Chapter 17: Darkseid and the Netherrealm
In the Netherrealm, Mileena and Havik are overseeing Adrelita practicing her necromancy powers to revive the dead. Her hands glew dark green, and momentarily, at least three rows of dead bodies hover above the ground just barely.
"Yes. Focus your mental energy. Use your strength and will!" Mileena instructed.
"Put your mind into it. Think about what you can accomplish with your powers." Havik added.
Adrelita grunts and raises her hands and sharp claws into the air as one dead body manages to stand up. This body's eyes are also glowing green and it is able to stand despite most, if not, all of these bodies being rotten from resting in peace for who knows how long.
"Yes. I can feel the magic coursing through my veins! Rise my new minions! RAAAHHHH!" Adrelita yelled so loud, that over half of the dead bodies rise up and stumble and walk towards their dragon master.
"Good. Good, my new friend. Your powers are awakening faster than I anticipated. I am amazed." Mileena smiles.
"An unstoppable army that cannot be destroyed, no matter what method you attempt. This army. Their shrieks will terrify anyone who lays eyes on them. They will be frozen by fear." Havik chuckled.
"I am still not at full power still." Adrelita growls as she feels herself grow tired. The dragon princess pants as dozens of dead bodies who have yet to rise up fall back to the ground motionlessly. "Forgive me, my master. I am trying to regain my full strength to please you. I will help you find more to serve you." Adrelita bowed to her.
"Have some patience, my scaly friend. You are young. Time is on our side this time. You defeated the fire god. Soon, you will be among the strongest beings in all the realms." Mileena puts a hand on her shoulder.
Mileena has quickly noticed how fast Adrelita is growing for a dragon recently hatched. Her horn on her head is longer and her wings and tail have both expanded and has gotten taller, surpassing even Goro's height. And stronger than almost everyone in the room.
"I can feel it in my blood. The fire. I cannot wait to unleash it onto all the realms. The view will be beautiful once I fly above the clouds." Adrelita smiled as her claws sharpen slowly leaves a scratch mark on one of the zombies. She then swipes her palm and with a swift claw strike, that zombie is decapitated. But even then, that zombie is still standing. Within a couple of minutes, that zombie's head hovers in the air and surgically reattaches itself to the body. It looks like it was never attacked in the first place.
"Amazing. It looked like it was never harmed to begin with. Oh, it would make our victory and chaos spreading all the better for us." Havik gleefully smiled at the mere thought of it.
"My lord." Nitara comes in and bows her head to Mileena. "We have intrusion on the outside."
Mileena Kahnum leads everyone to the entrance of the castle in the Netherrealm. They were expecting someone from Earthrealm or Outworld. But instead… it was a flying ship. The same one flown by Darkseid.
"What in god's name is that? Earthrealmers?" Reptile believed. Mileena took a good sniff to recognize the scent, but it was new to her.
"No. Not humans. Nor is it someone from Outworld. Whatever this is, it is a threat to our kind." Mileena said.
Adrelita takes flight into the air and flies towards the ship. But as she does so, Parademons come flying in to attack her. She dodges their gun blasts and fire breath. She swipes her tail at several of them, knocking them away, clawing one's head off and using her dragon fire and burns some of them to a crisp. Once she reaches the face of the ship, she faces Darkseid himself with his nephew Steppenwolf standing behind him. DeSaad is holding Killer Frost and Solomon Grundy prisoner.
"Who are you? How dare you enter the Netherrealm? You attack the realm under the rule of the Kahnum, you attack the ruler herself! You will answer to Mileena!" Adrelita exclaimed.
Steppenwolf steps up, weapon in hand and growls at her. "And you do not threaten my lord and master, Darkseid. All the fools that questioned him have perished at his hand!"
Darkseid puts a hand up in front of Steppenwolf, gesturing to him to stand down. He stares back at the dragon princess, not even intimidated by her not by a single ounce.
"Who is this Mileena Kahnum, I wish to speak with the ruler of this world." Darkseid said to her.
Adrelita, mouth is filled with flames, but sighs and relents. "Very well. But do not think about murdering my queen." Adrelita said. She flies back down and stands next to Mileena Kahnum.
"This visitor wishes to speak to you. He appears to not be from any realms from my understanding."
"Let him. No one make any movements without my command." Mileena ordered everyone.
Darkseid jumps down from the ship and lands on the ground and leaves big cracks in it. Hundreds of parademons surround the ship while hundreds of others all line up like soldiers as Darkseid walks slowly, hands behind his back with Steppenwolf behind him. The undead of the Netherrealm and the zombies all stare menacingly at these strange people. The parademons respond with the same reaction as Darkseid reaches the residents of the Netherrealm.
"Who are you? Why do you attack my home? I have ruled this place for years after my father's demise." Mileena stated.
"I am Darkseid. Conqueror of hundreds of thousands of worlds throughout the universe. Succeeded to where my family before me could not. I am known as the New God." Darkseid introduced himself.
"Hundreds of thousands of worlds? Ha! If you have conquered such worlds, where is your proof?" Mileena asked.
Darkseid holds out his hand and it shows a gigantic map. Within the map are all the planets he has conquered and left in ruins. Everyone remains amazed and surprised by this revelation.
"You. You're not from any realm. And given your technological advances, I must say you are not even from our world in general." Mileena guessed.
"You assume correctly, Mileena Kahnum. And from what it looks like, given that I have read about every single species in the galaxy, I have traveled across worlds by mistake. I read about everything, but yet I do not recognize any of you." Darkseid replied.
"I am listening. Explain your story." Mileena said.
Darkseid goes into details about his quest for conquest throughout his universe, his goal is to conquer every world known to him and become the face of the universe, known as the New God. He states that his family before him have brought war to all worlds who fought back and all came out victorious. But now, Darkseid resides from his homeworld of Apokolips.
"You see, we were born to rule worlds and bring war to those who resist. It has been in our blood as New Gods. My uncle Steppenwolf, a general, has served our family for eons." Darkseid said as Steppenwolf bows to his nephew.
"You remind me of my father Shao Kahn." Mileena said. "He succeeded his master and took over countless realms in his own name. His goal was to merge all realms into one through Mortal Kombat tournaments." Mileena tells him.
Mileena explains to Darkseid the rules of Mortal Kombat and its tournaments and rules. Mileena then tells them about the six realms, being Earthrealm, Outworld, Edenia, the Netherrealm, Chaosrealm where Havik is from, and Orderrealm and explain what they are like, including those who have resisted Shao Kahn, such as Kitana Kahn, Mileena's sister, the fire god Liu Kang, Alex Cage who was responsible for his family and friend's many victories. And their other enemies from Earthrealm, Outworld and Edenia. The battles Shao Kahn fought and won, and the battles he has lost, including his final death during the Battle of Armageddon.
And they have discussed their recent discovery of Adrelita herself being a dragon bred for conquest and her amazing abilities, being able to defeat Liu Kang, control fire and studying and controlling her necromancy powers and how fast she is growing. Seeing that Adrelita is able to control pretty much almost all the dead bodies they have collected, being nearly thousands, soon to be tens of thousands, Darkseid is actually impressed.
"Impressive. A power like necromancy can be a very useful tool for conquest and revenge. And it seems that we may have a common goal. I too want revenge. Revenge on those who defied me by murdering my son, Kalibak." Darkseid said.
Darkseid explains to them that a kryptonian known as Superman and his abilities and how powerful his species is and that he has killed Kalibak during his slow take over of Earth. He wants revenge for not only to avenge his son, but to kill him for denying him his chance of conquering Earth. He also goes into how exactly they all got pulled in this dimension.
"When I came to, it did not take me long to realize that I am in another world different from my own. And that all my enemies have been transported somewhere within these realms." Darkseid realized.
"You're right. We do have something in common after all, Darkseid." Mileena said. "We both want our worlds and we both want revenge for them drawing blood on us. And if we are to help each other, we must make a plan. And no one makes a move of treachery!" Mileena shouted.
"That I can agree. After all, I do not tolerate traitors in my midst." Darkseid said before briefly looking at Steppenwolf. The general lowers his head out of fear. "I have a proposal. If my general can defeat one of your finest men and I defeat your strongest one, it will be enough to prove that an alliance is worth crafting."
Mileena laughs and smiles, loving the idea already. "Excellent suggestion! General Reiko! Step forward!"
General Reiko steps forward, his signature war hammer in hand, ready to face his opponent. Darkseid turns to his own general and nods to him silently. Steppenwolf stands up and walks past his master, his own weapon in hand, ready to fight and prove his master's worth.
"Fight!" Mileena shouted. Reiko and Steppenwolf begin their battle.
Steppenwolf and Reiko swing their weapons with the former using his Electro Axe. They were evenly matched until the axe overpowers the hammer, knocking it out of Reiko's hands before kicking him and uppercutting him so hard, he is sent flying at a great distance, near some lava. Reiko crawls to his weapon and recovers it right before Steppenwolf leaps to his spot and rolls out of the way before he could stomp him into the ground.
Reiko rolls away and kicks Steppenwolf back and hits him across the chest and face a few times with his hammer. Reiko jumps to swing it down onto his head, but Darkseid's general jumps backward and swings his electro axe into the ground, shocking it and electrocuting Reiko directly as he drops his weapon. Steppenwolf comes in and throws in three punches to the face, knees him in the chest followed by another punch to the chest and throwing him backwards. Reiko looks up, only to see Steppenwolf use his own hammer against him, smashing his face, and nearly breaking his skull. He breaks it in half and tosses the useless weapon aside. Reiko suddenly tackles him to the ground and punches him across the face four times before he wraps his arms around him and tries to crush him
Steppenwolf's metal armor grows spikes in front of his chest, stabbing Reiko in multiple places, causing him to bleed severely. Reiko is forced to drop Steppenwolf as his vision was blurry. Next thing he knows, he gets his legs sliced off by his axe before uppercutted next to the lava. Steppenwolf flips him onto his chest and stops. He looks at his master Darkseid.
Mileena nods to Darkseid, giving him permission. He in turn looks at his general with glowing red eyes. "Finish him."
Steppenwolf grabs Reiko by the back of his head and forcibly dips it into the lava as Reiko struggles to break free. Steppenwolf backs up as he attempts to get up with the last of his strength. His face has completely melted off and shows the front of his broken skull. Steppenwolf stomps onto his neck, snapping it and killing him as his head lays motionlessly in the lava.
Steppenwolf roars in the air, victorious while raising his axe high into the sky. He approaches Darkseid and falls to his knees before him out of loyalty.
"Well done, Steppenwolf. Your fighting experience has not let you down as of yet." Darkseid said.
"Yes. His combat skills are very amusing to watch. They're almost as impressive as my father's." Mileena said, complimenting Steppenwolf.
"My lord and master has trained me ever since I have sworn to be at his side. To fight fiercely with no end. Until the day I die in battle as all honor goes to Lord Darkseid." Steppenwolf replied. "He is the most powerful being in the universe. Not one other person who has went up against him came out victorious and lived."
"Is that right?" Mileena asked. "Then why don't you show us what makes you a New God. Goro! Fight as you always have!"
Goro chuckles and cracks all four of his fists as he steps forward to face Darkseid. Darkseid, not changing the look on his face, steps forward, feeling confident in his abilities.
"Good luck defeating me, offworlder. You will fear me." Goro said.
"I do not believe in luck. A fool's substitute in skill." Darkseid said before they fight.
Goro walks over to Darkseid and grabs him by his shoulder. He was about to punch his right rib with his lower left hand, but Darkseid grabs it and begins crushing it. Goro grunts in pain before he snaps it out of place, making him scream before Darkseid throws a haymaker at his chest, sending him backward. Goro snaps his arm back into place and growls in anger. Darkseid hovers over to him and avoids an uppercut. Darkseid then does his own uppercut, a punch to the chest and a blast from his eyes, sending the Shokan champion sliding backwards. He suddenly then comes in and slams a fist down onto Goro's head and kicks him back into the castle even more.
Goro leaps into the air to do his powerful Dragon Leap Jump attack to crush Darkseid. He merely looks up and fires Omega Beams, which fly off in random directions before one hits Goro in his chest and the other in his back, stunning him and causing him pain. Darkseid flies up, grabs Goro by his throat, blasts his forehead with his beams before throwing him down into the ground very hard. Goro was defeated within a couple of minutes.
"Flawless victory." Darkseid claimed.
Everyone walks in and see what Darkseid has done to Goro. Everyone is shocked by how quickly and how easily Goro was defeated. No one has defeated him like this. Not Liu Kang, Kung Lao, or Alex Cage.
"That is the best fight I have ever watched in my whole life. I've never seen power like that before. I wish I was just as powerful." Havik expressed.
"Darkseid. You exceeded all expectations. If only Shao Kahn could see you. I believe that we would make an excellent alliance." Mileena said. Even Adrelita, who was watching, could not help but evilly smile at this. She could imagine the both of them being at their strongest while conquering worlds.
"And that is why I am a New God. I believe we can help each other." Darkseid said.
"To help you reach your home, I presume? And claim your revenge on the one called Superman." Adrelita guessed.
"Yes. But there is more to it than that." Darkseid replied to her answer. Most of the others, with the only exceptions being Mileena, Havik and Adrelita, are all confused by what he just said.
Note: The reason for the fight scenes are to show that Steppenwolf and Darkseid are one of the most powerful DC villains that have ever existed. But I have only scratched the surface. I hope you all liked this chapter.