The cold vacuum of deep space was silent, but Darkseid's mind roared with fury. His crimson eyes dimmed as the searing pain across his body flared. Blood, his blood floated in the void, glinting like rubies against the eternal black. His lips curled into a grimace as he touched the smear of ichor, the molten iron of a god.
That whelp... That insolent boy had dared to draw his blood again, first he had given him a scar and now this humiliation. His blood boiled at the very thought. Darkseid, Lord of Apokolips, the God of Tyranny reduced to this? No. He refused.
But then he saw the streak of emerald comet tearing through the abyss, growing larger with terrifying speed.
His eyes snapped into focus just in time to hear something no sound should have carried in the void
"Ganrin Tensei Baku(Prayer Wheel Reincarnation Explosion.)"
From Toneri's hands, another one of those accursed black orb spiraled into existence, pulling on the unseen tides of his nigh-infinite chakra. With a pull of his palms, Toneri split the sphere, dividing it into two perfect discs, each spinning faster in a rapid spiral motion. The sheer force of their spiral began to twist the surrounding space above Toneri's glowing palm.
A smile not of joy, but of an artist savoring his brushstroke tugged at Toneri's lips as he prepared his jutsu.
Darkseid's lips twisted into a snarl. Omega energy surged in his eyes, the dark-red storm coiling like a serpent preparing to strike.
But then Toneri suddenly vanished from view.
Instinct honed by millennia of combat and experience from fighting Lunaris screamed at Darkseid. He spun around, his colossal frame pivoting with impossible speed, ready to intercept an attack from behind but… Nothing.
'Where is he?' Darkseid's mind raced.
Then the trap snapped shut.
Behind him Toneri reappeared, his grin sharp as a blade, having made the dark god lose his guard.
Darkseid had no time to react as one of the discs slammed into his back with the force of a dying star.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The disc detonated, erupting in a blinding explosion of white light, so pure and consuming that it seemed to unmake reality itself. The sheer intensity of the yang chakra seemed to incinerate the very fabric of space in its path… perhaps it was an illusion generated by the effects of the explosion, the shockwave expanding outward like a cosmic pulse.
Darkseid roared, actually roared though no sound should have existed as the blast swallowed him whole, propelling him through the void faster than light, faster than thought.
Had that blast touched Earth, it would have been gone, completely erased. But here in the void, Toneri was unbound. No fragile world to shatter, no allies to protect. Here, he could finally let loose.
The thought sparked another grin on Toneri's face as he became an emerald streak, chasing after the distant, tumbling form of Darkseid like a hawk after a crippled prey. His speed increased past the speed of light as he wasn't bound by gravity anymore here in space nor did he have to watch himself as to not tear apart a world due to the sudden motion. The fabric of space bent around him as he surged forward, slicing through the cosmos without restraint.
He caught up Darkseid who barely had time to reorient himself before Toneri hurled the second disc. Another blinding explosion of yang chakra detonated, washing over the both of them, propelling their battle even further from Earth, past Mars, and into the cold expanse beyond.
—
Back on Earth
Elizabeth's boots hit the cracked concrete as she dismissed the swirling emerald orbs orbiting around her. Beside her, Jenna clutched her hand tightly as they reached the military line a hastily fortified barricade of tanks, sandbags, and grim-faced soldiers barking orders.
Elizabeth's eyes scanned the chaos. The soldiers were yelling at civilians, forcing them behind the armored lines as parademons swarmed the skies. The air reeked of smoke, gunfire, and fear.
Elizabeth crouched, gently lifting Jenna into her arms. "Can you see your parents anywhere?" she asked softly.
Jenna shook her head, tears streaming down her face.
Elizabeth tried to soothe her, weaving through the crowd, but the chaos was overwhelming. Soldiers barked orders, some staring in disbelief as Toneri's puppets moved through the air and their surroundings killing para demons.
"Move the civilians to the safe zone!" an officer shouted.
Some soldiers flinched as a puppet, dragging a parademon like a rag doll, crashed into a burning car, causing an explosion that sent civilians scattering. Smoke curled upward as the puppet slowly rose, turning its expressionless gaze on the soldiers.
Rifles snapped up, fingers trembling on triggers.
The puppet simply glanced at them, then at Elizabeth, before leaping backward onto a giant puppet bird that swooped down to carry it away.
"...Damn," one soldier muttered, shaking his head. "Creepy as hell... cool, but creepy."
"Eyes up, soldier! Focus!" barked the commander, snapping the men back to order.
A moment later, a soldier jogged up to the commander, breathless.
"Sir—"
The world bled into white.
Above them, a light brighter than the sun erupted across the sky, blinding and burning. Night became day. The entire world froze in awe and fear as a sun seemed to ignite in the heavens.
In bunkers and control rooms across the globe, officials shouted over each other, panic surging. The Amazon Rainforest, already half-destroyed, was almost sunken due to the battle between the two godlike beings. Cities were crumbling. And the Parademons continued their rampage.
"Get satellite images!" one military official shouted.
"Where are they now?"
"They're past Mars, sir!" another confirmed.
A tremor of relief spread through the room.
"Thank God they're moving away from us..." one president muttered.
"Yes... thank the Green One," murmured the Prime Minister of Australia, clutching a photograph of his family saved from Sydney thanks to Toneri's intervention.
But the calm was short-lived. Another flash another sun born erupted in the heavens, blinding them once more.
Phones slipped from hands. They watched and stared in shock at the monitor, watching the incomprehensible devastation that would have ended the world had it occurred in earth.
---
Deep in Space
A massive body, slammed into one of Jupiter's moon. Ganymede's icy surface, shattering its crust, sending plumes of rock and frozen gas into the void. The moon's surface cracked, a chasm yawning open as the ground trembled from the impact.
Darkseid grunted, forcing himself into a seated position. His breath came slowly, his body smoking from the raw force of the explosion.
But survival instinct screamed.
He rolled, moments before a giant red destruction Beam tore through his previous position, vaporizing a chunk of the moon in a cataclysmic blast.
Emerald light streaked across the battlefield as Toneri's form cutting through the void, a comet blazing with untamed power.
He slowed, controlling his momentum as he neared the fractured moon.
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