Boom!!!
Before Clark could finish speaking, an overwhelming barrage of energy blasts, manipulated by Lothar's will, surged towards him!
Flying debris buried Bruce Wayne and Victor Stone where they lay, and the suddenly accelerating figures once again began to clash above Metropolis!
From afar, they looked like two tireless fighting machines, and ominously, their battle radius was clearly still expanding outwards...
"Barry!"
"No! I can't do it!"
"I swear!"
"I, I, I truly have no way to evacuate the residents of the surrounding cities in time!"
Barry Allen knelt before the corpses of Bruce Wayne and Victor Stone, looking down at his hands, his voice trembling noticeably.
Batman, Gotham City's renowned protector, a superhero known almost worldwide. Just like that, he died before Barry's eyes. His life force was extinguished by the resurrected Superman. And the other superpowered cyborg was torn in half right in front of him...
Torn in half effortlessly by Lothar...
"Believe in yourself, Barry, you must do it."
"I know Bruce's death is a huge shock to you, but believe me, now isn't the time for us to grieve and mourn the departed."
"We have more important things to do."
Gritting her teeth against the stabbing pain in her body, Diana struggled to her feet. Limping, she walked to Barry Allen, bent down, and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You save people, I'll stop them."
"Understand?"
"No, no, Diana! You'll die!" Barry Allen shook his head frantically.
"You saw it just now. Bruce... Bruce and Victor, they died without even the power to resist."
"And your body is so severely injured. If you go up now..." Perhaps because he had witnessed the death of a "superhero," Barry Allen's speech sped up again to an incomprehensible degree for ordinary people. Diana could even clearly feel Barry Allen's body trembling.
He was afraid.
Diana understood.
Barry Allen hadn't experienced much cruelty, nor had he participated in war. He hadn't even killed anyone. And before being recruited by Bruce Wayne, he was just an ordinary metahuman with extraordinary speed, wanting to clear his father's name.
Witnessing Batman's death was, for Barry Allen, who had always admired and longed for "superheroes," simply too much to bear at once.
What was even harder for him to accept was that the one who killed Batman was Superman. The legendary guardian of Earth—Superman.
"Diana's right, Barry, you should pull yourself together now. Saving people is what you should be doing."
A calm Alfred slowly appeared before Barry Allen, his greying temples making him look slightly older. A slight tremor in his index finger was enough to show that the old man was not as calm as he appeared.
"Alfred..."
"You know, Barry, Master Bruce thought highly of you."
"He said you possessed the power to change the world."
"So, go and use your power. Don't disappoint Master Bruce."
"But, I—" What Barry Allen wanted to say was blocked by Alfred's hand.
"You couldn't save Master Bruce, I understand, Master Bruce would also understand, so there's no need to blame yourself."
"In fact, from the very beginning, Master Bruce was prepared for his own death," Alfred calmly stated a fact.
From the moment he became Batman, from the moment he put on that mask, Bruce Wayne had prepared for death.
No one could live forever, but Batman could.
Bruce Wayne would die, but Batman would not.
Bruce Wayne was Batman, but Batman wasn't necessarily Bruce Wayne.
From embarking on the irreversible path of Gotham's protector, Bruce Wayne had already arranged everything for after his death. Not to mention a major event like resurrecting Superman. Bruce Wayne was even more prepared to lose his life.
Boom!!!
A thunderous crack in the clear blue sky interrupted their gaze. Collapsing skyscrapers and shattered asphalt roads echoed Metropolis's earlier fate. Diana could even hear rising wails.
"Barry, we don't have time."
"Those ordinary citizens are up to you."
Diana squinted, looking towards the two figures in the distance, utterly indiscernible to the average person.
"But, your body?"
"Don't worry, don't forget, I am a god."
Diana raised the copper bracelets on her arms.
"If my cheap old man had any conscience..."
'Cheap... cheap old man?'
Barry Allen's mind couldn't process it for a moment: "Alfred, who is Diana's father?" He really wanted to know who gave Diana such courage.
"Well, according to Master Bruce, it should be Zeus, the King of the Gods in Greek mythology."
Before he finished speaking, the clear blue sky suddenly changed color. Under an oppressive dark curtain, a high-leaping Diana crossed her arms over her chest, and a piercing lightning bolt struck!
"Ah!!!!!"
Her bracelets collided, and the divine power of the Olympian lineage erupted.
Diana, with her dark hair flowing, forcefully entered the battlefield in a new form!
A god among men, not just Clark, but her too.
The surging divine power was filled with an idealistic aura. Diana, who had been dormant for nearly a century, seemed to have regained the state she was in when she killed her brother, Ares, the God of War.
"Diana...?" Clark stopped, his hostile eyes looking at Diana, who had joined the battle. Her name gradually surfaced in his mind.
"Woz." Lothar squinted. This Diana, with occasional flashes of lightning around her body, also felt unfamiliar to him.
"Unknown energy structure. Woz's system has no data on this power system. Please be careful, Your Highness Lothar."
A series of energy data about Diana appeared on the light screen before Lothar, filled with "unknown."
"Unknown, huh?"
"Never mind. You two, come at me together."
Lothar provocatively spread his arms, and the energy blasts condensed in his palms instantly shot out.
When it came to fighting, he'd never backed down!
Whether it was a one-on-one or a tag team!
"That's what I should be saying."
A cold-faced Clark clearly hadn't regained his sanity. Heat vision spewed forth.
"No, Clark! Lothar! Listen to me!"
Gritting her teeth, Diana assessed her physical condition and grimly joined the battle. She was going to stop—
"Get lost."
Bang!
Clark's fist ruthlessly struck Diana's abdomen as she blocked his path!
The immense power made Diana feel as if ten thousand blades were twisting in her abdomen. A mouthful of blood immediately spurted out! The divine power shield, which should have defended against all things, was shattered without any warning!
Zzzzt!
The heat vision that followed instantly pierced through Diana's shoulder blade!
'This power... how is this possible?!'
The pain, spread throughout every nerve in her body, almost caused Diana, who was already unwell, to faint.
"Hey, don't block the way. Didn't you hear?"
Lothar's voice came from behind Diana, and a whip kick, accompanied by a sharp whooshing sound, viciously swept towards Diana's head!
Bang!!!!
The hastily formed divine power shield instantly disintegrated, and Lothar's attack poured onto Diana without reservation.
Diana only felt her vision go black. She couldn't muster any strength and plummeted straight down.
"No! Diana!!!"
Barry Allen, still doing his best to save people, quickly caught the falling Diana.
'Good, she's still breathing.'
"Alfred!"
Barry Allen, holding Diana, returned to the formerly empty plaza, but he saw another figure behind Alfred...
"Hello there, rabbit."
Steppenwolf, holding his giant axe, played with the last human Mother Box in his hand, a sinister smile on his face, revealing bloodstained teeth.
——————————
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]
There are 50+ advance chapters available for you to read!