Damian spent the rest of the time with Harley and Ivy, getting into mischief, beating people up, and eating a lot.
He had to admit that he really enjoyed those three days, or he really didn't know what he would have done otherwise.
Maybe he would have explored a bit of space, visiting new planets and observing unknown races.
Even so, it was a good experience, and anyway, it's not like he would never return. Maybe he could come back on vacation with his family.
Thus, on the third day since Damian had arrived in the DC universe, it was finally time to say goodbye.
Harley hugged Damian while crying. Just thinking about how she would go back to being a mortal without Damian around filled her with sadness.
She would no longer be able to escape by flying after a robbery.
She wouldn't be able to harass villains stronger than her either. In fact, she would have to hide for a while to avoid their revenge after all the things she did with Damian by her side.
She also wouldn't be able to gaze at his handsome face, which she was starting to get used to.
"Don't be dramatic, I might come to visit you with my family," Damian said, patting her back to console her.
"Your 'might' sounds like when I tell Ivy that I might become a vegetarian," Harley said.
Damian couldn't help but let out a light laugh upon hearing her.
Harley rubbed her face, wiping her tears on Damian's clothes before letting go.
Damian just looked at her silently before approaching Ivy and also giving her a light farewell hug.
"Take care and don't do too many stupid things," Damian said, smiling at them.
"Have a good trip. I hope we meet again," Ivy said, looking at Damian.
"I'm sure we will," Damian said, smiling at them before disappearing from the place.
Damian quickly appeared next to the probe that had been scanning the universe.
A green light was flashing, indicating that the scan was complete.
Damian quickly grabbed the probe before appearing in the desert where he had first arrived.
An interface appeared from the probe before Damian pressed the large green button.
Damian immediately placed his hand against the probe before channeling his energy intensely.
It took about 5 minutes until the probe shook before shooting a small beam that seemed to break reality before disappearing.
Damian waited a few seconds when an energy sphere immediately took shape and gradually grew.
"No wonder they were waiting for me," Damian said, sighing as he felt the energy emanating from the portal.
This had to be improved; it was almost like announcing to any energy-sensitive being that an invader was coming.
Damian waited about two hours until the portal fully formed.
No one interrupted or approached him during that time, so Damian just passed through the portal, saying goodbye to the DC world.
Damian went through the tunnel again; everything was the same as it was three days ago.
After waiting a while, he finally saw the portal's exit and quickly went through it.
When he came out, he was immediately attacked by Cortana, who hugged him tightly.
"I'm back," Damian said, stroking her head.
"How long has it been?" Damian asked while hugging her.
"Only 10 hours," Cortana said.
"I see, it was a short time," Damian said, nodding.
"Here's the probe. There are several things that need to be improved regarding the portal," Damian said, taking out the sphere that began to float around the room.
"When I came out of the portal, I was already surrounded by several people," Damian said, chuckling.
"You say it like you're complaining, but I can tell you had a lot of fun," Cortana said, looking at Damian with a smile.
"There's a word called privacy, do you know it?" Damian said, looking at her while pinching her cheek for always snooping in his mind.
"I really don't know that word," Cortana said, smiling while happily hugging Damian.
"Tell me, weren't you tempted to join in?" Cortana said, giving him a suggestive smile.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Damian said, ignoring her.
Cortana just chuckled without continuing the topic.
"I'll review the information with the scientist later. We still need to accumulate energy for the next trip, though with the current state of the universe it won't be that long," Cortana said, kissing Damian's cheek before letting go and walking towards the probe.
"Hmm, I'll go say hello and let them know I'm back," Damian said, softly slapping Cortana's backside.
Cortana turned and gave him a flirtatious look before getting to work on the information Damian brought back.
It was still quite curious for her to see the differences between universes.
Damian appeared in the palace hall, looking for his family.
He immediately saw his son building a structure with playblocks.
He couldn't help but smile, thinking it was a rather normal activity. He was used to seeing the crazy things his daughters did while growing up.
His son was a bit calmer, surely he would be harassed by his sisters as he grew up, being dragged into their mischief.
"Daddy," Nate said, looking at him before walking up to him and raising his arms.
"Hello," Damian said, lifting his son with a smile.
"Why are you here alone? Where's your mother?" Damian asked, looking at his son in his arms.
"Mommy went to the kitchen, she just left," Nate said in his adorable voice.
"I see, how about you show me what you're playing with?" Damian said, smiling at him.
"I'm trying to make a replica of a house," Nate said, smiling slightly.
"Oh? Let's see," Damian said, smiling as he sat next to the blocks with Nate.
Damian watched as Nate skillfully took the blocks and the half-finished construction began to take shape.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard approaching, and both turned to see Natasha carrying a plate in her hand.
Then Natasha saw the two silver-haired heads looking at her and couldn't help but laugh at their similarity.
"How long have you been back?" Natasha said, smiling as she approached and sat on Damian's lap.
"A few minutes," Damian said, taking a grape from Natasha's plate of fruit.
Natasha also took a grape and gave it to Nate, who opened his mouth before adorably chewing while continuing to build with the blocks.
"You didn't even take a day; there was so much fuss for you to come back so quickly," Natasha said, chuckling as she looked at him.
"Cortana helped by making time pass more slowly, but we didn't know how time would flow in the other universe either."
"One second there could be a year here; everything was unknown," Damian said, smiling.
"Hmm, and tell me, do you have any new women there?" Natasha said, looking at him suspiciously.
"How could you think that?" Damian said, laughing while shaking his head.
"You all are enough for me," Damian said, smiling as he kissed her head.
"That would be really romantic if it weren't for the 'you all' part," Natasha said, giving him a gentle nudge.
Damian just chuckled while resting his chin on her head.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"When will you leave again?" Natasha asked while continuing to feed Nate fruit.
"It's necessary to improve some things about the portal, besides gathering the necessary energy, so I'm not sure," Damian said.
"Hmm," Natasha hummed while putting another grape in Nate's mouth.
At that moment, Damian heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He looked towards the door curiously, wondering who it was, but the steps didn't come towards the hall. Instead, they moved away.
Although he could use his senses, he usually didn't inside the house unless he really needed to find someone.
Almost a minute passed when the footsteps approached the hall. Looking towards the entrance, Damian saw Hela carrying a drink in her hand and wearing one of his shirts.
"Oh, you're back," Hela said, looking at Damian with a bit of surprise before showing a slight smile.
"Come here," Damian said, gently patting the spot beside him.
Hela just took a sip of her drink before approaching and sitting next to Damian.
Damian put an arm around her waist before pulling her closer and kissing her cheek.
He immediately smelled the shampoo and felt the slight dampness of her hair.
"You took less time than I thought," Hela said, looking at him.
"Of course, I was eager to get back to you all," Damian said, smiling.
"Yeah, right," Hela said, mocking him without believing his words.
''How awful, everyone in this family treats me like I'm a cheater,'' said Damian sighing.
"Mommy Hela," said Nate, turning around and smiling at Hela before extending his arms towards her.
"Little one," said Hela, taking Nate and placing him on her lap.
"Look what I made," said Nate, happily pointing to the somewhat rough replica of the palace.
"Hm, it's pretty," said Hela, stroking Nate's silver hair.
Nate smiled happily at the praise and leaned against Hela.
Natasha looked at Nate with Hela and smiled slightly.
In the year that had passed, Hela had integrated quite well into the family. It was a slow but steady process.
She wasn't sure if it was because Nate was a baby or because he looked so much like Damian, but Hela was closer to him than to the girls.
"Were you taking a bath alone or with the others?" Damian asked, looking at Hela.
"We were all together, I just got out earlier," Hela said casually.
"So? What's the other universe like? Anything interesting?" Hela asked, looking at Damian curiously.
"It's quite interesting and very different from this universe," Damian said, nodding.
"I'll tell you in detail when everyone comes down," Damian said, not wanting to repeat the same story too many times.
"How many days did you spend there?" Natasha asked, still leaning against Damian.
"Three days."
"Enough time to flirt with several women," Hela mocked again.
Damian just rolled his eyes, amused by her teasing.
A few minutes later, everyone gradually came downstairs.
The first to come down was Carol, who loudly shouted that he had returned.
That caused the sound of many footsteps coming down the stairs.
Hearing that sound, which resembled an army, he couldn't help but think that his family was really too large.
After many greetings, hugs, and kisses, the whole family was seated in the dining room.
Unlike their usual meals, this time, everyone was silent, looking at Damian.
"The first thing I saw when I crossed the tunnel was the desert sand. The tunnel was collapsing, so I came out in a tattered state," Damian said, chuckling.
"When I looked around, I was surrounded by nine people wearing superhero suits."
"The first thing I did was send out the probe to collect data. The sooner it collected data, the sooner I could return to my beloved family," Damian said dramatically, eliciting giggles and teasing from his listeners.
"These people were heroes similar to the Avengers, so they didn't like the way I appeared or the probe I sent."
"You all know I have a good temper, but I also don't like being interrogated, so there was a fight," Damian said, seeing everyone's eyes light up, eager to watch.
"I'll show you a brief video from my point of view," Damian said, playing the video on the table.
Everyone paid close attention as Damian fought against the members of the Justice League.
Everything played out from his perspective, so things didn't happen as quickly as in the fight.
Damian could see his daughters' eyes light up as they watched the battle.
"After giving them a beating, I started exploring the world, which, by the way, also has Earth and even New York."
"Although I went to twin cities called Metropolis and Gotham, there I met two rather interesting people I became friends with during those days," Damian said.
"Hey! Show the images, uncensored," Carol complained, seeing that there were no images of the women.
Damian just rolled his eyes before adding images of his encounter.
Of course, Damian made sure to censor some of Harley's words for his children's ears.
Damian spent almost an hour showing them everything he experienced in the other universe. Of course, he made sure not to show what happened between Harley and Ivy that night.
Despite the teasing looks he received from Cortana for not showing it.
But even if he wanted to, there was no way to do it with his daughters present.
"It was a fun trip. I'll go next time," Carol said, wishing for that kind of adventure. After all, her daughter was already grown.
"Yes, Doomsday turned out to be interesting. I'm sure you could continue testing how strong it could become," Ophelia said, nodding.
"If you're going to be so arrogant, I won't let you go to other universes," Damian said, rolling his eyes. Just because they were at the top of the power hierarchy in this universe didn't mean it would be the same in others.
Damian was clear that the universe he was in wasn't that strong.
If you exclude the Celestials from the equation, it could even be considered a medium or low-power universe.
With few really strong individuals, as the universe was mostly filled with weak people on average.
"Who needs your permission," Ophelia muttered, complaining.
"So, do we have to wait another year to travel again?" Ana asked, looking at Damian.
"More or less," Damian said, nodding.
"It's not as long as before," Cortana suddenly said.
"It used to be a year, but now the universe has almost entirely been absorbed, so I can manage everything."
"In addition to the living beings that produce energy, I can prevent the universe's energy from being wasted."
"So, it's not a year, it's approximately half a year."
"The reason we waited a year for this trip was because energy was spent conducting tests. As time passed, the collected energy was greater."
"Don't overexploit the universe," Sophia said, looking at Cortana with a slight smile.
"Don't worry, the universe is better than ever. I control planet pollution and overpopulation."
"If it weren't for the need for energy, I would be creating new solar systems," Cortana said casually.
"You're amazing," Damian said, smiling at her.
Cortana smiled proudly at being praised by Damian.
"Daddy, when can we travel to other universes?" Alice quickly asked, seeing the silence at the table.
"Hm, let's see, when you're half as strong as me, I'll let you go," Damian said, thinking for a moment before responding.
"Really? Awesome," Alice said happily.
Damian just smiled slightly, looking at her along with the rest of the adults. She had no idea how strong her father was.
....
7 months later.
Damian stepped out of the portal under Madripoor and looked around.
As expected, Cortana was already there waiting for him with a smile.
"How did it go this time?" Cortana asked.
"This time it was the right place," Damian said, looking at her. He had discovered the reason he had ended up in the Marvel universe.
It seemed to be quite related to the history of that world as well.
Faced with a threat they couldn't eliminate, the three vampire progenitors began a wave of experiments using souls trapped in limbo, forcibly binding them to a body created by combining their powers.
Before successfully creating the fourth progenitor, he was the first successful experiment.
One that was too powerful, the three progenitors feared for the future of the world if he got out of control.
But they didn't want to kill him either, so they came up with an idea: banish him from the world.
With a gigantic magic circle, they created a small tear in reality that sent him to another universe.
His body, which was a baby, had a complex spell inscribed on it that would constantly use his own power to send information about his growth.
Since they needed to track his growth, there couldn't be any accidents, so the same magic circle was set to find a wealthy family and make them believe he was their biological child.
All that data had been really valuable to them, and it was with that information that they were finally able to create the fourth progenitor in their universe.
This magic circle had the side effect of stripping him of any kind of desire, turning him almost into a puppet without emotions.
As he grew and his powers naturally increased, it became increasingly difficult for the spell on his body to suppress him.
Until one day, the spell was naturally broken, and Damian was finally able to regain his consciousness.
It all made sense to him now.
His curiosity was satisfied.
Of course, the fact that his soul had been drawn from limbo, the space between universes, meant that the original Earth, where all worlds exist as fiction, was out there somewhere.
Though he wasn't too interested in finding it, surely at some point in his infinite life he would come across it and just laugh, reminiscing about the past.
"I see, who would have thought?" Cortana said, chuckling, seeing Damian's memories and understanding what had happened.
"So you decided not to kill them," Cortana commented, nodding.
"Mm, in the end, I considered us even. They created me, which I'm grateful for, or I wouldn't have met you," Damian said, caressing Cortana's cheek.
"Dare to say that with the others present," Cortana said, laughing softly while looking at Damian with bright eyes.
"But they also took away my freedom for several years, so I decided to leave it at that," Damian said, adjusting a few strands of Cortana's hair.
"Alright," Cortana said, nodding slightly.
"And now?" Cortana asked, looking at him.
"That's all, let's just enjoy our life," Damian said, smiling at her.
"By the way, how much time has passed?" Damian asked, realizing he hadn't inquired.
"Exactly one day, let's go have breakfast," Cortana said, smiling at him.
"Let's go," Damian said, taking her hand.
Damian and Cortana appeared in the dining room where several others were already seated.
"Daddy, you took longer this time," Ivy said, surprised to see him before running to his side and tugging on his hand.
Damian smiled before crouching down to her height so she could kiss his cheek.
Her words immediately caught everyone's attention, causing the rest of the family to enter the dining room.
"It wasn't my fault; it's because of the time difference between universes," Damian said, smiling as he hugged his not-so-little girl who was almost 10 years old.
"What interesting story do you have this time?" Carol said, jumping onto Damian's back before kissing his cheek.
"This time it's a bit boring; I hope I don't disappoint you," Damian said, chuckling.
"By the way, there happens to be some news as well," Ophelia said before nudging Hela, who was beside her.
Hela just glared at Ophelia while giving her a nudge twice as hard.
"Oh?" Damian said, looking at them both before looking at Hela. He gave a slight smile, having a good idea of what this news was.
"I wanted to tell you when we were alone," Hela said, looking more annoyed at Ophelia as Damian looked at her.
''What's the problem? He or she will be everybody's,'' Ophelia said jokingly.
Damian kissed Ivy's cheek before setting her down and walking toward Hela.
"I'm very happy," Damian said, caressing her cheek with a smile. He knew that Hela had secretly started to worry a bit about the matter.
Especially after interacting so much with Nate, a part of her had started to want a child.
Suddenly, Damian felt Jen's gaze on him; he just looked at her innocently, after all, that wasn't under his control.
"It was about time, you two were like rabbits, don't think I didn't notice your escapades," Carol said, teasing.
Several laughs sounded, and the atmosphere immediately became more lively.
Everyone sat down to eat, with Damian taking the head seat at the table, allowing him to see his entire family.
They had their little conversations among themselves, sometimes someone else would make a comment or joke, causing everyone to laugh.
Things started to seem in slow motion for Damian as he just watched.
It had been a long journey; he was happy to live to this day without regrets.
There were no more dangers, and his family could live truly free.
The future looked very pleasant in his opinion. His gaze went to his daughters before looking at Nate; they were all growing up.
For now, he would just enjoy being with them, watching them grow.
When they're older, they will surely go on adventures across the universe.
And then, the universes beyond.
Now he only wonders what universes await him and his family to explore.
----
Guys, here is the final chapter. When I published it on Patreon, I had mixed feelings.
It's been a journey of more than a year.
I really would have liked to develop the story a bit more; there were many interactions that weren't shown and relationships that were left unfinished.
So, once again, I apologize for the premature ending of the novel.
Regarding my health, I will soon have surgery, so I hope everything goes well.
Anyway, take care, everyone, and I hope we meet again in the future.