The figure that arrived in the sacred light and the one who stepped out from the storm bore identical faces. They were both Batman, both Bruce Wayne.
The first thing Darkseid noticed was his blue eyes in the blazing sacred light behind him. They were the first touch of color that emerged from the endless white glow, standing out like distant icebergs in a vast snowy plain.
As the sacred light gradually faded, a youth appeared before him, clad in silver-white holy armor, with a long white cape draped over his right shoulder. His semi-long black hair hanging behind, blue eyes flickering with holy light. His handsome face and pure aura were like that of a newly born saintly heir.
The next wave of divine light penetrated the still undissipated clouds of Gotham, forming a bright beam of light. When he descended from the glow, six pairs of enormous wings unfurled along with it. The pure wings and the attached radiance covered half the sky.
No one had ever seen Bruce Wayne in this form.
All the people present were dumbfounded, including Harley, who was quite familiar with Bruce. She pointed at Bruce, stuttering: "He... he... he... he... he..."
"I am the messenger of God's gospel, called upon and sent to spread good news to the prisoners of the land of darkness and death, your savior is born...,"
Bruce's voice seemed to echo from a distant space, quickly spreading across the entire Apocalypse Star. Darkseid couldn't help but look back, only to find nothing but darkness and infinite silence.
The lack of a response wasn't the result he hoped for. All the creatures sent to the deep surfaces had their minds controlled by the Apocalypse Star Force Field. They should've jumped out and pledged to die for Darkseid, but they remained silent. Silence signifies contemplation, something they shouldn't have been capable of.
The oppressive force of Apocalypse Star weakened.
Because Darkseid could no longer focus entirely on manipulating the Apocalypse Star Force Field. He had to devote a portion of his attention to be wary of this Angel Batman.
Yes, Darkseid recognized Bruce Wayne. Before setting his sights on Earth, he had collected a considerable amount of information on Batman. He knew his face, but he truly didn't understand how Bruce Wayne could have become like this.
But before he could consider the reasons, another problem arose—there was another Bruce Wayne behind him.
Turning his head back, Darkseid looked at the figure emerging from the storm and seemingly carrying the entire universe's darkness, condensing it into a blood-red killing intent.
A deep, hoarse roar echoed with the footstep sounds in the dark wind, "Darkseid... give me back my child!"
Just as Darkseid attempted to respond, a violent fluctuation emanated from the force field of Apocalypse Star. As he turned his head to look beside him, numerous cryptic runes orbited around Little Bruce, whom he had just pushed away. The part of the power within him that belonged to Nyarlathotep immediately went berserk when it sensed a familiar dark force from Batman.
Countless thick dark tentacles erupted from beneath Little Bruce's feet, soaring towards the sky like colossal pillars. They thrashed in the storm, shredding the storm force of Apocalypse Star into pieces, transforming them into their own weapons, and creating savage waves in the sky above the underground layer.
In a split second, the murmuring whispers turned into roars of madness, the sound of distant flutes and northern winds started to spread. A colossal dark phantom stood up behind Little Bruce, geometric shapes radiated around it while the world system that was supposed to repel the will of the outside universe turned eerily quiet as if it had disappeared.
With a "splatter" sound, an Apocalypse Star scientist with an enormous head and brown-red skin scooped his eyeballs out, forcefully inserting a cone-shaped object deep into his own brain through the eye sockets. He fell down, his face covered in blood.
A dwarf with yellow tentacles growing from his neck yelled, "I know... I know!! I now know how to build a weapon of mass destruction, I can create a weapon powerful enough to annihilate a star system, give me more! Let me see it one more time!!!"
He strained his neck upward, gazing at the stars until he twisted his own neck off his shoulders. His head rolled onto the ground, his gray mouth moving open and close as he chanted that name.
"Obey the will of God, you all shall hear the gospel of the Lord..."
Once again, Bruce's voice resounded, the holy light dispelled the darkness. More and more silent ones in the factories and laboratories knelt down, starting to pray in a language they had never heard before in their lives. They believed they had seen the most supreme existing entity in this world—but it wasn't Darkseid.
Darkseid was confused.
But one couldn't blame him, the reality before his eyes was beyond the imaginative limits of any intelligent life form.
Darkseid's first question was, where did these three Batmen come from?
The data on Earth, Gotham, and Batman that Darkseid obtained didn't mention anything about the existence of three Earths, three Gothams, and three Batmen. But if there weren't three Gothams, then where did the other two Batmen come from?
His second question was, why did these three Batmen come to Apocalypse Star?
Assuming the Batman dressed in black and red armor is the Batman that he knew of, that he came here because Weiman's plan to kidnap Batman's family was successful, and he wanted to retrieve his son. But what the hell were the other two Batmen here for? To propagate their religion? Is it now common to spread one's faith in another god's paradise?
His third question was, how on earth was he to get rid of these three misfortunate figures from his Apocalypse Star?
Darkseid knew well that regardless of where the power of this Angel Batman and Outer God Batman came from, the entities behind them that were willing to lend such power were indeed real. The forced faith spread through power, too familiar to Darkseid, was the divine field of the gods, just like the force field of the Apocalypse Star.
Powerful deities, upon their arrival, would transform the space around them into an earthly divine country. All other sentient beings within their sphere of influence would be forcefully converted, which was the principle of brainwashing captives by the force field of the Apocalypse Star.
However, if the people who believed in Darkseid instantly converted at the moment the divine country of another deity arrived, that only signified that the owner of that divine country was much stronger than Darkseid, or their stature was considerably higher.
Were there still gods stronger than the New God in this world?
Darkseid had never pondered this question before. Having traveled the cosmos for so many years, he had never come across a race as powerful as the New God. They were like two completely different entities compared to the other sentient life in the universe. They had strong physiques, long lives, and immense power. They could fight a million on their own, seen as gods in the eyes of underdeveloped and weak civilizations.
When Darkseid merged with the force field of the Apocalypse Star, he knew that this would be his supreme divine country, where he could control everything, and everything would bow before his mighty power—
This led to his current situation where he was at a loss, aside from being confused.
Darkseid at this stage hadn't fought any particularly strong opponents. The worst consequence caused by his mundane backstory stripped of its uniqueness was that he lacked the help of parents and brothers who were constantly overshadowing him, and he equally lacked experience dealing with relevant opponents.
Obviously, the best strategy in this situation was to cheat. Using the force field of the Apocalypse Star to go head-to-head with the opponents could have a certain chance of success, but as the saying goes, this was Darkseid's own house. No matter how you look at it, he would be the one to suffer in a fight here.
But an enraged and puzzled Darkseid made the wrong choice. He decided to teach these three damnable Batmen a lesson.
Darkseid took a deep breath, strengthening his connection with the Apocalypse Star's force field. Divine power created tumult around him, but this was just to disguise his appearance, enhance his focus, and allow him to better resonate with the Apocalypse Star's force field.
Suddenly, the entire planet came to life.
In a sense, the Apocalypse Star itself could be considered life. It was like a Cosmic Sorcerer devoid of autonomy, possessing a unique life structure and capable of harnessing the energy of the universe's origin. Meanwhile, Darkseid was its brain and central system.
No one had ever pressured Darkseid in such a way before, so he had never attempted to fully merge with the Apocalypse Star. However, when he did so, a brand new life form was born.
After a moment of stillness, the planet erupted with astonishing vitality. Darkseid listened to the voices of all life forms on the planet, then absorbed their power and vitality into his own body. No believers, no faith, no soldiers, just the "Apocalyptic Domain" where everything becomes one.
"This is trouble." Constantine said with a furrowed brow before the screen, "Darkseid has become a god, not a New God, but a true deity."
"How's that determined?" Asked Harvey.
Constantine sighed and said, "Typically we categorize deities into two types. One is a deity in the broad sense, referring to a being stronger than most individuals within civilizations. Ants would consider humans to be deities, and weaker individuals naturally perceive beings far beyond their imagination to be omnipotent gods."
"But there's another kind of deity - the real one. Their stature far transcends all life in the universe. It's not merely about power; it's more about their authority to create or destroy everything."
"The creator?" Barbara uttered a word with some confusion, then she followed up, "If there are multiple creators in this world, wouldn't it be in total chaos? How could we still exist peacefully?"
Constantine shook his head and said, "Deities have their strengths and weaknesses too. Not every deity can create everywhere. At least to my knowledge, even real deities only have full authority within their own divine countries."
"Divine country is just a term coined by the mystic world. Usually, it has a more specific name, such as Heaven, Netherworld, or a certain cosmos. Although still powerful outside these realms, they can only manifest as creators who can create everything with a single thought within their divine countries."
"So, now Darkseid is the creator of the Apocalypse Star?"
"I'm not sure." Constantine stared intently at the images on the screen, his face serious, and said, "Generally, deities do not choose to have such close connections with their divine countries, because..."
"Because why?"
Another answered Gordon's question, but it wasn't Constantine. Gordon turned to Shiller. What left a deeper impression on him was not the answer itself but Shiller's cold tone, not heard for a long time.
"Because it would create a lethal vulnerability."