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Small octopuses of various colors hatched from the splashing liquid, and like facehuggers, they launched an indiscriminate attack on all living things around them. The Steppenwolf, at the center of the liquid, received special attention.
These octopuses' bodies were covered in a slippery mucus, which reduced friction while also making them exceptionally tough. Their sharp teeth, especially, blossomed like chrysanthemums, biting hard into the Steppenwolf's armor. Some of the smaller octopuses, when pressed close to the wolf's face, used their suction cups to firmly cling to its skin, their tentacles persistently probing into its eyes, mouth, and oral cavity.
Crunch.
The Steppenwolf's armor was ripped and ripped by the octopuses' sharp teeth. Its smooth surface was covered with pits and dents, some corroded by liquid and some by teeth. The metal used to forge artifacts on Apocalypse was no match for the octopuses' bites.
Feeling the burning pain on his skin, Steppenwolf grabbed an octopus lying on his left cheek. Its tentacles were working together to open his eyelids and then shove them into his eye sockets. The other two were struggling with his closed teeth.
An octopus flew out from Steppenwolf's face, accompanied by a splatter of blood. A piece of flesh was still attached to the sucker of the tentacle of the thrown octopus. The wounded Steppenwolf seemed to further stimulate the other octopuses. Previously, they were crawling on the ground to find the nearest creature, but now they jumped and pounced on Steppenwolf like a flash.
Steppenwolf's hands swung around him, creating an impenetrable "wall." He continuously sent octopuses flying towards him flying, but others kept coming. A whale would explode into a pool of blood if struck by Steppenwolf's fist, but the octopuses acted as if nothing had happened, bouncing a few times on the ground, shaking their heads, and charging again.
Zooming in, the entire fleet was in complete chaos. The Apocalypse soldiers were practically annihilated in an instant. The ship's defenses were completely breached, and then, with their minds distorted, their companions, whose bodies hadn't yet been distorted, launched a surprise attack.
Internal fighting.
The naval guns roared.
The massive fleet was being destroyed from the inside out at a swift, collapsing speed. Few were spared in the close-range clash of fleet weapons. Brilliant fireworks shone one after another across the dark starry sky, rolling towards the fleet like a wave.
Steppenwolf's mothership had been spared from attack by other ships, but its current situation was even more dire. A massive octopus was clinging to the ship's exterior, and the elite soldiers Steppenwolf had brought with him were annihilated in a split second. Only Steppenwolf, the Apocalypse fleet commander, remained alive.
But Steppenwolf was in a very sorry state at the moment. The octopuses kept coming, almost forming a pile, pressing him down. And new octopuses kept coming from all directions, joining the ranks.
The terrifying devouring power continued to weaken Steppe Wolf's physical strength. What was even more terrifying, and even more unbearable for Steppe Wolf, was the whispering voices that kept ringing in the depths of his soul.
Noisy, yet seems to contain a powerful mystery.
Steppenwolf knew he should block out this voice, but the alluring mystery forced him to keep listening. His soul was being corroded bit by bit.
His mind gradually shifted from resistance, to vigilance, and finally to listening. He didn't feel anything was wrong throughout the entire process. Even though his intuition was still frantically sounding the alarm, a mental wall that obscured his perception blocked the danger alerts from his body and senses.
Amidst the mysterious and vague chaotic sounds, Steppenwolf remembered his current master Darkseid.
Apokolips is a planet steeped in evil, endowed with immense power, abundant life, and a wealth of advanced technology. Since its inception, it has conquered countless worlds and civilizations, possessing powerful technology from conquered civilizations across the universe. Few forces in the universe can rival the might of Apokolips.
They worship power, especially the mysterious power that was born with the universe and transcends it. They seek to master that power and further their own strength. They want to conquer, crush, and destroy all obstacles that stand in their way.
They are the new gods of the new era!
Whether it is his elder brother, Zoroth, who is known as the strongest new god of Apokolips, also known as Uga Khan, or his son, Uxus, the new king of Apokolips, who is also known as Darkseid after he succeeded to the throne, both father and son are walking on this path with their own actions.
Yuga Khan wanted to explore the power of the Wall of Origin, but ended up being trapped on the Wall of Origin. However, no one in the entire Apocalypse called for the past to save him.
The second son, Darkseid, after snatching the power of the Omega Effect from his brother, began his own journey to find other powerful forces.
Of course, Darkseid did not covet the power of the Wall of Origin. He knew that his power was not as good as his father, Yuga Khan, so his goal was always in another direction.
Darkseid was lucky in that he successfully found an extremely powerful force that was comparable to the Omega Effect, namely the Anti-Life Equation!
This power allowed Apokolips to successfully become the incredibly powerful new Protoss. Possessing countless life puppets and powerful servants, no one could truly resist Darkseid's might. With this power, he leaped to power, truly seizing power from his mother and family.
It was precisely because he, Steppenwolf, realized this that he turned around and joined Darkseid, obeying his orders.
He obeys the powerful, the ultimate winner!
But this does not mean that Steppenwolf is loyal to Darkseid. In the absence of external forces and opportunities, he may serve Darkseid forever, conquering worlds one after another and destroying civilizations one after another, just to increase cannon fodder while searching for those mysterious powers that may exist for him.
But at this moment, his thoughts were involuntarily diverted: Why couldn't he kill Darkseid and take his place as the new king of Apokolips?
No, no, no, Darkseid is too powerful. He also possesses two earth-shaking powers, the Anti-Life Equation and the Omega Effect. He is powerless against just one of them, not to mention that Darkseid can use a combination of the two.
A ridiculous and bold idea came to Steppenwolf's mind, but it was quickly suppressed by his own reason and fear of Darkseid. He didn't want to die.
What are you afraid of? You've already gained my power. You no longer need to fear him! You will triumph over him! Defeat him! Make him kneel before you and respectfully call you Master. Don't you want to see this happen? Oh, you shook your head, but your heart is more honest than your body! You want to do this, you want it madly and desperately! You want to return to him everything he's done to you, every humiliation he's inflicted upon you. Stop struggling, come into my arms!
You will gain the power you've always dreamed of, and achieve your long-cherished wish! All you need to do is give up resistance, and you'll have it all! Come, stop struggling! Let us become one, and my power is yours to use as you wish!
The bewitching voice continuously struck Steppenwolf's mental barrier. Under the bewitching words that went straight to his heart, Steppenwolf's face, covered by the octopus, showed hesitation and struggle, and the wall of his mind was even more shaky, as if it would completely collapse at any moment.
An unfamiliar and powerful force was injected into Steppenwolf through the octopus, flowing endlessly. He felt himself growing stronger with every passing second, each moment a rebirth. His body was swollen and aching from the immense power that surged in, but soon, his new god's body began to break under the pressure, then healed, adapting to the new power.
Repeated cycle.
In the end, Steppenwolf even came to enjoy this feeling of mixed pain and joy. For someone like him who also pursued power and victory, if simply enduring pain could bring him a significant increase in strength, he was willing to immerse himself in the ocean of pain for a long time.
As a result, Steppenwolf's struggle and resistance weakened even further, and the wall of his mind began to crack like shattered glass. The next moment, when Steppenwolf had completely given up resistance, a huge eye suddenly appeared above his mind, like the sun in a planetary system, its light obscuring the sky.
Black marks appeared on the body of the steppe wolf, and a complex pattern between its eyebrows was outlined as if by a high-temperature iron wire, flashing with a dark light.
Just when Steppenwolf was about to fall completely and his mind was completely twisted and harvested by the owner of the eyes, another powerful force, similar to the power of the owner of the eyes, suddenly emerged from the depths of Steppenwolf's mind and collided with the eye octopus that entered the core of Steppenwolf's mind.
An invisible spiritual storm raged across Steppenwolf's sea of consciousness, a hurricane setting sail and a tsunami shaking. Using it as a battlefield, Steppenwolf's sea of consciousness instantly entered a doomsday-like state.
The pattern of power mark drawn on the forehead by the pen tip was suddenly interrupted, and fine blood beads seeped out from under the skin of the steppe wolf. These blood beads were quickly swallowed by the octopus crawling on his body.
The steppe wolf, whose head was swollen and aching, finally regained his physical senses. The sense of crisis between life and death, and the exhaustion caused by the rapid loss of physical strength, further magnified the fear in his heart.
He felt incredibly unlucky! He had regrouped and led his army, hoping for a brilliant comeback and revenge. Instead, before they even saw the expected enemy, they were attacked by a sudden monster. Heavy losses would be an understatement; total annihilation might be a more accurate description.
This time, he brought not only consumable demons, but also a large number of Apocalypse people. In any case, his action this time could be said to be a failure among failures.
He won't get another chance.
Maybe Darkseid won't kill him, but he will definitely give him a task he can't complete and leave him to die.
The monster's power was truly terrifying, specifically attacking the human mind and spirit. Even the slightest sign of relaxation, a mental vulnerability, would be swarmed and invaded by its all-pervasive power, which would then snowball into its advantage, trapping you before you knew it and forcing you to surrender your soul.
As someone so close to the other's vast will, he even had a strange feeling: the other didn't care about his strength or life or death, but simply saw him as a marked prey, seeking to lure him into depravity and corrupt him. As for what he would do after that depravity, the other didn't care, nor did it concern him. When he died, his soul, along with all the information and experiences imprinted on it, would be devoured and digested by the other as food.
A powerful individual like him was highly favored by the other party and was an excellent hunting ingredient on their menu.
If he had not been awakened by the sudden emergence of power within his body, he would have been unaware of any abnormality and would have continued to degenerate and corrupt, eventually becoming what the monster wanted him to be.
As for the source of the power in his body that allowed him to fight against monsters, Steppenwolf also had some speculations.
Anti-Life Equation!
Darkseid had imprinted this power on his soul without him knowing when. This was probably why he couldn't resist any orders from Darkseid even though he didn't feel loyal.
The collision of the two forces at this moment, although it made his spiritual world feel like it was being torn apart and painful, it also allowed him to regain his free will, which was rare.
boom!
An axe whirled back from the depths of the void, slamming heavily onto the deck in front of Steppenwolf. The powerful impact and intense heat instantly sent a large number of octopuses flying. Steppenwolf, his body in a state of disarray, stumbled to steady himself, then reached forward to grasp his own axe. The axe's power instantly replenished his depleted body.
Suddenly, Steppe Wolf looked towards the depths of the starry sky revealed after the mothership was torn apart. A dazzling flash of light came from far away and hit him.
It was a hammer, with a head whose center was pitch black, like a black hole that swallowed all light and matter, and it was surrounded by a rotating halo of large galaxies.
Looking at the hammer, Steppenwolf seemed to see a galaxy hurtling towards him.