A tall, grey figure was stepping on the corpse of a Guardian.
Darkseid.
The monarch of Apokolips, the strongest New God.
With his hands behind his back, he coldly watched the defeated Green Lantern Corps before him.
"Master."
Darkseid's right-hand man, Desaad, appeared behind him and knelt on the ground.
"Something has happened... on Earth."
"Hmm?" Darkseid didn't turn around, only letting out a low grunt.
"That Kryptonian has been defeated."
"Our army on Earth... has been completely wiped out."
Hearing this, Darkseid finally turned around.
"Completely wiped out?"
"By whom?"
"An Earthling calling himself 'Homelander'." Desaad brought up a video recording.
It was the footage of Homelander holding Superman's corpse.
"Homelander..."
Darkseid repeated the name, a slight, cold sneer appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"An Earthling who can kill a Kryptonian... how interesting."
"Desaad..."
"Yes, my Master," Desaad replied with a bow.
"Suspend the purge of Oa."
"Assemble the Dark Elite."
"We are going to Earth once more."
...The skies of Metropolis were torn apart by thick smoke and firelight.
This was no longer Superman's domain, nor was it Darkseid's slaughterhouse.
This was a grand, carnival-like reckoning.
Homelander hovered in the sky above Metropolis, calmly watching everything happening below.
He hadn't completely eliminated all the Parademons; he had intentionally left some of the monsters behind.
For a humanity that had been suppressed for too long, a simple victory wasn't enough; they needed blood, and they needed the tactile sensation of tearing apart their nightmares with their own hands to confirm they were still alive.
On the streets, the angry crowds were venting their fury wantonly.
"Kill!!"
A veteran who had lost his left arm used his remaining right hand to swing a piece of rebar, violently stabbing it into a Parademon's head.
The monster's screams were drowned out by the surrounding roars.
"This is for my daughter!"
A woman with a face covered in tear stains held a scavenged energy rifle, frantically pulling the trigger at a mangled Parademon until the energy was depleted; she continued to pull it mechanically, making empty "click, click" sounds.
Batman stood on the edge of a high-rise building, watching the tragic scenes unfolding below.
In the past, he might have stopped this chaotic violence, but now, he only watched in silence.
This was a necessary catharsis.
When the last Parademon was torn to pieces by the public, the entirety of Metropolis fell into a brief moment of daze.
Then, a burst of weeping and cheering erupted that shook the heavens and the Earth.
Homelander changed back into a brand-new system uniform and slowly descended before the console of the information transmission tower.
Cyborg Victor was already waiting there; he pulled his interface from the console and nodded to Homelander.
"The global connection is ready, Homelander. Now, the World is listening to you."
Homelander leaned toward the camera and brought the microphone to his mouth.
"Zzz—"
The sound of static crackled through.
"Although I'd love to say 'everyone has worked hard,' I feel that would be far too light."
Homelander's voice spread across the globe.
Whether it was soldiers still clearing the battlefield or children who had just crawled out of air-raid shelters, everyone stopped what they were doing.
"We have shed too much blood, and we have lost too many loved ones. But remember this moment; remember how you feel right now."
"This isn't a peace given as charity; this is something you won back with your fists, your teeth, and your unyielding souls!"
"We won—!!" Homelander clenched his fist and let out a high-pitched roar.
"Ohhh—!!!" Waves of sound erupted across Metropolis, one after another; it was the people's heart-wrenching shouting.
Homelander smiled as he enjoyed this baptism of sound that lasted for a full minute.
"However, my fellow citizens, do not think this is the end." Homelander's tone began to grow heavy. "Look around us; our cities have become ruins, and civilization has regressed by a century. In the depths of the starry sky, there are still countless greedy eyes peering at us."
"We won the war, but we lost everything."
"Some will ask, can we still return to the past?"
Homelander shook his head.
"No, we cannot go back."
"Because the us of the past were weak, divided, and fought one another for the sake of those pitiful little interests."
"It was precisely that division that gave the aliens an opportunity."
"Although that tyrant in the red cape is dead, as long as we remain a heap of loose sand, the next alien legion will still trample us under their feet!"
"Are we going to continue like this?"
"No!!" The roars of the people came from outside Metropolis.
"Very well. Then from this day forward... there will no longer be national borders on Earth." Homelander spoke to the camera with a solemn and grave expression.
"There will no longer be Americans, Russians, Amazons, or Atlanteans."
"In this vast Universe, we have only one common name—Humanity."
"I declare that the United Federation of Earth is established at this very moment!"
"We will no longer be a heap of loose sand."
"We will share resources and share technology; we will build an unprecedentedly great civilization upon these ruins!"
"Whether it is the land or the sea, Atlantis or Themyscira."
"We will be united under the same flag!"
Homelander's vision swept across the plaza below; he saw Bruce Wayne's furrowed brow, the contemplation in Mera's eyes, and the silence of the Amazon General Antiope.
But he didn't care.
It was the trend of the times.
Under the deterrent of Darkseid, no one could refuse this proposal.
To refuse would be to betray the entire World.
"I, Homelander, promise you."
Homelander looked directly into the camera, giving them his most sincere promise.
"As long as I am in this World for even one day, nothing shall harm you."
"Long live the United Federation of Earth!!"
After a brief silence.
Metropolis erupted in cheers like a landslide or a tsunami.
"Long live the United Federation of Earth!!"
"Long live Homelander!!"
This wave quickly swept across the globe. At this moment, all political barriers and racial hatreds seemed insignificant in the face of the frenzy for survival and revenge.
Mera gripped her trident tightly, looking at the man on the stage, the light in her eyes growing brighter and brighter.
Bruce Wayne, however, stood in the shadows, expressionless.
"We may have just sent away one tyrant only to welcome another emperor."
He spoke in a low voice, his tone neither happy nor sad.
"At least this emperor is on our side."
Barry Allen sat on the ground, munching loudly on a can of luncheon meat he'd found from who-knows-where.
"And to be honest, Bruce... I don't think this is such a bad thing. The World is such a mess; it really does need someone to take charge."
Bruce offered no comment, but he also silently lowered the gun in his hand.
As the speech concluded, the long-awaited system notification finally exploded in his mind.
"Notice! Performing a unified settlement of popularity values for Earth-1 and Earth-199999..."