The Guardian Of The Multiverse: A Hero's Burden

We're just human

(Marvel, DC, images, manhuas, and every anime that will be mentioned and used in this story are not mine. They all belong to their respective owners. The main character "Karito/Adriel Josue Valdez" and the story are mine)

No Pov

Saber and Adriel walked side by side, the servant invisible, conversing telepathically with the Guardian. It had been an exhausting day for Adriel. Managing the aftermath of such catastrophic destruction so quickly had stretched his patience. Despite the vast scale of Ace and Shinra's battle—where time and space had been torn apart countless times, and speeds exceeded even the immeasurable—Adriel had ensured that the citizens of this world noticed only a few explosions and flashes of blinding light. It was not hard for the Guardian, but it was tedious. Fixing the fabric of existence in real-time as it unraveled was like threading an infinite needle.

What surprised Adriel most, however, wasn't the chaos of the day—it was his apprentice. Sure, he had to give credit to Ace. The pirate had evolved so quickly that even SCP-682 might applaud how fast he was adapting. Specifically, Peter. If Adriel was being honest, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy at how rapidly their power was growing. Compared to his own arduous rise, their progress felt meteoric. But Adriel pushed those thoughts aside; they were just shadows of doubt. Deep down, he was proud they could handle themselves so well in such impossible circumstances.

Speaking of Peter, the Guardian never imagined that the multi-purposed Narralith suit Peter created—capable of transforming into every suit he'd ever seen—would exceed their theoretical expectations. Originally, Peter had designed the suit to emulate the Velocity Suit from the Marvel Spider-Man games, allowing him to function as a speedster. To power this suit, they'd created a source within the Nexus: their own version of the Speed Force.

Of course, they admitted it was a cheat. But the Speed Force they created wasn't just lifted wholesale from DC Comics. No, it was something more. It was inspired by DC's concept of speed, yet it transcended what the DC Omniverse defined as "speed." This was because the Nexus, existing far above that Omniverse, acted as a server containing all information from the real-world internet.

The Speed Formula they created in the Nexus wasn't fictional speed as DC defined it. It was the literal concept of speed as perceived in the real world.

There was fictional speed, and then there was non-fictional speed.

The imaginary and the real.

And somehow, what Adriel and Peter had created in the Nexus had decided to copy the real. Why this copy transformed into something else entirely, they still didn't fully understand.

Adriel's mind wandered to a thought that had been troubling him: What if we tried to create the 6th Dimension from DC Comics in the Nexus? Would it replicate the 6th Dimension as it's perceived in the real world? Or would it embody the version defined within DC's cosmology? Or— his mind paused at the possibility, —would it become a combination of both fiction and non-fiction?

Artoria's voice broke into his thoughts, amused. "Are you aware that you're speaking your mind aloud again?"

Adriel snapped out of his reverie, shaking his head. "Sorry, sometimes I forget I have the link active and start thinking out loud."

Artoria waved off his apology. "Don't be. I don't mind. Just reminding you," she said, pausing for a moment before continuing. "I can't help but be curious, though. Does the Nexus truly allow you to do... everything?"

Her question hung in the air, the weight of its implications reflecting her curiosity.

"Basically, I guess," Adriel said.