the same time, tearing their consciousness into seventy million smaller specks of light.
Before the last speck of light dissipated, Hode suddenly saw the truth of the coordinates.
It was the intersection of seven primitive Universes.
It was also the heart of all parallel selves.
But deeper still...
A crack suddenly opened in the red light.
Chapter 649: Should I call you... Dear?
A silver-blue Data Stream seeped out from the crack in the red light, looking exactly like Natasha's Soul Data Thread.
Hode felt his consciousness being wrapped by something both warm and sharp—it was Diana's Lasso of Truth, protecting its master automatically.
"Don't get distracted," he heard himself whisper in Bruce's calm voice, while his right hand uncontrollably touched his left eye.
Carol's stellar energy boiled in his eye socket, the burning pain reminding him of the prank she played during their first kiss, when she intentionally scorched his eyelashes with her energy field.
The crack suddenly exploded, and seven hundred afterimages of Harley surged out from the Data Stream.
Each afterimage held a syringe of a different color: in the pink liquid floated fragments of Diana's Bracelets of Submission, in the purple liquid drifted Wanda's Chaos Rose, and in the black liquid was encased Hela's ashes of Death.
"Dear, it's time for your shot." All the Harleys spoke at once, their voices weaving into a dizzying, magical sound.
Hode felt his temples throbbing, and a memory from a fragment suddenly flashed back—in an underground clinic in Gotham, when he was helping Harley stitch up the corner of her mouth cut by Joker, she had once replaced the anesthetic with rainbow syrup.
"Get lost!" Hode roared, activating his newly acquired ability.
Mera's hydrokinetic talent seeped from his pores, and the water vapor in the surrounding air instantly condensed into ice crystals.
The ice crystals refracted seven different colors of light, and in each beam stood the phantom of a female superhero.
Diana's phantom brandished the Lasso of Truth, and on the surface of the lasso appeared Natasha's tactical gestures: An Amazon warrior never retreats.
Carol's phantom ignited stellar flames in her hands, and within the flames echoed Mera's Siren Song: The ocean will swallow all lies.
The Harleys suddenly let out a piercing scream, and the liquid in the syringes began to boil.
Hode saw Wanda's smiling face emerge from the purple liquid, her lips moving as she spoke a spell he had once heard in the soul World.
In an instant, all the ice crystal phantoms shattered simultaneously.
"Watch your back!" Diana's warning came from the void.
Hode instinctively rolled forward, and his original position was blasted into a three-meter-wide crater by Hela's Death energy.
At the bottom of the crater lay a broken Batarang, engraved with Zatanna Zatara's reverse spell—the one he had swiped from her belt last week while stealing a kiss from Natasha in Bruce's lab.
"Stealing isn't a good habit." Hela's voice came from all directions.
Hode felt his right ankle being entangled by something, and looking down, he saw a black snake formed of Deathenergy climbing up his pant leg.
Where the black snake passed, the patterns of Natasha's Soul Data Thread appeared on his skin.
Memories suddenly flooded in. Three nights ago, while on a date with Wanda at the Sanctum Sanctorum, he had used Shazam's lightning to repair her shattered Chaos Magic necklace.
At the time, she suddenly leaned in, her fingertips tracing glowing runes on his chest: "This is Skadi's protection spell, more durable than your lightning."
"Now is not the time for reminiscing!" Hode shouted at the void, and Carol's energy core suddenly appeared in the palm of his left hand.
On the surface of the core appeared the patterns of Diana's Bracelets of Submission, which suddenly turned into Natasha's Soul Data Thread, with a familiar red hair strand wrapped around the end—the one he had pulled from Wanda's head in the ruins of Westview.
"In the name of Chaos..." Hode shouted the spell he had learned from Wanda, and the red hair strand suddenly burst into flames.
In the flames appeared the coordinates of seven primitive Universes, each engraved with the name of a different female superhero: Diana's divine blood rift, Carol's energy crystal, Natasha's Soul Data, Mera's Siren Song scales, Hela's Death mark, and... Harley's crazy smiling face?
Hode was amused by this conclusion himself.
He suddenly remembered their first date with Harley, when she took him to the rooftop of Arkham Asylum and pointed at the screaming patients below, saying: "Look, this is true freedom."
The sound of an explosion interrupted his memories.
Hode saw himself in one fragment welding a dimensional rift with Shazam's lightning, while in another, he used Mera's hydrokinesis to solidify the flow of time.
But the central battlefield suddenly split open, and the ultimate forms of seven Harleys emerged from the rift—this time, her body was composed of countless scalpels, and each blade reflected a collapsing Universe.
"It's my turn to perform surgery." Harley's lips split into seven petals, each speaking a different language: Diana's ancient divine tongue, Carol's Kree Planet war cry, Natasha's Russian profanity, Mera's ancient undersea tongue, Hela's Asgard secret language, Wanda's Chthonblack tongue, and... his own native language?
The excruciating pain made Hode stagger back.
He felt an invisible scalpel slicing open his temple, with Natasha's tactical serial number engraved on the blade.
Memories flooded in like a tide: two weeks ago, on a date with Natasha on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, she suddenly bound his wrists with a Soul Data Thread: "Tonight's mission is... to steal your heart."
"You succeeded." Hode whispered to the void, and his left hand was suddenly bound by Diana's Lasso of Truth.
On the surface of the lasso appeared Carol's energy patterns, which suddenly turned into Natasha's Soul Data Thread, with a familiar Batarang wrapped around the end—the emergency dating tool Bruce had secretly slipped him at the Justice League meeting last week.
"In the name of the Seven Deadly Sins..." Hode shouted the forbidden spell he had learned from Zatanna Zatara, and the Batarang suddenly changed direction and pierced toward Harley.
She nimbly dodged, but the Batarang suddenly split into seven hundred miniature Batarangs, each reflecting a battlefield from a different Universe: in one, the Avengerswere laying flowers on his tombstone, and in another, members of the Justice League were being transformed into weapons by Chaos Magic.
"Boring tricks." Harley snapped her fingers, and all the Batarangs suddenly froze into ice sculptures.
But from within the ice sculptures suddenly surged Mera's hydrokinetic energy, and the crystal fragments turned into a tsunami, rushing toward her.
Hode saw himself in one fragment guiding the waves with a Siren Song, and in another, he used the Lasso of Truth to bind a Harley black butterfly attempting a sneak attack.
"You always love to get distracted." Diana's voice came from overhead.
Hode looked up and saw her Lasso of Truth turn into a vast net, with the patterns of Natasha's Soul Data Threadappearing on its surface.
Those silver-blue threads suddenly came alive, coiling around Harley's limbs like vipers: "Just like that time in the soul World..."
Memories flashed back again.
Hode remembered that in the depths of the soul World, Diana had used the Lasso of Truth to bind the rampaging Chaos Magic.
At the time, she suddenly turned to him: "The oath of an Amazon warrior is stronger than any chain." Then she kissed his lips and tied the other end of the lasso to his wrist.
"Now it's my turn." Hode's lips in one fragment suddenly pressed against the back of Hela's neck, a seduction technique he had learned from Mera in the Atlantis royal palace.
Hela's body suddenly stiffened, and the moment the Scepter of Death fell, Hode saw the coordinates of seven primitive Universes reflected in her pupils.
"So that's it..." He suddenly laughed, gripping the fragment of Carol's energy core with his left hand, and flicking out Bruce's Batarang with his right.
The moment the energy core collided with the Batarang, the battlefields of seven hundred Universes suddenly overlapped in the void.
He saw himself in one Universe using Shazam's lightning to repair Diana's Bracelets of Submission, and in another fragment, he used Zatanna Zatara's reverse spell to seal Wanda's Chaos Magic—while the Sun mark on every parallel self burned simultaneously, tearing their consciousness into seven hundred thousand smaller specks of light.
"Game over." The ultimate forms of seven Harleys suddenly merged into one, her body turning into a solid black mirror, and in the mirror reflection were the Deathscenes of all Hode's parallel selves.
But just as the mirror was about to swallow him, Hodesuddenly saw the flaw in the mirror—in every Death scene, Natasha's Soul Data Thread was wrapped around a specific broken coordinate.
"You forgot..." He opened his palm to the void, and Carol's stellar energy condensed into a golden compass in his palm.
The compass needle suddenly pointed toward a broken 950-dimensional rift, and from deep within the rift came the electronic voice of Bruce's tactical display: "Abnormal energy source detected... Immediate evacuation recommended..."
"Too late." Hode suddenly stabbed into his own temple, and the fragment of Carol's energy core surged out from the wound.
On the surface of the fragment appeared the patterns of Diana's Lasso of Truth, which suddenly turned into Natasha's Soul Data Thread, with a familiar red hair strand wrapped around the end—the one he had pulled from Wanda's head in the ruins of Westview.
"In the name of love..." Hode shouted the spell he had learned from Zatanna Zatara, and the red hair strand suddenly burst into flames.
In the flames appeared the coordinates of seven primitive Universes, each engraved with the name of a different female superhero.
But just as he was about to touch the coordinates, all the specks of light suddenly froze.
Time seemed to have stopped.
Hode felt a pair of hands gently stroking his cheeks—it was Diana's warmth, carrying the dampness of the Amazon rainforest.
But the next second, these hands suddenly turned into Carol's energy field, the scorching heat reminding him of their first kiss in space, when she intentionally let him taste the flavor of a stellar storm.
"You are always so..." a familiar voice whispered in his ear, with Natasha's Moscow accent.
But before the words were finished, the voice suddenly turned into the humming of Wanda's Chaos Magic, followed by Mera's Siren Song, Hela's Death whisper, and finally... Harley's crazy laughter?
Hode opened his eyes abruptly and found himself floating in an ocean of Data Stream.
Countless silver-blue threads were wrapped around his body, each thread connected to a broken Universe.
On the nearest thread, he saw Natasha's Soul Data forming new coordinates—and in the center of the coordinates stood a figure with their back to him.
The figure suddenly turned around, revealing a face identical to Hode's.
"Surprise?" The other person's mouth curled up, revealing a Harley-style insane smile, "Or should I call you... Dear?"
Chapter 650: Stellar flames burning fiercely
Hode's pupils shrank, and Carol's stellar energy rampaged in his blood vessels, burning him so badly he almost cried out.
But the other person tapped their fingertip lightly, and that violent energy actually curled back into his bones and blood like a tame pet.
"Don't waste your energy, other Hode—or rather, Harley-fied Hode—" The other person raised their left hand, and seven rings of different colors rotated between their fingers, "You stole Diana's courage, Carol's fire, Natasha's cunning... but you missed the most critical thing."