The Antimatter Universe, on the opposite end of the multiverse from everything else, was where all matter ended.
This was the universe under the Anti-Monitor's dominion. The graveyard of all positive matter. Who created this universe was no longer recorded—its existence ran deeper than the oldest archive.
Intelligent life lived here. They worshiped the Anti-Monitor as their world's only deity. Day after day they prayed and sacrificed, offering up everything they had, just so he might leave a sliver of survival to this universe.
Today, in the eyes of countless worshipers, a thunderous boom split the air. An unfamiliar visitor came through an orange-red portal, tearing through space, entering the Antimatter Universe without a single check or barrier.
The arrival was seated on the Mobius Chair. His gaze was wise, full of compassion. Thea's old colleague—the God of Knowledge, Metron.
He flew up to a colossal tower of golden, technological design. His expression was grim. Through the tower, the Anti-Monitor was observing the Matter Universe. Metron fell silent, choosing his words.
"Hello, Mobius." He spoke first.
The Anti-Monitor had only barely escaped near-death. His towering body was wrapped in heavy armor forged in the deepest core of the Antimatter Universe—yet the armor wasn't giving him much protection. It only made his weakness all the more visible.
"I told you, Metron. Don't call me that. Don't speak that name in my presence." The Anti-Monitor's voice was hoarse.
"Would you prefer I call you the Anti-Monitor?" Metron showed no fear. From the chair, he asked it utterly at ease.
"I'd prefer you stop bothering me!" The Anti-Monitor's left hand lit up with a violent flash. A column of energy laden with the aura of destruction and madness blasted toward Metron.
The wave of energy slammed into the Mobius Chair—the chair Mobius had built for himself, back when he was still mortal and still bore that name, in pursuit of knowledge.
The energy was raging and feral. And yet, through it all, Metron could see the heavy weakness underneath. He swept the smoke aside.
"You should know—as long as I sit on this chair, your antimatter cannot harm me."
The Anti-Monitor's face was hidden behind his mask. His tone was muffled. "I know. I sat on that chair for a span of time you cannot even comprehend."
"Yes. That's true. You abandoned the chair. You went off to destroy universes. We're not talking about the chair today. I'm here to advise you."
"Reality is fragile to its breaking point. It cannot withstand any more of your destruction. Halt, even temporarily. Don't enter the real world." Metron was making a not-particularly-skilled attempt at persuasion.
The Anti-Monitor laughed in absolute contempt. "Even sitting on that chair, you remain ignorant. Hundreds of millions of years, and you've made not the slightest progress. You haven't grasped the universe's actual operating principles."
Anyone called an idiot to their face would lose their temper. Metron, having come in genuine good faith, didn't appreciate the insult. His voice rose two registers. "Don't enter the real world. There's a Goddess of Death waiting there with a trap built specifically for you. Are you not seeing this?"
"If you stop now, we can cooperate. I'm willing to investigate everything that's behind this. I'll use my full power to alter your past, to bring it all back to the way it was—to its original state. Trust me." Toward the end Metron was getting heated. He genuinely wanted to help.
"Pitiful creature. Your knowledge comes from this chair. You don't have that kind of power." The Anti-Monitor was unmoved.
He pulled his cloak on with weary finality, like a soldier about to step onto a battlefield.
"Stop!" Metron blocked his path. "Do you even know who is waiting for you in the real world? Why are you so blind to this?"
"Darkseid? The Goddess of Death? Or that Highfather you serve? Hmph." The Anti-Monitor's words made Metron flinch. For the first time, a thread of anxiety slipped into the conversation. He realized the conversation had drifted out of his control. He'd oversimplified the situation. There was clearly a deeper layer of maneuvering behind all of this.
"They all want me to enter. Do you really think you can hold off all of those wills together? Get out of my way."
BOOM—! A massive sound erupted with no visible attack motion from the Anti-Monitor. The Mobius Chair surged with energy from inside. Metron, for the first time in hundreds of millions of years, was thrown clear of the chair. He hit the ground in a bloody heap. His consciousness flickered out fast.
Through the haze, he just barely saw the Anti-Monitor pause briefly in front of him. Fragments of words drifted past—fate, cycle—and then the Anti-Monitor was no longer looking at this pitiful creature. Without another moment's stop, he led his armies toward the Matter Universe.
...
This was a desert planet in Earth-3's evil universe. Thea couldn't influence the Spectre-Eclipso fight, but she could choose the venue for the Anti-Monitor and Darkseid's clash.
After the Spectre had entered the fight, she'd left a corridor at the universal level. Anyone entering this universe would be funneled out onto this one planet.
The battlefield was set. Both sides were waiting for their players to step in.
Darkseid was after the Anti-Life Equation.
The Anti-Monitor's goal was simpler—rebirth. He wanted out of the inherent fate that bound him to endless universal destruction. That fate's hold on him was iron-tight. He needed to break the bounds of reality itself.
To do that, he had to kill a New God. A New God who could touch the Source. Darkseid, with his Omega Effect, was his only target. The contradiction between them was unresolvable. One side had to fall before this could end.
Thea pushed it forward. Highfather quietly allowed it. Various Archangels and Archdemons each pursued their own private interests. All of which had finally produced this fight.
As the architect of the matchup, the young miss had also gotten the two multiverse heavyweights to accept her venue choice.
A desert planet was easier to slaughter on. The Apokolips army had passed through the only available corridor a minute earlier. Darkseid hadn't shown himself. Not until the Anti-Monitor entered this universe and stepped onto the battlefield, with no ambush turning up among his subordinates, did Darkseid finally activate his Mother Box. His personal form descended into this universe.
Steppenwolf led the entire Apokolips force out. Across from them stood the elite forces of the Antimatter Universe. The two sides collided and instantly piled corpses in mountains, rivers running with blood.
The Anti-Monitor and Darkseid still hadn't moved. They were sizing each other up—and waiting. Waiting for the Goddess of Death and the Spectre and all of them to clear out of this universe. With the young miss still here, neither of them was going to risk an unrestrained battle.
"What is that? The evil radiating off it is comparable to Eclipso. And it seems to be—two distinct currents of power?" Diana, who had reached the lower edge of New God territory, faintly sensed the World Will rejoicing. Two sources of evil had landed in this universe.