BOOM!
The structure Desaad stood in shook violently, the walls cracking as energy lines erupted and burst into wild arcs. Desaad staggered, catching himself on the console as the lights flickered wildly.
"No, no, no, NO, NO"
He cut himself off as the realization hit him. He rushed to the observation window and looked out. The Boom Tubes outside were destabilizing, collapsing in on themselves before imploding in small, successive explosions that sent every Paradoom that had been about to enter them hurtling through the air.
That confirmed it.
'Those insignificant worms had actually managed to destroy the generator.'
Which meant there was no longer enough energy to power the Boom Tubes. Worse, Apokolips had been pulled back out of phase and returned to this dimension,fully exposed and vulnerable to retaliation. The only saving grace was the backup generators. They could produce enough energy to keep Apokolips operational. Without them, the planet would be a sitting duck.
Desaad was pulled from his thoughts by a sharp chorus of warning beeps from the console in front of him.
He looked down at the screen and felt his stomach drop.
What he had feared was already happening. Hundreds of nuclear devices were locked on and heading straight for Apokolips.
Desaad's expression twisted into something vicious as he began typing furiously at the console, muttering curses under his breath.
If the humans thought Apokolips was vulnerable, they were gravely mistaken.
The Annihilator Cannon still had more than enough energy to lay waste to entire countries. And the moment Desaad finished typing, a deep, resonant hum filled the structure as the cannon charged. The sound built and built, rattling the walls, before the cannon unleashed a massive white beam that screamed through the void toward the incoming warheads.
Mid-flight, it split.
The single beam branched outward into hundreds of smaller ones, each one locking onto a warhead with precise accuracy and vaporizing it before it could detonate. But the beams didn't stop there. They continued forward, tracing the paths the warheads had come from, and followed them all the way back to Earth.
They struck.
From the surface of Apokolips, it looked beautiful,dozens of explosions blooming across the curve of the Earth below, fireballs blossoming and fading like dying stars, visible even from the cold distance of space.
With the threat of the nukes neutralized,for now,Desaad turned his attention to the heroes on Earth.
The problem was simple, and it was serious. With the Boom Tubes compromised, there was nothing left to keep the heroes occupied. Nothing to stop them from coming straight to Apokolips. And the suicide attack had just proven, beyond any doubt, that they were capable of it,paradoom numbers be damned.
Sending the Paradooms out to cross space and continue the assault on Earth wasn't an option either. It would leave Apokolips exposed, and the next attack wouldn't be aimed at the generator.
It would be aimed at him and that he could mya very well be the end of him.
No,the best course of action was to strike at a distance. A surprise attack, before they even had the chance to regroup and set their sights on Apokolips. And the Annihilator Cannon was perfect for exactly that.
He didn't need to destroy them outright. He just needed to keep them pinned down, off balance, and too busy surviving to think about a second assault. All he had to do was hold them off long enough for his liege to finish dealing with Max.
After that, he could clean up the rest at his leisure.
A slow smile crept across Desaad's face as his fingers returned to the console.
Meanwhile
Down on the battlefield, they watched in bewilderment as the Boom Tubes spewing out Paradooms one by one spasmed, then collapsed,slicing clean through any Paradoom that had been caught midway through.
Cyborg turned to Batman.
"He did it," he said. "But do you think he's still alive?"
"Highly unlikely," Batman replied firmly. "Our priority now is to eliminate the Paradooms that already managed to get through, then regroup with the others and decide our next course of action."
Cyborg nodded.
---
On the other side of the forest, an exhausted Superman, Shazam, and Supergirl watched as the Boom Tubes began closing. Shazam turned to Superman.
"What's going on? Is it over?"
"I don't think so," Superman said. "Something must have happened on the other side."
"So what do we do now?"
"We regroup with the others to figure out-"
"We've got incoming!"
Kara's shout cut Superman off,but it was already too late. The clouds above parted without warning, and a thick white beam punched through, driving straight down into the forest below. The impact detonated with a thunderous explosion that ripped through the trees, shockwaves tearing through the forest in every direction.
---------
The clouds above were dark, lightning flickering restlessly across the sky as Max and Darkseid clashed. Red bursts of light collided over and over again, faster than the eye could follow, powerful shockwaves erupting outward with every impact.
From a distance, it looked like the two fighters were evenly matched.
But that was far from the truth.
Darkseid had done something,Max didn't know what,that had given him a massive leap in power. A leap that Max was barely keeping up with. But he was sure of one thing: Darkseid hadn't trained for this power. Whatever was fueling that surge wasn't natural. It had to be some kind of enhancement, and enhancements didn't last forever.
Just like his own one-time Eighth Gate transformation.
So Max just had to hold out until it wore off.
Max appeared behind Darkseid, his fist already in motion toward his back. Darkseid caught it mid-swing, then applied enough pressure to crack the bone. Max gritted his teeth in pain.
Then Darkseid drove his fist straight into his chest.
Boom!
Max's body folded on impact, and he went flying downward toward the ground. Darkseid unleashed his Omega Beams immediately. Max crossed his arms and infused them with Haki and ki as the beams struck, pushing him down even faster. He crashed into the earth, carving a trench with his back.
Before the dust could even settle, dozens of ki blasts came flying upward from the trench, their speed scattering the dust as they tore toward Darkseid. Darkseid swatted them away and dive-bombed toward Max, who threw himself out of the way just in time. Darkseid cratered the exact spot Max had been standing,but before Max could get away, Darkseid caught him mid-jump.
The crimson energy surrounding Darkseid's body immediately burned through Max's sleeve at the point of contact, then pushed further, reaching skin. Darkseid proceeded to slam him into the ground on his back.
Boom!
The ground shattered instantly. Every bit of air in Max's lungs was forced out of his mouth along with blood. Darkseid raised him up and slammed him again once again. More blood sprayed out from his mouth.
Max swung his free leg and kicked Darkseid hard in the neck, snapping his head to the side. He then pushed off, yanking himself free from Darkseid's grip, and followed up with a spinning kick that connected cleanly with Darkseid's face. Darkseid skidded back, eyes flaring.
Max crossed his arms and channeled Haki through them just in time as Darkseid unleashed his Omega Beams. The beams struck Max's arms and sent him skidding back hundreds of meters, the ground beneath him instantly turning to lava. Max flared his chakra, the red aura surrounding his body surging outward and pushing the beams away.
He channeled his chakra, ki, and Haki into his fist. Lightning began dancing around his knuckles, and the aura around his fist shifted from red to a deep, dark purple.
Then his instincts screamed.
Darkseid was gone from his previous spot. Max snapped both arms up to block just as Darkseid came from above, both hands clasped together, and brought them down with everything he had.
Boom!
The ground beneath Max buckled and exploded, a deep crater forming around him as he was forced to one knee. Blood immediately poured from his mouth, nose, and ears. The bones in his arms cracked audibly.
Before he could recover, Darkseid raised his arms and hammered down again.
BOOM!
The ground buckled even further. Max could feel it,one more hit and his arms would shatter completely.
He forced every last drop of power into his legs, roared, and surged upward,shoving Darkseid's massive fists into the air. In the same motion, he channeled everything he had left into his right fist. The aura around his body was drawn toward it like a current, condensing and shifting to purple as he roared and drove it forward toward Darkseid's exposed midsection.
Darkseid's eyes widened slightly as he quickly twisted to the side.
Max's fist barely missed.
The momentum carried him forward, overshooting the punch entirely. But the power behind it didn't go to waste,the shockwave alone ripped the ground apart in front of him, ionized the air into a roiling firestorm, and split the clouds above clean in half.
Max glanced back over his shoulder as he stumbled,and saw Darkseid already there, fist cocked back, the crimson energy surrounding his body spiking violently as he then punched.
Max shifted everything he had toward defense. It didn't matter.
Darkseid's fist connected with his exposed back.
'BOOOOOOM!'
Max felt his spine crack first. His internal organs were pulverized second. The ground beneath them cracked, then exploded. The remaining clouds in the sky were vaporized by the ensuing shockwave.
Max was sent flying.
He cleared kilometers in less than seconds, alternating between skipping across the ground and blasting through mountains. He tore through four mountains in total, vaporizing each one, before finally crashing into a fift,and it collapsed on top of him.
Darkseid followed close behind and touched down before the rubble, keeping enough distance to avoid being caught off guard.
Silence settled over the battlefield,then Darkseid felt it.
A potent aura, rising from beneath the rubble.and without warning,the rubble exploded violently outward, dust and debris blasting in every direction.
Darkseid narrowed his eyes as the smoke dispersed.
Max stood at the center of it, bare-chested. Darkseid watched as the bruising across Max's back rapidly faded, the damage erasing itself in seconds. Max didn't acknowledge him. He leapt to the top of the rubble, and black wisps of energy began rising from his body like smoke. The pebbles around him slowly defied gravity, lifting off the ground and drifting upward.
Max drew in a long, deep breath.
Then he clenched his fists and roared at the sky.
"RAHHHHHHHHHH!"
A thick, pitch-black pillar of energy erupted from his body and tore straight up into the heavens. Above, swirling clouds formed instantly, roaring with thunder. The sheer volume of power Max was releasing generated winds so violent they began pushing even Darkseid back. His feet dug into the ground as the earth beneath them began to tremble.
Max slowly lowered his gaze from the sky their eyes meeting.
The ground around up through the fissures. But Darkseid ignored all of it. He kept his eyes locked on Max, unblinking.
Because something was telling him that their fight was about to reach entirely new heights.
End of Chapter
You can read advanced chapters at patreon.com/darker knight.
Chapter. 27:Heaven Shaking Power.
Chapter 28:A New Form?
Chapter 29:A Clash Though Space.