The sky blazed with combat, and the ground battle was just as fierce.
The human coalition's killing efficiency remained razor-sharp, but enemies poured endlessly from the portals. Their advance slowed to a crawl. Most melee fighters were wounded, and ranged units had burned through ammunition to dangerously low levels.
Batman stood on a Green Lantern construct, catching his breath while surveying the battlefield and planning his next move.
Thea and Diana had fought their way to the horizon—rolling clouds and swirling black mist made it impossible to tell who was winning.
On the remaining battlefronts, Superman clearly had the upper hand, and Martian Manhunter was holding his own. The main human force had the advantage too, but wiping out the enemy would take time. That left his position at the rear. Thanks to Diana shattering the Mother Box and Flash and Harley Quinn leading Amazo away, even with just a thousand Lanterns, they'd barely managed to hold back a million Apokolips foot soldiers.
Right now, the only one still fighting with any energy left was Lobo, bellowing and cackling. The Lanterns' endurance was pathetically short—most could only last three minutes. Without Ganthet and Sayd backing them up, along with that planet overhead holding the line, their defenses would've collapsed long ago.
Things had reached a critical point. Time to play his trump card.
Before the battle, Thea and Batman had a deep conversation. Call it a mobile reserve or insurance policy—they couldn't throw all of Earth's resistance into one fight.
Kara, Team Arrow, the Bat-Family, Team Flash, and most of the ordinary-human superheroes had all stayed on Earth as a contingency. Batman agreed with keeping reserves.
Now the situation was dire. He had to deploy some of them.
He crushed the teleportation gem he'd prepared. Four figures appeared on the battlefield.
"Swamp Thing, you and Animal Man join the ground battle and relieve Hal Jordan. Nightwing, you and Starfire head to the west flank and replace Green Arrow."
"Hal, put me down. Fall back from the line, grab Green Arrow from the western front, and help Superman first." Batman issued his orders.
In Batman's eyes, Hal Jordan's title of "Greatest Green Lantern" just meant he was slightly better than the average Lantern—not much use in a battle of this scale. One more or one less among a thousand Lanterns made little difference.
But if he joined Superman against Steppenwolf, he'd be the straw that broke the camel's back. Add Green Arrow on top of that, and combined with Superman's existing advantage, they could crush the enemy.
Hal immediately took the assignment and flew to assist. His position was filled by Swamp Thing and Animal Man Buddy Baker.
On the other side, Green Arrow—Oliver Queen—was even more eager. After giving Nightwing and Starfire brief instructions, he activated his power armor and shot into the air. Drawing the pseudo-artifact bow Diana had forged, he nocked a specially enchanted armor-piercing arrow and sent two shots whistling toward Steppenwolf.
Green Arrow's martial arts far exceeded Superman's. He aimed for the openings Steppenwolf would expose in the next second.
Hm? The struggling Steppenwolf dodged the first arrow, but hesitated on the second. If he kept dodging, Superman's fist wouldn't miss. Fine—he'd take an arrow.
He figured an Earth arrow couldn't compare to Superman's massive fist anyway.
But he underestimated Oliver. The first arrow was just an ordinary enchanted arrow—even a direct hit wouldn't matter much.
The second arrow was special. Thea had crafted it personally, imbuing the arrowhead with a trace of soul divinity. The other arrows were all magical, but this one was a genuine divine artifact.
Steppenwolf didn't notice. The arrow punched into his ribs with a soft thunk.
A pretty sharp arrow—pierced his armor? Steppenwolf had been beaten numb by Superman. By reflex, he tried to pull out the arrow and heal himself with divine power.
But the moment he yanked it out, he realized something was wrong. Why did he suddenly feel so weak?
In low-intensity combat, he could swing his axe continuously for a month without tiring. Now he felt more exhausted than after a month of battle. His vision blurred, seeing double. His axe, which used to feel like an extension of his arm, now seemed impossibly heavy.
He'd been had! Relying on instinct, he dodged two of Superman's punches and quickly checked the wound. Horrifying!
A gray-white hole had appeared in his ribs. His divine power tried several times to close the wound but was blocked by a strange energy. Worse, soul fragments were leaking faintly from the hole—that was what was draining his strength.
Darkseid had delved deep into the path of souls. Even though Thea had stolen the Soul Godhood from him, he wasn't afraid of soul-based attacks. But Steppenwolf lacked that expertise. He tried several methods but couldn't stop his soul from leaking out.
Though he was a god with a soul strength thousands of times greater than an ordinary person's, he couldn't withstand this steady drain.
On the other side, Hal Jordan arrived. He'd expected to be the savior in this great battle, but reality had given him a harsh wake-up call. First, Amazo's advanced technology had beaten him senseless. Then he'd joined the ordinary Lanterns in the unglamorous task of blocking a million Apokolips troops.
This kind of grinding battle didn't showcase his "Greatest Green Lantern" greatness at all.
"Not happy. I am NOT happy!" Seeing Steppenwolf looking dazed, Hal didn't hold back. A giant green hand construct shot out and grabbed him.
He didn't know Steppenwolf was struggling with the soul energy inside him. Seeing his opponent not dodging or blocking, Hal got even angrier. You looking down on me too?!
The green construct hand seized Steppenwolf and squeezed. Realizing he'd gotten distracted—a cardinal sin in combat—Steppenwolf forgot about the soul leak and struggled with all his might.
At full strength, Hal couldn't have held him. Unfortunately, Superman had already ground down half his divine power, and the arrow had caught him unprepared. For a moment, he couldn't break free.
The next second, Oliver sent two more arrows whistling toward him.
Steppenwolf seethed with rage, but he couldn't tell if these were ordinary magic arrows or divine artifacts. He could only dodge by tilting his head—and caught Superman's heat vision across his face.
Facing three opponents, he couldn't hold on anymore. Despite the humiliation, he chose to call his honor guard for help.
Thousands of elite Apokoliptian parademons prepared to join the fight. The New Gods weren't sitting idle either—after tens of thousands of years of warfare, they could see through such tricks easily.
"Hold them back!" Under blonde Bekka's command, the New Gods' mages collectively created a curtain of red flames between Steppenwolf and the ground forces. The few who broke through emerged in critical condition and were shot down by Green Arrow like clay pigeons.
"DeSaad, help me!" Steppenwolf and the Grand Sorcerer—two gods, one warrior and one mage. If anyone claimed they had brotherly affection on Apokolips, nobody would believe it.
But Steppenwolf was too desperate. He had to lower himself and ask his old rival for help.