Virus Evolution: Pokémon, Marvel & Beyond

As one new species after another came into being, a fresh notification blinked across Lucius's system interface:

[Congratulations. Mission 'Upgrade the World Base to Tier-2' completed. Reward: 'Dominator' title upgraded to 'Planetary Ruler.']

At last, it was done.

Lucius knew that for a planet to ascend to Tier-2, it needed at least ten deity-class entities and a biodiversity count between one million and ten million species.

Thanks to the newly stabilized planetary core, his world had now surpassed the one-million-species mark.

In addition to Lucius himself—Will of the World, Creator God, Planetary Ruler, and Progenitor Virus—the pantheon of deity-class lifeforms included:

Mew, Spirit of the Original Tree of Beginning

Regigigas, the Colossal King of the Regis

Ho-Oh, God of Rebirth

Kyogre, God of the Seas

Groudon, God of the Earth

Xerneas, God of Life

Yveltal, God of Death

Zygarde, God of Decomposition

And rounding out the ten, two surviving gods from a previous era:

Black Rayquaza, the Guardian God, sentinel of the skies

Necrozma, the Radiant Overdeity and Wings of Dawn, guardian of space

This brought the count to exactly ten deity-class beings, meeting the Tier-2 planetary requirements.

Each held dominion over a vital force of this new world:

Mew, the will of the world's primal Genesis Tree, bore the genetic code for nearly all Pokémon and plants, acting as the ancestral root of life.

Kyogre and Groudon governed the seas and vast continents, while Regigigas maintained equilibrium between land and ocean.

Xerneas and Yveltal ruled the cycle of life and death, ensuring the planet's ecosystem pulsed with healthy vitality.

Ho-Oh balanced rebirth and oblivion, while Zygarde decomposed the dead into raw energy to nourish the world, a perfect feedback loop.

Then came the elder myths:

Black Rayquaza, warding off asteroids and alien intrusions from the stratosphere.

Necrozma, shielding spacetime itself from extra-dimensional threats.

And above them all stood Lucius, not only the Creator God, but also the God of Time, God of Space, Source of All Viruses, and wielder of darkness, transition, and entropy. His authority was absolute and eternal.

These were the current divine orders and responsibilities of all deity-class Pokémon in the Ultra World. For now, Lucius had no intention of creating more.

Unlike Arceus in the original timeline, his virus-based essence made him immune to power dilution or authority fragmentation. Still, creating a deity-class Pokémon consumed a tremendous amount of planetary core energy, far more than spawning ordinary lifeforms.

And since this planet orbited no star and lacked external energy sources, he had to ration the stolen planetary core energy carefully.

Fortunately, the reserves were more than enough to sustain the Ultra World for tens of millions, even billions, of years at current consumption rates.

Transforming into a whispering wind, Lucius soared across the planet's surface to survey his domain.

It was vast. And it was beautiful.

Amid endless oceans lay two massive continents, each as large as a dozen Pokémon regions like Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and more, combined.

Across these sprawling landmasses bloomed countless unique ecosystems. Trees and flora varied wildly, brimming with distinct characteristics. Pokémon and wildlife lived freely and at peace. Berries were abundant. Rivers sparkled, sweet and pure.

On this world lit by its own internal glow, biodiversity thrived, erasing every trace of the desolate gloom that had once haunted it.

For now, Lucius hadn't introduced humans. The world remained unspoiled, pristine and untouched by industry or digital contamination.

Satisfied, he opened an Ultra Wormhole and returned to the original world.

After absorbing the planetary core energy of a parallel world, Arceus, the Original One, was no longer needed as an energy conduit. Lucius had already released it.

Now, Arceus too had been fully infected, virus integrated from soul to shell. With most other deity-class Pokémon already under his sway, Lucius now controlled over 94% of the world's divine ecosystem.

The remaining 6% were outliers: sealed beings like Hoopa, and elusive legends such as Zacian, Zamazenta, and Eternatus, who remained dormant, their powers and dominions still exerting a faint influence.

As for humanity, despite the countless wars that had ravaged the planet, only the Unova region had been utterly annihilated. The rest of civilization still functioned under the rule of the Holy Leviathan Empire.

Among the divine, the original world still retained more than ten deity-class Pokémon, including Mew, Primal Groudon, Origin Kyogre, Mega Rayquaza, Xerneas, Zygarde, Regigigas, Fallen Lugia, the fully united Original Dragon formed from the fusion of Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem, and the newly returned Arceus.

Even with the losses of Mewtwo, black Ho-Oh, and Yveltal during the assault on the parallel world, the divine count remained above the Tier-2 threshold.

Lucius used his dominion over spacetime to create a rift linking the original and Ultra Worlds, both now ecologically aligned.

He then instructed the New Empire to launch an official expansion plan. Corporations like Devon Corp and Macro Cosmos were tasked with developing the technologies and equipment needed for inter-world colonization.

Much like America's westward expansion in his past life, generous incentives would encourage the people of the original world, especially those from cities destroyed in the Old League war, to settle and build in the Ultra World.

This was precisely why Lucius hadn't seeded humans into the Ultra World through genetic engineering. Natural development was too slow.

By relocating humans and backing them with established industrial and electronic technology, cities could be built instantly. Fertility would take care of the rest. Within just a few generations, both worlds would flourish.

And if necessary, humanity's growth could always be accelerated with advanced biotechnology.

Once the directives had been dispatched, Lucius turned back to his system interface.

...

Host: Lucius

Virus Type: Progenitor Virus

Hosts: T2 Planets (2)

Title: Planetary Ruler

Authority: Executor of the Virus Evolution System

Adaptability: Compatible with most multiversal environments

Abilities:

Dominion – Modify parameters of any dominated world

Heart of the Emperor – Command all infected beings

Conceptual Virus – Omnipresent and omnipotent within the bounds of thought and universal law

Items:

World Base – Tier-2 World Base ×2

Infected Entities – Each infected is a fully autonomous avatar

Spacetime Key – Opens the Gate of Spacetime

Mission: Conquer a Tier-3 World

Evolutionary Path: Origin Virus

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