As the massive dust cloud settled, Green Lantern slowly lowered his emerald shield, revealing himself and Batman. Wonder Woman floated down standing within its fading protective glow. The battlefield lay in ruins around them, the landscape long since turned into ruin, street fractured, and a massive crater carved into the earth where Darkseid had once stood.
Superman hovered above, his red cape billowing, surveying the devastation. He landed beside them, his expression hard as he studied the wreckage. Flash zipped next to Cyborg, who kept his white noise cannon primed and aimed at the crater.
"Did that do it?" Lantern finally asked, breaking the silence.
Before anyone could answer, a deafening
BOOM
Echoed through the air. A blurred object rocketed out of the crater at blinding speed, nearly colliding with Shazam before slamming into the cracked pavement, sending fissures racing outward.
It was Toneri.
He stood with his arms crossed in front of him, his once-pristine robes now tattered with gaping holes, revealing parts of his pale skin. His silver hair was slightly disheveled, but his piercing byakugan eyes were locked onto a figure rising from the pit.
Darkseid emerged.
His towering form remained imposing, the red glow of his Omega Beams igniting his eyes like burning coals. But as Shazam looked closer, he noticed something—Darkseid's left gauntlet was damaged, cracks forming along its edges, nearly falling apart.
Shazam scoffed, flexing his fists. "All that, and we barely scratched him?"
"It's expected," Toneri replied, his voice steady but firm. "He's not a god for no reason."
Cyborg's mechanical eye whirred as he scanned the tyrant. "So… now what?"
Before anyone could answer, Darkseid did.
His deep, guttural voice rumbled across the battlefield. "Now… you die."
His arms erupted with Omega Energy, red arcs of pure devastation hummed along his forearms, consuming the very air around them. The sheer malevolence of the energy made the ground tremble, debris rising from the pressure alone.
Toneri's eyes widened as he recognized the overwhelming power gathering in Darkseid's hands. His Byakugan pulsed and the Tenseigan flared to life, the floral patterns within his irises glowing intensely as realization hit him like a hammer.
"Shazam! We have to stop him! NOW!"
In a single burst, green chakra aura flared around Toneri's body, and he vanished in a blur of impossible speed, breaking the sound barrier a hundred times over while containing the devastating effects of his speed with his chakra. Shazam, now fully charged, transformed into a streaking bolt of divine lightning, matching his speed.
Darkseid's colossal fists were already coming down. If they connected, the entire city would be wiped out.
Then they struck.
Toneri and Shazam caught Darkseid's arms mid-descent.
The impact was like two mountains colliding—a shockwave so violent it shattered the few standing buildings miles away from their position, and cracks split through the streets, swallowing debris whole.
Toneri's arms glowed bright green, his Tenseigan Chakra cloaking his forearms, negating the deadly Omega Energy seeping from Darkseid's skin. Shazam, on the other hand, screamed in agony as the pure destructive force burned into his arms and chest, but he refused to let go.
Before Darkseid could react, a golden lasso looped around his thick neck from behind.
"You're not going anywhere," Wonder Woman declared, yanking with all her strength.
Darkseid snarled, attempting to resist, but suddenly, his entire body became unnaturally light—his weight drastically reduced.
Toneri had whispered, "Keijūgan no Jutsu" (Lightened Boulder Technique).
The once-immovable titan felt his own mass betraying him, his own body weight no longer grounding him to the earth. His balance wavered for the first time.
Toneri smirked.
Releasing his grip, he pivoted on his heel and delivered a devastating spinning punch to the back of Darkseid's skull, his glowing green fist crackling with chakra.
'Shinra Tensei.'
The impact snapped Darkseid's head forward with a thunderous boom, sending a rippling shockwave across the battlefield. The very air vibrated, and a secondary explosion of force demolished what little remained of the city's structures.
For a split second, Toneri thought to himself, 'I never got to pay Naruto back for that hit… but this? This will do just fine.'
Then, Superman struck.
The Kryptonian drove an uppercut into Darkseid's jaw with such force that the air itself cracked, unleashing a thunderclap so powerful it could be heard miles away.
The city trembled.
The combined impact sent Darkseid rocketing into the sky colliding against the pillar he came out from, his massive form moving at nearly half the speed of light, breaking through the atmosphere like a shooting star.
KRAAAACOOOM.
The sheer force knocked Wonder Woman and Shazam away, sending them tumbling through the air, while Toneri—manipulating his own gravity—was pushed back several meters, skidding to a halt.
Watching Darkseid become a distant, flickering dot in the sky, Toneri exhaled and muttered, "That should buy us some time."
A moment of silence settled over the battlefield.
Then, the others began to recover.
Wonder Woman floated back down, shaking off the force of the impact, while Shazam rubbed his once bruised arms which seemed to have healed.
Shazam turned to Toneri, staring directly at his glowing blue eyes, which no longer resembled the pale, pupil-less orbs they once were. Instead, intricate flower-like patterns moved within them, shifting hypnotically.
"Dude… what's up with your eyes?"
Toneri met his gaze.
"It's my Tenseigan."
Shazam blinked. "That's… different from before."
"We don't have time for explanations," Toneri said sharply. His gaze lifted skyward, a deep frown settling on his face.
"I doubt that hit did much damage… except piss him off."
———————
Darkseid stood in the vast emptiness of space, directly above Earth, his imposing silhouette outlined against the distant stars. His crimson gaze burned with contemplation as he observed the planet below, his mind processing the unexpected opposition he was currently facing.
Thousands of planets had fallen before him—some had fought back, but resistance had always been a fleeting illusion. No matter how prepared, no matter how advanced, every civilization ultimately crumbled. If not before his armies and furies, who were currently engaged in conquest elsewhere, then beneath his own might.
Yet, this battle was different.
No, the Kryptonian's defiance had been expected. His database, meticulously curated by Desaad's surveillance, had indicated that the one called Superman was the only being on this planet truly worthy of effort. Perhaps the Amazonian, the so-called Green Lantern, the one infused with divine lightning—Shazam—and the conduit of the Speed Force might warrant some consideration.
But this new variable?
He had not been accounted for.
A being of pale skin and… a celestial blue eyes which was previously milky white, radiating a green energy that was decidedly not of the Emotional Spectrum.It was different—more balanced, almost divine, and disturbingly versatile. It bent gravity, altered elements, and had even managed to damage him.
"No matter."
They would all fall. Just as countless others had before them.
Because he was Darkseid, Lord of Apokolips.
And this "opposition" was not a threat.
He had crushed countless warriors like them.Entire planets, civilizations far more advanced than this insignificant rock, had perished beneath his rule. He had slaughtered Green Lanterns, annihilated gods, and erased species from history.
And yet…
'Although he does have a strange presence…'
Darkseid clenched his fist, remembering the last strike—the one that actually made his head snap back. That strange green-coated energy had been different, far more potent than his previous attacks.It wasn't so negligible in terms of true damage, and… it was interesting.
Perhaps this one was worth studying.
Just like the Kryptonian, this warrior did not lack raw power. The rest of them? Predictable.The Amazon relied on ferocity, the Lantern on constructs, the Speedster on momentum, the Lightning one on brute force.
Then there was the human. A mere mortal, yet somehow constantly surviving when the shockwaves from the battle should have reduced him to atoms. And the one who had bonded with a Mother Box—a mockery of Apokoliptian technology.
Darkseid's eyes burned brighter.
"How interesting."
A warrior wielding a power alien to this universe—one even he had never encountered.
Perhaps he would take the time to study him before Earth was reduced to dust.
His hand rose, fingers brushing the Omega Symbol carved on his belt. A moment later, a deep, metallic chime resonated through the void as communication was established.
A voice answered almost instantly.
"My Lord."
Desaad—his most trusted servant, his spymaster.
Darkseid's voice was cold, menacing.
"Your information was… wrong."
A pause. Then—a sharp inhale.Even across the transmission, Darkseid could hear Desaad's fear.
"A significant oversight."
Desaad gulped audibly, his breath hitching as he scrambled to respond. "M-My Lord, I—"
Darkseid cut him off.
"I shall address it later."
The implication was clear.
Desaad would suffer for this failure.
But first—there was a lesson to teach.
"Open the Boom Tubes,"Darkseid commanded, his voice final. "To Sector 2018. At my location."
He turned, gazing down at the defiant blue planet.
"I'd like to prove a point."
"…Yes, Master."
A pause.
Then—the sky burned.
The heroes stood amidst the ruins of their battlefield, regrouping, strategizing.
Superman floated slightly above the others, arms crossed, his expression grim. "We need a plan."
"Agreed," Wonder Woman nodded, her lasso still clutched in her hand. "Darkseid won't stay away for long."
"We should reinforce our perimeter," Green Lantern added, scanning the devastated landscape. "Contain the damage before this place becomes a wasteland."
Flash adjusted his cowl. "Yeah, uh, containment sounds great—if he doesn't drop another omega nuke on us."
Toneri remained silent, eyes lifted toward the stars. His Tenseigan glowed faintly, sensing something… shifting.
Then—
Cyborg stiffened.
His cybernetic eye flashed red as his sensors went into overload.
His mouth went dry.
"Ohhh my God…"
The sky lit up.
Thousands.
No—tens of thousands of Boom Tubes erupted into existence, their massive golden portals tearing open the heavens.
They stretched across the entire horizon, their pulsing yellow light illuminating the darkened ruins like a second sun.
Batman reacted instantly, pressing a button on his gauntlet. Within seconds, his satellites projected a live holographic feed of what was coming.
The image flickered to life, and the heroes froze.
Darkseid stood at the forefront, his colossal frame dominating the screen.
And behind him?
An endless armada.
millions of Parademons swarmed in the background, their wings blotting out the stars. Apokoliptian warships, their hulls engraved with the sigil of Darkseid, emerged from the void like predatory beasts, their weapons primed.
This wasn't just an invasion force.
It was an execution.
Superman clenched his fists, his jaw tightening.
Green Lantern cursed under his breath, his ring's glow intensifying.
Flash's mouth ran dry. "…We're screwed."
Shazam's eyes darted between the Boom Tubes. "…Okay, that's a lot."
Wonder Woman's grip on her sword tightened. "We've faced armies before."
Batman's voice was calm but sharp. "Not like this."
Cyborg swallowed hard. His scanners were going berserk. "There's… too many. We—"
And then—Toneri exhaled.
"…yare yare."