193 CHAPTER 190
"I know he's on our side and all, but that dude sure is rude." Beast Boy remarked, recollecting how Ace had spoken to NightWing. They went after Darkseid's current location, standing by just in case they could be of help.
"He may be on the same side as us in this fight, still I refuse to forget what he did to those of us who encountered him the last time." Superboy said with a serious look on his face, placed his hand where Ace had stabbed him with a knife who's blade was made of kryptonite.
"His attitude aside, he is one powerful guy." Wonder Girl said, stating the obvious as they closed in on Darkseid and Superman.
"I know people like him." Aqualad said. "He is so strong that he sees weaker people as insects." He added.
"That explains his arrogance." StarFire chipped in. While everyone shared their thoughts concerning Ace, Nightwing remained silent, he had his eyes fixed on the all out brawl Superman and Darkseid were having.
Raven remained silent, she assumed his sudden arrogance was all part of that persona and his lazy attempt at keeping the heroes at arms length.
She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of a shriek. They all looked up ahead to see Ace pull out a sword from Darkseid's eye.
"No way!!" Beast Boy exclaimed.
"I can hardly believe this… He actually injured Darkseid." NightWing said with his eyes open wide with surprise. The realization of Ace being on a whole different level he could not comprehend, finally set in.
"I know he's an asshole and all, but he sure is creative when causing harm to others." StarFire said as they had their eyes fixed on Ace and Superman tag team against Darkseid.
The Young heroes were spectating the fight when Miss Martian and Raven drew their attention to the other parts of the night sky.
Flocks of parademons headed their way, just when they thought the parademons had all been dealt with.
"Another wave? When does it end?" Beast Boy exasperated.
"When Darkseid is defeated." NightWing replied to him as they took their battle stance, but realized the parademons maintained a focused path rather than their usual uncoordinated movements.
The parademons were the one who had made their way into other cities, all returned to Metropolis with the aim of defending and aiding their injured lord.
"Come on, more of these guys!" Ace apathetically exclaimed as he watched them swirl around Darkseid.
"We are here to assist you, my Lord." A voice came from among the parademons as two figures lowered themselves besides Darkseid, Granny Goodness and Mantis.
Using her dark technology, Granny Goodness had fully healed herself from the fatal state Wonder Woman had left her when they fought, while Mantis just won his fight against Shazam and was still in a battered state.
"Do not interfere." Darkseid commanded with an angry growl, but Granny was somehow able to convince him to let them fulfill their roles by serving him.
"Bring me their heads." Darkseid commanded in a loud but menacing tone as he was unable to mask his fury.
"As you wish, my Lord." They replied as Darkseid backed away into the sky, looking his part as the main boss in this fight.
"You, take insect dude over there. I'll take Granny." Ace said to Superman, gesturing to them as he divided their forces.
"Look at you being all confident, I guess granny has no choice but to teach you a lesson so you would be more respectful to your elders." Granny Goodness said with a smirk tugged to the side of her lips as she took a battle stance.
"That's one creepy smile." Ace commented, looking to the air as he watched Mantis and Superman engage in their fight.
"Lesson one, always keep your eyes on the enemy right in front of you." Granny said as he closed in on him, swinging her weapon into the air.
"Um…?" Ace nonchalantly turned, averting his gaze from the light show Superman and Mantis were having, only to see Granny Goodness about to bash his head in.
He didn't bother making attempts to dodge the attack, but casually waved his finger her way.
"Ugh…!!!"
Granny exclaimed in complete bewilderment as she watched her arm fall to the floor, still holding her weapon. With a momentary delay, blood gushed out from where her limb had been severed.
She immediately withdrew, taking a few hops backwards as she created space between her and Ace. "How did you…?" Before she could completely form her question, her second arm fell to the ground.
"Like that." Ace replied, his finger still pointed at Granny as he used his other hand to cover his mouth while letting out a yawn.
Her eyes widened in befuddlement as she tried as hard as she possibly could, to prevent herself from experiencing a mental breakdown. Her fight with him had just started and he had already rendered her crippled, unable to even wield her weapon.
"Such a terrifying power in the hands of a child." She said to Ace. "Don't give me that look, even with your face covered and voice masked, I can tell you're probably in your early twenties." She added.
"Sorry granny but I don't have time to chit-chat right now, I don't know if Darkseid can heal himself or not. So I have to keep him in check until further notice." Ace replied with a complacent tone as he intensely stared up in the sky where Darkseid hovered with his parademons swirling around him.
"Don't take me so lightly boy." Granny said with an aggregated tone. "Just because I've lost my arms doesn't mean I am unable to fight." She added before going into a dash. She knew it was definitely the wrong move, but she couldn't stand him talking so casually about her Lord like they were equals.
Upon taking her fifth step forward, a line suddenly appeared across the middle section of her face, just above her upper lip as it stretched beyond both cheeks. She abruptly dropped to the ground as her head had been spliced in two.
"Well, that just leaves those pesky minions." Ace muttered as he lifted off into the air, headed for Darkseid.
He already lost interest in his fight with Darkseid, blinding the dude was a big mistake because he was taking too long to heal and fighting against a blind man would be a waste of time since he wouldn't be able to put up a good fight.
The same way Ace manipulated his deflective field, he extended a portion of it, which he compressed and morphed into the form of an invisible whip.
With the slightest wave of a finger he could launch it at an incredible speed, increasing the force as it releases a devastating power on impact. He could also make the edges so sharp that it delivers a cut so clean and quick that it takes the body tissues a few seconds before bleeding.
As he slowly made his way to Darkseid, both the parademons swirling in the air and the ones engaging the young heroes, all flew at him, repeating the same mistake the earlier ones did.
As parademons quickly closed in on him, they encircled Ace in all directions as they began their attack, with him in the middle of the swarm.
That moment he thought of repelling them but it was going to be too much of a hassle for him, he would have to kill them one after the other if they were dispersed across the sky.
From the outside it seemed like the swarm of parademons cramped on him and formed the shape of a ball, completely sealing him as they tore him apart.
Suddenly a huge gust of wind came from the ball of parademons as their body parts began to rain down to the ground, severed limb from limb and neatly diced out as they fell around Ace who hovered mid air.
"You've got to admit, that was cool." Beast Boy said as he playfully gave NightWing two elbow taps.
Just as he had done with the whip form, Ace had his deflective field form a net globe around him and launched it in a thirty meters radius around himself.
"What a bunch of useless fools." Darkseid growled as he flew towards Ace and Superman, willing to depend on his other senses as he had lost his sight.
Ace noticed Superman was having a hard time with Mantis who proved to be tougher than he looked.
Darkseid suddenly appeared next to Superman as he hit him with a blow which sent him into a distance. Mantis flew after Superman to continue their fight.
"This way ugly." Ace called out, knowing Darkseid was reliant on his senses and would attack upon the sound of his voice.
Darkseid rushed in to attack Ace, but got hit with an uppercut which sent him crashing into a media tower.
"It's locked-on and ready." Cyborg announced as he flew towards Ace with the Mother box in hand. "Then do it." Ace replied as Darkseid made his way back, throwing a heavy blow at Cyborg as he attacked blindly.
It was impossible for Cyborg to avoid but Ace was quick enough to intercept in time, deflecting Darkseid's fist as he instantly created an air vacuum around Darkseid's head, extracting every ounce of air Darkseid had in his lungs.
Ace rained down a barrage of assaults upon Darkseid who was finding it really difficult to breathe at the moment, struggling to get some air in his lungs.
Cyborg flew higher into the sky as green vein-like threads came out of his robotic arm and attached themselves to the Mother Box.
"Oh no, it's not working." Cyborg muttered as he tried connecting to the mother box but got spammed with error notifications instead. He was unable to connect with the mother box and was completely fresh out of ideas.
