Could Darkseid actually win? When they'd first arrived on Earth, DeSaad had no doubts. Now? That was harder to say...
Unaware of his subordinate's expectations, Darkseid was currently swimming through Thea's soul sea.
Fuming that there was no way out—his power could destroy worlds, but here in this soul sea, he had strength with nowhere to apply it.
Thea's soul sea had faintly touched the realm of "emptiness." Darkseid's power was like punching air. He wanted to pierce through the water, while Thea wanted to drag him down entirely. After all their thrashing about, neither could overcome the other.
This made the Dark Lord lose face. Thea's motive was transparent—stall for time. But he had to take the bait!
The power of the Origin constantly struck at the soul sea. Out of ten attacks, Thea could "empty" through three or four of them. The rest, she had to endure with her soul divinity. She wasn't comfortable either.
"Rise, children of the soul sea!" Thea stood on the only reef in the sea, her golden hair floating without wind. Initially, she hadn't noticed, but just now she'd accidentally sensed a new life form being born in her soul sea.
A gray-white smoke-like vapor slowly rose from the water. It was far more substantial than the souls in the sea, with greater depth and layers. Fresh from the water's surface, its gaze constantly scanned the surroundings—clearly possessing considerable intelligence.
As if to please Thea—the Lord of Souls—its form gradually became feminine, developing hair and body curves.
She could now be referred to as "she."
Thea looked at this life that had grown from her soul sea with amazement.
This new being's every movement radiated heart-piercing allure. Even a single syllable sounded like the world's most beautiful melody.
Primarily formed from soul divinity, mixed with traces of the Wealth Godhood's seduction and the Arts Godhood's beautiful voice—this new life embodied all of Thea's divine characteristics.
"I name you Siren. From now on, you shall lead the siren race." This siren's power was considerable—born at demigod level.
But her direct combat ability was almost nil. She could only hide underwater and sing, causing some trouble for Darkseid.
"Come, come to me. Let's have some fun?" The siren seemed eager to display her abilities before her creator. Various whispers drifted into Darkseid's ears. The Dark Lord wasn't easily seduced, but he couldn't withstand her constant nagging.
Nothing in the world was absolute. Water could wear through stone, and persistent harassment would eventually have an effect.
On what must have been the hundredth time he heard her call, Darkseid had a momentary lapse.
"Good chance!" The tall Amazonian goddess leapt up, her Lasso of Truth wrapping around Darkseid's neck twice before she jumped behind him. With her full warrior goddess strength, she tried to pull him down.
Thea coordinated seamlessly. Darkseid's feet had been in the soul sea all along. She manipulated the surging water to push against him from the other direction.
Caught unprepared with the lasso around his neck and his body starting to tilt back, Thea's powerful push left his feet with nothing beneath them. The soul sea constantly disrupted his flight ability. The giant form fell straight backward into the water.
"Quick!" Diana didn't even have time to retrieve her lasso, shouting urgently.
Thea didn't need Diana's reminder. She immediately activated the prepared spell formation. Bringing Darkseid to this battlefield was obviously premeditated. She'd set up a magnificent sealing array here.
Ordinary seals were completely useless. She'd studied the design of the Nabu prison that sealed the Primordial Shadow on Earth-Two, adding numerous rare materials to create what could be called a divine artifact prison.
"Click, click!" Several crisp sounds rang out. Struggling to rise, Darkseid suddenly felt his arms, legs, and lower back all restrained by something. That wasn't all—the seawater rapidly solidified like massive clamps, locking him firmly in place.
He was a New God. How could this thing possibly restrain the God of Power? Darkseid began to exert force. He couldn't wait to see the two goddesses' disappointed faces.
Hm? As he applied force, he discovered something wrong. His divine power was being drained by something.
"This isn't metal?" He looked carefully at the massive metal shackles around his waist. The seemingly silver-white metal was actually composed of countless microscopic units, each one constantly absorbing his divine power.
Nanomachines absorbing his divine power? Apokolips technology far exceeded Earth's. Though Darkseid didn't value scientific power, he wasn't ignorant. He recognized nanomachines, but these robots weren't simple—the absorption came from some special cells inside them.
It wasn't Thea absorbing his divine power. Darkseid relaxed somewhat. Unfortunately, even after exerting force twice and destroying countless micro-machines at the molecular level, his body remained firmly locked.
These cells came from the man in the jacket from Central City. He could absorb Barry's Speed Force, so absorbing divine power was no problem. The only flaw was that individual absorption and storage capacity wasn't large.
The young woman had replicated countless cells, added them to Bumblebee's nanomachines, and finally connected them with magic. Combining powers, cutting-edge tech, and magic in a patchwork creation resulted in the shackles now restraining Darkseid.
But she knew the containment wouldn't last long. Compared to the number of nanomachines, Darkseid's divine power could be described as infinite.
"Die!"
"Die!"
Both goddesses roared simultaneously. Thea didn't dare use the holy sword in the soul sea. Diana threw one of her twin swords to her. They both leapt up, their eyes filled with determination, like twin meteors. Left and right, they drove their swords into Darkseid's eyes.
"AAAAH!" The Dark Lord's scream echoed across the entire battlefield. The foot soldiers fell into chaos, and the two generals became somewhat bewildered. No matter how they heard it, this didn't sound like a victory speech. Their boss was beaten that badly?
"Too bad these aren't his real eyes. Otherwise, they'd be even more valuable for research." Thea planted one foot on Darkseid's face and pulled out her sword, examining the blood on the blade with slight dissatisfaction.
Diana tossed her sword back. Thea collected both swords—the blades were stained with Omega Effect energy she wanted to study carefully.
The Omega Effect was Darkseid's source of power, his tool for dominating the multiverse. Its level exceeded divine power, so naturally it couldn't be repaired with divine power.
Now, with his eyes—the external manifestation of the Omega Effect—destroyed and his whole body bound up like a bundle, a shadow of gloom rose in the Dark Lord's heart.
He might actually lose this battle.