"Put the gun down, Slade!"
Mera stepped forward quickly and stopped Deathstroke. She looked at the symbol on the alien's uniform, a flash of shock in her eyes.
"That's the Green Lantern symbol... You're from the Green Lantern Corps?"
She recognized that symbol from ancient records in the archives of Atlantis.
"Green Lantern Corps?" Deathstroke frowned, his muzzle still raised.
"That's right, the Green Lantern Corps." General Philippus of the Amazons sheathed her sword and explained with a solemn expression, "They call themselves the Guardians of the Universe, relying on willpower to drive their rings in battle. They fought alongside us in ancient times to resist Darkseid's invasion. They can be trusted."
"Guardians of the Universe?" Deathstroke spoke coldly, "Then where were you 'Guardians' when Darkseid was massacring our Planet?"
Hearing these words, a flash of extreme pain and anger crossed the fierce alien's face.
"My name is Kilowog, instructor of the Green Lantern Corps."
He sat heavily on the ground, seemingly having exhausted even the strength to stand.
"You think we abandoned Earth? No..."
Kilowog clenched his fist, green light struggling between his fingers.
"We couldn't even look after this place. Because Oa... our Corps headquarters, the center of light..."
"...has fallen."
Kilowog's words caused the hearts of everyone present to sink.
"What do you mean?" Philippus asked uneasily.
Kilowog lowered his head, as if recalling a terrible nightmare.
"Darkseid... he personally led the Dark Elite to raid Oa."
"We fought back with everything we had. Thousands of Green Lanterns formed a defensive line in space. But it was no use... he was too strong. His Omega Beams tore through our formation, and an endless army of Parademons devoured our brothers."
Kilowog slammed his massive fist onto the ground in agitation.
"But I fought my way out to come here, not to complain. I'm here to warn you!"
"He not only destroyed our army, but also utilized Oa's technology and energy to forcibly open a massive hyperspace transmission channel capable of spanning Galactic Sectors!"
"He is on his way, bringing the entire Dark Elite of Apokolips!" Kilowog pointed his finger toward the sky, his voice trembling slightly.
"In an estimated twenty-four hours, Darkseid... will descend upon Earth once again!"
Twenty-four hours—this time felt like a countdown from the God of Death.
The atmosphere in the square dropped to freezing point.
Everyone who had just been immersed in the joy of Earth's recovery felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over their heads.
Amidst this suffocating silence...
"Buzz—Buzz—Buzz—"
A sudden, rapid electronic buzzing sound came from behind everyone.
Everyone turned their heads sharply.
The mother box, which had already completed the ecological transformation, had not stopped operating after finishing its task.
The coordinates inside the mother box activated automatically, creating a linkage with the father box far away on Apokolips.
Victor's face changed drastically; he immediately understood what this meant.
"It's a Boom Tube! They are forcibly opening a Boom Tube!"
"Buzz————BOOM!!!"
As Victor finished speaking, the space above Metropolis Plaza seemed to be torn apart by an invisible giant hand.
A massive circular portal over a hundred meters in diameter burst open.
Through that enormous Boom Tube, everyone saw the scene on the other side.
A dark red sky, massive fire pits erupting with lava, and countless sinister buildings constructed of steel.
It was the source of all nightmares in the Universe.
Apokolips, the Dark Fortress.
"Ugh—!"
Standing at the front, Cyborg Victor Stone suddenly let out a low growl of pain.
His knees buckled, and he knelt heavily on the ground.
"Victor! What's wrong?!"
Bruce Wayne immediately crouched down, asking with concern: "Is it the aftereffects of the mother box? Or some kind of virus intrusion?"
"No... it's memories... it's data..." Cyborg gritted his teeth, red light flashing in his eyes as lines of code scrolled across his retinas like a waterfall.
"What do you see?" Bruce asked.
Cyborg shook his head violently and stared straight at the tall black fortress on the other side of the channel.
"I recognize that place, it's... the Dark Fortress."
Cyborg's voice carried a slight tremor.
Darkseid.
Just the name alone made everyone present skip a breath involuntarily.
"Explain the situation specifically, Victor," Bruce pressed.
"That is Darkseid's palace..." Victor closed his eyes, struggling to organize the massive Apokolips information database in his mind.
"It's not just his residence; it's also the military command center of Apokolips. More importantly... it's the anchor point for Darkseid's divine power."
"Anchor point?" Barry frowned, his expression full of confusion, "What does that mean? Some kind of energy generator?"
"Worse than that." Victor opened his eyes and shared the intel he had just decrypted from his mind.
"Darkseid is no ordinary alien being; he is a New God. His dark divinity needs to be constantly strengthened by absorbing negative emotions like fear, pain, and despair."
"In the vast Universe, there are countless lives enslaved, modified, and tortured by him. The negative energy generated by those lives in their endless suffering all converges through that anchor point, and is then continuously channeled into his body, providing him with inexhaustible power!"
"As long as that anchor point remains, his power will never run dry. He is invincible."
"Haha! Sounds like an emotional trash can."
Harley Quinn grinned nonchalantly.
"Isn't that good news then? I mean, since that's his baby bottle, if we go over there and smash that dump to smithereens..."
"Won't that guy just go crazy on the spot? Rolling on the ground and crying his eyes out?"
"It's not that simple, Harley." Cyborg shook his head, directly cutting off her fantasy, "That fortress is almost impossible to destroy."
"The core structure of the Dark Fortress is entirely made of Apokolips' specialty, Black Steel. The density of that metal is denser than neutron star matter; even a supernova explosion wouldn't leave a scratch on its surface."
Cyborg looked around at everyone, continuing to drop desperate facts.
"Not only that, its construction materials are mixed with high-purity omega ore. That ore contains raw Omega energy, which can directly absorb and is immune to most forms of energy attacks."
These words caused the atmosphere to drop to freezing point once again.
"It doesn't matter."
A relaxed and casual voice broke the oppressive silence. Homelander stood facing the Boom Tube with his hands behind his back.
"There is no shell in the World that cannot be broken. I have my ways."
"And even if it can't be broken, it doesn't matter." Homelander looked back at the pondering Cyborg.
"Victor, answer me one question."
"If Darkseid is on his way to Earth and suddenly finds out someone is trashing his home base, attempting to dismantle his source of power... do you think he'll still have the mind to continue his expedition to Earth?"