"What on earth is going on?!!!"
In the office at the Apocalypse Star Science Research Center, Desaad, dressed in a purple robe, was roaring in anger. The messengers and guards could only tremble against the wall, not daring to say a word of defense. It seems they had suffered under Desaad's wrath before.
"Why did the First Star Harbor deconstruct? Why did His Majesty Darkseid feel a disturbance in the Apocalypse Star Force Field? What exactly is the catastrophe happening on the surface?!!"
"Sir, please calm down!" a civil officer close to Desaad stepped forward and half-knelt: "We've dispatched people for an investigation."
"Investigation? The catastrophe has already affected His Majesty Darkseid, and you're just investigating?!" Desaad reached out his hand, and a golden whip coiled his subordinate.
The subordinate grappled with the whip around his neck, struggling with all his might. Desaad flung him against the wall and said coldly: "I want this situation resolved immediately! His Majesty Darkseid's dignity is not to be challenged by anyone!"
The labored subordinate gasped for air, speaking intermittently: "Yes, yes, the Kindly Granny already dispatched the Revenge Goddess Team to a surface anomaly..."
Desaad squinted suddenly. He asked, "Did His Majesty Darkseid call her over?"
"I don't think so. His Majesty Darkseid seems to have issued orders to her via transmission."
Desaad's countenance darkened. He understood that Darkseid was expressing his disappointment in him, reminding him that if, as the prime minister of the Divine Country, he could not maintain order of the whole country all the time, dividing power to someone else may be a good method.
Desaad got the hint, but he was not going to let anyone share his power. He took a deep breath and shouted: "Kant, bring Kant here."
"Well, Sir, Kant went to Earth for a research mission with Weiman and hasn't returned yet."
"Useless!" Desaad cursed, but eventually, he said, "Send Mantis with the Apokoliptan to deal with the other anomaly... Nevermind, send Kalibak as well, better safe than sorry. Remember, I want this solved. Regardless of the means used, put an end to the unrest immediately. If anyone dares to make me lose face in front of His Majesty Darkseid…"
The trailing tone of Desaad's voice had grown chillingly dark, causing all his subordinates—who knew Desaad to be the most psychotic torturer in the cosmos—to shiver and flee his office at top speed.
As Darkseid knew, two massive anomalies had appeared on the surface of Apocalypse Star now. What was more terrifying was that the original force field of Apocalypse Star couldn't penetrate these strange areas. To the public of Apocalypse Star, horror was being revived.
The first anomaly was located on the shallow surface of Apocalypse Star. A horrifyingly enormous beast came from the sky. She had an unbeatable defense, an unbreakable offense, and a ferocious temperament. Just landing, she had already destroyed an entire prison city.
As Little Bruce had guessed, the two layers of Apocalypse Star were a prison and an experimental field. The shallow surface was divided into about four thousand regions, with countless prison cities in each region, also known as Citadel City.
Citadel City had high city walls designed to prevent inhabitants, who hadn't been fully brainwashed, from escaping. All the inhabitants of Citadel City were intelligent beings enslaved from various parts of the cosmos by the Apocalypse Star Army. They were engaged in harsh physical labor there, not to create value, but to exhaust their physical and mental strength, to be more easily influenced by the Apocalypse Star Force Field and be brainwashed quickly.
Most of the inhabitants who were successfully brainwashed would enter the laboratories in the deep layer, where endless painful experiments awaited them.
They were like experimental material, sent to different laboratories based on their individual qualities. Some became the subjects of body modification experiments; the luckier ones could be mechanically remodeled into the lowest demi-soldiers or lowly ones. The very persistent individuals would be sent to the research center in the core, to be personally brainwashed and controlled by the higher-ups.
Citadel City was the first stop for the alien captives arriving at Apocalypse Star. Although the rule was harsh here, since the brainwashing effect on Apocalypse Star was guaranteed to succeed, as long as they stayed long enough, the guards really didn't care about how the captives lived in Citadel City, even if they rebelled, as long as they didn't leave the force field of Apocalypse Star, they couldn't resist being brainwashed and would eventually submit to the great Darkseid.
Therefore, there was a certain social order inside the Citadel City. Although it was still harsh like a prison, there were different classes and groups. People of the same class had normal life and social interaction. Although the labor was extremely heavy, living beings that survived under such oppression were resilient enough.
From the perspective of the inhabitants in Citadel City, a catastrophe arrived one day, abruptly.
An enormous monster appeared outside Citadel City. Compared to its size, which was like a star, Citadel City was like a toy underfoot. The creature seemed to be extremely famished and had lost its rationality; it ate everything within its sight.
The beast arrived unexpectedly and moved rapidly. Knowing that Darkseid's reinforcements would not arrive quickly, the City Lord of Citadel City could only organize the city's defensive forces to resist, but it was barely enough.
"Today, I have assembled you all here to share some good news: you are about to have the chance to fight for His Majesty Darkseid!"
A green alien clad in mechanical exoskeleton stood in the center of a towering fortress, speaking to the myriad of alien prisoners within the high walls: "You will be able to venture beyond these walls for the first time and fight formidable enemies. Victory and glory will all belong to His Majesty Darkseid!!!"
"Well, did you hear that? We're going to get weapons. This must be a good opportunity." A blue-skinned alien looked at his companion, saying, "We must escape from here and take our revenge on that damned Darkseid who ruined our homeland!"
His companion seemed a little dazed, but still nodded. Just then, a guard from the fortress city rushed to the top of the fortress and said to the lord who had just given the speech, "Bad news, my lord, the monstrous beast has changed its course, and it's coming towards us!!"
"Damn you people, pick up your weapons, you will achieve the glory you deserve in this battle, die for Darkseid!!!"
Before the end of the lord's words, a rumbling sound came from afar, and the intense vibration made almost all the alien prisoners fall to the ground.
Then, the ground began to crack, and the bits of rocks and soil ejected from the fractured earth were enough to completely tear apart the alien prisoners who didn't run fast enough.
As the giant shadow descended, the prisoners looking up saw only a piece of scale.
That was merely a tiny scale on the monstrous beast's footpad. Without a chance for the lord to utter a shriek of anger or fear, the fortress city crumbled like a biscuit dropped on the ground after a faint cracking sound.
Another even bigger fortress city had already prepared for resistance. The residents living here had come to the Apocalypse Star earlier and they'd been brainwashed by the Apocalypse Star's force field. Their minds were filled with thoughts of fighting for Darkseid.
In a special emergency situation, they suddenly put on their mechanical equipment and held cannons or laser weapons at the ready, gathering in formation, shouting slogans of 'Long live Darkseid,' and charging towards the monstrous beast.
However, the number of soldiers didn't matter in the face of extreme size and power disparity. Large groups of soldiers were crushed by a single step. For the prisoners inside the city, the high wall that seemed insurmountable didn't need a special attack. It ceased to exist after being merely stepped on.
Just then, a special type of squad flew over, the squadron leader wearing a combination of dark and light green armour, with a couple of beetle-like substances on the brow corners and the chin of his helmet. Followed by a giant man with a mane-like black hair, both of them wore fierce expressions, with typical New God characteristics.
They were considered tall among humanoid creatures, but still minuscule compared to the monstrous beast that was almost as large as a star. Without much fear, the man in the green armour said,
"Who brought this big guy here? I really need to have a word with that old lady. She let a group of women, who only have killing on their minds, guard the star port and allowed such a big thing to be smuggled in. Desaad will not forgive them!"
"Quit talking, Mantis." said the New God with the lion's mane, "Hurry up and kill this creature, then report back to His Majesty Darkseid. I don't want to put up with Desaad's moods anymore."
The man known as Mantis sneered, "I really don't understand what these stupid races, who are desperate to evolve their size, are thinking. Do they really think size can crush everything? Wasn't that monster that evolved itself into a living planet still cut into pieces by me?"
As he spoke, a violent sonic boom resonated by Mantis's ear. He accelerated to his limit almost in an instant, trying to use the best method he had previously to deal with the large monster for the horrific beast in front of him.
The murderous smile on Mantis's face grew stronger as he whizzed by. He could already envision his fist going right through the creature, followed by a surge of divine power, cleaving this slow and ponderous monster in half.
In mid-flight, he swung his fist with the divine power concentrated at the tip of his fingers, which would turn into a sharp light blade upon touching any objects, slicing through anything in front of him.
The next second, the divine power exploded, a fierce storm howled out, endless light blades fractured the space, but there was no blood, no screams, only that dreadful silence.
Mantis froze on the spot, with an unbelievable roar echoing in his heart: "Impossible!! How could it be so fast?!!"
When the shadow loomed over his head, Mantis almost instantly pulled back at an extremely fast speed. But in those few tenths of a second, when he blinked, he felt himself being grabbed.
When the huge claw grasped him as if holding a grain of sand, Mantis was cruelly slammed onto the ground immediately, left and right, swinging him around and around again a multitude of times.
When Mantis regained consciousness, he found himself being held over a chasm-like mouth. The terrifying screams broke out amid the uncontrollable fall, and after the gargantuan beast crunched a few bits, it uttered a sentence with nonchalant disdain.
"Such a weak god."