Brad stood up, clapped his hands, and walked over to the Ultimate Life he had just squeezed into unconsciousness. Bending down, he placed both hands on its pale golden skin.
"There was a time when I immersed myself obsessively in researching all kinds of viruses. I firmly believed that was another path to transcendence."
"Blood Cross, original sin, symbiotes."
"I sought breakthroughs within, destroying humanity's sense of morality and amplifying emotions and desires to unleash the most primal violence and power."
"Later, I realized that viruses didn't necessarily have to be confined to carbon-based biomass."
"Using the same microscopic processes of replication and infection, I successfully developed the twisted, mutating Elder God virus and the distinctly technological femtomechanical virus. I successfully moved beyond proteins. Silicon-based intelligence-even an electromagnetic wave-what couldn't be regarded as a virus?"
Beneath "Brad's" hands, the Ultimate Life was "dismantled" alive, reverting to the forms of Doomsday and Amazo.
"Doomsday represents endless rage and destruction, an ambition that never dies."
"Amazo represents humanity's greed for everything external, the madness of infinite evolution."
"These two are prime material for viruses in their own right."
Brad raised his hands. Their bodies warped like modeling clay, finally liquefying and flying into the test tubes in his hands.
Brad held the dark green and crimson-gold viral concentrates high, a gratified smile appearing on his face.
"I am Brad. I am the sacred. I am the War Horseman. I am ultimate gene transformation. Today is the day I ascend to the fourth tier."
Brad seemed to enter a superposition within the Multiversal In-Between. He raised a single test tube, but its contents kept changing, beginning with the earliest Blood Cross and ending with Doomsday and Amazo. The colors inside blurred and shifted.
When the multicolored liquid touched Brad's lips, an intense burst