"True strength is not in lifting worlds but in bearing their failures without collapsing beneath their sorrow."
---
The Watchtower
The holo-screens burned with muted newsfeeds: headlines spinning about "The Gotham Incident"—a criminal organization collapsing overnight, witnesses claiming a man "vaporized" Black Mask with a single punch.
The air in the room was heavy. Batman stood at the center, cape drawn tight, voice measured but sharp.
"King's becoming a problem."
Superman crossed his arms. "He's preventing wars, Bruce. Ending crime syndicates that even you couldn't dismantle."
"At what cost?" Wonder Woman asked quietly. "He kills, Kal. Without remorse."
Superman's jaw tightened. "He believes the world is past saving by half-measures."
"And you agree with him?" Batman shot back.
"I understand him." Superman replied. "That's not the same."
Green Arrow leaned back in his chair. "So what's the move? Arrest the guy who punched a man out of existence? I mean, no one here's volunteering for round two."
The sensor readings flickered. "Sensors picked up a massive energy spike from his fist. Equivalent to a small tactical nuke but condensed into zero radius."
Batman's eyes narrowed. "He's escalating."
LexCorp Tower
"Fascinating." Lex Luthor murmured, fingers tapping against glass as the feed replayed the incident frame by frame.
Black Mask's body, disintegrated before sound could reach the mic.
Behind him, Mercy Graves waited, tablet in hand. "He's not metahuman, according to any registry."
"Which makes him an anomaly." Lex said, eyes gleaming. "He bleeds, he breathes, yet nothing in physics can quantify his output. No Kryptonian energy, no Speed Force residue, no divine signature."
He turned to the screen where King was seen standing calmly beside a crater, unburned, unshaken, brushing dust off his shirt.
"Find him." Lex said softly. "And if he won't sell his secret, take it."
Mercy frowned. "You think he'll be for sale?"
Lex smirked. "Everything mortal has a price. I just need to discover his."
The Fire Beneath the Earth
Thousands of miles away, beneath a volcanic island in the Pacific, molten rock flowed like veins of liquid light.
The temperature was enough to melt titanium, yet amid the roar of magma… stood King.
Barefoot. Shirtless. The air warped around his skin, but he didn't flinch. He moved through the inferno with the patience of an artisan.
Each motion deliberate. Plunging his hand into a glowing seam of basalt, drawing out a lump of crystallized metal still sizzling with the heat of the earth's heart.
It was pure. More pure than anything tools could refine.
Gold that shimmered like sunlight. Diamonds formed in seconds under his palm, cooled by nothing but his will.
He hummed softly as he worked. An old tune, low and echoing, reverberating through the lava tunnels.
When his satchel was full, he stepped into a molten waterfall and emerged clean, the liquid fire sliding off him like rain.
Outside, the volcano breathed smoke into the dawn. King climbed out of its throat and walked barefoot down the blackened slope toward the sea, carrying his bag of gems as if it weighed nothing.
Gotham's Docks
At a private warehouse, he handed the gems to a quiet middle-aged woman in a heavy coat.
"Same purity as always?" She asked, inspecting one under a lamp.
"Better." King replied.
She nodded. "You could bankrupt countries with these."
"I don't sell to countries." He said simply. "Just to craftsmen who remember what creation means."
She smiled. "And that's why I keep your secret."
He inclined his head. "Thank you."
Back to the Watchtower
"Tracking him is impossible." Black Canary reported. "No digital trace. No cellular resonance. It's like he doesn't exist."
Batman's voice was steel. "He exists. He's just not from anywhere we can scan."
Superman turned toward the window. Earth gleaming beneath them.
"Maybe he's the test." He said quietly.
"Test?" Flash asked. "Of what?"
"Of who we are," Superman said. "And whether our ideals can survive someone who doesn't need them."
Batman looked at him. "If he crosses the line again, I'll stop him."
Superman didn't answer—because deep down, he wasn't sure anyone could.
LexCorp Research Wing
The lights dimmed as Luthor's scientists presented a holographic analysis of the crater King had made in Gotham.
The data points danced across the projection—energy readings defying reason.
"No radiation." One muttered. "No residual heat. Just… obliteration. As if matter itself refused to exist around him."
Lex smiled. "Then he doesn't destroy. He denies."
He turned toward the skyline, glass of wine in hand.
"Tell me, Mercy." He said softly. "What do you call a man who can unmake reality with a flick of his wrist?"
Mercy hesitated. "A god?"
Lex's smirk widened. "No. A challenge."
The Volcano, Midnight
King sat by the crater's edge again, watching molten rivers flow beneath the moonlight.
His voice was low, almost to himself.
"They fear what they can't control… but they don't understand. I don't seek to rule them."
He closed his eyes.
"I only want them to stop suffering."
The volcano rumbled faintly—as if answering him.
He sighed, tossing a diamond into the magma where it burst into radiant sparks.
"Maybe someday." He whispered. "They'll understand that mercy and strength aren't opposites."
Read 22 chapters ahead on P.A.T.R.E.O.N
patreon.com/Danzoslayer517
New tier available. For 14 dollars you get access to all my stories in Patreon.