Preparing for the Final Battle

"So, Bert has forbidden the armies from teleporting."

Tony understood somewhat. "In that case, the war will return to its original form. We won’t have to worry about surprise attacks on our rear."

"Hela’s threat has failed."

Skye beamed. "The Insect Extermination Alliance will continue to exist. That’s great."

The representatives from the other planets also came to their senses, their faces lighting up with joy. The Blood God truly deserved to be called a Creator God. With a single sentence, he had reversed the situation.

A single word set the rules. That was a Creator God.

Should we worship the Blood God?

Quite a few planetary representatives thought so in secret. This was a powerful protector.

"Master, isn’t this too much? You actually changed the rules directly?"

Hela shouted displeasedly at the sky. She had nearly won this game, yet her master had simply flipped the table and made everything start over. How was that any different from cheating? Bald Wang Bert stepped out of the void and snorted. "What, I’m celebrating my birthday. Do you have a problem with that?"

If he wanted to flip the table, he would flip it. What could she do about it? Hela asked, "Master, aren’t you afraid the Living Tribunal will punish you for abusing the rules like this?"

Wang Bert said, "No. Go ahead and report me if you want."

"Death!"

Hela gritted her teeth and tattled to Death. Death said helplessly, "It’s useless. Your master isn’t considered to have broken the rules."

Hela was stunned. "This doesn’t count as breaking the rules?"

"It doesn’t."

Death shook her head. "First, the Blood God banned it across the board. You can’t use it, and neither can the Insect Extermination Alliance. In other words, the two sides are still fair.

"Second, portals are not important to the Main Universe. The lack of portals will not affect the Main Universe’s survival or development.

"As a Creator God, as long as he doesn’t affect the universe, being willful once in a while is nothing. That is a Creator God’s right."

Hela said, "The problem is that all my previous efforts have gone to waste. That isn’t fair to me."

"There’s nothing to be done. Who told you that you aren’t a Creator God?"

Death said, "Don’t worry. The Blood God can only do something like this once. If he dares act so recklessly again, the Living Tribunal will definitely go have a talk with him."

"Damn it."

Though Hela was extremely unwilling, she could only accept it. She glanced at Wang Bert and said, "Master, you saved them once, but you can’t save them a second time. Next time, they’re doomed."

With that, Hela took Annihilus and Knull, who only had half a body left, and traveled through space away from the Frontlines—they could travel by themselves, but they could not bring an army with them.

"I hope you perform better next time."

Wang Bert turned to the crowd. Skye and the others were rather ashamed. This time, Hela had completely crushed them. If Wang Bert had not intervened again and again, they would have lost long ago.

They could not stop any of Hela’s three layers of tactics. They were still too young.

Skye said, "Thank you, Master. Next time, I’ll defeat Hela."

"I hope so. The final battle will begin soon. You need to be prepared."

Wang Bert said. His main body had been trying to stop Galactus from entering the Milky Way Galaxy, but Galactus was determined to come to Earth. At Galactus’s current speed, he would enter the Milky Way Galaxy in around a month.

When that happened, Wang Bert would inevitably go to war with Galactus.

The Demon God Alliance and Hela would not let such an opportunity pass. They would definitely use it to launch their final offensive.

"We understand."

Everyone nodded. Wang Bert said nothing more and had Skye comfort the alliance and deal with the aftermath.

With the joint efforts of Skye and the two great empires, the alliance, which had nearly collapsed, united once more and swore to fight the insect race to the death and avenge the lives that had been lost.

That was right, avenge them. This time, the alliance’s losses were no small matter—both economically and in terms of lives, they had suffered enormous losses.

The relationship between the two sides had become one of mutual destruction.

In Hell’s battered, nearly collapsing conference hall, Adam and Chthon stopped at the same time, both looking rather grim.

"This guy can actually withstand my attacks?"

Chthon narrowed his eyes. He truly had not expected a mere newly ascended Satan to fight him to a draw. Though he was only a projection, he was still the projection of the great demon god Chthon.

"This guy is actually this strong?"

Adam frowned slightly. He had thought that, with Concepts and his true body, killing Chthon’s projection would not be difficult. Yet Chthon’s Black Magic was fiercer than a Gatling gun, leaving him almost no chance to attack.

Adam was ultimately only a newly ascended Satan. His strength was far inferior to Chthon’s, and he had not fully mastered the Chaos Concept and Evil Concept.

Concept Abilities needed to be developed.

In addition, Adam had not absorbed Hell Power during this battle—Hell Power was suppressing Serpent God Set.

"Adam, you won’t have such good luck next time."

Chthon said coldly, "Release Set. We can play slowly later."

"Next time, I will definitely kill you."

Adam lifted Hell’s seal. Then, with a wave of his hand, Set appeared beside him.

Having been suppressed for so long, Set was filled with rage. He roared, "Adam, how dare you plot against me?"

"Set, we’re leaving."

Chthon said. Set froze, then asked in astonishment, "Chthon, you actually failed to suppress this guy?"

"We’ll talk when we get back. The battle is already over."

Chthon’s face darkened slightly as he turned and vanished. Set rolled his eyes, left behind a threat, and disappeared as well.

The Succubus Lord walked in from outside and asked in confusion, "Adam, why didn’t you use your trump card and forcefully kill Chthon?"

"Chthon has deep reserves. If one projection dies, he can quickly create another. Killing him now would be meaningless and would only expose our trump card."

Adam said, "We’ll deal with it during the final battle. The coming final battle will decide the universe’s fate."

The Succubus Lord declared her loyalty. "We Hell Lords will always stand by your side."

"Aren’t all the Hell Lords besides you puppets?"

Adam complained. He waved his hand, signaling for the Succubus Lord to leave. Then, with a flick of his hand, time began to reverse, and the previous battle replayed.

Adam said to the void, "Baldy, take a good look. This is your next opponent."

Bald Wang Bert quietly watched the battle footage. After a moment, he said, "He won’t be easy to handle. Chthon’s Black Magic somewhat counters Fair Space, but in a one-on-one fight, I’m confident I can take him down."

Adam asked, "What about one against many?"

"No. Adam, it seems you’ll have to help deal with one of them."

Wang Bert said, "As for the remaining one, Astros will handle her."

"I have no problem dealing with one, but who will deal with their projections?"

Adam said, "The Super Heroes can’t handle the projections of those Ancient Gods."

"Not necessarily. They’re improving quickly, and the Dragon Soul Clone and Wanda will return by then."

Wang Bert said.

"That’s good."

Adam nodded. Now, all they could do was wait for the final battle.

Three days later, in the Heavenfall Star System, the insect race launched another attack. Super-powerful beings and demon gods led the charge, leading the insect army as they forcibly broke out of the jump point.

The alliance fought the insect army to the death on the Frontlines. Countless insects and aliens died every day.

Because portals had been banned, the alliance had problems with reinforcements and logistics. Ten days later, the alliance was routed by the endless insect army and withdrew from the Heavenfall Star System.

Dozens of life-bearing planets in the Heavenfall Star System all became the insect race’s dining halls.

Afterward, Skye led the alliance in establishing a new defensive line in the neighboring star system, while the insect race rested, devoured life, and rapidly bred new insects.

"Without portals, everything is so inconvenient. Neither supplies nor reinforcements can get here. I hope the insect race doesn’t attack too soon, or we’ll be routed again."

As the Frontlines commander, Skye had been run ragged lately. Fortunately, Centurion Lindy was there to help her. Otherwise, Skye would definitely have been banging her head against the wall.

Centurion Lindy had been personally brought back to the Frontlines by Carol—Carol could teleport with one or two people.

"Although it’s troublesome, if the portals were still around, we would have lost long ago."

Centurion Lindy shook her head. Thinking of something, she said, "Speaking of which, Earth’s technology is really incredible. You can even invent something like Pym Particles?"

During this period, Pym Particles had shone brilliantly—shrinking warships and having super-powerful beings bring them over was somewhat like cheating, but it was truly useful. The reason the alliance could quickly rebuild its defensive line after being routed was those "shrunken" warships.

However, there were no soldiers inside the warships. The teleportation rules did not allow it. Put simply, only supplies could be teleported.

"My master once said that Earth is the core of the universe."

Skye looked outside at the base that was being rapidly constructed and said confidently, "We will definitely win this war."

"I believe we’ll win too, because your rate of improvement is simply too fast."

Centurion Lindy sighed. War was the best forge for people. Though they had lost the last battle, the Super Heroes’ strength had skyrocketed as if erupting from a volcano.

Not only that, research had been progressing smoothly. Tony and Ivan had both created new suits of armor, while Dr. Richards had developed a special shell specifically designed to destroy the insect warships’ defenses.

Overall, the road was winding, but the future was bright.

In the insect camp, Annihilus impatiently asked Hela, "Hela, when will we attack again?"

Those dozens of life-bearing planets had greatly increased the insect race’s strength.

Knull, who had changed into another new body, also asked, "Yes, when will we attack? I can’t wait to kill those Super Heroes."

"How many times have you said that? When have you ever succeeded?"

Hela sneered. "Last time, you faced Tony Stark and Ivan Vanko alone. What happened? Not only did you fail to kill them, they beat you down instead. Knull, are you really an Ancient God?"

Annihilus also looked at Knull with contempt. If not for the Demon God Alliance, trash like him would not even be qualified to sit with them.

Knull’s face turned bright red with rage, but he could not refute her. His performance last time had been far too humiliating.

The problem was that it was not his fault. His strength had been weakened again and again, while Tony and Ivan’s strength had continuously increased.

"Have you noticed something?"

Hela asked, "With every battle, the Super Heroes’ strength increases. Not by an ordinary amount, either—they’re improving as if riding rockets."

After a pause, Hela continued, "For example, that Quake King is only one step away from becoming a Half-Step Ancient God. Carol and the others have all comprehended Concepts. Those are Concepts."

"Their rate of improvement is indeed extraordinary."

Annihilus nodded solemnly. It knew better than anyone what Concepts represented. If it had not fused with the Negative Space, it would never have comprehended a Concept.

Yet those Earthlings had comprehended them one after another as if they had cheats enabled. To be honest, Annihilus felt quite stifled.

Knull cursed disdainfully, "They’re nothing but a group of ants."

"Get out."

Hela waved her hand, and Knull was instantly turned into a shooting star and sent flying outside. Annihilus snorted. "It would be one thing if he lacked strength, but he can’t even see reality. That guy has probably gone stupid from being imprisoned."

"He’s been struck down repeatedly and has lost his mind."

Hela shook her head and said, "Forget about him. My master once said Earth is the core of the universe. I didn’t believe it before, but judging from those Super Heroes’ performance, Earth might truly be the core of the universe."

"The core of the universe?"

Annihilus froze, then said, "It’s not impossible. If it weren’t the core of the universe, how could it produce a freak like the Blood God?"

Hela smiled. "My master is a great freak, and those Super Heroes are little freaks. That’s why I’m not sending troops for now. I’m worried their strength will improve further, just like the protagonists in novels."

"That makes some sense."

Annihilus nodded first, then said, "The problem is that we have to fight eventually. We can’t stay in the Heavenfall Star System forever."

"We will definitely fight, but we must kill them all in one blow."

Hela waved her hand, and four majestic phantom figures appeared around them. They were the Four Ancient Gods.

Chthon smiled. "Hela, you’ve finally come to find us. Hm, where’s Knull?"

"It was too hot just now, so he went outside to cool off."

Hela said. At that moment, Knull flew back in from outside and shouted furiously at Hela, "Hela, how dare you humiliate me like this?"

Hela ignored Knull and calmly drank tea. The Four Ancient Gods had no intention of standing up for Knull either. Knull’s performance during this period had cost him everyone’s respect.

Seeing that no one paid him any attention, Knull felt incomparably miserable and sat down at the side in dejection.

Hela set down her teacup and said, "According to the intelligence Death gave me, Galactus will enter the Milky Way Galaxy in half a month. My master has always wanted to establish the Galactic Empire, so he will not allow Galactus to devour the Milky Way Galaxy’s planets.

"In other words, my master will attack Galactus in half a month."

"That will surely be a world-shaking battle, Creator God against Creator God."

Chthon said, "The outcome of that battle is not important to us. What matters is that once the battle begins, the Blood God must go all out. In other words, he will no longer be able to pay attention to the insect disaster."

"Exactly."

Hela nodded. "That will be the best time for the final battle. While my master battles Galactus, I will wipe out every Super Hero."

"A wise decision. In truth, that alliance does not matter at all. Once the Super Heroes are completely wiped out, the alliance will be unable to stop you."

Chthon said.

"This time, the Super Heroes must die."

Hela said, "Chthon, Eye Demon Shuma-Gorath, Set, Astros, I need your cooperation."