DC: Rise of the Kryptonian Tyrant

Emperor's Building.

In the lowest level were Terminal Hera, Brainiac, Volthoom, Kanna, Tohru, Raven, Pamela, and Jenny.

Bardi stood in his emperor armor, holding a ball of light in one hand, his gaze fixed on it. With the other hand, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Your Majesty, this is the system created according to your instructions," Volthoom said, youthful and fair-faced, his expression filled with fervor.

"Willpower technology is the manifestation of thought. The upper limit of this technology depends on how much a thought can expand, how strong a being is, and how much it can bear the power of will."

"Spirit is the foundation."

"Soul is the measure of the strength of that will."

"And thought is its breadth. The greater the thought, the greater the capacity of willpower technology."

"With your current status, a single thought is already enough to erase the universe—annihilating it at the level of fundamental information. There is no longer any need for physical force. The universe cannot contain the full informational strength of Your Majesty."

"And this system is the method by which Your Majesty will conquer this universe, expand into others, and dominate all life and thought."

Bardi nodded slightly. Since Volthoom and Brainiac had submitted, they had brought him extensive technological knowledge. Volthoom, in particular, had directly created the Seven Lantern Corps for Bardi.

At Bardi's direction, and through collaboration with Terminal Hera, Brainiac, Raven, Kanna, Tohru, Jenny, and the exceptional research team under his command, as well as Volthoom, they had used Bardi's thoughts and the Speed Force's virtual accelerated time to develop a thought-based system—what would be ten thousand years of development in a single day.

A system like a plague, themed around Bardi, would continue to spread. It would form subsystems and expand across the universe to invade and conquer in Bardi's name.

"Then... the other One Gods should also be able to create such systems, right?" Bardi frowned slightly. He had created this to dominate the universe and didn't want it to be easily countered or cracked.

"That's not the case, Your Majesty."

"First, we must define—what is the One True God?"

Bardi paused. What is the One God?

Bardi himself didn't truly know. His evolution began when the Flash accidentally brought him into the Speed Force, and countless time-duplicated versions of himself merged into one. That fusion of soul and body, driven by the overwhelming volume of information, forced an evolution—making him the One True God.

"The so-called 'One' means that all belongs to a single point."

"No one is a pure individual. Every soul, every spiritual particle, every thought, cell, and gene—all are homogenous. Within each person exists a portion of others."

"This is the cycle of reincarnation. In truth, no one is purely themselves. They are others and themselves—this is reincarnation. Throughout the infinite universe, death and dissipation endlessly repeat, and one becomes a hair on another's body, a cell, a fragment of spirit, a trace of soul, a shred of thought, a sliver of information."

"So in truth, every being is a convergence of countless reincarnated lives. They merely think they have their own thoughts."

"In reality, they are everyone—and who they think they are."

"To become the One True God means extracting the self from the infinite reincarnations, forcibly plundering that self, gathering it, refining it, and ultimately achieving singularity."

"There can be no equal to the One True God."

"If another exists, it means the two are each other. One must plunder the other's self to become the one and only true self."

"Hence, the term 'One God.'"

Volthoom spoke with fervor.

He held vast information about the One Gods. His knowledge had been forged through long years of wandering the universe. He had been suppressed by the Guardians for ten billion years, and outside of that, roamed freely. He knew more than even the Guardians themselves.

Even on Earth-3, in the earliest days, gods descended to compete for the origin, striving to become stronger.

His words horrified everyone present.

Brainiac's green face changed first. The antennae on his forehead trembled, and he said in shock, "You mean... I am not entirely myself? I possess traits from the existence of others? And one day... a One God could become me... and I wouldn't even know it? And it would be normal for me to disappear?"

Volthoom nodded and praised Brainiac's intelligence. "Exactly. In the infinite universes, there are infinite versions of Brainiac. This is not strange. Although terrifying, it is the truth. But now, you are His Majesty's kin, a servant of the One True God. You are now part of His Majesty. You belong to yourself—and to him. No one else can plunder you."

Bardi suddenly understood. He finally grasped why he had evolved into the One God.

It wasn't just that countless time-copies of himself had merged into one within the Speed Force. It was that his soul already possessed a unique trait.

When those endless selves fused, that uniqueness triggered a forced evolution, merging the overwhelming replicas into one and elevating him into the One True God.

Other so-called One Gods lacked that inherent uniqueness. They could only plunder themselves piece by piece throughout infinite realities to become singular. That process was one of agony.

By contrast, Bardi had become the One God almost effortlessly, in a way that could drive others mad with envy.

"This system is built from Your Majesty's thoughts. It contains your singular will, something other One Gods lack."

"Moreover, because Your Majesty's divine attribute is evolution, it is bound to physical form. You have no distinct soul. In other words, Your Majesty's body is your soul. You cannot project your soul to invade other universes or steal their origin."

"So this system serves as your alternative projection, Your Majesty."

"To enter all beings—through thought."

Bardi's expression turned satisfied. The ball of light in his hand transformed into a beam that shot into his forehead. It was created from his true consciousness.

In an instant, countless rays of light radiated from Bardi's forehead.

Thought systems, born from Bardi, began spreading outward from the center of the universe—Earth—into every dimension of this cosmos.

...

Mount Olympus.

Zeus, newly awakened and pondering which being to recruit, suddenly felt an inexplicable wave pass through his mind.

"Congratulations, Host. You have bound the Overlord System."

"Please complete the novice task, 'Victory.' Time limit: Three days."

"Reward: Activate system. Failure: Obliteration."

Zeus was stunned!

...

Planet Oa.

Atop the highest peak, three Guardians of the Universe wore expressions of shock. Each had just been bound to a system: Task System, Evolution System, and Technology System. Each system forced its own set of missions based on their thoughts and would only reward success.

They were visibly terrified.

"What is this?!"

"Damn it, this thing is saying it will kill me if I don't complete the task!"

"This is Mandrakk trying to control us!"

(To be continued.)