The winged man flown down in a sharp dive, speeding past the rusty dust forming clouds in the hot air of the street. He raised a morningstar above his head, the silver tint of the metal reflected the light of the star engines above.
The second winged man followed the example of his comrade soon after. His bared metallic claws looked much less dangerous in comparison to the morningstar in the hands of the other.
Standing in front of his group, Darkseid braced for the opponent's charge. But before his weapon could meet the enemy's, a shield came up before him. Tina jumped in front of him and taken up the brunt of the force upon her shield.
The blow impacted the metal of the shield with a rugged sound of metal gnashing against the metal.
The enemy laughed out loud, his maniacal laugh rang through the street like a bell mocking those that can't escape it's piercing sound. His wings spread wide, their span embracing the street's width almost in full.
The second assailant clapped his talons together and pointed toward the rebels and Darkseid.
"Rebels!" he shouted. Mongul's elites that was engaged in tormenting the two Phaelosian sisters instantly reacted to his call.
Leash reigned in the feral lizard-man, pulling him into the direction of Darkseid. The beast shifted its focus onto the new targets.
The rest of the Ravagers shifted into formation. Lash cracked her whip, the snap reverberating like thunder. Solstice's headdress blazed, golden light shimmering around her. The last woman dived into the darkness of the alley nearby, but before she was gone from the visions of others her skin rippled like liquid.
Darkseid rose from behind the Tina's back, his polearm drawn.
"Protect the girls," he ordered his Furies. His voice was low, calm, cutting through the noise of enemy approaching and slight quivering of the group of rebels behind him.
Then, with a scream that shook the street, Ridge charged ahead, jumping from up high at them. The winged man before him raised his mace prepared to strike again.
But this time Darkseid had acted before Tina. With one hand he blocked the lunge of the beast from above, grabbing the enemy's weapon with his free hand, stopping it from striking Tina's shield again.
Chains rattled as the monstrous body of Ridge was flung back by Darkseid's weapon. But before the lizardman's body would fly even a meter in the air, Darkseid started moving once again.
He pulled down the morningstar that he caught with his free hand, and with it - the winged man's arm and torso.
Slash, and the flying warrior's wing separated in two, cut by his bladed polearm. Crimson blood gushed out like a fountain.
With a roar of fire, a fiery flower bloomed out of the open wound, instantly cauterizing it, scorching it with unendurable heat.
The man before him roared in pain, staggering down, and falling on one knee. The flower of fire started eating through the flesh of his wings.
"Kneel," the Emperor of Apokolips snarled, driving his guandao forward once again, this time slashing off an arm of the man, right at the shoulder. The same arm that was holding the mace.
The lifeless appendage was left in Darkseid's hands, a strong flow of blood falling down onto the brown metal ground.
Borth knees on the ground, the broken man before him raised his head up, streaks of tears and blood running down on his pale face.
"Never," he rasped out, blood gurgling in his throat.
Darkseid did not bother responding, with a single slash of his guan dao he cut off the head of the winged captain. It rolled down on the rust covered floor of the street with a disgraceful sound, like a sack of wet potatoes.
"HARVEST, NO!" A desperate cry from slightly ahead sounded almost immediately after. "You will pay for that!"
"UP, DOG!" Leash, that was holding the chains of the lizard, had roared, shock and horror piercing through his voice. Their leader, the strongest of them, was defeated in a span of a moment. Leash yanked the metal chains that he was holding.
The lizardman's body obeyed the pull of gravitation, it flew backwards - towards its handler, before impacting heavily on the dirty floor of the street.
Mindless and disoriented, the creature stood up, preparing its charge once again.
But this time Tina moved before it could. She planted herself in front of the beast and slammed her shield forward. Behind her back the two other Furies lunged past her, trying to reach the two girls that their Emperor had ordered to protect.
The triangular edge of Tina's shield pierced Ridge's scaly skin through the chest. She twisted the heavy weight of the metal inside her hands, ripping flesh and bone alike. The lizard beast collapsed under its own weight and the weight of the shield, lifeforce almost immediately escaping its worn-down body. Only chains rattled like nothing had happened, the chilling howls and roars were forced from the throat of the beast, pink foam started forming at its mouth.
Leash screamed again, tugging the leash like a child losing a toy.
"No! Get up!"
But before he could pull again, Darkseid's blade struck the chains, ripping through metal like it was nothing. Fire engulfed the iron, feasting on it, and began rapidly melting. In a moment the heat was transferred through the chain to the hands that were holding them.
Leash screamed out in pain, cathartically trying to drop his leashes to the ground. But to no avail, as they stuck to his skin, seared in.
Ripping off his skin and flesh of his palms and fingers he managed to get rid of them. Leash broke into rage. He drew two rusted hooks from his belt.
"You'll pay for that!"
He rushed forward only to be met by the horned Fury's shield. She pulled it out of the quivering mess of the lizard body, engaging head on the enemies that were still alive.
Two hooks had clunked on the shield without affecting its durable metal.
Tina swung the shield up, pushing the thin man's arms and his hooks – out of his hands. The shield continued its trajectory, unaffected by the obstacles.
Blood sprang of the enemy face as it crumpled under the metal.
Tina rushed forwards, horns thrusted into the flesh of the beastmaster. The sheer power behind her charge, her mass and the deadliness of her natural weapons combined together into two points of impact. She practically flew through the body of Leash, meeting next to no resistance. His body exploded into mess of minced meat and innards, painting the rusted walls of the street with its orange tint.
A scream pierced the neighborhood, as Lash was overcome with horror seeing her brother burst into gore and guts.
"Brother," she whispered through her leather mask. Her voice rasped like a rusty machine, as she had rarely spoken before, forbidden from doing so by her elder brother.
She began whipping at the giant woman, lashing again and again. Each strike powered with rage.
But instead of resisting Tina leaned into them, her shield cut through the whips, severing each with the sharp edges of her shield. She advanced forward through the endless tornado of whip strikes. She was like a wall, inexorable, enemy weapon snapping uselessly against her armor.
The second winged man, one with mechanical wings, dived down onto the street, only now casting away horror and surprise at his master's sudden defeat. His talons and claws were prepared to pierce the armor and tear onto the flesh of the opponent; as primal fury had overtaken and clouded his mind.
Steel of the artificial claws and talons had only met fire in its way.
Darkseid had caught the attack with Noctyrn. A roar of fire spreading around from the impact. Sparks of metal that erupted from the clash were instantaneously consumed by the bigger fire.
"Burn," Darkseid had said calmly, his weapon releasing its flames at his command.
A maw of fire had overtaken the enemy. A simple and instant death had come for him. He was incinerated in the heat of the fire as hot as the core of Apokolips. Gone was the body, gone was the man, only molten metal of the wings and talons was left behind.
A red-hot pool of liquid metal dropped on the ground, rapidly sinking into the metal ground. Only sizzling sound of metal eating metal was heard on the street.
After the boom of the fire came silence. The Mongul's Elite and rebels alike stood paralyzed with raw fear and carnal awe at the might demonstrated by Darkseid.
Only hurried sounds of Barda and Aurelie running to the side of two sisters dared to disturb the silence that dominated the moment.
The light of star engines above changed from daylight to pink lighting, imitating the dusk.
Solstice, the priestess that stood at the rear of her group, stepped forward from her place, raising her arms into the heated air.
Her headdress flared, orbs of blazing radiance began forming between the extravagant peaks of metal on top of her head. The light above bent to her will, flooding the square in golden brilliance.
The long shadows of the dusk vanished in the flood of light. The metal of the street and the weaponry glowed brighter, blinding the onlookers.
"YES! Take them out, sister!" Lash cried ragefully, she yearned for revenge. Her brother was dead; their leaders were too. She knew that the two of them were done too. Their only hope was to take one or two opponents with them.
Darkseid narrowed his eyes against the blinding radiance, his enhanced sight working against him.
Tina lowered her head behind her shield, shutting her eyes too, as the light was so powerful that it seemed to go through the metal of the shield as well.
Then someone moved.
"Yes!" Lash cried out on top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face. "Suffer under my light!"
Cold steel of daggers pressed against the neck of the priestess.
"Yield or die," A quiet whisper had entered her ears, somehow overtaking the shouts of Lash.
Solstice reluctantly lowered her hands, the light on her headdress dimming rapidly.
Aurelie stood behind her, both of her daggers on the throat of the enemy. There was no telling, if whatever energy the enemy was gathering would dissipate with her death or not. That was why she made the enemy yield instead of killing them.
"The sisters! Save them!" Darkseid roared. There was no time to waste for celebrations, he could feel their lives were slipping away, as they slowly succumbed to their wounds.
One sister had a hole in her torso, guts were practically slipping out, several internal organs were ruptured or torn out.
The other lost both of her arms shoulder down; a massive chunk of her upper torso was also missing where right lung should have been.
Mongul and Warworld despite being strong players had never gained enough relevancy after they had lost their fight to Superman, so the meta knowledge provided no answers to Darkseid's questions.
These two girls held keys to unknown power. This power should be his, and he will make sure that the girls would survive to answer his questions.