Damn! Thea cursed under her breath at these troublemakers.
The woman who'd blocked her attack had white hair, black eyeshadow, and wore a leather jacket. Behind her stood a man with eyes, hair, and hands all aflame. The other was short, wearing a long coat and sunglasses.
"Haha! This is hilarious! Cisco, Caitlin, look at yourselves in this world! Here, the speedster is the bad guy, and Cisco, Caitlin, and Ronnie are all villains too!"
Thea clutched her stomach laughing. The most threatening enemy, Zoom, was severely injured. These guys looked scary but weren't really in her eyes.
Whoosh! Flash finally arrived at her side. Looking at these familiar strangers, he was also a bit dazed.
Zoom didn't have time to waste words with her. His hands moved at super-speed to bind his wound before he shakily stood up, eyes dark as he stared at Thea.
"What are you looking at! You're all living so comfortably—I suppose you surrendered to Steppenwolf? Betraying the very world that birthed and raised you, what face do you have to stand before me? A bunch of scum."
Hearing this, the group's expressions varied. Zoom's mask covered him completely—his expression invisible, though he gave a contemptuous snort. Evil Firestorm chose to ignore her entirely. Cisco and Caitlin showed brief discomfort but quickly recovered.
"Everyone be careful. This woman is formidable. She seems to be a New God like Steppenwolf." Zoom quietly warned the others. Normally he wouldn't spare them a glance, but now, heavily injured, he needed to unite them.
"Oh? Seems you've visited quite a few universes—your knowledge is indeed impressive. You even know about New Gods. Barry, go deal with... Barry, watch out!" Thea was about to have Barry handle the wounded Zoom when she saw a blood-red blade emerge from the void, stabbing toward Barry's back.
Even with the warning, Barry's inexperience was fully exposed. He actually made the motion of turning his head. Quickly realizing his mistake, it was already too late to dodge.
Thea cursed and flung a fire blast, while Barry at the critical moment unleashed his potential and shifted his body two steps to the left.
"Pfft!" A muffled sound. A giant sword over a meter long impaled Barry from back to front.
The sneak attacker faced Thea's assault and chose to retreat, pulling out the giant sword. Barry's blood gushed out freely.
Thea quickly slapped on a powerful healing spell and instantly examined him. This favored son of the Speed Force had dodged his vitals at the crucial moment. Though severely injured, he was still worth saving.
"Caitlin, take them and go first." Thea threw Barry to the rear and stared at the enemy who'd suddenly appeared.
Wearing an imposing grotesque horned helmet, blood-red eyes, face covered in scars. Pitch-black full-body heavy armor on a body over two meters (6'7") tall. Most eye-catching was the snarling demon head decorating his belt.
"Steppenwolf! You bastard, you dare use an avatar to face me!" Thea sneered coldly at the New God before her, wielding a giant sword in his left hand, a great axe in his right, and wreathed in pale red aura.
The other sized her up coldly for a long moment. "The Merchant Goddess? I heard Granny mention you. Ignorant creature. I've witnessed evil spanning the multiverse, seen those great powers. For someone at your level, my avatar is more than enough!"
Heh! His actual skills were unknown, but this guy's bragging ability definitely put her to shame.
Who told him to be Heggra's brother and Darkseid's uncle? Though personally weak, the people he'd encountered could indeed crush Thea.
"Cut the crap! You backstabbing coward, I'll avenge this universe, avenge Batman, avenge this world's Diana!"
Thea finished speaking and donned her Divine Aegis armor, wielding the Holy Sword. She danced a sword flourish and charged.
Carrying brilliant radiance, the Holy Sword sensed her fury. The opening strike surged like the sea with tremendous momentum.
Steppenwolf sheathed his giant sword and gripped his axe with both hands. Countless souls slain by his axe swirled around this weapon of murder. His momentum was equally imposing as he met the Holy Sword head-on without retreating an inch.
"Boom!" A violent explosion erupted at their clash point. The highway in this Star City territory was pulverized by the shockwave. Numerous abandoned cars on the road were crushed to powder by the tremendous force.
The evil quartet retreated several hundred meters. On the other side, Caitlin commanded several civilians to withdraw while treating Barry.
After exchanging one blow, both were somewhat unsatisfied. Steppenwolf felt Thea's strength exceeded expectations.
Thea was even more displeased. She hadn't used full strength—she was gauging the main body's power. The result wasn't too optimistic. If his avatar could trade blows with her, that spoke volumes.
The Divine Aegis armor frantically converted lightning magic, enhancing the Holy Sword. The blade, originally a meter long, now wrapped in dense electrical discharge, extended another meter.
Steppenwolf likewise began gathering power. He collected massive numbers of souls to his great axe. Dark red light seemed to carry wailing—these were lives killed by his axe, now used as sacrifices to increase attack power.
When he swung the great axe, it seemed to carry infinite force. Thea didn't meet it directly but defended while attacking, constantly using the Holy Sword's magic to wear down the souls on his axe.
Steppenwolf saw through her intent and increased his offensive pace. After three more rapid exchanges, as Steppenwolf blocked Thea's thrust and the two gods passed each other, he directly drew his giant sword, twisted around and stabbed down.
"Clang!" His giant sword was deflected. Thea had been prepared for his dirty tricks. The Holy Sword blocked the sneak attack and swept toward his waist in one motion.
"Hmm?" Steppenwolf's lower abdomen contracted. The demon head that seemed decorative suddenly came alive, biting at the Holy Sword. Though immediately burned to residue, it bought Steppenwolf time to pull back.
Though only one exchange, his vast combat experience let him see that Thea had been hiding her strength.
The previous moves maintaining a stalemate were all for this final strike—truly cunning!
Thea also felt some regret. She'd always thought it was just decoration—who knew his armor had that function? A wasted opportunity.
Even an avatar, if slain, would cost the main body some divine power.
She'd been quietly suppressing her strength to make Steppenwolf think her mediocre. Now the plan had fallen through. No point in regret—she went full throttle and attacked.
"You scum, get up here too!" Facing Thea at full power, Steppenwolf lost his earlier bravado and urgently shouted to the ground. Thea's strike had been fast and fierce—without his trump card, he really could have been cut in half.
The evil quartet on the ground exchanged glances. Your internal conflict earlier—we thought this was a duel! If it's a group fight, you should've said so earlier!