"I see you have gotten your own teleportation device." I pointed out as I got dressed much to their disappointment. At least, Maxima was conveying it clearly with the way she reached out for my pants, wanting to pull them down before I slapped her offending hand away.
"Obviously, we would get one as well just in case you got lost in space again and need some rescuing." She responded as she rubbed the hand I slapped away before playing it on her hip.
"How did you even get my life force to calibrate that thing?" To be honest, I still didn't know where they got my life force. Maybe from some samples?
"Where do you think Felicia's bracelet was from? She certainly didn't make a universal teleportation device on her own." She answered as she glanced at the two Ravens on the bed.
I looked over at Shayera, whose eyes were still lingering on my now-clothed crotch. I raised an eyebrow before snapping my fingers to get her attention. "You certainly turned around from you disliking the idea of kissing me to straight up walking into me having sex and now staring."
She snorted at my words. "You think I want to sleep with you and your enormous- tiny! tiny cock? Don't get any ideas you...! You." She pointed at me but clearly failed at giving me a good insult that would have stuck. She certainly didn't bring her A game or perhaps I had just flustered her.
"Me?" I asked teasingly as I took a step forward. "Is there something you want from me?" I continued to make her back away until her wings touched the wall of the hallway. I leaned in and our lips almost touched, which made her breathe heavily. A moment passed in that position, long enough for her to get her wits and lash out.
I held up a hand and blocked the punch, causing a loud clap to appear. I telekinetically closed the door behind Maxima as I pushed Shayera's fist above her head against the wall. Her other hand retaliated quickly and I caught it as well before pushing it to her side as I placed my leg between hers.
"Feisty," I stated as I looked at her deep blush and the ferocious smile on her face that conveyed the stubbornness and excitement she felt. Oh, I knew she would make me work for it and I was here for it. Just as she thought I would kiss her, I let her go and walked down the hallway and into the kitchen, while ignoring her stomp, breaking the laminate floor.
Kara and Felicia were already gone since before I had started the session with Raven and I was sure they would take a bit before they came back. There was no one else to cook besides me as I wasn't going to call them for something trivial like that. Besides, it was best to have them bond over whatever small activity they were up to. I certainly wouldn't want to stand between their chance to get along better.
So, I just started cooking something myself. It had been a while since I made one of my meal preps, but it wasn't something you could unlearn in just a year or two of not cooking. Shayera and Maxima accompanied me into the kitchen. "To what do I owe you this visit anyway?" I asked as I placed the alien meat onto the giant pan thinking that a bonfire would be more fit for the portions I was going to eat, but I guessed I could make it in batches until I was satiated.
"What? Can't we visit just to see you?" Maxima asked with a coy smile as they sat down.
"You can, but that's not really your style. You are kinda busy with your queen shit and an activity to go for a little date in another universe doesn't seem to fit into your calendar." I pointed out.
"Ooo, can I assume you paid attention to my schedule?" She teasingly suggested as she reached down to the grapes in the wooden bowl on the table before eating it while unnecessarily licking it. Too bad she didn't have a banana to hand, it would have given her a better option to show off her skills.
"Just a guess." I deflected with a shrug. "So, what do you need? I have some time on my hands. Raven won't be awake for a while as I was a bit harsh on her. So, if you need a training plan or sparring partner, I can also help you with that, though you probably have come together because of something else, right?"
Shayera huffed as I said that. "I told you it would be unnecessary to have an excuse." She directed at Maxima, who rolled her eyes in return. "Maxima was just embarrassed to ask for your help."
"I was not embarrassed." She denied, slightly rising her tone but still conveying a calmness through her voice. "I had just overestimated my ability to handle this and can openly admit that I was wrong." She answered smoothly before looking at me with a solemn expression.
I telekinetically turned the minced meat in the pan as I added some veggies to it. She paused for a moment before laying out her problem. "I told you that there had been a thief stealing from Almerac, right?" Her question made me nod slowly as I did remember it vaguely. I think the thief was called Grail or something. "The thief was able to steal something important, something I thought I had destroyed every piece of evidence from..."
She took a deep breath. "There had been some unauthorized samples of Darkseid's dna left. Grail, his daughter, had used some of it and a few of our inventions to resurrect him again. We currently don't know where they are, but we suspect that he is going to attack you or rather Portland."
"Hmm." I hummed slightly as I put rice into the pan. "So, Darkseid is back and you don't know where he is. I can detect his life force, which is why you asked me for help. However, why are you personally involved? I mean, besides the thief stealing from Almerac, but the moment he makes trouble I would end him anyway."
"It is my fault for his return, so I will have to make sure he gets the permanent end he deserves." She answered resolutely.
"Responsible, huh? Admirable. Sure I can help you after lunch... You want to kill him yourself, right?"
Maxima regally nodded her head, "It is my duty." Her answer made me look over at Shayera, who crossed her arms.
"Since an attack on Portland is likely, I am on behalf of the league here to inform you of it. You know, since Diana is off to her island and I had time... By the way, we both have monitor duties tomorrow." She answered simply before sifting through the cupboard where I had hidden some snacks and... she found them. How the hell did she know they were there??
She showed me the chips and ate them with a smug expression as if she was getting back at me for something. "Sure, I can help you locate him and his daughter."
Maxima almost beamed at my positive answer. "Thank you, Nathan. I won't disappoint. I said I would handle this and I would." She said as she pressed her fist against her chest like she was making an oath.
"Don't stress it, we can head out once I am done eating." As I thought about leaving, I reached out with my telekinesis and started cleaning up the Ravens before tugging them into the bed. Kara and Felicia weren't in this universe anymore, so I didn't see the point in waiting for them just to tell them I would leave and even finding them would be a bit of a hassle. My meal finished quickly and I ate it while sharing some with Maxima and Shayera.
It seemed to be a trend for the women to want some of my food, so I usually prepared extra as I was doing now. While we were eating, I just started the next batch until we were all done and filled up, which took a while since we all ate a lot- not that they ate until they were full. I was able to eat my fill and the two were happy to get me to share some. Of course, I wasn't going to tell them that I was already planning to prepare their portion as well.
Afterward, I cleaned up everything and prepared my battle outfit, they placed a hand on my shoulder before I teleported us back to our mansion. I sensed Doomsday down in the training hall, a bit weak for my taste even if he was still recovering from the beating he got from Diana. In general, I didn't have much use for him at this point. Even when I first encountered him, I was already stronger than he was and kept outgrowing him.
Now that I had god ki, I wasn't even in the same category as him anymore. I could pulverize him with a thought, but he would do well as a sparring partner for the others. "You know, although they don't mention it since they know you are trying to prepare for the calamity in less than a year, they still miss their presence on the Watchtower." Shayera suddenly said as we walked out of the house.
It made me ponder for a moment and they had been suspiciously quiet, especially since I was keeping a prisoner in my house. Even though it was a destruction-seeking monster, I would have thought they would be a bit harsher on me since our last clash had revealed I was keeping some new gods as prisoners before I time-traveled.
Well, I wasn't going to remind them and it was just a temporary situation anyway. Doomsday would serve well as a punching bag for the others. It was just right for their level of strength, at least for Maxima, and Shayera. Felicia possibly as well, but the sparring session would be real life or death battles for her than just training. Kara and Diana were also a bit too strong for it, but from what I could tell, they could still get some benefit out of fighting it.
Either way, since the Justice League knew we would face something disastrous, they probably decided to back off for now and let me do as I pleased as they suspected it would help me a lot. However, there was no denying that I had ignored them for a while now. I did my monitor duties... sometimes, but that wasn't really the same as having a one-on-one with them.
Perhaps I should visit Batman, give him a heart attack in his cave, or laugh at Flash and his negative rizz. Those were plans for the future, though. I had some new gods to kill. I thought as I closed my eyes and started to spread out my senses.
With the increase of strength, the memories of Shallot and my sensing training through teleportation had risen my sensitivity toward ki to astonishing degrees. I could easily cover the entire universe with a broad perception. Although it would be too vague to actually identify each and every life force, those that stood out from the masses would be easily recognizable.
Fortunately, I didn't need to search and distinguish each and every life force and guess who it was. I knew who I was searching for and I knew his life force. It made it even easier that he was a god. Perhaps before I was able to distinguish godly life force, it would have made the job more difficult, but now I could detect it. Now I could easily sense where gods were and those with god ki really stood out to me.
For a moment, I was a bit surprised to sense some lesser gods on earth, but after concentrating for a while I could tell that they were hidden inside a higher dimension, which made the task of sensing them a bit more difficult, though not to impossible degrees. Even Kakarot was able to sense life force from another macrocosm - the afterlife -, finding some 'powerful' gods was comparatively easy.
The magical barriers that hid them had given me a bit of trouble, but it was clear they hadn't specialized it for fending off ki sense. So, all in all, I was quickly able to sense what was inside as I broke through their veil. After I did that for several barriers, I was rather astonished at how many gods actually lingered on Earth or rather had connections to Earth. The gods obviously didn't live on Earth, but their higher dimensions weren't too far away.
There was the Norse pantheon, Hindu pantheon, Japanese pantheon... honestly, there was probably a pantheon for any major region on Earth, which was a lot more than I sensed on other planets of this universe.
The ones that had created the barriers noticed my gaze but didn't attempt to confront me as I moved on quickly. I wasn't going to piss them off by inspecting too deeply and had only looked at their dimensions out of curiosity. I bore no evil intent and they sensed it as well. They would just ignore it and let me be instead of creating a powerful enemy.
Regardless of what they thought of doing, I didn't really too much at that moment. There was something else that needed my attention, so I wouldn't linger on them for too long. I was here on a mission to kill a few new gods.
I continued to glance around and just took a peek at the Greek pantheon, which had the most presence in DC Comics because of Diana. These Olympian gods weren't much of interest to me, especially inside this universe.
Perhaps if it had been Giblet's universe I would have considered paying them a visit for a fight, but as they were now they were only of interest to me by association with Diana. So, like the other gods of earth, I only glanced into their dimension and was about to take back my perception, when I noticed the high energy output that was muted because of the barrier.
It was clearly a large battle and usually, I wouldn't have bothered with it if it weren't for the fact that I could feel Darkseid's power among the ones fighting. Though strangely, he felt... Younger. "I found him," I declared slowly as I opened my eyes again.
Maxima looked ready to head out into battle, which made me hesitate for a moment. She was strong, incredibly so compared to her beginnings, but was it fighting gods-ready? As soon as the thought came I quickly discarded it. Maxima placed a hand on my shoulder, waiting for me to teleport her away.
I wasn't the only one that grew from battle or conflict. If I prevented her from facing something that might be out of her reach then she would never grow, she would stagnate and become mediocre. "Then what are we waiting for?" Shayera asked with her hand on my shoulder as well.
"I am not going to help you when you fight him." I declared making Shayera raise an eyebrow, while Maxima just snorted.
"We already said that I want to end him, having you interfere would just take all the fun away. We just need you to bring us to him." She declared, sounding like she had Darkseid already beat. It was rather amusing to see her confidence. It hadn't been too long since she was rather afraid of Darkseid. Of course, she would never back down and even back then she had heroically fought the furies on her own.
Shayera wasn't someone who would be discouraged by a difficult fight either, instead, she would head right into it and welcome the challenge with her lightning mace in hand. Guess there was a reason I liked them around...
"Just making sure you don't expect me to be your backup," I said as I considered pinging the Martian to have the leagues come in and fight alongside them. They might just need it to survive.
"Stop wasting time and just get us there before he disappears again!" Maxima exclaimed, her hand tightening on my shoulder. I didn't say anything and just nodded before teleporting us into the dimension of the gods. If cell-saga Kakarot could enter the afterlife, the domains of the gods, despite being alive, me entering the dimension of these old gods was child's play.
Our surroundings changed and we appeared in a forest, though I sensed some human spirits close by. There were even other half-gods around, though these things didn't attract my attention. My entire focus was on Darkseid, who looked less impressive than he had been the last time we had fought.
I took a step back, indicating that I would not step up and steal their fight. The stage would be left for them alone. They clearly understood the meaning of my positioning and immediately stepped forward. Maxima unsheathed the sword on her hips, it was of elegant design decorated with some runes that were thrumming with power.
It seemed she didn't just invest in her personal strength, but had looked into improving her equipment as well. Perhaps a side-effect of her leeching friend, Felicia, who seemed to have gotten all her gadgets from Maxima's hard-working inventors.
Shayera tightened her grip on her mace, which made it flash with lightning as her arm muscles rippled slightly... I should probably focus on something else or I would make this upcoming battle rather awkward.
Anyway, despite them appearing prepared it seemed like Darkseid had come with a different fighting approach. Perhaps something he had learned from fighting and losing against me? He was absorbing Zeus' life force, or more specifically his god ki, something that the old god must have already noticed as he amped up the output of his attacks to kill his opponent quickly.
The sky was covered with clouds and lightning was raining down at the new god, who brushed most of them off before throwing himself at Zeus with a violent enthusiasm. The difference in style was opposite to the regal way he had initiated the fight against me.
It reminded me of Kratos of the God of War series. This young Darkseid seemed to be just as hot-headed as the ghost of Sparta, but also weaker compared to his older more experienced counterpart.
Despite his perceived weakness, it would be difficult to win for them as they would need to either work with Zeus or get the old god king off the field as he was only making Darkseid stronger.
I glanced around the battlefield before my eyes landed on a woman who was tall, had black hair, and had red eyes that almost seemed demonic. The moment my eyes landed on her, she looked back and I knew at that instance that she didn't belong to this universe.
Her eyes flickered with recognition and something that I could only attribute to fear or apprehensiveness. Just as I was about to interrogate her, she vanished. My senses spread out, but she had left the universe behind. She was stirring up trouble in my universe and I had the feeling she wasn't the only one.
Was this their retaliation because I had killed Trigon? They really shouldn't drag me into their fight with the Z-Fighters, otherwise, I wouldn't mind offing Darkseid. However, I might just do it even if they didn't provoke me. He had been 'alive' for too long already, it was time for someone to pull the plug on him.
My attention snapped back to the fight, where Maxima sliced a nice line over Darkseid's forearms. She was almost punished for it if Shayera hadn't intervened with her mace redirecting his punch into a tree that was instantly pulverized from the attack.
Zeus didn't seem content about taking the backseat as he attacked the new god.
...
Fear gripped Raven's heart as she stepped through the dark alley, her mind struggling to comprehend the grotesque and horrifying scene unfolding before her. The trash strewn across the floor seemed mundane compared to the nightmarish revelation that followed—the festering bodies lying scattered around, torn apart by ravenous rats, their flesh infested with swarming cockroaches.
They skittered underneath the rotten skin. Bugs the size of table tennis balls crawled out of a dead body's mouth before entering the empty eye socket only for it to turn around revealing a bloodshed eye staring intently at her. Her heart raced as the thing gazed at her until it just dug deeper, disappearing into the skull, leaving Raven behind.
Her gaze was drawn upwards to a macabre tapestry of flesh, blood, and bones stretching across the sky, connecting the skyscrapers and streets in a nightmarish tableau. The sight of bones jutting out of the fleshy walls, bleeding and oozing pus, was enough to turn her stomach. The overwhelming stench engulfed her, and she fought the urge to retch, her eyes watering from the overwhelming disgust.
She did her best to suppress it, to calm down by turning away from the horrifying sight. Her focus shifted to a table covered in body parts, served with a sinister sauce, and adorned with finger-candles that bled profusely, staining everything crimson.
"Hahahahaha." A haunting laugh echoed as a man with a spider's head strolled in with a trolley. The haunting laughter of the entity sent shivers down her spine, chilling her to the core. "Bon appétit!" It said as it opened the lid to a black mass. It dipped its hands inside before taking a handful and stuffing it into its face. The black mass responded by transforming into an army of spiders, flooding the table and floor.
Her eyes darted among the thousands of spiders before landing on a small doll sitting on a couch. "Are you eating that?" It said before it opened its mouth and a fleshy tongue stuck out, extending to the skull that lay a couple of meters away. It swallowed it whole.
"Do you want to kill it? Maybe fuck it or eat it?" The bloody clown said as he stepped out of the gory pool. "No? All three? Good answer." He stated before chopping off his own head and tossing it into the pool.
The horrors seemed to multiply as her eyes darted from one terrifying sight to another—the small doll speaking with a fleshy tongue, devouring skulls and bodies whole; the bloody clown emerging from a pool of gore, asking unsettling and confusing questions before decapitating himself.
Her mind reeled, trying to make sense of the nightmarish landscape around her. The terror was all-consuming, and she felt a profound sense of helplessness and vulnerability. In the midst of this surreal horror, she longed to wake up from this twisted reality and escape the grasp of this malevolent realm.
The overwhelming desire to flee surged through her, but she forced herself to stay rooted to the spot, her heart pounding in her chest. Several voices of the unspeakable horrors around her started to overlap, not making any sense as the scenes shifted in front of her eyes. With a dizzying swirl, the grotesque images shifted, keeping her on edge of what horror came next.
Her breath was stuck in her throat, slowly she was suffocating as she found herself in a sea of blood and bodies. She tried to struggle out of it, but there was no land in sight. Everything was more of the same, an endless nightmare. Vulnerability and a sense of helplessness filled her body as her eyes were stinging, like burning liquid was flowing out of them as she cried for help.
"N-Nathan! Where are you??" She cried as she fell to her knees in this fleshy sea. Skinless bodies started to move, pulling at her cape and her limps. She struggled as hard as she could, but there were just too many of them. Slowly but surely she was pulled down into the sea.
She looked up at the bit of light slowly closing as the moving bodies shuffled to block her from reaching it. "Help..." Her view was getting darker and darker. The darkness consumed her entirely, leaving her behind in a land of pure darkness. The bodies around her were gone and she could move around freely again, but instead of feeling relieved, the dread in her stomach only grew. She couldn't even see her own hand in front of her eyes but her gaze still drifted around, trying to find anything at all.
Suddenly a chill ran down her spine, making her look up. A white pale arm struck out of the ceiling of this darkness. It moved disconnected from the joints as it made its moves. It was trying to pull the rest of its body out of this darkness.
It was only an arm at first, but slowly a head emerged out of the ceiling. Slowly it extended until the torso of this white being hang upside down from the ceiling. It turned its head to her, revealing it possessed no hair, no eyes, or any other facial features except for an upside-down grin full of fangs. The moment this being seemed to look at her, she jolted awake, gasping for breath, her body drenched in sweat.
Her heart pounded in her chest, and the lingering aftereffect of the nightmare cast a sinister shadow over her surroundings. She found herself in the bedroom with her demon side already merged back into her. The walls seemed to close in and it was so devoid of life. Raven wrapped her arms around herself, trying to shake off the lingering fear.
The disconnected and overwhelming impressions from her dream still lingered, unsettling her to the core. The horror she had witnessed felt like a dark stain on her soul, but they all paled to the being that looked at her in the end. She felt it. This thing, it was close.
"I see you have gotten your own teleportation device." I pointed out as I got dressed much to their disappointment. At least, Maxima was conveying it clearly with the way she reached out for my pants, wanting to pull them down before I slapped her offending hand away.
"Obviously, we would get one as well just in case you got lost in space again and need some rescuing." She responded as she rubbed the hand I slapped away before playing it on her hip.
"How did you even get my life force to calibrate that thing?" To be honest, I still didn't know where they got my life force. Maybe from some samples?
"Where do you think Felicia's bracelet was from? She certainly didn't make a universal teleportation device on her own." She answered as she glanced at the two Ravens on the bed.
I looked over at Shayera, whose eyes were still lingering on my now-clothed crotch. I raised an eyebrow before snapping my fingers to get her attention. "You certainly turned around from you disliking the idea of kissing me to straight up walking into me having sex and now staring."
She snorted at my words. "You think I want to sleep with you and your enormous- tiny! tiny cock? Don't get any ideas you...! You." She pointed at me but clearly failed at giving me a good insult that would have stuck. She certainly didn't bring her A game or perhaps I had just flustered her.
"Me?" I asked teasingly as I took a step forward. "Is there something you want from me?" I continued to make her back away until her wings touched the wall of the hallway. I leaned in and our lips almost touched, which made her breathe heavily. A moment passed in that position, long enough for her to get her wits and lash out.
I held up a hand and blocked the punch, causing a loud clap to appear. I telekinetically closed the door behind Maxima as I pushed Shayera's fist above her head against the wall. Her other hand retaliated quickly and I caught it as well before pushing it to her side as I placed my leg between hers.
"Feisty," I stated as I looked at her deep blush and the ferocious smile on her face that conveyed the stubbornness and excitement she felt. Oh, I knew she would make me work for it and I was here for it. Just as she thought I would kiss her, I let her go and walked down the hallway and into the kitchen, while ignoring her stomp, breaking the laminate floor.
Kara and Felicia were already gone since before I had started the session with Raven and I was sure they would take a bit before they came back. There was no one else to cook besides me as I wasn't going to call them for something trivial like that. Besides, it was best to have them bond over whatever small activity they were up to. I certainly wouldn't want to stand between their chance to get along better.
So, I just started cooking something myself. It had been a while since I made one of my meal preps, but it wasn't something you could unlearn in just a year or two of not cooking. Shayera and Maxima accompanied me into the kitchen. "To what do I owe you this visit anyway?" I asked as I placed the alien meat onto the giant pan thinking that a bonfire would be more fit for the portions I was going to eat, but I guessed I could make it in batches until I was satiated.
"What? Can't we visit just to see you?" Maxima asked with a coy smile as they sat down.
"You can, but that's not really your style. You are kinda busy with your queen shit and an activity to go for a little date in another universe doesn't seem to fit into your calendar." I pointed out.
"Ooo, can I assume you paid attention to my schedule?" She teasingly suggested as she reached down to the grapes in the wooden bowl on the table before eating it while unnecessarily licking it. Too bad she didn't have a banana to hand, it would have given her a better option to show off her skills.
"Just a guess." I deflected with a shrug. "So, what do you need? I have some time on my hands. Raven won't be awake for a while as I was a bit harsh on her. So, if you need a training plan or sparring partner, I can also help you with that, though you probably have come together because of something else, right?"
Shayera huffed as I said that. "I told you it would be unnecessary to have an excuse." She directed at Maxima, who rolled her eyes in return. "Maxima was just embarrassed to ask for your help."
"I was not embarrassed." She denied, slightly rising her tone but still conveying a calmness through her voice. "I had just overestimated my ability to handle this and can openly admit that I was wrong." She answered smoothly before looking at me with a solemn expression.
I telekinetically turned the minced meat in the pan as I added some veggies to it. She paused for a moment before laying out her problem. "I told you that there had been a thief stealing from Almerac, right?" Her question made me nod slowly as I did remember it vaguely. I think the thief was called Grail or something. "The thief was able to steal something important, something I thought I had destroyed every piece of evidence from..."
She took a deep breath. "There had been some unauthorized samples of Darkseid's dna left. Grail, his daughter, had used some of it and a few of our inventions to resurrect him again. We currently don't know where they are, but we suspect that he is going to attack you or rather Portland."
"Hmm." I hummed slightly as I put rice into the pan. "So, Darkseid is back and you don't know where he is. I can detect his life force, which is why you asked me for help. However, why are you personally involved? I mean, besides the thief stealing from Almerac, but the moment he makes trouble I would end him anyway."
"It is my fault for his return, so I will have to make sure he gets the permanent end he deserves." She answered resolutely.
"Responsible, huh? Admirable. Sure I can help you after lunch... You want to kill him yourself, right?"
Maxima regally nodded her head, "It is my duty." Her answer made me look over at Shayera, who crossed her arms.
"Since an attack on Portland is likely, I am on behalf of the league here to inform you of it. You know, since Diana is off to her island and I had time... By the way, we both have monitor duties tomorrow." She answered simply before sifting through the cupboard where I had hidden some snacks and... she found them. How the hell did she know they were there??
She showed me the chips and ate them with a smug expression as if she was getting back at me for something. "Sure, I can help you locate him and his daughter."
Maxima almost beamed at my positive answer. "Thank you, Nathan. I won't disappoint. I said I would handle this and I would." She said as she pressed her fist against her chest like she was making an oath.
"Don't stress it, we can head out once I am done eating." As I thought about leaving, I reached out with my telekinesis and started cleaning up the Ravens before tugging them into the bed. Kara and Felicia weren't in this universe anymore, so I didn't see the point in waiting for them just to tell them I would leave and even finding them would be a bit of a hassle. My meal finished quickly and I ate it while sharing some with Maxima and Shayera.
It seemed to be a trend for the women to want some of my food, so I usually prepared extra as I was doing now. While we were eating, I just started the next batch until we were all done and filled up, which took a while since we all ate a lot- not that they ate until they were full. I was able to eat my fill and the two were happy to get me to share some. Of course, I wasn't going to tell them that I was already planning to prepare their portion as well.
Afterward, I cleaned up everything and prepared my battle outfit, they placed a hand on my shoulder before I teleported us back to our mansion. I sensed Doomsday down in the training hall, a bit weak for my taste even if he was still recovering from the beating he got from Diana. In general, I didn't have much use for him at this point. Even when I first encountered him, I was already stronger than he was and kept outgrowing him.
Now that I had god ki, I wasn't even in the same category as him anymore. I could pulverize him with a thought, but he would do well as a sparring partner for the others. "You know, although they don't mention it since they know you are trying to prepare for the calamity in less than a year, they still miss their presence on the Watchtower." Shayera suddenly said as we walked out of the house.
It made me ponder for a moment and they had been suspiciously quiet, especially since I was keeping a prisoner in my house. Even though it was a destruction-seeking monster, I would have thought they would be a bit harsher on me since our last clash had revealed I was keeping some new gods as prisoners before I time-traveled.
Well, I wasn't going to remind them and it was just a temporary situation anyway. Doomsday would serve well as a punching bag for the others. It was just right for their level of strength, at least for Maxima, and Shayera. Felicia possibly as well, but the sparring session would be real life or death battles for her than just training. Kara and Diana were also a bit too strong for it, but from what I could tell, they could still get some benefit out of fighting it.
Either way, since the Justice League knew we would face something disastrous, they probably decided to back off for now and let me do as I pleased as they suspected it would help me a lot. However, there was no denying that I had ignored them for a while now. I did my monitor duties... sometimes, but that wasn't really the same as having a one-on-one with them.
Perhaps I should visit Batman, give him a heart attack in his cave, or laugh at Flash and his negative rizz. Those were plans for the future, though. I had some new gods to kill. I thought as I closed my eyes and started to spread out my senses.
With the increase of strength, the memories of Shallot and my sensing training through teleportation had risen my sensitivity toward ki to astonishing degrees. I could easily cover the entire universe with a broad perception. Although it would be too vague to actually identify each and every life force, those that stood out from the masses would be easily recognizable.
Fortunately, I didn't need to search and distinguish each and every life force and guess who it was. I knew who I was searching for and I knew his life force. It made it even easier that he was a god. Perhaps before I was able to distinguish godly life force, it would have made the job more difficult, but now I could detect it. Now I could easily sense where gods were and those with god ki really stood out to me.
For a moment, I was a bit surprised to sense some lesser gods on earth, but after concentrating for a while I could tell that they were hidden inside a higher dimension, which made the task of sensing them a bit more difficult, though not to impossible degrees. Even Kakarot was able to sense life force from another macrocosm - the afterlife -, finding some 'powerful' gods was comparatively easy.
The magical barriers that hid them had given me a bit of trouble, but it was clear they hadn't specialized it for fending off ki sense. So, all in all, I was quickly able to sense what was inside as I broke through their veil. After I did that for several barriers, I was rather astonished at how many gods actually lingered on Earth or rather had connections to Earth. The gods obviously didn't live on Earth, but their higher dimensions weren't too far away.
There was the Norse pantheon, Hindu pantheon, Japanese pantheon... honestly, there was probably a pantheon for any major region on Earth, which was a lot more than I sensed on other planets of this universe.
The ones that had created the barriers noticed my gaze but didn't attempt to confront me as I moved on quickly. I wasn't going to piss them off by inspecting too deeply and had only looked at their dimensions out of curiosity. I bore no evil intent and they sensed it as well. They would just ignore it and let me be instead of creating a powerful enemy.
Regardless of what they thought of doing, I didn't really too much at that moment. There was something else that needed my attention, so I wouldn't linger on them for too long. I was here on a mission to kill a few new gods.
I continued to glance around and just took a peek at the Greek pantheon, which had the most presence in DC Comics because of Diana. These Olympian gods weren't much of interest to me, especially inside this universe.
Perhaps if it had been Giblet's universe I would have considered paying them a visit for a fight, but as they were now they were only of interest to me by association with Diana. So, like the other gods of earth, I only glanced into their dimension and was about to take back my perception, when I noticed the high energy output that was muted because of the barrier.
It was clearly a large battle and usually, I wouldn't have bothered with it if it weren't for the fact that I could feel Darkseid's power among the ones fighting. Though strangely, he felt... Younger. "I found him," I declared slowly as I opened my eyes again.
Maxima looked ready to head out into battle, which made me hesitate for a moment. She was strong, incredibly so compared to her beginnings, but was it fighting gods-ready? As soon as the thought came I quickly discarded it. Maxima placed a hand on my shoulder, waiting for me to teleport her away.
I wasn't the only one that grew from battle or conflict. If I prevented her from facing something that might be out of her reach then she would never grow, she would stagnate and become mediocre. "Then what are we waiting for?" Shayera asked with her hand on my shoulder as well.
"I am not going to help you when you fight him." I declared making Shayera raise an eyebrow, while Maxima just snorted.
"We already said that I want to end him, having you interfere would just take all the fun away. We just need you to bring us to him." She declared, sounding like she had Darkseid already beat. It was rather amusing to see her confidence. It hadn't been too long since she was rather afraid of Darkseid. Of course, she would never back down and even back then she had heroically fought the furies on her own.
Shayera wasn't someone who would be discouraged by a difficult fight either, instead, she would head right into it and welcome the challenge with her lightning mace in hand. Guess there was a reason I liked them around...
"Just making sure you don't expect me to be your backup," I said as I considered pinging the Martian to have the leagues come in and fight alongside them. They might just need it to survive.
"Stop wasting time and just get us there before he disappears again!" Maxima exclaimed, her hand tightening on my shoulder. I didn't say anything and just nodded before teleporting us into the dimension of the gods. If cell-saga Kakarot could enter the afterlife, the domains of the gods, despite being alive, me entering the dimension of these old gods was child's play.
Our surroundings changed and we appeared in a forest, though I sensed some human spirits close by. There were even other half-gods around, though these things didn't attract my attention. My entire focus was on Darkseid, who looked less impressive than he had been the last time we had fought.
I took a step back, indicating that I would not step up and steal their fight. The stage would be left for them alone. They clearly understood the meaning of my positioning and immediately stepped forward. Maxima unsheathed the sword on her hips, it was of elegant design decorated with some runes that were thrumming with power.
It seemed she didn't just invest in her personal strength, but had looked into improving her equipment as well. Perhaps a side-effect of her leeching friend, Felicia, who seemed to have gotten all her gadgets from Maxima's hard-working inventors.
Shayera tightened her grip on her mace, which made it flash with lightning as her arm muscles rippled slightly... I should probably focus on something else or I would make this upcoming battle rather awkward.
Anyway, despite them appearing prepared it seemed like Darkseid had come with a different fighting approach. Perhaps something he had learned from fighting and losing against me? He was absorbing Zeus' life force, or more specifically his god ki, something that the old god must have already noticed as he amped up the output of his attacks to kill his opponent quickly.
The sky was covered with clouds and lightning was raining down at the new god, who brushed most of them off before throwing himself at Zeus with a violent enthusiasm. The difference in style was opposite to the regal way he had initiated the fight against me.
It reminded me of Kratos of the God of War series. This young Darkseid seemed to be just as hot-headed as the ghost of Sparta, but also weaker compared to his older more experienced counterpart.
Despite his perceived weakness, it would be difficult to win for them as they would need to either work with Zeus or get the old god king off the field as he was only making Darkseid stronger.
I glanced around the battlefield before my eyes landed on a woman who was tall, had black hair, and had red eyes that almost seemed demonic. The moment my eyes landed on her, she looked back and I knew at that instance that she didn't belong to this universe.
Her eyes flickered with recognition and something that I could only attribute to fear or apprehensiveness. Just as I was about to interrogate her, she vanished. My senses spread out, but she had left the universe behind. She was stirring up trouble in my universe and I had the feeling she wasn't the only one.
Was this their retaliation because I had killed Trigon? They really shouldn't drag me into their fight with the Z-Fighters, otherwise, I wouldn't mind offing Darkseid. However, I might just do it even if they didn't provoke me. He had been 'alive' for too long already, it was time for someone to pull the plug on him.
My attention snapped back to the fight, where Maxima sliced a nice line over Darkseid's forearms. She was almost punished for it if Shayera hadn't intervened with her mace redirecting his punch into a tree that was instantly pulverized from the attack.
Zeus didn't seem content about taking the backseat as he attacked the new god.
...
Fear gripped Raven's heart as she stepped through the dark alley, her mind struggling to comprehend the grotesque and horrifying scene unfolding before her. The trash strewn across the floor seemed mundane compared to the nightmarish revelation that followed—the festering bodies lying scattered around, torn apart by ravenous rats, their flesh infested with swarming cockroaches.
They skittered underneath the rotten skin. Bugs the size of table tennis balls crawled out of a dead body's mouth before entering the empty eye socket only for it to turn around revealing a bloodshed eye staring intently at her. Her heart raced as the thing gazed at her until it just dug deeper, disappearing into the skull, leaving Raven behind.
Her gaze was drawn upwards to a macabre tapestry of flesh, blood, and bones stretching across the sky, connecting the skyscrapers and streets in a nightmarish tableau. The sight of bones jutting out of the fleshy walls, bleeding and oozing pus, was enough to turn her stomach. The overwhelming stench engulfed her, and she fought the urge to retch, her eyes watering from the overwhelming disgust.
She did her best to suppress it, to calm down by turning away from the horrifying sight. Her focus shifted to a table covered in body parts, served with a sinister sauce, and adorned with finger-candles that bled profusely, staining everything crimson.
"Hahahahaha." A haunting laugh echoed as a man with a spider's head strolled in with a trolley. The haunting laughter of the entity sent shivers down her spine, chilling her to the core. "Bon appétit!" It said as it opened the lid to a black mass. It dipped its hands inside before taking a handful and stuffing it into its face. The black mass responded by transforming into an army of spiders, flooding the table and floor.
Her eyes darted among the thousands of spiders before landing on a small doll sitting on a couch. "Are you eating that?" It said before it opened its mouth and a fleshy tongue stuck out, extending to the skull that lay a couple of meters away. It swallowed it whole.
"Do you want to kill it? Maybe fuck it or eat it?" The bloody clown said as he stepped out of the gory pool. "No? All three? Good answer." He stated before chopping off his own head and tossing it into the pool.
The horrors seemed to multiply as her eyes darted from one terrifying sight to another—the small doll speaking with a fleshy tongue, devouring skulls and bodies whole; the bloody clown emerging from a pool of gore, asking unsettling and confusing questions before decapitating himself.
Her mind reeled, trying to make sense of the nightmarish landscape around her. The terror was all-consuming, and she felt a profound sense of helplessness and vulnerability. In the midst of this surreal horror, she longed to wake up from this twisted reality and escape the grasp of this malevolent realm.
The overwhelming desire to flee surged through her, but she forced herself to stay rooted to the spot, her heart pounding in her chest. Several voices of the unspeakable horrors around her started to overlap, not making any sense as the scenes shifted in front of her eyes. With a dizzying swirl, the grotesque images shifted, keeping her on edge of what horror came next.
Her breath was stuck in her throat, slowly she was suffocating as she found herself in a sea of blood and bodies. She tried to struggle out of it, but there was no land in sight. Everything was more of the same, an endless nightmare. Vulnerability and a sense of helplessness filled her body as her eyes were stinging, like burning liquid was flowing out of them as she cried for help.
"N-Nathan! Where are you??" She cried as she fell to her knees in this fleshy sea. Skinless bodies started to move, pulling at her cape and her limps. She struggled as hard as she could, but there were just too many of them. Slowly but surely she was pulled down into the sea.
She looked up at the bit of light slowly closing as the moving bodies shuffled to block her from reaching it. "Help..." Her view was getting darker and darker. The darkness consumed her entirely, leaving her behind in a land of pure darkness. The bodies around her were gone and she could move around freely again, but instead of feeling relieved, the dread in her stomach only grew. She couldn't even see her own hand in front of her eyes but her gaze still drifted around, trying to find anything at all.
Suddenly a chill ran down her spine, making her look up. A white pale arm struck out of the ceiling of this darkness. It moved disconnected from the joints as it made its moves. It was trying to pull the rest of its body out of this darkness.
It was only an arm at first, but slowly a head emerged out of the ceiling. Slowly it extended until the torso of this white being hang upside down from the ceiling. It turned its head to her, revealing it possessed no hair, no eyes, or any other facial features except for an upside-down grin full of fangs. The moment this being seemed to look at her, she jolted awake, gasping for breath, her body drenched in sweat.
Her heart pounded in her chest, and the lingering aftereffect of the nightmare cast a sinister shadow over her surroundings. She found herself in the bedroom with her demon side already merged back into her. The walls seemed to close in and it was so devoid of life. Raven wrapped her arms around herself, trying to shake off the lingering fear.
The disconnected and overwhelming impressions from her dream still lingered, unsettling her to the core. The horror she had witnessed felt like a dark stain on her soul, but they all paled to the being that looked at her in the end. She felt it. This thing, it was close.
