Chapter 258: Death Returns

Draped in a flowing black cloak, Death hovered over the desolate land. Her form flickered in and out of existence, making it impossible to discern her true appearance.

Her gaze was fixed upon an empty patch of ground before her. There, a grotesque zombie lay curled up and motionless, making it unclear whether he was alive or dead.

"Zombies are truly repulsive creatures!" she muttered. They were an aberration, a violation of the natural laws of the universe—an existence she could never comprehend.

Death raised her hand and pointed at Ant-Man. The power of universal law surged at her fingertips.

Death's Reaping!

This was Death's divine authority, allowing her to effortlessly strip the life force from others. Only a handful of beings in the cosmos could resist it.

A black beam shot toward Ant-Man's body. However, instead of achieving the desired effect, it merely incinerated the tattered remnants of his Ant-Man suit. Even the very ground around him darkened and crumbled as if weathered by centuries of erosion, scattering into dust at the faintest breeze.

Death's brow furrowed slightly. For the first time, she was truly taken aback—was this zombie really so powerful?

Ant-Man lifted his head, his rigid movements betraying the impact of her attack. He gazed up at the floating figure before him. "Who are you? Are you here to become my next meal?"

His gaze lingered on Death for a brief moment before he opened a black portal, preparing to leave. He knew he was no match for her—and more importantly, she wasn't food.

But Death wouldn't allow him to escape so easily. The devouring of souls and the corruption of the living were crimes she would never tolerate.

"No matter what you have become, I remain an existence you can only look up to."

With a thunderous roar, an enormous, pitch-black scythe materialized in Death's raised hand and came crashing down upon Ant-Man.

A massive fissure split open the already scarred surface of the planet, revealing rivers of molten lava flowing beneath the crust.

"Hmph, vanished?" Death narrowed her eyes. She knew she hadn't destroyed Ant-Man—he had merely shrunk to evade her strike.

Though his Ant-Man suit had been obliterated, the Pym Particles had already been absorbed into his body. The power of Galactus within him had fused the particles into his brain, allowing him to manipulate his size even without the suit.

"Terrifying..." Ant-Man felt a pang of fear, but his defiant nature refused to let him flee without resistance. He rapidly expanded, transforming into a towering giant hundreds of meters tall.

The sight of a massive, naked zombie might have been comical under other circumstances, but here, it was a scene of pure horror. He clenched his colossal fist and swung it directly at Death.

His punch passed right through her ethereal form.

Death was one of the Five Cosmic Entities—she would not underestimate him again. Instantly, she reappeared behind him. Even if she couldn't drain his life force, she had countless other ways to deal with him.

"Decay!"

A gray mist engulfed Ant-Man's massive frame, seeping into his pallid, rotting flesh.

All things—living or otherwise—had an expiration date. Only cosmic deities were exempt from this rule.

Death's power spread across Ant-Man's skin, leaving countless gray patches where decay rapidly set in. His flesh began to rot.

Ant-Man halted his attack, channeling the power of Galactus throughout his body in an attempt to resist the invasion of this unknown force. But he quickly realized it would only buy him a few moments.

He was still unfamiliar with this borrowed strength.

Sensing the imminent danger, Ant-Man decided to flee. He recalled something Dr. Pym had once told him—if one continued shrinking indefinitely using Pym Particles, they could enter the Quantum Realm, a place beyond time and space. There was a risk of losing oneself in that dimension, but at this moment, it was his only option.

After holding out for a few seconds, Ant-Man began shrinking at an alarming rate. Soon, he vanished entirely—even Death could no longer sense him. He had completely entered the Quantum Realm.

For most beings, no matter where they hid or how they changed, they could never escape Death's grasp. But Ant-Man was a zombie.

Before his eyes, the very fabric of matter expanded. He found himself in a subatomic world, where the building blocks of reality—molecules, atoms, protons, neutrons—became visible to the naked eye. Yet, he did not stop shrinking.

Molecular structures, atomic cores, the very essence of existence shrank before him. Just as he was on the verge of losing himself, he snapped back to awareness and desperately halted the process.

Time passed—he had no way of knowing how long. When he finally restored his body to its normal size, he found himself in an entirely different universe.

...

"That human with the power of Death?"

Death had sensed Garus the moment he entered this universe. The unique energy within him shone like a beacon to her. But she had been preoccupied with Ant-Man's presence on the desolate planet.

Now, having searched thoroughly and determined that Ant-Man had fully entered the Quantum Realm—making further pursuit as futile as searching for a speck of dust in the vast cosmos—she turned her attention back to Garus.

"It is time to meet this peculiar human."

A ripple distorted the space before her. In an instant, she traversed countless light-years.

Earth—the very origin of this zombie plague. Death could sense only a handful of remaining life forms, all barely clinging to existence.

She saw them—Garus, a few strange beings, and several restrained zombies.

"A survivor!?" Garus suddenly lifted his gaze toward deep space. The figure before him felt eerily familiar, yet he couldn't quite place where he had seen her before.

"Human, we meet again." Her husky voice carried an almost magnetic allure.

Garus felt her gaze locked onto him, sending an involuntary shiver down his spine.

"Who are you? I don't recall ever meeting you before." He was certain he would remember someone this powerful. A strange energy cloaked her form, making it impossible for him to discern her nature.

"A human from beyond the multiverse, and you've forgotten me so soon?"

Death pulled back her hood, revealing a pale yet elegant figure. In her hand, a sphere of crackling death energy flickered ominously.

"I remember now—you're Death!" The sight of that energy sparked a long-buried memory. He had encountered her once before, long ago, on another Earth in another universe. "Are you here because of the zombie plague?"

"Indeed. The spread of this plague has drawn the attention of the Omniversal Authority, the supreme overseer of the omniverse. It is time for this cosmic disease to be eradicated."

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TN: This fanfic has been fully translated and is available on my Patreon —— PATREON.COM / PRIMALDEMON