Why?!

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Chapter 239 Why?!

(Aden's P.O.V)

To put it simply, they got wrekt.

Oh, you want a more detailed version? Probably wondering about the implied Power Up Miss Martian went through?

Okay. However, you should understand something, a fight is usually very short. When you're in it, it's a different matter all together. You just react and hope that your body has mastered all the skills you have painstakingly practiced.

That said, no matter how powerful you are, if you were the League minus some of it's heavy hitters, the chances of actually besting a god of war were...not great.

(General P.O.V)

Yaotl was faster than Kid Flash and using that to his advantage he took out Canary through an expert chop to the neck, then spun around Wonder woman's Lasso, knocking it off course with a blast of well timed flames. The lasso wrapped around Hawkman's wings and the tug from Wonder Woman brought him crashing down before she could stop herself.

Only for Hawkman to meet Yaotl's fist across his jaw. The smack actually produced a minute shockwave and Hawkman was out for the count. His wife screamed out in rage and flapped her wings, descending on Yaotl like a meteor.

The mace struck Yaotl on the face and he burst out into Torquise flames as the construct unravelled. Two almost silmuteneous explosions sounded out. The flames exploded around Hawkwoman, leaving her a smoking mess. Then he ground under, Robin, Artemis, Aqualad and Miss Martian exploded as well.

Yaotl sprang out from the burning pit and punched out to his left. A pressure wave followed by a massive fan of flames rushed out towards Stewart, Batman and Martian Manhunter.

The shockwave blasted Green Lantern's shield to smithereens, clearing the way for the humongous flames to bear down on the Dark Knight and the Martian. Screams escaped Martian Manhunter when he started to burn in the flames.

"Uncle J'ooonn!!"

M'gann screamed out, alerting Yaotl to her presence.

Yaotl waved a hand and the burning flames roiled around him before exploding outwards at the second Martian. Miss Martian was badly beat up from the previous explosion, so she could nothing as the attack neared her.

Wonder Woman landed infront of her, the ground quaking under her 10 foot and increasing frame as she brought her gauntlets together in a resounding clash. Yaotl's flame's were thrown back, flaring across the midday sun like huge curtains.

"Stand ba..."

Wonder Woman's Words were cut short when Yaotl blasted through the flame curtains, hand cocked back and ready to strike.

The God Queen anticipated her fellow warrior's next move as she tracked his advance. They had regularly sparred in the past and apart from a few wins by technicals, Diana had never actually managed to best Yaotl in single combat.

That didn't matter now, she had him right where she wanted. Two feet away from her, Wonder Woman wrapped her fingers around the handle of her god killer sword, unsheathed it and swung it out at break neck speeds towards Yaotl's neck.

The blow landed on Yaotl's gauntlet. Spark's flew out from the contact and Diana was shocked when Yaotl grabbed the edge of her sword with his open palm. Then he pulled on it. Wonder Woman found herself tugged on by strength that the god of war, the so called 'diplomat' had never displayed before.

Too late she became away of another attack. Time seemed to slow down as ripples appeared along the path Yaotl's fist took. The fist was similarly covered by a blue energy. When it landed on Diana's chin, the ground shattered. Spiderwebs grew from their position. The ocean water was pushed away from the beach, revealing shells and fish jumping in the air.

The pressure blast from the contact was enough to send M'gann rocketing back into the jungle. Captain Atom, shielded his eyes from the sand wind produced as a result of the attack. Clouds begun forming overhead with rain threatening to fall.

The dust cloud finally settled as Captain Atom, Jordan, Zatara and Guy looked around at the devastation. Wonder Woman lay inside a crater, unmoving. Her armor was gone. Replaced by her usual costume.

"What was that?! ...I have never felt anything like it!"

Captain Atom shouted in alarm. That blue energy had immediately caused Wonder Woman to pass out.

"A spirit attack. My god! the shockwaves went deep into her soul."

Zatara did the sign of the cross.

"Where is he?"

Guy asked, forming a large fan that blew away all the dust.

"Be careful, this might be another trick."

Jordan warned them, his eyes however were stuck on him. Aden Strong. As if feeling his gaze, Aden looked up to him and smiled.

The anger was mostly gone from Jordan's heart. Something else was taking it's place, nervousness. If this continued...his ring would lose power as his willpower plummeted. No! They had to win this...

A flash of yellow appeared next to them in midair, taking the shape of an Ankh.

"Nabu!"

Zatara said and then levitated closer as Doctor Fate appeared from the portal with magically platforms carrying an unconscious Batman and a badly burnt Martian Manhunter.

Dr.Fate held up a hand.

"We have better things to do than argue Zatara."

The Lord of Order rebuked. Zatara ground his teeth but kept quiet.

"Ok then, what's the plan?"

Gardner licked his lips and asked. He had no idea why they were fighting someone who by all accounts was stronger than them.

"We surrender."

Nabu stated.

"Wait what?! Are you cra..."

Hal's statement was interrupted by an outpouring of incredible energy. The same energy they had all felt from Yaotl before. This time it was coming from the jungle.

"You hurt Uncle J'onn! My friends! I'll destroy you!"

The trees were uprooted as something barreled right through, coming towards them at supersonic speeds.

"Intriguing. She can control the nascent energy in the air."

A deep voice stated from between them. Zatara, Captain Atom, Jordan and Guy turned to the center only to see Yaotl standing in midair, in a T-pose.

"You came up with an effective strategy. It is cowardly but surrendering is your only way out."

"Hsalf ezeer...mmhf!!"

Zatara's ice spell chant was interrupted when the two shields behind Yaotl produced red clothing that wrapped around everyone present, halting their actions and binding them in place.

The could only watch as M'gann, her body glowing blue, advance towards the god of war. Behind her, held by more blue outlines, were all sorts of things. Hundreds of trees, rocks and soil. She snarled, her eyes pools of hate nobody had ever witnessed before as she threw the telekinetic held attacks, Yaotl's way.

"Commendable mental prowess, child." Yaotl said, feeling the battering ram on his mind but slapping it away with contempt.

"But I am a god."

A flash of blue fire exploded out, burning everything behind M'gann except for her. M'gann's eyes were exposed to a split second sight of Yaotl's true form as were the Leaguers behind them. Their minds were stunned and they all fell unconscious.

And just like that the fight had ended.

(Aden's P.O.V)

"Master, sorry about the beach."

Yaotl placed M'gann on the side next to the other Justice League members and said. I sighed on my throne. The fight had ended but I had a feeling that the lesson I had intended to teach had failed.

"Master...you lost."

Michael unhelpfully informed me.

Yaotl frowned.

"I...I don't understand."

"We made a bet on how long it would take you to beat them all. Master Aden bet 1 minute and 12 seconds. You exceeded that by 2 seconds."

"So 1 minute and 14 seconds."

I shrugged.

"Not that far off."

"PLEASE FORGIVE ME MASTER ADEN! I HAVE FAILED YOU!"

Yaotl surprised us by apologizing and slamming his forehead onto the ground.

"Whoa whoa whoa calm down big guy! It's alright."

"I am your shield, your sword. What good is a sword that cannot cut as fast as possible? I will atone for this mistake by..."

"Trying harder next time."

I interrupted him, not wanting to hear him say 'by slaying over a thousand enemies and presenting their scalps to you' or some other over the top action.

"Now stand up Yaotl, it's time we wrapped up this whole affair."

I told him without room for argument. Yaotl nodded and rose to his feet to stand next to Vaatu.

Looking around, the whole beach... no, the whole coast was devastated by the Yaotl vs League fight. My cottage was nowhere to be seen, there was a crater where the kids played making sand castles and any vegetation a mile out from our surroundings was gone, only charred ground remained.

After Earth had been destroyed, I had sort out a way to prevent the same from happening again or even undoing the damage if I wasn't there. Normally that would have strayed into the path of temporal manipulation but since I did not have an active Subskill in that category, I went a different route.

I got up from my seat and walked a few paces infront. I had complete control over my world. Which meant I could do anything and everything as long as I didn't overtax the realm too much. Now that she had upgraded and currently having an interesting conversation with my other godly form, she could handle more. However, this time I wasn't using my authority over the realm to put everything back together.

"Spatial Load!"

I called out the name of the skill for the heck of it. Faster than the blink of an eye everything was back to normal. The League were all sitting in their chairs looking confused and befuddled by what had happened.

"It's called Spatial Load. I basically saved an exact mental copy of how space used to be before you and Yaotl begun fighting. I just loaded the saved the copy and cut out the one where you were all bleeding on my floor." I explained. It might have sounded easy but Spatial Load was the most dangerous skill in my arsenal right behind silver flames, chaos and order states.

Every second chemical reactions happened in midair, one wrong tweak when activating Spatial Load and a chain reaction towards destruction would begin. Space would stretch, shrink, break, shatter and a plethora of undesirable outcomes.

"Now." The ever present smile that had been on my face disappeared. I had frozen space around them for equal measure. They couldn't move or do anything, only listen.

"No more games. I will talk and you will listen."

They kept silent of their own volition; I couldn't feel anyone struggling against my hold. Eyes downcast, faces hopeless, they tried to come to terms with the fact that they had been so soundly defeated, if it was death none would have escaped.

I slammed my hands on the table, stunning everyone.

"3 TIMES! 3 FUCKING TIMES! That's how many times we've had the same dance and song. So I'll make this clear, this is the final time."

I rose up to my full height, eyes flashing as I sent over my memories to all their minds.

I looked on as their faces underwent changes at different intervals. Vandal Savage organizing a force to kill me, me destroying them and capturing Hundun and Kara (the young Kryptonian was undergoing de-brainwashing by a specialized medical bot in a secluded island), my overwhelming battle with Darkseid that led to the destruction of two planets the size of the Solar System, Darkseid's death and then my arriving to find the earth destroyed.

I put my emotions in the mental retelling as well. The hate I held for Darkseid for destroying humanity's home and the pleasure I got from remembering how I had killed him. Then I showed them, hijacking the War World, saving the Lanterns and sending Grayven to Michael for some one on one time.

I skipped over the Mercury interaction as well as the time I had spent with my family.

"And that leads us to now." I spoke up cutting off the transmission.

"I saved humanity, got back at the ones who started this entire crisis. But, time has shown that, I will always be the evil party in your eyes. And to be frank, I respect your dedication to upholding truth, Justice and honor. The only thing I don't understand is why you choose to see the bad side in every action I take. Why not the good as well?"

"I don't fucking concern myself with what you do. I don't dig my nose into your affairs. So why do you clamor to shackle me to those same beliefs when they clearly don't work for me? I have the power to destroy an entire galaxy! Do you understand that?! Can you fathom that size? 100,000 light years, gone. Poof! But I haven't, have I?"

I was actually realizing just how much their dislike for me had affected me. The truth was, these had been my heroes. My heroes were looking at me with fear. As if I was the villain.

"You say I should not kill, tell me something Batman, is there a prison strong enough to hold Darkseid? And even if there was, earth villains like fucking Kite Man escape Arkham all the fucking time, scale the damage they wreak to Gotham by a few magnitudes and you'd be telling me to let someone capable of juggling with planets for fun to walk away. An irredeemable monster who if it weren't for my foresight would have been responsible for the death of over a trillion beings!"

A few of them seemed contemplative.

"But hey, don't mind me. Just ranting here like I've done a thousand times before. You know at some point, you just gotta say fuck it. To each their own." I gestured to myself.

"I'm content to say exactly that, do whatever I want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone innocent but you...even without trying, you will still poke your noses in my business. The Lanterns will use the excuse of being the galactic equivalent of law enforcement (sorry my realm is not part of the universe). You will even find that your rings will not recharge even if you use your lantern."

"This is not earth so the majority of you have no jurisdiction and Diana, you are the god queen of a pantheon that does not have any influence in the forces of my world. Basically, you guys are guests. No even worse, you're unwanted guests. But I realized that you had nowhere to go, so I ALLOWED you to enter my realm. Whether you stay is up to your willingness to follow the rules."

"For starters, the Justice League no longer exists. Not in any unofficial or governmental capacity." Their wide eyes were priceless.

"A universal force of peace keeping and maintaining law and order shall be picked from a wide range of different nation's police force, army, navy, air force and other intelligence agencies. If you wish to join the Enforcers, which is the name they'll go by, then you will have to apply and wait one month before being allowed to join as a probationary member."

"The use of your abilities will be closely monitored. This might change based on how long it will take to find another planet humanity can live in with their own forms of self governance. Food, clothing, shelter and medical services will be provided for each and every person. However, education, recreation and other secondary activities shall be discussed in due time. Remember, humanity is not here to stay. Now you can talk."

I unfroze them.

"What makes you think you have the capacity to stop us from helping someone in need?"

Wonder Woman bit out. The same question was in everyone's mind.

"Have you forgotten the beating Yaotl just unleashed on all your collective asses?"

I shook my head. Never met a group more stubborn.

"Fine, I guess this is as good a time as any to tell you this. When I absorbed you into myself, I tweaked with something. Your souls signed a contract with me for your freedom."

I could see horror dawn on their faces.

"The contract is very straightforward. You will follow any rules I set up concerning your interaction with anything, anyone and everything inside my realm. The contract loses meaning in the outside world but as long as you're here, what I say goes."

I finished.

"You...you monster."

Canary accused. I held Yaotl from jumping in and splitting her into two.

"Yes, a monster who saved countless lives when you were stuck inside a floating space station. Where do you get the courage to accuse me of being a monster when I am just looking out for my realm? When you go to someone's house do you act accordingly and with grace or do you ignore his courtesy and rules. Do you shit at the table of your host?! Do you break the plates and cups?! Spare me that load of horseshit Canary."

I looked around.

"If you can't follow the rules..." A boom tube manifested to the side.

"Then you're free to go. This boomtube will take you to OA. The guardians planet is safeguarded by an environmental shield, so no danger of suffocating in the harsh environment of space. You can stay there until they decide what to do with you. It's clear to see that I personally really really really don't want you here. Aqualad and his team can stay however."

Silence dominated the room. Guy rose up.

"Guy, what is the meaning of this?!"

Hal hissed.

"Someone has to inform the Guardians about what happened to the planet and all the people there."

He explained to the others before turning towards me.

"I...have family. Can I please stop by whenever I can?"

He asked me politely.

I gave him a nod.

"Just invoke my name three times and a portal will open as long as you're alone."

He nodded in gratitude and walked towards the Boom tube.

The next to rise up was Hawkman.

"I similarly have to send a report to Thanagar. My planet had vested trade interests in earth."

I nodded.

"Invoke my name three times and you shall be allowed in."

He walked through after hugging his wife. Wonder Woman made to get up but I subtly shook my head. Diana and I were not done yet. There was the issue of her sisters to discuss. Now that humanity was living without borders, a lot of aggression would definitely form between the men hating Amazons and the general populace.

I did not hurry to close the boom tube in favor of M'gann. The martian girl was alternating between staring at her team and the portal. Everyone could see her indecision clearly. Eventually she made her choice, choosing to remain seated next to her friends. I closed the boomtube.

"It's not right."

Batman bit out, shaking with emotion. That's when I realized I had completely beaten them. There was no way Batman would leave over 7 billion lives under my rule. The man was the walking replica of paranoia, distrust and suspicion. Still...

"I know it feels like slavery. Not to mention how violating the whole experience must have been. That was not my intention, but life is rarely fair. The fact that you're all grown adults in costumes fighting crime speaks in favor of that sentiment. I apologize. I cannot undo the contract but I apologize."

"Why?! You took the choice to willingly follow your rules from our hands. Nothing you say can alter that fact."

J'onn spoke up. His calm countenance, a facade for the tumultuous emotions I could see in his eyes.

"Why? Because you're stubborn. Persistent and worst of all, accountable. The League loves to tout about how you respect the UN and every nation. You wouldn't go into a country without permission. And that means you believe you've covered for any and all errors in judgement you might make."

"You believe you know better because there is someone to hold you accountable incase you mess up and that leads to you thinking your ideals are the only ones that matter. But it's a sham. I mean if it truly came down to it, how the fuck would the UN or any other government hold the league accountable? You're stronger than any nation's army! The whole notion is laughable."

"You would have fought me tirelessly. And your conviction would have only grown with each push. You would begin utilizing everything at your disposal to take down my 'dictatorship.' You would have mistaken self entitlement for Altruism. When you think you know better, in your eyes nobody else does." I paused, deciding to finally tell the truth.

"And...you would have made me kill you."