In mere seconds, Toneri had been launched out of Metropolis and halfway across another city, but he wasted no time. He teleported instantly, returning to the battlefield, only to be met with a sight he had feared.
'In just a few moments?'
The city lay in complete ruins, well it was already in ruins but this... The remaining blocks were reduced to craters, smoke and fire rising into the sky like a funeral pyre. The streets were unrecognizable, buried beneath collapsed buildings, twisted steel, and shattered glass. The eerie silence of destruction was suddenly broken by a distant boom, echoing far away, drawing Toneri's attention for a brief moment. Yet, something else stirred on the opposite side of the city—an energy signature that pulsed with familiarity.
Without hesitation, he expanded his senses, pinpointing his teammates. Their locations registered immediately, scattered beneath layers of debris and rubble. In the next instant, he blinked out of existence, reappearing where they were buried.
With a mere thought, Toneri raised his hand, gravity obeyed, using his deva path to command the gravity around him. The massive slabs of concrete and steel lifted effortlessly into the air, revealing the battered remains of his team beneath. His eyes narrowed.
Wonder Woman lay unconscious, soot covering her arms and and upper body. The silver brace on her wrists were scorched black, as if she had been forced to block something beyond her limits, ' his eye beams no doubt' . Shazam was breathing steadily, the top left of his costume completely burned away, exposing raw, blistered flesh as if he had nearly been cooked alive but he was ok. Cyborg was slumped against a broken pillar, a steel rod impaled clean through his side, his internal systems sparking weakly. Green Lantern was on one knee, his ring flickering dimly, his right arm twisted at an unnatural angle.
A grunt came from behind him.
Without looking back, Toneri spoke, his voice calm but firm. "Where is Superman? He should've been back by now."
A familiar voice, rough with pain, answered.
"He was and you're late."
Toneri turned slightly, seeing Batman leaning against a crumbling wall, blood smeared at the corner of his lips. His cowl was torn, and his armor bore deep cracks, but his eyes remained sharp beneath the exhaustion.
Before Toneri could respond, a sudden zoom filled the air as Flash arrived, his movements unsteady, his breath coming in rapid gasps.
"They've got Superman," Flash managed, his tone uncharacteristically grave.
Toneri's eyes narrowed. "That sound just now… That was him?"
Flash nodded. "Yeah. That was Superman. But Darkseid caught us off guard. He separated us from him with his beams, Shazam tried to block them but he was overwhelmed, he's lucky Wonder Woman jumped infront them to save him. It was locked onto us, but Superman took the worst of it. He wouldn't go down... not until Darkseid used something—I don't know what, but I heard him say 'Omega Sanction' right before he blasted him."
Toneri exhaled slowly, absorbing the information.
His gaze flicked to Flash, and for the first time since his arrival, a smirk ghosted across his lips. Then, without another word, he began to rise into the air, his cyan aura pulsing around him.
Flash's eyes widened. "Wait—what are you—?"
Without saying a word, Toneri turned his gaze toward Flash and Batman, his Tenseigan pulsing with an eerie glow. His voice was calm, yet resolute.
"I have a plan."
His eyes pulsed for a second, the luminous cyan energy flickering before...
---
Darkseid
With his arms crossed behind his back, Darkseid hovered in the air, surveying the devastation below. Entire city blocks were reduced to molten rubble, buildings crumbling into dust under the weight of his Omega Beams. Screams had long since faded into silence, leaving only the crackling of fire and the groan of collapsing structures.
A flicker of movement caught his eye. Several figures moved against the backdrop of destruction—puppets of the glowing human who had dared to stand against him. A few launched forward, their forms barely visible before his beams lanced through them, their zigzagging path making evasion impossible. The moment the energy made contact, they were disintegrated instantly just like the hundreds he's met on his way, leaving not even ashes behind.
Above him, puppet-like constructs soared through the air on mechanical birds, attempting an aerial assault. With a mere flick of his gaze, Darkseid's Omega Beams arced unpredictably through the sky, annihilating them in mid-flight.
'Futile.'
Then, something new caught his attention as he neared a new city.
A barrier—deep red in hue—shimmered over the city, a steady elevated cylindrical barrier. Darkseid's eyes narrowed slightly. He lifted his chin, crimson light building at his pupils before releasing his Omega Beams.
The energy slammed into the barrier with a thunderous impact, the force rippling across the shield like a stone striking water. For a brief moment, it held—'defiant.'
Darkseid let out a quiet grunt of acknowledgment. A mortal creation capable of resisting his beams, if only momentarily. Interesting.
His gaze shifted. Nearby, four puppet-like figures sat in a meditative stance, positioned equidistantly around the perimeter. 'So they are the source.'
A smirk crossed his lips.
Without hesitation, Darkseid moved. His speed was nothing short of terrifying, his massive form blurring across the battlefield as he descended upon the four puppets with absolute precision. In an instant, he obliterated them, his blows reducing them to shattered fragments.
The Crimson Ray Formation collapsed. The barrier flickered once, then shattered like glass, vanishing into the air.
Darkseid floated upward again, rising a few feet above the ruined city. His glowing red eyes pulsed ominously, preparing to unleash another Omega Beam, this time without resistance.
But then—
A shift.
An almost imperceptible change in the air behind him.
His instincts sharpened, honed by countless wars across the universe. Slowly, he turned his head, peering over his shoulder.
A lone figure hovered there, bathed in that cyan energy from earlier.
Darkseid studied him for a moment before speaking, his voice deep and unwavering.
"I must say… for a being who is neither Kryptonian, Daxamite, nor New God, you are quite tenacious."
His gaze lingered on the human, noting the formidable aura surrounding him. He could feel it again—raw, unrelenting power. Few mortals possessed such strength.
"Most would tremble at the idea of facing me head-on. Those who have tried… have turned to ashes beneath my Omega Beams. But you… you are a peculiar one."
He paused, as if genuinely considering the enigma before him. Then, in a rare moment of curiosity, he asked:
"Tell me… what is your name?"
The glowing human regarded him with an unreadable expression. His Tenseigan eyes gleamed, intriguing in their design—an ocular ability unlike any Darkseid had encountered. Something worth studying.
And yet, unlike others who had faced him before, there was no fear in this one's gaze. No desperate struggle for survival.
No uncertainty.
Instead, there was… resolve.
It was clear that the mortal understood the threat that Darkseid represented. Yet, he did not shrink away from it. In fact—
That smirk.
Darkseid recognized it. It was the mark of a warrior—one who did not simply fight out of necessity, but challenged the battlefield itself.
A rare trait among mortals. Perhaps even… admirable.
But admiration would not change the inevitable.
Darkseid turned fully toward him now, his smirk vanishing into a mask of absolute authority.
He had a planet to conquer.
And this mortal, like all the others, would fall.