And we're back! After a week off from posting an update, I'm really excited to get this one out of the way next. So prepare for some really big battles in these next few chapters, along with some epic moments… and eventually some heartbreak.
I have to say, I'm glad this story's already reached over 100 reviews by the time I've finished writing this chapter. It's amazing since I haven't had that experience in a few years. So I'm really excited for what's to come in the future.
Quick side note for anyone who's wondering what's up next in this FanFiction multiverse of mine, answers will come after the final chapter.
So without any further delay, it's time to get back into "Omni Force: JUSTICE"!
OMNI FORCE: JUSTICE
6:56 P.M.
"Damn…!" Bernadeth cursed as Ahsoka's lightsabers clashed fiercely against her Fahren-Knife, forcing her back as she grimaced. The Togruta had a fearsome look in her eyes, angered by how the Furies were using Diana as a soldier slave. Speed Queen tried to dash in at her from behind, but she sensed the fast Fury coming, pivoting around and waving her left arm up. Dirt suddenly flew up from the ground and got into her foe's eyes.
"Ah!" she yelped, shutting her eyes before Ahsoka moved aside to let her slam into Bernadeth as they tumbled along the arena surface.
"HAH!" Kazuto yelled as he slashed through each and every arrow launched his way from Artemiz's bow.
"Tsk…" she scoffed, readying five arrows to shoot at him as she pulled the drawstring back. She let go, making the arrows fly out and veer towards their target. He reeled his Elucidator back.
"Too easy," he remarked before performing a rapid, curved slash that cut each of the arrows cleanly in half. The pieces fell onto the ground behind him as the Fury he was facing grimaced. In the meantime, both Lashina and Mad Harriet charged towards Erza, Starfire, and Barda. The latter of the trio pivoted towards the dark-haired Fury, quickly swatting away the spiked ball at the end of her whip by using her staff.
In the meantime, the Tamaranean blasted back Mad Harriet with green starbolt lasers from her eyes, sending her tumbling over the ground. She then flew after her with a fierce look on her face. That left Erza to stare down Granny, Blackfire… and Diana.
"You defeated the Amazon back on Earth, did you not?" the New God of the trio inquired curiously with narrowed eyes and a grin. The requip user scowled.
"It was not anyone's victory, let alone mine," she retorted, remembering how things had turned out that night. One memory that lingered in her head was the sight of Diana crying as she apologized for what she had done. "I'll defeat you and free her from your control," she declared firmly. Blackfire chuckled.
"Just you against the three of us?" she guessed, arching an eyebrow while crossing her arms over her chest, "You have a death wish…" she pointed out threateningly.
"If that's what it takes to save her, then so be it," Erza responded, "I know a friend of mine who would want to do the same…" she added as she balled her hands into fists.
"Hmm…" Granny hummed curiously, "Komand'r, why don't you play with your sister first?" she suggested to the Tamaranean's surprise, "I'd like to teach Barda a lesson myself…" she mentioned in admittance. Blackfire blinked in realization.
"And leave her to try and save the Amazon?" she guessed while grinning.
"Go ahead and try, swordswoman," Granny challenged to Erza, who glared at her in frustration, "An Amazon won't be so easily bested in your effort to save her…" she pointed out, "unless you plan on killing her first," she remarked with a wicked grin.
"I will do no such thing," Erza retorted firmly as the blades floating behind her aimed themselves towards her three opponents, "I've made my vow clear," she affirmed in addition. And this time, she would be sure to keep it.
"Then so be it," Granny responded, turning her head to Diana, "Kill her, slave," she insisted of the controlled Amazon.
"As you wish, Granny," she replied robotically, lunging forward at the same time as her opponent.
OPENING
Insert "Kaikai Kitan" by Eve
Opens with an injured Ben lying asleep upon the floor in a small room. He slowly opens his eyes to find himself on the infernal hellscape known as Apokolips.
The title card appears in a flash of light, with the word 'JUSTICE' appearing underneath the Omni Force logo.
We cut to Omni Force Tower, where everyone is reeling from the traumatic experiences they've endured over the past 24 hours. Sunset stands up, catching the attentions of her comrades. They see that she isn't ready to give up.
Meanwhile, we see Cyborg holding onto the Biomnitrix gauntlets in his hands, blaming himself for not being able to help Ben sooner. A group of shadows suddenly comes over him, causing him to look up to see the Titans there. Nightwing offers him a hand, which he gladly takes as he stands up.
There are various scenes of other Omni Force members, such as Rex Salazar, Korra Sato, T'Challa, Mereoleona Vermillion, Kirito, Jenny Wakeman, Gajeel Redfox, and Lena Oxton joining the group as travel via Boom Tube to Apokolips. As they arrive, they're met by not only the Apokoliptian forces, but also all of the founding Justice League members aside from Superman, who've fallen under Darkseid's control.
The battle begins with Sunset activating her magic and blasting back several Parademons, Law slicing several tanks and aircraft in half with his Kikoku, and Erza requipping into her Ice Empress Armor and gathering enough energy to freeze up several Apokoliptian soldiers into ice. What follows is a shot of Batman facing T'Challa, as the latter uses his anti-metal claws to slash through his foe's Batarangs. Meanwhile, Kirito clashes his dual swords against Wonder Woman's, pushing her back as he charges forward with vengeance in his eyes.
The scene changes to Star Sapphire calling out desperately to the controlled Green Lantern, who fires a ray of green light down towards her, only for it to get stopped by John Stewart's construct of an iron wall. We see Flash racing by and slamming into several foes. However, he stops to see Kid Flash and Ruby standing in his way. Martian Manhunter assumes the form of a giant monster, but is immediately knocked over by Mereoleona's Flame Magic: Calidos Brachium.
We shift to a shot of Ahsoka being surrounded by the Furies in the arena as Granny watches over them. Drawing her dual lightsabers, Ahsoka gives off an angered look before charging at them. Meanwhile, Starfire and Blackfire clash in midair as they exchange starbolt lasers from their eyes. Granny Goodness ends up being confronted by Barda, and Rex and Cyborg battle against Kalibak.
Doomsday suddenly lands onto the battlefield, lunging out towards Gaara as he's swarmed by a horde of Parademons. However, he's saved as All Might lands a powerful Texas Smash onto the bio-engineered beast to send him flying away. A wide smile crosses the hero's face as he wields a piece of Kryptonite in his hand.
The scene changes again to a shot of Darkseid in his throne room being confronted by Superman and Supergirl. He fires his Omega Beams at them, which they fly off to avoid before they're both struck by them and sent down onto the floor. Darkseid grins evilly, but is suddenly ambushed by a pair of red lasers striking his chest, sending him crashing into the steps to his throne. The Kryptonians turn around to see Kryptoknight there, who flashes them a grin of reassurance. The three of them then come together to face down Darkseid.
As the song winds down, we see scenes of Steppenwolf slamming his Electro Axe down onto the battlefield, Gaara making several pillars of sand erupt from the ground, Nightwing battling back Parademons alongside Beast Boy and Raven, and Blake looking out worriedly towards Darkseid's fortress.
We end with Darkseid looming over a seemingly defeated Ben. He's about to put him out of his misery with a blast from his Omega Beams, but the Biomnitrix suddenly activates and envelops the Omni Force leader in a flash of green light. It finishes with a shot of Omnitrix City at night, alit by the full moon above.
END OPENING
LIFE
6:57 P.M. – OMNI FORCE TOWER
"Thanks for taking this…" Ruby said, handing the Relic of Knowledge off to Molly.
"No problem, kid," she replied, "How are things going up there?" she wondered in concern.
"Uh… could be better…" the student huntress admitted in response, knowing that she had left her teammates to face down hordes of Parademons and Doomsday clones alone. Then again, Dinah, Raven and Beast Boy had come to join them.
"You need a minute to catch your breath?" the Plumber guessed, putting her left hand onto the silver-eyed girl's shoulder. She shook her head.
"They're gonna need me up there," she affirmed, balling her hands into fists, "Even if I'm scared… I have to try and help," she added, "Because if I didn't… I wouldn't be able to become what I wanna be," she told Molly. The Alpha Squadron leader smiled at her.
"Then go get 'em, kid," she insisted, bumping her shoulder with her right fist. Ruby nodded while grinning, turning around and hurrying off out of the tower. Now she wasn't scared. She was determined. Both to see the Omni Force's victory through… and to complete her own goal beyond that.
APOKOLIPS
"Hal… why…?" Carol slowly said out of disbelief as the controlled Green Lantern and his fellow influenced Justice League members glared down their foes.
"We might be in serious trouble right now…" Law realized, yanking out the Batarang that had pierced into his shoulder.
"Yeah…" Jefferson agreed, "If they're under some kinda mind control, they could kill us…" he pointed out worriedly.
"While we wouldn't be able to do a thing…" Arthur added grimly, narrowing his eyes. More of the Apokoliptian tanks were arriving on the scene as well. The tide of the battle had seemed to shift into the enemy's favor, especially with the four superheroes under their control. All of a sudden, Barry zipped forwards in an instant.
"Watch—!" Kid Flash's shout came too late as he was amongst many of the people struck by the Scarlet Speedster, knocking them all down. However, Kevin was able to endure an attack as his body was coated in metal, only sliding back a few feet. In that very instant, his wife attempted to catch Flash with a glowing energy rope of pink light she expelled from her hands, but he sped by it and slammed into her as well.
"Gwendolyn!" her husband called out, hurrying over to catch her in his arms as she fell.
"Augh…" she groaned out, "He hits like a truck…" she noted.
"And he'll keep hitting us hard unless we figure out a way to stop him…" Nightwing pointed out, drawing his Escrima Sticks.
"Let me take him, dude," Kid Flash chimed in, catching his attention as he looked to see the speedster getting back onto his feet, taking on a lunging stance, "I think I'm the only guy here who can even catch up with him…" he mentioned, looking rather nervous. Meanwhile, Law suddenly blinked in surprise upon sensing something.
"Shoot!" he yelped, narrowly managing to deflect a pair of Batarangs with his blade before jumping back. Bruce was hurrying forward, readying more of his trademark weapons upon his hands.
"Law, get back!" T'Challa yelled, catching his squadron leader's attention as he saw the Wakandan king rush out and draw his claws. As Batman flung his weapons, his incoming opponent slashed through each of them as they exploded into pieces behind him. His suit glowed a bright purple as he and the Dark Knight interlocked hands upon reaching each other.
"T'Challa!" the Op-Op user cried out.
"I can handle this!" the Wakandan king assured, suddenly unleashing a purple shockwave of energy that knocked his foe back as he slid along the ground several feet away before coming to a stop. He narrowed his eyes with contempt underneath his cowl, readying his fists as they sparked with electricity. Meanwhile, Hal shot out a bright green ray of light up into the sky from his ring.
"What the hell's he doing?" Starlight wondered aloud. Meanwhile, Meliodas looked and gasped to see the light split into what was essentially a meteor shower of green rays that started to rain down towards them.
"Guys, watch out!" he yelled to his comrades. Thankfully, John was quick to fly in and project a dome-shaped barrier from his ring, shielding himself and his allies from the bombardment of beams. Afterwards though, Hal flew down and smashed through the barrier, slamming into his fellow Green Lantern before crashing into the ground with him in just an instant.
"HAL!" Carol screamed. As the dust settled, it revealed her controlled boyfriend pinning John to the ground, holding him by his neck with his left hand while readying the ring upon his right.
"Come on, Hal…!" his fellow Green Lantern pleaded, "Fight it…!" he begged with clenched teeth. There almost seemed to be a moment where Hal hesitated… but it was off put by the brightness of his ring growing. But at that very instant, sand shot up from the ground and blasted him off of John, sending him hurdling into the air before he found his balance, still having a green light shroud his body. He narrowed his eyes down below to see Gaara there with his right hand extended.
"Even if you are under someone else's influence…" he began while readying his hands, "I won't hesitate to stop you however I have to," he stated firmly.
"…Same here…" John said as he stood back up with a heavy breath, "We'll do what we need to get you back, Hal!" he declared. Meanwhile, Carol looked on with shaking eyes. After fighting alongside her boyfriend just a few nights ago, now she had to face him herself. And she was afraid to… But at the same time, she knew that it was probably the only way to truly free him.
Lastly, J'onn loomed over the battlefield as fires raged about from the cannon fire and flames spewed out from the enemies. Being upon Apokolips was essentially hell for him. But with his will sealed under Darkseid, it did not matter to him in the slightest. He was essentially freed from his weakness. His body morphed into that of a giant, dragon-like creature that soared down towards the ground below.
"Whoa!" Luffy yelped, jumping back with Applejack and Korra to evade the transformed Martian as he slammed hard against the surface in a flurry of dust, blowing several of his enemies back.
"Well that one's a problem…" the cowgirl admitted as she wiped some dirt off of her cheek. Jenny was flying in, transforming her arms into giant, spiked fists as she struck J'onn upside the head with them. However, he didn't seem to be remotely fazed by the attack. In fact, he retaliated by whipping his tail around and slamming it into the robot girl, sending her flying in a loud yell.
"Gotcha'!" Sabo yelled as he leapt up to catch her, landing down safely on the ground.
"Manhunter's not gonna be easy to take on…" Jefferson noted worriedly.
"Indeed," Red agreed, "But we have plenty of pyrokinetic users to weaken him," he pointed out.
"So you're saying he's weak to fire?" Mereoleona inquired, having overheard their conversation as she stepped forward and grinned excitedly. The dragon-like form of the Martian raised his right hand, about to slam it down onto her. She merely let out a chuckle before stopping it with just her right fist.
"Ah!" Jefferson gasped.
"Oh my," Red uttered out.
"Hmph," the flame wizard scoffed with a smirk, "Not bad…" she admitted as her fist ignited with orange-red fire, "Compared to the beasts I've fought, you're certainly the strongest!" she stated loudly before blasting the transformed Martian's hand off of her in a blast of flames, "Now show me what else you've got!" she challenged fiercely. Her foe transformed back into his normal state, narrowing his red eyes. The battles to free the Justice League members from Darkseid's control had begun.
X
7:00 P.M. – EARTH
Taking a deep breath of the airless space around him, Kryptoknight felt the light of the sun wash over his entire body, soothing him wholly. He could feel his left arm again as he managed to close his hand into a fist. His idea worked. And now… it was time for payback. He zoomed out into the distant space, dead set on facing down the very being who injured him and his pride in the first place.
7:00 P.M. – NEW GENESIS
"Of all the people I expected to come and meet me… you were not one of them…" a condescending, male voice remarked robotically to Steppenwolf. He looked up at his fellow New God, who was none other than Metron.
"And I see that you still have no quarrel in our war," the Apokoliptian general pointed out in response.
"The eight long years that you spent waging such trivial battles against New Genesis ended up with you here…" Metron noted, narrowing his red eyes curiously, "For what, if I may ask?" he inquired.
"I require your assistance," Steppenwolf replied as he balled his fists, "I need you to lead me to the Source," he insisted of the knowledge seeker, "In return, I promise to gift you with a being that's been infused with a Father Box," he promised to him as he blinked in surprise.
"Very well," he responded, having his Mobius Chair float towards the Apokoliptian general, "Step aboard," he beckoned. Steppenwolf grinned, stepping onto the floating vehicle.
7:00 P.M. – APOKOLIPS
"Huh… huh…" Yang breathed out in exhaustion as blood dripped down her head. Weiss and Blake were somewhat bloodied themselves, but were otherwise fine as they stood with their weapons raised. Dinah, Raven and Beast Boy were exhausted as well. The six of them had fended off the Parademons and Doomsday clones, now looking around at the bloody mess their battle had created.
"Ugh…" Weiss groaned as she fell onto her bottom, dropping her Myrtenaster onto the floor, "Those guys were a lot tougher than Grimm…" she admitted, wiping the blood off of her face.
"They didn't even have blood…" Blake pointed out, staring at some of the remains of the defeated Doomsday clones. Most of them had gone outside during the fight, but those that stayed ended up getting defeated either thanks to Yang's incredible power from her Semblance, Dinah's ear-piercing screams, or Raven's magic. All in all, the victory was theirs.
"That pasty-faced guy figured out something about the lamp…" Yang noted curiously as she put her robotic right hand onto her chin, "Question is, what?" she wondered aloud.
"Well, you'll have plenty of time to think about it once we rendezvous with the others," Dinah chimed in as an answer, putting a hand onto her left shoulder.
"Yeah," Blake agreed, "Now that we got the lamp back, we should focus on helping the others get Ben and those guys outta here," she insisted to the group.
"I wouldn't worry about that," Beast Boy remarked assuredly, "Cy's got that handled," he stated with confidence, putting his hands onto his hips.
"And I'm sure Ben's going to be fine," Raven added.
"You seem to be worried about Ben a lot, Blake…" Weiss noted curiously with a tilt of her head. The cat Faunus blushed a little.
"Well, I…" She stopped talking as her ears twitched slightly.
"What's up?" Yang asked upon noticing. All of a sudden, the group felt a rumble in the floor beneath them as they stumbled a little.
"What was that?" Weiss questioned in concern, shooting up to her feet. Raven closed her eyes to concentrate for a moment. And then she jolted them open with a gasp.
"MOVE!" she exclaimed. All of a sudden, the floor burst open as red laser beams shot out from it, enticing the group to jump away as they veered towards them. Raven formed a platform of black energy for the Team RWBY members to land upon, floating them away. In the meantime, Beast Boy had transformed into a pterodactyl and grasped Dinah by her shoulders in his talons, flying off to the side with her. Once the laser beams ceased, they all looked down to see the figure crawling out from the hole.
"RRRRRRRR…" Doomsday growled as he emerged from the floor, with spear-like bones coming out from the back of his hands like claws.
"What… is that?" Yang asked with a stunned and scared look in her eyes. Weiss and Blake were just as frightened. And though she didn't outwardly show it, Raven wasn't exactly feeling that great about seeing the bio-engineered creature.
"I think that's the thing your friend's supposed to take on…" she responded after a moment, much to the trio's shock as their eyes all widened.
"No doubt about it…" Dinah realized as her eyes narrowed, "That's Doomsday…" she said.
"RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the beast roared powerfully, causing everyone to slap their hands over their ears from how loud he was. Meanwhile, the integrity of the building they were in was starting to crumble apart. Raven took notice.
"We need to move!" she called out, suddenly enveloping the Team RWBY members and herself within her shadowy aura, which formed into a raven itself before flying out and swallowing up Dinah and Beast Boy. The walls collapsed just as the raven phased through them, seemingly burying Doomsday in its wake. Lowering itself about several yards away from the collapsed building, the raven dissipated as the group of six landed upon the ground, with Beast Boy transforming back to normal.
"Okay, I think we should get back to where the others are…" Yang insisted as she pulled out her MPG and activated it by pressing its center icon with her left thumb. At that moment, there was another nearby rumble. The group looked out to see Doomsday emerging from the remains of the crumbled laboratory, growling as it rose up with glowing red eyes.
"We need to leave, now!" Dinah called out quickly, enticing her and her allies to run off. They couldn't face such a terrifyingly powerful monster. And only one man on their side could…
"AGH!" Clark yelped after slamming into the palace wall hard, leaving behind cracks as he fell onto the floor upon his stomach. Pieces of the wall crumbled off from his impact as Darkseid floated towards him with a semi-unconscious Kara in his left arm.
"Pitiful," he disdainfully remarked, tossing the female Kryptonian aside as she hit the floor and tumbled along it to a complete stop.
"Kara…" her cousin uttered out weakly. As he reached his hand out, Darkseid took hold of him by his wrist, lifting him off of the floor to his eye level. He attempted to launch a surprise blast of lasers from his eyes, only to be thwarted by the New God's Omega Beams as they slammed him back against the wall.
"AAAAAGGGHHHH!" he screamed in agony as the powerful rays continued to burn against his chest. When they finally subsided, he fell back onto the floor with a heavy groan. He was practically finished.
"How disappointing…" Darkseid grumbled with a shake of his head, going over and picking the Man of Steel up by his cape, "Perhaps if we were on Earth, you'd give me more of a challenge," he inferred to his seemingly unconscious foe, "But unlike before, I won't play such a foolish gamble," he declared firmly. His eyes glowed a bright crimson as he was prepared to eviscerate his foe in an instant. But all of a sudden, a pair of red laser beams pierced through the ceiling, striking him square in the chest to push him back and let go of the male Kryptonian, letting him fall onto his hands and knees. He weakly looked up and widened his eyes. Bursting through the ceiling of the throne room was none other than Kryptoknight, who floated down and landed before him. Kara looked over and smiled.
"Ben…" she uttered out, grateful to see the Omni Force leader there in his Kryptonian form.
"Sorry I'm late, Superman," he apologized to the Man of Steel, who was slow to stand back up, "Had to fix myself up real quick…" he pointed out, glaring over at Darkseid, who stepped forward.
"So it appears my uncle failed to keep you contained…" he realized, narrowing his eyes, "What a shame," he remarked with a shake of his head.
"The only shame I see here is gonna be yours when we're through with you," Kryptoknight declared as a retort.
"Mine?" Darkseid inquired, letting off a smirk, "Adding one Kryptonian to the fray doesn't exactly tilt the scales in your favor…" he pointed out cleverly.
"You're not fighting a Kryptonian," his new foe retorted, enveloping himself within a bright green flash of light. When it subsided, it revealed that he changed himself into a humanoid, plant-like alien that had an overall green and black colored body, mostly with a red flame-patterned head and root-like feet, seemingly holding black rocks. His eyes were oval-shaped with points at each end with pupils copying the shape but were smaller. Also, his shoulders and head had red petals and his elbows and legs have green frills sticking out. He was taller than an average human from looks alone. His hands were black, with yellow claws and a yellow hole in each palm. His face was red, yellow, and orange, resembling the appearance of a blossoming flower with the large collar around his neck. The Biomnitrix symbol was at his waist.
"You're fighting Ben Tennyson," Swampfire remarked back to Darkseid, who let off a mere scoff. The battle between him and his foes had only just begun…
X
7:03
"Damn…" Captain Rex cursed as he and Hunter fired on another pair of Parademons with their blasters, "There's no end to these things!" he shouted as more of the monsters were converging onto them. Thankfully, Sunset flew in and punched a few beasts back with her golden glowing fists. Rex transformed his legs into a pair of metal orange super boots, lunging forward to kick more of their enemies back.
"Everyone down!" Victor suddenly yelled, enticing his allies to all duck down to avoid the bright blue beam of light shot from his sonic cannon. It slammed into half a dozen Parademons before piercing through a wall, sending them all flying.
"Good shot…" Crosshair remarked, sounding impressed.
"We should probably get outta here…" Rex advised, transforming his legs back to normal, "Now that Ben's safe, I think we're good to head on back to the tower, right?" he inquired.
"No," Sunset responded with a shake of her head, "We need to figure out what's happened to the Justice League," she pointed out, "And besides…" she continued while narrowing her eyes in thought, "I have a feeling that Darkseid guy's got something planned that we need to stop," she told them.
"You mean like that?" Wrecker questioned, chiming into the conversation as he was standing right beside the hole in the wall, looking outside. The rest of the group ventured over and looked on with shocked expressions.
"Oh god…" Crosshair uttered out. There was an army of Doomsdays charging about the area, heading towards the battlefield in the distance. Some of them began splitting off upon noticing the group in the prison, lusting for battle with them.
"They don't look like they're easier than those bugs…" Rex remarked, stepping back cautiously.
"What are they?" Sunset asked, shaking a little.
"Doomsday…" Victor answered grimly.
"The thing Commander Yagi's supposed to fight?!" Captain Rex exclaimed in response, "How come there's so many of them?!" he asked frantically.
"They're clones," the half-man, half-robot quickly replied, "Batman told me about how Darkseid did the same thing eight years ago," he pointed out, "They're not as powerful as the original…" he mentioned, "but they're still strong," he said.
"And we've got about two dozen of them coming towards us," Tech added as a note after pushing his visor up.
"Ah, that's nothing…" Crosshair grumbled out as he readied his rifle, "A few dozen headshots, and they'll be done for," he proclaimed, firing a shot towards one of them. Though it struck it upon the head, leaving a gaping hole, the beast still kept charging. The sniper clone was shocked.
"Uh… did you miss?" Wrecker inquired upon seeing the result of the shot.
"Hell no I didn't!" Crosshair shouted back.
"They… can't be killed?" Captain Rex guessed, sounding completely shocked.
"More that we have to wipe them out completely," Victor answered, "They're just mindless zombies…" he pointed out.
"And they're heading for the others…" Hunter noted, "If the real one's with them…" he started to say.
"The others'll be fine," Sunset assured, interjecting the Bad Batch's leader, "In the meantime, we have to do our part and take out all the guys we can here," she insisted of her allies.
"Copy that, Commander Shimmer," Rex responded, aiming his twin pistols down at their incoming foes. He and the Bad Batch members started firing, shooting holes into their opponents' bodies as they faltered, but still kept coming.
"Rex, Cyborg," Sunset began to the EVO and Victor, getting their attentions, "go to wherever Darkseid is and help out if you can," she advised of them.
"Wait… what?" Rex asked.
"You sure you're gonna be okay here on your own?" Victor inquired out of concern.
"Yeah," Sunset assured in response, enveloping herself in a bright flash of light before taking on her Daydream Drive, "If wiping them out is all it takes… then I've got this," she stated confidently while punching her left hand.
"And why do we need to go to where that Darkseid is?" Rex questioned on, now becoming increasingly worried about potentially having to face the ruler of Apokolips.
"Because Ben'll be there," Sunset answered, "And if I know him, he can take down Darkseid with Superman and Supergirl," she added.
"Especially if we're able to get him his other watch," Victor mentioned as he pulled out the other Biomnitrix gauntlet he had stored. After a moment, Rex let out a heavy sigh.
"Really hope I don't regret this…" he muttered out, transforming his legs into the Sky Slyder before flying off while putting his goggles on over his eyes. Just as Cyborg was about to follow him…
"Please make sure he's doing okay," Sunset requested pleadingly of the half-man, half-robot, catching him by surprise slightly as he glanced back at her, "I know he's probably been through a lot these past few days…" she pointed out, sounding sorry. She had inadvertently caused some of her best friend's stress when she was almost killed a few days ago…
"Promise I will," Victor assured, running off after Rex.
7:04
"AAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Bernadeth screamed upon getting her hands sliced off completely thanks to Ahsoka's lightsabers. The Togruta kicked her away before Speed Queen slammed into her from behind. She was heading towards the wall with her, about to crash right into and hopefully crush her foe. However, the former Padawan quickly spun her weapons back and pierced them into her torso.
"DAH…!" she gasped, losing her momentum as they approached the wall. In that instant, Ahsoka ran up the wall and leapt off of it, slicing the Fury's upper body off from her torso completely and both pieces fell to the ground.
"Huh…" she exhaled, turning back towards the other battles happening in the arena. Kazuto's Elucidator was slashing through each of Artemiz's arrows with ease still, causing her to growl with frustration. After doing away with another projectile sent towards him, the MMORPG gamer sheathed his blade into the sheath upon his back.
"I've fought archers who are much better shots than you," he told her, "If you wanna keep yourself in one piece, you might as well give up," he advised seriously. Artemiz clenched her teeth together… but then smirked.
"But then you'd miss meeting my wonderful pets…" she remarked, pressing a button upon what appeared to be a Mother Box strapped to her belt upon her right hip. Kazuto blinked in confusion for a moment before he heard something charge in from one of the nearby tunnels. Rather, three things. A trio of wolves, all of which had parts of their bodies replaced with cybernetic ones, gathered around Artemiz.
"So these are your pets, huh?" the gamer swordsman guessed, narrowing his eyes.
"Indeed," the archer Fury replied as her hands traced through the brown fur of the cyborg wolves, "Meet Unus, Secondus… and Tertious," she introduced. All three of the beasts growled at Kazuto, who took on a firm stance. "Would you care to take back those snide remarks?" she inquired, licking her lips.
"About you?" her foe questioned back, arching an eyebrow, "Nah," he said with a shake of his head, swiping his right hand down to pull up his heads-up display menu, "But with your puppies here, I think I might need to step up my game," he decided, pressing a few icons before making a new sword appear in front of him in a bright flash of light. It was a one-handed straight blade that was aqua-colored. Its grip was a darker color than the rest of the blade and was completely straight. It led up to a crossguard that was exactly perpendicular to the grip and looked to be designed to look like a pair of conjoined dagger blades. At the center of the guard was a large aquamarine gem. The blade itself was a deep aqua color, and the base of the blade had a light-aqua attachment that caused the blade to have a natural indentation when one would trace its length due to the angle that the attachment bended at.
"You dare to say I am less than my pets…?" Artemiz growled in question.
"Well, you better prove to me that you aren't…" Kirito challenged as he pulled Elucidator out of its sheath with his right hand. With both blades at the ready, he charged forward.
"HAH!" Barda yelled as she swatted aside the spiked ball at the end of Lashina's long whip with her spear, which she swung about crazily to block each attempted lash.
"I can't believe you'd dare set foot in here after the last time!" the Fury shouted to her captain as she pulled her weapon back momentarily, "You let your trivial feelings of life blind your judgment and made yourself complacent!" she pointed out angrily.
"That's what's called living," Barda retorted firmly, "If you had even an ounce of freedom, you'd understand that," she pointed out. Lashina growled, furiously spinning the end of her whip before flinging it towards her foe. She let it pierce into her right forearm, letting off a grimace as she dropped her spear. However, she steeled herself, grasping the black leather rope it was attached with her hand, yanking the dark-haired Fury over in a yelp. She quickly planted her feet against the ground though, bringing herself to a stop.
"I won't fall for your tricks anymore, Barda…" she proclaimed, "I'm not as arrogantly driven as Gilotina was…" she pointed out.
"Hm," the former captain of the Honor Guard chuckled, "Then it's a shame that Darkseid nor Granny saw your potential," she noted to her foe's surprise, "Perhaps if you'd taken my place as captain, there wouldn't be this much bloodshed," she inferred.
"Wh-What?" Lashina stuttered out. That very moment of hesitation allowed her opponent to pull her over in an instant. She pressed the Mega-Rod against the Fury's stomach and fired. "GAH…!" she gasped out with saliva flying from her mouth. The concussive blast wasn't lethal. But it did leave a distinct mark upon Lashina before she fell forward, losing consciousness as she hit the ground.
"Sorry, kid," Barda apologized, removing the spiked ball from her forearm before reclaiming her spear. In the meantime, Starfire slammed Mad Harriet against a wall hard as she held her by her neck with her left hand.
"Rrr… RRRRR!" she growled out, clenching her teeth as she tried to free herself from the Tamaranean's grasp.
"I do apologize," she said, readying a green starbolt upon her right hand, "but I shall end this battle quickly," she affirmed. She fired the starbolt as it struck her foe's face in a small explosion. As the smoke subsided, it revealed the dazed look upon the orange-skinned Fury's face before she fell unconscious upon the ground once Starfire released her. "Huh…" she exhaled out. She looked over to see how Erza was progressing in her bout against Granny, Blackfire, and Diana.
The requip user was flipping back, letting her blades fly about and race by the Apokoliptian lieutenant and the captain of the Furies, all while keeping the Amazon princess away from the fray by pushing her back with the swiping swords. Granny deflected a few of the incoming blades with her club, letting them pierce into the ground beside her. She let off a grin.
"A clever trick, child," she admitted to her foe, "But it will take much more than that to-" Blood spurting from her right arm interrupted her remarks as she looked over at her new wound. Blackfire noticed that she had a similar cut running along her upper right thigh. Both of them were confused. None of their foe's swords had made contact with them…
"Surprised?" Erza inquired, catching their attentions as they saw her grasp one of her blades by its hilt in her left hand, "My blades can cut without so much as striking you," she pointed out to them as she swiped downwards. Both of the female foes before her grimaced upon both feeling new cuts at their stomachs.
"Well… Ben certainly has some interesting friends…" Blackfire admitted with a grin.
"You'd make a fine captain for our lord's Honor Guard…" Granny added to her foe, "But you won't be able to win without defeating my slave as well…" she mentioned, glancing back towards Diana. She was swatting away the flying swords with her own blade and shield. And she wasn't even getting cut…
"Not taking her seriously is going to get you killed…" Blackfire pointed out with a smirk.
"Then it's a good thing I'm not aiming to defeat her," Erza retorted, "I told you before, I'm going to save her," she stated firmly. Granny let out a chuckle, which turned into a loud fit of cackling. The Tamaranean beside her couldn't help but giggle as well.
"Save her?!" the lieutenant repeated in question, "Why not worry about yourself when I shatter whatever's left of your body?!" she insisted as she raised up her club, swinging it down towards the ground. Suddenly though, Barda rushed it and knocked it back with her spear. "Barda?!" her former caretaker exclaimed in surprise.
"Sorry if I kept you waiting, Granny…" the former captain of the Furies apologized, "Now you and I can finish what we've started…" she declared. With that, the Apokoliptian lieutenant let out an excited growl as she charged at Barda, clashing her club against the Mega-Rod fiercely.
"Oh well…" Blackfire sighed with a shrug, "More fun for me, I suppose…" she noted while lighting up her hands in violet starbolts. All of a sudden though, a pair of green ones flew in and struck her hands. She yelped in agony, seeing her starbolts dissipate into mere sparks. She whipped over and growled to see her little sister floating off to the side. The wind waved through her hair as she glared down her sibling.
"We are ending this tonight, Komand'r," she firmly declared as her eyes glowed a bright green.
"Hmph," her sister scoffed, having her eyes shine in a violet light, "You really are mad at me, Koriand'r…" she realized, taking on a ready stance, "Then fine, let's settle this!" she challenged, lunging out at her. They exchanged a fierce blow as their starbolt-covered fists collided, creating a bright shockwave of green and violet light. That left Erza to face Diana alone. In a flash of light, the former summoned forth a certain weapon into her left hand. It was a jitte. In fact, it was one that she recalled making with her departed comrade.
FLASHBACK
"The hell do you want one of those for?" Smoker inquired as his squadron leader held up the silver jitte in her hands, looking at it with sparkles in her eyes.
"I think it would suit me well, considering my aptitude for weaponry," she pointed out in response with a somewhat proud look on her face.
"Yeah, everything except a damn gun…" the former marine muttered as a retort, to which Erza responded by pointing the jitte at his face, "H-Hey!" he stammered in surprise as he stepped back cautiously. The requip user chuckled.
"Don't worry, it isn't tipped with Sea Prism Stone," she assured to her comrade.
"You damn…!" he growled out, making her giggle.
"You need to lighten up a little, Smoker," Erza insisted to his surprise, "Having such a hardened attitude will only get you so far…" she pointed out with a glance back towards him, letting her jitte disappear in a flash of light, "You won't be able to get along with anyone that way," she mentioned
"I've already gotten along with you and the samurai just fine…" he muttered in reply, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I mean with everyone else," the requip user corrected, "It can't just be people you supposedly can tolerate for their attitudes," she told him. He let out a groan. "Hm," Erza chuckled, "Someday, I'm sure you'll understand," she affirmed confidently before walking off.
"Yeah, whatever…" Smoker grumbled out, following after her.
END FLASHBACK
The jitte was firmly held in the requip user's hand as she aimed it towards Diana. And for a moment… she saw an instant of hesitation. It was practically just a millisecond, but Erza could see a glint in her eyes. It was as if…
"You recognize this, don't you?" she guessed with narrowed eyes. Her hypnotized foe didn't respond. And she didn't need to. "I'll break you free from this control you're under…" her opponent declared, taking a ready stance as her floating bladed aimed themselves out towards the Amazon princess, "and bring you back to your senses!" she added as a firm vow.
X
7:04 P.M.
"DETROOOIIITTT…" Toshinori started to echo, reeling his right fist back mightily upon approaching an Apokoliptian tank, "SMMMMMAAAAAASSSSSHHHHH!" he roared, slamming it into the vehicle, rupturing its metal heavily before it was sent flying several meters away from the impact. It crashed against the ground and exploded in a fiery blaze.
"As usual, you're not rusty at all, Toshi!" Natsu commented as he hopped over to the pro hero's side.
"Ha!" he laughed, putting his hands onto his hips, "These beasts aren't anything compared to the one I'm bound to face…" he pointed out in admittance, causing the Fire Dragon Slayer to perk up in confusion.
"Heads up, guys!" Gwendolyn called out, catching their attentions as they saw her float down between them, "I just got a call from Yang saying that backup's on the way," she told the two.
"For us?" Natsu guessed, cocking an eyebrow.
"For them…" the hybrid Anodite answered grimly, glancing back to see the large black raven soaring towards them. It dissipated, allowing for Weiss, Blake, Yang, Dinah and Beast Boy to fall out from it and land upon the ground safely before Raven floated down beside them. "How many are on the way?" Gwendolyn asked.
"About a hundred if I remember right…" Yang answered to their shock.
"What? More of those bug guys?" Natsu inquired with a tilt of his head.
"No, worse," Weiss responded as she shook her head. Before she could tell them what, there was a rumble in the distance. Toshinori's smile faded as his eyes widened to see what was ahead of him and his comrades. There were about a hundred Doomsdays coming towards them, all lusting for battle and blood.
"There's… more than one?!" he exclaimed in shock, remembering how difficult it had been for him to try and hold off the one he ended up facing.
"We took care of a few dozen back at that lab…" Yang mentioned to his surprise while readying her Ember Celica and the gun upon her left arm, "But there's one in the bunch that seems really bad…" she pointed out.
"Super bad…" Beast Boy added grimly, transforming himself into a lion and growling at their incoming foes.
"No problem…" Natsu chimed in, cracking his knuckles as a grin crossed his lips, "I'll just burn 'em all into ashes!" he declared excitedly, igniting his right fist in fire.
"The six of you should fall back for now and rest up a bit," Gwendolyn advised to the group that had just returned, "Did you get the lamp?" she asked.
"Yeah," Blake replied, "Ruby went back to the tower with it," she mentioned.
"Good," the hybrid Anodite said, "Now go," she insisted, tilting her head back as a signal to the others of the group. They all nodded, hurrying off.
"The real one must be amongst them if they're coming here…" Toshinori concluded as his smile slowly returned.
"How do you know?" Gwen asked curiously. Recalling their battle from the previous night, the pro hero flashed a toothy grin.
"It craves fighting the strong…" he answered as he grinned, "And I think it'll consider me the strongest," he added as part of his explanation. Hearing it made Natsu puff out his cheeks in frustration. He thought he was strong, too…
"Flame Magic…" Mereoleona started to bellow as she engulfed her right fist in flames, thrusting it forward, "CALIDOS BRACHIUM!" she roared, aiming her enflamed extremity towards J'onn. However, he vanished without a trace as her fist struck nothing but air. She chuckled. "So you can cloak your presence, hm?" she guessed, looking around the immediate area.
"Careful!" Jefferson called out in warning, "Manhunter's not someone you should take lightly!" he insisted.
"Even though I'm a perfect match for him?" the flame wizard inquired in response, still maintaining her toothy grin, "How interesting…" she admitted, narrowing her eyes as she looked around for a sign of her foe. He suddenly reappeared behind her, grasping her by her collar before yanking her away with his stretching right arm. He slammed her against the ground a couple of times before reeling his arm back to its normal length. Through the cloud of dust, he could see Mereoleona standing back up. And she was still grinning. "You're a clever one, aren't you?" she inquired curiously.
"Get back!" Jefferson yelled, firing off bolts of his dark blue lightning towards the Martian. He took notice and immediately sunk into the ground without a trace of his presence. "Ah!" the electrokinetic hero gasped in surprise. J'onn then rose up from the ground right in front of him, slamming his fists into his foe's chest to knock him back across the ground. Taking notice, Mereoleona finally frowned.
He was intentionally throwing her away from the fight. Because he knew instinctively that she possessed his one true weakness. It disappointed her to think that he was so afraid of such a thing.
"Now that you've shown your hand, it's time for me to get serious…" she declared, letting off a wicked grin. The Martian floated over and picked up Jefferson by his neck as he gasped for air. He grabbed onto his foe's arm, desperately tugging at it to try and get him to let go, but he wouldn't budge.
"J'onn… it's me…!" he managed to exclaim, "Please… get ahold of yourself…!" he pleaded. All of a sudden, the Martian perked up and tossed him aside in order to avoid the flaming punch from the female flame wizard that charged in. "Oof!" Jefferson yelped as he landed upon the ground on his rear end.
"I'd stay out of my way if I were you…" Mereoleona advised, echoing her ally's earlier warning to her, "Otherwise, you'll end up burned to a crisp…" she threatened, engulfing herself in a plume of flames as her grimoire flipped through its pages.
"Hey!" Jefferson yelled as he stood up. But then he blinked in surprise, feeling the heat radiating off of the flame wizard's body. It was intense. And crushing. The Martian appeared to be hesitant… and actually started flying away.
"Oh no you don't!" his enflamed foe roared as she leapt after him mightily, "This time, I'll make sure I take you down!" she declared fiercely, while the flames around her grew once she was right above him, "MANA ZONE…" she began to echo as J'onn turned around and grimaced to see her about to strike with a flurry of punches, "CALIDOS BRACHIUM…" she continued, landing the first flaming strike to his chest, "BARRAGE!" she bellowed, punching him rapidly with her fiery fists.
"A-AAaaAAAAAH-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed in agony as he felt his body burn from the intense heat.
"J'onn!" Jefferson screamed, "Hey, stop!" he yelled desperately to the flame wizard. But she was too focused on landing her blows, finishing with one last strike to the Martian's head to send him crashing into the ground in a flurry of dust. She landed down upon the ground just as the electrokinetic hero ran up beside her, looking at what she had done. "Are you insane?!" he yelled in question to her, "You probably killed him!" he pointed out angrily.
"Huh," Mereoleona scoffed with a smirk, putting her hands onto her hips, "Well, that'd be disappointing…" she noted. Jefferson was about to shout at her again…
"Agh…" a voice groaned out, catching his attention as he widened his eyes behind his goggles to see the Martian lying in the crater upon his back. He was definitely hurt… but he was also alive. Mereoleona grinned.
"This guy's not weak," she pointed out, "And I heard everyone saying he's under some kind of spell that takes control of him…" she mentioned on, "I figured exposing him to his weakness would break that control," she told him.
"And you would be correct," J'onn suddenly said as he sat up with a grunt.
"J'onn!" Jefferson exclaimed, jogging over to help him back onto his feet, "Are you okay?" he asked while putting the Martian's left arm around his shoulders.
"I will be," he answered assuredly, turning to Mereoleona, "Thank you," he said in gratitude to her.
"No thanks needed," she responded while crossing her arms over her chest.
"So whatever mind control the others are under like you were can be broken somehow…" Jefferson realized while putting his right hand onto his chin.
"It may vary, but yes," J'onn confirmed, "However, that isn't what's important right now," he pointed out with a shake of his head.
"What? That Darkseid bastard?" Mereoleona guessed, cocking an eyebrow up, "He might be the mastermind behind all this, but I doubt-"
"No, not that," J'onn interjected to her surprise, "It's something far worse…" he warned, "Something that will result in the entire demise of this multiverse…" he mentioned on. For once, the flame wizard seemed shocked as she shared a dumbfounded look with Jefferson. What was going to happen?
X
7:05 – THE SOURCE
Surrounding Steppenwolf and Metron as they flew onwards upon the latter's Mobius Chair was a blue void that stretched for miles. The former of the two narrowed his eyes as he tried to see if they were any closer to where they needed to go. Patience had been a distinct trait of his for so many years. And only now was he starting to let go of it.
"I should warn you that many who've tried to access what you seek have only found themselves lost in the knowledge…" Metron told him.
"At this point, that does not concern me," he responded, "I spent eight years waiting for this opportunity while gathering the pieces… and the final one rests just beyond the horizon," he noted as he grinned.
"Hmph," Metron scoffed with a smirk, "Very well then," he said. Finally, the chair brought them to what appeared to be a stone wall. "Behold!" the inventor exclaimed, "The Source Wall!" he introduced. Steppenwolf's eyes shook for a moment. The wall itself seemed to be made up of statues of creatures of all kinds. "Those who have tried and failed to obtain greater power have wound up as part of this wall," Metron pointed out as they slowly approached, "You would be a twelfth level intellect in order to hope to survive going beyond it…" he mentioned, "I'm not even sure your ruler would survive, let alone yourself," he confessed to his passenger.
"You need not concern yourself with that," he replied, "All you need to worry about is claiming your payment once our business is done," he told him, leaping off of the Mobius Chair and flying through the opening within the wall. Once he found himself beyond it, he felt his mind start to strain. It was being bombarded with new, infinite information. He could see and understand everything. It was all coming to him. And he looked as if he couldn't bear it. "AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!" he screamed in agony.
It was grueling to just endure the information alone. But he steeled himself, clenching his teeth together before proceeding. He wasn't about to let this defeat him. Not when he had already been set on this goal ever since his nephew's defeat eight years prior…
FLASHBACK
"He lost?!" Kalibak exclaimed in disbelief, shocked as Desaad had told him, Granny, and Steppenwolf about their ruler's supposed defeat against the Kryptonians.
"Strictly speaking, I believe they merely tricked him into a loss," the Apokoliptian scientist corrected in response, "But it is true that our ruler has failed," he admitted, lowering his head with shame.
"How disappointing…" Granny muttered out, while Kalibak growled with frustration. Meanwhile, the general stood up.
"If Darkseid failed, then it's because of his own folly in underestimating and obsessing over the Kryptonians," he affirmed, holding his hands together behind his back, "His desire to make the girl captain of his Honor Guard blinded himself to how dangerous the heroes of Earth are," he pointed out.
"And why should we listen to someone who wasn't even here to help him when those invaders arrived here?!" Kalibak questioned angrily, grasping the general by his armor and yanking him over. He wasn't remotely intimidated.
"As his uncle, I suppose I have intuition as to what will happen now," he remarked in response, knocking Kalibak's hand off of him, "Upon knowing that we are without our ruler, New Genesis will strike," he pointed out, getting everyone's attention, "Therefore, we must plan ahead for times where we are without our ruler," he advised.
"But… we could find—!"
"You expect to find him so easily?" Steppenwolf inquired back to Kalibak, who silenced himself, "In any case, we have to ready ourselves for the battles ahead," he told his colleagues, "The only way we may actually succeed is if we're able to complete what Darkseid set out to before obsessing over the Kryptonian wench…" he explained.
"The equation to Anti-Life…" Granny realized with shaking eyes.
"Are you certain that you can find it, Steppenwolf?" Desaad inquired in concern.
"We shall have time," the general responded, "While the search for my uncle shall begin, we will advance our planet and find the pieces to the equation we so seek," he declared firmly, "And then…" he continued, "I will take Darkseid's place until his return," he affirmed. For a moment, no one responded. Kalibak was just growling with anger at the thought of Steppenwolf taking over the rule of the planet that was his father's. But to his shock, both Desaad and Granny knelt towards him.
"We are at your command, Lord Steppenwolf," they echoed simultaneously. Following suit reluctantly, Kalibak knelt to the interim ruler. He grinned.
END FLASHBACK
"Ergh…!" the Apokoliptian growled through clenched teeth, doing all he could to endure the bombardment of information. And then… his eyes widened. "That's it…" he uttered out with a light laugh, "The final piece…" he said, seeing a small white orb float into his hands. His eyes started to well up with tears. "It's beautiful…" he commented in delight. He then took a deep breath through his nose and let off a wicked grin.
Now it was his turn. It was time to bring the universe to its knees. And prove how foolish his nephew had been…
X
FIVE MINUTES EARLIER - APOKOLIPS
"A Methanosian?" Darkseid inquired upon seeing the completion of his new foe's transformation, "You must be daft to think that of all aliens can stop the likes of me…" he noted in an offended tone.
"What can I say?" Swampfire questioned rhetorically with a shrug, "A guy needs a warmup as much as you do," he remarked, balling his hands into fists.
"Hmph," the ruler of Apokolips scoffed as he smirked, making his eyes shine a bright red before unleashing a pair of Omega Beams that sliced his foe's arms clean off.
"Ben!" Kara screamed upon noticing. However, the Methanosian didn't seem deterred by the loss of his limbs, using a vine that protruded what remained of his right one and attached it to the arm, pulling it back to firmly reattach to the shoulder. However, he let his left one regenerate on its own, leaving the former one upon the throne room floor.
"Hm," Darkseid hummed curiously, "Perhaps your arrogance isn't as misguided as it seems," he noted while prepping his eyes to fire off another spray of Omega Beams. However, Clark suddenly sped in and slammed into the New God, crashing into the steps to the throne with him. He then struck him fiercely in the chest with a powerful punch before being struck off by a left hook from his foe, sending him flying into the ceiling. Meanwhile, Kara floated herself over to Swampfire.
"Do you have a plan?" she inquired to him.
"Sort of," he answered, "Can you buy me a bit of time?" he asked before pulling off some petals that sprouted upon his left shoulder and chucking them onto the floor. Kara noticed that they were sprouting into vines. She started to grin.
"All over it," she assured in response, flying off towards Darkseid. Before he could react, the female Kryptonian landed a fierce uppercut to his chin followed by firing heat vision rays right into his face.
"AGH!" he yelped in agony, gritting his teeth before reaching out to grab her. At that moment though, Clark flew down and fiercely elbowed his arm, crashing into the floor with him in a flurry of dust. As it subsided seconds later, it revealed him using what available strength he had to keep the New God down.
"Errrgghhh…!" he growled out with clenched teeth. Meanwhile, his foe chuckled to get his attention.
"Stalling for time won't help you," he remarked confidently, firing off another blast of Omega Beams. The right one struck Clark square in the chest, while the left one zigzagged before hitting Kara in her back. Both Kryptonians were sent flying landing upon the floor hard as they tumbled along it back towards Swampfire as they rolled to a stop beside him.
"Guys!" he called out before suddenly noticing a shadow loom over him. He gasped to see Darkseid there with a grin forming along his face.
"That wasn't even three seconds…" he remarked as he prepped his Omega Beams to fire onto his Methanosian foe, "You lose," he said. However, Swampfire cracked a grin.
"That's all the time I needed, Rocky," he quipped in response, closing his hands into fists. Vines burst out from the floor and wrapped themselves around the ruler of Apokolips, holding him back. But he seemed rather annoyed as his eyes still glowed.
"How pitiful…" he muttered out, "Restraining me with mere vines?" he inquired, firing off his Omega Beams to slice them off. But in that moment, Swampfire enveloped himself in a bright flash of green light. Before Darkseid could even comprehend what his foe was attempting to do, he was suddenly blasted back by a ray of ultraviolet light. He managed to stop himself several yards away by planting his feet against the floor as they razed through it. With a growl, he looked out to see that his foe had transformed into a crystalline humanoid. His body was mainly purple, with black dots and lines all over him. He was wearing a green jumpsuit. He also had three crystal spikes on his shoulder and arms, a large one pointed from the top of his head, and ones upon his knees. He also wore green gauntlets on his wrists and legs. His face now had one green eyes and a magenta, crystal chin that also resembled a mouth guard, and four crystal spikes on his head. The Biomnitrix symbol was upon his right pectoral.
"Supes, Kara…" Chromastone began to the two Kryptonians behind him, getting their attentions as they were standing up, "You guys good?" he inquired.
"Huh…" the younger of the two exhaled as she balled her hands into fists, "We're surviving…" she quipped assuredly.
"Now what?" Clark inquired to the Crystalsapien standing before him.
"Hit me with heat vision," he requested of his allies, "After I blast him back enough, I'm gonna make sure you two get your strength back like I did," he promised to them.
"Fair enough," Kara replied as her eyes started radiating a bright red, "Kal, let's do this," she insisted of her cousin.
"Right," he responded. He and his fellow Kryptonian fired their burning red rays into Chromastone's back, making his entire body glow in an ultraviolet light.
"Ergh…" Darkseid as he knocked aside the debris upon him before floating upwards. He looked to see what his foes were doing and narrowed his eyes with disgust. "How pathetic," he remarked, firing off another pair of Omega Beams that zigzagged towards them. Before they could hit the Crystalsapien through, the beams veered around him and struck the two Kryptonians in loud yells, sending them crashing through the doors.
"Guys!" their comrade shouted in fright, quickly thrusting his fists forward to fire off rays of ultraviolet light towards the ruler of Apokolips. This time, he blocked the rays with just his right hand.
"For once I wonder…" he began to say as he slowly approached, pushing through the rays to Chromastone's shock, "would you really be able to defeat me on your own?" he inquired, swinging his arm to make the rays dissipate before grasping his foe by his head and lifting him off of the floor as he flailed his legs, "You rely on such trivial transformations like a Tamaranean or a Vaxasaurian," Darkseid pointed out, "Perhaps this one would've sufficed if I hadn't already guessed what you were planning," he mentioned in admittance, tossing him aside and letting him crash into a pillar with a grunt. He fell onto the floor, slowly pushing himself back up. The powerful footsteps of the ruling New God were approaching. "Go ahead and transform into whatever you like now," he remarked, "Nothing you do will truly stop me," he stated firmly.
"…I'd like to oblige, Darkseid…" the Crystalsapien replied as he pushed himself back onto his feet, "but I'm already what I wanna be," he told his foe.
"The Crystalsapien?" he guessed in response, "That's quite pathetic, honestly…" he pointed out, "Especially after-"
"I'm not talking about Chromastone, moron," his opponent interjected to his surprise as he blinked. All of a sudden, he was ambushed by a pair of powerful punches to his face from Clark and Kara, sending him flying back until he slowed himself to a stop by planting his feet and right hand against the floor.
"What?!" he exclaimed in shock, seeing that his Kryptonian foes seemed to have recovered from their injuries. In fact, he took notice of another figure floating in with them. It was a humanoid alien that was constantly emitting pure, red, radioactive energy. He wore a green and black lower level containment suit consisting of two straps, a belt, two wristbands on both arms, and two knee braces on both legs. The Biomnitrix symbol was upon his belt.
"Surprised?" the Prypiatosian-B inquired, cocking his head to the side for a moment.
"How did you…?" Darkseid started to inquire, wondering how the Omni Force leader could be two aliens at once, "I see…" he uttered in realization, "You have forms that allow you to duplicate yourself…" he recalled, "And you used one of those duplications as a decoy in order to use your Prypiatosian form to rejuvenate the Kryptonians…" he inferred thoroughly.
"Bravo, Darkseid," NRG responded as he mockingly gave off a slow clap, "I thought it would be hard to make it look like I wasn't really planning anything…" he admitted with a shrug, "but you fell for it after you thought I was just toying around with you as Swampfire and Chromastone," he noted. A growl left the New God's lips as he clenched his teeth together.
"And now we're ready to take you down for sure this time," Kara affirmed confidently, balling her hands into fists.
"This can end now, Darkseid," Clark chimed in, "Release your control on the Justice League and we'll leave without so much as raising a hand against you again," he promised to him. However, the ruler of Apokolips started chuckling before breaking out into a howling fit of laughter.
"Oh, you really are foolish!" he bellowed out as he smiled wickedly, "Before I had left the Earth, I had ten Hellspores planted there," he told his foes, who all seemed somewhat shocked, "With just the encrypted passcode spoken by me, I could turn that backwater planet into as much of a fire pit as Apokolips is," he mentioned with a sinister smirk, "Perhaps it's a fitting place to restart my rule over everything…" he suggested, closing his right hand into a fist. In flashes of green light, Chromastone and NRG morphed themselves both into a humanoid alien that was about the height of an average human child. He had white skin, a black-and-white head and face, black shoulders, large hands with four digits and feet which looked like sharp claws. He also had three fin-like growths on his head, and gem-like extended sensory nodes on his arms and waist.
His fins were colored green, as was his jumpsuit with black patches under his arms, green sleeves, and black ankles. This jumpsuit seemed to have a design similar to the insignia of the Biomnitrix, with black triangles on the shoulders and green in the center. The three sensory nodes upon waist were upon a black belt. He bore the Biomnitrix symbol on his forehead.
"Oh, you mean those Hellspore thingies?" the first of the pair of Splixsons inquired, folding his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, we already took care of them," the other one said while putting his hands onto his hips. Darkseid blinked.
"What…?" he voiced out, believing he hadn't heard both Dittos right.
"While we were getting our left arm fixed up, we couldn't help but notice those bombs around our city," the second of the two pointed out.
"So we dug 'em up and threw someplace where they won't hurt anybody," the first one mentioned. Kara let out a laugh of relief, while Clark just grinned.
"That's… impossible…" the ruler of Apokolips growled out. But he knew deep down what the Omni Force leader was capable of. It wasn't impossible.
"Oh, and just so you know…" the first Ditto began as he merged with his duplicate to become whole, "I was planning on getting back at you for kidnapping my girlfriend eight years ago," he pointed out, enveloping himself in a bright flash of green light. When it subsided, it revealed that he had turned into Kryptoknight.
"And now's the perfect time for it…" he declared as he punched his left hand excitedly. The ruling New God balled his fists tightly as he exhaled angered breaths through his clenched teeth. He was prepared to do whatever it took to eviscerate the three Kryptonians before him.
X
7:06 P.M.
"HAH!" T'Challa roared as he slammed his right fist against Bruce's armored chest, sending him sliding back. He quickly threw out both of his arms to fire off whipcords that wrapped around his foe's right arm and left leg, yanking him down onto the ground as he yelped. The corrupted Dark Knight then tried to drag him in, but he planted his claws into the earth to hold himself in place. All of a sudden, a bird-shaped projectile flew in, slicing the whipcords to free the Wakandan king as he shot back onto his feet. His opponent narrowed his eyes upon seeing Dick land down beside the Omni Force member.
"You alright?" he asked of him.
"Yes, thank you…" he replied with gratitude, "He is more versatile than I imagined he would be…" he admitted while getting into a ready stance.
"Well, that's Batman for you…" Nightwing remarked in response, preparing his Escrima Sticks as he narrowed his eyes onto his former mentor. He suddenly whipped out a trio of Batarangs, which spun towards his two foes.
"Watch out!" T'Challa yelled, quickly dashing forward and slashing the weapons with his claws. However, they suddenly exploded behind him, launching him forward. Bruce took advantage and landed a powerful punch to his foe's gut as he came down. He winced underneath his helmet… but steeled himself as he latched onto his foe's armored arm with his claws. Using the force of the Dark Knight's punch, he slashed the metal along his apart as it clattered apart into pieces upon the ground.
"Bruce!" Dick cried out, quickly hurrying over as he got behind his former mentor and held him back by wrapping his Escrima Sticks around his neck to pull him away, "Come on, snap out of it!" he pleaded. The answer he got was getting the sharp spines upon Bruce's right arm stabbed into his thigh as he swung it back. "AGH!" he yelped in agony before getting kicked back. The corrupted Dark Knight then whipped around and attempted to attack his former sidekick. Suddenly through, a pair of purple glowing daggers flew in struck the armoring around his shoulders, breaking them off. He turned around, narrowing his eyes underneath his cowl to see T'Challa taking a ready stance.
"That armor is impressive…" he remarked in admittance, drawing another pair of vibranium daggers into his hands, "but it won't hold against mine," he declared. It seemed as Bruce had deduced who was the greater threat to him, running towards the Wakandan king. He leapt up and threw his daggers, which his foe flipped over to evade before flinging another trio of Batarangs.
Instead of dodging them though, T'Challa crossed his arms over his chest to brace himself as they struck in a fierce trio of explosions, blowing him back as he tumbled along the ground. Dick blinked in surprise, remembering how the Avenger had seen how his foe's attacks worked. So why was he just taking them?
Batman charged in again, now attacking with a flurry of powerful punches to his armored foe. He either took them or merely blocked, not once countering. All the while, his suit glowed brighter. Nightwing took notice, slightly widening his eyes. His mentor then landed a powerful right hook to the Wakandan king's face as electricity was sparking off of his armored hand.
"Can you not speak for yourself?" his opponent inquired, taking on a panther-like stance, "Or perhaps… the control upon you is so great…" he realized, narrowing his eyes underneath his helmet, "In that case…" he continued, taking a great leap upwards, "I will free you now!" he vowed, coming down towards his opponent with his feet aimed for his chest. The Dark Knight fired off more Batarangs, but they were knocked away by Wing Dings flung over by Dick.
"Now!" he yelled, having deduced what the Avenger was attempting to do. He landed upon Bruce's armored chest. As the Dark Knight reached out to grab his foe, his wrists were grasped by the Wakandan king's hands. He looked up and widened his eyes to see his foe's powerful glare.
"It's time for you to be freed," he said, leaping off of his opponent as a powerful purple shockwave rang out upon his launch. It shattered apart the remainder of the armor around Bruce, leaving him in only a set of black briefs as he fell onto the ground upon his back. Once the wind resulting from the shockwave died down, Dick quickly rushed over to him.
"Bruce!" he called out, kneeling down next his former mentor, "Bruce, can you hear me?" he asked, grabbing his right hand.
"Ergh…" he groaned, clenching his teeth together before he slowly opened his eyes, turning his head to see his former sidekick there, "Dick…" he uttered out. A sigh of relief left the Titans' leader's lips.
"The control has been broken, it seems," T'Challa noted as he walked over, letting his helmet dematerialize to reveal his face.
"Looks that way," Nightwing agreed, putting Bruce's right arm over his shoulders as he lifted him back up in a grunt, "Any idea what's going on, Bruce?" he inquired curiously. The Dark Knight narrowed his eyes in thought.
"The Anti-Life Equation…" he said in remembrance, "It's the very thing Darkseid's been after for all this time and used to take control of us," he told his two rescuers.
"If that is true, then he could possibly take control of all of us…" T'Challa pointed out, putting his hand upon his chin, "So why doesn't he?" he wondered aloud.
"Because the equation itself is incomplete," Bruce answered, "They're missing one final piece…" he recalled, "But once they have it, we're all in trouble…" he noted grimly.
"Then we've got no time to lose," Dick concluded. T'Challa nodded in agreement, letting the helmet of his Panther Habit materialize over his head again.
7:07 P.M.
"AGH!" Arthur yelped as he was knocked back by a speeding Barry.
"Arthur!" his wife cried out, about to go over to aid him before she was also struck by the Scarlet Speedster, who was being pursued by Kid Flash.
"Huh… huh…" he breathed out, struggling to keep pace, let alone catch up to his mentor, "Jeez, did these Apokolips guys juice you with something?" he wondered aloud. Barry was speeding along, slamming into several people left and right. Watching from afar were the exhausted Team RWBY members alongside Raven, Beast Boy, and Dinah.
"He's way too fast…" Yang noted out of shock.
"I don't think even Danny or Genji could keep up with him at this rate…" Weiss admitted with a shake of her head.
"But maybe Ruby could?" Blake suggested, getting their attentions.
"Heads up!" Beast Boy suddenly called out, causing them to perk up as they saw the Scarlet Speedster heading towards them. The green-skinned shapeshifter morphed himself into a gorilla, pounding his chest with his fists and letting out a mighty roar. However, his attempt to punch the incoming Barry came too late as he rammed into him well before he finished rearing his fist back.
"Gar!" Raven cried out. Dinah took a deep breath and unleashed a powerful sonic screech from her mouth. However, her fast foe evaded it before ramming himself into her as well, sending her flying back as blood spurted out from her nose. "Black Canary!" Raven screamed, seeing the blonde-haired woman tumble along the ground until she came to a stop upon her stomach. With a pained groan, she lost consciousness. Beast Boy had morphed back to normal before fainting from exhaustion as well.
"How the hell is this guy not running people through right now…?!" Weiss wondered aloud with a frightful look in her eyes.
"He's probably resisting whatever mind control he must be under…" Raven realized, sticking out her hands, "You three need to get out of here just in case!" she insisted firmly.
"But—!"
"GO!" the sorceress yelled, interjecting Yang as a black aura shrouded her hands. Barry was speeding towards them, but he seemed to be at a far enough distance away for her to attack. "Azarath… Metrion…" she began chanting, "Zin—!" A sudden burst of speed from her target interrupted her as he slammed his left arm into her gut. Her cheeks puffed out before she spat up a wad of blood, being sent flying before she struck the ground hard and came to a stop upon her side, trembling with pain.
"No way…" Weiss uttered out. She and her teammates were stunned. They felt the wind rush around them as Barry raced by.
"What do we do?!" Blake asked quickly in a panic.
"Split up!" Yang answered after a second to think, "If we can find a way to draw his attention and slow him down, someone else can catch up to him!" she told her comrades… right before the Scarlet Speedster sped into her from behind.
"YANG!" Weiss and Blake screamed in fright. Their blonde-haired friend's Aura flickered out like fading embers, but she steeled herself while gritting her teeth angrily. She positioned her robotic fist, aiming it towards her foe's feet.
"Get… OFF!" she bellowed, launching the metal arm off from the socket. A plume of dust erupted as it struck something. Rolling out from it was Yang as she came to a stop upon her stomach. She pushed herself up with her lone left hand, looking to see what the result of her last-ditch attack was… The dust settled, revealing nothing there! "What…?" she uttered out, blinking in surprise.
"Where'd he go?" Weiss wondered upon noticing as well. Both she and Blake got their answer in the form of Barry striking both of them from behind, sending them flying forwards onto their stomachs as their Aura went out.
"Blake! Weiss!" Yang yelled. At that moment, she could see the Scarlet Speedster coming towards her… and she had no time to try and counter. All she could do was hope that the attack wouldn't result in her getting severely hurt. But thankfully, it never even happened. Because at very moment, her half-sister flew in from behind and tackled the corrupted Justice League member away, tumbling over the ground with him.
"Ruby?!" Weiss exclaimed in shock. The Team RWBY leader tried to grasp her foe by his left wrist, but he suddenly kicked her off of him and sped away in an instant. Just then, Kid Flash ran over.
"You ladies okay?" he asked of them.
"Alive for now…" Blake remarked as a response.
"You three get those others out of here," Ruby advised to her teammates out of nowhere.
"Wait, what?!" her older sister exclaimed, "Ruby, you can't expect us to just—!"
"Yang," the silver-eyed girl interjected, causing her to blink in surprise, "You girls already did so much for me," she pointed out to her, "The least I can do now is return the favor the way I know best," she affirmed, balling her hands into fists.
"Ruby…" Yang uttered out, shocked at how her half-sister was taking command in such a serious tone.
"Yang, we really should get these guys some treatment," Blake insisted to her blonde-haired friend while lifting the semi-unconscious Raven off of the ground. She glanced off to the side in thought for a moment. She then reclaimed her prosthetic arm, setting it back onto the socket with a click.
"Don't get in over your head, Ruby," she advised while picking up Dinah from the ground.
"I won't," her half-sister assured in response. As Weiss took hold of Beast Boy, Blake activated her MPG, creating a portal right in front of them. The three Team RWBY members then left, having faith in their leader to help stop the Flash. Wally walked over to her right side.
"You've got a good team," he commented.
"Yeah," she replied, grasping Crescent Rose off from the back of her belt. It transformed itself into its scythe form with the press of a button. "I swear we'll stop him," she promised firmly.
"Damn right we will…" Wally agreed, taking on a ready stance. Elsewhere on the battlefield, Hal floated in the air with a minigun he had constructed, firing off several bullets down below at his multitude of foes. Thankfully, they were being shielded by barriers of sand brought up by Gaara, taking the ammo with no damage dealt to them.
"We aren't going to get anywhere at this rate…" he noted with narrowing eyes.
"Yeah…" John agreed as they were together behind a wall of sand with Carol, "Looks like Manhunter and Batman got neutralized though," he pointed out.
"Which means we just have your friend and the speedster to deal with…" the Kazekage realized.
"Hal…" Carol uttered out worriedly as her hands trembled.
"Miss…" Gaara chimed in, getting her attention, "I know this must be hard for you to take in, but we have to find a way to stop him," he told her. The Violet Lantern glanced off to the side in shame before letting out a deep breath of frustration.
"And how are we going to do that?" she asked her comrades.
"Getting his ring off would be the obvious answer," John replied, standing up, "Can you cover me?" he guessed of the Kazekage and the Violet Lantern.
"We will," the former assured in response, while the latter nodded. A green light cloaked the Green Lantern's body before he flew out towards his ally… and was suddenly met with a battering ram construct to his stomach.
"GUAH…!" he gasped out, crashing into the ground.
"JOHN!" Carol screamed.
"We need to move!" Gaara realized, quickly making the sand wall come apart before forming a sandy platform that floated him off of the ground into the air. He looked out and grimaced to see the multiple blade constructs being formed by the corrupted Hal, which were sent flying towards him. Suddenly though, Carol flew out in front of him and projected a large pink wall of light to stop the barrage of blades as they shattered upon striking the barricade.
"Let me handle this," the Violet Lantern insisted to the Kazekage as he blinked in surprise, "You help your friends deal with the rest of the monsters," she advised to him. He glanced down to see his fellow Omni Force members whittling down the last of the Parademons and Apokoliptian soldiers… while the army of Doomsdays was fast approaching. Understanding the situation, he looked back to Carol.
"Be careful," he said before flying off. The Violet Lantern nodded in response, looking back her mind-controlled boyfriend. She wasn't about to let his will be overtaken by someone else's… Not when she knew he had the will to fight against it.
X
7:08 P.M.
"HAAAAAHHHHH!" Kazuto roared as he swung Elucidator mightily to decapitate the head of Unus, just as it was about to chomp at him. As it rolled off to a stop at Artemiz's feet, she growled angrily. She was prepping another trio of arrows onto her bow… and was suddenly caught off guard as Ahsoka's lightsabers sliced her weapon apart cleanly.
"Ah!" she gasped, jumping back to ready a crossbow upon her left arm. The Togruta merely closed her right hand into a fist, telekinetically crushing the weapon before it could even be used. "Wh-What are you…?!" the Fury stuttered out, pulling an arrow out from her quiver to use as a last mean of defense.
"Someone your planet should never have angered," Ahsoka responded, turning off her lightsabers and putting them back onto her hilt. Enraged herself by the statement, Artemiz charged out at the former Padawan, who inhaled a deep breath through her nose. She held her hands out. Just as the Fury approached, she suddenly found herself floating off of the ground.
"U-Unhand me!" she pleaded desperately. The Togruta didn't adhere to the demand, thrusting her hands forward to launch the Fury hard into the wall. Blood spurted from her head upon impact, with her body falling lifelessly onto the ground.
"Huh…" Ahsoka exhaled, lowering her hands.
"HRAH!" Kazuto yelled again as he slashed at the remaining cybernetic wolves, slicing open wounds upon their bodies. He then thrusted Dark Repulser forward into Secondus' mouth, piercing through its back as it fell to the ground, instantly deceased. Tertious tried to attack the swordsman from behind, but was thwarted as Ahsoka lunged in, drawing her white lightsabers and slashing it mightily into two pieces. As it fell to the ground, its front end twitched while reaching out to Kazuto. However, it died just seconds later as its eyes shut. "Thanks for the save," the swordsman said in gratitude while sheathing his blades into their respective sheaths upon his back.
"Of course," Ahsoka replied, turning off her lightsabers as she placed the hilts onto her belt, "Shall we help the others?" she inquired of her comrade, who looked ahead to the other battles raging about the arena.
"I think these ones should be left up to them," he admitted in response. The Togruta didn't argue. She had already concluded that each battle had personal stakes for her allies. Barda and Granny clashed weapons mightily as they both glared at each other with clenched teeth.
"When I found you on New Genesis, you were such a weak, helpless girl…" the latter of the two remember, "And look what I raised you up to become!" she exclaimed, "So this… IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?!" she bellowed angrily in question.
"Apparently, you've lost your memory over the years!" the former leader of the Furies remarked, "You may have made me strong, but through torture and endless training…" she recalled, "If you knew what that was like, you'd know exactly why I left!" she yelled.
"Hmph," Granny scoffed with a smirk, "And as I said before, it's where you'll die…" she vowed, raising her club and swinging it down. Flying above the arena and exchanging flurries of starbolts that struck each other were Starfire and Blackfire. The Tamaranean sisters glared at each other as they continued their respective assaults. At one point, they both fired off lasers from their eyes in green and violet light, colliding just above the center of the arena in a bright flash. Afterwards, they flew out at each other and interlocked hands.
"Rrrr…" the younger of the two growled out with clenched teeth. She was furious. And it brought a smirk onto her older sister's face.
"My, you really are mad at me, sister dear…" she remarked, "Oh, I know you must've been so pent up with not taking Ben for yourself when you had the chance…" she noted in a mockingly sweet tone. Starfire tightened her grip on her hands. "Ah!" she yelped in pain.
"You still think of this as a game, sister…?" the Titan inquired with her hair veiling her eyes for a moment, "After everything you have done…" she continued as her voice bubbled with anger, "you can consider yourself lucky if I don't end up killing you!" she declared. Blackfire was stunned… but she grinned.
"Sounds like you're finally going to get serious…" she realized, tightening her own grip on her younger sister's hands, "Very well then…" she said. Back in the arena below, there was a standoff between Erza and the corrupted Diana. Neither of them had made a move since taking their stances. The requip user took a deep breath to calm herself… and let her floating blades shoot forward. Reacting quickly, the Amazon princess parried two of them with her sword and shield before charging ahead. As the other blades closed in, she leapt over them and brought her weapon up in an attempt to slash her opponent from above.
She quickly threw up her jitte at a horizontal angle in both hands to block the attack, gritting her teeth. Diana was certainly strong, but Erza knew that she could prevail if she carefully thought things through. Her flying blades veered back towards them. The corrupted Amazon princess took notice, pulling her lasso off from her belt and swinging it around to wrap around one of the blades, yanking it over to herself. She took hold of it in her left hand, about to swing it down onto her foe.
Reacting quickly, Erza leapt away, letting her remaining blades fly back to float behind her. Her opponent kept the one she had taken, holding it firmly in her left hand while sharpening it against her other one as sparks flew off from them. The requip user grimaced slightly. She was thinking back to how Wonder Woman would have defeated her had it not been for Smoker… and his sacrifice. Her grip on the jitte tightened. All of a sudden, her foe leapt out at her. She quickly made her blades move forward to act as a combined shield, but they were all knocked back by the powerful slash made by the Amazon princess.
"You really are strong…!" the Fairy Tail wizard noted before she found her left ankle wrapped by the glowing lasso of her foe, yanking her down as she crashed against the ground hard. The dust settled, revealing her slowly sitting back up as she grimaced in pain, feeling her hurting shoulder. She couldn't help but think back to Smoker's sacrifice. It angered her. Wonder Woman's blade had pierced him through… and his life was forfeit. And yet… Erza knew it wasn't her fault. It wasn't even the former marine's fault.
It was Salem. She knew from what Smoker told her. She knew from seeing their conversation at Haven Academy before the Grimm had been detonated. And…
Wait… why did she see that? She never knew about the conversation the former marine had with the Master of Grimm… Unless, she was seeing the truth… She looked to see the lasso wrapped around her right ankle. Her eyes lit up as she thought of a bold idea. But just as she was about to grasp the glowing rope, she was suddenly pulled in by her opponent, who readied the blade in her right hand.
"Dance, my swords!" Erza quickly chanted. Her blades flew in from multiple directions towards the Amazon princess. She reacted by deflecting a few of them away while also jumping back, reeling in her lasso in the process.
The requip user scoffed in frustration. Her first opportunity had been squandered, so she'd have to make another one. She let her blades return to float behind her as Diana landed down.
"That lasso you have…" she began, "it compels one to tell the truth, yes?" she guessed. No response. "In that case, tell me your truth," she requested, "Tell me who you are," she insisted on. No response again. Erza realized that she'd have to have the golden rope in her grasp before asking her any compelling questions. In a golden flash of light, she requipped as her floating blades disappeared.
When the light subsided, it revealed that she was in a beautiful Japanese/Chinese attire reminiscent of a revealing kimono. It consisted of a short sleeveless tunic decorated with many flower motifs, which had revealing openings on the sides and front, exposing much of Erza's chest. These openings were held closed by a large, dark obi, which had a thin red rope tied around it, sporting a wide closing ribbon on the back. What also closed the openings of the outfit was a lighter and smaller white belt, which was wrapped around a pink, flower-patterned cloth circling her waist on the back and the sides. On the front, her groin was covered by a long cloth hanging down from her tunic, while the back was circled by another one, almost reaching down to her knees, possessing jagged edges. Another cloth was also hanging down from the sides, held closed by the ribbon on her back. The cloth had a yellow border and was folded to the outside and split into multiple edges at the middle of the cloth, pointing away from her body. Her legs were covered by light stockings reaching up to her thighs, and her feet had. simple sandals.
Appearing in her right hand was a polearm similar to a halberd. The blade had a cove at the start of the blunt side of it, a small hole above the cove, and an even smaller hole above the small hole. She spun it around momentarily in both of her hands before aiming the blade towards her foe.
"Come!" she beckoned in challenge. Adhering to the shout, Diana lunged out with her sword at the ready. She clashed the blade against that of the requip user's, who spun it around as she and her opponent jumped about and exchanged blows. At one point, the two crossed their weapons into a deadlock. Erza tried to take advantage of how close they were to try and grab the lasso at the Amazon princess' belt, but she leapt back in the nick of time.
It was becoming clear to the scarlet-haired woman that her corrupted foe was starting to catch onto her plan. But she didn't care. Her vow was firm. And she'd do whatever it took to complete it. She lunged forward and swung her polearm, which was quickly blocked as Wonder Woman had its blade strike her indestructible left bracelet. She slid her arm along the polearm before landing a fierce left hook onto Erza's face.
Blood spurted from the requip user's nose before she found herself having to defend herself from the barrage of attacks from her opponent, who was relentlessly pushing her back. Gritting her teeth, the scarlet-haired woman tried to block another vertical sword swipe. However, her polearm was broken apart from the resulting attack, causing her to widen her eyes in disbelief. She quickly leapt back afterwards, sliding along the ground to a stop.
"Huh… huh…" she breathed out with exhaustion. The pieces of the broken polearm lied upon the ground as Diana stepped forward, tightening the grip on her blade. Erza knew that if she was going to turn the battle into her favor, she'd have to take a big risk. And whether that was for the best or not… she didn't care. She just wanted to save the woman before her. Because she knew it's what Smoker would do, too. "REQUIP!" she bellowed, enveloping herself in another flash of golden light. Her foe didn't flinch from the brightness.
When it subsided, it revealed that she had changed into an outfit that resembled the appearance of an armored bunny girl. The armor was a two-toned dress largely open in the middle and had a ribbon visible around her neck which was tied around the collar. It also came with armored gauntlets which covered the entirety of her forearms; a pair of bunny-eared greaves adorning the knee guards that were composed of plates attached to a pair of high heels. Her head was adorned by a band with bunny ears and a pair of spade earrings.
Into her hands appeared a pair of swords, one being black, and the other being red. The grips of both swords featured what appears to be metal wrapped in a helix, while the pommels were oblate spheres. From there on up, the swords were very unique compared to Erza's array of other weapons, with the blades not being separated from the grips by quillons or anything similar; the guards were part of the blade, and were also metallic and extremely sharp, curving upward on either side of the double-edged swords to as to not protect the wielder's hands, but to protect the ricasso. These would-be guards were also ornate, featuring hamons, and a large gem was in the center, which appeared to be black on both blades and present on either side. Above said gems were checker-patterned designs, also present on either side of the guard.
Taking a ready stance, Erza inhaled a deep breath once more… and charged forward. Both of her blades slammed against Diana's shield as she raised it up… followed by it being shattered apart into pieces by the attack's force. The requip user noticed the panicked grimace upon her foe's face afterwards.
"Are you truly afraid of me…?" she wondered aloud, "Or are you just afraid that I might kill you?" she guessed, narrowing her eyes. She started slashing forward more rapidly while roaring. The Amazon princess was barely able to block each of her opponent's furious attacks, using her indestructible bracelets to stop the blows before trying to counter with her own sword slash. But Erza was relentless.
She then managed to catch Diana's blade in her pair, yanking it out of her grasp and flinging it away in an instant. Afterwards, she brought both of her swords together as red and black energy spewed out from them. She let out a mighty roar as she brought them up and swung them down. The Amazon princess quickly crossed her bracelets to block the attack, which resulted in a massive shockwave that blew both her and her foe back.
"Ergh…!" Erza growled in frustration, thinking she had missed her chance. But then she noticed a glint of light within the cloud of dust. She saw the lasso coming towards her, about to wrap around her body. Discarding her combined twin blades, she grasped the glowing rope with both of her hands and held on tightly before landing upon the ground. The dust settled to reveal that Diana was holding onto the other end of the rope firmly as well.
It was tug of war as the rope glowed brightly between the two women. But Erza could feel her grip slipping as her feet dragged forward slightly. The Amazon princess was much stronger after all. However, the requip user wasn't ready to waver any longer. She stomped her left foot down to stop herself, gritting her teeth as her grip on the lasso tightened.
"This lasso compels one to tell the truth, right?!" she inquired, making the rope glow brightly as Diana trembled suddenly. That was all the confirmation Fairy Tail's Titania needed. "In that case…" she continued, "tell me who you are and break free from this control!" she demanded. There was another glint in the Amazon princess' eyes. They started trembling, much like her body.
"I…I…" she stammered out, clenching her teeth together as she struggled to answer with the control upon her mind being put up against the compelling nature of the lasso she held. Somehow, she hadn't instinctively let go of it. "I… am…!" she voiced out, letting her lips quiver as tears rolled down her face from her eyes. Slowly, Erza walked towards her. She didn't move, still struggling to answer. Meanwhile, those still battling around the arena took notice of what was happening between the two warrior women.
"Slave, drop the lasso!" Granny commanded before struck upside the head by Barda's Mega-Rod.
"Diana!" she cried out. The Tamaranean sisters were too focused on their own conflict to intervene. It was just Erza, who finally found herself face-to-face with the Amazon princess. And she had yet to answer her question.
"Please tell me… who you truly are," the requip user requested as she held the end of the lasso in her right hand. Trembling, the light finally showed in Diana's eyes as she stepped forward.
"I… am Diana… of Themyscira…" she answered slowly, "And I am sorry…" she apologized profusely as she lowered her head and sobbed. Sympathetically, Erza brought her into a warm embrace and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath.
"It was not your fault…" she assured, putting her right hand gently onto the back of the Amazon princess' head, "And I assure you, the very being to blame for what happened will pay…" she promised firmly.
"SLAVE!" Granny bellowed angrily, "Kill the wench!" she commanded while bashing her club mightily against Barda's spear, breaking it into pieces that clattered onto the ground as she stumbled back a step. Her opponent swung her club back up, about to slam it down onto her head. But suddenly, the end of Diana's lasso flew in and wrapped around her wrist, pulling her back in a yelp. She and Barda both looked in surprise to see her and Erza holding the glowing rope tightly in their hands.
"Now, Barda!" the former shouted. With the opportunity given to her, the former captain of the Furies slammed the end of the Mega-Rod into Granny's stomach. A powerful blast of light slammed into her from it, causing her eyes to jolt open as a spray of blood flew out from her mouth.
"You were right, Granny," Barda said as her former caretaker fell backwards onto the ground, "You did make me stronger," she pointed out, "And that was your mistake," she remarked with narrowed eyes. Upon noticing what was happening, Blackfire rolled her eyes.
"Sorry, sister dear…" she apologized with a shrug, "But I think I'm gonna have to call a rain check on our-" Her remarks were interjected by a powerful punch to her face from her little sister, who sent her crashing into the ground in a flurry of dust. When it settled, the dark-haired Tamaranean coughed as she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. She looked around to see Kazuto, Ahsoka, Barda, Erza, Diana and Starfire surrounding her. "Huh," she chuckled, standing back up, "Six-on-one?" she guessed as she glanced around, "That hardly seems fair…" she noted.
"And what would you know about being fair?" her sister asked back.
"End this easily by surrendering," Barda advised, getting the dark-haired Tamaranean's attention, "I don't think you're getting out of this easy if you don't make it that way," she pointed out. The others took ready stances. Blackfire laughed.
"You really think that I'd just roll over after all this?" she inquired to the former captain of the Furies, "All of you must have such misguided hope for someone like me…" she realized with a smirk. At that very moment, Ahsoka leapt in behind her with her lightsabers activated. Her opponent took notice with a panicked expression on her face.
"I don't," she said with an angered look in her eyes, slashing mightily. Blackfire managed to fly back in the nick of time… only losing her left hand as it was sliced off.
"AAAAHHH!" she screamed upon looking at the cauterized wound where her extremity used to be, "You… fucking bitch!" she cursed out angrily. The others around were prepared to continue their battle with the disgraced royal, who grimaced in frustration. "We'll meet again someday…" she vowed, "And by then, only one of us will survive…" she promised with venom in her tone. Starfire wasn't intimidated. She just watched as her elder sister flew off into the sky, holding onto her wounded arm.
"Huh…" Barda sighed with relief, "And that ends that…" she muttered out, falling onto her rear end, "At this rate, I'm never going to retire from this…" she grumbled in frustration.
"I'm sure you'll get your chance," Erza responded with a grin, "In the meantime, we should probably get Diana back somewhere safe," she recommended to the group while glancing over at the Amazon princess beside her.
"I can take her back to the tower," Ahsoka affirmed while stepping forward, turning off her lightsabers and placing the hilts back onto her belt.
"I'll go, too," Kazuto chimed in. No arguments were made as the requip user nodded, gesturing for Diana to go with her comrades. The Togruta had activated an MPG portal, which swirled in front of them while glowing a bright green. The Amazon princess shared one last look with the woman who saved her from the mind control.
"Thank you…" she said in gratitude with a small smile. Erza gave her a salute in farewell, allowing her to depart into the portal with Ahsoka and Kazuto.
"Now all that is left is to assist the others," Starfire concluded.
"Right, let's move," Barda insisted in response. As the three women raced off out of the arena, the semi-conscious Granny grinned. She knew that none of them realized what was about to befall them and their friends…
X
7:08 P.M.
"OKLAHOMA…" Toshinori began to bellow as he rotated his body rapidly. The Doomsdays that approached him were bashed aside by his fists. "SSSMMMMMAAAASSSSSHHHH!" he roared out, creating a tornado that blew back and tore through eight of the bio-engineered monsters. But more of them were coming.
"Agh, this is never-ending!" Natsu complained as he slammed his enflamed right fist into the head of a Doomsday to knock it back. Before it could retaliate, it was suddenly pierced by a pair of metal blades originating from Gajeel's arms. He gritted his teeth before taking a deep breath.
"Iron Dragon…" he started to bellow, puffing out his chest, "RRRROOOOAAAAARRRRR!" he exclaimed, unleashing a powerful torrent of dark grey wind that contained shards of metal, which slashed through the bio-engineered beast as it fell lifelessly onto its back, "Don't go complaining when there's only so many of these freaks, Salamander!" he yelled to his fellow Dragon Slayer, "Once we're finished here, we'll group up and help Tennyson and the others!" he declared while transforming his arms back to normal.
The battles against the Doomsday army were raging on, Ruby and Kid Flash were chasing after Barry, beams of green and pink light were being exchanged between Hal and Carol, Sunset and the former clone troopers were in the midst of trying to defeat a platoon of the bio-engineered beasts, Rex and Victor were heading towards the palace, and inside, the trio of Kryptonians glared at Darkseid, prepared to engage in what they felt was their final confrontation. What none of the groups realized that no matter the result on either side, it would all be meaningless. Because the very thing that would decide it all… was in Steppenwolf's hands.
ENDING
Insert "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd
Opens with a Boom Tube opening up as the Omni Force and Justice League members jump in one after another, with Ruby and Hal, Gaara and Barry, Erza and Diana, Law and Bruce, Sunset and J'onn, Toshinori and Clark, and Ben and Victor in pairs.
We cut to scenes from earlier through a Boom Tube's perspective, displaying how things all started with Ruby fighting Deathstroke, Ben's meeting with the League, and the Legion of Doom reforming. The Boom Tube then brings us to Apokolips, where we see the scenes of Darkseid reacquainting himself with his uncle and the denizens of the world he rules over. We also get to see Blackfire battling the Furies to earn her place as captain of his Honor Guard.
Through a Boom Tube transition, we go back to Earth to find Ben looking on in horror as Corvo's head is shattered off by Killer Frost. That leads to the moment when he faces the Legion of Doom and the Way Bads that emerge from the giant Null Void portal looming over Gotham Harbor. He struggles as Ultimate Way Big, but is saved thanks to the Justice League's help. Clark chastises him for not informing the League of the situation, to which he scoffs, starting a divide between them.
Another Boom Tube transition takes us to when the Omni Force confronted the Legion of Doom in their headquarters under the sea. Sunset, Law and Erza are beaten however, leading to them getting caught in the base's self-destruction. Fortunately, they're saved by Task Force X as Harley happily hugs Sunset upon reuniting with her.
The scene changes again to the Null Void portals appearing over Metropolis and the Way Bads rampaging about thanks to Joker's mind control over them. In the meantime, we see Ruby taking down Cheetah thanks to her Semblance, and Gaara besting Bane with his sand. We also get to see Hal and Carol defeating Sinestro together, and Ahsoka stopping Vandal.
As Lex ends up bested by both Sunset and Cyborg, they look over their shoulders to see the Way Bads rampaging about. Thankfully, other Omni Force arrive to assist the Justice League in subduing them long enough for projectors to arrive to contain them. Once again, Clark reprimands Ben for not informing them of the situation. This time though, Ben stands up to him in his firm declaration to never join the Justice League, as he's been through too much mentally and physically.
Through yet another Boom Tube transition, we see the confrontation between Rainbow and Diana that led to Ben turning into Fourmungousaur and attacking her. What follows is a shot of the Omni Force squadron leaders and the Justice League founders coming face-to-face a little beyond Mount Rushmore, staring each other down. We go through various shots of their battles, with Ruby using her Silver Eyes inadvertently to save Yang from Hal, Gaara fracturing Barry's legs to subdue him long enough to be knocked out, Smoker sacrificing himself to protect Erza from Diana's sword, Law using a ROOM to evade Batarangs flung his way by Bruce, and Sunset taking on the form of her Daydream Drive to attack J'onn.
We transition via Boom Tube to when Ben was about to be knocked out by Clark atop Mount Rushmore, only for his fist to be caught in Toshinori's hand. He strikes him back with a Detroit Smash, battling him for a while as Ben and Victor face off.
Lastly, there's one more Boom Tube transition to the moment when the Apokoliptian forces arrive upon Earth. There are shots of Steppenwolf facing Team RWBY and Barda, Gaara using his Wind Style: Sky Sand Defensive Wall to contain the Parademons from invading Omnitrix City, and Toshinori battling Doomsday while having an unconscious Clark on his back.
We cut to the moment Darkseid arrives, defeating Ben and shattering his backup Omnitrix, along with his arm. He then takes him into a Boom Tube before Sunset or Clark can reach him in time. What follows via another Boom Tube transition is the combined forces of the Omni Force and the Justice League arriving on Apokolips to save their friends.
The song ends with Darkseid grinning as his army is prepared for battle with the invaders to his planet…
END ENDING
Jeez, I can't believe this story's already reached this point… We've only got two chapters to go, and there's bound to be a lot of stuff to go through. But anyways, next time there's going to be some really heart-wrenching moments. If you all thought Smoker's death was bad… you haven't seen anything yet.
But before we go, why not have a preview for what's up ahead in "The Challenge of a Lifetime"? Enjoy!
TRAILER
Insert "Koko" by Beverly
Opens up with Calvin and Erika Ketchum arriving on Ula'ula Island, with the latter hopping off of the boat onto the port.
Erika Ketchum: Finally! We can get back on this island challenge and really get things going!
Rotom: *floats over* That'zzz right! And that also meanzzz more Pokémon for me to find!
We cut to a scene of Erika's Magby being in a battle against an Alolan Dugtrio. His trainer happens to be none other than Molayne.
Molayne: Welcome to the Hokulani Observatory!
Erika's eyes sparkle excitedly at the sight of the building before she enters. We switch scenes over to see where she enters a dark room that suddenly illuminates thanks to dozens of Charjabug roaming about the area.
Sophocles: My trial's not the one to be taken lightly, you know.
The scene cuts to a Totem Vikavolt appearing as he flies around Erika, who looks on in marvel.
Sophocles: You'll have to be as observant as you can be in order to clear it.
Erika Ketchum: No problem at all!
We cut to her Lycanroc about to unleash his Rock Slide. The scene then shifts over to Calvin, who's wandering about the Maile Garden.
Calvin Ketchum: To tell the truth, I haven't figured out what I'm going to do after the island challenge…
His Pokémon Egg starts shaking and glowing a little as he gasps in surprise. The scene then changes to him approaching the abandoned Thrifty Megamart upon the island.
Calvin Ketchum: But I'm still really happy that I got the chance to be here.
He throws a Poké Ball, letting out his Incineroar as she proceeds to strike a Gengar with her Darkest Lariat, slamming it against a wall.
Calvin Ketchum: And now that I've gotten this far, I'm not gonna let Erika beat me.
We him crack a grin as he commands for Incineroar to attack the Totem Mimikyu. We cut through to several scenes, such as Erika's Fomantis and Hau's Raichu battling, Pyrrha crying as she sits by a ledge on Mount Hokulani, Trent's Greninja using Night Slash on Gladion's Null, and Paige's eyes sparkling as she sees Calvin's egg shake. The screen cuts to black for a moment… before we hear a familiar chuckle.
Guzma: So these upstarts think they can waltz in and have their fun?
Cuts to him arriving at the Maile Garden as Erika and her Primarina blink in surprise to see him there.
Guzma: Well… you're in for a rude awakening…
He brings out his Golisopod, who looms menacingly behind him.
Guzma: Get ready to see destruction in human form! It's ya boy, Guzma!
His Team Skull subordinates cheer him on as Golisopod lands a solid First Impression upon Primarina. We go through more scenes, such as a Cleffa poking out from Erika's sleeping bag, an Elekid and a Togedemaru angrily glaring with electric sparks coming off from their bodies, a Baile-styled Oricorio dancing excitedly, and a Mimikyu peeking out from behind a tree towards Calvin.
The trailer finishes with both Erika and Calvin sharing a fist bump with each other in Maile Garden as people around them clap.
Professor Kukui: They really are two of a kind…
THE CHALLENGE OF A LIFETIME
ULA'ULA ARC
COMING NEXT WEEK
We cut to the Ketchum vacation household, where there's a knock at the door. Mirajane opens it.
Mirajane Ketchum: Hello?
Standing there is Yami Sukehiro, who's holding up Asta Sutarria by his Black Bull robe.
Yami Sukehiro: Leaving this idiot with you for a few days. Make sure he knows the ropes with how to use his beast friend.
Asta Sutarria: Um… hi!
We cut to a scene of him with his Aegislash facing down Leslie's Magmortar on the Melemele beachside.
END TRAILER
And that's what you have to look forward to! As for this story, you'll be seeing the trailer for "Avengers: Omni Force" coming next time! Have a great one, everybody!
