Max stood atop the rock, staring Darkseid down in a brutal standoff. The energy pouring off his body threatened to tear the world around them apart. The clouds above swirled and flashed with violent lightning. The ground trembled as lava continued spewing from the fissures beneath them, spreading into a vast, glowing pool across the battlefield.
Darkseid stood in the middle of it, unbothered. The lava disintegrating the moment it made contact with his crimson aura,the power of Omega burning at its edges.
Then the pillar of energy rising from Max's body finally stopped.
The massive chunks of rock that had been suspended in the air around him plunged into the lava lake one by one. The tremors ceasing. Max now stood atop the rock, a dark purplish-black aura now surrounding his body, his hair slightly more spiked than before.
He shifted his foot. The rock beneath him exploded to pieces.
In an instant, he was in front of Darkseid, fist cocked back. Darkseid cocked his own at the same moment. Time seemed to slow as they both swung.
Their fists collided.
It was as if a nuke had gone off. The dark clouds above vanished in an instant. The lava lake around them turned to ash and dust. A shockwave of pure force erupted outward.
*BOOOOOOOOM!*
The ground beneath them cratered inward, then flattened outward as the ring of destruction expanded for miles in every direction. Mountains in the distance cracked and exploded like glass.
But by then,they were already gone.
Explosions detonated across the landscape with every clash,boom, boom, boom, boom. Two blurs, one red and one black, colliding in the sky in rapid succession before separating and rushing at each other again.
Bang!
Then again, faster. Shockwaves stacked on shockwaves. Their arms became blurs, the sheer force of their exchanges generating a violent storm around them from the clashing of their fists alone.
Then Max found the opening.
He landed a brutal punch square into Darkseid's stomach. Darkseid's eyes went wide, blood and spit flying from his mouth. His eyes began to glow red as he moved to unleash his Omega Beams ax vanished.
He reappeared behind Darkseid in an instant via Instant Transmission and drove a powerful kick into the side of his head, sending him hurtling toward the ground.
*BOOM!*
The earth cratered as Darkseid slammed into it on his back. He gritted his teeth in fury and unleashed a thick stream of Omega Beams straight up toward Max. Max raised his palm. A yellowish-green ki blast formed, rapidly expanding to the size of a building, before he fired it downward. It clashed with the Omega Beams for just a moment,then pushed through with ease, continuing straight down to Darkseid before detonating.
*BOOOOOOM!*
A sun bloomed on the battlefield.
Before the fireball could even begin to settle, Darkseid burst out of it ,enraged and red glowing cracks spiderwebbing across his face as he rushed straight at Max. Max blasted toward him in kind. Darkseid threw a punch.
Max ducked beneath it and drove his shoulder into Darkseid's stomach, sending him flying back toward the crater.
*Boom!*
Darkseid crashed onto his back again. Max came in hot and started driving him deeper,a relentless flurry of punches hammering him down through layer after layer of earth.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
They punched through crust, through rock, layer after layer until they broke into the mantle itself. Max wound up for another punch as Darkseid caught it. The force of the blocked blow briefly carved a pocket of air within the surrounding molten rock.
Then Darkseid fired his Omega Beams point blank.
Max crossed his arms just in time. The beams sent him blasting back upward, crashing through layer after layer of crust until he exploded back out onto the surface. Darkseid blasted off after him a moment later, rocketing up through the hole they'd made.
Max tumbled through the air several times before catching himself. Below, Darkseid exploded out of the ground, lava spilling out from the hole after him in great, glowing streams.
Max raised his palm and fired a rapid volley of ki blasts. Darkseid bulldozed straight through them, each one detonating against his body and filling the air with dark, billowing smoke.
Max saw his opening.
He rushed forward into the smoke. When it cleared, it revealed a stunned Darkseid,and Max standing perfectly still before him, fist extended, knuckles hovering just a few feet from Darkseid's chest becauseof the differencein reach.
As there was a beat of silence before Max punched.An invisible shockwave traveled through the air and struck Darkseid directly in the chest. Darkseid's eyes went wide. Blood surged from his mouth as he was sent hurtling through the air toward the horizon, a red streak fading into the distance.
Max blasted off after him
A few kilometers away,Superman and the others stood frozen as the horizon pulsed with blinding flashes of light, each one brighter than the last. Thick, ash-filled clouds churned above them before suddenly splitting apart, as if something massive was tearing through the sky itself.
Then came the sound.
A distant boom rolled across the land,then another.
Boom… BOOM… BOOOM… BOOOOM… BOOOOOOM!!!
"Um… what is that?" Beast Boy asked nervously.
"That's gotta be Max," Cyborg said, his voice tense.
"Yes… it's my dad," Thena added quickly. "We have to get out of here. If we don't, we'll get caught in their battle."
"Seconded," Blue Beetle said, already on edge.
But before anyone could move,a red blur tore across the sky overhead.
A fraction of a second later, a devastating shockwave followed, ripping through the landscape and flattening everything in its path, entire mountains crumbling like sandcastles.
Thena reacted instantly.
Her hands flashed through seals as the ground erupted upward, forming a massive wooden dome around the group just as the shockwave slammed into it.
The barrier shook violently.
Cracks spread across its surface as the force pushed against it, the entire structure trembling under the pressure. Thena squeezed her eyes shut, focusing everything she had into holding it together.
Then a second blur passed overhead,a black one this time.
The impact that followed was even worse,he dome shuddered so violently it nearly collapsed, the ground beneath them fracturing as the shockwave tore across it.
Only now did the others finaly understand how intense the battle on the other side was and how big of a threat Darkseid was now and the fact that max was their only hope against him.
But while others were finaly realizing the gravity of the situation,a bad feeling came upon thena because if her father is the one fighting Darkseid now then where's Nina, she must be recovering right?
End of Chapter.
Chapter 29:A Clash Through Space
Chapter 30:Kamehameha
Chapter 31:A Dark Day
You can read advanced chapters at patreon.com/darker knight. Till next time!