After dropping his last words, a round of Chaos magic enveloped his being as he created an exit for himself out of this universe.
For the ancient God, today had been one hell of a rollercoaster. As for Amari …. that was a problem for the future.
After seeing what had happened before his eyes, Lokee knew he was no match, especially in his current state.
It took so much power, effort and self mutilation just to escape from the enemy's Chronokinesis.
A head on confrontation would likely result in his defeat, imprisonment, or even worse..... Death.
He endured the pain of splitting a portion of his soul for a chance at rebirth just to encounter an untimely demise?
Impossible. He wouldn't have that.
He was one of the last remnants of the Second World generation of Gods.
His fate was not to die here.
So similar to Darkseid, he chose to take the best available option.
Leave today to fight another day.
To challenge this individual before him, he would need to return to his peak state, and add some more power on top of it.
As for avoiding Amari..... That wasn't possible anymore. After all, his weapon carrying the greater portion of his soul is still in his possession.
This had already destined them to stand on opposite paths.
Unless of course, the latter would hand over his Chains without a fight.
That was improbable.
Perhaps he thought simply running away would be the end of it for now. But he had made a grave miscalculation.
Amari didn't bother to chase him for four reasons.
One, he was here for Ares.
Two, he had already dealt with the old Gods back on Apokolips. So this new addition left him with no interest whatsoever.
Three, Lokee did not attack him. Neither did he make known any malicious intentions towards him within Ares's memories.
Hence, even if he knew that this Ancient being would be up to no good, he wouldn't bother.
And the unmentioned number four ...why should he chase a split soul when the greater portion was still within his possession?
At this moment, Amari stretched out his hand and the void trembled.
The following moment, Lokee's chains extended out of empty space and appeared within his grasp.
"This may have been yours once ….". Amari whispered softly.
"But not anymore. And therefore ...". A trace of amusement flashed in his eyes.
".... I am entitled to expel unwanted guests".
Dark ominous energy emerged from his hands and enveloped the weapon entirely.
All Life Sequence ...
— An evolved form of the Anti-Life Equation.
Once contact is made, it will transform the will of all sentient beings permanently to an extension of yours. Corrupting the mind and soul into your most obedient soldier -
Amari had no interest in chasing after the split soul, but that didn't mean he was going to let an old God occupy his new weapon.
In this universe, there were no protagonists who kept old Ancestors in rings.
Surprise, he didn't like sharing stuff.
As the All Life Sequence seeped into the weapon, a ghostly howl raged from within the chains. The voice was dark, deep and carried immense anger and fear.
'You knew, You bastard ….'.
"Yep, I knew". Amari chuckled. "Deal with it".
The main soul struggled frantically. At least it tried to.
Mustering all forms of resistance, it was completely transformed a millisecond later.
After all, what level of resistance could a soul muster up? Perhaps it was possible for lesser beings, but not here and now.
"..". Silence returned as the pitch black faded.
"Come out". He uttered blandly.
The next moment a large amount of negative energy gushed out of the chain, seemingly wanting to spread in all directions.
The next moment, however, it all converged down on the spot right next to the still kneeling All Life soldier.
"My liege ….". The form wasn't the same as the one that ran away.
Normal when you think about it as he had already possessed a kryptonian host.
The size, however, remained unchanged.
Towering more than three meters, the smaller Ares looked like a little brother before it.
It has three arms, three eyes and double horns.
Feeling the waves of Chaos energy bing exuded out of him, Amari nodded with satisfaction.
The main soul had been transformed, and the chance of whatever remained of Lokee making any waves were basically extinguished.
The soul wasn't something that could be repaired at will. Especially for those powerful figures who still hadn't escaped the confines of physical form.
Lokee was far from the level of the endless. With his main soul gone, his level of power would basically stagnant the way it was now for a very, very long time.
Unless his soul could heal on its own, perhaps for eternity.
If he were even more unlucky, it would regress.
'Alright then ….'. He took a look around.
Everything was still frozen in time.
Kara was laying among the rubble, Robin was still unconscious while Aqualad and Kidflash were staring at the direction of the warehouse with wide eyes.
Miss Martian was flying just a few meters away from him.
Further away was the rest of the world itself.
Peering into the distance, Amari couldn't help but fall into contemplation.
He came to this world for Ares. Now his job was done.
Then came an important question…. What now?
He looked at the members of the team ... Kara in the distance and the thought to make a momentary appearance popped up in his mind.
He was a little curious to know how exactly they made it through the breaches.
Then it was promptly rejected.
As for what to do next ….
Actually, the answer to that was simple.
Turning his gaze back to the two old Gods over two meters tall, Amari raised an eyebrow.
'Just right to tie up some loose ends'.
Up in the air, the surrounding space distorted into swirls.
Then the trio were swallowed into the void, marking the end of Amari's hunting trip and the dawn of a new one.
As for the destruction of Earth -1. That was not his problem.
And with Amari's departure, the time freeze was broken.
"...". The wind blew again.
Everyone's movements returned to normal.
The startled Miss Martian quickly flew backwards, her eyes wide and darting in all directions as she sought to locate her adversary.
'Where did ..... Where did he go?'
Expanding her senses to the limit, she tried and failed to locate the person who almost ran a lightning bolt through her chest.
'He's …. Gone?' M'gann was perplexed.
'Miss Martian. Are you ok?' Aqualad called out through the mindlink.
'I'm …. I'm fine. But I can't find him anywhere'.
'He's not the only one'.
Kaldur's face was unprecedentedly grave.
'Whatever that giant creature was …. It's gone too'.
'..... Guys, what happened?'
'I don't know. They seemed to just …. disappear'.
'That's.....'. Wally's eyes darted in all directions.
'That's impossible. They were just here'.
'Guys!' Kaldur yelled.
'We need to deal with the situation at hand'. Interrupting them, he signalled to his arms with his gaze.
'Damn ..... Rob…'.
Seeing the unconscious Robin, Wally immediately grew anxious.
'He's gonna be ok right?'
"...". Silence enveloped the atmosphere as no one said a word.
"Right?" Ignoring the mind link, Wally yelled out loud.
"I can't say". Kaldur responded gloomily.
"I was able to expel the traces of magic within his system. His condition has stabilized for now, but his pulse is weak, so is his heartbeat. He'll live, but it'll be best if we get him medical help".
Screech!
At that moment, a loud roar resounded from the skies, causing their expressions to change drastically.
Looking up, they were startled to see close to a dozen Parademons descending upon them.
"Not these freaks". Wally uttered while taking a step back.
The enemies they were fighting against had just disappeared. The next moment, these things came to cause trouble.
"Thy aren't many. We'll just have to deal with them. Kidflash get .....". Kaldur opened his mouth to give instructions. Then closed them the next second.
As at that moment, two burning solar rays emerged from the distance, shooting straight towards the monster group.
Screech!
Ghastly wails emerged as the monsters were sliced in two, exploding as well in the process.
"Is that .....". The teens turned around to see a figure appear at rapid speed in front of them.
"Superman?" Kidflash called out warily. After all, in this universe, there were two of them.
Appearing after destroying the Parademons, Clark paid Wally no heed. Instead, his gaze was drawn to the distance where a blonde-haired girl laid unconscious.
"Kara". His figure flashed, appearing beside his unconscious cousin and picking her up princess style.
His actions made them all breathe a sigh of relief.
"Phew! Thank goodness you aren't the evil one".
Ignoring Wally, Kaldur stepped forward and looked to Superman.
"Did we ..... win?"
His question made Clark's eyebrows furrow.
The Superman of this world was dead. Technically, they had indeed one. But .....
"Yes..... and no".
"Huh?" The three called out in simultaneous confusion.
A wry smile graces Clark's features.
"It's complicated …". Then, he uttered with narrowed eyebrows.
"You kids look pretty roughed up. What happened?" His eyes wandered around them.
"And where's .....". His sentence came to a halt.
Then, he turned his gaze to the distance where two silhouettes could be seen approaching.
Ten seconds later, Diana dropped from the air, landing on her two feet. Following which, a streak of lightning zipped to their sides, revealing Earth -1 Wally West and Batman.
"...". Everyone stared at each other silently with no words being uttered.
Until ...
"Clark ..... Is … Is it over?"
Diana's question made his features crumple even more
"No". He shook his head after a moment of silence.
Bruce narrowed his eyebrows.
"Is he still alive?"
"No. Your world's Superman is dead, but your problems aren't over".
"What do you mean Clark?" His words made Batman feel uneasy. Their monster was gone, what else could they have to worry about again?
Rumble.
It happened then. The earth began to quake again, this time with much more severity than before.
"What the hell .....".
"Superman. Explain what's going on". Batman uttered loudly after the rumbling died down.
"..... Your world is collapsing".
"What?"
"I ... I was told your earth is fading out of existence".
"By whom?"
"I doubt you would know him". Clark lowered his head in contemplation.
"But he's someone strong. Stronger than I am. I wasn't the one who stopped your world's Superman. He was".
Wally (-1) had his eyes widen.
"Amari is here?" He uttered before Batman could say anything.
Not only Flash, even Diana and the teens had their expressions change.
"He was. I don't know if he is anymore".
"...". Silence reigned for a few minutes.
Bruce didn't speak. His face stone-cold, without any obvious expression.
Finally, he uttered four words in a grin, grave tone.
"Can he be believed?"
"..... He's not exactly someone we're friends with, but he has no reason to lie about this".
"How long?"
"Less than thirty minutes".
The atmosphere was solemn. More solemn than ever before.
Batman narrowed his eyes to the extreme.
"..... Tell me everything you know that's important as fast as you can. Hash out all unnecessary details".
Meanwhile ... back in Central City. Lying somewhere at the corner of an alleyway was a male corpse.
He wore a tan colored trench coat and a white oxford shirt and tie.
His neck was twisted in unnatural directions as he laid on the floor unmoving.
For some strange reason, his corpse hadn't been flattened under rubble caused during the battle between two Supermen.
The alleyway he laid was completely untouched in the destruction.
Of course, this could be written off as coincidence. Neither would it matter if that was the end of it.
As on this day, John Constantine of the Negative Universe Earth -1 had met his demise.
However .....
"Gasp!" The eyes of the corpse suddenly opened wide.
Cough cough cough!
Awakening, John let out heavy coughs as he sat up from the floor, greedily inhaling as much oxygen as his nostrils would allow him.
"Fuck! What in the nine hells just happened?"
The first thing he did after coming back to life was not to Marvel at how it was possible, but to eye his surroundings warily.
".... You have been granted another chance at life.....".
A middle-aged, gentlemanly voice fell into John's ears, causing him to shrink his pupils.
Following which, the space in front of him distorted into ripples.
It all returned to normal, but there was now a man standing in the space right before Constantine's vision.
He wore a dark blue cloak, a dark blue hat, gloves, and a white inner shirt within.
Peering into his eyes, one would find them to be completely white. It could almost be mistaken for someone with cataracts if his weren't releasing a white glow.
Seeing the appearance of the strange man with a getup that made him look like an old count in the 19th century, Constantine showed no surprise.
"Guess it wasn't a bad dream after all".
Uttering those words, he proceeded to pick himself from the ground.
"You still have the potential to be of great good to the universe John Constantine. An untimely demise would not do you Justice".
"So you basically want me to keep working, huh? How great. Can't even be a corpse in peace. As for what you just said ... The universe can go booger itself".
Twisting his neck, slight cracking sounds emerged due to stiffness.
"And where the hell was the universe and its so-called "good" when my world was being destroyed by a crazy maniac?"
"I have gone by many names over the years. But to those who need to know who I am, I am The Phantom Stranger. And I am not allowed to easily intervene in any event unless it proposes great destruction on a wider scale".
"Yeah mate. I know who you are". He uttered in a low voice.
"And I certainly don't want to get involved in whatever shit you're planning. I've already died once trying to save the world from a wider scale threat. And I'm not sure if you know, but death can be a pain in the ass, so do me a fucking favor and let me be, you got that?"
With unbridled sarcasm, John remarked coldly as he finished dusting off the dirt on his clothes.
"I have no interest in fighting anymore".
Then, he turned around and prepared to leave.
As for where he was going to go?
He had no idea.
Perhaps an abandoned bar to drown away his sorrows.
The thought crossed his mind and he remembered that he had moved Starfire to such a location to avoid getting insta killed. Poor girl was probably bleeding out over there or was already dead.
"And what if I said you could have everything you've ever lost returned to you?"
The walking man froze. His footsteps coming to a halt as he stood with his back facing the Phantom Stranger.
"Do you know what you're saying you bloody bastard?"
"I do. So what will it be Mr. Constantine?"
"...".
There was a moment of silence.
"What exactly do you want?"
"Your skills and expertise. To fight in a possible upcoming war".
"War?" John was puzzled. "Against whom?"
"One not of our fabric of reality".
.....
Earth 16…
Gotham City .....
Strader Pharmaceuticals ....
A swirl appeared in space. A second later, Amari's figure stepped out of it.
Raising his head, he took a good look at his surroundings. The first thing that came into his view was the door.
It was the main entrance and exit of the CEO office within the building.
He recognized this place. This was Lloyd's office.
Back when he was still alive anyway. Now it should be considered his office since he literally owned the company.
And according to what Alice told him, Lloyd was dead.
"I have to ask though". Amari asked out loud.
"Why here?" His back was facing away from the office desk and chair.
And right there and then ....
"Don't like it? I thought it would be more …. relaxing to talk somewhere you're familiar with".
A deep silky smooth voice responded to his question.
"The venue can easily be changed if you like. I do have my own piano bar. I just felt it would be too ..... alarming to forcefully transfer you to another destination entirely".
Amari turned around. A rare trace of solemnity flashing past his eyes for the first time in … Well, ever.
"I suppose I haven't introduced myself. How rude. I'm the devil. Lucifer Morningstar, first of the fallen, ruler of hell and ... And I think you get the picture".
Standing before Amari was Lucifer, the devil himself.
"..... And I've been dying to meet you".
....
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