The New Gods returned her greeting with varying degrees of awkwardness. They'd become deities—none of them were fools. Unlike the rank-and-file soldiers and civilians who worshipped Highfather with fanatical devotion, this group felt no such reverence. The difference between them and Highfather was simply how many godhoods each possessed. Expecting one god to revere another was unrealistic.
Setting aside the question of Thea's combat power, the Death godhood alone demanded respect. Any one of them could end up in her hands someday. Maintaining good relations was never a mistake.
Nobody was about to suck up to her, but absent any major conflict of interest, nobody wanted to antagonize her either.
Highfather watched the standoff dissolve like it was nothing and felt his fury mount. The resentment he'd bottled up for so long finally erupted.
"You! It's you! You betrayed me, and you dare show your face?"
He jabbed a finger at his subordinates. "Seize her—she's the source of all this evil!"
Then he led the charge himself, scepter swinging. The New Gods exchanged weary glances. They'd intended to pretend they hadn't heard, but Ugga and Orion obeyed the order and surged forward, leaving the rest no choice but to join the assault.
Ugga's warhammer. Lady Canopy's bow. An assortment of short swords, fists, and a laser from Metron's chair—everything converged on Thea. The biggest threat, of course, was still Highfather.
His grip on the Life Equation was forced, but it still blazed with towering radiance. Combined with Highfather's own combat power and a squad of helpers, he felt confident he was gaining the upper hand. At least, that was how it felt to him.
Thea's realm and combat strength dwarfed them all. Highfather with his commandeered Life Equation qualified as peak multiversal at best. The other New Gods, putting in the minimum effort, were each universe-level.
None of them posed a real problem. Still, she waved off Diana and Kyle when they moved to help—ostensibly to spare Diana the awkward position, but in truth she was waiting for the cracks in Highfather's resolve to widen further.
She blocked seven or eight strikes, threw a counter-blow here and there, and let Highfather believe his power was growing by the moment, further confirming in his mind that his path was the right one. What he didn't realize was that his own energy was growing increasingly volatile. The other New Gods watched him with mounting dread.
Not enough. Still not enough! Something deep inside seemed to whisper to him. Highfather felt he was just one step away from overpowering Thea, yet that single step refused to close. The frustration gnawed at him.
"Come! Warriors of justice, to my side!" He swept his scepter again. The citizens of Muz who had been kneeling in wait rose as one, surging toward the battlefield to fight for their master.
Diana raised sword and shield. Kyle threw up a construct barrier.
But in the next instant, every New God present went pale. The charging citizens of Muz began mutating mid-stride. Some swelled grotesquely, red muscle tearing through skin. Others dropped to all fours like beasts, razor claws erupting from their hands and feet. Most couldn't withstand the surge of life force at all and burst into clouds of crimson mist as they ran.
"Gods—stop this!" Malhedron finally broke his silence. He reversed his spear and struck Highfather, breaking his hold on the transforming citizens.
The man who had once commanded such solemn respect now wore a face twisted into something from the pits of hell. "Malhedron, you ungrateful cur—have you forgotten who saved your life on Apokolips?"
Malhedron, the taciturn commander of the Melee Legion, had always kept a low profile on New Genesis. Unlike the native-born commanders, he'd defected from Apokolips. He fought at the front of every battle but had never earned much respect for it.
He pulled off his helmet, revealing a gaunt face laced with scars. "Defying you doesn't sit well with me. That's true. You saved my life once, and I've never forgotten it."
"But I remember something else more clearly. My people's sacrifices. The desperate escape that nearly killed us all. And the one rule on Apokolips: you cannot disobey Darkseid. No one could. We had no freedom to question—only room to obey. So let me tell you this!"
He hurled his helmet aside and roared, "I didn't flee Apokolips to serve another tyrant!"
His words struck like lightning through Highfather's mind.
The leader who had always maintained his composure, always stood ready to stamp out evil—froze.
What am I doing? What's happened to me?
His eyes swept across the mutated citizens of Muz, and he felt a chill sink to his very bones. Those grotesque, inhuman shapes hadn't come from the White Lantern. They hadn't come from the Life Equation. They'd come from him—from the deepest recesses of his heart, already corrupted long before he'd realized it.
My soul is this twisted? His core belief shattered in an instant. He could no longer sustain his state. Golden blood burst from his mouth.
A small cyan vortex tore free from his body as if fleeing something unclean. The New Gods' eyes were drawn to it, but before any of them could make out what it was, Thea's hand snapped out and caught it. She recognized it immediately: the Godhood of Justice.
She looked at the Justice in her palm and sighed. The godhood was damaged.
On a cosmic scale, this meant the force of justice across the universe was receding. Evil would be emboldened.
She didn't particularly care about that.
Highfather had retreated entirely into his own psyche. He didn't even notice Justice abandoning him, only muttering incoherently to himself.
Thea flicked a finger toward his scepter, and a far weaker mote of white light drifted free.
She scored a line across it with her nail, then tossed it to Kyle. "The White Lantern still needs you. I can't think of anyone more suited to the name Torch Bearer."
Then she examined the transparent, colorless orb of light spinning in her palm. The path to acquiring the Life Equation had been somewhat convoluted, but the result was more than satisfactory. Buy one, get one free—she'd even brought back the Godhood of Justice for Diana.
Ugga and Orion wanted her to return Justice to Highfather, but under the quiet weight of her appraising gaze, both backed down. Perhaps Diana was a better fit to lead New Genesis after all.
If they refused Diana now, they'd be making an enemy of the Underworld. If they accepted, they'd gain an ironclad ally—and the next time someone died in battle, they could come back. That single perk alone was impossible to refuse.
As for whether fighting alongside liches and undead knights was technically "just"—that question could be shelved for now.
Seeing no objections, Thea handed the Godhood of Justice to Diana.
"Justice has been damaged. It needs mending, and I believe you're the only one worthy of it."
Diana understood she stood at a crossroads. If she stepped forward, things would stabilize. If she stepped back, all bets were off. New Genesis and the Underworld lacked a foundation of trust, and she was that foundation.
She accepted Justice without hesitation. The godhood sensed the conviction in her heart and, offering little resistance, began to merge with her.
The godhood severed its own connection to Highfather. The old man, face contorted in anguish, finally staggered to his feet.
The New Gods shifted uncomfortably. They'd just tacitly pledged allegiance to a new leader, and here the old one was standing back up. Nobody knew whether to advance or retreat. Only Orion remained firmly at Highfather's side.
Highfather waved them off. "I've come to my senses. But the damage is done..." He gestured toward the bestial citizens of Muz. "Can the Goddess of Death restore them?"
Thea glanced back at the creatures, then considered the question. "Their transformation is complete and irreversible. Their memories and personalities are gone entirely. I'm afraid recovery isn't possible."
Highfather's expression was pure anguish. The light surrounding him flickered, brightening and dimming in turns. It was a long time before it steadied. Thea noticed two more godhoods leave him—Order and Light, if she wasn't mistaken.
She didn't intercept them. She'd known since Diana stole a sword and ran off to fight Ares as a child that the woman had never been one for rigid conformity. And Thea herself had no love for the total absence of privacy that came with Light. She let Order and Light drift away. Whoever had the affinity could claim them.
Justice, Fairness, Benevolence, Order, and Light. Now Justice, Order, and Light had all departed. Highfather's power dropped like a stone.
Even his cosmic alignment slid from the side of justice down to neutral.
"New Genesis is yours now. I hope Her Majesty Diana will learn from my mistakes and never repeat them." Highfather's armor dissolved into robes, his gleaming golden scepter into a walking cane. Like a man dictating his last will, he nodded to each New God in turn.
"Father—I'm coming with you!" Orion's eyes brimmed with tears. His love for Highfather was the most genuine kind of filial devotion. He would have done anything for him.
Highfather cupped Orion's cheek tenderly. "My child, your mission hasn't ended. It hasn't even begun. Isn't that right, Your Majesty the Goddess of Death? Or should I call you Death now?"
Thea raised an eyebrow. "You've met Destiny, it seems? I'm not Death yet. But Orion's fate is indeed just beginning. His future..."
Her voice dropped below what the other New Gods could hear. Highfather smiled gently. "Good. That's good."
"Father, where will you go?"
Highfather's gaze was heavy with guilt. Everywhere he looked, the citizens of Muz were tearing at each other like animals, devouring and killing without reason. "I'm going to help them find their way back to civilization. If their memories are gone, they'll start over. If their home is destroyed, it will be rebuilt. I will atone for what I've done here."
The New Gods surveyed the landscape of beasts. Restoring them to anything resembling civilized beings was no small task; without a few thousand years, there was no returning to what they'd been before.
Thea felt a twinge of guilt. Her own permissiveness had let Highfather reach this point.
She raised her right hand, and a mountain thousands of meters tall erupted from the earth. "This mountain bears my mark of Death. Living beings near the mountain will gradually recover fragments of their memories. Over time, it may add up. I hope it helps."
Then she gathered Diana—still in the midst of merging with Justice—and returned to New Genesis. The New Gods departed one by one, each harboring their own thoughts, though all bade Highfather farewell.
Highfather stood with his back to them and bore it all in silence.
His era was over.