She was Darkseid's daughter, after all. As Earth-Three's Superman, Ultraman understood perfectly well how formidable Darkseid was, and just how exceptional his bloodline happened to be.
She would certainly bear him the finest and most outstanding warriors. Once, he had set his sights on the Amazonian princess, but now his target had shifted.
What did that Amazonian woman have compared to the one before him? This one not only possessed Darkseid's bloodline but was also the daughter of the Amazons' god-chosen assassin. She combined the superior lineages of both houses.
Of course, the gods of this world were impressive too, but Ultraman felt that women from his own universe suited him better.
He wanted this woman to bear the offspring of the House of El.
Hearing this, Axis raised a brow. This Ultraman fellow had nerve. So he had taken a liking to Grail.
She wasn't half bad in terms of looks and her figure was decent enough. Yet Axis had to admit, Ultraman's taste was truly heavy.
Before Ultraman could continue, Grail beside him finally erupted. Her expression twisted violently as she glared at Ultraman in fury.
"What did you say?! You stupid, savage Kryptonian beast! You must be out of your mind." Grail's previously cold features contorted instantly with extreme rage, and crimson Omega radiance burst uncontrollably from her eyes, forming a violent energy vortex around her body.
This wretch was simply beyond reason.
She had lived for thousands of years, and never had anyone dared to speak to her this way.
She was Darkseid's daughter. She was no naive little girl, but an eternal assassin the same age as Wonder Woman, having lived more than five thousand years.
She, Grail, the mighty daughter of Darkseid, the god-chosen assassin of the Amazon tribe, was to be treated as a breeding tool by a barbarian who had only just ascended to godhood through another's favor?
This was an unspeakable humiliation. She absolutely could not accept such an offense.
"Die you shall vermin!" Cursed at so, Ultraman gave a vicious grin.
The vast sensation of power born from his newly acquired divinity fused with his Kryptonian constitution had inflated his confidence to its peak.
He did not even wait for Axis to give an order. His fist, wrapped in golden divine power and Kryptonian brute strength, shot straight toward Grail with the momentum to crush stars.
On Earth-Three, and in the eyes of the House of El, women were made to be conquered. One need only beat the other party into submission.
Axis showed no intention of stopping them.
Instead, he crossed his legs with great interest and settled in to watch the two fight, even setting up a thin layer of Cosmo barrier to keep them from wrecking the surroundings.
"Omega Sanction!" Grail shrieked.
The crimson Omega Beams were no longer mere heat vision. Infused with her utmost rage and killing intent, they became a deep red lance of light that warped spacetime and annihilated all things, hurtling to meet Ultraman's fist.
With a thunderous roar, the two mighty forces collided.
The entire Goddess's Palace shook violently. Had Athena and Axis not instinctively stabilized it with their divine power, that single blow alone might well have blown the palace apart.
Ultraman's fist was overwhelmingly tyrannical, forcibly shattering most of the Omega Beam's might.
Yet the Omega power's strange "erasure of existence" property pierced through his divine defenses. The skin and muscle on the surface of his fist instantly carbonized and crumbled, exposing the bones beneath, which glimmered with golden divine light.
"Ugh!" Ultraman let out a pained grunt, both shocked and furious. He had not expected this woman's counterattack to be so incisive, actually capable of injuring his newborn divine body.
All she can do is injure me, nothing more.
Having received Axis's blessing, his strength was now dreadfully formidable, beyond anything this woman could imagine.
"Damned woman!" Ultraman roared. His eyes turned crimson in an instant. Heat vision. But this time the heat vision was mixed with his divine power as the God of Strength, taking on a scorching gold-red hue, its might far surpassing anything before.
Grail refused to be outdone. More Omega energy poured forth from within her, forming a constantly rotating, deep red prismatic shield before her that devoured all light.
The two were about to clash again. The surging energy fluctuations made the entire Sanctuary tremble.
Grail's expression darkened as she looked at Ultraman. She did not dare engage him in a direct physical contest, for no one dared fight and win against a Kryptonian in a hand to hand clash.
Moreover, the Omega Beam she had just unleashed in a rage had only wounded her opponent lightly. This was difficult to accept. Her attack alone could kill even that Amazonian princess, Superwoman, with a single strike.
Even Wonder Woman of the main universe would not dare face her Omega Beams head-on.
The two erupted into fierce combat while Axis watched with an air of amusement, curious to see who would come out on top.
Before, Grail's Omega power had given her a slight edge over Ultraman. But now that Ultraman had become the God of Strength, he held the advantage.
Grail gave a cold snort, drew out her massive scythe-axe, and charged at Ultraman. Ultraman was not to be outdone either. He swung his enormous fists, countering with the divine Cosmo he had only just comprehended.
"Let me show you the power of a god." Ultraman was thoroughly enraged. His newly acquired divinity gave him unmatched confidence, and Grail's resistance and the wound she had dealt him had only ignited the savagery in his bones.
Ignoring the lingering, searing pain of the Omega corrosion on his fists, his body erupted with dazzling golden divine light. He became like a humanoid star, crashing into Grail with pure speed and raw power.
"Damned barbarian!" Grail shrieked. She knew full well she could never engage a Kryptonian in close combat.
Her palms thrust forward, and instead of a single Omega Beam, she unleashed dozens of twisting, leaping crimson energy whips all at once.
These whips did not strike in straight lines.
They coiled and lashed at Ultraman from every treacherous angle, each strike carrying the Omega power to erase matter from existence, seeking to hinder and weaken his wild charge.
Ultraman laughed viciously and neither dodged nor evaded. His fists, wrapped in divine power and a biological force field, pounded out like pile drivers.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Golden fist-shadows collided with crimson energy whips, annihilating one another. Ultraman's strength held the absolute upper hand.
Every punch shattered several whips, and the bursts of Omega energy splattered across his golden divine body, leaving sizzling, blackened scorch marks that could not inflict any deeper damage. Ultraman's recovery was too swift.
"Is that all you've got, daughter of Darkseid?" Ultraman laughed wildly.
He barreled straight through the dense barrage of whips until he stood before Grail, and his enormous hand seized toward her head with the power to crush stars.
Ever since awakening his divine Cosmo, Ultraman's speed had reached an unimaginable realm. Before, he could already exceed the speed of light. Now, there was no need to say more.
Grail's face changed. Her figure blurred in an instant and retreated like a phantom. At the same time, her hands formed a strange seal before her chest.
"Omega Surge!"
Hum!
A highly unstable crimson singularity, like a miniature black hole where space-collapse and matter-annihilation churned unceasingly within, suddenly appeared before Ultraman. It generated a terrifying pull, not only dragging at his body but threatening to haul his very existence into eternal nothingness.
Ultraman's forward momentum was abruptly halted. He felt as though both body and soul were about to be torn apart. With a furious roar, he planted his feet as though rooted to the earth. His divine power blazed wildly around him, and he forcibly endured that terrifying pull.
Ultraman's arms bulged with muscle, blazing with a blinding red divine light, then suddenly tore outward to both sides.
Ri-i-ip!
That uncanny crimson singularity, driven by his pure strength fused with the divine Cosmo, was forcibly torn apart and ripped to shreds.
The bursts of chaotic energy staggered him back half a step. More fine cracks appeared across his divine body, but under the effects of his divine power, they healed as instantly as they formed.
"Now, it's my turn!" Ultraman drew a deep breath. His chest rose high, and his eyes once again flushed crimson. But this time, the energy gathering within far exceeded anything before.
Earlier he could only unleash pure heat, and though the might had been terrifying, it now carried the baptism of divine Cosmo, making this oversized heat vision all the more dreadful.
A gold-red torrent of super heat vision, far wider in diameter than ever before and mixed with raging divine power and Kryptonian energy, erupted like a spear of primordial light at the dawn of the universe and blasted toward Grail. Wherever it passed, space within the barrier twisted faintly.
Grail's pupils contracted. She could feel the terror of this strike and knew she absolutely could not take it head-on. Channeling her Omega power to the utmost, her body seemed to turn into a pure entity of deep red energy as she attempted a short-range spatial leap to evade.
Yet Ultraman's combat instincts were terrifyingly keen. The torrent of heat vision swept along with her, sealing off every possible path of retreat.
Seeing that she was about to be struck, a flash of grim resolve crossed Grail's eyes. She no longer tried to evade completely, and instead gathered the bulk of her Omega energy before her.
It formed into a crimson Omega energy shield.
Boom!
The red spear of light bursting from Ultraman's eyes slammed into the deep red barrier.
A horrifying energy explosion raged unchecked within the Cosmo barrier. The light was so blinding that no eye could bear to look upon it. The inside of the barrier became a purgatory of energy.
Crack... crack...
Faint yet unmistakable sounds of fracturing rang out. Cracks appeared upon the energy wall Grail had gathered, and they spread outward.
"Pffg!" Grail spat out a mouthful of blood. Though her Omega power was eerily formidable, in terms of sheer energy mass and tier it still seemed slightly inferior to Ultraman as he now was, with his divine power, Kryptonian constitution, and divine Cosmo perfectly combined.
The energy wall was about to shatter. A victor's savage grin spread across Ultraman's face.
"Enough!"
Axis's cold voice rang out, carrying an unquestionable authority. He did not even rise from his seat, and only lifted a hand slightly.
Hum!
An invisible force, far beyond the comprehension of either combatant, descended in an instant.
Like shackles imposed by the universe itself, it forcibly pressed the boiling energy around Ultraman and Grail back into their bodies and pinned the two of them in place, unable to move so much as a finger.
That terrifying pressure made Ultraman, who had only just become a god and was brimming with confidence, break out in a cold sweat on the spot. The Omega light in Grail's eyes was forced to extinguish as well, leaving only shock behind.
"You dishonorable coward. Had this been before, and had you fought me, you would never have been my match. You only beat me by relying on your divine power and the divine Cosmo." Grail clutched her shoulder and roared in fury.
Had they clashed before, this man called Ultraman would never have been her match. Her Omega Beams could have easily killed this Kryptonian.
"Lord Axis, I apologize. It is only that I want a woman to bear my offspring too dearly." Seeing Axis's displeasure, Ultraman immediately stepped back as he spoke.
"Mm. Grail is unwilling to accept her defeat. This I understand. Ultraman did indeed rely on the divine Cosmo to defeat you," Axis said. "But will you swear loyalty to me? If you are willing to serve me, I too can bestow the divine Cosmo upon you."
"Of course I am willing, Lord Axis." Grail stepped forward at once, lowering her bearing to the utmost.
The battle with Ultraman had made her understand that without the power of the Cosmo, she was as helpless as one without the strength to bind a chicken. No matter what, she had to obtain the divine Cosmo.
"I have observed your performance as well. Your Omega Effect is a formidable ability, yet it relies too heavily on your father's bloodline and the rules of that universe," Axis said. "I can also grant you divinity and help you merge the Omega power with this universe's Cosmo system, so that you may truly command this power rather than be enslaved by it. Are you willing?"
Grail did not hesitate in the slightest. She immediately dropped to one knee and bowed her head. "I am willing. Grail pledges her absolute loyalty to you, Lord Axis."
Compared to Ultraman, her hunger for power was purer and more extreme. To become stronger, she would give up anything.
She would defeat her father, and she would make that man who had just humiliated her pay the price.
"Very good." Axis nodded and likewise placed his hand on Grail's forehead.
This time, the divine power he channeled was different. Axis carefully guided the flow of divine power while splitting off a sliver of divine sense to begin analyzing and guiding the Omega power within her that stemmed from Darkseid.
The process was more complex than with Ultraman. The Omega power was supremely destructive and aggressive. Yet before Axis, who stood but a half-step from an Absolute God, it was still forcibly combed through and reshaped, beginning its slow fusion with Grail's newborn divine Cosmo and the divine power of the Supreme Kai.
Grail differed from Ultraman. As Darkseid's daughter, she had long possessed a demigod's body and the divine Omega power. Now, with Axis's help, she had acquired the power of a Planetary God, and this was like adding wings to a tiger.
The divine Cosmo awakened within her transformed her into the Omega Goddess. Axis grew a little curious. How did the Omega divine power of the DC world differ from the Omega Cosmo of the Saint Seiya universe?