Back in Kahndaq, Adrianna couldn't shake the last words Ishmael had uttered. Why had he spoken the inscription backwards? Suddenly, her knowledge of Kahndaqi mythology provided the answer: damned souls were sent to the Rock of Eternity, a hellish dimension mirroring the world of the living. By mentally reversing the Crown and its letters, she pieced together the true incantation: a demonic invocation.
It all became clear. Ishmael had wanted Adam to kill him. The Champion's magic, channeled through an act of rage-fueled murder, was the portal that sent him to the Rock.
At that very moment, in that place of fire and despair, Ishmael stood before the six ancient demons, their misshapen silhouettes casting nightmarish shadows.
"The Wizards had their champion," one of them growled. "Now, we shall have ours."
They promised him the throne of Kahndaq and the power to unleash the Legions of Hell on Earth. "Proclaim our name!" they roared in unison.
Ishmael, his face twisted by all-consuming ambition, opened his mouth and bellowed: "SABBAC!"
A demonic power, chaotic and corrosive, overwhelmed his being. The Crown vanished, fused with his essence. Ishmael was no more. Sabbac was born, and he returned to the world of the living, marching inexorably towards Ahk-Ton's palace.
The Justice Society moved to block his path. The clash was violent, but their powers seemed ineffective against this new threat. Seeing the imminent carnage and his vision of Hawkman's death about to be realized, Doctor Fate made a radical decision.
"The sacrifice of one can save the many," he declared. He trapped Sabbac inside the palace with him, erecting an impenetrable magical dome that even prevented his teammates from intervening.
Inside, the fight quickly turned in the demon's favor. "No being can stop me!" Sabbac thundered.
Then, Fate's voice resonated in the mind of Teth-Adam, imprisoned thousands of miles away.
"Teth-Adam. The battle your son was destined to fight has begun. Only you can triumph. Destiny is never wrong, just as your son was not wrong to save you. We judged you too hastily. Sometimes, the world does not need a white knight. It needs a hero who knows the darkness. Do not abandon us. The world needs you."
Using an astral projection, Fate weakened the containment systems. As soldiers tried to subdue him, Teth-Adam, galvanized by these words, unleashed his fury and shattered his prison.
Meanwhile, Sabbac struck a fatal blow against Doctor Fate. The magical dome collapsed. Utopian, Hawkman, Atom Smasher, and Cyclone rushed inside, but they were too late. They could only witness their ally's death.
Sabbac seated himself upon the throne and, with a demonic laugh, tore reality asunder. The Legions of Hell poured into Kahndaq.
At the same moment, Teth-Adam burst through the icy waters of Antarctica. The sky darkened. He raised a vengeful fist to the heavens and roared the word that would restore his power, no longer as a curse, but as a weapon of redemption.
"SHAZAM!"
The lightning that struck him was black and scarlet. His suit had changed, darker, more aggressive, a symbol of his acceptance of the darkness within him.
As the demons wreaked havoc, Utopian, seeing the critical situation, made a quick decision.
"Hawkman, handle the legions! I'll deal with him!"
He charged at Sabbac. Their fight was titanic, but Sabbac's demonic magic was of a different, more brutal and corrupting nature. Every blow Utopian landed seemed absorbed, and the demon's magical attacks forced him back, inflicting sharp pain that the Compound V could only partially shield him from. He held his ground, but he could not defeat him.
Seeing the people, led by Amon, Adrianna, and Karim, rising against him, Sabbac, in a fit of rage, caused the giant statue of Hurut to topple onto the crowd.
In a superhuman effort, a bolt of black and gold intercepted its fall. Teth-Adam, now Black Adam, had stopped the statue, his muscles trembling under the strain, protecting the people he had once nearly destroyed.
The two champions clashed, a hurricane of black lightning and demonic fire. The people, galvanized, pushed back the legions with the help of Atom Smasher and Cyclone. Hawkman, using Fate's helmet, distracted Sabbac at the crucial moment.
Adam seized the opportunity to deliver the final blow. With a move of absolute power, he cleaved the demon in two. Sabbac screamed and then disintegrated. With his death, the Legions of Hell vanished.
Later, in the ruins of the palace, Hawkman and Utopian approached Black Adam.
"Your expedient justice will consume you in the end," Hawkman warned.
"That thirst for vengeance can become a prison," added Utopian, speaking from experience.
Adrianna stood firmly by Adam's side. "And yet, it is that very darkness within him that allows him to accomplish what heroes like you never could."
As the people cheered for him, Adrianna suggested he guide them. Black Adam approached the throne, sat upon it for a moment, feeling the weight of absolute power. Then, rejecting it with a definitive gesture, he reduced it to dust.
"So, will you finally be our hero?" Amon asked, full of hope.
Black Adam looked at the faces of those he had saved. "Kahndaq has always had its heroes. What it needs now is a protector."
A silence fell, and then he announced in a voice that carried across the square:
"Call me Black Adam."