163: The Climax part 1/3

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(Davian's P.O.V)

My surroundings changed almost immediately. However, not in the way I expected.

I opened my eyes and found myself staring at the Wizard, Shazam. The old man's gaze was intense as he looked at me.

I gazed around, noticing that we were in one of the chambers of the Rock of Eternity.

How?

He noticed the question on my face and explained,

"I'm connected to the Seven Cardinal Sins by fate. Seeking your soul in Limbo to talk to you was an easy matter."

"Neat."

I responded, wondering what exactly the Wizard couldn't do.

"You killed Black Adam."

The Wizard continued, bluntly.

"I did."

I replied in a similar tone.

We stared at each other for a few more seconds before he grunted.

"Not ideal at all. But I understand."

He nodded, closing his eyes.

Then he opened them, and his gaze burned with an intense light.

"You on the other hand, are in a perilous situation."

He said.

"I know what you are planning. Absorbing the moral decay of the sins entails more than merely gaining power. You could lose more than you gain."

"I can control it."

I told him with confidence.

"I've had to fight fight for what I want. I will not stop now."

The Wizard shook his head.

"You are confident, that might help. Or it might be your downfall. Seven sins, seven trials."

With those chilling words, the surroundings washed away as he disappeared, but not without leaving something behind.

"I pray you preserve your soul."

******

Seven Trials huh? Chase didn't say anything about this.

Then again, he did tell me I had to conquer the sins' influence, so maybe this was how.

The scene changed as I found myself in what could only be the first trial, a grand throne room befitting a king. Gold everywhere, servants at my beck and call.

The air was heavy with opulence, and a lavish crown sat upon my head. I felt mighty. Strong. My loyal subjects adored me.

My memories of being Davian Mabuz faded away, replaced by a life of luxury and pleasure. Decades of wanton desires and fulfilment.

Of people pandering to me as their savior, their lord, their master, their king.

Their god.

Pride surrounded me, a ghost unseen by my subjects. A beautiful yet ugly thing, a serpent coiled around my neck.

And it whispered in my ear.

"You are a king, Davian, the ruler of all you see. Everything under the Heavens is yours to exploit. What more could you want?"

Yes...

I was, wasn't I? I had gone up against powerful foes and emerged the victor. Trigon, Barragan, Savage, Doomsday.

I was powerful. So I deserved to Rule! Was meant to rule!

Then like a lightning shock, I realized the irony of my thoughts. I was turning out like Papa Fred.

And Fuck that guy.

I scoffed, resisting the arrogance that threatened to consume me. I'd seen it devour every s.o.b who thought themselves better than me.

It wouldn't do the same to me. I refused to let it.

"I am no king," I retorted at the demon.

"Kings grow fat from sitting on their asses, while I've fought my way through hell and back."

The Serpent at my neck hissed in displeasure as I stood up from the throne.

It coiled through the air, turning hostile as the throne room grew quiet. The servants attending to me, the soldiers guarding me and the subjects calling on my name paused, staring my way with blank eyes.

I had broken then illusion.

"You fool. You could have had it all. Why deny me?!"

Pride sneered.

Instead of answering,

"Respira."

I activated my time erosion skill.

An aura of black swept through the entire chamber, the whole throne room crumbling away into ash.

"First trial." I snorted,

"What a joke."

(General P.O.V)

Meanwhile, on Earth, the Justice League had just successfully repelled an onslaught of Apokaliptian vessels attacking North America.

The Flash, panting slightly from the exertion of running across the nation, relayed disturbing news to his comrades.

"Team, the Titans Tower in San Francisco is in ruins. It looks like they have all been captured," he reported, his voice laced with concern.

His feet treaded the waters of the bay, headed for the mainland.

Behind him was the still smoking Titan's Tower.

In Metropolis, Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and the rest of the League stared at each other, contemplating their next move.

Wonder Woman's eyes fell on their prisoner.

They had Darkseid's son, Kalibak, in custody but were unsure how to proceed.

She had been trying to use the Lasso to question him but something about was interfering with the artefact. It would only glow but Kalibak would stay silent.

So she unsheathed her sword and placed it right under his neck.

"Where have you taken the Titans? Answer me or you will be missing a head."

She demanded coldly.

The brutish New God smirked in mockery.

"Going to end me, Amazon?"

He leaned closer to the blade, hitting Diana with a confident glare.

"I don't think you have the balls. You hero types don't kill."

He sneered.

Diana narrowed her eyes, her hands tightening ob the grip of her weapon.

"Oh I believe we can make an exception."

"Wonder Woman."

Superman called out, placing a gentle but powerful palm on her shoulder.

"He's not worth it."

The Man of Steel told the Amazonian Princess.

Kalibak's smirk returned.

"That's right. I'm not worthy. I don't need to be. I'm a fucking God."

Superman stared at him from the corner of his eye.

"Besides, Batman has a plan on how to deal with him."

"Don't really see how that helps if the Princess' intimidation didn't work."

Green Lantern said, crossing his hands together.

"I made a call."

The Dark Knight grunted.

"Speak of the devil."

Cyborg said, catching a glimpse of the new arrival as he floated down towards them.

"You called him?"

"J'onn, that was fast." Batman observed as he stepped forward to greet the Martian Manhunter.

The Martian Manhunter was a retired hero. He had arrived on Earth a few decades ago and had made it his home.

He'd been involved with the first iteration of the Justice League, the Justice Society, but had taken an absence from the field these past few years.

"I was around when these things attacked, snatching people off the street. I had to intervene. Then you called."

Manhunter answered, landing on the ground before them.

"We are in need of your telepathic abilities." Batman gave a nod and went right down to business.

"This is Darkseid's son, Kalibak. I want you to read his mind and find out what we're up against," Batman instructed.

"You would dare!"

Kalibak raged, trying to get up from the ground where the Lasso of Truth was tied around his body.

Superman placed his hands firmly on his shoulders and pressed him back down.

"Stay still."

"Do it."

Batman said.

"Gladly."

The Martian Manhunter responded, his eyes glowing green as he reached out with his telepathy, delving into Kalibak's twisted mind, uncovering a chilling revelation.

Everyone noticed the surprise on his face and tensed.

"There's a main Apokaliptian vessel orbiting above the planet,"

J'onn relayed to the team.

"It's remotely controlling a network of Boom Tubes that allowed the Apokaliptian spaceships to emerge on Earth."

"That's how they attacked out of nowhere."

Cyborg said, accessing the Mother Box in his custody, seized during the attack.

"I can access their systems from a vessel and see about creating a portal into the main ship."

He informed the rest.

"Well, the one on Metropolis is out of the question. Seeing as we destroyed it."

Superman commented, staring at the spaceship that was sinking in the ocean off the coast.

Batman tapped his ear piece.

"Flash, how many Apokaliptian Vessels remain active?"

The Flash' speed skyrocketed as he ran around the continent once more, passing through every city on America.

"Huh, most of them have retreated through Boom Tubes. The only ones left are those that were destroyed after disabling the Para-demons."

The Speedster informed Batman.

"I see. Keep looking."

Then he turned his attention to Kalibak, but addressed Manhunter.

"Find out the chances of the Titans being on the main ship."

Kalibak tried to break out of his binding and failed.

"Do you know what..."

He begun heatedly only for his eyes to go slack and unfocused.

His shoulders slumped.

"Huh, is that normal?"

Shazam wondered.

No one gave a response.

"They came here...not to invade."

Manhunter stated with a frown, perusing through Kalibak's recent memories.

"If it wasn't for an invasion then what could it be?"

Green Lantern asked, the shroud of will energy around him flickering unnoticed.

Manhunter scrunched his prominent brows, diving even deeper. Manhunter found himself exerting more power.

Kalibak's mind was unsurprisingly hard to read on account of him being a New God,

"Allow me to show you what I see. You'll understand it better."

Manhunter told the League, pulling them into Kalibak's mind with him.

The scene changed.

A grand but gloomy throne appeared before their eyes.

"Where are we?"

Shazam questioned as they looked around.

"Apokalips, we're seeing Kalibak's memories from his perspective."

Kalibak was kneeling before the foot of a massive throne. A white haired and gray skinned man stood next to the throne. And on the throne itself sat Darkseid.

"Father I..."

Kalibak begun only to be interrupted.

"Desaad."

Darkseid's booming voice rumbled out of him from his throne.

"Yes, Master."

The general who had been bowing next to Kalibak answered gleefully, standing upright.

Kalibak stomped down on the flash of discontent within him at the blatant disregard.

"Do not fail me. Bring back my daughter from the Earth. Use whatever means necessary."

The memory cut short as the League came back to their senses, staring at one another in shock.

"Darkseid has a daughter!?"

Green Lantern yelled.

The gravity of the situation weighed heavily on the League.

Darkseid's presence loomed large, stopping him would be their greatest challenge yet. Knowing that he had a daughter who was on Earth was not the ideal situation.

"Chances that they found her already are quite high, seeing as the rest of the vessels have left the planet."

Batman intuited.

"We need to get to the main vessel before it leaves. That's where the Titans were most likely taken."

"There's something else."

Manhunter called out.

"Huh, what the hell?"

Hal Jordan interrupted as his ring begun flashing a sickly green color.

He lost the glow around him and fell to the ground, luckily he had been hovering a few inches above it.

"Lantern, what is going on?"

Batman questioned.

"I don't know."

Hal answered, holding up his fist to study the ring on his finger.

"It's...never acted this strange before."

Kalibak begun to slowly laugh.

"And so it begins."

"What does?"

Wonder Woman asked, tightening the Lasso of Truth around Kalibak.

"T-t-that w-wont work on me Amazonian, remember. I'm a New God."

Kalibak said, his eyes glowing red.

"It's why you called the M-m-martian."

Everyone turned to Manhunter.

"It's what I wanted to inform you. Glimpses from the rest of Kalibak's memories. Darkseid has plans for the rest of the universe, not just the Earth. And when we accessed his memories, 'He' noticed us."

Everyone present knew who he was talking about.

In that same instant, dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of Boom Tubes manifested above Metropolis.

"What the..."

Shazam muttered.

"Great, more Para-demons."

Cyborg sighed.

From the Boomtubes came growling sounds. However, instead of the Para-demons they were expecting, thousands of Green Lanterns infected by the Imperfect version of the Anti-life equation came through.

"Now this is an invasion."

The Flash whistled as he materialized right next to the League.

A bigger Boomtube manifested right over them and from this particular Boomtube, a heavy presence announced the arrival of the God of Evil himself.

A hush fell among the Leaguers.

"Darkseid."

Superman muttered grimly.