Virus Evolution: Pokémon, Marvel & Beyond

What shocked him most was that, through the invisible threads connecting the various systems, he had caught a glimpse of a higher-tier power, an even greater force of law and order.

Previously, the Old One Virus hadn't yet attained the level of a true "singularity" across the multiverse. But within any world it infected, it was undying and indestructible. No conventional means could kill it. The only thing that could restrain it was a force of equal magnitude, another rule-based power.

But even among such powers, hierarchies existed. Just like how a household has its own rules, a corporation has its regulations, and a nation has its laws, so too do cosmic forces fall within a structure of layered authority.

Even the Creation Force of Arceus wasn't the peak. Beyond that, there existed an even more abstract, supreme order, the kind of rule-power that manifests as a "System," and even more terrifyingly, the power of the being that created such Systems.

That kind of force could erase even the terrifying Old One Virus without hesitation.

No wonder that when Lucius was first deployed into the Pokémon world by a system, legendary Pokémon like Lugia had sensed something... and even Arceus had preemptively detected the incursion, yet couldn't stop it.

Because the System's governing power exceeded that of Arceus. It had twisted the natural laws of the Pokémon world, forcefully inserting the virus into its reality and turning all life into fodder for infection.

With this revelation, Lucius suddenly understood the direction the Old One Virus sought.

His mission wasn't to eliminate others who shared the same system, others who might someday surpass him. No, his path was to elevate the virus, to push it further, and to ascend into the conceptual realm of the "Only One," to become the apex and origin of all viral forms.

But he also realized that the apex was already occupied, by something unspeakable.

Faintly, he could perceive it: a grotesquely bloated being, as vast as a star system. If one were to give it shape, it might resemble a colossal, monstrous penguin.

Its power seeped into countless worlds and dimensions. Wherever its presence reached, it drained all vitality in an instant, reducing entire planets to lifeless husks.

Those dead worlds were drawn together by its crimson energy, forming a blood-red band that coiled around its neck, like a scarf woven from death itself.

It drifted through the multiverse, endlessly harvesting from domains, absorbing "concepts" and "rules." Within the sphere of its influence, a single thought could rewrite reality.

If it wished for a planet to be silent, then the concept of "sound" would vanish from that world. From that moment on, silence would reign absolute.

If it willed that no creature have a mouth, then no living being in that world would ever again possess one, no jaws, no tongues, no teeth, no lips, no capacity to eat, speak, or breathe.

This... was the power of Authority. The power that ruled over concepts as singularities, fused with dominion over law itself.

[Invasion level 99%...]

[Invasion level 100%.]

['Virus Evolution System' has been fully infiltrated. System collapse imminent.]

These final alerts flickered through the hazy consciousness of the parallel Lucius.

['Virus Evolution System' collapsed. Unbinding from host initiated.]

[System unbound from host. Destruction protocol activated.]

[High-level 'Virus Evolution System' detected. Destruction protocol halted. System takeover in progress.]

[System takeover: 1%...]

[System takeover: 2%...]

Perhaps because both hosts shared the same system architecture, this parallel Lucius wasn't erased like those with incompatible Systems. Instead, a takeover sequence had begun.

As Lucius initiated the integration, the sky above twisted once more.

From a new rift, two colossal silhouettes emerged, one blue, one violet.

Dialga, the God of Time. Palkia, the God of Space.

The moment the two mythic Pokémon appeared, they launched their most devastating assaults.

Lucius could feel it, the world was beginning to reject him. The very space around him warped and compressed, as if the world itself were trying to squeeze him out.

"Hoopa!"

Unified in mind and body, Hoopa had fully unsealed its true form. Alongside the other Mythical Pokémon infected by Lucius, it surged forward to engage Dialga and Palkia.

But then, a dark, yawning shadow fell across the sky, a vortex appeared like a black hole, sucking in the Mythical Pokémon momentarily halted by Palkia's spatial control.

Giratina had arrived, Master of the Distortion World.

Together, the three deities of time, space, and antimatter used their divine authorities to trap the Mythical Pokémon within the Distortion World.

Then, the blue diamond on Dialga's chest, the purple pearl on Palkia's shoulder, and the blood-red spikes on Giratina's wings simultaneously flared with power.

Roar of Time.

Spacial Rend.

Shadow Force.

A beam condensed from endless ages, a blade that tore through the fabric of reality, and a phantom strike steeped in ghostly dread, all collided in unison.

There was no shockwave. No earth-shattering roar.

The fusion of these three distinct, elemental forces caused a bizarre transformation: space itself warped, becoming like a massive blob of translucent, mucous-like fluid. All natural order collapsed within it.

Moments later, that gelatinous mass evaporated into light particles.

From the ground, it looked as if someone had punched a hole through the sky, a gaping, pitch-black void where nothing remained.

This rupture wasn't flat. It was a three-dimensional wound.

As its edges continued to dissolve, the breach expanded rapidly. Within just a few breaths, it had devoured an entire continent. Everything it touched, living or dead, organic or inorganic, infected or uninfected, disintegrated into light and returned to pure, primordial energy.

Heh... Impressive. So this is how they intend to end the world...

Watching the actions of the three deities, Lucius grasped their intent.

In past timelines, when parallel Lucius unleashed his infection, most Mythical Pokémon had remained passive. After all, they had seen civilizations rise and fall countless times, another apocalypse wasn't worth their concern.

But the emergence of the Old One Virus had changed everything.

Lucius hadn't just infected legendary beings upon arrival, he had also annihilated Umbrella, the most powerful organization of this era, within a single day.

To the gods who governed time and space, Lucius posed a threat they could no longer ignore.

What Lucius hadn't realized, however, was that the moment he began to integrate with the System, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina sensed the world's inevitable doom.

And this wasn't mere extinction of life, it was total obliteration. A future where the entire world would become a dead star.

That was something they could not allow.

If annihilation was inevitable, they would choose to end the world themselves, wiping out every being except the deities of time, space, and creation. Let everything return to zero.

So long as Arceus and the dark trinity remained, a new world, and a new cycle of life, could one day rise again.

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