Chapter 23: Superman vs. Darkseid (Part 2)

Superman and Darkseid continued their hand-to-hand battle until they entered the central power room of Darkseid's ship. By this time, Superman's suit had been torn in the shoulders, the right side, the left leg, and the right forearm, and his cape hung tattered as though he had fought his way through some battle from a long-ago time. Darkseid's armor had several dents in the breastplate, his black bodysuit was torn at the sides and the legs, revealing his rock-like skin, and his gauntlets were cracked. Despite this, Darkseid was not going to submit to Superman. He would kill the champion of the people of Earth if he had to rip him to pieces cell by cell.

Superman circled in midair over the encircling catwalk while Darkseid did the same on his own feet, never once taking his blood-red eyes from the sky-blue gaze of the Man of Steel. Then Superman was taken by surprise when Darkseid leapt and seized him in a crushing embrace, and they fell from the topmost catwalk toward the generator station that powered the internal functions of the Apokoliptan vessel. Down they fell until Superman used his freeze-breath to cut off Darkseid's vision. The shock of the cold caused the villain to let out a stunned roar of pain and he broke his hold long enough to scrape the ice from his face.

That was all it took for Superman to seize Darkseid from behind and then throw him through three catwalks and against the chamber wall before the hulking menace landed hard on another catwalk. Superman landed on the catwalk and was instantly struck in the face when Darkseid leapt to his feet. But as Darkseid came at him again, Superman flew at him and flung a punch of expert precision and supreme force. Darkseid managed to grapple the Man of Steel's fist, but his own strike was barred when Superman caught his wrist and pushed back. At the same time, Superman released another blast of heat vision and Darkseid did the same with his Omega Beams.*

The whole chamber trembled violently as the two titans reeled as they grappled with each other. The moment Superman's heat vision beams connected with Darkseid's Omega energy, the resulting blast was so powerful that it sent a shockwave of energy rippling through the power room, which melted a portion of the catwalk they were standing on and caused the others to shatter. Even the energy-feeding tubes in the chamber were splintered and in moments, the floor was drenched in the glowing solution that fueled the internal power of the ship. Superman and Darkseid continued to grapple until their hold was broken due to a punch to Darkseid's face that sent him skidding across the platform.

As the tyrant of Apokolips rose to his feet, the circular catwalk creaked and groaned; its melted bearings were giving way. Superman immediately took flight as the circular catwalk finally collapsed from its own weight and shards of flaming metal rained from the ceiling, but the fight was not over. Darkseid pounded up the falling catwalk and leapt into the air as the power began to cut out, flooding the room with the light of the flames that now blazed across the room. He leapt at Superman, who caught him and hurled him off to the side before landing more blows to his face. The battle raged on until Superman and Darkseid were both battered and breathing heavily, and Darkseid had managed to give Superman a few bleeding scrapes on his shoulders and legs as well as a bruise on his temple. But all for his injuries, Superman was unrelenting in his fight to stop Darkseid from taking Earth.

I helped the Justice League stop Luthor and his Injustice League from taking over the world, and I will see that we do the same here, he thought.


Hope you liked this next part of Superman taking on Darkseid. Next chapter, their battle comes to a head. Stay tuned!