Mutilated Paradoom corpses and limbs littered the desert, pools of green blood soaking into the sand as more bodies kept dropping under the might of the twenty Amazons who stood as one.
Their shields locked and blades flashing.
Pierce. Withdraw. Reset. Repeat.
At the center of the formation, five archers loosed arrow after arrow into the sky, taking down the Paradooms descending from above, with Hippolyta at the front, leading and coordinating the squad.
But more kept coming.
They dive-bombed the formation.
The Amazons were sent flying,some slammed into the ground and were swarmed before they could rise, torn apart as their screams filled the air. Others were snatched mid-air and ripped to pieces, while the remaining warriors scrambled back to their feet, fighting on.
One of them drove her sword into a Paradoom's chest only for another to come from behind, grabbing her head and crushing it like a grape.
Soon only Hippolyta remained.
She stood surrounded, her armor torn, blood running down her arm as the Paradooms circled her.
Then they lunged and she met them head-on,one strike,one kill.
But for every one that fell…ten more took its place.
One slipped behind her and struck her hard in the back.
Blood burst from her mouth as she was sent flying, tumbling across the ground. She forced herself back to her feet just as they rushed her again but before they could reach her,a golden blur crashed into the battlefield.
Wonder Woman landed between Hippolyta and the swarm, immediately launching into the assault, her blade carving through the Paradooms to give her mother breathing room.
Hippolyta steadied herself when she heard the buzzing of wings behind her.
She turned to fight just as pillars of earth erupted upward, impaling multiple Paradooms at once.
Terra emerged from the ground beside her, kryptonite staff in hand, ready.
Seconds later,Thena landed before them, accompanied by two clones.
All three formed a single hand seal and took a deep breath.
"Fire Style: Fire Annihilation," the real Thena muttered.
A massive torrent of flames burst forth, spreading tens of meters outward and crashing into the advancing Paradooms.
Her clones followed up instantly.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
A powerful gust of wind surged forward, amplifying the flames into a raging firestorm that incinerated everything in its path as the battlefield lit up in a sea of fire.
Thena turned to Terra and spoke.
"I'll be back," she said then vanished.
"Where's she going?" Hippolyta asked.
"She has something up her sleeve… but it'll take time," Terra replied.
"Then we hold them," Wonder Woman said, stepping forward. "Can you still fight, Mother?"
Hippolyta straightened, gripping her weapon tighter.
"Of course I can."
"Then let's hold them down," Wonder Woman said as she charged into the incoming swarm Terra and Hippolyta right behind her.
----
High overhead, the last line of aerial dominance was breaking.
Superman tore through a cluster of Paradooms, each punch pushing back or seriously injuring one, but more and more kept coming.
Beside him, Supergirl spun mid-air, heat vision carving through an incoming swarm before flying towards another and piercing it with her arm, then striking another one before sharply pulling her hands apart, tearing the Paradoom in half in the process. She then grabbed the two halves and used them as clubs until they fell apart.
She turned to Superman.
"Is there no end to these things?"
"We have to keep pushing," Superman said as he flew back into the fray.
Not too far away, Hal and John, the Green Lanterns, fought side by side to repel the horde, to no avail. One managed to sneak behind Hal and tackled him toward the ground.
"Hal!"
John surged forward to aid him, only to be blocked by three Paradooms. Hal tried to fight back while lying on his back, but with a vicious swipe of its hand, the Paradoom slit his neck open.
He choked on his blood,as blood flooded his airways before it finished him off with a stomp to the head.
"No!" John shouted as he tried to push forward, only to get swarmed and overwhelmed as the Paradooms began eating him alive, his muffled cries of pain echoing through the battlefield.
Nearby, Hawkman was getting tired but continued fighting on, smashing Paradooms with his mace. One charged him head-on as he tried to bash its skull in, only for it to catch the mace with one hand before striking him in the face.
He spiraled backward mid-air, his vision blurring as he lost his grip on the weapon.
Two Paradooms caught him by the wings,and violently ripped them off.
His left wing came off with his entire shoulder as blood sprayed into the air. They released him shortly after.
"Hawkman!" Shazam shouted as he flew toward him, punching through Paradooms in his path.
He caught him and safely placed him on the ground,but by the time he did, Hawkman was no longer breathing.
His expression was frozen in agony and shock.
Shazam hen roared toward the sky ss lightning arced around his body as he raised his hands and pulled down a powerful bolt from the clouds, obliterating a group of Paradooms.
But this only drew more attention to him.
They surrounded him then swarmed him,trying to immobilize his limbs.
"Get off me!" Shazam roared as he struck them again and again, to no avail.
They began engulfing him,forming a mass around his body to overwhelm him.
Just then, two streaks of heat vision from Supergirl and Superman sliced through them, cutting the swarm apart.
They dove in immediately, tearing the Paradooms away from him before grabbing his arms and pulling him out.
"Fall back!" Superman shouted as he flew off to regroup with the others.
Shazam and Supergirl followed behind him with thousands of Paradooms surging after them.
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On the far edge of the battlefield, a tight formation of Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl fought together with Batwing providing aerial support. All of them wore exosuits and relied on specialized kryptonite weapons. The numbers on their side weren't as high as what the others were facing, but at their level of strength, the enemies they were up against were just as concerning. More importantly, as humans, they were already tiring fast, though they still kept fighting with everything they had.
Nightwing jumped high and raised his kryptonite escrima sticks into the air before bringing them down and cracking the skull of a Paradoom. He kicked it away and immediately shifted into motion as more charged in. Reaching into his belt, he pulled out kryptonite darts and threw them at the incoming Paradooms, each one striking true before beeping and exploding. Without pausing, he moved on to the next wave of attackers.
Covering his back was Barbara, who was barely holding on due to exhaustion. She managed to smack away another Paradoom with her staff, giving herself a brief moment to breathe, but it didn't last long. Two Paradooms charged her immediately, forcing her to block the strike of the first before twisting her staff and extending a blade from it. She swung and decapitated the Paradoom cleanly, but the second one rushed her and tackled her to the ground, trying to bite her as she shoved her staff into its mouth. It clamped down hard, drool spilling onto her face as it forced its way closer.
Nightwing noticed instantly and shouted her name as he rushed to help. He struck the Paradoom in the head with his escrima stick and shoved a kryptonite bomb into its mouth before kicking it away, where it exploded and reduced its upper body to pieces. He immediately turned back and offered Barbara his hand to pull her up, but before she could take it, a Paradoom appeared behind him.
Batgirl saw it first and shouted a warning, but it was already too late. The Paradoom grabbed Nightwing by the head and, with a sharp twist, snapped his neck. His body was tossed aside as Batgirl froze for a moment before her expression shifted into rage. She grabbed her staff and charged forward, but before she could reach the Paradoom, another one landed behind her and fired an energy blast directly into her back. The attack passed through her chest, and she staggered forward, gasping before collapsing face-first onto the ground.
Batman, who had been fighting a short distance away, punched another Paradoom with his kryptonite knuckle dusters and threw several kryptonite batarangs, killing four more as he turned to check on them. The moment he saw their bodies, he froze completely. For a brief second, he stopped moving entirely as Batwing's voice called out to him from above, shouting that they had to leave.
Batwing fired a kryptonite beam that sliced through a Parademon in the sky and called out to him again when Batman still didn't respond. Only when Batwing shouted his name a second time did Batman finally snap out of it. Batwing swooped down, grabbed him, and lifted him into the air as they began to retreat.
As they flew higher and higher above the battlefield, Batman's eyes stayed locked on the ground where Nightwing and Batgirl lay. He didn't look away even once, and beneath the mask, a single tear slipped free as they disappeared into the chaos below.
End of Chapter.
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