Darkseid could clearly "feel" his very existence being stripped away and dismantled.
It wasn't destruction in a physical sense, but a more fundamental and thorough erasure. His proud body of a Dark New God—solid as a cosmic cornerstone—was utterly defenseless under the radiance of that pure, heart-stopping golden light.
It fared no better than an ice cream cone exposed to the blazing sun.
The Omega Effect that formed the core of his power—that terrifying authority capable of twisting causality and rewriting reality—seemed to have met its natural predator.
Not only was it unable to offer any resistance, but it acted like the sweetest poison, accelerating his collapse. He could "hear" the wails that only an entity of his stature could perceive as his power was forcibly uprooted and plundered.
"No—!!!"
Indignation! The ultimate indignation!
He, Darkseid, the Dark Lord of Apokolips, a being who had conquered countless galaxies and forced ten thousand civilizations to grovel in fear, how could he... how could he meet his end in such a manner?
Darkseid had envisioned he might be defeated one day. However, that should have been falling in a grand interstellar war or perishing at the hands of an equal rival!
Even being killed by Superman!
He wouldn't have felt this miserable!
A nameless kid from a corner of the universe—suspected to be from an external one—had made Darkseid look like a clumsy supporting character on a bizarre, nonsensical "stage."
He was being finished off by this "monster" he couldn't comprehend, a monster that could actually devour his power as a supplement!
In such a nearly humiliating fashion!
And he!
The strength he was usually so proud of had now become his death warrant.
Attributes of ultimate darkness and destruction were seemingly perfectly countered in the face of ultimate light and purification.
Every struggle he made, every time he urged his power to resist, was like pouring gasoline onto a raging fire. It only made the golden light burn more vigorously and consume him more rapidly!
"This should not be my end!"
Darkseid attempted to explode with power beyond his limits in this desperate situation.
Just as he had done countless times before—the Omega Effect boiled frantically under his will, trying to reverse this predestined defeat!
Even if he could only tear off a piece of the opponent's flesh!
However, it was useless.
That light was like an eternal law, beyond question or defiance. His struggle was like a stone cast into the ocean, unable to stir even a single ripple.
The so-called "Limit Break."
In the face of absolute elemental countering and a massive gap in scale, it became a laughable and pathetic delusion.
"Am I... just dying like this..."
Endless darkness surged like a tide, swallowing his perception and drowning his thoughts. The ambition that swept through countless galaxies, the grand blueprint for a dark empire, the pursuit of absolute power... ten thousand regrets and a thousand grudges eventually turned into a hollow bubble, returning to silence in the final glimmer of his consciousness.
His roars still echoed in the dimension, but his massive body—symbolizing darkness and tyranny—had completely turned into scattering ash, merging into the boundless golden radiance and becoming part of Ian's power. Strictly speaking, it had passed through a filter provided by Ian's system.
Whether the system took a cut from Ian.
Ian didn't know.
Darkseid had no perception of it whatsoever.
His consciousness fell into a complete, absolute void. No time, no space, no light, no darkness, not even the concept of "existence" itself.
However.
Darkseid's consciousness should have been like a candle blown out, completely dissipating in this ultimate dead silence. Yet... after an unknown amount of time.
Perhaps it was a moment, perhaps an eternity. A weak "perception," like a flickering candle in the wind, actually sparkled once more within this absolute "nothingness."
Then, a second time, a third time.
A sense of bewilderment, like a nascent mist, began to permeate this silence.
"I...?"
A fragmented intent struggled to coalesce.
Darkness, a cold darkness, enveloped him.
But this darkness was different from the one he was familiar with, which contained power and authority. This was a hollow, pure "darkness" without any attributes.
He tried to "move."
Then, he "felt"... an arm? The sensation of regained touch caused his newly revived consciousness to tremble violently! Incredible emotions swept through him like a tsunami!
Darkseid suddenly "opened" his eyes.
If this re-condensed perception could be called eyes. What entered his "sight" was still endless, hollow darkness. But he could clearly "see" himself—a nearly transparent spirit form reconstructed from weak energy and mental power!
He raised his hand, looking at the blurry fingers that seemed like they could dissipate at any moment, feeling the weak but undeniable "sense of existence" within them.
"What... is going on?"
Massive confusion replaced his previous bewilderment. He should have been completely annihilated, swallowed whole by that golden monster until not even a scrap remained!
Who was it? Who, after his complete fall, pulled him out of the absolute void? Darkseid was lost. Was it some hidden trump card he had prepared? No, he was certain he hadn't. Was it an ancient entity he had a pact with? That was unlikely; most of those guys would have preferred he perished.
Regardless, Darkseid could feel his body re-condensing.
Power was continuously returning.
Or perhaps, it was reverting?
"What kind of method is this... I can only feel my own aura, not the aura of any other being." Just as Darkseid was wavering between shock and suspicion, trying to find the truth in this unknown dark space, a cold and massive stream of information poured directly into his core consciousness without warning!
This information stream was not language.
It was a memory.
On Darkseid's spirit-formed "face," the original bewilderment and disbelief slowly faded, replaced by an ultimate coldness and realization.
"I see."
On Darkseid's spirit-formed "face," the original bewilderment and disbelief slowly faded, replaced by an ultimate coldness and realization.
A surging momentum.
Like a dormant volcano beginning to revive.
Actually, it went a billion steps further! Yes, a billion steps! The ambition and will belonging to the Dark Lord began to become more condensed and more blazing than ever before!
It was unknown exactly what information Darkseid had received.
His conviction.
His ambition.
They were reshaped in an instant.
...
On the other side.
The previous Darkseid had completely melted away.
Inside the Dark Dimension, only Ian—transformed into a golden giant god—remained, along with a dumbfounded Trigon, who had forgotten even to "lay flat" and almost dropped his jaw on the floor.
Deep within Ian's prostate, Golden Superman—who had been moved to this location and, along with Dark Tiga's will, still hadn't figured out what this unknown place was—watched this scene through Dark Tiga's eyes.
He fell into a deeper silence, finding it increasingly difficult to judge if Kryptonian genes could truly produce such a child.
The "livestream" footage on Earth.
At this moment, it perfectly froze on Ian's glorious silhouette.
Leaving behind endless room for imagination.
Ian was, after all, a "DC Director." He had spent a lot of money learning camera choreography. Feeling the people's worship turning into magic power, Ian satisfactorily and slowly pulled back his fist.
"The effect is good, it's just that the name of the move is a bit tacky... I'll have to change it to something cooler next time."
He pondered to himself.
As everyone knew, what skills Ian had wasn't up to the system, nor was it up to him. It was whatever name his brain thought of when it was time to strike.
This was the so-called "unfathomable."
Of course, Ian's brain was currently a bit "experience-dizzy," much like how people get "carb-dizzy" after eating their fill. After Darkseid's complete dissolution, a massive amount of experience points filled Ian's mind.
[Entropic Overlord EXP +99999]
[Entropic Overlord EXP +99999]
[Entropic Overlord EXP +99999]
...
[Successfully killed/purified Universal level entity · Darkseid (Avatar/Partial Origin)!]
[Gained massive amount of experience points! Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Entropic Overlord Lv.21 (143221/10536960)]
[Strength: 1864 -> 2008]
[Constitution: 2657 -> 2998]
[Intelligence: 135 -> 170]
[Spirit: 998 -> 1140]
A string of level-up notifications flashed through Ian's consciousness like a spam feed.
Is it any wonder they called it a "major supplement"?
Even though Ian had already jumped several levels, the system notifications in his ear hadn't stopped. The only regret was that his extra dimension didn't capture Darkseid's soul.
World-Pal +1 was not meant to be.
Of course, Ian—who always insisted on seeing things through and possessed the spirit of perseverance—knew this was only temporary. He would eventually obtain the magical "Pal" named Darkseid.
Failing to capture Darkseid's soul was within expectations, after all, Darkseid was different from the other magical "Pals" Ian had caught.
Whether it was Franklin, Belial, or Ultron, they all shared a common trait: they had already lost the universe they were attached to or relied upon.
In short.
They had lost the credentials of their own status, which led to them being easily captured by Ian. Anyone who has played "Magical Pal" knows that a critically injured Pal is the easiest to catch.
That's the logic behind it. If you think about it closely, you'll realize it's very reasonable. Anyway, these were the rules Ian had figured out, and Darkseid was clearly different from those critically injured Pals.
Although Darkseid had no power to fight back before Ian—who had transformed into Galactus through his skills—Darkseid was still an entity with extremely high status and weight within the DC Universe. As long as the DC Universe still "favored" him, it would be difficult for Ian to misappropriate him as his private property.
Darkseid had the imprint and "protection" of the DC Universe. This might also be related to the fact that Ian was currently just a Key NPC, and his status in the DC Universe wasn't as high as Darkseid's.
The road of an NPC is long and arduous.
Of course.
Ian had his own views on this. Before he transmigrated, he had read many novels about how to defeat "Children of Fate," and he believed that Darkseid's Luck would eventually be ground away.
When Luck is gone.
Perhaps Darkseid would lose the protection of the DC Universe. As for how to achieve this goal, Ian had "history to learn from"—the novels in his head about suppressing Children of Fate were his walkthrough.
As for whether believing in words from a novel was too naive or reckless, that wasn't a question Ian would bother thinking about. As a genuine writer, if he didn't believe it, who would?
Again, no one could find fault with his logic.
"My new class didn't give me a gold star for taking out a big baddie? I mean, Light Essence!" Ian waited for a long time but didn't receive any class feedback from the Lord of Ash-Bright.
By rights.
Having taken down a major villain like Darkseid, he should have received a lot of "good deeds" class feedback. He hadn't expected this class to act all cold and aloof with him too!
"Is it because Darkseid's soul wasn't truly destroyed by me? No, even if that's the case, I genuinely prevented an invasion and a disaster from befalling Earth."
"Is it because Darkseid and Trigon are considered a combined crisis? Do I have to take out both of them for it to count as truly preventing a major disaster?"
"Makes sense. Cutting the grass means pulling up the roots—sounds like the style required for being a good person and doing good deeds." While Ian was thinking, he leveled up again.
[Entropic Overlord Lv.22 (466481/21073920)]
[Strength: 2008 -> 2095]
[Constitution: 2998 -> 3069]
[Intelligence: 170 -> 189]
[Spirit: 1140 -> 1224]
His attributes surged significantly once more.
And the experience point notifications from absorbing Darkseid's power continued.
[Entropic Overlord EXP +88999]
[Entropic Overlord EXP +88432]
[Entropic Overlord EXP +86472]
...
Of course, the amount increased by each notification was decreasing. Perhaps because Darkseid's total experience was almost reached, or perhaps it was largely because Ian was getting a bit "stuffed."
Even so, Ian's harvest this time was obvious. Especially the feeling brought by the explosive surges in basic attributes over a short period was extremely direct and intense!
Ian could clearly feel a more majestic and pure power galloping through his energized body. Some of the previous feelings of slight sluggishness in the finer points of his power had vanished, replaced by a smoothness like an extension of his own limbs. His thought speed also seemed to be accelerated.
His control over his own state and his perception of the surrounding energy environment had risen to a new level.
And this comprehensive improvement in basic attributes directly reflected on the Galactus state he was currently maintaining—or more accurately, the "Planet Eater" form displayed on the basis of the End-State Body!
This feeling was like replacing the power cord of a high-performance machine with a more advanced one.
Perhaps the power sources were still those two big villains, Belial and Ultron, but the energy Ian could extract from those sources had received a huge boost. The energy transmission efficiency was much higher than before.
The most direct manifestation of this situation was that his massive "Galactus" body—composed of stardust and dark matter—began to expand further at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Originally, his size was already massive enough to play with stars in his hands like Balls. But with the frantic influx and more efficient use of power, his body rose steadily higher in the Dark Dimension. The surrounding void let out an overburdened hum because it could no longer support his mass.
In his now even more gigantic palm, a standard-sized star would likely appear as tiny as a small marble!
Two consecutive growth spurts.
This terrifying scene was witnessed clearly and vividly by Trigon, who had gone from rage at the beginning, to "laying flat" in the middle, to absolute horror at this moment!
As a veteran Dimensional Demon Lord.
Trigon's perception of energy and existence was extremely keen. He could clearly "smell" the energy level skyrocketing like a rocket and the transformation of Ian's life essence!
"Damn it! Demon! This is the true demon!!!"
Trigon's massive demonic face was written with disbelief and terror.
He roared out in shock.
Since he could feel Ian's improvement, he naturally attributed this terrifying degree of strengthening to Ian "killing" and "absorbing" Darkseid!
This wasn't exactly wrong.
In fact, devouring the power of the strong for one's own use was not rare in the Abyss, Hell, and among various evil entities. Many demons and devils possessed similar talents or spells.
But!
Trigon had lived for countless eons, fought in countless dimensions, and devoured many powerful opponents, but he had never seen an entity like the Ian before him—who, in an instant, could completely refine and absorb most of the source power of someone at the same level or even stronger, and convert it into a surge in his own strength with almost no side effects!
This had exceeded the scope of "devouring."
This was simply... plundering!
It was perfect absorption, inheritance!
"Impossible! Impossible! Even Lucifer... even Lucifer... should not possess such means!" Trigon's face was now as pale as paper.
Such a terrifying, greedy, and irrational "digestion" ability made a chilling coldness rush from the soles of Trigon's feet straight to the top of his head!
Ian's situation completely subverted his understanding of power systems!
One must know that even a demon like him would need a long period of digestion to assimilate someone else's power after devouring another strong demon.
But this ghostly thing in front of him!
Refining it in an instant!
Even without using his brain, Trigon knew very well what this meant—it meant the life form standing before him was a monster that could grow infinitely and frantically!
The opponent.
Would eventually devour all the powerhouses in the world!
Using all living beings as food!