Twenty demon knights mounted on their wyverns faced Superman in the crimson sky.
Runes crawled across their pauldrons and breastplates, pulsing with the same crimson fire that filled the sky. Their helms were carved into the likenesses of beasts.
Their wyverns were living engines of destruction, each mount was the size of a small building.
The lead knight raised his lance, his voice was a thunderclap, a single word in monster tongue.
"KORVAKH!"
The wyverns roared.
And they all attacked.
Clark moved before the first lance could reach him.
It was not a dodge, it was more like dismissal. He caught the lance with his bare hand, the impact sending a shockwave across the sky that shattered the nearest outcropping of rock. The wood splintered. The metal bent. And Clark pushed, sending the knight and his wyvern tumbling backward.
"I have no idea what you guys were planning," Clark said, his voice calm, almost conversational. "But you're not going past me."
Two more knights came from the sides, their swords swinging in arcs that intersected perfectly, designed to catch him in a crossfire of death. Clark dropped beneath the first blade, his body horizontal in the air, and caught the second with his forearm. He twisted, redirecting the momentum, and the second knight's own force carried him into the first. They crashed together in a tangle of armor and curses, their wyverns screeching in protest.
Clark rose, his cape settling around him.
"Good coordination," he said. "I bet you're thinking that since I'm alone, I'm an easy prey... I'm not."
A third knight lunged from below, his lance aimed at Clark's heart, his wyvern's maw open wide. Clark caught the lance, spun, and hurled the knight directly into the path of another wyvern, while punching his own and he closed his maw right away, sending him spiraling through the air.
Clark caught him by his leg before he could hit the ground.
"That was close," Clark said, setting the knight down gently on the volcanic stone below. "Maybe try to aim a little higher next time."
The knight's eyes blazed with fury.
Clark's lips curved, just slightly. "I'm kidding."
He rose into the sky again.
The remaining knights had regrouped in the sky. They circled him now, their wyverns beating their wings in perfect synchronization, their weapons trained on him from every angle, they were learning. Adapting.
The lead knight spoke again, his voice carrying across the battlefield in broken, guttural human tongue.
"You... are... strong."
Clark's eyes narrowed. "Wow... you can talk in our language?! Well in that case I'd say you are far stronger than anything I've faced in a Dungeon before."
The lead knight's lips twisted beneath his helm, "We... are the... Crimson Guard of the Demon Monarch. We serve... the one who was... promised."
Clark's brow furrowed. "Promised? Promised by who?"
The knight didn't answer. Instead, he raised his lance.
"KILL THE HUMAN!"
They attacked.
Clark moved through them like a blade through silk.
He caught lances and shattered them. He deflected sword strikes and redirected them into the path of other knights. He grabbed wyverns by their tails and threw them into their companions, sending them crashing to the ground in explosions of dust and debris.
He moved faster than they could track, stronger than they could resist, more precise than they could anticipate. His fists connected with helms, his palms caught blades, his body absorbed blows that would have flattened lesser beings.
And through it all, he didn't kill any of them, Clark once again was holding back.
A knight lunged at him from above, his sword descending in a two-handed strike that could have cleaved a giant. Clark caught the blade between his palms, the impact creating a shockwave that pushed back the other knights. He held the sword, his eyes locked with the knight's.
"Want to explain what you meant earlier?" Clark repeated. "I can see it in your eyes. You're following orders, just like the rest of them."
The knight's snarl was defiant. "You... know... nothing... human."
Clark twisted.
The sword shattered.
The knight's eyes went wide and then Clark's fist connected with his face, sending him tumbling from his wyvern, unconscious before he hit the ground.
Clark hovered in the sky, his breathing slightly elevated, his eyes scanning the battlefield. Three knights remained, the last of the twenty, their wyverns circling him cautiously, their weapons trembling in their hands.
They were afraid.
Clark's voice carried across the sky. "You don't have to do this, you can surrender and I won't hurt you."
The knights exchanged a glance.
Then they attacked.
Clark sighed.
The first knight's lance was shattered. The second knight's sword was torn from his hands. The third knight was caught by his armor and thrown into the other two, sending all three of them crashing into the volcanic ground in a heap of tangled limbs.
The wyverns followed, Clark catching them mid-air, redirecting their momentum, setting them down gently beside their unconscious riders.
The battlefield was silent.
Twenty knights lay unconscious on the volcanic ground. Twenty wyverns stood nearby, their heads bowed, their eyes watchful but no longer hostile. Their animal instinct screaming that the human is a major threat and a far more dangerous predator.
Clark descended slowly, landing amidst the fallen.
He walked among them, his boots crunching against the volcanic rock, his eyes scanning the faces of his defeated enemies. The demons were young, younger than he had expected, some of them were females, and their eyes, now closed in unconsciousness, had not yet hardened into the coldness of true warriors.
Clark knelt beside the lead knight.
"I'm not going to kill you," he said, his voice almost gentle. "I'm not going to let you invade my world. But I'm not going to destroy you either."
He straightened.
"What will I do with them now?" he murmured.
He looked at the crimson sky, at the fortress in the distance, at the Gate that led back to his world. He had come here expecting a fight. He had found one. But he had also found something else, something that made him pause.
These knights were not mindless monsters. They had been sent to invade his world, yes. But they had also been following orders, orders that had been given by beings who were no longer alive, but he didn't know that yet.
Arthur had killed the Demon Monarch already.
Clark began dragging the unconscious knights toward the Gate.
He would find a way to contain them. To interrogate them, to learn where they came from and what they wanted.
And if they couldn't be reasoned with...
He would try to find another way.
Clark emerged from the Gate, dragging the last of the unconscious knights onto the sandy beach. The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and gold, a stark contrast to the crimson hell he had just left behind.
He laid the knight gently on the sand, then straightened, brushing the dust from his hands.
The Gate pulsed behind him, its edges crackling with residual energy, then it disappeared entirely.
"I'm going to need help with this..." he said to himself.
He reached for his communicator and paused when his senses screamed.
It was not a threat, not exactly. It was a presence. Three of them, descending from the sky with the incredible speed, their shadow forms silhouetted against the dying sun.
Superman's posture shifted and his eyes narrowed, his hands unclenching at his sides.
The three figures landed on the beach, the sand barely shifted beneath them.
Marshal Zeus stepped forward and his eyes fixed on Superman.
Behind him, General Sinestro and General Atrocitus stood with their hands behind their backs.
Sinestro moved toward the unconscious knights, his ring already glowing with black violet light, and began to lift them one by one into the sky.
Atrocitus followed and did the same.
Marshal Zeus bowed his head to Superman.
"Thank you, Superman, for your work." His voice was respectful. "We will take it from here."
Clark's eyes narrowed. His arms crossed over his chest.
"Care to explain?"
Zeus straightened. His eyes met Superman's.
"We will take them as prisoners to Nyx." Zeus gestured at the unconscious knights. "The Monarch anticipated such an attempt from the other false Monarchs to attack Earth while he deals with them. The Demon Monarch must have sent his elite for a slaughter mission."
Clark's jaw tightened."Well, that explains a lot. But I still need to know more."
Sinestro and Atrocitus had already finished their work. The unconscious knights suspended by violet chains of shadow energy. Sinestro's ring pulsed, and the prisoners began to rise toward the sky, their forms silhouetted against the stars that were just beginning to appear.
Zeus turned to Superman.
"You are more than welcome in Nyx," he said. "Our Monarch will be there shortly, and he will explain to you.." A pause. "If he pleases."
Clark's eyes lingered on the Marshal. Then he nodded slowly.
"I'll hold you to that."
Zeus inclined his head in a gesture of respect, of farewell. Then he turned, his form rising into the sky.
Sinestro and Atrocitus followed, their prisoners trailing behind them.
/-\
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