Alien Excalibur extended into Joseph's right hand, its golden edge humming with restrained violence.
"Infinity-Man, kill him quickly this time," Desaad ordered.
The red-and-black behemoth turned its massive frame toward Joseph. Desaad watched with gleeful anticipation, while the gray-skinned woman beside him—Grail—observed with detached amusement.
Infinity-Man raised his arm and released a colossal red beam, wide enough to consume Joseph completely. It tore through the air at nearly a quarter the speed of light.
Joseph's reflexes were fast enough to react.
He willed a boom tube open and sent Kori and Sphere to one of the rooms in the living quarters of the Cave, moving them through the portal with his anti-gravity.
Then, quickly closing the previous, he willed another boom tube open—one portal appeared before him, the other before Desaad. Nova, his AI companion, responded instantly. Bound to Joseph both psychically and physically, Nova handled the complex calculations in real time, opening the portals with precision the assimilated Fatherbox once managed before its consciousness had been stripped away.
Both portals glowed a brilliant gold, each seven feet across.
The moment Grail sensed the fluctuation of Source energy, she acted. Twin red beams flared from her eyes, arcing toward Joseph as she leapt forward on her aero-discs, scythe in hand.
Joseph didn't move.
He remembered all too well what had happened last time—how he'd tried to absorb energy he didn't fully understand. That would've killed him without Nova. But with the Strength Force reinforcing his body and Nth metal enhancing his suit, he could withstand almost anything. Absorption was unnecessary with his connection to the Source. And greed was a lesson he'd learned the hard way.
Still, getting hit was never ideal.
In the split nanoseconds before impact, he asked Nova: 'Are we able to go intangible?'
Nova had already integrated the Mirror Master's mirror gun into Joseph's nanites. That was how he'd upgrade the Nanode to be able to be interfaced with using holograms.
The main component in the mirror gun was a mirror infused with unidentifiable chemicals not even Nova could decipher, allowing it to access the Mirror World—a distorted reflection of reality. Joseph had no interest in exploring alternate dimensions or meeting some warped version of himself—he was already busy enough with his current one—but its utility was undeniable.
//All abilities of the mirror gun are now integrated into the nanites, including intangibility,// Nova confirmed. Joseph felt like it took mild offense that he had even asked. He should've known better. Nova had spent over a year improving itself.
'Do it,' Joseph ordered.
He didn't feel any physical change, but an icon flickered across his HUD, confirming the phase shift.
The beams struck. He felt them press against his chest—a pressure, not pain—as they collided with his Strength Force fortified suit. Even with the Nth metal's self-repairing properties, it warped and bubbled under the heat of Grail's entropic energy, only to regenerate immediately afterward.
He needed to reinforce it further with his Nova forcefield, causing a gold aura to appear around his body.
'What happened?' Joseph demanded.
//The intangibility is working perfectly as expected so it seems like her beams' homing function is able to go through space and dimensions. My apologies, sir.//
'No way you could've known. I can handle it.'
These fucking cheaters with aim lock man. Game's gone. There went the idea of just portal-trapping her attacks with boom tubes.
Since avoiding the beams seemed impossible, he canceled intangibility and let time resume at its normal pace.
Infinity-Man's beam struck Desaad. The torturer screamed as the crimson energy engulfed him, burning through flesh and fabric. Grail's red beams stayed locked on Joseph, twin spears of annihilation cutting across the cavern.
"You are the first to withstand my Omega Beams so effortlessly," she said, voice sharp with curiosity. Then she used her aero-discs, platforms used by New Gods to walk on air, to close in with her scythe.
Infinity-Man stopped its energy attack when it sensed Desaad's pain. Then it launched forward with a jump using a similar mode of transportation as aero-dics.
Joseph raised his hand.
Invisible pressure rippled through the air as he extended his anti-gravity field. Both Grail and Infinity-Man froze mid-flight, as their momentum was halted. They strained against the force, but they were slowed enough for Joseph to easily move away. For all their power, few New Gods could fly, and their advanced mobility tech couldn't free them from the effects of gravity.
Seeing them handled, Joseph promptly ignored them. They would have their turn soon.
But first, the blasphemer.
Joseph reached into the open Boom Tube and pulled Desaad through it by the throat before closing it. The Apokoliptan scientist flailed helplessly, still screaming, his flesh blackened and smoking. Joseph held him in front of the Omega Beams attacking him.
Desaad's shrieks became even uglier as the beams struck him head-on, red and yellow light enveloping his body as his skeleton flashed beneath his skin.
Grail immediately ceased her attack, her expression faltering for the first time.
The smell of scorched flesh filled the cavern. Desaad's robes had fused to his blistered body, the purple fabric blackened and stiff. His form trembled in Joseph's hand.
For a moment, Joseph almost pitied him. Almost.
From the data he'd stolen aboard the Gordanian mothership and from Ugly Mannheim's memories, he knew exactly who Desaad was—God Scientist of Apokolips, chief torturer of Apokolips and servant of Darkseid.
His nature was simple: he relished the suffering of others, often taking perverse pleasure in their agony. His work gave him great satisfaction, though his depravity often made him lose control in excitement.
That same perverse nature, ironically, had saved Kori's life—Infinity-Man hadn't used his full strength on her because Desaad wanted to prolong her suffering.
Joseph didn't feel guilt for what was happening. He relished it. Every second of it.
He tried to seize control of Desaad's mind, but like Lobo, New God physiology was incredibly resistant to mental influence. Their spirits were among the strongest he had ever encountered. Even in Desaad's weakened state, Joseph couldn't force him into the Dream State.
Grail fired again, desperate. Joseph reacted instantly, shoving Desaad back into the path of the Omega Beams.
The screams that followed shook the cavern walls but none would escape. His anti-gravity field creating a sharp, unnatural gradient in air density above, causing sound waves to be reflected. "It's not so fun being on the receiving end, is it?" Joseph taunted, his voice calm, measured, almost conversational.
Desaad's didn't answer as his eyes rolled back, unconscious from the pain.
Grail halted her attack once more, fury on her face.
Infinity-Man hovered beside her, silent, restrained by Joseph's gravity field.
The giant—clearly some form of advanced New God tech controlled by Desaad's Fatherbox, based on the conversation Joseph overheard when he first arrived—showed a degree of intelligence. It understood that any attack would harm its master, so it remained perfectly still.
Desaad twitched in his hand, body convulsing from trauma. His mind—what little of it remained conscious—flared with panic.
"Inf… Infinity-Man! Boom tube me to—"
Joseph didn't let him finish.
Alien Excalibur pierced through his skull in one clean motion.
For a moment, everything went still.
Desaad's body twitched once, then slumped, lifeless. The cave went quiet except for the faint hum of Joseph's weapon.
Willing a boom tube open to Venus, he tore the blade free. The Nova force covering Alien Excalibur instantly vaporized Desaad's blood.
A slow, heavy exhale escaped him. The anger that had fueled him since the fight began finally eased. Satisfaction washed over him at the cruelty—not joy, not triumph, but a quiet, visceral release.
"That felt good," he said.