The low hum from Sigurd's outstretched palm deepened into a resonant frequency that made the fractured Mirror Dimension sing. The creature, now more void than substance, thrashed against the pull, its form unraveling like smoke in a hurricane. But this was not an attack meant to destroy—not yet. This was an extraction.
"Reveal yourself," Sigurd commanded, his voice not a shout but an absolute statement woven into the laws of the pocket reality. "Show me the hand that shaped you."
Tendrils of golden light, intricate as sacred geometry, erupted from Sigurd's palm and pierced the creature's dissipating core. The beast's screams shifted in pitch, becoming less a roar of defiance and more the wail of a conduit being forced open. Images, sensations, and fragmented memories—not the creature's own, but those of the intelligence that had seeded it—began to bleed into the space between them.
Sigurd's eyes, glowing with that ancient fire, saw it all.
He saw a deal struck in a citadel of screaming souls. He saw Lex Luthor's mortal ambition, a bright, arrogant spark, being carefully and cynically fanned by a presence draped in charming, eternal malice. He saw the gift of the Kryptonian ship's location, the whispered secrets of Genesis Chamber technology, and the subtle injection of a far older, hungrier essence into the genetic brew. The shadow that had slipped into the pod wasn't just energy; it was a sliver of will. A will that belonged to something darker that did not belong to the reality he knew.
The revelation clicked into place with cold certainty. The familiarity he felt wasn't with the creature's Kryptonian shell, but with the hell-stained signature of its animating force.
Sigurd looked toward the monster again.
"How the hell do I feel that the dark shadow is something I have met, but why can't I pinpoint it?"
This was not a random monster. It was a probe. A test fired from the depths of the infernal, aimed at this reality to see what would break first.
Sigurd closed his fist. The golden tendrils retracted, and with a final, silent implosion, the last cohesive shred of the creature collapsed into a single, dark mote of nothingness before winking out. The Mirror Dimension fell into an eerie, crystalline quiet, broken only by the slow, settling chime of shifting glass-plains.
The titanic spear faded from Sigurd's form, his stature returning to normal as he turned. A ripple passed through the dimension, and the surreal battlefield dissolved around them. The familiar, ruined landscape of the Metropolis waterfront snapped back into place, smoke hanging heavy in the air. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman stood exactly where they had been, staring at the now-empty space where a city-destroying abomination had just ceased to be.
Diana was at his side in an instant, her sword still in hand but her eyes wide with a different kind of alarm. "What was that? What did you see?"
Sigurd's expression was granite, all prior hints of playful patience gone. "A message. And a confirmation."
He looked past her, to where Superman was helping a dazed Batman to his feet. "Luthor's ambition was the match," Sigurd stated, his voice carrying easily across the debris, "but the fuel was hellfire. That thing was a construct, but it mutated during the process with a different dark creature."
The name landed with physical weight. Diana stiffened; her mythological education included the darker chapters. Bruce Wayne's head snapped up, his tactical mind instantly categorizing a new, supernatural tier of threat.
"A dark shadow?" Clark Kent asked, his voice tense with the effort of standing. "As in..."
"As in a universe destroyer from outside reality, who finds the suffering of universes to be an entertaining game," Sigurd finished.
He finally looked at Diana, and the intensity in his gaze softened by a fraction, edged with a reluctant urgency. "This changes things. This wasn't a local crisis. It was the first move in a larger campaign. It might have entered this reality by mistake, or someone let it in, but it's definitely a creature from outside reality."
The implication hung in the acrid air. If this was a probe, the main assault would be unimaginable.
Diana saw the conflict return to his eyes, deeper now.
Sigurd gave a single, sharp nod. " My presence here… my instinct to come here… it wasn't random. I was drawn to this point of infection." He looked at the destruction of the city before the creature was pulled into the Mirror Dimension.
"This dark creature attracted me before it even revived. Could it be there is some connection, or did those old beings throw this creature here to test my instinct? They definitely knew about this. Let's wait and see."
Sigurd thought about the overall situation and knew they might have known about it.
"Batman," Sigurd said, turning to the dark knight. "Your enemy is no longer just the madman in a penthouse. He just brought the biggest disaster to all of reality, so you have to change the way you look toward people."
Bruce met his gaze and gave a curt nod. The mission had just expanded into the abyss.
"Superman," Sigurd continued. "This world was pulled into something way beyond its strength to handle, but I don't think it will happen again. At least try to fight enemies rather than fighting with each other."
Clark looked toward Sigurd, then nodded and asked, "What will you do?"
Sigurd looked at them, then thought about his unborn child. "I am going home. This world is just a place where my instinct pulled me. So you guys should handle everything later. At least there is less damage."
Diana looked toward Sigurd, about to ask something, but before she could, Sigurd spoke.
"I am not leaving this world permanently," he said, looking at the universe. "But my war is on a different battlefield. Diana," he said, facing her. "You have your mother's spirit. This world will need it. Guard them. I will return when the true storm breaks."
Before anyone could respond, Sigurd glanced upwards. "Lucifer. I know you're watching."
The air shimmered, and the Devil himself stepped out of a sunbeam, brushing non-existent dust from his sleeve. "Always so dramatic, Sigurd. You really know how to clear a room."
Just when Sigurd was thinking about Hippolyta, he saw Hippolyta appearing beside Lucifer.
Sigurd didn't bother with him but walked toward her and hugged her tightly.
"You shouldn't be coming here. You know it's very dangerous for you as well as the child."
Diana looked toward Hippolyta, who looked exactly like her mother but younger, and couldn't help walking toward her.