Doomsday, standing on top of the Great Pyramid looked down, its first target was clear. Before anyone could react, it disappeared from its position
Supergirl barely registered the blur before a massive fist slammed into her crossed forearms. The hit launched her straight through the air, smashing her through the side of a skyscraper and out the other end.
The shockwave from the impact tore through the buildings and streets, sending rubble and debris flying everywhere.
Batman looked to the side as Doomsday was standing just ahead of him. The creature didn't even glance at him.
It just started walking forward, then started running, each movement heavier than the last until it launched itself high into the sky toward the streak of black that was already flying back at it.
Supergirl met it head-on. The collision cracked the air, a thunderclap of wind and heat bursting out like an explosion. The force lit the horizon in with a burst of kinetic energy.
"HAAH!" Kara shouted, pushing harder, her muscles trembling as she forced Doomsday upward. It roared back, clawing at the air, but it couldn't fly so, she had that advantage.
She drove her fist into its chest, then grabbed its arm and hurled it higher. Her eyes flared red, burning brighter than ever before, and two scorching beams of heat lanced out, hammering into Doomsday's back.
The beams didn't stop; she kept pushing, burning straight through layers of bone and muscle, driving it further toward the edge of the atmosphere.
The monster's torso was glowing red where she'd struck, a hole nearly forming through it.
Kara looked up at the sun, felt its energy brushing against her skin, and aiming that as her destination, she shot upward again, not wanting to lose that momentum.
She slammed into Doomsday, pushing it higher, the air around them shaking apart.
But then its body started twitching and glowing, with red arcs of lightning. Then, a guttural roar ripped through the thin air. Red plasma began to swirl around it, building faster than she could react.
Doomsday clapped its hands together. The sound didn't reach the ground right away, but the light did.
Batman, watching from below, narrowed his eyes as the sky turned crimson. A massive ring of energy spread outward from the explosion above, so bright it drowned the sun for several seconds.
When the glare faded, two figures were falling. Supergirl's body tumbled through the clouds, smoke trailing behind her.
Doomsday followed, already healed. Its midsection was covered in new bone plating; thicker and denser now, shielding the hole she'd burned.
Kara was half-conscious with her breath uneven.
Doomsday looked straight down, as it was crashing down, its eyes flaring red, and fired two blazing beams of heat.
They were denser and brighter than hers; even hotter but more rougher. The twin blasts struck her mid-fall, accelerating her descent.
She didn't even have time to brace. The impact rattled the ground like a bomb. The shockwave leveled entire streets, glass shattering for blocks around.
A crater formed at the heart of the city, dust rising like a mushroom cloud. Doomsday dropped through the sky, following the path she'd made, and hit the ground right after her.
It landed on both feet, then threw its fist, down. The punch was like an earthquake as the ground cracked and buckled, heat radiating off its arm.
Supergirl's body jerked from the impact. She tried to stand, her hands trembling against the ground.
Doomsday reached down, wrapped its massive hand around her head, and lifted her off the ground as if she weighed nothing.
Then it punched her gut. The blow launched her through the city once more. She tore through concrete and steel, through windows, through whatever was in the way.
Buildings collapsed in her wake, and for those few seconds, the city was nothing but wind and dust.
Bodies, littered everywhere. People who hadn't managed to escape, were gone in an instant. Kara hit the ground hard, skidding through the street until she came to a stop, breathing raggedly.
And then Doomsday was there again. It didn't roar or taunt. It just looked down at her, solely focused on destroying her, its eyes radiating off an insurmountable amount of hatred.
And even as she pushed herself back to her feet, battered and bleeding, she already knew that if this kept going the way it did, she'd inevitably lose this fight.
Doomsday raised its arm, ready to crush her again.
A sharp click echoed through the air, followed by a faint hiss. Something small and green struck its shoulder; it was a cylindrical dart with a blinking light and pointed tip.
Doomsday grunted, grabbing for it, but before it could tear it off, the cylinder detonated in a burst of green smoke and light. The creature roared, stumbling backward as the fumes ate into its skin.
From the other side of the crater, Batman lowered his weapon. His armor was now devoid of any Kryptonite, the faint green glow that once lined it, were now gone.
He'd just used the last of his Kryptonite reserves. "Come on," he muttered under his breath.
Supergirl, still half-buried in the debris, clenched her jaw and forced herself up. The pain burned through her ribs, but she didn't care. This was her shot.
She shot forward like a bullet, slamming into Doomsday and driving up into the air, faster than before. Her scream cut through the sound barrier as she rocketed them skyward, her fists hammering into its chest again and again.
Batman watched from below, narrowing his eyes against the sun. Then he froze as he saw that something else was flying down.
A streak cutting through the upper atmosphere, blazing red and blue. It broke through the clouds in a boom that split the air.
Superman flew down and intercepted them midair, catching Doomsday by the arm and dragging both of them back down to the ground.
They crashed through the far end of the city, leaving a crater where they landed. Bruce swore under his breath. He instinctively checked his belt and of course, it was empty.
No more anti-Kryptonian tech, no backup Kryptonite, nothing left that could help. His gaze shifted toward the still-intact Batcycle parked near the rubble.
Across the city, Supergirl was on all fours, struggling to breathe. Her black suit was torn from her shoulder, the S-symbol, barely visible under the dust.
Ahead of her, Superman stood tall, unharmed and fully recovered. His eyes were locked on her as she was struggling to get up.
Doomsday staggered beside him, shaking its head, still disoriented from that exposure to Kryptonite. Then its eyes glowed red again.
Superman sharply turned to it with a frown. The collar around Doomsday's neck lit up, pulsing with a dense crimson energy as his eyes narrowed.
The creature screamed, clutching its head in pain as the collar hummed and shone brighter, "Obey," Superman growled, his voice echoing across the creature's head.
Doomsday dropped to the ground, its roar turning into a guttural cry of submission. It forced itself up again, trembling in discomfort and stood beside him, motionless for a moment.
Superman turned to Kara again, and spoke in a firm tone. "Go." The creature grunted and began walking toward Supergirl.
"I didn't want it to end like this, Kara," Clark said with a heavy voice. He sounded more certain than cold, now. "We could have stood together, but you chose otherwise."
"Why do you refuse to see, the difference we were about to make?" He asked, genuinely sounding like he'd been hurt by her, standing against him.
Kara replied in a hoarse tone, "And why do you refuse to acknowledge, that we've accomplished shit… Look around you, is this your way of saving people? Death and destruction?"
"None of this, would have ever happened, if you all had just let me be your salvation… The future was bright and clear, Kara… But all of this, is on your hands…" Superman declared as Doomsday reared closer to her.
Supergirl steadied herself, preparing to fight again. But before Doomsday could strike, it suddenly twitched, as if sensing something, then swiftly stepped aside.
It had managed to dodge a blur of blue light, that cut through the air, followed by a metallic thud.
Superman's eyes widened as he shouted, "No!-"
The blur solidified into the shape of a massive red-and-blue machine, lightning crawling across its armor.
The android appeared behind Doomsday with its arm drawn back. Attached on its wrist, was a glowing spear, pulsing with bright green energy. Kryptonite.
With one swift motion, it drove the spear straight through Doomsday's back. "GRAAAHHHH!"
It's roar shook the air as Red and green energy exploded outward, a wave that knocked Superman and Supergirl off their feet and hurled them across the block.
The Kryptonite-laced shockwave cut through their systems instantly, draining them both as they crashed into the ground on opposite sides of the street.
Amazo held Doomsday aloft, impaled through the chest from its spine. The monster's body convulsed violently, bones and muscles cracking and reforming in vain as the light in its eyes were dimming fast.
It struggled, screamed and tried to fight back until it went fully limp. The android then let it drop, the corpse hitting the ground with a thud that echoed through the ruined streets.
Batman arrived seconds later, sprinting through the dust. He found Kara trying to pull herself up, her skin pale, her breathing rough. He crouched beside her, helping her to her feet.
"Stay still," he said, scanning the area.
She followed his gaze. The android stood over Doomsday's motionless body, its chest pulsing faintly with blue light.
The green spike was then slowly absorbed back into its arm as the blue light around its body turned green.
"Amazo…" Bruce muttered as his eyes narrowed. The red-and-blue machine stood perfectly still beside Doomsday's corpse.
As he was thinking about what to do next, faint cyan light shimmered beside it. A three-dimensional hologram flickered into existence, forming the image of a man in a dark suit and glasses.
"Professor Pyg," Bruce said, as he immediately recognized the face.
Lazlo's projection smiled. "In the flesh, or light, whatever works for you. Honestly, you people are terrible at killing someone properly."
Superman's eyes widened, he hadn't yet realized the full scale of how fucked everything was. But some loose ends were catching up in his head.
He looked from Doomsday's body to the hologram. His voice came out raw. "Why… why… why?" He launched forward in rage, aiming straight for Amazo. "Why is everyone so adamant-"
The robot didn't let him finish. Its hand shot out and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up like a rag doll.
"Careful," Lazlo said in a smooth voice, "Amazo is everything Ivo ever dreamed of; your powers and none of your flaws. Ivo imagined it and I perfected it."
Amazo slammed Superman into the concrete below, hard enough to shake the street, then drove a punch into his face that buried him deeper. The Kryptonite glow across its arm flared bright, burning his skin on contact.
Bruce, connecting his own dots clenched his fists, "all those people who vanished; was that your, doing?"
Lazlo tilted his head and smiled, only replying that question with silence, Bruce tried again. "What do you want, Pyg?"
The hologram spread its arms, mocking a grand reveal. "Oh, the classic question. What does the madman want?" He smiled wider. "I could say world domination, but that's such a cliché. Nah, I was just… bored."
Batman frowned. "Bored."
"Yeah," Lazlo said, his tone was casual, almost friendly. "All that enlightenment after my little dip in the Lazarus Pit; it does things to you."
"You start thinking too big. For a while, I considered going legit. Become an innovator and gather an insurmountable amount of fame and wealth. But really… who hasn't already done that?"
Supergirl, still weak but on her feet again, glared at the projection, "So this, playing god with people's lives; is your way of passing time?"
He laughed softly. "No, no, no. You're giving me too little credit. I'm not playing god. I'm just demonstrating how easily one can be made."
Lazlo's hologram turned to look at Superman, half-conscious, bleeding from his nose and mouth. He spoke, "How easy, it was for me, to bend everything to my whim…"
"You still haven't answered my question, Lazlo… What do you really want?" Batman asked, again, his frown visible against his cowl.
Lazlo cowered in mock fear, "Wow, that stare really does work wonders… But really? Do you really think, I'm just going to explain my grand plan like some third rate comic book villain."
"It's already been set to motion, Batman." He said with a smirk and looked up, then added, "All I will say, is that world will remember me for generations to come."
He then turned to Doomsday, whose body twitched faintly as the regenerative bone plates along its chest began to reform.
"Now then," Lazlo said quietly, "Amazo… initiate the fusion."
The robot walked away from Superman's limp form, then grabbed him by the arm and dragged him upright. Its other hand pulsed green again.
Clark barely stirred before Amazo slammed another blow into his head, knocking him cold. The Kryptonite light from its arm intensified, bathing the street in green. Both Kryptonians were now completely weakened by proximity alone.
Lazlo soft and friendly voice echoed again, "You know, my original plan was to claim the body of one of you; after you'd torn each other apart, but he-" Lazlo gestured faintly toward Superman's motionless form "-gifted me something better."
On the other side of Cairo:
The city was nothing but ruin. Hawkman's body lay lifeless, somewhere in the rubble. Raven was also down.
And all that remained standing against Satoru were Sinestro, his surviving lanterns. Wonder Woman, and Black Adam; each were worn thin and their bodies screaming exhaustion.
Sinestro's ring pulsed brighter than ever. The fear across the region; screams, panic, despair; fed into the lanterns like fuel. Dozens of them took formation around Satoru, glowing yellow in the blue sky.
All of them were momentarily distracted by the bright red shockwave that rippled across the sky above, reddening the place for a few seconds.
'I'll let her deal with it for now…' Satoru thought as he could sense Supergirl and that other thing, which had just been released.
His opponents suddenly struck a coordinated attack. Beams of light and constructs of every shape imaginable converged on him from all sides.
Satoru moved between them like water. His form blurred, slipping between explosions and collapsing light barriers, every motion seemed effortless.
Black Adam shot forward, lightning arcing across his body, joining Wonder Woman as they tried to flank him. Adam was visibly falling behind, though as exhaustion was catching up to him.
Satoru weaved around two lanterns, letting one beam pass through his side, then snapped his fingers. An implosion of Blue folded the soldier in half before he could even scream.
Another tried to strike from behind; Satoru simply turned and shattered his construct midair with a casual kick.
Black Adam charged, lightning flaring over his form. Satoru's head tilted slightly, his eyes widening with that grin, sending chills down Adam's spine.
He tried to fly away, but was immediately enveloped in a shimmering blue energy and his movement stuttered as he came to a complete halt.
Blue flared with denser energy denser this time, his body that was frozen mid-flight, was yanked backward toward Satoru. "Got you," Satoru murmured.
Sinestro's eyes darted, searching; desperate for even the faintest tremor of fear in Gojo's aura to exploit, but there was nothing.
He had no fear, no hesitation, not a shed of anger, there was just calm and radiant madness. Madness that was fully within his control and was shining brighter than his ring ever could.
Satoru didn't even glance his way. Once he'd locked onto his next target, the rest of the world stopped existing.
He appeared behind Adam in a small flash of blue. His left arm hooked under the man's chin, his legs wrapped tight around his waist.
The world went still, then came the loud crack, along with the shockwave of wind, with them as its center
The sound of bone snapping echoed like thunder, followed by a spray of red mist. Black Adam's neck twisted unnaturally, as his upper vertebrae snapped out of his neck muscles and his lifeless body dropped toward the ruined ground below.
Rage fueled by disrespect and hurt ego, Sinestro hurled himself at Satoru, his ring blazing so bright it scorched the air.
But by the time he reached him; Satoru was gone. Sinestro turned just in time to see him, with his fist already drawn back.
'Once again…' Satoru thought. His cursed energy surged, cursed energy flaring across his arm. Every drop of power bent to his will, focused into one point.
'That fundamental understanding… the core of cursed energy itself… I can feel it again.' He landed the punch, square on Sinestro's gut.
The impact, detonated like an explosion as his cursed energy flashed with arcs of dark-red lightning, coloring the blue sky, red.
With a crack of thunder so violent, it released a shockwave of wind and arcs of red lightning rippling across the place, Sinestro's body was thrown like a meteor, smashing into the earth with enough force to shatter a crater.
The remaining lanterns faltered midair, their constructs flickering. Wonder Woman froze, her sword trembling in her grip as she looked up.
High above them, Satoru floated upside down, arms stretched wide, the sun's bright light glowing against his white hair. He was smiling; a wide, unhinged grin of pure exhilaration.
The air itself trembled around him, shimmering and bending because of the intensity of his cursed energy.
"Throughout Heaven and Earth," he said, his voice calm, almost divine, "I alone am the Honored One."
Below him, the remaining lanterns and Wonder Woman steadied themselves, ready to charge once more. They were defiant, despite already knowing the truth; they couldn't win this fight.
But Satoru wasn't even looking at them anymore. He was lost in his own mind calculating, running numbers and theories behind those radiant eyes, already thinking of the new move he was about to execute next.
Satoru exhaled softly. 'Since Red has always been so destructive, making it less destructive was counterproductive,' he thought, watching their movements through the Six Eyes.
'Back then, I just didn't have enough CE output to try this, but now...' He thought with a smile as he brought his hands together and slowly pulled them apart; slowly descending towards the ground.
To anyone else, there was nothing but empty space. To the Six Eyes, it was breathtaking; a straight line of repulsive energy so dense and compact, it glowed like a razor-thin filament cutting through the void.
Being precise, it was thinner than a hydrogen molecule, yet humming with endless power as the space itself trembled.
Satoru's gaze sharpened as he held the shimmering line of force in one hand and swiped it across the air with a smooth, horizontal motion, using it like a slashing attack.
'Limitless Reversal: Atomic Severance'
For the briefest moment, there was complete silence, then the air itself, parted ways for the incoming attack. Satoru could see the air molecules themselves, being split and separated.
Wonder Woman blinked, confused at first, but her vision tilted as the horizon spun. Her body felt light, almost weightless.
When her back hit the ground, she realized what had happened. Her upper half stared up at the smoky sky while her lower body still stood upright in front of her.
Blood gushed from the clean divide, splattering across the rubble. Her intestines spilled from both halves as she lay in her own crimson pool, breath coming in short, wet gasps.
The divine spark in her blood bought her a few seconds more of life; enough for her fading eyes to find Satoru looking down at her, one last time, before her vision went black.
Around her, the battlefield was death. The lantern corps within the effective range were gone; some sliced diagonally, others split in half. The rest had already fled, abandoning their master.
Satoru stood at the crater's center; his eyes moved slowly across the field. Sinestro was still breathing, barely, body crumpled against the broken ground.
"Lucky you weren't standing huh." Satoru muttered with a chuckle.
He tilted his head slightly as, something else caught his attention. Another faint sound of weak breathing. Raven was still alive.
She lay where she had fallen, her body bruised but intact. She shouldn't have been alive, not after what he'd done to her mind.
Satoru crouched beside her, studying her brain. 'It wasn't a full Domain Expansion,' he thought. 'But still, her brain should've melted from the exposure. So…'
He remembered the moment inside her consciousness; the other thing that had tried to resist him. The ominous presence that had dominated her own soul before.
'Maybe that's what took the hit,' he thought. 'Or maybe her mind just didn't take the full blast. Interesting.'
He hesitated for a moment, then smirked. "Alright, let's see what happens."
He placed his hand gently over her head and flooded her body with an overwhelming amount of Reverse Cursed Energy.
'Let's see if you manage to live,' he thought. Maybe she'd survive. Maybe she wouldn't. Either way, it was an experiment now.
Flash slowed down near the wrecked Regime ship, as he took uneasy steps. The metallic hull was torn open like a wound.
Outside, Killer Frost's headless body lay bloodied on the ground, ice crystals still clinging to her fingers. Damien's corpse was splattered against a concrete block, his body broken beyond recognition.
Inside the shattered command deck, pools of blood and twisted flesh painted the floor. Torn scraps of green and red fabric were all that remained of Ra's and Athanasia al Ghul.
Flash didn't need to guess, he knew once he took a look at that. At the far end of the ruined bridge, Bane lay on the ground; missing an arm and half a leg but still breathing, just barely.
And then Barry saw him, one of his closer friends in the past. Victor Stone.
Cyborg laid beside the open hull, eyes devoid of any light, chest torn open; his heart and power core were gone. His face was frozen in the moment of death, eyes wide in disbelief.
Barry froze. 'Was Satoru here? No… he's been fighting the others since the start. Then who? Did they fight each other.'
His gaze darted back to Bane's body, then to Cyborg. Before he could move closer, a faint click sounded from Victor's head.
The center of his cybernetic skull flickered with a pulse of blue light. A projection unfolded; holographic, shaky, and drenched in static. It was Victor's last recording.
First he watched the whole event that happened here with them. And how Lazlo cornered them as he revealed that he was the one, that played them into his hands.
And the end, Cyborg's broken face filled the projection. His voice was hoarse and distorted, but still determined.
"I don't have much time… so I'll get straight to it. Lazlo Valentin… has compromised our entire systems. Not just the Regime soldiers here… but across the entire world. I don't know what he's planning, but it's not just limited to our downfall… it's-"
The recording cut out with a hiss of static. Flash took the memory drive from his head then pressed a finger to his comms. "Bruce… you need to hear this."
Back to Batman:
Bruce was watching something far worse unfold. Amazo was no longer a machine. It had wrapped itself around Doomsday's regenerating body like a cocoon.
The Kryptonian collar tore off and disintegrated as Amazo's structure fused into the creature's flesh. When it rose, it wasn't Doomsday or Amazo, anymore.
Five meters tall, plated in living metal and bone, its head resembled a dragon forged from dark steel and bones.
Red and blue lightning arced around its body as green light pulsed through its veins; pure kryptonite energy leaking from every joint.
Bruce clenched his teeth. He could feel the intensity from meters away. His HUD registered lethal radiation levels.
He reached for his comm again, trying to call Plastic Man or Flash for backup; but Oracle's voice burst through first, strained and terrified.
Lazlo looked at his newly formed creation and declared, "Meet my latest masterpiece. The Omega Machina."
Just then, Oracle's voice broke through his comms, "Bruce, we've got a problem. The Regime soldiers, they're everywhere around the world. And they've snapped. They're killing everyone on sight."
"And it's not just them. In major cities, New-Metropolis, Moscow, Gotham, Hong Kong, London, Cairo, Khandaq, there thousands of mutated Dollotrons, all tearing through anything that moves."
Bruce's heart sank, "How many dead?"
"We don't even have a count. Early worldwide estimates are… hundreds of millions." She replied in a grim tone
For a second, Bruce said nothing, just looked at Lazlo's projection in silence. He was looking back at him with that same smirk.
As if he knew what Bruce had just heard, he said, "Don't make this boring, Bruce Wayne. Think of a plan soon, before the death tolls reaches billions, because my Dolls, they won't stop. Once they've started."
Burce's voice finally came out, low and grim, "What have you done?"
Lazlo replied, "I told you before, Batman. This is the answer to my boredom."
Somewhere in a dark chamber, dozens of screens covered the walls, each showing live feeds of cities burning. Soldiers massacring civilians. Giant Dollotrons stomping through everything.
The government that were already weakened by the regime, the militaries that were sucked up dry and dysfunctional. None of them were ready for this sudden attack.
Lazlo Valentin stood at the center of all the screens, bathed in the glow of carnage. In one hand, he held a violin. He raised it gently to his shoulder and began to play.
The melody was hauntingly soft and sorrowful, but eerily beautiful. And as the world fell apart to his music, he closed his eyes and smiled.
"So this is what excitement feels like," he whispered.
... To be continued!!!