Chapter 31 – Annihilation

'Why are we not following them?' the Flash asked. He didn't like just floating in one place above the ocean because that way he had to be carried since he didn't have the ability to fly.

John Stewart, who was carrying him with his green power ring, explained:

'Why would we? Is it not much better to just let those two criminals tire each other out before we jump in and take them both in one swoop?'

Shazam asked Doctor Fate:

'Would it be possible for you to cast a spell that will let us witness their fight?'

'Of course.' the sorcerer said and as he waved his hands, a yellow light simmered in the air before taking form of a circular screen, showing what was happening tens of miles away from them.

As they watched the two god-like metahumans, many of them became inwardly worried. Even Superman himself clenched his fists when he witnessed how the clone of his younger cousin split the ocean for hundreds of feet just with a clap of her hands. The gigantic heat beam that she fired right after that only convinced him even further of how much powerful than him was the clone.

But when Naruto appeared from the flock of birds and the League members saw his appearance they were appalled.

'H-How is he even alive after that?!' Zatanna cried out.

With the entire skin of his torso, arms and half of his face melted, Naruto truly looked horrifying, like a monster out of a nightmare.

'It's time for us to intervene.' Superman said right after he saw Naruto's bone projectile skewering Galatea's shoulder. 'You have seen with your own eyes what these two are capable of. Even if they appear as though they are on their last legs now, do not underestimate them.'

And with that, Superman and Shazam took the lead in front of the group, starting to fly at a great speed. But then, Superman suddenly stopped: he noticed Batman's airship turning around and flying back towards Gotham.

'Batman...what is the meaning of this?' Superman asked through their communication device.

Without stopping his airship, Batman replied:

'I am a man that knows his limits very well. The clone had casually split the ocean with a mere clap of her hands. Me trying to fight her while I'm piloting an aircraft above the ocean would be just suicide. I will be just a liability for you.'

As he left, his voice sounded in everyone's earpieces:

'Zatanna, Steel...you should fall back as well...I don't like saying it, but this is not a fight people like us can fight. Not in these conditions. Not in the middle of the ocean.'

'Flash, you should retreat as well. I know you can run on water but you've seen with your own eyes what had happened.'

The other members of the Justice League remained silent at Batman's words.

'Batman is right.' Superman said eventually, much to their surprise. 'There is no need for you to throw your life away. Nobody will think bad of you if-'

'Stop yapping cuz I'm not leaving, big guy.' Flash said before Superman could finish his words and Steel said the same:

'I came here knowing that my life was at risk. I am not going to leave now.'

Zatanna wanted to follow up as well but Doctor Fate shook his head at her. The beautiful magician bit her lower lip in helplessness but decided to listen to Batman's and Doctor Fate's advice.

Batman sighed. There were times when one had to retreat and there were times when one had to attack. In his opinion, Flash was just being foolish: the ocean was going to be way too turbulent from the shockwaves generated by the fight...he thought that, in the end, Flash would end up needing to be saved, becoming a burden for the team.

'At least Zatanna will be safe.' He murmured to himself after being informed that Doctor Fate teleported her away. Zatanna had been his friend since they were children. It was only normal that he cared about her more than about others.

Scene break

Naruto brought both of his hands into a ram seal, preparing to make the other 4 bone projectiles burst and skewer Galatea's body from inside out...but then, his two chakra hearts throbbed, warning him of the dozen of powerful life signatures approaching him.

And Naruto was not the only one who sensed them. With her enhanced eye-sight, Galatea also discovered them.

'Don't kill me.' Galatea suddenly said.

Naruto looked at her rather surprised. Naturally, nobody wanted to die. However, he had not expected for her to beg for mercy. She didn't strike him as the kind of person that would beg for her life.

'There are 12 of them. In your current state you won't have a chance against so many.' she elaborated 'I will help you...if you spare my life, I will help you stay alive. We both get to live. It's a win-win situation.'

Naruto pondered at her words. Certainly, it could be said that right now he was half-dead because of how grave his injuries were. Galatea's words were not wrong. However...

'How can I be sure that you won't stab me in the back and escape alone, leaving me to die?'

'Why should I trust you?' Naruto asked, his eyes meeting hers as though he was trying to look into her soul.

'Because you don't have a choice.' Galatea said, her eyes not shying away from his piercing gaze. 'Alone, you will die. But together, we might stand a chance. Even in our current condition.'

While they talked, the silhouettes of their pursuers appeared in their sight.

'The enemy of my enemy is my friend, huh?' Naruto muttered to himself.

Turning towards the downed Kryptonian he said calmly, in spite of how unrestrained was the killing intent that was pouring out of him:

'I will take you on your offer. But know this: if you betray me now, pray to whatever god you believe in that I won't survive... Because if I do, how the Joker died in my hands will be cute compared to what you're going to experience.'

But she was not phased by his threats. Instead, she replied:

'Fair enough.'

After Orochimaru betrayed her, there was probably nobody else in the world that hated traitors and backstabbers more than Galatea did. She actually completely agreed with Naruto's threats - because she would never betray someone. Not after experiencing it herself what being betrayed felt like.

'I'm going to have to touch you in order to remove the bones in your body...don't move. Don't give me one more reason to kill you.' Naruto said in a rather menacing tone as he came close to her with his arm extended to touch her.

It was a very tense moment for Naruto:

'What if she tries to take chance of this opportunity to grab a hold of me and attempt to finish me off?'

Involuntarily, more bones protruded from his torso, in preparation for her possible retaliation.

Understanding his natural suspicion, Galatea wisely decided to not move a muscle.

Naruto placed a hand on the bone spikes that were skewering her shoulder and, soon enough, the crystal-like bones morphed into a blue liquid which started to get sucked into his palm. Naruto's bones were pure chakra solidified; that was the reason why it could cut through Kryptonians' flesh as though they were normal humans. And since they were pure chakra, manipulating them in that manner was an easy thing for Naruto.

A sigh of relief escaped past Galatea's lips when the deadly bones in her shoulder disappeared. Her newly acquired regeneration kicked in, healing what would be a grievous for anyone else in an instant.

Naruto inwardly cursed.

'Had my chakra not been a counter for her physiology, would I even stand a chance against her with that bullshit regeneration of hers?'

He shook his head in dismay, but stopped thinking about it.

'There are 4 more bone projectiles that I need to extract. Please don't move so we can get over with this as soon as possible.'

When Naruto's hand touched the exposed skin of her upper thigh, she realized just why Naruto told her for a second time to not move. She fought to hold back her face from flushing but it became a lost battle when she counted again the places where his projectiles hit her: her leg, her stomach, near the liver and...close to her heart.

One by one, Naruto extracted the bones from her body. And, despite her efforts, when his hand touched the place between her breasts to extract the last bone, Galatea's face flushed lightly.

Unlike Galatea whose regeneration ability had healed up her wounds in an instant, leaving her mind free to think about...interesting things while her body was being touched, Naruto was not having it as easy as her. Not in the least. In that moment, to him, it didn't matter that he was basically fondling one of the most beautiful women in world. The pain coming from all over his body was too agonizing. He could not think of anything else.

Finished with his task, Naruto turned away, and black lightning burst from all over his body. Unexpectedly, a feeling of relief washed over him, his agonizing pain diminishing to an almost negligible intensity. He had not expected his lightning to have that hidden perk.

Then, he cancelled his flight, letting himself land on the turbulent surface of the ocean - he was planning on using the water's properties to its fullest. Because, different from Galatea, his new enemies were not immune to his black lightning in the least.

'They are coming...don't hold back. Every time you will strike, do it at your maximum strength. Don't go easy on anyone. Kill them as fast as possible.' Naruto said. 'We can't afford a prolonged battle...at least, I cannot.'

The 12 superheroes appeared at a few hundred feet away for them, scrutinizing them closely. Apparently, they were going over their plan one more time before attacking them.

Naruto took the chance to speak with Galatea as well:

'Let's kill the weaker links first. Do not attack Superman, Wonder Woman or Shazam. They are the hardest to deal with.'

'Prioritize killing Red Tornado in an instant. That robot's ability to create tornados could be very troublesome here, above the ocean...After you finished him off try to eliminate either Hawkgirl or Hawkman. From the intel I've gathered about the Justice League a few years ago, these two are easier preys compared to the others.'

'As for myself, I will try to kill Aquaman. The fishman will surely attack me because I'm not flying.'

He gave her one last piece of advice:

'Be aware of Doctor Fate and Shazam. They are your most dangerous enemies at the moment because of their magic.'

Galatea simply nodded. But, inwardly, she was examining his words, taking note of how fast he came up with the best course of action and the best way to distribute their roles.

'So this is what having more fighting experience means. His ability to strategize and make plans on spot is not something that can be acquired in a short period of time.'

It was while Justice League was still keeping their distance that 5 great white sharks suddenly plunged from below the surface of the water, their terrifying jaws wide open to rip Naruto to shreds.

Naruto tsk-ed unimpressed. Stomping lightly with one of his feet on the surface of the water, the aura of black lightning that was surrounding him suddenly burst and expanded like a sphere, all around him, on a radius of 300 feet, electrocuting everything within.

A few moments later, a large amount of aquatic lifeforms - sharks, orcas and even a few sperm whales and colossal squids started to float on the surface of the ocean, each one of them with their bellies up - they were all dead. Killed by Naruto's black lightning.

Suddenly, before Naruto could react, a red blur flashed past him, punching him 3 times in very quick succession. His ribcage's bones thrust immediately after...only for Flash's body to become immaterial and immediately make a run for it.

'That was way too close for comfort...' Flashed gasped in slight panic at having been so close to being impaled. Had he not vibrated his molecules to phase through Naruto's attack, he would have been killed.

The Justice League's members were aware of 1 thing: if they were to get hit even once by Naruto, they would most likely die. Because of that, their strategy in dealing with him was to 'hit and run'. They planned on having many of them overwhelm him with guerrilla attacks, in a way that would make him not even know whom to attack first.

Just as Flash got away, Naruto felt his eyes getting cloudy and a skull-splitting headache assaulted him. With his red eyes glowing, Martian Manhunter had launched a telepathic attack against him. Naruto didn't have the chance to shake the telepathic attack off as a golden rope was suddenly wrapped around him, immobilizing him.

Then, as one, Hawkman and Aquaman, both plunged toward Naruto at the same time, the winged alien smashing his mace against his head and the Atlantis' King stabbing his magical trident into his chest.

Aquaman was just preparing to let out a victorious shout when Uzumaki Naruto that he had just stabbed in the heart exploded into a puff of smoke...but that was not all. A sudden shock of black lightning burst from the clone, electrocuting both him and the Thanagarian!

'Darn it, that's just how he got me last time!' Flash shouted and cursed when he saw the scene.

When Flash had tried to capture Naruto together with the Green Lantern after the Arkham Massacre, he was defeated in a similar manner - he had punched a clone of Naruto that exploded in his face. Only, this time around, Hawkman and Aquaman got to experience Naruto's Black Lightning Kage Bunshin.

While the ones from the side-lines were staring in surprise at the scene, with a shunshin, his hand encased in terrifying black lightning, Naruto suddenly appeared at an arm's length away from Red Tornado.

In the meantime

With Galatea, unlike with Naruto who suddenly got sneak-attacked, the situation was much more tame.

Superman, Shazam, Steel and Hawkgirl were just flying around her in a circle, maintaining their distance, with Doctor Fate well outside of her range. From his hands, a purple light started to spread, transforming into a very large sphere that entrapped the 4 superheroes and Galatea within. The Justice League's plan in dealing with Supergirl's clone had been to keep her trapped and isolated just long enough for the rest of their teammates to deal with the already grievously injured Naruto.

But, in that moment, a certain incident made everyone stop and look in shock towards the place from where the agonizing screams came from: they looked just in time to see the charred and still twitching bodies of Hawkman and Aquaman sinking below the surface of the sea.

A powerful member of the Justice League and the mighty ruler of an ancient and magical civilisation had been killed in an instant, just like that!

Green Lantern who had stood to the side, with the role of launching protecting barriers with his power ring for the teammates that were in mortal danger had not been fast enough to stop their deaths. And the merciless god of slaughter was not finished yet...Green Lantern, once again, was not fast enough to stop Uzumaki Naruto who, under everyone's disbelieving eyes, teleported right next to an unsuspecting Red Tornado, and shoved his black lightning encased arm, elbow deep into his chest. The intensity of the lightning was so powerful that the android exploded into pieces, its build unable to sustain the damage.

A slightly crazed laughter came from Naruto's throat.

'Three fuckers down... 9 more to go... Now come... You wanted to kill me, didn't you? Come at me!' he screamed.

With his skin melted, blood flowing from the entire torso and face and with blue bones protruding from all over his body, in that moment, Naruto looked like a savage creature...like the god of slaughter.

Still, despite his display of ferocity, Naruto was on his last legs. He was already gravely injured by Galatea's heat beams in their previous fight and continuously using his bone kekkei genkai and flying for short periods of time had taken a huge toll on his chakra pool. Moreover, when he made that Black Lightning clone, he had pumped it with a very large amount of chakra, to make sure that he killed his two attackers with it.

'YOU MURDERER!' Superman suddenly roared and, ignoring Galatea, he crazily plunged towards Naruto, forcing Doctor Fate to cancel the spell which entrapped them all with Galatea, lest he got seriously hurt. It was a very elaborate magical barrier that would seriously harm a Kryptonian.

But then...

*BOOM*

An incredibly powerful shockwave almost deafened everyone at the scene and a very large depression was formed into the surface of the water – Galatea had suddenly cut into Superman's way, and let out a battle cry as she threw a powerful kick at his face, using, just as Naruto told her, the entire strength she was capable of. The Man of Steel was hurled by the kick like a rocket, with blood and even a few teeth bursting from his mouth!

'Superman!' Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern cried out in shock at the same time. They all had known that Supergirl's clone was supposedly more powerful than Superman but what they had just witnessed was nothing short of shocking for them! Not even Darkseid, their most terrifying enemy to date had been capable of such a ridiculous feat!

Galatea was suddenly forced to raise her hands to defend herself as Wonder Woman flew at her, also kicking with all of her strength. The princess of the Amazons was not done yet: vicious punches started to rain on the Kryptonian's face with no restraint!

But, after a few moments, Wonder Woman winced in pain when one of her fist was caught in a vice-like grip.

'You know, if you tried harder, you could actually make me feel some discomfort.' Galatea said with a sarcastic grin, Wonder Woman's previous onslaught seemingly having no effect whatsoever on her.

The blonde smashed her forehead into the nose of the Amazon, making her stumble back in pain. Then, grabbing her by the shoulders, Galatea kneeled her in the stomach and, when Wonder Woman was forced to bend by the strength behind the blow, Galatea slammed both of her fists into her back, making her crash into the water that, from the height they were at, would be as hard as concrete at the impact.

At the same time, a very large wave of hellfire came from Doctor Fate, only for Galatea to counter it back with a freezing breath. Green Lantern followed up with a rocket-like construct, but with another shockwave-genersting punch, she smashed the construct to pieces as though it was glass.

Shazam was just about to jump into the fight as well when, by pure luck, he bent down his head, narrowly avoiding what would have been his decapitation by a mere few inches!

With a long, black lightning encased bone sword in his hand Naruto was looking at Shazam, pure, undisguised killing intent flickering in his eyes.

'Do you remember me, from almost 3 years ago? When you called the lightning down on me to kill me?'

Naruto pointed his sword at him:

'Today, I'm going to return the debt...Today, I will give you a taste of my lightning.'

Scene break

The entire scene from the moment the Justice League started their assault until the three members were killed did not take long - not even half a minute. But through it all, Flash and Steel had just stood petrified in disbelief...that wasn't what they had expected when they 'signed up' for the life as a hero... in but a few seconds, 3 Justice League members were killed and Superman and Wonder Woman were defeated, their survival unknown.

Green Lantern's shout suddenly reached their ears through the communication devices everyone was wearing:

'Wake up, damnit!'

As he fired a powerful blast of green light at the clone that was now also battling Hawkgirl and Doctor Fate, John Stewart continued in a grim voice:

'Batman was right: this was, from the beginning, not something that the Justice League could handle...'

'Flash, Steel, recover Wonder Woman's body and find out if she is alive. Then, retreat immediately.'

'Shazam...I know I am asking a lot from you now, but please hold your own against Uzumaki for only a few minutes more.'

'J'onn, try telepathically attack both Uzumaki and the clone when it looks like we cannot hold on against them anymore. Save your forces until then, to hit them at full strength.'

'Doctor Fate, Hawkgirl, we have to hold on against the clone. If we manage to do it for even only a few minutes, our sacrifices won't be in vain!'

John Stewart, a former soldier, had a completely different mind-set than that of Superman. Unlike the Man of Steel who wanted to nobody to ever get hurt, John Stewart was different. He knew that sometimes, sacrifices had to be made. It was part of being a soldier. It was part of being a Green Lantern. And, in that moment, he resolved himself to lay his life down just in order to buy another few minutes.

Distancing a bit from the ongoing fight, Green Lantern brought his power ring closer to his mouth and spoke:

'Green Lantern, John Stewart, requesting help from all the free Green Lanterns close to Space Sector 2814, on Planet Earth, as soon as possible.'

'I repeat, Green Lantern, John Stewart, requesting help from all the free Green Lanterns close to Space Sector 2814, on Planet Earth, as soon as possible.'

Then, lifting his hand up, a bright green jet of light was shot from his ring, towards the sky. It was a distress signal.