Nolan rose slowly, muscles flexing through his torn uniform. His beard was crusted with blood now, matted across his jaw, his eyes locked forward in a cold fury. Beside him stood Lucan and Anissa, both battered, bruised, but still burning with wrath. Across from them, the Justice League stood unwavering in the haze of fire and smoke, the city glowing orange and red around them. Broken buildings smoldered. Streets buckled and cracked like scorched parchment beneath their boots. Hundreds of people dead and splattered across the ground in the collateral.
Galatea landed with a thud beside Superman, her outfit and smeared with ash, her eye blackened and lip split. Her arrival turned every head.
"Kara?" Superman asked, startled by her appearance.
She spat blood onto the cracked asphalt. "Do I look like a child to you?" she hissed as she gestured to her large breasts. "Shut up and fight."
Nolan didn't wait.
He exploded forward, fists cocked, aiming for Superman. Clark intercepted him mid-charge, and their clash detonated a shockwave that shattered windows for blocks. The force blew debris outward like shrapnel. Batman's thrusters flared as he launched into the fray, landing a flying punch into Nolan's side just as Superman delivered a hook to the opposite flank. Nolan grunted, tanking both hits, then caught Batman by the shoulder mid-air and flung him like a missile into a fallen skyscraper frame.
Diana charged from the flank, her sword raised high as she tensed her muscles and swung down, but Nolan caught her arm mid-swing and twisted hard enough to crack bone. She shouted, flipped mid-air, and kicked him off with both feet. J'onn phased through the ground behind Nolan and slammed twin fists into his spine, sending him stumbling forward into Superman's waiting fist.
Meanwhile, Galatea collided mid-flight with Anissa above the battlefield. They grappled viciously, teeth bared, trading raw, thunderous blows. No precision. No finesse. Just rage. Anissa drove her forehead into Galatea's nose—Galatea responded by grabbing her throat and hurling her into a rooftop HVAC unit, which exploded in a burst of fire and steam. Anissa burst from the flames and tackled her downward again, fists hammering Galatea's jaw over and over.
Lucan charged across the street like a cannonball, aiming for Batman and J'onn. He never got the chance.
Aquaman intercepted with a trident stab straight to the ribs which sunk into skin and muscle. Lucan roared, grabbed the trident, and yanked, pulling Arthur forward into a brutal knee to the face. Blood sprayed. Hawkgirl followed, swinging from the sky with her mace. It connected with Lucan's head and the shockwave knocked him stumbling. Flash was next, zipping in with pinpoint strikes to his throat, knees, ribs.
Lucan swatted at him and missed, took another blow to the jaw, another to the kidney, but as Flash looped again, Lucan roared and drove both fists into the ground. The resulting shockwave caught Barry mid-run and launched him off his feet, tumbling across pavement. Lucan was on him instantly. He grabbed Flash by the throat and swung him like a flail into Hawkgirl's mid-flight approach, sending them both crashing into the side of a city bus.
Aquaman surged in behind him, spinning his trident like a tornado and slashing it across Lucan's back. The blow drew blood. Lucan turned on him, swinging wildly, catching Arthur with a glancing punch that sent him flying across the ground, but he managed to stab the concrete with his trident to stop his momentum.
Barry reappeared, this time focusing on Lucan's knees. Ten rapid strikes to the same joint made it buckle slightly. Hawkgirl followed with a diving kick that launched Lucan into the side of a derailed monorail. He burst from the wreckage snarling, blood running down his neck. He caught Barry by the arm on his next pass, finally, and slammed him into the ground with such force that the pavement cracked like a dry lakebed. Flash yelped but vanished again.
Lucan then looked skyward.
Hawkgirl was diving again, mace raised. This time, Lucan caught her mid-air, spun, and slammed her down into the street like a hammer. Then he picked her up and hurled her at Flash who he saw rushing him. Barry dodged just in time, but the distraction gave Lucan the opening to blitz forward and drive his elbow into Flash's chest.
Something broke. Flash gasped, fell to his knees.
Lucan raised his boot and stomped on Barry's back. Once. Twice. The third time cracked the street. Flash stopped moving.
Aquaman screamed in fury and drove his trident into Lucan's side, right between the ribs. It didn't go deep, but it drew a grunt—and it was enough to force Lucan off Barry's body. Arthur followed up with a flurry of strikes, puncturing shoulder, hip, and then across the chest. Lucan roared and lashed out, punching Arthur across the face. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he flew backward into a wrecked firetruck.
Hawkgirl rose shakily, wings torn and bent. Her armor was cracked, ribs likely broken. But she still lifted her mace.
Lucan smiled.
"I remember your race... a hundred years ago I came across your people, they were honourable warriors, but they were still weak."
He charged her.
They collided mid-air again. She got two hits in—one to the jaw, one to the temple—but then Lucan drove his knee into her gut and spun, slamming her into a concrete column. She tried to rise. He kicked her in the face and sent her through the ground.
She didn't get back up.
Only Aquaman remained.
Lucan turned to him, breathing heavy through bloodstained teeth, muscles twitching with violence, gore running in slick lines down his chest. The Viltrumite's grin widened as his gaze swept over the fallen. Flash was motionless and broken near a flipped truck. Hawkgirl was a ragdoll, half-buried under the wreckage of a store sign, her mace still sparking but too far to reach.
Arthur rose slowly, his entire left side drenched in blood. His armor hung in fragments, one arm barely responding, the other gripping the trident so tightly his knuckles had gone white. One eye was swollen shut. His breathing came in wet, rattling huffs, ribs cracked all along his left flank. Every movement hurt. But none of it mattered. He looked at Lucan—truly looked—and didn't see something invincible. He saw something that could bleed. Something that could be punished. And in that moment, Arthur didn't care if he died. As long as Lucan went down with him, he'd accept it.
"Prepare yourself Viltrumite, let me show you the Power the King of Atlantis wields!!!"
He slammed the butt of the trident into the fractured asphalt. A crack tore outward from the impact, snaking through the street like lightning. The sky rumbled in response. Thunder boomed as storm clouds roared into place overhead, wind howling, the air thickening with ozone. Rain started falling in heavy sheets, hammering the ground and soaking the blood-slick debris. But it wasn't random. It moved when Arthur moved. It listened. The water from every pipe, every sewer line, every ruptured main began to rise, drawn by his will—slithering and spiraling through the air, thick as ropes, sharper than swords. He raised one hand. Lightning leapt between the clouds, and his trident hummed with power.
"Human... Atlantean, it doesn't matter, an insect is still an insect," Lucan said with a bloodstained smile. He then flexed the legs in his muscles before firing off towards Arthur. Lucan moved fast, but the water surged sideways into Lucan's path and blinded him. A spiraling wall of mist and rain hit the Viltrumite's face just as Arthur closed the distance, driving the shaft of his trident into his gut with a sickening crack of bone. Lucan doubled over, snarled, swung a fist—Arthur ducked under it and retaliated with a blast of pressurized water straight to Lucan's face, then sent a second tendril curling up behind him and wrapped it around Lucan's throat. It tightened fast, glowing faintly blue as electricity arced across the surface. Lucan thrashed, tried to grab it, but Arthur didn't give him the time. He lunged forward, swinging the trident with both hands like a hammer, the unbreakable shaft slamming into Lucan's jaw and sending him sprawling backward through a half-destroyed armored vehicle.
The explosion of metal and glass was swallowed by thunder. Arthur didn't stop. He dragged every drop of nearby water into on the ground and shaped them—razor-thin tendrils that slashed down like blades, slashing Lucan again and again. He coated the ground beneath the Viltrumite in a thin layer of supercooled moisture and then froze it in an instant, locking Lucan's limbs in place with tons of ice. Arthur clenched his teeth, raised his arm, and from the sky above, lightning screamed downward into the tip of the trident and surged through the ice, detonating it with an explosion of steam and force that shook the city block.
Lucan screamed an ugly, ragged sound as he burst out of the ice his eyes wide with fury. He charged, tackled Arthur mid-air, and slammed him into the pavement hard enough to crack the street. The trident clattered to the side. Lucan mounted him instantly and started raining fists down—first to the face, then the ribs, then the face again. Arthur felt his nose shatter, felt his cheekbone crack open, felt the ribs break further. He tasted blood and teeth. The second punch loosened something in his spine. The third went dark.
But then the water moved.
It exploded upward from beneath them, a geyser of force and sound, smashing into Lucan and tearing him off Arthur's body. Arthur coughed wetly, spat a glob of blood and numerous teeth, and raised a trembling hand. The water obeyed. It wrapped around Lucan's arms, legs, chest, and began to pull him apart. Not enough to kill, but enough to hold. Arthur dragged himself to his knees, found the trident, and pulled it back to him with a wave of his hand. He caught it, barely.
Lucan was already breaking free.
Arthur surged forward, swinging the trident in a full arc, cleaving it across Lucan's temple. Blood flew. Lucan staggered. Arthur stabbed forward, straight into Lucan's thigh, then spun it and stabbed again—shoulder, then ribs, then gut. Each time the trident struck, lightning flashed, pain screamed. Lucan growled like an animal and retaliated with an elbow to Arthur's throat, followed by a knee to the stomach that lifted him off the ground and sent him flying. Arthur hit the street hard. Lucan followed his fists clenched, intent on pulverising his he inferior creature before him. He kicked Arthur in the side, then again. The third kick sent more bone fragments into his lungs . Arthur couldn't breathe.
He rolled away, coughing, vision swimming, body barely holding together. Lucan stalked closer. Arthur raised the trident in both hands. He couldn't lift it high. He just pointed it.
The rain stopped falling. It hovered.
Millions of droplets suspended mid-air.
Arthur snarled and clenched his jaw through the pain. The droplets sharpened. Hardened. And then all of them—all of them—shot forward.
Lucan screamed again as a thousand needle-thin bolts of water pierced him from every direction. The assault drove him to a knee, his body twitching under the sheer volume of focused force. Arthur stood—barely—his frame trembling with exhaustion, blood dripping steadily from his ears and mouth. His vision had narrowed to a tunnel of red and grey, but his grip on the trident remained firm. Arthur's arm felt like it had been lit on fire. But he didn't scream. He didn't fall. He didn't let go.
Lucan charged with a roar "I WONT LET YOU MAKE A MOCKERY OF ME!!!!!. Arthur side-stepped the first swing and slammed the butt of the trident into Lucan's knee with a solid, meaty impact that made the Viltrumite stumble. Lucan roared and spun behind him, throwing a haymaker that would have caved in Arthur's ribs, but Arthur ducked under the arc and pivoted away just in time. With one burst of strength, he leapt into the air and brought the trident down in a perfect arc across Lucan's skull.
*rumble*
*CRACK*
The instant the trident struck, a bolt of lightning snapped downward like a sword from the heavens and connected with its tip, travelling in a straight line through the weapon and directly into Lucan's head. For a fraction of a second, time seemed to stall. Lucan's body went rigid, his limbs locking in place, eyes blown wide and blank. Hundreds of millions of volts tore through his skull and brain stem, burning neural pathways, boiling blood, shutting down every nerve connection in his body at once. Smoke poured from his mouth and ears, it got so bad his jaw began to hang loose.
Arthur stood directly in front of him, chest heaving with every breath, eyes bloodshot and lips split opened to his nose. He said nothing. He just pulled his trident back and drove the sharpened end of the it upward, directly into Lucan's stomach. Lucan shrieked, his hands flying to the shaft. He gripped it with all his strength, but so much electricity was coursing through his body that his muscles weren't obeying him. Arthur pushed forward his arms trembling, teeth clenched so hard blood ran from the sides of his gums.
He rammed the trident deeper into Lucan's body, every inch of it tearing through flesh, organs, and bone. "The sea has judged you Viltrumite," Arthur said, blood spitting out of his mouth as he spoke. Then, using every last ounce of strength left in his broken frame, Arthur lifted the Viltrumite off the ground. His arms shook violently from the strain, blood gushing from the fresh tears across his sides and shoulder. The trident cut through muscle and spine as Lucan hung there impaled, body twitching violently, mouth gaping soundlessly.
"The sentence is death!"
Arthur screamed a guttural, beast-like sound that echoed through the ruined city and with a violent twist of his hips and shoulders, slammed Lucan down into the pavement with all the weight and momentum of a collapsing skyscraper. The impact cracked the earth beneath them, the ground spiderwebbing outward as debris launched in every direction. Lucan's body struck the stone with such force that a crater formed instantly beneath him, and the trident embedded itself deeper, pinning him completely through the back.
Lucan twitched once, then went still.
He tried to rise—but he couldn't. His spine was severed. His limbs wouldn't answer. The trident remained buried through his body into the concrete slab beneath them, locking him in place like a spike driven into a beast.
Arthur took one faltering step backward, then another. He collapsed onto one knee beside him, blood pouring freely now from his torso and thigh. His body was broken. His arm was shattered. His vision flickered like a dying flame. But he was still breathing. He was still alive. And Lucan wasn't moving.
Lucan was finished. Defeated.
Batman's voice cracked across the comms. "Flash is down. Hawkgirl down. Aquaman... alive, barely. Lucan's neutralized."
There was no time to process the losses.
Because Nolan and Anissa were still standing and they were far from finished.
Martian Manhunter and Superman struck Nolan at the same time, fists slamming into him with synchronized force. Diana followed behind them, swinging her sword and carving a gash across Nolan's chest that spilled blood across the street. Batman launched a sonic mine at Nolan's back, and it detonated with a shrill screech that forced even Anissa—who was stood further away— to stagger in pain. Nolan stumbled, his jaw clenched tight, but he pushed through the pain and crushed the device. He grabbed J'onn by the throat and slammed him into the pavement so hard the ground cratered beneath them. Then, with a violent twist, he snatched Diana's golden lasso from mid-air and hurled her across the street into a partially collapsed grocery store. She crashed through the front racks and smashed into a freezer unit, debris falling over her.
Superman rushed forward and launched a left hook at Nolan. The punch connected and snapped Nolan's head to the side blood and teeth spraying out of his mouth. "That's the way Kryptonian..." Nolan retaliated with a savage uppercut that caught Clark under the chin and sent him spiraling into the sky. His body tore through the side of a half-toppled skyscraper, crashing through the floors like a cannon shell.
Galatea descended from above like a meteor, both fists slamming into Nolan's shoulders and forcing his knees to bend. She screamed and fired her heat vision into his face at point-blank range. "RAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Nolan roared, reached up with both hands, and caught her by the throat mid-blast. He drove her into the side of a dented news van, caving the metal around her body with a shriek of steel.
Diana returned with a snarl and slammed into Nolan's ribs with her shoulder. Her shield struck his face with a loud crack. She swung her sword again, but Nolan intercepted her wrist and punched her in the stomach. The impact lifted her off the ground and launched her backward into the street. Her sword slipped from her grip and skidded across the broken concrete. J'onn emerged from the rubble behind Nolan, partially phased. Nolan turned before he could fully reform and grabbed his chest, kneed him in the abdomen with a sickening splat, then raised both fists and brought them down on J'onn's back. The Martian dropped instantly, green blood seeping from his mouth as he lay motionless.
Batman surged forward with his shock gauntlets activated, electric energy crackling as he landed a strike into Nolan's ribs. Nolan grunted and twisted to face him, grabbing Batman's forearm and swinging him up and over his shoulder. Bruce flew through the air and crashed into a rusted steel beam, sparks flying on impact. He tried to stand, one arm limp and dangling from his side, and fired a grappling line—Nolan caught it mid-air and yanked hard, dragging Batman across the rubble. Nolan met him mid-slide with a punch that struck the center of his chest and shattered the reinforced armor plating. Bruce slammed into a derelict bus and slumped to the ground. His visor flickered red. His gauntlet twitched once, then fell still.
Diana charged in before Nolan could finish him off. She collided with him shield-first, forcing him backward. She threw a punch that cracked against his jaw. Galatea landed beside her, and together they attacked. Diana struck Nolan's abdomen with her shield while Galatea drove her fist into his temple. They backed him against a concrete barrier. Galatea wrapped her arms around his waist and lifted, spinning him around and launching him into a pile of broken concrete. Debris exploded outward as he landed.
Before Galatea could regroup, Anissa rocketed into her side, fists slamming into her with explosive force. Galatea was thrown through the nearest wall and then into another, her body leaving craters with each impact. She punched back, but Anissa caught her arm and slammed her forehead into Galatea's face three consecutive times. The final impact broke Galatea's nose, blood pouring freely. She fired heat vision into Anissa's face and broke out of her grip before kicking her back; they both charged towards each other again. The two collided mid-air, exchanging a flurry of punches that sent shockwaves rippling through the ruins. Anissa caught Galatea by the throat, lifted her, and slammed her headfirst into the pavement, grinding her face across the asphalt.
Superman and Diana regrouped beside one another and charged at Anissa. Diana swung her shield into Anissa's jaw while Superman drove his fist into her ribs. Anissa staggered under the pressure, then exploded upward with a scream and punched Diana across the mouth. She spun, delivering a roundhouse kick that at Superman, he caught the foot in his hand before drawing her forward and sending a dull power punch directly to her face; bone cracked under his hand and she was sent hurtling through the ground, through the subway and into the sewers.
Nolan erupted from the debris, his body bloodied and limping but still radiating rage. J'onn tried to rise again, dragging one leg behind him. He charged and tackled Nolan from behind, wrapping his arms around him. "You think I don't learn Martian!" Nolan snarled, reached behind, and seized J'onn's neck. With a roar, he ripped the Martian forward, grabbed his head, and slammed it into the concrete three times in brutal succession. Blood poured from J'onn's skull, and he went limp again. Nolan threw his body across the battlefield like discarded waste.
Diana sprinted in, shield raised. Nolan met her head-on. Her shield absorbed the first two punches, but on the third her strength gave way. Nolan grabbed the edge of the shield and yanked it away. He kicked her in the chest, sending her flying backward. She slammed down in a pile of rubble, though luckily she was right next to her sword. She picked it up and jumped forward raising her sword high which she swung as she landed. The blade sliced into Nolan's shoulder, but he caught it and ripped it from her hands, hurling it into the wreckage. She threw two punches to Nolan's stomach and went to throw another to his face, but Nolan ducked and punched her across the jaw. The impact knocked her back into a pile of bricks.
Galatea flew in again, this time catching Nolan off guard with two fists to the back of his head. He stumbled. She wrapped her arms around him and launched into the air, dragging him skyward. Nolan broke out of her grip and they traded blows as they climbed higher. Galatea broke his nose with a clean hook. Nolan struck her ribs hard enough to dent them inward. They screamed and collided mid-air, tumbling back toward the ground like a meteor.
When they hit the ground Nolan was on top, he battered her face again and again before throwing her at breakneck speeds. Luckily she was caught by superman who held her in a bridal carry before putting her on her feet.
Anissa landed by Nolan, both covered in blood, cuts, bruises, it would be easier to count the places that were not injured or covered by blood. "You should know that you can't stop us," Nolan growled as he glared at Superman.
"Don't be too cocky Nolan, you had to resort to tricks last time we fought," Clark replied with a small grin.
Nolan clenched his fists, but before he could launch himself at Superman a deafening boom split the battlefield as something massive slammed into the earth between both sides. The impact sent a shockwave through the city, tossing debris in every direction. The concrete cracked, and dust filled the air.
Every head turned.
From the crater, bloodied, grinning, and dragging one foot behind him, Battle Beast rose. His chest was torn open in several places. His fur was burned off and his body looked scorched. One eye had swollen shut, and his breathing was heavy, almost ragged. Despite it all, he smiled.
Nolan narrowed his eyes. Anissa blinked with slight confusion.
Superman stepped forward cautiously. Galatea hovered above her fists still clenched.
"What the fuck...?" Galatea said,
Battle Beast rolled his neck slowly. His muscles twitched with tension. His knuckles cracked. And then he laughed, a full belly laugh that seemed to reverberate through the city. Before this day he had not laughed like this for years.
Yet now he laughed like this for the second time this day.
(AN: So there we have it, the fight between the Viltrumites and the justice league. Don't worry we are going back to Mark next chapter and gonna find out why he was in that state. I was gonna do it this chapter, but it's already gone on long enough, my boy Mark is the MC so he deserves more words. I hope you liked aquamans fight, I thought I'd give him some love. I don't wanna hear anything about power scaling, ive tried to make everything make as much sense as possible but if it doesn't to you then... I call comic book logic 🤷🏻♂️. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter.)
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