Deep within the distant Dark Fortress.
The Officers left behind were already in a state of complete chaos.
"Report, Officer! Emergency! Life signs for the First and Second Legions have all dropped to zero!"
An Officer's hands tapped frantically on the console, cold sweat soaking through his uniform.
"How is that possible?! My Lord Kalibak took an army of tens of millions with him!" The commanding Officer shoved the operator aside and checked the data on the screen himself.
The display showed a sea of zeros; there were no vital signs from any Apokolips soldiers.
"How can this be?!" Terror was written all over the Officer's eyes.
"Officer! There is another strange occurrence!" another sergeant responsible for monitoring planetary energy reported loudly.
"The gravitational field is shifting! Core energy readings are abnormal! An unknown energy is eroding our Omega Network!"
"What?!" The commanding Officer grabbed the sergeant by the collar. "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!! No one can lay a finger on My Lord Darkseid's power!"
"It's true! Look, My Lord!" The sergeant pointed at the main screen.
On the hologram representing the energy distribution of Apokolips, the originally pure dark-red energy grid was being rapidly segmented and devoured by countless blue threads.
Those blue threads were like a viral infection, spreading upward along the energy conduits.
"Contact the Great Darkseid immediately!" Realizing the situation had spiraled completely out of control, the Officer roared at the top of his lungs.
Several communication Officers immediately activated the hyperspace communication array.
"Establishing connection..."
"Warning! Signal transmission failed!"
"What's going on?!" the Officer bellowed.
"Report, Officer! An unknown blue energy web has covered the entire fortress's communication array; all frequency bands are locked!"
The communications Officer looked despairingly at the 'Connection Interrupted' prompt on the screen.
All information channels had been severed by Ego.
Apokolips was isolated.
"It's over... we're finished..." He slumped dejectedly into his chair.
...
Meanwhile, on the Dark Plains, Kalibak was scared out of his wits.
He no longer looked at the two men with their eerie smiles.
Flee! He had to flee back to the Dark Fortress!
He exerted sudden force with his legs, the massive explosive power launching his body like a missile. He soared thousands of meters into the air, frantically leaping toward the Dark Fortress.
The wind howled past his ears.
In the air, Kalibak breathed a slight sigh of relief. As long as he put some distance between them, as long as he reached the fortress...
Subconsciously, he looked down at the ground below.
And it was that one look...
That showed him the most terrifying, reality-shattering image of his life—even in his long existence.
The terrain of Apokolips below had completely changed.
The black rock layers, the churning fire pits, the continuous mountain ranges... all geological structures were writhing frantically.
Two massive mountain ranges split to either side, forming two deep basins in the middle.
At the bottom of the basins, eerie blue light gathered into two lakes.
No! Those weren't lakes!
Those were... a pair of eyes!!
Two blue eyes, each over hundreds of kilometers in diameter, were embedded in the land of Apokolips, staring coldly up at the sky.
Immediately after.
Below the eyes.
A continental plate thousands of kilometers wide cracked open with a thunderous roar.
Accompanied by the Earth-shattering sound of tectonic plates snapping, the rift grew wider and deeper, eventually forming a colossal abyss that looked like it could swallow everything.
His home Planet, Apokolips... had grown a face!!
And what truly terrified Kalibak to his core was that the Dark Fortress—which he considered indestructible and eternal—stood right in the center of that opening abyss.
"No... NO!!" Kalibak flailed his arms in mid-air, suffering a breakdown.
His worldview collapsed at that moment.
The Planet is alive? The Planet is going to eat Father's fortress?
"Your old home... looks a bit hungry."
A sinister and cold voice rang in Kalibak's ear, making every hair on his body stand on end.
Homelander had flown up beside him at some point, maintaining a synchronized falling speed.
A rattling sound came from his throat, but he couldn't utter a single word.
In the next second, Homelander reached out his right hand and gripped Kalibak's neck like a steel vise, forcibly halting his massive body in mid-air.
Then, he pulled out a master ball with his other hand and shouted to Super Ego nearby:
"Good job, Super Ego! Come back."
"The next stage belongs to me..."
...
Within the hyperspace tunnel.
A faint, lingering sense of unease haunted Darkseid's mind.
Although he had previously thought the disturbance on Apokolips was nothing to fear, he finally made a decision out of caution.
"Desaad."
"Master, what are your orders?" Desaad immediately stepped forward.
"I do not like waiting. I want to arrive at Earth immediately."
Darkseid stood up, his eyes suddenly glowing with a crimson light. Violent Omega Energy erupted from his eyes, injecting directly into the void.
He was using his divine power to forcibly compress this spatial tunnel that spanned several galactic sectors.
"Rumble—!"
The entire fleet began to vibrate violently.
"Master, the tunnel structure cannot withstand the mass of the entire fleet! If we forcibly compress the space-fold ratio, the edges of the tunnel will collapse!" Desaad cried out in shock.
"Then discard the dead weight."
Darkseid's tone held no mercy whatsoever.
"Except for my flagship and the direct vessels of the Dark Elite, cut the shield tethering for all other ships."
Following Darkseid's order.
The large number of Tyrannosaurus cruisers and transport ships at the rear and edges of the fleet were instantly shredded by the violent spatial turbulence.
Billions of Parademons and Apokolips soldiers were banished forever into the cold deep space.
In just these few minutes, the massive expeditionary force of Apokolips was forcibly reduced by ninety-five percent.
Finally, when the spatial tunnel stabilized again, only Darkseid's flagship and a few heavy escort ships remained.
The price was enormous, but the effect was significant.
The distance of the tunnel was extremely compressed, reducing Darkseid's arrival time at Earth to the absolute minimum.
Desaad watched the signals of the disappearing fleet, his expression not changing in the slightest.
"Your decision is always supremely wise." Desaad bowed. "As long as the Great Darkseid descends, it will be enough to make those Earthlings who dare to resist remember the fear of being ruled by Apokolips."
Darkseid did not respond, only staring coldly at the exit they were about to reach.
That was a pale blue Planet.