As Raven, Zatanna, and Peter confronted the crisis below, high above Earth's atmosphere, two figures stood atop a vessel drifting in the vast void. The ship's jagged, shadowed exterior seemed to devour the surrounding light, its foreboding presence radiating an air of inevitable calamity.
This was the Harbinger of Ruin.
Perched on its sinister structure stood William alongside the Hulk, both observing in silence as Blue Marvel, Hyperion, and Sentry engaged in a ferocious battle.
Hulk turned his massive green head toward William. "I want to take on the blonde hippie," he growled, gesturing toward Sentry, who was mid-air, delivering a crushing blow to Hyperion's jaw.
POW!
The impact echoed through the void like a silent shockwave, defying the eerie stillness of space. Hyperion was flung back hundreds of meters, tumbling before regaining control, his glowing face contorted in fury. Twin beams of crimson energy erupted from his eyes, slicing through the darkness like blazing swords piercing an endless night.
The searing blast collided with Sentry with devastating force. For an instant, he was engulfed, his golden aura blazing defiantly against the tide of destruction. He summoned a shield, dense with raw, invisible energy, but it fractured and shattered under the relentless barrage. The blast struck him full-force, propelling him toward the moon's surface with cataclysmic intensity.
Moments later... BOOM.
A massive explosion rippled through the lunar crust, unleashing a storm of dust and rock that veiled the stars in its wake.
Before Hyperion could act, Blue Marvel materialized behind him, his arms glowing with the deadly blue-white light of antimatter energy, destruction itself given shape. With a thunderous force, he brought his fists down.
CRACKOOOM!
Hyperion's head snapped forward, his body writhing under the crushing impact. The blow sent him careening toward the moon like a blazing meteor, slamming into Sentry mid-ascent in a brilliant flash of light.
The lunar surface erupted violently. A sprawling elliptical crater carved itself into the crust, molten rock churning like a fiery tempest.
When the dust cleared, the moon was no longer a barren wasteland; it pulsed with chaotic energy. Amid a surreal landscape of fused crystals and molten stone, the three titans stood, their power radiating like miniature stars.
Hovering above the devastation, Sentry shone brighter than ever, his eyes blazing like twin suns and his breath ragged. Solar energy oozed from fissures in his skin, glowing like molten gold.
Hyperion bellowed with rage, his entire form engulfed in scarlet flames. "You think you're stronger than me?"
Sentry's expression twisted into a grimace. "I know I am."
Their collision was not like that of men, but of galaxies.
The resulting explosion illuminated the Earth below, turning night into day.
Blue Marvel struggled to contain the chaos, stretching his antimatter field to its absolute threshold. Space warped and shimmered around him, yet even his immense control began to waver.
"Both of you—" he bellowed, his voice resonating like a divine decree, "—do you even understand what you're doing?"
Neither heeded his words.
Sentry's hand darted forward, gripping Hyperion's throat as golden energy surged from his fingers. Hyperion's eyes ignited with a searing brightness, unleashing a beam directly into Sentry's chest. The ensuing blast fractured the void itself, distorting gravity in its wake.
Blue Marvel gritted his teeth, sweat forming on his brow despite the frigid vacuum. "At this rate…" he murmured, his mind racing through calculations at superhuman speed.
"Earth won't survive."
Then, a sudden stillness. A single heartbeat suspended in the cosmos.
A streak of emerald light pierced the void and slammed into the moon's surface. The impact sent tremors rippling across its crust, fracturing it like shattered glass. A shockwave radiated outward, disrupting space and shaking Earth's atmosphere.
As the debris settled, Hulk emerged at the center of the massive crater, his eyes glowing with the intensity of dying stars.
William floated behind him, his cloak drifting weightlessly in the vacuum, the cosmic light gleaming off his armor. His expression was serene, tinged with sorrow.
"Enough," William commanded, his voice resonating not through sound, but through sheer will.
"If this continues… there won't be a world left to fight over."
His words lingered in the void, and for the first time since the battle's onset, the universe seemed to pause, holding its breath.
For a moment, the cosmos seemed to pause.
The dust suspended in the lunar void drifted like ash, illuminated by the dim glow of molten craters and fading starlight.
Then—
A resounding boom shattered the silence as Hulk took a single step forward.
The lunar surface fractured beneath his heel, spiderweb fissures racing outward as chunks of moonstone floated upward, defying gravity under the sheer force of his presence.
Sentry met his gaze across the battlefield, his golden aura flickering erratically like an unstable star, his chest still rising and falling from his grueling clash with Hyperion. Their eyes locked, one burning with divine fire, the other seething with ancient, unrelenting fury.
William remained motionless, his expression calm yet heavy with the inevitability of what was to come.
Hulk tightened his fists. "You wanted a fight, sunshine?" His voice was deep and guttural, like the grinding of tectonic plates beneath the earth. "You got one."
Sentry's lips pressed into a thin line. "You don't know what you're inviting."
"Neither do you."
BOOM!
The Hulk surged forward, leaving a massive crater spanning kilometers in his wake, his fist already drawn back. Though the vacuum of space carried no sound, the sheer force of his charge was deafening, rippling through the void like an invisible earthquake.
Sentry intercepted him mid-charge, their fists colliding with a blinding light so intense it split the horizon in two.
The resulting explosion sent a shockwave across the lunar surface, launching entire mountains into orbit.
Hulk pressed his attack, each swing more devastating than the last. His strikes were not mere punches, they were cataclysmic detonations. The moon quaked and buckled beneath the power of his relentless assault.
Sentry responded in kind, shielding himself with his forearms and retaliating with dazzling punches that blurred into streaks of golden light. Each blow carried the crushing mass of a collapsing star, yet Hulk only roared louder, his muscles swelling with emerald energy as green lightning crackled and danced along his arms.
"YOU THINK LIGHT CAN STOP ME?!" Hulk's voice thundered, reverberating through the void like an earthquake through stone.
With both fists, he slammed into the ground, triggering a gravitational quake so immense that even Sentry's radiant golden aura flickered.
From the rising cloud of lunar debris, Hulk erupted upward, driving his knee into Sentry's chest with bone-shattering force. The impact sent Sentry hurtling across the moon's surface, smashing through rocky ridges before slamming into a jagged cliff of molten glass.
Before the dust could settle, Hulk was already upon him, moving faster than the eye could track. His ki surged with emerald and white energy, his outline radiating with practically divine power as he prepared to strike again.
He tore a slab of stone from the ground and hurled it like a comet. Sentry's golden eyes snapped open, shattering the projectile mid-flight with a single strike, scattering fragments of molten rock like meteors.
They clashed again.
This time, the battle was raw, primal. No energy beams or blasts, just fists, bone, and unrelenting fury.
Each blow reverberated through space itself, birthing gravitational shockwaves that distorted light with every impact.
Sentry's fist collided with Hulk's jaw, a flash of golden brilliance. Hulk responded instantly, slamming his forehead into Sentry's face, sending a stream of golden blood spiraling into the vacuum.
Sentry's face contorted. "You don't understand… I can't hold back anymore!"
"GOOD!" Hulk's voice thundered across the void. "NEITHER CAN I!"
And then his ki erupted.
The energy around him transformed into chaos, a storm of raw, untamed power, a tempest of emerald radiance and white fire. The moon beneath them cracked apart, massive fragments breaking away and drifting into orbit.
William, watching from his vantage point above the battlefield, widened his eyes. "His ki… it's merging with his gamma energy."
Blue Marvel, observing from afar, murmured, "Impossible… he's converting radiation into life force."
Sentry roared, unleashing a surge of solar energy in a desperate counterattack, a torrent of golden light crashing against the Hulk's ki storm.
The impact did more than shake the moon; it warped the very fabric of space. A kaleidoscopic ripple spread through the void, stars bending, light fracturing, and the laws of physics groaning under the strain.
As the brilliance subsided, the Hulk stood unmoved, his chest heaving, steam rising from his battered form, his eyes glowing pure white with rage.
Hovering before him, Sentry bled from his lip, his hair disheveled, his expression trembling, not with fear, but with something deeper. Something breaking.
"No…" Sentry murmured, his voice unsteady. "You're making me—"
The golden light enveloping him began to distort, twisting into something darker. His aura flickered between gold and black, finally merging into a chaotic blend of both.
William's gaze sharpened. He felt it, the shift.
"The Void," he whispered.
Hulk stepped forward, still fuming, oblivious to the transformation unfolding before him. "Come on, glowstick," he growled, cracking his neck. "I ain't done yet."
But Sentry's next breath was a guttural growl. His eyes turned pitch-black, his grin widening into something unnatural and unsettling.
"Neither am I," he replied.
The light around him inverted, his body consumed by a swirling miasma of shadows and fire, a radiant darkness defying existence itself.
The Void had awakened.
William's jaw clenched as the stars dimmed in the presence of the corrupted god. "So it begins," he muttered, his right hand glowing with an intense but warm bronze light.
Below them, the moon groaned in protest, and the Earth trembled.
William's eyes gleamed as he stretched his right hand toward the fractured lunar landscape, a faint bronze glow radiating outward like molten metal catching sunlight. Gradually, the light expanded with deliberate precision, tracing the moon's contours.
The bronze ring materialized, initially shimmering as a simple metallic band before thickening and multiplying into coils encircling the moon. Layer upon layer wrapped around the lunar body, each glowing brighter, denser, and impenetrable. Dust and debris, remnants of the recent battle, were ensnared midair, suspended in the luminous barrier. The moon, once a desolate and cratered wasteland, now stood encased in an indestructible bronze shell, its serene, resolute glow resonating with sheer determination.
Sentry and Hulk froze momentarily, captivated by the miraculous phenomenon, until Sentry's black-gold aura flared with frustrated defiance.
William's cloak flowed weightlessly, the bronze light reflecting off his armor. His voice, calm yet commanding, pierced the void. "Blue Marvel, it's your move. Show me what you're truly capable of."
Blue Marvel shifted his stance, allowing the raw power of antimatter to course through him, his fingertips alive with crackling blue-white arcs of energy. "With pleasure. Let's make this a lesson worth remembering."
The initial strike was calculated. William surged forward with a precise barrage of ki-enhanced punches, each blow sending ripples across the bronze shield. Blue Marvel countered with explosive antimatter blasts, their collisions igniting bursts of energy that illuminated the moon like a series of miniature supernovas.
Each blow sent shockwaves rippling through the bronze barrier, but it held steadfast, unyielding against the relentless assault. Every clash resembled a cosmic collision, fragments of lunar debris ricocheting off the impenetrable surface as if it were an indestructible shield.
The intensity of the battle grew steadily. William's movements blurred into a whirlwind of bronze-infused strikes, each attack infused with ki that met Blue Marvel's antimatter blasts head-on, like opposing forces of nature in conflict. Blue Marvel countered with equal ferocity, each punch and palm strike unleashing bursts of destructive energy that raked across the moon's surface. The barrier pulsed under the strain, the bronze ring glowing ever brighter, denser, and stronger, a testament to William's unwavering determination.
The fight fell into a rhythm, punch for punch, parry for parry, before shifting into something more dynamic. Both combatants leapt back simultaneously, their movements synchronizing into a deadly yet elegant dance, their energies swirling into a tempest of gold, bronze, and electric blue-white.
Blue Marvel surged forward, condensing antimatter into a single devastating fist. William met the charge, channeling ki into his palms, molten bronze light coursing along his arms like rivers of liquid fire. Their collision unleashed a shockwave so powerful it hurled massive chunks of lunar rock into space.
Then came the crescendo. William roared, pouring every ounce of ki into his strike, his eyes blazing like molten bronze. "Now, Blue Marvel!"
The two unleashed their beam attacks, William's pure bronze ki clashing against Blue Marvel's concentrated antimatter. The space around them warped, stars bending as if retreating from the overwhelming pressure. The bronze beam collided with the blue-white column midair, igniting a colossal pillar of energy that crackled and spun, distorting the fabric of the void itself.
The bronze ring encircling the moon trembled under the immense strain, glowing so intensely that the dust and debris trapped within appeared to ignite like shimmering embers. William gritted his teeth, his muscles taut with effort, yet his focus remained unshaken. Blue Marvel's concentration was equally unyielding, his eyes mirroring the cataclysmic storm they had created.
Each second felt like an eternity, every pulse of energy a miniature apocalypse. The impact of their powers twisted time and space, transforming the moon into a crucible where ki and antimatter clashed in violent yet perfect harmony.
Even the Hulk stood frozen, awestruck by the sheer magnitude of the spectacle, the raw destructive force surpassing anything he had ever encountered during his world-ending rampages.
William's bronze aura surged outward, coiling protectively around the moon as if to fortify it against their own devastating power, while Blue Marvel's antimatter energy carved luminous streaks across the lunar surface, leaving trails of radiant residue in the vacuum.
The stage was set. Two titans, each a master of their respective forces, stood atop the moon's bronze shell, their battle ascending to heights capable of obliterating entire worlds, yet here, suspended above Earth, the moon alone bore the brunt of their apocalyptic conflict.