Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 400: Ch.399 Luthor's Genesis

The sound of the ocean waves echoed through the cave, and the white crystals glowed with a gentle light. Circe couldn't help but feel that Luthor's face looked unfamiliar now.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. Maybe it was just an illusion. She had always feared Hecate, the Endless, and God, and now that they were trying to destroy them, she felt insecure.

But Luthor was clearly different. His super-advanced technology had sent him into the future, and in that future, he had seen humanity succeed in defeating all enemies.

All things had perished, but humanity remained supreme, with Luthor alone enduring.

Yet at that time, humanity had already been teetering on the edge of extinction. The concept of "Transcendence" had driven them into a never-ending vicious cycle.

Everyone wanted to be stronger, stronger than anyone else, and to mercilessly kill the losers because allowing the weak to live was merely a waste of resources.

Humanity had succeeded—surpassing gods, surpassing God, transcending time and space, even surpassing destiny and death.

At that time, no external factor could stop humanity anymore.

Luthor saw in the future, on a planet, a giant statue of himself. Humanity had conquered the multiverse in his name.

But he could not rejoice.

For he saw people in his cities killing each other, ceaselessly pursuing "Transcendence." Once external enemies were completely wiped out, they could only turn inward to find new ones.

Division after division. Even if there were only two people left in the entire multiverse, they would still try to surpass each other, by any means necessary.

It was a slow death for humanity—Luthor didn't need to see it to know where it was heading.

He was humanity's savior, and he would not allow this to happen. He needed to change things now, to consign the Justice League, who represented Transcendence, to the garbage heap of history.

Originally, he had wanted to be the good guy. When the Omega Four Gods descended, he had helped; he even joined the Justice League.

But after that trip to the future, he regretted it. It was because of his presence in the Justice League that the spirit of "Transcendence" had been fully embraced, turning the world into what he saw.

So, he betrayed them. He found another door—Destruction.

He would correct the mistakes all of humanity would make in the future, but to do that, he needed power.

He knew well that facing the Justice League alone was not enough, so he formed the Legion of Doom, gathering villains with unique skills to serve him.

He promised them generous rewards.

He, Lex Luthor, an ordinary man, would reshape the multiverse with the power of Destruction from beyond the Source Wall.

This was his Genesis.

Once he became God, the others would receive positions similar to those of the Endless—a conceptual existence that would endure with the world.

But before creation, there had to be destruction—not just philosophical destruction, but the necessary purging of a distorted future.

He was already halfway there.

When he broke from the Justice League and formed the Legion of Doom, the future had already been altered.

In the distant future, the people killing each other on Luthor's planet began to smile. They could see the changes in time and fate.

In intense red light, they embraced their end—a mistaken timeline erased by Luthor.

But as they died, those future people felt only joy—they were finally free from their compulsive fate of getting stronger, always surpassing everything.

They sent their dying thoughts to this time, thanking Luthor for setting them free. Their God, Luthor, had finally remembered them. They no longer needed to surpass him.

All of this further convinced Luthor that he was doing the right thing.

Others, even Batman from the Justice League, were in awe of gods and laws. Humans only acted in the name of God.

For Luthor, the gods that scared countless people, or other powerful beings, were nothing but small obstacles. The choice of Destruction was in humanity's hands, and he was confident in his ability to wield it.

However, his last attempt to seize the Totality had failed. And what's in the Totality? It was the other key he needed.

He wasn't in a hurry, though—he knew exactly where the Justice League would hide the Totality. LexCorp's satellites, drones, supercomputers, and robots monitored the Justice League at all times.

When he saw Superman building a "Bat Moon" for Batman, Luthor sneered.

It was this godlike recklessness that had turned "Transcendence" into a nightmare.

The moon belonged to no one; it was shared by all living things on Earth, maintaining gravity and many environmental factors.

Just because they had the power, the Justice League thought they could blow it up and then joke about it afterward?

Actions like these were what gave humanity the dangerous impression that power granted one freedom to do anything. There were countless examples.

Everyone wanted to be strong, to do as they pleased. This was the nature of "entropy" shaping humanity—a longing for freedom and chaos.

The Justice League had to be eradicated, and the world had to be changed. So he would kill all humans shaped by entropy and create "New Humans" under Lex Luthor.

The first Chapter of Genesis in the Bible records God's creation of the world, and for a few dollars, you could buy a Bible at any bookstore.

If you were good friends with your local church, the pastor might even give you one for free.

Lex Luthor, being the smartest man alive, could see many things from the creation story.

On the first day of Genesis, God said, "Let there be light."

So Luthor sought Sinestro, bringing the keeper of Parallax to his side to introduce invisible light from beyond the Source Wall.

Invisible light completely overpowered the light of this world. It came from beyond the Source, a power no being within the Wall could control.

But with the doorknob, Luthor could. He could replace God's "light" with his own.

The Still Force and the Speed Force were merely keys to start the plan—something Luthor had long since calculated.

The Flash thought he had closed the door, but had he noticed that the Still Force now existed within himself?

Barry Allen, the most unique of speedsters—each step he took generated the Speed Force.

Now, the Still Force did the same.

Luthor knew speedsters all too well—their eyes were like those of frogs, only seeing things in motion, and something as constant as the Still Force barely registered.

So long as Barry kept running, he would continue to feed power into Luthor's plan.

The dead Turtle? Merely a sacrificial piece—his death had been a critical step in Luthor's plan.

And Batman's decision had played right into Luthor's hand. The Bat had the Flash take over the city's security, meaning Barry would have to keep running.

To ensure this, Luthor sought the Joker. The madman's criminal connections were extensive, and his chaotic philosophy was highly persuasive. He could incite criminal groups in every city into a frenzy.

On the second day of Genesis, God created the stars.

At present, it seemed the stars represented the multiverse.

And Luthor had someone by his side who knew the dark side of the multiverse very well—a necessity for Destruction.

Of course, Luthor did not trust that person, and that person did not trust him.

But that eternally grinning individual had told him that trusting others was foolish. For now, they shared the same goal, so they could work together.

He may have been a madman, but he was still the best detective of the Dark Multiverse.

Luthor handed over the task of destroying the stars to him once again.