Omniscience in Marvel

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Title - Afterwards

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Humans.

A term synonymous to innovation and destruction to the longer lived Gods.

It was always baffling to the Gods how the humans, despite the lack of Divine intervention from them, had managed to reach this stage.

It was as though the humans just found a way around their inadequacies to create remarkable things, and while some Gods found this to be intriguing, others found it to be dangerous.

Time and time again, the humans had left this argument remain on a tie since their level of destruction balanced their level of innovation.

However, the events that took place on the 6th of August left even the divine pantheon awestruck for an entire second at the level of destruction humans could wrought on themselves if left unchecked despite their so called 'advancements'.

Since the beginning of their various existences, other than the wars caused due to their various respective clashes between their pantheons on various human regions, the effects of the atomic bomb was so shocking to the Gods.

This shock didn't just come from the effect of the bomb, but the swift effect the bomb had. Not even the Major Gods could boast outrunning the bomb's blast radius

In less than 10 seconds of exploding, it reaped 140,000 lives as though it was weed and left lasting damage on the planet that they felt Gaia's rage at a spiritual level.

This wasn't humanity's first time doing this.

There was the Siege of Jerusalem a few decades after Yeshua's death during the Roman siege led by General Titus. In this siege, the city of Jerusalem was devastated and its total death toll surpassed 1 million.

Many of these deaths were accumulated over time due to starvation, disease, and civilian casualties in combat.

The next was the Nanking Massacre of 1937-1938, famously now known as the Rape of Nanking, an atrocity committed by Japanese troops during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

This resulted in the deaths of an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers.

This event soured the relationship between the Asian pantheons for a period of time causing them to attack each other at every chance they got on the various social media apps like Gods-Archive, Gods-chat and God-tube, Leucadius' reinvented Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube for the Gods.

There was the Siege of Stalingrad in 1942-1943 which was awe-inspiring to a few unique Gods.

This brutal battle during World War II resulted in around 2 million casualties, including soldiers and civilians, due to combat, starvation, and disease.

God's who wrote stories even wrote fantasy stories and illustrated humans as demons and stuff. Leucadius could only shrug as he earned coins he wasn't going to use.

This was when an important question arose…

How was this relevant?

Well, it was because one of Leucadius' few friends was going through a severe case of depression, trauma, emotional distress, guilt and finally isolation.

"You know…being all downcast and stuff won't change the fact that with the success rate along with the destructive force of this bomb, more countries would want to have them in their arsenal." Leucadius, who was leisurely peeling the back of an apple said, causing two of the three other occupants of the room to glare at him. "What? Is being realistic an offense these days?"

"Realistic or not, you don't have to say it, y'know." The perpetual adolescent Eternal shot Leucadius an even more hateful glare only for Leucadius to chuckle.

"I can never get used to this cute side of you, Sprite. How about it? Wanna become my daughter yet?"

"I'll have you know that despite appearances, Sprite is older than you by a few millennia." Sersi replied with a tired sigh as she closed the book she was reading and turned to Leucadius. "Also, that's insensitive."

"Not you too, Sersi. Why can't any of you take my side in the times that matter." Leucadius said with a pout which didn't match the gleeful glint in his eyes as he relished his apples.

"That's where Thena comes in, unfortunately, she's not here." Sprite snorted and turned to Phastos who'd been looking at the sky listlessly through the window.

Their current location was in one of Leucadius' retreat houses he built for the sake of just retiring to enjoy the wistfulness of nature whenever he wished.

The Eternals also had theirs, Phastos included, but Phastos couldn't return to him because everything reminded him of the technologies he'd introduced to humanity over the years.

For a few months, he just sat in front of his work station, wondering where it all went wrong.

At which point in time did it all begin to spiral downhill? If it wasn't for Ajak who'd asked Sersi to check up on him, he'd probably have lost himself in that mind of his.

Sersi was an Empath, and to an extent, she could alleviate any living creature's emotional burden, but Phastos' pain wasn't something she could alleviate since he needed to want to be healed in order for her ability to work.

The rest of the Eternals dropped by whenever they could, but Phastos barely acknowledged them.

Even Druig, who had long abandoned humanity, made a rare appearance, slipping in when no one was paying attention. Yet, one look into Phastos' fractured mental state was enough for him to shake his head.

Quietly, as he came, Druig left, his expression heavy with unspoken understanding.

Druig, too, had faced this inner conflict.

He had watched humanity destroy itself over and over again, knowing he could easily force them to live in peace. But the futility of such a solution had led him to another path: if he couldn't save humanity as a whole, he would save a few.

Those few would live eternally in peace, shielded from the madness of the world.

Leucadius saw no fault in Druig's conclusion. For all their Eternal status, emotional maturity didn't come with age. It came with experience, patience, and the willingness to understand; even when understanding felt impossible.

In his case, though, he couldn't care less.

What did it matter to him if a few humans died or hurt themselves?

His only concern was whether they were growing. As long as they continued to evolve, everything else was irrelevant.

Humans were, undeniably, the Universe's children. Strange as it sounded, it was the truth. No other species embodied the Yin-Yang concept of creation and destruction as profoundly as humanity.

They were both the Universe's finest inventors and its most destructive forces.

In fact, most of the Multiverse's greatest crises could be traced back to a single, undeniable truth: humanity had left its mark; whether in the invention or in the destruction that followed.

It wasn't complicated. It was just that simple.

"Hey P. How about you join me in this new project I'm working on." Leucadius suddenly had an idea but Phastos remained unresponsive as always.

"C'mon, think about it. I'll leave the blueprint here. Look into it whenever you feel like it. Although it won't help you in recovering, it can help you channel your attention to creating something greater than anything you've ever created."

Saying that, Leucadius summoned a tiny rubix cube and floated it over to the table in the center of the room.

"Are you seriously asking him to return to the lab after all this?" Sprite, in a fit of anger, stood up and stormed over to Leucadius and loomed over him.

Leucadius however squinted his eyes at her as they both locked gaze for a few seconds before…"Pfft! I swear you're just the cutest."

Leucadius said and grabbed her cheeks before suddenly, his expression turned serious. "Alright. I've decided."

"Unhand me you brute!" Sprite quickly slapped his hands away and jumped back guardedly and created a few copies of herself in preparation for whatever Leucadius was about to do.

"Why are you being jumpy all of a sudden?" Leucadius questioned and sighed. "That's no way to greet your new father y'know."

"Huh?" both Sersi and Sprite both let out in confusion.

"What's with those confused looks on your faces? I've finally come to a conclusion after so long and you're surprised?"

"What are you talking about?" Sprite asked as she dispelled her Illusory clones. "The decision you came to was…adopting me..?"

"Of course. Isn't that something to take seriously?"

"..."

"What?" Leucadius asked, tilting his head. Something about her silence didn't sit right, but with his abilities still dampened, he couldn't discern the exact reason.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Sprite exploded, her voice ringing with unrestrained fury. Magic flared around her, distorting reality itself as she raised her hands to unleash her wrath.

Before she could act, Sersi intervened, gripping Sprite's arm with a strength that belied her calm demeanor. "Enough!" she snapped, her tone firm yet maternal. "Both of you, stop it!"

Leucadius, unbothered, smirked. "A little high-strung, aren't we, Sprite?"

Sersi turned her stern gaze at him, cutting through his smugness. "You are a King among Gods, act like it."

"Was," Leucadius corrected with an exaggerated shrug. "I abdicated centuries ago. Yeshua's running the show now."

Sprite snorted, her anger simmering. "No wonder you've got so much time to stir up trouble. I'm sure Heaven's breathing a sigh of relief that Yeshua replaced you."

Leucadius chuckled, brushing off the jab. "That's impossible. Heaven adores me. Why do you think they call me the Most High?"

Sprite rolled her eyes, muttering, "More like 'Most Full of Himself.'"

"Probably because you're never in your right mind…" Phastos, who had been silent for most of the conversation, finally muttered with a faint hint of sarcasm.

Leucadius blinked in mock surprise. "By my name! P, even you?"

But the humor faded as both Sersi and Sprite turned to Phastos with concern. "Phastos, are you alright?" they asked almost in unison, stepping closer.

Phastos shrugged, his expression heavy. "Yeah… I think."

Leucadius, unwilling to let the mood drop, rolled his eyes. "C'mon, P. Not even Oppenheimer is this downcast, and he was the one who actually built the bomb."

Phastos gave a hollow chuckle. "It's different, Leuca…"

"How?" Leucadius pressed, his gaze narrowing.

"It… just is," Phastos replied, his voice faltering.

Leucadius sighed, stepping closer. "Look, inventor to inventor, you did nothing wrong. People like us don't have the luxury of doubt. Science is the Universe's language, and all you did was teach it to humanity. They chose what to do with it."

Phastos shook his head, his voice heavy. "Yeah, and they used it like this."

Leucadius's eyes narrowed, his tone sharpening. "So? A few of my fallen angels who are in hell taught humanity about war, taught them how to make weapons of war, taught them tactics and strategies for war, did other atrocious things over their eternal existences, yet, look at me…"

"...I don't see the picture you're trying to paint." Phastos frowned.

Leucadius groaned in exasperation. "Urgh! My point is, passing down information and knowledge doesn't make you a sinner. Don't give me the Xian's Taoist and Daoist vibes right now by saying that you shouldn't have taught them in the first place."

"But I really shouldn't have," Phastos whispered, his shoulders slumping. "If I hadn't—"

"Then someone else would've figured it out," Leucadius said firmly, tossing a cut piece of apple into his mouth. "Did you ever meet Nikola? That kid had a mind that could rival the gods. I shudder to think what he could've created with the right tools. Honestly, I would've thought he was your apprentice if I didn't know better."

Phastos smiled faintly, a distant look in his eyes. "His elder brother was the real genius. Nikola just had a…unique way of seeing the world. When his brother died, he took on the dream they once shared."

Leucadius nodded thoughtfully. "Ah, yeah. I heard about that. A cruel twist of fate, huh? The very accident that killed his brother is what set Nikola on his path in the energy sector."

Phastos's expression darkened, but Leucadius continued, his tone laced with admiration. "You know, after he died in 1943, most of his work disappeared. Some say it was the FBI; others point fingers at the KGB. Both were desperate to get their hands on his research; especially his plans for mankind's eternal dream: the Anti-Gravity System."

In the early 1940s, during the chaos of World War II, the race for technological supremacy drove unprecedented advancements in science and engineering.

Governments and private innovators alike sought breakthroughs that could tip the balance of power.

Nikola Tesla, a visionary far ahead of his time, had long been rumored to possess a theoretical framework for a device capable of manipulating gravitational fields.

Though groundbreaking, Tesla's concepts remained limited by the materials and technology of the era, preventing practical application.

Howard Stark, a brilliant mind and technological pioneer, attempted to build on Tesla's work during this time but despite his prodigious intellect, Stark found himself similarly constrained by the available resources and an incomplete understanding of Tesla's ambitious ideas.

In this frenzied pursuit of innovation, the U.S. Navy initiated a covert project known as "The Philadelphia Experiment," aiming to render the USS Eldridge invisible to radar.

While ostensibly a radar-cloaking initiative, some whispered that the experiment's true goals extended far beyond visibility, delving into the manipulation of physical laws, a pursuit Tesla himself had only dreamed of.

The project, shrouded in secrecy, was rooted in Tesla's theories and the hope that his principles could be applied to create a functional invisibility shield.

The core of the experiment involved the installation of powerful electromagnetic coils, inspired by Tesla's work, on the Eldridge.

These coils were designed to generate intense electromagnetic fields around the ship, theoretically bending light and radar waves around it, thus rendering it invisible.

The day of the experiment arrived, and the crew of the Eldridge prepared for the operation.

As the Tesla coils activated, the air around the ship crackled with energy.

The electromagnetic fields began to intensify, creating an almost palpable tension. The ship's crew, unaware of the full scope of the experiment, braced themselves for the unprecedented event.

Initial results were promising; the ship's radar signature began to fade. However, the moment they flipped the switch, something Terrible happened.

The ultra strong magnetic field was more than they had expected.

The immense energy required to manipulate the gravitational fields caused unforeseen side effects. The Eldridge started to shimmer and warp, as if reality itself was bending around the ship.

And before they could understand what was going on, the giant ship disappeared. It not only disappeared from radars but also to the Naked eye.

At the same time, Off the Coast of Norfolk, space began to simmer as the ship that had disappeared earlier appeared…363 kilometers away from its initial location.

To those watching, both humans and gods, they all came to a singular conclusion - Instantaneous Movement - basically, Teleportation.

The Philadelphia project - Instantaneous Transfer Experiment - seemed to be a success, but…The Eldridge was turned into a hell.

The extraordinary situation resulted in the disappearance and death of 13 soldiers and scientists, and of the six survivors…all went insane.

The navy's high command quickly buried the research itself and called it a failure. This begged the question…Was Nikola Tesla's last study truly a failure?

"To the untrained and ignorant, it was, but the experiment only lacked the stability and control required to harness such immense power." Phastos said, his voice tinged with a mixture of frustration and resignation.

"Tesla's work was pioneering, but it was beyond the technological capabilities of his time. The experiment demonstrated the potential, but the execution was flawed."

"And that's why the Philadelphia Experiment ended in disaster," Leucadius continued. "The technology was ahead of its time, and the fundamental understanding required to control such forces was lacking."

Phastos nodded. "Exactly. The core problem was the inability to manage the energy and maintain the equilibrium necessary for safe manipulation. Tesla's ideas were visionary, but they needed further refinement and understanding."

"Then compare that to the Atomic bomb." Leucadius suddenly said.