A nuclear explosion at my feet? Wow! I accelerated my mentality slightly as the explosion happened and prompts flooded my vision. Not enough to make the universe stand still but enough that everything slowed down to a crawl then I opened my prompts.

You have received 1,000,000 points of thermal and force damage. Soul Ability Adaptable negates 50% of thermal damage. Resistance to Fire negates 50% of thermal damage.

Force damage does 500,000 points of damage.

Damage is greater than basic hits but less than 1.39e-15% of current hit points. No structural damage taken.

Hit Point regeneration is greater than maximum Hit Points. Damage healed as taken.

The Force of the explosion has ejected you from the gravity well of the moon.

Soul Ability Adaptable prevents damage from the vacuum.

Prompts checked I returned my personal time to normal and allowed the force of the explosion to catapult me away from the moon, I found myself flying away in a cloud of dust. Eventually, the dust started to fall away from me and I willed myself to leave it behind as I headed into deep space. I changed my trajectory a little bit and turned myself around so I could look at the surface of the moon as I fell away from it.

The first thing I noticed was a structure approximately fifty miles away from the site of the explosion. I approximated the distance by comparing known crater sites from my memory of my Universe and then extrapolating the distance. Of course, the distances could be wrong but the two surfaces of the moon matched by more than 95%. As I looked closer I noticed that the devastation where I’d been was a lot more localized than I thought it should be. Nukes going off in an almost vacuum weren’t as devastating as if they’d gone off on Earth, no pressure wave, but there still should have been damage to the surrounding area. They must have used a shaped nuclear blast to destroy the building I’d been in. I noticed a number of small buildings that were placed in a grid all around where the nuke had gone off. Except for a perfect square of destruction centered on the nuclear detonation, there didn’t seem to be any damage or effect to the other buildings in the area. If Katie had been in one of the other rooms she’d probably survived the blast.

As I noticed the grid of structures and the main one that seemed to be at the center of a field of small buildings I realized the moon was not a place I could seek refuge. So, I needed to hold up somewhere safe and gather intelligence. I willed myself to faster than light speed and flew away from the Sun. I’d head back in, or create portals, once I had a base of operation and a plan. As I flew towards the edge of the solar system, I set the nanites that had survived the blast to replicate and infiltrate as much as they could. Some had spread into the surface of the moon far enough away from the blast that they’d easily weathered the thermal component of the nuke and the force had been directed upwards so no issues there. I made sure to set them to only use inorganic material to replicate though. I didn’t need the nanites melting people, at least not yet. Normally I’d be a little more careful, but a lot of things weren’t adding up. I needed to know what was going on.

While I traveled through space I realized that finding the orbits of the planets might take a little longer since I didn’t have the internet or stellar body information program to call up for this Universe, though if other parts of my original universe were accurate, like the surface of the moon, maybe the orbits were close to. I really loved having a perfect memory. I pulled up the data I needed and started a simulation of the solar systems based on that data then rewound the clock in the simulation to the current time and date. I looked around and very easily verified that Saturn and Jupiter were where they were supposed to be. They were off slightly so I adjusted the model and then altered my vector to where Pluto should be.

A couple of minutes later I was coming up on the airless surface of Pluto. I made sure to land on the side of Pluto that faced away from Earth then put my nanites to work setting up an underground base as I surrounded myself in a bubble of force and increased the temperature inside it. No point in being miserable out here. As I stood there, I opened a very small portal that I could look through with magic to a point above the moon where the explosion had been. I saw a small very technological-looking ship hovering over the site. It kind of looked like a slightly smaller space shuttle, though it didn’t look like it was built to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. It must just be for work here on the moon.

If they had spaceships, they might have gravimetric sensors and for sure they’d have energy sensors. Just before I closed the portal, I did notice people in space suits down the surface going over the crater with handheld devices. That detonation had been nuclear, there should still be radiation in the area. If their shielding was that good it was either magical, or the technological level of this Earth was a lot higher than I’d witnessed or thought. Of course, the shielding could be magical in nature or the bodies in the suits could be resistant to radiation. Just a couple more reasons to be more careful as I moved forward.

I needed to get a better handle on what was going on. My chaotic nanites had not detected any nanotechnology so it looked like that was an advantage I would definitely have. One thing I needed to know though was if time travel was allowed here. I’d been here for about a minute so I tried to will myself into the past to one minute before my now.

ERROR, Travel Backward through time is prohibited. You may speed up, slow down or place yourself in stasis and leave that stasis in a future time but you may not travel backward through time.

Not unexpected, but disappointing. I tried a different version of the spell, something I’d seen in the other universe. I willed a vision of one minute ago on my current location. A screen popped up and I watched myself stand there. Cool, so travel was prohibited but I could use magic to view events that had happened. I’d need to explore then I’d be able to use this spell to see what had happened.

For now, I wanted to get a better idea of the makeup of Earth. I opened subatomic wormholes and deposited nanites all over the Earth, and the Moon. As I felt my nanites spread I noticed that some of my nanites were already spreading all over the face of Earth from various locations. It looked like the nanites on the moon had made their way to Earth already.

I redirected the nanites on Pluto and in short order I dropped through a hidden ceiling into a tunnel about 50 feet underground. I released the magic on the surface and then made my way to the command center. This new lair wasn’t as big as my old one, but it had all the amenities; a shower, bed, galley, kitchen and a stockpile of food my nanites were creating for me.

While my nanites were continuing to flesh out my base of operation here on Pluto I was also mapping Earth and recording and analyzing every ounce of electronic data I could. The information I was receiving just raised more questions. I knew I needed more information and sitting here watching the data come in was going to be like watching for the first bubble when boiling water, Boring. I’d check again when I woke up. I made my way to the bed my nanites had created and laid down. I fell asleep almost immediately.

As I woke up I thought about everything that had happened to this point and wondered what was going on. I had a feeling that this entire planet was a ruse. I’d know in a moment. I analyzed all the data that came in. I had to admit, that the method of control was elegant. There were no other Countries on Earth, there was just the United Nations. Everywhere on Earth was populated by small towns. This was true from where I’d been in Italy to where Washington DC would be in North America. Every town was small though, with no more than 5,000 people and the education of everyone was very basic. No Universities, no Colleges, and no government buildings other than that of the local mayor and the Administration buildings.

I did find one oddity in each town though. Buried about 100 feet down under the center of every town was a nuclear device. One for every town. Then my nanites detected something truly horrifying. At the center of the Earth, inside a bubble of magical force, a singularity existed. The bubble must nullify the gravity well. If that bubble failed though everything on the planet would be spaghettified. It wasn’t a small singularity. It was large enough that the inside of the event horizon would reach all the way to the surface of the planet. It looked like the only thing preventing that from happening was the magical barrier. I was absolutely sure nothing like that had existed on my Earth.

“Why would someone go to such an extent to ensure that everything was destroyed?” I asked myself out loud and was completely surprised when a voice answered.

“Because we can’t have the cattle learning what’s really going on of course,” a feminine voice responded.

Startled, I looked up and found a young woman with jet black hair and a scythe in one hand dressed in a black hood with a cowl drawn up over her head, “Who are you? I asked.

“I am Death, the gateway to the afterlife, and you have caused quite a ruckus today.”

“So, you’re a goddess then?”

“Yes, I am the Goddess of Death and it is time to end your interference and send you on your way,” she said as she swung with her scythe to cut off my head.

You have been attacked by the Greater Goddess Death, Level 10 God.

Rank Disparity between Greater God and Ascendant Human 32.

Goddess of Death misses

I dodged easily. Even at 32 times less power than this God, it looked like Ascendant Humans did not have anywhere near the maximum attributes I had.

Pansophical has activated: Creatures in this Universe range in levels from 1 to 100. Ascendant level creatures are from levels 101 – 200. The Divine, Deity Demi-God, etc. are all at least Ascendant level 200 plus their divine rank level ranging from 1 – 10 which is earned by earning Faith Points. Death is a Level 10 God with a maximum of 800 attributes as an Ascendant mortal multiplied by 32 as all attributes are doubled upon attaining a new divine rank.

If divided equally among all attributes Death should have attributes at right around 2,304 compared to my 808,000,000,000 in each attribute, even dividing that by 32 left me with 25,250,000,000 in each attribute, more than 10,959,201 times her attributes.

I returned my attention to the scythe and reach out and casually touched it as it passed by me and let my nanites go to town on it. There was a pause as she finished her swing, shifted her grip, and prepared to attack me again, then the Scythe exploded.

“That’s not possible!” she exclaimed.

“I get that a lot and I do mean a lot. By the way, after you reform, come back for a chat if you want. If you come back hostile and I will find a way to put you down for good,” I said

“What do you mean mortal, you can’t kill me, I am a Goddess of the…”

“Boring,” I said as moved and punched her as I had the nanites attack and destroy her body. Even at 32 times less power than my maximum normal, the result was devastating.

You have attacked the Goddess of Death

Called Shot to the neck.

Rank Disparity taken into account.

You hit

Damage was reduced by 32 times.

Damage to Goddess of Death 2.24E-21

Target has been disincorporated at current location. Target will reform at spawn location in ERROR

My punch had completely destroyed her neck effectively decapitating her though the damage had translated into the rest of her body which had popped like a soap bubble leaving no trace of her existence. The Scythe had disappeared a moment later.

As I contemplated what had just happened I realized there could be issues and ordered my nanites on Earth to convert all the fissionable material in the nuclear devices on Earth and the Moon into lead. Then I had my nanites infiltrate and take over the singularity and covert its mass into nanites, thereby destroying the singularity.

A minute later I felt the detonations of every shaped charge on the planet. A couple of minutes after that I felt the magical bubble around my nanites drop. The singularity was gone and instead the mass of the singularity had been converted into nanites, a lot of nanites. The nanites had flooded the entire planet and were even making chains into orbit where they released themselves onto the solar wind and started floating away from the Earth. That singularity had been huge.

My nanites were going to be busy for a while infiltrating everything on the planet and the moon and probably the entire solar system. That had been a lot of nanites. If not for my adaptive ability and chaos-forged ability there would have been almost nothing I could have done. Messing with the barrier might have dropped it and magic might work but there might also be rules in place that I didn’t know about yet. I’d been lucky. Now I was starting to get pissed though. What kind of asshole would destroy a planet because a 16-year-old knew a name?

I replayed the signal that had been received by every bomb and traced it. It was Quantumly locked into another dimension. I turned myself invisible and insubstantial then teleported to the originating location. I appeared in what I can only describe as a command bunker.

“What do you mean it didn’t work?” a 10-foot-tall perfect example of what a Pit Fiend from Hell would look like. Red skin, leathery wings, and an infernal aura that was radiating from him as if he was hell incarnate.

A naked woman, fear in her eyes was punching some buttons on her console, “They all detonated but none of the explosions went nuclear.”

The demon looked to a succubus that was now looking at me as he asked, “Trix, what do you think happened?”

“Why don’t we ask the man that’s standing right next to you?” she said.

“What?” the demon bellowed as he turned and swung a whip with 13 snake heads that flew around me trying to find me. It looked like neither the big demon nor his whip could see me. I decided there was no point hiding and dropped the invisibility. Each snake head turned and struck me biting down, mostly because I didn’t try to dodge. I could have, but I didn’t see the point. I could feel that this demon was orders of magnitude less powerful than Death and she’d been the maximum level God for this Cosmos.

The damage was negligible. The magical and mundane poisons and diseases the snake heads tried to inflict on me were countered immediately by my adaptability or my nanites. I ordered the nanites to defang each snake head at the base of the fangs. Each head flew away from where they’d struck and looked confused and affronted, hissing at me, it was actually kind of hilarious. The demons watched as the fangs that were embedded in me were pushed out and carried along my skin by my nanites to my now open hand. When I had 26 fangs in my hand I turned my hand over and dropped the fangs which evaporated as my nanites destroyed them to make more nanites which spread into the room.

“Hello,” I said.

The demon drew a sword as big as himself from an extradimensional space and smiled as he said, “Now you die!”

“By that? Come on now, you can do better than that, “I said as he swung. I didn’t even have to try as I sidestepped and dodged until my nanites had infiltrated the sword and then had it decompose out of his hand.

“What? How?” the demon looked at his now empty hands in shock as the demoness Trix watched avidly but did not move. There were fifteen other naked mortals in the room, though when nanites infiltrated them it noted that their race was listed as “The Damned.” Maybe this was some sort of afterlife dimension?

“This is my realm, I can do anything here!” the demon declared as if in some final judgment, “Rip the soul from this body and devour it!”

I felt the fundamental forces of this place try to comply with that wish. My soul was being told to remove itself from the body at a fundamental level. I really missed my access to the Universal and Cosmic interfaces. I bet if I could have accessed them this jerk had just tried to use a universal command to destroy me. It was a useless attack against me, however, my soul was inviolate. I stood in front of the demon looking a bit confused as I asked, “Exactly what was supposed to happen?” Then I had an idea. I reached out with my hand and willed my body and the demon into my soul space, then locked it down, not allowing any kind of teleportation or dimensional shifting into or out of my soul space.

“What, where am I? The Demon Bellowed”

“Freeze,” I said. The demon stopped moving. I sped my soul space up to the ludicrous speed I liked to move at when I was doing stuff inside and needed only a second or two to pass before I come back out. Then I had my nanites infiltrate the demon and map out his physical structure. Then I read his mind with magic. The contest of wills wasn’t even one. I had full access and I divided hard. Once I started seeing the atrocities this creature had committed, I stopped being nice as I ravaged his memories and his psyche.

I will say this, that demon was one of the most depraved and sadistic creatures I’d ever come across. Also, what I saw was all there was. I didn’t detect a soul or soul space in this demon. If I had, there probably would have been a stronger contest of wills as the rules that governed such a contest would also govern me. I went back to reading his memories. The demon’s name was Brux. Brux had been the runt of his litter and had grown up in hell though he’d been vicious from the start, having killed his brothers and sisters until he was the only one left. He’d been noticed by Trix, the supervisor for this region of hell. He’d served hundreds, if not thousands of years in hell until he’d been tasked with watching Earth. Murder, Plunder, and Destruction had been all he’d known until Trix found him and gave him the tasks he’d been handling for a long time now. He wasn’t sure what Trix was, but he was sure she wasn’t a demon…

I pulled my thoughts from the memories of the demon and extended my senses back into the room I’d drawn from only to find Trix looking right at where I was viewing the room from as she said, “There he is,” and everything around me started to shift at an incredible pace. I dropped back into my soul space and increased the time dilation even further to give myself a moment to think and react. It had been a trap.