Chapter 70: Absolute Part 1
William stood tall, his hybrid form fully unleashed, towering over Darkseid like a golden titan of war. His burning aura churned violently, flickering between deep gold and the crimson remnants of his previous power-up, as if the raw energy within him was still struggling to contain itself.
Darkseid, however, was not backing down.
His massive hands remained locked around the Godslayer Spear, straining against William's vice-like grip. The weapon trembled as the two forces clashed over it, Darkseid, a god of conquest, and William, an anomaly of unrelenting will.
But William wasn't just holding the spear.
He was fighting back.
"SLICK!"
From his forearm, a tendril of bone-plated symbiotic material shot forth, twisting in midair before spearing itself directly into Darkseid's flesh.
"KRRRK!"
The barbed tip buried itself deep into the god's obsidian skin, then snapped off, only for another tendril to follow, and another.
Over and over.
Darkseid's glowing red eyes flared with outrage as the repeating assault dug into his armored hide, leaving behind burning wounds that pulsed with eerie energy.
This was not pain. Not in the way mortals understood it. But it was infuriating.
"ENOUGH!"
His voice thundered across the battlefield, a godly decree that shook the very air itself.
In an instant, his Omega Beams ignited, burning hotter than the cores of stars. The crimson energy surged from his eyes, twisting unnaturally as it homed in on its target:
William.
But William didn't flinch.
Instead, he raised his free hand.
"THWOOOOM!"
He caught the Omega Beam in his palm.
The sheer impact tore apart the air, sending shockwaves that shattered the remaining glaciers in the distance. The ground rumbled violently, struggling beneath the godly clash of forces.
William's teeth clenched, his arm trembling under the sheer force of the Omega energy pressing into his palm.
They were equals.
Neither side gaining ground. Neither side yielding an inch.
But then—
"KRSHHHH!"
A massive explosion of ice erupted beneath them.
Superman.
From the frozen depths of the battlefield, the Man of Steel shot forth like an unstoppable missile, his cape billowing as he emerged directly between the two titans. His fists burned with raw power, and his eyes blazed like scarlet infernos.
"RAAHH!"
He struck, hard.
"BOOM!"
Superman's fist collided with Darkseid's face, snapping the god's head back as crimson embers spat from his eyes.
Simultaneously—
"WHAM!"
His booted foot shot outward, catching William square in the jaw with a devastating kick that sent him flying.
In the span of a single moment, both Darkseid and William were ripped from their struggle, sent hurtling in opposite directions like twin meteorites crashing through the battlefield.
"KRRRSHHH!"
William's body smashed into the ice, carving a massive trench as he tumbled through, his impact alone causing avalanches to cascade from distant cliffs.
Darkseid, meanwhile, was sent skidding across the battlefield, his heels digging trenches into the frozen ground before finally coming to a halt. He stood up, rolling his jaw, his expression unreadable, but his eyes burned with silent fury.
Superman hovered above them both, his chest rising and falling with controlled breaths, his stance firm. His gaze was cold, calculating.
For the first time in this battle, he had leveled the playing field.
And all three warriors knew—
This fight was far from over.
The battlefield felt like it was held together by nothing more than the fragile strands of willpower as William focused on his next move.
Suddenly—
From the shadows of a Boom Tube, a hand shot forward with deadly intent, its sleek, curved blade aimed straight for William's heart.
Myrina.
She had teleported behind him, hoping to strike with the speed and precision of a venomous serpent, a fatal blow to end the fight.
But William was no novice.
He sensed it.
His instincts were honed beyond the ordinary, and before the dagger could touch his skin, his hand shot up, grasping her wrist with terrifying speed. The cold steel of the blade scratched against his skin, but he didn't flinch.
In one fluid motion, he twisted her arm, prying the dagger from her grasp and flinging it aside. The shock of the reversal flickered in her eyes, but she didn't have time to react.
With an expert flick of his wrist, he struck.
"CRACK!"
His hand came down sharply on Myrina's neck, sending a burst of energy through her system, knocking her unconscious in a single, calculated blow.
Before she even hit the ground, William opened a system space portal beneath her. Without a second thought, he dropped her unceremoniously into the void, sending her to Gravitas, his own home world, far from the chaos of this fight.
[System message - Kill Darkseid's generals 3/6]
[System message - Since the user removed the general from the universe, it counts as a kill as her connection to the universe has been severed.]
For a brief moment, surprise flickered across William's face.
But that moment was short-lived.
Darkseid felt it.
A primal rage rippled through the New God's veins as the sudden loss of connection to Myrina seethed in his mind. His teeth bared, and his eyes burned brighter than ever.
"NOOOO!"
Darkseid's fury erupted, his massive form charging forward, moving faster than even William expected. Before he could react, the god's powerful hand gripped his throat, lifting him from the ground effortlessly.
With a roar of fury, Darkseid opened a Boom Tube beneath them.
The portal snapped shut just as a streak of red and blue flew through it.
Superman.
He had arrived just in time, his rage-filled eyes burning with the reflection of his godly opponents, now locked in battle on Apokolips.
The hellscape of Darkseid's home world stretched out before them, a landscape of fire, smoke, and the ruins of a once-proud empire. The very ground trembled with the weight of their power. And Superman's arrival only added fuel to the already roaring fire.
His eyes locked onto William and Darkseid as they traded thunderous blows beneath the alien sky.
Here, in the heart of Darkseid's domain, where the source of his power lay, Darkseid was stronger, vastly stronger.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
The ground cracked with every punch exchanged between the two warriors, their bodies shuddering under the pressure. William's face bore the marks of battle, blood dripping from his lips as each blow seemed to land harder than the last. But there was something else in his eyes.
A wicked grin.
"HAHAHAHA!"
William's laugh echoed across the desolate landscape, a sound as terrifying as it was ecstatic. His blood boiled beneath his skin, his heart racing from the intensity of the fight. Every bone in his body was aching, every fiber screaming with pain, but he had never felt more alive. The crushing weight of Darkseid's blows was only making the thrill of battle burn brighter.
The ground beneath them shattered as Darkseid sent William flying with a brutal strike. But before William could recover, a blur of red and blue appeared behind him.
Superman.
"BAM!"
A speed-powered hammer fist slammed into William's back, the force of the punch shaking the very heavens as it sent him hurtling toward the planet below. The air screamed as he plummeted, and the ground ripped open in his wake.
William crashed into the surface with enough force to create a tremor that rocked the planet. His body slammed into Darkseid's servants, reducing them to nothing more than pink mist in a moment of sheer, destructive impact.
The battlefield was now a cataclysmic storm, with three of the universe's most powerful beings locked in a violent, unrelenting battle of will, power, and rage.
And somewhere in the distance, the sound of laughter could still be heard.
The smoke and rubble around William shifted violently as he rose from the wreckage, his body coated in the blood of the fallen. The stench of decay and destruction clung to him like a second skin, but the burning light in his eyes told a different story, he was alive in a way no one could understand.
Standing amidst the ruin of the planet's inhabitants, his body a mix of blood-soaked armor and raw fury, he turned toward Superman with a mocking grin stretching across his face. His voice, though calm, dripped with venom.
"It's really no wonder Lois didn't make it with someone like YOU protecting her."
His words landed like poisoned daggers in Superman's heart.
For the briefest of moments, Superman's eyes widened, his gaze darkening. His crimson pupils flared, a deeper, darker shade of red flooding his irises as rage coursed through him. His breath came out in harsh gasps, his chest rising and falling with the heat of betrayal and fury.
"RRRAAAHH!"
Without a word, Superman charged.
The air seemed to tremble under the sheer force of his velocity, the ground beneath him cracking as if it too feared the collision that was about to unfold. He slammed into William, fists flying in a wild, relentless barrage, each punch a meteor of raw power aimed to break his foe apart.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
Each strike was met with a deafening impact as Superman's fists collided with William's defenses. The sound of superhuman force meeting unwavering strength reverberated across the battlefield. But despite the thunderous blows, William stood his ground. His arms moved with a casual ease, each punch from Superman easily blocked as if it were nothing more than a breeze.
Then—
"POW!"
A sickening crack rang out as William caught Superman's fist with a vice-like grip. Superman's entire body jerked back from the force of the catch, but it was too late. William's hand closed around his fist, the full force of his grip crushing down like a vice.
"CRUNCH!"
The sound of Superman's bones shattering echoed for miles, audible even to Darkseid and his distant servants. The world seemed to hold its breath. Even the air around them shuddered at the magnitude of the pain Superman was experiencing. His face twisted in agony as he realized, his bones were breaking under the pressure.
But William wasn't finished.
With a cold smirk playing at the corner of his lips, William released the hold on Superman's fist, only to draw forth a weapon of his own. A bone blade materialized from his side, the edge glowing with the strange power of his will. The green glow of Kryptonite flickered at the edges, coating the blade in a dark, poisonous energy.
Superman's bloodshot eyes went wide, realization flashing across his face just as William swung down.
"SLASH!"
The bone blade sank into Superman's flesh like a hot knife through butter. It carved through his muscles, bones, and sinew with unnatural precision. The edge of the blade seemed to hum with energy, cutting through Superman's arm as if it were little more than paper.
A heartbeat of silence.
And then, with a sickening sound, the blade cleaved through completely.
The battle paused.
It was as if time itself had frozen, the world holding its breath in disbelief. The only sound now was the wet squelch of Superman's severed arm being torn free from his body, blood pouring freely from the stump where his limb had once been.
"SHHHRRK!"
The arm, now free, hung loosely in William's grip, a grotesque symbol of Superman's sudden vulnerability. Blood sprayed from the severed flesh, thick crimson rivers splashing across the frozen ground. The battlefield was painted in red, the last remnant of Superman's might.
Superman, stunned beyond comprehension, staggered backward, his remaining arm clutching at the stump where his arm had once been. His breaths came in ragged gasps, his body shaking from the loss and the sheer shock of the moment. His face, pale, strained, in agony, was a stark contrast to the unrelenting smile still on William's lips.
For the first time in this battle, the Man of Steel looked truly mortal.
And William?
He stood tall, his chest heaving as his eyes burned with a strange satisfaction, he was a predator, and Superman was nothing more than prey.
The field of battle had shifted. And now, William was in control.