AN: This story has probably one chapter left so I'm thinking about starting to write or at least starting the planning phase for a new fic. I have in mind a Naruto/Warcraft xover, focused on the Wrath of the Lich King mostly. There is a poll on my profile where you can vote whether you would like to read something like that or if you want something else. If you vote for the 'something else' option, please specify in a pm what you'd like.

Enjoy!

Chapter 51 - Darkseid

When another portal opened in the skies above Metropolis City, nobody noticed it. Though the Parademons' rampage had not lasted for long before Doctor Fate's spell annihilated them, those few minutes had been enough for hundreds of people to die and for the entire city to be thrown into chaos.

"Where's everyone?" Naruto was the first to ask after coming out of the portal that Kurama had created to transport them.

Wonder Woman frowned and looked around and she even flew down from the skies, closer to the city below. She could see no metahumans fighting, no Darkseid, and no Parademons. There were just regular people, running about in a panic and the police forces looking as scared and unorganised as the rest of the civilians.

Naruto and Diana arrived only moments after Doctor Fate's forbidden spell had erased all traces of enemies from Metropolis City and even put Darkseid on the run.

"Give me a moment," he said and closed his eyes.

When he opened them, his pupils became a horizontal bar crossed by a slit and an orange pigmentation appeared at the corners of his eyes. He had entered Sage Mode.

Every life signature in the city appeared in his mind's eye as he focused on the sensing ability of his Sage Mode. There were so many people below - over 10 million - that he could never hope to single out a random guy out of them. However, metahumans' life signature was different from that of regular humans, to speak nothing of that of a god. Brighter, stronger, bigger. Sometimes even of a different colour.

"Maybe they managed to move the fight away from the city. It's definitely something that J'onn and Batman would think about in order to reduce crossfire casualties. Expand your senses towards the ocean," Wonder Woman reasoned.

Following her advice, he did focus his Sage Mode sense towards the ocean. And there, a few miles away from the shore, a group of very powerful life signatures appeared on his 'radar'.

"It's as you said. They're out, in the open ocean, at 7 o'clock.'

A coat of yellow-red chakra appeared around his body and transformed his clothes into a garment of light and energy. Ten ominous black spheres appeared at his back as well. He had entered his Six Paths Sage Mode.

"You're faster, go ahead. Take my dagger and throw it at Darkseid, in his blind spot. I will teleport there in an instant, with a very big surprise for him," he said and began to form a bijuudama into his left hand.

Despite the dire situation, Diana let out a smile at his words. She took the tri-pronged dagger from his right hand and raised her other hand at him, balling into a fist.

"You don't have a long time in that form while on Earth. Let's end this fast," she said.

"Yes. You take care too, don't get overconfident," he chided.

"Right back at you."

Sharing a smile, the two bumped their fists against each other. Then, a sonic boom echoed in the air as Diana burst at her fastest speed towards Darkseid's location.

⁂

Wonder Woman arrived at the scene just in time to witness how Darkseid fired an Omega Beam out of his remaining eye and reaped the life of yet another member of the Justice League of America. Steel was disintegrated, down to the tiniest atoms. His sledgehammer was the only thing that had remained of him as he had dropped it right before the beam hit him.

A powerful voice resounded across the battlefield:

"In brightest day, in darkest night,
No evil shall escape my sight -.

As John Stewart said the Oath of the Green Lantern Corps, a brilliant green light started gathering into his power ring. Witnessing yet another comrade dying in front of him, he cursed his weakness. He cursed his own lack of will, lack of strength to attack with the intent to kill. Even after the Justice League was reformed by Superwoman and Batman into the Justice League of America which used deadly force and extreme means against incurable criminals, John Stewart himself had never broken the code of the Green Lanterns, that of never using deadly force. (1)

However, at this moment, filled with righteous anger and determination, he told himself: 'No more! If the Guardians will strip me of my ring and exile or imprison me, then so be it!'

He could no longer watch any more of his comrades perish in battle. Too many had died already. Bearing that bitterness and extreme determination, he shouted the last two verses of the Oath at the top of his lungs:

"-Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware of my power - Green Lantern's light!"

Green light shone around his ring so brightly that his body could not be seen clearly anymore.

"Warning. Willpower exceeding Power Ring capabilities." (2)

But John did not realize what he had just done at that moment: that his will had surpassed the limits of the most powerful weapon in the universe, that he had found the limits of what was supposed to be limitless! No, he was only thinking about one thing: killing Darkseid to save his brothers-in-arms.

The God of Evil abruptly released another wave of his Matrix of Agony, making all the heroes attacking him collapse from the air while screaming in agony. Superwoman had been among them too and she fell into the ocean as well, her body twitching uncontrollably from the excruciating pain. (3)

Then, Darkseid turned his head towards the Green Lantern. His supernatural senses warned him of mortal danger. In front of him, John Stewart was a sight to behold. He had seen many and even killed a bunch of Green Lanterns himself. However, never before had he seen a Green Lantern exuding such power. It was just as he locked his remaining eye on him to fire his Omega Beams that John Stewart also pointed his Power Ring at him.

It was as if a railgun was fired. A beam of light like that of a star-destroying cannon shot forth from his ring. A beam of light containing the transformed will of the man who even managed to surpass the limits of the most powerful weapon in the universe.

Momentarily, everyone was blinded by the brilliant emerald light, Wonder Woman included. When they opened their eyes, everyone stared in disbelief at the sight in front of them: The God of Evil, Darkseid... ...he had been vaporized. Only his head, the upper part of his torso and his left arm had been left intact. Everything else had been erased by the beam of Green Light. Darkseid had managed to avoid instant death by dodging just a bit at the very last instant. Nevertheless, he was only seconds away from death.

However, right before dying, just as the still surviving members of the Justice League let their guards down thinking that they had finally won, Darkseid's remaining eye glowed with a red light. It was an Omega Beam, locked on John Stewart, fired with the last bit of his lifeforce. A last attack, as a 'fuck you' before dying.

The members of the Justice League were caught off-guard. They had not expected Darkseid to fire yet another Omega Beam with his dying breath. John Stewart himself was too mentally exhausted too after firing the strongest attack in his life. He could not dodge it in time. Nevertheless, he did not close his eyes. He kept them open, staring death in the face, unafraid. He did not wish to die, but he was not afraid of dying either. At heart, he was still a marine, he was still military. He had long prepared his mind for this outcome. If anything, he was content. He was going to die in a battle against a god after he managed to protect his comrades.

A split of second before the Omega Beam impacted John Stewart's defenceless body, a white-and-gold armoured silhouette seemingly teleported in front of him. It was a Body Flicker Movement. Diana had appeared in front of him at the very last moment with a shunshin, her golden shield raised protectively in front of her.

A deep sound like that of a gong resounded for miles when Darkseid's Omega Beam slammed into the golden shield. But after a brief struggle, the Omega Beam dissipated. Wonder Woman's golden shield was made of Amazonium, the same as her Bracelets of Submission. It was one of the very few things in the Universe that could resist the effect of Darkseid's Omega Beams.

Impotent rage boiled in Darkseid as he watched his last-ditch attack fail. He could not accept that he had lost against the Justice League again. He could not accept the fact that he could not even kill the girl who had gouged out his eye or the Green Lantern that had vaporized his body. However, he could not even scream to express his indignation because he had used his entire strength to fire that last Omega Beam. Now, he was like a flickering candle at the end of its wick. He could no longer maintain his flight. Even as what remained of his body fell into the ocean, Darkseid could not accept his defeat. He was enraged like never before.

Everyone watched silently as the tyrant God's remains fell from the sky. However, Superwoman who had recovered herself and flew out of the ocean grabbed Darkseid's corpse before it could sink into the water. Then, her eyes burst with red light. Lacking the lifeforce of a god to protect it, the remains of Darkseid could not resist her heat vision. It was reduced to ash.

"Wonder Woman?" Green Lantern called out tentatively, unsure of the identity of the white-haired woman in front of him. Her face and body did look like that of his former teammate but her hair and demeanour were different. Furthermore, it was too big a coincidence that she had just happened to return now when Darkseid invaded the Earth. To his knowledge, Wonder Woman was supposed to be travelling the universe together with her mercenary lover, not be on Earth.

"In the flesh. It's good to see you, John," Diana replied with a smile.

Mixed feelings flashed in Green Lantern's eyes. Joy at having escaped alive when he thought everything was over. Gratitude at her for saving his life. And regret for how he had treated her in the past because, hell, he had ended up doing the same thing as her, using lethal force against someone instead of following the law.

"You saved my life. Thank you," he said and lowered his head. A proud man he might have been, but not an ungrateful one.

The members of the Justice League that were still alive threw a look of curiosity at the newly-arrived white-haired woman but did not come to talk to her. They quickly flew down, towards the ocean, searching for their fellow teammates that had collapsed when Darkseid hit them with the Matrix of Agony. They also went searching for Martian Manhunter's body, to see whether he was alive or dead.

Only Supergirl - Superwoman - came to Wonder Woman. The fierce woman that had fought fist for fist against Darkseid and had completely incinerated his lifeless body only a moment ago, the first thing that that woman did was to take the Amazonian princess in a hug. But it was not for long.

"I'm glad to see you. And thank you for saving John's life!" Superwoman said. "But I'm afraid there's still much work to do. Will you stay around for a while? Maybe we could catch up tomorrow."

Diana nodded in understanding.

"Sure. Naruto will want to see you too."

After that quick hug and brief exchange, Superwoman flew away in search of her fallen teammates.

"You should go too, John. You have your duties. I won't leave the Earth right away."

Green Lantern nodded and flew away too.

Two minutes later, Naruto arrived at the scene, with his Six Paths Sage Mode cancelled, in his base form, and looked at Diana in curiosity.

"I was waiting for you to teleport me here when I sensed Darkseid's life signature vanishing. Did you actually kill him by yourself?!"

"I didn't get to do anything at all," Diana said with a shake of her head. "The Justice League did it. Many of them have fallen, but they did kill Darkseid, all by themselves."

The mercenary and the goddess look at each other not knowing what to think about the situation.

"It's kinda anti-climactic, isn't it?" Naruto said eventually.

"It is. I-, I'm bummed out if I'm being honest." Diana admitted, making him chuckle.

"I get what you mean. All that training to immobilize Darkseid and then use the spear - it was for nought. Not to mention all the trouble we went through so we could forge that Radion spear. But all's well that ends well. Let's not complain," Naruto said.

Though that's what his words were, there was a nagging feeling at the back of his head. Like things had been too easy. He and Diana had not even gotten the chance to participate. Goddess Athena had made Darkseid out to be some sort of nigh-invincible being whose mere avatars were enough to overwhelm entire groups of superpowered metahumans.

"Did the Justice League get that much stronger?" he asked.

"I think so. There is a change in their mindset. None of them is pulling punches anymore. Some of them have even surpassed their previous limits. That blast that Green Lantern had fired before, even you'd probably be vaporized if it hit you." she said.

"IF it hit me, and that's a big IF," he countered smugly.

"Yeah, yeah, you can teleport everywhere, yadda-yadda." She rolled her eyes at him. She was annoyed that she had still not managed to learn Naruto's Hiraishin technique and he never missed a chance to throw it in her face.

"Well, I can't teleport everywhere. I can teleport where it matters though," he said and kissed her on the cheek.

"Flatterer~" she said, unable to hold back her smile. By 'where it matters' he was referring to her because she had inked on her shoulder the teleportation formulae of the Hiraishin a while ago so Naruto would be able to always teleport at her side. Her goal for the immediate future was to learn the Hiraishin too so Naruto would ink on his body her own teleportation formula as well. It would be their own thing, as a couple, to be able to teleport at each other's side at any moment. Despite her upbringing as a warrior princess, she was a hopeless romantic at heart.

While the two of them began to flirt as if they were alone in the entire world, a deafening sound akin to that of glass shattering was heard. It was a sound heard not only by them but by the entire population of Metropolis; no, the entire population of the United States.

Crack after crack started to appear in the sky above the continent and the rupture started to extend towards the ocean too.

"What the hell?" Naruto said.

A feeling of trepidation rose in his heart. It was not that different from when he had nearly died in his encounter with the Supermassive Black Hole, many decades ago. A bad feeling rose in his heart.

Another sound similar to that of glass shattering was heard and the cracks in the sky were ruptured completely. Pieces of the sky burst apart and an enormous rift of darkness was ripped open. A massive thing was trying to force its way through it.

"By the gods! Is that... ...a finger?" Diana said in disbelief.

Then, more deafening cracks were heard and the sky was shattered completely. The rupture spread from one side of the planet's exosphere to the other. Every living being in the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth that looked at the sky at that moment could see it: It was a giant hand. So large that they could not clearly see its ends.

The oceans started roaring and enormous tsunami waves like the modern world had never seen before rose towards the coast; earthquakes so powerful that the ground was ruptured and even volcanos from all over the globe were showing signs of starting to erupt. It was the Apocalypse.

That enormous hand was even larger than the Earth. An object so immense suddenly appearing so close had destabilized the entire planet with its gravity. Just by existing there, without even needing to do anything else, that immense hand would cause the extermination of all life on Earth.

However, it looked like the owner of that hand was not content with just waiting and watching for the life on Earth to slowly die out. That black hand started to grow in size in the eyes of everyone. It was closing in on the planet. The closer it got, the more disastrous the cataclysmic phenomenons on Earth became and the more the terror in the hearts of all living beings grew.

Naruto and Diana were no different, their hearts seized by a primordial fear. However, they soon came back to their senses.

Naruto was suddenly engulfed by the cloak of his Six Paths Sage Mode and 10 purple-black spheres appeared behind his back. Then, he teleported down, right on top of the ocean's water which was ravaged by mountain-high tsunami waves.

'Help me so I can help you.'

It was a call of his soul for the planet. Naruto doubted that Kurama, even with his newfound powers, would have any chance at stopping that enormous hand in the sky. It was power beyond anything that they had seen before. However, even in the midst of despair, he did not give up all hope. There was still one thing that he could try: his strongest technique.

As he closed his eyes and connected with nature, the mountain-high tsunami waves around him suddenly levelled down and the ocean became still for dozens of miles. Nature energy began to gather onto his body like an endless waterfall. It was the purest natural energy he had ever absorbed, even purer than the one from his pristine and untainted by civilisation planet, Myoboku - it was something that should not exist on Earth. The planet was willingly giving him its essence. It was all for the sake of surviving.

When opened his eyes and glared at the enormous hand in the sky, the 10 Truth-Seeking Balls at his back converged into one and flew to his right hand where they took the shape of a helix-like black spear. It was similar in appearance to the sword of Nunoboko that Obito had used while controlling the power of Ten-Tails. As Nature continued to pour its true essence into him, the helix-shaped spear started to increase in length: 10 feet, 50 feet, 200 feet, 1 mile, 5 miles - it continued to grow and it became so long that its end could not be seen with the naked eye.

It was a fantastic scene like a scene out of a legendary tale of gods and demons in the myths: a tiny being facing off against a world-destroying black hand, larger than even the planet.

Naruto did not know how heavy that interminable helix-shaped spear in his hands were. He only knew that even with the godly increment in power coming from the vital natural energy of the planet, he felt as if his arms were about to be ripped off from how hard he was straining himself to hold it straight.

The black hand was now so close to the planet that it had covered the entire sky. All light had disappeared and it became as dark as in the middle of the night. The fingers of that hand began to slowly close in. If that hand clenched into a fist, it was going to squish the entire planet into nothingness.

"Amenonuhoko."

It took his entire strength to rasp out this name. But he had to. It was a divine attack, one that could not be launched otherwise.

Just like Izanami and Izanagi had used the Amenonuhoko (Heavenly Jewelled Spear) in the myths to split the world, Naruto slashed with his helix-shaped spear at the black hand. It was an attack powerful enough to even split a planet in two.

A scream of pain came through the gap between the dimensions, one that was heard all across the globe. However, when Naruto looked at the results of his all-out attack, hopelessness filled his eyes. He had used his entire chakra and even the true essence of the planet... ...only to cut off a finger.

At that moment, Diana came next to him and supported his exhausted body with her arms.

"This is the end." he said bitterly.

They held each other's hands as they watched the enormous black hand in the sky closing around the planet. It was unlike them to give up. However, that was the reality at that moment: there were beings in the Universe at large capable of destroying entire galaxies with a thought, to say nothing about a mere planet. It was a fact that Naruto had always acknowledged, ever since his close shave with death during his encounter with the Supermassive Black Hole:

'In the end, death claims us all. It's only a matter of when. I've lived a long life. I'm even fortunate enough to have found you before dying. I am a lucky man."

"I love you," Diana said and smiled weakly and interlocked her fingers with his. "We'll always be together."

"Yes. In life, or in death. Together. Always."

AN:

(1) Prior to the war against the Sinestro Corps, Green Lanterns were not allowed to use deadly force, no matter the opponent. It was only during that war, when they were losing badly, that the Guardians realized how idiotic they were and revised their rules, allowing the corps to use lethal force, thus turning the tides and ultimately winning. That being said, in this fic, the Sinestro Corps War has yet to happen so that's why John Stewart was still hesitating over using his full power despite seeing how dire was the situation. Furthermore, for those who do not know, John Stewart used to be a marine before becoming a Green Lantern so he is very adamant about respecting the rules and following the orders. For example, when he was fooled into believing that he had destroyed a planet by accident with his power ring, John had voluntarily turned himself in, thinking that it was fair for him to get even the death penalty (in the animated series). The fact that he disobeyed the rules of the Corps in this chapter is a big deal for a guy like him.

(2) Such a thing is actually possible, it happened in the comics once, also to John Stewart, when he tried to rebuild an entire star system. He is the only Green Lantern whose willpower was so strong that it surpassed the capabilities of the ring. Dude is awesome.

(3) The Matrix of Agony is an ability of Darkseid that stimulates all the nerves in one's body, thousands of times over. It's the worst pain imaginable. Superman was winning the physical brawl against Darkseid in their last battle of the animated series until Darkseid pulled this ability out of nowhere and instantly defeated Superman.

To be continued...